Chapter V: The Stand of Desperate Men

The howling among the woods grew louder, and in another three minutes Big-axe, who was now walking with his head screwed around over his shoulder, saw a long string of leaping shapes come over the thinly treed part of the higher ridge and drop again into the hollow on the hither side. He wheeled, and stopped short.

“Bull-head, see that they do not fetch in on my right hand. Stone-arm, guard the left. I will look after all who come up in front.”

He stood a few paces clear of them, so that the two picked men were merely to protect him from a side or rear attack. Bull-head moved forward without answering, and unslung his war-club. This was a knotted stick four inches thick at the big end, and set all over the head with great, three-cornered points. These points were sharks’ teeth that he had taken from a skull dug up on the lake shore. The creature that it had belonged to had doubtless died ages before, when the rising land barred out the ocean with its salt water. Bull-head had won a name with this club, both against human and beast enemies. But as he unslung the club, he did not part with his shield. He knew that this would be needed to protect him from the darts with which the assailants would begin the fight. The same precaution had also been taken by the chief himself, and was likewise observed by Stone-arm.

But as Big-axe stationed his two strong men and coolly waited for the rushing enemy, Stone-arm looked at him doubtfully, and after a moment spoke.

“Big-axe,” he said, “is this wise? If you are killed the men will lose heart, and we can guess what that will lead to. It will mean the blotting out of the Rock-people. Let five or six of us that can fight the best support you. At least, let Bull-head and me bear the brunt evenly with you.”

Big-axe merely turned his face a little that way and shook his head.

Stone-arm drew down his mouth disappointedly, but without speaking further for the moment, freed a heavy stone sword from some slings at his back. This sword was his favorite weapon, and when he was younger he had won fame with it. Even as it was, with more than sixty years to weigh him down, he was one of the champions of the tribe, and it was said that even Bull-head did not care to cross his purposes. He had been taller by an inch than Big-axe, but was now stooped a little, and his great, lank bulk had shrunk almost to thinness. Yet his eyes were still keen, and the muscles stood out on his long, hairy arms. Contrary to the custom of the tribe, he wore a little tuft of chin-beard, and this was iron-gray. He was not so keen and far-sighted in war matters as Big-axe, or he might have been chief, but he was as brave as a bulldog, and as tenacious as one in fighting, and he was faithful both to Big-axe and to what he believed to be the interests of the Rock-people. All his family were dead, and he had lived alone in one of the caves, a kind of well-preserved relic of the older and still more savage days.

All at once the spears of the Fishers flashed amongst the trees on the last hill-side, and with a wild, terrible, beast-like yell, they began to pour down upon the marsh.

Then Stone-arm spoke up once more:

“Think again, Big-axe. Do not risk so much!”

With a kindly smile now the chief turned.

“It is only a wise recklessness. They will be ashamed to push on in a body, for they have made too many boasts of their single-fighting, and particularly of what their chief can do. I shall dare him to fight me, and that will at least gain us a little time. The women and children can be pushing on, and we can go at full speed when we break. I hope to be able to go along with you.”

The old man hesitated, and finally mumbled that it might be best. Then he braced forward his shield, for there was no more time left for talk, and stuck his sword in the ground behind him. With his right hand he drew a dart and poised it. Even this little movement made the mighty arm that had won him his name “snake up” with little bunches of muscle.

The yelling savages came on headlong, but they checked themselves just before they were within a spear’s reach, and in a twinkling were fanning out and making a long, single line. It could now be seen that there were fully sixty of them, and that their chief, Long-spear, was the leader. They were armed about like the Rock-people, but their shields were small and square.

Big-axe threw one glance behind him, and saw that the children and other helpless ones were making good progress, the stronger of the young women still helping the faltering ones along, and with a look of satisfaction he wheeled back.

Long-spear was taking hurried counsel with two or three of his head fighting men, and was evidently not quite ready to begin. There was a little suggestion of the halting of a pack of seemingly eager hounds when a thinned-out pack of wolves suddenly stops and stands at bay. Yet there was, after all, some reason for this apparent hesitation. Though the green marsh seemed nearly level at this place, it was not really so, for a little ridge here ran out into it, descending on both hands to boggy places, and spots covered with low but stout reeds and scrubby bushes. In some of these boggy places were sudden little deeps, where a man might sink almost over his head, and in others were likely to be water-snakes, and black, shiny snarls of giant leeches. There were enough of these leeches to kill a man in a short time, supposing that he could not stop to rid himself of them. Some of the bushes, too, were sharp and spiky, and would make bad work even on a tough, savage skin. Still farther, in a few places, were outlying pools in which things that looked at first like old gray logs now and then moved, and lazily stuck up what proved to be long, bony snouts. They were beasts of the crocodile family, and quite as ready as those of to-day to snap out with their spiked jaws, or jerk around their mighty tails.

With these obstacles to hinder a flank attack, and the steadfast and grimly quiet fighters in front, it is not surprising that Long-spear was disposed to hold a brief council of war. It would be a mistake of a different kind from one that a commander might make now if he seriously blundered; defeat did not mean surrender, but death, and very likely the picking of one’s bones.

The Rock-people were in no kind of haste. Every minute gave their families just so much more of a start. They stood quiet but ready, and with their half-crouching figures and forking darts suggested so many bristling wild cats.

But the council of war proved to be rather short. It was probable that the rank and file of the savages, like most others of their kind, fought best if led at once to an attack, and that their courage would abate if they had to stop and let their blood cool. At any rate, Long-spear and his chief fighters now finished their clicking and jabbering, and a high-pitched cry gave notice to the others to be ready.

“They must not break our line,” said Big-axe as a last cautioning word to his son and Stone-arm. He had hardly spoken when the Fishers brought the wings of their line in, and with one wild screech let fly their darts, breaking headlong upon the little waiting pack of human bodies and forking weapons.

Then was fighting such as few people now on the earth ever saw. These active and beast-tough savages jabbed, and slashed, and pounded, and when they got a dart through a limb, or an eye was knocked out, or a gash went in till it reached a bone, they still fought on. Two or three of the Fishers missed the first parry with their shields, and were pierced by the darts, but none fell. The little spears did not happen to reach vital spots, and the poison could not taint so much healthy blood at once. Big-axe crushed the head of one strong fighter with a smash of the great axe, and was instantly ready for the next; and Bull-head and Stone-arm met those who swung aside to pass him, and broke shields and heads with their furious blows. Still farther back, a few of the warriors waded out into the marsh, and from this freer range let fly a shower of darts. They had borrowed several quivers of them from some who were not yet placed so as to use them. Besides this, such of the Rock-people behind the chief and the other two as could get any sort of opportunity also let drive their darts. The wave of human bodies could not wash away this barrier, and it was not till several picked men had rushed out on the flanks, meeting the sharpshooters of the Rock-men there, that the general close fight began.

All the while Long-spear had kept out of the way of the three champions, fighting well out on his right flank, and a little beyond the reach of Stone-arm. The old man had stationed himself close to the edge of the bit of ridge, and could not prudently go farther, as that would put too much of a gap between him and his chief, and, besides, would require him to stand in a soft and spongy spot where it would be difficult to find stable footing. But still farther on the old man’s left there was another bit of firm land, a little oblong mound, and from this patches of tolerably firm footing were dotted along almost to the ridge itself. That is, these raised spots made a curve that reached from the firm land nearly to the rear of Big-axe’s little army. Long-spear had doubtless noted this outside path, and was planning on its use at the proper moment. Big-axe had seen it, but it did not seem necessary to set a special guard to watch it, for it ended so close to his own lines that the men there could easily hold the main ridge against it. Long-spear, followed by a few of his men, darted out a short distance on this side ridge, and from there plied their darts, aiming especially at the warriors close behind Big-axe and his two immediate supporters. The chief did not know it, but two of his best men were hit by the darts; one was instantly killed, and the other disabled. In the confusion nobody moved forward to close the little gap, and the brave three kept on with it open behind them.

All in a moment Long-spear gave a shrill yell and rushed along the bit of ridge, followed by six men. At the end of the continuous hard ground were the little, reedy patches; from one to another of these they leaped, and in a twinkling were breaking furiously upon the rear men of the company. Upon another yell, the main body of the Fishers drew back, and then made a headlong charge, and in another twenty seconds Big-axe and his two champions were crowded back to the open space behind them, and the Fishers were pushing in upon the head of the ridge, and as far as the broader part of it.

But this was not the whole of the cunning Long-spear’s plan. As soon as he had closed on the rear space he shouted to his men, and six followed him, turning off, and plunging into the marsh, and making for that part of the main ridge clear of all the fighters. If they carried their point, they could form up, and as soon as their force was strong enough they could both attack the Rock-people in the rear, and send a few warriors after the fleeing wives and helpless ones. Attacked thus from nearly all sides, and with the fate of their families to distract them from the immediate work, the little defending band must soon go to pieces, and rejoicing and the war-feast would be near. Long-spear began to do his part, fighting like a demon, and his men tried to imitate him.

All this while the boy Sure-dart was standing among the rear men of the company. His friend Hop-foot was not with him, for it had been decided that only Sure-dart and another boy of about his age were old enough and sufficiently cool and steady to stay with the men, and even the two were directed to keep as much as possible out of the hot fighting. The other boy, whose name was Duck-legs, seemed to be perfectly willing to obey this order; in fact, he lost color, and curled lower under his shield, as the strife grew fiercer. Not so Sure-dart. He may have been a trifle pale, but his eyes were boldly wide open, and he merely stooped a bit behind his shield, his muscles in ready play, like a menacing panther’s. He tried to see what was going on in the hurly-burly ahead of him, and once waded a little way out on the marsh to find out; at other times he glanced back to learn how the women and the others were getting on.

When Long-spear made his final cunning rush, and the tall, leaping figures flashed up all at once in the very faces of the rear men, Sure-dart was the one of the little company that was perfectly ready. His shield was instantly quartered that way, and his dart shot back to poise. Almost at the same instant the halting and now confused Duck-legs was spitted like a Christmas goose, and fell forward with a dying yell. Then Long-spear himself came flying over a little pool, and struck within four paces of Sure-dart. After him flew four of his men. One had fallen short, and was for the moment stuck in the cement-like mud, and the other had jumped into what seemed to be a harmless, clear pool, and was wading across.

But at this terrible crisis, before even the active Sure-dart could speed his weapon, something else happened, and it was a something that belonged with the other wonders of that ancient day. The man who had fallen into the mud and slime was wallowing and floundering out, though he was slow about it, but the man who had jumped into the little pool seemed to have found a pretty good bottom, and was swashing his way rapidly along. He stepped upon a large rounded stone, but slipped off. He had to stagger to keep his legs. Just then the stone canted, the dark and slimy top was seen to end in a smoothly rounded edge, and close by the man’s legs poked up a dusky, flat, and snake-like head. The mouth ended in a hooked bill, and the eyes were small and dim. The man yelped with fright, and tried to plunge away; but as he started, the creature raised his head higher, a kind of natural shutter dropped from his dim eyes and they gleamed like a gamecock’s; with wonderful quickness he shot out a long neck, thrust his head after the flying, naked legs, and while one was still lifted to step, the billed mouth opened and closed again, taking in the whole ankle. There was a yell, and a terrible pawing and splashing, but as silent as fate, the monster slid along into deeper water, and with a shove went out of sight, carrying the pawing savage with him. When a turtle makes up its mind to hold on, it does; and when a man gets his leg in the mouth of a turtle twelve feet long and of proportional strength, his own endeavors have very little to do with the result.

This was the strange something that happened just as Long-spear was making his rush; it checked him and his followers for an instant, and in that trifle of time the men with Sure-dart pulled themselves together and stood bristling behind their shields.

But others of the Fishers were now coming on by this road, and while the front attack was still kept up, these flankers were stringing out along the small ridge, and sending their darts across at every hand’s breadth of exposed body or limb. Long-spear, as cautious as he was bold, here bore back a little, and covered himself with his shield, and the four men that had landed on the ridge with him did the same.

A moment later another defender dropped, and though the man beside him landed a dart in a Fisher, the exchange of course remained in favor of the stronger force. It was here that Long-spear went on to complete his plan. As soon as a few more men had joined him he sent off a band of three to chase the women and other fugitives.

Sure-dart cried out with rage and horror as he saw it, and some of the others joined with him, but for the instant nobody offered to move. To leave the helpless ones to their fate was not to be borne; and yet, though Long-spear and his gang should be driven away, what would happen if they left them to close in again on the main body’s rear? If Big-axe had all he could do to hold his own now, he must be crushed with so many of his force gone, and fresh enemies behind.

The time while all this was happening was not really long, though it may seem so in the telling, and Big-axe was not so far outgeneralled by Long-spear as he had seemed. The fact was, he had early noted how things were going, and was at this very instant gathering himself together for a desperate counter-effort. With a panther-like spring he reached striking distance of a burly Fisher, smashed him out of life with one blow, yelled encouragement to his men, and, with Bull-head and Stone-arm at his side, fairly broke the front rank of the assailants.

There was confusion as the astonished fighters tumbled or scrambled back; and when they finally stopped they were all once more on the sloping end of the hard ground.

Big-axe instantly turned and ran back, his men after him.

“Now is our chance!” he roared. He caught a tall, wiry young man by the arm. “Crumple-ear, take my place, and keep this line good. They have come in behind us, and have sent a party after the women and children. I must go to the rear and stop them. I shall then form there, and as soon as you see me do it you can fall back and join us.”

“Let it be so,” laconically grunted Crumple-ear.

“Come,” was all else that Big-axe said. He spoke to Bull-head and Stone-arm.

The men stood aside, and the chief and the other two, catching such hasty breaths as they could, ran in among them, passed through to the first open space beyond, and with shields down rushed straight at Long-spear and his forming band.

There was no time for strategy and fine figuring now; the scheming chief was where it must be a business of spear and shield, and the heavy decision of axe or sword. To do him justice, though he stared a little, showing that he was taken by surprise, he nevertheless brought his thick lips hard together, put forward his shield, and made ready a dart. His men likewise braced themselves for the shock.

But as the two chiefs’ darts flew, and each was caught on the shield, and as both warriors sprang to a close,--the Fisher with shortened spear, and the Rock chief with up-swung axe,--a boy’s shrill yell rose above all the other din, and past the very rim of one Fisher’s shield, broke a small, half-naked figure, and ran like the wind straight down the narrow way. It was Sure-dart. His eyes were like fire, and his case of darts was in his hand. He was looking at things beyond, and among them at a little party of women and children. In this party were his foster mother and little One-ear, and they were almost eclipsed by the three spear-bristling Fishers.