The Forge in the Forest
Page 17
Chapter XVI
I Cool My Adversaries' Courage
We now, having been so long delayed, gave up our purpose of a fire, andcontented ourselves with the eggs raw. I also cut some very thinslices of the smoked and salted bacon, to eat with our black bread, forI knew that, working as we did, we needed strong food. But Mizpahwould not touch the uncooked bacon, though its savour, I assured her,was excellent. We had but well begun our meal, and I was stooping overthe hard loaf, when a startled exclamation from Mizpah made me look up.Close behind us stood Grul, impatiently twisting his little white rodwith the scarlet head. His eyes were somewhat more piercing, more likeblue flame, than ordinarily, but otherwise he looked as usual. Solittle mark remained upon him of the scene just enacted. Both wise andmad! I thought.
It struck me that he was pleased with the impression he so plainly madeon us both, and for a moment he looked upon us in silence. Thenswiftly pointing his stick at us, he said sharply:--
"Fools! Do you wait here? But the hound is on the trail. Do youdream he did not see you?"
Then he turned to go. But Mizpah was at his side instantly, catchinghim by the wrist, and imploring him to tell us which way her child hadbeen carried.
Grul stopped and looked down upon her with austere dignity, but withoutreplying. Passionately Mizpah entreated him, not to be denied; and atlast, lightly but swiftly removing her fingers from his wrist, hemuttered oracularly:--
"They will take him to the sea that is within the heart of the land!But go!" he repeated with energy, "or you will not go far!" and withsteps so smooth that they seemed not to touch the ground, he went pastthe cliff foot. His gaudy mantle shone for a moment, and he was gone.
The ominous urgency of his warning rang in our ears, and we were notslow in making our own departure.
"What does he mean by 'the sea that is within the heart of the land'?"asked Mizpah, as we hurriedly launched the canoe.
"He means the Bras d'Or lakes," I said, "those wonderful reaches ofland-locked sea that traverse the heart of He Royale. It is a likelyenough way for the savages to go. There are villages both of Acadiansand of Indians on the island."
As we were to learn afterwards, however, Grul had told us falsely. Thechild was not destined for Ile Royale. Whether the strange beingreally thought he was directing us aright, or, his vanity notpermitting him to confess that he did not know, trusted to a guess withthe hope that it might prove a prophecy, I have never been able todetermine. As a matter of fact, Fate did presently so take our affairsinto her own hands, that Grul's misinformation affected the end not atall. But his warning and his exhortation to speed we had to thank forour escape from the perils that soon came upon us. Had we not beenthus warned, without doubt we should have been taken unawares andperished miserably.
On the incidents of our journey for the rest of that day, and up tosomething past noon of the day following, I need not particularlydwell. Suffice to say that we accomplished prodigious things, and thatMizpah showed incredible endurance. It was as if she saw her childever a little way before her, and hoped to come up with him the nextminute. When the stream became hopelessly shallow, we got out andwaded, dragging the canoe. The long portage to the head of the Pictookwaters we made in the night, the trail being a clear one, and notoverly rough. At the further end of the carry, when I set down thecanoe at the stream's edge, I could have dropped for weariness, yetfrom Mizpah I heard no complaint; and her silent heroism stirred mysoul to a deepening passion of worship. Over and over I told myselfthat night that I would never rest or count the cost till I had giventhe child back to her arms.
Not till we had gone perhaps a mile down the Pictook did I order ahalt, thrusting the canoe into a secure hiding-place. We snatched anhour of sleep, lying where we stepped ashore. Then, rising in theredness of daybreak, we hurried on, eating as we journeyed. And now,conceiving that it was necessary to keep up her strength, Mizpah ate ofthe uncooked bacon; though she wore a face of great aversion as she didso.
When, after hours of unmitigated toil, we reached the head of tide andthe spacious open reaches of the lower river, I insisted on an hour ofrest. Mizpah vowed that she was not exhausted,--but she sleptinstantly, falling by the side of the canoe as she stepped out. Formyself I durst not sleep, but I rested, and watched, and sucked an egg,and chewed strips of bacon. When we pushed off again I felt that wemust have put a good space between us and our pursuers; and as the ebbtide was helping me I made Mizpah go on sleeping, in her place in thebow.
"I will need your help more by and by," said I when she protested, "andthen you must have all your strength to give me!"
The river soon became a wide estuary, with arms and indentations,--aharbour fit to hold a hundred fleets. Straight down mid-channel Isteered, the shortest course to the mouth. But by and by there sprangup a light head-wind, delaying me.
"Wake up, comrade," I cried. "I need your good arm now, against thisbreeze!"
She had slept there an hour, and she woke now with a childlike flush inher cheeks.
"How good of you to let me sleep so," she exclaimed, turning to give mea grateful glance. But the expression upon her face changed instantlyto one of fear, and the colour all went out.
"Oh, look behind us!" she gasped. I had not indeed waited for herwords. Glancing over my shoulder, I caught sight of a large canoe,with four savages paddling furiously. The one glimpse was enough.
"Now, comrade, work!" said I. "But steady! not too hard! This is along chase, remember!" and I bent mightily to the paddle.
Our pursuers were a good half-mile behind; and had we not been alreadywearied, I believe we could have held our own with them all day. Ourcanoe was light and swift, Mizpah paddled rarely, and for myself, Ihave never yet been beaten, by red man or white, in a fair canoe-race.But as it was, I felt that we must win by stratagem, if the saintsshould so favour us as to let us win at all. Half a mile ahead, on ourright, was a high point. Behind it, as I knew, was a winding estuaryof several branches, each the debouchement of a small stream. It wasan excellent place in which to evade pursuers. I steered for the highpoint.
As we darted behind its shelter, a backward glance told me that ourenemies had not gained upon us. The moment we were hidden from theirview I put across to the other side of the channel, ran the canoebehind a jutting boulder, and leapt out. Not till we were concealed,canoe and all, behind a safe screen of rocks and underbrush, did Mizpahask my purpose, though she plainly marvelled that I should hide soclose to the entrance.
"A poor and something public hiding-place is often the most secret,"said I. "The Indians know that up this water there are a score ofturns, and backwaters, and brook-mouths, wherein we might long evadethem. As soon as they saw us turn in here, they doubtless concludedthat the water was well known to me, and that I would hope to bafflethem in the inner labyrinths and escape up one of the streams. Theywill never dream of us stopping here."
"I see!" she exclaimed eagerly. "When they have passed in to look forus, we will slip out, and push on." It was haste she thought of ratherthan escape. No moment passed, I think, when her whole will, her wholebeing, were not focussed upon the finding of the child. And the more Irealized the intensity of her love and her pain, the more I marvelledat the heroic self-control which forbade her to waste her strength intears and wailings. The conclusion at which she had now arrived, as tomy plan, was one I had not thought of, and I considered it beforereplying.
"No," said I, presently; "that is not quite my purpose, though Iconfess it is a good one. But, comrade, this is a safe ambush! Theymust pass within close gunshot of us!"
"Oh," she cried, paling, and clasping her hands, "_must_ there be moreblood? But yes, they bring it on themselves," she went on with asudden fierceness, flushing again, and her mouth growing cruel. "Theywould keep us from finding him. Their blood be on their own heads!"
"I am glad you think of that," said I. "They would have no mercy forus if they should take us now. But ind
eed, if it will please you tohave it so, we need not shoot them down. We can treat them to such amedicine as they had before of me, sink their canoe, and leave themlike drowned rats on the other shore."
"Yes," said Mizpah, quietly; "if that will do as well, it will pleaseme much better."
And so it was agreed. A very few minutes later the canoe appeared,rounding into the estuary. The savages scanned both shores minutely,but rather from the habit of caution than from any thought that wemight have gone to land. If, however, I had not taken care to make mylanding behind a boulder, those keen eyes would have marked somesplashed spots on the shingle, and we would have been discovered.
But no such evil fortune came about. The four paddles flashed onwardswiftly. The four fierce, painted and feathered heads thrust forwardangrily, expecting to overtake us in one of the inner reaches. I tookup Mizpah's musket (which was loaded with slugs, while my own carried abullet, in case I should be called upon for a long and delicate shot),and waited until the canoe was just a little more than abreast of us.Then, aiming at the waterline, just in front of the bow paddle, I fired.
The effect was instant and complete. The savage in the bow threw uphis paddle with a scream and sprang overboard. He was doubtlesswounded, and feared a second shot. We saw him swimming lustily towardthe opposite shore. The others paddled desperately in the samedirection, but before they had gone half-way the canoe was so deep inthe water that she moved like a log. Then they, too, seized with thefear of a second shot, sprang overboard. By this time I had the musketreloaded.
"If they get the canoe ashore, with their weapons aboard her," said I,"they will soon get her patched up, and we will have it all to do overagain. Here goes for another try, whatever heads may be in the way!"
Mizpah averted her face, but made no protest, and I fired at the sternof the canoe, which was directly toward me. A swimmer's head, closeby, went down; and in a minute more the canoe did likewise. Threefeathered heads remained in sight; and presently three dark figuresdragged themselves ashore--one of them limping badly--and plunged intothe woods.
"Without canoe or guns," said I, "they are fairly harmless for awhile." But Mizpah, as we re-embarked and headed again for the sea,said nothing. I think that in her bosom, at this time, womanlycompassion was striving, and at some disadvantage, with thevindictiveness of outraged motherhood. I think--and I loved her thebetter for it--she was glad I had killed one more of her child'senemies; but I think, too, she was filled with shame at her gladness.