The Red Man's Revenge, Robert Michael Ballantyne [if you liked this book txt] 📗

taken by surprise would be feeble language. Of course he prepared for self-defence, at the first furious rush, but the shout of "Vic!" opened his eyes; he not only submitted to be kissed, but returned the embrace with tenfold interest, and mixed up the charcoal, ochre, and vermilion with his mouth and pose and Tony's tears of joy.

Oh, it was an amazing sight, the meeting of these brothers. It is hard to say whether the eyes or the mouth of the onlookers opened widest. Petawanaquat was the only one who retained his composure. The eyes of Meekeye were moistened despite her native stoicism, but her husband stood erect with a grave sad countenance, and his blanket folded, with his arms in classic fashion, on his breast. As for Rollin, he became, and remained for some time, a petrifaction of amazement.

When the first burst was over, Victor turned to Petawanaquat, and as he looked at his stern visage a dark frown settled on his own, and he felt a clenching of his fists, as he addressed the Indian in his native tongue.

"What made you take him away?" he demanded indignantly.

"Revenge," answered the red man, with dignified calmness.

"And what induces you now to bring him back?" asked Victor, in some surprise.

"Forgiveness," answered Petawanaquat.

For a few moments Victor gazed at the calm countenance of the Indian in silent surprise.

"What do you mean?" he asked, with a puzzled look.

"Listen," replied the Indian slowly. "Petawanaquat loves revenge. He has tasted revenge. It is sweet, but the Indian has discovered a new fountain. The old white father thirsts for his child. Does not the white man's Book say, `If your enemy thirst, give him drink?' The red man brings Tonyquat back in order that he may heap coals of fire on the old white father's head. The Great Spirit has taught Petawanaquat that forgiveness is sweeter than revenge."

He stopped abruptly. Victor still looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Well," he said, smiling slightly, "I have no doubt that my father will forgive you, now that you have brought back the child."

A gleam, which seemed to have a touch of scorn in it, shot from the Indian's eye as he rejoined--

"When Petawanaquat brings back Tonyquat, it is a proof that _he_ forgives the old white father."

This was all that the Indian would condescend to say. The motives which had decided him to return good for evil were too hazy and complex for him clearly to understand, much less explain. He took refuge, therefore, in dignified silence.

Victor was too happy in the recovery of his brother to push the investigation further, or to cherish feelings of ill-will. He therefore went up to the Indian, and, with a smile of candour on his face, held out his hand, which the latter grasped and shook, exclaiming "Wat-chee!" under the belief that these words formed an essential part of every white man's salutation.

This matter had barely been settled when a man came out of the woods and approached them. He was one of the Red River settlers, but personally unknown to any of them. From him they heard of the condition of the settlement. Of course they asked many eager questions about their own kindred after he had mentioned the chief points of the disastrous flood.

"And what of my father, Samuel Ravenshaw?" asked Victor anxiously.

"What! the old man at Willow Creek, whose daughter is married to Lambert?"

"Married to Lambert!" exclaimed Ian, turning deadly pale.

"Ay, or engaged to be, I'm not sure which," replied the man. "Oh, he's all right. The Willow Creek house stands too high to be washed away. The family still lives in it--in the upper rooms."

"And Angus Macdonald, what of him?" asked Ian.

"An' ma mere--my moder, ole Liz Rollin, an' ole Daddy, has you hear of dem?" demanded Rollin.

At the mention of old Liz the man's face became grave.

"Angus Macdonald and his sister," he said, "are well, and with the Ravenshaws, I believe, or at the Little Mountain, their house being considered in danger; but old Liz Rollin," he added, turning to the anxious half-breed, "has been carried away with her hut, nobody knows where. They say that her old father and the mother of Winklemann have gone along with her."

Words cannot describe the state of mind into which this information threw poor Michel Rollin. He insisted on seizing one of the canoes and setting off at once. As his companions were equally anxious to reach their flooded homes an arrangement was soon come to. Petawanaquat put Tony into the middle of his canoe with Victor, while Ian took the bow paddle. Michel took the steering paddle of the other canoe, and Meekeye seated herself in the bow.

Thus they launched out upon the waters of the flood, and, bidding adieu to the settler who had given them such startling information, were soon paddling might and main in the direction of the settlement.


CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.


RETURN OF THE LOST ONE.

It chanced that, on the morning of the arrival of Victor and his comrades at the margin of the flood, Peegwish went a-fishing.

That astute Indian was fond of fishing. It suited his tastes and habits; it was an art which was admirably adapted to his tendencies. Peegwish was, naturally as well as by training, lazy, and what could be more congenial to a lazy man than a "gentle art" which involved nothing more than sitting on a river bank smoking a pipe and awaiting a bite? It had a spice of intellectuality about it too, for did it not foster a spirit of meditation, contemplation, and even of philosophical speculation--when he chanced to be awake? Moreover, it saved him from harder labour, and shut the mouths of those ill-natured people who objected to drones, and had a tendency to reproach them, for was he not assiduously procuring for men and women a portion of that nourishment without which labour would be impossible?

The peculiar action of the flood had favoured Peegwish in regard to his beloved art, for, whereas in former days he was obliged to get up from his lair and go down to the river bank to fish, now he had nothing more to do than open the window and cast out his line, and Wildcat was close at hand to fetch him a light when his pipe chanced to go out, which it frequently did, for the red old savage slept much. When, therefore, we say that Peegwish went a-fishing, it must be understood that he merely left his seat by the stove in the upper room at Willow Creek and opened the window.

Wildcat was as fond of fishing as her brother, but there were a few difficulties in her way which did not exist in his. Water had to be drawn, wood to be chopped, moccasins and leggings and coats to be made, as well as meals to be cooked. She was, therefore, compelled to fish in moderation.

"Bring a light," said Peegwish, in that tone of mild entreaty with which he was wont to make his wants known.

There being no one else in the room at the moment, Wildcat obeyed.

Peegwish looked into the room for a moment, and extended his left hand for the piece of lighted stick; with his right hand he held his line. Suddenly that hand received an amazing tug. Peegwish unintentionally scattered the firebrand, dropped his pipe from his lips, and uttered a shout, while with both hands he held on to the jerking line.

One of Mr Ravenshaw's largest pigs had been swept out of the outhouse lofts. Struggling with the stream, he passed under the window of the storeroom, and came across the line of Peegwish with his tail. Every one must be familiar with the tendency of tails in general to shut down when touched. The unfortunate pig obeyed the natural law, and the line continued to slip until the hook was reached, when, of course, the natural result followed. There could be no hope of escape, for the tail was remarkably tough and the line strong. Peegwish held on stoutly. Wildcat lent her aid. The jerking on the tail depressed the snout of the pig, whose shrieks, being thus varied by intermittent gurgles, rendered the noise more appalling, and quickly drew the whole household to the windows.

Unfortunately there were none there but women--Mr Ravenshaw and the other men being still absent with the boat. The canoe had also been sent off that morning for a load of firewood, so that the only way of relieving the pig was to haul him in at the window. But he was too heavy to be thus treated, and as Peegwish did not wish to break his line and lose his hook he could only hold on in despair, while Elsie and Cora, with their mother and Wildcat, stood by helpless and horrified, yet amused, by the novelty of the situation and the frightful noise.

While this scene was being enacted at Willow Greek, Victor, with the recovered Tony and the rest of them, were drawing quickly near.

Deeply though the hearts of most of these wanderers were filled with anxious fears, they could not help being impressed with the scenes of desolation--deserted and submerged homesteads, wreck and ruin--through which they passed. At one moment the two canoes were skimming over the waters of a boundless lake; at another they were winding out and in among the trees of a submerged bit of woodland. Presently they found themselves among house tops, and had to proceed cautiously for fear of sunken fences, and then out they swept again over the wide sheet of water, where the once familiar prairie lay many feet below.

The maple-trees were by that time in full leaf, and the rich green verdure of bush and tree was bursting out on all sides, when not submerged. Swallows skimmed about in hundreds, dipping the tips of their blue wings in the flood, as though to test its reality, while flocks of little yellow birds--like canaries, but rather larger, with more black on their wings--flitted from bush to tree or from isle to isle. The month of May in those regions is styled the "flower month," and June the "heart-berry month," but flowers and heart-berries were alike drowned out that year in Red River of the North, and none of the wonted perfumes of the season regaled the noses of our voyagers as they returned home.

"There they are at last!" exclaimed Victor, with sparkling eyes, "the elms on the knoll. D'ye see them, Tony? I do believe I see the smoking-box. But for the bushes we might see the chimneys of Willow Creek."

Tony's excitement was great, but the effect of his late training was seen in the suppression of all feeling, save that which escaped through the eyes. Paint and charcoal concealed the flush on his cheeks effectually.

"Tonyquat sees," he replied.

Victor received this with a loud laugh, but Tony, although annoyed, did not lose his dignity, which the red man in the stern of the canoe observed with a look of pride and satisfaction.

Michel Rollin, in the other canoe, close alongside, was observed to hold up his hand.

"Hush!" he said, turning his head as if