My name is Joseph Coleman, and at the time my story begins I was sixteen years of age. Mark was my twin brother; and he looked and acted so much like me, or else I looked and acted so much like him, that only our very intimate friends could tell us apart. We always dressed alike, and that, no doubt, had something to do with the remarkable resemblance we bore to each other.
Many were the mistakes that were made in regard to our identity—some of them laughable, 6others proving exactly the reverse, especially when I was called upon to stand punishment for his misdeeds. On one occasion Mark got into a difficulty with a half-breed. About a week afterward, while I was riding along the road, I met this same half-breed with a big switch in his hand, and all that saved me from a severe whipping was the speed of my horse.
Then there was our old enemy, Tom Mason, who had been badly worsted in an attempt to whip Mark, and ever since that time he had been robbing my traps, shooting at my dog and killing my doves, thinking all the while that he was revenging himself upon Mark, when he was in reality punishing me.
At the time of which I write we lived in Warren County, ten miles below Vicksburg, where our father owned an extensive plantation. He cultivated one thousand acres of cotton and six hundred acres of corn. He owned one hundred and fifty working mules and horses, twice as many young cattle, which ran loose in the swamp, and about twenty-five hundred hogs. It required from sixty to seventy-five cows to supply the plantation 7with milk and butter, and almost as many dogs to protect the stock from the wild beasts.
Just think of that! Think what music this pack must have made when in pursuit of a bear or deer, and imagine, if you can, the delightful concerts to which we listened on bright moonlight nights!
Perhaps you will wonder if we needed all these dogs. We should have been sorry to part with them, for they were as necessary to our existence as our horses, cows or mules.
Warren County at that time was almost a wilderness. Wolves, foxes and minks were numerous, and our henroosts would have been cleared in a single night, if the dogs had not been there to protect them. Wild-cats were abundant, and panthers were so often met with, that traveling after dark was seldom undertaken for pleasure. Bears, however, were the principal pests. They were, to quote from the settlers, “as plenty as blackberries,” and employed their leisure time during the night in roaming about the plantations, picking up every luckless hog and calf that happened to fall in their way.
8I must not forget to say that our fellows had nothing to do with all these plantation dogs. The most of them belonged to father, a few to the overseer, and the rest to the servants.
Our pack numbered only five dogs. Mark was the happy possessor of Rock and Dash, two splendid deer-hounds, which, for size, speed, endurance and courage, were unequaled in all that country except by Sandy’s Sharp and Music. These four hounds were animals worth having. They could run all day, and when they once started on a trail, they never left it until the game, whatever it was, had been killed, or they were called away.
I laid claim to Zip. He was what we boys called a “bench-legged catch-dog”—that is, his fore legs stood wide apart and curved outward, like those of a bulldog, and he was used for catching and holding game.
He was yellow all over except his head, which was as black as jet. His nose and ears were as sharp as those of a wolf, and he was bobtailed.
Zip was unlike any other dog I ever saw. There were a good many queer things about 9him, and he had at least one peculiarity that every body noticed. He never wagged his tail sideways, as other dogs do, but up and down, and he never wagged it at all except when following a warm trail.
There were five of us boys—Duke Hampton, his cousin, Herbert Dickson, Sandy, Mark and myself. We were near neighbors—that is, we lived about a mile and a half apart—and we were together almost all the time. We always spoke of one another as “our fellows,” and we had finally come to be known by that name all over the country. Sandy merits a short description.
His name was Gabriel Lucien Todd—an odd name, perhaps, but it suited him, for he was an odd boy. No one ever thought the race of giants extinct after seeing him. When he was thirteen years old he was as tall and heavy as his father, and much stronger. Indeed Sandy often boasted that he could pull as many bales of cotton on a wagon as any yoke of oxen in Warren County.
That, of course, was saying a great deal too much; but his strength was really something 10wonderful. He could outlift any two of our fellows, without puffing out his cheeks, but we could all take his measure on the ground as fast as he could get up.
There were other noticeable things about Sandy, such as his utter disregard for all the proprieties of language, his bright-red hair, and his extreme good nature, which I seldom saw ruffled. The first was by no means the result of ignorance, for Sandy, besides being a capital scholar in other respects, was looked upon by our fellows as a walking repository of grammatical knowledge.
He wrote splendid letters—and that is an accomplishment that every boy, or man either, does not possess—and he would correctly analyze and parse any sentence you could give him, no matter how complex; but when it came to talking he was all afloat. He twisted his sentences into all sorts of awkward shapes, and sometimes used words that had but little connection with the idea he wished to communicate. It was not the result of carelessness either, for he made some desperate attempts to “talk proper,” as he expressed it, especially 11in the presence of strangers; but the harder he tried the more he blundered.
After saying this much, it is scarcely necessary to add that Sandy was as slow as an elephant in all his movements, and that he never got surprised at any thing that happened.
Mark’s room and mine was regarded as the headquarters of our fellows. On one side two windows looked out upon a wide porch, and on the other was a fire-place, backed up by an immense brick chimney.
An unpainted board over the fireplace formed the mantel, on which were a collection of books, a couple of lamps, an ornamental clock, and a few articles of curiosity, such as alligators’ teeth, bears’ claws, stone arrow-heads and hatchets.
Two pairs of deer’s antlers were fastened to the wall over the head of the bed, and on them hung our guns, game-bags, shot-pouches, riding-whips, gloves and hunting-horns. These last were of great use to us. They were simply cows’ horns scraped thin and supplied with carved mouth-pieces. They were used principally for calling the hounds during a bear or 12deer-hunt (it may astonish you to learn that every dog knew the sound of his master’s horn and would obey no other), and with them we could talk to a friend on a calm day a mile distant.
I have lately learned that when boys in a city want a companion, they will station themselves in front of his gate and whistle. We did not go to all that trouble. If Mark and I had any thing exciting on hand, and wanted our fellows to join in, one of us would go out on the porch and blow three long blasts on his horn.
We were always sure of an answer, and in a few minutes here would come Sandy Todd from one direction, and Duke and Herbert from the other. We had written out a regular code of signals, and each of us kept a copy at hand for reference, so that there could be no mistake.
We could tell our friends that we wanted them to go hunting, fishing or blackberrying with us; we could ask them to come over and pay us a visit; and we could tell them when to expect us. We had signals of distress, too, 13and we were all bound to give heed to them when we heard them.
I ought to say that this idea did not originate with us; we learned it from the settlers, who also had a code of signals which had been in use as long as I could remember.
If a planter some evening took it into his head that he would like to go bear-hunting on the following day he would go out with his horn and blow five long blasts and three short ones; and, like us when we called our fellows, he was certain of a reply.
The neighbor who heard him first would respond, then another and another would follow, until all the men in the settlement for two or three miles around, had agreed to go bear-hunting, and that, too, without having seen one another.
Perhaps, now that you have heard so much about our fellows, you would like to have them personally presented. Step into headquarters, and I will introduce you. After that, if you think you would enjoy a four-mile gallop before supper, we will find you a good horse to ride. We are going down the bayou to visit an Indian 14camp: and if you have never seen one, now is your chance.
The boy who sits in that big arm-chair, thrumming on his guitar and tickling the dog’s ears with the toe of his boot, is my brother Mark. If you don’t find him in some mischief every time you meet him, you mustn’t think it is his fault.
Do you see that broad-shouldered, long-legged, awkward-looking fellow sitting on the floor at the opposite side of the fire-place, with a hammer in his hand and a pan of hickory nuts by his side? That is Sandy Todd, the strongest boy and the best shot in our party.
That curly-headed, blue-eyed fellow, who smiles so good-naturedly every time he speaks, and who sits at the table devouring the hickory-nuts as fast as Sandy cracks them, is Herbert Dickson. He is blessed with a good deal of flesh, is Herbert, and sometimes answers to the name of “Chub”; at others, “Ducklegs.”
I have known plenty of boys at school to be badly deceived in that same Herbert Dickson. As clumsy as he looks, he can run faster and 15jump higher and further than any other fellow of his age in the settlement. There is nothing in the world that Herbert more enjoys than the astonishment and chagrin of some lithe young fellow who may have challenged him, “just for the fun of the thing,” to run a race; for I don’t remember that I ever saw him beaten.
On the table at Herbert’s elbow is a chessboard with men scattered over it. I am sitting at one end of it, and the tall, dark, dignified-looking youth, in blue jeans roundabout and heavy horseman’s boots, who is sitting opposite me, is Duke Hampton, than whom a better fellow never lived. He is an acknowledged leader. He settles all our disputes, when we have any—which, by the way, does not often happen—and is the projector and manager of most of our plans for amusement. He is handsome and polite, and, of course, a great favorite with the girls. He is a boy of high moral principle, strictly truthful, and honorable even in the smallest matters, and these qualities render him a favorite with the men. He is the most daring and graceful rider among our fellows, and, next to Mark, the best wrestler. 16He is a good chess-player, too; but by some unaccountable fortune I have driven him into a tight corner.
I do not suppose there is any necessity that I should again introduce myself. If it will help to place me in your good books, however, I will tell you that I own the swiftest horse and the best dog in the settlement. Black Bess has never been beaten in a fair race, and Zip has yet to find his equal as a fighter and bear dog. I am not so modest but that I can tell you, also, that I am the champion hunter among our fellows. I killed a bear alone and unaided, and his skin now hangs on that nail at the foot of the bed; but my companions, one and all, are determined to equal me in this respect, and consequently I do not expect to hold the honors much longer. But here comes our little negro, Bob, to announce that the horses are waiting, and we must off for the camp if we intend to be back in time for supper.
We found our horses at the door, saddled and bridled, and held by two negro boys, who, judging by the tugging, pulling and scolding which they kept up, found it something of a task to restrain the fiery steeds, which were impatient to be off. As I have told you about our dogs, I will say a word about these horses. One of them has considerable to do with my story.
The most prominent animal in the group was Herbert’s horse, a magnificent iron-gray, large and good-natured like his master, very fleet, and able to carry his heavy rider like a bird over any fence in the country. He went by the name of Romeo.
The handsomest horse belonged to Duke Hampton. He was a chestnut-sorrel, with white mane and tail, and four white feet. He 18was a good one to go, and was as well trained as any horse I ever saw in a circus.
He would lie down or stand on his hind feet at the command of his master, and pick up his gloves or riding-whip for him. His name was Moro.
The homeliest horse was called Beauty. He was a Mexican pony, and belonged to Mark. He was a famous traveler—he would go on a gallop all day, and be as fresh and eager at night as when he started out in the morning; but he was so handy with his heels, and had such an easy way of slipping out from under a fellow when he tried to mount him, that, with the exception of his master, who thought him the very best horse in the world, there was not a boy among us who would have accepted him as a gift. But bad as Beauty’s disposition was, it was much better than that of Sandy’s mare, which answered to the name of Gretchen.
She was named after Rip Van Winkle’s wife. She was a large, raw-boned, cream-colored animal, and had an ugly habit of laying back her ears and opening her mouth, when 19any one approached her, that would have made a stranger think twice before attempting to mount her.
The fleetest, as well as the gentlest horse, was my little Black Bess. She was a Christmas present from an uncle who lived in Kentucky; and I thought so much of her that I would have given up every thing I possessed, rather than part with her.
I said that Bess was the swiftest horse in the group. She had demonstrated the fact in many a race, but somehow I never could induce the others to acknowledge it. Sandy stubbornly refused to give up beaten, and so did Herbert; and even Mark, with his miserable little pony, made big pretensions.
We never went anywhere without a race; and on this particular morning Herbert, who was the first to swing himself into the saddle, leaped his horse over the bars, and tore down the road as if all the wolves in Warren County were close at his heels.
I was the last one out of the yard, but I passed every one of our fellows before I had gone half a mile, and when I reached the outskirts 20of the Indian camp, they were a long way behind.
The camp, as I saw it that afternoon, did not look much like the illustrations of Indian villages which you have seen in your geographies. Instead of the clean skin-lodges, and the neatly-dressed, imposing savages which you will find in pictures, I saw before me a score of wretched brush shanties, which could afford their inmates but poor protection in stormy weather, and a hundred or more half-starved men and women, some of whom were jumping around in the mud and yelling as if they were greatly excited about something.
There were plenty of these people in Warren County at the time of which I write. They were Choctaws—the remnant of a once powerful tribe, who gained a precarious living by hunting, fishing, stealing and cotton-picking. This band had been encamped on our plantation during the last two weeks. The women had been employed by father to pick cotton, and their lords and masters were now having a glorious time over the money they had earned.
21The warriors—lazy dogs, who thought it a disgrace to perform any manual labor—had remained in their wigwams, passing the days very pleasantly with their pipes, while their wives were at work in the cotton-field; but now that the crop had been gathered and the money paid, they had thrown away their pipes and picked up their bottles. In plainer language, we rode into the camp just in time to witness the beginning of a drunken Indian jubilee.
The men were dancing, shouting, fighting, wrestling, going half-hammond (a Northern boy would have called it a “hop, skip and a jump”), and trying to run races; while the women stood around in little groups, chattering like so many blackbirds, and watching all that was going on with apparently a great deal of interest.
I do not suppose that the Indian boys drank any thing stronger than the muddy water that flowed in the bayou, on the banks of which the camp was located; but, at any rate, they seemed to be animated by the same spirit that possessed their fathers, for we saw them engage 22in no end of fights, foot-races and wrestling matches.
Presently a smart, lively young savage, the son of the principal chief of the band, who had easily thrown every one of his companions whom he could induce to wrestle with him, stepped up to us, and fastening his eyes upon Mark, asked him if he would like to come out and try his strength. Now, if Mark had been in good health, the challenge would have been promptly accepted; and if I am any judge of boys, that young Indian would have found himself flat on the ground before he could have winked twice; but he was just recovering from an attack of his old enemy, the chills and fever, and for that reason was obliged, much to his regret, to turn a deaf ear to the Indian’s entreaties.
“Oh, yes, you come,” said the young wrestler, after Mark had told him, perhaps for the twentieth time, that he was out of condition; “I show you what Indian boy can do. I put you down as quick as lightning. Eh! You come?”
As he spoke he stepped back and spread out 23his sinewy arms, as if waiting for Mark to jump into them.
“Go off about your business, Jim,” said Duke. “Haven’t you sense enough to see that the boy has had the ague? If he was well, he would throw you or any other young Indian in the camp. Go away now, I tell you, or I’ll take hold of you; and if I do, I will put you down a little quicker than lightning.”
“Isn’t he a splendid-looking fellow?” said Mark, gazing admiringly at the young savage’s supple form, which, cold as the day was, was stripped to the waist. “Look at the muscles on his arms! I believe I’ll try him just one round.”
“Don’t do it, Mark,” I interposed.
“Well, if you say so, Joe, I won’t; but I should really like to take a little of that conceit out of him. I’ll soon be up to my regular wrestling weight,” he added, addressing himself to the Indian, “and then I will see what you are made of.”
“Ugh!” grunted Jim. “I wait for you.”
We spent an hour walking about the camp, and then returned to the house. The jubilee was 24kept up all night, and we went to sleep with those wild Indian whoops ringing in our ears. To me there was something almost unearthly in the sound, and I thought I could imagine how our early settlers felt when they were aroused from their sleep at dead of night by just such yells uttered by hostile red men.
The next day our fellows accompanied some of the settlers on a deer-hunt—all except Mark, who, being too weak to ride all day on horse-back, remained at home with his hounds for company; and, for want of something better to do, assisted the plantation blacksmith at his work by blowing the bellows for him.
The Indians were quiet all the morning, no doubt making up for the sleep they had lost the night before, but about eleven o’clock they began their dancing and shouting again. After that, Mark did not perform his part of the work very well, for his attention was fully occupied by the sounds that came from the camp.
Finally the horn was blown for dinner, and Mark started toward the house. Just as he was passing through the gate that led into the garden, 25he was startled by a loud yell, which was followed by a great commotion in the kitchen, and the next moment out came mother and half a dozen young lady visitors.
A very fat negro woman brought up the rear, carrying in her hand a platter of roast beef, which she was too badly frightened to put down, and the screams that saluted Mark’s ears were almost as loud and unearthly as those which came from the Indian camp. He did not like the look of things, but, being a resolute fellow, he determined to find out what was going on in the house. He had two friends upon whom he could rely in any emergency, and, with a word to them, he was off like a shot.
“Oh, don’t go in there!” cried mother, when she saw him running toward the kitchen, followed by his hounds. “He will kill you! He’s got a big knife!”
Mark, who was too highly excited to hear any thing short of a terrific peal of thunder, kept on, and when he reached the door discovered the cause of the disturbance in the person of a tall, dignified-looking Indian, 26who was acting in a very undignified manner.
As Mark afterward learned, the savage had walked into the parlor, where all the ladies were sitting; thence into the kitchen, where active preparations for dinner were going on, attracting the attention of the cook by flourishing a knife, and uttering an appalling yell; after which he made known the object of his visit by exclaiming:
“Ugh! Me big Injun, an’ me hungry.”
The yell and the sight of the knife occasioned a hurried stampede among the women, and the savage, being left alone, proceeded to help himself to what he liked best.
The table was loaded with good things, but there was not so very much left upon it by the time this uninvited guest had got all he wanted. He filled his mouth, and his arms, too, and when Mark discovered him he was walking through the sitting-room toward the porch, demolishing a custard-pie as he went.
Mark was impulsive, and, without stopping to consider what might be the consequences of the act, he started in hot pursuit of the Indian, 27resolved to punish him for what he had done, and to teach him better than to take such liberties with what did not belong to him.
He came up with the robber just as he was about to descend the steps that led down from the porch. The latter, wholly intent upon his meal, never thought of looking for an enemy in the rear, until Mark dashed against him like a battering-ram—an action which caused the Indian to flourish his heels in the air, and fall headlong to the ground, scattering the bread, meat, pies and cakes, with which his arms were loaded, about in all directions. Mark followed him down the steps, not to attack him, of course, but to keep off the hounds, which would have torn the savage in pieces if they had not been restrained.
“Don’t let those dogs hurt him,” said mother, who had mustered up courage enough to come back to the house.
“No, ma’am,” replied Mark. “Now, old fellow,” he added, as the robber rose slowly to his feet, “you had better take yourself off. Your room suits us better than your company.”
28But the savage had no intention of taking himself off. He glared fiercely around him for a moment, and finding that he was opposed by nothing more formidable than a few frightened women, a boy of sixteen and a couple of dogs, he caught up his knife, and gave a war-whoop.
Mark was badly frightened, but he did not show it.
“Look here, old gentleman,” said he, with a pretty show of courage, “you had better not try to hurt any body with that knife. Put it away, and go back to camp where you belong.”
The savage paid no more attention to his words than if he had not spoken at all. He wanted to be revenged upon something for the fall he had received, and not daring to molest either the ladies or Mark, he charged furiously upon the hounds, which nimbly eluded all his attacks, and easily kept out of reach of the knife.
“Do you see what he is doing, mother?” shouted Mark, astonished and enraged at the Indian’s attempts to injure his favorites. “Say 30the word, and I’ll make the dogs stretch him as if he were a ’coon.”
“No! no!” answered mother, hastily. “Don’t make him angry, and perhaps he will go away after a while.”
“He is as angry as he can be already,” replied Mark.
The boy curbed his indignation as well as he was able, and watched the savage as he followed up the hounds, which barked at him, but kept out of his way. They ran under the house, but the robber crawled after them and drove them out. They were too well trained to take hold of him without the word from their master; but they grew angrier every minute, and finally, as if they feared that their rage might get the better of them if they remained longer in sight of their enemy, they sullenly retreated up the steps that led to the porch.
“Hold on, there!” shouted Mark, as the Indian, yelling furiously, prepared to follow the dogs into the house. “Keep away from there, I tell you.”
But the noble warrior did not stop. Striking right and left with his knife, he sprang up 31the steps into the midst of the women; and Mark, believing that it was his intention to attack them, yelled quite as loudly as the Indian.
“Hi! hi! Pull him down, fellows!” he shouted.
The hounds understood that yell; they had been waiting for it. As quick as thought one of them turned and sprang at his throat; the other seized him by the shoulder from behind, and the savage was thrown flat on his back—stretched as if he had been a “’coon.”
It was astonishing how quickly all the fight was shaken out of that ferocious Choctaw. He made one or two wild cuts at his assailants, then the knife dropped from his grasp and he lay like a log upon the porch. He was so still, and the blood flowed so freely from the numerous wounds he had received, that Mark became frightened and spoke to the hounds, which released their enemy very reluctantly. He never would have robbed any more dinner-tables if they had been allowed to have their own way with him.
“Ugh!” roared the Indian, when he found 32himself free from the teeth of the hounds. “Wh-o-o-p!”
He was not seriously injured; he had been “playing ’possum.” He raised himself to a sitting position and gazed about for a moment with a bewildered air, and then jumped to his feet, bounded down the steps and drew a beeline for camp at a rate of speed that made Mark open his eyes.
He did not stop to look for gates, or to let down bars. Whatever may have been that Indian’s claims to courage, he could certainly boast of being a swift runner and a most remarkable jumper.
“Oh, you awful boy! What have you done?” chorused all the visitors, as Mark entered the house.
“I’ve saved somebody from being hurt—that’s what I’ve done,” was the cool reply. “I am the only man about the house, and of course it was my duty to protect you.”
“But don’t you know that an Indian never forgives an injury? He will have revenge for that. He will come back here with his friends and kill and scalp us all.”
33“Well, he had better bring a good many friends if he intends to try that,” said Mark, shaking his head in a very threatening manner. “I’ll take Rock and Dash and whip his whole tribe. How long before dinner will be ready, mother?”
For an answer to this question he was referred to the cook. Now, Aunt Martha was an old and favorite servant, who had somehow got it into her head that she had a perfect right to grumble at any one, from her master down to the smallest pickaninny on the plantation. Having recovered from her fright, she was scolding at an alarming rate over the loss of her fine dinner, and for want of some better object upon which to vent her spite she opened upon Mark the moment he entered the kitchen.
Being unable to obtain any satisfactory replies to his questions, he walked off whistling to drown the clatter of the cook’s tongue, and as he went down the steps he heard her say to herself:
“Dat ar is a monstrous bad boy. He’s boun’ to be de def of all us white folks.”
34At the end of an hour Mark was again summoned to dinner, which this time passed off without interruption. Aunt Martha had recovered her good nature, and sought to restore herself to favor by stepping down from her high position as head cook, and condescending to wait upon “young mass’r,” whose plate she kept bountifully supplied.
When Mark returned to the shop after eating his dinner, he noticed that an unusual silence reigned in the Indian camp. Not a yell, or a song, or even the bark of a dog came from the woods, which were so still that Mark almost believed them to be deserted.
As he could not help feeling somewhat uneasy over what had been said in regard to the savage coming back with re-enforcements, he kept his eye turned in the direction of the camp, and presently discovered a gray streak moving through the cotton-field.
As it approached he saw that it was an Indian; and when he reached the fence Mark recognized the young wrestler, who appeared to be intensely excited about something. He breathed hard after his rapid run, his eyes had 35a wild look in them, and he was in so great a hurry to communicate the object of his visit that he began shouting to Mark as soon as he came within speaking distance.
He might as well have kept silent, however, for he talked principally in his native tongue, and Mark could not understand that. Reaching the fence, he cleared it at a bound, and running up to Mark, who stood looking at him in astonishment, exclaimed:
“Mil-la-la, you white boy! mil-la-la you, quick!”
And as he spoke he seized Mark by the arm, and tried to pull him toward the house.
“Now, see here,” said the latter, pulling off his jacket; “do you want to wrestle? If you do, you’re just the fellow I am looking for.”
“No, no! no, no!” cried the young savage, jumping back, and vehemently shaking his head. “Mil-la-la, you!”
“Talk English, why don’t you?” said Mark impatiently. “I can’t understand that jargon. What do you want me to do? If you haven’t come over here to wrestle, you had better keep your hands to yourself.”
36“Well, I mean you run,” urged Jim. “You run away, quick. See! Indian coming to kill!”
He pointed toward the cotton-field, and the sight that met Mark’s gaze made the cold chills creep all over him. A party of half a dozen braves were approaching the shop in single file at a rapid trot. They were all stripped to the waist, daubed with paint, wore feathers in their hair, carried knives and hatchets in their hands, and altogether their appearance was enough to frighten any boy who had never seen Indians in war costume before. The foremost warrior was the one who had been pulled down by the dogs. When he discovered Mark, he placed his hand to his mouth and gave the war-whoop.
“Jeemes’ River!” was Mark’s mental ejaculation (that was what he always said when he was astonished or alarmed). “Don’t I wish I was somewhere?”
“See, you white boy!” exclaimed Jim, who was so excited and terrified that he could scarcely stand still. “You run, or Indian kill.”
“Keep your hands off,” said Mark, as the 37young wrestler once more tried to push him toward the house. “This is my father’s plantation. I’ve more right here than they have. I haven’t done any thing to be ashamed of, and I shan’t run a step.”
The savages had by this time reached the fence that inclosed the cotton-field, and there they stopped to listen to a speech from their leader, who emphasized his remarks by flourishing his knife and hatchet above his head and yelling furiously.
“Look here, Jim!” said Mark suddenly. “Go and tell those fellows that if they know when they are well off they won’t come over that fence.”
“Oh, no! You run!” entreated Jim, who seemed to be greatly distressed on Mark’s account. “Indian kill, sure!”
“I shan’t budge an inch. Now, that’s flat. Jim, I shan’t tell you more than a dozen times that if you don’t want to wrestle you had better keep your hands away from me. Go and tell those painted gentlemen that I say they have come close enough.”
The young wrestler, seeing that Mark was 38firmly resolved to stand his ground, darted off like a flask, and, perching himself upon the fence, began a speech. He threw his arms wildly about his head, twisted himself into all sorts of shapes, and shouted at the top of his voice.
Mark could not understand a word he said, but the Indians could, and they seemed very much interested. They listened respectfully, no doubt, because the speaker was the son of their chief, only interrupting him now and then with a long-drawn “O-o m-i!” which was probably intended for applause.
If Jim was trying to induce the warriors to return peaceably to camp, he did not succeed in his object. The leader looked toward Mark, who stood in the door of the shop, keeping his eye on the savages, and stooping down occasionally to caress his hounds, and becoming enraged at his coolness, again raised the war-whoop, whereupon Jim brought his speech to a sudden close, and, jumping down from the fence, hurried up to Mark, and begged him to run for his life.
“I shan’t stir a peg,” was the angry response. 39“Go back and say to those men that I am tired of waiting. Tell them that if they come inside this lot I’ll make my hounds eat them up.”
Jim ran back to the fence, and for the second time occupied the attention of the warriors with a speech. They listened attentively for awhile, as before, but his eloquence seemed to make but very little impression upon them, for the leader again raised the war-whoop, and placed his hands upon the fence, as if about to spring over.
“Come on!” shouted Mark, who was every moment growing more angry and impatient. “Come inside this lot if you dare! Hands off, Jim!” he added, pushing back the young Indian, who once more tried to pull him toward the house. “I am just in the right humor for a wrestle now, and when I get through with your friends there I will show you what a white boy can do. Jeemes’ River! why don’t you come on?”
But the Indians, if they had any intention of crossing the fence at all, were not ready to do it just then. They listened to another long speech from their leader, and then, to Mark’s 40great amazement, started back through the cotton-field toward the camp. When they disappeared in the woods, Mark drew a long breath of relief, and turned to Jim, who stood looking at him with every expression of wonder and curiosity. The young wrestler was hardly prepared to believe that any one, especially a boy sixteen years old, could see the famous Choctaw braves in war-paint without being very badly frightened.
“You no afraid?” he inquired.
“Afraid!” repeated Mark. “Scarcely. What’s the use of being afraid until you see something to be afraid of? I feel grateful to you, Jim, for the interest you seem to take in my welfare, and I assure you that I shall always remember it. But you know you challenged me to wrestle with you last night. Come on now; I am ready for you.”
But Jim was not ready for Mark. The latter had given evidence that he was blessed with a goodly share of courage; and the Indian, believing, no doubt, that he possessed strength and activity in the same proportion, thought 41it best to keep out of his reach. He retreated toward the fence, crying out, “No, no; no, no, white boy!” at the same time waving Mark back with his open hands.
“Well, then, if you don’t want to wrestle, perhaps you will be good enough to carry a message from me to your friends,” said Mark. “Tell them that if they will take my advice they will leave this plantation with as little delay as possible. I shall ride through those woods with my hounds about sundown, and—pay strict attention to what I say now, Jim—if I catch a redskin in that camp, I’ll—I’ll—”
Mark finished the sentence by drawing his head down between his shoulders, opening his eyes to their widest extent, spreading out his fingers like the claws of some wild animal, and assuming a most ferocious expression of countenance, which made Jim retreat a step or two as if afraid that Mark was about to jump at him.
I am not certain that Mark could have told exactly what he meant by this pantomime, and neither am I prepared to say how Jim interpreted 42it; but I do know that he started for the camp with all possible speed, while Mark, highly excited, went back to the house to relate his adventure to mother.
That evening, about an hour before sunset, we returned from our deer hunt, and were not a little surprised to find the camp deserted. Not an Indian was to be seen. The warriors, squaws, pappooses, dogs and all had left for parts unknown. Father laughed when mother told him what had happened during our absence; but I could see by the expression in his eye that one Indian, at least, did a very wise thing when he took Mark’s advice and left the plantation.
I have since learned enough about these people to know that Mark showed himself a hero on that day. If he had taken to his heels the Indians would have pursued him, and there was no knowing what they might have done in their blind rage. His bold front cooled their ardor, and perhaps saved somebody’s life.
Although the savages had left the plantation, we were not yet done with them. A few nights afterward our cotton gin was set on fire, and 43the moccasin tracks in the mud showed who did it. We had a lively time hunting up the incendiaries, and I came in for some adventures, the like of which I had never known before.
Our fellows all ate supper at our house that night, and a happier party than that which sat at our table was never seen anywhere.
Mark was the hero of the evening, and after he had entertained us with a glowing description of his adventure with the Indians, we related to him the exciting and amusing incidents that had happened during our deer hunt.
Duke, Herbert and Sandy started for home shortly after dark, and Mark and I went up to headquarters and prepared to pass the evening with our books. We intended to go back to school in the spring, and as we were too ambitious to fall behind our classes, we made it a point to devote a portion of each day to good hard study. I picked up my philosophy; while Mark settled into a comfortable position 45in his easy-chair, thrust his slippered feet out toward the fire, and soon became deeply interested in a problem in quadratic equations.
The hours flew rapidly by, and it was nine o’clock almost before we knew it. By that time Mark had found a problem that brought him to a standstill, and resorting to his usual method of stimulating his ideas, he picked up his guitar and cleared his throat preparatory to treating me to his favorite song, “The Hunter’s Chorus,” which I had heard so often that I was heartily tired of it.
Just then the hounds in the yard set up a loud baying. We heard the bars rattle, and then came the clatter of horses’ hoofs and loud voices at the door. Heavy steps sounded in the hall and ascended the stairs. A moment afterward the door opened and Sandy Todd came in, his clothes all splashed with mud, and his usually red face pale with excitement or anger, we could not tell which.
“What’s up?” we asked, in concert.
“I reckon I might as well tell you to onct,” answered Sandy, “’cause you never could guess it. Jerry Lamar is in jail.”
46“In jail!” we echoed. “What for?”
“He is charged with stealin’ eight thousand dollars from General Mason,” was the reply.
I must stop here long enough to tell you something about Jerry Lamar, because he had considerable to do with the adventures that befell us during the winter. He lived about six miles from our house, on the banks of Black Bayou. His parents were poor, and Jerry and his father were lumbermen. They cut logs in the swamp, made them into rafts, and when the freshets came, floated them out to the river and down to New Orleans, where they sold them.
The timber they cut was all on our plantation, and father had so much confidence in their honesty that he never measured the rafts when they came out, but accepted the money Mr. Lamar offered him without asking any questions.
Jerry was one of the best boys I ever knew. Honest, good-natured and accommodating, he was beloved by every body (except old General Mason, who cared for no one but himself and his graceless nephew), and he would have been 47one of our fellows if he could have found time to accompany us on our expeditions; but he was too poor to own a horse or gun, and was obliged to work steadily from one year’s end to another. He was ambitious and tried hard to better his condition, but somehow he always had bad luck.
General Mason (I do not know why people called him “General,” unless it was because he had plenty of money, for he never held a military commission in his life) was continually getting himself or somebody else into trouble.
He had long shown a disposition to persecute Mr. Lamar, because the latter refused to buy his timber in the swamps at double its value, and Mark and I had no hesitation in affirming that he had brought this charge against Jerry to be revenged on his father.
“I don’t believe a word of it,” said I.
“Any one who knows Jerry Lamar would never suspect him of such a thing,” chimed in Mark.
“I am sorry to say, fellers, that thar’s no mistake about it—that is, as fur as his bein’ in 48jail is consarned, ’cause my father seed him when he was goin’ in. He’s down stairs now, pap is, talkin’ to your folks about goin’ Jerry’s bail.”
“Is there nothing we can do for him?” I asked.
“We can at least go down and see him, and assure him of our sympathy,” said Mark.
“That’s jest what I thought,” replied Sandy. “I will ride over arter Duke and Herbert, and by the time I get back you can be ready.”
Sandy lumbered off down stairs, and Mark and I pulled on our boots and hurried after him. We stopped in the sitting-room for a few minutes to hear what Mr. Todd had to say about it, and when we saw father preparing to accompany him to town, we ran out to the barn to saddle our horses.
In about a quarter of an hour Sandy came back with Duke and Herbert, and we all set out for Burton (that was the name of the village in which the jail was situated), galloping along the road at break-neck speed, and spattering the mud in every direction.
When he had gone about a mile and a half, 49we suddenly discovered a horseman in the road in advance of us, whose actions we thought indicated a desire to avoid us, for he turned off the road into the bushes.
“That fellow, whoever he is, has been doing something mean,” said Duke, jumping his horse across the ditch beside the road and riding toward the place where the stranger was concealed. “An honest man wouldn’t sneak off into the woods and hide that way. Hallo, there! Come out and show yourself!”
“Is that you, boys?” asked a trembling voice in the bushes.
“Oh, it’s that Tom Mason!” said Mark, contemptuously. “What trick are you up to now? You have been about some under-handed business, or you wouldn’t be afraid of us.”
“I haven’t been up to any trick; I haven’t, honor bright,” declared Tom, with more earnestness than we thought the occasion demanded. “I didn’t know who it was coming down the road at that reckless pace. Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“To town, to see Jerry,” replied Duke.
50“You are! I wouldn’t go near him if I were you. He’s a thief!”
As Tom said this he came out into the road, and we saw that his face was deathly pale, and that he was trembling all over, as if he had been seized with an attack of the ague.
If we had known what Tom had passed through during the last few hours, perhaps we should not have been so surprised at the sight. Had we been in his situation, it is probable that we would have been frightened, too.
Tom Mason was the nephew and ward of the richest man in that part of Mississippi, and the most unpopular boy in the settlement. He was so overbearing, and so dishonest and untruthful, that no one who had the least respect for himself could associate with him.
He cordially hated our fellows, because we would not invite him to accompany us on our hunting and fishing excursions, and never allowed an opportunity to do us an injury to pass unimproved. I shall have more to say about him presently.
“You fellows act as though you thought yourselves something grand,” continued Tom, 51“and I supposed you were above associating with a thief.”
“Now, I’ll tell you what’s the truth,” said Sandy, shutting one eye and wrinkling up his nose, as he always did when he was very much in earnest, “Jerry ain’t no more of a thief than I be.”
“He is in jail, isn’t he?” demanded Tom. “That is enough to disgrace him forever. Those who visit him and sympathize with him are no better than he is.”
“Thar ain’t no disgrace whar thar ain’t no guilt,” replied Sandy, half inclined to get angry. “An’ another thing, what’s the use of a fellow’s havin’ friends if they go back on him the minute he gets into trouble? Jerry will find that we’ll stick to him now same as we did afore. Now I’ll tell you what’s the truth, Tom Mason: He don’t know no more about them thar eight thousand dollars than you do.”
“Nor half as much,” said Mark, decidedly. “Fellows,” he added, as we left Tom and went clattering down the road again, “if the general has really lost any money, that boy knows where it is.”
52We reached the village in a few minutes, and without any delay were conducted to the cell in which Jerry was confined.
I shall never forget the thrill of horror that ran through me as the heavy iron door clanged behind us, or the despairing, woe-begone expression on the face of the prisoner. A few hours had made a great change in that jolly, wide-awake boy. He sat on his narrow bed with his face hidden in his hands, and when he looked up, I saw that his eyes were red and swollen with weeping.
“I little thought I should ever come to this,” said Jerry, in a husky voice; “and I never expected to see you here, either.”
“When a fellow is in trouble he wants friends, doesn’t he?” asked Duke. “Have you had any examination yet?”
“I have been before the squire, if that is what you mean, and have been sent here in default of bail—sixteen thousand dollars. The squire might as well have said a million.”
“No, I reckon not,” said Sandy. “Mr. Coleman an’ Mr. Dickson an’ my father can raise sixteen thousand dollars, I think, but it 53might bother ’em some to find a million. Now, I’ll tell you what’s the truth, Jeremiah Lamar, did you steal them thar eight thousand from General Mason?”
“No, I never saw the money.”
“How in the world did you manage to get into this miserable scrape?” asked Duke.
Jerry wiped his eyes and settled back on his elbow, while we disposed of ourselves in various attitudes about the cell and waited for him to begin the story.
As Jerry’s utterance was often interrupted by sobs, it took him a long time to tell us how this unpleasant state of affairs had been brought about.
During the progress of his story we learned that General Mason, according to the evidence he had given before the squire, had that morning returned from New Orleans, where he had been to draw some money to make the first payment on a plantation he had recently purchased.
The boat on which he was a passenger stopped at the mouth of the bayou to take on a supply of wood; and the general, learning that Mr. Lamar was about to come down with another raft, suddenly took it into his head that it would be a good plan to go up and examine it. He had lost a good deal of valuable timber of 55late, he said, and he believed that Jerry and his father had stolen it. He would look at the raft, and if there were any of his logs in it he would know them, for they were all marked.
So he jumped into a skiff and pulled up the bayou, taking with him a valise containing eight thousand dollars in gold.
He found Mr. Lamar engaged in making up the raft, a portion of which was moored to the bank in front of his house. The general got out of his skiff, and after examining that part of the raft, walked up the bayou to the place where Mr. Lamar was at work.
The latter, knowing why he had come there, good-naturedly took his pike-staff and turned the logs over in the water, so that the general could see all sides of them.
But none of them bore his mark; and without even apologizing to the lumberman for the trouble he had given him, the general returned to the skiff. He got out the oars and was about to shove off from the bank, when he discovered that the valise containing the eight thousand dollars, which he had carelessly left in the boat, was gone.
56Jerry was busy chopping wood in front of the house, and without an instant’s hesitation the general sprang ashore, seized him by the collar, and walking him into the skiff, started off to take him before the magistrate.
“You can’t imagine how astonished I was,” said Jerry. "When the general first came there I was not at home; I was up the bayou after a load of wood. You know that when the water comes up it makes an island of the hill on which our house stands, and we are obliged to bring all our firewood from the mainland in a canoe. I noticed the skiff when I came back, but I did not know who had brought it there until I saw General Mason up the bank with father, looking at the logs. When he came down I wished him good-morning; but he did not speak or even look at me, and I went on with my work. The next thing I knew I was lying flat on the bottom of the skiff, and he was shoving off into the stream.
‘You see I am prepared for any tricks,’ said he, flourishing a revolver before my face. ‘You have stolen eight thousand dollars out of 57this boat. Now will you tell me where it is, or go to jail?
"If the Mississippi had suddenly overflowed its banks and come pouring into the bayou, carrying every thing before it, I could not have been more astounded and alarmed. How could I tell him where his money was when I had never seen it? “I said every thing I could to convince him that I was innocent of the crime with which he charged me; but it was of no use. I might as well have kept silent. In obedience to his orders I picked up the oars and pulled down the bayou; and here I am.” “Well,” said I, when Jerry paused, “I don’t see that you are in such a terrible scrape. How is General Mason going to prove that you stole his money?” “Humph!” exclaimed Duke, you had better ask ‘How is Jerry going to prove that he didn’t steal it?’ I have read somewhere,"" he continued, ""that a trial at law is a lie direct. One says ‘You did,’ and the other says ‘I didn’t.’ In this case General Mason affirms that Jerry stole his money, and Jerry 58declares that he never saw it. We know that the general is mistaken, but how are we going to convince him of that fact while he has the evidence all on his side?""
"“I know how,” exclaimed Herbert, excitedly. “We’ll find the real culprit, that’s the way we’ll do it; and I can put my hands on him in less than half an hour. That Tom Mason is the very fellow.”
“Where is your proof?” inquired the practical Duke.
“Who knows that the money was stolen at all?” asked Mark. “Perhaps it fell overboard.”
“Well, suppose it did. That doesn’t help the matter any, for how are we going to show that it fell overboard?”
“Oh, I am ruined, boys!” groaned Jerry, who had listened attentively to what Duke had to say. “I can’t prove that I did not steal the money, for there was no one near me. Mother was in the house, and I was alone with the skiff for at least ten minutes. My word will go for nothing against that of a man like General Mason. But, fellows, if that money was stolen 59at all, it was taken before I got back with my load of wood.”
“Did you see any one prowling around your house?” asked Duke. “Perhaps some of the Swamp Dragoons were up there hunting.”
“If they were, I did not see them. I was alone.”
Duke had shown us just how the matter stood, and our friend’s prospects began to look very dark indeed. No one could blame General Mason, for the evidence was strong against Jerry. We knew he was innocent, but we could not prove it, and he would spend the best years of his life in prison, and the real culprit would never be discovered.
While we were thinking the matter over, and wondering what we could do to assist Jerry, we heard a heavy tramping in the hall, and presently Mr. Todd, Mr. Dickson and father came in, accompanied by the constable and jailer. They had found bail for Jerry, and he was once more at liberty to go where he pleased until the following month, when his case would come up for trial before the Circuit Court. He did not seem very much elated over his liberation, 60for he shrank from encountering the curious eyes which he knew would be turned upon him when he reached the street. But we did not give him time to think about that. Herbert and I caught him by the arms, Sandy put his hat on his head (he was so completely wrapped up in his troubles that he seemed to have forgotten that he had a hat to wear, or a pair of feet to stand upon), and we hurried him out of the jail and across the road to the place where we had left our horses.
We sprang into our saddles, I took Jerry up behind me, and in a few minutes carried him out of sight of the village. In accordance with his request, I put him down at the head of the lane that led to the swamp, and there we all separated and set out for home.
It was late when Mark and I awoke the next morning. After breakfast, I shouldered an ax, and, mounting my horse, started for the woods, where I had agreed to meet the rest of our fellows and spend an hour or two with them in building turkey-traps, while Mark, who said he didn’t feel like tramping around in the mud all day, remained at home.
61No one could have told from the way the day began, that it was destined to wind up with an adventure, and that Mark’s “laziness,” as I called it, was to bring about a series of events that ultimately proved to be of the greatest benefit to Jerry Lamar; but yet it was so.
Before Mark went to bed again he got into a scrape that well nigh cost him his life, and enabled him to prove Jerry’s innocence to every body’s satisfaction. In order that you may understand how it came about, I must follow his movements.
After I left, Mark studied awhile, read a little, and thrummed on his guitar a good deal. He passed an hour in this way, and at the end of that time was aroused from a reverie into which he had fallen by a sound which never failed to throw him into a state of intense excitement—the “honk, honk!” uttered by a flock of wild geese as they flew over the house.
Mark was all life and activity in an instant. Dropping his guitar as if it had been a coal of fire, he caught up his gun, which he always kept loaded and ready for such an emergency, and, in less time than it takes to tell it, was 62standing bareheaded in the yard, gazing up into the air, which was fairly darkened by wild geese.
Bang! bang! spoke the double-barrel, in quick, decided tones, and down came two of the flock, one stone dead and the other with a broken wing.
After securing his game, Mark stood watching the birds, which flew slowly onward, gradually settling down as they neared the swamp, and finally disappearing behind the bushes that lined the banks of the bayou.
“They have taken to the water,” said Mark, gleefully, “and if I don’t bag a dozen of them before I am an hour older, it will be because I have forgotten how to shoot on the wing.”
Mark ran up to headquarters, and presently reappeared in his big boots and shooting-jacket, his powder-flask and shot-bag slung over his shoulder, and his trusty double-barrel under his arm.
He ran into the kitchen to ask Aunt Martha to put up a lunch for him, and in half an hour more he had embarked in the canoe which we kept moored in the bayou, and was paddling 63for dear life toward the place where he had seen the geese alight in the water.
If you have never seen a freshet I can not convey to you even a slight idea of the appearance the swamp presented to Mark’s gaze that morning.
In summer it was perfectly dry, and the bayou which ran through it was not more than ten feet wide, and so shallow that the little trading boats, which are said to be able to run after a heavy dew, could not possibly ascend it.
Now the swamp was covered to the depth of fifteen feet, and the bayou was booming along at the rate of ten miles an hour, carrying with it huge trees and logs, which were whirled about in every direction, threatening instant destruction to any thing that came within their reach.
Of course navigation was dangerous in the extreme; but Mark never thought of that. His mind was wholly occupied with the wild geese.
The canoe, propelled by the current and the rapid strokes of the paddle, quickly reached 64the bend in which the geese had alighted, and as Mark rounded the point above it, he saw the flock before him, and within easy range.
I need not stop to relate to you the incidents of the hunt, which continued nearly all day; for, although interesting in themselves, they have no bearing upon the adventure which followed. It will be enough to say that the geese took wing as often as Mark approached them; that they always left two, and sometimes four and five, of their number dead or wounded behind them; that at last they became alarmed at the havoc made in their ranks, and rising high in the air, flew over the tops of the trees, toward the river; and that when they disappeared, Mark, with some difficulty, landed on a little island in the bayou to rest after his long-continued exertions, and to eat the lunch which Aunt Martha had put up for him.
As soon as his excitement had somewhat abated, he proceeded to make an examination of his spoils, and found that he had been successful beyond his most sanguine expectations—thirty-two fine, fat geese bearing evidence to 65the skill with which he had handled his double-barrel.
He also became conscious of another fact after he had looked about him, and that was that he had not the least idea how far he was from home, or in what part of the swamp he had brought up. He could not discover a single familiar landmark. With the exception of the island on which he was standing, and which was not more than twenty feet square, there was not a spot of dry land within the range of his vision—nothing but a wilderness of giant trees, standing half submerged in the dark, muddy water, which rushed by the island with the speed of a mill-sluice.
To add to the unpleasantness of his situation, the leafless branches above his head were tossing about in violent commotion, and the surface of the water was whirled into eddies by a fierce wind, which increased in fury every moment, betokening the approach of a tempest.
Some boys would have been frightened, but Mark was not. He ate his lunch with great deliberation, glancing up at the clouds occasionally, thinking over the incidents of the 66day, and trying to determine upon some plan of action.
There were two ways for him to return home. One was to pull back up the bayou in the direction from which he had come, and the other to float down the stream until he reached the river.
There was one insurmountable obstacle in the way of carrying out the first plan, and that was, that alone and unaided he could not possibly propel his canoe against the current.
To the second plan there was also an objection—quite a formidable one, too—which, in order that you may understand what followed, I must explain at some length.
I have told you that the bayou emptied into the Mississippi River. About a mile above its mouth was a succession of falls, perhaps fifteen feet high, and at this point the bayou, which ran between two rocky bluffs, made a very abrupt bend. The foot of the bluff on the lower side had been worn away by the constant action of the water, causing the top to hang threateningly over the bed of the stream.
Against this bluff, and along the whole 67length of it, was piled a dense mass of logs and trees, thus forming a sort of cavern, open at both ends.
This cave went by the name of “Dead Man’s Elbow,” from the fact that more than one lumberman had lost his life there.
When the water was low it could be easily explored, and many a hot summer’s day had our fellows spent there fishing and shooting alligators; but during a freshet it was a dangerous place.
The space between the bluffs was so narrow that only a small portion of the water could pass over the falls, and the most of it found its way into this cavern, through which it rushed and roared with the speed of a small Niagara; and any thing that came within its reach was hurried along with almost incredible fury, and dashed upon the logs and rocks below.
This was the obstacle that Mark would be obliged to pass on his way to the river. Of course there was a possibility that he would accomplish the descent in safety, for he was a skillful boatman, and he knew that more than 68one canoe and dozens of heavy rafts had passed over the falls when the water was at its highest; but if any accident befell him—if he once allowed himself to be brought within the influence of the powerful current that set toward the cavern—if his paddle broke or he became exhausted, it would be “all day” with him.
Mark thought of these things while he was munching his sandwiches, and when the last one had been disposed of he stepped into his canoe and began to make preparations for his perilous voyage.
His first move was to pack the geese carefully away under the thwarts, so that they would not be thrown overboard in case of any sudden lurching of his little vessel, and the second to fasten a strap to his shotgun and sling it over his shoulder.
Mark was greatly attached to that little double-barrel, and he was determined that if he passed Dead Man’s Elbow in safety, the gun should go through safely, also.
Perhaps his hands trembled a little while he was making these preparations, perhaps too, he wished that some other boy had been standing 69in his boots just then; but there was no alternative between attempting the passage of the falls and camping all night in the swamp without a fire, and of the two evils he thought he had chosen the least.
All things being ready, Mark cast off the painter, and with one sweep of the paddle turned the canoe about and sent it flying down the bayou. He went at almost railroad speed, but kept his craft completely under control, and when at last he came suddenly around a sharp bend and found himself between two high bluffs, with Dead Man’s Elbow in plain sight, he had screwed his courage up to the sticking point, and was ready to face the danger.
He placed his hat more firmly on his head, tightened his grasp on his paddle, and fastening his eyes on the falls before him, was nerving himself for the plunge, when his attention was suddenly attracted by loud shouts, which sounded from the cliffs above. He looked up, and the sight that met his gaze filled him with amazement and consternation.
Near the middle of the bayou, and but a 70short distance above the falls, was a dead tree which must have possessed enormous roots, for it had stood there ever since I could remember, holding its upright position in defiance of the logs and rafts that had been dashed against it.
It was not the tree itself that fixed Mark’s gaze and excited his surprise, but something that was crouching among its branches. It was not a bear or panther, but a man, dressed in a tattered brown jeans suit, who seemed to be very badly frightened, for that portion of his face which was visible over his bushy, uncombed whiskers was as pale as death.
Stranded on the very brink of the falls was the skiff in which the man had doubtless descended the bayou. It was lying on its side, half filled with water, and all that kept it from going over the falls was the log against which it had lodged.
On the cliff above the falls stood the persons whose shouts had attracted Mark’s attention. There were half a dozen of them—boys about his own age—and they were the redoubtable Swamp Dragoons who have already been mentioned 71in this story, and who are destined from this time forth to play a prominent part in it.
One of them held a long rope in his hand, with which he had been trying to rescue the man in the tree. They were all in a high state of excitement and alarm, which seemed to be greatly increased by Mark’s sudden appearance among them.
As soon as he came in sight, one of the Dragoons, who, like a good many others in the settlement, had not yet learned to tell Mark and me apart, called out:
“Now, then, what do you want here, Joe Coleman? Jest turn right around and go back up the bayou. You’ve got no sort of business here.”
“Yes,” shouted the man in the tree, shaking his fist at Mark, “go back whar you come from. What are you spyin’ about here fur?”
At first Mark did not know what to make of this greeting. Why should the man in the tree accuse him of acting as a spy upon his movements, and what reason had the Dragoons for ordering him away when he had as much right there as they had? There could be but 72one answer to these questions, and that was that there was something in the vicinity which they did not want him to see.
“Do you hear what I say!” shouted the man in the tree. “Get away—go back whar you come from. We don’t want you about here.”
“Get away yourself,” replied Mark. “Haven’t you sense enough to know that I couldn’t go back if I wanted to? There isn’t a man living who can paddle a canoe against this current.”
These words had scarcely left Mark’s lips before he became aware that he had got himself into trouble. While his attention was drawn to the man in the tree, his canoe had escaped from his control, and was now shooting with the speed of an arrow toward the cavern. It was not more than twenty feet distant, and if he once entered it no power on earth could save him.
When he saw and fully realized his danger, his face grew deathly pale, and for an instant the light paddle in his hand felt as heavy as lead. But it was only for an instant. His 73power of action returned almost as quickly as it had deserted him, and, jumping to his feet, he fought hard for his life.
For a few seconds it seemed as if his puny arm could combat successfully with the roaring, foaming waters which leaped so wildly around him; but just at the moment when the canoe appeared to be perfectly motionless, and it seemed as if a feather’s weight might turn it either way—toward the falls, where it would be comparatively safe, or toward the cavern where its destruction was certain—there was a loud snap, and Mark found himself standing with a broken paddle in his hand, and saw the bow of the canoe swinging rapidly toward the waves which filled the mouth of Dead Man’s Elbow.
If there was any thing for which Mark was noted, besides his skill as a wrestler, it was the coolness and deliberation with which he acted in times of danger.
In this, he was a good deal like Sandy, who could scarcely be induced to move one step faster than his ordinary gait even under the most exciting circumstances.
Mark often grew pale in trying situations, and sometimes seemed utterly powerless to lift hand or foot, but when the decisive moment came, and action could be no longer delayed, he moved with a promptness and celerity that was astonishing.
On this occasion it did not seem that there was the smallest chance of escape. The Swamp Dragoons and the man in the tree thought so, and looked down at him with blanched cheeks.
75Mark thought so, and stood erect in his boat, gazing in a stupid, benumbed sort of way into the dark opening where more than one strong man had given up his life, and toward which he was being hurried with lightning speed. But all this time he knew what he was about, and, when the canoe was on the very point of taking the fatal plunge, he sprang into the air with the agility of a squirrel.
The instant he touched the water he gave one swift stroke and reached a place of refuge—a huge sawyer, one end of which was imbedded in the mud at the bottom of the bayou, and the other projecting two or three feet above the surface of the water.
Clinging with a death-grip to this friendly support, he turned to look at his canoe; but it had already disappeared, and was being smashed into kindling-wood as the mad waters hurried it through the cavern.
“Whew!” gasped Mark, drawing himself out of the water and seating himself on the sawyer; “did any body ever hear of a closer shave than that?”
“Well, you done come safe off, didn’t you?” 76growled the man in the tree, and Mark judged by the tones of his voice that he would have been much better pleased if he had gone into the cavern with the canoe. “The next time you come so nigh to goin’ out o’ the world, you’ll go; you kin bet on that.”
Mark did not reply. He sat on the log, panting loudly, and looking first at the place where his canoe had disappeared, then at the angry waters about him, and finally he fastened his gaze upon the man in the tree, who seemed to be in no amiable frame of mind.
He was no stranger to the persons into whose company he had been thus unexpectedly thrown.
About ten miles from our settlement, in an almost inaccessible part of the swamp, lived a colony of people who gained a livelihood in some mysterious manner, that had more than once excited the suspicions of the planters.
The head man among them was Luke Redman, and he it was who was now crouching in the branches of the tree, glaring down at Mark like some wild animal which had been brought to bay by the hounds.
77The boys on the cliff were the younger members of the colony of which I have spoken, who seemed in a fair way to follow in the footsteps of their fathers, for a harder set of fellows could not be found anywhere.
They boasted a sort of military organization, and their officers were a captain and a lieutenant.
The captain was Barney Redman, the oldest son of the man in the tree, and his distinguishing badge was a squirrel’s tail, which he wore in front of his hat for a plume.
His brother Luke, the lieutenant, sported a coonskin cap and a couple of turkey feathers.
The Dragoons were gathered in a group on the edge of the cliff, holding a whispered consultation, and now and then looking down at Mark, as if he were the subject of their conversation.
“What’s the matter with you, Barney?” said Mark, at length, addressing himself to the captain of the Dragoons; “you seem to be mad about something.”
“What business have you got here? That’s what I want to know,” replied Barney, angrily. 78“The best thing you can do is to leave here sudden.”
“I am well satisfied of that. It is pretty cold, and I am not at all comfortable sitting here in my wet clothes. If you will tell me how to reach dry land, I shall be greatly obliged to you. But, I say, Barney!”
“Well, what do you want?”
“What’s been going on here?”
“Who said any thing had been goin’ on?” demanded Luke Redman, in a tone of voice which indicated considerable alarm.
And as he spoke, he cast a sidelong glance over his shoulder toward his skiff, which was stranded on the edge of the falls.
There was something so stealthy in the action that Mark’s suspicions were aroused in an instant. He followed the man’s glance, and one look was enough to clear up every thing which, but a moment before, had appeared so mysterious.
“Thar hain’t been nothin’ goin’ on here that I knows on,” repeated Mr. Redman. “I come down the bayou, same as you did, an’ got ketched in the current an’ upsot; an’ if it 79hadn’t been for this yere tree, I’d ’a gone over the falls, I reckon.”
“What’s that hanging to the row-lock of your skiff?” asked Mark, suddenly.
“Whar? I don’t see nothin’.”
“Don’t you? Well, I do. It is a valise, and has General Mason’s name on it. I can see it as plainly as I can see you. There hasn’t been any thing going on here, eh? I know better. There are eight thousand dollars in gold in that valise, Luke Redman, and you were making off with it. That’s what’s been going on.”
Mark had hit the nail squarely on the head. Luke Redman certainly had General Mason’s valise in his skiff, and he had come down the bayou, intending to escape to the river with his booty, and cross into Louisiana; and it is probable that he would have succeeded in carrying out his plans, had it not been for the accident that compelled him to take refuge in the tree.
When the skiff was overturned, one of the handles of the valise had, by the merest accident, caught in the row-lock, and that was all 80that saved it from going to the bottom of the bayou.
There it hung, in plain sight, bobbing up and down in the water, as the skiff rose and fell with the waves.
A dead silence succeeded Mark’s bold announcement of the discovery he had made.
The Dragoons brought their consultation to a sudden close, and looked at Luke Redman, whose face turned pale with alarm, and then almost purple with rage.
“I call this a lucky hunt, after all,” said Mark, who, knowing that he was out of reach of his enemies, was disposed to be impudent. “When I get back to the settlement, my first hard work shall be to clear Jerry Lamar, and put the authorities on your track.”
“But you hain’t got back to the settlement yet,” shouted Luke Redman, “an’, what’s more, you shan’t go. You’ll never see your home ag’in, mind that.”
“Why not?” inquired Mark, who knew very well what the man meant by this threat. “Who’s going to hinder me?”
“I am. Don’t you think it would be a 81mighty smart thing for me to let you go back to your folks, an’ tell ’em what you’ve done seed here to-night? I hain’t quite so green as that. Halloo, there! Stop him, Barney. Jump on your hoss an’ foller him up, an’ ketch him. If he gets away, we are done fur.”
The sudden change in Luke Redman’s tone was brought about by an action on Mark’s part that astonished every body who witnessed it. While the man was speaking he had risen to his feet, and, balancing himself on the sawyer, took a survey of the situation, and calculated his chances for carrying out a desperate resolve he had formed.
As I have told you, there were two currents in the bayou at this particular point—one setting toward the falls and the other toward the cavern. The sawyer was situated near the edge of the latter current, and Mark was sure that a good jump and a few swift strokes would carry him beyond its influence into the comparatively smooth current that ran toward the falls.
He determined to try it, and he did; and to his infinite delight, and the intense amazement 82of Luke Redman, he reached the smooth current in safety, and struck out for the skiff, intending to catch the valise as he went by and take it away with him.
But the current was much too strong for him. It carried him far out of reach of the skiff, and whirled him over the falls as if he had been a feather. He heard loud ejaculations of rage and alarm behind him, and caught just one glimpse of the Dragoons, who were mounting their horses to pursue him, and then he was swept rapidly around the bend, and they were left out of sight.
How long Mark remained in the water, and how far his enemies pursued him, he did not know. He kept in the bayou until he passed the bluffs and reached a spot where the water once more spread out over the swamp, and there he turned and made the best of his way toward the chain of hills which ran along the bank of the river.
He had ridden over the ground on horseback more than once, but he had never swum over it before, and the distance seemed to have lengthened out wonderfully; but it was safely accomplished 83at last, and when he crawled out upon the dry ground and turned his face homeward, he told himself that he had done something to be proud of: He had swum over the falls—and that was a feat that no one in the settlement had ever attempted before—and although he had lost his canoe and every one of the wild geese for which he had worked so hard, he had saved his double-barrel, and made a discovery that was worth a great deal to Jerry Lamar.
And his exploits were not yet ended. He was twenty miles from home, and for five long hours he trudged along the road in his wet clothes, facing a blinding storm and splashing through mud more than ankle deep.
I never saw a worse-looking boy than he was when he burst in upon us about ten o’clock, and I do not suppose he ever saw a more astonished family than we were, while we sat listening to the story of his adventures.
In spite of his remonstrances, he was put to bed immediately; while father and I donned our rubber coats and boots, and rode out into the storm to arouse the settlement.
In less than two hours after Mark reached home, three large canoes loaded with settlers swept down the bayou and landed at the bluffs above Dead Man’s Elbow.
The place was found to be deserted. There were plenty of footprints in the mud on the top of the cliff, and that was all that remained to tell of the thrilling incidents that had happened there but a short time before.
The skiff and the valise had disappeared, and the tree in which Luke Redman had taken refuge was empty. How he managed to escape from his perilous situation—whether he imitated Mark’s example, and swam over the falls, or the Swamp Dragoons succeeded in pulling him up the bluff—we had no means of judging. He was gone, and the next thing was to find him.
85During the next few days the settlement was in great commotion. In company with the planters, our fellows explored the county from one end to the other, but without finding the slightest trace of Luke Redman and the Swamp Dragoons. They had disappeared as completely as though they had never existed at all.
At the end of a week, however, the excitement began to abate, and our attention was called to other matters. Christmas was near at hand, and that was a great day with us. From the time we were old enough to be trusted with horses and guns, we had made it a point to spend the day hunting in the woods, winding up our sports about four o’clock in the afternoon by eating a wild turkey which had been roasted over our camp-fire.
We had begun as early as the first of the month to make preparations for this all-important occasion, but our chances for securing the necessary game grew less promising as the day drew near. Wild turkeys were not only exceedingly scarce that year, but the few we saw 86during our rambles were so shy that it was next to an impossibility to shoot one; and as we were resolved that we would not miss our accustomed dinner, we were obliged to resort to something that every true sportsman holds in supreme contempt—namely, traps.
We built several among the beech ridges in the swamp, but scarcely had we completed them before we became aware that somebody was interfering with our arrangements. He visited the traps as regularly as we visited them ourselves, and took all the game out of them.
We knew as well as though we had seen him in the act that Tom Mason was the culprit, but for a long time our efforts to fasten the guilt upon him were unsuccessful. We came up with the gentleman at last, however, and took a little satisfaction out of him for the disappointment and vexation he had occasioned us, although before the day was over he paid me for it in a way I did not like.
On the morning of the day before Christmas, Mark burst into headquarters, where I was sitting in company with the rest of our fellows, his clothes all covered with mud that had been 87splashed over them by his horse’s feet, and his face red with anger. He had started out at daylight to visit the traps, and his looks showed plainly that he had met with no better success than usual.
“It is no use, fellows,” said he, pitching his hat spitefully into one corner, “we might as well give it up. I don’t see what such boys as Tom Mason are made for, anyhow.”
“Oh, no! we can’t give up the dinner,” said Duke, quickly. “If we don’t succeed in capturing a turkey, we will shoot a wild goose. We can find plenty of them, you know.”
“Well,” replied Mark, “if you want to hunt wild geese on a raft, you can do it. I’ll stay at home.”
“On a raft!” repeated Duke. “Where’s the canoe?”
“You tell; or, if you want to be certain about it, go and ask Tom Mason. He knows. It is gone, and I had to build a raft to go over to the island where we made our last trap.”
We were all very much provoked when we heard this. It was irritating enough to have our sports interrupted and our plans broken 88in upon by such a fellow as Tom Mason, but we did not mind that so much as the loss of our canoe. The Spitfire—that was the name we had given her—was a swift, handy little craft, and as it was the first one our fellows ever built, and we had owned it for years, we thought a great deal of it. Even easy-going Sandy, who seldom spoke harshly of any body, declared that it was high time we were taking that Tom Mason in hand.
“I don’t think we can be expected to stand this thing any longer,” continued Mark. “I know that there are as many as fifty turkeys that roost on that island at night, and that some of them must get in that trap every morning. I propose that we camp out on the bank of the bayou to-night and watch the island.”
“That’s a good idea,” said I. “I will go down at once, and send a couple of darkeys into the swamp to build a shanty for us.”
While I was hunting up the negroes, and giving them some instructions in regard to the location of the shanty, the manner in which it was to be built, and the quantity of provisions 89we should need during the two days we expected to remain in the swamp, I heard a great rumpus in the house, such as might have been occasioned by a squad of cavalry driving rapidly through the hall. I knew, however, that the noise was made by the heavy boots worn by our fellows, who were rushing pell-mell down the stairs.
Wondering what was in the wind now, I ran around the house, and saw a group of excited boys gathered in the lane.
Conspicuous among them was Tom Mason, who sat on his horse, flourishing his riding-whip in the air and talking at the top of his voice.
Mark held his nag by the bridle, and was trying his best to induce Tom to dismount, threatening to pull him from his saddle if he did not immediately comply.
Believing that there was a fight in prospect, and that Tom would be severely punished, I jumped over the bars and joined the group, intending to do all I could to prevent a difficulty.
“I don’t know any thing about your old 90boat, Mark Coleman,” said Tom, as I came up; “and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I think you have good cheek to come to me for favors after treating me as you have done. But I will tell you one thing—you had better look out for me now. I’ll sink that canoe if I can find it, and I’ll pull down every turkey trap you set in these woods.”
“Well, now, if you will come out of that saddle for about two minutes, I will convince you that you had better steer clear of us and every thing belonging to us,” said Mark.
“If you know when you are well off, you will stay where you are,” I exclaimed. “Let go his horse, Mark. Now, friend Mason,” I added, as Mark released his hold of the bridle and fell back, “the way is open, and you had better clear yourself.”
Tom rode a short distance up the lane, and then stopped and looked back.
“Where did you get that boat you were talking about?” he demanded.
“We made it,” replied Duke.
“That’s a likely story. I’d as soon think you stole it. As I told you once before, those 91who sympathize with thieves are no better than they are. You won’t go hunting or fishing with me; but you will ride six miles through the mud to visit the beggar Jerry Lamar when he is in jail.”
“Yes,” replied Herbert, “we are particular in regard to the company we keep. We’re rather shy of boys who steal and tell falsehoods.”
“I know what you mean by that,” said Tom, angrily, “and I’ll pay you for it, too. I am going to make things exceedingly lively for all of you this winter, if you only knew it. I’ll settle up all the little accounts between us in a way you don’t think of; mind that!”
As Tom gave utterance to this warning, he put spurs to his horse and galloped away, while our fellows returned to headquarters.
We spent an hour or two in talking over the events of the morning, and about eleven o’clock mounted our horses and started for the swamp.
We passed the time until three in the afternoon in riding about among the hills, visiting our traps, and you can imagine what our feelings were when we found that Tom Mason had 92already begun to carry out the threats he had made that morning.
Two of our traps had been robbed since Mark visited them at daylight, and as many more completely demolished.
How did we know that any of them had been robbed? By the feathers that were scattered about over the ground.
We found, too, that the thief had come into the woods by way of the bayou, for we tracked him to the bank, and found the place where he had landed from his canoe.
When we had visited all our traps in that part of the woods, we turned our horses’ heads toward the camp; and if you are one with the soul to appreciate such things, you will know how we enjoyed the pleasant sight that greeted our eyes as we entered a little valley among the hills, and found a commodious pole shanty and a roaring fire waiting for us.
We dismounted, and, while we stood warming our benumbed hands over the cheerful blaze, looked around on the preparations that had been made for our comfort.
The negroes must have thought it was our 93intention to remain in the woods all the rest of our lives, judging by the care they had taken in fitting up the camp.
The shanty was tight, and would have kept us dry if it had rained buckets. It was built with its back to the wind and the front open to the fire; and looking inside, we saw five beds neatly made up on the floor, which was thickly covered with leaves.
On one side of the shanty was a supply of wood for the fire, and on the other was the wagon, beside which stood a span of mules, contentedly munching their corn.
Sam, one of the negroes, was exploring a huge mess-chest in the wagon, and bringing to light the good things mother had put up for us, now and then turning his head to look at the brace of wild ducks and the half a dozen squirrels that were broiling on the coals.
I shall never forget that camp. It served us as our “headquarters in the field” for many a year, and one memorable night was the scene of one of the most exciting adventures that ever befell our fellows.
“Not a single turkey have we seen yet,” 94said Mark, as we drew up around the fire. “Have you boys been on the island to look at that trap?”
“Yes, sah,” replied Sam, “an’ it’s done tore down. But I built it up ag’in, an’ throwed corn all around it. I reckon we’ll get some turkeys outen dar afo’ night, ’kase Cuff is hid in the bushes watchin’ de island, an’ if dat dar Mason boy comes pokin’ round ag’in, he’ll get cotched.”
We felt better then, and told one another that that Mason boy’s tricks were at an end, for that day at least. We talked the matter over while we were waiting for our dinner, and decided upon a plan of operations.
The island on which our trap was built was a noted place for turkeys. If there were any in the woods, they were always to be found there, and the secret lay in the fact that the island produced an immense quantity of beechnuts, of which turkeys are very fond.
We had made our camp about half a mile from the bayou, and our object in doing so was that the turkeys might not be frightened away by the smoke from our fire.
95The plan we decided upon was that, as soon as we had eaten our dinner, two of our fellows should conceal themselves in the bushes on the bank of the bayou, and hold themselves in readiness to alarm the camp if they saw Tom Mason prowling about, or heard any thing suspicious going on on the island.
We did not carry this plan into execution, however, for just as the ducks and squirrels were done to a turn and Sam had finished laying the table, Cuff came dashing into camp, breathless and excited, and announced that a large flock of turkeys had just flown from the mainland over to the island.
That was enough for us. We did not think any more about dinner just then, but seized our guns and started post-haste toward the bayou.
Herbert Dickson was the first to reach the bank, but no sooner had he emerged from the bushes than he drew back again, and motioned for us to approach with more caution.
“Fellows,” he whispered, as we gathered about him, “we are not the only ones who are 96watching the island. Tom Mason is over there.”
Following in Herbert’s wake, we crept carefully toward the bank and looked toward the island. Our evil genius was not in sight, but his canoe was, and it was almost filled with turkeys—the proceeds of his morning’s raid upon our traps.
“We’ve got him cornered at last,” said Duke; “and if we move quickly and quietly, we can catch him in the act of stealing our game. I suggest that we teach him manners by ducking him in the bayou.”
“And let us keep on ducking him until he tells us what he has done with our boat,” said Mark. “I know he has stolen it.”
The raft Mark had made that morning was lying alongside of the bank, and it was but the work of a moment to jump on board and shove out into the stream.
Just as we moved from the shore, we heard a loud flapping of wings in the bushes on the island, and a moment afterward a flock of turkeys arose above the trees, and sailed off into the woods.
97“There!” exclaimed Herbert. “Tom has frightened them away before they had time to get into the trap.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said I. “There are more turkeys in that boat than we can eat at one Christmas dinner.”
Duke, who was managing the raft, used his paddle with all his strength; but, before we were half-way across the bayou, the robber came in sight, carrying a turkey slung over each shoulder. He stopped when he discovered us, and his face turned red with shame and then pale with alarm.
“Now, I’ll jest tell you what’s the matter, Tom Mason,” exclaimed Sandy. “We ain’t a-goin’ to put up with this yere kind of business no longer. We’ll wash some of that ar meanness outen you by dumping you in the bayou.”
Tom stood for a moment as if he had been rooted to the ground, and then, dropping the turkeys, ran toward his boat.
Duke, comprehending his design, exerted himself to the utmost to defeat it; but our clumsy raft moved very slowly through the 98water, and when we arrived within twenty feet of the bank, Tom reached his boat and shoved off. He could manage a canoe as well as any Indian, and he would certainly have succeeded in effecting his escape, had it not been for Sandy Todd. He saw that there was but one way to prevent the robber from making off with his booty, and he had the nerve to adopt that way. He hastily threw off his powder-flask and shot-pouch, and before we knew what he was going to do, he was in the water striking out for Tom’s boat.
For a moment he puffed and blew like a porpoise (you can imagine how cold the water is in December, even in a warm climate like ours), but he kept on, and, after a few swift strokes, was near enough to Tom to seize the stern of his canoe.
“Let go!” shouted Tom, flourishing his paddle in the air. “Let go, I say, or I’ll rap you over the head!”
“Hold fast to him, Sandy!” I yelled. “Those turkeys are ours, and we’re bound to have them.”
“If he attempts to strike you, capsize the 99canoe and spill him out,” exclaimed Herbert.
“I’d like to see him do it,” said Tom, savagely. “Once more, and for the last time, Sandy Todd, I tell you that if you don’t take your hands off my boat, I’ll—”
He did not finish the sentence. While he was speaking, he raised his paddle to strike Sandy, and our fellow, acting upon Herbert’s suggestion, placed his hands upon the side of the canoe, and overturned it in an instant, emptying Tom and the turkeys into the cold waters of the bayou.
“Boo-hoo!” sputtered the robber, as he arose to the surface, his face blue with the cold, and his teeth chattering. “I’ll—fix—you for that—Sandy Todd!”
“We are not done with you yet,” exclaimed Mark. “You shan’t touch dry land again until you tell us what you have done with our boat.”
These words seemed to bring Tom to his senses again. He struck out manfully—I never saw a boy who could swim like that Tom Mason—and in spite of all Duke’s efforts 100to cut him off, he reached the island, and scrambling up the bank, disappeared in the bushes.
Then we were sure that he was caught. He could not escape to the mainland without swimming the bayou, and we did not think he would be likely to attempt that after the experience he had already had with cold water.
Sandy crawled out upon the raft as we moved past him, and the instant our clumsy vessel touched the shore, we all jumped off and dashed through the bushes in hot pursuit of the robber; but we did not come within sight of him until we reached the foot of the island, and then, to our surprise, we discovered him in a canoe and about half-way across the bayou. He was paddling for dear life; but when he saw us standing on the bank, he stopped to say a parting word to us.
“You said that you are not done with me, didn’t you?” he asked. “You will find, before the winter is over, that I am not done with you. I have a plan in my head that will astonish you when you find out what it is. Keep your eyes open, and good-by till I see you again.”
101“Say, Tom,” I shouted, “you told us this morning that you didn’t know any thing about our boat. You are in it now.”
“I know it,” he replied, coolly. “She was hidden in the bushes not ten feet from where you are now standing.”
“Well, we want her, and we’re bound to have her.”
“If you get her before I am done with her, just let me know it, will you?”
Tom dropped his paddle into the water and pulled leisurely toward the shore, while we ran back to the head of the island, intending to jump into his boat and pursue him. But he knew better than to try a fair race with us down the bayou.
Knowing that he could not escape with the canoe while we possessed the means to follow him, he held straight for the nearest shore, and when he reached it, jumped out and took to the woods.
We found our canoe where he had left it, and when we took it in tow and paddled back to the head of the island, we told one another that Tom Mason should never get his hands 102upon it again. We would put it into the wagon and take it home with us.
“This fellow has done a big business in stealing this morning,” exclaimed Mark, who had been counting the turkeys we found in Tom’s canoe. “How many do you suppose there are? Twenty-three; enough to furnish a Christmas dinner for half the planters in the settlement. We’ve done enough for one day, and I move that we break up camp and spend the rest of the afternoon in distributing some of these turkeys among our friends. We can’t use them all.”
We landed opposite the island, and knowing that we had a cunning enemy to deal with, left Duke and Herbert to watch our game, while the rest of us went to the camp to harness the mules.
I don’t know why it was, but the moment we arrived within sight of the shanty, a suspicion flashed through my mind that something had been going on there during our absence. My first thought was of my mare. She was gone. There was the sapling to which she had been tied, with a piece of the halter still 103fastened to it, but the mare was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is she, Joe?” asked Mark.
“That is just what I should like to find out,” I replied. “I never knew Bess to break loose before.”
“An’ she didn’t break loose this time,” said Sandy, confidently. “That thar halter has been cut with a knife.”
“I shouldn’t wonder if this was a part of the plan Tom Mason told us about,” said Mark. “After he landed from his canoe, he slipped around here and stole the horse.”
Something told me that this was the true explanation of the matter; but I would not allow myself to believe it until I had questioned the negroes who just then came running up. The answers they gave to my hurried inquiries destroyed my last hope. They had not seen the mare, and were greatly astonished to learn that she had disappeared.
Being very much interested in the result of our chase after Tom Mason, they had followed us to the bayou, leaving the camp to take care of itself. Our evil genius, or any other prowler, 104could have walked off with all we had, for there was nobody to prevent it.
I need not stop to tell you all that was said and done when we at last made up our minds that Black Bess had been stolen. It will be enough to say that Sandy rode back to the bayou after Duke and Herbert, and that they all set out in pursuit of Tom Mason, leaving me to superintend the operation of breaking up the camp.
I placed our canoe and the turkeys in the wagon, and, after tying Tom’s boat to a tree on the bank, so that he could find it again when he wanted it (I tell you it cost me a struggle to do that; I had half a mind to turn it adrift, and let it float out to the river and down to the Gulf of Mexico), I rode home with the negroes utterly disconsolate.
If you ever lost any thing you prized as highly as I prized Black Bess, you will know just how I felt.
Our fellows came in at dark, but without any thing encouraging to say to me, and father and I rode over to see General Mason, Tom’s uncle.
105We found the young rascal in the library, poring over a book, and looking none the worse for his cold bath in the creek.
He seemed greatly amazed when father told him that the object of our visit was to ascertain what he had done with the horse he had stolen, and so earnestly protested his innocence that I was almost willing to believe he was not the guilty one after all.
We had a few minutes’ conversation with the general, during which he promised to do all in his power to assist us in recovering the lost horse, and then returned home no wiser than we left.
When father and I reached home we found our fellows there, and also Mr. Todd and Mr. Dickson, who had come over to spend the evening.
The events of the afternoon had already been thoroughly discussed, but the matter was taken up again when we arrived, and after that the mare’s mysterious disappearance was the chief subject of conversation.
One thing that not a little surprised us, was the coolness, not to say indifference, with which father and his two gentleman friends spoke of the loss I had sustained.
Our fellows went in strong for raising a hue and cry, and making the swamp too hot to hold the thief; but the men shook their heads and said they thought that wouldn’t do. They had tried that in the case of Luke Redman, and what had it amounted to?
107The best thing we could do would be to keep our eyes open and our mouths closed, and perhaps in a few days something would turn up in our favor.
At ten o’clock the two gentlemen took their leave, and our fellows went up to bed.
“Now, I’ll jest tell you what’s the matter with me,” said Sandy, when he had settled himself snugly between the sheets. "My name hain’t Micawber, and that’s the reason I don’t believe in waitin’ fur things to ‘turn up.’ I’ll tell you what we’ll do, fellers. If the men won’t help us, we’ll help ourselves. We’ll let our dinner go this once, take to the woods at daybreak, and spend Christmas in lookin’ fur that thar hoss, eh?"
Sandy could not have made a proposition that would have suited me better, or the rest of the fellows either, judging by the readiness with which they agreed to it.
The matter was settled without much debate, and then we arranged our pillows, and prepared to go to sleep. We did sleep, but not long. There was more excitement in store for us. About two o’clock our cotton-gin was set on fire.
108I need not stop to tell you how frightened I was when my brother dragged me out of bed and shouted in my ear that the plantation was burning up; how I looked out of the window as I pulled on my clothes, and saw the gin wrapped in flames; how our fellows rushed out of the house, and, after bustling about for a while in a state of intense excitement, getting in every body’s way, and accomplishing nothing, stood quietly by my father’s side, and saw twelve thousand dollars’ worth of cotton consumed; how we wondered and made wild guesses as to who the incendiary could be; and finally went back to bed, and lay for a long time talking the matter over. You can imagine all that, and will know just how we felt.
Excited as I was, I fell asleep again, but was awakened about daylight by the sound of horses’ hoofs in the yard. I ran to the window, and saw several mounted men waiting before the door. They were all booted and spurred, and some carried guns slung over their shoulders, while others had revolvers strapped about their waists.
A negro stood by, holding a splendid coal-black 109horse which belonged to father, and presently he came out of the house, armed like the others, sprang into the saddle, and the whole cavalcade started down the road at a rapid gallop.
I caught my sleeping companions by the shoulders, and, after a good deal of shaking and pulling, succeeded in getting them out of bed and to the window, just in time to catch one glimpse of the horsemen before they disappeared down a lane that led to the woods.
“Now I’ll jest tell you what’s the matter,” exclaimed Sandy. “What’s up, do you reckon?”
“They’ve gone out to look for the men who set fire to that cotton-gin,” replied Duke, fairly jumping into his trowsers. “That’s what’s up, and here we are in bed and sound asleep, like so many wooden boys.”
“Hurrah!” yelled Mark. “Here’s fun! I’d give something to know what else is going to happen this winter.”
As he said this, he jerked on his boots, thrust one arm into his coat, and started down stairs to talk to mother, and find out what it 110was that had taken father and his companions off in so great a hurry, while the rest of us brought out the guns, and began loading them with hands that trembled violently. We could not have been more impatient to get the weapons ready for use if a band of hostile Indians had at that very moment been approaching the house.
“I am going to put twelve buckshot in my gun,” said Herbert, “and if I meet the fellow who set fire to that gin, won’t I—won’t I wake him, eh?”
“How will you know him if you do meet him?” asked Duke, spilling a charge of powder on the floor in his haste.
“Why, he will look guilty, won’t he? Well, what’s the matter?”
This last question was addressed to Mark, who just then came up stairs in two jumps.
“Mother says there are moccasin-tracks all around that gin,” said he, so excited that he could scarcely speak plainly, “and that shows that it was set on fire by the Indians. It was done by some of those worthless half-breeds—probably 111by the same one with whom I had that fuss the other day.”
All our fellows thought that Mark’s idea of the matter was the correct one.
This half-breed—Pete, he called himself—and a half dozen others, who were as bad as he was, had held a grudge against father for more than a year, and we had been expecting something of this kind. More than that, our gin was not the only one that had been burned during the last six months.
The guilty parties, whoever they were, had always escaped detection, but as Pete and his crowd had had some trouble with nearly every one in the settlement, the planters had suddenly taken it into their heads that they were the ones who had been doing all the mischief, and were resolved that they should no longer go unpunished.
“Mother says that before noon there will be a hundred men in the cane-brakes,” panted Mark. “Hurry up, fellows, or we shall miss all the sport. We don’t want any breakfast, do we?”
“No!” we all shouted.
112“I couldn’t eat a mouthful if I should try,” said Herbert, seizing his gloves and riding-whip. “Say, boys, wouldn’t it be a glorious thing for us if we could capture the incendiaries all by ourselves without any help from the planters?”
Oh, wouldn’t that be an exploit worth boasting of? Only let us have the opportunity, and see how quick we would attempt it!
We thought we knew right where to go to find the Indians. Most likely they were encamped on Deer Lake, about fifteen miles from the plantation.
We would go down there, dash into their camp like a squad of cavalry on the charge, and if we found that rascally Pete there, four of us would cover him with our guns; Sandy, being the largest and strongest in the party, would dismount and tie his hands behind his back; and we would bring him home with us, whether he was willing to come or not.
It would all be done before the Indians knew what was going on, and if they pursued us, or attempted to rescue Pete, we would keep them straight by pointing our guns at them.
113Wasn’t that a glorious plan? and wouldn’t father and all the rest of the planters be astonished when they saw us and our captive?
We talked the matter over while we were dressing, and as soon as we were ready for the start, slung our guns over our shoulders, and dashed down the stairs like a lot of wild boys.
In the kitchen we met mother.
Now, according to my way of thinking, my mother was a model woman. She understood the nature of boys perfectly. She gave Mark and me all the privileges we deserved, and could not have sympathized with us more fully, or taken a deeper interest in our sports and pastimes, if she had been a boy herself.
She knew that we could not possibly stop to eat any breakfast while there was any thing exciting in prospect, and when we entered the kitchen, she handed us each a sandwich and a glass of milk.
“Now, boys,” said she, “don’t run any risks.”
“No, ma’am,” we replied.
“Don’t try to accomplish any thing by yourselves,” she continued—and when she said that 114we looked at one another and frowned fiercely. “What could five boys like you do with a lot of savage half-breeds? Find the men as soon as possible, and remain with them; and if you don’t succeed in finding them, come home.”
Now, how do you suppose mother knew that we had made up our minds to hunt those Indians on our own hook? We hadn’t lisped a word of it to her; but then she knew all about boys, and perhaps she saw it in our faces.
We were greatly disappointed, but we promised obedience and hurried to the door. We found our negro waiting for us (the hostler had brought out mother’s horse for me to ride), and in less time than it takes to tell it we were in our saddles and galloping furiously down the road, devouring our sandwiches as we went.
I do not believe those five horses ever traveled so rapidly before. They went along at a rattling pace, tossing their heads and snorting as if they enjoyed the rapid motion as much as we did, while we strained our eyes down the road in front of us, and looked into all the lanes we 115passed, in the hope of discovering father and his party.
But the fleet horses on which they were mounted had carried them a long distance ahead of us, and finally, after a ride of an hour and a half, we drew rein on the shore of Deer Lake, covered with mud from head to foot, and much disappointed.
The Indians were not there, and neither was father. We ran our eyes all around the lake, and the only living things we could see were flocks of ducks and geese swimming about near the opposite shore.
We rode along the beach a short distance and then Duke led us down a bridle-path that ran back toward the plantation.
About two o’clock in the afternoon, having visited all the places at which we thought we should be likely to find father and his party, we stopped on the banks of a bayou to allow our horses a few minutes’ rest, and to decide what we should do next.
“Now, I’ll jest tell you what’s the matter with me,” said Sandy, suddenly. “It’s hard work ridin’ or talkin’ on an empty 116stomach, an’ I suggest that we have a bite to eat.”
“That’s the idea,” said Herbert, “and I wonder we did not think of it before. If we were at the lake now, it wouldn’t take us long to bag ducks enough for a good dinner.”
“Oh, squirrels will do just as well,” replied Duke. “There are plenty of them about here, and, Joe, if you and Sandy will go out and shoot some, the rest of us will build a fire and get every thing ready. If you fellows are as hungry as I am, we shall want about ten. I can dispose of two, I know.”
So could I, and more, for that matter. I was as hungry as a wolf, and if there was any thing I enjoyed in my boyhood’s days, it was a dinner in the woods as Mark used to serve it up. He could not cook at all in a house over a stove; but take him out in the cane-brakes, and give him a good fire, a forked stick and a wild duck or some squirrels, and in a few minutes he would have ready a dinner that would tempt an epicure.
To get up a “hotel dinner,” as he called it, he needed a few crackers or biscuit, and a little 117pepper and salt for seasoning. An ear of green corn, fresh pulled from the field, and roasted in the shuck under his supervision, and served up on a piece of beech bark, answered all the purposes of a dessert, and tasted much better than any pie or pudding I ever ate at a table.
On this occasion, however, he had neither crackers, pepper nor salt, and it was too late in the season for roasting-ears; but, as Duke had said, the squirrels were plenty, and I grew hungrier than ever when I thought what a feast Mark would have ready for us in about half an hour.
It having been decided that we should stop there and eat our dinner, we all dismounted, and after relieving our horses of the saddles and tying the animals to the trees near the place where we intended to make our camp, Sandy and I shouldered our guns and set out in different directions to hunt up the squirrels.
I walked down the bank of the bayou, and, before I had gone a hundred yards from the camp, brought a squirrel out of the top of a hickory.
118Shortly afterward, I heard the report of Sandy’s gun, and as he never missed his mark, I knew we had two of the ten squirrels we wanted.
A little further on another was added to my bunch, and while I was hurrying forward to secure it, an incident happened that brought the hunt to a speedy termination.
The squirrel had fallen at the foot of a huge oak, but, being only wounded, started to climb the tree. I ran around after him, and just then something stirred the bushes close in front of me.
Before I could stop to see what it was, a pair of strong arms were thrown around me, my feet were tripped up, and in an instant more I was lying flat on my back, with a heavy weight on top of me holding me down.
As soon as I had in some measure recovered myself, I looked up into the dark, scowling face that was bending over me, and recognized Pete, the half-breed.
Things were not working exactly as our fellows had anticipated. While we were looking for Pete, he had all the while been looking for 119us; and he had found one of us, too, before we knew that he was about.
Almost involuntarily my hand moved toward the hunting-horn that hung at my side. One short, quick blast on that, had I been permitted to give it, would have put things right again in a hurry. Our fellows would have appeared as quickly as their horses could have brought them, and one glance at the double-barrels pointed straight at his head, would, I am confident, have driven away the fierce scowl and brought an altogether different expression to Pete’s copper-colored face. But Pete knew something about hunting-horns, and was too wise to allow me time to make any signals.
With a quick movement he tore the horn from my grasp, and in a second more he had removed the belt which contained my hunting-knife and secured possession of my gun.
I struggled fruitlessly in his strong grasp, and, as soon as I could find my tongue, exclaimed:
“You have already done more mischief than you will care to stand punishment for; and if you know when you are well off, you will 120release me at once. What do you mean, anyhow?”
“You put dogs on Injun the other day,” replied Pete, in his broken English, which I could not imitate on paper if I should try. “I pay you for that now!”
These words afforded me a perfectly satisfactory explanation of the situation. I was to be punished for something Mark had done; for, as you know, it was he and not I who put the hounds on the Indian.
I knew it would be of no use for me to deny the charge, for Pete had been acquainted with me for more than a year, and if he had not learned in that time to tell Mark and me apart, it was not at all likely that he would place any dependence on my word.
There was but one thing I could do, and that was to submit to whatever was in store for me, trusting to my friends to get me out of this disagreeable scrape. My only hope was that they would become alarmed at my absence, and rescue me in time to save me from the vengeance which I knew Pete intended to wreak upon me.
121Having disarmed me, Pete seized me by the collar, pulled me to my feet, and then I found that he was not alone. Another villainous looking half-breed, whose name was Jake, glided up at this moment, and, without saying a word, seized me by one arm, while Pete took hold of the other, and between them I was dragged rather than led to the bayou, where I found a canoe partly drawn out upon the bank.
In obedience to Pete’s command, I was about to step into the boat, when suddenly the blast of a hunting-horn—Duke’s horn, I could have told it among a thousand—echoed through the swamp, followed shortly afterward by the roar of a gun.
“Ugh!” grunted Pete and his companion, in concert.
They stopped on the bank, and stood perfectly motionless with surprise, while I clambered into the canoe, and looked up the bayou in the direction from which the report sounded, to discover what was going on; but there was a bend just above me, and I could see nothing.
A moment’s silence followed the roar of the 122gun, and then came the clatter of a horse’s hoofs, a splashing in the water, a violent commotion among the cane on the opposite bank of the bayou, and presently, to my utter amazement, I saw—what do you suppose? It was something that caused me to forget the Indians and every thing else about me, and to make me determine to escape, or die in the attempt.
Without an instant’s hesitation, I clasped my hands above my head, and dived out of sight in the bayou.
After Sandy and I left the camp, our fellows busied themselves in various ways—Duke kindling a fire, Herbert gathering a supply of wood, and Mark whittling out some spits on which to cook the squirrels. When this had been done, they seated themselves on the ground about the fire, and passed the time in discussing the exciting events that had happened during the last two weeks.
While they were thus engaged they heard some one coming down the bank of the bayou. The bushes were so thick that they could not see who it was, but they could tell by the sound of his horse’s hoofs that he was approaching the camp, and that he was in something of a hurry.
The question “Who is it?” which our fellows all asked at once, did not remain long unanswered. 124The sound of the hoofs grew louder and louder, and presently a horseman emerged from the bushes, and came toward them at a rapid gallop.
He was gazing earnestly toward the opposite bank of the bayou, and the first intimation he had of the presence of our fellows was the chorus of ejaculations they uttered the instant their eyes rested on him. Then he pulled up his horse with a jerk, and gazed at them with a countenance indicative of intense surprise and alarm.
One glance showed our fellows three things—that the man was Luke Redman, that he was mounted on Black Bess, and that he carried General Mason’s valise strapped on behind his saddle.
The meeting was so unexpected to both parties, that for a moment no one moved or spoke. The robber sat on his horse—my horse, rather—gazing at our fellows in stupid bewilderment, and our fellows looked at him as if they could not quite make up their minds whether their eyes were deceiving them or not.
125Duke was the first to recover the use of his tongue.
“Well,” said he, “this is the luckiest thing that has happened to us for many a day. We are glad to see you, Luke Redman. We’ll trouble you to dismount, and give up that horse and valise.”
These words seemed to bring the robber to his senses. He raised a short, heavy gun, which he carried across the horn of his saddle, and cocking both barrels, growled out:
“I’ll trouble you to mind your own business. If ary one on you moves a hand or foot until I am acrost this yere bayou, I’ll send a charge of buckshot among you.”
This warning was uttered in a very savage tone of voice, and there was a wicked gleam in the robber’s eyes which was enough to convince our fellows that he meant all he said.
Duke slowly lowered the horn, which he had been on the point of raising to his lips; and Herbert’s hand, which was stretched out toward his gun, that stood leaning against a tree close by, fell to his side.
Luke Redman saw the sudden pallor that 126overspread their faces, and believing that he had thoroughly frightened them, turned his horse, and rode down the bank of the bayou.
But the sequel proved that he did not know much about boys, especially such boys as those who were confronting him at that moment.
They had traveled through every nook and corner of the country, searching for this very man, and now that he was fairly before them, should they permit him to escape, and carry off General Mason’s money, and Black Bess, besides? It was not to be thought of.
“Hold on!” shouted Mark, excitedly. “That horse shan’t carry you a step further. Your game is up now, Luke Redman!”
The robber, who had never once removed his eyes from the boys, seeing that Mark was reaching for his gun, quickly raised his own weapon; but by the time it touched his shoulder there was not one of our fellows in sight.
They had dodged behind the trees, like so many squirrels, and each one was blowing his horn with all the power of his lungs, sending up signals of distress that awoke the echoes far and near.
127“Stop that noise, or I’ll shoot some on you!” roared Luke.
“Blow away, boys,” said Mark. “Perhaps some of the settlers are close by.”
This was just what Luke Redman was afraid of. He knew that the cane-brakes were full of men, for he had been dodging them all day. The blasts of the hunting-horns would call up every one of them who might happen to be within hearing, and thus his chances for escape would be greatly diminished.
Seeing that he was in a dangerous neighborhood, and knowing that if he remained there he would certainly get himself into trouble, he dashed his spurs into his horse, which sprang into the bayou and made the best of her way toward the opposite bank.
In his rage, he discharged one barrel of his gun, sending the buckshot in a perfect shower about the trees behind which our fellows were concealed; but, instead of frightening them, it seemed to add strength to their lungs, for the signals of distress arose louder and faster than ever.
The moment Luke emerged from the water, 128he put his horse into a gallop, and went flying through the swamp.
I caught sight of him as he came out of the cane-brake, and if I had had my gun in my hands, I believe I should have lifted him out of that saddle with as little hesitation as I ever brought down a squirrel.
To see my little Black Bess bounding along with that man on her back—going, too, with a free step, and arching her glossy neck and tossing her head as if she enjoyed the rapid motion—I tell you, the sight made me well-nigh desperate.
It drove all thoughts of the Indians out of my mind, and almost before I knew it, I was swimming rapidly toward the opposite bank of the bayou.
This was something my captors had not calculated upon, and they were greatly amazed. I was half way across the stream before they had realized what I had done.
“Hey, you!” shouted Pete, as soon as he could speak. “Stop! You no stop and come back, Indian shoot!”
It was in Pete’s power to carry out this threat 129if he had felt so inclined, for he held his own rifle and my shot-gun under his arm; but I had no fear that he would attempt it.
I kept straight ahead, and Pete and his companion, seeing that I could not be frightened into surrendering myself into their hands, hastily launched the canoe and started in pursuit.
I was quite at home in the water, and prided myself on being a fast swimmer; but of course I stood no chance with a canoe propelled by two athletic Indians.
A few swift strokes with the paddles brought them close upon me; but I was on the alert, and just as Pete bent down to seize me by the collar, I sank out of sight.
When I arose to the surface again, I was twenty yards further down the stream. As I shook the water from my face and looked around for my enemies, I was surprised to see them paddling with all possible haste toward the bank they had just left; and the moment they reached it, they jumped out of the canoe and dived into the bushes like a couple of frightened deer.
I was not long in finding out what had caused 130them to abandon their pursuit of me so suddenly, for scarcely had they disappeared when Duke, Herbert and Mark galloped up.
When they discovered me crawling out upon the bank, they drew rein and broke out into a loud chorus of questions and exclamations—one demanding what I was doing in the water, another asking if that wasn’t Pete who had just jumped into the bushes on the opposite shore, and the third shouting out something that I knew very well already, namely, that Luke Redman had just gone by, mounted on my horse.
I did not attempt to answer their questions, for I could not forget that Black Bess was very fleet, and that while we were wasting time in talking, she was fast increasing the distance between us, and lessening our chances for capturing her and her rascally rider.
“I can’t stop to explain now, fellows,” said I. “Come back, and stand by me until I get my horse, and then we’ll start in pursuit of that robber!”
The reason I asked our fellows to “stand by” me was because I knew that Pete and his companion were not a great way off, and I was 131afraid that if I went back to camp alone, they would pounce down upon me and make a prisoner of me again.
I could see by the expression on my friends’ faces that they did not exactly understand why I stood in need of protection; but they were too considerate to waste any more time in asking questions.
I led the way up the bank at a rapid run, and in a few minutes we arrived opposite to the camp.
Duke was on the point of riding across the bayou to bring my horse, when Sandy Todd came in sight, carrying four squirrels in his hand, and moving along with a slow and deliberate step that was exceedingly aggravating to us just then.
His stolid face bore not the least sign of excitement or surprise, although the first words he uttered showed that he had heard the signals of distress, and that he had returned to camp in answer to them.
“Now,” said he, “I’d like to know what you fellows were blowin’ them horns fur?”
“Sandy,” exclaimed Duke, “if you have 132any get up at all about you, show it now. Don’t ask any questions, but bring those horses over here at once.”
Sandy stopped, laid his squirrels carefully at the root of a tree, and pulling off his hat, ran his fingers through his fiery locks. He looked all about the camp, then across the bayou at us, surveying us from head to foot as though he had never seen us before, and when his gaze rested on me, he drawled out:
“Joe, ain’t this a mighty cold day to go in a-swimmin’?”
“Sandy,” shouted Duke—and he could not help throwing a little impatience into his tones—“Luke Redman has just gone by here, mounted on Black Bess, and carrying General Mason’s valise tied fast to his saddle. We want to follow him up and catch him. Now will you bring those horses over here?”
Sandy did not exhibit the least astonishment at hearing this piece of news. He dropped the butt of his gun to the ground, and leaning on the muzzle of the weapon, said:
“Now I’ll just tell you what’s the matter. 133Whar’s he bin hid all the time that we’ve been lookin’ fur him?”
“How do you suppose we know? Bring those horses over here.”
Sandy slung his gun over his shoulder, moved slowly toward the tree to which his horse was tied, and with his usual deliberation, prepared to mount. He placed his foot in the stirrup, but immediately took it out again.
“Fellows,” he shouted, “whar do you reckon Redman got thar mar’? You know—”
“Yes, I know,” interrupted Duke. “We thought Tom Mason stole her, but it seems he didn’t. If we don’t see her again, it will be your fault.”
Our fellow began to stir about in earnest now, and I thought it was high time, for my teeth were chattering, and I was so cold I could scarcely speak.
When you remember that it was midwinter, that I was as wet as a drowned rat, and that a fierce north wind was blowing, you will readily perceive that my situation was far from being a pleasant one.
I would have been glad of the privilege of 134standing before a roaring fire for a few minutes, and would thankfully have accepted a suit of dry clothes; but if I went home I would lose the opportunity of taking part in the pursuit of Luke Redman, and that was something I could not think of.
When we had all become so impatient that it did not seem possible we could wait an instant longer, Sandy came across the bayou with the horses, and in a few seconds more we were all in the saddle and flying through the swamp on Luke Redman’s trail.
Sandy saw by our looks that the delay of which he was the cause had tried our patience severely, and he hastened to apologize for it.
“Fellers,” said he, “I may be slow a-talkin’ an’ a-walkin’, but I am not slow a-ridin’.”
And so we found it. He took the lead at once, and conducted the pursuit with a degree of energy that was surprising. For five miles his horse never broke a gallop; and when at last he drew rein on the bluffs above Dead Man’s Elbow, we were willing to vote him the most reckless rider we had ever followed.
Perhaps you will wonder what plan Sandy 135adopted in conducting the pursuit, and how he knew whether or not he was following Luke Redman’s trail. I can explain it in a few words.
I have told you that about a week previous to this time the swamp was covered with water to the depth of fifteen feet, but it was not so now. The flood was gradually subsiding, and patches of dry land were making their appearance all over the swamp.
The ridges were high and dry, and by following them, one could enjoy a pleasant ride, avoiding the water altogether. It was dangerous, however, to attempt to pass from one ridge to another, for the lowland, or “bottom,” as we called it, was covered with a bed of mud, in which a horse would sink almost out of sight.
Luke Redman, in his flight, had followed one of these ridges, and we knew that he must follow it to the end, simply because he could not leave it. We knew, too, that the ridge led directly to Dead Man’s Elbow, and that when the robber arrived at that point he would be obliged to abandon Black Bess, for the bluffs 136were steep, and there was no possible way of getting her across the bayou.
Another thing we knew was that the ridge ended very abruptly about a hundred yards from the opposite bank, and beyond that the swamp, with its impassable bed of mud, extended for miles and miles; so that, even if the fugitive succeeded in crossing the stream, he could not escape us.
The only question was, how we should capture him when we found him. He was armed, and we knew he would not surrender without a fight.
“Here we are,” cried Sandy, reining in his horse on the very brink of the cliff, “an’ now comes the hardest part of the hul business. The fust thing is to hunt up that mar’. She’s hid somewhar in these yere bushes.”
We were not long in finding Black Bess, for even as Sandy spoke, a familiar neigh, which came from a thicket close by, led us to her place of concealment.
I tell you I was glad to see her, and if one might judge by the way she pranced about and 137rubbed her head against my shoulder, she was glad to see me, too.
She was just as handsome as ever, only her glossy breast was flecked with foam, showing that she had been driven long and rapidly, and her usually sleek coat looked as though it had not seen a brush or curry-comb for a fortnight.
While I was congratulating myself on my good fortune, the rest of our fellows were looking for General Mason’s valise; but that, of course, had disappeared.
“We must have pushed him pretty hard,” said Duke, “for he did not have time to unbuckle the straps with which the valise was fastened to the saddle, but cut them with his knife. He isn’t far off. Spread out now, and let us see if we can find any signs of his having crossed the bayou.”
As we were all expert hunters, and good at following a trail, it did not take us many minutes to find out what had become of Luke Redman. After a short search, we discovered the prints of his feet in the soft earth, and followed them from the thicket in which he had 138left the horse to the edge of the bluff, where they ceased.
When we saw that, we were pretty certain that we knew where to find Luke Redman. He was hidden under the cliff.
My companions unslung their guns with a common impulse—how I wished for the double-barrel that Pete had carried away with him!—and waited for somebody to suggest a plan of operations.
“He is under our very feet, and almost within reach of us,” said Herbert. “Don’t you see that those bushes are bent down and look as though they had been tramped upon? He did that when he lowered himself over the side of the cliff.”
“Yes, we’ve treed him easy enough,” said Mark; “but how are we going to secure him? Luke Redman isn’t the man to allow himself to be captured and sent to state prison if he can help it, and perhaps he is standing below there, ready to put a charge of buckshot into the first one who shows his head over the bluff. I am afraid to try it.”
If Mark was afraid, it was plain that Sandy 139was not, for he threw himself flat upon the ground, and, at the imminent risk of losing his balance and falling into the bayou, thrust his head over the brink of the cliff and looked under it. He held this position a moment, and then called out:
“Now, I’ll just tell you what’s the matter with you; you’re ketched!”
“No, I hain’t,” said a gruff voice, in reply. “Better keep close up thar, or I’ll plug some on you.”
“Ho! ho!” laughed Sandy. “You can’t skeer us none. You’re in a pretty situation to plug any body, hain’t you now? Fellers, if you want to see something, just look down here!”
We did look, and, although we expected to see something exciting, we were little prepared for the sight that was presented to our gaze. We saw at a glance that we had nothing to fear from our enemy.
A thicket of bushes grew on the side of the bluff directly in front of the mouth of Dead Man’s Elbow, and there, hanging at arms’ length from this frail support, his feet almost 140touching the water, and his dark features convulsed with terror, was Luke Redman.
The valise hung under one of his arms, supported by a strap which passed over his opposite shoulder; but his gun was nowhere to be seen. He had evidently made some desperate attempts to climb up the steep bluff, for we could see the prints of his knees and feet in the soft earth.
When we had made these observations, we drew back on the cliff to hold a consultation.
“Hasn’t he got himself into a pretty scrape?” asked Duke, gleefully. “I understand what has happened as well as if I had been here on the bank and witnessed it.”
So did the rest of us, for the robber’s situation was a sufficient explanation of the accident that had befallen him. It had been his intention to lower himself over the side of the bluff, and find concealment on the top of the drift-wood which formed one side of the cavern; but his feet had slipped, or his hold had given way, and he had fallen down the steep bank almost into the water.
In order to save himself, he dropped his gun, 141which of course fell into the bayou, and now he was unarmed. His situation was dangerous in the extreme, and it was no wonder that he was frightened.
He could not climb up the bluff without assistance, for it was as slippery as ice; and if he released his hold on the bushes, he would fall into the water, and be whirled into the cavern before he could have time to think twice. Dead Man’s Elbow seemed to be an unlucky place for Luke Redman.
“Now, fellows,” continued Duke, in a hurried whisper, “I’ll tell you what we will do. We’ll take our halters off our bridles, make them into a rope, and when Mr. Redman gets tired of hanging to those bushes, we’ll pass one end of it down to him, and pull him up the bluff.”
“But perhaps he won’t take hold of the rope,” said I. “Then what?”
“Then he can fall into the water and welcome. But there’s no danger of that. Bad as he is, he isn’t tired of life.”
“What shall we do with him when we get him up here?”
142“We’ll jump on him, and tie him hand and foot—that’s what we’ll do with him. I guess we five fellows are a match for him.”
Duke’s plan was the best that could have been adopted under the circumstances, and we agreed to it without a word of comment.
In a few moments we had removed our halters from our bridles, and tied them together, thus forming a rope about thirty feet in length. When this had been done, we once more stretched ourselves out on the ground, and looked over the cliff to watch the movements of the robber.
He was struggling desperately to gain a foothold on the bluff; but the soft earth always gave way beneath him, and when at last he became exhausted with his efforts, he hung down at arms’ length to recover his breath, glaring up into our faces with an expression as savage as that of a caged hyena.
We saw with no little excitement and horror that a few more attempts of this kind would seal his fate, for the bushes had been loosened by his frantic struggles, and their roots were slowly but surely giving way.
143“Now I’ll jest tell you what’s the matter with you,” shouted Sandy. “The fust thing you know, you won’t know nothing. If you want any help, sing out.”
Luke Redman looked up at the bushes, then down at the angry waves which were dashing wildly against the base of the cliff, and being fully convinced that there was no other way of escape for him, said, in a hoarse whisper:
“Lend a hand here!”
“All right! Here you are!” said Duke. And in a moment more, one end of the rope was dangling over the cliff, and our fellows were holding fast to the other, ready to hoist away when Duke gave the word. “In order to guard against accident, you had better pass the rope under your arms,” continued the latter. “Take it easy. There’s time enough, and the more you thrash about, the more you exhaust yourself.”
Luke Redman thought it best to act upon Duke’s suggestion; but he had grown so weak and was so nearly overcome with terror, that it was with the greatest difficulty that he could make the rope fast under his arms.
144He accomplished it at last, however, and then Duke told us to haul away, adding, in an excited whisper:
“Be ready to grab him the instant his head appears above the cliff. Don’t flinch now, but be careful to keep out of the way of his fists, for they are as heavy as sledge-hammers.”
Luke, being utterly unable to help himself, hung like a lump of lead at the end of the rope, and it was any thing but an easy operation to raise him to the top of the cliff. He came up slowly, inch by inch, and at last his head appeared in sight, then his shoulders, and finally the valise, which Mark instantly pounced upon, while Sandy seized the rascal by the collar and pulled him upon the bluff.
“Now stand out o’ the way, or I’ll kick some on you into the bayou,” shouted Luke Redman, whose terror vanished the moment he found himself on solid ground. “I’ve got a pistol in my pocket.”
“An’ that’s all the good it’ll do you,” replied Sandy, catching the robber’s hands and pinning them to the ground. “We are a few 145too many for you. Show what you’re made of, fellers!”
Tired and weak as Luke Redman was, he had plenty of determination left in him. He struggled furiously, and scratched and bit like some wild animal; but he did not kick any of us into the bayou, and neither did he draw his pistol, simply because we did not give him an opportunity. We jumped upon him in a body, and while two of us confined his legs, which he kept flying about like the shafts of a windmill, the others pulled his arms behind his back and tied them fast. It was all over in five minutes, and the robber lay panting and foaming on the ground, while we stood with our hands in our pockets, looking at him.
I do not believe that any five boys in the world ever felt more astonished or elated over a stroke of good fortune than we did at the unexpected success that had attended our chase after Luke Redman.
The men in the settlement had spent a week in searching for this same robber and trying to recover General Mason’s money, and their efforts had amounted to nothing; but we had accomplished the work, and we had not been more than three hours in doing it, either.
The eight thousand dollars were safe, the thief was bound and helpless before us, and Black Bess was once more in my undisputed possession. I thought we had good reason to rejoice.
“I say, Mr. Redman!” exclaimed Herbert, who was the first to recover his breath, “you 147wouldn’t mind telling us how you managed to steal this money, and to get away with it without being discovered, would you?”
“I didn’t steal it!” growled Luke, in reply. “Mebbe you won’t b’lieve it,” he added, seeing that we smiled derisively, “but I can prove it.”
“Well, you stole Black Bess, didn’t you?”
“If I did, you’ve got her ag’in, an’ had oughter be satisfied.”
“Perhaps you know who set fire to our cotton-gin?” I observed.
“P’raps I do, an’ p’raps I don’t. But I’ll tell you one thing: You had better turn me loose, or it’ll be wuss for you!”
“Tell us another thing while you are about it,” said Mark. “How did you get out of that tree the other day? Did you jump into the water and swim over the falls, as I did?”
“I reckon that’s my own business, ain’t it?”
It was plain that Luke was not in a communicative mood. Some rogues, when they find themselves brought up with a round turn, become penitent, and are willing to relate all the circumstances attending the commission of 148their crime, but our prisoner did not belong to that class. He was sullen and morose, and had no doubt made up his mind that he would say nothing that could be used as evidence against him.
We were a great deal disappointed at this; for there were one or two incidents connected with the loss of the money and the disappearance of Black Bess that we should like to have had explained, but as Mr. Redman was not in the humor to gratify our curiosity, we were obliged to leave the unraveling of the mysteries to time and future events.
At this moment it seemed to strike the robber that he had been a prisoner long enough, and, having in some measure recovered from his fatigue, he began to test the strength of the straps with which he was confined.
He was a powerful man, and his struggles to free himself were furious and determined indeed. He rolled about on the ground, gnashing his teeth with rage, his face reddening with his exertions, and the muscles on his arms standing out like cords of steel.
149He threatened to take a most terrible vengeance on us when he succeeded in liberating himself; and as we stood watching his contortions, we trembled with the fear that some of the straps would slip or prove too weak to hold him. But, although we had done our work in great haste, we had done it well, and Luke was finally obliged to submit to his fate.
“Now, I’ll just tell you what’s the matter!” exclaimed Sandy, who had stood with his hat off and his sleeves pushed up, ready to pounce upon the prisoner the instant he saw the least probability of his freeing himself from his bonds; “give it up, don’t you? Them straps are purty strong, I reckon—hain’t they? You’re fast, an’ thar’s no use of wastin’ time in fussin’ about it.”
“What are you goin’ to do with me?” asked Luke Redman, in savage tones.
“We’re going to take you to the settlement, and put you where you’ll never have another chance to steal money and horses,” I answered.
“I’ll bet you somethin’ big that you don’t take me to the settlement. I’ve got friends 150clost by who won’t let harm come to me. If you expect to see daylight ag’in, you had better turn me loose. I’ll pay the hul lot on you fur this, mind that.”
We began to prick up our ears when we heard this, and to see the necessity of taking our prisoner to a place of safety with as little delay as possible. We did not really believe that he had companions in the neighborhood who would attempt to rescue him, but we did not like to run any risks.
The Swamp Dragoons were always prowling about in the woods, and turning up most unexpectedly, and how did we know but that some of them had witnessed all that had taken place at Dead Man’s Elbow? If that was the case, they would never permit Luke to be taken to the settlement if they could help it; and as they were a desperate lot of fellows, we did not care to come in contact with them.
I had another reason for wishing to start for home immediately. The cold, which had been intense in the morning, was increasing in severity, and some portions of my wet clothing were frozen stiff; and now that the excitement 151attending the chase and capture of the robber had somewhat abated, I found that I was chilled through, and so benumbed that I could scarcely stand.
More than that, the storm which had been threatening us for the last three days had set in, and the rain and sleet began to rattle through the leafless branches above our heads. It promised to be a dismal night, and we were twenty miles from home.
These same thoughts, or others very nearly akin to them, must have been passing through the minds of the rest of our fellows, for they looked anxiously at one another and at the lowering sky, and Herbert said:
“We’ve wasted too much time already. The sooner we start for home the better. Friend Redman, we are not playing with you, and if you want to save yourself some rough handling, you will be careful what you do. Let’s untie his feet, fellows, and put him on Joe’s extra horse.”
Our prisoner evidently thought it best to heed Herbert’s advice, for when the horse which I had ridden during the pursuit was 152brought up, and we lifted him from the ground, and placed him on the animal’s back, he did not offer the least resistance. He uttered terrible threats, however, but we paid no more attention to them than we did to the whistling of the wind.
As soon as we had gone through all his pockets, in search of the pistol with which he had threatened us (by the way, he didn’t have any thing about him more dangerous than a pocket-knife), we sprang into our saddles and set out for home; Duke heading the cavalcade, Mark following at his heels, leading the horse on which our captive was mounted, Herbert coming next with the valise, and Sandy and I bringing up the rear, keeping a close watch over Luke Redman, and holding ourselves in readiness to resist his first attempt at escape.
In this way we passed the five miles that lay between Dead Man’s Elbow and the bayou on the banks of which we had stopped to eat our dinner.
As we rode through the camp, Sandy dismounted long enough to secure possession of the squirrels he had shot a few hours before, 153and which still lay at the root of the tree where he had left them.
“Mebbe we won’t see home to-night,” said he, “so I’ll take these along; ’cause I know by experience that it is monstrous lonesome campin’ in the woods without nothing to eat.”
Luke Redman started when he heard this remark, and an expression of great satisfaction settled on his scowling face. I noticed, too, that after we left the bayou he began to cast stealthy glances around him, as if he were looking for some one; and once I saw his gaze fastened earnestly upon a cluster of bushes which grew on a neighboring ridge, running parallel with the one we were following.
I scrutinized the thicket closely, and would have been willing to declare that I saw a coonskin cap, under which were a pair of eyes regarding us intently. But the cap vanished at the very moment I caught sight of it, and believing that I had been mistaken, I said nothing about it to my companions.
In less than half an hour after we left our old camp, night began to settle down upon us, and before we had accomplished another mile, 154it was so dark that we could scarcely distinguish one another’s features.
The storm had all the while been increasing in fury, and now the rain and sleet came down in torrents, and it was not many minutes before we were all drenched to the skin. The cold and darkness grew more intense, and, to add to the unpleasantness of our situation, we reached the end of the ridge at last, and from that point our way lay across a bottom ten miles wide, which was covered with mud and ice, thickets of cane and blackberry briers, and studded with cypress knees, which rendered our progress slow and laborious.
“Duke,” said Sandy, at length—and I could tell by the tones of his voice that he was shaking with the cold—“strike up a whistle. It is so dark we can’t see to foller you.”
“I am too nearly frozen to whistle,” replied Duke. “It is all I can do to talk. That isn’t the worst of it, either. I am afraid we are lost.”
Now, getting lost was something that did not trouble us in the least, for a surer guide than Duke Hampton was not to be found in the 155country. His “bump of locality” was largely developed, and any place he had once visited he could find again on the darkest of nights. He sometimes laughingly said that he possessed owl’s eyes, and I have thought it was so, for it made not the slightest difference, as far as his traveling was concerned, whether it was high noon or midnight.
He once more urged his unwilling horse forward, and for two long, dreary hours we stumbled about in the darkness, the rain and sleet beating furiously in our faces, and every bone in our bodies aching with the cold.
During all this time no one spoke except Luke Redman, who abused and threatened us steadily for an hour, scarcely stopping to take breath; then, suddenly changing his tone, he entreated us to untie his hands, and, finding that we paid no attention to him, he solemnly declared that he was freezing to death, and relapsed into silence.
I began to think I was freezing also, and when I could no longer endure the cold, I proposed to our fellows to abandon the idea of riding to the settlement that night, and 156strike for our camp on Black Bayou—the one our negroes had built on the day we went into the woods to watch our turkey-trap.
There we would find warm, dry quarters, and materials with which to kindle a fire; and as Sandy had been thoughtful enough to bring the squirrels he had shot, we need not go supperless to bed.
This plan was hailed with delight by the others, and Duke at once turned his horse, and started off in a direction exactly at right angles with the one he had been pursuing.
If we had known all that was to happen to us before we saw the sun rise again, our camp on Black Bayou would have been the very last place in the world we should have thought of visiting.
How Duke knew what course to follow, was a mystery to all of us. I do not suppose he could have explained it himself, for the night was so dark that he could not see five feet in advance of him, and consequently he could not have had the assistance of any familiar landmarks.
He seemed to know the direction by instinct, 157and we, never doubting his ability to lead us to the place of refuge we had selected, followed him blindly.
I shall never forget that ride. How far it was to the bayou, and how many hours we traveled before reaching it, I do not know. All I remember is that, when I became so cold that I could scarcely sit in my saddle, and with the greatest difficulty resisted the inclination to dismount from my horse and give myself up to the drowsiness that almost overpowered me, Duke suddenly drew rein, and in a cheery voice announced: “Here we are at last, fellows.”
I aroused myself with an effort, and looked about me; but all I could see was a dense black wall of trees, which surrounded us on all sides. I was as completely lost now as I had been at any time during the night, and so was Herbert, if one might judge by the question he asked:
“What place do you call this?” said he.
“Why, this is our old camp,” replied Duke, “and right glad am I to see it; for I do not believe I could ride a hundred yards further to save my life.”
158“You must have owl’s eyes indeed, if you can see any signs of a shanty here,” observed Mark.
“Well, I can’t exactly see any thing, but I know it is the camp. Jump off, fellows, and let’s get to work.”
It was all very well for Duke to tell us to jump off, but, as far as I was concerned, that was quite out of the question. I do not know whether I rolled out of my saddle or fell out; but I got out somehow, and did what I could to assist the others in gathering a supply of wood for the fire.
The exercise was beneficial in more ways than one. It stirred up our sluggish blood, banished all the gloomy thoughts that had so long depressed us, and when at last the fire was well under way, and the flames were leaping high in the air, and lighting up the interior of our comfortable quarters, we began to feel more like ourselves.
We forgot that we were cold, wet, hungry, and almost ready to drop with fatigue, and thought only of the glorious success we had achieved, and of the sensation we should create 159when we took our prisoner and General Mason’s money into the settlement, on the following morning.
“I know this is comfortable, fellows,” said Duke, as we crowded about the cheerful blaze, “but let’s do our work first, and get warm afterward. Joe, suppose you and Sandy rub down the horses, and hitch them in some sheltered place where they will be protected from the storm. They have served us faithfully to-day, and it would be cruel to neglect them. While you are doing that, Herbert and I will get in some wood, and Mark can clean and cook the squirrels.”
We did not raise any objections to this arrangement, but hurried off at once to attend to the duties our leader had assigned us.
In half an hour more, the horses had been rubbed dry, and their legs relieved of the mud and ice that adhered to them; a supply of wood sufficient to keep the fire burning all night was piled in one corner of the shanty, and we lay stretched out on the leaves, enveloped in a cloud of steam which arose from our 160wet clothing, watching with hungry eyes the movements of our cook.
We were all in the best of spirits now, even including Luke Redman, who seemed for the moment to forget that his hands were bound behind his back, and that he stood a splendid chance of passing a portion of his life within the walls of a penitentiary.
“Now, then,” exclaimed Mark, “supper’s ready. I can’t say that it will go very far toward satisfying our appetites,” he continued, glancing at the six pieces of beech bark on which he had placed each one’s share of the squirrels; “but it’s better than nothing. Who is going to feed our friend here?”
“Untie my hands, and I’ll feed myself,” the prisoner replied. “I won’t trouble none on you.”
“Now, I’ll tell you what’s the matter,” said Sandy; “’tain’t the least trouble in the world. If we should untie your hands, you might jump up an’ run out in the rain, an’ get wet ag’in; an’ that would be redikilis. I’ll tend to him, fellers.”
Sandy seated himself beside the prisoner, 161and our cook, having passed around the pieces of bark, we fell to work in earnest.
In a very few minutes the last bone had been picked clean, and we sat looking wistfully at our empty “plates,” as if half expecting to see them filled up again in some mysterious manner; but as nothing of the kind happened, we threw them into the fire, and once more stretching ourselves out on the leaves, listened in a dreamy sort of way to the rain and sleet pattering on the roof.
“Don’t go to sleep yet, boys,” said Duke, seeing that some of us began to blink and nod at the fire, as if recognizing in it an old acquaintance. “I have something to say to you.”
As he said this, he crawled into the furthest corner of the shanty, and we followed and gathered about him.
I believed that what he was about to say had some reference to Luke Redman, and the latter must have thought so, too, for he watched us with a great deal of interest.
“I reckon I know what you’re goin’ to talk about,” said he, with a laugh, “an’ I tell you now, as I told you afore, that you’ll never take 162me to the settlement. I’ll bet a hoss that things’ll be changed here afore long.”
“What do you think of that, fellows?” asked Duke, in a low whisper.
“I think he wants to hear himself talk, and that we have no cause for alarm,” said I.
“That’s my opinion,” observed Herbert. “If he is depending on the Swamp Dragoons to rescue him, he’ll be disappointed, for they never could follow our trail through the woods on a night like this.”
“An’ s’pose they did? I don’t reckon they’d make much,” declared Sandy. “Thar’s six of them, an’ only five of us, but we’re the best men.”
“Well, shall we go on to the settlement, or stay here?” asked Duke.
“Oh, stay here, by all means,” we answered, with one accord; adding, with a shiver, as we looked out into the darkness, and thought of that dreary ride through the swamp, that under no ordinary circumstances could we be induced to get into our saddles again that night.
There was no necessity for it. We were as 163comfortable in our camp as we would have been at headquarters, and as safe, too; for, as far as an attack from the Swamp Dragoons was concerned, that was all in Luke Redman’s eye. Barney and his followers were not courageous enough to attempt such a thing; but, in order to make “assurance doubly sure,” it might be well to put out pickets.
“That’s a good idea,” said Duke, glancing at his watch, the hands of which pointed to midnight. “If there are no objections, I’ll stand guard first, and at the end of an hour I’ll call—whom?”
“Call me,” said I.
“All right. It shall be the duty of the pickets to keep the fire burning, to watch the prisoner closely, and to see that he does not find means to effect his escape, and to make the round of the camp at least three times during the hour. It is a wet job,” said Duke, looking out at the rain and sleet, which were coming down as fiercely as ever; “but we shall all feel safer for it. It wouldn’t look well for us to go back to the settlement without our prisoner, after working so hard to secure him.”
164“Wal,” said Luke Redman, seeing that the consultation was ended, “what are you goin’ to do?”
“We think some of staying here until morning. Any objections?”
“Nary one. I’m monstrous glad on’t, ’cause my boys will be along this way directly. If some on you gets your heads broke, you mustn’t blame me fur it. I told you to turn me loose, an’ you wouldn’t do it.”
We made no reply to Luke Redman’s threats, but showed him by our looks that we were not at all concerned. We examined his bonds, to satisfy ourselves that they were secure, and then crawled back to our places by the fire—all except Duke, who pulled his collar up around his ears, turned down the brim of his hat, and walked out into the storm.
A few minutes afterward, I heard him talking to his horse, and that was the last I remembered until a hand was laid on my shoulder and a voice whispered in my ear that it was one o’ clock and time for me to go on guard.
I raised myself on my elbow, and, looking about me, saw that the aspect of things had 165changed considerably during the hour I had been asleep.
The rain and sleet had turned to snow, the trees and bushes were loaded with it, and the air was filled with the rapidly-falling flakes. If you have ever had any experience in this line, you know there is no fun in turning out of a warm bed to stand picket in a snow-storm.
“Is every thing all right?” I asked, glancing toward the prisoner, who was as wide awake as he had been an hour ago.
“Yes, so far, all’s well. But there’s one thing I don’t exactly like, and that is the way Luke Redman conducts himself. He has been seen sitting up ever since I have been on guard listening with all the ears he’s got, and acting as though he was expecting some one. Keep your eyes open, Joe, and give the signals of distress the instant you see the least sign of danger.”
As Duke stretched himself out on the leaves I picked up his hunting-horn and walked out of the shanty. I threw an armful of wood on the fire and turned to look at the prisoner.
“Oh, I am safe enough yet,” said he, as I 166examined the straps with which his arms were confined, “but I won’t be so long. Thar’s somethin’ goin’ to happen, if you only knowed it.”
“Let it happen,” I replied. “If the Swamp Dragoons show their faces about here, they’ll get the best dressing down they ever heard of.” I walked off without waiting to hear what Luke Redman had to say in reply, and started to make the circuit of the camp, keeping a good lookout on all sides and stopping now and then to listen.
I neither saw nor heard any thing suspicious; and after stumbling about among the bushes for ten minutes, I reached the spot from which I had started on my round.
Taking up a position a short distance from the fire, where I could distinctly see every move made by our prisoner, I leaned against the trunk of a giant oak, which effectually protected me from the storm, and went off into a reverie, from which I was suddenly aroused by a sound that alarmed me not a little.
It was the angry growl of a dog, which ended very abruptly, and with a hoarse, gurgling 167sound, as if the animal’s throat had been grasped by a strong hand. I turned quickly, and looking in the direction from which the sound came, saw a head disappear behind a log, not more than twenty feet distant.
I was sure I could not be mistaken; and in order to satisfy myself on that point, I sprang to the log and looked over it. One glance was enough. I gave the signals of distress with all the power of my lungs, and then faced about and ran toward the camp at the top of my speed.