CHAPTER VIII.
AN UNSUCCESSFUL PURSUIT.
After leaving the vicinity of the cabin, the Comanches struck a trailleading through a cedar brake over the hill back of the cattle shed.Here they came together, and without halting swept straight along theGuadalupe River, as previously mentioned. They felt that the whiteswould follow them, and their one hope of safety lay in gaining thewilderness about San Saba Hill, sixty to seventy miles north of SanAntonio.
The leadership of the whites naturally fell to Colonel Jim Bowie, forhe had been in numerous Indian quarrels, and was a good man on thetrail. It may be here mentioned that Bowie, who was afterward to becomeso well known in Texas, was one of two brothers who came to thatterritory from Louisiana, after having been engaged for years in theslave-trade. The man was as bold as he was daring, and it was said thathe knew not the meaning of the word fear.
The Indians were all on horseback, and as their steeds had had a longrest they were fresh, and made rapid progress. On the other hand, themustangs of the whites were tired from the hard night's ride fromGonzales and vicinity, and they could not keep up the pace, althoughurged to do their best by their riders. All of the whites bewailed thefate of Whippler, and swore to be revenged if given "the ghost of achance."
When Amos Radbury, Stover, and the two boys gained the other whites,they found Bowie's party fording one of the creeks running into theGuadalupe. The Indians had passed there about ten minutes before, andit was to be seen that they had not even stopped to water their horses.All of the settlers' horses were thirsty, and some refused to budgefrom the stream until they had slaked their thirst.
"Do you think they will be caught?" asked Dan, as he swept along besidehis father.
"They will not be caught if they can help it," replied Mr. Radbury,with a faint smile. "They know it will go hard with them if we do comeup with them."
"What of the wounded?" asked Ralph. But his father merely shrugged hisshoulders.
"They'll crawl off in the bushes, and either git away, or die,"answered Poke Stover, philosophically. To him the life of an Indian wasof no account. He had never considered that an Indian might be educatedinto becoming a useful member of the great human family.
On and on swept the little body of determined whites, each with his gunin his hands, and his eyes on the alert for the first sign of danger.The trail was still along the river, but presently it branched off, andentered an _arrayo_, or gully, thick with thorny plants and entanglingvines. At the end of the _arrayo_ was a rocky plateau, and here forthe time being the trail was lost.
"The Indian that's leading them knows his business," remarked ColonelBowie, as he brought his command to a halt.
"That's right, but we'll soon be on his tail ag'in," returned PokeStover, who had come to his side. "Let's spread out in a fan, colonel;"and this was done, each man examining his part of the great semicirclewith extreme care. A short while after, the trail was again struck, andthey swept on. But at both this place and at the ford valuable time hadbeen lost.
Noon found the Comanches still out of sight and hearing. But the trailwas fresh and easily seen, and it seemed only a question of enduranceupon one side or the other.
"If it wasn't for the jaded hosses," sighed Poke Stover. His own steedwas fairly fresh, but it would have been foolhardy for him to have goneon ahead of the main body, with perhaps only one or two others beingable to do likewise. The Comanches would have liked nothing better thanto have gotten at the whites one at a time.
As the afternoon came and went, the party in pursuit began to growhungry. A few of the horsemen had brought rations with them, and thesewere divided, each man and boy eating as he rode on. Some of the menlikewise carried liquor, and this was also divided, although Ralph andDan procured drinks of water at a spring instead. In those days it wasshare and share alike with all of the settlers, and one man wasconsidered as good as another so long as he was honest and willing towork. For dandies, from Philadelphia, New York, or other large cities,the Texans had no use, nor did they love those who tried to show offtheir learning. They were whole-souled, as it is called, to the core,and they wanted everybody else to be so, too.
It was growing dark when Bowie called a halt on the edge of a smallclearing leading up to a hill thickly overgrown with scrub pines.
"We must be careful here, men," he said. "They may be scattered alongyonder timber belt, watching for us to uncover ourselves. We had bettermove to the right and the left, and give the old signal if any of theredskins appear in sight."
The split was made, but the Radburys and Poke Stover kept together. OneIndian was discovered, and the settler who saw him at once shouted, asprearranged. Then the Indians, seeing that the attempt to draw thewhites into the open had failed, dashed along up the hillside, asrapidly as the tangle of growth permitted. A number of shots wereexchanged, but nobody was hit.
During the afternoon one of the men had brought down a wild turkey, andanother several hares, for game of all kinds was still thick.
"That will do for supper," said Mr. Radbury. "But we will have to becareful how we build a fire."
At seven o'clock the chase came to an end for the day, the jaded poniesrefusing to climb the hill that loomed up before them. One of theponies was a bucker, and threw his rider over his head into amesquite-bush.
"Thet settles Bill Darson," drawled the Texan, as he extricated himselffrom his difficulty. "When the pony kicks, I kick, too. We don't go nofurther jest now, hyer me!"
But Bowie, Mr. Radbury, and several others insisted upon gaining thebrow of the hill, as a point of vantage, and all plodded to the top,where they went into camp in the midst of the trees, half a dozen menbeing sent out to do picket duty, so that Bison Head's band might notcrawl up during the night and surprise them.
"I'd like to know what became of Wolf Ear and Hank Stiger," remarkedDan, as he flung himself on the ground, glad enough to get out of hishigh and uncomfortable Mexican saddle.
"They know enough to git out o' sight when thar's a fight on," answeredPoke Stover, with a broad laugh. "Them kind o' varmin always does."Usually the frontiersman spoke fair English, but at times he droppedinto the vernacular of the plains.
"I hope he doesn't go back to the cabin, now it's deserted," put inRalph.
"He may do that!" burst out Dan. "I never thought of it before." And hementioned the matter to his father.
"He will hardly dare to go back, for other settlers will be coming upfrom time to time," said Mr. Radbury. "He knows only too well that heis already in bad favour with all straight-forward men."
"He's a sneak," said Ralph. "But by the way, father, you haven't toldus your story yet, although we have told ours."
"There is not much to tell, Ralph. I went for the deer, as you know. Iwas dragging it back to the cabin, when I caught sight of severalIndians, and, by their movements, I saw that they wanted to cut me offand, more than likely, slay me. I at once abandoned the deer and randeeper than ever into the woods."
"Of course they followed you?" came from Dan.
"Yes, they followed me, but only one or two shots were exchanged, and Iwas not hit. I think I wounded one Indian, but I am not certain. Then Igave them the slip and climbed into the king pine, as you boys namedthe tree. You remember the signal I gave you?"
"To be sure."
"I meant I would try to get help near by, if possible. I had seenseveral lumbermen around, and I fancied they might be down the river amile or so. I ran along the river with all my might, and there met PokeStover and told him what was happening. He at once agreed to go to youraid, and urged me to arouse the settlers around Gonzales. He promisedto hold the cabin and stand by you as long as he could draw hisbreath."
"And he did it!" cried Ralph. "He's a noble man."
"At first I could find nobody at home," went on Mr. Radbury. "JoelNalitt was away, and at the Runyons' only the women folks were in. Butover to the Powers's ranch I met Powers, Anderson, Striker, and aGerman, who was a stranger, and they said they would al
l come along.Anderson rode over to Whippler's, and those two brought along the othermen. It's too bad that Whippler was killed."
All in the party agreed with Mr. Radbury in this, although some saidthat it was better Whippler should be killed than some man with a wifeand children. Whippler and his late wife had never had any offspring.
The night was raw and cold, and toward morning a fine rain set in,adding greatly to the discomforts of the whites. The game brought downproved but a scanty meal all around, and for breakfast there remainedabsolutely nothing.
"This is too bad," said Dan, referring to the rain. He was soaked tothe skin, and so was everybody else in the party.
The trail was taken up as soon as it was light enough to see, and theIndians were followed fully fifteen miles, over a winding way leadingover hills and rocks, and through immense belts of timber land. Theyhad to ford several streams, and at one of these points they stoppedfor an hour to catch and cook some black bass, which were plentiful.Toward nightfall the chase came to an end.
"It's no use," said one of the oldest of the settlers. "They've got toogood a start of us, and it will be foolishness for a mere handful ofwhites to ride right into the Indian country. They'll lay a trap andmassacre every one of us."
All of the others agreed with the spokesman, and it was not long beforethe party was riding back toward Gonzales. At first they followed thewinding trail, but, coming to one of the numerous creeks of thevicinity, they branched off and took almost a direct route to the town.
"Will you go back with us?" asked Mr. Radbury of Poke Stover, when itcame time for the Radburys to separate from the others. The ranch homecould be seen from the top of a neighbouring hill, and all seemed to beas they had left it two days before.
"Yes, I reckon I will," answered the frontiersman. "I ain't got nothin'else to do, and ye may want an extra man about fer a day or two, jestfor to keep his eye open."
The storm had cleared away, and the sun was shining brightly as theparty of four rode up to the battered door of the deserted cabin. Downaround the cattle shed the cows were browsing away as usual, andseveral of the pigs gave Ralph a grunt of recognition as he passedthem.
"Home again!" cried Dan, and hopping to the ground he crawled throughthe doorway into the living-room of the cabin. As he went in he noticedthat the body of the dead red man had been removed from the doorstep.
"Is it all right?" asked Ralph, when a cry from his brother arousedhim.
"An Indian!" came from Dan. He had discovered a wounded red man lyingon the floor in the corner. Then he gazed around the room and glancedinto the sleeping apartment.
"Father, come in, quick!" he went on. "Somebody has been here, and hascarried off a dozen or more things. And your desk is broken open, too,and all your papers are scattered about. Did you have any money in thedesk?"