“Down!” came the voice of Jack, harshly. “Don’t look up! Down!”
His weeks in the wilderness had not been without their effect upon the young Virginian. He had learned that if a thing must be done in the forest, one must do it promptly and without question. So he at once dropped to the earth; as he did so a flight of arrows sped over his head, and a dozen bullets hummed their course through the trees.
“Red Sticks,” said Running Elk, from behind the gnarled stem of a cottonwood. He fitted an arrow to his bow, and as Frank, astounded by the suddenness of the attack, gazed at him the taut string twanged, and a shrill cry from across the river told of a victim.
Almost at the same moment the long rifle of Jack Davis spoke, and a second yell arose, proving the sureness of his aim. Frank now turned his eyes upon the point of land upon which stood the triple oaks; to his surprise, he saw among the trees all the evidences of a Creek encampment; and a new flight of arrows and volley of rifle shots from behind rocks, stumps and trees, told of the hiding places of the savages.
By great good fortune, the boys’ horses, at the first sound of the rifles of the hostiles, had broken away from their slight restraint and galloped off into the woods, unhurt.
“Keep close to the ground,” warned Jack, “and after them. We must not lose sight of our mounts, or we’re done for.”
Running Elk slipped from tree to tree; Jack crawled along the earth with the supple movements of a snake. Frank followed suit, and in spite of the continuous flight of arrows, they reached unharmed the thick cover of the trees some distance from the river’s brink.
By great good fortune, the packhorse, which was a wise old beast, had brought up a few hundred yards away; and naturally the other horses stopped also, and so were easily caught. The boys sprang upon their backs and went tearing away through the aisles of the forest; and as they did so they heard the yells of the Indians, who now for the first time became aware of their flight.
“Do you think they’ll follow?” asked Frank, as he and Jack rode side by side for a space where the woods was not so dense.
“They will if they have noticed how few we are,” replied the young borderer. “And if they cross the river, our tracks will tell them that.”