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diff --git a/20849-8.txt b/20849-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b93b40 --- /dev/null +++ b/20849-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4047 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Big Brother, by George Cary Eggleston + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Big Brother + A Story of Indian War + + +Author: George Cary Eggleston + + + +Release Date: March 18, 2007 [eBook #20849] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIG BROTHER*** + + +E-text prepared by David Garcia, Graeme Mackreth, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from +page images generously made available by the Kentuckiana Digital Library +(http://kdl.kyvl.org/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 20849-h.htm or 20849-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/8/4/20849/20849-h/20849-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/8/4/20849/20849-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through the + Kentuckiana Digital Library. See + http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B92-200-30752132&view=toc + + + + + +THE BIG BROTHER + +A Story of Indian War + +by + +GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON + +Author of "How to Educate Yourself," Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE DOG CHARGE.] + + + +New York +G. P. Putnam's Sons +Fourth Avenue and Twenty-Third Street +1875. + +Copyright. +G. P. Putnam's Sons. +1875. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + Page. +SINQUEFIELD 7 + +CHAPTER II. +THE STORMING OF SINQUEFIELD 17 + +CHAPTER III. +SAM'S LECTURE 28 + +CHAPTER IV. +SAM FINDS IT NECESSARY TO THINK 38 + +CHAPTER V. +SAM'S FORTRESS 46 + +CHAPTER VI. +SURPRISED 61 + +CHAPTER VII. +CONFUSED 67 + +CHAPTER VIII. +WEATHERFORD 71 + +CHAPTER IX. +WEARY WAITING 83 + +CHAPTER X. +FIGHTING FIRE 93 + +CHAPTER XI. +IN THE WILDERNESS 104 + +CHAPTER XII. +AN ALARM AND A WELCOME 118 + +CHAPTER XIII. +JOE'S PLAN 124 + +CHAPTER XIV. +THE CANOE FIGHT 130 + +CHAPTER XV. +THE BOYS ARE DRIVEN OUT OF THE ROOT FORTRESS 143 + +CHAPTER XVI. +WHERE IS JOE? 159 + +CHAPTER XVII. +A FAMINE 163 + +CHAPTER XVIII. +WHICH ENDS THE STORY 173 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Page. + +THE DOG CHARGE _Frontispiece._ + +SAM'S PARTY 20 + +"WE'S DUN LOS'--DAT'S WHA' WE IS" 40 + +JUDIE ON THE RAFT 49 + +THE PERILOUS LEAP 83 + + + + +THE BIG BROTHER. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SINQUEFIELD. + + +In the quiet days of peace and security in which we live it is difficult +to imagine such a time of excitement as that at which our story opens, +in the summer of 1813. From the beginning of that year, the Creek +Indians in Alabama and Mississippi had shown a decided disposition to +become hostile. In addition to the usual incentives to war which always +exist where the white settlements border closely upon Indian territory, +there were several special causes operating to bring about a struggle at +that time. We were already at war with the British, and British agents +were very active in stirring up trouble on our frontiers, knowing that +nothing would so surely weaken the Americans as a general outbreak of +Indian hostilities. Tecumseh, the great chief, had visited the Creeks, +too, and had urged them to go on the war path, threatening them, in the +event of their refusal, with the wrath of the Great Spirit. His appeals +to their superstition were materially strengthened by the occurrence of +an earthquake, which singularly enough, he had predicted, threatening +that when he returned to his home he would stamp his foot and shake +their houses down. Their own prophets, Francis and Singuista, had +preached war, too, telling the Indians that their partial adoption of +civilization, and their relations of friendship with the whites, were +sorely displeasing to the Great Spirit, who would surely punish them if +they did not immediately abandon the civilization and butcher the +pale-faces. Francis predicted, also, that in the coming struggle no +Indians would be killed, while the whites would be completely +exterminated. All this was promised on condition that the Indians should +become complete savages again, quitting all the habits of industry and +thrift which they had been learning for some years past, and fighting +mercilessly against all whites, sparing none. + +All these things combined to bring on the war, and during the spring +several raids were made by small bodies of the Indians, in which they +were pretty severely punished by the whites. Finally a battle was fought +at Burnt-corn, in July 1813, and this was the signal for the breaking +out of the most terrible of all Indian wars,--the most terrible, because +the savages engaged in it had learned from the whites how to fight, and +because many of their chiefs were educated half-breeds, familiar with +the country and with all the points of weakness on the part of the +settlers. Stockade forts were built in various places, and in these the +settlers took refuge, leaving their fields to grow as they might and +their houses to be plundered and burned whenever the Indians should +choose to visit them. The stockades were so built as to enclose several +acres each, and strong block houses inside, furnished additional +protection. Into these forts there came men, women, and children, from +all parts of the country, each bringing as much food as possible, and +each willing to lend a hand to the common defence and the common +support. + +On the 30th of August, the Indians attacked Fort Mims, one of the +largest of the stockade stations, and after a desperate battle destroyed +it, killing all but seventeen of the five hundred and fifty people who +were living in it. The news of this terrible slaughter quickly spread +over the country, and everybody knew now that a general war had begun, +in which the Indians meant to destroy the whites utterly, not sparing +even the youngest children. + +Those who had remained on their farms now flocked in great numbers to +the forts, and every effort was made to strengthen the defences at all +points. The men, including all the boys who were large enough to point a +gun and pull a trigger, were organized into companies and assigned to +port-holes, in order that each might know where to go to do his part of +the fighting whenever the Indians should come. Even those of the women +who knew how to shoot, insisted upon being provided with guns and +assigned to posts of duty. There was not only no use in flinching, but +every one of them knew that whenever the fort should be attacked the +only question to be decided was, "Shall we beat the savages off, or +shall every man woman and child of us be butchered?" They could not run +away, for there was nowhere to run, except into the hands of the +merciless foe. The life of every one of them was involved in the defence +of the forts, and each was, therefore, anxious to do all he could to +make the defense a successful one. Their only hope was in desperate +courage, and, being Americans, their courage was equal to the demand +made upon it. It was not a civilized war, in which surrenders, and +exchanges of prisoners, and treaties and flags of truce, or even +neutrality offered any escape. It was a savage war, in which the Indians +intended to kill all the whites, old and young, wherever they could find +them. The people in the forts knew this, and they made their +arrangements accordingly. + +Now if the boys and girls who read this story will get their atlases and +turn to the map of Alabama, they will find some points, the relative +positions of which they must remember if they wish to understand fully +the happenings with which we have to do. Just below the junction of the +Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, on the east side of the stream, they will +find the little town of Tensaw, and Fort Mims stood very near that +place. The peninsula formed by the two rivers above their junction is +now Clarke County, and almost exactly in its centre stands the village +of Grove Hill. A mile or two to the north-east stood Fort Sinquefield. +Fort White was several miles further west, and Fort Glass, afterwards +called Fort Madison, stood fifteen miles south, at a point about three +miles south of the present village of Suggsville. On the eastern side of +the Alabama river is the town of Claiborne, and at a point about three +miles below Claiborne the principal events of this story occurred. It +will not hurt you, boys and girls, to learn a little accurate geography, +by looking up these places before going on with the story, and if I were +your schoolmaster, instead of your story teller, I should stop here to +advise you always to look on the map for every town, river, lake, +mountain or other geographical thing mentioned in any book or paper you +read. I would advise you, too, if I were your schoolmaster, to add up +all the figures given in books and newspapers, to see if the writers +have made any mistakes; and it is a good plan too, to go at once to the +dictionary when you meet a word you do not quite comprehend, or to the +encyclopædia or history, or whatever else is handy, whenever you read +about anything and would like to know more about it. I say I should stop +here to give you some such advice as this, if I were your schoolmaster. +As I am not, however, I must go on with my story instead. + +Within a mile or two of Fort Sinquefield lived a gentleman named +Hardwicke. He was a widower with three children. Sam, the oldest of the +three, was nearly seventeen; Tommy was eleven, and a little girl of +seven years, named Judith, but called Judie, was the other. Mr. +Hardwicke was a quiet, studious man, who had come to Alabama from +Baltimore, not many years before, and since the death of his wife he had +spent most of his time in his library, which was famous throughout the +settlement on account of the wonderful number of books it contained. +There were hardly any schools in Alabama in those days, and Mr. +Hardwicke, being a man of education and considerable wealth, gave up +almost the whole of his time to his children, teaching them in doors and +out, and directing them in their reading. It was understood that Sam +would be sent north to attend College the next year, and meantime he had +become a voracious reader. He read all sorts of books, and as he +remembered and applied the things he learned from them, it was a common +saying in the country round about, that "Sam Hardwicke knows pretty +nearly everything." Of course that was not true, but he knew a good deal +more than most of the men in the country, and better than all, he knew +how very much there was for him yet to learn. A boy has learned the very +best lesson of his life when he knows that he really does not know much; +it is a lesson some people never learn at all. But books were not the +only things Sam Hardwicke was familiar with. He could ride the worst +horses in the country and shoot a rifle almost as well as Tandy Walker +himself, and Tandy, as every reader of history knows, was the most +famous rifleman, as well as the best guide and most daring scout in the +whole south-west. Sam had hunted, too, over almost every inch of +country within twenty miles around, trudging alone sometimes for a week +or a fortnight before returning, and in this way he had learned to know +the distances, the directions, and the nature of the country lying +between different places,--a knowledge worth gaining by anybody, and +especially valuable to a boy who lived in a frontier settlement. He was +strong of limb and active as he was strong, and his "book knowledge," as +the neighbors called it, served him many a good turn in the woods, when +he was beset by difficulties. + +Sam's father was one of the very last of the settlers to go into a fort. +He remained at home as long as he could, and went to Fort Sinquefield at +last, only when warned by an Indian who for some reason liked him, that +he and his children's lives were in imminent danger. That was on the +first of September, and when the Hardwicke family, black and white, were +safely within the little fortress, there remained outside only two +families, namely, those of Abner James and Ransom Kimball, who +determined to remain one more night at Kimball's house, two miles from +Sinquefield. That very night the Indians, under Francis the prophet, +burned the house, killing twelve of the inmates. Five others escaped, +and one of them, Isham Kimball, who was then a boy of sixteen, +afterwards became Clerk of Clarke County, where he was still living in +1857. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE STORMING OF SINQUEFIELD. + + +When the news of the massacre at Kimball's reached Fort Glass, a +detachment of ten men was sent out to recover the bodies, which they +brought to Fort Sinquefield for burial. The graves were dug in a little +valley three or four hundred yards from the fort, and all the people +went out to attend the funeral. The services had just come to an end +when the cry of "Indians! Indians!" was raised, and a body of warriors, +under the prophet Francis, dashed down from behind a hill, upon the +defenceless people, whose guns were inside the fort. The first impulse +of every one was to catch up the little children and hasten inside the +gates, but it was manifestly too late. The Indians were already nearer +the fort than they, and were running with all their might, brandishing +their knives and tomahawks, and yelling like demons. + +There seemed no way of escape. Sam Hardwicke took little Judie up in his +arms, and, quick as thought calculated the chances of reaching the fort. +Clearly the only way in which he could possibly get there, was by +leaving his little sister to her fate and running for his life. But Sam +Hardwicke was not the sort of boy to do anything so cowardly as that. +Abandoning the thought of getting to the fort, he called to Tom to +follow him, and with Judie in his arms, he ran into a neighboring +thicket, where the three, with Joe, a black boy of twelve or thirteen +years who had followed them, concealed themselves in the bushes. Whether +they had been seen by the Indians or not, they had no way of knowing, +but their only hope of safety now lay in absolute stillness. They +crouched down together and kept silence. + +"What's we gwine to do here, I wonder," whispered the black boy. "Whar +mus' we go, Mas Sam?" + +Sam did not answer. He was too much absorbed in studying the situation +to talk or even to listen. The Indians were coming down upon the white +people from every side, and the only wonder was that Sam's little party +had managed to find a gap in their line big enough to escape through. + +"Be patient, Joe," said little Judie, in the calmest voice possible. +"Brother Sam will take care of us. Give him time. He always does know +what to do." + +"Be still, Joe," said Sam. "If you talk that Indian'll see us," pointing +to one not thirty steps distant, though Joe had not yet seen him. + +A terrified "ugh!" was all the reply Joe could make. + +Meantime the situation of the fort people was terrible. Cut off from the +gates and unarmed, there seemed to be nothing for them to do except to +meet death as bravely and calmly as they could. A young man named Isaac +Harden happened to be near the gates, however, on horseback, and +accompanied by a pack of about sixty hounds. And this young man, whose +name has barely crept into a corner of history, was both a hero and a +military genius, and he did right then and there, a deed as brilliant +and as heroic as any other in history. Seeing the perilous position of +the fort people, he raised himself in his stirrups and waving his hat, +charged the savages _with his pack of dogs_, whooping and yelling after +the manner of a huntsman, and leading the fierce bloodhounds right into +the ranks of the infuriated Indians. The dogs being trained to chase and +seize any living thing upon which their master might set them, attacked +the Indians furiously, Harden encouraging them and riding down group +after group of the bewildered savages. Charging right and left with his +dogs, he succeeded in putting the Indians for a time upon the defensive, +thus giving the white people time to escape into the fort. When all were +in except Sam's party and a Mrs. Phillips who was killed, Harden began +looking about him for a chance to secure his own safety. His impetuosity +had carried him clear through the Indian ranks, and the savages, having +beaten the dogs off, turned their attention to the young cavalier who +had balked them in the very moment of their victory. They were between +him and the gates, hundreds against one. His dogs were killed or +scattered, and he saw at a glance that there was little hope for him. +The woods behind him were full of Indians, and so retreat was +impossible. Turning his horse's head towards the gates, he plunged spurs +into his side, and with a pistol in each hand, dashed through the savage +ranks, firing as he went. Blowing a blast upon his horn to recall those +of his dogs which were still alive, he escaped on foot into the fort, +just in time to let the gate shut in the face of the foremost Indian. +His horse, history tells us, was killed under him, and he had five +bullet holes through his clothes, but his skin was unbroken. + +[Illustration: SAM'S PARTY.] + +Francis and his followers were balked but not beaten. Retiring for a few +minutes behind the hill, they rallied and came again to the assault, +more furiously than ever. Their savage instincts were thoroughly aroused +by the unexpected defeat they had sustained in the very moment of their +victory, and they were determined now to take the fort at any cost. +Their plan of attack showed the skill of their leader, who was really a +man of considerable ability in spite of his fanatical belief in his own +prophetic gifts. He avoided both the errors usually committed by Indian +leaders in storming fortified places. He refused, on the one hand, to +let his men waste their powder and their time in desultory firing, and, +on the other, he decided not to risk everything on the hazard of a +single assault. His plan was to take the fort by storm, but the storming +was to be done systematically. Dividing his force into two parts, he +sent one to the attack, and held the other back in the hope that the +first would gain a position so near the stockade as to make the assault +of the second, led by himself, doubly sure of success. The plan was a +good one, without doubt, and no man was better qualified than Francis to +carry it out. + +When the storming party came, the people in the fort were ready for it. +Counting out the women and children, their numbers were not large, but +they were a brave and determined set of men and boys, who knew very well +in what kind of a struggle they were engaged. They reserved their fire +until the Indians were within thirty yards of the fort, and then +delivered it as rapidly as they could, taking care to waste none of it +by random or careless shooting. The fort consisted, as all the border +fortifications did, of a simple stockade, inside of which was a +block-house for the protection of the women and children, and designed +also as a sort of "last ditch," in which a desperate resistance could be +made, even after the fort had been carried. The stockade was made of the +trunks of pine-trees set on end in the ground, close together, but +pierced at intervals with port-holes, through which the men of the +garrison could fire. Such a stockade afforded an excellent protection +against the bullets and the arrows of the Indians, and gave its +defenders a great advantage over the assailing force, which must, of +course, be exposed to a galling fire from the men behind the barriers. +As the stockade was about fifteen feet high, climbing over it was almost +wholly out of the question, and the only way to take the fort was to +rush upon it with fence rails, stop up the port-holes immediately in +front, and keep so close to the stockade as to escape the fire from +points to the right and left, while engaged in cutting down the timber +barrier. If the Indians could do this, their superior numbers would +enable them to rush in through the opening thus made, and then the +block-house would be the only refuge left to the white people. The +block-house was a building made of very large timbers, hewed square, +laid close upon each other and notched to an exact fit at the ends. It +had but one entrance, and that was near the top. This could be reached +only by a ladder, and should the Indians gain access to the fort, the +whites would retire, fighting, to this building, and when all were in, +the ladder would be drawn in after them. From the port-holes of the +block-house a fierce fire could be delivered, and as the square timbers +were not easily set on fire, a body of Indians must be very determined +indeed, if they succeeded in taking or destroying a block-house. At Fort +Mims, however, they had done so, burning the house over the heads of the +inmates. + +The reader will understand, from this description of the fort, how +possible it was for the people within it to withstand a very determined +attack, and to inflict heavy loss upon the savages, without suffering +much in their turn. Francis's men charged furiously upon the silent +stockade, but were sent reeling back as soon as they had come near +enough for the riflemen within to fire with absolute accuracy of aim. +Then the second body, under Francis himself, charged, but with no +better success. A pause followed, and another charge was made just +before nightfall. + +This time some of the savages succeeded in reaching the stockade and +stopping up some of the port-holes. They cut down a part of the pickets +too, and had their friends charged again at once, the fort would +undoubtedly have been carried. As it was, Francis saw fit to draw off +his men, for the time at least, and retire beyond the hill. What was now +to be done? The attack had been repulsed, but it might be renewed at any +moment. The Indians had suffered considerably, while the casualties +within the fort were limited to the loss of one man and one boy. But the +obstinate determination of Francis was well known, and it was certain +that he had not finally abandoned his purpose of taking the little fort. +He had already demonstrated his ability to carry the place, and it was, +at the least, likely that he would come again within twenty-four hours, +probably with a larger force, and should he do so, the little garrison +was not in condition to repel his attack. To remain in the fort, +therefore, was certain destruction; but the country was full of savages, +and to attempt a march to Fort Glass, fifteen miles away, which was the +nearest available place, the other forts being difficult to reach, was +felt to be almost equally hazardous. A council was held, and it was +finally determined that the perilous march to Fort Glass must be +undertaken at all hazards. Accordingly, not long after nightfall the +whole garrison, men, women and children, stealthily left the fort and +silently crept away to the south. + +Sam had seen the dog charge and the escape of the whites into the fort. + +"What a fool I was!" he exclaimed, "not to stay where I was! We might +have got in with the rest of them." + +"Why can't we go to de fort now, or leastways, as soon as de Injuns goes +away?" asked Joe. + +"They ain't going away," said Sam. "They're going to storm the +fort,--look, they're coming right here for a starting-point, and 'll be +on top of us in a minute. Come!--don't make any noise, but follow me. +Crawl on your hands and knees, and don't raise your heads. Look out for +sticks. If you break one, the Indians 'll hear it." + +"Mas' Sam--dey's Injuns ahead'n us an' a-comin right torge us too. Look +dar!" + +Sam looked, and saw a body of Indians just in front of him coming to +reinforce the others. He and his friends were cut off between two bodies +of savages. + +"Lie down and be still," he whispered. "It's all we can do--and I'm to +blame for it all!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SAM'S LECTURE. + + +The people of the fort made no search for Sam and his companions; not +because they cared nothing for them, but simply because they believed +them certainly dead. Mr. Hardwicke, himself, had seen Sam start with +little Judie towards the fort, before the dog charge was made, and as +neither the boys nor Judie had ever reached the gates, he had no doubt +whatever that his three children were slain, as was Mrs. Phillips, the +only other person who had failed to get inside the stockade. Mr. +Hardwicke wished to go out in search of their bodies, but was overruled +by his companions, who, knowing that the savages were still in the +immediate vicinity, thought it simply a reckless and unnecessary risk, +to go hunting for the bodies of their friends hundreds of yards away, +and immediately in front of the place at which the Indians were last +seen. The idea was abandoned, therefore, and the fort party marched away +in the darkness of a cloudy night, towards Fort Glass. Leaving them to +find their way if they can, let us return to Sam and his little band. +Seeing the Indians coming towards them, they lay down in the high weeds. +The savages hurrying forward to reinforce their friends, passed within a +few feet of the young people, but did not see them. The storming of the +fort then began, and after watching the evolutions of the Indians for +some time, Sam said: + +"We mustn't stay here. Those red skins are working around this way, and 'll +find us. Crawl on your hands and knees, all of you, and follow me." + +"Whar's ye gwine to, Mas' Sam?" asked Joe. + +"_Sh, sh_," said Judie. "Don't talk Joe, but do as Brother Sam tells +you. Don't you know he always knows what's best? Besides, maybe he +hasn't quite found out where he's going yet, himself." + +But Joe was not as confident of Sam's genius for doing the right thing +as Judie was, and so, after crawling for some distance, he again broke +silence. + +"Miss Judie." + +"What do you want, Joe?" + +"Does _you_ know whar Mas' Sam's a-takin' us to, an' what he's gwine to +do when he gits dar?" + +"No, of course I don't." + +"How you know den, dat he's doin' de bes' thing?" + +But the conversation was terminated by a word from Sam, who said, in a +whisper, + +"Joe, I'll tell you _where we're going if you keep talking_." + +"Whar, Mas' Sam?" + +"Into the hands of the Indians. Keep your mouth shut, if you don't want +your hair lifted off your head." + +As the black boy certainly did not want his hair cut Indian fashion, he +became silent at once. + +When they had travelled in this way until they could no longer hear the +yells of the Indians and the popping of guns at the fort, Sam called a +halt. It was now nearly midnight. + +"Here is a good place to spend the rest of the night," he said, "and we +must be as still as we can. We can stay here till to-morrow night, and +then we must try to get to Fort Glass. It's about twelve or thirteen +miles from here." + +"Le's go on now, Mas' Sam; I'se afear'd to stay here," said the black +boy. + +"We can't," said Sam. "I got scratched in the foot with a stray bullet, +just as we went into the thicket there at the fort, and I can't walk. I +am a little faint and must lie down." + +At this little Judie, who fairly idolized Sam, and felt perfectly safe +from Indians and everything else when he was with her, was disposed to +set up a wail of sorrow and fright. If poor Sam were wounded, he might +die, she thought, and the thought was too much for her. + +Sam soothed her, however, and the poor, tired little girl was soon fast +asleep in his arms. + +"Bring some moss, boys," he said to his companions, "and make a bed for +Judie here by this log." + +When he had laid her down, he drew off his shoe and wrapped the wounded +foot in some of the long gray moss which hangs in great festoons from +the trees of that region. Joe, with the true negro genius for sleeping, +was already snoring at the foot of a tree. Sam quietly called Tom to his +side. + +"Tom," said he, "my foot is bleeding pretty badly, and I can't see till +morning to do anything for it. I have wrapped it up in moss, stuffing +the softest parts into the wound, and that may stop it after a while. +But I may not be able to travel to-morrow night, and if I can't you must +leave me here and try to find your way to Fort Glass, with Judie. You +must remember that her life will depend on you, and try to do your duty +without flinching. Don't try to travel in the daytime. Go on to the +south as fast as you can of nights, keeping in the woods and thickets, +and as soon as you see a streak of gray in the sky find a good +hiding-place and stop. You can get some corn and some sweet potatoes out +of any field, but you must eat them raw, as it wont do to make a fire. +Now go to sleep. I may be able to travel myself, but if I shouldn't, +remember you are a brave man's son, and must do your duty as a +Hardwicke should." And with that he shook the little fellow's hand. + +After a time Tom, overcome by weariness, fell asleep, but Sam remained +awake all night, trying to staunch the flow of blood from his foot. He +knew that if he could go on with the others their chance of safety would +be vastly greater than without him, and so he was disposed to leave no +effort untried to be in a fit condition to travel the next night. When +morning came Sam called Tom and Joe, and directed them to examine his +wound, into which he could not see very well. + +"Is the blood of a bright red, as it comes out, or a dark red?" he +asked. + +"Bright," they both said. + +"Then it comes from an artery," he replied. "Are you sure it is bright +red?" + +The boys were not quite sure. + +"Does it come in a steady stream or in spurts?" he asked. + +"It spurts, and stops and spurts again," said Tom. + +"It is an artery, then," said Sam. "Look and see if you can find the +place it comes from." + +The boys made a careful examination and at last found the artery, a +small one, which was cut only about half way across. + +"All right," said Sam. "If that's the case, I think I know how to stop +the blood. Put your finger in, and _break the artery clear in two_". + +"O Sam, then you'll bleed to death," said Tom. + +"No I won't. Do as I tell you." + +"Let me cut it, then. It wont hurt you so much." + +"No, no, no," cried Sam, staying his hand. "Don't cut it. Tear it, I +tell you, and be quick." + +Tom tore it, and the blood stopped almost immediately. Sam then bound +the foot up with strips of cloth torn from his clothing, and as he did +so said: + +"Now I'll tell you both all about this so that you'll know what to do +another time. If you know only _what_ to do, you may forget; but if you +know _why_, you'll remember. The blood comes out from the heart to all +parts of the body in arteries, and when it leaves the heart it is bright +red, because it is clean and pure. Your heart is a sort of force-pump, +and every time it beats it forces the blood all over you. The arteries +fork and branch out in every direction, until they terminate in +millions of little veins smaller than the finest hairs, and these +running together make bigger veins, through which the blood is carried +to the lungs. In the veins it flows steadily, because the _capillary_ +veins, the ones like hairs, are so small that the spurts can't be felt +beyond them. The blood in the veins is thick and dark, because it has +taken up all the impurities from the system; but when it gets to the +lungs your breath takes up all these and carries them off, leaving the +blood pure again for another round. Now the arteries are long elastic +tubes, that is to say, they will stretch a little, and fly back again, +if you pull them, and when one is cut nearly but not quite off, the +contraction keeps it wide open. If it is cut or torn entirely in two, +the end draws back, and nine times in ten, if the artery is a small one, +the drawing back shuts the end up entirely and the blood stops. But it +is better to tear it than to cut it, because when torn the edges are +jagged and it shrivels up more. I don't quite understand why, myself, +but that is what the surgical books say. When anybody is hurt and +bleeding badly, the first thing to do is to find out whether it is an +artery or a vein that's cut. If the blood is bright and comes out in +spurts, it's an artery. If it is dark, and flows steadily, it's a vein. +If it's an artery and isn't cut quite in two, tear it in two. If that +don't stop it, you must make a knot in a handkerchief and then press +your finger above the cut in different places till you find where the +artery is by the blood stopping. Then put the knot on that place and tie +the handkerchief around the limb. You can stop a vein in the same way +and more easily, but if it's a vein you must tie the handkerchief so +that the cut place will be between it and the heart. You see the blood +comes from the heart in the arteries, and goes back towards the heart in +the veins, and so to stop an artery you tie inside, and to stop a vein +outside of the cut place." + +I think it altogether probable that Master Sam would have gone into +quite a lecture on anatomy and minor surgery, if little Judie had not +waked up just then complaining of hunger. What he told the boys, +however, is well worth remembering. He took little Judie on his lap and +sent the two boys out to find a field of potatoes or corn. When they +came back all four made a breakfast of raw sweet potatoes, drinking +water which Tom brought in his wool hat from a creek not very far away. +Sam grew stronger during the day, and at night the party set out on +their way to Fort Glass. Sam's foot was not painful, but he was afraid +of starting the blood again, and so he held it up, walking with a rude +crutch which he had made during the day. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SAM FINDS IT NECESSARY TO THINK. + + +It was twelve miles from their first encampment to Fort Glass, and if +Sam had been strong and well, and the way open, they might easily have +made the journey before morning, by carrying little Judie a part of the +way. As it was, they had to go through the thickest woods to avoid +Indians, and must move cautiously all the time, as they could never know +when they might stumble upon a party of savages around a camp-fire, or +sleeping under a tree. Those of my readers who live in the far South +know what thick woods are in that part of the country, but others may +not. The trees grow as close together as they can, and the underbrush +chokes up the space between them pretty effectually. Then the great +vines of various kinds wind themselves in and out until in many places +they literally stop the way so that a strong man with an axe could not +go forward a hundred feet in a week. In other places the thick cane +makes an equally impenetrable barrier, and Sam needed all his knowledge +of the forest to enable him to work his way southward at night through +such woods as those. The little party of wanderers sometimes found +themselves apparently walled in in the pitchy darkness, with no possible +way out but Sam's instinct, as he called it, which was simply his +ability to remember the things he had learned, and to put two facts +together to find out a third, always extricated them. Once they found +themselves in a swamp, where the water was about eight inches deep. The +underbrush, canes and vines made it impossible for them to see any great +distance in any direction. + +"Oh, I know we will never get out of here," whined poor little Judie, +ready to sink down in the water. + +"Yes we will, lady bird," said Sam cheerily. "What's the good of having +a big brother if he can't take care of you? Tell me that, will you? +Keep your courage up, little girl, I think I know where we are. Let me +think." + +"I know wha' we is. Mas' Sam," said Joe. + +"Where, Joe," asked Sam, incredulously. + +"We'se dun' los',--dat's wha' we is," replied Joe. + +Sam laughed. + +"I know more than that," said Tom, "I know _where_ we're lost." + +"Wha', Mas' Tom?" cried Joe, eagerly. + +"In a swamp," said Tom. + +"And I know what swamp," said Sam, "which is better still. This swamp is +the low grounds of a little creek, and I've been in it before to-night. +I don't know just which way to go to get out, because I don't know just +what part of the swamp we're in. But if my foot was well I'd soon find +out." + +"How, Mas' Sam?" + +"I'd climb that sweet gum and look for landmarks." + +"Lan' marks? what's dem, Mas' Sam? will dey bite?" + +"No, Joe, I mean I would look around and find something or other to +steer by,--a house an open field or something." + +"I kin climb, Mas' Sam," replied Joe, "an' I'll be up dat dar tree in +less'n no time." + +[Illustration: "WE 'S DUN LOS'--DATS WHAT WE IS."] + +And up the tree he went as nimbly as any squirrel might. As he went up, +Sam cautioned him to make no noise, and not to shout, but to look around +carefully, and then to come down and tell what he had seen. + +"I see a big openin'," said Joe, when he reached the ground again, "an' +nigh de middle uv it dey's a big grove, wid a littler one jis' off to de +left." + +"Yes," said Sam, "I thought you'd see that. That's where Watkins's house +stood: now which way is it?" + +"Which-a-way's what, Mas' Sam?" + +"The opening with the groves in it." + +"I 'clar' I dunno, Mas' Sam." + +It had not entered Joe's head to mark the direction, and so he had to +climb the tree again. In going up and coming down, however, he wound +around the tree two or three times and was no wiser when he returned to +the ground than before he began his ascent. + +"Look, Joe," said Sam. "Do you see that bright star through the trees?" + +"De brightest one, Mas' Sam?" + +"Yes." + +"Yes, I sees it." + +"Well, climb the tree, and when you get to the top, turn your face +towards that star. Then see which way the opening is, and remember +whether it is straight ahead of you, behind you, or to the right or +left." + +Joe went up the tree again and this time managed to bring down the +information that when he looked at the star the opening was on his left. + +With the knowledge of locality and direction thus gained, Sam was not +long in finding his way to firm ground again, and as soon as he did so +he selected a hiding-place for the day, as the morning was now at hand. + +The next night they had fewer difficulties, the woods through which they +had to pass being freer from undergrowth than those they had already +traversed, and when the third morning broke they were within a mile or +two of Fort Glass. Sam thought at first of pushing on at once to the +fort, but, seeing "Indian sign" in the shape of some smouldering fires +near a spring, he abandoned the undertaking until night should come +again, and hid his little company in the woods. Something to eat was the +one immediate necessity. They were all nearly famished, and neither corn +nor sweet potatoes were to be found anywhere in the vicinity. Sam +directed the boys to bring some rushes from the creek bottoms, and +peeling these, he and his companions ate the pith, which is slightly +succulent and in a small degree nourishing. Sam had learned this fact by +accident while out hunting one day, and Sam took care never to forget +anything which might be useful. Towards night, when the rushes failed to +satisfy their hunger, Sam was puzzling himself over the problem of +getting food, when Tom asked him if he knew the name of a singular tree +he had seen while out after rushes. + +"It has the biggest leaves I ever saw," he said, "and they all grow +right out of its top. Some of 'em are six feet long, and they've got +folds in 'em. There ain't any limbs to the tree at all." + +"Where did you see that?" asked Sam eagerly. + +"Right over there, about a hundred yards." + +"Good! It's palmetto. I didn't know there was one this far from the sea +though. Here, take my big knife and you and Joe go and cut out as much +as you can of the soft part just where the leaves come out. It's what +they call palmetto cabbage, and it's very good to eat too, I can tell +you." + +The boys, after receiving minute instructions, went to the palmetto-tree +and brought away several pounds of the terminal bud. On this the little +company made a hearty meal, finding the "cabbage," as it is called, a +well-flavored, juicy and tender kind of white vegetable substance, very +nourishing and as palatable as cocoanut, which it closely resembles in +flavor. Storing what was left in their pockets, they began to prepare +for their night's journey to the fort, which they hoped to reach within +an hour or two. They were just on the point of starting when a party of +Indians, under Weatherford, the great half-breed chief, who was the life +and soul of the war, rode across a neighboring field, and settled +themselves for supper within a dozen yards of Sam's camp. The sky was +overcast with clouds, and so night fell even more quickly than it +usually does in Southern latitudes, where there is almost no twilight +at all. Sam made his companions lie down at the approach of the savages, +and as soon as it was fairly dark, the little party crept silently away. +Before leaving, however, Sam had heard enough of the conversation +between Weatherford and Peter McQueen, the other great half-breed +warrior, to know that he could not reach the fort that night. The two +half-breeds talked most of the time in English, and Sam learned that +they had a large body of Indians in the vicinity, who were scouring the +country around Fort Glass. Sam knew enough of Indian warfare to know +that there would be numerous small parties of savage scouts lurking +immediately around the fort day and night, for the purpose of picking +off any daring whites who might venture outside the gates, and +especially any messenger who might attempt to pass from that to any +other fortress. He knew, therefore, that for some time to come it would +be impossible to reach Fort Glass, and penetrating the woods for a +considerable distance he stopped and sat down on a log, burying his face +in his hands, and telling his companions not to speak to him, as he +wanted to think. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SAM'S FORTRESS. + + +Sam's companions kept perfectly still. Their reverence for Sam had grown +with every foot of their travels, and their confidence in his ability to +get out of any difficulty, and ultimately to accomplish his purposes in +the face of any obstacle, was now quite unbounded. And so, when he told +them it was impossible to reach the fort and that he wanted to think, +they patiently awaited the results of his thinking, confident that he +would presently hit upon precisely the right thing to do. + +After a while he raised his head from his hands and said: + +"Come on, we must get clear away from here before morning;" but he said +not a word about where he was going. His course was now nearly +south-east, and just as the day was breaking he stopped and said: + +"There is the river at last. Now let's go to sleep." + +They obeyed him unquestioningly, though they had not the faintest idea +where they were or what river it was which he had seen a little way +ahead. When Sam waked it was nearly noon, and he ate a little of the +palmetto cabbage left in his pockets, while the others slept. His face +was very pale, however, and he sat very still until his companions +aroused themselves. Then he explained. + +"When I found that we could not get to Fort Glass, the question was, +where should we go? Fort Stoddart is probably surrounded by Indians too, +and so the only thing to do was to make our way down through the Tensaw +Country to Mobile; but that is about eighty or a hundred miles away, and +the fact is I am a little sick from my wound. My foot and leg are all +swelled up, and I've been having a fever, so that I can't travel much +further. It seemed to me that the best thing to do, under the +circumstances, was to find a good hiding-place where it will be easy to +get something to eat, and to stay there till I get better, or something +turns up, and so I thought of the Alabama River as the very best place, +because mussels and things of that kind are better than sweet potatoes, +and here we are; now the next thing is to find a hiding-place, and I +think I know where one is. It has a spring by it, too, which is a good +thing, for drinking this swamp and creek water will make us all sick. I +was all through here on a camp-hunt once, and I remember a place on the +other side of the river where two big hollow trees stand right together +on top of a sort of bluff. About fifty yards further down the river +there is a spring, just under the bluff. We must find the place if we +can, to-night, and to do it we must first get across the river. It's so +low now we can easily wade it, I think, and Judie can be pushed across +on a log." + +As soon as night fell the plan was put into execution. The river was +extremely low at the time, and Sam was confident that by choosing a wide +place for their crossing, they could wade the stream easily; but lest +there might be a channel too deep for that, he fastened four logs +together with grapevines, and putting Judie on this raft bade the two +boys tow it over, telling them that if they should find the water too +deep for wading at any point, they could easily support themselves by +clinging to the logs. They had no difficulty, however, and were soon on +the east bank of the stream. Sam's task was a much harder one. The +current was very rapid and the bottom too soft for the easy use of his +crutch, while his strength was almost gone. His spirit sustained him, +however, and after a while he reached the shore. When all were landed, +the search began for the hiding-place Sam had described. It proved to be +more than a mile higher up the river, and when they found it, the day +was breaking. The trees were not hollow, as Sam had supposed. The river +bank in that place is in three terraces, and the two great trees stood +almost alone on the second one of these. The sandy soil had been +gradually washed out from under the great trunks, so that the trees +proper began about fifteen feet from the ground, the space below being +occupied by a great net-work of exposed roots, some of them a foot or +two in thickness, and others varying in size all the way down to mere +threads. The freshets which had washed the earth away from the roots, +had piled a great mass of drift-wood against one side of them. Sam made +a careful examination of the place, and then all went to work. The two +boys so disposed some of the drift-wood as to make a sort of covered +passage from the edge of the bank to the two trees whose roots were +interlaced with each other. Sam cut away some of the roots with his +jackknife so as to make an entrance, and once inside the circle of outer +roots, he was not long in making a roomy hiding-place for the whole +party, immediately under the great trees. + +[Illustration: JUDIE ON THE RAFT.] + +"We can enlarge our house with our knives whenever we choose," he said, +"and if we stay here long enough, we must make Judie a room for herself +under the other tree, with a passage leading from this into it." + +Sam said this to avoid saying something which would have alarmed and +distressed the others. In truth he knew himself to be really ill, and +believed that he would be much worse before being any better. For this +reason he knew they must have more room than the present hiding-place +afforded, and it was his plan to cut another room under the other tree, +with a very narrow passage between. "Then," thought he, "if the Indians +find us here, as I am afraid they will, they will find only poor sick +Sam here in the outer room, and won't think of hunting further." Sam +thought he was going to die at any rate, and his only care now was to +save the lives of the others. He had made them gather some mussels at +the river, and some green corn in a neighboring field, and he now said +to the two boys, "These things must be cooked. It will not do for you to +eat them raw any longer. They aren't wholesome that way, and so I've +been thinking of a plan for cooking them. The spring is down under the +lower bluff, and a fire down there won't make much smoke above the upper +banks. We must make one out of drift-wood, but we mustn't use any pine. +That smokes too much. The fire must be made in the daytime, because at +night it would be seen too far. You boys must do the cooking, while I +keep a look-out for Indians, and if any come within sight you can both +get in here before they discover you, or if they do see you, they can't +find you after you run away from the fire, and they will look for you +out in the woods somewhere. Nobody would think of looking here. Now let +me tell you how to cook the things. I was at a 'clam bake' in New +England once, and I know how to make these mussels and corn taste well. +You must dig a sort of fireplace in the sand bank and build your fire in +there. When it burns away until you have a good bank of coals, you must +put down on them a layer of the corn, in the shuck, then a layer of +mussels, then a layer of corn, and finally cover them all up with coals +and hot ashes, and leave them there for an hour or two, when they will +be cooked beautifully." + +"But Mas' Sam," said Joe. + +"Well, what is it, Joe?" + +"How's we gwine to git de fire?" + +"Well, how do you think, Joe?" + +"I 'clare I dunno, Mas' Sam, 'thout you got some flints an' punk in your +pockets." + +"No, I have no flints and no punk, Joe, but I'm going to get you some +fire when the sun gets straight overhead." + +"Is you gwine to git it from de sun, Mas' Sam?" + +"Yes." + +"What wid, Mas' Sam?" + +"With water, Joe." + +"Wid water, Mas' Sam! You'se foolin'. How you gwine to git fire wid +water, _I'd_ like to know." + +"Well, wait and see. I'm not fooling." + +To tell the truth, Tom was quite as much at a loss as Joe was, to know +how Sam could get fire with water; but his confidence in his "big +brother," as he called Sam, was too perfect to admit of a doubt or a +question. As for Judie, she would hardly have raised her eyebrows if Sam +had burned water, or whittled it into dolls' heads before her eyes. She +believed in Sam absolutely, and supposed, as a matter of course, that he +knew everything and could do anything he liked. But Joe was not yet +satisfied that water could be made to assist in the kindling of a fire. +He said nothing more, however, but carefully watched all of Sam's +preparations. + +That young gentleman began by tearing a strip of cotton cloth from his +shirt, and picking it to pieces. He then gathered from the drift-wood a +number of dry sticks, and broke and split them up very fine. + +"We must have a few splinters of light-wood," he said; "but after the +fire is once started, we mustn't put any more pine on." + +So saying, he split off a few splinters from a piece of rich heart-pine, +which Southern people call "light-wood," because the negroes use it +instead of lamps or candles. + +"Come now," said Sam, "its nearly noon, and I think I can get fire for +you. Go up on top of the drift-pile, Tom, and look out for Indians. If +you don't see any we can all go down to the spring together long enough +to start a fire. Then I must come back to Judie, and I'll keep a +look-out for Indians while you and Joe get the corn on. When you get it +on, come back here and wait until it has time to cook. Stop a minute, +Tom. Let's understand each other. If the one on the look-out sees +Indians, he must let the others know; but it won't do to holler. Let me +see. Can you whistle like a kildee, Tom?" + +"Yes, or like any other bird." + +"Can you, Joe?" + +"I reckon I _kin_, Mas' Sam," said Joe, who, to prove his powers +straightway gave a shrill kildee whistle, which nearly deafened them +all. + +"There, that'll do, Joe. Well, let's understand then, that if anyone of +us sees Indians, he must whistle like a kildee. If the Indians hear it +they'll think nothing of it." + +Tom went to the look-out, and seeing no savages anywhere, returned, and +the whole party, little Judie excepted, proceeded to the spring. Sam +then laid his sticks down in a pile, and taking out his watch removed +the crystal. This he filled with clear water from the spring, and +holding it over the cotton ravellings, moved it up and down until the +sunlight, passing through it, gathered itself into a small bright spot +on the cotton. Joe, eager to see, thrust his head over Sam's shoulder, +and directly between the glass and the sun. + +"Take your head away, Joe, or I'll have to draw the fire right through +it," said Sam, laughing. + +"Mercy, Mas' Sam, don't do dat. I'se 'feard o' your witches' ways, +anyhow," said Joe, drawing back. The glass was again put in position +and the spot of bright sunlight reappeared. Presently a little cloud of +smoke rose, and a moment afterwards, the cotton was fairly afire. It was +not difficult now to get the light-wood and dry sticks to blazing, and a +good fire was soon secured. + +"Now boys," said Sam, "I'll go back to the drift-pile and keep a +look-out. If you hear the kildee call, run in as quickly as you can. +When you get the corn and mussels on, and covered up, come back at +once." + +No Indians showing themselves anywhere in the neighborhood, the boys got +their dinner on or rather _in_ the fire, and then returned to the root +cavern to await the completion of the cooking process. When they were +all safely stowed away in their places, Tom gave voice to the curiosity +with which he was almost bursting. + +"Sam," he said, "how did you do that?" + +"How did I do what, Tom?" + +"How did you make the sun set the cotton on fire?" + +"I don't know whether I can make you understand it or not," said Sam, +"but I'll try. You know light always goes in straight lines, if left to +itself, don't you?" + +"No, I didn't know that! + +"Yes you did, only you never thought of it. If you want to keep light +out of your eyes, you always put your hand between them and the light, +because you know the light goes straight and so will not go around your +hand." + +"Yes, that's true, and when I want to make a shadow anywhere, I put +something right before the light." + +"Certainly. Well, the rays of the sun all come to us straight, and side +by side. They are pretty hot, but not hot enough to set fire to anything +that way. But if you can gather a good many of these rays together and +make them all shine on one little spot, they will set fire to whatever +they fall on. Now a piece of glass or any other thing that you can see +through easily,--that is, any _transparent_ thing, lets the sunlight +through it, and if it is flat on both sides, it doesn't change the +directions of the rays. But if both sides are rounded out, or if one +side is rounded out and the other side is flat, it turns all the rays a +little, and brings them right together in a point not far from the +glass. If the sides are hollowed _in_ instead of bulging out, the rays +scatter, and if one side bulges out and the other bulges in, as they do +in a watch crystal, one side scatters and the other side collects the +rays, and so it is the same as if the glass had been perfectly flat, one +side undoes the other's work. Now I have no glass which bulges out on +both sides, and none that bulges out on one side and is flat on the +other, but my watch crystal bulges out on one side and in on the other. +But when I filled it with water, the water being as clear as the glass, +it made it flat on top and bulging underneath, and so it gathered the +sun's rays together in the light spot you saw, and set fire to the +cotton." + +"Yes, but why did you have to wait till noon?" asked Tom. + +"Because the glass must be held right across the rays of light, and as I +couldn't turn the crystal to either side without spilling the water, I +had to use it at noon, when the sun was almost exactly overhead, and its +rays came nearly straight down. If I had had a glass rounded out on both +sides I could have got fire any time after the sun was well up in the +sky. Now let me tell you what they call all these different kinds of +glasses. One that is flat on one side and bulges out on the other is +called a _convex lens_; if it bulges out on both sides it is a _double +convex lens_; if it is hollowed in on one side and flat on the other it +is a _concave lens_; if hollowed in on both sides we call it a _double +concave lens_; and when it is hollowed in on one side and bulged out on +the other, as any watch crystal does, it is a _concave convex lens_." + +"Where did you learn all that, Sam?" asked Tom. + +"I learned part of it with father's spectacles, and part out of a book +father lent me when I asked him why I couldn't make the bright, hot spot +with a pair of near-sighted glasses that I found in one of mother's old +work boxes. You see, when people begin to get old, their eyes flatten a +little, and so everything they look at seems to be shaved off. They see +well enough at a distance, but can't see small things close to them." + +"Is that the reason pa always looks over his spectacles when he looks at +me?" asked Judie. + +"Yes, little woman. He can't see to read without his glasses, but he +can see you across the room without them, well enough. Well, to remedy +this defect, old people wear spectacles with double convex lenses in +them. But near-sighted people have exactly the opposite trouble. They +can't see things except by bringing them near their eyes, because their +eyes are not flat enough, and so their spectacles are made with double +concave lenses. When I asked father about it, he gave me a book that +explained it all, and that is where I learned the little I know about +it." + +"The _little_! I'd like to know what you call a good deal," said Tom. "I +never saw anybody that knew half as much as you do." + +"That is only because we live in a new country, Tom, where there are no +very well educated people, and because you don't know how much there is +to learn in the world. If these Indians ever get quiet, I hope to learn +a good deal more every year than I know now. But it's time to see about +our mussel bake. Run to the look-out, Tom, and then we can all go down +and bring up the dinner." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +SURPRISED. + + +The baked corn and mussels made a savory dish, or one which would have +been savory enough but for the absence of salt. The boys knew well +enough that salt was not to be had, however, and so they made a joke of +its absence, and even pretended that they did not like their food salted +at any time. Little Judie was so hungry that she cared very little +whether food tasted well or not, provided it satisfied her appetite. + +The rest and the more wholesome food seemed to restore Sam to something +like his customary strength during the first ten days of his stay in the +"root fortress," as he had named their singular dwelling. His wounded +foot got better, though it was still far from well, and, better than +all, his fever left him. As he regained strength he began to lay plans +again. To stay where they were was well enough as a temporary device for +escaping the savages, but Sam's main purpose now was to get the little +people under his charge back to civilization somewhere, and then to do +his part in the war between the Indians and whites. He must first find a +way to get Tom and Judie and Joe into one of the forts or into some safe +town, and how to do this was the problem. He was unwilling to take them +away from their present pretty secure hiding-place until he could decide +upon some definite plan offering a reasonable prospect of escape. If he +could have known as much as we now know of the movements of the savages, +he would have had little difficulty. The larger part of the Indians had +left the peninsula now forming Clarke County, and crossed to the +south-eastern shore of the Alabama river,--the side on which Sam's root +fortress stood, and if he could have known this, he would have made an +effort to cross the river again and reach Fort Glass. The chief +difficulty in the way of this undertaking would have been that of +crossing the river, which was now swollen by recent rains. He knew +nothing about the matter, however, and as Fort Mims, the first point +attacked by the savages, was on the south-east side of the river, he +reasoned that having afterwards crossed to Clarke County the Indians +would not again cross to the south-east side in any considerable force. +In this, as we know, he was mistaken, and the error led him into some +danger, as we shall see. Thinking the matter over, he decided that his +first plan of a march down through the Tensaw Country to the +neighborhood of Mobile would be the safest and best thing to undertake. +He was unwilling, however, to begin it with his companions without +making a preliminary reconnoissance. Accordingly he explained the plan +to Tom and Joe, and said: + +"I'm going to-night down towards old Fort Mims, to see if the country is +pretty free from Indians, and to find out what I can about the chance of +getting away from here. I'll leave you here with Judie, and you must be +extra careful about exposing yourselves. You've corn and mussels and +sweet potatoes enough already cooked, to last you a week, and I'll +probably be back before that; if not you must eat them raw till I do +come: it won't do to build a fire while I'm away." After giving minute +directions for their guidance during his absence, Sam put a sweet potato +in one pocket and an ear of corn in the other, and set out on his +journey, walking with a stout stick, having discarded his crutch as no +longer necessary. How far he walked that night, I am unable to say, his +course being a very circuitous one. The moon rose full, soon after dark, +and shone so brightly that Sam dared not cross the fields, but skirted +around them keeping constantly in the woods and the edges of canebrakes. +The next night and the next he continued his journey, though he found +the country full of Indians. He saw their "sign" everywhere, and now and +then saw some of the Indians themselves. The fourth evening found him so +lame (his foot having swelled and become painful again) that he could +not possibly go on. He had already gone far enough to discover that the +country on that side of the river was too full of Indians for him to +carry his little party safely through it, and so he determined to work +his way back to the root fortress, and try the other side. Seeing a +house in a field near by the place in which he had spent the day, he +resolved to visit it for the purpose of bringing away any article he +could find which might be useful to him in his effort to provide for his +little band. In a grove near the house he found a horse,--a young and +powerful animal, and as he feared his lameness would not permit him to +reach his root fortress again on foot, he determined to ride the animal +in spite of the fact that on horseback he would be in much greater +danger of discovery by the Indians than on foot. The horse had a bridle +on, and had evidently escaped, probably during a skirmish, from its +white or red master. + +Sam tied him in the grove, and went on to the house, which had been +sacked and partially burned. Looking around in the moonlight, Sam +discovered a hatchet, and, in the corner of what had once been a +store-house, the remains of a barrel of salt. These were two valuable +discoveries. The hatchet would be of great service to him not only in +the root fortress but even more in forcing a pathway through the +canebrakes when he should again cross the river and try to reach one of +the forts. The salt he must have at any cost, and as he had no bag he +made one by ripping off the sleeve of his coat and tying its ends with +strips of bark. He had just filled it, and tied up the ends when, +hearing a noise, he turned, and saw two Indians within six feet of him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CONFUSED. + + +The two Indians who had startled Sam, were on the point of entering the +old dwelling house, and seemingly were unaccompanied by any others. Sam +happened fortunately to be standing in shadow, and they passed without +seeing him. But what was he now to do? He was at the back of the house, +and a high picket fence around the place made it impossible for him to +escape by the front-way, towards which the savages had gone. Looking +through the door-way, he saw that the pair had passed through the room +nearest him and into the adjoining apartment. He knew that other Indians +were in the neighborhood, and that a dozen of them might wander into the +enclosure at any moment. Resolving upon a bold manoeuvre, he stepped +lightly into the rear room of the house, and climbed up inside the wide +mouthed chimney. Whether the Indians heard him or not he never knew, but +at any rate he was none too soon in hiding, for he had hardly cleared +the fireplace in his ascent when four or five savages came into the room +and began to demolish the few articles of furniture left in the house. +They had got whiskey somewhere, and having drank freely were even +noisier than white men get under the influence of strong drink. They +remained but a short time, when, setting fire again to the half-burned +house, they left the place yelling as savages only can. Sam escaped as +soon as he could from his uncomfortable quarters and made his way to the +grove. Mounting his horse he rode away in the direction of the root +fortress, keeping in the woods as well as he could and taking every +precaution to avoid coming suddenly upon savages. + +As he rode only at night, the Indians' almost universal habit of +building camp-fires wherever they stop for the night, helped him to +avoid them. When morning came he sought a place deep in the forest, when +he turned his horse loose to graze all day, while he slept at some +distance from the animal, so that the noise of the beast's stamping and +browsing might not lead to the discovery of his own whereabouts. + +As the evening of the second day of his return came round, Sam found +himself genuinely sick. His foot and leg were much inflamed, and the +excitement of the preceding night, together with his continued exposure +to the drenching dews of the Southern autumn, had brought back his fever +with increased violence, and a very brief experiment convinced him that +he could not go further that night. He mounted his horse, but had ridden +less than a mile when he felt a giddiness coming over him and found it +necessary to abandon the effort to ride that night. He could hardly see, +and the pain in his head, neck, back and limbs was excruciating. He +dismounted and threw himself down on the ground without taking the +trouble even to separate himself from his horse. The truth is, Sam had +what they call in South Carolina country fever, a high type of malarial +fever, which stupefies and benumbs its victim almost as soon as it +attacks him. The dews in the far South, especially in the fall, are so +heavy that the water will drip and even stream off the foliage of the +trees all night, and Sam had been drenched every night during both his +journeys, having no fire by which to warm himself or dry his clothes. +Even without this drenching the poisonous exhalations of the swamps and +woods would doubtless have given him the fever, and as it was he had it +very severely. He laid down again almost under his horse's feet and fell +into a sort of stupor. He knew that his fever required treatment, and +that it would rapidly sap his strength, and the thought came to him: +What if he should die there and never get back to the tree fortress? He +was too sick to care for himself, but the thought of little Judie +haunted his dreams, and he was seized with a semi-delirious impulse to +remount his horse and ride straight away to the hiding-place in which he +had left her, regardless of Indians, and of everything else. He dreamed +a dozen times that he was doing this, and finally, when morning came, he +forgot all about the danger of travelling by daylight, and mounting his +horse in a confused, half-delirious way, rode straight out of the woods +towards the open country, which he had hitherto so carefully avoided. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WEATHERFORD. + + +The fiercest and most conspicuous leader of the Indians in this war was +William Weatherford, or the Red Eagle, as the Indians called him. He is +commonly spoken of in history as a half-breed, but he was in reality +almost a white man, with just enough of the Indian in his composition to +add savage emotions to Scotch intellect and Scotch perseverance. His +father was a Scotchman, and his mother a half-breed Indian Princess. He +was brought up in the best civilization the border had, his father being +wealthy. He became very rich himself, and, despite his savage instincts, +which were always strong, his wealth, in land and slaves, made him a +conservative. At first he favored a war with the whites, but a calmer +afterthought led him to desire peace, and when he found that the +tempest he had helped to stir up would not subside at his bidding, he +began casting about for a way of escape. He was a man of unquestionable +genius; a soldier of rare strategic ability; an orator of the truest +sort, and his courage in danger was simply sublime. Such a man was +likely to be of great value to the Indians in their approaching war, and +when they began to suspect his loyalty to the nation, they watched him +narrowly. Finding it impossible to postpone the war, and not wishing to +sacrifice his fine property near the Holy Ground, he made a secret +journey to the residence of his half brother David Tait and his brother +John Weatherford, who lived among what were known as the "peacefuls," +namely, the Indians disposed to remain at peace with the whites in any +event. His brothers, hearing his story, advised him to bring his +negroes, horses and movable property generally, together with his +family, to their plantations, and to remain there, inactive and neutral, +during the struggle. When he returned to his residence for the purpose +of doing this, however, he found that the hostile Indians had seized his +family and his negroes as hostages, and, under the compulsion of their +threat that they would kill his wife and children if he should dare to +remain at peace, he joined in the war against the whites, becoming the +fiercest of all the chieftains. He planned and led the assault upon Fort +Mims, and was everywhere foremost in all the fighting. When the Creeks +were utterly routed at the battle of the Holy Ground a month or so after +the time of which I am writing, General Jackson issued a proclamation +refusing terms of peace to the chiefs until Weatherford, whom he had +determined to put to death, should be brought to him, alive or dead. +Weatherford hearing of this, although he was safe beyond the borders and +might have easily made his escape to Florida, as his comrade Peter +McQueen did, rode straightway to Jackson's head-quarters, where he said +to the commander who had set a price upon his head:-- + +"I am Weatherford. I have come to ask peace for my people. I am in your +power. Do with me as you please. I am a soldier. I have done the white +people all the harm I could. I have fought them and fought them bravely. +If I yet had an army I would fight and contend to the last. But I have +none. My people are all gone. I can now do no more than weep over the +misfortunes of my nation." + +Jackson was so impressed with the sublime courage and the dignity of the +man upon whose head he had set a price, that he treated him at once with +chivalrous consideration. He told him that the only terms upon which the +Indians could secure peace were unconditional submission and uniform +good conduct; but "as for yourself," he said, "if you do not like the +terms, no advantage shall be taken of your present surrender. You are at +liberty to depart and resume hostilities when you please. But if you are +taken then, your life shall pay the forfeit of your crimes." + +Weatherford calmly folded his arms and replied; "I desire peace for no +selfish reasons, but that my nation may be relieved from its sufferings; +for independent of the other consequences of the war, my people's cattle +are destroyed and their women and children destitute of provisions. I +may well be addressed in such language now. There was a time when I had +a choice and could have answered you. I have none now. Even hope has +ended. Once I could animate my warriors to battle. But I cannot animate +the dead. My warriors can no longer hear my voice. Their bones are at +Talladega, Tallashatche, Emuckfaw and Tohopeka. I have not surrendered +myself thoughtlessly. While there were chances of success I never left +my post nor supplicated peace. But my people are gone, and I now ask +peace for my nation and myself. On the miseries and misfortunes brought +upon my country, I look back with the deepest sorrow, and wish to avert +still greater calamities. If I had been left to contend with the Georgia +army, I would have raised my corn on one bank of the river and fought +them on the other. But your people have destroyed my nation. General +Jackson, you are a brave man,--I am another. I do not fear to die. But I +rely upon your generosity. You will exact no terms of a conquered and +helpless people but those to which they should accede. Whatever they may +be it would now be folly and madness to oppose them. If they are +opposed, you shall find me among the sternest enforcers of obedience. +Those who would still hold out can only be influenced by a mean spirit +of revenge. To this they must not and shall not sacrifice the last +remnant of their country. You have told us what we may do and be safe. +Yours is a good talk, and my nation ought to listen to it. They _shall_ +listen to it."[1] + +[Footnote 1: For these speeches of Weatherford's and for other +historical details I am indebted to a valuable and interesting book, +"Romantic Passages in South Western History," by A. B. Mull, Mobile, S. +H. Goetzsl & Co. publishers, which is now, unfortunately out of print. +The speeches are well authenticated I believe.] + +Jackson was too generous and too brave a man to remain unmoved under +such a speech from a man who thus placed his own life in jeopardy for +the sake of his people. He bade the chieftain return home, and promised +peace to his people, a promise faithfully kept to this day. All this +however occurred nearly two months after the time of which I write, and +it is introduced here merely by way of explaining the things which +happened to Sam on the morning of the rash resumption of his journey. + +This man Weatherford, the fiercest enemy the whites had, with a party +of about twenty-five Indians, bivouacked, the night before, in the edge +of the woods, and when Sam mounted his horse that morning the Indians +were lying asleep immediately in his path as he rode blindly out of the +thicket. The first intimation he had of their presence was a grunt from +a big savage who lay almost under his horse's feet. Coming to himself in +an instant, Sam took in the whole situation at a glance, and with the +rapidity and precision which people who are accustomed to the dangers +and difficulties of frontier life always acquire, he mentally weighed +all the facts bearing upon the question of what to do, and decided. He +saw before him the savages, rising from the ground at sight of him. He +saw their horses browsing at some little distance from them. He saw a +rifle, on which hung a powder-horn and a bullet-pouch, standing against +a bush. He saw that he had already aroused the foe, and that he must +stand a chase. His first impulse was to turn around and ride back, in +the direction whence he had come; but in that direction lay the thicket +through which he could not ride rapidly, and so if he should take that +course, he would lose the advantage which he hoped to gain from the +fleetness of his particularly good horse. Besides, in the thicket he +must of course leave a trail easily followed. Just beyond the group of +Indians he saw the open fields, and he made up his mind at once that he +would push his horse into a run, dash right through the camp of the +savages, pick up the convenient rifle if possible, and reaching the open +country make all the speed he could. In this he knew he would have an +advantage, inasmuch as he would get a good many hundred yards away +before the savages could catch and mount their horses for the purpose of +pursuing him, and he even hoped that they, seeing how far he was in +advance of them, would abandon the idea of pursuit altogether. All this +thinking, and weighing of chances, and deciding was the work of a single +half second, and the plan, once formed, was executed instantly. Without +pausing or turning he pushed his horse at a full run through the group +of savages, receiving a glancing blow from a war club and dodging +several others as he went. He succeeded in getting possession of the +rifle which stood by the bush, and reached the field before a gun could +be aimed at him. It was now his purpose to get so far ahead as to +discourage pursuit, and with this object in view he continued to urge +his horse forward at his best speed. This hope was a vain one, as he +soon discovered. The Indians, infuriated by his boldness, mounted their +horses and gave chase immediately. Sam had an excellent habit, as we +know, of keeping his wits about him, and of preparing carefully for +difficulties likely to come. The first thing to be done was to escape, +if possible, and so he continued to press his high-spirited colt +forward, while he debated the probabilities of being overtaken, and +discussed with himself the resources at his command if the savages +should come up with him. He was armed now, at any rate, and if running +should prove of no avail, he could and would sell his life very dearly. +Indeed the possession of the rifle roused all the spirit of battle there +was in him, and great as the odds were against him, he was sorely +tempted to pause long enough to shoot once at least. He remembered Tom +and Judie and Joe, however, and their dependence upon him for guidance +and protection, and for their sake more than for his own, suppressed +the impulse and continued his flight. The Indians were nearly half a +mile behind him, and, as nearly as he could tell, were not gaining upon +him very rapidly. His colt seemed equal to a long continued race, and as +yet showed no sign of faltering or fatigue. The question had now +resolved itself, Sam thought, into one of endurance. How long the +Indians would continue a pursuit in which he had the advantage of half a +mile the start, he had no way of determining, but that his horse's +endurance was as great at least as their perseverance, he had every +reason to hope. + +Just as he had comforted himself with this thought, a new danger +assailed him. One of the Indians, it seemed, taking advantage of a +minute knowledge of the country, had saved a considerable distance by +riding through a strip of woods and cutting off an angle. When Sam first +caught sight of him, coming out of the woods, the savage was within a +dozen yards of him, and evidently gaining upon him at every step. Sam's +horse was a fleet one, but that of the Indian was apparently a +thoroughbred, whose speed remained nearly as great after a mile's run +as at the start. Knowing the Indians' skill in shooting while riding at +full speed, Sam leaned as far as he could to one side, so that as little +as possible of his person should be exposed to his pursuer's aim. He +continued to press his horse too, but the savage gained steadily. +Finding at last that he must shortly be overtaken, Sam resolved upon a +bold manoeuvre, by which to kill his foremost pursuer. Seizing the +hatchet he had brought away from the house, he suddenly stopped his +horse, and, as the Indian came along-side, aimed a savage blow at his +head. + +"Don't you know me, Sam?" said the Indian in good English, dodging the +blow. "I'm Weatherford. If I'd wanted to kill you I might have done so a +dozen times in the last five minutes. You know I don't want to kill +_you_, though you're the only white man on earth I'd let go. But the +others will make an end of you if they catch you. Ride on and I'll chase +you. Turn to the left there and ride to the bluff. I'll follow you. +There's a gully through the top. Ride down it as far as you can and jump +your horse over the cliff. It's nearly fifty feet high, and may kill +you, but it's the only way. The other warriors are coming up and +they'll kill you sure if you don't jump. Jump, and I'll tell 'em I +chased you over." + +Sam knew Weatherford well, and he knew why the blood-thirsty chief +wished to spare him if he could, for Sam had rescued Weatherford once +from an imminent peril at great risk to himself, though the story is too +long to be told here. Whether or not there is nobleness enough in the +Indian character to make the savage remember a benefit received, I am +sure I cannot say, but Weatherford was _three-fourths white_, and with +all his ferocity in war, history credits him with more than one generous +impulse like that by which Sam was now profiting. The two rode on, +Weatherford pretending to be in hot pursuit, shooting occasionally and +yelling at every leap of his horse. The bluff towards which they rode +was probably a hundred feet high, and was washed at its base by a deep +but sluggish creek, on the other side of which lay a densely wooded +swamp. Through the top of the bluff, however, was a sort of fissure or +ravine washed by the flow of water during the rainy season, and where it +terminated the height of its mouth above the stream was not more than +forty or fifty feet. Down this gully Sam rode furiously, so that his +horse might not be able to refuse the leap, which was a frightful one. +Coming to the edge of the precipice with headlong speed, the animal +could not draw back but plunged over with Sam sitting bolt upright on +his back. Riding back to the top of the bank Weatherford met his +warriors. + +[Illustration: THE PERILOUS LEAP.] + +"Where is he?" asked the foremost. + +"His _body_ is down there in the creek. I drove him over the precipice," +said the chief with well-feigned delight.[2] + +[Footnote 2: This incident of the leap over the precipice is strictly +historical, else I should never have ventured to print it here. +Weatherford himself, on the 23d of December, 1813, after the battle of +Tohopeka, escaped a body of dragoons in a precisely similar manner. A +still more remarkable leap was that of Major Samuel McCullock, on the 2d +of September 1777, over a precipice fully 300 feet high near Wheeling, +West Virginia. He jumped over on horseback, thinking such a death +preferable to savage torture, but singularly enough, both he and his +horse escaped unhurt.] + +His purpose evidently, was to satisfy the warriors that Sam was +certainly killed, so that they might pursue him no further. Whether he +was yet alive or not, Weatherford himself had no means of knowing. The +last he had seen of him was as he went over the precipice, sitting bolt +upright on his horse, grasping his rifle and looking straight ahead. He +heard a splash in the water below, after which everything was still. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +WEARY WAITING. + + +The days seemed very long to Tom and Joe and little Judie after Sam left +on his journey. They had nothing to do but to sit still in their corners +among the roots all day, and time always drags very slowly when people +are doing nothing. Their provisions, as we know, were already +cooked,--enough of them at least, to last a week, and before Sam left he +had made them bring more than a bushel of sweet potatoes and all the +corn they could find which was still soft enough to eat, and store it +away for use if his return should be delayed in any way. The result was +that their legs got no stretching, and they became moody, dispirited and +unhappy before the second day of Sam's absence had come to an end. They +found doing nothing the hardest and the dullest work they ever had done +in their lives. Joe managed to sleep most of the time, but Tom was +nervous, and poor little Judie, without Sam to depend upon, grew +low-spirited and began to fear all sorts of evil things. Finally Sam's +week was up and Sam had not appeared. The little people were now fairly +frightened. What had become of him? they wondered. Had he fallen into +the hands of the Indians? And if so, what were they to do now? They had +never before known how dependent they were upon him. Even during his +absence they had been regulating their lives by his minute instructions, +and depending upon him for guidance after he should return. But what if +he should never return? And why hadn't he come already? These thoughts +were too much for them. Judie sat in her corner brooding over her +trouble, and crying a little now and then. Joe was simply frightened, +and his eyes grew bigger and rounder than ever. Tom was sustained in +part by the thought that the burden of responsibility was now on him, +and so he suppressed all manifestations of uneasiness, as well as he +could, and gave himself up to the duty of studying the situation, +calculating his resources and trying to decide what was the best thing +to be done if Sam should not come back at all. He hit upon several +excellent ideas, but made up his mind that before trying to put any of +them into practice he would wait at least a fortnight longer for Sam's +return. Their stock of provisions, eaten raw, would last much longer +than that, and the fields were full of sweet potatoes, wherefore he +wisely thought it best not to lose any chance of having Sam to do the +thinking and planning. He was so anxious for his brother's return that +he spent the greater part of his time on the drift-pile where he had +built himself a little observatory, so arranged that he could see in +every direction without the possibility of being seen in his turn. + +Sitting there in his look-out, watching for Sam, he had time to think of +many things. His thinking was not always wise, as a matter of course, +but for a boy of his age it did very well, certainly, and one day he hit +upon a really valuable idea. + +The way it came about was this. He fell into a reverie, and remembered +the happy old days at home, and one day in particular, when he was busy +all day making a little wagon in which to give Judie a ride, and he +remembered how very short that day seemed, although it was in June. Just +then it popped into his head to think that there was a reason for +everything, and that that day had seemed so short only because he had +been very busy as its hours went by. If he had known what +"generalization" means, he would have generalized this truth as +follows:-- + +"Time passes rapidly with busy people." He did nothing of the kind, +however. He only thought. + +"If poor little Judie had something to keep her busy all the time, she +wouldn't be so miserable." + +And so he cudgelled his brains to invent some plan or other by which to +set Judie at work and keep her at it all the time. + +When he returned to the fortress towards night, he said to the little +woman; "Judie, I reckon poor Sam's foot is troubling him again, and +that's the reason he hasn't got back yet. He'll work along slowly and +get here after a while, but I'm afraid he'll be dreadfully tired and +sick when he comes. We must have a good soft bed ready for him so that +he can get a good rest." + +To this Judie assented, though in her heart she feared she should never +see Sam again, as indeed Tom did too, though neither would admit the +fact to the other. + +"Now I've been thinking," said Tom, "that it wont do, if he comes back +half sick, to let him lie on green moss with all the outside on. Let me +show you." + +And taking a strand of the long moss he scraped the greenish gray +outside off, leaving a black strand like a horse hair. + +"There," he said, "Sam told me once that it's the soft outside part that +holds water, while the inside is dry almost always. Now why can't we +scrape the outside off of a great deal of moss and have the dry inside +ready for Sam to sleep on when he comes back? It'll surprise him and +he'll be glad too. He never cared for himself much, but he'll be glad to +see that we care for him." + +The plan pleased little Judie wonderfully well. She was always delighted +to do anything for Sam, and now that she was uneasy about him, and kept +thinking of him as dead or dying or sick somewhere, and could hardly +keep her tears back, nothing could have pleased her so well as to work +for his comfort. Tom and Joe went out after dark, and brought in a large +lot of moss, and the next morning all went to work, Judie made very +little progress with her scraping, but she kept steadily at it, and it +served its purpose in making her less miserable than before. The days +passed more rapidly to Tom and Joe, too, and the whole party grew more +cheerful under the influence of work. It was now ten days, however, +since Sam had gone away, and his non-appearance was really alarming. +When work stopped for the night, the thought of Sam was uppermost in the +minds of all three, and for the first time they talked freely of the +matter. + +Tom was disposed to cheer himself by cheering the others, and so he +explained: + +"It's about forty-five miles to where Fort Mims stood, so Sam told me, +and he said he might go nearly that far, if he didn't see Indians. If he +went only thirty-five miles it would take him four or five nights; say +five nights, and five more to come back would make ten. But may be his +foot got sore, or Indians got in the way, and so it has taken him longer +than he thought. I don't think we ought to be uneasy even if he should +stay two weeks in all." + +That was all very well as a theory, and true enough too, but Tom was +uneasy, nevertheless, and so were Joe and Judie. The worst of it was +that none of them could hide the fact. The eleventh day came, and with +it came an excitement. Tom was the first to wake, and without waiting +for the others, he proceeded to make his breakfast off an ear of raw +corn, which was almost hard enough to grind, and altogether too hard to +be eaten as green corn at any well-regulated table. Tom ate it, however, +having nothing better, and when Judie waked he offered her a softer ear, +which he had carefully selected and laid aside. Judie tried but couldn't +eat it. She was faint and almost sick, and found it impossible to +swallow the raw corn. + +"Poor little sister," said Tom. "If I had any fire I'd roast a potato +for you to-day anyhow, but the fire's all out and I can't." + +"Mas' Tom!" said Joe, "I'll tell you what! I dun see a heap o' fox +grapes down dar by de creek, an' I'se gwine to git some for Miss Judie +quicker'n you kin count ten." And so saying Joe ran first to the +look-out, to make a preliminary reconnoissance. The boys rarely ever +left the trees during the daytime, and when they did so they were +careful first to satisfy themselves that there were no savages in the +neighborhood. The creek, of which Joe spoke, emptied into the river a +short distance above the root fortress, and, along its banks was a dense +mass of undergrowth, which skirted the river below, all the way to the +drift-pile. Joe had seen the grapes from the look-out, and had planned +an excursion after them. He could follow the river bank to the creek, +keeping in the bushes and moving cautiously, and if any Indians should +appear he could retreat in the same way, without discovery. Tired of raw +corn and sweet potatoes, the grapes had tempted him sorely, and it only +needed Judie's longing for a change of diet to induce him, to make this +foraging expedition. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +FIGHTING FIRE. + + +Before proceeding to relate the incidents which follows, it is necessary +to explain a little more fully the arrangement of the root fortress and +the drift-pile. The two trees, which were enormous ones, had originally +grown as close together as they could, and their roots had interlaced +beneath the soil. The sand in which they grew having been gradually +washed away, their great masses of roots were exposed for about fifteen +feet below the original level of the soil and as they spread out they +made two circles (one running a foot or two into the other), of about +twelve or fifteen feet in diameter. Inside of this circle of great +roots, the roots were mostly small, and the boys had cut them away with +their knives, leaving just enough of them to stop up all the holes and +obscure the view from without. The drift-pile, or hammock, as it is +sometimes called at the South, had been years in forming, being +drift-wood which had floated down the river during winter and spring +freshets, and as it had lodged against the trees it lay only on their +upper side, where it was piled up into a perpendicular wall nearly +twenty feet high. Thence it stretched away up the river for a hundred +yards or more. Now the only entrance big enough to admit a person into +the root fortress was on the side next to the drift, and it opened only +into an alley-way which the boys had partly found and partly made +through the drift. This alley-way led past several little aisles running +out to the right and left for a dozen yards or so,--aisles formed by the +irregular piling of the logs on top of each other. In the fortress there +were a dozen places at least, where the big roots were sufficiently wide +apart to admit a grown man easily, but the boys had left the smaller +roots which covered these gaps undisturbed, and cut only the one +entrance. After cutting that on the side next the hammock, they had +moved some of the drift so as to close up the sides of the entrance and +make it open only into the alley-way. All this had been done under Sam's +supervision, and as a result of his prudence and fore thought. + +Joe had been gone nearly half an hour when he burst suddenly into the +chamber in which the others were. His hands were full of the wild +grapes, but of those he was evidently not thinking. His face was of that +peculiar hue which black faces assume when if they were white faces they +would grow pale; and his lips, usually red, were of an ashy brown. His +eyes were of the shape of saucers, and seemed not much smaller. He +gasped for breath in an alarming way, and Tom saw that the poor fellow +was frightened almost out of his wits. + +"What's the matter Joe? Tell me quick," said the younger boy. + +"O Mas' Tom, we'se dun surrounded. I was jest a-gittin' de grapes when I +seed a'most a thousand Injuns a-comin,' an' I dun run my life a'most out +a-gittin' here. Dey did not see me, but I seed dem, an' I tell you dey's +de biggest Injuns you ever did see. I 'clar dey's mos' as tall as +trees." + +"How many of 'em are there, Joe?" asked Tom standing up. + +"I couldn't count 'em e'zactly, Mas' Tom, but I reckon dey's not less'n +a thousand of 'em,--maybe two thousan' for all I know." + +"Where are they, and what were they doing?" asked Tom; but before Joe +could answer, the voices of the Indians themselves indicated their +whereabouts, and Tom discerned that they were disagreeably close to his +elbow. + +Seeking a place in which to cook their breakfast the savages had +selected the corner formed by the root fortress and the drift-pile as a +proper place for a fire, and were now breaking up sticks with which to +start one. They were just outside the fortress, and either of the boys +could have touched them by pushing his arm out between the roots. Tom +motioned the others to keep absolutely silent, and going a little way +into the hammock, through the passage way he managed to find a place +from which he could see the intruders. He soon discovered that Joe's +account of them was slightly exaggerated in two important particulars. +They were only ordinary Indians, neither larger nor smaller than grown +Indians usually are, and instead of a thousand there were but three of +them in all. + +But three fully grown Indians were enough to justify a good deal of +apprehension, and if they should discover the party in the tree, Tom +knew very well they would make very short work of their destruction. He +crept back to the tree therefore and again cautioned Joe and Judie, in a +whisper, not to speak or make any other noise. Then he returned to his +place of observation and watched the Indians. They soon made a crackling +fire and proceeded to broil some game they had killed, this and the +eating which followed occupied perhaps an hour, during which Tom made +frequent journeys to the little room, nominally for the purpose of +cautioning the others to keep still, but really to work off some portion +of his uneasiness, which was growing with every moment. He was terrified +at first upon general principles, as any other boy of eleven years old +would have been. Then he was afraid that the Indians would by some +accident, lean something against the curtain of small roots between two +other big trees, and that the curtain might not be strong enough to +support it, in which event their hiding-place would be discovered at +once. He was afraid, too, that some slight noise inside the fortress +might catch the uncommonly quick ears of the Indians. + +All these were dangers well worth considering; but now a new, and much +greater danger began to show itself. The drift was largely composed of +light wood, and from his hiding-place Tom could see that the fire built +by the trees had communicated itself to the hammock, and that the flames +were rapidly spreading. The danger now was that the fire would burn into +the alley-way and so cut off retreat from the fortress, and if so those +inside would be burned alive. Quitting his place of observation +therefore, he established himself as a sentry in the alley-way, having +determined, if the fire should approach the passage, to take Joe and +Judie out of the fortress and into one of the aisles near the farther +edge of the drift-pile. Having begun to plan he saw all the +possibilities of the case and tried to provide for all. He knew that if +the wind should drive the flames into the drift the whole pile would be +destroyed in a very brief time, but in that case, he reasoned, the black +smoke of the resinous pine would make it impossible for the Indians to +see very far in that direction, and so he resolved, if the worst came, +to lead his companions out of the upper end of the hammock, into the +bushes and so escape to the creek, where he hoped to find a hiding-place +of some sort. He had got this far in his planning when he heard Judie +cough, and stepping quickly into the room found it full of smoke. Seeing +that to stay there was to suffocate, he beckoned his companions to +follow, and stepping lightly they passed down the alley-way and sat down +in one of the aisles, behind a great sycamore log which ran across the +pile. Peeping over this log Tom saw the three Indians shoulder their +guns and walk away. He ran at once to the look-out, and though the smoke +almost blinded him he observed all their movements. He wanted them away +speedily, so that he and Joe might extinguish the fire if that were +still possible, and as every minute served to increase the difficulty +and lessen the chances of doing so, the loitering of the savages seemed +interminable. They stopped first to drink at the spring. Then they +amused themselves by throwing sticks, and pebbles and shells at a turtle +which was sunning himself on a log in the stream. Then they stopped to +examine the track of a turkey or of some animal, in the sand, and it +really seemed to Tom that they did not mean to go away at all. + +All things have an end, however, and even the stay of disagreeable +visitors cannot last always. The three savages finally disappeared a +mile down the river, and Tom, after scanning the surrounding country and +satisfying himself that there were no others in the immediate +neighborhood, hurried to the place where Joe and Judie were hidden. + +"They've gone at least," he said, "and now Joe, we must put this fire +out, if we can. Judie, you stay here, and if you find the smoke bothers +you, go further down the alley that way. Don't try to stay if the smoke +comes." + +How to stop the fire was the problem. Fortunately there was very little +wind, and what there was blew chiefly from up the river. The flames had +spread over a considerable space, however, and the boys had hardly +anything with which to work. + +They carried water in their hats from the river, which was only a few +yards away, now that it had risen to the bottom of the second bank. +This was altogether too slow a way of working, however, and the fire was +visibly gaining on the boys. But, slow as this process was, it served to +teach Tom a lesson or rather to remind him of one he had learned and +forgotten. He found that a hatful of water thrown on the bottom of the +fire did more good than two hatfuls thrown on top, and he remembered +that when the soot in the chimney at home caught fire once, his father +would not allow anybody to pour water down the chimney, but stood +himself by the fireplace throwing a little water, not up the chimney +but, on the blazing fire below. This water, turned into steam, went up +the chimney and soon extinguished the fire there. In the same way Tom +now discovered that when he threw a hatful of water on a burning log at +the bottom of the pile it had a perceptible effect all the way to the +top. Thinking of the chimney fire he remembered also that his father had +said at the time that a plank laid over the top of a burning chimney, or +a screen fastened over the fireplace would stop the burning of the soot +by stopping the air, and so smothering the fire. This suggested a new +plan of operations for present use. The long gray moss grew in great +abundance all around the place, and gathering this he dipped it in the +river and then threw it on top of the fire. A bunch of the moss held +greatly more water than his hat, and it served also to smother the fire. +He and Joe repeated the operation, putting some of the moss on top and +some against the sides of the burning pile of timber. The steam from +these perceptibly checked the burning, and an hour's work covered the +fire almost entirely up, so far at least as the exposed side of the +drift-pile was concerned. But just as they were disposed to congratulate +themselves upon their success in subduing the flames, they discovered +that while they had been smothering the fire on one side it had been +burning freely further in. The openness of the hammock gave free access +to the air from the other side, and just beyond the line of moss they +saw a blaze licking its tongue out from below. They were tired out, +already, and this added discouragement to weariness. Little Judie, +although the boys had urged her to remain quiet, had been hard at work +bringing moss to them, insisting upon her right to work as well as +they. She had discovered too that the sand, just below the surface was +wet, and that this served almost as good a purpose as the moss itself +when thrown on the fire. The poor little girl was utterly tired out at +last, however, and when the fire seemed to be subsiding, she had yielded +to Tom's entreaties, and going into the drift-pile had laid down to +rest. Now that all their work promised to accomplish nothing, the boys +were vexed with themselves for having permitted the frail little girl to +wear herself out in so fruitless a task. This, with their +disappointment, served to make them utterly wretched. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN THE WILDERNESS. + + +When Sam went over the cliff, he thought of poor little Judie, and Tom +and Joe, and, for their sake more than his own, took every precaution +which might give him an additional chance of life. He knew that he +should fall into the creek, and that the blow, when he struck the water, +would be a very severe one. If he could keep his horse under him all the +way, however, the animal and not he would be the chief sufferer. Fearing +that the horse would hesitate at the cliff, blunder, and throw him a +somersault, perhaps falling on him, he held the beast's head high and +urged him forward at full speed, and so, as we have seen, the horse's +back was almost level as he leaped from the top of the bank. Sam had no +saddle or stirrups in which to become entangled, and as the horse +struck the water fairly, the blow was not nearly so severe a shock to +the boy as he had expected. Both went under the water, but rising again +in a moment Sam slid off the animal's back, to give the poor fellow a +better chance of escape by swimming. Striking out boldly Sam reached the +bank and crawling up looked for his horse. The poor beast was evidently +too severely hurt to swim with ease, and so he drifted away, Sam running +along the bank, calling and encouraging him. He struck the shore at +last, and Sam examining him found that while he was stunned and bruised +no serious damage had been done. + +"Poor fellow," he said, stroking the colt's head, "you cannot serve me +any further in this swamp, but you saved my life and I'm glad you're not +killed anyhow." + +Then taking the bridle off, he turned the horse loose, to graze and +browse at will in the dense growth of the swamp. + +Sam was feverish still, and very weak, but his anxiety to reach the root +fortress again was an overmastering impulse. He had lost his bearings in +the mad chase, and the sky was so overcast that he could make no use of +the sun as a guide. He knew that his course lay nearly northward, and it +was his purpose to travel only at night, as before; but unless he could +get out of the swamp during the day, and ascertain in what direction he +must travel, he could not go on during the night at all. If it should +clear off by evening, the pole star would show him his way, but there +was no promise of a clearing away. He must find the course during the +day, and he set about it at once, after examining his salt bag which he +had put around his body, under his shirt, on the night on which he got +it. The salt was saturated with water, and Sam's first impulse was to +wring it out; but it occurred to him that the water he should squeeze +out of it would be salt water, or in other words, that some of the salt +would come away with the water and be lost. If he let it dry gradually, +however, all the salt would remain, and he determined to let it dry, +carrying it, with that in view, over his shoulder. How to find out which +way was north was the question, and it puzzled him sorely. He knew the +general course of all the creeks in that part of the country, but as +they wind about in every direction it was impossible to get any +information out of the one he was near. It was his habit, when he wanted +to solve any difficult problem, to sit down and think of it in all its +bearings, and a very excellent habit that is too. Nearly half our +blunders, all through life, might be avoided if we would think carefully +before acting; and nearly half the useful things we know, have been +found out simply by somebody's thinking. Sam sat down on a log and said +to himself;-- + +"Now if there is anything in the woods which always or nearly always +points in any one direction, I can find it by looking. Then I can find +out which way it points, by remembering how the woods look around home, +where I know the points of the compass." + +This was an excellent beginning, and Sam straightway began looking for +something which should guide him. A patch of sunflowers grew by the +creek, and he had heard that they always turn their heads to the sun, +but upon examining them, he found some of them turned one way and some +another, so that they were of no use whatever. Presently he observed +some beautiful green moss growing at the root and for a good many feet +up the trunk of a tree, and looking around he saw that the moss at the +roots of all the trees grew only or chiefly on one side, and that the +covered side was the same with all of them. Here was a uniform habit of +vegetation, and Sam knew enough to know that such a habit was not likely +to be confined to one particular locality. He began thinking of the +woods around home, and especially of a clump of trees in the yard at his +father's house, the moss-covered roots of which were Judie's favorite +playing place. This moss, he remembered, was nearly all on the north +side of the trees, whose southern roots were bare. All the other mossy +trees he could remember taught the same lesson, namely, that the green +moss which grows around the bases of trees, grows chiefly on the north +side. He had no doubt that the law was a general, if not a universal +one, and as the mossy trees were very numerous, he had a guide easily +followed. Striking out northwardly, therefore, he travelled several +miles before stopping, coming then to a suitable resting-place he lay +down to gather strength for the night's journey. When night came, +however, it had been raining for some hours, and in addition to the +darkness of a rainy night in a swamp, Sam found the soft alluvial soil +so saturated with water that he sank almost to his knees at every step. +Finding it impossible to go on he stopped again on the highest and +dryest piece of ground he could find, and prepared to spend the night +there. Cutting down a number of thick-leaved bushes he arranged them +against a fallen tree, as a shelter. + +He had been lying down but a short time when he discovered that pretty +nearly all the rain that fell on his bush roof found its way through in +great drops from the leaves. It then occurred to him that he had erred +in placing the bushes with their tops up. This indeed, made them mere +catchers and conductors of water to the space they covered. Turning +them, so that their drooping leaves pointed downward, he was not long in +making a really comfortable shelter, through which very little water +could find its way. + +Towards morning he waked and found himself lying in water. He could see +nothing in the darkness, but supposed that the rain had in some way made +a pool where he was lying. On coming out from his tent, however, he +found matters much worse than he had thought. In whatever direction he +looked he could see nothing but water, and he knew what the trouble was. +The rain had been very heavy all along the creek, and the stream having +very little fall had spread out over the whole surface of the swamp. +There was nothing to do except wait for daylight, and he climbed upon +the trunk of the fallen tree to get out of the water while he waited. +The rain had ceased to fall, and he had therefore no reason to fear any +great increase in the depth of the surrounding water. + +When morning came, Sam found that he was not the only occupant of the +fallen tree. A fine large opossum had taken refuge in one of the upper +branches, and Sam used his rifle to good purpose in bringing him down. +He was still suffering somewhat from the fever, though the excitement of +his recent ride had done much to relieve him, as anything which occupies +one's mind is apt to do in fevers of that sort, but he was nevertheless +extremely hungry, not having tasted food of any kind for nearly two +days, and having previously lived for a long time, as we know, upon an +insufficient and not very wholesome diet. He was delighted therefore to +get a fat young opossum for breakfast. The next thing was to cook it. +Sam was in no danger here from Indians, who were not likely to be in +such a swamp at any time, and were certainly not then, when the swamp +was full of water. He had no objection therefore to a fire, but where +and how to build one he was at some loss to determine. Looking carefully +around he discovered that in falling the great sycamore tree on which he +stood had thrown up a large mound of earth at its roots, as big trees in +blowing down nearly always do. This mound was well above the water, even +at its base, and here Sam determined to roast his opossum. He first dug +a hole in the ground, making it about two feet long, one foot wide and +eighteen inches deep. This was to be his fireplace and oven. He next +collected dry bark from the under side of the fallen tree, and by +breaking off its dead and well-seasoned limbs secured several large +armfuls of wood. Then taking from his leathern bullet-pouch a piece of +greased rag, kept there to wrap bullets in before ramming them in the +barrel, he placed it in the "pan" of his rifle. Does the reader know +what the "pan" of a rifle is? If not he knows nothing of flintlock guns, +and I must explain. Before the invention of percussion caps, guns were +provided with a little groove-shaped trough by the side of the powder +chamber. From this "pan" as it was called, a little hole led into the +charge. Over the pan fitted a piece of steel on a hinge, so that it +could be opened and shut at pleasure. This piece of steel, after +covering the pan, extended diagonally upward, and its surface was +roughened like the face of a file. When the rifleman had loaded his gun +he opened the pan, poured in a little powder and closed it again. In the +hammer was a piece of flint, and when the trigger was pulled the flint +came down with great force into the pan, scraping the roughened steel as +it came, and raising the pan cover on its hinge. It thus deposited a +shower of sparks in the pan, set fire to the powder there and through it +to the charge in the gun. + +Sam's object was merely to get fire, however,--not to discharge his +rifle,--wherefore, without reloading it, after shooting the opossum, he +merely filled the pan with powder, placed the greasy rag in it, and +cocking the gun pulled the trigger. In a moment the rag was burning, and +before many minutes had passed, Sam had a good fire burning in and over +the hole he had dug. He then skinned and dressed the opossum, stopping +now and then to replenish the fire and to throw all the live coals into +the hole as they formed. Within an hour the hole was full of burning +coals, and hot enough, Sam thought, for his purpose. He cut a number of +green twigs and collected a quantity of the long gray moss. He then +removed all the fire from the hole, the sides and bottom of which were +almost red hot, and passing a twig through the opossum, lowered it to +the middle of the hole, where the twig rested on ledges provided for +that purpose. This brought the dressed animal into the centre of the +hole, without permitting it to touch either the sides or the bottom. He +then laid twigs across the top of the hole, covered them with moss, and +threw nearly a foot of loose earth over the moss. The sides and bottom +of the hole, as I have said, were very hot, and Sam's plan was to keep +the heat in until it should roast the meat thoroughly. That his plan +was a good one, I know from experience, having roasted more than one +turkey in that way. It is, in fact, the very best way in which meat of +any kind can possibly be roasted at all, as it lets none of the flavor +escape in the form of gases. + +Sam waited patiently for an hour, when, opening his earth oven, he found +his opossum cooked to a rich, crisp brown. He ate a heartier and more +wholesome breakfast that morning than he had eaten for weeks, and felt +afterwards altogether better and stronger than before. The breakfast +would have been an excellent one at any time, as the flesh of the +opossum tastes almost exactly like that of a suckling pig, but it was +doubly good to the poor half-famished boy. He stowed away the remains of +his feast in his coat pockets to be eaten on his way back to the root +fortress, resolving to kill some other game on the journey, for the use +of the little garrison there. He was now, as he knew, not more than ten +or twelve miles from his destination, but it was as yet impossible for +him to travel. The swamp was full of cypresses, and it is a peculiar +habit of these trees to turn their roots straight upward for any +distance, from an inch to many feet, and then to bring them straight +down again, making what are called cypress knees. These knees are very +sharp on top, and sometimes stand not more than a foot apart. Being of +all heights, many of them, as Sam knew, were under water now, and these +made travelling impossible, even if there had been no quagmires to fall +into, as there were. After studying the situation, Sam determined to +remain where he was until the water should subside, and then to travel +by daylight, at least until he should be out of the swamp and upon high +ground again. The waters of the creek subsided much more slowly than +they had risen, and Sam remained at the Sycamore Camp, as he called the +place, for four days and nights before he thought travelling again +practicable. + +He then resumed his march, beset by many difficulties. The ground was +muddy everywhere, and impassably so in some places. There were many +ponds and pools left in the swamp, and these had to be avoided, so that +night had already come before he found himself fairly out of the swamp +and on the bank of the river, about two miles below the root fortress. +He now began to feel all sorts of apprehensions. He had been away +eleven days, and he could not help imagining a variety of terrible +things which might have happened to his little band during his absence. +Presently he saw a great light up the river, and at once the thought +flashed into his mind that the Indians had discovered and butchered the +boys and Judie, and were now burning the drift pile. + +"I'll hurry on," he said to himself, "and if the Indians are really +there, it's time for me to take part in this war. I can keep in the +timber and pick off half a dozen of them there in the fire light. Then +if they scalp me, I don't care. I'll at least make them suffer for what +they've done." + +A fierce storm was just breaking,--a storm of the violent and heroic +type seen only in tropical and sub-tropical countries, but Sam thought +nothing of that. He pushed on almost unconsciously, with no thought +except that with his rifle, hidden in the darkness, he could wage one +sharp and terrible battle with the murderers of Judie and Tom and Joe, +before suffering death at their hands. The lightning struck a tree just +ahead of him, but he seemed not to observe the fact. He was going into +battle, and what was a thunderbolt more or less at such a time. The rain +followed, drenching him instantly, but not dampening his determination +in the least. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +AN ALARM AND A WELCOME. + + +When Tom and Joe made the disheartening discovery that in spite of all +their efforts the fire was burning inside the hammock, they felt like +giving up in despair, and seeking another refuge. + +"But then Sam would never find us," said Tom, "even if he gets back. He +will find this place burned up and think the Indians have killed us all. +We _must_ put this fire out, Joe, if it takes a week." + +And straightway the boys began again, saturating large armfuls of moss +with water and laying them on top of the drift whenever the blaze showed +itself. Heart-pine burns rapidly with a great blaze and much smoke, but +it makes no coals, and a gallon of water will sometimes stop the +burning of a great log of it, instantly. Every armful of wet moss +therefore had an immediate and perceptible effect which greatly +encouraged the boys. They worked hour after hour, not succeeding in +putting the fire out, indeed, but managing to check it very decidedly, +and better than all, to keep it away from the trees and from the +alley-way leading to their hiding-place. Just as night fell, Joe called +out, + +"I say, Mas' Tommy, it's gwine to rain bucketsful." + +"I wish it would," said Tom, looking up to the black clouds which as yet +he had hardly observed at all. Just then a sharp flash followed by a +sudden peal of thunder almost stunned the boys. + +"Dat didn't strike fur from here," said Joe. + +"No, it must have hit a tree down the river a little way," said Tom. + +The rain followed in torrents, and little Judie came out of her +hiding-place to beg the boys to come in lest the lightning should strike +them. They were encouraged by the rain, however, to continue fighting +the fire, and resumed operations at once. + +"Hush!" said Tom presently, "there's Indians about. I heard 'em walking +in the brush. Run around the hammock quick, and let's hide." + +All ran without a moment's hesitation, and secreting themselves in the +drift awaited results. + +Presently they heard footsteps in the alley-way, and the voice of their +big brother called out. + +"Where are all you, little people, and what do do you hide from me for?" + +The Indian they had heard was Sam creeping around to see who it was that +was burning the drift. Seeing the boys and Judie, he walked out of the +thicket, but before he could get to them they had taken refuge in the +drift from the supposed danger. Their joy at Sam's return, and Sam's joy +at finding them safe and well instead of finding Indians dancing around +their burning dwelling, may be imagined. Tom put his arm around his +brother's neck, and could say nothing but, + +"Dear old Sam," which he said over again every ten seconds during half +an hour at least. Judie hugged and kissed Sam, and cried over him and +called him her "dear, best, big brother," and did all sorts of foolish +things which didn't strike Sam as foolish at all. Joe would sit awhile +and then get up and dance until he knocked his shins against some of the +drift, and then set down again, and then get up and dance again, +grinning with delight, I have no doubt, though it was too dark for +anybody to see whether he grinned or not. + +After a little while Sam went out and returning reported that the rain +had completely extinguished the fire. They then retired to the root +fortress which was unhurt, and Sam said he thought they ought to hold +prayers before going to sleep. Sam prayed rather awkwardly perhaps, but +he prayed because he felt like thanking the Father who had watched over +them all in so many dangers, and the awkwardness of such a prayer is a +matter of no consequence. They all laid down, after prayers, and one +after another fell asleep. + +The next morning a fire was started after the plan Sam had adopted in +the swamp, and some game which he had killed made a savory breakfast for +all of them. Judie thought salt, which she now tasted for the first time +in many weeks, was altogether better than sugar,--an opinion which it +seems she never before held. After breakfast explanations were in +order. Sam told the others all about his adventures, and they gave him a +minute history of their life during his absence. Then Sam explained that +from the number of savages he had seen on that side of the river, he +thought the other side must now be comparatively free from them. + +"Fort Glass is just twelve miles away from here," he said, "and I mean +now to go there, just as soon as I get a little rested and feel strong +enough. The country along this part of the river is very bad to travel +through, though, since the river rose, as all the creeks are up, and if +we could get up the river about eight miles, we should be within six +miles of the fort, with a good country to travel through. We can't get +there, however, and so it's no use to talk about it. We must just strike +out from here and make our way across the best way we can." + +But clearly Sam was in no condition to travel yet. His fever had come +back on him that morning, and it was necessary to postpone the journey +to Fort Glass until he should get better. He went into the woods during +the day, and shot two squirrels and a wild turkey, but upon his return +found himself unable to sit up longer. The bed of scraped moss was very +welcome to the weary and sick boy. The next day he was a little better, +but the next found him very ill and partly delirious. The boys were +frightened. They had seen enough of the fevers of that region to know +that they require immediate and constant treatment, and they had good +reason to fear that Sam could never recover without medicine and a +doctor. They ministered to him as well as they could, but they could do +nothing to check the fever, which was now constant and very high. Sam +knew hardly anything, and rarely ever spoke at all except to talk +incoherently in fits of delirium. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JOE'S PLAN. + + +Sam's illness continued day after day, and the boys were greatly +troubled. Little Judie remained by her "big brother's" side almost +constantly, while Tom and Joe provided food, cooked it, and attended to +the wants of the little community to the very best of their ability. +They were in the habit too, of retiring now and then, to a secluded spot +in the drift-pile, to consult and discuss plans of procedure. One day +Tom went to the rendezvous and found Joe there leaning against a log, +with his feet on another, and his eyes closed. + +"Are you asleep, Joe?" he asked. + +"No, Mas' Tom, I'se not asleep," said Joe, "I'se just thinkin'." + +"Well, what were you thinking, Joe?" + +"I'se been layin' plans, Mas' Tom, an' I's laid one good un anyhow." + +"What is it, Joe?" + +"Well, you see Mas' Sam ought to have a doctor, an' he's gwine to die if +he don't, dat's sartain. But dey ain't no doctor here." + +Joe said this as if it were a new truth just discovered, that there was +no doctor there. + +"Well, go on, Joe," said Tom, "and tell me your plan, maybe it's a good +one." + +"Course it's a good un. I dun tell you dat fust." + +"Well, what is it?" + +"Mas' Tom, don't you know Mas' Sam always begins 'way back whar' he's +been thinkin' an' tells all dat fust so you kin see all de why's and +wharfores?" + +"Yes; but what has that to do with your plan, Joe?" + +"Nothin', only dat's de way I'se gwine to 'splain my plan, I'se dun +begun way back whar I'se dun been thinkin', an' I'se gwine to tell all +'bout dat fust. Den you'll understan' de whys and wharfores. You mus'n't +hurry me, Mas' Tom, dat's all." + +"All right, tell it your own way, Joe," said Tom, laughing. + +"No, I'se gwine to tell it Mas' Sam's way. Well, you see dey ain't no +doctor here an' we can't git one to come here neither. So we must take +Mas' Sam to whar' dey is doctors, do you see?" + +"That's all very well," said Tom, "but how are we to do that?" + +"Now you'se hurryin' me again, Mas' Tom. Dat's just what I'se a-comin' +to. Mas' Sam said de other mornin' dat if we was up de river about eight +miles furder, de fort would be only six miles away, an' de country would +be easy 'nuff to cross. He dun say we couldn't git up de river, but we +_kin_. You see Mas' Sam was sick, an' dat's de reason he say dat. Now I +dun bin thinkin' of a way to git up de river. Dey's lots of cane here, +an' you an' me kin twis' canes one over de other like de splits in a +cha'r bottom, an' dat way, when we gits a dozen big squars of it made, +as big both ways as the canes is long, we kin lay 'em on top o' one an' +other, an' fasten 'em togedder wid bamboos, an' it'll be a fust-rate +raft. Den you an' me kin pole it up stream, keepin' close to de shore, +wid Mas' Sam an' little Miss Judie on it. When we git up dar, I kin go +over to de fort, leavin' you wid Mas' Sam till de folks comes after you +all." + +This was Joe's plan of operations, and upon thinking it over Tom was +disposed to think it the best plan possible under the circumstances. +Accordingly he and Joe went to work at once. They could not make the +raft inside the drift-pile, for want of room, but they found a place in +the bushes near the mouth of the creek, where they could work +unobserved. They cut down a large number of the flexible green canes, +and wove them together into a square net work. Repeating this operation +several times they finally had enough of the squares to make, they +thought, a secure raft, when laid one on top of the other. It would not +do to join them in the bushes however, as that would make their weight +so great that the boys could not lift them to the water. They +determined, therefore, to get their pushing poles first, and then to +carry the squares one by one to the river, and, arranging them there, to +embark soon after nightfall. The work of construction had occupied many +days, and it was now the 12th of November. The boys hoped to complete +their undertaking the next day and embark the next night. After their +return to the drift-pile, however, it occurred to Tom to inquire whether +or not Joe knew the way from the river to the fort, after they should +reach the end of their voyage. + +"I 'clar', Mas' Tom, I never thought o' dat at all!" said Joe in +consternation. "I dunno a foot of de way, an' I dunno whar' de fort is +either." + +Tom being equally ignorant, their long consultation held on the spot, +ended in an enforced abandonment of the enterprise which had occupied +their heads and hands for so long a time. + +"Now dar' it is, Mas' Tom," said Joe. "Dat's always the way. Mas' Sam +never makes no blunder, 'cause he thinks it all out careful fust. Poor +Joe's head gets things all mixed up. I ain't no count anyhow, an' I jest +wish I was dead or somethin'." + +Poor Joe! The disappointment was a sore one to him. He had been thinking +all along of the glory he should reap as the saviour of the little +party, and now his whole plan was found to be worthless. He slept little +that night, and once Tom heard him quietly sobbing in his corner. +Creeping over to him Tom said: + +"Don't cry, Joe. You did your best anyhow, and it isn't your fault that +you don't know the way to the fort," and passing his arm around the poor +black boy's neck he gently drew his head to his shoulder, where it +rested while the two slept. + +The next morning Judie was the first to wake, and she quietly waked Tom +and Joe. + +"Boys, boys," she cried in a whisper, "the Indians are all around us, +there is a fight going on. Get up quick, but don't make any noise." + +The little girl was right. Rifles were cracking and Indians yelling all +around their little habitation. It at once occurred to Tom that here was +hope as well as danger. If the Indians should be driven back by the +whites, he could communicate with the latter and the little garrison of +the root fortress would be rescued. At present, however, it was the +savages and not the whites who surrounded the trees and the drift pile. +Tom determined lose no chance, however, and cautioning the others to +keep still, he went to the look-out to watch for an opportunity to +communicate with the white men whom these Indians were evidently +fighting. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CANOE FIGHT. + + +Before going further with the story of what happened around the root +fortress on that morning, it is necessary to explain how it came about +that a battle was fought there. I gather the facts from authentic +history. + +During all the time spent by the Hardwickes in their wanderings and in +the root fortress, the war had been going on vigorously. The occupants +of Fort Sinquefield, when they abandoned that fort as described in the +early chapters of this story, succeeded in making their way to Fort +Glass, or Fort Madison, as it was properly named, though the people +still used its original name Fort Glass in speaking of it, for which +reason I have so called the place throughout this story. In July General +Floyd, who was in command of all the United States forces in the +south-west, sent General Claiborne, with his twelve months' Mississippi +volunteers to Fort Stoddart, with instructions to render such aid as he +could to the forts in the surrounding country. His force consisted of +seven hundred men, and of them he took five hundred to Fort Stoddart, +sending the remaining two hundred, under Col. Joseph E. Carson, a +volunteer officer, to Fort Glass. The two hundred soldiers added greatly +to the strength of the place, and with the settlers who had taken refuge +inside, rendered it reasonably secure against attack. The refugees were +under command of Captain Evan Austill, himself a planter of the +neighborhood. + +Shortly after the storming of Fort Sinquefield, and almost immediately +after the garrison of that place had reached Fort Glass, the Indians +appeared in great numbers in that neighborhood, burning houses, killing +everybody who strayed even a few hundred yards outside the picket gates, +and seriously threatening the fort itself. In view of these facts Col. +Carson sent a young man of nineteen years of age named Jerry Austill, +the son of Capt. Evan Austill to General Claiborne's head-quarters, +with dispatches describing the situation and asking for reinforcements. +Young Austill made the journey alone and at night, at terrible risk, as +he had to pass through a country infested with savages, but on his +return brought, instead of assistance, an order for Col. Carson to +evacuate the fort and retire to Fort Stephens. When he did so, however, +Captain Austill and about fifty other planters, with their families, +determined to remain and defend Fort Glass at all hazards. Among those +who remained was Mr. Hardwicke, who, now that the Indians had murdered +his children, as he supposed, had little to live for, and was disposed +to serve the common cause at the most dangerous posts, where every +available man was needed. + +After a time Col. Carson was sent back to the fort with his Mississippi +volunteers, and this freed the daring spirits inside the fort from the +necessity of remaining there. They went at once on scouting parties, +Tandy Walker, the guide, being almost always one of the number going out +on these perilous expeditions. They scoured the country far and near, in +bodies ranging from two or three to twenty or thirty men, and fought the +Indians in many places, losing some valuable men but making the Indians +suffer in their turn. + +Finally it was determined to send out a party larger than any that had +yet gone, to operate against the savages on the south-east side of the +river. This expedition numbered seventy-two men, thirty of whom were +Mississippi Yauger men, under a Captain Jones, while the others were +volunteers from private life. The expedition was under the command of +Sam Dale, already celebrated as an Indian fighter, and known among the +Creeks, with whom he had lived, as Sam Thlueco, or Big Sam, on account +of his enormous size and strength. During this Creek war he had +performed some feats of strength, skill and daring, the memory of which +is still preserved in history, together with that of the celebrated +canoe fight, which we are now coming to. To tell of these deeds of +prowess would lead us away from our proper business, namely, the telling +of the present story; but the canoe fight comes properly into the story, +being in fact one of its incidents. Three only of Dale's companions +figured with him in the canoe fight, and they alone need mentioning by +name. These were, first Jerry Austill, the young man already spoken of, +who was six feet two inches high, slender but strong, and active as a +cat; second, James Smith, a man of firm frame and dauntless spirit; and +third Cæsar, a negro man, who conducted himself with a courage and +coolness fairly entitling him to bear the name of the great Roman +warrior. + +The expedition left Fort Glass on the 11th of November, 1823. Tandy +Walker was its guide, and every man in the party knew that Tandy was not +likely to be long in leading them to a place where Indians were +plentiful. He knew every inch of country round about, and nothing +pleased him so well as a battle in any shape. The day after they left +Fort Glass, Dale's men reached the river at a point eighteen miles below +the present town of Clairborne, and about fifteen miles below the root +fortress. Here they crossed, in two canoes, to the eastern shore of the +river, and spent the night without sleep. The next morning Austill, with +six men, ascended the river in the canoes, while Dale, with the rest of +the party, marched up the bank. About a mile below the root fortress, +Dale who was marching some distance ahead of his men, came upon some +Indians at breakfast, and without waiting for his men to come up, shot +their chief. The rest fled precipitately, leaving their provisions +behind. Pushing on, Dale reached a point about two hundred yards below +the root fortress, and there determined to recross the river. The canoes +transported the men as rapidly as possible, but when all were over +except Dale and eight or nine men (among whom were Smith, Austill and +Cæsar), and only one canoe remained at the eastern side of the stream, a +large party of Indians, numbering, as was afterwards ascertained, nearly +three hundred, attacked the handful of whites still remaining. These +retreated from the field, where they were breakfasting, and keeping the +Indians in check by careful and well-aimed firing, were about to get +into the canoe and escape to the opposite bank, about four hundred yards +away, when they discovered that their retreat was cut off by a large +canoe full of Indians, eleven in all, which had come out of the mouth of +the creek just above. The savages tried to approach the shore, but, in +spite of the fact that by careening the canoe to one side and lying down +they were able to conceal themselves, they were prevented from landing +by Austill and one or two other men. Two of the Indians jumped into the +water and tried to swim to the shore, while the others, firing over the +gunwale of the boat, were sorely annoying the whites. Austill shot one +of the swimmers but the other escaped to the shore, and joined the +savages there, informing them, as Dale supposed, of the weakness of his +force, which they had not yet discovered. Dale called to the men on the +other side of the river to cross and assist him, but they, after making +an abortive attempt to send a canoe load across, remained idle +spectators of the terribly unequal conflict. Dale, seeing that no help +was to come from them, and knowing that the Indians would shortly +overcome him by sheer force of numbers, resolved upon a recklessly +daring manoeuvre, namely, an attempt to capture the Indian canoe! He +called out to his comrades. + +"I'm going to fight the canoe with a canoe. Who will go with me?" + +Austill, Smith and Cæsar volunteered at once, and Cæsar took his post as +steersman, while the three stalwart soldiers were leaping into the +canoe for the purpose of fighting hand to hand the nine Indians opposed +to them. As they shot out from the shore the savages on the bank +delivered a fierce fire upon them, but fortunately without effect. The +savages in the canoe had exhausted their powder, and Dale's party would +have had an advantage in this but for the fact that their own powder had +become wet as they were getting into their canoe. The fight must be hand +to hand, but they were not the men to shrink from it. When the boats +struck, the Indians leaped up and began using their rifles as clubs. +Austill, who was in the bow of Dale's boat, received the first shock of +the battle, but Cæsar promptly swung his boat around, and grappling the +other canoe held the two side by side during the whole fight. Dale's +boat was a very small one, and he to relieve it sprang into the Indian +canoe, thereby giving his comrades more room and crowding the Indians so +closely together as to embarrass their movements. The blows now fell +thick and fast. Austill was knocked down into the Indian boat, and an +Indian was about to put him to death when Smith saved him by braining +the savage. Austill then rose, and snatching a war club from one of the +Indians used that instead of his rifle. Eight of the savages were slain, +and Dale found himself face to face with the solitary survivor, whom he +recognized as a young Muscogee with whom he had been for years on terms +of the most intimate friendship, and whom he loved, as he declared, +almost as a brother. He lowered his up-raised rifle to spare his friend, +but the savage would not accept quarter. He cried out in the Creek +language, which Dale understood as well as he did English. + +"Big Sam, you are a man, and I am another! Now for it!" and with that +the two joined in a struggle for life. A blow from Dale's gun ended at +once the canoe fight and the life of the young brave, who, even from his +friend, would not accept the mercy which his nation was not ready to +show to the whites. It is said that to the day of his death Dale could +not speak of this incident without shedding tears. + +Dale and his comrades had still a duty to do and some danger yet to +encounter. The party remaining on the bank was in imminent peril, and +must be rescued at all hazards. The little canoe was not large enough to +carry them all, and so the big one must be cleared of the dead Indians +in it, and the heroes of the canoe fight accomplished this under a +severe fire from the bank. Then jumping into the captured boat, they +paddled to the shore, and taking their hard pressed comrades on board, +crossed under fire to the other side, whence they marched to Fort Glass, +twelve miles away, having dealt the savages a severe blow without losing +a man. Austill was hurt pretty badly on the head, and a permanent dent +in his skull attested the narrowness of his escape. + +This battle was waged within sight of the root fortress, the drift pile +being indeed the cover from which the Indians fought. Tom, as we know, +went to the look-out at the beginning of the fight, and he remained +there to the end in the hope that the fortune of battle might possibly +bring the whites within call, and thus afford the little refugee band a +chance of escape. No such chance came, however, and sadly enough the +two boys, for Joe was also in the look-out, watched the passage of the +last of Dale's men across the stream, half a mile below. + +"Mas' Tom," said Joe, "dem folks gwine right straight to de fort." + +"Yes, of course," said Tom. "What of it?" + +"Nothin', only I wish I could go wid 'em, and tell 'em Mas' Sam's here +sick." + +"So do I, Joe, but we can't go with them, and it's no use wishing." + +"I reckon 'tain't no use, but I can't help wishin' for all dat. When +folk's got der own way dey don't wish for it. It's when you can't git +your way dat you wish, ain't it?" + +Tom was forced to admit that Joe was right, and that in wishing to be +with the retreating party he was not altogether unreasonable. + +The two boys sat there, looking and longing. The savages had disappeared +almost as suddenly as they had come, and presently Joe sprang up, +saying. + +"Dar's de little canoe lodged in the bushes, an' I'se gwine to fasten +her to the bank anyhow, so's we'll have her if we want her." + +What possible use they could make of the canoe, it had not entered +Joe's head to ask perhaps, but he tied the boat in the bushes +nevertheless and secreted the paddle in the drift pile. He then visited +the place where Dale's men had been surprised at breakfast, and brought +off the pack of provisions which Dale had captured that morning from the +savages and had himself abandoned in his turn. The pack was a +well-stored one, and its possession was a matter of no little moment to +the boys, whose bill of fare had hitherto embraced no bread, of which +there was here an abundance in the shape of ash cake. + +"Mas' Tom," said Joe that evening, "do you know my master?" + +"Mr. Butler? Yes, certainly." + +"Well, if anything happens to poor Joe, and if you ever gits to de fort +an' if Joe don't, an' if you sees my master dar you'll tell him Joe +never runned away anyhow, won't you." + +"Yes, I'll tell him that Joe." + +"Even if the Ingins ketches me an' you dunno whar' I'se gone to, you'll +tell him anyhow dat Joe never runned away from him or from you nuther, +won't you, Mas' Tom?" + +"Of course, Joe. But there won't be any chance to tell him anything +about it unless we all get back to the fort, and then you can tell him +for yourself. He thinks you are dead, of course, and doesn't dream that +you ever ran away. You'll get back safely if the Indians don't catch +you, and if they catch you they'll catch all of us, so I won't be there +to tell your master about you." + +"Dun no 'bout dat," replied Joe. "Dey mought catch Joe 'thout catchin' +anybody else, an' 'thout you nor nobody knowin' nothin' 'bout it, and +Joe wants you to promise anyway dat you'll stick to it to de las' dat +poor Joe was no runaway nigger, nohow at all. Kin you do dat for me, +Mas' Tom?" + +"Certainly, Joe," said Tom laughing, "I promise you." + +"Will you git mad if Joe axes you to shake han's on dat, Mas' Tom? I +wants to make sartain sure on it." + +Tom laughed, but held out his hand, convinced that the poor black boy +was out of spirits at least, if not out of his mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE BOYS ARE DRIVEN OUT OF THE ROOT FORTRESS. + + +Sam was only partially conscious during the battle around his +habitation. The fever, which now rose and fell at intervals, was usually +highest during the forenoon, abating somewhat later in the day. When it +was highest he was always in either an unconscious stupor, or a wild +delirium. When the fever abated, however, his consciousness returned, +and he was capable of talking and of understanding all that was said. In +these lucid intervals, he insisted upon knowing all that had happened, +so that he might tell the boys what was best to do. On this day Tom had +a story of more than ordinary interest to tell him, about the battle and +the chance of rescue which had so narrowly passed them. Sam was +interested in it all as a matter of course, but he was still more +deeply interested, it seemed, in the condition of the sand near the +place where he was lying. He had dug a little hole with his hand, and +feeling of the sand found it decidedly wet. Turning to Tom, he said: + +"The river is rising rapidly, isn't it?" + +"Yes; but how did you find it out?" + +"By the sand. I've been watching it a good deal since the fall rains set +in, as I'm afraid the river will drive us out of here. You see, the +water works easily through the sand, and you can always tell what the +level of the river is, if its banks are sandy, by digging down to where +the sand is wet." + +"Yes," said Tom, "but the river isn't within a hundred feet of us yet." + +"You are mistaken. It is within six inches of us," said Sam. + +"How's that?" + +"Well, this bank is almost exactly level, and when the river gets above +its edge it spreads at once all over it. Now the sand is wet within six +inches of the top, and the river is within six inches of the edge of the +bank. When it rises six or eight inches more, it'll be in here, and I'm +afraid it will rise that much before morning. At any rate we must be +ready for it." + +"What can we do?" asked Tom in alarm. "There's no place to hide on the +upper bank." + +"We mustn't quit this bank, and we mustn't quit the drift-pile either," +replied Sam. "You must find a good place, high up in the drift where, by +pulling out sticks, you and Joe can make a place for us to stay in." + +"But, Sam, what if the water gets to us there?" + +"It won't get to us there." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because the biggest freshets always come in the spring, and the top of +this drift-pile was put where it is by the biggest freshets, so the +river won't go near the top in November. You see, as the drift _floated_ +on top of the water to its present place, the top of the pile must be +the highest point, or very nearly the highest, that the water ever +reaches. If you can find a good place therefore in the upper part of the +drift-pile, we shall be safe there. But you'd better see about it at +once, as the water may be in here before morning, and at any rate we +mustn't allow ourselves to be taken by surprise. You'd better go to the +river and set a stake first so you can tell how fast the water rises and +know when to move into the new place." + +Tom set his stake at the water's edge and then selected the most +available place he could find for the new abode. He and Joe went +diligently to work, rearranging the loose sticks of drift-wood and even +carrying many of them clear out of the pile, so as to enlarge the hole +they had found and make it as habitable as possible. + +"The trouble is," said Tom when they had nearly completed their task, +"that we can't make a smooth floor, and it's going to be rather +uncomfortable lying on loose logs and big round sticks that run every +which way." + +"That's my business," said Judie looking in at the entrance. "I'm the +housekeeper, you know, and I've thought of all that." + +And sure enough the little woman had brought a great pile of small, +leafy, tree branches and bush tops, with which she speedily filled up +the low places between the timbers, and covered the timbers themselves +to a depth of three or four inches, making a soft as well as a level +floor. She had foreseen the difficulty, and borrowing Sam's knife, had +worked with all her might to provide in advance against it. But the +bushes and leaves were not all that she had brought. She had collected +also a large quantity of gray moss with which to make a carpet for the +springy floor. + +"Now please don't tell brother Sam," she said when the boys praised her +thoughtfulness and ingenuity. "I want to surprise him when he comes." + +Tom and Joe promised, and Tom said they would have to call her their +"little housekeeper" hereafter. + +The river was still rising, but more slowly, it appeared, than it had +done before. By Tom's calculations it was coming up at the rate of an +inch in three hours, wherefore Sam thought they might safely remain +where they were until morning at least, while if the water should come +to a stand during the night, they would have no occasion to move at all, +as a fall would rapidly follow, if the weather should remain clear. + +Joe had worked faithfully at the task of preparing the new place of +refuge, but he was not at all satisfied with the arrangement. + +"I tell you, Mas' Tom," he said, "wood'll float, 'thout 'tis live oak, +an' dis here drif'-pile 'll jest raise up an' float away, you'll see if +it don't." + +"Why hasn't it floated away long ago, then, Joe?" asked Tom. + +"May be it has. How you know dis drif' didn't all on it come here las' +time de river was up?" + +"Well, there's too much of it for that, and besides, Sam says this place +is safe, and you know he is always right about things when he speaks +positively about them." + +"Mas' Tom, don' you know Mas' Sam done been a-talkin' nonsense for two +weeks now?" + +"Yes; but that's only when he's out of his head." + +"How you know when he's outen his head an' when he ain't?" + +"We know he's out of his head when he talks nonsense." + +"Well, maybe dis here 's nonsense. I jest knows it is, and dat's how I +know Mas' Sam was outen his head when he said it." + +Tom saw that Joe was not to be convinced, and so he contented himself +with saying, + +"Well, we'll see." + +"Yes, dat's jest it. We _will_ see, and feel too, when we all gets +drownded in de water." + +The water came to a stand about midnight, and was falling slowly the +next morning. But when morning came it was raining hard, and the rain +was evidently not a local but a general one, wherefore, Tom feared that +the fall would shortly be changed into a rise, and that the bank would +soon be covered. He watched his stake carefully, visiting it every half +hour. At nine o'clock the river had fallen three inches, and was about +eight inches below the bank. From nine to ten it fell only about half an +inch. Between ten and eleven the fall was not more than a quarter of an +inch. Between eleven and twelve no fall at all was perceptible. From +twelve to one there was a slight rise. Between one and two it rose +nearly an inch. The next hour brought with it a rise of two inches. By +five o'clock the level of the water was barely two inches below the +edge of the bank, and as it was rising at the rate of two or three +inches an hour, Sam thought it time to remove from their old to their +new quarters. The change was of advantage to the sick boy, who was now +getting somewhat better at any rate, and when he found himself in the +new place the interest he showed in examining all the details of its +arrangements, was the best possible evidence of improvement. + +"Come here, little woman," he said to Judie, "and give an account of +yourself. You borrowed my knife yesterday, and somebody has been using +it in cutting bush tops to make a smooth floor with, and the idea was a +very good one. Can you tell me who it was?" + +"Maybe it was Tom," she replied mischievously. + +"No, it was not Tom," Sam answered. "He's too much of a great awkward +boy to think of anything so comfortable. You must guess again." + +"Joe, then," she said. + +"No, it wasn't Joe, either," said Sam. "Joe can sleep on the edge of a +fence rail as well as anywhere else, and he never would have thought of +making our floor soft and smooth. Guess again." + +"Maybe it was brother Sam," said Judie. + +"Oh, certainly. It must have been I," replied Sam. "I must have done it. +I'm so strong and active now-a-days. Yes, on reflection, I presume I did +it, and the man in the moon helped me. Now I think it was a very +thoughtful and helpful thing for anybody to do, so you ought to kiss me +for doing it, and when the weather gets clear you must throw a kiss to +the man in the moon, too, for his share." And with that he kissed the +little housekeeper, and she felt herself abundantly repaid for her work +and for the thoughtfulness she had shown. She was never so happy as when +Sam praised her, "because he's such a splendid big brother," she would +explain. + +Tom, seeing that Sam was getting better at last, began to hope for his +complete recovery, and the hope made him buoyant of spirit again. Judie, +too, who watched and weighed every symptom in Sam's case, discovered to +her delight that he was decidedly better, and the discovery made her as +happy as a healthy girl well can be. Poor Joe seemed to be the only +miserable one in the party. He said almost nothing, answering questions +with a simple "yes" or "no," and sitting moodily in his corner, when he +stayed inside the "drift cavern"--which was Sam's name for the new +abode--at all. He spent most of his time, however, on top of the pile, +where he watched the water and the clouds. The rain had ceased, but the +river, which was now creeping over the broad bank, continued to rise. + +"What is the matter with Joe?" asked Sam after the boy had gone out for +the twentieth time. + +"I think he's afraid we're all going to be drowned," said Tom. + +"Drowned? How?" + +"Well, he says wood will float, and so he thinks when the water comes up +under the drift-pile, it will all float away." + +"What nonsense!" exclaimed Sam. "Why didn't you tell him better, Tom?" + +"I did; but he sticks to it, and--" + +"Well, couldn't you explain it so that he would understand it and not +have to trust to your judgment for it?" + +"No, I couldn't. The fact is, I don't quite understand it myself. There +isn't a stick in this whole pile that won't float, and I don't quite +understand why the pile won't. But I don't doubt you're right about it, +Sam. You always are right whether I understand how things are or not." + +"Let me explain it to you, then. Do you know why some things float and +others don't?" + +"Yes, of course. Because the things that float are lighter than the +things that sink." + +"Not exactly. That log there is too heavy for you to lift, while you can +carry a bullet between your thumb and finger. The log is many hundred +times heavier than a bullet, but the log will float while the bullet +will sink always." + +"That's so," said Tom, "and I don't know what does make some things +float and other things sink." + +"Did you ever set a teacup in the water and see it float?" + +"Yes, many a time." + +"But if you fill it with water it will sink, won't it?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"Well, now I can explain the thing to you, I think. If a thing is +heavier,--the whole thing I mean, than the amount of water it +displaces,--that is, if it is heavier than exactly its own bulk of +water, it will sink; but if it is lighter than its own bulk of water it +will float." + +"Oh, yes, I see." + +"Now a bullet weighs a good deal more than its own bulk of water, and so +it sinks. A log weighs less than its own bulk of water, and so it +floats. An empty teacup weighs less than a solid body of water equal to +it in size, and it therefore floats. If you fill it with water, however, +you increase its weight without adding anything to the amount of water +it displaces,--or rather, as you let water into all the hollow space, +you lessen by that much the amount of water it must displace in sinking +without taking away anything from its weight, and so it sinks; or, if +you break the teacup you lessen the amount of water it must displace +without lessening its weight, and so it sinks in that case, too. Do you +understand that?" + +"Yes, I think I do," said Tom; "but I don't exactly see how it applies +to the drift-pile." + +"I'll explain that presently. I want to make it plain first that the +ability of a thing to float depends not on its weight, but on its weight +as compared with that of a like bulk of water. This comparative or +relative weight is called _specific gravity_, and in measuring the +specific gravity of substances water is taken as the standard usually, +though sometimes gold is used for that purpose. Now to come to the +drift-pile. When the water rises say two or three feet, it will be above +the level of the lower logs, and these would float away, if they were +free, because their specific gravity is less than that of water. But +there is twenty feet of other timber on top of them, and its weight must +be added to theirs. The water displaced is exactly equal to their bulk, +while the weight is many hundred times greater than theirs. Do you +understand?" + +"Yes, I think I do. You mean that the water must come high enough to +pretty nearly cover the whole drift-pile before any of it can float." + +"Yes. The pile must be considered as a whole, and it won't float until +there is water enough to float the whole. The bottom logs can't float +while those above them are clear out of water, if their weight rests on +the bottom logs, as it does in the drift-pile. You see when you put +anything into the water, it sinks until it has displaced a bulk of water +equal to its own weight, and then stops sinking. In other words, that +part of the floating thing which goes under the water is exactly the +size of a body of water equal in weight to the whole thing. If a log +floats with just half of itself above water, you know that the log +weighs exactly the same as half its own bulk of water, or, in other +words, that its specific gravity is just half that of water. Water two +inches deep won't float a great saw-log, because a great saw-log weighs +more than the amount of water it takes to cover its lower part two or +three inches deep; and water two or three feet deep won't float a +drift-pile twenty feet high, because such a drift-pile weighs a good +deal more than a body of water two or three feet deep, of its own length +and width. But even if the water were to rise to the top of the hammock, +the pile wouldn't float away. It would float, of course, and some of the +wood near its edges would be carried away, but the main pile would +remain here, because it is all tangled together and can't go away except +in one great mass. It is so firmly lodged against the trees as to +prevent that, and as a freshet big enough to cover, or nearly cover it, +would bring down a great quantity of new drift and deposit it here, the +pile would grow bigger rather than smaller. But the river won't get very +high at this season, or at any rate it won't rise to anywhere near the +top of the hammock, as I have already explained to you, because it is +evidently only the biggest freshets that ever come near the top, and the +biggest freshets never come in the fall, but always in the spring. It +isn't rising fast enough either. It isn't rising nearly so fast now as +it was before it got over the bank." + +"Why, how do you know that, Sam? You haven't been to look." + +"No, but I know it, nevertheless, simply because I know that water, left +to itself, will find its level." + +"I don't see what that's got to do with it," said Tom. + +"Perhaps not, but it has something to do with it for all that," replied +Sam; "and I can make you see how, too." + +He paused, to think the matter over and determine how to present it to +Tom's comprehension. + +"You see," he then resumed, "that the river inside its banks is about +four hundred yards wide. When it rises above the banks, however, it +spreads out over the level ground, and becomes, in some places, many +miles wide, averaging a mile at least in width. Now there is only a +certain amount of water coming into the river every hour. The rain has +stopped, but the soil is full of water, and so there is about as much +running into the river now as there was while the rain lasted. But the +surface of the stream is now many times greater than it was, and as +water finds its level, all that comes into the river spreads out over +its whole surface, and of course doesn't raise its level nearly so much +as the same quantity did while the stream was still within its banks. Do +you understand now?" + +"What a great big brother you are, Sam, anyhow!" was all the reply Tom +made. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +WHERE IS JOE? + + +It was now getting late, and Sam knew that it was not well for him to +talk longer. He felt so much better, however, that he knew he would +continue to talk in spite of himself unless the whole party should go to +sleep at once. Joe had not been in the drift cavern for more than two +hours, and Sam, observing his prolonged absence, said: + +"Tom, I'm afraid some of us have hurt poor Joe's feelings. Go and look +at your water-mark, and while you are out, find the poor fellow and find +out what's the matter with him. He's a good boy, and has done his part +faithfully ever since we started. I can't bear to think of him moping." + +Tom went out and examined his stake, which showed that the water was not +more than an inch or two over the bank, and was not rising very rapidly +now; but he could see nothing of Joe anywhere. He went to the look-out, +but the boy was not there, and a diligent search through the drift-pile, +showed that he was nowhere in the neighborhood of the fortress. Tom was +now fairly alarmed, and returning, was about to report the facts to Sam, +when little Judie, in a whisper, informed him that the big brother was +asleep. As his fever had risen somewhat, Judie rightly thought it better +not to disturb him, as he certainly could not aid in any way in finding +Joe. + +"I must just think," Tom said to himself, "as Sam does, and then I can +do all there is to be done. Now I know Joe isn't anywhere in the +hammock, because I knew every place he could squeeze himself into, and +I've looked in every one of them. It's no use then to waste time looking +there any more. He must have left here, either accidentally or on +purpose. He couldn't have slipped off the drift and drowned, because he +can swim pretty well and would have swam out in a minute. There is no +other way in which he can have left here by accident, unless an Indian +has killed him on the drift-pile somewhere, and if that were so I would +have found his body. He must have run away on purpose." + +But just as Tom reached this point in his thinking he remembered the +earnestness with which poor Joe had begged him to bear witness in any +and every event that he was not "a runaway nigger." And this reminded +Tom of all the queer ways he had noticed in Joe of late. The boy must +have had a premonition, he thought, that something was going to happen +to him. Only two theories remained. One was that Joe had gone crazy +under his long exile from civilized life and had madly put an end to +himself by jumping into the river; and the other that, persisting in his +belief in the instability of the drift-pile, he had gone to the upper +bank for safety and had fallen asleep there. In that event he must be +found, lest an Indian should discover him in the morning and put him to +death. Tom went ashore after explaining his purpose to Judie, so that +she might not be alarmed at his absence, and literally spent the entire +night in hunting for the black boy. Joe was nowhere to be found, and +when daylight came, Tom saw that a further search was of no use +whatever, and he therefore returned sadly to the drift cavern. The water +was now going down again, and the bank was free from it, but the sand in +the root fortress was still too wet to sit or lie upon, and so Tom made +no immediate preparation for their return. + +Sam's fever was very slight that morning, and his first question was +about Joe. Tom told him of his night's search, and Sam's deduction from +all the facts was that the poor boy had committed suicide, had been +killed by an Indian and thrown into the river, or had fallen in +accidentally and drowned. + +"He would never have left us in any case," said Sam, "and even had he +been less faithful, he would have been afraid to run away, not knowing +where to run or how to take care of himself in the woods." + +They were too much grieved for Joe's loss, to relish their breakfast, +and that meal was dispatched very quickly. Tom watched the falling of +the water all day, and at night reported that the river was well inside +its banks again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A FAMINE. + + +The river having gone down until no water remained on the sandy bank, +Tom reported the fact and added, + +"Now let's move back again to the root-fortress. It's a safer place than +this, by a good deal, if it isn't quite so big or quite so comfortable." + +"No, we mustn't go back yet," said Judie, who had visited the fortress +before Tom had, "because the sand in there is as wet as can be, and I +can't let my big sick brother lie on it." + +"There, Tom," said Sam, "my doctor forbids my return yet awhile, and a +sick man always must obey the doctor you know. Besides, Judie is right. +It won't do for any of us to lie on wet sand; we must wait till it +dries; but that won't be very long if the river continues to go down." + +Accordingly they spent one more night in the drift cavern. Early the +next morning Judie went to the fortress, and returning said, playing +doctor. + +"Now, then, Mr. Hardwicke, the floor of your lower house is quite dry, +and I think it will be safe to move back again. Will you have your +breakfast first, or will you wait until you get back home again before +eating anything?" + +"Oh, let's wait, by all means, and eat breakfast in the dear old +root-fortress," said Tom, and as Sam made no objection, it was so +arranged. + +By nine o'clock the moss carpet was laid in the root-fortress and the +little party was back in its old quarters again. The vacant corner which +had been Joe's, reminded them sadly of his disappearance. Poor fellow! +they had learned to love him almost as a brother, and they could not +think of him now without tears. When three people sit down with a silent +grief, their conversation is very apt to be lively, or, if they cannot +quite accomplish that, they are sure to talk only of indifferent +matters, and so it was in the present case. Judie was the first to break +the silence which had fallen upon all. + +"Tom," she said playfully, "I'm afraid you're not a good provider. Here +we are, hungry as wolves, and you haven't brought us a mite of anything +to eat. You've moved everything but the provisions, and you've forgotten +them entirely." + +Master Tom admitted the grievousness of his fault and returned at once +to the drift cavern after the forgotten provision pack. The bread, as +they all knew, was long ago exhausted, but plenty of meat remained, and +this Tom presently brought. When he opened the pack a disagreeable odor +spread itself at once over the little room. + +"Phew! what's that?" said Tom, and putting his nose to the meat, he +looked up in blank consternation, saying: + +"The meat is spoiled, Sam! What on earth shall we do?" + +The case was an alarming one certainly. They were hungry, and Sam, whose +returning health had brought with it a ravenous appetite, was +particularly so. He needed wholesome, nourishing food now more than +anything else, as he knew. + +"Well," he said, after thinking the matter over, "it can't be helped. +There's nothing for it but to fall back on sweet potatoes till I get +strong enough to go hunting. You must go to the potato field Tom, and +bring some." + +There had been but one field of corn in the neighborhood at first, and +the various parties of Indians who had camped in its vicinity had long +ago carried away the last ear of corn from that, as the boys knew very +well. The river was altogether too high now for mussels to be got, and +so the sweet potatoes in a field half a mile away, were their only +resource. + +Tom set out at once in quest of them, carefully looking out for lurking +savages. He was gone more than an hour, and just as Sam was growing +really uneasy on his account, he returned, _empty handed_! + +"There isn't a potato in the field," he said as he sat down in utter +dejection. "The Indians have dug every one of them." + +This announcement was indeed an alarming one to the whole party. They +were without an ounce of food of any sort within their utmost reach, and +it was plain that they must starve, unless they could hit upon some new +device, by which to get a supply. + +"I must go hunting, sick or well," said Sam rising; but he had no sooner +got upon his feet, than he felt the utter impossibility of doing +anything of the kind. + +"It's of no use," he said sadly. "I can't make my legs carry me, Tom, +and so we must depend upon you. Go into the woods there by the creek, +and sit down or stand still till you see something in the way of game, +and then take good aim before you shoot, for we mustn't waste any of our +powder." + +With this he shook the horn to ascertain how much remained in it, and +was horrified to find it empty! Tom remembered that the last time he had +loaded the gun he had used the last grain of powder in the horn. + +"Well, then," said Sam, "we have only one charge of powder between us +and starvation, and it won't do to waste that, Tom. You can shoot pretty +well when you have time enough to take good aim, and I suppose, if you +make up your mind beforehand that you won't shoot till you know you can +kill what you shoot at, it is safe enough. At any rate we must risk it. +Remember, however, that you mustn't run the risk of wasting this load +in your anxiety to kill the first thing you see to shoot at. There is +plenty of game in the woods, so if you can't get a sure shot at one +thing, wait for another. Get a sure shot anyhow, if it takes you all +day. It must be something big enough to last us awhile, too. You mustn't +shoot at anything less than a turkey or a 'possum, and you mustn't shoot +at all till you get _very_ close, because if you miss, we will starve. +Better take all day to-day and all day to-morrow than to miss when you +fire." + +And after many instructions and cautionings, Tom sallied forth in search +of game. Going into the woods for a considerable distance, he sat down +on a log in the thick undergrowth and waited patiently for the +appearance of some animal which could be eaten. Hour after hour passed, +and Tom fell asleep. How long he slept he did not know, but waking +suddenly he saw a flock of wild turkeys within a few yards of him. +Raising his gun and taking a very deliberate aim he pulled the trigger. +No explosion followed, but the clicking of the hammer was enough to put +the game to flight. + +Poor Tom was disheartened, but it would not do to give up, and so he +carefully picked the edge of his flint with his knife and walked further +into the woods. + +He had not walked very far, with cautious steps, when he heard a +rustling in the bushes just ahead of him. At first he thought it must be +an Indian, and drawing back he waited for further developments. A grunt +soon enlightened him as to the character of the game, and creeping +through the bushes he found himself close to a fat young hog, one of the +many running wild in those woods and thickets. That was something worth +having. Levelling his gun again, he again pulled the trigger, but +without effect, and opening the pan he discovered that during the rain, +while in the drift cavern, the "priming," as the powder in the pan is +called, had been reduced to a paste by water. To fire the gun was out of +the question, and so clubbing it, Tom ran at the hog and dealt him a +blow on the head, hoping in that way to secure the game which he could +not shoot. The blow fell upon the nose of the animal, however, and while +it brought a squeal of pain from him, it produced no beneficial result. +The hog ran rapidly away, and Tom was left with nothing better than a +broken gun to carry back to the fortress. + +Arriving there about three o'clock in the afternoon he told the doleful +story of his failure, and sitting down burst into tears. + +"Come, come!" said Sam. "This will never do, old fellow. It's bad enough +as it is without crying about it. We'll come all right if you'll only +keep your courage up, and give me a chance to think. I'm getting better +every day now, and if we can only hold out a few days longer, I'll be on +my feet again, and then we'll go straight to Fort Glass. Just as soon as +I can walk at all, we'll start, meantime we must get something to eat, +and to do that I must think. Let me see. The gun is of no use now, but +there are other ways of getting game besides shooting it. We must set +some traps. This spoiled meat will do for bait. Get me a good piece of +poplar wood, Tom, or cypress, or some other sort, that I can whittle +easily, and I'll make some figure-four triggers. Then I'll tell you how +to make dead-falls, and you must set as many of them as you can to make +sure of getting something to eat by to-morrow morning." + +Tom brought the wood and Sam soon whittled out several sets of triggers. + +"Now do you know how to set a trap with these triggers, Tom?" he asked. + +"Yes, I've set many a partridge trap with figure fours." + +"Very well then. Now you must set dead-falls in the same way. That is, +instead of a trap you must set a log. You see I've made the triggers big +and strong, and you must put them under one end of as heavy a log as you +can lift. Then you must lay other logs on top to make it as heavy as +possible, and bait it with a piece of the spoilt meat. If anything +undertakes to eat the meat to-night, the dead-fall will break its neck +or back, sure. Here are six sets of triggers and you must set six +dead-falls. We can go hungry till to-morrow, can't we, little woman?" +chucking Judie under the chin. + +"We can try, anyhow," answered the little woman as cheerfully as she +could, though she was by no means confident that she could do anything +of the sort. She was already faint and almost sick, and whether she +could live till morning or not was an undetermined question in her +mind. To tell the truth, Sam himself felt but little confidence in his +device. The spoiled meat, he knew, would attract only the larger +animals, and such dead-falls as Tom could set were by no means certain +to kill these in their fall. It was the very best thing he could do, +however, and he must trust to it in the absence of any better reliance. +He concealed his anxiety therefore, and after receiving Tom's report of +his operations in dead-fall setting, he drew Judie to his side and told +her a fairy story, as night fell. All went to sleep at last, and when +morning came Sam aroused Tom very early and sent him to examine the +traps. The boy was gone for an hour or more, when he returned with +downcast countenance. Two of the traps had been thrown, but there was no +game under them, while the four others remained undisturbed. + +Here was a bad out-look certainly, and they had not tasted food now for +more than thirty hours! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHICH ENDS THE STORY. + + +"Something must be done," said Sam, as soon as he had heard Tom's +report, "and quickly too. Let me think a few minutes. We are beginning +now to be hungry enough to eat anything, and when people get that hungry +there are a good many things that can be eaten. I'll tell you what we +must do, Tom--" + +But what it was that Sam had hit upon, Tom never knew. Just as this +point in the conversation was reached _Joe_ came running in through the +alley-way, his face flattened out into a broad grin of delight, his +teeth and eyes shining, while he danced all over the fortress, shaking +hands over and over again, and saying, + +"Hi! Miss Judie! Hi! Mas' Tom! Hi! Mas' Sam! How does ye all do now? Did +you think Joe had runned away? Joe tell ye he never runned away. Joe +ain't no runaway nigger, nohow at all, and de Ingins ain't ketched Joe +nuther. Joe's back all safe an' sound, sartin sure! Hi!" + +"What on earth ails you, Joe? You're out of your wits, poor fellow," +said Sam, convinced that the black boy was demented. + +"No I ain't nuther, Mas' Sam," he replied. "Joe ain't crazy one bit, but +he's glad _sure_." + +"Where have you been, Joe, since you left us?" + +"Whar? Why to de fort, an' I'se dun brung back a rescue too, didn't I +tell you? Laws a massy, dat's what I comed in fust for to tell you. I'se +done been to Fort Glass and brung a big rescue party, and de white folks +dey said, long as Joe brung us he's 'titled to tell de good news fust, +an' dat's how I'm here while de rest is outside de drif'." + +"Go and see, Tom," said Sam, afraid to believe this story of the +seemingly insane boy, who, he thought, had become crazed from long +brooding over the chances of rescue. Tom got up to go, but as he started +Mr. Hardwicke himself met him in the door way and caught him in his +arms. Tandy Walker was just behind. + +"Well, this beats all," said Tandy. "I've done a good many jobs o' +rescuin' in my time, but I never yit found the rescued hid in the roots +of a tree an' fortified with a drift-pile. An' if I'm a jedge o' sich +things, this here party's a'most starved. I've seed hungry people afore +now, an' I say le's have a breakfast sot right away for these here +little ones." + +Tandy was right, as we know, and it was not long before an abundant +breakfast was spread for Sam and Tom and little Judie. The rescue party +consisted of twenty stout fellows from the fort, and after breakfast a +rude litter was provided for Sam, and crossing the river in the little +canoe the party began its homeward march. Tom was glad to walk, the walk +being in that direction. Judie was carried, part of the time in her +father's arms, part of it in Tandy Walker's, and part on the broad +shoulders of Cæsar, the negro man who had participated in the canoe +fight. Sam was stretched on a litter, carried by four of the men, and +Joe insisted on walking always by his side, though he fell behind now +and then for the purpose of dancing a little jig of delight. He would +execute this movement, and then running, catch up with the litter again. + +"Tell me, Joe," said Sam after the black boy had become somewhat quiet +again, "tell me all about this thing." + +"'Bout what thing, Mas' Sam?" + +"About your going to the fort and all that. How did you manage it, and +how came you to think of it?" + +"Well, you see, Mas' Sam, when you was at your wust, I got a thinkin', +an' I thought out a plan dat Mas' Tom said was a good un. Him an' me was +to make a raf' out'n cane, an' pole it up de river wid you an' little +Miss Judie on it, an' den I was to go cross de country to de fort an' +bring help. Jes' as we got de raf' ready, howsomever, Mas' Tom he axed +me if I know de way to de fort, an' as I didn't know nothin' 'bout it, I +jis' sot down an' gived up. But I kep' a thinkin' all de time, an' I +said to myself, 'Joe, you're a fool anyhow, an' you mustn't tell your +plans till you know dey're good uns, an' you ain't got sense enough to +know dat till you try 'em.' An' so I sot my head to work to git up a +new plan, meanin' to try it all by myself. When de big fight took place +an' I seed the white folks marchin' away, I said out 'loud, 'dem dare +folks is gwine right straight to de fort,' an' I said to myself, 'I +means to go dere too if I kin.' It took me two days 'n more to git de +thing fixed up right in my min'. + +"I was willin' enough to risk Injuns, but I was afear'd you'n Mas' Tom +'ud think Joe was a runaway nigger if I never comed back, an' dat +troubled me. I fixed dat at las' by makin' Mas' Tom mos' swar he'd stick +to it dat I wasn't no runaway nigger, an' den I sot out. I crossed de +river in de little canoe an' hid her in de bushes. I found de place whar +de white folks started from, an' I jes' follered dere trail. Dat was my +plan. I know'd dey would make a big easy trail, dere was so many of 'em, +an I meant to follow 'em. It took me more'n two whole nights to git to +de fort, dough, 'cause de creeks was all high an' de brush very tangley. +When I tole de folks about you'n Miss Judie an' Mas' Tom, dey didn't +more'n half believe me, an' when I tole 'em I'd lead 'em straight to +whar you was, an' dey said dey'd sculp me if I didn't, I jest said all +right, 'cause if we don' find Mas' Sam an' little Miss Judie an' Mas' +Tom no more, den I'd rather be sculped'n not, anyhow. But we did fin' +you, didn't we Mas' Sam?" and at this Joe had to drop behind again and +execute a rapid jig movement, as a relief to his feelings. + + * * * * * + +The government forces under General Jackson, together with the settlers +themselves, were now pressing the savages very hard. Battles were fought +almost every day, and every battle weakened the Indians. In December, +General Claiborne invaded the Holy Ground, and utterly destroyed +Weatherford's command, as a result of which that chief surrendered to +Jackson and the war was practically at an end. A few more battles were +necessary before a final peace could be made, and the last of them was +fought on the 27th of March, 1814, at Horseshoe Bend; but after the +battle of December 23d a little more than a month after Sam's party was +rescued, the country north and west of the Alabama river was +comparatively free from savages, who no longer dared wander about in +small bands, plundering and burning houses, and the planters began to +return to their homes to get ready for spring work. + +When Mr. Hardwicke was about to go home with his children, he sent for +Joe. When the boy came, little Judie handed him a carefully folded +document, saying, + +"Here's a present for you, Joe. + +"What's dis?" asked Joe, unable to guess what possible use he could have +for such a paper as that, inasmuch as he couldn't read it to save his +life. + +"These are your _free papers_, Joe," said Sam. "Father has bought you +from Mr. Butler, for the purpose of setting you free, as a reward for +your good conduct." + +Joe evidently wanted to say something, but did not know how. + +"Are you glad to be free, Joe?" asked Mr. Hardwicke. + +"Ain't I though?" and Joe's feet began to shuffle as if a jig were +coming in spite of his desire to behave well. + +"Well, Joe," said Mr. Hardwicke, "I mean to give you a fair chance in +life, and I've thought the matter over carefully. You are free now to +do precisely as you please, and you can live where you like. But I've a +proposition to make--a plan for you. Do you know my cypress farm,--the +little one down in the fork of the two creeks?" + +"De one whar' ole uncle Peter Dun lived so long?" + +"Yes, the one uncle Peter manages for me." + +"Yes, master, I knows dat place mighty well." + +"Well, how would you like to buy it, Joe?" + +"Buy the farm, master? What's Joe got to buy wid? I ain't got no money, +'thout it's a quarter Mas' Tandy Walker dun gim me fur to clean his +boots sence we comed back to de fort, an' I jest know that a quarter +won't buy no sich low grounds as dem dar down twix' dem dar creeks is. +Dat's de very bes' lan' in Alabama. Leastways I dun hear de folks say +'tis heaps o' times. You's jokin' wid Joe, master." + +"No, I am not, Joe. You can buy the land if you want it, and there are a +hundred and ten acres in the tract, besides the strip of woods along +both creeks." + +"How's I gwine to buy it, master?" + +"Well, let me see. You're about thirteen now. It will be nine years yet +before you will be a man, and if you choose to live with me until you +are twenty-one, I'll feed and clothe you till then, and the day you are +twenty-one the farm shall be yours in payment of wages." + +"How you mean, master?" + +"I mean, that besides feeding and clothing you as I feed and clothe my +people, I will give you the farm for your nine years' work. If you like +the place, I will have all the papers made out, so that the farm will be +yours, even if I should die before the time is up. I have more land than +I care to keep, and you see I want to sell that one farm to you, if +you'll buy it." + +"Looks to me, heap more like's if you was gwine to give it to me, +master; dis on'y your fun to say I buy's it." + +"No, the bargain is a fair one, Joe. I could give you the farm now, but +I think it will be better for you to work for it, and then you'll feel +that it's yours by right and not by favor. I want to make a man of you, +Joe, and my children shall always think of you as one of their best +friends. Go out of doors if you want to dance, Joe," seeing the feet +beginning to shuffle, and understanding the mingled joy and +embarrassment of the boy. + +Joe hesitated a moment, and then with a sudden straightening of his +shoulders, as if the future manliness were already beginning to assert +itself in him, he advanced to Mr. Hardwicke, and shaking his hand, said: + +"Joe ain't got no learnin' an' no manners nuther, master, but Joe's +_grateful_ anyhow," and bursting into tears the boy left the room. + + +THE END + + + + +CAPITAL BOOKS FOR BOYS. + +Published by G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. +4th AVE. AND 23d STREET, NEW YORK. + + +I. + +THE BOY WITH AN IDEA; by Mrs. Eiloart, author of "Chris Fairlie's +Boyhood," &c. Illustrated, cloth extra, $1.75. + + +II. + +THE YOUNG MECHANIC; Practical Carpentry. Containing Directions for the +use of Tools, and for the Construction of Steam-Engines and Mechanical +Models, including the Art of Turning in Wood and Metal. Illustrated, +octavo, cloth extra, $1.75. + +"A valuable book, eminently useful to beginners, and suggestive even to +the experienced and skilful."--_Albany Journal._ + + +III. + +THE REALM OF THE ICE-KING; by the author of "Saved from the Wreck." +Illustrated, cloth extra, $2.00 + +This will be found a most attractive volume of Arctic Travels and +Adventures. + + +IV. + +WONDERS OF THE DEEP; by Prof. Schele De Vere. Contents: Pearls, Corals, +Oysters, a Pinch of Salt, a Grain of Sand, Odd Fish, Lighthouses, +Mercury, &c., &c., &c. Illustrated, cloth extra, $1.50 + +"One of the freshest, most scientific, and at the same time, most +popular and delightful books of the kind we have ever read."--_St. +John's Telegraph._ + + +V. + +THE LIFE AND JOURNALS OF JOHN J. AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST. Comprising +narrations of his expeditions in the American Forests, &c. 12mo., cloth +extra, gilt top, $2.25 + +"It is a grand story of a grand life, more instructive than a sermon, +more romantic than a romance."--_Harper's Magazine._ + +--Any of the above sent, postpaid, on the receipt of price. + + + + +Putnams' Series of Popular Manuals. + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE MICROSCOPE. + +By EDWIN LANKESTER, M.D., F. R.S. Illustrated by 250 Drawings from +Nature. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. + +"This beautiful little volume is a very complete manual for the amateur +microscopist. * * * The 'Half-Hours' are filled with clear and agreeable +descriptions, whilst eight plates, executed with the most beautiful +minuteness and sharpness, exhibit no less than 250 objects with the +utmost attainable distinctness."--_Critic._ + + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE TELESCOPE: + +Being a popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a means of +Amusement and Instruction. Adapted to inexpensive instruments. By R. 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