第23章

Death is here and death is there, Death is busy everywhere.

SHELLEY

It was a breathless moment.The only clue the fugitives possessed to the intentions of their pursuers was in their gestures and the indications which escaped them in the fury of disappointment.That a party had returned already, on their own footsteps, by land, was pretty certain;and all the benefit expected from the artifice of the fire was necessarily lost.But that consideration became of little moment just then; for the party was menaced with an immediate discovery by those who had kept on a level with the river.All the facts presented themselves clearly, and as it might be by intuition, to the mind of Pathfinder, who perceived the necessity of immediate decision and of being in readiness to act in concert.Without making any noise, therefore, he managed to get the two Indians and Jasper near him, when he opened his communications in a whisper.

"We must be ready, we must be ready," he said."There are but three of the scalping devils, and we are five, four of whom may be set down as manful warriors for such a skrimmage.Eau-douce, do you take the fellow that is painted like death; Chingachgook, I give you the chief;and Arrowhead must keep his eye on the young one.There must be no mistake, for two bullets in the same body would be sinful waste, with one like the Sergeant's daughter in danger.I shall hold myself in resarve against accident, lest a fourth reptile appear, for one of your hands may prove unsteady.By no means fire until I give the word;we must not let the crack of the rifle be heard except in the last resort, since all the rest of the miscreants are still within hearing.Jasper, boy, in case of any movement behind us on the bank, I trust to you to run out the canoe with the Sergeant's daughter, and to pull for the garrison, by God's leave."The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions than the near approach of their enemies rendered profound silence necessary.The Iroquois in the river were slowly descending the stream; keeping of necessity near the bushes which overhung the water, while the rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs soon gave fearful evidence that another party was moving along the bank, at an equally graduated pace; and directly abreast of them.In consequence of the distance between the bushes planted by the fugitives and the true shore, the two parties became visible to each other when opposite that precise point.

Both stopped, and a conversation ensued, that may be said to have passed directly over the heads of those who were concealed.Indeed, nothing sheltered the travellers but the branches and leaves of plants, so pliant that they yielded to every current of air, and which a puff of wind a little stronger than common would have blown away.

Fortunately the line of sight carried the eyes of the two parties of savages, whether they stood in the water or on the land, above the bushes, and the leaves appeared blended in a way to excite no suspicion.Perhaps the very bold-ness of the expedient alone prevented an immediate ex-posure.The conversation which took place was conducted earnestly, but in guarded tones, as if those who spoke wished to defeat the intentions of any listeners.It was in a dialect that both the Indian warriors beneath, as well as the Pathfinder, understood.Even Jasper comprehended a portion of what was said.

"The trail is washed away by the water!" said one from below, who stood so near the artificial cover of the fugi-tives, that he might have been struck by the salmon-spear that lay in the bottom of Jasper's canoe."Water has washed it so clear that a Yengeese hound could not follow.""The pale-faces have left the shore in their canoes,"answered the speaker on the bank.

"It cannot be.The rifles of our warriors below are certain."The Pathfinder gave a significant glance at Jasper, and he clinched his teeth in order to suppress the sound of his own breathing.

"Let my young men look as if their eyes were eagles',"said the eldest warrior among those who were wading in the river."We have been a whole moon on the war-path, and have found but one scalp.There is a maiden among them, and some of our braves want wives."Happily these words were lost on Mabel; but Jasper's frown became deeper, and his face fiercely flushed.

The savages now ceased speaking, and the party which was concealed heard the slow and guarded movements of those who were on the bank, as they pushed the bushes aside in their wary progress.It was soon evident that the latter had passed the cover; but the group in the water still remained, scanning the shore with eyes that glared through their war-paint like coals of living fire.After a pause of two or three minutes, these three began also to descend the stream, though it was step by step, as men move who look for an object that has been lost.In this manner they passed the artificial screen, and Pathfinder opened his mouth in that hearty but noiseless laugh that nature and habit had contributed to render a peculiarity of the man.His triumph, however, was premature; for the last of the retiring party, just at this moment casting a look behind him, suddenly stopped; and his fixed atti-tude and steady gaze at once betrayed the appalling fact that some neglected bush had awakened his suspicions.