Far Past the Frontier

by James A. Braden

  CHAPTER IX.

  The Scalp at Big Buffalo's Belt.

  A great lump came in Ree's throat as he looked upon the body of honestold Jerry, and stood for a few seconds watching in a dazed, helpless waythe big blue flies which buzzed about the lifeless animal in the morningsunlight. Then he saw for the first time that carion birds, buzzards,perhaps, had been feeding on the horse's flesh.

  The oppressive silence and desolation of the camp were as dead weights onthe lad's spirits, already burdened with most unhappy thoughts, andstanding as still as the motionless trees about him, he could not summonback the resolution and courage which had kept him unfaltering throughoutthe night. The snapping of a twig recalled his scattered senses, however,and his sudden movement frightened a gaunt wolf which had crept up almostto the lifeless horse, and now went skulking away.

  "I cannot understand--cannot think, I must get my wits to working, someway!" the boy exclaimed in a half whisper, "what in the world can havehappened?"

  Again Ree's mind gained the mastery over his fatigued body and hispowerful determination seemed again to drive the weariness away. Hestooped and stroked but once or twice the dead horse's damp foretop, thenhastened to the cart. Nothing in it had been disturbed. He lookedcarefully about the shelter of poles and brush which had been built, andfound everything in comparatively good order. Surely things would not bein this state if his friends had been driven off or killed by Indians. Itmust be that they were attacked, had repulsed the enemy and had now gonein pursuit.

  But why had they not returned? There was no doubt but that old Jerry hadbeen dead at least a day, and John and Tom would, in that case, have beenabsent nearly as long.

  With feverish anxiety Ree searched for a trail which would show thedirection taken by the enemy or his friends, or both, but the sound of astealthy footstep on the bank above caused him to spring to the shelterof a tree.

  As he watched and listened, he heard voices, and quietly stepped into theopen; for he would have known John's tones among ten thousand. And at thesame minute John and Tom Fish saw Ree gazing up at them, and both rantoward him, John crying excitedly: "Return Kingdom! Oh, but I am glad tosee you!"

  "Dutch rum an' fire-water, it's happy I am y'er back!" Tom Fishexclaimed.

  "What has happened, John?" asked Ree in his usual quiet way, grasping hisfriend's hand.

  "What ain't happened? It beats me as I ain't ever been beat yet," TomFish made answer.

  "It was another of those mysterious shots, Ree--the very morning you leftus," said John, putting his hand affectionately on his chum's arm.

  "Another?" Ree spoke more to himself than to either John or Tom, andsomething made him think of Big Pete Ellis and the fellow's threats.

  "It was the same sort of a shot as before, but in broad daylight," Johnanswered. "We had just got the cart down into this gully and werepreparing to get it up the other side, when we heard a rifle shotand--old Jerry fell dead. I saw the smoke curling out from the bushesjust half a minute later, and Tom and I both ran back up the hill. Butthere was no one near. We did find a trail but it was mingled with thetracks of the horse and cart, and the snow being gone, we could notfollow it. For miles around the woods seemed as quiet as a Sunday athome. We looked all about but--"

  "Only one thing is plain, some Mingo or somebody has a grudge ag'in ye,or else there's been some consarned queer coincidences," broke in TomFish. "It beats me!"

  "I don't see what we are to do, Ree! Tom and I decided just to wait hereuntil you came back. But what have you been doing? Why, your hands andface are frightfully scratched, and you look all played out!"

  "I guess I've had my hands full," said Ree with a sad little smile. "Buttell me where you two were. Why is there no fire?"

  "Such a time as we have had!" was John's sorrowful answer. "Poor oldJerry was scarcely dead before there were hawks or buzzards circlingaround above us, and when night came, wolves and other animals howled allaround us, and so near we would have been afraid, had we not had a bigfire. Toward morning it became quieter and I was asleep, and Tom onwatch, when a bear came poking around."

  "Biggest bear ye ever seen," interrupted Thomas Fish.

  "Well," John went on, "we both set out after that bear, though it waspitch dark. We had a long chase for nothing, though, for we caught sightof the big fellow only once, and not long enough to get a shot at him.Coming back, it was light, and we stopped to explore the gully. But wedid not expect to find you here, Ree. We would not have come back when wedid, only to keep the buzzards away from the horse till we can burn thebody. And I don't see what we are to do. But you haven't told a wordabout yourself."

  Ree was busily thinking, and for a little time made no answer. Then Tomand John spoke again, asking where he had been and what he had found.

  "Why, I'll tell you," he answered them. "I came upon a first-class placefor a cabin, on a bluff right at the bank of a splendid little river, anda little natural clearing around it. About five minutes later I came uponsome Delaware Indians and as they wouldn't believe me when I told themwho I was, they made me a prisoner. I got away in the night, and here Iam."

  John's eyes opened wide, and excitedly he demanded to know all theparticulars of Ree's adventure. Tom Fish whistled a long, low note andalmost closing his eyes, he looked toward Ree with a squint which wasmore expressive of his astonishment and interest than words could havebeen.

  As the three of them sat on the thills of the now useless cart, Ree toldthem more fully of his experiences. Many were John's outbursts ofinterest, and Tom whistled in his peculiar way more than once.

  "Can't more than kill us, and we may as well die that way as starve todeath," said the old hunter, as Ree spoke of the probability of theIndians soon finding their camp, and straightway he began preparationsfor breakfast. As they gathered about the savory meal which soon wasready, the conversation turned again to the mysterious attack which hadended the life of their horse.

  John could not be persuaded that it was not some prowling Indian who hadfired the shot, but Ree urged both him and Tom to be on their guardconstantly and he would be the same, he said, for there was no knowingwhen another bullet might come whizzing toward them, nor when one oftheir own lives might not be thus snuffed out.

  As breakfast was finished, John and Tom pleaded with Ree that he shouldlie down and get some rest, but he took a cold bath in the brook closeby, instead, and would not listen to them further. All three were keepingtheir eyes open to detect the approach of Indians, for they did not doubtthe savages would soon come, especially since the re-kindling of the firehad sent a stream of smoke steadily skyward, and now this signal of theirwhereabouts was made all the more plain by the building of a much largerfire upon and about the body of the unfortunate horse.

  "Let them come," was the confident declaration of Return Kingdom, as TomFish had suggested that the savages could not be far away. "We will meetthem as friends," he went on, "and I honestly believe that when they findthat we are peaceable traders, there will be no trouble whatever."

  Tom whistled and squinted as Ree took this bold stand, but he had learnedthat the boy "had a long head," and made no further remonstrance againstthe plan proposed.

  About noon the savages arrived. John discovered a dark face peering outfrom some bushes on the bluff, and waved his hand in that direction in afriendly way. The searching eyes instantly disappeared. It requiredcourage to follow the program Ree had mapped out, now when it was knownthat vengeful and cruel Delawares were lurking so near, themselves fullyprotected by the bank and brush, and trees; but when, a few minutes laterRee saw an Indian looking down at them, and the fellow put down his gunas a sign of friendliness, they knew they had acted wisely.

  Notwithstanding the show of friendliness, however, Tom Fish said: "Keepyour wits about ye, kittens, there ain't no snake in the woods astreacherous as them varmints."

  Two savages were soon seen coming down the path, and Ree and John, layingdown their guns, as the Indians had done, walked forward to meet them.
Thus peace was secured for the time being, at least, and as the boysshook hands with the Redskins, the latter gave them to understand thattheir chief was in waiting to be met and conducted to the camp.

  Ree went to the cart and secured from their stock of merchandise a smallhand-mirror in a round, pewter frame with a pewter lid over it, and withthis for a present to the chief, he and John were guided to a spot notfar away where the savage warrior and his braves were assembled. He was atall muscular young fellow and would have been handsome had it not beenfor a look of malicious cunning and wickedness in his small dark eyes.But the gift of the mirror pleased his savage fancy greatly and heaccepted it with a show of friendliness.

  There were eleven Indians in the party. John could not repress a smilewhen he saw the singed hair and burned face of the young brave whom Reehad knocked into the fire, but even Kingdom failed to recognize thesavage with whom he had battled for his very life alone in the darkness.By sign or otherwise neither of the boys made any reference to theadventure of the day and night before, but with perfect friendlinessconducted the Indians to their camp.

  Tom Fish's spirits had grown lighter when he saw that a fight would beavoided and he greeted each Indian in his happy-go-lucky fashion.

  "You're a good un," he said to the chief. "Got a little muscle, too,ain't ye? Ain't no religion in that eye o' your'n, though!"

  And so it went with the whole party. As he noticed the buck who wasburned Tom laughed aloud. "Pretty near took the hide off, didn't it,Smart Alec?" he exclaimed. "Doubled ye up like a two-bladed jack-knife, Ishould guess. Oh, these here boys are frisky! No foolin' with them!"

  John laughed at this, but no one took heed of him except Tom, who laughedboisterously, as he always did when anyone showed an appreciation of hiscrude jokes.

  Almost immediately upon reaching the camp the Indians asked for"fire-water," but Ree shook his head. It was true that in one of theseveral packages of goods there was a large stone bottle of whiskey whichCapt. Bowen had provided for the boys together with other medicines, butnot for a great deal would Kingdom have let the Indians know it; and hehoped that Tom would not find it out, either; for the truth was that Fishhad drunk more than was good for him at Pittsburg. But all the savagesate of the meat which was placed before them, and Tom Fish, neverneglecting an opportunity of this kind, made out a square meal also. Theboys joining in, too, there was quite a feast.

  One of the Indians, a good looking young buck, showed for Ree a warmerfriendship than any of the others. He was the one whom the boy hadmistaken for the chief of the party the day before. His name was FishingBird and the chief's name was Big Buffalo. The latter was far fromshowing entire friendship and a dispute arose between these two savageswhen Ree told them that he and John wished to purchase land.

  Fishing Bird indicated that the boys must go to the great chief of theirtribe, Hopocon, or Captain Pipe, as the whites called him, at the villageof the Delawares. Big Buffalo, on the other hand, contended that hehimself had power to sell land.

  Ree rightly judged as he saw an ugly feeling between these two, that hehad made a serious mistake when he had mistaken Fishing Bird for thechief the day before, arousing the other's jealousy very much. He thoughtnow, that he recognized in Fishing Bird the Indian with whom he hadgrappled in the forest. If this were true, it was evident that thatIndian, unwilling to confess how he had been vanquished, had said nothingto the others of his struggle with the escaped prisoner.

  However, seeing that the land question might cause trouble, both Ree andJohn dropped it, having learned from the savages that a day's journey tothe south and west would take them to the Delawares' town. Theydetermined, therefore, to visit the village of Captain Pipe and talk withthe great chief himself.

  The afternoon was nearly spent before the Indians departed. They werescarcely gone when Tom Fish called Ree and John to him and the boysnoticed for the first time that a great change had come over the oldhunter, who for some time had little or nothing to say.

  "Did ye see that fresh scalp hangin' at that Buffalo varmint's belt?" heasked. "That means blood. It means fightin'! I've seen many a Redskin,but I never seen a wickeder one than that Buffalo. An' there's no moreplay for Thomas Trout, which some calls Fish, my kittens, both! I tell yenow, that from what I seed, there was nothin' kept us out of a fight thisday but the friendliness o' that chap Fishin' Bird. If Big Buffalo had a'dared, he'd a' pitched onto us. Them's my honest sentiments; an' more'nthat, did ye see the scalp at that red devil's belt? Don't tell me theyain't been on the warpath! Did ye see that scalp, an' the blood on ithardly more 'n dry? Oh, sorry day! Oh, sorry day--the blood on it hardlymore'n dry. 'Cause I'm a plagued sight mistaken, kittens both, if I don'tknow whose scalp that is! Oh, sorry day!"

  Tom's voice had sunk almost to a whisper and involuntarily Johnshuddered. The sinking sun cast thick, dark shadows in the narrow valley,and a death-like silence was broken only by the soughing wind and thetinkle of the brook.

  These melancholy surroundings and the gruesome way in which Tom spoke,were enough to remove all cheerfulness which might have existed, but Tomsaid again, slowly and with a mournful emphasis, "I know--I know whosescalp it is, lads; an' the blood on it hardly more'n dry."

  The rough woodsman put his arm across his eyes and leaned mournfully onhis rifle, as he spoke.