narrowly escaped breaking his neck--that we werecompelled to halt. As well as we were able to do so in the dark, we putup a shelter for Juanita. The night passed quietly, and the next day wereached Fort King.
Nothing of importance had occurred during our absence. My father wasstill far from well, and very anxious about my uncle and the party whohad accompanied him; for nothing had been heard of them, and it wasfeared that they might have been surprised by the Indians and cut off,as many other parties had been. Our great wish, therefore, was to setoff to ascertain their fate. Should we discover my uncle, it would be agreat relief to him to know that his daughter was in comparative safety.
Juanita's position, however, was far from pleasant: though she had herbrother, her uncle, and me, there was no female in the fort to attend onher, and the best accommodation which could be provided was rough in theextreme.
How to proceed was now the question. If she were left in the fort,either Carlos or my father must remain with her. My father was ill, andunfit for any fatigue, though he might have been able to perform an easyjourney of short stages. It was therefore decided that he should remainin the fort, and that as many men as could be spared,--includingLejoillie, Carlos, and I,--under the command of Captain Norton, shouldset off to search for my uncle. Should we discover him, our plan was toreturn directly to Fort King, and from thence make our way to the SaintJohn River, by which we could descend to Castle Kearney. It waspossible, however, that by this time my uncle had returned home, thoughhe was not likely to have done so without having obtained tidings of hisdaughter. We therefore resolved, after giving the horses a day's rest,to set out on our fresh expedition.
To my surprise, Rochford excused himself from accompanying us, althoughhe did not intend to remain in the fort. "I have a duty," he said, "toperform to others; and while fully alive to the dangers I shall run inpassing through the country alone, it must be done."
I asked him what it was.
"There are some who have put confidence in me, and I cannot disappointthem; besides which, I have still some hopes of inducing Oceola to suefor peace, and to endeavour to obtain by lawful means the object hedesires," he answered.
"But should he discover that you assisted to carry off Juanita, how willhe treat you?"
"As he has hitherto done. He is not likely to be informed of thecircumstance; and if he were, I do not fear the consequences to myself,"he replied.
Before we set out, Rochford had left the fort.
Black Hawk had hitherto remained a prisoner at large in the fort. Hewas narrowly watched, but he had not made the slightest attempt toescape. When he heard of the death of Spotted Wolf, and that he hadbeen killed by Carlos, he remarked that it served him right, as he hadcome for the purpose of betraying us, and would have succeeded had wetrusted him.
This frank avowal of Black Hawk fully satisfied the commandant andCaptain Norton of his honesty; and as they considered that he would beof great service to us, they asked him whether he would join ourexpedition. He appeared to hesitate, observing that should any of hiscountrymen capture him, his death would be certain.
Captain Norton replied that we would protect him to the best of ourpower, and he finally accepted our offer.
Besides those I have mentioned, we had only fifteen men--a small partyto venture through the country in its present state. More, however,could not be spared. We on horseback would be detained by those onfoot; but they were active fellows, well inured to fatigue, and wouldget rapidly over the ground, and we expected to make rapid marches,absolutely necessary in an expedition of the nature we had undertaken.
Carlos was in high spirits, and seemed not to have a doubt as to hisfather's safety. It was proposed to place Black Hawk on horseback, buthe declined the offer, saying that he could march faster and with lessfatigue than any of the Palefaces, and that he would accompany us onfoot.
For the first two days we pushed on at a rapid rate, not meeting withany recent Indian trails. Black Hawk, indeed, declared his belief thatthe red men had retired to the north-west, and that we should not fallin with them. At length, however, at the end of the third day, we cameupon the remains of recent campfires and trails, which showed that aconsiderable body of Indians had lately been in that part of thecountry. We kept very close together, although the direction which thetrails took showed that Black Hawk was right in his conjecture as to theinsurgents having moved to the north-west, and we hoped therefore toavoid them. In case, however, any should have remained in theneighbourhood, we moved to the right, and chose as eligible a spot as wecould find for our camp, with a thick wood to the west, which wouldconceal our fires, and an impassable marsh on the opposite side. Toprevent the risk of a surprise, scouts were sent out to examine thecountry, to ascertain that no enemy was near at hand. Carlos and twomen, accompanied by Black Hawk, went in one direction, Tim and I inanother, intending to separate, while Lejoillie remained with CaptainNorton in the camp. We were charged not to go far, and to return beforedarkness came on. My companion and I each made a tolerably widecircuit, examining every spot which could conceal a foe, when we againmet.
"Not the shadow of an enemy," observed Tim. "It's my belief that theRedskins have taken themselves off as far as they can get from thewhites, and won't be eager to meet any of us."
It was quite dark by the time we got back to the camp; but neitherCarlos nor the men who had accompanied him on foot had made theirappearance. We waited for some time, until we began to grow anxious.At last footsteps were heard, and two men were seen coming towards thecamp. They proved to be those who had accompanied Carlos and BlackHawk. They reported that they had got separated in a wood from theyoung master and the Indian, and that although they had searched abouteverywhere, they could not find them or discover their trail.
This announcement caused considerable anxiety. Captain Norton blamedthe men for their carelessness; but they declared that Carlos himselfhad told them the course they were to take, and that they had followedno other. We waited for some time, hoping that my young cousin would,guided by the fire, find his way to camp. The Indian would, at allevents, be able to lead him right. But what if, after all, Black Hawkhad proved treacherous? I was thankful when Captain Norton, afterwaiting for another hour, decided to send out three or four men. Timand I begged that we might go; and Lejoillie offered to accompany us.As our horses were tolerably fresh, we should get over more ground thanthe men on foot, so we at once set out in the direction Carlos hadtaken. The moon, we knew, would shortly rise and enable us to see ourway. We knew that in the immediate neighbourhood of the camp there wasbut little risk of our falling in with an enemy; but it was possible,should we continue on to any distance from it, that we might findourselves unexpectedly in the presence of a band of Redskins. Lejoillieat last proposed that we should return, observing that Carlos could notintentionally have gone as far, and that if he had met with anyaccident, we should find him nearer the camp.
Just after he had said this, I noticed, near the edge of a wood, alight, as if from a small fire. I pointed it out to Lejoillie and Tim.We at all events were bound to examine it, and at once rode forward. Aswe drew nearer, we could hear the howling and yelping of wolves.Presently the moon rose beyond the far-extending prairie, and showed usa wood on one side, with a number of large birds flitting to and fro, orhovering about the fire.
"Some one lies there, depend upon it," said Lejoillie. "Those birds,like the wolves, gather only to feed on the dead."
We galloped forward. On the ground before the fire lay the body of aman, with an arrow sticking in his breast. If dead, he was only justso, for the savage brutes had not yet commenced their banquet. As weapproached they retreated, still howling, to a distance. I threw myselffrom my horse, oppressed by a terrible dread that the body was that ofmy cousin. A glance at the features, on which the light of the firefell, convinced me of the sad fact. It seemed as if only just then thebreath had left his body, for it was still warm. I was joined byLejoillie, while Tim held t
he horses.
"We can do nothing for him, I fear," said my friend, feeling his pulse."Even had there been life in him, the moment we withdrew the arrow hewould have died. Let me warn you it is no safe place; the fellow whokilled him may be watching to shoot us. We must be away from this, andit will be time enough to consider as we go along how he came here andmet with his death. We will carry him with us to the camp, poor boy,and prevent him being torn to pieces by the wolves."
Tim was inclined to give way to a howl of sorrow in honour of the youngmaster, but I stopped him. He insisted, however, on carrying the body,as the last mark of respect he could show to my uncle's son. "It wouldhave broken my heart entirely, Mr. Maurice, if it had been you. It'sbad enough, sure, as it is," he exclaimed, as he placed the inanimateform across his saddle.
We galloped on, feeling that it was more than likely that we should havea