Three Young Pioneers Part 10

"I wonder where he can be," Matthew said wearily; "this business of waiting doesn't strike me as a very opportune thing just now. If I had my way, I would be running like a rabbit, until we were back at Boston.

And never will I leave that place again! We did wrong in not obeying our parents."

Agnes looked at him reprovingly. "That does not solve our problems now," she ventured. "I, too, wish we were back, but we are here now, and we must make the best of it. But oh, if only Fred were here."

"Let's go and look for him," Matthew broke in.

"No," Agnes replied, "we must stay and wait. They also serve who only stand and wait."

Yet she also became tired as the moments crept on slowly and wearily.

Darkness covered the cave, and she could hardly see the opening any more.

"Matthew," she whispered as she walked forward, "you remain here with the guns. I will go and look for Fred. It is dark now!"

In a moment she was gone, while Matthew almost wept for anguish of heart. Yet he had learned to obey both Fred and Agnes, though he was older than they. There was something indescribably firm in their voices and conduct which he never could understand, and often he himself wondered what made him stand in awe of them.

Just now he bitterly reproved himself for not having followed Agnes.

"She is a girl and you are a boy," he scolded himself; "but she is a heroine, and you are a coward. How could you let her go alone!"

He waited impatiently, but neither Agnes nor Fred returned.

Overcome with fear, he knelt down in prayer, for he was a very pious boy.

"Good Lord," he prayed, "help Fred and Agnes and me, and let us not perish in this wilderness. Show us a way to escape out of this trouble that we may praise Thy glorious name. Help us for Jesus' sake."

Then as the dreary hours pa.s.sed slowly and monotonously, his strength gave way, and he soon was fast asleep.

CHAPTER X

CAPTURE AND ESCAPE

How long Matthew slept, he could not tell, but suddenly he was awake, and some one was holding his hand over his mouth.

In the darkness the form seemed large and grotesque, and his first impulse was to cast aside the hand and to cry out.

But then he heard a soft voice spoken almost in a whisper, and he recognized Fred.

"Matthew," Fred whispered, "come to yourself; awake, and sit up. I have something to tell you. Where is Agnes?"

"She went away to look for you," Matthew replied; "she left a long, long time ago."

Fred could not suppress a painful cry.

"And she didn't come back?" he asked excitedly.

"No," Matthew muttered.

"Then she, too, was captured," Fred explained sorrowfully, "and she is in the hands of the Indians."

"Oh! Oh!" Matthew cried bursting into tears. "What have I done?"

"Be silent now," Fred warned him. "The Indians are following me. Let me briefly tell you how it all came about. I crept up to the place where the boat was hidden, but found it one. There was no noise, and so I thought I was safe. The boat might have slipped down into the stream. I stood up and looked, when suddenly the Indians seized me, tied me, muzzled me, and carried me off up the bank."

Matthew looked at him with dread written all over his face.

"Fred," he said, "you were captured?"

"Yes," the other replied, "I was, and those cowards at once took me into the woods, where quite a large band of Pequots were a.s.sembled."

"I thought there were only a few," Matthew interrupted him; "just a mere scouting party."

"There was originally," Fred continued, "but It seems as if they were joined by another scouting party, and there were even women with them.

The Indians are shrewd and clever, much more than we white people think.

While the main troop is going west, scouting parties are all over the woods, watching the movements of the whites, and killing off individuals or families as they find them. They are mopping up the woods, ridding them of the white foes. They are doing thorough work."

"But how did you escape?" Matthew asked.

"That wasn't hard," Fred answered; "as soon as they had taken me into the woods, I became very angry, and as well as I could I commanded them to remove the gag from my mouth. I spoke to them in the Pequot language, and this made an impression on them."

"How fortunate that we know that tongue!" Matthew exclaimed. "If I am caught, I know what to do."

"You never will be caught," Fred said emphatically; "I won't let you.

If I hadn't been dreaming and forgetting the danger I was in, they never would have got me. But I learned a lesson."

"But tell me your story to the end," Matthew begged. "It is so interesting."

"Well," Fred started, "when they had removed the gag, I first fumed and scolded, much to their delight, for they kept on laughing as I rebuked them."

"I called them cowards who could do nothing else but seize little boys, and them unarmed. This amused them very much, and finally one after another stole away to the fire where the women were broiling large pieces of meat. Seeing that, I demanded food also, and at last an old squaw had pity on me and brought me a rich supply. Here is some of it; We may need it on our way. Lucky, that we have at least one musket!

Mine the Indians took."

"But what then?" Matthew asked inquisitively. "How did you get away?"

"When the darkness fell over the camp," Fred related, "they simply lay down to sleep, after they had tied me to a tree. The Indian who attended to the work, must have liked me, for he took pains that the sinews were not strung too tightly. So what could I do? While they were sleeping, I cleared my hands, cut the bands, and slipped away from them. And look what I took along?"

He held up a large scalping knife.

"Where did you get that?" Matthew exclaimed in astonishment. "That knife will be very valuable to us."

"The scout was sleeping," Fred said, "though he was supposed to watch, and I crept up to him and removed it for safety's sake."

"You are quite a hero," Matthew praised him; "I could never be so brave as that."

"There was little bravery," Fred said contemptuously; "the Indians are not careful; they just began the war; later they will take more care of their prisoners. Now they still despise the whites."