""You"re such a tough un," says Sam, by way of pleasing me, and being a bit pleased, I very stupidly said,--"yes, I am, old fellow, regular tough un," and we tramped on, for I"d made up my mind that I wouldn"t take no more notice of it than I would of the sting of a fly."
"Keep a good look-out all round, Joses," said Bart, interrupting him.
"That"s what I am doing, Master Bart, with both eyes at once. I won"t let nothing slip."
In fact, as they walked on, Joses" eyes were eagerly watching on either side, nothing escaping his keen sight; for frontier life had made him, like the savages, always expecting danger at every turn.
"Well, as I was a saying," he continued, "the bite bothered me, but I wasn"t going to let Sam see that I minded the least bit in the world, but all at once it seemed to me as if I was full of little strings that ran from all over my body down into one leg, and that something had hold of one end of "em, and kept giving "em little pulls and jerks. Then I looked at Sam to see if he"d touched me, and his head seemed to have swelled "bout twice as big as it ought to be, and his eyes looked wild and strange.
""What"s matter, mate?" I says to him, and there was such a ding in my ears that when I spoke to him, Master Bart, my voice seemed to come from somewhere else very far off, and to sound just like a whisper.
""What"s the matter with you?" he says, and taking hold of me, he gave me a shake. "Here, come on," he says. "You must run."
"And then he tried to make me run, and I s"pose I did part of the time, but everything kept getting thick and cloudy, and I didn"t know a bit where I was going nor what was the matter till, all at once like, I was lying down somewhere, and the master was pouring something down my throat. Then I felt him seeming to scratch my leg as if he was trying to make it bleed, and then I didn"t know any more about it till I found I was being walked up and down, and every now and then some one give me a drink of water as I thought, till the master told me afterwards that it was whisky. Then I went to sleep and dropped down, and they picked me up and made me walk again, and then I was asleep once more, and that"s all. Ah, they bite fine and sharp, Master Bart, and I don"t want any more of it, and so I tell you."
By this time they had pretty well reached the summit of the rocky hill they had been climbing, and obeying a sign from his companion, Bart followed his example, dropping down and crawling forward.
"I "spect we shall find we look right over the flat from here,"
whispered Joses, sinking his voice for no apparent reason, save the caution engendered by years of risky life with neighbours at hand always ready to shed blood.
"And we should be easily seen from a distance, I suppose?" responded Bart.
"That"s so, Master Bart. The Injun can see four times as far as we can, they say, though I don"t quite believe it."
"It must be a clever Indian who could see farther than you can, Joses,"
said Bart quietly.
"Oh, I don"t know," said the other, with a quiet chuckle; "I can see pretty far when it"s clear. Look out."
Bart started aside, for he had disturbed another rattlesnake, which glided slowly away as if resenting the intrusion, and hesitating as to whether it should attack.
"You mustn"t creep about here with your eyes shut," said Joses quietly.
"It isn"t safe, my lad,--not safe at all. Now you rest there behind that stone. We"re close up to the top. Let me go the rest of the way, and see how things are down below."
Bart obeyed on the instant, and lay resting his chin upon his arms, watching Joses as he crept up the rest of the slope to where a few rough stones lay about on the summit of the hill, amongst which he glided and then disappeared.
Bart then turned his gaze backward, to look down into the Horse-shoe Valley he had quitted, thinking of his breakfast, and how glad he should be to return with the news that all was well, so that a fire might be lighted and a pleasant, refreshing meal be prepared. But the curve of the hill shut the waggon and those with it from view, so that he glanced round him to see what there was worthy of notice.
This was soon done. Ma.s.ses of stone, with a few grey-looking plants growing amidst the arid cracks, a little scattered dry gra.s.s in patches, and a few bushy-looking shrubs of a dull sagey green; that was all.
There were plenty of stones near, one of which looked like a safe shelter for serpent or lizard; and some h.o.r.n.y-looking beetles were busily crawling about. Above all the blue sky, with the sun now well over the horizon, but not visible from where Bart lay, and having exhausted all the things worthy of notice, he was beginning to wonder how long Joses would be, when there was a sharp sound close at hand, as if a stone had fallen among some more. Then there was another, and this was followed by a low chirping noise like that of a gra.s.shopper.
Bart responded to this with a very bad imitation of the sound, and, crawling from his shelter, he followed the course taken by his companion as exactly as he could, trying to track him by the dislodged stones and marks made on the few patches of gra.s.s where he had pa.s.sed through.
But, with a shrug of the shoulders, Bart was obliged to own that his powers of following a trail were very small. Not that they were wanted here, for at the end of five minutes he could make out the long bony body of Joses lying beside one of the smaller ma.s.ses of stone that jagged the summit of the hill.
Joses was looking in his direction, and just raising one hand slightly, signed to him to come near.
There seemed to be no reason why Bart should not jump up and run to his side, but he was learning caution in a very arduous school, and carefully trailing his rifle, he crept the rest of the way to where the great stones lay; and as soon as he was beside his companion, he found, as he expected, that from this point the eye could range for miles and miles over widespreading plains; and so clear and bright was the morning air that objects of quite a small nature were visible miles away.
"Well!" said Joses gruffly, for he had volunteered no information, "see anything?"
"No," said Bart, gazing watchfully round; "no, I can see nothing. Can you?"
"I can see you; that"s enough for me," was the reply. "I"m not going to tell when you ought to be able to see for yourself."
"But I can see nothing," said Bart, gazing eagerly in every direction.
"Tell me what you have made out."
"Why should I tell you, when there"s a chance of giving you a lesson in craft, my lad,--in craft."
"But really there seems to be nothing, Joses."
"And he calls his--eyes," growled the frontier man. "Why, I could polish up a couple o" pebbles out of the nearest river and make "em see as well as you do, Master Bart."
"Nonsense!" cried the latter. "I"m straining hard over the plain.
Which way am I to look?"
"Ah, I"m not going to tell you."
"But we are losing time," cried Bart. "Is there any danger?"
"Yes, lots."
"Where?"
"Everywhere."
"But can you see immediate danger?" cried Bart impatiently.
"Yes; see it as plain as plain."
"But where? No; don"t tell me. I see it," cried Bart excitedly.
"Not you, young master! where?"
"Right away off from your right shoulder, like a little train of ants crawling over a brown path. I can see: there are men and horses. Is it a waggon-train? No, I am sure now. Miles away. They are Indians."
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Joses. "That"s better. That"s a good lesson before breakfast, and without a spy-gla.s.s. I shall make a man of you yet, Master Bart."
"Which way are they going?"
"Nay, I shan"t tell you, my lad. That"s for you to find out."
"Well, I will directly," said Bart, shading his eyes. "Where are we now? Oh, I see. Now I know. No; I don"t, they move so slowly. Yes, I can see. They are going towards the north, Joses."
"Nor"-west, my lad," said the frontier man; "but that was a pretty good hit you made. Now what was the good of my telling you all that, and letting you be a baby when I want to see you a man."
"We"ve lost ever so much time, Joses."