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Page 22
Over and over again the Willow called to him like that, while on her
face she tried to draw herself a few inches farther under the rock. She
could not reach him. There was still a foot between her hand and Baree,
and she could not wedge herself forward an inch more. And then she saw
where on the other side of the rock there was a hollow, shut in by a
stone. If she had removed the stone, and come in that way--
She drew herself out and stood once more in the sunshine. Her heart
thrilled. Pierrot was busy over his bear--and she would not call him.
She made an effort to move the stone which closed in the hollow under
the big boulder, but it was wedged in tightly. Then she began digging
with a stick. If Pierrot had been there, his sharp eyes would have
discovered the significance of that stone, which was not larger than a
water pail. Possibly for centuries it had lain there, its support
keeping the huge rock from toppling down, just as an ounce weight may
swing the balance of a wheel that weighs a ton.
Five minutes--and Nepeese could move the stone. She tugged at it. Inch
by inch she dragged it out until at last it lay at her feet and the
opening was ready for her body. She looked again toward Pierrot. He was
still busy, and she laughed softly as she untied a big red-and-white
Bay handkerchief from about her shoulders. With this she would secure
Baree. She dropped on her hands and knees and then lowered herself flat
on the ground and began crawling into the hollow under the boulder.
Baree had moved. With the back of his head flattened against the rock,
he had heard something which Nepeese had not heard. He had felt a slow
and growing pressure, and from this pressure he had dragged himself
slowly--and the pressure still followed. The mass of rock was settling!
Nepeese did not see or hear or understand. She was calling to him more
and more pleadingly:
"Baree--Baree--Baree--"
Her head and shoulders and both arms were under the rock now. The glow
of her eyes was very close to Baree. He whined. The thrill of a great
and impending danger stirred in his blood. And then--
In that moment Nepeese felt the pressure of the rock on her shoulder,
and into the eyes that had been glowing softly at Baree there shot a
sudden wild look of horror. And then there came from her lips a cry
that was not like any other sound Baree had ever heard in the
wilderness--wild, piercing, filled with agonized fear. Pierrot did not
hear that first cry. But he heard the second and the third--and then
scream after scream as the Willow's tender body was slowly crushed
under the settling mass. He ran toward it with the speed of the wind.
The cries were now weaker--dying away. He saw Baree as he came out from
under the rock and ran into the canyon, and in the same instant he saw
a part of the Willow's dress and her moccasined feet. The rest of her
was hidden under the deathtrap. Like a madman Pierrot began digging.
When a few moments later he drew Nepeese out from under the boulder she
was white and deathly still. Her eyes were closed. His hand could not
feel that she was living, and a great moan of anguish rose out of his
soul. But he knew how to fight for a life. He tore open her dress and
found that she was not crushed as he had feared. Then he ran for water.
When he returned, the Willow's eyes were open and she was gasping for
breath.
"The blessed saints be praised!" sobbed Pierrot, falling on his knees
at her side. "Nepeese, ma Nepeese!"
She smiled at him, and Pierrot drew her up to him, forgetting the water
he had run so hard to get.
Still later, when he got down on his knees and peered under the rock,
his face turned white and he said:
"Mon Dieu, if it had not been for that little hollow in the earth,
Nepeese--"
He shuddered, and said no more. But Nepeese, happy in her salvation,
made a movement with her hand and said, smiling at him:
"I would have been like--THAT." And she held her thumb and forefinger
close together.
"But where did Baree go, mon pere?" Nepeese cried.
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