THE NOVELIST. WHAT BECAME OF HIM?

Saturday Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 123, 17 November 1877, Page 3

THE NOVELIST. WHAT BECAME OF HIM?

b-Mufifti! *bil !e bTnB INDIANS.'! muiltt {Continued.) .bl-ofloaiiofl : -msa&A

()'l • a zA MUc* OiVjL .JLZii};l*TTlo/ Following his comrade s example, and despoiling one of the dead’lndians of his weapon, our hero followed, although not without the most serious misgivings, the course pursued by his two companions. They crossed the grassy bottom of the hollow, mounted the rocky barrier beyond, and. plunged, headlong dbwn r the descent ! upbn < the - Side. J f In f an instatit theiair-WasMleel which 1 rose, from behind, 1 beforehand-on every whilst,,.from’' every bush' of fern or fissure' of rock, clernon-lilc o [ forms of liidians in their war paint sprang towards them. >( ' , ‘ f Saitcumvente(l,. by George !” exclaimed Tom, • wiio was in. advance. . t 6 c Back, ; Jim.! Back,* Dick I’ Back for .your lives! ' Another step,.apd nothing!can .save. y,e 1”.,.. It was too late, however, to retreat. . The way they had come was as well barred by Indians as that in front. :-The case looked a desperate one; .and in reality; had; but one advantage, that firearms, co.ulcl not be used by the enemy, as they wouldliave been, at least, as likely to shoot Indians as white men. Of course our hero and his party had no time to think of this. Indeed thought of any kind was clearly out of the question at such a moment. One thing the terrible nature of the emergency had done, however : it had restruiig the nerves and Sinews of each - of the the very uttermost. In a moment the-'lndians were hpon them. Back to back they stood by a Sort of instinct, to receive the onset V had they done otherwise not a soul of them would have lived to tell the tale. The sharp report ,of *, the revolvers' was almost drowned in the savage war yells of their enemies ; but tlie shots told, nevertheless. They were at close quarters, and every shot fired with ordinary coolness must be fatal. Three Indians fell close beside them. It had no effect, however, upon the others ; the charge was a terrible one. Again and again did the sharp crack of the revolvers tell of the death of some Indian, and still the shouts rose higher and more unearthly above the noise of the deadly firearms. It could not have lasted so long as it did had it not been that every Indian who fell went to increase the bulwark of our party against his friends. It was quite impossible, however, that it could last" arty longer ; the last barrel of the revolvers had been fired —the last Indian whom they could reasonably hope to conquef had added one more to the barrier, over which his companions fiercely swarmed to obtain revenge for his death. The natives saw how their enemies were situated, and they paused, as if by common instinct, to enhance the pleasure of revenge, by letting it hang for a few moments over their victims’ heads. “Poor critturs,” observed Tom, half turning towards his two companions ; “ poor critturs, they’ve had as good as ever they can give, I’ll warrant them. It’s all up now, though, with us, so we may as well shake hands and have done with it, like Englishmen and good mates.” Each stretched out his left hand silently (in his right he grasped the Indian tomahawk which he had picked up), and grasped, with a firm, nervous grasp, the hands of his two companions in succession. “Hurrah!” shouted Tom. “Now, you niggers, come on ; I’m man enough for one or two o’ ye, wi’ your own onchristian tommyhawk things.” His action, and the tone of his address, had the intended effect. The spell was broken : with a yell, yet more wildly savage than before, the Indians rushed upon them from all sides. Tom did indeed make good his words, for, possessed of a physical force far superior to that of any of his antagonists, and perfectly reckless as to his own personal safety, he hurled one after the other of his assailants backwards over the bodies of their comrades, generally either killed or severely wounded by the terrible blows which he dealt, now with onesidenow with the other, of the tomahawk in his hand. His efforts were seconded with surprising success by his companions., and for at least a minute they succeeded, although bleeding and faint, in stemming' the living stream of enemies that roared and leaped around them. It could not last. Our hero made a stroke at an Indian warrior, but, in stepping forward, his foot slipped in the clay already miry with blood, and he lost his balance and fell. At the same moment another native, avoiding the sledge-hammer-like blows dealt by Tom’s hatchet, sprang upon him obliquely, and succeeded in pinioning one arm : true, he fell dead next moment, but the circle'was broken —the end, to all appearance, had come at last. A severe cut in the shoulder had just stretched Jim amongst the heap of dead Indians, and another native was in the act of

burying his tomahawk in our hero's skull, when, to the utter amazenienjt of his .victim, who looked lip with an unßinbhing eye|iti his face, his arm- dropped' nerveless-by his side, his eyes set with 1 A glassy . stare, and he fell heavily and dead, upon the prostate bodyi.of our hero : he had. beeia shot ! The intense excitement of the moment prevented his comprehending>the. jcayiss qf,thiSt s .«dden rescue of himself from what appeared certain and instant death : a flood of tumultuous thoughts, and recollections seemed; to[befch'dking for a moment; and then he lost consciousness. No miracle, it need scarcely be said, had been wrought on his behalf : a rifle bullet, at-a; hundred yards,, ; hk 'feS fotliWabsolute had pierced his braid aslhe f r vi(ii§ J | ui' 'Actfto/.'srike. : , Np^'^as' If it; bjr solitary rifle bullet: from thiree sides, of the scehej of the conflict a volley ? rang out, clear ' and sharp, strecelling, not .a few iof. the lhdian braves dead upon the • ground. ilThe.lndians : .were, fco some .extent, . caught An ■ their own trap. ; They had congregated in considerable nuiribers into thet narrow valley which-1 have before described, * by : the desire of yerigeanoe upon the small party of Olii i:l hero.. They'had, indeed;’ placed scouts 'rqynd; the j valley, but these had soon become As wildly excited as their companions below, and had finally joined them ‘when the'moment of vengeance appeared at last to have‘‘come'. The diggers ; f had.'divided themselves into parties of about a hundred strong for the purpose of scouring the. country far and near, and of, if possible, exterminating the Indians, j Attracted by the sounds. of fighting, two of these parties arrived almost simultaneously at two different sides of bhe/scene pf t conflict. Spreading their forces, they embraced a third side, leaving none open but that which led to the ravine, of which we have already spoken. The Indians were taken by surprise, but.they ‘were still strong. Their numbers were probably no.tjimuch, - less than- those -of .their enemies, and a native warrior is never at; his best until the case seems all‘ but In a moment they turned-upon their-new foes, and in another a hot fire was being, exchanged, in which the superior excellence of the diggers’ weapons did not always 1 outbalance the- superior quickness of^movement and adroitness in finding shelter of their Indian antagonists. Every bush and every stone or fissure in the rock was taken advantage of by the wily savages, to enable them to on some sort of equality with the better-placed and better-armed diggers. The fight, consequently, ■ promised to be a long one ; and the sight of a had incautiously. exposed himself to the aim of an unseen marksman, falling dead or wounded every few minutes, rapidly wore! out the patience of the angry and excited diggers. Suddenly the Yankee, whose acquaintance we have already made in the capacity of Judge Lynch, reared liis tall ungainly figure upon a very conspicuous part of the rocky ridge that surrounded the hollow, in spite, and to all appearance unconscious, of the very dangerous nature of the experiment; and shouted at the top of his somewhat harsh voice—- “ Wal, neow, citizens, I guess this yer location aint o’ no kinder account. I reckon we'd better move a spell nearer, or I’ll be catamountaciously chawed up,—Guess I see ye, ye darned nigger, hold on a blissed minnit, will yer P” this in reply to a shot which passed within about half an inch of his head. “Neow, strangers, who’s a cornin’ for to try wot them Ingines is like, when ye gets ’em close to yer 1”

As he spoke, he leapt from his lofty position, so escaping about half a dozen bullets, some of which would certainly have put a stop to his speech, and with his rifle clubbed, rushed straight upon the Indian whom he had just before apostrophized so feelingly. With a shout, which rivalled in its wild ferocity the yell of the Indians, the whole force of the diggers poured in upon the enemy from every side but that leading to the precipitous ravine. For some minutes the sounds were absolutely indescribable, comprising, as they did, a mingling of all things horrible ; tlie crack of revolvers, the heavy muffled blow of the clubbed rifle, the sharp crash of of the tomahawk, mingled horribly with the shouts of the victors, the groans of the vanquished, whether - Indian or European, to form a medley of all that is dreadful in sound. The greater physical force of the white man soon asserted, as in a conflict like this it must always assert, its superiority. Not without severe loss, however, were the Indians swept from their favourite coverts, and driven, fiercely fighting, towards the precipice where the little stream, of which we have spoken already, emptied itself down. Here there was no cover for the Indians, and they might have been shot down one by one, had the diggers not been roused to that state of frenzy in which nothing short of hand to hand fighting is any relief to the feelings. They charged the body of Indians, and in a moment were mingled with them pele onele in indistinguishable conflict. Amongst the foremost of the whites was our friend Tom, who, although severely wounded in .many places, and comparatively faint with loss of blood, had yet summoned up strength enotqfli to assist in this last charge, supported in the effort —one otherwise quite beyond his strength—by the fierceness of the general excitement, enhanced in his particular case, by the conviction that the two companies w-ith whom he had done and suffered so much, had both fallen victims to the enemies. The natives were, however,

really afraid of Toni/"so he met with much less resistance, than he might have done. fight' had.' tiecome'siihply a series of ’single 1 . hess.ot' strength I 'of the combatants. • It : waa consequently' mudh sc altered, mos t' of tho Indians using evfery effort to get ’awuy from the,unpleasant position of being betwCen ’the '‘en^m^’and, could' 'not however,!; manage. was a powerfully built o lndian" whom Tom had at-, tacked,as lie, was making off, after striking who%ad l attacked-him. The struggle bet‘w.de ! n L the r tWd’ inbh'was a short •but a decisive one; Tom’s hatchet broke upon that of hi? foe,j arid.it was- only by the speed- With -• Which*3ie*dhreW Mip4hlsWother hand, that he saved_Jnmself, grasping the Indian’s arm with, his hand, lie gazed one moment/fiercely info.(the/ stolid countenance of the other; then suddenly struck so trec:mgiri|qus Pf mow With*the brok§n { -parf {ofi/ffisf&fiiftfe, tliWtlie’Tndtan s-ahk. without a. groan. Tom’s jStrepgth/Was.failing. He turned to’ see if there were any more ene- : mies but there woi’e none at hand. Nearest to him were twbt' combatautsj' whorseemed as nearly as l pdssibl^matchedji'as- they twisted and doubleddn-their efforts’ tothrow one another down. Neither, seemed able to do so, but little by little, almost imperceptibly, the savage who' seemed wounded/Was getting-his antagonist nearer' to the edge of the) precipice. -Tom would (fain have i; gone; to; his comrade’s assistance, b.ut '.fpuqd. himself too weak to 'rise from his; knees, on which he had gradually sunk, 1 overcome'."by 'loss bf blood and faintness arising from his • he could only gaze at- the struggle with a horribly fascinated interest, such as he had neverfelt vrbih be ' was himself in danger. He called out to warn, the white man of the danger prepared for him by his cunning enemy, J but his voice Was too' weak for so gre,at a distanceJie was • not heard. } .The struggle continued. At last/ with a l , short exclamation of triumph, the white man gob his hand free; 1 and 1 struck his 1 antagonist twice with the knife, jwhich he hehh The Indian slowly relaxed his grasp, and sank backwards. : As he did so, the conqueror’s foot slipped;* He tried to recover his balance* and failed. .. He fqlt that he. was sliding,over the terrific descent, and throwing .out his hands,".wildly caught a tuft of grass with each, clinging'with the strength ofMbspair. For a moment this seemed merely instinctiveas he did not exhibit any other signs of terror. When, however, he had made a desperate effort to raise himself once more to the top of the bank without success, and. heard the dull sound of the water far below, he began to comprehend .the . full danger of his situation. He glanced downwards, and shuddered so violently as to endanger the firmness of his hold; he then gazed wildly round in search of help. None seemed, within call, and in his deadly terror he had scarcely strength to shout for it. At last, however, he succeeded in doing so. The shriek that he gave, thrilled through Tom sopainfully, that the made a tremendous effort, and rising to his feet, staggered towards the spot. The other watched him with an almost unearthly expression of eager impatience. He came slowly, however, and stopped every few steps to rest. The terrible doubt dawned on the mind of the wretched man, and was vividly depicted upon his face—would he have strength to assist him if he did reach, him in time? The doubt was agony, and he scrutinized every step of the approaching succour with fearful anxiety. He was near now, and their eyes met. A strange flush rose to Tom’s cheek at the sight of who it was whom he was ti'ying to save; and a ghastly pallor overspread the parts of the other’s face that were visible through his. black hair. For an instant they gazed at one another. Neither tried to speak. Toni, stood perfectly still. , ? “ Help ! help! for the good God’s sake help me !” yelled, rather than, shouted, the miserable man at last. , / ; - , .>■ ? Tom did not move* he only tottered unsteadily as though in danger of falling. “Oh mercy ! help ! It was not my fault! not mine only ! I didn’t want the gold. I was bribed —paid to do it! Oh, heavens ! Mercy !” The shrieks of the despairing robber were fearful. u; n' ; :- \ A deep flush rose upon Tom’s cheek for an instant, and, with a great effort, he made n step forwards. The exertion, combined with the emotion, was too much, however his most severe wound burst out afresh: he staggered and fell; he was all but insensible ; but still as if by some horrible fascination, his eyes fixed themselves upon those of the robber juryman, who was hanging between life and death not two yards from him. ■ i: ; “ Mercy ! help ! mercy !” shouted once more the perishing wretch, as one handful of the grass by which he held gave way. With a cry of despair, he grsaped at another * missed it ; (swung for a moment by. one hand, then with his eyes fixed in a horrible upon Tom’s face, suddenly disappeared over the cliff! None heard the last cry of the traitor,the only man saved from the wreck of the Golden Promise. «■ {To be continued .)