The Lords of the Wild: A Story of the Old New York Border

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER III

  IN THE CLIFF

  It was only a half mile to the promised land and Robert expected aquick and easy voyage, as they were powerful swimmers and could pushthe tree before them without trouble.

  "When I reach the shore and get well back of the lake," he said toTayoga, "I mean to lie down in a thicket and sleep forty-eight hours.I am entitled now to a rest that long."

  "Dagaeoga will sleep when the spirits of earth and air decree it, andnot before," replied the Onondaga gravely. "Can you see anything ofour foes in the south?"

  "Not a trace."

  "Then your eyes are not as good as mine or you do not use them aswell, because I see a speck on the water blacker than the surface ofthe lake, and it is moving."

  "Where, Tayoga?"

  "Look toward the eastern shore, where the cliff rises tall and almoststraight."

  "Ah, I see it now. It _is_ a canoe, and it _is_ moving."

  "So it is, Dagaeoga, and it is coming our way. Did I not tell you thatManitou, no matter how much he favors us, will not help us all thetime? Not even the great and pious Tododaho, when he was on earth,expected so much. Now I think that after saving you with the birdand all of us with the empty canoe he means to leave us to our ownstrength and courage, and see what we will do."

  "And it will be strange, if after being protected so far by a powergreater than our own we can't protect ourselves now," said Willetgravely.

  "The canoe is coming fast," said Tayoga. "I can see it growing on thewater."

  "So it is, and I infer from its speed that it has at least fourpaddles in it. There's no doubt they are disappointed in not findingus farther down, and their boat has come back to look for us."

  "This is not the only tree uprooted by the wind and afloat on thelake," said Tayoga, "and now it must be our purpose to make thewarriors think it has come into the water naturally."

  Long before the French word "camouflage" was brought into general useby a titanic war the art of concealment and illusion was practiceduniversally by the natives of the North American wilderness. It was intruth their favorite stratagem in their unending wars, and there washigh praise for those who could use it best.

  "Well spoken, Tayoga," said Willet. "Luckily these living brancheshide us, and, as the wind still blows strongly toward the south, wemust let the tree float in that direction."

  "And not go toward the mainland!" said Robert.

  "Aye, lad, for the present. It's stern necessity. If the warriors inthat canoe saw the tree floating against the wind they'd knowwe're here. Trust 'em for that. I think we're about to run anothergauntlet."

  The trunk now drifted with the wind, though the three edged it ever soslightly, but steadily, toward the shore.

  Meanwhile the canoe grew and grew, and they saw, as Willet hadsurmised, that it contained four paddles. It was evident too that theywere on a quest, as the boat began to veer about, and the four Indiansswept the lake with eager eyes.

  The tree drifted on. Farther to the west and near the shore, anothertree was floating in the same manner, and off to the east a third wasbeckoning in like fashion. There was nothing in the behavior of thethree trees to indicate that one of them was different from the othertwo.

  The eyes of the savages passed over them, one after another, but theysaw no human being hidden within their boughs. Yet Robert at least,when those four pairs of eyes rested on his tree, felt them burninginto his back. It was a positive relief, when they moved on and beganto hunt elsewhere.

  "They will yet bring their canoe much closer," whispered Willet. "It'stoo much to expect that they will let us go so easily, and we've gotto keep up the illusion quite a while longer. Don't push on the tree.The wind is dying a little, and our pace must be absolutely the paceof the breeze. They notice everything and if we were to go too fastthey'd be sure to see it."

  They no longer sought to control their floating support, and, as thewind suddenly sank very much, it hung lazily on the crests of littlewaves.

  It was a hard test to endure, while the canoe with the four relentlesswarriors in it rowed about seeking them. Robert paid all the price ofa vivid and extremely brilliant imagination. While those with such atemperament look far ahead and have a vision of triumphs to come outof the distant future, they also see far more clearly the troublesand dangers that confront them. So their nerves are much more severelytried than are those of the ordinary and apathetic. Great will powermust come to their relief, and thus it was with Robert. His bodyquivered, though not with the cold of the water, but his soul wassteady.

  Although the wind sank, which was against them, the darknessincreased, and the fact that two other trees were afloat withinview, was greatly in their favor. It gave them comrades in that lazydrifting and diverted suspicion.

  "If they conclude to make a close examination of our tree, what shallwe do?" whispered Robert.

  "We'll be at a great disadvantage in the water," the hunter whisperedback, "but we'll have to get our rifles loose from their lashings andmake a fight of it. I'm hoping it won't come to that."

  The canoe approached the tree and then veered away again, as if thewarriors were satisfied with its appearance. Certainly a tree moreinnocent in looks never floated on the waves of Lake George.

  The three were masters of illusion and deception, and they did not doa single thing to turn the tree from its natural way of drifting. Itobeyed absolutely the touch of the wind and not that of their hands,which rested as lightly as down upon the trunk. Once the wind stoppedentirely and the tree had no motion save that of the swell. Itwandered idly, a lone derelict upon a solitary lake.

  Robert scarcely breathed when the canoe was sent their way. He waswholly unconscious of the water in which he was sunk to the shoulders,but every imaginative nerve was alive to the immense peril.

  "If they return and come much nearer we must immerse to the eyes,"whispered Willet. "Then they would have to be almost upon us beforethey saw us. It will make it much harder for us to get at our weapons,but we must take that risk too."

  "They have turned," said Robert, "and here they come!"

  It looked this time as if the savages had decided to make a close andcareful inspection of the tree, bearing directly toward it, and comingso close that Robert could see their fierce, painted faces well andthe muscles rising and falling on their powerful arms as they swepttheir paddles through the water. Now, he prayed that the foliage ofthe tree would hide them well and he sank his body so deep in the lakethat a little water trickled into his mouth, while only the tips ofhis fingers rested on the trunk. The hunter and the Onondaga weresubmerged as deeply as he, the upper parts of their faces and theirhair blending with the water. When he saw how little they weredisclosed in the dusk his confidence returned.

  The four savages brought the canoe within thirty feet, but thefloating tree kept its secret. Its lazy drift was that of completeinnocence and their eyes could not see the dark heads that merged sowell with the dark trunk. They gazed for a half minute or so, thenbrought their canoe about in a half circle and paddled swiftly awaytoward the second tree.

  "Now Tododaho on his star surely put it in their minds to go away,"whispered the Onondaga, "and I do not think they will come backagain."

  "Even so, we can't yet make haste," said the hunter cautiously. "Ifthis tree seems to act wrong they'll see it though at a long distanceand come flying down on us."

  "The Great Bear is right, as always, but the wind is blowing again,and we can begin to edge in toward the shore."

  "So we can. Now we'll push the tree slowly toward the right. Alltogether, but be very gentle. Robert, don't let your enthusiasm runaway with you. If we depart much from the course of the wind they'llbe after us again no matter how far away they are now."

  "They have finished their examination of the second tree," said Tayogain his precise school English, "and now they are going to the third,which will take them a yet greater distance from us."

  "So they are. Fortune is with us."

  T
hey no longer felt it necessary to keep submerged to the mouth, butdrew themselves up, resting their elbows on the trunk, floating easilyin the buoyant water. They had carefully avoided turning the tree inany manner, and their arms, ammunition and packs were dry and safe.But they had been submerged so long that they were growing cold, andnow that the immediate danger seemed to have been passed they realizedit.

  "I like Lake George," said Robert. "It's a glorious lake, a beautifullake, a majestic lake, the finest lake I know; but that is no reasonwhy I should want to live in its waters."

  "Dagaeoga is never satisfied," said Tayoga. "He might have been sunkin some shallow, muddy lake in a flat country, but instead he isput in this noble one with its beautiful cool waters, and the grandmountains are all about him."

  "But this is the second time I've been immersed in a very short space,Tayoga, and just now I crave dry land. I can't recall a single hour ora single moment when I ever wanted it more than I do this instant."

  "I'm of a mind with you in that matter, Robert," said the hunter, "andif all continues to go as well as it's now going, we'll set foot on itin fifteen minutes. That canoe is close to the third tree, and they'vestopped to look at it. I think we can push a little faster toward theland. They can't notice our slant at that distance. Aye, that'sright, lads! Now the cliffs are coming much nearer, and they look realfriendly. I see a little cove in there where our good tree can land,and it won't be hard for us to find our way up the banks, though theydo rise so high. Now, steady! In we go! It's a snug little cove, puthere to receive us. Be cautious how you rise out of the water, lads!Those fellows see like owls in the dark, and they'd trace us outlinedhere against the shore. That's it, Tayoga, you always do the rightthing. We'll crawl out of the lake behind this little screen ofbushes. Now, have you lads got all your baggage loose from the tree?"

  "Yes," replied Robert.

  "Then we'll let it go."

  "It's been a fine tree, a kind tree," said Robert, "and I've no doubtTayoga is right when he thinks a good spirit friendly to us has goneinto it."

  They pushed it off and saw it float again on the lake, borne on bythe wind. Then they dried their bodies as well as they could in theirhaste, and resumed their clothing. The hunter shook his giganticframe, and he felt the strength pour back into his muscles and veins,when he grasped his rifle. It had been his powerful comrade for manyyears, and he now stood where he could use it with deadly effect, ifthe savages should come.

  They rested several minutes, before beginning the climb of the cliff,and saw a second and then a third canoe coming out of the south,evidently seeking them.

  "They're pretty sure now that we haven't escaped in that direction,"said Willet, "and they'll be back in full force, looking for us. Wegot off the lake just in time."

  The cliffs towered over them to a height of nearly two thousand feet,but they began the ascent up a slanting depression that they had seenfrom the lake, well covered with bushes, and they took it at ease,looking back occasionally to watch the futile hunt of the canoes forthem.

  "We're not out of their ring yet," said Willet. "They'll be carryingon another search for us on top of the cliffs."

  "Don't discourage us, Dave," said Robert. "We feel happy now havingescaped one danger, and we won't escape the other until we come toit."

  "Perhaps you're right, lad. We'll enjoy our few minutes of safetywhile we can and the sight of those canoes scurrying around the lake,looking for their lost prey, will help along our merriment."

  "That's true," said Robert, "and I think I'll take a glance at themnow just to soothe my soul."

  They were about three quarters of the way up the cliff, and the three,turning at the same time, gazed down at a great height upon the vastexpanse of Lake George. The night had lightened again, a full mooncoming out and hosts of stars sparkling in the heavens. The surface ofthe lake gleamed in silver and they distinctly saw the canoes cruisingabout in their search for the three. They also saw far in the southa part of the fleet returning, and Robert breathed a sigh ofthankfulness that they had escaped at last from the water.

  They turned back to the top, but the white lad felt a sudden faintnessand had he not clung tightly to a stout young bush he would have gonecrashing down the slope. He quickly recovered himself and sought tohide his momentary weakness, but the hunter had noticed his stumblingstep and gave him a keen, questing glance. Then he too stopped.

  "We've climbed enough," he said. "Robert, you've come to the end ofyour rope, for the present. It's a wonder your strength didn't giveout long ago, after all you've been through."

  "Oh, I can go on! I'm not tired at all!" exclaimed the youthvaliantly.

  "The Great Bear tells the truth, Dagaeoga," said the Onondaga, lookingat him with sympathy, "and you cannot hide it from us. We will seek acovert here."

  Robert knew that any further effort to conceal his sudden exhaustionwould be in vain. The collapse was too complete, but he had nothing tobe ashamed of, as he had gone through far more than Willet and Tayoga,and he had reached the limit of human endurance.

  "Well, yes, I am tired," he admitted. "But as we're hanging on theside of a cliff about fifteen hundred feet above the water I don't seeany nice comfortable inn, with big white beds in it, waiting for us."

  "Stay where you are, Dagaeoga," said the Onondaga. "We will not trythe summit to-night, but I may find some sort of an alcove in thecliff, a few feet of fairly level space, where we can rest."

  Robert sank down by the friendly bush, with his back against a greatuplift of stone, while Willet stood on a narrow shelf, supportinghimself against a young evergreen. Tayoga disappeared silently upward.

  The painful contraction in the chest of the lad grew easier, and blackspecks that had come before his eyes floated away. He returned toa firm land of reality, but he knew that his strength was not yetsufficient to permit of their going on. Tayoga came back in about tenminutes.

  "I have found it," he said in his precise school English. "It is notmuch, but about three hundred feet from the top of the cliff is aslight hollow that will give support for our bodies. There we may liedown and Dagaeoga can sleep his weariness away."

  "Camping securely between our enemies above and our enemies below,"said Robert, his vivid imagination leaping up again. "It appeals tome to be so near them and yet well hidden, especially as we've left notrail on this rocky precipice that they can follow."

  "It would help me a lot if they were not so close," laughed thehunter. "I don't need your contrasts, Robert, to make me rest. I'dlike it better if they were a hundred miles away instead of only afew hundred yards. But lead on, Tayoga, and we'll say what we think ofthis inn of yours when we see it."

  The hollow was not so bad, an indentation in the stone, extendingback perhaps three feet, and almost hidden by dwarfed evergreens andclimbing vines. It was not visible twenty feet above or below, and itwould have escaped any eye less keen than that of the Onondaga.

  "You've done well, Tayoga," said Willet. "There are better inns inAlbany and New York, but it's a pretty good place to be found in theside of a cliff fifteen hundred feet above the water."

  "We'll be snug enough here."

  They crawled into the hollow, matted the vines carefully in front ofthem to guard against a slip or an incautious step, and then the threelay back against the wall, feeling an immense relief. While not soworn as Robert, the bones and muscles of Willet and Tayoga also werecalling out for rest.

  "I'm glad I'm here," said the hunter, and the others were forced tolaugh at his intense earnestness.

  Robert sank against the wall of the cliff, and he felt an immensepeace. The arching stone over his head, and the dwarfed evergreenspushing themselves up where the least bit of soil was to be found,shut out the view before them, but it was as truly an inn to him atthat moment as any he had ever entered. He closed his eyes in contentand every nerve and muscle relaxed.

  "Since you've shut down your lids, lad, keep 'em down," said thehunter. "Sleep will do you more good now than anyth
ing else."

  But Robert quickly opened his eyes again.

  "No," he said, "I think I'll eat first."

  Willet laughed.

  "I might have known that you would remember your appetite," he said."But it's not a bad idea. We'll all have a late supper."

  They had venison and cold hominy from their knapsacks, and they atewith sharp appetites.

  Then Robert let his lids fall again and in a few minutes was off toslumberland.

  "Now you follow him, Tayoga," said Willet, "and I'll watch."

  "But remember to awake me for my turn," said the Onondaga.

  "You can rely upon me," said the hunter.

  The disciplined mind of Tayoga knew how to compel sleep, and on thisoccasion it was needful for him to exert his will. In an incrediblybrief time he was pursuing Robert through the gates of sleep to theblessed land of slumber that lay beyond, and the hunter was left aloneon watch.

  Willet, despite his long life in the woods, was a man of cultivationand refinement. He knew and liked the culture of the cities in itshighest sense. His youth had not been spent in the North Americanwilderness. He had tasted the life of London and Paris, and long useand practice had not blunted his mind to the extraordinary contrastsbetween forest and town.

  He appreciated now to the full their singular situation, practicallyhanging on the side of a mighty cliff, with cruel enemies seeking thembelow and equally cruel enemies waiting for them above.

  The crevice in which they lay was little more than a dent in the stonewall. If either of the lads moved a foot and the evergreens failed tohold him he would go spinning a quarter of a mile straight down to thelake. The hunter looked anxiously in the dusk at the slender barrier,but he judged that it would be sufficient to stop any unconsciousmovement. Then he glanced at Robert and Tayoga and he was reassured.They were so tired and sleep had claimed them so completely that theylay like the dead. Neither stirred a particle, but in the silence thehunter heard their regular breathing.

  The years had not made Willet a skeptic. While he did not acceptunquestioningly all the beliefs of Tayoga, neither did he whollyreject them. It might well be true that earth, air, trees and otherobjects were inhabited by spirits good or bad. At least it was apleasing belief and he had no proof that it was not true. Certainly,it seemed as if some great protection had been given to his comradesand himself in the last day or two. He looked up through the evergreenveil at the peaceful stars, and gave thanks and gratitude.

  The night continued to lighten. New constellations swam into theheavenly blue, and the surface of the lake as far as eye could rangewas a waving mass of molten silver. The portion of the Indian fleetthat had come back from the south was passing. It was almost preciselyopposite the covert now and not more than three hundred yards from thebase of the cliff. The light was so good that Willet distinctly sawthe paddlers at work and the other warriors sitting upright. It wasnot possible to read eyes at such a distance, but he imagined whatthey expressed and the thought pleased him. As Robert had predicted,the snugness of their hiding place with savages above and savagesbelow heightened his feeling of comfort and safety. He was in sightand yet unseen. They would never think of the three hanging there inthe side of the cliff. He laughed softly, under his breath, and he hadnever laughed with more satisfaction.

  He tried to pick out Tandakora, judging that his immense size woulddisclose him, but the chief was not there. Evidently he was with theother part of the fleet and was continuing the vain search in thesouth. He laughed again and with the same satisfaction when he thoughtof the Ojibway's rage because the hated three had slipped once morethrough his fingers.

  "An Ojibway has no business here in the province of New York, anyway,"he murmured. "His place is out by the Great Lakes."

  The canoes passed on, and, after a while, nothing was to be seen onthe waves of Lake George. Even the drifting trees, including the onethat had served them so well, had gone out of sight. The lake onlyexpressed peace. It was as it might have been in the dawn of time withthe passings of no human beings to vex its surface.

  Something stirred in the bushes near the hunter. An eagle, with greatspread of wing, rose from a nest and sailed far out over the silverywaters. Willet surmised that the nearness of the three had disturbedit, and he was sorry. He had a kindly feeling toward birds and beastsjust then, and he did not wish to drive even an eagle from his home.He hoped that it would come back, and, after a while, it did so,settling upon its nest, which could not have been more than fiftyyards away, where its mate had remained unmoving while the other wentabroad to hunt.

  There was no further sign of life from the people of the wilderness,and Willet sat silent a long time. Dawn came, intense and brilliant.He had hoped the day would be cloudy, and he would have welcomed rain,despite its discomfort, but the sun was in its greatest splendor, andthe air was absolutely translucent. The lake and the mountains sprangout, sharp and clear. Far to the south the hunter saw a smudge uponthe water which he knew to be Indian canoes. They were miles away, butit was evident that the French and Indians still held the lake, andthere was no escape for the three by water. There had been some ideain Willet's mind of returning along the foot of the cliffs to theirown little boat, but the brilliant day and the Indian presencecompelled him to put it away.

  The sun, huge, red and scintillating, swung clear of the mightymountains, and the waters that had been silver in the first morninglight turned to burning gold. In the shining day far came near andobjects close by grew to twice their size. To attempt to pass thewarriors in such a light would be like walking on an open plain,thought the hunter, and, always quick to decide, he took hisresolution.

  It was characteristic of David Willet that no matter what thesituation he always made the best of it. His mind was a remarkablemingling of vigor, penetration and adaptability. If one had to wait,well, one had to wait and there was nothing else in it. He sank downin the little cove in the cliff and rested his back against the stonywall. He, Robert and Tayoga filled it, and his moccasined feet touchedthe dwarfed shrubs which made the thin green curtain before theopening. He realized more fully now in the intense light of abrilliant day what a slender shelf it was. Any one of them might havepitched from it to a sure death below. He was glad that the white ladand the red lad had been so tired that they lay like the dead. Theirpositions were exactly the same as when they sank to sleep. They hadnot stirred an inch in the night, and there was no sign now thatthey intended to awake any time soon. If they had gone to the land ofdreams, they were finding it a pleasant country and they were in nohurry to return from it.

  The giant hunter smiled. He had promised the Onondaga to awaken him atdawn, and he knew that Robert expected as much, but he would not keephis promise. He would let nature hold sway; when it chose to awakenthem it could, and meanwhile he would do nothing. He moved just alittle to make himself more comfortable and reclined patiently.

  Willet was intensely grateful for the little curtain of evergreens.Without it the sharp eyes of the warriors could detect them even inthe side of the lofty cliff. Only a few bushes stood between them andtorture and death, but they stood there just the same. Time passedslowly, and the morning remained as brilliant as ever. He paid littleattention to what was passing on the lake, but he listened with allthe power of his hearing for anything that might happen on the cliffabove them. He knew that the warriors were far from giving up thechase, and he expected a sign there. About two hours after sunrise itcame. He heard the cry of a wolf, and then a like cry replying, buthe knew that the sounds came from the throats of warriors. He pressedhimself a little harder against the stony wall, and looked at his twoyoung comrades. Their souls still wandered in the pleasant land ofdreams and their bodies took no interest in what was occurring here.They did not stir.

  In four or five minutes the two cries were repeated much nearerand the hunter fairly concentrated all his powers into the organ ofhearing. Faint voices, only whispers, floated down to him, and heknew that the warriors were ranging along the c
liff just above them.Leaning forward cautiously, he peeped above the veil of evergreens,and saw two dark faces gazing over the edge of the precipice. A brieflook was enough, then he drew back and waited.