Boys of The Fort Part 27

The thought had scarcely crossed his mind when something did happen, but not exactly what he antic.i.p.ated.

A shadow fell across his path, and as he drew rein he found himself confronted by several Indians.

"White officer, stop!" cried the leader of the red men sternly.

"Hullo! what do you want?" demanded the captain. The meeting was a complete surprise.

"Want to have a talk."

"Who are you?"

"Me Red Wolf, belong to White Ox tribe," returned the Indian with a scowl.

"And what are you doing out here at this time of night, Red Wolf?"

"Indians on a big hunt. See buffalo yesterday."

"Yes, I saw one of the buffaloes myself." Captain Moore paused, not knowing how to go on. "You are pretty close to the fort."

"Red Wolf and warriors get on the wrong trail," was the slow reply. "But want to talk now. Come along."

As the Indian concluded he caught the captain's steed by the bridle.

"Let go the horse."

"Want to talk to white officer."

"You haven't any right to touch my horse."

Hardly had the words been spoken when two Indians rushed up behind the captain and dragged him to the ground.

The fellows were large and powerful, and they disarmed him before he could even fire a shot.

Without further ado Captain Moore was forced to march along, between two of the red men, while a third led his horse.

A route around the rocks was taken, and presently they came to a dense bit of timberland. In the midst of this was a clearing, and here was the camp of some ten or a dozen Indians.

The Indians at hand were a guard over several white soldiers, and to his intense surprise the young captain recognized some of Lieutenant Carrol's men.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Had a mix-up and came off second best----" began one of the soldiers, when an Indian guard clapped a dirty hand over his mouth and ordered him to be silent, under penalty of death.

Then the captain was taken to another part of the glade, and here he was made a close prisoner by being bound, hands and feet, to the trunk of a blasted tree.

Red Wolf wished to know what the captain had been doing away from the fort.

"I've been on a hunting expedition."

"Alone?"

"No."

"Where are the others?"

"Safe, by this time. What do you intend to do with me, Red Wolf?"

"White Ox shall decide that," grunted the red man.

"Then he is on this hunt, too?"

"He is."

"When will he be here?"

"Soon."

"Don't you know that I am an army officer, and that you are laying up a good deal of trouble for yourself by making me a prisoner?"

"The white man has not treated the Indians right."

"This is no way to redress wrongs, Red Wolf. Why don't you go to Colonel Fairfield and make a complaint? He will send the story to the Great Father at Was.h.i.+ngton."

"The Great Father will not listen. We have sent many complaints--as the white captain knows."

"He will listen--if the complaint is a just one. The trouble is, the Indians will not obey Colonel Fairfield's orders."

"And why should they obey the white man? Is not White Ox their chief?"

"That is true. But the land is now the white man's, and the Indians must obey the Great Father at Was.h.i.+ngton, or in the end it will go hard with them."

"Not so!" cried Red Wolf savagely. "In the end the white man will be driven eastward, where he belongs. No one shall rule in these mountains but the red man. White Ox and the other great chiefs have spoken."

"What! you are going on the warpath?"

"The hatchet may be dug up, if the white man will not listen to the red man."

"I know what the trouble is, Red Wolf. Matt Gilroy and that scoundrelly half-breed, Mose, have set you up to this. They have filled your ears with false stories about our cruelty and about much money at the fort."

By the look on the Indian's face the young officer saw that he had struck the truth, at least in part.

But the red man would talk no more, fearing he had already said too much, and he stalked off, warning a guard to be careful and not let the captain escape.

When left to himself, Captain Moore's reflections were very bitter.

"If the redskins are out in force they'll probably fall in with Benson and the boys," he told himself. "And if they do there will surely be trouble. Benson won't allow them to take him alive, and that will mean a good deal of shooting all around."

He listened attentively for shots in the distance, but none came, and this caused him to be more perplexed than ever.