The Headless Horseman Part 66

With his crutch he succeeded in detaching some of the nuts; and on these broke his fast.

What was the next step to be taken?

To stir away from the spot was simply impossible. The slightest movement gave him pain; at the same time a.s.suring him of his utter inability to go anywhere.

He was still uncertain as to the nature of the injuries he had sustained--more especially that in his leg, which was so swollen that he could not well examine it. He supposed it to be either a fracture of the knee-cap, or a dislocation of the joint. In either case, it might be days before he could use the limb; and what, meanwhile, was he to do?

He had but little expectation of any one coming that way. He had shouted himself hoa.r.s.e; and though, at intervals, he still continued to send forth a feeble cry, it was but the intermittent effort of hope struggling against despair.

There was no alternative but stay where he was; and, satisfied of this, he stretched himself along the sward, with the resolve to be as patient as possible.

It required all the stoicism of his nature to bear up against the acute agony he was enduring. Nor did he endure it altogether in silence. At intervals it elicited a groan.

Engrossed by his sufferings, he was for a while unconscious of what was going on around him. Still above him wheeled the black birds; but he had become accustomed to their presence, and no longer regarded it--not even when, at intervals, some of them swooped so near, that he could hear the "wheep" of their wings close to his ears.

Ha! what was that--that sound of different import?

It resembled the pattering of little feet upon the sandy channel of the stream, accompanied by quick breathings, as of animal in a state of excitement.

He looked around for an explanation.

"Only the coyotes!" was his reflection, on seeing a score of these animals flitting to and fro, skulking along both banks of the stream, and "squatting" upon the gra.s.s.

Hitherto he had felt no fear--only contempt--for these cowardly creatures.

But his sentiments underwent a change, on his noticing their looks and att.i.tudes. The former were fierce; the latter earnest and threatening.

Clearly did the coyotes mean mischief.

He now remembered having heard, that these animals--ordinarily innocuous, from sheer cowardice--will attack man when disabled beyond the capability of defending himself. Especially will they do so when stimulated by the smell of blood.

His had flowed freely, and from many veins--punctured by the spines of the cactus. His garments were saturated with it, still but half dry.

On the sultry atmosphere it was sending forth its peculiar odour. The coyotes could not help scenting it.

Was it this that was stirring them to such excited action--apparently making them mad?

Whether or not, he no longer doubted that it was their intention to attack him.

He had no weapon but a bowie knife, which fortunately had kept its place in his belt. His rifle and pistols, attached to the saddle, had been carried off by his horse.

He drew the knife; and, resting upon his right knee, prepared to defend himself.

He did not perform the action a second too soon. Emboldened by having been so long left to make their menaces unmolested--excited to courage by the smell of blood, stronger as they drew nearer--stimulated by their fierce natural appet.i.tes--the wolves had by this time reached the turning point of their determination: which was, to spring forward upon the wounded man.

They did so--half a dozen of them simultaneously--fastening their teeth upon his arms, limbs, and body, as they made their impetuous onset.

With a vigorous effort he shook them off, striking out with his knife.

One or two were gashed by the s.h.i.+ning blade, and went howling away. But a fresh band had by this time entered into the fray, others coming up, till the a.s.sailants counted a score. The conflict became desperate, deadly. Several of the animals were slain. But the fate of their fallen comrades did not deter the survivors from continuing the strife.

On the contrary, it but maddened them the more.

The struggle became more and more confused--the coyotes crowding over one another to lay hold of their victim. The knife was wielded at random; the arm wielding it every moment becoming weaker, and striking with less fatal effect. The disabled man was soon further disabled. He felt fear for his life. No wonder--death was staring him in the face.

At this crisis a cry escaped his lips. Strange it was not one of terror, but joy! And stranger still that, on hearing it, the coyotes for an instant desisted from their attack!

There was a suspension of the strife--a short interval of silence. It was not the cry of their victim that had caused it, but that which had elicited the exclamation.

There was the sound of a horse's hoofs going at a gallop, followed by the loud baying of a hound.

The wounded man continued to exclaim,--in shouts calling for help. The horse appeared to be close by. A man upon his back could not fail to hear them.

But there was no response. The horse, or horseman, had pa.s.sed on.

The hoof-strokes became less distinct. Despair once more returned to the antagonist of the coyotes.

At the same time his skulking a.s.sailants felt a renewal of their courage, and hastened to renew the conflict.

Once more it commenced, and was soon raging fiercely as before--the wretched man believing himself doomed, and only continuing the strife through sheer desperation.

Once more was it interrupted, this time by an intruder whose presence inspired him with fresh courage and hope.

If the horseman had proved indifferent to his calls for help, not so the hound. A grand creature of the staghound species--of its rarest and finest breed--was seen approaching the spot, uttering a deep sonorous bay, as with impetuous bound it broke through the bushes.

"_A friend! thank Heaven, a friend_!"

The baying ceased, as the hound cleared the selvage of the chapparal, and rushed open-mouthed among the cowed coyotes--already retreating at his approach!

One was instantly seized between the huge jaws; jerked upward from the earth; shaken as if it had been only a rat; and let go again, to writhe over the ground with a shattered spine!

Another was served in a similar manner; but ere a third could be attacked, the terrified survivors dropped their tails to the sward, and went yelping away; one and all retreating whence they had come--into the silent solitudes of the chapparal.

The rescued man saw no more. His strength was completely spent. He had just enough left to stretch forth his arms, and with a smile close them around the neck of his deliverer. Then, murmuring some soft words, he fainted gradually away.

His syncope was soon over, and consciousness once more a.s.sumed away.

Supporting himself on his elbow, he looked inquiringly around.

It was a strange, sanguinary spectacle that met his eyes. But for his swoon, he would have seen a still stranger one. During its continuance a horseman had ridden into the glade, and gone out again. He was the same whose hoofstroke had been heard, and who had lent a deaf ear to the cries for help. He had arrived too late, and then without any idea of offering a.s.sistance. His design appeared to be the watering of his horse.

The animal plunged straight into the streamlet, drank to its satisfaction, climbed out on the opposite bank, trotted across the open ground, and disappeared in the thicket beyond.

The rider had taken no notice of the prostrate form; the horse only by snorting, as he saw it, and springing from side to side, as he trod amidst the carcases of the coyotes.

The horse was a magnificent animal, not large, but perfect in all his parts. The man was the very reverse--having no head!

There was a head, but not in its proper place. It rested against the holster, seemingly held in the rider's hand!

A fearful apparition.

The dog barked, as it pa.s.sed through the glade, and followed it to the edge of the underwood. He had been with it for a long time, straying where it strayed, and going where it went.