At the same time she knew her danger and, moreover, the danger the Sacketts entailed by helping. If captured, they would be killed. She and Carrie would be enslaved, but the Sacketts would be killed, and they had nothing to gain.
They started on and had been going but a short distance when Carrie stumbled and fell. She got up, frightened. "Di! Don't leave me!"
"We won't leave you," I said. "Here, let me give you a lift." I swung her to my back. "Put your legs around my waist and hang to my shoulders."
I started off again, walking as if unburdened, and they followed.
Yance was hanging back, bringing up the rear, keeping his eyes open for trouble. I did not look around, knowing he would be there; if there was trouble, Yance would give me a signal.
We were deeper into the forest now. All about us were huge old maples and clusters of oaks, some of them seven or eight feet in diameter. Here there was less undergrowth, and we could move with greater speed. I was almost running now, weaving a swift way through the forest.
She watched me constantly, and well I knew her reasons, for he is naught but a fool who trusts himself too lightly to a stranger. Now the land was changing; there were more low, rolling hills, and suddenly we topped out on a rise and caught a glimpse of blue beyond.
The river? No. The look of the water was not right. A lake, then, or large pond. We came down to the shore among the willows, and I let Carrie slide from my back. She was not heavy, yet even with my strength the carrying of her was thing.
Yance came in. "Had a glimpse back there. They gained on us."
Carrie looked up at me. "Can't we go home now? Is it far?"
"Not far, Carrie," I said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "but we cannot go there now. There are men close upon us. They are between us and your village."
Yance disappeared in the woods, scouting a way. I lay down, resting, letting all my muscles relax completely and giving way to complete rest. It was something I had learned to do to conserve strength. Through the willows I could see the water, hear it lapping.
Resting, I was. Yet thinking as well. From the glimpse I had, the lake was a large one, and we had to go back to the east and then south.
Diana came up beside me and sank to the ground nearby. "We are due east of the Cape, I think?" she suggested.
"We are."
"We cannot go east?"
"There are men coming toward us. Evil men, I think." I paused. "Do you know Max Bauer?"
"What of him?"
"He is one of them, I think."
She was silent for several minutes. "He is Joseph Pittingel's man."
"Who has a ship that is overdue."
"Maybe he is coming to help?" she suggested. "He was often in Carrie's home. She knows him."
I shrugged. "They are saying in the settlement that Pequots took you. Pittingel says it. Bauer, also."
"They are not eager to find me, I believe." She spoke calmly. "I am sorry for Carrie that she was with me when they came."
Yance came suddenly, soundlessly, from the willows. "Indians," he said. "A lot of them, I think."
Chapter VII
Following him, I looked past his pointing finger at a thin column of Indians, all of whom seemed to be warriors, advancing along a trace from the southwest. Within the range of my vision, judging by their spacing, there were at least forty in the group.
"Wait," I suggested, "and let them pass, then cut back behind them. It is our only chance."
If we could do it. Leaving Yance to watch, I went back and explained quickly. "No sound," I added, "and then when I say, we must move quickly and quietly."
We waited then, watching them come. I knew not the clothing or the paint these warriors wore, for it was different than any I had seen. Were they Pequots? Mohawks? I held my musket ready, knowing that its one shot could mean but one enemy dead. I had pistols, and there might be a chance to reload.
My throat was tight, for fear was upon me. We were but three men against forty, and if they rushed, we should have small chance indeed. Two musket shots, then our pistols and knives, with Henry's spear, and I yet knew nothing of Henry, whether he could fight or even if he would. Yet he was stalwart, and he carried himself like one who knew his way with weapons.
Where they came from we had not yet been, so there were no tracks of ours, and if they held to the trace they now followed, they would still see no sign left by us. But--I smiled at the thought--if they held to the trace, they would surely come upon Bauer and those with him.
We held still, making not the slightest move, scarcely daring to breathe, and the first of them came abreast of us and not fifty yards away, flitting through the forest with scarcely a sound.
They were slim and wiry men rather than muscular, yet a few among them seemed powerful, and no doubt all were strong enough. They carried spears, but bows and arrows as well as the tomahawk were much in evidence.
Slowly they passed us by, and my first guess had been close, for I numbered them to be thirty-two and no signs of battle among them, so if it was a raid they were upon, it lay before them.
No sooner had the last of them disappeared in the forest than I straightened up and beckoned. We went down the slope, past some pines, and took the very trace they had followed, retracing their steps back to the way from which they had come.
We passed the lake, keeping it close on our right, and a half-dozen miles farther we made camp in a pleasant nook among giant oaks where we swiftly gathered some fallen twigs and branches and built a small, warm but almost smokeless fire. Hidden as we were in a deep place among the trees, the fire would not be seen beyond our circle of trees.
In a dish, hastily made of birch bark, we sliced up some venison; then, when it had been simmering for a half hour, I added a couple of handfuls of cattail pollen. Diana watched us curiously and somewhat skeptically, I thought, but she made no comment.
Yance put together two cones of birch bark and plugged the bottoms; then we filled each with the soup. One went to Carrie, the other to Diana. Carrie hesitated, looking doubtful, but hunger overcame the squeamishness at trying something new. Meanwhile, I mixed up more of the soup, adding to what had been left.
Glancing over at Henry, I said, "You've been in the woods before?"
"They were different."
"You move like a woodsman."
He looked at me, his head up. "I was a warrior in my own land. I led men in battle."
"Looks like you may get a chance for battle," I commented. "Was it in Africa?"
"I am Ashanti," he said simply.
"A slaver?"
He shrugged a shoulder. "There was war. When the war was over, the victor had slaves, or he killed them so they could not attack again. Some of the slaves we sold for guns or cloth."
"How'd you become a slave? Did you lose a war?"
"No, we took slaves aboard the ship, and there were not enough slaves for the ship, and then the wind started to come up. Suddenly I was pushed from behind, and I was a slave, also."
"So now you know how it feels."
He shrugged again. "Some win, some lose. I lost then; now I win. I am free; I will stay free." He stared at us defiantly.
I smiled. "Why not? We are not slavers, nor are we owners of slaves. We do our own work."
His look was disdainful. "A warrior does not work!"