CHAPTER
XXXVI.
ONE OF THE RAREST ANIMALS IN THE WORLD.
AFTER their day of excitement, terror, and anxiety
the explorers passed a happy evening around their
campfire, and Lieutenant Carey gained a clearer idea
of the boys' adventures and escapes. He admitted that
the kindness shown them in the Seminole camp gave him
a new insight into the Indian character, and wished
that be might have had a chance to thank and reward
Ul-we for his brave rescue of the young canoemates. He
also regretted that he, too, could not have visited
that Indian camp, and hoped that the appointment made
by the boys with Ul-we might be kept.
In spite of their recent hearty meal of sofkee, a
preparation of which they spoke in the highest terms,
the boys were able to do ample justice to Quorum's
venison steaks, greatly to the satisfaction of the old
negro. He would have felt deeply grieved if they had
allowed any amount of feasting in an Indian camp to
interfere with their enjoyment of a meal that he had
cooked, no matter how short an interval might have
elapsed between the two.
Although the boys felt rather stiff and lame the
next morning, it did not prevent their being ready
bright and early to continue their journey. It was a
great pleasure to be once more afloat in their own
canoes, and this was increased by the fact that they
now had a swift current with them. It was a glorious
March day, and all nature seemed to share their high
spirits as they glided smoothly down the beautiful
river. The water swarmed with fish and alligators, and
the adjacent forest was alive with birds. Among the
innumerable fish that darted beneath them they soon
recognized several saltwater varieties, which assured
them that the ocean could not be far off.
As the three canoes were moving quietly along
abreast of each other and close together, the Psyche
suddenly glided over a huge black object that for an
instant seemed inclined to rise and lift it bodily
into the air. As it was dropped back, there was a
tremendous floundering, and all three of the light
craft were rocked so violently that only the skill of
their navigators saved them from capsizing.
"Was it a waterquake ?" inquired Worth, with a very
pale face, as soon as his fright would allow him to
speak.
"Yes; and there it goes," laughed the Lieutenant,
pointing to a great dim form that could just be seen
moving swiftly off through the clear water.
"It must have been a whale," said Sumner. "No,"
answered Lieutenant Carey; "but it was the next thing
to it. It was a manatee or sea cow. I have seen them
in the lower Indian River, but did not know they were
found down here. I wish you boys might have a good
look at him, though, for the manatee is one of the
rarest animals in the world. It is warm-blooded and
amphibious, lives on water grasses and other aquatic
plants, grows to be twelve or fifteen feet long,
weighs nearly a ton, and is one of the most timid and
harmless of creatures. It is the only living
representative of its family on this continent, all
the other members being extinct. The Indians hunt it
for its meat, which is said to be very good eating,
and for its bones, which are as fine-grained and as
hard as ivory. In general appearance it is not unlike
a seal. It can strike a powerful blow with its great
flat tail, but is otherwise unarmed and incapable of
injuring an enemy. Several have been caught in nets
and shipped North for exhibition, but none of them has
lived more than a few weeks in captivity."
"What made that fellow go for us if he isn't a
fighter ?" asked Worth.
"lie didn't," laughed the Lieutenant. "He was
probably asleep, and is wondering why we went for him.
I can assure you that he was vastly more scared than
we were."
"He must have been frightened almost to death,
then," said Sumner.
Soon after this they saw a landing place on the
left bank. Stopping to examine it, they discovered a
trail leading through a fringe of bushes, behind which
was an Indian field covering an old shell mound, and
in a high state of cultivation. In it were growing
sweet potatoes, melons, squashes, sugarcane, and beans
-- a supply of which they would gladly have purchased
had the proprietors been present. As they were not,
and necessity knows no law, our canoemen helped
themselves to what they needed, and when they left,
the load of the cruiser was materially increased.
At length they heard the dull boom of surf, and
realized that only a narrow strip of land separated
them from the ocean. Late in the afternoon they
reached the mouth of the river, and the boys uttered
joyous shouts as they looked out over its bar and saw
a limitless expanse of blue waters, unbroken by
islands, glistening in the light of the setting
sun.
With light hearts they went into camp on the inner
side of the sandy point separating the quiet waters on
which they had been floating from the long swells of
the open sea. They intended running out of the river
and down the coast in the morning, for from their
surroundings, as well as from the general course they
had taken through the 'Glades, the Lieutenant was
satisfied that they must be considerably to the north
of Cape Florida.
The boys determined to sleep in their canoes that
night, and rigged up the little-used striped canoe
tents for that purpose. While they were doing this,
and the Lieutenant was pitching his own tent on shore,
and the others were collecting driftwood on the beach,
there came a hail from across the river.
"Hello there! Bring a boat over here, can't
ye?"
It was the first white man they had seen since
leaving the Transit, and going over in the cruiser,
Sumner brought him back. He proved to be a barefooted
boy, a year younger than Worth, and yet he was the
mail carrier over the most southerly land route, and
one of the most lonesome, in the United States. It is
the seventy-mile stretch between Lake Worth and
Biscayne Bay, and every week this boy or his younger
brother walked the whole distance and back along the
beach, with a mail sack on his back. He had to cross
the mouths of two rivers, for which purpose he kept an
old skiff at each one. It sometimes happened, as in
the present case, that some other beach traveler would
appropriate his boat, and leave it on the wrong side.
Then, unless fortunate enough to find some one to set
him across, he would be obliged to brave the sharks
and other sea monsters, with which these rivers swarm,
and swim over after his own boat. Along his route were
three houses of refuge, situated twenty miles apart,
and belonging to the Life Saving Service. Each of them
contained a single keeper, and these were the only
persons seen by the lonely mail boy while on his
toilsome tramps.
The boy was greatly interested in the canoes, which
he declared were the neatest little tricks he ever did
see, but he scouted the idea of sleeping in them.
"Why," said he, "some of them sharks or porpusses what
uses round here nights will run inter ye an' upsot ye
quicker'n wink."
He was amazed that they should cruise in such tiny
craft, and begged them not to think of attempting to
run down the coast in them. On the whole he regarded
our young canoemates as being particularly daring and
reckless fellows, and they regarded him in much the
same way, though he made light of his lonely beach
tramps, on which he often met bears, panthers, or
other wild animals.
He told them that they were about twenty-five miles
north of Cape Florida; that there was a "station" on
the beach six miles north of them; that turtle were
beginning to lay eggs, and bears to frequent the beach
in search of them; that sharks grew larger in those
very waters than anywhere else on the coast; and that
an easterly wind would blow in the morning, which
would prevent their crossing the bar. Having delivered
himself of this information, and saying that he must
make the station that night, the boy slung his mail
sack over his shoulders, and started off at a brisk
pace up the soft shelving beach.
After what he had told them about sharks, Sumner
and Worth concluded not to sleep in their canoes that
night. They might have done so with perfect safety,
however, for no shark was ever known to overturn a
boat for the sake of getting at a human being inside
of it.
The next morning the mail boy's prediction in
regard to the east wind was verified. It was blowing
briskly at sunrise, and already a big sea was rolling
in, combing and booming on the bar. Their boats would
not live in it a moment, and consequently they must
stay where they were until the wind changed.
After breakfast the Lieutenant sat in his tent
writing, the sailor was repairing a torn sail, Quorum
was taking a nap, and the boys were left to their own
devices for amusement. An hour or so later Lieutenant
Carey, the sailor, and Quorum were startled by loud
calls for help from the beach, and hurried in that
direction to see what new scrape the "young rascals,"
as the Lieutenant called them, had got into now.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
FISHING FOR SHARKS.
IN strolling along the outer beach, picking up
curious sponges and bits of coral, the attention of
the boys was also attracted to the shadowy forms of
great fish that they could distinguish every now and
then darting along the green base of the combers just
before they broke.
"Do you think they can be sharks?" asked Worth.
"Yes," replied Sumner; "I am almost sure they
are."
"My! but I wish we could catch one! I have never
seen a shark out of water."
"I shouldn't wonder if we could. I've got a shark
hook in the Psyche, and our Manila cables, knotted
together, will make just the kind of line we
want."
Fifteen minutes later the hook and line had been
prepared. For bait, they took one of a number of fish
that Quorum had caught that morning.
The shark hook was a huge affair, over a foot long
and made of steel a quarter of an inch thick. To it
was attached by a swivel several feet of chain
terminating in a ring to which the line was made
fast.
Sumner had caught many sharks off Key West wharves,
but they had been comparatively small, and with the
monsters of the reef he had hitherto had no dealings.
Consequently, he was almost as ignorant of their
strength as was Worth. Therefore, without reflecting
on the folly of the act, and fearing that the line
might be jerked from his hands, he made its inner end
fast about his waist.
Then whirling the heavy hook above his head, he
cast it far out in the breakers. Within a minute it
was tossed back to the beach, and had to be thrown
again. This operation was repeated So many times
without any result that the boys were beginning to
tire of it, when all at once there came a jerk on the
line that nearly threw Sumner off his feet. "Hurrah!"
he cried. "We've got him at last! ,, Catch hold,
Worth, and help me haul him in.
But it was soon evident that instead of their
catching the shark, he had caught them. In spite of
all their efforts, and no matter how deeply they dug
their feet into the sand, the boys found themselves
being dragged slowly but surely towards the water. At
first they did not realize their danger; but when they
were within a few yards of the creamy froth churned up
by the breakers, it flashed over them, and they began
to utter those shouts for help that attracted the
attention of their companions in the camp.
Although Worth could have let go of the line at any
minute, the thought of doing such a thing never
entered his head. Even when the water was about his
feet and the wet sand was slipping rapidly from
beneath them, the plucky little chap held on and
struggled with all his might to avert the fate that
threatened his friend.
They were nearly hopeless before the three men
reached them, and, rushing into the water, seized the
line with such a powerful grasp that its seaward
motion was instantly arrested. Not only that, but they
walked away with it so easily that a minute later the
shark was landed high and dry on the beach, where the
sailor dispatched it with an axe.
It was a white shark of moderate size, being not
more than seven or eight feet long. For all that, it
was a monster as compared with those Sumner had been
in the habit of catching, and he gazed with a curious
sensation at its wicked eyes, and the row upon row of
curved gleaming teeth with which the gaping mouth was
provided.
"It was a close call for you, my boy," said the
Lieutenant, gravely, "and has taught you a lesson that
I am sure you will never forget. You may thank your
lucky stars that the hook was taken by this little
fellow instead of by one of his grandfathers or
uncles. Now that we have started in this business, I
am going to try and show you what might have
happened."
Under his direction a hole some five feet deep was
dug, a heavy timber, selected from those with which
the beach was strewn, was thrust into it, and the sand
was repacked solidly about it. To this, instead of to
Sumner's body, the end of the line was attached, and
the fishing for sharks was resumed. While the post was
being set, Lieutenant Carey brought his rifle from the
camp. Several sharks, some smaller and some larger
than the first, were caught; but not until the hook
was seized by one that dragged the entire party
clinging to it slowly down the beach did the
Lieutenant express himself as satisfied.
"Hold on to it!" he cried. "Brace yourselves! Snub
him all you can!"
The strain on the line was tremendous, and it
hummed like a harp string. But for the post to aid
them, they must have let go. At length, even the
enormous strength at the other end of the line began
to be exhausted. Foot by foot the slack was gathered
in and held at the post. Then a great ugly-looking
head could be seen in the edge of the breakers, and
the next minute a rifle ball crashed into it.
In the flurry that followed the line snapped, and
the boys uttered a cry of dismay. But the bullet had
done its work, and a few minutes later the huge
carcass was rolling like a log in the surf. The sailor
managed to get a bight of the line over its tail, and
by their united efforts the great fish was drawn
partly from the water; but beyond there they could not
move it. It was nearly fifteen feet long, and Sumner
shuddered as he realized how easily and quickly such a
monster as that could have dragged him out to sea.
"It seems to me," said Worth, "that some kinds of
fishing are as dangerous as deer hunting, and just as
exciting."
While they were still looking at the big shark
their attention was attracted to a loud barking in the
beach scrub behind them, and by a man's voice
shouting: "Wus-le! Wus-le! You, sir! Come here!" It
was evident that Wus-le was a dog, and that he was
engaged in some absorbing occupation that forbade him
to pay any attention to the calls of his unseen
master.
Going to the place from which the barking came, the
shark fishers were in time to witness a most
interesting performance. A small brindled bull terrier
was tearing in a circle round and round a coiled
rattlesnake. The former was barking furiously, and the
sound so enraged the snake that the angry whir-r-r-r
of its rattles was almost continuous. At the same time
it was dazed by the rapidity of the dog's motions. At
length it sprang forward, struck viciously, and missed
its mark. At the same moment the dog dashed in, seized
the snake by the back, gave one furious shake, and
jumped away. The snake was evidently injured, for it
re-coiled slowly. Once more, enraged beyond endurance,
it struck at its agile adversary, and then the dog had
him. in an instant the snake's back was broken, and a
minute later it lay motionless and dead.
As soon as he was certain of his victory, the dog
paid no more attention to his late enemy, but with
panting breath and lolling tongue that betrayed the
energy of his recent exertions, he ran to meet his
master, who appeared at that moment from the direction
of the river.
He was a powerfully built man, dressed partly as a
hunter and partly as a sailor. He carried a rifle, and
introduced himself as the keeper of the house of
refuge a few miles up the coast. He upbraided the dog
as though it were a human being for tackling a
rattlesnake, and then remarked apologetically to the
spectators of the recent fight: "I have to scold him
on general principles, but it don't do any good. He is
bound to fight and kill snakes till they kill him,
which I am always expecting they will. They haven't
done it yet, though, and he has killed more than
twenty rattlers, besides more Of other kinds than I
can count. He's a good dog, Wus-le is, and he's a
terror to snakes."
The man said he had learned of the Lieutenant and
his companions being in the river from the mail
carrier, and, feeling lonely, had come to invite them
to go to the station and stay with him until the wind
changed. As he assured them that this was not likely
to happen for several days, and as they were ahead of
the time set for their arrival at Cape Florida,
Lieutenant Carey accepted the invitation.
On their way up the river their guide pointed out a
grove of coconut palms, marking the site of a fort
erected during the Seminole War, the name of which was
at one time familiar to all Americans. It was the
scene of the treacherous seizure of the famous chief
Osceola, who was lured into it under the pretense of
considering a treaty. From there he was hurried to
Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, where he soon
afterwards died of a broken heart.
They found the station to be a low, roomy
structure, surrounded by broad piazzas, built in the
most solid manner so as to withstand hurricanes. It
stood on top of the beach ridge, and commanded a
glorious view of the ocean, as well as of the
low-lying back country. At one end was a small
separate house containing a great cistern, in which a
supply of water was collected during the rainy season
of summer, to last through the long winter drought. At
the opposite end stood a building in which was kept a
metallic lifeboat and a quantity of canned provisions
for the use of sailors who might be wrecked on that
lonely coast.
Here the exploring party remained for nearly a
week, while the wind still held steadily to the east,
and they all declared it to be the happiest and most
interesting week of their cruise.
They hunted, fished, and sailed on the inland
waters behind the beach ridge to their hearts'
content. Quorum was kept constantly busy cooking on
the station kitchen stove the venison, fish, turtle,
ducks, quail, 'possum, and other food supplies with
which the surrounding country abounded.
Worth felt that his reputation as a hunter was
fully restored when he shot a; wildcat that Wus-le had
treed, and Sumner was more than proud over the killing
of a black bear, which the same enterprising dog
discovered one night digging for turtle eggs on the
beach but a short distance from the station. The
Lieutenant worked at the report of his expedition,
while the sailor and the keeper labored at the frame
of a light-draught, seagoing boat, which the latter
wished to build for his own use, and for which Sumner
furnished the plans and model.
At length the wind, which in that country always
boxes the compass, worked around to the westward, and
as it was the end of March, the canoes were again
loaded, and the pleasant life at the station came to
an end.
..
© 2001 Craig
O'Donnell, editor &
general factotum.
May not be reproduced without my permission. Go scan
your own damn stuff.
