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diff --git a/old/67958-0.txt b/old/67958-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 29d8ede..0000000 --- a/old/67958-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4756 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Yellow Hunter; or, The Winding -Trail of Death, by Chas. Howard - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Yellow Hunter; or, The Winding Trail of Death - Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 69 - -Author: Chas. Howard - -Release Date: April 30, 2022 [eBook #67958] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David Edwards, SF2001, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern - Illinois University Digital Library) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YELLOW HUNTER; OR, THE -WINDING TRAIL OF DEATH *** - - - - - - THE - YELLOW HUNTER - - THE WINDING TRAIL OF DEATH. - - * * * * * - - BY CAPT. CHAS. HOWARD. - - AUTHOR OF - - - No. 50. The Wolf Queen. - No. 52. The Mad Chief. - No. 60. Merciless M. - No. 64. The Island Trapper. - No. 65. Wolf-Cap. - - * * * * * - - NEW YORK. - BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, - 98 WILLIAM STREET. - - - - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by - FRANK STARR & CO., - In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. - - - - - THE YELLOW HUNTER; - OR, - THE WINDING TRAIL OF DEATH - - - - - CHAPTER I. - BESIEGED. - - -Pontiac, the Ottawa, was dead! - -Yes, the fearless originator of the greatest Indian conspiracy on -record had received a death-blow at the hands of a fellow red-man, and -the promise of a barrel of English rum had nerved the villain’s arm. - -The bloody deed was committed in the forest of the Illinois, not far -from Cahokia, on the Mississippi, and when the base-hearted Kaskaskia -fled to his clansmen, with reeking hatchet, they sided with him, and, -without a word in palliation of the crime, drove Pontiac’s followers -from the hamlet. - -The great Ottawa’s sachems spread over all the country, crying “blood -for blood.” They fired many a savage heart with the torch of vengeance, -and inaugurated a war whose horrors stand without a parallel on the -pages of American history. - -From the bays and rivers that relieve the vast dreary western shore -of Lake Michigan, rushed the Sacs, Foxes and Menomonies, to assist in -the extirpation of the Illinois and the hated English who dwelt in the -neighborhood where the conspirator was assassinated. Out from among -the stately pines that cover that mighty peninsula between Huron and -her western sister, came the intractable Ojibwa, the giant Ottawa, and -the proverbially treacherous but brave Pottawatomie; and being joined -on the Wabash by the Wyandots, the Miamies, and other more eastern -tribes, they swooped down upon the Eden land that bordered the Father -of Waters. - -Their motto was, ‘Death to the unprotected English and the Illinois -Indians, but life to every Frenchman!’ - -Before the war that followed, all other Indian conflicts sink into -utter insignificance, and over the grave of Pontiac more blood was -poured out in atonement than flowed from the hecatombs of slaughtered -heroes on the corpse of Patroclus: - -And through the dark and bloody labyrinths of that era of death, the -reader is about to follow the fortunes of red and white--fortunes which -pale the cheek and almost turn the blood to ice. - - * * * * * - -“Father should have been here ere this. He said he would return at -sunset. I wonder what keeps him. Surely no danger has befallen him. No, -I know he can not be far away, and I will run toward the creek and meet -him.” - -The speaker was a beautiful girl about eighteen years of age, and, -as she uttered the last word, she bounded across the threshold of a -low-browed cottage, and hurried toward the south. - -She trailed a light rifle at her side, which, with her long, dark hair, -and demi-Indian habiliments, gave her a decidedly romantic appearance. -A few moments served to bring her to the stream, the Cahokia creek, -which debouches into the lordly Mississippi a few miles above the -ancient hamlet of like name. Pausing at the water’s edge, she gazed far -beyond the ford with anxious eyes. - -The evening was a balmy one, in the early part of May, 1769, and the -country of the Illinois wore robes of surpassing beauty. While not -insensible to the delights of the landscape spread about her, Kate -Blount continued to look for her father, who had taken a large bundle -of furs to Cahokia, and had promised to return that evening. - -Kate was not really fearful for her father’s personal safety, but she -knew his failing, and feared that an indulgence might detain him at -the frontier station, and compel her to remain in their solitary cabin -through a long night alone. - -Of late, rumors of an approaching Indian war had reached the settlers -in the Illinois, and many had already sought shelter in Cahokia and -Fort Chartres. But, Oliver Blount had derided the stories of conflict, -and declared that the avenging Indians would strike no one save the -Illinois, and their fellow clansmen. - -“They’re going to extirpate the Illinois, root and branch,” he would -say, “but what have they to do with us? _We_ didn’t kill Pontiac!” - -“But, father, English rum drove the tomahawk to the chief’s brain,” -Kate had often replied, “and I tell you that more than one British -scalp will hang at an Indian’s belt when the carnage begins.” - -“Pooh! girl, that’s all talk. You ain’t as old as your father, who has -no wish to show the white feather and hide behind Fort Chartres. No! -we’ll meet the war here!” - -Poor, deluded Oliver Blount! He soon paid dearly for his stubbornness. - -Kate felt that the war of extermination was near at hand, and, like a -brave woman, prepared for it. During her father’s journey to St. Louis -and Cahokia, she molded a store of bullets, and cleaned the little -rifle which, a few weeks before the opening of our story, she had -accepted from the hands of a young fur-trader, of whom, dear reader, -more anon. - -“I’m going to stay with father,” she often murmured with determination, -“and when he is in danger there will be one hand to save. Oh, I fear he -will repent of his rashness when it is too late!” - -For many minutes she watched the path leading from the ford; but the -well-known form of the loved parent did not greet her eye, and at last, -the young girl turned toward her home again. - -“Father is tarrying before Kildare’s bottles, I fear,” she muttered, -“and I-- Hark! he is coming through the wood! He has missed the path.” - -Again she turned toward the stream, and a moment later, not her father, -but an Indian, burst upon her sight! - -Despite the shades now vailing the forest in gloom, she recognized him, -when his feet touched the water at the ford. - -“Swamp Oak!” she ejaculated, “and he has been chased, too, for I -distinctly hear his pantings. Swamp Oak!” - -She spoke the Indian’s name in a louder tone, when, with a light cry of -recognition he plunged into the water. - -A minute brought him to the girl’s side, and he cast his eyes over his -shoulder before he allowed her to address him. Then he turned to her -with a significant look which told her that the danger was passed, and -that he awaited her pleasure. - -“Where did the Swamp Oak come from?” questioned Kate Blount, eagerly. - -“From the stone-walled fort,” was the quick reply. - -The young Peoria could speak good English. - -“Did you see my father?” - -“No; the white trader’s shadow fell not across Swamp Oak’s trail. He -made many a leaf bleed, Lone Dove.” - -A faint smile wreathed the boy’s lips as he spoke the last sentence. - -“You’ve been tracked, then?” said Kate Blount. - -“The Ojibwa wolves were on the Peoria’s trail,” answered the youth; -“but he proved too swift for them, and in the great forest they lost -him.” - -“Then the hatchet has been unearthed?” - -“Yes, yes,” cried the Indian. “Between Cahokia and the stone-walled -fort the enemies of the Illinois outnumber the leaves of the trees. The -Ojibwa has sunk his boat, and now seeks red and white scalps: the--” - -“Not white scalps, Swamp Oak?” - -“White scalps, Lone Dove! Swamp Oak run by a pale-face’s cabin, and he -saw a white maiden dead by the well.” - -Kate Blount shuddered and thought of her father. - -“Swamp Oak’s people must die!” continued the young chief, sadly; “but -they will die like their fathers died. But, Lone Dove, we must not -stand here, and for three days Swamp Oak has lived on roots.” - -With a last anxious look across the stream, the young woman turned -toward her home again, the brave walking at her side. - -“I saw him, White Flower,” he said, suddenly. - -Kate Blount started at the announcement, and a crimson flush suffused -her beautiful cheeks. - -“And when is he coming?” she asked, when she regained her composure. - -“Even now he is on the way,” was the reply. “He sent Swamp Oak before, -and he and the Pale Giant will be here after another sleep.” - -“Not before?” asked Kate, with a sigh. - -“If they are chased--yes,” answered the Indian. - -“Then may they be chased!” she ejaculated, inaudibly, and a moment -later the barking of a dog told the twain that they were near the -frontier cottage. - -I have used the word cottage simply for the reason that the house of -Oliver Blount was not a cabin, but in reality a cottage. It was the -work of the hands of a former owner--a proud Frenchman, who left the -Illinois paradise when the English flag supplanted the _fleur de lis_, -after the peace of 1763; and for a nominal sum Oliver Blount purchased -the building, when he reached Cahokia, in the rear of the British army -of occupation. The cottage was quite small, but picturesque in the -extreme. It contained three rooms, two on the ground floor, and one, -a roomy attic, beneath the strong clapboard roof. It boasted of broad -eaves, covered with climbers, and a pretty veranda, swarming with -flowers, planted in deep wooden bowls. - -The young Peoria was not a stranger at the Blounts’ home, for when the -giant bulldog saw him he ceased his barkings, and greeted the red-skin -with a low, joyful whine. Kate entered the house and began to prepare -an evening repast, while the Peoria leaned against the door and swept -the landscape before him with his eagle eye. Night had fairly vailed -the earth now; but the Indian did not desert his position. His eyes -seemed to penetrate the gloom far beyond the threshold, and when he -uttered an expressive “ugh,” Kate sprung to him and touched his arm. - -“Father?” - -“No!” exclaimed Swamp Oak, and the next moment he stepped back and -gently closed the strong oaken door. - -Then he calmly proceeded to barricade it, Kate watching his movements -without a question. - -When he deemed the portal proof against the foe, he turned to the -windows and secured them in like manner. - -“Lone Dove, the wolves prowl about your nest,” he said at last, pausing -directly before Kate, “and ere long their steps will greet your ears.” - -He had scarcely paused when a footfall approached the house, and fell -heavily upon the ashen floor of the veranda. It was greeted by a growl -from the dog, who approached the door with all his furious passions -aroused, and with fire flashing from his great gray eyes. - -The next moment Kate darted forward and quieted Pontiac with her hand, -while the Peoria placed his ear at the foot of the portal to catch the -import of the whispers on the porch. - -All at once, while the Indian still remained crouched on the floor, a -hand struck the door, and in a firm tone Kate Blount demanded to know -who was there. - -“Segowatha, the war-wolf of the Pottawatomies, knocks at the -pale-face’s lodge,” was the reply, in a pompous tone. “He is not -alone; his warriors are about him, and through him they command the -Englishman’s daughter to deliver over to them the Peoria dog, who -kennels beneath her roof. We have tracked the Swamp Oak hither, and we -seek the scalp of the Peoria dog, and not the Lone Dove’s. Let the pale -child be swift to speak, for Segowatha’s warriors are impatient, and -soon he can not hold them back from the work of the evil spirit.” - -Silence followed the chief’s words. While he spoke, the hunted Peoria -had risen to his feet, and now he stood with bowed head before the girl -who held his life in her hands. Kate Blount gazed upon the demanded -sacrifice, and twice she essayed to speak, but in vain. In the form -of the young Peoria she beheld the only true red friend she ever had, -and now to deliver him up to the torture seemed to her simple mind the -hight of ingratitude. - -“Speak, Lone Dove,” suddenly cried Segowatha, and he supplemented the -command with a blow from his hatchet. “My warriors are drawing their -weapons!” - -“Let them draw and use them if they wish,” cried Kate Blount, starling -toward the door. “I refuse to deliver the Peoria to his hunters, and -more, I shall defend him with my own life.” - -A yell of rage burst from the Pottawatomie’s throat, and he drove his -tomahawk into the door. - -That blow caused Swamp Oak to spring erect as an arrow, and he griped -the slender arm of the trader’s daughter. - -“Swamp Oak will die for the Lone Dove!” he said, with mingled -determination and emotion. “Segowatha is full of lies. They seek -the pale girl as well as Swamp Oak, for she is English, and in this -war they strike all save the French. A yellow-skinned dog is with -Segowatha; he wants the dove with golden plumage; he-- Ah! the dog is -going to whine.” - -The Peoria’s sentence was broken by a voice just beyond the threshold, -and the twain grew silent to hear what it might say. - -“White girl, you are rash,” said the invisible speaker, in French. “You -are selling your life for a dog’s. The Indians don’t want you--only the -Peoria lout.” - -“No more, Jules Bardue!” cried Kate Blount, with flashing eyes. “I -know you; you can’t disguise your hated voice. I know what brought you -hither, and death is far preferable to the life you have marked out for -me. Depart immediately, base creole dog, else, through this door, a -bullet shall stop your whinings.” - -A terrible anathema burst from the lips of the maddened creole, and -there was a hasty flight from the porch. - -“Ha, they run!” cried Kate, turning to the Peoria. - -“But they will come again,” was the reply. “The Yellow Chief will have -the Lone Dove or die!” - -The lips of the trader’s daughter met in terrible determination, and a -low whine from Pontiac announced the return of the savages. - -A moment later a heavy blow fell upon the door; but the barricades -resisted to good effect, and, throwing down the battering-ram, the -savages poured a volley of musket-balls through the planks. Suspecting -their design, our friends had taken shelter behind the heavy logs that -nestled behind the plank weather-boarding, and thus escaped the leaden -pellets. Scarcely had the balls perforated the door, when Swamp Oak -sprung to his feet and fired through the protection. - -A death-yell, similar to the yelp of the wolf, announced the result of -his shot, and a moment later Kate Blount’s rifle sent an Ottawa to the -hunting-grounds of his tribe. - -The lucky shots drew a chorus of demoniac yells from the savages, and -while the brave twain reloaded their weapons, those outside rushed in a -body against the door. - -The first blow with the sapling which they had deserted a moment -before, sent a shiver over the structure, and the second stroke drove -the faithful door from its hinges! - -The ram was handled by demons now, and nothing could resist their fury. - -The broken barricades prevented the door from falling to the floor, but -the moonlight streamed into the room, and revealed the defenders to the -Indians. Simultaneously with their success, they essayed to enter over -the stricken portals, but the rifles of the besieged cracked again, and -two more Indians fell dead on the porch. - -The death-work momentarily drove the foe from the door, and before they -returned to their work, Swamp Oak had torn the useless barricades away, -and supplied their places with new ones. A settler’s cabin is always -supplied with two sets of barricades, and in case of an attack the -extra set is placed beside the door. - -When the enemy returned to the attack, they greeted the new defense -with wild yells, and the renewal of the attack was met with a volley -from the besieged which sorely wounded no less a personage than -Segowatha. - -In tones of rage and pain the stricken Pottawatomie ordered his braves -from the attack, and for many minutes silence reigned beyond the fort. - -“They are concocting something devilish,” whispered the young girl. - -“Yes, the evil spirit is playing with their hearts,” said Swamp Oak. - -A moment later, they heard the voice of the Yellow Chief. - -“You had better surrender; the Indians are mad now,” he said. - -“Let them eat themselves for rage,” cried Kate Blount, heroically. “We -will not surrender.” - -“Then die!” yelled Jules Bardue. - -A moment later innumerable sticks were hurled upon the porch. - -In the moonlight that stole into the room through a crevice above the -window, the eyes of the red brave and white girl met. - -“They’re going to burn us out!” said Kate. - -The Peoria nodded assent, griped his rifle more firmly than ever, and -stepped to the door. - -The next instant the clash of flints greeted his ears. Kate heard it, -too. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - DEATH’S DOINGS. - - -The brushwood which the Indians heaped against the door of Oliver -Blount’s home, had been gathered on the edge of the clearing and was -quite dry. The bark films were soon ignited by the flints, and in less -time than we can record a single sentence, the little boughs were -cracking in the ruddy blaze. - -Segowatha, who, on account of his wound, lay at the foot of a tree -some distance from the cottage, commanded his braves to draw back from -the scene, and with a single exception they obeyed. That exception -was Jules Bardue, the Yellow Chief, as he had been termed for several -years. He had suddenly disappeared, though Segowatha made no inquiries -regarding his absence, nor manifested any uneasiness about it. - -The creole was a privileged character among the north-western -Indians. He had not always dwelt among the tribes of the Illinois -country. He had been an attache to Sir William Johnson’s estate in -New York, and amid its beauties he first encountered the girl he now -sought--Catherine Blount. Then she was a pretty little blonde of -fifteen, and he a manly-looking fellow of one and twenty. He threw -himself before Miss Kate whenever an opportunity presented, and when he -discovered that the beauty did not love him--when, in indignant tones, -she bade him remain from her side, he obeyed the instincts of a bad -heart and grossly insulted her. - -As young as she was--a mere child in years--Kate Blount had imbibed to -no little degree her father’s resentful nature, and it was with great -difficulty that the creole wrenched from her the pistol which had -flashed from her bosom to avenge the insult he had offered. - -To what violence his passion might have led we can only guess, for -from among the shadows of the forest trees a veritable giant sprung -upon him; strong arms encircled him, and, before he could think with -calmness, he found himself stripped and bound to a tree. Kate Blount -had suddenly disappeared, and before him stood her irate father, armed -with a bundle of switches. Jules Bardue did not beg for mercy; he was -not that kind of a man. On the contrary he gritted his teeth until -sixty terrible blows had stripped the flesh from his back, and he was -unbound and hurled almost senseless to the ground. - -The next morning the creole, or Frenchman as he was called by many, did -not make his appearance at Sir William’s lodge; nor was he ever seen -near it again. He feared the wrath of Oliver Blount, and had left the -country for his own and the country’s good. - -He fled to the new Illinois; lived at Cahokia awhile, then joined the -Pottawatomies, and became their Yellow Chief. He knew that Oliver -Blount intended to emigrate to the Illinois country sometime, and the -Yellow Chief’s frequent incursions into that Paradise told that he -watched and waited for father and daughter--for his revenge. - -Fully thirty paces from trader Blount’s cottage the Indians watched -the progress of their devilish work, and when they beheld the flames -licking up the door with their forked tongues, they exchanged “ughs” -of supreme satisfaction. The besieged would not permit themselves to -be roasted to death, and every minute the dusky demons expected to -hear the submissive cry. A cordon of braves encircled the cottage thus -cutting off the retreat of the doomed ones. - -But while this was transpiring, a merciful Providence was interposing -a saving hand, for a suddenly-gathered storm-cloud burst over the -cottage; the gates of the upper deep opened, and threatened to deluge -every thing. - -The superstitious Indians, surprised and alarmed at this sudden burst -of lightning and rain, left their stations and gathered around the -wounded chief. - -Despite his wounds, Segowatha sprung to his feet. - -“Back to your places, braves!” he yelled, facing the shrinking savages -with drawn tomahawk. “The Manitou merely waters the earth, and he will -smile soon.” - -Sullenly the warriors returned to their posts, and again the cottage -was encircled by the tomahawk and scalping-knife. - -The drenching rain, driven in upon the porch by the wind, effectually -extinguished the flames; and when the storm at last had subsided, an -Indian approached the house, to discover a door so charred that it must -yield to a slight assault. - -Not a sound proceeded from the cottage, and the Indians, who now crept -forward like snakes to the attack, wondered at the silence. When they -reached the foot of the porch they rose in a body and threw themselves -against the door. - -It made no resistance, and the savages, with horrible yells, rushed -pell-mell into the cottage. Beyond the portal they met a determined -resistance, but it was from a dog. With an almost human yell, Pontiac -darted at the foremost Indian’s throat, and dragged the torn wretch to -the floor. The entire band sprung upon the dog, and a minute later he -was literally hacked to pieces with their knives. - -Where were Kate Blount and the hunted Peoria? - -The savages rushed into the second chamber; but it was tenantless. The -ladder which was wont to invite ingress to the attic was missing, and -with some difficulty the red demons gained the upper story. A moment -later a yell of mingled rage and disappointment pealed from their -throats, and while it echoed throughout the gloomy recesses of the -drenched forest, they congregated beneath an opening in the roof, and -gazed bewildered at the stars which seem to laugh at their defeat. - -The birds had flown! - -Segowatha greeted this announcement with a groan of rage, and in angry -tones he summoned the rear guards into his presence. Tremblingly they -approached, and told him that while they guarded the house, the twain -had not escaped. - -“But while you acted like squaws they crept from the lodge,” cried the -War Wolf with terrific mien. “I will have no such braves with me!” - -As he spoke he buried his hatchet in the brain of the foremost guard, -and turned with murderous intention upon the second. But, his strength -failed him; the weapon dropped from his hand, and a sub-chief supported -him with his arms. - -“Shall we throw ourselves upon the snake’s trail?” - -“No, no!” said Segowatha, his face suddenly growing pale, and a -convulsive shudder passing over his giant frame. “The War Wolf must go -to his people; the Peoria’s bullet struck deep. Segowatha is near the -dark river. But give the snake’s den to the fire, and call the Yellow -Chief back.” - -With the bare thought of their war-chief’s approaching end, the savages -gave themselves over to a rage which knew no bounds, and defies -description. - -They flew to the work of destruction; they ripped the weather boarding -from the cottage, and split it with their hatchets, piling it in the -lower rooms. Presently the flints were applied again, and soon Oliver -Blount’s home was wrapped in flames. While the tongues of fire licked -up the toil of years, a chief repeated the shrill cry of the night-hawk -three times in rapid succession. Then they waited anxiously for the -coming of some one, but, whoever that one was, he did not come. - -The demons danced about the trader’s burning home; they tore down the -neat fence that surrounded it, and cast it into the fire; they applied -their hatchets to the beautiful silver maples which afforded delicious -shade, and gave them to the devouring element. In short, they spared -nothing, even tearing up the broad stones which led to the well, and -hurling them with terrible yells after the trees. - -At last the cottage was destroyed, and, ready for more hellish work, -the Indians turned to Segowatha for orders. The dying chief, for it was -plain that he was approaching the river of death, smiled upon their -work and inquired regarding the creole. - -“He comes not,” answered a young chief--the Lone Wolf, “like a cowardly -dog he has deserted us. We will whip him with canes when he sneaks back -to our lodges.” - -“The Yellow Chief went to watch the spot where the fur-trader keeps his -boat,” said Segowatha. “But Segowatha can not dream why he comes not. -He must have heard the hawk cry.” - -“He may have filled his ears with leaves,” said Lone Wolf, who, though -a Pottawatomie, bore no good thoughts for Jules Bardue. “He watches -yet, perhaps. We will hunt the dog.” - -Touching a warrior’s arm lightly, the young Indian bounded toward -Cahokia Creek, followed by the red-skin whom his touch had summoned. - -A path led from the cottage to the creek, which almost encircled it, -and the two Indians were not long in reaching the stream. Suddenly Lone -Wolf’s companion uttered an “ugh” expressive of horror, and dropped -before a dark object which lay near the water. - -“The Yellow Chief!” exclaimed Lone Wolf. - -A brief examination proved the creole to be still living, and just -recovering from the deathly swoon into which a terrible blow had hurled -him. - -A glance about the star-lit spot showed evidences of a fierce struggle, -and the missing boat told the result of the combat. - -The Indians lifted the Yellow Chief and bore him to Segowatha. - -The War Wolf raised himself on his elbow, and for a long time looked -down into the creole’s face without speaking. - -“Segowatha leads the red-men of the big lake no more,” he said, at -last, in the calmest of tones, which the Indian loves to assume when he -stands upon the threshold of death. “The Manitou grips his hand now, -and the War Wolf must go. Warriors--Pottawatomies, Ojibwas,” his eyes -swept the circle of tawny faces, “who followed Segowatha hither, you -must swear.” - -In the momentary pause that followed, thirty hatchets flew aloft, and -thirty hands covered the hearts of their respective owners. - -“Swear!” cried the dying War Wolf--“swear to hunt to earth the Peoria -skunk and the white house-snake who crawls after him. Swear to tear the -hearts from all whom she loves--her bearded father, the Pale Giant, and -the boy with long hair. Segowatha hates them all!” - -“We swear!” cried Lone Wolf. “Warriors, by our chieftain’s blood we -swear all this.” - -With the last word the young brave dyed his hands in the warm blood -that gushed afresh from Segowatha’s wounds, and the other red-skins -followed his example. - -“I swear, too!” unexpectedly cried a voice in French, and, raising -himself with a mighty effort, the Yellow Chief thrust his hand into -Segowatha’s blood. “Ha! ha! we will hunt them down--the fugitives of -the Illinois! Oh, that they were here now!” - -Exhaustion then again followed, and he dropped to the ground, and a -moment later a terrific yell, uttered simultaneously by thirty pair of -lips, told that the mighty War Wolf of the Pottawatomies had stepped -into the impenetrable future. - -Over Segowatha’s corpse an Ojibwa dropped with a groan, and two others -staggered to their feet to fall to the earth, a second later, wounded -to the death. - -The uninjured red-skins griped their rifles; but not a foe was to be -seen. Everywhere the silence of death reigned supreme! - - - - - CHAPTER III. - A MOTHER’S VENGEANCE. - - -From a trap-door in the roof of the cottage, Swamp Oak, the young -Peoria, had noted the approach of the delivering storm, and had -hastened to communicate the joyful tidings to his beautiful -fellow-prisoner. Well understanding the nature of the summer storms -which broke over the forests of the Illinois, they were alert at once, -and when the cloud did discharge its fury of wind and rain through -the Stygian darkness, they were in the attic, and by the flashes of -lightning, saw the awe-stricken guards desert their posts, just as the -Peoria knew they would do. - -The young red-skin then glided away to the edge of the broad eaves, -followed by the girl, whom he lowered to the ground. Handing her the -rifles, he sprung down. Then toward the trader’s boat the fugitives of -the Illinois hurried. - -Suddenly, when they were very near the creek, the Peoria paused, and -griped Kate Blount’s arm. - -“What is it, Swamp Oak?” questioned the girl, in a low whisper. - -“The Yellow Chief,” was the reply, and then the Indian left her -standing alone. - -A flash of lightning had revealed to Swamp Oak the figure of the creole -chief watching the boat, as though he were certain that the besieged -would escape, in which event they would, of course, seek the boat. - -Several minutes of silence followed the Peoria’s departure, and then -the sounds of a desperate struggle were borne to the girl’s ears. In -the gloom she stood and trembled for the safety of her ally, and when -at last the lightning revealed the two men locked in each other’s -arms, writhing and twisting like two panthers on the verge of Cahokia -Creek, she sprung forward to put an end to the conflict. The electric -light had told her that the Yellow Chief was uppermost, and Swamp Oak’s -situation critical in the extreme. - -A few bounds brought her to the spot; her rifle flew above her head to -deal a death-blow to the coward who sought to destroy her happiness, -when she saw him roll from the Indian and lie perfectly still on the -bank. - -“Ugh!” grunted the victorious Peoria, springing to his feet, and -shaking himself after the manner of a dog emerging from the water. “The -Yellow Chief is as strong as the buffalo; but he was no match for Swamp -Oak. - -“Come!” he said, stepping to the water, “we must fly, even as the wild -geese fly from the gun of the white hunters.” - -“But father and the others?” said Kate, involuntarily pausing beside -the boat. - -“They will come to the Lone Dove in time,” said the Swamp Oak; “she -will nestle in her father’s bosom soon, and she will plait the young -trader’s long hair before the death of another moon. Come!” - -Thus reassured, Kate Blount stepped into the boat, and the next moment -they were flying toward the head-waters of Cahokia creek. - -“Why did you not fly to the fort, chief?” asked Kate, after a lengthy -silence. - -“The Red Avengers were between the fur man’s cabin and the English -flag; and we must keep from them. Oh, my poor people!” and a sigh -escaped the Indian’s breast. “Swamp Oak’s father is old; the evil -spirits’ fiery arrows shoot along his bones, and like the wounded dove, -he will fall an easy prey to the bad Indians’ tomahawks. But let them -kill him,” and the young brave gritted his teeth; “yes, let them kill -the old Peoria, and they shall unchain a devil fiercer than all the -wolves in the country of the Illinois.” - -Then the savage relapsed into silence, which was not broken till, an -hour later, he ran the canoe to the secure cover of the fringed bank. - -“Now where do we go, Swamp Oak?” demanded Kate, as they stepped upon -the bank. - -“The Lone Dove shall see,” answered the Indian, with a smile. “Did she -never know that Swamp Oak had a squaw?” - -“No, chief,” said the girl, in astonishment. “You never breathed a word -to me about a Mrs. Swamp Oak.” - -The youthful Indian smiled sadly, but proudly, and, having sunk the -boat, led the way into the forest. - -“Yes,” he said, in low tones, while he guided the trader’s daughter -over the rough ground, “the Peoria has a squaw, as beautiful as the -lilies of snow that kiss the lips of the great river (Mississippi). -Many moons ago, Swamp Oak’s nation sent him to the lands of the -Delawares to spy. He went with a fearless heart, for he wanted to win -his first feathers. He wore the plumes and paint of an Ojibwa; he -entered the lodges of the Delawares; he told them about the great lake -where the Ojibwas live, and they believed him, for the Manitou closed -their eyes to the fact that Swamp Oak was an Illinois.[1] Among the -Delaware wigwams he met Ulalah, the daughter of Colealah, the gigantic -Delaware prophetess, who wears a necklace of living snakes. He loved -her star eyes, and when he left the Delawares, Ulalah walked at his -side. He dared not take her to his people as his squaw--she a hated and -accursed Delaware, so he brought her--here!” - -The young white girl looked up into the Indian’s face, bewildered. - -“Not here, Swamp Oak?” - -“Here, Lone Dove.” - -As the savage finished, he stooped and placed his ear to the ground. -In this position he remained for some time, when, satisfied with his -vigil, he stepped to a gigantic oak and thrust his arm into a dark -aperture in its side. - -Kate Blount watched him eagerly. - -When Swamp Oak withdrew his arm, a portion of the tree swung open like -a door, which unexpected action drew a cry of astonishment from the -girl’s lips. - -“So Swamp Oak and his squaw live in a tree?” she said, smiling at the -novelty of the thought. - -“No,” murmured the Indian, “they dwell below the tree. Come!” - -He caught Kate’s arm and led her beyond the living threshold of his -strange home; and she stood against the inner wall of the tree, while -he closed the door and made it secure again. - -Then he gently assisted her down a ladder formed of poles and sinews, -and at last Kate found herself upon firm, stony ground, thirty feet -below the roots of the tree. - -In the gloom the Peoria paused, and a loud bird-call pealed from his -lips. - -It received no answer. He called again, and in the suspense that -followed the cry, Kate felt a shudder flit over the red-skin’s tawny -frame. - -“Ulalah must sleep,” said Swamp Oak, in a tone full of uncertainty and -fears. “Swamp Oak has not kissed her for ten sleeps, and she has grown -weary waiting for him. We will awake her, Lone Dove. Come!” - -The hand that stole to Kate Blount’s in the gloom trembled like the -aspen, and a terrible presentiment of evil crept to her young heart. -She could not shake the terror off, and she knew that Swamp Oak shared -it with her. - -“Ha!” suddenly exclaimed the Indian, in a somewhat joyous tone, “Ulalah -still keeps the fire bright for Swamp Oak.” - -He quickened his gait now, and presently the turning of a curve brought -them into an apartment quite vividly relieved by a fire that burned in -the center. - -The chamber was fit for the banquet hall of an eastern king, and the -trader’s daughter was struck with rapture and awe when her eyes fell -upon the myriads of shining stalactites that hung pendent from the -arched ceiling, and the walls that reflected back, with ten thousand -beauties, the glow of the fire. - -At first she thought the palace deserted; but when her eyes became -accustomed to the light, she, simultaneously with the Peoria, beheld a -figure upon a mat of doe skins, near the bright blaze. - -With a light cry of “Ulalah!” Swamp Oak shot forward, and stooped, with -his inborn gentleness, over the motionless body of his young wife. - -But the next moment he started back with a cry that drove every vestige -of color from Kate Blount’s face, and, with the eyes of a madman, he -stared at the form on the doe-skins. - -The trader’s daughter could not move. Horror glued her to the spot, and -her eyes continually flitted between the mad Peoria and his Ulalah. - -Suddenly Swamp Oak shot forward, and lifted the Delaware girl from the -couch, and then without a word bore her to the trader’s child, and -thrust the cold, expressionless face into hers. - -“Dead! dead!” welled from Kate’s lips, in horrible accents, and while -she spoke she could scarcely believe that the beautiful being embraced -by the Indian was a corpse. - -“Dead! dead!” shrieked Swamp Oak echoing the girl’s words with a voice -that was a wail; and while the accents still quivered on his pale lips, -he staggered back and dropped Ulalah upon the couch again. - -“He’s mad!” muttered Kate Blount, involuntarily shrinking from the -intense glare of the frenzied Indian’s eyes. “This deed of blood has -sent reason from its throne. What is to follow God knows. Heaven -protect me!” - -The Peoria approached with an unnatural smile. - -“Yes, the good spirits have taken Ulalah to their lodges,” he said, -“and left the Lone Dove to be poor Swamp Oak’s squaw. Swamp Oak loved -Ulalah; but when the winged spirits came for her, he kissed her, and -let her go. Ha! ha! ha! the Lone Dove will be lone no longer. Why does -she not greet the Swamp Oak? Come, we’ll strew the bridal-couch with -flowers.” - -But, with a shudder, Kate continued to retreat, and when at last, -unable to retreat further, the demented Indian’s hand griped her arm, a -fiendishly triumphant laugh came from a distant portion of the cave. - -Instantly Swamp Oak dropped her arm, and wheeled with a crazy cry. - -He turned in time to see a giantess burst from one of the corridors, -leading from the further end of the chamber, and Kate Blount echoed the -Indian’s cry of horror. - -She at once recognized in the red ogress, the person of Coleola the -prophetess of the Delawares, for around her neck writhed three snakes, -pictures of horror. - -Several warriors followed the red queen, and she threw a furtive glance -upon Ulalah’s corpse as she sprung forward. - -“Ha! ha! ha!” she laughed again, more discordantly than ever, pausing -within a few feet of Swamp Oak, who regarded her with an expression -utterly indescribable. “At last Coleola has tracked the child-stealer -to his den. At last she has found her child--found her to punish -her for following the Peoria dog into the woods. See!” and a knife -flashed from beneath her tunic, “this blade is red with the blood of -the ungrateful girl, and soon it shall drink the heart-gore of the -red hound. For five sleeps we have waited for Swamp Oak, the traitor. -Coleola led her braves from the Delaware village, saying: ‘We dye our -knives in the hearts of the runaways or never return.’ Ha! ha! in the -forest we saw a pair of eyes peeping from a tree! Ulalah watched for -her red dog, and Coleola came instead of he.” - -Again that hellish laugh broke from the murderess’ lips, and with eyes -aflame with passion, she strode toward Swamp Oak, who did not seem to -comprehend her intention. Kate Blount, still griping her rifle, shrunk -nearer the wall, determined to brace herself against it, and sell her -life as dearly as possible. While Coleola addressed Swamp Oak, her eyes -had wandered to her, and Kate knew that she was doomed to die by some -terrible mode of death. - -Nearer and nearer the dazed Indian came the murderess, and her almost -naked followers; when to Kate Blount’s surprise, Swamp Oak, with a -terrific yell, dashed Coleola and her braves from his path as though -they were stalks of corn; and, snatching up the corpse of his stolen -wife, he disappeared in one of the corridors before the astonished -spectators had recovered from their confusion. - -Coleola and her followers darted after the madman, and Kate Blount was -left alone. Then, with the instinct of self-preservation, she retreated -back through the passage which a few minutes since she had traversed, -and at last found herself in the tree. Around her all was gloom, and -she fumbled about for the fastenings with the wildest heart that ever -throbbed in maiden’s bosom. - -Every moment was precious to her, and when she at last found the sinews -and threw wide the door, she felt a foot on the ladder below! - -She sprung from the tree into the day that was penetrating the Illinois -forest, and heard the triumphant yell of the Indian behind her. - -Impelled by her danger, she turned and beheld, rushing from the tree -with uplifted hatchet, one of Coleola’s braves. - -Instantly her rifle shot to her shoulder; she touched the trigger and -the Delaware lay motionless on the leaves with a bullet in his brain! - -Again, with a prayer to God for safety, the fugitive turned and rushed -toward Cahokia Creek, loading her faithful rifle as she ran. - -From childhood the trader’s daughter handled the weapons of the -frontier, and about Sir William Johnson’s “lodge” there used to be no -deadlier shot than the then little girl of fifteen! - -In her hands the rifle was a dangerous thing! - - -[1] The Kaskaskias, Peorias and Cahokias were component tribes of the -Illinois nation. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - THE HAUNTED TRADER. - - -“Shall we give the red-livered dogs another volley?” - -The questioner was a youth, apparently twenty years of age, and the -looks which he threw upon the startled Indians was burdened with the -consuming fire of hatred. - -“No, Rob,” was the whispered rejoiner of a herculean man who lay behind -the log at the young scout’s side. “Another volley would bring the hull -ov the red devils down upon us before we could reload, an’ then thar’d -be the very Old Harry to pay. They’ll not hunt for us as it is; they’re -pickin’ up their dead now, an’ ar’ goin’ to break fur Cahokia. Wonder -who dropped Segowatha?” - -“And I wonder where my daughter--my Kate--is?” - -It was Oliver Blount that spoke, and his face told of the fearful -anxiety and doubting that gnawed at his heart. He was enduring the -greatest anguish that can assail a father’s breast for the fate of his -only child. - -“The Lord only knows where she is, Oll,” responded the giant, in a -sympathizing tone; “and, b’lieve me, He’s goin’ to take care o’ her -until you see her again.” - -A ray of hope lighted up Blount’s eyes, and he grasped Doc Bell’s hand. - -“Then you think her living, Doc?” - -“Why, in course she’s alive,” said the hunter and Indian-fighter, -confidently. “Ef them red devils had cotched her, why she’d be with -’em now; but, you see, the only live thing they found in yer house war -Pontiac, an’ I’ll bet my rifle that he let out some red hound’s blood -afore he yelped fur the last time. Ha! jest as I told ye; they’re -goin’.” - -A smile played with the giant’s face as he saw the savages lift their -dead from the ground, and move toward Cahokia Creek. - -“Look yonder!” suddenly exclaimed Oliver Blount, his eyes riveted upon -the Yellow Chief, who, with the assistance of two Miamis, regained his -feet. “I know who the Yellow Chief is now--Jules Bardue.” - -“That’s jest his name!” said Bell, “an’ a devil he is, too. Yer -daughter did good work to-night, Oll, but she ought to hev finished the -Creole.” - -“But he will die,” said Rob Somerville, the young scout. “Look at his -face; death is riding over it now.” - -“No, he ain’t, boy,” said the giant. “To kill Jules Bardue you must -send a bullet to his brain. I’ll never forget the night, near two years -ago, when I met him near the ’Wattomie town, and hacked him to pieces -with my knife. I made that scar over his left eye; I cut the thumb from -his left hand, an’ four times I drove my blade between the scoundrel’s -ribs. I left him for dead. I piled brush over ’im, an’ ran like oiled -lightnin’. But as I live! a month arterwards I saw the Yellow Chief -on Lake Michigan. Somehow or other he had come to life, an’ doctored -himself up in the latest style. But, boys, the next time I’ll finish -’im; thar’s no remedy, you know, fur a bullet in the brain.” - -When the hunter concluded, the savages were beyond sight, and after -scouring the woods to see that none remained behind, the trio -approached the blasted sight of Oliver Blount’s home. - -“They shall pay for this!” hissed the fur-trader, through clenched -teeth, and then he stopped before a ghastly object--the body of his -faithful dog. - -While he bent over it, stroking the bloody hair with the air and look -of a grief-stricken man, the giant and his youthful protege returned -from a scout around the cottage. - -“Yer daughter is safe, Oll,” said Bell. - -The trader started at the sound of the voice, for the two men had -stolen up behind him. - -“How do you know she’s safe?” he demanded. - -“Because your boat is gone, an’ she an’ that young Peoria ar’ in it.” - -“Gone down Cahokia right into the jaws of death.” - -“Not much. Swamp Oak ain’t a durned fool if he is young. He’s gone up -Cahokia, to his mysterious home.” - -“Do you know where it is?” and Oliver Blount griped the hunter’s arm in -his eagerness. - -“Not exactly, but I kin tramp mighty nigh it. Ye see, that young red -chap stole his wife, an’ he won’t tell anybody whar he keeps her. But -we’ll hunt for the place, an’ we’ll begin right away. I’d give any -thing fur a boat now.” - -But no canoe was to be had, and the trio were obliged to set out on the -hunt for Kate Blount on foot. - -They had arrived too late to attack the Indians while they besieged the -devoted pair in the cottage; but they reached the spot from whence they -slew the three red-men in time to hear the oath which Segowatha imposed -upon his followers. - -Doc Bell and young Somerville had lately left Fort Chartres for the -purpose of conducting the Blount family to a place of safety, or to -defend them should the father still persist in his refusal to move. To -warn the trader of his danger, and to tell him that they would soon be -with him, they had dispatched Swamp Oak, the Peoria, before them; and, -as the reader has seen, the Indian reached the doomed cottage in time -to render valuable assistance to its beautiful tenant. - -A short distance from Fort Chartres the twain encountered Indians, and -accidentally ran across a young Delaware brave, with whom a meeting, -in his own country, some years prior to the date of our romance, had -placed Bell on friendly terms. The Delaware told them of the presence -of the avengers; that that night the blow was to be struck, and that -the home of every backwoods English settler would be in ashes before -dawn. - -This startling intelligence impelled our two friends forward faster -than ever, and when they struck the trail leading from Cahokia to the -trader’s house, they encountered Oliver flying to the protection of his -loved daughter. He had been detained in Cahokia beyond his time, and -he had much to relate about the bursting of the storm of massacre. His -path had been illuminated by the light of happy homes, and he had had -several narrow escapes while on his homeward journey. - -From the destroyed cottage the trio proceeded to the scene of the -struggle between Swamp Oak and the Yellow Chief; and, with Doc Bell in -advance, struck up the creek. - -“I tell you what,” said the giant, “we’re in an uncommon delicate -pickle jest now. Thar’s a wall ov red meat all around us, an’ unless we -kin break through it, the circle will narrow down to a point so fine as -to be extremely disagreeable.” - -“But, with Kate, we’re going to break through it!” said Blount, with -determination. - -“That’s jest what’s the matter,” responded the hunter. “The red devils -may surround me in a ten-acre woods, an’ ef I don’t get out all right, -they may marry me to the ugliest squaw they’ve got. Bob an’ me’s been -in tight places afore.” - -“And so have I,” said Blount; “and we’re going to get out of this. But -we’ll be hunted like deers. When the Red Avengers deliver Segowatha to -the rest of the tribe, they’ll return and hunt us down.” - -“You’re right thar, Blount, an’ ef they catch any ov us they’ll sarve -us like they sarved poor John Senior, on the shores of Huron.” - -“How was that?” asked Blount. - -“They made him eat his ears, an’ then, with dull knives, they skinned -him alive.” - -Despite his manhood, Oliver Blount shuddered. - -“I saw that done,” continued Bell, “an’ the hellion who proposed it -swore this night to hunt us down.” - -“I know who you mean--Jules Bardue.” - -“Yes, it was he.” - -The thought of ‘Jack’ Senior’s fate, and their own peril caused the -trio to drop the unpalatable conversation, and for a long time they -skirted the shores of Cahokia creek in silence. Far above them the -stars twinkled with a dimmed luster, as if they were sorrowing for the -work falling from the hands of the demon Devastation, stalking over the -Eden land of the Illinois. - -Oliver Blount walked along with bowed head--repenting, when too late, -of his stubbornness. Had he listened to reason at that hour he and -his daughter might have been safe behind the protecting walls of Fort -Chartres; but now she was a fugitive from Indian vengeance, and he -rushing to death in the attempt to save her young life. He trusted to -his more watchful companions to warn him of the presence of foes, and -suddenly that warning came in the click of their rifles. - -“What is it?” he asked in a whisper. - -“Down!” returned the giant. - -They crouched in the weeds that lined the bank of the little stream, -and the footsteps of a single person approached them from the recesses -of the forest. - -“He’s making for the creek,” whispered Somerville. “If an Indian, we’ll -finish him.” - -“It’s a pale-face,” said Bell. “Listen again, Bob. Does he run like an -Injun?” - -The young man did not reply, and presently the new-comer crossed an -open spot in which the trio caught a glimpse of his figure. He was a -tall man, clad in the garb of the English fur trader, and bore a long -rifle at his side. His haggard face told of a terror-stricken heart; -and it was not difficult for the trio to tell that he was flying from -the blood-dyed tomahawk of Pontiac’s avengers. - -He paused on the bank of the stream, and resting his sharply defined -chin upon his shoulder, listened for the footsteps of his pursuers. - -The three hunters could almost have touched him with their gun-barrels. - -They watched him narrowly, and when he seemed about to plunge into the -stream, and break his trail by water, Doc Bell spoke: - -“Williamson?” - -The hunted man started, and a low cry of despair parted his ashen lips. -Our friends heard the click, click of his long weapon, and his fiery, -blood-shot eyes seemed to pierce their covert. - -“Come on!” he hissed. “John Williamson never surrenders. For three -weeks I’ve been the most wretched man on earth. Awake or asleep, I’ve -been hunted by the ghost of that mighty chief whose life I purchased -for a barrel of rum. I want to die, and now come on, and let me take to -Hades with me a dozen red demons.” - -“We don’t want your life, John Williamson, though I could take it -without a guilty conscience,” said Oliver Blount, who recognized the -man who had precipitated the bloody war upon the country, by compassing -the death of the great conspirator, Pontiac. - -The haunted trader recognized Blount’s voice, and a moment later he -stood before the three men. - -“Will you not save me?” he pleaded, suddenly discovering that he was -not so eager to die as he seemed to be a moment since. - -“I thought you wanted to die!” said the giant with a sneer. -“Williamson, you deserve to perish like a dog--you the devil whose -hate of a noble Injun is deluging the Illinois in innocent blood. But -they’ll catch you yet, an’ then you’ll experience what Jack Senior did.” - -The terrible doom of Senior was known throughout the length and breadth -of the Illinois country. - -“No, no,” groaned Williamson, his knees smiting one another. “I’ll cut -my throat first.” - -“They’ll never give you that chance,” put in Somerville, who smiled to -see the terror of the justly haunted wretch. - -“We’re huntin’ a gal--Kate Blount,” said Doc Bell, addressing the -cowardly trader, “an’ we’ll take you with us if you promise to behave -decently.” - -“I’ll do that,” was the response, “and, sirs, I’ll fight like a lion, -when it comes to that.” - -“Well, it’s coming to that,” said the giant, “and then--” - -“Hark!” whispered the youth, clutching his companion’s arm. - -The quartette listened, and heard footsteps in the forest. - -“The Illinois is full of fiends,” whispered Blount. - -“And they’re coming up the creek!” groaned the haunted trader, audibly. - -“Speak above a whisper again, John Williamson, an’ I’ll toss you into -the red-skins’ arms,” said the giant, as he laid his hand upon the -trader’s shoulder. - -The sounds increased, and indicated the approach of a large body of -Indians. They were advancing up the opposite side of the stream, and to -our friends’ surprise halted almost directly opposite their covert. - -The starlight enabled our friends to arrive at their number, and they -concluded that they were advancing against a somewhat exposed village -of the Peorias not many miles distant. Immediately after kindling -a fire, which they did upon halting, the chiefs came together for -counsel, and Oliver Blount and the two hunters watched them with -anxiety and interest. They dared not move, for the least movement might -reach their enemies’ ears, and, in a moment, two hundred avengers would -be upon them. - -Therefore, they resolved to remain where they were until the conclusion -of the council, which they knew would transpire before dawn. - -Wearied with his long tramp--tired of flying, no doubt, from an -imaginary foe, the haunted trader dropped into a fitful slumber, while -his companions watched the council. - -Suddenly they were startled by a most unearthly cry. - -“Avaunt! avaunt! I didn’t kill Pontiac! Hellions, away! away!” - -The trio were on their feet in an instant, and beheld John Williamson -with frantic gestures trying to beat back the phantoms that haunted him. - -His aspect was enough to frighten the spectators; but their peril and -rage drove every thing else from their minds. - -The trader’s tone had reached the Indian camp. The council was -breaking, and swarms of painted braves were rushing to the stream with -their eyes fastened upon the spot where stood the seemingly doomed -scouts. - -Doc Bell, the giant, realizing the danger, with a dreadful anathema, -sprung upon the dreamer like a tiger. - -“Curse you!” he hissed, as he clutched the haunted trader’s throat, and -threw him above his head as though he were as light as a child. “You’ll -never dream of your victim again--John Williamson--never!” - -He sprung to the edge of the cliff, and at a glance saw every Indian in -the water below. - -“My God! He’s going to kill John!” cried Oliver Blount, as he darted -toward the giant. - -“Spare him, Doc!” - -“Never!” and with his word he hurled the body out into the air, and it -fell among the savages below, with a rushing sound. - -“Now!” yelled the backwoods Ajax, turning suddenly upon his companions. -“For your lives, run!” - -The next moment they bounded into the grayish forest, with a hundred -fiends yelling at their heels! - - - - - CHAPTER V. - IN THE HANDS OF FATE. - - -The Indians, consisting of representatives from each of the avenging -nations, had reached the top of the bank in less time than we could -record the movement, and gained perceptibly upon the flying whites from -the first. - -The trio kept close together, and ever and anon glanced backward to -behold their dusky foes nearing them with a rapidity which betokened -swift doom. - -Still the wood stretched before them, and no covert, no natural -stronghold in which they might attempt a defense presented itself; and -no succoring volley burst upon their ears. Had they been as fresh as -their pursuers were, they might hope to elude the red hands; but the -respective tramps from Fort Chartres and Cahokia had fatigued them, -and, even when flying for life, they felt the terrible lack of strength. - -“They’re going to catch us!” said Bob Somerville, the young scout, -glancing over his shoulder at the howling legion. - -“If we say so--yes,” said the giant. “What do you say, Blount? As for -myself, I’ll never throw down my rifle, an’ cry quarter to that troop -of man-skinners. But you have a daughter, an’ as they bear you but -little hatred compared to that which they bear old Doc Bell, p’r’aps -you’d better give up--you an’ Bob, here.” - -“What! I surrender to them!” cried the young scout, shooting a look of -indignation at the giant at his side. “Never! I’m going to stay with -you, Doc. Let us run on!” - -On, still on they went, and all at once the big hunter cried: - -“Tree! they’re goin’ to shoot.” - -Instantly the trio sprung to trees, and simultaneously with their -action a score of rifles cracked. The leaden pellets whistled about -them like hail, and, staggering from the giant oak, which his hands had -barely touched, Oliver Blount dropped over the trunk of a decayed tree. - -“Let ’em hev it, Bob,” cried the giant. “We might as well die here as -any place. They’ve finished Oll, the red dogs hev, nor shall one feel -the pain of skinning.” - -As the hunter finished, he thrust his long-barreled rifle forward, -and the young sub-chief who was bounding toward Blount with uplifted -tomahawk, reeled with a death-yell, and fell dead, as a comrade, a few -feet in his rear, met a like fate by the ball from Bob Somerville’s -rifle. - -“Now load, boy, load for yer life!” shrieked the giant, snatching the -horn from his side, and with lightning rapidity proceeding to load his -trusty rifle. “Beavers! Blount’s not dead. Brave fellar! he’s goin’ to -give them a blister!” - -The hunter in his rough manner had spoken truly. - -The sorely-wounded trader with closed teeth and avenging eyes, had -raised himself on his knees, and thrust his weapon over the log--his -invulnerable bulwark. The twain behind the trees watched him as they -reloaded their guns, and when they saw the old man’s finger press the -trigger they exposed their bodies enough to see an Ottawa brave spring -into the air with a death-shriek. - -“Well done, Blount!” cried Bell, as the trader looked up with a smile -of satisfaction, and then sunk behind the log to reload. - -The Indians knew that their foes could recharge their weapons before -they could engage in a hand-to-hand conflict, and, therefore, after -Blount’s death-shot they sought the protection of trees until they -could draw another volley from the whites. - -With the agility so characteristic of the red-man, they glided from -tree to tree, gradually approaching their victims and trying to get in -their rear. - -“We’re their meat, Bob,” hissed Doc Bell. “It’s no use disputin’ _thet_ -point. Ef I only had that infernal Williamson hyar! But, I finished -him; that’s some consolation. Ha!” - -With the exclamation, the giant’s rifle touched his shoulder, and a -yell told that some ill-fated red-man had exposed his body to the -death-scout’s aim. An instant later the weapons of the other whites -spoke their death-tidings, and the chorus of yells that quickly -followed would have done credit to the choir of the lost in Pandemonium. - -The Indians to a man shot forward; and with clubbed rifles and knives -griped between their teeth, Doc Bell and his companion sprung from the -trees, and faced the red horde with the look of men whose lives must be -purchased at a terrible cost. - -Oliver Blount seemed to forget for what he had to live, and to have -imbibed the spirit of his companions; for, despite his wounds, which -caused his lips to twitch with acute pain, he threw himself over the -log with drawn tomahawk. - -“Come on, devils!” he yelled at the savages. “Come on, I say, and greet -the edge of trader Blount’s hatchet!” - -The Indians greeted his speech with derisive yells, and when they had -almost reached the desperate men, who had braced themselves for the -battle to the death, a solitary rifle cracked, and Big Fox-Fire, the -giant of the Delawares and the leader of the avengers, sunk to the -ground without a groan. - -Awe-stricken by the mysterious shot the savages executed an abrupt -halt, and their eyes, staring upon some object beyond the whites, drew -the attention of the latter thither. - -Near fifty yards behind them, and upon the trunk of a newly-fallen -tree, stood the slayer of the gigantic Delaware; and when the eyes of -the hunted whites fell upon the avenger, a cry simultaneously parted -their lips: - -“’Tis Kate!” - -Yes, in the person of the slayer, the form of Kate Blount was easily -recognizable, and with a light cry which reached her father’s ears, she -bounded forward. - -“Back, Kate, back!” shouted Oliver Blount, waving her aloof. “You can -escape the fiends!” - -But she did not heed his voice, for she came on, faster than ever, -and with a joyful cry, in the presence of the painted denizens of the -wood, she sunk upon the bosom where she had pillowed her head so oft in -happier days. - -“Kate, my own Kate!” cried Oliver Blount, in a voice tremulous with a -father’s emotion; and then he looked through his tears to the giant as -if to say: “Doc Bell, we’ll live for my daughter.” - -The giant understood that mute appeal. He dropped his rifle to the -ground, and caused the blade of his scalping-knife to quiver in the -bark of the tree. - -“I’m goin’ to live fur the gal--fur Kate,” he cried, glancing at his -protege, who had followed his example. “That gal ar’ too brave to die, -an’ suthin’ might turn up.” - -“Yes, yes, we’ll stand by Kate Blount, so long as we have life left,” -said Somerville, and his lustrous eyes, dimmed by the meeting of father -and child, wandered to the beautiful owner of that name whom he had -long in secret, and late, openly, loved. - -Oliver Blount released his child after a moment’s fond embrace, and his -action broke the spell which had bound the rude red horde. - -They started forward, not with uplifted weapons, but with empty hands, -to take possession of their prisoners, for they could not mistake the -meaning of the quivering knife and grounded rifle. - -“Yes, we’re yours,” said Doc Bell, addressing the Indians, as he -held forth his arms to receive the twisted sinews; “an’ ye may thank -yer Manitou that this gal came when she did. She’s saved many a life -to-day, she hez; an’ we’re goin’ to stan’ by her through thick an’ -thin. Come, Bob, don’t pervoke the Injun; act decently, ef it ar’ -ag’in’ the grain. ’Tain’t the first time we war tied.” - -The young scout was about to strike a fierce young Ojibwa who had spat -in his face, but the giant’s words unclinched his hand, and he told the -red-man that they would meet again. - -The Indians made no noisy demonstration over the surrender of the -whites, but their lowering looks boded ill for their captives; and Doc -Bell’s acute senses heard the younger warriors whispering about dull -knives, and he saw them mimicking the flaying process with fiendish -contortions of face and form. - -But he did not communicate his observations to his fellow-prisoners; he -would not horrify them with their doom. - -The pale-faces were soon bound, and the victors turned their faces -toward Cahokia creek again. - -The trader found that the bullet in his thigh did not impede his -progress, and flinging pain to the winds, he managed to keep pace with -the savages. - -Big Fox-Fire and the fallen braves were borne before the party, and -when the spot where the council had convened the preceding night was -reached, the band halted, and the giant looked around for the haunted -trader. - -But that personage was not visible. - -“He drowned in the stream!” he muttered, to himself. “Well, he is out -of the world at any rate, an’ I calculate as how the world is the -gainer.” - -Almost immediately after the halt the captives were bound to separate -trees, and the savages coolly proceeded to discuss their morning meal. - -“I’m as hungry as a wolf!” growled Doc Bell, throwing a wistful look -upon the huge slices of venison that surmounted the sticks which the -Indians held over the blaze. “I could gnaw my moccasins, an’ get a good -meal out ov an Injun’s scalp-lock. Ha! here’s comes a slice. Beavers!” - -An Indian near six feet in hight, and as straight as an Assiniboin -arrow, whose raven hair covered his otherwise naked shoulders, had -risen from the fire, and was approaching the hunter with a huge slice -of roasted venison. - -Doc Bell had noticed him before he left the blaze, and he felt assured -in his own mind that he had encountered that stalwart form before. But -he never knew a savage of such particular build, who owned such a mass -of hair. A moment later, when the Indian wheeled and displayed his -features to the hunter, the exclamation which concluded his mutterings -escaped his lips. - -“The pale-face is as hungry as the nestlings whose mother is no more,” -said the Indian, pausing before the giant, whose sturdy eyes were -filled with wonder and amazement. - -“Hungry!” he cried, in an overtone; “I should reckon I was hungry,” and -then his voice dropped to a whisper. “Nehonesto, I could eat you, hair -an’ all.” - -The hunter’s words threw a strange light into the Indian’s eyes. -He stepped forward quite impulsively, and his right hand jerked -the unnecessarily broad deer-skin strap of his paint-bag from its -accustomed position on his tawny breast. A second later his hand -dropped to his side, but the giant had caught sight of a crescent star, -again hidden by the strap. - -Then, in silence, Nehonesto, as Doc Bell had styled the Indian, -satisfied his hunger, and in like manner his fellow-captives were fed. - -“There goes a friend!” murmured the hunter, as Nehonesto returned to -the fire, without having spoken a hopeful word. “I thought the fellow -dead, an’ it’s the Almighty’s doin’s thet we’ve come together again. -Wonder where Tarpah is, an’ Mohesto an’ Otter Eyes, an’ the rest of our -brotherhood? Thank God for Nehonesto, at least. But, suppose the Injuns -should take a notion to finish us to-day, what could Nehonesto do?” and -away down in his heart he answered, “Nothing!” - -But he kept his eyes riveted upon the Indian, who never deigned him a -glance, but ate his venison in stolid silence among the congregation of -chiefs. - -The hunter would fain have bidden his companions hope; but he was too -widely separated from them to converse in whispers, and, besides, an -Indian stood between him and them. A word might seal his doom. - -For two long hours the chiefs were holding low converse, and the giant -hunter saw Nehonesto among them. - -What would the Indians do? - -All at once a wild yell came from the cliff on the opposite side of the -deep creek. - -Every eye turned to the elevated spot, and upon the very edge of the -declivity stood a red Amazon, whose aspect was most terrible. - -“Who guided that she-devil hither?” cried Doc Bell. “I know her an’ -she knows me, an’ to-day I’d sooner meet a thousand mad wolves than -Coleola, the Snake Queen of the Delawares. Thar’ll be suthin’ dreadful -to pay now. Nehonesto, where are you?” - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - COLEOLA AND NEHONESTO. - - -After slaying the Indian who had pursued her from the hunted Peoria’s -cave home, Kate Blount continued her flight unmolested. She ran forward -quite rapidly until her limbs grew weary, and her gait dwindled down to -a fast walk. She had noted the ground over which she had passed a few -brief hours before with Swamp Oak, and now knew that she was hurrying -toward Cahokia creek. - -Suddenly a chorus of wild yells burst upon her ears, and with a -throbbing heart she ensconced herself in the top of a fallen tree, from -whence she witnessed the conflict between the war-party, her father and -friends. - -She saw that the Indians did not seek the lives of the trio, and the -countenances of the whites told her that they were going to fight to -the death--that they, seeing their cause hopeless, would force the -red-skins to slay them for self-preservation. - -And well, too, she knew that her presence would change the tide of -affairs, and to preserve the life of her father--preserve it, perhaps, -for a fate worse than death by the tomahawk, she slew Big Fox-Fire, and -became the avengers’ prisoner. - -When the yell which announced Coleola’s appearance on the cliffs -opposite the war-party, and Kate beheld the mad Snake Queen, a pallor -flitted over her cheeks, and she glanced at her father, who was bound -to a sapling scarce five feet away. - -“An unpitying demoness has arrived upon the scene,” he said, returning -her fearful look with one full of sadness. “Coleola can rule the -passions of this band of red-skins, as supremely as the master the -actions of his slave. Girl, expect no mercy at her hands; the bare -sight of her has dissipated all my hopes of escape.” - -While he spoke, the Snake Queen and her followers descended, and -crossed the creek by wading. - -Coleola’s dark orbs flashed fire when they fell upon her late captive, -and scarcely had she emerged from the water, when with a panther-like -yell she darted forward and halted before the fair white girl. - -Her passion kept the Indians aloof, and with distended eyes they -watched her wild, mad movements. - -“The she white serpent crept from the hole in the ground and slew -Segagi!” she hissed, and with a dextrous movement she uncoiled the -serpents that encircled her neck, and thrust them forward until their -forked tongues almost touched Kate’s face. “Yes,” she hissed, more -fiendishly than ever, “in the great forest, a prey to the wolf and -panther, lies Segagi, Coleola’s most trusted spy. And does the White -Snake hope to boast of her shot, behind the walls of the great fort?” - -She paused, expecting a reply, but the brave girl rewarded her with -none, and striking her cheeks with the whip-like tails of the snakes -she drew back a pace. - -“The pale girl must talk to the Manitou!” she continued, “for Coleola’s -snakes shall writhe in her bosom when the fair skin has been torn away.” - -A shudder swept to the hearts of the captives at this terrible -announcement. The face of Oliver Blount grew white as snow when he -looked upon his daughter, and thought of the fate that the furious -Snake Queen had marked out for her. - -The leaders of the war-party did not attempt to interfere with the -Delaware demoness; they feared her as they feared the evil spirits; -and there were many who believed that she was the natural daughter of -Watchemenetoc, for no one, not even the white-haired chiefs, could tell -how and when she first appeared to the Delaware tribe. - -From Kale Blount her eyes swept to the form of the wood Hercules, and a -terrific yell pealed from her throat as she sprung before Doc Bell, and -glared upon him with the ferocity of the whelp-robbed jungle tigress. - -“Wal,” said the hunter, calmly, “I hup I see you. It’s been a long -time since we’ve met. I b’lieve I war a prisoner in yer town then, and -it fut’hermore occurs to me that I left that old sorcerer, Conestoga, -whom you called yer husband, as dead as Indians ginerally become. Ye -couldn’t keep Doc Bell in the ring, eh, Coleola!” - -The Snake Queen remained unmoved until the hunter uttered the name of -his victim. Then a cry of rage parted her lips and she stepped nearer, -her eyes spitting their anger into Bell’s face. But, the old hunter -finished his sentence undaunted, and returned her insane glare with a -look of calmness. - -He had raised her anger to the highest pitch attainable, and when he -saw her long knife flash from beneath the tunic which habited her giant -frame, he gave himself up for lost, and smiled upon the deadly blade. - -With a muttered anathema the Snake Queen threw the steel aloft, seeing -nothing but the slayer of her lord, forgetting, in her eagerness to -drink his blood, the tortures she could inflict upon him; and contrary -to her vengeful resolves, decreeing to him a comparatively painless -death. - -The rattlesnakes writhed around the tawny arm thrown aloft, and seemed -intent upon reaching the blade held far above her head--the blade that -trembled on the scent of death. For a second the mad-woman glared at -the hunter without striking, and then she stepped back to deliver the -blow with a tiger-like spring. - -The Indians saw this, and held their breath. The other captives could -not avert their eyes from the doom of the giant, their companion in -misfortune. - -“White dog, die!” shrieked Coleola, and like the panther darted upon -her victim. - -But the knife never reached the hunter’s heart; an arm as red as that -of the would-be murderess’ interposed, and when she gazed upon the -intruder, she beheld him planted as firmly as the oak between her and -the hunter! - -It was Nehonesto! - -“The Snake Queen must reach the big man’s heart through Nehonesto’s,” -he said, calmly returning the flash of the baffled woman’s eyes. - -“He is Nehonesto’s brother, and Nehonesto will die for him. Now let -Coleola strike! now let her throw her snakes upon the Ojibwa.” - -A cry of rage welled from the Snake Queen’s throat, and she retreated -several feet, tearing the snakes from her arm as she executed the -movement. Her eyes were fixed upon Nehonesto; she saw no other form -than his, and as she paused, with the rapidity of a flash of lighting -one of the rattlers went hissing through the air! - -The Ojibwa saw it, but did not move. He merely threw his knife arm -before his face, and flung the serpent aside with a dexterity that -drew a shout of applause from the red spectators. He flung the snake -away with all his strength, and with a shriek of horror he saw it wrap -itself around the throat of the trader’s daughter! - -A shout of triumph cleft the air;--it came from Coleola’s throat; and -the second snake had left her arm when Nehonesto darted toward our -heroine! - -He griped the immense serpent--immense for a rattlesnake--with his bare -hands, and tore it from its dreadful embrace, with such fury that it -snapped in twain, leaving the tail dangling from his hand, while the -hideous head clung by the fangs to Kate Blount’s cheek! - -At the sight of the maiden’s peril a cry of horror burst from the -throats of the Indians, and even Coleola forsook her station, and, with -many others, sprung forward. - -The white girl’s head had dropped upon her bosom, and the pallor of -death shrouded her face. Instantly Nehonesto’s knife severed her bonds, -and when the red-men crowded around the spot, he had lowered her to -the ground, and was holding the mouth of his leathern flask to her -colorless lips. - -Pity instantly took the place of vengeance, and upon every face, save -that of Coleola’s, that sweet angel sat enthroned. - -Kate Blount was conscious, and she drank deeply of the contents of the -Ojibwa’s flask. She knew that whisky counteracted the effects of the -poison of the rattlesnake in the human system, and she felt its effects -ere the flask was drained. - -“The Lone Dove of the pale-faces will not tread the dark wood,” said -Nehonesto, noting with a smile the effect of the fire-water. “She will -live--live to become Nehonesto’s captive.” - -“No! no!” cried Coleola, at this, “the White Snake lives to die--to -be skinned alive by the blunt knife of Coleola. She caught her in the -Swamp Oak’s cave, but she fled like the hunted fox, while Coleola -sought the red dog that stole her child many moons ago. But ah! Coleola -caught her child, and from her mouth she has plucked her lying tongue.” - -As she finished, Nehonesto rose to his feet, and faced the chief--the -leader of the war-band. - -“Chiefs, decide between Nehonesto and Coleola,” he said. “He claims the -pale flower, and the giant hunter. Shall they die by the knife of a -mad-woman--they and their brethren,” and he glanced at the trader and -Somerville--“or shall they become the captives of Nehonesto, the War -Eagle of the Ojibwas?” - -A fateful silence followed the Indian’s speech, and the chiefs -addressed looked into each other’s faces. - -“Decide for Coleola!” cried the Snake Queen, “or the plagues of -Watchemenetoc shall fall upon the red-men like rain-drops, and of all -this band not one shall sleep in the lodges again.” - -The cheeks of the sachems paled at this, and trembling at the dreadful -threat, the warriors shrunk from the demoness, shouting: - -“Give the pale-faces to Coleola, and let her skin them, else we fall -like blades of grass in the country of the Peorias.” - -The chiefs were dismayed, and the captives and Nehonesto read in their -terror-stricken faces the decision. Suddenly Odatha stepped forward to -announce the decision, but before his lips parted, a shrill cry burst -upon the ears of all, and, turning, they discovered a solitary Indian -running toward them, along the Cahokia’s bank. - -He wore the habiliments of a Piankishaw warrior, and paused all -breathless in the circle of red-men that surrounded the white captives. - -Then he was recognized. - -“Why comes the Little Coon alone to the war eagles of the Illinois?” -demanded Odatha. - -“He comes from the Yellow Bloodhound,” answered the new arrival, -glancing around upon the prisoners with mingled surprise and triumph. -“He ran before his people who are coming up the deep creek in canoes. -They seek what Odatha has found,” and again his eyes fell upon the -captives. - -Odatha understood the sentence. - -“Yes, Odatha has found the pale-faces,” said that worthy. “Why trails -the Yellow Bloodhound them?” - -“They slew Segowatha.” - -The Ottawa caught the runner’s arm and shot him a look of blank -astonishment, while the other chiefs and warriors contracted the circle -with exclamations of disbelief and wonder. - -“Yes, the pale-faced girl or the Peoria dog, Swamp Oak, slew Segowatha. -The Yellow Bloodhound fell beneath the dog’s knife, but he leads his -band upon the trail again. They have sworn by the Manitou to tear the -pale-faces’ hearts from them; and let the arm raised to tear the white -snakes away drop before they come. Like a whirlwind, they can not be -stopped.” - -He paused, and, glancing at Nehonesto and Coleola Odatha spoke. - -“We must not thwart the Yellow Bloodhound,” he said. “He is a mighty -whirlwind, and when he comes the pale-faces must become his--that he -may avenge, according to his oath, the death of Segowatha. Coleola--” - -He reverted his eyes to the mad red-woman, but with her remaining snake -she was forcing a path through the throng of braves, and her warriors -were following in her wake. - -She heard herself addressed, but she did not pause, and when Odatha -sprung forward to arrest her progress that he might tell her what -he wished, one of her braves pushed him back, and, transfixed with -irresolution, he beheld her swim the creek and climb the cliffs on the -opposite bank. - -“When the Yellow Bloodhound comes, Coleola tarries not,” she cried, -looking down upon the war band; “but had Odatha given the pale-faced -girl and the big hunter to her, she would have stayed and faced the -dog whose throat she longs to cut. Between Coleola and the Yellow -Bloodhound flows the river of darkness, and some day or some night -she meets him on the bank, and then the yelp of the dog will be heard -for the last time. Coleola goes, but she will come again, and the -plagues of the Manitou shall fall upon Odatha and his red snakes. The -whites shall yet be Coleola’s; they shall not be skinned by the Yellow -Bloodhound. Whoever slays one of Coleola’s braves shall fall before -her, and the she White Snake shot Segagi! Odatha, forget nothing that -has fallen from Coleola’s lips. Snakes, into the dark woods. Away!” - -As she uttered the last word, she shook her snake at the mute -spectators, and, whirling on her heel, sprung from sight. - -“Then the pale-faces are the Yellow Bloodhound’s?” said Nehonesto, -addressing Odatha. - -“Odatha has spoken,” was the reply, and Nehonesto, with a determined -expression, turned to Kate again. - -She had almost entirely recovered from the serpent bite, and under -Nehonesto’s protection was permitted to pillow her head upon her -father’s breast. - -“Kate, Kate, thank God you yet live, despite the machinations of our -enemies,” said the old man, bowing his head to receive his daughter’s -kiss. “I know now that He watches over us.” - -“Yes, father, but whose arm will interpose between us and the knife of -the Yellow Bloodhound?” asked Kate. - -Despite his hopings, Oliver Blount groaned. - -“Oh, Heavenly Father, why does such a fiend as Jules Bardue curse the -earth? Oh, that Swamp Oak’s knife had reached his heart.” - -If curses could kill, the Yellow Bloodhound, as the creole was styled -by his adopted tribe, would have fallen dead long before the opening of -our story, for the old trader had cursed him as man had never before -cursed his fellow. - -As the moments passed, the Indians grew impatient for the arrival of -Segowatha’s Avengers. The captives had been taken from the trees that -they might not afford marks for Coleola’s rifles, for the savages -feared that the Snake Queen would steal back, and satiate her vengeance -by dispatching the whites from the cliffs. - -“All together once more,” said Doc Bell, despite the savage looks -of their guards, “an’ I’m gettin’ anxious myself to see that ar’ -Bloodhound.” - -“We die when he comes!” said Somerville; “but we’ll die like men.” - -“That’s talkin’, boy; but we ain’t dead yit,” said the giant, with a -faint smile. “We didn’t die when Coleola came, and I’d sooner meet the -Yellow Bloodhound than she--yes, by a long shot. We’ve got one true -friend in this pack of devils, an’ ye’ve seen a sample ov his nerve. -Nehonesto is the only member ov the moon-scar band that I’ve see’d -fur four years, and I war thinkin’ erbout others awhile ago. Five ov -us--four Injuns an’ me--formed that band on the Saginaw six years -ago--afore I see’d you, boy--an’ a part ov our oath was to die if need -be for one another. An’ I tell you Nehonesto is jest ready to die for -us. Look how that cursed Little Coon watches him; the little Ojibwa -suspects his giant brother, which is bad fur us. I’d like to know where -we’ll be to-morrow.” - -“In eternity, perhaps,” said Oliver Blount, who had listened -attentively to the giant’s words. - -“Mebbe so,” said Bell; “but I’ve never been thar yet. I don’t care fur -my old self. My anxiety is fur your gal--your Kate, Oll.” - -“And my Kate, too,” murmured Bob Somerville, inaudibly. - -“Fear not for me,” cried the trader’s daughter. “I want my fate to be -yours. I can die like a woman.” - -“But the Bloodhound won’t kill you, Kate,” said the giant. “He reserves -you for a fate worse than death.” - -A fearful determination overspread Kate Blount’s face, and, through -clenched teeth, she hissed: - -“Never!” - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - THE AVENGERS BAFFLED. - - -Night in the forest of the Illinois. - -Not a star is missing in the azure canopy, and the notes of the -nightingale tinkle musically in the freshening breeze. - -The cry of the panther is not heard; the owl seems to be feasting -himself upon some delicious morsel won by his prying eyes and sharp -claws, for his hoot reëchoes not through the star-lit wood, nor does -the frightful howl of the wolf, the terror of new countries, disturb -the slumbers of nature. - -But through the forests stalk the enemies of mankind, proving that “man -is a human wolf.” The wily red-skin is abroad, either as Pontiac’s -avenger, reddening his hatchet with the blood of his fellow-creature, -or as the hunted Peoria, Kaskaskia or Cahokia, flying from the demons -unchained by a barrel of English rum. - -Not far from the scenes of our romance the war of extirpation had raged -with terrible fury. Those English families that failed to shelter -themselves in Cahokia or Fort Chartres had either been butchered by -the crimson devils or were fugitives with no spot whereon to lay their -heads safe from the tomahawk of the avengers. - -Upon the night described above an Indian was pushing his way through -the forest, and following the course of the famous Cahokia Creek, not -far from its boundaries. His step proclaimed him young, and well versed -in the tortuous ways of the wood, for in the dim light he avoided the -dry twig or the decaying log that cracks beneath the foot, and leaped -the treacherous root with the precision of one traveling in the broad -light of day. - -He was following no trail; on the contrary, he seemed careless -regarding his whereabouts, but hurried on as though some unseen hand -was leading him to a certain destination. - -He reached a point at length where a rivulet debouches into the -Cahokia, and there, for the first time in several hours, he halted. - -“They are not far from the Peoria now,” he murmured, looking to the -priming of the long barreled rifle he had trailed at his side. “Swamp -Oak knows that the Yellow Bloodhound dares not carry the Lone Dove to -the big bands of Pontiac’s mad dogs, for they would tear her to pieces, -even as the wolf rends the lamb, for she slew Segowatha. All his big -talks would not save the Lone Dove; the red-men of the north loved -Segowatha too well. But--hist!” - -The Peoria crouched at his self warning, and slunk into the shadow of a -tree. - -A footstep had fallen upon his ears, and presently a giant form -appeared against the whitened side of a deadened oak. It was the form -of a man, and a close look told the Indian that the person was the very -one for whose whereabouts he was searching. - -“Ha!” he muttered, “the Yellow Bloodhound is abroad--he has left his -band, and stolen deeper in the forest for what? The wolf never roams -the woods for nothing; the fox leaves his den to prey.” - -For a minute the creole (for indeed the giant form belonged to Jules -Bardue) exhibited himself to the lone watcher, and then disappeared as -suddenly as he had come upon the stage. - -He plunged into the mouth of the tributary above-mentioned, and waded -to the opposite shore, followed, with the cunning of the wolf, by the -Peoria youth, who never took his eyes from the form just visible in the -dim starlight. - -The Yellow Bloodhound did not dream of the snake-like form that crept -on his trail, and when he disappeared over the brow of a thickly-wooded -acclivity, a short distance from the Cahokia, an exclamation of -satisfaction parted the Peoria’s lips, and, rising to his feet, he -bounded forward. - -The sight that greeted his vision when he gained the summit of the -hill, elicited no manifestations of surprise, and, calmly leaning -against a tree, he viewed the scenes that lay at his feet. - -A fire was dying at the foot of the declivity, and its flickering light -weirdly clothed a lot of recumbent Indians. They lay in all positions, -unconscious of the proximity of a deadly foe, and Swamp Oak griped his -tomahawk vengefully as he thought of their late deeds of revenge. - -He saw the creole step over a sleeping chief, and speak a few words to -a guard who leaned against a tree, with eyes fixed upon three white men -lying bound upon the ground not far away. - -“Watchemenetoc is abroad to-night,” muttered the Peoria, as his eyes -swept the camp for a particular object. “Where is the Lone Dove? The -Yellow Bloodhound bore her from Odatha’s war-braves, but she is not -with him now. Has she taken her wing and left the lair of the wolf? No, -no; she would not desert her parent.” - -A puzzled expression appeared upon the Indian’s face. Kate Blount was -not in the creole’s camp. Swamp Oak had witnessed the Bloodhound’s -separation, late the preceding day, from the war-party, and with the -three male prisoners he had taken the trader’s daughter. He declared -that he intended to convey them to the large body of red avengers who -were devastating the country round about Cahokia, and there, over the -putrid corpse of Segowatha, flay them alive. The creole tried to induce -Odatha to accompany him; but the chief refused, and again resumed his -march for the doomed Peoria village. - -Swamp Oak, whose thrilling adventures, since Coleola’s bloodthirsty -murder in his cave-home, shall presently fall from his own lips, did -not at once, after the separation of Segowatha’s Avengers and the -war-party, throw himself upon the trail of the former; but had followed -the latter for reasons best known to himself. - -If he had followed the Yellow Bloodhound, he might have witnessed our -heroine’s mysterious disappearance from the band, while now regarding -her fate he was left in the dark. - -The white captives were wide awake. - -From the summit of the hill Swamp Oak could see the glitter of their -eyes, as they regarded the Bloodhound and their guard conversing in low -tones. - -The remainder of the avenging band--twenty in number--were sound -asleep, and presently the creole glided from the guard and dropped near -the dying fire. - -The Peoria was conscious now of the working of some deep plot: he read -it in the renegade’s appearance in the woods; his conference with the -guards, and his return to his blanketed couch, from whence he saw him -casting sly glances at the sentinel. - -Presently a wild cry pealed from the guard’s throat, and every Indian, -roused from slumber, sprung instantly to their feet with drawn weapons! -They rushed to the dusky sentinel, loudly demanding the cause of the -startling cry; and he, appearing half-frightened to death slunk behind -the Yellow Bloodhound, and pointed to the spot occupied by the captives. - -One glance at the trio drew a wild yell from the Avengers, for they saw -that Kate Blount was missing! - -“Where is the she White Snake?” demanded the creole, fiercely, and he -clutched the red guard’s throat, as though he would choke the life from -his body. - -“The wolf stole her while Ipigena leaned against the tree, and with -closed eyes saw himself a boy again,” stammered the Indian. - -Still clutching the Indian’s throat, the creole turned to the maddened -crowd: - -“The red dog has slept!” he said, “but we must not blame him. We have -walked many miles through the forest, striking here and there the -enemies of our race, and Ipigena must sleep, for he is weary. But, -braves, the White Adder that stung Segowatha must not escape. Search -the wood, for she is not far away. My eyes opened when the moon hung on -yonder limb, and she was beside her father. Go, Avengers--Pontiac’s mad -dogs--to the trail!” - -An instant later the creole and Ipigena were alone. - -“What does this mean?” asked Blount of his companions. - -“It means simply that the most infernal deviltry is afoot,” answered -the giant hunter. “I see through every bit of it now. That Injun who -came an’ took Kate into the wood was nobody else but the Bloodhound, -an’ that guard played sleepy to deceive us.” - -“But why did he take Kate away from the midst of the band he rules?” - -“He rules this lot of red cut-throats, but he don’t rule the band -around Cahokia--not by a terrible sight. Why, Oll Blount, they’d tear -yer gal to pieces on sight, an’ ther Yaller Bloodhound knows this. -Tharfore, he’s hid her away with the knowledge ov half o’ the red -skunks with him now. Thar be some here to whom he daren’t tell his -plans. Segowatha’s sons is with him.” - -“Will they not find Kate?” - -The father’s words were closed in a fearful tone. - -“No; Bardue ain’t the man to stow her away under a brush heap, an’ then -turn twenty Injuns on her trail,” answered the giant; “my word for it, -they won’t find yer gal, Oll. It ’pears to me thet thar’s caves around -here.” - -“Oh, God,” groaned the anxious parent, “now that my dear child is in -the sole power of a fiend, protect her.” - -“He’ll do it, Oll; he’ll do it,” said Doc Bell. “He’s helped me out o’ -many a scrape; but the Injuns ar’ comin’ back, madder nor thunder. I -told yer they wouldn’t find the gal.” - -Sure enough the savages, with disappointed visages, and fierce scowls -upon the captives, were returning from a fruitless search, and with -wild yells that made the woods ring, they gathered around the Yellow -Bloodhound, clamoring for a pale-face’s blood. - -“Blood! blood!” yelled the son of Segowatha, a young and fierce-looking -warrior; “my father’s spirit calls for the red tide of the white girl’s -heart; but now that she has gone--now that Watchemenetoc has borne her -away--the spirit that stands before Little Wolf points to the three -pale men, saying, ‘Skin them! skin them and drink their blood to me in -the hollow of your hands.’” - -His words threw a majority of the band into a frenzy impossible to -describe. They yelled “Blood! blood!” like demons, and danced about the -captives before the Yellow Bloodhound could find his tongue. - -“We have sworn to bring the pale-faces to the uncovered grave of -Segowatha, there to tear out their hearts and drink their blood,” he -said. “Shall that oath be broken?” - -“Yes, yes,” shrieked the blood-mad avengers. “The Yellow Bloodhound -must close his mouth against us. The prisoners must die.” - -“Then let them die!” hissed Jules Bardue, and in a lower tone he added -to the guard: “They might escape between here and the big band. But -they’ll never find the girl, never!” - -With bloodthirsty eagerness the savages, Ojibwas, Ottawas, -Pottawatomies and Miamis, headed by Little Wolf, made preparations -for the torture. A party brought a quantity of stones from the creek, -and upon them the devils proceeded to blunt their knives, that -the captives’ skin might be torn from their bodies with the most -excruciating torture. - -The giant looked calmly upon the devilish preliminaries, and a shudder -stole to young Somerville’s heart. A sad expression wreathed the -trader’s features, telling that he thought not of himself, but of his -daughter. - -“We’re in for it now, I guess,” muttered the hunter. “What! Bob, first? -No! no! spare the boy; take me first. I’ve killed the most ov yer -dog-devils. I’ve scalped full twenty ov yer chiefs!” - -But the flayers paid no attention to the old hunter; they cut young -Somerville’s bonds, and proceeded to strip his clothes from his body. - -“What a pretty skin!” exclaimed a young brave, striking the scout’s -breast with his knife. “Ha! the red blood comes; it flows like -Segowatha’s flowed.” - -He sunk the point of his knife beneath our hero’s skin, but no cry of -pain followed the brutal action; and suddenly, stripped to the waist, -the youth found himself jerked to his feet. - -Two young braves held him, and amid the flourish of knives and shouts -of vengeance, they turned to the death-tree. - -“Shall I die without an effort for life?” muttered Somerville; “die -when I might live to snatch Kate from the Bloodhound’s jaws? Never!” - -As his lips grated the last word through clinched teeth, he hurled the -two braves aside, and suddenly wheeling, dashed through the circle of -knives, and soon disappeared in the somber recesses of the forest! - -His action disturbed the would-be flayers; but they quickly dashed away -in swift pursuit. - -“You can’t catch Bob Somerville!” cried the giant hunter. “He’s the -best runner in the Illinois, an’ with the thought ov bein’ skinned -alive to grease his’ joints, he’ll be worse nor a streak o’ lightnin’.” - -It was as the hunter had predicted. The scout’s pursuers soon returned -empty-handed, and turned their fury upon him. The Yellow Bloodhound, -incensed at the young man’s escape, now aided them; hitherto, for show, -he had stood aloof. - -A dozen fiends carried the giant to the tree, and the sinewy rope was -passed around his neck. - -But, as the son of Segowatha attempted to knot the cord, a rifle-shot -rose above the vengeful yells, and, dropping the sinews, the young -chief staggered from the tree with a dark spot between his little eyes. - -With ghastly features the braves shrunk from the fatal flaying post, -and the cowardly creole threw himself behind a tree. - -A half-smothered cry burst from Doc Bell’s heart, and, as Little Wolf -struck the ground, he darted from the stake. The affrighted red-skins -drew back before him, and from the trembling hands of one he snatched a -knife, burying it in the owner’s breast, with a backward thrust! - -A single bound brought him to the spot where Oliver Blount lay. - -He stooped over the trader, and when he rose erect again, a moment -later, Oliver was at his side. - -They bounded forward together, as a deafening peal of thunder broke -over their heads! They looked up, and saw above a canopy of inky -darkness! - -“The Almighty’s with us!” exclaimed Blount, as they dashed away. - -“They won’t foller now, Oll,” said Doc Bell; “but they’ll hunt us to -the death yit. Wonder where Bob is?” - -“And my child!” groaned the father, and a moment later he asked: “Where -are we going?” - -“To a hidin’-place, in course,” answered the giant, and clutching the -trader’s hand he abruptly turned aside. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - THE BLOODHOUND’S HOWL. - - -“I wonder where Blount and Doc are. But, why do I wonder? I left them -ready for that torture, the bare thought of which causes my flesh to -creep, and no doubt I am the only one left. The only one? No, there’s -Kate, and my life-duty is now to find her--to track the Bloodhound to -his kennel, and snatch her from the fate he has in store for her--a -fate worse than death.” - -The speaker, as the reader has already surmised, was the young -scout--Robert Somerville--nicknamed Bob, by his giant tutor and -companion, now, as he thought, dead. - -The youth ran several miles before he paused, almost ready to sink to -the earth with utter exhaustion, and when he found that the red-skins -had given over the pursuit, he crept under the projecting banks of a -ravine, and fell into a sound slumber. When he awoke to the dangerous -realities that surrounded him, the sun was peering down upon him, and -the birds were singing among the bushes that hid his retreat. But, he -did not stir; he did not seek the food his stomach craved, for well he -knew what number of red marauders swarmed through the forests, and he -believed that, as soon as practicable, Segowatha’s avengers would throw -themselves upon his trail, determined to hunt him to the doors of doom. - -During the day, therefore, he kept his retreat. Parting the bushes he -watched the leaden clouds sweep across the sky, and tried to forget -the fate of his friends in the twitter of the love-making orioles and -the calls of the finches. And when at last the sun sunk below the -ravine, and the shadows deepened, he crept, like the hunted wolf, from -his covert, and reconnoitered the hollow before ascending to the wood -above, when he spoke, as the reader has heard, regarding his friends. - -Bob Somerville was not a novice in the ways of the wood. Under the -eye of Doc Bell he had mastered the hunter and trapper’s profession, -and he had faced the savage on the banks of the Miami a year prior to -the opening of our story. The twain encountered the red-men with the -bravery so characteristic of the spirits of the new-found West, until -a whole tribe rose against them, and hunted them from the fertile -lands of Ohio. Then they came to the country of the Illinois, and -accidentally, one day our hero met the trader’s daughter, to whom in -love he became inseparably connected. - -All unarmed he stood alone in the great woods, and longed, actually -sighed for the trusty rifle which no doubt rested upon some tawny -shoulder, or lay broken at the foot of a tree. - -“I must be about four miles from the mouth of Mink Creek,” he -continued, after a pause, during which he had heard no sounds save the -long howl of the wolf, a mile away. “Kate is hidden near there, and in -her hour of danger I must be near. Yes, I will save her, though I be -flayed alive in the performance of my duty.” - -The thought of the fair girl’s situation impelled the young hunter from -the spot, and a moment later he was hurrying toward the scene of the -preceding chapter, and, perhaps, into the jaws of death. - -Almost immediately after his escape, a thunder-storm broke over the -forests, and the leaves, still saturated with water, now gave forth no -sound. Bob Somerville was rejoiced at this. The prowling savage could -not hear his tread, and he blessed the rain as he had never blessed it -before. - -After an hour’s labor he found himself upon the scene of his escape, -the night previous. - -He listened upon the hill a long time before he descended, and then -it was with wildly-throbbing heart. He expected to find the mangled -bodies or charred bones of the giant and the trader, but in this he was -agreeably disappointed. He found nothing to indicate that they were -dead; but he found their rifles with his own, battered out of shape -against a tree. - -Not a foe was in sight. The silence that brooded over him was the -silence of death, and for many minutes he leaned against a tree and -planned deeply for the future. - -“They have not returned to Cahokia,” he muttered, referring to the -avengers. “They will not leave this country without me, nor will the -Bloodhound desert Kate until the gust of war has left the land. Now, -where shall I go--what do? Here I am as weaponless as the blind worm. -Oh--” - -A plash in the water scarcely twenty feet from him broke the chain -of his murmurings, and he crouched at the foot of the tree like the -panther ready for a spring. His forest experience told him that the -noise had been caused by a human foot, and presently his keen eye -detected a statue-like object on the bank of the Cahokia. - -That it was the figure of a white man, our hero well knew, for the head -between him and the stars that peeped through a rift in the foliage -was crowned with a fur cap, and not by the plumes or scalp-lock of the -Indian. The young scout held his breath while he regarded the man, -trying in vain to fix his identity, and when, all at once, he heard -the mysterious one communing with himself, he bent forward with an -eagerness which almost proved his doom. - -For his foot, which he moved to secure an easier position, snapped -a tiny twig and caused the stranger with hastily-drawn knife to step -directly toward him. - -But still ten feet distant he paused, and after listening a moment, -sent the hoot of the little horned-owl from his throat. - -Bob Somerville almost started forward at this signal, for he had often -heard it from the lips of Doc Bell, and now he believed that the -Hercules before him was his old and tried friend. But, notwithstanding -this belief, he resolved to be cautious, and answered the signal with -the notes of the nightingale. - -At this the giant stepped forward, paused within gun’s-length of the -scout, and whispered: - -“Nogawa!” - -A strange thrill darted to young Somerville’s heart. - -The voice had betrayed the speaker--had declared him the Yellow -Bloodhound! - -For a moment the young scout did not move; but he was concentrating his -strength for a spring. - -He answered the creole’s whisper with an Ojibwa “here,” and, as the -villain moved forward, he shot upward and struck him with all the -strength he could summon. - -So sudden and unexpected was the assault, that the knife dropped -from Jules Bardue’s hand, and when he struck the earth he found the -scout upon his breast, and saw his own glittering blade in dangerous -proximity to his craven heart. - -“I’ve got the upper hand now, Jules Bardue!” hissed Somerville, glaring -upon his enemy with the ferocity of the tiger; “and no doubt there’ll -be a dead Frenchman hereabouts when I stand erect again. Now, sir -devil, answer what questions I choose to put.” - -The creole did not reply; but smiled sardonically in his foeman’s eyes. - -“In the first place, where is the girl--Kate Blount?” - -No answer. - -The question was repeated, and the knife flew aloft--drawn upward by -deadly intent. - -“Ha! ha! ha!” laughed the Yellow Bloodhound, with forced gayety. “How -sweet it is to die revenged! The girl is hidden forever from your -eyes--she never meets her father again. She refused to become Madame -Bardue once, and old Blount slashed my back till it bled like a deer’s -throat. Now I’m almost even with him; but I’d like to get the old hound -into my clutches again.” - -“He is out of them now?” - -“Yes, curse him!” - -“Thank God!” ejaculated Somerville. “But I will not talk with you. -You’d talk here till morning. Where is the girl?” - -The creole laughed devilishly with his steel-gray eyes, and the scout -gritted his teeth with rage and disappointment. - -“Then here ends your accursed villainies!” he cried. “If Kate is dead, -I’ll avenge her; if living I’ll find her without you to baffle me.” - -The lips closed with determined emphasis over the last word, and a -second later the shining steel descended. - -It entered the broad breast of the Yellow Bloodhound, and with a -shriek, scarce half-human, he sprung upward, hurling our hero from -him as if he were a child. Upon his feet, the fiend reeled a moment -as though he would fall, and then, seemingly having gained control -of himself, he wheeled and darted toward the creek from which he had -lately emerged. - -It was the pain shot throughout his body by the penetrating steel that -drove him to his feet, and soon, no doubt, he would fall, like the -death-wounded stag, when the gush of strength had spent its force. - -The scout noted the effect of his blow with a cry of horror, and darted -after the wounded creole, determined to put an end to the life he had -but partially stricken. - -The Yellow Bloodhound gained the deep creek a yard or two in advance -of his pursuer, and plunged in. He sunk immediately, for his strength -seemed to have deserted him; but a minute later he rose to the surface -of the blood-tinged water, a short distance below the spot where Bob -Somerville stood. - -“Ha! there he is!” cried the young man, and he darted down-stream, with -his eyes fastened upon his foe. - -A minute later the avenging knife might have found the heart it had -missed a moment before, had not a dark object sprung from the rushes, -almost beneath the scout’s very feet, and a red hand griped his arm. - -Young Somerville turned upon the intruder with a low cry, and threw -the gory blade aloft to descend upon a search for another heart, -when a strange laugh greeted his ears, and he heard his forest -appellation--Young Hunter--spoken in a tone which he had heard before. - -Instantly the knife dropped to his side, and he found himself face to -face with Nehonesto! - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - THE FOES AT BAY. - - -“Hist, Young Hunter!” - -These words dropped in cautious tones from Nehonesto’s lips a moment -after his recognition by the young scout. - -Bob Somerville listened, and heard the panther-like tread of an Indian. -Suddenly the Ojibwa touched his shoulder, and together they crouched to -the ground. - -“’Tis Nogawa,” whispered the scout. - -“Nogawa?” returned Nehonesto, interrogatively. “Nehonesto has seen him -among the lodges of the Ojibwas. Why comes he here?” - -“He belongs to the Bloodhound’s party,” said Somerville, and then, in -a few words, he told the giant savage how the creole sought for Nogawa -when he (the scout) sprung upon him. - -“Ha! Nogawa knows where the Lone Dove is,” murmured Nehonesto, in tones -of unconcealed delight. “He has been spying for his master, and--” - -A bird-signal broke the sepulchral stillness of the night. - -It was now patent to the twain that Jules Bardue and Nogawa had -promised to meet near the mouth of Mink Creek, and that the Indian had -been tardy in keeping his appointment. - -Nehonesto smiled, and from his throat came the croaking of the great -emerald frog. - -Immediately the footsteps which had ceased, were heard nearer than -before, and presently they saw the lithe form of Nogawa approaching. - -Suddenly he halted, signaled, and heard the frog croak again. - -Then the two friends heard him exclaim, “Yellow Chief!” and with his -eyes bent upon the spot where they crouched he walked boldly and -unsuspectingly into the snare! - -Nehonesto sprung forward, and Nogawa found himself a prisoner! - -“Who holds the eagle’s pinions?” he demanded, trying to tear away from -the grip of his own countryman. - -“Who? Nehonesto! Nogawa came to meet the Yellow Bloodhound, and if -he would find him, he must dive beneath the water and hunt among the -fishes. Yes, the Yellow Bloodhound has stepped upon the trail of death; -he scents blood no more in the woods of the Illinois. Nogawa knows -where he hid the Lone Dove, and to the den he must lead Nehonesto and -the Young Hunter.” - -The last words were couched in a determined tone, but the captive -did not reply, he looked into Nehonesto’s eyes, as though he but -half-credited the words regarding the fate of his master. - -“Nogawa,” and as Nehonesto spoke, he drew his scalping-knife from his -wampum girdle, “you must lead us to the Lone Dove. Nehonesto, like -yourself, is an Ojibwa, but unless you do as he bids, the door of the -lodge in the dark land will open to receive an Indian’s spirit. Speak, -Nogawa--what will you do?” - -For a moment the young Indian’s head dropped upon his breast, and when -he raised it, his captors read the decision he had made in his dark -eyes. - -“Nogawa will obey his brother”--glancing at the knife; “what else -should he do?” - -“Then, quick upon the trail!” cried Somerville, who thought of the -brave girl whose life, at that moment, might be in imminent danger. - -The young Ojibwa obeyed by moving forward, his arm still encircled by -the long fingers of Nehonesto. - -“Where did the Yellow Bloodhound send Nogawa?” asked Nehonesto, as -they walked cautiously down the bank of the Cahokia. - -“He sent him with a band who hunted for the three pale-faces,” replied -the Indian, “and Nogawa was to return and tell him if his eyes had -fallen upon the dire Snake Queen.” - -“And did Nogawa see Coleola?” asked our hero, a shudder creeping to his -heart, as the dread woman appeared to his imagination, clothed in the -hideousness of vengeance. - -“He did!” - -“And where was she?” - -“She was on the bank of the creek, where the muskrats dwell.” - -Somerville looked at Nehonesto. - -“The red hag is going to work us trouble,” he said. “She will not leave -this country without the scalps of all whom she hates. She hunts the -Bloodhound now.” - -“And she hates Nehonesto as the Indian hates the copperhead,” grated -the Ojibwa between his set teeth. - -“She may even now be near!” - -“Nehonesto saw her not when he approached,” replied the long-haired -chief, “and Nehonesto’s eyes are as sharp as the eagle’s.” - -Thus, with dark forebodings to keep him continually alive to their -presence, Bob Somerville walked on, venturing no more to question -Nogawa, who seemed to be reconciled to his fate. - -At length they reached the beginning of the high banks, but instead of -ascending, Nogawa stepped into the water and waded on up the stream, -carefully noting every thing around him. At the water’s edge a thick -growth of willows thrived, and bending, kissed the ripples in the -center of the stream. Their well-leaved branches prevented the sharpest -eye from beholding the stalks, and when the forced guide paused before -the king of the weepers, Nehonesto griped his arm more tightly, and in -a whisper bade him proceed. - -“The Bloodhound’s cave is here,” replied Nogawa, and he looked up to -see that no heads were peering over the cliff. - -“Here!” said Nehonesto, exhibiting some astonishment, and parting the -bushes, he could discover nothing that indicated the presence of a -hidden home. - -The young Ojibwa did not reply, but stepped forward, and a moment later -the trio had vanished. - -They found themselves in a gloomy passage, whose walls and ceiling they -could touch with head and hands. - -Nogawa led the way, unfettered now by his clansman’s hand, and Bob -Somerville brought up the rear, with cocked rifle and ready knife. - -“Who guards the Lone Dove when the Bloodhound has left his kennel?” -whispered Nehonesto. - -“The Big Moccasin,” was the captive’s reply, and a second later he -continued: “He and Nogawa know the Lone Dove’s hiding-place. The -Bloodhound would not tell his other braves.” - -On, on they went in silence, until young Somerville touched Nehonesto’s -arm. - -“There’s feet behind us,” he whispered. - -They listened. - -“No,” said the Ojibwa, at length, and the march beneath the wood was -resumed. - -All at once a groan penetrated the gloom the trio were piercing, and -they became as marble statues. - -Instantly Nogawa, the traitor, shrunk back, exclaiming: - -“’Tis the Yellow Bloodhound!” - -“Impossible!” said the scout. “I cut him to the death.” - -A second groan, more prolonged than the first, now reached their ears, -and again they started forward. As they did so, the sound of footsteps -in the gloom which they had traversed fell upon the Young Hunter’s -acute senses, and he was about to warn Nehonesto, when he thought of -his first warning. - -Presently a light greeted them, and they drew back from its glare to -crouch in the shadow of the gigantic stalactites, hanging from the roof -of the corridor. - -Looking ahead with eager eyes, the trio beheld three figures occupying -a dramatic position. - -Upon the rocky floor of a large cavern, and opposite the mouth of the -corridor, lay Jules Bardue, his head propped up by a bundle of furs. -His cadaverous face was deathly pale, and his blood-shot eyes wandered -about in their sockets like lost stars. His clothes were covered with -blood, and it was Big Moccasin’s unsurgical examination of the rent in -his breast which had drawn forth the groans our friends had heard. -Shrinking against the wall of the cavern, in the full light of the -blaze, the spectators beheld Kate Blount, as beautiful as ever; but -her face wore the hue of death, and the look which she cast upon the -wounded renegade was tinged with triumph, while she trembled at the -volley of oaths that rung from his lips. - -“Nehonesto loves to hear the Bloodhound groan!” grinned the Ojibwa. -“The Young Hunter did not reach his heart, but we must trap the dogs. -Nehonesto wants to torture the Bloodhound.” - -“He is suffering enough now,” said the scout. “Big Moccasin must be -rummaging among his vitals.” - -A moment later the long-haired Ojibwa rose and stepped forward. - -“Shoot them!” said Bob. - -“No!” said the chief, sternly; and then he cried: “White and red dog, -Nehonesto and his friends are in your kennel.” - -The startling announcement caused Big Moccasin to dart to his feet, -and, despite his prostration, Jules Bardue followed his example, -snatching a brand from the fire as he did so. - -Then he staggered toward the captive girl, and suddenly paused over a -piece of funnel-shaped bark, protruding from the junction of the wall -and floor. The rim of the funnel was as large as that of a panama hat, -and directly over it the renegade held his torch. - -“Ha! ha!” he laughed, turning his hideous eyes upon the trio, who had -pressed to the mouth of the cave and covered him with their rifles. -“Shoot, if you dare! Though dead, I can blow you to atoms. I hold this -torch over a lot of powder that communicates with a giant heap buried -beneath us, and in a moment with Jules Bardue, the greatest devil that -ever walked the earth, you’d be in eternity. Now, shoot, shoot if you -dare!” - -He laughed again, and the trio gazed upon him, transfixed with horror. - -With throbless hearts they saw the torch blaze over the deadly -composition, expecting each moment to be ushered into the presence of -the stern Judge, for the separation of one spark from the flambeau, -would seal the doom of all. - -Instinctively Kate Blount shrunk from the desperate man, and in the -center of the cavern stood Big Moccasin with folded arms, and stoical -of countenance. - -“What shall we do?” questioned the scout, fearfully. - -What could they do? - -Nehonesto was silent. - -A footfall in the corridor broke the spell, and a moment later a -quartette of rifles cracked. - -Nehonesto’s right hand dropped to his side, and Nogawa, the traitor, -fell forward with a death groan. Bob Somerville, uninjured by the -deadly pellets, turned, but ere he did so, he saw the renegade reel -over the funnel of death, and, springing forward with a cry of horror, -Kate Blount snatched the torch from his hand as it trembled on its -descent into the powder! - -Instantly the young scout saw who confronted him, and with the cry of -“Kate!” he wheeled, and sprung toward the woman he loved. - -He reached her side, and folded her to his heart in a loving embrace; -but ere he could raise an arm to defend her, as he, with set teeth had -determined to do, and that to the death, she was snatched from his -embrace, and held from him by the snake-encircled arms of Coleola! - -And he--he found himself griped by two red Titans, and, against the -further wall of the cave, he saw Nehonesto being bound with strong -sinews! - -Then his heart sunk to immeasurable depths in his bosom, and when -Coleola saw his look of despair, a devilish shriek of triumph pealed -from her throat. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - ON THE TRAIL. - - -Doc Bell the giant scout was well versed in the geography of the -Illinois. He had tramped that vast country at the dead hours of -darkness, and, whenever pursued by a foe, he knew where to hide himself -from the foeman’s keen eyes. He often boasted that he could secrete -himself in certain places, and rest securely there, while the combined -tribes of the North-west hunted with the vindictiveness and keenness of -the wolf for his scalp. - -Therefore, when he suddenly turned aside with Oliver Blount, as related -in a preceding chapter, he knew exactly where he was going, and long -before the gray light of dawn the twain found themselves in a cave -almost directly beneath one of the bush fringed tributaries of the -Mississippi. - -“This cave is none of the best of hidin’ places,” said the -Indian-hunter; “but it was the nearest, an’ seein’ you growin’ weak, -Oll, I thought best to take it fur the present. That bullet in yer -thigh ar’ goin’ to trouble you somewhat.” - -The trader admitted the truth of the hunter’s observation with a groan. - -“My leg is getting stiff now,” he said. “While I ran it did not bother -me, but now, since exertion has ceased, it is going to make up for the -past. Oh, if that accursed ball had missed its mark! Kate! Kate, my -child, where are you?” - -“Kate will turn up all right, Oll,” said the hunter; “such a gal as -she ar’ not goin’ to be harmed by such a dog as Jules Bardue. When -she becomes his wife, look for cats and snakes to drop from the moon. -They’ll do it then, sartain. But don’t go on about her; think of what -I’ve said, and take matters calmly. There’s a God, Oll Blount.” - -“A God! Yes, Doc, there’s a God, and from this minute I’m going to -leave all to Him. He has saved our lives, and He will certainly watch -over Kate. Now, Doc, look at my hurt, and get me on my feet against -night, for I want to snatch my child from the hound I once almost -whipped to death.” - -“I tell you beforehand, Oll Blount, that you won’t git out o’ this hole -to-night,” replied the hunter, stooping to examine the trader’s wound. -“You must be quiet for a day or so, an’ while you rest here, I’ll hunt -for Bob an’ the gal.” - -Oliver Blount uttered a groan of disappointment, which admitted the -truth of Doc’s remarks, confirmed by an examination of his injuries. -The series of actions that followed the shot had irritated the wound, -and a serious look overspread the hunter’s face when his eyes fell upon -it. - -“The army doctors would say you’ve got to die, Oll,” said Bell, “but -I don’t say so. You’ve got the worst lookin’ leg I ever did see--no, -no, don’t look at it--’twould make you sick. I guess you’ll git along, -but you’ll be a cripple. There!” after a long silence. “I’ve fixed you -as best I can. I’ll stay with you till night, an’ then-- Hark! what was -thet?” - -The trader started from his pillow of green branches, and looked at -the giant hunter, whose eyes were turned toward the gloomy mouth of a -corridor, almost directly opposite the main entrance to the cave. - -“I didn’t hear any noise, Doc,” said Blount, still gazing at the -hunter, whose right hand had noiselessly lifted his rifle from the -ground. “You must have been mistaken!” - -The giant did not reply, but suddenly started forward. A moment later, -however, he returned, leading a young girl by the hand. - -“Look here, Oll,” he cried, addressing the wounded trader, “this is -what I heard a moment ago. Look at her. Snakes and lizards! ain’t she a -beauty! I wonder why she came here, who she is, an’ what she wants.” - -“Ask her!” said Blount. “I have never seen her face before. She’s not a -Peoria.” - -“Nor a Kaskaskia or a Cahokia,” replied the hunter, looking into the -black eyes of the Indian beauty, who stood before them as immobile as a -statue. - -Her face told of immense suffering at no remote time, and her large -eyes confirmed the silent story. She was richly clad for an Indian, and -reminded the twain of the savage belles to be found in every aboriginal -village. - -“Girl,” and the hunter’s arm, which had dropped to his side, touched -her faultless hand. “Girl, tell the pale-faces who you are.” - -A deathlike silence filled the cave after Doc Bell’s words, for the red -beauty spoke not. Her eyes were riveted upon the hunter’s face, and not -until he had addressed her again did she make motion or sign. - -Then she shook her head, and put her fingers to her lips. - -“What does she mean, Oll?” asked Bell, turning to the trader with a -troubled expression. - -“She must either be a mute, or the stubbornest Indian girl I ever saw,” -replied the trader. “Make her talk, Doc, or see what ails her.” - -Intent upon obeying his companion, the Hercules of the forest turned to -the Indian girl again. - -“Does the red girl hear what the pale hunter says?” he asked. - -A nod answered his question. - -“And why don’t she answer him?” - -The Indian’s lips parted now, but not a word broke the silence; and as -she stepped nearer the hunter, her mouth opened to its utmost capacity, -and for a moment he gazed therein. - -Then he started back with an expression of horror, and gazing into the -trader’s anxious face he cried: - -“Great heavens! Blount, she’s tongueless!” - -An exclamation of genuine horror escaped Oliver Blount’s throat. - -“It’s true as gospel!” said Bell, “an’ more, her tongue has been -freshly cut out.” - -For a moment the two men gazed with pity upon the tongueless creature -that confronted them, and Blount was the first to speak. - -“What motive could have prompted such a hellish deed?” he cried. “It -surpasses all the cruelty I ever heard of. Doc, can’t you tell what -tribe she belongs to?” - -At this the giant again approached the girl, and taking her hand gazed -scrutinizingly into her face. Then he examined her hand, and when he -dropped it, he said: - -“She’s a Delaware.” - -“And she’s far from home, too,” returned the trader. “She must have -fallen in with some fugitive Peorias. Oh, God, I wish she could tell -her story.” - -The hunter did not reply. He leaned upon his rifle and covered his eyes -with his tawny hands. The trader knew that he was thinking deeply, for -when he gave himself up wholly to reflection and study, he invariably -assumed his present attitude. For several minutes the giant remained -silent and when he raised his head it was to fasten his eyes upon the -speechless Indian girl. - -“Where’s Swamp Oak?” he asked. - -At the mention of the name the girl started forward, and griped his -arm, while an expression of anxiety and fear overspread her face. - -“Ha!” he said, glancing at Blount. “I have hit the right trail. I -just happened to think of the girl Swamp Oak sneaked from the greasy -Delawares a long time ago, an’ I knew, too, thet thet very gal had -enemies who would tear her tongue out, ef they got half a chance, an’ -so I thought: might not this gal be the one? If you don’t b’lieve it -now, Oll, you will d’rectly.” - -Then he confronted the mute once more. - -“The red girl met her mother, eh?” - -The maiden’s eyes flashed with fire, as she nodded assent, and her -hands clenched in vengeance. - -“Don’t you see, Oll? Her mother, that infernal Snake Queen, caught -her, an’ tore her tongue from her head. It won’t go well with that she -devil now if she stalks within range of Doc Bell’s rifle. Curse me if I -couldn’t cram her heart down her throat, although I have sworn never to -harm a woman. I’m afraid I’m goin’ to break thet oath soon.” - -The terrible condition of the beautiful girl before him had raised the -hunter’s anger to the highest pitch attainable, and, as he clenched his -hands, he fairly frothed at the mouth. When Doc Bell was mad, he was a -terrible being, and for a minute he paced the floor of the cave swayed -by the uncontrollable passion of anger. - -“Girl,” he said, halting very suddenly before the mute, “I’m goin’ to -hunt fur your mother, an’ by Heaven I’m goin’ to sarve her precisely as -she sarved you. You must stay with my pale friend till I return, for -he carries a red-skin’s ball in his body, an’ needs your nursin’. You -will stay with ’im?” - -The girl--Ulalah--nodded assent, and knelt beside Oliver Blount, asking -with her eyes a thousand questions. - -“I’m glad you’ve got some one to stay with you, Oll,” continued Bell, -addressing the trader. “Now only keep quiet for I’m goin’ to bring Kate -right here, an’ then we’ll see if we can’t git to Fort Chartres.” - -The trader smiled joyously at this thought, but he could not obliterate -the terrible doubtings which had within the last few hours traced deep -furrows in his face. - -The cave in which the trio had taken refuge from the sharp eyes of -their foes, proved to be one of the several situated in the Illinois -which the giant hunter had often visited, and among its gloomy recesses -he had established a cache. To this, after speaking to the tongueless -girl, he made his way, and soon returned to the fire with an iron -kettle and several pieces of venison. A lot of this he divided between -himself and the trader, while he converted a portion of the remainder -into a broth for the victim of a mother’s vengeance. - -Ulalah’s eyes thanked the big-hearted hunter a thousand times, and -drank the broth with an avidity that told of long fasting. - -The day passed away at length, and when Doc Bell returned from a -reconnoissance beyond the cave, and declared his readiness to begin his -hunt for his friends, and, may be too, for the she fiend, Ulalah griped -the trader’s rifle and sprung to her feet. - -“What! girl, ain’t you going to stay with Oll, as you promised to do?” -cried the hunter gazing in amazement upon the passion ruled form that -swayed before him like the wind beset sapling. - -She shook her head, and gritted her teeth with determination. - -“The white man may die,” said Doc, calmly, gently touching the girl’s -arm, “an’ then what would his Lone Dove do? Girl, you will stay with -him, to bathe his brow when the fever comes, and to moisten his lips -when they cry for water. I will not be long away; I’ll be as swift as -the lightning, an’ God helpin’ me as destructive, too! Yes, girl--poor -tongueless gir’ stay with the weak man till the hunter comes back.” - -His pleadings availed the hunter naught, for Ulalah shook her head more -resolutely than ever, and brought her foot down with a firmness that -said: - -“No more words; I am going with you!” - -Doc Bell read the action correctly. - -“She won’t listen to any thing, Oll,” he said. “She wants to meet that -mad mother ov hers, an’ she’s bound to go with me. I hate to leave you -alone, but I’ve got to do it.” - -“Go, Doc--go. I can get along. Go and tear Kate from _him_!” - -“Curse the girl--no, I won’t curse her, either, for were I in her fix, -I’d want to settle for my stolen tongue, myself. Good-by, Oll. I’ve -fixed every thing handy for you--rifle, meat, ammunition and all. -Something tells me--” - -He suddenly paused and rose to his feet, leaving the sentence -incomplete. - -He was going to say that an inward monitor told him that they were -never to meet in life again, but he would not sorrow the parting with -such words. - -“Come, girl,” he suddenly cried, turning to the Indian. “If you must -go, I’ll take you; but God knows I wish you’d stay with Oll.” - -Ulalah started forward at the hunter’s command, and a minute later the -stricken trader was the sole occupant of the cave! - -And as he saw them disappear, the terrible presentiment that they were -never to meet again came over him; and the thought of his daughter’s -fate drew a groan from his heart. - -Then in silence he lay in the weird light of the dying fire, wishing -God-speed to the twain who were hastening through the forest, toward a -spot already tragic in the eyes of the reader. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - WHAT HAPPENED IN A CAVE. - - -It was far from Coleola’s intention to leave the country when she -parted in rage from the war-party on the banks of Cahokia Creek, as -described in chapter sixth. She retraced her steps to the hunted -Peoria’s hidden home, where for many hours, like the jungle-tiger, she -lay in wait for her prey. But that noble prey came not; some unseen -power held Swamp Oak aloof from the snare, and, when tired of lying -in ambush, the Snake Queen left the cave, and sought for the Yellow -Bloodhound and his pale prisoners. - -Between these two ferocious characters an inseparable gulf had ever -rolled, and each succeeding year it grew wider. - -For a long time the Bloodhound and Coleola had lived at knife-points, -and even in times of peace had attempted each other’s life. - -She found Bardue’s trail without any difficulty, for she was an expert -trailer, and came up with her great enemy in his own cave, when the -rifles of our friends covered his cowardly heart, and when he held the -lives of all in his hands. - -The Snake Queen did not comprehend the situation, else she would not -have fired without sober second thought. She did not realize the danger -she was in, and flushed with anger, hightened by the presence of those -whom she hated with all the bitterness of a mad-woman’s hatred, her -rifle spoke the words of doom. - -Well might Bob Somerville’s heart sink into the slough of despair when -he comprehended his hopeless situation--when he saw Kate in the gripe -of the mad Snake Queen, and found himself bound. - -“Ha! ha! ha!” laughed Coleola, fastening her baleful eyes upon the -trader’s daughter, whose cheeks had suddenly assumed the hue of the -undriven snow. “The Lone Dove is Coleola’s at last, and her mate with -the long plumage is hers, too. Coleola and her braves saw the Ojibwas -and the white Hunter creep along the willowed banks, and when they -entered the bushes she followed, and lo! here she is. Yellow dog!” and -tossing Kate Blount to one of her giant followers, she turned abruptly -upon the prostrate Frenchman, who was glaring at her like a tiger. “Ha! -the yellow dog is in the folds of the Snake Queen, and they are going -to squeeze him to death. The pale-faces will hear him yelp with pain, -directly, and then they shall yelp themselves. Coleola’s enemies are -all here save one--Swamp Oak, the Peoria dog. Oh, if he were here, and -oh, if there stood at his side the girl who has no tongue!” - -A moment’s silence followed Coleola’s bitter words, and then one of the -braves jerked the creole to his feet. - -He was dragged across the cave and stood upright against the wall -composed of very soft limestone rock. He made no effort to escape; -he knew that his strength would accomplish nothing, but he glanced -wistfully from the fire to the powder-funnel. Oh, if he were free a -moment! How quickly would he spring to the fire and hurl a torch upon -the explosive heap--thus, at one fell swoop, sending his enemies as -well as himself to eternity. - -Coleola saw his glance, and laughed fiendishly at his despair. - -“The black dirt shall not become fire by the Yellow Bloodhound’s -claws,” she cried. “Warriors, nail him to the stones!” - -Jules Bardue groaned aloud at this announcement of his doom, and he -saw the Snake Queen’s Indians snap the steel ramrod belonging to Big -Moccasin’s musket, and approach him, griping the improvised nails and -their tomahawks. - -They were going to nail him to the soft rocks! - -Then he knew the knife would be resorted to, and he would be flayed -alive! - -At the thought of such a terrible doom, his limbs quaked like aspen -leaves, and that cowardice which always nestled in his heart now rose -up and bubbled from his throat. - -“Mercy! mercy! Coleola,” he cried, his face as white as ashes. “Spare! -and I will leave this country, never, never to return. Woman!--” - -“Nail the white dog to the stones!” was the unpitying command that -rudely interrupted the creole’s pleadings. “To the hound’s cries -Coleola is deaf; she couldn’t hear him were he to cry as loud as the -great cataract far toward the big ice-seas.”[2] - -The renegade bit his lips till the blood trickled over his chin, and in -silence he permitted the warriors to push him against the rock. - -He shrieked like a dying fiend when the first stroke of the tomahawk -drove the pointless nail into his palm, and each succeeding blow was -followed by a like shriek, until Coleola sprung forward and choked him -into silence. - -Under the Snake Queen’s gripe, and the pain occasioned by the nails, -Jules Bardue lost his senses, and when he hung from the wall by both -hands, Coleola stepped back and awaited the return of consciousness. - -“The creole’s doom is terrible, but just!” murmured young Somerville, -who had witnessed the red-men’s work in horrified silence, not knowing -how soon he would be subjected to the same fearful torture. “I am -doomed to some fearful death, but I can die more like a man than that -dog gives promise of doing. For myself I care not, but for Kate yonder, -I care much--all. I wonder where Doc is? Oh, if he knew that we were in -the hands of that mad snake-woman, he’d hasten hither and with his own -strong arm tear us from her. Freedom! freedom! Oh, were ye mine for one -moment!” - -As he uttered the exclamation, the young scout tugged at his bonds; but -across the cave he saw the wish which had lately leaped from his heart -traced upon Nehonesto’s face. - -While the Snake Queen waited for the return of consciousness to her -great enemy, not a word was spoken. - -Bob Somerville gazed into Kate Blount’s face, and in her eyes saw -hope encircled by despair. Her dark orbs twinkled, too, with terrible -determination. - -What did it mean? - -Why should the girl hope when not a ray illumined the cavern--when a -speedy and horrible doom stared her in the face with all the grinning -horror it could assume? - -She was not bound; but the arm of her jailer encircled her waist, and -his fingers griped her arm like the jaws of a vise. - -She saw the wish for freedom with the determination that accompanied it -in her lover’s eyes, and she seemed to be waiting for a certain moment. - -Kate Blount was not the girl to submit tamely to doom. She resolved to -make a desperate struggle for freedom, and a glance at Nehonesto and -the scout told her that she would be ably seconded. - -Their enemies numbered four--Coleola and three braves, and the trader’s -daughter felt confident of overcoming them by a sudden attack. She -waited for the right moment. - -At last a groan escaped the Yellow Bloodhound’s lips, and he raised his -head! - -Coleola sprung toward him with a cry of joy. - -Now the devil’s work would begin. - -Kate Blount noted this, and threw a look at her lover--a look which he -understood, for he returned a slight nod, and Nehonesto also proclaimed -himself ready to help, so soon as he was set at liberty. - -The eyes of the Indians were fastened upon Coleola now, and the gripe -of Kate’s captor had suddenly, and to no little degree, relaxed. - -The brave girl saw the opportunity, and seized it with a determination -worthy the bravest of her sex. - -With no cry she sprung from the Delaware’s arms, snatching his -scalping-knife from his girdle as she executed the movement. - -The savage with a shriek started forward; but suddenly he was hurled -backward by the young scout, whose bonds Kate had severed at a single -stroke. - -All now was confusion! - -Coleola uttered a wild yell and darted toward the trader’s daughter; -but all at once a dark object shot upward from the floor of the cavern, -and, despite her struggles, she found herself in the grip of Nehonesto. -He tore the twin snakes from her neck, and before they could bury their -fangs in his tawny arm, he hurled them into the fire, where they hissed -like demons in the agonies of death. - -The savage who had guarded our heroine received a death blow at the -hands of the youthful scout, and another of Coleola’s red followers -dropped at the Yellow Bloodhound’s imprisoned feet, wounded to the -bitter end. - -The third brave received reinforcements from the corridor which led to -the river! - -The Snake Queen had penetrated the willows with seven braves, four of -whom she had left to guard the entrance, as she feared the return of -the trader, Doc Bell, or the avenging lover, Swamp Oak. - -Now a peculiar shriek from the third savage who followed Coleola to the -cave caused the guards to leave their posts; and all at once, like a -quartette of devils, they rushed into the cavern, just as victory was -declaring for our friends. - -Then the conflict was renewed again with tenfold fury. - -Despite his arm which hung shattered at his side, Nehonesto caught a -warrior, and hurled him against the wall of the cave, at the foot of -which he sunk with a crushed skull. - -Kate Blount, too, performed prodigies of valor. She stood with clubbed -rifle before the Snake Queen, beating back the savages who tried to -free the mad-woman. - -Suddenly a brave kicked the fire hither and thither, and then the fight -continued in the semi-gloom. - -At length, tripping over a dead Delaware, Bob fell to the earth, and -before he could rise, a tomahawk, hurled from a red-skin’s hand, -stretched him senseless and bleeding upon the stones again. - -A moment later, as a firebrand caused brave Kate Blount to reel, three -dusky forms darted from the corridor, and she heard yells of despair -well from the throats of the now almost victorious savages. New and -unexpected antagonists had appeared upon the scene of action, and when -Kate had collected her scattered senses, she found herself in the arms -of Doc Bell, the Indian-fighter! - -“Well, now, we got hyar jist in time!” cried the giant, looking down -into Kate’s colorless face. “It ar’ a good thing thet we heard ye -fightin’, fur ef ye hedn’t made sech a racket, I guess we’d be a good -piece from hyar now. This is the Bloodhound’s kennel, eh, girl?” - -“Yes,” answered Kate. - -“An’ where might the yaller dog be?” - -“Yonder, nailed to--” - -Kate Blount interrupted herself with a blank stare, and an exclamation. - -“Why, he’s gone!” - -Yes, the white rocks to which the renegade had been nailed exhibited -all their wonted ghostliness, and the Yellow Bloodhound was nowhere to -be seen! - -“How did he git away ef he war nailed?” cried Doc Bell springing to -his feet. “The spirits don’t ginerally help such fellars. But he’s -gone--gone to come back to us ag’in some day. Yes, that devil is far -from dead.” - -“No, he is not, Doc,” said Bob, who had regained his senses, and was -wiping the blood drawn by the tomahawk from his forehead. “I cut all -around his heart with my knife. Coleola’s ball entered his body, and -her red devils drove a ramrod through his hands. He can’t get over all -that.” - -“Boy, did Coleola’s bullet take ’im atween the eyes?” asked the giant -hunter, anxiously. - -“No.” - -“Then the yaller dog won’t die. Ye know how I hacked him up once? -Nothin’ under heaven but a half ounce of lead atween the peepers will -ever finish ’im. He’ll turn up in a few days again, afore we call -ourselves safe.” - -A brief examination told the victors how the bloodhound had effected -his escape. Alone he could do nothing, but during the conflict Big -Moccasin must have freed himself, and borne his master from the cave, -for the giant guard too was missing. - -I have said that two persons came to the rescue with Doc Bell. - -The identity of one the reader can easily fix; the other was the hunted -Peoria--the vengeful Swamp Oak. - -The giant and his tongueless companion had encountered the young chief -in the forest, not far from the Bloodhound’s cave. Upon the night when -Swamp Oak had saved the lives of the trader and the giant by shooting -Segowatha’s avenging son, he had followed the twain but had failed -to overtake them. Still he searched the forest, but the storm that -burst above the trees immediately after their escape, had completely -obliterated their trail, thus baffling the young Indian. - -The meeting in the forest, mentioned above, was, no doubt, the -strangest that ever took place in America. - -The young Peoria clasped Ulalah to his heart, but started back to find -her silent. - -He then called upon her to speak, but still silent, she took his hand -and put it into her mouth. - -He uttered a cry of horror, and then the hunter-giant told him all he -knew about Ulalah’s terrible misfortune. - -The hunted lover listened in silence, and when he had finished, in the -dim light of a star, Doc Bell saw the Indian’s face grow black with -rage. - -Again he kissed Ulalah, whispered “_vengeance_,” and she replied by -pressing his hand. - -The revengeful pair did not see Coleola until the fight in the cave had -entirely ended, and Ulalah was the first to recognize her mother. - -With a guttural noise, she sprung to her lover’s side and pointed to -the apparition. - -For a moment the Peoria could not believe his senses, but when they -assured him that the object of his vengeance actually stood before -him--when he heard Coleola laugh triumphantly as she glanced from him -to her mutilated child--mutilated by her own mad hand--he shot toward -her with uplifted knife. - -A single bound brought him face to face with his mad red mother-in-law. - -“In whose power is Coleola now?” he hissed. “Ay, into whose hands -has she fallen? She has hunted long that she might stand within -arm’s-length of Swamp Oak, and she stands thus at last. She found the -Peoria’s cave, but first she found Swamp Oak’s sister, whose face -is almost like Ulalah’s. She bore the Drooping Willow through the -forests until she found the Peoria’s cave; she entered it; she slew the -Drooping Willow, and tore Ulalah’s tongue from her head. When Swamp Oak -returned with the Lone Dove,” continued the Indian, glancing at Kate, -“he found whom he thought to be his Ulalah. He caught her in his arms, -and her decaying body drove his brain on fire. Then Coleola came, and -he darted away. Ah! the Snake Queen could not catch the Peoria, and -when he stopped he found that he bore Drooping Willow, not Ulalah. -Vengeance then he swore, and vengeance now he will have. Ulalah.” - -The speechless girl sprung forward, and, with wild eyes and trembling -knife, confronted her unnatural mother. - -The Snake Queen faced her executioners with dignified mien, and upon -her face still gleamed that devilish expression of triumph. - -Without a word Swamp Oak released one of Coleola’s hands, binding the -other fast to her body. Then he pushed her against the rock to which -she had lately nailed the Yellow Bloodhound, and placed her arm against -it. - -“Coleola shall see her limbs torn from her trunk,” he hissed, “and then -her tongue shall be plucked from her mouth even as she tore her child’s -away; and when she has seen all this, then shall her eyes fly from -her head as the arrow flies from the Indian’s bow. Ulalah, come--the -tomahawk! This hand plucked out your tongue. Cut it off!” - -A look of triumph flashed from the wronged girl’s eyes, and she -snatched from her lover’s hand the tomahawk it extended. - -A second later she darted toward her mother. - -The tomahawk flew above her head, and in the twinkling of an eye it -descended, severing Coleola’s right arm a few inches above the hand! - -A soul-piercing shriek followed the avenging blow. - -The mad queen shot forward, despite Swamp Oak’s strength, and it was a -giant’s. - -He might as well have tried to hold a crazy rhinoceros. - -Coleola darted toward the corridor in which the Bloodhound and Big -Moccasin had undoubtedly disappeared. - -Kate Blount stood in her way, and noticed that her left arm was free. - -“Back, Kate!” yelled the young scout. - -Our heroine needed no summons to spring from the demoness’ path; but -ere she could shrink away, the left arm encircled her body, and she -found herself lifted from the ground. - -She shrieked, as well she might. - -Four brave men sprung forward to rescue her from the mad Snake Queen; -but their hands closed on emptiness! - -Coleola and her beautiful captive had eluded them! - - -[2] Niagara. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - HUNTING THE HUNTED. - - -Doc Bell, the giant, headed the horrified quartette that sprung after -Coleola. - -He rushed down the dark corridor as fast as his strong limbs could -carry him, and suddenly found himself submerged in a lake of Stygian -water. - -“Halt!” he shouted to those who had followed at his heels, and the trio -paused on the brink of the liquid death as the hunter emerged therefrom. - -“Here’s a deuced pretty go, ain’t it?” he cried. “What kind of a cave -do you call this, anyhow? Git a light; we’ll s’arch this place. We’re -not goin’ to let that gal git clean away from us, not ef old Doc Bell -knows himsel’.” - -Bob Somerville sprung back into the cavern, and soon reappeared with a -torch, which threw a ghastly glare around upon the water. - -“There hev been a boat moored hyar,” said Bell, suddenly stooping and -designating a certain spot with his finger. “But it’s gone now: that’s -sartin, but who took it?” - -“Coleola.” - -“No she didn’t,” replied the hunter, looking up into the young scout’s -face. “Ther Bloodhound an’ Big Moccasin came hyar first, an’ they -vamosed in it. Coleola war forced to swim, then.” - -“Where could she swim to?” questioned Somerville, with eagerness. - -“Where, but to the other side of this ’ere black water?” - -“And where is the other side? I see nothing.” - -“I should reckon you didn’t, boy,” said the Indian-fighter. “But, I’m -the fellar what’s goin’ to find out. Snakes! I wish that Indian gal’s -hatchet had missed Coleola’s arm, and took her accursed throat.” - -As he uttered the last word he handed the torch to Nehonesto, and he -and Swamp Oak stepped into the lazy water. - -A moment later there sounded the plash of expert swimmers, and the -twain soon disappeared from those whom they left on the bank. They swam -side by side a long distance in silence, and almost simultaneously -their feet struck earth. - -Then they ceased swimming, and drew themselves up on a cold, stony bank. - -Looking in the direction from whence they came, they saw the glimmer -of a torch, so far away that it appeared like a little star, in the -milkmaid’s path. - -“We’ve come a great distance, Swamp Oak,” said the giant, touching the -Indian’s shoulder, in the Stygian gloom that surrounded them. “Coleola -is more than a woman if she swam this far with one arm, an’ the burden -of a girl to weigh her down.” - -“Coleola is in league with Watchemenetoc,” returned the Indian, the -superstitious part of his nature gaining the ascendency. “But,” and he -gritted his teeth, “Swamp Oak will catch the hag when Watchemenetoc is -far away. Then!” - -In the gloom Doc Bell smiled at Swamp Oak’s thirst for revenge, and -turned from the water. - -The bank extended a short distance back without interruption, when our -adventurers brought up against a wall of rock, containing many gigantic -indentations. - -“Ef we had a light!” cried the hunter. - -A light was soon found. - -The rough walls were covered with a network of creepers, which no doubt -had perished for lack of sunshine, for a ray of the life-giving planet -never penetrated this place. The Peoria tore a quantity of the dry -creepers from the wall, and wrapped them around his scalping-knife. -Then he had recourse to the invaluable flints, and presently the knife -was crowned by a bright, crackling blaze. - -They resumed their search, and found that the indentations I have -mentioned extended out a few feet into the wall, and they were on the -eve of relinquishing the quest, when a startling “Ugh!” burst from the -Peoria’s throat. - -The giant sprung toward him and found him holding the torch over a -dark spot on the gray stone over which they had trod immediately after -emerging from the water. - -It was blood--blood freshly spilled. - -“On the right trail at last,” cried Bell, in a hoarse whisper. “We can -track the she devil by her gore now.” - -A step further on revealed a second drop of blood, and presently they -trailed the wounded person into an obscure corridor, which had hitherto -escaped their eyes. - -Doc Bell almost uttered a shout of triumph, as he sprung into the dark -passage, for he would soon come up with the Snake Queen, and rescue -Kate Blount from her vengeance. - -The passage proved a tortuous one, but no corridors led from it, and at -length the hunter felt a breath of air fan his cheeks. He paused and -griped the Peoria’s naked arm. - -They listened, and heard the low sound of rushing water. - -“Go on, hunter,” said the red-skin. “We will trail the mad queen to the -wood.” - -They proceeded again, and at length, emerging from the corridor, found -themselves standing up to their knees in a narrow stream that boasted -of perpendicular banks. - -“Baffled!” said the Indian-hunter, biting his lips with chagrin. “I’ve -trailed many a red-skin before, but I confess that I’m crawling out o’ -the little end ov the horn now. Back, Swamp Oak, back to our people in -the cave.” - -The Indian turned with reluctance, for he would fain have hunted for -Coleola in the forest above them. He believed she was at that hour -threading its recesses, in the gray light of dawn which was beginning -to make objects visible. But he was mistaken. - -He said nothing when the hunter stepped upon the backward trail, and -they hurried on in silence. - -They had traveled a great distance under ground, and, when no glimmer -greeted their eyes as they regained the edge of the black lake, an -exclamation of surprise parted the hunter’s lips. - -“Whar are our friends!” he cried. “They promised to wait fur us whar we -left ’em; but now they’re gone.” - -“They may be there in the blackness,” said Swamp Oak. - -“No, they’re not there,” persisted Bell. “Ef they war they’d hev ther -torch up so we could see whar to swim to. Suthin’s happened to them; -now mark my words, Injun.” - -A shade of paleness overspread Swamp Oak’s face as the thought of -peril to Ulalah crept to his heart, and he was about to rush into the -water and solve the mystery, when the hunter’s hand restrained him. - -“Hist!” he whispered. “Ther devil’s takin’ a ride--ther devil an’ some -ov his imps.” - -As he spoke, he took the torch from the Indian’s hands and noiselessly -extinguished it. - -As he did so, the noise of paddles assailed their ears. - -A boat was abroad on the inky tide, and for the first time in many -years, superstition reigned in the old hunter’s heart. It was an -admirable place for ghosts to float their specter barks, and sail with -their phantom brides locked in their arms. Involuntarily Doc Bell -shrunk from the water, and turned his eyes toward the plash of the -ghoulish paddles. - -Nearer and nearer came the craft, and though he could not see it, he -knew when it was opposite the spot where they crouched. - -All at once, voices came from the boat, and the hunter clutched the -Peoria’s arm. - -“Curse you, faster, chief!” they heard a hollow voice say, in a tone of -command. “Heavens! if I were stronger!” - -“The watery track is dark,” was the reply, which stamped the speaker an -Indian. - -“Faster, anyhow!” was the hollow and grated rejoinder. “The devil is -guiding his own now, and you can not wander from the path. The girl -will wake soon.” - -Doc Bell griped Swamp Oak’s arm tighter than ever, as the last sentence -came to their ears. - -“The gal, Injun; those devils hev got Kate Blount!” - -The Peoria did not reply. - -He was thunderstruck. - -The trader’s daughter had been spirited away by the Snake Queen; but -now she was in the hands of Big Moccasin and the hated and hunted -Yellow Bloodhound. - -Had fate guided the woman into the hands of those devils? Even so it -seemed. - -The boat seemed a long while passing their station, and it was not -until the voices were dying away in the gloom, that Doc Bell recovered -his firmness. - -“Swamp Oak, we must outwit those devils,” he said, in his old firmness -of tone. “My mind kin scarcely hold all that hes happened to-night, -much less b’lieve it. But come, we’ll foller thet ghostly boat, an’ -when ther Bloodhound runs ashore he’ll find somebody he won’t be -lookin’ for.” - -They rose to their feet and glided down the bank of the subterranean -lake, a short distance in the rear of the boat. - -All at once a peculiar noise told them that the prow of the canoe had -turned, and was making toward the shore, a short distance ahead. - -“Be ready, Injun,” whispered Doc Bell. “We’ve got the dogs now, an’ the -gal, too!” - -Unsuspicious of danger, the occupants of the boat approached the shore -at the very point where our friends, with drawn knives and determined -visages, lay waiting to receive them. - -“Land, at last!” they heard Jules Bardue say, with a breath of relief, -as the boat struck the rocks. “Furies! what a long ride that was. Here, -chief--here’s the girl; no, take me out first. My legs are stiff, but -once on shore, I can walk. Jules Bardue ain’t dead yet; no, and he’s -not going to die while his enemies live. Be careful, Moccasin; don’t -touch my hands; broken ramrods hurt like a wolf’s teeth.” - -He paused, for the giant chief was lifting him from the boat, -and, strain their eyes as much as they could, the watchers of the -debarkation could not distinguish the forms of the voyagers. - -However, their voices disclosed their positions, and as Big Moccasin -laid his living burden on the ground, Swamp Oak sprung upon him. - -The chief uttered a cry of terror, and as he reeled under the strength -of his antagonist, a keen blade shot into his breast, and he fell, with -a death gurgle, into the water. - -Swamp Oak’s work of death was inaugurated and finished in less time -than we have recorded it, and, like a lion, he turned to the spot where -the helpless renegade lay! - -The hunter had shunned the creole for the boat, intent upon saving our -heroine. - -He knew that Jules Bardue was too weak to resist, and after he had -rescued Kate, he would finish one who had already cursed the earth too -long with his loathsome presence. - -He clutched the canoe as Big Moccasin touched the water, and quickly -jerked it toward him, for, unmoored, it had drifted from the bank. - -The next minute his long arm shot over the gunwale, and his fingers -closed on Kate Blount’s slender arm. - -He lifted her from the craft, with a cry of delight; but ere he could -gain his feet with his prize, a noise like the explosion of a thousand -pounds of powder bewildered his senses, and, with the girl in his arms, -he staggered back, bereft of consciousness! - -The lake of darkness felt the unseen blow; its sleeping waters sprung -into life, and rocked with a hissing noise in their little basin. - -For many minutes three forms lay motionless in the gloom, and at last -the uplifting of a head was followed by a voice. - -“Almighty Heavens! what did that mean?” - -It was Doc Bell who spoke. - -“Ten thousand earthquakes must have combined in one big bu’st; an’ it -war a big one, too. Kate!” - -He shook the girl, who still lay in his arms, and heard her voice. - -“Yer alive, thank God!” he ejaculated, with fervor. “Warn’t thet a -noise? Whar’s Swamp Oak?” - -“Here, hunter; his head is full of sounds yet. A hundred rivers rush -through his brain.” - -“I should reckon they do. Did ye finish ther yaller dog?” - -“Swamp Oak’s knife was raised when Watchemenetoc spoke, and snatched him -from the Peoria.” - -“What! did he git away erg’in?” - -“He is gone, white hunter.” - -“It beats the Jews!” exclaimed Bell. “That dog bears a charmed life. -Ain’t he nowheres about, Injun?” - -“No.” - -“The shock must hev thrown him somewheres. That shock! it cracked every -bone in my body. I know what it war now. Somebody dropped fire inter -ther Bloodhound’s funnel, an’ blow’d his cave to shivers. But our -people--whar war they?” - -A groan burst from Swamp Oak’s lips. - -“Where is Swamp Oak’s tongueless bride?” he cried, in agony; and when -the hunter thought where he left our friends with injunctions to await -his return, a cold shiver shot over his frame, and he feared that the -future would confirm the horrible belief which had taken possession of -his mind. - -“Come, Injun,” he said to Swamp Oak, “we’ll go back, now;” and he -added, in a lower tone--“go back an’ look fur their bodies!” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - THE INFERNAL COMPACT. - - -With Kate Blount, the sturdy old scout and Swamp Oak finally made -their way out of that gloomy world, now made doubly horrible by the -tremendous explosion which they believed had sent all their friends -to their destruction. This belief Doc Bell had to impart to his fair -charge, and she was terribly shocked over the thought of her lover’s -presumed awful fate. - -But they were not to reach the cave, where Blount was left, without -trouble. A careful reconnoissance by the old Indian-fighter revealed -the presence of nineteen Ojibwas in the woods, right over the exit from -the corridor leading from the lake. This compelled the trio to remain -under close cover until nightfall should make it safe to travel. - -In the quiet of their secure retreat, Kate related her adventures with -the terrible Snake Queen, and how in the darkness the old hag had been -stricken down by some unknown hand, but which she now learned was that -of Jules Bardue, who, with Big Moccasin, bore her away. She had then -become unconscious, and knew no more until aroused by Doc Bell’s touch. - -That the Snake Queen was dead Doc did not believe, but no time was -given for further speculation, for Swamp Oak reported some one coming -up-stream in a canoe. Doc was too amazed to speak, for in that canoe -sat John Williamson! Had he not flung the wretch into the very midst -of the savages, and how could he have escaped his doom? - -No time was offered for questioning, for, discovering the opening -in the hill, the haunted man, with almost a cry of gladness, turned -the prow of his canoe into the opening and sprung ashore. The trio -crouched back in the darkness, and John plunged down the corridor, as -if to escape the light forever; and when the shades of night darkened -the woods the three hastened from their cover to reach the cave where -Blount had been left. - -“Now fur yer father, gal,” said Bell, addressing Kate, as they gained -the forest above the creek. “We’ll hurry up, fur I know ther old man -ar’ anxious to see his gal, an’ she’s sorter anxious to see him, too.” - -They traversed the forest at a rapid gait. Doc Bell knew the way, and -he could trail as well beneath the stars as the sun. - -A number of miles had been traversed, when several rifle-shots saluted -their ears. - -Doc Bell halted. - -Crack! crack! crack! - -“By my soul! there’s bloody work goin’ on at ther cave!” he cried, -suddenly starting forward. “I heard Oll’s rifle jest then, an’ I -b’lieve he’s got help; but who on airth kin it be? Hold out, old man, -till we git to yer! Hold out, I say. Doc Bell’s comin’, an’ he’s worth -er stone wall an’ ten cannon!” - -The hunter ran at his utmost speed, and Kate Blount and Swamp Oak kept -at his side. At length the yells of infuriated Indians made the night -hideous, and drowned the crack of the death-dealing rifles. - -“I knowed it! I knowed it!” cried Doc Bell. “Bloody work’s goin’ on -hyar, an’ I’ve been sp’ilin’ fur a fight. Now look to yer rifles fur -the last time!” - -Creeping forward they beheld at least forty savages grouped at some -distance before the mouth of the cave. These Indians were listening to -the harangue of a tall chief, standing in the broad glare of the fire -which they had kindled near the aperture. - -Stretched upon the ground, as motionless as stricken statues, lay -seven warriors, who had fallen beneath the rifles of the besieged, and -the chief was firing the hearts of the savages, who seemed inclined to -relinquish the conflict. - -“Shall the hunted dogs drive the hunters from their kennel?” he cried, -“and shall Segowatha sleep unavenged? The pale dog whose she whelp slew -our great chief is in our power, if we but stretch forth our hands and -take him. And those who fight with him are enemies to Pontiac’s red -war-dogs. Warriors, will you be squaws? Shall Tall Hickory go back to -his people and say his men slunk like whipped hounds from a hole in the -ground?” - -The close of the speech had the desired effect; a chorus of hideous -yells followed it, and the red demons demanded to be led once more to -the conflict. - -“Ready,” whispered Doc Bell, with his eyes fastened upon the red -avengers. “If they rush into ther cave in a body we must foller suit. -Ha! there they go--determined to do or die, an’ I calkilate some on ’em -will die.” - -Unmindful of the doom that surely awaited him, Tall Hickory threw -himself before the mad warriors and sprung toward the gaping mouth of -the cave. He reached it, when the muffled reports of two rifles broke -the suspense, and with a yell he reeled from the death-opening. - -“Now let them hev it!” cried Bell, and a second later three rifles -cracked. - -A trio of Indians tottered against their fellows, and, ere they could -touch the ground, the giant hunter was dashing toward the besiegers -with uplifted rifle. - -“I’m hyar! ye red devils, I am!” he yelled. “Hyar’s Doc Bell what’s -sp’ilin’ fur a fight; an’ now let ’im hev a fair shake.” - -The Indians turned upon the mad hunter with a yell, and the next -instant his heavy rifle stretched a Miami on the sward, while others -were shrinking from the second blow. - -“Back! back!” he yelled. “I’m yer master, I am. I’ve whipped ye on the -Miami, an’ I kin whip ye hyar. There! _you’ll_ never chase buffler -ag’in!” - -He rained his blows right and left, and beside him, ably seconding -his death-work, fought Kate Blount and the young Peoria. The trader’s -daughter resembled some queen of tragedy. Her long tresses had escaped -from the backwoods comb, and streamed down her back in wanton abandon, -as her body swayed to and fro under the blows she delivered with -clubbed rifle. - -The savages soon recovered the equilibrium lost by the trio’s -unexpected attack, and, with thinned ranks, but more infuriated than -ever, returned to the combat, and hemmed our friends in on all sides. - -“Fight like catamounts!” yelled giant Doc Bell, above the din of -battle, as he hurled a savage, who was about to fell the brave girl, -to the earth. “Snakes an’ lizards, but this is a tight place; but they -can’t whip us--never!” - -The savages felt certain of victory, for their faces were flushed with -anticipated triumph, and they contracted their ranks and rushed upon -the defiant trio with deafening yells. - -But suddenly three forms sprung from the mouth of the cave, and the -Indians discovered that they possessed a trio of new antagonists! - -Bob Somerville, Nehonesto, and Ulalah had joined our friends, and -before the six at last the red-skins gave way! - -“Boy!” cried Bell, springing to his protege, and grasping his hand, “I -thought ye war a ghost when ye darted from ther cave, but thank fortin’ -ye’re flesh an’ blood! We thought ye an’ Nehonesto an’ thet dumb gal -war blow’d all to pieces in ther cave.” - -“Ours was a narrow escape from death, Doc,” said our hero, as a -perceptible shudder swept his frame, “and I am much surprised to see -you here. We waited for yourself and Swamp Oak a long time by the black -lake, and at last reluctantly reached the conclusion that you had -lost your lives through the accursed machinations of Coleola or the -Bloodhound. Then we hurried from the cave, and had scarcely reached the -forest when a deafening noise assailed and hurled us to the ground, -bereft of consciousness. Ulalah led us hither, and after we had greeted -Blount, we found that the accursed fiends had trailed us. How they -managed to do so, I can not conceive; but they flocked hither like -vultures to a carrion feast, and for several hours we fought more like -demons than human creatures.” - -“And how is Blount?” questioned Bell, eagerly. - -“Dying, poor fellow!” said our hero, with a sigh. “He’s paid dearly for -his stubbornness. But let us hasten to him. Kate should close his eyes.” - -Doc Bell turned to the cave. - -“It’s no use,” he said. “Oll’s dead; when I left ’im somethin’ told me -that I would never see ’im erlive ag’in; an’ it hasn’t lied.” - -Kate Blount was eager to greet her parent, and with her hand clasped in -that of her lover, she descended into the cavern. - -During the descent, Bob had told her that her father had received a -severe wound from a stray ball, during the siege, and bade her prepare -for the worst. - -Reaching the bottom of the cavern, her eye caught sight of a figure -lying in the light of the fire, and with a cry of joy she sprung -forward. - -“Father!” she cried, bending over the loved form. “Father, speak! ’Tis -I, your pet--your Kate!” - -Oliver Blount heard the voice, and opened his dying eyes spasmodically. - -Then he tried to clasp her to his heart, but failed; his arms fell -powerless at his side, and, as he gasped her beloved name, his orbs -closed again, and a long-drawn breath told the trader’s child that she -was an orphan! - -“I know’d it--I know’d it!” murmured Doc Bell, approaching, and -dropping a tear over the weeping girl. “When Doc Bell’s heart talks, it -never lies.” - -Then he slowly turned to Somerville and the two chiefs. - -“We are not out o’ ther woods yit,” he said. “I tell yer, it’s a long -way to Fort Chartres, and it ar’ a black way, too.” - -“Full of fires,” said Swamp Oak. - -“An’ dull knives,” added Doc Bell. - -“But we’ll get there,” said our hero, confidently. - -“Not without bloodshed; we’ve got to see Coleola an’ ther Bloodhound -ag’in.” - -“You don’t mean it, Doc,” said Somerville, glancing at the woman he -loved, while a chill crept to his heart. - -He thought of peril for her, not for himself. - -“I do mean it, Bob. Them two demons ain’t dead yit, mind I tell yer. -We’ll see ’em ag’in afore we git out o’ these woods, or my name’s not -Doc Bell.” - -“Heaven forefend,” returned our hero, fervently. “I had hoped, for -Kate’s sake, that they were dead.” - -The giant did not reply, but looked to the priming of his rifle, and -walked to the mouth of the cave. - - * * * * * - -“Halt! White Snake!” - -A yell of horror pierced the almost palpable gloom, that brooded -everywhere, and a groan quickly followed. - -“For Heaven’s sake, spare this life of mine! Mercy! mercy! I don’t want -to die now--no, no. I’m not fit to stand before the Great Judge to-day. -Spare! spare! for the love of life!” - -The words were couched in the most abject accents, and the teeth of the -unseen speaker chattered like dice in the silence that followed the -utterance of the last. - -“I’m going to spare you, dog!” hissed a voice, so near the coward -that he instinctively shrunk away. “I mean that I’ll spare you on one -condition.” - -“Name it--quick, for mercy’s sake!” - -“You must do my bidding.” - -“Whatever it be, I’ll do it--only let one live who is not prepared to -die. Who are you?” - -“Jules Bardue--the Yellow Bloodhound of the Ojibwas,” was the reply. “I -do not ask your name--I know it. You are the most wretched man in these -forests--John Williamson, Pontiac’s murderer.” - -“Yes, God has cursed me with that name!” groaned the haunted trader. - -A minute’s silence followed. - -“I am hurt,” said Bardue, at last, “and you must carry me to the woods, -when night comes. I dare not seek the forest now. In the gloom I can, -by signals, bring trusty red people to my side.” - -“But me?” groaned the haunted trader, from the depths of his craven -heart. “They will torture me when they know who I am.” - -“Only do my bidding, and they shall not harm you,” said Bardue, -quickly. “I rule the savage hearts. Oh, now the hour of vengeance is -at hand. They have stabbed Jules Bardue; they have shot him; they have -nailed him to a rock; but the Yellow Bloodhound lives yet to bite. -Here, John Williamson, stoop down and pick me up. I’ll tell you where -to carry me.” - -Tremblingly the miserable man obeyed, and the creole hoped that he -would be strong enough to walk when he joined his red associates in the -forest. - -The trader bore the Bloodhound to a dark cavern, and soon a fire -illumined the place. - -Then, at the renegade’s request, Williamson related the story of his -flight and wanderings from the jaws of justice. - -If ever a truly wretched man trod the dark paths of the forests of the -Illinois, it was John Williamson, and when night came he supported the -wounded renegade to the woods, illy lighted by the scintillations of -the stars. - -For a long time Jules Bardue signaled his braves, who he knew could not -be far away; but no answering footsteps greeted their ears. - -At length the distant crack of rifles was faintly heard, and they -listened more intently than ever. - -The conflict at the cave was raging furiously, and as the twain -listened they heard the deathly sounds die away. - -“Williamson, we must hasten yonder,” he cried. “Pick me up and run like -lightning. If you do not obey, remember you’re a dead man.” - -With an inward groan, the terror-stricken man lifted the renegade from -the ground and started forward. - -But his knees smote each other, and he feared that his burden was -greater than he could bear. - -He ran a few rods, and then, utterly exhausted, sunk to the earth. - -It was in vain that the creole cursed his slave and in the midst of his -anathemas a hasty footstep was heard approaching them. - -The Bloodhound clutched his knife, but the next moment it was hurled -from his hand. - -“Ha! ha! ha!” laughed the new-comer. “Coleola and the Yellow Bloodhound -have met again!” - -The renegade groaned. - -“Spare!” he hoarsely plead. “I will help Coleola slay her enemies.” - -The Snake Queen bent eagerly over him. - -“Then the Queen of the Snakes and the Yellow Bloodhound bury the -hatchet,” she said. “She will help him eat up his enemies; he shall -help her crush hers.” - -“I will, heaven help me! Where are they?” - -“Below the ground,” answered Coleola. “They have driven the braves -before them like the strong wind blows the dead leaves away. We will -kill the dogs. Can the Bloodhound walk?” - -The sudden change in his fortunes drove Bardue to his feet. - -“Walk?” he echoed. “I’m as strong now as ever. Lead the way, demoness. -I’ve a blade that cries for blood.” - -Coleola laughed again, and, springing up, strode into the deeper gloom. - -It was the strangest league ever formed in the Western wood. - -Neither Coleola or Jules Bardue could accomplish their diabolical plans -alone; so, throwing aside the bitter hate of years, they had crossed -hands over the “bloody chasm,” each resolving to massacre the other, -when they had satiated the demon of revenge. - -John Williamson, the haunted trader, went with them--never dreaming -that he would soon cease to be a ghoul-chased man! - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - THE BITTER END. - - -The giant hunter guarded the mouth of the cave alone until midnight. - -He heard no noise save the voices of his friends below him, and the -soughing of the forest trees. The ghostly sounds boded danger. The -half-superstitious hunter had noted this, for years, and he was -remarking it in a low tone when the cracking of a bough startled his -trained senses. - -Instantly he was on the alert, and presently his sharp eyes -distinguished three dark bodies approaching the cave. They looked like -panthers, but he knew at once that they were human beings. - -Stepping back into the corridor he called Nehonesto, and the chief was -soon at his side. - -“Didn’t I tell ye so?” he asked, looking into the Ojibwa’s face in -triumph. - -“What does the white hunter mean?” questioned the savage in turn. - -“Ye’ll see d’rectly, chief,” said Doc Bell; “they’re after us, but -we’ll trap ’em. Back!” - -He pushed the Indian into a natural niche in the wall of the corridor, -and quickly followed him. - -A minute later the mouth of the cavern was obscured by a black object, -and they heard low voices. - -“They are gone; curse the dogs!” - -The voice was clothed in the deepest chagrin. - -“But we will see!” returned another voice, which the hidden listeners -at once recognized. - -Then, once more, they saw the stars, but knew that a brace of human -panthers were crawling down the corridor. - -The third had been left to guard the orifice. - -“We’ve got ’em now!” whispered Doc Bell to Nehonesto. “Ready?” - -A guttural “Ugh” served as an affirmative reply, and Bill said: - -“Chief, take the foremost, and, mind ye, hold the she-devil fast!” - -A moment later the twain realized that the intruders were opposite -them, and a low “Now” from the giant’s lips impelled them forward. - -Nehonesto’s hands closed on Coleola, and Doc Bell threw the Yellow -Bloodhound to the ground! - -“I calkilate how a purty mess hez been spiled,” laughed the hunter, in -tones of triumph, and a cry drew our hero and Swamp Oak from the cavern. - -“Here, Bob, hold this devil!” cried Bell, relinquishing the renegade to -Somerville. “I want thet fellar what they left above us.” - -He sprung toward the mouth of the cave, where he stumbled over the -crouching form of a man. - -“Mercy!” groaned a trembling voice as the giant regained his feet. - -“John Williamson!” - -“Yes, but spare. Oh, spare!” - -“Who said I war goin’ to kill?” cried Bell. “I’m willin’ to spare; but -I’m desp’ratly afeard somebody else won’t.” - -The trader groaned, and followed Bell back into the cave. - -Coleola and Bardue had been conducted to the large chamber, where, -sullen and silent, they stood before many an eye, flashing with -vengeance of the direst nature. - -“So ye thought we warn’t hyar, eh?” said the big hunter, fastening his -eyes upon the creole. “Wal, ef your red devils hadn’t ’tacked this hole -an’ killed Oll Blount, ye wouldn’t ’a’ found us hyar, either. Ther -folks war buryin’ Oll when ye come, an’ now I calkilate as how thar’s -goin’ to be some more funerals. Woman,” and he turned to the Snake -Queen who was regarding Swamp Oak and her dumb daughter with flashing -eyes, “how did you git out o’ that cave!” - -“Coleola crawled forth like the snake,” she answered, suddenly finding -her tongue. “The Big Moccasin struck her when she bore the Lone Dove -through the darkness; but she crept away, and they did not hunt her -long. The big noise filled her head with thunder, and when she opened -her eyes she crawled into the woods. She saw the big hunter drive the -red-man from the cave, and then she flew back to find the Delawares. -But she met the Bloodhound in the woods, and they are here--Coleola and -the Yellow one.” - -“An’ what does Coleola expect?” asked the hunter. - -She answered, quickly: - -“Death!” - -“Yes, Coleola shall step upon the death-trail!” cried Swamp Oak, -darting forward. “She has torn Ulalah’s tongue from her mouth, and -Ulalah shall visit the same punishment upon the she-panther whom she -once called mother.” - -The doomed woman uttered a terrible shriek, as the Indian halted before -her with drawn knife, and when he commanded the avenging child to -prepare for her horrible work, a whirlwind of passion swept across the -Snake Queen’s frame, and she wrenched her only hand from the thongs -which held it captive. - -The next instant she shot upon her daughter, and clutched her throat -with the fiendishness of despair. - -But, Swamp Oak darted to the rescue! He sprung upon the mad-woman; but -was hurled against the wall of the cave by Ulalah, whom Coleola had -suddenly transformed into her battle ax! - -“Snakes an’ lizards, what a devil!” cried Doc Bell, and he sprung at -the Snake Queen, who was retreating toward the corridor, with the -imperiled girl describing fearful circles before her. - -“Back!” yelled Coleola. - -But the daring hunter would not obey. - -He flung his rifle above his head, and the blow descended upon the arm -of the infuriated woman. Ulalah, speechless, fell to the ground. - -The Snake Queen reeled, but ere she struck the ground, Swamp Oak was -upon her. - -He thought not of slow torture then. He thought Ulalah dead, so -motionless she lay on the floor of the cavern, and his knife sunk to -the haft in the red-woman’s bosom! Then, while she gasped for life, the -reeking blade tore her tongue from her mouth, and he sprung aloft with -a hideous yell of triumph! - -The spectators shuddered at the awful sight; but they were soon called -upon to witness other scenes. - -Doc Bell turned to Jules Bardue as Swamp Oak bent over the woman he -loved. - -“You’ve got to die!” he said, sternly. “All dogs have their day.” - -The creole did not reply, but fiercely eyed the speaker. - -“You’ve made the earth run with innocent blood,” continued Doc, “an’ -hed it not been fur ye, he whom we just buried, would hev still been -livin’. Hev ye got any thin’ to say afore ye go?” - -There was no reply, and the hunter turned to our friends. - -“By whose hand shall the dog die?” he asked. - -A painful silence followed, and at length the hunter stepped aside, and -picked up a handful of small stones. He then turned to our hero: - -“How many, Bob?” - -“Twenty.” - -“What’s yer guess, Swamp Oak?” - -The Peoria indicated fifteen with his fingers, and Nehonesto -twenty-five. - -Slowly Bill opened his hand, saying “Twenty-two” as he did so. A -careful count told that he had guessed the exact number of the pebbles! - -“I knowed it war to be thus,” he said, slowly, and stepped back looking -to the priming of his rifle. - -Jules Bardue faced him with pallid countenance, and wildly beating -heart! - -He knew that the end of his bloody life was at hand. - -The spectators shrunk from the doomed man, and turned their eyes upon -his executioner. - -For a moment the hunter’s eyes glanced along the polished barrel, and -then a jet of fire leaped from the bore. - -The Yellow Bloodhound shrieked, and dropped to the ground--stone-dead! - -“I told ye that nothin’ but a bullet atween the eyes would finish ’im,” -said Doc Bell, turning to the spectators, “an’ he’s got it at last!” - -For a moment silence reigned, and then the cry of “Mercy” echoed -throughout the cavern. - -It came from John Williamson’s throat, and Bob Somerville sprung -forward to save him from the Peoria’s vengeance. - -But he was too late! - -He saw the Indian’s knife dart toward the trader’s breast, and when -he touched the bare red arm, the knife, reeking with blood, had been -withdrawn. - -“Through him has Swamp Oak’s relatives fallen,” said the savage, -releasing the corpse. “He killed Pontiac; he brought the torch and -scalping-knife to the forests of the Illinois; and the squaws and -pappooses of the Peorias fall before the red dogs as fast as the rain -falls from the black clouds. Now the demons of the dark land will chase -the pale-face no longer.” - -“Now for Fort Chartres!” said Bell. “We mought as well start at once, -fur it’s er long journey, an’ ther way is black with death. But I think -we’ve hed enough ov scrimmages to last er lifetime, an’ I b’lieve thet -God ar’ a-goin’ to keep us all safe now, till we see ther old fort -erg’in. I want ter leave this kentry, an’ git back to ther Miami. I’m -used to ther lay ov thet land, an’ they don’t talk erbout skinnin’ -erlive thar, either.” - -A few minutes later the entire party left the cave, and stepped upon -the long trail. - -We need not follow them, for their journey would not interest the -reader, who has followed their fortunes over the winding trail of death. - -A mighty hand guided them through the new dangers, and at last the -English flag rose upon their vision. - -A cry of joy burst from the little band. - -Now they could enjoy peace, for the last peril had been passed in -safety, and they could thrill the hearts of others with a narration of -their adventures. - -A few days after the return to the fort, Bob Somerville called Kate -Blount “wife,” and after the interesting ceremony Doc Bell turned his -face toward the death-regions of Ohio, where, in a forest drama, as -startling as the one just penned, the reader shall encounter him again. - -Ulalah remained in Fort Chartres till the close of the avengers’ war, -when Swamp Oak returned from the bloody forest-paths, and took his -silent bird to a home far from the ruins of his tribe’s wigwams. - -Nehonesto followed Doc Bell to the valleys of the Miami. - -And now, reader, the pen must be thrown aside again. But first, let me -say that the mystery that enwraps the explosion of the Bloodhound’s -cave, and John Williamson’s escape from the Indians on the Cahokia, -remains to the humble writer a mystery still. - -It may never be penetrated. - - - THE END. - - - - - DIME POCKET NOVELS. - PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY, AT TEN CENTS EACH. - - - =1--Hawkeye Harry.= By Oll Coomes. - =2--Dead Shot.= By Albert W. Aiken. - =3--The Boy Miners.= By Edward S. Ellis. - =4--Blue Dick.= By Capt. Mayne Reid. - =5--Nat Wolfe.= By Mrs. M. V. Victor. - =6--The White Tracker.= Edward S. Ellis. - =7--The Outlaw’s Wife.= Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. - =8--The Tall Trapper.= By Albert W. Aiken. - =9--Lightning Jo.= By Capt. Adams. - =10--The Island Pirate.= By Capt. Mayne Reid. - =11--The Boy Ranger.= By Oll Coomes. - =12--Bess, the Trapper.= By E. S. Ellis. - =13--The French Spy.= By W. J. Hamilton. - =14--Long Shot.= By Capt. Comstock. - =15--The Gunmaker.= By James L. Bowen. - =16--Red Hand.= By A. G. Piper. - =17--Ben, the Trapper.= By Lewis W. Carson. - =18--Wild Raven.= By Oll Coomes. - =19--The Specter Chief.= By Seelin Robins. - =20--The B’ar-Killer.= By Capt. Comstock. - =21--Wild Nat.= By Wm. R. Eyster. - =22--Indian Jo.= By Lewis W. Carson. - =23--Old Kent, the Ranger.= Edward S. Ellis. - =24--The One-Eyed Trapper.= Capt. Comstock. - =25--Godbold, the Spy.= By N. C. Iron. - =26--The Black Ship.= By John S. Warner. - =27--Single Eye.= By Warren St. John. - =28--Indian Jim.= By Edward S. Ellis. - =29--The Scout.= By Warren St. John. - =30--Eagle Eye.= By W. J. Hamilton. - =31--The Mystic Canoe.= By Edward S. Ellis. - =32--The Golden Harpoon.= By R. Starbuck. - =33--The Scalp King.= By Lieut. Ned Hunter. - =34--Old Lute.= By E. W. Archer. - =35--Rainbolt, Ranger.= By Oll Coomes. - =36--The Boy Pioneer.= By Edward S. Ellis. - =37--Carson, the Guide.= By J. H. Randolph. - =38--The Heart Eater.= By Harry Hazard. - =39--Wetzel, the Scout.= By Boynton Belknap. - =40--The Huge Hunter.= By Ed. S. Ellis. - =41--Wild Nat, the Trapper.= Paul Prescott. - =42--Lynx-cap.= By Paul Bibbs. - =43--The White Outlaw.= By Harry Hazard. - =44--The Dog Trailer.= By Frederick Dewey. - =45--The Elk King.= By Capt. Chas. Howard. - =46--Adrian, the Pilot.= By Col. P. Ingraham. - =47--The Man-hunter.= By Maro O. Rolfe. - =48--The Phantom Tracker.= By F. Dewey. - =49--Moccasin Bill.= By Paul Bibbs. - =50--The Wolf Queen.= By Charles Howard. - =51--Tom Hawk, the Trailer.= - =52--The Mad Chief.= By Chas. Howard. - =53--The Black Wolf.= By Edwin E. Ewing. - =54--Arkansas Jack.= By Harry Hazard. - =55--Blackbeard.= By Paul Bibbs. - =56--The River Rifles.= By Billex Muller. - =57--Hunter Ham.= By J. Edgar Hill. - =58--Cloudwood.= By J. M. Merrill. - =59--The Texas Hawks.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =60--Merciless Mat.= By Capt. Chas. Howard. - =61--Mad Anthony’s Scouts.= By E. Rodman. - =62--The Luckless Trapper.= Wm. R. Eyster. - =63--The Florida Scout.= Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =64--The Island Trapper.= Chas. Howard. - =65--Wolf-Cap.= By Capt. Chas. Howard. - =66--Rattling Dick.= By Harry Hazard. - =67--Sharp-Eye.= By Major Max Martine. - =68--Iron-Hand.= By Frederick Forest. - =69--The Yellow Hunter.= By Chas. Howard. - =70--The Phantom Rider.= By Maro O. Rolfe. - =71--Delaware Tom.= By Harry Hazard. - =72--Silver Rifle.= By Capt. Chas. Howard. - =73--The Skeleton Scout.= Maj. L. W. Carson. - =74--Little Rifle.= By Capt. “Bruin” Adams. - =75--The Wood Witch.= By Edwin Emerson. - =76--Old Ruff, the Trapper.= “Bruin” Adams. - =77--The Scarlet Shoulders.= Harry Hazard. - =78--The Border Rifleman.= L. W. Carson. - =79--Outlaw Jack.= By Harry Hazard. - =80--Tiger-Tail, the Seminole.= R. Ringwood. - =81--Death-Dealer.= By Arthur L. Meserve. - =82--Kenton, the Ranger.= By Chas. Howard. - =83--The Specter Horseman.= Frank Dewey. - =84--The Three Trappers.= Seelin Robins. - =85--Kaleolah.= By T. Benton Shields, U. S. N. - =86--The Hunter Hercules.= Harry St. George. - =87--Phil Hunter.= By Capt. Chas. Howard. - =88--The Indian Scout.= By Harry Hazard. - =89--The Girl Avenger.= By Chas. Howard. - =90--The Red Hermitess.= By Paul Bibbs. - =91--Star-Face, the Slayer.= - =92--The Antelope Boy.= By Geo. L. Aiken. - =93--The Phantom Hunter.= By E. Emerson. - =94--Tom Pintle, the Pilot.= By M. Klopp. - =95--The Red Wizard.= By Ned Hunter. - =96--The Rival Trappers.= By L. W. Carson. - =97--The Squaw Spy.= By Capt. Chas. Howard. - =98--Dusky Dick.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =99--Colonel Crockett.= By Chas. E. Lasalle. - =100--Old Bear Paw.= By Major Max Martine. - =101--Redlaw.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =102--Wild Rube.= By W. J. Hamilton. - =103--The Indian Hunters.= By J. L. Bowen. - =104--Scarred Eagle.= By Andrew Dearborn. - =105--Nick Doyle.= By P. Hamilton Myers. - =106--The Indian Spy.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =107--Job Dean.= By Ingoldsby North. - =108--The Wood King.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =109--The Scalped Hunter.= By Harry Hazard. - =110--Nick, the Scout.= By W. J. Hamilton. - =111--The Texas Tiger=. By Edward Willett. - =112--The Crossed Knives.= By Hamilton. - =113--Tiger-Heart=, the Tracker. By Howard. - =114--The Masked Avenger.= By Ingraham. - =115--The Pearl Pirates.= By Starbuck. - =116--Black Panther.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =117--Abdiel, the Avenger.= By Ed. Willett. - =118--Cato, the Creeper.= By Fred. Dewey. - =119--Two-Handed Mat.= By Jos. E. Badger. - =120--Mad Trail Hunter.= By Harry Hazard. - =121--Black Nick.= By Frederick Whittaker. - =122--Kit Bird.= By W. J. Hamilton. - =123--The Specter Riders.= By Geo. Gleason. - =124--Giant Pete.= By W. J. Hamilton. - =125--The Girl Captain.= By Jos. E. Badger. - =126--Yankee Eph.= By J. R. Worcester. - =127--Silverspur.= By Edward Willett. - =128--Squatter Dick.= By Jos. E. Badger. - =129--The Child Spy.= By George Gleason. - =130--Mink Coat.= By Jos. E. Badger. - =131--Red Plume.= By J. Stanley Henderson. - =132--Clyde, the Trailer.= By Maro O. Rolfe. - =133--The Lost Cache.= J. Stanley Henderson. - =134--The Cannibal Chief.= Paul J. Prescott. - =135--Karaibo.= By J. Stanley Henderson. - =136--Scarlet Moccasin.= By Paul Bibbs. - =137--Kidnapped.= By J. Stanley Henderson. - =138--Maid of the Mountain.= By Hamilton. - =139--The Scioto Scouts.= By Ed. Willett. - =140--The Border Renegade.= By Badger. - =141--The Mute Chief.= By C. D. Clark. - =142--Boone, the Hunter.= By Whittaker. - =143--Mountain Kate.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =144--The Red Scalper.= By W. J. Hamilton. - =145--The Lone Chief.= By Jos. E. Badger, Jr. - =146--The Silver Bugle.= Lieut. Col. Hazleton. - =147--Chinga, the Cheyenne.= By Edward S. Ellis. Ready - =148--The Tangled Trail.= By Major Max Martine. Ready - =149--The Unseen Hand.= By J. Stanley Henderson. Ready - =150--The Lone Indian.= By Capt. Chas. Howard. Ready - =151--The Branded Brave.= By Paul Bibbs. Ready - =152--Billy Bowlegs, the Seminole Chief.= Ready April 20th. - =153--The Valley Scout.= By Seelin Robins. Ready May 4. - =154--Red Jacket, the Huron.= By Paul Bibbs. Ready May 18th. - - -BEADLE AND ADAMS, Publishers, 98 William Street, New York. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -A number of typographical errors were corrected silently. - -Cover image is in the public domain. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YELLOW HUNTER; OR, THE -WINDING TRAIL OF DEATH *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. 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