Chapter 6

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_ CHAPTER SIX.

"Better, my boy?"

"Yes. What is it? I felt so sick and strange."

I was lying on my back looking up at my father, who was bending over me bathing my forehead with cold water.

"The sun--a little overdone. There, you are better now."

"Ah, I recollect," I said, "Where are the Indians?"

"Hush! Don't get excited. They are gone now."

"Yes, I know," I said; "gone to Colonel Preston's."

"Hist!" he cried, as I heard steps close by, and Morgan came hurrying up.

"Couldn't get far, sir. I was making haste, and getting close up to the last man as I thought, when three of the savages jumped up just in my path, and held up their bows and arrows in a way that said, plain as any tongue could speak, 'go back, or we'll send one of these through you.'"

"The chief knows what he is about," said my father, "and we cannot communicate. Now then, get inside, and we will barricade the place as well as we can, in case of their coming back. Can you walk now, George?"

"Yes, father, the giddiness has gone off now," I said; and I sprang up, but reeled and nearly fell again.

"Take my arm, boy," he said, as he helped me toward the window, and I climbed in by it, when the first thing my eyes lighted upon was the figure of our Sarah, down on her knees behind the door with her eyes shut; but a gun was leaning up against the wall; and as she heard us she sprang up, seized it, and faced round.

"Oh! I thought it was the Indians," she said, with a sigh of relief.

"Perhaps we have been frightening ourselves without cause," said my father, helping Morgan to fix up the strong shutter with which the window was provided. "The Indians are gone now."

"Yes," muttered Morgan, so that I could hear, "but they may come back again. I don't trust 'em a bit."

"Nor I, Morgan," said my father, for he had heard every word; "but a bold calm front seems to have kept them from attempting violence. If we had been shut up here, and had opened fire, not one of us would now have been alive."

"Never mind, sir," said Morgan. "If they come back let's risk it, and show a bold front here behind the shutters, with the muzzles of our guns sticking out, for I couldn't go through another hour like that again. I was beginning to turn giddy, like Master George here, and to feel as if my head was going to burst."

"Go up into the roof, and keep a good look-out from the little gratings; but keep away, so as not to show your face."

"Then you do think they'll come back, sir?"

"Yes, I feel sure of it. I am even now in doubt as to whether they are all gone. Indians are strangely furtive people, and I fully expect that a couple of them are lying down among the trees to watch us, for fear we should try to communicate with the others. I am afraid now that I made a mistake in settling down so far from the rest. Ah! Listen! A shot. Yes; there it is again."

"No, sir," said Morgan, "that wasn't a shot: it was--there it goes again!--and another."

Two distant sounds, exactly like shots, fell again upon our ears.

"Yes," cried my father, excitedly, "the fight has begun."

"Nay, sir, that was only a big 'gator threshing the water up in some corner to kill the fish," cried Morgan; and he passed up through the ceiling into the roof.

As Morgan went out of sight, and took his place in the narrow loft between the sloping rafters, my father busied himself loading guns, and placing them ready by the openings in the shutters which I had always supposed were for nothing else but to admit the light. And as he worked, Sarah stood ready to hand him powder or bullets, or a fresh weapon, behaving with such calm seriousness, and taking so much interest in the work, that my father said, gravely--

"Hardly a woman's task this, Sarah."

"Ah, sir," she replied, quietly; "it's a woman's work to help where she is wanted."

"Quite right," said my father. Then, turning to me, he went on, "I am a soldier, George, and all this is still very horrible to me, but I am making all these preparations in what I think is the right and wisest spirit; for if an enemy sees that you are well prepared, he is much less likely to attack you and cause bloodshed. We are safe all together indoors now, and with plenty of protection, so that if our Indian visitors come again, we are more upon equal terms."

"Do you really think they will come again, father?" I said.

"I'm afraid so. We have been living in too much fancied security, and ready to think there was no danger to apprehend from Indians. Now we have been rudely awakened from our dream."

"And if they come shall you shoot, father?"

"Not unless it is absolutely necessary to save our lives. I cannot help feeling that we ought to be up at the settlement, but I should have been unwilling to leave our pleasant home to the mercy of these savages; and, of course, now it is impossible to go, so we must make the best defence we can, if the enemy returns."

All this was very startling, and from time to time little shudders of dread ran through me, but at the same time there was so much novelty and excitement, that I don't think I felt very much alarmed. In fact, I found myself hoping once that the Indians would come back, so that I could see how they behaved now that we were shut up tightly in our house, all of which was very reprehensible no doubt; but I am recording here, as simply and naturally as I can, everything that I can remember of my boyish life.

The preparations for attack were at last ended, and after securing and barricading door and window in every way possible, we sat down to wait for the first sign of the enemy, and I was wondering how long it would be before we saw the Indians return, when I suddenly awoke to the fact that I was terribly hungry.

I don't suppose I should have thought of it, though, if Sarah had not made her appearance with bread and meat all ready cut for us, and very welcome it proved; Morgan, on receiving his share passed up to him in the loft, giving me a nod and a smile before he went back to continue his watch.

And this proved to be a long and weary one. The afternoon sun slowly descended; and as it sank lower, I could see that my father's face grew more and more stern.

I did not speak to him, but I knew what it meant--that he was thinking of the coming darkness, and of how terribly difficult our watch would be.

"Yes," he said, suddenly, just as if he had heard my thoughts; "they are naturally quiet, stealthy people, and the darkness will give them opportunities which would be full of risk by day. I am afraid that they are waiting in ambush for the night, and that then they will come on."

"I hope not," I thought; but I would not have let my father see how frightened I was for all the world; and trying to be as cheerful as I could under the circumstances, I went up and joined Morgan to help him watch from the latticed openings in the roof, with the garden gradually growing more gloomy, and the trees of the forest beyond rapidly becoming black.

Then darker and darker, and there was no moon that night till quite late.

Beyond the possibility of there being some reptile about that had crawled up from the river, hungry and supper-hunting, there had never seemed to be anything about home that was alarming, and night after night I had stolen out to listen to the forest sounds, and scent the cool, damp, perfumed air; but now there was a feeling of danger at hand, lurking perhaps so close that it would not have been safe to open the door; and as I watched beside Morgan from between the window-bars, we were constantly touching each other, and pointing to some tree-stump, tuft, or hillock, asking whether that was an Indian creeping cautiously toward the house.

Somehow that seemed to me the darkest night I could remember, and the various sounds, all of which were really familiar, seemed strange.

Now there was the plaintive cry of one of the goat-suckers which hawked for moths and beetles round the great trees; then, after a silence so profound that it was painful, came the deep croak of the bullfrog rising and falling and coming from a hundred different directions at once. Then all at once their deep croaking was dominated by a loud barking bellow; and as I listened with my hands feeling cold and damp, I caught hold of Morgan.

"What's that?" I whispered, excitedly.

"My arm," he replied, coolly. "Don't pinch, lad."

"No, no; I mean the sound. What noise was that?"

"Oh! Why, you know. That was a 'gator."

"Are you sure? It sounded like a man's voice."

"Not it. Who did you think could be there? Nobody likely to be out there but Indians, and they wouldn't shout; they'd whisper so that we shouldn't know they were near."

I was silent again, and sat watching and listening as sound after sound struck my ear, making it seem that the wilds had never been so full before of strange noises, though the fact was that nothing was unusual except that I did not realise that I had never been in danger before, and sat up to listen.

All at once I jumped and uttered a cry, for something had touched me.

"Hush! Don't make a noise," said a familiar voice. "I only wanted to know whether you could make out anything."

"No, father. Only the frogs and alligators are barking and bellowing."

"Can't see any sign of Indians, nor any red light from over toward the settlement?"

"No, father."

"No, sir. All's quiet," said Morgan.

"It isn't, father," I whispered. "I never heard so much noise from out by the river before. There, hark!"

We all listened in silence as a loud bellowing sound came from a distance.

"There!" I whispered, in awe-stricken tones.

"Only one of the reptiles by the stream," said my father, quietly.

"But don't you think it's because some one is there?"

"No; certainly not. Keep a sharp look-out on both sides, Morgan, and warn me if you see the slightest movement, for it may be a crawling, lurking Indian."

"We'll keep a good look-out, sir, never fear," said Morgan, and we resumed our watch--if watch it could be called, where we were more dependent upon our ears than upon our eyes.

Morgan was very silent and thoughtful till I spoke to him.

"What did my father mean about the red glare over at the settlement?"

"Hah!" he ejaculated, and he was again silent for a minute or two. Then in a quick whisper, "I was just thinking about that, Master George, when you spoke, and that it was the enemy we had to fear the most."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Fire, my lad, fire. I dare say that with our guns and swords we may keep them off; but that's how they'll get the better of us."

"By fire?"

"Yes; they'll get something blazing up against the house, and the moment it catches fire it's all over with us."

"What! Set fire to the house?"

"Yes, Master George, that's what your father's afraid of. No; I'm wrong there. I was at the wars with him, and I never saw him afraid--not even to-day. Takes a bold man to come out of his fort and go up to the enemy as he did--twelve to one--expecting every moment a crack from a tomahawk. He hasn't got any fear in him; but he thinks about the fire all the same. Now then, don't talk, but keep a sharp look-out, or they may steal on to us without our seeing them."

All this was said in a low whisper as we tried to keep a good look-out from the little trellised dormers; and the minutes stole on and became hours, with the darkness seeming to increase till about midnight. Then all looked darker, when Morgan pressed my arm, and I gave, a violent start.

"'Sleep, sir?"

"I? Asleep? No! Yes; I'm afraid I must have been," I said, feeling the colour come burning into my face.

"Look yonder," he whispered.

I looked from the grating and saw that, all at once, as it appeared to me, the tops of the trees were visible out to the east, and it grew plainer and plainer as I watched.

"Moon's getting very old, Master George," whispered Morgan, "but yonder she comes up."

"Then it will soon be light."

"No; but not so dark."

"Then the Indians won't come now?" I said eagerly.

"I don't know much about them, Master George, but from what I've heard say from those who do, Indians always comes when they're not expected, and if you're to be ready for them you must always be on the watch."

The overpowering sense of sleep which had made me lose consciousness for a few minutes ceased to trouble me now, and I stood watching eagerly for the time when the moon would rise above the trees, and send its light across the clearing in front of the house. I waited anxiously, for there had been the lurking dread that the Indians might creep up to the garden through the darkness, unseen, and perhaps strike at my father down below before he could be on his guard.

Once the moon was up, I felt that we should have light till daybreak, and with that light a good deal of the shivering dread caused by the darkness would pass away.

It was a long, very long while before the moon reached the tops of the trees, but when it did, the clearing and the gardens seemed to have been transformed. Long shadows, black as velvet, stretched right away, and trees were distorted so that I felt as if I was dreaming of seeing a garden upon which I had never set eyes before.

At last, almost imperceptibly, the moon, well on to its last quarter, appeared above the edge of the forest, and I was in the act of drawing myself back with a feeling of satisfaction that all was safe, when I saw something dark lying close to the shadow cast by a tree.

"Would Indians lie down and crawl?" I whispered.

"More likely to than walk, if all I hear's true, Master George."

"Then look there!" I whispered, as I pointed to the dark, shadowy figure.

"Where, lad? I can't see anything."

"There; just at the edge of that long, stretched-out shadow."

Morgan drew in his breath with a faint hiss.

"It's moving--_he's_ moving," he whispered; "crawling right along to get round to the back, I should say. And look, sir, look!--another of 'em."

I just caught sight of the second figure, and then crept to the rough trap-door opening.

"Father," I whispered, "come up here. Bring a gun."

He was beneath the opening in a moment.

"Take hold of the gun," he said. "Mind!--be careful"--and he passed the heavy weapon up to me.

The next moment he was up in the rough loft, and I pointed out the figures of the Indians.

I heard him too draw in his breath with a faint hiss, as he stretched out his hand for the gun, took it, softly passed the barrel out through the open window and took aim, while I stood suffering from a nervous thrill that was painful in the extreme, for I knew that when he fired it must mean death.

I involuntarily shrank away, waiting for the heavy report which seemed as if it would never come; and at last, unable to bear the suspense longer, I pressed forward again to look hesitatingly through the window, feeling that I might have to fire a gun myself before long.

All at once, as the suspense had grown unbearable, the barrel of the firelock made a low scraping noise, for my father was drawing it back.

"A false alarm, George," he said, gently.

"No, no," I whispered; "look--look!" for I could see both figures crawling along slowly, flat on their breasts.

"Yes, I see them, my boy," he said; "and I was deceived too, for the moment, but we must not waste shot on creatures like these."

"Why, if it arn't a pair o' 'gators," said Morgan, with a suppressed laugh. "Well, they did look just like Injins, and no mistake."

I felt so vexed at making so absurd a mistake, that I remained silent till my father passed the gun to me.

"Take hold," he said, gently. "It was a mistake that deceived us all. Better be too particular than not particular enough."

He lowered himself down into the room below, and I passed him the gun before going back to where Morgan leaned against the window.

"There they go, Master George," he said, laughing. "You and me must have a new pair o' spectacles apiece from the old country if we have to do much of this sort of thing."

"I did not think I could have been so stupid," I said, angrily; and going away to the other window, so that I should not have to listen to my companion's bantering, which I felt pretty sure would come, I stood gazing at the beautiful scene without, the moon making the dark green leaves glisten like silver, while the shades grew to be of a velvety black. Every here and there patches of light shone on the great trunks of the trees, while their tops ran up like great spires into the softly-illumined sky.

The excitement had driven away all desire for sleep, and we watched on listening to every sound and cry that came from the forest surrounding, wonderfully plain in the silence of the night, which magnified croak, bellow, or faint rustling among the leaves or bushes, as some nocturnal creature made its way through the trees.

At times the watching seemed to be insufferably dreary and wearisome; then something startling would send the blood thrilling through my veins again; and so on and on, till the moon began to grow pale, the light to appear of a pearly grey in the east, golden flecks glistened high all above the trees, and once more it was new day, with the birds singing, and a feeling of wonder impressing me, it appeared so impossible that I could have been up and watching all night. _

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