CHAPTER XXXVI.
ONE OF THE RAREST ANIMALS IN THE WORLD.
AFTER their day of excitement, terror, and anxiety the
explorers passed a happy evening around their campfire, and Lieutenant
Carey gained a clearer idea of the boys' adventures and escapes. He
admitted that the kindness shown them in the Seminole camp gave him a
new insight into the Indian character, and wished that be might have
had a chance to thank and reward Ul-we for his brave rescue of the
young canoemates. He also regretted that he, too, could not have
visited that Indian camp, and hoped that the appointment made by the
boys with Ul-we might be kept.
In spite of their recent hearty meal of sofkee, a
preparation of which they spoke in the highest terms, the boys were
able to do ample justice to Quorum's venison steaks, greatly to the
satisfaction of the old negro. He would have felt deeply grieved if
they had allowed any amount of feasting in an Indian camp to interfere
with their enjoyment of a meal that he had cooked, no matter how short
an interval might have elapsed between the two.
Although the boys felt rather stiff and lame the next
morning, it did not prevent their being ready bright and early to
continue their journey. It was a great pleasure to be once more afloat
in their own canoes, and this was increased by the fact that they now
had a swift current with them. It was a glorious March day, and all
nature seemed to share their high spirits as they glided smoothly down
the beautiful river. The water swarmed with fish and alligators, and
the adjacent forest was alive with birds. Among the innumerable fish
that darted beneath them they soon recognized several saltwater
varieties, which assured them that the ocean could not be far off.
As the three canoes were moving quietly along abreast of
each other and close together, the Psyche suddenly glided over
a huge black object that for an instant seemed inclined to rise and
lift it bodily into the air. As it was dropped back, there was a
tremendous floundering, and all three of the light craft were rocked so
violently that only the skill of their navigators saved them from
capsizing.
"Was it a waterquake ?" inquired Worth, with a very pale
face, as soon as his fright would allow him to speak.
"Yes; and there it goes," laughed the Lieutenant, pointing
to a great dim form that could just be seen moving swiftly off through
the clear water.
"It must have been a whale," said Sumner. "No," answered
Lieutenant Carey; "but it was the next thing to it. It was a manatee or
sea cow. I have seen them in the lower Indian River, but did not know
they were found down here. I wish you boys might have a good look at
him, though, for the manatee is one of the rarest animals in the world.
It is warm-blooded and amphibious, lives on water grasses and other
aquatic plants, grows to be twelve or fifteen feet long, weighs nearly
a ton, and is one of the most timid and harmless of creatures. It is
the only living representative of its family on this continent, all the
other members being extinct. The Indians hunt it for its meat, which is
said to be very good eating, and for its bones, which are as
fine-grained and as hard as ivory. In general appearance it is not
unlike a seal. It can strike a powerful blow with its great flat tail,
but is otherwise unarmed and incapable of injuring an enemy. Several
have been caught in nets and shipped North for exhibition, but none of
them has lived more than a few weeks in captivity."
"What made that fellow go for us if he isn't a fighter ?"
asked Worth.
"He didn't," laughed the Lieutenant. "He was probably
asleep, and is wondering why we went for him. I can assure you that he
was vastly more scared than we were."
"He must have been frightened almost to death, then," said
Sumner.
Soon after this they saw a landing place on the left bank.
Stopping to examine it, they discovered a trail leading through a
fringe of bushes, behind which was an Indian field covering an old
shell mound, and in a high state of cultivation. In it were growing
sweet potatoes, melons, squashes, sugarcane, and beans -- a supply of
which they would gladly have purchased had the proprietors been
present. As they were not, and necessity knows no law, our canoemen
helped themselves to what they needed, and when they left, the load of
the cruiser was materially increased.
At length they heard the dull boom of surf, and realized
that only a narrow strip of land separated them from the ocean. Late in
the afternoon they reached the mouth of the river, and the boys uttered
joyous shouts as they looked out over its bar and saw a limitless
expanse of blue waters, unbroken by islands, glistening in the light of
the setting sun.
With light hearts they went into camp on the inner side of
the sandy point separating the quiet waters on which they had been
floating from the long swells of the open sea. They intended running
out of the river and down the coast in the morning, for from their
surroundings, as well as from the general course they had taken through
the 'Glades, the Lieutenant was satisfied that they must be
considerably to the north of Cape Florida.
The boys determined to sleep in their canoes that night,
and rigged up the little-used striped canoe tents for that purpose.
While they were doing this, and the Lieutenant was pitching his own
tent on shore, and the others were collecting driftwood on the beach,
there came a hail from across the river.
"Hello there! Bring a boat over here, can't ye?"
It was the first white man they had seen since leaving the
Transit, and going over in the cruiser, Sumner brought
him back. He proved to be a barefooted boy, a year younger than Worth,
and yet he was the mail carrier over the most southerly land route, and
one of the most lonesome, in the United States. It is the seventy-mile
stretch between Lake Worth and Biscayne Bay, and every week this boy or
his younger brother walked the whole distance and back along the beach,
with a mail sack on his back. He had to cross the mouths of two rivers,
for which purpose he kept an old skiff at each one. It sometimes
happened, as in the present case, that some other beach traveler would
appropriate his boat, and leave it on the wrong side. Then, unless
fortunate enough to find some one to set him across, he would be
obliged to brave the sharks and other sea monsters, with which these
rivers swarm, and swim over after his own boat. Along his route were
three houses of refuge, situated twenty miles apart, and belonging to
the Life Saving Service. Each of them contained a single keeper, and
these were the only persons seen by the lonely mail boy while on his
toilsome tramps.
The boy was greatly interested in the canoes, which he
declared were the neatest little tricks he ever did see, but he scouted
the idea of sleeping in them. "Why," said he, "some of them sharks or
porpusses what uses round here nights will run inter ye an' upsot ye
quicker'n wink."
He was amazed that they should cruise in such tiny craft,
and begged them not to think of attempting to run down the coast in
them. On the whole he regarded our young canoemates as being
particularly daring and reckless fellows, and they regarded him in much
the same way, though he made light of his lonely beach tramps, on which
he often met bears, panthers, or other wild animals.
He told them that they were about twenty-five miles north
of Cape Florida; that there was a "station" on the beach six miles
north of them; that turtle were beginning to lay eggs, and bears to
frequent the beach in search of them; that sharks grew larger in those
very waters than anywhere else on the coast; and that an easterly wind
would blow in the morning, which would prevent their crossing the bar.
Having delivered himself of this information, and saying that he must
make the station that night, the boy slung his mail sack over his
shoulders, and started off at a brisk pace up the soft shelving beach.
After what he had told them about sharks, Sumner and Worth
concluded not to sleep in their canoes that night. They might have done
so with perfect safety, however, for no shark was ever known to
overturn a boat for the sake of getting at a human being inside of it.
The next morning the mail boy's prediction in regard to
the east wind was verified. It was blowing briskly at sunrise, and
already a big sea was rolling in, combing and booming on the bar. Their
boats would not live in it a moment, and consequently they must stay
where they were until the wind changed.
After breakfast the Lieutenant sat in his tent writing,
the sailor was repairing a torn sail, Quorum was taking a nap, and the
boys were left to their own devices for amusement. An hour or so later
Lieutenant Carey, the sailor, and Quorum were startled by loud calls
for help from the beach, and hurried in that direction to see what new
scrape the "young rascals," as the Lieutenant called them, had got into
now.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
FISHING FOR SHARKS.
IN strolling along the outer beach, picking up curious
sponges and bits of coral, the attention of the boys was also attracted
to the shadowy forms of great fish that they could distinguish every
now and then darting along the green base of the combers just before
they broke.
"Do you think they can be sharks?" asked Worth.
"Yes," replied Sumner; "I am almost sure they are."
"My! but I wish we could catch one! I have never seen a
shark out of water."
"I shouldn't wonder if we could. I've got a shark hook in
the Psyche, and our Manila cables, knotted together, will make
just the kind of line we want."
Fifteen minutes later the hook and line had been prepared.
For bait, they took one of a number of fish that Quorum had caught that
morning.
The shark hook was a huge affair, over a foot long and
made of steel a quarter of an inch thick. To it was attached by a
swivel several feet of chain terminating in a ring to which the line
was made fast.
Sumner had caught many sharks off Key West wharves, but
they had been comparatively small, and with the monsters of the reef he
had hitherto had no dealings. Consequently, he was almost as ignorant
of their strength as was Worth. Therefore, without reflecting on the
folly of the act, and fearing that the line might be jerked from his
hands, he made its inner end fast about his waist.
Then whirling the heavy hook above his head, he cast it
far out in the breakers. Within a minute it was tossed back to the
beach, and had to be thrown again. This operation was repeated So many
times without any result that the boys were beginning to tire of it,
when all at once there came a jerk on the line that nearly threw Sumner
off his feet. "Hurrah!" he cried. "We've got him at last! ,, Catch
hold, Worth, and help me haul him in.
But it was soon evident that instead of their catching the
shark, he had caught them. In spite of all their efforts, and no matter
how deeply they dug their feet into the sand, the boys found themselves
being dragged slowly but surely towards the water. At first they did
not realize their danger; but when they were within a few yards of the
creamy froth churned up by the breakers, it flashed over them, and they
began to utter those shouts for help that attracted the attention of
their companions in the camp.
Although Worth could have let go of the line at any
minute, the thought of doing such a thing never entered his head. Even
when the water was about his feet and the wet sand was slipping rapidly
from beneath them, the plucky little chap held on and struggled with
all his might to avert the fate that threatened his friend.
They were nearly hopeless before the three men reached
them, and, rushing into the water, seized the line with such a powerful
grasp that its seaward motion was instantly arrested. Not only that,
but they walked away with it so easily that a minute later the shark
was landed high and dry on the beach, where the sailor dispatched it
with an axe.
It was a white shark of moderate size, being not more than
seven or eight feet long. For all that, it was a monster as compared
with those Sumner had been in the habit of catching, and he gazed with
a curious sensation at its wicked eyes, and the row upon row of curved
gleaming teeth with which the gaping mouth was provided.
"It was a close call for you, my boy," said the
Lieutenant, gravely, "and has taught you a lesson that I am sure you
will never forget. You may thank your lucky stars that the hook was
taken by this little fellow instead of by one of his grandfathers or
uncles. Now that we have started in this business, I am going to try
and show you what might have happened."
Under his direction a hole some five feet deep was dug, a
heavy timber, selected from those with which the beach was strewn, was
thrust into it, and the sand was repacked solidly about it. To this,
instead of to Sumner's body, the end of the line was attached, and the
fishing for sharks was resumed. While the post was being set,
Lieutenant Carey brought his rifle from the camp. Several sharks, some
smaller and some larger than the first, were caught; but not until the
hook was seized by one that dragged the entire party clinging to it
slowly down the beach did the Lieutenant express himself as satisfied.
"Hold on to it!" he cried. "Brace yourselves! Snub him all
you can!"
The strain on the line was tremendous, and it hummed like
a harp string. But for the post to aid them, they must have let go. At
length, even the enormous strength at the other end of the line began
to be exhausted. Foot by foot the slack was gathered in and held at the
post. Then a great ugly-looking head could be seen in the edge of the
breakers, and the next minute a rifle ball crashed into it.
In the flurry that followed the line snapped, and the boys
uttered a cry of dismay. But the bullet had done its work, and a few
minutes later the huge carcass was rolling like a log in the surf. The
sailor managed to get a bight of the line over its tail, and by their
united efforts the great fish was drawn partly from the water; but
beyond there they could not move it. It was nearly fifteen feet long,
and Sumner shuddered as he realized how easily and quickly such a
monster as that could have dragged him out to sea.
"It seems to me," said Worth, "that some kinds of fishing
are as dangerous as deer hunting, and just as exciting."
While they were still looking at the big shark their
attention was attracted to a loud barking in the beach scrub behind
them, and by a man's voice shouting: "Wus-le! Wus-le! You, sir! Come
here!" It was evident that Wus-le was a dog, and that he was engaged in
some absorbing occupation that forbade him to pay any attention to the
calls of his unseen master.
Going to the place from which the barking came, the shark
fishers were in time to witness a most interesting performance. A small
brindled bull terrier was tearing in a circle round and round a coiled
rattlesnake. The former was barking furiously, and the sound so enraged
the snake that the angry whir-r-r-r of its rattles was almost
continuous. At the same time it was dazed by the rapidity of the dog's
motions. At length it sprang forward, struck viciously, and missed its
mark. At the same moment the dog dashed in, seized the snake by the
back, gave one furious shake, and jumped away. The snake was evidently
injured, for it re-coiled slowly. Once more, enraged beyond endurance,
it struck at its agile adversary, and then the dog had him. in an
instant the snake's back was broken, and a minute later it lay
motionless and dead.
As soon as he was certain of his victory, the dog paid no
more attention to his late enemy, but with panting breath and lolling
tongue that betrayed the energy of his recent exertions, he ran to meet
his master, who appeared at that moment from the direction of the river.
He was a powerfully built man, dressed partly as a hunter
and partly as a sailor. He carried a rifle, and introduced himself as
the keeper of the house of refuge a few miles up the coast. He
upbraided the dog as though it were a human being for tackling a
rattlesnake, and then remarked apologetically to the spectators of the
recent fight: "I have to scold him on general principles, but it don't
do any good. He is bound to fight and kill snakes till they kill him,
which I am always expecting they will. They haven't done it yet,
though, and he has killed more than twenty rattlers, besides more Of
other kinds than I can count. He's a good dog, Wus-le is, and he's a
terror to snakes."
The man said he had learned of the Lieutenant and his
companions being in the river from the mail carrier, and, feeling
lonely, had come to invite them to go to the station and stay with him
until the wind changed. As he assured them that this was not likely to
happen for several days, and as they were ahead of the time set for
their arrival at Cape Florida, Lieutenant Carey accepted the invitation.
On their way up the river their guide pointed out a grove
of coconut palms, marking the site of a fort erected during the
Seminole War, the name of which was at one time familiar to all
Americans. It was the scene of the treacherous seizure of the famous
chief Osceola, who was lured into it under the pretense of considering
a treaty. From there he was hurried to Fort Moultrie, in Charleston
Harbor, where he soon afterwards died of a broken heart.
They found the station to be a low, roomy structure,
surrounded by broad piazzas, built in the most solid manner so as to
withstand hurricanes. It stood on top of the beach ridge, and commanded
a glorious view of the ocean, as well as of the low-lying back country.
At one end was a small separate house containing a great cistern, in
which a supply of water was collected during the rainy season of
summer, to last through the long winter drought. At the opposite end
stood a building in which was kept a metallic lifeboat and a quantity
of canned provisions for the use of sailors who might be wrecked on
that lonely coast.
Here the exploring party remained for nearly a week, while
the wind still held steadily to the east, and they all declared it to
be the happiest and most interesting week of their cruise.
They hunted, fished, and sailed on the inland waters
behind the beach ridge to their hearts' content. Quorum was kept
constantly busy cooking on the station kitchen stove the venison, fish,
turtle, ducks, quail, 'possum, and other food supplies with which the
surrounding country abounded.
Worth felt that his reputation as a hunter was fully
restored when he shot a; wildcat that Wus-le had treed, and Sumner was
more than proud over the killing of a black bear, which the same
enterprising dog discovered one night digging for turtle eggs on the
beach but a short distance from the station. The Lieutenant worked at
the report of his expedition, while the sailor and the keeper labored
at the frame of a light-draught, seagoing boat, which the latter wished
to build for his own use, and for which Sumner furnished the plans and
model.
At length the wind, which in that country always boxes the
compass, worked around to the westward, and as it was the end of March,
the canoes were again loaded, and the pleasant life at the station came
to an end.
..
© 2001 Craig O'Donnell, editor & general factotum.
May not be reproduced without my permission.
Go scan your own damn
stuff.
