CHAPTER XI
A PRIMITIVE FORT
The sharp repulse of the Indians delayed rush which, as has beensaid, could ended only in the discomfiture of the defenders. Theoccurrence proved that the first warriors to scale the walls werecertain to share the fate of him who had already made the attempt.
With such knowledge it would be unnatural to expect any Shawanoe orMiami to throw himself into the breach, since, as a rule, men arenot anxious to sacrifice themselves for others.
The brief respite thus afforded Jack and Otto enabled them to make acloser survey of the shelter which had presented itself soprovidentially to them. They found little not apparent to theirterrified gaze when they scrambled within. There were the fourwalls and nothing more. With that morbid interest in triflingthings which often manifests itself in the most critical moments,Otto counted the logs on each of the four sides.
"Dere be nine dere," said he, indicating the western side, "tendere, and nine and ten on de other sides."
"That must be right," remarked Jack, "for I make them the same."
"Tis funny dat we bofe counts dem at de same tine, when each one isnot doing it togedder."
The only entrance to the enclosure, as it seems proper to call it,was the one used by the boys. Nothing to suggest a door, or anypurpose of making one, was to be seen on any side of the walls.
It was not impossible that some hunters, who had encamped in thevicinity, had started the structure with the intention of roofing itover, and of providing some original means of ingress and egresswhich was not apparent to the little garrison.
Convinced that they would not be disturbed for some time to come,Jack hastily searched for loopholes, with which it would seem thestructure ought to have been provided, but nothing of the kind wasdiscovered.
Whoever had hewn and put together the logs, had done so withadmirable skill. The gaps in the ends had been cut with a nicetythat made a perfect fit in every case. Had the house beencompleted, it certainly would have been a substantial one.
While the absence of loop-holes removed to a great extent the fearof treacherous shots from the outside, yet in another respect it wasan annoyance. The boys could see nothing of their assailants. Thesense of hearing and conjecture itself were all that were left toinform them of what was going on so near them.
It was not to be supposed that the Indians, after driving the youthsinto shelter, would leave them undisturbed. The death of one oftheir warriors was enough to rouse the passion of revenge to thehighest point--a necessity which, as shown by the incidents alreadynarrated, did not exist.
When Jack and Otto were given a little time for reflection, theywere forced to see that their situation was hopeless. Everyadvantage was with their enemies, who, if they chose to savethemselves the risk of a determined assault, had only to wait.Without food or water, with no means of leaving the place, the hourmust surely come when exhausted nature would compel this littlegarrison to yield.
The boy's were many miles from the settlements on either side of theriver, and there was no means of sending word to their friends ofthe dire strait in which they were placed. Even could such messagereach Coatesville, or the cabins on the other side of theMississippi, several days must necessarily elapse before assistancecould arrive.
Jack Carleton's thoughts naturally turned to Deerfoot the Shawanoe.He had heard so many stories of his wonderful woodcraft and skillthat he leaned upon him, when he was present to lean upon; but,hopeful as was the nature of the young Kentuckian, he could gatherno crumbs of comfort in that direction.
Deerfoot had crossed the river in the Miami canoe, and could not beexpected to return until under cover of darkness. Even then he mustbe powerless. There are limits to all human skill, and what greaterfolly than to expect him to release two boys, shut in a logenclosure, and surrounded by a score or less of vigilant Indianwarriors.
But it was not the nature of either Jack or Otto, to yield without astruggle. So long as they could fight off the dread end, so longthey would put, forth every effort to do so.
For fifteen minutes after the discharge of gun absolute silenceprevailed. Not the slightest rustling told of the crouching savageswithout. The boys leaned against the logs of waited and listened.
During the interval, the young Kentuckian became filled withirresistible curiosity to learn what their enemies were doing. Itwas certain they were plotting mischief, but he could form no ideaof its nature.
How was he to gain the coveted knowledge? Manifestly there was butthe one way.
"Otto," he said in a low voice, "I'm going to climb up the logs andlook over."
"And got your head blown off, dot's vot you does!" exclaimed hishorrified friend.
"I'll come to that sooner or later any way," was the reply; "but I'mnot going to be shot; I'm not such a dunce as that; I mean to takeone glance over the logs, and will draw back so quickly that no onewill get a chance to shoot me."
Otto protested, but, seeing it was useless, gave over and made thesensible suggestion that, instead of climbing up the wall andthereby probably making known what he was doing, he should stand onthe shoulders of Otto. That would give him enough elevation, andthe lad added:
"If I sees any noise vot I don't like, den I drops you so quick dotyou vill bump the ground so hard dot it bulges out mit China on deother side."
At the very moment Jack made ready to avail himself of his friend'ssupport, they heard a movement on the part of the Indians, themeaning of which was not understood.
A number of them seemed to be moving heavily over the ground, asthough carrying some weighty body or marching in military step. Theboys listened closely, but it was impossible to tell what it meant.
The noise added to Jack's curiosity, and, leaning his gun againstthe logs, he said:
"Help me up, Otto; I'm bound to find out what all that is about."
It was an easy matter to mount the shoulders of his young friend,whose strength would have supported double his weight. Jack found,as he anticipated, that he would be able to look over the logswithout difficulty. Steadying himself by placing his hand againstthe wall, he slowly raised his head until almost on a level with thetop, when he quietly looked over.
No movement of the kind was expected by the Indians, and the facewas withdrawn before any one of them could fire.
Under such circumstances, a person can see a great deal in anexceedingly brief space of time. Jack Carleton learned much aboutthat which had excited his curiosity.
Inasmuch as the walls had been put up from material cut in theimmediate vicinity, a number of stumps surrounded the structure,beside which a single unused log was lying. It had been cutentirely off at the base, several of the lower limbs trimmed, butmost of the bushy top remained. It looked as if the builders hadbeen interrupted while at work, or they had voluntarily abandoned itfor something else.
Some six or eight warriors had lifted this log from the ground andwere laboriously hearing it In the direction of the fort (if thename can be permitted). Others were moving hither and thither, asthough they enjoyed viewing the job more than assisting with it.One of them caught sight of the face of the young Kentuckian andbrought his gun to his shoulder; but, quick as he was, he was just amoment too late. When he was ready to fire, the target was gone.
"They're going to batter down the logs!" exclaimed Jack, droppinglightly to the ground, and taking possession of his gun; "they'recarrying a log toward us, and mean to hammer these down about ourheads."
"What for they don't want to do dot?"
"It seems to me it would be a good plan for them to tumble our houseabout our heads."
"I don't dink they doos dots," persisted the German, and he provedto be right in his surmise.
With great labor the warriors bore the heavy tree forward, so thatthe larger end was against the side of the fort. Then, instead ofusing it as a battering ram, they lifted it higher until, with anexertion that must have been very great, it was raised even with thelog wall. A combined
effort rested the butt on the support, thetrunk sloping downward, until the top reached the ground, probablythirty feet away.
As the butt was a foot in diameter, it will be seen that the workmust have been very onerous to the American Indian, who hatesphysical labor as much as does the tramp of modern times.
Having accomplished what must be admitted to be quite a feat, thetoilers rested, while the boys looked up at the jagged end on thelogs, suggesting the head of some monster peering down upon them,and speculated as to the meaning of the movement.
"Dot is so to help dem climbs to de top," said Otto, "or maybe theywill runs him across and play I see-saw.'
"It is to cover up some mischief on their part."
"If we only knowed when dey don't stands right under him, we wouldshove off de end off and let him drop onto dem and mash 'em all!"
"It would take a good deal more strength than we have to do that,"said Jack. "I would like to take another peep over the edge, but itwon't do, because they will be on the lookout for us."
"Dot's vot I didn't dink some times ago," maid Otto, meaning alittle different from what his words implied.
It was yet early in the day, and the boys could not but feel thatthe crisis was sure to come long before night. The temperature wasmild and pleasant, no clouds floating in the space of clear skyvisible overhead. The friends kept their loaded and cocked guns intheir hands all the while and moved to and fro, in the circumscribedspace, on the alert for the first demonstration from the red men,distressed by the consciousness that their cunning enemies were sureto do the very thing which was least expected.
Jack Carleton noticed that whenever he stood with his back againstthe logs, he could see the upper portions of the trees which grewclose to the structure. It occurred to him that some of the daringwarriors were liable to turn the fact to account. It would take nogreat skill for one or two of them to climb into the limbs, fromwhich they would command a portion of the interior. No betteropportunity could be asked--in case they were not discovered by thelads--to fire down upon them.
"I've been dinking of dot," replied Otto, when the matter wasmentioned; "and I dinks dot iss de tree yonder, and py gracious dereis an Indian 'mong de limbs!"
This startling declaration was the truth. The friends were standingat the eastern end of the structure, so that they looked in thedirection of the river, where towered a bushy oak, fully twenty feetof the upper portion being in sight. Something was among thebranches, though the object could not be seen distinctly. Fortunateit was that both were gazing toward the point when their suspicionwas first awakened.
"Yes, it is an Indian, as sure as I live!" added Jack, in an excitedmanner. "Rash fool! He has sealed his fate, for I couldn't want afairer target. Leave him to me!"
"All right; I leaves him!"
The young Kentuckian was sure of his man, even though he was onlypartially revealed, when the rifle was pointed. He took carefulaim, but while in the act of pressing the trigger, he lowered theweapon, with the whispered exclamation.
"Great heavens! It is Deerfoot the Shawanoe!"
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