“Know him, Master Reginald—does Wolf know Miss Lucy?—does a bear
know a bee tree? I should know him among a thousand red–skins, though
he were twice as well disguised. Tête–bleu, master, look at those wild
brutes how they struggle; he and they will taste Muskingum water before
long.”
While he was speaking one of the horses reared, another kicked
furiously, the shallow flat boat was upset, and both they and the
Indian fell headlong into the river. They had been secured together
by a “laryette,” or thong of hide, which unfortunately came athwart
the Indian’s shoulder, and thus he was held below the water, while the
struggles of the frightened animals rendered it impossible for him to
extricate himself. “He is entangled in the laryette,” said the guide;
“nothing can save him,” he added in a grave and sadder tone. “’Tis a
noble youth, and I would have wished him a braver death! What are you
doing, Master Reginald?—are you mad? No man can swim in that torrent.
For your father’s sake—“
But his entreaties and attempts to restrain his impetuous companion
were fruitless, for Reginald had already thrown on the ground his
leathern hunting shirt, his rifle, and ammunition; and shaking off the
grasp of the guide as if the latter had been a child, he plunged into
the river, and swam to the spot where the feebler struggles of the
horses showed that they were now almost at the mercy of the current.
When he reached them, Reginald dived below the nearest, and dividing
the laryette with two or three successful strokes of his knife, brought
the exhausted Indian to the surface. For a moment, he feared that he
had come too late; but on inhaling a breath of air, the red–skin seemed
to regain both consciousness and strength, and was able in his turn to
assist Reginald, who had received, when under water, a blow on the
head from the horse’s hoof, the blood flowing fast from the wound.
Short but expressive was the greeting exchanged as they struck out
for the bank, which one of the horses had already gained: another was
bruised, battered, and tossed about among some shelving rocks lower
down the river; and the third was being fast hurried towards the same
dangerous spot, when the Indian, uttering a shrill cry, turned and swam
again towards this, his favourite horse, and by a great exertion of
skill and strength, brought it to a part of the river where the current
was less rapid, and thence led it safely ashore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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