however, the bear was only wounded; anddropping to the ground faster than it had intended, it came towards me,growling furiously. I retreated slowly, reloading, and shouting to Timto come to my assistance. The bear, however, advanced more speedilythan was at all pleasant. Seeing a tree close to me, I stepped behindit, and again fired. The ball struck the bear; but the animal did notfall. It stopped, however, for a moment, and bit and scratched at itswound, giving me time to run behind another tree and again load. Timnow came running up. The bear was thus exposed to a cross-fire. Tim,supposing that the next instant the bear would be upon me, fired,forgetting that his gun was only loaded with small shot. He hit theanimal, but in a way which only made it more furious. On it came,gnashing its teeth, resolved apparently to have its revenge on me.Knowing that my life depended upon the result, I took a steady aim atits chest. I fired, and over it rolled. As the bear was makingdesperate efforts to rise, Tim, going up to it, presented his rifleclose to its head, and shot it dead.
"Hurrah!" he shouted; "we've got mate enough now to put strength into usfor a good day's march."
We lost no time in cutting off as much of the bear's flesh as werequired for ourselves and Caesar. We then collected a quantity offirewood, keeping a look-out for snakes as we did so, and carried it upto a dry spot away from the pool. Losing no time in making a fire, weput on some of the meat to cook. I confess, however, that, to satisfythe cravings of our hunger, we chewed a portion of it without waitingtill it was roasted. By the light of the fire we then constructed a hutof palmetto leaves, placing Caesar in front to give us warning shoulddanger approach, for neither Tim nor I was able to watch.
After we had supped, before lying down I gave my powder-horn a shake. Avery small quantity of powder remained. Tim imitated my example, and Iguessed, by the blank look of his countenance, that his stock wasequally reduced.
"It's to be hoped that we'll not be afther wantin' it much, for I ammightily afraid that I've only got another charge or two remaining. Wemay, however, strike the Saint John to-morrow, an' it won't be longbefore we fall in with settlers," he observed.
"We have reason to be thankful that we killed the bear, then," Ianswered. "Do not let us anticipate misfortune until it overtakes us."
We made as large a fire as the fuel we had collected would allow, andhung up our bear's meat inside our hut for security. In spite of thehowling of wolves and other noises which came across the pool, we fellasleep; and the hut sheltering us from the dews, we were far morecomfortable than on previous nights. I heard Caesar give a bark two orthree times, but that did not arouse me fully.
The night passed away without disturbance. At daybreak we packed upsome of our bear's flesh, which we hoped would keep good untildinner-time. Then having taken a draught of water, we continued ourmarch, as we believed, to the east; but the fog still hung over thecountry, and we were left in as much doubt as before. We soon foundourselves again on the pine-barren; indeed, in spite of the pricklyshrubs here and there, it afforded us better walking than any other partof the country. On and on we went, suffering almost as much as on theprevious day from want of water. We halted about one o'clock to dine.Our bear's flesh, even though roasted, was already high, and we fearedthat we should be unable to eat it for supper. We were able, however,to procure several wild-fruits and nuts, which, from the birds eatingthem, we knew to be wholesome, and these somewhat allayed our thirst.
The fog continued all day, there not being a breath of wind to blow itoff. It made walking very fatiguing. Another night was approaching.We caught sight of some deer, but were afraid of expending our lastcharges of powder without being certain of bagging our game. We did notactually go supperless to bed, for by recooking the bear's meat, wemanaged to eat it; but we did not partake of a morsel more than wasnecessary to satisfy our hunger, though Caesar enjoyed a good meal.
The wind got up during the night, and the next morning the sun rose in aclear sky, just as we unrolled ourselves from our blankets.
"Now we shall know our way!" cried Tim, as he sprang to his feet.
I looked round to examine our trail of the previous evening. We hadbeen tramping west instead of east, or very probably had been goinground in a circle; at all events, we had gone away from the Saint JohnRiver. We had now to retrace our steps.
Steering in the direction whence the sun was rising, the bright beamsdazzled our eyes. We had nothing to eat; but we hoped that before longwe should be able to kill a deer or some large bird which would affordus sufficient food. We now guessed that our friends must be ahead;probably while they had been searching for us, we had been going awayfrom them. All we had now to do was to press steadily onwards.
We were getting desperately hungry, when I saw something move in thegrass a little in front of us. Hoping that it might be anothertortoise, I ran forward, and found that it was a large black snake. Imight have shot it; but not wishing to throw away a charge of powder, Idrew my axe, and as it turned hissing towards me, with a single stroke Icut off its head. It was of a non-venomous species; but, oppressed byhunger, even had it been a rattlesnake, I would have proposed to eat it.
"Here is food, and we must not be particular," I said.
Tim hesitated. "Sure, Mr. Maurice, you'll not be afther eatin' asnake," he said.
"I could eat a toad, or a potful of caterpillars," I answered; andhaving cut off a portion for Caesar, I slung the remainder over myshoulder. We hastened on until we came to some brushwood, where wecould collect sufficient fuel to make a fire. The Indians, I knew, eatsnakes of all descriptions. We soon had it skinned and roasted; and Timwas surprised to find it far more palatable than he had expected.
"We shall not starve if we keep our wits awake," I said; "but we mustnot be over-particular as to what we eat."
Again we pushed on. I remembered the cabbage-palm, and determined toclimb the first tree of the kind we met with to obtain a cabbage. Itwould be a change of diet, at all events.
I must pass over many of the incidents of our dreary march. One day agobbler got up, at which Tim too eagerly fired, and missed. His lastcharge was thus expended. I had still one left. We saw several deer,but even the nearest was so far off that I dared not fire.
Though we were never actually without food for more than a day, the hardlife we were leading was beginning to tell on both of us. Our shoeswere almost worn out, our clothes torn to shreds by the prickly shrubs;and when I looked at Tim, and observed how thin and careworn he was, Isupposed that I was much in the same state.
At last we saw the sheen of water in the distance. The sight raised ourspirits. We made towards it, though it was somewhat out of our way. Itmight be the Saint John, or one of its affluents, or perhaps a longlake. We had had no food all day. We should be certain to findwild-fowl on its banks, whether it was a lake or a stream. On reachingit, we were still uncertain what it was. Trees and shrubs grew thicklyon the bank, beyond which were reeds, and on its surface floatedwater-lilies and other aquatic plants. I had my gun in my hand, when alarge bird of beautiful plumage rose directly before me. I could notresist the temptation to fire. The bird did not drop immediately,though I saw that it was badly wounded. After fluttering, however, fora short time, it fell into the water. My faithful Caesar immediatelyplunged in and swam towards it. Forgetting for a moment the savagemonsters which inhabited the streams and lakes of Florida, and eager toobtain the bird, I did not call him back. On he swam, and was justabout to seize the duck, when he gave a loud cry, resembling a shriekrather than a bark, while he struggled desperately to return. The nextinstant, to my horror, my faithful animal disappeared beneath thesurface. As he sank I caught sight, through the water, of a monstrousalligator, which was dragging him down. Had I possessed another chargeof powder, I might have rescued him, or, at all events, have avenged hisdeath; but my flask was empty.
I stood in vain expecting to see him reappear, but the monster had gothim firmly in his grip. I watched and watched, and--I am not ashamed tosay i
t--when all hope was gone, I burst into tears.
"We'll never see him again," said Tim, who now came up. "Those bruteskeep their prey down at the bottom of the water, until they becomerotten enough to suit their taste. It's no use looking afther him anylonger. If we only had a store of powder an' bullets, we'd pay thevillain off. Come along now, master dear; it's time to be lookin' outfor some other food."
"But we must try and get the duck," I said, recovering myself.
"Sure you'd not be afther venturing into the water?" observed Tim.
"No; but perhaps the bird may float near the bank, and we may draw it inwith a large stick."
It appeared to me that the duck was already floating in towards theshore, when a black snout was seen above the surface, and the nextinstant the bird was
In the Wilds of Florida: A Tale of Warfare and Hunting Page 28
