The San Francisco call. [volume], December 06, 1903, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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HOW WE KEPT THE FEAST OF BIT
TEP. HERBS.
You may be sure that Richard Jenni
fer's bitter reproaches came home to me
In sharpest fashion, the more since now
I saw how we had lost our chance by
jrcsJectlncr the commonest precautions,
paving determined to attack, the merest
novice of a general would have moved
his forces to the nearest point, would
have had his scouts search out the torii
beforehand, and. above all. would never
have delayed the blow beyond the earliest
moment of the enemy's unwatchfulness.
And yet s>o worn and spent were we
tl:2t th<? hour of sleep and rest o'A Eph
counseled before we should agrain resume
the pursuit was irresistible, though
v.cary ar.d fretful it would have been had
not the old rcout slipped off into the
darkness and returned presently with a
bas of Indian com. which he had provi
dentially found at th« deserted camp and
which tie ir; ravenous fashion baked and
ate In g~j]p>s e'er we lost consciousness
in clumber.
Looking back upon the hazards and
chance-takings cf our adventure in the
viiderress. I recall no more promising
risk than that we ran by sleeping unscn
lried within riSe shot, for aught we
knew, of the carcp of the eneray.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THIS is the Fourth Installment
of "The Kaster of Appleby."
T71i£t do you think now of ths
mystery cf whom Madge Stair
loves— Hichard Jennifer, John Iretcn
cr Sir Frank Falconnet?
a a v THANK you for U» warning.
• • I Captain Falconnet," sh« snid.
j facing him bravely to the last.
X "When the tlnr.e comes,
the dear God will give me leave
to die as niy mother's daughter should."
"Bah:" eaid he: and with that he
whistled for his troopers; and while we
looked, my dear lady and her tire
?ivomari were helped upon their horses,
and at the leader's word of command the
escort fcrraed upon the captives as a
center. A moment later the little gladn.
with the smoldering embers of the
lodge Cre to prick out Its limits in dusky
red, was rmpty. and on the midnight
stillness of the forest the minlshing
hoofbeats of th* hcrsss came fair.tpr and
falrter till the distance swallowed them.
Then it was that my poor lad. famine
mad and frenzied, rose up to curse me
bitterly.
'Now may all the devils in hell drag
you down to everlasting torments. John
Ireton, for your cold-hearted caution that
made us lose when we had good hope
to win!" he crlei "One little hour I
begged for.' and that hour had fought
her battle and eet her free. But now — "
He broke off in the tntrtst. choking
with what miserable despair I knew, and
shared as well; and throwing himself
down In the wot grass, he would eke out
the bitter words upon such ravings and
Robbings as bubble up in sheer aban
donment of rage end misery.
iiut touching, tills, 'tis only on the
mimic etare of the romances that the
rlsyers rise to the plane of superhuman
•acr-city and angel wit. never faltering
in their lines nor, betraying by slip or
tongue-trip their kinship with common
humankind. Being mere mortals,, we
were not so endowed; we were but four
It was as grim a picture aa any limner
of the weird could wish ' to look upon.
The twilight shadows were empurpling
the mountains and gathering in dusky
pools here and there where the trees
stood thickest in the valley. The hush of
nature's mystic hour was abroad, and
even the swiftly flowing river, rushing
sullenly along its rocky bed no more than
a stone's cast beyond the Indian path,
seemed to intermit its low thundeiings.
There was never a breath of air astir in
all the wood, and the leaves of the silver
poplar that will twinkle and ripple In th*
lightest zephyr hung stark and motion
less.
Barring the old borderer, who had gono
upon his knees, we stood as we were;
the Catawba holding the pack horses and
Jennifer and I the three that bore the
ghastly burdens of mortality. The bodies
of the slain had been flung across th*
" 'Tls about ez I allowed— some o" the
Tuckaseges a-scobtlng down to hold s>
powwow with the hoss-ca^tain. Now.
then, if them sharp-nosed - ponies o*
thelr'n don't happen to sniff the blood—"
' The hooe was dashed on the instant by
the sudden snorting and shying. of two or
three of tho horses In passing. . and w«
laid bold of our weapons, keying our
selves to the fighting pitch. But, curi
ously enough, the riders made no move*
to pry Into the cause. So far from it. they
flogged the shying ponies Into line and
rode on stolidly: and thus in a little timo
that danger was overpast and the eventnc
silence of the mighty forest was ours to
keep or break as we chose.
The old frontiersman was the first to
¦peak.
"Well, friends. I reckon ez how we
mought ez well thank the good Lord for
all his marcles afore we go any furder."
he would say. and he doffed his cap and
did it forthwith. '^
So you are to conceive us waiting with
nerves upstrung. ready for fight or flight,
as the event should decide, stifling in
such pent-up suspense as any or all of ais
would " gladly have exchanged for the
fiercest battle. Happily, the breath-seant
scantfng interval was short. From be
hind our thicket screen we presently saw
a file of Indian horsemen riding at a
leisurely footrace down the path.
Ephraim Yeates quickly named these
newcomers for us.
Luckily for us the new danger was ap
proaching from the westward. So. by
dint of the maddest hurryings we got
the bodies of the three Cherokees hoist
upon the horee3. and were able to efface
In part the signs of the late encounter
before the band of. riders coming down
the Indian path was upon us. But there
was , no time to make an orderly retreat.
At most we could only withdraw a little
way into the wood, halting when we were
well in cover. and;hastlly stripping coats
and waistcoats to muffle the heads of the
horses. .
WE TAKE THE CHARRED STICK
jV>^ FOR A GUIDE.
CHAPTER XXVL
\,';Sort : It out for; yourself, Cap'n " Dick,"
he'- argued.' ."Whatsomedever •- wet- make
out to ' do— four on u * ag* lnst that ' there
Coming together again, we made haste
to compare \ notes...; There was little
enough to add to the common fund of in
formation, and the mystery of the lost
trail remained a mystery./ True.' we." the
¦ Indian. and' I. had found^o, ravine at the
extreme upper end of the valley through
which, we thought, a sure-footed horse
might bo led nt a pinch, up or down, but
this ravine had* not been-- used by ;the
powder Jrain. and apart from it there
was no practicable horse path leading
down from the plateau. . , _ ' :
As for the hunter and Richard, they
had made a discovery which might stand
for what It' /was worth. At its lower ex
tremity the sunken valley was separated
from, the: great gorge "without only; by.' a ;
ridge which was no more than a i huge
dam and this diking | ridge was evidently
tunneled by the stream, since the latter
had no visible outlet." "" '^ "• ' ''
. Inasmuch as, the most favorable point
of espial upon the camp below was the
cliff whence. we had. first looked -down,
into '. the v sink, . wo - harked ' back thither,
passing around the lower-end of the .val
ley and along the barrier. rldgeC. Plan we
had ¦ none as % yet, • f or . the - preliminary; to ,
any attempt at . a: rescue must be some
better knowledge of ; the way, into and out
of . Falconnefs cunningly;chosen".ttrong
hold. . True,-, we >- might ..win;. in> and : ouf
again '. by; the j ravine ' which the . chief ; and >'
I . had : explored at the* upper -end; "and 1
Pick i was : f or trying this , when thV night
should fgive' us i: the curtain ; of : darkness
f or a • shield.' ' But the ; old' hunter, would
hold this ' forlorn '¦ hope ; in " reserve* as " a
last resort. -^n^|£SBj00ilfe^tiB9H9pSS|8
Since we must examine closely every
rift and crevice in the boundary cliff, it
was a most tedious undertaking, and I do
remember how my great trooper ] boots,
sun : drylng on my feet, made 'every step
a; wincing agony. They say an army
goes upon Its belly, but an old campaign
er will tell you that you can march a sol
dier till- he be too thin to. cast a shadow
if enly he hath ease of hi3 footgear.
Taking it'all. in all. it proved a slow
business, this looping of the sunken val
ley an'd when we had worked around to
the eastern cliff and to a meeting point
with the old. hunter and Richard Jenni
fer, the sun was level in our. faces and
the dny was waning. " . -
So when we had breathed us a little
the circuiting was begun, Ephraim
Yeates and Jennifer going toward the
lower _end of the sink, and the Catawba
and I in the opposite direction.
"Ez I allow, that's Jest what the good
Lord fotched us here for — to. find out,"
was Yeates' rejoinder. "Do you and the
chief. Cap'n John, clrcumambylate this
here pitfall yon way, whilst Cap'n Dick
and I go t'other way 'round. By time
we've made the circut and j'ined com
pany again. I reckon we'll know for sar
tain whether, 'r no they climm* the
mounting', to '.get in."
.: "Now.; how in the. name of all the
fiends did they mike shift to burrow
from yonder bag-bottom into this?" he
would say.
'Twas .Richard Jennifer who first
broke the noontide silence of the moun
tain top, voicing the query which was
thrusting sharp at all of us.
GREAT BEAR.
HOW UNCANOOLA TRAPPED THE
CHAPTER XXV.
The hunter shook • his '• head and would
by no means ¦ admit the alternative. - "Ez
I allow, that wquld ax for a merrlcle, and
I reckon ez how when : the ¦• good : Lord
sends a chariot o'. fire after, sech a clan
jamfrey as this'n o' the hoss-captain's,
'.•Well. now. I'll be daddled If this
here ain't about the beatin'est: thing" I
ev^r' chugged . up ; eg' ins t," was
the old borflerer't oemment; when we had
flogged '. our . wits , to . small v purpose for
¦omo clew to the mystery. "What's your
mind about it, hey, ¦ chief T.' ,
: Uncanoola shook his ' ' head. "Heap
plenty slick. No go up-stream,, no "go
down, no acoss over, 1 no go back. Mebbe
go up like smoke— w'at?" :
As we made sure, we left no stone un
turned In the effort to solve the mystery.
No horse, ridden or led, could have lived
to cross the pouring torrent of the main
river or to wade up or down its bed, and
If the cavalcade had turned up the bar
rier stream Its progress must have ended
abruptly against the sheer wall of the
cliff at tho entrance of tho low-arched
cavern whence the tributary came into
being. But if Falconnet and his following
had ridden neither up nor down the bed
of the barrier stream. It seemed equally
certain that no horse of tho troop had
crossed It The Indian trace, which held
straight on up the gorge and presently
came out above into a high upland valley,
was unmarked by any hoof print, new or.
old. ¦-.- ¦'-¦:'
. On each hand the mountains rose pre
cipitous, the one on the left swelling un
broken to a bald and rounded summit,
forest covered save for its tonsured head
high in air, while that on the right was
Bteeper and lower, with a line of cliffs at
the top. As we fared on the valley nar
rowed to a mere chasm, with the river
thundering along the base of the ton
sured mountain and the Indian path
bugging the cliff on the right.
In the gloomiest depths of this defile we
came 1 upon the hunter's stumbling block.
A tributary stream, j Issuing from a low
cavern In the right-hand cliff, crossed the
Indian path and the chasm at, a bound
and' plunged noisily into the flood of the
larger river. On the hither side of thi3
barrier stream the trail of the powder
convoy led plainly down' Into • the water,
and, so far as one might see, that was
the end of It.
Here was a fresh complication and one
that called for instant action. We had
counted upon a battle royal in any at
tempt to rescue the women, but that'Fal
connet. Impeded as he was by the slow
movements of the powder cargo, could
slip away, was a contingency for which
we were wholly unprepared.
So, as you would guess, the hunter
breakfast was hurriedly dispatched, and
by the time the sun was shoulder high
over the 1 eastern hills we had broken
camp and crossed the river and were
pressing forward to the gorge of disap
pearance.
say. His first discovery w.is that the
ford we had found in the darkness served
as the river crossing of an ancient and
well-used Indian trace. Along this trace
from the eastward the powder train had
come, no longer ago than mid-afternoon
of yesteroay; and arguing from this that
the night camp of the band would be
but a short march to the westward
Yeates had pushed on to fee! out the en
emy's position.
For a mile or more beyond the ford he
had trdiled the convoy easily. The Indian
trace or path, well trampled by the nu
merous horses of the cavalcade, followed
the up-stream windings of the swift river
straight Into tho eye of the western
mountains. But in the eye Itself, a rocky
defile where the slopes on each hand be
came frowning battlements to narrow val
ley and stream, the one to a darkling
gorge, the other to a thundering torrent,
the trail was lost as completely as if the
powder convoy had vanished Into thin
air. » .
outwearled men, well spent in the long
chase, with never a leg among us fit to
pace a sentry beat nor a decent: wakeful
eye to keep it company. So, as I have
said, we took the risk. and slept;' would
have slept soundly.' I dare say, had the
risk been twice as great.
We were astir at the earliest graying
of the dawn. Richard and I. and were the
laggards of tho company at that,' since
the old hunter wi^s alreadyout and away
and the Indian /had kindled a fire and
was grinding more of the parched corn
for the morning m<?al. Ephralm Yeates
at that moment returned with.the,.hind
quarters of a fine yearling buck, fresh
kijled. across his shoulders.
Seeing the deer's meat, we would think
the old hunter's thrift of the dawn suffi
ciently accounted for; but when the cuts
were a-broil- we wenjTnade to know that"
the buqk was merely a lucky incident in
the early morning scouting.
Taking time by the forelock, the old
borderer had swept a circle of reconnais
sance around our haltinp place, "to get
the'p'ints of the compass," aa he would
' t We,were all agreed that' the cavern en
trance could -not' have been used by the
: Sivce it was now evident that pow
der convey was encamped In sonio hidden
gorge ; or ; valley , to • which I the ; cavern of
the . underground stream was one of the
approaches, .'twas* plain 'that we must
climb , to "1 some~ ; height '.' whence : we could
command a wider view. " ' :',
"Why. the varmint that tracked me
back J from here 'twixt dawn and day
break, to be sure. He waited till, we broke
camp and then took out up here ahead of
us to tell his^ chief 'twas e'na'raost time
to set the trap for three white simples and
a red one. . Friends, I'm a-telllng. ye- plain
that the sperrit's a-movlng me mighty
powerful , to; eit.. down ,on ; my ; ; hunkers
and—", '•< . , ....
VFor heaven's sake, don't do it here and
now!'/ gasped Dick. "Let's get out of
this spider's web while we may.': ..
. The old hunter postponed his prayerful
motion, ; most reluctantly, as -it would
seem, and led ' the' way J in ; a" silent with
drawal from the dangerous neighborhood
of the ambushment. When wo had pushed
on somewhat : higher up the gorge ¦ and
stood on. the confines of I he 'upland val
ley for t which • It served" as -the approach •
there was a halt for a council of war. r :
Here death lay in' wait for us In. the
mad plunsings of the main river, but we
made shift; to catch at the overhanging
branches of the willows In passing, to
draw ourselves out, to scramble up the
gorge and to gain a great boulder on the
mountainside whence' we could look
down upon the scene of our late surprisal.
By this wo saw, from the wings, as it
were, the setting of the stage for a trag
edy which miir'rtt have been ours.- 'One
by "one a score of heads with painted
faces floated silently out of the spewing
rock-mouth. One by one the glistening,
bronze-red : , bodies appertaining thereto
emerged from the water, each to take
its place in an ambuscade inclosing the
stream-crossing of the Indian path in .a
pocketlike line of crouching ftgurea. with
the mouth of tho pocket, open toward. the
lower valley.
Ephraim Yeates chuckled under - his
breath and smote softly upon his thigh.
."They tell ez how the good Lord has a
mighty tendir care for chillern and sim
ples," he -whispered. "Whenst we was.
a-comlng a-rampaglng up. the trace a
hour 'r two ago I saw tho moccasin track
o' that there spy,' and was too -dad-blame'
blgglty in my o wn consate to ax what -it
inoujrht mean."
"What EpyVV says Dick, matching the
hunter's low whisper. .' •
fierce basilisk eyes peering out of the
low-arched cavern whence the stream is
sued, an apparition looking for all the
world like a dismembered head floatins
on the surface of the outgushing flood.
'Twas the old borderer who took the in
itiative in the swift retreat, and we fol
lowed his lead like well-drilled soldiers.
A crook in the stream and the thickset
underwood screened us for' the moment
from the basilisk eyes, and In a twinkling
we had rolled one after another into tha
mimic ¦ torrent and were quickly swept
down' to 'its : mouth. .
tawba went Rat. upon the ground, making
most urgent signs for us to do likewise.
What he had seen we all saw a flitting
instant later— the painted face of a Chero
kee warrior as a setting: for a pair, of
at the moment of Its utterance the Ca-
ifll,b« mighty dadblame" apt to go down
'Btead' of up." A
Wawere standing on the brink of the
barrier stream no more than .a fisher
man'? ca&t from the black rock-mouth
that Spewed it up from its underground
ma^r, While the hunter was .speaking
theCatawba had lapsed into statue-like
HstleBSness, his gaze flxed upon the eddy
ing flo&d which held the secret of the
vanished 'iCavalcade. Suddenly he came
alivo with a bound and mado a quick,
dash into the water. What he retrieved
was only a small piece of wood, charred
at. one end. But Ephralm Yeates caught
at it eagerly. , '. \
¦ ."Now > the Lord -be praised for all His
marcles!" he exclaimed. "It do take an
Injun to come \a-runnlng whenst ever"
body is plumb beat out! Ne'er another one
' of us had an eye sharp enough to ketch
that bit o\ sign . a-floating P^st. What
eay. Cap'n John?".; . V ¦ -
I shopk my head; seeing no special sig
nificance . In tho ! token, and Dick asked,
"What will it.be, Enhralm,; how that lt_
'.JS£ir .C^i s&zr: : &&+d : '~
r '- The- o^-^tf^oTfed^his pity/fbr our ¦
dullard wit, 1 : and then set a moiety _of :t .
. in words. -V •¦¦'•¦'-•"'¦.' ; - Y't' '-''' :"'vv > "' r -' ;
"Well. well, now; I'm f a>lr ashamed " of,
ye! ' What I all d'ye reckon*, blackened' the;
end" o' th's bit o' pine braiich ?'.'.;'* '
"M'hy* 'fire," says Richard/, beginning,
as I did, to see some glimmering of light.
"In course. 'And It -cams 'from yonder,
didn't it?'* "pointing to the cavern under
the cliff* "More than that, 'twas cut wl* •
a hatchet—this fresh end of it— no longer
than last night, at the furdest; the pitch
that the fire fried out' n it Is all soft 'and
gummy, ylt. Gentlemen all, whenst we'
llnd where this here creek cdmes out into
daylight again we're a-going to nnd the
hoss-captain and the whole enduring pas
sel o* redskins and redcoats, immejitly,
if not sooner!" . '
What comment this startling announce
ment would have evoked I know not; 'for-
Five, minutes later we four stood on the
brink of a precipice",, looking abroad upon
one of nature's most singular caprices.-
Cpnceive ( if you can a segment or the ta
ble-land, in ' shape like a broad T bilged
man o' war, sunk to a depth of mayhap
six or seven hundred;feet below' the gen
eral level of the plateau. Give this ship
shaped chasm a longer dimension. of two
miles or more and a breadth of somewhat
less . than half - Its length ; bound It "with
a-. wall-like line of cliffs, falling sheer to
"(pep. 1 * forested- slopes below; prick out a
sliver ribbon of a stream winding' through 1
.grassy • savannas and well-set ; groves^ of.
lordly, trees from end to«nd of 'the sunken 1
valley,; and you will have some picture of:
the scene we looked upon. ' v :.,"-" i > ;
-But- what concerned us most" was \k
sight to make us crouch quickly,,, lest
sharp eyes below should descry us on the
sky-line of the cliff. Pitched on one. of
the grassy savannas by the stream, so
fairly beneath us that the smallest . can
non, planted on our cliff could have
dropped a shot into it, was the camp of
the powder train.
The old borderer took his bearings by
the sun and laid the course of quartering
to bring' us out as near as might be on
the heights above the gorge. But when
we had gene a little way a thinning of the
wood ahead warned us that we 4 were ap
proaching some nearer break in the table
land. , •¦•¦...
entire oompany— this though the conclu
sion left the vanishing trail an unsolved
riddle. For if the women could have been
dragged through the low-springing arch
of the waterway, we knew the horses
could not— to say nothing of the certain
destruction of the powder cargo In such
a passage. • ' , . ~ ,
"t Bo we addressed ourselves to the ascent
of the northern mountain, though ¦ Klch
ard and I would first beg a little space
in which to - drain the water, from our
boots, and to wring "som* pounds' weight
Qf It from our clothes. That done -we
fell in line once more, and being so for
tunate as to hit upon a ravine which led
to the cliff-crowned summit, the climb
was shorn of half of Its toil and diffi
culty. Nevertheless, by the sun's height
it was well on In the forenoon before; we
came out, perspiring like sappers in a
steam bath, upon the mountain top.
; As Yeates* had guessed,' this northern
mountain 'proved to be a lofty table-land.
So far as could be seen the summit was
an undulating plain, less densely forested
•than the valley, but with a thick sprink
ling of pines to make tho still, hot air
heavy with their resinous fragrance. As.lt
chanced, our. ravine of ascent headed
well back from the cliff edge, so we must
needs fetch a compass through the pine
groves before we could. win out to any
commanding point of .view.
.. . "No • 'send hlmj yei; going to send."
was;- Vncanola's'-'. amendment. "Look
' see.' \Chelakee braves make haste for
¦ load horses down jponder now!"
Again ¦ the sharp eyes of the Catawba
¦had come In 'play. At the foot of the
'great" boulder some half-dozen of the
., Cherokees ""were; busy with the powder
pcarsro, lashing pack loads of It upon two
horses. v One of the .group, who ap
'^JMesurJed.'vtp'be'dlrectlns the labor of the
¦ ; otbiq^svlvHood .apart, "holding the bridle
; relc^'ofjfthtee other.; horses caparisoned
"Journey.. ..When the loading was
>"accdnipljshed to. the ¦satisfaction of the
,*>ndrserholding chieftain, he and two oth
ers mounted., took the burdened animals
In tow, and the small cavalcade filed off
down the' stream toward the apparent
cul de sac at the lower end of the val
ley. *
Ephralm Yeates was up In. a twinkling,
dragging us back from the cliff edge.
"Up with ye!" he cried. "Now's our
chance to kill two' pa'trldges with one
stone! If we can make out to get down
into t'other valley in time to see how
them varmints come out, we'll know
the way In. More'n that, 1 wa can ambush
'em and so make sartain sure o' five o'
the slx v hosses we're a-golng to need,
come night. But we've got to leg for it
like Ahlmaaz the son of Zadok."
Thus said the old borderer, and being
only too eager to come 'to handgrips
with the enemy we were up and running
faster than ever Joab's messenger ran.
long before the old man finished with
his Scriptural simile. . -___
Not to take the risk of delay on ai?y
unexplored short cut we made straight
for the ravine of our ascent, found It as
by unerring instinct, and Were presently
racing down to ¦' the Indian trace in the
little upland valley above the gorge.
For all the helter-skelter v- haste I
fpund time to remember that the gorge
as we had last seen it had been well
besprinkled with armed Cherokees lying
in wait for us. If they were still there
we should be • likely, to „ have a hot wel
come; and some ¦ reminder of this I
gasped out to Yeates 'in'mld-flight.'
"Ne'm mind that; if we run up ag'inst
'em anywhere, 'twon't be there-away.
They've took the hint and quit;.scat
tered out to hunt us long ago," was his
answer. Jerked out between bounds. And
after I had loosed the Ferrara In its
sheath and saved my breath as I might
for the killing business of the moment.
'Twas a sharp disappointment that, for
all the haste of our mad scramble down
the mountain we were too late to sur
prise the. secret of the enemy's strong
hold. The Catawba was leading when
we dashed down Into the valley, and one
.glance sent him flying back to stop us
short with a dumb show purporting that
the quarry was already out of the defile
and coming up the Indian path.
- .Richard swore grievously, but the old
backwoodsman took the checkmate pla
cidly and began to set the pieces for the
second game in which the horses were
the stake, hiding his useless rifle. In a
hollow tree — his powder had been soaked
and spoiled in the. early morning plunge
for life — and drawing his-' hunting knife
tp feel its . edge and | point. ¦'
"Ez I allow, that fetches us to the hoss
lifting." he said, in his slow arawl. Then
he laid his commands upon us. "Ord'ly
and In" sojer-fasliloh, now no whooping
and yelling.. If "the Jioss-captain's got
scouts out a-s'archlng . for" us. * one pood
screech from- these here varmints we're
a-going to put out'n their mls'ry f u d fix
our flints for- kingdom come. I ain't none
a f card o' pour, nerve"— this to Richard
and me-^-Vleastwlse, not when ' it comes
to fair/and square sojer-flghtlng. But
this ' here : onfall has got to trt> like the
smiting - o' the 'Malekltes— root and
branch; and if ye're tempted to be any :
•. wise', mardf ul, \ Jest ricollect that for the
sake oY.them wlmmen folks we've got
.to have these hosses!'.'
You are not to suppose that he was
holding . us Inactive ; while he thus ex
horted us. . On the contrary, he was post
ing u s skillfully beside \ the trace ¦ like
the 'shrewd -old i Indian fighter that he
was, with a ¦" rare and practiced eye to
the nfaxlmum.of, cover, with the mini
mum of . thicket tangle' to Impede the
rush or to shorten the ' sword swing.
But when all was dons we were at this
disadvantage— that since the enemy was
close ' at " hand we dared ' not cross the
path to : give our trap a Jaw on either,
side. To offset this, the Catawba dropped
"No." Bald Ephraim Yeates. "'Taint
jest rightly a rest camp, ez I take it. Ez I
was a-saying last night, this here Is Tuck
asege country, and we ain't no furder
than a day's running from the Cowee
Towns. Now theTuckasegesand the over
mounting Cherokees ain't always on the
best o' tarms. and I was a-worfderlng if
the hoss-captain hadn't sot down here
to wait whilst he could send a peace
offer* o* powder and lead on to the Cowee
chiefs to sort o' smooth, the. way."
From what could be seen 'twas clear
that the camp was no mere bivouac for
the day; Indeed, the Englishmen were
still working upon their pine-bough shel
ters, building themselves in as if for a
stay indefinite.
. "'Tis a rest camp." quoth Dick,
"though why they should break the
march here is more than I can guess."
At first we sought in vain for the stor
ing-place of the powder. It was the
sharp eyes of the Catawba that finally
descried It. A rude housing of pine
boughs, like the huts of the troopers,
had been built at the base of a large
boulder on the opposite bank of the
stream; and here was the lading of the
powder train.
the beastes«s aforehand— "
- We had reached the cliff and were once
more peering down at the enemy's camp.
Though | for the cliff-shadowed valley It
was long past sunset arid all the depths
were blue and purple in the changing
half-lights of the' hour, the shadow veil
was but a gauze of color, softening the
details without obscuring them. So^ we
could mark well the metes and bounds of
the camp and prick in all the items. .
The camp field was the 'largest of the
savannas or natural clearings. 1 On the
margin of the stream the . Indian lodges
were pitched in a semicircle to face the
water. Farther back Falconnet's troop
was hutted In rough-and-ready shelters
made, of pine boughs— these disposed to
stand between the camp of the Cherokees
and. the tepee-lodge of the captive women,
which stood among the trees in that
edge of the forest hemming; the slope
which buttressed our cliff of observation.
whole enduring army o* thelr'n— has got
to be . dona on . the keen jump, with a
toler'ble plain hoss-road for the aklmper
•camper race when It is done. For, look-
Ing it up and down and side to side, we've
rot to have hoMos— some o' their horses,
at that. I jlng! if we could jest make
out somehow 'r other to lay our claws on
"Onto the hosses with this here In
dian meat, ez quick ez the loving Lord'U
let ye!" was the sharp command.
"There's a whole clanamfrey o* the var
mints a-comlng down the trace, and I
reckon ez how we'd better scratch gravel
lmmejltly, if not sooner!"
"Wah! Call hlsself the Great Bear,
hey? Heap lie; heap no bear; heap noth
ing, now. Papoose bear no let nlsself be
trap' that way. No smoke peace-pipe "
But now Ephralm Yeates. standing ear
a-cock and motionless, like some grim
old statue done In leather, cut him short
with a sudden "Hist, will ye!" and a
twinkling Instant later we had other
work to do.
While yet this most merciless deed
was a-doing. the Catawba bounded to his
feet and made sure of the horses, which
were rearing: and snorting: with affright.
That done, he must needs gloat, Indian
wise, over his fallen adversary, turning
the headless body with his foot and gib
ing at it.
So. when Uncanoola drew forth his
tobacco pipe and made the three doomed
ones sit with htm in the path to smoke
the peace whiff all around we picked out
each his man and smote to slay. Tba
scythe-like sweep of Jennifer's mighty
claymore left the flve-feathered chief
tain the shorter by a head In the same
pulsebeat that the Ferrara scanted a sec
ond of the breath to yell with: though
now I recall It, the gurgling death cry
of the poor wretch with the steel in his
throat was more terrible to hear than
any warwhoop. As for the old borderer,
he was more, deliberate. Being fair be
hind and within arm's reach of his man.
he seised him by the scalplock, bent the
head backward across h:s ¦ Knee— but.
faugh! these are the merest butcher de
tails, and I would spare you — and my
self, as well.
And as for my own part In the fray,
when I recognized In the flve-feathered
chieftain of the three that coppcr-hued
Imp of Satan who had been the merciless
master of ceremonies at the torturing
of my poor black Tomas. the decent
meed of mercy which even a seasoned
soldier may cherish died within me.
and I made cure the steel would find its
mark.
I give you fair warning, my dean,
that you may turn the page here and
skip what follows If you are fain to
be tender-hearted on the score of these
savage enemies of ours. It was In the
very summer solstice of the year of
violence; a time when he who took the
sword was like to perish with the sword;
and we thought of little save that Mar
gery and her handmaiden were In dead
liest peril, and that these Indians had
five horses which we must have.
We had not Ions; to wait. Our cun
ning ally timed his h&ltlns'of the emis
saries to a nicety, and when the three
Cherokees drew rein they were within
easy blade's reach. The powwow, length
ened by Uncanoola till we were near,
bursting: with Impatience, was spun out
wordily, and presently we saw the point
ing of It. The Catawba was affecting
to doubt the protests of the emissaries
and would have them dismount and
prove their good faith T>y smoking the
peace-pipe with "him.
out of line, and disappeared; and when
the Cherokees were no more than a hun
dred yards away. Uncar.oola cams In
Bight a like distance In the opposite di
rection, running easily down the path
to meet the upcoming riders.
Richard let slip ah admiration oath
under his breath. "There's a fine bit
of strategy for you!" he .whispered
•That wily Jack-at-a-plnch of ours will
beloof them Into believing- that he Is a
runner from the Cowee Towns. Tls our
cue to He close; he will halt them lust
here, and there will be roving eyes in
the heads of the two wlxo have not to
talk."
THE MASTER OF
AOOLEBY
Sunday Call
Literary
Section