CHAPTER XXXVI
SUCCESSFUL WORK--EXCURSION--THE FISH-EAGLE--DIFFERENT METHODS OFPROCURING FIRE--WOODSMAN'S SHELTER AGAINST RAIN AND HAIL--NOVEL REFUGEFROM FALLING TREES
Monday morning found the labourers moving at the dawn of day. Sam wascook, and fulfilled his office with unexpected ability. His corn-breadwas delightful; no one but a negro knows how to make it.
The tools were in excellent order, and the boys commenced work in finespirits. At Harold's suggestion they resolved to work very leisurelythat day and the next, as being the surest way to attain expedition inthe end. Said he,
"My father was a great manager of horses, and sometimes made tremendousjourneys. But his rule was always to begin a long journey verymoderately. He used to say, 'If you strain a horse at the first, hewill move heavily all the way through, but if you spare him at first, hewill become gradually accustomed to the strain, and be able to push onfaster at the end than at the beginning of the journey!' Now, as we arethe horses, I think we had better make very moderate journeys today andtomorrow."
Robert was much pleased with the rule. Notwithstanding his boast, hehad shuddered at the idea of blistered hands and weary limbs; but thisplan enabled him to anticipate fresh feelings, and even increasinglabour, so long as they chose to work.
In the course of four days the second tree was cut, hewed, and excavatedto the exact shape and size of the first. They then drew for choices,and separated, each working on his own boat, within hearing of theother's ax and mallet. One reason, perhaps, of the increased rapidityof their work, was a lesson which they learned of employing every momentto advantage, and of resting themselves by a mere change of work. Forinstance, when weary of the adze they would resort to the mallet andchisel, the auger, ax, or drawing-knife, and this was to some extent areal rest, for fresh muscles were brought into play while the weariedones were relieved.
By Friday, however, their whole bodies began to feel the effects offatigue; and Harold proposed, that for that day their arms should beentirely relieved from labour, and that they should search the woods fortimber suitable for masts, yards, and oars. They, therefore, took theirguns and hatchets, and went first to the orange landing, where they sawtheir old raft lying as they had left it exactly a month before.Passing thence to the place which they had dubbed "Duck Point," theyproceeded along the beach towards their old encampment, and thence home.This was their route; but it was marked by such a variety of usefulexpedients, that we must stop to describe them.
While Robert was engaged for a few minutes in searching a little grove,Harold saw a fish eagle plunge into the water, and bring out a trout solarge that it could scarcely fly with it to the shore. Harold washungry; his appetite at breakfast had not allowed him to eat at all.Now it began to crave, and the sight of that rich looking fish whettedit, keenly. He ran towards the eagle, crying out,
"I'll divide with you, old gentleman, if you please; that is too muchfor one."
The eagle, however, appeared to dissent from the proposal, and triedhard to carry its prey into a tree, but apprehensive of being itselfcaught before it could rise beyond reach, it dropped the fish, andflying to a neighbouring tree, watched patiently to see what share itshuman robber was disposed to leave.
A fish is easily enough cooked, if a person has fire; but in this casethere was none, and what was worse, no apparent means of producing it,for their matches were left behind, and the wadding of their guns wasnot of a kind to receive and hold fire from the powder.
"Lend me your watch a minute," said Robert, on learning what was wanted."It is possible that I may obtain from it what you wish."
Had Robert spoken of some chemical combination for producing fire, bymixing sand and sea-water, Harold could scarcely have been moresurprised than by the proposal to obtain fire from his watch. He handedit to his cousin with the simple remark, "Please don't hurt it," andlooked on with curiosity. Robert examined the convex surface of thecrystal, which being old fashioned, was almost the section of a sphere,and said,
"I think it will do."
Then obtaining some dry, rotten wood from a decayed tree, he filled thehollow part of the crystal with water, and setting it upon a support,for the purpose of keeping the water perfectly steady, showed Haroldthat the rays of the sun passing through this temporary lens, wereconcentrated as by a sun-glass. The tinder smoked, and seemed almostready to ignite, but did not quite--the sun's rays were too much aslantat that hour of the day, and the sky was moreover covered with a thinfilm of mist.
"It is a failure," said he, "but still there is another plan which Ihave seen adopted--a spark of fire _squeezed from the air_ by suddenlycompressing it in a syringe. If we had a dry reed, the size of this gunbarrel, I would try it by using a tight plug of gun wadding as apiston."
But Robert had no opportunity for trying his philosophical experiment,and being mortified by a second disappointment, as he probably wouldhave been, from the rudeness of the contrivance; for Harold's voice wassoon heard from the bank above, "I have it now!" and when Robertapproached he saw in his hand a white flint arrowhead. With this oldIndian relic he showered a plentiful supply of sparks upon the drytouch-wood, until a rising smoke proclaimed that the fire had taken.
During the time occupied by these experiments, and the subsequentcookery, the thin mist in the sky had given place to several darkrolling clouds, which promised ere long to give them a shower. Thepromise was kept; for the boys had not proceeded half a mile before therain poured down in torrents. As there was no lightning, they soughtthe shelter of a mossy tree, and for a season were so well protectedthat they could not but admire their good fortune. But their admirationdid not last long; the rain soaked through the dense masses over head,and fell in heavy drops upon their caps and shoulders.
"This will never do," cried Harold. "Come with me, Robert, and I willprovide a shelter that we can trust."
Putting upon their heads a thick covering of moss, which hung like acape as far down as their elbows, they ran to a fallen pine, andloosened several pieces of its bark, as long and broad as they coulddetach, then placing them upon their heads above the moss, marched backto the tree, and had the pleasure of seeing the rain drip from theirbark shelters as from the eaves of a house. Robert was much pleasedwith the expedient, and remarked,
"I suppose this is another of old Torgah's notions."
"O, no," replied Harold. "I have frequently seen it used by negroes inthe field, and by hunters in the woods. But there is another device ofa similar kind, which I will leave you to guess. I was riding once witha rough backwoodsman across one of our Alabama prairies, when we wereovertaken by a severe hail-storm, that gave us an unmerciful pelting.Now, how do you suppose he protected himself against the hailstones?"
"Got under his horse," conjectured Robert. "I once saw a personsheltering himself under his wagon."
"He took the _saddle_ from his horse, and placed it upon his head. Formy own part, I preferred the pelting of the stones to the smell of thesaddle."
The rain ceasing shortly after, they continued their walk to the oldencampment, which they visited for the purpose of ascertaining whetherthere were any other signs of visitors. Everything was just as they hadleft it, except that it had assumed a desolate and weather-beatenaspect. Their flag was flying, and the paper, though wet, adhering tothe staff. At sea the weather looked foul, and the surf was rollingangrily upon the shore. Resting themselves upon the root of the nobleold oak, and visiting the spring for a drink of cool water, they oncemore turned their faces to the prairie.
Whoever will travel extensively through our pine barrens, will seetracts, varying in extent from a quarter of an acre to many hundreds ofacres, destroyed by the attacks of a worm. The path from the oldencampment led through a "deadening," as it is called, of this sort; inwhich the trees, having been attacked some years before, were many ofthem prostrate, and others standing only by sufferance of the winds. Bythe time our travellers reached the middle of
this dangerous tract, asudden squall came up from sea, and roared through the forest at aterrible rate. They heard it from afar, and saw the distant limbsbending, breaking, and interlocking, while all around them was awilderness of slender, brittle trunks, from which they had not time toescape. Their situation was appalling. Death seemed almost inevitable.But just as the crash commenced among the pines, a brilliant ideaoccurred to the mind of Robert.
"Here, Harold!" said he. "Run! run! run!"
Suiting the action to the word, he threw himself flat beside a largesound log that lay _across the course of the wind_, and crouched closelybeside its curvature; almost too closely, as he afterwards discovered.Hardly had Harold time to follow his example, before an enormous treecracked, crashed, and came with a horrible roar, directly over the placewhere they lay. The log by the side of which they had taken refuge, wasburied several inches in the ground; and when Robert tried to move, hefound that his coat had been caught by a projecting knot, and partlyburied. The tree which fell was broken into four parts; two of themresting with their fractured ends butting each other on the log, whiletheir other ends rested at ten or twelve feet distance upon the earth.For five minutes the winds roared, and the trees crashed around them;and then the squall subsided as quickly as it had arisen.
"That was awful," said Robert, rising and looking at the enormous tree,from whose crushing fall they had been so happily protected.
"It was, indeed," Harold responded; "and we owe our lives, under God, tothat happy thought of yours. Where did you obtain it?"
Robert pointed to the other end of the log, and said, "There." A smalltree had fallen across it, and was broken, as the larger one had been."I saw that," said he, "just as the wind began to crash among thesepines, and thought that if we laid ourselves where we did, we should besafe from everything, except straggling limbs, or flying splinters."
"Really," said Harold, "at this rate you are likely to beat me in my ownprovince. I wonder I never thought of this plan before."
"I had an adventure somewhat like this last year, only not a quarter sobad," said Robert. "I was fishing with Frank, on a small stream, when awhirlwind came roaring along, with such force as to break off limbs fromseveral of the trees. Afraid that we, and particularly Frank, who waslight, might be taken up and carried away, or else dashed against a treeand seriously hurt, I made him grasp a sapling, by putting around itboth arms and legs, while I threw my own arms around him and ittogether, to hold all tight. I was badly frightened at the noise andnear approach of the whirlwind, but for the life of me could not helplaughing at an act of Frank's. We had taken only a few small catfish(which he called from their size, _kitten_-fish), and two of these beingthe first he had ever caught, he of course thought much of them. Whenthe wind came nearest, and I called to him, 'Hold fast, Frank!' I sawhim lean his head to one side, looking first at the flying branches,then at the string of fish, which the wind had slightly moved, anddeliberately letting go his hold of the tree, he grasped his prize, andheld to that with an air and manner, which said as plainly as an actcould say, 'If you get them, you must take me too.'"