WITHIN THE FORT
"Anything doing?" inquired Jim.
"I saw one Indian," I replied, "when I went down to the end of the rock trail and I hit him with a stone."
"Struck him out the first thing," grinned Jim.
"Sure."
"Well, no stones for me," said Jim, "if I see one of those red beggars I will give him the lead."
"How did you sleep?" I asked.
"Fine," he replied, "why not? That brush was soft and the fire kept me comfortable."
"I'll try it myself," I said and curled up in the nest that Jim had just vacated.
"Now don't be alarmed," said Jim, "if you hear an occasional shot. You won't need to show up unless you hear two or three in succession. Santa and I will defend the fort now, so you can take things easy."
"That suits me," I replied, "don't forget to take your umbrella and be sure and don't get your feet wet."
"You needn't worry, my boy, I will take care of myself."
Then Jim crawled out of the door and disappeared in the darkness, followed by Santa. I can not explain why, but I felt perfectly comfortable and entirely safe and was soon fast asleep.
The next thing I knew, Jim was standing over me.
"Were you going to sleep all day?" he inquired.
"Why, it is daylight," I exclaimed, sitting up, "and it has cleared too."
For I saw a patch of sunshine laid like a mat in front of the door of our camp.
"It's a fine day for hunting Apaches," remarked Jim.
"Anything happened while I was asleep?" I enquired.
"All quiet along the Potomac," replied Jim. "Santa Anna had one growling spell, but I guess it was the stomach ache. I skirmished around below the rock but I couldn't find anything."
"You idiot," I said, "didn't you know better than that. It's a wonder that they didn't get you."
"I guess you scared 'em so when you flung the rock at the dark brother that they haven't dared to peep since."
"I suppose that we might as well sit down to our frugal meal," I suggested.
It certainly was as I described it and it made me feel pretty gloomy when I thought how short we were for food and water, especially the latter. Just then we heard a deep growl from Santa, whom Jim had left at the head of the trail on guard.
In a second Jim and I had sprung out on deck to find out the cause of the disturbance. We found Santa barring the way so that Piute and Coyote could not go down the trail.
"Good dog," said Jim, patting him on the head. "The ponies are thirsty, I reckon, and thought that they would go for water. Lucky Santa stopped them."
"We will have to fix it so they can't escape," I said.
This we had no great difficulty in doing. It was the most exciting incident of the day. We found that the Apaches were on the alert, for whenever one of us showed himself, just the lift of the head, there came a quick shot or the unerring flight of an arrow.
"It's lucky for us," remarked Jim, "that this is a wide valley instead of a canyon, for if they could climb up anywhere and get the drop on us our goose would be cooked."
"Look a here," I said, when a lucky shot just grazed the top of my head, "we can improve on this situation by making some loopholes."
"Sure," replied Jim, "that's the idea. Why didn't we think of it before?"
After this was done we could carry on our observations safely.
"Hello, look a here, Jim," I called some time later. "There's some more Indians coming to the rendezvous."
Jim came over and took a squint through the loophole.
"That is a jolly looking crowd coming up the valley. Must be fifty of them and they have got on their spring paint too. Ain't they beauts?" said Jim.
To me they looked like demons with horrid creases of red and yellow paint on their faces that gave them a haggard ferociousness.
"We haven't had anything to say for a long time," remarked Jim, "it's just about time that we showed them that we are taking a little interest in these proceedings."
He brought his rifle up and laid his clinched cheek against it as he aimed at the foremost of the pack. One Indian whirled suddenly around and dropped, badly wounded. The rest of them disappeared in a flash.
There came a fierce volley from a hundred rifles and a white flight of arrows from the concealed Indians. They kept it up for awhile, too, in a burst of savage rage that sent a chill to my heart.
The rocks around and back of us were spattered with lead, but that was the extent of the damage.
"You got a salute that time for fair, Jim," I said.
"Yes," he replied, "and I got the Indian."
"Don't take another chance like that," I begged.
"Not till the next time," he replied.
So the day wore on, with occasional flurries like the above to keep things moving. If the day before had been stormy and rainy, this made up for it. The sun shone with the strong directness of the higher altitudes. All the moisture had been dried up on top of our rock.
The horses began to get restless for water. Jim moistened their tongues as best he could, but we had to be saving of our little supply of water.
The night passed with even less of incident than the previous one. It was evident that the Indians were perfectly satisfied with their waiting game, as well they might. It looked a sure thing.
The next day things looked bad for us. There seemed a peculiar sultriness in the air that was unusual in the mountains. There was a smoky haze over everything.
"It looks like Indian summer," said Jim.
"Indeed, it ought to with that crowd down there," I said.
"That's a good one," grinned Jim, "I wonder if those guys wouldn't appreciate the joke. Come up here, big Injun, I want to tell you something."
But none of them accepted Jim's cordial invitation. A few of the more cultured and learned swore at us in bad English. But I guess all swearing is bad English.
As the day wore on I began to suffer acutely from thirst. I shall never forget that longing for water. It seemed as if I would be willing to sacrifice my life for a good, full, everlasting drink of the cool mountain stream that was gurgling only a few hundred feet away. But as far as getting to it was concerned, it might just as well have been in York State.
"I hope that Tom and the captain don't discover us and try to rescue us," said Jim, "for I very much fear it would be a great risk to no purpose."
"What do you expect to do?" I asked Jim. "We can't stand this many days."
"We will see to-night," remarked Jim, mysteriously.
I doubt if he really had any plan in mind. This was just to encourage me with the hope of some way of escape.
"Just look at the smoke rolling over the mountains, Jim!" I exclaimed.
It was about the middle of the afternoon and we had been so busy reconnoitering that we probably had not discovered it at first.
"It looks like a tremendous forest fire," said Jim, "and we will see it before night."
"What are we going to do if it comes our way?" I asked. "We will be perfectly helpless."