But these miscreants were bad judges of slow matches! Their match turned out to be very slow. So slow that they began to fear it had gone out--so slow that the daylight had time to disappear and the moon to commence her softly solemn journey across the dark sky--so slow that Stalker began seriously to think of sending a man to stir up the spark, though he thought there might be difficulty in finding a volunteer for the dangerous job--so slow that a certain reckless little boy came galloping towards the fortress on a tall horse with a led pony plunging by his side--all before the spark of the match reached its destination and did its work.
Then, at last, there came a flush that made the soft moon look suddenly paler, and lighted up the world as if the sun had shot a ray right through it from the antipodes. This was followed by a crash and a roar that caused the solid globe itself to vibrate and sent Paul Bevan"s fortress into the sky a ma.s.s of blackened ruins. One result was that a fiendish cheer arose from the robbers" camp, filling the night air with discord. Another result was that the happy-go-lucky little boy and his horses came to an almost miraculous halt and remained so for some time, gazing straight before them in a state of abject amazement!
CHAPTER TEN.
How long Tolly Trevor remained in a state of horrified surprise no one can tell, for he was incapable of observation at the time, besides being alone. On returning to consciousness he found himself galloping towards the exploded fortress at full speed, and did not draw rein till he approached the bank of the rivulet. Reflecting that a thoroughbred hunter could not clear the stream, even in daylight, he tried to pull up, but his horse refused. It had run away with him.
Although const.i.tutionally brave, the boy felt an unpleasant sensation of some sort as he contemplated the inevitable crash that awaited him; for, even if the horse should perceive his folly and try to stop on reaching the bank, the tremendous pace attained would render the attempt futile.
"Stop! won"t you? Wo-o-o!" cried Tolly, straining at the reins till the veins of his neck and forehead seemed about to burst.
But the horse would neither "stop" nor "wo-o-o!" It was otherwise, however, with the pony. That amiable creature had been trained well, and had learned obedience. Blessed quality! Would that the human race--especially its juvenile section--understood better the value of that inestimable virtue! The pony began to pull back at the sound of "wo!" Its portion in childhood had probably been woe when it refused to recognise the order. The result was that poor Tolly"s right arm, over which was thrown the pony"s rein, had to bear the strain of conflicting opinions.
A bright idea struck his mind at this moment. Bright ideas always do strike the mind of genius at critical moments! He grasped both the reins of his steed in his right hand, and took a sudden turn of them round his wrist. Then he turned about--not an instant too soon--looked the pony straight in the face, and said "Wo!" in a voice of command that was irresistible. The pony stopped at once, stuck out its fore legs, and was absolutely dragged a short way over the ground. The strain on Tolly"s arm was awful, but the arm was a stout one, though small. It stood the strain, and the obstinate runaway was arrested on the brink of destruction with an almost broken jaw.
The boy slipped to the ground and hastily fastened the steeds to a tree.
Even in that hour of supreme anxiety he could not help felicitating himself on the successful application of pony docility to horsey self-will.
But these and all other feelings of humour and satisfaction were speedily put to flight when, after crossing the remains of the plank bridge with some difficulty, he stood before the hideous wreck of his friend"s late home, where he had spent so many glad hours listening to marvellous adventures from Paul Bevan, or learning how to read and cipher, as well as drinking in wisdom generally, from the Rose of Oregon.
It was an awful collapse. A yawning gulf had been driven into the earth, and the hut--originally a solid structure--having been hurled bodily skyward, shattered to atoms, and inextricably mixed in its parts, had come down again into the gulf as into a ready-made grave.
It would be vain to search for any sort of letter, sign, or communication from his friends among the _debris_. Tolly felt that at once, yet he could not think of leaving without a search. After one deep and prolonged sigh he threw off his lethargy, and began a close inspection of the surroundings.
"You see," he muttered to himself, as he moved quickly yet stealthily about, "they"d never have gone off without leavin" some sc.r.a.p of information for me, to tell me which way they"d gone, even though they"d gone off in a lightnin" hurry. But p"raps they didn"t. The reptiles may have comed on "em unawares, an" left "em no time to do anything. Of _course_ they can"t have killed "em. n.o.body ever could catch Paul Bevan asleep--no, not the sharpest redskin in the land. That"s quite out o"
the question."
Though out of the question, however, the bare thought of such a catastrophe caused little Trevor"s under lip to tremble, a mist to obscure his vision, and a something-or-other to fill his throat, which he had to swallow with a gulp. Moreover, he went back to the ruined hut and began to pull about the wreck with a fluttering heart, lest he should come on some evidence that his friends had been murdered. Then he went to the highest part of the rock to rest a little, and consider what had best be done next.
While seated there, gazing on the scene of silent desolation, which the pale moonlight rendered more ghastly, the poor boy"s spirit failed him a little. He buried his face in his hands and burst into tears.
Soon this weakness, as he deemed it, pa.s.sed away. He dried his eyes, roughly, and rose to resume his search, and it is more than probable that he would ere long have bethought him of the cave where Betty had left her note, if his attention had not been suddenly arrested by a faint glimmer of ruddy light in a distant part of the forest. The robbers were stirring up their fires, and sending a tell-tale glow into the sky.
"O-ho!" exclaimed Tolly Trevor.
He said nothing more, but there was a depth of meaning in the tone and look accompanying that "O-ho!" which baffles description.
Tightening his belt, he at once glided down the slope, flitted across the rivulet, skimmed over the open s.p.a.ce, and melted into the forest after the most approved method of Red Indian tactics.
The expedition from which he had just returned having been peaceful, little Trevor carried no warlike weapons--for the long bowie-knife at his side, and the little hatchet stuck in his girdle, were, so to speak, merely domestic implements, without which he never moved abroad. But as war was not his object, the want of rifle and revolver mattered little.
He soon reached the neighbourhood of the robbers" fire, and, when close enough to render extreme caution necessary, threw himself flat on the ground and advanced a la "snake-in-the-gra.s.s."
Presently he came within earshot, and listened attentively, though without much interest, to a deal of boastful small talk with which the marauders beguiled the time, while they fumigated their mouths and noses preparatory to turning in for the night.
At last the name of Paul Bevan smote his ear, causing it, metaphorically, to go on full c.o.c.k.
"I"m sartin sure," said one of the speakers, "that the old screw has gone right away to Simpson"s Gully."
"If I thought that, I"d follow him up, and make a dash at the Gully itself," said Stalker, plucking a burning stick from the fire to rekindle his pipe.
"If you did you"d get wopped," remarked Goff, with a touch of sarcasm, for the lieutenant of the band was not so respectful to his commander as a well-disciplined man should be.
"What makes you think so?" demanded the chief.
"The fact that the diggers are a sight too many for us," returned Goff.
"Why, we"d find "em three to one, if not four."
"Well, that, coupled with the uncertainty of his having gone to Simpson"s Gully," said the chief, "decides me to make tracks down south to the big woods on the slopes of the Sawback Hills. There are plenty of parties travelling thereabouts with lots of gold, boys, and difficulties enough in the way of hunting us out o" the stronghold.
I"ll leave you there for a short time and make a private excursion to Simpson"s Gully, to see if my enemy an" the beautiful Betty are there."
"An" get yourself shot or stuck for your pains," said Goff. "Do you suppose that such a hulking, long-legged fellow as you are, can creep into a camp like an or"nary man without drawin" attention?"
"Perhaps not," returned Stalker; "but are there not such things as disguises? Have you not seen me with my shootin"-coat and botanical box an" blue spectacles, an" my naturally sandy hair."
"No, no, captain!" cried Goff, with a laugh, "not sandy; say yellow, or golden."
"Well, golden, then, if you will. You"ve seen it dyed black, haven"t you?"
"Oh yes! I"ve seen you in these humblin" circ.u.mstances before now,"
returned the lieutenant, "and I must say your own mother wouldn"t know you. But what"s the use o" runnin" the risk, captain?"
"Because I owe Bevan a grudge!" said the chief, sternly, "and mean to be revenged on him. Besides, I want the sweet Betty for a wife, and intend to have her, whether she will or no. She"ll make a capital bandit"s wife--after a little while, when she gets used to the life. So now you know some of my plans, and you shall see whether the hulking botanist won"t carry all before him."
"O-ho!" muttered the snake-in-the-gra.s.s, very softly; and there was something so compound and significant in the tone of that second "O-ho!"
soft though it was, that it not only baffles description, but--really, you know, it would be an insult to your understanding, good reader, to say more in the way of explanation! There was also a heaving of the snake"s shoulders, which, although unaccompanied by sound, was eminently suggestive.
Feeling that he had by that time heard quite enough, Tolly Trevor effected a masterly retreat, and returned to the place where he had left the horses. On the way he recalled with satisfaction the fact that Paul Bevan had once pointed out to him the exact direction of Simpson"s Gully at a time when he meant to send him on an errand thither. "You"ve on"y to go over there, lad," Paul had said, pointing towards the forest in rear of his hut, "and hold on for two days straight as the crow flies till you come to it. You can"t well miss it."
Tolly knew that there was also an easier though longer route by the plains, but as he was not sure of it he made up his mind to take to the forest.
The boy was sufficiently trained in woodcraft to feel pretty confident of finding his way, for he knew the north side of trees by their bark, and could find out the north star when the sky was clear, besides possessing a sort of natural apt.i.tude for holding on in a straight line.
He mounted the obstinate horse, therefore, took the rein of the obedient pony on his right arm, and, casting a last look of profound regret on Bevan"s desolated homestead, rode swiftly away. So eager was he that he took no thought for the morrow. He knew that the wallet slung at his saddle-bow contained a small supply of food--as much, probably, as would last three days with care. That was enough to render Tolly Trevor the most independent and careless youth in Oregon.
While these events were occurring in the neighbourhood of Bevan"s Gully, three red men, in all the glory of vermilion, charcoal, and feathers, were stalking through the forest in the vicinity of the spot where poor Tom Brixton had laid him down to die. These children of the wilderness stalked in single file--from habit we presume, for there was ample s.p.a.ce for them to have walked abreast if so inclined. They seemed to be unsociable beings, for they also stalked in solemn silence.
Suddenly the first savage came to an abrupt pause, and said, "Ho!" the second savage said, "He!" and the third said, "Hi!" After which, for full a minute, they stared at the ground in silent wonder and said nothing. They had seen a footprint! It did not by any means resemble that deep, well developed, and very solitary footprint at which Robinson Crusoe is wont to stare in nursery picture-books. No; it was a print which was totally invisible to ordinary eyes, and revealed itself to these children of the woods in the form of a turned leaf and a cracked twig. Such as it was, it revealed a track which the three children followed up until they found Tom Brixton--or his body--lying on the ground near to the little spring.
Again these children said, "Ho!" "He!" and "Hi!" respectively, in varying tones according to their varied character. Then they commenced a jabber, which we are quite unable to translate, and turned Tom over on his back. The motion awoke him, for he sat up and stared.
Even that effort proved too much for him in his weak state, for he fell back and fainted.
The Indians proved to be men of prompt.i.tude. They lifted the white man up; one got Tom"s shoulders on his back, another put his legs over his shoulders, and thus they stalked away with him. When the first child of the wood grew tired, the unburdened one stepped in to his relief; when the second child grew tired, the first one went to his aid; when all the children grew tired, they laid their burden on the ground and sat down beside it. Thus, by easy stages, was Tom Brixton conveyed away from the spot where he had given himself up as hopelessly lost.
Now, it could not have been more than six hours after Tom had thus been borne away that poor Tolly Trevor came upon the same scene. We say "poor" advisedly, for he had not only suffered the loss of much fragmentary clothing in his pa.s.sage through that tangled wood, but also most of the food with which he had started, and a good deal of skin from his shins, elbows, knuckles, and knees, as well as the greater part of his patience. Truly, he was in a pitiable plight, for the forest had turned out to be almost impa.s.sable for horses, and in his journey he had not only fallen off, and been swept out of the saddle by overhanging branches frequently, but had to swim swamps, cross torrents, climb precipitous banks, and had stuck in quagmires innumerable.
As for the horses--their previous owner could not have recognised them.