CHAPTER X
THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE
When Paul awoke the others were munching the usual breakfast of driedvenison, and Henry handed him a piece, which he ate voraciously. Henry wassitting on the ground, with his back against a fallen log, and he regardedPaul contemplatively.
"Paul," he said, in the dryest possible tones, "I don't see how you couldhave been so hard-hearted."
Paul looked at him, startled. "Why, what do you mean?"
"To tear yourself away, as you did, from a loving father and mother. Why,Sol, here, tells me that you actually threw your mother from you."
"Truth, Gospel truth," put in Shif'less Sol. "I never seen sech a cruel,keerless person. He gives her jest one fling into the south, an' then hebolts off into the north, like an arrow out o' the bow. I follows himlickety-split to bring him back, but he runs so fast I can't ketch him."
Paul smiled.
"I've one father and mother already," he said, "and so I have no use fortwo. Rather than cause embarrassment, I came away as quickly as I could."
"You did come fast," said Henry dryly.
"It was mighty fine of all of you to come after me," said Paul earnestly,"and to risk your lives to save me from the Shawnees. But I knew you'd doit."
"Uv course," said Tom Ross simply. "The rest uv our party would hev come,too, but they were needed back thar in Kentucky. Besides, we could spare'em, ez it took cunnin' an' not numbers to do what we had to do."
"What's our next step?" asked Paul, who was in the highest of spirits--hisimagination, with its usual vivid rebound, now painted everything inglowing colors.
"We are going northward," said Henry.
"Northward?"
"Yes, it's necessary. There's some great movement on foot among thetribes. It's not the Shawnees alone, but the Miamis and Wyandots andothers as well, though the Shawnees are leaders. War belts are passingbetween all the tribes, and we think they are joining together to destroyall the white settlements in Kentucky."
"An' some renegades are helpin' 'em," said Tom Ross. "They may hev betterluck than they did when they attacked Wareville."
"Yes, an' there's Braxton Wyatt," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully, "He'scunnin' an' revengeful, an' he'll do us a power o' harm. Paul, you oughtto a-let me put a knife in atween his ribs when I had the chance. I mighta-saved some good lives an' a power o' sufferin'."
Paul did not reply, but he was not sorry that he had interfered. He couldnot see a bound youth killed.
"I think we'd better be goin' now," said Tom Ross. "We've got to keep tothe north, to throw the Shawnees off the track, an' then we'll come backan' spy on 'em."
"An' me with only ten hours o' rest got to git up an' start to runnin'ag'in," said Shif'less Sol plaintively.
"Wa'al, no, you needn't run," said Tom Ross, grinning. "You can jest walkfor about forty hours without stoppin'!"
Shif'less Sol heaved a deep sigh, but made ready. Jim Hart undoubledhimself, cracked his joints, and said deliberately:
"Ef I wuz ez lazy ez Shif'less Sol Hyde, I'd a-stayed back thar in theEast, whar a feller might jest sleep hisself to death, an' no Injuns totorment him."
"Ef I wuz es mean an' onchristian ez Jim Hart, I'd go an' join BraxtonWyatt an' become a renegade myself," rejoined Shif'less Sol.
Paul smiled. He enjoyed the little spats of Sol and Jim, but he knew thatthe two were as true as steel, and the best of friends to each other.Moreover, he was about to take up again the mission which Fate seemed soconstantly to interrupt. The scene of action had been shifted to the greatnorthern woods, and it now seemed to Paul that perhaps Fortune had beenkind in bringing him there. If a league of the tribes were being attemptedfor a new attack upon the settlements, the powder for Marlowe might wellrest, for the present, in its hiding-place in the woods, while hiscomrades and he undertook more important action elsewhere.
Before they started, Henry and Ross took stock of their ammunition, ofwhich they had a plentiful supply, replenished more than once from theirenemies, and also gave an abundance to Paul. The extra rifle given to him,one of those taken from the two warriors that Henry had slain, was a fineweapon, carrying far and true, and he was perfectly satisfied with it.
Then they started, and they traveled all day northward, through a finerolling country, with little prairies and great quantities of game. It wasfully equal to Kentucky, but Paul knew they were in the heart of thechosen home of the northern Indians, and it behooved them to be cautious.But there were no signs of pursuit, and they went on all day undisturbed.
Late in the afternoon they entered a dense forest, and walked through itabout two hours, when Paul saw an opening among the trees. It was a greatflash of silver that all at once greeted his eyes. But as he looked itturned to gold under the late sun.
"Another of those little prairies," he said.
Henry laughed.
"No, Paul," he said, "that's not a prairie. The sun and the sky togetherhave fooled you. It's a lake, and we're going to live in it for a littlewhile."
"A lake," echoed Paul, "and we're going to live in it? Come on, I want tosee it!"
Kentucky was not a country of lakes, and Paul did not know much aboutthem. Hence, as he hastened forward, he was thinking more of the lakeitself than of Henry's somewhat enigmatic words, "We're going to live init."
They soon reached its margin, and Paul uttered a little cry of delight. Itwas a splendid sheet of water, shaped like a half moon, seven miles long,perhaps, and two miles across at the center. But at the widest part stooda gem of a wooded island, covered with giant trees. High hills, clothedwith magnificent forest, rose all around the lake.
The beauty of the scene penetrated the souls of all. Uneducated men likeShif'less Sol and Jim Hart felt it as well as Paul. The five stood insilence, gazing at the lake and the gem of a wooded island. The light fromthe sinking sun gleamed in red and gold flame across the silver waters,and on the wooded island the boughs of the trees seemed to be touched withfire.
"That's where we are to stay," said Henry, pointing to the little island."No Indian will ever trouble us there."
"Why?" asked Paul, looking at him questioningly.
"Wait and you'll see," replied Henry.
Henry led the way along the shore, and from a dense thicket at the water'sedge he took a light canoe.
"I captured this once," he said; "brought it across the woods and hid ithere, thinking it might be useful some day, and now you see I am right.Get in! Light as it is, it will hold us all."
Henry and Ross took the paddles, and they pushed out into the lake.Shif'less Sol uttered a long and deep sigh of satisfaction.
"Now, this jest suits a tired man," he said. "Henry, you an' Tom canpaddle jest ez long ez you please. I'd like to do all my travelin' thisway."
"An' you'd get so lazy you'd want somebody to come an' feed you with aspoon," said Jim Hart.
"An' it would jest suit me to have you do it. That's jest the kind uv ajob you're fit fur, Jim Hart."
"Shet up, you two," said Ross. "You hurt my ears, a-buzzin' an'a-buzzin'."
Shif'less Sol sank back a little and closed his eyes. An expression ofheavenly luxury and ease came over his face, but it could not last longbecause in a few minutes the boat reached the wooded island. Shif'less Solopened his eyes, to find that the sun was almost gone, and that theshadows had come among the great trees.
"Cur'us kind o' place," he said. "Gives me a sort o' shiver."
Paul had felt the same sensation, but he said nothing. Before them lay thelittle island, a solid, black blot, its trees blended together, and behindthem the lake shone somberly in the growing darkness.
"All out!" said Henry cheerfully. "This is home for a while, and we needrest."
They sprang upon the narrow beach, and Henry and Ross dragged the canoeinto some thick bushes, where they hid it artfully. Paul meanwhile waslooking about him, and trying to keep down the ghostly feeling that wouldassail him at times. The island, so far as he could judge, was perhaps twohun
dred yards long, half as broad, and thickly covered with forest. But hecould see nothing of the interior.
"Come," said Henry Ware, in the same tone of cheerful confidence, as heled the way.
The others followed, stepping lightly among the great tree trunks, andHenry did not stop until he came to a small, open space in the very centerof the island, where a spring bubbled up among some rocks, and flowed awayin a tiny brook in a narrow channel to the lake. The open space was almostcircular, and the great trees grew so thickly around that they looked likea wall.
"Here is the place to rest," said Henry. "There is no need for anybody towatch."
They lay down upon the ground, disposing themselves on the softest spotsthat they could find. Paul stared up for a few moments at the greatcircular wall of trees, and the weird, chilly sensation came again, but hewas too tired and sleepy to think about it long. In fifteen minutes heslumbered soundly, and so did all the others. They lay with their facesshowing but faintly in the dusk, and as they lay in the sheltered cove asoft wind breathed gently over them.
All were up early in the morning, and Paul was surprised to see Henrylighting a fire with flint and steel.
"Why do you do that, Henry?" he said. "Will not the smoke give warning toour enemies that we are here?"
"We shall send up but little smoke," replied Henry; "but if they shouldsee it, they will not come."
He went on with the fire, and Paul, although mystified, would not askanything more, too proud to show ignorance, and confident that anyhow hewould soon learn the cause of these strange proceedings. The fire waslighted, and burned brightly, but cast off little smoke. Then Henry turnedto Paul.
"Let's go up to the north end of the island," he said.
It was a walk of but a few minutes, and Henry, stopping before theyreached the margin of the lake, said:
"Look up, Paul!"
Paul did so, and saw many dark objects in the forks of trees about him, ortied to the boughs. They looked like shapeless bundles, and he did notknow what they were.
"A burying ground," said Henry, in answer to his inquiring look.
Paul felt the same weird little shiver that had assailed him the nightbefore.
"A burying ground!"
"Yes, but by some old, old tribe before the Shawnees or Miamis. What yousee are only bundles of sticks and skeletons. No bodies have been lefthere in a long time, and the Indians think the island is haunted by theghosts of those who died and were left here long, long ago. That is why weneeded to keep no watch last night. I discovered this place on a huntingtrip, and I've always kept it in mind.
"Let's go back," said Paul, who did not like to look at this buryingground in the air.
Henry laughed a little, but he did willingly as Paul requested, and whenthey returned to the fire they found that Jim Hart, falling easily intohis natural position, had already cooked the venison. Paul's spirits atonce went up with a bound. The bright fire, the pleasant odor of thevenison, the cheerful faces of his comrades, and assured safety appealedto his vivid imagination, and made the blood leap in a sparkling torrentthrough his veins.
"Graveyard or no graveyard, I'm glad I'm here," he said energetically.
They laughed, and Shif'less Sol, who, as usual, had found the softestplace and had stretched himself upon it, said, with drawling emphasis:
"You're mighty right, Paul, an' I'm a'gin' movin' from here afore coldweather comes. I'm pow'ful comf'table."
"If you don't git up an' stir aroun', how do you expect to eat?" said JimHart indignantly. "We ain't got venison enough for more'n ten more meals."
"Henry an' Tom will shoot it, an' you'll cook it fur me," said Solcomplacently.
Jim Hart growled, but Henry and Ross were already discussing this questionof a food supply, and Paul listened.
"The Indians don't come about the lake much," said Henry, "and it will beeasy enough to find deer, but we must hunt at night. We mustn't let thesavages see us, as it might break the island's spell."
"We'll take the canoe and go out to-night," said Ross.
"And this lake ought to be full of fish," said Paul. "We might draw on it,too, for a food supply."
"Looks likely," said Ross. "But we'd best not try that, either, tilldusk."
But they worked in the course of the day at the manufacture of their rudefishing tackle, constructed chiefly of their clothing, the hooks beingnothing more than a rough sort of pin bent to the right shape. This done,they spent the rest of the day in loafing and lolling about, although Paultook a half hour for the thorough exploration of the island, whichpresented no unusual features beyond those that he had already seen. Afterthat he came back to the little cove and luxuriated, as the others weredoing. It was the keenest sort of joy now just to rest, to lie at one'sease, and to feel the freedom from danger. The old burying ground was abetter guard about them than a thousand men.
But when night came, Henry and Ross took out the canoe again, and Paulasked to go with them.
"All right," said Henry, "you come with us, and Sol, you and Jim Hart cando the fishing and the quarreling, with nobody to bother you."
"Jest my luck," said Shif'less Sol, "to be left on a desert island with anornery cuss like Jim Hart."
Henry, setting the paddle against the bank, gave the canoe a great shove,and it shot far out into the lake. Paul looked back. Already their islandwas the solid dark blot it had been the night before, while the watersmoved darkly under a light, northern wind.
"Sit very quiet, Paul," said Henry. "Tom and I will do the paddling."
Paul was more than content to obey, and he remained very still while theother two, with long, sweeping strokes, sent the canoe toward a pointwhere the enclosing bank was lowest.
"Don't you think we'd better stay in the boat, Henry?" said Ross.
"Yes; game must be thick hereabouts, and if we wait long enough we're sureto find a deer coming down to drink."
They cruised for a while along the shore, keeping well in the darkestshadow until they reached a point where the keen eyes of Henry Ware saw,despite the darkness, that many hoofs had trampled.
"This is a favorite drinking place," he said. "Back us into those bushes,Tom, and we'll wait."
Ross pushed the canoe into some bushes until it was hidden, though theoccupants could see through the leaves whatever might come to the water todrink, and they took up their rifles. They lay a little to the north ofthe drinking place, and the wind blew from the south.
"I don't think we'll have to wait long," said Henry.
Then they remained absolutely silent, but within fifteen minutes theyheard a heavy trampling in the woods. It steadily grew louder, and wasmingled with snortings and puffings. Whatever animal made it--and it wasundoubtedly a big one--was coming toward them. Paul was filled withcuriosity, but he knew too much to do more just now than breathe.
A huge bull buffalo stumbled from the trees to the edge of the lake, wherethe moonlight had just begun to come. He was a monstrous fellow, and Paulknew by his snapping red eyes that he was in no good humor. Henry shookhis head to indicate that he was no game for them, and Paul understood.Whatever they killed they intended to put in the canoe, and then clean anddress it on the island. The angry monster, an outcast from some herd, wassafe.
The buffalo drank, puffing and snorting between drinks, and then stampedhis way back into the forest. Still the hunters waited in ambush. Someother animal, with a long, sinuous body, crept down to the margin andlapped the water. Paul did not know what it was, and he could not breakthe silence to ask the others; but after drinking for a few minutes itdrew its long, lithe body back through the undergrowth, and passed out ofsight. Then nothing came for a while, because this was a ferocious beastof prey, and to the harmless creatures of the wilderness the air about thedrinking place was filled for a space with poison.
But as the wind continued to blow lightly from the south, the dread odorpassed away and the air became pure and fresh again. Back in the deeps ofthe forest the timid creatures found courag
e once more, and they creptdown to the water's edge to slake their thirst. But they were small, andthe ambushed marksmen in the boat still waited, silent and motionless.Paul saw them sometimes, and sometimes he did not. Then his eyes wouldwander to the surface of the lake, now pale, heaving silver in themoonlight, and to the wall of black forest that circled it round.
A heavier step came again, and a light puff! puff! Paul knew now that agreat animal was approaching, and that the timid little ones would give itroom. He looked with all his eyes, and a magnificent stag stepped into themoonlight, antlers erect, waiting and listening for a moment before hebowed his head to drink. Paul almost leaped up in the boat as a riflecracked beside him, and he saw the stag spring into the air and fall dead,with his feet in the water.
Henry and Ross promptly shoved the boat from the bushes, and the three ofthem lifted the body into it, disposing it in the center with infinitecare. Then, with food enough to last for days, they rowed back across thelake to the haunted island. Shif'less Sol and Jim Hart, with their rudetackle, had succeeded in catching four fish, of a species unknown to Paul,but large and to all appearances succulent.
"We'll eat the fish to-morrow, because they won't keep," said Sol, "butJim Hart here kin jerk the venison. It will give him somethin' to do, an'Jim is a sight better off when he has to work. He ain't got no time furfoolishness."
"An' you can tan its hide," growled Jim Hart, "although your own needstannin' most."
A few minutes later the two were amicably dressing the body of the stag,but Paul was already asleep. He assisted the next morning at a conference,and then he learned what Henry and Ross intended to do. The powder forMarlowe, as Paul had surmised, must be left for the present in its hiddenplace while they spied upon the great northern confederacy, now beingformed for the destruction of the white settlements, and they would dowhat they could to impede it. Henry, Ross, and Sol would leave that nighton an expedition of discovery, while Paul and Jim Hart held the hauntedisland. Paul, in this case, did not object to being left behind, becausehe had, for the present at least, enough of danger, and he knew that hewas better suited to other tasks than the one on which the three greatwoodsmen were now departing.
Jim Hart was to row them over to the mainland, and they were to signaltheir return with three plaintive, long-drawn cries of the whip-poor-will.They departed at the first coming of the dusk with short good-bys, leavingPaul alone on the island. He stood near the margin under the foliage of agreat beech and watched them go. The boat, as it left a trailing wake ofmelting silver, became a small black dot at the farther shore, and thenvanished.
Paul turned back toward the center of his island, inexpressibly lonely forthe while. Again he was a solitary being in the vast, encirclingwilderness, and, in feeling at least, no one was nearer than a thousandmiles away. He walked as swiftly as he could to the cove, where the supperfire still smoldered, and he sought companionship in the light and warmththat came from the bed of coals. No amount of hardship, no amount ofexperience could change Paul's vivid temperament, so responsive to theinfluences of time and place. He sat there, his knees drawn up to hischin, and the ring of darkness came closer and closer; but out of itpresently arose the tread of footsteps, and all the brightness andcheeriness returned at once to the boy's face.
Jim Hart walked into the rim of the firelight, and his long, thin,saplinglike figure looked very consoling to Paul. He doubled into hisusual jackknife formation and, sitting down by the fire, looked into thecoals.
"Well, Paul," he said, "I've seen 'em off, an' a-tween you and me, I'drather be right here on this here haunted islan', a-hobnobbin' with Injunghosts an' havin' a good, comfortable, easy time, than be dodgin' braves,an' feelin' every minute to see ef my scalp is on out thar among the Injunvillages."
"You don't think they'll be taken?" asked Paul, in some alarm.
Long Jim Hart laughed scornfully.
"Them fellers be took?" he said. "Why, they are the best three woodsmen inNorth Ameriky, an', fur that, in the hull world. Nobody can take 'em, an'if they wuz took, nobody could hold 'em. You could have Henry Ware tied tothe stake, with fifty Shawnees holdin' him an' a thousand more standin'aroun', an' he'd get away, certain sure."
Paul smiled. It was an extravagant statement, but it restored hisconfidence.
"And meanwhile we are safe here, protected by ghosts," he said. "Do youbelieve in ghosts, Jim?"
Jim Hart looked up at the black rim of the forest, and then edged a littlecloser to the fire.
"No, I don't," he said, "but sometimes I'm afeard of 'em, jest the same."
Paul laughed.
"That's about the way I feel, too," he said, "but they're mighty handyjust now, Jim. They're keeping us safe on this island. You won't denythat?"
"No, I won't," said Jim; "but at night time I'm goin' to leave 'em all bythemselves in the trees over at their end uv of the island."
"So am I," said Paul; and ten minutes later both were sound asleep.
The Forest Runners: A Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky Page 10