the night we both required sleep, butthought it imprudent to land, lest we should be surprised. We thereforeagreed that one should lie down at a time, while the other guided thecanoe. The eggs and fruit we had brought supplied us with food, so thatwe had not to land to obtain any. Tim insisted on my lying down first;and just before I closed my eyes I saw him sitting bolt upright, and asgrave as a judge, with deliberate strokes moving his paddle from oneside to the other.
I was surprised to find, when I awoke, how low the sun had sunk. Thefaithful fellow declared that he had not the heart to awake me--that Iwanted sleep more than he did. He then lay down, but insisted that Ishould call him at sunset, as two pair of eyes would then be required.
I waited until the last moment, when I could no longer see my way, andthen I roused Tim. He instantly jumped up, and seizing his paddle,began to work away with all his might, as if he thought we had a fleetof Indian canoes astern of us. At last, feeling very hungry, I beggedhim to stop. Having eaten the last of our eggs and a few oranges, wepaddled on, intending to continue our course throughout the night.
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
FANCY AND FATIGUE--TOIL AND PRIVATION--WE LAND--DANGER OF LIGHTING AFIRE--A HASTY MEAL INTERRUPTED--ALARM OF INDIANS--MAKING DOWN THESTREAM--WHITE MEN--A WELCOME MEETING--STARTLING INTELLIGENCE--OBJECT OFTHE EXPEDITION--SUSPICION AGAINST ROCHFORD--JUDGE SHURTLEFF'S OPINION--LANDING--PREPARING TO ADVANCE--TIM RECEIVES AN APPOINTMENT--THE MARCHCOMMENCED--USEFUL ALLIES--A TRYING JOURNEY--OUR FIRST HALT--THE HUNTINGPARTY--A STRANGE MEETING--"SPOTTED WOLF"--MOVEMENTS OF THE INDIANS--ANXIETY ABOUT MY FATHER--DOUBTS ABOUT OUR INDIAN FRIEND--A NARROWESCAPE--STABBED IN THE HUMMOCK.
I had been paddling on for some time in a half dreamy state, for fatiguewas beginning to tell on me more than on Tim, and I could withdifficulty at times keep my eyes open. Though I managed to move mypaddle mechanically, I was more asleep than awake. All sorts of strangefancies flitted across my mind, and often I saw objects before me whichhad no existence in reality. Now a party of Indians, in their war-paintand feathers, would appear on the bank, a bright light making them standout in bold relief against the forest. Now in imagination I saw a hugesnake wriggling across the water; or a puma would show itself among thetrees, ready to spring upon us as we passed. Often I heard strangecries and the sound of human voices; then I fancied that I saw a canoestealing out from a dark creek, about to intercept us. I tried to exertmyself, but my arms refused to obey my will.
"Arrah now, Mr. Maurice dear, you'd better lie down in the bottom of theboat an' take a quiet sleep for an hour or two," exclaimed Tim, whodiscovered the condition I was in just in time to prevent me letting gomy paddle, which the next instant would probably have fallen from mygrasp.
His voice aroused me. "I can still paddle on," I answered; "though myarms ache a little, to be sure."
"No, no; just lie down, an' I'll keep the canoe moving," said Tim."I've been more accustomed to work than you have, Mr. Maurice, and I canstand it better. You'll be afther knockin' yourself up altogether; an'we have many a mile to go yet before we reach Castle Kearney."
I felt, however, that it was food more than rest which I just thenwanted. The pangs of hunger I was enduring convinced me of this. Wehad, however, only our live fowls remaining, with a few oranges and somegrain; but the fowls could not be eaten raw, and the grain required tobe pounded and made into cakes before we could swallow it. I thereforeproposed that we should land on the first spot we could find clear oftrees and brushwood, and cook one of the fowls and make some cakes. Tothis Tim agreed. Before long, projecting from below the trunk of alarge tree, we discovered a bank composed of roots and driftwood, withmud washed over them. There was space enough to light a fire, so we atonce landed. While I was engaged in collecting sticks for the fire, Timwrung the neck of one of our fowls and quickly plucked it. He then cutthe bird in two and stuck it up before the fire, as the quickest way ofcooking it. We could not afford to be particular. Instead of makingcakes, we put on some of the grain to boil in our pot, for we could notstop to bruise and bake it. We were aware that it was imprudent even tolight a fire, lest it might attract the notice of any enemies prowlingin the neighbourhood; but our hunger overcame all other considerations,and we hoped that as we should soon again be moving on there would be nogreat risk in what we were doing. I own that I ravenously ate up myshare of the fowl, even before it was cooked through; but having beenput on while still warm, it was less tough than might have beenexpected. The boiled grain was far from palatable.
"Sure it will do to fill up any holes which the old hen has left in ourstomachs, and I have a notion there are not a few of them," observedTim, as he began to bolt down the hot porridge.
We were thus employed, when Tim exclaimed, "Hist, Mr. Maurice, did youhear a sound?"
I listened. "Yes; I should fancy that an alligator had popped his headabove the surface, or a tortoise or wild-fowl had jumped into the riverto take a bath."
"Sure I thought it was paddles I heard. Listen again," said Tim.
"Yes, it is paddles; no doubt about the matter," he exclaimed directlyafterwards; and stepping into the canoe he cast off the painter, whilehe held her fast to some roots with one hand, adding, "Get in, Mr.Maurice, get in; the sooner we are away from this the better. TheRedskins--for sure it must be them--will make towards the fire, and, ifthey haven't yet seen us, they'll be puzzled to know where we have goneto."
Seizing my gun, which lay on the ground by my side, for from force ofhabit I had carried it with me when I had landed, I stepped carefullyback into the canoe. Immediately I had taken my seat, Tim shoved heroff as far out into the stream as he could, then grasping his paddle,began to ply it with might and main.
"Stop!" I whispered, after we had got a little distance. "In whatdirection did you fancy you heard the sounds? It appears to me thatthey are coming up the river instead of down."
"Sure, you're right, Mr. Maurice," answered Tim, who had ceasedpaddling. "I see the canoe too, an' a big one she is; she's full ofsavages. We may get over to the shadow of the opposite bank, an'they'll not perceive us. Use the paddle gently though, so as to make aslittle noise as possible."
While working away as he advised, I kept my eye down the stream, lookingout for the canoe, which Tim fancied he had seen. Before long I alsoperceived it; indeed, it looked so high out of the water that I wasconvinced it was of much larger size than the ordinary Indian canoes.It was being directed towards the fire which we had left only a fewminutes before; those on board being naturally anxious to see who wereencamped there.
We had got over by this time to the opposite shore, and, as far as Icould judge, had escaped observation; so that we could easily, bykeeping under the shadow of the trees, paddle down the stream. But as Iagain looked towards the boat, I was convinced that she was of largesize, and full of white men.
Remaining perfectly quiet, before long we heard their voices. There wasno doubt that they were whites; perhaps our friends coming to look forus. Tim was at length satisfied that I was right. We forthwith paddledback. To prevent any one mistaking us for Indians, and sending a chanceshot at us, I hailed, "Who are you, friends?"
"Why, that must be Maurice! Hurrah! he's not lost, then," I heard avoice exclaim, which I recognised as that of Carlos; and directlyafterwards Lejoillie shouted out--
"Glad to see you alive. Come here!"
We were soon alongside; and Tim making the canoe fast, he and I steppedon board the boat. We found that she was a long, large craft pullingten oars, and holding between thirty and forty men, all well-armed.Among them were three blacks, two of whom I had seen at the judge's; andI remembered the intense admiration they had shown for Rochford, when intheir presence he had expressed his liberal opinions, such as they werevery unlikely ever before to have heard.
The first person who grasped my hand was my father.
"Maurice, my boy, thank Heaven you have come back," he said. "I wasvery anxious about you, as were all your friends; for we were afraidt
hat you had fallen into the hands of those rascally Redskins, and thatthey had treated you and Tim as they have so many other white people."
I briefly told him how I had lost my way, and was found by Tim; how wehad at length reached the river, and obtaining a canoe, got down thusfar homewards. I mentioned also our having seen an Indian, who hadpursued us along the bank for some distance. I then, turning toLejoillie and Carlos, inquired how they had made their escape.
Lejoillie replied that, having searched in vain for us, they had reachedthe stream, and fortunately discovered a canoe, as we had done. Just asthey were about to push off, a band of Indians had pursued them; andthis had naturally given rise to the supposition that we had been cutoff by the Redskins. Having a supply of ammunition, they had been