The Eyes of the Woods: A Story of the Ancient WildernessAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Eyes of the Woods: A Story of the Ancient Wilderness
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction
When exhaustion came he had will enough to stop again and remain quite
still until the fierce pains in his chest ceased and there was air for
his lungs once more. He was sure of a quarter of an hour, and a forest
runner such as he could do wonders in that space. A quarter of an hour
meant for him the difference between life and death, and although his
feet strove of their own accord to go on, his mind held them back at
least twothirds of the time. Then he allowed his body to have its way,
and he went down the valley not at a run, but a prudent walk, in order
to give his lungs, heart and muscles a chance for further recovery.
The valley seemed to be about a quarter of a mile wide, heavily
forested, and with a small creek flowing down the center. The hills that
walled it in on either side were high and steep, and Henry thought it
would be wiser to take to them, but, for the present, he did not feel
like making the climb. He was not willing to put any check upon the new
store of strength that was flooding his veins.
Ten minutes more and he heard a fierce whoop behind him. The Indians
evidently had driven off the wolves, and, under the insistence of the
renegades, would renew the pursuit. Another momentary sinking of his
heart came. The numbers of the warriors, who could spread out in every
direction, many of whom were yet comparatively fresh, were an obstacle
that he could not overcome. The wolves had brought delay, but not
escape.
Then his courage came back, not slowly or gradually, but like a leaping
tide. He had seen only half of the new miracle. While he thought it
finished, the other half was coming, was upon hunted and hunters even
now. The veil of mist that had floated between him and the wolf and its
victim was spreading up and down the valley, rising from the wet ground,
dense and heavy, opaque like ink, despite its whiteness. Presently the
great whitish cloud would enclose him and the warriors, hiding them
from one another, and it would be strange if he could not escape them in
the white gloom, where only ears served.
Turning his eyes upward to the skies that he could not now see, he gave
thanks to the superior powers that were guarding him so well. Then he
turned at a sharp angle, crossed the creek, and began to climb the hills
on the east.
All the time the fog, thick and white, was pouring over the valley and
the slopes. Half way up the hill Henry paused and looked back, seeing
nothing but a vast white gulf. Then he heard the warriors in the gulf
calling to one another, and now the spirit to laugh at them came back to
him. They did not know that he was protected by a force greater than
theirs that snatched him again and again from the savage band before it
could close upon him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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