CHAPTER X
ATTACKED BY HOSTILE BLACKFEET
"CHEER up, Roger!" said Dick, making an effort to look as though hehimself had no fear of disaster. "I've often heard my father say it isfoolish to cross a bridge before you reach it. The first thing for usto do is to let these poor fellows in the trap know we are here."
When there was a prospect for action Roger could rouse himselfwonderfully.
"And we must get them out of that deep hole by hook or by crook, Dick!"he exclaimed.
The two pushed forward until they could look down toward the placewhere they had discovered the forlorn figures of the prisoners.
"Hello! Hardy--Mordaunt!" called Dick, just loud enough to make hisvoice carry to the men. He did not know what danger might be near, andon this account believed it the part of wisdom to be careful.
Immediately the pair below looked up. When they discovered the boysthey manifested the greatest delight, even to shaking hands with eachother. Evidently they had been close to the point of despair.
"We're going to get you out of that hole first of all!" called Dick,"and then you can tell us what happened."
"Where is Jasper Williams?" demanded Roger, unable to restrain hisimpatience longer.
"We do not know," came the discouraging answer.
"Then he isn't down there with you?" pursued Roger.
"No. The last we saw of Jasper he was still alive, although hotlypursued."
Naturally these last words excited Roger's curiosity more than ever.He could easily guess that the party must have met with a stirringadventure of some sort, and if Williams had fled it must have beenhostile Indians who pursued him. But Dick would not hear of any furtherdelay in starting work.
"Come, Roger, I shall need your assistance," he told the other. "Bottleup your curiosity until we can get those poor fellows up out of thepit. They seem to be injured more or less, for Hardy has a bandagearound his arm that looks bloody."
Roger was only too willing to render what aid he could, though the factstruck him that they were not likely to find it plain sailing.
"If they couldn't climb up out of that hole on account of the smoothface of the rock, how shall we go down to help them, Dick?" he demanded.
"That would be foolish," was the reply. "We must plan to draw them uphere."
"But, Dick, where is the rope to come from? We brought nothing of thesort from the camp?"
"Then we must find a substitute. Look back at some of our experiences,and tell me if we have not done that more than once when in the forest?"
"Why, yes, a wild grape-vine can often be made to serve the purpose ofa rope, because it is tough and long and pliable. But where can we getsuch a thing now?"
"As it happens, I noticed some vines growing not far back, and I amleading you to the place now. Look over yonder at that little swale,where the trees grow so densely; there are vines hanging from thebranches, for I saw them swaying in the breeze."
"Yes, I do believe you are right," admitted Roger, who possessedsplendid eyesight. "I only hope we find one long enough."
"Oh! as to that," responded Dick, calmly, "we could easily splice apair of them. There's nearly always a way to do things if only you makeup your mind to do them."
They soon arrived at the patch of swampy ground where the undergrowthgrew so densely. It was an ideal place for wild grape-vines, and smallwonder that they grew to such a length, some twisting in spirals aroundthe trunks of the trees, others hanging from limbs that were fullytwenty feet overhead.
Roger gave expression to his satisfaction the minute he set eyes onthis network of vines.
"No trouble getting what we want here, I should say, Dick. Look at thatmonster vine; though this one seems better fitted for our purposes,because it is like a stout rope, if only it proves tough enough to holda weight."
"No trouble about that, I'm thinking," said Dick. "You could hang halfa ton on that vine and it would hold. You are a better climber than Iever claimed to be, so get up the tree and cut it loose above."
Nothing suited Roger better than this. Laying his gun down, togetherwith his powder-horn, which might be in the way, he started up the treeindicated. Arriving at the limb to which the vine they had selectedseemed to be fastened he first examined it carefully, and then with hisknife soon cut it free.
"Take care while I drop it, Dick!" he called, and shortly afterwardsdescended to the ground.
The vine was quickly trimmed so as to free it from useless growth, and,dragging it after them, the lads once more went to the brink of the pitthat had proved a trap for the members of the exploring party.
When this substitute for a rope was lowered it was found to be quitelong enough for their purpose. One of the men immediately started toclimb, and what before had seemed an insurmountable task now becameeasy.
Ten minutes later both had been rescued from their predicament. Theywere shivering from exposure and fright, and the first thing the boysdid was to make a small fire in a depression amidst the rocks, overwhich some water was heated, and a pannikin of tea brewed.
When the men had eaten something, and washed it down with liberalportions of the hot tea, Roger could hold back no longer. He wanted tolearn what had happened, and how they had become separated from JasperWilliams.
The men had evidently been through a rough experience, and seemed tohave lost all inclination to proceed any further into the unknowncountry of mysteries. Indeed, from certain words that they had dropped,it was plain nothing could induce them to return. They meant to headdirectly toward the camp near the Mandan village.
This being the case, Dick was anxious to learn all he could before theseparation came about, and so he did not attempt to chide Roger onaccount of the other's impatience when he burst out with:
"Now please tell us what it was all about, and who pursued JasperWilliams at the time you saw him last?"
Hardy seemed to be the best talker, for it was he who answered.
"The Indians came down on us when we were not expecting an attack,"he explained, looking somewhat humiliated, for a frontiersman was aptto feel a blush of shame when compelled to admit that for once hisvigilance had relaxed.
"Were you in camp at the time?" asked Roger.
"Yes, close to the river," Hardy continued. "We had been seeing somewonderful things, and Jasper seemed to believe there were others evenmore amazing beyond. Then, like a bolt out of the clear sky, theydropped down on us. Some sprang from the bushes, while others appearedon the river in canoes made from dugout logs."
He drew a long breath, as though the recollection of that sudden attackwould give him a bad feeling for a long time to come.
"But you must have snatched up your guns and fought them?" pursuedRoger, who could not picture Jasper Williams doing anything less, sincehe had the reputation of being an unusually valiant borderman.
"That was what we did," replied Hardy. "After shooting and woundingsome of our enemies we clubbed our guns and strove to beat our wayclear of the howling pack. In some fashion Jasper became separated fromus. We managed to burst through the Indians, and fled for the thickestof the neighboring woods. Somehow we did not seem to be pursued, and,wondering at that, I looked over my shoulder, hearing the yells of thesavages growing fainter."
"Yes, and what did you see?" Roger demanded.
"Jasper had managed to leap into one of their canoes, and was paddlinglike mad up the rough water of the Yellowstone, with the other boats inhot pursuit. They vanished from our sight around a bend in the stream,but for a long time we could hear the sound of distant yells when thewind turned that way."
"You do not know certainly, then, that Jasper was captured or killed?"Dick asked.
"We cannot say," replied Hardy. "All we thought about then was to getaway from that region, and start back to the camp. We have seen enoughof this wild country to satisfy us. By accident we managed in thedarkness of the night to fall into that hole, and we have been heldprisoners there ever since, suffering all the tortures of cold, hunger
and despair. When we heard you call out it seemed to us the finestsound we had ever listened to."
The men had finished their meal by now, and seemed anxious to make astart over the back trail. Dick did not attempt to influence them tochange their decision, for he knew it would be futile. As they had bothlost their powder-horns in the fight, and their long-barreled guns wereuseless without ammunition, he managed to spare a small amount of theprecious stuff, enough to give them several charges apiece.
"You can shoot game, and live in that way until you reach camp," hetold them as he watched both men eagerly load their guns. "But what ofthese Indians who attacked your party--they were not of the Sioux orthe Mandan tribes, I take it?"
"No--Blackfeet, and hard fighters," the man replied. "I do not believethey would have allowed us to escape, only that they seemed mostanxious to get Jasper Williams, for all of them pursued him, some inboats and the rest on land."
This struck Dick as peculiar. Why should Jasper Williams count any morewith the hostile Blackfeet than the other two explorers? His hair wouldmake a no better looking scalp than theirs!
Dick was still pondering over this as he shook the two men by the handand expressed the hope that they would meet with no further troublesuntil they gained the camp and gave his message to Captain Lewis.
"Have you arrived at any conclusion, Hardy," he observed, "as to whythe Indians should want to capture Jasper Williams so badly that theywould neglect you two, and even let you escape?"
"We talked that over, Mordaunt and myself, while we were in the pit,"came the answer, "and both of us decided that the men who were with theBlackfeet must have hated our companion, and had promised a reward tothe redskins if he was captured. That only would explain the mystery,we thought."
"Why, were there white men with the Indians?" cried Dick, beginning tosee a gleam of light. "Were they English, or frontiersmen, or French?"
"They must have been French, because we heard them calling out, and itwas in that language. They seemed wild with anger because Jasper hadnot fallen into their hands. In the boats they kept shouting to thepaddlers, and urging them to greater exertion. Yes, the Frenchmen musthate our companion, and I fear he will never live to come back to usagain."
As the two men walked away, heading toward the northeast, Dick andRoger exchanged significant looks, for they now knew the worst.
The Pioneer Boys of the Yellowstone; or, Lost in the Land of Wonders Page 13