American Family Robinson

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  Chapter Tenth.

  Preparations for a grand Pow-wow. The apparent solemnity of Whirlwind.He dresses himself in the wolf-skin. The Pow-wow. Its effects uponSidney. He becomes delirious. Favourable turn in his fever. His healthimproves. They proceed on their way. The Indian acknowledges himselflost. Encamp for the night. Their journey continued. Singular treesdiscovered. Preparations for spending the winter.

  At noon the next day, the chief returned, carrying in his hand a smallbag made of bark, and filled with something they did not attempt toascertain, well knowing the chief would look on such an act asunpardonable profanity. He had gone into the forest without supper, andhad taken no breakfast, yet he refused anything to eat. They did noturge him, for they had never seen such an expression of humility andmeekness on the chief's features before as they wore then; and Jane andEdward felt rebuked for the levity they had exhibited, for evidently hewas acting the farce in which he was engaged, with a sincerity andpurity of motive that commanded respect.

  With eager curiosity, blended with fear for the result, they watchedevery movement of the chief's preparations, which were as unique assingular. After depositing his bag with great care on the limb of atree, he took the now dry wolf-skin, wrapped it around him, running hisarms through the skin of the fore legs. The skin of the head, which hadbeen stretched and dried whole, he drew over his own, confining thebody of the skin around him with a string, leaving the long bushy taildragging behind him. Then taking his medicine bag in his hands, heassumed the appearance of the wolf; and thus accoutred, no one wouldhave taken him for a human being, so completely was he metamorphosed.With stealthy tread, he crept slowly round the couch on which thepatient lay, snuffing the air like a hound on a scent; then placing hishands on the side, raised his head, and, after taking a survey of thesick man, again dropt down, and commenced moving around very slowly,and snuffing the air for full half an hour. Suddenly, with a yell thatmade the old forest ring, and a bound, he darted round the couch with avelocity truly astonishing. He did not run, nor bound, but jumped, andat every jump, sent out one of those hideous yells, that startled theechoes from their retreats, and sent them forth with a hundred voices.

  After whirling around the bed in this way a number of times, withfrantic howls he sprang upon the bed, and commenced snuffing round thepatient. Starting with terror, the poor boy half raised his head, and aglance of intelligence lighted his sunken eye, as he cried, withgestures of fear and horror, "The wolf! the wolf! Save me! oh, saveme!" and then sank back, fainting. They at first thought he was dead.

  "You have killed him. Stop! for mercy's sake, stop!" cried Jane,placing herself between the hideous looking object and Sidney.

  "The young brave will live," said the chief, suddenly raising himself,and speaking in his natural tones; and after divesting himself of theskin, without another word, disappeared in the forest.

  "Give me water," said Jane, "and chafe his hands while I bathe histemples."

  "Put some water in his mouth," said the trapper. "I fear we did wrongin this affair. Poor boy! he thought the wolf had him again."

  "We certainly ought not to have permitted it. The shock to the nervoussystem must be terrible. Should he never have his reason again, I shallnever forgive myself. That Whirlwind would adhere to so ridiculous afarce is not to be wondered at; but that we, born and bred among acivilized nation, educated, and with claims to intelligence andrefinement, should consent to such mummery, is a libel on humanity."

  "I believe you, Jane," said the trapper. "The poor boy was too ill tobear it. As for myself, I think, when I was pow-wowed, I must have beenalready on the mend. But these savages _do_ exert an influence overone. I don't know how it is, but I never knew a person that had beenmuch with them, but what was forced to acknowledge it."

  "See! he breathes. Edward, hide away that ugly skin that he need notget another fright.--Sidney! Sidney! don't you know me!" said Jane, asthe invalid slowly opened his eyes, and then with a shudder, closedthem again.

  "Come, Sidney, rouse up," said the trapper. "We are only waiting foryou to be able to travel in order to start for home. We cannot be farfrom it now."

  "The wolf! the wolf! take him away!" cried Sidney, in piteous accents,and then once more fainted with terror and fright.

  "Now, keep out of sight, every one of you, and be careful that not asound or noise is made. I think I can manage him best alone," saidJane, as she commenced bathing his temples with water.

  Slowly his eyes again opened, and as they rested on her, she smiledsoftly, as she said in gentle tones; "You know me, surely, Sidney,don't you?"--and then she added, after a moment's pause, "there is noone else around, but me, and I do not frighten you, do I?"

  Suddenly his eye lit up with an intelligent light, and a half smilehovered round his lips, as he said: "Oh no, I am not afraid of you,Jane, but what has happened? what am I lying here for?--Ah! ah! my arm,I cannot move it," said he, as a sharp pain ran through his shoulder,when he attempted to raise himself.

  "Do not attempt it," said Jane, laying her hand on his to keep himquiet, as he again stirred. "You are very ill, and your life depends onyour keeping quiet. You must neither move nor talk much."

  "Then I have not been dreaming; a wolf has----"

  "Yes, you have been dreaming; there is nothing here, except myself, andI really think, I frighten you, and will have to go away."

  "Oh, no, do not: but I am quite sure I did see a great black----"

  "Hush! hush! if you talk so strange, you will frighten me. There is,nor has been nothing here. Come, now, don't you feel better. I am sureyou do; you look like yourself again. Here are some deliciousblackberries, cool and juicy, try one," she said, putting one to hislips.

  "Delicious, give me more. But Jane, I am quite sure there was amonstrous black----"

  "Come, if you do not stop such nonsense, I will give you no moreberries," said Jane, gaily.

  "Well, then, I will, yet I saw his great, shaggy----"

  "I tell you, Sidney, you dreamed; and, as dreams all go by the rule ofcontrary, I presume you never will see one. Come, you must sleepnow--not another word," and she playfully placed her hand over hismouth to enforce her command.

  It was the tenth day, since he was hurt, and the first that he hadshowed consciousness--and tremblingly the young girl watched hisslumbers, fearing lest, when he awoke, the delirium would return. If itdid not, he was certainly improving, and he would live. If it did--sheshuddered to think of the probable consequences. Long and quietly heslept, and when he opened his eyes, he turned them quietly to thewatcher, and observed:

  "I think, Jane, I did dream of the wolf, for I have been dreaming ofhim again, and this time I thought I killed him; and as I know I havekilled no wolf, I conclude the whole is a dream."

  "Now, you talk rational, and are better, I am sure."

  "I think I am, for I am hungry," said Sidney, pleasantly.

  Sending Howe to watch by the couch, Jane began to consider what couldbe procured among their limited resources that would be nourishing, andyet harmless. Cooking utensils they had none. Their whole stock ofvessels consisted of the shells of wild gourds that grew abundantly inthe forest. Necessity often compels a resort to recipes in cooking notlaid down in all the editions of gastronomy. It did in this case, andgrateful was Jane that she had the shell of the gourd to prepare a mealin for Sidney. Taking some smooth white stones from the bed of thestream, she placed them in the fire, and then put the wings of apartridge into a gourd half-full of water, and as soon as the stones inthe fire were at a red heat, one was taken up by running under it aforked stick; the dust that adhered to it was blown away, when it wasdropped into the gourd, and in a short time the water was boiling. Assoon as it ceased, another stone was put in, and in a little while abroth not unsavory, though so rudely cooked, was ready and eaten by himwith relish.

  At sunset the chief returned from the forest, all traces of the recentfarce were gone from his face, on which rested the old expression ofpride and _hauteur_.
He asked no questions, expressed no concern; aftereating a hearty supper, he threw himself on the ground by thecamp-fire, and was soon asleep.

  From the first night that Sidney had been attacked by the wolf, up tothis time, not a night or a day had elapsed that some kind of wildbeast had not been seen prowling about them; though they kept up largecamp-fires, they were in fear of a whole pack making their descent uponthem, when they must all be devoured, in defending Sidney, or leave himto fall a defenceless victim. They found, to their dismay, that theywere in a portion of the forest overrun by beasts, which no doubt,looked upon them as trespassing on their rights; the dislike of whichproceedings they evinced, by threatening in plain enough language to beunderstood by our wanderers, to eat them for their audacity. Afterenduring these hints a week longer, during which time the beasts hadbecome so venturesome as to come in uncomfortable proximity to them,they began to think the most prudent course would be to vacate theneighbourhood as soon as Sidney could be removed with safety, whichthey had hopes of being soon, as he was rapidly gaining strength. Thebroken bones were in a fair way to join, and the wounds to heal.

  The nights were becoming cool, and as the time flew by, they becameanxious to remove from their dangerous position, as well as to be ontheir journey in order to find their way out of the forest before thewinter set in. Without tools to work with, or weapons to defendthemselves, or proper clothing, they quailed at the thought of beingcaught by the frost and snow in the mountains. But Sidney did notrecover his strength very fast, and they put off their departure dayafter day on his account, after they had first set the time to start,until two weeks had now elapsed when they crossed the small stream andbegan to ascend the mountain. It was slow work, and at night theyencamped on the summit, where no water could be had, instead ofdescending it, as they in the morning had calculated. That night Sidneywas unable to sleep, and moaned until daylight. After breakfasting theybegan to descend; he insisted he was quite able to go, but the rest sawit was too great an exertion for him. To remain on the mountain theycould not; to return to the place they had left was impossible. Therewas no other alternative but to go on. The chief on one side and thetrapper on the other, he was half carried most of the distance; alittle after the middle of the day they reached the foot of themountains, and found themselves in a beautiful valley, along which rana clear stream about a quarter of a mile from the base of the mountain.

  Their first thought was to build a couch for Sidney, who had lain downon the ground with his head on a pile of leaves for a pillow. Theycould not shut their eyes to the reality that he was really quite illagain. Selecting a spot favorable for building a couch, they had onesoon completed, on which he was laid, and a temporary cover of hemlockboughs and bark was thrown over it. They then commenced preparationsfor supper. That night they were unmolested by wild beasts, whichaugured well for their selection of a good ground to encamp on.

  The next morning Sidney was much worse, and a cold, drizzling rainhaving set in during the night, drove them all under the shelterthrough the day, and even sent the goat and her kid, who had becomevery tame, bleating to their side. As the day advanced the storm becamemore furious, so much so that the water penetrated the roof and beganto fall upon Sidney's couch.

  "This will never answer," said the trapper. "We must have a more regularlayer of bark over the cabin. I saw plenty of it but a little distancewhere some large trees have fallen." Starting out with the chief, theywere peeling off the bark with the tomahawk by the aid of a lever, whenthey discovered further down the stream a herd of deer feeding. Seizinghis bow and arrows which the chief had taken with him, he stolecautiously towards them, and before they had taken the alarm a noblebuck and a doe had each an arrow shot through the heart. They wereconveyed to the cabin, and the successful hunters returned to cuttingtheir bark. After having rendered the cabin impervious to water theydressed their game, stretching the skins to dry; "for," said the chief,"snow will come and much skin be wanted." The venison was then cut inslices and hung up to dry, so that it would be on hand if the gameshould become scarce around them.

  Towards night the chief with his tomahawk in his belt and his bow inhis hand went out to explore the country around in order to determinewhat course was best to pursue. Taking a south-east direction, the faceof the country was level and very fertile, producing wild fruits andnuts in abundance, which were now ripe, and with which the trees wereloaded.

  "We shall not starve, at least," said the chief to himself, "if wecannot go any farther, which I fear we shall not this fall. It is plainthe young brave cannot travel, and if he could, we are perhaps fartherfrom home now than ever. The Great Spirit only knows which way is theright one to travel in order to find ourselves." He was surprised as hewent on to find the trees of the forest of less primitive growth,especially those peculiar to the soil; and still greater surprised tofind them interspersed with trees now laden with ripe fruits of aspecies he had never seen before; and more surprising still, thesetrees were much larger than the wild ones, appearing of not more than ahundred years growth. As he went further on the scenery becameperfectly enchanting. It had the appearance of having been a gardendeserted and run to waste after many years of high cultivation, ratherthan a part of the wilds in a new world. Satisfied with discovering aspot more congenial for building a hut that would withstand the winterstorms which were approaching, and around which he saw no signs of wildbeasts, he returned to the cabin and reported what he had seen.

  "We are lost," said the chief, "past all doubt. The forest here is asnew to me as if I had never seen a tree before, and our safest way isto prepare for winter."

  "Prepare for winter!" said Edward, gloomily, "what have we to prepare?No warm garments to make, for we have neither cloth, nor anything tomake them with if we had."

  "There is much that can be done," said the trapper, "if we are obligedto winter here, which I fear we shall be, as it will soon be here, andSidney is confined to his couch again. I will go in the morning and seethe place you speak so highly off and if we then agree upon it, we hadbetter endeavor to erect something that will defend us from our enemiesas well as cold and rain."