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

roof had fallen in. I was almost giving way to despair,when I caught sight of several persons hurrying forward from among thetrees. At length I recognised my father, Rochford, and Tim among them.They were carrying three wounded men, having, I found, been compelled toabandon the bodies of two others who had fallen. My father and Tim wereboth wounded, and several others were more or less hurt, but they saidnothing.

  "On board, my lads, and shove off without delay!--Maurice, do you takecharge of one of the boats; and, Tim, go in the other, and tumbleoverboard all those things if you find that they hamper you. Now, shoveoff, and give way, boys," he continued, as he sprang on board the boatinto which Rochford had already stepped and taken the stroke oar. Ifollowed as closely as I could; and Tim's boat brought up the rear. Thesmaller boats being lighter, we were able to keep good way with thelarger.

  "Keep up with us, Maurice," shouted my father; "I took a look aroundjust as I came away, and caught sight of several objects in thedistance, which I feel pretty sure are canoes. The Indians haveevidently brought them down."

  The island had hitherto concealed us from the enemy; but the blaze ofthe burning house casting its glare across the water, now revealed us totheir sight, as we knew by the shots which dropped into the water asternof us. But we were already too far off to be reached, and I heard Timcry out--

  "Ye'll spend your powder to no purpose, my boys; so I'd be askin' ye toreserve your fire until ye can get some one within your reach."

  The effect, however, was to make our crews still further exertthemselves.

  It was melancholy to see the house, one of the largest in the country,fiercely blazing away. Our only satisfaction was that the Indians wouldbe disappointed, not only of us, but of any booty they might haveexpected to obtain.

  We had still the danger my father apprehended of being pursued; and atlength, looking astern, I caught sight of several canoes filled withIndians, on which the bright flames of the burning house cast a ruddyglare and brought them clearly into view.

  That they had intended to land on the island and take the castle in therear I had little doubt; but finding that we had made our escape, theyresolved on capturing us. Urged by numerous paddles, they made greaterway through the water than we did. We had one advantage over them,however, that, should they approach near, a few bullets would send themto the bottom. They might, however, before this kill or wound many ofour party, exposed as we were, crowded together in the open boat.

  Our men pulled away for their lives. I told Tim to steer close to me,so that I might place our boat between the savages and that containingmy cousins. Unhappily our ammunition was very low. The party who hadbeen defending the house to the last had expended all their powder, andTim and I, with a few other men, had only two or three rounds a-piece.My father, recollecting this, ordered us not to fire a shot until theenemy came near, and then to aim rather at the canoes than the men; foreven should we not sink them, we might compel their crews to ceasepaddling while they stopped the holes made by our bullets. Brave as theIndians are on land, they are not willing in general to exposethemselves; so I was surprised at the daring way in which our pursuerscame on. They were getting, indeed, disagreeably near, and I expectedevery moment to hear my father order us to fire. Of course, even whenthey should come up to us, we might defend ourselves and beat them off,and our strongly-built boats would then give us an advantage over theirlight canoes. Still the struggle would be a fearful one. We werehampered by several women and the numerous articles which they hadbrought.

  Already the Indians had begun to fire; but their bullets fell short,their powder probably being none of the best. In a few minutes,however, unless we could sink their canoes, they would be up with us. Itried the effect of one shot; but though I am sure I hit the canoebetween wind and water, the Indians in her did not cease paddling; and Iwas afraid of throwing another shot away by making a second attempt.

  I won't say how I felt--and it was too dark to see the countenances ofthose in my boat--but I know that they pulled until I thought that theoars would break with the vehemence of their strokes. A few minutesmore went by. The enemy were gaining on us, for a couple of shotsstruck the stern of my boat. In a few more minutes they would bealongside, and then the desperate struggle would begin. When we haddischarged our last shots, we should have only the butts of our riflesand our knives with which to defend ourselves against the muskets andaxes of the Indians. Just as I was about to despair, a shout, comingfrom the direction in which we were pulling, greeted our ears.

  "Hurrah!" cried Tim; "none but white men could have raised that cry."

  It was repeated, and presently we saw emerging from the darkness severalboats, apparently of large size, full of men. On they came, slowly.The Indians must have seen them too; for without waiting to give us aparting salute, they turned round their canoes, and paddled away up thestream as fast as they could go. In another minute we found ourselvesup to three boats, each containing a dozen or more men, commanded byCaptain Norton, who told us that he had received information of theintention of the Indians to attack Castle Kearney; that his party beingtoo small to intercept them, he had resolved to come by water to ourrelief as the quickest mode of reaching us. He expressed his regret atnot having arrived in time to preserve the house; though it was verydoubtful what would have been our fate had he not followed out his ideaof coming by water. I heard my cousins assuring him how grateful theywere, and they seemed much disappointed when they found that he intendedto continue on, and endeavour to punish the enemy for their attack onCastle Kearney. For fear, however, that the Indians might turn roundand again attack us, he considered that his duty would allow him toescort us part of the way to Roseville, where he told us the militiawere under arms, ready to repel any assault which might be made on theplace. At length, with much regret, we saw him and his party proceed upthe river, while we continued on our course to Roseville. Here we werereceived with much kindness and sympathy by the worthy judge and hiswife. Our wounded men were looked after, and the rest kindly taken careof by the different inhabitants. We were still, however, not free fromanxiety about Captain Norton and his party.

  On the evening of the following day he returned, saying that onapproaching Castle Kearney, although the house was still burning, hefound that the enemy had fled, having evidently been warned by theIndians in the canoes of the approach of a military force. Being unableto land until daylight, he found, on getting ashore, that pursuit wasuseless.

  We were now waiting the arrival of the steamer which was to convey usthe first part of the voyage I must pass over several days. Juanita hadpromised, with my father's sanction, to become the wife of Rochford soonafter our arrival in Ireland; which I was very glad to hear. All doubtsabout making the journey were now at an end, as we had no house to livein. Rita appeared unusually sad, and although Mrs. Shurtleff invitedher to remain, she refused to quit her sister. Rita's spirits, however,suddenly revived; and Juanita told me the next day that her sister hadaccepted an offer from Captain Norton to marry her as soon as the warwas over, and he could with honour retire from the service. Meantimeshe would be very happy to pay a visit to the Old World and seesomething of its wonders. With the assistance of our friend the judge,an honest overseer was found, to whose care the estate was left.

  At length we arrived safely in Ireland. Juanita fulfilled her promise,and became Mrs. Rochford. But nearly three years passed by, and stillthe Seminoles held out, in spite of the large force brought againstthem. The history is a sad one, and I would rather not touch upon it.At length we received the satisfactory intelligence from Captain Nortonthat the war was over; and he soon after arrived to claim Rita as hiswife. And I cannot better conclude my narrative than by giving a briefaccount of the contest as described by him; of the way, melancholy as itwas, in which a race of brave aborigines--for I will not call themsavages--was finally driven from the territory:--"You remember theIndian Powell, or Oceola, as his countrymen called him. Though not achief by birth, he was
one of their bravest warriors, and was loved andrespected as a chieftain. Their nominal head was Omatla. Though notesteemed as a warrior, he was sagacious and crafty. His character beingknown, the Government won him over, by a bribe of several thousanddollars, to put his name to a treaty which had been prepared. In vain,however, he tried to induce his subordinate chiefs to follow hisexample. At length a place of meeting was appointed, and Omatla, withthose he had won over, appeared. The treaty was spread out on a tablebefore him; he advanced and signed it; but scarcely had he done so thana bullet from Oceola's rifle pierced his bosom. It was the signal tothe rest of the hostile chiefs to fire, and he fell, six more shotshaving struck him. Oceola and his warriors, springing on their steeds,fled towards the desert, leaving the parchment behind them. It wascarried to Washington as a proof that the property had been legallypurchased. He who kills a chief, unless