University of Virginia Library

24. CHAPTER XXIV.

No tongue can portray my feelings, my
deep emotions of gratitude to the All-wise
Preserver, as, with the still unconscious
Lilian reposing in my arms, I remained
motionless a minute, enveloped in a pall
of smoky darkness, listening to the roar of
the awful flames, that surged around and
onward, scorching the green leaves and
grass within a few feet, but leaving me
unharmed. Once, for a moment, when
the smoke settled in so thick that day became
night, and the air too much heated
for respiration, I fancied we might die of
suffocation. But it was only for a moment.
A draught of wind revived me,
and lifted the smoke, which rolled away in
mighty masses after its master spirit, the
devouring element; while day-light again
streaming in through the interwoven
branches of this beautiful retreat, made
my heart bound with rapture at our safe
deliverance.

Lilian now opened her eyes, and for an
instant gazed upon me with a bewildered
expression. I strained her to my heart,
pressed my lips to hers, and whispered:

“We are saved, dearest.”

“Saved?” she echoed: “Saved? Then
it was not a horrible dream, but a frightfully-hideous
reality, at the thought of which
the soul sickens and grows faint?”

“All that language has power to depict
of the awful, it was, and ten times more.”

“Lilian! Francis!” now called the
voice of Eva; and springing through the
bushes, accompanied by Elmer, she rushed
up to the former, threw her arms around
her neck, and each wept tears of joy in
the other's embrace.

“But Evaline and Charles — what of
them?” cried Eva, looking up, pale with
alarm.

“Gracious God!” shouted I, “what of
them indeed!” for in the frantic bewilderment
of the last few minutes, all thought
of everything but escape from death, had
been driven from my mind. “Perchance
they have perished! Great God! what a
thought! To the brow of the hill let us
speed at once!”

As I spoke, we all rushed up the acclivity,
and soon gained a point whence
we could gaze upon the desolated scene.
What a fearful change a few minutes had
wrought! Where, a short time since, all
was life and beauty—the tall grass softly
undulating to the light-winged zephyr—
we now beheld only a black, smoking, dismal
waste, without a sign of living thing
so relieve its gloom. The fire had passed
us entirely; but away to the east, to the
north, and the west, spread a dense cloud
of rolling smoke, amid which we could
perceive the lurid flashes of the death-dealing
victor, as on, on he sped, seeking
new victims to feed his insatiable maw.
Here and there, in every direction on his
smoking trail, were strewn the blackened
carcasses of such animals as had been
overtaken in their flight. At the foot of
the hill whereon we stood, in the exact
spot where he had fallen, lay the remains
of the gallant beast which had borne me
through so many perils, and which, at the
very last, had saved my life at the expense
of his own. A few rods farther on was
the one Lilian had ridden, now an ungainly
mass of charred flesh. Altogether, it was
an appalling scene of desolation, that made
the heart sick to look upon.

All these things I took in at a glance,
but without dwelling upon them for a moment.
One wild, maddening thought alone
occupied my brain. My friend and Evaline—were
they lost or saved? What a
torturing uncertainty, where nothing could
be known! I strained my eyes, and vainly
strove to penetrate the sable vail which
curtained the view to the west. All there
was wrapped in the frightful gloom of
impenetrable darkness. Perchance they
might be living, but even now in the agonies
of a most terrible death! — and I
groaned, and shuddered, and felt my brain
grow dizzy and my heart sicken at the
bare possibility.

For some minutes we all stood and stared
as if rooted to the spot, pale and speechless
with the agony of suspense. At length
the smoke began to clear away between
us and the point from whence we had set
out for the race. Alas! it brought no
hope, but rather despair. All, as elsewhere,
was black and lifeless, and we felt
our doubts removed by the worst of certainties.

“Oh, fatal day!” cried Eva, wringing
her hands; “and most fatal adventure!
Oh, God! my sister and friend lost! and
all through my rashness. Strong-headed
and giddy, I would not heed his foreboding
counsels, but madly rushed away,
dragging him to his own death. May God
in his mercy forgive me! for I can never
forgive myself. Never—no, never—shall
I be happy again.”

“Nay, dearest Eva,” said Lilian, consolingly,
twining her arms around the other's
neck; “Nay, my dear sister—for a sister
to me you seem—do not reproach yourself
thus! You were to blame in this no
more than I, or the rest. You knew not,
dreamed not, there was danger—neither
did any of us — and the forebodings of
Charles were merely vague fancies without
even a foundation. Had he warned
us of certain danger known to himself,
then we might have been considered rash
in disregarding his counsel. As it is, I
feel we have been only the blind instruments
in the hands of the Almighty, for
working out one of his mysterious designs.
But do not let us despair. I still have
hope that Charles and Evaline are safe.
They were far behind us, and it is possible
may have turned back and gained
yonder hill in safety.”

“God send it be so!” ejaculated I—
“though I have my fears. But, Eva,”
I added, “I insist you do not blame yourself.
If any one is to blame, it is I.”

“You, Francis? But you merely say
this to console me.”

“Nay, I will prove it. But for my plan,
we had all ere this been far on our way to
Fort Laramie. It was I proposed to Evaline
we should leave her alone with her
friends, and designated the spot whither
we would ride and await her. It was I
that made light of the presentiment of
Huntly, and scoffed at his idea of danger.
So blame not yourself Eva! Heaven

knows, the blow falls heavy enough upon
us all, without the additional weight of
either one thinking it the result of his or
her individual misdoing.”

“Ay,” rejoined Elmer, “so think I. If
one is to blame, all are—but in my opinion,
none are at fault; and certainly not
you, Miss Mortimer.”

But I will not follow in detail our gloomy
conversation, nor longer dwell upon our
feelings. Suffice, that for something like
an hour, we stood watching the fire, as on
it rushed, away and away to the dim distance,
until it became lost to our vision,
leaving behind it the most dismal scene I
had ever beheld.

Another hour passed, and still we stood
in the self-same spot, uncertain what course
to pursue. We had eagerly scanned every
object, and strained our eyes in every direction,
in the hope of being rejoiced by
the sight of one living thing. But the
hope proved fallacious. All was silent,
and black, and motionless, on this great
field of death and desolation.

But what should be done, was now the
all important question. The earth was
still smoking with heat, and the sun, in
mid-heaven, pouring down his scorching
rays, with scarcely a reviving breath of
air; so that we could not venture from
our shady retreat with any safety. Besides,
but two of our horses had been
spared, and these were so exhausted as to
be of no service to us for the day at least.

How long the earth would remain heated,
we could not tell; but in all probability
till the day should become too far advanced
for us to gain another safe point ere
nightfall—in which event, we would again
be in imminent danger from the ravenous
beasts, that would come with the darkness
to prey upon the half-burnt carcasses
of their fellows. In view of all this, there
appeared no alternative but to remain
where we were over night, and make the
best of the circumstances we could not
alter.

This, after the proposal, discussion and
final rejection of several plans, was at last
reluctantly consented to, when Elmer and
myself immediately set about constructing
a rude lodge for Lilian and Eva, who, to
their praise be it said, bore their misfortunes
with a firm, patient and heroic
resignation, that would have won our admiration,
even had we, in every other respect,
been wholly indifferent to their many noble
charms.

Our present asylum was a beautiful and
romantic spot, of some half a dozen acres
in extent, watered by a fine spring, shaded
with trees, and carpeted with a velvet-like
sward of sweet, green grass, interspersed
with white, red, purple, yellow and gold
colored flowers. In short, it seemed &
Garden of Eden on an arid waste; and
had our friends been with us, or even had
we been assured of their safety, we could
have spent the night here with pleasure.

With our hunting-knives we cut several
withes, and bending over a few saplings,
bound them together so as to form a regular
arbor, which we roofed with bushes,
leaves and turf, sufficiently to keep off the
dew at least. With our rifles, which we
fortunately had with us, we next ransacked
the bushes, and were successful in scaring
up and shooting some two or three hares,
which we dressed and cooked, and found
very palatable—the more so, perhaps, that
we had eaten nothing since morning—our
provisions for the journey having been left
with our mules.

During the day we saw nothing of our
companions, and as night slowly shut in
the scene, we gradually began to lose the
faint hope that had thus far been our consolation.
True, if saved, the same cause
which prevented us, might also them, from
venturing forth upon what seemed almost
certain destruction. But there was no
certainty—no, scarcely a possibility—they
had escaped, and this torturing thought,
added to our lonely situation and the surrounding
gloom, made us wretched with
despair.

Oh! what an awful night was this we
passed in the wilderness! One which,
were we to live a thousand years, would
ever be a yesterday to us, so deeply and
painfully was it engraven upon the outer
tablets of our memories. To add gloom,
as it were, to accumulated horrors, a dark,
angry cloud began to spread along the
western horizon, from which shot vivid
flashes of lightning, followed by the booming
roar of heavy thunder, as if the spirits
of the air, bent on making “assurance
doubly sure,” were now marshaling their

grand reserve-forces to triumph over a
vanquished foe.

On, on came the Storm-King, flinging
out his black banners in advance, and vailing
the light of Heaven's starry host, as
if unwilling one single thing should be
left undone to make his triumph most dismally,
impressively terrible. On, on he
came, amid the almost incessant flashes
and thunders of his mighty artillery!

Huddled together in our rude arbor, before
which blazed a lurid, flickering flame,
that gave our pale features an unearthly
appearance, and made our grim shadows
dance fantastically behind us, like dark
spirits in a hellish revel, we sat and gazed
upon vacancy, silent with emotions too
deep for utterance.

Now the storm was at its hight. Sheet
upon sheet of the hot lightning, flashing
in our faces, blinded our eyes; peal upon
peal of crashing thunder, shaking the
earth beneath, almost deafened us with its
roar; while the rain, pouring down in torrents,
thoroughly drenched and stiffened
our cramped up bodies and limbs.

For two hours thus we remained in
breathless awe, motionless and silent, ere
the storm abated its fury; and then only,
as it were, that we might hear the howlings
of surrounding wolves, which, to our
distorted fancies, seemed the loud wailings
of the damned over the final wreck of
Nature.

Serenely the morning broke upon the
night, and the sun again rose as bright
and golden as if nothing had happened.
Never was a day hailed with more joy.
With the first streak of light, we caught
our two overridden horses, and found, to
our great delight, that they were still capable
of performing a heavy task. Mounting
two on each, we set out over the
blackened plain to retrace our steps, and,
if possible, gain some tidings of our friends.

For an hour or more we saw nothing to
attract particular attention, when suddenly
Eva uttered a fearful shriek, and pointing
to an object before us, cried:

“My God! look on that!”

We did look, with dilated eyes, and felt
our blood freeze with horror. It was the
blackened and mangled corse of a human
being — probably the remains of one of
our companions of the previous day. A
few feet from it lay the half-eaten carcass
of a horse, too fatally confirming our suspicions.

Elmer and I dismounted and examined
the body of the unfortunate young man;
but all trace by which we might identify
it was lost; and with a sicken shudder and
trembling steps we passed on, with such
feelings as none can ever more than faintly
imagine.

About a mile from this, we came upon
the carcass of a horse, beside which lay
the stirrups of a saddle, several scraps of
burnt leather, and, oh God! another human
body!

“Another victim!” groaned Fitzgerald,
covering his eyes to shut out the hideous
spectacle. “Who next?”

“Great God!” gasped I, “should the
next be Charles and Evaline! But come,
Fitzgerald! this is a trial unfitted for ladies.
See! both Lilian and Eva seem
ready to fall from their horses! Let us
mount and away, and take them from this
awful scene. If we gain no tidings of our
friends when we reach the Wahsochees, we
will at least get some of them to assist
us in the painful task of searching for their
remains.”

Shaping our course more to the right,
we rode away over the plain, fearful to
look beneath our feet, lest our eyes might
chance upon another revolting spectacle.
In the course of a couple of hours, we had
passed the first hill, leaving it away to our
left, and were fast nearing the second, the
point from whence we had first viewed the
beautiful prairie, in all the enchantment
of its loveliness only the morning previous,
and which we had fixed on for our
rendezvous, in case we became separated,
little dreaming, in our merry thoughtlessness,
of the mighty calamity hanging over
us, and that grim Death was even then
invisibly stalking in our midst to select his
victims. Suddenly Lilian exclaimed:

“God be thanked! they live!” and
overcome with joyful emotions, she could
only point her finger and faintly add:
“See! see!”

“Ay, thank God!' cried I, “they are
saved!” and I pointed to Charles and Evaline,
whom we now descried rushing down
the hill before us, followed by some fifteen
or twenty of the Mysterious Tribe.

Five minutes later, we stood clasping
each other, weeping and speechless with
joy.