He was the very picture of terror, as exhibited in a negro. His eyes were rolling in their sockets--the whites oftener visible than either pupil or iris. His lips were white and bloodless; the black skin upon his face was blanched to an ashy paleness; and his teeth chattered as he spoke. His att.i.tudes and gestures confirmed my belief that he was in a state of extreme terror.

As soon as he saw me, he ran hurriedly up, and grasped me by the arm--at the same time casting fearful glances in the direction whence he had come, as if some dread danger was behind him!

I knew that under ordinary circ.u.mstances Jake was no coward--Quite the contrary. There must have been peril then--what was it?

I looked back; but in the dark depths of the forest shade, I could distinguish no other object than the brown trunks of the trees.

I again appealed to him for an explanation.

"O Lor! it wa-wa-war _him_; I'se sure it war _him_."

"Him? who?"

"O Ma.s.sr George; you--you--you shure you not hurt. He fire at you. I see him t-t-t-take aim; I fire at _him_--I fire after; I mi-mi-miss; he run away--way--way."

"Who fired? who ran away?"

"O Gor! it wa-wa-war him; him or him go-go-ghost."

"For heaven's sake, explain! what him? what ghost? Was it the devil you have seen?"

"Troof, Ma.s.sr George; dat am the troof. It wa-wa-war de debbel I see; it war _Yell' Jake_!"

"Yellow Jake?"

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

WHO FIRED THE SHOT?

"Yellow Jake?" I repeated in the usual style of involuntary interrogative--of course without the slightest faith in my companion's statement. "Saw Yellow Jake, you say?"

"Yes, Ma.s.sr George," replied the groom, getting a little over his fright: "sure as the sun, I see 'im--eytha 'im or 'im ghost."

"Oh, nonsense! there are no ghosts: your eyes deceived you under the shadow of a tree. It must have been an illusion."

"By Gor! Ma.s.sr George," rejoined the black with emphatic earnestness, "I swar I see 'im--'twant no daloosyun, I see--'twar eytha Yell' Jake or 'im ghost."

"Impossible!"

"Den, ma.s.sr, ef't be impossible, it am de troof. Sure as da gospel, I see Yell' Jake; he fire at you from ahind tha gum tree. Den I fire at 'im. Sure, Ma.s.sr George, you hear boaf de two shot?"

"True; I heard two shots, or fancied I did."

"Gollys! ma.s.sr, da wa'nt no fancy 'bout 'em. Whugh! no--da dam raskel he fire, sure. Lookee da, Ma.s.sr George! What I say? Lookee da!"

We had been advancing towards the pond, and were now close to the magnolia under whose shade I had slept. I observed Jake in a stooping att.i.tude under the tree, and pointing to its trunk. I looked in the direction indicated. Low down, on the smooth bark, I saw the score of a bullet. It had creased the tree, and pa.s.sed onward. The wound was green and fresh, the sap still flowing. Beyond doubt, I had been fired at by some one, and missed only by an inch. The leaden missile must have pa.s.sed close to my head where it rested upon the valise--close to my ears, too, for I now remembered that almost simultaneously with the first report, I had heard the "wheep" of a bullet.

"Now, you b'lieve um, Ma.s.sr George?" interposed the black, with an air of confident interrogation. "Now you b'lieve dat dis chile see no daloosyun?"

"Certainly I believe that I have been shot at by some one--"

"Yell' Jake, Ma.s.sr George! Yell' Jake, by Gor!" earnestly a.s.severated my companion. "I seed da yaller raskel plain's I see dat log afore me."

"Yellow skin or red skin, we can't shift our quarters too soon. Give me the rifle: I shall keep watch while you are saddling. Haste, and let us be gone!"

I speedily reloaded the piece; and placing myself behind the trunk of a tree, turned my eyes in that direction whence the shot must have come.

The black brought the horses to the rear of my position, and proceeded with all despatch to saddle them, and buckle on our _impedimenta_.

I need not say that I watched with anxiety--with fear. Such a deadly attempt proved that a deadly enemy was near, whoever he might be. The supposition that it was Yellow Jake was too preposterous, I of course, ridiculed the idea. I had been an eye-witness of his certain and awful doom; and it would have required stronger testimony than even the solemn declaration of my companion, to have given me faith either in a ghost or a resurrection. I had been fired at--that fact could not be questioned--and by some one, whom my follower--under the uncertain light of the gloomy forest, and blinded by his fears--had taken for Yellow Jake. Of course this was a fancy--a mistake as to the personal ident.i.ty of our unknown enemy. There could be no other explanation.

Ha! why was I at that moment dreaming of him--of the mulatto? And why such a dream? If I were to believe the statement of the black, it was the very realisation of that unpleasant vision that had just pa.s.sed before me in my sleep.

A cold shuddering came over me--my blood grew chill within my veins--my flesh crawled, as I thought over this most singular coincidence. There was something awful in it--something so d.a.m.nably probable, that I began to think there was truth in the solemn allegation of the black; and the more I pondered upon it, the less power felt I to impeach his veracity.

Why should an Indian, thus unprovoked, have singled _me_ out for his deadly aim? True, there was hostility between red and white, but not war. Surely it had not yet come to this? The council of chiefs had not met--the meeting was fixed for the following day; and, until its result should be known, it was not likely that hostilities would be practised on either side. Such would materially influence the determinations of the projected a.s.sembly. The Indians were as much interested in keeping the peace as their white adversaries--ay, far more indeed--and they could not help knowing that an ill-timed demonstration of this kind would be to their disadvantage--just the very pretext which the "removal" party would have wished for.

Could it, then, have been an Indian who aimed at my life? And if not, who in the world besides had a motive for killing _me_? I could think of no one whom I had offended--at least no one that I had provoked to such deadly retribution.

The drunken drovers came into my mind. Little would they care for treaties or the result of the council. A horse, a saddle, a gun, a trinket, would weigh more in their eyes than the safety of their whole tribe. Both were evidently true bandits--for there are robbers among red skins as well as white ones.

But no; it could not have been they? They had not seen us as we pa.s.sed, or, even if they had, they could hardly have been upon the ground so soon? We had ridden briskly, after leaving them; and they were afoot.

Spence and Williams were mounted; and from what Jake had told me as we rode along in regard to the past history of these two "rowdies," I could believe them capable of anything--even of that.

But it was scarcely probable either; they had not seen us: and besides they had their hands full.

Ha! I guessed it. At last; at all events I had hit upon the most probable conjecture. The villain was some runaway from the settlements, some absconding slave--perhaps ill-treated--who had sworn eternal hostility to the whites; and who was thus wreaking his vengeance on the first who had crossed his path. A mulatto, no doubt; and maybe bearing some resemblance to Yellow Jake--for there is a general similarity among men of yellow complexion, as among blacks.

This would explain the delusion under which my companion was labouring!

at all events, it rendered his mistake more natural; and with this supposition, whether true or false, I was forced to content myself.

Jake had now got everything in readiness; and, without staying to seek any further solution of the mystery we leaped to our saddles, and galloped away from the ground.

We rode for some time with the "beard on the shoulder;" and, as our path now lay through thin woods, we could see for a long distance behind us.

No enemy, white or black, red or yellow, made his appearance, either on our front, flank, or rear. We encountered not a living creature till we rode up to the stockade of Fort King [Note]; which we entered just as the sun was sinking behind the dark line of the forest horizon.

Note. Called after a distinguished officer in the American army. Such is the fashion in naming the frontier posts.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

A FRONTIER FORT.