The Buffalo Runners: A Tale of the Red River Plains

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

  ADVENTURES OF FERGUS AND HIS FRIENDS.

  In order to account for the sudden death recorded in the last chapter,we must turn aside to follow for a little the fortunes of Fergus McKay.

  It will be remembered that the vigorous Highlander, after overturningthe Indian canoe and running his own canoe on shore, was seized by theneck, while in the act of reaching forward to grasp his gun, andcaptured.

  Now, Fergus was of an unusually knowing and wily nature. He possessedwhat some would call more than his share of readiness in action andsagacity in counsel, though his ordinary reticence and sluggishness ofmanner concealed those qualities to some extent.

  Being endued, also, with more than the average allowance of that bodilystrength for which his countrymen are famous, his first impulse was toexert his powers and show fight, but he had been taken suddenly at adisadvantage and thrown on his back into the bottom of the canoe, and atleast three pair of very muscular hands grasped his throat and otherparts of his person. That they were strong hands he felt; that theybelonged to big strong savages he had every reason to believe--though itwas too dark to see--and that scalping-knives and tomahawks were handyto them he knew to be highly probable. He therefore promptly made uphis mind as to his course of action, and at once began to play his part.Making a very feeble resistance--just enough, in short, to deceive--hebegged for mercy in soft, rather tremulous and very abject tones. True,his language was English--at least that sort of English to which themountaineers of Scotland are addicted--but he trusted to the tone andmanner of his speech, not to the sense, which Saulteaux, he knew, couldnot be expected to understand.

  "Oh! then, don't be hard on me. Don't kill me, goot shentlemen," hewhined. "It iss a poor worthless thing I am--whatever!"

  These remarks, and a few similar appeals for mercy, were accompaniedwith many dismal groans, as his captors were dragging him up the bank ofthe stream. Pausing for a moment, one of them produced a cord, withwhich they proceeded to bind their cowardly and unresisting prisoner.

  Whether the Indians were deceived by their victim's tones and manner,and the soft condition of his carefully relaxed muscles, we cannot tell,but it seemed as if such were the case, for some of the brief remarksmade by his captors had in them a smack of undisguised contempt, andwhen the cord was being put round his arms he felt that the grip of hiscaptors was slightly relaxed.

  Now or never was his chance! Hurling the men on either side of himright and left, he delivered two random blows in front, one of whichhappily took effect on a savage chest, the other on a savage nose, andcleared the way in that direction. With a bound like that of one of hisown mountain deer, he cleared the bank, and plunged into the river.

  In ordinary circumstances an attempt of this kind would have been worsethan useless, for the Indians would not only have jumped into theircanoes and overtaken the fugitive, but some of them would have run downthe bank of the stream to prevent a landing. Some such attempt wasindeed made on the present occasion, but the intense darkness was infavour of Fergus, and the searching canoes only ran into each other,while the searchers on land were still more at a disadvantage.

  Now, Fergus McKay was as much at home in water as an otter or amusk-rat. Indeed he had been known among his playmates in the oldcountry as the "Water-rat." When, therefore, he plunged into the river,as described, he took care to hold his breath as if for a long dive, anddrifted with the current a considerable distance as motionless as a deadman. The Indians listened intently, of course; for his coming to thesurface; for the breathing, and, it might be, for the splashing thatwould be natural after such a leap, but no breathing or splashing mettheir ears, for when Fergus put up his head, far down the stream, heonly let out his nose and mouth for a gentle inspiration, and sankagain.

  "It iss circumventin' you at your own trade, fightin' you wi' your ownclaymore, that I will be doin'," he thought, as he rose a second time,and swam softly with the stream.

  Fergus had the advantage of being well acquainted with the river inwhich he was swimming, as well as with the lands in its neighbourhood,and he knew that there was a certain bend in the stream which it wouldtake the canoe of Okematan a considerable time to traverse. By cuttingacross a narrow neck of land there was, therefore, a possibility of hisintercepting the canoe.

  The Saulteaux, of course, might have also taken advantage of thiscircumstance, but they could have done so only on foot, and they knewthat without canoes they could not arrest the progress of the fugitives.

  Reaching the spot where he wished to land, by intuition almost, theHighlander soon found himself on the bank, squeezed the water out of hisgarments, and set off as quickly as he dared in such darkness. By goodfortune he happened to cross a hunter's track or path--like asheep-run--with which he was familiar, and, by following it, was able toadvance much more rapidly. In a short time he again came out on theleft bank of the river. There he sat down on a boulder to listen.Profound was his attention to every sound--as profound, almost, as hisanxiety, for he knew that if the canoe should have already passed hewould be obliged to make his way back to the Settlement on foot by astraight course, which meant a slow, toilsome march, scrambling throughpathless woods, wading morasses, and swimming across rivers.

  He had been seated thus for about half-an-hour, and in his impatiencewas giving way to despondency, when the plash of water smote upon hisear. Cocking the said ear attentively, he was rewarded with anothersmite, and, in a few minutes, distinctly heard the sound of paddles.

  He put his hands to his mouth forthwith, and uttered a peculiar cry.

  Instantly the sound of the paddles ceased as Archie Sinclair, lookingover his shoulder, said--

  "Did you hear that, Oke?"

  Before Oke could reply, the cry was repeated.

  "It is Fer-gus," said the Indian, answering to the cry, and steering inthe direction whence it came. "Are you sure, Oke?"

  "Okematan never speaks till he is sure--waugh!"

  "H'm! I'm not so sure o' _that_," muttered the boy to himself.

  A few seconds put the matter at rest, for the voice of the Highlanderwas heard, as they cautiously drew near, saying--

  "Iss it _you_?"

  "I think it is!" replied Archie; "why, man, where are you? I can seenothing."

  "Wow! man, but I am gled," said Fergus; "just follow your nose, Archie,an' you'll be all right."

  Another moment, and the canoe was checked by Fergus, who had steppedinto the water to prevent its being injured against the stones.

  "You better gie me the paddle, Archie, an' sit beside Little Bill. Itiss tired o' paddlin' you will be by now."

  "But where is Dan?" asked Archie as he complied with this request.

  "That iss more than I can tell you, boy, but he's safe enough I doubtnot, for I heard him gie a cheer as he jamp into the wuds, an' it'sbeyont the power o' a mortal Red-skin to chase an active man on a nightlike this."

  Thereupon Fergus gave a brief account of all that had happened after thecanoes were parted--as far as he knew it--and then an earnest council ofwar was held as to what was the best course to pursue in thecircumstances. Being the youngest brave, (for Little Bill was ignoredin this matter), Archie was invited to give his opinion first. This waswell, because, being enthusiastic and irrepressible, he would probablyhave given his opinion first at any rate.

  "My opinion is," he said, promptly, "that we turn right-about, and goback to find Dan, even though we should have to fight the wholeSaulteaux nation!"

  "That iss well spoken," said Fergus with something of sarcasm in histone; "but as we hev only two guns amang us, a tomahawk, an' a knife ortwo, without any claymores at all, I would like to know what we are tofecht with? Moreover, what is to become o' Little Bill when we arefechtin'? It iss _my_ opeenion that we put the command o' ourexpeedition in the hands of Okematan, an' leave him to do what he thinksbest."

  "Arch-ee is a true brave," said the Indian, "but he is young. When thewrinkles of age a
re on his brow he will be a great chief. Okematan'sheart is with him to turn back and fight, but wisdom says, go to theSettlement, get men, and return as fast as you can."

  "Then the sooner we set about it the better, for when wan's mind is madeup, talk iss only lost time."

  With that he shoved the canoe off into the stream, and paddling wasresumed with redoubled vigour.

  They proceeded in silence till the blush of rosy day in the eastdispelled the intense darkness. Then, pulling ashore, they kindled asmall fire, and, while the chief re-gummed the seams of the canoe, whichleaked a little, the others prepared and ate a hasty breakfast.

  They were still engaged with this meal, and discussing, not veryhopefully, the possibility of reaching Red River Settlement andreturning in time to render relief to Dan--supposing that he shouldrequire relief--when the sound of fast-dipping paddles was heard beyondthe bend of the river just below them.

  Another moment, and four large canoes, each manned by eight men, sweptinto view, their red sides glowing in the morning sun, and theiroccupants driving the water behind them in foam by the vigour of theirstrokes.

  At first it was supposed that this was another band of Indiansproceeding, possibly, to join that from which they had just escaped; butthe fugitives were speedily undeceived by the appearance of the men asthey drew nearer.

  "I would be thinkin' that the man in the bow o' the first canoe isAntoine Dechamp," said Fergus, as he stood peering over the bushes atthe advancing brigade.

  "I'm sure it's Dechamp. I'd know him a mile off," said Archie.

  "Ay, an' they hev got sight o' the smoke of our fire, too," addedFergus.

  "It is Dechamp," said Okematan, decisively, as he stepped into the openand held up his hand to the new arrivals.

  A cheer was raised by those in the canoes when the Cree chief wasrecognised, and the flotilla, coming on at full speed, soon reached thebank.

  Explanations were speedily exchanged, and our fugitives learned thatnews had been carried to the Settlement of the approach of the very bandof Saulteaux whom they had encountered, and a band of fiery young men,led by Dechamp, had come out to meet them for the purpose of asking themwhether they meant their visit to be friendly, or whether they wished tomeasure their strength with the men of Red River; as, if so, a samplehad come out for the express purpose of accommodating them!

  On hearing the news that Okematan and Fergus had to give, the men--mostof whom were half-breeds connected with Cree families--gave a cheer andvoted for an immediate advance against the Saulteaux. This, after verybrief palaver, was unanimously agreed to.

  "You'll not object to return with us, I suppose?" asked Dechamp ofFergus.

  "Iss it objectin' to a fecht you will mean?"

  "Well--it's not unlikely that there may be something of the sort goingif we meet."

  "Did you ever hear of a McKay objectin' to a fecht, Antoine?"

  Dechamp laughed.

  "Well," he said, "I know Okematan won't object to turn back, and show usthe way to the place where he met the reptiles."

  "Okematan was on his way to seek for help," said the Indian quietly.

  Every one being agreed on this point, the whole band re-embarked, andproceeded on their way up the river. They advanced rapidly, foralthough the stream was against them it was so sluggish as to bescarcely appreciable, and by keeping near to the banks they were notdelayed by it at all.

  Towards the afternoon the place where the struggle had taken place wasreached, but no Saulteaux were to be seen. They had taken theirdeparture, and, from the fact that several small things belonging tothem had been left behind, it seemed not unlikely that they had obtainedinformation of the expedition sent out against them, and had departed inhaste.

  "It iss of no use," said Fergus, when this became evident, "for us tokeep up a stern-chase after them. They have got too much of a start, soit seems to me, boys, we could not do better than follow up the tracksof Daniel Davidson an' make sure that he has got clear away from them."

  To this proposal there was much objection at first, for it involved someof the party quitting the canoes and journeying no one could tell howfar through the woods on foot.

  "Besides," said one, "Dan is quite able to take care of himself, and ifhe got off in the dark, as you tell us he did, there's not a man in theSaulteaux nation could come up with him either in dark or light."

  "That may be all fery true, my frund," returned Fergus, "neverthelessI'm goin' to follow up his track, for it is sure that he took noproveesions wi' him, an' it was too dark for me to see if he escaped wi'his gun. Dan is a strong man, but the strongest man will be findin'himself in diffeeculties without grub. It iss followin' up his trail Iwill be doin', wi' some proveesions on my back, if wan or two o' youwill go wuth me."

  "I will go," said Archie Sinclair, promptly, "if some o' you willpromise to take care o' Little Bill."

  A laugh greeted this offer, and half-a-dozen of the men at once agreedto take good care of the invalid.

  "Moreover," said Dechamp, "whoever goes need not go further than thePine Portage. The party on foot will have found out, before the canoesreach that, whether Dan has got clear off, and they can rejoin thecanoes at the Portage. So, Fergus, I'll join your party too. Who elsewill go?"

  Okematan and Jacques Bourassin here stepped forward, but none of theothers seemed disposed to undertake the tramp.

  "There iss enough of us--whatever," remarked the Highlander as he andthe others put some provisions into their wallets and shouldered theirguns. "You will be our leader, Antoine Dechamp. It iss yourself thatknows the outs an' ins o' the land better than any of us--exceptOkematan, may be--but I dar' say he's not as weel acquaint wi' the RedRiver woods as wi' the plains."

  The chief bowed a dignified assent to this proposition, which, however,he hardly understood.

  Dechamp, being accustomed to lead, accepted the position at once,stepped off on the trail of Dan, which had been made distinctly visiblewhen he went crashing through the underwood the day before. Fergusfollowed, and Bourassin came third.

  "Now, then," said Archie, looking into the chief's face, "come along,Oke. You and I will form the rearguard, which is the position of dangerand honour in warfare o' this sort--at least if it isn't, it ought tobe. Take care o' yourself, Little Bill. We'll soon find Dan.Good-bye."

  So saying, the rearguard of the column vanished into the forest, and theothers, returning to their canoes, began to descend the river.

  Archie was nearer the mark than he imagined when he said they would soonfind Dan. The distance which it had taken our hero so long to traversein the dark was comparatively short, and the light was only beginning tofade when they came to the edge of the wood where Dan had spent thenight.

  Dechamp, of course, was first to come upon his encampment, and theinstant he entered it he observed the open space giving a view of theplain beyond. He also saw the wolf sitting on his haunches about twohundred yards off.

  Quick as the lightning flash his gun flew to his shoulder. Dechamp wasa first-rate shot. He fired, and, as we have seen, the wolf stretchedhimself in death upon the plain.

  Thus was Dan Davidson rescued at almost the eleventh hour.