“He went so very suddenly I scarcely saw him,” the Quaker explained. “I only heard him scream.”
The meaning of it all came to Ree’s mind like a flash. The lone Indian, prowling along the opposite side of the ravine, had been attracted by the noise of their horses, and slipped up to find what was to be seen. He had come just in time to discover the Quaker in a ghost-like attitude, pointing into the valley meaningly, while his scalped crown and rigid quiet added to the supernatural appearance he made. Recognizing the horse and the rider, the latter a man whose scalp was even then fastened to his own belt, the Indian had been terrified beyond measure—thinking he saw a ghost—the ghost of one of his victims.
“I shall be greatly mistaken if he does not follow us to find out just exactly what he did see,” said Ree, explaining his supposition concerning the Indian’s fright. “There is no doubt but what he is watching from a distance at this very minute.”
And Ree was right. The lone Indian did follow at a respectful distance, and the fact that he did so was a fortunate thing for the young pioneers, as they afterward discovered.
CHAPTER XIII.
A CRY FROM THE DARKNESS.
“I’m mighty glad you’re home,” was John’s greeting as Ree and Mr. Hatch dismounted before the door. “There has been somebody prowling around the woods across the clearing, and it worried me. Honest truth, I believe it was that man Duff, though he looked like an Indian.”
“It was an Indian, all right,” Ree confidently answered, “our old friend, the vanisher. We, also, saw him, or rather, heard him, and I guess he was more scared than we were, wasn’t he, Mr. Hatch?”
“Verily, I was much frightened myself,” the Quaker answered, and then Ree told all about the experience beside the ravine.
John could not be certain that the person he had seen was not the lone Indian. It was during the afternoon, he said, that he noticed a movement among the bushes on the hillside across the clearing, and watching more closely, had made certain that some one was spying on him and the cabin.
“It made me so nervous that I got to thinking maybe some one was slipping up behind me, or maybe some one would get into the shanty while my back was turned, and all of a sudden I found myself as scared as I could be, and I jumped into the house and shut the door, almost sure that I was going to be killed the very next second. Ring clawed at the door a full minute before I could gather up my courage, and laughing because I felt myself so frightened, opened the door for him to come in.”