Part 17 (1/2)
And yet he was only on the threshold of his enterprise. The real work now confronted him.
Having come in to sh.o.r.e at a point considerably above where he had left it, Kenton hoped the canoe for which he was searching was below him. He therefore decided to continue his hunt in that direction.
With the advantage gained, he required but a short time to do this, the result being a mistake on his part. He saw nothing of the craft.
He was about to turn again when he looked out upon the river, where the moon was s.h.i.+ning with un.o.bscured light.
He gave a start, and peered through the parted bushes a second time, and, as he did so, he received the greatest shock of his life. Never before or after that eventful night did he go through so astounding an experience.
So terrified indeed was the brave ranger by what he saw, that, forgetful of the Shawanoes, the imperiled fugitives, and everything except his own panic, he dashed through the intervening s.p.a.ce, and, bursting into the inclosure where he had left his friends, called in a husky undertone:
”Boys, we're lost! we're lost! There's a ghost coming up the river!”
CHAPTER XVII.
A RUN OF GOOD FORTUNE.
We have now reached a point in our narrative where it once more becomes necessary to follow the fortunes of Jethro Juggens, whom we were obliged to leave in anything but a pleasant situation.
After a rather stirring experience in the cabin of Mr. Ashbridge, whither he had gone in total disregard of the instructions of Simon Kenton, he awoke to the fact that it would not do for him to tarry longer so far from his friends and exposed to so much personal danger.
He must leave without further delay.
The proof received of the presence of one or more Shawanoes on the outside was too alarming for him to feel any of his old-time a.s.surance in venturing across the clearing to the shelter of the surrounding forest. It will be remembered that he suddenly formed the decision to incase himself in armor, so to speak, by using one of the several boxes that had been brought down the river on the flatboat.
Filled with the scheme, he made ready for the extraordinary experiment.
His plan was to invert one of the boxes over his head, and thus protected, stride across the open s.p.a.ce to the woods; but second thought and considerable experimenting revealed difficulties which speedily became mountainous in their nature.
”Dat will be all right,” he muttered, after he had emptied the box which had contained the food and some other articles; ”but it's gwine to be a mighty bother to take dis ting and my gun too. Den as long as I keep it ober my head I won't be able to see where I'm gwine; I may keep walkin'
round in a circle for two, free days, and fotch up ag'in de doah ob dis house ebery time. I'll hab to make a peep-hole in front.”
To do this required work, but the pine wood was soft and his knife was sharp. Vigorous use of the implement soon opened a hole two or three inches in diameter, through which he could obtain a good view of his immediate surroundings.
”Dat will work,” he muttered, with some satisfaction, as he felt of the opening, and found he could pa.s.s his hand through it; ”it's a little bigger dan I meant to make it, but if I see one ob de heathen p'intin'
his gun toward me I can slip my head to one side. I'll try it.”
He lifted the receptacle over his head and shoulders, and found it fitted to a nicety. It could not have answered better had it been constructed for the express purpose of serving him as a s.h.i.+eld.
He cautiously peeped through the windows, and discovering nothing to cause misgiving, drew back the door sufficiently to allow him to pa.s.s through with his turtle-like protection. Then he stepped forth upon the partially moonlit clearing, and, with considerable labor, inched along until perhaps a dozen feet distant from the building. His next act was to turn abruptly about and hasten back through the open door with such precipitation that he stumbled headlong into the room.
”Gorrynation! I's a big fool!” was his exclamation, and which, it is safe to say, none of his acquaintances would have disputed.
To his dismay he made several disquieting discoveries. In the first place, when he attempted to look through the peep-hole it was not there.
Inadvertently he had put on the box in a reversed position, so that the opening was behind him. He attempted to s.h.i.+ft the box about, but it would not work well. At the same moment he became aware that he had forgotten to bring his gun with him, and, worst of all, a sudden conviction flashed upon him that the soft pine in which he was enveloped was not strong enough to stop the course of a bullet. Therefore the wood was no protection at all.
These causes combined to throw the dusky youth into a panic, which sent him and the box cras.h.i.+ng through the door before his novel experiment was subjected to a real test.