Frank Merriwell Down South

by Burt L. Standish

  CHAPTER XXXI.

  YOUNG IN YEARS ONLY.

  "Well done, white boy," complimented the strange Indian.

  "Pass me one of those rifles," requested Frank.

  "White boy better leave rifle; take bow and arrows," advised Socato."Rifle make noise; bow and arrow make no noise."

  "All right; what you say goes. Return to the hut, Barney, and stay theretill we show up."

  "But th' spook----"

  "Hang the spook! We'll know where to find you, if you go there."

  "The Great White Phantom will not harm those who offer him no harm,"declared the Indian.

  "I am not so afraid of spooks as I am of---- Jumping Jupiter!"

  There was a flash of fire from the darkness on shore, the report of agun, and a bullet whirred through the air, cutting the professor'sspeech short, and causing him to duck down into the canoe.

  "Those fellows have located us," said Frank, swiftly. "We must get awayimmediately. Remember, wait at the hut."

  Socato's paddle dropped without a sound into the water, and the canoeslid away into the night.

  The professor and Barney lost no time in moving, and it was well theydid so, for, a few seconds later, another shot came from the shore, andthe bullet skipped along the water just where the canoes had been.

  Frank trusted everything to Socato, even though he had never seen orheard of the Seminole before. Something about the voice of the Indianconvinced the boy that he was honest, for all that his darkness was suchthat Frank could not see his face and did not know how he looked.

  The Indian sent the canoe through the water with a speed and silencethat was a revelation to Frank Merriwell. The paddle made no sound, andit seemed that the prow of the canoe scarcely raised a ripple, for allthat they were gliding along so swiftly.

  "Where are you going?" whispered Frank, observing that they were leavingthe camp-fire astern.

  "White boy trust Socato?"

  "If I didn't, I shouldn't be here. Of course, I do."

  "Then keep cool. Socato take him round to place where we can come upbehind bad white men. We try to fool 'um."

  "Good!"

  The light of the camp-fire died out, and then, a few moments later,another camp-fire seemed to glow across a strip of low land.

  "See it?" whispered the Indian, with caution.

  "Yes. What party is camped there--friends of yours, Socato?"

  "Not much!"

  "Who, then?"

  "That same fire."

  "Same fire as which?"

  "One bad white men build."

  Frank was astonished.

  "Oh, say! how is that? We left that fire behind us, Socato."

  "And we have come round by the water till it is before us again."

  This was true, but the darkness had been so intense that Frank did notsee how their course was changing.

  "I see how you mean to come up behind them," said the boy. "You aregoing to land and cross to their camp."

  "That right. They won't look for us that way."

  "I reckon not."

  Soon the rushes closed in on either side, and the Indian sent the canoetwisting in and out amid their tall stalks like a creeping panther. Heseemed to know every inch of the way, and followed it as well as if itwere broad noonday.

  Frank's admiration for the fellow grew with each moment, and he feltthat he could, indeed, trust Socato.

  "If we save that girl and the old man, you shall be well paid for thejob," declared the boy, feeling that it was well to dangle a rewardbefore the Indian's mental vision.

  "It is good," was the whispered retort. "Socato is poor."

  In a few moments they crept through the rushes till the canoe lay closeto a bank, and the Indian directed Frank to get out.

  The camp-fire could not be seen from that position, but the boy wellknew it was not far away.

  Taking his bow, with the quiver of arrows slung to his back, the ladleft the canoe, being followed immediately by the Seminole, who liftedthe prow of the frail craft out upon the bank, and then led the way.

  Passing round a thick mass of reeds, they soon reached a position wherethey could see the camp-fire and the moving forms of the sailors. Justas they reached this position, Leslie Gage was seen to dash up to thefire and kick the burning brands in various directions.

  "He has done that so that the firelight might not reveal them to us,"thought Frank. "They still believe us near, although they know not wherewe are."

  Crouching and creeping, Socato led the way, and Frank followed closely,wondering what scheme the Indian could have in his head, yet trustingeverything to his sagacity.

  In a short time they were near enough to hear the conversation of thebewildered and alarmed sailors. The men were certain a band of savageswere close at hand, for they did not dream that the arrow which haddropped Jaggers was fired by the hand of a white person.

  "The sooner we get away from here, the better it will be for us,"declared Leslie Gage.

  "We'll have to get away in the boats," said a grizzledvillainous-looking, one-eyed old sailor, who was known as Ben Bowsprit.

  "Fo' de Lawd's sake!" gasped the third sailor, who was a negro, calledBlack Tom; "how's we gwine to run right out dar whar de critter am datfired de arrer inter Jack Jaggers?"

  "The 'critter' doesn't seem to be there any longer," assured Gage."Those two shots must have frightened him away."

  "That's right," agreed Bowsprit. "This has been an unlucky stop fer us,mates. Tomlinson is dead, an' Jaggers----"

  "I ain't dead, but I'm bleedin', bleedin', bleedin'!" moaned the fellowwho had been hit by Frank's arrow. "There's a big tear in my shoulder,an' I'm afeared I've made my last cruise."

  "It serves you right," came harshly from the boy leader of the ruffianlycrew. "Tomlinson attempted to set himself up as head of this crew--ascaptain over me. You backed him. All the time, you knew I was the leaderin every move we have made."

  "And a pretty pass you have led us to!" whined the wounded wretch."Where's the money you said the captain had stored away? Where's thereward we'd receive for the captain alive and well? We turned mutineersat your instigation, and what have we made of it? We've set the lawagin' us, an' here we are. The _Bonny Elsie_ has gone up in smoke----"

  "Through the carelessness of a lot of drunken fools!" snarled Gage. "Sheshould not have been burned. But for that, we wouldn't be here now,hiding from officers of the law."

  "Well, here we are," growled Ben Bowsprit, "an' shiver my timbers if weseem able to get out of this howlin' swamp! The more we try, the more weseem ter git lost."

  "Fo' goodness, be yo' gwine to stan' roun' an' chin, an' chin, an'chin?" demanded Black Tom.

  "The fire's out, and we can't be seen," spoke Gage, swiftly, in a lowtone. "Get the boats ready. You two are to take the old man in one; I'lltake the girl in the other."

  "It's the gal you've cared fer all the time," cried Jaggers, madly. "Itwas for her you led us into this scrape."

  "Shut up!"

  "I won't! You can't make me shut up, Gage."

  "Well, you'll have a chance to talk to yourself and Tomlinson beforelong. Tomlinson will be jolly company."

  "You've killed him!" accused the wounded man. "I saw you strike theblow, and I'll swear to that, my hearty!"

  "It's not likely you'll be given a chance to swear to it, Jaggers. I mayhave killed him, but it was in self-defense. He was doing his best toget his knife into me."

  "Yes, we was tryin' to finish you," admitted Jaggers. "With you out ofthe way, Tomlinson would have been cap'n, and I first mate. You've keptyour eyes on the gal all the time. I don't believe you thought the cap'nhad money at all. It was to get the gal you led us into this business.She'd snubbed you--said she despised you, and you made up your mind tocarry her off against her will."

  "If that was my game, you must confess I succeeded very well. But Ican't waste more time talking to you. Get the boats ready, boys. I willtake the smaller. Put Cap'n Bellwood in the larger, and look out forh
im."

  The two sailors obeyed his orders. Boy though he was, Gage had resolvedto become a leader of men, and he had succeeded.

  The girl, quite overcome, was prostrate at the feet of her father, whowas bound to the cypress tree.

  There was a look of pain and despair on the face of the old captain. Hisheart bled as he looked down at his wretched daughter, and he groaned:

  "Merciful Heaven! what will become of her? It were better that sheshould die than remain in the power of that young villain!"

  "What are you muttering about, old man?" coarsely demanded Gage, as hebent to lift the girl. "You seem to be muttering to yourself the greaterpart of the time."

  "You wretch! you young monster!" grated the old shipmaster. "Do youthink you can escape the retribution that pursues all such dastardlycreatures as you?"

  "Oh, you make me tired! I have found out that the goody-good people donot always come out on top in this world. Besides that, it's too latefor me to turn back now. I started wrong at school, and I have beengoing wrong ever since. It's natural for me; I can't help it."

  "Spare my child!"

  "Oh, don't worry about her. I'll take care of her."

  "If you harm her, may the wrath of Heaven fall on your head!"

  "Let it go at that. I will be very tender and considerate with her.Come, Elsie."

  He attempted to lift her to her feet, but she drew from him, shudderingand screaming wildly:

  "Don't touch me!"

  "Now, don't be a little fool!" he said, harshly. "You make me sick withyour tantrums! Come on, now."

  But she screamed the louder, seeming to stand in the utmost terror ofhim.

  With a savage exclamation, Gage tore off his coat and wrapped it aboutthe girl's head so that her cries were smothered.

  "Perhaps that will keep you still a bit!" he snapped, catching her up inhis arms, and bearing her to the smaller boat, in which he carefullyplaced her.

  She did not faint. As her hands were bound behind her, she could notremove the coat from about her head, and she sat as he placed her, withit enveloping her nearly to the waist.

  "Is everything ready?" asked Gage. "Where are all the guns? Somebodytake Tomlinson's weapons. Let Jaggers have his. He may need them when weare gone."

  "Don't leave me here to die alone!" piteously pleaded the woundedsailor. "I'm pretty well gone now, but I don't want to be left herealone!"

  Gage left the small boat for a moment, and approached the spot where thepleading wretch lay.

  "Jaggers," he said, "it's the fate you deserve. You agreed to stand byme, but you went back on your oath, and tried to kill me."

  "And now you're going to leave me here to bleed to death or starve?"

  "Why shouldn't I? The tables are turned on you, my fine fellow."

  "Well, I'm sure you won't leave me."

  "You are?"

  "Yes."

  "Why won't I?"

  "This is why!"

  Jaggers flung up his hand, from which a spout of flame seemed to leap,and the report of a pistol sounded over the marsh.

  Leslie Gage fell in a heap to the ground.