Chapter 21

THE STRONGHOLD OF THE NATCHEZ

We were hopelessly prisoners. On my part further struggle had become impossible, nor elsewhere did any effort last long, although Cairnes had to be knocked insensible before the heathen finally mastered him. I believed the obstinate fellow dead, so ghastly white appeared his usually florid face as the victorious savages dragged him roughly past where I lay, flinging his heavy body down like carrion upon the rocks. De Noyan appeared badly cut, his gallant clothing clinging to him in fluttering rags, silent witnesses to the manliness of his struggle. Yet the Chevalier was far from done.

"Let me sit up, you villains!" he cried, vigorously kicking at a passing shin. "'T is not my custom to lie with head so low. Ah, Benteen," he smiled pleasantly across at me, his eyes kindling at the recollection, "that was the noblest fighting that ever came my way, yet 'tis likely we shall pay well for our fun. _Sacre_! 't is no pleasant face, that of their grim war-chief, nor one to inspire a man with hope as he makes plea for mercy."

"Marry, no," I replied, determined on exhibiting no greater outward concern than he. "Nor will the ugly clip on his shoulder leave his humor happier."

The Chevalier's eyes danced at the recollection.

"'T was our preacher friend who sheared him. I hold it a master-stroke; but for a spear-butt on the way it would have cleft the fellow into two equal parts. Have you seen aught of Eloise since the fight?"

"She lies yonder against the wall at my left, and remains unhurt, I think. I will make effort to turn over, and have speech with her."

So securely had I been bound with coarse grass rope, I found it no small task to change the position of my body sufficiently to peer about the corner of intervening rock, and clearly perceive my lady. She was reclining in a half sitting posture well within the darker shadow, bound as were the rest of us.

"You remain uninjured, I trust, Madame?" I asked gently, and it heartened me to observe the smile with which she instantly glanced up at sound of my voice.

"No blow has touched me," was her immediate response, "yet I suffer noticing the stains of blood disfiguring both you and my husband. Are the wounds serious ones?"

"Nay, mere scratches of the flesh, to heal in a week. Why did you waste your last shot on that savage who would have struck me? It was not the will of De Noyan that it be expended thus."

"You must have formed a poor conception of me, Geoffrey Benteen," she answered, as if my words pained her, "if you suppose I value my life more highly than your own. But for my solicitation you would never have been in such stress, and, whatever else may be true, Eloise de Noyan is not one accustomed to deserting her friends."

"Yet there are fates possible to a woman more to be dreaded than death."

"Ay, and frontier bred, I know it well, yet none so bad as would have been the knowledge that I was guilty of ingratitude. My life, my honor, are in the care of God, Geoffrey, and if I remain grateful for aught this day, it is that my shot proved timely, saving you from that blow. Tell me, was it not a woman at whose command the combat ceased?"

"It was; a white woman at that, unless my eyes deceived me. She stood on yonder point of rock, appearing a veritable queen in the sunshine."

"So I thought, a fair face enough, yet not devoid of savage cruelty. Her presence brings me some rays of hope, making me feel I may have less to fear in the future than you. If a woman, however debased and barbarous, rules these savages, she will not be altogether without heart to the supplications of a woman."

I felt less assured of this, yet it was better she be buoyed up by all possible hope, so ventured upon no answer. There was that in the Queen's face as she gazed down upon us that made me doubt her womanliness; doubt if behind that countenance of wild beauty there did not lurk a soul as savage and untamed as any among her barbarous followers. What but a spirit of insatiate cruelty could animate and control such fierce warriors in their battle rage? Thinking of this, my eyes on Madame, a movement occurred among our captors quickly challenging my attention. Fresh shouts and cries evidenced new arrivals. These came swarming down the ravine, and in another moment began crawling noisily about us, chattering with our surly captors, or scowling into our faces with savage eyes boding no good. It would be unjust were I to write that these fellows were a brutal lot, as such words would be void of that truth I seek to convey. I lived to learn that many among them had the stuff of which true men are made; yet, nevertheless, they were savages, scarcely touched by the virtues or vices of civilization, a people nursing within their memory a great wrong, and inflamed by the fierce passions of battle. Gazing about on the stiffening forms of their stricken warriors, all alike exhibited in eyes and gestures how eagerly they longed for the hour of vengeance, when implacable hate might have full vent in the unutterable agony of their victims. I gazed up into their scowling, distorted faces, imagining a final moment of reckoning was at hand; yet some authority, either of chief or tribal custom, restrained their pitiless hatred, reserving us for longer, more intense suffering.

But the wild thirst for blood was mirrored in those fierce eyes glaring down into mine, and echoed in the shrill cries with which they marked us yet alive for their barbaric ingenuity to practise upon at leisure. Even as I observed this, realizing from my knowledge of Indian nature that our ultimate fate would be infinitely worse than merciful death in battle, I could not remain blind to the wide difference between these naked warriors and those other savages with whom my wandering border life had made me familiar. My awakened memory dwelt upon the peculiar tribal characteristics of the Mingoes north of the Ohio, the Kaskaskias in the Illinois country, the Shawnees, the Cherokees, even the Creeks, in whose villages I had dwelt as a friend, and beside whose young men I had hunted as a brother. Yet here was surely a distinct race, one less clearly marked with those features peculiarly Indian,--the cheek-bones not prominent, the form of nose more varied, the skin decidedly lighter, the heads better shapen, and the figures more thoroughly developed. More, their language had little of the guttural so universal among Eastern tribes, but had a peculiar, sharp, hissing sound; so, although the faces peering into mine were wild and ferocious enough to leave no doubt as to their barbarous nature, or our probable fate, yet these peculiarities, with the total absence of paint, such as disfigures and renders grotesquely hideous other Indians upon the war-path, were sufficient to stamp these savages as members of a distinct race.

"Natchez?" I ventured to inquire of the burly brute who stood over me grasping spear and war-club.

"_Sa_," he grinned savagely. "_Français, Français_."

I shook my head and tried him again, but soon desisted on discovering that these two words marked the full extent of our common language, and so was obliged to be content with silently contemplating the crowds of curious, naked heathen swarming on the hill.

Fortunately, it was not long we were doomed to wait, uncomfortably trussed with our ropes of plaited grass. The old chief who had led the assault gave his order, and, in immediate obedience, we were roughly dragged forth, the bonds about our lower limbs severed, and, under zealous guards, despatched up the canyon, the entire party promptly falling in at the rear, bearing with them their wounded and dead. De Noyan and I, thus released from our cramped, painful position on the rocks, were jerked rudely upon our feet, and, in obedience to threatening gestures, driven rapidly forward like dumb beasts; but Madame and the Puritan, the latter not yet having regained consciousness, were swung aloft in hammocks of coarsely woven cloth, and thus borne upon the shoulders of four stout carriers. In this way we advanced northward, not moving as slowly as I desired, for I was sore and aching from head to foot, besides being weakened by loss of blood. Yet there was no hope of escape, no evidence of mercy. If we ventured to lag, the vigilant guard promptly quickened our movements by the vigorous application of spear-points, so we soon learned the necessity of keeping fully abreast of our assigned position in the column.

Coming nearer to that great cataract which had effectually dammed our progress up the valley, the leaders swerved toward the left, passing so closely beside the leaping, foaming flood as to be enveloped in the spray as if in a cloud of mist. Almost beneath the fall, the water crashing on the rocks within reach of an outstretched hand, we commenced a toilsome climb, along a deep, rocky gully completely shrouded by overhanging bushes, as if we traversed a tunnel dug by the hands of men. Indeed, I have little doubt that this peculiar passageway had been constructed by artificial means. Every now and then, when a faint light from without straggled through the interlaced boughs overhead, I caught a glimpse of the evidences of human labor. This odd passage, crooked and intricate, at times so steep as to require the chiselling of steps in the solid rock, wound in and out along the side of the cliff, then ran back into the very face of the precipice, for more than a hundred and fifty yards. Suddenly we emerged, fifty yards back from the crest, in the heart of a great circular hole resembling the crater of a burned-out volcano, having great ragged points of rock, blackened as if incased with lava, jutting up upon every side, and forming as desolate and barren a picture as ever eyes looked upon.

I was completely fagged by this time, the climb being a heavy one, and I noticed De Noyan was ghastly of face, his body trembling like that of a palsied man. But our relentless drivers permitted no halting to recruit strength. The Chevalier was evidently in greater distress than I, so from pity I bade him lean on my shoulder; but as he sought to draw near, the merciless brute on guard struck him savagely, and there was such shaking of spears and fierce uproar on the part of our escort, we could do naught else than set our teeth to it, and go staggering on. The slight path, if it might be named a path, led in and out among the black lava cones in such labyrinthine fashion that no man could hope to retain memory of its course, while the floor being of irregular stone, the passing feet left no trail for future guidance. We travelled blindly, and reckless through suffering and exhaustion, some distance, until, perhaps a mile above the spot where we had surmounted the cliff, a sudden twist was made to the right, our company creeping on all fours through a narrow opening, having a great tree-trunk on one side and a huge black bowlder on the other. We came forth high in air above the swift, deep water, footing the insecure bark of a rude tree-bridge spanning the current. Once safe on the other bank, our path merely a narrow shelf of stone, we wormed around a sharp projection of the cliff, rising to even greater height than in the gorge below. A dense mass of interlaced and overshadowing cedars was partially pressed aside, partially crawled under, and from this we finally emerged into an open space, containing, I imagine, not far from five hundred acres of land, having vast towering precipices of black frowning rock on every side, with no outlet apparent, save to one blessed with wings. Saint Andrew! 'twas an awesome place, yet oddly beautiful, so soft and green below, with those massive walls completely shutting out all the rest of the world, and shadowing the little valley with impregnable grandeur.

I had but a moment in which to view the impressive scene. Scarcely had the head of our column entered this natural prison when it was greeted with wild shouts of triumph, immediately succeeded by shrieks of distress, while there streamed forward to meet us a tumultuous band of savages, a large proportion of whom were women and children. The children were absolutely nude and peculiarly white of skin, while the former wore rude skirts of coarsely woven cloth fastened about the waist, their long hair in many instances trailing upon the ground, yielding them a wildness of aspect beyond description; yet withal they were not uncomely of features. These newcomers thronged about us with scowling faces, and, when sternly forced back by the lowered weapons of the guard, either joined the procession, or else trooped alongside, yelling and jeering.

Pressed forward, although by now so utterly spent I could barely stagger rapidly enough to escape those pitiless thrusts, I mechanically noted enough of our surroundings to understand that we traversed ground which had been cultivated; that low fences, here and there encountered, divided the land into small sections, even as in more civilized regions farmers protect their fields. What their crops may have been I could not determine, the season of harvest being already past, yet I distinguished what I supposed must be evidences of garden culture, observing also a considerable ditch, certainly four feet in width, filled with clear running water, which seemed to encircle the entire basin, the deeper green of vegetation marking its course close up against the farther rock wall.

The view directly in advance was at first obscured by the leaping figures of the exultant savages leading the way, whooping with excitement, and wildly brandishing their war-clubs. These at length fell back along either side, our guards hurrying us across the ditch, spanned by the great trunk of a tree, and thus on into the village. This town resembled no other encampment of savages on which my eyes had ever looked. I saw a wide open space, a blackened stake set in the middle of it, the ground bare of vegetation, and tramped hard as if by countless feet. Beyond, circling this plaza upon two sides, were several rows of houses, all facing the same direction. It reminded me of pictures I had seen of Hebrew camps in my father's great Bible, only the houses were built of sun-dried clay, such as peons use in the far Southwest on the Brazos, square in shape, of but a single story, having dome-shaped roofs, heavily thatched with cane. They were windowless, with one narrow opening for a door, protected by a heavy matting of grass. Behind these, perhaps a hundred yards or more, and within a short distance of the steep cliffs bounding the upper extremity of the valley, there arose from the surface of the plain two immense rounded mounds of earth, each fully a hundred paces wide at its base, sloping sharply upward. Considerable vacant space lay between the two, while on the apex of each stood buildings of sun-baked clay, resembling in form those below, yet much larger, and, because of their elevation, appearing spacious and imposing. Above one were posed three rudely carven figures bearing a slight resemblance to giant eagles, their wings outspread as if for flight. The other was surmounted by a hideous, grotesque figure, blackened as by fire, with distorted face daubed a glaring yellow, and long hair glittering from red pigment. Here the grass curtain had been drawn aside, while before the entrance, their faces striped with disfiguring black lines, their dull vestments trailing to the ground and gaudily trimmed with fanciful trappings, their coarse hair so trained as to stand almost erect, were two aged men, who, with wild gesticulations, and solemn chanting, were apparently paying adoration to the setting sun, the last beams streaming over them through a rift in the western wall.

Directly past these priests we were driven like cattle, finding ourselves plunged into a vast square gloomy apartment, having an earthen floor, but utterly devoid of either furnishings or ornament. There was another mat-draped opening at the farther side, and in the centre a huge log smouldered, resting upon what bore the appearance of a rudely chipped altar of rock. About this were ranged numerous fancifully painted statues of wood, grotesque and hideous, while a third figure, attired as were the aged priests without, lay prone upon the earth moaning as if in agony. The walls were hung thickly with undressed skins of wild animals, and at the back stood a slightly upraised platform of logs, cut in halves by a narrow passageway leading toward the second curtained door. It was in the midst of this we halted, still under strict surveillance of our brutal guards. These, however, permitted us to sink down exhausted on the hard floor.