atleast; and there were more behind. Maybe they have seen the smoke ofour fire, and are coming to see who we are and what we are about. Theymay be friendly; but I'm afther thinkin' that if they find theyoutnumber us, they'll be for taking our scalps, if they can get them.I'm an old soldier, and I wouldn't be afther sayin' `run' from an enemyif there was a chance of driving him back; but still the best thing wecan do is to beat a retreat in time."
"I believe that Tim's advice is good," observed Carlos.
"I am sure it is," I added. "If we were to stop here and try to defendourselves, the Indians would starve us out, at all events. What do yousay, Lejoillie?"
"_Ma foi_! that we had better retreat," exclaimed the naturalist.
"Well, then, gentlemen, we will throw a few more sticks on the fire, tocause plenty of smoke; and that'll make the Redskins fancy that we havea large party encamped, so that they will approach more cautiously, andwe shall have time to get well ahead," said Tim.
The old soldier's advice was therefore acted upon. We gathered up ourrifles and the various articles which lay on the grass, and began toretreat, as far as I could judge, by the way we had come. The sky,however, which had hitherto been clear, had, unfortunately for us,become obscured, and it was difficult to decide which was the rightdirection. We pushed forward as fast as we could; but the old wrecker,our guide, seemed, as we thought, somewhat uncertain of the path weought to take. We frequently looked back, and, as long as we could seethe island, it assisted to guide us. Nothing of the Indians could bediscovered; but that was no proof that they were not near, as they wouldkeep concealed in the tall grass, and wait until they had a favourableopportunity of pouncing suddenly upon us. I must say that we feltrather ashamed of ourselves for running away from what, after all, mightprove an imaginary danger. Still, it was better to run than to beoverpowered and scalped,--our probable fate should the Indians prove tobe hostile; and, from Tim's account, they were certainly on thewar-path. The sun had sunk beyond the vast plain of grass stretched outbehind us, when we emerged from the Everglades, and found ourselves inthe forest-belt which separates that region from the sea. We now calleda halt, to consider what course to pursue. It was evident that we hadnot returned by the same way we had come, for we could discover no signsof having been on the spot before.
"We cannot be more than a couple of miles from the shore, and when wereach it, we shall know which direction to take," said our guide. "Wemay still, if we push on, keep ahead of the Redskins."
Though tired and hungry, we agreed that it would be more prudent to pushon than to halt longer. Scarcely, however, had we got among thepalmetto-scrub, than looking back, to ascertain if we were followed, Icaught sight, amid the thickening gloom, of a number of dark figuresfollowing up our trail. I pointed them out to Tim.
"Do you advise that we should halt and face them, or continue ourcourse?" I asked.
"No use halting unless we are prepared to fight it out to the last," heanswered; "better to keep moving on, while we can see our way. Andmaybe they don't intend to attack us at all until we have encamped, inthe hope to find most of us asleep."
Lejoillie and Carlos agreed with Tim. We spoke in undertones, so thatour voices might not reach our pursuers. They, probably, were wellaware that there were only five of us; but they knew that five riflesmight bring down as many of their number before they had killed us, andthis made them afraid of approaching too near until they could find us,as they hoped, off our guard. It was not a pleasant feeling to knowthat a party of savages was close upon our heels, and yet not to be ableeven to get a sight of them; for after the momentary glance Tim and Ihad obtained of our pursuers, they did not again show themselves, thoughwe felt sure that they were skulking along under cover of the trees andbushes.
The old wrecker kept us at a good pace, scrambling and leaping overfallen trunks, until we saw the top of the old lighthouse, for which wehad been looking, rising above the palmetto-scrub. The dense foliagehad hitherto concealed it, though it was not more than a hundred yardsoff. We hurried on. Its massive walls would, at all events, afford usa place of safety until daylight. At that instant our ears wereassailed by a fearful war-whoop, and a shower of bullets and arrowswhistled about our heads; but, happily, not one of us was hit.
"Keep together, gentlemen," cried Tim; "and don't fire until we can seeour enemies. If we do, they'll take the opportunity of springing uponus before we have time to reload, and we shall be done for."
Happily the ground between us and the lighthouse was pretty open. As wemade our way over it, lighted by the moon, which had just risen, I couldsee our schooner in the distance, standing in for the bay, and anothervessel farther off.
We dashed across the open as fast as our legs could carry us, expectingevery moment to have another shower of missiles sent rattling after us;but the Indians were either stopping to reload, or were so muchastonished at seeing us unhurt that they thought it useless to fireagain. At all events, we gained the lighthouse in safety. There was astrong door at the base, which, happily, had been left unbarred. Wedashed in and secured it, while we made our way up the winding steps tothe first landing-place, whence two narrow windows commanded the groundbelow on either side. Scarcely had we reached it than we saw theIndians bursting out from among the trees, not aware, apparently, thatwe had already gained a place of safety. As we had not fired, theymight possibly have supposed that we were unarmed; for they advancedfearlessly, shouting and shrieking, close up to the walls of the tower.
"Let them shout on," said Lejoillie, "their shrieks cannot hurt us; and,unless they attempt to break in, it would be useless to shoot the poorwretches."
The enraged cries of the Indians increased when they found that the doorwas closed. They attacked it with their tomahawks; but their weaponswere blunted against the hard oak, clamped with iron as it was. ByTim's advice we still reserved our fire, as our stock of ammunition wassmall, and we might require it for an emergency.
The closed door must have showed the Indians that we were within,though, as we took care to conceal ourselves, they might not otherwisehave known it.
The door was, fortunately, fitted into the wall of the building, and wasso strongly and tightly closed as to prevent the entrance of water,which we saw, from the marks on the walls, must occasionally rise somefeet in depth round it. As we did not venture to look out of thewindow, we could only judge, by the sounds which reached us, what theIndians were about. There was not much to fear from the blows of theirtomahawks, though in time they might have contrived to cut a small holethrough the door. We could, however, hear the sound of chopping againand again repeated, while the shouts and shrieks of the savages, as theyran round the building looking out for an opening, became more and morevehement. At last they were silent. Wishing to ascertain what theywere about, I crept up to the window, and put out my head far enough totake a glance round one side of the tower and over the ground below mefor some distance. I saw that a party of Indians were engaged inbringing up a long log of wood, which they evidently intended to use asa battering-ram. I must have been seen, for, although I withdrew myhead as rapidly as I could, the next instant a couple of arrows enteredthe window, and several others struck the wall outside. Had I remaineda moment longer, I should probably have been killed or wounded.
"We must prevent them battering in the door," I exclaimed, after tellingmy companions what I had seen. "We must show the fellows that we havegot fire-arms, and know how to use them."
The difficulty, however, was to reach our assailants without exposingourselves. One window only commanded the approach to the door. HereTim offered to station himself, and begged us to hand the rifles up tohim as fast as we could load them.
"I'll teach the spalpeens a lesson they'll not forget," he said, as hetook aim with his rifle. He fired, but with what result we could nottell.
"Hand up another," he cried; "quick, quick!" Again he fired, while Iloaded the first. In this way one after the other was discharged andreloaded, s
o that Tim was able to fire with a rapidity which must haveastonished the Indians, who had not, apparently, until then discoveredthe existence of the window, as he fired eight or ten times before anyarrows were shot in return. Still the savages, with unusualperseverance, rushed forward, carrying the log in their arms, and droveit against the door, which creaked and groaned under their repeatedblows. From the sounds which reached us, it appeared too probable thatthey would succeed in breaking it in. But even should they do so, wemight still defend ourselves on the staircase; for, as it would allowonly one person to ascend at a time, we should be able to keep the wholehorde at bay. How many Indians had fallen from Tim's fire we could notascertain, on account of the uncertain light and the rapid way they weremoving about. He had