登陆注册
38569200000036

第36章 ON THE WILDERNESS TRAIL(3)

I awoke suddenly.I had been dreaming of Nick Temple and Temple Bow, and my father coming back to me there with a great gash in his shoulder like Weldon's.Ilay for a moment dazed by the transition, staring through the gray light.Then I sat up, the soft stamping and snorting of the horses in my ears.The sorrel mare had her nose high, her tail twitching, but there was no other sound in the leafy wilderness.With a bound of returning sense I looked for Weldon.He had fallen asleep on the bank above, his body dropped across the trunk of the oak.

I leaped on the trunk and made my way along it, stepping over him, until I reached and hid myself in the great roots of the tree on the bank above.The cold shiver of the dawn was in my body as I waited and listened.Should I wake Tom? The vast forest was silent, and yet in its shadowy depths my imagination drew moving forms.Ihesitated.

The light grew: the boles of the trees came out, one by one, through the purple.The tangled mass down the creek took on a shade of green, and a faint breath came from the southward.The sorrel mare sniffed it, and stamped.Then silence again,--a long silence.Could it be that the cane moved in the thicket? Or had my eyes deceived me? I stared so hard that it seemed to rustle all over.Perhaps some deer were feeding there, for it was no unusual thing, when we rose in the morning, to hear the whistle of a startled doe near our camping ground.

I was thoroughly frightened now,--and yet I had the speculative Scotch mind.The thicket was some one hundred and fifty yards above, and on the flooded lands at a bend.If there were Indians in it, they could not see the sleeping forms of our party under me because of a bend in the stream.They might have seen me, though I had kept very still in the twisted roots of the oak, and now I was cramped.If Indians were there, they could determine our position well enough by the occasional stamping and snorting of the horses.And this made my fear more probable, for I had heard that horses and cattle often warned pioneers of the presence of redskins.

Another thing: if they were a small party, they would probably seek to surprise us by coming out of the cane into the creek bed above the bend, and stalk down the creek.If a large band, they would surround and overpower us.I drew the conclusion that it must be a small party--if a party at all.And I would have given a shot in the arm to be able to see over the banks of the creek.

Finally I decided to awake Tom.

It was no easy matter to get down to where he was without being seen by eyes in the cane.I clung to the under branches of the oak, finally reached the shelving bank, and slid down slowly.I touched him on the shoulder.He awoke with a start, and by instinct seized the rifle lying beside him.

``What is it, Davy?'' he whispered.

I told what had happened and my surmise.He glanced then at the restless horses and nodded, pointing up at the sleeping figure of Weldon, in full sight on the log.The Indians must have seen him.

Tom picked up the spare rifle.

``Davy,'' said he, ``you stay here beside Polly Ann, behind the oak.You kin shoot with a rest; but don't shoot,'' said he, earnestly, ``for God's sake don't shoot unless you're sure to kill.''

I nodded.For a moment he looked at the face of Polly Ann, sleeping peacefully, and the fierce light faded from his eyes.He brushed her on the cheek and she awoke and smiled at him, trustfully, lovingly.He put his finger to his lips.

``Stay with Davy,'' he said.Turning to me, he added:

``When you wake Weldon, wake him easy.So.'' He put his hand in mine, and gradually tightened it.``Wake him that way, and he won't jump.''

Polly Ann asked no questions.She looked at Tom, and her soul was in her face.She seized the pistol from the blanket.Then we watched him creeping down the creek on his belly, close to the bank.Next we moved behind the fallen tree, and I put my hand in Weldon's.

He woke with a sigh, started, but we drew him down behind the log.Presently he climbed cautiously up the bank and took station in the muddy roots of the tree.Then we waited, watching Tom with a prayer in our hearts.

Those who have not felt it know not the fearfulness of waiting for an Indian attack.

At last Tom reached the bend in the bank, beside some red-bud bushes, and there he stayed.A level shaft of light shot through the forest.The birds, twittering, awoke.A great hawk soared high in the blue over our heads.An hour passed.I had sighted the rifle among the yellow leaves of the fallen oak an hundred times.

But Polly Ann looked not once to the right or left.Her eyes and her prayers followed the form of her husband.

Then, like the cracking of a great drover's whip, a shot rang out in the stillness, and my hands tightened over the rifle-stock.A piece of bark struck me in the face, and a dead leaf fluttered to the ground.Almost instantly there was another shot, and a blue wisp of smoke rose from the red-bud bushes, where Tom was.The horses whinnied, there was a rustle in the cane, and silence.

Weldon bent over.

``My God!'' he whispered hoarsely, ``he hit one.Tom hit one.''

I felt Polly Ann's hand on my face.

``Davy dear,'' she said, ``are ye hurt?''

``No,'' said I, dazed, and wondering why Weldon had not been shot long ago as he slumbered.I was burning to climb the bank and ask him whether he had seen the Indian fall.

Again there was silence,--a silence even more awful than before.The sun crept higher, the magic of his rays turning the creek from black to crystal, and the birds began to sing again.And still there was no sign of the treacherous enemy that lurked about us.Could Tom get back? I glanced at Polly Ann.The same question was written in her yearning eyes, staring at the spot where the gray of his hunting shirt showed through the bushes at the bend.Suddenly her hand tightened on mine.The hunting shirt was gone!

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 这个男人贼凶猛

    这个男人贼凶猛

    恭喜宿主杀死九龙剑帝,凶猛值+72521!恭喜宿主越阶击杀神武境六阶武者,凶猛值+100000!穿越异界,陆离随身携带一个最凶猛系统,可以杀人和妖兽获取凶猛值,从系统兑换各种丹药武技,锻造神兵,招收仆从,培养神宠...且看陆离如何从一个陆家废柴一步步成长,刀裂苍穹,君临天地!
  • 莫入红尘来去一场梦

    莫入红尘来去一场梦

    莫怜是一个可怜的穷逼宅女,在一次雷雨天里打游戏时被雷劈中穿越到了一个与自己同名的千金身上,于是开启了自己的奇幻冒险。。。。。。
  • 五行诛仙记

    五行诛仙记

    ——————修行,是一种生活态度。是勇者对待生命的终极思考。当古老的五行真意逐渐埋没在历史的尘埃中,当圣皇宣布灵界几万年来的神意法是下等法,即使那个当年曾经无比灿烂的名字也无法阻挡分毫——修行之路从此陷入魔道,五行之意被刻意扭曲。常敏,一个小药铺的少东家,从小无父无母,又身具天煞孤星本命,当大时代的洪流滚滚而来时,七杀碾转,刑克六亲的悲苦命运侵袭下,他到底如何选择?亲情,友情,爱情,信念,道德,哪一个才是他真正想要的?
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 2019号美漫宇宙

    2019号美漫宇宙

    遇到过吸血鬼,殴打过泰迪熊,看到过斯塔克的私人飞机,硬抗过洛奇的左勾拳……
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 天之炼斩

    天之炼斩

    天道横亘,万物伊始,皆从虚中有。星辰更替,世道轮回,有终是虚无.....用尽一切幻想来幻想的这个世界,可是没有读者哇,故事是开始了,就差翻看了。大地几乎被战火燃成灰烬,血色的泥土里透着浓浓的腥甜,夕阳的映照,余晖中却并不是夕阳的艳红,而是饮透鲜血的大地,尸体就像断掉的稻草一样,在这里无声地腐败,谁会在意?本故事纯属虚构,如有雷同实属巧合。
  • 天纵神主

    天纵神主

    血瞳银发,张狂霸道。魔君传承,万世不灭。苍天染血,持剑,再战太古禁域
  • 本草乘雅半偈

    本草乘雅半偈

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 代伦的青春

    代伦的青春

    在1997年7月1日,他降临在这个美丽的星球,他的名字叫左代伦,他在上初中时开始进入了他的青春,他遇到一个很喜欢他的女孩和一个让他放不下的女孩,在之后,他最后和她还是错过了。在高中的时候,他在女生眼里,就是一个字“冷”。有一天,他认识了她,在她看来左代伦其实也很相处的,只不过有时不太爱说话而已,他们开始了他的感情之路,在校园内各种撒狗粮,虽然感情之路坎坷,分分合合,但仍然甜蜜依旧......