Hugh Pendexter

“ I have run for miles.
“The ranger who struck me, Joseph Brant, the red brother of Sir William Johnson, Joseph Brant of the Mohawks—is he dead?”
“God forbid! We go to rescue him,” said Putnam.
“Then he shall owe part of his life to me,” said the boy. “I will show him I can save as well as kill. I am sending the pack up the trail at the throats of the Potawatomi. All the sorcerers in their nation can not save them once I take off the muzzles. The Blind Seneca is making medicine for the white puppy, which is now with its mother. So I borrowed the black pack.” ”

“ The girl, watching Willis' defiance, pressed the gun to her bosom and mumbled:
“He is a very brave man. The good God sustain him!”
“He will. And we'll help,' murmured Putnam.
The work of arranging the fuel proceeded rapidly, the savages now keeping a sharp eye on their victim, for as surely as one drew within reach of the tethered feet he as surely received a kick and a string of caustic abuse. Once the girl clapped her hands to her ears as Willis caught a man under the jaw with a short kick and in provincial vernacular loudly expressed his opinion of him. ”

“ Where was young Brant with the dogs? To shoot one of the savages would mean immediate death to the prisoner.
“I'm going to nail the man that seems to be the leader; then rush in and club my gun,” he muttered. “If I can't get to the boy I'll go down fighting; and you must shoot him.”
“Something moves down there,” she hysterically whispered, shaking his arm and pointing toward the mouth of the gorge.
Through the flames and the smoke Putnam glimpsed motion, a dark patch that approached with undulating movement. Then he made out the slight figure of the boy racing behind the pack. ”

“ All were armed with axes and knives; and as Putnam ran in he saw several of the dogs stretched out dead, one of the leaders lying with his teeth through the throat of the brave who had stabbed him through the heart. Of the surviving dogs several were mortally wounded but were still able to do mischief.
Had each brute selected a warrior and after finishing him made for another, the pack would have soon whipped the Indians. But some continued to worry dead bodies; two would unite in mauling a warrior already dying. ”

“ Montcalm would give much to have you a prisoner.”
“Or to have my hair at a Caughnawaga belt.”
“But yes. It is the result of war. Men make all the wars. I will do what I can for France. It is written.”
“Yet you love a Connecticut Yankee, one of your enemies,” was the blunt reminder.
“True,” she faltered. “The heart knows no country when it comes to love. My head tells me to love a Frenchman. I am helpless. M'sieu Willis is all that I always believed I could never tolerate. But behold! It is very queer.”
“Derned queer,” mumbled Putnam. ”

“ Putnam shot a Potawatomi through the head as he was about to hurl his ax at the lad, and the latter yelled back to him—
“He who dwells in the sky shall be pleased with you, white man.”
Putnam swung his gun by the barrel and battered a way to the youth, caught him by the arm and commanded:
“Come away. Most of the dogs are dead.” ”

“ The big brutes whined and persisted in leaping upon the ranger for a bit, then heeded her voice and whip and finally squatted in a circle about her.
“Now I think they will stay here till their master comes. It is time for you and me, m'sieu, to be hurrying on to save Ephraim Willis,” she panted.
“Do these dogs usually go muzzled?”
“No. The Iroquois keep clear of the Blind Seneca's camp. It would be bad for their medicine if they harmed his pets. And he, although he is crazy, knows enough to keep the pack away from the villages of the Long House. ”

“ The fight was still in progress around the stake, seven or eight Indians striking knives and axes at the few surviving dogs.
“A round dozen Indians dead or badly wounded,” rejoiced Putnam. “T'others ain't got much fight left in them. Now to find the girl and Willis.”
Once away from the camp-fire, the night closed them in a closet; but the cry of the loon needed no torch, and the first signal was promptly answered from down the gorge. From the fluttering, nervous timbre Putnam knew the girl had answered instead of Willis. ”

“ Let the whites fight each other and not stir up the Long House.”
“We can't have a crazy man chasing our rangers with his wild dogs,” said Putnam.
“Once he gets this little white dog he will go back to his people. His pack is black. With this puppy he can breed white dogs again, and the cloud will pass away from him.” ”

“ I will pray to Our Lady. The plan must grow out of what we find at the Indian camp.”
He was alone. Feeling about at one side of the trail, he selected a bed of pine needles, but for once he could not command slumber. His thoughts ranged far into the forest, seeking Willis and worrying about his fate.
He blamed himself for not compelling the young man to accompany him instead of pursuing the girl; and this, although he knew only a bullet could have stopped the ranger's quest for this wild sprig of a forest-runner. ”

“ He made me come down first, however, and said I was not to fear the dogs. Then he made them know me. Now I'm not afraid of them.”
“Never knew Indian dogs was dangerous,” skeptically mused Putnam.
“Oh, these are entirely-different from the Indian curs. Very big and powerful. Mastiff strain, I think. My father said the Blind Seneca got the first pair while visiting Albany with a delegation from the Long House. They are terrible beasts.” ”

“ We will creep very close. Get the dogs to the mouth of the gorge but do not send them in until you hear the cry of a loon. Then send them flying.”
The boy found the thongs trailing from the necks of the leaders, tied them round a sapling and began removing the muzzles. The pack showed no disposition to precede the leaders, and the Blind Seneca's discipline had been too severe to encourage useless baying. At young Brant's suggestion Putnam paused to help in removing the rawhide muzzles so that the dogs might thoroughly identify him as a friend.
“They have run far. ”

“ She gave him no answer, and for several miles they pressed forward without speaking, the path very dark under the forest crown, the moon lighting the openings. At last she halted, and he asked how far they must travel before overtaking the Indians.
“They will make their camp in the first hills of the mountains, about twenty miles from where you and Joseph Brant found me. We have come a fourth of the way. They are traveling much slower than we. They will have scouts out over their back trail. We must not follow too close. ”

“ But the best of men get careless of speech when in great danger. I swore fearfully on the morning of the bloody scout, when we caught Dieskau.”
“He is a very brave man,” she murmured. “Oh! They bring coals from the fire to light the brush. I will shoot!” ”

“ The Indians won't notice it as that loon's been crying out for some time.”
He waited a moment, then threw back his head and gave the weird call of the loon. The girl kept her gaze fastened on Willis and saw his head give a little jerk. Then it slowly sank on his breast only to be lifted high the next moment.
“He heard. He understands. He signals to us that he knows we are near,” she murmured. ”