CHAPTER XXI

PRISONERS

"STEADY, Sandy!"

"But, Bob, must we just stand here, and let them take us prisoners?" asked the younger brother, in an agonized voice.

"We can do nothing to help ourselves just now," Bob went on, in a singularly calm tone, "because, you see, there are four of them; and each man has a gun pointed at us. We must try to kill time, hoping that Blue Jacket may bring us help in some way."

"Blue Jacket--where is he?" asked Sandy, wonderingly.

"I do not know," replied Bob. "He disappeared like a shadow. I think he must have heard the breathing of these men as they came along, and, knowing that it was too late to cry out a warning to us, he just melted away, as is his habit."

"Will he desert us, then?" asked Sandy, with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

"Impossible," answered his brother. "We ought to know Blue Jacket better than to think that of him. Forget all about him just now, and perhaps, if things come to the worst, he may show his hand."

"What for you say zat, young monsieur?" demanded the leering Lacroix. "Haf you zen a compadre near by? Zen it vill not be good for him to come back. Ve vill engage to make a prisoner of heem just as ve haf of you. Drop ze guns, both of you!"

Bob instantly obeyed. He would have resisted to the last gasp if there had been any chance, however slight; but, when four guns were bearing on them, with the owners not more than ten feet away, it would have been foolhardy to refuse to carry out the order of the lawless French trapper.

Besides, he somehow fancied that the others would have preferred a defiant attitude on their part, since it would give them a reasonable excuse to shoot.

Sandy, seeing that his brother had in this way acknowledged their case to be apparently hopeless, also cast his faithful old musket from him. Seldom had it ever missed fire, and he was accustomed to depending on it when in sore need; but just then it could only invite the coming of quick death, if he so much as tried to draw the hammer back.

The stalwart woodranger of course noted this unhappy manner of Sandy. It seemed to rather please him, since the shoe was now on the other foot, and he had the whip-hand of the young pioneers.

"Ze leetle cub, he not like eet ver' much," he chuckled. "But it is ze fortunes of war, monsieur, and you must bend ze neck to ze sword. Ve haf you in ze hole and zis game eet ees in our hands. Now, tell me if you please, vat brings you up to zis country, so far avay from ze happy cabin on ze Ohio, la belle river?"

Neither of the boys replied, Sandy because he was too angry to speak, and Bob on account of wanting to gather his wits first, before committing himself. To tell these enemies about Kate would be weakening their case. Should they escape from the clutches of the four Frenchmen, the chances were that Lacroix would warn Black Beaver that the brothers of his captive had come to rescue her and a trap might be laid into which they would fall.

"Ze astonishment of ze matter almost strike me dumb," continued the other, who seldom knew when to stop talking, once he started. "To zink zat zese leetle boys of ze Eenglish should hide zemselves in zat sacred oak, and hear all zat was said at ze grand council! It ees marvel! It is superb! I am not agree in my mind whether ve ought to visit ze punishment on zere heads ourselves, Monsieur Larue, or take zem to ze Indians for to run ze gauntlet, and burn at ze stake!"

Sandy shook his head. It was as much as to tell the speaker that if he were carrying on this style of talk simply to frighten the two undaunted lads, he might as well save his breath.

At this moment the other leader among the trappers took a turn in the conversation, which up to now had been monopolized by Lacroix.

"I haf von idea, Armand, my friend," he observed, looking very wise.

"Zat is ver' well; but suppose you share ze same wif us all!" Lacroix cried, as he pressed his cheek against the butt of his heavy gun, after the manner of a man who longed to pull trigger and do fell execution.

"You seem to think," Larue continued, "ze young cubs zey come avay up to zis far country just to climb in zat tree, and listen to ze great Pontiac talk. Parbleau! zat is all wrong, I assure you on my honor. Look back, my friend, and perhaps you vill remember zat when ve lodged in ze great town of ze Senecas zere came into the same a young chief who bring wif heem a prisoner!"

Bob started, and bit his lips until the blood came. Without meaning to do the brothers a good turn Larue was about to make a disclosure that would do away with uncertainty concerning the whereabouts of the stolen Kate.

"Oui, I remember ze same, ver' well," said Armand; "but what may zat haf to do wif our young friends here? Haf zey lost some one from zere family? Was zat girl belong to zem, I would like to know?"

Jacques Larue nodded his head violently.

"At ze time somezings seem to say to me zat somewhere haf I seen ze pretty face of ze leetle one. Now I know. She is ze seester of ze Armstrong boys. From her home haf she been carry by ze young chief, who fancy her face, because he lose heem own seester not so long ago. And so, behold, do zese brave boys come all zis way to rescue ze Kate. Is it not grant? Alas! to zink zey fall themselves into ze power of ze savages, and be made to burn at ze stake. Zat is sad!"

He pretended to look mournful as he said this; but there was an old score to be settled between Jacques and the young pioneers, and Bob was not deceived in the least by this mockery of sympathy.

Back in those sparkling orbs he could see the wicked delight that filled the soul of Larue at this unexpected pleasure. For the moment even the insult, put upon him by the great Pontiac in the presence of scores of chiefs and warriors, was almost forgotten.

Nor was Armand Lacroix more to be depended on. He might, down in his heart, feel something like admiration for the grit shown by the lads in thus venturing into a hostile country in order to serve their loved sister. That feeling, however, would be utterly superceded by his joy at having a chance to vent his evil spite upon the boy who had held him up at the muzzle of his gun, and made him a laughing stock for Simon Kenton and his fellow borderers.

"Sacre! vat shall be done wiz zem?" demanded Lacroix, half lowering his levelled rifle; for, since the boys had cast away their weapons, they could hardly be deemed dangerous, especially since there were two men to each lad.

"It was a clever idea you haf, Armand, to come back to ze sacred oak, where ze Indians, you say, would nevaire interrupt us, for a talk. Only for zat we would not haf ze pleasure of meeting our young friends. You ask what sall we do wif zem? Eef I haf my way, I say, turn zem loose and zen give each twenty paces to run, after wich we would fire. I haf drive ze head of a nail at more zan zat."

"Ze idea heem not haf bad, Jacques; but, after all, what could equal ze pleasure of turning zese two bold trailers over to ze Pottawottomies wif Pontiac. Zey know how to torture ze foe. Zey haf long experience. Eet is no business of ours how zey put ze prisoner to death; zey are our allies, and we cannot let escape zose who carry ze great secret of ze council."

Bob knew the character of these half-savage French trappers. He believed they were on a par with the renegade white man whom he had heard utter such bitter words at the council fire, and whom he fancied must be the notorious Simon Girty, himself. Had it been his own life that was in peril, Bob would have refused to make any sort of appeal to the lawless trappers; but, for the sake of little Kate, he felt that he must lower his pride to plead with them.

"Lacroix and Larue," he said, slowly, and with an earnestness in his manner that chained their attention; "for myself I would scorn to plead; but, because of the poor child who is at this hour a prisoner in the Iroquois village, I ask you to let us go free. Her poor mother's heart is nearly broken, and if Kate never comes back, it will surely give way. If you would only let us go, so that we might try to set her free, we give you our solemn promise that we will deliver ourselves up to you again, if we survive, so that you can do what you will."

The two Frenchmen exchanged glances. They could not but be influenced by the brave words of the half-grown lad. At the same time, they had too long led utterly wicked lives to allow themselves to be tempted to do the right thing now.

"Listen to zat, would you, Larue?" said Armand, with a sneer. "Ze cub wants us to let him go free zis time. He even promises zat he will call heemself our prisoner at any time in ze future, eef he lives. It is to laugh. I haf always believe ze bird in ze hand is much better zan two in ze bush. How ees it, Jacques, shall we bow ze young monsieur and hees brother off ze premises, or turn zem over to ze savages, to run ze gantlet, and afford much sport?"

"Our duty eet is plain, Armand," the second Frenchman remarked, with a chuckle; "we dare not play double wif our allies. Zey would turn on us and poof! zat would be ze end of everyzing. No, it must be zat we make ze prisoner, and march ze cubs in to ze Iroquois town to be punished as spies."

"Oh!" said Sandy, unable to entirely keep quiet, with his pulses beating like a furious trip-hammer.

"Stand still, Sandy!" said Bob in a low tone, fearing that his impulsive brother was about to take desperate chances in leaping at the four French trappers; "all may not yet be lost. Hold hard for just another minute, I beg of you!"

Something in Bob's tone gave Sandy a new lease of life. It was as though he had made a discovery that meant hope. And this was, indeed, what had happened, for, just five seconds before, Bob had seen a head suddenly raised above the surrounding bushes; and even in the dull light of the dying fire he believed that he had recognized the well known features of Pat O'Mara!