Part 36 (1/2)
As for Jake Golcher, he scanned the picture with darker pa.s.sions than those of the savages themselves.
He did not stir, but, when he saw Habakkuk McEwen look inquiringly at him, he beckoned him to approach.
The frightened fellow sprang to his feet and hurried across the short s.p.a.ce, eager to do anything to win the favor of the other.
”Do you know who shot that Indian?” asked the Tory, in an undertone.
”I haven't the least idea.”
”It was Fred G.o.dfrey; he is somewhere near. The shot sounded out yonder”--pointing in the proper direction--”and, if you want to save your life, you must go out and bring him in.”
”I'll do it,” said McEwen, catching like a drowning man at a straw.
He turned about to start upon his strange errand, when Golcher commanded him to stop.
”How are you going to do it?”
”Catch him by the neck and heels, and drag him along.”
”Don't you see the Senecas are starting off to hunt him up?”
It was true. The red men quickly recovered from the shock, and, knowing who fired the shot, were stealing off into the woods in search of the youth, who had given proof of his presence near them.
Almost every one was able to tell the point whence came the familiar bullet, and it will be understood that Fred G.o.dfrey took his life in his hand when he interposed to save his father.
”I don't believe they will find him,” said Jake Golcher, alluding to the Senecas, who were moving off in the darkness; ”but you can join him, because he takes you for a friend; go out in the woods, signal to him, and when you find him, get him to come nigh enough to be catched. You can do it, and if you succeed, you shall be spared. Don't think,” added the Tory, significantly, ”that because we let you jine in the hunt you can slip off in the dark.”
”Oh, I never thought of such a thing,” protested the New Englander. ”I always keep my promise, and I'll bring him back.”
”There isn't one of these folks that can get away, for the Senecas are all around us. Gray Panther will soon be here with twenty more, and then we shall have 'em all.”
If this were the case, Habakkuk might well have asked why Golcher wished him to join in the search. But if such a question came to the mind of McEwen he did not utter it.
”If you try to run away you'll be brought back here and tomahawked inside of half an hour; do your duty, and I'll take care of you; after you get out there in the dark you can signal to him in such a way that he'll show himself, and then you must prove your smartness by getting him to come with you to some p'int where we can pounce onto him. Do you understand?”
”It's all as plain as the nose on your face,” said Habakkuk.
”Then be off with you!”
CHAPTER XLVI.
Habakkuk McEwen entered upon his strange mission with ardor. A few seconds carried him beyond sight of the fire, and he pushed forward until fully two hundred yards distant, when he paused, and listened.
He heard nothing of the Iroquois, who could not be far away.
”Over yonder lies the trail that leads to Stroudsburg,” he said to himself, ”and this is the first fair start that I've had since getting into this neighborhood. Such a promise as I made ain't binding; the way Fred G.o.dfrey has been going on, I think he's able to take care of himself, and it's about time I did the same. I'm off for Stroudsburg, and nothing short of an earthquake shall stop me _this_ time.”
And thereupon he started like a frightened deer through the dark woods, with the resolve that when the morrow's sun should rise he would be many a mile to the eastward, and far beyond the reach of Jake Golcher and his Senecas.