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They forded rivers, they had at times to force themselves through thickets, once or twice they lost their way, and always ahead of them, purple and sullen, the great mountain peak with La Ferriere upon its crest rose slowly out of the background until it dominated the landscape. Long after dark they blundered upon rather than came to the village at its foot where they were to pass the night.
"If you are going to sleep before we start you had better be about it!" she said, looking back at him from the stairs. But he had no further need of sleep; and for a long while he stood at the windows watching the lamps of cabs and carriages sparkling through the leafless thickets of the park like winter fire-flies.
An hour later as the boat's crew sat around their camp-fire eating their frugal dinner, the sound of many feet was heard breaking through the neighboring thickets, and Standish with a glance at Alden said quietly, "Stand to your arms, men, but softly and without offense until we see the need. The savages are in force."
Then we retraced our steps of the morning, lingering among the pleasant groves of cottonwood, oak, and aspen; pausing to admire the cactus display of gorgeous yellow, with petals widespread, yet so wedded to their wildness that they resented the touch of a human hand, resisting their ravisher with needle-like barbs, and then sullenly drawing together their satin petals and refusing to open them more; past great thickets of wild roses, higher than our heads and fragrant as the morning; beside close-growing bushes, where hid the
Broad fields, covered with flowers of every hue thickets of blooming rose-trees belts of the yellow helianthus and groups of cocoa-trees and half-wild plantains, formed a picture singular and beautiful. On one side, and close to the border of the forest, could be seen the roof of a house, peering above groves of glistening foliage, and thither we marched.
To the right Robert caught occasional glimpses of Willet, moving about in the bushes, but save for these stray glances he watched the other side of the stream. Luckily it was rather open there, and no savage, however cunning, could come within fifty yards of it without being seen by the wary eyes in the thickets. "How long do you think it will be before they come?"
The intense heat, for it was now noon, obliged the travellers to look out for a shady recess, where they might rest, for a few hours, and the neighbouring thickets, abounding with wild grapes, raspberries, and figs, promised them grateful refreshment.
The trail was just as difficult to follow as before, and more than once they had to halt in perplexity, for the thickets seemed impassable. "You must have had your own troubles in following the trail," said Henry to White Buffalo, in admiration. "Slow work, but sure," said the Indian chief, with a little smile. "White Buffalo is growing old he cannot follow like one whose eyes are bright."
A stream of fire sprang from the muzzle of the long barrel to be followed by a yell in one of the thickets clustering on the slope. A savage rose to his feet, threw up his arms and fell headlong, his body crashing far below on the rocks. Robert shut his eyes and shivered. "He was dead before he touched earth, lad," said the hunter. "Now the others are ready to scramble back.
The Highlander, after giving them a full view of his person, dived among the thickets, for his ruse de guerre had now perfectly succeeded. When they had run about a quarter of a mile, the brow of a rising ground which they had surmounted concealed them from further risk of observation.
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