Part 4 (1/2)

CHAPTER IV.

Stealthily gliding through the fresh and thinly foliaged wood, that skirted the opposite sh.o.r.e, yet almost concealed from view, Corporal Nixon now beheld the crouching forms of several armed Indians, nearly naked, and evidently in war costume. They were following the serpentine course necessitated by the interposing trees, and seeking cautiously to establish themselves behind cover on the very verge of the bank.

”Back men for your lives, there's nothing friendly there,” exclaimed the Virginian the moment that his glance had taken in the scene, ”out with the arms, and divide the dry ammunition. Collins, you are a smart fellow, do you and Green set to work and light a fire, but out of sight, and dry the muskets as fast as you can. There are twelve pounds in each of the five remaining cartouch boxes, these will do for a spell.

Jackson, Philips, tree yourselves, while Ca.s.s lies flat in the stern, and keeps a good look out on the devils, without exposing himself. Now, my lads, do all this very quietly, and as if you didn't think there was danger at hand. If they see any signs of fear, they will pitch it into you directly. As it is, they are only waiting to settle themselves, and do it at their leisure.”

”Pity they don't make a general of you, corporal,” remarked Collins, as he proceeded quietly with Green to the execution of the duty a.s.signed to them. ”I guess Was.h.i.+ngton himself couldn't better command a little army.

Is your battle order finished, general?”

”None of your nonsense, master Collins, this is no time for jesting.

Go and dry these arms, and when you have them so that they can send a bullet from their throats, join Jackson and Philips in covering the boat. Weston and I will take up our first station.”

And in less time than we have taken to describe the cause of the alarm, and the instructions given in consequence, the men had hastened to execute the several duties a.s.signed to them on sh.o.r.e, while Ca.s.s remained, not only with a view of showing the Indians that the boat was not wholly unguarded, but to be enabled to inform his comrades, who could distinctly hear him without rendering any particular elevation of the voice necessary, of any important movement on the part of the former. This quietude of arrangement on the part of Corporal Nixon had, seemingly, been not without effect. It was evident that the Indians had no suspicion that they had been seen, and even when the men coolly quitted the boat, they showed no impatience indicative of an impression that the party were seeking to s.h.i.+eld themselves from an impending danger.

”This silence is strange enough,” said the corporal to his companion, after they had been some minutes secreted in the cavity from which the departure of the Indian with the boat had been arrested. ”I almost wish they would fire a shot, for that would at once tell us how to act, and what we are to expect, whether they are friendly Indians or not.”

But no shot was fired, and from the moment when the men quitted the boat, and took up their positions, everything had continued silent as the grave on the opposite sh.o.r.e, and not the vestige of an Indian could be seen.

”But for that scalp,” again remarked the corporal, ”I should take the party to have been friendly Indians, perhaps just returned from a buffalo hunt, and come down to the water to drink. They are surely gone again.”

”Look there,” said Weston, in a subdued tone, while he placed his hand on the shoulder of his superior, as both lay crouched in their hiding-place, ”look there, corporal,” and he pointed with his finger to the opposite bank. ”Do you see that large, blackish log lying near the hickory, and with its end towards us?”

”I do--what of it?”

”Well, don't you see something crouching like between the log and the tree--something close up to both. See! it moves now a little.”

Corporal Nixon strained his gaze in the direction indicated, but was obliged to admit that, although he distinctly enough saw the log and the tree, he could not discern any between thing them.

”NOW, do you see it?” again eagerly inquired Weston, as, at that moment, the same animal was seen to turn itself within the very limited s.p.a.ce which had been indicated.

”Yes, I see it now,” replied the Virginian, ”but it's as likely to be a hog as a man, for anything I can make of that shape; a hog that has been filling his skin with hickory nuts, and is but now waking out of his sleep. Still, as the Injins were there just now, it may be that if they're gone, they've left a spy behind them. We'll soon know how matters stand, for it won't do to remain here all night. Ca.s.s,”

addressing the man in the boat who was seated low in the stern, only occasionally taking a sly peep, and immediately withdrawing his head, ”place your cap on the rudder, and lie flat in the bottom. If they are there, and mean to fire at all, they will try their hands at THAT.”

”I hope they are good marksmen, corporal,” replied the man, as raising his right arm, he removed his forage cap and placed it so that the upper half only could be seen. ”I've no great fancy for those rifle bullets, and give them a wide berth when I can.”

”Now are you convinced?” asked Weston, addressing the corporal, as both distinctly saw the object upon which their attention had been anxiously fixed, raise his head and shoulders, while he deliberately rested his rifle against the log on his right.

”Close down, Ca.s.s--don't move,” enjoined the Virginian; ”the bait has taken, and we shall have a shot presently.”

Two almost imperceptible jets of spiral smoke, and crack, crack, went two rifles, while simultaneously with the report, fell back into the boat, the perforated forage cap. Both b.a.l.l.s had pa.s.sed through it, and lodged in the heart of the tree to which the skiff was moored, and behind which Jackson and Philips had taken their stand.

Evidently believing that they had killed a man, the whole of the band, hitherto concealed behind logs and trees, now rose to their feet, and uttered a fierce and triumphant yell.

”Devilish good firin', that,” remarked Green, whose face had been touched by a splinter of bark torn from the tree by one of the b.a.l.l.s.

”Don't uncover yourselves, my lads,” hastily commanded the corporal; ”all the fellows want now is to see us exposed, that they may have a crack at us.”