Wild Western Scenes Part 29

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" said Mary.

"Why, my child?" asked Roughgrove.

"Because," said Mary, "he's a good-hearted Indian, and never would have harmed me. When he heard you coming, and raised his tomahawk to kill me, I looked in his face, and he could not strike, for there were tears in his eyes! I know he never would have thought of killing me, when calm, for he treated me very kindly before I escaped."

"Maybe he ain't dead--I'll go and see," said Sneak, repairing to the late scene of conflict. When he arrived he found the young chief sitting upright, having been only stunned; a gold band that confined his head-dress prevented the blow from fracturing his skull. He was now unresisting and sullen. Sneak made him rise up, and after binding his hands behind him with a strong cord, led him forth.

"You did not intend to kill me, did you?" asked Mary, in soothing tones. The chief regarded her not, but looked steadfastly downwards.

"He don't understand you, Mary," said Boone.

"Oh, yes he does," continued Mary; "and he can speak our language, too, for I heard him talking, and thought it was you, and that was the reason why I came out of the pit." Roughgrove addressed him in his own language, but with no better success. The captured chief resolved not to plead for his life. He would make no reply whatever to their questions, but still gazed downwards in reckless sullenness.

"What shall we do with him?" asked Glenn, when the rest of the party, (with the exception of Joe,) who had chased the savages far away, came up and stared at the prisoner.

"Let us set him free!" said Roughgrove.

"Kill him!" cried several.

"No!" exclaimed Mary, "what do _you_ say, Mr. Boone?"

"It would be useless to kill him," said Boone.

"Let him go, then," said Glenn.

"No!" said Boone.

"Why?" asked Glenn.

"Because," replied Boone, "he is a chief, and we may make him the means of securing the settlement against future attacks. We will confine him in your garrison as a hostage, and send some friendly Indian to the Osages announcing his capture, and informing them that his life will be spared provided they keep away from the settlement for a certain length of time, at the expiration of which he shall be restored to them."

"I am glad of that," said Mary, "for I don't believe he is a bad Indian. We will treat him kindly, and then I think he will always be our friend."

"Take him along, and bind him fast in the sled, Sneak," said Boone; "but see that you do not injure him in the least."

"I will. Oh, me and him are purty good friends now. Gee-whoa-haw,"

continued he, taking hold of the string behind, and endeavouring to drive the silent captive like an ox. The young chief whirled round indignantly, and with such force as to send Sneak sprawling several paces to one side. He rose amid the laughter that ensued, and remembering the words of Boone, conducted his prisoner away in a more respectful manner.

"Where's Joe?" at length inquired Glenn, seeing that he alone was missing.

"Oh! I'm afraid he's dead," said Mary.

"If he is, I shall mourn his loss many a day," said Glenn; "for with all his defects, I would not be without him for the world."

"Give yourself no uneasiness," said Boone; "for he is as well at this moment as you or I."

"I hope so," said Glenn; "but I have not seen him since we first fired at the Indians."

"Let us repair to that spot, and there we will find him, for I saw him fall down when he discharged his musket. I venture to say he has not moved an inch since."

The party repaired to the place mentioned, and there they found him, sure enough, lying quite still on his face beside the Indian that Sneak had killed.

"He _is_ dead!" said Glenn, after calling to him and receiving no answer.

"We'll soon see," said Boone, turning him over on his back. "I will open a vein in his arm."

"Bring a torch from the fire," said Col. Cooper to one of the men.

"Oh!" sighed Joe, lifting his hands to his head.

"I thought he would soon come to life again," said Boone, examining his face with the torch that was brought, and then laughing outright.

The spectacle was ludicrous in the extreme. Joe was besmeared with blood, and, when he opened his eyes and stared at the flaming light, he resembled some sanguinary demon.

"Where in the world did all this blood come from?" exclaimed Glenn.

"I'm recovered now," said Joe, rising up and a.s.suming an air of importance.

"What have you been doing?" asked Glenn.

"I've been doing as much as any of you, I'll be bound," replied Joe, very gravely.

"Well, what have you done?" repeated Glenn.

"I've been fighting the last half hour, as hard as anybody ever fought in this world. Only look at the stabs in that Indian!" said he, pointing to the savage.

"Why, you scoundrel! Sneak killed this Indian," said Glenn.

"Sneak thought he did," replied Joe, "but he only wounded him. After a while he got up and clinched me by the throat, and we had it over and over on the snow, till we both got so exhausted we couldn't do any thing. When we rested, we went at it again, and it hasn't been five minutes since I stuck my knife in his breast. When he fell, I stuck him four or five times, and then fainted myself."

"Here is a wound in the savage's breast," said Glenn.

"But here's another in the throat," said Boone, showing where the arteries had been severed by Sneak.

"Joe," said Glenn, "you must abandon this habit of lying, if indeed it is not a portion of your nature."

"Hang it all, I ain't lying--I know Sneak did cut his throat, but he didn't cut it deep--I cut it deeper, myself, after the Indian got up again!" persisted he.

The party hastily glanced at the four or five dead savages under the trees, that had fallen victims to their fire, and then returned to the sled. Mary was placed beside the captive chief, and they set out on their return, well satisfied with the result of the expedition.

CHAPTER XIII.

The return--The young chief in confinement--Joe's fun--His reward--The ring--A discovery--William's recognition--Memories of childhood--A scene--Roughgrove's history--The children's parentage.

The party on their return did not travel so rapidly as they had advanced. They moreover halted in a grove which they espied about midnight, and finding a spreading tree that had entirely s.h.i.+elded a small s.p.a.ce of ground from the snow, they kindled a fire, arranged their robes, and reposed a few hours. The captive chief was still sullen and unresisting. He was suffered to recline in the sled enveloped in skins, with his hands and feet yet bound, and an extra cord pa.s.sed round his body, the end of which Sneak held in his hand while he slept. When daylight appeared, they set forward again in a moderate pace, and arrived at Glenn's domicil at evening twilight. The neighbours that Sneak had enlisted departed for their homes, and Boone and Col. Cooper, after bidding our hero, Roughgrove, and Mary, a hearty adieu, without entering the inclosure, recrossed the river to their own settlement.