Wondering whether her reason was not unsettled, the hunter departed, and hurried on to the village.

CHAPTER XIX.

"What justice ever other judgment taught, But he should die who merits not to live."

SPENSER.

About the middle of the afternoon, on the day next succeeding the eventful one which was marked by the occurrences narrated in the last chapter, a cavalcade of about a dozen men on horseback, followed by a single wagon, containing some fire-arms, two or three pairs of iron handcuffs, and a few other articles of luggage, came clattering down the road from the west, towards the tavern with which the reader has already been made familiar.

The men, who had been dispatched for the shire-town of the county, had ridden hard all night, reached the place at daylight, drummed up the officers of justice, got them started at an early hour, and urged them on with such speed that, within twenty hours, they had arrived at the scene of action. After the halt of an hour at the tavern, for rest and refreshment, and a brief consultation with the settlers, the sheriff, and his posse, now swelled by volunteers from the settlement, set forth, under the guidance of Phillips, for the residence of the supposed criminal, calculating to reach there about dusk,--the hour they deemed most favorable for making the arrest. After proceeding in silence about two-thirds of the way to their destination, they halted, to make their final preparations and arrangements for the onset; when, knowing the great strength and desperate character of the man with whom they would have to deal, they first carefully prepared their fire-arms, and then detailed a half-dozen of their number, most conversant with the locality, to go forward, spread themselves around the borders of Gaut's clearing, and cautiously advance to the house, so as to head off any attempt he might make to escape, when the main body made their appearance. All the time spent in these precautions, however, as well as this whole jaunt thus far up the river, was destined to be mostly lost; for, as the company were again beginning to move forward, they were met by the scouts, dispatched the night before, hurrying back, most of them in a disabled condition, and with the report that Gaut had escaped about an hour before. They had lain in their coverts all day, and in the fore part of it nothing had been seen to excite their suspicions; but, towards night, they noticed him cleaning his rifle and pistols, as near as they could judge, and then, soon after, bringing out a pack and placing it by the side of his rifle at the door; and scarcely had they time to concentrate before he came out, shouldered his pack, took his arms, and proceeded towards a canoe moored on the bank of the river. They then instantly resolved to intercept him; and, running for the spot, came up to him just as he had laid his rifle in the boat; when he turned upon them with the suddenness and fury of a pursued tiger; seized the foremost, who had laid his hands on the canoe, and, with giant strength, threw him headlong into the river; hurled the second with stunning effect on the ground; knocked down a third with his fist; leaped into his canoe, sent it swiftly across the stream, ran up the opposite bank, and disappeared in the woods, before they had recovered from their confusion, or thought of having recourse to their rifles to stop him.

"Slipped through our fingers and gone!" said the sheriff with an air of chagrin and disappointment.

"Yes, for this onset," said Codman, the next to volunteer remarks in the provoking nonplus in which they now all found themselves. "Yes, but I should like mightily to know how he got wind of our movements? If the devil didn't tell him, I don't think he done as well by his friend as he ought."

"Perhaps," rejoined the sheriff, after the laugh of some and the approving glances of others, which had followed the characteristic remark of the trapper, had pa.s.sed away,--"perhaps he, or some of his family, caught a glimpse of these scouts round their clearing during the day; or perhaps he has an accomplice, or tool, whom he had engaged to watch public movements, and bring him word."

"I have thought of some such thing, myself," remarked Phillips. "In the case of his robbing our camp, last fall, I felt quite confident he must have had some accomplice, or some secret agent, to take off the furs for him. If he has such an one now, I think it must be a Jesuit priest, as I have heard that such a looking personage has, once or twice, been seen at Gaut's house since he moved into the settlement."

"Well, if the villain has such a character as that in tow, he would be devil enough for all common purposes," responded the sheriff. "But, however all that may be, I fear he has struck a line for Canada, and this is the last we shall ever see of him in this country."

"Not for Canada," confidently said the hunter; "for I know enough about him to make me feel quite sure that he will never again trust his head within reach of British authority."

"Ah!" exclaimed the sheriff, "what is it you know?"

"I think it had better not be told just yet," answered the other, decisively. "Let us first see whether he can't be caught and hung here, for his last crying offence."

"But do you think he can yet be overtaken, and arrested?" asked the former.

"Certainly I do," returned the hunter, with earnest confidence. "He must, and _shall_, be taken! G.o.d's curse is on the man; and he will never, I tell you, _never_ be suffered to escape us."

"Well, then," resumed the sheriff, thoughtfully, "what course do you think he will take, and where secrete himself, so that he can be found? I, on my part, stand ready to do every thing in my power to bring the miscreant, of whose guilt I think there can now be but little doubt, to immediate justice. Now, as you are said to be a man of observation and energy, Mr.

Phillips, let us have the benefit of your opinion and advice in the matter."

"It is my opinion," said the hunter, in response, after dropping his head a moment in study, "it is very clearly my opinion that the fellow will now aim to reach some of the eastern cities,--over the Umbagog, most likely, in a canoe that he keeps concealed somewhere on the western sh.o.r.e, which is only a mile or two over this ridge, that rises from the other bank of the river, here against us. He will not be likely to come back to his house, or the river, where he will still suppose we are on the watch; nor will he start out on the lake till after dark, lest he be seen, and his course traced; but lie concealed till that time in some of the difficult rocky steeps that shut down to the lake."

"Your ideas of his probable aims and movements appear reasonable, Mr.

Phillips. Now, what are the steps you would advise to be taken for his apprehension?" asked the sheriff.

"Well, my plan would be something like this," replied the hunter, musingly.

"I would post half a dozen men, for the night,--to be relieved in the morning,--a half mile or so apart, along this river, above and below here, to be walking back and forth, and occasionally firing a gun. The others go back, and a sufficient number get on to the lake before dark to have canoes in station every quarter of a mile along the western sh.o.r.e. Codman, you will be a good hand to manage this company. As for myself, I will wade the river somewhere hereabouts, go over through the woods to the lake-sh.o.r.e, be mousing round the sh.o.r.e a little, in search of his canoe, and, if I find it, be out on the water by the time you get there; if not, I will be within call of some of you, and give, for a signal, the cry of a racc.o.o.n, which I can imitate tolerably, I believe."

"But you don't propose to go alone?" asked several, anxiously. "It might be dangerous business, if you should happen to encounter him with no help within call."

"Yes, I think I will go alone," quietly replied the hunter. "If he can see me before I do him, he will do better than I think he can. And, if I _do_ get my eye on him first, he will stop and yield, or die, as sure as my rifle is true to its old trust; for I should feel it my bounden duty to stop him by bullet, if need be, in case he should attempt to flee, as much as I should to shoot a painter carrying off one of my own children."

By the approval of the sheriff, and the concurrence of all, the hunter's plan of operations was immediately adopted. And, accordingly, the designated numbers were told off to man the river, and at once set in motion to perform the duty; while the rest retraced their way to the village, except the hunter, who, seeking a shoal place, waded the river, and was soon out of sight among the thickets of the opposite bank.

On the return of the company to the tavern, every boat to be found on the river, from that place to the lake, was immediately put in requisition, for the service of the night. And by early twilight, eight canoes, each containing two or three well-armed men, led on by the trapper, in a single canoe, were seen emerging from the outlet into the broad lake, and slowly filing off along its western border. Coasting in closely to the sh.o.r.e, so as to keep within the shadow of the woods, they pursued their noiseless way up the lake, to a point where the low, marshy land lying between the lower part of the Umbagog and the Magalloway rises into the gradually-swelling ridge, which, a mile or two farther on, becomes a rocky, precipitous mountain, whose beetling cliffs, overhanging the deep, dark waters beneath, were crowned with their primeval growth of towering pines. Here they paused long enough to station one of their canoes, near a small point, commanding a view across the corresponding coves on either side; and then cautiously proceeded onward, dropping a canoe, in like manner, every five or six hundred yards, till the extremity of the western coast was reached, the line efficiently manned, and the trapper left to cruise alone over the cordon of boats thus stretched along the sh.o.r.e, to carry any needed intelligence, and make independent observations. It was now dark, and, being a moonless night, all within the shade of the mountains, especially, was wrapt in almost impenetrable gloom; so that the ear, rather than the eye, must now be depended on for whatever discoveries were to be made.

Nothing as yet, to the disappointment and increasing anxiety of the company, had been seen or heard of the hunter.

"He cannot have been killed, so soon, can he?" whispered the sheriff, in one of the last-stationed canoes, as the trapper glided alongside, to hold communication with the officer.

"No," was the low-toned reply; "that could not have happened, if there were any _fear_ of such a thing, without one or more rifle-shots, which, in this calm evening, and this favorable locality for conveying sounds to a great distance, we must have heard, even down to the tavern. No, I will risk him.

I think he must have got on to the fellow's trail, and, if near the lake, lies in some spot where he can't move away without danger of alarming the game. We have nothing to do but wait patiently. Phillips knows we are here in waiting, and he will report himself as soon as he can."

They did not, however, have to wait long. In a few minutes, a small, shrill, quavering cry, which few could have distinguished from that of a racc.o.o.n, rose from a thicket on the sh.o.r.e, a short distance below.

"Ah! that is he," softly cried the trapper; "I know the thicket he is hailing from. If you will remain just where you are, I will scull my canoe down to the spot, take him in with me, if he has not found a boat,--or at any rate bring him here to make his report."

Like the gliding of a fish, shrinking away from sight, the light canoe, under the invisible impulse of the dexterously handled oar of the trapper, pa.s.sed noiselessly away, and disappeared in the darkness. But, long before the expectant officer, who had been vainly listening for some sound, either of the going or the coming of the absent canoe, had thought of its return, it was again at his side, with the antic.i.p.ated addition to its occupants.

"Here is the man, to speak for himself," said the trapper, putting out a hand to guard off and prevent the canoes from grazing.

"Well, Mr. Phillips," said the sheriff, in the same cautious under-tone by which all their communications had been graduated, "we are all looking to you,--what is your report?"

"In the first place, that he is here."

"Where?"

"Sixty or seventy rods to the north of us, in a secure retreat up among the rocks, about a dozen rods from the sh.o.r.e."

"Are you sure of that?"

"Yes."

"How did you make the discovery?"

"I will tell you. When I came over, I struck down to the lake, nearly abreast the lower end of the ridge, and cautiously moved along the sh.o.r.e, upwards, in search of the suspected boat; without discovering it, however, till I came to the rocky pa.s.s I have alluded to, a short distance above here; when, peering out into the approaching darkness, I caught sight of it run under a treetop lying partly in the water. Your boats had not got on there; and thinking, if I took the boat out on to the water, as I had proposed, he might discover the loss too soon, take the alarm, and conclude to escape through the woods round the upper lakes, I varied my plan, and stationed myself back a few rods, to see if he would not come down to escape by his canoe. I had trailed him to the top of this rocky eastern slope, before I struck down to the lake, and knew he must be somewhere near; so I c.o.c.ked my rifle, for instant use, and stood ready for his approach. And in a short time I caught the sound of his movements, sliding cautiously down the rocky steeps from the spot above, where I suspected he had housed himself. But, before he reached the bottom of the short ravine he must come down, or could be seen where I stood, a dry stick unluckily broke under my foot, and the sound, as I perceived at once, brought him to a stand. And, though he did not know, and don't know yet, whether the sound was caused by the step of man or beast, yet he soon seemed to think it safest to retreat; and my ear could distinctly trace his movements, as he clambered and pulled himself along back up the ledges to his retreat. I then went down to the sh.o.r.e; and perceiving, from the slight agitation of the water and the faint sound of its gurgling under oars, that you had got on to the ground, I stole down the sh.o.r.e a piece, and gave the signal, as you heard."

"Are you familiar with the place where you think he lies concealed?"

"Yes, nearly as much so as with my own door-yard."

"What sort of a place is it, and how many ways are there to reach it or to escape from it?"

"It is the most curious place in all these parts, and there is but one way, I ever could find, to get to it; and that is, by climbing up the ledgy shelf of the face of the hill, through a sort of ravine that opens from it down to the lake, where there is scarce room, enough, on either side, to pa.s.s along the sh.o.r.e between the perpendicular cliffs and the water. It is an old bear's den, in fact, pa.s.sing horizontally into the rocks twelve or fifteen feet, of varying breadth, and, after you get in, from three to six feet in height. I have taken at least a half-dozen fine bears from it, in my day, and supposed I was the only one knowing of it; but Gaut must have discovered it before this; for I at once found by his trail that he steered directly for the spot, on leaving the Magalloway."

"He did?" interposed the trapper; "_he_ find it, when he has been here in the settlement less than a year, and knows little about the woods; and _I_, who have been here a dozen years, knew nothing about it? He never found it without _help_, and that, too, from the same character that let him know we were coming to his house, to-day. I tell you, the Old Boy is in that man!"

"Then we will hang him and the Old Boy with one rope," resumed the hunter, "for we are now sure of him."

"I hope so," said the sheriff; "but can he be taken to-night?"

"He might, possibly, if we were willing to run risks enough," replied the hunter, doubtfully. "But I should hardly think it advisable to make the attempt. He could not be drawn from the cave, if we made the onset; while, if we entered it, he could easily kill several of us before he could be secured."

"What shall be done, then?"