CHAPTER IV.

ON THE ISLAND.—ENVIRONED BY PERIL.—SAD FOREBODINGS.—YOUNG SMITH’S DESPERATE ADVENTURE.

It was an appalling fact that the flat-boat had staved in its bottom and was rapidly filling with water. With one bound McGowan sprang to the cabin and aroused the inmates. Before they were fairly arisen, he discovered they were in no immediate danger. The bow of the boat rested on the sand, while the stern had swung around and was settling some five or six feet—a depth sufficient to carry the rear entirely below the surface.

It was the work of a few moments, to land Mrs. Smith, McGowan and Ruth upon the island. Napyank leaped down, and assisted them to the ground so successfully that all landed dry shod. Their valuables (which being few were indeed valuable) were speedily cast out and in fifteen minutes after the flat-boat struck, its entire contents, both animate and inanimate were upon the island.

“This is a little too bad,” said McGowan gloomily. “Those few rotten planks have played the mischief. The boat can never do us any more good.”

“Can’t yees repair it, as the cobbler axed the docthor after he’d cracked his wife’s skull.”

“Repair it? No, we should never have started with such an old hulk as that.”

“Perhaps now we’re near enough to the mainland to be able to wade over,” suggested young Smith.

“Can’t do it,” replied the hunter shaking his head. “We’ll have to make a raft and paddle over.”

“With the old hulk bulging up there, it will be sure to be seen in the morning,” said McGowan gloomily surveying the dark mass of useless lumber. “Can’t we shove it further back into the water, and let it sink out of sight.”

“We will try it.”

The six men waded into the stream and pressed their shoulders against the boat. Teddy’s first essay was accompanied by a slipping of the foot which left him fall flat upon his face, where he floundered some time before he regained his upright position.

The united effort of the half-dozen men failed to budge the craft. It was as heavy and had settled so firmly that it was absolutely immoveable unless by more strength than our friends had at their command. As Teddy remarked, the “owld critter had sat down to stay.”

“We can’t do anything with it,” said McGowan, “and that being the case, what shall we do with ourselves?”

“Get off the island as soon as possible,” replied young Smith.

“It is now so dark that I don’t suppose anything can be done before morning,” added McGowan.

“Take things easy,” said Teddy. “Don’t you see we’re safer here than we was on that owld mud-scar. We could go to the bottom of river wid that any time; but here we can sleep as sound as snorting tapple.”

“We may as well make ourselves comfortable like till morning,” added Napyank. “Fix up the women-folks, and we can take care of ourselves.”

The island was found to be larger than they had at first supposed. It was more than an eighth of a mile from one end to the other, thickly wooded, and covered with rank grass and a dense undergrowth. It was oval shaped, and very regular in its outline, being rather more than two hundred feet broad in its widest part.

“What a magnificent summer sate this would make for a gintleman like meself,” said Teddy, as the two stood in the shadow of a tree, on the lower part of the island.

“So it would,” replied young Smith. “I shouldn’t be surprised if it was used for that purpose before many years.”

“Be the same token it’s the summer sate of a party of travellers at this very minute, and it’s probable we’ll make quite a stay upon it.”

“I hope there ain’t any Indians looking at us,” said McGowan with a shudder, as he glanced toward the shore of the dark and bloody ground. “I am afraid for the women.”

“So does I,——but——”

“Look there!” exclaimed McGowan fairly springing off his feet.

“What? where? I don’t see anything.”

“Here! here! this way!” said he pulling his companion around. “’Tain’t there——_it’s on the island_, right below us! look, can’t you see it?”

“I saas the traas and the fog and that’s all.”

“It disappeared the very minute you looked. There it is again! Now it’s gone! I wonder what makes it act that way.”

“What is it, man, you’re making such a noise about?”

“Why sir,” said McGowan solemnly, “as sure as you and I stand here, I seen a light moving about on the island.”

This being the case, McGowan and the two silent Smiths at once returned to the women, while the others passed down the shore of the island. They had gone a considerable distance in silence when young Smith suddenly caught the arm of the Irishman like a vice, and without a word pointed meaningly toward the trees where the alarming manifestations had first been seen. There was no mistaking this time. Napyank saw a bright light shining steadily through the trees—so brightly and steadily that he was certain it could not be far from them. Moving back more closely under the shadow of their own tree, he whispered,

“We must find out what the dogs are doing.”

“I say, there ought to be only one or two of us,” said young Smith. “Suppose you let me and Joe go?”

“I can, to be sure, but then what use would it be?” replied the hunter. “I can go, while you stay here and keep watch.”

“And where’s the naad of our keeping watch here?”

“You know some of the Injins might slip onto the island while I’m gone, and it wouldn’t take them long to play the mischief with the women folks.”

“Do yees do the same duty then, for I’m naaded ilsewhere, and here’s good luck to yees,” said Teddy.

“But——”

But the Irishman and hunter disappeared.

“I hope they won’t get us into trouble,” said young Smith when he found he was alone. “I think the Irishman ought to know by this time that we do not relish his madcap scheme. I would never have come into such a country as this if we were to be ruined by him. I don’t know about that, either,” he added, after a moment’s thought; “I _did_ hate to see Ruth go, and I don’t believe I could have contented myself at home. The dear sweet girl! What a pity she should be subjected to this danger and suffering and that, too, when we are so near our journey’s end. To-morrow we should have been able to reach our destination if it had not been for this bad accident. We have already enough,” he added, after a moment’s pause, “to let us know we are in danger this very minute. I understood Joe to say that this part of the river was the most dangerous of any that he knew, so, I can’t see how we are going to get safely through. God watch over the poor beings that are dependent under thee, upon us for safety.

“I hope the Irishman has sense enough to keep his eyes about him,” he continued. “That Joe was right in saying the crisis of the danger would be reached to-night. We’re in the crisis I believe in this very minute.”

Young Smith was standing in the attitude of acute attention, every faculty absorbed in the one of listening, when his whole being was thrilled by the explosion of two rifles, followed by a succession of horrid yells that made his very blood curdle! It needed no thought to tell him that these came from the throats of the savages, and that the worst that he had feared, had taken place.

His first impression was, that the two scouts had been discovered, and fired upon, and that his own life was in peril. But, upon second thought, he knew by the direction of the sounds, that they proceeded from the lower part of the island, and that it was the friends whom he had left behind, that were attacked. Believing then, that the scouts were safe, for the present, he was debating whether to remain where he was, until rejoined by them or to hasten at once to his friends.

He had not yet come to a conclusion, when a slight grating noise upon the shingle of the beach caught his ear, and turning his head, he saw that a canoe had just landed within a few feet of him, and, at that very moment, two painted savages were in the act of stepping ashore. With his heart in his throat, he moved around to the opposite side of the tree, and watched the motions of these Indians.

They acted very deliberately, seeming to take no notice of the tumult, which a moment before, had broken the profound stillness of stream and wood.

They first pulled the canoe high upon the land, each took a rifle from it, and then strode directly toward the tree which concealed the apprehensive man. As they passed so near that he could have touched them with his hand, he absolutely believed they would hear his heart beat. But such a thing has never occurred, no matter how wildly that organ has throbbed, and then the Indians who would have detected the faintest sound, passed on, and disappeared in the wood of the island, without once suspecting how nigh they had been to one of the very persons for whom they were searching.

They had hardly gone when Smith stole cautiously forth to view, and looking carefully about him detected Teddy stealing up to where he had concealed himself.

“What did you see?” he inquired of the Irishman.

The latter looked carefully about him a moment before he made a reply.

“May our howly mother presarve us, but the island is full of the haythen.”

“What is that light we saw?”

“It was the camp fire of a whole pack of the divils. But, we’re in a bad fix.”

“Didn’t you hear rifles? They’re in a worse fix,” said young Smith, in an under tone. “What’s to be done?”

“That’s what I don’t know. We must get back if we can, and see what the outlandish divils have been at. _Yapnank_ has left me out there and maybe he’s gone back already.”

They both started toward the upper end of the island, the Irishman not disdaining to use the utmost caution. Every few yards he paused and listened for the slightest warning of danger, and, so for Smith, he expected in his excited condition each moment to see a whole horde of screeching savages rush out from the trees.

Although naturally brave he had not as yet acquired that familiarity with this species of danger to make him cool and collected.

The whole distance was passed without any further evidence of the presence of the enemy. Upon reaching their friends they found them vigilant and cool. They stated that a number of canoes had come from the mainland, and after reconnoitering the flat-boat had discharged a couple of rifles and then departed.

No one had been injured by the shots although they came dangerously near the elder Smith. Napyank had not yet returned, and the young man could see on the faces of those around him the impress of the most depressed and saddened forebodings. Some of them, especially his own cherished Ruth, was endeavoring to keep up a brave spirit, but none of them could conceal the discouragement they really felt in their hearts. Young Smith conversed with them in an under tone for a few moments and then withdrew to a retired spot.

Scarcely knowing what he did he walked slowly out from the protection which the tree afforded him, and stood on the moonlit beach. He placed the stock of his rifle on the hard shingle, and leaning upon it gave way to the most saddened meditations.

Just before him, as motionless as a rock, rested the hulk of the sunken flat-boat. The soft ripple of the Ohio against the sand at his feet, that deep hollow murmur of the great wilderness were the only sounds that reached his ear; and these from their monotonous continuity, seemed silence itself. The moon was nearly over head, shining in that peculiar manner, that the river seemed to reflect more light than it received. A few straggling clouds as white as snow-drifts, now and then floated before the moon, and huge grotesque shadows glided over the island, across the stream and into the wood like phantoms. On either side the frowning forest rose like a wall of blackness, and seemed to close the whites in an impregnable prison.

It was no wonder that the young adventurer felt gloomy and despairing. It could not be otherwise than this, while within a dozen miles of the settlement, and in the most dangerous portion of the river, an accident should place himself and his friends in imminent peril, and make the escape of all of them in it seemed to him, an utter impossibility. He was in the midst of these gloomy forebodings, when the sound of a light footstep startled him, and looking around, he turned to greet his friends.

“Well, what have you discovered?” he added. “Are we alone in the island?”

To his surprise he received no reply.

“What are our prospects of getting over to the mainland?”

As quick as lightning young Smith’s rifle was at his shoulder, and one of the approaching Indians was shot through the breast. With a wild yell he sprang high in the air and fell dead upon the sand. At the same moment the white man saw something flash and heard a rushing sound close to his face, followed by the splash of the tomahawk in the water behind him. Clubbing his rifle he stood on the defensive, when he noted that neither of the savages possessed a rifle, and conscious that he was more than a match for the surviving one he made a rush at him.

The Indian turned to flee, and Smith had hardly started in pursuit, when the report of a second rifle was heard among the trees, followed by a series of whoops and yells as if a legion of demons had suddenly been loosed. With a rare presence of mind the young man comprehended his critical situation in an instant. The wood was swarming with Indians. If he went a rod further his own destruction would be inevitable.

Wheeling around with such celerity that his momentum carried him nearly off his feet, he flung his gun from him and ran for his life to the flat-boat. Stepping one foot into the water he made a tremendous bound and alighted upon the gunwale, the same as a bird would have done; and then tearing his hat from his head, he concentrated all his energies in the one effort and sprang full a dozen feet out into the river.

The instant he came to the surface he gasped for breath and dove again, swimming while beneath the surface, as far out toward the Kentucky shore as possible, repeating the manoeuvre several times, until believing that he was at a safe distance from the island, he swam sideways and anxiously surveyed it.

So prompt and rapid had been his movements, that he had not been seen, and his own escape, if he chose to improve the opportunity given him, was at least insured; but he would rather have been smitten by instant annihilation rather than desert those he had left behind him. The thought had never once entered his head.

He continued off the island until the current had carried him nearly half way to the lower end when he cautiously approached the shore. As he walked in under the shadow, several forms followed him like phantoms, while as many more closed around him from the wood. He had taken but a few steps, when he was startled by hearing a suppressed exclamation. His apprehension told him at once that it was the voice of an Indian, and he was moving away from the point from which it came, when he caught a glimpse of the shadow-like figures around him, and saw that the most dangerous crisis of his life was upon him.

The Indians had not yet surrounded him, and conscious that all depended upon a quick and energetic decision, he made a dash toward the river. The dense undergrowth at this portion of the island impeded the movements of both pursuer and pursued; but the activity of the white man was superior, and he was first at the beach, when making another terrific leap, he bounded out into deep water and dove beneath the surface.

While beneath the water, young Smith heard distinctly the dull report of the rifles, and the skipping of the bullets as they glanced over the water. Being a skillful swimmer, he turned upon his back, and as he was borne along upward, he allowed only his mouth and nose to be exposed, when inhaling a sufficient quantity of air, he again dove, and repeated precisely the same manoeuvre that we have described before.

Finally believing he was once more safe, he allowed his head and shoulders to come to view, and looked back toward the island. To his dismay, an Indian canoe was within a dozen feet of him! Its occupants descried him at the same moment that he discovered them, and now commenced a most exciting race of life and death!

One minute would have decided the contest in the middle of the river, but fortunately indeed, Smith’s efforts had brought him within a few rods of the shore. Fearful of being fired upon he repeated his stratagem of diving, and when he came to the surface, struggled frantically to gain the shore, with the canoe darting forward like a shadow. As soon as he could gain a foothold, he tore through the foaming water and dashed into the woods, while the canoe was scarcely twice its length behind him.

It was now only by the most skillful running, dodging and doubling, that he succeeded in freeing himself from his agile pursuers. He had gone fully half a mile in the forest before this was accomplished, but he found himself at length entirely alone, and panting and exhausted he seated himself upon the ground, to decide upon the next course to pursue.

He could not think of leaving the island when he had every reason to believe that all he held dear on earth was upon it. She whom he cherished above all others on earth was there and in imminent danger. And although there were more skilful arms than his left behind, still he knew his presence and aid were sorely needed. He resolved to return.

With this determination he arose and retraced his steps. It is needless to say he made his way as silently, stealthily and cautiously as he was able to do, starting at every rustling wind and falling leaf. Upon reaching the shore of the river, he found that he was above the island, and wading it, swam out toward it.

He wished if possible, to recover his rifle and gain a glimpse of the band of Indians who had so well nigh slain him, and who beyond all question were plotting further hurt.

Steadying himself he allowed the current to carry him downward, and when several rods distant, checked his motion, and took a survey of the flat-boat and its surroundings.

He saw his rifle lying upon the beach, its ornamented stock and barrel shining in the moonlight. After carefully surveying every portion of the island that came under his observation, he detected no sign of danger, and was about to let himself float forward again, when the lifted head of a savage rose above the gunwale, and remained in view for fully a minute.

As the moon shone fully upon the Indian he distinguished his features plainly. He concluded at once that there were several others on the flat-boat, and all waiting for his return. The savage gazed carefully about him, and descrying nothing, his head disappeared from view.

“Ah, my fine fellow,” thought Smith, as he noiselessly swam toward the Ohio shore. “You may watch there quite a while before you can catch me in any of your traps.”

He now floated slowly down the river, keeping about midway between the island and the Ohio bank, and so far as possible examined the former as he passed the bank. Reaching its extremity he passed around it and commenced ascending the opposite side, so as to complete his reconnoissance. This was an extremely difficult task, and none but the most powerful swimmer could have accomplished it. But he succeeded, and finally “anchored” for a few moments, abreast of the flat-boat, while he took another observation. He saw nothing more of the Indians, although he believed they were still upon it.

He was convinced that the majority of the Indians were still upon the island, and after floating somewhat lower, he landed at precisely the same spot where he came so near being captured before. Feeling confident that he had not been seen, he unhesitatingly came ashore and passed beneath the shadow of the trees.

Upon coming from the water, his limbs were so heavy and felt so exhausted that he threw himself upon the ground to gain a few moments’ rest. Despite the exciting scenes in which he had just participated, and the terrible ordeal through which he had passed, he fell asleep almost immediately.

It was in the midst of a fearful dream he was awakened by a grasp upon his arm. Believing resistance to be useless, he lay motionless, waiting for the command of his captors.

“Begorrah but bees you goin’ for to shleep a month whin your friends are in the greatest anxiety on yer account, barrin the little blue-eyed maiden that is the most anxious of ’em all.”

A moment later Napyank came from the trees and congratulated our hero on his escape. He announced that their friends were withdrawn to a secluded spot on the island, where they were to remain for the present, if undisturbed by the Indians.