OCR Text |
Show I Tine OTsinims cofi AIbioSQlliisiimn By James Oliver Cur wood C by DoubUday Doran Co., !n& WNU Service CHAPTER VII Continued 10 A cry of triumph came from the bleeding Hps of the Frankenstein, who saw victory within his reach, for be now regarded the youth, whn was on his feet with a hatchet In bis band, as an instgnlflacnt obstacle ob-stacle between himself and the pallid faced loveliness of the girl whom chance had so fortunately placed in his way. The cry. disguised dis-guised by guile and habit, betrayed only a trace of the white man. It was guttural exultation of one lost to all the obligations of blood and race, a cry loosed not so much by beat and passion as by the promise prom-ise of what be saw as bis eyes appraised ap-praised Tolnette. Tolnette had possessed herself of the empty gun and stood at Jeems' side, prepared to fight Jeems was so near that bis arm pressed against her and he gave a sldewlse thrust wblcb sent her headlong among the bushes. In the same moment he burled his hatchet at the scalp hunter, whn was slowly advancing. As the other dodged to avoid the hurtling missile Jeems snatched one of his scattered arrows from the ground and ran to his bow. Tolnette saw what happened then. She saw the the slim, beautiful figure of Jeems draw as tensely as his weapon In the pathway. She saw the painted paint-ed monster descending npon him. She heard the musical twang of the bowstring and saw a silvery flash a flash which passed In at one side of the blue-eyed Indian and went out at the other, a flash which fell to earth a score of paces beyond, be-yond, a bloody and broken arrow that bad lone Us righteous work. That the explosion of the gun would reach the ears of the Mohawks Mo-hawks was in Jeems' mind as he comforted his shocked companion. For a few moments it was difficult for her to believe the combat was over and that the fiend who lay like a great spider on his back was no longer a menace to them. To her relief and her faith In Jeems wos added an emotion of Joy when she saw that Odd was alive. The dog bad dragged himself to his feet and stood watching the slain man grimly. The dead man stared up at them as they passed. In their path lay the arrow which had gone cleanly through him. Tolnette could not keep bock the hysterica) sob which came In her throat, but she looked at Jeems with such wonder and love in her face that he heard only the throbbing tumult In his heart and brain. He had fought for her and wont And he had fought on that same ground where almost six years before be had failed to whip Paul Tachel "The Indians have heard the shot and will return," he said. "This white man must have discovered some sign of Us and came to do murder and have his spoils alone. Dear God. when I think' ' He was looking at Tolnette's tresses, which had burst freo from their plaited bonds. "We must run," he snld.- They passed the barn and went through the deserted field behind It, Odd following them. "There ,1s a stony ridge less than a mile from here," he encouraged. "If we can reach It. I know of declared Jeems. MWe will be safe farther on, and If yon will wall i until we have put ourselves beyond be-yond the mass of rocks off there" Ills words remained unfinished. From behind them came a cry. It was not fierce nor one that seemed to carry menace, and bore wltb It a strange and almost musical softness. soft-ness. Jeems knew Its meaning. The Mohawks were on the ridge, One of them was calling his scattered companions to evidence of their passing which he had discovered. Jeems hastened Tolnette over the rocks. "They have found some sign of us," be explained. "It may be one of Odd's claw marks on a stone, or the scratch from a nail In your shoe. Whichever It Is, they only know we hove come this way and will still believe we have taken to the plain." Tolnette saw how desperately he was trying to keep from her the real nearness of their peril. "I have seen Indians climb over rocks and windfalls. They are like cats and 1 am so slow arid clumsy," she said. "You can move faster than any Indian, Jeems. Hide me somewhere among these rocks and go on alone. I am sure they will not harm me If they should happen to discover where I am." Jeems did not answer. They had come to the rocks which he had spoken of a few moments before. Here, if anywhere, was a place for concealment. It was filled with dark and cavernous refuges, and where the boulders met and crushed together to-gether were hidden pockets where their bodies might lie unseen. Tolnette Tol-nette perceived these things with a heart that lightened with relief and hope. She looked Into Jeems' face as he paused for a moment to study the ground about them. A dozen steps from where they stood were three boulders apart from the others. One of the three had spilt itself so that one-half of it was- a slab that formed a roof for the crevice between the other two. , Jeems' eyes revealed a deeper excitement ex-citement as he pointed it out to Tolnette. "We will hide and In there I" he cried. "Make haste, Tolnette 1 It Is smooth rock and will leave no sign behind us. Go In and keep Odd with you!" He began to throw loose stones about the huge boulder heap. Some he flung over the top of It so that they fell on the opposite side, and nt last he sent a few Into the edge of the valley, earh farther than the other. lie finished by shooting an arrow which descended In an open space at the foot of the ridge. Tolnette watched him In amazement amaze-ment and alarm until he command ed her In a sterner voice to crawl under the stones. She waited no longer but pulled herself ' a few Inches at a time beneath the houl ders. Jeems. thrusting Odd ahead of him, bad greater dliHculty In performing the same feat, and for a little while they squirmed and twisted until they found a dark recess re-cess In which they could crowd themselves and even sit upright. Jeems explained to Tolnette the meaning of his strange behavior outside. "First they will find the loose stones and the marks I made and stinrfh for na In oi-opt hi-.la nnrl I sound her ears had caught I Some one was near the rock I More than one there were two I Their voices were distinct though low, and they stood so close that their forms shut out the light from the crevice. crev-ice. To his astonishment Jeems heard a language which Uepslbah Adams had taught him, and It was not Aloha wk. These were Senecas. The discovery thrilled him. He hated the Mohawk hatchet hatch-et wlelders who were the scourge of the southern frontier, but the Senecas, also brethren of the Six Great Nations, he doubly feared, for while the Mohawk killers were the wolves of the wilderness, the Senecas were Its foxes and panthers pan-thers combined. One was a creature crea-ture of darkness and surprise, the other a lightning flash that come and went wltb deadly swiftness. He might trick a Mohawk, but a Seneca was the cleverest of bis kind. He felt his blood turn cold as he listened to the two. One was arguing thnt the arrow was a ruse and that the fugitives were somewhere some-where not far away; the other, whose mind was still on the huge pile of stones, discredited the thought that it had been thoroughly thorough-ly searched and set off to find some proof of his suspicions. The first of the two speakers remained, re-mained, and neither Tolnette nor Jeems could hear him move. It seemed on Infinity of time before movement came again outside the rock. Metal scruped It as the Seneca mnde a resting place of It for his gun; footsteps went away, returned, and halted close to the nnrrow aparture through which they had squeezed their bodies under the stones. The savage was looking at the entrance to their hiding placet Jeems pictured the warrior, his doubt and hesitation, and was as sure In Ills vlsloning as though no barrier lay between them. He heard s grunt. The Seneca was on his stomach, peering In, and the grunt was an expression of the foolishness which hud made him grovel like this. .. In a moment, mo-ment, he would rise and go nwuy. But the moment passed. One two three a dozen. Tolnette was like one dead unhreathing. Odd, sensing a mighty danger, knowing (hat it was coming, crouched like a sphinx. At last the slJence was broken so softly that the disturbance might have been that of a tress of Tolnette's hulr falling from her shoulder across Jeems' orm. The Indian had thrust in his head. He was listening smelling then advancing slyly and cautiously like a ferret on the trull of prey. There could no longer be a doubt. He knew there was something under the rocks and, with true j Seneca courage, foreseeing glory for himself . even If 'death paid for It, he was coming alone. Every Instinct reached its highest high-est tension In Jeems as a danger approacned which he would be able to touch with his hands In another moment or two. He removed re-moved himself gently from Tolnette's Tol-nette's embrace and prepared bis arms and body for action. Their eyes had grown more accustomed to the gloom, and Tolnette could see him as he crouched forword ond gathered himself for the The trail hunters were now aware that the placing of the arrow bad been a ruse to delay them and began be-gan swarming back to the ridge. Half a dozen warriors gathered In a fierce and animated debate close about the rocks. If Tolnette's nerves were on the point of breaking, then Odd's were in no better condition when tha Senecas returned to the ridge, lire heart was breaking In its subjection subjec-tion to inactivity and stillness. Now he looked again on victory. Ills master was triumphant as the Indians In-dians returned and crowded about the rocks. Defiance rose In his soul In an overwhelming flood. He hated the smell outside. He hated tire creatures who made It Without I warning, his passion broke loose In I the bowling rage of a beast gone I mad. Tolnette's arms and Jeems' j hands were futile In their efforts to g stop it I The Seneca on tbe stone floor j moved a tittle. i . . Outside there fell an awful stilt- t ness. 1 Then Odd realized what he had I done and grew quiet. They could feel rather than hear a velvef-foot- I ed, voiceless cordon gathering about 1 them in a ring of death. CHAPTER VIII TWENTY minutes after Odd had I revealed their hiding place Jeems and Tolnette were standing In the sun. Mysterious things had 1 happened In this time. Unseen 1 hands had dragged the warrior i from under the rocks. An Inter- val had followed In which excite- i merit gave way to solemn and low- voiced talk outside. Then some i one had called in guttural, broken P French commanding them to come out. They had obeyed, Jeems first, f Tolnette after him. and Odd last I wltb the downcast air of a beast ! who knew he was in disgrace. I It was an astonishing and un- I expected reception by enemies af I whose belts scalps were hanging. I There were between twenty and I thirty of the Senecas, splendidly I built, keen-eyed, lean-faced, most of them young men. Even In tli-t shock of the moment Tolnette sur- i veyed them In startled admiration. 1 They were like runners ready for a i race. Staring at the youth wltn 1 his bow and at the girl with her , tangled, shining hair, the Indians returned their gaze with a look of I amazement not unmixed with an- proval. They seemed scarcely able i to believe these two had fooled J them so completely, captured one I of their number in the bargain, yet I conceded the fact with glances in. f which passion was held subdued. A young savage who stood be- fore them seemed largely respnnsl- hie for this attitude. Purpllsj lines were around his throat as If" I a rope had choked him. Two of the eagle feathers In his tuft were broken, and his shoulder was bleed- tng where the skin had been torn f by a Jagged tooth of rock. Evident- ly he held considerable Influence In the war party of which he was n member. Beside him wa a much I older man of even more powerful figure. , " I It was he who spoke In Seneca I to the younger. I "So this is the boy who madw 1 my brave nephew a captive to be seven ny tne voice or a tmg!" The other scowled at the taunt I In his voice. 1 "He could have killed me. He spared my life." "This is Ih young he-fawn to whom you owe a feather from your tuft!" "I owe him two one for himself and one for the maiden whose presence must have stayed bis hand."" The o dei man grunted. "He looks strong and may stand to travel with us.- But the girl is like a broken flower ready to fall In our path. She will cumber our feet and make our way more difficult,' diffi-cult,' and great. haste must he our cholce. Use your hatchet on one and we will fake the other." At this command Jeems gave a sudden cry, and the faces of the savages relaxed in - astonishment when he began to sneak In their lutigunge. Ilepslhuh Adams' school. Ing had prepared hi in for this hour. Ills tongue stumbled, some ot his words were twisted,' there were gaps which only the Imagination Imag-ination could fill, but he told his story. The Indians listened with m an Interest wldch assured Jeems w they had not been a part of the force that had massacred his anil Tolnette's people. He pointed to the girl. He related how the Mohawks Mo-hawks had destroyed his father and mother and all who had belonged be-longed to Tolnette; how they hail fled together, how they had hidden In the old bouse, and that with on arrow he had killed the whUu 4 man who had tired the gun. Bronzed and disheveled, the long bow In his hand. Jeems made a vivid picture f courage and eloquence elo-quence thnt would remain with Tolnette ns long as Rhe lived. She drew herself up a little proudly, sensing that he was fighting for her. She stood straight, her chlr. high.' gazing with unafraid eyes a the leader of the war party. (TO BE CONTINUED.) twenty places where bare rock will let us throw them off our trail." "We will reach it." breathed Tolnette. Tol-nette. '.. :. He pointed the way and let her go ahead of him, turning his head every dozen steps to look behind. Along the hardwood knoll where the Lussnns had gathered their fuel, Tolnette sped like a graceful nymph, her long hair streaming about her In the sun until at times Jeems saw nothing but its beauty; and In the contemplation of its loveliness a shuddering horror ran through htm. In the stump field at home Heps! hah had told him how both the English and the French had begun to make use of women's hair, and that many a gentleman and courtly dandy wore shining curls taken by the scalping knife In wilderness orgies of rapine nnd murder. In the narrowness of Tolnette's Tol-nette's escape, the thought oppressed op-pressed him with sickening force. Soon her lack of endurance compelled com-pelled them to slacken their pace, and when they reached the rocky ascent whtcli led to the crest of the ridge. Tolnette's breath was breaking sobblngly from her lips and for a while she could go no further. She gazed In the direction direc-tion from which they had come, un-terrtfied, un-terrtfied, nnd almost with chnllentrp in her took, her - breast wildly throhhlng, her band reached out to Jeems. Each of the few minutes that passed seemed an hour to htm. Then they climbed to the .crest of the ridge. - Here Jeems picked his way, choosing the places where their feet would not touch scattered scat-tered stones or grass or soil and half an hour of slow and tedious progress lay between them and the point where they had come from the valley. "If they come this far, they will think we rinve taken the wider and easier country," he explained. "Can you hold on a little longer?" "It was the running thnt turned me faint," said Toluene. -"1 am as strong us you are now. Jeems. But may 1 stop and braid my hair? It is cumbersome and warm, and I wish you would cut it off!" "1 would cut off my arm Bret" cranny of the pile.'' he said. "When they discover the arrow I hope they will believe we have fled Into the forest." They waited In a silence wherein where-in the beating of their hearts was like the sound of tiny drums In the gloom of their hiding place. A shudder ran through Tolnette, hut she whispered: "I am not afraid." She felt Jeems fumbling for his hatchet and heard him place It quietly on the nuked rock at his side. Then the rock Itself seemed to give forth a faint sound as if some one hud tupped It gen'Jy with a stick. This sound grew Into others thnt were soft and swift, and Jeems knew that moccasined feet were all about them. Low voices added themselves to the pattering tread. Tolnette fixed her eyes on the crack through which came the shaft of light, and occasionally it was darkened as a .body passed It The tread of feet came and went, and they heard the clatter of rocks But for a time all voices died away, and It was this silence which became almost unbearable for Tolnette. This clutch of a danger which they could not see or co with seized upon her until each moment she expected to hear a ghostly creature steullng into their hiding place or to see a pair of flaming eyes on a level with her own. It wus n feeling of horror Instead of fear, nnd with It came a strong desire to cry out and ease her suspense In a scream. Jeems, too, had almost found himself in the grip of something which he could not control. Not more than a quarter of an hour passed In this siisjiense. but It seemed to be a lifetime. Then there were voices again which Increased In-creased in number and excitement until, atmve them all, a yell rose from the valley as one of the searchers discovered the arrow. , When Tolnette raised -her head, she heard no evidence jf life other than their own on the ridge. 'Thank God, they think we have gone into the valley I" suld Jeems. j Tolnette touched him with a , cautioning hand, and In the same ! moment he wus aware of the ' struggle wnicn wouirt mean life or death for them. Suddenly she understood un-derstood thnt It would not be. a struggle. When the Seneca's head appeared Jeems' hatchet would smash It In. She could see the hatchet. It was poised to strike. There would be no cry no moan only that terrible, hidden sound. She listened to the doomed man slowly coming. The feathers of his tuft appeared first, then the long black scalp lock, the hair-plucked head, a pair of shoulders. Jeems put all his strength behind the upraised hatch-et hatch-et He knew there must be but one blow well placed In the middle mid-dle of the skull. That would end It. He almost closed his eyes and the hatchet descended a little, an overwhelming sense of the horror of tbe thing holding buck his stroke. It was not simply killing: It wns murder. The Seneca turned bis head and looked up. His eyes were trained for use at night, and he saw more clearly than Jeems. He saw the white face, the hatchet, the death behind it and he wnited, transformed to stone. No voice came to his Hps nod no movement to bis cramped body In this moment mo-ment of shock and stupefaction when he must have realized that all the power of his forest gods could not help him. The pupils of his eyes glowed darkly. He did not breathe. Conscious of his Impend ing end, he was amazed but not terrified Ills fine countenance did not shrink from the steel about to sink Into his hrnln. For a second more the blade did not fall, and In that second Jeems' eyes and those of the savage met steadily. Then the hatchet clattered to the rock floor, and with a pro test of revulsion at what he hnd almost done. Jeems clutched at tbe Seneca's throat. The Indlnn was at a disadvantage, and though his powerful body strained and fought to loosen the choking grip, his po sitlon was so hopeless that ' In a short time he was limp and unconscious. uncon-scious. The Seneca's adventure, and the combat If It could be distinguished distin-guished by that name had not terminated ter-minated a moment too soon for those concealed under the rocks. |