CHAPTER XXVIII.
SHOOTING TO KILL.
WHEN night came Charley and Walter had to go on the picket line alone,for the two remaining Spanish guards would have to join the gradinggang in the morning. They adopted the plan the first two Spanish guardshad used of each one making a half circle of the camp. For severalhours they paced wearily back and forth, but as midnight drew nearthey became more watchful and alert, for this was the hour that theirenemies generally chose to make their attacks.
All the camp was fast asleep and silence reigned unbroken, exceptfor the exhaust of the machine and the occasional heavy fall of afire-eaten tree in the jungle. But in their loneliness the boys werecomforted by the knowledge that in their tents Captain, Chris, theengineers, and many of the Spaniards were sleeping, fully dressed withtheir guns by their sides, ready to run to the lads' assistance at thefirst alarm.
And soon it came, the sharp crack of rifles around both camp andmachine. The two lads answered promptly, firing at the bright streaksof the blazing rifles in the darkness.
"Keep down, keep down. Get behind the sand heaps," Charley shouted, asthose in the tents came running to their assistance. "Keep down. Theyare shooting to kill this time."
A rain of bullets thudded against the sand heaps as the defendersdropped behind them and fired over the tops. The darkness was piercedwith streaks of spurting fire as rifle spoke to rifle. It was evidentthat the enemy were shooting to kill, and the defenders did the same.Wherever a rifle flash lit up the darkness they aimed at the placeand quickly fired. Occasional cries and oaths told them that some oftheir bullets were finding their mark. But they were not to go unhurtfor their part. Charley, who had raised himself up to fire, felt thethud of a bullet and his left arm dropped helplessly by his side. Inthe excitement he felt no pain, but, letting go his rifle, he drew hisautomatic and blazed away with it. Walter, behind the next pile, hadhis straw hat shot off his head. Bob Bratton pitched forward on hisface and lay still and motionless, while one of the Spaniards sank tothe ground, his hand clapped to a wounded leg and cursed fluently. OnceWalter glanced back at the machine. Its platform was revolving rapidlyand the rifles of its crew were spatting viciously. But the enemy didnot now have the protection of the trees, and they could not long facethe hail of lead being poured upon them. Their firing suddenly ceased.From where they had stood came piercing shrieks, and following theshrieks came frightened yells and the thud of running feet.
"Captain, take most of the men and go to the aid of the machine,"Charley commanded. "The fighting is over here." The old sailor hurriedaway, followed by McCarty and most of the Spaniards.
From the darkness ahead of the two boys still came the awful shrieks.
"Chris, get a lantern, we must find out what's the matter out there,"Charley said.
The little negro was back in a minute with the light and, taking itfrom him, Walter led the way hastily toward the shrieks which weregrowing fainter. He was closely followed by his chum and Chris withtheir automatics in their hands. As the lantern lit up the scene of theshrieks, Walter shrank back with a cry of fear and horror. A hideoushead with lidless gleaming eyes was reared many feet above the ground.Recovering himself with an effort, the lad raised his automatic andfired directly between the gleaming eyes. At the same minute Charleyand Chris discharged their weapons and the hideous head fell to theground.
Holding aloft the light, the three frightened boys advanced cautiously.Its rays shone down on a sickening sight. On the ground lay one ofthe gunmen crushed into a shapeless mass, while, still partly coiledaround the man's body, a great boa constrictor writhed in its lastdeath struggles.
"Ugh!" shuddered Walter, "I did not know there was such an awful thingin Florida."
"Fire drove it out of the jungle, I guess," said Charley jerkingly."Let's get back to camp. Bratton has fallen and one of the Spaniards isbadly hurt. We can do nothing here, it's all over."
They had carried Bratton in and laid him upon his cot and were helpingthe wounded Spaniard in, when Walter cried:
"Look at the machine! Look at the machine!"
The machine and the air about it was a mass of flames. Black figureswere leaping from its platform.
"Rifle bullet hit gas tank," muttered Charley dreamily. "Explosion.Can't work nights. Keep her going daytimes, Walt. Enough men unhurt todo that. I'm tired, awfully tired. Think I'll go to sleep pretty soon,"and the lad, weak from loss of blood, sank unconscious to the ground.
When Charley opened his eyes it was to find himself in his cot, his armneatly bound in splints, the sun shining in the open tent flaps, andWalter sitting on a box by his side.
"How did I get here?" he asked in wonder. "The last I remember was themachine being in flames."
"You keeled over in a faint," Walter replied cheerfully. "Loss ofblood, I guess."
"Was there any one killed?" Charley demanded anxiously.
"We thought Bratton was for a while, but the bullet hit a rib andglanced out again, making only a flesh wound. He'll be all right againin a week. The three Spaniards on the machine got pretty badly burned,but not dangerously so. Luckily for them, the ditch was there. Theyjumped right off the machine into it. The engineer by some miracleescaped without a burn. Sicavia, the Spaniard that was wounded in theleg, will be around again in a few days. He has only got a flesh wound.I guess that's all, except we buried that dead gunman this morning."
"The machine, is it running?" Charley questioned eagerly.
"Yes, I got them to start her up again this morning. But we can't runher nights for we have neither lights nor a night crew."
"Go on," said Charley gravely. "I see that there's worse to follow."
"Well, if you will have it, I suppose you might as well learn it now asa little later," Walter said. "The fact is the whole gang of Spaniardsare going to quit. I had hard work to get any of them to remain overto-day."
"I suppose this is the end," said Charley, with a wry smile. "Well, wehave fought a good fight, and I, for one, am not going to give up yet."
"There is such a thing as knowing when one is licked," his chum saidsadly, "and I think about every one on the job has reached that point.I do not see how we can do anything more."
Charley lay quiet for a minute thinking, then he said quietly: "Willyou get me about a pint of hot, strong coffee, Walt?"
"Sure," answered his chum quickly, glad to see Charley taking the illnews so quietly.
When he returned it was to find his chum sitting on the edge of his cottrying to dress, but making an awkward job of it with only one hand.
"You must not get up," he protested, but Charley only smiled and saidlightly: "Nonsense, a broken arm is no excuse for lying in bed. Why, itdon't even pain me much. The pain will come later when the bone beginsto knit. Will you please get all the men together? I want to talk withthem a bit."
When Walter had gone the lad finished dressing and drank the strongcoffee, which put new strength in his body.
When he emerged from the tent it was to find that his chum had gatheredtogether in a body outside all the men but those confined to thehospital tent. He had even brought in the men from the machine, whichhad been stopped for the purpose.
Charley wasted no time in idle words, but came directly to the point.
"My chum tells me, men, that you all want to quit," he said in Spanish.
"Si, senor, si, senor (Yes sir, yes sir), came the eager answer fromthe crowd.
"You are your own masters," continued the lad. "Of course, you arefree to quit whenever you want to and there will be no trouble aboutgetting your money when you wish to go, although your month is not upyet." He paused for a moment and looked over the eager faces gatheredbefore him, before he continued: "I would not attempt to keep you onthis job against your will, but I will say that I think it is foolishof you to quit now. All the bridges between here and Jupiter have beendestroyed, so I cannot take you in with the truck. To attempt to makeyour way in through the woods and carry your belongings with you wouldbe folly,
for the way would be long and winding and you would run therisk of getting lost. Besides, there are several of your companions whoare sick and unable to travel. Surely you do not want to desert them.Now, what I wish to propose is this: You all know the teamster has gonein to get more mules. We expect him back any hour. When he comes if youare still minded to quit, we will hire an Indian guide and send you inby wagon. Until he comes, I would ask you to continue at work. Ourlights on the machine are ruined so we can only work day times, and inthe day time you are in no danger from our enemies. Those of you who donot work on the machine will throw up breastworks all around the campso that we will be well protected at night."
When he ceased the Spaniards drew to one side for consultation. In afew minutes Bossie came forward and said in his quaint broken English:
"We stay till by and bye, wagon come, then catchee town. We all likeeBoss plenty. Likee grub, likee job, but no likee mud, no likee fever,no likee shooting all the time. We work till wagon come--no more."
"Good," said Charley, "you can go back to work now. It might be worse,"he remarked to his chum. "The machine will be kept going day timesanyway."