Two Arrows Part 22

"Right in this direction. Riding hard. Hurrah!"

The new rifle of Two Arrows could not have won him the glory of that discovery and announcement. Once more the peculiar advantages of pale-faces over red men were forced upon him, but somehow it did but stir up his ambition, and with it a quick, daring impulse. He sprang away up the valley for a horse. He rushed in among the gathered animals of the corral, and boldly picked out his father's best and swiftest mustang, a beast that could run like the wind. He asked for no saddle, and the bridle went on as if by magic.

Sile came down from his perch at a rate that risked his neck, and made a report which drew from Yellow Pine,

"I'd call it--Jedge, if we could only let them fellers know we're here, it would be wuth a heap."

Before all who echoed that wish had finished speaking Two Arrows came das.h.i.+ng towards the barrier, all ready for the errand.

"Give the youngster three cheers!" shouted Yellow Pine. "Hurrah for him!"

CHAPTER x.x.x

A DARING RIDE

For the moment there was not one Apache horseman lingering within reach of the sharpshooters at the gap, and it was possible to get away from it unseen. All peril would come afterwards, but there was a vast amount of it, and the proposed errand of Two Arrows called for unlimited courage.

His light weight upon a fresh racer gave him some advantage over heavy warriors upon horses already hard ridden, but this fact did not cover the whole question by any means, for a bullet will travel faster than the swiftest mustang. Sile did his best to communicate every fact that his spy-gla.s.s had given him; Long Bear said "Ugh!" with a deep and expressive intonation; the logs were removed from the entrance; and then Na-tee-kah's heart beat terribly, for she saw her hero brother dash forth all alone, she could not guess why nor whither. Then there was another sudden commotion, for Yellow Pine shouted, and Long Bear echoed it in his own tongue,

"Mount, men! Mount and be ready, every mother's son of ye! I'm jest going to back that there young catamount if it costs me my hair!"

There was the swiftest kind of saddling and mounting, and not a Nez Perce boy old enough to draw a bow was willing to be left behind. When, therefore, the whole force rode out upon the slope in front of the notch, it looked a good deal stronger than it really was. All that work required many minutes, and during all of these the daring young messenger had been doing capitally.

Leaving the gap, he wheeled his fleet mustang to the right and dashed away until he deemed himself within reach of a small grove of trees, around which he could sweep back into the right course to reach the cavalry. It was an acute enough calculation, but out of that very bit of bushy timber came first a brace of rifle-bullets and then a pair of mounted Apaches, as soon as these believed that they had let him go far enough. That is, they rode out to cut off his return, and they both failed to do him or his horse any harm. It was a race now, with the chances against the pursuers, and Two Arrows sent back a derisive whoop as he struck out straight for what he believed to be his mark. He understood in an instant that he had escaped the main body of his enemies, but there was no telling when he might meet one of their smaller squads. He felt in every fibre of his body that he was now armed as a warrior, and was doing the work of a warrior and of an uncommonly daring brave. His heart beat with fierce delight and hope, and his very mustang seemed to feel the excitement, and went forward with long, eager bounds. The wind was in his face, and now it brought him something. It was a faint sound, and far away, but it was the bugle-note which bade Captain Grover's men to change their trot to a gallop.

The little force of cavalry had taken upon them no small risk in das.h.i.+ng forward, now that they had a better knowledge of the strength of their opponents. It was almost rashness, but it was such a facing of odds as our gallant soldiers are all the while doing. There was nothing exceptional about it, terrible as have been the disasters now and then resulting. Captain Grover determined to gain whatever might be gained by promptly following up his first success, and so he had well used all the minutes the Apache chief was wasting. At about the time when the latter had decided that there must be an effort made to recover the lost plunder, unless the cavalry should prove too numerous, Captain Grover had ridden far enough to make good the military plan of a young Nez Perce chief. His own spy-gla.s.s was at work from every rising ground he came to, and now it brought an exclamation from him:

"What's up now? One chased by two? Forward! Gallop!"

Two Apache braves, already very sure they could not catch the rider they were chasing, wheeled quickly and rode in the opposite direction, and in a few moments more Two Arrows was rapidly explaining the situation to Captain Grover. It was a very plain one, and not a second was wasted in considering it. Again the word was "forward," and the remaining distance to be travelled was not great. The decision of the Apaches to advance was likely to make it shorter, but that was an unpleasant time for the chief in command of those unlucky red men. Just as two of his braves came in to inform him that a messenger from the men among the rocks had reached the cavalry, another announced that all the pale-faces and Nez Perces had come out from the rocks to fight and were "heap strong." Nor was that the whole of it, for one of his scouts from the rear dashed up with the news that yet another party of Nez Perces was coming, he did not know how many. These were the fellows sent through the pa.s.s for the "cached" property, but what Apache could say how many more might follow?

or how many more blue-coated veterans might be at hand?

It looked for all the world as if that enterprising band of Apache "business men" were surrounded and trapped. They had already lost all the proceeds of their season's hard work, and the rest of their stock in trade, of all sorts, was pretty sure to follow. More consultation was absolutely necessary, and before it was over Sile could announce, from his perch upon the rock,

"Coming! I can see Two Arrows."

Then there was a cheering, and Na-tee-kah felt all but proud of the noise made by the Big Tongue--there was so very much of it.

"Forward, men!" shouted Judge Parks. "We must be on hand. Come down, Sile. Keep near _me_."

Sile was down and mounted in a moment, but there was to be no great battle that day. The Apache "council of war" lasted until it could hear the cavalry bugle and the distant whoop of the Big Tongue. It could not hear the howl of One-eye, for that brave animal was sitting in the very entrance of the barrier guarding the notch, all alone except for the squaws. It was better to go upon any reservation, and to promise any amount and degree of good behavior, than to spend the remainder of that fine day in being shot and sabred. So the council decided, and so, in due and dignified form, they announced to Captain Grover, before he had an opportunity to bid his veterans charge.

The official duty of the captain, after that, was to disarm his captives, the weapons to be all returned upon reaching the reservation, and to order them at once into a camp by themselves, under a guard. Word was sent to Garry and his men to move the quadrupeds down the river as fast as possible, the prisoners there being untied and sent to their main body. Rapid orders were given, and were mingled with as rapid conversations with Judge Parks, Yellow Pine, and Long Bear.

"Where's that messenger?" suddenly exclaimed Captain Grover, after he had listened to the facts as to the sending of Two Arrows. There was a glow upon the brave soldier's face, and he was unbuckling the flap of one of his holsters, for he was yet in the saddle.

Two Arrows was summoned and came forward, and a great many eyes were upon him.

"Young brave!" said Captain Grover emphatically. "I never heard of a pluckier volunteer in all my life. Take that; keep your head level, that's all. You've more courage than you've any real need of."

"That" was a handsome silver-mounted army revolver. Given in that way it was a mark of distinction for a great chief to be proud of, and Long Bear, indeed, was nearly as proud as was Two Arrows.

"There, Sile," said his father; "see that you do as well with your advantages as that Nez Perce boy has done with his."

"I will, father; but why could he not have some more? What is to hinder him from going to school? There's all my gold, now, in the wagon; I'd spend a good deal of it."

"Sile, my boy, I've been thinking of it. We will do it. It's a good thing. The girl too."

It was time now for Captain Grover to ride in and see the notch and the mine, and to get the best dinner the miners and Ha-ha-pah-no could cook for him and his men. Then it was time for Na-tee-kah to go nearly wild with pride over her brother and his revolver. After that there was a long consultation between Long Bear and his children and Judge Parks and Sile. Two Arrows seemed to be inclined to say very little at first. He sat with his new rifle across his lap, and his priceless revolver resting upon that, and One-eye came and sat down beside him. Long Bear himself seemed to be in doubt as his pale-face friends urged upon him the advantages of their offer. He was hardly able to see what good there could be in the learning of the white men for a red horseman of the plains; but at last Two Arrows motioned to Sile for his spy-gla.s.s, hanging at his side. He took it and looked through it at the distant mountains, and then turned to Long Bear and pointed at them, saying,

"Look! See!"

"Ugh!" said the old chief, "see heap."

"Now look. See," said Two Arrows, "see big heap."

"Ugh! Big medicine," said Long Bear, handing the gla.s.s to Sile, but Two Arrows arose and stood proudly erect, rifle in hand.

"Will you go?" asked Sile.

"Go," said Two Arrows. "Good friend. Go. Got Nez Perce eye now; want pale-face eye."

"Ugh!" exclaimed Long Bear; "what Na-tee-kah say?"

The question was put to her, but it was hardly needful, after she found that Two Arrows was to go. She was willing to learn anything he did, and she was not even daunted by quick mental vision of a white lady with her bonnet on. She would even wear the dress of a pale-face squaw if Two Arrows would put on such things as were worn by the Red-head. So it was settled, although it would be a number of weeks before the judge and Sile could set out for their eastern home.

At several points in the East there are schools designed and maintained for the special education of Indian girls and boys, only needing greater help from men and women who have money intrusted to them by the Giver.

Among all the tribes of the West, and in every band, Na-tee-kah and Two Arrows wait to be found and enticed into a training that is for their everlasting good and for that of their race.

THE END

HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE'S SERIES

NEW LARGE-TYPE EDITION

TOBY TYLER James Otis MR. STUBBS'S BROTHER James Otis TIM AND TIP James Otis RAISING THE "PEARL" James Otis ADVENTURES OF BUFFALO BILL W. F. Cody DIDDIE, DUMPS AND TOT Mrs. L. C. Pyrnelle MUSIC AND MUSICIANS Lucy C. Lillie THE CRUISE OF THE CANOE CLUB W. L. Alden THE CRUISE OF THE "GHOST" W. L. Alden MORAL PIRATES W. L. Alden A NEW ROBINSON CRUSOE W. L. Alden PRINCE LAZYBONES Mrs. W. J. Hays THE FLAMINGO FEATHER Kirk Munroe DERRICK STERLING Kirk Munroe CHRYSTAL, JACK & CO. Kirk Munroe WAKULLA Kirk Munroe THE ICE QUEEN Ernest Ingersoll THE RED MUSTANG W. O. Stoddard THE TALKING LEAVES W. O. Stoddard TWO ARROWS W. O. Stoddard

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS