In the Wilds of Florida: A Tale of Warfare and Hunting

the eastern shore of the lake began to grow nearer. Itwas low, with no trees of any size growing on its bank. We feared thaton landing we should have to wade through a swamp infested by snakes,and probably by alligators, before we could reach dry ground. We couldsee the northern shore, which appeared to be of the same character; andthis made us hope that the Indians would not have attempted to go roundand intercept us. The western shore was still discernible, but too faroff to enable us to see whether the Indians were still there.

  "I wonder where those fellows were going?" observed Carlos; "theyevidently did not belong to this part of the country, or they would havefound us out before."

  "Me tink dey go norf on war-trail to join de great chief Oceola,"observed Jup. "Dey say 'fore long de red men kill all de Palefaces inde country, an' agin have it for demselves."

  "Not very likely they will make such a mad attempt," observed Carloswith a laugh. "The Palefaces would clear them off the face of the earthwere they to play a trick of that sort."

  Jup shrugged his shoulders. "Me only tell massa what oders say," heanswered.

  At last, beginning to grow hungry, we agreed to stop paddling and takesome food, while Jup steered. The meat we had cooked was already ratherhigh. We had only some small flour-cakes, and some baked roots to eatwith it. Hunger, however, prevented us from being fastidious, and wehad plenty of water alongside to wash it down.

  As I was dipping my tin mug into the lake, a huge snout suddenly rose,and very nearly caught my hand, as well as the mug. Tim gave themonster a whack with his paddle, which made it quickly sink again. Itwas a lesson to us to be careful how we put our hands into the water.The wind now dropped, and the sun beat down with intense force on ourheads; but we had to endure it and paddle on, for it was important toget on dry ground before darkness should overtake us.

  "Hurrah!" I exclaimed, as I put my pole into the water; "I can touchthe bottom. We shall soon be making better progress than hitherto."

  I was right. The water shoaled rapidly. By shoving along with ourpoles, we made the raft move twice as fast as before. At length a lineof tall reeds rose before us. The sight was not encouraging, for wecould neither force the raft onwards, nor make our own way through themon foot. We therefore turned southward, hoping to find some dry groundat no great distance from the water. On and on we went, but still wecould see only reeds and swamp. At last we caught sight of some pines;most welcome they were, as they betokened a dry and sandy soil. We nowcame to a bay. Although lined with a narrow belt of reeds, we hoped toforce our way through them. We accordingly ran our raft onwards as faras it would move, then wishing it farewell, with many thanks for theservice it had rendered us, we plunged into the reeds--Tim, as thestrongest of the party, leading the way, and holding his gun over hishead in case he should unexpectedly fall into an unseen hole. Sometimeswe were up to our waists in water. Still we worked our way forward. Atlast Tim gave a shout of satisfaction as he landed on dry ground. Weall quickly followed, poor Caesar panting and blowing with his exertionsas he made his way after us. Clouds of mosquitoes and other stinginginsects had been attacking us in our progress, but we were by this timetoo well inured to them to think much about the matter. We agreed, atall hazards, to push on to the pine-ridge which we saw before us, thatwe might encamp there for the night.

  As soon as we gained a spot of sufficient height to overlook the lake,we turned anxiously round to ascertain whether the Indians werefollowing us, but we could see them nowhere on the water. We werestill, however, uncertain whether or not they would pursue us by land,and Jup and I again climbed to the top of a high tree, to try and obtaina look-out over the country to the northward. To our relief nothingmoving was seen; so descending, we made our way with our companions tothe ridge.

  It was hopeless to seek for any place of concealment in the hollows;besides the dangers from animals, we were certain to be attacked byinnumerable stinging insects, and to run the risk of being bitten bypoisonous snakes. We therefore lighted our fire on the top of theridge.

  Lejoillie, Carlos, and I went off with our guns in search of game, as wehad exhausted our stock of provisions. We had gone on farther than weintended, when on looking round we could nowhere see the smoke of ourfire; while a bank of clouds which had risen in the west, and graduallyspread over the sky prevented us, as we had expected to be able to do,from making the sun our guide.

  Lejoillie had shot a turkey; but as this was insufficient for our party,we were anxious to kill some larger game. We were still pursuing oursearch, and not far apart, when Carlos exclaimed, "See here! I havefound a creature which will show us our way. Come here quickly and tryit."

  We hastened to the spot, where we saw, seated on a large leaf, acreature with a thin body like a walking-stick, with long legs, andantennae stretched out. "It is a yellow and black spectre," saidLejoillie, drawing one of his cases from his pocket; "a magnificentspecimen. I must secure it ere it escapes."

  "Oh, don't do that!" cried Carlos; "I have heard it said that if we askit the way, it will stretch out one of its arms in the right direction;and we shall have no difficulty in making our way back to camp."

  Lejoillie laughed. "From whom did you hear that?" he asked.

  "The Indians believe that it has that power; and, of course, as they arebetter acquainted with the creatures of this country than any one else,they must know."

  "Bah!" exclaimed Lejoillie; "I thought, Carlos, you had too much goodsense to be influenced by so foolish a superstition."

  "Look at it!" cried Carlos; "it is lifting up its paws and praying.What else can it be doing?"

  Lejoillie afterwards explained that it belonged to the Mantis family;that instead of being a praying insect, it is one of the most combativeand savage in existence. "It lives upon beetles and flies of everydescription," he added. "When two of the creatures of the same speciesmeet together, they engage in a fierce combat, cutting at each otherwith their fore legs with such force as sometimes to sever the body ofan antagonist with a single blow, when the victor generally eats up itsopponent. There are many others of the same family, some resemblingleaves. The Chinese in the southern part of their country keep thesecreatures in cages, and make them fight with each other."

  While the naturalist was giving us this lecture, he was suffocating thespectre, and pinning it down in his case. We soon after this separatedfor the purpose of creeping up towards a herd of deer of which we hadcaught sight. I had got some way to the right of Lejoillie and Carlos,when I caught sight of a buck feeding near a clump of trees. I wasafraid of calling to my friends lest the animal might hear my voice.Stooping down, I crept on, concealed by some tall grass, till I gotwithin thirty yards of the deer, when I fired. From its movements Iknew that I had hit it, and expected to see it fall immediately.Instead of doing so, off it ran, leaving a trail of blood behind it. Ifelt assured from this that it would soon drop, and I pursued as fast asmy legs could carry me, reloading as I ran. It had, however, got out ofshot. Still I followed, certain that it would slacken its speed, andthat I should again get it within range of my rifle. On and on I went,not having time to look behind me to ascertain if my companions werefollowing, as I supposed they were doing.

  After some time the deer began to slacken its pace, and I felt moreconfident than ever that I should overtake it before dark. I hadscarcely observed, however, that the gloom of evening had alreadycommenced. The form of the deer became more and more shadowy, but stillkeeping it in sight, I followed, until it suddenly disappeared. It musthave fallen to the ground, I thought, which accounted for my not seeingit; and so on I went. I was not mistaken; before long I stumbled overthe body of the animal, still living, but fast bleeding to death. Withmy hunting-knife I at once put an end to its sufferings. It was toolarge an animal to carry back whole to the camp, so I began as well as Icould in the gloom of evening to skin it, and cut off the best portionsof the meat,--an unpleasant operation, and one in which I had had butlittle experience, though I had frequent
ly seen deer cut up by others.I prepared as much as I could carry, with part of the skin when,considering in which direction I should turn my steps to reach the camp,I felt myself utterly at a loss to decide. I had several times turnedthe deer about, so that I could not ascertain the position in which ithad fallen. To attract the attention of my friends, I fired off my gun.I listened for a reply, but could hear none. Still, I hoped, byproceeding across the pine-barren, that I should in time see the lightof their fire. I, accordingly, shouldering my load of meat, set off.

  The night became unusually dark, and it was with difficulty that Iavoided stumbling over fallen trunks or running against the stumps oftrees. I occasionally shouted, and several times fired off my rifle. Ishould have fired oftener, but was unwilling to expend more of mypowder. I thought I was