The Pioneer Boys of the Columbia; or, In the Wilderness of the Great Northwest

by St. George Rathborne

  CHAPTER XXXI

  THE END OF THE LONG TRAIL

  IT was just at that critical moment that something wholly unexpectedhappened. As long as they lived Dick and Roger believed that theProvidence that had so long watched over their fortunes, seeing theirterrible distress, had come to the rescue.

  They heard a sudden sound that bewildered them at first. It wasa horrible sucking noise, and both lads actually felt the groundquivering under their feet.

  Instinctively they came to a pause, as the yells back of them changedto cries of great fear, some of which seemed to be half-muffled. Therewas, accompanying these sounds, a strange splashing, and the crash oftrees going down.

  As the boys whirled around, stunned by all these remarkable sounds,they looked upon one of the most terrifying spectacles that had evercome before them. A large section of the bank of the river, wherethey had found it so wet in passing, had suddenly let go while theIndians were crossing it, and, together with a number of trees, hadslipped into the deep river. Fully half of the Flat Head Indians wentwith the landslide, together with both of the renegades.

  "FULLY HALF OF THE FLAT HEAD INDIANS WENT WITH THELANDSLIDE"]

  Dick plainly discovered Lascelles throwing up his arms in an agony offear, as he found himself being dragged along, with those tons and tonsof earth, into a watery grave. Then a great tree smashed down directlyover him and that was the last that human eyes ever saw of the Frenchtrader.

  The rest of the Indians stood there spellbound, just as the two boysdid. Superstitious to the core, those who were left must have believedthis calamity could only be looked on as a manifestation of anger onthe part of the Great Manitou, who doubtless held the strange boys,with the white skins, under his protection.

  They made not the slightest attempt to rescue their unfortunatecomrades, but, uttering cries of terror, vanished in the depths of theforest, doubtless carrying to their village a terrible story of whathad occurred, to cause weeping and wailing among the lodges of the FlatHeads.

  Still watching, the boys saw several figures climb up out of theagitated waters. They were in every instance the copper-colorednatives, who went limping away, looking back in abject terror.

  Though they watched closely, the boys could discover not the slightesttrace of either of the renegades. The trees floated off, or remainedthere sunk in the water; but a close examination of the scene of thelandslide convinced Dick and Roger they had surely seen the last oftheir bitter enemies.

  The two boys could not express their emotion except by clasping eachother's hands and squeezing them fiercely. Their safety had beenbrought about through no mortal agency; and it was not singular thatthey always looked upon the landslide as a miracle wrought in theirinterest.

  Shortly afterwards, when Dick had taken his own gun, and Roger managedto get a load in his weapon, they heard the sound of voices, and someof the men from the camp appeared. Just as the boys had anticipated,they were led by brave Captain Clark.

  Great was their amazement when they heard the wonderful story the ladshad to tell. It seemed almost unbelievable, and yet there was theevidence before their very eyes, the gap in the river bank, the fallentrees, and even some of the Indian tomahawks on the ground where theyhad been cast when the remainder of the band fled in dismay from thefatal spot.

  When Captain Lewis was told about it, he declared it to be the judgmentof Heaven upon the heads of those two wicked men. They had sought tostir up the resentment of the Flat Heads against the little party, and,had their plans succeeded, the members of the expedition would be inconstant danger of their lives during the whole of the coming winter.

  As it was, the Indians must believe the white wanderers were under theprotection of Manitou, and should not be harmed. Captain Lewis couldsee how a peace could be made with their leading chiefs, so that, forthe months that were to come, the red men and their "paleface" brothersshould live together as friends.

  After all their trials and tribulations things seemed to be working inthe boys' favor at last. With the disappearance of the scheming tradertheir greatest source of uneasiness had vanished. The future lookedbright once more, and the boys felt they could sleep without fearingthat something terrible hung over their heads.

  That night was really the happiest they had all known for many months.The fact that they were close to the goal that had tempted them acrossthe continent did much to bring smiles to the careworn faces of thevoyagers.

  "If all the accounts we've been able to pick up are correct," Dick toldRoger that night, while they sat near the fire, the camp being wellguarded every minute of the time, "we ought to reach our destination bythe end of the second day, perhaps sooner."

  "Which means we will be able to look out into the west and see nothingbut the vast ocean," Roger added, with a contented sigh. "Well, I feelglad--yes, doubly glad, for Captain Lewis and Captain Clark."

  "I understand why you say that, Roger. To us it means only that ourcuriosity will be satisfied; but think what they have risked to carryout the plan of the President! It will be the greatest day in theirlives when they reach that ocean they have come thousands of miles tolook upon."

  "And think of all they have braved to win their end," added the otherboy, his whole expression speaking his deepest admiration for the boldleaders of the exploring expedition.

  Well might the boys say what they did. A thousand perils had waylaidthose daring spirits, yet never once had they dreamed of giving uptheir plan. Over unknown trails, through dark canyons, across tracklessplains and burning deserts, up mighty rivers with their strong currentsand swirling rapids--all these and uncounted other dangers had spreadout before them, but without daunting their souls.

  No wonder then that the boy of to-day, who reads of this most wonderfuljourney ever undertaken in our great country, reveres the names ofthose two bold spirits who conducted the expedition to a successfulfinish.

  With the coming of another day the journey was resumed. Even theweather seemed to have undergone a fit of repentance, for the skieswere now as clear as crystal, and the rainy spell had evidently passed.

  Early in the morning several of the men hastened to the place where theboys had been deceived by the decoy deer. They brought back the game,since none of the thoroughly alarmed Flat Heads had dared return forthe carcass.

  It was easily seen just how cleverly the animal's head had been fixedby means of stout sticks and deerskin thongs. The men also judged thatit had been made to stand erect by the aid of other sticks skillfullyconcealed. On the whole, the boys concluded they had a story to relatethat would arouse the greatest interest among the home folks, if everthey were fortunate enough to rejoin the family circle again.

  Roger was glad that the remainder of the journey was to be made in thecanoes, for his ankle pained him exceedingly, and he would have beenunable to walk any distance without feeling much distress.

  "You will have to take things easy for a while, after we get to ourjourney's end," Dick told him. "A sprained ankle is a bad job, and youmay feel it for many weeks. I can look back and remember how long ittook me to get over a wrenched ankle some years ago."

  At that Roger laughed aloud.

  "I haven't forgotten that time, either, let me tell you, Dick. Wewere off on a hunt when you tripped. How your ankle did swell up; itfrightened me, I tell you! But that cold spring water helped a lot totake the swelling down."

  "Yes, and I can see you now, staggering along with me on your back,"continued Dick, bending a look of sincere affection upon his cousin."That was the heaviest load you ever undertook to tote, I wager."

  "But I got there, didn't I?" demanded the other, proudly, "windedthough I was. And I made you a pretty fine crutch which you hobbledaround on for weeks, not being able to put your foot on the ground."

  Many times, as they talked, did these fond memories of the past ariseto haunt them. The further they went from their well-loved homes thesharper the pictures seemed to become in their minds. Their dreams weremostly of those dear ones w
hose faces were forever before them, in theclear waters, while threading the mazes of the forest, or even lookingout upon the glittering sands of the burning desert.

  When, that afternoon, a halt was made, Captain Lewis cheered them withthe announcement that there could be little doubt they would reach themouth of the big river by the following night at the latest. Indeed, asthe men had already discovered that the water was strongly impregnatedwith salt, they hardly needed this assurance to convince them thattheir long journey was on the eve of termination.

  They gave the commander a hearty cheer, however, when he told them thiswelcome fact, then set about making what was certainly one of thehappiest camps of the entire trip.

  As usual the two boys talked things over while they sat resting aftersupper had been dispatched. Roger had sniffed the air several times,and he finally broke out with a declaration.

  "There seems to be something queer in the air, Dick; something I'venever before noticed in all my life. And to tell you the truth, I canmake nothing of it."

  "I may be wrong," Dick told him; "but, from all I've heard grandfathersay, I think that must be the salty taste they say one can notice whenthe air comes straight off the sea. If that is so, it proves we areclose to the mouth of the river right now."

  After that Roger amused himself by sniffing the air many times. Itseemed to give him fresh encouragement to have a silent but powerfulproof carried by the night breeze to their river camp.

  Taken in all, it was a rather restless night for some of theadventurers, and the boys in particular awoke many times, to sit up andlisten. Once Dick even fancied he could hear a far-off, dull, boomingsound that could hardly be thunder, since the stars were out, and nota cloud as big as his hand in sight.

  "I wonder," the boy said softly to himself, with a feeling almost ofawe, "if that can be the sea pounding on the shore. Grandfather hasoften told us how it makes a great noise when the tide is coming in,each wave running along and turning over as it breaks on the sand."

  He even sat there for a long while listening, though thinking it bestnot to arouse Roger, who chanced to be sleeping at the time. Only whenthe strange sound died out, owing to a change of wind, or the turn ofthe tide, Dick consented once more to drop back in his blanket. But,when he did get to sleep again, his dreams were of the glorious triumphthat awaited them close at hand.

  The last day dawned, and the camp was early astir. Breakfast washastily eaten, the small amount of boat packing attended to, and afterthat a start was made.

  To-day the paddles were seldom idle. Spurred on by the hope of reachingtheir goal before darkness again intervened, the men were only toowilling to work their passage. The swift current might be very wellunder ordinary conditions, but on this particular day it proved alltoo slow for their eager hearts.

  They glimpsed Indians several times, but, strange to say, none of themmanifested the antagonistic manner of those they had seen earlier intheir trip down the Lewis and the Columbia rivers.

  Roger, who had noticed the change in the demeanor of the natives,wondered what was the cause of it, and as usual applied to Dick for hisopinion.

  "They are of the same tribe," he remarked, "for by now I know the FlatHead way of wearing feathers in their scalp-locks. But they seem now tobe afraid of us, for those in that dugout paddled frantically for theshore; and never an arrow comes our way now. Can you make it out, Dick?"

  "The only thing I can think of," Dick replied, "is that word has beensent out everywhere that the 'paleface people' in the hide canoes areunder the protection of Manitou, and that no harm must be done to them."

  "Well," observed Roger, with a happy smile, "if we're going to beguarded by the Indian Manitou all winter, we needn't be afraid ofanything. When you come to think of it, Dick, that landslide was thegreatest thing that ever happened to us. It held back just long enoughto let us pass, and then swallowed our enemies up."

  Noon came and went.

  The men were so eager now they hardly wished to land to have somethingto eat, though Captain Lewis insisted on it, for he knew they needed arest.

  Slowly the long afternoon passed, and, constantly on the move, thecanoes swept along the current, urged by the muscles that seemednever to tire. Hope fought with a growing disappointment. Were theythen, after all, to be cheated out of the anticipated triumph theyhad arranged for that night? Perish the thought! and, with that, thepaddlers would dip deeper, and run a race to see which could hold thevan.

  The sun sank lower and lower, and every eye watched its race withalmost the same anxiety as was shown when, centuries back, Joshuacommanded the heavenly luminary to stand still in order that his armymight wholly destroy the Philistines.

  Dick and Roger concluded that, unless something happened inside ofanother hour, they would have to give up all hope of seeing the gladsight that day.

  "We are about to turn a bend in the bank right below," Dick told Roger,"and, if all is well, perhaps we may see what we are yearning to lookupon."

  All possible speed was made in order to turn the point of land coveredwith trees, that jutted out into the river. Then from every throatarose a joyous shout that made the echoes ring. It was the very firstwhite man's hurrah that was ever heard on the western side of the greatAmerican continent, north of the isthmus, since time began.

  There lay the mouth of the Columbia River, and, looking beyond, theycould see the boundless expanse of the Pacific, with the sun, that hadbeckoned them on all these thousands of miles, setting in a red blazeof glory.