“Well, my white father,” he said, “I see no reason why I should not explain the matter to my daddy’s old friend; but I’ll have to say my say smartly, for by the stamping and yells o’ the rep—o’ the Blackfeet overhead, I perceive that they’ve got hold o’ my case-bottle o’ rum, an’ if I don’t stop them they’ll pull the old hut down about their ears.
“Well, you must know that my daddy left the settlements in his young days,” continued Big Tim, “an’ took to a rovin’ life on the prairies an’ mountains, but p’r’aps he told you that long ago. No? Well, he served for some time at a queer sort o’ trade—the makin’ o’ fireworks; them rediklous things they call squibs, crackers, rockets, an’ Roman candles, with which the foolish folk o’ the settlements blow their money into smoke for the sake o’ ticklin’ their fancies for a few minutes.
“Well, when he came here, of course he had no use for sitch tomfooleries, but once or twice, when he wanted to astonish the natives, he got hold o’ some ’pothicary’s stuff an’ wi’ gunpowder an’ charcoal concocted some things that well-nigh drove the red men out o’ their senses, an’ got daddy to be regarded as a great medicine-man. Of course he kep’ it secret how he produced the surprisin’ fires—an’, to say truth, I think from my own experience that if he had tried to explain it to ’em they could have made neither head nor tail o’t. For a long time arter that he did nothin’ more in that way, till one time when the Blackfeet came an’ catched daddy an’ me nappin’ in this very hut and we barely got off wi’ the scalps on our heads by scrambling down the precipice where the reptiles didn’t like to follow. When they left the place they took all our odds an’ ends wi’ them, an’ set fire to the hut. Arter they was gone we set to work an’ built a noo hut. Then daddy—who’s got an amazin’ turn for inventin’ things—set to work to concoct suthin’ for the reptiles if they should pay us another visit. It was at that time he thought of turnin’ this cave to account as a place o’ refuge when hard pressed, an’ hit on the plan for liftin’ the big stone easy, which no doubt you’ve obsarved.”
“Yes; Softswan has explained it to me. But what about your plan with the Indians?” said the preacher.
“I’m comin’ to that,” replied the hunter. “Well, daddy set to work an’ made a lot o’ fireworks—big squibs, an’ them sort o’ crackers, I forget what you call ’em, that jumps about as if they was not only alive, but possessed with evil spirits—”
“I know them—zigzag crackers,” said the preacher, somewhat amused.
“That’s them,” cried Big Tim, with an eager look, as if the mere memory of them were exciting. “Well, daddy he fixed up a lot o’ the big squibs an’ Roman candles round the walls o’ the hut in such a way that they all p’inted from ivery corner, above an’ below, to the centre of the hut, right in front o’ the fireplace, so that their fire should all meet, so to speak, in a focus. Then he chiselled out a lot o’ little holes in the stone walls in such a way that they could not be seen, and in every hole he put a zigzag cracker; an’ he connected the whole affair—squibs, candles, and crackers—with an instantaneous fuse, the end of which he trained down, through a hole cut in the solid rock, into this here cave; an’ there’s the end of it right opposite to yer nose.”
He pointed as he spoke to a part of the wall of the cavern where a small piece of what seemed like white tape projected about half an inch from the stone.
“Has it ever been tried?” asked the preacher, who, despite his weak and wounded condition, could hardly restrain a laugh as the young hunter described his father’s complicated arrangements.
“No, we han’t tried it yet, ’cause the reptiles haven’t bin here since, but daddy, who’s a very thoroughgoin’ man, has given the things a complete overhaul once a month ever since—’cept when he was away on long expeditions—so as to make sure the stuff was dry an in workin’ order. Now,” added the young man, rising and lighting a piece of tinder at the torch on the wall, “it’s about time that we should putt it to the test. If things don’t go wrong, you’ll hear summat koorious overhead before long.”