第46章

"She's gone," he whispered to Paul, and the boy, too, then opened his eyes.The rest of it, the mad whirlings and jumpings of the warriors, was becoming a blur before him, confused and without meaning.

Neither he nor Shif'less Sol knew how long they had been sitting there on the ground, although it had grown yet darker, when Braxton Wyatt thrust a violent foot against the shiftless one and cried:

"Get up! You're wanted!"

A half dozen Seneca warriors were with him, and there was no chance of resistance.The two rose slowly to their feet, and walked where Braxton Wyatt led.The Senecas came on either side, and close behind them, tomahawks in their hands.Paul, the sensitive, who so often felt the impression of coming events from the conditions around him, was sure that they were marching to their fate.Death he did not fear so greatly, although he did not want to die, but when a shriek came to him from one of the fires that convulsive shudder shook him again from head to foot.

Unconsciously he strained at his bound arms, not for freedom, but that he might thrust his fingers in his ears and shut out the awful sounds.Shif'less Sol, because he could not use his hands, touched his shoulder gently against Paul's.

"Paul," he whispered, "I ain't sure that we're goin' to die, leastways, I still have hope; but ef we do, remember that we don't have to die but oncet.""I'll remember, Sol," Paul whispered back.

"Silence, there!" exclaimed Braxton Wyatt.But the two had said all they wanted to say, and fortunately their senses were somewhat dulled.They had passed through so much that they were like those who are under the influence of opiates.The path was now dark, although both torches and fires burned in the distance.

Presently they heard that chant with which they had become familiar, the dreadful notes of the hyena woman, and they knew that they were being taken into her presence, for what purpose they could not tell, although they were sure that it was a bitter one.As they approached, the woman's chant rose to an uncommon pitch of frenzy, and Paul felt the blood slowly chilling within him.

"Get up there!" exclaimed Braxton Wyatt, and the Senecas gave them both a push.Other warriors who were standing at the edge of an open space seized them and threw them forward with much violence.When they struggled into a sitting position, they saw Queen Esther standing upon a broad flat rock and whirling in a ghastly dance that had in it something Oriental.She still swung the great war hatchet that seemed always to be in her hand.Her long black hair flew wildly about her head, and her red dress gleamed in the dusk.Surely no more terrible image ever appeared in the American wilderness! In front of her, lying upon the ground, were twenty bound Americans, and back of them were Iroquois in dozens, with a sprinkling of their white allies.

What it all meant, what was about to come to pass, nether Paul nor Shif'less Sol could guess, but Queen Esther sang:

We have found them, the Yengees Who built their houses in the valley, They came forth to meet us in battle, Our rifles and tomahawks cut them down, As the Yengees lay low the forest.

Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children, The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.

There will be feasting in the lodges of the Iroquois, And scalps will hang on the high ridge pole, But wolves will roam where the Yengees dwelt And will gnaw the bones of them all, Of the man, the woman, and the child.

Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children, The Mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.

Such it sounded to Shif'less Sol, who knew the tongue of the Iroquois, and so it went on, verse after verse, and at the end of each verse came the refrain, in which the warriors joined:

"Victory and glory Aieroski gives to his children.The mighty Six Nations, greatest of men.""What under the sun is she about?" whispered Shif'less Sol.

"It is a fearful face," was Paul's only reply.

Suddenly the woman, without stopping her chant, made a gesture to the warriors.Two powerful Senecas seized one of the bound prisoners, dragged him to his feet, and held him up before her.

She uttered a shout, whirled the great tomahawk about her head, its blade glittering in the moonlight, and struck with all her might.The skull of the prisoner was cleft to the chin, and without a cry he fell at the feet of the woman who had killed him.Paul uttered a shout of horror, but it was lost in the joyful yells of the Iroquois, who, at the command of the woman, offered a second victim.Again the tomahawk descended, and again a man fell dead without a sound.

Shif'less Sol and Paul wrenched at their thongs, but they could not move them.Braxton Wyatt laughed aloud.It was strange to see how fast one with a bad nature could fall when the opportunities were spread before him.Now he was as cruel as the Indians themselves.Wilder and shriller grew the chant of the savage queen.She was intoxicated with blood.She saw it everywhere.Her tomahawk clove a third skull, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, and eighth.As fast as they fell the warriors at her command brought up new victims for her weapon.

Paul shut his eyes, but he knew by the sounds what was passing.

Suddenly a stern voice cried: