The Pioneer Boys of the Mississippi; or, The Homestead in the Wilderness

by St. George Rathborne

  CHAPTER XXVII

  ON THE TRAIL

  AS he followed along the strip of open shore, Bob saw his impetuousbrother drawing nearer and nearer to the floating dugout. He halfexpected to see some grim figure start suddenly into view, threateningSandy with a deadly weapon, either gun or bow and arrow.

  Now Sandy had reached up a hand and clutched the side of the boat. Heexhibited not a sign of fear, from which fact Bob understood that, ongetting close, he had recognized the craft as the one they had broughtwith them from their old home.

  He saw the other pull himself up, and look within the boat. What wouldnot Bob have given to see all that met the gaze of his brother justthen.

  Sandy's actions rather puzzled him, for the latter, turning half-wayaround, waved a hand toward him, as if to say all was well; after whichhe dropped back into the water, and started to tow the boat in thedirection of the shore.

  Eagerly did Bob keep abreast of the swimmer. Sandy did not try to fightthe current, but was evidently desirous of getting to land as quicklyas possible, regardless of all else.

  And when he finally stood up where the water was shallow, and draggedthe boat along, Bob, in his eagerness, waded half-way to his knees.What he saw when he looked over the edge of the boat thrilled him. Atfirst he thought Kate must have met with some serious accident and waslying dead. Then he saw her eyes were open, and that a bandage coveredher mouth.

  Bob snatched his sister up in his arms without a second's delay, forSandy was too exhausted after his swim to do much.

  The cloth was hastily torn away, and then the sharp edge of Bob'shunting knife cut the leather thongs that bound the girl.

  "What does all this mean, Kate?" cried Bob, in a voice that quiveredwith anxiety. "Oh! has anything terrible happened to father and mother,that we find you like this?"

  She shook her head in the negative.

  "No, no, nothing has happened to them. It was the Frenchmen who didit!" she explained, though with some difficulty, since the tightbandage had hurt her jaws.

  Bob and his brother stared at each other.

  "Do you mean Jacques Larue?" demanded Bob, furiously.

  "And that other rascal, Henri Lacroix--the brother of the dead Armand?"Sandy added, equally enraged.

  "Yes," replied the girl, looking as though, now that rescue had come,she would not be sorry to see punished the men who had treated her sobadly.

  "This is a wonderful thing," Bob went on; "tell us how it happened.Where were you when they caught you; and how is it you did not callout?"

  So Kate explained how she had been taken by surprise, and, before shecould say a single word, the hand of Henri Lacroix had stifled allspeech.

  "And they had your fine wampum belt with them, Sandy," she went on,eagerly. "He was wearing it as proudly as if he had saved the lifeof Pontiac, himself,--Jacques Larue, I mean. And they said that theywanted to pay the Armstrongs back for much that they had suffered."

  "And, like the base cowards they are," Bob grated between his teeth,"they set a poor helpless girl adrift on the river in a little dugoutthat might be upset in some cross current, where the fierce eddiesswirl!"

  "And wouldn't I like a chance to draw a bead on either of them rightnow," said Sandy, looking all around him, as he fondled his faithfulold gun, with which he had done so much execution among the game of theforests.

  "But we should be on the way home!" declared Bob. "Father and Pat mustknow of this new outrage that we have suffered at the hands of thesemiserable trappers, who would rather spend their time stealing gamethat others have caught than to attend to a line of their own traps. Iffather lets us, Sandy, make sure we will take Pat with us, and start onthe trail at once."

  "To regain those little treasures mother mourns as lost forever; thatis just fine," said Kate, eagerly, for she was a backwoods girl, andcould recover quickly, after even such a shocking experience.

  "Not to speak of our wonderful belt," added Sandy, who was slipping onsome of the clothes he had discarded.

  In a few minutes they were hurrying back along the shore. The boat hadbeen pulled up on the beach and the painter fastened to a convenienttree, so that the chances were they would find the craft there, whensome one came back after it.

  Neither of the boys felt like paddling two miles against the current ofthe Mississippi just then. Besides, they were anxious to get back totheir father. Perhaps the absence of Kate might have been discovered bythis time, and considerable anxiety have been aroused.

  But, when they came to the spot where their packs of venison had beenleft, the boys could not resist the temptation to obtain them again.Meat was needed too badly in the settlement to think of taking chancesof the wolves running off before morning with the entire stock.

  They had apparently entirely forgotten about having been tired beforethis new and surprising thing came about. At least, to see the nimbleway in which the two boys advanced along the river shore, no one wouldthink they exhibited the least sign of weariness.

  In due time they approached the bustling scene where the men werechopping so industriously. Toward one cabin that seemed to be aboutfinished they hastened. Mrs. Armstrong, chancing to come to the opendoor, saw them, and something seemed to tell her the boys were bringingbad news, for she waited for them there, and her face did not seem sofilled with sunshine as it had been when they first sighted her.

  When the story of Kate's second abduction had been told, Mr. Armstrongwas furious. He readily agreed to the proposition advanced by Sandy,that he and his brother be allowed to take up the trail of the rascallyFrenchmen as soon as Pat came home, as it happened unfortunately thatthe Irish trapper was somewhere out in the woods just then.

  The other men were called in, and Kate told her little story again.Black looks told plainly what they thought; and for either Larue orLacroix to have been seen by any one of those English settlers justthen, would have undoubtedly meant his death warrant.

  Of course they understood that news of their coming would now becarried to the nearest French trading post; but then they had notanticipated being able to keep this a secret long, it being the hope ofMr. Armstrong that the French would recognize in them allies againstEngland, and thus condone their coming--perhaps extend to them theright hand of fellowship.

  Several times Sandy would rush outside to ascertain whether Pat hadshown up as yet. He had no eyes just then for the cosy interior of thenew cabin. Later on, when this load had been taken off Sandy's mind, hewould think just as highly as any one of the delightful comforts to beenjoyed beside the family hearth. Just now he could think of nothingbut the miserable deed of those French trappers, and the fact that oneof them was even at that moment wearing the valuable belt of wampum.The great Pontiac had bestowed this upon Sandy, because it had been abullet from his gun that had pierced the arm of a madman who was aboutto bring down a war-club on the sachem's head.

  The afternoon was going all too fast to suit Sandy. It would be darkbefore three hours, and then how could they overtake the Frenchmen,who, given such a long start, would get beyond their reach?

  More than ever did he long to once again lay his hands, as the rightfulowner, on that beautiful belt of sacred shells, which bore thewell-known totem of the big chief under whom the various tribes hadunited against the palefaces.

  Almost a full hour was lost in this way. Then Pat came sauntering in,never dreaming how his absence had fretted the boys.

  Quickly he was made acquainted with the situation; and, no soonerhad he heard about the two Frenchmen, and how they had treated KateArmstrong, than Pat was on fire to take to the war-path.

  So he and the two boys left the settlement. They headed directly forthe spot described by Kate as the place where she had been surprised byJacques and his equally bold companion.

  Once there, the trained vision of Pat O'Mara quickly found the tracksmade by the moccasins of the men. They followed them to the edge of thewater, where according to the mark made by the prow of the dugout, itwas plainly seen that the boa
t had been shoved out into the river.

  Pat took up the trail from that point, and followed it very much as atrained hound might have done; only the sense of sight had to serve himrather than that of scent.

  Close at his heels came the two boys, each with his rifle held inreadiness for instant use, in case the enemy were sighted. They couldnot tell but that the reckless Frenchmen might have concluded to hoveraround, and wait to see if any of the hated English settlers tried tofollow them.

  But, as the afternoon wore on, and they kept making steady progressaway from the river, they came to the conclusion that Jacques and Henrimust have had some scheme in mind of cutting off a great bend in theriver, the existence of which was well known to them. By making thisstraight cut across country, perhaps they were saving themselves manymiles' tramp.

  All of this was of course based upon the supposition that they meant tokeep on heading into the south, and perhaps reaching the lower countryat New Orleans.

  As they walked steadily along, from time to time Sandy, of course,felt compelled to air his grievances, and he was always sure of asympathetic auditor in his brother.