“come from the river?” said the indian who had shaken hands with chap. “been fishin’? where’s the rest of ’em?”
the very fair english which this indian spoke was a new surprise to chap, and for an instant he wondered how the man knew there were any more of them; but as any one might reasonably suppose that a young fellow like himself would not come into this part of the country alone, the question seemed sensible enough. the other indian now came up, and, without saying anything, seemed very anxious to hear what should be said.
chap then briefly related his story. for some reason which he could not explain he had for these indians a feeling very different from that with which, from the very first, he had regarded the untidy young men. to be sure, he had answered their[112] questions, for there seemed to be no good reason for refusing; but he had felt all along that they were unpleasant companions, and had hoped they would soon go away. but these indians seemed to have honest faces, and to take a friendly interest in what he told them.
when he related how the boat had been stolen from him, the indians looked at each other, and each of them gave a grunt.
“big thieves! big thieves!” said one. “come down on river and steal boat. very bad thieves, them!”
the other one nodded.
“bad thieves! bad thieves!” he said.
chap now asked the indians where they supposed the two fellows would take the boat.
“go up river back here,” said the indian who did the most talking. “think you won’t find ’em and go home. then they shoot ’gators and have fun.”
“but why should they take our boat?” asked chap. “they have one of their own.”
“p’raps she leak. yours good boat,” said the other. “but some men bad, nobody knows why.”
to this piece of philosophy the other nodded assent, and then, for a few minutes, the two talked together in their own language.
these men were seminole indians, belonging to[113] the remnant of the powerful tribe which once waged war against the united states and florida. but the seminoles who may now occasionally be met in the lower part of the state are generally quiet and peaceable, and glad enough to sell some venison or other game to the sportsmen or tourists they may meet in the forests or on the rivers in the unsettled portions of the state.
when the two indians had finished their conversation, the talker made a proposition to chap. he told him that he and his companion, with two others, who were now probably a mile or two away, had come into this part of the country on a hunting expedition; but that, if he would pay them for their trouble, they would go after these fellows and capture the boat.
“river bends ’round here,” said the talker, waving his hand behind him, “and they got to sail that way. ’fraid to keep on big river. you get boat, go after ’em. we go straight through woods, and ketch ’em when they go camp at night. then bring boat back to you.”
chap stood and considered the matter, and a brilliant plan soon entered his head. if he went back to confer with his companions, a great deal of time would be lost, and there might be diversities of opinion as to what should be done. he felt that the proper thing to do was to follow the indian’s advice, and go a short way through the[114] woods and intercept the fellows when they camped.
they were certain to come on shore to cook their evening meal, and these indians seemed to know the very spot where they would be likely to land.
“now,” thought chap, “i’ve a great mind to put myself at the head of these indians and recapture the rolling stone. instead of going and telling the other fellows that i’ve lost the boat, i’ll bring it back to them. they’re bound to wait for me, and they can find quarters in that house that adam went to.”
chap thereupon told the indians that if they and their companions would assist him in recapturing the boat, he would see that they were paid for their time and trouble. he also made them understand that he would lead the expedition, provided that they would show him the way.
to all this the indians assented, exhibiting a willingness to leave the amount of their remuneration entirely to chap’s generosity, and while one of them started off to find his absent companions, the other set about preparing for chap a portion of the food that was cooking on the fire, for our friend declared himself nearly famished.
“isn’t this a high old change in things?” said chap to himself, as he sat watching the indian stirring the unknown mess in the blackened vessel[115] he had taken from the fire. “just a little while ago i was hanging about home, expecting to hear that school would begin next day, and here i am, in the wilds of florida, and about to lead a band of red men through the trackless forest.”
phil and phœnix wandered for a good distance along the woodland path. except the birds which they saw flying about above the forest when they occasionally came to an open place in the green roof over them, they found nothing to shoot at.
they had fired a few shots at these, without effect, much to phil’s disappointment, for he wished to take home some trophies of this trip, even if they were nothing but wings and tails of strange birds, when they met adam returning with two small cans of milk.
the good sailor was in a great hurry to get back to his little bears, and he told the boys that they must come with him, for they would start off now as soon as they could, for he had noticed, when he was up at the house, that the wind had got round a little to the east, and that they, therefore, would be able to make pretty good headway.
but when the three arrived at the river-side, and found no boat and no chap and no bears, their astonishment was so great that they could scarcely find words to express it.
[116]“has that boy gone off with the boat?” at last exclaimed adam.
“i can scarcely believe it,” said phil, “and yet there’s no knowing what chap would do if an idea suddenly came into his head.”
“but chap can’t sail a boat,” said phœnix, “and he would never think of going out in a wind like this. perhaps the boat got loose accidentally.”
“i don’t think that happened,” said adam, who was scanning the river with his experienced eye, “for if she’s got off, she’d ’a’ blown down the river, and i can’t see a sign of her. of course there’s no way of her gettin’ up-stream ag’in such a wind as this.”
as he spoke, adam turned and looked up-stream, and then he caught sight of the dirty little boat which had been run ashore by the two untidy young men, and with a sudden “hello!” he ran toward it, followed closely by the boys.
when he reached the boat, the sailor looked at it and in it and around it, but he said not a word.
“whose boat can this be?” cried phil. “it couldn’t have been here when we came.”
“why, no!” exclaimed phœnix. “we should certainly have seen it either last night or this morning.”
“no,” said adam. “this boat hasn’t been here very long, and whoever came in it has gone off in[117] our boat. it’s my belief they didn’t intend to come back to this little tub, for they’ve taken everything out of her. they’ve either coaxed your pardner to go with them, or they’ve carried him off.”
adam, who knew what desperate characters are occasionally found in this part of the state, where officers of the law seldom make their appearance, and where the few settlers and travellers are obliged to depend in a great measure upon themselves for the preservation of their lives and property, thought for a moment that if chap had offered opposition to the persons who had taken the boat, there was a probability that he now lay at the bottom of the river. but he said nothing of this to the boys, and he tried to dismiss from his own mind the idea that anything so dreadful had happened.
the people who lived and travelled on the indian river were generally of a peaceful disposition, although lawless characters were sometimes to be met with, and he tried to believe that this was nothing but some wild freak, perhaps encouraged by the conduct of chap.
“i tell you what it is!” cried adam. “our boat’s gone up that small river we passed a mile or two below here. i don’t believe she’s had time to get out of sight on the main stream. i haven’t been away more’n an hour altogether, and there wasn’t any boat in sight when i left. what[118] we’ve got to do is to take this boat and go after her.”
“all right,” said the boys; and with a will the dirty little craft was pushed off, and the three scrambled in.
