CHAPTER SIX.
OUR POWDER EXPENDED--I BELIEVE THAT MY LAST MOMENT HAS ARRIVED--UNEXPECTED SUCCOUR--A DANGEROUS PREDICAMENT--OBED'S GALLANTRY--OURENEMIES TAKE TO FLIGHT--WE RECOMMENCE OUR JOURNEY--GENEROSITY OF THE OLDCHIEF--OFFERS ME TWO WIVES INSTEAD OF ONE--OBED'S NARRATIVE--HOW HEESCAPED FROM THE BEAR--A FRESH ALARM--THE APPROACH OF A STRANGER.
The infuriated Dacotahs thronged thickly around us, uttering the mosthorrible yells and shrieks, those in the distance plying us incessantlywith their arrows and darts, while those in the front ranks keptwhirling their tomahawks above our heads, watching for an opportunity tosend them crashing down upon our skulls. Not a shot was heard; ourrifles were useless; all our powder was expended. We fought as mendriven to desperation generally will fight for none of us had, I amsure, the faintest hope of escaping with our lives; for my part, I fullybelieved that the next moment would be my last. Old Waggum-winne-beghad received a desperate wound on his shoulder, and had been beaten tothe ground; the gallant Pipestick had been brought on his knee, and Ifound myself without support on either side just as a gigantic chiefwith uplifted battle-axe made a desperate rush at me. I raised thebutt-end of my rifle, which had hitherto done me such good service, toparry the blow, but I felt conscious that it would not avail me. I wasin the power of my vindictive enemy. I saw the keen-edged weaponglittering in the first beams of the rising sun, as the gloriousluminary of day appeared above the snow-covered plain; I felt as if inanother instant it would come crushing through my brain, when the sharpcrack of a distant rifle sounded in my ear, and I saw my enemy leap upin the air and fall dead at my side, his axe missing my head and justgrazing my arm.
I eagerly looked forth in the direction whence the shot had come, todiscover, if I could, by whom I had been preserved. I could as yet seeno one, but I observed that our assailants were influenced by somedisturbing cause, and were gathering together in the north-west, as ifto prepare for resisting some expected attack. Still those near usseemed resolved to gratify their vindictive feelings by destroying us ifthey could before our unknown friends could come to our aid. I hadlittle doubt that the party who had appeared so opportunely to relieveus must, by some means or other, have been collected by Obed; and Iprayed heartily that it might be of sufficient strength at once to putour enemies to flight. I had little time, however, to think about thematter. The Indians pressed us harder than ever, and scarcely a man ofus remained unwounded, while many of the poor women were hurt. The restof the women fought with as much fierceness and desperation as the men.Yet I felt that in spite of all the heroism which had been exhibited,and in spite of the aid which was so close at hand, our lives would besacrificed.
Again the Dacotahs gathered thick around us; I could not restrainmyself; I shouted loudly for help, though I scarcely expected it to besent; my shout was replied to by a hearty cheer, and nearly a dozenwhite men, followed by three times as many Indians, broke through themasses of our enemies with sword and battle-axe and club, and beat themdown or drove them back, shrieking and howling with rage and fear. Onefigure I recognised, more active than the rest, making his way towardsme. It was that of Obed.
"Hurra, old feller, hurra! I am glad you're safe, that I am," heshouted, as he sprang over the barricade, and grasped my hand.
"But we must drive these varmint away, or shoot them down, everymother's son of them, or they'll be gaining heart and coming back on us.Come on, lads; come on--hurra, hurra!"
Uttering these shouts, he again leaped out of our encampment, and,beckoning on his followers, they were all once more in pursuit of theflying enemy. Just as he went, Obed handed me a powder-flask and a bagof bullets.
"You'll want them, boy, I guess; and I have plenty," said he, as he flewoff.
I was about to join him, when I found my limbs refused to perform theiroffice. The moans also of old Waggum-winne-beg, John Pipestick, as wellas of others of my companions, made me feel that I must stay where Iwas, both for the sake of attending to them and of guarding them shouldany of the Dacotahs who might be prowling about in the wood take theopportunity, while our friends were at a distance, to rush in and scalpthem, and be off again before pursuit could be made. I have on manyoccasions found the importance of not despising an enemy. I urgedPipestick to keep a look out while I was attending to the hurts of theold chief, and helping some of the poor women who were the most severelyinjured.
I had been thus employed for some time, occasionally looking out to seehow it fared with Obed and his party in their pursuit of the enemy.Wherever they went, the Dacotahs scattered before them, but ralliedagain directly afterwards in the distance, and seemed as ready as everto renew the attack. When I looked up the next time, they were oncemore flying as chaff before the wind. I at once saw that their purposewas to weary out their pursuers, and then to unite and to make adesperate attack on them altogether. I hoped that my friends would betoo wary to be led into the snare laid for them.
I had been for some time stooping down to try and bind up the laceratedwounds of a poor fellow who had been cruelly cut about by the Indian'stomahawks, when a shout from Pipestick made me lift my head, and I saw adozen or more Dacotahs come scampering like demons out of the wood withthe evident intention of making an attack on us. I sprang to my feet,and helped Pipestick to get up. We both of us had our rifles loaded, ashad several of the Indians, from the ammunition furnished me by Obed.The cunning rogues did not know this, and thought that they were goingto catch us unprepared. We presented our rifles. They laughedderisively, as much as to say, "Oh, they will do us no harm, we knowthat." Never were they more mistaken in their lives, and it was thelast mistake they ever made. We let them come on without shrinking.
"John," said I, "let me take the fellow on my right-hand side; do youtake the next, and tell our Indian friends to follow my lead. We'llastonish those red-skins, I guess."
Pipestick did as I advised. We let the Indians approach within ahundred yards of us. On they came, making a desperate rush at us, anduttering their fearful war-whoops confident of victory.
"Now, my boys, give it them," I shouted; "and take care that every shottells."
Pipestick repeated my words. We all fired at the same moment, and sixof the Indians were knocked over. So eager were the rest that they didnot discover that their companions had fallen. They were still veryformidable antagonists. We had not time to load our rifles before theywere upon us. Pipestick, in consequence of his wounds, was scarcelyable to offer any effectual resistance, but the Indians fought bravely,and all the women who were unhurt came to our assistance. I certainlywas very far from despising their assistance. They enabled me andPipestick to fall back to load our rifles and those of our companions,and, taking a steady aim, we soon turned the fortunes of the day. Threemore Indians were knocked over, and the rest turned tail, and ran off asfast as their long legs would carry them, to avoid the shots which wesent whizzing away in their rear. My great anxiety was now to get Obedto come back into the camp, fearing lest he and his party might be ledby the manoeuvres of the enemy to too great a distance from it, and thatthe Indians might get in between us and our friends, so I resolved to gomyself.
There was no time for consideration: loading my rifle and seizing thetomahawk of one of the dead Indians, I sprang out and ran faster than Ithought I could possibly have moved. Just as I had got half-way fromthe camp towards them, another party of Indians darted out of the wood,and, setting up their war-whoops, ran out with terrible fleetnesstowards me. I ran faster, I believe, than I had ever before done,shouting out to Obed to come and rescue me. He at that time,unfortunately, was repelling a strong body of Indians, who seemed topress him very hard. I saw that I must depend on myself; I halted, and,kneeling down, took a steady aim at the headmost of my pursuers. Hewas, I thought, aware that his fate was sealed when he saw me pointingmy rifle at him. He threw up his arms even before I had fired, and thenover he fell, shot through the breast. I ran on as hard as I couldpelt. There is no disgrace running from
an overpowering enemy. Againand again I shouted at the top of my voice to Obed. The Dacotahs pushedon. I loaded as I ran. I thought if I could bring down another of themI might stop the progress of the rest. With no little difficulty I gotmy rifle-ball rammed down. I turned suddenly and rather surprised mypursuers by lifting my weapon to my shoulder and letting fly at theleading red-skin. He, as had his companion, tumbled over, but his deathonly the more exasperated the rest, and they sprang forward more intentthan ever to take my life. There was no time to load again. Thefellows were gaining most uncomfortably on me. I began to feel verymuch as a person does in a dream, when he cannot get away from monstersin chase of him.
"Obed, Obed, fire--do fire," I shouted.
At length Obed heard me, and a dozen of his followers faced about andhurried to meet my enemies. The latter, setting that their chance ofcutting me off was gone, turned tail and endeavoured to escape into thewood. I entreated my new friends not to pursue them, and they saw thewisdom of my advice. We accordingly went back to join the rest of theparty, who had come to my relief. What was my surprise and pleasure tosee three of my old friends, Obed's brothers, among them. Just then theremnant of the Dacotahs once more took to flight, and allowed my friendsleisure to address me. They hurried up and heartily shook me by thehand, telling how glad they were to find that I was alive, while Iassured them that I was equally rejoiced to find that they had escaped.We had no time, however, for talking. I urged them at once to assemblein the camp, so as to enable my friends to proceed on their journey,till they could stop at a more secure resting-place. We got back to thecamp just in time to scare away another party of Dacotahs, who likevultures had been hovering about ready to pounce down on their prey.Indeed we had enough to do to keep our scattered enemies at bay. Wefound old Waggum-winne-beg considerably recovered, and John Pipesticknot much the worse for his wounds: indeed, it is extraordinary whatknocking about a red-skin will take without suffering materially,provided he keeps clear of the fire-water.
Some of the white men, when they found that I wished to proceed farthereast, till I had seen my friends in safety, grumbled very much, and saidthat they had come to help me, but had no notion of going through somuch fatigue and danger for a set of varmint Indians. I told them inreply that I was very much obliged to them for all they had gone throughon my account, but that I was bound by every law of God, and by everyrule of right, to help those who had helped me; and that, come whatmight, I could not and would not desert them. The Raggets supported me,more especially Obed.
"Dick is right, boys!" he exclaimed. "I would do the same as heproposes, and he would not be acting like himself if he did otherwise;the Ottoes have always been friends to the white man, and I've resolvedto stick by Dick till we see them free from danger from these rascallyDacotahs."
These remarks soon won over by far the larger portion of the white mento our side, the Indians at once recognising their duty to assist theirfriends. The red-skins who had accompanied Obed were, I found, Kioways,a large tribe inhabiting the country bordering on the Rocky Mountains.I asked Obed how he had induced them to accompany him. "Oh, it is along story. I'll tell you about that and many other things, when wehave more time," he replied.
All hands now set to work to strike the tents and pack the wagons; itwas soon done, and the wounded people stowed away in them on the top oftheir goods. Some of the men rather objected to have the poor woundedwomen placed in the wagons alongside of them, and seemed to think that,as long as the unfortunate wretches had life in them they might just aswell get out and walk. Such are the chivalric notions of the Indianwarriors we read so much about in novels, and our young ladies aretaught to fancy such fine fellows. They have, notwithstanding, some fewgood qualities, but those belonging to the ancient code of chivalry arenot among them.
We had not yet done with fighting, and we had not proceeded a milebefore we caught sight of the Dacotahs hovering about us to thenorthward, watching for an opportunity to pounce down upon us. Althougha good many of their warriors had been made to bite the dust, they stillso far outnumbered our united parties that they might have some hopes,if they could take us by surprise, to cut us up altogether. This, ofcourse, we took care that they should not do. Our attention, however,was so much occupied that Obed had no time to give me an account of hisadventures. Our great wish was that the Indians would come on againonce more and allow us to give them a lesson which we hoped might teachthem to keep at a respectful distance from us. We pushed on as fast asbeasts and men could move, and just before nightfall we reached ahillock with several rocks jutting out of it, which was considered aremarkably secure spot for camping. It was well fortified by nature,but the cunning backwoodsmen were not content to trust to it in thatcondition, but at once set to work to enable it to resist any attackwhich might possibly be made on it during the night.
Our old chief, to show his gratitude to his preservers, ordered an amplesupply of provisions to be served out, and as soon as fires could belighted and the food cooked we all sat down to our repast. We at firstwere too hungry to talk, but I gleaned from one or two remarks made bymy friends that their family had escaped from the Indians, and wereencamped for the winter at some distance to the eastward. There wasplenty of dry underwood about, so we had made a blazing fire, roundwhich we were seated. We had all lighted our pipes, and Obed was aboutto begin his narrative, when an Ottoe Indian came and said a few wordsto John Pipestick, who was sitting with us.
"Our chief, Waggum-winne-beg, is anxious to see you," said he to me."He feels very ill, and as he believes you to be a mighty medicine-man,he thinks that you can certainly cure him."
I knew that there was no use in denying my power, so I at once got up togo and see the old man, accompanied by John as interpreter. He waslying down on a mat, with his head resting on a block of wood whichserved him as a pillow. He sat up as I entered, and with unusual warmthexpressed his pleasure at seeing me. I merely give the substance ofwhat he said, for he addressed a long speech to me, which he believedwould have a powerful effect on my feelings.
"Stranger," he began, "you have met with friends, and undoubtedly youcontemplate leaving the tents of the red-skins to accompany them whitherthey are going. Think well before you leave us. You shall be to us ason and a brother; we will adopt you; we will clothe you; we will paintyou; you shall become like one of us in all things. I told you that Iwould give you one of my daughters. That was when I loved you a little.Now I love you much I will give you two. One does not surpass theother. Both are superior to any of their sex in my tribe, and I mayventure to say in the world. I told you of Firefly's accomplishments;her sister Glow-worm is equal to her. You shall have a large tent wherethey can dwell together in harmony, for among their other perfectionstheir tongues are never addicted to wrangle. Take them, then, myfriend: be my son, and be happy."
This pathetic appeal did not influence me as forcibly asWaggum-winne-beg had hoped it might do. I did my best not to hurt hisfeelings, but I declined his offer. When he heard my decision he burstinto tears.
"If it must be so," he said at last, commanding himself, "so it mustbe."
Having thus delivered himself, he, like a well-bred gentleman, did notfurther press the delicate subject. After a further conversation onother subjects, I begged that he would excuse me, as I wished to go backto my white friends who were waiting for me round their camp-fire, andhaving once more carefully dressed the old man's wounds, I took mydeparture. I made Obed and his brother laugh heartily when I narratedto them the flattering offer I had received, and one or two of theircompanions, backwoodsmen of the roughest sort, seemed rather inclined tooffer themselves in my stead, as candidates for the honour of possessingthe brown ladies' hands.
"Now, Obed," said I, "I should like to hear all about your proceedings;but before you begin, I must ask you if you have placed sentries roundthe camp, and sent out scouts to discover if our foes are lurking near?"
He had, I found, placed a couple of sentri
es, one on each side of thecamp, but had not thought it necessary to send out any scouts. I urgedhim to do so, and he selected three of the most intelligent of theIndians, and directed them to feel their way out on every side of thecamp, and to ascertain whether any enemies were lurking near. Thesearrangements being made, I once more took my seat by the camp-fire. Ihave always spoken of Obed as leader of the party. So in truth he was--his elder brothers having joined him after he had formed the expedition,and put themselves under his orders.
"Now, Obed, my dear fellow, do begin to tell me how it is you came to myrescue so exactly at the nick of time," said I, lighting my pipe overthe fire and leaning back against a stone which served instead of anarm-chair. I ought to have remarked that a screen had been put up,composed of birch-bark, to serve as a shelter against the wind, so thatwe were far warmer than might have been expected in that wintry night.Our encampment had a very picturesque appearance. The white men werecollected round one fire; the Indians who had come with Obed had threeor four among them; while the tents of Waggum-winne-beg and hisfollowers were in the centre, with a fire burning in the middle of eachof them. The greater number of the Indians had thrown themselves downto rest, wrapped up in their fur mantles, under the shelter of the rocksand their birch-bark screens, with small fires at their feet. I couldsee in the distance the tall figures of those appointed to do duty assentries walking up and down on their posts, while a few were stillsitting up, bending over their fires, as they smoked their pipes andtalked over the events of the day.
"Well, Dick, since you wish it, I'll begin," said Obed. "You rememberthe worthy Delaware who came to our tent and persuaded me to accompanyhim? He proved himself a trusty guide and companion. The rest and foodhe got with us restored his strength, and we set off at good speed. Wewere fortunate in killing several turkeys and prairie-hens, so that wewere able to husband our dried pemmican, at the same time that we fedsumptuously. Very often I thought about you when we were making goodway, and I wished that you were with us. We were anxious, of course, topush on before the cold weather set in, for we knew then that we shouldhave difficulties enough to contend with. We had to be on our guardalso against enemies of all sorts--red-skin Dacotahs and Pawnees,grizzly bears, rattlesnakes, and wolves; still my companion, from hislong experience of their habits, was well able to take precautionsagainst them. I, all the time, was anxiously looking out for traces ofmy family, but we had from the first got out of their track, and we metno one from whom we could make any inquiries. We always rose with thesun, and travelled on all day as long as our strength held out; but fromweariness, or from the fear of not finding fit camping-ground, wesometimes had to stop an hour or two before sunset. We had done so onone occasion near a stream, whose steep banks sloped away down below us.While I lighted a fire, put up a wigwam, and prepared food, work towhich the Delaware had an especial dislike, as it is always performed bywomen among the Indians, he, taking his rifle, went out along the bankof the stream to try and kill a wild turkey or two to supply the placeof one I was about to cook. He was making his way onward, pushing asidethe boughs with the barrel of his weapon, when up started, not fiveyards from him, an old grey she-bear, accompanied by three or fourhalf-grown cubs. He started back to be able to make use of his rifle,but before he could bring it to his shoulder, the old bear sprang uponhim, and with a blow of her paw knocked his rifle out of his hand. Hadthat blow struck his back he would instantly have been killed, and Ishould have been left alone in the desert. I saw my friend's danger,but could do nothing to help him, for if I fired I was as likely toinjure him as the bear. As the brute was again about to strike, he drewhis long knife, for, fortunately, his right arm was free, and beganstabbing away at her neck. Notwithstanding this, the fierce monster didnot relax her gripe, while her claws went deeper and deeper into hisflesh, and the horrid cubs, coming to their dam's assistance, began toassail his legs. I was hurrying on to the assistance of my companion,resolved to lose my own life rather than not do my utmost to save his,when the bank gave way, and bear and Indian both rolled away into thestream together."
Obed had got thus far in his narrative--I have omitted some of theparticulars he told me--when the sharp crack of a rifle made us allstart up, and seizing our weapons, we hurried to that part of the campwhence it proceeded. Looking out into the darkness, we could see thefigure of a man running at full speed towards us, across the white sheetof snow with which we were surrounded. We had no doubt it was one ofthe scouts we had sent out; for who else was likely at that time to becoming to us? "If it is not one of our scouts, it may be some whitetrapper who has been caught by the Dacotahs, and has made his escapefrom them," observed John Pipestick, who had joined us. "Theyfrequently come thus far west, and those varmints are certain to havebeen on the lookout for them." While we were waiting the arrival of thestranger, a piercing shriek broke the silence of night.