When he slept, his sleep was troubled. He dreamed that Lawrence Peabody was a captive, and that the chief was about to scalp him, when suddenly he awoke. He could not at first tell where he was, but a glance revealed the disheartening truth.
He must have slept several hours, for the gray dawn was creeping up the sky, heralding sunrise. He leaned on his elbow, and bent a searching glance upon his companions. They[248] were stretched motionless upon the ground, hushed in the insensibility of sleep. "Are they asleep?" Tom asked himself. He satisfied himself that the slumber was genuine, and there sprang up in his heart the wild hope of escape. A few rods distant the horses were fastened. Could he unfasten and mount one before any of them a wakened?
Tom's heart beat quick with excitement. He knew that he ran a fearful risk; but he made up his mind that now was his time.
Slowly, and without noise, he raised himself to his feet. As he stood erect, he closely scanned the sleepers. There was not a motion. With stealthy steps he crept to the horses. He selected the one he had ridden the day before, and unloosed him. The animal gave a slight whinny, and Tom's heart was in his throat. But no one stirred. He quickly mounted the animal, and walked him for a few rods, then gave him a loose rein, and was soon speeding away. Just then the sun rose, and this guided him in the direction he was to take.
He had got a mile away, when, looking back through the clear air, he saw, to his dismay,[249] that his flight had been discovered. The Indians were mounting their horses.
"I must gallop for life," thought Tom. "They will kill me if they catch me."
He urged on his horse by all the means in his power. Luckily it was one of the two fleetest horses the Indians possessed, the other being ridden by their leader.
Tom's hope was sustained by this fact, which he had proof of the day before.
Rather to his surprise, he did not feel as much frightened as he anticipated. He felt excited, and this was his prominent feeling. Probably he felt like a soldier in the heat of battle.
But the odds against Tom were terrible, and his chance of escape seemed very slender. Behind him was a band of savages, accustomed to the plains, strong, wily, enduring, and persistent. He was new to the plains, and a mere boy. Moreover, he did not know where to find his party. There were no sign-boards upon the prairies, but a vast, uniform expanse stretching farther than the eye could reach.
Inch by inch, foot by foot, the Indians[250] gained upon him, the leader considerably in advance.
Even if he alone were to overtake Tom, our hero would of course be no match for a strong, full-grown warrior, more especially as he had no weapon with him. By some mischance he had left it in the camp.
Tom's heart began to fail him. His horse could not always, perhaps not long, keep up his headlong speed. Then would follow capture, and a painful death.
"It's hard," thought Tom sadly; "hard for me and for my dear parents and brothers and sisters. Why did I ever leave home?"
He turned in the saddle, and saw the Indian leader, evidently nearer. But he saw something else. He saw a herd of buffaloes, thousands in number, impetuously rushing across the plain from the west. Their speed was great. They seemed to be blindly following their leader.
"Good heavens!" ejaculated Tom, in great excitement; "the Indians are in their path. If the herd does not stop, they will be destroyed."[251]
The Indians were fully aware of their great danger. They knew the plains well, and the terrible, resistless power of these wild herds when once on the march. They no longer thought of Tom, but of their own safety. But the buffaloes were close at hand. They were sweeping on like a whirlwind. The Indians could only ride on, and trust to clear them. But their pathway was wide. It reached to within a furlong of where Tom was riding. They never paused; some of the animals in the advance might have veered to the right or left on seeing the Indians, but the pressure from behind prevented. The savages saw their fate, and it inspired them with more dread than an encounter with white foes. Finally, they halted in despair, and their fate overtook them. Riders and steeds were overthrown as by a flash of lightning. The dark, shaggy herd did not stop, but dashed on. Tom, in awe and excitement, halted his horse, and watched the terrible sight. He could not but sympathize with his late companions, though he knew they would have taken his life.
The buffaloes passed on, but left no life behind them. The Indians and their horses were[252] all trampled to death. Tom was alone upon the plains.
He thanked God in his heart for his self-deliverance; though he shuddered at the manner in which it was wrought. He, too, had been near being overwhelmed, but, through God's mercy, had escaped.
But for what had he escaped? Unless he found his own party, or some other, he would starve to death, or might fall into the power of some other tribe of Indians. He must ride on.
An hour later he thought he saw in the distance a solitary horseman. It might be an Indian; but that was not likely, for they generally traveled in numbers. It was more likely to be a white man. Any white man would be a friend, and could guide him to safety, unless he were himself lost. At any rate, there seemed but one course to follow, and that to ride toward the stranger.
When Tom drew near his heart was filled with sudden joy, for, in the new arrival, he recognized John Miles. Miles was no less delighted.
"Tom, old boy," he said, "is it you? How[253] did you get away? I was afraid we should never see you again."
"I feared so myself," said Tom; "but I have been saved in a wonderful manner. Has the train moved on?"
"Do you think we would go on without you? Not a man was willing to stir till you were found. Even Peabody, though afraid of falling into the hands of the Indians, and losing his scalp, was in favor of our waiting. The boys are very anxious about you."
Tom heard this with satisfaction. The esteem of our friends and associates is dear to us all; and it is always sad to think that we may be forgotten in absence.
"But you have not told me of your escape, Tom," said Miles. "Where are the Indians who captured you?"
"All dead!" answered Tom solemnly.
"Good heavens! You don't mean to say——"
"That I killed them? Oh, no! Look over there! Can you see anything?"
Miles looked earnestly.
"I think I see upon the ground some men and horses."[254]
"It is the Indians. They were pursuing me when they were trampled to death by a herd of buffaloes."
"Wonderful!" ejaculated Miles. "I have heard of such things, but hardly believed in them."
"It was a terrible sight," said Tom soberly. "I wish I could have been saved in some other way."
"It was you or they," said Miles sententiously. "It is well as it is."
They were warmly welcomed at the camp. Tom was looked upon as one raised from the dead; and the particulars of his wonderful escape were called for again and again.
"You are sure they didn't scalp you, Tom?" asked Mr. Peabody.
"Feel and see, Mr. Peabody," said Tom, smiling. "I believe my hair is pretty firm."
"I wouldn't have been in your shoes for all the gold in California," said Peabody fervently.
"I believe you, Mr. Peabody. Indeed, I think I may say that I wouldn't be placed in[255] the same situation again for all the gold in the world."
"Tom," said Scott, "you are bound to succeed."
"What makes you think so?"
"You have shown so much pluck and coolness that you are sure to get along."
"I hope so, I am sure, for my father's sake."
Some weeks later a wagon-train was seen slowly climbing a mountain pass on the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They reached the summit, and, looking eagerly to the westward, saw the land of gold at their feet. They had been months in reaching it. Now it lay spread before them, glorious in the sunlight.
"Yonder lies the promised land, my lad," said Ferguson. "It remains to be seen whether we shall be rewarded for our long and toilsome journey."
"If hard work will win success, I mean to succeed," said Tom stoutly.
"I don't see any gold," said Lawrence Peabody, with a disappointed air.[256]
"Did you think it grew on trees, Mr. Peabody?" asked Scott sarcastically.
"I should like to stop a week at a first-class hotel before getting to work," remarked Peabody. "I don't like roughing it."
"We will leave you at the first hotel of that sort we meet. Now, boys, gather about me, and give three rousing cheers for California."
Thus spoke Miles, and swung his hat. The cheers were given with a will, and the wagon-train commenced the descent.