Chapter 4. The Night Alarm

________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER FOUR. THE NIGHT ALARM

Bart Woodlaw had not been keeping his renewed watch long before he heard a step behind him, and, turning sharply, found himself face to face with Dr Lascelles.

"Well, my boy," he said, "is all right?"

"I think so, sir. Did you hear anything?"

"No, my boy, I woke up and just came to see how matters were going. Any alarm?"

"Yes, sir, and no, sir," replied Bart.

"What do you mean?" exclaimed the Doctor sharply.

"Only that Joses woke up, sir, and I found him watching that mass of rock which you can see out yonder. That one sir--or--no!--I can't see it now."

"Why?" said the Doctor, in a quick low decisive tone; "is it darker now?"

"Very little, sir; but perhaps Joses was right: he said he thought there must be a fire out there to make it stand out so clearly, and--"

"Well? speak, my boy! Be quick!"

"Perhaps he was right, sir, for I cannot see the rock there at all."

"Where is Joses? Why did he not go and see?" exclaimed the Doctor sharply.

"He has been gone nearly an hour, sir, and I was expecting him back when you came."

"That's right! But which way? Joses must feel that there is danger, or he would not have left the camp like this."

Bart pointed in the direction taken by their follower, and the Doctor took a few hasty strides forward, as if to follow, but he came back directly.

"No. It would be folly," he said; "I should not find him out in this wild. Depend upon it, Bart, that was an Indian fire and camp out beyond the ridge yonder, and he suspected it. These old plainsmen read every sign of earth and sky, and we must learn to do the same, boy, for it may mean the saving of our lives."

"I'll try," said Bart earnestly. "I can follow trail a little now."

"Yes, and your eyes are wonderfully keen," replied the Doctor. "You have all the acute sense of one of these hunters, but you want the power of applying what you see, and learning its meaning."

Bart was about to reply, but the Doctor began walking up and down impatiently, for being more used than his ward in the ways of the plains, he could not help feeling sure that there was danger, and this idea grew upon him to such an extent that at last he roused the men from their sleep, bidding them silently get the horses ready for an immediate start, should it be necessary; and while this was going on, he went into the tent.

"Maude--my child--quick!" he said quietly. "Don't be alarmed, but wake up, and be ready for a long ride before dawn."

Maude was well accustomed to obey promptly all her father's orders, and so used to the emergencies and perils of frontier life that she said nothing, but rapidly prepared for their start, and in a few minutes she was ready, with all her little travelling possessions in the saddle-bags and valise that were strapped to her horse.

Just as the Doctor had seen that all was nearly ready, and that scarcely anything more remained to be done than to strike the little tent, Joses came running up.

"Well! what news?" said the Doctor, hurriedly.

"Injun--hundreds--mile away," said the plainsman in quick, sharp tones. "Hah! good!" he added, as he saw the preparations that had been made.

"Bart, see to Maude's horse. Down with the tent, Joses; Harry, help him. You, Juan and Sam, see to the horses."

Every order was obeyed with the promptitude displayed in men accustomed to a life on the plains, and in a very few minutes the tent was down, rolled up, and on the side of the waggon, the steeds were ready, and all mounting save Juan, who took his place in front of the waggon to drive its two horses, Dr Lascelles gave the word. Joses went to the front to act as pioneer, and pick a way unencumbered with stones, so that the waggon might go on in safety, and the camp was left behind.

Everything depended now upon silence. A shrill neigh from a mare would have betrayed them; even the louder rattle of the waggon wheels might have had that result, and brought upon them the marauding party, with a result that the Doctor shuddered to contemplate. There were moments when, in the face of such a danger, he felt disposed to make his way back to civilisation, dreading now to take his child out with him into the wilderness. But there was something so tempting in the freedom of the life; he felt so sanguine of turning his knowledge of metallurgy to some account; and what was more, it seemed so cowardly to turn back now, that he decided to go forward and risk all.

"We always have our rifles," he said softly to himself, "and if we can use them well, we may force the Indians to respect us if they will not treat us as friends."

And all this while the waggon jolted on over the rough ground or rolled smoothly over the flat plain, crushing down the thick buffalo-grass, or smashing some succulent, thorny cactus with a peculiar whishing sound that seemed to penetrate far through the silence of the night. They were journeying nearly due north, and so far they had got on quite a couple of miles without a horse uttering its shrill neigh, and it was possible that by now, silent as was the night, their cry might not reach the keen ears of their enemies, but all the same, the party proceeded as cautiously as possible, and beyond an order now and then given in a low voice, there was not a word uttered.

It was hard work, too, for, proceeding as they were in comparative darkness, every now and then a horse would place its hoof in the burrow of some animal, and nearly fall headlong. Then, too, in spite of all care and pioneering, awheel of the waggon would sink into some hollow or be brought heavily against the side of a rock.

Sometimes they had to alter their direction to avoid heavily-rising ground, and these obstacles became so many, that towards morning they came to a halt, regularly puzzled, and not knowing whether they were journeying away from or towards their enemies.

"I have completely lost count, Bart," said the Doctor.

"And if you had not," replied Bart, "we could not have gone on with the waggon, for we are right amongst the rocks, quite a mountain-side."

"Let's wait for daylight then," said the Doctor peevishly. "I begin to think we have done very wrong in bringing a waggon. Better have trusted to horses."

He sighed, though, directly afterwards, and was ready to alter his words, but he refrained, though he knew that it would have been impossible to have brought Maude if they had trusted to horses alone.

A couple of dreary hours ensued, during which they could do nothing but wait for daybreak, which, when it came at last, seemed cold and blank and dreary, giving a strange aspect to that part of the country where they were, though their vision was narrowed by the hills on all sides save one, that by which they had entered as it were into what was quite a horse-shoe.

Joses and Bart started as soon as it was sufficiently light, rifle in hand, to try and make out their whereabouts, for they were now beyond the region familiar to both in their long rides from ranche to ranche in quest of cattle.

They paused, though, for a minute or two to gain a sort of idea as to the best course to pursue, and then satisfied that there was no immediate danger, unless the Indians should have happened to strike upon their trail, they began to climb the steep rocky hill before them.

"Which way do you think the Indians were going, Joses?" said Bart, as they toiled on, with the east beginning to blush of a vivid red.

"Way they could find people to rob and plunder and carry off," said Joses gruffly, for he was weary and wanted his breakfast.

"Do you think they will strike our trail?"

"If they come across it, my lad--if they come across it."

"And if they do?"

"If they do, they'll follow it right to the end, and then that'll be the end of us."

"If we don't beat them off," said Bart merrily.

"Beat them off! Hark at him!" said Joses. "Why, what a boy it is. He talks of beating off a whole tribe of Indians as if they were so many Jack rabbits."

"Well, we are Englishmen," said Bart proudly.

"Yes, we are _Englishmen_," said Joses, winking to himself and laying just a little emphasis upon the men; "but we can't do impossibilities if we bes English."

"Joses, you're a regular old croaker, and always make the worst of things instead of the best."

"So would you if you was hungry as I am, my lad. I felt just now as if I could set to and eat one o' them alligators that paddles about in the lagoons, whacking the fishes in the shallows with their tails till they're silly, and then shovelling of them up with their great jaws."

"Well, for my part, Joses, I'd rather do as the alligators do to the fish."

"What, whack 'em with their tails? Why, you ain't got no tail, Master Bart."

"No, no! Eat the fish."

"Oh, ah! yes. I could eat a mess o' fish myself, nicely grilled on some bits o' wood, and yah! mind! look out!"

Joses uttered these words with quite a yell as, dropping his rifle, he stooped, picked up a lump of rock from among the many that lay about on the loose stony hill slope they were climbing, and hurled it with such unerring aim, and with so much force, that the hideous grey reptile they had disturbed, seeking to warm itself in the first sunbeams, and which had raised its ugly head threateningly, and begun to creep away with a low, strange rattling noise, was struck about the middle of its back, and now lay writhing miserably amidst the stones.

"I don't like killing things without they're good to eat," said Joses, picking up another stone, and seeking for an opportunity to crush the serpent's head--"Ah, don't go too near, boy; he could sting as bad as ever if he got a chance!"

"I don't think he'd bite now," said Bart.

"Ah, wouldn't he! Don't you try him, my boy. They're the viciousest things as ever was made. And, as I was saying, I don't--there, that's about done for him," he muttered, as he dropped the piece of rock he held right upon the rattlesnake's head, crushing it, and then taking hold of the tail, and drawing the reptile out to its full length--"as I was a-saying, Master Bart, I don't like killing things as arn't good to eat; but if you'll put all the rattlesnakes' heads together ready for me, I'll drop stones on 'em till they're quite dead."

"What a fine one, Joses!" said Bart, gazing curiously at the venomous beast.

"Six foot six and a half," said Joses, scanning the serpent. "That's his length to an 'alf inch."

"Is it? Well, come along; we are wasting time, but do you think rattlesnakes are as dangerous as people say?"

"Dangerous! I should think they are," replied Joses, as he shouldered his rifle; and they tramped rapidly on to make up for the minutes lost in killing the reptile. "You'd say so, too, if you was ever bit by one. I was once."

"You were?"

"I just was, my lad, through a hole in my leggings; and I never could understand how it was that that long, thin, twining, scaly beggar should have enough brains in her little flat head to know that it was the surest place to touch me right through that hole."

"It was strange," said Bart. "How was it?"

"Well, that's what I never could quite tell, Master Bart, for that bite, and what came after, seemed to make me quite silly like, and as if it took all the memory out of me. All I can recollect about it is that I was with--let me see! who was it? Ah! I remember now: our Sam; and we'd sat down one hot day on the side of a bit of a hill, just to rest and have one smoke. Then we got up to go, and, though we ought to have been aware of it, we warn't, there was plenty of snakes about I was just saying to Sam, as we saw one gliding away, that I didn't believe as they could sting as people said they could, when I suppose I kicked again' one as was lying asleep, and before I knew it a'most there was a sharp grab, and a pinch at my leg, with a kind of pricking feeling; and as I gave a sort of a jump, I see a long bit of snake just going into a hole under some stones, and he gave a rattle as he went.

"'Did he bite you?' says Sam.

"'Oh, just a bit of a pinch,' I says. 'Not much. It won't hurt me.'

"'You're such a tough un,' says Sam, by way of pleasing me, and being a bit pleased, I very stupidly said,--'yes, I am, old fellow, regular tough un,' and we tramped on, for I'd made up my mind that I wouldn't take no more notice of it than I would of the sting of a fly."

"Keep a good look-out all round, Joses," said Bart, interrupting him.

"That's what I am doing, Master Bart, with both eyes at once. I won't let nothing slip."

In fact, as they walked on, Joses' eyes were eagerly watching on either side, nothing escaping his keen sight; for frontier life had made him, like the savages, always expecting danger at every turn.

"Well, as I was a saying," he continued, "the bite bothered me, but I wasn't going to let Sam see that I minded the least bit in the world, but all at once it seemed to me as if I was full of little strings that ran from all over my body down into one leg, and that something had hold of one end of 'em, and kept giving 'em little pulls and jerks. Then I looked at Sam to see if he'd touched me, and his head seemed to have swelled 'bout twice as big as it ought to be, and his eyes looked wild and strange.

"'What's matter, mate?' I says to him, and there was such a ding in my ears that when I spoke to him, Master Bart, my voice seemed to come from somewhere else very far off, and to sound just like a whisper.

"'What's the matter with you?' he says, and taking hold of me, he gave me a shake. 'Here, come on,' he says. 'You must run.'

"And then he tried to make me run, and I s'pose I did part of the time, but everything kept getting thick and cloudy, and I didn't know a bit where I was going nor what was the matter till, all at once like, I was lying down somewhere, and the master was pouring something down my throat. Then I felt him seeming to scratch my leg as if he was trying to make it bleed, and then I didn't know any more about it till I found I was being walked up and down, and every now and then some one give me a drink of water as I thought, till the master told me afterwards that it was whisky. Then I went to sleep and dropped down, and they picked me up and made me walk again, and then I was asleep once more, and that's all. Ah, they bite fine and sharp, Master Bart, and I don't want any more of it, and so I tell you."

By this time they had pretty well reached the summit of the rocky hill they had been climbing, and obeying a sign from his companion, Bart followed his example, dropping down and crawling forward.

"I 'spect we shall find we look right over the flat from here," whispered Joses, sinking his voice for no apparent reason, save the caution engendered by years of risky life with neighbours at hand always ready to shed blood.

"And we should be easily seen from a distance, I suppose?" responded Bart.

"That's so, Master Bart. The Injun can see four times as far as we can, they say, though I don't quite believe it."

"It must be a clever Indian who could see farther than you can, Joses," said Bart quietly.

"Oh, I don't know," said the other, with a quiet chuckle; "I can see pretty far when it's clear. Look out."

Bart started aside, for he had disturbed another rattlesnake, which glided slowly away as if resenting the intrusion, and hesitating as to whether it should attack.

"You mustn't creep about here with your eyes shut," said Joses quietly. "It isn't safe, my lad,--not safe at all. Now you rest there behind that stone. We're close up to the top. Let me go the rest of the way, and see how things are down below."

Bart obeyed on the instant, and lay resting his chin upon his arms, watching Joses as he crept up the rest of the slope to where a few rough stones lay about on the summit of the hill, amongst which he glided and then disappeared.

Bart then turned his gaze backward, to look down into the Horse-shoe Valley he had quitted, thinking of his breakfast, and how glad he should be to return with the news that all was well, so that a fire might be lighted and a pleasant, refreshing meal be prepared. But the curve of the hill shut the waggon and those with it from view, so that he glanced round him to see what there was worthy of notice.

This was soon done. Masses of stone, with a few grey-looking plants growing amidst the arid cracks, a little scattered dry grass in patches, and a few bushy-looking shrubs of a dull sagey green; that was all. There were plenty of stones near, one of which looked like a safe shelter for serpent or lizard; and some horny-looking beetles were busily crawling about. Above all the blue sky, with the sun now well over the horizon, but not visible from where Bart lay, and having exhausted all the things worthy of notice, he was beginning to wonder how long Joses would be, when there was a sharp sound close at hand, as if a stone had fallen among some more. Then there was another, and this was followed by a low chirping noise like that of a grasshopper.

Bart responded to this with a very bad imitation of the sound, and, crawling from his shelter, he followed the course taken by his companion as exactly as he could, trying to track him by the dislodged stones and marks made on the few patches of grass where he had passed through. But, with a shrug of the shoulders, Bart was obliged to own that his powers of following a trail were very small. Not that they were wanted here, for at the end of five minutes he could make out the long bony body of Joses lying beside one of the smaller masses of stone that jagged the summit of the hill.

Joses was looking in his direction, and just raising one hand slightly, signed to him to come near.

There seemed to be no reason why Bart should not jump up and run to his side, but he was learning caution in a very arduous school, and carefully trailing his rifle, he crept the rest of the way to where the great stones lay; and as soon as he was beside his companion, he found, as he expected, that from this point the eye could range for miles and miles over widespreading plains; and so clear and bright was the morning air that objects of quite a small nature were visible miles away.

"Well!" said Joses gruffly, for he had volunteered no information, "see anything?"

"No," said Bart, gazing watchfully round; "no, I can see nothing. Can you?"

"I can see you; that's enough for me," was the reply. "I'm not going to tell when you ought to be able to see for yourself."

"But I can see nothing," said Bart, gazing eagerly in every direction. "Tell me what you have made out."

"Why should I tell you, when there's a chance of giving you a lesson in craft, my lad,--in craft."

"But really there seems to be nothing, Joses."

"And he calls his--eyes," growled the frontier man. "Why, I could polish up a couple o' pebbles out of the nearest river and make 'em see as well as you do, Master Bart."

"Nonsense!" cried the latter. "I'm straining hard over the plain. Which way am I to look?"

"Ah, I'm not going to tell you."

"But we are losing time," cried Bart. "Is there any danger?"

"Yes, lots."

"Where?"

"Everywhere."

"But can you see immediate danger?" cried Bart impatiently.

"Yes; see it as plain as plain."

"But where? No; don't tell me. I see it," cried Bart excitedly.

"Not you, young master! where?"

"Right away off from your right shoulder, like a little train of ants crawling over a brown path. I can see: there are men and horses. Is it a waggon-train? No, I am sure now. Miles away. They are Indians."

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Joses. "That's better. That's a good lesson before breakfast, and without a spy-glass. I shall make a man of you yet, Master Bart."

"Which way are they going?"

"Nay, I shan't tell you, my lad. That's for you to find out."

"Well, I will directly," said Bart, shading his eyes. "Where are we now? Oh, I see. Now I know. No; I don't, they move so slowly. Yes, I can see. They are going towards the north, Joses."

"Nor'-west, my lad," said the frontier man; "but that was a pretty good hit you made. Now what was the good of my telling you all that, and letting you be a baby when I want to see you a man."

"We've lost ever so much time, Joses."

"Nay, we have not, my lad; we've gained time, and your eyes have had such a eddication this morning as can't be beat."

"Well, let's get back now. I suppose we may get up and walk."

"Walk! what, do you want to have the Injuns back on us?"

"They could not see us here."

"Not see us! Do you suppose they're not sharper than that. Nay, my lad, when the Injuns come down upon us let's have it by accident. Don't let's bring 'em down upon us because we have been foolish."

Bart could not help thinking that there was an excess of care upon his companion's side, and said so.

"When you know the Injuns as well as I do, my lad, you won't think it possible to be too particular. But look here--you can see the Injuns out there, can't you?"

"Yes, but they look like ants or flies."

"I don't care what they look like. I only say you can see them, can't you?"

"Yes."

"And you know Injuns' eyes and ears are sharper than ours?"

"Not than yours."

"Well, I know that they are sharper than yours, Master Bart," said Joses, with a chuckle; "and now look here--if you can see them out there against the dry brown plain miles away, don't you think they could see us stuck up against the sky here in the bright morning sunshine, all this height above the ground?"

"Well, perhaps they could, if they were looking," said Bart rather sulkily.

"And they are looking this way. They always are looking this way and every way, so don't you think they are not. Now let's go down."

He set the example of how they should go down, by crawling back for some distance till he was below the ridge and beyond sight from the plain, Bart carefully following his example till he rose, when they started down the hill at as quick a trot as the rugged nature of the ground would permit, and soon after reached the waggon, which the Doctor had drawn into a position which hid it from the view of any one coming up from the entrance of the valley, and also placed it where, in time of peril, they might hold their own by means of their rifles, and keep an enemy at bay even if they did not beat him off. _

Read next: Chapter 5. "Surrounded By Indians"

Read previous: Chapter 3. The First Apaches

Table of content of Silver Canyon: A Tale of the Western Plains


GO TO TOP OF SCREEN

Post your review
Your review will be placed after the table of content of this book