it was a long trip to the wild men’s island and the general wished to make the journey under cover of darkness. “i want to land on the island before daybreak so we can surprise the wild men,” the general told his officers, who were gathered for a council of war.
“the sailor tells me,” continued the general, “that the wind and current are just right to sail the raft over to-night. i will take over the infantry on the first trip and then the raft can return for the artillery and the baggage and the rear guard, which the old soldier will command.”
the cook had a great pot of rice cooked and he had stewed five lima beans. this great amount of food was portioned out, and three days’ rations were given to each soldier.
a number of picks and shovels, with a lot of bags and a chest of bullets, was loaded onto the raft.
promptly at eleven o’clock the general, followed by several men, marched onto the raft and some of the soldiers with long poles quickly pushed out into the dark stream.
the teenie weenies pull the captured wild men out of the bottle.—chapter sixteen.
the sailor and the cowboy handled the big sweep at the back of the raft, while the policeman and the scotchman pushed wherever they could with the long poles.
no lights were allowed on the raft and the men were ordered to talk only in whispers, for the general wished to land on the island unknown to the wild men.
“j-j-j-jimminie c-c-christmas!” stuttered the trembling dunce, “i-i-i’m not a-a bit s-s-scared. are you, g-g-gogo?”
“not v-v-very m-m-much,” answered the colored lad, trying to keep his knees from knocking together. “i done hope we-all—”
but at that minute, the raft struck something with such a bang it nearly upset most of the little soldiers. in fact, the scotchman would have tumbled into the water if the cowboy hadn’t caught him.
the raft had struck the limb of an old tree that lay in the water and to the alarm of the general it stuck fast.
“this is terrible. perfectly terrible,” groaned the general, glancing towards the eastern sky. “it will soon be daylight and the wild men will see us if we are delayed here.”
the men worked with might and main to free the raft, but it was stuck tight to the snag and before they managed to get it free it was broad daylight.
“the wild men have very likely seen us by this time,” said the general, peering towards the island. “so instead of our surprising them, they probably will surprise us, but we have got to land. examine your rifles and see that they are in condition to use, for we are likely to have a fight.”
“look there!” cried the sailor, pointing towards the shore, for the raft was now only a short distance from the island. “there’s something behind that stick.”
“maybe it’s a wild man,” suggested the dunce, turning a trifle pale. “don’t you think we had better go back, general?”
“we intend to go on,” said the general, glancing scornfully at the frightened dunce, “but if you want to you can jump into the water and swim back.”
“i-i-i think i’ll stay here,” said the dunce as he thought of the many frogs and turtles that might snap him up if he tried to swim back.
as the raft drew near the shore, several arrows whistled over the soldiers’ heads and instantly a number of wild men sprang up from behind a stick that lay on the shore and began shooting at the raft.
“make ready, men!” shouted the general, drawing his sword. “shoot over the wild men’s heads when i give the word to fire. we don’t want to hurt any of them if we can avoid it.”
“o-o-o-oh, i-i-i’m shot!” screamed the dunce, as an arrow knocked his hat from his head, but the rest of the little soldiers never heard the foolish fellow, for they stood ready, awaiting the general’s order to fire.
