THE FRONT DOOR OF THE 'GLADES.
There was little more sleep for the boys that night and when at daybreak
half-a-dozen of the moonshiners appeared with the canoe it may be
imagined that the boys lost little time in getting aboard the _Carrier
Dove_ where their inky navigator was so delighted to see them that he
danced a sort of double shuffle of joy from one end of his disreputable
craft to the other.
The story of how the _Carrier Dove_ had come to weather the storm was
soon told. After the two men, who had not harmed him, had set him ashore
from the motor-boat at the other end of the island the black, with the
instinct of locality common to his race, had easily made his way to the
camp. To his amazement it was deserted and he was filled with fear that
some disaster had happened to the boys and Ben. He had not much time for
speculation however, for hardly had he looked about him when the rapid
approach of the black squall that had caused such havoc on the other
side of the island made him bestir himself to get his beloved _Carrier
Dove_ to a safer place than her present anchorage. He therefore jumped
into the Squeegee and rowed out to his craft. He had just time to set
her sails and up anchor when the squall struck down in all its fury.
Pork Chops told his story with a wealth of gesture and dramatic effect
and the boys could hardly refrain from bursting into roars of laughter
as he described "de mon'surious wabe what had rised up out of the sea
like yeast bread an' et up de po' li'l Squeegee."
"How high was the wave. Pork Chops?" asked Frank.
"'Bout as high as de highes' mountain you ever see, Marse Frank, and dat
am a solemn gospel fact," averred Pork Chops. "He ris' so high above de
ol' _Carrier Dobe's_ mas' dat it 'peared lak I could'n see no sky."
"Oh, come, Pork Chops," laughed Harry, "you'll have to take a little off
the top of that wave."
"Won' tak off not a single solingtary inch, Marse Harry," indignantly
replied the skipper of the sloop. "I wish ah may nevah see Miami again
ef dat dar wabe weren't jus' as I done describe him to you."
"Well, it was pretty big and that's a fact," said Billy Barnes with a
wink at the others, "but you must have magnifying eyes to see it as big
as you describe it."
"Hoi' on dar a minute, Marse Barnes," earnestly said the old negro, "ah
don' know jus' what you mean by dat dar magnaminous eye, but tell me
didn' you all see dat dar wabe from de udder side ob de island?"
"Certainly," said Lathrop, "what's that got to do with it?"
"Wall, it mus' jus' naturally have growed by de time it got round here;
das all ah got to say," triumphantly concluded the old darky.
Continuing his narrative Pork Chops told how the little sloop had driven
through the water "faster than de fastest ex-press you eber seen." He
didn't forget either to pay himself a high tribute to his own skill as a
mariner.
"Reckon dat ol' man Noah didn't have nothin' on Cap'n Pok Chops when it
come to sailin' roun' wid skill and duxturity," he remarked.
"Well," commented Frank, "we don't want to spoil you by too much praise,
Pork Chops, but that certainly was an A No. 1 feat of yours, and I never
heard a more welcome sound than that croak of yours when you dropped
anchor."
After despatching huge quantities of fried bacon and coffee, cooked on
the battered sea stove the _Carrier Dove's_ cabin boasted, and which
Pork Chops proudly referred to as "de galley," the adventurers up
anchored and with their little engine chugging merrily away stood on
toward the south. The canoes in a long tandem-like line were towed
astern, as there was every prospect of smooth water for the rest of the
day.
As the _Carrier Dove_ bore past the southern end of the island a canoe
shot round the point. In it were two figures. One was the moonshiner who
had been so anxious to despatch the unfortunate Nego, the other was a
younger man whom the boys recollected to have seen in the camp the day
before. They waved and shouted something that the boys could not catch
but, as they evidently had some important object in paddling out, the
young commander ordered the engine stopped and the _Carrier Dove_ lay
to, rising and falling on the long swells over which the canoe rode as
gracefully as a sea-bird.
A few moments later the canoe ran alongside and the elder of the two men
addressing Frank said:
"Wall, the bodies of them two came ashore this morning and on the one
you wouldn't let us string up we found this."
He fumbled in his homespun shirt a minute and then produced a tiny
carved figure of green jade. It was the image of a squatting Buddha and
evidently of great antiquity.
"Was this all you found?" said Frank, examining the quaint figure with
interest.
"Sure," replied the other unblushingly, "ain't it worth something to you
'uns for we 'uns to hev fetched it to you?"
Frank knew that the man lied when he said that the little jade god had
been the only thing found on the dead man but he did not deem it worth
while to contradict. He had little doubt that the dead man's watch and
diamond rings were at that moment in the possession of the individual
who had addressed him, or some other of the moonshiners. He, however,
took the hint conveyed in the man's last words and handed him over a
bill. The fellow took it without a word and shoved off.
"You 'uns may get out of the 'glades alive but I don't believe it," were
his parting words.
"He's got what you might call a nice sweet disposition that feller,"
remarked Ben, as the canoe was rapidly paddled away and the adventurers
got under way once more, "he'd make a good shipmate, he would, with that
sunny nature of hisn."
Frank examined the little jade god with close attention while the others
leaned over his shoulders. The figure was not much more than two inches
high and of beautiful workmanship. It was evidently of great antiquity
and seemed to have been venerated as a charm by successive generations,
for it was worn quite smooth in parts as if from constant rubbing
against the clothing of the person wearing it.
At the top of the head there was a small opening, round the edges of
which were inscribed characters that were meaningless to the boys.
"What do you suppose is the significance of it?" asked Harry.
"It is evidently some sort of an amulet," responded Frank.
"I've seen 'em in China and Japan," put in Ben Stubbs, "whistling gods
they call 'em there. Lend it here a minute."
Frank handed it to him and Ben put his lips to the orifice at the top of
the figure's head. He blew hard in it and the figure gave out a clear,
penetrating note that evidently traveled a long distance, for the two
moonshiners stood up in their now distant canoe and gazed back in
astonishment at the sound.
"Them Chinas and Japs set a high value on these," commented Ben, "some
of 'em would give their lives for one."
"Well, we'll keep it as a souvenir," remarked Frank, slipping it in his
pocket. "It will be amusing to have it to recall some of our adventures
when we get back to New York."
That afternoon a good brisk breeze from the northwest sprang up and the
_Carrier Dove_ with her canvas spread bowled along at a good ten knots
before it, heeling over till the foam creamed at her lee scuppers. It
was exhilarating sailing. After a long series of alternate calms and
favoring breezes the adventurers' craft finally rounded Cape Sable and
shortly afterwards entered the maze of channels, islands, sandbars and
treacherous shoals that make up the Ten Thousand Island Archipelago.
The young adventurers had finished the first stage of their daring
enterprise. By far the most difficult part lay before them. As Frank put
it they had arrived "at the front door of the Everglades," what lay
beyond was only conjecture.
According to the prearranged plan they were to cruise about at the edge
of the archipelago till the _Tarantula_ hove in sight and they could
make final arrangements for wireless codes and signals and also complete
the plan of rescuing Lieutenant Chapin and getting the formula out of
the hands of those who had it. After two days of waiting, which sadly
irritated the boys, who were keenly impatient to begin their task, one
morning the placid waters of the gulf were furrowed by the sharp bow of
the _Tarantula_ and the _Carrier Dove_ sailed out to meet her.
On board the destroyer the boys were greeted by a very youthful looking
lieutenant, whose name was Selby. He explained that his orders were to
keep in constant touch with the expedition, so far as was possible, by
wireless and that if they were missing without sending any word for more
than a week he was to take a squad of men and penetrate the Everglades
in search of them.
He was very anxious for the boys to take several picked men of his crew
along with them in their bold dash. But Frank and Harry, after a brief
consultation, agreed that the force they had at present formed a good
working unit and there was no need of shortening their supplies and
overloading the canoes by taking any more. After a dinner aboard the
hospitable _Tarantula_ the boys dropped over the side into the _Carrier
Dove_, which had lain sociably alongside the grim war-vessel while they
were aboard, and with warm words of farewell from Lieutenant Selby and a
cheer from the crew, among whom word of what was on foot had spread in
some mysterious way, they started for the maze of islets and channels
beyond which lay the mouth of the Shark River. They anchored that night
off a small island covered with a dense undergrowth that promised snakes
and that there was at least one variety of reptile ready to receive them
was evidenced when, as the _Carrier Dove's_ anchor rattled down into
about twelve feet of water, a huge body slipped off the bank and slid
into the water with a sullen splash.
"An alligator!" cried the boys.
"No, sah," rejoined Pork Chops, "dat dar ain't no 'gator, dat's a
crokindile and where dey are dere's mischief."
"Are they more dangerous than alligators?" asked Frank.
"More dangerouser!" scornfully replied Pork Chops. "Ah should jes' say
dey is. 'Gators--huh! they am big cowards, but crokindile he'll fight
yer till his teef drap out--yes, sah, they's bad critters is
crokindiles."
"I'd like to get that fellow's skin though," said Frank.
The old darky scratched his head.
"Wall, sah," he said; "I ain't saying that dat's impossible. 'Spose we
try to git him by jacklight."
"By jacklight?" exclaimed Lathrop wonderingly.
"I've read about that," replied Frank, "it is supposed to be the most
effective way of trapping these saurians. Now as there isn't much to do
before tomorrow, after we have unloaded our duffle and got it stowed in
the canoes, we might as well have a little pot-hunt after supper."
The boys enthusiastically agreed and the work of getting the duffle off
the _Carrier Dove_ and into the canoes for transportation into the
Everglades went ahead with a will. By supper time the canoes which were
to be occupied by Frank and Harry were completely loaded and there only
remained the stowing of the few additional sections of the _Golden Eagle
II_ in the craft that were to be paddled and poled by Billy Barnes,
Lathrop and Ben.
Supper over, old Pork Chops rigged a lantern up in the bow of one of the
canoes and fitted a strip of canvas over it.
"No use letting Mister Crokindile know what we're going to do till we
git ready," he remarked as he hooded the light.
As only one of the canoes could be used, the others being loaded down,
it was agreed that Frank and Harry should occupy it with old Pork Chops
and the others would watch the fun from the deck of the _Carrier Dove_.
The spot where the _Carrier Dove_ lay was a sort of natural basin
enclosed by the thickly grown islands all about. Pork Chops paddled
almost noiselessly into about the center of the enclosed pool and then
stopped. Then came a dead silence for more than half an hour broken only
by the occasional nightcry of some bird or creature of the jungle and
the sharp clicks of the adventurers' rifles as they got them ready for
action.
Suddenly the quiet was broken by a roar like that of an enraged bull.
"Heah he comes foh shuh," commented Pork Chops with his hand on the hood
of his lantern.