CHAPTER XXI.
THE CAMP OF THE WINNEBAGOS.
Now that the little party had started once more toward the camp in theOzark Mountains, they moved at a brisk pace. It took them but a shorttime to reach the main trail, where there was a short pause whileDeerfoot made what may be called a microscopic scrutiny of the ground.
The result did not please him, for he saw the proof that the Wolf hadturned to the right, and had preceded them over the route which theywere to follow. He would have been better satisfied had he crossed thetrail or turned the other way. The fact that he had gone southward meantthat the main party which he was seeking to join were in that direction,though the keen eyes of the Shawanoe could detect no signs that they hadtrodden the same ground. That signified nothing, however, as they mighthave pursued a slightly different route, falling back upon the main pathfurther on.
Deerfoot, in telling his young friends what he had learned, added thathe had no doubt that they would hear from the Winnebagos again, andpossibly at an hour when least expected. Fred Linden was disturbed moreby the knowledge that the party were approaching the camp where hisfather and his companions were unsuspicious of the danger. They couldeasily steal close enough to the cabin to shoot down all three withoutwarning.
When he mentioned his fear to Deerfoot, that sagacious young warriortold him that he saw no cause for anxiety, though he could not deny thatsomething of the kind might take place. His theory was that theWinnebagos were not disposed to attack any party of whites in merewantonness, the act of the Wolf being the whim of a singlegnarly-brained warrior.
Be that as it may, our young friends were anxious to make the bestprogress they could, and, for fully a dozen miles, they kept up theirbrisk gait. At the end of that time, the sun was overhead, and theywere obliged to stop on the bank of a broad, swiftly-flowing stream. Theprints made by the hoofs of the horses that had passed that way somedays before were plainly seen, though there had been a fall of rainsince. A glance at the water showed that it was so deep that the huntersmust have swam their animals across.
It would have been an easy matter for the boys to swim also, but theypreferred to use a raft. Accordingly, they set to work, and it did nottake them long to gather enough logs and driftwood to float all three.These were deftly fastened together by Deerfoot, who used hickory withesfor that purpose, and, then, with a long pole which he cut and trimmedwith his tomahawk, he pushed from shore.
The propelling pole was fully fifteen feet long, and in the middle ofthe stream, the boys were surprised to see that when one end was pressedagainst the bottom, no more than two feet were above the surface: thedepth was much greater than they had suspected.
It was hard work to keep the clumsy raft moving at such disadvantage,but Deerfoot would not yield the pole to either of his companions, and,after awhile, he drove it against the shore, and all stepped upon dryland, without so much as their feet having become moistened.
They had been carried some distance below the trail by the current, butthey quickly regained it, and pushed on. Having eaten nothing sincemorning, all three were ahungered, but Fred and Terry grimly determinedto wait for Deerfoot to suggest a stop before they asked for it. Hadthey but known that many a time, when on the tramp, he had gone two daysand nights without taking a mouthful, they would not have been sowilling to await his pleasure.
But though he would not have thought of stopping before nightfall had hebeen alone, he was too considerate to subject them to discomfort; but itwas useless to stop, since as yet they had seen nothing in the way ofgame to shoot.
Terry and Fred were beginning to feel impatient with each other becauseof their mutual stubbornness when the Shawanoe, who had been walkingquite fast, slackened his pace and turning his head, said:
"My brothers are hungry, and they shall have to eat."
"Ye couldn't tell us better news," replied the grateful Terry, "though Iwould be obliged to ye if ye would impart the information where there isany chance of our gettin' any such thing, as the people used to say whinme uncle on me mother's side offered to bet a sixpence on anythin'."
Deerfoot made no answer, but walking still more slowly, he was seen toraise his hand to his mouth. Then followed the peculiar cry that a wildturkey makes when it is lost from its companions. The Shawanoe knew thatthe birds were in the surrounding woods, though none had shown itself.
By and by there was an answer to the call from a point ahead. Asking theboys to wait where they were, he trotted lightly forward, and was notabsent ten minutes when he came back with a plump turkey, whose neck hehad wrung.
Since the lads had heard no report of a gun, they wanted to know by whatmeans he had secured it. He replied that he had stood behind a tree andrepeated the call until a group of the birds approached within a fewrods, when he made a dash among them, and seized his prize before shecould spread her wings and fly--all of which told of a dexterity thatfew others possessed.
In a brief while, a good dinner was boiled over the coals, a short resttaken, and the three were on the road again, it being their wish totravel further than on the day before. Had Deerfoot been alone he wouldhave broken into a trot that would have doubled the distance before theset of sun.
But the trail over which they were walking grew rougher. It was so rockyin some places that it must have tried the endurance of the horsesridden by the hunters. Instead of being direct, it grew very sinuous,made so by the efforts to avoid many formidable obstacles that rose infront. All this was of little account to the dusky leader, though ofnecessity it prolonged the journey, and he was obliged to slacken hispace to suit those who were less accustomed to such work.
It was about the middle of the afternoon, when they were checked againby coming abreast of a stream that was too broad and deep to be forded.The trail, however, instead of entering the water, turned up the bank,and the three, under the leadership of Deerfoot, did the same.
This diversion continued for fully two hundred yards, when the pathstruck the water, the point on the other side where the horsemen hademerged being in plain sight. The former method was resorted to, and inless than an hour after reaching the creek the three had safely ferriedthemselves across. It was neither so broad nor so deep as the other, butit delayed them fully as much.
Within a half mile from the stream last crossed they came upon the trailof the whole Winnebago party. Just as Deerfoot suspected, they had takenanother route, and had come back to the main path a good many miles awayfrom where the Wolf left it the night before.
His experienced eye told him that they were close upon the company, whonumbered precisely twelve--several more than he supposed. Whether theWolf was with them could not of course be learned until a glimpse of theparty themselves was obtained.
Matters had now taken such a shape that the Shawanoe told his companionsthat the utmost care must be used, since they were liable to stumble onthe very ones whom they were anxious to avoid. He instructed them toallow him to keep fully a hundred feet in advance, and never to diminishthe distance without orders from him.
This was a prudent step, and Fred and Terry did their best to carry outthe wishes of their guide, who walked on at a moderate pace, withoutonce glancing back at his friends, who he knew would respect what he hadsaid to them.
Bear in mind that this arrangement was made toward the close of theafternoon of an autumn day. The three had not traveled more than twomiles, with the leader so far in advance, when the gathering gloombecame such that he would not have been visible to his followers had henot fallen back so as to keep in sight.
Finally, when less than a dozen yards separated them, and the gracefulfigure of the young Shawanoe looked like a shadow gliding in advance, hesuddenly halted. The eyes of the boys were upon him, and they saw himraise his hand as a signal to stop; they obeyed without so much as awhisper.
He stood like a statue for two or three minutes, and then, turning hishead without moving his body, beckoned them to approach. They couldbarely see the motion of his arm, as they steppe
d softly to his side;but before reaching him, they caught the glimmer of a light among thetrees, somewhat in front and to the right. When they stood near him,they saw it more distinctly.
In a partly open space, near the invariable stream of water, were agroup of Indians, some stretched lazily on the ground, some squattedlike tailors, two busy cooking something over the fire, and nearly everyone smoking long-stemmed, stone pipes. They were a sturdy set ofwarriors, who were likely to give a good account of themselves in ahunt or fight, and both Fred and Terry knew who they were beforeDeerfoot, with his arm extended and his finger pointing toward them,said:
"It is the camp of the Winnebagos!"