we reached the edge of the cane-brake in a few minutes, and there we stopped to reconnoiter.
there was not a man, dog, or even a horse in sight; and having satisfied ourselves on this point, we sprang out of our concealment, and ran toward the cabin.
tom led the way up the grape-vine, carrying the valise in his teeth. i followed close behind him, with both guns slung over my shoulder, and presently we found ourselves safe in our prison again.
“i call this a masterly piece of strategy,” panted tom, drawing his coat-sleeve across his forehead. “it will take them a long time to find out where we are, and delay will serve us as well as any thing else. all we want is to keep out of their clutches until the settlers arrive.”
250the first business in hand was to fasten the doors, which was easily done. there happened to be several short pieces of plank in tom’s prison, and from these we selected two which answered our purpose admirably. by putting one end under the locks and bracing the other end against the floor, we secured both doors so effectually that, as long as the locks remained in their places, no power that could be applied on the outside could force them open.
there was but one way in which our enemies could effect an entrance, and that was by cutting down the doors; but we did not think they would be reckless enough to attempt that in the face of our double-barrels.
after we had fastened the doors, tom sat down on the floor to rest after his exertions, and i stood at the window, awaiting the return of luke redman and his friends.
the sound of voices, which came faintly to my ears, told me that they were still searching for our trail along the bank of the bayou, and during the next ten minutes they passed all around the island.
251by that time they must have been satisfied that we were still in the cane-brake, for they came back to the house in a body, the dogs leading the way.
luke redman, whose face was white with rage and excitement, rode directly to the door of the cabin and dismounted to put the hounds on our trail.
“hunt ’em up!” he shouted, running his hand along the ground and waving it in the direction of our supposed hiding-place. “hunt ’em up! be off with you!”
the dogs were willing enough to follow our trail, now that they were encouraged by the voice and presence of their masters. they quickly took up the scent, and ran yelping toward the cane-brake, with the horsemen close at their heels.
for a few moments their music grew fainter and fainter, and then began to increase in volume. presently they reappeared, still followed by the horsemen, and ran straight to the foot of the grape-vine.
i began to tremble now, but tom was as cool as a cucumber.
252“wal, i never did see sich fools of dogs in all my born days,” exclaimed barney, as the hounds looked up at the window, and began barking furiously. “they’ve follered the back track.”
“that’s jest what they’ve done,” said luke redman, in great disgust. “if i had my gun in my hands, i would shoot the last blessed one on ’em. any body with half sense could tell that them boys wouldn’t come back here an’ go up into them rooms arter they were onct safe out of ’em. call ’em away, an’ put ’em on the trail ag’in.”
this was easier said than done. the hounds understood their business much better than barney, and they positively refused to yield obedience to his commands.
they knew they had treed their game, and, if they were capable of thinking at all, were doubtless wondering why their master did not make an effort to secure it. even luke redman’s voice had no effect upon them; and, becoming highly enraged at last, he threw himself from his horse, and falling upon them with his rawhide, sent them yelping right and left.
253“thar, dog-gone you!” he shouted, “cl’ar yourselves! i’ll never trust none on you ag’in. barney,” he added, suddenly, a bright idea striking him, “s’pose you an’ jake run up stairs an’ look into them rooms. ’twont do no harm, although i know the boys hain’t thar.”
barney and his brother disappeared in the house, and presently we heard them coming up the stairs. they went to the door of my prison first, and were plainly very much surprised when it refused to open for them. they turned the key several times, to make sure that they had unlocked it, and pushed with all their might, but with no better success than before. then they tried the other door, but found it equally well secured.
they kept up a chorus of questions and ejaculations all the while, and tom and i stood leaning on our guns, smiling complacently at one another, and wondering how the matter would end.
the two dragoons must have become suspicious at last, for they sunk their voices to a whisper, and after holding a short consultation, barney cried out, in an excited tone: 254“pap! i say, pap! dog-gone my buttons, here they be!”
our faces lengthened out very suddenly when we heard this.
things began to get exciting now. barney’s announcement must have occasioned great surprise among the outlaw crew below.
the loud conversation they had kept up ceased instantly, and after a moment’s pause, luke redman said:
“i reckon you’re barkin’ up the wrong tree, barney.”
“not if i know myself, i hain’t,” answered the leader of the swamp dragoons. “something’s the matter with these yere doors, ’cause they won’t open.”
luke redman, greatly astonished at this piece of news, rushed into the house and came up the stairs half a dozen steps at a time. he seized the key, turned it in the lock, and threw all his ponderous weight against the door, but it did not give an inch. the other was equally obstinate; and after a few ineffectual attempts to force an entrance, the robber stooped down and looked through the key-hole. he did not 255see any thing, however, for tom and i were wise enough to keep out of sight.
“thar ain’t nobody in thar,” said he, “but i reckon i know how the matter stands. they fastened the door afore they left. barney, you go down an’ climb up that grape-vine, an’ look in an’ see if they didn’t.”
“wal, now, jest hold your breath till i go, will you?” replied barney. “when you see me foolin’ with them two fellers, you’ll see a weasel asleep. they’ve got guns. i hain’t a-goin’ to stir a step.”
“you’re a coward!” exclaimed his father, angrily. “if the grape-vine would b’ar my weight, i would go myself; but it won’t. jake, are you a coward, too?”
“no, i hain’t,” replied that worthy. “i’ll go, ’cause i know they ain’t thar.”
luke redman and his boys descended the stairs, and, looking out of the window again, we saw jake pull off his coat and begin the ascent of the grape-vine.
“what is to be done now?” i asked, with some uneasiness. “it won’t be safe to allow him to come up here.”
256“oh, yes, let him come on,” replied tom. “we’ll go into the other room, and if he comes in there, we’ll see that he don’t get out again in a hurry. you know we are working for time now, and it makes little difference what we do.”
tom, as usual, carried his point. we watched jake until he had ascended almost within reach of us, and then retreating into my prison, crouched one on each side of the opening, and waited for him to make his appearance.
we heard the grape-vine rustling against the side of the cliff, and presently jake’s head and shoulders darkened the window.
he panted loudly with the violence of his exertions, and after a little delay, during which he was doubtless looking all about the room, he sang out: “wal, consarn it all!”
“what’s to do?” asked luke redman from below.
“why, they’ve got a plank fast agin’ the door, an’ that’s why we couldn’t open it,” answered jake. “but thar ain’t nobody here.”
257“go through into the other room,” said his father.
this command was followed by a long pause on jake’s part, during which he was probably trying to make up his mind whether or not it would be quite safe for him to push his investigations any further, and then we heard him climb slowly down from the window and walk across the creaking floor. he stopped every few feet, and was so long in coming that we began to believe he had concluded to turn back; but presently he placed his hands against the partition and thrust his head slowly and cautiously, inch by inch, into the opening.
it was much darker in this room than in the other, and for a moment his eyes were of but little use to him; but they gradually became accustomed to the gloom, and jake, whose face was turned away from me and toward tom, began to think he saw something.
“what’s this yere?” he muttered, thrusting out his hand to examine the object which had attracted his attention, and which was nothing more nor less than tom mason’s head. “looks like somebody!”
258he was not long in finding out that it was somebody; for tom seized his wrists in a vise-like grasp, and at the same instant i caught him by the collar.
“human natur’!” yelled jake, terrified almost beyond measure by the suddenness of our assault. “help! help! here they be, pap! turn loose, consarn it all!”
did you ever try to hold an eel? i have, and know that it is an exceedingly difficult thing to do, but not more difficult than to hold jake redman. whether he was stronger than both of us, or fear lent him additional power of muscle, i do not know, but, at any rate, in less time than it takes to tell it, he slipped out of tom’s hold, tore away from me, leaving a portion of his collar in my grasp, and with two jumps reached the window.
we dived through the openings, one after the other, and followed him with all possible speed, but he was much too nimble for us.
he threw himself from the window, and must have dropped to the ground, for when we looked out he was standing among his companions, holding both hands to his head, which he had 259bumped pretty severely during his descent, and looking up at the window as if he could not quite understand what had happened. his pale face showed that he had sustained something of a fright.
“what’s the matter of you?” demanded luke redman, as soon as he had recovered from his astonishment. “seed a ghost?”
“no; but i’ve seed them fellers. they’re up thar, as sure as you’re a foot high.”
“i don’t b’lieve it,” cried barney.
“no odds to me whether you do or not,” replied jake. “i know it’s so, ’cause i seed ’em and felt ’em grab me. pap, if you’ll take an ax an’ chop down one of them doors, you’ll find ’em an’ your money, too.”
luke redman thought this a suggestion worth acting upon. he disappeared in the house, followed by the boys, who could scarcely find words with which to express their amazement. they understood now why their hounds had followed the back track, and wondered at the stupidity we had exhibited in returning to our prison after once escaping from it.
this much we gathered from their conversation, 260every word of which we heard distinctly.
do you believe you can tell by the way a man walks whether or not he is angry? i have thought i could; and any one who had heard luke redman coming up those stairs would have known that he was almost boiling over with fury.
he came thundering along as though he were shod with iron. arriving at our door, he pounded upon it with some heavy implement—the ax, probably—and called out:
“hay, tommy, and you, mark, open this door to onct. hear me, don’t you?”
of course we heard him—we could have distinctly heard every word he uttered if we had been standing on the other side of the island—but it was no part of our plan to reply to him. our object was to delay his operations by every means in our power.
“you needn’t try to pull the wool over my eyes by keepin’ so still,” he continued, in a very savage tone, “’cause i know you are thar, an’ i jest ain’t a-goin’ to stand no foolin’. this is the last time i shall speak to you. if 261you don’t open this door, i’ll cut it down, snake you both out by the neck, an’ give you the wust whoppin’ you ever heern tell on. hear me, don’t you?”
still no response.
tom stood with his hands clasped over the muzzle of his gun and his eyes fixed upon the plank which secured the door, while i was watching the hinges, and waiting to see them driven from their fastenings by blows from the ax.
for fully a minute the robber crew stood listening for an answer. at the end of that time luke redman’s patience was all exhausted, and, without more ado, he lifted the ax, and the door began to shake and bend under the heavy blows that were showered upon it.
it was time to speak now, and tom was wide awake.
“hold on out there!” he shouted.
“ah ha!” exclaimed luke, “you’ve found your tongue at last, have you? you heern what i said, i reckon. what do you think about it?”
“i don’t think any thing,” replied tom, 262coolly, “but i know something. if you strike that door again with that ax, i’ll send a charge of buckshot among you. what do you think of that?”
these words were spoken in a most determined tone, and we knew by the sudden silence which followed them that they had not been without their effect upon the outlaw and his gang.
tom held himself in readiness to carry out his threat, and i am sure he would have done it, had it been necessary; but fortunately it was not. luke redman stood as much in fear of buckshot as we did of his hounds. he said a few words in a whisper to his boys, and then walked slowly down the stairs and out of the house, where he stood foaming with rage, and swinging his ax about in a way that made all his companions keep at a respectful distance.
tom thrust his gun out of the window, and pushed the branches of the grape-vine aside, so that luke could see him.
“i wish i had my shootin’-iron in my hands,” said luke redman, glaring up at us with a most fiendish expression of countenance. 263“i’d put a load into you as soon as i’d look at you.”
“oh, you’re joking!” replied tom.
“come down from thar!” shouted the man, shaking his ax at us, “if i get my hands on you, i’ll—i’ll—”
he finished the sentence with an oath.
“if angry, count fifty before you speak; if very angry, count a hundred,” said my companion, in a tone of voice that must have aggravated luke to the very last degree. “that’s good advice, and i suggest that you act upon it; but whatever you do, skip those hard words. don’t swear. take breath, and begin again. didn’t i tell you that i would be even with you for the little tricks you have played upon me? you see i have the money,” he added, holding the valise up to the view of the outlaw crew. “it has been in your possession for the last time. i am going to send it back to my uncle.”
“i’ll bet a hoss you don’t!” retorted luke, his face brightening as if he had discovered a way out of the difficulty. “i’ll give you jest one more chance. if you will give up the 264money, you can go off about your business, an’ nobody shan’t trouble you; if you won’t do that, i’ll fetch you down from thar in a way you don’t think of. let’s hear from you.”
“now, friend redman, do you see any thing so very green in our eyes?” asked tom, in reply. “you surely do not imagine that we will put ourselves in your clutches again, do you? we are a trifle too sharp for that. if it’s all the same to you, we’ll stay here.”
“wal, you shan’t stay thar, nuther,” roared luke. “do you know how i’ll get you outen thar? i’ll burn you out, that’s what i’ll do. it won’t be no trouble in the world to set fire to this cabin. the wind blows your way, an’ it’ll soon get so hot up thar that you’ll be glad to come out. what do you say now?”
