Chapter 13: The Bowmen

Robert looked back and saw the roofs and spires of Quebec sitting on its mighty rock, and he remembered how much had happened during their short stay there. He could recall the whole time, hour by hour, and he knew that he would never forget any part of it. The town was intense, glowing, vivid in the clear northern sunlight, and he had seen it, as he so often had longed to do. A quality in his nature had responded to it, but at the last his heart had turned against it. The splendor of that city into which he had enjoyed such a remarkable introduction had in it something hot and feverish.

“You’re thinking a farewell to Quebec, Robert,” said the hunter. “It looks grand and strong up there, but I’ve an idea there’ll be a day when we’ll come again.”

“Americans and English have besieged it before,” said Robert, “but they’ve never taken it.”

“Which proves nothing, but we’ll turn our minds now to our journey into the south. It’s good to breathe this clean air again, and the sooner we reach the deep woods the better I’ll like it. What say you, Tayoga?”

The nostrils of the Onondaga expanded, as he inhaled the odors of leaf and grass, borne on the gentle wind.

“I have lived in the white man’s house in Albany,” he said, “and in our own log house in the vale of Onondaga, and I know the English and the French have many things that the nations of the Hodenosaunee have not, but we can do without most of them. If the great chiefs were to drink and dance all night as Bigot and his friends do, then indeed would we cease to be the mighty League of the Hodenosaunee.”

They traveled all that day on foot, but at a great pace, showing their safe conduct twice to French soldiers, and so thin was the line of settlements along the St. Lawrence that when night came they were beyond the cultivated fields and had entered the deep woods. The three, in addition to their weapons, carried on their backs packs containing blankets and food, and as Willet and Tayoga put them down they drew long breaths of relief like those of prisoners escaped.

“Home, Tayoga! Home!” said the hunter, joyfully. “I’ve nothing against cities in general, but I breathed some pretty foul air in Quebec, and it’s sweet and clean here. There comes a time when you are glad no house crosses your view and you are with the world as it was made in the beginning. Don’t these trees look splendid! Did you ever see a finer lot of tender young leaves? And the night sky you see up there has been washed and scrubbed until it’s nothing but clean blue!”

“Why, you’re only a boy, Dave, the youngest of us three,” laughed Robert. “Here you are singing songs about leaves and trees just as if you were not the most terrible swordsman in the world.”

A shadow crossed Willet’s face, but it was quick in passing.

“Let’s not talk about Boucher, Robert,” he said. “I don’t regret what I did, knowing that it saved the lives of others, but I won’t recall it any oftener than I can help. You’re right when you term me a boy, and I believe you’re right, too, when you say I’m the youngest of the three. I’m so glad to be here that just now I’m not more’n fifteen years old. I could run, jump, laugh and sing. And I think the woods are a deal safer and friendlier than Quebec. There’s nobody, at least not here, lying around seeking a chance to stick a rapier in your back.”

He unbuckled his sword and laid it upon the grass. Robert put his beside it.

“I don’t think we’ll need to use ‘em again for a long time,” said the hunter, “but they’re mighty fine as decorations, and sometimes a decoration is worth while. It impresses. Now, Tayoga, you kindle the fire, and Robert, you find a spring. It’s pleasant to feel that you’re again on land that belongs to nobody, and can do as you please.”

Robert found a spring less than a hundred yards away, and Tayoga soon kindled a fire near it with his flint and steel, on which the hunter warmed their food. Each had a small tin cup from which he drank clear water as they ate, and Robert, elastic of temperament, rejoiced with the hunter.

“You are right, Dave,” he said. “These are splendid trees, and every leaf on ‘em is splendid, too, and the little spring I found is just about as fine a spring as the forest holds. I slept in a good bed at the Inn of the Eagle, but when I scrape up the dead leaves here, roll myself in my blanket and lie on ‘em I think I’ll sleep better than I did between four walls. What did you think of the Marquis Duquesne, Dave?”

“A man of parts, Robert. He has more military authority than any of our Governors have, and if war comes he’ll be a dangerous opponent.”

“And it will come, Dave?”

“Looks like a certainty. You see, Robert, the King of France and the King of England sitting on their golden thrones, only three or four hundred miles apart, but three or four thousand miles from us, have a dyspeptic fit, make faces at each other, and here in the woods we must fall to fighting. Even Tayoga’s people--and the King of France and the King of England are nothing to them--must be drawn into it.”

“Both Kings claim the Ohio country, which they will never see, and of which they know nothing,” said Tayoga, with a faint touch of sarcasm, “but perhaps it belongs to the people who live in it.”

“Maybe so, Tayoga! Maybe!” said Willet briskly, “but we’ll not look for trouble or unpleasant thoughts now. We three are too glad to be in the woods again. Tayoga, suppose you scout about and see that no enemy’s near. Then we’ll build up the fire, till it’s burning bright, and rejoice.”

“It is well!” said Tayoga, as he slipped away among the trees, making no sound as he went. Robert meanwhile gathered dead wood which lay everywhere in abundance, and heaped it beside the fire ready for use. But as Tayoga was gone some time he sat down again with his back to a tree, taking long deep breaths of the cool fresh air, and feeling his pulses leap. The hunter sat in a similar position, gazing meditatively into the fire. Robert heard a rattling of bark over his head, but he knew that it was a squirrel scuttling up the trunk of the tree, and pausing now and then to examine the strange invaders of his forest.

“Do you see the squirrel, Dave?” he asked.

“Yes, he’s about twenty feet above you now, sitting in a fork. He’s a fine big fellow with a bushy tail curved so far over his back that it nearly touches his head. He has little red eyes and he’s just burning up with curiosity. The firelight falls on him in such a way that I can see. Perhaps he has never seen a man before. Now he’s looking at you, Robert, trying to decide what kind of an animal you are, and forming an estimate of your character and disposition.”

“You’re developing your imagination, Dave, but since I saw what you said and did in Quebec I’m not surprised.”

“Encouraged by your motionless state he’s left the fork, and come a half dozen feet down the trunk in order to get a better look at you. I think he likes you, Robert. He lies flattened against the bark, and if I had not seen him descending I would not notice him now, but the glow of the coals still enables me to make out his blazing little red eyes like sparks of fire. Now he is looking at me, and I don’t think he has as much confidence in my harmlessness as he has in yours. Perhaps it’s because he sees my eyes are upon him and he doesn’t like to be watched. He’s a saucy little fellow. Sit still, Robert! I see a black shadow over your head, and I think our little friend, the squirrel, should look out. Ah, there he goes! Missed! And our handsome young friend, the gray squirrel, is safe! He has scuttled into his hole higher up the tree!”

Robert had heard a rush of wings and he had seen a long black shadow pass.

“What was it, Dave?” he asked.

“A great horned owl. His iron beak missed our little squirrel friend just about three inches. Those three inches were enough, but I don’t think that squirrel will very soon again stay out at night so late. The woods are beautiful, Robert, but you see they’re not always safe even for those who can’t live anywhere else.”

“I know, Dave, but I’m not going to think about it tonight, because I’ve made up my mind to be happy. Here comes Tayoga. Is any enemy near, Tayoga?”

“None,” replied the Onondaga, sitting down by the fire. “But the forest is full of its own people, and they are all very curious about us.”

“That’s true,” said Willet, “a squirrel over Robert’s head was so inquisitive that he forgot his vigilance for a few moments and came near losing his life as the price of his carelessness. I’m not surprised to hear you say, Tayoga, they’re all looking at us. I’ve felt for some time that we’re being watched, admired and perhaps a little feared. It’s a tribute to the enormously interesting qualities of us three.”

“That is, Dave, because we’re human beings we’re kings in the forest among the animals.”

“You put it right, Robert. They look up to us. Is anything watching us among the leaves near by, Tayoga?”

“A huge bald-headed eagle, Great Bear, is sitting on a bough in the center of a mass of green leaves. He is looking at us, and while he is full of curiosity and some admiration he fears and hates us more.”

“What is he saying to himself, Tayoga?”

“You can read his words to himself by the look in his eyes. He is saying that he does not like our appearance, that we are too large, that we have created here something hot and flaming, that we behave with too much assurance, going about just as if the forest was ours, and paying no attention to its rightful owners.”

“He has got a grievance, and perhaps it’s a just one,” laughed Robert.

“No, it is not,” said Tayoga, “because there is plenty of room in the forest for him and for us, too. I can read his eyes quite well. There is much malice and anger in his heart, and I will give him some cause for rage.”

He picked up a live coal between the ends of two sticks, and holding it firmly in that manner, walked a little distance among the trees. Then swinging the sticks he hurled the coal far up among the boughs. There was an angry screech and whirr and Robert saw a swift shadow passing between his eyes and the sky.

“His heart can burn more than ever now,” laughed Tayoga, as he returned to the fire.

“You’ve hurt his dignity, Tayoga,” said Robert.

“So I have, but why should he not suffer a loss of pride? He is ruthless and cruel and when he has his way he makes desolation about him.”

“What else is watching us, Tayoga?”

“A beast upon the ground, and his heart is much like that of the eagle in the air. He is crouched in a thicket about twenty yards away, and his lips are drawn back from his sharp fangs. His nostrils twitch with the odor of our food, and his yellow eyes are staring at us. Oh, he hates us because he hates everything except his own kind and very often he hates that. He wants our food because he’s hungry--he’s always hungry--and he would try to eat us too if he were not so much afraid of us.”

“Tayoga, one needs only a single glance to tell that this animal you’re talking about is a wolf.”

“It is so, Dagaeoga. A very hungry and a very angry wolf. He is cunning, but he does not know everything. He thinks we do not see him, that we do not know he is there and that maybe, after awhile, when we go to sleep, he can slip up and steal our food, or perhaps he can bring many of his brothers, and they can eat us before we awake. Now, I will tell him in a language he can understand that it’s time for him to go away.”

He picked up a heavy stick and threw it with all his might into the bushes on their right. It sped straighter to the target than he had hoped, as there was a thud, a snarling yelp, and then the swift pad of flying feet. Tayoga lay back and laughed.

“The Spirit of Jest guided my hand,” he said, “and the stick struck him upon the nose. He will run far and his wrath and fear will grow as he runs. Then he will lie down again in some thicket, and he will not dare to come back. Now, we will wait a little.”

“Anything more looking at us?” asked Robert after awhile.

“Yes, we have a new visitor,” replied Tayoga in a low tone. “Speak only in a whisper and do not move, because the animal that is looking at us has no malice in its heart, and does not wish us harm. It has come very softly and, while its eyes are larger, they are mild and have only curiosity.”

“A deer, I should say, Tayoga.”

“Yes, a deer, Lennox, a very beautiful deer. It has been drawn by the fire, and having come as near as it dares it stands there, shivering a little, but wondering and admiring.”

“We won’t trouble it, Tayoga. We’ll need the meat of a deer before long, but we’ll spare our guest of tonight.”

“He is staring very straight at us,” said Tayoga, “but something has stirred in the brushwood--perhaps it’s another wolf--and now he has gone.”

“We seem to be an attraction,” said Willet, “and so I suppose we’d better give ‘em as good a look as we can.”

He cast a great quantity of the dry wood on the fire, and it blazed up gayly, throwing the red glow in a wide circle, and lighting up the pleasant glade. The figures of the three, as they leaned in luxurious attitudes, were outlined clearly and sharply, a view they would not have allowed had not Tayoga been sure no enemy was near.

“Now let the spectators come on,” said Willet genially, “because we won’t be on display forever. After a while we’ll get sleepy, and then it will be best to put out the fire.”

The flames leaped higher and the glowing circle widened. Robert, leaning against a tree, with his blanket wrapped around him and the cushion of dead leaves beneath him, felt the grateful warmth upon his face, and it rejoiced body and mind alike. Tayoga and the hunter were in a similar state of content, and they were silent for a while. Then Robert said:

“Who’s looking at us now, Tayoga?”

“Two creatures, Dagaeoga, that belong upon the ground, but that are not now upon it.”

“Your answer sounds like a puzzle. If they’re not now upon the ground they’re probably in the air, but they’re not birds, because birds don’t belong on the ground. Then they’re animals that have climbed trees.”

“Dagaeoga’s mind is becoming wondrous wise. In time he may be a sachem among his adopted people.”

“Don’t you have sport with me, Tayoga, because bear in mind that if you do I will pay you back some day. Have these creatures a mean, vicious look?”

“I could not claim, Dagaeoga, that they are as beautiful as the deer that came to look at us but lately.”

“Then I make so bold as to say, Tayoga, that they have tufted ear tips, spotted fur, and short tails, in brief a gentleman lynx and a lady lynx, his wife. They are gazing at us with respect and fear as the wolf did, and also with just as much malice and hate. They’re wondering who and what we are, and why we come into their woods, the pair of bloodthirsty rabbit slayers.”

“Did I not say you would be a sachem some day, Dagaeoga? You have read aright. An Onondaga warrior could not have done better. The two lynxes are on a bough ten feet from the ground, and perhaps in their foolish hearts they think because they are so high above the earth that we cannot reach them.”

“You’re not going to shoot at ‘em, Tayoga? We don’t want to waste good bullets on a lynx.”

“Not I, Dagaeoga, but I will make them acquainted with something they will dread as much as bullets. It’s right that those who come to look at us should be made to pay the price of it.”

“So you think that Monsieur and Madame Lynx have looked long enough at the illustrious three?”

“Yes, Dagaeoga. It is time for them to go. And since they do not go of their own will I must make them go.”

He snatched a long brand from the fire, and whirling it around his head, and shouting at the same time, he dashed toward an old dead tree some distance away. Two stump-tailed, tuft-eared animals, uttering loud ferocious screams, leaped from the boughs and tore away through the thickets, terror stabbing at their hearts, as the circling flame of red pursued them. Tayoga returned laughing.

“They will run and they will run,” he said, throwing down his brand.

“You don’t give ‘em much chance to see us, Tayoga,” said the hunter. “Since we’re on exhibition tonight you might have let ‘em look and admire a while longer.”

“So I could, Great Bear, but I do not like the lynx. Its habits are unpleasant, and its scream is harsh. Hence, I drove the two of them away.”

“I suppose you’re right. I don’t dare care much about ‘em either. Now we’ll rest and see what other visitors come to admire.”

Tayoga sat down again. Their packs were put in a neat heap near the three, Robert’s and Willet’s swords, and Tayoga’s bow and arrows in their case resting on the top. Robert threw more wood on the fire, and contentedly watched the great, glowing circle of light extend its circumference.

“We knew we’d find peace and rest here,” said Willet, “but we didn’t know we’d be watched and admired like people on the stage at a theater.”

“Have you seen many plays, Dave?” asked Robert.

“A lot, especially in London at Drury Lane and other theaters.”

“And so you know London, as well as Paris?”

“Well, yes, I’ve been there. Some day, Robert, I’ll tell you more about both Paris and London and why I happened to be in such great cities, but not now. We’ll keep our minds on the forest, which is worth our attention. Don’t you hear a tread approaching, Tayoga?”

“Yes, Great Bear, and it’s very heavy. A lord of the forest is coming.”

“A moose, think you, Tayoga?”

“Yes, Great Bear, a mighty bull, one far beyond the common size. I can tell by his tread, and I think he is angry, or he would not march so boldly toward the fire.”

“Then,” said the hunter, “we’d better stand up, and be ready with our weapons. I’ve no wish to be trodden to death by a mad bull moose, just when I’m feeling so happy and so contented with the world.”

“The Great Bear’s advice is good,” said Tayoga, and the three took it. The approaching tread grew heavier, and the largest moose that Robert had ever seen, pushing his way through the bushes, stood looking at the fire, and those who had built it. He was a truly magnificent specimen, and Tayoga had been right in calling him a lord of the forest, but his eyes were red and inflamed and his look was menacing.

“Mad! Quite mad!” whispered the hunter. “He sees us, but he doesn’t admire us. He hates us, and he isn’t afraid of us.”

The three moved softly and discreetly into a place where both trees and bushes were so dense that the moose could not get at them.

“What troubles him?” asked Robert.

“I don’t know,” said the hunter. “He may be suffering yet from a wound by an Indian arrow, or he may have a spell of some kind. We can be certain only that he’s raging mad, every inch of him. Look at those great sharp hoofs of his, Robert. I’d as soon be struck with an axe.”

The moose, after some hesitation, rushed into the glade, leaped toward the fire, leaped back again, pawed and trampled the earth in a terrible convulsion of rage, and then sprang away, crashing through the forest. They heard the beat of his hoofs a long time, and when the sound ceased they returned and resumed their seats by the fire.