Adventures Among the Red Indians Part 15

"Packing up. I'm off for the Columbia River to-morrow, salmon-fishing.

You'd better come and make a sixth; I'm travelling with four Canadian chaps; everything's arranged: horses, waggons, mules, stores, and even a redskin guide."

There was no resisting such a temptation, especially as c.o.ke had never been farther west than Kansas City, had only caught salmon in Norway and Scotland, had never seen a bison or a grisly except in a show, and had never met with any Indians who were not perfectly respectable and law-abiding. Therefore he never dreamt of hesitating, but hastened away to make a few necessary purchases, and, the next morning, presented himself at his friends' inn, where he found nine mules, eight riding-horses, and two waggons drawn up, and his friend's valet vainly endeavouring to get into conversation with a particularly morose-looking Indian who sat on the front-board of one of the waggons.

The early days of the journey were occupied by the sportsmen, as such days generally are, in getting to know one another and in settling down to a novel mode of life. The young Canadians were the sons of a wealthy stock-breeder and were taking a year's furlough in order to see the States; and no more valuable companions could have been found; for, if they were ignorant of the route, there was not much left for them to learn where prairie and forest life and the ways of Indians and wild beasts were concerned. For the first week or so the party managed each night to put up at some wayside inn or farm; but they no sooner came on to the wilds of Kansas than the mere aspect of the country was sufficient to tell them that they had probably bidden good-bye to eastern civilisation. The way that now lay before them, if seen from a balloon, would have looked like a gigantic staircase whose treads sloped slightly upwards and whose uprights were low, ragged-faced bluffs that seemed to hint at the advisability of abandoning the waggons as henceforth useless, and teaching the horses and mules to take flying ten-foot jumps. The guide, however, seemed fairly confident in his ability to find suitable inclines, and at least for some fifty miles they were able to follow a very rough track that was a guide in itself.

But the Indian--one of the Crow tribe--grew more sullen and silent and discontented as each new platform of ground was reached; so much so, that George Dumont, the eldest of the Canadians, who was perfectly familiar with the Siouan tongue, began to question him closely as to the cause of his grumbling demeanour.

"It is no use trying to go any farther," said the Crow moodily. "The next bluff is quite impa.s.sable."

"Then why didn't you say so before we left St. Louis?"

The Indian shelved the question. "And even if it were not, the country here is full of Comanches and p.a.w.nees and Shoshonees. Did I not warn you of _that_?"

"Oh, if that's all," said the Canadian, laughing, "don't frighten yourself. They won't hurt us."

The Indian shrugged his shoulders and said no more; but presently he stood up on the footboard and, attracting Dumont's attention, pointed triumphantly to a bluff about a furlong ahead, which had been hitherto concealed by a ridge of rising ground dotted with pine-trees. c.o.ke, who had been riding some way in advance with his friend, now hurried back to Dumont's side.

"What do you make of this?" he said, pointing to the bluff. "Fred's ridden off to the right to try and find a slope, and I'm just off the opposite way."

Dumont rode with him as far as the obstruction and examined it more carefully; it was a sheer precipice, twelve feet high.

"Right you are," he said. "Try and find a slope, and I'll wait here for the other fellows."

Two hours later the men met again; the two scouts had ridden ten miles along the cliff-foot either way, only to find that there was no spot where the waggons could possibly be raised. Meanwhile, two of the Dumonts had scooped footholds for themselves and climbed to the higher level, which they p.r.o.nounced to be a beautiful gra.s.s plain, studded with little conical hills; and by the aid of a telescope they had seen large herds of bison going on ahead towards the Platte River.

"Then we must go on," said c.o.ke, "even if we have to haul the waggons after us, or cut a roadway."

The others were of the same mind, but the sun had just set, and whatever their plans might be, they would have to stand over till to-morrow. The fire was lit and all were sitting down to supper when someone asked:

"Where's the redskin?"

The redskin had gone, bag and baggage (someone else's baggage).

"Why, he's collared your new gun, c.o.ke," shouted Fred, who had jumped up into the waggon in which the Indian had ridden and was making a hurried search, "And--whew! my little valise as well."

The gun was a large-bore rifle of a new pattern, which c.o.ke had only obtained with difficulty at the last moment; but even this theft, annoying as it was, was of minor importance compared with the disappearance of the valise, which contained all such maps and charts as its owner had been able to procure, some money, and his letters of introduction to people in Washington and across the boundary.

"Mounted or on foot?" asked Paul Dumont, the youngest of the brothers.

"Horses and mules all here, sir," reported the manservant after a brisk look round.

"Then come on, c.o.ke; up with you," said young Paul. "We'll have him,"

and taking the two best of the horses, they were soon galloping along the path by which they had come. In a few minutes they were past the ridge with its little belt of trees, beyond which all was plain sailing--or would have been if only the light could have lasted a little longer; for here was only a treeless, imperceptibly sloping plain where even an Indian could scarcely hope to conceal himself.

"Fellow must be a perfect a.s.s to think he could get away from us here," said c.o.ke. "There you are; there goes the gentleman."

A couple of miles ahead was a dark, moving dot, evidently the Indian trotting along at a good round pace.

"a.s.s enough to know that there's precious little twilight now, at any rate," said Paul ruefully, as he urged on his horse. "And there's no moon till after midnight."

They rode the next mile in silence, and, at the end of it, were no longer able to distinguish the fleeing figure with any degree of certainty. In another few minutes they were at the spot where they had first seen the Indian, but there was hardly enough light for even the keen-sighted Canadian to detect any trail.

"It's no use thinking of giving up," he said. "We must have the bag if we ride all night for it."

Again they spurred the horses to a gallop, peering all the while on either side of them; and in this manner they covered another few miles. Farther than this the Indian could not possibly have gone in the time.

"Better divide, and prowl round," said c.o.ke. "Fire a pistol if you see anything, and I'll do the same."

He rode away at a gentle trot, pausing now and then to listen. After half an hour of this he heard the pop of a pistol a good way behind him, yet distinct enough in the silent night air. Wheeling round, he looked steadily before him in the hope of seeing the flash of a second report. This came after a few seconds, and he at once responded to it.

But even before he saw the flash he had noticed something else of far more importance: a little glow of flame on the ground a few miles away, somewhere about in the direction which Dumont had started to follow. And now, coming towards him, was the steady thud of a horse's hoofs.

"That you, Paul?"

"Ay; come on," sounded from a mounted figure that was beginning to stand out indistinctly against the blue-black of the sky. The two young men were soon together again, and Dumont pointed towards the flame.

"Redskins. Thought I'd better come back and meet you first."

"How many?"

"I could make out three. They couldn't hear my shots with the wind this way; I didn't hear yours; only saw the flash. Now for a little bit of spying. Are you well loaded up?"

They were soon within a pistol-shot of the fire, in the light of which shone the bodies of three Indians, naked as far as the waist. The Englishman's heart beat with excitement, for as yet he had never been so close to Indians who were real savages. A few more steps and then the Indians, not to be taken altogether by surprise, sprang erect and stood with bowstrings stretched.

"p.a.w.nees, I think," said Dumont, reining up. He shouted some words in the Siouan dialect, and was answered by what seemed to c.o.ke merely a series of grunts.

Again the Canadian spoke, and on receiving a brief reply moved on again.

"Come on," he said triumphantly. "They've got him; they've got our man."

As the two white men, stiff and hungry, got down from their saddles, the p.a.w.nees advanced cautiously to meet them, their bows still bent.

Paul, however, made some masonic motions with his hands which were understood as meaning peace, and each returned his arrow to his quiver.

A conversation began which, to the Englishman, was very much worse than any Greek, and so gave him leisure to look about him. Now that his eyes had become accustomed to the glare of the fire, the first thing he saw clearly was the runaway guide, bound so tightly with thongs that the poor creature could not move an inch. Near him lay the stolen rifle and his friend's valise, the latter disgorging papers through an opening which had been slashed along one side of it.

Regardless of a murmur of protest from the savages, young Dumont picked up the gun and handed it to its owner, and having satisfied himself that none of the papers were missing, strapped the bag across his own shoulder.

"You must pay us for them," said the p.a.w.nees discontentedly.

"Yes, yes; all right. Come to our camp in the morning, and we'll give you what is reasonable. What do you propose doing with this man?"

"We shall take him to our camp."

"I'll swear you shan't," said Dumont in English; for he knew what sort of mercy a trespa.s.sing Crow might expect from the p.a.w.nees.

"Tell them we'll fight them or we'll buy the chap of them, which they like," said c.o.ke, when the position was explained to him.