Ellis Edward Sylvester
Wyoming
CHAPTER XXIII
The experience of Gravity Gimp, after reaching the outside of the cavern, was remarkable in more than one respect.
When he found himself creeping up the narrow path, to the high ground above, and realized that he would make a capital target for one or a dozen of the Seneca sharpshooters, his teeth fairly rattled, and he would have retreated, but for his affection for the members of the Brainerd family.
"'Spect dere's two hundred ob 'em a-settin' in a row on a log up dere and waitin' for me, and when I come along dey'll each one hit me ober de head wid de butt end ob dere tomahawks, and by de time dey gots frough I'll hab de headache so bad dat I'll be as dizzy as Haberkick down dere."
Gravity paused for a minute, and then resumed creeping forward. Within the succeeding ten minutes he had reached the high level ground above, without sight or sound of an Indian.
No wonder he was mystified, for it occurred to him, naturally enough, that if he could pass out unchallenged in that fashion all the others might do the same, and what seemed to be a very perilous situation might thus resolve itself into nothing of the kind.
He came near turning back and inviting his friends to follow him, but fortunately he changed his mind and decided to go farther, before believing that the cloud had lifted.
"Dere don't seem to be anybody loafing 'bout here," he muttered, "and I'll promenade a little further."
He now began cautiously moving over the same ground he and his friends had hurried along when so hotly chased by the Indians.
Only a short distance was passed in the deep shadows of the trees, when he paused, still mystified.
The question presented itself as to how he was to accomplish anything that could benefit those whom he had left behind, for if they should seek to leave the cavern during the night, there was no other way, so far as he could judge, excepting that which he himself had taken.
"It must be dat the Injuns are down on de oder side de ravine, and I think dere's where I'll take an observation."
No task could be more delicate than this, and Gravity, with all his shrewdness, was unfitted to undertake it. There were scouts, who under the circumstances, would have gathered all the knowledge desired, and would have placed themselves among their enemies without detection, but the African was a different kind of personage.
He picked his way along the wood above the cavern, and had gone less than two rods beyond, when he stopped to gaze about him. The gloom was so dense that he could see very little, excepting when he looked across the ravine, where the moonlight fell and where the mass of rocks, so dreaded by the fugitives, was in plain sight.
He saw nothing there which could enlighten him, but his heart nearly stood still, when he not only heard a movement behind him near the point where the path to the cavern reached the high ground above, but despite the gloom detected several dark figures moving stealthily about.
That these were Indians there could be no doubt, and the conclusion was inevitable that they had seen him come out and had allowed him to pass by them without molestation.
Being now between him and the shelter, his return was cut off, and no matter what important discoveries he might make, he had no means of telling them to his friends.
"I might have knowed dere would be some goings on like dis," he said, with a throb of alarm. "De best thing I kin do is to strike out for Stroudsburg alone, widout waitin' for de folks."
Though he might have been justified in this course, yet his conscience would not permit it, and he started again, with the purpose of passing around to the other side of the ravine, and making a closer reconnoissance of the spot where he was certain of finding enemies.
This required a long detour, and a full half-hour passed before he got across the short ravine and began climbing up the other side, near where the Indians were known to be only a short time before.
As might have been anticipated, he went wrong, and got into the worst trouble of his life.
He had seen nothing more of the Senecas, but several faint whistles he recognized as signals passing between them, and he should have understood, from what had already taken place, that his movements were watched by the wary foe.
He was climbing a narrow passage, and was, perhaps, a dozen feet above the bottom of the ravine, when, to his dismay, a sinewy warrior sprang up in front of him, as though leaping out of the ground itself, and with tomahawk raised and a guttural exclamation, made for him.
The assault was so sudden that Gimp had no time to use his rifle, but he was not taken altogether at fault. Dropping the weapon, he recoiled a step or two and escaped the implement as it came down with a vicious whiz.
Before the warrior could recover or retreat, the African threw both arms about him, and, lifting him as though he were an infant, flung him headlong into the ravine below.
"Dere! guess dat'll jar you a little – "
But, to his amazement, a second brawny Indian appeared directly where the other had first shown himself, and he was immediately followed by others, who, it was plain, were pushing up through a narrow passage for the purpose of capturing the African.
The latter had succeeded so well a minute before, that he again resorted to the same tactics, and, catching hold of the first warrior he could reach, he hurried him after the first. Then the next was treated in the same manner, and, for the time, Gravity Gimp became a sort of sable geyser or miniature volcano, throwing into the air sprawling Seneca Indians with a vehemence that was as picturesque as it was amazing.
The exercise of hurling full-grown men aloft, regardless of how high they go, and in what posture they strike, is an exhausting diversion, no matter how powerful the gymnast who engages in it.
Thus it came about that the herculean African speedily found that he had his hands more than full, and his terrific efforts so told upon him that he grew more sluggish in his movements, until at last he was fairly smothered with the crush of warriors, and, despite his fierce resistance, was made prisoner.
CHAPTER XXIV
Meanwhile the fugitives in the cavern were placed in a situation almost as grave as that of Gravity Gimp himself.
The departure of the latter created a stir that lasted some minutes after Mr. Brainerd drew back and whispered to his friends the fact that the servant had reached the ground above, and was unmolested.
"He must pass over the spot where the man stood who fired the shot," said Maggie Brainerd, "and he ought to find out who he is."
"Provided the stranger remains there, which isn't likely."
The reader knows that this hope was disappointed, for the negro saw nothing of the man nor did he once think of him, while making the reconnoissance that resulted in his own capture.
"Now," said the father, who felt as though his responsibility had increased since the departure of the African, "Aunt Peggy, you must keep yourself and the girls as far back and away from the mouth of the cavern as you can, for there's no telling when a stray bullet may come in."
"I will see that we are all out of harm's way, while we are here," said Habakkuk McEwen.
"There's no doubt of that as far as yourself is concerned, but your personal safety is not a matter of concern to any of us here."
"But, Richard," ventured Aunt Peggy, coming close to the elbow of her brother-in-law, "what are you going to do?"
"I shall stay where I am, at the mouth of the cave, watching that point yonder. It won't do to relax our vigilance, for a single minute of such neglect may prove fatal."
"But you will be struck, if a shot is sent into this place."
"No one is safer than I; do you see?"
As he spoke he indicated a large, long stone, some twenty or more inches in length and a third as thick.
"It's a loose piece of the rock, which I chanced upon. I laid it in front of me across my line of vision to rest my gun upon. That gives me an easy position, while I have a good breast-work."
"But don't you have to look over the line of protection, so as to keep good watch?" asked Maggie.
"There must be a certain amount of danger, no matter how well we are protected."
But there was one fact which Mr. Brainerd, with all his forethought, failed to take note of: his anxiety was so great that he believed he could do without sleep for a week, and yet he should have known that if he undertook to lie down on his face and keep watch, no solicitude nor effort of the will could keep him awake.
The only recourse is that of continual motion, as is the case with the sailor on watch or the sentinel on guard at night.
In fact, no posture could have been more wooing to the gentle goddess that steals away our senses ere we are aware.
The females, as Mr. Brainerd had suggested, withdrew to the rear of the cavern, placing themselves at one side where no bullet could reach them, unless fired from the mass of rocks that the father was watching with such close attention.
Habakkuk McEwen, located near them, attempted a conversation, but no one showed any disposition to take part, and Aunt Peggy invited him so energetically to keep quiet that he complied.
As Mr. Brainerd lay extended on the flat, rocky floor of the cavern, with his gun cocked and pointed outward, he asked himself more than one question which he could not answer.
Looking as hopefully as he might at the situation, he saw no ground for encouragement.
Gravity Gimp had departed, and he did not believe he would be able to come back. In this belief the settler was correct, for the African never placed foot in the cavern again.
He had gone, taking one of the guns with him, and so much power of defense was abstracted from the little party without any possible return.
Although Habakkuk McEwen seemed at first to be an acquisition, yet the cowardice shown a short time before so displeased Mr. Brainerd that, despite the necessity of union, he forbore almost entirely to have any communication with him.
Stretched out thus in the rocky shelter, with his gun thrust forward and his eyes fixed on the danger-point, the stillness became oppressive.
The deep, hollow roar of the forest, the soft murmur of the river, the distant crack of a rifle, and the shout of some wild Indian or flying fugitive – all these came to the listener with impressive distinctness.
But, at the same time, as I have shown, the situation was favorable to slumber, and ere the watcher suspected it, his eyes closed and his senses floated away.
He breathed so softly that none of his friends suspected he was sleeping. Indeed, almost at the same time, Habakkuk drifted into dreamland, his loud breathing being audible to all who were awake.
Eva Brainerd, with her head resting in the lap of her loved sister, slept like an infant, but Maggie and Aunt Peggy kept as alert as when they were in the small boat, pushing across the Susquehanna. No two persons could realize the peril of their situation more than did these two, who talked in low tones, and speculated as to what was the best thing to do, if, indeed, they could do anything at all.
Mr. Brainerd did not sleep long, his senses coming back to him as softly as they had departed. When fully himself, his position was the same as taken at first. His gun was still pointed toward the column of rocks, that was more plainly visible than before, now that the moon was higher in the sky.
He felt as though he had been sleeping for hours, though in reality it was no more than fifteen minutes, and a shudder passed over him at the consciousness that a hundred red men might have leaped across the chasm in front without danger to themselves.
He could only hope that such advantage had not been taken of his remissness. Hearing the faint murmur of Maggie and Aunt Peggy's voices as they spoke to each other, he was on the point of turning to ask them a question, when something like a shadow flitted across the space which he was guarding.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again; another and then another whisked by, like the flight of birds, and then he awoke to the fact that, while he lay there, with his loaded and aimed rifle, three Indian warriors had leaped across the opening that separated them from the mass of rocks which commanded the situation.
Even supposing none had made the leap while the watcher was asleep, it was certain that the number named had secured the shelter, and now they could pick off every one in the cavern at their convenience, without risk to themselves.
"I don't see any use of trying to hold out," muttered the watcher, in the bitterness of spirit; "at such a time as this, when the wretches get started, it seems as though everything favors them. I thought since that shot came so opportunely, that we would receive more help from the same source, but he, too, has slumbered, and while he slept – "
"Father," broke in Maggie, "I hear some one overhead, just where that person was when he fired his gun."
The girl was right, for her parent detected it at the same moment: it was as if some one were scraping his feet over the upper surface of the rocks, though it was impossible to imagine the meaning of his action.
Then as the three listened, they thought he was gradually working toward the edge of the ravine, until suddenly the sound stopped.
No one spoke, and all were fairly holding their breath, when, to their dismay, a pair of feet, quickly followed by a pair of shapely legs, appeared in front of the cavern, slowly descending, and bringing more of the owner in sight.
Some one was lowering himself from the top of the ravine, with the purpose of dropping in the path in front and entering the cavern!
"It is an Injin," called out Aunt Peggy; "why don't you shoot him, Richard, before he kills us all?"
At that instant the stranger dropped with a light bound, and, looking around in the gloom, asked:
"Are you all here?"
The moment he spoke, the voice was recognized as that of Fred Godfrey.
CHAPTER XXV
Words cannot picture the amazement and delight of the little company in the cavern, when their strange visitor, who descended so suddenly upon them, was recognized as Fred Godfrey.
Mr. Brainerd, when the fortunate shot was fired some time before, felt just the faintest suspicion that it might be his son; but he said nothing to the others, through fear of exciting hopes that could only be disappointed.
Maggie, herself, thought of Fred, and prayed that it might be he; but she, too, held her peace – and now here, was her daring brother among them.
It required but a few minutes, after greeting his relatives, to tell of his extraordinary escape from Queen Esther, and his prolonged hunt for his friends. From what passed between him and Mr. Brainerd while making their way up the western shore, he suspected that when he should join his family, some such manner of flight would be adopted.
He knew of this romantic place in the rocks, but it never occurred to him until after he had wasted considerable time in hunting for traces of them.
He had visited the spot more than once in his hunting excursions through the Wyoming Valley, and it did not take him long to learn the condition of affairs.
He conducted this delicate business with such skill that his presence was never suspected by his enemies, and he did his utmost to keep it concealed. He ventured on one or two signals, with a view of apprising Mr. Brainerd of his proximity, but, if that gentleman heard him, he suspected the calls were made by the Indians, and therefore paid no attention to them.
Understanding the peril which threatened his friends, Fred extended himself on the rocks above the cavern, and held the gun that he had taken from the dead body of a soldier, pointed toward the spot.
Just before he was ready, Mr. Brainerd shot the warrior, and then Fred leveled his piece for the next one. Thus it was that, instead of one rifle, there were two aimed at the second savage, and when the first flashed in the pan, the other completed the business.
This was providential, but Fred was wise enough to see that nothing like permanent safety could be gained by that kind of defense.
He ventured on another reconnoissance, and it was while he was thus engaged that Gravity Gimp emerged from the cavern, and walked straight into the trap set for him.
"How was it you managed to get down here?" asked Mr. Brainerd.
"I used a grape-vine," replied Fred; "it took me a considerable while to arrange it, and I came near slipping my hold and dropping to the bottom of the ravine, as it was."
"Was it a wise proceeding?" continued the father.
"I hope so."
"Why did you not come down the regular path?" inquired Maggie; "Gravity seemed to have no difficulty in going away by it."
"There must be at least half a dozen Indians up there; they could have captured him without trouble, but they allowed him to get so far away that they calculated you would not suspect the danger, and might try to follow him, in which case every one of you would be in their hands this minute."
This information was startling, and the listeners were silent. Fred added:
"You can understand how great the risk was which I ran, and it is hard to explain why they didn't discover what I was doing."
"Perhaps they did."
"They would have fired on me had they known it; but there is so much deep shadow above, and they were so unsuspicious of any such proceeding, that I succeeded."
"It was a daring act, indeed, but what is to be the issue?"
"I saw that it would not do for you to remain until morning. If to-morrow's sun finds you here, you are doomed. You have no means of obtaining any food or water, and they can converge a dozen rifles on you, for they will gain the position from which we kept them a while ago."
"They have already done so," said Mr. Brainerd. "I saw, and was unable to prevent them."
"That settles the matter, then; we must get out of this place within the next two hours, and be well on our way toward the Delaware by daylight. We can't venture up the path, and, therefore – hello! What's that?"
In taking a backward step at that moment, Fred placed his foot directly on the stomach of Habakkuk McEwen, who lay flat on his back, sound asleep.
The New Englander emitted a groan, and sprang to his feet.
Several minutes passed before everything was understood.
Fred apologized, and shook hands with him, as well as he could in the gloom, and Habakkuk then became a listener to the all-important conference that followed.
Fred, in making his reconnoissance, had discovered that Jake Golcher was the leader of the Indians.
The coolness with which Fred Godfrey discussed the situation had the effect of inspiring his friends with something of his courage.
He stood erect while talking, and Maggie leaned on one arm, while Eva, fully awake now, clung to the other side. Even Aunt Peggy relaxed from her usual reserve, and only expressed displeasure when the young man said that he saw Golcher and failed to shoot the "scand'lous villain."
Habakkuk possessed sense enough to take no part in the conference, feeling that he had forfeited all consideration in such a matter.
"The moon is working around in the sky," said Mr. Brainerd, "so that I am afraid we shall not have the shadow until morning."
"Consequently we must not wait; nothing is to be expected from Gimp, and we may as well venture at once."
There could be no disputing this decision, and all waited for Fred to make known his plan.
It was very simple, though of course attended with peril: he proposed that the grape-vine which had served him so well should now be used to assist each to the bottom of the ravine, where, in the deep shadow that prevailed, they would do their utmost to steal out into the open wood, and so pass over the mountain.
It seemed impossible to do this without detection from the Indians, who were besieging the fugitives, but desperate as was the risk, no one hesitated. In fact, Habakkuk McEwen proposed that he should go first.
"I can look around and see whether everything is all right; and if it isn't, I'll let you know, and you needn't come."
"Instead of being the first, you'll be the last," said Mr. Brainerd, curtly.
Habakkuk thought it not worth while to argue the matter, and he replied not to the severe stricture of the elder.
Fred Godfrey now ventured to the mouth of the cavern, where the vine was still dangling, the lower end being invisible in the darkness below.
From the platform in front of the cavern to the bottom of the ravine was something like twenty feet – not a very great distance, but too great for any one to let himself drop to the flinty floor below.
"The end of the support reaches half-way," said Fred, "and each must fall the remaining distance. If we are all careful, no harm will be done."
"Is it securely fastened above?"
"It would not have sustained me were it not. There is one thing that must be borne in mind," added Fred, speaking to all, "and that is, that no matter what happens, no noise must be made. The least exclamation will be heard by the Indians, some of whom are probably still at the upper end of the path, and if they suspect what is going on, failure is certain."
All were so desirous of leaving the place without delay that the directions of Fred seemed almost superfluous.
When the young man was about to lower himself by the vine, Brainerd touched his arm and said:
"My recollection of that ravine below is that there is no way out of it; why not, therefore, climb upward instead of going down?"
"It won't do; the only ones in this party beside myself who could reach the top in that fashion are Maggie and Eva. With your age, you couldn't draw yourself half-way up, even with help."
As silently as a shadow, the young patriot drew in the crooked vine which still dangled in front of the opening, and, flinging his gun back of his shoulder, where it was held in place, he grasped the support. The next minute those standing in the gloom behind him observed the dark figure, with legs drawn up, slowly descending, as if he were going down a well.
