The Pioneer Boys on the Great Lakes; or, On the Trail of the Iroquois

by St. George Rathborne

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE BARK OF THE RED FOX

  QUICK to act in the presence of danger, Bob instantly dashed theblazing torch to the ground, and set his foot upon it. Then, in companywith his brother, he dropped flat to the earth, as they had been taughtto do by the Irish trapper.

  They half expected to hear the hiss of a feathered shaft as it whizzedthrough the air over them, and each boy gripped his musket nervously,as he crouched there among the bushes, waiting for he hardly knew what.

  "Do you hear them coming?" whispered Sandy.

  "No," replied the other; "but we must not stay here. They will try tosurround us, and cut us off from flight."

  "But if we leave here we must lose the trail," objected Sandy.

  "True," replied his brother in the same guarded tone; "but should we becaptured or killed what then would become of poor little Kate? Come!"

  "PLAINLY MARKED AGAINST THE FACE OF THE HARVEST MOON,THEY COULD SEE THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF AN INDIAN BRAVE!"]

  As usual, Sandy was ready to give in to the better judgment of hisolder brother, and hence, when Bob began to creep away, he kept asclose at his heels as possible.

  Doubtless their hearts beat faster than usual as the two lads thusmoved over the ground. They had not gone ten paces when again Sandydrew the attention of the one in the lead to something he haddiscovered.

  "Look to the left!" he whispered, as he poked at Bob's foot with themuzzle of his gun.

  Turning his head, Bob saw a startling sight.

  The late moon was just rising in the east. Because of a dip in theground, and also a thinning out of the trees in that quarter, due tosome tornado that had made a slash in the timbers, her blood-red disccould be seen just above the horizon.

  And there, plainly marked against the face of the harvest moon, theycould see the head and shoulders of an Indian brave! So plain did thepicture appear that it was possible to even distinguish the featherthat stood up in the hair of the red man.

  "We must turn the other way," said Bob, as his brother crawled upalongside him, so that their heads came close together.

  "Wait!" whispered the other. "Somehow that feather seems familiar tome."

  "Do you mean it might be Blue Jacket?" asked Bob, eagerly; for, to tellthe truth, he himself had had a similar idea flash through his mind.

  "Nothing more. See, he seems to be looking around calmly, as though inno hurry to make a hostile move. There, he has put his hand up to hismouth. I believe he means to signal. Yes, listen, there goes the barkof the red fox, which you remember he always uses to tell us he isnear. It must be Blue Jacket!"

  Bob, however, laid a hand on his reckless brother.

  "Let me try him first, Sandy," he said; and immediately there broke outthe singular grunting sound which a hedgehog makes when turning overthe dead leaves looking for his food.

  Immediately a low voice called out:

  "Bob! Sandy!"

  After that there could no longer be any doubt as to the identity of theIndian whose head had been so strangely outlined against the circleof the moon. Gaining their feet, the two young pioneers directedthe other to where they were standing. And it was with considerablesatisfaction they thus made the discovery that it was a friend insteadof a foe whose coming had alarmed them.

  "Ugh!" said Blue Jacket, as he gripped a hand of each, having learnedthis method of greeting among the whites while an inmate of theArmstrong cabin, recovering from his wound. "Glad meet Bob, Sandy. Muchwonder who carry torch in woods. Think paleface boy, no can be sure.What hunt so far away settlement?"

  "Kate has been stolen by four Seneca Indians, and they are speeding asfast as they can go toward their village away to the far north!" Bobexplained.

  Had it been a white man he would have shown more or less astonishmentat this startling news. Blue Jacket, being an Indian, and schooled torepress his feelings on all occasions, merely grunted, as he replied:

  "Bad! Much hard get back. How know?"

  Between them the two boys related how the awful shock had come uponthem while they were about to return home after a successful hunt. Theyalso mentioned what the reader already knows about Pat O'Mara beingon the trail in advance, determined to save the daughter of his goodfriends.

  "And you, Blue Jacket, will you not join us?" asked Sandy.

  The young Shawanee never hesitated an instant to consider the matter.

  "Me go where Bob, Sandy go. Never forget him mother, what she do. Tellmuch more. No can walk in woods till rest. Four Iroquois say? Who?" hesaid, in the terse way that was so much a part of his stoical nature.

  "We believe that she was stolen by a young Seneca chief known by thename of Black Beaver among the settlers. Do you know him, Blue Jacket?"asked Bob.

  He felt the Shawanee start, which told him that what he said must havegiven their red friend a shock.

  "Black Beaver sent down by Pontiac, visit my people with war arrow.Tell that red men all over north ready dig up hatchet, and go onwarpath. How Bob, Sandy see um?" he asked.

  "He and three of his braves came to our settlement some time ago,"returned the white boy. "They created quite an excitement, for itwas believed that we were about to be attacked by the enemy. But theyheld their hands out, palms upward, in token of peace, and said theywere a long way from their lodges, with their tobacco gone, and littleammunition left with which to kill game. So we gave them of both, andthey pretended to go their way, saying that they were the friends ofthe white man."

  "Yes," broke in Sandy just then; "but we saw how the young chief lookedhungrily at our pretty little sister, Kate, and both of us worried, forfear that some day he might return to give us trouble. But we did notthink it would come so soon. He hung around until the chance arrived;then the blow fell."

  "Blue Jacket saw trail through the woods," continued the other, in hislow musical voice; "where four braves and a squaw be followed by apaleface. He think something wrong. Then night come, and he camp undertree. Just at moonrise see dancing fire through woods. Think Indianshunt deer with torch as much do. Just get close, fire go. But BlueJacket know then it not Indian, but white boy. He think of Bob, Sandy.Listen for while; then give bark of red fox. Now know all."

  "And you will stick to us through thick and thin, Blue Jacket?"demanded Sandy.

  The Shawanee brave once more thrust out his dusky hand, and gravelytook that of each of the young pioneers in turn. They knew from thisthat they might count on such assistance as he could give them. Actionstake the place of words with an Indian; a look or a movement counts forvolumes.

  All made their way back to the trail, so that there would be no delaylater on, when they were ready to once more take up the pursuit of thegirl-stealers.

  "How long must we lie idle here?" groaned Sandy, when a full hour hadpassed by, without any further action.

  "Perhaps until morning," replied his brother, "so you had better tryand get some sleep. We must be rested in order to carry on the pursuit."

  "But supposing they were not more than a mile away from here,"continued Sandy. "We might come upon them in an hour, if only we keptmoving. It seems foolish to stop just because we are a little tired."

  Bob knew that the poor fellow was so stiff he could hardly get up,once he lay upon the ground; but the spirit was willing, if the fleshproved weak, and Sandy would have gone on if he had to crawl.

  "If they have halted they would not sleep without a sentry," said Bob.

  "That is true, I suppose," admitted the other, grudgingly. "All Indiansare careful not to be taken by surprise. Yes, they would be on theirguard; but what of that, Bob? Surely, with Blue Jacket to help us, wecould creep up close without any one being the wiser."

  "You forget," said Bob, "that we could never follow the trail withouta light; and those sharp eyes of the sentry would discover our torchlong before we knew they were near. Then we would be made a target fora shower of bullets, and perhaps poisoned arrows."

  Sandy was utterly disheartened. This sort of argument seemedun
answerable. He just gave a disgusted grunt, rolled over on theground, and not another word did he speak during the entire balance ofthat long night.

  Bob knew that sleep had finally overtaken his brother, for he couldhear his regular breathing after a time. And he was glad of the fact,for both, of them stood much in need of rest before they would be incondition to take up the chase once more.

  Morning found them awake, and ready to make a fresh start just as soonas the daylight proved strong enough for the Indian to see the trail.Bob was only too willing to turn over the lead to Blue Jacket, knowingthat, while he, himself, might serve fairly well, he was not at all inthe same class as the trained young Shawanee, accustomed to readingevery tiny sign that marked the tracks of the red fugitives.

  Once again they chewed some of the dried venison, washing the crudemeat down with a draught from a near-by brook. Refreshed after theirsleep, the two boys declared themselves to be in good condition, andready to make a day of it, if need be.

  More than once Bob noticed that the Indian cast an apprehensive glanceupward. Sandy, too, saw this action, and took the first opportunity toquestion his brother as to what it might signify.

  "Why does he turn his eyes up to the tops of the trees every littlewhile?" he said in an aside to his brother, as the two of them trailedafter Blue Jacket.

  "The sun rose red this morning, you may have noticed?" replied Bob.

  "Yes, that is true, for I saw it myself," Sandy went on.

  "And that stands for rain, all woodsmen believe."

  Every rover of the big timber in those days put the utmost faith insuch signs. If they saw the sun set in a sea of angry gold they wouldmake ready for bad weather, just as surely as they believed the northlay close to the direction where the moss grew heaviest on those foresttrees.

  "But we have no fear of the rain," declared Sandy, impatiently; "let itcome, for a wetting can't stop us from following Black Beaver day inand day out till we overtake him."

  "Still, if the trail is washed out, how then are we to follow?" askedBob, with a frown on his face.

  "Oh! what a fool I was not to understand what you meant," said theyounger boy, now looking up toward the heavens quite as anxiously astheir dusky guide had done.

  "We can only hope that it will keep off long enough to let us come upwith the redskins," said Bob, thinking to buoy up his brother's sinkingspirits.

  "Or that Pat O'Mara may be able to overtake the thieves, and rescue oursister," Sandy observed.

  Then they fell into silence again, each busy with his own painfulthoughts. All the time Blue Jacket was leading them on at a sort ofdog-trot. His eyes followed the trail in a manner simply marvellous;and Bob again and again felt a sense of delight because good fortunehad sent this red friend across their path just when they neededassistance most.

  Hours passed, and they had covered many miles. Still, upon beingquestioned by the nervous Sandy, the Shawanee brave could not say thatthey were any nearer the little band they sought than when they hadstarted, that morning.

  How long this pursuit would keep up, who could say? Day might followday, without their gaining any perceptible advantage. As a last resort,of course, they could make direct for the big water to the north, andseek the village from which Black Beaver had come. But that would meandisheartening delay, with accumulated difficulties about effecting therescue of their sister.

  Nor was this day fated to entirely pass without something occurringto thrill both young pioneers, and prove once more the truth of PatO'Mara's words when he warned them of the constant need of watchfulnesswhen abroad in the forest.

  Blue Jacket in the advance was swiftly covering the trail, for he hadheard a distant growl of thunder, and did not fancy what was coming.With his head bowed in earnest examination of the tracks left by thosewho had gone before, he could hardly be expected to see what lay aheadof him, leaving that for his comrades.

  "Oh! Bob, look there!" Sandy suddenly exclaimed, as he raised hismusket; "a panther just crouching to leap on our guide's shoulders.Shoot him, quick!"