Midnight Webs Part 32

Wahika started then, for a few yards below him he heard an agonising exclamation, and he leaped down just in time to throw himself upon Murray, as he was rising to hurry to what must have been instant death.

"No good--no good! Stop; and Wahika get tribe to come and--"

He stopped; but there was a strange look in his eye as he brandished his club, and then held the young man back amongst the leaves, for his strength was but feeble as compared with that of the savage.

"Wahika friend--tribe friends," he said after awhile, during which they had watched the convicts till they disappeared; and they were then about to return to the little ravine, when a low cry, as of some one in distress, smote upon their ears, apparently from the direction of the smouldering house, for they could not see it from where they stood.

There being apparently now no reason for concealment, the convicts being far up in a bend of the Gap, Murray slowly followed the savage down till they could peer through the leaves, when the former uttered a hearty "Thank heaven!" for, kneeling amongst the ashes, his face buried in his hands, and his whole frame shaken by the sobs which burst from his breast, was Mr Meadows, weeping like a child, and uttering disjointed words, as he mourned for the destruction that had come upon this peaceful home.

He did not hear their approach, for he was praying so fervently for those whom he had every reason to suppose dead, that Murray had stiffly knelt by his side and touched him ere he started to his feet; but only to kneel again and embrace his wounded companion as though he had been a son.

"Thank heaven! thank heaven!" he exclaimed fervently; "I thought you were there,"--and he pointed to the smouldering heap close by. "Has any one else escaped? Two of the women are there,"--and he pointed up the valley.

"And one is poor;"--Murray was too weak to overcome his emotion; he could not utter the name.

"I feared so--I feared so," sighed Mr Meadows. "And her mother? Safe?

Thank Providence! but let us get away from here; they may come back, and then there will be no mercy. Heaven bless you, my son!" he exclaimed fervently and gratefully to Wahika; for, seeing a gaping wound still bleeding upon the old man's forehead, he had soaked a piece of native mat in the spring hard by, and begun tenderly to bind it up.

"And you are a savage!" muttered Mr Meadows half to himself. "How can I preach to such as you, to leave your simple faith, when your white brethren do such deeds as these? No, no!" he cried; "not brethren, but the outcasts of our civilisation, let loose to raven and destroy.

Thanks, thanks, my son; heaven bless you! Let us go now, friend Murray, and see those who are saved."

The distance was but short; but, in pain from their injuries, they proceeded but slowly, Wahika stopping and looking back from time to time till they came up to him.

They had to pa.s.s the body of poor old Martin Lee; and here Mr Meadows paused, knelt down, took one stiffened hand, kissed it, and then softly replaced it by the old man's side.

"Cut down like the wheat, and gathered into the heavenly garner. A true, blunt, honest Englishman, and a dear friend, Edward Murray."

A tear or two fell upon the face of the inanimate form, as the old minister bent his head over him for a few moments, and then he rose.

"He looks at peace, friend Edward. Would that we could have saved him!

I am weak now," he said, wiping his eyes in a simple undisguised fashion; "but I do not see why I should feel ashamed. Let us go on."

It was a sad meeting between the widow and the clergyman; but there seemed no time for tears. Katie was in the hands of the convicts, and how was she to be saved?

There was little said that the savage could not comprehend, though he was not so ready at expressing himself; but he said simply, and with an earnestness which bespoke his feeling.

"Wahika go fetch bright flower back; but Wahika only one--men kill, and bright flower of Moa's Nest not saved."

"Yes," said Mr Meadows, "it would be madness to go alone; we must have help and strength. You, Edward Murray, must seek friends in one direction; and, with heaven's help, I will see poor Lee's wife into safety, and bring friends from elsewhere to fall upon the rear of these Philistines. Perhaps, too, our dark friend can bring up some aid.

Which way will you go, Murray?"

The young man gazed almost reproachfully in his face for a few moments; and then pointed up the valley, in the direction taken by the convicts.

Mr Meadows then turned to Wahika.

"And which way go you, friend?"

"Wahika go with white friend here," was the reply.

"Almost too daring to be of any avail," mused Mr Meadows. "Then it is to me alone falls the task of bringing up help."

They stayed that day in the little ravine, trying to recruit their strength. There was but little difficulty in securing some provisions, for the convicts had been prodigal in the midst of plenty, and there were tokens of their waste in all directions. There were the lowing unmilked kine too, asking to be relieved of their abundance, and eggs in plenty. A little search also placed weapons in the hands of Murray; but Mr Meadows declined to accept the gun offered him by Wahika.

"No," he said; "I dropped mine when I climbed through the window, and escaped through the outhouse, and I trust I may never have to take one again in hand. I shall not need it--at least, at present, for my duty is to retreat and summon aid."

That night a grave, hastily scooped out by Wahika, received the body of poor old Martin Lee; and an hour afterwards Mrs Lee was mounted upon Joey, who came from the field where he was grazing at his master's call, and accompanied by the savage and Edward Murray, Mr Meadows took hold of the bridle and led the way.

At the end of a few hundred yards, the track began to ascend the side of the valley, and Murray stopped.

"Send help as soon as you can, sir," he said; "and heaven speed you!"

"Heaven speed you too!" said the old man fervently. "It is a desperate hazard you go upon; but I dare not say stay. Break a branch once and again to show your track, and remember that you can do no more now than watch the enemy. You are weak and unable to cope with one, even; so bear in mind that your best way of helping her we love is by stratagem."

Murray took the cold hand of Mrs Lee, and tried in choking tones to say a word or two of comfort; but she rested the other hand upon his shoulder, and whispered the one word, "Katie!"

"Or death!" muttered Murray in an undertone, and they parted.

STORY THREE, CHAPTER ELEVEN.

IN PURSUIT.

Edward Murray knew well enough the truth of the old clergyman's remarks as he slowly followed Wahika back to the ruined farm, where the savage filled his pouch with such necessaries as he had collected together, intimating his wish that Murray should do the same; and then, once more, they started.

Wahika led, always smoothing the way for his companion; and he pounced from time to time, with every demonstration of satisfaction, upon some object of utility or provision that had been cast aside by the convicts on their march. Such as he could, he carried; the unnecessary things he concealed by the side of the track, taking every step forward with caution, lest too great a display of precipitancy should bring them suddenly upon the halting-place of their enemy.

At last Murray stumbled, and then fell heavily, for exhausted nature could do no more.

Wahika a.s.sisted him to a place that he had selected as secure; and then, in spite of Katie's peril, Nature would have her way, and for some hours, Edward Murray slept, to wake stiff and sore, but refreshed. The wound on his head, too, was not so painful; and he lay for a while in the darkness wondering how he should proceed. The only thing he could decide upon was that they should endeavour to find out the convicts'

plan, and then try, by stratagem, to deliver their prisoners.

He touched the savage upon the shoulder, and he was upon his feet in a moment, bringing food from his pouch, and milk from a bottle; and then, feeling stronger and more fit to encounter the dangers before him, the young man examined, and, for the first time, loaded his gun, the savage nodding approval.

He would then have proceeded, but for the more wary guide, who lifted his finger towards the dark tops of the mountains, above which the stars still glistened, and in his broken English pointed out the advisability of waiting for day.

And it was well that they waited; for within a mile of them, high up in an almost inaccessible rift in the mountain side, the convicts had made their camp, two of their number being left below to act as sentinels; and had Murray proceeded, the chances were that he must have fallen in with them, and perhaps have been taken by surprise.

But as day broke, the native led the way cautiously, till from certain signs he felt convinced that the enemy was near; and motioning Murray to wait, he glided on silently, returning in a short time to conduct the young man with the utmost caution to the side of a rift, when he started, for within fifty yards of him, coolly smoking and talking, sat a couple of the convicts.

His start did not pa.s.s unheard, and the men glanced in their direction; but Wahika had chosen a well-sheltered spot, and after a few minutes'

anxious peering about, they were apparently satisfied, and resumed their seats upon a block of stone.

A motion of the savage's hand made Murray draw back behind a dense ma.s.s of foliage; and then, from his knowledge of the country, intuitively guessing where the party would be, he led his companion for some distance back, and began climbing slowly up and up a way that seemed almost impracticable; the savage uttering more than one half-suppressed exclamation of surprise on finding that the vines and rope-like creepers were, in more than one place, broken away, as though some one had lately pa.s.sed in that direction; for he did not recall that, a few hours before, he had given an invaluable lesson to another in the art of scaling these natural fortresses. The marks though were unnoticed by Murray, who climbed on and on, till compelled to rest; and then once more on till they reached a point where they could creep to the edge of a precipice; and peering between the fern-leaves, gazed down into a cuplike chasm, where, to the number of twenty or so, the convicts were gathered, some eating, some smoking and drinking, and so near that their voices could be plainly heard.

The savage laughed his satisfaction at the success of his quest; and then, clutching his companion by the shoulder, drew him back behind a screen of foliage; for his quick ear had caught the sound of rustling branches, then a slip as of some one descending from above; a stone fell too, struck the shelf where they had stood but a moment before, rebounded, and plunged down into the leafy sea far beneath.

The savage grasped his club, and his eyes glistened, while the click-click of Murray's gunlock told that he too was prepared; but club and gun were lowered when, the next moment, the pale and scared face of Anthony Bray cautiously appeared from amidst the leaves, which he parted with the barrel of the gun he carried; and then, apparently knowing of the proximity of the convicts, he crawled to the edge of the precipice, and lay there watching them, till he uttered a cry of terror as Wahika glided to his side, and laid his hand upon his arm.