Wyoming

  Wishing to gratify his nature, he leaned forward and peered around Mr.Brainerd to see how Fred Godfrey was taking it.

  But he failed to discover the young man.

  Making sure he was not on the log, Golcher rose to his feet and staredhere and there in a hurried search for the youth.

  He was invisible, and, with a vague fear, the Tory strode to Mr.Brainerd.

  "Where's that son of yours?"

  "Well, sir," was the response, "I judge that by this time he's abouthalf a mile away in the woods, and safely beyond the reach of all thewarriors and Tories that ever had their hair yanked out by an elderlylady not in the enjoyment of very rugged health!"

  CHAPTER XLI.

  It need not be said that Fred Godfrey improved his opportunity to theutmost.

  Having eluded the Senecas who were so close behind him, it was notlikely he would run any risk of being caught on their return. In fact,he might have considered himself beyond danger, and yet the narrowestescape of all occurred only a few minutes afterward.

  Anxious to gain the utmost time possible, he was picking his way withgreat care, when he stepped upon a stone that turned under his foot, andhe narrowly escaped falling.

  Immediately he caught a birdlike call near him, and his quick wit toldhim it was a signal from one of the warriors searching for him.

  Fred made an abrupt turn, and going a rod or two, halted precisely asbefore--that is beneath a large tree, and stood close against thetrunk.

  And standing thus, he noticed the same sound once more, this timeanswered from a point directly behind him.

  He could do nothing but stand still, and he knew how to do that equal toa living statue. Only a few yards in front was an open space, where themoonlight revealed objects without exposing himself to observation.

  Thus it was that the youth detected two Indians, who came out of thewood on the other side and stopped, as if they were posing forinspection. They talked for some minutes in their own tongue,gesticulating earnestly and then walked toward him.

  He quickly shifted his position to the other side of the tree and peeredaround, but, when they came into the shadow, nothing could be seen ofthem.

  "I believe they know where I am," thought he, "and are amusingthemselves at my expense."

  Such seemed to be the case, for once more the red men stopped and wereactually within reach of him. Since the arms of the latter were stillfastened behind him, it can well be understood how he dreadeddiscovery, his chief fear being that the painful throbbing of his heartwould betray him.

  But the good fortune that had attended him on the other side the riverdid not desert him now. The Senecas hovered about him only a minute ortwo and then moved away, this time taking a direction that led towardthe camp-fire--an indication that they had given up the pursuit.

  Pausing only long enough for them to pass beyond hearing, Fred resumedhis flight, with the same care he had used from the first.

  He was now more hopeful than ever, but almost instantly received anotherwarning that it is never safe to shout until you are "out of the woods."

  He judged he was fully two hundred yards from the camp-fire which he hadleft so hurriedly, when he found himself in such darkness that he oncemore stopped until he could gather some idea of his location and of thepoints of the compass.

  Listening closely, he caught the gentle flow of the small waterfall andof the Susquehanna on his right, from which direction also came theoccasional reports of guns and the shouts of Indians. This convinced himhe was facing south, and that his back was turned toward his friends.

  It was no pleasant discovery to find the same ominous sounds proceedingfrom his own side the river; but, having left them in such a situation,this alarming fact was scarcely noticed.

  "The first thing for me to do is to get these withes off my arms andwrists," he said, poking around with his feet for some sharp-corneredstone. "I've stood this--"

  To his dismay, a figure approached in the gloom. There were just enoughscattering rays of moonlight to show it, and its movements made certainthe fact that he (the stranger) had discovered him.

  "I shall have to use my feet," was the thought of Fred, as he bracedhimself; "and I will give him a kick that will do something--"

  "Am dat you, leftenant?" came in the form of a husky whisper, as thefigure stopped a few feet away and tried to peer through the gloom.

  Fred Godfrey almost shouted with delight, for the question revealed theidentity of Gravity Gimp.

  "Thank Heaven!" was the exclamation of the young man. "I hadn't theremotest idea of meeting you, Gravity."

  "Let's shake on it," chuckled the African, groping forward with his hugepalm, which he shoved into the face of the pleased Fred, who said:

  "If you'll be kind enough to cut these bonds that hold my armsimmovable, I'll shake both hands."

  "Of course; where am dey?" asked the equally happy negro, poking aroundwith his immense jack-knife. "I'se so glorious dat you mus' 'scuse me ifI cut off de wrong things. I can't hold myself. Dar, I knowed it!" headded, slashing away; "dat's your leg dat I have hold of, and I dob'leve dat I've cut it half off. Begs pardon, leftenant, and I'll hit itafter a while."

  But no such blunder had been committed, and, under the manipulation ofthe jack-knife, the withes that had bound the arms of Fred Godfrey werespeedily cut, and he swung his hands about and sawed the air with greatrelief.

  "My gracious! but that's good!" he exclaimed. "I was so wretched that Ibelieve I would have gone wild if I hadn't been freed."

  "Why didn't you gnaw 'em off?" said Gimp. "You've got good 'nough teethto walk right through anything like dat."

  "That may be, Gravity; but with my hands tied behind me, I couldn't verywell get at them with my teeth."

  "I didn't thunk ob dat--but you could hab fixed it easy 'nough."

  "In what way?"

  "Jes' stood on your head--dat was de way to reach 'em."

  CHAPTER XLII.

  It is idle to attempt to picture the feelings of Jake Golcher, when helearned from Mr. Brainerd, one of the captives, that Fred Godfrey hadescaped but a few minutes before.

  Weakly hoping there was some mistake, he turned to one of the Indiansand demanded the truth. He got it in the shape of information thatseveral of the fleetest warriors were hunting for the fugitive, andthere was hope he would be brought in speedily.

  The renegade stood a few seconds, and then began striding up and down infront of the camp-fire, indulging in imprecations too frightful to berecorded.

  All this time Mr. Brainerd was so delighted that he forgot his owngrief. He knew how great was the disappointment of the man, and he waspleased thereat, for, recalling the chastisement received from the handsof Aunt Peggy, it can be safely said that matters had gone ill withGolcher, since the lady began cooking for her captors.

  By and by he exhausted himself, and then paused in front of HabakkukMcEwen and demanded:

  "Why didn't you stop him when you seen him running away?"

  "I didn't see him," was the truthful reply of the fellow, who was meanenough to add: "If I had, you can just bet I'd stopped him, even if myhands was tied."

  "Why didn't you yell for me as soon as you found out he had gone?"

  "I did yell," was the unblushing answer, "but there was so muchconfusion nobody noticed me, and the Injins was off after him as quickas he started."

  "Just then Aunt Peggy was attending to you," Mr. Brainerd remarked, "andyou were so badly used up that you wouldn't have noticed an earthquakehad it come along."

  Maggie looked beseechingly at her father, while the Tory glowered on himlike a thunder-cloud.

  But for his anxiety to win the good will of the pretty maiden, he wouldhave struck down her parent where he stood. The latter acted as thoughhe had given up all hope, and was trying to retaliate to some extent onhim whom he detested.

  "See here," said Habakkuk, with a flirt of his head and a confidentialair, "ain't you going to cut them things that are tied about my arms?"
r />   "What'll we do that for?"

  "So's to let me loose," was the logical answer; "you know, Jakey--"

  "There, don't call me Jakey," interrupted the Tory.

  "Well, Mr. Golcher--"

  "Make it plain 'Jake.'"

  "Well, Jake, as I was going to say, I'm your friend, and have been eversince I knowed you, and you know it; if you'll let me loose I'll 'listunder you; I'm already got up Injin style, and will sarve as one of youradvanced scouts."

  "Shet up?" interrupted Golcher; "I don't b'leve you're anything morethan a rebel, and if we'd done as we orter, the whole caboodle of youwould have been wiped out before the sun went down."

  While the Tory was indulging in these expressions he continually glancedat Maggie Brainerd, occasionally taking a step toward her. It is at suchtimes that a woman is quick to perceive the truth, and with the naturalinstinct of her sex, she looked at him in turn, and with that smile ofhers that was really resistless, said:

  "Jake, come here a minute, please."

  In a flutter of surprise, he approached, with a smirking grin.

  "What can I do for you, dear Maggie?"

  "I'll be much obliged if you will cut those bonds which trouble father.He has suffered so much to-day that he is irritable, and I hope you willpardon him."

  This was an audacious request, and took Golcher aback somewhat, butthere was no refusing the prayer.

  So, with the best grace possible, he stepped forward, hunting-knife inhand, and cut first the wire-like withes that held Habakkuk McEwenfast, and then did the same with those of Mr. Brainerd.

  "I'm very much obliged," said the grateful Habakkuk; "you're very kind,and after this I'm your servant."

  Angry as was Mr. Brainerd, he had better sense than to quarrel with hisgood fortune, and he thanked the man who loosened his arms, while at thesame time he concluded to hold his peace for the time.

  "Fred is beyond their reach," he thought, "and so is Gravity Gimp, and Ijudge one of them had a gun. True, that isn't much, but there is nosaying what will be done with it, for both are as brave men as everstood in battle.

  "If Fred only had the chance, he would be heard from very soon. Butthere is none whom he can rally to our help. Ah, if he could but pick upa half-dozen soldiers, what a raid he would make through this camp! Butwherever there are any of our soldiers they are wounded, killed, or soscared that they are an element of weakness.

  "I can not help feeling some hope, and yet my reason tells me thatthere is no ground on which to base it."

  Having complied with the request of Maggie Brainerd, Golcher feltauthorized to approach her with a statement of his own proposition.Accordingly, he walked to the farther end of the log, and motioned forher to join him. She thought it best to comply, and did so, sitting downwithin a foot or two of him.

  "You see," he said, with his smirk, "I've done what you axed me to do."

  "You have, and I thank you for it."

  "That's all right; there ain't nothin' mean about me, for all some folkschoose to slander me. Now, I s'pose you'd like to have your father andthe rest of them folks let go?"

  "I have been praying for that ever since the Indians captured us."

  "Wall, I've been thinking 'bout settin' you all loose to take care ofyourselves."

  "Oh, if you do, Mr. Golcher--"

  "Thar, thar," he interrupted, with a wave of the hand; "call me 'Jake'when you speak to me."

  "I'll be grateful to you, Jake, as long as I live, and so will they."

  "That's all very well; but gratertude ain't going to do me much good,"said Jake, with another grin. "I orter have some reward, Maggie."

  "So you will; the reward of an approving conscience, which is beyond theprice of rubies."

  "I know all 'bout that," said he, slinging one leg over the other, afterwhich he nursed the upper knee and swayed the foot back and forth; "butthat don't satisfy me. I want more."

  "We have a little farm, you know; I'll give you my share in that, andfather, I'm sure, will pay you everything he can get together."

  "Yes, but that ain't enough, Maggie."

  "What else can we do?" she asked, despairingly, while her sex'sintuition told her what he was hinting at.

  "I want _you_," he said, bending his head close to her, while sherecoiled; "if you'll be my wife, I'll let your father, Eva, yourself,and even Aunt Peggy, go; if you don't, the Senecas shall tomahawk themall."

  Maggie Brainerd knew this was coming, and she asked herself whether itwas not her duty to be offered up as a sacrifice, to save her belovedfriends. Would there be any more heroism in doing so than had beendisplayed before by thousands of her sex?

  She was prayerfully considering the question, when her indignant father,who had heard it all, broke in with:

  "Tell him no--a thousand times no! If you don't, you are no daughter ofmine!"

  CHAPTER XLIII.

  Gravity Gimp and Lieutenant Fred Godfrey were in high spirits, for eachhad been highly favored by fortune. They were beyond sight of thecamp-fire and had thrown the pursuing Iroquois off the track, so that,with ordinary care, they were out of personal danger.

  But this elation could not last. Could they forget that within a stone'sthrow their friends were in peril, and unless soon rescued would bebeyond all help?

  "We have only one gun between us," said Fred, "and I don't see anyprospect of getting another."

  "I thinked maybe we mought find one, somewhar in de woods," said Gimp,"but I guess dere ain't much show for dat. You am de best shot, so I'llbe wery much obleeged if you'll take charge ob dis rifle."

  Fred accepted the weapon, feeling that before any great harm couldbefall those in the Indian camp, the bullet nestling in the barrel wouldbe heard from.

  "We will steal up as near as we dare," said he, "and watch our chances."

  "I doesn't see dat I can assist you, to a wery alarming extent," saidGimp, "so if you doesn't object, I'll go on a scout."

  "Go on a scout? What do you mean by that?"

  "Ise an ijee; I'll take a look around, and when I want you I'll justwhistle this way, and you'll understand."

  Fred had little faith in the proposal, but fortunately he did notobject, and a minute later Gimp was gone.

  Left to himself Fred stealthily approached the vicinity of the camp,fully alive to the delicacy of his mission.

  He was resolved that if detected, and this was likely to occur, since anumber of the Senecas were still absent and would soon be returning, hewould not be retaken.

  "There will not be a shadow of hope, if I fall into their hands again,and I may as well make it lively for a while."

  A few steps farther and he reached a point from which he obtained aclear view of the Indian camp.

  He saw Aunt Peggy busy with her culinary duties, while the group of halfa dozen Indians were as eagerly watching and scrambling for the brownslices as if they were so many wolves.

  By and by Jake Golcher cut the withes that bound the arms of HabakkukMcEwen and Mr. Brainerd, and began talking with Maggie while Fredwatched with the deepest interest the singular camp.

  "I think there'll be some mischief done pretty soon," thought the youth,after watching the scene for a moment; "and, if so, I must take a hand."

  He had stationed himself by the side of a tree with large spreadinglimbs, and he now resorted to the odd plan of climbing a short distanceand seating himself among the limbs.

  "I've got just as good a view here," he said to himself, "and, if itbecomes necessary to shoot, they won't be apt to look in this place forme."

  At the same time it occurred to him that if the flash of his gun shouldbe noticed, and his whereabouts discovered, he would be in the worstpossible situation.

  Parting the limbs, so as to give him the view he wished, he held hisweapon ready to fire any instant, while he closely watched proceedings.

  No better aim could have been required than that now given him; he couldcover every one in the party, and the distance was so short that it wasimpossible t
o miss.

  "I ought to shoot him," he muttered, as he looked at Jake Golcher, whilesitting by Maggie Brainerd and talking with such earnestness; "it is hewho has followed us, and but for him the party would be well out ofdanger by this time."

  The young lieutenant was angry enough to shoot a dozen Tories, had thechance been his; but when he sighted along the gleaming barrel of hisrifle, on which the firelight fell, he could not bring himself to thepoint.

  "Yes; I ought to do it," he added, "but I can't feel right in pickingoff a man in that fashion. No; I'll wait till he gives me a betterexcuse."

  The watcher knew what passed between Maggie, Golcher, and Mr. Brainerd,when the last came up and uttered his indignant protest, almost as wellas if he had overheard the words themselves.

  "Jake has proposed to let the whole party off, provided Maggie willmarry him, and before she can decide (for he knows if she makes thepromise she will keep it, if they both live), father is giving the Torya piece of his mind. He's doing it in a style, too, that can't bemisunderstood."

  This little scene lasted but a few seconds, when Mr. Brainerd resumedhis seat on the log, close to his daughter, as if he would protect herfrom any more such advances.

  All this was noted and understood by the watcher in the tree, when thelatter was recalled to his own situation by a slight rustling below.Looking down, he was able to see by the light of the camp-fire thefigure of a Seneca Indian, as he walked softly in the direction of thecamp.