CHAPTER XXVII.
BURNING OUT THE JUNGLE.
WHEN the boys left the machine to return to camp the men were in thehighest of spirits and the ground men were joking Bossie about his redface.
"I really believe that dye business is going to work out to ouradvantage," Charley remarked to his chum. "Those Spaniards will not beso likely to get frightened next time at a little thing they do notunderstand."
"I hope you're right," Walter said, "but, if these night attacks keepup much longer, I believe all the men will quit, and I shall not blamethem if they do. One cannot expect men to work hard and then havetargets made of them every night, all for $2.00 a day."
"No," Charley agreed, "but we have got to hold them as long as we can.I am in hopes that Mr. Bruce will come to our rescue in some way. Ifhe does not and this sort of thing continues, we are bound to go undersooner or later. We will simply be unable to keep men on the job."
"How do we stand now?" Walter asked.
"I haven't figured it out exactly," his chum replied, "but we are notmuch ahead of the game, for our expenses so far have been enormous.After this month's wages have been paid the men we will have but littleleft. Of course, we have got the part of the reward for the convictscoming and the money from the sale of the rings, but we have gotneither of those yet and we cannot tell when we will get them. We arewell equipped for three months ahead now, plenty of food, a new pair ofmules on the way, and new parts for the machine. We will be under butlittle expense for several months to come. We are making good money onthe digging, and if we could continue it in peace, we would have a goodlump sum coming to us at the end of the job. But if this interferencekeeps up, the machine will be laid up and we will be broke--that's all."
"But there's the money for what we have already done," suggested Walterhopefully.
"We will not get that until the middle of next month," his chum saidgloomily. "If we are forced to quit the job before then we will getnothing. The county will keep it for failure to carry out our contract.We have just simply got to keep the machine working, that's all."
When the boys arrived at camp, Charley went at once to the hospitaltent, where he found both sick men slightly improved. He left fourquinine tablets with each, with directions to take one every twohours. To Chris he gave instructions to prepare some rich broth and drytoast for the invalids. This done, the two lads turned in and sleptsoundly until well along in the afternoon.
They found the Captain had not been idle while they rested. With hisgraders he had thrown up mounds of dirt and roots every fifty feetcircling the camp.
"Good!" approved Charley, as he viewed the old sailor's work. "Whenwe get behind those we will be fairly safe from bullets. I wish thosetrees out there were out of the way. They give the enemy too muchprotection."
"There are only about a dozen of them big enough to give anyprotection," Walter observed. "Why not blow them up with dynamite?"
The suggestion was a good one and they immediately set about carryingit out. Assisted by the Captain with his graders, they dug holes underthe trees' roots and placing several sticks of dynamite under each,thus exploded them with a fuse and cap. The powerful explosive blew thebig trees clear out of the ground and in some cases many feet aboveground before they fell.
"That's better," said Charley, with satisfaction when the job wascompleted.
"We can make still another improvement," Walter suggested. "Why not setfire to the roots? They are pitchy enough to burn good and the fireswill show up any one trying to approach the camp."
The idea was so feasible that the lads carried it out at once, and bythe time night fell a bright glowing ring of fires surrounded the camp.
"I don't believe they will bother us to-night with all those firesgoing, but we'll keep watch just the same," Charley said. "We cannot betoo careful."
The camp was not molested during the night, but about the middle of thenight there came explosions at regular intervals from the direction ofIndiantown.
Charley chuckled. "They are shutting the stable door after the horse isstolen," he remarked. "They are blowing up the bridges between here andIndiantown."
"I expected that would be their next move. That's why I was in such ahurry to get the provisions from the Indians."
"But the blowing up of the bridges ahead of us will stop the machine,"Walter said.
"No, it will only delay us a little," his chum replied. "It's easilyremedied. When the machine gets to a blown-up bridge it will simplyface around and fill up the gap with mud and sand, and after it haspassed over it will dig out the gap again and our bridgemen will put ina new bridge, which they would have to do anyway."
"I see," said Walter, greatly relieved. "Things are not always as badas they seem."
But while the lads had reason to be thankful for a quiet night, theywere not encouraged by the state of affairs in the camp next morning.Two more men, a ground man and a grader, were down with the fever. Thecondition of the other two sick men was greatly improved, but it wasplainly evident that it would still be several days before they wouldbe strong enough to go to work.
The lads provided the new sick ones with medicine and made them ascomfortable as they could before they themselves retired to rest.
"You'll have to get along with one man to-day, and let the other one goon the machine gang," Charley told the Captain. "To-morrow the guardswill be rested up and you can have them to help you. Walt and I willkeep watch alone hereafter."
"If this thing keeps up much longer it will not need the enemy to putus out of business," he remarked to his chum as they prepared for bed."We can't spare another man off the job. If just one more man caves inwe will only be able to run the machine half time, and that's a losingproposition. The worst of it is that we cannot get into town to getmore men until Canady returns with the mules. I can't imagine what'skeeping him. He ought to have been back yesterday."
"Well, let's not worry until the things actually happen," said Waltersleepily, as he stretched out on his cot. "It don't pay to cross abridge until you get to it."
"We have got to set fire to that jungle to-day," said Charley somehours later, as rested and refreshed, the lads ate their mid-afternoonmeal. "The machine is within a thousand feet of it now. It will not doto wait until it gets closer, for the heat from that fire is going tobe intense. We can't do better than to start it right now. The wind isblowing away from the machine, so the crew will not be troubled withthe smoke."
The boys stopped at the first wood pile and split up a log of fat pineinto long sticks for torches. Carrying these and a plentiful supply ofmatches, they made their way out to the edge of the jungle, which wasnot far from their new camp. Lighting their torches, one went north andthe other south, scattering fire as they went. After they had startedblazes for a couple of hundred yards either way, they returned to theroad and watched the progress of the flames.
"Isn't there danger of its sweeping on into Indiantown?" asked Walter,as the flames began to mount skyward.
"No," replied his chum. "I made sure of that before I decided to setfire to it. There is a creek running along the other side of the junglethat will stop its progress. Just look at it. Did you ever see anythinglike it?"
The two boys stood and watched with awe the mighty conflagration theyhad started. The jungle was filled with dead and dying trees whichflamed up like tinder at the fire's breath. Soon the flames wereshooting up forty or fifty feet high and the roaring was like that ofa mighty tempest. The heat quickly grew so intense that the boys werecompelled to retreat slowly back to the machine. Even there the heatcould be felt, although it was a thousand feet to the jungle and thewind was blowing the fire away from them.
The engineer stopped the machine for a few minutes to give all hands achance to view the wonderful sight.
As the pillars of flame and smoke reared themselves skyward, the boysrealized with astonishment that the jungle that had seemed so lifelesswas really teeming with life. From both sides of the mighty blaze rosegreat f
locks of blue and white cranes, egrets, whoopers, owls, parrots,great scarlet flamingoes, and dozens of strange birds the like of whichthe boys had never seen before. Nor was animal life lacking in eithernumber or variety. Hundreds of hairy swamp rabbits, as big as a smalldog, poured out from their doomed hiding places. Great big rats by thethousands swarmed by the machine. A couple of deer went by, coveringthe ground with great bounds. Wild cats, foxes, squirrels poured forthin great numbers. One huge, sprawling object emerged from the thicketand lumbered toward the machine, but before reaching it turned asideand sunk with a splash in a nearby lake.
"Whew!" breathed the engineer, "that was the grandfather of allalligators. He must be all of twenty feet long."
As the fire spread to either side the flow of animal life was divertedin other directions and their rushing by the machine ceased.
"I believe that fire will kill every snake in the jungle," Charleydeclared with satisfaction.
"I doubt it. They will just keep under water until it is all over," hischum replied.
"That water is shoal and stagnant," Charley reminded him. "Burningbranches and trees are dropping in it all the time. I'll bet it isactually boiling by now."