Chapter III: The Cabin Conference

The scout kept quiet until both of them had disappeared, and then he rose up from his cramped position behind the rock.

“Well, this is a pretty go,” he muttered to himself. “Both sides have got their plans laid kinder cute. But I guess I shall have a word to say in this ’ere business. Wal, we’ll have a reckoning some day. If I could see yer old head up thar among the rocks, I should be tempted to put a bullet through it. I’ll be darned if I hain’t a good mind to shoot yer owl off his perch, anyway. You thought he was fooling ye, but he wa’n’t. I was here myself, all the time. But I guess I’ll let him alone. The bird ain’t to blame, anyway. Jest git yer p’izen ready for little Ruth if you want to. I guess it will be some time before you’ll have a chance to give it to her. It will, anyway, if I and Susannah can get to Sam Wilson’s cabin afore the red-skins. They’ve got some the start, but they can’t come in. ’Tain’t no use. Dick, the Death-Dealer, will get there afore ’em, and if they don’t get a good peppering out of yer mouth, Susannah, then I miss my guess. Come on now, for we mustn’t let the grass grow under our feet.”

Thus addressing his mute companion, Dick threw it over his shoulder, and turning his back upon the abode of the Wizard, he dashed away through the forest at a pace that few could imitate.

Already since the moment when he had been started from his resting-place by the appearance of the first savage that afternoon, he had traversed many miles, a portion of which he had been obliged, as the reader already knows, to run for his life.

Still he felt not the first inclination of weariness, as most any man would have done. His powers of endurance were great, and he had been schooled in the work until it was a second nature with him.

The long rest he had had through the heat of the day was greatly in his favor, and at this moment he would have said that he felt as fresh as he did when he first rose from the earth from his nap.

Of only one thing did he think he stood in need, and that was food.

He had not broke his fast since morning. But he had often gone longer than this without eating, and now there was neither time nor opportunity for him to do so.

He knew that the safety of Sam Wilson and his family depended upon his reaching their cabin as soon as he could.

Over two hours had elapsed since he had given his pursuers the slip, and the distance they were in advance depended upon how much time they had spent in searching for him after they had lost his trail.

But be that as it might, he knew well that he had no time to lose, and therefore he bent every energy to the task of getting over the ground as fast as possible.

The moon had now risen high above the tree-tops, throwing a flood of silver light down into the forest, rendering it in places almost as light as day.

This was very much to his advantage, and aided him in various ways.

It enabled him to avoid difficult places, where his progress would have been slow, and it also served to keep him in a straight line toward the place of his destination.

Never turning from the point toward which his mind was set, the scout went onward.

But one thought was in his mind.

Should he be too late to save his friends from the terrible fate which threatened them?

Over and over again he asked himself this question.

He could only answer it by hoping for the best.

More than once had he warned Sam Wilson to leave his cabin in the forest and take up his abode in some settlement where he would not be so much exposed; but he would not listen to him.

He was as safe in one place as another, he always declared, but now the hour had come when he would find out his mistake.

It was near a half-dozen miles to the nearest settlement, and thus he was as completely cut off from aid as though he were in the heart of the wilderness.

On he went, never for a moment flagging in his pace.

The moon rose higher and higher, and at last he judged from it that midnight was near at hand.

He could not be far from the clearing now. Were the red-skins before or behind him?

The sky as yet gave no evidence of fire near at hand, and though he paused and listened he could not hear the slightest sound.

A calm unbroken by aught reigned around.

But it was always the stillest before a storm.

Would it prove so in this case?

From what he heard that night he could think it would be otherwise.

At last the broad field of moonlight which lay through the trees before him told him that he was close to the edge of the clearing.

A few minutes more and his suspense was at an end.

The cabin stood unharmed in the center of the clearing, and a light gleaming out from the window told him that they had not all retired as yet.

“Thank fortin we’re in time, Susannah,” he exclaimed, as he paused for a moment to wipe the profuse perspiration from his brow. “I wonder what it is that keeps ’em up so late? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Ned Tapley was here sitting Ruth up. I hope he is, ’ca’se thar’ll be one more shot on our side. Ned can handle a rifle nigh about as well as I can you, Susannah.”

He did not lose many moments here, but with long strides he crossed the clearing and approached the cabin. Noiselessly he came up and peered in through the crevice of the window through which the light shone out.

He was right in his surmises. Ned Tapley was seated within, with Ruth’s head resting upon his shoulder. His arm was about her waist, and in their happiness they had little thought of the danger which menaced them, or that other eyes than their own were looking upon them.

Dick hugged his rifle close to him.

“They’re as loving as you and I,” he said to himself. “We’ve been in pretty ’tarnal tough scrapes afore now, Susannah, and if signs don’t fail they’ll be too, afore they’re out of this. I hate to disturb ’em but it’s got to be done. So here goes.”

Suiting the action to the word, he rapped loudly upon the door, bringing the startled lovers to their feet.

“Who is there?” demanded Ned.

“Dick. Open the door and let me in.”

“It is the scout,” said Ruth. “Where can he have come from at this time of night?”

As Ned could not answer this question of Ruth’s, he unbarred the door, giving admittance to the scout that he might reply for himself.

“Come in. I’m glad to see you,” exclaimed the young man, grasping him by the hand. “You are the last person that I would have thought of turning up to-night.”

“Am sorry to interrupt yer courting, youngster, but it had better be me than somebody else. Anyway I’m glad to see you here. I wish there was a dozen more from the settlement, for I’m afraid we shall need ’em afore morning.”

“What do you mean? Is there danger abroad to-night?” demanded Ned, anxiously, while Ruth’s hand which she had placed in that of the scout’s trembled in spite of her efforts to prevent it.

“’Tain’t no use to try to deceive you,” said Dick, after he had returned the greeting of Ruth. “I ain’t got the time, even if I wanted to. Call up Sam and I’ll tell you what I know. But first mind that the door is barred strong. There’s no telling when the red-skins may be upon us, and it’s best to be prepared.”

“I’m here,” exclaimed the settler, emerging from the other apartment with his rifle in his hand. “What is the matter, Dick? Are the red-skins on the rampage ag’in?”

Ned had been looking to the door, and now he came back again, and all waited anxiously for the scout to speak.

He did not keep them long in suspense, but in as few words as possible he made them acquainted with the danger they were in.

Though the face of Ruth was as white as snow, she did not cry out, when she comprehended the danger she was in, but the mother who had joined the group in season to hear the burden of the scout’s communication gave utterance to her fears.

“Oh, Ruth, my child, what shall be done?” she cried. “I was fearful the other day when the savage was here that you had offended him; but I did not think he would plan so terrible a thing as this.”

“I don’t know why you didn’t,” said the scout, bluntly. “You can’t trust one of the race half so far as you can see ’em. That I found out long ago. They never enjoy themselves half so much as they do when they are burning, and cutting, and slashing round and raising scalps. That’s what they were made for I suppose, and I don’t know as they can help it.”

“Do you think that they are close at hand?” asked Ned, as he took his rifle from the corner of the room and carefully examined the priming.

“Yes, I expect ’em any moment. It was a wonder that they didn’t get here afore me. I guess they hunted longer for my trail than I thought they would. But they had ought to know better by this time, than to think they could catch me arter I’ve got wind of what they’re up to.”

“What had we better do?” asked the settler, anxiously. “Stick by the cabin, hadn’t we?”

“Yes. It’s all the sight we’ve got. If we run for the woods, like as not we shall stumble right into their clutches. The walls of the cabin ar’ thick, and we’ve got three rifles to help ourselves with. We’re safer here than we should be anywhere else.”

“But there is another one to help us,” said Ruth. “The man up in the loft. He must be sound asleep not to hear us. Had we not better call him?”

“I’m a-coming,” cried a voice, overhead. “I’ll be down thar jest as soon as I can get my legs into my trowsers. Rot the luck, that ain’t the right hole anyway. I never could get on my fixin’s in the dark. Jerusalem! there goes a gallows-button! Right down through a crack in the floor as sure as preaching. Say, below there! Ye didn’t hear it drop, did ye?”

No answer was made to this inquiry, while the scout stared upward for a moment as if in astonishment, and then turned his inquiring gaze into the faces of those about him, as though he was mutely demanding who the stranger was.

But they had no chance to answer him, before a huge pair of feet appeared upon the upper round of the ladder, followed by a pair of legs so long that Dick began to wonder if any body would follow at all. But it did at length, crowned by a head, and the whole of the stranger was revealed to his wondering gaze.

Long and lank, it seemed to Dick as though he must be at least seven feet in hight. He had only stopped to half clothe himself, and the rest of his garments he carried upon his arm. His face was sharp and thin, and the lower part of it was covered with a long, thin beard, which stuck out in every direction like the quills of a porcupine. His eyes, which were small and restless, had a sharp look about them, and his tone and twang proclaimed him at once to be a Yankee.

If the scout gazed upon him curiously, the new-comer returned it with interest. Evidently he had never seen such an extraordinary figure as that presented by the scout. Evidently he wished to make some remarks upon him, but he contented himself with a single exclamation.

“Whew!”

“Who are you?” demanded Dick, a little impatient of the scrutiny the other had bestowed upon him, forgetting that he himself had been guilty of the same.

“Wal, I don’t mind telling ye,” answered the Yankee, as he went on with his toilet. “My name is Peleg Parker, and I hail from New Hampshire. I was raised in Pigwaket, right up under the shadder of the White Mountains. I couldn’t make money fast enough up there, and so I took to peddling, and so wandered away out into these ’ere parts. My pack is up in the garret, and I’ve got as good an assortment in it as ever was seen this side of the mountains. Prehaps I can trade a little with ye in the morning? Will sell cheaper than dirt. There didn’t any of you see that button drop down here, did ye? I wouldn’t lose it for a fourpence, for I couldn’t match it out in these parts.”

Mrs. Wilson replied in the negative, and then Ned Tapley said:

“You don’t know, perhaps, the danger we’re in. We’re expecting every moment that the savages will attack the cabin.”

“I know it, and I’m worried nigh about to death about my pack. If the red-skins get hold on it I’m ruined. My hull fortin is in it—ev’ry darned cent I’m worth. Say, Mister, you don’t think they can break in here, do you?”

This was addressed to Dick, who replied somewhat angrily:

“I wouldn’t wonder if they did. They’ll do their best to, at any rate. You had better worry about yer scalp than about that ’ere pack o’ your’n. If you wa’n’t asleep when I came here, you wouldn’t ask such a question as that.”

“Asleep! I’ll be darned if I’ve slept a wink to-night. I knew the young folks were courting down here, and it put me in mind of the time when I used to be in that business myself. I’ve courted more’n a dozen gals, off and on, up in New Hampshire, and nigh about every one of ’em give me the mitten in the end.”

“I don’t wonder at it,” muttered the scout.

“Wal, I thought of ’em down here for a good while, and got a-wondering if I couldn’t sell ’em a good bargain out of my pack if they were going to housekeeping, and then I rolled over and was just going to sleep, when you made that thundering racket at the door. And now here I am up ag’in without having got a wink of sleep to-night.”

“You’ll be lucky if you ever do again,” muttered the scout. “If we can’t keep the red-skins out of here, you’ve taken your last nap and cheated the last one you ever will.”

The Yankee was about to make some rejoinder to this, when Sam Wilson broke in:

“This won’t do for us to stand talking here. We must keep a watch without. I will go up into the loft and station myself at one of the loopholes there. We mustn’t let the red-skins get up under the walls of the cabin unless we want to be smoked out.”

“I will go,” said Ned, making a move toward the ladder. “Do you stay here and make ready for their coming. I’ll keep my eyes open, and give the alarm the first glimpse I get on them.”

“I swan, I wish I was in New Hampshire,” exclaimed Peleg. “I’ll bet a dollar that ’ere pack will go afore I get out of this scrape.”

“What have you got for weapons?” demanded the scout, sharply. “We shall have need of every thing in that line afore morning. Have you got a rifle?”

“How in the name of Jerusalem do you think I can carry a rifle along with a pack? I guess you never was in the peddling line, was ye?”

“No.”

“So I thought. And jest at this time I wish I wa’n’t neither. I guess it would be money in my pocket if I was out of this scrape.”

“But what have you got?” demanded the scout, impatiently. “Any pistols?”

“Yes, a pair of beauties up in my pack. But I don’t want to dirt ’em up in this scrape if I can help it. I calculated to make a good thing out of ’em when I found the right customer.”

Dick gave utterance to something which sounded very much like an oath.

“You’ve got a customer for ’em now, and if you save yer scalp in the trade you’ll make the best bargain you ever did. Bring them down and load them up at once. We ain’t got a moment to lose in getting ready.”

With evident reluctance the Yankee turned away and clambered once more up to the loft. It took him some little time to search them out in the dark, but when he returned he had them in his hands.

The scout took them from him, for the purpose of examining them to see if they were properly loaded and in good order.

“Come,” said Peleg. “What will you give me for ’em? I’ll sell ’em ’tarnal cheap. Speak out. I stump you to make me an offer.”

The sound of footsteps was heard above their heads, and the next moment the excited face of Ned was thrust down through the opening.

“They are coming; a half-score of them at least are crossing the clearing.”

Mrs. Wilson and Ruth grew paler if possible than before, while Sam and the scout exchanged glances, which told of the apprehension they felt. As for the Yankee, he only muttered:

“Darn it, why couldn’t they have waited a minute longer. They’ve sp’iled a trade.”