Frank in the Mountains

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER IX.

  ADAM BRENT'S STORY.

  "I shall try to tell my story," began Adam, "just as my father told itto me, years ago. It is not a long one, and even if it was, I shouldhurry through it as rapidly as possible, for it is a matter I do notlike to talk about. That man," he added, nodding his head toward theoutlaw, and speaking as plainly as a mouthful of fish would permit, "isa walking illustration of what bad company will do. He is my uncle, I amsorry to say, but, for a long time, I have never called him by any othername than Black Bill. In my story, however, I shall speak of him asWilliam. I can remember when he was an uncle worth having. I used to runto meet him whenever I saw him coming, would stand at his side for hourslistening to the story of his adventures in the mines, and was nevereasy unless I was in his company. But things have changed of late. Iwould run away from him now if I saw him coming toward me, and I am muchmore uncomfortable in his presence than I used to be out of it.

  "When I was about six years old, mother and I lived with my grandfatherat Placer City, in California. He kept a grocery and provision store,and my father and his brother William owned and worked a claim in themines. The claim paid well, much better than any other for miles about,and father was steadily growing rich by his labor. William ought to havebeen equally prosperous, for he received half the profits; but somehowhe never had a cent of money in his pocket, but was continually askingassistance from father, of whom he borrowed, first and last, severalthousand dollars, which he has never taken the trouble to return. Hesaid he was buying up claims; but when he had a quarrel with a minerabout a gambling debt which he could not pay, the truth came out, andfather saw where his money had been going. He found out, too, that formonths William had been keeping company with some of the very worst menin the mines--gamblers, horse-thieves, and criminals of every sort, whohad run away from the States to get out of reach of the law.

  "I need not stop to tell you how shocked and pained all the family werewhen they heard of this, or how they tried, by every means in theirpower, to make William see what would surely be his end if he did notabandon the life he was leading. Of course, he made promises ofamendment, and, for a while, held manfully to them; but it requiresmoral courage to resist temptation, and that was something William didnot possess. It was not long before he was as bad as ever; and when hecould go no farther for want of money, he came to father to borrow. Thencame the first quarrel between the brothers. Father refused to accede tohis demand, and William threatened vengeance. He did not say what hewould do, but father knew what he had determined upon, as well as if hehad told him in so many words.

  "Father had been in the habit of depositing his gold-dust in the safe atthe store. William knew it, and was resolved to have that gold-dust. Ifhe could not borrow it, he would steal it. He broke into the store thatvery night, but found the safe empty. Father had removed every dollar ofthe money. The noise he made in breaking open the safe arousedgrandfather, who slept in a room over the store; and not recognizingWilliam in the darkness, he gave him a shot from his revolver. The balltook effect somewhere, for the next morning there was blood on thefloor, and William was nowhere to be found. Every one wondered who therobber could be, and a great many questions were asked about the missingman; for he had been a prominent character in the mines, and hismysterious disappearance excited curiosity. But it did not stop there.That curiosity became suspicion; and it was not long before it wasnoised abroad that he was the guilty one.

  "William kept clear of Placer City forever afterward. The miners had asummary way of dealing with such men, and if they could have found him,the influence of all his friends and relatives combined could not havesaved him. It was not long after that before people began to talk aboutBlack Bill--the leader of a band of robbers who infested the mountainsbetween Placer City and Sacramento; and in less than two weeks fatherfell into his hands. He recognized the chief, if others did not, and youcan imagine what his feelings were when he found that he was his ownbrother. Black Bill robbed him, as he robbed every one else who came inhis way, and released him with this warning, as nearly as I can recallthe words:

  "'You have made me what I am,' said the robber, 'and I will be revengedin a way you do not think of. I shall not lift a hand against you, butkeep an eye on that boy of yours. If I get hold of him, I will make hima second Black Bill.'

  "That was all the outlaw said, but it was enough to frighten father morethan any physical danger would have done; and, as for myself, I might aswell have been sent to the State's prison at once, for I could scarcelyhave been more closely confined there than I was at home. Severalattempts to steal me were frustrated by the vigilance of my father, who,becoming weary at last of living in constant fear of losing me, sold outhis claim in the mines, and removing to this wild region, erected thehouse in which we lived until last night, and began business as afur-trader. It was there he made the acquaintance of Capt. Porter. Nosooner had we become fairly settled in our new home, than Black Billmade his appearance; and, although he has occasionally been off ontrapping expeditions, he has spent the most of his time for the last tenyears in hanging around the valley, watching his opportunity to captureme. He never succeeded, however, until last night; and, as good luckwould have it, he was not destined to keep me long."

  "O, I haint done with you yet!" exclaimed the outlaw, who had listenedattentively to the story. "You're free now, an' I'm a pris'ner; but itwon't be so long. I've got plenty of friends roamin' about among thesemountains."

  "You have found out by this time that the boy you captured last nightwas not Adam Brent, haven't you?" said Frank. "Where is he now?"

  "Who--that spunky little feller? The last time I seed him the Black Foxwas marchin' him off to the woods."

  "Who's the Black Fox?"

  "I should think you had oughter know him purty well by this time. He'sthe feller you run that race with. I told him that if he would take goodcare of that boy, an' not let him get away, I would make him a presentof that leetle gray hoss of mine."

  "That little gray horse doesn't belong to you, as it happens," saidFrank. "He's mine."

  "I'd like to see you get him. One of my mates, Jack Bowles, has got himsafe."

  "Well, if I had my other horse----"

  Frank was about to say that if he had Roderick, and could catch JackBowles out on clear ground, he would show him that he hadn't got Petequite so safe as he imagined; but he stopped when he reflected that themustang was a good many miles away, and in the hands of the savages,and that possibly he might never see him again.

  "I know where your other horse is," said Adam. "He is in the possessionof Dick Lewis. You see, when the trappers learned that Dick had beencaptured, they went up and attacked the Indian camp, in the hope thatduring the confusion he might see a chance to get away. That was,probably, the time that Roderick escaped. At any rate, when the trappersreturned to the fort, the mustang came with them, and Dick took care ofhim."

  "That's all right," said Frank. "I knew the Indians would never catchDick. Did you see Bob Kelly?"

  "Yes; he was alive and yelling when we cut our way out of the fort."

  "I have just thought of something," said Frank, turning to the outlaw."You said you gave Archie into the keeping of the Black Fox. I met theFox about three miles back in the mountains, and had a fight with him.What was he doing so far from camp?"

  "I don't know," replied the outlaw, looking thoughtfully at the ground."Mebbe the leetle feller got away from him."

  "That's just my idea. Archie escaped, and he was in pursuit of him. Ifthe Fox knows when he is well off, he will get help before he tries tocapture him, for Archie is plucky and strong, if he is little. But,Adam, you were going to tell me what happened at the fort."

  "There isn't much to tell," was the reply. "The Indians whipped us, andthey were not more than an hour in doing it. The trappers, as I toldyou, left the fort and made an attack on the village, for the purpose ofliberating Dick Lewis. Of course, they did not expect to whip theIndians in a fair fight; all
they wanted to do was to throw the campinto confusion, and give Dick a chance to do something for himself. Buthe had already escaped, and about fifteen minutes after the trappersleft, he came into the fort, puffing and blowing like a porpoise. Thetrappers were more successful than they expected to be. Finding thevillage nearly deserted, they set it on fire, kept up a running fightwith the Indians for ten miles; and sixteen out of nineteen returned tothe fort in safety. The Indians, in the meantime, must have receivedreinforcements from somewhere, for they followed close at the trappers'heels; and no sooner had the gates been closed than the fight began.

  "You learned something about Indians when they made the attack on yourwagon-train, while you were coming across the plains; but you have neverbeen in a regular battle with them, and you can have but a poor idea ofthe state of affairs in and about that fort during the short time thefight continued. They began operations by setting fire to our house andbarns. The fire lighted up the whole valley; and I shall never forgethow I felt when I looked over the top of the palisades and saw thesavages coming toward us. I had never seen so many Indians before. Theremust have been a thousand of them; and the determination with which theymade and carried on their attack, proved that they had great confidencein their overwhelming numbers, and that they expected an easy victory.They did not waste time in skulking behind trees and shooting at thefort--they came on in a body, like soldiers, approaching so close to thepalisades that we could touch them with the muzzles of our guns as wethrust them through the loop-holes. They expected, no doubt, to find thefort in the same defenseless state in which they had seen it in themorning--with the gates gone and the walls broken down; but in this theywere disappointed. The major had paid some attention to Captain Porter'swarning, and the old trading-post was as strong as it had ever been.That was a fortunate thing for us, for, even as it was, it was all wecould do to prevent the savages from affecting an entrance. They foughtlike tigers, climbing up to the top of the wall and throwing theirtomahawks down at the soldiers, and even tearing out the palisades insome places; and I saw more than one Indian cut down with sabers insidethe fort. The assault did not continue more than five or ten minutes--ofcourse it seemed much longer to me--and then one of the chiefs set up ayell, and the savages fell back to the cover of the woods to devisesome new plan of attack; while we improved the time to repair the damagethey had done. I say _we_, because I count myself in as one of thedefenders of the fort. My bullets went as swift and as straight to themark as anybody's. I had a good rifle and a brace of revolvers; and,although I was excited and frightened, as I believe any other boy wouldhave been under the same circumstances, I was not foolish enough towaste my ammunition, and did not shoot unless a fair mark was presented.I know I hit one Indian, and saved a soldier's life; but I haven't cometo that yet.

  "If you had been in the fort, I don't think you would have failed totake particular notice of Dick Lewis and Bob Kelly. All the trappersseemed to be in their element--I don't believe there was one among themwho experienced any more fear than you and I would if we were defendinga snow fort against the attacks of our schoolmates--but Dick and Bobwere as wild as any of the Indians. Such yells I never before hearduttered by white men. If there was one place in the fort more dangerousthan another, those two trappers were sure to be there. On one occasion,when the Indians had cut down a portion of the palisades, and thesoldiers were doing some desperate hand-to-hand fighting to keep themfrom entering through the opening, Dick seized one of the savages, and,whirling him clear over his head, threw him back into the fort, callingout: 'Ketch him, somebody!' Three or four soldiers sprang upon him atonce, and before they had time to bind him, Dick threw them another.When the savages had been driven back, and the soldiers were repairingthe palisades, the major took occasion to thank the trappers, andespecially Dick and Bob, for what they had done. The former listenedattentively to what he had to say, and then drew himself up and gave themajor a regular military salute.

  "'Fightin' comes as nateral to me as eatin',' said he. 'Me an' my chum,poor ole Bill Lawson, fit all through the Mexikin war; an' as furInjuns, I've been in a heap of skrimmages with 'em, fust an' last. Butwe'll have to do wusser fightin' nor that afore we are done with 'em,major. They're goin' to begin their tricks, now.'

  "The trapper had scarcely uttered these words, when a chorus of savageyells arose on all sides of us, and bullets and arrows began to comeinto the fort like hail-stones. A new danger threatened us now, for someof the arrows had bunches of burning leaves and pine-knots attached tothem. They came over the walls in a perfect shower, some falling on thestables, some on the quarters, and in less than a minute the fort was onfire in a dozen different places.

  "'Shovels!' shouted Captain Porter. 'All my men turn to and throw dirton the fire!'

  "But the savages were prepared for this. A number of them had climbedinto the trees surrounding the fort, from which they could see all thatwas going on inside the palisades; and no sooner did the trappers fallto work in obedience to the captain's order, than a storm of bulletsfell among them, sending more than one poor fellow to eternity.

  "For the next half hour we had a serious time of it; but I believe thetrappers would have succeeded in frustrating the designs of thesavages, had it not been for the reckless bravery of a young chief, who,in some mysterious way, succeeded in entering the fort unobserved. Howhe managed to elude the vigilance of the soldiers, who were watching theloop-holes while the trappers were engaged in fighting the fire, I cannot tell; but, at any rate, he got in, went into the officers' quarters,and after piling a quantity of clothing in one corner, set it on fire. Iwas standing at one of the loop-holes, watching a chance for a shot at awarrior who was concealed in the top of a tree about fifty yards fromthe fort, when I heard a yell, and, turning quickly, saw a soldierstruggling on the ground, and an Indian standing over him with histomahawk raised to strike. I was not quick enough to prevent the weaponfrom descending, but I destroyed the Indian's aim by sending a ball intohis shoulder. The hatchet grazed the soldier's head, and his enemy fellinto the arms of a trapper, who bound him hand and foot before he couldwink twice.

  "If the trapper had known what the Indian had been doing, I do notthink he would have taken him prisoner. He believed that the savage hadjust entered the fort, and that he had not had time to do any mischief;but he soon discovered his mistake, for when somebody opened the door ofthe officers' quarters, a thick volume of smoke rushed out. The trapperswere ordered to the spot immediately, but it was too late. The fire hadmade rapid headway, and the inside of the building was a sheet offlames. It quickly spread to the stables adjoining the quarters, thenceto the palisades, and almost before we knew it we were surrounded by awall of fire.

  "'The jig's up at last, youngster,' said Dick, as he hurried past me.'Shovels aint no more account. We've got to trust to our hosses' legsnow!'

  "I don't believe I was ever before so badly frightened as I was when Iheard these words. My situation then was bad enough, surrounded as I wasby burning houses, almost suffocated by smoke, while bullets and flamingarrows were whistling through the air, carrying death and destruction onall sides of me; but to leave the shelter of those walls, and ride outof the fort under the very noses of a thousand yelling Indians, withnothing but the speed of my horse to stand between me and their fury--Itell you, Frank, the bare thought was enough to make my old fur cap riseon my head as it had never done before. While I was standing inactive,the soldiers had sprung into their saddles, and with drawn sabers in onehand, and revolvers in the other, were awaiting the order to cut theirway out of the fort. Father and Captain Porter had secured my horse, andwere looking for me. I had barely time to mount before the gate flewopen, the bugle sounded a charge, and we swept out of the fort into themidst of the savages."