At that instant consciousness returned. Rupert opened his eyes, and seeing the gleaming knife lifted high in the air, sent up a swift but silent cry to God for help.
The Indian's hold upon his hair suddenly relaxed, and the knife was returned to his belt. He had changed his mind, as he gave his companions to understand in a few words quite unintelligible to Rupert, who was indeed again fast losing consciousness; an answering sentence or two came indistinctly to his ear as sounds from the far distance; then he knew nothing more for a time, how long he could not tell; but on recovering consciousness he found himself strapped to the back of an Indian pony which was slowly toiling up a steep ascent; a narrow path winding round a mountain; on the right a rocky wall, on the other a sheer descent of many hundred feet.
Rupert turned dizzy, sick, and faint as he caught a glimpse of the frightful precipice, the foaming stream and jagged rocks at its base; and but for the thongs that bound him firmly to the back of his steed, he must inevitably have fallen and been dashed to pieces upon them.
He could not in that first moment remember what had befallen him, and called in a faint voice upon his brother, "Don, where are we?"
No reply, and he called again, more faintly than before, for he was very weak from pain and loss of blood, "Don, Don!"
An Indian's "Ugh!" and a few words in an unknown tongue answered him from the rear.
The sounds were guttural and harsh, and seemed to him to command silence.
Instantly he comprehended that he was a prisoner and in whose hands; sorely wounded too, for every movement of his pony gave him exquisite pain; and now memory recalled the events of the afternoon—the chase, the stinging shot, the fall from his horse, then the waking as from a dream, to feel the grasp upon his hair and see the scalping-knife held aloft in the air and just ready to descend upon his devoted head.
Question upon question crowded upon his mind. Where were his late companions, Morton and Smith? were they killed? were they prisoners like himself? or had they escaped? Had the train been attacked; and if so, what was the result? Oh, above all, where was Don, the younger brother, over whom he was to have watched with paternal care? He would have defended Don's life and liberty with his own; but, alas, the opportunity was denied him.