Prisoners of Chance Part 23

"She lies yonder against the wall at my left, and remains unhurt, I think. I will make effort to turn over, and have speech with her."

So securely had I been bound with coa.r.s.e gra.s.s rope, I found it no small task to change the position of my body sufficiently to peer about the corner of intervening rock, and clearly perceive my lady. She was reclining in a half sitting posture well within the darker shadow, bound as were the rest of us.

"You remain uninjured, I trust, Madame?" I asked gently, and it heartened me to observe the smile with which she instantly glanced up at sound of my voice.

"No blow has touched me," was her immediate response, "yet I suffer noticing the stains of blood disfiguring both you and my husband. Are the wounds serious ones?"

"Nay, mere scratches of the flesh, to heal in a week. Why did you waste your last shot on that savage who would have struck me? It was not the will of De Noyan that it be expended thus."

"You must have formed a poor conception of me, Geoffrey Benteen," she answered, as if my words pained her, "if you suppose I value my life more highly than your own. But for my solicitation you would never have been in such stress, and, whatever else may be true, Eloise de Noyan is not one accustomed to deserting her friends."

"Yet there are fates possible to a woman more to be dreaded than death."

"Ay, and frontier bred, I know it well, yet none so bad as would have been the knowledge that I was guilty of ingrat.i.tude. My life, my honor, are in the care of G.o.d, Geoffrey, and if I remain grateful for aught this day, it is that my shot proved timely, saving you from that blow. Tell me, was it not a woman at whose command the combat ceased?"

"It was; a white woman at that, unless my eyes deceived me. She stood on yonder point of rock, appearing a veritable queen in the suns.h.i.+ne."

"So I thought, a fair face enough, yet not devoid of savage cruelty.

Her presence brings me some rays of hope, making me feel I may have less to fear in the future than you. If a woman, however debased and barbarous, rules these savages, she will not be altogether without heart to the supplications of a woman."

I felt less a.s.sured of this, yet it was better she be buoyed up by all possible hope, so ventured upon no answer. There was that in the Queen's face as she gazed down upon us that made me doubt her womanliness; doubt if behind that countenance of wild beauty there did not lurk a soul as savage and untamed as any among her barbarous followers. What but a spirit of insatiate cruelty could animate and control such fierce warriors in their battle rage? Thinking of this, my eyes on Madame, a movement occurred among our captors quickly challenging my attention. Fresh shouts and cries evidenced new arrivals. These came swarming down the ravine, and in another moment began crawling noisily about us, chattering with our surly captors, or scowling into our faces with savage eyes boding no good. It would be unjust were I to write that these fellows were a brutal lot, as such words would be void of that truth I seek to convey. I lived to learn that many among them had the stuff of which true men are made; yet, nevertheless, they were savages, scarcely touched by the virtues or vices of civilization, a people nursing within their memory a great wrong, and inflamed by the fierce pa.s.sions of battle. Gazing about on the stiffening forms of their stricken warriors, all alike exhibited in eyes and gestures how eagerly they longed for the hour of vengeance, when implacable hate might have full vent in the unutterable agony of their victims. I gazed up into their scowling, distorted faces, imagining a final moment of reckoning was at hand; yet some authority, either of chief or tribal custom, restrained their pitiless hatred, reserving us for longer, more intense suffering.

But the wild thirst for blood was mirrored in those fierce eyes glaring down into mine, and echoed in the shrill cries with which they marked us yet alive for their barbaric ingenuity to practise upon at leisure.

Even as I observed this, realizing from my knowledge of Indian nature that our ultimate fate would be infinitely worse than merciful death in battle, I could not remain blind to the wide difference between these naked warriors and those other savages with whom my wandering border life had made me familiar. My awakened memory dwelt upon the peculiar tribal characteristics of the Mingoes north of the Ohio, the Kaskaskias in the Illinois country, the Shawnees, the Cherokees, even the Creeks, in whose villages I had dwelt as a friend, and beside whose young men I had hunted as a brother. Yet here was surely a distinct race, one less clearly marked with those features peculiarly Indian,--the cheek-bones not prominent, the form of nose more varied, the skin decidedly lighter, the heads better shapen, and the figures more thoroughly developed. More, their language had little of the guttural so universal among Eastern tribes, but had a peculiar, sharp, hissing sound; so, although the faces peering into mine were wild and ferocious enough to leave no doubt as to their barbarous nature, or our probable fate, yet these peculiarities, with the total absence of paint, such as disfigures and renders grotesquely hideous other Indians upon the war-path, were sufficient to stamp these savages as members of a distinct race.

"Natchez?" I ventured to inquire of the burly brute who stood over me grasping spear and war-club.

"_Sa_," he grinned savagely. "_Francais, Francais_."

I shook my head and tried him again, but soon desisted on discovering that these two words marked the full extent of our common language, and so was obliged to be content with silently contemplating the crowds of curious, naked heathen swarming on the hill.

Fortunately, it was not long we were doomed to wait, uncomfortably trussed with our ropes of plaited gra.s.s. The old chief who had led the a.s.sault gave his order, and, in immediate obedience, we were roughly dragged forth, the bonds about our lower limbs severed, and, under zealous guards, despatched up the canyon, the entire party promptly falling in at the rear, bearing with them their wounded and dead. De Noyan and I, thus released from our cramped, painful position on the rocks, were jerked rudely upon our feet, and, in obedience to threatening gestures, driven rapidly forward like dumb beasts; but Madame and the Puritan, the latter not yet having regained consciousness, were swung aloft in hammocks of coa.r.s.ely woven cloth, and thus borne upon the shoulders of four stout carriers. In this way we advanced northward, not moving as slowly as I desired, for I was sore and aching from head to foot, besides being weakened by loss of blood. Yet there was no hope of escape, no evidence of mercy. If we ventured to lag, the vigilant guard promptly quickened our movements by the vigorous application of spear-points, so we soon learned the necessity of keeping fully abreast of our a.s.signed position in the column.

Coming nearer to that great cataract which had effectually dammed our progress up the valley, the leaders swerved toward the left, pa.s.sing so closely beside the leaping, foaming flood as to be enveloped in the spray as if in a cloud of mist. Almost beneath the fall, the water cras.h.i.+ng on the rocks within reach of an outstretched hand, we commenced a toilsome climb, along a deep, rocky gully completely shrouded by overhanging bushes, as if we traversed a tunnel dug by the hands of men. Indeed, I have little doubt that this peculiar pa.s.sageway had been constructed by artificial means. Every now and then, when a faint light from without straggled through the interlaced boughs overhead, I caught a glimpse of the evidences of human labor.

This odd pa.s.sage, crooked and intricate, at times so steep as to require the chiselling of steps in the solid rock, wound in and out along the side of the cliff, then ran back into the very face of the precipice, for more than a hundred and fifty yards. Suddenly we emerged, fifty yards back from the crest, in the heart of a great circular hole resembling the crater of a burned-out volcano, having great ragged points of rock, blackened as if incased with lava, jutting up upon every side, and forming as desolate and barren a picture as ever eyes looked upon.

I was completely f.a.gged by this time, the climb being a heavy one, and I noticed De Noyan was ghastly of face, his body trembling like that of a palsied man. But our relentless drivers permitted no halting to recruit strength. The Chevalier was evidently in greater distress than I, so from pity I bade him lean on my shoulder; but as he sought to draw near, the merciless brute on guard struck him savagely, and there was such shaking of spears and fierce uproar on the part of our escort, we could do naught else than set our teeth to it, and go staggering on.

The slight path, if it might be named a path, led in and out among the black lava cones in such labyrinthine fas.h.i.+on that no man could hope to retain memory of its course, while the floor being of irregular stone, the pa.s.sing feet left no trail for future guidance. We travelled blindly, and reckless through suffering and exhaustion, some distance, until, perhaps a mile above the spot where we had surmounted the cliff, a sudden twist was made to the right, our company creeping on all fours through a narrow opening, having a great tree-trunk on one side and a huge black bowlder on the other. We came forth high in air above the swift, deep water, footing the insecure bark of a rude tree-bridge spanning the current. Once safe on the other bank, our path merely a narrow shelf of stone, we wormed around a sharp projection of the cliff, rising to even greater height than in the gorge below. A dense ma.s.s of interlaced and overshadowing cedars was partially pressed aside, partially crawled under, and from this we finally emerged into an open s.p.a.ce, containing, I imagine, not far from five hundred acres of land, having vast towering precipices of black frowning rock on every side, with no outlet apparent, save to one blessed with wings.

Saint Andrew! 'twas an awesome place, yet oddly beautiful, so soft and green below, with those ma.s.sive walls completely shutting out all the rest of the world, and shadowing the little valley with impregnable grandeur.

I had but a moment in which to view the impressive scene. Scarcely had the head of our column entered this natural prison when it was greeted with wild shouts of triumph, immediately succeeded by shrieks of distress, while there streamed forward to meet us a tumultuous band of savages, a large proportion of whom were women and children. The children were absolutely nude and peculiarly white of skin, while the former wore rude skirts of coa.r.s.ely woven cloth fastened about the waist, their long hair in many instances trailing upon the ground, yielding them a wildness of aspect beyond description; yet withal they were not uncomely of features. These newcomers thronged about us with scowling faces, and, when sternly forced back by the lowered weapons of the guard, either joined the procession, or else trooped alongside, yelling and jeering.

Pressed forward, although by now so utterly spent I could barely stagger rapidly enough to escape those pitiless thrusts, I mechanically noted enough of our surroundings to understand that we traversed ground which had been cultivated; that low fences, here and there encountered, divided the land into small sections, even as in more civilized regions farmers protect their fields. What their crops may have been I could not determine, the season of harvest being already past, yet I distinguished what I supposed must be evidences of garden culture, observing also a considerable ditch, certainly four feet in width, filled with clear running water, which seemed to encircle the entire basin, the deeper green of vegetation marking its course close up against the farther rock wall.

The view directly in advance was at first obscured by the leaping figures of the exultant savages leading the way, whooping with excitement, and wildly brandis.h.i.+ng their war-clubs. These at length fell back along either side, our guards hurrying us across the ditch, spanned by the great trunk of a tree, and thus on into the village.

This town resembled no other encampment of savages on which my eyes had ever looked. I saw a wide open s.p.a.ce, a blackened stake set in the middle of it, the ground bare of vegetation, and tramped hard as if by countless feet. Beyond, circling this plaza upon two sides, were several rows of houses, all facing the same direction. It reminded me of pictures I had seen of Hebrew camps in my father's great Bible, only the houses were built of sun-dried clay, such as peons use in the far Southwest on the Brazos, square in shape, of but a single story, having dome-shaped roofs, heavily thatched with cane. They were windowless, with one narrow opening for a door, protected by a heavy matting of gra.s.s. Behind these, perhaps a hundred yards or more, and within a short distance of the steep cliffs bounding the upper extremity of the valley, there arose from the surface of the plain two immense rounded mounds of earth, each fully a hundred paces wide at its base, sloping sharply upward. Considerable vacant s.p.a.ce lay between the two, while on the apex of each stood buildings of sun-baked clay, resembling in form those below, yet much larger, and, because of their elevation, appearing s.p.a.cious and imposing. Above one were posed three rudely carven figures bearing a slight resemblance to giant eagles, their wings outspread as if for flight. The other was surmounted by a hideous, grotesque figure, blackened as by fire, with distorted face daubed a glaring yellow, and long hair glittering from red pigment.

Here the gra.s.s curtain had been drawn aside, while before the entrance, their faces striped with disfiguring black lines, their dull vestments trailing to the ground and gaudily trimmed with fanciful trappings, their coa.r.s.e hair so trained as to stand almost erect, were two aged men, who, with wild gesticulations, and solemn chanting, were apparently paying adoration to the setting sun, the last beams streaming over them through a rift in the western wall.

Directly past these priests we were driven like cattle, finding ourselves plunged into a vast square gloomy apartment, having an earthen floor, but utterly devoid of either furnis.h.i.+ngs or ornament.

There was another mat-draped opening at the farther side, and in the centre a huge log smouldered, resting upon what bore the appearance of a rudely chipped altar of rock. About this were ranged numerous fancifully painted statues of wood, grotesque and hideous, while a third figure, attired as were the aged priests without, lay p.r.o.ne upon the earth moaning as if in agony. The walls were hung thickly with undressed skins of wild animals, and at the back stood a slightly upraised platform of logs, cut in halves by a narrow pa.s.sageway leading toward the second curtained door. It was in the midst of this we halted, still under strict surveillance of our brutal guards. These, however, permitted us to sink down exhausted on the hard floor.

CHAPTER XXII

PRISONERS IN THE TEMPLE

A fear of impending danger will not always prove sufficiently strong to prevent yielding to the demands of fatigue. I realized the desperation of our position, feeling no doubt regarding our ultimate fate. I read it plainly in our surroundings, as well as within those vengeful, scowling faces, yet so dulled was every physical sense from excessive weariness that I had pa.s.sed through much already described like a man in a dream. The brief repose of the previous night, broken by nervous, superst.i.tious terrors, the anxious effort to escape from the haunted canyon, the hurried labor on our rude defences, the two fierce combats with the savages, my numerous wounds, none dangerous yet weakening me by loss of blood, together with the rapid marching and the difficult climb up the cliff, combined to exhaust my vitality so completely that, the moment we halted within the sacred precincts of this temple, I flung myself full length upon the floor. I remember the sun had already disappeared behind the western heights. I retain some slight memory of a tender hand resting softly on my forehead, of a familiar voice questioning me, yet if I made response, it must have been in the unconsciousness of sleep, as these faint remembrances were my last.

I had no means of telling how long I lay thus, close against the north wall of the building in that very posture in which I had first fallen.

It must have been after hours of unconsciousness I was at last partially aroused by the reviving touch of cool water with which my face was being bathed. As I slowly unclosed my heavy eyes the huge smouldering log in the centre of the room burst into sudden flame, lighting the interior, casting weird, dancing shadows along the black walls, its red radiance falling upon the face bending above me, and permitting me to look into the dark, troubled eyes of Eloise de Noyan.

"There is no necessity for moving," she explained softly. "Nothing of moment has occurred since you fell asleep, except that the savages brought us food."

"Have you been watching over me all this time without rest?"

"Nay; at least no more over you than the others," she answered with a smile, "yet you appeared in greatest stress. The others have been some time awake and have partaken of food while you remained in stupor. Do not look at me like that! I am not tired; I was borne all the way upon a litter, never once placing foot upon the ground."

"Have you knowledge as to the hour?"

"Only that it must be well into the night."

I lifted my body into a more erect posture, finding myself stiff and sore from head to foot, and glanced curiously around our prison-house.

In the centre was the blazing log, the sole bit of color my eyes could perceive. Kneeling upon either side were the motionless figures of four priests, robed from head to foot in black, their faces, darkened by some pigment, appearing ghastly and repulsive under the flickering flame. Their lips muttered in monotonous chant a weird incantation which sent to my heart a chill of superst.i.tious dread. High above the altar, blackened by the constantly ascending cloud of smoke, swayed uneasily a peculiar graven image of wood, hideous in disfigurement of form and diabolical of visage, appearing to float upon outspread wings, and gloating down upon us through eyes glittering ominously in the fire sheen. At either extremity of the apartment, where I supposed were the entrance and exit previously noted, stood those savages remaining on guard, grim, naked fellows, whose restless eyes, gleaming in the glow, followed our slightest movements, and whose weapons were constantly uplifted as though they longed for some excuse to strike. It composed a grewsome scene, savage, cruel, devilish, exhibiting within its gloomy outlines small promise for the morrow.

The old Puritan was leaning heavily against a small stake driven into the earth, resting his aching head upon one hand as he peered at me from beneath thatched brows.

"You have a white face, Master Benteen," he ventured, wondrously soft spoken for him, "yet if the heart remain strong and at peace with G.o.d, the body will mend itself."

"The heart has never yet failed me," I returned, striving to speak cheerfully, feeling that he would like to hear hearty English words again. "I am glad to behold you safely recovered, friend; that was a hard crack they landed on your skull."

"'T is not the will of the Almighty that I ignominiously perish at the hands of the heathen," he responded in his old manner, and as his voice roared out, not unlike a clap of thunder in that silence, I observed how the savages about us started. "Again, and yet again hath He miraculously delivered his servant from the mouth of the lion. Surely He must yet have labor for me in His vineyard; perchance the bearing unto these children of Amalek the message of peace."

"Do you propose preaching unto them?"

"Ay, why not? Inspired thereunto by the Spirit, I have already sought serious converse with yonder priest of Baal, kneeling at this side of that accursed shrine of idolatry. Yet so wedded is he to idols of wood and stone, he merely chattered back at me in unintelligible speech, and when I laid hand upon him to compel him to listen, the brown savage beyond grievously thrust me with a spear. But I retain faith that the Lord, in His own time, will open up a way unto their rebellious and sinful hearts."

"Such way may be opened, yet I fear these savages will only take unkindly your efforts at ministry, even if they permit opportunity for the carrying on of such work."

"I should be overjoyed to minister unto them with the sharp edge of a steel blade," interposed De Noyan decidedly, and I noticed him for the first time, lying beyond his wife. "What do you expect, Master Benteen, these villains will do to us?"

"I read no sign of mercy in any face yet seen," I answered cautiously.

"It would be against all savage nature to forgive the loss of those warriors sent home this day."

"You look for death?"

"I expect nothing less, and by torture; still they may permit us the slight chance of the gantlet, although I know not the war customs of the tribe."