curious mingling of eagerness, hope, and fear rendered softswan for some minutes undecided how to act as she gazed at the fallen man. his garb was of a dark uniform grey colour, which she had often heard described, but had not seen until now. that he was wounded she felt quite sure, but she knew that there would be great danger in descending to aid him. besides, if he were helpless, as he seemed to be, she had not physical strength to lift him, and would expose herself to easy capture if the blackfeet should be in ambush.
still, the eager and indefinable hope that was in her heart induced the girl to rise with the intention of descending the path, when she observed that the fallen man again moved. rising on his hands and knees, he crept forward a few paces, and then stopped. suddenly by a great effort, he raised himself to a kneeling position, clasped his hands, and looked up.
the act sufficed to decide the wavering girl. leaping lightly over the breastwork, she ran swiftly down until she reached the man, who gazed at her in open-mouthed astonishment. he was a white man, and the ghastly pallor of his face, with a few spots of blood on it and on his hands, told that he had been severely wounded.
“manitou seems to have sent an angel of light to me in my extremity,” he gasped in the indian tongue.
“come; me vill help you,” answered softswan, in her broken english, as she stooped and assisted him to rise.
no other word was uttered, for even with the girl’s assistance it was with the utmost difficulty that the man reached the breastwork of the hut, and when he had succeeded in clambering over it, he lay down and fainted.
after softswan had glanced anxiously in the direction of the forest, and placed one of the guns in a handy position, she proceeded to examine the wounded stranger. being expert in such matters, she opened his vest, and quickly found a wound near the region of the heart. it was bleeding steadily though not profusely. to stanch this and bind it up was the work of a few minutes. then she reclosed the vest. in doing so she found something hard in a pocket near the wound. it was a little book, which she gently removed as it might interfere with the bandage. in doing so she observed that the book had been struck by the bullet which it deflected, so as to cause a more deadly wound than might otherwise have been inflicted.
she was thus engaged when the patient recovered consciousness, and, seizing her wrist, exclaimed, “take not the word from me. it has been my joy and comfort in all my—”
he stopped on observing who it was that touched his treasure.
“nay, then,” he continued, with a faint smile, as he released his hold; “it can come to no harm in thy keeping, child. for an instant i thought that rougher hands had seized it. but why remove it?”
softswan explained, but, seeing how eager the man was to keep it, she at once returned the little bible to the inner pocket in which it was carried when not in use. then running into the hut she quickly returned with a rib of venison and a tin mug of water.
the man declined the food, but drained the mug with an air of satisfaction, which showed how much he stood in need of water.
much refreshed, he pulled out the bible again, and looked earnestly at it.
“strange,” he said, in the indian tongue, turning his eyes on his surgeon-nurse; “often have i heard of men saved from death by bullets being stopped by bibles, but in my case it would seem as if god had made it a key to unlock the gates of the better land.”
“does my white father think he is going to die?” asked the girl in her own tongue, with a look of anxiety.
“it may be so,” replied the man gently, “for i feel very, very weak. but feelings are deceptive; one cannot trust them. it matters little, however. if i live, it is to work for jesus. if i die, it is to be with jesus. but tell me, little one, who art thou whom the lord has sent to succour me?”
“me is softswan, daughter of the great chief bounding bull,” replied the girl, with a look of pride when she mentioned her father, which drew a slight smile from the stranger.
“but softswan has white blood in her veins,” he said; “and why does she sometimes speak in the language of the pale-face?”
“my mother,” returned the girl in a low, sad tone, “was pale-face womans from the saskatchewan. me speaks english, for my husban’ likes it.”
“your husband—what is his name!”
“big tim.”
“what!” exclaimed the wounded man with sudden energy, as a flush overspread his pale face; “is he the son of little tim, the brother-in-law of whitewing the prairie chief?”
“he is the son of leetil tim, an’ this be hims house.”
“then,” exclaimed the stranger, with a pleased look, “i have reached, if not the end of my journey, at least a most important point in it, for i had appointed to meet whitewing at this very spot, and did not know, when the blackfoot indian shot me, that i was so near the hut. it looked like a mere accident my finding the track which leads to it near the spot where i fell, but it is the lord’s doing. tell me, softswan, have you never heard whitewing and little tim speak of the pale-face missionary—the preacher, they used to call me?”
“yes, yes, oftin,” answered the girl eagerly. “me tinks it bees you. me very glad, an’ leetil tim he—”
her speech was cut short at this point by a repetition of the appalling war-whoop which had already disturbed the echoes of the gorge more than once that day.
naturally the attention of softswan had been somewhat distracted by the foregoing conversation, and she had allowed the indians to burst from the thicket and rush up the track a few paces before she was able to bring the big-bore gun to bear on them.
“slay them not, softswan,” cried the preacher anxiously, as he tried to rise and prevent her firing. “we cannot escape them.”
he was too late. she had already pressed the trigger, and the roar of the huge gun was reverberating from cliff to cliff like miniature thunder; but his cry had not been too late to produce wavering in the girl’s wind, inducing her to take bad aim, so that the handful of slugs with which the piece had been charged went hissing over the assailants’ heads instead of killing them. the stupendous hissing and noise, however, had the effect of momentarily arresting the savages, and inducing each man to seek the shelter of the nearest shrub.
“com queek,” cried softswan, seizing the preacher’s hand. “you be deaded soon if you not com queek.”
feeling the full force of this remark, the wounded man, exerting all his strength, arose, and suffered himself to be led into the hut. passing quickly out by a door at the back, the preacher and the bride found themselves on a narrow ledge of rock, from one side of which was the precipice down which big tim had made his perilous descent. close to their feet lay a great flat rock or natural slab, two yards beyond which the ledge terminated in a sheer precipice.
“no escape here,” remarked the preacher sadly, as he looked round. “in my present state i could not venture down such a path even to save my life. but care not for me, softswan. if you think you can escape, go and—”
he stopped, for to his amazement the girl stooped, and with apparent ease raised the ponderous mass of rock above referred to as though it had been a slight wooden trap-door, and disclosed a hole large enough for a man to pass through. the preacher observed that the stone was hinged on a strong iron bar, which was fixed considerably nearer to one side of it than the other. still, this hinge did not account for the ease with which a mere girl lifted a ponderous mass which two or three men could not have moved without the aid of levers.
but there was no time to investigate the mystery of the matter, for another ringing war-whoop told that the blackfeet, having recovered from their consternation, had summoned courage to renew the assault.
“down queek!” said the girl, looking earnestly into her companion’s face, and pointing to the dark hole, where the head of a rude ladder, dimly visible, showed what had to be done.
“it does not require much faith to trust and obey such a leader,” thought the preacher, as he got upon the ladder, and quickly disappeared in the hole. softswan lightly followed. as her head was about to disappear, she raised her hand, seized hold of a rough projection on the under surface of the mass of rock, and drew it gently down so as to effectually close the hole, leaving no trace whatever of its existence.
while this was going on the blackfeet were advancing up the narrow pathway with superlative though needless caution, and no small amount of timidity. each man took advantage of every scrap of cover he could find on the way up, but as the owner of the hut had taken care to remove all cover that was removable, they did not find much, and if the defenders had been there, that little would have been found to be painfully insufficient, for it consisted only of rugged masses and projections of rock, none of which could altogether conceal the figure of a full-grown man. indeed, it seemed inexplicable that these indians should have made this assault in broad day, considering that indians in general are noted for their care of “number one,” are particularly unwilling to meet their foes in fair open fight, and seldom if ever venture to storm a place of strength except by surprise and under the cover of night.
the explanation lay partly in the fact that they were aware of the advance of friends towards the place, but much more in this, that the party was led by the great chief rushing river, a man possessed of that daring bulldog courage and reckless contempt of death which is usually more characteristic of white than of red men.
when the band had by galvanic darts and rushes gained the last scrap of cover that lay between them and the little fortress, rushing river gave vent to a whoop which was meant to thrill the defenders with consternation to the very centre of their being, and made a gallant rush, worthy of his name, for the breastwork. reaching it in gasping haste, he and his braves crouched for one moment at the foot of it, presumably to recover wind and allow the first fire of the defenders to pass over their heads.
but no first fire came, and rushing river rolled his great black eyes upward in astonishment, perhaps thinking that his whoop had thrilled the defenders off the face of the earth altogether!
suspense, they say, is less endurable than actual collision with danger. probably rushing river thought it so, for next moment he raised his black head quickly. finding a hole in the defences, he applied one of his black eyes to it and peeped through. seeing nothing, he uttered another whoop, and vaulted over like a squirrel, tomahawk in hand, ready to brain anybody or anything. seeing nobody and nothing in particular, except an open door, he suspected an ambush in that quarter, darted round the corner of the hut to get out of the doorway line of fire, and peeped back.
animated by a similar spirit, his men followed suit. when it became evident that no one meant to come out of the hut rushing river resolved to go in, and did so with another yell and a flourish of his deadly weapon, but again was he doomed to expend his courage and violence on air, for he possessed too much of natural dignity to expend his wrath on inanimate furniture.
of course one glance sufficed to show that the defenders had flown, and it needed not the practised wit of a savage to perceive that they had retreated through the back door. in his eagerness to catch the foe, the indian chief sprang after them with such a rush that nothing but a stout willow, which he grasped convulsively, prevented him from going over the precipice headlong—changing, as it were, from a river into a fall—and ending his career appropriately in the torrent below.
when the chief had assembled his followers on the limited surface of the ledge, they all gazed around them for a few seconds in silence. on one side was a sheer precipice. on another side was, if we may so express it, a sheerer precipice rising upward. on the third side was the steep and rugged path, which looked sufficiently dangerous to arrest all save the mad or the desperate. on the fourth side was the hut.
seeing all this at a glance, rushing river looked mysterious and said, “ho!”
to which his men returned, “how!” “hi!” and “hee!” or some other exclamation indicative of bafflement and surprise.
standing on the trap-door rock as on a sort of pulpit, the chief pointed with his finger to the precipitous path, and said solemnly—
“big tim has gone down there. he has net the wings of the hawk, but he has the spirit of the squirrel, or the legs of the goat.”
“or the brains of the fool,” suggested a follower, with a few drops of white blood in his veins, which made him what boys call “cheeky.”
“of course,” continued rushing river, still more solemnly, and scorning to notice the remark, “of course rushing river and his braves could follow if they chose. they could do anything. but of what use would it be? as well might we follow the moose-deer when it has got a long start.”
“big tim has got the start, as rushing river wisely says,” remarked the cheeky comrade, “but he is hampered with his squaw, and cannot go fast.”
“many pale-faces are hampered by their squaws, and cannot go fast,” retorted the chief, by which reply he meant to insinuate that the few drops of white blood in the veins of the cheeky one might yet come through an experience to which a pure indian would scorn to submit. “but,” continued the chief, after a pause to let the stab take full effect, “but softswan is well known. she is strong as the mountain sheep and fleet as the mustang. she will not hamper big tim. enough! we will let them go, and take possession of their goods.”
whatever the chief’s followers might have thought about the first part of his speech, there was evidently no difference of opinion as to the latter part. with a series of assenting “ho’s,” “how’s,” “hi’s,” and “hee’s,” they returned with him into the hut, and began to appropriate the property, commencing with a cold haunch of venison which they discovered in the larder, and to which they did ample justice, sitting in a circle on the floor in the middle of the little room.
leaving them there, we will return to softswan and her new friend.
“the place is very dark,” remarked the preacher, groping cautiously about after the trap-door was closed as above described.
“stan’ still; i vill strik light,” said softswan.
in a few moments sparks were seen flying from flint and steel, and after one or two unsuccessful efforts a piece of tinder was kindled. then the girl’s pretty little nose and lips were seen of a fiery red colour as she blew some dry grass and chips into a flame, and kindled a torch therewith.
the light revealed a small natural cavern of rock, not much more than six feet high and ten or twelve wide, but of irregular shape, and extending into obscurity in one direction. the only objects in the cave besides the ladder by which they entered it were a few barrels partially covered with deerskin, an unusually small table, rudely but strongly made, and an enormous mass of rock enclosed in a net of strong rope which hung from an iron hook in the roof.
the last object at once revealed the mystery of the trap-door. it formed a ponderous counterpoise attached to the smaller section of the stone slab, and so nearly equalised the weight on the hinge that, as we have seen, softswan’s weak arm was sufficient to turn the scale.
the instant the torch flared up the girl stuck it into a crevice in the wall, and quickly grasping the little table, pushed it under the pendent rock. it reached to within half an inch of the mass. picking up two broad wooden wedges that lay on the floor, she thrust them between the rock and the table, one on either side, so as to cause it to rest entirely on the table, and thus by removing its weight from the iron hook, the slab was rendered nearly immovable. she was anxiously active in these various operations, for already the indians had entered the hut and their voices could be distinctly heard overhead.
“now,” she whispered, with a sigh of relief, “six mans not abil to move the stone, even if he knowed the hole is b’low it.”
“it is an ingenious device,” said the preacher, throwing his exhausted form on a heap of pine branches which lay in a corner. “who invented it—your husband?”
“no; it was leetil tim,” returned the girl, with a low musical laugh. “big tim says hims fadder be great at ’ventions. he ’vent many t’ings. some’s good, some’s bad, an’ some’s funny.”
the preacher could not forbear smiling at this account of his old friend, in spite of his anxiety lest the indians who were regaling themselves overhead should discover their retreat. he had begun to put some questions to softswan in a low voice when he was rendered dumb and his blood seemed to curdle as he heard stumbling footsteps approaching from the dark end of the cavern. then was heard the sound of some one panting vehemently. next moment a man leaped into the circle of light, and seized the indian girl in his arms.
“thank god!” he exclaimed fervently; “not too late! i had thought the reptiles had been too much for thee, soft one. ah me! i fear that some poor pale-face has—” he stopped abruptly, for at that moment big tim’s eye fell upon the wounded man. “what!” he exclaimed, hastening to the preacher’s side; “you have got here after all?”
“ay, young man, through the goodness of god i have reached this haven of rest. your words seem to imply that you had half expected to find me, though how you came to know of my case at all is to me a mystery.”
“my white father,” returned big tim, referring as much to the preacher’s age and pure white hair as to his connection with the white men, “finds mystery where the hunter and the red man see none. i went out a-purpose to see that it was not my daddy the blackfoot reptiles had shot and soon came across your tracks, which showed me as plain as a book that you was badly wounded. i followed the tracks for a bit, expectin’ to find you lyin’ dead somewheres, when the whoops of the reptiles turned me back. but tell me, white father, are you not the preacher that my daddy and whitewing used to know some twenty years agone?”
“i am, and fain would i meet with my former friends once more before i die.”
“you shall meet with them, i doubt not,” replied the young hunter, arranging the couch of the wounded man more comfortably. “i see that my soft one has bandaged you up, and she’s better than the best o’ sawbones at such work. i’ll be able to make you more comfortable when we drive the reptiles out o’—”
“call them not reptiles,” interrupted the preacher gently. “they are the creatures of god, like ourselves.”
“it may be so, white father; nevertheless, they are uncommon low, mean, sneakin’, savage critters, an’ that’s all that i’ve got to do with.”
“you say truth, big tim,” returned the preacher, “and that is also all that i have got to do with; but you and i take different methods of correcting the evil.”
“every man must walk in the ways to which he was nat’rally born,” rejoined the young hunter, with a dark frown, as the sound of revelry in the hut overhead became at the moment much louder; “my way wi’ them may not be the best in the world, but you shall see in a few minutes that it is a way which will cause the very marrow of the rep—of the dear critters—to frizzle in their bones.”
