In the Wilds of Florida: A Tale of Warfare and Hunting
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out I wasconvinced, from the clear green to the north of the lake, and from itsflat appearance, that it was swampy. As far as I could judge, theswamps extended to the shore of another small lake, still farther to thenorth, Jup agreed with me that it would save a troublesome journeythrough marshes if we were to cross the lake, as had at first beenproposed.
Directly breakfast was over, therefore, we set off for the shore of thelake, where we were fortunate in finding a hard piece of ground by theside of a stream which ran into it, a point extending out into thewater; and we could only hope that we should find a similarlanding-place on the opposite side. On the hard ground, a couple offeet above the water, grew a number of pines. Several of the smaller aswell as larger trees had been blown down by a hurricane, and weresufficiently dry, and yet not rotten, for our purpose. Lopping off theroots and branches, we collected six trees, each about thirty feet long,which one by one we managed to roll into the water. The cross-pieceswere more easily obtained. The whole were fastened together with whatthe Spaniards call sipos, or creepers, which make a very tolerable ropefor such a purpose. On the top of this framework we placed a sort ofplatform of reeds, which would, we hoped, keep us free from the water.We had still to cut some long poles; a couple of spars for masts, andtwo more for yards; a paddle to steer by, and one for each of us. Nightwas approaching by the time we had quite finished. Altogether we werewell content with our performance, though perhaps a more experiencedsailor would have hesitated to trust himself on such a structure. Asthe mosquitoes would have allowed us but little sleep had we attemptedto remain near the lake at night, we returned to our camping-ground onthe ridge, having previously dragged the raft up on shore. On our way Isaw Lejoillie eagerly eyeing the branches of a tree producing a sweetgum.
"Stop, stop!" he exclaimed, "in case you may alarm it." And he beganopening his butterfly-net, which lay in a case he always carried in hispocket.
I looked in the direction towards which his eyes were turned, and saw amagnificent moth sucking gum exuding from a branch. It was morebeautiful than any I had seen. The body was of a flesh colour; thewings broad and of a tender green, with blue, crimson, and orange spots.I stopped while he advanced, trembling lest the specimen might escapehim. With what eagerness he closed the net over it! and I felt almostas rejoiced as he seemed to be that he had captured the treasure. Hetold us that it was called the "Attacus luna," and that it was the mostbeautiful moth in Florida. The caterpillar produces silk, though it isnot equal to that of the better known silkworm.
The naturalist appeared as delighted to have secured the moth uninjuredas most people would have been to pick up a nugget of gold. By degreeswe had expended a portion of our ammunition and provisions; but asLejoillie added to his collection, our loads were not much lightened,though his bird-skins, moths, and insects were not very weightyarticles.
Tim, who had the morning watch, averred that he had seen a human beingapproach the camp, and apparently having examined it, steal off again.He had advanced and challenged, but no reply was made. His firstimpulse, he acknowledged, had been to fire; but he recollected in timethat the intruder might have had no hostile intentions, and, at allevents, as we were not in an enemy's country, he had no business toshoot the man, whoever he was. Tim was so positive on the subject thatwe could not doubt him.
We breakfasted at daybreak, and strapping on our packs, marched down tothe lake, prepared to commence our voyage. Before starting, Jup and Iagain ascended a tree overlooking the lake, that I might ascertainwhether there were any islands in our course, or whether, as is oftenthe case, the surface was covered with water-plants, which might impedeour progress.
All appeared clear, however, as far as my eye could reach. I was aboutto descend, when, looking to the south-west, I caught sight of a numberof objects moving across the prairie. I pointed them out to Jup.
"Injins!" he exclaimed. "Dey comin' dis way; better git off, or maybedey take our scalps."
As I agreed with him, we hurriedly descended, and rejoined ourcompanions, who were already beginning to launch the raft. It was noeasy matter to do so, and we had to cut some stout sticks for handspikesbefore we could manage to get it into the water. While thus engaged,several alligators poked their noses above the surface to look at us,but the shouts we raised quickly made them disappear. Scarcely was theraft in the water, when, happening to look round, I caught sight ofthirty or forty Indians, bedecked in war-paint and feathers, fullyarmed, emerging from the brushwood, and not a hundred yards away.
"Shove off! shove off!" I cried. "Their bows carry far, and we mustput a wide distance between them and us."
Springing on board, we each seized a pole and began impelling the raftfrom the shore. The Indians, seeing that we were about to escape, ranforward, uttering loud shouts and calling on us to come back.
"Very likely we'll be afther doin' that," observed Tim.
No one else spoke; we were labouring for our lives, for it was evident,from the savage shrieks of the Indians, that they intended mischief.
"Let us fire and bring down some of those fellows," cried Carlos.
"Very little satisfaction in doing that," observed Lejoillie. "Shoveaway, my friends, shove away; the farther we can get from them thebetter, for, packed together as we are, they may shoot us down at once.Shove away, shove away, I say."
We followed Lejoillie's advice. We had got to a considerable distancefrom the bank before the Indians reached it. The moment they did so,they drew their bows and let fly a flight of arrows, which plunged intothe water close behind our raft; but happily we were just beyond theirrange, or not one of us would have escaped. The water by this time wasdeepening, and we had to take to our paddles, and endeavour stillfarther to increase our distance; for the savages, intent on capturingus, had begun to wade off, with fresh arrows in their bows, ready tosend another flight, at the same time uttering loud cries and shoutingout to us to return. They were possibly not aware that we had providedourselves with paddles and had already got into deep water.
Rushing forward until the water was up to their waists, they again senttheir arrows whistling towards us, several actually striking the raft,though not with sufficient force to stick into it. When they saw thatwe were really beyond their reach, they vented their disappointment infearful yells.
"Shriek away, ye redskin savages," cried Tim; "your noise doesn't hurtus. If you don't look out for yourselves, you'll have some of the'gators snapping off your legs presently."
The cries of the Indians, however, had the effect of keeping thecreatures at a distance, and several swam past us, evidently alarmed atthe unusual sounds.
We were now all paddling away with might and main, two on each side, theblack steering and sculling with his paddle at the same time.Fortunately, the weather remained fine, and the wind, which was light,was in our favour. What we had to dread most was a strong windspringing up from the eastward, which might have driven us back andplaced us at the mercy of the savages. We were still uncertain whetherwe should altogether escape them. They might build a raft and pursueus; or might be acquainted with some path leading along the northern endof the lake, by which, light-footed as they were, they might get roundto meet us when we landed, or to follow up our trail.
We found paddling a raft harder work than we had expected, and our armssoon began to ache. Stopping for an instant, I tried the depth ofwater. It was still too great to enable us to use our poles withadvantage. At length, however, the breeze increased, and I proposedthat the masts should be stepped, as they were all ready, and that weshould hoist our blankets for sails.
This we at once did; but they did not hold enough wind to help us asmuch as we expected, and we still had to keep the paddles going.Looking back, we could see the Indians on the shore; which wassatisfactory, as it made us hope that they did not intend to follow usby land.
"It will take them some time to build a raft," observed Carlos. "Ifthey do, we shall then encounter them on equal terms, for we could pickthem o
ff with our rifles before they could get near enough to shoottheir arrows at us."
We continued our course to the opposite shore, which appeared as far offas ever. We had, however, reason to be satisfied that we had decided oncrossing the lake on a raft; for had we attempted to go round by land,we should inevitably have been overtaken by the Indians.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
CROSSING THE LAKE--SAFELY LANDED--LOST IN THE FOREST--A SPECTRE--THEMANTIS TRIBE--CHASING A WOUNDED DEER--IN A DILEMMA--WOLVES--UP A TREE--AWEARY NIGHT--THE SIEGE RAISED--SEARCH AFTER MY COMPANIONS--SUFFERINGSFROM THIRST--WATER DISCOVERED--OVERCOME BY FATIGUE--FOUND BY CAESAR--MEETING WITH TIM FLANAGAN--ONE WAY TO MAKE A BLAZE--SIGNALS FOR OURFRIENDS--THE DESERTED HUT--PROOFS OF AN INDIAN TRAGEDY--PLANS FORCONTINUING OUR JOURNEY.
We had been paddling on for some time, not making more than two miles anhour. At length