SUCCESSFUL WORK--EXCURSION--THE FISH-EAGLE--DIFFERENT METHODS OF
PROCURING FIRE--WOODSMAN’S SHELTER AGAINST RAIN AND HAIL--NOVEL REFUGE
FROM FALLING TREES
Monday morning found the labourers moving at the dawn of day. Sam was
cook, and fulfilled his office with unexpected ability. His corn-bread
was delightful; no one but a negro knows how to make it.
The tools were in excellent order, and the boys commenced work in fine
spirits. At Harold’s suggestion they resolved to work very leisurely
that day and the next, as being the surest way to attain expedition in
the end. Said he,
"My father was a great manager of horses, and sometimes made tremendous
journeys. But his rule was always to begin a long journey very
moderately. He used to say, ’If you strain a horse at the first, he
will move heavily all the way through, but if you spare him at first, he
will become gradually accustomed to the strain, and be able to push on
faster at the end than at the beginning of the journey!’ Now, as we are
the horses, I think we had better make very moderate journeys today and
tomorrow."
Robert was much pleased with the rule. Notwithstanding his boast, he
had shuddered at the idea of blistered hands and weary limbs; but this
plan enabled him to anticipate fresh feelings, and even increasing
labour, so long as they chose to work.
In the course of four days the second tree was cut, hewed, and excavated
to the exact shape and size of the first. They then drew for choices,
and separated, each working on his own boat, within hearing of the
other’s ax and mallet. One reason, perhaps, of the increased rapidity
of their work, was a lesson which they learned of employing every moment
to advantage, and of resting themselves by a mere change of work. For
instance, when weary of the adze they would resort to the mallet and
chisel, the auger, ax, or drawing-knife, and this was to some extent a
real rest, for fresh muscles were brought into play while the wearied
ones were relieved.
By Friday, however, their whole bodies began to feel the effects of
fatigue; and Harold proposed, that for that day their arms should be
entirely relieved from labour, and that they should search the woods for
timber suitable for masts, yards, and oars. They, therefore, took their
guns and hatchets, and went first to the orange landing, where they saw
their old raft lying as they had left it exactly a month before.
Passing thence to the place which they had dubbed "Duck Point," they
proceeded along the beach towards their old encampment, and thence home.
This was their route; but it was marked by such a variety of useful
expedients, that we must stop to describe them.
While Robert was engaged for a few minutes in searching a little grove,
Harold saw a fish eagle plunge into the water, and bring out a trout so
large that it could scarcely fly with it to the shore. Harold was
hungry; his appetite at breakfast had not allowed him to eat at all.
Now it began to crave, and the sight of that rich looking fish whetted
it, keenly. He ran towards the eagle, crying out,
"I’ll divide with you, old gentleman, if you please; that is too much
for one."
The eagle, however, appeared to dissent from the proposal, and tried
hard to carry its prey into a tree, but apprehensive of being itself
caught before it could rise beyond reach, it dropped the fish, and
flying to a neighbouring tree, watched patiently to see what share its
human robber was disposed to leave.
A fish is easily enough cooked, if a person has fire; but in this case
there was none, and what was worse, no apparent means of producing it,
for their matches were left behind, and the wadding of their guns was
not of a kind to receive and hold fire from the powder.
"Lend me your watch a minute," said Robert, on learning what was wanted.
"It is possible that I may obtain from it what you wish."
Had Robert spoken of some chemical combination for producing fire, by
mixing sand and sea-water, Harold could scarcely have been more
surprised than by the proposal to obtain fire from his watch. He handed
it to his cousin with the simple remark, "Please don’t hurt it," and
looked on with curiosity. Robert examined the convex surface of the
crystal, which being old fashioned, was almost the section of a sphere,
and said,
"I think it will do."
Then obtaining some dry, rotten wood from a decayed tree, he filled the
hollow part of the crystal with water, and setting it upon a support,
for the purpose of keeping the water perfectly steady, showed Harold
that the rays of the sun passing through this temporary lens, were
concentrated as by a sun-glass. The tinder smoked, and seemed almost
ready to ignite, but did not quite--the sun’s rays were too much aslant
at that hour of the day, and the sky was moreover covered with a thin
film of mist.
"It is a failure," said he, "but still there is another plan which I
have seen adopted--a spark of fire _squeezed from the air_ by suddenly
compressing it in a syringe. If we had a dry reed, the size of this gun
barrel, I would try it by using a tight plug of gun wadding as a
piston."
But Robert had no opportunity for trying his philosophical experiment,
and being mortified by a second disappointment, as he probably would
have been, from the rudeness of the contrivance; for Harold’s voice was
soon heard from the bank above, "I have it now!" and when Robert
approached he saw in his hand a white flint arrowhead. With this old
Indian relic he showered a plentiful supply of sparks upon the dry
touch-wood, until a rising smoke proclaimed that the fire had taken.
During the time occupied by these experiments, and the subsequent
cookery, the thin mist in the sky had given place to several dark
rolling clouds, which promised ere long to give them a shower. The
promise was kept; for the boys had not proceeded half a mile before the
rain poured down in torrents. As there was no lightning, they sought
the shelter of a mossy tree, and for a season were so well protected
that they could not but admire their good fortune. But their admiration
did not last long; the rain soaked through the dense masses over head,
and fell in heavy drops upon their caps and shoulders.
"This will never do," cried Harold. "Come with me, Robert, and I will
provide a shelter that we can trust."
Putting upon their heads a thick covering of moss, which hung like a
cape as far down as their elbows, they ran to a fallen pine, and
loosened several pieces of its bark, as long and broad as they could
detach, then placing them upon their heads above the moss, marched back
to the tree, and had the pleasure of seeing the rain drip from their
bark shelters as from the eaves of a house. Robert was much pleased
with the expedient, and remarked,
"I suppose this is another of old Torgah’s notions."
"O, no," replied Harold. "I have frequently seen it used by negroes in
the field, and by hunters in the woods. But there is another device of
a similar kind, which I will leave you to guess. I was riding once with
a rough backwoodsman across one of our Alabama prairies, when we were
overtaken by a severe hail-storm, that gave us an unmerciful pelting.
Now, how do you suppose he protected himself against the hailstones?"
"Got under his horse," conjectured Robert. "I once saw a person
sheltering himself under his wagon."
"He took the _saddle_ from his horse, and placed it upon his head. For
my own part, I preferred the pelting of the stones to the smell of the
saddle."
The rain ceasing shortly after, they continued their walk to the old
encampment, which they visited for the purpose of ascertaining whether
there were any other signs of visitors. Everything was just as they had
left it, except that it had assumed a desolate and weather-beaten
aspect. Their flag was flying, and the paper, though wet, adhering to
the staff. At sea the weather looked foul, and the surf was rolling
angrily upon the shore. Resting themselves upon the root of the noble
old oak, and visiting the spring for a drink of cool water, they once
more turned their faces to the prairie.
Whoever will travel extensively through our pine barrens, will see
tracts, varying in extent from a quarter of an acre to many hundreds of
acres, destroyed by the attacks of a worm. The path from the old
encampment led through a "deadening," as it is called, of this sort; in
which the trees, having been attacked some years before, were many of
them prostrate, and others standing only by sufferance of the winds. By
the time our travellers reached the middle of this dangerous tract, a
sudden squall came up from sea, and roared through the forest at a
terrible rate. They heard it from afar, and saw the distant limbs
bending, breaking, and interlocking, while all around them was a
wilderness of slender, brittle trunks, from which they had not time to
escape. Their situation was appalling. Death seemed almost inevitable.
But just as the crash commenced among the pines, a brilliant idea
occurred to the mind of Robert.
"Here, Harold!" said he. "Run! run! run!"
Suiting the action to the word, he threw himself flat beside a large
sound log that lay _across the course of the wind_, and crouched closely
beside its curvature; almost too closely, as he afterwards discovered.
Hardly had Harold time to follow his example, before an enormous tree
cracked, crashed, and came with a horrible roar, directly over the place
where they lay. The log by the side of which they had taken refuge, was
buried several inches in the ground; and when Robert tried to move, he
found that his coat had been caught by a projecting knot, and partly
buried. The tree which fell was broken into four parts; two of them
resting with their fractured ends butting each other on the log, while
their other ends rested at ten or twelve feet distance upon the earth.
For five minutes the winds roared, and the trees crashed around them;
and then the squall subsided as quickly as it had arisen.
"That was awful," said Robert, rising and looking at the enormous tree,
from whose crushing fall they had been so happily protected.
"It was, indeed," Harold responded; "and we owe our lives, under God, to
that happy thought of yours. Where did you obtain it?"
Robert pointed to the other end of the log, and said, "There." A small
tree had fallen across it, and was broken, as the larger one had been.
"I saw that," said he, "just as the wind began to crash among these
pines, and thought that if we laid ourselves where we did, we should be
safe from everything, except straggling limbs, or flying splinters."
"Really," said Harold, "at this rate you are likely to beat me in my own
province. I wonder I never thought of this plan before."
"I had an adventure somewhat like this last year, only not a quarter so
bad," said Robert. "I was fishing with Frank, on a small stream, when a
whirlwind came roaring along, with such force as to break off limbs from
several of the trees. Afraid that we, and particularly Frank, who was
light, might be taken up and carried away, or else dashed against a tree
and seriously hurt, I made him grasp a sapling, by putting around it
both arms and legs, while I threw my own arms around him and it
together, to hold all tight. I was badly frightened at the noise and
near approach of the whirlwind, but for the life of me could not help
laughing at an act of Frank’s. We had taken only a few small catfish
(which he called from their size, _kitten_-fish), and two of these being
the first he had ever caught, he of course thought much of them. When
the wind came nearest, and I called to him, ’Hold fast, Frank!’ I saw
him lean his head to one side, looking first at the flying branches,
then at the string of fish, which the wind had slightly moved, and
deliberately letting go his hold of the tree, he grasped his prize, and
held to that with an air and manner, which said as plainly as an act
could say, ’If you get them, you must take me too.’"