FIGHT OF THE NATIVES FOR THE TRINKETS
Scouting in an unknown country, with assurances that foes may be in ambush at every turn, is not a rapid way of marching. Ordinarily, in the open road, a man will walk three or four miles an hour. But in a forest, where every tree may conceal a foe, it is quite different.
Muro was an expert in scouting work. He had had years of experience in this sort of life, and, moreover, was a chief of one of the most powerful tribes on the island.
He and his companion went directly east, in the most stealthy fashion, and, a half mile beyond they circled to the south, next swinging around to the north, so as to take in as wide a sweep as possible.
Before dark they obtained the first real traces of the tramp of feet, and as it was now too late to enable them to follow up the trail they went back toward the scene of the capture, so that they might thus be able to follow the trail easily the next morning.
It was very dark when they crept in and were halted by the sentries which John had posted. Harry was the first to greet Muro. "Have you found anything?"
"Yes," answered Muro. "We know the direction they have gone. In the morning we can go on from the place where we discovered the trail."
"How far is it from here?"
"More than ten miles."
The distance mentioned was in itself sufficient evidence that Muro had not wasted time.
They spent the remaining hours of the evening awaiting further news and it was fully ten o'clock before the sentry to the south reported the probable approach of Uraso. Harry leaped out from the circle, and followed the sentry. It was, indeed, Uraso who had been reporter.
"Tell me all about it," he requested, and Harry, with a voice full of pathos, told him how it happened. When he had finished, Uraso said:
"I was told by my father that somewhere here in the seas was an island where were found most terrible people, who killed every one they captured. I hope this is not the place." And Uraso did not say this to excite Harry's fears, but, like many natives, he was frank, and open in his speech.
"I hope there will be no trouble," was Harry's response.
"We need not worry about George," added Uraso. "The way that he was taken shows that they are taking him to the Chief. A boy like George would be likely to interest the Chief, at first for a time, and time is all we want."
"I am glad you have the same opinion as John," answered Harry.
John, Muro and Uraso held a conference that night. As a result Harry was comforted to know and feel that George was safe, and that within a day or two at most, they would be able to come up with the tribe.
The entire party now numbered thirty-five, all well armed. In the morning, as soon as it was light enough to see they were up, and after a quick breakfast Muro directed them along the trail made the night before, and the spot where Muro found the trace was reached about nine o'clock.
John and his party now spread out so as to take in a wide expanse, and they marched toward the east for fully two hours. Sometimes all traces would be lost, and then there would be a halt and a search, and the native wit of the scouts was generally acute enough to recover the trail.
During these periodical searches, one of the men bounded forward with a cry, as he held up a hand in which something was swinging.
As usual Harry was there like a shot. "That is George's chain," he cried out.
"Where did you find this?" asked John.
The scout rushed over to the place, and all followed. The ground about plainly showed the evidences of the struggle where George's captors fought for the possession of the watch.
The trail was beginning to get warm. It was readily followed for several miles, and then disappeared, but after patient hunting it came to light, and shortly[p. 105] after noon the spot was reached where the Chief came on the scene, and the appearance of the ground indicated that there must have been a large number in the party.
Here was an occasion where one great quality of many savage tribes stands out so prominently, and that is in determining the number of their enemies by the foot prints. Hundreds of imprints on the soil, crossing and recrossing each other, will to the untrained seem a hopeless riddle.
On one occasion on Wonder Island, John stated that one of a party they were trailing, was wounded in one of his legs. The explanation was simple: The pressure of the foot in the soil was less on the lame than on the sound leg, and the stride was uneven.
But the scouts had to decipher the peculiar imprint of each foot, and then compare it with all the others, in turn.
"I could tell the difference in the shape of a shoe from another," said Harry, "but I do not see how it is possible to tell one foot print from another."
"How do you distinguish people?" asked John.
"Well, usually, by their faces."
"Quite true. Now feet are just as different as faces are. But there are other ways by which we recognize people."
"Yes," was the response. "I can tell who many people are at distances so great that I cannot see their faces."
"How do you do that?"
"By the way they walk, by their size, or by some action that seems to be peculiar to them."
"The observations are correct," answered John. "At the same time, if all the men you knew happened to be in a crowd, and moving around among each other, you would be able to recognize and place each without any difficulty; is not that true!"
"Yes; and I think I understand the trend of your remark now."
"And what is that?"
"You mean to say that if the scouts are able to read, or to become acquainted with the foot prints, they can read them as readily as I would read the faces of my friends."
"That is the exact inference I wish to draw."
"Well, I want to see that done," and Harry followed up Uraso, and watched Muro, and the most intelligent of the scouts, while they carefully stepped over the ground, each being careful while doing so to step in the foot marks of the preceding scout.
"That is a curious thing to do," he remarked, as he turned to John.
"What is that?" the latter asked.
"Stepping in the tracks made by the leader."
"That is for the purpose of keeping the surface of the ground absolutely the same as the tribe left it."
"Well the boys seem to understand detective work pretty well."
All of them laughed at this complimentary allu[p. 107]sion, as it must be understood that all the scouts taken from the island had learned to speak the English language, and some of them, like Uraso, were exceptionally skilled.
When the different ones had gone over the ground thoroughly, John asked the opinion of the searchers.
"From my count there must have been twenty-four," remarked Uraso.
Muro smiled, as he said: "Uraso is mistaken, there are twenty-five." Uraso was not at all perturbed, but walked over to the surveyed plot and said: "The most prominent one is the fellow with the spreading toes. See! here is his left foot. See that broad foot is all around the place. This broad foot with a toe missing, is another fellow; and here are two with rather long feet, you can see them all about, and they are, no doubt, active fellows."
"Well, that is picking them out plainly enough," remarked Harry.
"But," continued Uraso, "I want you to look at this foot. It is the largest I ever saw."
"I am satisfied that fellow is the Chief," remarked Muro.
"There is evidence of that here too," said Uraso, as Muro nodded his head.
Harry looked on in bewilderment. "Assuredly that is something new. How do you know that?" he asked.
"The best indication is," said Uraso, "that the fellow with the big feet does very little walking, and all the other fellows have danced about him."
Harry laughed, and was satisfied. "That was certainly clever," he remarked. "But why shouldn't they be clever. These boys are the finest and bravest in the world," and Uraso and Muro smiled and were happy at this encomium of the boy they all loved so much.
"The last foot I have counted is that little sawed-off sample that has danced all around the edge; see it here, and here!"
Muro walked forward, and, stooping down, pointed to the imprint of a shoe, said: "That is our boy's shoe."
Uraso laughed, as he admitted neglecting George's presence in the crowd of prints. "But I have found something else. George has had an interview with the Chief. He has been making some explanations to the Chief about his revolver."
John smiled, and kept his eye on a tree to the right.
"And how do you know that?" asked Harry.
Uraso walked over to the tree, after picking up something, and pointed to a cut-out in the side of the tree. It was the mark of the bullet, and the circular cut which George had made that John had observed, and which had been noticed by Uraso and Muro.
"The scene here looks very promising to me," said John.
"Yes, it is better and better," remarked Muro.
"But you haven't told us yet, how you know that George was interviewing the Chief."
"Come here and I will show you. Now look[p. 109] closely at the foot prints of George. Then observe the indications as to the attitude of the Chief. George goes up to the Chief. They turn around. Here is a shell. Beyond is the tree where they had the mark, and here are the tracks of the Chief and George as they go up to the tree."
Harry was now convinced. It must be said, however, that many of the marks made were so illy-defined, that it required extraordinary vision to observe them, and this is what Harry marveled at.
"What you say only proves the value of minute observation," remarked John. "Those who are not accustomed to see these things, can not detect what are very plain markings. Sometimes a slightly torn leaf, under certain conditions, will tell a story in itself,—just such a commonplace and ordinary thing as a ruptured leaf."
The consensus of opinion was that there were fully twenty-five in the party counting George, and it is remarkable that when the matter was afterwards investigated it was found that Uraso's count was right.
There were six in the party which took George, twelve who surrounded the party before the Chief arrived, and five more were with him when he came up.
Another consultation was held. John remarked: "I am of the opinion that the people who have captured George are not at all bad, or vindictive. Therefore we must exercise care and not needlessly injure any of them. I need not say that it is our[p. 110] purpose here to aid the people, to make friends of them, and not enemies."
"That is in accordance with our wish," said Uraso, with the approval of all present.
"It is perfectly evident that these people, in taking George, did what most people in a savage condition would do. The great and overshadowing trait in humanity is to acquire something. It is just possible that the cartridge belt, or the field glasses, or the buttons on his coat were of more importance to them than George himself."
"Then you mean they had to get George to get the buttons," said Harry, laughing in his relief.
"Of course," answered John, and Muro laughed aloud, as he recalled his first experiences with the boys.
"John has hit upon the very thing which is at the bottom of the whole business. All we wanted was to get the trinket, and the prisoner belonged to the Chief."
"Or to the Krishnos," remarked Muro.
"Well we might as well go on if we can find the trail," remarked John.
"Yes, it is plain enough now," answered one of them.
"But let us exercise caution," remarked John. "Move along slowly and keep a sharp lookout on our flanks."
Harry was walking by the side of Uraso. There had always been a warm friendship between the two. Lolo, Uraso's favorite son, was Harry's age, and the[p. 111] two were companions, and this was a source of great joy to the Chief, for Uraso was the head man of the Osagas, and one of the most progressive of all the prominent men.
Harry was dangling the chain which had been found in the morning. "I have been wondering why he dropped this!" he asked.
"I have an idea that it was lost in the fight for the possession of the watch."
"The fight? Why did they have a fight?"
"Well, the ground where the chain was found looked very much like it."
"I don't see why the fellows don't agree to divide up things properly when they get them, instead of scrambling for them in that way!"
"You can see it is perfectly natural for them to fight for it under the circumstances. They do not understand anything but power."
"I should think the loser would be resentful, and try to even it up on the other fellow," remarked Harry.
"On the other hand, the moment the stronger fellow wins, that is the end of the dispute. The best one won. In his creed there is no other argument. That is the savage's religion. You people have told us differently. The Professor has often said: 'There is only this difference between us, with you, might is right; with us right is might.'"
"Well, what do you really think about it now?" asked Harry.
Uraso did not smile, as he remarked somewhat[p. 112] sadly: "It took me a long time to understand that. How could right be might? At first it looked foolish, and Muro and I talked it over many times. Then Oma, and Tastoa and Oroto, the other Chiefs, spoke to me about it. But while I did not understand it I had faith in the Professor.
"Then we went to Unity, and built the town, and the people began to go there, and when we saw the Professor, and the way he treated every one, never doing a wrong to anybody, we could not believe that he was sane. But everywhere we went we heard people talking about him, and the way he acted, and we saw all the white people do the same as the Professor did, we noticed that no one would dare say a word against the Professor, or John.
"We marveled at that. The Professor went out among the people of all the tribes, and never carried a weapon of any kind. But no one would have dared to injure him. If a man had even attempted to injure him the people would have torn him to pieces. Then I understood. Right was and is Might, but it takes a savage a long time to understand it, and he must learn it from something practical that comes to him in every day life; he will never know it in any other way."
Harry walked on in silence.