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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Trail, by Zane Grey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Last Trail
+
+Author: Zane Grey
+
+Posting Date: November 5, 2011 [EBook #9932]
+Release Date: February, 2006
+First Posted: November 1, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Audrey Longhurst, Tom Allen and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ZANE GREY
+
+The Last Trail
+
+MCMIX
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Twilight of a certain summer day, many years ago, shaded softly down
+over the wild Ohio valley bringing keen anxiety to a traveler on the
+lonely river trail. He had expected to reach Fort Henry with his party
+on this night, thus putting a welcome end to the long, rough,
+hazardous journey through the wilderness; but the swift, on-coming
+dusk made it imperative to halt. The narrow, forest-skirted trail,
+difficult to follow in broad daylight, apparently led into gloomy
+aisles in the woods. His guide had abandoned him that morning, making
+excuse that his services were no longer needed; his teamster was new
+to the frontier, and, altogether, the situation caused him much
+uneasiness.
+
+"I wouldn't so much mind another night in camp, if the guide had not
+left us," he said in a low tone to the teamster.
+
+That worthy shook his shaggy head, and growled while he began
+unhitching the horses.
+
+"Uncle," said a young man, who had clambered out from the wagon, "we
+must be within a few miles of Fort Henry."
+
+"How d'ye know we're near the fort?" interrupted the teamster, "or
+safe, either, fer thet matter? I don't know this country."
+
+"The guide assured me we could easily make Fort Henry by sundown."
+
+"Thet guide! I tell ye, Mr. Sheppard----"
+
+"Not so loud. Do not alarm my daughter," cautioned the man who had
+been called Sheppard.
+
+"Did ye notice anythin' queer about thet guide?" asked the teamster,
+lowering his voice. "Did ye see how oneasy he was last night? Did it
+strike ye he left us in a hurry, kind of excited like, in spite of his
+offhand manner?"
+
+"Yes, he acted odd, or so it seemed to me," replied Sheppard. "How
+about you, Will?"
+
+"Now that I think of it, I believe he was queer. He behaved like a man
+who expected somebody, or feared something might happen. I fancied,
+however, that it was simply the manner of a woodsman."
+
+"Wal, I hev my opinion," said the teamster, in a gruff whisper. "Ye
+was in a hurry to be a-goin', an' wouldn't take no advice. The
+fur-trader at Fort Pitt didn't give this guide Jenks no good send off.
+Said he wasn't well-known round Pitt, 'cept he could handle a
+knife some."
+
+"What is your opinion?" asked Sheppard, as the teamster paused.
+
+"Wal, the valley below Pitt is full of renegades, outlaws an'
+hoss-thieves. The redskins ain't so bad as they used to be, but these
+white fellers are wusser'n ever. This guide Jenks might be in with
+them, that's all. Mebbe I'm wrong. I hope so. The way he left us
+looks bad."
+
+"We won't borrow trouble. If we have come all this way without seeing
+either Indian or outlaw--in fact, without incident--I feel certain we
+can perform the remainder of the journey in safety." Then Mr. Sheppard
+raised his voice. "Here, Helen, you lazy girl, come out of that wagon.
+We want some supper. Will, you gather some firewood, and we'll soon
+give this gloomy little glen a more cheerful aspect."
+
+As Mr. Sheppard turned toward the canvas-covered wagon a girl leaped
+lightly down beside him. She was nearly as tall as he.
+
+"Is this Fort Henry?" she asked, cheerily, beginning to dance around
+him. "Where's the inn? I'm _so_ hungry. How glad I am to get out of
+that wagon! I'd like to run. Isn't this a lonesome, lovely spot?"
+
+A camp-fire soon crackled with hiss and sputter, and fragrant
+wood-smoke filled the air. Steaming kettle, and savory steaks of
+venison cheered the hungry travelers, making them forget for the time
+the desertion of their guide and the fact that they might be lost. The
+last glow faded entirely out of the western sky. Night enveloped the
+forest, and the little glade was a bright spot in the gloom.
+
+The flickering light showed Mr. Sheppard to be a well-preserved old
+man with gray hair and ruddy, kindly face. The nephew had a boyish,
+frank expression. The girl was a splendid specimen of womanhood. Her
+large, laughing eyes were as dark as the shadows beneath the trees.
+
+Suddenly a quick start on Helen's part interrupted the merry flow of
+conversation. She sat bolt upright with half-averted face.
+
+"Cousin, what is the matter?" asked Will, quickly.
+
+Helen remained motionless.
+
+"My dear," said Mr. Sheppard sharply.
+
+"I heard a footstep," she whispered, pointing with trembling finger
+toward the impenetrable blackness beyond the camp-fire.
+
+All could hear a soft patter on the leaves. Then distinct footfalls
+broke the silence.
+
+The tired teamster raised his shaggy head and glanced fearfully around
+the glade. Mr. Sheppard and Will gazed doubtfully toward the foliage;
+but Helen did not change her position. The travelers appeared stricken
+by the silence and solitude of the place. The faint hum of insects,
+and the low moan of the night wind, seemed accentuated by the almost
+painful stillness.
+
+"A panther, most likely," suggested Sheppard, in a voice which he
+intended should be reassuring. "I saw one to-day slinking along
+the trail."
+
+"I'd better get my gun from the wagon," said Will.
+
+"How dark and wild it is here!" exclaimed Helen nervously. "I believe
+I was frightened. Perhaps I fancied it--there! Again--listen. Ah!"
+
+Two tall figures emerged from the darkness into the circle of light,
+and with swift, supple steps gained the camp-fire before any of the
+travelers had time to move. They were Indians, and the brandishing of
+their tomahawks proclaimed that they were hostile.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted the taller savage, as he looked down upon the
+defenseless, frightened group.
+
+As the menacing figures stood in the glare of the fire gazing at the
+party with shifty eyes, they presented a frightful appearance. Fierce
+lineaments, all the more so because of bars of paint, the hideous,
+shaven heads adorned with tufts of hair holding a single feather,
+sinewy, copper-colored limbs suggestive of action and endurance, the
+general aspect of untamed ferocity, appalled the travelers and chilled
+their blood.
+
+Grunts and chuckles manifested the satisfaction with which the Indians
+fell upon the half-finished supper. They caused it to vanish with
+astonishing celerity, and resembled wolves rather than human beings in
+their greediness.
+
+Helen looked timidly around as if hoping to see those who would aid,
+and the savages regarded her with ill humor. A movement on the part of
+any member of the group caused muscular hands to steal toward the
+tomahawks.
+
+Suddenly the larger savage clutched his companion's knee. Then lifting
+his hatchet, shook it with a significant gesture in Sheppard's face,
+at the same time putting a finger on his lips to enjoin silence. Both
+Indians became statuesque in their immobility. They crouched in an
+attitude of listening, with heads bent on one side, nostrils dilated,
+and mouths open.
+
+One, two, three moments passed. The silence of the forest appeared to
+be unbroken; but ears as keen as those of a deer had detected some
+sound. The larger savage dropped noiselessly to the ground, where he
+lay stretched out with his ear to the ground. The other remained
+immovable; only his beady eyes gave signs of life, and these covered
+every point.
+
+Finally the big savage rose silently, pointed down the dark trail, and
+strode out of the circle of light. His companion followed close at his
+heels. The two disappeared in the black shadows like specters, as
+silently as they had come.
+
+"Well!" breathed Helen.
+
+"I am immensely relieved!" exclaimed Will.
+
+"What do you make of such strange behavior?" Sheppard asked of the
+teamster.
+
+"I'spect they got wind of somebody; most likely thet guide, an'll be
+back again. If they ain't, it's because they got switched off by some
+signs or tokens, skeered, perhaps, by the scent of the wind."
+
+Hardly had he ceased speaking when again the circle of light was
+invaded by stalking forms.
+
+"I thought so! Here comes the skulkin' varmints," whispered the
+teamster.
+
+But he was wrong. A deep, calm voice spoke the single word: "Friends."
+
+Two men in the brown garb of woodsmen approached. One approached the
+travelers; the other remained in the background, leaning upon a long,
+black rifle.
+
+Thus exposed to the glare of the flames, the foremost woodsman
+presented a singularly picturesque figure. His costume was the fringed
+buckskins of the border. Fully six feet tall, this lithe-limbed young
+giant had something of the wild, free grace of the Indian in
+his posture.
+
+He surveyed the wondering travelers with dark, grave eyes.
+
+"Did the reddys do any mischief?" he asked.
+
+"No, they didn't harm us," replied Sheppard. "They ate our supper,
+and slipped off into the woods without so much as touching one of us.
+But, indeed, sir, we are mighty glad to see you."
+
+Will echoed this sentiment, and Helen's big eyes were fastened upon
+the stranger in welcome and wonder.
+
+"We saw your fire blazin' through the twilight, an' came up just in
+time to see the Injuns make off."
+
+"Might they not hide in the bushes and shoot us?" asked Will, who had
+listened to many a border story at Fort Pitt. "It seems as if we'd
+make good targets in this light."
+
+The gravity of the woodsman's face relaxed.
+
+"You will pursue them?" asked Helen.
+
+"They've melted into the night-shadows long ago," he replied. "Who was
+your guide?"
+
+"I hired him at Fort Pitt. He left us suddenly this morning. A big
+man, with black beard and bushy eyebrows. A bit of his ear had been
+shot or cut out," Sheppard replied.
+
+"Jenks, one of Bing Legget's border-hawks."
+
+"You have his name right. And who may Bing Legget be?"
+
+"He's an outlaw. Jenks has been tryin' to lead you into a trap. Likely
+he expected those Injuns to show up a day or two ago. Somethin' went
+wrong with the plan, I reckon. Mebbe he was waitin' for five Shawnees,
+an' mebbe he'll never see three of 'em again."
+
+Something suggestive, cold, and grim, in the last words did not escape
+the listeners.
+
+"How far are we from Fort Henry?" asked Sheppard.
+
+"Eighteen miles as a crow flies; longer by trail."
+
+"Treachery!" exclaimed the old man. "We were no more than that this
+morning. It is indeed fortunate that you found us. I take it you are
+from Fort Henry, and will guide us there? I am an old friend of
+Colonel Zane's. He will appreciate any kindness you may show us. Of
+course you know him?"
+
+"I am Jonathan Zane."
+
+Sheppard suddenly realized that he was facing the most celebrated
+scout on the border. In Revolutionary times Zane's fame had extended
+even to the far Atlantic Colonies.
+
+"And your companion?" asked Sheppard with keen interest. He guessed
+what might be told. Border lore coupled Jonathan Zane with a strange
+and terrible character, a border Nemesis, a mysterious, shadowy,
+elusive man, whom few pioneers ever saw, but of whom all knew.
+
+"Wetzel," answered Zane.
+
+With one accord the travelers gazed curiously at Zane's silent
+companion. In the dim background of the glow cast by the fire, he
+stood a gigantic figure, dark, quiet, and yet with something
+intangible in his shadowy outline.
+
+Suddenly he appeared to merge into the gloom as if he really were a
+phantom. A warning, "Hist!" came from the bushes.
+
+With one swift kick Zane scattered the camp-fire.
+
+The travelers waited with bated breaths. They could hear nothing save
+the beating of their own hearts; they could not even see each other.
+
+"Better go to sleep," came in Zane's calm voice. What a relief it was!
+"We'll keep watch, an' at daybreak guide you to Fort Henry."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Colonel Zane, a rugged, stalwart pioneer, with a strong, dark face,
+sat listening to his old friend's dramatic story. At its close a
+genial smile twinkled in his fine dark eyes.
+
+"Well, well, Sheppard, no doubt it was a thrilling adventure to you,"
+he said. "It might have been a little more interesting, and doubtless
+would, had I not sent Wetzel and Jonathan to look you up."
+
+"You did? How on earth did you know I was on the border? I counted
+much on the surprise I should give you."
+
+"My Indian runners leave Fort Pitt ahead of any travelers, and
+acquaint me with particulars."
+
+"I remembered a fleet-looking Indian who seemed to be asking for
+information about us, when we arrived at Fort Pitt. I am sorry I did
+not take the fur-trader's advice in regard to the guide. But I was in
+such a hurry to come, and didn't feel able to bear the expense of a
+raft or boat that we might come by river. My nephew brought
+considerable gold, and I all my earthly possessions."
+
+"All's well that ends well," replied Colonel Zane cheerily. "But we
+must thank Providence that Wetzel and Jonathan came up in the nick
+of time."
+
+"Indeed, yes. I'm not likely to forget those fierce savages. How they
+slipped off into the darkness! I wonder if Wetzel pursued them? He
+disappeared last night, and we did not see him again. In fact we
+hardly had a fair look at him. I question if I should recognize him
+now, unless by his great stature."
+
+"He was ahead of Jonathan on the trail. That is Wetzel's way. In times
+of danger he is seldom seen, yet is always near. But come, let us go
+out and look around. I am running up a log cabin which will come in
+handy for you."
+
+They passed out into the shade of pine and maples. A winding path led
+down a gentle slope. On the hillside under a spreading tree a throng
+of bearded pioneers, clad in faded buckskins and wearing white-ringed
+coonskin caps, were erecting a log cabin.
+
+"Life here on the border is keen, hard, invigorating," said Colonel
+Zane. "I tell you, George Sheppard, in spite of your gray hair and
+your pretty daughter, you have come out West because you want to live
+among men who do things."
+
+"Colonel, I won't gainsay I've still got hot blood," replied Sheppard;
+"but I came to Fort Henry for land. My old home in Williamsburg has
+fallen into ruin together with the fortunes of my family. I brought my
+daughter and my nephew because I wanted them to take root in
+new soil."
+
+"Well, George, right glad we are to have you. Where are your sons? I
+remember them, though 'tis sixteen long years since I left old
+Williamsburg."
+
+"Gone. The Revolution took my sons. Helen is the last of the family."
+
+"Well, well, indeed that's hard. Independence has cost you colonists
+as big a price as border-freedom has us pioneers. Come, old friend,
+forget the past. A new life begins for you here, and it will be one
+which gives you much. See, up goes a cabin; that will soon be
+your home."
+
+Sheppard's eye marked the sturdy pioneers and a fast diminishing pile
+of white-oak logs.
+
+"Ho-heave!" cried a brawny foreman.
+
+A dozen stout shoulders sagged beneath a well-trimmed log.
+
+"Ho-heave!" yelled the foreman.
+
+"See, up she goes," cried the colonel, "and to-morrow night she'll
+shed rain."
+
+They walked down a sandy lane bounded on the right by a wide, green
+clearing, and on the left by a line of chestnuts and maples, outposts
+of the thick forests beyond.
+
+"Yours is a fine site for a house," observed Sheppard, taking in the
+clean-trimmed field that extended up the hillside, a brook that
+splashed clear and noisy over the stones to tarry in a little
+grass-bound lake which forced water through half-hollowed logs into a
+spring house.
+
+"I think so; this is the fourth time I've put up a' cabin on this
+land," replied the colonel.
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"The redskins are keen to burn things."
+
+Sheppard laughed at the pioneer's reply. "It's not difficult, Colonel
+Zane, to understand why Fort Henry has stood all these years, with you
+as its leader. Certainly the location for your cabin is the finest in
+the settlement. What a view!"
+
+High upon a bluff overhanging the majestic, slow-winding Ohio, the
+colonel's cabin afforded a commanding position from which to view the
+picturesque valley. Sheppard's eye first caught the outline of the
+huge, bold, time-blackened fort which frowned protectingly over
+surrounding log-cabins; then he saw the wide-sweeping river with its
+verdant islands, golden, sandy bars, and willow-bordered shores, while
+beyond, rolling pastures of wavy grass merging into green forests that
+swept upward with slow swell until lost in the dim purple of distant
+mountains.
+
+"Sixteen years ago I came out of the thicket upon yonder bluff, and
+saw this valley. I was deeply impressed by its beauty, but more by its
+wonderful promise."
+
+"Were you alone?"
+
+"I and my dog. There had been a few white men before me on the river;
+but I was the first to see this glorious valley from the bluff. Now,
+George, I'll let you have a hundred acres of well-cleared land. The
+soil is so rich you can raise two crops in one season. With some
+stock, and a few good hands, you'll soon be a busy man."
+
+"I didn't expect so much land; I can't well afford to pay for it."
+
+"Talk to me of payment when the farm yields an income. Is this young
+nephew of yours strong and willing?"
+
+"He is, and has gold enough to buy a big farm."
+
+"Let him keep his money, and make a comfortable home for some good
+lass. We marry our young people early out here. And your daughter,
+George, is she fitted for this hard border life?"
+
+"Never fear for Helen."
+
+"The brunt of this pioneer work falls on our women. God bless them,
+how heroic they've been! The life here is rough for a man, let alone a
+woman. But it is a man's game. We need girls, girls who will bear
+strong men. Yet I am always saddened when I see one come out on
+the border."
+
+"I think I knew what I was bringing Helen to, and she didn't flinch,"
+said Sheppard, somewhat surprised at the tone in which the
+colonel spoke.
+
+"No one knows until he has lived on the border. Well, well, all this
+is discouraging to you. Ah! here is Miss Helen with my sister."
+
+The colonel's fine, dark face lost its sternness, and brightened with
+a smile.
+
+"I hope you rested well after your long ride."
+
+"I am seldom tired, and I have been made most comfortable. I thank you
+and your sister," replied the girl, giving Colonel Zane her hand, and
+including both him and his sister in her grateful glance.
+
+The colonel's sister was a slender, handsome young woman, whose dark
+beauty showed to most effective advantage by the contrast with her
+companion's fair skin, golden hair, and blue eyes.
+
+Beautiful as was Helen Sheppard, it was her eyes that held Colonel
+Zane irresistibly. They were unusually large, of a dark purple-blue
+that changed, shaded, shadowed with her every thought.
+
+"Come, let us walk," Colonel Zane said abruptly, and, with Mr.
+Sheppard, followed the girls down the path. He escorted them to the
+fort, showed a long room with little squares cut in the rough-hewn
+logs, many bullet holes, fire-charred timbers, and dark stains,
+terribly suggestive of the pain and heroism which the defense of that
+rude structure had cost.
+
+Under Helen's eager questioning Colonel Zane yielded to his weakness
+for story-telling, and recited the history of the last siege of Fort
+Henry; how the renegade Girty swooped down upon the settlement with
+hundreds of Indians and British soldiers; how for three days of
+whistling bullets, flaming arrows, screeching demons, fire, smoke, and
+attack following attack, the brave defenders stood at their posts,
+there to die before yielding.
+
+"Grand!" breathed Helen, and her eyes glowed. "It was then Betty Zane
+ran with the powder? Oh! I've heard the story."
+
+"Let my sister tell you of that," said the colonel, smiling.
+
+"You! Was it you?" And Helen's eyes glowed brighter with the light of
+youth's glory in great deeds.
+
+"My sister has been wedded and widowed since then," said Colonel Zane,
+reading in Helen's earnest scrutiny of his sister's calm, sad face a
+wonder if this quiet woman could be the fearless and famed
+Elizabeth Zane.
+
+Impulsively Helen's hand closed softly over her companion's. Out of
+the girlish sympathetic action a warm friendship was born.
+
+"I imagine things do happen here," said Mr. Sheppard, hoping to hear
+more from Colonel Zane.
+
+The colonel smiled grimly.
+
+"Every summer during fifteen years has been a bloody one on the
+border. The sieges of Fort Henry, and Crawford's defeat, the biggest
+things we ever knew out here, are matters of history; of course you
+are familiar with them. But the numberless Indian forays and attacks,
+the women who have been carried into captivity by renegades, the
+murdered farmers, in fact, ceaseless war never long directed at any
+point, but carried on the entire length of the river, are matters
+known only to the pioneers. Within five miles of Fort Henry I can show
+you where the laurel bushes grow three feet high over the ashes of two
+settlements, and many a clearing where some unfortunate pioneer had
+staked his claim and thrown up a log cabin, only to die fighting for
+his wife and children. Between here and Fort Pitt there is only one
+settlement, Yellow Creek, and most of its inhabitants are survivors of
+abandoned villages farther up the river. Last summer we had the
+Moravian Massacre, the blackest, most inhuman deed ever committed.
+Since then Simon Girty and his bloody redskins have lain low."
+
+"You must always have had a big force," said Sheppard.
+
+"We've managed always to be strong enough, though there never were a
+large number of men here. During the last siege I had only forty in
+the fort, counting men, women and boys. But I had pioneers and women
+who could handle a rifle, and the best bordermen on the frontier."
+
+"Do you make a distinction between pioneers and bordermen?" asked
+Sheppard.
+
+"Indeed, yes. I am a pioneer; a borderman is an Indian hunter, or
+scout. For years my cabins housed Andrew Zane, Sam and John McCollock,
+Bill Metzar, and John and Martin Wetzel, all of whom are dead. Not one
+saved his scalp. Fort Henry is growing; it has pioneers, rivermen,
+soldiers, but only two bordermen. Wetzel and Jonathan are the only
+ones we have left of those great men."
+
+"They must be old," mused Helen, with a dreamy glow still in her eyes.
+
+"Well, Miss Helen, not in years, as you mean. Life here is old in
+experience; few pioneers, and no bordermen, live to a great age.
+Wetzel is about forty, and my brother Jonathan still a young man; but
+both are old in border lore."
+
+Earnestly, as a man who loves his subject, Colonel Zane told his
+listeners of these two most prominent characters of the border.
+Sixteen years previously, when but boys in years, they had cast in
+their lot with his, and journeyed over the Virginian Mountains, Wetzel
+to devote his life to the vengeful calling he had chosen, and Jonathan
+to give rein to an adventurous spirit and love of the wilds. By some
+wonderful chance, by cunning, woodcraft, or daring, both men had lived
+through the years of border warfare which had brought to a close the
+careers of all their contemporaries.
+
+For many years Wetzel preferred solitude to companionship; he roamed
+the wilderness in pursuit of Indians, his life-long foes, and seldom
+appeared at the settlement except to bring news of an intended raid of
+the savages. Jonathan also spent much time alone in the woods, or
+scouting along the river. But of late years a friendship had ripened
+between the two bordermen. Mutual interest had brought them together
+on the trail of a noted renegade, and when, after many long days of
+patient watching and persistent tracking, the outlaw paid an awful
+penalty for his bloody deeds, these lone and silent men were friends.
+
+Powerful in build, fleet as deer, fearless and tireless, Wetzel's
+peculiar bloodhound sagacity, ferocity, and implacability, balanced by
+Jonathan's keen intelligence and judgment caused these bordermen to
+become the bane of redmen and renegades. Their fame increased with
+each succeeding summer, until now the people of the settlement looked
+upon wonderful deeds of strength and of woodcraft as a matter of
+course, rejoicing in the power and skill with which these men
+were endowed.
+
+By common consent the pioneers attributed any mysterious deed, from
+the finding of a fat turkey on a cabin doorstep, to the discovery of a
+savage scalped and pulled from his ambush near a settler's spring, to
+Wetzel and Jonathan. All the more did they feel sure of this
+conclusion because the bordermen never spoke of their deeds. Sometimes
+a pioneer living on the outskirts of the settlement would be awakened
+in the morning by a single rifle shot, and on peering out would see a
+dead Indian lying almost across his doorstep, while beyond, in the
+dim, gray mist, a tall figure stealing away. Often in the twilight on
+a summer evening, while fondling his children and enjoying his smoke
+after a hard day's labor in the fields, this same settler would see
+the tall, dark figure of Jonathan Zane step noiselessly out of a
+thicket, and learn that he must take his family and flee at once to
+the fort for safety. When a settler was murdered, his children carried
+into captivity by Indians, and the wife given over to the power of
+some brutal renegade, tragedies wofully frequent on the border, Wetzel
+and Jonathan took the trail alone. Many a white woman was returned
+alive and, sometimes, unharmed to her relatives; more than one maiden
+lived to be captured, rescued, and returned to her lover, while almost
+numberless were the bones of brutal redmen lying in the deep and
+gloomy woods, or bleaching on the plains, silent, ghastly reminders of
+the stern justice meted out by these two heroes.
+
+"Such are my two bordermen, Miss Sheppard. The fort there, and all
+these cabins, would be only black ashes, save for them, and as for us,
+our wives and children--God only knows."
+
+"Haven't they wives and children, too?" asked Helen.
+
+"No," answered Colonel Zane, with his genial smile. "Such joys are not
+for bordermen."
+
+"Why not? Fine men like them deserve happiness," declared Helen.
+
+"It is necessary we have such," said the colonel simply, "and they
+cannot be bordermen unless free as the air blows. Wetzel and Jonathan
+have never had sweethearts. I believe Wetzel loved a lass once; but he
+was an Indian-killer whose hands were red with blood. He silenced his
+heart, and kept to his chosen, lonely life. Jonathan does not seem to
+realize that women exist to charm, to please, to be loved and married.
+Once we twitted him about his brothers doing their duty by the border,
+whereupon he flashed out: 'My life is the border's: my sweetheart is
+the North Star!'"
+
+Helen dreamily watched the dancing, dimpling waves that broke on the
+stones of the river shore. All unconscious of the powerful impression
+the colonel's recital had made upon her, she was feeling the greatness
+of the lives of these bordermen, and the glory it would now be for her
+to share with others the pride in their protection.
+
+"Say, Sheppard, look here," said Colonel Zane, on the return to his
+cabin, "that girl of yours has a pair of eyes. I can't forget the way
+they flashed! They'll cause more trouble here among my garrison than
+would a swarm of redskins."
+
+"No! You don't mean it! Out here in this wilderness?" queried Sheppard
+doubtfully.
+
+"Well, I do."
+
+"O Lord! What a time I've had with that girl! There was one man
+especially, back home, who made our lives miserable. He was rich and
+well born; but Helen would have none of him. He got around me, old
+fool that I am! Practically stole what was left of my estate, and
+gambled it away when Helen said she'd die before giving herself to
+him. It was partly on his account that I brought her away. Then there
+were a lot of moon-eyed beggars after her all the time, and she's
+young and full of fire. I hoped I'd marry her to some farmer out here,
+and end my days in peace."
+
+"Peace? With eyes like those? Never on this green earth," and Colonel
+Zane laughed as he slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry,
+old fellow. You can't help her having those changing dark-blue eyes
+any more than you can help being proud of them. They have won me,
+already, susceptible old backwoodsman! I'll help you with this
+spirited young lady. I've had experience, Sheppard, and don't you
+forget it. First, my sister, a Zane all through, which is saying
+enough. Then as sweet and fiery a little Indian princess as ever
+stepped in a beaded moccasin, and since, more than one beautiful,
+impulsive creature. Being in authority, I suppose it's natural that
+all the work, from keeping the garrison ready against an attack, to
+straightening out love affairs, should fall upon me. I'll take the
+care off your shoulders; I'll keep these young dare-devils from
+killing each other over Miss Helen's favors. I certainly--Hello! There
+are strangers at the gate. Something's up."
+
+Half a dozen rough-looking men had appeared from round the corner of
+the cabin, and halted at the gate.
+
+"Bill Elsing, and some of his men from Yellow Creek," said Colonel
+Zane, as he went toward the group.
+
+"Hullo, Kurnel," was the greeting of the foremost, evidently the
+leader. "We've lost six head of hosses over our way, an' are out
+lookin' 'em up."
+
+"The deuce you have! Say, this horse-stealing business is getting
+interesting. What did you come in for?"
+
+"Wal, we meets Jonathan on the ridge about sunup, an' he sent us back
+lickety-cut. Said he had two of the hosses corralled, an' mebbe Wetzel
+could git the others."
+
+"That's strange," replied Colonel Zane thoughtfully.
+
+"'Pears to me Jack and Wetzel hev some redskins treed, an' didn't want
+us to spile the fun. Mebbe there wasn't scalps enough to go round.
+Anyway, we come in, an' we'll hang up here to-day."
+
+"Bill, who's doing this horse-stealing?"
+
+"Damn if I know. It's a mighty pert piece of work. I've a mind it's
+some slick white fellar, with Injuns backin' him."
+
+Helen noted, when she was once more indoors, that Colonel Zane's wife
+appeared worried. Her usual placid expression was gone. She put off
+the playful overtures of her two bright boys with unusual
+indifference, and turned to her husband with anxious questioning as to
+whether the strangers brought news of Indians. Upon being assured that
+such was not the case, she looked relieved, and explained to Helen
+that she had seen armed men come so often to consult the colonel
+regarding dangerous missions and expeditions, that the sight of a
+stranger caused her unspeakable dread.
+
+"I am accustomed to danger, yet I can never control my fears for my
+husband and children," said Mrs. Zane. "The older I grow the more of a
+coward I am. Oh! this border life is sad for women. Only a little
+while ago my brother Samuel McColloch was shot and scalped right here
+on the river bank. He was going to the spring for a bucket of water. I
+lost another brother in almost the same way. Every day during the
+summer a husband and a father fall victim to some murderous Indian. My
+husband will go in the same way some day. The border claims them all."
+
+"Bessie, you must not show your fears to our new friend. And, Miss
+Helen, don't believe she's the coward she would make out," said the
+colonel's sister smilingly.
+
+"Betty is right, Bess, don't frighten her," said Colonel Zane. "I'm
+afraid I talked too much to-day. But, Miss Helen, you were so
+interested, and are such a good listener, that I couldn't refrain.
+Once for all let me say that you will no doubt see stirring life here;
+but there is little danger of its affecting you. To be sure I think
+you'll have troubles; but not with Indians or outlaws."
+
+He winked at his wife and sister. At first Helen did not understand
+his sally, but then she blushed red all over her fair face.
+
+Some time after that, while unpacking her belongings, she heard the
+clatter of horses' hoofs on the rocky road, accompanied by loud
+voices. Running to the window, she saw a group of men at the gate.
+
+"Miss Sheppard, will you come out?" called Colonel Zane's sister from
+the door. "My brother Jonathan has returned."
+
+Helen joined Betty at the door, and looked over her shoulder.
+
+"Wal, Jack, ye got two on 'em, anyways," drawled a voice which she
+recognized as that of Elsing's.
+
+A man, lithe and supple, slipped from the back of one of the horses,
+and, giving the halter to Elsing with a single word, turned and
+entered the gate. Colonel Zane met him there.
+
+"Well, Jonathan, what's up?"
+
+"There's hell to pay," was the reply, and the speaker's voice rang
+clear and sharp.
+
+Colonel Zane laid his hand on his brother's shoulder, and thus they
+stood for a moment, singularly alike, and yet the sturdy pioneer was,
+somehow, far different from the dark-haired borderman.
+
+"I thought we'd trouble in store from the look on your face," said the
+colonel calmly. "I hope you haven't very bad news on the first day,
+for our old friends from Virginia."
+
+"Jonathan," cried Betty when he did not answer the colonel. At her
+call he half turned, and his dark eyes, steady, strained like those of
+a watching deer, sought his sister's face.
+
+"Betty, old Jake Lane was murdered by horse thieves yesterday, and
+Mabel Lane is gone."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Betty; but she said nothing more.
+
+Colonel Zane cursed inaudibly.
+
+"You know, Eb, I tried to keep Lane in the settlement for Mabel's
+sake. But he wanted to work that farm. I believe horse-stealing wasn't
+as much of an object as the girl. Pretty women are bad for the border,
+or any other place, I guess. Wetzel has taken the trail, and I came in
+because I've serious suspicions--I'll explain to you alone."
+
+The borderman bowed gravely to Helen, with a natural grace, and yet a
+manner that sat awkwardly upon him. The girl, slightly flushed, and
+somewhat confused by this meeting with the man around whom her
+romantic imagination had already woven a story, stood in the doorway
+after giving him a fleeting glance, the fairest, sweetest picture of
+girlish beauty ever seen.
+
+The men went into the house; but their voices came distinctly through
+the door.
+
+"Eb, if Bing Legget or Girty ever see that big-eyed lass, they'll have
+her even if Fort Henry has to be burned, an' in case they do get her,
+Wetzel an' I'll have taken our last trail."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Supper over, Colonel Zane led his guests to a side porch, where they
+were soon joined by Mrs. Zane and Betty. The host's two boys, Noah and
+Sammy, who had preceded them, were now astride the porch-rail and, to
+judge by their antics, were riding wild Indian mustangs.
+
+"It's quite cool," said Colonel Zane; "but I want you to see the
+sunset in the valley. A good many of your future neighbors may come
+over to-night for a word of welcome. It's the border custom."
+
+He was about to seat himself by the side of Mr. Sheppard, on a rustic
+bench, when a Negro maid appeared in the doorway carrying a smiling,
+black-eyed baby. Colonel Zane took the child and, holding it aloft,
+said with fatherly pride:
+
+"This is Rebecca Zane, the first girl baby born to the Zanes, and
+destined to be the belle of the border."
+
+"May I have her?" asked Helen softly, holding out her arms. She took
+the child, and placed it upon her knee where its look of solemnity
+soon changed to one of infantile delight.
+
+"Here come Nell and Jim," said Mrs. Zane, pointing toward the fort.
+
+"Yes, and there comes my brother Silas with his wife, too," added
+Colonel Zane. "The first couple are James Douns, our young minister,
+and Nell, his wife. They came out here a year or so ago. James had a
+brother Joe, the finest young fellow who ever caught the border fever.
+He was killed by one of the Girtys. His was a wonderful story, and
+some day you shall hear about the parson and his wife."
+
+"What's the border fever?" asked Mr. Sheppard.
+
+"It's what brought you out here," replied Colonel Zane with a hearty
+laugh.
+
+Helen gazed with interest at the couple now coming into the yard, and
+when they gained the porch she saw that the man was big and tall, with
+a frank, manly bearing, while his wife was a slender little woman with
+bright, sunny hair, and a sweet, smiling face. They greeted Helen and
+her father cordially.
+
+Next came Silas Zane, a typical bronzed and bearded pioneer, with his
+buxom wife. Presently a little group of villagers joined the party.
+They were rugged men, clad in faded buckskins, and sober-faced women
+who wore dresses of plain gray linsey. They welcomed the newcomers
+with simple, homely courtesy. Then six young frontiersmen appeared
+from around a corner of the cabin, advancing hesitatingly. To Helen
+they all looked alike, tall, awkward, with brown faces and big hands.
+When Colonel Zane cheerily cried out to them, they stumbled forward
+with evident embarrassment, each literally crushing Helen's hand in
+his horny palm. Afterward they leaned on the rail and stole glances
+at her.
+
+Soon a large number of villagers were on the porch or in the yard.
+After paying their respects to Helen and her father they took part in
+a general conversation. Two or three girls, the latest callers, were
+surrounded by half a dozen young fellows, and their laughter sounded
+high above the hum of voices.
+
+Helen gazed upon this company with mingled feelings of relief and
+pleasure. She had been more concerned regarding the young people with
+whom her lot might be cast, than the dangers of which others had told.
+She knew that on the border there was no distinction of rank. Though
+she came of an old family, and, during her girlhood, had been
+surrounded by refinement, even luxury, she had accepted cheerfully the
+reverses of fortune, and was determined to curb the pride which had
+been hers. It was necessary she should have friends. Warm-hearted,
+impulsive and loving, she needed to have around her those in whom she
+could confide. Therefore it was with sincere pleasure she understood
+how groundless were her fears and knew that if she did not find good,
+true friends the fault would be her own. She saw at a glance that the
+colonel's widowed sister was her equal, perhaps her superior, in
+education and breeding, while Nellie Douns was as well-bred and
+gracious a little lady as she had ever met. Then, the other girls,
+too, were charming, with frank wholesomeness and freedom.
+
+Concerning the young men, of whom there were about a dozen, Helen had
+hardly arrived at a conclusion. She liked the ruggedness, the signs of
+honest worth which clung to them. Despite her youth, she had been much
+sought after because of her personal attractions, and had thus added
+experience to the natural keen intuition all women possess. The
+glances of several of the men, particularly the bold regard of one
+Roger Brandt, whom Colonel Zane introduced, she had seen before, and
+learned to dislike. On the whole, however, she was delighted with the
+prospect of new friends and future prosperity, and she felt even
+greater pleasure in the certainty that her father shared her
+gratification.
+
+Suddenly she became aware that the conversation had ceased. She looked
+up to see the tall, lithe form of Jonathan Zane as he strode across
+the porch. She could see that a certain constraint had momentarily
+fallen upon the company. It was an involuntary acknowledgment of the
+borderman's presence, of a presence that worked on all alike with a
+subtle, strong magnetism.
+
+"Ah, Jonathan, come out to see the sunset? It's unusually fine
+to-night," said Colonel Zane.
+
+With hardly more than a perceptible bow to those present, the
+borderman took a seat near the rail, and, leaning upon it, directed
+his gaze westward.
+
+Helen sat so near she could have touched him. She was conscious of the
+same strange feeling, and impelling sense of power, which had come
+upon her so strongly at first sight of him. More than that, a lively
+interest had been aroused in her. This borderman was to her a new and
+novel character. She was amused at learning that here was a young man
+absolutely indifferent to the charms of the opposite sex, and although
+hardly admitting such a thing, she believed it would be possible to
+win him from his indifference. On raising her eyelids, it was with the
+unconcern which a woman feigns when suspecting she is being regarded
+with admiring eyes. But Jonathan Zane might not have known of her
+presence, for all the attention he paid her. Therefore, having a good
+opportunity to gaze at this borderman of daring deeds, Helen regarded
+him closely.
+
+He was clad from head to foot in smooth, soft buckskin which fitted
+well his powerful frame. Beaded moccasins, leggings bound high above
+the knees, hunting coat laced and fringed, all had the neat, tidy
+appearance due to good care. He wore no weapons. His hair fell in a
+raven mass over his shoulders. His profile was regular, with a long,
+straight nose, strong chin, and eyes black as night. They were now
+fixed intently on the valley. The whole face gave an impression of
+serenity, of calmness.
+
+Helen was wondering if the sad, almost stern, tranquility of that face
+ever changed, when the baby cooed and held out its chubby little
+hands. Jonathan's smile, which came quickly, accompanied by a warm
+light in the eyes, relieved Helen of an unaccountable repugnance she
+had begun to feel toward the borderman. That smile, brief as a flash,
+showed his gentle kindness and told that he was not a creature who had
+set himself apart from human life and love.
+
+As he took little Rebecca, one of his hands touched Helen's. If he had
+taken heed of the contact, as any ordinary man might well have, she
+would, perhaps, have thought nothing about it, but because he did not
+appear to realize that her hand had been almost inclosed in his, she
+could not help again feeling his singular personality. She saw that
+this man had absolutely no thought of her. At the moment this did not
+awaken resentment, for with all her fire and pride she was not vain;
+but amusement gave place to a respect which came involuntarily.
+
+Little Rebecca presently manifested the faithlessness peculiar to her
+sex, and had no sooner been taken upon Jonathan's knee than she cried
+out to go back to Helen.
+
+"Girls are uncommon coy critters," said he, with a grave smile in his
+eyes. He handed back the child, and once more was absorbed in the
+setting sun.
+
+Helen looked down the valley to behold the most beautiful spectacle
+she had ever seen. Between the hills far to the west, the sky flamed
+with a red and gold light. The sun was poised above the river, and the
+shimmering waters merged into a ruddy horizon. Long rays of crimson
+fire crossed the smooth waters. A few purple clouds above caught the
+refulgence, until aided by the delicate rose and blue space beyond,
+they became many hued ships sailing on a rainbow sea. Each second saw
+a gorgeous transformation. Slowly the sun dipped into the golden
+flood; one by one the clouds changed from crimson to gold, from gold
+to rose, and then to gray; slowly all the tints faded until, as the
+sun slipped out of sight, the brilliance gave way to the soft
+afterglow of warm lights. These in turn slowly toned down into
+gray twilight.
+
+Helen retired to her room soon afterward, and, being unusually
+thoughtful, sat down by the window. She reviewed the events of this
+first day of her new life on the border. Her impressions had been so
+many, so varied, that she wanted to distinguish them. First she felt
+glad, with a sweet, warm thankfulness, that her father seemed so
+happy, so encouraged by the outlook. Breaking old ties had been, she
+knew, no child's play for him. She realized also that it had been done
+solely because there had been nothing left to offer her in the old
+home, and in a new one were hope and possibilities. Then she was
+relieved at getting away from the attentions of a man whose
+persistence had been most annoying to her. From thoughts of her
+father, and the old life, she came to her new friends of the present.
+She was so grateful for their kindness. She certainly would do all in
+her power to win and keep their esteem.
+
+Somewhat of a surprise was it to her, that she reserved for Jonathan
+Zane the last and most prominent place in her meditations. She
+suddenly asked herself how she regarded this fighting borderman. She
+recalled her unbounded enthusiasm for the man as Colonel Zane had told
+of him; then her first glimpse, and her surprise and admiration at the
+lithe-limbed young giant; then incredulity, amusement, and respect
+followed in swift order, after which an unaccountable coldness that
+was almost resentment. Helen was forced to admit that she did not know
+how to regard him, but surely he was a man, throughout every inch of
+his superb frame, and one who took life seriously, with neither
+thought nor time for the opposite sex. And this last brought a blush
+to her cheek, for she distinctly remembered she had expected, if not
+admiration, more than passing notice from this hero of the border.
+
+Presently she took a little mirror from a table near where she sat.
+Holding it to catch the fast-fading light, she studied her face
+seriously.
+
+"Helen Sheppard, I think on the occasion of your arrival in a new
+country a little plain talk will be wholesome. Somehow or other,
+perhaps because of a crowd of idle men back there in the colonies,
+possibly from your own misguided fancy, you imagined you were fair to
+look at. It is well to be undeceived."
+
+Scorn spoke in Helen's voice. She was angry because of having been
+interested in a man, and allowed that interest to betray her into a
+girlish expectation that he would treat her as all other men had. The
+mirror, even in the dim light, spoke more truly than she, for it
+caught the golden tints of her luxuriant hair, the thousand beautiful
+shadows in her great, dark eyes, the white glory of a face fair as a
+star, and the swelling outline of neck and shoulders.
+
+With a sudden fiery impetuosity she flung the glass to the floor,
+where it was broken into several pieces.
+
+"How foolish of me! What a temper I have!" she exclaimed repentantly.
+"I'm glad I have another glass. Wouldn't Mr. Jonathan Zane, borderman,
+Indian fighter, hero of a hundred battles and never a sweetheart, be
+flattered? No, most decidedly he wouldn't. He never looked at me. I
+don't think I expected that; I'm sure I didn't want it; but still he
+might have--Oh! what am I thinking, and he a stranger?"
+
+Before Helen lost herself in slumber on that eventful evening, she
+vowed to ignore the borderman; assured herself that she did not want
+to see him again, and, rather inconsistently, that she would cure him
+of his indifference.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Colonel Zane's guests had retired, and the villagers were gone to
+their homes, he was free to consult with Jonathan.
+
+"Well, Jack," he said, "I'm ready to hear about the horse thieves."
+
+"Wetzel makes it out the man who's runnin' this hoss-stealin' is
+located right here in Fort Henry," answered the borderman.
+
+The colonel had lived too long on the frontier to show surprise; he
+hummed a tune while the genial expression faded slowly from his face.
+
+"Last count there were one hundred and ten men at the fort," he
+replied thoughtfully. "I know over a hundred, and can trust them.
+There are some new fellows on the boats, and several strangers hanging
+round Metzar's."
+
+"'Pears to Lew an' me that this fellar is a slick customer, an' one
+who's been here long enough to know our hosses an' where we
+keep them."
+
+"I see. Like Miller, who fooled us all, even Betty, when he stole our
+powder and then sold us to Girty," rejoined Colonel Zane grimly.
+
+"Exactly, only this fellar is slicker an' more desperate than Miller."
+
+"Right you are, Jack, for the man who is trusted and betrays us, must
+be desperate. Does he realize what he'll get if we ever find out, or
+is he underrating us?"
+
+"He knows all right, an' is matchin' his cunnin' against our'n."
+
+"Tell me what you and Wetzel learned."
+
+The borderman proceeded to relate the events that had occurred during
+a recent tramp in the forest with Wetzel. While returning from a hunt
+in a swamp several miles over the ridge, back of Fort Henry, they ran
+across the trail of three Indians. They followed this until darkness
+set in, when both laid down to rest and wait for the early dawn, that
+time most propitious for taking the savage by surprise. On resuming
+the trail they found that other Indians had joined the party they were
+tracking. To the bordermen this was significant of some unusual
+activity directed toward the settlement. Unable to learn anything
+definite from the moccasin traces, they hurried up on the trail to
+find that the Indians had halted.
+
+Wetzel and Jonathan saw from their covert that the savages had a woman
+prisoner. A singular feature about it all was that the Indians
+remained in the same place all day, did not light a camp-fire, and
+kept a sharp lookout. The bordermen crept up as close as safe, and
+remained on watch during the day and night.
+
+Early next morning, when the air was fading from black to gray, the
+silence was broken by the snapping of twigs and a tremor of the
+ground. The bordermen believed another company of Indians was
+approaching; but they soon saw it was a single white man leading a
+number of horses. He departed before daybreak. Wetzel and Jonathan
+could not get a clear view of him owing to the dim light; but they
+heard his voice, and afterwards found the imprint of his moccasins.
+They did, however, recognize the six horses as belonging to settlers
+in Yellow Creek.
+
+While Jonathan and Wetzel were consulting as to what it was best to
+do, the party of Indians divided, four going directly west, and the
+others north. Wetzel immediately took the trail of the larger party
+with the prisoner and four of the horses. Jonathan caught two of the
+animals which the Indians had turned loose, and tied them in the
+forest. He then started after the three Indians who had gone
+northward.
+
+"Well?" Colonel Zane said impatiently, when Jonathan hesitated in his
+story.
+
+"One got away," he said reluctantly. "I barked him as he was runnin'
+like a streak through the bushes, an' judged that he was hard hit. I
+got the hosses, an' turned back on the trail of the white man."
+
+"Where did it end?"
+
+"In that hard-packed path near the blacksmith shop. An' the fellar
+steps as light as an Injun."
+
+"He's here, then, sure as you're born. We've lost no horses yet, but
+last week old Sam heard a noise in the barn, and on going there found
+Betty's mare out of her stall."
+
+"Some one as knows the lay of the land had been after her," suggested
+Jonathan.
+
+"You can bet on that. We've got to find him before we lose all the
+fine horse-flesh we own. Where do these stolen animals go? Indians
+would steal any kind; but this thief takes only the best."
+
+"I'm to meet Wetzel on the ridge soon, an' then we'll know, for he's
+goin' to find out where the hosses are taken."
+
+"That'll help some. On the way back you found where the white girl had
+been taken from. Murdered father, burned cabin, the usual deviltry."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Poor Mabel! Do you think this white thief had anything to do with
+carrying her away?"
+
+"No. Wetzel says that's Bing Legget's work. The Shawnees were members
+of his gang."
+
+"Well, Jack, what'll I do?"
+
+"Keep quiet an' wait," was the borderman's answer.
+
+Colonel Zane, old pioneer and frontiersman though he was, shuddered as
+he went to his room. His brother's dark look, and his deadly calmness,
+were significant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+To those few who saw Jonathan Zane in the village, it seemed as if he
+was in his usual quiet and dreamy state. The people were accustomed to
+his silence, and long since learned that what little time he spent in
+the settlement was not given to sociability. In the morning he
+sometimes lay with Colonel Zane's dog, Chief, by the side of a spring
+under an elm tree, and in the afternoon strolled aimlessly along the
+river bluff, or on the hillside. At night he sat on his brother's
+porch smoking a long Indian pipe. Since that day, now a week past,
+when he had returned with the stolen horses, his movements and habits
+were precisely what would have been expected of an unsuspicious
+borderman.
+
+In reality, however, Jonathan was not what he seemed. He knew all that
+was going on in the settlement. Hardly a bird could have entered the
+clearing unobserved.
+
+At night, after all the villagers were in bed, he stole cautiously
+about the stockade, silencing with familiar word the bristling
+watch-hounds, and went from barn to barn, ending his stealthy tramp at
+the corral where Colonel Zane kept his thoroughbreds.
+
+But all this scouting by night availed nothing. No unusual event
+occurred, not even the barking of a dog, a suspicious rustling among
+the thickets, or whistling of a night-hawk had been heard.
+
+Vainly the borderman strained ears to catch some low night-signal
+given by waiting Indians to the white traitor within the settlement.
+By day there was even less to attract the sharp-eyed watcher. The
+clumsy river boats, half raft, half sawn lumber, drifted down the Ohio
+on their first and last voyage, discharged their cargoes of grain,
+liquor, or merchandise, and were broken up. Their crews came back on
+the long overland journey to Fort Pitt, there to man another craft.
+The garrison at the fort performed their customary duties; the
+pioneers tilled the fields; the blacksmith scattered sparks, the
+wheelwright worked industriously at his bench, and the housewives
+attended to their many cares. No strangers arrived at Fort Henry. The
+quiet life of the village was uninterrupted.
+
+Near sunset of a long day Jonathan strolled down the sandy,
+well-trodden path toward Metzar's inn. He did not drink, and
+consequently seldom visited the rude, dark, ill-smelling bar-room.
+When occasion demanded his presence there, he was evidently not
+welcome. The original owner, a sturdy soldier and pioneer, came to
+Fort Henry when Colonel Zane founded the settlement, and had been
+killed during Girty's last attack. His successor, another Metzar, was,
+according to Jonathan's belief, as bad as the whiskey he dispensed.
+More than one murder had been committed at the inn; countless fatal
+knife and tomahawk fights had stained red the hard clay floor; and
+more than one desperate character had been harbored there. Once
+Colonel Zane sent Wetzel there to invite a thief and outlaw to quit
+the settlement, with the not unexpected result that it became
+necessary the robber be carried out.
+
+Jonathan thought of the bad name the place bore all over the frontier,
+and wondered if Metzar could tell anything about the horse-thieves.
+When the borderman bent his tall frame to enter the low-studded door
+he fancied he saw a dark figure disappear into a room just behind the
+bar. A roughly-clad, heavily-bearded man turned hastily at the
+same moment.
+
+"Hullo," he said gruffly.
+
+"H' are you, Metzar. I just dropped in to see if I could make a trade
+for your sorrel mare," replied Jonathan. Being well aware that the
+innkeeper would not part with his horse, the borderman had made this
+announcement as his reason for entering the bar-room.
+
+"Nope, I'll allow you can't," replied Metzar.
+
+As he turned to go, Jonathan's eyes roamed around the bar-room.
+Several strangers of shiftless aspect bleared at him.
+
+"They wouldn't steal a pumpkin," muttered Jonathan to himself as he
+left the inn. Then he added suspiciously, "Metzar was talkin' to some
+one, an' 'peared uneasy. I never liked Metzar. He'll bear watchin'."
+
+The borderman passed on down the path thinking of what he had heard
+against Metzar. The colonel had said that the man was prosperous for
+an innkeeper who took pelts, grain or meat in exchange for rum. The
+village gossips disliked him because he was unmarried, taciturn, and
+did not care for their company. Jonathan reflected also on the fact
+that Indians were frequently coming to the inn, and this made him
+distrustful of the proprietor. It was true that Colonel Zane had
+red-skinned visitors, but there was always good reason for their
+coming. Jonathan had seen, during the Revolution, more than one
+trusted man proven to be a traitor, and the conviction settled upon
+him that some quiet scouting would show up the innkeeper as aiding the
+horse-thieves if not actually in league with them.
+
+"Good evening, Jonathan Zane."
+
+This greeting in a woman's clear voice brought Jonathan out from his
+reveries. He glanced up to see Helen Sheppard standing in the doorway
+of her father's cabin.
+
+"Evenin', miss," he said with a bow, and would have passed on.
+
+"Wait," she cried, and stepped out of the door.
+
+He waited by the gate with a manner which showed that such a summons
+was novel to him.
+
+Helen, piqued at his curt greeting, had asked him to wait without any
+idea of what she would say. Coming slowly down the path she felt again
+a subtle awe of this borderman. Regretting her impulsiveness, she lost
+confidence.
+
+Gaining the gate she looked up intending to speak; but was unable to
+do so as she saw how cold and grave was his face, and how piercing
+were his eyes. She flushed slightly, and then, conscious of an
+embarrassment new and strange to her, blushed rosy red, making, as it
+seemed to her, a stupid remark about the sunset. When he took her
+words literally, and said the sunset was fine, she felt guilty of
+deceitfulness. Whatever Helen's faults, and they were many, she was
+honest, and because of not having looked at the sunset, but only
+wanting him to see her as did other men, the innocent ruse suddenly
+appeared mean and trifling.
+
+Then, with a woman's quick intuition, she understood that coquetries
+were lost on this borderman, and, with a smile, got the better of her
+embarrassment and humiliation by telling the truth.
+
+"I wanted to ask a favor of you, and I'm a little afraid."
+
+She spoke with girlish shyness, which increased as he stared at her.
+
+"Why--why do you look at me so?"
+
+"There's a lake over yonder which the Shawnees say is haunted by a
+woman they killed," he replied quietly. "You'd do for her spirit, so
+white an' beautiful in the silver moonlight."
+
+"So my white dress makes me look ghostly," she answered lightly,
+though deeply conscious of surprise and pleasure at such an unexpected
+reply from him. This borderman might be full of surprises. "Such a
+time as I had bringing my dresses out here! I don't know when I can
+wear them. This is the simplest one."
+
+"An' it's mighty new an' bewilderin' for the border," he replied with
+a smile in his eyes.
+
+"When these are gone I'll get no more except linsey ones," she said
+brightly, yet her eyes shone with a wistful uncertainty of the future.
+
+"Will you be happy here?"
+
+"I am happy. I have always wanted to be of some use in the world. I
+assure you, Master Zane, I am not the butterfly I seem. I have worked
+hard all day, that is, until your sister Betty came over. All the
+girls have helped me fix up the cabin until it's more comfortable than
+I ever dreamed one could be on the frontier. Father is well content
+here, and that makes me happy. I haven't had time for forebodings. The
+young men of Fort Henry have been--well, attentive; in fact, they've
+been here all the time."
+
+She laughed a little at this last remark, and looked demurely at him.
+
+"It's a frontier custom," he said.
+
+"Oh, indeed? Do all the young men call often and stay late?"
+
+"They do."
+
+"You didn't," she retorted. "You're the only one who hasn't been to
+see me."
+
+"I do not wait on the girls," he replied with a grave smile.
+
+"Oh, you don't? Do you expect them to wait on you?" she asked,
+feeling, now she had made this silent man talk, once more at her ease.
+
+"I am a borderman," replied Jonathan. There was a certain dignity or
+sadness in his answer which reminded Helen of Colonel Zane's portrayal
+of a borderman's life. It struck her keenly. Here was this young giant
+standing erect and handsome before her, as rugged as one of the ash
+trees of his beloved forest. Who could tell when his strong life might
+be ended by an Indian's hatchet?
+
+"For you, then, is there no such thing as friendship?" she asked.
+
+"On the border men are serious."
+
+This recalled his sister's conversation regarding the attentions of
+the young men, that they would follow her, fight for her, and give her
+absolutely no peace until one of them had carried her to his cabin
+a bride.
+
+She could not carry on the usual conventional conversation with this
+borderman, but remained silent for a time. She realized more keenly
+than ever before how different he was from other men, and watched
+closely as he stood gazing out over the river. Perhaps something she
+had said caused him to think of the many pleasures and joys he missed.
+But she could not be certain what was in his mind. She was not
+accustomed to impassive faces and cold eyes with unlit fires in their
+dark depths. More likely he was thinking of matters nearer to his
+wild, free life; of his companion Wetzel somewhere out beyond those
+frowning hills. Then she remembered that the colonel had told her of
+his brother's love for nature in all its forms; how he watched the
+shades of evening fall; lost himself in contemplation of the last
+copper glow flushing the western sky, or became absorbed in the bright
+stars. Possibly he had forgotten her presence. Darkness was rapidly
+stealing down upon them. The evening, tranquil and gray, crept over
+them with all its mystery. He was a part of it. She could not hope to
+understand him; but saw clearly that his was no common personality.
+She wanted to speak, to voice a sympathy strong within her; but she
+did not know what to say to this borderman.
+
+"If what your sister tells me of the border is true, I may soon need a
+friend," she said, after weighing well her words. She faced him
+modestly yet bravely, and looked him straight in the eyes. Because he
+did not reply she spoke again.
+
+"I mean such a friend as you or Wetzel."
+
+"You may count on both," he replied.
+
+"Thank you," she said softly, giving him her hand. "I shall not
+forget. One more thing. Will you break a borderman's custom, for
+my sake?"
+
+"How?"
+
+"Come to see me when you are in the settlement?"
+
+Helen said this in a low voice with just a sob in her breath; but she
+met his gaze fairly. Her big eyes were all aglow, alight with girlish
+appeal, and yet proud with a woman's honest demand for fair exchange.
+Promise was there, too, could he but read it, of wonderful
+possibilities.
+
+"No," he answered gently.
+
+Helen was not prepared for such a rebuff. She was interested in him,
+and not ashamed to show it. She feared only that he might
+misunderstand her; but to refuse her proffered friendship, that was
+indeed unexpected. Rude she thought it was, while from brow to curving
+throat her fair skin crimsoned. Then her face grew pale as the
+moonlight. Hard on her resentment had surged the swell of some new
+emotion strong and sweet. He refused her friendship because he did not
+dare accept it; because his life was not his own; because he was a
+borderman.
+
+While they stood thus, Jonathan looking perplexed and troubled,
+feeling he had hurt her, but knowing not what to say, and Helen with a
+warm softness in her eyes, the stalwart figure of a man loomed out of
+the gathering darkness.
+
+"Ah, Miss Helen! Good evening," he said.
+
+"Is it you, Mr. Brandt?" asked Helen. "Of course you know Mr. Zane."
+
+Brandt acknowledged Jonathan's bow with an awkwardness which had
+certainly been absent in his greeting to Helen. He started slightly
+when she spoke the borderman's name.
+
+A brief pause ensued.
+
+"Good night," said Jonathan, and left them.
+
+He had noticed Brandt's gesture of surprise, slight though it was, and
+was thinking about it as he walked away. Brandt may have been
+astonished at finding a borderman talking to a girl, and certainly, as
+far as Jonathan was concerned, the incident was without precedent.
+But, on the other hand, Brandt may have had another reason, and
+Jonathan tried to study out what it might be.
+
+He gave but little thought to Helen. That she might like him
+exceedingly well, did not come into his mind. He remembered his sister
+Betty's gossip regarding Helen and her admirers, and particularly
+Roger Brandt; but felt no great concern; he had no curiosity to know
+more of her. He admired Helen because she was beautiful, yet the
+feeling was much the same he might have experienced for a graceful
+deer, a full-foliaged tree, or a dark mossy-stoned bend in a murmuring
+brook. The girl's face and figure, perfect and alluring as they were,
+had not awakened him from his indifference.
+
+On arriving at his brother's home, he found the colonel and Betty
+sitting on the porch.
+
+"Eb, who is this Brandt?" he asked.
+
+"Roger Brandt? He's a French-Canadian; came here from Detroit a year
+ago. Why do you ask?"
+
+"I want to know more about him."
+
+Colonel Zane reflected a moment, first as to this unusual request from
+Jonathan, and secondly in regard to what little he really did know of
+Roger Brandt.
+
+"Well, Jack, I can't tell you much; nothing of him before he showed up
+here. He says he has been a pioneer, hunter, scout, soldier,
+trader--everything. When he came to the fort we needed men. It was
+just after Girty's siege, and all the cabins had been burned. Brandt
+seemed honest, and was a good fellow. Besides, he had gold. He started
+the river barges, which came from Fort Pitt. He has surely done the
+settlement good service, and has prospered. I never talked a dozen
+times to him, and even then, not for long. He appears to like the
+young people, which is only natural. That's all I know; Betty might
+tell you more, for he tried to be attentive to her."
+
+"Did he, Betty?" Jonathan asked.
+
+"He followed me until I showed him I didn't care for company,"
+answered Betty.
+
+"What kind of a man is he?"
+
+"Jack, I know nothing against him, although I never fancied him. He's
+better educated than the majority of frontiersmen; he's good-natured
+and agreeable, and the people like him."
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+Betty looked surprised at his blunt question, and then said with a
+laugh: "I never tried to reason why; but since you have spoken I
+believe my dislike was instinctive."
+
+After Betty had retired to her room the brothers remained on the porch
+smoking.
+
+"Betty's pretty keen, Jack. I never knew her to misjudge a man. Why
+this sudden interest in Roger Brandt?"
+
+The borderman puffed his pipe in silence.
+
+"Say, Jack," Colonel Zane said suddenly, "do you connect Brandt in any
+way with this horse-stealing?"
+
+"No more than some, an' less than others," replied Jonathan curtly.
+
+Nothing more was said for a time. To the brothers this hour of early
+dusk brought the same fullness of peace. From gray twilight to gloomy
+dusk quiet reigned. The insects of night chirped and chorused with
+low, incessant hum. From out the darkness came the peeping of frogs.
+
+Suddenly the borderman straightened up, and, removing the pipe from
+his mouth, turned his ear to the faint breeze, while at the same time
+one hand closed on the colonel's knee with a warning clutch.
+
+Colonel Zane knew what that clutch signified. Some faint noise, too
+low for ordinary ears, had roused the borderman. The colonel listened,
+but heard nothing save the familiar evening sounds.
+
+"Jack, what'd you hear?" he whispered.
+
+"Somethin' back of the barn," replied Jonathan, slipping noiselessly
+off the steps, lying at full length with his ear close to the ground.
+"Where's the dog?" he asked.
+
+"Chief must have gone with Sam. The old nigger sometimes goes at this
+hour to see his daughter."
+
+Jonathan lay on the grass several moments; then suddenly he arose much
+as a bent sapling springs to place.
+
+"I hear footsteps. Get the rifles," he said in a fierce whisper.
+
+"Damn! There is some one in the barn."
+
+"No; they're outside. Hurry, but softly."
+
+Colonel Zane had but just risen to his feet, when Mrs. Zane came to
+the door and called him by name.
+
+Instantly from somewhere in the darkness overhanging the road, came a
+low, warning whistle.
+
+"A signal!" exclaimed Colonel Zane.
+
+"Quick, Eb! Look toward Metzar's light. One, two, three,
+shadows--Injuns!"
+
+"By the Lord Harry! Now they're gone; but I couldn't mistake those
+round heads and bristling feathers."
+
+"Shawnees!" said the borderman, and his teeth shut hard like steel on
+flint.
+
+"Jack, they were after the horses, and some one was on the lookout! By
+God! right under our noses!"
+
+"Hurry," cried Jonathan, pulling his brother off the porch.
+
+Colonel Zane followed the borderman out of the yard, into the road,
+and across the grassy square.
+
+"We might find the one who gave the signal," said the colonel. "He was
+near at hand, and couldn't have passed the house."
+
+Colonel Zane was correct, for whoever had whistled would be forced to
+take one of two ways of escape; either down the straight road ahead,
+or over the high stockade fence of the fort.
+
+"There he goes," whispered Jonathan.
+
+"Where? I can't see a blamed thing."
+
+"Go across the square, run around the fort, an' head him off on the
+road. Don't try to stop him for he'll have weapons, just find out
+who he is."
+
+"I see him now," replied Colonel Zane, as he hurried off into the
+darkness.
+
+During a few moments Jonathan kept in view the shadow he had seen
+first come out of the gloom by the stockade, and thence pass swiftly
+down the road. He followed swiftly, silently. Presently a light beyond
+threw a glare across the road. He thought he was approaching a yard
+where there was a fire, and the flames proved to be from pine cones
+burning in the yard of Helen Sheppard. He remembered then that she was
+entertaining some of the young people.
+
+The figure he was pursuing did not pass the glare. Jonathan made
+certain it disappeared before reaching the light, and he knew his
+eyesight too well not to trust to it absolutely. Advancing nearer the
+yard, he heard the murmur of voices in gay conversation, and soon saw
+figures moving about under the trees.
+
+No doubt was in his mind but that the man who gave the signal to warn
+the Indians, was one of Helen Sheppard's guests.
+
+Jonathan had walked across the street then down the path, before he
+saw the colonel coming from the opposite direction. Halting under a
+maple he waited for his brother to approach.
+
+"I didn't meet any one. Did you lose him?" whispered Colonel Zane
+breathlessly.
+
+"No; he's in there."
+
+"That's Sheppard's place. Do you mean he's hiding there?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Colonel Zane swore, as was his habit when exasperated. Kind and
+generous man that he was, it went hard with him to believe in the
+guilt of any of the young men he had trusted. But Jonathan had said
+there was a traitor among them, and Colonel Zane did not question this
+assertion. He knew the borderman. During years full of strife, and
+war, and blood had he lived beside this silent man who said little,
+but that little was the truth. Therefore Colonel Zane gave way
+to anger.
+
+"Well, I'm not so damned surprised! What's to be done?"
+
+"Find out what men are there?"
+
+"That's easy. I'll go to see George and soon have the truth."
+
+"Won't do," said the borderman decisively. "Go back to the barn, an'
+look after the hosses."
+
+When Colonel Zane had obeyed Jonathan dropped to his hands and knees,
+and swiftly, with the agile movements of an Indian, gained a corner of
+the Sheppard yard. He crouched in the shade of a big plum tree. Then,
+at a favorable opportunity, vaulted the fence and disappeared under a
+clump of lilac bushes.
+
+The evening wore away no more tediously to the borderman, than to
+those young frontiersmen who were whispering tender or playful words
+to their partners. Time and patience were the same to Jonathan Zane.
+He lay hidden under the fragrant lilacs, his eyes, accustomed to the
+dark from long practice, losing no movement of the guests. Finally it
+became evident that the party was at an end. One couple took the
+initiative, and said good night to their hostess.
+
+"Tom Bennet, I hope it's not you," whispered the borderman to himself,
+as he recognized the young fellow.
+
+A general movement followed, until the merry party were assembled
+about Helen near the front gate.
+
+"Jim Morrison, I'll bet it's not you," was Jonathan's comment. "That
+soldier Williams is doubtful; Hart an' Johnson being strangers, are
+unknown quantities around here, an' then comes Brandt."
+
+All departed except Brandt, who remained talking to Helen in low,
+earnest tones. Jonathan lay very quietly, trying to decide what should
+be his next move in the unraveling of the mystery. He paid little
+attention to the young couple, but could not help overhearing their
+conversation.
+
+"Indeed, Mr. Brandt, you frontiersmen are not backward," Helen was
+saying in her clear voice. "I am surprised to learn that you love me
+upon such short acquaintance, and am sorry, too, for I hardly know
+whether I even so much as like you."
+
+"I love you. We men of the border do things rapidly," he replied
+earnestly.
+
+"So it seems," she said with a soft laugh.
+
+"Won't you care for me?" he pleaded.
+
+"Nothing is surer than that I never know what I am going to do," Helen
+replied lightly.
+
+"All these fellows are in love with you. They can't help it any more
+than I. You are the most glorious creature. Please give me hope."
+
+"Mr. Brandt, let go my hand. I'm afraid I don't like such impulsive
+men."
+
+"Please let me hold your hand."
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"But I will hold it, and if you look at me like that again I'll do
+more," he said.
+
+"What, bold sir frontiersman?" she returned, lightly still, but in a
+voice which rang with a deeper note.
+
+"I'll kiss you," he cried desperately.
+
+"You wouldn't dare."
+
+"Wouldn't I though? You don't know us border fellows yet. You come
+here with your wonderful beauty, and smile at us with that light in
+your eyes which makes men mad. Oh, you'll pay for it."
+
+The borderman listened to all this love-making half disgusted, until
+he began to grow interested. Brandt's back was turned to him, and
+Helen stood so that the light from the pine cones shone on her face.
+Her eyes were brilliant, otherwise she seemed a woman perfectly
+self-possessed. Brandt held her hand despite the repeated efforts she
+made to free it. But she did not struggle violently, or make
+an outcry.
+
+Suddenly Brandt grasped her other hand, pulling her toward him.
+
+"These other fellows will kiss you, and I'm going to be the first!" he
+declared passionately.
+
+Helen drew back, now thoroughly alarmed by the man's fierce energy.
+She had been warned against this very boldness in frontiersmen; but
+had felt secure in her own pride and dignity. Her blood boiled at the
+thought that she must exert strength to escape insult. She struggled
+violently when Brandt bent his head. Almost sick with fear, she had
+determined to call for help, when a violent wrench almost toppled her
+over. At the same instant her wrists were freed; she heard a fierce
+cry, a resounding blow, and then the sodden thud of a heavy body
+falling. Recovering her balance, she saw a tall figure beside her, and
+a man in the act of rising from the ground.
+
+"You?" whispered Helen, recognizing the tall figure as Jonathan's.
+
+The borderman did not answer. He stepped forward, slipping his hand
+inside his hunting frock. Brandt sprang nimbly to his feet, and with a
+face which, even in the dim light, could be seen distorted with fury,
+bent forward to look at the stranger. He, too, had his hand within his
+coat, as if grasping a weapon; but he did not draw it.
+
+"Zane, a lighter blow would have been easier to forget," he cried, his
+voice clear and cutting. Then he turned to the girl. "Miss Helen, I
+got what I deserved. I crave your forgiveness, and ask you to
+understand a man who was once a gentleman. If I am one no longer, the
+frontier is to blame. I was mad to treat you as I did."
+
+Thus speaking, he bowed low with the grace of a man sometimes used to
+the society of ladies, and then went out of the gate.
+
+"Where did you come from?" asked Helen, looking up at Jonathan.
+
+He pointed under the lilac bushes.
+
+"Were you there?" she asked wonderingly. "Did you hear all?"
+
+"I couldn't help hearin'."
+
+"It was fortunate for me; but why--why were you there?"
+
+Helen came a step nearer, and regarded him curiously with her great
+eyes now black with excitement.
+
+The borderman was silent.
+
+Helen's softened mood changed instantly. There was nothing in his cold
+face which might have betrayed in him a sentiment similar to that of
+her admirers.
+
+"Did you spy on me?" she asked quickly, after a moment's thought.
+
+"No," replied Jonathan calmly.
+
+Helen gazed in perplexity at this strange man. She did not know how to
+explain it; she was irritated, but did her best to conceal it. He had
+no interest in her, yet had hidden under the lilacs in her yard. She
+was grateful because he had saved her from annoyance, yet could not
+fathom his reason for being so near.
+
+"Did you come here to see me?" she asked, forgetting her vexation.
+
+"No."
+
+"What for, then?"
+
+"I reckon I won't say," was the quiet, deliberate refusal.
+
+Helen stamped her foot in exasperation.
+
+"Be careful that I do not put a wrong construction on your strange
+action," said she coldly. "If you have reasons, you might trust me. If
+you are only----"
+
+"Sh-s-sh!" he breathed, grasping her wrist, and holding it firmly in
+his powerful hand. The whole attitude of the man had altered swiftly,
+subtly. The listlessness was gone. His lithe body became rigid as he
+leaned forward, his head toward the ground, and turned slightly in a
+manner that betokened intent listening.
+
+Helen trembled as she felt his powerful frame quiver. Whatever had
+thus changed him, gave her another glimpse of his complex personality.
+It seemed to her incredible that with one whispered exclamation this
+man could change from cold indifference to a fire and force so strong
+as to dominate her.
+
+Statue-like she remained listening; but hearing no sound, and
+thrillingly conscious of the hand on her arm.
+
+Far up on the hillside an owl hooted dismally, and an instant later,
+faint and far away, came an answer so low as to be almost indistinct.
+
+The borderman raised himself erect as he released her.
+
+"It's only an owl," she said in relief.
+
+His eyes gleamed like stars.
+
+"It's Wetzel, an' it means Injuns!"
+
+Then he was gone into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+In the misty morning twilight Colonel Zane, fully armed, paced to and
+fro before his cabin, on guard. All night he had maintained a watch.
+He had not considered it necessary to send his family into the fort,
+to which they had often been compelled to flee. On the previous night
+Jonathan had come swiftly back to the cabin, and, speaking but two
+words, seized his weapons and vanished into the black night. The words
+were "Injuns! Wetzel!" and there were none others with more power to
+affect hearers on the border. The colonel believed that Wetzel had
+signaled to Jonathan.
+
+On the west a deep gully with precipitous sides separated the
+settlement from a high, wooded bluff. Wetzel often returned from his
+journeying by this difficult route. He had no doubt seen Indian signs,
+and had communicated the intelligence to Jonathan by their system of
+night-bird calls. The nearness of the mighty hunter reassured
+Colonel Zane.
+
+When the colonel returned from his chase of the previous night, he
+went directly to the stable, there to find that the Indians had made
+off with a thoroughbred, and Betty's pony. Colonel Zane was furious,
+not on account of the value of the horses, but because Bess was his
+favorite bay, and Betty loved nothing more than her pony Madcap. To
+have such a march stolen on him after he had heard and seen the
+thieves was indeed hard. High time it was that these horse thieves be
+run to earth. No Indian had planned these marauding expeditions. An
+intelligent white man was at the bottom of the thieving, and he should
+pay for his treachery.
+
+The colonel's temper, however, soon cooled. He realized after thinking
+over the matter, that he was fortunate it passed off without
+bloodshed. Very likely the intent had been to get all his horses,
+perhaps his neighbor's as well, and it had been partly frustrated by
+Jonathan's keen sagacity. These Shawnees, white leader or not, would
+never again run such risks.
+
+"It's like a skulking Shawnee," muttered Colonel Zane, "to slip down
+here under cover of early dusk, when no one but an Indian hunter could
+detect him. I didn't look for trouble, especially so soon after the
+lesson we gave Girty and his damned English and redskins. It's lucky
+Jonathan was here. I'll go back to the old plan of stationing scouts
+at the outposts until snow flies."
+
+While Colonel Zane talked to himself and paced the path he had
+selected to patrol, the white mists cleared, and a rosy hue followed
+the brightening in the east. The birds ceased twittering to break into
+gay songs, and the cock in the barnyard gave one final clarion-voiced
+salute to the dawn. The rose in the east deepened into rich red, and
+then the sun peeped over the eastern hilltops to drench the valley
+with glad golden light.
+
+A blue smoke curling lazily from the stone chimney of his cabin,
+showed that Sam had made the kitchen fire, and a little later a rich,
+savory odor gave pleasing evidence that his wife was cooking
+breakfast.
+
+"Any sign of Jack?" a voice called from the open door, and Betty
+appeared.
+
+"Nary sign."
+
+"Of the Indians, then?"
+
+"Well, Betts, they left you a token of their regard," and Colonel Zane
+smiled as he took a broken halter from the fence.
+
+"Madcap?" cried Betty.
+
+"Yes, they've taken Madcap and Bess."
+
+"Oh, the villains! Poor pony," exclaimed Betty indignantly. "Eb, I'll
+coax Wetzel to fetch the pony home if he has to kill every Shawnee in
+the valley."
+
+"Now you're talking, Betts," Colonel Zane replied. "If you could get
+Lew to do that much, you'd be blessed from one end of the border to
+the other."
+
+He walked up the road; then back, keeping a sharp lookout on all
+sides, and bestowing a particularly keen glance at the hillside across
+the ravine, but could see no sign of the bordermen. As it was now
+broad daylight he felt convinced that further watch was unnecessary,
+and went in to breakfast. When he came out again the villagers were
+astir. The sharp strokes of axes rang out on the clear morning air,
+and a mellow anvil-clang pealed up from the blacksmith shop. Colonel
+Zane found his brother Silas and Jim Douns near the gate.
+
+"Morning, boys," he cried cheerily.
+
+"Any glimpse of Jack or Lew?" asked Silas.
+
+"No; but I'm expecting one of 'em any moment."
+
+"How about the Indians?" asked Douns. "Silas roused me out last night;
+but didn't stay long enough to say more than 'Indians.'"
+
+"I don't know much more than Silas. I saw several of the red devils
+who stole the horses; but how many, where they've gone, or what we're
+to expect, I can't say. We've got to wait for Jack or Lew. Silas, keep
+the garrison in readiness at the fort, and don't allow a man, soldier
+or farmer, to leave the clearing until further orders. Perhaps there
+were only three of those Shawnees, and then again the woods might have
+been full of them. I take it something's amiss, or Jack and Lew would
+be in by now."
+
+"Here come Sheppard and his girl," said Silas, pointing down the lane.
+"'Pears George is some excited."
+
+Colonel Zane had much the same idea as he saw Sheppard and his
+daughter. The old man appeared in a hurry, which was sufficient reason
+to believe him anxious or alarmed, and Helen looked pale.
+
+"Ebenezer, what's this I hear about Indians?" Sheppard asked
+excitedly. "What with Helen's story about the fort being besieged, and
+this brother of yours routing honest people from their beds, I haven't
+had a wink of sleep. What's up? Where are the redskins?"
+
+"Now, George, be easy," said Colonel Zane calmly. "And you, Helen,
+mustn't be frightened. There's no danger. We did have a visit from
+Indians last night; but they hurt no one, and got only two horses."
+
+"Oh, I'm so relieved that it's not worse," said Helen.
+
+"It's bad enough, Helen," Betty cried, her black eyes flashing, "my
+pony Madcap is gone."
+
+"Colonel Zane, come here quick!" cried Douns, who stood near the gate.
+
+With one leap Colonel Zane was at the gate, and, following with his
+eyes the direction indicated by Douns' trembling finger, he saw two
+tall, brown figures striding down the lane. One carried two rifles,
+and the other a long bundle wrapped in a blanket.
+
+"It's Jack and Wetzel," whispered Colonel Zane to Jim. "They've got
+the girl, and by God! from the way that bundle hangs, I think she's
+dead. Here," he added, speaking loudly, "you women get into
+the house."
+
+Mrs. Zane, Betty and Helen stared.
+
+"Go into the house!" he cried authoritatively.
+
+Without a protest the three women obeyed.
+
+At that moment Nellie Douns came across the lane; Sam shuffled out
+from the backyard, and Sheppard arose from his seat on the steps. They
+joined Colonel Zane, Silas and Jim at the gate.
+
+"I wondered what kept you so late," Colonel Zane said to Jonathan, as
+he and his companion came up. "You've fetched Mabel, and she's----".
+The good man could say no more. If he should live an hundred years on
+the border amid savage murderers, he would still be tender-hearted.
+Just now he believed the giant borderman by the side of Jonathan held
+a dead girl, one whom he had danced, when a child, upon his knee.
+
+"Mabel, an' jest alive," replied Jonathan.
+
+"By God! I'm glad!" exclaimed Colonel Zane. "Here, Lew, give her to
+me."
+
+Wetzel relinquished his burden to the colonel.
+
+"Lew, any bad Indian sign?" asked Colonel Zane as he turned to go into
+the house.
+
+The borderman shook his head.
+
+"Wait for me," added the colonel.
+
+He carried the girl to that apartment in the cabin which served the
+purpose of a sitting-room, and laid her on a couch. He gently removed
+the folds of the blanket, disclosing to view a fragile,
+white-faced girl.
+
+"Bess, hurry, hurry!" he screamed to his wife, and as she came running
+in, followed no less hurriedly by Betty, Helen and Nellie, he
+continued, "Here's Mabel Lane, alive, poor child; but in sore need of
+help. First see whether she has any bodily injury. If a bullet must be
+cut out, or a knife-wound sewed up, it's better she remained
+unconscious. Betty, run for Bess's instruments, and bring brandy and
+water. Lively now!" Then he gave vent to an oath and left the room.
+
+Helen, her heart throbbing wildly, went to the side of Mrs. Zane, who
+was kneeling by the couch. She saw a delicate girl, not over eighteen
+years old, with a face that would have been beautiful but for the set
+lips, the closed eyelids, and an expression of intense pain.
+
+"Oh! Oh!" breathed Helen.
+
+"Nell, hand me the scissors," said Mrs. Zane, "and help me take off
+this dress. Why, it's wet, but, thank goodness! 'tis not with blood. I
+know that slippery touch too well. There, that's right. Betty, give me
+a spoonful of brandy. Now heat a blanket, and get one of your linsey
+gowns for this poor child."
+
+Helen watched Mrs. Zane as if fascinated. The colonel's wife continued
+to talk while with deft fingers she forced a few drops of brandy
+between the girl's closed teeth. Then with the adroitness of a skilled
+surgeon, she made the examination. Helen had heard of this pioneer
+woman's skill in setting broken bones and treating injuries, and when
+she looked from the calm face to the steady fingers, she had no doubt
+as to the truth of what had been told.
+
+"Neither bullet wound, cut, bruise, nor broken bone," said Mrs. Zane.
+"It's fear, starvation, and the terrible shock."
+
+She rubbed Mabel's hands while gazing at her pale face. Then she
+forced more brandy between the tightly-closed lips. She was rewarded
+by ever so faint a color tinging the wan cheeks, to be followed by a
+fluttering of the eyelids. Then the eyes opened wide. They were large,
+soft, dark and humid with agony.
+
+Helen could not bear their gaze. She saw the shadow of death, and of
+worse than death. She looked away, while in her heart rose a storm of
+passionate fury at the brutes who had made of this tender girl
+a wreck.
+
+The room was full of women now, sober-faced matrons and grave-eyed
+girls, yet all wore the same expression, not alone of anger, nor fear,
+nor pity, but of all combined.
+
+Helen instinctively felt that this was one of the trials of border
+endurance, and she knew from the sterner faces of the maturer women
+that such a trial was familiar. Despite all she had been told, the
+shock and pain were too great, and she went out of the room sobbing.
+
+She almost fell over the broad back of Jonathan Zane who was sitting
+on the steps. Near him stood Colonel Zane talking with a tall man clad
+in faded buckskin.
+
+"Lass, you shouldn't have stayed," said Colonel Zane kindly.
+
+"It's--hurt--me--here," said Helen, placing her hand over her heart.
+
+"Yes, I know, I know; of course it has," he replied, taking her hand.
+"But be brave, Helen, bear up, bear up. Oh! this border is a stern
+place! Do not think of that poor girl. Come, let me introduce
+Jonathan's friend, Wetzel!"
+
+Helen looked up and held out her hand. She saw a very tall man with
+extremely broad shoulders, a mass of raven-black hair, and a white
+face. He stepped forward, and took her hand in his huge, horny palm,
+pressing it, he stepped back without speaking. Colonel Zane talked to
+her in a soothing voice; but she failed to hear what he said. This
+Wetzel, this Indian-hunter whom she had heard called "Deathwind of the
+Border," this companion, guide, teacher of Jonathan Zane, this
+borderman of wonderful deeds, stood before her.
+
+Helen saw a cold face, deathly in its pallor, lighted by eyes
+sloe-black but like glinting steel. Striking as were these features,
+they failed to fascinate as did the strange tracings which apparently
+showed through the white, drawn skin. This first repelled, then drew
+her with wonderful force. Suffering, of fire, and frost, and iron was
+written there, and, stronger than all, so potent as to cause fear,
+could be read the terrible purpose of this man's tragic life.
+
+"You avenged her! Oh! I know you did!" cried Helen, her whole heart
+leaping with a blaze to her eyes.
+
+She was answered by a smile, but such a smile! Kindly it broke over
+the stern face, giving a glimpse of a heart still warm beneath that
+steely cold. Behind it, too, there was something fateful,
+something deadly.
+
+Helen knew, though the borderman spoke not, that somewhere among the
+grasses of the broad plains, or on the moss of the wooded hills, lay
+dead the perpetrators of this outrage, their still faces bearing the
+ghastly stamp of Deathwind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Happier days than she had hoped for, dawned upon Helen after the first
+touch of border sorrow. Mabel Lane did not die. Helen and Betty nursed
+the stricken girl tenderly, weeping for very joy when signs of
+improvement appeared. She had remained silent for several days, always
+with that haunting fear in her eyes, and then gradually came a change.
+Tender care and nursing had due effect in banishing the dark shadow.
+One morning after a long sleep she awakened with a bright smile, and
+from that time her improvement was rapid.
+
+Helen wanted Mabel to live with her. The girl's position was pitiable.
+Homeless, fatherless, with not a relative on the border, yet so brave,
+so patient that she aroused all the sympathy in Helen's breast.
+Village gossip was in substance, that Mabel had given her love to a
+young frontiersman, by name Alex Bennet, who had an affection for her,
+so it was said, but as yet had made no choice between her and the
+other lasses of the settlement. What effect Mabel's terrible
+experience might have on this lukewarm lover, Helen could not even
+guess; but she was not hopeful as to the future. Colonel Zane and
+Betty approved of Helen's plan to persuade Mabel to live with her, and
+the latter's faint protestations they silenced by claiming she could
+be of great assistance in the management of the house, therefore it
+was settled.
+
+Finally the day came when Mabel was ready to go with Helen. Betty had
+given her a generous supply of clothing, for all her belongings had
+been destroyed when the cabin was burned. With Helen's strong young
+arm around her she voiced her gratitude to Betty and Mrs. Zane and
+started toward the Sheppard home.
+
+From the green square, where the ground was highest, an unobstructed
+view could be had of the valley. Mabel gazed down the river to where
+her home formerly stood. Only a faint, dark spot, like a blur on the
+green landscape, could be seen. Her soft eyes filled with tears; but
+she spoke no word.
+
+"She's game and that's why she didn't go under," Colonel Zane said to
+himself as he mused on the strength and spirit of borderwomen. To
+their heroism, more than any other thing, he attributed the
+establishing of homes in this wilderness.
+
+In the days that ensued, as Mabel grew stronger, the girls became very
+fond of each other. Helen would have been happy at any time with such
+a sweet companion, but just then, when the poor girl's mind was so
+sorely disturbed she was doubly glad. For several days, after Mabel
+was out of danger, Helen's thoughts had dwelt on a subject which
+caused extreme vexation. She had begun to suspect that she encouraged
+too many admirers for whom she did not care, and thought too much of a
+man who did not reciprocate. She was gay and moody in turn. During the
+moody hours she suspected herself, and in her gay ones, scorned the
+idea that she might ever care for a man who was indifferent. But that
+thought once admitted, had a trick of returning at odd moments,
+clouding her cheerful moods.
+
+One sunshiny morning while the May flowers smiled under the hedge,
+when dew sparkled on the leaves, and the locust-blossoms shone
+creamy-white amid the soft green of the trees, the girls set about
+their much-planned flower gardening. Helen was passionately fond of
+plants, and had brought a jar of seeds of her favorites all the way
+from her eastern home.
+
+"We'll plant the morning-glories so they'll run up the porch, and the
+dahlias in this long row and the nasturtiums in this round bed,"
+Helen said.
+
+"You have some trailing arbutus," added Mabel, "and must have
+clematis, wild honeysuckle and golden-glow, for they are all
+sweet flowers."
+
+"This arbutus is so fresh, so dewy, so fragrant," said Helen, bending
+aside a lilac bush to see the pale, creeping flowers. "I never saw
+anything so beautiful. I grow more and more in love with my new home
+and friends. I have such a pretty garden to look into, and I never
+tire of the view beyond."
+
+Helen gazed with pleasure and pride at the garden with its fresh green
+and lavender-crested lilacs, at the white-blossomed trees, and the
+vine-covered log cabins with blue smoke curling from their stone
+chimneys. Beyond, the great bulk of the fort stood guard above the
+willow-skirted river, and far away over the winding stream the dark
+hills, defiant, kept their secrets.
+
+"If it weren't for that threatening fort one could imagine this little
+hamlet, nestling under the great bluff, as quiet and secure as it is
+beautiful," said Helen. "But that charred stockade fence with its
+scarred bastions and these lowering port-holes, always keep me alive
+to the reality."
+
+"It wasn't very quiet when Girty was here," Mabel replied
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Were you in the fort then?" asked Helen breathlessly.
+
+"Oh, yes, I cooled the rifles for the men," replied Mabel calmly.
+
+"Tell me all about it."
+
+Helen listened again to a story she had heard many times; but told by
+new lips it always gained in vivid interest. She never tired of
+hearing how the notorious renegade, Girty, rode around the fort on his
+white horse, giving the defenders an hour in which to surrender; she
+learned again of the attack, when the British soldiers remained silent
+on an adjoining hillside, while the Indians yelled exultantly and ran
+about in fiendish glee, when Wetzel began the battle by shooting an
+Indian chieftain who had ventured within range of his ever fatal
+rifle. And when it came to the heroic deeds of that memorable siege
+Helen could not contain her enthusiasm. She shed tears over little
+Harry Bennet's death at the south bastion where, though riddled with
+bullets, he stuck to his post until relieved. Clark's race, across the
+roof of the fort to extinguish a burning arrow, she applauded with
+clapping hands. Her great eyes glowed and burned, but she was silent,
+when hearing how Wetzel ran alone to a break in the stockade, and
+there, with an ax, the terrible borderman held at bay the whole
+infuriated Indian mob until the breach was closed. Lastly Betty Zane's
+never-to-be-forgotten run with the powder to the relief of the
+garrison and the saving of the fort was something not to cry over or
+applaud; but to dream of and to glorify.
+
+"Down that slope from Colonel Zane's cabin is where Betty ran with the
+powder," said Mabel, pointing.
+
+"Did you see her?" asked Helen.
+
+"Yes, I looked out of a port-hole. The Indians stopped firing at the
+fort in their eagerness to shoot Betty. Oh, the banging of guns and
+yelling of savages was one fearful, dreadful roar! Through all that
+hail of bullets Betty ran swift as the wind."
+
+"I almost wish Girty would come again," said Helen.
+
+"Don't; he might."
+
+"How long has Betty's husband, Mr. Clarke, been dead?" inquired Helen.
+
+"I don't remember exactly. He didn't live long after the siege. Some
+say he inhaled the flames while fighting fire inside the stockade."
+
+"How sad!"
+
+"Yes, it was. It nearly killed Betty. But we border girls do not give
+up easily; we must not," replied Mabel, an unquenchable spirit showing
+through the sadness of her eyes.
+
+Merry voices interrupted them, and they turned to see Betty and Nell
+entering the gate. With Nell's bright chatter and Betty's wit, the
+conversation became indeed vivacious, running from gossip to gowns,
+and then to that old and ever new theme, love. Shortly afterward the
+colonel entered the gate, with swinging step and genial smile.
+
+"Well, now, if here aren't four handsome lasses," he said with an
+admiring glance.
+
+"Eb, I believe if you were single any girl might well suspect you of
+being a flirt," said Betty.
+
+"No girl ever did. I tell you I was a lady-killer in my day," replied
+Colonel Zane, straightening his fine form. He was indeed handsome,
+with his stalwart frame, dark, bronzed face and rugged, manly bearing.
+
+"Bess said you were; but that it didn't last long after you saw her,"
+cried Betty, mischief gleaming in her dark eye.
+
+"Well, that's so," replied the colonel, looking a trifle crest-fallen;
+"but you know every dog has his day." Then advancing to the porch, he
+looked at Mabel with a more serious gaze as he asked, "How are
+you to-day?"
+
+"Thank you, Colonel Zane, I am getting quite strong."
+
+"Look up the valley. There's a raft coming down the river," said he
+softly.
+
+Far up the broad Ohio a square patch showed dark against the green
+water.
+
+Colonel Zane saw Mabel start, and a dark red flush came over her pale
+face. For an instant she gazed with an expression of appeal, almost
+fear. He knew the reason. Alex Bennet was on that raft.
+
+"I came over to ask if I can be of any service?"
+
+"Tell him," she answered simply.
+
+"I say, Betts," Colonel Zane cried, "has Helen's cousin cast any more
+such sheep eyes at you?"
+
+"Oh, Eb, what nonsense!" exclaimed Betty, blushing furiously.
+
+"Well, if he didn't look sweet at you I'm an old fool."
+
+"You're one anyway, and you're horrid," said Betty, tears of anger
+glistening in her eyes.
+
+Colonel Zane whistled softly as he walked down the lane. He went into
+the wheelwright's shop to see about some repairs he was having made on
+a wagon, and then strolled on down to the river. Two Indians were
+sitting on the rude log wharf, together with several frontiersmen and
+rivermen, all waiting for the raft. He conversed with the Indians, who
+were friendly Chippewas, until the raft was tied up. The first person
+to leap on shore was a sturdy young fellow with a shock of yellow
+hair, and a warm, ruddy skin.
+
+"Hello, Alex, did you have a good trip?" asked Colonel Zane of the
+youth.
+
+"H'are ye, Colonel Zane. Yes, first-rate trip," replied young Bennet.
+"Say, I've a word for you. Come aside," and drawing Colonel Zane out
+of earshot of the others, he continued, "I heard this by accident, not
+that I didn't spy a bit when I got interested, for I did; but the way
+it came about was all chance. Briefly, there's a man, evidently an
+Englishman, at Fort Pitt whom I overheard say he was out on the border
+after a Sheppard girl. I happened to hear from one of Brandt's men,
+who rode into Pitt just before we left, that you had new friends here
+by that name. This fellow was a handsome chap, no common sort, but
+lordly, dissipated and reckless as the devil. He had a servant
+traveling with him, a sailor, by his gab, who was about the toughest
+customer I've met in many a day. He cut a fellow in bad shape at Pitt.
+These two will be on the next boat, due here in a day or so, according
+to river and weather conditions, an' I thought, considerin' how
+unusual the thing was, I'd better tell ye."
+
+"Well, well," said Colonel Zane reflectively. He recalled Sheppard's
+talk about an Englishman. "Alex, you did well to tell me. Was the man
+drunk when he said he came west after a woman?"
+
+"Sure he was," replied Alex. "But not when he spoke the name. Ye see I
+got suspicious, an' asked about him. It's this way: Jake Wentz, the
+trader, told me the fellow asked for the Sheppards when he got off the
+wagon-train. When I first seen him he was drunk, and I heard Jeff Lynn
+say as how the border was a bad place to come after a woman. That's
+what made me prick up my ears. Then the Englishman said: 'It is, eh?
+By God! I'd go to hell after a woman I wanted.' An' Colonel, he
+looked it, too."
+
+Colonel Zane remained thoughtful while Alex made up a bundle and
+forced the haft of an ax under the string; but as the young man
+started away the colonel suddenly remembered his errand down to
+the wharf.
+
+"Alex, come back here," he said, and wondered if the lad had good
+stuff in him. The boatman's face was plain, but not evil, and a close
+scrutiny of it rather prepossessed the colonel.
+
+"Alex, I've some bad news for you," and then bluntly, with his keen
+gaze fastened on the young man's face, he told of old Lane's murder,
+of Mabel's abduction, and of her rescue by Wetzel.
+
+Alex began to curse and swear vengeance.
+
+"Stow all that," said the colonel sharply. "Wetzel followed four
+Indians who had Mabel and some stolen horses. The redskins quarreled
+over the girl, and two took the horses, leaving Mabel to the others.
+Wetzel went after these last, tomahawked them, and brought Mabel home.
+She was in a bad way, but is now getting over the shock."
+
+"Say, what'd we do here without Wetzel?" Alex said huskily, unmindful
+of the tears that streamed from his eyes and ran over his brown
+cheeks. "Poor old Jake! Poor Mabel! Damn me! it's my fault. If I'd 'a
+done right an' married her as I should, as I wanted to, she wouldn't
+have had to suffer. But I'll marry her yet, if she'll have me. It was
+only because I had no farm, no stock, an' only that little cabin as is
+full now, that I waited."
+
+"Alex, you know me," said Colonel Zane in kindly tones. "Look there,
+down the clearing half a mile. See that green strip of land along the
+river, with the big chestnut in the middle and a cabin beyond. There's
+as fine farming land as can be found on the border, eighty acres, well
+watered. The day you marry Mabel that farm is yours."
+
+Alex grew red, stammered, and vainly tried to express his gratitude.
+
+"Come along, the sooner you tell Mabel the better," said the colonel
+with glowing face. He was a good matchmaker. He derived more pleasure
+from a little charity bestowed upon a deserving person, than from a
+season's crops.
+
+When they arrived at the Sheppard house the girls were still on the
+porch. Mabel rose when she saw Alex, standing white and still. He,
+poor fellow, was embarrassed by the others, who regarded him with
+steady eyes.
+
+Colonel Zane pushed Alex up on the porch, and said in a low voice:
+"Mabel, I've just arranged something you're to give Alex. It's a nice
+little farm, and it'll be a wedding present."
+
+Mabel looked in a bewildered manner from Colonel Zane's happy face to
+the girls, and then at the red, joyous features of her lover. Only
+then did she understand, and uttering a strange little cry, put her
+trembling hands to her bosom as she swayed to and fro.
+
+But she did not fall, for Alex, quick at the last, leaped forward and
+caught her in his arms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That evening Helen denied herself to Mr. Brandt and several other
+callers. She sat on the porch with her father while he smoked
+his pipe.
+
+"Where's Will?" she asked.
+
+"Gone after snipe, so he said," replied her father.
+
+"Snipe? How funny! Imagine Will hunting! He's surely catching the wild
+fever Colonel Zane told us about."
+
+"He surely is."
+
+Then came a time of silence. Mr. Sheppard, accustomed to Helen's
+gladsome spirit and propensity to gay chatter, noted how quiet she
+was, and wondered.
+
+"Why are you so still?"
+
+"I'm a little homesick," Helen replied reluctantly.
+
+"No? Well, I declare! This is a glorious country; but not for such as
+you, dear, who love music and gaiety. I often fear you'll not be happy
+here, and then I long for the old home, which reminds me of
+your mother."
+
+"Dearest, forget what I said," cried Helen earnestly. "I'm only a
+little blue to-day; perhaps not at all homesick."
+
+"Indeed, you always seemed happy."
+
+"Father, I am happy. It's only--only a girl's foolish sentiment."
+
+"I've got something to tell you, Helen, and it has bothered me since
+Colonel Zane spoke of it to-night. Mordaunt is coming to Fort Henry."
+
+"Mordaunt? Oh, impossible! Who said so? How did you learn?"
+
+"I fear 'tis true, my dear. Colonel Zane told me he had heard of an
+Englishman at Fort Pitt who asked after us. Moreover, the fellow
+answers the description of Mordaunt. I am afraid it is he, and come
+after you."
+
+"Suppose he has--who cares? We owe him nothing. He cannot hurt us."
+
+"But, Helen, he's a desperate man. Aren't you afraid of him?"
+
+"Not I," cried Helen, laughing in scorn. "He'd better have a care. He
+can't run things with a high hand out here on the border. I told him I
+would have none of him, and that ended it."
+
+"I'm much relieved. I didn't want to tell you; but it seemed
+necessary. Well, child, good night, I'll go to bed."
+
+Long after Mr. Sheppard had retired Helen sat thinking. Memories of
+the past, and of the unwelcome suitor, Mordaunt, thronged upon her
+thick and fast. She could see him now with his pale, handsome face,
+and distinguished bearing. She had liked him, as she had other men,
+until he involved her father, with himself, in financial ruin, and had
+made his attention to her unpleasantly persistent. Then he had
+followed the fall of fortune with wild dissipation, and became a
+gambler and a drunkard. But he did not desist in his mad wooing. He
+became like her shadow, and life grew to be unendurable, until her
+father planned to emigrate west, when she hailed the news with joy.
+And now Mordaunt had tracked her to her new home. She was sick with
+disgust. Then her spirit, always strong, and now freer for this new,
+wild life of the frontier, rose within her, and she dismissed all
+thoughts of this man and his passion.
+
+The old life was dead and buried. She was going to be happy here. As
+for the present, it was enough to think of the little border village,
+now her home; of her girl friends; of the quiet borderman: and, for
+the moment, that the twilight was somber and beautiful.
+
+High up on the wooded bluff rising so gloomily over the village, she
+saw among the trees something silver-bright. She watched it rise
+slowly from behind the trees, now hidden, now white through rifts in
+the foliage, until it soared lovely and grand above the black horizon.
+The ebony shadows of night seemed to lift, as might a sable mantle
+moved by invisible hands. But dark shadows, safe from the moon-rays,
+lay under the trees, and a pale, misty vapor hung below the brow of
+the bluff.
+
+Mysterious as had grown the night before darkness yielded to the moon,
+this pale, white light flooding the still valley, was even more soft
+and strange. To one of Helen's temperament no thought was needed; to
+see was enough. Yet her mind was active. She felt with haunting power
+the beauty of all before her; in fancy transporting herself far to
+those silver-tipped clouds, and peopling the dells and shady nooks
+under the hills with spirits and fairies, maidens and valiant knights.
+To her the day was as a far-off dream. The great watch stars grew wan
+before the radiant moon; it reigned alone. The immensity of the world
+with its glimmering rivers, pensive valleys and deep, gloomy forests
+lay revealed under the glory of the clear light.
+
+Absorbed in this contemplation Helen remained a long time gazing with
+dreamy ecstasy at the moonlit valley until a slight chill disturbed
+her happy thoughts. She knew she was not alone. Trembling, she stood
+up to see, easily recognizable in the moonlight, the tall
+buckskin-garbed figure of Jonathan Zane.
+
+"Well, sir," she called, sharply, yet with a tremor in her voice.
+
+The borderman came forward and stood in front of her. Somehow he
+appeared changed. The long, black rifle, the dull, glinting weapons
+made her shudder. Wilder and more untamable he looked than ever. The
+very silence of the forest clung to him; the fragrance of the grassy
+plains came faintly from his buckskin garments.
+
+"Evenin', lass," he said in his slow, cool manner.
+
+"How did you get here?" asked Helen presently, because he made no
+effort to explain his presence at such a late hour.
+
+"I was able to walk."
+
+Helen observed, with a vaulting spirit, one ever ready to rise in
+arms, that Master Zane was disposed to add humor to his penetrating
+mysteriousness. She flushed hot and then paled. This borderman
+certainly possessed the power to vex her, and, reluctantly she
+admitted, to chill her soul and rouse her fear. She strove to keep
+back sharp words, because she had learned that this singular
+individual always gave good reason for his odd actions.
+
+"I think in kindness to me," she said, choosing her words carefully,
+"you might tell me why you appear so suddenly, as if you had sprung
+out of the ground."
+
+"Are you alone?"
+
+"Yes. Father is in bed; so is Mabel, and Will has not yet come home.
+Why?"
+
+"Has no one else been here?"
+
+"Mr. Brandt came, as did some others; but wishing to be alone, I did
+not see them," replied Helen in perplexity.
+
+"Have you seen Brandt since?"
+
+"Since when?"
+
+"The night I watched by the lilac bush."
+
+"Yes, several times," replied Helen. Something in his tone made her
+ashamed. "I couldn't very well escape when he called. Are you
+surprised because after he insulted me I'd see him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Helen felt more ashamed.
+
+"You don't love him?" he continued.
+
+Helen was so surprised she could only look into the dark face above
+her. Then she dropped her gaze, abashed by his searching eyes. But,
+thinking of his question, she subdued the vague stirrings of pleasure
+in her breast, and answered coldly:
+
+"No, I do not; but for the service you rendered me I should never have
+answered such a question."
+
+"I'm glad, an' hope you care as little for the other five men who were
+here that night."
+
+"I declare, Master Zane, you seem exceedingly interested in the
+affairs of a young woman whom you won't visit, except as you have come
+to-night."
+
+He looked at her with his piercing eyes.
+
+"You spied upon my guests," she said, in no wise abashed now that her
+temper was high. "Did you care so very much?"
+
+"Care?" he asked slowly.
+
+"Yes; you were interested to know how many of my admirers were here,
+what they did, and what they said. You even hint disparagingly
+of them."
+
+"True, I wanted to know," he replied; "but I don't hint about any
+man."
+
+"You are so interested you wouldn't call on me when I invited you,"
+said Helen, with poorly veiled sarcasm. It was this that made her
+bitter; she could never forget that she had asked this man to come to
+see her, and he had refused.
+
+"I reckon you've mistook me," he said calmly.
+
+"Why did you come? Why do you shadow my friends? This is twice you
+have done it. Goodness knows how many times you've been here!
+Tell me."
+
+The borderman remained silent.
+
+"Answer me," commanded Helen, her eyes blazing. She actually stamped
+her foot. "Borderman or not, you have no right to pry into my affairs.
+If you are a gentleman, tell me why you came here?"
+
+The eyes Jonathan turned on Helen stilled all the angry throbbing of
+her blood.
+
+"I come here to learn which of your lovers is the dastard who plotted
+the abduction of Mabel Lane, an' the thief who stole our hosses. When
+I find the villain I reckon Wetzel an' I'll swing him to some tree."
+
+The borderman's voice rang sharp and cold, and when he ceased speaking
+she sank back upon the step, shocked, speechless, to gaze up at him
+with staring eyes.
+
+"Don't look so, lass; don't be frightened," he said, his voice gentle
+and kind as it had been hard. He took her hand in his. "You nettled me
+into replyin'. You have a sharp tongue, lass, and when I spoke I was
+thinkin' of him. I'm sorry."
+
+"A horse-thief and worse than murderer among my friends!" murmured
+Helen, shuddering, yet she never thought to doubt his word.
+
+"I followed him here the night of your company."
+
+"Do you know which one?"
+
+"No."
+
+He still held her hand, unconsciously, but Helen knew it well. A sense
+of his strength came with the warm pressure, and comforted her. She
+would need that powerful hand, surely, in the evil days which seemed
+to darken the horizon.
+
+"What shall I do?" she whispered, shuddering again.
+
+"Keep this secret between you an' me."
+
+"How can I? How can I?"
+
+"You must," his voice was deep and low. "If you tell your father, or
+any one, I might lose the chance to find this man, for, lass, he's
+desperate cunnin'. Then he'd go free to rob others, an' mebbe help
+make off with other poor girls. Lass, keep my secret."
+
+"But he might try to carry me away," said Helen in fearful perplexity.
+
+"Most likely he might," replied the borderman with the smile that came
+so rarely.
+
+"Oh! Knowing all this, how can I meet any of these men again? I'd
+betray myself."
+
+"No; you've got too much pluck. It so happens you are the one to help
+me an' Wetzel rid the border of these hell-hounds, an' you won't fail.
+I know a woman when it comes to that."
+
+"I--I help you and Wetzel?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Gracious!" cried Helen, half-laughing, half-crying. "And poor me with
+more trouble coming on the next boat."
+
+"Lass, the colonel told me about the Englishman. It'll be bad for him
+to annoy you."
+
+Helen thrilled with the depth of meaning in the low voice. Fate surely
+was weaving a bond between her and this borderman. She felt it in his
+steady, piercing gaze; in her own tingling blood.
+
+Then as her natural courage dispelled all girlish fears, she faced
+him, white, resolute, with a look in her eyes that matched his own.
+
+"I will do what I can," she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Westward from Fort Henry, far above the eddying river, Jonathan Zane
+slowly climbed a narrow, hazel-bordered, mountain trail. From time to
+time he stopped in an open patch among the thickets and breathed deep
+of the fresh, wood-scented air, while his keen gaze swept over the
+glades near by, along the wooded hillsides, and above at the
+timber-strewn woodland.
+
+This June morning in the wild forest was significant of nature's
+brightness and joy. Broad-leaved poplars, dense foliaged oaks, and
+vine-covered maples shaded cool, mossy banks, while between the trees
+the sunshine streamed in bright spots. It shone silver on the glancing
+silver-leaf, and gold on the colored leaves of the butternut tree.
+Dewdrops glistened on the ferns; ripples sparkled in the brooks;
+spider-webs glowed with wondrous rainbow hues, and the flower of the
+forest, the sweet, pale-faced daisy, rose above the green like a
+white star.
+
+Yellow birds flitted among the hazel bushes caroling joyously, and
+cat-birds sang gaily. Robins called; bluejays screeched in the tall,
+white oaks; wood-peckers hammered in the dead hard-woods, and crows
+cawed overhead. Squirrels chattered everywhere. Ruffed grouse rose
+with great bustle and a whirr, flitting like brown flakes through the
+leaves. From far above came the shrill cry of a hawk, followed by the
+wilder scream of an eagle.
+
+Wilderness music such as all this fell harmoniously on the borderman's
+ear. It betokened the gladsome spirit of his wild friends, happy in
+the warm sunshine above, or in the cool depths beneath the fluttering
+leaves, and everywhere in those lonely haunts unalarmed and free.
+
+Familiar to Jonathan, almost as the footpath near his home, was this
+winding trail. On the height above was a safe rendezvous, much
+frequented by him and Wetzel. Every lichen-covered stone, mossy bank,
+noisy brook and giant oak on the way up this mountain-side, could have
+told, had they spoken their secrets, stories of the bordermen. The
+fragile ferns and slender-bladed grasses peeping from the gray and
+amber mosses, and the flowers that hung from craggy ledges, had wisdom
+to impart. A borderman lived under the green tree-tops, and,
+therefore, all the nodding branches of sassafras and laurel, the
+grassy slopes and rocky cliffs, the stately ash trees, kingly oaks and
+dark, mystic pines, together with the creatures that dwelt among them,
+save his deadly red-skinned foes, he loved. Other affection as close
+and true as this, he had not known. Hearkening thus with single heart
+to nature's teachings, he learned her secrets. Certain it was,
+therefore, that the many hours he passed in the woods apart from
+savage pursuits, were happy and fruitful.
+
+Slowly he pressed on up the ascent, at length coming into open light
+upon a small plateau marked by huge, rugged, weather-chipped stones.
+On the eastern side was a rocky promontory, and close to the edge of
+this cliff, an hundred feet in sheer descent, rose a gnarled, time and
+tempest-twisted chestnut tree. Here the borderman laid down his rifle
+and knapsack, and, half-reclining against the tree, settled himself to
+rest and wait.
+
+This craggy point was the lonely watch-tower of eagles. Here on the
+highest headland for miles around where the bordermen were wont to
+meet, the outlook was far-reaching and grand.
+
+Below the gray, splintered cliffs sheered down to meet the waving
+tree-tops, and then hill after hill, slope after slope, waved and
+rolled far, far down to the green river. Open grassy patches, bright
+little islands in that ocean of dark green, shone on the hillsides.
+The rounded ridges ran straight, curved, or zigzag, but shaped their
+graceful lines in the descent to make the valley. Long, purple-hued,
+shadowy depressions in the wide expanse of foliage marked deep clefts
+between ridges where dark, cool streams bounded on to meet the river.
+Lower, where the land was level, in open spaces could be seen a broad
+trail, yellow in the sunlight, winding along with the curves of the
+water-course. On a swampy meadow, blue in the distance, a herd of
+buffalo browsed. Beyond the river, high over the green island, Fort
+Henry lay peaceful and solitary, the only token of the works of man in
+all that vast panorama.
+
+Jonathan Zane was as much alone as if one thousand miles, instead of
+five, intervened between him and the settlement. Loneliness was to him
+a passion. Other men loved home, the light of woman's eyes, the rattle
+of dice or the lust of hoarding; but to him this wild, remote
+promontory, with its limitless view, stretching away to the dim hazy
+horizon, was more than all the aching joys of civilization.
+
+Hours here, or in the shady valley, recompensed him for the loss of
+home comforts, the soft touch of woman's hands, the kiss of baby lips,
+and also for all he suffered in his pitiless pursuits, the hard fare,
+the steel and blood of a borderman's life.
+
+Soon the sun shone straight overhead, dwarfing the shadow of the
+chestnut on the rock.
+
+During such a time it was rare that any connected thought came into
+the borderman's mind. His dark eyes, now strangely luminous, strayed
+lingeringly over those purple, undulating slopes. This intense
+watchfulness had no object, neither had his listening. He watched
+nothing; he hearkened to the silence. Undoubtedly in this state of
+rapt absorption his perceptions were acutely alert; but without
+thought, as were those of the savage in the valley below, or the eagle
+in the sky above.
+
+Yet so perfectly trained were these perceptions that the least
+unnatural sound or sight brought him wary and watchful from his
+dreamy trance.
+
+The slight snapping of a twig in the thicket caused him to sit erect,
+and reach out toward his rifle. His eyes moved among the dark openings
+in the thicket. In another moment a tall figure pressed the bushes
+apart. Jonathan let fall his rifle, and sank back against the tree
+once more. Wetzel stepped over the rocks toward him.
+
+"Come from Blue Pond?" asked Jonathan as the newcomer took a seat
+beside him.
+
+Wetzel nodded as he carefully laid aside his long, black rifle.
+
+"Any Injun sign?" continued Jonathan, pushing toward his companion the
+knapsack of eatables he had brought from the settlement.
+
+"Nary Shawnee track west of this divide," answered Wetzel, helping
+himself to bread and cheese.
+
+"Lew, we must go eastward, over Bing Legget's way, to find the trail
+of the stolen horses."
+
+"Likely, an' it'll be a long, hard tramp."
+
+"Who's in Legget's gang now beside Old Horse, the Chippewa, an' his
+Shawnee pard, Wildfire? I don't know Bing; but I've seen some of his
+Injuns an' they remember me."
+
+"Never seen Legget but onct," replied Wetzel, "an' that time I shot
+half his face off. I've been told by them as have seen him since, that
+he's got a nasty scar on his temple an' cheek. He's a big man an'
+knows the woods. I don't know who all's in his gang, nor does anybody.
+He works in the dark, an' for cunnin' he's got some on Jim Girty,
+Deerin', an' several more renegades we know of lyin' quiet back here
+in the woods. We never tackled as bad a gang as his'n; they're all
+experienced woodsmen, old fighters, an' desperate, outlawed as they be
+by Injuns an' whites. It wouldn't surprise me to find that it's him
+an' his gang who are runnin' this hoss-thievin'; but bad or no, we're
+goin' after 'em."
+
+Jonathan told of his movements since he had last seen his companion.
+
+"An' the lass Helen is goin' to help us," said Wetzel, much
+interested. "It's a good move. Women are keen. Betty put Miller's
+schemin' in my eye long 'afore I noticed it. But girls have chances we
+men'd never get."
+
+"Yes, an' she's like Betts, quicker'n lightnin'. She'll find out this
+hoss-thief in Fort Henry; but Lew, when we do get him we won't be much
+better off. Where do them hosses go? Who's disposin' of 'em for
+this fellar?"
+
+"Where's Brandt from?" asked Wetzel.
+
+"Detroit; he's a French-Canadian."
+
+Wetzel swung sharply around, his eyes glowing like wakening furnaces.
+
+"Bing Legget's a French-Canadian, an' from Detroit. Metzar was once
+thick with him down Fort Pitt way 'afore he murdered a man an' became
+an outlaw. We're on the trail, Jack."
+
+"Brandt an' Metzar, with Legget backin' them, an' the horses go
+overland to Detroit?"
+
+"I calkilate you've hit the mark."
+
+"What'll we do?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"Wait; that's best. We've no call to hurry. We must know the truth
+before makin' a move, an' as yet we're only suspicious. This lass'll
+find out more in a week than we could in a year. But Jack, have a care
+she don't fall into any snare. Brandt ain't any too honest a lookin'
+chap, an' them renegades is hell for women. The scars you wear prove
+that well enough. She's a rare, sweet, bloomin' lass, too. I never
+seen her equal. I remember how her eyes flashed when she said she knew
+I'd avenged Mabel. Jack, they're wonderful eyes; an' that girl,
+however sweet an' good as she must be, is chain-lightnin' wrapped up
+in a beautiful form. Aren't the boys at the fort runnin' arter her?"
+
+"Like mad; it'd make you laugh to see 'em," replied Jonathan calmly.
+
+"There'll be some fights before she's settled for, an' mebbe arter
+thet. Have a care for her, Jack, an' see that she don't ketch you."
+
+"No more danger than for you."
+
+"I was ketched onct," replied Wetzel.
+
+Jonathan Zane looked up at his companion. Wetzel's head was bowed; but
+there was no merriment in the serious face exposed to the
+borderman's scrutiny.
+
+"Lew, you're jokin'."
+
+"Not me. Some day, when you're ketched good, an' I have to go back to
+the lonely trail, as I did afore you an' me become friends, mebbe
+then, when I'm the last borderman, I'll tell you."
+
+"Lew, 'cordin' to the way settlers are comin', in a few more years
+there won't be any need for a borderman. When the Injuns are all gone
+where'll be our work?"
+
+"'Tain't likely either of us'll ever see them times," said Wetzel,
+"an' I don't want to. Wal, Jack, I'm off now, an' I'll meet you here
+every other day."
+
+Wetzel shouldered his long rifle, and soon passed out of sight down
+the mountain-side.
+
+Jonathan arose, shook himself as a big dog might have done, and went
+down into the valley. Only once did he pause in his descent, and that
+was when a crackling twig warned him some heavy body was moving near.
+Silently he sank into the bushes bordering the trail. He listened with
+his ear close to the ground. Presently he heard a noise as of two hard
+substances striking together. He resumed his walk, having recognized
+the grating noise of a deer-hoof striking a rock. Farther down he
+espied a pair grazing. The buck ran into the thicket; but the doe eyed
+him curiously.
+
+Less than an hour's rapid walking brought him to the river. Here he
+plunged into a thicket of willows, and emerged on a sandy strip of
+shore. He carefully surveyed the river bank, and then pulled a small
+birch-bark canoe from among the foliage. He launched the frail craft,
+paddled across the river and beached it under a reedy, over-hanging bank.
+
+The distance from this point in a straight line to his destination was
+only a mile; but a rocky bluff and a ravine necessitated his making a
+wide detour. While lightly leaping over a brook his keen eye fell on
+an imprint in the sandy loam. Instantly he was on his knees. The
+footprint was small, evidently a woman's, and, what was more unusual,
+instead of the flat, round moccasin-track, it was pointed, with a
+sharp, square heel. Such shoes were not worn by border girls. True
+Betty and Nell had them; but they never went into the woods without
+moccasins.
+
+Jonathan's experienced eye saw that this imprint was not an hour old.
+He gazed up at the light. The day was growing short. Already shadows
+lay in the glens. He would not long have light enough to follow the
+trail; but he hurried on hoping to find the person who made it before
+darkness came. He had not traveled many paces before learning that the
+one who made it was lost. The uncertainty in those hasty steps was as
+plain to the borderman's eyes, as if it had been written in words on
+the sand. The course led along the brook, avoiding the rough places;
+and leading into the open glades and glens; but it drew no nearer to
+the settlement. A quarter of an hour of rapid trailing enabled
+Jonathan to discern a dark figure moving among the trees. Abandoning
+the trail, he cut across a ridge to head off the lost woman. Stepping
+out of a sassafras thicket, he came face to face with Helen Sheppard.
+
+"Oh!" she cried in alarm, and then the expression of terror gave place
+to one of extreme relief and gladness. "Oh! Thank goodness! You've
+found me. I'm lost!"
+
+"I reckon," answered Jonathan grimly. "The settlement's only five
+hundred yards over that hill."
+
+"I was going the wrong way. Oh! suppose you hadn't come!" exclaimed
+Helen, sinking on a log and looking up at him with warm, glad eyes.
+
+"How did you lose your way?" Jonathan asked. He saw neither the warmth
+in her eyes nor the gladness.
+
+"I went up the hillside, only a little way, after flowers, keeping the
+fort in sight all the time. Then I saw some lovely violets down a
+little hill, and thought I might venture. I found such loads of them I
+forgot everything else, and I must have walked on a little way. On
+turning to go back I couldn't find the little hill. I have hunted in
+vain for the clearing. It seems as if I have been wandering about for
+hours. I'm so glad you've found me!"
+
+"Weren't you told to stay in the settlement, inside the clearing?"
+demanded Jonathan.
+
+"Yes," replied Helen, with her head up.
+
+"Why didn't you?"
+
+"Because I didn't choose."
+
+"You ought to have better sense."
+
+"It seems I hadn't," Helen said quietly, but her eyes belied that calm
+voice.
+
+"You're a headstrong child," Jonathan added curtly.
+
+"Mr. Zane!" cried Helen with pale face.
+
+"I suppose you've always had your own sweet will; but out here on the
+border you ought to think a little of others, if not of yourself."
+
+Helen maintained a proud silence.
+
+"You might have run right into prowlin' Shawnees."
+
+"That dreadful disaster would not have caused you any sorrow," she
+flashed out.
+
+"Of course it would. I might have lost my scalp tryin' to get you back
+home," said Jonathan, beginning to hesitate. Plainly he did not know
+what to make of this remarkable young woman.
+
+"Such a pity to have lost all your fine hair," she answered with a
+touch of scorn.
+
+Jonathan flushed, perhaps for the first time in his life. If there was
+anything he was proud of, it was his long, glossy hair.
+
+"Miss Helen, I'm a poor hand at words," he said, with a pale, grave
+face. "I was only speakin' for your own good."
+
+"You are exceedingly kind; but need not trouble yourself."
+
+"Say," Jonathan hesitated, looking half-vexed at the lovely, angry
+face. Then an idea occurred to him. "Well, I won't trouble. Find your
+way home yourself."
+
+Abruptly he turned and walked slowly away. He had no idea of allowing
+her to go home alone; but believed it might be well for her to think
+so. If she did not call him back he would remain near at hand, and
+when she showed signs of anxiety or fear he could go to her.
+
+Helen determined she would die in the woods, or be captured by
+Shawnees, before calling him back. But she watched him. Slowly the
+tall, strong figure, with its graceful, springy stride, went down the
+glade. He would be lost to view in a moment, and then she would be
+alone. How dark it had suddenly become! The gray cloak of twilight was
+spread over the forest, and in the hollows night already had settled
+down. A breathless silence pervaded the woods. How lonely! thought
+Helen, with a shiver. Surely it would be dark before she could find
+the settlement. What hill hid the settlement from view? She did not
+know, could not remember which he had pointed out. Suddenly she began
+to tremble. She had been so frightened before he had found her, and so
+relieved afterward; and now he was going away.
+
+"Mr. Zane," she cried with a great effort. "Come back."
+
+Jonathan kept slowly on.
+
+"Come back, Jonathan, please."
+
+The borderman retraced his steps.
+
+"Please take me home," she said, lifting a fair face all flushed,
+tear-stained, and marked with traces of storm. "I was foolish, and
+silly to come into the woods, and so glad to see you! But you spoke to
+me--in--in a way no one ever used before. I'm sure I deserved it.
+Please take me home. Papa will be worried."
+
+Softer eyes and voice than hers never entreated man.
+
+"Come," he said gently, and, taking her by the hand, he led her up the
+ridge.
+
+Thus they passed through the darkening forest, hand in hand, like a
+dusky redman and his bride. He helped her over stones and logs, but
+still held her hand when there was no need of it. She looked up to see
+him walking, so dark and calm beside her, his eyes ever roving among
+the trees. Deepest remorse came upon her because of what she had said.
+There was no sentiment for him in this walk under the dark canopy of
+the leaves. He realized the responsibility. Any tree might hide a
+treacherous foe. She would atone for her sarcasm, she promised
+herself, while walking, ever conscious of her hand in his, her bosom
+heaving with the sweet, undeniable emotion which came knocking at
+her heart.
+
+Soon they were out of the thicket, and on the dusty lane. A few
+moments of rapid walking brought them within sight of the twinkling
+lights of the village, and a moment later they were at the lane
+leading to Helen's home. Releasing her hand, she stopped him with a
+light touch and said:
+
+"Please don't tell papa or Colonel Zane."
+
+"Child, I ought. Some one should make you stay at home."
+
+"I'll stay. Please don't tell. It will worry papa."
+
+Jonathan Zane looked down into her great, dark, wonderful eyes with an
+unaccountable feeling. He really did not hear what she asked.
+Something about that upturned face brought to his mind a rare and
+perfect flower which grew in far-off rocky fastnesses. The feeling he
+had was intangible, like no more than a breath of fragrant western
+wind, faint with tidings of some beautiful field.
+
+"Promise me you won't tell."
+
+"Well, lass, have it your own way," replied Jonathan, wonderingly
+conscious that it was the first pledge ever asked of him by a woman.
+
+"Thank you. Now we have two secrets, haven't we?" she laughed, with
+eyes like stars.
+
+"Run home now, lass. Be careful hereafter. I do fear for you with such
+spirit an' temper. I'd rather be scalped by Shawnees than have Bing
+Legget so much as set eyes on you."
+
+"You would? Why?" Her voice was like low, soft music.
+
+"Why?" he mused. "It'd seem like a buzzard about to light on a doe."
+
+"Good-night," said Helen abruptly, and, wheeling, she hurried down the
+lane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"Jack," said Colonel Zane to his brother next morning, "to-day is
+Saturday and all the men will be in. There was high jinks over at
+Metzar's place yesterday, and I'm looking for more to-day. The two
+fellows Alex Bennet told me about, came on day-before-yesterday's
+boat. Sure enough, one's a lordly Englishman, and the other, the
+cussedest-looking little chap I ever saw. They started trouble
+immediately. The Englishman, his name is Mordaunt, hunted up the
+Sheppards and as near as I can make out from George's story, Helen
+spoke her mind very plainly. Mordaunt and Case, that's his servant,
+the little cuss, got drunk and raised hell down at Metzar's where
+they're staying. Brandt and Williams are drinking hard, too, which is
+something unusual for Brandt. They got chummy at once with the
+Englishman, who seems to have plenty of gold and is fond of gambling.
+This Mordaunt is a gentleman, or I never saw one. I feel sorry for
+him. He appears to be a ruined man. If he lasts a week out here I'll
+be surprised. Case looks ugly, as if he were spoiling to cut somebody.
+I want you to keep your eye peeled. The day may pass off as many other
+days of drinking bouts have, without anything serious, and on the
+other hand there's liable to be trouble."
+
+Jonathan's preparations were characteristic of the borderman. He laid
+aside his rifle, and, removing his short coat, buckled on a second
+belt containing a heavier tomahawk and knife than those he had been
+wearing. Then he put on his hunting frock, or shirt, and wore it loose
+with the belts underneath, instead of on the outside. Unfastened, the
+frock was rather full, and gave him the appearance of a man unarmed
+and careless.
+
+Jonathan Zane was not so reckless as to court danger, nor, like many
+frontiersmen, fond of fighting for its own sake. Colonel Zane was
+commandant of the fort, and, in a land where there was no law, tried
+to maintain a semblance of it. For years he had kept thieves,
+renegades and outlaws away from his little settlement by dealing out
+stern justice. His word was law, and his bordermen executed it as
+such. Therefore Jonathan and Wetzel made it their duty to have a keen
+eye on all that was happening. They kept the colonel posted, and never
+interfered in any case without orders.
+
+The morning passed quietly. Jonathan strolled here or loitered there;
+but saw none of the roisterers. He believed they were sleeping off the
+effects of their orgy on the previous evening. After dinner he smoked
+his pipe. Betty and Helen passed, and Helen smiled. It struck him
+suddenly that she had never looked at him in such a way before. There
+was meaning in that warm, radiant flash. A little sense of vexation,
+the source of which he did not understand, stirred in him against this
+girl; but with it came the realization that her white face and big,
+dark eyes had risen before him often since the night before. He
+wished, for the first time, that he could understand women better.
+
+"Everything quiet?" asked Colonel Zane, coming out on the steps.
+
+"All quiet," answered Jonathan.
+
+"They'll open up later, I suspect. I'm going over to Sheppard's for a
+while, and, later, will drop into Metzar's. I'll make him haul in a
+yard or two. I don't like things I hear about his selling the
+youngsters rum. I'd like you to be within call."
+
+The borderman strolled down the bluff and along the path which
+overhung the river. He disliked Metzar more than his brother
+suspected, and with more weighty reason than that of selling rum to
+minors. Jonathan threw himself at length on the ground and mused over
+the situation.
+
+"We never had any peace in this settlement, an' never will in our day.
+Eb is hopeful an' looks at the bright side, always expectin' to-morrow
+will be different. What have the past sixteen years been? One long
+bloody fight, an' the next sixteen won't be any better. I make out
+that we'll have a mix-up soon. Metzar an' Brandt with their allies,
+whoever they are, will be in it, an' if Bing Legget's in the gang,
+we've got, as Wetzel said, a long, hard trail, which may be our last.
+More'n that, there'll be trouble about this chain-lightnin' girl, as
+Wetzel predicted. Women make trouble anyways; an' when they're winsome
+an' pretty they cause more; but if they're beautiful an' fiery, bent
+on havin' their way, as this new lass is, all hell couldn't hold a
+candle to them. We don't need the Shawnees an' Girtys, an' hoss
+thieves round this here settlement to stir up excitin' times, now
+we've got this dark-eyed lass. An' yet any fool could see she's sweet,
+an' good, an' true as gold."
+
+Toward the middle of the afternoon Jonathan sauntered in the direction
+of Metzar's inn. It lay on the front of the bluff, with its main doors
+looking into the road. A long, one-story log structure with two doors,
+answered as a bar-room. The inn proper was a building more
+pretentious, and joined the smaller one at its western end. Several
+horses were hitched outside, and two great oxen yoked to a cumbersome
+mud-crusted wagon stood patiently by.
+
+Jonathan bent his tall head as he entered the noisy bar-room. The
+dingy place reeked with tobacco smoke and the fumes of vile liquor. It
+was crowded with men. The lawlessness of the time and place was
+evident. Gaunt, red-faced frontiersmen reeled to and fro across the
+sawdust floor; hunters and fur-traders, raftsmen and farmers, swelled
+the motley crowd; young men, honest-faced, but flushed and wild with
+drink, hung over the bar; a group of sullen-visaged, serpent-eyed
+Indians held one corner. The black-bearded proprietor dealt out
+the rum.
+
+From beyond the bar-room, through a door entering upon the back porch,
+came the rattling of dice. Jonathan crossed the bar-room apparently
+oblivious to the keen glance Metzar shot at him, and went out upon the
+porch. This also was crowded, but there was more room because of
+greater space. At one table sat some pioneers drinking and laughing;
+at another were three men playing with dice. Colonel Zane, Silas, and
+Sheppard were among the lookers-on at the game. Jonathan joined them,
+and gazed at the gamesters.
+
+Brandt he knew well enough; he had seen that set, wolfish expression
+in the riverman's face before. He observed, however, that the man had
+flushed cheeks and trembling hands, indications of hard drinking. The
+player sitting next to Brandt was Williams, one of the garrison, and a
+good-natured fellow, but garrulous and wickedly disposed when drunk.
+The remaining player Jonathan at once saw was the Englishman,
+Mordaunt. He was a handsome man, with fair skin, and long, silken,
+blond mustache. Heavy lines, and purple shades under his blue eyes,
+were die unmistakable stamp of dissipation. Reckless, dissolute, bad
+as he looked, there yet clung something favorable about the man.
+Perhaps it was his cool, devil-may-care way as he pushed over gold
+piece after gold piece from the fast diminishing pile before him. His
+velvet frock and silken doublet had once been elegant; but were now
+sadly the worse for border roughing.
+
+Behind the Englishman's chair Jonathan saw a short man with a face
+resembling that of a jackal. The grizzled, stubbly beard, the
+protruding, vicious mouth, the broad, flat nose, and deep-set, small,
+glittering eyes made a bad impression on the observer. This man,
+Jonathan concluded, was the servant, Case, who was so eager with his
+knife. The borderman made the reflection, that if knife-play was the
+little man's pastime, he was not likely to go short of sport in
+that vicinity.
+
+Colonel Zane attracted Jonathan's attention at this moment. The
+pioneers had vacated the other table, and Silas and Sheppard now sat
+by it. The colonel wanted his brother to join them.
+
+"Here, Johnny, bring drinks," he said to the serving boy. "Tell Metzar
+who they're for." Then turning to Sheppard he continued: "He keeps
+good whiskey; but few of these poor devils ever see it." At the same
+time Colonel Zane pressed his foot upon that of Jonathan's.
+
+The borderman understood that the signal was intended to call
+attention to Brandt. The latter had leaned forward, as Jonathan passed
+by to take a seat with his brother, and said something in a low tone
+to Mordaunt and Case. Jonathan knew by the way the Englishman and his
+man quickly glanced up at him, that he had been the subject of
+the remark.
+
+Suddenly Williams jumped to his feet with an oath.
+
+"I'm cleaned out," he cried.
+
+"Shall we play alone?" asked Brandt of Mordaunt.
+
+"As you like," replied the Englishman, in a tone which showed he cared
+not a whit whether he played or not.
+
+"I've got work to do. Let's have some more drinks, and play another
+time," said Brandt.
+
+The liquor was served and drank. Brandt pocketed his pile of Spanish
+and English gold, and rose to his feet. He was a trifle unsteady; but
+not drunk.
+
+"Will you gentlemen have a glass with me?" Mordaunt asked of Colonel
+Zane's party.
+
+"Thank you, some other time, with pleasure. We have our drink now,"
+Colonel Zane said courteously.
+
+Meantime Brandt had been whispering in Case's ear. The little man
+laughed at something the riverman said. Then he shuffled from behind
+the table. He was short, his compact build gave promise of unusual
+strength and agility.
+
+"What are you going to do now?" asked Mordaunt, rising also. He looked
+hard at Case.
+
+"Shiver my sides, cap'n, if I don't need another drink," replied the
+sailor.
+
+"You have had enough. Come upstairs with me," said Mordaunt.
+
+"Easy with your hatch, cap'n," grinned Case. "I want to drink with
+that ther' Injun killer. I've had drinks with buccaneers, and bad men
+all over the world, and I'm not going to miss this chance."
+
+"Come on; you will get into trouble. You must not annoy these
+gentlemen," said Mordaunt.
+
+"Trouble is the name of my ship, and she's a trim, fast craft,"
+replied the man.
+
+His loud voice had put an end to the convention. Men began to crowd in
+from the bar-room. Metzar himself came to see what had caused the
+excitement.
+
+The little man threw up his cap, whooped, and addressed himself to
+Jonathan:
+
+"Injun-killer, bad man of the border, will you drink with a jolly old
+tar from England?"
+
+Suddenly a silence reigned, like that in the depths of the forest. To
+those who knew the borderman, and few did not know him, the invitation
+was nothing less than an insult. But it did not appear to them, as to
+him, like a pre-arranged plot to provoke a fight.
+
+"Will you drink, redskin-hunter?" bawled the sailor.
+
+"No," said Jonathan in his quiet voice.
+
+"Maybe you mean that against old England?" demanded Case fiercely.
+
+The borderman eyed him steadily, inscrutable as to feeling or intent,
+and was silent.
+
+"Go out there and I'll see the color of your insides quicker than I'd
+take a drink," hissed the sailor, with his brick-red face distorted
+and hideous to look upon. He pointed with a long-bladed knife that no
+one had seen him draw, to the green sward beyond the porch.
+
+The borderman neither spoke, nor relaxed a muscle.
+
+"Ho! ho! my brave pirate of the plains!" cried Case, and he leered
+with braggart sneer into the faces of Jonathan and his companions.
+
+It so happened that Sheppard sat nearest to him, and got the full
+effect of the sailor's hot, rum-soaked breath. He arose with a
+pale face.
+
+"Colonel, I can't stand this," he said hastily. "Let's get away from
+that drunken ruffian."
+
+"Who's a drunken ruffian?" yelled Case, more angry than ever. "I'm not
+drunk; but I'm going to be, and cut some of you white-livered border
+mates. Here, you old masthead, drink this to my health, damn you!"
+
+The ruffian had seized a tumbler of liquor from the table, and held it
+toward Sheppard while he brandished his long knife.
+
+White as snow, Sheppard backed against the wall; but did not take the
+drink.
+
+The sailor had the floor; no one save him spoke a word. The action had
+been so rapid that there had hardly been time. Colonel Zane and Silas
+were as quiet and tense as the borderman.
+
+"Drink!" hoarsely cried the sailor, advancing his knife toward
+Sheppard's body.
+
+When the sharp point all but pressed against the old man, a bright
+object twinkled through the air. It struck Case's wrist, knocked the
+knife from his fingers, and, bounding against the wall, fell upon the
+floor. It was a tomahawk.
+
+The borderman sprang over the table like a huge catamount, and with
+movement equally quick, knocked Case with a crash against the wall;
+closed on him before he could move a hand, and flung him like a sack
+of meal over the bluff.
+
+The tension relieved, some of the crowd laughed, others looked over
+the embankment to see how Case had fared, and others remarked that for
+some reason he had gotten off better than they expected.
+
+The borderman remained silent. He leaned against a post, with broad
+breast gently heaving, but his eyes sparkled as they watched Brandt,
+Williams, Mordaunt and Metzar. The Englishman alone spoke.
+
+"Handily done," he said, cool and suave. "Sir, yours is an iron hand.
+I apologize for this unpleasant affair. My man is quarrelsome when
+under the influence of liquor."
+
+"Metzar, a word with you," cried Colonel Zane curtly.
+
+"Come inside, kunnel," said the innkeeper, plainly ill at ease.
+
+"No; listen here. I'll speak to the point. You've got to stop running
+this kind of a place. No words, now, you've got to stop. Understand?
+You know as well as I, perhaps better, the character of your so-called
+inn. You'll get but one more chance."
+
+"Wal, kunnel, this is a free country," growled Metzar. "I can't help
+these fellars comin' here lookin' fer blood. I runs an honest place.
+The men want to drink an' gamble. What's law here? What can you do?"
+
+"You know me, Metzar," Colonel Zane said grimly. "I don't waste words.
+'To hell with law!' so you say. I can say that, too. Remember, the
+next drunken boy I see, or shady deal, or gambling spree, out you go
+for good."
+
+Metzar lowered his shaggy head and left the porch. Brandt and his
+friends, with serious faces, withdrew into the bar-room.
+
+The borderman walked around the corner of the inn, and up the lane.
+The colonel, with Silas and Sheppard, followed in more leisurely
+fashion. At a shout from some one they turned to see a dusty, bloody
+figure, with ragged clothes, stagger up from the bluff.
+
+"There's that blamed sailor now," said Sheppard. "He's a tough nut.
+My! What a knock on the head Jonathan gave him. Strikes me, too, that
+tomahawk came almost at the right time to save me a whole skin."
+
+"I was furious, but not at all alarmed," rejoined Colonel Zane.
+
+"I wondered what made you so quiet."
+
+"I was waiting. Jonathan never acts until the right moment, and
+then--well, you saw him. The little villain deserved killing. I could
+have shot him with pleasure. Do you know, Sheppard, Jonathan's
+aversion to shedding blood is a singular thing. He'd never kill the
+worst kind of a white man until driven to it."
+
+"That's commendable. How about Wetzel?"
+
+"Well, Lew is different," replied Colonel Zane with a shudder. "If I
+told him to take an ax and clean out Metzar's place--God! what a wreck
+he'd make of it. Maybe I'll have to tell him, and if I do, you'll see
+something you can never forget."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+On Sunday morning under the bright, warm sun, the little hamlet of
+Fort Henry lay peacefully quiet, as if no storms had ever rolled and
+thundered overhead, no roistering ever disturbed its stillness, and no
+Indian's yell ever horribly broke the quiet.
+
+"'Tis a fine morning," said Colonel Zane, joining his sister on the
+porch. "Well, how nice you look! All in white for the first time
+since--well, you do look charming. You're going to church, of course."
+
+"Yes, I invited Helen and her cousin to go. I've persuaded her to
+teach my Sunday-school class, and I'll take another of older
+children," replied Betty.
+
+"That's well. The youngsters don't have much chance to learn out here.
+But we've made one great stride. A church and a preacher means very
+much to young people. Next shall come the village school."
+
+"Helen and I might teach our classes an hour or two every afternoon."
+
+"It would be a grand thing if you did! Fancy these tots growing up
+unable to read or write. I hate to think of it; but the Lord knows
+I've done my best. I've had my troubles in keeping them alive."
+
+"Helen suggested the day school. She takes the greatest interest in
+everything and everybody. Her energy is remarkable. She simply must
+move, must do something. She overflows with kindness and sympathy.
+Yesterday she cried with happiness when Mabel told her Alex was eager
+to be married very soon. I tell you, Eb, Helen is a fine character."
+
+"Yes, good as she is pretty, which is saying some," mused the colonel.
+"I wonder who'll be the lucky fellow to win her."
+
+"It's hard to say. Not that Englishman, surely. She hates him.
+Jonathan might. You should see her eyes when he is mentioned."
+
+"Say, Betts, you don't mean it?" eagerly asked her brother.
+
+"Yes, I do," returned Betty, nodding her head positively. "I'm not
+easily deceived about those things. Helen's completely fascinated with
+Jack. She might be only a sixteen-year-old girl for the way she
+betrays herself to me."
+
+"Betty, I have a beautiful plan."
+
+"No doubt; you're full of them."
+
+"We can do it, Betty, we can, you and I," he said, as he squeezed her
+arm.
+
+"My dear old matchmaking brother," returned Betty, laughing, "it takes
+two to make a bargain. Jack must be considered."
+
+"Bosh!" exclaimed the colonel, snapping his fingers. "You needn't tell
+me any young man--any man, could resist that glorious girl."
+
+"Perhaps not; I couldn't if I were a man. But Jack's not like other
+people. He'd never realize that she cared for him. Besides, he's a
+borderman."
+
+"I know, and that's the only serious obstacle. But he could scout
+around the fort, even if he was married. These long, lonely, terrible
+journeys taken by him and Wetzel are mostly unnecessary. A sweet wife
+could soon make him see that. The border will be civilized in a few
+years, and because of that he'd better give over hunting for Indians.
+I'd like to see him married and settled down, like all the rest of us,
+even Isaac. You know Jack's the last of the Zanes, that is, the old
+Zanes. The difficulty arising from his extreme modesty and bashfulness
+can easily be overcome."
+
+"How, most wonderful brother?"
+
+"Easy as pie. Tell Jack that Helen is dying of love for him, and tell
+her that Jack loves----"
+
+"But, dear Eb, that latter part is not true," interposed Betty.
+
+"True, of course it's true, or would be in any man who wasn't as blind
+as a bat. We'll tell her Jack cares for her; but he is a borderman
+with stern ideas of duty, and so slow and backward he'd never tell his
+love even if he had overcome his tricks of ranging. That would settle
+it with any girl worth her salt, and this one will fetch Jack in ten
+days, or less."
+
+"Eb, you're a devil," said Betty gaily, and then she added in a more
+sober vein, "I understand, Eb. Your idea is prompted by love of Jack,
+and it's all right. I never see him go out of the clearing but I think
+it may be for the last time, even as on that day so long ago when
+brother Andrew waved his cap to us, and never came back. Jack is the
+best man in the world, and I, too, want to see him happy, with a wife,
+and babies, and a settled occupation in life. I think we might weave a
+pretty little romance. Shall we try?"
+
+"Try? We'll do it! Now, Betts, you explain it to both. You can do it
+smoother than I, and telling them is really the finest point of our
+little plot. I'll help the good work along afterwards. He'll be out
+presently. Nail him at once."
+
+Jonathan, all unconscious of the deep-laid scheme to make him happy,
+soon came out on the porch, and stretched his long arms as he breathed
+freely of the morning air.
+
+"Hello, Jack, where are you bound?" asked Betty, clasping one of his
+powerful, buckskin-clad knees with her arm.
+
+"I reckon I'll go over to the spring," he replied, patting her dark,
+glossy head.
+
+"Do you know I want to tell you something, Jack, and it's quite
+serious," she said, blushing a little at her guilt; but resolute to
+carry out her part of the plot.
+
+"Well, dear?" he asked as she hesitated.
+
+"Do you like Helen?"
+
+"That is a question," Jonathan replied after a moment.
+
+"Never mind; tell me," she persisted.
+
+He made no answer.
+
+"Well, Jack, she's--she's wildly in love with you."
+
+The borderman stood very still for several moments. Then, with one
+step he gained the lawn, and turned to confront her.
+
+"What's that you say?"
+
+Betty trembled a little. He spoke so sharply, his eyes were bent on
+her so keenly, and he looked so strong, so forceful that she was
+almost afraid. But remembering that she had said only what, to her
+mind, was absolutely true, she raised her eyes and repeated the words:
+
+"Helen is wildly'in love with you."
+
+"Betty, you wouldn't joke about such a thing; you wouldn't lie to me,
+I know you wouldn't."
+
+"No, Jack dear."
+
+She saw his powerful frame tremble, even as she had seen more than one
+man tremble, during the siege, under the impact of a bullet.
+
+Without speaking, he walked rapidly down the path toward the spring.
+
+Colonel Zane came out of his hiding-place behind the porch and, with a
+face positively electrifying in its glowing pleasure, beamed upon
+his sister.
+
+"Gee! Didn't he stalk off like an Indian chief!" he said, chuckling
+with satisfaction. "By George! Betts, you must have got in a great
+piece of work. I never in my life saw Jack look like that."
+
+Colonel Zane sat down by Betty's side and laughed softly but heartily.
+
+"We'll fix him all right, the lonely hill-climber! Why, he hasn't a
+ghost of a chance. Wait until she sees him after hearing your story! I
+tell you, Betty--why--damme! you're crying!"
+
+He had turned to find her head lowered, while she shaded her face with
+her hand.
+
+"Now, Betty, just a little innocent deceit like that--what harm?" he
+said, taking her hand. He was as tender as a woman.
+
+"Oh, Eb, it wasn't that. I didn't mind telling him. Only the flash in
+his eyes reminded me of--of Alfred."
+
+"Surely it did. Why not? Almost everything brings up a tender memory
+for some one we've loved and lost. But don't cry, Betty."
+
+She laughed a little, and raised a face with its dark cheeks flushed
+and tear-stained.
+
+"I'm silly, I suppose; but I can't help it. I cry at least once every
+day."
+
+"Brace up. Here come Helen and Will. Don't let them see you grieved.
+My! Helen in pure white, too! This is a conspiracy to ruin the peace
+of the masculine portion of Fort Henry."
+
+Betty went forward to meet her friends while Colonel Zane continued
+talking, but now to himself. "What a fatal beauty she has!" His eyes
+swept over Helen with the pleasure of an artist. The fair richness of
+her skin, the perfect lips, the wavy, shiny hair, the wondrous
+dark-blue, changing eyes, the tall figure, slender, but strong and
+swelling with gracious womanhood, made a picture he delighted in and
+loved to have near him. The girl did not possess for him any of that
+magnetism, so commonly felt by most of her admirers; but he did feel
+how subtly full she was of something, which for want of a better term
+he described in Wetzel's characteristic expression, as "chain-lightning."
+
+He reflected that as he was so much older, that she, although always
+winsome and earnest, showed nothing of the tormenting, bewildering
+coquetry of her nature. Colonel Zane prided himself on his
+discernment, and he had already observed that Helen had different
+sides of character for different persons. To Betty, Mabel, Nell, and
+the children, she was frank, girlish, full of fun and always lovable;
+to her elders quiet and earnestly solicitous to please; to the young
+men cold; but with a penetrating, mocking promise haunting that
+coldness, and sometimes sweetly agreeable, often wilful, and
+changeable as April winds. At last the colonel concluded that she
+needed, as did all other spirited young women, the taming influence of
+a man whom she loved, a home to care for, and children to soften and
+temper her spirit.
+
+"Well, young friends, I see you count on keeping the Sabbath," he said
+cheerily. "For my part, Will, I don't see how Jim Douns can preach
+this morning, before this laurel blossom and that damask rose."
+
+"How poetical! Which is which?" asked Betty.
+
+"Flatterer!" laughed Helen, shaking her finger.
+
+"And a married man, too!" continued Betty.
+
+"Well, being married has not affected my poetical sentiment, nor
+impaired my eyesight."
+
+"But it has seriously inconvenienced your old propensity of making
+love to the girls. Not that you wouldn't if you dared," replied Betty
+with mischief in her eye.
+
+"Now, Will, what do you think of that? Isn't it real sisterly regard?
+Come, we'll go and look at my thoroughbreds," said Colonel Zane.
+
+"Where is Jonathan?" Helen asked presently. "Something happened at
+Metzar's yesterday. Papa wouldn't tell me, and I want to ask
+Jonathan."
+
+"Jack is down by the spring. He spends a great deal of his time there.
+It's shady and cool, and the water babbles over the stones."
+
+"How much alone he is," said Helen.
+
+Betty took her former position on the steps, but did not raise her
+eyes while she continued speaking. "Yes, he's more alone than ever
+lately, and quieter, too. He hardly ever speaks now. There must be
+something on his mind more serious than horse-thieves."
+
+"What?" Helen asked quickly.
+
+"I'd better not tell--you."
+
+A long moment passed before Helen spoke.
+
+"Please tell me!"
+
+"Well, Helen, we think, Eb and I, that Jack is in love for the first
+time in his life, and with you, you adorable creature. But Jack's a
+borderman; he is stern in his principles, thinks he is wedded to his
+border life, and he knows that he has both red and white blood on his
+hands. He'd die before he'd speak of his love, because he cannot
+understand that would do any good, even if you loved him, which is, of
+course, preposterous."
+
+"Loves me!" breathed Helen softly.
+
+She sat down rather beside Betty, and turned her face away. She still
+held the young woman's hand which she squeezed so tightly as to make
+its owner wince. Betty stole a look at her, and saw the rich red blood
+mantling her cheeks, and her full bosom heave.
+
+Helen turned presently, with no trace of emotion except a singular
+brilliance of the eyes. She was so slow to speak again that Colonel
+Zane and Will returned from the corral before she found her voice.
+
+"Colonel Zane, please tell me about last night. When papa came home to
+supper he was pale and very nervous. I knew something had happened.
+But he would not explain, which made me all the more anxious. Won't
+you please tell me?"
+
+Colonel Zane glanced again at her, and knew what had happened. Despite
+her self-possession those tell-tale eyes told her secret.
+Ever-changing and shadowing with a bounding, rapturous light, they
+were indeed the windows of her soul. All the emotion of a woman's
+heart shone there, fear, beauty, wondering appeal, trembling joy, and
+timid hope.
+
+"Tell you? Indeed I will," replied Colonel Zane, softened and a little
+remorseful under those wonderful eyes.
+
+No one liked to tell a story better than Colonel Zane. Briefly and
+graphically he related the circumstances of the affair leading to the
+attack on Helen's father, and, as the tale progressed, he became quite
+excited, speaking with animated face and forceful gestures.
+
+"Just as the knife-point touched your father, a swiftly-flying object
+knocked the weapon to the floor. It was Jonathan's tomahawk. What
+followed was so sudden I hardly saw it. Like lightning, and flexible
+as steel, Jonathan jumped over the table, smashed Case against the
+wall, pulled him up and threw him over the bank. I tell you, Helen, it
+was a beautiful piece of action; but not, of course, for a woman's
+eyes. Now that's all. Your father was not even hurt."
+
+"He saved papa's life," murmured Helen, standing like a statue.
+
+She wheeled suddenly with that swift bird-like motion habitual to her,
+and went quickly down the path leading to the spring.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jonathan Zane, solitary dreamer of dreams as he was, had never been in
+as strange and beautiful a reverie as that which possessed him on this
+Sabbath morning.
+
+Deep into his heart had sunk Betty's words. The wonder of it, the
+sweetness, that alone was all he felt. The glory of this girl had
+begun, days past, to spread its glamour round him. Swept irresistibly
+away now, he soared aloft in a dream-castle of fancy with its painted
+windows and golden walls.
+
+For the first time in his life on the border he had entered the little
+glade and had no eye for the crystal water flowing over the pebbles
+and mossy stones, or the plot of grassy ground inclosed by tall, dark
+trees and shaded by a canopy of fresh green and azure blue. Nor did he
+hear the music of the soft rushing water, the warbling birds, or the
+gentle sighing breeze moving the leaves.
+
+Gone, vanished, lost to-day was that sweet companionship of nature.
+That indefinable and unutterable spirit which flowed so peacefully to
+him from his beloved woods; that something more than merely affecting
+his senses, which existed for him in the stony cliffs, and breathed
+with life through the lonely aisles of the forest, had fled before the
+fateful power of a woman's love and beauty.
+
+A long time that seemed only a moment passed while he leaned against a
+stone. A light step sounded on the path.
+
+A vision in pure white entered the glade; two little hands pressed
+his, and two dark-blue eyes of misty beauty shed their light on him.
+
+"Jonathan, I am come to thank you."
+
+Sweet and tremulous, the voice sounded far away.
+
+"Thank me? For what?"
+
+"You saved papa's life. Oh! how can I thank you?"
+
+No voice answered for him.
+
+"I have nothing to give but this."
+
+A flower-like face was held up to him; hands light as thistledown
+touched his shoulders; dark-blue eyes glowed upon him with all
+tenderness.
+
+"May I thank you--so?"
+
+Soft lips met his full and lingeringly.
+
+Then came a rush as of wind, a flash of white, and the patter of
+flying feet. He was alone in the glade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+June passed; July opened with unusually warm weather, and Fort Henry
+had no visits from Indians or horse-thieves, nor any inconvenience
+except the hot sun. It was the warmest weather for many years, and
+seriously dwarfed the settlers' growing corn. Nearly all the springs
+were dry, and a drouth menaced the farmers.
+
+The weather gave Helen an excuse which she was not slow to adopt. Her
+pale face and languid air perplexed and worried her father and her
+friends. She explained to them that the heat affected her
+disagreeably.
+
+Long days had passed since that Sunday morning when she kissed the
+borderman. What transports of sweet hope and fear were hers then! How
+shame had scorched her happiness! Yet still she gloried in the act. By
+that kiss had she awakened to a full consciousness of her love. With
+insidious stealth and ever-increasing power this flood had increased
+to full tide, and, bursting its bonds, surged over her with
+irresistible strength.
+
+During the first days after the dawning of her passion, she lived in
+its sweetness, hearing only melodious sounds chiming in her soul. The
+hours following that Sunday were like long dreams. But as all things
+reach fruition, so this girlish period passed, leaving her a
+thoughtful woman. She began to gather up the threads of her life where
+love had broken them, to plan nobly, and to hope and wait.
+
+Weeks passed, however, and her lover did not come. Betty told her that
+Jonathan made flying trips at break of day to hold council with
+Colonel Zane; that he and Wetzel were on the trail of Shawnees with
+stolen horses, and both bordermen were in their dark, vengeful,
+terrible moods. In these later days Helen passed through many stages
+of feeling. After the exalting mood of hot, young love, came reaction.
+She fell into the depths of despair. Sorrow paled her face, thinned
+her cheeks and lent another shadow, a mournful one, to her great eyes.
+The constant repression of emotion, the strain of trying to seem
+cheerful when she was miserable, threatened even her magnificent
+health. She answered the solicitude of her friends by evasion, and
+then by that innocent falsehood in which a sensitive soul hides its
+secrets. Shame was only natural, because since the borderman came not,
+nor sent her a word, pride whispered that she had wooed him,
+forgetting modesty.
+
+Pride, anger, shame, despair, however, finally fled before affection.
+She loved this wild borderman, and knew he loved her in return
+although he might not understand it himself. His simplicity, his lack
+of experience with women, his hazardous life and stern duty regarding
+it, pleaded for him and for her love. For the lack of a little
+understanding she would never live unhappy and alone while she was
+loved. Better give a thousand times more than she had sacrificed. He
+would return to the village some day, when the Indians and the thieves
+were run down, and would be his own calm, gentle self. Then she would
+win him, break down his allegiance to this fearful border life, and
+make him happy in her love.
+
+While Helen was going through one of the fires of life to come out
+sweeter and purer, if a little pensive and sad, time, which waits not
+for love, nor life, nor death, was hastening onward, and soon the
+golden fields of grain were stored. September came with its fruitful
+promise fulfilled.
+
+Helen entered once more into the quiet, social life of the little
+settlement, taught her class on Sundays, did all her own work, and
+even found time to bring a ray of sunshine to more than one sick
+child's bed. Yet she did not forget her compact with Jonathan, and
+bent all her intelligence to find some clew that might aid in the
+capture of the horse-thief. She was still groping in the darkness. She
+could not, however, banish the belief that the traitor was Brandt. She
+blamed herself for this, because of having no good reasons for
+suspicion; but the conviction was there, fixed by intuition. Because a
+man's eyes were steely gray, sharp like those of a cat's, and capable
+of the same contraction and enlargement, there was no reason to
+believe their owner was a criminal. But that, Helen acknowledged with
+a smile, was the only argument she had. To be sure Brandt had looked
+capable of anything, the night Jonathan knocked him down; she knew he
+had incited Case to begin the trouble at Metzar's, and had seemed
+worried since that time. He had not left the settlement on short
+journeys, as had been his custom before the affair in the bar-room.
+And not a horse had disappeared from Fort Henry since that time.
+
+Brandt had not discontinued his attentions to her; if they were less
+ardent it was because she had given him absolutely to understand that
+she could be his friend only. And she would not have allowed even so
+much except for Jonathan's plan. She fancied it was possible to see
+behind Brandt's courtesy, the real subtle, threatening man. Stripped
+of his kindliness, an assumed virtue, the iron man stood revealed,
+cold, calculating, cruel.
+
+Mordaunt she never saw but once and then, shocking and pitiful, he lay
+dead drunk in the grass by the side of the road, his pale, weary,
+handsome face exposed to the pitiless rays of the sun. She ran home
+weeping over this wreck of what had once been so fine a gentleman. Ah!
+the curse of rum! He had learned his soft speech and courtly bearing
+in the refinement of a home where a proud mother adored, and gentle
+sisters loved him. And now, far from the kindred he had disgraced, he
+lay in the road like a log. How it hurt her! She almost wished she
+could have loved him, if love might have redeemed. She was more kind
+to her other admirers, more tolerant of Brandt, and could forgive the
+Englishman, because the pangs she had suffered through love had
+softened her spirit.
+
+During this long period the growing friendship of her cousin for Betty
+had been a source of infinite pleasure to Helen. She hoped and
+believed a romance would develop between the young widow and Will, and
+did all in her power, slyly abetted by the matchmaking colonel, to
+bring the two together.
+
+One afternoon when the sky was clear with that intense blue peculiar
+to bright days in early autumn, Helen started out toward Betty's,
+intending to remind that young lady she had promised to hunt for
+clematis and other fall flowers.
+
+About half-way to Betty's home she met Brandt. He came swinging round
+a corner with his quick, firm step. She had not seen him for several
+days, and somehow he seemed different. A brightness, a flash, as of
+daring expectation, was in his face. The poise, too, of the man
+had changed.
+
+"Well, I am fortunate. I was just going to your home," he said
+cheerily. "Won't you come for a walk with me?"
+
+"You may walk with me to Betty's," Helen answered.
+
+"No, not that. Come up the hillside. We'll get some goldenrod. I'd
+like to have a chat with you. I may go away--I mean I'm thinking of
+making a short trip," he added hurriedly.
+
+"Please come."
+
+"I promised to go to Betty's."
+
+"You won't come?" His voice trembled with mingled disappointment and
+resentment.
+
+"No," Helen replied in slight surprise.
+
+"You have gone with the other fellows. Why not with me?" He was white
+now, and evidently laboring under powerful feelings that must have had
+their origin in some thought or plan which hinged on the acceptance of
+his invitation.
+
+"Because I choose not to," Helen replied coldly, meeting his glance
+fully.
+
+A dark red flush swelled Brandt's face and neck; his gray eyes gleamed
+balefully with wolfish glare; his teeth were clenched. He breathed
+hard and trembled with anger. Then, by a powerful effort, he conquered
+himself; the villainous expression left his face; the storm of rage
+subsided. Great incentive there must have been for him thus to repress
+his emotions so quickly. He looked long at her with sinister, intent
+regard; then, with the laugh of a desperado, a laugh which might have
+indicated contempt for the failure of his suit, and which was fraught
+with a world of meaning, of menace, he left her without so much as
+a salute.
+
+Helen pondered over this sudden change, and felt relieved because she
+need make no further pretense of friendship. He had shown himself to
+be what she had instinctively believed. She hurried on toward Betty's,
+hoping to find Colonel Zane at home, and with Jonathan, for Brandt's
+hint of leaving Fort Henry, and his evident chagrin at such a slip of
+speech, had made her suspicious. She was informed by Mrs. Zane that
+the colonel had gone to a log-raising; Jonathan had not been in for
+several days, and Betty went away with Will.
+
+"Where did they go?" asked Helen.
+
+"I'm not sure; I think down to the spring."
+
+Helen followed the familiar path through the grove of oaks into the
+glade. It was quite deserted. Sitting on the stone against which
+Jonathan had leaned the day she kissed him, she gave way to tender
+reflection. Suddenly she was disturbed by the sound of rapid
+footsteps, and looking up, saw the hulking form of Metzar, the
+innkeeper, coming down the path. He carried a bucket, and meant
+evidently to get water. Helen did not desire to be seen, and, thinking
+he would stay only a moment, slipped into a thicket of willows behind
+the stone. She could see plainly through the foliage. Metzar came into
+the glade, peered around in the manner of a man expecting to see some
+one, and then, filling his bucket at the spring, sat down on
+the stone.
+
+Not a minute elapsed before soft, rapid footsteps sounded in the
+distance. The bushes parted, disclosing the white, set face and gray
+eyes of Roger Brandt. With a light spring he cleared the brook and
+approached Metzar.
+
+Before speaking he glanced around the glade with the fugitive,
+distrustful glance of a man who suspects even the trees. Then,
+satisfied by the scrutiny he opened his hunting frock, taking forth a
+long object which he thrust toward Metzar.
+
+It was an Indian arrow.
+
+Metzar's dull gaze traveled from this to the ominous face of Brandt.
+
+"See there, you! Look at this arrow! Shot by the best Indian on the
+border into the window of my room. I hadn't been there a minute when
+it came from the island. God! but it was a great shot!"
+
+"Hell!" gasped Metzar, his dull face quickening with some awful
+thought.
+
+"I guess it is hell," replied Brandt, his face growing whiter and
+wilder.
+
+"Our game's up?" questioned Metzar with haggard cheek.
+
+"Up? Man! We haven't a day, maybe less, to shake Fort Henry."
+
+"What does it mean?" asked Metzar. He was the calmer of the two.
+
+"It's a signal. The Shawnees, who were in hiding with the horses over
+by Blueberry swamp, have been flushed by those bordermen. Some of them
+have escaped; at least one, for no one but Ashbow could shoot that
+arrow across the river."
+
+"Suppose he hadn't come?" whispered Metzar hoarsely.
+
+Brandt answered him with a dark, shuddering gaze.
+
+A twig snapped in the thicket. Like foxes at the click of a trap,
+these men whirled with fearsome glances.
+
+"Ugh!" came a low, guttural voice from the bushes, and an Indian of
+magnificent proportions and somber, swarthy features, entered
+the glade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The savage had just emerged from the river, for his graceful,
+copper-colored body and scanty clothing were dripping with water. He
+carried a long bow and a quiver of arrows.
+
+Brandt uttered an exclamation of surprise, and Metzar a curse, as the
+lithe Indian leaped the brook. He was not young. His swarthy face was
+lined, seamed, and terrible with a dark impassiveness.
+
+"Paleface-brother-get-arrow," he said in halting English, as his eyes
+flashed upon Brandt. "Chief-want-make-sure."
+
+The white man leaned forward, grasped the Indian's arm, and addressed
+him in an Indian language. This questioning was evidently in regard to
+his signal, the whereabouts of others of the party, and why he took
+such fearful risks almost in the village. The Indian answered with one
+English word.
+
+"Deathwind!"
+
+Brandt drew back with drawn, white face, while a whistling breath
+escaped him.
+
+"I knew it, Metz. Wetzel!" he exclaimed in a husky voice.
+
+The blood slowly receded from Metzar's evil, murky face, leaving it
+haggard.
+
+"Deathwind-on-Chief's-trail-up-Eagle Rock," continued the Indian.
+"Deathwind-fooled-not-for-long. Chief-wait-paleface-brothers at
+Two Islands."
+
+The Indian stepped into the brook, parted the willows, and was gone as
+he had come, silently.
+
+"We know what to expect," said Brandt in calmer tone as the daring
+cast of countenance returned to him. "There's an Indian for you! He
+got away, doubled like an old fox on his trail, and ran in here to
+give us a chance at escape. Now you know why Bing Legget can't
+be caught."
+
+"Let's dig at once," replied Metzar, with no show of returning courage
+such as characterized his companion.
+
+Brandt walked to and fro with bent brows, like one in deep thought.
+Suddenly he turned upon Metzar eyes which were brightly hard, and
+reckless with resolve.
+
+"By Heaven! I'll do it! Listen. Wetzel has gone to the top of Eagle
+Mountain, where he and Zane have a rendezvous. Even he won't suspect
+the cunning of this Indian; anyway it'll be after daylight to-morrow
+before he strikes the trail. I've got twenty-four hours, and more, to
+get this girl, and I'll do it!"
+
+"Bad move to have weight like her on a march," said Metzar.
+
+"Bah! The thing's easy. As for you, go on, push ahead after we're
+started. All I ask is that you stay by me until the time to
+cut loose."
+
+"I ain't agoin' to crawfish now," growled Metzar. "Strikes me, too,
+I'm losin' more'n you."
+
+"You won't be a loser if you can get back to Detroit with your scalp.
+I'll pay you in horses and gold. Once we reach Legget's place
+we're safe."
+
+"What's yer plan about gittin' the gal?" asked Metzar.
+
+Brandt leaned forward and spoke eagerly, but in a low tone.
+
+"Git away on hoss-back?" questioned Metzar, visibly brightening. "Wal,
+that's some sense. Kin ye trust ther other party?"
+
+"I'm sure I can," rejoined Brandt.
+
+"It'll be a good job, a good job an' all done in daylight, too. Bing
+Legget couldn't plan better," Metzar said, rubbing his hands,
+
+"We've fooled these Zanes and their fruit-raising farmers for a year,
+and our time is about up," Brandt muttered. "One more job and we've
+done. Once with Legget we're safe, and then we'll work slowly back
+towards Detroit. Let's get out of here now, for some one may come at
+any moment."
+
+The plotters separated, Brandt going through the grove, and Metzar
+down the path by which he had come.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Helen, trembling with horror of what she had heard, raised herself
+cautiously from the willows where she had lain, and watched the
+innkeeper's retreating figure. When it had disappeared she gave a
+little gasp of relief. Free now to run home, there to plan what course
+must be pursued, she conquered her fear and weakness, and hurried from
+the glade. Luckily, so far as she was able to tell, no one saw her
+return. She resolved that she would be cool, deliberate, clever,
+worthy of the borderman's confidence.
+
+First she tried to determine the purport of this interview between
+Brandt and Metzar. She recalled to mind all that was said, and
+supplied what she thought had been suggested. Brandt and Metzar were
+horse-thieves, aids of Bing Legget. They had repaired to the glade to
+plan. The Indian had been a surprise. Wetzel had routed the Shawnees,
+and was now on the trail of this chieftain. The Indian warned them to
+leave Fort Henry and to meet him at a place called Two Islands.
+Brandt's plan, presumably somewhat changed by the advent of the
+red-man, was to steal horses, abduct a girl in broad daylight, and
+before tomorrow's sunset escape to join the ruffian Legget.
+
+"I am the girl," murmured Helen shudderingly, as she relapsed
+momentarily into girlish fears. But at once she rose above
+selfish feelings.
+
+Secondly, while it was easy to determine what the outlaws meant, the
+wisest course was difficult to conceive. She had promised the
+borderman to help him, and not speak of anything she learned to any
+but himself. She could not be true to him if she asked advice. The
+point was clear; either she must remain in the settlement hoping for
+Jonathan's return in time to frustrate Brandt's villainous scheme, or
+find the borderman. Suddenly she remembered Metzar's allusion to a
+second person whom Brandt felt certain he could trust. This meant
+another traitor in Fort Henry, another horse-thief, another desperado
+willing to make off with helpless women.
+
+Helen's spirit rose in arms. She had their secret, and could ruin
+them. She would find the borderman.
+
+Wetzel was on the trail at Eagle Rock. What for? Trailing an Indian
+who was then five miles east of that rock? Not Wetzel! He was on that
+track to meet Jonathan. Otherwise, with the redskins near the river,
+he would have been closer to them. He would meet Jonathan there at
+sunset to-day, Helen decided.
+
+She paced the room, trying to still her throbbing heart and trembling
+hands.
+
+"I must be calm," she said sternly. "Time is precious. I have not a
+moment to lose. I will find him. I've watched that mountain many a
+time, and can find the trail and the rock. I am in more danger here,
+than out there in the forest. With Wetzel and Jonathan on the mountain
+side, the Indians have fled it. But what about the savage who warned
+Brandt? Let me think. Yes, he'll avoid the river; he'll go round south
+of the settlement, and, therefore, can't see me cross. How fortunate
+that I have paddled a canoe many times across the river. How glad that
+I made Colonel Zane describe the course up the mountains!"
+
+Her resolution fixed, Helen changed her skirt for one of buckskin,
+putting on leggings and moccasins of the same serviceable material.
+She filled the pockets of a short, rain-proof jacket with biscuits,
+and, thus equipped, sallied forth with a spirit and exultation she
+could not subdue. Only one thing she feared, which was that Brandt or
+Metzar might see her cross the river. She launched her canoe and
+paddled down stream, under cover of the bluff, to a point opposite the
+end of the island, then straight across, keeping the island between
+her and the settlement. Gaining the other shore, Helen pulled the
+canoe into the willows, and mounted the bank. A thicket of willow and
+alder made progress up the steep incline difficult, but once out of it
+she faced a long stretch of grassy meadowland. A mile beyond began the
+green, billowy rise of that mountain which she intended to climb.
+
+Helen's whole soul was thrown into the adventure. She felt her strong
+young limbs in accord with her heart.
+
+"Now, Mr. Brandt, horse-thief and girl-snatcher, we'll see," she said
+with scornful lips. "If I can't beat you now I'm not fit to be Betty
+Zane's friend; and am unworthy of a borderman's trust."
+
+She traversed the whole length of meadowland close under the shadow of
+the fringed bank, and gained the forest. Here she hesitated. All was
+so wild and still. No definite course through the woods seemed to
+invite, and yet all was open. Trees, trees, dark, immovable trees
+everywhere. The violent trembling of poplar and aspen leaves, when all
+others were so calm, struck her strangely, and the fearful stillness
+awed her. Drawing a deep breath she started forward up the gently
+rising ground.
+
+As she advanced the open forest became darker, and of wilder aspect.
+The trees were larger and closer together. Still she made fair
+progress without deviating from the course she had determined upon.
+Before her rose a ridge, with a ravine on either side, reaching nearly
+to the summit of the mountain. Here the underbrush was scanty, the
+fallen trees had slipped down the side, and the rocks were not so
+numerous, all of which gave her reason to be proud, so far, of
+her judgment.
+
+Helen, pressing onward and upward, forgot time and danger, while she
+reveled in the wonder of the forestland. Birds and squirrels fled
+before her; whistling and wheezing of alarm, or heavy crashings in the
+bushes, told of frightened wild beasts. A dull, faint roar, like a
+distant wind, suggested tumbling waters. A single birch tree, gleaming
+white among the black trees, enlivened the gloomy forest. Patches of
+sunlight brightened the shade. Giant ferns, just tinging with autumn
+colors, waved tips of sculptured perfection. Most wonderful of all
+were the colored leaves, as they floated downward with a sad,
+gentle rustle.
+
+Helen was brought to a realization of her hazardous undertaking by a
+sudden roar of water, and the abrupt termination of the ridge in a
+deep gorge. Grasping a tree she leaned over to look down. It was fully
+an hundred feet deep, with impassable walls, green-stained and damp,
+at the bottom of which a brawling, brown brook rushed on its way.
+Fully twenty feet wide, it presented an insurmountable barrier to
+further progress in that direction.
+
+But Helen looked upon it merely as a difficulty to be overcome. She
+studied the situation, and decided to go to the left because higher
+ground was to be seen that way. Abandoning the ridge, she pressed on,
+keeping as close to the gorge as she dared, and came presently to a
+fallen tree lying across the dark cleft. Without a second's
+hesitation, for she knew such would be fatal, she stepped upon the
+tree and started across, looking at nothing but the log under her
+feet, while she tried to imagine herself walking across the
+water-gate, at home in Virginia.
+
+She accomplished the venture without a misstep. When safely on the
+ground once more she felt her knees tremble and a queer, light feeling
+came into her head. She laughed, however, as she rested a moment. It
+would take more than a gorge to discourage her, she resolved with set
+lips, as once again she made her way along the rising ground.
+
+Perilous, if not desperate, work was ahead of her. Broken, rocky
+ground, matted thicket, and seemingly impenetrable forest, rose darkly
+in advance. But she was not even tired, and climbed, crawled, twisted
+and turned on her way upward. She surmounted a rocky ledge, to face a
+higher ridge covered with splintered, uneven stones, and the fallen
+trees of many storms. Once she slipped and fell, spraining her wrist.
+At length this uphill labor began to weary her. To breathe caused a
+pain in her side and she was compelled to rest.
+
+Already the gray light of coming night shrouded the forest. She was
+surprised at seeing the trees become indistinct; because the shadows
+hovered over the thickets, and noted that the dark, dim outline of the
+ridges was fading into obscurity.
+
+She struggled on up the uneven slope with a tightening at her heart
+which was not all exhaustion. For the first time she doubted herself,
+but it was too late. She could not turn back. Suddenly she felt that
+she was on a smoother, easier course. Not to strike a stone or break a
+twig seemed unusual. It might be a path worn by deer going to a
+spring. Then into her troubled mind flashed the joyful thought, she
+had found a trail.
+
+Soft, wiry grass, springing from a wet soil, rose under her feet. A
+little rill trickled alongside the trail. Mossy, soft-cushioned stones
+lay imbedded here and there. Young maples and hickories grew
+breast-high on either side, and the way wound in and out under the
+lowering shade of forest monarchs.
+
+Swiftly ascending this path she came at length to a point where it was
+possible to see some distance ahead. The ascent became hardly
+noticeable. Then, as she turned a bend of the trail, the light grew
+brighter and brighter, until presently all was open and clear. An oval
+space, covered with stones, lay before her. A big, blasted chestnut
+stood near by. Beyond was the dim, purple haze of distance. Above, the
+pale, blue sky just faintly rose-tinted by the setting sun. Far to her
+left the scraggly trees of a low hill were tipped with orange and
+russet shades. She had reached the summit.
+
+Desolate and lonely was this little plateau. Helen felt immeasurably
+far away from home. Yet she could see in the blue distance the
+glancing river, the dark fort, and that cluster of cabins which marked
+the location of Fort Henry. Sitting upon the roots of the big chestnut
+tree she gazed around. There were the remains of a small camp-fire.
+Beyond, a hollow under a shelving rock. A bed of dry leaves lay packed
+in this shelter. Some one had been here, and she doubted not that it
+was the borderman.
+
+She was so tired and her wrist pained so severely that she lay back
+against the tree-trunk, closed her eyes and rested. A weariness, the
+apathy of utter exhaustion, came over her. She wished the bordermen
+would hurry and come before she went to sleep.
+
+Drowsily she was sinking into slumber when a long, low rumble aroused
+her. How dark it had suddenly become! A sheet of pale light flared
+across the overcast heavens.
+
+"A storm!" exclaimed Helen. "Alone on this mountain-top with a storm
+coming. Am I frightened? I don't believe it. At least I'm safe from
+that ruffian Brandt. Oh! if my borderman would only come!"
+
+Helen changed her position from beside the tree, to the hollow under
+the stone. It was high enough to permit of her sitting upright, and
+offered a safe retreat from the storm. The bed of leaves was soft and
+comfortable. She sat there peering out at the darkening heavens.
+
+All beneath her, southward and westward was gray twilight. The
+settlement faded from sight; the river grew wan and shadowy. The ruddy
+light in the west was fast succumbing to the rolling clouds. Darker
+and darker it became, until only one break in the overspreading vapors
+admitted the last crimson gleam of sunshine over hills and valley,
+brightening the river until it resembled a stream of fire. Then the
+light failed, the glow faded. The intense blackness of night
+prevailed.
+
+Out of the ebon west came presently another flare of light, a quick,
+spreading flush, like a flicker from a monster candle; it was followed
+by a long, low, rumbling roll.
+
+Helen felt in those intervals of unutterably vast silence, that she
+must shriek aloud. The thunder was a friend. She prayed for the storm
+to break. She had withstood danger and toilsome effort with fortitude;
+but could not brave this awful, boding, wilderness stillness.
+
+Flashes of lightning now revealed the rolling, pushing, turbulent
+clouds, and peals of thunder sounded nearer and louder.
+
+A long swelling moan, sad, low, like the uneasy sigh of the sea,
+breathed far in the west. It was the wind, the ominous warning of the
+storm. Sheets of light were now mingled with long, straggling ropes of
+fire, and the rumblings were often broken by louder, quicker
+detonations.
+
+Then a period, longer than usual, of inky blackness succeeded the
+sharp flaring of light. A faint breeze ruffled the leaves of the
+thicket, and fanned Helen's hot cheek. The moan of the wind became
+more distinct, then louder, and in another instant like the far-off
+roar of a rushing river. The storm was upon her. Helen shrank closer
+against the stone, and pulled her jacket tighter around her
+trembling form.
+
+A sudden, intense, dazzling, blinding, white light enveloped her. The
+rocky promontory, the weird, giant chestnut tree, the open plateau,
+and beyond, the stormy heavens, were all luridly clear in the flash of
+lightning. She fancied it was possible to see a tall, dark figure
+emerging from the thicket. As the thunderclap rolled and pealed
+overhead, she strained her eyes into the blackness waiting for the
+next lightning flash.
+
+It came with brilliant, dazing splendor. The whole plateau and thicket
+were as light as in the day. Close by the stone where she lay crept
+the tall, dark figure of an Indian. With starting eyes she saw the
+fringed clothing, the long, flying hair, and supple body peculiar to
+the savage. He was creeping upon her.
+
+Helen's blood ran cold; terror held her voiceless. She felt herself
+sinking slowly down upon the leaves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The sun had begun to cast long shadows the afternoon of Helen's hunt
+for Jonathan, when the borderman, accompanied by Wetzel, led a string
+of horses along the base of the very mountain she had ascended.
+
+"Last night's job was a good one, I ain't gainsayin'; but the redskin
+I wanted got away," Wetzel said gloomily.
+
+"He's safe now as a squirrel in a hole. I saw him dartin' among the
+trees with his white eagle feathers stickin' up like a buck's flag,"
+replied Jonathan. "He can run. If I'd only had my rifle loaded! But
+I'm not sure he was that arrow-shootin' Shawnee."
+
+"It was him. I saw his bow. We ought'er taken more time an' picked him
+out," Wetzel replied, shaking his head gravely. "Though mebbe that'd
+been useless. I think he was hidin'. He's precious shy of his red
+skin. I've been after him these ten year, an' never ketched him
+nappin' yet. We'd have done much toward snuffin' out Legget an' his
+gang if we'd winged the Shawnee."
+
+"He left a plain trail."
+
+"One of his tricks. He's slicker on a trail than any other Injun on
+the border, unless mebbe it's old Wingenund, the Huron. This Shawnee'd
+lead us many a mile for nuthin', if we'd stick to his trail. I'm long
+ago used to him. He's doubled like an old fox, run harder'n a skeered
+fawn, an', if needs be, he'll lay low as cunnin' buck. I calkilate
+once over the mountain, he's made a bee-line east. We'll go on with
+the hosses, an' then strike across country to find his trail."
+
+"It 'pears to me, Lew, that we've taken a long time in makin' a show
+against these hoss-thieves," said Jonathan.
+
+"I ain't sayin' much; but I've felt it," replied Wetzel.
+
+"All summer, an' nothin' done. It was more luck than sense that we run
+into those Injuns with the hosses. We only got three out of four, an'
+let the best redskin give us the slip. Here fall is nigh on us, with
+winter comin' soon, an' still we don't know who's the white traitor in
+the settlement."
+
+"I said it's be a long, an' mebbe, our last trail."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because these fellars red or white, are in with a picked gang of the
+best woodsmen as ever outlawed the border. We'll get the Fort Henry
+hoss-thief. I'll back the bright-eyed lass for that."
+
+"I haven't seen her lately, an' allow she'd left me word if she
+learned anythin'."
+
+"Wal, mebbe it's as well you hain't seen so much of her." In silence
+they traveled and, arriving at the edge of the meadow, were about to
+mount two of the horses, when Wetzel said in a sharp tone:
+
+"Look!"
+
+He pointed to a small, well-defined moccasin track in the black earth
+on the margin of a rill.
+
+"Lew, it's a woman's, sure's you're born," declared Jonathan.
+
+Wetzel knelt and closely examined the footprint; "Yes, a woman's, an'
+no Injun."
+
+"What?" Jonathan exclaimed, as he knelt to scrutinize the imprint.
+
+"This ain't half a day old," added Wetzel. "An' not a redskin's
+moccasin near. What d'you reckon?"
+
+"A white girl, alone," replied Jonathan as he followed the trail a
+short distance along the brook. "See, she's makin' upland. Wetzel,
+these tracks could hardly be my sister's, an' there's only one other
+girl on the border whose feet will match 'em! Helen Sheppard has
+passed here, on her way up the mountain to find you or me."
+
+"I like your reckonin'."
+
+"She's suddenly discovered somethin', Injuns, hoss-thieves, the Fort
+Henry traitor, or mebbe, an' most likely, some plottin'. Bein' bound
+to secrecy by me, she's not told my brother. An' it must be call for
+hurry. She knows we frequent this mountain-top; said Eb told her about
+the way we get here."
+
+"I'd calkilate about the same."
+
+"What'll you do? Go with me after her?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"I'll take the hosses, an' be at the fort inside of an hour. If
+Helen's gone, I'll tell her father you're close on her trail. Now
+listen! It'll be dark soon, an' a storm's comin'. Don't waste time on
+her trail. Hurry up to the rock. She'll be there, if any lass could
+climb there. If not, come back in the mornin', hunt her trail out, an'
+find her. I'm thinkin', Jack, we'll find the Shawnee had somethin' to
+do with this. Whatever happens after I get back to the fort, I'll
+expect you hard on my trail."
+
+Jonathan bounded across the brook and with an easy lope began the
+gradual ascent. Soon he came upon a winding path. He ran along this
+for perhaps a quarter of an hour, until it became too steep for rapid
+traveling, when he settled down to a rapid walk. The forest was
+already dark. A slight rustling of the leaves beneath his feet was the
+only sound, except at long intervals the distant rumbling of thunder.
+
+The mere possibility of Helen's being alone on that mountain seeking
+him, made Jonathan's heart beat as it never had before. For weeks he
+had avoided her, almost forgot her. He had conquered the strange,
+yearning weakness which assailed him after that memorable Sunday, and
+once more the silent shaded glens, the mystery of the woods, the
+breath of his wild, free life had claimed him. But now as this
+evidence of her spirit, her recklessness, was before him, and he
+remembered Betty's avowal, a pain, which was almost physical, tore at
+his heart. How terrible it would be if she came to her death through
+him! He pictured the big, alluring eyes, the perfect lips, the
+haunting face, cold in death. And he shuddered.
+
+The dim gloom of the woods soon darkened into blackness. The flashes
+of lightning, momentarily streaking the foliage, or sweeping overhead
+in pale yellow sheets, aided Jonathan in keeping the trail.
+
+He gained the plateau just as a great flash illumined it, and
+distinctly saw the dark hollow where he had taken refuge in many a
+storm, and where he now hoped to find the girl. Picking his way
+carefully over the sharp, loose stones, he at last put his hand on the
+huge rock. Another blue-white, dazzling flash enveloped the scene.
+
+Under the rock he saw a dark form huddled, and a face as white as
+snow, with wide, horrified eyes.
+
+"Lass," he said, when the thunder had rumbled away. He received no
+answer, and called again. Kneeling, he groped about until touching
+Helen's dress. He spoke again; but she did not reply.
+
+Jonathan crawled under the ledge beside the quiet figure. He touched
+her hands; they were very cold. Bending over, he was relieved to hear
+her heart beating. He called her name, but still she made no reply.
+Dipping his hand into a little rill that ran beside the stone, he
+bathed her face. Soon she stirred uneasily, moaned, and suddenly
+sat up.
+
+"'Tis Jonathan," he said quickly; "don't be scared."
+
+Another illuminating flare of lightning brightened the plateau.
+
+"Oh! thank Heaven!" cried Helen. "I thought you were an Indian!"
+
+Helen sank trembling against the borderman, who enfolded her in his
+long arms. Her relief and thankfulness were so great that she could
+not speak. Her hands clasped and unclasped round his strong fingers.
+Her tears flowed freely.
+
+The storm broke with terrific fury. A seething torrent of rain and
+hail came with the rushing wind. Great heaven-broad sheets of
+lightning played across the black dome overhead. Zigzag ropes,
+steel-blue in color, shot downward. Crash, and crack, and boom the
+thunder split and rolled the clouds above. The lightning flashes
+showed the fall of rain in columns like white waterfalls, borne on the
+irresistible wind.
+
+The grandeur of the storm awed, and stilled Helen's emotion. She sat
+there watching the lightning, listening to the peals of thunder, and
+thrilling with the wonder of the situation.
+
+Gradually the roar abated, the flashes became less frequent, the
+thunder decreased, as the storm wore out its strength in passing. The
+wind and rain ceased on the mountain-top almost as quickly as they had
+begun, and the roar died slowly away in the distance. Far to the
+eastward flashes of light illumined scowling clouds, and brightened
+many a dark, wooded hill and valley.
+
+"Lass, how is't I find you here?" asked Jonathan gravely.
+
+With many a pause and broken phrase, Helen told the story of what she
+had seen and heard at the spring.
+
+"Child, why didn't you go to my brother?" asked Jonathan. "You don't
+know what you undertook!"
+
+"I thought of everything; but I wanted to find you myself. Besides, I
+was just as safe alone on this mountain as in the village."
+
+"I don't know but you're right," replied Jonathan thoughtfully. "So
+Brandt planned to make off with you to-morrow?"
+
+"Yes, and when I heard it I wanted to run away from the village."
+
+"You've done a wondrous clever thing, lass. This Brandt is a bad man,
+an' hard to match. But if he hasn't shaken Fort Henry by now, his
+career'll end mighty sudden, an' his bad trails stop short on the
+hillside among the graves, for Eb will always give outlaws or Injuns
+decent burial."
+
+"What will the colonel, or anyone, think has become of me?"
+
+"Wetzel knows, lass, for he found your trail below."
+
+"Then he'll tell papa you came after me? Oh! poor papa! I forgot him.
+Shall we stay here until daylight?"
+
+"We'd gain nothin' by startin' now. The brooks are full, an' in the
+dark we'd make little distance. You're dry here, an' comfortable.
+What's more, lass, you're safe."
+
+"I feel perfectly safe, with you," Helen said softly.
+
+"Aren't you tired, lass?"
+
+"Tired? I'm nearly dead. My feet are cut and bruised, my wrist is
+sprained, and I ache all over. But, Jonathan, I don't care. I am so
+happy to have my wild venture turn out successfully."
+
+"You can lie here an' sleep while I keep watch."
+
+Jonathan made a move to withdraw his arm, which was still between
+Helen and the rock but had dropped from her waist.
+
+"I am very comfortable. I'll sit here with you, watching for daybreak.
+My! how dark it is! I cannot see my hand before my eyes."
+
+Helen settled herself back upon the stone, leaned a very little
+against his shoulder, and tried to think over her adventure. But her
+mind refused to entertain any ideas, except those of the present.
+Mingled with the dreamy lassitude that grew stronger every moment, was
+a sense of delight in her situation. She was alone on a wild mountain,
+in the night, with this borderman, the one she loved. By chance and
+her own foolhardiness this had come about, yet she was fortunate to
+have it tend to some good beyond her own happiness. All she would
+suffer from her perilous climb would be aching bones, and, perhaps, a
+scolding from her father. What she might gain was more than she had
+dared hope. The breaking up of the horse-thief gang would be a boon to
+the harassed settlement. How proudly Colonel Zane would smile! Her
+name would go on that long roll of border honor and heroism. That was
+not, however, one thousandth part so pleasing, as to be alone with her
+borderman.
+
+With a sigh of mingled weariness and content, Helen leaned her head on
+Jonathan's shoulder and fell asleep.
+
+The borderman trembled. The sudden nestling of her head against him,
+the light caress of her fragrant hair across his cheek, revived a
+sweet, almost-conquered, almost-forgotten emotion. He felt an
+inexplicable thrill vibrate through him. No untrodden, ambushed wild,
+no perilous trail, no dark and bloody encounter had ever made him feel
+fear as had the kiss of this maiden. He had sternly silenced faint,
+unfamiliar, yet tender, voices whispering in his heart; and now his
+rigorous discipline was as if it were not, for at her touch he
+trembled. Still he did not move away. He knew she had succumbed to
+weariness, and was fast asleep. He could, gently, without awakening
+her, have laid her head upon the pillow of leaves; indeed, he thought
+of doing it, but made no effort. A woman's head softly lying against
+him was a thing novel, strange, wonderful. For all the power he had
+then, each tumbling lock of her hair might as well have been a chain
+linking him fast to the mountain.
+
+With the memory of his former yearning, unsatisfied moods, and the
+unrest and pain his awakening tenderness had caused him, came a
+determination to look things fairly in the face, to be just in thought
+toward this innocent, impulsive girl, and be honest with himself.
+
+Duty commanded that he resist all charm other than that pertaining to
+his life in the woods. Years ago he had accepted a borderman's
+destiny, well content to be recompensed by its untamed freedom from
+restraint; to be always under the trees he loved so well; to lend his
+cunning and woodcraft in the pioneer's cause; to haunt the savage
+trails; to live from day to day a menace to the foes of civilization.
+That was the life he had chosen; it was all he could ever have.
+
+In view of this, justice demanded that he allow no friendship to
+spring up between himself and this girl. If his sister's belief was
+really true, if Helen really was interested in him, it must be a
+romantic infatuation which, not encouraged, would wear itself out.
+What was he, to win the love of any girl? An unlettered borderman, who
+knew only the woods, whose life was hard and cruel, whose hands were
+red with Indian blood, whose vengeance had not spared men even of his
+own race. He could not believe she really loved him. Wildly impulsive
+as girls were at times, she had kissed him. She had been grateful,
+carried away by a generous feeling for him as the protector of her
+father. When she did not see him for a long time, as he vowed should
+be the case after he had carried her safely home, she would forget.
+
+Then honesty demanded that he probe his own feelings. Sternly, as if
+judging a renegade, he searched out in his simple way the truth. This
+big-eyed lass with her nameless charm would bewitch even a borderman,
+unless he avoided her. So much he had not admitted until now. Love he
+had never believed could be possible for him. When she fell asleep her
+hand had slipped from his arm to his fingers, and now rested there
+lightly as a leaf. The contact was delight. The gentle night breeze
+blew a tress of hair across his lips. He trembled. Her rounded
+shoulder pressed against him until he could feel her slow, deep
+breathing. He almost held his own breath lest he disturb her rest.
+
+No, he was no longer indifferent. As surely as those pale stars
+blinked far above, he knew the delight of a woman's presence. It
+moved him to study the emotion, as he studied all things, which was
+the habit of his borderman's life. Did it come from knowledge of her
+beauty, matchless as that of the mountain-laurel? He recalled the dark
+glance of her challenging eyes, her tall, supple figure, and the
+bewildering excitation and magnetism of her presence. Beauty was
+wonderful, but not everything. Beauty belonged to her, but she would
+have been irresistible without it. Was it not because she was a woman?
+That was the secret. She was a woman with all a woman's charm to
+bewitch, to twine round the strength of men as the ivy encircles the
+oak; with all a woman's weakness to pity and to guard; with all a
+woman's wilful burning love, and with all a woman's mystery.
+
+At last so much of life was intelligible to him. The renegade
+committed his worst crimes because even in his outlawed, homeless
+state, he could not exist without the companionship, if not the love,
+of a woman. The pioneer's toil and privation were for a woman, and the
+joy of loving her and living for her. The Indian brave, when not on
+the war-path, walked hand in hand with a dusky, soft-eyed maiden, and
+sang to her of moonlit lakes and western winds. Even the birds and
+beasts mated. The robins returned to their old nest; the eagles paired
+once and were constant in life and death. The buck followed the doe
+through the forest. All nature sang that love made life worth living.
+Love, then, was everything.
+
+The borderman sat out the long vigil of the night watching the stars,
+and trying to decide that love was not for him. If Wetzel had locked a
+secret within his breast, and never in all these years spoke of it to
+his companion, then surely that companion could as well live without
+love. Stern, dark, deadly work must stain and blot all tenderness from
+his life, else it would be unutterably barren. The joy of living, of
+unharassed freedom he had always known. If a fair face and dark,
+mournful eyes were to haunt him on every lonely trail, then it were
+better an Indian should end his existence.
+
+The darkest hour before dawn, as well as the darkest of doubt and
+longing in Jonathan's life, passed away. A gray gloom obscured the
+pale, winking stars; the east slowly whitened, then brightened, and at
+length day broke misty and fresh.
+
+The borderman rose to stretch his cramped limbs. When he turned to the
+little cavern the girl's eyes were wide open. All the darkness, the
+shadow, the beauty, and the thought of the past night, lay in their
+blue depths. He looked away across the valley where the sky was
+reddening and a pale rim of gold appeared above the hill-tops.
+
+"Well, if I haven't been asleep!" exclaimed Helen, with a low, soft
+laugh.
+
+"You're rested, I hope," said Jonathan, with averted eyes. He dared
+not look at her.
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed. I am ready to start at once. How gray, how beautiful
+the morning is! Shall we be long? I hope papa knows."
+
+In silence the borderman led the way across the rocky plateau, and
+into the winding, narrow trail. His pale, slightly drawn and stern,
+face did not invite conversation, therefore Helen followed silently in
+his footsteps. The way was steep, and at times he was forced to lend
+her aid. She put her hand in his and jumped lightly as a fawn.
+Presently a brawling brook, over-crowding its banks, impeded
+further progress.
+
+"I'll have to carry you across," said Jonathan.
+
+"I'm very heavy," replied Helen, with a smile in her eyes.
+
+She flushed as the borderman put his right arm around her waist. Then
+a clasp as of steel enclosed her; she felt herself swinging easily
+into the air, and over the muddy brook.
+
+Farther down the mountain this troublesome brook again crossed the
+trail, this time much wider and more formidable. Helen looked with
+some vexation and embarrassment into the borderman's face. It was
+always the same, stern, almost cold.
+
+"Perhaps I'd better wade," she said hesitatingly.
+
+"Why? The water's deep an' cold. You'd better not get wet."
+
+Helen flushed, but did not answer. With downcast eyes she let herself
+be carried on his powerful arm.
+
+The wading was difficult this time. The water foamed furiously around
+his knees. Once he slipped on a stone, and nearly lost his balance.
+Uttering a little scream Helen grasped at him wildly, and her arm
+encircled his neck. What was still more trying, when he put her on her
+feet again, it was found that her hair had become entangled in the
+porcupine quills on his hunting-coat.
+
+She stood before him while with clumsy fingers he endeavored to
+untangle the shimmering strands; but in vain. Helen unwound the snarl
+of wavy hair. Most alluring she was then, with a certain softness on
+her face, and light and laughter, and something warm in her eyes.
+
+The borderman felt that he breathed a subtle exhilaration which
+emanated from her glowing, gracious beauty. She radiated with the
+gladness of life, with an uncontainable sweetness and joy. But, giving
+no token of his feeling, he turned to march on down through the woods.
+
+From this point the trail broadened, descending at an easier angle.
+Jonathan's stride lengthened until Helen was forced to walk rapidly,
+and sometimes run, in order to keep close behind him. A quick journey
+home was expedient, and in order to accomplish this she would gladly
+have exerted herself to a greater extent. When they reached the end
+of the trail where the forest opened clear of brush, finally to merge
+into the broad, verdant plain, the sun had chased the mist-clouds from
+the eastern hill-tops, and was gloriously brightening the valley.
+
+With the touch of sentiment natural to her, Helen gazed backward for
+one more view of the mountain-top. The wall of rugged rock she had so
+often admired from her window at home, which henceforth would ever
+hold a tender place of remembrance in her heart, rose out of a
+gray-blue bank of mist. The long, swelling slope lay clear to the
+sunshine. With the rays of the sun gleaming and glistening upon the
+variegated foliage, and upon the shiny rolling haze above, a beautiful
+picture of autumn splendor was before her. Tall pines, here and there
+towered high and lonely over the surrounding trees. Their dark, green,
+graceful heads stood in bold relief above the gold and yellow crests
+beneath. Maples, tinged from faintest pink to deepest rose, added warm
+color to the scene, and chestnuts with their brown-white burrs lent
+fresher beauty to the undulating slope.
+
+The remaining distance to the settlement was short. Jonathan spoke
+only once to Helen, then questioning her as to where she had left her
+canoe. They traversed the meadow, found the boat in the thicket of
+willows, and were soon under the frowning bluff of Fort Henry.
+Ascending the steep path, they followed the road leading to Colonel
+Zane's cabin.
+
+A crowd of boys, men and women loitering near the bluff arrested
+Helen's attention. Struck by this unusual occurrence, she wondered
+what was the cause of such idleness among the busy pioneer people.
+They were standing in little groups. Some made vehement gestures,
+others conversed earnestly, and yet more were silent. On seeing
+Jonathan, a number shouted and pointed toward the inn. The borderman
+hurried Helen along the path, giving no heed to the throng.
+
+But Helen had seen the cause of all this excitement. At first glance
+she thought Metzar's inn had been burned; but a second later it could
+be seen that the smoke came from a smoldering heap of rubbish in the
+road. The inn, nevertheless, had been wrecked. Windows stared with
+that vacantness peculiar to deserted houses. The doors were broken
+from their hinges. A pile of furniture, rude tables, chairs, beds, and
+other articles, were heaped beside the smoking rubbish. Scattered
+around lay barrels and kegs all with gaping sides and broken heads.
+Liquor had stained the road, where it had been soaked up by the
+thirsty dust.
+
+Upon a shattered cellar-door lay a figure covered with a piece of rag
+carpet. When Helen's quick eyes took in this last, she turned away in
+horror. That motionless form might be Brandt's. Remorse and womanly
+sympathy surged over her, for bad as the man had shown himself, he had
+loved her.
+
+She followed the borderman, trying to compose herself. As they neared
+Colonel Zane's cabin she saw her father, Will, the colonel, Betty,
+Nell, Mrs. Zane, Silas Zane, and others whom she did not recognize.
+They were all looking at her. Helen's throat swelled, and her eyes
+filled when she got near enough to see her father's haggard, eager
+face. The others were grave. She wondered guiltily if she had done
+much wrong.
+
+In another moment she was among them. Tears fell as her father
+extended his trembling hands to clasp her, and as she hid her burning
+face on his breast, he cried: "My dear, dear child!" Then Betty gave
+her a great hug, and Nell flew about them like a happy bird. Colonel
+Zane's face was pale, and wore a clouded, stern expression. She smiled
+timidly at him through her tears. "Well! well! well!" he mused, while
+his gaze softened. That was all he said; but he took her hand and held
+it while he turned to Jonathan.
+
+The borderman leaned on his long rifle, regarding him with expectant
+eyes.
+
+"Well, Jack, you missed a little scrimmage this morning. Wetzel got in
+at daybreak. The storm and horses held him up on the other side of the
+river until daylight. He told me of your suspicions, with the
+additional news that he'd found a fresh Indian trail on the island
+just across from the inn. We went down not expecting to find any one
+awake; but Metzar was hurriedly packing some of his traps. Half a
+dozen men were there, having probably stayed all night. That little
+English cuss was one of them, and another, an ugly fellow, a stranger
+to us, but evidently a woodsman. Things looked bad. Metzar told a
+decidedly conflicting story. Wetzel and I went outside to talk over
+the situation, with the result that I ordered him to clean out
+the place."
+
+Here Colonel Zane paused to indulge in a grim, meaning laugh.
+
+"Well, he cleaned out the place all right. The ugly stranger got
+rattlesnake-mad, and yanked out a big knife. Sam is hitching up the
+team now to haul what's left of him up on the hillside. Metzar
+resisted arrest, and got badly hurt. He's in the guardhouse. Case, who
+has been drunk for a week, got in Wetzel's way and was kicked into the
+middle of next week. He's been spitting blood for the last hour, but I
+guess he's not much hurt. Brandt flew the coop last night. Wetzel
+found this hid in his room."
+
+Colonel Zane took a long, feathered arrow from where it lay on a
+bench, and held it out to Jonathan.
+
+"The Shawnee signal! Wetzel had it right," muttered the borderman.
+
+"Exactly. Lew found where the arrow struck in the wall of Brandt's
+room. It was shot from the island at the exact spot where Lew came to
+an end of the Indian's trail in the water."
+
+"That Shawnee got away from us."
+
+"So Lew said. Well, he's gone now. So is Brandt. We're well rid of the
+gang, if only we never hear of them again."
+
+The borderman shook his head. During the colonel's recital his face
+changed. The dark eyes had become deadly; the square jaw was shut, the
+lines of the cheek had grown tense, and over his usually expressive
+countenance had settled a chill, lowering shade.
+
+"Lew thinks Brandt's in with Bing Legget. Well, d--- his black
+traitor heart! He's a good man for the worst and strongest gang that
+ever tracked the border."
+
+The borderman was silent; but the furtive, restless shifting of his
+eyes over the river and island, hill and valley, spoke more plainly
+than words.
+
+"You're to take his trail at once," added Colonel Zane. "I had Bess
+put you up some bread, meat and parched corn. No doubt you'll have a
+long, hard tramp. Good luck."
+
+The borderman went into the cabin, presently emerging with a buckskin
+knapsack strapped to his shoulder. He set off eastward with a long,
+swinging stride.
+
+The women had taken Helen within the house where, no doubt, they could
+discuss with greater freedom the events of the previous day.
+
+"Sheppard," said Colonel Zane, turning with a sparkle in his eyes.
+"Brandt was after Helen sure as a bad weed grows fast. And certain as
+death Jonathan and Wetzel will see him cold and quiet back in the
+woods. That's a border saying, and it means a good deal. I never saw
+Wetzel so implacable, nor Jonathan so fatally cold but once, and that
+was when Miller, another traitor, much like Brandt, tried to make away
+with Betty. It would have chilled your blood to see Wetzel go at that
+fool this morning. Why did he want to pull a knife on the borderman?
+It was a sad sight. Well, these things are justifiable. We must
+protect ourselves, and above all our women. We've had bad men, and a
+bad man out here is something you cannot yet appreciate, come here and
+slip into the life of the settlement, because on the border you can
+never tell what a man is until he proves himself. There have been
+scores of criminals spread over the frontier, and some better men,
+like Simon Girty, who were driven to outlaw life. Simon must not be
+confounded with Jim Girty, absolutely the most fiendish desperado who
+ever lived. Why, even the Indians feared Jim so much that after his
+death his skeleton remained unmolested in the glade where he was
+killed. The place is believed to be haunted now, by all Indians and
+many white hunters, and I believe the bones stand there yet."
+
+"Stand?" asked Sheppard, deeply interested.
+
+"Yes, it stands where Girty stood and died, upright against a tree,
+pinned, pinned there by a big knife."
+
+"Heavens, man! Who did it?" Sheppard cried in horror.
+
+Again Colonel Zane's laugh, almost metallic, broke grimly from his
+lips.
+
+"Who? Why, Wetzel, of course. Lew hunted Jim Girty five long years.
+When he caught him--God! I'll tell you some other time. Jonathan saw
+Wetzel handle Jim and his pal, Deering, as if they were mere boys.
+Well, as I said, the border has had, and still has, its bad men. Simon
+Girty took McKee and Elliott, the Tories, from Fort Pitt, when he
+deserted, and ten men besides. They're all, except those who are dead,
+outlaws of the worst type. The other bad men drifted out here from
+Lord only knows where. They're scattered all over. Simon Girty, since
+his crowning black deed, the massacre of the Christian Indians, is in
+hiding. Bing Legget now has the field. He's a hard nut, a cunning
+woodsman, and capable leader who surrounds himself with only the most
+desperate Indians and renegades. Brandt is an agent of Legget's and
+I'll bet we'll hear from him again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Jonathan traveled toward the east straight as a crow flies. Wetzel's
+trail as he pursued Brandt had been left designedly plain. Branches of
+young maples had been broken by the borderman; they were glaring
+evidences of his passage. On open ground, or through swampy meadows he
+had contrived to leave other means to facilitate his comrade's
+progress. Bits of sumach lay strewn along the way, every red, leafy
+branch a bright marker of the course; crimson maple leaves served
+their turn, and even long-bladed ferns were scattered at intervals.
+
+Ten miles east of Fort Henry, at a point where two islands lay
+opposite each other, Wetzel had crossed the Ohio. Jonathan removed his
+clothing, and tying these, together with his knapsack, to the rifle,
+held them above the water while he swam the three narrow channels. He
+took up the trail again, finding here, as he expected, where Brandt
+had joined the waiting Shawnee chief. The borderman pressed on harder
+to the eastward.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon signs betokened that Wetzel and his
+quarry were not far in advance. Fresh imprints in the grass; crushed
+asters and moss, broken branches with unwithered leaves, and plots of
+grassy ground where Jonathan saw that the blades of grass were yet
+springing back to their original position, proved to the borderman's
+practiced eye that he was close upon Wetzel.
+
+In time he came to a grove of yellow birch trees. The ground was
+nearly free from brush, beautifully carpeted with flowers and ferns,
+and, except where bushy windfalls obstructed the way, was singularly
+open to the gaze for several hundred yards ahead.
+
+Upon entering this wood Wetzel's plain, intentional markings became
+manifest, then wavered, and finally disappeared. Jonathan pondered a
+moment. He concluded that the way was so open and clear, with nothing
+but grass and moss to mark a trail, that Wetzel had simply considered
+it waste of time for, perhaps, the short length of this grove.
+
+Jonathan knew he was wrong after taking a dozen steps more. Wetzel's
+trail, known so well to him, as never to be mistaken, sheered abruptly
+off to the left, and, after a few yards, the distance between the
+footsteps widened perceptibly. Then came a point where they were so
+far apart that they could only have been made by long leaps.
+
+On the instant the borderman knew that some unforeseen peril or urgent
+cause had put Wetzel to flight, and he now bent piercing eyes around
+the grove. Retracing his steps to where he had found the break in the
+trail, he followed up Brandt's tracks for several rods. Not one
+hundred paces beyond where Wetzel had quit the pursuit, were the
+remains of a camp fire, the embers still smoldering, and moccasin
+tracks of a small band of Indians. The trail of Brandt and his
+Shawnee guide met the others at almost right angles.
+
+The Indian, either by accident or design, had guided Brandt to a band
+of his fellows, and thus led Wetzel almost into an ambush.
+
+Evidence was not clear, however, that the Indians had discovered the
+keen tracker who had run almost into their midst.
+
+While studying the forest ahead Jonathan's mind was running over the
+possibilities. How close was Wetzel? Was he still in flight? Had the
+savages an inkling of his pursuit? Or was he now working out one of
+his cunning tricks of woodcraft? The borderman had no other idea than
+that of following the trail to learn all this. Taking the desperate
+chances warranted under the circumstances, he walked boldly forward in
+his comrade's footsteps.
+
+Deep and gloomy was the forest adjoining the birch grove. It was a
+heavy growth of hardwood trees, interspersed with slender ash and
+maples, which with their scanty foliage resembled a labyrinth of green
+and yellow network, like filmy dotted lace, hung on the taller, darker
+oaks. Jonathan felt safer in this deep wood. He could still see
+several rods in advance. Following the trail, he was relieved to see
+that Wetzel's leaps had become shorter and shorter, until they once
+again were about the length of a long stride. The borderman was,
+moreover, swinging in a curve to the northeast. This was proof that
+the borderman had not been pursued, but was making a wide detour to
+get ahead of the enemy. Five hundred yards farther on the trail turned
+sharply toward the birch grove in the rear.
+
+The trail was fresh. Wetzel was possibly within signal call; surely
+within sound of a rifle shot. But even more stirring was the
+certainty that Brandt and his Indians were inside the circle
+Wetzel had made.
+
+Once again in sight of the more open woodland, Jonathan crawled on his
+hands and knees, keeping close to the cluster of ferns, until well
+within the eastern end of the grove. He lay for some minutes
+listening. A threatening silence, like the hush before a storm,
+permeated the wilderness. He peered out from his covert; but, owing to
+its location in a little hollow, he could not see far. Crawling to the
+nearest tree he rose to his feet slowly, cautiously.
+
+No unnatural sight or sound arrested his attention. Repeatedly, with
+the acute, unsatisfied gaze of the borderman who knew that every tree,
+every patch of ferns, every tangled brush-heap might harbor a foe, he
+searched the grove with his eyes; but the curly-barked birches, the
+clumps of colored ferns, the bushy windfalls kept their secrets.
+
+For the borderman, however, the whole aspect of the birch-grove had
+changed. Over the forest was a deep calm. A gentle, barely perceptible
+wind sighed among the leaves, like rustling silk. The far-off drowsy
+drum of a grouse intruded on the vast stillness. The silence of the
+birds betokened a message. That mysterious breathing, that beautiful
+life of the woods lay hushed, locked in a waiting, brooding silence.
+Far away among the somber trees, where the shade deepened into
+impenetrable gloom, lay a menace, invisible and indefinable.
+
+A wind, a breath, a chill, terribly potent, seemed to pass over the
+borderman. Long experience had given him intuition of danger.
+
+As he moved slightly, with lynx-eyes fixed on the grove before him, a
+sharp, clear, perfect bird-note broke the ominous quiet. It was like
+the melancholy cry of an oriole, short, deep, suggestive of lonely
+forest dells. By a slight variation in the short call, Jonathan
+recognized it as a signal from Wetzel. The borderman smiled as he
+realized that with all his stealth, Wetzel had heard or seen him
+re-enter the grove. The signal was a warning to stand still
+or retreat.
+
+Jonathan's gaze narrowed down to the particular point whence had come
+the signal. Some two hundred yards ahead in this direction were
+several large trees standing in a group. With one exception, they all
+had straight trunks. This deviated from the others in that it
+possessed an irregular, bulging trunk, or else half-shielded the form
+of Wetzel. So indistinct and immovable was this irregularity, that the
+watcher could not be certain. Out of line, somewhat, with this tree
+which he suspected screened his comrade, lay a huge windfall large
+enough to conceal in ambush a whole band of savages.
+
+Even as he gazed a sheet of flame flashed from this covert.
+
+_Crack!_
+
+A loud report followed; then the whistle and zip of a bullet as it
+whizzed close by his head.
+
+"Shawnee lead!" muttered Jonathan.
+
+Unfortunately the tree he had selected did not hide him sufficiently.
+His shoulders were so wide that either one or the other was exposed,
+affording a fine target for a marksman.
+
+A quick glance showed him a change in the knotty tree-trunk; the
+seeming bulge was now the well-known figure of Wetzel.
+
+Jonathan dodged as some object glanced slantingly before his eyes.
+
+_Twang. Whizz. Thud._ Three familiar and distinct sounds caused him to
+press hard against the tree.
+
+A tufted arrow quivered in the bark not a foot from his head.
+
+"Close shave! Damn that arrow-shootin' Shawnee!" muttered Jonathan.
+"An' he ain't in that windfall either." His eyes searched to the left
+for the source of this new peril.
+
+Another sheet of flame, another report from the windfall. A bullet
+sang, close overhead, and, glancing on a branch, went harmlessly into
+the forest.
+
+"Injuns all around; I guess I'd better be makin' tracks," Jonathan
+said to himself, peering out to learn if Wetzel was still under cover.
+
+He saw the tall figure straighten up; a long, black rifle rise to a
+level and become rigid; a red fire belch forth, followed by a puff of
+white smoke.
+
+_Spang!_
+
+An Indian's horrible, strangely-breaking death yell rent the silence.
+
+Then a chorus of plaintive howls, followed by angry shouts, rang
+through the forest. Naked, painted savages darted out of the windfall
+toward the tree that had sheltered Wetzel.
+
+Quick as thought Jonathan covered the foremost Indian, and with the
+crack of his rifle saw the redskin drop his gun, stop in his mad run,
+stagger sideways, and fall. Then the borderman looked to see what had
+become of his ally. The cracking of the Indian's rifle told him that
+Wetzel had been seen by his foes.
+
+With almost incredible fleetness a brown figure with long black hair
+streaming behind, darted in and out among the trees, flashed through
+the sunlit glade, and vanished in the dark depths of the forest.
+
+Jonathan turned to flee also, when he heard again the twanging of an
+Indian's bow. A wind smote his cheek, a shock blinded him, an
+excruciating pain seized upon his breast. A feathered arrow had pinned
+his shoulder to the tree. He raised his hand to pull it out; but,
+slippery with blood, it afforded a poor hold for his fingers.
+Violently exerting himself, with both hands he wrenched away the
+weapon. The flint-head lacerating his flesh and scraping his shoulder
+bones caused sharpest agony. The pain gave away to a sudden sense of
+giddiness; he tried to run; a dark mist veiled his sight; he stumbled
+and fell. Then he seemed to sink into a great darkness, and knew
+no more.
+
+When consciousness returned to Jonathan it was night. He lay on his
+back, and knew because of his cramped limbs that he had been securely
+bound. He saw the glimmer of a fire, but could not raise his head. A
+rustling of leaves in the wind told that he was yet in the woods, and
+the distant rumble of a waterfall sounded familiar. He felt drowsy;
+his wound smarted slightly, still he did not suffer any pain.
+Presently he fell asleep.
+
+Broad daylight had come when again he opened his eyes. The blue sky
+was directly above, and before him he saw a ledge covered with dwarfed
+pine trees. He turned his head, and saw that he was in a sort of
+amphitheater of about two acres in extent enclosed by low cliffs. A
+cleft in the stony wall let out a brawling brook, and served, no
+doubt, as entrance to the place. Several rude log cabins stood on that
+side of the enclosure. Jonathan knew he had been brought to Bing
+Legget's retreat.
+
+Voices attracted his attention, and, turning his head to the other
+side, he saw a big Indian pacing near him, and beyond, seven savages
+and three white men reclining in the shade.
+
+The powerful, dark-visaged savage near him he at once recognized as
+Ashbow, the Shawnee chief, and noted emissary of Bing Legget. Of the
+other Indians, three were Delawares, and four Shawnees, all veterans,
+with swarthy, somber faces and glistening heads on which the
+scalp-locks were trimmed and tufted. Their naked, muscular bodies were
+painted for the war-path with their strange emblems of death. A trio
+of white men, nearly as bronzed as their savage comrades, completed
+the group. One, a desperate-looking outlaw, Jonathan did not know. The
+blond-bearded giant in the center was Legget. Steel-blue, inhuman
+eyes, with the expression of a free but hunted animal; a set,
+mastiff-like jaw, brutal and coarse, individualized him. The last man
+was the haggard-faced Brandt.
+
+"I tell ye, Brandt, I ain't agoin' against this Injun," Legget was
+saying positively. "He's the best reddy on the border, an' has saved
+me scores of times. This fellar Zane belongs to him, an' while I'd
+much rather see the scout knifed right here an' now, I won't do
+nothin' to interfere with the Shawnee's plans."
+
+"Why does the redskin want to take him away to his village?" Brandt
+growled. "All Injun vanity and pride."
+
+"It's Injun ways, an' we can't do nothin' to change 'em."
+
+"But you're boss here. You could make him put this borderman out of
+the way."
+
+"Wal, I ain't agoin' ter interfere. Anyways, Brandt, the Shawnee'll
+make short work of the scout when he gits him among the tribe. Injuns
+is Injuns. It's a great honor fer him to git Zane, an' he wants his
+own people to figger in the finish. Quite nat'r'l, I reckon."
+
+"I understand all that; but it's not safe for us, and it's courting
+death for Ashbow. Why don't he keep Zane here until you can spare more
+than three Indians to go with him? These bordermen can't be stopped.
+You don't know them, because you're new in this part of the country."
+
+"I've been here as long as you, an' agoin' some, too, I reckon,"
+replied Legget complacently.
+
+"But you've not been hunted until lately by these bordermen, and
+you've had little opportunity to hear of them except from Indians.
+What can you learn from these silent redskins? I tell you, letting
+this fellow get out of here alive, even for an hour is a fatal
+mistake. It's two full days' tramp to the Shawnee village. You don't
+suppose Wetzel will be afraid of four savages? Why, he sneaked right
+into eight of us, when we were ambushed, waiting for him. He killed
+one and then was gone like a streak. It was only a piece of pure luck
+we got Zane."
+
+"I've reason to know this Wetzel, this Deathwind, as the Delawares
+call him. I never seen him though, an' anyways, I reckon I can handle
+him if ever I get the chance."
+
+"Man, you're crazy!" cried Brandt. "He'd cut you to pieces before
+you'd have time to draw. He could give you a tomahawk, then take it
+away and split your head. I tell you I know! You remember Jake
+Deering? He came from up your way. Wetzel fought Deering and Jim Girty
+together, and killed them. You know how he left Girty."
+
+"I'll allow he must be a fighter; but I ain't afraid of him."
+
+"That's not the question. I am talking sense. You've got a chance now
+to put one of these bordermen out of the way. Do it quick! That's
+my advice."
+
+Brandt spoke so vehemently that Legget seemed impressed. He stroked
+his yellow beard, and puffed thoughtfully on his pipe. Presently he
+addressed the Shawnee chief in the native tongue.
+
+"Will Ashbow take five horses for his prisoner?"
+
+The Indian shook his head.
+
+"How many will he take?"
+
+The chief strode with dignity to and fro before his captive. His dark,
+impassive face gave no clew to his thoughts; but his lofty bearing,
+his measured, stately walk were indicative of great pride. Then he
+spoke in his deep bass:
+
+"The Shawnee knows the woods from the Great Lakes where the sun sets,
+to the Blue Hills where it rises. He has met the great paleface
+hunters. Only for Deathwind will Ashbow trade his captive."
+
+"See? It ain't no use," said Legget, spreading out his hands, "Let him
+go. He'll outwit the bordermen if any redskin's able to. The sooner he
+goes the quicker he'll git back, an' we can go to work. You ought'er
+be satisfied to git the girl----"
+
+"Shut up!" interrupted Brandt sharply.
+
+"'Pears to me, Brandt, bein' in love hes kinder worked on your nerves.
+You used to be game. Now you're afeerd of a bound an' tied man who
+ain't got long to live."
+
+"I fear no man," answered Brandt, scowling darkly. "But I know what
+you don't seem to have sense enough to see. If this Zane gets away,
+which is probable, he and Wetzel will clean up your gang."
+
+"Haw! haw! haw!" roared Legget, slapping his knees. "Then you'd hev
+little chanst of gittin' the lass, eh?"
+
+"All right. I've no more to say," snapped Brandt, rising and turning
+on his heel. As he passed Jonathan he paused. "Zane, if I could, I'd
+get even with you for that punch you once gave me. As it is, I'll stop
+at the Shawnee village on my way west----"
+
+"With the pretty lass," interposed Legget.
+
+"Where I hope to see your scalp drying in the chief's lodge."
+
+The borderman eyed him steadily; but in silence. Words could not so
+well have conveyed his thought as did the cold glance of dark scorn
+and merciless meaning.
+
+Brandt shuffled on with a curse. No coward was he. No man ever saw him
+flinch. But his intelligence was against him as a desperado. While
+such as these bordermen lived, an outlaw should never sleep, for he
+was a marked and doomed man. The deadly, cold-pointed flame which
+scintillated in the prisoner's eyes was only a gleam of what the
+border felt towards outlaws.
+
+While Jonathan was considering all he had heard, three more Shawnees
+entered the retreat, and were at once called aside in consultation by
+Ashbow. At the conclusion of this brief conference the chief advanced
+to Jonathan, cut the bonds round his feet, and motioned for him to
+rise. The prisoner complied to find himself weak and sore, but able to
+walk. He concluded that his wound, while very painful, was not of a
+serious nature, and that he would be taken at once on the march toward
+the Shawnee village.
+
+He was correct, for the chief led him, with the three Shawnees
+following, toward the outlet of the enclosure. Jonathan's sharp eye
+took in every detail of Legget's rendezvous. In a corral near the
+entrance, he saw a number of fine horses, and among them his sister's
+pony. A more inaccessible, natural refuge than Legget's, could hardly
+have been found in that country. The entrance was a narrow opening in
+the wall, and could be held by half a dozen against an army of
+besiegers. It opened, moreover, on the side of a barren hill, from
+which could be had a good survey of the surrounding forests
+and plains.
+
+As Jonathan went with his captors down the hill his hopes, which while
+ever alive, had been flagging, now rose. The long journey to the
+Shawnee town led through an untracked wilderness. The Delaware
+villages lay far to the north; the Wyandot to the west. No likelihood
+was there of falling in with a band of Indians hunting, because this
+region, stony, barren, and poorly watered, afforded sparse pasture for
+deer or bison. From the prisoner's point of view this enterprise of
+Ashbow's was reckless and vainglorious. Cunning as the chief was, he
+erred in one point, a great warrior's only weakness, love of show, of
+pride, of his achievement. In Indian nature this desire for fame was
+as strong as love of life. The brave risked everything to win his
+eagle feathers, and the matured warrior found death while keeping
+bright the glory of the plumes he had won.
+
+Wetzel was in the woods, fleet as a deer, fierce and fearless as a
+lion. Somewhere among those glades he trod, stealthily, with the ears
+of a doe and eyes of a hawk strained for sound or sight of his
+comrade's captors. When he found their trail he would stick to it as
+the wolf to that of a bleeding buck's. The rescue would not be
+attempted until the right moment, even though that came within
+rifle-shot of the Shawnee encampment. Wonderful as his other gifts,
+was the borderman's patience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+"Good morning, Colonel Zane," said Helen cheerily, coming into the
+yard where the colonel was at work. "Did Will come over this way?"
+
+"I reckon you'll find him if you find Betty," replied Colonel Zane
+dryly.
+
+"Come to think of it, that's true," Helen said, laughing. "I've a
+suspicion Will ran off from me this morning."
+
+"He and Betty have gone nutting."
+
+"I declare it's mean of Will," Helen said petulantly. "I have been
+wanting to go so much, and both he and Betty promised to take me."
+
+"Say, Helen, let me tell you something," said the colonel, resting on
+his spade and looking at her quizzically. "I told them we hadn't had
+enough frost yet to ripen hickory-nuts and chestnuts. But they went
+anyhow. Will did remember to say if you came along, to tell you he'd
+bring the colored leaves you wanted."
+
+"How extremely kind of him. I've a mind to follow them."
+
+"Now see here, Helen, it might be a right good idea for you not to,"
+returned the colonel, with a twinkle and a meaning in his eye.
+
+"Oh, I understand. How singularly dull I've been."
+
+"It's this way. We're mighty glad to have a fine young fellow like
+Will come along and interest Betty. Lord knows we had a time with her
+after Alfred died. She's just beginning to brighten up now, and,
+Helen, the point is that young people on the border must get married.
+No, my dear, you needn't laugh, you'll have to find a husband same as
+the other girls. It's not here as it was back east, where a lass might
+have her fling, so to speak, and take her time choosing. An unmarried
+girl on the border is a positive menace. I saw, not many years ago,
+two first-rate youngsters, wild with border fire and spirit, fight and
+kill each other over a lass who wouldn't choose. Like as not, if she
+had done so, the three would have been good friends, for out here
+we're like one big family. Remember this, Helen, and as far as Betty
+and Will are concerned you will be wise to follow our example: Leave
+them to themselves. Nothing else will so quickly strike fire between a
+boy and a girl."
+
+"Betty and Will! I'm sure I'd love to see them care for each other."
+Then with big, bright eyes bent gravely on him she continued, "May I
+ask, Colonel Zane, who you have picked out for me?"
+
+"There, now you've said it, and that's the problem. I've looked over
+every marriageable young man in the settlement, except Jack. Of
+course you couldn't care for him, a borderman, a fighter and all that;
+but I can't find a fellow I think quite up to you."
+
+"Colonel Zane, is not a borderman such as Jonathan worthy a woman's
+regard?" Helen asked a little wistfully.
+
+"Bless your heart, lass, yes!" replied Colonel Zane heartily. "People
+out here are not as they are back east. An educated man, polished and
+all that, but incapable of hard labor, or shrinking from dirt and
+sweat on his hands, or even blood, would not help us in the winning of
+the West. Plain as Jonathan is, and with his lack of schooling, he is
+greatly superior to the majority of young men on the frontier. But,
+unlettered or not, he is as fine a man as ever stepped in moccasins,
+or any other kind of foot gear."
+
+"Then why did you say--that--what you did?"
+
+"Well, it's this way," replied Colonel Zane, stealing a glance at her
+pensive, downcast face. "Girls all like to be wooed. Almost every one
+I ever knew wanted the young man of her choice to outstrip all her
+other admirers, and then, for a spell, nearly die of love for her,
+after which she'd give in. Now, Jack, being a borderman, a man with no
+occupation except scouting, will never look at a girl, let alone make
+up to her. I imagine, my dear, it'd take some mighty tall courting to
+fetch home Helen Sheppard a bride. On the other hand, if some pretty
+and spirited lass, like, say for instance, Helen Sheppard, would come
+along and just make Jack forget Indians and fighting, she'd get the
+finest husband in the world. True, he's wild; but only in the woods. A
+simpler, kinder, cleaner man cannot be found."
+
+"I believe that, Colonel Zane; but where is the girl who would
+interest him?" Helen asked with spirit. "These bordermen are
+unapproachable. Imagine a girl interesting that great, cold, stern
+Wetzel! All her flatteries, her wiles, the little coquetries that
+might attract ordinary men, would not be noticed by him, or
+Jonathan either."
+
+"I grant it'd not be easy, but woman was made to subjugate man, and
+always, everlastingly, until the end of life here on this beautiful
+earth, she will do it."
+
+"Do you think Jonathan and Wetzel will catch Brandt?" asked Helen,
+changing the subject abruptly.
+
+"I'd stake my all that this year's autumn leaves will fall on Brandt's
+grave."
+
+Colonel Zane's calm, matter-of-fact coldness made Helen shiver.
+
+"Why, the leaves have already begun to fall. Papa told me Brandt had
+gone to join the most powerful outlaw band on the border. How can
+these two men, alone, cope with savages, as I've heard they do, and
+break up such an outlaw band as Legget's?"
+
+"That's a question I've heard Daniel Boone ask about Wetzel, and
+Boone, though not a borderman in all the name implies, was a great
+Indian fighter. I've heard old frontiersmen, grown grizzled on the
+frontier, use the same words. I've been twenty years with that man,
+yet I can't answer it. Jonathan, of course, is only a shadow of him;
+Wetzel is the type of these men who have held the frontier for us. He
+was the first borderman, and no doubt he'll be the last."
+
+"What have Jonathan and Wetzel that other men do not possess?"
+
+"In them is united a marvelously developed woodcraft, with wonderful
+physical powers. Imagine a man having a sense, almost an animal
+instinct, for what is going on in the woods. Take for instance the
+fleetness of foot. That is one of the greatest factors. It is
+absolutely necessary to run, to get away when to hold ground would be
+death. Whether at home or in the woods, the bordermen retreat every
+day. You wouldn't think they practiced anything of the kind, would
+you? Well, a man can't be great in anything without keeping at it.
+Jonathan says he exercises to keep his feet light. Wetzel would just
+as soon run as walk. Think of the magnificent condition of these men.
+When a dash of speed is called for, when to be fleet of foot is to
+elude vengeance-seeking Indians, they must travel as swiftly as the
+deer. The Zanes were all sprinters. I could do something of the kind;
+Betty was fast on her feet, as that old fort will testify until the
+logs rot; Isaac was fleet, too, and Jonathan can get over the ground
+like a scared buck. But, even so, Wetzel can beat him."
+
+"Goodness me, Helen!" exclaimed the colonel's buxom wife, from the
+window, "don't you ever get tired hearing Eb talk of Wetzel, and Jack,
+and Indians? Come in with me. I venture to say my gossip will do you
+more good than his stories."
+
+Therefore Helen went in to chat with Mrs. Zane, for she was always
+glad to listen to the colonel's wife, who was so bright and pleasant,
+so helpful and kindly in her womanly way. In the course of their
+conversation, which drifted from weaving linsey, Mrs. Zane's
+occupation at the tune, to the costly silks and satins of remembered
+days, and then to matters of more present interest, Helen spoke of
+Colonel Zane's hint about Will and Betty.
+
+"Isn't Eb a terror? He's the worst matchmatcher you ever saw,"
+declared the colonel's good spouse.
+
+"There's no harm in that."
+
+"No, indeed; it's a good thing, but he makes me laugh, and Betty, he
+sets her furious."
+
+"The colonel said he had designs on me."
+
+"Of course he has, dear old Eb! How he'd love to see you happily
+married. His heart is as big as that mountain yonder. He has given
+this settlement his whole life."
+
+"I believe you. He has such interest, such zeal for everybody. Only
+the other day he was speaking to me of Mr. Mordaunt, telling how sorry
+he was for the Englishman, and how much he'd like to help him. It does
+seem a pity a man of Mordaunt's blood and attainments should sink to
+utter worthlessness."
+
+"Yes,'tis a pity for any man, blood or no, and the world's full of
+such wrecks. I always liked that man's looks. I never had a word with
+him, of course; but I've seen him often, and something about him
+appealed to me. I don't believe it was just his handsome face; still I
+know women are susceptible that way."
+
+"I, too, liked him once as a friend," said Helen feelingly. "Well, I'm
+glad he's gone."
+
+"Gone?"
+
+"Yes, he left Fort Henry yesterday. He came to say good-bye to me,
+and, except for his pale face and trembling hands, was much as he used
+to be in Virginia. Said he was going home to England, and wanted to
+tell me he was sorry--for--for all he'd done to make papa and me
+suffer. Drink had broken him, he said, and surely he looked 'a broken
+man. I shook hands with him, and then slipped upstairs and cried."
+
+"Poor fellow!" sighed Mrs. Zane.
+
+"Papa said he left Fort Pitt with one of Metzar's men as a guide."
+
+"Then he didn't take the 'little cuss,' as Eb calls his man Case?"
+
+"No, if I remember rightly papa said Case wouldn't go."
+
+"I wish he had. He's no addition to our village."
+
+Voices outside attracted their attention. Mrs. Zane glanced from the
+window and said: "There come Betty and Will."
+
+Helen went on the porch to see her cousin and Betty entering the
+yard, and Colonel Zane once again leaning on his spade.
+
+"Gather any hickory-nuts from birch or any other kind of trees?" asked
+the colonel grimly.
+
+"No," replied Will cheerily, "the shells haven't opened yet."
+
+"Too bad the frost is so backward," said Colonel Zane with a laugh.
+"But I can't see that it makes any difference."
+
+"Where are my leaves?" asked Helen, with a smile and a nod to Betty.
+
+"What leaves?" inquired that young woman, plainly mystified.
+
+"Why, the autumn leaves Will promised to gather with me, then changed
+his mind, and said he'd bring them."
+
+"I forgot," Will replied a little awkwardly.
+
+Colonel Zane coughed, and then, catching Betty's glance, which had
+begun to flash, he plied his spade vigorously.
+
+Betty's face had colored warmly at her brother's first question; it
+toned down slightly when she understood that he was not going to tease
+her as usual, and suddenly, as she looked over his head, it paled
+white as snow.
+
+"Eb, look down the lane!" she cried.
+
+Two tall men were approaching with labored tread, one half-supporting
+his companion.
+
+"Wetzel! Jack! and Jack's hurt!" cried Betty.
+
+"My dear, be calm," said Colonel Zane, in that quiet tone he always
+used during moments of excitement. He turned toward the bordermen, and
+helped Wetzel lead Jonathan up the walk into the yard.
+
+From Wetzel's clothing water ran, his long hair was disheveled, his
+aspect frightful. Jonathan's face was white and drawn. His buckskin
+hunting coat was covered with blood, and the hand which he held
+tightly against his left breast showed dark red stains.
+
+Helen shuddered. Almost fainting, she leaned against the porch, too
+horrified to cry out, with contracting heart and a chill stealing
+through her veins.
+
+"Jack! Jack!" cried Betty, in agonized appeal.
+
+"Betty, it's nothin'," said Wetzel.
+
+"Now, Betts, don't be scared of a little blood," Jonathan said with a
+faint smile flitting across his haggard face.
+
+"Bring water, shears an' some linsey cloth," added Wetzel, as Mrs.
+Zane came running out.
+
+"Come inside," cried the colonel's wife, as she disappeared again
+immediately.
+
+"No," replied the borderman, removing his coat, and, with the
+assistance of his brother, he unlaced his hunting shirt, pulling it
+down from a wounded shoulder. A great gory hole gaped just beneath his
+left collar-bone.
+
+Although stricken with fear, when Helen saw the bronzed, massive
+shoulder, the long, powerful arm with its cords of muscles playing
+under the brown skin, she felt a thrill of admiration.
+
+"Just missed the lung," said Mrs. Zane. "Eb, no bullet ever made that
+hole."
+
+Wetzel washed the bloody wound, and, placing on it a wad of leaves he
+took from his pocket, bound up the shoulder tightly.
+
+"What made that hole?" asked Colonel Zane.
+
+Wetzel lifted the quiver of arrows Jonathan had laid on the porch,
+and, selecting one, handed it to the colonel. The flint-head and a
+portion of the shaft were stained with blood.
+
+"The Shawnee!" exclaimed Colonel Zane. Then he led Wetzel aside, and
+began conversing in low tones while Jonathan, with Betty holding his
+arm, ascended the steps and went within the dwelling.
+
+Helen ran home, and, once in her room, gave vent to her emotions. She
+cried because of fright, nervousness, relief, and joy. Then she bathed
+her face, tried to rub some color into her pale cheeks, and set about
+getting dinner as one in a trance. She could not forget that broad
+shoulder with its frightful wound. What a man Jonathan must be to
+receive a blow like that and live! Exhausted, almost spent, had been
+his strength when he reached home, yet how calm and cool he was! What
+would she not have given for the faint smile that shone in his eyes
+for Betty?
+
+The afternoon was long for Helen. When at last supper was over she
+changed her gown, and, asking Will to accompany her, went down the
+lane toward Colonel Zane's cabin. At this hour the colonel almost
+invariably could be found sitting on his doorstep puffing a long
+Indian pipe, and gazing with dreamy eyes over the valley.
+
+"Well, well, how sweet you look!" he said to Helen; then with a wink
+of his eyelid, "Hello, Willie, you'll find Elizabeth inside
+with Jack."
+
+"How is he?" asked Helen eagerly, as Will with a laugh and a retort
+mounted the steps.
+
+"Jack's doing splendidly. He slept all day. I don't think his injury
+amounts to much, at least not for such as him or Wetzel. It would have
+finished ordinary men. Bess says if complications don't set in,
+blood-poison or something to start a fever, he'll be up shortly.
+Wetzel believes the two of 'em will be on the trail inside of a week."
+
+"Did they find Brandt?" asked Helen in a low voice.
+
+"Yes, they ran him to his hole, and, as might have been expected, it
+was Bing Legget's camp. The Indians took Jonathan there."
+
+"Then Jack was captured?"
+
+Colonel Zane related the events, as told briefly by Wetzel, that had
+taken place during the preceding three days.
+
+"The Indian I saw at the spring carried that bow Jonathan brought
+back. He must have shot the arrow. He was a magnificent savage."
+
+"He was indeed a great, and a bad Indian, one of the craftiest spies
+who ever stepped in moccasins; but he lies quiet now on the moss and
+the leaves. Bing Legget will never find another runner like that
+Shawnee. Let us go indoors."
+
+He led Helen into the large sitting-room where Jonathan lay on a
+couch, with Betty and Will sitting beside him. The colonel's wife and
+children, Silas Zane, and several neighbors, were present.
+
+"Here, Jack, is a lady inquiring after your health. Betts, this
+reminds me of the time Isaac came home wounded, after his escape from
+the Hurons. Strikes me he and his Indian bride should be about due
+here on a visit."
+
+Helen forgot every one except the wounded man lying so quiet and pale
+upon the couch. She looked down upon him with eyes strangely dilated,
+and darkly bright.
+
+"How are you?" she asked softly.
+
+"I'm all right, thank you, lass," answered Jonathan.
+
+Colonel Zane contrived, with inimitable skill, to get Betty, Will,
+Silas, Bessie and the others interested in some remarkable news he had
+just heard, or made up, and this left Jonathan and Helen comparatively
+alone for the moment.
+
+The wise old colonel thought perhaps this might be the right time. He
+saw Helen's face as she leaned over Jonathan, and that was enough for
+him. He would have taxed his ingenuity to the utmost to keep the
+others away from the young couple.
+
+"I was so frightened," murmured Helen.
+
+"Why?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"Oh! You looked so deathly--the blood, and that awful wound!"
+
+"It's nothin', lass."
+
+Helen smiled down upon him. Whether or not the hurt amounted to
+anything in the borderman's opinion, she knew from his weakness, and
+his white, drawn face, that the strain of the march home had been
+fearful. His dark eyes held now nothing of the coldness and glitter so
+natural to them. They were weary, almost sad. She did not feel afraid
+of him now. He lay there so helpless, his long, powerful frame as
+quiet as a sleeping child's! Hitherto an almost indefinable antagonism
+in him had made itself felt; now there was only gentleness, as of a
+man too weary to fight longer. Helen's heart swelled with pity, and
+tenderness, and love. His weakness affected her as had never his
+strength. With an involuntary gesture of sympathy she placed her hand
+softly on his.
+
+Jonathan looked up at her with eyes no longer blind. Pain had softened
+him. For the moment he felt carried out of himself, as it were, and
+saw things differently. The melting tenderness of her gaze, the
+glowing softness of her face, the beauty, bewitched him; and beyond
+that, a sweet, impelling gladness stirred within him and would not be
+denied. He thrilled as her fingers lightly, timidly touched his, and
+opened his broad hand to press hers closely and warmly.
+
+"Lass," he whispered, with a huskiness and unsteadiness unnatural to
+his deep voice.
+
+Helen bent her head closer to him; she saw his lips tremble, and his
+nostrils dilate; but an unutterable sadness shaded the brightness
+in his eyes.
+
+"I love you."
+
+The low whisper reached Helen's ears. She seemed to float dreamily
+away to some beautiful world, with the music of those words ringing in
+her ears. She looked at him again. Had she been dreaming? No; his dark
+eyes met hers with a love that he could no longer deny. An exquisite
+emotion, keen, strangely sweet and strong, yet terrible with sharp
+pain, pulsated through her being. The revelation had been too abrupt.
+It was so wonderfully different from what she had ever dared hope. She
+lowered her head, trembling.
+
+The next moment she felt Colonel Zane's hand on her chair, and heard
+him say in a cheery voice:
+
+"Well, well, see here, lass, you mustn't make Jack talk too much. See
+how white and tired he looks."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+In forty-eight hours Jonathan Zane was up and about the cabin as
+though he had never been wounded; the third day he walked to the
+spring; in a week he was waiting for Wetzel, ready to go on the trail.
+
+On the eighth day of his enforced idleness, as he sat with Betty and
+the colonel in the yard, Wetzel appeared on a ridge east of the fort.
+Soon he rounded the stockade fence, and came straight toward them. To
+Colonel Zane and Betty, Wetzel's expression was terrible. The stern
+kindliness, the calm, though cold, gravity of his countenance, as they
+usually saw it, had disappeared. Yet it showed no trace of his
+unnatural passion to pursue and slay. No doubt that terrible
+instinct, or lust, was at white heat; but it wore a mask of
+impenetrable stone-gray gloom.
+
+Wetzel spoke briefly. After telling Jonathan to meet him at sunset on
+the following day at a point five miles up the river, he reported to
+the colonel that Legget with his band had left their retreat, moving
+southward, apparently on a marauding expedition. Then he shook hands
+with Colonel Zane and turned to Betty.
+
+"Good-bye, Betty," he said, in his deep, sonorous voice.
+
+"Good-bye, Lew," answered Betty slowly, as if surprised. "God save
+you," she added.
+
+He shouldered his rifle, and hurried down the lane, halting before
+entering the thicket that bounded the clearing, to look back at the
+settlement. In another moment his dark figure had disappeared among
+the bushes.
+
+"Betts, I've seen Wetzel go like that hundreds of times, though he
+never shook hands before; but I feel sort of queer about it now.
+Wasn't he strange?"
+
+Betty did not answer until Jonathan, who had started to go within, was
+out of hearing.
+
+"Lew looked and acted the same the morning he struck Miller's trail,"
+Betty replied in a low voice. "I believe, despite his indifference to
+danger, he realizes that the chances are greatly against him, as they
+were when he began the trailing of Miller, certain it would lead him
+into Girty's camp. Then I know Lew has an affection for us, though it
+is never shown in ordinary ways. I pray he and Jack will come
+home safe."
+
+"This is a bad trail they're taking up; the worst, perhaps, in border
+warfare," said Colonel Zane gloomily. "Did you notice how Jack's face
+darkened when his comrade came? Much of this borderman-life of his is
+due to Wetzel's influence."
+
+"Eb, I'll tell you one thing," returned Betty, with a flash of her
+old spirit. "This is Jack's last trail."
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"If he doesn't return he'll be gone the way of all bordermen; but if
+he comes back once more he'll never get away from Helen."
+
+"Ugh!" exclaimed Zane, venting his pleasure in characteristic Indian
+way.
+
+"That night after Jack came home wounded," continued Betty, "I saw
+him, as he lay on the couch, gaze at Helen. Such a look! Eb, she
+has won."
+
+"I hope so, but I fear, I fear," replied her brother gloomily. "If
+only he returns, that's the thing! Betts, be sure he sees Helen before
+he goes away."
+
+"I shall try. Here he comes now," said Betty.
+
+"Hello, Jack!" cried the colonel, as his brother came out in somewhat
+of a hurry. "What have you got? By George! It's that blamed arrow the
+Shawnee shot into you. Where are you going with it? What the
+deuce--Say--Betts, eh?"
+
+Betty had given him a sharp little kick.
+
+The borderman looked embarrassed. He hesitated and flushed. Evidently
+he would have liked to avoid his brother's question; but the inquiry
+came direct. Dissimulation with him was impossible.
+
+"Helen wanted this, an' I reckon that's where I'm goin' with it," he
+said finally, and walked away.
+
+"Eb, you're a stupid!" exclaimed Betty.
+
+"Hang it! Who'd have thought he was going to give her that blamed,
+bloody arrow?"
+
+As Helen ushered Jonathan, for the first time, into her cosy little
+sitting-room, her heart began to thump so hard she could hear it.
+
+She had not seen him since the night he whispered the words which gave
+such happiness. She had stayed at home, thankful beyond expression to
+learn every day of his rapid improvement, living in the sweetness of
+her joy, and waiting for him. And now as he had come, so dark, so
+grave, so unlike a lover to woo, that she felt a chill steal over her.
+
+"I'm so glad you've brought the arrow," she faltered, "for, of course,
+coming so far means that you're well once more."
+
+"You asked me for it, an' I've fetched it over. To-morrow I'm off on a
+trail I may never return from," he answered simply, and his voice
+seemed cold.
+
+An immeasurable distance stretched once more between them. Helen's
+happiness slowly died.
+
+"I thank you," she said with a voice that was tremulous despite all
+her efforts.
+
+"It's not much of a keepsake."
+
+"I did not ask for it as a keepsake, but because--because I wanted it.
+I need nothing tangible to keep alive my memory. A few words whispered
+to me not many days ago will suffice for remembrance--or--or did I
+dream them?"
+
+Bitter disappointment almost choked Helen. This was not the gentle,
+soft-voiced man who had said he loved her. It was the indifferent
+borderman. Again he was the embodiment of his strange, quiet woods.
+Once more he seemed the comrade of the cold, inscrutable Wetzel.
+
+"No, lass, I reckon you didn't dream," he replied.
+
+Helen swayed from sick bitterness and a suffocating sense of pain,
+back to her old, sweet, joyous, tumultuous heart-throbbing.
+
+"Tell me, if I didn't dream," she said softly, her face flashing warm
+again. She came close to him and looked up with all her heart in her
+great dark eyes, and love trembling on her red lips.
+
+Calmness deserted the borderman after one glance at her. He paced the
+floor; twisted and clasped his hands while his eyes gleamed.
+
+"Lass, I'm only human," he cried hoarsely, facing her again.
+
+But only for a moment did he stand before her; but it was long enough
+for him to see her shrink a little, the gladness in her eyes giving
+way to uncertainty and a fugitive hope. Suddenly he began to pace the
+room again, and to talk incoherently. With the flow of words he
+gradually grew calmer, and, with something of his natural dignity,
+spoke more rationally.
+
+"I said I loved you, an' it's true, but I didn't mean to speak. I
+oughtn't have done it. Somethin' made it so easy, so natural like. I'd
+have died before letting you know, if any idea had come to me of what
+I was sayin'. I've fought this feelin' for months. I allowed myself to
+think of you at first, an' there's the wrong. I went on the trail with
+your big eyes pictured in my mind, an' before I'd dreamed of it you'd
+crept into my heart. Life has never been the same since--that kiss.
+Betty said as how you cared for me, an' that made me worse, only I
+never really believed. Today I came over here to say good-bye,
+expectin' to hold myself well in hand; but the first glance of your
+eyes unmans me. Nothin' can come of it, lass, nothin' but trouble.
+Even if you cared, an' I don't dare believe you do, nothin' can come
+of it! I've my own life to live, an' there's no sweetheart in it.
+Mebbe, as Lew says, there's one in Heaven. Oh! girl, this has been
+hard on me. I see you always on my lonely tramps; I see your glorious
+eyes in the sunny fields an' in the woods, at gray twilight, an' when
+the stars shine brightest. They haunt me. Ah! you're the sweetest
+lass as ever tormented a man, an' I love you, I love you!"
+
+He turned to the window only to hear a soft, broken cry, and a flurry
+of skirts. A rush of wind seemed to envelop him. Then two soft,
+rounded arms encircled his neck, and a golden head lay on his breast.
+
+"My borderman! My hero! My love!"
+
+Jonathan clasped the beautiful, quivering girl to his heart.
+
+"Lass, for God's sake don't say you love me," he implored, thrilling
+with contact of her warm arms.
+
+"Ah!" she breathed, and raised her head. Her radiant eyes darkly
+wonderful with unutterable love, burned into his.
+
+He had almost pressed his lips to the sweet red ones so near his, when
+he drew back with a start, and his frame straightened.
+
+"Am I a man, or only a coward?" he muttered. "Lass, let me think.
+Don't believe I'm harsh, nor cold, nor nothin' except that I want to
+do what's right."
+
+He leaned out of the window while Helen stood near him with a hand on
+his quivering shoulder. When at last he turned, his face was
+colorless, white as marble, and sad, and set, and stern.
+
+"Lass, it mustn't be; I'll not ruin your life."
+
+"But you will if you give me up."
+
+"No, no, lass."
+
+"I cannot live without you."
+
+"You must. My life is not mine to give."
+
+"But you love me."
+
+"I am a borderman."
+
+"I will not live without you."
+
+"Hush! lass, hush!"
+
+"I love you."
+
+Jonathan breathed hard; once more the tremor, which seemed pitiful in
+such a strong man, came upon him. His face was gray.
+
+"I love you," she repeated, her rich voice indescribably deep and
+full. She opened wide her arms and stood before him with heaving
+bosom, with great eyes dark with woman's sadness, passionate with
+woman's promise, perfect in her beauty, glorious in her abandonment.
+
+The borderman bowed and bent like a broken reed.
+
+"Listen," she whispered, coming closer to him, "go if you must leave
+me; but let this be your last trail. Come back to me, Jack, come back
+to me! You have had enough of this terrible life; you have won a name
+that will never be forgotten; you have done your duty to the border.
+The Indians and outlaws will be gone soon. Take the farm your brother
+wants you to have, and live for me. We will be happy. I shall learn to
+keep your home. Oh! my dear, I will recompense you for the loss of all
+this wild hunting and fighting. Let me persuade you, as much for your
+sake as for mine, for you are my heart, and soul, and life. Go out
+upon your last trail, Jack, and come back to me."
+
+"An' let Wetzel go always alone?"
+
+"He is different; he lives only for revenge. What are those poor
+savages to you? You have a better, nobler life opening."
+
+"Lass, I can't give him up."
+
+"You need not; but give up this useless seeking of adventure. That,
+you know, is half a borderman's life. Give it up, Jack, it not for
+your own, then for my sake."
+
+"No-no-never-I can't-I won't be a coward! After all these years I
+won't desert him. No-no----"
+
+"Do not say more," she pleaded, stealing closer to him until she was
+against his breast. She slipped her arms around his neck. For love and
+more than life she was fighting now. "Good-bye, my love." She kissed
+him, a long, lingering pressure of her soft full lips on his.
+"Dearest, do not shame me further. Dearest Jack, come back to me, for
+I love you."
+
+She released him, and ran sobbing from the room.
+
+Unsteady as a blind man, he groped for the door, found it, and went
+out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The longest day in Jonathan Zane's life, the oddest, the most terrible
+and complex with unintelligible emotions, was that one in which he
+learned that the wilderness no longer sufficed for him.
+
+He wandered through the forest like a man lost, searching for, he knew
+not what. Rambling along the shady trails he looked for that
+contentment which had always been his, but found it not. He plunged
+into the depths of deep, gloomy ravines; into the fastnesses of
+heavy-timbered hollows where the trees hid the light of day; he sought
+the open, grassy hillsides, and roamed far over meadow and plain. Yet
+something always eluded him. The invisible and beautiful life of all
+inanimate things sang no more in his heart. The springy moss, the
+quivering leaf, the tell-tale bark of the trees, the limpid, misty,
+eddying pools under green banks, the myriads of natural objects from
+which he had learned so much, and the manifold joyous life around him,
+no longer spoke with soul-satisfying faithfulness. The environment of
+his boyish days, of his youth, and manhood, rendered not a sweetness
+as of old.
+
+His intelligence, sharpened by the pain of new experience, told him
+he had been vain to imagine that he, because he was a borderman, could
+escape the universal destiny of human life. Dimly he could feel the
+broadening, the awakening into a fuller existence, but he did not
+welcome this new light. He realized that men had always turned, at
+some time in their lives, to women even as the cypress leans toward
+the sun. This weakening of the sterner stuff in him; this softening of
+his heart, and especially the inquietude, and lack of joy and harmony
+in his old pursuits of the forest trails bewildered him, and troubled
+him some. Thousands of times his borderman's trail had been crossed,
+yet never to his sorrow until now when it had been crossed by a woman.
+
+Sick at heart, hurt in his pride, darkly savage, sad, remorseful, and
+thrilling with awakened passion, all in turn, he roamed the woodland
+unconsciously visiting the scenes where he had formerly found
+contentment.
+
+He paused by many a shady glen, and beautiful quiet glade; by gray
+cliffs and mossy banks, searching with moody eyes for the spirit which
+evaded him.
+
+Here in the green and golden woods rose before him a rugged, giant
+rock, moss-stained, and gleaming with trickling water. Tangled ferns
+dressed in autumn's russet hue lay at the base of the green-gray
+cliff, and circled a dark, deep pool dotted with yellow leaves.
+Half-way up, the perpendicular ascent was broken by a protruding ledge
+upon which waved broad-leaved plants and rusty ferns. Above, the cliff
+sheered out with many cracks and seams in its weather-beaten front.
+
+The forest grew to the verge of the precipice. A full foliaged oak and
+a luxuriant maple, the former still fresh with its dark green leaves,
+the latter making a vivid contrast with its pale yellow, purple-red,
+and orange hues, leaned far out over the bluff. A mighty chestnut
+grasped with gnarled roots deep into the broken cliff. Dainty plumes
+of goldenrod swayed on the brink; red berries, amber moss, and green
+trailing vines peeped over the edge, and every little niche and cranny
+sported fragile ferns and pale-faced asters. A second cliff, higher
+than the first, and more heavily wooded, loomed above, and over it
+sprayed a transparent film of water, thin as smoke, and iridescent in
+the sunshine. Far above where the glancing rill caressed the mossy
+cliff and shone like gleaming gold against the dark branches with
+their green and red and purple leaves, lay the faint blue of the sky.
+
+Jonathan pulled on down the stream with humbler heart. His favorite
+waterfall had denied him. The gold that had gleamed there was his
+sweetheart's hair; the red was of her lips; the dark pool with its
+lights and shades, its unfathomable mystery, was like her eyes.
+
+He came at length to another scene of milder aspect. An open glade
+where the dancing, dimpling brook raced under dark hemlocks, and where
+blood-red sumach leaves, and beech leaves like flashes of sunshine,
+lay against the green. Under a leaning birch he found a patch of
+purple asters, and a little apart from them, by a mossy stone, a
+lonely fringed gentian. Its deep color brought to him the dark blue
+eyes that haunted him, and once again, like one possessed of an evil
+spirit, he wandered along the merry water-course.
+
+But finally pain and unrest left him. When he surrendered to his love,
+peace returned. Though he said in his heart that Helen was not for
+him, he felt he did not need to torture himself by fighting against
+resistless power. He could love her without being a coward. He would
+take up his life where it had been changed, and live it, carrying this
+bitter-sweet burden always.
+
+Memory, now that he admitted himself conquered, made a toy of him,
+bringing the sweetness of fragrant hair, and eloquent eyes, and
+clinging arms, and dewy lips. A thousand-fold harder to fight than
+pain was the seductive thought that he had but to go back to Helen to
+feel again the charm of her presence, to see the grace of her person,
+to hear the music of her voice, to have again her lips on his.
+
+Jonathan knew then that his trial had but begun; that the pain and
+suffering of a borderman's broken pride and conquered spirit was
+nothing; that to steel his heart against the joy, the sweetness, the
+longing of love was everything.
+
+So a tumult raged within his heart. No bitterness, nor wretchedness
+stabbed him as before, but a passionate yearning, born of memory, and
+unquenchable as the fires of the sun, burned there.
+
+Helen's reply to his pale excuses, to his duty, to his life, was that
+she loved him. The wonder of it made him weak. Was not her answer
+enough? "I love you!" Three words only; but they changed the world. A
+beautiful girl loved him, she had kissed him, and his life could never
+again be the same. She had held out her arms to him--and he, cold,
+churlish, unfeeling brute, had let her shame herself, fighting for her
+happiness, for the joy that is a woman's divine right. He had been
+blind; he had not understood the significance of her gracious action;
+he had never realized until too late, what it must have cost her, what
+heartburning shame and scorn his refusal brought upon her. If she ever
+looked tenderly at him again with her great eyes; or leaned toward him
+with her beautiful arms outstretched, he would fall at her feet and
+throw his duty to the winds, swearing his love was hers always and his
+life forever.
+
+So love stormed in the borderman's heart.
+
+Slowly the melancholy Indian-summer day waned as Jonathan strode out
+of the woods into a plain beyond, where he was to meet Wetzel at
+sunset. A smoky haze like a purple cloud lay upon the gently waving
+grass. He could not see across the stretch of prairie-land, though at
+this point he knew it was hardly a mile wide. With the trilling of the
+grasshoppers alone disturbing the serene quiet of this autumn
+afternoon, all nature seemed in harmony with the declining season. He
+stood a while, his thoughts becoming the calmer for the silence and
+loneliness of this breathing meadow.
+
+When the shadows of the trees began to lengthen, and to steal far out
+over the yellow grass, he knew the time had come, and glided out upon
+the plain. He crossed it, and sat down upon a huge stone which lay
+with one shelving end overhanging the river.
+
+Far in the west the gold-red sun, too fiery for his direct gaze, lost
+the brilliance of its under circle behind the fringe of the wooded
+hill. Slowly the red ball sank. When the last bright gleam had
+vanished in the dark horizon Jonathan turned to search wood and plain.
+Wetzel was to meet him at sunset. Even as his first glance swept
+around a light step sounded behind him. He did not move, for that step
+was familiar. In another moment the tall form of Wetzel stood
+beside him.
+
+"I'm about as much behind as you was ahead of time," said Wetzel.
+"We'll stay here fer the night, an' be off early in the mornin'."
+
+Under the shelving side of the rock, and in the shade of the thicket,
+the bordermen built a little fire and roasted strips of deer-meat.
+Then, puffing at their long pipes they sat for a long time in silence,
+while twilight let fall a dark, gray cloak over river and plain.
+
+"Legget's move up the river was a blind, as I suspected," said
+Wetzel, presently. "He's not far back in the woods from here, an'
+seems to be waitin' fer somethin' or somebody. Brandt an' seven
+redskins are with him. We'd hev a good chance at them in the mornin';
+now we've got 'em a long ways from their camp, so we'll wait, an' see
+what deviltry they're up to."
+
+"Mebbe he's waitin' for some Injun band," suggested Jonathan.
+
+"Thar's redskins in the valley an' close to him; but I reckon he's
+barkin' up another tree."
+
+"Suppose we run into some of these Injuns?"
+
+"We'll hev to take what comes," replied Wetzel, lying down on a bed of
+leaves.
+
+When darkness enveloped the spot Wetzel lay wrapped in deep slumber,
+while Jonathan sat against the rock, watching the last flickerings of
+the camp-fire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+Will and Helen hurried back along the river road. Beguiled by the soft
+beauty of the autumn morning they ventured farther from the fort than
+ever before, and had been suddenly brought to a realization of the
+fact by a crackling in the underbrush. Instantly their minds reverted
+to bears and panthers, such as they had heard invested the thickets
+round the settlement.
+
+"Oh! Will! I saw a dark form stealing along in the woods from tree to
+tree!" exclaimed Helen in a startled whisper.
+
+"So did I. It was an Indian, or I never saw one. Walk faster. Once
+round the bend in the road we'll be within sight of the fort; then
+we'll run," replied Will. He had turned pale, but maintained his
+composure.
+
+They increased their speed, and had almost come up to the curve in the
+road, marked by dense undergrowth on both sides, when the branches in
+the thicket swayed violently, a sturdy little man armed with a musket
+appeared from among them.
+
+"Avast! Heave to!" he commanded in a low, fierce voice, leveling his
+weapon. "One breeze from ye, an' I let sail this broadside."
+
+"What do you want? We have no valuables," said Will, speaking low.
+
+Helen stared at the little man. She was speechless with terror. It
+flashed into her mind as soon as she recognized the red, evil face of
+the sailor, that he was the accomplice upon whom Brandt had told Metzar
+he could rely.
+
+"Shut up! It's not ye I want, nor valuables, but this wench," growled
+Case. He pushed Will around with the muzzle of the musket, which
+action caused the young man to turn a sickly white and shrink
+involuntarily with fear. The hammer of the musket was raised, and
+might fall at the slightest jar.
+
+"For God's sake! Will, do as he says," cried Helen, who saw murder in
+Case's eyes. Capture or anything was better than sacrifice of life.
+
+"March!" ordered Case, with the musket against Will's back.
+
+Will hurriedly started forward, jostling Helen, who had preceded him.
+He was forced to hurry, because every few moments Case pressed the gun
+to his back or side.
+
+Without another word the sailor marched them swiftly along the road,
+which now narrowed down to a trail. His intention, no doubt, was to
+put as much distance between him and the fort as was possible. No
+more than a mile had been thus traversed when two Indians stepped
+into view.
+
+"My God! My God!" cried Will as the savages proceeded first to bind
+Helen's arms behind her, and then his in the same manner. After this
+the journey was continued in silence, the Indians walking beside the
+prisoners, and Case in the rear.
+
+Helen was so terrified that for a long time she could not think
+coherently. It seemed as if she had walked miles, yet did not feel
+tired. Always in front wound the narrow, leaf-girt trail, and to the
+left the broad river gleamed at intervals through open spaces in the
+thickets. Flocks of birds rose in the line of march. They seemed tame,
+and uttered plaintive notes as if in sympathy.
+
+About noon the trail led to the river bank. One of the savages
+disappeared in a copse of willows, and presently reappeared carrying a
+birch-bark canoe. Case ordered Helen and Will into the boat, got in
+himself, and the savages, taking stations at bow and stern, paddled
+out into the stream. They shot over under the lee of an island, around
+a rocky point, and across a strait to another island. Beyond this they
+gained the Ohio shore, and beached the canoe.
+
+"Ahoy! there, cap'n," cried Case, pushing Helen up the bank before
+him, and she, gazing upward, was more than amazed to see Mordaunt
+leaning against a tree.
+
+"Mordaunt, had you anything to do with this?" cried Helen
+breathlessly.
+
+"I had all to do with it," answered the Englishman.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+He did not meet her gaze, nor make reply; but turned to address a few
+words in a low tone to a white man sitting on a log.
+
+Helen knew she had seen this person before, and doubted not he was
+one of Metzar's men. She saw a rude, bark lean-to, the remains of a
+camp-fire, and a pack tied in blankets. Evidently Mordaunt and his men
+had tarried here awaiting such developments as had come to pass.
+
+"You white-faced hound!" hissed Will, beside himself with rage when he
+realized the situation. Bound though he was, he leaped up and tried to
+get at Mordaunt. Case knocked him on the head with the handle of his
+knife. Will fell with blood streaming from a cut over the temple.
+
+The dastardly act aroused all Helen's fiery courage. She turned to the
+Englishman with eyes ablaze.
+
+"So you've at last found your level. Border-outlaw! Kill me at once.
+I'd rather be dead than breathe the same air with such a coward!"
+
+"I swore I'd have you, if not by fair means then by foul," he
+answered, with dark and haggard face.
+
+"What do you intend to do with me now that I am tied?" she demanded
+scornfully.
+
+"Keep you a prisoner in the woods till you consent to marry me."
+
+Helen laughed in scorn. Desperate as was the plight, her natural
+courage had arisen at the cruel blow dealt her cousin, and she faced
+the Englishman with flashing eyes and undaunted mien. She saw he was
+again unsteady, and had the cough and catching breath habitual to
+certain men under the influence of liquor. She turned her attention to
+Will. He lay as he had fallen, with blood streaming over his pale face
+and fair hair. While she gazed at him Case whipped out his long knife,
+and looked up at Mordaunt.
+
+"Cap'n, I'd better loosen a hatch fer him," he said brutally. "He's
+dead cargo fer us, an' in the way."
+
+He lowered the gleaming point upon Will's chest.
+
+"Oh-h-h!" breathed Helen in horror. She tried to close her eyes but
+was so fascinated she could not.
+
+"Get up. I'll have no murder," ordered Mordaunt. "Leave him here."
+
+"He's not got a bad cut," said the man sitting on the log. "He'll come
+to arter a spell, go back to ther fort, an' give an alarm."
+
+"What's that to me?" asked Mordaunt sharply. "We shall be safe. I
+won't have him with us because some Indian or another will kill him.
+It's not my purpose to murder any one."
+
+"Ugh!" grunted one of the savages, and pointed eastward with his hand.
+"Hurry-long-way-go," he said in English. With the Indians in the lead
+the party turned from the river into the forest.
+
+Helen looked back into the sandy glade and saw Will lying as they had
+left him, unconscious, with his hands still bound tightly behind him,
+and blood running over his face. Painful as was the thought of leaving
+him thus, it afforded her relief. She assured herself he had not been
+badly hurt, would recover consciousness before long, and, even bound
+as he was, could make his way back to the settlement.
+
+Her own situation, now that she knew Mordaunt had instigated the
+abduction, did not seem hopeless. Although dreading Brandt with
+unspeakable horror, she did not in the least fear the Englishman. He
+was mad to carry her off like this into the wilderness, but would
+force her to do nothing. He could not keep her a prisoner long while
+Jonathan Zane and Wetzel were free to take his trail. What were his
+intentions? Where was he taking her? Such questions as these, however,
+troubled Helen more than a little. They brought her thoughts back to
+the Indians leading the way with lithe and stealthy step. How had
+Mordaunt associated himself with these savages? Then, suddenly, it
+dawned upon her that Brandt also might be in this scheme to carry her
+off. She scouted the idea; but it returned. Perhaps Mordaunt was only
+a tool; perhaps he himself was being deceived. Helen turned pale at
+the very thought. She had never forgotten the strange, unreadable, yet
+threatening, expression which Brandt had worn the day she had refused
+to walk with him.
+
+Meanwhile the party made rapid progress through the forest. Not a word
+was spoken, nor did any noise of rustling leaves or crackling twigs
+follow their footsteps. The savage in the lead chose the open and less
+difficult ground; he took advantage of glades, mossy places, and rocky
+ridges. This careful choosing was, evidently, to avoid noise, and make
+the trail as difficult to follow as possible. Once he stopped
+suddenly, and listened.
+
+Helen had a good look at the savage while he was in this position. His
+lean, athletic figure resembled, in its half-clothed condition, a
+bronzed statue; his powerful visage was set, changeless like iron. His
+dark eyes seemed to take in all points of the forest before him.
+
+Whatever had caused the halt was an enigma to all save his red-skinned
+companion.
+
+The silence of the wood was the silence of the desert. No bird
+chirped; no breath of wind sighed in the tree-tops; even the aspens
+remained unagitated. Pale yellow leaves sailed slowly, reluctantly
+down from above.
+
+But some faint sound, something unusual had jarred upon the
+exquisitely sensitive ears of the leader, for with a meaning shake of
+the head to his followers, he resumed the march in a direction at
+right angles with the original course.
+
+This caution, and evident distrust of the forest ahead, made Helen
+think again of Jonathan and Wetzel. Those great bordermen might
+already be on the trail of her captors. The thought thrilled her.
+Presently she realized, from another long, silent march through forest
+thickets, glades, aisles, and groves, over rock-strewn ridges, and
+down mossy-stoned ravines, that her strength was beginning to fail.
+
+"I can go no further with my arms tied in this way," she declared,
+stopping suddenly.
+
+"Ugh!" uttered the savage before her, turning sharply. He brandished a
+tomahawk before her eyes.
+
+Mordaunt hurriedly set free her wrists. His pale face flushed a dark,
+flaming red when she shrank from his touch as if he were a viper.
+
+After they had traveled what seemed to Helen many miles, the vigilance
+of the leaders relaxed.
+
+On the banks of the willow-skirted stream the Indian guide halted
+them, and proceeded on alone to disappear in a green thicket.
+Presently he reappeared, and motioned for them to come on. He led the
+way over smooth, sandy paths between clumps of willows, into a heavy
+growth of alder bushes and prickly thorns, at length to emerge upon a
+beautiful grassy plot enclosed by green and yellow shrubbery. Above
+the stream, which cut the edge of the glade, rose a sloping, wooded
+ridge, with huge rocks projecting here and there out of the
+brown forest.
+
+Several birch-bark huts could be seen; then two rough bearded men
+lolling upon the grass, and beyond them a group of painted Indians.
+
+A whoop so shrill, so savage, so exultant, that it seemingly froze her
+blood, rent the silence. A man, unseen before, came crashing through
+the willows on the side of the ridge. He leaped the stream with the
+spring of a wild horse. He was big and broad, with disheveled hair,
+keen, hard face, and wild, gray eyes.
+
+Helen's sight almost failed her; her head whirled dizzily; it was as
+if her heart had stopped beating and was become a cold, dead weight.
+She recognized in this man the one whom she feared most of
+all--Brandt.
+
+He cast one glance full at her, the same threatening, cool, and
+evil-meaning look she remembered so well, and then engaged the Indian
+guide in low conversation.
+
+Helen sank at the foot of a tree, leaning against it. Despite her
+weariness she had retained some spirit until this direful revelation
+broke her courage. What worse could have happened? Mordaunt had led
+her, for some reason that she could not divine, into the clutches of
+Brandt, into the power of Legget and his outlaws.
+
+But Helen was not one to remain long dispirited or hopeless. As this
+plot thickened, as every added misfortune weighed upon her, when just
+ready to give up to despair she remembered the bordermen. Then Colonel
+Zane's tales of their fearless, implacable pursuit when bent on rescue
+or revenge, recurred to her, and fortitude returned. While she had
+life she would hope.
+
+The advent of the party with their prisoner enlivened Legget's gang. A
+great giant of a man, blond-bearded, and handsome in a wild, rugged,
+uncouth way, a man Helen instinctively knew to be Legget, slapped
+Brandt on the shoulder.
+
+"Damme, Roge, if she ain't a regular little daisy! Never seed such a
+purty lass in my life."
+
+Brandt spoke hurriedly, and Legget laughed.
+
+All this time Case had been sitting on the grass, saying nothing, but
+with his little eyes watchful. Mordaunt stood near him, his head
+bowed, his face gloomy.
+
+"Say, cap'n, I don't like this mess," whispered Case to his master.
+"They ain't no crew fer us. I know men, fer I've sailed the seas, an'
+you're goin' to get what Metz calls the double-cross."
+
+Mordaunt seemed to arouse from his gloomy reverie. He looked at Brandt
+and Legget who were now in earnest council. Then his eyes wandered
+toward Helen. She beckoned him to come to her.
+
+"Why did you bring me here?" she asked.
+
+"Brandt understood my case. He planned this thing, and seemed to be a
+good friend of mine. He said if I once got you out of the settlement,
+he would give me protection until I crossed the border into Canada.
+There we could be married," replied Mordaunt unsteadily.
+
+"Then you meant marriage by me, if I could be made to consent?"
+
+"Of course. I'm not utterly vile," he replied, with face lowered in
+shame.
+
+"Have you any idea what you've done?"
+
+"Done? I don't understand."
+
+"You have ruined yourself, lost your manhood, become an outlaw, a
+fugitive, made yourself the worst thing on the border--a girl-thief,
+and all for nothing."
+
+"No, I have you. You are more to me than all."
+
+"But can't you see? You've brought me out here for Brandt!"
+
+"My God!" exclaimed Mordaunt. He rose slowly to his feet and gazed
+around like a man suddenly wakened from a dream. "I see it all now!
+Miserable, drunken wretch that I am!"
+
+Helen saw his face change and lighten as if a cloud of darkness had
+passed away from it. She understood that love of liquor had made him a
+party to this plot. Brandt had cunningly worked upon his weakness,
+proposed a daring scheme; and filled his befogged mind with hopes
+that, in a moment of clear-sightedness, he would have seen to be vain
+and impossible. And Helen understood also that the sudden shock of
+surprise, pain, possible fury, had sobered Mordaunt, probably for the
+first time in weeks.
+
+The Englishman's face became exceedingly pale. Seating himself on a
+stone near Case, he bowed his head, remaining silent and motionless.
+
+The conference between Legget and Brandt lasted for some time. When it
+ended the latter strode toward the motionless figure on the rock.
+
+"Mordaunt, you and Case will do well to follow this Indian at once to
+the river, where you can strike the Fort Pitt trail," said Brandt.
+
+He spoke arrogantly and authoritatively. His keen, hard face, his
+steely eyes, bespoke the iron will and purpose of the man.
+
+Mordaunt rose with cold dignity. If he had been a dupe, he was one no
+longer, as could be plainly read on his calm, pale face. The old
+listlessness, the unsteadiness had vanished. He wore a manner of
+extreme quietude; but his eyes were like balls of blazing blue steel.
+
+"Mr. Brandt, I seem to have done you a service, and am no longer
+required," he said in a courteous tone.
+
+Brandt eyed his man; but judged him wrongly. An English gentleman was
+new to the border-outlaw.
+
+"I swore the girl should be mine," he hissed.
+
+"Doomed men cannot be choosers!" cried Helen, who had heard him. Her
+dark eyes burned with scorn and hatred.
+
+All the party heard her passionate outburst. Case arose as if
+unconcernedly, and stood by the side of his master. Legget and the
+other two outlaws came up. The Indians turned their swarthy faces.
+
+"Hah! ain't she sassy?" cried Legget.
+
+Brandt looked at Helen, understood the meaning of her words, and
+laughed. But his face paled, and involuntarily his shifty glance
+sought the rocks and trees upon the ridge.
+
+"You played me from the first?" asked Mordaunt quietly.
+
+"I did," replied Brandt.
+
+"You meant nothing of your promise to help me across the border?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You intended to let me shift for myself out here in this wilderness?"
+
+"Yes, after this Indian guides you to the river-trail," said Brandt,
+indicating with his finger the nearest savage.
+
+"I get what you frontier men call the double-cross'?"
+
+"That's it," replied Brandt with a hard laugh, in which Legget joined.
+
+A short pause ensued.
+
+"What will you do with the girl?"
+
+"That's my affair."
+
+"Marry her?" Mordaunt's voice was low and quiet.
+
+"No!" cried Brandt. "She flaunted my love in my face, scorned me! She
+saw that borderman strike me, and by God! I'll get even. I'll keep her
+here in the woods until I'm tired of her, and when her beauty fades
+I'll turn her over to Legget."
+
+Scarcely had the words dropped from his vile lips when Mordaunt moved
+with tigerish agility. He seized a knife from the belt of one of
+the Indians.
+
+"Die!" he screamed.
+
+Brandt grasped his tomahawk. At the same instant the man who had acted
+as Mordaunt's guide grasped the Englishman from behind.
+
+Brandt struck ineffectually at the struggling man.
+
+"Fair play!" roared Case, leaping at Mordaunt's second assailant. His
+long knife sheathed its glittering length in the man's breast. Without
+even a groan he dropped. "Clear the decks!" Case yelled, sweeping
+round in a circle. All fell back before that whirling knife.
+
+Several of the Indians started as if to raise their rifles; but
+Legget's stern command caused them to desist.
+
+The Englishman and the outlaw now engaged in a fearful encounter. The
+practiced, rugged, frontier desperado apparently had found his match
+in this pale-faced, slender man. His border skill with the hatchet
+seemed offset by Mordaunt's terrible rage. Brandt whirled and swung
+the weapon as he leaped around his antagonist. With his left arm the
+Englishman sought only to protect his head, while with his right he
+brandished the knife. Whirling here and there they struggled across
+the cleared space, plunging out of sight among the willows. During a
+moment there was a sound as of breaking branches; then a dull blow,
+horrible to hear, followed by a low moan, and then deep silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A black weight was seemingly lifted from Helen's weary eyelids. The
+sun shone; the golden forest surrounded her; the brook babbled
+merrily; but where were the struggling, panting men? She noticed
+presently, when her vision had grown more clear, that the scene
+differed entirely from the willow-glade where she had closed her eyes
+upon the fight. Then came the knowledge that she had fainted, and,
+during the time of unconsciousness, been moved.
+
+She lay upon a mossy mound a few feet higher than a swiftly running
+brook. A magnificent chestnut tree spread its leafy branches above
+her. Directly opposite, about an hundred feet away, loomed a gray,
+ragged, moss-stained cliff. She noted this particularly because the
+dense forest encroaching to its very edge excited her admiration. Such
+wonderful coloring seemed unreal. Dead gold and bright red foliage
+flamed everywhere.
+
+Two Indians stood near by silent, immovable. No other of Legget's band
+was visible. Helen watched the red men.
+
+Sinewy, muscular warriors they were, with bodies partially painted,
+and long, straight hair, black as burnt wood, interwoven with bits of
+white bone, and plaited around waving eagle plumes. At first glance
+their dark faces and dark eyes were expressive of craft, cunning,
+cruelty, courage, all attributes of the savage.
+
+Yet wild as these savages appeared, Helen did not fear them as she did
+the outlaws. Brandt's eyes, and Legget's, too, when turned on her,
+emitted a flame that seemed to scorch and shrivel her soul. When the
+savages met her gaze, which was but seldom, she imagined she saw
+intelligence, even pity, in their dusky eyes. Certain it was she did
+not shrink from them as from Brandt.
+
+Suddenly, with a sensation of relief and joy, she remembered
+Mordaunt's terrible onslaught upon Brandt. Although she could not
+recollect the termination of that furious struggle, she did recall
+Brandt's scream of mortal agony, and the death of the other at Case's
+hands. This meant, whether Brandt was dead or not, that the fighting
+strength of her captors had been diminished. Surely as the sun had
+risen that morning, Helen believed Jonathan and Wetzel lurked on the
+trail of these renegades. She prayed that her courage, hope, strength,
+might be continued.
+
+"Ugh!" exclaimed one of the savages, pointing across the open space.
+A slight swaying of the bushes told that some living thing was moving
+among them, and an instant later the huge frame of the leader came
+into view. The other outlaw, and Case, followed closely. Farther down
+the margin of the thicket the Indians appeared; but without the
+slightest noise or disturbance of the shrubbery.
+
+It required but a glance to show Helen that Case was in high spirits.
+His repulsive face glowed with satisfaction. He carried a bundle,
+which Helen saw, with a sickening sense of horror, was made up of
+Mordaunt's clothing. Brandt had killed the Englishman. Legget also had
+a package under his arm, which he threw down when he reached the
+chestnut tree, to draw from his pocket a long, leather belt, such as
+travelers use for the carrying of valuables. It was evidently heavy,
+and the musical clink which accompanied his motion proclaimed the
+contents to be gold.
+
+Brandt appeared next; he was white and held his hand to his breast.
+There were dark stains on his hunting coat, which he removed to expose
+a shirt blotched with red.
+
+"You ain't much hurt, I reckon?" inquired Legget solicitously.
+
+"No; but I'm bleeding bad," replied Brandt coolly. He then called an
+Indian and went among the willows skirting the stream.
+
+"So I'm to be in this border crew?" asked Case, looking up at Legget.
+
+"Sure," replied the big outlaw. "You're a handy fellar, Case, an'
+after I break you into border ways you will fit in here tip-top. Now
+you'd better stick by me. When Eb Zane, his brother Jack, an' Wetzel
+find out this here day's work, hell will be a cool place compared with
+their whereabouts. You'll be safe with me, an' this is the only place
+on the border, I reckon, where you can say your life is your own."
+
+"I'm yer mate, cap'n. I've sailed with soldiers, pirates, sailors, an'
+I guess I can navigate this borderland. Do we mess here? You didn't
+come far."
+
+"Wal, I ain't pertikuler, but I don't like eatin' with buzzards," said
+Legget, with a grin. "Thet's why we moved a bit."
+
+"What's buzzards?"
+
+"Ho! ho! Mebbe you'll hev 'em closer'n you'd like, some day, if you'd
+only know it. Buzzards are fine birds, most particular birds, as won't
+eat nothin' but flesh, an' white man or Injun is pie fer 'em."
+
+"Cap'n, I've seed birds as wouldn't wait till a man was dead," said
+Case.
+
+"Haw! haw! you can't come no sailor yarns on this fellar. Wal, now,
+we've got ther Englishman's gold. One or t'other of us might jest as
+well hev it all."
+
+"Right yer are, cap'n. Dice, cards, anyways, so long as I knows the
+game."
+
+"Here, Jenks, hand over yer clickers, an' bring us a flat stone," said
+Legget, sitting on the moss and emptying the belt in front of him.
+Case took a small bag from the dark blue jacket that had so lately
+covered Mordaunt's shoulders, and poured out its bright contents.
+
+"This coat ain't worth keepin'," he said, holding it up. The garment
+was rent and slashed, and under the left sleeve was a small,
+blood-stained hole where one of Brandt's blows had fallen. "Hullo,
+what's this?" muttered the sailor, feeling in the pocket of the
+jacket. "Blast my timbers, hooray!"
+
+He held up a small, silver-mounted whiskey flask, unscrewed the lid,
+and lifted the vessel to his mouth.
+
+"I'm kinder thirsty myself," suggested Legget.
+
+"Cap'n, a nip an' no more," Case replied, holding the flask to
+Legget's lips.
+
+The outlaw called Jenks now returned with a flat stone which he placed
+between the two men. The Indians gathered around. With greedy eyes
+they bent their heads over the gamblers, and watched every movement
+with breathless interest. At each click of the dice, or clink of gold,
+they uttered deep exclamations.
+
+"Luck's again' ye, cap'n," said Case, skilfully shaking the ivory
+cubes.
+
+"Hain't I got eyes?" growled the outlaw.
+
+Steadily his pile of gold diminished, and darker grew his face.
+
+"Cap'n, I'm a bad wind to draw," Case rejoined, drinking again from
+the flask. His naturally red face had become livid, his skin moist,
+and his eyes wild with excitement.
+
+"Hullo! If them dice wasn't Jenks's, an' I hadn't played afore with
+him, I'd swear they's loaded."
+
+"You ain't insinuatin' nothin', cap'n?" inquired Case softly,
+hesitating with the dice in his hands, his evil eyes glinting
+at Legget.
+
+"No, you're fair enough," growled the leader. "It's my tough luck."
+
+The game progressed with infrequent runs of fortune for the outlaw,
+and presently every piece of gold lay in a shining heap before
+the sailor.
+
+"Clean busted!" exclaimed Legget in disgust.
+
+"Can't you find nothin' more?" asked Case.
+
+The outlaw's bold eyes wandered here and there until they rested upon
+the prisoner.
+
+"I'll play ther lass against yer pile of gold," he growled. "Best two
+throws out 'en three. See here, she's as much mine as Brandt's."
+
+"Make it half my pile an' I'll go you."
+
+"Nary time. Bet, or give me back what yer win," replied Legget
+gruffly.
+
+"She's a trim little craft, no mistake," said Case, critically
+surveying Helen. "All right, cap'n, I've sportin' blood, an' I'll bet.
+Yer throw first."
+
+Legget won the first cast, and Case the second. With deliberation the
+outlaw shook the dice in his huge fist, and rattled them out upon the
+stone. "Hah!" he cried in delight. He had come within one of the
+highest score possible. Case nonchalantly flipped the little white
+blocks. The Indians crowded forward, their dusky eyes shining.
+
+Legget swore in a terrible voice which re-echoed from the stony cliff.
+The sailor was victorious. The outlaw got up, kicked the stone and
+dice in the brook, and walked away from the group. He strode to and
+fro under one of the trees. Gruffly he gave an order to the Indians.
+Several of them began at once to kindle a fire. Presently he called
+Jenks, who was fishing the dice out of the brook, and began to
+converse earnestly with him, making fierce gestures and casting
+lowering glances at the sailor.
+
+Case was too drunk now to see that he had incurred the enmity of the
+outlaw leader. He drank the last of the rum, and tossed the silver
+flask to an Indian, who received the present with every show
+of delight.
+
+Case then, with the slow, uncertain movements of a man whose mind is
+befogged, began to count his gold; but only to gather up a few pieces
+when they slipped out of his trembling hands to roll on the moss.
+Laboriously, seriously, he kept at it with the doggedness of a drunken
+man. Apparently he had forgotten the others. Failing to learn the
+value of the coins by taking up each in turn, he arranged them in
+several piles, and began to estimate his wealth in sections.
+
+In the meanwhile Helen, who had not failed to take in the slightest
+detail of what was going on, saw that a plot was hatching which boded
+ill to the sailor. Moreover, she heard Legget and Jenks whispering.
+
+"I kin take him from right here 'atwixt his eyes," said Jenks softly,
+and tapped his rifle significantly.
+
+"Wal, go ahead, only I ruther hev it done quieter," answered Legget.
+"We're yet a long ways, near thirty miles, from my camp, an' there's
+no tellin' who's in ther woods. But we've got ter git rid of ther
+fresh sailor, an' there's no surer way."
+
+Cautiously cocking his rifle, Jenks deliberately raised it to his
+shoulder. One of the Indian sentinels who stood near at hand, sprang
+forward and struck up the weapon. He spoke a single word to Legget,
+pointed to the woods above the cliff, and then resumed his
+statue-like attitude.
+
+"I told yer, Jenks, that it wouldn't do. The redskin scents somethin'
+in the woods, an' ther's an Injun I never seed fooled. We mustn't make
+a noise. Take yer knife an' tomahawk, crawl down below the edge o' the
+bank an' slip up on him. I'll give half ther gold fer ther job."
+
+Jenks buckled his belt more tightly, gave one threatening glance at
+the sailor, and slipped over the bank. The bed of the brook lay about
+six feet below the level of the ground. This afforded an opportunity
+for the outlaw to get behind Case without being observed. A moment
+passed. Jenks disappeared round a bend of the stream. Presently his
+grizzled head appeared above the bank. He was immediately behind the
+sailor; but still some thirty feet away. This ground must be covered
+quickly and noiselessly. The outlaw began to crawl. In his right hand
+he grasped a tomahawk, and between his teeth was a long knife. He
+looked like a huge, yellow bear.
+
+The savages, with the exception of the sentinel who seemed absorbed in
+the dense thicket on the cliff, sat with their knees between their
+hands, watching the impending tragedy.
+
+Nothing but the merest chance, or some extraordinary intervention,
+could avert Case's doom. He was gloating over his gold. The creeping
+outlaw made no more noise than a snake. Nearer and nearer he came; his
+sweaty face shining in the sun; his eyes tigerish; his long body
+slipping silently over the grass. At length he was within five feet of
+the sailor. His knotty hands were dug into the sward as he gathered
+energy for a sudden spring.
+
+At that very moment Case, with his hand on his knife, rose quickly and
+turned round.
+
+The outlaw, discovered in the act of leaping, had no alternative, and
+spring he did, like a panther.
+
+The little sailor stepped out of line with remarkable quickness, and
+as the yellow body whirled past him, his knife flashed blue-bright in
+the sunshine.
+
+Jenks fell forward, his knife buried in the grass beneath him, and his
+outstretched hand still holding the tomahawk.
+
+"Tryin' ter double-cross me fer my gold," muttered the sailor,
+sheathing his weapon. He never looked to see whether or no his blow
+had been fatal. "These border fellars might think a man as sails the
+seas can't handle a knife." He calmly began gathering up his gold,
+evidently indifferent to further attack.
+
+Helen saw Legget raise his own rifle, but only to have it struck aside
+as had Jenks's. This time the savage whispered earnestly to Legget,
+who called the other Indians around him. The sentinel's low throaty
+tones mingled with the soft babbling of the stream. No sooner had he
+ceased speaking than the effect of his words showed how serious had
+been the information, warning or advice. The Indians cast furtive
+glances toward the woods. Two of them melted like shadows into the red
+and gold thicket. Another stealthily slipped from tree to tree until
+he reached the open ground, then dropped into the grass, and was seen
+no more until his dark body rose under the cliff. He stole along the
+green-stained wall, climbed a rugged corner, and vanished amid the
+dense foliage.
+
+Helen felt that she was almost past discernment or thought. The events
+of the day succeeding one another so swiftly, and fraught with panic,
+had, despite her hope and fortitude, reduced her to a helpless
+condition of piteous fear. She understood that the savages scented
+danger, or had, in their mysterious way, received intelligence such as
+rendered them wary and watchful.
+
+"Come on, now, an' make no noise," said Legget to Case. "Bring the
+girl, an' see that she steps light."
+
+"Ay, ay, cap'n," replied the sailor. "Where's Brandt?"
+
+"He'll be comin' soon's his cut stops bleedin'. I reckon he's weak
+yet."
+
+Case gathered up his goods, and, tucking it under his arm, grasped
+Helen's arm. She was leaning against the tree, and when he pulled her,
+she wrenched herself free, rising with difficulty. His disgusting
+touch and revolting face had revived her sensibilities.
+
+"Yer kin begin duty by carryin' thet," said Case, thrusting the
+package into Helen's arms. She let it drop without moving a hand.
+
+"I'm runnin' this ship. Yer belong to me," hissed Case, and then he
+struck her on the head. Helen uttered a low cry of distress, and half
+staggered against the tree. The sailor picked up the package. This
+time she took it, trembling with horror.
+
+"Thet's right. Now, give ther cap'n a kiss," he leered, and jostled
+against her.
+
+Helen pushed him violently. With agonized eyes she appealed to the
+Indians. They were engaged tying up their packs. Legget looked on with
+a lazy grin.
+
+"Oh! oh!" breathed Helen as Case seized her again. She tried to
+scream, but could not make a sound. The evil eyes, the beastly face,
+transfixed her with terror.
+
+Case struck her twice, then roughly pulled her toward him.
+
+Half-fainting, unable to move, Helen gazed at the heated, bloated face
+approaching hers.
+
+When his coarse lips were within a few inches of her lips something
+hot hissed across her brow. Following so closely as to be an
+accompaniment, rang out with singular clearness the sharp crack of
+a rifle.
+
+Case's face changed. The hot, surging flush faded; the expression
+became shaded, dulled into vacant emptiness; his eyes rolled wildly,
+then remained fixed, with a look of dark surprise. He stood upright an
+instant, swayed with the regular poise of a falling oak, and then
+plunged backward to the ground. His face, ghastly and livid, took on
+the awful calm of death.
+
+A very small hole, reddish-blue round the edges, dotted the center of
+his temple.
+
+Legget stared aghast at the dead sailor; then he possessed himself of
+the bag of gold.
+
+"Saved me ther trouble," he muttered, giving Case a kick.
+
+The Indians glanced at the little figure, then out into the flaming
+thickets. Each savage sprang behind a tree with incredible quickness.
+Legget saw this, and grasping Helen, he quickly led her within cover
+of the chestnut.
+
+Brandt appeared with his Indian companion, and both leaped to shelter
+behind a clump of birches near where Legget stood. Brandt's hawk eyes
+flashed upon the dead Jenks and Case. Without asking a question he
+seemed to take in the situation. He stepped over and grasped Helen
+by the arm.
+
+"Who killed Case?" he asked in a whisper, staring at the little blue
+hole in the sailor's temple.
+
+No one answered.
+
+The two Indians who had gone into the woods to the right of the
+stream, now returned. Hardly were they under the trees with their
+party, when the savage who had gone off alone arose out of the grass
+in the left of the brook, took it with a flying leap, and darted into
+their midst. He was the sentinel who had knocked up the weapons,
+thereby saving Case's life twice. He was lithe and supple, but not
+young. His grave, shadowy-lined, iron visage showed the traces of time
+and experience. All gazed at him as at one whose wisdom was greater
+than theirs.
+
+"Old Horse," said Brandt in English. "Haven't I seen bullet holes like
+this?"
+
+The Chippewa bent over Case, and then slowly straightened his tall
+form.
+
+"_Deathwind!_" he replied, answering in the white man's language.
+
+His Indian companions uttered low, plaintive murmurs, not signifying
+fear so much as respect.
+
+Brandt turned as pale as the clean birch-bark on the tree near him.
+The gray flare of his eyes gave out a terrible light of certainty
+and terror.
+
+"Legget, you needn't try to hide your trail," he hissed, and it
+seemed as if there was a bitter, reckless pleasure in these words.
+
+Then the Chippewa glided into the low bushes bordering the creek.
+Legget followed him, with Brandt leading Helen, and the other Indians
+brought up the rear, each one sending wild, savage glances into the
+dark, surrounding forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+A dense white fog rose from the river, obscuring all objects, when the
+bordermen rolled out of their snug bed of leaves. The air was cool and
+bracing, faintly fragrant with dying foliage and the damp, dewy
+luxuriance of the ripened season. Wetzel pulled from under the
+protecting ledge a bundle of bark and sticks he had put there to keep
+dry, and built a fire, while Jonathan fashioned a cup from a green
+fruit resembling a gourd, filling it at a spring near by.
+
+"Lew, there's a frosty nip in the water this mornin'," said Jonathan.
+
+"I reckon. It's gettin' along into fall now. Any clear, still night'll
+fetch all the leaves, an' strip the trees bare as burned timber,"
+answered Wetzel, brushing the ashes off the strip of meat he had
+roasted. "Get a stick, an' help me cook the rest of this chunk of
+bison. The sun'll be an hour breakin' up thet mist, an' we can't clear
+out till then. Mebbe we won't have no chance to light another
+fire soon."
+
+With these bordermen everything pertaining to their lonely lives, from
+the lighting of a fire to the trailing of a redskin, was singularly
+serious. No gladsome song ever came from their lips; there was no
+jollity around their camp-fire. Hunters had their moments of rapturous
+delight; bordermen knew the peace, the content of the wilderness, but
+their pursuits racked nerve and heart. Wetzel had his moments of
+frenzied joy, but they passed with the echo of his vengeful yell.
+Jonathan's happiness, such as it was, had been to roam the forests.
+That, before a woman's eyes had dispelled it, had been enough, and
+compensated him for the gloomy, bloody phantoms which haunted him.
+
+The bordermen, having partaken of the frugal breakfast, stowed in
+their spacious pockets all the meat that was left, and were ready for
+the day's march. They sat silent for a time waiting for the mist to
+lift. It broke in places, rolled in huge billows, sailed aloft like
+great white clouds, and again hung tenaciously to the river and the
+plain. Away in the west blue patches of sky shone through the rifts,
+and eastward banks of misty vapor reddened beneath the rising sun.
+Suddenly from beneath the silver edge of the rising pall the sun burst
+gleaming gold, disclosing the winding valley with its steaming river.
+
+"We'll make up stream fer Two Islands, an' cross there if so be we've
+reason," Wetzel had said.
+
+Through the dewy dells, avoiding the wet grass and bushes, along the
+dark, damp glades with their yellow carpets, under the thinning arches
+of the trees, down the gentle slopes of the ridges, rich with green
+moss, the bordermen glided like gray shadows. The forest was yet
+asleep. A squirrel frisked up an oak and barked quarrelsomely at these
+strange, noiseless visitors. A crow cawed from somewhere overhead.
+These were the only sounds disturbing the quiet early hour.
+
+As the bordermen advanced the woods lightened and awoke to life and
+joy. Birds sang, trilled, warbled, or whistled their plaintive songs,
+peculiar to the dying season, and in harmony with the glory of the
+earth. Birds that in earlier seasons would have screeched and fought,
+now sang and fluttered side by side, in fraternal parade on their slow
+pilgrimage to the far south.
+
+"Bad time fer us, when the birds are so tame, an' chipper. We can't
+put faith in them these days," said Wetzel. "Seems like they never was
+wild. I can tell, 'cept at this season, by the way they whistle an'
+act in the woods, if there's been any Injuns along the trails."
+
+The greater part of the morning passed thus with the bordermen
+steadily traversing the forest; here, through a spare and gloomy wood,
+blasted by fire, worn by age, with many a dethroned monarch of bygone
+times rotting to punk and duff under the ferns, with many a dark,
+seamed and ragged king still standing, but gray and bald of head and
+almost ready to take his place in the forest of the past; there,
+through a maze of young saplings where each ash, maple, hickory and
+oak added some new and beautiful hue to the riot of color.
+
+"I just had a glimpse of the lower island, as we passed an opening in
+the thicket," said Jonathan.
+
+"We ain't far away," replied Wetzel.
+
+The bordermen walked less rapidly in order to proceed with more
+watchfulness. Every rod or two they stopped to listen.
+
+"You think Legget's across the river?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"He was two days back, an' had his gang with him. He's up to some bad
+work, but I can't make out what. One thing, I never seen his trail so
+near Fort Henry."
+
+They emerged at length into a more open forest which skirted the
+river. At a point still some distance ahead, but plainly in sight, two
+small islands rose out of the water.
+
+"Hist! What's that?" whispered Wetzel, slipping his hand in Jonathan's
+arm.
+
+A hundred yards beyond lay a long, dark figure stretched at full
+length under one of the trees close to the bank.
+
+"Looks like a man," said Jonathan.
+
+"You've hit the mark. Take a good peep roun' now, Jack, fer we're
+comin' somewhere near the trail we want."
+
+Minutes passed while the patient bordermen searched the forest with
+their eyes, seeking out every tree within rifle range, or surveyed the
+level glades, scrutinized the hollows, and bent piercing eyes upon the
+patches of ferns.
+
+"If there's a redskin around he ain't big enough to hold a gun," said
+Wetzel, moving forward again, yet still with that same stealthy step
+and keen caution.
+
+Finally they were gazing down upon the object which had attracted
+Wetzel's attention.
+
+"Will Sheppard!" cried Jonathan. "Is he dead? What's this mean?"
+
+Wetzel leaned over the prostrate lad, and then quickly turned to his
+companion.
+
+"Get some water. Take his cap. No, he ain't even hurt bad, unless he's
+got some wound as don't show."
+
+Jonathan returned with the water, and Wetzel bathed the bloody face.
+When the gash on Will's forehead was clean, it told the
+bordermen much.
+
+"Not an hour old, that blow," muttered Wetzel.
+
+"He's comin' to," said Jonathan as Will stirred uneasily and moaned.
+Presently the lad opened his eyes and sat bolt upright. He looked
+bewildered for a moment, and felt of his head while gazing vaguely at
+the bordermen. Suddenly he cried:
+
+"I remember! We were captured, brought here, and I was struck down by
+that villain Case."
+
+"We? Who was with you?" asked Jonathan slowly.
+
+"Helen. We came after flowers and leaves. While in full sight of the
+fort I saw an Indian. We hurried back," he cried, and proceeded with
+broken, panting voice to tell his story.
+
+Jonathan Zane leaped to his feet with face deathly white and eyes
+blue-black, like burning stars.
+
+"Jack, study the trail while I get the lad acrost the river, an'
+steered fer home," said Wetzel, and then he asked Will if he
+could swim.
+
+"Yes; but you will find a canoe there in those willows."
+
+"Come, lad, we've no time to spare," added Wetzel, sliding down the
+bank and entering the willows. He came out almost immediately with the
+canoe which he launched.
+
+Will turned that he might make a parting appeal to Jonathan to save
+Helen; but could not speak. The expression on the borderman's face
+frightened him.
+
+Motionless and erect Jonathan stood, his arms folded and his white,
+stern face distorted with the agony of remorse, fear, and anguish,
+which, even as Will gazed, froze into an awful, deadly look of
+fateful purpose.
+
+Wetzel pushed the canoe off, and paddled with powerful strokes; he
+left Will on the opposite bank, and returned as swiftly as he could
+propel the light craft.
+
+The bordermen met each other's glance, and had little need of words.
+Wetzel's great shoulders began to sag slightly, and his head lowered
+as his eyes sought the grass; a dark and gloomy shade overcast his
+features. Thus he passed from borderman to Deathwind. The sough of the
+wind overhead among the almost naked branches might well have warned
+Indians and renegades that Deathwind was on the trail!
+
+"Brandt's had a hand in this, an' the Englishman's a fool!" said
+Wetzel.
+
+"An hour ahead; can we come up with them before they join Brandt an'
+Legget?"
+
+"We can try, but like as not we'll fail. Legget's gang is thirteen
+strong by now. I said it! Somethin' told me--a hard trail, a long
+trail, an' our last trail."
+
+"It's over thirty miles to Legget's camp. We know the woods, an' every
+stream, an' every cover," hissed Jonathan Zane.
+
+With no further words Wetzel took the trail on the run, and so plain
+was it to his keen eyes that he did not relax his steady lope except
+to stop and listen at regular intervals. Jonathan followed with easy
+swing. Through forest and meadow, over hill and valley, they ran,
+fleet and tireless. Once, with unerring instinct, they abruptly left
+the broad trail and cut far across a wide and rugged ridge to come
+again upon the tracks of the marching band. Then, in open country they
+reduced their speed to a walk. Ahead, in a narrow valley, rose a
+thicket of willows, yellow in the sunlight, and impenetrable to human
+vision. Like huge snakes the bordermen crept into this copse, over the
+sand, under the low branches, hard on the trail. Finally, in a light,
+open space, where the sun shone through a network of yellow branches
+and foliage, Wetzel's hand was laid upon Jonathan's shoulder.
+
+"Listen! Hear that!" he whispered.
+
+Jonathan heard the flapping of wings, and a low, hissing sound, not
+unlike that made by a goose.
+
+"Buzzards!" he said, with a dark, grim smile. "Mebbe Brandt has begun
+our work. Come."
+
+Out into the open they crawled to put to flight a flock of huge black
+birds with grisly, naked necks, hooked beaks, and long, yellow claws.
+Upon the green grass lay three half-naked men, ghastly, bloody, in
+terribly limp and lifeless positions.
+
+"Metzar's man Smith, Jenks, the outlaw, and Mordaunt!"
+
+Jonathan Zane gazed darkly into the steely, sightless eyes of the
+traitor. Death's awful calm had set the expression; but the man's
+whole life was there, its better part sadly shining forth among the
+cruel shadows.
+
+His body was mutilated in a frightful manner. Cuts, stabs, and slashes
+told the tale of a long encounter, brought to an end by one
+clean stroke.
+
+"Come here, Lew. You've seen men chopped up; but look at this dead
+Englishman," called Zane.
+
+Mordaunt lay weltering in a crimson tide. Strangely though, his face
+was uninjured. A black bruise showed under his fair hair. The ghost of
+a smile seemed to hover around his set lips, yet almost intangible
+though it was, it showed that at last he had died a man. His left
+shoulder, side and arm showed where the brunt of Brandt's attack
+had fallen.
+
+"How'd he ever fight so?" mused Jonathan.
+
+"You never can tell," replied Wetzel. "Mebbe he killed this other
+fellar, too; but I reckon not. Come, we must go slow now, fer Legget
+is near at hand."
+
+Jonathan brought huge, flat stones from the brook, and laid them over
+Mordaunt; then, cautiously he left the glade on Wetzel's trail.
+
+Five hundred yards farther on Wetzel had ceased following the outlaw's
+tracks to cross the creek and climb a ridge. He was beginning his
+favorite trick of making a wide detour. Jonathan hurried forward,
+feeling he was safe from observation. Soon he distinguished the tall,
+brown figure of his comrade gliding ahead from tree to tree, from
+bush to bush.
+
+"See them maples an' chestnuts down thar," said Wetzel when Jonathan
+had come up, pointing through an opening in the foliage. "They've
+stopped fer some reason."
+
+On through the forest the bordermen glided. They kept near the summit
+of the ridge, under the best cover they could find, and passed swiftly
+over this half-circle. When beginning once more to draw toward the
+open grove in the valley, they saw a long, irregular cliff, densely
+wooded. They swerved a little, and made for this excellent covert.
+
+They crawled the last hundred yards and never shook a fern, moved a
+leaf, or broke a twig. Having reached the brink of the low precipice,
+they saw the grassy meadow below, the straggling trees, the brook, the
+group of Indians crowding round the white men.
+
+"See that point of rock thar? It's better cover," whispered Wetzel.
+
+Patiently, with no hurry or excitement, they slowly made their
+difficult way among the rocks and ferns to the vantage point desired.
+Taking a position like this was one the bordermen strongly favored.
+They could see everywhere in front, and had the thick woods at
+their backs.
+
+"What are they up to?" whispered Jonathan, as he and Wetzel lay close
+together under a mass of grapevine still tenacious of its
+broad leaves.
+
+"Dicin'," answered Wetzel. "I can see 'em throw; anyways, nothin' but
+bettin' ever makes redskins act like that."
+
+"Who's playin'? Where's Brandt?"
+
+"I can make out Legget; see his shaggy head. The other must be Case.
+Brandt ain't in sight. Nursin' a hurt perhaps. Ah! See thar! Over
+under the big tree as stands dark-like agin the thicket. Thet's an
+Injun, an' he looks too quiet an' keen to suit me. We'll have a
+care of him."
+
+"Must be playin' fer Mordaunt's gold."
+
+"Like as not, for where'd them ruffians get any 'cept they stole it."
+
+"Aha! They're gettin' up! See Legget walk away shakin' his big head.
+He's mad. Mebbe he'll be madder presently," growled Jonathan.
+
+"Case's left alone. He's countin' his winnin's. Jack, look out fer
+more work took off our hands."
+
+"By gum! See that Injun knock up a leveled rifle."
+
+"I told you, an' thet redskin has his suspicions. He's seen us down
+along ther ridge. There's Helen, sittin' behind the biggest tree. Thet
+Injun guard, 'afore he moved, kept us from seein' her."
+
+Jonathan made no answer to this; but his breath literally hissed
+through his clenched teeth.
+
+"Thar goes the other outlaw," whispered Wetzel, as if his comrade
+could not see. "It's all up with Case. See the sneak bendin' down the
+bank. Now, thet's a poor way. It'd better be done from the front,
+walkin' up natural-like, instead of tryin' to cover thet wide stretch.
+Case'll see him or hear him sure. Thar, he's up now, an' crawlin'.
+He's too slow, too slow. Aha! I knew it--Case turns. Look at the
+outlaw spring! Well, did you see thet little cuss whip his knife? One
+more less fer us to quiet. Thet makes four, Jack, an' mebbe, soon,
+it'll be five."
+
+"They're holdin' a council," said Jonathan.
+
+"I see two Injuns sneakin' off into the woods, an' here comes thet
+guard. He's a keen redskin, Jack, fer we did come light through the
+brush. Mebbe it'd be well to stop his scoutin'."
+
+"Lew, that villain Case is bullyin' Helen!" cried Jonathan.
+
+"Sh-sh-h," whispered Wetzel.
+
+"See! He's pulled her to her feet. Oh! He struck her! Oh!"
+
+Jonathan leveled his rifle and would have fired, but for the iron
+grasp on his wrist.
+
+"Hev you lost yer senses? It's full two hundred paces, an' too far fer
+your piece," said Wetzel in a whisper. "An' it ain't sense to try
+from here."
+
+"Lend me your gun! Lend me your gun!"
+
+Silently Wetzel handed him the long, black rifle.
+
+Jonathan raised it, but trembled so violently that the barrel wavered
+like a leaf in the breeze.
+
+"Take it, I can't cover him," groaned Jonathan. "This is new to me. I
+ain't myself. God! Lew, he struck her again! _Again!_ He's tryin' to
+kiss her! Wetzel, if you're my friend, kill him!"
+
+"Jack, it'd be better to wait, an'----"
+
+"I love her," breathed Jonathan.
+
+The long, black barrel swept up to a level and stopped. White smoke
+belched from among the green leaves; the report rang throughout
+the forest.
+
+"Ah! I saw him stop an' pause," hissed Jonathan. "He stands, he sways,
+he falls! Death for yours, you sailor-beast!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+The bordermen watched Legget and his band disappear into the thicket
+adjoining the grove. When the last dark, lithe form glided out of
+sight among the yellowing copse, Jonathan leaped from the low cliff,
+and had hardly reached the ground before Wetzel dashed down to the
+grassy turf.
+
+Again they followed the outlaw's trail darker-faced, fiercer-visaged
+than ever, with cocked, tightly-gripped rifles thrust well before
+them, and light feet that scarcely brushed the leaves.
+
+Wetzel halted after a long tramp up and down the ridges, and surveyed
+with keen intent the lay of the land ahead.
+
+"Sooner or later we'll hear from that redskin as discovered us a ways
+back," whispered he. "I wish we might get a crack at him afore he
+hinders us bad. I ain't seen many keener Injuns. It's lucky we fixed
+ther arrow-shootin' Shawnee. We'd never hev beat thet combination. An'
+fer all of thet I'm worrin' some about the goin' ahead."
+
+"Ambush?" Jonathan asked.
+
+"Like as not. Legget'll send thet Injun back, an' mebbe more'n him.
+Jack, see them little footprints? They're Helen's. Look how she's
+draggin' along. Almost tuckered out. Legget can't travel many more
+miles to-day. He'll make a stand somewheres, an' lose all his redskins
+afore he gives up the lass."
+
+"I'll never live through to-night with her in that gang. She'll be
+saved, or dead, before the stars pale in the light of the moon."
+
+"I reckon we're nigh the end for some of us. It'll be moonlight an
+hour arter dusk, an' now it's only the middle of the arternoon; we've
+time enough fer anythin'. Now, Jack, let's not tackle the trail
+straight. We'll split, an' go round to head 'em off. See thet dead
+white oak standin' high over thar?"
+
+Jonathan looked out between the spreading branches of a beech, and
+saw, far over a low meadow, luxuriant with grasses and rushes and
+bright with sparkling ponds and streams, a dense wood out of which
+towered a bare, bleached tree-top.
+
+"You slip around along the right side of this meader, an' I'll take
+the left side. Go slow, an' hev yer eyes open. We'll meet under thet
+big dead tree. I allow we can see it from anywhere around. We'll leave
+the trail here, an' take it up farther on. Legget's goin' straight
+for his camp; he ain't losin' an inch. He wants to get in that rocky
+hole of his'n."
+
+Wetzel stepped off the trail, glided into the woods, and vanished.
+
+Jonathan turned to the right, traversed the summit of the ridge,
+softly traveled down its slope, and, after crossing a slow, eddying,
+quiet stream, gained the edge of the forest on that side of the swamp.
+A fringe of briars and prickly thorns bordered this wood affording an
+excellent cover. On the right the land rose rather abruptly. He saw
+that by walking up a few paces he could command a view of the entire
+swamp, as well as the ridge beyond, which contained Wetzel, and,
+probably, the outlaw and his band.
+
+Remembering his comrade's admonition, Jonathan curbed his unusual
+impatience and moved slowly. The wind swayed the tree-tops, and
+rustled the fallen leaves. Birds sang as if thinking the warm, soft
+weather was summer come again. Squirrels dropped heavy nuts that
+cracked on the limbs, or fell with a thud to the ground, and they
+scampered over the dry earth, scratching up the leaves as they barked
+and scolded. Crows cawed clamorously after a hawk that had darted
+under the tree-tops to escape them; deer loped swiftly up the hill,
+and a lordly elk rose from a wallow in the grassy swamp, crashing into
+the thicket.
+
+When two-thirds around this oval plain, which was a mile long and
+perhaps one-fourth as wide, Jonathan ascended the hill to make a
+survey. The grass waved bright brown and golden in the sunshine,
+swished in the wind, and swept like a choppy sea to the opposite
+ridge. The hill was not densely wooded. In many places the red-brown
+foliage opened upon irregular patches, some black, as if having been
+burned over, others showing the yellow and purple colors of the low
+thickets and the gray, barren stones.
+
+Suddenly Jonathan saw something darken one of these sunlit plots. It
+might have been a deer. He studied the rolling, rounded tree-tops, the
+narrow strips between the black trunks, and the open places that were
+clear in the sunshine. He had nearly come to believe he had seen a
+small animal or bird flit across the white of the sky far in the
+background, when he distinctly saw dark figures stealing along past a
+green-gray rock, only to disappear under colored banks of foliage.
+Presently, lower down, they reappeared and crossed an open patch of
+yellow fern. Jonathan counted them. Two were rather yellow in color,
+the hue of buckskin; another, slight of stature as compared with the
+first, and light gray by contrast. Then six black, slender, gliding
+forms crossed the space. Jonathan then lost sight of them, and did not
+get another glimpse. He knew them to be Legget and his band. The
+slight figure was Helen.
+
+Jonathan broke into a run, completed the circle around the swamp, and
+slowed into a walk when approaching the big dead tree where he was to
+wait for Wetzel.
+
+Several rods beyond the lowland he came to a wood of white oaks, all
+giants rugged and old, with scarcely a sapling intermingled with them.
+Although he could not see the objective point, he knew from his
+accurate sense of distance that he was near it. As he entered the wood
+he swept its whole length and width with his eyes, he darted forward
+twenty paces to halt suddenly behind a tree. He knew full well that a
+sharply moving object was more difficult to see in the woods, than one
+stationary. Again he ran, fleet and light, a few paces ahead to take
+up a position as before behind a tree. Thus he traversed the forest.
+On the other side he found the dead oak of which Wetzel had spoken.
+
+Its trunk was hollow. Jonathan squeezed himself into the blackened
+space, with his head in a favorable position behind a projecting knot,
+where he could see what might occur near at hand.
+
+He waited for what seemed to him a long while, during which he neither
+saw nor heard anything, and then, suddenly, the report of a rifle rang
+out. A single, piercing scream followed. Hardly had the echo ceased
+when three hollow reports, distinctly different in tone from the
+first, could be heard from the same direction. In quick succession
+short, fierce yells attended rather than succeeded, the reports.
+
+Jonathan stepped out of the hiding-place, cocked his rifle, and fixed
+a sharp eye on the ridge before him whence those startling cries had
+come. The first rifle-shot, unlike any other in its short, spiteful,
+stinging quality, was unmistakably Wetzel's. Zane had heard it,
+followed many times, as now, by the wild death-cry of a savage. The
+other reports were of Indian guns, and the yells were the clamoring,
+exultant cries of Indians in pursuit.
+
+Far down where the open forest met the gloom of the thickets, a brown
+figure flashed across the yellow ground. Darting among the trees,
+across the glades, it moved so swiftly that Jonathan knew it was
+Wetzel. In another instant a chorus of yelps resounded from the
+foliage, and three savages burst through the thicket almost at right
+angles with the fleeing borderman, running to intercept him. The
+borderman did not swerve from his course; but came on straight toward
+the dead tree, with the wonderful fleetness that so often had
+served him well.
+
+Even in that moment Jonathan thought of what desperate chances his
+comrade had taken. The trick was plain. Wetzel had, most likely, shot
+the dangerous scout, and, taking to his heels, raced past the others,
+trusting to his speed and their poor marksmanship to escape with a
+whole skin.
+
+When within a hundred yards of the oak Wetzel's strength apparently
+gave out. His speed deserted him; he ran awkwardly, and limped. The
+savages burst out into full cry like a pack of hungry wolves. They had
+already emptied their rifles at him, and now, supposing one of the
+shots had taken effect, redoubled their efforts, making the forest
+ring with their short, savage yells. One gaunt, dark-bodied Indian
+with a long, powerful, springy stride easily distanced his companions,
+and, evidently sure of gaining the coveted scalp of the borderman,
+rapidly closed the gap between them as he swung aloft his tomahawk,
+yelling the war-cry.
+
+The sight on Jonathan's rifle had several times covered this savage's
+dark face; but when he was about to press the trigger Wetzel's
+fleeting form, also in line with the savage, made it extremely
+hazardous to take a shot.
+
+Jonathan stepped from his place of concealment, and let out a yell
+that pealed high over the cries of the savages.
+
+Wetzel suddenly dropped flat on the ground.
+
+With a whipping crack of Jonathan's rifle, the big Indian plunged
+forward on his face.
+
+The other Indians, not fifty yards away, stopped aghast at the fate of
+their comrade, and were about to seek the shelter of trees when, with
+his terrible yell, Wetzel sprang up and charged upon them. He had left
+his rifle where he fell; but his tomahawk glittered as he ran. The
+lameness had been a trick, for now he covered ground with a swiftness
+which caused his former progress to seem slow.
+
+The Indians, matured and seasoned warriors though they were, gave but
+one glance at this huge, brown figure bearing down upon them like a
+fiend, and, uttering the Indian name of _Deathwind_, wavered, broke
+and ran.
+
+One, not so fleet as his companion, Wetzel overtook and cut down with
+a single stroke. The other gained an hundred-yard start in the slight
+interval of Wetzel's attack, and, spurred on by a pealing, awful cry
+in the rear, sped swiftly in and out among the trees until he was
+lost to view.
+
+Wetzel scalped the two dead savages, and, after returning to regain
+his rifle, joined Jonathan at the dead oak.
+
+"Jack, you can never tell how things is comin' out. Thet redskin I
+allowed might worry us a bit, fooled me as slick as you ever saw, an'
+I hed to shoot him. Knowin' it was a case of runnin', I just cut fer
+this oak, drew the redskins' fire, an' hed 'em arter me quicker 'n
+you'd say Jack Robinson. I was hopin' you'd be here; but wasn't sure
+till I'd seen your rifle. Then I kinder got a kink in my leg jest to
+coax the brutes on."
+
+"Three more quiet," said Jonathan Zane. "What now?"
+
+"We've headed Legget, an' we'll keep nosin' him off his course.
+Already he's lookin' fer a safe campin' place for the night."
+
+"There is none in these woods, fer him."
+
+"We didn't plan this gettin' between him an' his camp; but couldn't be
+better fixed. A mile farther along the ridge, is a campin' place, with
+a spring in a little dell close under a big stone, an' well wooded.
+Legget's headin' straight fer it. With a couple of Injuns guardin'
+thet spot, he'll think he's safe. But I know the place, an' can crawl
+to thet rock the darkest night thet ever was an' never crack a stick."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the gray of the deepening twilight Jonathan Zane sat alone. An owl
+hooted dismally in the dark woods beyond the thicket where the
+borderman crouched waiting for Wetzel. His listening ear detected a
+soft, rustling sound like the play of a mole under the leaves. A
+branch trembled and swung back; a soft footstep followed and Wetzel
+came into the retreat.
+
+"Well?" asked Jonathan impatiently, as Wetzel deliberately sat down
+and laid his rifle across his knees.
+
+"Easy, Jack, easy. We've an hour to wait."
+
+"The time I've already waited has been long for me."
+
+"They're thar," said Wetzel grimly.
+
+"How far from here?"
+
+"A half-hour's slow crawl."
+
+"Close by?" hissed Jonathan.
+
+"Too near fer you to get excited."
+
+"Let us go; it's as light now as in the gray of mornin'."
+
+"Mornin' would be best. Injuns get sleepy along towards day. I've ever
+found thet time the best. But we'll be lucky if we ketch these
+redskins asleep."
+
+"Lew, I can't wait here all night. I won't leave her longer with that
+renegade. I've got to free or kill her."
+
+"Most likely it'll be the last," said Wetzel simply.
+
+"Well, so be it then," and the borderman hung his head.
+
+"You needn't worry none, 'bout Helen. I jest had a good look at her,
+not half an hour back. She's fagged out; but full of spunk yet. I seen
+thet when Brandt went near her. Legget's got his hands full jest now
+with the redskins. He's hevin' trouble keepin' them on this slow
+trail. I ain't sayin' they're skeered; but they're mighty restless."
+
+"Will you take the chance now?"
+
+"I reckon you needn't hev asked thet."
+
+"Tell me the lay of the land."
+
+"Wai, if we get to this rock I spoke 'bout, we'll be right over 'em.
+It's ten feet high, an' we can jump straight amongst 'em. Most likely
+two or three'll be guardin' the openin' which is a little ways to the
+right. Ther's a big tree, the only one, low down by the spring.
+Helen's under it, half-sittin', half-leanin' against the roots. When I
+first looked, her hands were free; but I saw Brandt bind her feet. An'
+he had to get an Injun to help him, fer she kicked like a spirited
+little filly. There's moss under the tree an' there's where the
+redskins'll lay down to rest."
+
+"I've got that; now out with your plan."
+
+"Wal, I calkilate it's this. The moon'll be up in about an hour. We'll
+crawl as we've never crawled afore, because Helen's life depends as
+much on our not makin' a noise, as it does on fightin' when the time
+comes. If they hear us afore we're ready to shoot, the lass'll be
+tomahawked quicker'n lightnin'. If they don't suspicion us, when the
+right moment comes you shoot Brandt, yell louder'n you ever did afore,
+leap amongst 'em, an' cut down the first Injun thet's near you on your
+way to Helen. Swing her over your arm, an' dig into the woods."
+
+"Well?" asked Jonathan when Wetzel finished.
+
+"That's all," the borderman replied grimly.
+
+"An' leave you all alone to fight Legget an' the rest of 'em?"
+
+"I reckon."
+
+"Not to be thought of."
+
+"Ther's no other way."
+
+"There must be! Let me think; I can't, I'm not myself."
+
+"No other way," repeated Wetzel curtly.
+
+Jonathan's broad hand fastened on Wetzel's shoulder and wheeled him
+around.
+
+"Have I ever left you alone?"
+
+"This's different," and Wetzel turned away again. His voice was cold
+and hard.
+
+"How is it different? We've had the same thing to do, almost, more
+than once."
+
+"We've never had as bad a bunch to handle as Legget's. They're lookin'
+fer us, an' will be hard to beat."
+
+"That's no reason."
+
+"We never had to save a girl one of us loved."
+
+Jonathan was silent.
+
+"I said this'd be my last trail," continued Wetzel. "I felt it, an' I
+know it'll be yours."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"If you get away with the girl she'll keep you at home, an' it'll be
+well. If you don't succeed, you'll die tryin', so it's sure your
+last trail."
+
+Wetzel's deep, cold voice rang with truth.
+
+"Lew, I can't run away an' leave you to fight those devils alone,
+after all these years we've been together, I can't."
+
+"No other chance to save the lass."
+
+Jonathan quivered with the force of his emotion. His black eyes
+glittered; his hands grasped at nothing. Once more he was between love
+and duty. Again he fought over the old battle, but this time it
+left him weak.
+
+"You love the big-eyed lass, don't you?" asked Wetzel, turning with
+softened face and voice.
+
+"I have gone mad!" cried Jonathan, tortured by the simple question of
+his friend. Those big, dear, wonderful eyes he loved so well, looked
+at him now from the gloom of the thicket. The old, beautiful, soft
+glow, the tender light, was there, and more, a beseeching prayer
+to save her.
+
+Jonathan bowed his head, ashamed to let his friend see the tears that
+dimmed his eyes.
+
+"Jack, we've follered the trail fer years together. Always you've
+been true an' staunch. This is our last, but whatever bides we'll
+break up Legget's band to-night, an' the border'll be cleared, mebbe,
+for always. At least his race is run. Let thet content you. Our time'd
+have to come, sooner or later, so why not now? I know how it is, that
+you want to stick by me; but the lass draws you to her. I understand,
+an' want you to save her. Mebbe you never dreamed it; but I can tell
+jest how you feel. All the tremblin', an' softness, an' sweetness, an'
+delight you've got for thet girl, is no mystery to Lew Wetzel."
+
+"You loved a lass?"
+
+Wetzel bowed his head, as perhaps he had never before in all his life.
+
+"Betty--always," he answered softly.
+
+"My sister!" exclaimed Jonathan, and then his hand closed hard on his
+comrade's, his mind going back to many things, strange in the past,
+but now explained. Wetzel had revealed his secret.
+
+"An' it's been all my life, since she wasn't higher 'n my knee. There
+was a time when I might hev been closer to you than I am now. But I
+was a mad an' bloody Injun hater, so I never let her know till I seen
+it was too late. Wal, wal, no more of me. I only told it fer you."
+
+Jonathan was silent.
+
+"An' now to come back where we left off," continued Wetzel. "Let's
+take a more hopeful look at this comin' fight. Sure I said it was my
+last trail, but mebbe it's not. You can never tell. Feelin' as we do,
+I imagine they've no odds on us. Never in my life did I say to you,
+least of all to any one else, what I was goin' to do; but I'll tell it
+now. If I land uninjured amongst thet bunch, I'll kill them all."
+
+The giant borderman's low voice hissed, and stung. His eyes glittered
+with unearthly fire. His face was cold and gray. He spread out his
+brawny arms and clenched his huge fists, making the muscles of his
+broad shoulders roll and bulge.
+
+"I hate the thought, Lew, I hate the thought. Ain't there no other
+way?"
+
+"No other way."
+
+"I'll do it, Lew, because I'd do the same for you; because I have to,
+because I love her; but God! it hurts."
+
+"Thet's right," answered Wetzel, his deep voice softening until it was
+singularly low and rich. "I'm glad you've come to it. An' sure it
+hurts. I want you to feel so at leavin' me to go it alone. If we both
+get out alive, I'll come many times to see you an' Helen. If you live
+an' I don't, think of me sometimes, think of the trails we've crossed
+together. When the fall comes with its soft, cool air, an' smoky
+mornin's an' starry nights, when the wind's sad among the bare
+branches, an' the leaves drop down, remember they're fallin' on
+my grave."
+
+Twilight darkened into gloom; the red tinge in the west changed to
+opal light; through the trees over a dark ridge a rim of silver
+glinted and moved.
+
+The moon had risen; the hour was come.
+
+The bordermen tightened their belts, replaced their leggings, tied
+their hunting coats, loosened their hatchets, looked to the priming of
+their rifles, and were ready.
+
+Wetzel walked twenty paces and turned. His face was white in the
+moonlight; his dark eyes softened into a look of love as he gripped
+his comrade's outstretched hand.
+
+Then he dropped flat on the ground, carefully saw to the position of
+his rifle, and began to creep. Jonathan kept close at his heels.
+
+Slowly but steadily they crawled, minute after minute. The hazel-nut
+bushes above them had not yet shed their leaves; the ground was clean
+and hard, and the course fatefully perfect for their deadly purpose.
+
+A slight rustling of their buckskin garments sounded like the rustling
+of leaves in a faint breeze.
+
+The moon came out above the trees and still Wetzel advanced softly,
+steadily, surely.
+
+The owl, lonely sentinel of that wood, hooted dismally. Even his night
+eyes, which made the darkness seem clear as day, missed those gliding
+figures. Even he, sure guardian of the wilderness, failed the savages.
+
+Jonathan felt soft moss beneath him; he was now in the woods under the
+trees. The thicket had been passed.
+
+Wetzel's moccasin pressed softly against Jonathan's head. The first
+signal!
+
+Jonathan crawled forward, and slightly raised himself.
+
+He was on a rock. The trees were thick and gloomy. Below, the little
+hollow was almost in the wan moonbeams. Dark figures lay close
+together. Two savages paced noiselessly to and fro. A slight form
+rolled in a blanket lay against a tree.
+
+Jonathan felt his arm gently squeezed.
+
+The second signal!
+
+Slowly he thrust forward his rifle, and raised it in unison with
+Wetzel's. Slowly he rose to his feet as if the same muscles guided
+them both.
+
+Over his head a twig snapped. In the darkness he had not seen a low
+branch.
+
+The Indian guards stopped suddenly, and became motionless as stone.
+
+They had heard; but too late.
+
+With the blended roar of the rifles both dropped, lifeless.
+
+Almost under the spouting flame and white cloud of smoke, Jonathan
+leaped behind Wetzel, over the bank. His yells were mingled with
+Wetzel's vengeful cry. Like leaping shadows the bordermen were upon
+their foes.
+
+An Indian sprang up, raised a weapon, and fell beneath Jonathan's
+savage blow, to rise no more. Over his prostrate body the borderman
+bounded. A dark, nimble form darted upon the captive. He swung high a
+blade that shone like silver in the moonlight. His shrill war-cry of
+death rang out with Helen's scream of despair. Even as he swung back
+her head with one hand in her long hair, his arm descended; but it
+fell upon the borderman's body. Jonathan and the Indian rolled upon
+the moss. There was a terrific struggle, a whirling blade, a dull blow
+which silenced the yell, and the borderman rose alone.
+
+He lifted Helen as if she were a child, leaped the brook, and plunged
+into the thicket.
+
+The noise of the fearful conflict he left behind, swelled high and
+hideously on the night air. Above the shrill cries of the Indians, and
+the furious yells of Legget, rose the mad, booming roar of Wetzel. No
+rifle cracked; but sodden blows, the clash of steel, the threshing of
+struggling men, told of the dreadful strife.
+
+Jonathan gained the woods, sped through the moonlit glades, and far on
+under light and shadow.
+
+The shrill cries ceased; only the hoarse yells and the mad roar could
+be heard. Gradually these also died away, and the forest was still.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+Next morning, when the mist was breaking and rolling away under the
+warm rays of the Indian-summer sun, Jonathan Zane beached his canoe on
+the steep bank before Fort Henry. A pioneer, attracted by the
+borderman's halloo, ran to the bluff and sounded the alarm with shrill
+whoops. Among the hurrying, brown-clad figures that answered this
+summons, was Colonel Zane.
+
+"It's Jack, kurnel, an' he's got her!" cried one.
+
+The doughty colonel gained the bluff to see his brother climbing the
+bank with a white-faced girl in his arms.
+
+"Well?" he asked, looking darkly at Jonathan. Nothing kindly or genial
+was visible in his manner now; rather grim and forbidding he seemed,
+thus showing he had the same blood in his veins as the borderman.
+
+"Lend a hand," said Jonathan. "As far as I know she's not hurt."
+
+They carried Helen toward Colonel Zane's cabin. Many women of the
+settlement saw them as they passed, and looked gravely at one another,
+but none spoke. This return of an abducted girl was by no means a
+strange event.
+
+"Somebody run for Sheppard," ordered Colonel Zane, as they entered his
+cabin.
+
+Betty, who was in the sitting-room, sprang up and cried: "Oh! Eb! Eb!
+Don't say she's----"
+
+"No, no, Betts, she's all right. Where's my wife? Ah! Bess, here, get
+to work."
+
+The colonel left Helen in the tender, skilful hands of his wife and
+sister, and followed Jonathan into the kitchen.
+
+"I was just ready for breakfast when I heard some one yell," said he.
+"Come, Jack, eat something."
+
+They ate in silence. From the sitting-room came excited whispers, a
+joyous cry from Betty, and a faint voice. Then heavy, hurrying
+footsteps, followed by Sheppard's words of thanks-giving.
+
+"Where's Wetzel?" began Colonel Zane.
+
+The borderman shook his head gloomily.
+
+"Where did you leave him?"
+
+"We jumped Legget's bunch last night, when the moon was about an hour
+high. I reckon about fifteen miles northeast. I got away with
+the lass."
+
+"Ah! Left Lew fighting?"
+
+The borderman answered the question with bowed head.
+
+"You got off well. Not a hurt that I can see, and more than lucky to
+save Helen. Well, Jack, what do you think about Lew?"
+
+"I'm goin' back," replied Jonathan.
+
+"No! no!"
+
+The door opened to admit Mrs. Zane. She looked bright and cheerful,
+"Hello, Jack; glad you're home. Helen's all right, only faint from
+hunger and over-exertion. I want something for her to eat--well! you
+men didn't leave much."
+
+Colonel Zane went into the sitting-room. Sheppard sat beside the couch
+where Helen lay, white and wan. Betty and Nell were looking on with
+their hearts in their eyes. Silas Zane was there, and his wife, with
+several women neighbors.
+
+"Betty, go fetch Jack in here," whispered the colonel in his sister's
+ear. "Drag him, if you have to," he added fiercely.
+
+The young woman left the room, to reappear directly with her brother.
+He came in reluctantly.
+
+As the stern-faced borderman crossed the threshold a smile, beautiful
+to see, dawned in Helen's eyes.
+
+"I'm glad to see you're comin' round," said Jonathan, but he spoke
+dully as if his mind was on other things.
+
+"She's a little flighty; but a night's sleep will cure that," cried
+Mrs. Zane from the kitchen.
+
+"What do you think?" interrupted the colonel. "Jack's not satisfied to
+get back with Helen unharmed, and a whole skin himself; but he's going
+on the trail again."
+
+"No, Jack, no, no!" cried Betty.
+
+"What's that I hear?" asked Mrs. Zane as she came in. "Jack's going
+out again? Well, all I want to say is that he's as mad as a
+March hare."
+
+"Jonathan, look here," said Silas seriously. "Can't you stay home
+now?"
+
+"Jack, listen," whispered Betty, going close to him. "Not one of us
+ever expected to see either you or Helen again, and oh! we are so
+happy. Do not go away again. You are a man; you do not know, you
+cannot understand all a woman feels. She must sit and wait, and hope,
+and pray for the safe return of husband or brother or sweetheart. The
+long days! Oh, the long sleepless nights, with the wail of the wind in
+the pines, and the rain on the roof! It is maddening. Do not leave us!
+Do not leave me! Do not leave Helen! Say you will not, Jack."
+
+To these entreaties the borderman remained silent. He stood leaning on
+his rifle, a tall, dark, strangely sad and stern man.
+
+"Helen, beg him to stay!" implored Betty.
+
+Colonel Zane took Helen's hand, and stroked it. "Yes," he said, "you
+ask him, lass. I'm sure you can persuade him to stay."
+
+Helen raised her head. "Is Brandt dead?" she whispered faintly.
+
+Still the borderman failed to speak, but his silence was not an
+affirmative.
+
+"You said you loved me," she cried wildly. "You said you loved me, yet
+you didn't kill that monster!"
+
+The borderman, moving quickly like a startled Indian, went out of the
+door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Once more Jonathan Zane entered the gloomy, quiet aisles of the forest
+with his soft, tireless tread hardly stirring the leaves.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when he had long left Two Islands behind,
+and arrived at the scene of Mordaunt's death. Satisfied with the
+distance he had traversed, he crawled into a thicket to rest.
+
+Daybreak found him again on the trail. He made a short cut over the
+ridges and by the time the mist had lifted from the valley he was
+within stalking distance of the glade. He approached this in the
+familiar, slow, cautious manner, and halted behind the big rock from
+which he and Wetzel had leaped. The wood was solemnly quiet. No
+twittering of birds could be heard. The only sign of life was a gaunt
+timber-wolf slinking away amid the foliage. Under the big tree the
+savage who had been killed as he would have murdered Helen, lay a
+crumpled mass where he had fallen. Two dead Indians were in the center
+of the glade, and on the other side were three more bloody, lifeless
+forms. Wetzel was not there, nor Legget, nor Brandt.
+
+"I reckoned so," muttered Jonathan as he studied the scene. The grass
+had been trampled, the trees barked, the bushes crushed aside.
+
+Jonathan went out of the glade a short distance, and, circling it,
+began to look for Wetzel's trail. He found it, and near the light
+footprints of his comrade were the great, broad moccasin tracks of
+the outlaw. Further searching disclosed the fact that Brandt must have
+traveled in line with the others.
+
+With the certainty that Wetzel had killed three of the Indians, and,
+in some wonderful manner characteristic of him, routed the outlaws of
+whom he was now in pursuit, Jonathan's smoldering emotion burst forth
+into full flame. Love for his old comrade, deadly hatred of the
+outlaws, and passionate thirst for their blood, rioted in his heart.
+
+Like a lynx scenting its quarry, the borderman started on the trail,
+tireless and unswervable. The traces left by the fleeing outlaws and
+their pursuer were plain to Jonathan. It was not necessary for him to
+stop. Legget and Brandt, seeking to escape the implacable Nemesis,
+were traveling with all possible speed, regardless of the broad trail
+such hurried movements left behind. They knew full well it would be
+difficult to throw this wolf off the scent; understood that if any
+attempt was made to ambush the trail, they must cope with woodcraft
+keener than an Indian's. Flying in desperation, they hoped to reach
+the rocky retreat, where, like foxes in their burrows, they believed
+themselves safe.
+
+When the sun sloped low toward the western horizon, lengthening
+Jonathan's shadow, he slackened pace. He was entering the rocky,
+rugged country which marked the approach to the distant Alleghenies.
+From the top of a ridge he took his bearings, deciding that he was
+within a few miles of Legget's hiding-place.
+
+At the foot of this ridge, where a murmuring brook sped softly over
+its bed, he halted. Here a number of horses had forded the brook. They
+were iron-shod, which indicated almost to a certainty, that they were
+stolen horses, and in the hands of Indians.
+
+Jonathan saw where the trail of the steeds was merged into that of
+the outlaws. He suspected that the Indians and Legget had held a short
+council. As he advanced the borderman found only the faintest
+impression of Wetzel's trail. Legget and Brandt no longer left any
+token of their course. They were riding the horses.
+
+All the borderman cared to know was if Wetzel still pursued. He passed
+on swiftly up a hill, through a wood of birches where the trail showed
+on a line of broken ferns, then out upon a low ridge where patches of
+grass grew sparsely. Here he saw in this last ground no indication of
+his comrade's trail; nothing was to be seen save the imprints of the
+horses' hoofs. Jonathan halted behind the nearest underbrush. This
+sudden move on the part of Wetzel was token that, suspecting an
+ambush, he had made a detour somewhere, probably in the grove
+of birches.
+
+All the while his eyes searched the long, barren reach ahead. No
+thicket, fallen tree, or splintered rocks, such as Indians utilized
+for an ambush, could be seen. Indians always sought the densely matted
+underbrush, a windfall, or rocky retreat and there awaited a pursuer.
+It was one of the borderman's tricks of woodcraft that he could
+recognize such places.
+
+Far beyond the sandy ridge Jonathan came to a sloping, wooded
+hillside, upon which were scattered big rocks, some mossy and
+lichen-covered, and one, a giant boulder, with a crown of ferns and
+laurel gracing its flat surface. It was such a place as the savages
+would select for ambush. He knew, however, that if an Indian had
+hidden himself there Wetzel would have discovered him. When opposite
+the rock Jonathan saw a broken fern hanging over the edge. The heavy
+trail of the horses ran close beside it.
+
+Then with that thoroughness of search which made the borderman what
+he was, Jonathan leaped upon the rock. There, lying in the midst of
+the ferns, lay an Indian with sullen, somber face set in the repose of
+death. In his side was a small bullet hole.
+
+Jonathan examined the savage's rifle. It had been discharged. The
+rock, the broken fern, the dead Indian, the discharged rifle, told the
+story of that woodland tragedy.
+
+Wetzel had discovered the ambush. Leaving the trail, he had tricked
+the redskin into firing, then getting a glimpse of the Indian's red
+body through the sights of his fatal weapon, the deed was done.
+
+With greater caution Jonathan advanced once more. Not far beyond the
+rock he found Wetzel's trail. The afternoon was drawing to a close. He
+could not travel much farther, yet he kept on, hoping to overtake his
+comrade before darkness set in. From time to time he whistled; but got
+no answering signal.
+
+When the tracks of the horses were nearly hidden by the gathering
+dusk, Jonathan decided to halt for the night. He whistled one more
+note, louder and clearer, and awaited the result with strained ears.
+The deep silence of the wilderness prevailed, suddenly to be broken by
+a faint, far-away, melancholy call of the hermit-thrush. It was the
+answering signal the borderman had hoped to hear.
+
+Not many moments elapsed before he heard another call, low, and near
+at hand, to which he replied. The bushes parted noiselessly on his
+left, and the tall form of Wetzel appeared silently out of the gloom.
+
+The two gripped hands in silence.
+
+"Hev you any meat?" Wetzel asked, and as Jonathan handed him his
+knapsack, he continued, "I was kinder lookin' fer you. Did you get out
+all right with the lass?"
+
+"Nary a scratch."
+
+The giant borderman grunted his satisfaction.
+
+"How'd Legget and Brandt get away?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"Cut an' run like scared bucks. Never got a hand on either of 'em."
+
+"How many redskins did they meet back here a spell?"
+
+"They was seven; but now there are only six, an' all snug in Legget's
+place by this time."
+
+"I reckon we're near his den."
+
+"We're not far off."
+
+Night soon closing down upon the bordermen found them wrapped in
+slumber, as if no deadly foes were near at hand. The soft night wind
+sighed dismally among the bare trees. A few bright stars twinkled
+overhead. In the darkness of the forest the bordermen were at home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+In Legget's rude log cabin a fire burned low, lightening the forms of
+the two border outlaws, and showing in the background the dark forms
+of Indians sitting motionless on the floor. Their dusky eyes emitted a
+baleful glint, seemingly a reflection of their savage souls caught by
+the firelight. Legget wore a look of ferocity and sullen fear
+strangely blended. Brandt's face was hard and haggard, his lips set,
+his gray eyes smoldering.
+
+"Safe?" he hissed. "Safe you say? You'll see that it's the same now as
+on the other night, when those border-tigers jumped us and we ran
+like cowards. I'd have fought it out here, but for you."
+
+"Thet man Wetzel is ravin' mad, I tell you," growled Legget. "I reckon
+I've stood my ground enough to know I ain't no coward. But this
+fellar's crazy. He hed the Injuns slashin' each other like a pack of
+wolves round a buck."
+
+"He's no more mad than you or I," declared Brandt. "I know all about
+him. His moaning in the woods, and wild yells are only tricks. He
+knows the Indian nature, and he makes their very superstition and
+religion aid him in his fighting. I told you what he'd do. Didn't I
+beg you to kill Zane when we had a chance? Wetzel would never have
+taken our trail alone. Now they've beat me out of the girl, and as
+sure as death will round us up here."
+
+"You don't believe they'll rush us here?" asked Legget.
+
+"They're too keen to take foolish chances, but something will be done
+we don't expect. Zane was a prisoner here; he had a good look at this
+place, and you can gamble he'll remember."
+
+"Zane must hev gone back to Fort Henry with the girl."
+
+"Mark what I say, he'll come back!"
+
+"Wal, we kin hold this place against all the men Eb Zane may put out."
+
+"He won't send a man," snapped Brandt passionately. "Remember this,
+Legget, we're not to fight against soldiers, settlers, or hunters; but
+bordermen--understand--bordermen! Such as have been developed right
+here on this bloody frontier, and nowhere else on earth. They haven't
+fear in them. Both are fleet as deer in the woods. They can't be seen
+or trailed. They can snuff a candle with a rifle ball in the dark.
+I've seen Zane do it three times at a hundred yards. And Wetzel! He
+wouldn't waste powder on practicing. They can't be ambushed, or shaken
+off a track; they take the scent like buzzards, and have eyes
+like eagles."
+
+"We kin slip out of here under cover of night," suggested Legget.
+
+"Well, what then? That's all they want. They'd be on us again by
+sunset. No! we've got to stand our ground and fight. We'll stay as
+long as we can; but they'll rout us out somehow, be sure of that. And
+if one of us pokes his nose out to the daylight, it will be shot off."
+
+"You're sore, an' you've lost your nerve," said Legget harshly. "Sore
+at me 'cause I got sweet on the girl. Ho! ho!"
+
+Brandt shot a glance at Legget which boded no good. His strong hands
+clenched in an action betraying the reckless rage in his heart. Then
+he carefully removed his hunting coat, and examined his wound. He
+retied the bandage, muttering gloomily, "I'm so weak as to be
+light-headed. If this cut opens again, it's all day for me."
+
+After that the inmates of the hut were quiet. The huge outlaw bowed
+his shaggy head for a while, and then threw himself on a pile of
+hemlock boughs. Brandt was not long in seeking rest. Soon both were
+fast asleep. Two of the savages passed out with cat-like step, leaving
+the door open. The fire had burned low, leaving a bed of dead coals.
+Outside in the dark a waterfall splashed softly.
+
+The darkest hour came, and passed, and paled slowly to gray. Birds
+began to twitter. Through the door of the cabin the light of day
+streamed in. The two Indian sentinels were building a fire on the
+stone hearth. One by one the other savages got up, stretched and
+yawned, and began the business of the day by cooking their breakfast.
+It was, apparently, every one for himself.
+
+Legget arose, shook himself like a shaggy dog, and was starting for
+the door when one of the sentinels stopped him. Brandt, who was now
+awake, saw the action, and smiled.
+
+In a few moments Indians and outlaws were eating for breakfast roasted
+strips of venison, with corn meal baked brown, which served as bread.
+It was a somber, silent group.
+
+Presently the shrill neigh of a horse startled them. Following it, the
+whip-like crack of a rifle stung and split the morning air. Hard on
+this came an Indian's long, wailing death-cry.
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed Brandt.
+
+Legget remained immovable. One of the savages peered out through a
+little port-hole at the rear of the hut. The others continued
+their meal.
+
+"Whistler'll come in presently to tell us who's doin' thet shootin',"
+said Legget. "He's a keen Injun."
+
+"He's not very keen now," replied Brandt, with bitter certainty. "He's
+what the settlers call a good Indian, which is to say, dead!"
+
+Legget scowled at his lieutenant.
+
+"I'll go an' see," he replied and seized his rifle.
+
+He opened the door, when another rifle-shot rang out. A bullet
+whistled in the air, grazing the outlaw's shoulder, and imbedded
+itself in the heavy door-frame.
+
+Legget leaped back with a curse.
+
+"Close shave!" said Brandt coolly. "That bullet came, probably,
+straight down from the top of the cliff. Jack Zane's there. Wetzel is
+lower down watching the outlet. We're trapped."
+
+"Trapped," shouted Legget with an angry leer. "We kin live here
+longer'n the bordermen kin. We've meat on hand, an' a good spring in
+the back of the hut. How'er we trapped?"
+
+"We won't live twenty-four hours," declared Brandt.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because we'll be routed out. They'll find some way to do it, and
+we'll never have another chance to fight in the open, as we had the
+other night when they came after the girl. From now on there'll be no
+sleep, no time to eat, the nameless fear of an unseen foe who can't be
+shaken off, marching by night, hiding and starving by day, until----!
+I'd rather be back in Fort Henry at Colonel Zane's mercy."
+
+Legget turned a ghastly face toward Brandt. "Look a here. You're
+takin' a lot of glee in sayin' these things. I believe you've lost
+your nerve, or the lettin' out of a little blood hes made you wobbly.
+We've Injuns here, an' ought to be a match fer two men."
+
+Brandt gazed at him with a derisive smile.
+
+"We kin go out an' fight these fellars," continued Legget. "We might
+try their own game, hidin' an' crawlin' through the woods."
+
+"We two would have to go it alone. If you still had your trusty,
+trained band of experienced Indians, I'd say that would be just the
+thing. But Ashbow and the Chippewa are dead; so are the others. This
+bunch of redskins here may do to steal a few horses; but they don't
+amount to much against Zane and Wetzel. Besides, they'll cut and run
+presently, for they're scared and suspicious. Look at the chief;
+ask him."
+
+The savage Brandt indicated was a big Indian just coming into manhood.
+His swarthy face still retained some of the frankness and
+simplicity of youth.
+
+"Chief," said Legget in the Indian tongue. "The great paleface hunter,
+Deathwind, lies hid in the woods."
+
+"Last night the Shawnee heard the wind of death mourn through the
+trees," replied the chief gloomily.
+
+"See! What did I say?" cried Brandt. "The superstitious fool! He
+would begin his death-chant almost without a fight. We can't count on
+the redskins. What's to be done?"
+
+The outlaw threw himself upon the bed of boughs, and Legget sat down
+with his rifle across his knees. The Indians maintained the same
+stoical composure. The moments dragged by into hours.
+
+"Ugh!" suddenly exclaimed the Indian at the end of the hut.
+
+Legget ran to him, and acting upon a motion of the Indian's hand,
+looked out through the little port-hole.
+
+The sun was high. He saw four of the horses grazing by the brook; then
+gazed scrutinizingly from the steep waterfall, along the green-stained
+cliff to the dark narrow cleft in the rocks. Here was the only outlet
+from the inclosure. He failed to discover anything unusual.
+
+The Indian grunted again, and pointed upward.
+
+"Smoke! There's smoke risin' above the trees," cried Legget. "Brandt,
+come here. What's thet mean?"
+
+Brandt hurried, looked out. His face paled, his lower jaw protruded,
+quivered, and then was shut hard. He walked away, put his foot on a
+bench and began to lace his leggings.
+
+"Wal?" demanded Legget.
+
+"The game's up! Get ready to run and be shot at," cried Brandt with a
+hiss of passion.
+
+Almost as he spoke the roof of the hut shook under a heavy blow.
+
+"What's thet?" No one replied. Legget glanced from Brandt's cold,
+determined face to the uneasy savages. They were restless, and
+handling their weapons. The chief strode across the floor with
+stealthy steps.
+
+"Thud!"
+
+A repetition of the first blow caused the Indians to jump, and drew a
+fierce imprecation from their outlaw leader.
+
+Brandt eyed him narrowly. "It's coming to you, Legget. They are
+shooting arrows of fire into the roof from the cliff. Zane is doin'
+that. He can make a bow and draw one, too. We're to be burned out.
+Now, damn you! take your medicine! I wanted you to kill him when you
+had the chance. If you had done so we'd never have come to this.
+Burned out, do you get that? Burned out!"
+
+"Fire!" exclaimed Legget. He sat down as if the strength had left his
+legs.
+
+The Indians circled around the room like caged tigers.
+
+"Ugh!" The chief suddenly reached up and touched the birch-bark roof
+of the hut.
+
+His action brought the attention of all to a faint crackling of
+burning wood.
+
+"It's caught all right," cried Brandt in a voice which cut the air
+like a blow from a knife.
+
+"I'll not be smoked like a ham, fer all these tricky bordermen,"
+roared Legget. Drawing his knife he hacked at the heavy buckskin
+hinges of the rude door. When it dropped free he measured it against
+the open space. Sheathing the blade, he grasped his rifle in his right
+hand and swung the door on his left arm. Heavy though it was he
+carried it easily. The roughly hewn planks afforded a capital shield
+for all except the lower portion of his legs and feet. He went out of
+the hut with the screen of wood between himself and the cliff, calling
+for the Indians to follow. They gathered behind him, breathing hard,
+clutching their weapons, and seemingly almost crazed by excitement.
+
+Brandt, with no thought of joining this foolhardy attempt to escape
+from the inclosure, ran to the little port-hole that he might see the
+outcome. Legget and his five redskins were running toward the narrow
+outlet in the gorge. The awkward and futile efforts of the Indians to
+remain behind the shield were almost pitiful. They crowded each other
+for favorable positions, but, struggle as they might, one or two were
+always exposed to the cliff. Suddenly one, pushed to the rear, stopped
+simultaneously with the crack of a rifle, threw up his arms and fell.
+Another report, differing from the first, rang out. A savage staggered
+from behind the speeding group with his hand at his side. Then he
+dropped into the brook.
+
+Evidently Legget grasped this as a golden opportunity, for he threw
+aside the heavy shield and sprang forward, closely followed by his
+red-skinned allies. Immediately they came near the cliff, where the
+trail ran into the gorge, a violent shaking of the dry ferns overhead
+made manifest the activity of some heavy body. Next instant a huge
+yellow figure, not unlike a leaping catamount, plunged down with a
+roar so terrible as to sound inhuman. Legget, Indians, and newcomer
+rolled along the declivity toward the brook in an indistinguishable
+mass.
+
+Two of the savages shook themselves free, and bounded to their feet
+nimbly as cats, but Legget and the other redskin became engaged in a
+terrific combat. It was a wrestling whirl, so fierce and rapid as to
+render blows ineffectual. The leaves scattered as if in a whirlwind.
+Legget's fury must have been awful, to judge from his hoarse screams;
+the Indians' fear maddening, as could be told by their shrieks. The
+two savages ran wildly about the combatants, one trying to level a
+rifle, the other to get in a blow with a tomahawk. But the movements
+of the trio, locked in deadly embrace, were too swift.
+
+Above all the noise of the contest rose that strange, thrilling roar.
+
+"Wetzel!" muttered Brandt, with a chill, creeping shudder as he gazed
+upon the strife with fascinated eyes.
+
+"Bang!" Again from the cliff came that heavy bellow.
+
+The savage with the rifle shrunk back as if stung, and without a cry
+fell limply in a heap. His companion, uttering a frightened cry, fled
+from the glen.
+
+The struggle seemed too deadly, too terrible, to last long. The Indian
+and the outlaw were at a disadvantage. They could not strike freely.
+The whirling conflict grew more fearful. During one second the huge,
+brown, bearish figure of Legget appeared on top; then the dark-bodied,
+half-naked savage, spotted like a hyena, and finally the lithe,
+powerful, tiger-shape of the borderman.
+
+Finally Legget wrenched himself free at the same instant that the
+bloody-stained Indian rolled, writhing in convulsions, away from
+Wetzel. The outlaw dashed with desperate speed up the trail, and
+disappeared in the gorge. The borderman sped toward the cliff, leaped
+on a projecting ledge, grasped an overhanging branch, and pulled
+himself up. He was out of sight almost as quickly as Legget.
+
+"After his rifle," Brandt muttered, and then realized that he had
+watched the encounter without any idea of aiding his comrade. He
+consoled himself with the knowledge that such an attempt would have
+been useless. From the moment the borderman sprang upon Legget, until
+he scaled the cliff, his movements had been incredibly swift. It would
+have been hardly possible to cover him with a rifle, and the outlaw
+grimly understood that he needed to be careful of that charge in
+his weapon.
+
+"By Heavens, Wetzel's a wonder!" cried Brandt in unwilling admiration.
+"Now he'll go after Legget and the redskin, while Zane stays here to
+get me. Well, he'll succeed, most likely, but I'll never quit.
+What's this?"
+
+He felt something slippery and warm on his hand. It was blood running
+from the inside of his sleeve. A slight pain made itself felt in his
+side. Upon examination he found, to his dismay, that his wound had
+reopened. With a desperate curse he pulled a linsey jacket off a peg,
+tore it into strips, and bound up the injury as tightly as possible.
+
+Then he grasped his rifle, and watched the cliff and the gorge with
+flaring eyes. Suddenly he found it difficult to breathe; his throat
+was parched, his eyes smarted. Then the odor of wood-smoke brought him
+to a realization that the cabin was burning. It was only now he
+understood that the room was full of blue clouds. He sank into the
+corner, a wolf at bay.
+
+Not many moments passed before the outlaw understood that he could not
+withstand the increasing heat and stifling vapor of the room. Pieces
+of burning birch dropped from the roof. The crackling above grew into
+a steady roar.
+
+"I've got to run for it," he gasped. Death awaited him outside the
+door, but that was more acceptable than death by fire. Yet to face the
+final moment when he desired with all his soul to live, required
+almost super-human courage. Sweating, panting, he glared around. "God!
+Is there no other way?" he cried in agony. At this moment he saw an ax
+on the floor.
+
+Seizing it he attacked the wall of the cabin. Beyond this partition
+was a hut which had been used for a stable. Half a dozen strokes of
+the ax opened a hole large enough for him to pass through. With his
+rifle, and a piece of venison which hung near, he literally fell
+through the hole, where he lay choking, almost fainting. After a time
+he crawled across the floor to a door. Outside was a dense laurel
+thicket, into which he crawled.
+
+The crackling and roaring of the fire grew louder. He could see the
+column of yellow and black smoke. Once fairly under way, the flames
+rapidly consumed the pitch-pine logs. In an hour Legget's cabins were
+a heap of ashes.
+
+The afternoon waned. Brandt lay watchful, slowly recovering his
+strength. He felt secure under this cover, and only prayed for night
+to come. As the shadows began to creep down the sides of the cliffs,
+he indulged in hope. If he could slip out in the dark he had a good
+chance to elude the borderman. In the passionate desire to escape, he
+had forgotten his fatalistic words to Legget. He reasoned that he
+could not be trailed until daylight; that a long night's march would
+put him far in the lead, and there was just a possibility of Zane's
+having gone away with Wetzel.
+
+When darkness had set in he slipped out of the covert and began his
+journey for life. Within a few yards he reached the brook. He had only
+to follow its course in order to find the outlet to the glen.
+Moreover, its rush and gurgle over the stones would drown any slight
+noise he might make.
+
+Slowly, patiently he crawled, stopping every moment to listen. What a
+long time he was in coming to the mossy stones over which the brook
+dashed through the gorge! But he reached them at last. Here if
+anywhere Zane would wait for him.
+
+With teeth clenched desperately, and an inward tightening of his
+chest, for at any moment he expected to see the red flame of a rifle,
+he slipped cautiously over the mossy stones. Finally his hands touched
+the dewy grass, and a breath of cool wind fanned his hot cheek. He had
+succeeded in reaching the open. Crawling some rods farther on, he lay
+still a while and listened. The solemn wilderness calm was unbroken.
+Rising, he peered about. Behind loomed the black hill with its narrow
+cleft just discernible. Facing the north star, he went silently out
+into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+At daylight Jonathan Zane rolled from his snug bed of leaves under the
+side of a log, and with the flint, steel and punk he always carried,
+began building a fire. His actions were far from being hurried. They
+were deliberate, and seemed strange on the part of a man whose stern
+face suggested some dark business to be done. When his little fire had
+been made, he warmed some slices of venison which had already been
+cooked, and thus satisfied his hunger. Carefully extinguishing the
+fire and looking to the priming of his rifle, he was ready for
+the trail.
+
+He stood near the edge of the cliff from which he could command a view
+of the glen. The black, smoldering ruins of the burned cabins defaced
+a picturesque scene.
+
+"Brandt must have lit out last night, for I could have seen even a
+rabbit hidin' in that laurel patch. He's gone, an' it's what I
+wanted," thought the borderman.
+
+He made his way slowly around the edge of the inclosure and clambered
+down on the splintered cliff at the end of the gorge. A wide,
+well-trodden trail extended into the forest below. Jonathan gave
+scarcely a glance to the beaten path before him; but bent keen eyes to
+the north, and carefully scrutinized the mossy stones along the brook.
+Upon a little sand bar running out from the bank he found the light
+imprint of a hand.
+
+"It was a black night. He'd have to travel by the stars, an' north's
+the only safe direction for him," muttered the borderman.
+
+On the bank above he found oblong indentations in the grass, barely
+perceptible, but owing to the peculiar position of the blades of
+grass, easy for him to follow.
+
+"He'd better have learned to walk light as an Injun before he took to
+outlawin'," said the borderman in disdain. Then he returned to the
+gorge and entered the inclosure. At the foot of the little rise of
+ground where Wetzel had leaped upon his quarry, was one of the dead
+Indians. Another lay partly submerged in the brown water.
+
+Jonathan carried the weapons of the savages to a dry place under a
+projecting ledge in the cliff. Passing on down the glen, he stopped a
+moment where the cabins had stood. Not a log remained. The horses,
+with the exception of two, were tethered in the copse of laurel. He
+recognized Colonel Zane's thoroughbred, and Betty's pony. He cut them
+loose, positive they would not stray from the glen, and might easily
+be secured at another time.
+
+He set out upon the trail of Brandt with a long, swinging stride. To
+him the outcome of that pursuit was but a question of time. The
+consciousness of superior endurance, speed, and craft, spoke in his
+every movement. The consciousness of being in right, a factor so
+powerfully potent for victory, spoke in the intrepid front with which
+he faced the north.
+
+It was a gloomy November day. Gray, steely clouds drifted overhead.
+The wind wailed through the bare trees, sending dead leaves scurrying
+and rustling over the brown earth.
+
+The borderman advanced with a step that covered glade and glen, forest
+and field, with astonishing swiftness. Long since he had seen that
+Brandt was holding to the lowland. This did not strike him as singular
+until for the third time he found the trail lead a short distance up
+the side of a ridge, then descend, seeking a level. With this
+discovery came the certainty that Brandt's pace was lessening. He had
+set out with a hunter's stride, but it had begun to shorten. The
+outlaw had shirked the hills, and shifted from his northern course.
+Why? The man was weakening; he could not climb; he was favoring
+a wound.
+
+What seemed more serious for the outlaw, was the fact that he had left
+a good trail, and entered the low, wild land north of the Ohio. Even
+the Indians seldom penetrated this tangled belt of laurel and thorn.
+Owing to the dry season the swamps were shallow, which was another
+factor against Brandt. No doubt he had hoped to hide his trail by
+wading, and here it showed up like the track of a bison.
+
+Jonathan kept steadily on, knowing the farther Brandt penetrated into
+this wilderness the worse off he would be. The outlaw dared not take
+to the river until below Fort Henry, which was distant many a weary
+mile. The trail grew more ragged as the afternoon wore away. When
+twilight rendered further tracking impossible, the borderman built a
+fire in a sheltered place, ate his supper, and went to sleep.
+
+In the dim, gray morning light he awoke, fancying he had been startled
+by a distant rifle shot. He roasted his strips of venison carefully,
+and ate with a hungry hunter's appreciation, yet sparingly, as
+befitted a borderman who knew how to keep up his strength upon a
+long trail.
+
+Hardly had he traveled a mile when Brandt's footprints covered
+another's. Nothing surprised the borderman; but he had expected this
+least of all. A hasty examination convinced him that Legget and his
+Indian ally had fled this way with Wetzel in pursuit.
+
+The morning passed slowly. The borderman kept to the trail like a
+hound. The afternoon wore on. Over sandy reaches thick with willows,
+and through long, matted, dried-out cranberry marshes and copses of
+prickly thorn, the borderman hung to his purpose. His legs seemed
+never to lose their spring, but his chest began to heave, his head
+bent, and his face shone with sweat.
+
+At dusk he tired. Crawling into a dry thicket, he ate his scanty meal
+and fell asleep. When he awoke it was gray daylight. He was wet and
+chilled. Again he kindled a fire, and sat over it while cooking
+breakfast.
+
+Suddenly he was brought to his feet by the sound of a rifle shot; then
+two others followed in rapid succession. Though they were faint, and
+far away to the west, Jonathan recognized the first, which could have
+come only from Wetzel's weapon, and he felt reasonably certain of the
+third, which was Brandt's. There might have been, he reflected grimly,
+a good reason for Legget's not shooting. However, he knew that Wetzel
+had rounded up the fugitives, and again he set out.
+
+It was another dismal day, such a one as would be fitting for a dark
+deed of border justice. A cold, drizzly rain blew from the northwest.
+Jonathan wrapped a piece of oil-skin around his rifle-breech, and
+faced the downfall. Soon he was wet to the skin. He kept on, but his
+free stride had shortened. Even upon his iron muscles this soggy,
+sticky ground had begun to tell.
+
+The morning passed but the storm did not; the air grew colder and
+darker. The short afternoon would afford him little time, especially
+as the rain and running rills of water were obliterating the trail.
+
+In the midst of a dense forest of great cottonwoods and sycamores he
+came upon a little pond, hidden among the bushes, and shrouded in a
+windy, wet gloom. Jonathan recognized the place. He had been there in
+winter hunting bears when all the swampland was locked by ice.
+
+The borderman searched along the banks for a time, then went back to
+the trail, patiently following it. Around the pond it led to the side
+of a great, shelving rock. He saw an Indian leaning against this, and
+was about to throw forward his rifle when the strange, fixed, position
+of the savage told of the tragedy. A wound extended from his shoulder
+to his waist. Near by on the ground lay Legget. He, too, was dead. His
+gigantic frame weltered in blood. His big feet were wide apart; his
+arms spread, and from the middle of his chest protruded the haft of
+a knife.
+
+The level space surrounding the bodies showed evidence of a desperate
+struggle. A bush had been rolled upon and crushed by heavy bodies. On
+the ground was blood as on the stones and leaves. The blade Legget
+still clutched was red, and the wrist of the hand which held it showed
+a dark, discolored band, where it had felt the relentless grasp of
+Wetzel's steel grip. The dead man's buckskin coat was cut into
+ribbons. On his broad face a demoniacal expression had set in eternal
+rigidity; the animal terror of death was frozen in his wide staring
+eyes. The outlaw chief had died as he had lived, desperately.
+
+Jonathan found Wetzel's trail leading directly toward the river, and
+soon understood that the borderman was on the track of Brandt. The
+borderman had surprised the worn, starved, sleepy fugitives in the
+gray, misty dawn. The Indian, doubtless, was the sentinel, and had
+fallen asleep at his post never to awaken. Legget and Brandt must have
+discharged their weapons ineffectually. Zane could not understand why
+his comrade had missed Brandt at a few rods' distance. Perhaps he had
+wounded the younger outlaw; but certainly he had escaped while Wetzel
+had closed in on Legget to meet the hardest battle of his career.
+
+While going over his version of the attack, Jonathan followed Brandt's
+trail, as had Wetzel, to where it ended in the river. The old
+borderman had continued on down stream along the sandy shore. The
+outlaw remained in the water to hide his trail.
+
+At one point Wetzel turned north. This move puzzled Jonathan, as did
+also the peculiar tracks. It was more perplexing because not far below
+Zane discovered where the fugitive had left the water to get around a
+ledge of rock.
+
+The trail was approaching Fort Henry. Jonathan kept on down the river
+until arriving at the head of the island which lay opposite the
+settlement. Still no traces of Wetzel! Here Zane lost Brandt's trail
+completely. He waded the first channel, which was shallow and narrow,
+and hurried across the island. Walking out upon a sand-bar he signaled
+with his well-known Indian cry. Almost immediately came an
+answering shout.
+
+While waiting he glanced at the sand, and there, pointing straight
+toward the fort, he found Brandt's straggling trail!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+Colonel Zane paced to and fro on the porch. His genial smile had not
+returned; he was grave and somber. Information had just reached him
+that Jonathan had hailed from the island, and that one of the settlers
+had started across the river in a boat.
+
+Betty came out accompanied by Mrs. Zane.
+
+"What's this I hear?" asked Betty, flashing an anxious glance toward
+the river. "Has Jack really come in?"
+
+"Yes," replied the colonel, pointing to a throng of men on the river
+bank.
+
+"Now there'll be trouble," said Mrs. Zane nervously. "I wish with all
+my heart Brandt had not thrown himself, as he called it, on
+your mercy."
+
+"So do I," declared Colonel Zane.
+
+"What will be done?" she asked. "There! that's Jack! Silas has hold of
+his arm."
+
+"He's lame. He has been hurt," replied her husband.
+
+A little procession of men and boys followed the borderman from the
+river, and from the cabins appeared the settlers and their wives. But
+there was no excitement except among the children. The crowd filed
+into the colonel's yard behind Jonathan and Silas.
+
+Colonel Zane silently greeted his brother with an iron grip of the
+hand which was more expressive than words. No unusual sight was it to
+see the borderman wet, ragged, bloody, worn with long marches,
+hollow-eyed and gloomy; yet he had never before presented such an
+appearance at Fort Henry. Betty ran forward, and, though she clasped
+his arm, shrank back. There was that in the borderman's presence to
+cause fear.
+
+"Wetzel?" Jonathan cried sharply.
+
+The colonel raised both hands, palms open, and returned his brother's
+keen glance. Then he spoke. "Lew hasn't come in. He chased Brandt
+across the river. That's all I know."
+
+"Brandt's here, then?" hissed the borderman.
+
+The colonel nodded gloomily.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"In the long room over the fort. I locked him in there."
+
+"Why did he come here?"
+
+Colonel Zane shrugged his shoulders. "It's beyond me. He said he'd
+rather place himself in my hands than be run down by Wetzel or you. He
+didn't crawl; I'll say that for him. He just said, 'I'm your
+prisoner.' He's in pretty bad shape; barked over the temple, lame in
+one foot, cut under the arm, starved and worn out."
+
+"Take me to him," said the borderman, and he threw his rifle on a
+bench.
+
+"Very well. Come along," replied the colonel. He frowned at those
+following them. "Here, you women, clear out!" But they did not
+obey him.
+
+It was a sober-faced group that marched in through the big stockade
+gate, under the huge, bulging front of the fort, and up the rough
+stairway. Colonel Zane removed a heavy bar from before a door, and
+thrust it open with his foot. The long guardroom brilliantly lighted
+by sunshine coming through the portholes, was empty save for a ragged
+man lying on a bench.
+
+The noise aroused him; he sat up, and then slowly labored to his feet.
+It was the same flaring, wild-eyed Brandt, only fiercer and more
+haggard. He wore a bloody bandage round his head. When he saw the
+borderman he backed, with involuntary, instinctive action, against the
+wall, yet showed no fear.
+
+In the dark glance Jonathan shot at Brandt shone a pitiless
+implacability; no scorn, nor hate, nor passion, but something which,
+had it not been so terrible, might have been justice.
+
+"I think Wetzel was hurt in the fight with Legget," said Jonathan
+deliberately, "an' ask if you know?"
+
+"I believe he was," replied Brandt readily. "I was asleep when he
+jumped us, and was awakened by the Indian's yell. Wetzel must have
+taken a snap shot at me as I was getting up, which accounts, probably,
+for my being alive. I fell, but did not lose consciousness. I heard
+Wetzel and Legget fighting, and at last struggled to my feet. Although
+dizzy and bewildered, I could see to shoot; but missed. For a long
+time, it seemed to me, I watched that terrible fight, and then ran,
+finally reaching the river, where I recovered somewhat."
+
+"Did you see Wetzel again?"
+
+"Once, about a quarter of a mile behind me. He was staggering along on
+my trail."
+
+At this juncture there was a commotion among the settlers crowding
+behind Colonel Zane and Jonathan, and Helen Sheppard appeared, white,
+with her big eyes strangely dilated.
+
+"Oh!" she cried breathlessly, clasping both hands around Jonathan's
+arm. "I'm not too late? You're not going to----"
+
+"Helen, this is no place for you," said Colonel Zane sternly. "This is
+business for men. You must not interfere."
+
+Helen gazed at him, at Brandt, and then up at the borderman. She did
+not loose his arm.
+
+"Outside some one told me you intended to shoot him. Is it true?"
+
+Colonel Zane evaded the searching gaze of those strained, brilliant
+eyes. Nor did he answer.
+
+As Helen stepped slowly back a hush fell upon the crowd. The
+whispering, the nervous coughing, and shuffling of feet, ceased.
+
+In those around her Helen saw the spirit of the border. Colonel Zane
+and Silas wore the same look, cold, hard, almost brutal. The women
+were strangely grave. Nellie Douns' sweet face seemed changed; there
+was pity, even suffering on it, but no relenting. Even Betty's face,
+always so warm, piquant, and wholesome, had taken on a shade of doubt,
+of gloom, of something almost sullen, which blighted its dark beauty.
+What hurt Helen most cruelly was the borderman's glittering eyes.
+
+She fought against a shuddering weakness which threatened to overcome
+her.
+
+"Whose prisoner is Brandt?" she asked of Colonel Zane.
+
+"He gave himself up to me, naturally, as I am in authority here,"
+replied the colonel. "But that signifies little. I can do no less than
+abide by Jonathan's decree, which, after all, is the decree of
+the border."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"Death to outlaws and renegades."
+
+"But cannot you spare him?" implored Helen. "I know he is a bad man;
+but he might become a better one. It seems like murder to me. To kill
+him in cold blood, wounded, suffering as he is, when he claimed your
+mercy. Oh! it is dreadful!"
+
+The usually kind-hearted colonel, soft as wax in the hands of a girl,
+was now colder and harder than flint.
+
+"It is useless," he replied curtly. "I am sorry for you. We all
+understand your feelings, that yours are not the principles of the
+border. If you had lived long here you could appreciate what these
+outlaws and renegades have done to us. This man is a hardened
+criminal; he is a thief, a murderer."
+
+"He did not kill Mordaunt," replied Helen quickly. "I saw him draw
+first and attack Brandt."
+
+"No matter. Come, Helen, cease. No more of this," Colonel Zane cried
+with impatience.
+
+"But I will not!" exclaimed Helen, with ringing voice and flashing
+eye. She turned to her girl friends and besought them to intercede for
+the outlaw. But Nell only looked sorrowfully on, while Betty met her
+appealing glance with a fire in her eyes that was no dim reflection of
+her brother's.
+
+"Then I must make my appeal to you," said Helen, facing the borderman.
+There could be no mistaking how she regarded him. Respect, honor and
+love breathed from every line of her beautiful face.
+
+"Why do you want him to go free?" demanded Jonathan. "You told me to
+kill him."
+
+"Oh, I know. But I was not in my right mind. Listen to me, please. He
+must have been very different once; perhaps had sisters. For their
+sake give him another chance. I know he has a better nature. I feared
+him, hated him, scorned him, as if he were a snake, yet he saved me
+from that monster Legget!"
+
+"For himself!"
+
+"Well, yes, I can't deny that. But he could have ruined me, wrecked
+me, yet he did not. At least, he meant marriage by me. He said if I
+would marry him he would flee over the border and be an honest man."
+
+"Have you no other reason?"
+
+"Yes." Helen's bosom swelled and a glory shone in her splendid eyes.
+"The other reason is, my own happiness!"
+
+Plain to all, if not through her words, from the light in her eyes,
+that she could not love a man who was a party to what she considered
+injustice.
+
+The borderman's white face became flaming red.
+
+It was difficult to refuse this glorious girl any sacrifice she
+demanded for the sake of the love so openly avowed.
+
+Sweetly and pityingly she turned to Brandt: "Will not you help me?"
+
+"Lass, if it were for me you were asking my life I'd swear it yours
+for always, and I'd be a man," he replied with bitterness; "but not to
+save my soul would I ask anything of him."
+
+The giant passions, hate and jealousy, flamed in his gray eyes.
+
+"If I persuade them to release you, will you go away, leave this
+country, and never come back?"
+
+"I'll promise that, lass, and honestly," he replied.
+
+She wheeled toward Jonathan, and now the rosy color chased the pallor
+from her cheeks.
+
+"Jack, do you remember when we parted at my home; when you left on
+this terrible trail, now ended, thank God! Do you remember what an
+ordeal that was for me? Must I go through it again?"
+
+Bewitchingly sweet she was then, with the girlish charm of coquetry
+almost lost in the deeper, stranger power of the woman.
+
+The borderman drew his breath sharply; then he wrapped his long arms
+closely round her. She, understanding that victory was hers, sank
+weeping upon his breast. For a moment he bowed his face over her, and
+when he lifted it the dark and terrible gloom had gone.
+
+"Eb, let him go, an' at once," ordered Jonathan. "Give him a rifle,
+some meat, an' a canoe, for he can't travel, an' turn him loose. Only
+be quick about it, because if Wetzel comes in, God himself couldn't
+save the outlaw."
+
+It was an indescribable glance that Brandt cast upon the tearful face
+of the girl who had saved his life. But without a word he followed
+Colonel Zane from the room.
+
+The crowd slowly filed down the steps. Betty and Nell lingered behind,
+their eyes beaming through happy tears. Jonathan, long so cold, showed
+evidence of becoming as quick and passionate a lover as he had been a
+borderman. At least, Helen had to release herself from his embrace,
+and it was a blushing, tear-stained face she turned to her friends.
+
+When they reached the stockade gate Colonel Zane was hurrying toward
+the river with a bag in one hand, and a rifle and a paddle in the
+other. Brandt limped along after him, the two disappearing over the
+river bank.
+
+Betty, Nell, and the lovers went to the edge of the bluff.
+
+They saw Colonel Zane choose a canoe from among a number on the beach.
+He launched it, deposited the bag in the bottom, handed the rifle and
+paddle to Brandt, and wheeled about.
+
+The outlaw stepped aboard, and, pushing off slowly, drifted down and
+out toward mid-stream. When about fifty yards from shore he gave a
+quick glance around, and ceased paddling. His face gleamed white, and
+his eyes glinted like bits of steel in the sun.
+
+Suddenly he grasped the rifle, and, leveling it with the swiftness of
+thought, fired at Jonathan.
+
+The borderman saw the act, even from the beginning, and must have read
+the outlaw's motive, for as the weapon flashed he dropped flat on the
+bank. The bullet sang harmlessly over him, imbedding itself in the
+stockade fence with a distinct thud.
+
+The girls were so numb with horror that they could not even scream.
+
+Colonel Zane swore lustily. "Where's my gun? Get me a gun. Oh! What
+did I tell you?"
+
+"Look!" cried Jonathan as he rose to his feet.
+
+Upon the sand-bar opposite stood a tall, dark, familiar figure.
+
+"By all that's holy, Wetzel!" exclaimed Colonel Zane.
+
+They saw the giant borderman raise a long, black rifle, which wavered
+and fell, and rose again. A little puff of white smoke leaped out,
+accompanied by a clear, stinging report.
+
+Brandt dropped the paddle he had hurriedly begun plying after his
+traitor's act. His white face was turned toward the shore as it sank
+forward to rest at last upon the gunwale of the canoe. Then his body
+slowly settled, as if seeking repose. His hand trailed outside in the
+water, drooping inert and lifeless. The little craft drifted
+down stream.
+
+"You see, Helen, it had to be," said Colonel Zane gently. "What a
+dastard! A long shot, Jack! Fate itself must have glanced down the
+sights of Wetzel's rifle."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+A year rolled round; once again Indian summer veiled the golden fields
+and forests in a soft, smoky haze. Once more from the opal-blue sky of
+autumn nights, shone the great white stars, and nature seemed wrapped
+in a melancholy hush.
+
+November the third was the anniversary of a memorable event on the
+frontier--the marriage of the younger borderman.
+
+Colonel Zane gave it the name of "Independence Day," and arranged a
+holiday, a feast and dance where all the settlement might meet in
+joyful thankfulness for the first year of freedom on the border.
+
+With the wiping out of Legget's fierce band, the yoke of the renegades
+and outlaws was thrown off forever. Simon Girty migrated to Canada and
+lived with a few Indians who remained true to him. His confederates
+slowly sank into oblivion. The Shawnee tribe sullenly retreated
+westward, far into the interior of Ohio; the Delawares buried the war
+hatchet, and smoked the pipe of peace they had ever before refused.
+For them the dark, mysterious, fatal wind had ceased to moan along the
+trails, or sigh through tree-tops over lonely Indian camp-fires.
+
+The beautiful Ohio valley had been wrested from the savages and from
+those parasites who for years had hung around the necks of the
+red men.
+
+This day was the happiest of Colonel Zane's life. The task he had set
+himself, and which he had hardly ever hoped to see completed, was
+ended. The West had been won. What Boone achieved in Kentucky he had
+accomplished in Ohio and West Virginia.
+
+The feast was spread on the colonel's lawn. Every man, woman and child
+in the settlement was there. Isaac Zane, with his Indian wife and
+child, had come from the far-off Huron town. Pioneers from Yellow
+Creek and eastward to Fort Pitt attended. The spirit of the occasion
+manifested itself in such joyousness as had never before been
+experienced in Fort Henry. The great feast was equal to the event.
+Choice cuts of beef and venison, savory viands, wonderful loaves of
+bread and great plump pies, sweet cider and old wine, delighted the
+merry party.
+
+"Friends, neighbors, dear ones," said Colonel Zane, "my heart is
+almost too full for speech. This occasion, commemorating the day of
+our freedom on the border, is the beginning of the reward for stern
+labor, hardship, silenced hearths of long, relentless years. I did not
+think I'd live to see it. The seed we have sown has taken root; in
+years to come, perhaps, a great people will grow up on these farms we
+call our homes. And as we hope those coming afterward will remember
+us, we should stop a moment to think of the heroes who have gone
+before. Many there are whose names will never be written on the roll
+of fame, whose graves will be unmarked in history. But we who worked,
+fought, bled beside them, who saw them die for those they left behind,
+will render them all justice, honor and love. To them we give the
+victory. They were true; then let us, who begin to enjoy the freedom,
+happiness and prosperity they won with their lives, likewise be true
+in memory of them, in deed to ourselves, and in grace to God."
+
+By no means the least of the pleasant features of this pleasant day
+was the fact that three couples blushingly presented themselves before
+the colonel, and confided to him their sudden conclusions in regard
+to the felicitousness of the moment. The happy colonel raced around
+until he discovered Jim Douns, the minister, and there amid the merry
+throng he gave the brides away, being the first to kiss them.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when the villagers dispersed to their
+homes and left the colonel to his own circle. With his strong, dark
+face beaming, he mounted the old porch step.
+
+"Where are my Zane babies?" he asked. "Ah! here you are! Did anybody
+ever see anything to beat that? Four wonderful babies! Mother, here's
+your Daniel--if you'd only named him Eb! Silas, come for Silas junior,
+bad boy that he is. Isaac, take your Indian princess; ah! little
+Myeerah with the dusky face. Woe be to him who looks into those eyes
+when you come to age. Jack, here's little Jonathan, the last of the
+bordermen; he, too, has beautiful eyes, big like his mother's. Ah!
+well, I don't believe I have left a wish, unless----"
+
+"Unless?" suggested Betty with her sweet smile.
+
+"It might be----" he said and looked at her.
+
+Betty's warm cheek was close to his as she whispered: "Dear Eb!" The
+rest only the colonel heard.
+
+"Well! By all that's glorious!" he exclaimed, and attempted to seize
+her; but with burning face Betty fled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Jack, dear, how the leaves are falling!" exclaimed Helen. "See them
+floating and whirling. It reminds me of the day I lay a prisoner in
+the forest glade praying, waiting for you."
+
+The borderman was silent.
+
+They passed down the sandy lane under the colored maple trees, to a
+new cottage on the hillside.
+
+"I am perfectly happy to-day," continued Helen. "Everybody seems to be
+content, except you. For the first time in weeks I see that shade on
+your face, that look in your eyes. Jack, you do not regret the
+new life?"
+
+"My love, no, a thousand times no," he answered, smiling down into her
+eyes. They were changing, shadowing with thought; bright as in other
+days, and with an added beauty. The wilful spirit had been softened
+by love.
+
+"Ah, I know, you miss the old friend."
+
+The yellow thicket on the slope opened to let out a tall, dark man who
+came down with lithe and springy stride.
+
+"Jack, it's Wetzel!" said Helen softly.
+
+No words were spoken as the comrades gripped hands.
+
+"Let me see the boy?" asked Wetzel, turning to Helen.
+
+Little Jonathan blinked up at the grave borderman with great round
+eyes, and pulled with friendly, chubby fingers at the fringed
+buckskin coat.
+
+"When you're a man the forest trails will be corn fields," muttered
+Wetzel.
+
+The bordermen strolled together up the brown hillside, and wandered
+along the river bluff. The air was cool; in the west the ruddy light
+darkened behind bold hills; a blue mist streaming in the valley shaded
+into gray as twilight fell.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Trail, by Zane Grey
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Trail, by Zane Grey
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+Title: The Last Trail
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+Author: Zane Grey
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+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9932]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 1, 2003]
+[Date last updated: July 1, 2004]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Audrey Longhurst, Tom Allen
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+ZANE GREY
+
+The Last Trail
+
+MCMIX
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Twilight of a certain summer day, many years ago, shaded softly down
+over the wild Ohio valley bringing keen anxiety to a traveler on the
+lonely river trail. He had expected to reach Fort Henry with his party
+on this night, thus putting a welcome end to the long, rough,
+hazardous journey through the wilderness; but the swift, on-coming
+dusk made it imperative to halt. The narrow, forest-skirted trail,
+difficult to follow in broad daylight, apparently led into gloomy
+aisles in the woods. His guide had abandoned him that morning, making
+excuse that his services were no longer needed; his teamster was new
+to the frontier, and, altogether, the situation caused him much
+uneasiness.
+
+"I wouldn't so much mind another night in camp, if the guide had not
+left us," he said in a low tone to the teamster.
+
+That worthy shook his shaggy head, and growled while he began
+unhitching the horses.
+
+"Uncle," said a young man, who had clambered out from the wagon, "we
+must be within a few miles of Fort Henry."
+
+"How d'ye know we're near the fort?" interrupted the teamster, "or
+safe, either, fer thet matter? I don't know this country."
+
+"The guide assured me we could easily make Fort Henry by sundown."
+
+"Thet guide! I tell ye, Mr. Sheppard----"
+
+"Not so loud. Do not alarm my daughter," cautioned the man who had
+been called Sheppard.
+
+"Did ye notice anythin' queer about thet guide?" asked the teamster,
+lowering his voice. "Did ye see how oneasy he was last night? Did it
+strike ye he left us in a hurry, kind of excited like, in spite of his
+offhand manner?"
+
+"Yes, he acted odd, or so it seemed to me," replied Sheppard. "How
+about you, Will?"
+
+"Now that I think of it, I believe he was queer. He behaved like a man
+who expected somebody, or feared something might happen. I fancied,
+however, that it was simply the manner of a woodsman."
+
+"Wal, I hev my opinion," said the teamster, in a gruff whisper. "Ye
+was in a hurry to be a-goin', an' wouldn't take no advice. The
+fur-trader at Fort Pitt didn't give this guide Jenks no good send off.
+Said he wasn't well-known round Pitt, 'cept he could handle a
+knife some."
+
+"What is your opinion?" asked Sheppard, as the teamster paused.
+
+"Wal, the valley below Pitt is full of renegades, outlaws an'
+hoss-thieves. The redskins ain't so bad as they used to be, but these
+white fellers are wusser'n ever. This guide Jenks might be in with
+them, that's all. Mebbe I'm wrong. I hope so. The way he left us
+looks bad."
+
+"We won't borrow trouble. If we have come all this way without seeing
+either Indian or outlaw--in fact, without incident--I feel certain we
+can perform the remainder of the journey in safety." Then Mr. Sheppard
+raised his voice. "Here, Helen, you lazy girl, come out of that wagon.
+We want some supper. Will, you gather some firewood, and we'll soon
+give this gloomy little glen a more cheerful aspect."
+
+As Mr. Sheppard turned toward the canvas-covered wagon a girl leaped
+lightly down beside him. She was nearly as tall as he.
+
+"Is this Fort Henry?" she asked, cheerily, beginning to dance around
+him. "Where's the inn? I'm _so_ hungry. How glad I am to get out of
+that wagon! I'd like to run. Isn't this a lonesome, lovely spot?"
+
+A camp-fire soon crackled with hiss and sputter, and fragrant
+wood-smoke filled the air. Steaming kettle, and savory steaks of
+venison cheered the hungry travelers, making them forget for the time
+the desertion of their guide and the fact that they might be lost. The
+last glow faded entirely out of the western sky. Night enveloped the
+forest, and the little glade was a bright spot in the gloom.
+
+The flickering light showed Mr. Sheppard to be a well-preserved old
+man with gray hair and ruddy, kindly face. The nephew had a boyish,
+frank expression. The girl was a splendid specimen of womanhood. Her
+large, laughing eyes were as dark as the shadows beneath the trees.
+
+Suddenly a quick start on Helen's part interrupted the merry flow of
+conversation. She sat bolt upright with half-averted face.
+
+"Cousin, what is the matter?" asked Will, quickly.
+
+Helen remained motionless.
+
+"My dear," said Mr. Sheppard sharply.
+
+"I heard a footstep," she whispered, pointing with trembling finger
+toward the impenetrable blackness beyond the camp-fire.
+
+All could hear a soft patter on the leaves. Then distinct footfalls
+broke the silence.
+
+The tired teamster raised his shaggy head and glanced fearfully around
+the glade. Mr. Sheppard and Will gazed doubtfully toward the foliage;
+but Helen did not change her position. The travelers appeared stricken
+by the silence and solitude of the place. The faint hum of insects,
+and the low moan of the night wind, seemed accentuated by the almost
+painful stillness.
+
+"A panther, most likely," suggested Sheppard, in a voice which he
+intended should be reassuring. "I saw one to-day slinking along
+the trail."
+
+"I'd better get my gun from the wagon," said Will.
+
+"How dark and wild it is here!" exclaimed Helen nervously. "I believe
+I was frightened. Perhaps I fancied it--there! Again--listen. Ah!"
+
+Two tall figures emerged from the darkness into the circle of light,
+and with swift, supple steps gained the camp-fire before any of the
+travelers had time to move. They were Indians, and the brandishing of
+their tomahawks proclaimed that they were hostile.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted the taller savage, as he looked down upon the
+defenseless, frightened group.
+
+As the menacing figures stood in the glare of the fire gazing at the
+party with shifty eyes, they presented a frightful appearance. Fierce
+lineaments, all the more so because of bars of paint, the hideous,
+shaven heads adorned with tufts of hair holding a single feather,
+sinewy, copper-colored limbs suggestive of action and endurance, the
+general aspect of untamed ferocity, appalled the travelers and chilled
+their blood.
+
+Grunts and chuckles manifested the satisfaction with which the Indians
+fell upon the half-finished supper. They caused it to vanish with
+astonishing celerity, and resembled wolves rather than human beings in
+their greediness.
+
+Helen looked timidly around as if hoping to see those who would aid,
+and the savages regarded her with ill humor. A movement on the part of
+any member of the group caused muscular hands to steal toward the
+tomahawks.
+
+Suddenly the larger savage clutched his companion's knee. Then lifting
+his hatchet, shook it with a significant gesture in Sheppard's face,
+at the same time putting a finger on his lips to enjoin silence. Both
+Indians became statuesque in their immobility. They crouched in an
+attitude of listening, with heads bent on one side, nostrils dilated,
+and mouths open.
+
+One, two, three moments passed. The silence of the forest appeared to
+be unbroken; but ears as keen as those of a deer had detected some
+sound. The larger savage dropped noiselessly to the ground, where he
+lay stretched out with his ear to the ground. The other remained
+immovable; only his beady eyes gave signs of life, and these covered
+every point.
+
+Finally the big savage rose silently, pointed down the dark trail, and
+strode out of the circle of light. His companion followed close at his
+heels. The two disappeared in the black shadows like specters, as
+silently as they had come.
+
+"Well!" breathed Helen.
+
+"I am immensely relieved!" exclaimed Will.
+
+"What do you make of such strange behavior?" Sheppard asked of the
+teamster.
+
+"I'spect they got wind of somebody; most likely thet guide, an'll be
+back again. If they ain't, it's because they got switched off by some
+signs or tokens, skeered, perhaps, by the scent of the wind."
+
+Hardly had he ceased speaking when again the circle of light was
+invaded by stalking forms.
+
+"I thought so! Here comes the skulkin' varmints," whispered the
+teamster.
+
+But he was wrong. A deep, calm voice spoke the single word: "Friends."
+
+Two men in the brown garb of woodsmen approached. One approached the
+travelers; the other remained in the background, leaning upon a long,
+black rifle.
+
+Thus exposed to the glare of the flames, the foremost woodsman
+presented a singularly picturesque figure. His costume was the fringed
+buckskins of the border. Fully six feet tall, this lithe-limbed young
+giant had something of the wild, free grace of the Indian in
+his posture.
+
+He surveyed the wondering travelers with dark, grave eyes.
+
+"Did the reddys do any mischief?" he asked.
+
+"No, they didn't harm us," replied Sheppard. "They ate our supper,
+and slipped off into the woods without so much as touching one of us.
+But, indeed, sir, we are mighty glad to see you."
+
+Will echoed this sentiment, and Helen's big eyes were fastened upon
+the stranger in welcome and wonder.
+
+"We saw your fire blazin' through the twilight, an' came up just in
+time to see the Injuns make off."
+
+"Might they not hide in the bushes and shoot us?" asked Will, who had
+listened to many a border story at Fort Pitt. "It seems as if we'd
+make good targets in this light."
+
+The gravity of the woodsman's face relaxed.
+
+"You will pursue them?" asked Helen.
+
+"They've melted into the night-shadows long ago," he replied. "Who was
+your guide?"
+
+"I hired him at Fort Pitt. He left us suddenly this morning. A big
+man, with black beard and bushy eyebrows. A bit of his ear had been
+shot or cut out," Sheppard replied.
+
+"Jenks, one of Bing Legget's border-hawks."
+
+"You have his name right. And who may Bing Legget be?"
+
+"He's an outlaw. Jenks has been tryin' to lead you into a trap. Likely
+he expected those Injuns to show up a day or two ago. Somethin' went
+wrong with the plan, I reckon. Mebbe he was waitin' for five Shawnees,
+an' mebbe he'll never see three of 'em again."
+
+Something suggestive, cold, and grim, in the last words did not escape
+the listeners.
+
+"How far are we from Fort Henry?" asked Sheppard.
+
+"Eighteen miles as a crow flies; longer by trail."
+
+"Treachery!" exclaimed the old man. "We were no more than that this
+morning. It is indeed fortunate that you found us. I take it you are
+from Fort Henry, and will guide us there? I am an old friend of
+Colonel Zane's. He will appreciate any kindness you may show us. Of
+course you know him?"
+
+"I am Jonathan Zane."
+
+Sheppard suddenly realized that he was facing the most celebrated
+scout on the border. In Revolutionary times Zane's fame had extended
+even to the far Atlantic Colonies.
+
+"And your companion?" asked Sheppard with keen interest. He guessed
+what might be told. Border lore coupled Jonathan Zane with a strange
+and terrible character, a border Nemesis, a mysterious, shadowy,
+elusive man, whom few pioneers ever saw, but of whom all knew.
+
+"Wetzel," answered Zane.
+
+With one accord the travelers gazed curiously at Zane's silent
+companion. In the dim background of the glow cast by the fire, he
+stood a gigantic figure, dark, quiet, and yet with something
+intangible in his shadowy outline.
+
+Suddenly he appeared to merge into the gloom as if he really were a
+phantom. A warning, "Hist!" came from the bushes.
+
+With one swift kick Zane scattered the camp-fire.
+
+The travelers waited with bated breaths. They could hear nothing save
+the beating of their own hearts; they could not even see each other.
+
+"Better go to sleep," came in Zane's calm voice. What a relief it was!
+"We'll keep watch, an' at daybreak guide you to Fort Henry."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Colonel Zane, a rugged, stalwart pioneer, with a strong, dark face,
+sat listening to his old friend's dramatic story. At its close a
+genial smile twinkled in his fine dark eyes.
+
+"Well, well, Sheppard, no doubt it was a thrilling adventure to you,"
+he said. "It might have been a little more interesting, and doubtless
+would, had I not sent Wetzel and Jonathan to look you up."
+
+"You did? How on earth did you know I was on the border? I counted
+much on the surprise I should give you."
+
+"My Indian runners leave Fort Pitt ahead of any travelers, and
+acquaint me with particulars."
+
+"I remembered a fleet-looking Indian who seemed to be asking for
+information about us, when we arrived at Fort Pitt. I am sorry I did
+not take the fur-trader's advice in regard to the guide. But I was in
+such a hurry to come, and didn't feel able to bear the expense of a
+raft or boat that we might come by river. My nephew brought
+considerable gold, and I all my earthly possessions."
+
+"All's well that ends well," replied Colonel Zane cheerily. "But we
+must thank Providence that Wetzel and Jonathan came up in the nick
+of time."
+
+"Indeed, yes. I'm not likely to forget those fierce savages. How they
+slipped off into the darkness! I wonder if Wetzel pursued them? He
+disappeared last night, and we did not see him again. In fact we
+hardly had a fair look at him. I question if I should recognize him
+now, unless by his great stature."
+
+"He was ahead of Jonathan on the trail. That is Wetzel's way. In times
+of danger he is seldom seen, yet is always near. But come, let us go
+out and look around. I am running up a log cabin which will come in
+handy for you."
+
+They passed out into the shade of pine and maples. A winding path led
+down a gentle slope. On the hillside under a spreading tree a throng
+of bearded pioneers, clad in faded buckskins and wearing white-ringed
+coonskin caps, were erecting a log cabin.
+
+"Life here on the border is keen, hard, invigorating," said Colonel
+Zane. "I tell you, George Sheppard, in spite of your gray hair and
+your pretty daughter, you have come out West because you want to live
+among men who do things."
+
+"Colonel, I won't gainsay I've still got hot blood," replied Sheppard;
+"but I came to Fort Henry for land. My old home in Williamsburg has
+fallen into ruin together with the fortunes of my family. I brought my
+daughter and my nephew because I wanted them to take root in
+new soil."
+
+"Well, George, right glad we are to have you. Where are your sons? I
+remember them, though 'tis sixteen long years since I left old
+Williamsburg."
+
+"Gone. The Revolution took my sons. Helen is the last of the family."
+
+"Well, well, indeed that's hard. Independence has cost you colonists
+as big a price as border-freedom has us pioneers. Come, old friend,
+forget the past. A new life begins for you here, and it will be one
+which gives you much. See, up goes a cabin; that will soon be
+your home."
+
+Sheppard's eye marked the sturdy pioneers and a fast diminishing pile
+of white-oak logs.
+
+"Ho-heave!" cried a brawny foreman.
+
+A dozen stout shoulders sagged beneath a well-trimmed log.
+
+"Ho-heave!" yelled the foreman.
+
+"See, up she goes," cried the colonel, "and to-morrow night she'll
+shed rain."
+
+They walked down a sandy lane bounded on the right by a wide, green
+clearing, and on the left by a line of chestnuts and maples, outposts
+of the thick forests beyond.
+
+"Yours is a fine site for a house," observed Sheppard, taking in the
+clean-trimmed field that extended up the hillside, a brook that
+splashed clear and noisy over the stones to tarry in a little
+grass-bound lake which forced water through half-hollowed logs into a
+spring house.
+
+"I think so; this is the fourth time I've put up a' cabin on this
+land," replied the colonel.
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"The redskins are keen to burn things."
+
+Sheppard laughed at the pioneer's reply. "It's not difficult, Colonel
+Zane, to understand why Fort Henry has stood all these years, with you
+as its leader. Certainly the location for your cabin is the finest in
+the settlement. What a view!"
+
+High upon a bluff overhanging the majestic, slow-winding Ohio, the
+colonel's cabin afforded a commanding position from which to view the
+picturesque valley. Sheppard's eye first caught the outline of the
+huge, bold, time-blackened fort which frowned protectingly over
+surrounding log-cabins; then he saw the wide-sweeping river with its
+verdant islands, golden, sandy bars, and willow-bordered shores, while
+beyond, rolling pastures of wavy grass merging into green forests that
+swept upward with slow swell until lost in the dim purple of distant
+mountains.
+
+"Sixteen years ago I came out of the thicket upon yonder bluff, and
+saw this valley. I was deeply impressed by its beauty, but more by its
+wonderful promise."
+
+"Were you alone?"
+
+"I and my dog. There had been a few white men before me on the river;
+but I was the first to see this glorious valley from the bluff. Now,
+George, I'll let you have a hundred acres of well-cleared land. The
+soil is so rich you can raise two crops in one season. With some
+stock, and a few good hands, you'll soon be a busy man."
+
+"I didn't expect so much land; I can't well afford to pay for it."
+
+"Talk to me of payment when the farm yields an income. Is this young
+nephew of yours strong and willing?"
+
+"He is, and has gold enough to buy a big farm."
+
+"Let him keep his money, and make a comfortable home for some good
+lass. We marry our young people early out here. And your daughter,
+George, is she fitted for this hard border life?"
+
+"Never fear for Helen."
+
+"The brunt of this pioneer work falls on our women. God bless them,
+how heroic they've been! The life here is rough for a man, let alone a
+woman. But it is a man's game. We need girls, girls who will bear
+strong men. Yet I am always saddened when I see one come out on
+the border."
+
+"I think I knew what I was bringing Helen to, and she didn't flinch,"
+said Sheppard, somewhat surprised at the tone in which the
+colonel spoke.
+
+"No one knows until he has lived on the border. Well, well, all this
+is discouraging to you. Ah! here is Miss Helen with my sister."
+
+The colonel's fine, dark face lost its sternness, and brightened with
+a smile.
+
+"I hope you rested well after your long ride."
+
+"I am seldom tired, and I have been made most comfortable. I thank you
+and your sister," replied the girl, giving Colonel Zane her hand, and
+including both him and his sister in her grateful glance.
+
+The colonel's sister was a slender, handsome young woman, whose dark
+beauty showed to most effective advantage by the contrast with her
+companion's fair skin, golden hair, and blue eyes.
+
+Beautiful as was Helen Sheppard, it was her eyes that held Colonel
+Zane irresistibly. They were unusually large, of a dark purple-blue
+that changed, shaded, shadowed with her every thought.
+
+"Come, let us walk," Colonel Zane said abruptly, and, with Mr.
+Sheppard, followed the girls down the path. He escorted them to the
+fort, showed a long room with little squares cut in the rough-hewn
+logs, many bullet holes, fire-charred timbers, and dark stains,
+terribly suggestive of the pain and heroism which the defense of that
+rude structure had cost.
+
+Under Helen's eager questioning Colonel Zane yielded to his weakness
+for story-telling, and recited the history of the last siege of Fort
+Henry; how the renegade Girty swooped down upon the settlement with
+hundreds of Indians and British soldiers; how for three days of
+whistling bullets, flaming arrows, screeching demons, fire, smoke, and
+attack following attack, the brave defenders stood at their posts,
+there to die before yielding.
+
+"Grand!" breathed Helen, and her eyes glowed. "It was then Betty Zane
+ran with the powder? Oh! I've heard the story."
+
+"Let my sister tell you of that," said the colonel, smiling.
+
+"You! Was it you?" And Helen's eyes glowed brighter with the light of
+youth's glory in great deeds.
+
+"My sister has been wedded and widowed since then," said Colonel Zane,
+reading in Helen's earnest scrutiny of his sister's calm, sad face a
+wonder if this quiet woman could be the fearless and famed
+Elizabeth Zane.
+
+Impulsively Helen's hand closed softly over her companion's. Out of
+the girlish sympathetic action a warm friendship was born.
+
+"I imagine things do happen here," said Mr. Sheppard, hoping to hear
+more from Colonel Zane.
+
+The colonel smiled grimly.
+
+"Every summer during fifteen years has been a bloody one on the
+border. The sieges of Fort Henry, and Crawford's defeat, the biggest
+things we ever knew out here, are matters of history; of course you
+are familiar with them. But the numberless Indian forays and attacks,
+the women who have been carried into captivity by renegades, the
+murdered farmers, in fact, ceaseless war never long directed at any
+point, but carried on the entire length of the river, are matters
+known only to the pioneers. Within five miles of Fort Henry I can show
+you where the laurel bushes grow three feet high over the ashes of two
+settlements, and many a clearing where some unfortunate pioneer had
+staked his claim and thrown up a log cabin, only to die fighting for
+his wife and children. Between here and Fort Pitt there is only one
+settlement, Yellow Creek, and most of its inhabitants are survivors of
+abandoned villages farther up the river. Last summer we had the
+Moravian Massacre, the blackest, most inhuman deed ever committed.
+Since then Simon Girty and his bloody redskins have lain low."
+
+"You must always have had a big force," said Sheppard.
+
+"We've managed always to be strong enough, though there never were a
+large number of men here. During the last siege I had only forty in
+the fort, counting men, women and boys. But I had pioneers and women
+who could handle a rifle, and the best bordermen on the frontier."
+
+"Do you make a distinction between pioneers and bordermen?" asked
+Sheppard.
+
+"Indeed, yes. I am a pioneer; a borderman is an Indian hunter, or
+scout. For years my cabins housed Andrew Zane, Sam and John McCollock,
+Bill Metzar, and John and Martin Wetzel, all of whom are dead. Not one
+saved his scalp. Fort Henry is growing; it has pioneers, rivermen,
+soldiers, but only two bordermen. Wetzel and Jonathan are the only
+ones we have left of those great men."
+
+"They must be old," mused Helen, with a dreamy glow still in her eyes.
+
+"Well, Miss Helen, not in years, as you mean. Life here is old in
+experience; few pioneers, and no bordermen, live to a great age.
+Wetzel is about forty, and my brother Jonathan still a young man; but
+both are old in border lore."
+
+Earnestly, as a man who loves his subject, Colonel Zane told his
+listeners of these two most prominent characters of the border.
+Sixteen years previously, when but boys in years, they had cast in
+their lot with his, and journeyed over the Virginian Mountains, Wetzel
+to devote his life to the vengeful calling he had chosen, and Jonathan
+to give rein to an adventurous spirit and love of the wilds. By some
+wonderful chance, by cunning, woodcraft, or daring, both men had lived
+through the years of border warfare which had brought to a close the
+careers of all their contemporaries.
+
+For many years Wetzel preferred solitude to companionship; he roamed
+the wilderness in pursuit of Indians, his life-long foes, and seldom
+appeared at the settlement except to bring news of an intended raid of
+the savages. Jonathan also spent much time alone in the woods, or
+scouting along the river. But of late years a friendship had ripened
+between the two bordermen. Mutual interest had brought them together
+on the trail of a noted renegade, and when, after many long days of
+patient watching and persistent tracking, the outlaw paid an awful
+penalty for his bloody deeds, these lone and silent men were friends.
+
+Powerful in build, fleet as deer, fearless and tireless, Wetzel's
+peculiar bloodhound sagacity, ferocity, and implacability, balanced by
+Jonathan's keen intelligence and judgment caused these bordermen to
+become the bane of redmen and renegades. Their fame increased with
+each succeeding summer, until now the people of the settlement looked
+upon wonderful deeds of strength and of woodcraft as a matter of
+course, rejoicing in the power and skill with which these men
+were endowed.
+
+By common consent the pioneers attributed any mysterious deed, from
+the finding of a fat turkey on a cabin doorstep, to the discovery of a
+savage scalped and pulled from his ambush near a settler's spring, to
+Wetzel and Jonathan. All the more did they feel sure of this
+conclusion because the bordermen never spoke of their deeds. Sometimes
+a pioneer living on the outskirts of the settlement would be awakened
+in the morning by a single rifle shot, and on peering out would see a
+dead Indian lying almost across his doorstep, while beyond, in the
+dim, gray mist, a tall figure stealing away. Often in the twilight on
+a summer evening, while fondling his children and enjoying his smoke
+after a hard day's labor in the fields, this same settler would see
+the tall, dark figure of Jonathan Zane step noiselessly out of a
+thicket, and learn that he must take his family and flee at once to
+the fort for safety. When a settler was murdered, his children carried
+into captivity by Indians, and the wife given over to the power of
+some brutal renegade, tragedies wofully frequent on the border, Wetzel
+and Jonathan took the trail alone. Many a white woman was returned
+alive and, sometimes, unharmed to her relatives; more than one maiden
+lived to be captured, rescued, and returned to her lover, while almost
+numberless were the bones of brutal redmen lying in the deep and
+gloomy woods, or bleaching on the plains, silent, ghastly reminders of
+the stern justice meted out by these two heroes.
+
+"Such are my two bordermen, Miss Sheppard. The fort there, and all
+these cabins, would be only black ashes, save for them, and as for us,
+our wives and children--God only knows."
+
+"Haven't they wives and children, too?" asked Helen.
+
+"No," answered Colonel Zane, with his genial smile. "Such joys are not
+for bordermen."
+
+"Why not? Fine men like them deserve happiness," declared Helen.
+
+"It is necessary we have such," said the colonel simply, "and they
+cannot be bordermen unless free as the air blows. Wetzel and Jonathan
+have never had sweethearts. I believe Wetzel loved a lass once; but he
+was an Indian-killer whose hands were red with blood. He silenced his
+heart, and kept to his chosen, lonely life. Jonathan does not seem to
+realize that women exist to charm, to please, to be loved and married.
+Once we twitted him about his brothers doing their duty by the border,
+whereupon he flashed out: 'My life is the border's: my sweetheart is
+the North Star!'"
+
+Helen dreamily watched the dancing, dimpling waves that broke on the
+stones of the river shore. All unconscious of the powerful impression
+the colonel's recital had made upon her, she was feeling the greatness
+of the lives of these bordermen, and the glory it would now be for her
+to share with others the pride in their protection.
+
+"Say, Sheppard, look here," said Colonel Zane, on the return to his
+cabin, "that girl of yours has a pair of eyes. I can't forget the way
+they flashed! They'll cause more trouble here among my garrison than
+would a swarm of redskins."
+
+"No! You don't mean it! Out here in this wilderness?" queried Sheppard
+doubtfully.
+
+"Well, I do."
+
+"O Lord! What a time I've had with that girl! There was one man
+especially, back home, who made our lives miserable. He was rich and
+well born; but Helen would have none of him. He got around me, old
+fool that I am! Practically stole what was left of my estate, and
+gambled it away when Helen said she'd die before giving herself to
+him. It was partly on his account that I brought her away. Then there
+were a lot of moon-eyed beggars after her all the time, and she's
+young and full of fire. I hoped I'd marry her to some farmer out here,
+and end my days in peace."
+
+"Peace? With eyes like those? Never on this green earth," and Colonel
+Zane laughed as he slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry,
+old fellow. You can't help her having those changing dark-blue eyes
+any more than you can help being proud of them. They have won me,
+already, susceptible old backwoodsman! I'll help you with this
+spirited young lady. I've had experience, Sheppard, and don't you
+forget it. First, my sister, a Zane all through, which is saying
+enough. Then as sweet and fiery a little Indian princess as ever
+stepped in a beaded moccasin, and since, more than one beautiful,
+impulsive creature. Being in authority, I suppose it's natural that
+all the work, from keeping the garrison ready against an attack, to
+straightening out love affairs, should fall upon me. I'll take the
+care off your shoulders; I'll keep these young dare-devils from
+killing each other over Miss Helen's favors. I certainly--Hello! There
+are strangers at the gate. Something's up."
+
+Half a dozen rough-looking men had appeared from round the corner of
+the cabin, and halted at the gate.
+
+"Bill Elsing, and some of his men from Yellow Creek," said Colonel
+Zane, as he went toward the group.
+
+"Hullo, Kurnel," was the greeting of the foremost, evidently the
+leader. "We've lost six head of hosses over our way, an' are out
+lookin' 'em up."
+
+"The deuce you have! Say, this horse-stealing business is getting
+interesting. What did you come in for?"
+
+"Wal, we meets Jonathan on the ridge about sunup, an' he sent us back
+lickety-cut. Said he had two of the hosses corralled, an' mebbe Wetzel
+could git the others."
+
+"That's strange," replied Colonel Zane thoughtfully.
+
+"'Pears to me Jack and Wetzel hev some redskins treed, an' didn't want
+us to spile the fun. Mebbe there wasn't scalps enough to go round.
+Anyway, we come in, an' we'll hang up here to-day."
+
+"Bill, who's doing this horse-stealing?"
+
+"Damn if I know. It's a mighty pert piece of work. I've a mind it's
+some slick white fellar, with Injuns backin' him."
+
+Helen noted, when she was once more indoors, that Colonel Zane's wife
+appeared worried. Her usual placid expression was gone. She put off
+the playful overtures of her two bright boys with unusual
+indifference, and turned to her husband with anxious questioning as to
+whether the strangers brought news of Indians. Upon being assured that
+such was not the case, she looked relieved, and explained to Helen
+that she had seen armed men come so often to consult the colonel
+regarding dangerous missions and expeditions, that the sight of a
+stranger caused her unspeakable dread.
+
+"I am accustomed to danger, yet I can never control my fears for my
+husband and children," said Mrs. Zane. "The older I grow the more of a
+coward I am. Oh! this border life is sad for women. Only a little
+while ago my brother Samuel McColloch was shot and scalped right here
+on the river bank. He was going to the spring for a bucket of water. I
+lost another brother in almost the same way. Every day during the
+summer a husband and a father fall victim to some murderous Indian. My
+husband will go in the same way some day. The border claims them all."
+
+"Bessie, you must not show your fears to our new friend. And, Miss
+Helen, don't believe she's the coward she would make out," said the
+colonel's sister smilingly.
+
+"Betty is right, Bess, don't frighten her," said Colonel Zane. "I'm
+afraid I talked too much to-day. But, Miss Helen, you were so
+interested, and are such a good listener, that I couldn't refrain.
+Once for all let me say that you will no doubt see stirring life here;
+but there is little danger of its affecting you. To be sure I think
+you'll have troubles; but not with Indians or outlaws."
+
+He winked at his wife and sister. At first Helen did not understand
+his sally, but then she blushed red all over her fair face.
+
+Some time after that, while unpacking her belongings, she heard the
+clatter of horses' hoofs on the rocky road, accompanied by loud
+voices. Running to the window, she saw a group of men at the gate.
+
+"Miss Sheppard, will you come out?" called Colonel Zane's sister from
+the door. "My brother Jonathan has returned."
+
+Helen joined Betty at the door, and looked over her shoulder.
+
+"Wal, Jack, ye got two on 'em, anyways," drawled a voice which she
+recognized as that of Elsing's.
+
+A man, lithe and supple, slipped from the back of one of the horses,
+and, giving the halter to Elsing with a single word, turned and
+entered the gate. Colonel Zane met him there.
+
+"Well, Jonathan, what's up?"
+
+"There's hell to pay," was the reply, and the speaker's voice rang
+clear and sharp.
+
+Colonel Zane laid his hand on his brother's shoulder, and thus they
+stood for a moment, singularly alike, and yet the sturdy pioneer was,
+somehow, far different from the dark-haired borderman.
+
+"I thought we'd trouble in store from the look on your face," said the
+colonel calmly. "I hope you haven't very bad news on the first day,
+for our old friends from Virginia."
+
+"Jonathan," cried Betty when he did not answer the colonel. At her
+call he half turned, and his dark eyes, steady, strained like those of
+a watching deer, sought his sister's face.
+
+"Betty, old Jake Lane was murdered by horse thieves yesterday, and
+Mabel Lane is gone."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Betty; but she said nothing more.
+
+Colonel Zane cursed inaudibly.
+
+"You know, Eb, I tried to keep Lane in the settlement for Mabel's
+sake. But he wanted to work that farm. I believe horse-stealing wasn't
+as much of an object as the girl. Pretty women are bad for the border,
+or any other place, I guess. Wetzel has taken the trail, and I came in
+because I've serious suspicions--I'll explain to you alone."
+
+The borderman bowed gravely to Helen, with a natural grace, and yet a
+manner that sat awkwardly upon him. The girl, slightly flushed, and
+somewhat confused by this meeting with the man around whom her
+romantic imagination had already woven a story, stood in the doorway
+after giving him a fleeting glance, the fairest, sweetest picture of
+girlish beauty ever seen.
+
+The men went into the house; but their voices came distinctly through
+the door.
+
+"Eb, if Bing Legget or Girty ever see that big-eyed lass, they'll have
+her even if Fort Henry has to be burned, an' in case they do get her,
+Wetzel an' I'll have taken our last trail."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Supper over, Colonel Zane led his guests to a side porch, where they
+were soon joined by Mrs. Zane and Betty. The host's two boys, Noah and
+Sammy, who had preceded them, were now astride the porch-rail and, to
+judge by their antics, were riding wild Indian mustangs.
+
+"It's quite cool," said Colonel Zane; "but I want you to see the
+sunset in the valley. A good many of your future neighbors may come
+over to-night for a word of welcome. It's the border custom."
+
+He was about to seat himself by the side of Mr. Sheppard, on a rustic
+bench, when a Negro maid appeared in the doorway carrying a smiling,
+black-eyed baby. Colonel Zane took the child and, holding it aloft,
+said with fatherly pride:
+
+"This is Rebecca Zane, the first girl baby born to the Zanes, and
+destined to be the belle of the border."
+
+"May I have her?" asked Helen softly, holding out her arms. She took
+the child, and placed it upon her knee where its look of solemnity
+soon changed to one of infantile delight.
+
+"Here come Nell and Jim," said Mrs. Zane, pointing toward the fort.
+
+"Yes, and there comes my brother Silas with his wife, too," added
+Colonel Zane. "The first couple are James Douns, our young minister,
+and Nell, his wife. They came out here a year or so ago. James had a
+brother Joe, the finest young fellow who ever caught the border fever.
+He was killed by one of the Girtys. His was a wonderful story, and
+some day you shall hear about the parson and his wife."
+
+"What's the border fever?" asked Mr. Sheppard.
+
+"It's what brought you out here," replied Colonel Zane with a hearty
+laugh.
+
+Helen gazed with interest at the couple now coming into the yard, and
+when they gained the porch she saw that the man was big and tall, with
+a frank, manly bearing, while his wife was a slender little woman with
+bright, sunny hair, and a sweet, smiling face. They greeted Helen and
+her father cordially.
+
+Next came Silas Zane, a typical bronzed and bearded pioneer, with his
+buxom wife. Presently a little group of villagers joined the party.
+They were rugged men, clad in faded buckskins, and sober-faced women
+who wore dresses of plain gray linsey. They welcomed the newcomers
+with simple, homely courtesy. Then six young frontiersmen appeared
+from around a corner of the cabin, advancing hesitatingly. To Helen
+they all looked alike, tall, awkward, with brown faces and big hands.
+When Colonel Zane cheerily cried out to them, they stumbled forward
+with evident embarrassment, each literally crushing Helen's hand in
+his horny palm. Afterward they leaned on the rail and stole glances
+at her.
+
+Soon a large number of villagers were on the porch or in the yard.
+After paying their respects to Helen and her father they took part in
+a general conversation. Two or three girls, the latest callers, were
+surrounded by half a dozen young fellows, and their laughter sounded
+high above the hum of voices.
+
+Helen gazed upon this company with mingled feelings of relief and
+pleasure. She had been more concerned regarding the young people with
+whom her lot might be cast, than the dangers of which others had told.
+She knew that on the border there was no distinction of rank. Though
+she came of an old family, and, during her girlhood, had been
+surrounded by refinement, even luxury, she had accepted cheerfully the
+reverses of fortune, and was determined to curb the pride which had
+been hers. It was necessary she should have friends. Warm-hearted,
+impulsive and loving, she needed to have around her those in whom she
+could confide. Therefore it was with sincere pleasure she understood
+how groundless were her fears and knew that if she did not find good,
+true friends the fault would be her own. She saw at a glance that the
+colonel's widowed sister was her equal, perhaps her superior, in
+education and breeding, while Nellie Douns was as well-bred and
+gracious a little lady as she had ever met. Then, the other girls,
+too, were charming, with frank wholesomeness and freedom.
+
+Concerning the young men, of whom there were about a dozen, Helen had
+hardly arrived at a conclusion. She liked the ruggedness, the signs of
+honest worth which clung to them. Despite her youth, she had been much
+sought after because of her personal attractions, and had thus added
+experience to the natural keen intuition all women possess. The
+glances of several of the men, particularly the bold regard of one
+Roger Brandt, whom Colonel Zane introduced, she had seen before, and
+learned to dislike. On the whole, however, she was delighted with the
+prospect of new friends and future prosperity, and she felt even
+greater pleasure in the certainty that her father shared her
+gratification.
+
+Suddenly she became aware that the conversation had ceased. She looked
+up to see the tall, lithe form of Jonathan Zane as he strode across
+the porch. She could see that a certain constraint had momentarily
+fallen upon the company. It was an involuntary acknowledgment of the
+borderman's presence, of a presence that worked on all alike with a
+subtle, strong magnetism.
+
+"Ah, Jonathan, come out to see the sunset? It's unusually fine
+to-night," said Colonel Zane.
+
+With hardly more than a perceptible bow to those present, the
+borderman took a seat near the rail, and, leaning upon it, directed
+his gaze westward.
+
+Helen sat so near she could have touched him. She was conscious of the
+same strange feeling, and impelling sense of power, which had come
+upon her so strongly at first sight of him. More than that, a lively
+interest had been aroused in her. This borderman was to her a new and
+novel character. She was amused at learning that here was a young man
+absolutely indifferent to the charms of the opposite sex, and although
+hardly admitting such a thing, she believed it would be possible to
+win him from his indifference. On raising her eyelids, it was with the
+unconcern which a woman feigns when suspecting she is being regarded
+with admiring eyes. But Jonathan Zane might not have known of her
+presence, for all the attention he paid her. Therefore, having a good
+opportunity to gaze at this borderman of daring deeds, Helen regarded
+him closely.
+
+He was clad from head to foot in smooth, soft buckskin which fitted
+well his powerful frame. Beaded moccasins, leggings bound high above
+the knees, hunting coat laced and fringed, all had the neat, tidy
+appearance due to good care. He wore no weapons. His hair fell in a
+raven mass over his shoulders. His profile was regular, with a long,
+straight nose, strong chin, and eyes black as night. They were now
+fixed intently on the valley. The whole face gave an impression of
+serenity, of calmness.
+
+Helen was wondering if the sad, almost stern, tranquility of that face
+ever changed, when the baby cooed and held out its chubby little
+hands. Jonathan's smile, which came quickly, accompanied by a warm
+light in the eyes, relieved Helen of an unaccountable repugnance she
+had begun to feel toward the borderman. That smile, brief as a flash,
+showed his gentle kindness and told that he was not a creature who had
+set himself apart from human life and love.
+
+As he took little Rebecca, one of his hands touched Helen's. If he had
+taken heed of the contact, as any ordinary man might well have, she
+would, perhaps, have thought nothing about it, but because he did not
+appear to realize that her hand had been almost inclosed in his, she
+could not help again feeling his singular personality. She saw that
+this man had absolutely no thought of her. At the moment this did not
+awaken resentment, for with all her fire and pride she was not vain;
+but amusement gave place to a respect which came involuntarily.
+
+Little Rebecca presently manifested the faithlessness peculiar to her
+sex, and had no sooner been taken upon Jonathan's knee than she cried
+out to go back to Helen.
+
+"Girls are uncommon coy critters," said he, with a grave smile in his
+eyes. He handed back the child, and once more was absorbed in the
+setting sun.
+
+Helen looked down the valley to behold the most beautiful spectacle
+she had ever seen. Between the hills far to the west, the sky flamed
+with a red and gold light. The sun was poised above the river, and the
+shimmering waters merged into a ruddy horizon. Long rays of crimson
+fire crossed the smooth waters. A few purple clouds above caught the
+refulgence, until aided by the delicate rose and blue space beyond,
+they became many hued ships sailing on a rainbow sea. Each second saw
+a gorgeous transformation. Slowly the sun dipped into the golden
+flood; one by one the clouds changed from crimson to gold, from gold
+to rose, and then to gray; slowly all the tints faded until, as the
+sun slipped out of sight, the brilliance gave way to the soft
+afterglow of warm lights. These in turn slowly toned down into
+gray twilight.
+
+Helen retired to her room soon afterward, and, being unusually
+thoughtful, sat down by the window. She reviewed the events of this
+first day of her new life on the border. Her impressions had been so
+many, so varied, that she wanted to distinguish them. First she felt
+glad, with a sweet, warm thankfulness, that her father seemed so
+happy, so encouraged by the outlook. Breaking old ties had been, she
+knew, no child's play for him. She realized also that it had been done
+solely because there had been nothing left to offer her in the old
+home, and in a new one were hope and possibilities. Then she was
+relieved at getting away from the attentions of a man whose
+persistence had been most annoying to her. From thoughts of her
+father, and the old life, she came to her new friends of the present.
+She was so grateful for their kindness. She certainly would do all in
+her power to win and keep their esteem.
+
+Somewhat of a surprise was it to her, that she reserved for Jonathan
+Zane the last and most prominent place in her meditations. She
+suddenly asked herself how she regarded this fighting borderman. She
+recalled her unbounded enthusiasm for the man as Colonel Zane had told
+of him; then her first glimpse, and her surprise and admiration at the
+lithe-limbed young giant; then incredulity, amusement, and respect
+followed in swift order, after which an unaccountable coldness that
+was almost resentment. Helen was forced to admit that she did not know
+how to regard him, but surely he was a man, throughout every inch of
+his superb frame, and one who took life seriously, with neither
+thought nor time for the opposite sex. And this last brought a blush
+to her cheek, for she distinctly remembered she had expected, if not
+admiration, more than passing notice from this hero of the border.
+
+Presently she took a little mirror from a table near where she sat.
+Holding it to catch the fast-fading light, she studied her face
+seriously.
+
+"Helen Sheppard, I think on the occasion of your arrival in a new
+country a little plain talk will be wholesome. Somehow or other,
+perhaps because of a crowd of idle men back there in the colonies,
+possibly from your own misguided fancy, you imagined you were fair to
+look at. It is well to be undeceived."
+
+Scorn spoke in Helen's voice. She was angry because of having been
+interested in a man, and allowed that interest to betray her into a
+girlish expectation that he would treat her as all other men had. The
+mirror, even in the dim light, spoke more truly than she, for it
+caught the golden tints of her luxuriant hair, the thousand beautiful
+shadows in her great, dark eyes, the white glory of a face fair as a
+star, and the swelling outline of neck and shoulders.
+
+With a sudden fiery impetuosity she flung the glass to the floor,
+where it was broken into several pieces.
+
+"How foolish of me! What a temper I have!" she exclaimed repentantly.
+"I'm glad I have another glass. Wouldn't Mr. Jonathan Zane, borderman,
+Indian fighter, hero of a hundred battles and never a sweetheart, be
+flattered? No, most decidedly he wouldn't. He never looked at me. I
+don't think I expected that; I'm sure I didn't want it; but still he
+might have--Oh! what am I thinking, and he a stranger?"
+
+Before Helen lost herself in slumber on that eventful evening, she
+vowed to ignore the borderman; assured herself that she did not want
+to see him again, and, rather inconsistently, that she would cure him
+of his indifference.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Colonel Zane's guests had retired, and the villagers were gone to
+their homes, he was free to consult with Jonathan.
+
+"Well, Jack," he said, "I'm ready to hear about the horse thieves."
+
+"Wetzel makes it out the man who's runnin' this hoss-stealin' is
+located right here in Fort Henry," answered the borderman.
+
+The colonel had lived too long on the frontier to show surprise; he
+hummed a tune while the genial expression faded slowly from his face.
+
+"Last count there were one hundred and ten men at the fort," he
+replied thoughtfully. "I know over a hundred, and can trust them.
+There are some new fellows on the boats, and several strangers hanging
+round Metzar's."
+
+"'Pears to Lew an' me that this fellar is a slick customer, an' one
+who's been here long enough to know our hosses an' where we
+keep them."
+
+"I see. Like Miller, who fooled us all, even Betty, when he stole our
+powder and then sold us to Girty," rejoined Colonel Zane grimly.
+
+"Exactly, only this fellar is slicker an' more desperate than Miller."
+
+"Right you are, Jack, for the man who is trusted and betrays us, must
+be desperate. Does he realize what he'll get if we ever find out, or
+is he underrating us?"
+
+"He knows all right, an' is matchin' his cunnin' against our'n."
+
+"Tell me what you and Wetzel learned."
+
+The borderman proceeded to relate the events that had occurred during
+a recent tramp in the forest with Wetzel. While returning from a hunt
+in a swamp several miles over the ridge, back of Fort Henry, they ran
+across the trail of three Indians. They followed this until darkness
+set in, when both laid down to rest and wait for the early dawn, that
+time most propitious for taking the savage by surprise. On resuming
+the trail they found that other Indians had joined the party they were
+tracking. To the bordermen this was significant of some unusual
+activity directed toward the settlement. Unable to learn anything
+definite from the moccasin traces, they hurried up on the trail to
+find that the Indians had halted.
+
+Wetzel and Jonathan saw from their covert that the savages had a woman
+prisoner. A singular feature about it all was that the Indians
+remained in the same place all day, did not light a camp-fire, and
+kept a sharp lookout. The bordermen crept up as close as safe, and
+remained on watch during the day and night.
+
+Early next morning, when the air was fading from black to gray, the
+silence was broken by the snapping of twigs and a tremor of the
+ground. The bordermen believed another company of Indians was
+approaching; but they soon saw it was a single white man leading a
+number of horses. He departed before daybreak. Wetzel and Jonathan
+could not get a clear view of him owing to the dim light; but they
+heard his voice, and afterwards found the imprint of his moccasins.
+They did, however, recognize the six horses as belonging to settlers
+in Yellow Creek.
+
+While Jonathan and Wetzel were consulting as to what it was best to
+do, the party of Indians divided, four going directly west, and the
+others north. Wetzel immediately took the trail of the larger party
+with the prisoner and four of the horses. Jonathan caught two of the
+animals which the Indians had turned loose, and tied them in the
+forest. He then started after the three Indians who had gone
+northward.
+
+"Well?" Colonel Zane said impatiently, when Jonathan hesitated in his
+story.
+
+"One got away," he said reluctantly. "I barked him as he was runnin'
+like a streak through the bushes, an' judged that he was hard hit. I
+got the hosses, an' turned back on the trail of the white man."
+
+"Where did it end?"
+
+"In that hard-packed path near the blacksmith shop. An' the fellar
+steps as light as an Injun."
+
+"He's here, then, sure as you're born. We've lost no horses yet, but
+last week old Sam heard a noise in the barn, and on going there found
+Betty's mare out of her stall."
+
+"Some one as knows the lay of the land had been after her," suggested
+Jonathan.
+
+"You can bet on that. We've got to find him before we lose all the
+fine horse-flesh we own. Where do these stolen animals go? Indians
+would steal any kind; but this thief takes only the best."
+
+"I'm to meet Wetzel on the ridge soon, an' then we'll know, for he's
+goin' to find out where the hosses are taken."
+
+"That'll help some. On the way back you found where the white girl had
+been taken from. Murdered father, burned cabin, the usual deviltry."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Poor Mabel! Do you think this white thief had anything to do with
+carrying her away?"
+
+"No. Wetzel says that's Bing Legget's work. The Shawnees were members
+of his gang."
+
+"Well, Jack, what'll I do?"
+
+"Keep quiet an' wait," was the borderman's answer.
+
+Colonel Zane, old pioneer and frontiersman though he was, shuddered as
+he went to his room. His brother's dark look, and his deadly calmness,
+were significant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+To those few who saw Jonathan Zane in the village, it seemed as if he
+was in his usual quiet and dreamy state. The people were accustomed to
+his silence, and long since learned that what little time he spent in
+the settlement was not given to sociability. In the morning he
+sometimes lay with Colonel Zane's dog, Chief, by the side of a spring
+under an elm tree, and in the afternoon strolled aimlessly along the
+river bluff, or on the hillside. At night he sat on his brother's
+porch smoking a long Indian pipe. Since that day, now a week past,
+when he had returned with the stolen horses, his movements and habits
+were precisely what would have been expected of an unsuspicious
+borderman.
+
+In reality, however, Jonathan was not what he seemed. He knew all that
+was going on in the settlement. Hardly a bird could have entered the
+clearing unobserved.
+
+At night, after all the villagers were in bed, he stole cautiously
+about the stockade, silencing with familiar word the bristling
+watch-hounds, and went from barn to barn, ending his stealthy tramp at
+the corral where Colonel Zane kept his thoroughbreds.
+
+But all this scouting by night availed nothing. No unusual event
+occurred, not even the barking of a dog, a suspicious rustling among
+the thickets, or whistling of a night-hawk had been heard.
+
+Vainly the borderman strained ears to catch some low night-signal
+given by waiting Indians to the white traitor within the settlement.
+By day there was even less to attract the sharp-eyed watcher. The
+clumsy river boats, half raft, half sawn lumber, drifted down the Ohio
+on their first and last voyage, discharged their cargoes of grain,
+liquor, or merchandise, and were broken up. Their crews came back on
+the long overland journey to Fort Pitt, there to man another craft.
+The garrison at the fort performed their customary duties; the
+pioneers tilled the fields; the blacksmith scattered sparks, the
+wheelwright worked industriously at his bench, and the housewives
+attended to their many cares. No strangers arrived at Fort Henry. The
+quiet life of the village was uninterrupted.
+
+Near sunset of a long day Jonathan strolled down the sandy,
+well-trodden path toward Metzar's inn. He did not drink, and
+consequently seldom visited the rude, dark, ill-smelling bar-room.
+When occasion demanded his presence there, he was evidently not
+welcome. The original owner, a sturdy soldier and pioneer, came to
+Fort Henry when Colonel Zane founded the settlement, and had been
+killed during Girty's last attack. His successor, another Metzar, was,
+according to Jonathan's belief, as bad as the whiskey he dispensed.
+More than one murder had been committed at the inn; countless fatal
+knife and tomahawk fights had stained red the hard clay floor; and
+more than one desperate character had been harbored there. Once
+Colonel Zane sent Wetzel there to invite a thief and outlaw to quit
+the settlement, with the not unexpected result that it became
+necessary the robber be carried out.
+
+Jonathan thought of the bad name the place bore all over the frontier,
+and wondered if Metzar could tell anything about the horse-thieves.
+When the borderman bent his tall frame to enter the low-studded door
+he fancied he saw a dark figure disappear into a room just behind the
+bar. A roughly-clad, heavily-bearded man turned hastily at the
+same moment.
+
+"Hullo," he said gruffly.
+
+"H' are you, Metzar. I just dropped in to see if I could make a trade
+for your sorrel mare," replied Jonathan. Being well aware that the
+innkeeper would not part with his horse, the borderman had made this
+announcement as his reason for entering the bar-room.
+
+"Nope, I'll allow you can't," replied Metzar.
+
+As he turned to go, Jonathan's eyes roamed around the bar-room.
+Several strangers of shiftless aspect bleared at him.
+
+"They wouldn't steal a pumpkin," muttered Jonathan to himself as he
+left the inn. Then he added suspiciously, "Metzar was talkin' to some
+one, an' 'peared uneasy. I never liked Metzar. He'll bear watchin'."
+
+The borderman passed on down the path thinking of what he had heard
+against Metzar. The colonel had said that the man was prosperous for
+an innkeeper who took pelts, grain or meat in exchange for rum. The
+village gossips disliked him because he was unmarried, taciturn, and
+did not care for their company. Jonathan reflected also on the fact
+that Indians were frequently coming to the inn, and this made him
+distrustful of the proprietor. It was true that Colonel Zane had
+red-skinned visitors, but there was always good reason for their
+coming. Jonathan had seen, during the Revolution, more than one
+trusted man proven to be a traitor, and the conviction settled upon
+him that some quiet scouting would show up the innkeeper as aiding the
+horse-thieves if not actually in league with them.
+
+"Good evening, Jonathan Zane."
+
+This greeting in a woman's clear voice brought Jonathan out from his
+reveries. He glanced up to see Helen Sheppard standing in the doorway
+of her father's cabin.
+
+"Evenin', miss," he said with a bow, and would have passed on.
+
+"Wait," she cried, and stepped out of the door.
+
+He waited by the gate with a manner which showed that such a summons
+was novel to him.
+
+Helen, piqued at his curt greeting, had asked him to wait without any
+idea of what she would say. Coming slowly down the path she felt again
+a subtle awe of this borderman. Regretting her impulsiveness, she lost
+confidence.
+
+Gaining the gate she looked up intending to speak; but was unable to
+do so as she saw how cold and grave was his face, and how piercing
+were his eyes. She flushed slightly, and then, conscious of an
+embarrassment new and strange to her, blushed rosy red, making, as it
+seemed to her, a stupid remark about the sunset. When he took her
+words literally, and said the sunset was fine, she felt guilty of
+deceitfulness. Whatever Helen's faults, and they were many, she was
+honest, and because of not having looked at the sunset, but only
+wanting him to see her as did other men, the innocent ruse suddenly
+appeared mean and trifling.
+
+Then, with a woman's quick intuition, she understood that coquetries
+were lost on this borderman, and, with a smile, got the better of her
+embarrassment and humiliation by telling the truth.
+
+"I wanted to ask a favor of you, and I'm a little afraid."
+
+She spoke with girlish shyness, which increased as he stared at her.
+
+"Why--why do you look at me so?"
+
+"There's a lake over yonder which the Shawnees say is haunted by a
+woman they killed," he replied quietly. "You'd do for her spirit, so
+white an' beautiful in the silver moonlight."
+
+"So my white dress makes me look ghostly," she answered lightly,
+though deeply conscious of surprise and pleasure at such an unexpected
+reply from him. This borderman might be full of surprises. "Such a
+time as I had bringing my dresses out here! I don't know when I can
+wear them. This is the simplest one."
+
+"An' it's mighty new an' bewilderin' for the border," he replied with
+a smile in his eyes.
+
+"When these are gone I'll get no more except linsey ones," she said
+brightly, yet her eyes shone with a wistful uncertainty of the future.
+
+"Will you be happy here?"
+
+"I am happy. I have always wanted to be of some use in the world. I
+assure you, Master Zane, I am not the butterfly I seem. I have worked
+hard all day, that is, until your sister Betty came over. All the
+girls have helped me fix up the cabin until it's more comfortable than
+I ever dreamed one could be on the frontier. Father is well content
+here, and that makes me happy. I haven't had time for forebodings. The
+young men of Fort Henry have been--well, attentive; in fact, they've
+been here all the time."
+
+She laughed a little at this last remark, and looked demurely at him.
+
+"It's a frontier custom," he said.
+
+"Oh, indeed? Do all the young men call often and stay late?"
+
+"They do."
+
+"You didn't," she retorted. "You're the only one who hasn't been to
+see me."
+
+"I do not wait on the girls," he replied with a grave smile.
+
+"Oh, you don't? Do you expect them to wait on you?" she asked,
+feeling, now she had made this silent man talk, once more at her ease.
+
+"I am a borderman," replied Jonathan. There was a certain dignity or
+sadness in his answer which reminded Helen of Colonel Zane's portrayal
+of a borderman's life. It struck her keenly. Here was this young giant
+standing erect and handsome before her, as rugged as one of the ash
+trees of his beloved forest. Who could tell when his strong life might
+be ended by an Indian's hatchet?
+
+"For you, then, is there no such thing as friendship?" she asked.
+
+"On the border men are serious."
+
+This recalled his sister's conversation regarding the attentions of
+the young men, that they would follow her, fight for her, and give her
+absolutely no peace until one of them had carried her to his cabin
+a bride.
+
+She could not carry on the usual conventional conversation with this
+borderman, but remained silent for a time. She realized more keenly
+than ever before how different he was from other men, and watched
+closely as he stood gazing out over the river. Perhaps something she
+had said caused him to think of the many pleasures and joys he missed.
+But she could not be certain what was in his mind. She was not
+accustomed to impassive faces and cold eyes with unlit fires in their
+dark depths. More likely he was thinking of matters nearer to his
+wild, free life; of his companion Wetzel somewhere out beyond those
+frowning hills. Then she remembered that the colonel had told her of
+his brother's love for nature in all its forms; how he watched the
+shades of evening fall; lost himself in contemplation of the last
+copper glow flushing the western sky, or became absorbed in the bright
+stars. Possibly he had forgotten her presence. Darkness was rapidly
+stealing down upon them. The evening, tranquil and gray, crept over
+them with all its mystery. He was a part of it. She could not hope to
+understand him; but saw clearly that his was no common personality.
+She wanted to speak, to voice a sympathy strong within her; but she
+did not know what to say to this borderman.
+
+"If what your sister tells me of the border is true, I may soon need a
+friend," she said, after weighing well her words. She faced him
+modestly yet bravely, and looked him straight in the eyes. Because he
+did not reply she spoke again.
+
+"I mean such a friend as you or Wetzel."
+
+"You may count on both," he replied.
+
+"Thank you," she said softly, giving him her hand. "I shall not
+forget. One more thing. Will you break a borderman's custom, for
+my sake?"
+
+"How?"
+
+"Come to see me when you are in the settlement?"
+
+Helen said this in a low voice with just a sob in her breath; but she
+met his gaze fairly. Her big eyes were all aglow, alight with girlish
+appeal, and yet proud with a woman's honest demand for fair exchange.
+Promise was there, too, could he but read it, of wonderful
+possibilities.
+
+"No," he answered gently.
+
+Helen was not prepared for such a rebuff. She was interested in him,
+and not ashamed to show it. She feared only that he might
+misunderstand her; but to refuse her proffered friendship, that was
+indeed unexpected. Rude she thought it was, while from brow to curving
+throat her fair skin crimsoned. Then her face grew pale as the
+moonlight. Hard on her resentment had surged the swell of some new
+emotion strong and sweet. He refused her friendship because he did not
+dare accept it; because his life was not his own; because he was a
+borderman.
+
+While they stood thus, Jonathan looking perplexed and troubled,
+feeling he had hurt her, but knowing not what to say, and Helen with a
+warm softness in her eyes, the stalwart figure of a man loomed out of
+the gathering darkness.
+
+"Ah, Miss Helen! Good evening," he said.
+
+"Is it you, Mr. Brandt?" asked Helen. "Of course you know Mr. Zane."
+
+Brandt acknowledged Jonathan's bow with an awkwardness which had
+certainly been absent in his greeting to Helen. He started slightly
+when she spoke the borderman's name.
+
+A brief pause ensued.
+
+"Good night," said Jonathan, and left them.
+
+He had noticed Brandt's gesture of surprise, slight though it was, and
+was thinking about it as he walked away. Brandt may have been
+astonished at finding a borderman talking to a girl, and certainly, as
+far as Jonathan was concerned, the incident was without precedent.
+But, on the other hand, Brandt may have had another reason, and
+Jonathan tried to study out what it might be.
+
+He gave but little thought to Helen. That she might like him
+exceedingly well, did not come into his mind. He remembered his sister
+Betty's gossip regarding Helen and her admirers, and particularly
+Roger Brandt; but felt no great concern; he had no curiosity to know
+more of her. He admired Helen because she was beautiful, yet the
+feeling was much the same he might have experienced for a graceful
+deer, a full-foliaged tree, or a dark mossy-stoned bend in a murmuring
+brook. The girl's face and figure, perfect and alluring as they were,
+had not awakened him from his indifference.
+
+On arriving at his brother's home, he found the colonel and Betty
+sitting on the porch.
+
+"Eb, who is this Brandt?" he asked.
+
+"Roger Brandt? He's a French-Canadian; came here from Detroit a year
+ago. Why do you ask?"
+
+"I want to know more about him."
+
+Colonel Zane reflected a moment, first as to this unusual request from
+Jonathan, and secondly in regard to what little he really did know of
+Roger Brandt.
+
+"Well, Jack, I can't tell you much; nothing of him before he showed up
+here. He says he has been a pioneer, hunter, scout, soldier,
+trader--everything. When he came to the fort we needed men. It was
+just after Girty's siege, and all the cabins had been burned. Brandt
+seemed honest, and was a good fellow. Besides, he had gold. He started
+the river barges, which came from Fort Pitt. He has surely done the
+settlement good service, and has prospered. I never talked a dozen
+times to him, and even then, not for long. He appears to like the
+young people, which is only natural. That's all I know; Betty might
+tell you more, for he tried to be attentive to her."
+
+"Did he, Betty?" Jonathan asked.
+
+"He followed me until I showed him I didn't care for company,"
+answered Betty.
+
+"What kind of a man is he?"
+
+"Jack, I know nothing against him, although I never fancied him. He's
+better educated than the majority of frontiersmen; he's good-natured
+and agreeable, and the people like him."
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+Betty looked surprised at his blunt question, and then said with a
+laugh: "I never tried to reason why; but since you have spoken I
+believe my dislike was instinctive."
+
+After Betty had retired to her room the brothers remained on the porch
+smoking.
+
+"Betty's pretty keen, Jack. I never knew her to misjudge a man. Why
+this sudden interest in Roger Brandt?"
+
+The borderman puffed his pipe in silence.
+
+"Say, Jack," Colonel Zane said suddenly, "do you connect Brandt in any
+way with this horse-stealing?"
+
+"No more than some, an' less than others," replied Jonathan curtly.
+
+Nothing more was said for a time. To the brothers this hour of early
+dusk brought the same fullness of peace. From gray twilight to gloomy
+dusk quiet reigned. The insects of night chirped and chorused with
+low, incessant hum. From out the darkness came the peeping of frogs.
+
+Suddenly the borderman straightened up, and, removing the pipe from
+his mouth, turned his ear to the faint breeze, while at the same time
+one hand closed on the colonel's knee with a warning clutch.
+
+Colonel Zane knew what that clutch signified. Some faint noise, too
+low for ordinary ears, had roused the borderman. The colonel listened,
+but heard nothing save the familiar evening sounds.
+
+"Jack, what'd you hear?" he whispered.
+
+"Somethin' back of the barn," replied Jonathan, slipping noiselessly
+off the steps, lying at full length with his ear close to the ground.
+"Where's the dog?" he asked.
+
+"Chief must have gone with Sam. The old nigger sometimes goes at this
+hour to see his daughter."
+
+Jonathan lay on the grass several moments; then suddenly he arose much
+as a bent sapling springs to place.
+
+"I hear footsteps. Get the rifles," he said in a fierce whisper.
+
+"Damn! There is some one in the barn."
+
+"No; they're outside. Hurry, but softly."
+
+Colonel Zane had but just risen to his feet, when Mrs. Zane came to
+the door and called him by name.
+
+Instantly from somewhere in the darkness overhanging the road, came a
+low, warning whistle.
+
+"A signal!" exclaimed Colonel Zane.
+
+"Quick, Eb! Look toward Metzar's light. One, two, three,
+shadows--Injuns!"
+
+"By the Lord Harry! Now they're gone; but I couldn't mistake those
+round heads and bristling feathers."
+
+"Shawnees!" said the borderman, and his teeth shut hard like steel on
+flint.
+
+"Jack, they were after the horses, and some one was on the lookout! By
+God! right under our noses!"
+
+"Hurry," cried Jonathan, pulling his brother off the porch.
+
+Colonel Zane followed the borderman out of the yard, into the road,
+and across the grassy square.
+
+"We might find the one who gave the signal," said the colonel. "He was
+near at hand, and couldn't have passed the house."
+
+Colonel Zane was correct, for whoever had whistled would be forced to
+take one of two ways of escape; either down the straight road ahead,
+or over the high stockade fence of the fort.
+
+"There he goes," whispered Jonathan.
+
+"Where? I can't see a blamed thing."
+
+"Go across the square, run around the fort, an' head him off on the
+road. Don't try to stop him for he'll have weapons, just find out
+who he is."
+
+"I see him now," replied Colonel Zane, as he hurried off into the
+darkness.
+
+During a few moments Jonathan kept in view the shadow he had seen
+first come out of the gloom by the stockade, and thence pass swiftly
+down the road. He followed swiftly, silently. Presently a light beyond
+threw a glare across the road. He thought he was approaching a yard
+where there was a fire, and the flames proved to be from pine cones
+burning in the yard of Helen Sheppard. He remembered then that she was
+entertaining some of the young people.
+
+The figure he was pursuing did not pass the glare. Jonathan made
+certain it disappeared before reaching the light, and he knew his
+eyesight too well not to trust to it absolutely. Advancing nearer the
+yard, he heard the murmur of voices in gay conversation, and soon saw
+figures moving about under the trees.
+
+No doubt was in his mind but that the man who gave the signal to warn
+the Indians, was one of Helen Sheppard's guests.
+
+Jonathan had walked across the street then down the path, before he
+saw the colonel coming from the opposite direction. Halting under a
+maple he waited for his brother to approach.
+
+"I didn't meet any one. Did you lose him?" whispered Colonel Zane
+breathlessly.
+
+"No; he's in there."
+
+"That's Sheppard's place. Do you mean he's hiding there?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Colonel Zane swore, as was his habit when exasperated. Kind and
+generous man that he was, it went hard with him to believe in the
+guilt of any of the young men he had trusted. But Jonathan had said
+there was a traitor among them, and Colonel Zane did not question this
+assertion. He knew the borderman. During years full of strife, and
+war, and blood had he lived beside this silent man who said little,
+but that little was the truth. Therefore Colonel Zane gave way
+to anger.
+
+"Well, I'm not so damned surprised! What's to be done?"
+
+"Find out what men are there?"
+
+"That's easy. I'll go to see George and soon have the truth."
+
+"Won't do," said the borderman decisively. "Go back to the barn, an'
+look after the hosses."
+
+When Colonel Zane had obeyed Jonathan dropped to his hands and knees,
+and swiftly, with the agile movements of an Indian, gained a corner of
+the Sheppard yard. He crouched in the shade of a big plum tree. Then,
+at a favorable opportunity, vaulted the fence and disappeared under a
+clump of lilac bushes.
+
+The evening wore away no more tediously to the borderman, than to
+those young frontiersmen who were whispering tender or playful words
+to their partners. Time and patience were the same to Jonathan Zane.
+He lay hidden under the fragrant lilacs, his eyes, accustomed to the
+dark from long practice, losing no movement of the guests. Finally it
+became evident that the party was at an end. One couple took the
+initiative, and said good night to their hostess.
+
+"Tom Bennet, I hope it's not you," whispered the borderman to himself,
+as he recognized the young fellow.
+
+A general movement followed, until the merry party were assembled
+about Helen near the front gate.
+
+"Jim Morrison, I'll bet it's not you," was Jonathan's comment. "That
+soldier Williams is doubtful; Hart an' Johnson being strangers, are
+unknown quantities around here, an' then comes Brandt."
+
+All departed except Brandt, who remained talking to Helen in low,
+earnest tones. Jonathan lay very quietly, trying to decide what should
+be his next move in the unraveling of the mystery. He paid little
+attention to the young couple, but could not help overhearing their
+conversation.
+
+"Indeed, Mr. Brandt, you frontiersmen are not backward," Helen was
+saying in her clear voice. "I am surprised to learn that you love me
+upon such short acquaintance, and am sorry, too, for I hardly know
+whether I even so much as like you."
+
+"I love you. We men of the border do things rapidly," he replied
+earnestly.
+
+"So it seems," she said with a soft laugh.
+
+"Won't you care for me?" he pleaded.
+
+"Nothing is surer than that I never know what I am going to do," Helen
+replied lightly.
+
+"All these fellows are in love with you. They can't help it any more
+than I. You are the most glorious creature. Please give me hope."
+
+"Mr. Brandt, let go my hand. I'm afraid I don't like such impulsive
+men."
+
+"Please let me hold your hand."
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"But I will hold it, and if you look at me like that again I'll do
+more," he said.
+
+"What, bold sir frontiersman?" she returned, lightly still, but in a
+voice which rang with a deeper note.
+
+"I'll kiss you," he cried desperately.
+
+"You wouldn't dare."
+
+"Wouldn't I though? You don't know us border fellows yet. You come
+here with your wonderful beauty, and smile at us with that light in
+your eyes which makes men mad. Oh, you'll pay for it."
+
+The borderman listened to all this love-making half disgusted, until
+he began to grow interested. Brandt's back was turned to him, and
+Helen stood so that the light from the pine cones shone on her face.
+Her eyes were brilliant, otherwise she seemed a woman perfectly
+self-possessed. Brandt held her hand despite the repeated efforts she
+made to free it. But she did not struggle violently, or make
+an outcry.
+
+Suddenly Brandt grasped her other hand, pulling her toward him.
+
+"These other fellows will kiss you, and I'm going to be the first!" he
+declared passionately.
+
+Helen drew back, now thoroughly alarmed by the man's fierce energy.
+She had been warned against this very boldness in frontiersmen; but
+had felt secure in her own pride and dignity. Her blood boiled at the
+thought that she must exert strength to escape insult. She struggled
+violently when Brandt bent his head. Almost sick with fear, she had
+determined to call for help, when a violent wrench almost toppled her
+over. At the same instant her wrists were freed; she heard a fierce
+cry, a resounding blow, and then the sodden thud of a heavy body
+falling. Recovering her balance, she saw a tall figure beside her, and
+a man in the act of rising from the ground.
+
+"You?" whispered Helen, recognizing the tall figure as Jonathan's.
+
+The borderman did not answer. He stepped forward, slipping his hand
+inside his hunting frock. Brandt sprang nimbly to his feet, and with a
+face which, even in the dim light, could be seen distorted with fury,
+bent forward to look at the stranger. He, too, had his hand within his
+coat, as if grasping a weapon; but he did not draw it.
+
+"Zane, a lighter blow would have been easier to forget," he cried, his
+voice clear and cutting. Then he turned to the girl. "Miss Helen, I
+got what I deserved. I crave your forgiveness, and ask you to
+understand a man who was once a gentleman. If I am one no longer, the
+frontier is to blame. I was mad to treat you as I did."
+
+Thus speaking, he bowed low with the grace of a man sometimes used to
+the society of ladies, and then went out of the gate.
+
+"Where did you come from?" asked Helen, looking up at Jonathan.
+
+He pointed under the lilac bushes.
+
+"Were you there?" she asked wonderingly. "Did you hear all?"
+
+"I couldn't help hearin'."
+
+"It was fortunate for me; but why--why were you there?"
+
+Helen came a step nearer, and regarded him curiously with her great
+eyes now black with excitement.
+
+The borderman was silent.
+
+Helen's softened mood changed instantly. There was nothing in his cold
+face which might have betrayed in him a sentiment similar to that of
+her admirers.
+
+"Did you spy on me?" she asked quickly, after a moment's thought.
+
+"No," replied Jonathan calmly.
+
+Helen gazed in perplexity at this strange man. She did not know how to
+explain it; she was irritated, but did her best to conceal it. He had
+no interest in her, yet had hidden under the lilacs in her yard. She
+was grateful because he had saved her from annoyance, yet could not
+fathom his reason for being so near.
+
+"Did you come here to see me?" she asked, forgetting her vexation.
+
+"No."
+
+"What for, then?"
+
+"I reckon I won't say," was the quiet, deliberate refusal.
+
+Helen stamped her foot in exasperation.
+
+"Be careful that I do not put a wrong construction on your strange
+action," said she coldly. "If you have reasons, you might trust me. If
+you are only----"
+
+"Sh-s-sh!" he breathed, grasping her wrist, and holding it firmly in
+his powerful hand. The whole attitude of the man had altered swiftly,
+subtly. The listlessness was gone. His lithe body became rigid as he
+leaned forward, his head toward the ground, and turned slightly in a
+manner that betokened intent listening.
+
+Helen trembled as she felt his powerful frame quiver. Whatever had
+thus changed him, gave her another glimpse of his complex personality.
+It seemed to her incredible that with one whispered exclamation this
+man could change from cold indifference to a fire and force so strong
+as to dominate her.
+
+Statue-like she remained listening; but hearing no sound, and
+thrillingly conscious of the hand on her arm.
+
+Far up on the hillside an owl hooted dismally, and an instant later,
+faint and far away, came an answer so low as to be almost indistinct.
+
+The borderman raised himself erect as he released her.
+
+"It's only an owl," she said in relief.
+
+His eyes gleamed like stars.
+
+"It's Wetzel, an' it means Injuns!"
+
+Then he was gone into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+In the misty morning twilight Colonel Zane, fully armed, paced to and
+fro before his cabin, on guard. All night he had maintained a watch.
+He had not considered it necessary to send his family into the fort,
+to which they had often been compelled to flee. On the previous night
+Jonathan had come swiftly back to the cabin, and, speaking but two
+words, seized his weapons and vanished into the black night. The words
+were "Injuns! Wetzel!" and there were none others with more power to
+affect hearers on the border. The colonel believed that Wetzel had
+signaled to Jonathan.
+
+On the west a deep gully with precipitous sides separated the
+settlement from a high, wooded bluff. Wetzel often returned from his
+journeying by this difficult route. He had no doubt seen Indian signs,
+and had communicated the intelligence to Jonathan by their system of
+night-bird calls. The nearness of the mighty hunter reassured
+Colonel Zane.
+
+When the colonel returned from his chase of the previous night, he
+went directly to the stable, there to find that the Indians had made
+off with a thoroughbred, and Betty's pony. Colonel Zane was furious,
+not on account of the value of the horses, but because Bess was his
+favorite bay, and Betty loved nothing more than her pony Madcap. To
+have such a march stolen on him after he had heard and seen the
+thieves was indeed hard. High time it was that these horse thieves be
+run to earth. No Indian had planned these marauding expeditions. An
+intelligent white man was at the bottom of the thieving, and he should
+pay for his treachery.
+
+The colonel's temper, however, soon cooled. He realized after thinking
+over the matter, that he was fortunate it passed off without
+bloodshed. Very likely the intent had been to get all his horses,
+perhaps his neighbor's as well, and it had been partly frustrated by
+Jonathan's keen sagacity. These Shawnees, white leader or not, would
+never again run such risks.
+
+"It's like a skulking Shawnee," muttered Colonel Zane, "to slip down
+here under cover of early dusk, when no one but an Indian hunter could
+detect him. I didn't look for trouble, especially so soon after the
+lesson we gave Girty and his damned English and redskins. It's lucky
+Jonathan was here. I'll go back to the old plan of stationing scouts
+at the outposts until snow flies."
+
+While Colonel Zane talked to himself and paced the path he had
+selected to patrol, the white mists cleared, and a rosy hue followed
+the brightening in the east. The birds ceased twittering to break into
+gay songs, and the cock in the barnyard gave one final clarion-voiced
+salute to the dawn. The rose in the east deepened into rich red, and
+then the sun peeped over the eastern hilltops to drench the valley
+with glad golden light.
+
+A blue smoke curling lazily from the stone chimney of his cabin,
+showed that Sam had made the kitchen fire, and a little later a rich,
+savory odor gave pleasing evidence that his wife was cooking
+breakfast.
+
+"Any sign of Jack?" a voice called from the open door, and Betty
+appeared.
+
+"Nary sign."
+
+"Of the Indians, then?"
+
+"Well, Betts, they left you a token of their regard," and Colonel Zane
+smiled as he took a broken halter from the fence.
+
+"Madcap?" cried Betty.
+
+"Yes, they've taken Madcap and Bess."
+
+"Oh, the villains! Poor pony," exclaimed Betty indignantly. "Eb, I'll
+coax Wetzel to fetch the pony home if he has to kill every Shawnee in
+the valley."
+
+"Now you're talking, Betts," Colonel Zane replied. "If you could get
+Lew to do that much, you'd be blessed from one end of the border to
+the other."
+
+He walked up the road; then back, keeping a sharp lookout on all
+sides, and bestowing a particularly keen glance at the hillside across
+the ravine, but could see no sign of the bordermen. As it was now
+broad daylight he felt convinced that further watch was unnecessary,
+and went in to breakfast. When he came out again the villagers were
+astir. The sharp strokes of axes rang out on the clear morning air,
+and a mellow anvil-clang pealed up from the blacksmith shop. Colonel
+Zane found his brother Silas and Jim Douns near the gate.
+
+"Morning, boys," he cried cheerily.
+
+"Any glimpse of Jack or Lew?" asked Silas.
+
+"No; but I'm expecting one of 'em any moment."
+
+"How about the Indians?" asked Douns. "Silas roused me out last night;
+but didn't stay long enough to say more than 'Indians.'"
+
+"I don't know much more than Silas. I saw several of the red devils
+who stole the horses; but how many, where they've gone, or what we're
+to expect, I can't say. We've got to wait for Jack or Lew. Silas, keep
+the garrison in readiness at the fort, and don't allow a man, soldier
+or farmer, to leave the clearing until further orders. Perhaps there
+were only three of those Shawnees, and then again the woods might have
+been full of them. I take it something's amiss, or Jack and Lew would
+be in by now."
+
+"Here come Sheppard and his girl," said Silas, pointing down the lane.
+"'Pears George is some excited."
+
+Colonel Zane had much the same idea as he saw Sheppard and his
+daughter. The old man appeared in a hurry, which was sufficient reason
+to believe him anxious or alarmed, and Helen looked pale.
+
+"Ebenezer, what's this I hear about Indians?" Sheppard asked
+excitedly. "What with Helen's story about the fort being besieged, and
+this brother of yours routing honest people from their beds, I haven't
+had a wink of sleep. What's up? Where are the redskins?"
+
+"Now, George, be easy," said Colonel Zane calmly. "And you, Helen,
+mustn't be frightened. There's no danger. We did have a visit from
+Indians last night; but they hurt no one, and got only two horses."
+
+"Oh, I'm so relieved that it's not worse," said Helen.
+
+"It's bad enough, Helen," Betty cried, her black eyes flashing, "my
+pony Madcap is gone."
+
+"Colonel Zane, come here quick!" cried Douns, who stood near the gate.
+
+With one leap Colonel Zane was at the gate, and, following with his
+eyes the direction indicated by Douns' trembling finger, he saw two
+tall, brown figures striding down the lane. One carried two rifles,
+and the other a long bundle wrapped in a blanket.
+
+"It's Jack and Wetzel," whispered Colonel Zane to Jim. "They've got
+the girl, and by God! from the way that bundle hangs, I think she's
+dead. Here," he added, speaking loudly, "you women get into
+the house."
+
+Mrs. Zane, Betty and Helen stared.
+
+"Go into the house!" he cried authoritatively.
+
+Without a protest the three women obeyed.
+
+At that moment Nellie Douns came across the lane; Sam shuffled out
+from the backyard, and Sheppard arose from his seat on the steps. They
+joined Colonel Zane, Silas and Jim at the gate.
+
+"I wondered what kept you so late," Colonel Zane said to Jonathan, as
+he and his companion came up. "You've fetched Mabel, and she's----".
+The good man could say no more. If he should live an hundred years on
+the border amid savage murderers, he would still be tender-hearted.
+Just now he believed the giant borderman by the side of Jonathan held
+a dead girl, one whom he had danced, when a child, upon his knee.
+
+"Mabel, an' jest alive," replied Jonathan.
+
+"By God! I'm glad!" exclaimed Colonel Zane. "Here, Lew, give her to
+me."
+
+Wetzel relinquished his burden to the colonel.
+
+"Lew, any bad Indian sign?" asked Colonel Zane as he turned to go into
+the house.
+
+The borderman shook his head.
+
+"Wait for me," added the colonel.
+
+He carried the girl to that apartment in the cabin which served the
+purpose of a sitting-room, and laid her on a couch. He gently removed
+the folds of the blanket, disclosing to view a fragile,
+white-faced girl.
+
+"Bess, hurry, hurry!" he screamed to his wife, and as she came running
+in, followed no less hurriedly by Betty, Helen and Nellie, he
+continued, "Here's Mabel Lane, alive, poor child; but in sore need of
+help. First see whether she has any bodily injury. If a bullet must be
+cut out, or a knife-wound sewed up, it's better she remained
+unconscious. Betty, run for Bess's instruments, and bring brandy and
+water. Lively now!" Then he gave vent to an oath and left the room.
+
+Helen, her heart throbbing wildly, went to the side of Mrs. Zane, who
+was kneeling by the couch. She saw a delicate girl, not over eighteen
+years old, with a face that would have been beautiful but for the set
+lips, the closed eyelids, and an expression of intense pain.
+
+"Oh! Oh!" breathed Helen.
+
+"Nell, hand me the scissors," said Mrs. Zane, "and help me take off
+this dress. Why, it's wet, but, thank goodness! 'tis not with blood. I
+know that slippery touch too well. There, that's right. Betty, give me
+a spoonful of brandy. Now heat a blanket, and get one of your linsey
+gowns for this poor child."
+
+Helen watched Mrs. Zane as if fascinated. The colonel's wife continued
+to talk while with deft fingers she forced a few drops of brandy
+between the girl's closed teeth. Then with the adroitness of a skilled
+surgeon, she made the examination. Helen had heard of this pioneer
+woman's skill in setting broken bones and treating injuries, and when
+she looked from the calm face to the steady fingers, she had no doubt
+as to the truth of what had been told.
+
+"Neither bullet wound, cut, bruise, nor broken bone," said Mrs. Zane.
+"It's fear, starvation, and the terrible shock."
+
+She rubbed Mabel's hands while gazing at her pale face. Then she
+forced more brandy between the tightly-closed lips. She was rewarded
+by ever so faint a color tinging the wan cheeks, to be followed by a
+fluttering of the eyelids. Then the eyes opened wide. They were large,
+soft, dark and humid with agony.
+
+Helen could not bear their gaze. She saw the shadow of death, and of
+worse than death. She looked away, while in her heart rose a storm of
+passionate fury at the brutes who had made of this tender girl
+a wreck.
+
+The room was full of women now, sober-faced matrons and grave-eyed
+girls, yet all wore the same expression, not alone of anger, nor fear,
+nor pity, but of all combined.
+
+Helen instinctively felt that this was one of the trials of border
+endurance, and she knew from the sterner faces of the maturer women
+that such a trial was familiar. Despite all she had been told, the
+shock and pain were too great, and she went out of the room sobbing.
+
+She almost fell over the broad back of Jonathan Zane who was sitting
+on the steps. Near him stood Colonel Zane talking with a tall man clad
+in faded buckskin.
+
+"Lass, you shouldn't have stayed," said Colonel Zane kindly.
+
+"It's--hurt--me--here," said Helen, placing her hand over her heart.
+
+"Yes, I know, I know; of course it has," he replied, taking her hand.
+"But be brave, Helen, bear up, bear up. Oh! this border is a stern
+place! Do not think of that poor girl. Come, let me introduce
+Jonathan's friend, Wetzel!"
+
+Helen looked up and held out her hand. She saw a very tall man with
+extremely broad shoulders, a mass of raven-black hair, and a white
+face. He stepped forward, and took her hand in his huge, horny palm,
+pressing it, he stepped back without speaking. Colonel Zane talked to
+her in a soothing voice; but she failed to hear what he said. This
+Wetzel, this Indian-hunter whom she had heard called "Deathwind of the
+Border," this companion, guide, teacher of Jonathan Zane, this
+borderman of wonderful deeds, stood before her.
+
+Helen saw a cold face, deathly in its pallor, lighted by eyes
+sloe-black but like glinting steel. Striking as were these features,
+they failed to fascinate as did the strange tracings which apparently
+showed through the white, drawn skin. This first repelled, then drew
+her with wonderful force. Suffering, of fire, and frost, and iron was
+written there, and, stronger than all, so potent as to cause fear,
+could be read the terrible purpose of this man's tragic life.
+
+"You avenged her! Oh! I know you did!" cried Helen, her whole heart
+leaping with a blaze to her eyes.
+
+She was answered by a smile, but such a smile! Kindly it broke over
+the stern face, giving a glimpse of a heart still warm beneath that
+steely cold. Behind it, too, there was something fateful,
+something deadly.
+
+Helen knew, though the borderman spoke not, that somewhere among the
+grasses of the broad plains, or on the moss of the wooded hills, lay
+dead the perpetrators of this outrage, their still faces bearing the
+ghastly stamp of Deathwind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Happier days than she had hoped for, dawned upon Helen after the first
+touch of border sorrow. Mabel Lane did not die. Helen and Betty nursed
+the stricken girl tenderly, weeping for very joy when signs of
+improvement appeared. She had remained silent for several days, always
+with that haunting fear in her eyes, and then gradually came a change.
+Tender care and nursing had due effect in banishing the dark shadow.
+One morning after a long sleep she awakened with a bright smile, and
+from that time her improvement was rapid.
+
+Helen wanted Mabel to live with her. The girl's position was pitiable.
+Homeless, fatherless, with not a relative on the border, yet so brave,
+so patient that she aroused all the sympathy in Helen's breast.
+Village gossip was in substance, that Mabel had given her love to a
+young frontiersman, by name Alex Bennet, who had an affection for her,
+so it was said, but as yet had made no choice between her and the
+other lasses of the settlement. What effect Mabel's terrible
+experience might have on this lukewarm lover, Helen could not even
+guess; but she was not hopeful as to the future. Colonel Zane and
+Betty approved of Helen's plan to persuade Mabel to live with her, and
+the latter's faint protestations they silenced by claiming she could
+be of great assistance in the management of the house, therefore it
+was settled.
+
+Finally the day came when Mabel was ready to go with Helen. Betty had
+given her a generous supply of clothing, for all her belongings had
+been destroyed when the cabin was burned. With Helen's strong young
+arm around her she voiced her gratitude to Betty and Mrs. Zane and
+started toward the Sheppard home.
+
+From the green square, where the ground was highest, an unobstructed
+view could be had of the valley. Mabel gazed down the river to where
+her home formerly stood. Only a faint, dark spot, like a blur on the
+green landscape, could be seen. Her soft eyes filled with tears; but
+she spoke no word.
+
+"She's game and that's why she didn't go under," Colonel Zane said to
+himself as he mused on the strength and spirit of borderwomen. To
+their heroism, more than any other thing, he attributed the
+establishing of homes in this wilderness.
+
+In the days that ensued, as Mabel grew stronger, the girls became very
+fond of each other. Helen would have been happy at any time with such
+a sweet companion, but just then, when the poor girl's mind was so
+sorely disturbed she was doubly glad. For several days, after Mabel
+was out of danger, Helen's thoughts had dwelt on a subject which
+caused extreme vexation. She had begun to suspect that she encouraged
+too many admirers for whom she did not care, and thought too much of a
+man who did not reciprocate. She was gay and moody in turn. During the
+moody hours she suspected herself, and in her gay ones, scorned the
+idea that she might ever care for a man who was indifferent. But that
+thought once admitted, had a trick of returning at odd moments,
+clouding her cheerful moods.
+
+One sunshiny morning while the May flowers smiled under the hedge,
+when dew sparkled on the leaves, and the locust-blossoms shone
+creamy-white amid the soft green of the trees, the girls set about
+their much-planned flower gardening. Helen was passionately fond of
+plants, and had brought a jar of seeds of her favorites all the way
+from her eastern home.
+
+"We'll plant the morning-glories so they'll run up the porch, and the
+dahlias in this long row and the nasturtiums in this round bed,"
+Helen said.
+
+"You have some trailing arbutus," added Mabel, "and must have
+clematis, wild honeysuckle and golden-glow, for they are all
+sweet flowers."
+
+"This arbutus is so fresh, so dewy, so fragrant," said Helen, bending
+aside a lilac bush to see the pale, creeping flowers. "I never saw
+anything so beautiful. I grow more and more in love with my new home
+and friends. I have such a pretty garden to look into, and I never
+tire of the view beyond."
+
+Helen gazed with pleasure and pride at the garden with its fresh green
+and lavender-crested lilacs, at the white-blossomed trees, and the
+vine-covered log cabins with blue smoke curling from their stone
+chimneys. Beyond, the great bulk of the fort stood guard above the
+willow-skirted river, and far away over the winding stream the dark
+hills, defiant, kept their secrets.
+
+"If it weren't for that threatening fort one could imagine this little
+hamlet, nestling under the great bluff, as quiet and secure as it is
+beautiful," said Helen. "But that charred stockade fence with its
+scarred bastions and these lowering port-holes, always keep me alive
+to the reality."
+
+"It wasn't very quiet when Girty was here," Mabel replied
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Were you in the fort then?" asked Helen breathlessly.
+
+"Oh, yes, I cooled the rifles for the men," replied Mabel calmly.
+
+"Tell me all about it."
+
+Helen listened again to a story she had heard many times; but told by
+new lips it always gained in vivid interest. She never tired of
+hearing how the notorious renegade, Girty, rode around the fort on his
+white horse, giving the defenders an hour in which to surrender; she
+learned again of the attack, when the British soldiers remained silent
+on an adjoining hillside, while the Indians yelled exultantly and ran
+about in fiendish glee, when Wetzel began the battle by shooting an
+Indian chieftain who had ventured within range of his ever fatal
+rifle. And when it came to the heroic deeds of that memorable siege
+Helen could not contain her enthusiasm. She shed tears over little
+Harry Bennet's death at the south bastion where, though riddled with
+bullets, he stuck to his post until relieved. Clark's race, across the
+roof of the fort to extinguish a burning arrow, she applauded with
+clapping hands. Her great eyes glowed and burned, but she was silent,
+when hearing how Wetzel ran alone to a break in the stockade, and
+there, with an ax, the terrible borderman held at bay the whole
+infuriated Indian mob until the breach was closed. Lastly Betty Zane's
+never-to-be-forgotten run with the powder to the relief of the
+garrison and the saving of the fort was something not to cry over or
+applaud; but to dream of and to glorify.
+
+"Down that slope from Colonel Zane's cabin is where Betty ran with the
+powder," said Mabel, pointing.
+
+"Did you see her?" asked Helen.
+
+"Yes, I looked out of a port-hole. The Indians stopped firing at the
+fort in their eagerness to shoot Betty. Oh, the banging of guns and
+yelling of savages was one fearful, dreadful roar! Through all that
+hail of bullets Betty ran swift as the wind."
+
+"I almost wish Girty would come again," said Helen.
+
+"Don't; he might."
+
+"How long has Betty's husband, Mr. Clarke, been dead?" inquired Helen.
+
+"I don't remember exactly. He didn't live long after the siege. Some
+say he inhaled the flames while fighting fire inside the stockade."
+
+"How sad!"
+
+"Yes, it was. It nearly killed Betty. But we border girls do not give
+up easily; we must not," replied Mabel, an unquenchable spirit showing
+through the sadness of her eyes.
+
+Merry voices interrupted them, and they turned to see Betty and Nell
+entering the gate. With Nell's bright chatter and Betty's wit, the
+conversation became indeed vivacious, running from gossip to gowns,
+and then to that old and ever new theme, love. Shortly afterward the
+colonel entered the gate, with swinging step and genial smile.
+
+"Well, now, if here aren't four handsome lasses," he said with an
+admiring glance.
+
+"Eb, I believe if you were single any girl might well suspect you of
+being a flirt," said Betty.
+
+"No girl ever did. I tell you I was a lady-killer in my day," replied
+Colonel Zane, straightening his fine form. He was indeed handsome,
+with his stalwart frame, dark, bronzed face and rugged, manly bearing.
+
+"Bess said you were; but that it didn't last long after you saw her,"
+cried Betty, mischief gleaming in her dark eye.
+
+"Well, that's so," replied the colonel, looking a trifle crest-fallen;
+"but you know every dog has his day." Then advancing to the porch, he
+looked at Mabel with a more serious gaze as he asked, "How are
+you to-day?"
+
+"Thank you, Colonel Zane, I am getting quite strong."
+
+"Look up the valley. There's a raft coming down the river," said he
+softly.
+
+Far up the broad Ohio a square patch showed dark against the green
+water.
+
+Colonel Zane saw Mabel start, and a dark red flush came over her pale
+face. For an instant she gazed with an expression of appeal, almost
+fear. He knew the reason. Alex Bennet was on that raft.
+
+"I came over to ask if I can be of any service?"
+
+"Tell him," she answered simply.
+
+"I say, Betts," Colonel Zane cried, "has Helen's cousin cast any more
+such sheep eyes at you?"
+
+"Oh, Eb, what nonsense!" exclaimed Betty, blushing furiously.
+
+"Well, if he didn't look sweet at you I'm an old fool."
+
+"You're one anyway, and you're horrid," said Betty, tears of anger
+glistening in her eyes.
+
+Colonel Zane whistled softly as he walked down the lane. He went into
+the wheelwright's shop to see about some repairs he was having made on
+a wagon, and then strolled on down to the river. Two Indians were
+sitting on the rude log wharf, together with several frontiersmen and
+rivermen, all waiting for the raft. He conversed with the Indians, who
+were friendly Chippewas, until the raft was tied up. The first person
+to leap on shore was a sturdy young fellow with a shock of yellow
+hair, and a warm, ruddy skin.
+
+"Hello, Alex, did you have a good trip?" asked Colonel Zane of the
+youth.
+
+"H'are ye, Colonel Zane. Yes, first-rate trip," replied young Bennet.
+"Say, I've a word for you. Come aside," and drawing Colonel Zane out
+of earshot of the others, he continued, "I heard this by accident, not
+that I didn't spy a bit when I got interested, for I did; but the way
+it came about was all chance. Briefly, there's a man, evidently an
+Englishman, at Fort Pitt whom I overheard say he was out on the border
+after a Sheppard girl. I happened to hear from one of Brandt's men,
+who rode into Pitt just before we left, that you had new friends here
+by that name. This fellow was a handsome chap, no common sort, but
+lordly, dissipated and reckless as the devil. He had a servant
+traveling with him, a sailor, by his gab, who was about the toughest
+customer I've met in many a day. He cut a fellow in bad shape at Pitt.
+These two will be on the next boat, due here in a day or so, according
+to river and weather conditions, an' I thought, considerin' how
+unusual the thing was, I'd better tell ye."
+
+"Well, well," said Colonel Zane reflectively. He recalled Sheppard's
+talk about an Englishman. "Alex, you did well to tell me. Was the man
+drunk when he said he came west after a woman?"
+
+"Sure he was," replied Alex. "But not when he spoke the name. Ye see I
+got suspicious, an' asked about him. It's this way: Jake Wentz, the
+trader, told me the fellow asked for the Sheppards when he got off the
+wagon-train. When I first seen him he was drunk, and I heard Jeff Lynn
+say as how the border was a bad place to come after a woman. That's
+what made me prick up my ears. Then the Englishman said: 'It is, eh?
+By God! I'd go to hell after a woman I wanted.' An' Colonel, he
+looked it, too."
+
+Colonel Zane remained thoughtful while Alex made up a bundle and
+forced the haft of an ax under the string; but as the young man
+started away the colonel suddenly remembered his errand down to
+the wharf.
+
+"Alex, come back here," he said, and wondered if the lad had good
+stuff in him. The boatman's face was plain, but not evil, and a close
+scrutiny of it rather prepossessed the colonel.
+
+"Alex, I've some bad news for you," and then bluntly, with his keen
+gaze fastened on the young man's face, he told of old Lane's murder,
+of Mabel's abduction, and of her rescue by Wetzel.
+
+Alex began to curse and swear vengeance.
+
+"Stow all that," said the colonel sharply. "Wetzel followed four
+Indians who had Mabel and some stolen horses. The redskins quarreled
+over the girl, and two took the horses, leaving Mabel to the others.
+Wetzel went after these last, tomahawked them, and brought Mabel home.
+She was in a bad way, but is now getting over the shock."
+
+"Say, what'd we do here without Wetzel?" Alex said huskily, unmindful
+of the tears that streamed from his eyes and ran over his brown
+cheeks. "Poor old Jake! Poor Mabel! Damn me! it's my fault. If I'd 'a
+done right an' married her as I should, as I wanted to, she wouldn't
+have had to suffer. But I'll marry her yet, if she'll have me. It was
+only because I had no farm, no stock, an' only that little cabin as is
+full now, that I waited."
+
+"Alex, you know me," said Colonel Zane in kindly tones. "Look there,
+down the clearing half a mile. See that green strip of land along the
+river, with the big chestnut in the middle and a cabin beyond. There's
+as fine farming land as can be found on the border, eighty acres, well
+watered. The day you marry Mabel that farm is yours."
+
+Alex grew red, stammered, and vainly tried to express his gratitude.
+
+"Come along, the sooner you tell Mabel the better," said the colonel
+with glowing face. He was a good matchmaker. He derived more pleasure
+from a little charity bestowed upon a deserving person, than from a
+season's crops.
+
+When they arrived at the Sheppard house the girls were still on the
+porch. Mabel rose when she saw Alex, standing white and still. He,
+poor fellow, was embarrassed by the others, who regarded him with
+steady eyes.
+
+Colonel Zane pushed Alex up on the porch, and said in a low voice:
+"Mabel, I've just arranged something you're to give Alex. It's a nice
+little farm, and it'll be a wedding present."
+
+Mabel looked in a bewildered manner from Colonel Zane's happy face to
+the girls, and then at the red, joyous features of her lover. Only
+then did she understand, and uttering a strange little cry, put her
+trembling hands to her bosom as she swayed to and fro.
+
+But she did not fall, for Alex, quick at the last, leaped forward and
+caught her in his arms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That evening Helen denied herself to Mr. Brandt and several other
+callers. She sat on the porch with her father while he smoked
+his pipe.
+
+"Where's Will?" she asked.
+
+"Gone after snipe, so he said," replied her father.
+
+"Snipe? How funny! Imagine Will hunting! He's surely catching the wild
+fever Colonel Zane told us about."
+
+"He surely is."
+
+Then came a time of silence. Mr. Sheppard, accustomed to Helen's
+gladsome spirit and propensity to gay chatter, noted how quiet she
+was, and wondered.
+
+"Why are you so still?"
+
+"I'm a little homesick," Helen replied reluctantly.
+
+"No? Well, I declare! This is a glorious country; but not for such as
+you, dear, who love music and gaiety. I often fear you'll not be happy
+here, and then I long for the old home, which reminds me of
+your mother."
+
+"Dearest, forget what I said," cried Helen earnestly. "I'm only a
+little blue to-day; perhaps not at all homesick."
+
+"Indeed, you always seemed happy."
+
+"Father, I am happy. It's only--only a girl's foolish sentiment."
+
+"I've got something to tell you, Helen, and it has bothered me since
+Colonel Zane spoke of it to-night. Mordaunt is coming to Fort Henry."
+
+"Mordaunt? Oh, impossible! Who said so? How did you learn?"
+
+"I fear 'tis true, my dear. Colonel Zane told me he had heard of an
+Englishman at Fort Pitt who asked after us. Moreover, the fellow
+answers the description of Mordaunt. I am afraid it is he, and come
+after you."
+
+"Suppose he has--who cares? We owe him nothing. He cannot hurt us."
+
+"But, Helen, he's a desperate man. Aren't you afraid of him?"
+
+"Not I," cried Helen, laughing in scorn. "He'd better have a care. He
+can't run things with a high hand out here on the border. I told him I
+would have none of him, and that ended it."
+
+"I'm much relieved. I didn't want to tell you; but it seemed
+necessary. Well, child, good night, I'll go to bed."
+
+Long after Mr. Sheppard had retired Helen sat thinking. Memories of
+the past, and of the unwelcome suitor, Mordaunt, thronged upon her
+thick and fast. She could see him now with his pale, handsome face,
+and distinguished bearing. She had liked him, as she had other men,
+until he involved her father, with himself, in financial ruin, and had
+made his attention to her unpleasantly persistent. Then he had
+followed the fall of fortune with wild dissipation, and became a
+gambler and a drunkard. But he did not desist in his mad wooing. He
+became like her shadow, and life grew to be unendurable, until her
+father planned to emigrate west, when she hailed the news with joy.
+And now Mordaunt had tracked her to her new home. She was sick with
+disgust. Then her spirit, always strong, and now freer for this new,
+wild life of the frontier, rose within her, and she dismissed all
+thoughts of this man and his passion.
+
+The old life was dead and buried. She was going to be happy here. As
+for the present, it was enough to think of the little border village,
+now her home; of her girl friends; of the quiet borderman: and, for
+the moment, that the twilight was somber and beautiful.
+
+High up on the wooded bluff rising so gloomily over the village, she
+saw among the trees something silver-bright. She watched it rise
+slowly from behind the trees, now hidden, now white through rifts in
+the foliage, until it soared lovely and grand above the black horizon.
+The ebony shadows of night seemed to lift, as might a sable mantle
+moved by invisible hands. But dark shadows, safe from the moon-rays,
+lay under the trees, and a pale, misty vapor hung below the brow of
+the bluff.
+
+Mysterious as had grown the night before darkness yielded to the moon,
+this pale, white light flooding the still valley, was even more soft
+and strange. To one of Helen's temperament no thought was needed; to
+see was enough. Yet her mind was active. She felt with haunting power
+the beauty of all before her; in fancy transporting herself far to
+those silver-tipped clouds, and peopling the dells and shady nooks
+under the hills with spirits and fairies, maidens and valiant knights.
+To her the day was as a far-off dream. The great watch stars grew wan
+before the radiant moon; it reigned alone. The immensity of the world
+with its glimmering rivers, pensive valleys and deep, gloomy forests
+lay revealed under the glory of the clear light.
+
+Absorbed in this contemplation Helen remained a long time gazing with
+dreamy ecstasy at the moonlit valley until a slight chill disturbed
+her happy thoughts. She knew she was not alone. Trembling, she stood
+up to see, easily recognizable in the moonlight, the tall
+buckskin-garbed figure of Jonathan Zane.
+
+"Well, sir," she called, sharply, yet with a tremor in her voice.
+
+The borderman came forward and stood in front of her. Somehow he
+appeared changed. The long, black rifle, the dull, glinting weapons
+made her shudder. Wilder and more untamable he looked than ever. The
+very silence of the forest clung to him; the fragrance of the grassy
+plains came faintly from his buckskin garments.
+
+"Evenin', lass," he said in his slow, cool manner.
+
+"How did you get here?" asked Helen presently, because he made no
+effort to explain his presence at such a late hour.
+
+"I was able to walk."
+
+Helen observed, with a vaulting spirit, one ever ready to rise in
+arms, that Master Zane was disposed to add humor to his penetrating
+mysteriousness. She flushed hot and then paled. This borderman
+certainly possessed the power to vex her, and, reluctantly she
+admitted, to chill her soul and rouse her fear. She strove to keep
+back sharp words, because she had learned that this singular
+individual always gave good reason for his odd actions.
+
+"I think in kindness to me," she said, choosing her words carefully,
+"you might tell me why you appear so suddenly, as if you had sprung
+out of the ground."
+
+"Are you alone?"
+
+"Yes. Father is in bed; so is Mabel, and Will has not yet come home.
+Why?"
+
+"Has no one else been here?"
+
+"Mr. Brandt came, as did some others; but wishing to be alone, I did
+not see them," replied Helen in perplexity.
+
+"Have you seen Brandt since?"
+
+"Since when?"
+
+"The night I watched by the lilac bush."
+
+"Yes, several times," replied Helen. Something in his tone made her
+ashamed. "I couldn't very well escape when he called. Are you
+surprised because after he insulted me I'd see him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Helen felt more ashamed.
+
+"You don't love him?" he continued.
+
+Helen was so surprised she could only look into the dark face above
+her. Then she dropped her gaze, abashed by his searching eyes. But,
+thinking of his question, she subdued the vague stirrings of pleasure
+in her breast, and answered coldly:
+
+"No, I do not; but for the service you rendered me I should never have
+answered such a question."
+
+"I'm glad, an' hope you care as little for the other five men who were
+here that night."
+
+"I declare, Master Zane, you seem exceedingly interested in the
+affairs of a young woman whom you won't visit, except as you have come
+to-night."
+
+He looked at her with his piercing eyes.
+
+"You spied upon my guests," she said, in no wise abashed now that her
+temper was high. "Did you care so very much?"
+
+"Care?" he asked slowly.
+
+"Yes; you were interested to know how many of my admirers were here,
+what they did, and what they said. You even hint disparagingly
+of them."
+
+"True, I wanted to know," he replied; "but I don't hint about any
+man."
+
+"You are so interested you wouldn't call on me when I invited you,"
+said Helen, with poorly veiled sarcasm. It was this that made her
+bitter; she could never forget that she had asked this man to come to
+see her, and he had refused.
+
+"I reckon you've mistook me," he said calmly.
+
+"Why did you come? Why do you shadow my friends? This is twice you
+have done it. Goodness knows how many times you've been here!
+Tell me."
+
+The borderman remained silent.
+
+"Answer me," commanded Helen, her eyes blazing. She actually stamped
+her foot. "Borderman or not, you have no right to pry into my affairs.
+If you are a gentleman, tell me why you came here?"
+
+The eyes Jonathan turned on Helen stilled all the angry throbbing of
+her blood.
+
+"I come here to learn which of your lovers is the dastard who plotted
+the abduction of Mabel Lane, an' the thief who stole our hosses. When
+I find the villain I reckon Wetzel an' I'll swing him to some tree."
+
+The borderman's voice rang sharp and cold, and when he ceased speaking
+she sank back upon the step, shocked, speechless, to gaze up at him
+with staring eyes.
+
+"Don't look so, lass; don't be frightened," he said, his voice gentle
+and kind as it had been hard. He took her hand in his. "You nettled me
+into replyin'. You have a sharp tongue, lass, and when I spoke I was
+thinkin' of him. I'm sorry."
+
+"A horse-thief and worse than murderer among my friends!" murmured
+Helen, shuddering, yet she never thought to doubt his word.
+
+"I followed him here the night of your company."
+
+"Do you know which one?"
+
+"No."
+
+He still held her hand, unconsciously, but Helen knew it well. A sense
+of his strength came with the warm pressure, and comforted her. She
+would need that powerful hand, surely, in the evil days which seemed
+to darken the horizon.
+
+"What shall I do?" she whispered, shuddering again.
+
+"Keep this secret between you an' me."
+
+"How can I? How can I?"
+
+"You must," his voice was deep and low. "If you tell your father, or
+any one, I might lose the chance to find this man, for, lass, he's
+desperate cunnin'. Then he'd go free to rob others, an' mebbe help
+make off with other poor girls. Lass, keep my secret."
+
+"But he might try to carry me away," said Helen in fearful perplexity.
+
+"Most likely he might," replied the borderman with the smile that came
+so rarely.
+
+"Oh! Knowing all this, how can I meet any of these men again? I'd
+betray myself."
+
+"No; you've got too much pluck. It so happens you are the one to help
+me an' Wetzel rid the border of these hell-hounds, an' you won't fail.
+I know a woman when it comes to that."
+
+"I--I help you and Wetzel?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Gracious!" cried Helen, half-laughing, half-crying. "And poor me with
+more trouble coming on the next boat."
+
+"Lass, the colonel told me about the Englishman. It'll be bad for him
+to annoy you."
+
+Helen thrilled with the depth of meaning in the low voice. Fate surely
+was weaving a bond between her and this borderman. She felt it in his
+steady, piercing gaze; in her own tingling blood.
+
+Then as her natural courage dispelled all girlish fears, she faced
+him, white, resolute, with a look in her eyes that matched his own.
+
+"I will do what I can," she said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Westward from Fort Henry, far above the eddying river, Jonathan Zane
+slowly climbed a narrow, hazel-bordered, mountain trail. From time to
+time he stopped in an open patch among the thickets and breathed deep
+of the fresh, wood-scented air, while his keen gaze swept over the
+glades near by, along the wooded hillsides, and above at the
+timber-strewn woodland.
+
+This June morning in the wild forest was significant of nature's
+brightness and joy. Broad-leaved poplars, dense foliaged oaks, and
+vine-covered maples shaded cool, mossy banks, while between the trees
+the sunshine streamed in bright spots. It shone silver on the glancing
+silver-leaf, and gold on the colored leaves of the butternut tree.
+Dewdrops glistened on the ferns; ripples sparkled in the brooks;
+spider-webs glowed with wondrous rainbow hues, and the flower of the
+forest, the sweet, pale-faced daisy, rose above the green like a
+white star.
+
+Yellow birds flitted among the hazel bushes caroling joyously, and
+cat-birds sang gaily. Robins called; bluejays screeched in the tall,
+white oaks; wood-peckers hammered in the dead hard-woods, and crows
+cawed overhead. Squirrels chattered everywhere. Ruffed grouse rose
+with great bustle and a whirr, flitting like brown flakes through the
+leaves. From far above came the shrill cry of a hawk, followed by the
+wilder scream of an eagle.
+
+Wilderness music such as all this fell harmoniously on the borderman's
+ear. It betokened the gladsome spirit of his wild friends, happy in
+the warm sunshine above, or in the cool depths beneath the fluttering
+leaves, and everywhere in those lonely haunts unalarmed and free.
+
+Familiar to Jonathan, almost as the footpath near his home, was this
+winding trail. On the height above was a safe rendezvous, much
+frequented by him and Wetzel. Every lichen-covered stone, mossy bank,
+noisy brook and giant oak on the way up this mountain-side, could have
+told, had they spoken their secrets, stories of the bordermen. The
+fragile ferns and slender-bladed grasses peeping from the gray and
+amber mosses, and the flowers that hung from craggy ledges, had wisdom
+to impart. A borderman lived under the green tree-tops, and,
+therefore, all the nodding branches of sassafras and laurel, the
+grassy slopes and rocky cliffs, the stately ash trees, kingly oaks and
+dark, mystic pines, together with the creatures that dwelt among them,
+save his deadly red-skinned foes, he loved. Other affection as close
+and true as this, he had not known. Hearkening thus with single heart
+to nature's teachings, he learned her secrets. Certain it was,
+therefore, that the many hours he passed in the woods apart from
+savage pursuits, were happy and fruitful.
+
+Slowly he pressed on up the ascent, at length coming into open light
+upon a small plateau marked by huge, rugged, weather-chipped stones.
+On the eastern side was a rocky promontory, and close to the edge of
+this cliff, an hundred feet in sheer descent, rose a gnarled, time and
+tempest-twisted chestnut tree. Here the borderman laid down his rifle
+and knapsack, and, half-reclining against the tree, settled himself to
+rest and wait.
+
+This craggy point was the lonely watch-tower of eagles. Here on the
+highest headland for miles around where the bordermen were wont to
+meet, the outlook was far-reaching and grand.
+
+Below the gray, splintered cliffs sheered down to meet the waving
+tree-tops, and then hill after hill, slope after slope, waved and
+rolled far, far down to the green river. Open grassy patches, bright
+little islands in that ocean of dark green, shone on the hillsides.
+The rounded ridges ran straight, curved, or zigzag, but shaped their
+graceful lines in the descent to make the valley. Long, purple-hued,
+shadowy depressions in the wide expanse of foliage marked deep clefts
+between ridges where dark, cool streams bounded on to meet the river.
+Lower, where the land was level, in open spaces could be seen a broad
+trail, yellow in the sunlight, winding along with the curves of the
+water-course. On a swampy meadow, blue in the distance, a herd of
+buffalo browsed. Beyond the river, high over the green island, Fort
+Henry lay peaceful and solitary, the only token of the works of man in
+all that vast panorama.
+
+Jonathan Zane was as much alone as if one thousand miles, instead of
+five, intervened between him and the settlement. Loneliness was to him
+a passion. Other men loved home, the light of woman's eyes, the rattle
+of dice or the lust of hoarding; but to him this wild, remote
+promontory, with its limitless view, stretching away to the dim hazy
+horizon, was more than all the aching joys of civilization.
+
+Hours here, or in the shady valley, recompensed him for the loss of
+home comforts, the soft touch of woman's hands, the kiss of baby lips,
+and also for all he suffered in his pitiless pursuits, the hard fare,
+the steel and blood of a borderman's life.
+
+Soon the sun shone straight overhead, dwarfing the shadow of the
+chestnut on the rock.
+
+During such a time it was rare that any connected thought came into
+the borderman's mind. His dark eyes, now strangely luminous, strayed
+lingeringly over those purple, undulating slopes. This intense
+watchfulness had no object, neither had his listening. He watched
+nothing; he hearkened to the silence. Undoubtedly in this state of
+rapt absorption his perceptions were acutely alert; but without
+thought, as were those of the savage in the valley below, or the eagle
+in the sky above.
+
+Yet so perfectly trained were these perceptions that the least
+unnatural sound or sight brought him wary and watchful from his
+dreamy trance.
+
+The slight snapping of a twig in the thicket caused him to sit erect,
+and reach out toward his rifle. His eyes moved among the dark openings
+in the thicket. In another moment a tall figure pressed the bushes
+apart. Jonathan let fall his rifle, and sank back against the tree
+once more. Wetzel stepped over the rocks toward him.
+
+"Come from Blue Pond?" asked Jonathan as the newcomer took a seat
+beside him.
+
+Wetzel nodded as he carefully laid aside his long, black rifle.
+
+"Any Injun sign?" continued Jonathan, pushing toward his companion the
+knapsack of eatables he had brought from the settlement.
+
+"Nary Shawnee track west of this divide," answered Wetzel, helping
+himself to bread and cheese.
+
+"Lew, we must go eastward, over Bing Legget's way, to find the trail
+of the stolen horses."
+
+"Likely, an' it'll be a long, hard tramp."
+
+"Who's in Legget's gang now beside Old Horse, the Chippewa, an' his
+Shawnee pard, Wildfire? I don't know Bing; but I've seen some of his
+Injuns an' they remember me."
+
+"Never seen Legget but onct," replied Wetzel, "an' that time I shot
+half his face off. I've been told by them as have seen him since, that
+he's got a nasty scar on his temple an' cheek. He's a big man an'
+knows the woods. I don't know who all's in his gang, nor does anybody.
+He works in the dark, an' for cunnin' he's got some on Jim Girty,
+Deerin', an' several more renegades we know of lyin' quiet back here
+in the woods. We never tackled as bad a gang as his'n; they're all
+experienced woodsmen, old fighters, an' desperate, outlawed as they be
+by Injuns an' whites. It wouldn't surprise me to find that it's him
+an' his gang who are runnin' this hoss-thievin'; but bad or no, we're
+goin' after 'em."
+
+Jonathan told of his movements since he had last seen his companion.
+
+"An' the lass Helen is goin' to help us," said Wetzel, much
+interested. "It's a good move. Women are keen. Betty put Miller's
+schemin' in my eye long 'afore I noticed it. But girls have chances we
+men'd never get."
+
+"Yes, an' she's like Betts, quicker'n lightnin'. She'll find out this
+hoss-thief in Fort Henry; but Lew, when we do get him we won't be much
+better off. Where do them hosses go? Who's disposin' of 'em for
+this fellar?"
+
+"Where's Brandt from?" asked Wetzel.
+
+"Detroit; he's a French-Canadian."
+
+Wetzel swung sharply around, his eyes glowing like wakening furnaces.
+
+"Bing Legget's a French-Canadian, an' from Detroit. Metzar was once
+thick with him down Fort Pitt way 'afore he murdered a man an' became
+an outlaw. We're on the trail, Jack."
+
+"Brandt an' Metzar, with Legget backin' them, an' the horses go
+overland to Detroit?"
+
+"I calkilate you've hit the mark."
+
+"What'll we do?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"Wait; that's best. We've no call to hurry. We must know the truth
+before makin' a move, an' as yet we're only suspicious. This lass'll
+find out more in a week than we could in a year. But Jack, have a care
+she don't fall into any snare. Brandt ain't any too honest a lookin'
+chap, an' them renegades is hell for women. The scars you wear prove
+that well enough. She's a rare, sweet, bloomin' lass, too. I never
+seen her equal. I remember how her eyes flashed when she said she knew
+I'd avenged Mabel. Jack, they're wonderful eyes; an' that girl,
+however sweet an' good as she must be, is chain-lightnin' wrapped up
+in a beautiful form. Aren't the boys at the fort runnin' arter her?"
+
+"Like mad; it'd make you laugh to see 'em," replied Jonathan calmly.
+
+"There'll be some fights before she's settled for, an' mebbe arter
+thet. Have a care for her, Jack, an' see that she don't ketch you."
+
+"No more danger than for you."
+
+"I was ketched onct," replied Wetzel.
+
+Jonathan Zane looked up at his companion. Wetzel's head was bowed; but
+there was no merriment in the serious face exposed to the
+borderman's scrutiny.
+
+"Lew, you're jokin'."
+
+"Not me. Some day, when you're ketched good, an' I have to go back to
+the lonely trail, as I did afore you an' me become friends, mebbe
+then, when I'm the last borderman, I'll tell you."
+
+"Lew, 'cordin' to the way settlers are comin', in a few more years
+there won't be any need for a borderman. When the Injuns are all gone
+where'll be our work?"
+
+"'Tain't likely either of us'll ever see them times," said Wetzel,
+"an' I don't want to. Wal, Jack, I'm off now, an' I'll meet you here
+every other day."
+
+Wetzel shouldered his long rifle, and soon passed out of sight down
+the mountain-side.
+
+Jonathan arose, shook himself as a big dog might have done, and went
+down into the valley. Only once did he pause in his descent, and that
+was when a crackling twig warned him some heavy body was moving near.
+Silently he sank into the bushes bordering the trail. He listened with
+his ear close to the ground. Presently he heard a noise as of two hard
+substances striking together. He resumed his walk, having recognized
+the grating noise of a deer-hoof striking a rock. Farther down he
+espied a pair grazing. The buck ran into the thicket; but the doe eyed
+him curiously.
+
+Less than an hour's rapid walking brought him to the river. Here he
+plunged into a thicket of willows, and emerged on a sandy strip of
+shore. He carefully surveyed the river bank, and then pulled a small
+birch-bark canoe from among the foliage. He launched the frail craft,
+paddled across the river and beached it under a reedy, over-hanging bank.
+
+The distance from this point in a straight line to his destination was
+only a mile; but a rocky bluff and a ravine necessitated his making a
+wide detour. While lightly leaping over a brook his keen eye fell on
+an imprint in the sandy loam. Instantly he was on his knees. The
+footprint was small, evidently a woman's, and, what was more unusual,
+instead of the flat, round moccasin-track, it was pointed, with a
+sharp, square heel. Such shoes were not worn by border girls. True
+Betty and Nell had them; but they never went into the woods without
+moccasins.
+
+Jonathan's experienced eye saw that this imprint was not an hour old.
+He gazed up at the light. The day was growing short. Already shadows
+lay in the glens. He would not long have light enough to follow the
+trail; but he hurried on hoping to find the person who made it before
+darkness came. He had not traveled many paces before learning that the
+one who made it was lost. The uncertainty in those hasty steps was as
+plain to the borderman's eyes, as if it had been written in words on
+the sand. The course led along the brook, avoiding the rough places;
+and leading into the open glades and glens; but it drew no nearer to
+the settlement. A quarter of an hour of rapid trailing enabled
+Jonathan to discern a dark figure moving among the trees. Abandoning
+the trail, he cut across a ridge to head off the lost woman. Stepping
+out of a sassafras thicket, he came face to face with Helen Sheppard.
+
+"Oh!" she cried in alarm, and then the expression of terror gave place
+to one of extreme relief and gladness. "Oh! Thank goodness! You've
+found me. I'm lost!"
+
+"I reckon," answered Jonathan grimly. "The settlement's only five
+hundred yards over that hill."
+
+"I was going the wrong way. Oh! suppose you hadn't come!" exclaimed
+Helen, sinking on a log and looking up at him with warm, glad eyes.
+
+"How did you lose your way?" Jonathan asked. He saw neither the warmth
+in her eyes nor the gladness.
+
+"I went up the hillside, only a little way, after flowers, keeping the
+fort in sight all the time. Then I saw some lovely violets down a
+little hill, and thought I might venture. I found such loads of them I
+forgot everything else, and I must have walked on a little way. On
+turning to go back I couldn't find the little hill. I have hunted in
+vain for the clearing. It seems as if I have been wandering about for
+hours. I'm so glad you've found me!"
+
+"Weren't you told to stay in the settlement, inside the clearing?"
+demanded Jonathan.
+
+"Yes," replied Helen, with her head up.
+
+"Why didn't you?"
+
+"Because I didn't choose."
+
+"You ought to have better sense."
+
+"It seems I hadn't," Helen said quietly, but her eyes belied that calm
+voice.
+
+"You're a headstrong child," Jonathan added curtly.
+
+"Mr. Zane!" cried Helen with pale face.
+
+"I suppose you've always had your own sweet will; but out here on the
+border you ought to think a little of others, if not of yourself."
+
+Helen maintained a proud silence.
+
+"You might have run right into prowlin' Shawnees."
+
+"That dreadful disaster would not have caused you any sorrow," she
+flashed out.
+
+"Of course it would. I might have lost my scalp tryin' to get you back
+home," said Jonathan, beginning to hesitate. Plainly he did not know
+what to make of this remarkable young woman.
+
+"Such a pity to have lost all your fine hair," she answered with a
+touch of scorn.
+
+Jonathan flushed, perhaps for the first time in his life. If there was
+anything he was proud of, it was his long, glossy hair.
+
+"Miss Helen, I'm a poor hand at words," he said, with a pale, grave
+face. "I was only speakin' for your own good."
+
+"You are exceedingly kind; but need not trouble yourself."
+
+"Say," Jonathan hesitated, looking half-vexed at the lovely, angry
+face. Then an idea occurred to him. "Well, I won't trouble. Find your
+way home yourself."
+
+Abruptly he turned and walked slowly away. He had no idea of allowing
+her to go home alone; but believed it might be well for her to think
+so. If she did not call him back he would remain near at hand, and
+when she showed signs of anxiety or fear he could go to her.
+
+Helen determined she would die in the woods, or be captured by
+Shawnees, before calling him back. But she watched him. Slowly the
+tall, strong figure, with its graceful, springy stride, went down the
+glade. He would be lost to view in a moment, and then she would be
+alone. How dark it had suddenly become! The gray cloak of twilight was
+spread over the forest, and in the hollows night already had settled
+down. A breathless silence pervaded the woods. How lonely! thought
+Helen, with a shiver. Surely it would be dark before she could find
+the settlement. What hill hid the settlement from view? She did not
+know, could not remember which he had pointed out. Suddenly she began
+to tremble. She had been so frightened before he had found her, and so
+relieved afterward; and now he was going away.
+
+"Mr. Zane," she cried with a great effort. "Come back."
+
+Jonathan kept slowly on.
+
+"Come back, Jonathan, please."
+
+The borderman retraced his steps.
+
+"Please take me home," she said, lifting a fair face all flushed,
+tear-stained, and marked with traces of storm. "I was foolish, and
+silly to come into the woods, and so glad to see you! But you spoke to
+me--in--in a way no one ever used before. I'm sure I deserved it.
+Please take me home. Papa will be worried."
+
+Softer eyes and voice than hers never entreated man.
+
+"Come," he said gently, and, taking her by the hand, he led her up the
+ridge.
+
+Thus they passed through the darkening forest, hand in hand, like a
+dusky redman and his bride. He helped her over stones and logs, but
+still held her hand when there was no need of it. She looked up to see
+him walking, so dark and calm beside her, his eyes ever roving among
+the trees. Deepest remorse came upon her because of what she had said.
+There was no sentiment for him in this walk under the dark canopy of
+the leaves. He realized the responsibility. Any tree might hide a
+treacherous foe. She would atone for her sarcasm, she promised
+herself, while walking, ever conscious of her hand in his, her bosom
+heaving with the sweet, undeniable emotion which came knocking at
+her heart.
+
+Soon they were out of the thicket, and on the dusty lane. A few
+moments of rapid walking brought them within sight of the twinkling
+lights of the village, and a moment later they were at the lane
+leading to Helen's home. Releasing her hand, she stopped him with a
+light touch and said:
+
+"Please don't tell papa or Colonel Zane."
+
+"Child, I ought. Some one should make you stay at home."
+
+"I'll stay. Please don't tell. It will worry papa."
+
+Jonathan Zane looked down into her great, dark, wonderful eyes with an
+unaccountable feeling. He really did not hear what she asked.
+Something about that upturned face brought to his mind a rare and
+perfect flower which grew in far-off rocky fastnesses. The feeling he
+had was intangible, like no more than a breath of fragrant western
+wind, faint with tidings of some beautiful field.
+
+"Promise me you won't tell."
+
+"Well, lass, have it your own way," replied Jonathan, wonderingly
+conscious that it was the first pledge ever asked of him by a woman.
+
+"Thank you. Now we have two secrets, haven't we?" she laughed, with
+eyes like stars.
+
+"Run home now, lass. Be careful hereafter. I do fear for you with such
+spirit an' temper. I'd rather be scalped by Shawnees than have Bing
+Legget so much as set eyes on you."
+
+"You would? Why?" Her voice was like low, soft music.
+
+"Why?" he mused. "It'd seem like a buzzard about to light on a doe."
+
+"Good-night," said Helen abruptly, and, wheeling, she hurried down the
+lane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"Jack," said Colonel Zane to his brother next morning, "to-day is
+Saturday and all the men will be in. There was high jinks over at
+Metzar's place yesterday, and I'm looking for more to-day. The two
+fellows Alex Bennet told me about, came on day-before-yesterday's
+boat. Sure enough, one's a lordly Englishman, and the other, the
+cussedest-looking little chap I ever saw. They started trouble
+immediately. The Englishman, his name is Mordaunt, hunted up the
+Sheppards and as near as I can make out from George's story, Helen
+spoke her mind very plainly. Mordaunt and Case, that's his servant,
+the little cuss, got drunk and raised hell down at Metzar's where
+they're staying. Brandt and Williams are drinking hard, too, which is
+something unusual for Brandt. They got chummy at once with the
+Englishman, who seems to have plenty of gold and is fond of gambling.
+This Mordaunt is a gentleman, or I never saw one. I feel sorry for
+him. He appears to be a ruined man. If he lasts a week out here I'll
+be surprised. Case looks ugly, as if he were spoiling to cut somebody.
+I want you to keep your eye peeled. The day may pass off as many other
+days of drinking bouts have, without anything serious, and on the
+other hand there's liable to be trouble."
+
+Jonathan's preparations were characteristic of the borderman. He laid
+aside his rifle, and, removing his short coat, buckled on a second
+belt containing a heavier tomahawk and knife than those he had been
+wearing. Then he put on his hunting frock, or shirt, and wore it loose
+with the belts underneath, instead of on the outside. Unfastened, the
+frock was rather full, and gave him the appearance of a man unarmed
+and careless.
+
+Jonathan Zane was not so reckless as to court danger, nor, like many
+frontiersmen, fond of fighting for its own sake. Colonel Zane was
+commandant of the fort, and, in a land where there was no law, tried
+to maintain a semblance of it. For years he had kept thieves,
+renegades and outlaws away from his little settlement by dealing out
+stern justice. His word was law, and his bordermen executed it as
+such. Therefore Jonathan and Wetzel made it their duty to have a keen
+eye on all that was happening. They kept the colonel posted, and never
+interfered in any case without orders.
+
+The morning passed quietly. Jonathan strolled here or loitered there;
+but saw none of the roisterers. He believed they were sleeping off the
+effects of their orgy on the previous evening. After dinner he smoked
+his pipe. Betty and Helen passed, and Helen smiled. It struck him
+suddenly that she had never looked at him in such a way before. There
+was meaning in that warm, radiant flash. A little sense of vexation,
+the source of which he did not understand, stirred in him against this
+girl; but with it came the realization that her white face and big,
+dark eyes had risen before him often since the night before. He
+wished, for the first time, that he could understand women better.
+
+"Everything quiet?" asked Colonel Zane, coming out on the steps.
+
+"All quiet," answered Jonathan.
+
+"They'll open up later, I suspect. I'm going over to Sheppard's for a
+while, and, later, will drop into Metzar's. I'll make him haul in a
+yard or two. I don't like things I hear about his selling the
+youngsters rum. I'd like you to be within call."
+
+The borderman strolled down the bluff and along the path which
+overhung the river. He disliked Metzar more than his brother
+suspected, and with more weighty reason than that of selling rum to
+minors. Jonathan threw himself at length on the ground and mused over
+the situation.
+
+"We never had any peace in this settlement, an' never will in our day.
+Eb is hopeful an' looks at the bright side, always expectin' to-morrow
+will be different. What have the past sixteen years been? One long
+bloody fight, an' the next sixteen won't be any better. I make out
+that we'll have a mix-up soon. Metzar an' Brandt with their allies,
+whoever they are, will be in it, an' if Bing Legget's in the gang,
+we've got, as Wetzel said, a long, hard trail, which may be our last.
+More'n that, there'll be trouble about this chain-lightnin' girl, as
+Wetzel predicted. Women make trouble anyways; an' when they're winsome
+an' pretty they cause more; but if they're beautiful an' fiery, bent
+on havin' their way, as this new lass is, all hell couldn't hold a
+candle to them. We don't need the Shawnees an' Girtys, an' hoss
+thieves round this here settlement to stir up excitin' times, now
+we've got this dark-eyed lass. An' yet any fool could see she's sweet,
+an' good, an' true as gold."
+
+Toward the middle of the afternoon Jonathan sauntered in the direction
+of Metzar's inn. It lay on the front of the bluff, with its main doors
+looking into the road. A long, one-story log structure with two doors,
+answered as a bar-room. The inn proper was a building more
+pretentious, and joined the smaller one at its western end. Several
+horses were hitched outside, and two great oxen yoked to a cumbersome
+mud-crusted wagon stood patiently by.
+
+Jonathan bent his tall head as he entered the noisy bar-room. The
+dingy place reeked with tobacco smoke and the fumes of vile liquor. It
+was crowded with men. The lawlessness of the time and place was
+evident. Gaunt, red-faced frontiersmen reeled to and fro across the
+sawdust floor; hunters and fur-traders, raftsmen and farmers, swelled
+the motley crowd; young men, honest-faced, but flushed and wild with
+drink, hung over the bar; a group of sullen-visaged, serpent-eyed
+Indians held one corner. The black-bearded proprietor dealt out
+the rum.
+
+From beyond the bar-room, through a door entering upon the back porch,
+came the rattling of dice. Jonathan crossed the bar-room apparently
+oblivious to the keen glance Metzar shot at him, and went out upon the
+porch. This also was crowded, but there was more room because of
+greater space. At one table sat some pioneers drinking and laughing;
+at another were three men playing with dice. Colonel Zane, Silas, and
+Sheppard were among the lookers-on at the game. Jonathan joined them,
+and gazed at the gamesters.
+
+Brandt he knew well enough; he had seen that set, wolfish expression
+in the riverman's face before. He observed, however, that the man had
+flushed cheeks and trembling hands, indications of hard drinking. The
+player sitting next to Brandt was Williams, one of the garrison, and a
+good-natured fellow, but garrulous and wickedly disposed when drunk.
+The remaining player Jonathan at once saw was the Englishman,
+Mordaunt. He was a handsome man, with fair skin, and long, silken,
+blond mustache. Heavy lines, and purple shades under his blue eyes,
+were die unmistakable stamp of dissipation. Reckless, dissolute, bad
+as he looked, there yet clung something favorable about the man.
+Perhaps it was his cool, devil-may-care way as he pushed over gold
+piece after gold piece from the fast diminishing pile before him. His
+velvet frock and silken doublet had once been elegant; but were now
+sadly the worse for border roughing.
+
+Behind the Englishman's chair Jonathan saw a short man with a face
+resembling that of a jackal. The grizzled, stubbly beard, the
+protruding, vicious mouth, the broad, flat nose, and deep-set, small,
+glittering eyes made a bad impression on the observer. This man,
+Jonathan concluded, was the servant, Case, who was so eager with his
+knife. The borderman made the reflection, that if knife-play was the
+little man's pastime, he was not likely to go short of sport in
+that vicinity.
+
+Colonel Zane attracted Jonathan's attention at this moment. The
+pioneers had vacated the other table, and Silas and Sheppard now sat
+by it. The colonel wanted his brother to join them.
+
+"Here, Johnny, bring drinks," he said to the serving boy. "Tell Metzar
+who they're for." Then turning to Sheppard he continued: "He keeps
+good whiskey; but few of these poor devils ever see it." At the same
+time Colonel Zane pressed his foot upon that of Jonathan's.
+
+The borderman understood that the signal was intended to call
+attention to Brandt. The latter had leaned forward, as Jonathan passed
+by to take a seat with his brother, and said something in a low tone
+to Mordaunt and Case. Jonathan knew by the way the Englishman and his
+man quickly glanced up at him, that he had been the subject of
+the remark.
+
+Suddenly Williams jumped to his feet with an oath.
+
+"I'm cleaned out," he cried.
+
+"Shall we play alone?" asked Brandt of Mordaunt.
+
+"As you like," replied the Englishman, in a tone which showed he cared
+not a whit whether he played or not.
+
+"I've got work to do. Let's have some more drinks, and play another
+time," said Brandt.
+
+The liquor was served and drank. Brandt pocketed his pile of Spanish
+and English gold, and rose to his feet. He was a trifle unsteady; but
+not drunk.
+
+"Will you gentlemen have a glass with me?" Mordaunt asked of Colonel
+Zane's party.
+
+"Thank you, some other time, with pleasure. We have our drink now,"
+Colonel Zane said courteously.
+
+Meantime Brandt had been whispering in Case's ear. The little man
+laughed at something the riverman said. Then he shuffled from behind
+the table. He was short, his compact build gave promise of unusual
+strength and agility.
+
+"What are you going to do now?" asked Mordaunt, rising also. He looked
+hard at Case.
+
+"Shiver my sides, cap'n, if I don't need another drink," replied the
+sailor.
+
+"You have had enough. Come upstairs with me," said Mordaunt.
+
+"Easy with your hatch, cap'n," grinned Case. "I want to drink with
+that ther' Injun killer. I've had drinks with buccaneers, and bad men
+all over the world, and I'm not going to miss this chance."
+
+"Come on; you will get into trouble. You must not annoy these
+gentlemen," said Mordaunt.
+
+"Trouble is the name of my ship, and she's a trim, fast craft,"
+replied the man.
+
+His loud voice had put an end to the convention. Men began to crowd in
+from the bar-room. Metzar himself came to see what had caused the
+excitement.
+
+The little man threw up his cap, whooped, and addressed himself to
+Jonathan:
+
+"Injun-killer, bad man of the border, will you drink with a jolly old
+tar from England?"
+
+Suddenly a silence reigned, like that in the depths of the forest. To
+those who knew the borderman, and few did not know him, the invitation
+was nothing less than an insult. But it did not appear to them, as to
+him, like a pre-arranged plot to provoke a fight.
+
+"Will you drink, redskin-hunter?" bawled the sailor.
+
+"No," said Jonathan in his quiet voice.
+
+"Maybe you mean that against old England?" demanded Case fiercely.
+
+The borderman eyed him steadily, inscrutable as to feeling or intent,
+and was silent.
+
+"Go out there and I'll see the color of your insides quicker than I'd
+take a drink," hissed the sailor, with his brick-red face distorted
+and hideous to look upon. He pointed with a long-bladed knife that no
+one had seen him draw, to the green sward beyond the porch.
+
+The borderman neither spoke, nor relaxed a muscle.
+
+"Ho! ho! my brave pirate of the plains!" cried Case, and he leered
+with braggart sneer into the faces of Jonathan and his companions.
+
+It so happened that Sheppard sat nearest to him, and got the full
+effect of the sailor's hot, rum-soaked breath. He arose with a
+pale face.
+
+"Colonel, I can't stand this," he said hastily. "Let's get away from
+that drunken ruffian."
+
+"Who's a drunken ruffian?" yelled Case, more angry than ever. "I'm not
+drunk; but I'm going to be, and cut some of you white-livered border
+mates. Here, you old masthead, drink this to my health, damn you!"
+
+The ruffian had seized a tumbler of liquor from the table, and held it
+toward Sheppard while he brandished his long knife.
+
+White as snow, Sheppard backed against the wall; but did not take the
+drink.
+
+The sailor had the floor; no one save him spoke a word. The action had
+been so rapid that there had hardly been time. Colonel Zane and Silas
+were as quiet and tense as the borderman.
+
+"Drink!" hoarsely cried the sailor, advancing his knife toward
+Sheppard's body.
+
+When the sharp point all but pressed against the old man, a bright
+object twinkled through the air. It struck Case's wrist, knocked the
+knife from his fingers, and, bounding against the wall, fell upon the
+floor. It was a tomahawk.
+
+The borderman sprang over the table like a huge catamount, and with
+movement equally quick, knocked Case with a crash against the wall;
+closed on him before he could move a hand, and flung him like a sack
+of meal over the bluff.
+
+The tension relieved, some of the crowd laughed, others looked over
+the embankment to see how Case had fared, and others remarked that for
+some reason he had gotten off better than they expected.
+
+The borderman remained silent. He leaned against a post, with broad
+breast gently heaving, but his eyes sparkled as they watched Brandt,
+Williams, Mordaunt and Metzar. The Englishman alone spoke.
+
+"Handily done," he said, cool and suave. "Sir, yours is an iron hand.
+I apologize for this unpleasant affair. My man is quarrelsome when
+under the influence of liquor."
+
+"Metzar, a word with you," cried Colonel Zane curtly.
+
+"Come inside, kunnel," said the innkeeper, plainly ill at ease.
+
+"No; listen here. I'll speak to the point. You've got to stop running
+this kind of a place. No words, now, you've got to stop. Understand?
+You know as well as I, perhaps better, the character of your so-called
+inn. You'll get but one more chance."
+
+"Wal, kunnel, this is a free country," growled Metzar. "I can't help
+these fellars comin' here lookin' fer blood. I runs an honest place.
+The men want to drink an' gamble. What's law here? What can you do?"
+
+"You know me, Metzar," Colonel Zane said grimly. "I don't waste words.
+'To hell with law!' so you say. I can say that, too. Remember, the
+next drunken boy I see, or shady deal, or gambling spree, out you go
+for good."
+
+Metzar lowered his shaggy head and left the porch. Brandt and his
+friends, with serious faces, withdrew into the bar-room.
+
+The borderman walked around the corner of the inn, and up the lane.
+The colonel, with Silas and Sheppard, followed in more leisurely
+fashion. At a shout from some one they turned to see a dusty, bloody
+figure, with ragged clothes, stagger up from the bluff.
+
+"There's that blamed sailor now," said Sheppard. "He's a tough nut.
+My! What a knock on the head Jonathan gave him. Strikes me, too, that
+tomahawk came almost at the right time to save me a whole skin."
+
+"I was furious, but not at all alarmed," rejoined Colonel Zane.
+
+"I wondered what made you so quiet."
+
+"I was waiting. Jonathan never acts until the right moment, and
+then--well, you saw him. The little villain deserved killing. I could
+have shot him with pleasure. Do you know, Sheppard, Jonathan's
+aversion to shedding blood is a singular thing. He'd never kill the
+worst kind of a white man until driven to it."
+
+"That's commendable. How about Wetzel?"
+
+"Well, Lew is different," replied Colonel Zane with a shudder. "If I
+told him to take an ax and clean out Metzar's place--God! what a wreck
+he'd make of it. Maybe I'll have to tell him, and if I do, you'll see
+something you can never forget."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+On Sunday morning under the bright, warm sun, the little hamlet of
+Fort Henry lay peacefully quiet, as if no storms had ever rolled and
+thundered overhead, no roistering ever disturbed its stillness, and no
+Indian's yell ever horribly broke the quiet.
+
+"'Tis a fine morning," said Colonel Zane, joining his sister on the
+porch. "Well, how nice you look! All in white for the first time
+since--well, you do look charming. You're going to church, of course."
+
+"Yes, I invited Helen and her cousin to go. I've persuaded her to
+teach my Sunday-school class, and I'll take another of older
+children," replied Betty.
+
+"That's well. The youngsters don't have much chance to learn out here.
+But we've made one great stride. A church and a preacher means very
+much to young people. Next shall come the village school."
+
+"Helen and I might teach our classes an hour or two every afternoon."
+
+"It would be a grand thing if you did! Fancy these tots growing up
+unable to read or write. I hate to think of it; but the Lord knows
+I've done my best. I've had my troubles in keeping them alive."
+
+"Helen suggested the day school. She takes the greatest interest in
+everything and everybody. Her energy is remarkable. She simply must
+move, must do something. She overflows with kindness and sympathy.
+Yesterday she cried with happiness when Mabel told her Alex was eager
+to be married very soon. I tell you, Eb, Helen is a fine character."
+
+"Yes, good as she is pretty, which is saying some," mused the colonel.
+"I wonder who'll be the lucky fellow to win her."
+
+"It's hard to say. Not that Englishman, surely. She hates him.
+Jonathan might. You should see her eyes when he is mentioned."
+
+"Say, Betts, you don't mean it?" eagerly asked her brother.
+
+"Yes, I do," returned Betty, nodding her head positively. "I'm not
+easily deceived about those things. Helen's completely fascinated with
+Jack. She might be only a sixteen-year-old girl for the way she
+betrays herself to me."
+
+"Betty, I have a beautiful plan."
+
+"No doubt; you're full of them."
+
+"We can do it, Betty, we can, you and I," he said, as he squeezed her
+arm.
+
+"My dear old matchmaking brother," returned Betty, laughing, "it takes
+two to make a bargain. Jack must be considered."
+
+"Bosh!" exclaimed the colonel, snapping his fingers. "You needn't tell
+me any young man--any man, could resist that glorious girl."
+
+"Perhaps not; I couldn't if I were a man. But Jack's not like other
+people. He'd never realize that she cared for him. Besides, he's a
+borderman."
+
+"I know, and that's the only serious obstacle. But he could scout
+around the fort, even if he was married. These long, lonely, terrible
+journeys taken by him and Wetzel are mostly unnecessary. A sweet wife
+could soon make him see that. The border will be civilized in a few
+years, and because of that he'd better give over hunting for Indians.
+I'd like to see him married and settled down, like all the rest of us,
+even Isaac. You know Jack's the last of the Zanes, that is, the old
+Zanes. The difficulty arising from his extreme modesty and bashfulness
+can easily be overcome."
+
+"How, most wonderful brother?"
+
+"Easy as pie. Tell Jack that Helen is dying of love for him, and tell
+her that Jack loves----"
+
+"But, dear Eb, that latter part is not true," interposed Betty.
+
+"True, of course it's true, or would be in any man who wasn't as blind
+as a bat. We'll tell her Jack cares for her; but he is a borderman
+with stern ideas of duty, and so slow and backward he'd never tell his
+love even if he had overcome his tricks of ranging. That would settle
+it with any girl worth her salt, and this one will fetch Jack in ten
+days, or less."
+
+"Eb, you're a devil," said Betty gaily, and then she added in a more
+sober vein, "I understand, Eb. Your idea is prompted by love of Jack,
+and it's all right. I never see him go out of the clearing but I think
+it may be for the last time, even as on that day so long ago when
+brother Andrew waved his cap to us, and never came back. Jack is the
+best man in the world, and I, too, want to see him happy, with a wife,
+and babies, and a settled occupation in life. I think we might weave a
+pretty little romance. Shall we try?"
+
+"Try? We'll do it! Now, Betts, you explain it to both. You can do it
+smoother than I, and telling them is really the finest point of our
+little plot. I'll help the good work along afterwards. He'll be out
+presently. Nail him at once."
+
+Jonathan, all unconscious of the deep-laid scheme to make him happy,
+soon came out on the porch, and stretched his long arms as he breathed
+freely of the morning air.
+
+"Hello, Jack, where are you bound?" asked Betty, clasping one of his
+powerful, buckskin-clad knees with her arm.
+
+"I reckon I'll go over to the spring," he replied, patting her dark,
+glossy head.
+
+"Do you know I want to tell you something, Jack, and it's quite
+serious," she said, blushing a little at her guilt; but resolute to
+carry out her part of the plot.
+
+"Well, dear?" he asked as she hesitated.
+
+"Do you like Helen?"
+
+"That is a question," Jonathan replied after a moment.
+
+"Never mind; tell me," she persisted.
+
+He made no answer.
+
+"Well, Jack, she's--she's wildly in love with you."
+
+The borderman stood very still for several moments. Then, with one
+step he gained the lawn, and turned to confront her.
+
+"What's that you say?"
+
+Betty trembled a little. He spoke so sharply, his eyes were bent on
+her so keenly, and he looked so strong, so forceful that she was
+almost afraid. But remembering that she had said only what, to her
+mind, was absolutely true, she raised her eyes and repeated the words:
+
+"Helen is wildly'in love with you."
+
+"Betty, you wouldn't joke about such a thing; you wouldn't lie to me,
+I know you wouldn't."
+
+"No, Jack dear."
+
+She saw his powerful frame tremble, even as she had seen more than one
+man tremble, during the siege, under the impact of a bullet.
+
+Without speaking, he walked rapidly down the path toward the spring.
+
+Colonel Zane came out of his hiding-place behind the porch and, with a
+face positively electrifying in its glowing pleasure, beamed upon
+his sister.
+
+"Gee! Didn't he stalk off like an Indian chief!" he said, chuckling
+with satisfaction. "By George! Betts, you must have got in a great
+piece of work. I never in my life saw Jack look like that."
+
+Colonel Zane sat down by Betty's side and laughed softly but heartily.
+
+"We'll fix him all right, the lonely hill-climber! Why, he hasn't a
+ghost of a chance. Wait until she sees him after hearing your story! I
+tell you, Betty--why--damme! you're crying!"
+
+He had turned to find her head lowered, while she shaded her face with
+her hand.
+
+"Now, Betty, just a little innocent deceit like that--what harm?" he
+said, taking her hand. He was as tender as a woman.
+
+"Oh, Eb, it wasn't that. I didn't mind telling him. Only the flash in
+his eyes reminded me of--of Alfred."
+
+"Surely it did. Why not? Almost everything brings up a tender memory
+for some one we've loved and lost. But don't cry, Betty."
+
+She laughed a little, and raised a face with its dark cheeks flushed
+and tear-stained.
+
+"I'm silly, I suppose; but I can't help it. I cry at least once every
+day."
+
+"Brace up. Here come Helen and Will. Don't let them see you grieved.
+My! Helen in pure white, too! This is a conspiracy to ruin the peace
+of the masculine portion of Fort Henry."
+
+Betty went forward to meet her friends while Colonel Zane continued
+talking, but now to himself. "What a fatal beauty she has!" His eyes
+swept over Helen with the pleasure of an artist. The fair richness of
+her skin, the perfect lips, the wavy, shiny hair, the wondrous
+dark-blue, changing eyes, the tall figure, slender, but strong and
+swelling with gracious womanhood, made a picture he delighted in and
+loved to have near him. The girl did not possess for him any of that
+magnetism, so commonly felt by most of her admirers; but he did feel
+how subtly full she was of something, which for want of a better term
+he described in Wetzel's characteristic expression, as "chain-lightning."
+
+He reflected that as he was so much older, that she, although always
+winsome and earnest, showed nothing of the tormenting, bewildering
+coquetry of her nature. Colonel Zane prided himself on his
+discernment, and he had already observed that Helen had different
+sides of character for different persons. To Betty, Mabel, Nell, and
+the children, she was frank, girlish, full of fun and always lovable;
+to her elders quiet and earnestly solicitous to please; to the young
+men cold; but with a penetrating, mocking promise haunting that
+coldness, and sometimes sweetly agreeable, often wilful, and
+changeable as April winds. At last the colonel concluded that she
+needed, as did all other spirited young women, the taming influence of
+a man whom she loved, a home to care for, and children to soften and
+temper her spirit.
+
+"Well, young friends, I see you count on keeping the Sabbath," he said
+cheerily. "For my part, Will, I don't see how Jim Douns can preach
+this morning, before this laurel blossom and that damask rose."
+
+"How poetical! Which is which?" asked Betty.
+
+"Flatterer!" laughed Helen, shaking her finger.
+
+"And a married man, too!" continued Betty.
+
+"Well, being married has not affected my poetical sentiment, nor
+impaired my eyesight."
+
+"But it has seriously inconvenienced your old propensity of making
+love to the girls. Not that you wouldn't if you dared," replied Betty
+with mischief in her eye.
+
+"Now, Will, what do you think of that? Isn't it real sisterly regard?
+Come, we'll go and look at my thoroughbreds," said Colonel Zane.
+
+"Where is Jonathan?" Helen asked presently. "Something happened at
+Metzar's yesterday. Papa wouldn't tell me, and I want to ask
+Jonathan."
+
+"Jack is down by the spring. He spends a great deal of his time there.
+It's shady and cool, and the water babbles over the stones."
+
+"How much alone he is," said Helen.
+
+Betty took her former position on the steps, but did not raise her
+eyes while she continued speaking. "Yes, he's more alone than ever
+lately, and quieter, too. He hardly ever speaks now. There must be
+something on his mind more serious than horse-thieves."
+
+"What?" Helen asked quickly.
+
+"I'd better not tell--you."
+
+A long moment passed before Helen spoke.
+
+"Please tell me!"
+
+"Well, Helen, we think, Eb and I, that Jack is in love for the first
+time in his life, and with you, you adorable creature. But Jack's a
+borderman; he is stern in his principles, thinks he is wedded to his
+border life, and he knows that he has both red and white blood on his
+hands. He'd die before he'd speak of his love, because he cannot
+understand that would do any good, even if you loved him, which is, of
+course, preposterous."
+
+"Loves me!" breathed Helen softly.
+
+She sat down rather beside Betty, and turned her face away. She still
+held the young woman's hand which she squeezed so tightly as to make
+its owner wince. Betty stole a look at her, and saw the rich red blood
+mantling her cheeks, and her full bosom heave.
+
+Helen turned presently, with no trace of emotion except a singular
+brilliance of the eyes. She was so slow to speak again that Colonel
+Zane and Will returned from the corral before she found her voice.
+
+"Colonel Zane, please tell me about last night. When papa came home to
+supper he was pale and very nervous. I knew something had happened.
+But he would not explain, which made me all the more anxious. Won't
+you please tell me?"
+
+Colonel Zane glanced again at her, and knew what had happened. Despite
+her self-possession those tell-tale eyes told her secret.
+Ever-changing and shadowing with a bounding, rapturous light, they
+were indeed the windows of her soul. All the emotion of a woman's
+heart shone there, fear, beauty, wondering appeal, trembling joy, and
+timid hope.
+
+"Tell you? Indeed I will," replied Colonel Zane, softened and a little
+remorseful under those wonderful eyes.
+
+No one liked to tell a story better than Colonel Zane. Briefly and
+graphically he related the circumstances of the affair leading to the
+attack on Helen's father, and, as the tale progressed, he became quite
+excited, speaking with animated face and forceful gestures.
+
+"Just as the knife-point touched your father, a swiftly-flying object
+knocked the weapon to the floor. It was Jonathan's tomahawk. What
+followed was so sudden I hardly saw it. Like lightning, and flexible
+as steel, Jonathan jumped over the table, smashed Case against the
+wall, pulled him up and threw him over the bank. I tell you, Helen, it
+was a beautiful piece of action; but not, of course, for a woman's
+eyes. Now that's all. Your father was not even hurt."
+
+"He saved papa's life," murmured Helen, standing like a statue.
+
+She wheeled suddenly with that swift bird-like motion habitual to her,
+and went quickly down the path leading to the spring.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jonathan Zane, solitary dreamer of dreams as he was, had never been in
+as strange and beautiful a reverie as that which possessed him on this
+Sabbath morning.
+
+Deep into his heart had sunk Betty's words. The wonder of it, the
+sweetness, that alone was all he felt. The glory of this girl had
+begun, days past, to spread its glamour round him. Swept irresistibly
+away now, he soared aloft in a dream-castle of fancy with its painted
+windows and golden walls.
+
+For the first time in his life on the border he had entered the little
+glade and had no eye for the crystal water flowing over the pebbles
+and mossy stones, or the plot of grassy ground inclosed by tall, dark
+trees and shaded by a canopy of fresh green and azure blue. Nor did he
+hear the music of the soft rushing water, the warbling birds, or the
+gentle sighing breeze moving the leaves.
+
+Gone, vanished, lost to-day was that sweet companionship of nature.
+That indefinable and unutterable spirit which flowed so peacefully to
+him from his beloved woods; that something more than merely affecting
+his senses, which existed for him in the stony cliffs, and breathed
+with life through the lonely aisles of the forest, had fled before the
+fateful power of a woman's love and beauty.
+
+A long time that seemed only a moment passed while he leaned against a
+stone. A light step sounded on the path.
+
+A vision in pure white entered the glade; two little hands pressed
+his, and two dark-blue eyes of misty beauty shed their light on him.
+
+"Jonathan, I am come to thank you."
+
+Sweet and tremulous, the voice sounded far away.
+
+"Thank me? For what?"
+
+"You saved papa's life. Oh! how can I thank you?"
+
+No voice answered for him.
+
+"I have nothing to give but this."
+
+A flower-like face was held up to him; hands light as thistledown
+touched his shoulders; dark-blue eyes glowed upon him with all
+tenderness.
+
+"May I thank you--so?"
+
+Soft lips met his full and lingeringly.
+
+Then came a rush as of wind, a flash of white, and the patter of
+flying feet. He was alone in the glade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+June passed; July opened with unusually warm weather, and Fort Henry
+had no visits from Indians or horse-thieves, nor any inconvenience
+except the hot sun. It was the warmest weather for many years, and
+seriously dwarfed the settlers' growing corn. Nearly all the springs
+were dry, and a drouth menaced the farmers.
+
+The weather gave Helen an excuse which she was not slow to adopt. Her
+pale face and languid air perplexed and worried her father and her
+friends. She explained to them that the heat affected her
+disagreeably.
+
+Long days had passed since that Sunday morning when she kissed the
+borderman. What transports of sweet hope and fear were hers then! How
+shame had scorched her happiness! Yet still she gloried in the act. By
+that kiss had she awakened to a full consciousness of her love. With
+insidious stealth and ever-increasing power this flood had increased
+to full tide, and, bursting its bonds, surged over her with
+irresistible strength.
+
+During the first days after the dawning of her passion, she lived in
+its sweetness, hearing only melodious sounds chiming in her soul. The
+hours following that Sunday were like long dreams. But as all things
+reach fruition, so this girlish period passed, leaving her a
+thoughtful woman. She began to gather up the threads of her life where
+love had broken them, to plan nobly, and to hope and wait.
+
+Weeks passed, however, and her lover did not come. Betty told her that
+Jonathan made flying trips at break of day to hold council with
+Colonel Zane; that he and Wetzel were on the trail of Shawnees with
+stolen horses, and both bordermen were in their dark, vengeful,
+terrible moods. In these later days Helen passed through many stages
+of feeling. After the exalting mood of hot, young love, came reaction.
+She fell into the depths of despair. Sorrow paled her face, thinned
+her cheeks and lent another shadow, a mournful one, to her great eyes.
+The constant repression of emotion, the strain of trying to seem
+cheerful when she was miserable, threatened even her magnificent
+health. She answered the solicitude of her friends by evasion, and
+then by that innocent falsehood in which a sensitive soul hides its
+secrets. Shame was only natural, because since the borderman came not,
+nor sent her a word, pride whispered that she had wooed him,
+forgetting modesty.
+
+Pride, anger, shame, despair, however, finally fled before affection.
+She loved this wild borderman, and knew he loved her in return
+although he might not understand it himself. His simplicity, his lack
+of experience with women, his hazardous life and stern duty regarding
+it, pleaded for him and for her love. For the lack of a little
+understanding she would never live unhappy and alone while she was
+loved. Better give a thousand times more than she had sacrificed. He
+would return to the village some day, when the Indians and the thieves
+were run down, and would be his own calm, gentle self. Then she would
+win him, break down his allegiance to this fearful border life, and
+make him happy in her love.
+
+While Helen was going through one of the fires of life to come out
+sweeter and purer, if a little pensive and sad, time, which waits not
+for love, nor life, nor death, was hastening onward, and soon the
+golden fields of grain were stored. September came with its fruitful
+promise fulfilled.
+
+Helen entered once more into the quiet, social life of the little
+settlement, taught her class on Sundays, did all her own work, and
+even found time to bring a ray of sunshine to more than one sick
+child's bed. Yet she did not forget her compact with Jonathan, and
+bent all her intelligence to find some clew that might aid in the
+capture of the horse-thief. She was still groping in the darkness. She
+could not, however, banish the belief that the traitor was Brandt. She
+blamed herself for this, because of having no good reasons for
+suspicion; but the conviction was there, fixed by intuition. Because a
+man's eyes were steely gray, sharp like those of a cat's, and capable
+of the same contraction and enlargement, there was no reason to
+believe their owner was a criminal. But that, Helen acknowledged with
+a smile, was the only argument she had. To be sure Brandt had looked
+capable of anything, the night Jonathan knocked him down; she knew he
+had incited Case to begin the trouble at Metzar's, and had seemed
+worried since that time. He had not left the settlement on short
+journeys, as had been his custom before the affair in the bar-room.
+And not a horse had disappeared from Fort Henry since that time.
+
+Brandt had not discontinued his attentions to her; if they were less
+ardent it was because she had given him absolutely to understand that
+she could be his friend only. And she would not have allowed even so
+much except for Jonathan's plan. She fancied it was possible to see
+behind Brandt's courtesy, the real subtle, threatening man. Stripped
+of his kindliness, an assumed virtue, the iron man stood revealed,
+cold, calculating, cruel.
+
+Mordaunt she never saw but once and then, shocking and pitiful, he lay
+dead drunk in the grass by the side of the road, his pale, weary,
+handsome face exposed to the pitiless rays of the sun. She ran home
+weeping over this wreck of what had once been so fine a gentleman. Ah!
+the curse of rum! He had learned his soft speech and courtly bearing
+in the refinement of a home where a proud mother adored, and gentle
+sisters loved him. And now, far from the kindred he had disgraced, he
+lay in the road like a log. How it hurt her! She almost wished she
+could have loved him, if love might have redeemed. She was more kind
+to her other admirers, more tolerant of Brandt, and could forgive the
+Englishman, because the pangs she had suffered through love had
+softened her spirit.
+
+During this long period the growing friendship of her cousin for Betty
+had been a source of infinite pleasure to Helen. She hoped and
+believed a romance would develop between the young widow and Will, and
+did all in her power, slyly abetted by the matchmaking colonel, to
+bring the two together.
+
+One afternoon when the sky was clear with that intense blue peculiar
+to bright days in early autumn, Helen started out toward Betty's,
+intending to remind that young lady she had promised to hunt for
+clematis and other fall flowers.
+
+About half-way to Betty's home she met Brandt. He came swinging round
+a corner with his quick, firm step. She had not seen him for several
+days, and somehow he seemed different. A brightness, a flash, as of
+daring expectation, was in his face. The poise, too, of the man
+had changed.
+
+"Well, I am fortunate. I was just going to your home," he said
+cheerily. "Won't you come for a walk with me?"
+
+"You may walk with me to Betty's," Helen answered.
+
+"No, not that. Come up the hillside. We'll get some goldenrod. I'd
+like to have a chat with you. I may go away--I mean I'm thinking of
+making a short trip," he added hurriedly.
+
+"Please come."
+
+"I promised to go to Betty's."
+
+"You won't come?" His voice trembled with mingled disappointment and
+resentment.
+
+"No," Helen replied in slight surprise.
+
+"You have gone with the other fellows. Why not with me?" He was white
+now, and evidently laboring under powerful feelings that must have had
+their origin in some thought or plan which hinged on the acceptance of
+his invitation.
+
+"Because I choose not to," Helen replied coldly, meeting his glance
+fully.
+
+A dark red flush swelled Brandt's face and neck; his gray eyes gleamed
+balefully with wolfish glare; his teeth were clenched. He breathed
+hard and trembled with anger. Then, by a powerful effort, he conquered
+himself; the villainous expression left his face; the storm of rage
+subsided. Great incentive there must have been for him thus to repress
+his emotions so quickly. He looked long at her with sinister, intent
+regard; then, with the laugh of a desperado, a laugh which might have
+indicated contempt for the failure of his suit, and which was fraught
+with a world of meaning, of menace, he left her without so much as
+a salute.
+
+Helen pondered over this sudden change, and felt relieved because she
+need make no further pretense of friendship. He had shown himself to
+be what she had instinctively believed. She hurried on toward Betty's,
+hoping to find Colonel Zane at home, and with Jonathan, for Brandt's
+hint of leaving Fort Henry, and his evident chagrin at such a slip of
+speech, had made her suspicious. She was informed by Mrs. Zane that
+the colonel had gone to a log-raising; Jonathan had not been in for
+several days, and Betty went away with Will.
+
+"Where did they go?" asked Helen.
+
+"I'm not sure; I think down to the spring."
+
+Helen followed the familiar path through the grove of oaks into the
+glade. It was quite deserted. Sitting on the stone against which
+Jonathan had leaned the day she kissed him, she gave way to tender
+reflection. Suddenly she was disturbed by the sound of rapid
+footsteps, and looking up, saw the hulking form of Metzar, the
+innkeeper, coming down the path. He carried a bucket, and meant
+evidently to get water. Helen did not desire to be seen, and, thinking
+he would stay only a moment, slipped into a thicket of willows behind
+the stone. She could see plainly through the foliage. Metzar came into
+the glade, peered around in the manner of a man expecting to see some
+one, and then, filling his bucket at the spring, sat down on
+the stone.
+
+Not a minute elapsed before soft, rapid footsteps sounded in the
+distance. The bushes parted, disclosing the white, set face and gray
+eyes of Roger Brandt. With a light spring he cleared the brook and
+approached Metzar.
+
+Before speaking he glanced around the glade with the fugitive,
+distrustful glance of a man who suspects even the trees. Then,
+satisfied by the scrutiny he opened his hunting frock, taking forth a
+long object which he thrust toward Metzar.
+
+It was an Indian arrow.
+
+Metzar's dull gaze traveled from this to the ominous face of Brandt.
+
+"See there, you! Look at this arrow! Shot by the best Indian on the
+border into the window of my room. I hadn't been there a minute when
+it came from the island. God! but it was a great shot!"
+
+"Hell!" gasped Metzar, his dull face quickening with some awful
+thought.
+
+"I guess it is hell," replied Brandt, his face growing whiter and
+wilder.
+
+"Our game's up?" questioned Metzar with haggard cheek.
+
+"Up? Man! We haven't a day, maybe less, to shake Fort Henry."
+
+"What does it mean?" asked Metzar. He was the calmer of the two.
+
+"It's a signal. The Shawnees, who were in hiding with the horses over
+by Blueberry swamp, have been flushed by those bordermen. Some of them
+have escaped; at least one, for no one but Ashbow could shoot that
+arrow across the river."
+
+"Suppose he hadn't come?" whispered Metzar hoarsely.
+
+Brandt answered him with a dark, shuddering gaze.
+
+A twig snapped in the thicket. Like foxes at the click of a trap,
+these men whirled with fearsome glances.
+
+"Ugh!" came a low, guttural voice from the bushes, and an Indian of
+magnificent proportions and somber, swarthy features, entered
+the glade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The savage had just emerged from the river, for his graceful,
+copper-colored body and scanty clothing were dripping with water. He
+carried a long bow and a quiver of arrows.
+
+Brandt uttered an exclamation of surprise, and Metzar a curse, as the
+lithe Indian leaped the brook. He was not young. His swarthy face was
+lined, seamed, and terrible with a dark impassiveness.
+
+"Paleface-brother-get-arrow," he said in halting English, as his eyes
+flashed upon Brandt. "Chief-want-make-sure."
+
+The white man leaned forward, grasped the Indian's arm, and addressed
+him in an Indian language. This questioning was evidently in regard to
+his signal, the whereabouts of others of the party, and why he took
+such fearful risks almost in the village. The Indian answered with one
+English word.
+
+"Deathwind!"
+
+Brandt drew back with drawn, white face, while a whistling breath
+escaped him.
+
+"I knew it, Metz. Wetzel!" he exclaimed in a husky voice.
+
+The blood slowly receded from Metzar's evil, murky face, leaving it
+haggard.
+
+"Deathwind-on-Chief's-trail-up-Eagle Rock," continued the Indian.
+"Deathwind-fooled-not-for-long. Chief-wait-paleface-brothers at
+Two Islands."
+
+The Indian stepped into the brook, parted the willows, and was gone as
+he had come, silently.
+
+"We know what to expect," said Brandt in calmer tone as the daring
+cast of countenance returned to him. "There's an Indian for you! He
+got away, doubled like an old fox on his trail, and ran in here to
+give us a chance at escape. Now you know why Bing Legget can't
+be caught."
+
+"Let's dig at once," replied Metzar, with no show of returning courage
+such as characterized his companion.
+
+Brandt walked to and fro with bent brows, like one in deep thought.
+Suddenly he turned upon Metzar eyes which were brightly hard, and
+reckless with resolve.
+
+"By Heaven! I'll do it! Listen. Wetzel has gone to the top of Eagle
+Mountain, where he and Zane have a rendezvous. Even he won't suspect
+the cunning of this Indian; anyway it'll be after daylight to-morrow
+before he strikes the trail. I've got twenty-four hours, and more, to
+get this girl, and I'll do it!"
+
+"Bad move to have weight like her on a march," said Metzar.
+
+"Bah! The thing's easy. As for you, go on, push ahead after we're
+started. All I ask is that you stay by me until the time to
+cut loose."
+
+"I ain't agoin' to crawfish now," growled Metzar. "Strikes me, too,
+I'm losin' more'n you."
+
+"You won't be a loser if you can get back to Detroit with your scalp.
+I'll pay you in horses and gold. Once we reach Legget's place
+we're safe."
+
+"What's yer plan about gittin' the gal?" asked Metzar.
+
+Brandt leaned forward and spoke eagerly, but in a low tone.
+
+"Git away on hoss-back?" questioned Metzar, visibly brightening. "Wal,
+that's some sense. Kin ye trust ther other party?"
+
+"I'm sure I can," rejoined Brandt.
+
+"It'll be a good job, a good job an' all done in daylight, too. Bing
+Legget couldn't plan better," Metzar said, rubbing his hands,
+
+"We've fooled these Zanes and their fruit-raising farmers for a year,
+and our time is about up," Brandt muttered. "One more job and we've
+done. Once with Legget we're safe, and then we'll work slowly back
+towards Detroit. Let's get out of here now, for some one may come at
+any moment."
+
+The plotters separated, Brandt going through the grove, and Metzar
+down the path by which he had come.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Helen, trembling with horror of what she had heard, raised herself
+cautiously from the willows where she had lain, and watched the
+innkeeper's retreating figure. When it had disappeared she gave a
+little gasp of relief. Free now to run home, there to plan what course
+must be pursued, she conquered her fear and weakness, and hurried from
+the glade. Luckily, so far as she was able to tell, no one saw her
+return. She resolved that she would be cool, deliberate, clever,
+worthy of the borderman's confidence.
+
+First she tried to determine the purport of this interview between
+Brandt and Metzar. She recalled to mind all that was said, and
+supplied what she thought had been suggested. Brandt and Metzar were
+horse-thieves, aids of Bing Legget. They had repaired to the glade to
+plan. The Indian had been a surprise. Wetzel had routed the Shawnees,
+and was now on the trail of this chieftain. The Indian warned them to
+leave Fort Henry and to meet him at a place called Two Islands.
+Brandt's plan, presumably somewhat changed by the advent of the
+red-man, was to steal horses, abduct a girl in broad daylight, and
+before tomorrow's sunset escape to join the ruffian Legget.
+
+"I am the girl," murmured Helen shudderingly, as she relapsed
+momentarily into girlish fears. But at once she rose above
+selfish feelings.
+
+Secondly, while it was easy to determine what the outlaws meant, the
+wisest course was difficult to conceive. She had promised the
+borderman to help him, and not speak of anything she learned to any
+but himself. She could not be true to him if she asked advice. The
+point was clear; either she must remain in the settlement hoping for
+Jonathan's return in time to frustrate Brandt's villainous scheme, or
+find the borderman. Suddenly she remembered Metzar's allusion to a
+second person whom Brandt felt certain he could trust. This meant
+another traitor in Fort Henry, another horse-thief, another desperado
+willing to make off with helpless women.
+
+Helen's spirit rose in arms. She had their secret, and could ruin
+them. She would find the borderman.
+
+Wetzel was on the trail at Eagle Rock. What for? Trailing an Indian
+who was then five miles east of that rock? Not Wetzel! He was on that
+track to meet Jonathan. Otherwise, with the redskins near the river,
+he would have been closer to them. He would meet Jonathan there at
+sunset to-day, Helen decided.
+
+She paced the room, trying to still her throbbing heart and trembling
+hands.
+
+"I must be calm," she said sternly. "Time is precious. I have not a
+moment to lose. I will find him. I've watched that mountain many a
+time, and can find the trail and the rock. I am in more danger here,
+than out there in the forest. With Wetzel and Jonathan on the mountain
+side, the Indians have fled it. But what about the savage who warned
+Brandt? Let me think. Yes, he'll avoid the river; he'll go round south
+of the settlement, and, therefore, can't see me cross. How fortunate
+that I have paddled a canoe many times across the river. How glad that
+I made Colonel Zane describe the course up the mountains!"
+
+Her resolution fixed, Helen changed her skirt for one of buckskin,
+putting on leggings and moccasins of the same serviceable material.
+She filled the pockets of a short, rain-proof jacket with biscuits,
+and, thus equipped, sallied forth with a spirit and exultation she
+could not subdue. Only one thing she feared, which was that Brandt or
+Metzar might see her cross the river. She launched her canoe and
+paddled down stream, under cover of the bluff, to a point opposite the
+end of the island, then straight across, keeping the island between
+her and the settlement. Gaining the other shore, Helen pulled the
+canoe into the willows, and mounted the bank. A thicket of willow and
+alder made progress up the steep incline difficult, but once out of it
+she faced a long stretch of grassy meadowland. A mile beyond began the
+green, billowy rise of that mountain which she intended to climb.
+
+Helen's whole soul was thrown into the adventure. She felt her strong
+young limbs in accord with her heart.
+
+"Now, Mr. Brandt, horse-thief and girl-snatcher, we'll see," she said
+with scornful lips. "If I can't beat you now I'm not fit to be Betty
+Zane's friend; and am unworthy of a borderman's trust."
+
+She traversed the whole length of meadowland close under the shadow of
+the fringed bank, and gained the forest. Here she hesitated. All was
+so wild and still. No definite course through the woods seemed to
+invite, and yet all was open. Trees, trees, dark, immovable trees
+everywhere. The violent trembling of poplar and aspen leaves, when all
+others were so calm, struck her strangely, and the fearful stillness
+awed her. Drawing a deep breath she started forward up the gently
+rising ground.
+
+As she advanced the open forest became darker, and of wilder aspect.
+The trees were larger and closer together. Still she made fair
+progress without deviating from the course she had determined upon.
+Before her rose a ridge, with a ravine on either side, reaching nearly
+to the summit of the mountain. Here the underbrush was scanty, the
+fallen trees had slipped down the side, and the rocks were not so
+numerous, all of which gave her reason to be proud, so far, of
+her judgment.
+
+Helen, pressing onward and upward, forgot time and danger, while she
+reveled in the wonder of the forestland. Birds and squirrels fled
+before her; whistling and wheezing of alarm, or heavy crashings in the
+bushes, told of frightened wild beasts. A dull, faint roar, like a
+distant wind, suggested tumbling waters. A single birch tree, gleaming
+white among the black trees, enlivened the gloomy forest. Patches of
+sunlight brightened the shade. Giant ferns, just tinging with autumn
+colors, waved tips of sculptured perfection. Most wonderful of all
+were the colored leaves, as they floated downward with a sad,
+gentle rustle.
+
+Helen was brought to a realization of her hazardous undertaking by a
+sudden roar of water, and the abrupt termination of the ridge in a
+deep gorge. Grasping a tree she leaned over to look down. It was fully
+an hundred feet deep, with impassable walls, green-stained and damp,
+at the bottom of which a brawling, brown brook rushed on its way.
+Fully twenty feet wide, it presented an insurmountable barrier to
+further progress in that direction.
+
+But Helen looked upon it merely as a difficulty to be overcome. She
+studied the situation, and decided to go to the left because higher
+ground was to be seen that way. Abandoning the ridge, she pressed on,
+keeping as close to the gorge as she dared, and came presently to a
+fallen tree lying across the dark cleft. Without a second's
+hesitation, for she knew such would be fatal, she stepped upon the
+tree and started across, looking at nothing but the log under her
+feet, while she tried to imagine herself walking across the
+water-gate, at home in Virginia.
+
+She accomplished the venture without a misstep. When safely on the
+ground once more she felt her knees tremble and a queer, light feeling
+came into her head. She laughed, however, as she rested a moment. It
+would take more than a gorge to discourage her, she resolved with set
+lips, as once again she made her way along the rising ground.
+
+Perilous, if not desperate, work was ahead of her. Broken, rocky
+ground, matted thicket, and seemingly impenetrable forest, rose darkly
+in advance. But she was not even tired, and climbed, crawled, twisted
+and turned on her way upward. She surmounted a rocky ledge, to face a
+higher ridge covered with splintered, uneven stones, and the fallen
+trees of many storms. Once she slipped and fell, spraining her wrist.
+At length this uphill labor began to weary her. To breathe caused a
+pain in her side and she was compelled to rest.
+
+Already the gray light of coming night shrouded the forest. She was
+surprised at seeing the trees become indistinct; because the shadows
+hovered over the thickets, and noted that the dark, dim outline of the
+ridges was fading into obscurity.
+
+She struggled on up the uneven slope with a tightening at her heart
+which was not all exhaustion. For the first time she doubted herself,
+but it was too late. She could not turn back. Suddenly she felt that
+she was on a smoother, easier course. Not to strike a stone or break a
+twig seemed unusual. It might be a path worn by deer going to a
+spring. Then into her troubled mind flashed the joyful thought, she
+had found a trail.
+
+Soft, wiry grass, springing from a wet soil, rose under her feet. A
+little rill trickled alongside the trail. Mossy, soft-cushioned stones
+lay imbedded here and there. Young maples and hickories grew
+breast-high on either side, and the way wound in and out under the
+lowering shade of forest monarchs.
+
+Swiftly ascending this path she came at length to a point where it was
+possible to see some distance ahead. The ascent became hardly
+noticeable. Then, as she turned a bend of the trail, the light grew
+brighter and brighter, until presently all was open and clear. An oval
+space, covered with stones, lay before her. A big, blasted chestnut
+stood near by. Beyond was the dim, purple haze of distance. Above, the
+pale, blue sky just faintly rose-tinted by the setting sun. Far to her
+left the scraggly trees of a low hill were tipped with orange and
+russet shades. She had reached the summit.
+
+Desolate and lonely was this little plateau. Helen felt immeasurably
+far away from home. Yet she could see in the blue distance the
+glancing river, the dark fort, and that cluster of cabins which marked
+the location of Fort Henry. Sitting upon the roots of the big chestnut
+tree she gazed around. There were the remains of a small camp-fire.
+Beyond, a hollow under a shelving rock. A bed of dry leaves lay packed
+in this shelter. Some one had been here, and she doubted not that it
+was the borderman.
+
+She was so tired and her wrist pained so severely that she lay back
+against the tree-trunk, closed her eyes and rested. A weariness, the
+apathy of utter exhaustion, came over her. She wished the bordermen
+would hurry and come before she went to sleep.
+
+Drowsily she was sinking into slumber when a long, low rumble aroused
+her. How dark it had suddenly become! A sheet of pale light flared
+across the overcast heavens.
+
+"A storm!" exclaimed Helen. "Alone on this mountain-top with a storm
+coming. Am I frightened? I don't believe it. At least I'm safe from
+that ruffian Brandt. Oh! if my borderman would only come!"
+
+Helen changed her position from beside the tree, to the hollow under
+the stone. It was high enough to permit of her sitting upright, and
+offered a safe retreat from the storm. The bed of leaves was soft and
+comfortable. She sat there peering out at the darkening heavens.
+
+All beneath her, southward and westward was gray twilight. The
+settlement faded from sight; the river grew wan and shadowy. The ruddy
+light in the west was fast succumbing to the rolling clouds. Darker
+and darker it became, until only one break in the overspreading vapors
+admitted the last crimson gleam of sunshine over hills and valley,
+brightening the river until it resembled a stream of fire. Then the
+light failed, the glow faded. The intense blackness of night
+prevailed.
+
+Out of the ebon west came presently another flare of light, a quick,
+spreading flush, like a flicker from a monster candle; it was followed
+by a long, low, rumbling roll.
+
+Helen felt in those intervals of unutterably vast silence, that she
+must shriek aloud. The thunder was a friend. She prayed for the storm
+to break. She had withstood danger and toilsome effort with fortitude;
+but could not brave this awful, boding, wilderness stillness.
+
+Flashes of lightning now revealed the rolling, pushing, turbulent
+clouds, and peals of thunder sounded nearer and louder.
+
+A long swelling moan, sad, low, like the uneasy sigh of the sea,
+breathed far in the west. It was the wind, the ominous warning of the
+storm. Sheets of light were now mingled with long, straggling ropes of
+fire, and the rumblings were often broken by louder, quicker
+detonations.
+
+Then a period, longer than usual, of inky blackness succeeded the
+sharp flaring of light. A faint breeze ruffled the leaves of the
+thicket, and fanned Helen's hot cheek. The moan of the wind became
+more distinct, then louder, and in another instant like the far-off
+roar of a rushing river. The storm was upon her. Helen shrank closer
+against the stone, and pulled her jacket tighter around her
+trembling form.
+
+A sudden, intense, dazzling, blinding, white light enveloped her. The
+rocky promontory, the weird, giant chestnut tree, the open plateau,
+and beyond, the stormy heavens, were all luridly clear in the flash of
+lightning. She fancied it was possible to see a tall, dark figure
+emerging from the thicket. As the thunderclap rolled and pealed
+overhead, she strained her eyes into the blackness waiting for the
+next lightning flash.
+
+It came with brilliant, dazing splendor. The whole plateau and thicket
+were as light as in the day. Close by the stone where she lay crept
+the tall, dark figure of an Indian. With starting eyes she saw the
+fringed clothing, the long, flying hair, and supple body peculiar to
+the savage. He was creeping upon her.
+
+Helen's blood ran cold; terror held her voiceless. She felt herself
+sinking slowly down upon the leaves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The sun had begun to cast long shadows the afternoon of Helen's hunt
+for Jonathan, when the borderman, accompanied by Wetzel, led a string
+of horses along the base of the very mountain she had ascended.
+
+"Last night's job was a good one, I ain't gainsayin'; but the redskin
+I wanted got away," Wetzel said gloomily.
+
+"He's safe now as a squirrel in a hole. I saw him dartin' among the
+trees with his white eagle feathers stickin' up like a buck's flag,"
+replied Jonathan. "He can run. If I'd only had my rifle loaded! But
+I'm not sure he was that arrow-shootin' Shawnee."
+
+"It was him. I saw his bow. We ought'er taken more time an' picked him
+out," Wetzel replied, shaking his head gravely. "Though mebbe that'd
+been useless. I think he was hidin'. He's precious shy of his red
+skin. I've been after him these ten year, an' never ketched him
+nappin' yet. We'd have done much toward snuffin' out Legget an' his
+gang if we'd winged the Shawnee."
+
+"He left a plain trail."
+
+"One of his tricks. He's slicker on a trail than any other Injun on
+the border, unless mebbe it's old Wingenund, the Huron. This Shawnee'd
+lead us many a mile for nuthin', if we'd stick to his trail. I'm long
+ago used to him. He's doubled like an old fox, run harder'n a skeered
+fawn, an', if needs be, he'll lay low as cunnin' buck. I calkilate
+once over the mountain, he's made a bee-line east. We'll go on with
+the hosses, an' then strike across country to find his trail."
+
+"It 'pears to me, Lew, that we've taken a long time in makin' a show
+against these hoss-thieves," said Jonathan.
+
+"I ain't sayin' much; but I've felt it," replied Wetzel.
+
+"All summer, an' nothin' done. It was more luck than sense that we run
+into those Injuns with the hosses. We only got three out of four, an'
+let the best redskin give us the slip. Here fall is nigh on us, with
+winter comin' soon, an' still we don't know who's the white traitor in
+the settlement."
+
+"I said it's be a long, an' mebbe, our last trail."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because these fellars red or white, are in with a picked gang of the
+best woodsmen as ever outlawed the border. We'll get the Fort Henry
+hoss-thief. I'll back the bright-eyed lass for that."
+
+"I haven't seen her lately, an' allow she'd left me word if she
+learned anythin'."
+
+"Wal, mebbe it's as well you hain't seen so much of her." In silence
+they traveled and, arriving at the edge of the meadow, were about to
+mount two of the horses, when Wetzel said in a sharp tone:
+
+"Look!"
+
+He pointed to a small, well-defined moccasin track in the black earth
+on the margin of a rill.
+
+"Lew, it's a woman's, sure's you're born," declared Jonathan.
+
+Wetzel knelt and closely examined the footprint; "Yes, a woman's, an'
+no Injun."
+
+"What?" Jonathan exclaimed, as he knelt to scrutinize the imprint.
+
+"This ain't half a day old," added Wetzel. "An' not a redskin's
+moccasin near. What d'you reckon?"
+
+"A white girl, alone," replied Jonathan as he followed the trail a
+short distance along the brook. "See, she's makin' upland. Wetzel,
+these tracks could hardly be my sister's, an' there's only one other
+girl on the border whose feet will match 'em! Helen Sheppard has
+passed here, on her way up the mountain to find you or me."
+
+"I like your reckonin'."
+
+"She's suddenly discovered somethin', Injuns, hoss-thieves, the Fort
+Henry traitor, or mebbe, an' most likely, some plottin'. Bein' bound
+to secrecy by me, she's not told my brother. An' it must be call for
+hurry. She knows we frequent this mountain-top; said Eb told her about
+the way we get here."
+
+"I'd calkilate about the same."
+
+"What'll you do? Go with me after her?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"I'll take the hosses, an' be at the fort inside of an hour. If
+Helen's gone, I'll tell her father you're close on her trail. Now
+listen! It'll be dark soon, an' a storm's comin'. Don't waste time on
+her trail. Hurry up to the rock. She'll be there, if any lass could
+climb there. If not, come back in the mornin', hunt her trail out, an'
+find her. I'm thinkin', Jack, we'll find the Shawnee had somethin' to
+do with this. Whatever happens after I get back to the fort, I'll
+expect you hard on my trail."
+
+Jonathan bounded across the brook and with an easy lope began the
+gradual ascent. Soon he came upon a winding path. He ran along this
+for perhaps a quarter of an hour, until it became too steep for rapid
+traveling, when he settled down to a rapid walk. The forest was
+already dark. A slight rustling of the leaves beneath his feet was the
+only sound, except at long intervals the distant rumbling of thunder.
+
+The mere possibility of Helen's being alone on that mountain seeking
+him, made Jonathan's heart beat as it never had before. For weeks he
+had avoided her, almost forgot her. He had conquered the strange,
+yearning weakness which assailed him after that memorable Sunday, and
+once more the silent shaded glens, the mystery of the woods, the
+breath of his wild, free life had claimed him. But now as this
+evidence of her spirit, her recklessness, was before him, and he
+remembered Betty's avowal, a pain, which was almost physical, tore at
+his heart. How terrible it would be if she came to her death through
+him! He pictured the big, alluring eyes, the perfect lips, the
+haunting face, cold in death. And he shuddered.
+
+The dim gloom of the woods soon darkened into blackness. The flashes
+of lightning, momentarily streaking the foliage, or sweeping overhead
+in pale yellow sheets, aided Jonathan in keeping the trail.
+
+He gained the plateau just as a great flash illumined it, and
+distinctly saw the dark hollow where he had taken refuge in many a
+storm, and where he now hoped to find the girl. Picking his way
+carefully over the sharp, loose stones, he at last put his hand on the
+huge rock. Another blue-white, dazzling flash enveloped the scene.
+
+Under the rock he saw a dark form huddled, and a face as white as
+snow, with wide, horrified eyes.
+
+"Lass," he said, when the thunder had rumbled away. He received no
+answer, and called again. Kneeling, he groped about until touching
+Helen's dress. He spoke again; but she did not reply.
+
+Jonathan crawled under the ledge beside the quiet figure. He touched
+her hands; they were very cold. Bending over, he was relieved to hear
+her heart beating. He called her name, but still she made no reply.
+Dipping his hand into a little rill that ran beside the stone, he
+bathed her face. Soon she stirred uneasily, moaned, and suddenly
+sat up.
+
+"'Tis Jonathan," he said quickly; "don't be scared."
+
+Another illuminating flare of lightning brightened the plateau.
+
+"Oh! thank Heaven!" cried Helen. "I thought you were an Indian!"
+
+Helen sank trembling against the borderman, who enfolded her in his
+long arms. Her relief and thankfulness were so great that she could
+not speak. Her hands clasped and unclasped round his strong fingers.
+Her tears flowed freely.
+
+The storm broke with terrific fury. A seething torrent of rain and
+hail came with the rushing wind. Great heaven-broad sheets of
+lightning played across the black dome overhead. Zigzag ropes,
+steel-blue in color, shot downward. Crash, and crack, and boom the
+thunder split and rolled the clouds above. The lightning flashes
+showed the fall of rain in columns like white waterfalls, borne on the
+irresistible wind.
+
+The grandeur of the storm awed, and stilled Helen's emotion. She sat
+there watching the lightning, listening to the peals of thunder, and
+thrilling with the wonder of the situation.
+
+Gradually the roar abated, the flashes became less frequent, the
+thunder decreased, as the storm wore out its strength in passing. The
+wind and rain ceased on the mountain-top almost as quickly as they had
+begun, and the roar died slowly away in the distance. Far to the
+eastward flashes of light illumined scowling clouds, and brightened
+many a dark, wooded hill and valley.
+
+"Lass, how is't I find you here?" asked Jonathan gravely.
+
+With many a pause and broken phrase, Helen told the story of what she
+had seen and heard at the spring.
+
+"Child, why didn't you go to my brother?" asked Jonathan. "You don't
+know what you undertook!"
+
+"I thought of everything; but I wanted to find you myself. Besides, I
+was just as safe alone on this mountain as in the village."
+
+"I don't know but you're right," replied Jonathan thoughtfully. "So
+Brandt planned to make off with you to-morrow?"
+
+"Yes, and when I heard it I wanted to run away from the village."
+
+"You've done a wondrous clever thing, lass. This Brandt is a bad man,
+an' hard to match. But if he hasn't shaken Fort Henry by now, his
+career'll end mighty sudden, an' his bad trails stop short on the
+hillside among the graves, for Eb will always give outlaws or Injuns
+decent burial."
+
+"What will the colonel, or anyone, think has become of me?"
+
+"Wetzel knows, lass, for he found your trail below."
+
+"Then he'll tell papa you came after me? Oh! poor papa! I forgot him.
+Shall we stay here until daylight?"
+
+"We'd gain nothin' by startin' now. The brooks are full, an' in the
+dark we'd make little distance. You're dry here, an' comfortable.
+What's more, lass, you're safe."
+
+"I feel perfectly safe, with you," Helen said softly.
+
+"Aren't you tired, lass?"
+
+"Tired? I'm nearly dead. My feet are cut and bruised, my wrist is
+sprained, and I ache all over. But, Jonathan, I don't care. I am so
+happy to have my wild venture turn out successfully."
+
+"You can lie here an' sleep while I keep watch."
+
+Jonathan made a move to withdraw his arm, which was still between
+Helen and the rock but had dropped from her waist.
+
+"I am very comfortable. I'll sit here with you, watching for daybreak.
+My! how dark it is! I cannot see my hand before my eyes."
+
+Helen settled herself back upon the stone, leaned a very little
+against his shoulder, and tried to think over her adventure. But her
+mind refused to entertain any ideas, except those of the present.
+Mingled with the dreamy lassitude that grew stronger every moment, was
+a sense of delight in her situation. She was alone on a wild mountain,
+in the night, with this borderman, the one she loved. By chance and
+her own foolhardiness this had come about, yet she was fortunate to
+have it tend to some good beyond her own happiness. All she would
+suffer from her perilous climb would be aching bones, and, perhaps, a
+scolding from her father. What she might gain was more than she had
+dared hope. The breaking up of the horse-thief gang would be a boon to
+the harassed settlement. How proudly Colonel Zane would smile! Her
+name would go on that long roll of border honor and heroism. That was
+not, however, one thousandth part so pleasing, as to be alone with her
+borderman.
+
+With a sigh of mingled weariness and content, Helen leaned her head on
+Jonathan's shoulder and fell asleep.
+
+The borderman trembled. The sudden nestling of her head against him,
+the light caress of her fragrant hair across his cheek, revived a
+sweet, almost-conquered, almost-forgotten emotion. He felt an
+inexplicable thrill vibrate through him. No untrodden, ambushed wild,
+no perilous trail, no dark and bloody encounter had ever made him feel
+fear as had the kiss of this maiden. He had sternly silenced faint,
+unfamiliar, yet tender, voices whispering in his heart; and now his
+rigorous discipline was as if it were not, for at her touch he
+trembled. Still he did not move away. He knew she had succumbed to
+weariness, and was fast asleep. He could, gently, without awakening
+her, have laid her head upon the pillow of leaves; indeed, he thought
+of doing it, but made no effort. A woman's head softly lying against
+him was a thing novel, strange, wonderful. For all the power he had
+then, each tumbling lock of her hair might as well have been a chain
+linking him fast to the mountain.
+
+With the memory of his former yearning, unsatisfied moods, and the
+unrest and pain his awakening tenderness had caused him, came a
+determination to look things fairly in the face, to be just in thought
+toward this innocent, impulsive girl, and be honest with himself.
+
+Duty commanded that he resist all charm other than that pertaining to
+his life in the woods. Years ago he had accepted a borderman's
+destiny, well content to be recompensed by its untamed freedom from
+restraint; to be always under the trees he loved so well; to lend his
+cunning and woodcraft in the pioneer's cause; to haunt the savage
+trails; to live from day to day a menace to the foes of civilization.
+That was the life he had chosen; it was all he could ever have.
+
+In view of this, justice demanded that he allow no friendship to
+spring up between himself and this girl. If his sister's belief was
+really true, if Helen really was interested in him, it must be a
+romantic infatuation which, not encouraged, would wear itself out.
+What was he, to win the love of any girl? An unlettered borderman, who
+knew only the woods, whose life was hard and cruel, whose hands were
+red with Indian blood, whose vengeance had not spared men even of his
+own race. He could not believe she really loved him. Wildly impulsive
+as girls were at times, she had kissed him. She had been grateful,
+carried away by a generous feeling for him as the protector of her
+father. When she did not see him for a long time, as he vowed should
+be the case after he had carried her safely home, she would forget.
+
+Then honesty demanded that he probe his own feelings. Sternly, as if
+judging a renegade, he searched out in his simple way the truth. This
+big-eyed lass with her nameless charm would bewitch even a borderman,
+unless he avoided her. So much he had not admitted until now. Love he
+had never believed could be possible for him. When she fell asleep her
+hand had slipped from his arm to his fingers, and now rested there
+lightly as a leaf. The contact was delight. The gentle night breeze
+blew a tress of hair across his lips. He trembled. Her rounded
+shoulder pressed against him until he could feel her slow, deep
+breathing. He almost held his own breath lest he disturb her rest.
+
+No, he was no longer indifferent. As surely as those pale stars
+blinked far above, he knew the delight of a woman's presence. It
+moved him to study the emotion, as he studied all things, which was
+the habit of his borderman's life. Did it come from knowledge of her
+beauty, matchless as that of the mountain-laurel? He recalled the dark
+glance of her challenging eyes, her tall, supple figure, and the
+bewildering excitation and magnetism of her presence. Beauty was
+wonderful, but not everything. Beauty belonged to her, but she would
+have been irresistible without it. Was it not because she was a woman?
+That was the secret. She was a woman with all a woman's charm to
+bewitch, to twine round the strength of men as the ivy encircles the
+oak; with all a woman's weakness to pity and to guard; with all a
+woman's wilful burning love, and with all a woman's mystery.
+
+At last so much of life was intelligible to him. The renegade
+committed his worst crimes because even in his outlawed, homeless
+state, he could not exist without the companionship, if not the love,
+of a woman. The pioneer's toil and privation were for a woman, and the
+joy of loving her and living for her. The Indian brave, when not on
+the war-path, walked hand in hand with a dusky, soft-eyed maiden, and
+sang to her of moonlit lakes and western winds. Even the birds and
+beasts mated. The robins returned to their old nest; the eagles paired
+once and were constant in life and death. The buck followed the doe
+through the forest. All nature sang that love made life worth living.
+Love, then, was everything.
+
+The borderman sat out the long vigil of the night watching the stars,
+and trying to decide that love was not for him. If Wetzel had locked a
+secret within his breast, and never in all these years spoke of it to
+his companion, then surely that companion could as well live without
+love. Stern, dark, deadly work must stain and blot all tenderness from
+his life, else it would be unutterably barren. The joy of living, of
+unharassed freedom he had always known. If a fair face and dark,
+mournful eyes were to haunt him on every lonely trail, then it were
+better an Indian should end his existence.
+
+The darkest hour before dawn, as well as the darkest of doubt and
+longing in Jonathan's life, passed away. A gray gloom obscured the
+pale, winking stars; the east slowly whitened, then brightened, and at
+length day broke misty and fresh.
+
+The borderman rose to stretch his cramped limbs. When he turned to the
+little cavern the girl's eyes were wide open. All the darkness, the
+shadow, the beauty, and the thought of the past night, lay in their
+blue depths. He looked away across the valley where the sky was
+reddening and a pale rim of gold appeared above the hill-tops.
+
+"Well, if I haven't been asleep!" exclaimed Helen, with a low, soft
+laugh.
+
+"You're rested, I hope," said Jonathan, with averted eyes. He dared
+not look at her.
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed. I am ready to start at once. How gray, how beautiful
+the morning is! Shall we be long? I hope papa knows."
+
+In silence the borderman led the way across the rocky plateau, and
+into the winding, narrow trail. His pale, slightly drawn and stern,
+face did not invite conversation, therefore Helen followed silently in
+his footsteps. The way was steep, and at times he was forced to lend
+her aid. She put her hand in his and jumped lightly as a fawn.
+Presently a brawling brook, over-crowding its banks, impeded
+further progress.
+
+"I'll have to carry you across," said Jonathan.
+
+"I'm very heavy," replied Helen, with a smile in her eyes.
+
+She flushed as the borderman put his right arm around her waist. Then
+a clasp as of steel enclosed her; she felt herself swinging easily
+into the air, and over the muddy brook.
+
+Farther down the mountain this troublesome brook again crossed the
+trail, this time much wider and more formidable. Helen looked with
+some vexation and embarrassment into the borderman's face. It was
+always the same, stern, almost cold.
+
+"Perhaps I'd better wade," she said hesitatingly.
+
+"Why? The water's deep an' cold. You'd better not get wet."
+
+Helen flushed, but did not answer. With downcast eyes she let herself
+be carried on his powerful arm.
+
+The wading was difficult this time. The water foamed furiously around
+his knees. Once he slipped on a stone, and nearly lost his balance.
+Uttering a little scream Helen grasped at him wildly, and her arm
+encircled his neck. What was still more trying, when he put her on her
+feet again, it was found that her hair had become entangled in the
+porcupine quills on his hunting-coat.
+
+She stood before him while with clumsy fingers he endeavored to
+untangle the shimmering strands; but in vain. Helen unwound the snarl
+of wavy hair. Most alluring she was then, with a certain softness on
+her face, and light and laughter, and something warm in her eyes.
+
+The borderman felt that he breathed a subtle exhilaration which
+emanated from her glowing, gracious beauty. She radiated with the
+gladness of life, with an uncontainable sweetness and joy. But, giving
+no token of his feeling, he turned to march on down through the woods.
+
+From this point the trail broadened, descending at an easier angle.
+Jonathan's stride lengthened until Helen was forced to walk rapidly,
+and sometimes run, in order to keep close behind him. A quick journey
+home was expedient, and in order to accomplish this she would gladly
+have exerted herself to a greater extent. When they reached the end
+of the trail where the forest opened clear of brush, finally to merge
+into the broad, verdant plain, the sun had chased the mist-clouds from
+the eastern hill-tops, and was gloriously brightening the valley.
+
+With the touch of sentiment natural to her, Helen gazed backward for
+one more view of the mountain-top. The wall of rugged rock she had so
+often admired from her window at home, which henceforth would ever
+hold a tender place of remembrance in her heart, rose out of a
+gray-blue bank of mist. The long, swelling slope lay clear to the
+sunshine. With the rays of the sun gleaming and glistening upon the
+variegated foliage, and upon the shiny rolling haze above, a beautiful
+picture of autumn splendor was before her. Tall pines, here and there
+towered high and lonely over the surrounding trees. Their dark, green,
+graceful heads stood in bold relief above the gold and yellow crests
+beneath. Maples, tinged from faintest pink to deepest rose, added warm
+color to the scene, and chestnuts with their brown-white burrs lent
+fresher beauty to the undulating slope.
+
+The remaining distance to the settlement was short. Jonathan spoke
+only once to Helen, then questioning her as to where she had left her
+canoe. They traversed the meadow, found the boat in the thicket of
+willows, and were soon under the frowning bluff of Fort Henry.
+Ascending the steep path, they followed the road leading to Colonel
+Zane's cabin.
+
+A crowd of boys, men and women loitering near the bluff arrested
+Helen's attention. Struck by this unusual occurrence, she wondered
+what was the cause of such idleness among the busy pioneer people.
+They were standing in little groups. Some made vehement gestures,
+others conversed earnestly, and yet more were silent. On seeing
+Jonathan, a number shouted and pointed toward the inn. The borderman
+hurried Helen along the path, giving no heed to the throng.
+
+But Helen had seen the cause of all this excitement. At first glance
+she thought Metzar's inn had been burned; but a second later it could
+be seen that the smoke came from a smoldering heap of rubbish in the
+road. The inn, nevertheless, had been wrecked. Windows stared with
+that vacantness peculiar to deserted houses. The doors were broken
+from their hinges. A pile of furniture, rude tables, chairs, beds, and
+other articles, were heaped beside the smoking rubbish. Scattered
+around lay barrels and kegs all with gaping sides and broken heads.
+Liquor had stained the road, where it had been soaked up by the
+thirsty dust.
+
+Upon a shattered cellar-door lay a figure covered with a piece of rag
+carpet. When Helen's quick eyes took in this last, she turned away in
+horror. That motionless form might be Brandt's. Remorse and womanly
+sympathy surged over her, for bad as the man had shown himself, he had
+loved her.
+
+She followed the borderman, trying to compose herself. As they neared
+Colonel Zane's cabin she saw her father, Will, the colonel, Betty,
+Nell, Mrs. Zane, Silas Zane, and others whom she did not recognize.
+They were all looking at her. Helen's throat swelled, and her eyes
+filled when she got near enough to see her father's haggard, eager
+face. The others were grave. She wondered guiltily if she had done
+much wrong.
+
+In another moment she was among them. Tears fell as her father
+extended his trembling hands to clasp her, and as she hid her burning
+face on his breast, he cried: "My dear, dear child!" Then Betty gave
+her a great hug, and Nell flew about them like a happy bird. Colonel
+Zane's face was pale, and wore a clouded, stern expression. She smiled
+timidly at him through her tears. "Well! well! well!" he mused, while
+his gaze softened. That was all he said; but he took her hand and held
+it while he turned to Jonathan.
+
+The borderman leaned on his long rifle, regarding him with expectant
+eyes.
+
+"Well, Jack, you missed a little scrimmage this morning. Wetzel got in
+at daybreak. The storm and horses held him up on the other side of the
+river until daylight. He told me of your suspicions, with the
+additional news that he'd found a fresh Indian trail on the island
+just across from the inn. We went down not expecting to find any one
+awake; but Metzar was hurriedly packing some of his traps. Half a
+dozen men were there, having probably stayed all night. That little
+English cuss was one of them, and another, an ugly fellow, a stranger
+to us, but evidently a woodsman. Things looked bad. Metzar told a
+decidedly conflicting story. Wetzel and I went outside to talk over
+the situation, with the result that I ordered him to clean out
+the place."
+
+Here Colonel Zane paused to indulge in a grim, meaning laugh.
+
+"Well, he cleaned out the place all right. The ugly stranger got
+rattlesnake-mad, and yanked out a big knife. Sam is hitching up the
+team now to haul what's left of him up on the hillside. Metzar
+resisted arrest, and got badly hurt. He's in the guardhouse. Case, who
+has been drunk for a week, got in Wetzel's way and was kicked into the
+middle of next week. He's been spitting blood for the last hour, but I
+guess he's not much hurt. Brandt flew the coop last night. Wetzel
+found this hid in his room."
+
+Colonel Zane took a long, feathered arrow from where it lay on a
+bench, and held it out to Jonathan.
+
+"The Shawnee signal! Wetzel had it right," muttered the borderman.
+
+"Exactly. Lew found where the arrow struck in the wall of Brandt's
+room. It was shot from the island at the exact spot where Lew came to
+an end of the Indian's trail in the water."
+
+"That Shawnee got away from us."
+
+"So Lew said. Well, he's gone now. So is Brandt. We're well rid of the
+gang, if only we never hear of them again."
+
+The borderman shook his head. During the colonel's recital his face
+changed. The dark eyes had become deadly; the square jaw was shut, the
+lines of the cheek had grown tense, and over his usually expressive
+countenance had settled a chill, lowering shade.
+
+"Lew thinks Brandt's in with Bing Legget. Well, d--- his black
+traitor heart! He's a good man for the worst and strongest gang that
+ever tracked the border."
+
+The borderman was silent; but the furtive, restless shifting of his
+eyes over the river and island, hill and valley, spoke more plainly
+than words.
+
+"You're to take his trail at once," added Colonel Zane. "I had Bess
+put you up some bread, meat and parched corn. No doubt you'll have a
+long, hard tramp. Good luck."
+
+The borderman went into the cabin, presently emerging with a buckskin
+knapsack strapped to his shoulder. He set off eastward with a long,
+swinging stride.
+
+The women had taken Helen within the house where, no doubt, they could
+discuss with greater freedom the events of the previous day.
+
+"Sheppard," said Colonel Zane, turning with a sparkle in his eyes.
+"Brandt was after Helen sure as a bad weed grows fast. And certain as
+death Jonathan and Wetzel will see him cold and quiet back in the
+woods. That's a border saying, and it means a good deal. I never saw
+Wetzel so implacable, nor Jonathan so fatally cold but once, and that
+was when Miller, another traitor, much like Brandt, tried to make away
+with Betty. It would have chilled your blood to see Wetzel go at that
+fool this morning. Why did he want to pull a knife on the borderman?
+It was a sad sight. Well, these things are justifiable. We must
+protect ourselves, and above all our women. We've had bad men, and a
+bad man out here is something you cannot yet appreciate, come here and
+slip into the life of the settlement, because on the border you can
+never tell what a man is until he proves himself. There have been
+scores of criminals spread over the frontier, and some better men,
+like Simon Girty, who were driven to outlaw life. Simon must not be
+confounded with Jim Girty, absolutely the most fiendish desperado who
+ever lived. Why, even the Indians feared Jim so much that after his
+death his skeleton remained unmolested in the glade where he was
+killed. The place is believed to be haunted now, by all Indians and
+many white hunters, and I believe the bones stand there yet."
+
+"Stand?" asked Sheppard, deeply interested.
+
+"Yes, it stands where Girty stood and died, upright against a tree,
+pinned, pinned there by a big knife."
+
+"Heavens, man! Who did it?" Sheppard cried in horror.
+
+Again Colonel Zane's laugh, almost metallic, broke grimly from his
+lips.
+
+"Who? Why, Wetzel, of course. Lew hunted Jim Girty five long years.
+When he caught him--God! I'll tell you some other time. Jonathan saw
+Wetzel handle Jim and his pal, Deering, as if they were mere boys.
+Well, as I said, the border has had, and still has, its bad men. Simon
+Girty took McKee and Elliott, the Tories, from Fort Pitt, when he
+deserted, and ten men besides. They're all, except those who are dead,
+outlaws of the worst type. The other bad men drifted out here from
+Lord only knows where. They're scattered all over. Simon Girty, since
+his crowning black deed, the massacre of the Christian Indians, is in
+hiding. Bing Legget now has the field. He's a hard nut, a cunning
+woodsman, and capable leader who surrounds himself with only the most
+desperate Indians and renegades. Brandt is an agent of Legget's and
+I'll bet we'll hear from him again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Jonathan traveled toward the east straight as a crow flies. Wetzel's
+trail as he pursued Brandt had been left designedly plain. Branches of
+young maples had been broken by the borderman; they were glaring
+evidences of his passage. On open ground, or through swampy meadows he
+had contrived to leave other means to facilitate his comrade's
+progress. Bits of sumach lay strewn along the way, every red, leafy
+branch a bright marker of the course; crimson maple leaves served
+their turn, and even long-bladed ferns were scattered at intervals.
+
+Ten miles east of Fort Henry, at a point where two islands lay
+opposite each other, Wetzel had crossed the Ohio. Jonathan removed his
+clothing, and tying these, together with his knapsack, to the rifle,
+held them above the water while he swam the three narrow channels. He
+took up the trail again, finding here, as he expected, where Brandt
+had joined the waiting Shawnee chief. The borderman pressed on harder
+to the eastward.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon signs betokened that Wetzel and his
+quarry were not far in advance. Fresh imprints in the grass; crushed
+asters and moss, broken branches with unwithered leaves, and plots of
+grassy ground where Jonathan saw that the blades of grass were yet
+springing back to their original position, proved to the borderman's
+practiced eye that he was close upon Wetzel.
+
+In time he came to a grove of yellow birch trees. The ground was
+nearly free from brush, beautifully carpeted with flowers and ferns,
+and, except where bushy windfalls obstructed the way, was singularly
+open to the gaze for several hundred yards ahead.
+
+Upon entering this wood Wetzel's plain, intentional markings became
+manifest, then wavered, and finally disappeared. Jonathan pondered a
+moment. He concluded that the way was so open and clear, with nothing
+but grass and moss to mark a trail, that Wetzel had simply considered
+it waste of time for, perhaps, the short length of this grove.
+
+Jonathan knew he was wrong after taking a dozen steps more. Wetzel's
+trail, known so well to him, as never to be mistaken, sheered abruptly
+off to the left, and, after a few yards, the distance between the
+footsteps widened perceptibly. Then came a point where they were so
+far apart that they could only have been made by long leaps.
+
+On the instant the borderman knew that some unforeseen peril or urgent
+cause had put Wetzel to flight, and he now bent piercing eyes around
+the grove. Retracing his steps to where he had found the break in the
+trail, he followed up Brandt's tracks for several rods. Not one
+hundred paces beyond where Wetzel had quit the pursuit, were the
+remains of a camp fire, the embers still smoldering, and moccasin
+tracks of a small band of Indians. The trail of Brandt and his
+Shawnee guide met the others at almost right angles.
+
+The Indian, either by accident or design, had guided Brandt to a band
+of his fellows, and thus led Wetzel almost into an ambush.
+
+Evidence was not clear, however, that the Indians had discovered the
+keen tracker who had run almost into their midst.
+
+While studying the forest ahead Jonathan's mind was running over the
+possibilities. How close was Wetzel? Was he still in flight? Had the
+savages an inkling of his pursuit? Or was he now working out one of
+his cunning tricks of woodcraft? The borderman had no other idea than
+that of following the trail to learn all this. Taking the desperate
+chances warranted under the circumstances, he walked boldly forward in
+his comrade's footsteps.
+
+Deep and gloomy was the forest adjoining the birch grove. It was a
+heavy growth of hardwood trees, interspersed with slender ash and
+maples, which with their scanty foliage resembled a labyrinth of green
+and yellow network, like filmy dotted lace, hung on the taller, darker
+oaks. Jonathan felt safer in this deep wood. He could still see
+several rods in advance. Following the trail, he was relieved to see
+that Wetzel's leaps had become shorter and shorter, until they once
+again were about the length of a long stride. The borderman was,
+moreover, swinging in a curve to the northeast. This was proof that
+the borderman had not been pursued, but was making a wide detour to
+get ahead of the enemy. Five hundred yards farther on the trail turned
+sharply toward the birch grove in the rear.
+
+The trail was fresh. Wetzel was possibly within signal call; surely
+within sound of a rifle shot. But even more stirring was the
+certainty that Brandt and his Indians were inside the circle
+Wetzel had made.
+
+Once again in sight of the more open woodland, Jonathan crawled on his
+hands and knees, keeping close to the cluster of ferns, until well
+within the eastern end of the grove. He lay for some minutes
+listening. A threatening silence, like the hush before a storm,
+permeated the wilderness. He peered out from his covert; but, owing to
+its location in a little hollow, he could not see far. Crawling to the
+nearest tree he rose to his feet slowly, cautiously.
+
+No unnatural sight or sound arrested his attention. Repeatedly, with
+the acute, unsatisfied gaze of the borderman who knew that every tree,
+every patch of ferns, every tangled brush-heap might harbor a foe, he
+searched the grove with his eyes; but the curly-barked birches, the
+clumps of colored ferns, the bushy windfalls kept their secrets.
+
+For the borderman, however, the whole aspect of the birch-grove had
+changed. Over the forest was a deep calm. A gentle, barely perceptible
+wind sighed among the leaves, like rustling silk. The far-off drowsy
+drum of a grouse intruded on the vast stillness. The silence of the
+birds betokened a message. That mysterious breathing, that beautiful
+life of the woods lay hushed, locked in a waiting, brooding silence.
+Far away among the somber trees, where the shade deepened into
+impenetrable gloom, lay a menace, invisible and indefinable.
+
+A wind, a breath, a chill, terribly potent, seemed to pass over the
+borderman. Long experience had given him intuition of danger.
+
+As he moved slightly, with lynx-eyes fixed on the grove before him, a
+sharp, clear, perfect bird-note broke the ominous quiet. It was like
+the melancholy cry of an oriole, short, deep, suggestive of lonely
+forest dells. By a slight variation in the short call, Jonathan
+recognized it as a signal from Wetzel. The borderman smiled as he
+realized that with all his stealth, Wetzel had heard or seen him
+re-enter the grove. The signal was a warning to stand still
+or retreat.
+
+Jonathan's gaze narrowed down to the particular point whence had come
+the signal. Some two hundred yards ahead in this direction were
+several large trees standing in a group. With one exception, they all
+had straight trunks. This deviated from the others in that it
+possessed an irregular, bulging trunk, or else half-shielded the form
+of Wetzel. So indistinct and immovable was this irregularity, that the
+watcher could not be certain. Out of line, somewhat, with this tree
+which he suspected screened his comrade, lay a huge windfall large
+enough to conceal in ambush a whole band of savages.
+
+Even as he gazed a sheet of flame flashed from this covert.
+
+_Crack!_
+
+A loud report followed; then the whistle and zip of a bullet as it
+whizzed close by his head.
+
+"Shawnee lead!" muttered Jonathan.
+
+Unfortunately the tree he had selected did not hide him sufficiently.
+His shoulders were so wide that either one or the other was exposed,
+affording a fine target for a marksman.
+
+A quick glance showed him a change in the knotty tree-trunk; the
+seeming bulge was now the well-known figure of Wetzel.
+
+Jonathan dodged as some object glanced slantingly before his eyes.
+
+_Twang. Whizz. Thud._ Three familiar and distinct sounds caused him to
+press hard against the tree.
+
+A tufted arrow quivered in the bark not a foot from his head.
+
+"Close shave! Damn that arrow-shootin' Shawnee!" muttered Jonathan.
+"An' he ain't in that windfall either." His eyes searched to the left
+for the source of this new peril.
+
+Another sheet of flame, another report from the windfall. A bullet
+sang, close overhead, and, glancing on a branch, went harmlessly into
+the forest.
+
+"Injuns all around; I guess I'd better be makin' tracks," Jonathan
+said to himself, peering out to learn if Wetzel was still under cover.
+
+He saw the tall figure straighten up; a long, black rifle rise to a
+level and become rigid; a red fire belch forth, followed by a puff of
+white smoke.
+
+_Spang!_
+
+An Indian's horrible, strangely-breaking death yell rent the silence.
+
+Then a chorus of plaintive howls, followed by angry shouts, rang
+through the forest. Naked, painted savages darted out of the windfall
+toward the tree that had sheltered Wetzel.
+
+Quick as thought Jonathan covered the foremost Indian, and with the
+crack of his rifle saw the redskin drop his gun, stop in his mad run,
+stagger sideways, and fall. Then the borderman looked to see what had
+become of his ally. The cracking of the Indian's rifle told him that
+Wetzel had been seen by his foes.
+
+With almost incredible fleetness a brown figure with long black hair
+streaming behind, darted in and out among the trees, flashed through
+the sunlit glade, and vanished in the dark depths of the forest.
+
+Jonathan turned to flee also, when he heard again the twanging of an
+Indian's bow. A wind smote his cheek, a shock blinded him, an
+excruciating pain seized upon his breast. A feathered arrow had pinned
+his shoulder to the tree. He raised his hand to pull it out; but,
+slippery with blood, it afforded a poor hold for his fingers.
+Violently exerting himself, with both hands he wrenched away the
+weapon. The flint-head lacerating his flesh and scraping his shoulder
+bones caused sharpest agony. The pain gave away to a sudden sense of
+giddiness; he tried to run; a dark mist veiled his sight; he stumbled
+and fell. Then he seemed to sink into a great darkness, and knew
+no more.
+
+When consciousness returned to Jonathan it was night. He lay on his
+back, and knew because of his cramped limbs that he had been securely
+bound. He saw the glimmer of a fire, but could not raise his head. A
+rustling of leaves in the wind told that he was yet in the woods, and
+the distant rumble of a waterfall sounded familiar. He felt drowsy;
+his wound smarted slightly, still he did not suffer any pain.
+Presently he fell asleep.
+
+Broad daylight had come when again he opened his eyes. The blue sky
+was directly above, and before him he saw a ledge covered with dwarfed
+pine trees. He turned his head, and saw that he was in a sort of
+amphitheater of about two acres in extent enclosed by low cliffs. A
+cleft in the stony wall let out a brawling brook, and served, no
+doubt, as entrance to the place. Several rude log cabins stood on that
+side of the enclosure. Jonathan knew he had been brought to Bing
+Legget's retreat.
+
+Voices attracted his attention, and, turning his head to the other
+side, he saw a big Indian pacing near him, and beyond, seven savages
+and three white men reclining in the shade.
+
+The powerful, dark-visaged savage near him he at once recognized as
+Ashbow, the Shawnee chief, and noted emissary of Bing Legget. Of the
+other Indians, three were Delawares, and four Shawnees, all veterans,
+with swarthy, somber faces and glistening heads on which the
+scalp-locks were trimmed and tufted. Their naked, muscular bodies were
+painted for the war-path with their strange emblems of death. A trio
+of white men, nearly as bronzed as their savage comrades, completed
+the group. One, a desperate-looking outlaw, Jonathan did not know. The
+blond-bearded giant in the center was Legget. Steel-blue, inhuman
+eyes, with the expression of a free but hunted animal; a set,
+mastiff-like jaw, brutal and coarse, individualized him. The last man
+was the haggard-faced Brandt.
+
+"I tell ye, Brandt, I ain't agoin' against this Injun," Legget was
+saying positively. "He's the best reddy on the border, an' has saved
+me scores of times. This fellar Zane belongs to him, an' while I'd
+much rather see the scout knifed right here an' now, I won't do
+nothin' to interfere with the Shawnee's plans."
+
+"Why does the redskin want to take him away to his village?" Brandt
+growled. "All Injun vanity and pride."
+
+"It's Injun ways, an' we can't do nothin' to change 'em."
+
+"But you're boss here. You could make him put this borderman out of
+the way."
+
+"Wal, I ain't agoin' ter interfere. Anyways, Brandt, the Shawnee'll
+make short work of the scout when he gits him among the tribe. Injuns
+is Injuns. It's a great honor fer him to git Zane, an' he wants his
+own people to figger in the finish. Quite nat'r'l, I reckon."
+
+"I understand all that; but it's not safe for us, and it's courting
+death for Ashbow. Why don't he keep Zane here until you can spare more
+than three Indians to go with him? These bordermen can't be stopped.
+You don't know them, because you're new in this part of the country."
+
+"I've been here as long as you, an' agoin' some, too, I reckon,"
+replied Legget complacently.
+
+"But you've not been hunted until lately by these bordermen, and
+you've had little opportunity to hear of them except from Indians.
+What can you learn from these silent redskins? I tell you, letting
+this fellow get out of here alive, even for an hour is a fatal
+mistake. It's two full days' tramp to the Shawnee village. You don't
+suppose Wetzel will be afraid of four savages? Why, he sneaked right
+into eight of us, when we were ambushed, waiting for him. He killed
+one and then was gone like a streak. It was only a piece of pure luck
+we got Zane."
+
+"I've reason to know this Wetzel, this Deathwind, as the Delawares
+call him. I never seen him though, an' anyways, I reckon I can handle
+him if ever I get the chance."
+
+"Man, you're crazy!" cried Brandt. "He'd cut you to pieces before
+you'd have time to draw. He could give you a tomahawk, then take it
+away and split your head. I tell you I know! You remember Jake
+Deering? He came from up your way. Wetzel fought Deering and Jim Girty
+together, and killed them. You know how he left Girty."
+
+"I'll allow he must be a fighter; but I ain't afraid of him."
+
+"That's not the question. I am talking sense. You've got a chance now
+to put one of these bordermen out of the way. Do it quick! That's
+my advice."
+
+Brandt spoke so vehemently that Legget seemed impressed. He stroked
+his yellow beard, and puffed thoughtfully on his pipe. Presently he
+addressed the Shawnee chief in the native tongue.
+
+"Will Ashbow take five horses for his prisoner?"
+
+The Indian shook his head.
+
+"How many will he take?"
+
+The chief strode with dignity to and fro before his captive. His dark,
+impassive face gave no clew to his thoughts; but his lofty bearing,
+his measured, stately walk were indicative of great pride. Then he
+spoke in his deep bass:
+
+"The Shawnee knows the woods from the Great Lakes where the sun sets,
+to the Blue Hills where it rises. He has met the great paleface
+hunters. Only for Deathwind will Ashbow trade his captive."
+
+"See? It ain't no use," said Legget, spreading out his hands, "Let him
+go. He'll outwit the bordermen if any redskin's able to. The sooner he
+goes the quicker he'll git back, an' we can go to work. You ought'er
+be satisfied to git the girl----"
+
+"Shut up!" interrupted Brandt sharply.
+
+"'Pears to me, Brandt, bein' in love hes kinder worked on your nerves.
+You used to be game. Now you're afeerd of a bound an' tied man who
+ain't got long to live."
+
+"I fear no man," answered Brandt, scowling darkly. "But I know what
+you don't seem to have sense enough to see. If this Zane gets away,
+which is probable, he and Wetzel will clean up your gang."
+
+"Haw! haw! haw!" roared Legget, slapping his knees. "Then you'd hev
+little chanst of gittin' the lass, eh?"
+
+"All right. I've no more to say," snapped Brandt, rising and turning
+on his heel. As he passed Jonathan he paused. "Zane, if I could, I'd
+get even with you for that punch you once gave me. As it is, I'll stop
+at the Shawnee village on my way west----"
+
+"With the pretty lass," interposed Legget.
+
+"Where I hope to see your scalp drying in the chief's lodge."
+
+The borderman eyed him steadily; but in silence. Words could not so
+well have conveyed his thought as did the cold glance of dark scorn
+and merciless meaning.
+
+Brandt shuffled on with a curse. No coward was he. No man ever saw him
+flinch. But his intelligence was against him as a desperado. While
+such as these bordermen lived, an outlaw should never sleep, for he
+was a marked and doomed man. The deadly, cold-pointed flame which
+scintillated in the prisoner's eyes was only a gleam of what the
+border felt towards outlaws.
+
+While Jonathan was considering all he had heard, three more Shawnees
+entered the retreat, and were at once called aside in consultation by
+Ashbow. At the conclusion of this brief conference the chief advanced
+to Jonathan, cut the bonds round his feet, and motioned for him to
+rise. The prisoner complied to find himself weak and sore, but able to
+walk. He concluded that his wound, while very painful, was not of a
+serious nature, and that he would be taken at once on the march toward
+the Shawnee village.
+
+He was correct, for the chief led him, with the three Shawnees
+following, toward the outlet of the enclosure. Jonathan's sharp eye
+took in every detail of Legget's rendezvous. In a corral near the
+entrance, he saw a number of fine horses, and among them his sister's
+pony. A more inaccessible, natural refuge than Legget's, could hardly
+have been found in that country. The entrance was a narrow opening in
+the wall, and could be held by half a dozen against an army of
+besiegers. It opened, moreover, on the side of a barren hill, from
+which could be had a good survey of the surrounding forests
+and plains.
+
+As Jonathan went with his captors down the hill his hopes, which while
+ever alive, had been flagging, now rose. The long journey to the
+Shawnee town led through an untracked wilderness. The Delaware
+villages lay far to the north; the Wyandot to the west. No likelihood
+was there of falling in with a band of Indians hunting, because this
+region, stony, barren, and poorly watered, afforded sparse pasture for
+deer or bison. From the prisoner's point of view this enterprise of
+Ashbow's was reckless and vainglorious. Cunning as the chief was, he
+erred in one point, a great warrior's only weakness, love of show, of
+pride, of his achievement. In Indian nature this desire for fame was
+as strong as love of life. The brave risked everything to win his
+eagle feathers, and the matured warrior found death while keeping
+bright the glory of the plumes he had won.
+
+Wetzel was in the woods, fleet as a deer, fierce and fearless as a
+lion. Somewhere among those glades he trod, stealthily, with the ears
+of a doe and eyes of a hawk strained for sound or sight of his
+comrade's captors. When he found their trail he would stick to it as
+the wolf to that of a bleeding buck's. The rescue would not be
+attempted until the right moment, even though that came within
+rifle-shot of the Shawnee encampment. Wonderful as his other gifts,
+was the borderman's patience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+"Good morning, Colonel Zane," said Helen cheerily, coming into the
+yard where the colonel was at work. "Did Will come over this way?"
+
+"I reckon you'll find him if you find Betty," replied Colonel Zane
+dryly.
+
+"Come to think of it, that's true," Helen said, laughing. "I've a
+suspicion Will ran off from me this morning."
+
+"He and Betty have gone nutting."
+
+"I declare it's mean of Will," Helen said petulantly. "I have been
+wanting to go so much, and both he and Betty promised to take me."
+
+"Say, Helen, let me tell you something," said the colonel, resting on
+his spade and looking at her quizzically. "I told them we hadn't had
+enough frost yet to ripen hickory-nuts and chestnuts. But they went
+anyhow. Will did remember to say if you came along, to tell you he'd
+bring the colored leaves you wanted."
+
+"How extremely kind of him. I've a mind to follow them." 
+
+"Now see here, Helen, it might be a right good idea for you not to,"
+returned the colonel, with a twinkle and a meaning in his eye.
+
+"Oh, I understand. How singularly dull I've been."
+
+"It's this way. We're mighty glad to have a fine young fellow like
+Will come along and interest Betty. Lord knows we had a time with her
+after Alfred died. She's just beginning to brighten up now, and,
+Helen, the point is that young people on the border must get married.
+No, my dear, you needn't laugh, you'll have to find a husband same as
+the other girls. It's not here as it was back east, where a lass might
+have her fling, so to speak, and take her time choosing. An unmarried
+girl on the border is a positive menace. I saw, not many years ago,
+two first-rate youngsters, wild with border fire and spirit, fight and
+kill each other over a lass who wouldn't choose. Like as not, if she
+had done so, the three would have been good friends, for out here
+we're like one big family. Remember this, Helen, and as far as Betty
+and Will are concerned you will be wise to follow our example: Leave
+them to themselves. Nothing else will so quickly strike fire between a
+boy and a girl."
+
+"Betty and Will! I'm sure I'd love to see them care for each other."
+Then with big, bright eyes bent gravely on him she continued, "May I
+ask, Colonel Zane, who you have picked out for me?"
+
+"There, now you've said it, and that's the problem. I've looked over
+every marriageable young man in the settlement, except Jack. Of
+course you couldn't care for him, a borderman, a fighter and all that;
+but I can't find a fellow I think quite up to you."
+
+"Colonel Zane, is not a borderman such as Jonathan worthy a woman's
+regard?" Helen asked a little wistfully.
+
+"Bless your heart, lass, yes!" replied Colonel Zane heartily. "People
+out here are not as they are back east. An educated man, polished and
+all that, but incapable of hard labor, or shrinking from dirt and
+sweat on his hands, or even blood, would not help us in the winning of
+the West. Plain as Jonathan is, and with his lack of schooling, he is
+greatly superior to the majority of young men on the frontier. But,
+unlettered or not, he is as fine a man as ever stepped in moccasins,
+or any other kind of foot gear."
+
+"Then why did you say--that--what you did?"
+
+"Well, it's this way," replied Colonel Zane, stealing a glance at her
+pensive, downcast face. "Girls all like to be wooed. Almost every one
+I ever knew wanted the young man of her choice to outstrip all her
+other admirers, and then, for a spell, nearly die of love for her,
+after which she'd give in. Now, Jack, being a borderman, a man with no
+occupation except scouting, will never look at a girl, let alone make
+up to her. I imagine, my dear, it'd take some mighty tall courting to
+fetch home Helen Sheppard a bride. On the other hand, if some pretty
+and spirited lass, like, say for instance, Helen Sheppard, would come
+along and just make Jack forget Indians and fighting, she'd get the
+finest husband in the world. True, he's wild; but only in the woods. A
+simpler, kinder, cleaner man cannot be found."
+
+"I believe that, Colonel Zane; but where is the girl who would
+interest him?" Helen asked with spirit. "These bordermen are
+unapproachable. Imagine a girl interesting that great, cold, stern
+Wetzel! All her flatteries, her wiles, the little coquetries that
+might attract ordinary men, would not be noticed by him, or
+Jonathan either."
+
+"I grant it'd not be easy, but woman was made to subjugate man, and
+always, everlastingly, until the end of life here on this beautiful
+earth, she will do it."
+
+"Do you think Jonathan and Wetzel will catch Brandt?" asked Helen,
+changing the subject abruptly.
+
+"I'd stake my all that this year's autumn leaves will fall on Brandt's
+grave."
+
+Colonel Zane's calm, matter-of-fact coldness made Helen shiver.
+
+"Why, the leaves have already begun to fall. Papa told me Brandt had
+gone to join the most powerful outlaw band on the border. How can
+these two men, alone, cope with savages, as I've heard they do, and
+break up such an outlaw band as Legget's?"
+
+"That's a question I've heard Daniel Boone ask about Wetzel, and
+Boone, though not a borderman in all the name implies, was a great
+Indian fighter. I've heard old frontiersmen, grown grizzled on the
+frontier, use the same words. I've been twenty years with that man,
+yet I can't answer it. Jonathan, of course, is only a shadow of him;
+Wetzel is the type of these men who have held the frontier for us. He
+was the first borderman, and no doubt he'll be the last."
+
+"What have Jonathan and Wetzel that other men do not possess?"
+
+"In them is united a marvelously developed woodcraft, with wonderful
+physical powers. Imagine a man having a sense, almost an animal
+instinct, for what is going on in the woods. Take for instance the
+fleetness of foot. That is one of the greatest factors. It is
+absolutely necessary to run, to get away when to hold ground would be
+death. Whether at home or in the woods, the bordermen retreat every
+day. You wouldn't think they practiced anything of the kind, would
+you? Well, a man can't be great in anything without keeping at it.
+Jonathan says he exercises to keep his feet light. Wetzel would just
+as soon run as walk. Think of the magnificent condition of these men.
+When a dash of speed is called for, when to be fleet of foot is to
+elude vengeance-seeking Indians, they must travel as swiftly as the
+deer. The Zanes were all sprinters. I could do something of the kind;
+Betty was fast on her feet, as that old fort will testify until the
+logs rot; Isaac was fleet, too, and Jonathan can get over the ground
+like a scared buck. But, even so, Wetzel can beat him."
+
+"Goodness me, Helen!" exclaimed the colonel's buxom wife, from the
+window, "don't you ever get tired hearing Eb talk of Wetzel, and Jack,
+and Indians? Come in with me. I venture to say my gossip will do you
+more good than his stories."
+
+Therefore Helen went in to chat with Mrs. Zane, for she was always
+glad to listen to the colonel's wife, who was so bright and pleasant,
+so helpful and kindly in her womanly way. In the course of their
+conversation, which drifted from weaving linsey, Mrs. Zane's
+occupation at the tune, to the costly silks and satins of remembered
+days, and then to matters of more present interest, Helen spoke of
+Colonel Zane's hint about Will and Betty.
+
+"Isn't Eb a terror? He's the worst matchmatcher you ever saw,"
+declared the colonel's good spouse.
+
+"There's no harm in that."
+
+"No, indeed; it's a good thing, but he makes me laugh, and Betty, he
+sets her furious."
+
+"The colonel said he had designs on me."
+
+"Of course he has, dear old Eb! How he'd love to see you happily
+married. His heart is as big as that mountain yonder. He has given
+this settlement his whole life."
+
+"I believe you. He has such interest, such zeal for everybody. Only
+the other day he was speaking to me of Mr. Mordaunt, telling how sorry
+he was for the Englishman, and how much he'd like to help him. It does
+seem a pity a man of Mordaunt's blood and attainments should sink to
+utter worthlessness."
+
+"Yes,'tis a pity for any man, blood or no, and the world's full of
+such wrecks. I always liked that man's looks. I never had a word with
+him, of course; but I've seen him often, and something about him
+appealed to me. I don't believe it was just his handsome face; still I
+know women are susceptible that way."
+
+"I, too, liked him once as a friend," said Helen feelingly. "Well, I'm
+glad he's gone."
+
+"Gone?"
+
+"Yes, he left Fort Henry yesterday. He came to say good-bye to me,
+and, except for his pale face and trembling hands, was much as he used
+to be in Virginia. Said he was going home to England, and wanted to
+tell me he was sorry--for--for all he'd done to make papa and me
+suffer. Drink had broken him, he said, and surely he looked 'a broken
+man. I shook hands with him, and then slipped upstairs and cried."
+
+"Poor fellow!" sighed Mrs. Zane.
+
+"Papa said he left Fort Pitt with one of Metzar's men as a guide."
+
+"Then he didn't take the 'little cuss,' as Eb calls his man Case?"
+
+"No, if I remember rightly papa said Case wouldn't go."
+
+"I wish he had. He's no addition to our village."
+
+Voices outside attracted their attention. Mrs. Zane glanced from the
+window and said: "There come Betty and Will."
+
+Helen went on the porch to see her cousin and Betty entering the
+yard, and Colonel Zane once again leaning on his spade.
+
+"Gather any hickory-nuts from birch or any other kind of trees?" asked
+the colonel grimly.
+
+"No," replied Will cheerily, "the shells haven't opened yet."
+
+"Too bad the frost is so backward," said Colonel Zane with a laugh.
+"But I can't see that it makes any difference."
+
+"Where are my leaves?" asked Helen, with a smile and a nod to Betty.
+
+"What leaves?" inquired that young woman, plainly mystified.
+
+"Why, the autumn leaves Will promised to gather with me, then changed
+his mind, and said he'd bring them."
+
+"I forgot," Will replied a little awkwardly.
+
+Colonel Zane coughed, and then, catching Betty's glance, which had
+begun to flash, he plied his spade vigorously.
+
+Betty's face had colored warmly at her brother's first question; it
+toned down slightly when she understood that he was not going to tease
+her as usual, and suddenly, as she looked over his head, it paled
+white as snow.
+
+"Eb, look down the lane!" she cried.
+
+Two tall men were approaching with labored tread, one half-supporting
+his companion.
+
+"Wetzel! Jack! and Jack's hurt!" cried Betty.
+
+"My dear, be calm," said Colonel Zane, in that quiet tone he always
+used during moments of excitement. He turned toward the bordermen, and
+helped Wetzel lead Jonathan up the walk into the yard.
+
+From Wetzel's clothing water ran, his long hair was disheveled, his
+aspect frightful. Jonathan's face was white and drawn. His buckskin
+hunting coat was covered with blood, and the hand which he held
+tightly against his left breast showed dark red stains.
+
+Helen shuddered. Almost fainting, she leaned against the porch, too
+horrified to cry out, with contracting heart and a chill stealing
+through her veins.
+
+"Jack! Jack!" cried Betty, in agonized appeal.
+
+"Betty, it's nothin'," said Wetzel.
+
+"Now, Betts, don't be scared of a little blood," Jonathan said with a
+faint smile flitting across his haggard face.
+
+"Bring water, shears an' some linsey cloth," added Wetzel, as Mrs.
+Zane came running out.
+
+"Come inside," cried the colonel's wife, as she disappeared again
+immediately.
+
+"No," replied the borderman, removing his coat, and, with the
+assistance of his brother, he unlaced his hunting shirt, pulling it
+down from a wounded shoulder. A great gory hole gaped just beneath his
+left collar-bone.
+
+Although stricken with fear, when Helen saw the bronzed, massive
+shoulder, the long, powerful arm with its cords of muscles playing
+under the brown skin, she felt a thrill of admiration.
+
+"Just missed the lung," said Mrs. Zane. "Eb, no bullet ever made that
+hole."
+
+Wetzel washed the bloody wound, and, placing on it a wad of leaves he
+took from his pocket, bound up the shoulder tightly.
+
+"What made that hole?" asked Colonel Zane.
+
+Wetzel lifted the quiver of arrows Jonathan had laid on the porch,
+and, selecting one, handed it to the colonel. The flint-head and a
+portion of the shaft were stained with blood.
+
+"The Shawnee!" exclaimed Colonel Zane. Then he led Wetzel aside, and
+began conversing in low tones while Jonathan, with Betty holding his
+arm, ascended the steps and went within the dwelling.
+
+Helen ran home, and, once in her room, gave vent to her emotions. She
+cried because of fright, nervousness, relief, and joy. Then she bathed
+her face, tried to rub some color into her pale cheeks, and set about
+getting dinner as one in a trance. She could not forget that broad
+shoulder with its frightful wound. What a man Jonathan must be to
+receive a blow like that and live! Exhausted, almost spent, had been
+his strength when he reached home, yet how calm and cool he was! What
+would she not have given for the faint smile that shone in his eyes
+for Betty?
+
+The afternoon was long for Helen. When at last supper was over she
+changed her gown, and, asking Will to accompany her, went down the
+lane toward Colonel Zane's cabin. At this hour the colonel almost
+invariably could be found sitting on his doorstep puffing a long
+Indian pipe, and gazing with dreamy eyes over the valley.
+
+"Well, well, how sweet you look!" he said to Helen; then with a wink
+of his eyelid, "Hello, Willie, you'll find Elizabeth inside
+with Jack."
+
+"How is he?" asked Helen eagerly, as Will with a laugh and a retort
+mounted the steps.
+
+"Jack's doing splendidly. He slept all day. I don't think his injury
+amounts to much, at least not for such as him or Wetzel. It would have
+finished ordinary men. Bess says if complications don't set in,
+blood-poison or something to start a fever, he'll be up shortly.
+Wetzel believes the two of 'em will be on the trail inside of a week."
+
+"Did they find Brandt?" asked Helen in a low voice.
+
+"Yes, they ran him to his hole, and, as might have been expected, it
+was Bing Legget's camp. The Indians took Jonathan there."
+
+"Then Jack was captured?"
+
+Colonel Zane related the events, as told briefly by Wetzel, that had
+taken place during the preceding three days.
+
+"The Indian I saw at the spring carried that bow Jonathan brought
+back. He must have shot the arrow. He was a magnificent savage."
+
+"He was indeed a great, and a bad Indian, one of the craftiest spies
+who ever stepped in moccasins; but he lies quiet now on the moss and
+the leaves. Bing Legget will never find another runner like that
+Shawnee. Let us go indoors."
+
+He led Helen into the large sitting-room where Jonathan lay on a
+couch, with Betty and Will sitting beside him. The colonel's wife and
+children, Silas Zane, and several neighbors, were present.
+
+"Here, Jack, is a lady inquiring after your health. Betts, this
+reminds me of the time Isaac came home wounded, after his escape from
+the Hurons. Strikes me he and his Indian bride should be about due
+here on a visit."
+
+Helen forgot every one except the wounded man lying so quiet and pale
+upon the couch. She looked down upon him with eyes strangely dilated,
+and darkly bright.
+
+"How are you?" she asked softly.
+
+"I'm all right, thank you, lass," answered Jonathan.
+
+Colonel Zane contrived, with inimitable skill, to get Betty, Will,
+Silas, Bessie and the others interested in some remarkable news he had
+just heard, or made up, and this left Jonathan and Helen comparatively
+alone for the moment.
+
+The wise old colonel thought perhaps this might be the right time. He
+saw Helen's face as she leaned over Jonathan, and that was enough for
+him. He would have taxed his ingenuity to the utmost to keep the
+others away from the young couple.
+
+"I was so frightened," murmured Helen.
+
+"Why?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"Oh! You looked so deathly--the blood, and that awful wound!"
+
+"It's nothin', lass."
+
+Helen smiled down upon him. Whether or not the hurt amounted to
+anything in the borderman's opinion, she knew from his weakness, and
+his white, drawn face, that the strain of the march home had been
+fearful. His dark eyes held now nothing of the coldness and glitter so
+natural to them. They were weary, almost sad. She did not feel afraid
+of him now. He lay there so helpless, his long, powerful frame as
+quiet as a sleeping child's! Hitherto an almost indefinable antagonism
+in him had made itself felt; now there was only gentleness, as of a
+man too weary to fight longer. Helen's heart swelled with pity, and
+tenderness, and love. His weakness affected her as had never his
+strength. With an involuntary gesture of sympathy she placed her hand
+softly on his.
+
+Jonathan looked up at her with eyes no longer blind. Pain had softened
+him. For the moment he felt carried out of himself, as it were, and
+saw things differently. The melting tenderness of her gaze, the
+glowing softness of her face, the beauty, bewitched him; and beyond
+that, a sweet, impelling gladness stirred within him and would not be
+denied. He thrilled as her fingers lightly, timidly touched his, and
+opened his broad hand to press hers closely and warmly.
+
+"Lass," he whispered, with a huskiness and unsteadiness unnatural to
+his deep voice.
+
+Helen bent her head closer to him; she saw his lips tremble, and his
+nostrils dilate; but an unutterable sadness shaded the brightness
+in his eyes.
+
+"I love you."
+
+The low whisper reached Helen's ears. She seemed to float dreamily
+away to some beautiful world, with the music of those words ringing in
+her ears. She looked at him again. Had she been dreaming? No; his dark
+eyes met hers with a love that he could no longer deny. An exquisite
+emotion, keen, strangely sweet and strong, yet terrible with sharp
+pain, pulsated through her being. The revelation had been too abrupt.
+It was so wonderfully different from what she had ever dared hope. She
+lowered her head, trembling.
+
+The next moment she felt Colonel Zane's hand on her chair, and heard
+him say in a cheery voice:
+
+"Well, well, see here, lass, you mustn't make Jack talk too much. See
+how white and tired he looks."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+In forty-eight hours Jonathan Zane was up and about the cabin as
+though he had never been wounded; the third day he walked to the
+spring; in a week he was waiting for Wetzel, ready to go on the trail.
+
+On the eighth day of his enforced idleness, as he sat with Betty and
+the colonel in the yard, Wetzel appeared on a ridge east of the fort.
+Soon he rounded the stockade fence, and came straight toward them. To
+Colonel Zane and Betty, Wetzel's expression was terrible. The stern
+kindliness, the calm, though cold, gravity of his countenance, as they
+usually saw it, had disappeared. Yet it showed no trace of his
+unnatural passion to pursue and slay. No doubt that terrible
+instinct, or lust, was at white heat; but it wore a mask of
+impenetrable stone-gray gloom.
+
+Wetzel spoke briefly. After telling Jonathan to meet him at sunset on
+the following day at a point five miles up the river, he reported to
+the colonel that Legget with his band had left their retreat, moving
+southward, apparently on a marauding expedition. Then he shook hands
+with Colonel Zane and turned to Betty.
+
+"Good-bye, Betty," he said, in his deep, sonorous voice.
+
+"Good-bye, Lew," answered Betty slowly, as if surprised. "God save
+you," she added.
+
+He shouldered his rifle, and hurried down the lane, halting before
+entering the thicket that bounded the clearing, to look back at the
+settlement. In another moment his dark figure had disappeared among
+the bushes.
+
+"Betts, I've seen Wetzel go like that hundreds of times, though he
+never shook hands before; but I feel sort of queer about it now.
+Wasn't he strange?"
+
+Betty did not answer until Jonathan, who had started to go within, was
+out of hearing.
+
+"Lew looked and acted the same the morning he struck Miller's trail,"
+Betty replied in a low voice. "I believe, despite his indifference to
+danger, he realizes that the chances are greatly against him, as they
+were when he began the trailing of Miller, certain it would lead him
+into Girty's camp. Then I know Lew has an affection for us, though it
+is never shown in ordinary ways. I pray he and Jack will come
+home safe."
+
+"This is a bad trail they're taking up; the worst, perhaps, in border
+warfare," said Colonel Zane gloomily. "Did you notice how Jack's face
+darkened when his comrade came? Much of this borderman-life of his is
+due to Wetzel's influence."
+
+"Eb, I'll tell you one thing," returned Betty, with a flash of her
+old spirit. "This is Jack's last trail."
+
+"Why do you think so?"
+
+"If he doesn't return he'll be gone the way of all bordermen; but if
+he comes back once more he'll never get away from Helen."
+
+"Ugh!" exclaimed Zane, venting his pleasure in characteristic Indian
+way.
+
+"That night after Jack came home wounded," continued Betty, "I saw
+him, as he lay on the couch, gaze at Helen. Such a look! Eb, she
+has won."
+
+"I hope so, but I fear, I fear," replied her brother gloomily. "If
+only he returns, that's the thing! Betts, be sure he sees Helen before
+he goes away."
+
+"I shall try. Here he comes now," said Betty.
+
+"Hello, Jack!" cried the colonel, as his brother came out in somewhat
+of a hurry. "What have you got? By George! It's that blamed arrow the
+Shawnee shot into you. Where are you going with it? What the
+deuce--Say--Betts, eh?"
+
+Betty had given him a sharp little kick.
+
+The borderman looked embarrassed. He hesitated and flushed. Evidently
+he would have liked to avoid his brother's question; but the inquiry
+came direct. Dissimulation with him was impossible.
+
+"Helen wanted this, an' I reckon that's where I'm goin' with it," he
+said finally, and walked away.
+
+"Eb, you're a stupid!" exclaimed Betty.
+
+"Hang it! Who'd have thought he was going to give her that blamed,
+bloody arrow?"
+
+As Helen ushered Jonathan, for the first time, into her cosy little
+sitting-room, her heart began to thump so hard she could hear it.
+
+She had not seen him since the night he whispered the words which gave
+such happiness. She had stayed at home, thankful beyond expression to
+learn every day of his rapid improvement, living in the sweetness of
+her joy, and waiting for him. And now as he had come, so dark, so
+grave, so unlike a lover to woo, that she felt a chill steal over her.
+
+"I'm so glad you've brought the arrow," she faltered, "for, of course,
+coming so far means that you're well once more."
+
+"You asked me for it, an' I've fetched it over. To-morrow I'm off on a
+trail I may never return from," he answered simply, and his voice
+seemed cold.
+
+An immeasurable distance stretched once more between them. Helen's
+happiness slowly died.
+
+"I thank you," she said with a voice that was tremulous despite all
+her efforts.
+
+"It's not much of a keepsake."
+
+"I did not ask for it as a keepsake, but because--because I wanted it.
+I need nothing tangible to keep alive my memory. A few words whispered
+to me not many days ago will suffice for remembrance--or--or did I
+dream them?"
+
+Bitter disappointment almost choked Helen. This was not the gentle,
+soft-voiced man who had said he loved her. It was the indifferent
+borderman. Again he was the embodiment of his strange, quiet woods.
+Once more he seemed the comrade of the cold, inscrutable Wetzel.
+
+"No, lass, I reckon you didn't dream," he replied.
+
+Helen swayed from sick bitterness and a suffocating sense of pain,
+back to her old, sweet, joyous, tumultuous heart-throbbing.
+
+"Tell me, if I didn't dream," she said softly, her face flashing warm
+again. She came close to him and looked up with all her heart in her
+great dark eyes, and love trembling on her red lips.
+
+Calmness deserted the borderman after one glance at her. He paced the
+floor; twisted and clasped his hands while his eyes gleamed.
+
+"Lass, I'm only human," he cried hoarsely, facing her again.
+
+But only for a moment did he stand before her; but it was long enough
+for him to see her shrink a little, the gladness in her eyes giving
+way to uncertainty and a fugitive hope. Suddenly he began to pace the
+room again, and to talk incoherently. With the flow of words he
+gradually grew calmer, and, with something of his natural dignity,
+spoke more rationally.
+
+"I said I loved you, an' it's true, but I didn't mean to speak. I
+oughtn't have done it. Somethin' made it so easy, so natural like. I'd
+have died before letting you know, if any idea had come to me of what
+I was sayin'. I've fought this feelin' for months. I allowed myself to
+think of you at first, an' there's the wrong. I went on the trail with
+your big eyes pictured in my mind, an' before I'd dreamed of it you'd
+crept into my heart. Life has never been the same since--that kiss.
+Betty said as how you cared for me, an' that made me worse, only I
+never really believed. Today I came over here to say good-bye,
+expectin' to hold myself well in hand; but the first glance of your
+eyes unmans me. Nothin' can come of it, lass, nothin' but trouble.
+Even if you cared, an' I don't dare believe you do, nothin' can come
+of it! I've my own life to live, an' there's no sweetheart in it.
+Mebbe, as Lew says, there's one in Heaven. Oh! girl, this has been
+hard on me. I see you always on my lonely tramps; I see your glorious
+eyes in the sunny fields an' in the woods, at gray twilight, an' when
+the stars shine brightest. They haunt me. Ah! you're the sweetest
+lass as ever tormented a man, an' I love you, I love you!"
+
+He turned to the window only to hear a soft, broken cry, and a flurry
+of skirts. A rush of wind seemed to envelop him. Then two soft,
+rounded arms encircled his neck, and a golden head lay on his breast.
+
+"My borderman! My hero! My love!"
+
+Jonathan clasped the beautiful, quivering girl to his heart.
+
+"Lass, for God's sake don't say you love me," he implored, thrilling
+with contact of her warm arms.
+
+"Ah!" she breathed, and raised her head. Her radiant eyes darkly
+wonderful with unutterable love, burned into his.
+
+He had almost pressed his lips to the sweet red ones so near his, when
+he drew back with a start, and his frame straightened.
+
+"Am I a man, or only a coward?" he muttered. "Lass, let me think.
+Don't believe I'm harsh, nor cold, nor nothin' except that I want to
+do what's right."
+
+He leaned out of the window while Helen stood near him with a hand on
+his quivering shoulder. When at last he turned, his face was
+colorless, white as marble, and sad, and set, and stern.
+
+"Lass, it mustn't be; I'll not ruin your life."
+
+"But you will if you give me up."
+
+"No, no, lass."
+
+"I cannot live without you."
+
+"You must. My life is not mine to give."
+
+"But you love me."
+
+"I am a borderman."
+
+"I will not live without you."
+
+"Hush! lass, hush!"
+
+"I love you."
+
+Jonathan breathed hard; once more the tremor, which seemed pitiful in
+such a strong man, came upon him. His face was gray.
+
+"I love you," she repeated, her rich voice indescribably deep and
+full. She opened wide her arms and stood before him with heaving
+bosom, with great eyes dark with woman's sadness, passionate with
+woman's promise, perfect in her beauty, glorious in her abandonment.
+
+The borderman bowed and bent like a broken reed.
+
+"Listen," she whispered, coming closer to him, "go if you must leave
+me; but let this be your last trail. Come back to me, Jack, come back
+to me! You have had enough of this terrible life; you have won a name
+that will never be forgotten; you have done your duty to the border.
+The Indians and outlaws will be gone soon. Take the farm your brother
+wants you to have, and live for me. We will be happy. I shall learn to
+keep your home. Oh! my dear, I will recompense you for the loss of all
+this wild hunting and fighting. Let me persuade you, as much for your
+sake as for mine, for you are my heart, and soul, and life. Go out
+upon your last trail, Jack, and come back to me."
+
+"An' let Wetzel go always alone?"
+
+"He is different; he lives only for revenge. What are those poor
+savages to you? You have a better, nobler life opening."
+
+"Lass, I can't give him up."
+
+"You need not; but give up this useless seeking of adventure. That,
+you know, is half a borderman's life. Give it up, Jack, it not for
+your own, then for my sake."
+
+"No-no-never-I can't-I won't be a coward! After all these years I
+won't desert him. No-no----"
+
+"Do not say more," she pleaded, stealing closer to him until she was
+against his breast. She slipped her arms around his neck. For love and
+more than life she was fighting now. "Good-bye, my love." She kissed
+him, a long, lingering pressure of her soft full lips on his.
+"Dearest, do not shame me further. Dearest Jack, come back to me, for
+I love you."
+
+She released him, and ran sobbing from the room.
+
+Unsteady as a blind man, he groped for the door, found it, and went
+out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The longest day in Jonathan Zane's life, the oddest, the most terrible
+and complex with unintelligible emotions, was that one in which he
+learned that the wilderness no longer sufficed for him.
+
+He wandered through the forest like a man lost, searching for, he knew
+not what. Rambling along the shady trails he looked for that
+contentment which had always been his, but found it not. He plunged
+into the depths of deep, gloomy ravines; into the fastnesses of
+heavy-timbered hollows where the trees hid the light of day; he sought
+the open, grassy hillsides, and roamed far over meadow and plain. Yet
+something always eluded him. The invisible and beautiful life of all
+inanimate things sang no more in his heart. The springy moss, the
+quivering leaf, the tell-tale bark of the trees, the limpid, misty,
+eddying pools under green banks, the myriads of natural objects from
+which he had learned so much, and the manifold joyous life around him,
+no longer spoke with soul-satisfying faithfulness. The environment of
+his boyish days, of his youth, and manhood, rendered not a sweetness
+as of old.
+
+His intelligence, sharpened by the pain of new experience, told him
+he had been vain to imagine that he, because he was a borderman, could
+escape the universal destiny of human life. Dimly he could feel the
+broadening, the awakening into a fuller existence, but he did not
+welcome this new light. He realized that men had always turned, at
+some time in their lives, to women even as the cypress leans toward
+the sun. This weakening of the sterner stuff in him; this softening of
+his heart, and especially the inquietude, and lack of joy and harmony
+in his old pursuits of the forest trails bewildered him, and troubled
+him some. Thousands of times his borderman's trail had been crossed,
+yet never to his sorrow until now when it had been crossed by a woman.
+
+Sick at heart, hurt in his pride, darkly savage, sad, remorseful, and
+thrilling with awakened passion, all in turn, he roamed the woodland
+unconsciously visiting the scenes where he had formerly found
+contentment.
+
+He paused by many a shady glen, and beautiful quiet glade; by gray
+cliffs and mossy banks, searching with moody eyes for the spirit which
+evaded him.
+
+Here in the green and golden woods rose before him a rugged, giant
+rock, moss-stained, and gleaming with trickling water. Tangled ferns
+dressed in autumn's russet hue lay at the base of the green-gray
+cliff, and circled a dark, deep pool dotted with yellow leaves.
+Half-way up, the perpendicular ascent was broken by a protruding ledge
+upon which waved broad-leaved plants and rusty ferns. Above, the cliff
+sheered out with many cracks and seams in its weather-beaten front.
+
+The forest grew to the verge of the precipice. A full foliaged oak and
+a luxuriant maple, the former still fresh with its dark green leaves,
+the latter making a vivid contrast with its pale yellow, purple-red,
+and orange hues, leaned far out over the bluff. A mighty chestnut
+grasped with gnarled roots deep into the broken cliff. Dainty plumes
+of goldenrod swayed on the brink; red berries, amber moss, and green
+trailing vines peeped over the edge, and every little niche and cranny
+sported fragile ferns and pale-faced asters. A second cliff, higher
+than the first, and more heavily wooded, loomed above, and over it
+sprayed a transparent film of water, thin as smoke, and iridescent in
+the sunshine. Far above where the glancing rill caressed the mossy
+cliff and shone like gleaming gold against the dark branches with
+their green and red and purple leaves, lay the faint blue of the sky.
+
+Jonathan pulled on down the stream with humbler heart. His favorite
+waterfall had denied him. The gold that had gleamed there was his
+sweetheart's hair; the red was of her lips; the dark pool with its
+lights and shades, its unfathomable mystery, was like her eyes.
+
+He came at length to another scene of milder aspect. An open glade
+where the dancing, dimpling brook raced under dark hemlocks, and where
+blood-red sumach leaves, and beech leaves like flashes of sunshine,
+lay against the green. Under a leaning birch he found a patch of
+purple asters, and a little apart from them, by a mossy stone, a
+lonely fringed gentian. Its deep color brought to him the dark blue
+eyes that haunted him, and once again, like one possessed of an evil
+spirit, he wandered along the merry water-course.
+
+But finally pain and unrest left him. When he surrendered to his love,
+peace returned. Though he said in his heart that Helen was not for
+him, he felt he did not need to torture himself by fighting against
+resistless power. He could love her without being a coward. He would
+take up his life where it had been changed, and live it, carrying this
+bitter-sweet burden always.
+
+Memory, now that he admitted himself conquered, made a toy of him,
+bringing the sweetness of fragrant hair, and eloquent eyes, and
+clinging arms, and dewy lips. A thousand-fold harder to fight than
+pain was the seductive thought that he had but to go back to Helen to
+feel again the charm of her presence, to see the grace of her person,
+to hear the music of her voice, to have again her lips on his.
+
+Jonathan knew then that his trial had but begun; that the pain and
+suffering of a borderman's broken pride and conquered spirit was
+nothing; that to steel his heart against the joy, the sweetness, the
+longing of love was everything.
+
+So a tumult raged within his heart. No bitterness, nor wretchedness
+stabbed him as before, but a passionate yearning, born of memory, and
+unquenchable as the fires of the sun, burned there.
+
+Helen's reply to his pale excuses, to his duty, to his life, was that
+she loved him. The wonder of it made him weak. Was not her answer
+enough? "I love you!" Three words only; but they changed the world. A
+beautiful girl loved him, she had kissed him, and his life could never
+again be the same. She had held out her arms to him--and he, cold,
+churlish, unfeeling brute, had let her shame herself, fighting for her
+happiness, for the joy that is a woman's divine right. He had been
+blind; he had not understood the significance of her gracious action;
+he had never realized until too late, what it must have cost her, what
+heartburning shame and scorn his refusal brought upon her. If she ever
+looked tenderly at him again with her great eyes; or leaned toward him
+with her beautiful arms outstretched, he would fall at her feet and
+throw his duty to the winds, swearing his love was hers always and his
+life forever.
+
+So love stormed in the borderman's heart.
+
+Slowly the melancholy Indian-summer day waned as Jonathan strode out
+of the woods into a plain beyond, where he was to meet Wetzel at
+sunset. A smoky haze like a purple cloud lay upon the gently waving
+grass. He could not see across the stretch of prairie-land, though at
+this point he knew it was hardly a mile wide. With the trilling of the
+grasshoppers alone disturbing the serene quiet of this autumn
+afternoon, all nature seemed in harmony with the declining season. He
+stood a while, his thoughts becoming the calmer for the silence and
+loneliness of this breathing meadow.
+
+When the shadows of the trees began to lengthen, and to steal far out
+over the yellow grass, he knew the time had come, and glided out upon
+the plain. He crossed it, and sat down upon a huge stone which lay
+with one shelving end overhanging the river.
+
+Far in the west the gold-red sun, too fiery for his direct gaze, lost
+the brilliance of its under circle behind the fringe of the wooded
+hill. Slowly the red ball sank. When the last bright gleam had
+vanished in the dark horizon Jonathan turned to search wood and plain.
+Wetzel was to meet him at sunset. Even as his first glance swept
+around a light step sounded behind him. He did not move, for that step
+was familiar. In another moment the tall form of Wetzel stood
+beside him.
+
+"I'm about as much behind as you was ahead of time," said Wetzel.
+"We'll stay here fer the night, an' be off early in the mornin'."
+
+Under the shelving side of the rock, and in the shade of the thicket,
+the bordermen built a little fire and roasted strips of deer-meat.
+Then, puffing at their long pipes they sat for a long time in silence,
+while twilight let fall a dark, gray cloak over river and plain.
+
+"Legget's move up the river was a blind, as I suspected," said
+Wetzel, presently. "He's not far back in the woods from here, an'
+seems to be waitin' fer somethin' or somebody. Brandt an' seven
+redskins are with him. We'd hev a good chance at them in the mornin';
+now we've got 'em a long ways from their camp, so we'll wait, an' see
+what deviltry they're up to."
+
+"Mebbe he's waitin' for some Injun band," suggested Jonathan.
+
+"Thar's redskins in the valley an' close to him; but I reckon he's
+barkin' up another tree."
+
+"Suppose we run into some of these Injuns?"
+
+"We'll hev to take what comes," replied Wetzel, lying down on a bed of
+leaves.
+
+When darkness enveloped the spot Wetzel lay wrapped in deep slumber,
+while Jonathan sat against the rock, watching the last flickerings of
+the camp-fire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+Will and Helen hurried back along the river road. Beguiled by the soft
+beauty of the autumn morning they ventured farther from the fort than
+ever before, and had been suddenly brought to a realization of the
+fact by a crackling in the underbrush. Instantly their minds reverted
+to bears and panthers, such as they had heard invested the thickets
+round the settlement.
+
+"Oh! Will! I saw a dark form stealing along in the woods from tree to
+tree!" exclaimed Helen in a startled whisper.
+
+"So did I. It was an Indian, or I never saw one. Walk faster. Once
+round the bend in the road we'll be within sight of the fort; then
+we'll run," replied Will. He had turned pale, but maintained his
+composure.
+
+They increased their speed, and had almost come up to the curve in the
+road, marked by dense undergrowth on both sides, when the branches in
+the thicket swayed violently, a sturdy little man armed with a musket
+appeared from among them.
+
+"Avast! Heave to!" he commanded in a low, fierce voice, leveling his
+weapon. "One breeze from ye, an' I let sail this broadside."
+
+"What do you want? We have no valuables," said Will, speaking low.
+
+Helen stared at the little man. She was speechless with terror. It
+flashed into her mind as soon as she recognized the red, evil face of
+the sailor, that he was the accomplice upon whom Brandt had told Metzar
+he could rely.
+
+"Shut up! It's not ye I want, nor valuables, but this wench," growled
+Case. He pushed Will around with the muzzle of the musket, which
+action caused the young man to turn a sickly white and shrink
+involuntarily with fear. The hammer of the musket was raised, and
+might fall at the slightest jar.
+
+"For God's sake! Will, do as he says," cried Helen, who saw murder in
+Case's eyes. Capture or anything was better than sacrifice of life.
+
+"March!" ordered Case, with the musket against Will's back.
+
+Will hurriedly started forward, jostling Helen, who had preceded him.
+He was forced to hurry, because every few moments Case pressed the gun
+to his back or side.
+
+Without another word the sailor marched them swiftly along the road,
+which now narrowed down to a trail. His intention, no doubt, was to
+put as much distance between him and the fort as was possible. No
+more than a mile had been thus traversed when two Indians stepped
+into view.
+
+"My God! My God!" cried Will as the savages proceeded first to bind
+Helen's arms behind her, and then his in the same manner. After this
+the journey was continued in silence, the Indians walking beside the
+prisoners, and Case in the rear.
+
+Helen was so terrified that for a long time she could not think
+coherently. It seemed as if she had walked miles, yet did not feel
+tired. Always in front wound the narrow, leaf-girt trail, and to the
+left the broad river gleamed at intervals through open spaces in the
+thickets. Flocks of birds rose in the line of march. They seemed tame,
+and uttered plaintive notes as if in sympathy.
+
+About noon the trail led to the river bank. One of the savages
+disappeared in a copse of willows, and presently reappeared carrying a
+birch-bark canoe. Case ordered Helen and Will into the boat, got in
+himself, and the savages, taking stations at bow and stern, paddled
+out into the stream. They shot over under the lee of an island, around
+a rocky point, and across a strait to another island. Beyond this they
+gained the Ohio shore, and beached the canoe.
+
+"Ahoy! there, cap'n," cried Case, pushing Helen up the bank before
+him, and she, gazing upward, was more than amazed to see Mordaunt
+leaning against a tree.
+
+"Mordaunt, had you anything to do with this?" cried Helen
+breathlessly.
+
+"I had all to do with it," answered the Englishman.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+He did not meet her gaze, nor make reply; but turned to address a few
+words in a low tone to a white man sitting on a log.
+
+Helen knew she had seen this person before, and doubted not he was
+one of Metzar's men. She saw a rude, bark lean-to, the remains of a
+camp-fire, and a pack tied in blankets. Evidently Mordaunt and his men
+had tarried here awaiting such developments as had come to pass.
+
+"You white-faced hound!" hissed Will, beside himself with rage when he
+realized the situation. Bound though he was, he leaped up and tried to
+get at Mordaunt. Case knocked him on the head with the handle of his
+knife. Will fell with blood streaming from a cut over the temple.
+
+The dastardly act aroused all Helen's fiery courage. She turned to the
+Englishman with eyes ablaze.
+
+"So you've at last found your level. Border-outlaw! Kill me at once.
+I'd rather be dead than breathe the same air with such a coward!"
+
+"I swore I'd have you, if not by fair means then by foul," he
+answered, with dark and haggard face.
+
+"What do you intend to do with me now that I am tied?" she demanded
+scornfully.
+
+"Keep you a prisoner in the woods till you consent to marry me."
+
+Helen laughed in scorn. Desperate as was the plight, her natural
+courage had arisen at the cruel blow dealt her cousin, and she faced
+the Englishman with flashing eyes and undaunted mien. She saw he was
+again unsteady, and had the cough and catching breath habitual to
+certain men under the influence of liquor. She turned her attention to
+Will. He lay as he had fallen, with blood streaming over his pale face
+and fair hair. While she gazed at him Case whipped out his long knife,
+and looked up at Mordaunt.
+
+"Cap'n, I'd better loosen a hatch fer him," he said brutally. "He's
+dead cargo fer us, an' in the way."
+
+He lowered the gleaming point upon Will's chest.
+
+"Oh-h-h!" breathed Helen in horror. She tried to close her eyes but
+was so fascinated she could not.
+
+"Get up. I'll have no murder," ordered Mordaunt. "Leave him here."
+
+"He's not got a bad cut," said the man sitting on the log. "He'll come
+to arter a spell, go back to ther fort, an' give an alarm."
+
+"What's that to me?" asked Mordaunt sharply. "We shall be safe. I
+won't have him with us because some Indian or another will kill him.
+It's not my purpose to murder any one."
+
+"Ugh!" grunted one of the savages, and pointed eastward with his hand.
+"Hurry-long-way-go," he said in English. With the Indians in the lead
+the party turned from the river into the forest.
+
+Helen looked back into the sandy glade and saw Will lying as they had
+left him, unconscious, with his hands still bound tightly behind him,
+and blood running over his face. Painful as was the thought of leaving
+him thus, it afforded her relief. She assured herself he had not been
+badly hurt, would recover consciousness before long, and, even bound
+as he was, could make his way back to the settlement.
+
+Her own situation, now that she knew Mordaunt had instigated the
+abduction, did not seem hopeless. Although dreading Brandt with
+unspeakable horror, she did not in the least fear the Englishman. He
+was mad to carry her off like this into the wilderness, but would
+force her to do nothing. He could not keep her a prisoner long while
+Jonathan Zane and Wetzel were free to take his trail. What were his
+intentions? Where was he taking her? Such questions as these, however,
+troubled Helen more than a little. They brought her thoughts back to
+the Indians leading the way with lithe and stealthy step. How had
+Mordaunt associated himself with these savages? Then, suddenly, it
+dawned upon her that Brandt also might be in this scheme to carry her
+off. She scouted the idea; but it returned. Perhaps Mordaunt was only
+a tool; perhaps he himself was being deceived. Helen turned pale at
+the very thought. She had never forgotten the strange, unreadable, yet
+threatening, expression which Brandt had worn the day she had refused
+to walk with him.
+
+Meanwhile the party made rapid progress through the forest. Not a word
+was spoken, nor did any noise of rustling leaves or crackling twigs
+follow their footsteps. The savage in the lead chose the open and less
+difficult ground; he took advantage of glades, mossy places, and rocky
+ridges. This careful choosing was, evidently, to avoid noise, and make
+the trail as difficult to follow as possible. Once he stopped
+suddenly, and listened.
+
+Helen had a good look at the savage while he was in this position. His
+lean, athletic figure resembled, in its half-clothed condition, a
+bronzed statue; his powerful visage was set, changeless like iron. His
+dark eyes seemed to take in all points of the forest before him.
+
+Whatever had caused the halt was an enigma to all save his red-skinned
+companion.
+
+The silence of the wood was the silence of the desert. No bird
+chirped; no breath of wind sighed in the tree-tops; even the aspens
+remained unagitated. Pale yellow leaves sailed slowly, reluctantly
+down from above.
+
+But some faint sound, something unusual had jarred upon the
+exquisitely sensitive ears of the leader, for with a meaning shake of
+the head to his followers, he resumed the march in a direction at
+right angles with the original course.
+
+This caution, and evident distrust of the forest ahead, made Helen
+think again of Jonathan and Wetzel. Those great bordermen might
+already be on the trail of her captors. The thought thrilled her.
+Presently she realized, from another long, silent march through forest
+thickets, glades, aisles, and groves, over rock-strewn ridges, and
+down mossy-stoned ravines, that her strength was beginning to fail.
+
+"I can go no further with my arms tied in this way," she declared,
+stopping suddenly.
+
+"Ugh!" uttered the savage before her, turning sharply. He brandished a
+tomahawk before her eyes.
+
+Mordaunt hurriedly set free her wrists. His pale face flushed a dark,
+flaming red when she shrank from his touch as if he were a viper.
+
+After they had traveled what seemed to Helen many miles, the vigilance
+of the leaders relaxed.
+
+On the banks of the willow-skirted stream the Indian guide halted
+them, and proceeded on alone to disappear in a green thicket.
+Presently he reappeared, and motioned for them to come on. He led the
+way over smooth, sandy paths between clumps of willows, into a heavy
+growth of alder bushes and prickly thorns, at length to emerge upon a
+beautiful grassy plot enclosed by green and yellow shrubbery. Above
+the stream, which cut the edge of the glade, rose a sloping, wooded
+ridge, with huge rocks projecting here and there out of the
+brown forest.
+
+Several birch-bark huts could be seen; then two rough bearded men
+lolling upon the grass, and beyond them a group of painted Indians.
+
+A whoop so shrill, so savage, so exultant, that it seemingly froze her
+blood, rent the silence. A man, unseen before, came crashing through
+the willows on the side of the ridge. He leaped the stream with the
+spring of a wild horse. He was big and broad, with disheveled hair,
+keen, hard face, and wild, gray eyes.
+
+Helen's sight almost failed her; her head whirled dizzily; it was as
+if her heart had stopped beating and was become a cold, dead weight.
+She recognized in this man the one whom she feared most of
+all--Brandt.
+
+He cast one glance full at her, the same threatening, cool, and
+evil-meaning look she remembered so well, and then engaged the Indian
+guide in low conversation.
+
+Helen sank at the foot of a tree, leaning against it. Despite her
+weariness she had retained some spirit until this direful revelation
+broke her courage. What worse could have happened? Mordaunt had led
+her, for some reason that she could not divine, into the clutches of
+Brandt, into the power of Legget and his outlaws.
+
+But Helen was not one to remain long dispirited or hopeless. As this
+plot thickened, as every added misfortune weighed upon her, when just
+ready to give up to despair she remembered the bordermen. Then Colonel
+Zane's tales of their fearless, implacable pursuit when bent on rescue
+or revenge, recurred to her, and fortitude returned. While she had
+life she would hope.
+
+The advent of the party with their prisoner enlivened Legget's gang. A
+great giant of a man, blond-bearded, and handsome in a wild, rugged,
+uncouth way, a man Helen instinctively knew to be Legget, slapped
+Brandt on the shoulder.
+
+"Damme, Roge, if she ain't a regular little daisy! Never seed such a
+purty lass in my life."
+
+Brandt spoke hurriedly, and Legget laughed.
+
+All this time Case had been sitting on the grass, saying nothing, but
+with his little eyes watchful. Mordaunt stood near him, his head
+bowed, his face gloomy.
+
+"Say, cap'n, I don't like this mess," whispered Case to his master.
+"They ain't no crew fer us. I know men, fer I've sailed the seas, an'
+you're goin' to get what Metz calls the double-cross."
+
+Mordaunt seemed to arouse from his gloomy reverie. He looked at Brandt
+and Legget who were now in earnest council. Then his eyes wandered
+toward Helen. She beckoned him to come to her.
+
+"Why did you bring me here?" she asked.
+
+"Brandt understood my case. He planned this thing, and seemed to be a
+good friend of mine. He said if I once got you out of the settlement,
+he would give me protection until I crossed the border into Canada.
+There we could be married," replied Mordaunt unsteadily.
+
+"Then you meant marriage by me, if I could be made to consent?"
+
+"Of course. I'm not utterly vile," he replied, with face lowered in
+shame.
+
+"Have you any idea what you've done?"
+
+"Done? I don't understand."
+
+"You have ruined yourself, lost your manhood, become an outlaw, a
+fugitive, made yourself the worst thing on the border--a girl-thief,
+and all for nothing."
+
+"No, I have you. You are more to me than all."
+
+"But can't you see? You've brought me out here for Brandt!"
+
+"My God!" exclaimed Mordaunt. He rose slowly to his feet and gazed
+around like a man suddenly wakened from a dream. "I see it all now!
+Miserable, drunken wretch that I am!"
+
+Helen saw his face change and lighten as if a cloud of darkness had
+passed away from it. She understood that love of liquor had made him a
+party to this plot. Brandt had cunningly worked upon his weakness,
+proposed a daring scheme; and filled his befogged mind with hopes
+that, in a moment of clear-sightedness, he would have seen to be vain
+and impossible. And Helen understood also that the sudden shock of
+surprise, pain, possible fury, had sobered Mordaunt, probably for the
+first time in weeks.
+
+The Englishman's face became exceedingly pale. Seating himself on a
+stone near Case, he bowed his head, remaining silent and motionless.
+
+The conference between Legget and Brandt lasted for some time. When it
+ended the latter strode toward the motionless figure on the rock.
+
+"Mordaunt, you and Case will do well to follow this Indian at once to
+the river, where you can strike the Fort Pitt trail," said Brandt.
+
+He spoke arrogantly and authoritatively. His keen, hard face, his
+steely eyes, bespoke the iron will and purpose of the man.
+
+Mordaunt rose with cold dignity. If he had been a dupe, he was one no
+longer, as could be plainly read on his calm, pale face. The old
+listlessness, the unsteadiness had vanished. He wore a manner of
+extreme quietude; but his eyes were like balls of blazing blue steel.
+
+"Mr. Brandt, I seem to have done you a service, and am no longer
+required," he said in a courteous tone.
+
+Brandt eyed his man; but judged him wrongly. An English gentleman was
+new to the border-outlaw.
+
+"I swore the girl should be mine," he hissed.
+
+"Doomed men cannot be choosers!" cried Helen, who had heard him. Her
+dark eyes burned with scorn and hatred.
+
+All the party heard her passionate outburst. Case arose as if
+unconcernedly, and stood by the side of his master. Legget and the
+other two outlaws came up. The Indians turned their swarthy faces.
+
+"Hah! ain't she sassy?" cried Legget.
+
+Brandt looked at Helen, understood the meaning of her words, and
+laughed. But his face paled, and involuntarily his shifty glance
+sought the rocks and trees upon the ridge.
+
+"You played me from the first?" asked Mordaunt quietly.
+
+"I did," replied Brandt.
+
+"You meant nothing of your promise to help me across the border?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You intended to let me shift for myself out here in this wilderness?"
+
+"Yes, after this Indian guides you to the river-trail," said Brandt,
+indicating with his finger the nearest savage.
+
+"I get what you frontier men call the double-cross'?"
+
+"That's it," replied Brandt with a hard laugh, in which Legget joined.
+
+A short pause ensued.
+
+"What will you do with the girl?"
+
+"That's my affair."
+
+"Marry her?" Mordaunt's voice was low and quiet.
+
+"No!" cried Brandt. "She flaunted my love in my face, scorned me! She
+saw that borderman strike me, and by God! I'll get even. I'll keep her
+here in the woods until I'm tired of her, and when her beauty fades
+I'll turn her over to Legget."
+
+Scarcely had the words dropped from his vile lips when Mordaunt moved
+with tigerish agility. He seized a knife from the belt of one of
+the Indians.
+
+"Die!" he screamed.
+
+Brandt grasped his tomahawk. At the same instant the man who had acted
+as Mordaunt's guide grasped the Englishman from behind.
+
+Brandt struck ineffectually at the struggling man.
+
+"Fair play!" roared Case, leaping at Mordaunt's second assailant. His
+long knife sheathed its glittering length in the man's breast. Without
+even a groan he dropped. "Clear the decks!" Case yelled, sweeping
+round in a circle. All fell back before that whirling knife.
+
+Several of the Indians started as if to raise their rifles; but
+Legget's stern command caused them to desist.
+
+The Englishman and the outlaw now engaged in a fearful encounter. The
+practiced, rugged, frontier desperado apparently had found his match
+in this pale-faced, slender man. His border skill with the hatchet
+seemed offset by Mordaunt's terrible rage. Brandt whirled and swung
+the weapon as he leaped around his antagonist. With his left arm the
+Englishman sought only to protect his head, while with his right he
+brandished the knife. Whirling here and there they struggled across
+the cleared space, plunging out of sight among the willows. During a
+moment there was a sound as of breaking branches; then a dull blow,
+horrible to hear, followed by a low moan, and then deep silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A black weight was seemingly lifted from Helen's weary eyelids. The
+sun shone; the golden forest surrounded her; the brook babbled
+merrily; but where were the struggling, panting men? She noticed
+presently, when her vision had grown more clear, that the scene
+differed entirely from the willow-glade where she had closed her eyes
+upon the fight. Then came the knowledge that she had fainted, and,
+during the time of unconsciousness, been moved.
+
+She lay upon a mossy mound a few feet higher than a swiftly running
+brook. A magnificent chestnut tree spread its leafy branches above
+her. Directly opposite, about an hundred feet away, loomed a gray,
+ragged, moss-stained cliff. She noted this particularly because the
+dense forest encroaching to its very edge excited her admiration. Such
+wonderful coloring seemed unreal. Dead gold and bright red foliage
+flamed everywhere.
+
+Two Indians stood near by silent, immovable. No other of Legget's band
+was visible. Helen watched the red men.
+
+Sinewy, muscular warriors they were, with bodies partially painted,
+and long, straight hair, black as burnt wood, interwoven with bits of
+white bone, and plaited around waving eagle plumes. At first glance
+their dark faces and dark eyes were expressive of craft, cunning,
+cruelty, courage, all attributes of the savage.
+
+Yet wild as these savages appeared, Helen did not fear them as she did
+the outlaws. Brandt's eyes, and Legget's, too, when turned on her,
+emitted a flame that seemed to scorch and shrivel her soul. When the
+savages met her gaze, which was but seldom, she imagined she saw
+intelligence, even pity, in their dusky eyes. Certain it was she did
+not shrink from them as from Brandt.
+
+Suddenly, with a sensation of relief and joy, she remembered
+Mordaunt's terrible onslaught upon Brandt. Although she could not
+recollect the termination of that furious struggle, she did recall
+Brandt's scream of mortal agony, and the death of the other at Case's
+hands. This meant, whether Brandt was dead or not, that the fighting
+strength of her captors had been diminished. Surely as the sun had
+risen that morning, Helen believed Jonathan and Wetzel lurked on the
+trail of these renegades. She prayed that her courage, hope, strength,
+might be continued.
+
+"Ugh!" exclaimed one of the savages, pointing across the open space.
+A slight swaying of the bushes told that some living thing was moving
+among them, and an instant later the huge frame of the leader came
+into view. The other outlaw, and Case, followed closely. Farther down
+the margin of the thicket the Indians appeared; but without the
+slightest noise or disturbance of the shrubbery.
+
+It required but a glance to show Helen that Case was in high spirits.
+His repulsive face glowed with satisfaction. He carried a bundle,
+which Helen saw, with a sickening sense of horror, was made up of
+Mordaunt's clothing. Brandt had killed the Englishman. Legget also had
+a package under his arm, which he threw down when he reached the
+chestnut tree, to draw from his pocket a long, leather belt, such as
+travelers use for the carrying of valuables. It was evidently heavy,
+and the musical clink which accompanied his motion proclaimed the
+contents to be gold.
+
+Brandt appeared next; he was white and held his hand to his breast.
+There were dark stains on his hunting coat, which he removed to expose
+a shirt blotched with red.
+
+"You ain't much hurt, I reckon?" inquired Legget solicitously.
+
+"No; but I'm bleeding bad," replied Brandt coolly. He then called an
+Indian and went among the willows skirting the stream.
+
+"So I'm to be in this border crew?" asked Case, looking up at Legget.
+
+"Sure," replied the big outlaw. "You're a handy fellar, Case, an'
+after I break you into border ways you will fit in here tip-top. Now
+you'd better stick by me. When Eb Zane, his brother Jack, an' Wetzel
+find out this here day's work, hell will be a cool place compared with
+their whereabouts. You'll be safe with me, an' this is the only place
+on the border, I reckon, where you can say your life is your own."
+
+"I'm yer mate, cap'n. I've sailed with soldiers, pirates, sailors, an'
+I guess I can navigate this borderland. Do we mess here? You didn't
+come far."
+
+"Wal, I ain't pertikuler, but I don't like eatin' with buzzards," said
+Legget, with a grin. "Thet's why we moved a bit."
+
+"What's buzzards?"
+
+"Ho! ho! Mebbe you'll hev 'em closer'n you'd like, some day, if you'd
+only know it. Buzzards are fine birds, most particular birds, as won't
+eat nothin' but flesh, an' white man or Injun is pie fer 'em."
+
+"Cap'n, I've seed birds as wouldn't wait till a man was dead," said
+Case.
+
+"Haw! haw! you can't come no sailor yarns on this fellar. Wal, now,
+we've got ther Englishman's gold. One or t'other of us might jest as
+well hev it all."
+
+"Right yer are, cap'n. Dice, cards, anyways, so long as I knows the
+game."
+
+"Here, Jenks, hand over yer clickers, an' bring us a flat stone," said
+Legget, sitting on the moss and emptying the belt in front of him.
+Case took a small bag from the dark blue jacket that had so lately
+covered Mordaunt's shoulders, and poured out its bright contents.
+
+"This coat ain't worth keepin'," he said, holding it up. The garment
+was rent and slashed, and under the left sleeve was a small,
+blood-stained hole where one of Brandt's blows had fallen. "Hullo,
+what's this?" muttered the sailor, feeling in the pocket of the
+jacket. "Blast my timbers, hooray!"
+
+He held up a small, silver-mounted whiskey flask, unscrewed the lid,
+and lifted the vessel to his mouth.
+
+"I'm kinder thirsty myself," suggested Legget.
+
+"Cap'n, a nip an' no more," Case replied, holding the flask to
+Legget's lips.
+
+The outlaw called Jenks now returned with a flat stone which he placed
+between the two men. The Indians gathered around. With greedy eyes
+they bent their heads over the gamblers, and watched every movement
+with breathless interest. At each click of the dice, or clink of gold,
+they uttered deep exclamations.
+
+"Luck's again' ye, cap'n," said Case, skilfully shaking the ivory
+cubes.
+
+"Hain't I got eyes?" growled the outlaw.
+
+Steadily his pile of gold diminished, and darker grew his face.
+
+"Cap'n, I'm a bad wind to draw," Case rejoined, drinking again from
+the flask. His naturally red face had become livid, his skin moist,
+and his eyes wild with excitement.
+
+"Hullo! If them dice wasn't Jenks's, an' I hadn't played afore with
+him, I'd swear they's loaded."
+
+"You ain't insinuatin' nothin', cap'n?" inquired Case softly,
+hesitating with the dice in his hands, his evil eyes glinting
+at Legget.
+
+"No, you're fair enough," growled the leader. "It's my tough luck."
+
+The game progressed with infrequent runs of fortune for the outlaw,
+and presently every piece of gold lay in a shining heap before
+the sailor.
+
+"Clean busted!" exclaimed Legget in disgust.
+
+"Can't you find nothin' more?" asked Case.
+
+The outlaw's bold eyes wandered here and there until they rested upon
+the prisoner.
+
+"I'll play ther lass against yer pile of gold," he growled. "Best two
+throws out 'en three. See here, she's as much mine as Brandt's."
+
+"Make it half my pile an' I'll go you."
+
+"Nary time. Bet, or give me back what yer win," replied Legget
+gruffly.
+
+"She's a trim little craft, no mistake," said Case, critically
+surveying Helen. "All right, cap'n, I've sportin' blood, an' I'll bet.
+Yer throw first."
+
+Legget won the first cast, and Case the second. With deliberation the
+outlaw shook the dice in his huge fist, and rattled them out upon the
+stone. "Hah!" he cried in delight. He had come within one of the
+highest score possible. Case nonchalantly flipped the little white
+blocks. The Indians crowded forward, their dusky eyes shining.
+
+Legget swore in a terrible voice which re-echoed from the stony cliff.
+The sailor was victorious. The outlaw got up, kicked the stone and
+dice in the brook, and walked away from the group. He strode to and
+fro under one of the trees. Gruffly he gave an order to the Indians.
+Several of them began at once to kindle a fire. Presently he called
+Jenks, who was fishing the dice out of the brook, and began to
+converse earnestly with him, making fierce gestures and casting
+lowering glances at the sailor.
+
+Case was too drunk now to see that he had incurred the enmity of the
+outlaw leader. He drank the last of the rum, and tossed the silver
+flask to an Indian, who received the present with every show
+of delight.
+
+Case then, with the slow, uncertain movements of a man whose mind is
+befogged, began to count his gold; but only to gather up a few pieces
+when they slipped out of his trembling hands to roll on the moss.
+Laboriously, seriously, he kept at it with the doggedness of a drunken
+man. Apparently he had forgotten the others. Failing to learn the
+value of the coins by taking up each in turn, he arranged them in
+several piles, and began to estimate his wealth in sections.
+
+In the meanwhile Helen, who had not failed to take in the slightest
+detail of what was going on, saw that a plot was hatching which boded
+ill to the sailor. Moreover, she heard Legget and Jenks whispering.
+
+"I kin take him from right here 'atwixt his eyes," said Jenks softly,
+and tapped his rifle significantly.
+
+"Wal, go ahead, only I ruther hev it done quieter," answered Legget.
+"We're yet a long ways, near thirty miles, from my camp, an' there's
+no tellin' who's in ther woods. But we've got ter git rid of ther
+fresh sailor, an' there's no surer way."
+
+Cautiously cocking his rifle, Jenks deliberately raised it to his
+shoulder. One of the Indian sentinels who stood near at hand, sprang
+forward and struck up the weapon. He spoke a single word to Legget,
+pointed to the woods above the cliff, and then resumed his
+statue-like attitude.
+
+"I told yer, Jenks, that it wouldn't do. The redskin scents somethin'
+in the woods, an' ther's an Injun I never seed fooled. We mustn't make
+a noise. Take yer knife an' tomahawk, crawl down below the edge o' the
+bank an' slip up on him. I'll give half ther gold fer ther job."
+
+Jenks buckled his belt more tightly, gave one threatening glance at
+the sailor, and slipped over the bank. The bed of the brook lay about
+six feet below the level of the ground. This afforded an opportunity
+for the outlaw to get behind Case without being observed. A moment
+passed. Jenks disappeared round a bend of the stream. Presently his
+grizzled head appeared above the bank. He was immediately behind the
+sailor; but still some thirty feet away. This ground must be covered
+quickly and noiselessly. The outlaw began to crawl. In his right hand
+he grasped a tomahawk, and between his teeth was a long knife. He
+looked like a huge, yellow bear.
+
+The savages, with the exception of the sentinel who seemed absorbed in
+the dense thicket on the cliff, sat with their knees between their
+hands, watching the impending tragedy.
+
+Nothing but the merest chance, or some extraordinary intervention,
+could avert Case's doom. He was gloating over his gold. The creeping
+outlaw made no more noise than a snake. Nearer and nearer he came; his
+sweaty face shining in the sun; his eyes tigerish; his long body
+slipping silently over the grass. At length he was within five feet of
+the sailor. His knotty hands were dug into the sward as he gathered
+energy for a sudden spring.
+
+At that very moment Case, with his hand on his knife, rose quickly and
+turned round.
+
+The outlaw, discovered in the act of leaping, had no alternative, and
+spring he did, like a panther.
+
+The little sailor stepped out of line with remarkable quickness, and
+as the yellow body whirled past him, his knife flashed blue-bright in
+the sunshine.
+
+Jenks fell forward, his knife buried in the grass beneath him, and his
+outstretched hand still holding the tomahawk.
+
+"Tryin' ter double-cross me fer my gold," muttered the sailor,
+sheathing his weapon. He never looked to see whether or no his blow
+had been fatal. "These border fellars might think a man as sails the
+seas can't handle a knife." He calmly began gathering up his gold,
+evidently indifferent to further attack.
+
+Helen saw Legget raise his own rifle, but only to have it struck aside
+as had Jenks's. This time the savage whispered earnestly to Legget,
+who called the other Indians around him. The sentinel's low throaty
+tones mingled with the soft babbling of the stream. No sooner had he
+ceased speaking than the effect of his words showed how serious had
+been the information, warning or advice. The Indians cast furtive
+glances toward the woods. Two of them melted like shadows into the red
+and gold thicket. Another stealthily slipped from tree to tree until
+he reached the open ground, then dropped into the grass, and was seen
+no more until his dark body rose under the cliff. He stole along the
+green-stained wall, climbed a rugged corner, and vanished amid the
+dense foliage.
+
+Helen felt that she was almost past discernment or thought. The events
+of the day succeeding one another so swiftly, and fraught with panic,
+had, despite her hope and fortitude, reduced her to a helpless
+condition of piteous fear. She understood that the savages scented
+danger, or had, in their mysterious way, received intelligence such as
+rendered them wary and watchful.
+
+"Come on, now, an' make no noise," said Legget to Case. "Bring the
+girl, an' see that she steps light."
+
+"Ay, ay, cap'n," replied the sailor. "Where's Brandt?"
+
+"He'll be comin' soon's his cut stops bleedin'. I reckon he's weak
+yet."
+
+Case gathered up his goods, and, tucking it under his arm, grasped
+Helen's arm. She was leaning against the tree, and when he pulled her,
+she wrenched herself free, rising with difficulty. His disgusting
+touch and revolting face had revived her sensibilities.
+
+"Yer kin begin duty by carryin' thet," said Case, thrusting the
+package into Helen's arms. She let it drop without moving a hand.
+
+"I'm runnin' this ship. Yer belong to me," hissed Case, and then he
+struck her on the head. Helen uttered a low cry of distress, and half
+staggered against the tree. The sailor picked up the package. This
+time she took it, trembling with horror.
+
+"Thet's right. Now, give ther cap'n a kiss," he leered, and jostled
+against her.
+
+Helen pushed him violently. With agonized eyes she appealed to the
+Indians. They were engaged tying up their packs. Legget looked on with
+a lazy grin.
+
+"Oh! oh!" breathed Helen as Case seized her again. She tried to
+scream, but could not make a sound. The evil eyes, the beastly face,
+transfixed her with terror.
+
+Case struck her twice, then roughly pulled her toward him.
+
+Half-fainting, unable to move, Helen gazed at the heated, bloated face
+approaching hers.
+
+When his coarse lips were within a few inches of her lips something
+hot hissed across her brow. Following so closely as to be an
+accompaniment, rang out with singular clearness the sharp crack of
+a rifle.
+
+Case's face changed. The hot, surging flush faded; the expression
+became shaded, dulled into vacant emptiness; his eyes rolled wildly,
+then remained fixed, with a look of dark surprise. He stood upright an
+instant, swayed with the regular poise of a falling oak, and then
+plunged backward to the ground. His face, ghastly and livid, took on
+the awful calm of death.
+
+A very small hole, reddish-blue round the edges, dotted the center of
+his temple.
+
+Legget stared aghast at the dead sailor; then he possessed himself of
+the bag of gold.
+
+"Saved me ther trouble," he muttered, giving Case a kick.
+
+The Indians glanced at the little figure, then out into the flaming
+thickets. Each savage sprang behind a tree with incredible quickness.
+Legget saw this, and grasping Helen, he quickly led her within cover
+of the chestnut.
+
+Brandt appeared with his Indian companion, and both leaped to shelter
+behind a clump of birches near where Legget stood. Brandt's hawk eyes
+flashed upon the dead Jenks and Case. Without asking a question he
+seemed to take in the situation. He stepped over and grasped Helen
+by the arm.
+
+"Who killed Case?" he asked in a whisper, staring at the little blue
+hole in the sailor's temple.
+
+No one answered.
+
+The two Indians who had gone into the woods to the right of the
+stream, now returned. Hardly were they under the trees with their
+party, when the savage who had gone off alone arose out of the grass
+in the left of the brook, took it with a flying leap, and darted into
+their midst. He was the sentinel who had knocked up the weapons,
+thereby saving Case's life twice. He was lithe and supple, but not
+young. His grave, shadowy-lined, iron visage showed the traces of time
+and experience. All gazed at him as at one whose wisdom was greater
+than theirs.
+
+"Old Horse," said Brandt in English. "Haven't I seen bullet holes like
+this?"
+
+The Chippewa bent over Case, and then slowly straightened his tall
+form.
+
+"_Deathwind!_" he replied, answering in the white man's language.
+
+His Indian companions uttered low, plaintive murmurs, not signifying
+fear so much as respect.
+
+Brandt turned as pale as the clean birch-bark on the tree near him.
+The gray flare of his eyes gave out a terrible light of certainty
+and terror.
+
+"Legget, you needn't try to hide your trail," he hissed, and it
+seemed as if there was a bitter, reckless pleasure in these words.
+
+Then the Chippewa glided into the low bushes bordering the creek.
+Legget followed him, with Brandt leading Helen, and the other Indians
+brought up the rear, each one sending wild, savage glances into the
+dark, surrounding forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+A dense white fog rose from the river, obscuring all objects, when the
+bordermen rolled out of their snug bed of leaves. The air was cool and
+bracing, faintly fragrant with dying foliage and the damp, dewy
+luxuriance of the ripened season. Wetzel pulled from under the
+protecting ledge a bundle of bark and sticks he had put there to keep
+dry, and built a fire, while Jonathan fashioned a cup from a green
+fruit resembling a gourd, filling it at a spring near by.
+
+"Lew, there's a frosty nip in the water this mornin'," said Jonathan.
+
+"I reckon. It's gettin' along into fall now. Any clear, still night'll
+fetch all the leaves, an' strip the trees bare as burned timber,"
+answered Wetzel, brushing the ashes off the strip of meat he had
+roasted. "Get a stick, an' help me cook the rest of this chunk of
+bison. The sun'll be an hour breakin' up thet mist, an' we can't clear
+out till then. Mebbe we won't have no chance to light another
+fire soon."
+
+With these bordermen everything pertaining to their lonely lives, from
+the lighting of a fire to the trailing of a redskin, was singularly
+serious. No gladsome song ever came from their lips; there was no
+jollity around their camp-fire. Hunters had their moments of rapturous
+delight; bordermen knew the peace, the content of the wilderness, but
+their pursuits racked nerve and heart. Wetzel had his moments of
+frenzied joy, but they passed with the echo of his vengeful yell.
+Jonathan's happiness, such as it was, had been to roam the forests.
+That, before a woman's eyes had dispelled it, had been enough, and
+compensated him for the gloomy, bloody phantoms which haunted him.
+
+The bordermen, having partaken of the frugal breakfast, stowed in
+their spacious pockets all the meat that was left, and were ready for
+the day's march. They sat silent for a time waiting for the mist to
+lift. It broke in places, rolled in huge billows, sailed aloft like
+great white clouds, and again hung tenaciously to the river and the
+plain. Away in the west blue patches of sky shone through the rifts,
+and eastward banks of misty vapor reddened beneath the rising sun.
+Suddenly from beneath the silver edge of the rising pall the sun burst
+gleaming gold, disclosing the winding valley with its steaming river.
+
+"We'll make up stream fer Two Islands, an' cross there if so be we've
+reason," Wetzel had said.
+
+Through the dewy dells, avoiding the wet grass and bushes, along the
+dark, damp glades with their yellow carpets, under the thinning arches
+of the trees, down the gentle slopes of the ridges, rich with green
+moss, the bordermen glided like gray shadows. The forest was yet
+asleep. A squirrel frisked up an oak and barked quarrelsomely at these
+strange, noiseless visitors. A crow cawed from somewhere overhead.
+These were the only sounds disturbing the quiet early hour.
+
+As the bordermen advanced the woods lightened and awoke to life and
+joy. Birds sang, trilled, warbled, or whistled their plaintive songs,
+peculiar to the dying season, and in harmony with the glory of the
+earth. Birds that in earlier seasons would have screeched and fought,
+now sang and fluttered side by side, in fraternal parade on their slow
+pilgrimage to the far south.
+
+"Bad time fer us, when the birds are so tame, an' chipper. We can't
+put faith in them these days," said Wetzel. "Seems like they never was
+wild. I can tell, 'cept at this season, by the way they whistle an'
+act in the woods, if there's been any Injuns along the trails."
+
+The greater part of the morning passed thus with the bordermen
+steadily traversing the forest; here, through a spare and gloomy wood,
+blasted by fire, worn by age, with many a dethroned monarch of bygone
+times rotting to punk and duff under the ferns, with many a dark,
+seamed and ragged king still standing, but gray and bald of head and
+almost ready to take his place in the forest of the past; there,
+through a maze of young saplings where each ash, maple, hickory and
+oak added some new and beautiful hue to the riot of color.
+
+"I just had a glimpse of the lower island, as we passed an opening in
+the thicket," said Jonathan.
+
+"We ain't far away," replied Wetzel.
+
+The bordermen walked less rapidly in order to proceed with more
+watchfulness. Every rod or two they stopped to listen.
+
+"You think Legget's across the river?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"He was two days back, an' had his gang with him. He's up to some bad
+work, but I can't make out what. One thing, I never seen his trail so
+near Fort Henry."
+
+They emerged at length into a more open forest which skirted the
+river. At a point still some distance ahead, but plainly in sight, two
+small islands rose out of the water.
+
+"Hist! What's that?" whispered Wetzel, slipping his hand in Jonathan's
+arm.
+
+A hundred yards beyond lay a long, dark figure stretched at full
+length under one of the trees close to the bank.
+
+"Looks like a man," said Jonathan.
+
+"You've hit the mark. Take a good peep roun' now, Jack, fer we're
+comin' somewhere near the trail we want."
+
+Minutes passed while the patient bordermen searched the forest with
+their eyes, seeking out every tree within rifle range, or surveyed the
+level glades, scrutinized the hollows, and bent piercing eyes upon the
+patches of ferns.
+
+"If there's a redskin around he ain't big enough to hold a gun," said
+Wetzel, moving forward again, yet still with that same stealthy step
+and keen caution.
+
+Finally they were gazing down upon the object which had attracted
+Wetzel's attention.
+
+"Will Sheppard!" cried Jonathan. "Is he dead? What's this mean?"
+
+Wetzel leaned over the prostrate lad, and then quickly turned to his
+companion.
+
+"Get some water. Take his cap. No, he ain't even hurt bad, unless he's
+got some wound as don't show."
+
+Jonathan returned with the water, and Wetzel bathed the bloody face.
+When the gash on Will's forehead was clean, it told the
+bordermen much.
+
+"Not an hour old, that blow," muttered Wetzel.
+
+"He's comin' to," said Jonathan as Will stirred uneasily and moaned.
+Presently the lad opened his eyes and sat bolt upright. He looked
+bewildered for a moment, and felt of his head while gazing vaguely at
+the bordermen. Suddenly he cried:
+
+"I remember! We were captured, brought here, and I was struck down by
+that villain Case."
+
+"We? Who was with you?" asked Jonathan slowly.
+
+"Helen. We came after flowers and leaves. While in full sight of the
+fort I saw an Indian. We hurried back," he cried, and proceeded with
+broken, panting voice to tell his story.
+
+Jonathan Zane leaped to his feet with face deathly white and eyes
+blue-black, like burning stars.
+
+"Jack, study the trail while I get the lad acrost the river, an'
+steered fer home," said Wetzel, and then he asked Will if he
+could swim.
+
+"Yes; but you will find a canoe there in those willows."
+
+"Come, lad, we've no time to spare," added Wetzel, sliding down the
+bank and entering the willows. He came out almost immediately with the
+canoe which he launched.
+
+Will turned that he might make a parting appeal to Jonathan to save
+Helen; but could not speak. The expression on the borderman's face
+frightened him.
+
+Motionless and erect Jonathan stood, his arms folded and his white,
+stern face distorted with the agony of remorse, fear, and anguish,
+which, even as Will gazed, froze into an awful, deadly look of
+fateful purpose.
+
+Wetzel pushed the canoe off, and paddled with powerful strokes; he
+left Will on the opposite bank, and returned as swiftly as he could
+propel the light craft.
+
+The bordermen met each other's glance, and had little need of words.
+Wetzel's great shoulders began to sag slightly, and his head lowered
+as his eyes sought the grass; a dark and gloomy shade overcast his
+features. Thus he passed from borderman to Deathwind. The sough of the
+wind overhead among the almost naked branches might well have warned
+Indians and renegades that Deathwind was on the trail!
+
+"Brandt's had a hand in this, an' the Englishman's a fool!" said
+Wetzel.
+
+"An hour ahead; can we come up with them before they join Brandt an'
+Legget?"
+
+"We can try, but like as not we'll fail. Legget's gang is thirteen
+strong by now. I said it! Somethin' told me--a hard trail, a long
+trail, an' our last trail."
+
+"It's over thirty miles to Legget's camp. We know the woods, an' every
+stream, an' every cover," hissed Jonathan Zane.
+
+With no further words Wetzel took the trail on the run, and so plain
+was it to his keen eyes that he did not relax his steady lope except
+to stop and listen at regular intervals. Jonathan followed with easy
+swing. Through forest and meadow, over hill and valley, they ran,
+fleet and tireless. Once, with unerring instinct, they abruptly left
+the broad trail and cut far across a wide and rugged ridge to come
+again upon the tracks of the marching band. Then, in open country they
+reduced their speed to a walk. Ahead, in a narrow valley, rose a
+thicket of willows, yellow in the sunlight, and impenetrable to human
+vision. Like huge snakes the bordermen crept into this copse, over the
+sand, under the low branches, hard on the trail. Finally, in a light,
+open space, where the sun shone through a network of yellow branches
+and foliage, Wetzel's hand was laid upon Jonathan's shoulder.
+
+"Listen! Hear that!" he whispered.
+
+Jonathan heard the flapping of wings, and a low, hissing sound, not
+unlike that made by a goose.
+
+"Buzzards!" he said, with a dark, grim smile. "Mebbe Brandt has begun
+our work. Come."
+
+Out into the open they crawled to put to flight a flock of huge black
+birds with grisly, naked necks, hooked beaks, and long, yellow claws.
+Upon the green grass lay three half-naked men, ghastly, bloody, in
+terribly limp and lifeless positions.
+
+"Metzar's man Smith, Jenks, the outlaw, and Mordaunt!"
+
+Jonathan Zane gazed darkly into the steely, sightless eyes of the
+traitor. Death's awful calm had set the expression; but the man's
+whole life was there, its better part sadly shining forth among the
+cruel shadows.
+
+His body was mutilated in a frightful manner. Cuts, stabs, and slashes
+told the tale of a long encounter, brought to an end by one
+clean stroke.
+
+"Come here, Lew. You've seen men chopped up; but look at this dead
+Englishman," called Zane.
+
+Mordaunt lay weltering in a crimson tide. Strangely though, his face
+was uninjured. A black bruise showed under his fair hair. The ghost of
+a smile seemed to hover around his set lips, yet almost intangible
+though it was, it showed that at last he had died a man. His left
+shoulder, side and arm showed where the brunt of Brandt's attack
+had fallen.
+
+"How'd he ever fight so?" mused Jonathan.
+
+"You never can tell," replied Wetzel. "Mebbe he killed this other
+fellar, too; but I reckon not. Come, we must go slow now, fer Legget
+is near at hand."
+
+Jonathan brought huge, flat stones from the brook, and laid them over
+Mordaunt; then, cautiously he left the glade on Wetzel's trail.
+
+Five hundred yards farther on Wetzel had ceased following the outlaw's
+tracks to cross the creek and climb a ridge. He was beginning his
+favorite trick of making a wide detour. Jonathan hurried forward,
+feeling he was safe from observation. Soon he distinguished the tall,
+brown figure of his comrade gliding ahead from tree to tree, from
+bush to bush.
+
+"See them maples an' chestnuts down thar," said Wetzel when Jonathan
+had come up, pointing through an opening in the foliage. "They've
+stopped fer some reason."
+
+On through the forest the bordermen glided. They kept near the summit
+of the ridge, under the best cover they could find, and passed swiftly
+over this half-circle. When beginning once more to draw toward the
+open grove in the valley, they saw a long, irregular cliff, densely
+wooded. They swerved a little, and made for this excellent covert.
+
+They crawled the last hundred yards and never shook a fern, moved a
+leaf, or broke a twig. Having reached the brink of the low precipice,
+they saw the grassy meadow below, the straggling trees, the brook, the
+group of Indians crowding round the white men.
+
+"See that point of rock thar? It's better cover," whispered Wetzel.
+
+Patiently, with no hurry or excitement, they slowly made their
+difficult way among the rocks and ferns to the vantage point desired.
+Taking a position like this was one the bordermen strongly favored.
+They could see everywhere in front, and had the thick woods at
+their backs.
+
+"What are they up to?" whispered Jonathan, as he and Wetzel lay close
+together under a mass of grapevine still tenacious of its
+broad leaves.
+
+"Dicin'," answered Wetzel. "I can see 'em throw; anyways, nothin' but
+bettin' ever makes redskins act like that."
+
+"Who's playin'? Where's Brandt?"
+
+"I can make out Legget; see his shaggy head. The other must be Case.
+Brandt ain't in sight. Nursin' a hurt perhaps. Ah! See thar! Over
+under the big tree as stands dark-like agin the thicket. Thet's an
+Injun, an' he looks too quiet an' keen to suit me. We'll have a
+care of him."
+
+"Must be playin' fer Mordaunt's gold."
+
+"Like as not, for where'd them ruffians get any 'cept they stole it."
+
+"Aha! They're gettin' up! See Legget walk away shakin' his big head.
+He's mad. Mebbe he'll be madder presently," growled Jonathan.
+
+"Case's left alone. He's countin' his winnin's. Jack, look out fer
+more work took off our hands."
+
+"By gum! See that Injun knock up a leveled rifle."
+
+"I told you, an' thet redskin has his suspicions. He's seen us down
+along ther ridge. There's Helen, sittin' behind the biggest tree. Thet
+Injun guard, 'afore he moved, kept us from seein' her."
+
+Jonathan made no answer to this; but his breath literally hissed
+through his clenched teeth.
+
+"Thar goes the other outlaw," whispered Wetzel, as if his comrade
+could not see. "It's all up with Case. See the sneak bendin' down the
+bank. Now, thet's a poor way. It'd better be done from the front,
+walkin' up natural-like, instead of tryin' to cover thet wide stretch.
+Case'll see him or hear him sure. Thar, he's up now, an' crawlin'.
+He's too slow, too slow. Aha! I knew it--Case turns. Look at the
+outlaw spring! Well, did you see thet little cuss whip his knife? One
+more less fer us to quiet. Thet makes four, Jack, an' mebbe, soon,
+it'll be five."
+
+"They're holdin' a council," said Jonathan.
+
+"I see two Injuns sneakin' off into the woods, an' here comes thet
+guard. He's a keen redskin, Jack, fer we did come light through the
+brush. Mebbe it'd be well to stop his scoutin'."
+
+"Lew, that villain Case is bullyin' Helen!" cried Jonathan.
+
+"Sh-sh-h," whispered Wetzel.
+
+"See! He's pulled her to her feet. Oh! He struck her! Oh!"
+
+Jonathan leveled his rifle and would have fired, but for the iron
+grasp on his wrist.
+
+"Hev you lost yer senses? It's full two hundred paces, an' too far fer
+your piece," said Wetzel in a whisper. "An' it ain't sense to try
+from here."
+
+"Lend me your gun! Lend me your gun!"
+
+Silently Wetzel handed him the long, black rifle.
+
+Jonathan raised it, but trembled so violently that the barrel wavered
+like a leaf in the breeze,
+
+"Take it, I can't cover him," groaned Jonathan. "This is new to me. I
+ain't myself. God! Lew, he struck her again! _Again!_ He's tryin' to
+kiss her! Wetzel, if you're my friend, kill him!"
+
+"Jack, it'd be better to wait, an'----"
+
+"I love her," breathed Jonathan.
+
+The long, black barrel swept up to a level and stopped. White smoke
+belched from among the green leaves; the report rang throughout
+the forest.
+
+"Ah! I saw him stop an' pause," hissed Jonathan. "He stands, he sways,
+he falls! Death for yours, you sailor-beast!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+The bordermen watched Legget and his band disappear into the thicket
+adjoining the grove. When the last dark, lithe form glided out of
+sight among the yellowing copse, Jonathan leaped from the low cliff,
+and had hardly reached the ground before Wetzel dashed down to the
+grassy turf.
+
+Again they followed the outlaw's trail darker-faced, fiercer-visaged
+than ever, with cocked, tightly-gripped rifles thrust well before
+them, and light feet that scarcely brushed the leaves.
+
+Wetzel halted after a long tramp up and down the ridges, and surveyed
+with keen intent the lay of the land ahead.
+
+"Sooner or later we'll hear from that redskin as discovered us a ways
+back," whispered he. "I wish we might get a crack at him afore he
+hinders us bad. I ain't seen many keener Injuns. It's lucky we fixed
+ther arrow-shootin' Shawnee. We'd never hev beat thet combination. An'
+fer all of thet I'm worrin' some about the goin' ahead."
+
+"Ambush?" Jonathan asked.
+
+"Like as not. Legget'll send thet Injun back, an' mebbe more'n him.
+Jack, see them little footprints? They're Helen's. Look how she's
+draggin' along. Almost tuckered out. Legget can't travel many more
+miles to-day. He'll make a stand somewheres, an' lose all his redskins
+afore he gives up the lass."
+
+"I'll never live through to-night with her in that gang. She'll be
+saved, or dead, before the stars pale in the light of the moon."
+
+"I reckon we're nigh the end for some of us. It'll be moonlight an
+hour arter dusk, an' now it's only the middle of the arternoon; we've
+time enough fer anythin'. Now, Jack, let's not tackle the trail
+straight. We'll split, an' go round to head 'em off. See thet dead
+white oak standin' high over thar?"
+
+Jonathan looked out between the spreading branches of a beech, and
+saw, far over a low meadow, luxuriant with grasses and rushes and
+bright with sparkling ponds and streams, a dense wood out of which
+towered a bare, bleached tree-top.
+
+"You slip around along the right side of this meader, an' I'll take
+the left side. Go slow, an' hev yer eyes open. We'll meet under thet
+big dead tree. I allow we can see it from anywhere around. We'll leave
+the trail here, an' take it up farther on. Legget's goin' straight
+for his camp; he ain't losin' an inch. He wants to get in that rocky
+hole of his'n."
+
+Wetzel stepped off the trail, glided into the woods, and vanished.
+
+Jonathan turned to the right, traversed the summit of the ridge,
+softly traveled down its slope, and, after crossing a slow, eddying,
+quiet stream, gained the edge of the forest on that side of the swamp.
+A fringe of briars and prickly thorns bordered this wood affording an
+excellent cover. On the right the land rose rather abruptly. He saw
+that by walking up a few paces he could command a view of the entire
+swamp, as well as the ridge beyond, which contained Wetzel, and,
+probably, the outlaw and his band.
+
+Remembering his comrade's admonition, Jonathan curbed his unusual
+impatience and moved slowly. The wind swayed the tree-tops, and
+rustled the fallen leaves. Birds sang as if thinking the warm, soft
+weather was summer come again. Squirrels dropped heavy nuts that
+cracked on the limbs, or fell with a thud to the ground, and they
+scampered over the dry earth, scratching up the leaves as they barked
+and scolded. Crows cawed clamorously after a hawk that had darted
+under the tree-tops to escape them; deer loped swiftly up the hill,
+and a lordly elk rose from a wallow in the grassy swamp, crashing into
+the thicket.
+
+When two-thirds around this oval plain, which was a mile long and
+perhaps one-fourth as wide, Jonathan ascended the hill to make a
+survey. The grass waved bright brown and golden in the sunshine,
+swished in the wind, and swept like a choppy sea to the opposite
+ridge. The hill was not densely wooded. In many places the red-brown
+foliage opened upon irregular patches, some black, as if having been
+burned over, others showing the yellow and purple colors of the low
+thickets and the gray, barren stones.
+
+Suddenly Jonathan saw something darken one of these sunlit plots. It
+might have been a deer. He studied the rolling, rounded tree-tops, the
+narrow strips between the black trunks, and the open places that were
+clear in the sunshine. He had nearly come to believe he had seen a
+small animal or bird flit across the white of the sky far in the
+background, when he distinctly saw dark figures stealing along past a
+green-gray rock, only to disappear under colored banks of foliage.
+Presently, lower down, they reappeared and crossed an open patch of
+yellow fern. Jonathan counted them. Two were rather yellow in color,
+the hue of buckskin; another, slight of stature as compared with the
+first, and light gray by contrast. Then six black, slender, gliding
+forms crossed the space. Jonathan then lost sight of them, and did not
+get another glimpse. He knew them to be Legget and his band. The
+slight figure was Helen.
+
+Jonathan broke into a run, completed the circle around the swamp, and
+slowed into a walk when approaching the big dead tree where he was to
+wait for Wetzel.
+
+Several rods beyond the lowland he came to a wood of white oaks, all
+giants rugged and old, with scarcely a sapling intermingled with them.
+Although he could not see the objective point, he knew from his
+accurate sense of distance that he was near it. As he entered the wood
+he swept its whole length and width with his eyes, he darted forward
+twenty paces to halt suddenly behind a tree. He knew full well that a
+sharply moving object was more difficult to see in the woods, than one
+stationary. Again he ran, fleet and light, a few paces ahead to take
+up a position as before behind a tree. Thus he traversed the forest.
+On the other side he found the dead oak of which Wetzel had spoken.
+
+Its trunk was hollow. Jonathan squeezed himself into the blackened
+space, with his head in a favorable position behind a projecting knot,
+where he could see what might occur near at hand.
+
+He waited for what seemed to him a long while, during which he neither
+saw nor heard anything, and then, suddenly, the report of a rifle rang
+out. A single, piercing scream followed. Hardly had the echo ceased
+when three hollow reports, distinctly different in tone from the
+first, could be heard from the same direction. In quick succession
+short, fierce yells attended rather than succeeded, the reports.
+
+Jonathan stepped out of the hiding-place, cocked his rifle, and fixed
+a sharp eye on the ridge before him whence those startling cries had
+come. The first rifle-shot, unlike any other in its short, spiteful,
+stinging quality, was unmistakably Wetzel's. Zane had heard it,
+followed many times, as now, by the wild death-cry of a savage. The
+other reports were of Indian guns, and the yells were the clamoring,
+exultant cries of Indians in pursuit.
+
+Far down where the open forest met the gloom of the thickets, a brown
+figure flashed across the yellow ground. Darting among the trees,
+across the glades, it moved so swiftly that Jonathan knew it was
+Wetzel. In another instant a chorus of yelps resounded from the
+foliage, and three savages burst through the thicket almost at right
+angles with the fleeing borderman, running to intercept him. The
+borderman did not swerve from his course; but came on straight toward
+the dead tree, with the wonderful fleetness that so often had
+served him well.
+
+Even in that moment Jonathan thought of what desperate chances his
+comrade had taken. The trick was plain. Wetzel had, most likely, shot
+the dangerous scout, and, taking to his heels, raced past the others,
+trusting to his speed and their poor marksmanship to escape with a
+whole skin.
+
+When within a hundred yards of the oak Wetzel's strength apparently
+gave out. His speed deserted him; he ran awkwardly, and limped. The
+savages burst out into full cry like a pack of hungry wolves. They had
+already emptied their rifles at him, and now, supposing one of the
+shots had taken effect, redoubled their efforts, making the forest
+ring with their short, savage yells. One gaunt, dark-bodied Indian
+with a long, powerful, springy stride easily distanced his companions,
+and, evidently sure of gaining the coveted scalp of the borderman,
+rapidly closed the gap between them as he swung aloft his tomahawk,
+yelling the war-cry.
+
+The sight on Jonathan's rifle had several times covered this savage's
+dark face; but when he was about to press the trigger Wetzel's
+fleeting form, also in line with the savage, made it extremely
+hazardous to take a shot.
+
+Jonathan stepped from his place of concealment, and let out a yell
+that pealed high over the cries of the savages.
+
+Wetzel suddenly dropped flat on the ground.
+
+With a whipping crack of Jonathan's rifle, the big Indian plunged
+forward on his face.
+
+The other Indians, not fifty yards away, stopped aghast at the fate of
+their comrade, and were about to seek the shelter of trees when, with
+his terrible yell, Wetzel sprang up and charged upon them. He had left
+his rifle where he fell; but his tomahawk glittered as he ran. The
+lameness had been a trick, for now he covered ground with a swiftness
+which caused his former progress to seem slow.
+
+The Indians, matured and seasoned warriors though they were, gave but
+one glance at this huge, brown figure bearing down upon them like a
+fiend, and, uttering the Indian name of _Deathwind_, wavered, broke
+and ran.
+
+One, not so fleet as his companion, Wetzel overtook and cut down with
+a single stroke. The other gained an hundred-yard start in the slight
+interval of Wetzel's attack, and, spurred on by a pealing, awful cry
+in the rear, sped swiftly in and out among the trees until he was
+lost to view.
+
+Wetzel scalped the two dead savages, and, after returning to regain
+his rifle, joined Jonathan at the dead oak.
+
+"Jack, you can never tell how things is comin' out. Thet redskin I
+allowed might worry us a bit, fooled me as slick as you ever saw, an'
+I hed to shoot him. Knowin' it was a case of runnin', I just cut fer
+this oak, drew the redskins' fire, an' hed 'em arter me quicker 'n
+you'd say Jack Robinson. I was hopin' you'd be here; but wasn't sure
+till I'd seen your rifle. Then I kinder got a kink in my leg jest to
+coax the brutes on."
+
+"Three more quiet," said Jonathan Zane. "What now?"
+
+"We've headed Legget, an' we'll keep nosin' him off his course.
+Already he's lookin' fer a safe campin' place for the night."
+
+"There is none in these woods, fer him."
+
+"We didn't plan this gettin' between him an' his camp; but couldn't be
+better fixed. A mile farther along the ridge, is a campin' place, with
+a spring in a little dell close under a big stone, an' well wooded.
+Legget's headin' straight fer it. With a couple of Injuns guardin'
+thet spot, he'll think he's safe. But I know the place, an' can crawl
+to thet rock the darkest night thet ever was an' never crack a stick."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the gray of the deepening twilight Jonathan Zane sat alone. An owl
+hooted dismally in the dark woods beyond the thicket where the
+borderman crouched waiting for Wetzel. His listening ear detected a
+soft, rustling sound like the play of a mole under the leaves. A
+branch trembled and swung back; a soft footstep followed and Wetzel
+came into the retreat.
+
+"Well?" asked Jonathan impatiently, as Wetzel deliberately sat down
+and laid his rifle across his knees.
+
+"Easy, Jack, easy. We've an hour to wait."
+
+"The time I've already waited has been long for me."
+
+"They're thar," said Wetzel grimly.
+
+"How far from here?"
+
+"A half-hour's slow crawl."
+
+"Close by?" hissed Jonathan.
+
+"Too near fer you to get excited."
+
+"Let us go; it's as light now as in the gray of mornin'."
+
+"Mornin' would be best. Injuns get sleepy along towards day. I've ever
+found thet time the best. But we'll be lucky if we ketch these
+redskins asleep."
+
+"Lew, I can't wait here all night. I won't leave her longer with that
+renegade. I've got to free or kill her."
+
+"Most likely it'll be the last," said Wetzel simply.
+
+"Well, so be it then," and the borderman hung his head.
+
+"You needn't worry none, 'bout Helen. I jest had a good look at her,
+not half an hour back. She's fagged out; but full of spunk yet. I seen
+thet when Brandt went near her. Legget's got his hands full jest now
+with the redskins. He's hevin' trouble keepin' them on this slow
+trail. I ain't sayin' they're skeered; but they're mighty restless."
+
+"Will you take the chance now?"
+
+"I reckon you needn't hev asked thet."
+
+"Tell me the lay of the land."
+
+"Wai, if we get to this rock I spoke 'bout, we'll be right over 'em.
+It's ten feet high, an' we can jump straight amongst 'em. Most likely
+two or three'll be guardin' the openin' which is a little ways to the
+right. Ther's a big tree, the only one, low down by the spring.
+Helen's under it, half-sittin', half-leanin' against the roots. When I
+first looked, her hands were free; but I saw Brandt bind her feet. An'
+he had to get an Injun to help him, fer she kicked like a spirited
+little filly. There's moss under the tree an' there's where the
+redskins'll lay down to rest."
+
+"I've got that; now out with your plan."
+
+"Wal, I calkilate it's this. The moon'll be up in about an hour. We'll
+crawl as we've never crawled afore, because Helen's life depends as
+much on our not makin' a noise, as it does on fightin' when the time
+comes. If they hear us afore we're ready to shoot, the lass'll be
+tomahawked quicker'n lightnin'. If they don't suspicion us, when the
+right moment comes you shoot Brandt, yell louder'n you ever did afore,
+leap amongst 'em, an' cut down the first Injun thet's near you on your
+way to Helen. Swing her over your arm, an' dig into the woods."
+
+"Well?" asked Jonathan when Wetzel finished.
+
+"That's all," the borderman replied grimly.
+
+"An' leave you all alone to fight Legget an' the rest of 'em?"
+
+"I reckon."
+
+"Not to be thought of."
+
+"Ther's no other way."
+
+"There must be! Let me think; I can't, I'm not myself."
+
+"No other way," repeated Wetzel curtly.
+
+Jonathan's broad hand fastened on Wetzel's shoulder and wheeled him
+around.
+
+"Have I ever left you alone?"
+
+"This's different," and Wetzel turned away again. His voice was cold
+and hard.
+
+"How is it different? We've had the same thing to do, almost, more
+than once."
+
+"We've never had as bad a bunch to handle as Legget's. They're lookin'
+fer us, an' will be hard to beat."
+
+"That's no reason."
+
+"We never had to save a girl one of us loved."
+
+Jonathan was silent.
+
+"I said this'd be my last trail," continued Wetzel. "I felt it, an' I
+know it'll be yours."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"If you get away with the girl she'll keep you at home, an' it'll be
+well. If you don't succeed, you'll die tryin', so it's sure your
+last trail."
+
+Wetzel's deep, cold voice rang with truth.
+
+"Lew, I can't run away an' leave you to fight those devils alone,
+after all these years we've been together, I can't."
+
+"No other chance to save the lass."
+
+Jonathan quivered with the force of his emotion. His black eyes
+glittered; his hands grasped at nothing. Once more he was between love
+and duty. Again he fought over the old battle, but this time it
+left him weak.
+
+"You love the big-eyed lass, don't you?" asked Wetzel, turning with
+softened face and voice.
+
+"I have gone mad!" cried Jonathan, tortured by the simple question of
+his friend. Those big, dear, wonderful eyes he loved so well, looked
+at him now from the gloom of the thicket. The old, beautiful, soft
+glow, the tender light, was there, and more, a beseeching prayer
+to save her.
+
+Jonathan bowed his head, ashamed to let his friend see the tears that
+dimmed his eyes.
+
+"Jack, we've follered the trail fer years together. Always you've
+been true an' staunch. This is our last, but whatever bides we'll
+break up Legget's band to-night, an' the border'll be cleared, mebbe,
+for always. At least his race is run. Let thet content you. Our time'd
+have to come, sooner or later, so why not now? I know how it is, that
+you want to stick by me; but the lass draws you to her. I understand,
+an' want you to save her. Mebbe you never dreamed it; but I can tell
+jest how you feel. All the tremblin', an' softness, an' sweetness, an'
+delight you've got for thet girl, is no mystery to Lew Wetzel."
+
+"You loved a lass?"
+
+Wetzel bowed his head, as perhaps he had never before in all his life.
+
+"Betty--always," he answered softly.
+
+"My sister!" exclaimed Jonathan, and then his hand closed hard on his
+comrade's, his mind going back to many things, strange in the past,
+but now explained. Wetzel had revealed his secret.
+
+"An' it's been all my life, since she wasn't higher 'n my knee. There
+was a time when I might hev been closer to you than I am now. But I
+was a mad an' bloody Injun hater, so I never let her know till I seen
+it was too late. Wal, wal, no more of me. I only told it fer you."
+
+Jonathan was silent.
+
+"An' now to come back where we left off," continued Wetzel. "Let's
+take a more hopeful look at this comin' fight. Sure I said it was my
+last trail, but mebbe it's not. You can never tell. Feelin' as we do,
+I imagine they've no odds on us. Never in my life did I say to you,
+least of all to any one else, what I was goin' to do; but I'll tell it
+now. If I land uninjured amongst thet bunch, I'll kill them all."
+
+The giant borderman's low voice hissed, and stung. His eyes glittered
+with unearthly fire. His face was cold and gray. He spread out his
+brawny arms and clenched his huge fists, making the muscles of his
+broad shoulders roll and bulge.
+
+"I hate the thought, Lew, I hate the thought. Ain't there no other
+way?"
+
+"No other way."
+
+"I'll do it, Lew, because I'd do the same for you; because I have to,
+because I love her; but God! it hurts."
+
+"Thet's right," answered Wetzel, his deep voice softening until it was
+singularly low and rich. "I'm glad you've come to it. An' sure it
+hurts. I want you to feel so at leavin' me to go it alone. If we both
+get out alive, I'll come many times to see you an' Helen. If you live
+an' I don't, think of me sometimes, think of the trails we've crossed
+together. When the fall comes with its soft, cool air, an' smoky
+mornin's an' starry nights, when the wind's sad among the bare
+branches, an' the leaves drop down, remember they're fallin' on
+my grave."
+
+Twilight darkened into gloom; the red tinge in the west changed to
+opal light; through the trees over a dark ridge a rim of silver
+glinted and moved.
+
+The moon had risen; the hour was come.
+
+The bordermen tightened their belts, replaced their leggings, tied
+their hunting coats, loosened their hatchets, looked to the priming of
+their rifles, and were ready.
+
+Wetzel walked twenty paces and turned. His face was white in the
+moonlight; his dark eyes softened into a look of love as he gripped
+his comrade's outstretched hand.
+
+Then he dropped flat on the ground, carefully saw to the position of
+his rifle, and began to creep. Jonathan kept close at his heels.
+
+Slowly but steadily they crawled, minute after minute. The hazel-nut
+bushes above them had not yet shed their leaves; the ground was clean
+and hard, and the course fatefully perfect for their deadly purpose.
+
+A slight rustling of their buckskin garments sounded like the rustling
+of leaves in a faint breeze.
+
+The moon came out above the trees and still Wetzel advanced softly,
+steadily, surely.
+
+The owl, lonely sentinel of that wood, hooted dismally. Even his night
+eyes, which made the darkness seem clear as day, missed those gliding
+figures. Even he, sure guardian of the wilderness, failed the savages.
+
+Jonathan felt soft moss beneath him; he was now in the woods under the
+trees. The thicket had been passed.
+
+Wetzel's moccasin pressed softly against Jonathan's head. The first
+signal!
+
+Jonathan crawled forward, and slightly raised himself.
+
+He was on a rock. The trees were thick and gloomy. Below, the little
+hollow was almost in the wan moonbeams. Dark figures lay close
+together. Two savages paced noiselessly to and fro. A slight form
+rolled in a blanket lay against a tree.
+
+Jonathan felt his arm gently squeezed.
+
+The second signal!
+
+Slowly he thrust forward his rifle, and raised it in unison with
+Wetzel's. Slowly he rose to his feet as if the same muscles guided
+them both.
+
+Over his head a twig snapped. In the darkness he had not seen a low
+branch.
+
+The Indian guards stopped suddenly, and became motionless as stone.
+
+They had heard; but too late.
+
+With the blended roar of the rifles both dropped, lifeless.
+
+Almost under the spouting flame and white cloud of smoke, Jonathan
+leaped behind Wetzel, over the bank. His yells were mingled with
+Wetzel's vengeful cry. Like leaping shadows the bordermen were upon
+their foes.
+
+An Indian sprang up, raised a weapon, and fell beneath Jonathan's
+savage blow, to rise no more. Over his prostrate body the borderman
+bounded. A dark, nimble form darted upon the captive. He swung high a
+blade that shone like silver in the moonlight. His shrill war-cry of
+death rang out with Helen's scream of despair. Even as he swung back
+her head with one hand in her long hair, his arm descended; but it
+fell upon the borderman's body. Jonathan and the Indian rolled upon
+the moss. There was a terrific struggle, a whirling blade, a dull blow
+which silenced the yell, and the borderman rose alone.
+
+He lifted Helen as if she were a child, leaped the brook, and plunged
+into the thicket.
+
+The noise of the fearful conflict he left behind, swelled high and
+hideously on the night air. Above the shrill cries of the Indians, and
+the furious yells of Legget, rose the mad, booming roar of Wetzel. No
+rifle cracked; but sodden blows, the clash of steel, the threshing of
+struggling men, told of the dreadful strife.
+
+Jonathan gained the woods, sped through the moonlit glades, and far on
+under light and shadow.
+
+The shrill cries ceased; only the hoarse yells and the mad roar could
+be heard. Gradually these also died away, and the forest was still.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+Next morning, when the mist was breaking and rolling away under the
+warm rays of the Indian-summer sun, Jonathan Zane beached his canoe on
+the steep bank before Fort Henry. A pioneer, attracted by the
+borderman's halloo, ran to the bluff and sounded the alarm with shrill
+whoops. Among the hurrying, brown-clad figures that answered this
+summons, was Colonel Zane.
+
+"It's Jack, kurnel, an' he's got her!" cried one.
+
+The doughty colonel gained the bluff to see his brother climbing the
+bank with a white-faced girl in his arms.
+
+"Well?" he asked, looking darkly at Jonathan. Nothing kindly or genial
+was visible in his manner now; rather grim and forbidding he seemed,
+thus showing he had the same blood in his veins as the borderman.
+
+"Lend a hand," said Jonathan. "As far as I know she's not hurt."
+
+They carried Helen toward Colonel Zane's cabin. Many women of the
+settlement saw them as they passed, and looked gravely at one another,
+but none spoke. This return of an abducted girl was by no means a
+strange event.
+
+"Somebody run for Sheppard," ordered Colonel Zane, as they entered his
+cabin.
+
+Betty, who was in the sitting-room, sprang up and cried: "Oh! Eb! Eb!
+Don't say she's----"
+
+"No, no, Betts, she's all right. Where's my wife? Ah! Bess, here, get
+to work."
+
+The colonel left Helen in the tender, skilful hands of his wife and
+sister, and followed Jonathan into the kitchen.
+
+"I was just ready for breakfast when I heard some one yell," said he.
+"Come, Jack, eat something."
+
+They ate in silence. From the sitting-room came excited whispers, a
+joyous cry from Betty, and a faint voice. Then heavy, hurrying
+footsteps, followed by Sheppard's words of thanks-giving.
+
+"Where's Wetzel?" began Colonel Zane.
+
+The borderman shook his head gloomily.
+
+"Where did you leave him?"
+
+"We jumped Legget's bunch last night, when the moon was about an hour
+high. I reckon about fifteen miles northeast. I got away with
+the lass."
+
+"Ah! Left Lew fighting?"
+
+The borderman answered the question with bowed head.
+
+"You got off well. Not a hurt that I can see, and more than lucky to
+save Helen. Well, Jack, what do you think about Lew?"
+
+"I'm goin' back," replied Jonathan.
+
+"No! no!"
+
+The door opened to admit Mrs. Zane. She looked bright and cheerful,
+"Hello, Jack; glad you're home. Helen's all right, only faint from
+hunger and over-exertion. I want something for her to eat--well! you
+men didn't leave much."
+
+Colonel Zane went into the sitting-room. Sheppard sat beside the couch
+where Helen lay, white and wan. Betty and Nell were looking on with
+their hearts in their eyes. Silas Zane was there, and his wife, with
+several women neighbors.
+
+"Betty, go fetch Jack in here," whispered the colonel in his sister's
+ear. "Drag him, if you have to," he added fiercely.
+
+The young woman left the room, to reappear directly with her brother.
+He came in reluctantly.
+
+As the stern-faced borderman crossed the threshold a smile, beautiful
+to see, dawned in Helen's eyes.
+
+"I'm glad to see you're comin' round," said Jonathan, but he spoke
+dully as if his mind was on other things.
+
+"She's a little flighty; but a night's sleep will cure that," cried
+Mrs. Zane from the kitchen.
+
+"What do you think?" interrupted the colonel. "Jack's not satisfied to
+get back with Helen unharmed, and a whole skin himself; but he's going
+on the trail again."
+
+"No, Jack, no, no!" cried Betty.
+
+"What's that I hear?" asked Mrs. Zane as she came in. "Jack's going
+out again? Well, all I want to say is that he's as mad as a
+March hare."
+
+"Jonathan, look here," said Silas seriously. "Can't you stay home
+now?"
+
+"Jack, listen," whispered Betty, going close to him. "Not one of us
+ever expected to see either you or Helen again, and oh! we are so
+happy. Do not go away again. You are a man; you do not know, you
+cannot understand all a woman feels. She must sit and wait, and hope,
+and pray for the safe return of husband or brother or sweetheart. The
+long days! Oh, the long sleepless nights, with the wail of the wind in
+the pines, and the rain on the roof! It is maddening. Do not leave us!
+Do not leave me! Do not leave Helen! Say you will not, Jack."
+
+To these entreaties the borderman remained silent. He stood leaning on
+his rifle, a tall, dark, strangely sad and stern man.
+
+"Helen, beg him to stay!" implored Betty.
+
+Colonel Zane took Helen's hand, and stroked it. "Yes," he said, "you
+ask him, lass. I'm sure you can persuade him to stay."
+
+Helen raised her head. "Is Brandt dead?" she whispered faintly.
+
+Still the borderman failed to speak, but his silence was not an
+affirmative.
+
+"You said you loved me," she cried wildly. "You said you loved me, yet
+you didn't kill that monster!"
+
+The borderman, moving quickly like a startled Indian, went out of the
+door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Once more Jonathan Zane entered the gloomy, quiet aisles of the forest
+with his soft, tireless tread hardly stirring the leaves.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when he had long left Two Islands behind,
+and arrived at the scene of Mordaunt's death. Satisfied with the
+distance he had traversed, he crawled into a thicket to rest.
+
+Daybreak found him again on the trail. He made a short cut over the
+ridges and by the time the mist had lifted from the valley he was
+within stalking distance of the glade. He approached this in the
+familiar, slow, cautious manner, and halted behind the big rock from
+which he and Wetzel had leaped. The wood was solemnly quiet. No
+twittering of birds could be heard. The only sign of life was a gaunt
+timber-wolf slinking away amid the foliage. Under the big tree the
+savage who had been killed as he would have murdered Helen, lay a
+crumpled mass where he had fallen. Two dead Indians were in the center
+of the glade, and on the other side were three more bloody, lifeless
+forms. Wetzel was not there, nor Legget, nor Brandt.
+
+"I reckoned so," muttered Jonathan as he studied the scene. The grass
+had been trampled, the trees barked, the bushes crushed aside.
+
+Jonathan went out of the glade a short distance, and, circling it,
+began to look for Wetzel's trail. He found it, and near the light
+footprints of his comrade were the great, broad moccasin tracks of
+the outlaw. Further searching disclosed the fact that Brandt must have
+traveled in line with the others.
+
+With the certainty that Wetzel had killed three of the Indians, and,
+in some wonderful manner characteristic of him, routed the outlaws of
+whom he was now in pursuit, Jonathan's smoldering emotion burst forth
+into full flame. Love for his old comrade, deadly hatred of the
+outlaws, and passionate thirst for their blood, rioted in his heart.
+
+Like a lynx scenting its quarry, the borderman started on the trail,
+tireless and unswervable. The traces left by the fleeing outlaws and
+their pursuer were plain to Jonathan. It was not necessary for him to
+stop. Legget and Brandt, seeking to escape the implacable Nemesis,
+were traveling with all possible speed, regardless of the broad trail
+such hurried movements left behind. They knew full well it would be
+difficult to throw this wolf off the scent; understood that if any
+attempt was made to ambush the trail, they must cope with woodcraft
+keener than an Indian's. Flying in desperation, they hoped to reach
+the rocky retreat, where, like foxes in their burrows, they believed
+themselves safe.
+
+When the sun sloped low toward the western horizon, lengthening
+Jonathan's shadow, he slackened pace. He was entering the rocky,
+rugged country which marked the approach to the distant Alleghenies.
+From the top of a ridge he took his bearings, deciding that he was
+within a few miles of Legget's hiding-place.
+
+At the foot of this ridge, where a murmuring brook sped softly over
+its bed, he halted. Here a number of horses had forded the brook. They
+were iron-shod, which indicated almost to a certainty, that they were
+stolen horses, and in the hands of Indians.
+
+Jonathan saw where the trail of the steeds was merged into that of
+the outlaws. He suspected that the Indians and Legget had held a short
+council. As he advanced the borderman found only the faintest
+impression of Wetzel's trail. Legget and Brandt no longer left any
+token of their course. They were riding the horses.
+
+All the borderman cared to know was if Wetzel still pursued. He passed
+on swiftly up a hill, through a wood of birches where the trail showed
+on a line of broken ferns, then out upon a low ridge where patches of
+grass grew sparsely. Here he saw in this last ground no indication of
+his comrade's trail; nothing was to be seen save the imprints of the
+horses' hoofs. Jonathan halted behind the nearest underbrush. This
+sudden move on the part of Wetzel was token that, suspecting an
+ambush, he had made a detour somewhere, probably in the grove
+of birches.
+
+All the while his eyes searched the long, barren reach ahead. No
+thicket, fallen tree, or splintered rocks, such as Indians utilized
+for an ambush, could be seen. Indians always sought the densely matted
+underbrush, a windfall, or rocky retreat and there awaited a pursuer.
+It was one of the borderman's tricks of woodcraft that he could
+recognize such places.
+
+Far beyond the sandy ridge Jonathan came to a sloping, wooded
+hillside, upon which were scattered big rocks, some mossy and
+lichen-covered, and one, a giant boulder, with a crown of ferns and
+laurel gracing its flat surface. It was such a place as the savages
+would select for ambush. He knew, however, that if an Indian had
+hidden himself there Wetzel would have discovered him. When opposite
+the rock Jonathan saw a broken fern hanging over the edge. The heavy
+trail of the horses ran close beside it.
+
+Then with that thoroughness of search which made the borderman what
+he was, Jonathan leaped upon the rock. There, lying in the midst of
+the ferns, lay an Indian with sullen, somber face set in the repose of
+death. In his side was a small bullet hole.
+
+Jonathan examined the savage's rifle. It had been discharged. The
+rock, the broken fern, the dead Indian, the discharged rifle, told the
+story of that woodland tragedy.
+
+Wetzel had discovered the ambush. Leaving the trail, he had tricked
+the redskin into firing, then getting a glimpse of the Indian's red
+body through the sights of his fatal weapon, the deed was done.
+
+With greater caution Jonathan advanced once more. Not far beyond the
+rock he found Wetzel's trail. The afternoon was drawing to a close. He
+could not travel much farther, yet he kept on, hoping to overtake his
+comrade before darkness set in. From time to time he whistled; but got
+no answering signal.
+
+When the tracks of the horses were nearly hidden by the gathering
+dusk, Jonathan decided to halt for the night. He whistled one more
+note, louder and clearer, and awaited the result with strained ears.
+The deep silence of the wilderness prevailed, suddenly to be broken by
+a faint, far-away, melancholy call of the hermit-thrush. It was the
+answering signal the borderman had hoped to hear.
+
+Not many moments elapsed before he heard another call, low, and near
+at hand, to which he replied. The bushes parted noiselessly on his
+left, and the tall form of Wetzel appeared silently out of the gloom.
+
+The two gripped hands in silence.
+
+"Hev you any meat?" Wetzel asked, and as Jonathan handed him his
+knapsack, he continued, "I was kinder lookin' fer you. Did you get out
+all right with the lass?"
+
+"Nary a scratch."
+
+The giant borderman grunted his satisfaction.
+
+"How'd Legget and Brandt get away?" asked Jonathan.
+
+"Cut an' run like scared bucks. Never got a hand on either of 'em."
+
+"How many redskins did they meet back here a spell?"
+
+"They was seven; but now there are only six, an' all snug in Legget's
+place by this time."
+
+"I reckon we're near his den."
+
+"We're not far off."
+
+Night soon closing down upon the bordermen found them wrapped in
+slumber, as if no deadly foes were near at hand. The soft night wind
+sighed dismally among the bare trees. A few bright stars twinkled
+overhead. In the darkness of the forest the bordermen were at home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+In Legget's rude log cabin a fire burned low, lightening the forms of
+the two border outlaws, and showing in the background the dark forms
+of Indians sitting motionless on the floor. Their dusky eyes emitted a
+baleful glint, seemingly a reflection of their savage souls caught by
+the firelight. Legget wore a look of ferocity and sullen fear
+strangely blended. Brandt's face was hard and haggard, his lips set,
+his gray eyes smoldering.
+
+"Safe?" he hissed. "Safe you say? You'll see that it's the same now as
+on the other night, when those border-tigers jumped us and we ran
+like cowards. I'd have fought it out here, but for you."
+
+"Thet man Wetzel is ravin' mad, I tell you," growled Legget. "I reckon
+I've stood my ground enough to know I ain't no coward. But this
+fellar's crazy. He hed the Injuns slashin' each other like a pack of
+wolves round a buck."
+
+"He's no more mad than you or I," declared Brandt. "I know all about
+him. His moaning in the woods, and wild yells are only tricks. He
+knows the Indian nature, and he makes their very superstition and
+religion aid him in his fighting. I told you what he'd do. Didn't I
+beg you to kill Zane when we had a chance? Wetzel would never have
+taken our trail alone. Now they've beat me out of the girl, and as
+sure as death will round us up here."
+
+"You don't believe they'll rush us here?" asked Legget.
+
+"They're too keen to take foolish chances, but something will be done
+we don't expect. Zane was a prisoner here; he had a good look at this
+place, and you can gamble he'll remember."
+
+"Zane must hev gone back to Fort Henry with the girl."
+
+"Mark what I say, he'll come back!"
+
+"Wal, we kin hold this place against all the men Eb Zane may put out."
+
+"He won't send a man," snapped Brandt passionately. "Remember this,
+Legget, we're not to fight against soldiers, settlers, or hunters; but
+bordermen--understand--bordermen! Such as have been developed right
+here on this bloody frontier, and nowhere else on earth. They haven't
+fear in them. Both are fleet as deer in the woods. They can't be seen
+or trailed. They can snuff a candle with a rifle ball in the dark.
+I've seen Zane do it three times at a hundred yards. And Wetzel! He
+wouldn't waste powder on practicing. They can't be ambushed, or shaken
+off a track; they take the scent like buzzards, and have eyes
+like eagles."
+
+"We kin slip out of here under cover of night," suggested Legget.
+
+"Well, what then? That's all they want. They'd be on us again by
+sunset. No! we've got to stand our ground and fight. We'll stay as
+long as we can; but they'll rout us out somehow, be sure of that. And
+if one of us pokes his nose out to the daylight, it will be shot off."
+
+"You're sore, an' you've lost your nerve," said Legget harshly. "Sore
+at me 'cause I got sweet on the girl. Ho! ho!"
+
+Brandt shot a glance at Legget which boded no good. His strong hands
+clenched in an action betraying the reckless rage in his heart. Then
+he carefully removed his hunting coat, and examined his wound. He
+retied the bandage, muttering gloomily, "I'm so weak as to be
+light-headed. If this cut opens again, it's all day for me."
+
+After that the inmates of the hut were quiet. The huge outlaw bowed
+his shaggy head for a while, and then threw himself on a pile of
+hemlock boughs. Brandt was not long in seeking rest. Soon both were
+fast asleep. Two of the savages passed out with cat-like step, leaving
+the door open. The fire had burned low, leaving a bed of dead coals.
+Outside in the dark a waterfall splashed softly.
+
+The darkest hour came, and passed, and paled slowly to gray. Birds
+began to twitter. Through the door of the cabin the light of day
+streamed in. The two Indian sentinels were building a fire on the
+stone hearth. One by one the other savages got up, stretched and
+yawned, and began the business of the day by cooking their breakfast.
+It was, apparently, every one for himself.
+
+Legget arose, shook himself like a shaggy dog, and was starting for
+the door when one of the sentinels stopped him. Brandt, who was now
+awake, saw the action, and smiled.
+
+In a few moments Indians and outlaws were eating for breakfast roasted
+strips of venison, with corn meal baked brown, which served as bread.
+It was a somber, silent group.
+
+Presently the shrill neigh of a horse startled them. Following it, the
+whip-like crack of a rifle stung and split the morning air. Hard on
+this came an Indian's long, wailing death-cry.
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed Brandt.
+
+Legget remained immovable. One of the savages peered out through a
+little port-hole at the rear of the hut. The others continued
+their meal.
+
+"Whistler'll come in presently to tell us who's doin' thet shootin',"
+said Legget. "He's a keen Injun."
+
+"He's not very keen now," replied Brandt, with bitter certainty. "He's
+what the settlers call a good Indian, which is to say, dead!"
+
+Legget scowled at his lieutenant.
+
+"I'll go an' see," he replied and seized his rifle.
+
+He opened the door, when another rifle-shot rang out. A bullet
+whistled in the air, grazing the outlaw's shoulder, and imbedded
+itself in the heavy door-frame.
+
+Legget leaped back with a curse.
+
+"Close shave!" said Brandt coolly. "That bullet came, probably,
+straight down from the top of the cliff. Jack Zane's there. Wetzel is
+lower down watching the outlet. We're trapped."
+
+"Trapped," shouted Legget with an angry leer. "We kin live here
+longer'n the bordermen kin. We've meat on hand, an' a good spring in
+the back of the hut. How'er we trapped?"
+
+"We won't live twenty-four hours," declared Brandt.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because we'll be routed out. They'll find some way to do it, and
+we'll never have another chance to fight in the open, as we had the
+other night when they came after the girl. From now on there'll be no
+sleep, no time to eat, the nameless fear of an unseen foe who can't be
+shaken off, marching by night, hiding and starving by day, until----!
+I'd rather be back in Fort Henry at Colonel Zane's mercy."
+
+Legget turned a ghastly face toward Brandt. "Look a here. You're
+takin' a lot of glee in sayin' these things. I believe you've lost
+your nerve, or the lettin' out of a little blood hes made you wobbly.
+We've Injuns here, an' ought to be a match fer two men."
+
+Brandt gazed at him with a derisive smile.
+
+"We kin go out an' fight these fellars," continued Legget. "We might
+try their own game, hidin' an' crawlin' through the woods."
+
+"We two would have to go it alone. If you still had your trusty,
+trained band of experienced Indians, I'd say that would be just the
+thing. But Ashbow and the Chippewa are dead; so are the others. This
+bunch of redskins here may do to steal a few horses; but they don't
+amount to much against Zane and Wetzel. Besides, they'll cut and run
+presently, for they're scared and suspicious. Look at the chief;
+ask him."
+
+The savage Brandt indicated was a big Indian just coming into manhood.
+His swarthy face still retained some of the frankness and
+simplicity of youth.
+
+"Chief," said Legget in the Indian tongue. "The great paleface hunter,
+Deathwind, lies hid in the woods."
+
+"Last night the Shawnee heard the wind of death mourn through the
+trees," replied the chief gloomily.
+
+"See! What did I say?" cried Brandt. "The superstitious fool! He
+would begin his death-chant almost without a fight. We can't count on
+the redskins. What's to be done?"
+
+The outlaw threw himself upon the bed of boughs, and Legget sat down
+with his rifle across his knees. The Indians maintained the same
+stoical composure. The moments dragged by into hours.
+
+"Ugh!" suddenly exclaimed the Indian at the end of the hut.
+
+Legget ran to him, and acting upon a motion of the Indian's hand,
+looked out through the little port-hole.
+
+The sun was high. He saw four of the horses grazing by the brook; then
+gazed scrutinizingly from the steep waterfall, along the green-stained
+cliff to the dark narrow cleft in the rocks. Here was the only outlet
+from the inclosure. He failed to discover anything unusual.
+
+The Indian grunted again, and pointed upward.
+
+"Smoke! There's smoke risin' above the trees," cried Legget. "Brandt,
+come here. What's thet mean?"
+
+Brandt hurried, looked out. His face paled, his lower jaw protruded,
+quivered, and then was shut hard. He walked away, put his foot on a
+bench and began to lace his leggings.
+
+"Wal?" demanded Legget.
+
+"The game's up! Get ready to run and be shot at," cried Brandt with a
+hiss of passion.
+
+Almost as he spoke the roof of the hut shook under a heavy blow.
+
+"What's thet?" No one replied. Legget glanced from Brandt's cold,
+determined face to the uneasy savages. They were restless, and
+handling their weapons. The chief strode across the floor with
+stealthy steps.
+
+"Thud!"
+
+A repetition of the first blow caused the Indians to jump, and drew a
+fierce imprecation from their outlaw leader.
+
+Brandt eyed him narrowly. "It's coming to you, Legget. They are
+shooting arrows of fire into the roof from the cliff. Zane is doin'
+that. He can make a bow and draw one, too. We're to be burned out.
+Now, damn you! take your medicine! I wanted you to kill him when you
+had the chance. If you had done so we'd never have come to this.
+Burned out, do you get that? Burned out!"
+
+"Fire!" exclaimed Legget. He sat down as if the strength had left his
+legs.
+
+The Indians circled around the room like caged tigers.
+
+"Ugh!" The chief suddenly reached up and touched the birch-bark roof
+of the hut.
+
+His action brought the attention of all to a faint crackling of
+burning wood.
+
+"It's caught all right," cried Brandt in a voice which cut the air
+like a blow from a knife.
+
+"I'll not be smoked like a ham, fer all these tricky bordermen,"
+roared Legget. Drawing his knife he hacked at the heavy buckskin
+hinges of the rude door. When it dropped free he measured it against
+the open space. Sheathing the blade, he grasped his rifle in his right
+hand and swung the door on his left arm. Heavy though it was he
+carried it easily. The roughly hewn planks afforded a capital shield
+for all except the lower portion of his legs and feet. He went out of
+the hut with the screen of wood between himself and the cliff, calling
+for the Indians to follow. They gathered behind him, breathing hard,
+clutching their weapons, and seemingly almost crazed by excitement.
+
+Brandt, with no thought of joining this foolhardy attempt to escape
+from the inclosure, ran to the little port-hole that he might see the
+outcome. Legget and his five redskins were running toward the narrow
+outlet in the gorge. The awkward and futile efforts of the Indians to
+remain behind the shield were almost pitiful. They crowded each other
+for favorable positions, but, struggle as they might, one or two were
+always exposed to the cliff. Suddenly one, pushed to the rear, stopped
+simultaneously with the crack of a rifle, threw up his arms and fell.
+Another report, differing from the first, rang out. A savage staggered
+from behind the speeding group with his hand at his side. Then he
+dropped into the brook.
+
+Evidently Legget grasped this as a golden opportunity, for he threw
+aside the heavy shield and sprang forward, closely followed by his
+red-skinned allies. Immediately they came near the cliff, where the
+trail ran into the gorge, a violent shaking of the dry ferns overhead
+made manifest the activity of some heavy body. Next instant a huge
+yellow figure, not unlike a leaping catamount, plunged down with a
+roar so terrible as to sound inhuman. Legget, Indians, and newcomer
+rolled along the declivity toward the brook in an indistinguishable
+mass.
+
+Two of the savages shook themselves free, and bounded to their feet
+nimbly as cats, but Legget and the other redskin became engaged in a
+terrific combat. It was a wrestling whirl, so fierce and rapid as to
+render blows ineffectual. The leaves scattered as if in a whirlwind.
+Legget's fury must have been awful, to judge from his hoarse screams;
+the Indians' fear maddening, as could be told by their shrieks. The
+two savages ran wildly about the combatants, one trying to level a
+rifle, the other to get in a blow with a tomahawk. But the movements
+of the trio, locked in deadly embrace, were too swift.
+
+Above all the noise of the contest rose that strange, thrilling roar.
+
+"Wetzel!" muttered Brandt, with a chill, creeping shudder as he gazed
+upon the strife with fascinated eyes.
+
+"Bang!" Again from the cliff came that heavy bellow.
+
+The savage with the rifle shrunk back as if stung, and without a cry
+fell limply in a heap. His companion, uttering a frightened cry, fled
+from the glen.
+
+The struggle seemed too deadly, too terrible, to last long. The Indian
+and the outlaw were at a disadvantage. They could not strike freely.
+The whirling conflict grew more fearful. During one second the huge,
+brown, bearish figure of Legget appeared on top; then the dark-bodied,
+half-naked savage, spotted like a hyena, and finally the lithe,
+powerful, tiger-shape of the borderman.
+
+Finally Legget wrenched himself free at the same instant that the
+bloody-stained Indian rolled, writhing in convulsions, away from
+Wetzel. The outlaw dashed with desperate speed up the trail, and
+disappeared in the gorge. The borderman sped toward the cliff, leaped
+on a projecting ledge, grasped an overhanging branch, and pulled
+himself up. He was out of sight almost as quickly as Legget.
+
+"After his rifle," Brandt muttered, and then realized that he had
+watched the encounter without any idea of aiding his comrade. He
+consoled himself with the knowledge that such an attempt would have
+been useless. From the moment the borderman sprang upon Legget, until
+he scaled the cliff, his movements had been incredibly swift. It would
+have been hardly possible to cover him with a rifle, and the outlaw
+grimly understood that he needed to be careful of that charge in
+his weapon.
+
+"By Heavens, Wetzel's a wonder!" cried Brandt in unwilling admiration.
+"Now he'll go after Legget and the redskin, while Zane stays here to
+get me. Well, he'll succeed, most likely, but I'll never quit.
+What's this?"
+
+He felt something slippery and warm on his hand. It was blood running
+from the inside of his sleeve. A slight pain made itself felt in his
+side. Upon examination he found, to his dismay, that his wound had
+reopened. With a desperate curse he pulled a linsey jacket off a peg,
+tore it into strips, and bound up the injury as tightly as possible.
+
+Then he grasped his rifle, and watched the cliff and the gorge with
+flaring eyes. Suddenly he found it difficult to breathe; his throat
+was parched, his eyes smarted. Then the odor of wood-smoke brought him
+to a realization that the cabin was burning. It was only now he
+understood that the room was full of blue clouds. He sank into the
+corner, a wolf at bay.
+
+Not many moments passed before the outlaw understood that he could not
+withstand the increasing heat and stifling vapor of the room. Pieces
+of burning birch dropped from the roof. The crackling above grew into
+a steady roar.
+
+"I've got to run for it," he gasped. Death awaited him outside the
+door, but that was more acceptable than death by fire. Yet to face the
+final moment when he desired with all his soul to live, required
+almost super-human courage. Sweating, panting, he glared around. "God!
+Is there no other way?" he cried in agony. At this moment he saw an ax
+on the floor.
+
+Seizing it he attacked the wall of the cabin. Beyond this partition
+was a hut which had been used for a stable. Half a dozen strokes of
+the ax opened a hole large enough for him to pass through. With his
+rifle, and a piece of venison which hung near, he literally fell
+through the hole, where he lay choking, almost fainting. After a time
+he crawled across the floor to a door. Outside was a dense laurel
+thicket, into which he crawled.
+
+The crackling and roaring of the fire grew louder. He could see the
+column of yellow and black smoke. Once fairly under way, the flames
+rapidly consumed the pitch-pine logs. In an hour Legget's cabins were
+a heap of ashes.
+
+The afternoon waned. Brandt lay watchful, slowly recovering his
+strength. He felt secure under this cover, and only prayed for night
+to come. As the shadows began to creep down the sides of the cliffs,
+he indulged in hope. If he could slip out in the dark he had a good
+chance to elude the borderman. In the passionate desire to escape, he
+had forgotten his fatalistic words to Legget. He reasoned that he
+could not be trailed until daylight; that a long night's march would
+put him far in the lead, and there was just a possibility of Zane's
+having gone away with Wetzel.
+
+When darkness had set in he slipped out of the covert and began his
+journey for life. Within a few yards he reached the brook. He had only
+to follow its course in order to find the outlet to the glen.
+Moreover, its rush and gurgle over the stones would drown any slight
+noise he might make.
+
+Slowly, patiently he crawled, stopping every moment to listen. What a
+long time he was in coming to the mossy stones over which the brook
+dashed through the gorge! But he reached them at last. Here if
+anywhere Zane would wait for him.
+
+With teeth clenched desperately, and an inward tightening of his
+chest, for at any moment he expected to see the red flame of a rifle,
+he slipped cautiously over the mossy stones. Finally his hands touched
+the dewy grass, and a breath of cool wind fanned his hot cheek. He had
+succeeded in reaching the open. Crawling some rods farther on, he lay
+still a while and listened. The solemn wilderness calm was unbroken.
+Rising, he peered about. Behind loomed the black hill with its narrow
+cleft just discernible. Facing the north star, he went silently out
+into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+At daylight Jonathan Zane rolled from his snug bed of leaves under the
+side of a log, and with the flint, steel and punk he always carried,
+began building a fire. His actions were far from being hurried. They
+were deliberate, and seemed strange on the part of a man whose stern
+face suggested some dark business to be done. When his little fire had
+been made, he warmed some slices of venison which had already been
+cooked, and thus satisfied his hunger. Carefully extinguishing the
+fire and looking to the priming of his rifle, he was ready for
+the trail.
+
+He stood near the edge of the cliff from which he could command a view
+of the glen. The black, smoldering ruins of the burned cabins defaced
+a picturesque scene.
+
+"Brandt must have lit out last night, for I could have seen even a
+rabbit hidin' in that laurel patch. He's gone, an' it's what I
+wanted," thought the borderman.
+
+He made his way slowly around the edge of the inclosure and clambered
+down on the splintered cliff at the end of the gorge. A wide,
+well-trodden trail extended into the forest below. Jonathan gave
+scarcely a glance to the beaten path before him; but bent keen eyes to
+the north, and carefully scrutinized the mossy stones along the brook.
+Upon a little sand bar running out from the bank he found the light
+imprint of a hand.
+
+"It was a black night. He'd have to travel by the stars, an' north's
+the only safe direction for him," muttered the borderman.
+
+On the bank above he found oblong indentations in the grass, barely
+perceptible, but owing to the peculiar position of the blades of
+grass, easy for him to follow.
+
+"He'd better have learned to walk light as an Injun before he took to
+outlawin'," said the borderman in disdain. Then he returned to the
+gorge and entered the inclosure. At the foot of the little rise of
+ground where Wetzel had leaped upon his quarry, was one of the dead
+Indians. Another lay partly submerged in the brown water.
+
+Jonathan carried the weapons of the savages to a dry place under a
+projecting ledge in the cliff. Passing on down the glen, he stopped a
+moment where the cabins had stood. Not a log remained. The horses,
+with the exception of two, were tethered in the copse of laurel. He
+recognized Colonel Zane's thoroughbred, and Betty's pony. He cut them
+loose, positive they would not stray from the glen, and might easily
+be secured at another time.
+
+He set out upon the trail of Brandt with a long, swinging stride. To
+him the outcome of that pursuit was but a question of time. The
+consciousness of superior endurance, speed, and craft, spoke in his
+every movement. The consciousness of being in right, a factor so
+powerfully potent for victory, spoke in the intrepid front with which
+he faced the north.
+
+It was a gloomy November day. Gray, steely clouds drifted overhead.
+The wind wailed through the bare trees, sending dead leaves scurrying
+and rustling over the brown earth.
+
+The borderman advanced with a step that covered glade and glen, forest
+and field, with astonishing swiftness. Long since he had seen that
+Brandt was holding to the lowland. This did not strike him as singular
+until for the third time he found the trail lead a short distance up
+the side of a ridge, then descend, seeking a level. With this
+discovery came the certainty that Brandt's pace was lessening. He had
+set out with a hunter's stride, but it had begun to shorten. The
+outlaw had shirked the hills, and shifted from his northern course.
+Why? The man was weakening; he could not climb; he was favoring
+a wound.
+
+What seemed more serious for the outlaw, was the fact that he had left
+a good trail, and entered the low, wild land north of the Ohio. Even
+the Indians seldom penetrated this tangled belt of laurel and thorn.
+Owing to the dry season the swamps were shallow, which was another
+factor against Brandt. No doubt he had hoped to hide his trail by
+wading, and here it showed up like the track of a bison.
+
+Jonathan kept steadily on, knowing the farther Brandt penetrated into
+this wilderness the worse off he would be. The outlaw dared not take
+to the river until below Fort Henry, which was distant many a weary
+mile. The trail grew more ragged as the afternoon wore away. When
+twilight rendered further tracking impossible, the borderman built a
+fire in a sheltered place, ate his supper, and went to sleep.
+
+In the dim, gray morning light he awoke, fancying he had been startled
+by a distant rifle shot. He roasted his strips of venison carefully,
+and ate with a hungry hunter's appreciation, yet sparingly, as
+befitted a borderman who knew how to keep up his strength upon a
+long trail.
+
+Hardly had he traveled a mile when Brandt's footprints covered
+another's. Nothing surprised the borderman; but he had expected this
+least of all. A hasty examination convinced him that Legget and his
+Indian ally had fled this way with Wetzel in pursuit.
+
+The morning passed slowly. The borderman kept to the trail like a
+hound. The afternoon wore on. Over sandy reaches thick with willows,
+and through long, matted, dried-out cranberry marshes and copses of
+prickly thorn, the borderman hung to his purpose. His legs seemed
+never to lose their spring, but his chest began to heave, his head
+bent, and his face shone with sweat.
+
+At dusk he tired. Crawling into a dry thicket, he ate his scanty meal
+and fell asleep. When he awoke it was gray daylight. He was wet and
+chilled. Again he kindled a fire, and sat over it while cooking
+breakfast.
+
+Suddenly he was brought to his feet by the sound of a rifle shot; then
+two others followed in rapid succession. Though they were faint, and
+far away to the west, Jonathan recognized the first, which could have
+come only from Wetzel's weapon, and he felt reasonably certain of the
+third, which was Brandt's. There might have been, he reflected grimly,
+a good reason for Legget's not shooting. However, he knew that Wetzel
+had rounded up the fugitives, and again he set out.
+
+It was another dismal day, such a one as would be fitting for a dark
+deed of border justice. A cold, drizzly rain blew from the northwest.
+Jonathan wrapped a piece of oil-skin around his rifle-breech, and
+faced the downfall. Soon he was wet to the skin. He kept on, but his
+free stride had shortened. Even upon his iron muscles this soggy,
+sticky ground had begun to tell.
+
+The morning passed but the storm did not; the air grew colder and
+darker. The short afternoon would afford him little time, especially
+as the rain and running rills of water were obliterating the trail.
+
+In the midst of a dense forest of great cottonwoods and sycamores he
+came upon a little pond, hidden among the bushes, and shrouded in a
+windy, wet gloom. Jonathan recognized the place. He had been there in
+winter hunting bears when all the swampland was locked by ice.
+
+The borderman searched along the banks for a time, then went back to
+the trail, patiently following it. Around the pond it led to the side
+of a great, shelving rock. He saw an Indian leaning against this, and
+was about to throw forward his rifle when the strange, fixed, position
+of the savage told of the tragedy. A wound extended from his shoulder
+to his waist. Near by on the ground lay Legget. He, too, was dead. His
+gigantic frame weltered in blood. His big feet were wide apart; his
+arms spread, and from the middle of his chest protruded the haft of
+a knife.
+
+The level space surrounding the bodies showed evidence of a desperate
+struggle. A bush had been rolled upon and crushed by heavy bodies. On
+the ground was blood as on the stones and leaves. The blade Legget
+still clutched was red, and the wrist of the hand which held it showed
+a dark, discolored band, where it had felt the relentless grasp of
+Wetzel's steel grip. The dead man's buckskin coat was cut into
+ribbons. On his broad face a demoniacal expression had set in eternal
+rigidity; the animal terror of death was frozen in his wide staring
+eyes. The outlaw chief had died as he had lived, desperately.
+
+Jonathan found Wetzel's trail leading directly toward the river, and
+soon understood that the borderman was on the track of Brandt. The
+borderman had surprised the worn, starved, sleepy fugitives in the
+gray, misty dawn. The Indian, doubtless, was the sentinel, and had
+fallen asleep at his post never to awaken. Legget and Brandt must have
+discharged their weapons ineffectually. Zane could not understand why
+his comrade had missed Brandt at a few rods' distance. Perhaps he had
+wounded the younger outlaw; but certainly he had escaped while Wetzel
+had closed in on Legget to meet the hardest battle of his career.
+
+While going over his version of the attack, Jonathan followed Brandt's
+trail, as had Wetzel, to where it ended in the river. The old
+borderman had continued on down stream along the sandy shore. The
+outlaw remained in the water to hide his trail.
+
+At one point Wetzel turned north. This move puzzled Jonathan, as did
+also the peculiar tracks. It was more perplexing because not far below
+Zane discovered where the fugitive had left the water to get around a
+ledge of rock.
+
+The trail was approaching Fort Henry. Jonathan kept on down the river
+until arriving at the head of the island which lay opposite the
+settlement. Still no traces of Wetzel! Here Zane lost Brandt's trail
+completely. He waded the first channel, which was shallow and narrow,
+and hurried across the island. Walking out upon a sand-bar he signaled
+with his well-known Indian cry. Almost immediately came an
+answering shout.
+
+While waiting he glanced at the sand, and there, pointing straight
+toward the fort, he found Brandt's straggling trail!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+Colonel Zane paced to and fro on the porch. His genial smile had not
+returned; he was grave and somber. Information had just reached him
+that Jonathan had hailed from the island, and that one of the settlers
+had started across the river in a boat.
+
+Betty came out accompanied by Mrs. Zane.
+
+"What's this I hear?" asked Betty, flashing an anxious glance toward
+the river. "Has Jack really come in?"
+
+"Yes," replied the colonel, pointing to a throng of men on the river
+bank.
+
+"Now there'll be trouble," said Mrs. Zane nervously. "I wish with all
+my heart Brandt had not thrown himself, as he called it, on
+your mercy."
+
+"So do I," declared Colonel Zane.
+
+"What will be done?" she asked. "There! that's Jack! Silas has hold of
+his arm."
+
+"He's lame. He has been hurt," replied her husband.
+
+A little procession of men and boys followed the borderman from the
+river, and from the cabins appeared the settlers and their wives. But
+there was no excitement except among the children. The crowd filed
+into the colonel's yard behind Jonathan and Silas.
+
+Colonel Zane silently greeted his brother with an iron grip of the
+hand which was more expressive than words. No unusual sight was it to
+see the borderman wet, ragged, bloody, worn with long marches,
+hollow-eyed and gloomy; yet he had never before presented such an
+appearance at Fort Henry. Betty ran forward, and, though she clasped
+his arm, shrank back. There was that in the borderman's presence to
+cause fear.
+
+"Wetzel?" Jonathan cried sharply.
+
+The colonel raised both hands, palms open, and returned his brother's
+keen glance. Then he spoke. "Lew hasn't come in. He chased Brandt
+across the river. That's all I know."
+
+"Brandt's here, then?" hissed the borderman.
+
+The colonel nodded gloomily.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"In the long room over the fort. I locked him in there."
+
+"Why did he come here?"
+
+Colonel Zane shrugged his shoulders. "It's beyond me. He said he'd
+rather place himself in my hands than be run down by Wetzel or you. He
+didn't crawl; I'll say that for him. He just said, 'I'm your
+prisoner.' He's in pretty bad shape; barked over the temple, lame in
+one foot, cut under the arm, starved and worn out."
+
+"Take me to him," said the borderman, and he threw his rifle on a
+bench.
+
+"Very well. Come along," replied the colonel. He frowned at those
+following them. "Here, you women, clear out!" But they did not
+obey him.
+
+It was a sober-faced group that marched in through the big stockade
+gate, under the huge, bulging front of the fort, and up the rough
+stairway. Colonel Zane removed a heavy bar from before a door, and
+thrust it open with his foot. The long guardroom brilliantly lighted
+by sunshine coming through the portholes, was empty save for a ragged
+man lying on a bench.
+
+The noise aroused him; he sat up, and then slowly labored to his feet.
+It was the same flaring, wild-eyed Brandt, only fiercer and more
+haggard. He wore a bloody bandage round his head. When he saw the
+borderman he backed, with involuntary, instinctive action, against the
+wall, yet showed no fear.
+
+In the dark glance Jonathan shot at Brandt shone a pitiless
+implacability; no scorn, nor hate, nor passion, but something which,
+had it not been so terrible, might have been justice.
+
+"I think Wetzel was hurt in the fight with Legget," said Jonathan
+deliberately, "an' ask if you know?"
+
+"I believe he was," replied Brandt readily. "I was asleep when he
+jumped us, and was awakened by the Indian's yell. Wetzel must have
+taken a snap shot at me as I was getting up, which accounts, probably,
+for my being alive. I fell, but did not lose consciousness. I heard
+Wetzel and Legget fighting, and at last struggled to my feet. Although
+dizzy and bewildered, I could see to shoot; but missed. For a long
+time, it seemed to me, I watched that terrible fight, and then ran,
+finally reaching the river, where I recovered somewhat."
+
+"Did you see Wetzel again?"
+
+"Once, about a quarter of a mile behind me. He was staggering along on
+my trail."
+
+At this juncture there was a commotion among the settlers crowding
+behind Colonel Zane and Jonathan, and Helen Sheppard appeared, white,
+with her big eyes strangely dilated.
+
+"Oh!" she cried breathlessly, clasping both hands around Jonathan's
+arm. "I'm not too late? You're not going to----"
+
+"Helen, this is no place for you," said Colonel Zane sternly. "This is
+business for men. You must not interfere."
+
+Helen gazed at him, at Brandt, and then up at the borderman. She did
+not loose his arm.
+
+"Outside some one told me you intended to shoot him. Is it true?"
+
+Colonel Zane evaded the searching gaze of those strained, brilliant
+eyes. Nor did he answer.
+
+As Helen stepped slowly back a hush fell upon the crowd. The
+whispering, the nervous coughing, and shuffling of feet, ceased.
+
+In those around her Helen saw the spirit of the border. Colonel Zane
+and Silas wore the same look, cold, hard, almost brutal. The women
+were strangely grave. Nellie Douns' sweet face seemed changed; there
+was pity, even suffering on it, but no relenting. Even Betty's face,
+always so warm, piquant, and wholesome, had taken on a shade of doubt,
+of gloom, of something almost sullen, which blighted its dark beauty.
+What hurt Helen most cruelly was the borderman's glittering eyes.
+
+She fought against a shuddering weakness which threatened to overcome
+her.
+
+"Whose prisoner is Brandt?" she asked of Colonel Zane.
+
+"He gave himself up to me, naturally, as I am in authority here,"
+replied the colonel. "But that signifies little. I can do no less than
+abide by Jonathan's decree, which, after all, is the decree of
+the border."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"Death to outlaws and renegades."
+
+"But cannot you spare him?" implored Helen. "I know he is a bad man;
+but he might become a better one. It seems like murder to me. To kill
+him in cold blood, wounded, suffering as he is, when he claimed your
+mercy. Oh! it is dreadful!"
+
+The usually kind-hearted colonel, soft as wax in the hands of a girl,
+was now colder and harder than flint.
+
+"It is useless," he replied curtly. "I am sorry for you. We all
+understand your feelings, that yours are not the principles of the
+border. If you had lived long here you could appreciate what these
+outlaws and renegades have done to us. This man is a hardened
+criminal; he is a thief, a murderer."
+
+"He did not kill Mordaunt," replied Helen quickly. "I saw him draw
+first and attack Brandt."
+
+"No matter. Come, Helen, cease. No more of this," Colonel Zane cried
+with impatience.
+
+"But I will not!" exclaimed Helen, with ringing voice and flashing
+eye. She turned to her girl friends and besought them to intercede for
+the outlaw. But Nell only looked sorrowfully on, while Betty met her
+appealing glance with a fire in her eyes that was no dim reflection of
+her brother's.
+
+"Then I must make my appeal to you," said Helen, facing the borderman.
+There could be no mistaking how she regarded him. Respect, honor and
+love breathed from every line of her beautiful face.
+
+"Why do you want him to go free?" demanded Jonathan. "You told me to
+kill him."
+
+"Oh, I know. But I was not in my right mind. Listen to me, please. He
+must have been very different once; perhaps had sisters. For their
+sake give him another chance. I know he has a better nature. I feared
+him, hated him, scorned him, as if he were a snake, yet he saved me
+from that monster Legget!"
+
+"For himself!"
+
+"Well, yes, I can't deny that. But he could have ruined me, wrecked
+me, yet he did not. At least, he meant marriage by me. He said if I
+would marry him he would flee over the border and be an honest man."
+
+"Have you no other reason?"
+
+"Yes." Helen's bosom swelled and a glory shone in her splendid eyes.
+"The other reason is, my own happiness!"
+
+Plain to all, if not through her words, from the light in her eyes,
+that she could not love a man who was a party to what she considered
+injustice.
+
+The borderman's white face became flaming red.
+
+It was difficult to refuse this glorious girl any sacrifice she
+demanded for the sake of the love so openly avowed.
+
+Sweetly and pityingly she turned to Brandt: "Will not you help me?"
+
+"Lass, if it were for me you were asking my life I'd swear it yours
+for always, and I'd be a man," he replied with bitterness; "but not to
+save my soul would I ask anything of him."
+
+The giant passions, hate and jealousy, flamed in his gray eyes.
+
+"If I persuade them to release you, will you go away, leave this
+country, and never come back?"
+
+"I'll promise that, lass, and honestly," he replied.
+
+She wheeled toward Jonathan, and now the rosy color chased the pallor
+from her cheeks.
+
+"Jack, do you remember when we parted at my home; when you left on
+this terrible trail, now ended, thank God! Do you remember what an
+ordeal that was for me? Must I go through it again?"
+
+Bewitchingly sweet she was then, with the girlish charm of coquetry
+almost lost in the deeper, stranger power of the woman.
+
+The borderman drew his breath sharply; then he wrapped his long arms
+closely round her. She, understanding that victory was hers, sank
+weeping upon his breast. For a moment he bowed his face over her, and
+when he lifted it the dark and terrible gloom had gone.
+
+"Eb, let him go, an' at once," ordered Jonathan. "Give him a rifle,
+some meat, an' a canoe, for he can't travel, an' turn him loose. Only
+be quick about it, because if Wetzel comes in, God himself couldn't
+save the outlaw."
+
+It was an indescribable glance that Brandt cast upon the tearful face
+of the girl who had saved his life. But without a word he followed
+Colonel Zane from the room.
+
+The crowd slowly filed down the steps. Betty and Nell lingered behind,
+their eyes beaming through happy tears. Jonathan, long so cold, showed
+evidence of becoming as quick and passionate a lover as he had been a
+borderman. At least, Helen had to release herself from his embrace,
+and it was a blushing, tear-stained face she turned to her friends.
+
+When they reached the stockade gate Colonel Zane was hurrying toward
+the river with a bag in one hand, and a rifle and a paddle in the
+other. Brandt limped along after him, the two disappearing over the
+river bank.
+
+Betty, Nell, and the lovers went to the edge of the bluff.
+
+They saw Colonel Zane choose a canoe from among a number on the beach.
+He launched it, deposited the bag in the bottom, handed the rifle and
+paddle to Brandt, and wheeled about.
+
+The outlaw stepped aboard, and, pushing off slowly, drifted down and
+out toward mid-stream. When about fifty yards from shore he gave a
+quick glance around, and ceased paddling. His face gleamed white, and
+his eyes glinted like bits of steel in the sun.
+
+Suddenly he grasped the rifle, and, leveling it with the swiftness of
+thought, fired at Jonathan.
+
+The borderman saw the act, even from the beginning, and must have read
+the outlaw's motive, for as the weapon flashed he dropped flat on the
+bank. The bullet sang harmlessly over him, imbedding itself in the
+stockade fence with a distinct thud.
+
+The girls were so numb with horror that they could not even scream.
+
+Colonel Zane swore lustily. "Where's my gun? Get me a gun. Oh! What
+did I tell you?"
+
+"Look!" cried Jonathan as he rose to his feet.
+
+Upon the sand-bar opposite stood a tall, dark, familiar figure.
+
+"By all that's holy, Wetzel!" exclaimed Colonel Zane.
+
+They saw the giant borderman raise a long, black rifle, which wavered
+and fell, and rose again. A little puff of white smoke leaped out,
+accompanied by a clear, stinging report.
+
+Brandt dropped the paddle he had hurriedly begun plying after his
+traitor's act. His white face was turned toward the shore as it sank
+forward to rest at last upon the gunwale of the canoe. Then his body
+slowly settled, as if seeking repose. His hand trailed outside in the
+water, drooping inert and lifeless. The little craft drifted
+down stream.
+
+"You see, Helen, it had to be," said Colonel Zane gently. "What a
+dastard! A long shot, Jack! Fate itself must have glanced down the
+sights of Wetzel's rifle."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+A year rolled round; once again Indian summer veiled the golden fields
+and forests in a soft, smoky haze. Once more from the opal-blue sky of
+autumn nights, shone the great white stars, and nature seemed wrapped
+in a melancholy hush.
+
+November the third was the anniversary of a memorable event on the
+frontier--the marriage of the younger borderman.
+
+Colonel Zane gave it the name of "Independence Day," and arranged a
+holiday, a feast and dance where all the settlement might meet in
+joyful thankfulness for the first year of freedom on the border.
+
+With the wiping out of Legget's fierce band, the yoke of the renegades
+and outlaws was thrown off forever. Simon Girty migrated to Canada and
+lived with a few Indians who remained true to him. His confederates
+slowly sank into oblivion. The Shawnee tribe sullenly retreated
+westward, far into the interior of Ohio; the Delawares buried the war
+hatchet, and smoked the pipe of peace they had ever before refused.
+For them the dark, mysterious, fatal wind had ceased to moan along the
+trails, or sigh through tree-tops over lonely Indian camp-fires.
+
+The beautiful Ohio valley had been wrested from the savages and from
+those parasites who for years had hung around the necks of the
+red men.
+
+This day was the happiest of Colonel Zane's life. The task he had set
+himself, and which he had hardly ever hoped to see completed, was
+ended. The West had been won. What Boone achieved in Kentucky he had
+accomplished in Ohio and West Virginia.
+
+The feast was spread on the colonel's lawn. Every man, woman and child
+in the settlement was there. Isaac Zane, with his Indian wife and
+child, had come from the far-off Huron town. Pioneers from Yellow
+Creek and eastward to Fort Pitt attended. The spirit of the occasion
+manifested itself in such joyousness as had never before been
+experienced in Fort Henry. The great feast was equal to the event.
+Choice cuts of beef and venison, savory viands, wonderful loaves of
+bread and great plump pies, sweet cider and old wine, delighted the
+merry party.
+
+"Friends, neighbors, dear ones," said Colonel Zane, "my heart is
+almost too full for speech. This occasion, commemorating the day of
+our freedom on the border, is the beginning of the reward for stern
+labor, hardship, silenced hearths of long, relentless years. I did not
+think I'd live to see it. The seed we have sown has taken root; in
+years to come, perhaps, a great people will grow up on these farms we
+call our homes. And as we hope those coming afterward will remember
+us, we should stop a moment to think of the heroes who have gone
+before. Many there are whose names will never be written on the roll
+of fame, whose graves will be unmarked in history. But we who worked,
+fought, bled beside them, who saw them die for those they left behind,
+will render them all justice, honor and love. To them we give the
+victory. They were true; then let us, who begin to enjoy the freedom,
+happiness and prosperity they won with their lives, likewise be true
+in memory of them, in deed to ourselves, and in grace to God."
+
+By no means the least of the pleasant features of this pleasant day
+was the fact that three couples blushingly presented themselves before
+the colonel, and confided to him their sudden conclusions in regard
+to the felicitousness of the moment. The happy colonel raced around
+until he discovered Jim Douns, the minister, and there amid the merry
+throng he gave the brides away, being the first to kiss them.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when the villagers dispersed to their
+homes and left the colonel to his own circle. With his strong, dark
+face beaming, he mounted the old porch step.
+
+"Where are my Zane babies?" he asked. "Ah! here you are! Did anybody
+ever see anything to beat that? Four wonderful babies! Mother, here's
+your Daniel--if you'd only named him Eb! Silas, come for Silas junior,
+bad boy that he is. Isaac, take your Indian princess; ah! little
+Myeerah with the dusky face. Woe be to him who looks into those eyes
+when you come to age. Jack, here's little Jonathan, the last of the
+bordermen; he, too, has beautiful eyes, big like his mother's. Ah!
+well, I don't believe I have left a wish, unless----"
+
+"Unless?" suggested Betty with her sweet smile.
+
+"It might be----" he said and looked at her.
+
+Betty's warm cheek was close to his as she whispered: "Dear Eb!" The
+rest only the colonel heard.
+
+"Well! By all that's glorious!" he exclaimed, and attempted to seize
+her; but with burning face Betty fled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Jack, dear, how the leaves are falling!" exclaimed Helen. "See them
+floating and whirling. It reminds me of the day I lay a prisoner in
+the forest glade praying, waiting for you."
+
+The borderman was silent.
+
+They passed down the sandy lane under the colored maple trees, to a
+new cottage on the hillside.
+
+"I am perfectly happy to-day," continued Helen. "Everybody seems to be
+content, except you. For the first time in weeks I see that shade on
+your face, that look in your eyes. Jack, you do not regret the
+new life?"
+
+"My love, no, a thousand times no," he answered, smiling down into her
+eyes. They were changing, shadowing with thought; bright as in other
+days, and with an added beauty. The wilful spirit had been softened
+by love.
+
+"Ah, I know, you miss the old friend."
+
+The yellow thicket on the slope opened to let out a tall, dark man who
+came down with lithe and springy stride.
+
+"Jack, it's Wetzel!" said Helen softly.
+
+No words were spoken as the comrades gripped hands.
+
+"Let me see the boy?" asked Wetzel, turning to Helen.
+
+Little Jonathan blinked up at the grave borderman with great round
+eyes, and pulled with friendly, chubby fingers at the fringed
+buckskin coat.
+
+"When you're a man the forest trails will be corn fields," muttered
+Wetzel.
+
+The bordermen strolled together up the brown hillside, and wandered
+along the river bluff. The air was cool; in the west the ruddy light
+darkened behind bold hills; a blue mist streaming in the valley shaded
+into gray as twilight fell.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Last Trail, by Zane Grey
+
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