The Masters of the Peaks: A Story of the Great North Woods

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER VII

  THE SLEEPING SENTINELS

  A singular day came when it seemed to Robert that the wind alternatelyblew hot and cold, at least by contrast, and the deep, leaden skieswere suffused with a peculiar mist that made him see all objects ina distorted fashion. Everything was out of proportion. Some weretoo large and some too small. Either the world was awry or his ownfaculties had become discolored and disjointed. While his interest inhis daily toil decreased and his thoughts were vague and distant,his curiosity, nevertheless, was keen and concentrated. He knew thatsomething unusual was going to happen and nature was preparing him forit.

  The occult quality in the air did not depart with the coming of night,though the winds no longer alternated, the warm blasts ceasing toblow, while the cold came steadily and with increasing fierceness. Yetit was warm and close in the cave, and the two went outside for air,wandering up the face of the ridge that enclosed the northern sideof their particular valley in the chain of little valleys. Upon thesummit they stood erect, and the face of Tayoga became rapt likethat of a seer. When Robert looked at him his own blood tingled. TheOnondaga shut his eyes, and he spoke not so much to Robert as to theair itself:

  "O Tododaho," he said, "when mine eyes are open I do not see youbecause of the vast clouds that Manitou has heaped between, but when Iclose them the inner light makes me behold you sitting upon your starand looking down with kindness upon this, the humblest and least ofyour servants. O Tododaho, you have given my valiant comrade andmyself a safe home in the wilderness in our great need, and I beseechyou that you will always hold your protecting shield between us andour enemies."

  He paused, his eyes still closed, and stood tense and erect, the northwind blowing on his face. A shiver ran through Robert, not a shiver offear, but a shiver caused by the mysterious and the unknown. His owneyes were open, and he gazed steadily into the northern heavens.The occult quality in the air deepened, and now his nerves began totingle. His soul thrilled with a coming event. Suddenly the deep,leaden clouds parted for a few moments, and in the clear space betweenhe could have sworn that he saw a great dancing star, from which amighty, benevolent face looked down upon them.

  "I saw him! I saw him!" he exclaimed in excitement. "It was Tododahohimself!"

  "I did not see him with my eyes, but I saw him with my soul," said theOnondaga, opening his eyes, "and he whispered to me that his favor waswith us. We cannot fail in what we wish to do."

  "Look in the next valley, Tayoga. What do you behold now?"

  "It is the bears, Dagaeoga. They come to their long winter sleep."

  Rolling figures, enlarged and fantastic, emerged from the mist. Robertsaw great, red eyes, sharp teeth and claws, and yet he felt neitherfear nor hostility. Tayoga's statement that they were bears, intowhich the souls of great warriors had gone, was strong in his mind,and he believed. They looked up at him, but they did not pause, movingon to the little caves.

  "They see us," he said.

  "So they do," said Tayoga, "but they do not fear us. The spirits ofmighty warriors look out of their eyes at us, and knowing that theywere once as we are they know also that we will not harm them."

  "Have you ever seen the like of this before, Tayoga?"

  "No! But a few of the old men of the Hodenosaunee have told of theirgrandfathers who have seen it. I think it is a mark of favor to usthat we are permitted to behold such a sight. Now I am sure Tododahohas looked upon us with great approval. Lo, Dagaeoga, more of themcome out of the mist! Before morning every cave, save those in our ownlittle corner of the valley, will be filled. All of them gaze up atus, recognize us as friends and pass on. It is a wonderful sight,Dagaeoga, and we shall never look upon its like again."

  "No," said Robert, as the extraordinary thrill ran through him oncemore. "Now they have gone into their caves, and I believe with you,Tayoga, that the souls of great warriors truly inhabit the bodies ofthe bears."

  "And since they are snugly in their homes, ready for the long wintersleep, lo! the great snow comes, Dagaeoga!"

  A heavy flake fell on Robert's upturned face, and then another andanother. The circling clouds, thick and leaden, were beginning to pourdown their burden, and the two retreated swiftly to their own dry andwell furnished cave. Then they rolled the great stones before thedoor, and Tayoga said:

  "Now, we will imitate our friends, the bears, and take a long wintersleep."

  Both were soon slumbering soundly in their blankets and furs, and allthat night and all the next day the snow fell on the high mountains inthe heart of which they lay. There was no wind, and it came straightdown, making an even depth on ridge, slope and valley. It blotted outthe mouths of the caves, and it clothed all the forest in deep white.Robert and Tayoga were but two motes, lost in the vast wilderness,which had returned to its primeval state, and the Indians themselves,whether hostile or friendly, sought their villages and lodges and werewilling to leave the war trail untrodden until the months of storm andbitter cold had passed.

  Robert slept heavily. His labors in preparation for the winter hadbeen severe and unremitting, and his nerves had been keyed very highby the arrival of the bears and the singular quality in the air. Now,nature claimed her toll, and he did not awake until nearly noon,Tayoga having preceded him a half hour. The Onondaga stood at the doorof the cave, looking over the stones that closed its lower half. Freshair poured in at the upper half, but Robert saw there only a whitishveil like a foaming waterfall.

  "The time o' day, Sir Tayoga, Knight of the Great Forest," he saidlightly and cheerfully.

  "There is no sun to tell me," replied the Onondaga. "The face ofAreskoui will be hidden long, but I know that at least half the day isgone. The flakes make a thick and heavy white veil, through whichI cannot see, and great as are the snows every winter on the highmountains, this will be the greatest of them all."

  "And we've come into our lair. And a mighty fine lair it is, too. Iseem to adapt myself to such a place, Tayoga. In truth, I feel likea bear myself. You say that the souls of warriors have gone into thebears about us, and it may be that the soul of a bear has come intome."

  "It may be," said Tayoga, gravely. "It is at least a wise thought,since, for a while, we must live like bears."

  Robert would have chafed, any other time, at a stay that amounted toimprisonment, but peace and shelter were too welcome now to let himcomplain. Moreover, there were many little but important house-holdduties to do. They made needles of bone, and threads of sinew andrepaired their clothing. Tayoga had stored suitable wood and bone andhe turned out arrow after arrow. He also made another bow, and Robert,by assiduous practice, acquired sufficient skill to help in thesetasks. They did not drive themselves now, but the hours being filledwith useful and interesting labor, they were content to wait.

  For three or four days, while the snow still fell, they ate cold food,but when the clouds at last floated away, and the air was free fromthe flakes, they went outside and by great effort--the snow being fouror five feet deep--cleared a small space near the entrance, where theycooked a good dinner from their stores and enjoyed it extravagantly.Meanwhile the days passed. Robert was impatient at times, but never along while. If the mental weariness of waiting came to him he plungedat once into the tasks of the day.

  There was plenty to do, although they had prepared themselves so wellbefore the great snowfall came. They made rude shovels of wood andenlarged the space they had cleared of snow. Here, they fitted stonestogether, until they had a sort of rough furnace which, crude thoughit was, helped them greatly with their cooking. They also pulled morebrushwood from under the snow, and by its use saved the store theyhad heaped up for impossible days. Then, by continued use of the boneneedles and sinews, they managed to make cloaks for themselves of thebearskins. They were rather shapeless garments, and they had little ofbeauty save in the rich fur itself, but they were wonderfully warm andthat was what they wanted most.

  Tayoga, after a while, began slow and painstaking work on a pair ofsnowshoes, expecti
ng to devote many days to the task.

  "The snow is so deep we cannot pass through it," he said, "but I, atleast, will pass upon it. I cannot get the best materials, but what Ihave will serve. I shall not go far, but I want to explore the countryabout us."

  Robert thought it a good plan, and helped as well as he could with thework. They still stayed outdoors as much as possible, but the coldbecame intense, the temperature going almost to forty degrees belowzero, the surface of the snow freezing and the boughs of the bigtrees about the valley becoming so brittle that they broke with sharpcrashes beneath the weight of accumulated snow. Then they paused longenough in the work on the snowshoes to make themselves gloves ofbuckskin, which were a wonderful help, as they labored in the freshair. Ear muffs and caps of bearskin followed.

  "I feel some reluctance about using bearskin so much," said Robert,"since the bears about us are inhabited by the souls of great warriorsand are our friends."

  "But the bears that we killed did not belong here," said Tayoga, "andwere bears and nothing more. It was right for us to slay them becausethe bear was sent by Manitou to be a support for the Indian with hisflesh and his pelt."

  "But how do you know that the bears we killed were just bears andbears only?"

  "Because, if they had not been we would not have killed them."

  Thus were the qualms of young Lennox quieted and he used his bearskincap, gloves and cloak without further scruple. The snowshoes werecompleted and Tayoga announced that he would start early the nextmorning.

  "I may be gone three or four days, Dagaeoga," he said, "but I willsurely return. I shall avoid danger, and do you be careful also."

  "Don't fear for me," said Robert. "I'm not likely to go farther thanthe brook, since there's no great sport in breaking your way throughsnow that comes to your waist, and which, moreover, is covered with athick sheet of ice. Don't trouble your mind about me, Tayoga, I won'troam from home."

  The Onondaga took his weapons, a supply of food, and departed,skimming over the snow with wonderful, flying strokes, while Robertsettled down to lonely waiting. It was a hard duty, but he again foundsolace in work, and at intervals he contemplated the mouths of thebears' caves, now almost hidden by the snow. Tayoga's belief wasstrong upon him, for the time, and he concluded that the warriorswho inhabited the bodies of the bears must be having some long andwonderful dreams. At least, they had plenty of time to dream in, andit was an extraordinary provision of nature that gave them such atremendous sleep.

  Tayoga returned in four days, and Robert, who had more than enough ofbeing alone, welcomed him with hospitable words to a fire and a feast.

  "I must first put away my spoils," said the Onondaga, his dark eyesglittering.

  "Spoils! What spoils, Tayoga?"

  "Powder and lead," he replied, taking a heavy bundle wrapped indeerskin from beneath his bearskin overcoat. "It weighs a full fiftypounds, and it made my return journey very wearisome. Catch it,Dagaeoga!"

  Robert caught, and he saw that it was, in truth, powder and lead.

  "Now, where did you get this?" he exclaimed. "You couldn't have goneto any settlement!"

  "There is no settlement to go to. I made our enemies furnish thepowder and lead we need so much, and that is surely the cheapest way.Listen, Dagaeoga. I remembered that to the east of us, about two days'journey, was a long valley sheltered well and warm, in which Indianswho fight the Hodenosaunee often camp. I thought it likely they wouldbe there in such a winter as this, and that I might take from them inthe night the powder and lead we need so much.

  "I was right. The savages were there, and with them a white man, aFrenchman, that Charles Langlade, called the Owl, from whom we fled.They had an abundance of all things, and they were waxing fat, untilthey could take the war path in the spring. Then, Dagaeoga, I playedthe fox. At night, when they dreamed of no danger, I entered theirbiggest lodges, passing as one of them, and came away with the powderand lead."

  "It was a great feat, Tayoga, but are you sure none of them will trailyou here?"

  "The surface of the snow and ice melts a little in the noonday sun,enough to efface all trace of the snowshoes, and my trail is no morethan that made by a bird in its flight through the air. Nor can we befollowed here while we are guarded by the bears, who sleep, but who,nevertheless, are sentinels."

  Tayoga took off his snowshoes, and sank upon a heap of furs in thecave, while Robert brought him food and inspected the great prize ofammunition he had brought. The package contained a dozen huge hornsfilled with powder, and many small bars of lead, the latter havingmade the weight which had proved such a severe trial to the Onondaga.

  "Here's enough of both lead and powder to last us throughout thewinter, whatever may happen," said Robert in a tone of intensesatisfaction. "Tayoga, you're certainly a master freebooter. Youcouldn't have made a more useful capture."

  Each, after the invariable custom of hunters and scouts, carriedbullet molds, and they were soon at work, melting the lead and castingbullets for their rifles, then pouring the shining pellets in a streaminto their pouches. They continued at the task from day to day untilall the lead was turned into bullets and then they began work onanother pair of snowshoes, these intended for Robert.

  Despite the safety and comfort of their home in the rock, both beganto chafe now, and time grew tremendously long. They had done nearlyeverything they could do for themselves, and life had become so easythat there was leisure to think and be restless, because they were faraway from great affairs.

  "When my snowshoes are finished and I perfect myself in the use ofthem," said Robert, "I favor an attempt to escape on the ice and snowto the south. We grow rusty, you and I, here, Tayoga. The war may bedecided in our absence and I want to see Dave, too. I want to hear himtell how he got through the savage cordon to the lake."

  "Have no fear about the war, Dagaeoga," said the Onondaga. "It willnot be ended this winter nor the next. Before there is peace betweenthe French king and the British king you will have a chance to makemany speeches. Yet, like you, I think we should go. It is not well forus to lie hidden in the ground through a whole winter."

  "But when we leave our good home here I shall leave many regretsbehind."

  He looked around at the cave and its supplies of skins and furs, itsstores of wood and food. Fortune had helped their own skill and theyhad made a marvelous change in the place. Its bleakness and barenesshad disappeared. In the cold and bitter wilderness it offered morethan comfort, it was luxury itself.

  "So shall I," said Tayoga, appreciatively, "but we will heap rocks upto the very top of the door, so that only a little air and nothingelse can enter, and leave it as it is. Some day we may want to use itagain."

  Having decided to go, they became very impatient, but they did notskimp the work on the snowshoes, knowing how much depended on theirstrength, but that task too, like all the others, came to an end intime. Robert practiced a while and they selected a day of departure.They were to take with them all the powder and bullets, a large supplyof food and their heavy bearskin overcoats. They had also made forthemselves over-moccasins of fur and extra deerskin leggings. Theywould be bundled up greatly, but it was absolutely necessary in orderto face the great cold, that hovered continuously around thirty toforty degrees below zero. The ear muffs, the caps and the gloves, too,were necessities, but they had the comfort of believing that if thefierce winter presented great difficulties to them, it would also keeptheir savage enemies in their lodges.

  "The line that shut us in in the autumn has thinned out and gone!"exclaimed Robert in sanguine tones, "and we'll have a clear path fromhere to the lake!"

  Then they rolled stones, as they had planned, before the door to theirhome, closing it wholly except a few square inches at the top, andascended on their snowshoes to the crest of the ridge.

  "Our cave will not be disturbed, at least not this winter," saidTayoga confidently. "The bears that sleep below are, as I told you,the silent sentinels, and they will guard it for us until we comeagain."


  "At least, they brought us good luck," said Robert. Then, with long,gliding strokes they passed over the ridge, and their happy valley waslost to sight. They did not speak again for hours, Tayoga leading theway, and each bending somewhat to his task, which was by no meansa light one, owing to the weight they carried, and the extremelymountainous nature of the country. The wilderness was still andintensely cold. The deep snow was covered by a crust of ice, and,despite vigorous exertion and warm clothing, they were none too warm.

  By noon Robert's ankle, not thoroughly hardened to the snowshoes,began to chafe, and they stopped to rest in a dense grove, where thesearching north wind was turned aside from them. They were travelingby the sun for the south end of Lake George, but as they were in thevast plexus of mountains, where their speed could not be great, evenunder the best of conditions, they calculated that they would be manydays and nights on the way.

  They stayed fully an hour in the shelter of the trees, and an hourlater came to a frozen lake over which the traveling was easy, butafter they had passed it they entered a land of close thickets, inwhich their progress was extremely slow. At night, the cold was verygreat, but, as they scooped out a deep hollow in the snow, though theyattempted no fire, they were able to keep warm within their bearskins.A second and a third day passed in like fashion, and their progress tothe south was unimpeded, though slow. They beheld no signs of humanlife save their own, but invariably in the night, and often in theday, they heard distant wolves howling.

  On the fourth day the temperature rose rapidly and the surface ofthe snow softened, making their southward march much harder. Theirsnowshoes clogged so much and the strain upon their ankles grew sogreat that they decided to go into camp long before sunset, and givethemselves a thorough rest. They also scraped away the snow andlighted a fire for the first time, no small task, as the snow wasstill very deep, and it required much hunting to find the fallenwood. But when the cheerful blaze came they felt repaid for all theirtrouble. They rejoiced in the glow for an hour or so, and then Tayogadecided that he would go on a short hunting trip along the course of astream that they could see about a quarter of a mile below.

  "It may be that I can rouse up a deer," he said. "They are likely tobe in the shelter of the thick bushes along the water's edge, butwhether I find them or not I will return shortly after sundown. Do youawait me here, Dagaeoga."

  "I won't stir. I'm too tired," said Robert.

  The Onondaga put on his snowshoes again, and strapped to his back hisshare of the ammunition and supplies--it had been agreed by the twothat neither should ever go anywhere without his half, lest theybecome separated. Then he departed on smooth, easy strokes, almostlike one who skated, and was soon out of sight among the bushes at theedge of the stream. Robert settled back to the warmth and brightnessof the fire, and awaited in peace the sound of a shot telling thatTayoga had found the deer.

  He had been so weary, and the blaze was so soothing that he sank intoa state, not sleep, but nevertheless full of dreams. He saw Willetagain, and heard him tell the tale how he had reached the lake andthe army with Garay's letter. He saw Colonel Johnson, and the youngEnglish officer, Grosvenor, and Colden and Wilton and Carson and allhis old friends, and then he heard a crunch on the snow near him. HadTayoga come back so soon and without his deer? He did not raise hisdrooping eyelids until he heard the crunch again, and then when heopened them he sprang suddenly to his feet, his heart beating fastwith alarm.

  A half dozen dark figures rushed upon him. He snatched at his rifleand tried to meet the first of them with a bullet, but the range wastoo close. He nevertheless managed to get the muzzle in the air andpull the trigger. He remembered even in that terrible moment to dothat much and Tayoga would hear the sharp, lashing report. Then thehorde was upon him. Someone struck him a stunning blow on the side ofthe head with the flat of a tomahawk, and he fell unconscious.

  When he returned to the world, the twilight had come, the hole in thesnow had been enlarged very much, and so had the fire. Seated aroundit were a dozen Indians, wrapped in thick blankets and armed heavily,and one white man whose attire was a strange compound of savage andcivilized. He wore a three-cornered French military hat with a great,drooping plume of green, an immense cloak of fine green cloth, linedwith fur, but beneath it he was clothed in buckskin.

  The man himself was as picturesque as his attire. He was young, hisface was lean and bold, his nose hooked and fierce like that of aRoman leader, his skin, originally fair, now tanned almost to amahogany color by exposure, his figure of medium height, but obviouslyvery powerful. Robert saw at once that he was a Frenchman and he feltinstinctively that it was Langlade. But his head was aching from theblow of the tomahawk, and he waited in a sort of apathy.

  "So you've come back to earth," said the Frenchman, who had seen hiseyes open--he spoke in good French, which Robert understood perfectly.

  "I never had any intention of staying away," replied young Lennox.

  The Frenchman laughed.

  "At least you show a proper spirit," he said. "I commend you also formanaging to fire your rifle, although the bullet hit none of us. Itgave the alarm to your comrade and he got clean away. I can make aguess as to who you are."

  "My name is Robert Lennox."

  "I thought so, and your comrade was Tayoga, the Onondaga who is notunknown to us, a great young warrior, I admit freely. I am sorry wedid not take him."

  "I don't think you'll get a chance to lay hands on him. He'll be tooclever for you."

  "I admit that, too. He's gone like the wind on his snowshoes. It seemsqueer that you and he should be here in the mountain wilderness so farnorth of your lines, in the very height of a fierce winter."

  "It's just as queer that you should be here."

  "Perhaps so, from your point of view, though it's lucky that I shouldhave been present with these dark warriors of mine when you weretaken. They suffered heavily in the battle by Andiatarocte, and butfor me they might now be using you as fuel. Don't wince, you knowtheir ways and I only tell a fact. In truth, I can't make you anypromise in regard to your ultimate fate, but, at present, I need youalive more than I need you dead."

  "You won't get any military information out of me."

  "I don't know. We shall wait and see."

  "Do you know the Chevalier de St. Luc?"

  "Of course. All Frenchmen and all Canadians know him, or know of him,but he is far from here, and we shall not tell him that we have ayoung American prisoner. The chevalier is a great soldier and thebravest of men, but he has one fault. He does not hate the English andthe Bostonnais enough."

  Robert was not bound, but his arms and snowshoes had been taken andthe Indians were all about him. There was no earthly chance of escape.With the wisdom of the wise he resigned himself at once to hissituation, awaiting a better moment.

  "I'm at your command," he said politely to Langlade.

  The French leader laughed, partly in appreciation.

  "You show intelligence," he said. "You do not resist, when you seethat resistance is impossible."

  Robert settled himself into a more comfortable position by the fire.His head still ached, but it was growing easier. He knew that it wasbest to assume a careless and indifferent tone.

  "I'm not ready to leave you now," he said, "but I shall go later."

  Langlade laughed again, and then directed two of the Indians to huntmore wood. They obeyed. Robert saw that they never questioned hisleadership, and he saw anew how the French partisans establishedthemselves so thoroughly in the Indian confidence. The others threwaway more snow, making a comparatively large area of cleared ground,and, when the wood was brought, they built a great fire, around whichall of them sat and ate heartily from their packs.

  Langlade gave Robert food which he forced himself to eat, although hewas not hungry. He judged that the French partisan, who could be cruelenough on occasion, had some object in treating him well for thepresent, and he was not one to disturb such a welcome frame of mind.His weapons and t
he extra rifle of Garay that they had brought withthem, had already been divided among the warriors, who, pleased withthe reward, were content to wait.

  The night was spent at the captured camp, and in the morning theentire party, Robert included, started on snowshoes almost due north.The young prisoner felt a sinking of the heart, when his face wasturned away from his own people, and he began an unknown captivity. Hehad been certain at first of escape, but it did not seem so sure now.In former wars many prisoners taken on raids into Canada had neverbeen heard of again, and when he reflected in cold blood he knew thatthe odds were heavy against a successful flight. Yet there was Tayoga.His warning shot had enabled the Onondaga to evade the band, and hiscomrade would never desert him. All his surpassing skill and tenacitywould be devoted to his aid. In that lay his hope.

  They pressed on toward the north as fast as they could go, and whennight came they were all exhausted, but they ate heavily again andRobert received his share. Langlade continued to treat him kindly,though he still had the feeling that the partisan, if it served him,would be fully as cruel as the Indians. At night, although they builtbig fires, Langlade invariably posted a strong watch, and Robertnoticed also that he usually shared it, or a part of it, from whichhabit he surmised that the partisan had received the name of the Owl.He had hoped that Tayoga might have a chance to rescue him in thedark, but he saw now that the vigilance was too great.

  He hid his intense disappointment and kept as cheerful a face as hecould. Langlade, the only white man in the Indian band, was drawnto him somewhat by the mere fact of racial kinship, and the twofrequently talked together in the evenings in what was a sort ofcompulsory friendliness, Robert in this manner picking up scraps ofinformation which when welded together amounted to considerable, beingthus confirmed in his belief that Willet with the letter had reachedthe lake in time. St. Luc with a formidable force had undertaken aswift march on Albany, but the town had been put in a position ofdefense, and St. Luc's vanguard had been forced to retreat by alarge body of rangers after a severe conflict. As the success of thechevalier's daring enterprise had depended wholly on surprise, he hadthen withdrawn northward.

  But Robert could not find out by any kind of questions where St. Lucwas, although he learned that Garay had never returned to Albany andthat Hendrik Martinus had made an opportune flight. Langlade, who wasthoroughly a wilderness rover, talked freely and quite boastfullyof the French power, which he deemed all pervading and invincible.Despite the battle at Lake George the fortunes of war had gone so farin favor of France and Canada and against Britain and the Bostonnais.When the great campaign was renewed in the spring more and biggervictories would crown French valor. The Owl grew expansive as hetalked to the youth, his prisoner.

  "The Marquis de Montcalm is coming to lead all our armies," he said,"and he is a far abler soldier than Dieskau. You really did us a greatservice when you captured the Saxon. Only a Frenchman is fit tolead Frenchmen, and under a mighty captain we will crush you. TheBostonnais are not the equal of the French in the forest. Save a fewlike Willet, and Rogers, the English and Americans do not learn theways of woods warfare, nor do you make friends with the Indians as wedo."

  "That is true in the main," responded Robert, "but we shall windespite it. Both the English and the English Colonials have the powerto survive defeat. Can the French and the Canadians do as well?"

  Langlade could not be shaken in his faith. He saw nothing but the mostbrilliant victories, and not only did he boast of French power, but hegloried even more in the strength of the Indian hordes, that had comeand that were coming in ever increasing numbers to the help of France.Only the Hodenosaunee stood aloof from Quebec, and he believed theGreat League even yet would be brought over to his side.

  Robert argued with the Owl, but he made no impression upon him.Meanwhile they continued to march north by west.