Chapter XI: Bad News and Serious Anticipations

Long-shanks ran so well that he turned the corner in the wall of the ravine, where the part of it took its back curve, with the monster still several yards behind him. Then Hop-foot lost the view of them, and could tell what they were doing only by the motions of Sure-dart and Wing-foot, who were now running along that part of the gully-edge. They had left their quivers of darts, as well as their spears, farther up the slope, but they had run to where they were and seized each a spear, and were now again at the edge of the rock. But just here, with their spears still in their hands, they passed behind some trees and bushes, and Hop-foot lost even that vague guide as to what was going on.

He stayed where he was a moment longer, feeling a kind of dread to follow the chase and find out what had happened, but he pulled himself together then, and crossed over to where the gully ended, to the point where his friend and Wing-foot had vanished among the trees.

He did not have to go the whole distance to learn the result. Before he was at the borders of the trees he heard a smothered yell, followed by a shout from the bank, and on the heels of that an angry howl,--it was the animal-like note of a Rock-man, and he thought it was the voice of Wing-foot. After that an instant of silence.

“He’s dead,” said Hop-foot to himself.

He slowed down to a walk, dreading more than ever to go on, and almost faltered when Sure-dart came running out of the woods. Sure-dart had parted with his spear, and was empty-handed, and his look was very grave.

“You’d better not go over there,” he said, nodding in the direction of the trees. “It’s a bad sight. I am going down to stay with him--with the body--till Bull-head comes. We shall probably bury him there.”

Hop-foot, in spite of his savage blood and training, and notwithstanding what he had seen and known of violent deaths, was deeply shocked.

“And I almost feel that it was my fault,” he followed a first exclamation by saying. “If I hadn’t started to chase the scamperer it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Oh, you needn’t feel like that,” said Sure-dart, comfortingly; “nobody could lay any blame on you.”

Nevertheless, Hop-foot looked troubled, and drew a long breath. But as Sure-dart, who had begun to move on, was saying something else, Hop-foot rather startled him by throwing back his head, and breaking out in a fierce barbarian snarl.

“Where is the beast, Sure-dart? What became of him? Is he out of our reach? Didn’t you at least plant a spear in him?”

“Yes,” said Sure-dart, his own usually pleasant face darkening, “we both did that, but he got away. After he killed Long-shanks--it took him only a moment--he shook out the spears we had planted in him, and made off. He went up a sloping place in the other bank.”

“Well, and is he to get away?” Hop-foot stood straight, his eyes full of rage, and the cords showing along his strong little jaws.

Sure-dart, who had less of this revengeful spirit, and who did not forget that Thorn-tail was a mere beast and with almost no intelligence, shook his head. “I don’t know. It will be as Bull-head says. I should like to pay him for what he has done, but still, it isn’t as if a man had done it. I don’t suppose he knew any better. But I am losing time, and I must go.”

He started on, and Hop-foot, still full of wrath, turned in the direction of the higher land, where he had left Bull-head and the others. The boy had gone only a few steps, however, when something flashed upon him, and he stopped and turned. Sure-dart, to his surprise, had done the same thing.

“The scamperer,” said Sure-dart, “what are we going to do with him?”

“That was what I was going to speak of. Do you suppose he is there still?”

“Most likely, but at least, we can quickly tell. Do you still want him?”

“I don’t know,” said Hop-foot, with a sigh. “This dreadful thing happening on account of him almost--Oh, there he comes! Catch him! Stop him!”

The impulse of the hunter and pet-lover combined was a little too much for the sadness of the occasion, and Hop-foot for the moment forgot his regret and anger, and thought only of the escaping scamperer. The little creature had come up the steep bit of path again, and was showing his head above the bank. At the moment he was looking timidly and inquiringly around.

Sure-dart caught just a bit of the fever also, and started toward him. When pretty close he stopped, picked up the abandoned rope, and turned one end into a noose. This done, he started along, moving now slowly and glidingly, and at the moment when the scamperer, at last taking fright, was wheeling to go back to his shelf, he gave the lasso a skilful fling. He had done something in that line before, and his aim now was so true that the noose dropped squarely over the scamperer’s head and slipped down upon his neck.

“Hold him!” shouted Hop-foot, skipping to Sure-dart’s side, and catching hold of the rope.

“The anchor-stones will do a good deal of the holding,” answered Sure-dart, “and if you will just keep your grip I can fix things all right.”

Hop-foot accordingly got a good brace, and with the stones was able to hold the creature, though the little fellow, jumping about like a deer, and now and then throwing himself almost on his haunches, made a surprisingly good fight. Sure-dart was quickly at his side, and in a very few moments had whipped a spare end of the rope (one he had cut off) about the strong little legs, and with slight further trouble he brought the legs into a bunch, and rolled the prisoner upon his side.

“Now stay with him, and see that he doesn’t get up,” said Sure-dart. “Some of the others will be here soon. I mustn’t lose any more time. I ought to be down there now, to protect the body from wild creatures.”

“Look out for Thorn-tail,” cautioned Hop-foot, as he was leaving; “he might take the notion to come back.”

“Not much danger,” answered Sure-dart, “for he must be pretty sore, with one hurt and another; and now that his fit of ugliness has spent itself he will want to be quiet. That is the way with about all his kind. The regular flesh-eaters are different.”

He hastened along, taking a piece of the rope with him, and by securing it about a rock near the shelf was able to slide down the rest of the way into the ravine.

It will not take long to tell the few other things that were done before the party again took up its march. Long-shanks was buried, an unsuccessful search was made for the thorn-tail, and shortly afterwards Bull-head gave the order to start. Sure-dart had made a sort of head-halter for the scamperer, and untied its legs, and it was thus able to walk, but it proved to be about all both boys could do to lead it. In fact, it was not all the time a business of leading, but part of the time of following, and of lively following at that. Once it caught Hop-foot off his guard, and gave such a jump that it landed him on his stomach, Sure-dart nearly tripping over him. However, there were some signs that the little fellow was becoming resigned to his fate, and in time might be tamed.

Once started, the party covered the ground at a good rate, and long before dark, Bull-head keeping his landmarks carefully ranged, the peculiar hill, or low mountain, with its deep shelf, came in view.

The mountain might perhaps have been called merely a high hill, though the top was several hundred feet above the level of the plain, and fully two hundred above the comparative level at its foot. The shelf was about fifty feet above the ground below, and something like a hundred feet long. It was reached by a natural path that ran up steeply from a flat of open ground, and ended gradually at the western swell of the hill itself, this final point being a great face of bald but slightly seamed rock. Above the path the rock, in places mixed with earth and a few bushes and creepers, went up almost perpendicularly to the crest of the mountain itself. Back of this crest the rocks and earth sloped down to the general level below, and were broken here and there by ridges and hollows. It would therefore be easy to climb up from that side. From the point where the little natural path started the mountainside rose sharply almost to the summit, and this face was composed mainly of great slabs of granite-like rock, though with some outcroppings, near the top, of the bluish and cream-colored chalks that were so common in that region.

The path was narrower at the top than at the bottom; and it required only a glance to show that it had been formed by the giving way of a great upper section of the rock-face, followed, perhaps for hundreds, or even thousands of years, by the action of rains and floods, and very likely, also, of earth disturbances. At that time the Rocky Mountains, which were the great blue heights to be seen across the plain, were but newly pushed out of the earth; and the tremendous upheaving and down-tumbling of that region were not, even then, fully over. There were still occasional earthquakes, and volcanic spoutings; some of these the older people could remember, and declared that they were frightful and terrifying beyond what they could put into words.

The shelf, then, was a natural fort of great strength, and especially so for the character of the simple warfare of that day. The spring where the defenders could get water was among the rocks in the level stretch on the southern face of the mountain, and scarcely two hundred paces from the foot of the path; therefore this prime necessity was convenient in case of only a short warning of an attack.

But with all these great and even singular advantages, the place had yet one weakness. This was the openness of the shelf, which was not shielded from one dangerous kind of attack. An enemy on the crest above could shower down stones or darts, or could even carry up great rocks and roll them down. Besides, in the powerful heat that at times must beat upon the place, any sort of food would quickly spoil. To be sure, the barbarian stomachs of the garrison would not rebel at a moderate taint, but even that limit would soon be passed. Then, too, the weak and infirm of the company would wilt and give way, and even the strong warriors would be more or less affected. It was clear, then, that a change in the present natural conditions must be made before the place would be wholly what they wanted.

Of course all this was not at once apparent to Bull-head and his company, as they came up; but it will be easier and more convenient to state it here, giving it in some order of connection. At the moment Bull-head noted merely the general features, and some of his men gave no close heed at all. They saw, just here, the others of the chief’s band appear on the shelf and signal a welcome, and this took their whole present attention.

There were the usual clicking and chattering when the two bands were at last together, but they were suspended when it was seen that Long-shanks was missing, and when Bull-head, at the command of Big-axe, made his explanations. This primitive military report was very brief and to the point, and was not bolstered up with any excuses. Bull-head, with no show of emotion, merely said:

“Long-shanks was killed by a thorn-tail. He was trying to catch a scamperer--the one over there. Hop-foot wanted the scamperer, and I let Long-shanks and some of the others help him. We hunted for a little while for the thorn-tail, but couldn’t find him. We saw no signs of the Fishers, though we waited in the old camp over night.”

Big-axe knit his brows, and it was easy to see that he was disturbed and displeased. Still, he did not at once speak, and when he did, it was with seeming calmness.

“I am sorry to lose so good a warrior as Long-shanks, and wish that there was more to reconcile us to his death. Had you reported him killed by the Fishers, I should have been content. Yet that cannot now be helped, and so I can merely speak of him, as I do now, as a good man, and promise that his family shall be cared for. As for the Fishers, though they seem to have turned back, I think they have done so only for the time. I believe they will by and by follow us, and that we shall again have to fight them.”

He said no more for the moment, and turned soberly away. The company about him broke up, and Bull-head and his party mingled with the others.

That evening Sure-dart, happening to be near Big-axe and Bull-head as they were talking together, found out what the chief meant to do to strengthen the defences of the camp. It was to be made more of a fort by digging into the face of the mountain just above the path, and making a long, shoal, covered way there, so that the party could hide from a missile attack from above, and also get out of the fierce sunlight. It would likewise then be possible to keep food longer fresh, and to care better for the supply of water. Should an attacking force, on the other hand, dare to slide down the face of the rock, or to come up by the path, the besieged could dash out at them, and with no enemy to trouble them by an attack from behind, could doubtless sweep the shelf clear. The outward end of this covered way, it seemed, was to be close to the head of the path, and a breastwork of stones was to defend the path itself.

The next day the chief set about executing this very plan, and every man, woman, and child who could do anything to help was put to work. Big-axe himself, while directing the others, also labored vigorously.

Poorly as these savages were off for tools, they still were able to accomplish what we must regard as rather surprising results. With their strong arms, tough hands, and good wind, they worked steadily and energetically, and the comparatively soft chalks of the lower rocks broke rapidly away. There were also, as has been noted, some patches of earth and bushes, and of course these were quickly disposed of. When the men struck a mass of the granite, they gave up at that point and resumed at the first workable place. To be sure, this plan made it impossible to keep an open communication throughout, but these cut-offs of hard rock were never more than a few feet in extent, and there would be no great risk, even with an enemy on the crest above, in dodging from one point to another. As for any danger from below, the distance was too great for the ordinary cast of a spear. Besides all this, the chief had a further plan by which they were to cut down some trees, and in places make a cover or sloping roof to the shelf. In addition, it would serve to enlarge their living quarters. As a mere matter of comfort, too, they could lay a stone wall at any point along the shelf they liked, carrying it close to the margin, and then make a roof of logs. These would make what were in effect square huts, with rock and earth backs.

But at present not so much was thought of comfort as of defence, and all that was attempted was to dig out the covered way, and make the breastwork at the head of the path. This last was only a small matter, but they were unable, before nightfall, to make more than a beginning on the other.

The next day all were hard at it again, though now a few were directed to go after some game and to bring water. They had various kinds of hides and skins to hold the water, and convenient places under the covered way, in the chalk formations, could be dug out to hold more, but a safe and reliable supply of food was a more troublesome question. Now they missed the lake, with its boundless supply of fish, and the marsh country, with its turtles and many kinds of small lizards. It was at this time that some of the workers, both men and women, began to grumble, saying that they thought so much hard work unnecessary, for they did not believe the Fishers would trouble them again. For their part, they said, they were for staying here only a short time, and then, as the Fishers would be pretty surely out of the way, they would go back to their old home. To this company of grumblers, it should be said, did not belong Sure-dart, the veteran Iron-arm, or even Bull-head.

At first Big-axe paid no attention to the talk, but by afternoon it had become louder and more open, and when it was taken up by a few of the warriors it seemed time to notice it. Big-axe therefore passed the word along to stop work, and called the whole company about him. He stepped upon a large stone, that all might easily hear him, and without any preamble began.

“Some of you are grumbling at this work,” he said, “and think it is useless. These same grumblers would also like to go back to the lake. Well, what do they know about the Fishers, and their ways? I say, after fighting them, and knowing them, that they are not the kind to hold so lightly, and that I believe we shall hear from them again. Remember, they would get much good eating out of us, and would make slaves of those they did not want to eat at once. Then, too, they would have our caves, and would have all the fishing of that part of the lake to themselves. With so many things to tempt them, and with a chief as cunning and persevering as Long-spear, think you they will give up, and let us alone? I tell you no, and I am going to plan according to that belief. If you are not satisfied, find out what others agree with you, and if more than half finally take your side, I will, of course, following the custom, abandon the plan. But in that case I will no longer be your chief. I shall leave you and, with those that choose to follow me, shall cross the plain to the great mountains. I had rather risk the unknown flashes from the ground [so the Rock-people, knowing little of fire, spoke of the flames from the fire-holes and craters of the still unsettled and disturbed mountains], and whatever other dangers may be there, than stay here, and perhaps fall into the hands of the Fishers. Make your choice forthwith, and let me know it.”

This speech, very long for a Rock-man, and spoken with decision, had an immediate and decisive effect. The grumblers looked blank and did not open their mouths, and the others joined in a shout of indorsement and approval. It was all settled, and in less than a minute every back was bending again to the work.

It was now that Sure-dart, who had himself been inclined to think rather lightly of the danger from the Fishers, changed his mind, and was ready to believe that the shrewd and experienced chief knew what he was about, and was taking no precaution that wise care did not warrant. Thus stimulated anew, and rested by the little delay, he went to work with fresh energy. He noticed that the others about him did the same.

About dark the hunters came in, and though they brought little game they had a good excuse, and a strange story it was. Sure-dart and the rest for the time forgot even the Fishers in listening to it.