CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MEDICINE MAN.
SUNRISE found the boys well on their way to Indiantown. By nine o'clockthey were entering the jungle where Charley had been fired at on hisprevious trip. Before entering it, however, the lads stopped and cuttwo long slender poles with which to kill the moccasins basking on theroad.
This time no rifle bullets halted their progress, but the snakes werethere, and, by the time they had passed out of the jungle they hadslaughtered over fifty of the loathsome creatures.
"Whew!" exclaimed Walter, as they broke out of the darkness of thejungle, "that's the most awful place I was ever in. It fairly reekswith rottenness and fever."
"Yes," Charley assented. "I dread putting the machine into it, butit's got to be done. I am going to set fire to it before the machinegets there; that may help some. Once we get through it, we are overthe worst. There's Indiantown, about two miles from here. Now, Ifigure that the motive for the attacks on us lies somewhere betweenthe machine and Indiantown, for the strange white men never go beyondthe trading-post, but, for the life of me, I can see nothing in thiscountry that would supply the motive, can you?"
"No," Walter admitted. "The land seems fertile enough, but there isplenty of good cheap land along the coast, right close to the railroad,so no one would want to come way out here for land. There is notenough timber here to offer any temptation, and we know that Floridacontains no iron, coal, or precious minerals. I can see no motive forany striving out here. I guess we are just dreaming when we talk of apowerful motive out here."
"It's no dream," said Charley decidedly, "unless that fire was a dream,those convicts a dream, that dynamite a dream, the assault on McCartya dream, those rifle-bullets a dream, and the whole one disagreeablenightmare."
"Well, let's forget it all," urged Walter. "Remember, this is apleasure trip, and we want to make the most of it."
This conversation brought the two lads to the first Indian dwelling,but they found it empty, as was the next and the next. Near the middleof the little settlement, however, they came upon the whole tribe,gathered around a large wigwam. Unlike the other buildings, this onewas not only thatched on top, but was also inclosed on sides andends with bark and palmetto leaves. In one end was a small opening,just large enough for a man to enter by lying flat on the ground andwriggling through.
The two lads approached the silent group with their interest thoroughlyaroused.
"What's the matter, Willie John?" Charley asked of an Indian he knew.
"Chief plenty sick," said the Indian sadly. "Indians go get palefacedoctor, but paleface doctor say medicine no good, chief must die, butmedicine man say he cure chief for two ponies. All right, we givetwo ponies. Medicine man come pretty soon to cure chief. No cure, noponies. Understand?"
Charley nodded comprehensively. "Can we go in and see the chief?" heasked.
"I guess so," said the Indian indifferently. "It no matter, I guess.Chief be dead, maybe, before medicine man comes. He have to come allthe way from Big Cypress."
Charley did not wait for other permission. Lying flat on his stomach,he wriggled into the wigwam, followed by his chum. Once inside the ladsfound themselves in pitch darkness, save that in a distant corner afeeble rushlight, set in an earthen saucer of oil, glowed faintly. Fora moment, the lads were sorry that they had been so rash in entering,for the close air of the wigwam was heavy with the sickening smell offever. A low moaning from one corner, however, drew them on.
On a bed of boughs and skins near the rushlight lay what had been oncea magnificent figure of a warrior. The rushlight was too dim to be ofmuch use, so Walter lit match after match, while Charley bent over andexamined the stricken man. The warrior was hardly more than a skeleton.The skin was drawn tightly over protruding cheek bones, and the black,beady eyes glowed with unearthly brightness in their deep sockets.
Charley felt of the Indian's cheek. It was almost hot enough to burnhis hand. "We can do nothing for him," he said to his chum. "He isjust skin and bones, and he cannot live long with such a fever. We hadbetter get out of here. He may have something contagious. We were foolsto come in here."
But, before the boys could reach the opening, the Indians outside beganto wriggle in, each bearing a rushlight in its earthen saucer of oil."Medicine man come," whispered Willie John, as he passed them. "Bettersit down and keep still. Indians no like you go now. They get plentyangry if you go."
The boys' curiosity overcame their prudence. They were both anxious towitness the rites of the medicine man and they seated themselves amongthe Indians, who, after lighting their rushlights, set them together inthe middle of the wigwam and sat down Turk fashion on either side ofthe wigwam and folded their arms across their breasts. It was a curiousscene, with the dim glow of the rushlights falling on their impassivefaces and black, beady eyes.
For perhaps ten minutes the silence was unbroken save by the restlesstossing and moaning of the sick man. Then, from outside the tent came ashrill, wailing sound, gradually getting nearer and nearer, until theskin that covered the entrance was pushed to one side and through theopening wriggled a figure that made the boys' flesh creep. Once insidethe figure rose erect, and the lads could see in the rushlights' glowthat it was an old Indian, naked save for a loin cloth. So old was hethat his face was a mass of wrinkles, and he tottered as he walked.Around his withered neck was a string of alligators' teeth, and fromhis arms and waist and ankles hung strings of human bones. His witheredbody was painted a vivid red, slashed with streaks of bright yellow. Inhis right hand he carried a wand, from which hung dozens of rattlesnakerattles, which made a noise like the song of a locust whenever he movedhis skinny arm. In his left hand was clutched a bag made of snake skin.
As this grewsome object passed by them the boys shrank back in dread,but the old savage did not notice them. He tottered on, and sank tothe ground beside the sick man. Then followed a scene which the boysnever forgot. Rolling on the ground beside the sick man the old Indianbegan to beat the air with his hands, uttering a low, wailing cry,that was taken up and repeated by the circle of Seminoles. Faster andfaster the old man beat the air, flecks of foam gathered on his lips,and his withered face grew horribly contorted. With his talon-likehands he began clawing at the sick man, who was twisting and tossingon his couch, as though with convulsions. The medicine man paused fora moment in his wild exertions, and, taking from his snakeskin bag apacket of reddish powder, he scattered it over the burning rushlights.Immediately there rose a sweet, sickening, pungent vapor, that made theboys gasp for breath. They would have given a good deal to have got outin the fresh air, but they were afraid the Indians would resent anymove on their part, and, besides, they were curious to see the end ofthis weird ceremony. They had not long to wait. The medicine man, witha sudden yell, snatched a knife from his loin cloth and plunged it intothe sick man's arm. Into the long, shallow cut he had made he rubbedmore of the reddish powder; then, with a long-drawn-out wail, he sankback to the ground and his limbs and body stiffened out as rigid asstone. Evidently this was the end of the incantations, for a couple ofIndians advanced, and, picking up the stiff figure, bore it outside ofthe wigwam. The two lads started to follow, but Willie John put forth adetaining hand.
"Go look at chief first," he said, and they silently obeyed.
The change in the sick man was amazing. They could hardly believe theireyes. The haggard look of pain had disappeared from his face, his skinwas moist and cool, his tossing had ceased, and he had fallen into adeep sleep.
"Pale face doctor no cure chief like medicine man," proudly said WillieJohn, and the wondering lads had to admit the truth of his assertion.
Outside the two lads found the Indians dashing water in the medicineman's face and trying to bring him out of his cataleptic state.
"He be all right, pretty soon," Willie John assured them. "Alway he getstiff like this when he wrestles with the evil spirits of sickness.Now I will go and get two ponies for you." He soon returned, leadingtwo ponies already saddled and
bridled. The boys mounted, and, withfarewell waves of the hand, rode out of the camp and turned into theroad leading to the great lake.
"What did you think of that business back there?" Walter asked, as soonas they were out of hearing of the little settlement.
"I give it up," Charley said frankly. "It's a mystery beyond me. Ofcourse, I don't take much stock in all that wriggling, clawing, andwailing, but there must certainly be some wonderful curative agent inthat powder. I agree with the doctor that the chief was dying when themedicine man came."
"Well, it is not so very wonderful, after all, when one stops toconsider the matter," said Walter reflectively. "The Seminoles are anold, old race, so old that nobody knows how old they are. For ages andages they have lived in these great swamps, and it would be strange,indeed, if the more intelligent of them had not by this time found someremedy for the fevers of the country."
"It's interesting, anyway," Charley declared. "I'd give somethingto know what that powder was made of. It would be a blessing to thefever-stricken world."