The wailing cry for the dead was stilled upon the lips of the squaws, and in sullen gloom the warriors awaited the command of their Sachem. After holding a short conference with Captain Gardiner and the Major, he addressed a few words to his followers, when half a score separated themselves from their companions and strode shoreward. At a gesture from the chief his warriors clutched their dead enemies by the feet and dragged them away, followed by a procession of braves, squaws and papooses, the latter bringing up the rear as they moved forward to the beach, where several canoes were awaiting the gruesome freight; and like slaughtered wolves the lifeless Narragansetts were piled in ghastly heaps within the birchen vessels, which were tethered together with strong lines, fashioned from the sinews of the deer. The flotilla was firmly secured to three canoes, in which a complement of Montauks were seated, the rowers bent to their task, and the gruesome cortège swept onward. Upon the highest point of the bold headland Wyandance stood upright, his gaze fixed steadfastly upon the receding canoes until they came to a sudden standstill, in plain sight of his elevated point of observation. Dragging the canoes containing the scalpless warriors alongside the leading boats, the Montauks raised the dead from the bottom of the canoe, and one by one they were plunged into the depths by the grim undertakers. Through a field glass Major Gordon and Kingsland watched each act of the drama, plainly saw the fin of a shark rise to the surface, the glistening white belly of the man-eater exposed to view for an instant ere the monster seized upon his prey, that disap peared from sight as if engulfed within the circles of a maelstrom. Another and yet another sea-wolf flashed to the surface, to disappear as suddenly as the first, while a fierce yell of gratified revenge floated across the waters, answered by the Montauk war-whoop from the braves gathered upon the promontory, and supplemented by the weird wailing of the squaws mournfor their own dead. ing "The graves of our enemies are in the jaws of the sea-wolves-their spirits must roam forever amid the swamps and deserts, pursued by Ho-bam-o-koo, chilled by frosts, burned by hot sands, but never can they reach the happy hunting grounds where the Montauk warriors they have slain will hunt the deer, the moose and the bear-it is well!" exclaimed Wyandance, in a deep solemn voice. "And for the traitor who betrayed the Montauks to their enemies, may he, like the Narragansetts, our foes, find his grave in the stomach of the wild beast of the forest!" With a shudder, Major Gordon walked away, his face whitening, his limbs trembling. Would the curse follow him and the no less guilty Kingsland? The sorrowing Sachem sought the solitude of his desolate wigwam to receive the faithful ministrations of his devoted Wic-chi-tau-bit. CHAPTER XX AN INTRICATE WEB "O, serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! ROM the chaos of mind Heather Flower awakened slowly as from a fearful dream. Nearly an hour had elapsed since she was ruthlessly torn from her friends, in the very midst of the wedding festivities which had been suddenly turned to a scene of woe. The shock had been so terrible as to stupefy her faculties and benumb her limbs. She remembered the gay pageant upon which her eyes had rested; the cooing tones of her maidens sounded in her ears, voices so swiftly stilled in death; again the red torchlights flashed before her eyes, again she saw the green arch, the garlands, the moving figures of the dancers in the centre of the amphitheatre, the revelry to be succeeded by the awful war-whoop of the Narragansetts hemming in the revellers as they rushed upon their prey; again she heard the whizzing of arrows, saw the whirling tomahawks raining blows upon the defenceless heads of her defenders, and then in fancy she beheld the torchlights shedding a lurid glow upon the forms lying around her, the dead bodies of her people. She re membered that neither age nor sex had been spared by the ruthless assassins, and again she turned deathly sick and faint. A heavy fur robe had been suddenly thrown over her head and secured about her neck so closely as to stifle her breath and muffle the horrid din, and she had felt herself raised and borne swiftly along through the thick forest, for the green-leaved twigs of the undergrowth had struck sharply against her limbs and the thorns had clung to her garments as her captors made their passage, while the fearful sound of conflict, the cries of the wounded, the groans of the dying grew fainter, and she knew that she was a captive of the brawny Narragansetts whose arms encircled her form, and was being carried away from all she held dear on earth, and into a bondage that might prove worse than death. All passed before her like a phantasmagoria of a frightful dream, and yet she realised that it was a dread reality. She felt herself lowered and placed in a sitting posture, and knew by the rocking motion that she was in a canoe, and that only two persons stepped in after her; then the birchen vessel was pushed off, and that the paddles were wielded with powerful strokes she felt by the motion of the light craft and the swiftness with which it shot over the waters. All this she perceived only by circumstances, for her eyes were blinded, and not a word had been spoken by her captors. On, on, sped the war-canoe, like a bird upon the wing, riding lightly upon the smooth waters, and at length rocking idly, for the stout oarsmen rested from their labours; and although the frightful spectacle she had witnessed was appalling, the helpless captive knew that it was but a prelude to the awful tragedy that was being enacted on the shore she had left. Of the flight of time she could take no note, her breath came in gasps, and then the hardy child of the forest fainted. When she awoke from the dead stupor that had steeped her senses in a merciful oblivion, the heavy robe was removed from her face and wrapped about her shoulders, the moonlight was falling whitely upon her bared head, which was pillowed against the naked breast of a swarthy Narragansett; a hot breath scorched her cheek, and she raised her heavy eyes to encounter the basilisk gaze of her father's arch enemy, Ninigret. With a sudden movement she wrenched herself free from his enfolding arm and sprang to her feet. The canoe rocked dangerously with the impetus of her motion, and the chief grasped her arm with a grip of steel, forcing her back to the bottom of the canoe. "Let the daughter of Wyandance be still or Ninigret's knife shall drink her blood!" exclaimed the chief, in menacing tones, while his hand sought his knife haft. "Let the murderer of women and children strike! He can fight only the Montauks who have no bows in their hands, no tomahawks at their belts!" claimed the girl, with dauntless mien, her eyes blazing, her nostrils dilating scornfully. Ninigret is a squaw who dares not look in the face of a Montauk who carries a spear in his hand!" In an instant the keen knife was in the air, poised above her heart; but with a mighty effort the wily Narragansett quelled the fierce gust of passion her taunts had raised, and his hand dropped to his side, though still clutching the weapon. |