The Wreck of the Red Bird: A Story of the Carolina Coast

by George Cary Eggleston

  CHAPTER XVI.

  ON GUARD.

  "Who in the world can Charley's 'savages' be, Ned?" asked Jack, when thestory was finished.

  "Negro squatters," answered Ned; "I didn't think there were any on BeeIsland."

  "What do you mean by negro squatters?"

  "Why, negroes who, instead of hiring themselves out or renting land,have simply squatted on the island, cultivating little patches, andliving by hunting and fishing. There are a good many on plantations thathaven't been cultivated since the war. You see, when the war ended therewere many men who had large bodies of land--some of them owning half adozen big plantations--but with very little capital. They have not beenable, for want of money, to resume the cultivation of all theirabandoned plantations, so there are many large tracts still lying idleand unoccupied, and some of the negroes, not caring to hire as hands, orto rent land, have squatted here and there. They are generally the worstof the negroes; men without thrift, and almost untouched bycivilization. They prefer a wild life, and live by fishing, hunting, andstealing from choice."

  "But, I say," said Charley, "my savage wasn't a tame negro at all. Hecouldn't speak English I tell you."

  "No more can many others of the old sea-island and rice-field negroes.They talk a jargon which only themselves and the old-time overseers everunderstood. The fact is that many of them really were savages before thewar,--untamed Guinea savages. They or their parents were brought herefrom Africa, and they lived all their lives here on these coastplantations, rarely seeing a white person except their overseers, andlearning scarcely any thing of civilized life. They were not at all likethe negroes up in Aiken, and all over the South for that matter. Theywere simply savages who had learned to work under an overseer, and whenthe war ended the worst of them relapsed into the ways of savage lifeinstead of trying to improve themselves as the negroes everywhere elsedid. They hadn't learned enough to want to be civilized."

  "But what did that fellow get after Charley for?"

  "Because we've been robbing their rice field without knowing it."

  "I didn't think of that. I thought the rice was wild--self-seeded."

  "Probably it is," answered Ned, "but they regard it as theirs for allthat, just as they think this island is theirs, although it belongs tomy uncle."

  "Now I know who stole our provisions," said Charley. "But I say, boys,what's to be done? Suppose the savages should attack us here?"

  "They may do that," answered Ned, "though I don't think it likely. Theywant us away; perhaps, but they chiefly want us to let them and theirrice alone, and now that we know that it's theirs by some sort of right,we'll let it alone and get on with what we have on hand. The main thingnow is to build our boat. We must get on as fast as we can with that."

  "That's so," said Jack. "That must be the first thing thought of, butstill it seems to me we should do something for our own defence. Yousee, Ned, if they should attack us, we are helpless. We haven't a thingto defend ourselves with, now that the gun is gone, and it isn't rightto trust too much to those people's good-nature."

  "Well, what can we do?"

  "A good many things; I don't know exactly what will be best as yet, butwe must think it out while we work on the boat. Then we can comparenotes and do whatever is best. We'll work on the boat until dinner-time,and then give the afternoon to our defences. Perhaps we can make so gooda beginning that we needn't spend more than an hour or two each day onthat work after to-day."

  "All right," said Ned; "now let's get to work on the boat."

  With a will the three boys set to work. The stem- and stern-posts of thenew boat were securely fastened to the keel, and the difficult task ofsetting up the ribs was begun. These ribs were so broken that itrequired not a little planning and contriving to make them answer thepurpose; but Jack was very ingenious, and under his direction Ned andCharley managed to do some very clever splicing and bracing, while Jackhimself dealt with the most difficult problems.

  By mid-day about half the ribs were in their place.

  "We can begin to see the shape of our new boat," said Ned, "and I'm notsure she isn't going to be prettier than the old _Red Bird_."

  "By the way," said Jack, "what are we to name her?"

  "The Phoenix," suggested Charley; then he added: "No that won't do,because it isn't a case of rising from ashes. The _Red Bird_ wasn'tburned."

  "No," said Ned, "that would be very absurd. Suppose we call herSea-Gull, because she came to us--in her timbers at least--from thesea."

  "Better call her 'axe, hatchet, and hunting-knife,'" said Jack, "becausewe are making her with those tools. But if we must be poetical andsuggestive, why not call her Aphrodite? She, like that fabled goddess,is sprung from the foam of the sea."

  "_Aphrodite_ it is," shouted Jack's companions, and Charley added:

  "You're the most classical and poetic youth of the party, Jack, if youdo pretend to sneer at us for our sentimental fancy for an appropriatename."

  "Very well," replied Jack, "you're welcome to think so; but just now Iwant my dinner worse than any thing else, and that isn't a meresentiment I assure you."

  Dinner over, the preparations for defence were begun.

  "What plan have you thought of, Jack?" Charley asked.

  "Let me hear from you and Ned first," answered Jack.

  "Well, I've thought of earthworks," said Charley; "they say they are thebest fortifications."

  "Against cannon, yes," said Ned; "but it's only because cannon can'tbatter them down as they can masonry. Our problem is a very differentone, because our savages haven't any cannon. What we have got to do isnot to make fortifications that can't be battered down by artillery, butto fence ourselves in in some way so that the negro squatters can't getat us."

  "Well, what's your idea for that?" asked Charley.

  "A stockade."

  "Details?" queried Jack.

  "My notion is," answered Ned, "to set a line of stockade around thecamp, running it out into the water on each side, making a big 'C' ofit. If we make it ten feet high and slope it outward, it will puzzle thesquatters to get over it, and from the inside we can beat them off."

  "But how shall we make the stockade?" asked Jack.

  "Why, by digging a trench first, and setting timbers in it, sloping themat the proper angle, and filling in with earth."

  "But couldn't a strong man pull a timber down by jumping up and hangingto it with his hands?" asked Charley.

  "Perhaps so, if each timber stood alone," said Ned, "but we'll set a rowof them in the ditch, and then roll a log in behind them before fillingup. Then we'll set another row and roll in another log, and so on. Then,in order to pull down a post it will be necessary to lift the whole ofthe log that is behind it, together with all the earth that lies on topof the log, and that is more than any half dozen men can do."

  "That's an excellent idea," said Jack, after thinking awhile, "but thejob is too big to be completed to-day. We'd better follow my plan first,and make the stockade hereafter."

  "What's your plan?"

  "To build a sort of wall of timber around the camp. It isn't half sogood as a stockade, because of course it is easily climbed over; but itis better than nothing, and will do for one night."

  "But I don't see," said Charley, "that we can build a timber wall halfso quickly as we can make the stockade. To do it we have got to cutenough logs to make a pile all around the camp, and that will take tentimes as many logs as it will to make the stockade."

  "That is true," said Jack, "and, besides, small timbers, five or sixinches in diameter, will do as well for the stockade as big logs, and inthe present state of our axe that is a consideration not to be despised.I surrender. Ned's plan is by odds the best one. Let's get to work atit, and if we don't finish it to-day, we'll patch up the deficiency insome way. Luckily we have digging tools."

  The soil of the coast and islands of South Carolina is a lightvegetable mould, mixed with sand, and below it there is sand only. Thereare no rocks, no stones, no pebbles
even, and no stiff clay; and allthis was greatly in the boys' favor. The trench grew very rapidly asthey worked. Jack and Ned dug, while Charley, who was more expert withthe axe than either of his companions, cut down small trees and trimmedthem into shape for the stockade, making each about fourteen feet long,so that when set in the ditch it would project about ten feet aboveground.

  The digging of the ditch was the smallest part of the task. Its length,in order to enclose the hut, the well, and the boat, had to be about onehundred and fifty feet, so that a great many sticks of timber werenecessary.

  "We must set them about six inches apart," said Jack, "so as to use asfew as we can at first. If necessary, we can fill in the gaps afterward;but a man can't get through a six-inch crack, and by setting them inthat way each post, with its half of the two cracks, will occupy about afoot of space."

  But to cut a hundred and fifty pieces of timber with a dull axe was nosmall job, and when night came on the boys had only twenty-five of themset up in their places, while as many more were ready for use. This wasdiscouraging, and in their weariness Ned and Charley felt very muchdisheartened indeed. Jack alone kept his spirits up.

  "It's very good work so far as it goes," he said, looking at the line oftimbers all leaning outward from the camp, "and when we get it done itwill puzzle all the squatters in South Carolina to take our fort."

  "Yes, if we ever do get it done," said Charley, despondently.

  "Now, Charley," said Jack, "none of that. We've been in a tighter placethan this, and you especially ought not to be downhearted. You're everso much better off than you were this time last night, when that darkeyhad you treed; and you're better off now than Ned is, with his gamefoot."

  "Poor fellow," said Charley, looking at Ned as he limped into the hutwith difficulty.

  "The fact is," continued Jack, "we're tired out, and so things look blueto us, but they'll look better in the morning. You see we got no sleeplast night, besides wearing ourselves out with anxiety and excitement,and we have worked like convicts all day. We'll feel better and brighterafter we get some sleep, and things that look gloomy and discouragingnow will look bright and hopeful enough to-morrow morning."

  "That's true," said Ned, coming out of the hut again, "and it would bemuch better for us if we could quit work right now, and sleep for tenhours without waking, but we can't."

  "Why not?" asked Charley, who was utterly worn out.

  "Because we've some more work to do that must be done before we sleep,"answered Ned. "What we have done for defence is of no good at all as itstands. We must have a barrier around the camp to-night."

  "How shall we make one?" asked Jack.

  "With brush. We have plenty of it already cut in the shape of the treetops we've trimmed off in getting our stockade poles."

  "Brush won't make a very good defence," muttered Charley.

  "No, but it will be much better than no defence at all," replied Ned."It isn't easy to climb over a well-packed brush pile, particularly ifthe brush is so laid that all the branches point outward, and that's theway we'll lay it. It won't take long to make a wall of that kind, and wecan remove it little by little, as we set the poles hereafter."

  This plan commended itself to Jack, and Charley submitted. Poor fellow,he was too weary to take any active interest even in plans for defence.The brushwood was brought and carefully placed in position. It was notsufficient to make a wall all the way around, but only a small gap wasleft near the water.

  "Shall we cut more brush to-night, Jack?" asked Ned.

  "No, I think we needn't. When we go to setting poles to-morrow, thebrush we remove will do to close the gap with, and for one night we canwatch so small an opening. We need rest and sleep now more than anything else. You and Charley lie down. I'm the freshest one of the party,I think, and so I'll stand guard for a good while before calling eitherof you."

  "Stand guard?" asked Ned; "what for?"

  "Why, it won't do at all for all three to sleep at once. We might beattacked while asleep. If there were no danger of that we needn't havethought of a stockade at all."

  Sleepy and tired as Ned and Charley were, they recognized the necessityfor this watchfulness. It was very hard for the three weary fellows totake their turns at standing guard that night, but they did their duty.Jack took a long turn first, and Ned followed him, so that Charley got agood sleep of several hours, and was much refreshed before his period ofwatching began.