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

by St. George Rathborne

  CHAPTER XXIX

  THE MISSING WAMPUM BELT

  CREEPING along, with their guns held in readiness for instant use,the three gradually approached the sleepers. Pat frequently paused toobserve closely. Bob knew what he was keeping in mind; for the trapperhad only lately been telling a story of how once he had been followedby a pair of hardened border renegades, who hoped to catch him asleepand wind up his career. Pat had managed, before they came up, to divesthimself of certain of his garments, which he stuffed with dead leavesand arranged so that it looked as though he might be sleeping near hisflickering fire. And, when the intended murderers crept near, he wasconveniently placed for opening fire upon them.

  In that case the border had been well rid of a pair of rascals, andmany a settler's home rendered the more secure because of Pat's ruse.

  But the shrewd Irish trapper did not mean to be caught by any similartrick; and that was why he was making positive, as he advanced, thatthe two figures were real flesh and blood, and no make-believe forms.And, when he saw each of them move an arm or leg, as a fly or mosquitobothered them, this fact was soon so apparent that Pat lost all fear.

  It had already been fully arranged what the programme should be, undersuch conditions. Pat was to throw himself upon one recumbent figure,while the two boys covered the other with their guns, and threatenedhim with immediate death unless he held up his hands.

  When all was ready, and Pat just about to carry out his part of thearrangement, Henri, who, it happened, had been selected for the victimof the boys, suddenly sat up, and started to stretch, as he yawnedsleepily.

  Imagine his amazement at seeing three crouching figures within a fewfeet of him, while two muskets were levelled at his head. Stricken dumbwith surprise he could only stare and gasp.

  Meanwhile Pat was not idle. With a leap that a panther mighthave envied he was upon the second figure. Jacques Larue had notthe faintest chance. Taken utterly unawares, and at a completedisadvantage, he was as putty in the hands of the stalwart Irishtrapper, even though himself a man of sinew.

  "Don't so much as move a hand except to raise them above your head,Henri Lacroix, or you are a dead man!" exclaimed Bob, sternly.

  True, these two were only boys, but the Frenchman knew to his sorrowthat they were to be feared just as much as men. And it was almostludicrous to see how quickly he elevated his hands, and made motionswith his head to indicate that he gave in.

  After that it was no hard task to bind the trappers, though first ofall their weapons were taken. They looked alarmed, as indeed they hadgood cause for being, since they had long been a thorn in the flesh ofthese English settlers, and might expect to be treated harshly. Anddoubtless they both remembered with regret how they had just latelydone a rascally deed, for which these three might well demand theirlives as a recompense.

  Had they not known that Pat O'Mara must have trailed them from theplace where they set the dugout adrift, containing Mr. Armstrong'sdaughter, Jacques Larue and Henri Lacroix might have stoutly denied allknowledge of the crime. As it was they kept their lips sealed, andremained mute.

  When, however, Bob and Sandy, astonished and chagrined at not findingthe wampum belt upon either of the Frenchmen, although they recoveredmost of the little keepsakes lost by their mother, demanded to knowwhere it had been hidden, Jacques took it upon himself to explain, withmany extravagant shrugs of his broad shoulders; for even in those dayshis countrymen, even as now, do considerable of their talking withgestures.

  "I haf not seen ze belt since last night!" he declared. "Ven I allowmyself to go to sleep she is here about my vaist as before; yet,_sacre_! it amaze me to find ven I am open my eyes dis same morningzat ze belt no longer adorn my person. So it seem zat while I sleepsome unknown von, he crawl into ze camp, and take avay ze belt, and menot any ze wiser. I feel nossings, know nossings, only ze belt she bedisappear."

  "Did you not suspect that your friend, Henri here, might have taken anotion to take the belt and hide it?" asked Bob, as soon as he couldrecover from the shock which this declaration gave him.

  "Zat is exact vat pass through my mind!" exclaimed Jacques, eagerly."He, himself, tell you ze same, because him I accuse. But hold on, hesay, let us then examine ze ground, and know ze truth. So zat is vatve do, accordingly. Great is our amazement to learn zat an Indian, hecrawl into our camp as ve sleep. I know ze tracks only too vell tobelieve zat it can be a white man. And I gif you my vord, MonsieurO'Mara, zat ees ze truth, ze whole truth, and nossings but ze truth."

  Bob and Sandy were grievously disappointed. Whether, as Larue declared,some unknown Indian had really crept upon them while they slept, andwere wholly off their guard, taking only the sacred wampum belt, asthough that were the single object of his mission; or whether, on theother hand, Larue had secreted the belt for reasons of his own, theresult was all the same so far as they were concerned, since the beltwas gone.

  After talking it over, they decided that the two prisoners should betaken to the new settlement. They hardly felt in a condition to declarewhat measure of punishment should be meted out to such scoundrels; andwould much rather a council of the elder men decided this question.

  Jacques and Henri seemed very much cast down. They belonged to a classof bordermen who believed in the old adage, "an eye for an eye; a toothfor a tooth;" and under the circumstances had reason to expect nothingin the way of mercy from Mr. Armstrong, whom they had attempted toinjure many times.

  So the return march was taken up, it being the desire of the boys toreach their destination that day, even though the journey continuedinto the hours of darkness.

  Pat knew that, by taking a bee-line route across country, they couldcut off a considerable distance. When a bee is loaded with honey italways rises up, as if to take an observation, and then makes a directline for its hive, even though a full mile away from it at the time.Many claim that it is a peculiar "homing instinct" that guides thelittle insect at such times; but this, on the other hand, seems farfrom being the case; since, if the hive be moved in the night time, thebees, starting out in the morning, will not return to the old position,but fly straight to the new.

  To lose Pat O'Mara in any woods would be next to impossible, because hewas perfectly at home there, and, although they were now passing overground which he saw for the first time that afternoon, the accuracy ofhis deduction was made manifest just about dusk, when Sandy declaredthat he certainly heard the well-known sound of an axe being used uponfirewood, somewhere ahead.

  Half an hour later, they walked in on the sentry who stood guard, andwhose quick hearing, detecting their advance, caused a peremptorychallenge.

  Great was the rejoicing among the settlers when they saw how successfulhad been the chase after the rascally trappers belonging to that leagueof French Canadians who were employed all along the great river incatching the rich pelt-bearing animals inhabiting that region, or elsetrading with the Indians for their furs.

  When Mrs. Armstrong found almost all of her little belongings returnedto her, she was of course delighted; though this circumstance was ofsmall value in her fond eyes as compared with the safe home-coming ofher brave boys.

  When the story of the missing belt was told, few believed what theFrenchman had advanced as the truth.

  The general opinion seemed to be that, for some unknown reason, thepair had secreted the wampum belt somewhere, meaning to get it again ata later time. And some of the settlers were loud in their demand thatthe men be forced to confess what had been done with the belt, which,if only possessed again, was certain to be a great source of securityto the new settlement. They believed it would be a talisman calculatedto act as a bar upon the passions of the Indians, as long as the nameof Pontiac was held in reverence by the confederated tribes of themiddle West.

  So the two men were tightly bound and thrust into a cabin that wasnearly completed, being told that their fate would be decided at acouncil later on. They acted in a sullen manner, declaring they hadtold only the truth; and that, even though the En
glish put them tothe stake, they could say nothing different. At the same time Laruetook occasion to say that, should their fate ever become known to thecommandant of the nearest trading post, an expedition would assuredlybe fitted out against the new settlement that would wipe it from theface of the earth.

  Mr. Armstrong was uneasy. He knew that the men deserved death,according to the law of the border; and yet, for many reasons, he waspersonally averse to meting out such judgment upon them.

  He was far from being a bloodthirsty man to begin with. Then Kate hadreally not been injured when in their hands, and he had that to bethankful for; though their method of annoying the English settlers bysetting the girl adrift on the river was a cowardly proceeding thatsurely merited severe punishment.

  Last of all, Mr. Armstrong was really desirous of making a truce withthe French traders in charge of the posts along the Mississippi. Hecould see far enough ahead to realize that, when the Colonies splitwith the Mother Country, the natural allies of the rebels would bethe French. And, as far as possible, he did not wish to do anythingcalculated to defer this adjustment of past differences between the twonations.

  And so it was decided to keep the two men shut up for a few days, inorder that they would suffer the tortures of uncertainty concerningtheir fate. Then, if they did not confess concerning the disposal ofthe precious wampum belt, the English settlers could hold back theirweapons, and cast them adrift, to make their way back to the nearestpost as best they could; perhaps with a message to the commandantpertaining to the news from the seacoast, and the threatening rupturethat was surely coming between England and her rebellious child inAmerica.

  Accordingly, three days later, the two men were released, with a sternwarning to keep away from this settlement, if they valued their lives.