Edward Sylvester Ellis

“ Looking off to the east and south, the eye caught a glimpse of distant mountain peaks, standing out white and clear against the blue horizon, like a snowy conical cloud, and the intervening stretch of country was broken by hills, ravines, gorges, wood, stream, rocks and prairie, in an interminable jungle, making a country that was the chosen roaming-ground of the fiercest wild animals, the most valuable game, and the wild Indian, and the equally wild hunter and trapper. ”

“ The wish of Little Rifle was gratified. He had stood but a minute, when a mass of tall grass swayed to one side, and, at the same instant, he saw the prow of a birch canoe stealing as insidiously along as a panther approaches its prey.
“Just what I thought!” exclaimed the lad. “It is one of those Blackfeet, that Old Ruff says will follow a man a thousand miles to get his scalp. I’ll bet he is after mine.” ”

“ LITTLE RIFLE AND “BIG INJIN.”
The sun had long since passed down out of sight, behind the Cascade Range, and a sort of twilight gloom rested upon wood and river. Not a sound reached the ear, except the faint hollow roar of the forest, and the distant rush of the waterfall, where the river poured over the rocks on the way to the ocean.
Little Rifle moved along with the careless stride of the free easy-going hunter, who knows precisely where his footsteps are leading him, and what he may expect when he gets there. ”

“ He stood on the very spot he desired, and from which he could drive the keen-edged tomahawk crashing through the skull of the unconscious lad.
Little Rifle still lay in the same dreamy reverie, his hat having fallen from his head, and the short, curly auburn hair resting on the gunwale, while his clear rose-tinted cheek looked more handsome and attractive than ever.
Can no hand be outstretched to save him? Uncle Ruff is still a half-mile away, attending to his traps, and his arm is powerless to prevent the dreadful tragedy. Who, then, shall interfere?
The Blackfoot is not the one to wait. ”

“ The young trapper smiled to think that his new acquaintance should deem him in need of advice, in such a business, but he continued as cautiously and carefully upward as if he was sure of finding Blackfeet there.
And so there were, as he very speedily found out. Where in the name of the seven wonders they came from he could not guess, but he saw half a dozen, just above the falls upon the other side, groping their way down-stream, and still more upon the same side with himself coming directly toward him! ”

“ But Little Rifle was too brave a lad to yield up his life without a struggle, and, with all the strength and skill of which he was master, he made a desperate effort to get his face to the surface only for a second—a single instant—that he might gain a single breath of the all-revivifying air. ”

“ Wal,” added the old joker, with a sigh, “I won’t describe the incidents that follered; suffice it to say that I warn’t able to set down for two weeks, and I don’t s’pose I’ll forgit that little episode as long as I live.”
“Perhaps if I live all my life in these woods,” said Little Rifle, in a voice of unconscious sadness, “I may come to look upon life as you do; but I can not do so just yet.”
“You ain’t going to live here all your life,” said the hunter, with such abruptness that the lad looked up inquiringly into his face, as if he failed to get the full import of his words. ”

“ We are lost, as you can see for yourself; but we will not give up nor keep idle. It is better to push ahead, if we do get wrong.”
“Hello! see there!” exclaimed Harry, the next moment. “There is something of a different order.”
Both saw at the same instant a small, dim point of light, that looked like the shining of a pale star through mist or vapor.
[74] “What can that be?” he asked, as they paused and gazed toward it.
“I can not guess even,” replied Little Rifle; “let us go toward it and see whether we can not find out!” ”

“ I am a child, and he a man well on in years. He often looks at me, and says something about my growing so fast, and says, too, that it only seems a year ago that he found me in the lodge of the Indian chief, and he declares that he shall always look upon me as that same little child. He loves me, indeed, as your father loves you.”
“I’ve no objection to that,” replied Harry, with a prodigious sigh of relief, “so it don’t grow on him too fast. But what I want to ask, Little Rifle, is whether you are willing to give me a promise?” ”

“ It was a frightful awakening from Little Rifle’s reverie, and he leaped out of the canoe, landing several feet away upon the shore, with the belief that he himself was mortally wounded. Staring wildly around, he saw the body of the dead savage, and the second glance identified it as the one who had hunted him the day before, and who had been so cleverly outgeneraled. ”

“ Everybody persists in calling me a boy, and I suppose I am, but it can’t last much longer. If my life is spared, no one can hinder me from becoming a man, and you are younger yet than I, and we shall only think of marriage as something that is to come after awhile. Sometime, when every thing is ready, I shall wed you—you shall be my bride of the wilderness. What do you say, Little Rifle? ”

“ When the lad was about the middle of the current, he turned the prow down-stream, and the little boat sped like an arrow, seeming to skim over, without touching, the surface, resembling the sea-fowl in its flight.
Not doubting but that the Indian was on the watch, the boy [19] had recourse to this simple stratagem to get rid of him. The little river was very winding and rapid, and the canoe went spinning around these curves with a bewildering velocity that was enough to drive any red-skin mad who attempted to follow. ”

“ A sudden hope came to his heart that the lad might still have the breath of life in his body, and placing his gun upon the rock at his feet, he concentrated all his strength and made a leap directly toward the spot where he had seen the face, shouting at the same time, with all the strength of which he was capable, in the hope of arousing him to do something for himself. ”

“ The crash and roar, the blinding mist and spinning eddies, the arrow-like descent, these were enough to drive all the wits from a man’s brain, and the boy had hardly thrown himself into the vortex when the conviction flashed upon him, that the strange boy was not only past all hope but that he had put himself in the same position by his mad plunge into the water, in the hope of rescuing him. ”

“ A moment after several feathery flakes of snow drifted against their faces, and then scarcely five minutes had elapsed when the air was full. Millions and billions of the white flakes, some of them of large size, were eddying and whirling all about them. When they looked up, they could barely keep their eyes open, and they were literally blinded by them.
“Jingo! this is rather sudden,” shouted Harry with a laugh. ”

“ One of the essentials of a good scout, both in civilized and savage warfare, is a patience that can bear the test of hours. The Esquimaux, who sits by the air-hole in the ice without stirring a muscle, even if the seal does not thrust out his nose, is the beau ideal of a patient scout, although he is too much of a porpoise himself to get impatient.
Young as was Little Rifle, he was the possessor of this quality, and had displayed it to a remarkable degree on more than one occasion ”

“ In a shorter period than before, the two came to the top of the water again, and Little Rifle, with a thrill of hope, found that they were beyond the light, fleecy foam, and were speeding downward through water in which he was able to support both himself and his charge.
The skill of the young trapper was as great in the handling of himself while in the water as it was in hunting or trailing through the woods, and now his confidence came back to him, when he felt certain that he could accomplish something by that same skill and strength. ”

“ That veteran of the Oregon woods, known as Old Ruff Robsart, had not kept him under his special training for years, without accomplishing something. One of his lessons was that when a hunter was outside of his cabin, or place of retreat, he should never go to sleep; which in more intelligible language meant that ‘day-dreaming’ or reverie, of all things was to be avoided, and the true hunter or trapper never failed to keep every faculty wide awake, on the alert for insidious danger liable at any moment to leap out upon him. ”

“ Thus a secure and comfortable retreat was afforded, no matter how great the cold might be. Within were piles of the richest and choicest furs, including those of the beaver, otter, fox, marten, bear and buffalo. Some of these were exceedingly valuable, being rich, glossy and of velvety softness; for Old Robsart was as thorough a trapper as he was a hunter, and he had a collection of peltries already secured, that, when put in the market at San Francisco, would bring him a little fortune in its way. ”

“ For one instant, the agonized watcher closed his eyes to shut out the dreadful sight, and then yielding to an overmastering attraction, he leaped back out of the water, and dashed at headlong speed, down the bank, over rocks and through undergrowth, until he reached a point directly below the falls, from which he could look up and see the vast sheet of water, as it poured over the ledge into the seething, furious hell of foam and froth below. ”

“ At the same moment both sprung to cover.
“You haven’t any gun,” said Little Rifle to his friend, “so keep your head out of sight, and if I haven’t peppered that red-skin I’ll do so next time.”
“Maybe there are several of them,” ventured his friend.
“No,” replied the young trapper, “if there were they’d have fired when they had the chance. Keep your head down, Harry!”
“I hear him groaning and moaning,” persisted Harry. “You must hear it, too. Let’s go forward, for you’ve wounded the poor wretch.”
“Pooh! The Blackfoot isn’t hurt at all, and he is making those noises on purpose to draw us out. ”

“ Regarding this invitation as insincere, Harry paid no heed to it, and had actually taken several steps on his way, when Little Rifle unexpectedly put in an appearance.
“If you must go, Harry,” said he, as he stepped forth into the open air, “I’ll go with you until you’re within sight of the fort. It is a good ways from here, and you know what danger there is to pass through. I should never forgive myself if any thing should happen to you.” ”

“ In the left hand Little Rifle carried a beaver-trap, while a [10] small, silver-mounted rifle rested upon his right shoulder, and was held in place by his other hand.
The day was drawing to a close, and there was a mellowed subdued quiet resting upon wood and stream that made the hour and the place one of the most attractive imaginable. The branch of the Columbia, at this point, flowed quite swiftly but with a steady, unruffled sweep, that was in perfect keeping with silence and solitude. ”

“ Comprehending the nature of the Indian, with its childish credulity and superstition, Little Rifle determined to appeal to this weakness. The Blackfeet believe that the waterfalls of their country are haunted by spirits, and knowing of the existence of the cavern in the rear of this, they could not but look upon the act of their companion as one of daring intrepidity.
[65] The young trapper touched the arm of Harry, and motioned for him to draw back out of the way, while he crept forward until his eyes were at a point where he could see the Indians without showing himself. ”

“ To the left, as they picked their way along the ledge, this volume was white, foamy and impenetrable to the eye, and looking down, the boiling, tumbling, roaring, seething battle of the water was of such an appalling nature as to make the strongest man shiver and draw back with affright, as though he had caught a glimpse of the Plutonian regions. ”

“ Little Rifle, experienced in the dangers of a hunter’s life, was not caught with an unloaded gun. The thin puff of smoke had hardly begun to curl up from the clump of bushes when his rifle was at his shoulder, and he sent the return bullet crashing among the leaves and twigs. ”

“ The most skillful swimmer can not fight his way through froth and foam, its specific gravity being too slight for it to support his weight, while the danger is that he will be strangled before he can reach the water that will support [47] him. Little Rifle fully understood this before he made his daring plunge, but the glimpse that he had obtained of the boy had proved that he had something in his favor that fully counterbalanced this. The very violence of the foamy waters was such that it drove all foreign bodies to the surface for a second or two, without any effort upon their part. ”

“ He had learned considerable of the Blackfoot tongue from old Ruff Robsart, and he now made the best use of it. Detecting the purpose of the red-skin on the instant, he called out:
“Stir a foot before I tell you, and I will shoot!”
Such a command was not to be mistaken, and the savage straightened himself with a suddenness that made him appear ridiculous. Men like him have too much dread of death to [17] invite it by any direct means, and treacherous and vindictive as he was, he comprehended his danger in all its fullness. ”

“ There is something in solitude that attracts one human heart to another, and when Little Rifle saw the canoe gliding by, he determined to learn something of its occupant. He reasoned that he was not likely to be alone in this wilderness, [41] and that strange, dim, vague feeling came over him, that caused the expression of his thought. ”

“ Keeping his body covered by the muzzle of the deadly little weapon, the boy now advanced a half-dozen steps, so as to bring him far nearer to the canoe and rifle than was his foe, then halted. Feeling himself undisputed master of the field, he showed a boyish propensity to use his authority.
“How are you on a walk, old chap? You look greasy and dirty enough to slip along without any trouble. Now turn your face to the Cascade Range, and travel. I’ve heard some of your chiefs say that their home is in the setting sun, and now you can go hunt for it.” ”

“ And Harry laughed, as if he had just heard the funniest joke of his life.
A light began to break in upon the mind of Little Rifle. How could his new acquaintance know any thing of that incident, [53] which neither himself nor Ruff Robsart had told to any one?
“You are the one who fired the gun that saved me!” he exclaimed, reaching out to take the hand of Harry.
“I believe I am,” replied the latter, as he returned the grasp. “I happened to be hunting along that creek when I caught sight of your canoe, and I stood trying to make out whether you were an Indian or a white man. ”

“ But Little Rifle was not to be moved from his deliberate tread, and he compelled Harry to keep pace with him, though it was hard work to restrain him.
“You will lose nothing by care!” he admonished, “and can gain nothing by haste. Take my advice, and feel every step of ground before you put your foot down.” ”