CHAPTER NINE.
As we rode round the head of the train, we saw to our sorrow that theRedskins had already fought their way to two of the centre waggons, thewhite men belonging to which were engaged in a fierce fight with them.Armitage took an anxious glance at the occupants of the leading waggon.
"Who commands this train?" he asked eagerly of one of the drivers.
The man, owing to the war-whoops of the savages, the shrieks of thewomen, and the shouts of his companion, did not perhaps hear thequestion, and there was no time to repeat it as we swooped by. Alreadyit appeared to us that the work of murder had commenced. Two or threeof the people lay on the ground, and while part of the Indians werefighting, some were engaged in attempting to drag off the femaleoccupants of the waggon. To prevent them succeeding in their desperateattempt was our first object. Leaving the Indians we had intended tocharge, we turned our horses and dashed forward towards the point whereour services were most required. The savages saw us coming, and most ofthem leaving the waggon, some leapt on their horses, while othersattempted to defend themselves on foot. Firing a volley from our rifleswhich brought several to the ground, we rushed at our foes. Just then Isaw, to my horror, an Indian, who by his dress appeared to be a chief,dragging off a female, a fair girl she seemed, whom he lifted on hishorse. In vain she struggled to free herself. He was mounted on apowerful animal which he evidently had under perfect command. Shoutingto his followers he galloped off, while they stood their ground boldly.We dashed at them pistoling some and cutting down others; but not untilhalf their number lay dead on the ground or desperately wounded did theyattempt to escape; by which time the main body were almost up to us.Leaving the first to be dealt with by the emigrants who had rallied, wereloaded our rifles and charged the larger party of the enemy. Theyreceived us with a shower of arrows, by which, wonderful as it seemed,none of us were wounded. The odds, however, were fearfully against us;for the Indians fought bravely, and rapidly wheeling their horsesattacked us now in front, now on our flanks, and we had to turn everyinstant to defend ourselves. Several of their number had been shot.Dick and Armitage were wounded, and Pierre's horse was killed. It waswith the greatest difficulty that we defended him until he managed tomake his escape towards the waggons. I shouted to him to send some ofthe men to our assistance. We in the meantime having fired our riflesand pistols had our swords alone to depend upon. They served us well,and the Indians, as we approached, evidently showed their dread of themby endeavouring to get out of their reach as we flashed them round ourheads. Still, numbers might prevail, unless we could speedily compelthe Indians to take to flight.
In the meantime, what had become of the female I had seen carried off!I could not tell whether Armitage or the rest had witnessed theoccurrence; but, whether or not, it would be impossible to attempt herrescue until we had defeated our present opponents. If we could haveretreated even to a short distance to reload our firearms, we would havedone so, but our agile foes gave us no time. I scarcely even dared tolook round to ascertain if any help was coming; probably the emigrantshad enough to do in keeping in check other parties of Indians who werethreatening them. The fight had not continued many minutes, though itseemed to me as many hours, when an Indian charged at Armitage with along spear, the weapon pierced his side, and over rolled horse and man.Another savage was coming on to repeat the blow, when Long Sam, dashingup, cut down the first savage, and then engaged the second. Our friend,notwithstanding, would speedily have been killed, had we not ralliedround him and kept the enemy at bay; while, although evidently muchhurt, he managed to regain his feet.
Now deprived of two of our number, and having to defend Armitage as wellas ourselves, we were nearly overpowered. At any moment another of usmight be wounded. The Indians, seeing their advantage, retreated to ashort distance, in order to make another fierce charge, the result ofwhich would very probably have been our overthrow, when we heard a loudshout raised in our rear, and presently, with a wild war-cry of "Erin gobragh," a strange figure dashed by us, mounted on a powerful horse, witha target on one arm, and a broadsword flashing in his right hand.Several arrows were shot at him, but he caught them on his target, anddashed on unharmed. The first Indian he attacked bit the dust; anothermade at him, the head of whose spear he lopped off with a single blow,and he then clove his opponent from the crown of the head to the neck.On seeing this, the Indians, crying out to each other, turned theirhorses' heads and attempted to escape.
Their flight was expedited by several of the emigrants who, brought upby Pierre, fired a volley at them as they retreated. On looking at theold warrior who had come so opportunely to our aid, what was my surpriseto recognise Ben Folkard.
The diversion thus made in our favour, had enabled the emigrants to formtheir waggons into a square, so as to be able to repel any furtherattacks of the Indians, who showed no disposition however to come on.Our first care was to commit Armitage--the most severely wounded of ourparty--to the charge of Pierre and the emigrants who had accompaniedhim. Lifting him up between them, they carried him to the waggons.
"I'm main sure that Mr Praeger will be grateful to the gentlemen," Iheard one of the men say.
As the man uttered the name, the thought flashed across me, "Could ithave been one of his daughters, or Miss Hargrave, I had seen carriedoff? Poor Armitage, how fearful would be his feelings should he findthat his Ellen had disappeared. As soon as I could, I turned to the oldtrapper and anxiously inquired what had become of Charley."
"I left him in safe keeping," he answered, "but, finding from acompanion of mine who rejoined me after you had gone that the Indianswere about to attack the train in greater force than I had at firstsupposed, I resolved to come to your assistance."
"You did well," observed Dick, who came up while he was speaking. "Hadit not been for your arrival, I suspect that one and all of us wouldhave gone down, for those rascals pressed us hard."
We had been proceeding towards a height which commanded a view in thedirection our late opponents were supposed to have taken, and we werethankful to see them moving off, forming a more numerous body than wehad at first supposed. We accounted for this by concluding that, whileone portion of the savages attacked the train, the others had remainedconcealed to act as a reserve should the first not succeed. What hadbecome of the female I had seen carried off, we could not ascertain. Wecould nowhere distinguish her, but she might easily have been concealedfrom our sight if she were among the leading Indians.
Our party, however, was too small to pursue the fugitives, with anychance of recovering her. On reaching the camp formed by the train, weat once repaired to Mr Praeger's waggon. We found him and his familyalmost overcome with grief and anxiety. Two of his sons were severelywounded, and Miss Hargrave had disappeared. My worst fears wererealised. She must have been the person I had seen carried off by theIndian chief.
No one was certain as to the direction her captor had taken, for hisfollowers immediately surrounded him, and they had retreated together.Three men of the emigrant party had been killed, and half a dozen moreor less wounded. They were full of gratitude to us for coming to theirassistance; for they acknowledged, surprised as they had been, thatevery one of them might have been massacred had we not attacked thesavages. We on our part had to thank the trapper for his assistance.When, however, we looked round for him, he had disappeared, and some ofthe people said they had seen him galloping back in the direction fromwhich he had come. We guessed therefore that he had returned to takecare of our friend Charley. Poor Armitage had been placed in one of thewaggons, and a surgeon who had accompanied the train was attending tohis wounds. He had not been told of what had happened to Miss Hargrave.
We had now to consider what was next to be done. Of course we allagreed that the first thing was to endeavour to recover the young lady.The leaders of the train, in consequence of having so many wounded amongthem, resolved to remain encamped where they were, as the neighbourhoodafforded wood and water, with
abundance of game, and they felt prettyconfident that the Indians would not again venture to attack them.Pierre and Long Sam at once volunteered to visit old Folkard's camp, andto assist in bringing on Charley, should he, as we hoped would be thecase, be in a fit state to be moved. They also promised to consult thetrapper, as his experience would be of value in forming a plan for therecovery of the young lady: that she had been killed, we none of uscould bring ourselves to believe.
All hands were now employed in strengthening the camp,--Dick, Story, andI, assisted our friends, working as hard as any one. We were of usealso in attending to poor Armitage. I was afraid every moment that hewould inquire for Miss Hargrave, for he would naturally wonder that shehad not appeared.
As may be supposed, we kept a very strict watch at night, while all themen lay down with their arms by their sides under the waggons, with thecattle placed in the centre of the square; but no Indians, we believed,came near us.
As the morning advanced, I looked out eagerly for the arrival ofCharley. We were anxious to place him under the protection of ourfriends, and until Pierre and Long Sam came, we could take no steps forthe recovery of Miss Hargrave. We talked the subject over with MrPraeger, who was naturally too much agitated to be able with sufficientcalmness to design any feasible plan of operation.
At length, greatly to our relief, soon after mid-day Pierre and Long Samappeared with two other men, carrying Charley on a litter; while oldFolkard and another trapper followed, leading the horses and ladenmules. Charley was much revived, and declared that he could have walkedhad his companions allowed him; but when he came to be placed on hisfeet, it was very evident that he could not have proceeded many yards byhimself.
No time was lost in holding a council round the camp fire, while the newarrivals ate the dinner provided for them. Old Folkard advised that weshould in the first place examine the neighbourhood of the camp, inorder to try and discover the trail of Miss Hargrave's captor, for LongSam was of opinion that, though he might have been accompanied by a fewof his braves, he had not gone off with the larger body of Redskins.Charley, who listened attentively to all that was said, agreed with LongSam; and, as he had been so long amongst the tribe, his opinion was ofvalue. He was certain that it was only a chief who was likely to havecommitted such an act, probably the younger brother of the head chief;who, Charley said, had frequently talked to him of the beauty of thepale faced women, and of his intention of obtaining one of them for hiswife. This had always greatly angered his elder brother, who haddeclared, should he bring a pale-face to their lodges, that he should beturned out of the tribe, and that she should be put to death. Charleywas certain, therefore, that Black Eagle--so the chief was called--wouldnot return to his people; and that, should we be able to discover histrail, we should find him protected with only a small band, with whom itwould not be difficult to deal.
The first thing was to discover the trail, and Folkard, Long Sam, andPierre set out for the purpose. We, in the meantime, were engaged inorganising the pursuing party, if so I may call it. Dick, thoughwounded, made light of the matter, and insisted on going. Folkard hadoffered to take all his people. Besides Story and I, we had Pierre, andLong Sam, the Canadian, and two other men; making altogether awell-armed party of twelve, mostly experienced hunters and backwoodsmen,accustomed all their lives to encounters with the red men.
Long Sam, who in his wanderings in South America had learned the use ofthe lasso, never went on an expedition without carrying a long coil ofrope at his saddle bow; which he used, not only for catching horses, butfor stopping the career of a wounded buffalo or deer; and he had, heasserted, made captives at different times of several Indians by whom hehad been attacked, when they, approaching within the radius of his longline, were surprised to find themselves jerked to the ground and draggedalong at a rate which rendered all resistance useless.
It was late in the evening when the three trappers returned. They haddiscovered a trail made by a small party, though they had been unable todecide whether it was that which had carried off the lady, until LongSam, observing an object glittering on the ground, had, on picking itup, found it to be a golden locket, such as was not likely to havebelonged to an Indian. On showing it to Mr Praeger and his family,they at once recognised it as having been worn by Miss Hargrave, thusleaving us in no doubt on the subject.
It was too late that night to follow up the trail, though every momentwas precious. We had to wait therefore, until about three hours beforedawn; when, mounting our steeds, we rode forward under the guidance ofold Folkard, expecting at daybreak to reach the spot where the lockethad been found. We agreed to breakfast there, and then to follow up thetrail as soon as there was sufficient light to see it.
We carried out our plan, and the rising sun saw us pushing eagerlyforward, the trail being sufficiently marked to enable the practicaleyes of our guides to detect it.
To our surprise, instead of keeping to the right, as both old Folkardand Long Sam expected, it turned suddenly to the left, in the directionthe main body had taken.
"There's a reason for this," observed Folkard, after we had ridden someway. "See, there was a message sent by the head chief to Black Eagle.Look, there is the trail of his horse, but whether the young chiefjoined the main body we shall know by and by."
This information was a great disappointment, as it would render ourenterprise far more difficult, for we should now have the whole tribe todeal with instead of a small party as we expected.
We were not to be deterred, however, and rode forward as rapidly as thenecessary examination of the trail would allow. At last we had to haltand rest our horses, but we refrained from lighting a fire and ate ourprovisions cold.
As soon as possible we again pushed forward, but darkness coming on wehad again to camp. Of course we did not light a fire, lest, should ourenemies be in the neighbourhood, they might discover us.
Our faithful attendants kept watch, insisting that Story and I shouldlie down and take the rest we so greatly needed.
Next morning, instead of riding on together, Long Sam undertook to scoutin advance, that we might not come suddenly upon the enemy, who it wasbelieved could not be far ahead. We were passing round a wood whenpresently we heard a shout, and directly afterwards caught sight of LongSam galloping towards us followed by an Indian--evidently a chief, fromhis war plumes and gaily bedecked shield,--but as we got nearer we sawthat a rope was round the Indian's body, and that he was attempting tofree himself from it. He was on the point of drawing his knife when, bya sudden jerk, Long Sam brought him to the ground.
Folkard and Pierre, throwing themselves from their horses, rushedforward to seize him before he had regained his feet. Pierre, with hisknife in his hand, was about to plunge it into the heart of the Indian;but I shouted out to him to desist, and Long Sam drawing tight thelasso, the next instant dragged the Indian clear of his frightenedsteed, which galloped off leaving him utterly helpless. Springing uponhim, we then secured his arms by some leathern thongs, and removed thelasso from round his body.
"He is Black Eagle, no doubt about that," cried old Folkard. "What haveyou done with the lady you carried off?" he added in the Indian tongue.
The prisoner refused to reply.
"If the chief will tell us what we want to know, he shall live; but, ifnot, he must be prepared to die," said Long Sam.
An expression of irresolution passed over the Indian's countenance.
"I would that I could tell the pale-faces where she is to be found, butshe has been taken from me; though, if they will restore me to liberty,I will endeavour to find her," he said at length.
"If the chief speaks the truth, he will find the palefaces willing togrant him any favour he may ask," said Long Sam; then, turning to us, headded, "We must not trust the rascal. Though decked with fine feathershe has a cowardly heart, I suspect. We'll keep him bound and take himwith us. If he plays us false, knock him on the head without scruple;that's my advice. We must not let his horse escape, h
owever; wait herewhile I catch the animal."
Saying this, Long Sam threw himself into the saddle, and taking hislasso which he had again coiled up, started off in the direction theIndian's horse had taken. In a shorter time than I had expected, hereturned leading the animal by the lasso which he had thrown over itsneck, and whenever it became restive, a sudden jerk quickly brought itagain under subjection.
"Of course, it won't do to put the Redskin on his own horse, or he maybe giving us the slip. He shall have mine," said Long Sam, "and old`Knotty' will stick by us, even if Mr Black Eagle should try and gallopoff."
We now, by means of the three hunters, endeavoured to obtain all theinformation we could from our captive.
He acknowledged that he had carried off the palefaced girl, and that heintended to make her his bride; but that he had been inveigled into thecamp of his people, when she had been taken from him; and that, when hecomplained, he had been turned away to seek his own fortunes.
As we had no reason to doubt his word we asked him to guide us towherever his people were now encamped, making him promise to warn us aswe drew near the spot so that we might not be taken by surprise. Wekept a bright look out on Black Eagle, Long Sam hinting gently that,should he show any treachery, he would be immediately shot through thehead. The warning was not lost upon our friend. We rode on and on,until the sun sinking in the west showed us that we must again camp.
Black Eagle informed us that we should probably not reach his peopleuntil late on the following day. We had therefore to restrain ouranxiety, and trust to his assurances that there were no Indians in theneighbourhood. We lighted a fire to cook a deer which Long Sam had shotjust before we reached the camp.
We were seated round the fire enjoying our suppers, the firstsatisfactory meal we had taken since we started, when the well-known cryof a pack of wolves reached our ears. From the yelps and barks whichthey continued to utter in full chorus, we knew that they were in chaseof some unfortunate animal which they hoped to drag to the ground.
The sounds grew nearer and nearer, but as the spot where we wereencamped was surrounded with rocks and trees we could not see to anydistance. At last Dick jumped up, saying he must have a look at thewolves and the animal they were chasing. Story and I quickly followed.
"They are not worth powder and shot," observed Long Sam, butnotwithstanding he came after us, as did indeed the whole party.
Just then the moon rose behind the cliffs, shedding a bright light overthe rocky ground which surrounded the spot. From where we stood, wecould see an animal, apparently a horse, dashing on at full speed with asavage pack of llovo wolves close at its heels. The next instant, as itcame bounding on over the rocks, what was our horror to observe a femaleform lashed to its back.
To stop it in its mad career seemed impossible. The only hope was toshoot some of the wolves, and thus give a better chance for the escapeof the horse. As I fired, I heard several other shots, and saw thatmost of the brutes, already at the horse's heels, were rolled over.Still the condition of the female was perilous in the extreme. Unlesswe could catch our own horses, and overtake the affrighted steed, herdestruction appeared inevitable. Scarcely had this thought flashedacross my mind, when I saw Long Sam, who had thrown himself onhorseback, galloping along with his lasso to intercept the runaway.
I ran as I had never run before, regardless of the wolves, in the samedirection. As I passed by I saw that the pack had stopped and werealready engaged in tearing to pieces the brutes we had shot. In aninstant afterwards, it seemed, I observed Long Sam's lasso cast withunerring aim over the neck of the frantic steed, which plunged andreared, but happily did not fall over. In another moment Sam had drawnthe lasso so tightly round its neck that it was unable to move.
We sprang forward, cut the thongs which bound the female to the animal'sback, and lifting her to the ground, carried her out of danger. Shestill breathed, though apparently perfectly unconscious. The light ofthe moon showed us the features of Ellen Hargrave.
We did not stop to see what Long Sam did with the captured horse, but atonce carried the young lady to the camp, when, by sprinkling her facewith water and bathing her hands, she in a short time was restored toconsciousness.
Her first impulse was to return thanks to heaven for her preservation.Looking up he recognised Dick and me.
"Where is Harry? Where is Mr Armitage?" she asked, evidentlyconcluding that he must be of our party.
Dick replied that he was safe in the camp with her friends; that we hadbeaten the savages who had attacked them, and, finding that she had beencarried off, had come in search of her. Though we did not inquire howshe had been treated in the Indian camp, she without hesitation told usthat Black Eagle had been compelled to release her by his superiorchief; when, having been kept in a wigwam by herself for some hours, shehad been bound to a horse, which being led away from the camp had beendriven out into the wilds. She was fully prepared, she said, for alingering death, but still she prayed that she might be preserved. Allhope however had gone when she heard in the distance the howls of thewolves, and the horse sprang forward on its mad career over the rockyground. "The rest you know," she added. "I would thankfully forgetthose fearful moments."
I must make a long story short. Miss Hargrave appeared much recoveredafter a night's rest in the hut we built for her, and the next morningwe formed a litter on which we carried her a day's journey; but on thefollowing morning she insisted on mounting one of the horses, and, aside-saddle being prepared, she performed the rest of the distance tocamp with out apparent suffering.
I need not say that she was received by her relatives as one returnedfrom the dead, while they expressed their gratitude to us by every meansin their power. Armitage, they stated, had been in a very precariousstate, but he revived on seeing Miss Hargrave, and quickly regained hisstrength. We allowed the Black Eagle to go free with his horse andarms, he promising, in return for the merciful treatment he hadreceived, that he would in future be the friend of the pale-faces. Thewounded men having now recovered sufficiently to travel, camp wasstruck, and the train continued its course westward.
We, of course, felt ourselves in honour bound to escort our friends ontheir way; and, although we at first talked of leaving them as soon asall fear of an attack from the Indians had passed, we continued on fromday to day.
Before the journey was over, it was generally known that Armitage was tomarry Miss Hargrave, while Dick and Story, though supposed to beconfirmed bachelors, lost their hearts to the two youngest MissPraegers; and a very pleasant wedding it was which took place soon afterour arrival at Mr Praeger's new location. We frequently afterwards metin old England, where my friends took their wives, and many a long yarnwas spun about our adventures in the wild regions of the "Far West."
THE END.
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