Mass' George Part 8

I was silent again, and sat watching and listening as sound after sound struck my ear, making it seem that the wilds had never been so full before of strange noises, though the fact was that nothing was unusual except that I did not realise that I had never been in danger before, and sat up to listen.

All at once I jumped and uttered a cry, for something had touched me.

"Hush! Don't make a noise," said a familiar voice. "I only wanted to know whether you could make out anything."

"No, father. Only the frogs and alligators are barking and bellowing."

"Can't see any sign of Indians, nor any red light from over toward the settlement?"

"No, father."

"No, sir. All's quiet," said Morgan.

"It isn't, father," I whispered. "I never heard so much noise from out by the river before. There, hark!"

We all listened in silence as a loud bellowing sound came from a distance.

"There!" I whispered, in awe-stricken tones.

"Only one of the reptiles by the stream," said my father, quietly.

"But don't you think it's because some one is there?"

"No; certainly not. Keep a sharp look-out on both sides, Morgan, and warn me if you see the slightest movement, for it may be a crawling, lurking Indian."

"We'll keep a good look-out, sir, never fear," said Morgan, and we resumed our watch--if watch it could be called, where we were more dependent upon our ears than upon our eyes.

Morgan was very silent and thoughtful till I spoke to him.

"What did my father mean about the red glare over at the settlement?"

"Hah!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, and he was again silent for a minute or two. Then in a quick whisper, "I was just thinking about that, Master George, when you spoke, and that it was the enemy we had to fear the most."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Fire, my lad, fire. I dare say that with our guns and swords we may keep them off; but that's how they'll get the better of us."

"By fire?"

"Yes; they'll get something blazing up against the house, and the moment it catches fire it's all over with us."

"What! Set fire to the house?"

"Yes, Master George, that's what your father's afraid of. No; I'm wrong there. I was at the wars with him, and I never saw him afraid--not even to-day. Takes a bold man to come out of his fort and go up to the enemy as he did--twelve to one--expecting every moment a crack from a tomahawk. He hasn't got any fear in him; but he thinks about the fire all the same. Now then, don't talk, but keep a sharp look-out, or they may steal on to us without our seeing them."

All this was said in a low whisper as we tried to keep a good look-out from the little trellised dormers; and the minutes stole on and became hours, with the darkness seeming to increase till about midnight. Then all looked darker, when Morgan pressed my arm, and I gave, a violent start.

"'Sleep, sir?"

"I? Asleep? No! Yes; I'm afraid I must have been," I said, feeling the colour come burning into my face.

"Look yonder," he whispered.

I looked from the grating and saw that, all at once, as it appeared to me, the tops of the trees were visible out to the east, and it grew plainer and plainer as I watched.

"Moon's getting very old, Master George," whispered Morgan, "but yonder she comes up."

"Then it will soon be light."

"No; but not so dark."

"Then the Indians won't come now?" I said eagerly.

"I don't know much about them, Master George, but from what I've heard say from those who do, Indians always comes when they're not expected, and if you're to be ready for them you must always be on the watch."

The overpowering sense of sleep which had made me lose consciousness for a few minutes ceased to trouble me now, and I stood watching eagerly for the time when the moon would rise above the trees, and send its light across the clearing in front of the house. I waited anxiously, for there had been the lurking dread that the Indians might creep up to the garden through the darkness, unseen, and perhaps strike at my father down below before he could be on his guard.

Once the moon was up, I felt that we should have light till daybreak, and with that light a good deal of the shivering dread caused by the darkness would pa.s.s away.

It was a long, very long while before the moon reached the tops of the trees, but when it did, the clearing and the gardens seemed to have been transformed. Long shadows, black as velvet, stretched right away, and trees were distorted so that I felt as if I was dreaming of seeing a garden upon which I had never set eyes before.

At last, almost imperceptibly, the moon, well on to its last quarter, appeared above the edge of the forest, and I was in the act of drawing myself back with a feeling of satisfaction that all was safe, when I saw something dark lying close to the shadow cast by a tree.

"Would Indians lie down and crawl?" I whispered.

"More likely to than walk, if all I hear's true, Master George."

"Then look there!" I whispered, as I pointed to the dark, shadowy figure.

"Where, lad? I can't see anything."

"There; just at the edge of that long, stretched-out shadow."

Morgan drew in his breath with a faint hiss.

"It's moving--_he's_ moving," he whispered; "crawling right along to get round to the back, I should say. And look, sir, look!--another of 'em."

I just caught sight of the second figure, and then crept to the rough trap-door opening.

"Father," I whispered, "come up here. Bring a gun."

He was beneath the opening in a moment.

"Take hold of the gun," he said. "Mind!--be careful"--and he pa.s.sed the heavy weapon up to me.

The next moment he was up in the rough loft, and I pointed out the figures of the Indians.

I heard him too draw in his breath with a faint hiss, as he stretched out his hand for the gun, took it, softly pa.s.sed the barrel out through the open window and took aim, while I stood suffering from a nervous thrill that was painful in the extreme, for I knew that when he fired it must mean death.