by G. A. Henty
“Sit down and let us talk,” the leader said as they reached the village, and set the example by seating himself by a large fire. Godfrey and Luka at once did the same.
“The Ostjak and his friend have come very far,” he said.
“A long distance,” Luka replied. “We have travelled many days and are going to the Petchora.”
“Have you reindeer? Did you walk all the way?”
“No, we have no reindeer; we came in a boat. You will find it along the shore.”
“How far?”
“About an hour’s walk I should say.”
The Samoyede gave an order, and two of the men at once left the circle, got into a canoe, and paddled away.
“The strangers will stay here for a day or two. We have plenty of milk and fish.”
Luka nodded. “We are in no hurry to go on. We have plenty of time to reach the Petchora before the winter sets in.”
The Samoyede spoke to one of the women, and she set to work to clear out one of the tents. The chief got up and walked away, and the conference was evidently over. Three hours later they saw the canoe reappear at the mouth of the river with the boat towing behind it. The Samoyedes gathered on the shore to examine it, evidently surprised at its form and size, which differed entirely from their own, which were little craft capable of holding two at most. They tasted the water at the bottom of the boat and found it to be fresh. The stove for cooking spoke for itself, and as there was firewood, meat, flour, and some rough furs, there seemed all that was necessary for a journey. When they returned the chief asked Luka:
“Is that Ostjak canoe?”
“Yes; but it is built much larger than our canoes generally are, as it was for long journey.”
Presently the women brought a large bowl of reindeer milk and some fried fish. As they were eating, four of the men who were standing behind suddenly threw themselves upon Godfrey and Luka, while the others closed in, and in a minute they were securely bound hand and foot. Godfrey made no struggle, for he felt that it would be useless and might result in his being shot or stabbed. The hatchets and knives were taken from their belts, and they were then carried to the tent and thrown down. Jack had fought fiercely, biting several of the natives, until he was struck with a spear in the shoulder by the chief, when he limped off uttering piercing yells.
“What do you think they mean to do with us, Luka?” Godfrey asked. “Will they hand us over to the Russians, do you think? Cowardly blackguards. I wish now we had fought at first.”
“No, won’t hand us to Russians; too far off. They don’t think of that; they have taken us for the sake of our hatchets and knives and of your gun. Perhaps they will keep us to work for them. Perhaps they will cut our throats.”
“It is not a pleasant look-out either way. Still, if they keep us, we are safe to get away before long; we must hope for the best. I wonder they haven’t taken my ammunition and the other things.”
“Not know about pockets,” Luka said. “They would have taken them if they had.”
Two or three hours later the Samoyedes came in and carefully examined the captives’ lashings. Their hands were tied behind them with reindeer thongs, which were so tightly bound that they almost cut into the skin, and their feet were equally firmly lashed. In a few minutes the sound of talk ceased and the camp became quiet.
“I suppose it is their bedtime,” Godfrey said. “If the fools do not set a guard over us we shall soon be free.”
“How is that?” Luka asked.
“We will gnaw through one of the thongs, of course, there can be no difficulty about that; we will give them an hour to get to sleep and then we will set to work. What is that? Ah, Jack, is it you?” as the dog crept in between them with low whines. “Poor old chap, you did your best. I can’t pat you now. Roll yourself to the door and look out, Luka.”
“There are three of them sitting by a fire, but it will be darker presently and they will not see us”—for although it could scarcely be called night the sun now dipped for an hour or two below the horizon at midnight.
“Well, see or not see, we will go, Luka. If we are to be killed it shall be making a fight for it, and not having our throats cut like sheep. Now, I think you are more accustomed to chewing tough food than I am, so I will roll over on my face, and do you set to work and bite through the thong.”
Luka’s sharp teeth cut through the twisted hide in five minutes. It was a quarter of an hour more before Godfrey’s hands recovered their usual feeling. As soon as they were efficient he unfastened the thongs round his companion’s wrists and those round their feet.
“Now then, Luka, put your head out and see if you can see my gun.”
“Gun sure to be in chief’s tent,” Luka said. He looked out. “Can’t see gun. My bow and arrows are lying on ground by chief’s tent.”
“Very well, then, you had better crawl round and fetch them first, that will be something to begin a fight with anyhow. Here, I will slit open the tent behind with my knife, then you can crawl along past the others till you get to the chief’s tent without those fellows at the fires seeing you. I am more afraid of those beastly dogs giving the alarm than of the men.”
Godfrey cut a slit with his pocket-knife in the reindeer-skin covering, and then Luka crawled out. He lay flat on his stomach and dragged himself along, looking, as Godfrey thought, in the twilight, just like the seals he had seen crawling over the rocks. He passed three of the yourts and then turned off. In four or five minutes he reappeared with his bow and quiver of arrows and two native spears. He crawled back as carefully as he had gone.
“Give me the knife, Godfrey.”
Godfrey handed it to him. “You are not going to kill anyone, Luka? If they attack us, of course we shall shoot them down in self-defence, but I would not have anyone killed in cold blood on any account.”
The Tartar shook his head. “I am not going to kill anyone. I looked into the tent; the gun is leaning by the side of the chief. Women and children are lying all round. Couldn’t get in. I will cut a slit in skin and take gun.”
“It will be first-rate if you can manage that, Luka. We can make a good fight of it if you can manage to get the gun.”
Godfrey was able to watch Luka’s proceedings now. He stopped behind the fourth tent, placed his ear against the skin and listened intently. Then he inserted the blade in the skin two feet above the ground and very quietly, with a sawing motion, cut downwards. Then he began at the top again and made a horizontal cut four or five inches long, and then cut again down to the ground, removing the flap of skin. He peered into the tent, then he inserted his arm, a moment later he withdrew it with the gun, and then returned to Godfrey. The latter’s first step was to charge the gun, for he had fired two shots while Luka was cooking the meal before they were surprised.
“Now, Luka, which do you think we had better do, make for the canoes or go off on foot?”
“We want big canoe,” Luka said. “Can’t well do without it. We had better go to that.”
“I think so too,” Godfrey said. “If we can once get on board we can beat them off. Of course there is more risk of being discovered that way, but I think we had better chance it.”
They kept along for some distance on the side of the hill, and then, when about a hundred yards from the huts, crawled down to the river, crept back along the bank until they reached the boat, which was hauled up with the native canoes on shore.
“How are we to get it down, Luka?” Godfrey whispered. “If we stand up to carry it down those fellows by the fire, who are not twenty yards away, must see us. If we try to push it down we are safe to make a noise.”
“Wait a moment, give me knife again,” Luka said; and having obtained it he went along the line of canoes, cutting and slicing the skins from end to end. Then he returned to Godfrey.
“They can’t follow now,” he said. “Once on board we are safe.”
“I have been thinking, Luka, our best plan will be to lie down one on each side, and to hoi
st her up as well as we can, and move her forward inch by inch.”
Luka nodded, and they separated to carry out their plan, when Jack decided the matter by leaping on board, and sending the paddles with a rattle to the bottom of the boat.
“Jump up, Luka, and in with her.”
As they sprang up there was a shout from the three natives by the fire, which was answered by the fierce barking of two or three score of dogs. After a moment’s hesitation two of the natives rushed back to their yourts for their bows, while the third, who happened to have his close at hand, fitted an arrow and discharged it hastily. As they were running the boat down it missed its mark, and before he could shoot again the boat was in the water, and they had sprang on board. The native ran down to the edge with his bow bent, but Luka’s bow twanged and the man fell back with an arrow through his body. They seized the paddles and drove the boat twenty yards into the stream, when the whole of the Samoyedes rushed down to the bank and began to discharge their arrows.
“Lie flat down, Luka,” Godfrey said, setting the example, “the stream will take us.”
There was a great jabber of voices on the bank.
“The chief is telling them to take to their canoes,” Luka said laughing. “You will hear some shouts directly. The water won’t begin to come in through the slits till they put their weight in the canoes.”
Godfrey lifted his head for a moment and saw five or six of the natives on the bank abreast of him, standing in readiness to shoot. Quickly as he withdrew it again two arrows struck the boat within a few inches of the point where he had looked over.
“Luka,” he said, “we must get a little further out; I am afraid the stream might set us in towards the bank. I will put my cap upon a piece of firewood and hoist it up. They will shoot at it, and the moment they do we must both spring up and give two or three strong strokes to take her further out.”
Lying flat on his back at the bottom of the boat, Godfrey raised his cap; almost instantaneously there were three or four sharp taps on the side of the boat, and one arrow passed through it but an inch above his chest. In a moment he sat upright with a paddle in his hand, and a couple of sharp strokes sent the boat out into the centre of the current. At this moment they heard a series of yells and splashes. “Lucky for them,” Luka laughed, “I made the slits so big. If they had got out farther they would all have been drowned: these people are not able to swim.”
“No, I should think not,” Godfrey said. “They don’t look as if water had ever touched them from the day they were born. We are safe now, in ten minutes we shall be clear of the river, and have only got to paddle back and fetch our canoe.”
“We may have to fight yet,” Luka said. “Sure to follow us. The meat and flour is all gone. I expect they gave it to their dogs. That is what made them sleep so sound. They will know that we shall have to land somewhere to get food, and think they will have us then. They will mend canoes very quick, and some of them will come after us.”
“It will be worse for them if they do,” Godfrey said. “With my gun and your bow we could keep a score of canoes at a distance. Still, as you say, we may have trouble in getting our canoe. However, we must have that if we have to fight the whole tribe for it.”
Godfrey looked up from time to time. He could do so safely now, for they were fifty yards from the bank, and there was time for him to withdraw his head before an arrow could reach him. The natives, however, had ceased to follow the boat, having doubtless run back when they heard their companions’ cries. Godfrey thought it as well not to take to the paddles until they were well out of the river, lest one might have run on and hidden himself in a clump of bushes. As soon as they were out of the river they took up the paddles, and rowed straight out for a distance of a couple of miles. “How long will they be in patching up their canoes, Luka?”
“They will do it in an hour,” Luka said. “The women will sew the slits together, and the men melt fat and smear over.”
“Very well. Then we had better turn now and make for the place where the canoe is hid. They won’t expect us to land so soon, and most of the men will be waiting to follow with the canoes. If only four or five follow us along the bank we can manage them easily enough. Fortunately, the canoe is light enough for one of us to carry it down to the water. While you are doing that I can keep them off. This boat paddles a lot heavier than the other, Luka.”
Luka grunted in assent.
“Do you think you will know the place where you hid the canoe?” Godfrey asked presently.
“Let us go close in to see,” Luka said. “We went ashore in fog. I don’t know how it looks from the sea. The coast is all alike here. We must keep very close.”
“How far along do you think it is, Luka?”
“It can’t be much more than an hour to paddle,” Luka replied. “The Samoyedes were away three hours to fetch the boat, and they were in no hurry and had to tow her back with their canoe.”
For half an hour they kept the boat parallel with the land, and then inclined towards the shore. Presently Luka said, “There are six men walking along on bank.”
“Well, there won’t be six left to walk back,” Godfrey replied grimly, “if they interfere with us. Now, Luka, it is nearly an hour since we turned; we will go in within a hundred yards of the shore. Those bows of theirs are not like yours, they won’t carry more than forty or fifty yards. Now, I will just give those gentlemen a hint that they had better keep away from the edge of the cliff;” and so saying he laid down his paddle, and took up his gun and fired. He aimed high, as he wished to frighten and not hurt. The natives instantly disappeared from the edge. “Now, Luka, do you keep on paddling; I will watch the top of the bank, and if one of them shows his head I will fire. They won’t suspect we have any idea of landing, and will probably keep a bit back. All we want is time to land and climb the bank. Keep inshore now, so that next time I fire I may be able to send the bullet pretty close. This gun is not much use at more than fifty yards’ distance.”
Only once did Godfrey see a head above the bank, and the instant he did so he fired.
“That will show them we are keeping a sharp look-out; I don’t think they will come near for some little time now. I daresay they are puzzling themselves, first, why we are coming this way, and secondly, why we are keeping so close.”
“There is the place where we had tent,” Luka exclaimed suddenly. “Do you see the ashes of the fire?”
“That is it, sure enough. Now, run ashore and dash up the bank.”
As soon as the canoe touched the shore they leapt out and ran up the bank. Not twenty yards away were the Samoyedes. Godfrey uttered a shout and raised his gun to his shoulder, and the natives with a yell ran off at full speed.
“Now, Luka, do you go and get the canoe in the water. Be careful; if you find it heavy for you with the stores on board, take them out; there is no occasion for hurry. Those fellows won’t venture within range of my gun again; they will keep at a distance, and send up word to the tents that we have landed. So take your time over it; if you were to make a slip and damage the canoe it would be fatal to us.”
The natives stopped at a distance of a quarter of a mile, and then, as Godfrey expected, one of them started at a run back towards the village. In ten minutes Godfrey heard a shout from below, and looking round saw the canoe safely by the side of the boat. He ran down and took his place in her, and they paddled out towing the boat behind them.
CHAPTER XVII
A SEA FIGHT
As soon as they had reached a distance of two or three hundred yards from the shore Godfrey ceased paddling. “Now we can talk matters over, Luka. There is no occasion for hurry now. If these fellows in the canoes are disposed to fight we can’t prevent them. They will certainly be out of the river before we could get back there; and even if we did pass first they could easily overtake us, for those light craft of theirs would go two feet to our one unless we had wind for our sail. So we may as well take things easy, and decidedly the first
thing to do is to wash and dress Jack’s wound, and then to get some tea and something to eat. We have had nothing since we were caught yesterday between twelve and one o’clock.
“What a lucky thing it was we hid the canoe, Luka!” he went on, as the Tartar pulled the boat up alongside the canoe and began to prepare to light a fire. “The chances are we should not have been able to get her off as well as the boat, and even if we had they would have taken out all our stores. The meat we might replace, but the loss of the tea and tobacco, and above all of the matches, would have been terrible; besides, they would have got our spare hatchets and knives, the fish-hooks and lines, and all our furs. We don’t want the furs for warmth now, but it would make a deal of difference to our comfort if we had to sleep on hard boards. I do not know how to feel thankful enough that we hid the canoe away.”
“We could not have gone without our things,” Luka said. “We would have fought them all and killed them rather than lose our tea and tobacco.”
Godfrey laughed at his companion’s earnestness.
“I think that would have been paying too dearly for them, Luka. Still we should have missed them badly.”
Just as they had finished their meal they saw some black spots ahead of them close inshore. “I should not be surprised if they have been picking up those fellows who followed us, Luka. No doubt the man who ran back would tell them they could do nothing against our arms. But I don’t think they will dare attack us in our boat even if they have got all the men there. There were only twelve at first, not counting the old men who were in their camp when we were brought there. You shot one of them, so there are only eleven, even if they have got on board those who followed us. I have always heard that they are plucky little fellows, but I do not think they would be fools enough to attack us on the water. I feel sure they can’t have any intention of doing so. I expect their original idea was to hover about us night and day, and then, when we went ashore to get food, to steal the boat and hunt us down. Now they find we have got a second boat they will see that it is a longer job than they expected, for they will guess that our real valuables are on board the boat we hid, and that we may have enough provisions here to last for some time.”