While they were thus occupied, a cry was heard to ring through the forest. The Indian laid his hand on his gun, raised his head, which he turned to one side in a listening att.i.tude, and sat as still as a dark statue. The only motion that could be detected in the man was a slight action in his distended nostrils as he breathed gently.
This att.i.tude was but momentary, however, for the cry was repeated ("Hi!
Nelly, hi!") in clear silvery tones, and Wapaw smiled as he recognised Roy"s voice, and quietly resumed his former occupation.
Nelly bounded up at once, and ran out to receive her brother, and tell him of the arrival of their old friend.
She slipped on her snow-shoes, and went off in the direction of the cry.
On rounding the foot of a cliff she discovered Roy, standing as if he had been petrified, with his eyes glaring at the snow with a mingled look of surprise and alarm.
Nelly"s step roused him.
"Ho! Nell," he cried, giving vent to a deep sigh of relief, "I"m thankful to see you--but look here. What snow-shoe made _this_ track?
I came on it just this moment, and it pulled me up slick, I can tell ye."
Nelly at once removed Roy"s alarm, and increased his surprise by telling him of the new arrival, who, she said, was friendly, but she did not tell him that he was an old friend.
"But come, now, what have you got for dinner, Roy?" said Nelly, with an arch smile, "for oh! I"m _so_ hungry."
Roy"s countenance fell, and he looked like a convicted culprit.
"Nell, I haven"t got nothin" at all."
"_What_ a pity! We must just go supperless to bed, I suppose."
"Come, la.s.s, I see by the twinkle in your eye that you"ve got grub somehow or other. Has the redskin brought some "at with him?"
"Yes, he has brought a little; but the best fun is that I shot a bird myself, and had it all ready beautifully cooked for your supper, when Wap--"
"Well, what d"ye mean by Wap?" inquired Roy, as Nelly stopped short.
"Nothing. I only meant to say that the Indian arrived suddenly, and ate it all up."
"The villain! Well, I"ll pay him off by eatin" up some o" _his_ grub.
Did he say what his name was, or where he came from?" inquired Roy.
"Never mind, you can ask him yourself," said Nelly, as they drew near to the hut; "he seems to me to have been badly wounded by his enemies."
They stooped and entered the hut as Nelly spoke. The Indian looked up at her brother, and, uttering his wonted "Ho!" held out his hand.
"Good luck to ye!" cried Roy, grasping it and shaking it with a feeling of hearty hospitality. "It"s good to see yer face, though it _is_ a strange un; but--hallo!--I say--yer face ain"t so strange, after all!-- what! Why, you"re not Wap--Wap--Wapaw!"
The Indian displayed all his teeth, which were very numerous and remarkably white, and nodded his head gently.
"Well now, that beats everything!" cried Roy, seizing the Indian"s hand again and shaking it violently; then, turning to Nelly, he said, "Come, Nell, stir yer stumps and pluck two o" them birds. I"ll split "em, an"
wash "em, an" roast "em, an" we"ll all eat "em--Wapaw"ll be ready for more before it"s ready for him. Jump, now, and see if we don"t have a feast to-night, if we should starve to-morrow. But I say, Wapaw, don"t ye think the redskins may be after you yet?"
The first part of this speech was uttered in wild glee, but the last sentence was spoken more earnestly, as the thought occurred to him that Wapaw might have been closely pursued, for Nelly had told him of the Indian having been wounded by enemies and obliged to fly.
Wapaw shook his head, and made his young friend understand as well as he could that there was little chance of that, as he had travelled with the utmost speed in order to distance his pursuers, and induce them to give up the chase.
"Well, it may be as you say, friend," observed Roy, as he sat down before the fire and pulled off his hunting moca.s.sins and socks, which he replaced by lighter foot-gear more suited to the hut; "but I don"t much like the notion o" givin" them a chance to come up and cut all our throats at once. It"s not likely, however, that they"ll be here to-night, considerin" the pace you say you came at, so we"ll make our minds easy, but with your leave we"ll cut our sticks to-morrow, an" make tracks for Fort Enterprise. We han"t got much in the way o" grub to start wi", it is true, but we have enough at least for two days" eatin", and for the rest, we have our guns, and you to be our guide."
This plan was agreed to by Wapaw, who thereupon advised that they should all lie down to sleep without delay. Roy, who was fatigued with his day"s exertions, agreed, and in less than half an hour the three were sound asleep.
Next morning they arose with the sun, much refreshed; and while Wapaw and Nelly collected together and packed on their new sledge the few things that they possessed, Roy went for the last time to cast his line in Silver Lake. He was more fortunate than usual, and returned in an hour with four fine fish of about six pounds" weight each.
With this acceptable, though small, addition to their slender stock of provisions, they left the hut about noon, and commenced their journey, making a considerable _detour_ in order to avoid meeting with any of the Indians who might chance to have continued the pursuit of Wapaw.
That same evening, towards sunset, a party of hunters marched out of the woods, and stood upon the sh.o.r.es of Silver Lake, the tracks about which they began to examine with particular interest. There were six of the party, five of them being white hunters, and one an Indian. We need scarcely add that they were our friend Robin and his companions.
"I tell "ee what it is," cried Robin, in an excited tone, "that"s my Nelly"s fut; I"d know the prints o"t among a thousand, an" it"s quite plain Roy is with her, an" that Wapaw has come on "em, for their tracks are clear."
"Sure it looks like it," observed Larry O"Dowd, scratching his head as if in perplexity, "but the tracks is so mixed up, it ain"t aisy to foller "em."
"See, here"s a well-beaten track goin" into the wood!" cried Walter, who had, like his companions, been searching among the bushes.
Every one followed Walter, who led the way towards the hut, which was finally discovered with a thin, scarcely perceptible line of smoke still issuing from the chimney. They all stopped at once, and held back to allow Robin to advance alone. The poor man went forward with a beating heart, and stopped abruptly at the entrance, where he stood for a few seconds as if he were unable to go in. At length he raised the curtain and looked in; then he entered quickly.
"Gone, Walter, they"re gone!" he cried; "come in, lad, and see. Here"s evidence o" my dear children everywhere. It"s plain, too, that they have left only a few hours agone."
"True for ye, the fire"s hot," said Larry, lighting his pipe from the embers in testimony of the truth of his a.s.sertion.
"They can"t be far off," said Slugs, who was examining every relic of the absent ones with the most minute care. "The less time we lose in follerin" of "em the better--what think ye, lad?" The Black Swan nodded his approval of the sentiment.
"What! without sleep or supper?" cried Stiff, whose enthusiasm in the chase had long ago evaporated.
"Ay," said Robin sternly, "_I_ start _now_. Let those stop here who will."
To do Stiff justice, his objections were never pressed home, so he comforted himself with a quid of tobacco, and accompanied Robin and his men with dogged resolution when they left the hut. Plunging once more into the forest, they followed up the track all night, as they had already followed it up all day.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
A GLADSOME MEETING.
Some hours before dawn Robin Gore came to an abrupt pause, and looking over his shoulder, held up his hand to command silence. Then he pointed to a small mound, on the top of which a faint glow of light was seen falling on the boughs of the shrubs, with which it was crowned.
The moon had just set, but there was sufficient light left to render surrounding objects pretty distinct.
"That"s them," said Robin to Walter, in a low whisper, as the latter came close to his side; "no doubt they"re sound asleep, an" I"m puzzled how to wake "em up without givin" "em a fright."
"Musha! it"s a fright that Wapaw will give _us_, av we start him suddenly, for he"s murtherin" quick wi" his rifle," whispered Larry.
"We"d better hide and then give a howl," suggested Stiff, "an", after they"re sot up, bring "em down with a familiar hail."
The deliberations of the party were out short and rendered unnecessary, however, by Wapaw himself. That sharp-eared red man had been startled by the breaking of a branch which Larry O"Dowd chanced to set his foot on, and, before Robin had observed their fire, he had roused Roy and Nelly and hurried with them to the summit of a rocky eminence, from which stronghold they now anxiously watched the proceedings of the hunters. The spot to which they had fled for refuge was almost impregnable, and might have been held for hours by a couple of resolute men against a host of savages.
Robin, after a little further consultation, resolved to send the Black Swan in advance to reconnoitre. This he did, contrary to his wonted custom of taking the lead in everything, because of an unaccountable feeling of dread lest he should not find his children there.