CHAPTER XXXII
CHRISTMAS MORNING--VOYAGE--VALUABLE DISCOVERY--HOSTILEINVASION--ROBBERY--MASTERLY RETREAT--BATTLE AT LAST--A QUARREL REQUIRESTWO QUARRELLERS--THE GHOST'S VISIT
There may have been many a more noisy Christmas, but never a brighterone, and few merrier, than that which dawned upon our young marooners;nor was it entirely without its noise. The boys had requested Sam, incase he was first awake, to rouse them at the break of day, and he hadpromised to do so. A secret whispering had been observed between himand Frank; and the latter had also begged for a piece of twine, which hepromised to return, but the use of which he refused to tell.Conjecturing that it was intended for some piece of harmless fun, theygave it to him, and waited his own time to reveal the purpose.
On going to bed Mary noticed that Frank fidgetted a great deal with histoes, and seemed to be much tickled with several remarks made byhimself, but which seemed to her to have nothing in them particularlywitty. He was evidently in a frolic, and wanted excuses to laugh. Inthe dead of night, as Mary supposed, though it was really just beforeday, she was awakened by feeling him move restlessly, and then put hishands to his feet with the inquiry:
"What is the matter with my toe?"
"Is there anything the matter with it!" she drowsily asked.
"O, no, nothing at all," he replied. "I dreamed that a rat was gnawingit off. But it is only a string I tied there myself."
He then turned over, and lay still, pretending to be asleep; but when heheard her breathe hard, he slipped out of bed, put on his clothes, andwent softly out of the tent. Sam had agreed to wake him, so that theytwo might, according to Christmas custom, "catch" the others, by hailingthem first; and as Sam could not go into the room where Mary slept, hepersuaded Frank to tie a string to one of his toes, and to pass theother end outside of the tent. It was Sam's pulling at this string thatgave Frank his dream, and finally waked him. For a minute or two theywhispered together in merry mood, and on Sam's saying, "Now, Mas Frank,now!" the roar of two guns, and then the sound of a conch, broke uponthe ears of the startled sleepers.
"Good morning, lazy folks!" said Frank, bursting into the tent. "MerryChristmas to you all!"
"Merry Christmas, Mas Robbut!" Sam echoed from behind, "Merry Christmas,Mas Harrol! Merry Christmas, little Missus!"
"Fairly caught!" answered Robert; "and now, I suppose, we must look outsome presents for you both."
The company completed their toilet, and came together under the awning,which was still their kitchen. The day star was "flaming" gloriously,and the approach of day was marked by a hazy belt of light above theeastern horizon. They kindled their fire, and prepared for breakfast,with many jests and kind expressions; then sobering themselves to abecoming gravity, they sat around the red blaze, and engaged in theirusual morning worship.
While the sun threw his first slanting beams across the island, Haroldwent to the landing, and returned, saying, "Come all. The tide has beengoing down for hours, and is now running like a mill-tail!"
Hastening their preparations, they were in a short time seated upon theraft, Sam at the helm, and Robert and Harold by turn at the oars. Borneby the current, and impelled by their own efforts, they were not twohours in reaching the proposed landing place.
They were not two hours in reaching the proposed landingplace]
The river was exceedingly crooked, and so densely bordered withmangroves, that from the place they left to that which they sought, itwas nowhere possible for them to reach the shore. Once when theyapproached nearest land, they saw a herd of deer peep inquisitively atthem through an opening glade, and turn quietly to feed. The tall heronwas a frequent sight, lifting its long blue neck high as their heads,and then flapping its broad wings to escape too near an approach; andthe dapper kingfisher turning his big head to look at them; and the"poor jobs," or small white cranes clustering thick upon the dead trees;and the Spanish curlew sticking forward its long curved bill; and thegrey curlew with its keen note; and the marsh hens, cackling far andnear, to say (such is the report) that the tide is moving; and ducksrising in clouds from different points of the marsh and reaches of theriver;--these sights were very frequent, and seen with the bright eyesof young people on a Christmas excursion, imparted a charming vivacityto the scene.
Passing a creek which drained the marsh to their left, they made adiscovery, which proved a valuable one indeed. Harold was looking upthe creek with that universal scrutiny that had become in him secondnature, when he suddenly dropped his oars, exclaiming, "What is that?"
The raft shot so quickly past that no one but Sam had time to look. He,however, replied instantly, "Starn ob a vessel!"
"Stern of a vessel, did you say?" inquired Robert. "'Bout ship, Sam.Come, Harold, let us pull right for it and see."
They brought the raft into an eddy near shore, and though it required aprodigious pull to propel so clumsy a thing against the tide from thecreek, they managed to do so, and discovered not the stern of a vesselonly, but the whole of a small brig turned bottom upwards, and lyingacross the creek jammed in the mud and mangroves.
"Well, that is indeed a Christmas gift worth having," said Robert. "DidI say Santa Claus never heard of this island? I take that back; he hasnot forgotten us."
"He or some One greater," interposed Mary, with seriousness.
They rowed alongside, and tried to enter; but having no tools forpenetrating the vessel's side, nor candles for lighting them after theyhad entered, they concluded to prosecute their voyage, and to delaytheir visit to the wreck till Monday.
With this intention they pushed out of the creek, and descended to theproposed landing, where they made fast their raft to a crooked root, andstepped upon a firm beach of mixed mud and sand. The fiddlers (a smallvariety of crabs that look at a little distance like enormous blackspiders) were scampering in every direction, with their mouths coveredwith foam, and their threatening claws raised in self-defence, untileach one dived into its little hole, and peeped slyly at the strangeintruders. A wild cat sat upon a neighbouring tree, watching theirmotions with as much composure as if she were a favourite tabby in hermistress' parlour. Frank was the first to spy and point it out. It waswithin a good rifle shot.
"Stand still a moment, if you wish to see how far a cat can jump," saidHarold.
He rested his rifle upon a small tree, and taking steady aim, sent theball, from a distance of seventy yards, through both sides of the cat,directly behind the shoulders. She leaped an immense distance, and felldead. Frank seized it, saying it was _his_ cat, and that he intended totake off its skin, and make it into a cap like cousin Harold's.
From the landing they followed the mark left by their hatchet upon thetrees in their exploring tour, and it was not long before theyrecognized from a distance the poplar or tulip tree, in the hollow baseof which the bear had made her den.
As yet Mum had given no indications of alarm; but on approaching thetree the boys selected for Mary and Frank a pretty little oak, withhorizontal branches, in full sight of the den; and having prepared thema seat made comfortable with moss, and helped them into it, advanced tothe field of battle.
To their disappointment the old bear was gone. The sun shone full intothe hole, and revealed the two cubs alone, nicely rolled up in themiddle of their bed, and soundly asleep. There was some reason tosuppose that the mother would return before they left the neighbourhood,and in this expectation Harold prepared to secure the cubs. He placedRobert and Sam as videttes at a little distance, and also charged Maryand Frank to keep a sharp look out from their elevated position, whileMum and Fidelle were set to beating the surrounding bushes as scouts.But, notwithstanding all his care and skill, he found that the work ofcapturing the cubs was very difficult. The cavity being too large toallow of reaching them with his arms, and afraid to trust himself insidethe hole, lest the old bear should arrive and catch him in the act, herelied upon throwing a slip noose over their heads, or upon their feet;but young as th
ey were he found them astonishingly expert in warding offhis traps. The only plan by which he at last succeeded, was with ahooked pole, by which he drew forth first one, and then the other, tothe mouth of the den, where, after sundry bites and scratches, he seizedtheir hind legs, passed a cord round their necks, and made it secure bya fast knot. This done, he tied each to a tree, where they growled andwhined loudly for help. The hunters were now in a momentary expectationof hearing the bushes burst asunder, and seeing the old bear comeroaring upon them; but she was too far distant, and had no suspicion ofthe savage robbery that was going on at her quiet home.
It was fully an hour before the cubs were taken and secured. By thattime Mary and Frank had become so weary of their unnatural roosting,that they begged the others to cease their hunt, and return at once tothe raft. But here arose a new and unforeseen difficulty. The distanceto the raft was considerable, and the way was so tangled that they hadmade slow progress when they came; what could they now do, encumberedwith two disorderly captives, and in constant danger of attack from thefiercest beast of the forest, "a bear robbed of her whelps"? It waseasy enough to decide this question, if they would consent to free thecaptives and return as they came. But no one, except Mary and Frank,entertained this idea for a moment; they would have been ashamed to giveup through fear what they had undertaken through choice.
The plan they at last devised was this--which though appearing to assignthe post of danger to the youngest, was in fact the safest they couldadopt. Mary and Frank led each a cub, but they were instructed to dropthe cord on the first appearance of danger, and run to the safest point.Sam marched in the van, Harold brought up the rear; Mary and Frank werein the centre, and while Robert guarded one flank, the dogs were kept asmuch as possible on the other. It was with much misgiving that thisplan was adopted, for the boys began to feel that they had engaged in afoolish scrape, involving a needless exposure of the young people, aswell as of themselves. But they were now _in for it_, and they had nochoice, except to go forward or to give up the project in disgrace.Formed in retreating column as described, and ready for instant battle,they turned their faces to the river, and marched with what haste theycould.
They had not gone many steps, however, before Harold suddenly facedabout, levelled his piece, and called to them to "look out!" He heard abush move behind him, and supposed, of course, that it was the bearcoming in pursuit, but it proved to be only a bent twig righting itselfto its natural position.
Not long after Robert raised a similar alarm on his side, and levelledhis gun at some unseen object that was moving rapidly through thebushes. Mary and Frank dropped the cords, and Frank clambered up asmall tree near at hand. Mary turned very pale, and ran first to Sam,but hearing the noise approach that way, she ran back to Harold forprotection. The next moment she saw Sam drop his gun from its aim, andcall out,
"You Mum! Come in, sah! You git yo' libber shot out o' you, you scarywarment!"
The alarm was occasioned by Mum, who, unperceived by any, had wanderedto the wrong side.
The cubs, trained by this time to obey the cord, and either weary withthe walk, or submissive to a fate that seemed so gentle, had not stirredfrom the spot where they were left. Frank slipped quietly from histree, hoping that nobody had seen him; but Robert caught his eye, andgave a sly wink, to which Frank doggedly replied,
"I don't care, sir. I suspect you would like to have been up a treetoo, if you could have got there."
"That I should, Frank," said Robert; "but it seems that you are the onlyone of the crowd who can find trees in time when bears are about."
They resumed their march to the landing, and were interrupted only oncemore. The bushes before them rustled loudly, Fidelle rushed forward inpursuit, and the ground shook with the heavy trampling of some largebeast. It was on Sam's side; but as he brought his piece to a level,Harold cried, "Deer! deer! don't shoot!" and again all was quiet.
A short walk brought them to the landing; where they wiped their moistbrows, and rested, thankful that they had completed their perilousjourney without accident. But their dangers were by no means over. Thetide was down; the raft was aground; it was not possible to leave forhours; and in the meantime the enraged beast might follow the trace ofher cubs, and perhaps assault them where they were. In view of thiscontingency they tied the young bears at a distance from the shore, butwithin sight of their own place of repose, confident that if the mothercame she would bestow her first care in breaking their bonds, and takingthem away, in which case they could attack and destroy her.
With this expectation they sat down to their Christmas dinner, for whichthey had by this time a pretty keen appetite. Sam stood sentry whilethey ate; then Robert and Harold by turns took his post, and gave himopportunity to dine. The spice of danger gave great zest to theenjoyment of all except Mary, who would vastly have preferred being attheir comparatively secure and quiet home upon the prairie.
The tide finally rose, and floated the raft. They once more embarked.The young bears were secured, so that they could neither escape norannoy. The fastening was cast off. Harold's oar, which he used as apole for shoving off, sunk in the yielding sand, and Robert's "Heigh hofor home!" was hardly uttered, when they heard a tramping on the bluff,and a moment after saw the bear standing on the spot they had left. Shestared in surprise at the retreating raft, whined affectionately to hercubs, who whined in answer, and tried to break loose; then seeing theirefforts to be ineffectual, and the raft to be moving away, she raisedsuch a roar as made every heart tremble, and with a fierce look at thepersons on board plunged into the water. The raft was by this time butten yards from shore, and slowly "backing" into the stream. Harold'srifle was quickly at his shoulder, and in a second more the bloodspouted from the mouth and nose of the terrible beast. But the woundwas not mortal, piercing below the eyes, and entering the nostrils andthroat; and blowing out the blood by successive snorts, she plunged on,and began to swim.
"Now, Robert!" shouted Harold, "be steady! Aim between her eyes!"
Robert fired first one barrel, and then the other; the bear sunk for amoment, borne down by the heavy shot, but she rose again, streaming withgore, and roaring till the waters trembled. Sam's gun was the onlyremaining chance, and he used it most judiciously. Waiting until thebear was almost ready to place her feet upon the raft, he coollylevelled his gun, and putting the muzzle within a few inches of her ear,poured its contents bodily into her brain. The furious creature hadjust time to grasp the side of the raft; she gave one convulsive shake,and turned on her side, stone dead.
"It was a desperate fight," said Robert, drawing a long breath.
"And a very foolish one," rejoined Harold. "I have been thinking forthe last hour that we might have been better employed."
Robert looked displeased. "Answer for yourself. If it is foolish, youhelped to bring it on."
"I know that," replied Harold, with mildness, "and that makes me condemnit the more."
"Then please, sir, not to blame the rest," said Robert, "for I am sureeverybody behaved as bravely as people could."
"I have not questioned any one's courage, nor have I quarrelled with anyone except myself," replied Harold.
"Yes, sir, you have," persisted Robert, "you called us all a parcel offools for coming on a Christmas excursion."
"O! no, brother," mediated Mary, "he only said we might have been betteremployed; and I think father would say so too. I am sure if I had knownall before coming, as I know it now, I should not have given myconsent."
"Please, mossa," said Sam, looking from one to the other, "'tain't anyo' you been de fool. Nobody fool but me. Enty I ax you,[#] please comesee my countryman in de hollow tree; and you come? And now, please,mossa, don't let my countryman git away. See he floatin' away to dealligator. Please let me catch 'em. I want him fat to fry my hominy."
[#] Did not I ask you.
Sam looked so whimsical throughout the whole of this eloquent appeal,that Robert's face relaxed from i
ts stern and angry expression, and atthe last words he caught Harold's eye, and burst into a laugh.
"Come, Harold," said he, "let us save his fat; I know his mouth watersfor it."
The quarrel was over. Indeed it could not properly be called a quarrel,for it was all on one side, and no one can quarrel alone. They caughtthe floating carcass, tied it behind the raft, then pulling into thecurrent, floated rapidly home, and reached the prairie about the middleof the afternoon.
For the rest of the day their hands were full; and it was not until lateat night that they were able to retire. The young bears were firststowed away in the same pen with the goats and deer, but Harold wasscarcely able to remove them in time to save their lives; for Nanny,after running from them as far as the limits of the pen allowed, roseupon her hind legs with a desperate baa! and bringing her stony foreheadagainst the head of the nearest, laid it senseless on the ground, andwas preparing to serve the other in the same way.
What to do with them Harold did not know. He dared not put them in thepoultry house, and he was unwilling either to shelter them in the tentor to tie them outside the palisade. So, until some other arrangementcould be devised, he fastened them to a stake inside the enclosure roundthe tent, where he supplied them with water, honey, and a piece ofvenison.
The adventure, however, was not quite over. Late in the night Sam wasawaked by feeling something move upon his bed, and put its cold noseupon his face. Thinking it was some one walking in his sleep, he calledout, "Who dah?" and putting out his hand, felt to his dismay the roughhead and shaggy skin of a bear. Sam was a firm believer in ghosts, bothhuman and brute. He gave one groan, and cried out, "O massy!" expectingthe next moment to be overpowered, if not torn to pieces; then jumpingfrom bed in the greatest hurry, he hunted tremulously for some weapon ofdefence, exclaiming all the while,
"Mas Harrol! Mas Robbut! O massy! Here de ole bear, or else he ghost,come after us."
The taper was brought from Mary's room, and disclosed the secret. Oneof the cubs feeling in the chill, night air the want of its mother'swarmth, had loosed the insecure fastening, and come to seek morecomfortable quarters in the tent. "It is your countryman's baby, Sam,"said Robert, after the excitement had subsided. "You killed its mother,and it has come, poor little orphan, to ask that you shall be its daddynow."