Part 14 (1/2)
”I was ketched onct,” replied Wetzel.
Jonathan Zane looked up at his companion. Wetzel's head was bowed; but there was no merriment in the serious face exposed to the borderman's scrutiny.
”Lew, you're jokin'.”
”Not me. Some day, when you're ketched good, an' I have to go back to the lonely trail, as I did afore you an' me become friends, mebbe then, when I'm the last borderman, I'll tell you.”
”Lew, 'cordin' to the way settlers are comin', in a few more years there won't be any need for a borderman. When the Injuns are all gone where'll be our work?”
”'Tain't likely either of us'll ever see them times,” said Wetzel, ”an' I don't want to. Wal, Jack, I'm off now, an' I'll meet you here every other day.”
Wetzel shouldered his long rifle, and soon pa.s.sed out of sight down the mountain-side.
Jonathan arose, shook himself as a big dog might have done, and went down into the valley. Only once did he pause in his descent, and that was when a crackling twig warned him some heavy body was moving near.
Silently he sank into the bushes bordering the trail. He listened with his ear close to the ground. Presently he heard a noise as of two hard substances striking together. He resumed his walk, having recognized the grating noise of a deer-hoof striking a rock. Farther down he espied a pair grazing. The buck ran into the thicket; but the doe eyed him curiously.
Less than an hour's rapid walking brought him to the river. Here he plunged into a thicket of willows, and emerged on a sandy strip of sh.o.r.e. He carefully surveyed the river bank, and then pulled a small birch-bark canoe from among the foliage. He launched the frail craft, paddled across the river and beached it under a reedy, over-hanging bank.
The distance from this point in a straight line to his destination was only a mile; but a rocky bluff and a ravine necessitated his making a wide detour. While lightly leaping over a brook his keen eye fell on an imprint in the sandy loam. Instantly he was on his knees. The footprint was small, evidently a woman's, and, what was more unusual, instead of the flat, round moccasin-track, it was pointed, with a sharp, square heel. Such shoes were not worn by border girls. True Betty and Nell had them; but they never went into the woods without moccasins.
Jonathan's experienced eye saw that this imprint was not an hour old.
He gazed up at the light. The day was growing short. Already shadows lay in the glens. He would not long have light enough to follow the trail; but he hurried on hoping to find the person who made it before darkness came. He had not traveled many paces before learning that the one who made it was lost. The uncertainty in those hasty steps was as plain to the borderman's eyes, as if it had been written in words on the sand. The course led along the brook, avoiding the rough places; and leading into the open glades and glens; but it drew no nearer to the settlement. A quarter of an hour of rapid trailing enabled Jonathan to discern a dark figure moving among the trees. Abandoning the trail, he cut across a ridge to head off the lost woman. Stepping out of a sa.s.safras thicket, he came face to face with Helen Sheppard.
”Oh!” she cried in alarm, and then the expression of terror gave place to one of extreme relief and gladness. ”Oh! Thank goodness! You've found me. I'm lost!”
”I reckon,” answered Jonathan grimly. ”The settlement's only five hundred yards over that hill.”
”I was going the wrong way. Oh! suppose you hadn't come!” exclaimed Helen, sinking on a log and looking up at him with warm, glad eyes.
”How did you lose your way?” Jonathan asked. He saw neither the warmth in her eyes nor the gladness.
”I went up the hillside, only a little way, after flowers, keeping the fort in sight all the time. Then I saw some lovely violets down a little hill, and thought I might venture. I found such loads of them I forgot everything else, and I must have walked on a little way. On turning to go back I couldn't find the little hill. I have hunted in vain for the clearing. It seems as if I have been wandering about for hours. I'm so glad you've found me!”
”Weren't you told to stay in the settlement, inside the clearing?”
demanded Jonathan.
”Yes,” replied Helen, with her head up.
”Why didn't you?”
”Because I didn't choose.”
”You ought to have better sense.”
”It seems I hadn't,” Helen said quietly, but her eyes belied that calm voice.
”You're a headstrong child,” Jonathan added curtly.
”Mr. Zane!” cried Helen with pale face.