Part 28 (1/2)

Jim and Paul, who, as usual, filled the role of housekeepers, took great delight in fitting up this forest home, which the fittingly called ”The Alcove.” The floor of solid stone was almost smooth, and with the aid of other heavy stones they broke off all projections, until one could walk over it in the dark in perfect comfort. They hung the walls with skins of deer which they killed in the adjacent woods, and these walls furnished many nooks and crannies for the storing of necessities. They also, with much hard effort, brought many loads of firewood, which Long Jim was to use for his cooking. He built his little fireplace of stones so near the mouth of ”The Alcove” that the smoke would pa.s.s out and be lost in the thick forest all about. If the wind happened to be blowing toward the inside of the cave, the smoke, of course, would come in on them all, but Jim would not be cooking then.

Nor did their operations cease until they had supplied ”The Alcove”

plentifully with food, chiefly jerked deer meat, although there was no way in which they could store water, and for that they had to take their chances. But their success, the product of skill and everlasting caution, was really remarkable. Three times they were trapped within a few miles of ”The Alcove,” but the pursuers invariably went astray on the hard, rocky ground, and the pursued would also take the precaution to swim down the creek before climbing up to ”The Alcove.” n.o.body could follow a trail in the face of such difficulties.

It was Henry and s.h.i.+f'less Sol who were followed the second time, but they easily shook off their pursuers as the twilight was coming, half waded, half swam down the creek, and climbed up to ”The Alcove,” where the others were waiting for them with cooked food and clear cold water.

When they had eaten and were refreshed, s.h.i.+f'less Sol sat at the mouth of ”The Alcove,” where a pleasant breeze entered, despite the foliage that hid the entrance. The s.h.i.+ftless one was in an especially happy mood.

”It's a pow'ful comf'table feelin',” he said, ”to set up in a nice safe place like this, an' feel that the woods is full o' ragin' heathen, seekin' to devour you, and wonderin' whar you've gone to. Thar's a heap in knowin' how to pick your home. I've thought more than once 'bout that old town, Troy, that Paul tells us 'bout, an' I've 'bout made up my mind that it wuzn't destroyed 'cause Helen eat too many golden apples, but 'cause old King Prime, or whoever built the place, put it down in a plain. That wuz sh.o.r.e a pow'ful foolish thing. Now, ef he'd built it on a mountain, with a steep fall-off on every side, thar wouldn't hev been enough Greeks in all the earth to take it, considerin' the miserable weepins they used in them times. Why, Hector could hev set tight on the walls, laughin' at 'em, 'stead o' goin' out in the plain an' gittin'

killed by A-killus, fur which I've always been sorry.”

”It's 'cause people nowadays have more sense than they did in them ancient times that Paul tells about,” said Long Jim. ”Now, thar wuz 'Lyssus, ten or twelve years gittin' home from Troy. Allus runnin'

his s.h.i.+p on the rocks, hoppin' into trouble with four-legged giants, one-eyed women, an' sech like. Why didn't he walk home through the woods, killin' game on the way, an' hevin' the best time he ever knowed?

Then thar wuz the keerlessness of A-killus' ma, dippin' him in that river so no arrow could enter him, but holdin' him by the heel an'

keepin' it out o' the water, which caused his death the very first time Paris shot it off with his little bow an' arrer. Why didn't she hev sense enough to let the heel go under, too. She could hev dragged it out in two seconds an' no harm done 'ceptin', perhaps, a little more yellin'

on the part of A-killus.”

”I've always thought Paul hez got mixed 'bout that Paris story,” said Tom Ross. ”I used to think Paris was the name uv a town, not a man, an'

I'm beginnin' to think so ag'in, sence I've been in the East, 'cause I know now that's whar the French come from.”

”But Paris was the name of a man,” persisted Paul. ”Maybe the French named their capital after the Paris of the Trojan wars.”

”Then they showed mighty poor jedgment,” said s.h.i.+f'less Sol. ”Ef I'd named my capital after any them old fellers, I'd have called it Hector.”

”You can have danger enough when you're on the tops of hills,” said Henry, who was sitting near the mouth of the cave. ”Come here, you fellows, and see what's pa.s.sing down the lake.”

They looked out, and in the moonlight saw six large war canoes being rowed slowly down the lake, which, though narrow, was quite long. Each canoe held about a dozen warriors, and Henry believed that one of them contained two white faces, evidently those of Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler.

”Like ez not they've been lookin' fur us,” said Tom Ross.

”Quite likely,” said Henry, ”and at the same time they may be engaged in some general movement. See, they will pa.s.s within fifty feet of the base of the cliff.”

The five lay on the cave floor, looking through the vines and foliage, and they felt quite sure that they were in absolute security. The six long war canoes moved slowly. The moonlight came out more brightly, and flooded all the bronze faces of the Iroquois. Henry now saw that he was not mistaken, and that Braxton Wyatt and Walter Butler were really in the first boat. From the cover of the cliff he could have picked off either with a rifle bullet, and the temptation was powerful. But he knew that it would lead to an immediate siege, from which they might not escape, and which at least would check their activities and plans for a long time. Similar impulses flitted through the minds of the other four, but all kept still, although fingers flitted noiselessly along rifle stocks until they touched triggers.

The Iroquois war fleet moved slowly on, the two renegades never dreaming of the danger that had threatened them. An unusually bright ray of moons.h.i.+ne fell full upon Braxton Wyatt's face as he paused, and Henry's finger played with the trigger of his rifle. It was hard, very hard, to let such an opportunity go by, but it must be done.

The fleet moved steadily down the lake, the canoes keeping close together. They turned into mere dots upon the water, became smaller and smaller still, until they vanished in the darkness.

”I'm thinkin',” said s.h.i.+f'less Sol, ”that thar's some kind uv a movement on foot. While they may hev been lookin' fur us, it ain't likely that they'd send sixty warriors or so fur sech a purpose. I heard something three or four days ago from a hunter about an attack upon the Iroquois town of Oghwaga.”

”It's most likely true,” said Henry, ”and it seems to me that it's our business to join that expedition. What do you fellows think?”

”Just as you do,” they replied with unanimity.

”Then we leave this place and start in the morning,” said Henry.

CHAPTER XVI. THE FIRST BLOW