Wyoming Part 19

"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 G.o.ddess 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 ma.s.s 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 c.o.c.ked 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, pus.h.i.+ng 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 pa.s.sed 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 s.p.a.ce 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 ma.s.s 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 sc.r.a.ping 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 G.o.dfrey.

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 G.o.dfrey.

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 pa.s.sed between him and Mr. Brainerd while making their way up the western sh.o.r.e, 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.