Chapter Ninth.
Encounter with a Wolf. Sidney seriously wounded. They construct a bed.Whirlwind procures medicine. Dressing Sidney's wounds. They Build aCabin. A high fever sets in. Fears entertained of Sidney's death. Talkof Pow-wowing the disease. Howe's story of encountering a Polar Bear.His faith in the Indian's Medicine Man. Miscellaneous conversation onthe matter. Their final consent to the Pow-wow.
Hardly an hour of Sidney's watch had elapsed, when, feeling verythirsty, he stepped down the embankment to the stream, (which was onlytwo rods from the camp fire,) to get a drink; when in the act ofraising it to his lips, a huge black wolf sprang at him from beneath acoppice of laurel that skirted the bank, and planting its huge teeth inhis shoulder, crushed the bones in a terrible manner--at the same timehis great weight bearing him to the ground.
The attack came so suddenly, that he was totally unprepared; and themangled shoulder sending a sickening effect through him, caused him tofaint with a single cry for help. However, it had been heard; Howe andWhirlwind bounding to their feet on the instant, with their clubs intheir hands, which they always slept with by their sides, sprang on thebeast that was now growling ferociously over the insensible boy.
"Let him have it!" cried the trapper, dealing him the first blow; butscarcely were the words uttered, when, with a leap, the wolf sprangpast the trapper at Jane, who stood on the bank above gazing withhorror on the mangled form of Sidney below her, and catching her by theside, bore her also to the ground. Scarcely had she fallen, when apowerful hand grasped him by the throat, and the chief's hunting knifewas buried a dozen times in the monster's heart--its life-blood almostsuffocating the prostrate and terrified girl.
Raising her in his arms, the chief carried her to the brook, bathed herface, hands, neck, and even her hair--which was saturated withblood--in the water. Then cleansing her dress, carried her back to thecamp-fire, and calling Edward to watch her, hastened to the side ofSidney to assist the trapper, who was dashing water in his face in hisendeavors to bring him to consciousness.
"Hold, there!" cried the chief; "would my brother drown the youngbrave?"
"Not exactly; only put a little life in him," said the trapper, dashingover him some more water.
"Stop, or you will kill him! He must be brought up the embankmentnearer the light, so as to give us a better chance to care for him.Raise his feet while I lift his shoulders. Oh! he is dreadfullylacerated. Gently, gently; there, lay him softly down. He isrecovering! see, he breathes and turns his eyes."
"Sidney! Sidney! look up: are you much hurt?"
A heavy groan, and a relapse into unconsciousness, were all the answershe could give. But it was very expressive to the wanderers, who werewithout surgical aid, or even a bed to lay him on, or roof to shieldhim from the dews of night.
"A terrible business, this," said the trapper. "I fear the poor boy hasreceived his death-wound. How is it with Jane? is she much injured?"
"I think not," said the chief; "the monster jumped too far to do muchharm, save that which she received by the fall, and I gave him nochance to try a second time."
"We must take off his clothes, examine his wounds, and dress them,"said the chief, "but first, we must make a bed to lay him on. Mybrother will watch him while I make it--it is but a few minutes' work."So saying, he took his tomahawk, cut and drove four stout posts intothe ground, notched at the top, across which he placed two stout poles,which constituted a strong bedstead, though of a very primitive order;yet it was better than lying on the damp ground.
The bed was next to be manufactured, which was done by placing shortpoles across the structure. On this hemlock boughs were placed, and onthese again a thick covering of dried leaves. Nor was this bed as hardas a person would imagine who had never reposed on one. The poles thatupheld the upper structure were springy; the boughs were soft andyielding, while the leaves filled all the little crevices, and made itsmooth and easy.
Lifting their patient upon his couch, they took off his upper garments,and then saw, to their dismay, the bones broken and protruding, theflesh mangled and torn, presenting a terrible spectacle. Besides, therewere two other flesh wounds, but these alone would not have beendangerous.
"Nothing can be done until I collect some medicine leaves," said thechief, "which I am not sure of doing before daylight; but as the caseis so urgent, I will try."
Taking a torch of pitch pine knots, he began searching round in theforest for the plant he desired, which he succeeded in finding verysoon. Pressing some of the leaves so as to start the juice, he put theminto a gourd, filled it with water, and after replacing the fracturedbones as well as he could, with Howe's assistance, who had somepractice that way during his roving life, proceeded to cleanse thewounds with the decoction: after which he held some of them in hishands until they were wilted, then laid them smoothly over the wound,confining the whole with the small fibre of leather wood--thatnever-failing substitute for thread or cord.
Jane was next attended to; but, on examination, hers proved to be amere flesh wound, neither deep nor large, but which they thoughtprudent to dress so there need not be any danger of inflammation.
"We will take care of the monster's skin," said the trapper, "for wemay need it, if we can save Sidney's life, to protect him from the coldbefore he recovers."
To take off and stretch the skin for drying, was but the work of a fewminutes for their practised hands; and the rest of the night was spentin endeavoring to determine what was the safest plan to adopt; but themorning broke, leaving them as undecided as at first. At one momentthey were for dividing their force, part remaining until the woundedcould be removed, or, as they feared, died, the rest hasten on, andreturn with assistance as soon as possible. This was rejected, as itwould be weakening their numbers, already too small to provide fortheir sick properly. Thus project after project was rejected, for theircondition was bad enough before, but now they felt it was doublyappalling. Sad, indeed, they were; for they dreaded every hour the fateof him who had been as a son and brother; and to have him die there,and be buried in the vast wilds, the location of which they knew notthemselves, and, perhaps, could not point out should they be sofortunate as to escape a similar fate, was enough to wring the stoutestheart. But it was now the time that the untutored Indian showed hissuperior tact and energy. Howe was cheerful, still hopeful, but notresigned, like the chief, who, at first, had pined for the station of afree leader of a free people; but, as the time advanced when theauthority would be given to another, unless he returned by the harvestfeast according to custom, and the injury Sidney had received, wouldprevent their travelling, he nobly resolved that let the consequencesto himself be what they might, he would not desert the young man in hishour of need.
Anxiously they watched by the couch hour after hour, until dawn of day,when the poor fellow began to call for water; a fever had set in. Whenthis new evil became apparent, it destroyed what little hope remained,and though they sought every way to baffle the disease, yet it wasthrough a desire to leave nothing undone, that might possibly in anyway relieve him. The trapper gathered some roots noted for theircooling properties, and bruising them extracted their juice which wasgiven to the patient, while a tea made by soaking slippery elm bark,was his constant drink. It all seemed to do no good; for his fever rosehigher and burned fiercer, until his brain wandered, his eyes grewwild, and his skin became dry and husky. He raved alternately of homeand his wanderings. At one time, talking familiarly with his friends,as though he was by the old fireside in Missouri, then in piteousaccents calling on some one to save him from the fire of the cannibalswho he said were roasting him, alternately with praying them to killhim with their arrows to end his sufferings. Again, he imagined thewolf was at his throat, and it then required all their tact to soothe,and keep him from tossing about, and again displacing the fracturedbones of his shoulder.
They built a hut of boughs, making the corners of four saplings whichthey cut off at the proper height, where they formed a crotchsupporting strong po
les, across which other poles were laid, and whichthey covered with hemlock boughs; this again was covered with bark theyhad detached from fallen trees, and which made a good defence againstheat or rain. The sides were fitted up the same way, with the exceptionof a door which they closed by a large piece of bark, when theydesired.
Day after day went by, and though they could not see that their patientwas better, yet he was, certainly, no worse. This encouraged them.
"If we can keep him quiet, so as to give the mangled bones time to set,the fever will die off itself. For, no doubt, it is caused by theirritation of the wounds," said the trapper.
"If the Medicine Man[9] of the Arapahoes was here, to pow-wow thedisease, the young brave would live," said the chief.
[9] Physician.
"That would only frighten him," said Edward, who had often seen thissame mode of curing diseases exercised, and had no very high opinion ofit.
"The more complete the fright, the sooner the recovery," retorted thechief.
"Suppose you pow-wow him," said the trapper, "you know the virtue liesin you by your right of chief, if you choose to exercise it, which youshould be willing to do, if it would heal him."
"Oh! no, no; don't think of such a thing, he could not bear it. Theleast noise makes him worse, even the chirping of the birds andsquirrels in the trees overhead, irritates him; and only an hour ago, Ihad to lead the goat and her kid farther away to tether them; for, atevery bleat they made, he started nervously, and moaned," said Jane,who had great faith in quietness, and soothing applications inrestoring the sick.
"He has got no medicine bag," said Edward, "and could not, veryhappily. Any one that is well and can stand a pow-wow, ought to liveforever, but I am sure if I was as sick as poor Sidney is, and theyundertook to raise such a rumpus about me, I would die to get out ofthe noise."
"Hush! you don't know anything about it. I am sure I should have diedonce if I had not been pow-wowed," said the trapper. "As for themedicine bag, every chief is gifted with making one at will."
"Why, uncle, you would not consent to have such a din raised aroundSidney, would you? I am sure it would kill him."
"I rather think it would help him. A sick man among the wilds and onein a populous district are to be treated on different plans, and theone recovers as often as the other. Still there is this difference: theone, if he recovers, carries a poison in him that finally does itswork; while the other, if he recovers, soon regains his former vigor,"said the trapper.
"Really, uncle, I did not think you superstitious before; but thisseems like it," said Jane.
"Prejudiced, Jane; he has been among the natives until almost one ofthem," said Edward.
"Call it what you like. I have reasons for it. When I was about thirty,I, in company with my father, had been trading with the Hudson's BayCompany, and were preparing for a homeward voyage when it occurred tous that our collection would not be complete without a polar bear skin.This we resolved to have, and supposing it could be had from thenatives, we started out one morning to visit the different lodges thatwere located around the station in search of our object. We foundenough that had been divided into parts, but there was but a singlecomplete one to be found, and that was the skin from a young cub whichwould give but a faint idea of the size and strength of the full grownanimal. It was our object to get a complete one, as a large price hadbeen offered for a perfect skin of full size.
"There were reports of polar bears having been seen at no greatdistance, within a few days, and my father was too famous a hunter tobe baulked when bears could be had by hunting. Engaging six Esquimauxto accompany us with their dogs and spears we set out. We knew it wasdangerous game that we were after, but we thought two rifles, sixEsquimaux spears and dogs were strong enough for them, and we wentcarelessly on, guided by a native until we were in their haunts, as thenatives informed us.
"'You don't pretend to say that the beasts are in that ugly lookinghole, do you?' said father, as the guide pointed to a low hole that ranbeneath a high cliff, bordering the bay.
"'There,' said the native, still pointing to the hole; 'one, two, big,one little.'
"'Three of them! Why, you rogue, what made you lead us into their den?A pretty time there will be if they all charge us at once!'
"'White man shoot one big one, other white man shoot one big one, redmen and dogs, six men, six dogs kill little one,' said the Esquimaux,smiling at the allotment he had made.
"'All very well if they have the goodness to die at the first, or evensecond fire; but there have been animals of this kind that haverequired twenty balls before it was safe to approach them. If wounded,without being disabled, they are ferocious.'
"'Bear eat white man then; bear very fond of him,' said the native,enjoying the scrape he had led us into.
"'Look here, you villain,' said father, 'if we are killed I will blowyour brains out, depend upon it, when we return to the station!'
"'White man may, when he gets back, if he is killed,' said the guide,who stood grinning horribly with his keen, serpent-like eyes fixed onthe den of beasts.
"The ground was covered with snow, and the bay for half a mile out withice strong enough to have held a hundred tons in one solid body.Beyond, the bay was filled with a sea of floating ice, that ebbed inand out again as the wind or tide carried it. I said the cliff skirtedthe bay; still there was a beach some twenty rods wide that lay betweenit and the bay which was covered with snow as every thing else is inthat region in March.
"'We are in for it, Andy,' said father. 'Keep a good look out that thebeasts do not get at you; if they do, depend upon it, they will giveyou cause to repent your hunt. See! the natives are pricking them upwith the points of their spears. Stand back so as to give him a wideberth, and we will let the natives see that some things can be done aswell as others.'
"'Back! back!' yelled the natives; at the same moment a savage shaggyhead protruded from the den, and with angry growls, made for thenearest native. Every one of us, in our haste to clear the way for hisbearship, tumbled over each other until he was in a fair way to have usall in a heap to devour at leisure.
"'Pretty doings this, with our backs to the game!--face round every oneof you. Seek him! Seek him, there! Now, you red rogues, give him yourspears while he is engaged in boxing over the dogs as fast as they getat him. Ho! that makes him sorry,' said father, who was all alive withsport, for the old bear was a male of the largest kind; and he was justcongratulating himself on the easy victory he was obtaining, when hismate came with flashing eyes and ferocious growls towards us.
"I was the first to note her exit from the den, and drawing my rifle tomy shoulder gave her a ball in the side. With a roar of rage shebounded towards me and giving her another ball I attempted to savemyself in flight, but my foot slipping on the snow, threw me on theground, at the mercy of the terrible brute. Father saw the affray, andafter discharging every ball in his rifle at her, clubbed her withblows that shivered the stock of his gun into splinters. So Iafterwards learned, for the first blow she dealt me with her huge paw,took me on the temple, and I knew no more of the terrible whipping shegave me until it was all over. That was soon enough, for I thought mylast hour had come for many a week. The physician at the station gaveme over, and as a last resort the medicine man of a neighboring tribetook me in hand, pow-wow'd me, and from that hour I began to recover."
"You really think that the medicine man saved your life, do you?"queried Jane.
"Certainly--nothing can be clearer. The Indians know more of the art ofhealing, than half of your pop-in-jay doctors."
"How about the noise: it must have set you most wild," said Edward.
"It was a little too strong, I thought at the time, but afterwards wasconvinced it was all for the best."
"And the bears: were they secured?"
"Oh! yes, and the cub, too. But they told me it was a terrible fight."
"My brother has seen the efficacy of our medicine men. The Great Spiritwould assist his son to cure the young
brave, if the white chiefdesires it should be done," said Whirlwind.
"I am inclined to think it would help him, and at least could do noharm."
"Let him try, uncle. I am willing anything to save him should betried," said Edward.
Jane was silenced, but not convinced, by her uncle's story; and thoughdoubting the termination, offered no more opposition. Whirlwindretreated into the forest, desiring that no one should follow him,where he remained all night--during intervals of which, they heard hisvoice alternately in entreaty, command, and supplication.
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