diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36603.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36603.txt | 4398 |
1 files changed, 4398 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36603.txt b/36603.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c660703 --- /dev/null +++ b/36603.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4398 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Yellow Chief, by Mayne Reid + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Yellow Chief + +Author: Mayne Reid + +Illustrator: Anon + +Release Date: July 3, 2011 [EBook #36603] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YELLOW CHIEF *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Yellow Chief +By Captain Mayne Reid +Illustrations by Anon +Published by George Routledge and Sons. +This edition dated 1875. +The Yellow Chief, by Captain Mayne Reid. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +THE YELLOW CHIEF, BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE PUNISHMENT OF THE PUMP. + +"To the pump with him! And see that he has a double dose of it!" + +The words were spoken in a tone of command, earnest and angry. They +were addressed to the overseer of a cotton-plantation not far from +Vicksburg, in the State of Mississippi, the speaker being Blount +Blackadder, a youth aged eighteen, and son to Squire Blackadder, the +owner of the plantation. + +Who was to receive the double douche? + +Near by stood a personage to whom the words evidently pointed. He was +also a youth, not very different either in age or size from him who had +given the order; though his tawny skin and short crisped hair bespoke +him of a different race--in short, a mulatto. And the time--for it is a +tale of twenty years ago--along with other attendant circumstances, +proclaimed him a slave of the plantation. + +And why ordered to be thus served? As a punishment, of course. + +You may smile at the idea, and deem it a joke. But the "punishment of +the pump" is one of the most severe that can be inflicted; far more so +than either the bastinado, or castigation by the lash. A man may writhe +while his back is being scored by the cowskin; but that continuous +stream of cold water, at first only refreshing, becomes after a time +almost unendurable, and the victim feels as though his skull were being +split open with an axe. + +What had "Blue Dick"--the plantation sobriquet of the young mulatto-- +what had he done to deserve such chastisement? + +The overseer, hesitating to inflict it, put this question to Blount +Blackadder. + +"That's my business, and not yours, Mr Snively. Enough when I say he +has deserved; and darn me if he don't have it. To the pump with him!" + +"Your father won't be pleased about it," pursued the overseer. "When he +comes home--" + +"When he comes home; that's my affair. He's not at home now, and during +his absence I'm master of this plantation, I guess. I hope, sir, you'll +recognise me as such." + +"Oh, sartinly," grumbled the overseer. + +"Well, then, I've only to tell you, that the nigger's got to be +punished. He's done enough to deserve it. Let that satisfy you; and +for the rest I'll be answerable to my father." + +What Blue Dick had done the young planter did not condescend to explain. +Nor was it his passion that rendered him reticent; but a secret +consciousness that he was himself in the wrong, and acting from motives +of the meanest revenge. + +They had their origin in jealousy. There was a quadroon girl upon the +plantation to whose smiles Blue Dick had aspired. But they were also +coveted by his young master--the master of both. + +In such a rivalry the end is easily told. The honest love of Blue Dick +was doomed to a harsh disappointment; for Sylvia, the quadroon, had +yielded her heart less to the dictates of natural partiality, than to +the combined influence of vanity and power. It was a tale oft told in +those days of the so-styled patriarchal institution--happily now at an +end. + +Maddened by the discovery of his sweetheart's defection, the young +mulatto could not restrain himself from recrimination. A collision had +occurred between him and his master's son. There had been words and +threatened blows, quickly succeeded by the scene we are describing. + +Mr Snively was not the man to hold out long against the threats of +authority. His place was too precious to be risked by an act of idle +chivalry. What to him was the punishment of a slave: a ceremony at +which he was accustomed to assist almost every day of his life? +Besides, he had no particular liking for Blue Dick, who was regarded by +him as a "sassy fellow." Assured against blame from Squire Blackadder, +he was only too ready to cause execution of the order. He proceeded to +do so. + +The scene was transpiring in an inclosed court-yard to the rear of the +"big house" [Negro nomenclature for the planter's dwelling], adjoining +also to the stables. On one side stood the pump, a tall obelisk of oak, +with its massive arm of iron, and spout five feet above the level of the +pavement. Underneath traversed a trough, the hallowed trunk of a tree, +designed for the watering of the horses. + +In the hot summer sun of the Mississippi Valley it should have been a +sight to give gladness to the eye. Not so with the slaves on Squire +Blackadder's plantation. To them it was more suggestive of sadness and +fear; and they were accustomed to regard it with the same feelings as +one who looks upon a gallows, or a guillotine. More than one half their +number had, one time or another, sat under that spout till its chilly +jet seemed like a sharp spear piercing their wool-covered crania. + +The punishment of the pump was too frequent on Squire Blackadder's +plantation to need minute directions as to the mode of administering it. +Mr Snively had only to repeat the order received, to some half-dozen +stalwart slaves, who stood around ready to execute it. The more ready, +that Blue Dick was now to be the victim; for, even with these, the +mulatto youth was far from being a favourite. Full of conceit on +account of his clearer skin, he had always shown himself too proud to +associate with them, and was thus deprived of their sympathies. It was +his first punishment, too; for, although he had often before offended in +a different way, Squire Blackadder had refrained from chastising him. + +It was thought strange by all, though none knew the reason; and this +immunity of which he had been accustomed to boast, rendered his now +threatened punishment a thing for his fellow-slaves to rejoice at. + +They who were ordered to administer it, went about their work with a +will. At a sign from the overseer, Blue Dick was seized by two of the +field hands, and dragged up to the pump. With cords procured from the +adjacent stable, he was lashed to the trough in such a position that his +crown came directly under the spout, eighteen inches below it. By stays +stretching right and left, his head was so confined that he could not +turn it an inch one way or the other. To have attempted moving it, +would have been to tighten the noose, by which the rope was rove around +his neck. + +"Now, give him his shower-bath!" vociferated young Blackadder to the +huge negro who stood by the handle of the pump. + +The man, a savage-looking monster, who had himself more than once been +submitted to a similar ducking, obeyed the order with a gleeful grin. +The iron lever, rattling harsh upon its pivot, moved rapidly up and +down; the translucent jet shot forth from the spout, and fell plashing +upon the skull beneath. + +The by-standers laughed, and to the victim it would yet have been only +pleasant play; but among those who were jeering him was Sylvia the +quadroon! All were abroad--both the denizens of the negro quarter, and +the domestics of the house--spectators of his suffering and his shame. + +Even Clara Blackadder, the sister of his tyrant torturer--a young lady +of about twenty summers, with all the seeming graces of an angel--stood +on the back porch contemplating the scene with as much indifference as +if, from the box of a theatre, she had been looking upon some mere +spectacle of the stage! + +If she felt interest in it, it arose from no sympathy with the sufferer. + +On the face of her brother was an expression of interest vivid and +pronounced. His features bespoke joy--the joy of a malignant soul +indulging in revenge. + +It was a sad picture, that presented by these two young men--the one +exulting in despotic power, the other suffering torture through its +exercise. It was but the old and oft repeated tableau of master and +slave. + +And yet were they strangely alike, both in form and feature. With the +ochreous tint extracted from his skin, and the curl combed out of his +hair, Blue Dick might have passed for a brother of Blount Blackadder. +He would have been a little better looking, and certainly showing a +countenance of less sinister cast. + +Perhaps not at that moment; for as the agony of physical pain became +added to the mental anguish he was enduring, his features assumed an +expression truly diabolical. Even the jet of water, spreading like a +veil over them, did not hide from the spectators the fiendlike glance +with which he regarded his oppressor. Through the diaphanous sheet they +could see white lips tightly compressed against whiter teeth, that +grinned defiance and vengeance, as his eyes rested on Sylvia. He +uttered no groan; neither did he sue for mercy; though the torture he +was enduring caused him to writhe within his ropes, at the risk of their +throttling him. + +There were few present who did not know that he was suffering extreme +pain, and many of them from self-experience. And it was only when one +of these, stirred by vivid memories, ventured to murmur some slight +words of expostulation, that the punishment was suspended. + +"He's had enough, I reckon?" said Snively, turning interrogatively +toward the young planter. + +"_No_, darn him! not half enough," was the reply; "you haven't given him +the double. But never mind! It'll do for the present. Next time he +offends in like manner, he shall be pumped upon till his thick skull +splits like a cedar rail!" + +Saying this, Blount Blackadder turned carelessly upon his heel, and went +off to join his sister in the porch--leaving the overseer to release the +sufferer at his discretion. + +The iron handle discontinued its harsh grating; the cruel spout ceased +to pour; and Blue Dick, disengaged from his garotte, was carried +fainting to the stable. + +But he was never again subjected to the punishment of the pump. The +young planter did not have the chance to carry out his threat. Three +days after, Blue Dick disappeared from the plantation. And on the +morning of that day, almost simultaneous with his disappearance, was +found the body of the quadroon girl Sylvia, at the bottom of the +peach-orchard, her head split open to the chin! + +It had been done by the blade of a wood-axe. There was no mystery about +the matter--no speculation as to the author of the deed. The antecedent +circumstances pointed directly to Blue Dick; and he was at once sought +for. + +Sought for, but not found. As soon as the hue-and-cry had gone abroad, +the surrounding settlers, planters as well as poor whites, sprang to +their arms, and into their saddles. The blood-mastiffs were put upon +Blue Dick's track; but spite their keen scent for such game, and the +energetic urging of their owners, they never set fang in the flesh of +the mulatto murderer. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE BLACKADDERS. + +In the time preceding the extinction of slavery, there was no part of +the United States where its chain was so galling as in that region lying +along the lower Mississippi, known as the "Coast." More especially was +this true of the State of Mississippi itself. In the old territories, +east of the Alleghany range, the "institution" was tempered with a +certain touch of the patriarchal; and the same might be said of Kentucky +and Tennessee. Even in parts of Louisiana the mild indolent habits of +the Creole had a softening influence on the condition of the slave. But +it was different on the great cotton and tobacco plantations of +Mississippi, as also portions of the Louisiana coast; many of whose +owners were only half the year residents, and where the management of +the negro was intrusted to the overseer--an irresponsible, and, in many +cases, severe taskmaster. And among the owners themselves was a large +number--the majority, in fact--not born upon the soil; but colonists, +from all countries, who had gone thither, often with broken fortunes, +and not unfrequently characters as well. + +By these men the slave was only looked upon as so much live-stock; and +it was not a question either of his happiness or welfare, but the work +to be got out of him. + +It would be a mistake to say that Mississippian planters were all of +this class; as it would be also erroneous to suppose that Southern +masters in general were less humane than other men. There is no denying +them a certain generosity of character; and many among them were +philanthropists of the first class. It was the institution itself that +cursed them; and, brought up under its influence, they thought and acted +wrongly; but not worse, I fear, than you or I would have done, had we +been living under the same lights. + +Unfortunately, humane men were exceptions among planters of the lower +Mississippi; and so bad at one time was the reputation of this section +of the South, that to have threatened a Virginia negro--or even one of +Kentucky or Tennessee--with sale or expulsion thither, was sufficient at +any time to make him contented with his task! + +The word "Coast" was the _bogey_ of negro boyhood, and the terror of his +manhood. + +Planter Blackadder, originally from the State of Delaware, was among the +men who had contributed to this evil reputation. He had migrated to +Mississippi at an early period of his life, making a purchase of some +cheap land on a tract ceded by the Choctaws [known as the "Choctaw +Purchase"]. A poor man at the period of his migration, he had never +risen to a high rank among the planter aristocracy of the State. But +just for this reason did he avail himself of what appeared, to a mind +like his, the real privilege of the order--a despotic bearing toward the +sable-skinned helots whose evil star had guided them into his hands. In +the case of many of them, their own evil character had something to do +in conducting them thither; for planter Blackadder was accustomed to buy +his negroes _cheap_, and his "stock" was regarded as one of the worst, +in the section of country in which his plantation was "located." +Despite their bad repute, however, there was work in them; and no man +knew better than Squire Blackadder how to take it out. If their sense +of duty was not sufficient to keep them to their tasks, there was a lash +to hinder them from lagging, held ever ready in the hands of a man who +had no disposition to spare it. This was Snively, the overseer, who, +like the Squire himself, hailed from Delaware State. + +Upon the Blackadder plantation was punishment enough, and of every kind +known to the skin of the negro. At times there was even mutilation--of +the milder type--extending beneath his skin. If Pomp or Scip tried to +escape work by shamming a toothache, the tooth was instantly extracted, +though not the slightest sign of decay might be detected in the "ivory!" + +Under such rigid discipline, the Blackadder plantation should have +thrived, and its owner become a wealthy man. No doubt he would have +done so, but for an outlet on the other side, that, dissipating the +profits, kept him comparatively poor. + +The "'scape-pipe" was the Squire's own and only son, Blount, who had +grown up what is termed a wild fellow. He was not only wild, but +wicked; and what, perhaps, grieved his father far more, he had of late +years become ruinously expensive. He kept low company, preferring the +"white trash;" fought cocks, and played "poker" with them in the woods; +and, in a patronising way, attended all the "candy pullings" and +"blanket trampings" for ten miles around. + +The Squire could not be otherwise than indulgent to a youth of such +tastes, who was his only son and heir. In boyhood's days he had done +the same himself. For this reason, his purse-strings, held tight +against all others, were loosed to his hopeful son Blount, even to +aiding him in his evil courses. He was less generous to his daughter +Clara, a girl gifted with great beauty, as also endowed with many of +those moral graces, so becoming to woman. True, it was she who had +stood in the porch while Blue Dick was undergoing the punishment of the +pump. And it is true, also, that she exhibited but slight sympathy with +the sufferer. Still was there something to palliate this apparent +hardness of heart: she was not fully aware of the terrible pain that was +being inflicted; and it was her father's fault not hers, that she was +accustomed to witness such scenes weekly--almost daily. Under other +tutelage Clara Blackadder might have grown up a young lady, good as she +was graceful; and under other circumstances been happier than she was on +the day she was seen to such disadvantage. + +That, at this time, a cloud overshadowed her fate, was evident from that +overshadowing her face; for, on looking upon it, no one could mistake +its expression to be other than sadness. + +The cause was simple, as it is not uncommon. The lover of her choice +was not the choice of her father. A youth, poor in purse, but rich in +almost every other quality to make man esteemed--of handsome person, and +mind adorned with rare cultivation--a stranger in the land--in short, a +young Irishman, who had strayed into Mississippi, nobody knew wherefore +or when. Such was he who had won the friendship of Clara Blackadder, +and the enmity both of her brother and father. + +In heart accepted by her--though her lips dared not declare it--he was +rejected by them in words scornful, almost insulting. + +They were sufficient to drive him away from the State; for the girl, +constrained by parental authority, had not spoken plain enough to retain +him. And he went, as he had come, no one knew whither; and perhaps only +Clara Blackadder cared. + +As she stood in the porch, she was thinking more of him than the +punishment that was being inflicted on Blue Dick; and not even on the +day after, when her maid Sylvia was discovered dead under the trees, did +the dread spectacle drive from her thoughts the remembrance of a man +lodged there for life! + +As the overseer had predicted, Squire Blackadder, on his return home, +was angry at the chastisement that had been inflicted on Blue Dick, and +horrified on hearing of the tragedy that succeeded it. + +The sins of his own earlier life seemed rising in retribution against +him! + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +A CHANGED PLANTATION. + +We pass over a period of five years succeeding the scene recorded. + +During this time there was but little change on the plantation of Squire +Blackadder; either in the dwellers on the estate, or the administration +of its affairs. Neither castigation by the cowskin, nor the punishment +of the pump, was discontinued. Both were frequent, and severe as ever; +and whatever of work could by such means be extracted from human +muscles, was taken out of the unhappy slaves who called Mr Snively +their "obaseeah." Withal, the plantation did not prosper. Blount, +plunging yet deeper into dissipation, drained it of every dollar of its +profits, intrenching even on the standard value of the estate. The +number of its hands had become reduced, till there were scarce enough +left for its cultivation; and, despite the constant cracking of Mr +Snively's whip, weeds began to show themselves in the cotton fields, and +decay around the "gin" house. + +At the end of these five years, however, came a change, complete as it +was cheerful. + +The buildings underwent repair, "big house" as well as out-offices; +while the crops, once more carefully cultivated, presented a flourishing +appearance. In the court-yard and negro quarters the change was still +more striking. Instead of sullen faces, and skins grey with dandruff, +or brown with dirt, ill-concealed under the tattered copperas-stripe, +could now be seen smiling countenances, with clean white shirts covering +an epidermis that shone with the hue of health. Instead of profane +language and loud threats, too often followed by the lash, could be +heard the twanging of the banjo, accompanied by its simple song, and the +cheerful voice of Sambo excited in "chaff," or light-hearted laughter. + +The change is easily explained. It was not the same Sambo, nor the same +"obaseeah," nor yet the same massa. The whole _personnel_ of the place +was different. A planter of the patriarchal type had succeeded to the +tyrant; and Squire Blackadder was gone away, few of his neighbours knew +whither, and fewer cared. By his cruelty he had lost caste, as by the +courses pursued by his son--the latter having almost brought him to +Bankruptcy. To escape this, he had sold his plantation, though still +retaining his slaves--most of them being unsaleable on account of their +well-known wickedness. + +Taking these along with him, he had "started west." + +To one emigrating from the banks of the Mississippi this may seem an +unfitting expression. But at the time a new "west" and a "far" one had +just entered on the stage of colonisation. It was called California, a +country at that time little known; for it had late come into the +possession of the United States, and the report of its golden treasures, +although on the way, had not yet reached the meridian of the +Mississippi. + +It was its grand agricultural wealth, worth far more than its auriferous +riches, that was attracting planter Blackadder to its plains--this and +the necessity of escaping from the too respectable society that had +sprung up around him in the "Choctaw Purchase." + +He had not taken departure alone. Three or four other families, not +very dissimilar either in circumstances or character, had gone off along +with him. + +Let us follow upon their track. Though three months have elapsed since +their leaving the eastern side of the Mississippi, we shall be in time +to overtake them; for they are still wending their slow and weary way +across the grand prairie. + +The picture presented by an emigrating party is one long since become +common; yet never can it be regarded without a degree of interest. It +appeals to a pleasant sentiment, recalling the earliest, and perhaps +most romantic period of our history. The huge Conestoga wagon, with its +canvas tilt bleached to a snowy whiteness by many a storm of rain, not +inappropriately styled the "ship of the prairies;" its miscellaneous +load of tools and utensils, with house furniture and other Penates, +keeping alive the remembrance of the home left behind, still more +forcibly brought to mind by those dear faces half hid under the +screening canvas; the sun-tanned and stalwart horsemen, with guns on +shoulder, riding in advance or around it; and, if a Southern migration, +the sable cohort forming its sure accompaniment, all combine to form a +tableau that once seen will ever be remembered. + +And just such a picture was that presented by the migrating party of +Mississippi planters _en route_ for far California. It was a "caravan" +of the smaller kind--only six wagons in all--with eight or ten white men +for its escort. The journey was full of danger, and they knew this who +had undertaken it. But their characters had hindered them from +increasing their number; and, in the case of more than one, the danger +left behind was almost as much dreaded as any that might be before them. + +They were following one of the old "trails" of the traders, at that time +becoming used by the emigrants, and especially those from the +South-western States. It was the route running up the Arkansas to +Bent's Fort, and thence striking northward along the base of the Rocky +Mountains to the pass known as "Bridger's." + +At that time the pass and the trails on both sides of it were reported +"safe." That is, safe by comparison. The Indians had been awed by a +sight unusual to them--the passage through their territory of large +bodies of United States troops--Doniphan's expedition to New Mexico, +with those of Cooke and Kearney to California. For a short interval it +had restrained them from their attacks upon the traders' caravan--even +from the assassination of the lonely trapper. + +As none of Blackadder's party was either very brave, or very reckless, +they were proceeding with very great caution, keeping scouts in the +advance by day, and guards around their camps by night. + +And thus, watchful and wary, had they reached Bent's Fort, in safety. +Thence an Indian hunter who chanced to be hanging around the fort--a +Choctaw who spoke a little English--was engaged to conduct them +northward to the Pass; and, resuming their journey under his guidance, +they had reached Bijou Creek, a tributary of the Platte, and one of the +most beautiful streams of prairie-land. + +They had formed their encampment for the night, after the fashion +practised upon the prairies--with the wagons locked tongue and wheel, +inclosing a hollow space--the _corral_--so called after a word brought +by the prairie-merchants from New Mexico. [Note 1.] + +The travellers were more than usually cheerful. The great chain of the +Rocky Mountains was in sight, with Long's Peak raising its snow-covered +summit, like a vast beaconing star to welcome, and show them the way, +into the land of promise that lay beyond it. + +They expected, moreover, to reach Saint Vrain's Fort, by the evening of +the next day; where, safe from Indian attack, and relieved from camp +watching, they could once more rest and recruit themselves. + +But in that hour of relaxation, while they were looking at Long's Peak, +its snowy crown still gilded by the rays of the setting sun, there was a +cloud coming from that same quarter that threatened to overwhelm them. + +It was not the darkening of the night, nor mist from the mountain-sides; +but a dusky shadow more to be feared than either. + +They had no fear of it. They neither saw, nor knew of its existence; +and, as they gathered around their camp-fire to make their evening +repast, they were as gay as such men might be expected to be, under +similar circumstances. + +To many of them it was the last meal they were ever destined to eat; as +was that night the last of their lives. Before another sun had shone +upon Long's Peak, one-half their number was sleeping the sleep of +death--their _corralled_ wagons enclosing a space afterward to become +their cemetery. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The Spanish word for inclosure, adopted at an early period by +the prairie-traders, and now become part of our language. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +A PAINTED PARTY. + +About five miles from the spot upon which the emigrants were encamped, +and almost at the same hour, another party had pitched their tents upon +the plain. + +There was not the slightest resemblance between the two sets of +travellers, either in personal appearance, in the language spoken, or in +their camp-equipments. + +The latter were all horsemen, unencumbered with wagons, and without even +the impedimenta of tents. + +On dismounting they had simply staked the horses on the grass, and laid +down upon the buffalo robes, that were to serve them both as shelter and +for couches. + +There were about two score of them in all; and all without exception +were men. Not a woman or child was among them. They were young men +too; though to this there were several exceptions. + +To have told the colour of their skins it would have been necessary to +submit them to ablution: since that portion of it not covered by a +breech-clout with legging continuations of leather, was so besmeared +with paint that not a spot of the natural tint could be detected. + +After this, it is scarce necessary to say, that they were Indians; or to +add that their painted bodies, nude from neck to waist, proclaimed them +"on the war-trail." + +There were other evidences of this, in the manner in which they were +armed. Most of them carried _guns_. On a hunting excursion they would +have had bows and arrows--the prairie tribes preferring these weapons in +the chase. [Note 1.] They had their spears, too, slung lance-fashion +by the side of the saddle; with tomahawks stuck in their belts. All of +them were furnished with the _lazo_. + +Among them was one sufficiently conspicuous to be at once recognised as +their chief. His superior dress and adornment told of his title to this +distinction; while there was that in his bearing toward the others, that +placed it beyond doubt. They seemed not only to fear, but respect him; +as if something more than the accident of hereditary rank gave him a +claim to command them. + +And he on his side seemed to rule them; not despotically, but with a +firmness of tone and bearing that brooked no disobedience. On alighting +from his horse on the spot selected for their camp, the animal was +unsaddled by another, and taken away to the pasturing place; while the +chief himself, doffing a splendid cloak of white wolf-skins, spread it +on the grass, and lay down upon it. Then taking a pipe from his +embroidered pouch, and lighting it, he seemed to give himself up to +silent meditation--as if he had no need to take further trouble about +the affairs of the camp, and none of the others would venture to intrude +upon his privacy. + +None did, save his immediate attendant; who brought him his supper, +after it had been prepared, and assisted also in arranging his +sleeping-place. + +Between him and his attendant not a word was exchanged, and only a few +with one of the others. They related to setting the camp sentinels, +with some instructions about a scout that might be expected to come in +during the night. + +After that the chief stretched himself along his robe, refilled the pipe +with fresh tobacco taken from his pouch, and for some time lay smoking +with his eyes fixed upon the moon. Her light, resplendent in the pure +atmosphere of the upland prairies, falling full upon him, displayed a +figure of fine proportions--indicating both toughness and strength. + +As to the face, nothing could have been told of it, even had it been +seen under sunlight. Striped with vermilion on a ground of ochreous +earth, with strange devices on the forehead and cheeks, it resembled a +painted escutcheon more than a human face. The features, however, +showing a certain rotundity, told them to be those of a young man, who, +but for the disfiguring of the paint, might have appeared handsome. + +Still was there something in his eyes as they glanced under the silvery +moonlight, that betrayed an evil disposition. No water could have +washed out of them that cast at once sinister and sad. + +It was strange that one so youthful--for he seemed certainly not over +twenty-five--could have obtained such control over the turbulent spirits +around him. One and all of them, though also young, were evidently of +this character. He was either the son of some chief long and +universally venerated, or a youthful brave who had performed feats of +valour entitling him to respect. + +The band, over which he exercised sway, could be only an expeditionary +party belonging to some one of the large prairie tribes; and the +material composing it pointed to its being one of those roving troops of +young and reckless braves, often encountered upon the plains--the terror +of trappers and traders. + +There was something unusual in this chief of youthful mien, keeping +apart from his comrades, and holding them in such control. + +While they were carousing around their camp-fire, he was quietly smoking +his pipe; and after they had gone to sleep, he was still seen lying wide +awake upon his wolf-skins! + +It was a singular place in which he and his followers had encamped; a +spot romantically picturesque. It was in a gorge or glen forming a flat +meadow of about six acres in extent, and covered with grass of the short +grama [Note 2] species. It was inclosed on three sides by a bluff +rising sheer up from the plain, and bisected by the tiniest of streams, +whose water came spout-like over the precipice, with a fall of some +twenty feet. On the side open toward the east could be obtained a clear +view of the prairie, undulating away to the banks of Bijou Creek. With +the moon shining down on the soft grassy sward; the Indian horses +grouped and grazing on it; the warriors lying asleep upon their robes; +the stream glistening like a serpent as it swept silently past them; the +cascade sparkling above; and around the dark framing of cliffs; you have +a picture of Rocky Mountain life, that, though rare to you, is common to +those who have traversed that region of romance. + +It did not appear to have any charm for the young chief, who lay +stretched upon the wolf-skins. Evidently thinking of something else, he +took no note of the scenery around him, further than now and then to +raise himself upon his elbow, and gaze for a time toward that portion of +it that was least picturesque; the monotonous surface of the plain +stretching eastward. That he was scanning it not for itself, but +something that he expected to appear upon it, would have been made +manifest to one who could have known his thoughts. Expressed in English +they would have run thus: + +"Waboga should have been here by this. I wonder what's detaining him. +He must have seen our signal, and should know where to find us. May be +that moon hinders him from stealing a horse out of their camp. As their +guide they ought to trust him to go anywhere. Well, come he or not, I +shall attack them all the same--this night. Oh! what a sweet vengeance! +But the sweeter, if I can only take them alive--one and all. Then, +indeed, shall I have true revenge! + +"What can be keeping the Choctaw? I should not have trusted him, but +that he speaks the white man's tongue. They'd have suspected any other. +He's stupid, and may spoil my plans. I want them--must have them +_alive_! + +"Now, if he should turn traitor and put them on their guard? Perhaps +take them on to the fort? No--no; he would not do that. He hates the +white man as much as I myself, and with nearly as good reason. Besides, +he dare not do it. If he did--" + +The soliloquy of the recumbent chief was suddenly interrupted, and his +thoughts diverted into a different channel, by a sound reaching his ear, +that seemed to come from the distant prairie. It was the hoof-stroke of +a horse; but so faint, that only a practised ear could have heard, much +less make out what was causing it. + +In an instant he had changed his attitude, and lay with cheek closely +pressed to the turf. In another instant, he muttered to himself: + +"A horse--a single horse--must be the Choctaw!" + +He raised himself upon his knees and looked out over the plain. A low +ridge ran obliquely up to the mouth of the gorge in which the Indians +were reposing. There was a clump of bushes upon its crest; and over the +tops of these he could perceive a small disk, darker than the foliage. +He knew it had not been there before. + +While he was scanning it, there came, as if out of the bushes, three +short barks, followed by a prolonged lugubrious howl. It seemed the cry +of the prairie-wolf. But he knew it was not this; for soon after it was +repeated with a different intoning. + +Simultaneously with the second utterance, a similar cry was sent back as +if in answer. It was the response of the camp-guard, who was keeping +watch among the horses. And in this there was an intonation different +from either of the others. It was evidently understood by him who had +signalled from without, and told him he might safely approach: for the +instant after, the dark spot above the bushes was seen moving along +behind them; and presently appeared by the side of the clump, in the +shape of a man on horseback. + +It was a horseman in the garb of a white hunter; but the moon falling +full upon his face, showed the copper-coloured skin of an Indian. + +He rode forward to the edge of the camp; exchanged some words with the +horse-guard, that had answered his signal; and then came on toward the +chief, who had risen to receive him. The salutation told him to be the +Choctaw so impatiently expected. + +"Waboga has delayed long," said the chief, half-reproachfully. "It is +now after midnight. He knows we must make our attack before morning." + +"The Yellow chief need not be troubled about the time. The +sleeping-place of the white travellers is near at hand. It will take +but an hour to reach it. Waboga was detained against his will." + +"Ha! how?" + +"The pale faces had grown suspicious, and watched him. Some trappers, +on their way to Saint Vrain's Fort, came up with the emigrant train +after sunrise, and stayed with it till the noon halt. They must have +said something against the guide. All day after, Waboga could see that +the white men were watching him." + +"Then they are not encamped where I wished them?" + +"They are. The Yellow chief may rest sure of it. They were not so +suspicious as that; but allowed the guide to conduct them to their +sleeping-place. It is in the creek bend where Waboga was instructed to +take them." + +"Good! And their numbers?" + +"Nine white men in all--with their women and children. Of the blacks, +about five times as many--men, squaws, and papooses." + +"No matter for them: they won't resist. Describe the whites." + +"The chief of the caravan, a man of middle age--a planter. Waboga well +knows his kind. He remembers them when a boy dwelling beyond the Big +river--in the land of which his people have been despoiled." + +"A planter. Any family with him?" + +"A son who has seen some twenty-four summers--like the father in +everything but age; a daughter, grown to a woman--not like either. She +is fair as a flower of the prairie." + +"It is she--it is they!" muttered the chief to himself, his eyes +glistening in the moonlight with an expression at once triumphant and +diabolical. "Oh! 'twill be a sweet revenge!" + +"Of the other whites," continued the Choctaw, "one is a tall man, who +has much to do with the management. He acts under the orders of the +planter. He carries a great whip, and often uses it on the shoulders of +the black slaves." + +"He shall have _his_ punishment, too. But not for that. They deserve +it." + +"The other six white men are--" + +"No matter; only tell me how they are armed. Will they make +resistance?" + +Waboga did not think they would--not much. He believed they would let +themselves be taken alive. + +"Enough!" exclaimed the Cheyenne chief--for it was to this tribe the +Indian belonged. "The time has come. Go wake our warriors, and hold +yourself ready to guide us." + +Then, turning upon his heel, he commenced gathering up his arms, that +lay scattered around the robe on which he had been reposing. + +His body-servant, already aroused, was soon in attendance upon him; +while the slumbering warriors, one after another, startled from savage +dreams, sprang to their feet, and hurried toward their horses. + +The best-drilled squadron of light cavalry could not have got half so +quickly into their saddles, as did this painted troop of Cheyennes. + +In less than ten minutes after receiving the command to march, they were +riding beyond the bounds of their bivouac--equipped for any kind of +encounter! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. They have several reasons for this preference. The arrow does +its death-work silently, without alarming the game; besides, powder and +lead cost more than arrow-sticks, which can also be recovered. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 2. _Grama_, the New Mexican name for a species of grass forming +the finest pastured of the prairies--the famed buffalo grass not +excepted. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +A TRAITOROUS GUIDE. + +As already known, the emigrants had _corralled_ their wagons on the +banks of Bijou Creek. + +The spot selected, or rather to which their Indian guide had conducted +them, was in a bend of the stream, that looped around the encampment in +the shape of a horse's shoe. It enclosed an area of some four or five +acres of grassy ground--resembling a new-mown meadow. + +With an eye to security, it could not, to all appearance, have been +better chosen. The creek, running sluggishly around the loop, was deep +enough to foil any attempt at fording; while the narrow, isthmus-like +neck could be defended with advantage. It had not been the choice of +the travellers themselves, but of their Indian guide, who, as already +stated, had presented himself to them at Bent's Fort, and been engaged +to conduct them through Bridger's Pass. Speaking the white man's +tongue, though but indifferently, and being a Choctaw, as he declared +himself, they had no suspicion of his honesty, until that very day, when +a band of free trappers, who chanced to pass them on the route, and who +knew something of the Indian's character, had warned them to beware of +him. They had obeyed the warning, so far as lay in the power of men so +little acquainted with the prairies. And how could they suspect a guide +who had chosen for their night's camping-place a spot that seemed the +very place for their security? How could they suppose that the deep, +slow stream, running silently around them, could have been designed for +any other purposes than that of defence? It never entered their minds +to suppose it could be intended as a trap. Why should it? + +If anything could have given them this thought it would have been what +they had heard from the trappers. Some of them had reflected upon the +character given of their guide. But more discredited it, believing it +to be only ill-will on the part of the whites towards the Indian--like +themselves, a hunter. Others said it was a trapper joke--a story told +to scare them. + +There was something odd in the eagerness the Indian had shown in +directing them to their present camping-ground. It was some distance +from the travelled track, where they had seen other places that appeared +sufficiently suitable. Why should he have taken the trouble to bring +them to the bend of the creek? + +The man who made this reflection was Snively, the overseer. Snively +didn't like the look of the "redskin," though he was a Choctaw, and +spoke a little English. That he had come originally from the other side +of the Mississippi was not proof of his being honest; for Mr Snively +had no great faith in the integrity of men tailing from the "Choctaw +Purchase"--whatever the colour of their skin--red, white, or black. + +His suspicions about the guide, communicated to his fellow-travellers, +were adopted by several of them, though not by their leader. Squire +Blackadder scouted the idea of treason, as also did his son. + +Why should the Choctaw betray them? It was not as if he had been one of +the prairie Indians, and belonging to some predatory band. He was +merely a wanderer from his own tribe, who, in the Reserve allotted to +them west of Arkansas State, were now living as an inoffensive and +half-civilised people. He could have no motive in leading them astray, +but the contrary. He was not to receive his recompense for acting as +their guide until after their arrival on the other side of the +mountains. A good sum had been promised him. Was it likely he should +do anything to forfeit it? So reasoned Squire Blackadder and several of +the emigrants who accompanied him. + +Snively and the others were not satisfied, and resolved to keep a sharp +eye upon the Indian. + +But, watchful as they were from that time forward, they failed to see +him, as he slipped out of their camp, near the mid-hour of night, taking +along with him one of the best horses belonging to the caravan! + +He must have got away by leading the animal for some distance along the +edge of the stream, concealed under the shadow of the banks. Otherwise, +on the open prairie, with the moon shining down upon its treeless sward, +he could not have eluded the vigilance of the camp-guards, one of whom +was Snively himself. + +It was only by an accident that his departure was discovered, just +before daybreak. The horse he had taken chanced to be a _mare_, that +some weeks before had dropped a foal. It was too fine a creature to be +left behind upon the prairies, and had been therefore brought along with +its dam. + +The colt, after a time missing its mother, ran hinnying about, till its +cries of distress startled the camp from its slumbers. Then a search on +all sides resulted in the universal conviction that their guide had +betrayed them--or, at all events, had stolen off, taking the mare along +with him! + +There was no more sleep for the eyes of the emigrants. One and all ran +wildly around the wagons--the whites meeting each other with cautions +and curses, alike contradictory; the blacks--men, women, and children-- +huddling together, and giving voice to their fears in shrieks and +chattering. + +And, in the midst of this confusion, a dark mass was seen moving across +the prairie, upon which the white light of the moon was already becoming +blended with that of the grey dawn. + +At first it came slowly and silently, as though stealing toward the +camp. Then, as if concealment was no longer deemed necessary, the mass +broke into a scattered cloud, showing it to be composed of horsemen. + +Their trampling sounded upon the turf, at the same time that a wild +yell, issuing simultaneously from threescore throats, struck terror into +the hearts of the emigrants. There could be no mistaking that cry. It +was the war-whoop of the Cheyennes. + +The travellers had no time to reflect upon it--it was the slogan of +attack; and, before they could think of any plan for defending +themselves, the dusky horsemen were at hand, swooping down upon them +like the breath of a tornado! + +The emigrants were not all cowards. Three or four were men of courage, +and not the least courageous was Snively the overseer. Still was it +more by a mechanical impulse, than any hope of successfully defending +themselves, that they discharged their guns in the faces of the +approaching foemen. + +It did not stay the impetuosity of the charge. Their shots were +returned by a volley from the guns of their savage assailants, followed +up by a thrusting of spears; and, in less than ten minutes' time, the +_corral_ was captured. + +When the day broke, it disclosed a scene, since then, alas! far from +unfrequent on the prairies. A wagon train, with its tilts torn down, +and the contents strewed around it; the cattle that had drawn it along +standing near, and wondering what had befallen it; their owners in +captivity, some of them bound hand and foot, others lying lifeless upon +the turf! + +Embracing all, a cohort of painted savages--some keeping guard over the +captives, others indulging in on unchecked Saturnalia; some dead-drunk, +others reeling in a state of half intoxication--each with cup in hand, +filled with the fire-water taken from the captured wagons! + +Such was the spectacle on Bijou Creek on that morning, when the emigrant +train of the ex-Mississippi planter fell into the hands of a war-party +of Cheyennes, led by the _Yellow Chief_. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +TWO TRAPPERS. + +The gorge in which the young Cheyenne chief and his followers had made +their night bivouac, was only one of a series of similar glens, that +with short intervals between, notched the foot of the _sierra_ [Note 1] +where it edged upon the open prairie. It was not the main chain of the +Rocky Mountains, but a spur running out into the plain. + +About a mile farther along, and nearer to Bijou Creek, was another +gorge, not very dissimilar in size, but somewhat so in character. +Instead of an embouchure open to the plain, it was shut in on all sides +by bluffs, rising abruptly above it to the height of over a hundred +feet. + +There was an outlet nevertheless; where a tiny spring-branch, gurgling +forth from the bottom of the encircling cliffs, passed out into the open +country, after making its way through a _canon_ [pronounced Kenyon] +which it had no doubt cut for itself in the course of countless ages. + +But as it needed a cleft no wider than might admit the body of a man, +not much wider was it, from top to bottom of the cliff. A traveller +might have passed within a hundred yards of its outer face, looking +towards the plain, without perceiving this break in the precipice or +taking it only for a fissure in the _facade_ of the rocks. + +The enclosed space inside, in one other respect differed from the glen +that had been occupied by the Indians. Its bottom was thickly timbered +with cotton-wood and other trees; while along the ledges of the cliff, +and wherever a crevice afforded root-accommodation grew _pinons_ [Note +2] and the creeping cliff cedar. + +It seemed a favourite haunt of the owls and bats, but only at night. By +day the birds appeared to have full possession of it--filling it with +their sweet music, and fearing only the rapacious white-headed eagle, +that occasionally "whetted his saw" [Note 3] or laughed his maniac +laugh, perched on the cliffs overhead. + +Only from the heights above could a view be had of the "hole" [Note 4]; +and to get this required climbing, beyond anything curiosity was likely +to encourage. No prairie traveller would have taken the trouble, unless +he chanced to be a German geologist, hammer in hand, or a botanist of +the same inquiring race, in search of rare plants. Led by the love of +science, these simple but ardent explorers go everywhere, into every +cranny and corner of the earth--even the "holes" of the Rocky Mountains, +where often have their dead bodies been found, with heads stripped of +their skins by the knife of the indiscriminating savage. + +Ascending the cliff from the outside, and looking down into the gorge +described, you might fancy that no human being had ever entered it. To +do so would cost some exertion. And danger, too: for there was a +hundred feet of precipitous rock to be scaled _downward_, at the risk of +getting a broken neck. + +Some one had taken this risk, however; for on the same night in which +the Cheyenne chief had sallied out to attack the emigrant camp, only a +little later and nearer morning, a fire might have been seen glimmering +among the cotton-wood trees that covered the bottom of the glen. + +It could only have been seen from a particular point above, where no one +was likely to be straying. On all other sides it was concealed by the +thick foliage of the trees, through which its smoke, scattering as it +passed upward, became dissipated into thin haze before reaching the +crest of the cliffs. + +By this fire, far remote from the hearths of civilisation, two men were +seated, bearing but slight resemblance to each other. One was +characteristic of the scene; his costume and accoutrements, in short, +his _tout-ensemble_, proclaiming him unmistakeably a trapper. +Hunting-shirt of dressed deer-hide, fringed at cape and skirt, leggings +of like material, moccasins soled with _parfleche_ [Note 5] and on his +head, a felt hat with crown and brim showing long service. His hair, +close cropped, gave little framing to his face, that was naturally dark +in colour, but darker with dirt, sun-tan, and wrinkles. It looked the +face of a man who had seen nearly sixty summers, and quite as many +winters. + +His companion was not over half his age, nor in any way like the man we +have taken for a trapper, although garbed in the costume common to +"mountain men" [the Rocky Mountain trappers so style themselves]. He +wore the hunting-shirt, leggings, and moccasins; but all were tastefully +cut and elaborately embroidered. + +It might have been the difference between youth and age; and both may +have been trappers alike. Still there was something about the younger +man--a delicacy of feature and refinement of manner--very different from +those who take to this rude adventurous calling. + +A thought of the kind seemed to have come uppermost in the mind of his +older companion, as they sate by their camp-fire just kindled. It still +wanted half an hour of sunrise; and they had issued out of their skin +lodge, standing close by, to cook their morning meal. It was +preparatory to starting out on a tour of inspection to their traps, set +overnight in the streams near at hand. A large flitch of buffalo-meat, +comprising several hump-ribs, was roasting in the blaze; and they were +waiting till it should be sufficiently done. + +It was the elder who spoke first; at least upon a subject foreign to the +preparation of their repast. + +"Durn it, Ned!" said he, "I hev been dreemin' 'bout ye last night." + +"Indeed! I hope that nothing promises bad luck. Bah! why should I +think of luck, one way or the other? For me there can be none in the +future worse than I've had in the past. What was your dream, 'Lije?" + +"Oh! nutin' much. I only thort I seed ye alongside o' a gurl; an' she +war a pullin' at ye to get ye away from the mountings. She war tryin' +to toat you along wi' her." + +"She didn't succeed, I suppose?" + +"Wal; I woke up afore it kim to thet. But ef't hed been the gurl as I +seed in my dreem, an' it war all true, I reck'n she'd 'a hed a good +chance." + +"And pray what girl did you see in your dream?" + +"Maybe you'd like to purnounce the name; ef ye do, I'd say Clar' +Blackedder. She war the very gurl as war a draggin' at ye." + +At the mention of the name "Ned" heaved a deep sigh, though the sizzling +of the hump-ribs hindered his companion from hearing it. But, by the +brighter light caused by the fat falling among the cinders, a shadow +could be seen suddenly overspreading his countenance, his features at +the same assuming a cast, half-sad, half-angry. + +"Not much danger of that dream coming true," he said, with an effort at +composing them. "Clara Blackadder has no doubt long ago changed her +name; and forgotten mine too." + +"I don't think she's dud eyther one or the tother. Weemen air a kewrous +kind o' varmint; an' cling on to thar affecshuns a deal harder'n we do. +Beside; that gurl wa'n't one o' the changin' sort. I knowed her since +she war knee high to a duck. She war the only one o' the hul family o' +Blackedders worth knowin'; for a bigger cuss than the brother wa'n't +nowhar to be foun' in Massissippi, 'ceptin' 'twar the ole squire +hisself. That gurl loved you, Ned; an' ef you'd tuk the right way wi' +her, you mout yourself 'a had the changin' o' her name." + +"What way?" + +"Whipped her off on the crupper o' yur seddle--jest es these hyar +purairia Injuns sometimes does. Ye shed a dud thet an' said no more +about it, eyther to her father, or to anybody else. It's the way I dud +myself wi' Sal Slocum, down thar in Tennersee bottom, nigh on thirty +yeern ago, 'fore I went down to the Choctaw Purchiss. Dick, her ole +dad, war all agin me havin' his gurl, 'cause he hed a spite at me, for +beatin' him at a shootin' match. 'Twa'n't no use his oppersishun. I +got my critter seddled up, one night when Dick war soun' asleep in his +shanty, an' I toated Sal off, an' took her afore a Methody preecher, who +coupled us thegither in the shakin' o' a goat's tail. An' I niver hed +reezun to rue it. Sal made me a good wife, as long as she lived. I +hain't hed a better 'un since." + +The young man smiled sadly at the strange ideas of his trapper +companion; but the subject being a painful one to him, he made no +rejoinder. + +"Thet's what you oughter dud wi' Clar' Blackedder," persisted the +trapper, without noticing his companion's chagrin, "cut cl'ar away wi' +her. Ef ye'd a hed her for yur wife, it 'ud a been diff'rent for ye +now. Instead o' bein' hyar in the mountains, mopin' yer innards out-- +for I kin see ye're doin' thet, Ned--ye mout now been settled in the +State o' Massissippi workin' a cotton plantashun wi' a smart chance o' +niggers on't. Not as I myself shed care 'bout eyther; for arter twenty +yeern o' ramblin' over these hyar reejuns, I ain't fit to live in the +settlements. It's diff'rent wi' you, however, who ain't noways shooted +for a trapper's life--though I will say thar ain't a better shot nor +hunter in all these purairias. Anybody kin see ye're only hyar for a +diff'rent purpiss; tho I reck'n 'Lije Orton air the only 'un to which +ye've confided yur secret. Wal; you know I like ye, Ned; an' that's why +I don't like to see ye so down in the dumps. They've been on yur ever +since yur left the Massissippi; and I reck'n yur'll find no cure for 'em +out hyar." + +"Admitted, 'Lije, that I still think of Miss Blackadder. As I know you +are my friend, I will admit it. But what would you have me do?" + +"Go back to the Choctaw Purchiss, get once more 'longside the gurl, an' +do wi' her as I did wi' Sal Slocum--run away wi' her." + +"But she may be married? Or perhaps no longer cares for _me_?" + +This was said with a sigh. + +"Neyther one nor t'other. 'Lije Orton air willin' to bet high thet. +First place, thar wur reezuns she wudn't git married eezy. The ole +Squire her dad, wa'n't poplar about the Purchiss; an' I don't think he +wur over rich. The young 'un must a spent most o' the shiners as come +in for the cotton. I know _you_ wudn't a cared 'bout that; but others +wud; an' I guess Clar' Blackadder wa'n't like to hev her choice 'mong +the sons o' the best planters; an' I guess too she wa'n't the gurl to +hev any o' the second-rates. Then she liked you powerful. She told me +so, time I wur back thar, jest arter you left. Yes, Ned; she liked you, +an' take this chile's wud for it, she'll stick to thet likin' as death +to a dead nigger." + +Quaint and queer as was the trapper's talk, it was pleasant to the ear +of Edward O'Neil: for such was the name of the young man--the same who +had made suit for the hand of Clara Blackadder, and been scornfully +rejected by her father. + +Of his life since that time the story is easily supplied. On leaving +the State of Mississippi he had gone westward into that of Arkansas; +staying for some time at Little Rock. He had afterwards made his way to +the Rocky Mountains, in the hope that among their deep defiles he might +be enabled to bury the sorrow that was preying upon him. Chance had +brought him in contact with 'Lije Orton, a noted trapper of the time; +and something besides had made them trapping companions, as well as fast +friends: for 'Lije, though of rude habit and exterior, was at the heart +true as steel. + +The young Irishman, smiling at the crude simile of his companion, made +no reply. Indeed, there was no opportunity; for, while delivering it, +'Lije saw that the buffalo-ribs were sufficiently roasted; and, leaning +forward over the fire, he transferred them from the spit to a large +wooden platter, taken out of his "_possible sack_" [The "Trapper's +travelling bag"]. Before any response could be given, he had separated +the ribs with his knife; and, taking hold of one in both hands, he +commenced stripping it with his teeth, as quickly and adroitly as could +have been done by the hungriest _coyote_ [Pronounce, _Cohote_. The +"Prairie-Wolf" (_Canis latrans_)]. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. _Sierra_, The Spanish word for "saw." It also signifies a +mountain chain or ridge, the idea having no doubt come from the +denticulated appearance of the Spanish mountain chains, seen _en +profile_, against the sky. What we call the Rocky Mountains, are known +among Mexicans as the _Sierra Madre_ (mother chain). Spurs and +branching ranges have particular names, as Sierra Mogollon, Sierra +Guadalupe, etc. This word is being adopted into our language, and will +soon be thoroughly "naturalised" as "canon," "ranche," and others. +_Cerro_ is a different word, and signifies an isolated mountain or high +hill, as "Cerro dorilo." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 2. Pronounced _Peenyon_. It is the edible or "nut pine" (_pinus +edulis_), of which there are several distinct species throughout Texas, +Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, and California. They afford food to +several tribes of Indians, and are also an article of consumption in +many white (Mexican) settlements. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 3. There is a remarkable resemblance between the call-note of the +bald eagle, and the sound made in sharpening a large saw. And by a +little stretch of fancy, it may be likened to the shrill hysterical +laughter, sometimes heard from the insane. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 4. "Hole." The trapper name for an enclosed gorge of the kind +described. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 5. Sole-leather made from the hide of the buffalo bull, tanned +Indian fashion. A French trapper word signifying arrow-proof, on +account of its being used for shields by the prairie Indians. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +BREAKFAST INTERRUPTED. + +The two trappers had got about half through their Homeric meal, when a +sound reached their ears, that caused them not only to stop mastication, +but hold the half-polished ribs suspended, as if they would have dropped +them out of their hands! It was a shot they heard--first one, and then +several others following in quick succession. They were heard only +indistinctly, as if fired far off upon the prairie. But even thus, the +sounds were not agreeable; for the report of fire-arms in that solitary +region has a significance, and not always a safe one. It might be a +friend, who had discharged his gun; but it is more likely to be an +enemy. Evidently so believed the two trappers, else they would not have +fixed their camping-place in a spot so difficult of access--requiring +them to wade waist-deep in water, and twice too, every time they went a +hundred yards from their tent! The spring-branch occupying the full bed +of the canon, the only way by which they could conveniently pass out to +the plain, nailed for this semi-immersion. But the same gave them +protection against idle intruders. + +"Speel up, Ned!" cried his companion, "an' see what you kin see." + +The request was at once complied with; the young trapper, flinging down +his half-picked bone, commenced climbing the steep face of the rock, +assisted by the branches of the cedars. 'Lije remained below, +continuing his matutinal meal. + +In a few seconds time O'Neil had reached the summit of the cliff; and +with a small binocular glass, which he had taken up along with him, +commenced examining the country in the direction whence the shots +appeared to have come. + +It was yet only the earliest dawn, and the plain towards the east was +still shrouded in darkness. But as the young man kept gazing through +the glass, a quick flash came before its field, followed by the report +of a gun. At the same instant sparks flew up, as if from a fire that +had been trampled upon, and on the still morning air, he could hear the +confused sounds of strife, in which human voices appeared to be +intermingled with the yelling of demons! + +"D'ye see anything, boy?" called his comrade from below. "I hyurd +another shot out purairiaward. You must 'a seed the flash o't?" + +"More than that," responded the young man, speaking with bated breath. +"Come up, 'Lije! There's a fight going on not far off. Some travellers +have been encamped, as I can tell by the sparkling of their fires. They +appear to have been attacked, and by Indians. Come up, quick!" + +The old trapper, grumbling his chagrin at being interrupted in his +_dejeuner_, dropped the buffalo-rib; and taking his rifle along with +him, commenced ascending the cliff. + +By the time he had joined his companion on the summit, the day had +almost dawned; for the morning twilight is of short duration on the head +waters of the Southern Platte. + +Looking eastward over the plain, they could now see something more than +the gleaming of camp-fires; the white tilts of waggons set in +_corralled_ shape, and around dark forms, of both men and horses, +swarming and moving like bees hiving upon a branch. They could hear, +too, the sounds of strife still continuing, or it might be the exulting +shouts succeeding a triumph. + +"A camp o' whites," said the old trapper, half speaking to himself, and +half to his comrade. "That's clar from their havin' waggons. And +they've been attackted by Injuns; that's equally sartin from the shouts. +Thar's no mistakin' them yells. They kedn't come from any other than +an Injun's throat. I wonder who the whites kin be?" + +His young comrade, equally wondering, but still busy with his binocular, +made no rejoinder. + +"A party o' emigratin' travellers, I reck'n?" pursued the old trapper. +"Can't 'a be any o' Bent's or Saint Vrain's people. They wudn't a got +surprised that eezy, nor 'ud they a' gone under so quick. Sartint sure +hev they gone under. Listen to them yells! Thet's the conquerin' +screech o' Injuns, sure as my name's 'Lije Orton!" + +His companion did not need any assurance, beyond what he himself heard +and saw. There could be no doubt about its being a travelling party, +either of emigrants or prairie-traders, that had succumbed to an +onslaught of savages. + +Neither were they long doubtful as to the character of the travellers. +The sun, now peeping up over the far prairie edge, illumined the scene +of strife, showing half-a-dozen waggons, with some of their canvas +covers dragged off; and around them the dark forms of a savage cohort. + +"It's a karryvan o' emigrants, as I tuk it for," said the trapper. +"Rayther a small 'un at thet! What durned fools they must a' been to +ventur' acrosst the purairias wi' sech a trifle o' strength as they +'pear to have! They're all `rubbed out' now, I reck'n; or them as lives +is captered, an' in the hands o' the Injuns. + +"If them Injuns be, as I suspect they ur--Yellow Chief an' his band--the +Lord pitty them poor critters! They'd better got rubbed out in the +scrimmage, and thar 'ud a been an eend o't." + +"Yellow Chief!" repeated the trapper's companion. "Ah! if it be he, the +cruel ruffian, and he have captives, you are right, 'Lije, in pitying +them. I heard some terrible tales of him last time I was over at Bent's +Fort. Whoever the Indians be, they are certain to have taken some +captives. An emigrant train, there should be women and children along +with it? Surely the savages will not kill them! Can we do nothing +towards rescuing them? Think, 'Lije!" + +"I am a-thinkin', an' hev been, ever since I kim up hyur. But 'tain't +no use. We mout think our heads off, 'ithout devisin' any way to be o' +use to them. We'd only git ourselves into the same trap as they're in-- +an' maybe wuss; for them Cheyennes--'specially Yellow Chief's gang--he's +late tuk a desperate anger agin' us trappers, because, as they say, some +o' our fellurs carried off one o' thar squaws from the place whar they +war campin' last spring in the middle Park. If it's the Cheyenne tribe, +as is squeelin' out thar, the furrer we keep away from 'em, the longer +we'll hev har on our heads. Hilloa! what's thet thing comin' on +yonder?" + +The exclamation, as the query that followed, was called forth at sight +of a dark object, that seemed to be moving over the prairie, and in the +direction of the cliff--from the top of which the two trappers, +themselves concealed behind a cedar-tree, were scanning the outward +plain. It had the appearance of a human being; but one so diminutive in +size and of such dusky hue, that it might have passed for a fresh +dropped buffalo calf, or one of the dark-brown wolves sometimes seen +among the mountains. And it seemed to go with a crouching gait, unlike +the upright attitude of man! + +"It's a nigger!" cried the old trapper, as the moving object began to +get near. "A nigger, an' a boy at thet! Durn me ef 'taint! What a +cunnin' young darkey he be. Look how he winds about through the bushes, +crawlin' from scrub to scrub! Durn me ef thet boy ain't wuth his weight +in best beaver skins! Now, I kin see how it air. He's been one o' the +karryvan, which by thet, I reck'n, must be from the South; one o' thar +slaves sartin; an' seeing his master rubbed out, he's tuk leg bail on +his own account. Wagh! he's comin' right this way! Ned, yu're soopler +than I'm; skoot out, an' try ef ye kin catch him, while I stay hyur, an' +look out for what's a doin' yonder. Grit your claws on the darkey, ef +ye ken, an' we may larn all about it." + +O'Neil sprang down the cliff; and wading through the canon, was soon +alongside the black-skinned fugitive--a negro boy, as anticipated. + +There was no chase required for the catching him: the darkey was already +breathless and broken down, after his long run; and submitted to being +taken prisoner without any attempt at running away--the more readily no +doubt on seeing that his captor was white. + +The young Irishman did not question him on the spot: but at once +conducting him into the cove, called to his comrade to come down. + +"Wall, ye young imp o' darkness!" began the trapper, as soon as he had +descended, "whar hev _you_ come from, so skeeart-like?" + +"From de wagins, massa--de wagins, whar da wa camp--" + +"What wagons?" + +"De wagins dat we're all a trabellin' wif, cross de big praira. Dar war +de white folk and de collr'd people, all ob de plantash'n; an' I 'speck +dey all kill'd ceptin' maseff." + +"Who kilt them?" + +"De Injuns, dem as war paint'd red, an white, an' ebery colour--dey come +gallop up on da hosses jess as our folks wa 'bout to git breakfass; an' +'fore we know what we doin' dey fire dar gun, an' run dar long 'pears +troo de people. O, massa! I'se sure ebbery body gone killed." + +"Wharfor de ye think thet?" + +"Kase I see ole massa fall down an' de blood 'treaming out o' him face, +and den I see de obasseah fire shot from his gun, and den de young missa +she holler out, an' so did all de ress ob de women an' chilren, boaf de +bracks an' de whites. Gorramity! how dey did 'cream!" + +"What war the name o' yur ole massa, as ye call him? Kin ye tell us +that?" + +"Law, boss, sartin I kin tell dat. Ebbery body know de name ob ole +massa. He call de Squiah Brackedder." + +"Squire Brackedder!" + +"Squire Blackadder?" asked O'Neil, listening with intense anxiety for +the answer. + +"Ya, massa; dat am de name." + +"Whar did ye come from? Kin ye tell thet, darkey?" + +"From Massissippy 'tate--de ole plantashun ain't berry fur from de town +o' Vickburg, on de big ribba." + +This was about all the information the negro lad could give. + +It was sufficient for the time. On obtaining it, the trapper threw up +his hands, and gave utterance to a loud "Phew;" while his companion +stood silent, as if suddenly struck dumb! + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +PLANNING A RESCUE. + +"What's best to be dud? What d'ye say, Ned?" + +"Let us go straight to the place, and see what has happened. Oh, +heavens! If Clara has been killed!" + +"Go straight to the place! Yur a dreamin', young 'un! Supposin' it be +Yellur Chief an' his crowd o' cut-throats? We'd both o' us get sculped +to a sartinty." + +"But we might approach under cover near enough--" + +"Near enuf for nothin'. Thar ain't no kiver in that quarter, as I kin +see from hyur; an' to cut acrosst the purairia, 'ud be to go strait +sartint inter the teeth o' them squallin' skunks. Thay're boun' to be +drunk jest about this time; and whether it's Yellur Chief's lot or no, +we'd get sharp sass from 'em. Thet ye may swar to." + +"We must do something, 'Lije. I cannot bear to think that she may be in +the hands of those horrid savages, and I standing here almost within +sight of her! If she be living I must rescue; and if dead, by heavens, +I shall revenge her! We must do something, 'Lije! we must." + +"An' who said we wa'n't a go in' to do somethin'? Not this chile, sure. +Maybe I mout a said so, ef thar hed been only ole Blackedder in the +scrape an' his precious son along wi' him, an' along wi' both thet +scoundrel o' a overseeur, Sam Snively. But the gurl--she's diff'rent; +an' I feel as desprit on doin' somethin' for her as you kin. F'r all +thet it's no use our doin' what air durned foolechness. We must set +'bout this thing wi' percaushun. Hyur you, darkey! Kin you tell how +many Injuns thar war in the party thet attackted ye?" + +"Dar war a big lot, massa--gobs on 'em; I'se sure more'n a hunder--far +more'n dat." + +"Bah!" exclaimed the trapper, disappointedly. "'Tain't no use inquirin' +o' him. See hyur, niggur! Did you notice any o' them as 'peered to be +thar leader?" + +"Wha--what, massa?" + +"A leeder, durn ye! A chief!" + +"A chief?" + +"Yes, one that war actin' as boss, or overseer." + +"Ah! de boss. Yes, thar war a bossy 'mong dem; I 'pose he muss 'a been, +lease he order all de oders 'bout." + +"Kin ye discribe what he war like? How war he dressed? What sort o' +duds had he on him?" + +"Easy 'nuf dat, massa. He drest moas like de ress ob dem--only on de +top ob him head dar wa' a big spread ob feather, shinin' like de tail o' +a peacock." + +"The Yellur Chief!" exclaimed the questioner, on hearing the +description. + +"No, massa. He no yella'. He wa' painted red. Dar wa' some yella' +stripe; but mos' ob him wa' a bright red colour--redder dan blood." + +"Never mind that, nigger: you don't know what I'm talkin' 'bout. What +did ye see him do?" + +"Seed him try to 'top de shootin' and killin'." + +"Stop the shootin' and killin'! You saw him tryin' to do thet? Air ye +sure o't, boy?" + +"No, massa, I ain't shoo'. I thort he wa' doin' so. I wa'n't shoo'. I +wa' 'feard dey ud go on wif de killin', an' dat's why I 'tole 'way from +de place, an' run out dis way." + +"Eft be Yellur Chief, odd 'bout his tryin' to stop the killin'. 'Tain't +his way." This remark was to O'Neil, who stood chafing at the delay. + +"It _is_ strange;" he answered. "In any case, it's no use our remaining +longer here, if we're going to do anything. What can you think of, +'Lije?" + +The trapper, with his right palm resting upon the stopper of his gun, +stood for a while, reflecting. + +"Thar's one thing," he said at length; "eft air this Cheyenne skunk, an' +he ha'nt kilt the hull lot o' them outright, thar's jest a chance o' our +savin' some o' 'em." + +"Thank God!" exclaimed O'Neil, in a tone of relieved anxiety. "You +think there's a chance, 'Lije?" + +"I duz." + +"In what way?" + +"Wal; still concedin' the point o' its bein' Yellur Chief, I kin guess +putty near what it means. He's out wi' a band o' the young braves, that +ain't likely to track strait back to the town o' thar tribe; so long's +they've got captive weemen among 'em." + +The young Irishman started at the words. They conveyed a thought that +gave pain to him; but, anxious to hear his comrade's scheme for their +rescue, he did not interrupt him. + +"An' ef't be them, I kin guess whar they'll go--most sartin o't. This +chile chances to know one o' Yellur Chief's private campin' grouns'. I +larnt thet when I war trappin' in this quarter too yeern ago--time's you +war down stayin' at Bent's. They're over yonner now, a plunderin' the +poor emigrants an' thar wagins, an' we mout go strait to 'em ef we +wanted to git shet o' our scalps. But as we don't want thet, the +question is, whar they'll be when we kum back in search o' 'em." + +"Come back! You purpose going somewhere? Where to?" + +"To Saint Vrain's." + +"Ah! For what purpose?" + +"For the only purpiss thet kin sarve _our_ purpise: an' thet air to git +a wheen o' mounting men as kin lend us a han' in this bisness. Without +thet, we'd hev as much chance to rescoo the captives--ef thar be any +sech--as for a kripple to catch a Kit-fox." [Note 1.] + +"Do you think we should find any there?" + +"I'm sartint we will. The darkey hez tolt us o' a party that passed the +wagins on thar way. No doubt they war boun' for the Fort. Besides, I +met sev'ral fellurs last seeson while I war trappin' on the Collyrado, +as sayed they war goin' east, an' intended makin' stop at Saint Vrain's +on thar way. I shedn't be serprised ef we foun' fifty on 'em thar now. +Helf o' the number will be enuf to chestise Yellur Chief an' his gang o' +freebooters. Thurfor let's go to the Fort right away, an' see what kin +be done." + +"I'm with you, 'Lije! We must lose no time! Think of the danger she +may be in; that is, if not past all danger already. Oh, I fear to +reflect on it." + +"Ye're right, 'bout not losin' time," said the trapper, without noticing +the last exclamatory remark. "Same time," he added, "'twon't do for us +tu make too much haste, else we mout find it the wuss speed, as the +spellin' book used ter say. We must keep clost in to the bottom o' the +bluffs in goin' torst Saint Vrain's; else them Injuns may spy us. Ef +they shood, we'll be in for a ugly scrape; an' not like to git clar o't +'ithout sheddin' the skins o' our two skulls. Wagh! thet ere wudn't be +no way agreeable; an' ef't wa'n't thet thar's a gurl in the questin, +whose life, an' somethin' else, oughter be saved, I'd a stayed hyur to +finish my breakfust, and let Yellur Chief an' his cut-throats go +straight to custrut to--darnation! But come, Ned! we're a wastin' time, +an' I know you don't weesh thet. Hyur now nigger! you help wi' the +saddlin' o' these hosses. Ef you've been brought up 'bout Squire +Blackedder's stables I reck'n you know somethin' 'bout hosses. An' +harkee, boy! we two air goin' away a bit. So you keep clost in this +hyur hole, till we kum back agin'. You kin rest yur black karkidge +inside that thar tent, whar ye'll find somethin' in the way o' buffler +meat to keep yur ivories from chatterin'. Don't eet it all, d'ye heer. +We may come back sharp-set; an' ef thar's nothin' left, may take it into +our heads to eet you." + +While this talk was going on, two horses were led forth from a cave in +the cliff that served them for stable. + +Both being quickly accoutred, the trappers sprang into their respective +saddles; and spurring towards the canon, were soon plunging between its +shadowy walls, on their way to the outward plain. + +Sixty seconds spent in wading, and they emerged dripping into the light +of day. More of it than they wished for: since the sun was now fairly +up, his disc appearing some two or three degrees above the prairie +horizon. + +There was need for the horsemen to show circumspection. And they did: +silently skirting the cliff, and keeping behind the huge boulders, that, +for long ages shed from its summit, strewed the plain at its base. + +"Arter all, Ned," said the old trapper, when they had ridden to a safe +distance from the dreaded spot, "we needn't 'a been so partickler. I +reck'n, 'bout this time, thar ain't a sober Injun upon the banks o' +Bijou. I hope ole Blackedder an' his party, afore leavin' the +settlements, laid in a good supply o' rot-gut--enuf to keep them skunks +dead-drunk till we kin git back agin. Ef thet be the case, thar'll be +some chance o' our chestisin' 'em." + +A mental "amen" was the only response made by the young Irishman; who +was too much occupied in thinking of Clara Blackadder's danger, to +reflect coolly on the means of rescuing her--even though it were certain +she still lived. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. _Vulpes velox_. The swiftest of the foxes; called "Kit-fox," +by the fur-traders, on account of the skin being taken from the carcase +whole, as with rabbit-skins--not split up the abdomen, as with the +larger species. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +SAINT VRAIN'S. + +One of the classical names associated with the "commerce of the +prairies" is that of _Saint Vrain_. Ever since trapping became a trade, +or at all events, since prairie-land, with its wonders, had grown to be +a frequent, as well as interesting topic of conversation around the +hearth-fires of the American people, the names of Bent, Saint Vrain, +Bonneville, Robideau, Laramie, and Pierre Choteau, might often be heard +upon the lips of men. + +And none more frequently than Saint Vrain, by whose daring and +enterprise not only were caravans carried across the almost untrodden +wilderness to the Mexican settlements of Santa Fe, but forts established +in the very midst of this wilderness, and garrisons maintained, with a +military efficiency rivalling the body-guard of many a little European +despot! + +Yet there was no despotism here, supported by the sweat of a taxed +people; only a simple defensive organisation for the pursuit of a +valuable, as a laudable, industry. + +And when the iron horse goes snorting through the midst of those distant +solitudes, and cities have sprung up on his track, the spots so marked +in our history will become classic ground; and many a tale will be told +of them, redolent of the richest romance. + +Were I to live in the not very remote future, I would rather have in my +ornamental grounds the ruins of one of Bent's or Saint Vrain's Forts, +than the crumbling walls of Kenilworth Castle or the Keep of +Carisbrooke. More picturesquely romantic, more exalting, would be the +souvenirs recalled, and the memories awakened by them. + +Saint Vrain's trading-post, on the South Fork of the Platte, was one of +those long noted as a favourite rendezvous of the free trappers [Note +1], as might have been told by any one chancing to make stop at it in +the season when these wandering adventurers laid aside their traps to +indulge in a spell of idleness and a "spree." + +Just such a time was that when Squire Blackadder and his emigrant +companions were approaching the post, and fell into the clutches of the +Cheyennes. It was not one of their grandest gatherings, since only +about twenty of them were there; but among twenty trappers, or even +less, there is no lack of company. And if all, or even part of them, +have returned with fat packs, and found beaver selling at three dollars +the "plew" [Note 2], there will be a merry company; at times becoming +dangerous--not only to strangers, but to one another--through too much +drink. + +An assemblage of this sort--including, we are sorry to say, both the +sober and the drunk--were at Saint Vrain's Fort, on the day above +specified. They had come there from all quarters--from the parks and +"holes" of the Rocky Mountains, from the streams, creeks, and branches +on this side running east, as well as from the head waters of the Green, +Bear, and Colorado coursing west. Nearly all of them had made a good +season of it, and arrived with their pack animals staggering under the +spoils of the trap and the rifle. + +These had become the property of the Fort, after an exchange on its side +of guns, knives, powder, and lead, with five-point Mackinaw blankets, +and other articles of trapper wear; including those of adornment, and +not forgetting some sparkling _bijouterie_ intended as gifts, or "guages +d'amour" for the bronze-skinned beauties of the prairie. Rude as is the +trapper's life, and solitary too, he is not insensible either to the +soft charms of love, or its companionship. + +In addition to the articles thus swapped or "trucked," the trappers +assembled at Saint Vrain's in exchange for their peltries, had received +a large quantity of coin currency, in the shape of Mexican silver +dollars. With these burning the bottoms out of their pockets, it is +scarce necessary to say that drink was the order of the day, with cards +as its accompaniment. + +We regret having to make this statement; as also that quarrels are the +too frequent termination of these games of euchre and "poker." + +Another source of strife among the trappers assembled at Saint Vrain's +was to be found in the fact, that a friendly Indian tribe, the "Crows," +were encamped near the post; and among these birds, notwithstanding the +name are many that are beautiful. + +No soft courtship suits an Indian belle. If you want to win her, you +must show bravery; and you will not risk losing her affections if your +bravery degenerate into brutalism! + +Such are the moral inclinings of both men and women in the state called +"savage;" but it must not be supposed that this is the state of Nature. +On the contrary, the _savages_, properly so-styled, have long since +passed from their pristine condition of simplicity. [Note 3.] + +Several quarrels had occurred among the trappers at Saint Vrain's Fort-- +more than one that had ended in the shedding of blood--and one of the +bloodiest was on the eve of breaking out, when a cry from the sentinel +on the azotea [Note 4] caused a suspension of the broil. + +The quarrellers were below, on the level plain that stretched away from +the grand gate entrance of the building, and formed a sort of general +ground for assemblage--as well for athletic sports, as for games of a +less recommendable kind. + +The shout of the sentry caused them to look towards the plain, where +they saw two horsemen going at a gallop, and evidently making for the +Fort. + +The rapidity with which they approached, and the way they were urging on +their steeds, told a tale of haste. It could be no caper of two men +trying the speed of their horses. The animals seemed too badly blown +for that. + +"Thar's Injuns after them two fellers!" said Black Harris, a celebrated +mountain man. "Or hez a been not far back. Boys! can any o' ye tell me +who they are? My sight ain't so plain as 'twar twenty yeer ago." + +"If I ain't mistook," answered another of the trapper fraternity, "that +'un on the clay-bank hoss is ole 'Lije Orton, oreeginally from +Tennessee. Who the other be, durn me ef I know. A young 'un, I guess; +an' don't look at all like these hyar purairies, though he do sit that +black hoss, as though he war friz to him. Don't the feller ride +spunky?" + +"_Ay dios_!" exclaimed a man whose swarth skin and bespangled costume +proclaimed him a Mexican. "Call that riding, do you? _Carrai_! on our +side of the mountains a child of six years old would show you better!" + +"In trath an' yez are mistaken, Misther Saynyor Sanchis, as ye call +yerself. I know who that gossoon is that's comin' up yonder, for he's a +countryman of mine; and, be the powers! he can roide to bate any Mixikan +in the mountains--not like a cat stickin' on the back av a goat, as yez +do it; but like a gintleman. Him yonder beside ould 'Lije Orton, is +Misther Edward Onale, ov the Onales av County Tipperary; an', be +jabbers, he _is_ a gintleman be both sides av the house!" + +Before this new discussion could culminate in another quarrel, the two +horsemen had ridden upon the ground, and pulled up in the midst of the +trappers, who, with eager, inquiring looks, gathered in a circle around +them. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The "free" or "independent trappers," as they were also called, +formed a class _sui generis_, in many respects differing from the +regular _employes_ of the fur-trading companies. They were different in +ideas and habits, as also in the _dangers_ of their calling. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 2. _Plew_. The trapper name for the beaver skins. They are now, +I believe, only worth a dollar each. Formerly they were saleable at +four. The introduction of the silk hat ruined the trapper's trade, +though it has been a great boon to the beavers. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 3. There is no instance on record of a tribe in the so-called +pristine "savage" state, having been convicted of the crime of +cannibalism. This is an "institution" that comes only after a certain +degree of civilisation has been attained, or rather when the period of +despotism has arrived, both priestly and monarchical. There is no court +where ceremonies are more complete than that of Thakonbau, the "King of +the Cannibal Islands," of "Figi." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 4. The trading fort of the fur companies in the Mexican portion of +the prairie country were usually built, Mexican fashion, with the flat +roof or _azotea_. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +CHANGED HOSTILITIES. + +The freshly arrived horsemen, instead of alighting, remained seated in +their saddles. + +For a time neither spoke, though their silence might be for want of +breath. Both were panting, as were also the horses that bore them. + +"Theer's somethin' wrong, 'Lije Orton," said Black Harris, after +saluting an old comrade. "I can tell that by yur looks, as well's by +the purspiration on yur anymal. 'Tain't often as _you_ put the critter +in such a sweet. What is it, ole hoss? Yeller belly, or Injun? It +can't be white." + +"White's got somethin' to do wi' it," replied the old trapper, having +somewhat recovered his wind. "But Injun more." + +"Thar's a riddle, boys! Which o' ye kin read it? 'Splain yurself, +'Lije." + +"Thar ain't much explinashin needed; only that a party o' emigrants hez +been attackted on Bijou Crik, an' maybe all on 'em killed, fur as this +chile kin tell." + +"What emigrants? Who attacked them?" + +"Yur fust question, boys, I kin answer clar enuf. They were some +planters from the State o' Massissippi." + +"That's my State," interpolated one of the trappers, a young fellow, +inclined to take part in the talking. + +"Shet up yur head!" commanded Harris, turning upon the fellow one of his +blackest frowns. + +"Whether it air yur State or no," continued the imperturbable 'Lije, +"don't make much diff'rence. What I've got to say, boys, air this: A +karryvan o' emigrant planters, boun' for Californey, wi' thar niggers +along, camp'd last night on the bank o' Bijou Crik. After sun-up this +mornin', they war set upon by Injuns, an' I reck'n most, ef not all on +'em, hev been rubbed out. I chance to know who them emigrants war; but +thet's no bizness o' yurn. I reck'n it's enuf that they war whites, an' +thet Injuns hez dud the deed." + +"What Indians? Do you know what tribe?" + +"That oughtn't to make any diffrence eyther," responded 'Lije. "Though +I reck'n it will, when I've tolt ye who the attacktin party war, an' who +led 'em. I've alser got on the trail o' that." + +"Who? 'Rapahoes?" + +"No." + +"Tain't the direction for Blackfeet." + +"Nor Blackfeet neyther." + +"Cheyennes, then? I'll stake a bale o' beaver it's them same Injuns, in +my opeenyun, the most trecher-most as scours these hyar perairies." + +"Ye wouldn't lose yur skins," quietly responded 'Lije. "It air +Cheyennes es hez done it." + +"And who do you say chiefed 'em?" + +"There's no need asking that," said one, "now we know it's Cheyennes. +_Who_ should it be but that young devil they call Yellow Chief? He's +rubbed out more o' us white trappers than the oldest brave among 'em." + +"Is it he, 'Lije?" asked several in a breath. "Is it the Yellow Chief?" + +"'Taint nobody else," quietly declared the trapper. + +The declaration was received by a perfect tornado of cries, in which +curses were mingled with threats of vengeance. All of them had heard of +this Indian chieftain, whose name had become a terror to trapperdom--at +least that section of it lying around the head waters of the Platte and +Arkansas. It was not the first time many of them had sworn vengeance +against him, if he should ever fall into their power; and the occasion +appeared to have arrived for at least a chance of obtaining it. The air +and attitude of 'Lije Orton led them to believe this. + +All at once their mutual quarrels were forgiven, if not forgotten; and, +with friendships fresh cemented by hostility to the common foe, they +gathered around the old trapper and his companion--first earnestly +listening to what these two had still to tell, and then as earnestly +giving ear to the trapper's counsels about the course to be pursued. + +There was no question of their remaining inactive. The name of the +Yellow Chief had fired one and all, from head to foot, rousing within +them the bitterest spirit of vengeance. To a man they were ready for an +expedition, that should end either in fight or pursuit. They only +hesitated to consider how they had best set about it. + +"Do you think they might be still around the wagons?" asked one, +addressing himself to Orton. + +"Not likely," answered 'Lije; "an' for reezuns. Fust an' foremost, thar +war some o' you fellers, as passed the karryvan yesterday, 'bout the +hour o' noon. Ain't that so?" + +"Yes; we did," responded one of the three trappers, who, standing +silently in the circle, had not yet taken part in the hurried +conversation. "We travelled along with them for some distance," +continued the man, "and stayed a bit at their noon halting-place. We +didn't know any of the party, except their guide, who was that Choctaw +that used to hang about Bent's Fort. Waboga, the Indjens call him. +Well; we warned them against the fellur, knowing him to be a queer 'un. +Like enough it's him that has betrayed them." + +"Thet's been the treetor," said 'Lije. "Him an' no other; tho' it +moutn't 'a made much difference. They war boun' to go under anyhow, wi' +Yellur Chief lookin' arter 'em. An' now, as to the lookin' arter _him_, +we won't find him at the wagons. Knowin' you've kim on hyar, an' +knowin', as he's sartint ter do, thet thar's a good grist o' trappers at +the Fort, he'll stay 'bout the plundered camp no longer than'll take him +an' his party to settle up spoilin' the plunder. Then they'll streak +it. They've goed away from thar long afore this." + +"We can track them." + +"No, ye can't. Leastwise, ef ye did, it woudn't be a bit o' use. This +chile hev thort o' a shorter an' better way o' findin' out thar +warabouts." + +"You know where they are gone, 'Lije?" interrogated Black Harris. + +"Putty nigh the spot, Harry. I reck'n I kin find it out, 'ithout much +gropin'." + +"Good for you, ole hoss! You guide us to thar swarmin'-place; an' ef we +don't break up thar wasps' nest and strangle thar yellar hornet o' a +chief, then call Black Harris o' the mountains a dod-rotted greenhorn!" + +"Ef I don't guide ye strait custrut into thar campin'-place ye may call +ole 'Lije Orton blinder than the owls o' a purairia-dog town. So git +your things ready, boys; an' kum right arter me!" + +It was an invitation that needed no pressing. The hope of being +revenged on the hated subchief of the Cheyennes--for deeds done either +to themselves, their friends, or the comrades of their calling--beat +high in every heart; and, in less than ten minutes' time, every trapper +staying at Saint Vrain's Fort, with a half-score other hangers-on of the +establishment, was armed to the teeth, and on horseback! + +In less than five minutes more, they were hastening across the prairie +with 'Lije Orton at their head, in search of the Yellow Chief. + +They were only five-and-twenty of them in all; but not one of their +number who did not consider himself a match for at least three Indians! + +As for Black Harris, and several others of like kidney, they would not +have hesitated a moment about encountering six each. More than once had +these men engaged in such unequal encounters, coming out of them +victorious and triumphant! + +Twenty-five against fifty, or even a hundred, what signified it to them? +It was but sport to these reckless men! They only wanted to be brought +face to face with the enemy; and then let their long rifles tell the +tale. + +It was a tale to be told, before the going down of the sun. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +CAPTORS AND CAPTIVES. + +Once more in the gorge, where the young Cheyenne chief and his band had +encamped, before making attack upon the emigrant caravan. + +It is the day succeeding that event, an hour before mid-day, with a +bright sun shining down from a cloudless sky. The stage is the same, +but somewhat changed the characters who figure upon it, having received +an addition of more than double the number. The Indians are there; but +even they do not seem the same. From the quiet earnest attitude of an +expeditionary band, they have been transformed into a crowd of shouting +savages. + +Foxes before the quarry was run down, they are now ravening wolves. + +Some are carousing, some lying on the grass in a state of helpless +inebriety; while others, restrained by the authority of their chief, +have kept sober, and stand guard over their new-made captives. + +Only a few are needed for this duty. Three sentinels are deemed +sufficient--one to each group; for the prisoners have been separated +into three distinct parties--holding places apart from one another. The +negroes, men, women, and children, driven into a compact ring, occupy an +angular space between two projections of the cliff. There, huddled +together, they have no thought of attempting to escape. + +To them their new condition of captivity is not so very different from +that to which they have been all their lives accustomed; and, beyond +some apprehension of danger, they have not much to make them specially +discontented. The Indian who stands beside them, with the butt of his +long spear resting upon the turf, seems to know that his guard duty is a +sinecure. + +So also the sentinel who keeps watch over the white women--five in all, +with about three times as many children--boys and girls of various +degrees of age. + +There is one among them, to whom none of these last can belong. She is +old enough to be a wife; but the light airy form and virginal grace +proclaim her still inexperienced in marriage, as in the cares of +maternity. It is Clara Blackadder. + +Seated alongside the others, though unlike them in most respects, she +seems sad as any. + +If she has no anxiety about the children around her, she has grief for +those of older years--for a father, whom but a few hours before she had +seen lying dead upon the prairie turf, and whose grey hairs, besprinkled +with blood, are still before her eyes. + +It is his scalp that hangs from the point of a spear, stuck upright in +the ground, not ten paces from where she sits! + +There is yet another group equally easy to guard; for the individuals +composing it are all securely tied, hand, neck, and foot. + +There are six of them, and all white men. There had been nine in the +emigrant party. Three are not among the prisoners; but besides the +white scalp accounted for, two others, similarly placed on spears, tell +the tale of the missing ones. They have shared the fate of the leader +of the caravan, having been killed in the attack upon it. + +Among the six who survive are Snively, the overseer, and Blount +Blackadder, the former showing a gash across his cheek, evidently made +by a spear-blade. At best it was but an ill-favoured face, but this +gives to it an expression truly horrible. + +A top belonging to one of the wagons has been brought away--the wagons +themselves having been set on fire, out of sheer wanton wickedness; such +cumbrous things being of no value to the light cavalry of the Cheyennes. + +The single tilt appears in the camping-place, set up as a tent; and +inside it the chief, somnolent after a sleepless night, and wearied with +the work of the morning, is reclining in _siesta_. + +Waboga, with the body-servant, keeps sentry outside it. Not that they +fear danger, or even intrusion; but both know there is a spectacle +intended--some ceremony at which they will be wanted, and at any moment +of time. + +Neither can tell what it is to be--whether tragic or comic; though both +surmise it is not likely to be the latter. + +The white men are not so fast bound, as to hinder them from conversing. +In a low tone, telling of fear, they discuss among themselves the +probability of what is to be done with them. + +That they will have to suffer punishment, is not the question; only what +it is to be, and whether it is to be death. It may be even worse: death +preceded by torture. But death of itself is sufficient to terrify them; +and beyond this their conjectures do not extend. + +"I don't think they'll kill us," said Snively. "As for myself, they +ought to be satisfied with what they've done already. They could only +have wanted the plunder--they've got all that; and what good can our +lives be to them?" + +"Our lives, not much," rejoins a disconsolate planter. "You forget our +scalps! The Indians value them more than anything else--especially the +young braves, as these appear to be." + +"There's reason in that, I know," answers the overseer. "But I've heard +that scalps don't count, if taken from the heads of prisoners; and +they've made us that." + +"It won't make much difference to such as them," pursues the +apprehensive planter. "Look at them! Three-fourths of them drunk, and +likely at any minute to take the notion into their heads to scalp us, if +only for a frolic! I feel frightened every time they turn their eyes +this way." + +Of the six men, there are four more frightened when the carousing +savages turn their eyes in another direction--towards the group of white +women. One of these is a widow, made so that same morning, her husband +at the time lying scalped upon the prairie--his scalp of luxuriant black +curls hanging before her face, upon the bloody blade of a lance! + +Three others have husbands among the men--the fourth a brother! + +The men regarding them, and thinking of what may be their fate, relapse +into silence, as if having suddenly bet speech. It is the +speechlessness of despair. + +The Yellow Chief--by Captain Mayne Reid + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +A NOVEL MODE OF PUNISHMENT. + +The sun was already past the meridian when the young Cheyenne chief, +coming out from under the wagon tilt, once more showed himself to his +captives. Since last seen by them there was a change in his costume. +It was no more the scant breech-cloth worn in war; but a gala dress, +such as is used by savages on the occasion of their grand ceremonies. +His coat was the usual tunic-like shirt of the hunter, with fringed cape +and skirt; but, instead of brown buckskin, it was made of scarlet cloth, +and elaborately adorned by bead embroidery. Underneath were fringed +leggings, ending in moccasins, worked with the porcupine quill. A +Mexican scarf of crimson China crape was around his waist, with its +tasselled ends hanging behind. On his head was a checkered Madras +kerchief, tied turban fashion, its corners jauntily knotted on one side; +while above the other rose a "panache" of bluish plumes, taken from the +wings of the "gruya," or New Mexican crane, their tips dyed scarlet. + +Stuck behind his sash was a glittering bowie-knife, that might once have +been the property of a Kansas regulator; and there were also pistols +upon his person, concealed under the white wolf-skin robe that still +hung toga-like from his shoulders. But for the emblematical painting on +his face, freshly touched up, he might have appeared handsome. With +this he was still picturesque, though terrible to look upon. His size-- +he was full six feet--gave him a commanding appearance; and his +movements, easy and without agitation, told of a commanding mind. His +followers seemed to acknowledge it; as, on the moment of emerging from +the tent, even the most roysterous of them became quiet over their cups. + +For some minutes he remained by the open end of the tent, without +speaking to any one, or even showing sign that he saw any one around +him. He seemed occupied with some mental plan, or problem; the solution +of which he had stepped forth to seek. + +It was in some way connected with the tiny waterfall, that fell like a +spout from the cliff; for his eyes were upon it. + +After gazing at it for some time, they turned suddenly up to the sun; +and as if seeing in it something to stimulate him, his attitude became +changed. All at once he appeared to arouse himself from a lethargy, +like one who has discovered the necessity for speedily entering upon +action. + +"Waboga!" he called, addressing himself to the Choctaw. + +The traitor was not one of the intoxicated, and soon stood before him. + +"Take some of the young men. Cut down a tree--one of the pinons yonder. +Lop off the branches, and bring it here." + +Waboga went about the work, without saying a word; and a couple of +tomahawks were soon hacking at the tree. + +It was but a slender one, of soft pine wood; and shortly fell. Then, +lopped and topped, its trunk was dragged up to the spot where the chief +stood, and where he had remained standing ever since issuing the order. + +"It will do," he said, looking at the felled pinon, as if satisfied of +its being suitable for his purpose. "Now take it to the fall there, and +set it up; behind the jet of the water, so that it just clears it. Sink +a deep hole, and see you stake it firmly." + +The hole was sunk; the tree set upright in it; and then firmly wedged +around with stones. The tiny stream, coming down from the cliff, fell +vertically in front, according to the directions given, just clearing +its top. + +By further instructions from the chief, a stout piece of timber, taken +from one of the limbs, was lashed transversely to it, forming a cross, +about five feet above the ground. + +During all these preparations no one knew for what they were intended. +Even the Indians employed could not tell, and Waboga was himself +ignorant. + +The captives were equally at a loss to make out what was meant; though +they surmised it to be the preliminary to some mode of punishment +intended for themselves. + +When they saw the erection taking the form of a crucifix, this of itself +was suggestive of torture; but observing also the strange spot in which +it was being set up, there began to glimmer on their minds a shadowy +thought of its kind. Snively and one or two others--Blount Blackadder +among them--in the upright post and its cross-piece, with the water-jet +falling in front, were reminded of a mode of punishment they had +themselves too often inflicted. + +"I wonder what they can be after wantin' with that," said one of the +planters to his fellow-captives. + +None of them made reply. The same thought was in the minds of all, and +it was terrifying them beyond the power of speech. + +The interrogatory was answered in a different way. About a dozen of the +Indians, who had been called up around the chief, appeared to receive +some directions from him. They were given in the Cheyenne tongue, and +the captives could not make out what was said; though they could tell by +the attitude and gestures of the chief Indians it related to themselves. + +They were not long before discovering its object. Five or six of the +young braves, after listening to the commands of their leader, turned +their backs upon him, and came bounding on to the spot where the +prisoners lay. They appeared in high glee, as if some sport was +expected; while the hostile glance from their fierce eyes proclaimed it +to be of a malignant kind--some ceremony of torture. And so was it. + +It could scarce have been by accident that Blount Blackadder was the +first victim selected. He was behind the others, and half crouching in +concealment, when he was seized by two of the painted savages; who, +jerking him suddenly to his feet, undid the fastenings around his +ankles. + +It was not to set him free; only to save them the trouble of carrying +him to the spot where he was to afford them a spectacle. And it was of +the kind at which he had himself often assisted--though only as a +spectator. + +His fellow-prisoners had no longer a doubt as to the torture intended +for him, and in store for themselves. If they had, it was soon settled +by their seeing him conducted forward to the spot where fell the tiny +cataract, and forced under it--with his back towards the tree-trunk. + +In a few seconds, his ankles were bound around its base. Then his arms, +set free, were pulled out to their full stretch, and fast lashed to the +transverse bar, so that his attitude resembled that of one suffering +crucifixion! + +Something still remained to be done. A raw-hide rope was passed around +his throat and the tree-trunk behind, to which it was firmly attached. +His head was still untouched by the water-jet, that fell down directly +in front of his face. + +But he was not to remain thus. As soon as his position seemed +satisfactory to the Indian chief, who stood examining it with a critical +eye, and, so far as could be judged through the paint, with a pleased +expression upon his face, he called some words of direction to a young +warrior who was near. It was obeyed by the Indian, who, picking up an +oblong block of stone, stood holding it above the head of him who was +bound to the cross. + +"So, Blount Blackadder!" cried the Cheyenne chief, no longer speaking in +the Indian tongue, but in plain understandable English. "It's your turn +now. _Give him a double dose_!" + +As he spoke, the Indian, who held the stone, sogged it down between the +back of Blackadder's neck and the trunk of the tree. Wedged there, it +brought his head into such a position, that the stream of water fell +vertically upon his crown! + +The words pronounced by the Cheyenne chief produced a startling effect. +Not so much upon him, who was transfixed under the jet; though he heard +them through the plashing water, that fell sheeted over his ears. + +For he well knew the purpose for which he had been so disposed, as well +as the pain to be endured; and he was already in a state of mind past +the possibility of being further terrified. + +It was not he, but others, who heard them with increased fear; others +who knew them to be words of dread import. + +Snively started as they fell upon his ear; and so to Clara Blackadder. +She looked up with a strange puzzled expression upon her countenance. + +_Give him a double dose_! + +What could it mean? Snively had heard the order before--remembered a +day on which he was commanded to execute it! + +And the words, too, came from the mouth of an Indian chief--a painted +savage--more than a thousand miles from the scene that recalled them. +Even among the blacks, huddled up in the rocky embayment, there were +faces that expressed surprise, some the ashy pallor of fear, as if from +a stricken conscience. + +"Give him a double dose! Gollamity!" exclaimed one. "What do de Indyin +mean? Dat's jess wha' Massa Blount say five year ago, when dey wa' +gwine to pump on de head ob Blue Dick!" + +More than one of the negroes remembered the cruel command, and some also +recalled how cruelly they had sneered at him on whom the punishment was +inflicted. A speech, so strangely recurring, could not help giving them +a presentiment that something was nigh at hand to make them repent of +their heartlessness. + +They, too, as well as Snively, looked towards the chief for an +explanation, and anxiously listened for what he might next say. + +For a time there was no other word to make the matter clearer! With his +wolf-skin robe hanging from his shoulders, the chief stood contemplating +the punishment he had decreed to his captive; a smile of exultation +overspreading his face, as he thought of the pain his white victim was +enduring. + +It ended in a loud laugh, as he ordered the sufferer to be unloosed from +his lashings; and dragged clear of the cross. + +And the laugh broke forth again, as Blount Blackadder, half drowned, +half dead from the aching pain in his skull, lay prostrate on the grass +at his feet. + +Then came from his lips an additional speech, the young planter might +not have heard, but that smote upon the ears of the overseer with a +meaning strangely intelligible. + +"_It'll do for the present. Next time he offends in like manner, he +shall be pumped upon till his thick skull splits like a cedar rail_!" + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +MAKING A BOLT. + +At the new and still strange speech, Snively started again, and Clara +Blackadder looked up with a yet still more puzzled expression; while +among the blacks there ran a murmur of interrogatories and exclamations +of terror. + +It was on the overseer, however, that the words produced the strongest +impression. He was a man of too much intellect--or that 'cuteness that +passes for it--to be any longer in doubt as to the situation in which he +and his fellow-captives, were placed. A clear memory, coupled with an +accusing conscience, helped him to an explanation, at the same time +telling him of a danger far worse than being captive in the hands of +hostile Indians. It was the danger of death, with torture for its +prelude. Both now appeared before his imagination, in their most horrid +shape--an apprehension of moral pain, added to the physical. + +He glanced at his fastenings; examined them, to see if there was any +chance of setting himself free. It was nor the first time for him to +make the examination; but never more earnestly than now. + +The raw-hide thong, wetted with the sweat of his body--in places with +his blood--showed signs of stretching. By a desperate wrench he might +get his limbs clear of it! + +What if he should succeed in untying himself? + +His liberty could only last for a moment--to be followed by a renewal of +his captivity, or by a sudden death? + +Neither could be worse than the fate that now seemed to be awaiting him, +and near? Even death would be preferable to the agony of apprehension +he was enduring! + +One more glance at his fastenings, and along with it the determination +to set himself free from them. + +And, without reflecting further, he commenced a struggle, in which all +his strength and cunning were concentrated. + +The raw-hide ropes yielded to the superhuman effort; and, clearing +himself of their coils, he sprang out from among his fellow-prisoners; +and off at full speed towards the prairie! + +He did not continue far in the direction of the outward plain. With no +other hope of getting clear, than that held out by mere swiftness of +foot, he would not have made the attempt. With the Indians' horses +standing near, ready to be mounted at a moment's notice, the idea would +have been simply absurd. Even before he had made a half-score strides, +several of the savages were seen rushing towards their steeds to take up +the pursuit, for the prairie Indian never thinks of following a foe upon +foot. + +Had Snively kept on for the open plain, the chase would have been a +short one. He had determined on a different course. While lying on the +ground, and speculating on the chances of getting away, he had noticed a +ravine that ran sloping up towards the summit of the cliff. Trees grew +thickly in it. They were dwarf cedars, bushy and umbrageous. If he +could only get among them, screened by their foliage, he might succeed +in baffling his pursuers. At all events, their arrows and bullets would +be aimed with less likelihood of hitting him. + +Once on the mountain slope above, which was also forest-clad, he would +have at least a chance for his life. + +He was a man of great strength, swift too of foot, and he knew it. It +was his knowledge of the possession of these powers that gave him hope, +and determined him on the attempt he had made. + +It was not so unfeasible, and might have succeeded, had his only +pursuers been they who had taken to their horses. + +But there was one who followed him on foot, of equal strength, and +swifter of foot than he. This was the Cheyenne chief. The latter had +noticed the prisoner as he gave the last wrench to the ropes, and saw +that he had succeeded in setting himself free from their coils. At the +same instant that Snively sprang out from among his fellow-prisoners, +the chief was upon the hound after him, with his long spear poised and +ready for a thrust. He had thrown off his wolf-skin cloak to obtain +freedom of movement for his arms. + +Snively, as he had intended, turned abruptly to one side, and struck up +the ravine, with the chief close following him. Those who had taken to +their horses were for the time thrown out of the chase. + +In a few seconds, both fugitive and pursuer had entered the gorge, and +were lost to view under the spreading fronds of the cedars. + +For a time those remaining below could not see them, but by the +crackling of the parted branches, and the rattle of stones displaced by +their feet, it could be told that both were still struggling up the +steep. + +Then came loud words, proclaiming that the pursuer had overtaken the +pursued. + +"A step further, you accursed nigger-driver! one step further, and I'll +run my lance-blade right up through your body! Down again! or I'll +split you from hip to shoulder." + +Although they saw it not from below, a strange tragical tableau was +presented at the moment when these words were spoken. + +It was the chief who had uttered the threat. He was standing upon a +ledge, with his spear pointed vertically upward. Above him, hanging +from a still higher ledge, with one hand grasping the edge of the rock, +was the long lathy form of the Mississippian overseer, outlined in all +its ungainly proportions against the facade of the cliff! + +He had been endeavouring to climb higher; but, not succeeding, was now +overtaken, and at the mercy of his savage pursuer. + +"Down!" repeated the latter, in a voice that thundered along the cliffs. +"Why do you want to run away? You see I don't intend to kill you? If +I did, how easily I might do it now. Down, I say!" + +For a moment Snively seemed to hesitate. A desperate effort might still +carry him beyond the reach of the threatening spear. Could he be quick +enough? + +No. The eye of his enemy was too watchful. He felt, that on turning to +make another attempt, he would have the iron blade, already red with his +own blood, thrust through his body. + +Another thought came into his mind. Should he drop down, grapple with +the savage, and endeavour to wrest the weapon from his hands? He now +knew whose hands held it. + +It was a design entertained but for a moment. Ere he could determine +upon its execution, half a dozen of the Indians, who had close followed +their chief, came rushing up the ravine, and stood upon the ledge beside +him. + +Exhausted by long hanging, with but slight foothold against the cliff, +Snively's gripe became detached from the rock; and he fell back into +their midst; where he was at once seized and tied more securely than +ever. + +"Drag him down!" commanded the Cheyenne chief, speaking to his +followers. And then addressing himself to the overseer, he continued: +"When we get below, Mr Snively, I'll explain to you why you're not +already a dead man. I don't wish that; I want to have you alive for +awhile. I've a show for you, as well as the others--especially those +belonging to old Blackadder's plantation; but above all for yourself, +its worthy overseer. Bring him below!" + +The recaptured captive, dragged back down the ravine, though with +fearful apprehensions as to what was in store for him, had no longer any +doubt as to the identity of him with whom he had to deal. + +When the Cheyenne chief strode up to the waterfall; washed the paint +from his face; and, then, turning towards the other captives, showed +them the bright yellow skin of a mulatto, he was not taken by surprise. + +But there was profound astonishment on the countenances of the negro +captives; who, on recognising the freshly washed face, cried out as with +one voice: + +"_Blue Dick_!" + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +THE RESCUERS. + +While the savage scenes described were being enacted in the mountain +valley, a band of horsemen was fast approaching it, making their way +around the skirting spurs that at intervals protruded into the prairie. + +It is scarce necessary to say that these were the trappers from Saint +Vrains, nor to add that they were riding at top-speed--fast as the +horses and mules on which they were mounted could carry them. + +Conspicuous in the front were two who appeared to act in the double +capacity of leaders and guides. One of them seemed exceedingly anxious +to press forward--more than any of the party. He was acting as if some +strong urgency was upon him. It was the young Irishman, O'Neil. The +man riding by his side, also seemingly troubled about time, was his old +comrade, 'Lije Orton, the trapper. + +The two kept habitually ahead, now in muttered converse with one +another, and now shouting back to their companions, to urge them onward. +Some of these came close up, while some, at times, showed a disposition +to straggle. + +The truth is, the "mountain men" had brought their whisky-flasks along +with them, and, at every stream crossed, they insisted on stopping to +"take a horn." + +O'Neil was the one who chafed loudest at the delay. To him it was +excruciating torture. + +"Arter all," said Orton, with the intention less to restrain than +comfort him, "it won't make so much diffrence, Ned. A wheen o' minutes +ant neyther hyur nor thur, in a matter o' the kind. In course, I know +well o' what ye're thinkin' about." + +He paused, as if expecting a rejoinder. + +O'Neil only answered with a deep, long-drawn sigh. + +"Ef anything air to happen to the gurl," continued 'Lije, rather in the +strain of a Job's comforter, "it will hev happened long 'fore this." + +The young Irishman interrupted him with a groan. + +"Maybe, howsomdever," continued 'Lije, "she air all right yet. It air +possible enuf the Injuns'll all get drunk, as soon as they lay ther +claws on the licker that must 'a been in the waggins; an' ef that be the +case, they won't think o' troublin' any o' thar keptives till thar +carousin' kums to a eend. This chile's opeenyun is, ef they intend any +torturin', they'll keep that sport over till the morrow: an', shud they +do so, darn me, ef we don't dissapeint 'em. Oncst we git upon the spot, +we'll gi'e 'em sport very diff'runt from that they'll be expectin'." + +There was reason in what 'Lije said. His words were consolatory to +O'Neil; and, for a time, he rode on with a countenance more cheerful. + +It soon became clouded again, as he returned to reflect on the character +of the Indians who were supposed to have "struck" the caravan; more +especially their chief, whose fame as a hater of white men was almost +equalled by his reputation as a _lover_ of white women. There was more +than one story current among the trappers, in which the Yellow Chief had +figured as a gallant among white-skinned girlish captives, who had +fallen into his hands on their passage across the prairie. + +With the remembrance of these tales coming freshly before his mind, +O'Neil groaned again. + +What if Clara Blackadder--in his memory still an angel--what if she +should, at that moment, be struggling in the arms of a paint-bedaubed +savage? Beauty in the embrace of a fiend! The reflection was fearful-- +odious, and, as it shadowed the young hunter's heart, he drove the spurs +deep into the flanks of his horse, and cried to his comrade, "Come on, +'Lije! come on!" + +But the time had arrived when something besides haste was required of +them. They were nearing the spot where the pillagers of the caravan +were supposed to have made camp; and the trappers were too well +acquainted with the wiles of prairie life to approach either men or +animals in an open manner. They knew that no Indians, even in their +hours of carousal, would leave their camp unguarded. A whole tribe +never gets drunk together. Enough of them always stay sober to act as +sentinels and videttes. + +Safe as the Cheyenne Chief and his fellow-plunderers might deem +themselves--far away from any foe likely to molest them--they would, for +all this, be sure to keep pickets around their camping-place, or scouts +in its vicinity. + +There was a bright daylight, for it was yet early in the afternoon. To +attempt approaching the bivouac of the savages across the open plain, or +even close-skirting the mountains, could only lead to a failure of their +enterprise. They would be sure of being seen, and, before they could +get within striking distance, the Indians, if not disposed to fight, +would be off, carrying along with them both their booty and their +captives. Mounted on fresher horses than those ridden by the trappers, +now panting and sweating after a long, continuous gallop, they could +easily accomplish this. + +There seemed but one way of approaching the Indian camp--by stealth; and +this could only be done by waiting for the night and its darkness. + +As this plan appeared to be the best, most of the trappers counselled +following it. They could think of no other. + +The thought of such long delay was agony to O'Neil. Was there no +alternative? + +The question was put to his comrade, 'Lije, while the discussion was in +progress. + +"Thur air a alturnative," was the answer addressed to all, though to +none who so welcomed it as his young friend. + +"What other way?" demanded several voices, O'Neil's being the first +heard. + +"You see them mountings?" said 'Lije, pointing to a range that had just +opened to their view. + +"Sartin; we ain't all; blind," replied one of the men. "What about +them?" + +"You see that hill that sticks out thur, wi' the trees on top o't, jest +like the hump o' a buffler bull." + +"Well, what of it?" + +"Clost by the bottom o' that, them Injuns air camped--that be, ef this +chile hain't made a mistake 'bout thar intenshuns. We'll find 'em thur, +I reck'n." + +"But how are we to approach the place without their spying us? There +ain't a bit o' cover on the prairie for miles round." + +"But there air kiver on the mounting itself," rejoined 'Lije. "Plenty +o' tree kiver, as ye kin see." + +"Ah! you mean for us to make a circumbendibus over the ridge, and attack +'em from the back-side. Is that it, 'Lije?" + +"That's it," laconically answered the old trapper. + +"You must be mistaken about that, Orton," put in Black Harris, supposed +to be the sagest among "mountain men." + +"We might get over the ridge 'ithout bein' noticed, I reck'n; but not +with our animals. Neyther hoss nor mule can climb up yonder. And if we +leave them behind, it'll take longer than to wait for the night. +Besides, we mightn't find any track up among the rocks. They look, from +here, as if they had been piled up by giants as had been playing +jack-stones wi' 'em." + +"So they do, Harry," responded 'Lije, "so do they, But, for all that, +there's a coon kin find a path to crawl through among 'em, an' that's +'Lije Orton. I hain't trapped all roun' hyur 'ithout knowin' the neer +cuts; an' there's a way over that ridge as'll fetch us strait custrut to +the Injun campin'-groun', an' 'ithout their purseevin' our approach in +the clarest o' sunlight. Beeside, it'll bring us into sech a pursishun +that we'll hev the skunks 'ithin reech o' our guns, afore they know +anythin' 'bout our bein' near 'em. Beeside, too, it'll save time. We +kin get thur long afore dark, so as to have a good chance o' lookin' +through the sights o' our rifles." + +"Let us go that way," simultaneously cried several voices, the most +earnest among them being that of O'Neil. + +No one dissenting, the mountain-path was determined upon. + +Continuing along the plain for a half-mile farther, the trappers +dismounted, _cached_ their animals among the rocks, and commenced +ascending the steep slope--'Lije Orton still acting as their guide. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +RETALIATION IN KIND. + +The thrill that passed through the captives as Blue Dick discovered to +them his identity was not so startling to all. With Blount Blackadder +and Snively, his words, as well as his acts, had long since led to his +recognition. Also among the slaves were some who remembered that scene +in the court-yard of the old home plantation, when he had been subjected +to the punishment of the pump. Despite their supposed obtuseness, they +were sharp enough to connect it with the very similar spectacle now +before their eyes; and, on hearing the command, "Give him a double +dose," more than one remembered having heard the words before. Those +who did were not happy, for they also recalled their own conduct on that +occasion, and were apprehensive of just retaliation from the hands of +him whom they had scoffed. Seeing how their young master had been +served, they became sure of it; still more when the overseer, Snively, +was submitted to the same dread castigation, and, after him, the huge +negro who had worked the pump-handle when Blue Dick was being _douched_. + +Both these received the double dose, and more than double. As Snively +was unloosed from the cross, and dragged out beyond the water-jet, the +hideous gash along his cheek looked still more hideous from its +blanching. + +And the negro, thick as was his skull, roared aloud, and felt as though +his head had been laid open. He said so on recovering his senses. The +grin upon his face was no longer that of glee, as when he himself was +administering the punishment. It was a contortion that told of +soul-suffering agony. + +He was not the last to be so served. Others were taken from the crowd +of slaves, not indiscriminately, but evidently selected one after +another. And the rest began to see this, and to believe they were not +to be tortured. Some were solaced by the thought that to others gave +keen apprehension. They had not all jeered their fellow-slave, when he +was himself suffering. Only the guilty were stricken with fear. + +And need had they to fear; for, one after another, as the chief pointed +them out, they were seized by his satellites, dragged from amongst their +trembling fellow-captives, and in turn tied to the pine-tree cross. And +there were they kept, till the cold melted snow from Pike's Peak, +descending on their crania, caused them to shriek out in agony. + +All this while were the Cheyennes looking on; not gravely, as becomes +the Indian character, but laughing like the spectators of a Christmas +pantomime, capering over the ground like its actors, and yelling until +the rocks gave back the mimicry of their wild mirth in weird unearthly +echoes. + +Never till now had they held in such high esteem the mulatto adopted +into their tribe, who, by brave deeds, had won chieftainship over them. +Never before had he treated them to such a spectacle, consonant to their +savage natures, and still more in consonance with their hate for the +pale face. + +For, even at this period of their history, when the elders of the +Cheyenne tribe were in a sort of accord with the white man, and +professing a false amity, the young filibustering "bloods" were with +difficulty restrained from acts of hostility. + +The Yellow Chief, who had strayed among them coming from afar, who had +married the belle of their tribe--the beautiful daughter of their +"medicine man"--who surpassed all of them in his hatred of the white +race, and more than once had led them in a like murderous maraud against +their hereditary enemies was the man after their heart, the type of a +patriotic savage. + +Now, more than ever, had he secured their esteem; now, as they saw him, +with cruel, unsparing hand, deal out castigation to their pale-faced +captives; a punishment so quaintly original, and so terribly painful, +that they would not have believed in it, but for the cries of keen agony +uttered by those who had to endure it. + +To Cheyenne ears they were sounds so sweet and welcome, as to awake the +intoxicated from their alcoholic slumbers, and call them up to become +sharers in the spectacle. Drunk and sober alike danced over the ground, +as if they had been so many demons exhibiting their saltatory skill upon +the skull-paved, floors of Acheron. + +Nor was their laughter restrained when they saw that the punishment, +hitherto confined to their male captives, was about to be extended to +the women. On the contrary, it but increased their fiendish glee. It +would be a variety in the performance--a new sensation--to see how the +latter should stand it. + +And they did see; for several of the female slaves--some of them still +young, others almost octogenarian "aunties"--were ruthlessly led up to +the stake, to that martyrdom of water painful as fire itself! + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +THE WHITE WOMEN. + +For more than two hours was the fiendish spectacle kept up--a tragedy of +many acts; though, as yet, none of them ending in death. + +But neither actors nor spectators knew how soon this might be the +termination of it. + +So horrified were the captives, they could not calmly reflect; though, +from the heartless revelry around them, instinct itself guided them to +expect very little mercy. + +The discrimination shown in their punishment led some to entertain a +hope. All, both blacks and whites, now knew with whom they had to deal; +for, in a whispered conversation among themselves, the story of Blue +Dick was told to those of the emigrant party who had never heard of him +before. + +And the slaves who were not of the Blackadder plantation, as also the +white men to whom these belonged, began to indulge in the belief that +they were not to be made victims to the vengeance of the mulatto. + +They were allowed time enough to reflect; for after some ten or a dozen +of the female slaves had been _douched_, to the delight of the young +Cheyennes, and the apparent satisfaction of their chief, there was an +interlude in the atrocious performance. The renegade, as if contented +with revenge--at least, for the time--had turned away from the +waterfall, and gone inside his tent. + +Among the three captive groups, there was none in which apprehension +could be more keen than that composed of the white women. They had to +fear for something dearer to them to life--their honour. + +Several of them were young, and more than one good-looking. Not to know +it they could not have been women. + +Up to that hour the savages had not insulted them. But this gave them +no assurance. They knew that these loved wine more than women; and the +whisky taken from the despoiled wagons had hitherto diverted the savages +from intruding upon them. + +It could not long continue, for they had been told of something besides +this. The character of cold incontinence given to the forest-Indian--he +who figured in the early history of their country's colonisation--has no +application to the fiery Centaurs of the prairie. All they had ever +heard of these savages led to this conclusion; and the white women, most +of them wives, while thinking of danger to their husbands, were also +apprehensive about their own. + +She who had no husband, Clara Blackadder, suffered more than any of +them. She had seen her father's corpse lying upon the prairie sward, +bathed in its own blood. She had just ceased to behold her brother +subjected to a punishment she now knew to be fearfully painful; and she +was reflecting what might be in store for herself. + +She remembered Blue Dick well. As his master's daughter--his young +mistress--she had never been unkind to him. But she had never been +specially kind; for some influence, exerted by the slave Sylvia, had +rather turned her against him. Not to actual hostility; only to the +showing of a slight disfavour. The truth was, that the heart of the +planter's daughter had been so occupied with its own affairs--its love +for the young stranger, O'Neil--it had little room for any other +thought. + +The same thought was still there; not dead, but surrounded by a +woe-begone despair; that, even now, hindered her from feeling, keenly as +she otherwise might have done, the danger of the situation. + +Still was she not insensible to it. The Cheyenne Chief, in passing, had +glared angrily upon her, with an expression she remembered more than +once to have seen in the eyes of Blue Dick. As Sylvia's mistress, as +the friend and confidant of the quadroon slave, more than all, as the +sister of Blount Blackadder, she could not expect either grace or mercy +from the mulatto. She knew not what she might expect. It was painful +to think, still more to converse, upon it with the women around her. + +These did not talk or think of her fate. It was sorrow enough for them +to reflect upon their own. But she had more to dread than any of them, +and she knew it. With that quick instinct peculiar to women, she knew +she was the conspicuous figure in the group. + +As the horror of the situation came palpably before her mind, she +trembled. Strong as she was, and self-willed as through life she had +been, she could not help having the keenest apprehensions. + +But along with her trembling came a determination to escape, even with +Snively's example and failure before her face! + +She might be overtaken. No matter. It could not increase the misery of +her situation. It could not add to its danger. At the worst, it could +only end in death; and death she would accept sooner than degradation. + +She was but slightly tied. In this the Indians do not take much pains +with their women captives. It is not often these make any effort to get +free; and when they do, it costs but little trouble to track and +recapture them. + +Still have there been incidents in the history of the prairies where +brave, heroic women--even delicate ladies--have contrived to escape from +such captivity, and in a manner almost miraculous. The early history of +the West teems with such episodes; and she, a child of the West, had +heard them as part of her nursery lore. It was their remembrance that +was partly inspiring her to make the attempt. + +She did not communicate the design to her fellow-captives. They could +not aid, but only obstruct her. Under the circumstances, it would be no +selfishness to forsake them. + +One might deem it a wild, hopeless chance. And so, too, would she, but +for a thought that had stolen into her mind. It had been suggested by +the sight of an animal standing near. It was her own horse, that had +been appropriated by one of the Indians. He was standing with the +saddle still on, and the bridle resting over the crutch. A riding-gear +so new to them had caught the fancy of the Indians, and they had left it +on for exhibition. + +Clara Blackadder knew her horse to be a fleet one. + +"Once on his back," thought she, "I might gallop out of their reach." + +She had a thought beyond. She might get upon the trace which the wagons +had followed from Bent's Fort. She believed she could remember, and +return along it. + +And still another thought. At the Fort she had seen many white men. +They might be induced to come back with her, and rescue her captive +companions--her brother. + +All this passed through her mind in a few short moments; and while it +was so passing, she slipped off the thongs, that were but carelessly +lapped around her delicate limbs, and prepared for a start. + +Now was the time, while the chief was inside his tent. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +A FLIGHT URGED BY DESPAIR. + +"Now or never!" was the reflection that passed through Clara +Blackadder's mind; and she was in the act of springing up from her +recumbent position, when a circumstance occurred seeming to say, +"never!" + +The mulatto had stepped out from the canvas screen, and stood in front +of it; no longer robed in the costume of an Indian chief, but wearing +the same dress he had worn as a slave on the Mississippi plantation. It +was the same as on that morning when she had been a spectator of his +punishment. He was the Blue Dick of bygone days, only taller and +stouter. But the coarse jeans coat and cotton trousers, of +copperas-stripe, had been ample enough not to be outgrown. + +"You'll know me better now, my old masters and fellow-slaves," he +shouted out, adding a derisive laugh. "And you, too, my young +mistress," he continued, turning toward the group of white women, and +approaching it in a triumphant stride. "Ha, Miss Clara Blackadder! You +little thought, when one fine day you stood in the porch of your +father's fine house, looking calmly on while I was in torture, that, +some other fine day, your turn would come for being tortured too. _It +has come_! The rest, including your beautiful brother, have had a +taste--only a taste of what's in store for them. I've kept you to the +last, because you are the daintiest. That's always the way in a feast +of revenge. Ha, ha, ha!" + +The young lady made no reply. In the fiendish glance cast upon her, she +saw there was no hope for mercy, and that words would be thrown away. +She only crouched cowering before him. + +But even at that moment she did not lose presence of mind. She still +contemplated springing up, and making toward her horse. + +Alas! it seemed impossible. He stood right in the way, and could have +caught her before she had taken three steps. + +And he did catch her before she had made one--even before she had +attempted to stand erect. + +"Come!" cried he, roughly clasping her waist, and jerking her to her +feet. "Come with me. You've been a looker-on long enough. It's your +turn now to afford sport for others." + +And, without waiting for a reply, he commenced dragging her in the +direction of the waterfall. + +She made no resistance. She did not scream, nor cry out. She knew it +would be idle. + +But there was a cry sent from the other side of the glen--a shriek so +loud, wild, and unearthly, that it caused the mulatto to stop suddenly, +and look in the direction whence it came. + +Rushing out from among the crowd of negro captives, was one who might +have been the oldest of them--a woman of near seventy years of age, and +that weird aspect common among the old crones of a plantation. With +hollow cheeks, and white wool thinly set over her temples, with long +shrivelled arms outstretched beyond the scant rag of garment which the +plunderers had permitted to remain upon her shoulders, she looked like +some African Hecate, suddenly exorcised for the occasion. + +Despite the forbidding aspect, hers was not an errand of destruction, +but mercy. + +"Let go hole of de young missa!" she cried, pressing forward to the +spot. "You let go hole ob her, Bew Dick. You touch a hair ob her head! +Ef you do, you a tief--a murderer. Yach! wuss dan dat. You be a +murderin' ob you own fresh an' brud!" + +"What do you mean, you old fool!" cried the mulatto, at the same time +showing, by his looks, that her words had surprised him. + +"Wha de ole fool mean? She mean wha she hab jess say. Dat ef you do +harm to Missy Crara, you _harm you own sissa_!" + +The mulatto started as if he had received a stab. + +"My sister!" he exclaimed. "You're gabbling, Nan. You're old, and have +lost your senses." + +"No, Bew Dick; Nan habent loss none o' her senses, nor her 'membrance +neider. She 'memba dan'lin you on her knee, when you wa' bit +piccaninny, not bigger dan a 'possum. She nuss Miss Crara 'bout de same +time. She know who boaf come from. You boaf childen ob de same +fadder--ob Mass Brackadder; an' she you sissa. Ole Nan tell you so. +She willin' swar it." + +For a time Blue Dick seemed stunned by the startling revelation. And +equally so she, whose wrist he still held in angry clasp. It was a tale +strange and new to both of them. + +But the asseverations of the old negress had in them the earnestness of +truth; more so at such a moment. And along with this were some gleams +of light, derived from an indefinite source--instincts or dreams-- +perhaps some whisperings over the cradle--that served to confirm her +statement. + +Revolting as was the thought of such a relationship to the delicate +sensibilities of the young lady, she did not attempt to deny it. +Perhaps it might be the means of saving her brother and herself; and, +for the first time, she turned her eyes toward the face of Blue Dick in +a glance of appeal. + +It fell in sudden disappointment. There was no mercy there--no look of +a brother! On the contrary, the countenance of the mulatto--always +marked by a harsh, sinister expression--seemed now more merciless than +ever. His eyes were absolutely dancing with a demoniac triumph. + +"Sister!" he cried, at length, sarcastically hissing the word through +his teeth. "A sweet sister! she who all my early life has been but my +tyrant mistress! What if we are from the same father? Our mothers were +different, and I am the son of my mother. A dear father, indeed, who +taught me but to toil for him! And that an affectionate brother!"--here +he pointed to Blount, who, restored to his fastenings, lay stretched on +the grass--"who only delighted in torturing me; who ruined my love--my +life! Sweet sister, indeed! you, who treated me as a menial and slave! +Now shall you be mine! You shall sweep out my tent, wait upon my Indian +wife, work for her, slave for her, as I have done for you. Come on, +Miss Clara Blackadder!" + +Freshly grasping the young lady's wrist, he recommenced dragging her +across the camp-ground. + +An involuntary murmur of disapprobation rose from the different groups +of captives. During their long, toilsome journey across the plains, +Clara Blackadder had won the good wishes of all--not only by her grace +and beauty, but for many kindnesses shown to her travelling companions, +black as well as white. And when they now saw her in the clutch of the +unnatural monster, being led, as they supposed, to the terrible torture +some of them had already experienced, one and all uttered exclamations +against it. They were not certain that such was the torture intended by +the spiteful renegade; they only guessed it, by the direction in which +he was conducting her. + +Whatever might have been his purpose, it was prevented. + +With a spring as if all the energies of youth had been restored to her +shrivelled frame, the old nurse rushed upon him; and clutching his +throat in her long bony fingers, caused him to let go his hold. + +He turned upon her like an enraged tiger, and, after a short struggle, +ending with a blow from his strong arm, old Nan fell flat upon the +earth. + +But on facing toward the girl to renew his grasp, he saw she was no +longer within his reach! While he was struggling with the negress, she +had darted away from his side; and, springing upon the back of her own +horse, was urging the animal in full gallop out of the gorge! + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +THE STALKERS ASTONISHED. + +Making their way up the steep mountain-path, climbing over fallen +tree-trunks, obstructed by thicket and scaur, the trappers at length got +close to the cliff which, as 'Lije Orton had told them, looked down on +the camping-place of the Cheyennes. + +They had ceased talking aloud, and communicated with one another only in +whispers. There was a deathlike stillness in the pure mountain air, and +they knew that the slightest sound might make known their approach to +the enemy. + +They had thrown themselves into a deployed line, after the manner of +skirmishers, crouching silently among the stunted pines, and gliding +rapidly forward where the ground was without cover. Orton was directing +them by signs; O'Neil stepping close by his side, and near enough for +the slightest whisper to be heard between them. + +The young Irishman still kept impatiently urging the advance. Every +moment of delay seemed a month to the heart of the lover. Over and over +again came before his mind that hideous picture his fancy had painted-- +Clara Blackadder struggling in the embrace of a savage! And that savage +the Yellow Chief of the Cheyennes! + +These fancies were like the waves of a tempestuous sea, following one +another at intervals. As each rose grimly before him, he came near +groaning aloud. He was only restrained by knowing the necessity for +silence. As a relief he kept constantly whispering to his old comrade, +and urging him to a more rapid advance. + +"Dod rot it, Ned!" replied the latter; "don't be so hurrified 'bout it. +We'll git theer in good time, take this chile's word for it. Theer's +been plenty o' licker in the emigrant wagons, I guess. Them Massissippy +planters don't offen go travellin' 'thout a good stock o' corn. An' as +for the Injuns, they ain't a-goin' to trouble theerselves 'bout weemen +as long 's the licker lasts. Don't you be uneezy; we'll git up time +enuf to purtect the gurl, an' chestise the skunks has ev captered her; +you see if we don't." + +"But why go creeping this way? Once upon the cliff, we must declare +ourselves. We can't get down among them, as you say; and since it must +all be done with our rifles, the first shot will discover us." + +"So it will; diskiver us to a sartinty. But theer's jest the pint. +That fust shot must be deelivered by all o' us at the same instinck o' +time. Unless we make a _latter_ o' them, as the French trappers call +it, they'd be off in the shakin' o' a goat's tail, prehaps takin' thar +prisners along wi' 'em. An' whar 'ud we be to foller 'em? Thurfor, we +must fix things so'st' every one may take sight on a different Injun at +the same time; an' then, afore they kin git clar out o' the gully, we'll +be loaded for a second shot. I guess that'll make 'em think o' +somethin' else than toatin' off thar captives. Keep yur patience, young +fellur! Trust to ole 'Lije Orton, when he sez yur gurl air still safe +an' soun'." + +The anxious lover, despite his anxiety, could not help feeling +confidence in the words thus whispered. More than once had he seen +'Lije Orton acting under circumstances of a like trying nature, and as +often coming out triumphant. With an effort he restrained his +impatience, and imitated the cautious approach of his comrade. + +They were soon sufficiently near the edge of the cliff to hear a murmur +of voices rising up out of the valley. As the ears of all were well +attuned to such sounds, they knew them to be the voices of Indians. And +these could be no other than Yellow Chief, and his band of marauders. + +A halt was made; and a hurried council held, about the best mode of +making attack. + +"There must be ne'er a noise among ye," whispered 'Lije, "not the +speakin' o' a word, till we've got one fire at 'em. Then churge yur +rifles agen, quick's ever you kin. Two sets o' shots oughter thin 'em, +so as they won't mind 'beout thar captives, nor any thin' else, 'ceptin' +to streak it--that air, sech as be left o' 'em." + +This counsel was delivered in a whisper, and in the same way passed +along the line. + +"Only one half o' ye fire at a time," continued 'Lije. "You fellurs on +the left shoot first. Let the tothers resarve for the second volley. +'Twon't do to waste two bullets on the same redskin. Leave Yellow Chief +to me. I hev got a ole score to settle wi' that Injun." + +With these precautions, communicated from left to right, the trappers +once more advanced--no longer as skirmishers, but in line, and as near +to one another as the inequality of the ground would permit. + +They could now hear the voice of a man, who talked loudly and in a tone +of authority. They could even make out some of the words, for they were +in English! + +This gave them a surprise; but they had scarce time to think of it, when +there arose a chorus of cries, uttered in quick sharp intonation, that +told of some unusual occurrence. Among these were the screams of women. + +At the same instant the trampling of hoofs resounded along the rocks, as +if a horse was going off at a gallop over the hard turf of the prairie. +Then succeeded another chorus of yells--a confused din--and soon after +the pattering of many hoofs, as of a whole troop of horses following the +first. + +The sound, reaching the ears of the trappers, carried their eyes out +toward the plain; where they beheld a sight that caused one and all of +them wild throbbings of the heart. Upon the prairie, just clearing the +scarped edge of the cliff, was a woman on horseback. At a glance they +could tell it was a young girl; but as her back was toward them, they +could see neither face nor features. She was in a lady's saddle; and +urging her horse onward as if riding for life--her skirt and hair +streaming loosely behind her. + +There was one among them that knew who she was. The quick instinct of +love told Edward O'Neil well the fugitive upon horseback was Clara +Blackadder. His instincts were aided by remembrance. That magnificent +head of hair, black as the plumage of a raven, was well remembered by +him. It had often been before his fancy in a lone bivouac--at night +entwining itself with his dreams. + +"O Heavens!" he exclaimed, "it is Clara herself!" + +"Yur right, Ned," responded 'Lije, gazing intently after her. "Darned +ef it ain't her, that very gurl! She's a-tryin' to git away from 'em. +See! thar goes the hul o' the Injuns arter her, gallopin' like h--!" + +As Orton spoke, the pursuers began to appear, one after another passing +outside the cliff-line--urging their horses onward with blows and loud +vociferations. + +Several of the trappers raised their rifles to the level, and seemed +calculating the distance. + +"For yur lives, don't shoot!" cautioned 'Lije, speaking in a constrained +voice, and making himself better understood by a wave of the hand. "It +kin do ne'er a good now, but only spile all. Let 'em go off. Ef the +gurl gits clur, we'll soon track her up. Ef she don't, they're boun' to +bring her back, an' then we kin settle wi' 'em. I reck'n they're not +all arter her. Theer's some o' the skunks still below. Let's jest see +to them; an' then we kin lay out our plans for them's have rid out in +the purshoot." + +'Lije's counsel was unanimously accepted, and the gun-barrels brought +down again. + +"Lie clost hyur," he again counselled, "while some o' us steal forard +an' reconnoitre. Harry, s'pose you kum 'longs wi' me?" + +His purpose was understood by Black Harris, who instantly volunteered to +accompany the old trapper--his senior in years, and his equal in rank +among the "mountain men." + +"Now, boys!" muttered 'Lije on leaving them, "lie close as I've tolt +you, and ne'er a word out o' one o' ye till we git back." + +So saying, he crept forward, Black Harris by his side--the two going on +hands and knees, and with as much caution as if they had been +approaching a herd of antelopes. + +The glance of the others did not follow them. All eyes were turned +downward to the prairie; watching the pursuit, now far off and still +going farther across the open plain. + +But no one watched with such anxiety as O'Neil. It absorbed his whole +soul, like some pent-up agony. His very breathing seemed suspended, as +he crouched behind the dwarf cedar-tree, calculating the distance +between pursuers and pursued. How he regretted having left his horse +behind him! What would he not have given at that moment to be on the +back of his brave steed, and galloping to the rescue of his beloved! + +Perhaps his suffering would have been still more acute, but for the +words just spoken by his old comrade. The girl would either get off, or +be brought back; and either way there was hope of saving her. With this +thought to console him, he witnessed the spectacle of the pursuit with +more equanimity. So, watching it with eager eyes, he awaited the result +of the reconnoissance. + +Crouching slowly and cautiously along, Orton and Harris at length +reached the edge of the cliff, and looked down into the valley below. A +glance enabled them to comprehend the situation. It was just as they +had conjectured. The white and negro captives seen in separate groups, +guarded by something less than a moiety of the Indian band, and these +reeling over the ground half intoxicated. + +"They'll be a eezy capter now," said 'Lije, "and we must capter 'em. +Arter that, we kin kill 'em 'ithout much noise." + +"Why not bring up the rest, and shoot 'em whar they stand? We can rub +out every redskin of 'em at a single volley." + +"Sartin we could; but don't ye see, old hoss, that 'ud niver do. Ye +forget the gurl; an she are the only one 'o the hul lot wuth savin', I +reckin; the only one I'd give a darn to waste powder for. Ef we wur to +fire a shot, the purshooers out yonner 'ud be surtin to hear it, and +then good-bye to the gurl--that is, if they git their claws on her +agin." + +"I see what you mean; an you're right. We must bag this lot below, +without makin a rumpus; then we can set our traps for the others." + +"Jess so, Harry." + +"How are we to do it, think ye, 'Lije? We'll have to go back to whar we +left our horses, and ride round by the open eend of the valley. That +way we'll have them shut up like sheep in a pen." + +"No, Harry; we han't time to go back for the anymals. Afore we ked git +roun' thar, the purshooers mout catch the gurl and be comin' back. Then +it 'ud be no go. I bethinks me o' a better way." + +Black Harris waited to hear what it was. + +"I know a pass," continued 'Lije, "by the which we may git down wi' a +leetle streetchin' o' the arms. If we kin only reech bottom afore they +sees us, we'll make short work o' 'em. But we must be cunnin' beout it. +Ef but a one o' the skunks hev the chance to eescape, the gurl'll be +lost sure. Thar aint a second o' time to be wasted. Let's back to the +boys, an at oncest down inter the gully." + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +SETTING A STRANGE SCENE. + +Retreating from the edge of the cliff with the same caution as they had +approached it, the two mountain men rejoined their companions in ambush. +'Lije, after making known his design, led them toward the pass of which +he had spoken--a sloping ravine, the same up which Snively had made his +vain attempt at escaping. + +Screened by the scrub-cedars, the trapper party succeeded in descending +it, without being perceived either by the Indians below, or the captives +over whom these were keeping but careless watch. + +Their sudden appearance upon the plain was a surprise to both: to the +latter a joyful sight; to the former a terrible apparition--for they saw +in it the quick harbinger of death. + +Not a shot was fired by the assailants. On the moment of their feet +touching the plain, they flung aside their guns; and, drawing daggers +and knives, went at the Indian sentinels, in a hurried but silent +slaughter. + +There was grappling, struggling, and shouts; but the attacking party +outnumbered those attacked; and in less than ten minutes' time the +shouting ceased--since there was not a living Indian upon the ground to +continue it. Instead was the green meadow sward strewn with dead +bodies, every one of them showing a bronze-coloured skin, horribly +enamelled with gashes or gouts of crimson blood! + +The captives were in raptures of joy. They saw that their rescue was +complete. The whites, both men and women, sprang to their feet, and +struggled with their fastenings--wishing to have their arms free in +order to embrace their preservers; while the negroes, none of whom were +bound, came pouring forth out of the _cul-de-sac_, where they had been +hitherto penned up, uttering frenzied shouts. + +"Keep yur groun' an' stop yur durned shoutin'!" cried 'Lije, with a +gesture waving them back. "Don't one 'o ye stir out o' yur places. +Back, back, I say! Stay as ye wur, till we gie ye the word. An' you +alser," he continued, running to the other side and checking the forward +movement of the whites, "hunker down jest as ye did afore. We haint +finished this show bizness yit. Thar's another scene o' it to kum." + +Both negroes and whites were a little surprised, at being thus +restrained from the full ebullition of their joy. But the earnest tone +of the old trapper, sustained as it was by the gestures of his +companions, had its effect upon them; and all at once cowered back into +their original position. What was the intention they could not guess; +but, released from the agony of fear, they were willing to wait for it +with patience. + +They soon beheld a spectacle, so strange as almost to restore them to +terrified thought. They saw the dead bodies of the Indians raised from +their recumbent position; set up beside their long spears, that had been +previously planted in the ground; and lashed to these in such a manner +as to sustain them in an erect attitude. There were distributed here +and there over the sward, most of them close to the captives, as if +still keeping guard over them! Those not so disposed of were dragged +off, and hidden away behind the large boulders of rock that lay along +the base of the cliff. + +"Now!" thundered the old trapper, addressing his speech to the captives, +white as well as black, "ef one o' ye stir from the spot ye're in, or +venturs to show sign o' anythin' thet's tuk place, till ye git the word +from me, ye'll hev a rifle bullet sent plum through ye. The gurl hez +got to be rescooed 'ithout harm done to her; an' I reck'n she's wuth +more than the hul o' ye thegither. Thar's but one way o' savin' her, +an' thet's by yur keepin' yur heads shet up, an' yur karkidges 'ithout +stirrin' as much as a finger. So don't make neery movement, ef ye vally +yur preecious lives. Ye unnerstan' me?" + +The captives were too much controlled to make rejoinder; but they saw, +by the earnestness of the old trapper, that his commands were to be +obeyed; and silently resolved to obey them. + +After delivering the speech, 'Lije turned toward his trapper +companions--all of whom knew what was meant; and who, without waiting +word or sign, rushed toward their rifles--still lying on the ground. + +In a few seconds they had regained them; and, in less than five minutes +after, not a trapper was to be seen about the place. They had +disappeared as suddenly as sprites in a pantomime; and the little valley +seemed suddenly restored to the state in which it had been left, when +the pursuers of Clara Blackadder swept out of it. Any one glancing into +it at that moment could have had no other thought, than that it +contained the captives of an emigrant train, with their Indian captors +keeping guard over them. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +A RIDE FOR MORE THAN LIFE. + +Nerved by the fear of a terrible fate, did the escaping captive urge +forward her swift horse, encouraging the animal both with words and +caresses. + +He knew her voice, and did his best. He seemed to know, also, why he +was thus put to the top of his speed, for under such circumstances the +horse seems to be stirred by something more than instinct. + +The one ridden by Clara Blackadder was a hunter, of the best Kentucky +breed, and might have distanced any of the mustangs mounted by the +Indians. + +But there was another of the same race among his pursuers--one superior +in size, strength, and swiftness even to himself. It was the horse that +had belonged to the young lady's brother, appropriated by Blue Dick, and +now following with the mulatto upon his back. + +She did not know who. She only knew that one of the pursuers was coming +close after her, and saw that the rest had fallen far behind. But, to +her terror, she saw that this single horseman was gradually gaining upon +her. + +Had she been a strong man and armed, she might have reined up, and given +him combat. But she knew that the weakest of the Indian warriors would +be more than a match for her: and, if overtaken, she must succumb. + +There was no hope for her, but in the swiftness of her horse; and once +more she spoke words of encouragement, patting him on the neck with her +little hands, while striking the heel of her tiny boot against his +sides. + +The Kentucky blood, answering to this urgency, did his best; and +galloped onward, as if his own life, as well as that of the rider, +depended upon his speed. + +It was all to no purpose. Ere the fleeing girl had made another mile +across the prairie, the close clattering of hoofs gave warning that the +pursuer was rapidly drawing near; and, giving a glance black, she saw +him within less than a hundred lengths from the heels of her own horse. + +She saw, besides, what rendered her fears yet more agonising, that it +was no Indian who was thus hotly pursuing her, but a man in a cotton +shirt--he who was once a slave on her father's plantation. It was the +Yellow Chief divested of his Indian habiliments, whom now, from what she +had heard, she must believe to be her brother. + +And a brother so cruel--so unnatural! She trembled at the thought of +the encounter! + +It could not be avoided. In ten minutes more he was riding by her side. + +Clutching the bridle-rein of her horse, he drew the animal down upon its +haunches--at once putting an end to the pursuit. + +"No, no, Miss Clarey!" he tauntingly cried out, "you shan't escape me so +easily. You and I don't part company, till you've served me and mine as +I've served you and yours. It makes no matter if I _am_ your brother, +as Old Nan says. You've got to come back with me, and see how _you'll_ +like being a slave. We keep slaves among the Indians, just as you proud +planters of Mississippi. Come along with me, and see!" + +The young lady offered no resistance; nor did she say a word in reply. +From what she had already seen and experienced, she knew it would be +idle; and resigning the rein, she permitted her horse to be controlled +by him who had so easily overtaken her. + +Turning about upon the prairie, captor and captive commenced retracing +their tracks; the former sitting erect in his saddle, exultant of +success; the latter with bent attitude, and eyes regarding the ground in +a look of despair. + +The Indians soon came up with their chief; and the captive was conducted +back toward the scene where she had witnessed so much suffering. + +And what was to be _her_ torture? She could not tell. She did not even +think of it. Her spirit was crushed beyond the power of reflection. + +The chase had occupied about half an hour. It took over twice the time +for the Indians to return. The sun had already sunk low over the ridge +of the Rocky Mountains, and it was twilight within the little valley. +But, as they advanced, there was light enough for them to distinguish +the other captives still lying on the grass, and their comrades keeping +guard over them. + +So thought the Yellow Chief, as, on reaching the crest of the ridge that +ran transversely across the entrance, he glanced up the gorge, and saw +the different groups to all appearance as he had left them. + +Riding in the front, he was about to descend the slope, when an +exclamation from the rear caused him to rein up, and look back. + +Several of the Indians, who had also mounted the ridge, were seen halted +upon its summit, as if something was causing them surprise or alarm. + +It could not be anything seen in the encampment. Their faces were not +turned in that direction, but along the mountain line to the northward. + +The chief, suddenly wheeling about, trotted back to the summit; and +there saw what was causing surprise to his followers, and what now, +also, astonished himself. Making out from the mountain, and scattering +over the prairie, was a troop of horses without riders. In such a place +they might have passed for wild steeds, with some mules among them, for +they saw also these. But they were near enough nor to be mistaken for +_mustangs_. + +Besides, it was seen that they all carried saddles on their backs, and +bridles over their necks--the reins of most of them trailing down to the +grass. + +The red marauders knew at a glance what it meant. It could be nothing +else than the _cavallada_ of some camp that had "stampeded." + +An encampment of whites, or men of their own colour? This was the +question that, for a while, occupied their attention, as they stood +regarding the movements of the animals. + +It did not take them long to arrive at a conclusion. The strange +horses, at first scampering in different directions, had wheeled back +toward a common centre; and in a drove were now coming toward the spot +occupied by the Indians. As they drew nearer, the style of the saddles +and other riding-gear told the Cheyennes that their owners were not +Indians. + +On first seeing them, the Yellow Chief had commanded his followers to +take position behind a clump of trees standing upon the slope of the +ridge, and hindering observation from the northward. There, for a time, +they continued to observe the movements of the riderless horses. + +What seemed strange was, that there were no men following them. If +escaping from a camp in broad daylight, as it still was, they should +have been seen, and some attempt made to recapture them. But, as they +strayed under the eyes of the Indians, no owners appeared to be after +them. + +For some time the Cheyenne chief and his followers sat gazing upon the +_cavallada_, and endeavouring to explain its presence. + +They could make nothing out of it, beyond the fact of its being a troop +of stampeded animals. + +And these could only have come from a camp of whites; for neither the +horses nor their trappings were such as are in use among Indians. There +were American horses among them, very different from the mustang of the +prairies. + +Had they got away in the night, when their owners were asleep? Not +likely. Even thus they would have been trailed and overtaken. Besides, +when the Indians first set eyes on them, they were galloping excitedly, +as if freshly stampeded. They were now getting quieted after their +scare--whatever it may have been--some of them, as they stepped along, +stooping their heads to gather a mouthful of grass. + +To the Indians it was a tempting sight. Horse-stealing is their regular +profession, and success at it one of their boasted accomplishments. A +young brave, returning to his tribe with the captured horse of an enemy, +is received almost with as much triumph and congratulation as if he +carried the scalp of that enemy on the point of his spear. + +They remained in ambush only long enough to see that there were no men +within sight of the straying horses; and to reflect that, even if the +owners were near, they must be afoot, and therefore helpless to hinder +their cattle from being captured. A dash after the drove would do it. +They were all provided with their lazos, and there could be little +difficulty in securing the strays, to all appearance docile, as if jaded +after a long journey. With the quickness of lightning these thoughts +passed through the minds of the marauders; and simultaneously they +turned their eyes upon the chief, as if seeking permission to ride off +in pursuit. Not only was it given, but he himself determined to lead +the chase. + +Among his other evil passions, cupidity was one; and, by Indian law, the +prize belongs to him who takes it. The chance of adding two or three +fine horses to his stock was not to be slighted; and turning to one of +the men who kept guard over the captive girl, he ordered him to take her +on to the encampment. + +Then, setting the example to his followers, he rode out from behind the +copse, and, at an easy pace, directed his course toward the sauntering +_cavallada_. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +A PLEASANTER CAPTIVITY. + +If the sight of the straying horses had caused surprise to the Indians, +not less astonished were they who, within the valley, had been awaiting +their approach. The trappers, placed in a well-contrived ambush, had +seen Yellow Chief as he ascended to the crest of the ridge, and noticed +his strange movements. Divided into two parties, they were stationed +near the entrance of the gorge, about one-half their number on each side +of it. Two lateral ravines running some distance into the face of the +rocky cliff, and thickly studded with scrub-cedars, afforded them a +place of concealment. Their plan was to let the returned pursuers pass +in, and then, rushing out, to close up the entrance, and thus cut off +their retreat. Trusting to their guns, pistols, and knives, as well as +the panic which the surprise would undoubtedly create, they intended +making a _battue_ of the savages--to strike a grand "coup," as they +themselves expressed it. There was no talk of giving quarter. The word +was not even mentioned. In the minds of these men the thought of mercy +to an Indian enemy has little place; less for a Cheyenne; and less still +for the band of braves led by the Yellow Chief--a name lately +distinguished for treacherous hostility toward trappers as well as +cruelty of every kind. + +"Let's kill every redskin of them!" was the resolution understood by +all, and spoken by several, as they separated to take their places in +ambuscade. When they saw the Indians mount upon the summit of the +ridge, the chief already descending, they felt as if their design was +soon to be accomplished. They were near enough to the savages to make +out the expression upon their countenances. They saw no signs denoting +doubt. In five minutes more the unconscious enemy would be through the +gap, and then-- + +And then was it that the exclamation was heard from those upon the hill, +causing the chief suddenly to turn his horse and ride back. + +What could it mean? Not one of the trappers could guess. Even 'Lije +Orton was puzzled by the movement. + +"Thar must be somethin' queery on tother side," he whispered to O'Neil, +who was in ambush by his side. "That ere movement can't a be from +anything they've seed hyar. They waant lookin' this way. Durn me, if I +kin make out what stopped 'em!" + +Of all those awaiting the approach of the Indians, no one suffered so +much from seeing them halt as the young Irishman. For the first time in +five years he had a view of that face, almost every night appearing to +him in his dreams. She was near enough for him to trace the lineaments +of those features, indelibly impressed upon his memory. If he saw +change in them, it was only that they appeared more beautiful than ever. +The wan hue of sadness, and that pallor of complexion, natural to a +daughter of the South, had been replaced by a red suffusion upon her +cheeks, caused by the chase, the capture, and the terrible excitement of +the situation; and she seemed to glow with beauty. And there was +something that at the moment rendered her still more beautiful in the +eyes of O'Neil. During the interval of hasty action since entering the +Indian encampment, he had found time to place himself in communication +with some of the white captives, her companions on the journey. From +them he had learnt enough to know, that Clara Blackadder was yet +unwedded; something, too, of her mood of habitual melancholy, as if +there was a void in her heart, none of them understood! + +As he knelt behind the cedar-trees, expectant of her return, he had +indulged in sweet conjectures as to its cause; and when he saw her upon +the ridge, riding down as it were into his arms, a thrill of delightful +anticipation passed over his spirit. He could scarce restrain himself +from rushing forth to receive her; and it was with difficulty the old +trapper could keep him silent in his concealment. + +Still more difficult as the Indians halted on the hill. + +"They may ride off again," said he, in an agonised whisper, to his more +patient comrade. "Supposing they suspect our presence? They may gallop +off, and take her along with them? We have no horses to follow. We +should never overtake them afoot." + +"You kedn't ef we charged on 'em now. They're ayont the carry o' our +guns. Ef they git a glimps o' one o' us, they'll be sartin to stampede. +Don't show the tip o' yur nose, Ned; for yur life, don't!" + +The counsel might not have been heeded. O'Neil was in an agony of +impatient apprehension. It seemed so easy to rush up to the summit of +the ridge, and rescue her he so dearly loved. He felt as if he could +have outrun the swiftest horse, and alone vanquished the full band of +savages that surrounded her! + +Yielding to the impetuosity of his long-constrained passion, he might +have made the suicidal attempt, had he not been stayed by the next +movement of the Indians, who, to the surprise of all, both prisoners and +trappers, were seen to turn their backs upon the encampment, leaving the +young girl in the charge of a single savage! Even then Orton found it +difficult to restrain O'Neil from leaping out from his ambush and +rushing toward his beloved. It seemed now so easy to rescue her! + +The old trapper was again compelled to use force, throwing his arms +around and holding him in his place. + +"A minnit more, ye fool!" was the hurried though not very complimentary +speech hissed into O'Neil's ear. "Hev patience one minnit, and she'll +coflumix right into yur arms, like a barked squirrel from the branch o' +a tree. Hish!" + +The last exclamation was simultaneous with a movement on the part of the +Indian who had been left in charge of the captive. In obedience to the +hurried order of his chief, the savage had taken the bridle of her +horse, and commenced leading the animal down the slope in the direction +of the ravine, his eyes straying over the ground of the encampment. + +Before entering the gap, he looked ahead! The silence there seemed +somewhat to astonish him. It was strange there was no movement. He +could see several of his comrades lying upon the grass, and others +standing over the captives, these still in their planes just as he +remembered them, when starting forth on the pursuit. + +The Indians upon the ground seemed natural enough. They were those who +had drunk too freely of the white man's fire-water. But the guards +standing erect--leaning upon their long lances--it was odd they should +be so silent, so motionless! He knew his comrades to be trained to a +certain stoicism; but, considering the exciting scenes that had +occurred, this was beyond expectation. + +For all, the thing caused him no suspicion. How could he have a thought +of what had transpired in his absence? + +He advanced without further pause, leading the captive's horse, till he +had passed through the gap of the gorge. Whether he then saw enough to +tell him of the trap into which he had fallen can never be known. If he +did, he had no time either to reflect upon or escape from it. A man, +gliding silently out from the bushes, sprang like a panther upon the +croup of his horse; and before he could turn to see who thus assailed +him, a bowie-knife had gone deep into his dorsal ribs, causing him to +drop dead to the ground without uttering a groan! + +It was the bowie-knife of old 'Lije Orton that had inflicted the fatal +stab. + +At the same instant another man, rushing out from the same cover, +clasped the captive girl in his arms, and tenderly lifted her from the +saddle. + +She was surprised, but not terrified. There could be no more terror +there. If there had, it would have passed in a moment, when in her +deliverer she recognised one who, for five long years, had been alike +the torture and solace of her thoughts. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +THE SCENE RE-ARRANGED. + +Edward O'Neil held Clara Blackadder in his arms. He now knew she loved +and had been true to him, though not from any words that had passed +between them. + +There was scarce time for them to do more than pronounce one another's +names; but the glance exchanged was eloquent to the hearts of both. +Each saw in the other's eyes that the old fondness was still there, +strengthened, if aught changed, by the trials through which they had +passed. + +Almost on the instant of their coming together they were again parted by +the trappers; who, with 'Lije Orton and Black Harris directing them, had +hastily commenced rearranging the ambuscade. Every moment they might +expect the return of the Indians. A scout, who had hurried up to the +crest of the ridge, telegraphed back why the savages had ridden off. + +With the quick perception common to men of their calling, they at once +understood all. They remembered that in their haste they had but +slightly secured their horses. Something, some sort of wild beast, +perhaps a grizzly bear, had got among them, causing the stampede. It +was an occurrence not new to them. + +It only increased their thirst for vengeance against the detested +Cheyennes, and made them more than ever determined on a wholesale +destruction of the predatory band. + +"Let's rub them out, every redskin of them!" was the counsel passed +around. + +"We must get back our horses anyhow!" + +"We'll do thet," said Orton, "an' thar horses, too, to redemnify us for +the trouble. But, boyees, 't won't do to go foolich about it. Though +thar's no fear o' these hyur skunks tellin' tales, we must take +percaushuns for all that. This nigger wants proppin' up like the rest +o' 'em. When that air done, we'll be riddy to gie 'em thar recepshun." + +The others knew what 'Lije meant, and hastened to reset the stage for +the next scene of the sanguinary drama. + +While the scout on the crest of the ridge kept them warned as to the +movements of the Indians, the others were busy placing the tableau that +was to greet them on their return. The young lady was directed to +assume a half-recumbent attitude on the grass--her horse still saddled +standing near. Close by, propped up, was the dead body of the savage to +whose keeping she had been entrusted; not seeming dead, but life-like by +the side of his own horse, as if still keeping guard over the captive. +All was arranged in less than ten minutes of time. These rude mountain +men are ready at such _ruses_. No wonder their wits should be quick and +keen; their lives often depend upon the successful execution of such +schemes. + +They found time to make many changes in the arrangement previously made. +In their haste the stage had not been set to their satisfaction. The +other dead sentinels were placed in attitudes more life-like and +natural, and all traces of the brief struggle were carefully blotted out +or removed. The captives, both white and black, were cautioned to keep +their places, and instructed how to act, in case of any unforeseen +accident causing a change in the carrying out of the programme. + +When everything was fixed to their satisfaction, the trappers returned +to their ambush; as before, distributing themselves into two parties-- +one for each side of the gorge. A vidette was still kept upon the top +of the ridge, though not the man first deputed for the performance of +this duty. There were now two of them--Black Harris and 'Lije Orton. + +It was an interval of strange reflection with the young Irishman, +O'Neil. Before his eyes--almost within reach of his arms--upon the +grassy sward, he saw lying that fair form which for long absent years +had remained vividly outlined in his memory. How he longed to go nearer +and embrace her! And all the more, that he could perceive her glance +turned toward the spot where he lay concealed, as if endeavouring to +penetrate the leafy screen that separated them. How he longed for the +final event that would terminate this red tragedy, and bring them +together again, in life never more to be parted! It was a relief, as +well as joy to him, when his old comrade, Orton, close followed by Black +Harris, was seen hastily descending the slope, their gestures showing +that the horse-hunt was over, and the savages were riding back toward +the encampment. + +"Now, boyees!" said 'Lije, gliding to both sides of the gorge, and +addressing the trappers in a cautious undertone, "ef ye'll jest keep +yerselves purfectly cool for about ten minutes longer, an' wait till ye +git the word from Black Harry or myself, ye'll have a chance o' wipin' +out any scores ye may hev run up 'twixt yur-selves an' Yellow Chief. +Don't neer a one o' ye touch trigger till the last of the cussed +varmints hev got clar past the mouth o' this hyur gully. An' then wait +till ye hear the signal from me. It'll be the crack o' my rifle. Arter +thet, the Injuns aint like to hev any chief; an' ye kin go in, an' gie +'em eturnal darnation." + +In ten seconds after he had ceased speaking not a trapper was to be seen +near the Indian encampment; only the captives with their sentinels +standing over them, surrounded by a stillness as of death. It was like +the ominous calm that comes between two gusts of a storm, all the more +awful from the contrasting silence. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +THE STAMPEDERS CAPTURED. + +In starting in chase of the straying _cavallada_, the Cheyennes did not +go on at full speed. The spectacle of over twenty horses saddled and +bridled, wandering about without riders on their backs, or the sign of +an owner following after them, was one so novel, that, while causing +astonishment to the savages, it also aroused their instincts of caution. +It looked like what the Indians had first taken it for--a stampede. +And still it might be the ruse of an enemy, with the design of drawing +them into an ambuscade. Partly for this reason, and partly that the +ownerless animals might not be scared into a second stampede, and so +become difficult of capture, the Cheyennes rode toward them slowly and +deliberately. + +As they drew near, however, and still no white men appeared in sight, +they quickened their pace, and at length broke into a gallop--charging +at full speed upon the sauntering drove. This had become necessary, as +the white men's horses had "smelt Indian," and with crests erect, and +snorting nostrils, showed signs of making off. + +For a period of ten minutes there was a confused movement upon the +plain--a sort of irregular tournament, in which horses ridden by dusky +riders, and others without any, were mingled together and galloping +towards every point of the compass; long slender ropes, like snakes, +suddenly uncoiled, were seen circling through the air; wild cries were +heard, sent forth from a score of savage throats--the clamour increased +by the shrill neighing of horses and the shriller hinneying of the +mules--while the firm prairie turf echoed the tread of over a hundred +hoofs. + +And soon this tableau underwent a change. The dark moving mass became +scattered over a wider surface, and here and there could be seen, at +intervals apart, the oft-described spectacle of a horseman using the +lazo: two horses at opposite ends of a long rope stretched taut between +them, tails toward each other, one of them standing with feet firmly +planted, the lazo fast to a stapled ring in the tree of his saddle; the +other prostrate upon the ground, with the rope wound around his neck, no +longer struggling to free himself, but convulsively to get breath. + +And soon again the tableau became changed. The captured steeds were +whipped back upon their feet, and their captors once more got into a +clump together, each leading a spare horse, that followed without +further resistance. + +Some had none, while others, more fortunate or skilful, had succeeded in +making a double take during the quick scramble. + +After the more serious work of the morning, it was a light and pleasant +interlude for the young Cheyennee, and, as they returned toward their +camp, they were full of joyous glee. + +Still were their thoughts damped with some suspicion of danger. The +novelty of such an easy razzia had in it also something of mystery; and +as they rode slowly back over the prairie swells, they glanced anxious +glances toward the north--the point from which the stampeded horses had +come. + +But no one was in sight--there was no sign of a human being! + +Were the owners of the lost horses asleep? Or had they been struck +dead, before the scattering commenced? + +The mutual congratulations of the savages on the handsome _coup_ they +had made were restrained by the mystery that surrounded it; and, with +mingled feelings of gladness and apprehension, they once more approached +the spot where, as they supposed, their comrades and captives awaited +them. + +They went with as much speed as the led horses would allow them. Their +chief, cunning as he was courageous, suspected that danger might be +nigh. Where there was smoke there should be fire; and thinking of this +old adage, he knew that where there were over twenty caparisoned horses +there must be at least this number of men not far off--men who could +only be enemies. Now that the animals were in his possession, he was +sure of their owners being white. The saddles, bridles, and other +trappings were such as are never, or only occasionally, used by the +red-skinned cavaliers of the prairie. Though now surely afoot, the men +to whom the horses belonged would be as sure to follow them; and the +Yellow Chief knew that a score of white men armed with their +death-dealing rifles would be an overmatch for his band, though these +outnumbered them two to one. The captured animals told him something +besides: their caparison proved them to belong to trappers; which, in +his reckoning, more than doubled their number. + +To gather up the spoils taken from the emigrant train, along with the +captives, and take speedy departure from the place, was now his design. + +He was thinking of the triumph that awaited him on his return to the +head town of the great Cheyenne tribe; the welcome he would receive +bringing back such a booty--horses, spoils, prisoners, the last to be +distributed as slaves--of his increased glory in the nation, his +promotion among the leaders, and the hope some day to become head chief +of the Cheyennes--all these thoughts passing through his mind made him +highly exultant. + +And there was the other thought--revenge over his enemies in early +life--those by whose tyranny and persecution he had been driven forth to +find a home, and along with it honour, among the red men of the +wilderness. + +His fiendish spirit felt sweet joy, thus revelling in revenge; and as he +rode back toward the camp, where he knew his victims awaited him, he +might have been heard muttering to himself: + +"They shall serve me, as I have served them. And she who is called my +sister--_she shall be my slave_!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +FINALE. + +The sun was already close down to the summit of the _sierra_, when the +Yellow Chief and his followers once more surmounted the ridge that +brought them in sight of the encampment. + +Although the daylight was still lingering around them, the little glen +and the gap leading into it were obscured under the purple shadows of +approaching night. + +There was light enough left for the Indian horsemen to distinguish the +salient features of the scene. They could see the various groupings of +their prisoners, with their comrades standing sentry over them; the +white men on one side; the women near; and on the opposite edge of the +valley, the sable crowd, some seated, some standing, in all respects +apparently as they had parted from them when starting on the pursuit of +Clara Blackadder. + +Apart from all the rest they saw her, with the Choctaw keeping watch +close by, his hand clutching the withers of his horse. + +The picture was complete. Nothing seemed wanting. No one was there who +should not have been, nor any one missing. Who could have had +suspicion, that close to those silent groupings there were others +equally silent, but unseen and unsuspected? Not the young Cheyenne +braves returning with their captured horses; not the daring chief who +rode at their head. + +Without the slightest warning of the surprise that awaited them, they +pushed boldly through the gap, and on, over the level meadow, toward the +spot occupied by their prisoners. + +It was not till they had drawn up amidst the captive groups that things +seemed a little strange to them. Why were their comrades so still, so +silent? They did not think of those lying stretched along the grass--in +all about a dozen. They had left them there, and knew that they were +intoxicated. But the guards standing erect--why were these so +undemonstrative? It was a thing unusual. Returning with such spoil, +they might expect to have been hailed by a paean of congratulations. +There was not even a salute! + +It was a puzzle--a mystery. Had there been a better light, it might +sooner have been solved. The blood sprinkled here and there over the +grass, the gashes that would have been seen on the bodies of the +sentinels, their stiff set attitudes and ghastly faces--all would have +been apparent. But over all was the veil of a fast-darkening twilight, +and through its obscurity only the outlines of their figures could be +traced, in positions and attitudes seeming natural enough. It was the +absence of all motion, coupled with the profound silence, that seemed +strange, ominous, appalling! + +"Waboga!" cried the chief, addressing himself to the Choctaw who stood +guard over the girl, "what means this? Why do you stand there like a +tree-stump? Why do you not speak?" + +No answer from Waboga! + +"Dog!" cried the mulatto, "if you don't make answer, I'll have you +nailed to that cross, you have yourself erected. Once more I ask you, +what is the meaning of this nonsense?" + +The threat had no effect upon Waboga. It elicited no answer--not even +the courtesy of a sign! + +"Slave!" shouted the chief, leaping down from his horse, and rushing +toward the silent sentry, "I shall not give you the grace of a trial. +This instant shall you die!" + +As he spoke, a blade glistened in his hand, which, as his gestures +showed, was about to be buried in the body of Waboga. + +The sentry stood staunch, apparently regardless of the death that +threatened him! + +The chief stayed his hand, surprised at the unparalleled coolness of the +Choctaw. + +Only for a moment; for as he stood regarding him, now close up to the +body, he saw what explained all--a gash great as he could have himself +inflicted! + +Waboga was already dead! + +The horse upon which the Choctaw was leaning, scared by the threatening +gesture, shied to one side, and the lifeless form fell heavily to the +earth! + +The knife dropped from the hands of the Cheyenne chief, and, with a +wild, distracted air, he turned toward his followers to seek an +explanation. But before a word could be spoke all was explained. + +A cordon of dark forms was seen closing up the entrance of the valley; +the word "Fire!" was heard, followed by a serried sheet of flame, and +the sharp "crack, crack, crack," proclaiming the discharge of a score of +rifles. + +It was the last sight seen by the Yellow Chief--the last sound heard by +him before passing into eternity! + +And the same with his freebooting band. Not one of them went alive out +of that valley, into which the trappers had decoyed them. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The emigrants continued on to California, now with diminished numbers; +for, along with the leader, several others had been killed in the attack +upon the caravan. + +But, besides the dead, there was one living who went not with them. + +Now that her father was no more, there was no one to hinder Clara +Blackadder from staying behind, along with the man of her choice; no +reason why she should not return with him to the seats of civilisation. + +And she did so; not to share with him an humble home, but a residence +far more splendid than the old plantation-house in the "Choctaw +purchase." As the Irish trapper had declared it, Edward O'Neil was one +of the "Onales of Tipperary, a gintleman on both sides av the house;" +and in due time the property belonging to both sides of the house became +his. + +It might be chivalry that he did not take his young Southern wife there, +where she might feel lonely in a land of strangers. But it gave equal +evidence of good sense, that he sold off his Tipperary estates, and +invested the money in the purchase of town-lots upon an islet he had +learned to love even more than the "gem of the seas." It was the isle +of Manhattan. + +There he still lives, happy in the companionship of his beautiful and +faithful wife; cheered by sweet children, and, at intervals, by the +presence of his old comrade, 'Lije Orton, who, now that railroads have +penetrated the far prairies, comes occasionally to pay him a visit, and +keep him posted up in the lore of the "mountain men." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The End. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Yellow Chief, by Mayne Reid + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YELLOW CHIEF *** + +***** This file should be named 36603.txt or 36603.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/0/36603/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |