Part 6 (2/2)

A low, grating sound, as of some heavy body rubbing against the ground, was now audible at short intervals, to seemed to proceed from the southern gable--but not a voice was heard. From the moment when they had uttered their cry of disappointment, on finding the back entrance secured, the Indians had preserved the utmost silence.

Suddenly a yell, pealed from the direction of the river, caused them for the first time to revert to the exposed position of the unfortunate Collins.

”Poor fellow,” said Green, das.h.i.+ng away a tear. ”I wish he was with us.

Somehow or other, I feel as if we should all have a better chance in a fight, were that lad in the middle of it.”

”We shall never see him more!” gravely observed the Virginian; ”That shot fired just after he warned us, did his business, depend upon it, and if that one didn't, it is not likely the blood-hounds would let him off after robbing them of their prey: no, no, poor Collins has lost his life in saving us.”

Again the yell was repeated, and from the same quarter. The corporal sprang to the ladder which communicated with the loft, and having placed it under the window on the front, hastily ascended and looked out, for no one had hitherto thought of closing an opening, from which no danger was, seemingly, to be apprehended.

The darkness which had been so excessive at the moment of their entrance, had greatly diminished--so much so, that he could trace the forms of two or three of the warriors who were stooping low, apparently engaged with some object lying on the very bank of the river.

”Scalping and mutilating the poor fellow, no doubt,” he muttered fiercely to himself, ”but here goes to revenge him!”

Forgetting his usual prudence, he, in the strong excitement of the moment, drew up the b.u.t.t of his musket to his shoulder, and as well as his cramped position would permit, covered one of the savages, but while in the very act of pulling the trigger, they all fell prostrate, and the bullet whizzed harmlessly over them. In the next instant a ball, aimed at himself, and fired from another quarter, pa.s.sed through the window, grazing the shoulder slightly bitten by Loup Garou, and lodged in the opposite logs of the room. A third loud yell followed as the corporal drew in his head and disappeared from the window. The Indians evidently thought he had been hit, and thus gave utterance to their triumph.

”There's that grating sound again,” remarked Weston.

All now listened, and heard much more distinctly than before the peculiar sound. Then followed a scratching and b.u.mping of something heavy against the end of the house.

”I have it,” said the Virginian. ”They've dragged the ladder from the barn, and are trying to fix it under the bedroom window. Ca.s.s, do you and Philips go in and see what they're doing. But close the door after you that they may not pick you off by the light.”

The door was cautiously opened and again shut as soon as the men had entered. They looked up at the window, which, in the darkness that prevailed around, was distinctly enough visible, but although open, nothing met their glance of a nature to startle them, nor could any movement be heard without.

”Hold my firelock,” whispered Ca.s.s to his companion, ”while I try and get a look out. I know poor Le Noir's bed is directly under the window, and I don't think THAT is too high, if I stand on the pillow.”

He now cautiously groped his way to the bed, on ascending which, being a tall man, he found the top of his head to be on a level with the sill of the window. This was not sufficient for his purpose, and he sought to elevate himself still more. In attempting, with this view, to place himself on the head-board, he missed his footing, and fell with some force between the head of the bed, and the rode log wall. To his dismay, he found that his feet had rested not upon the hard floor of the apartment, but upon something soft and yielding, which his imagination, strongly excited by the events of the day, led him unhesitatingly to conclude, was the flesh of a human body.

”A light corporal--a light!” he shouted, regardless of every thing, but his desire to release himself from his present situation. ”Bring a light. Here's a fellow, who has got hold of me by the leg!”

”Take your musket then and bayonet him,” said Philips, coolly, as he pushed towards the struggling man the b.u.t.t end of his firelock, which at length reached his hands. At the same time, Corporal Nixon, rendered equally imprudent by the suddenness of the demand for his presence, entered, followed by Weston, bearing the candle.

CHAPTER VI.

Nothing can, we conceive, be in worse taste in a fict.i.tious narrative, than the wanton introduction of the ludicrous upon the solemn, but when in an historical tale these extremes do occur, fidelity forbids the suppression of the one, lest it should mar the effect of the other. Such is the necessity under which we find ourselves.

The first act of the corporal, on seeing how matters stood, was to pull back the bedstead behind which Ca.s.s was imprisoned, so as wholly to uncover him and his a.s.sailant, but the surprise of all may be imagined, when, instead of an Indian, with whom they believed him to be struggling, they beheld an immense turkey-c.o.c.k, well known to them all, which was partly under the foot of the soldier--partly in a boarded drain or reservoir which pa.s.sed from the apartment into a large hog trough, that lay along the wall and daily received the refuse of the various meals. The bird, furious with pain, was burying its beak into the leg of the soldier, while he, with the b.u.t.t end of his musket aloft, and the bayonet depressed, offered the most burlesque representation of St. George preparing to give his mortal thrust to the dragon.

In spite of the danger by which they were beset, it was impossible for the men to restrain the indulgence of their humor at this singular sight, nor was the disposition at all checked, when they saw the bayonet descend and actually transfix the intruder to the floor-causing him to droop his head, and thus free Ca.s.s from his furious attacks.

”If that's the way you kill your enemies, Nutcrackers, we promise to eat them up for you--as many as you like,” and as he spoke, Green advanced and seized the dying bird by the throat; but as he pulled it suddenly away, a dark human hand was observed to relinquish its hold of the feet, and rapidly disappear.

The mirth of the men was now succeeded by a seriousness befitting the occasion, for it was clear to all that this occurrence, absurd as it was, had been the means of betraying a new plan of the enemy to get into the house. If the drain was large enough to admit of the pa.s.sage of the bird--always remarkable for its size--it was highly possible that some of the more slightly formed Indians, might force their way through it also. They had evidently tried to see if it could be done--the turkey-c.o.c.k having been put forward as a ”feeler,” and the necessity of either closing the avenue, or weakening their strength by keeping a man constantly on the watch, was now obvious.

”Find something to stop up that hole with Ca.s.s,” ordered the corporal.

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