"Now, Mass' George, what you tink?"
"We must get across the river at once."
Pomp made a grimace.
"How we 'wim ober dah wid de 'gator all awaiting to hab us for
breakfass, Mass' George?"
I shuddered as I thought of the task, but it seemed as if that was the
only thing to do, and then tramp along the opposite bank downward.
"What are you doing?" I said, as the boy began to step about,
cautiously penetrating once more into the forest, and stopping at last
beside a moderate-sized pine, whose trunk was dotted with the stumps of
dead branches, till about fifty feet from the ground, where it formed a
pretty dense tuft, whose top was well in the sunlight.
"Now we go up dah and hide, and rest a bit."
"But why not try that tree, or that, or that?" I said; and I pointed
rapidly to three or four more, all far more thickly clothed with branch
and foliage.
"If Injum come he fink p'raps we hide in dah, an' look. No fink we get
up dat oder tree. Injum berry 'tupid."
"But hadn't we better try and get across or down the stream?"
Pomp shook his head.
"See Injum, and dey dreffle cross dat we run 'way. Wait a bit, Mass'
George."
"But my father--yours--and Morgan?"
"Well, what 'bout um, Mass' George?"
"We ought to warn them."
"Dey must take care ob demself. No good to go and be caught. Dat not
help um fader."
There was so much truth in this that I did not oppose Pomp's plan of
getting up in the tree, and hiding until the pursuit was over. For it
was only reasonable to suppose that after a thorough hunt in one
direction, the Indians would come in the other. Besides, I was utterly
wearied out the previous evening, and glad to rest my tired limbs by
hanging against the rope, and taking the weight off my feet. Since then
we had tramped through the night many dreary miles, made more painful by
the constant stress of avoiding obstacles, and the sensation of being
hunted by a pack of savages whose cries might at any moment rise upon
the ear.
It was not a comfortable resting-place for one who felt as if he would
give anything to throw himself down and lie at full length, but it
promised to be safe, and following Pomp's lead, I climbed steadily up
the tree to where the dense head formed quite a scaffolding of crossing
boughs, and here, after getting well out of sight of any one who might
be passing below, we seated ourselves as securely as possible, and
waited for what was to come next.
"Wait Injum gone, and we kedge fis' and roast um for dinner," said Pomp;
and then we sat for some little time in silence, listening for the
slightest sound.
Birds we heard from time to time, and now and then the rustle of a
squirrel as it leaped from bough to bough, but nothing else till there
were, one after the other, four ominous splashings in the river, which
gave me a very uncomfortable feeling with regard to crossing to the
other side, and I looked at Pomp.
"Dat 'gators," he said shortly. "No 'wim cross de ribber."
Then quite a couple of hours must have passed, and Pomp began to fidget
about terribly, making so much noise that if the Indians had been
anywhere at hand, they must have heard.
"Hush!" I said; "sit still."
"Can't, Mass' George," he said sharply. "I so dreffle hungly."
"Yes, so am I. What are you going to do?"
"Get down again. Injum no come now."
I hesitated; and as I was heartily sick of waiting, and famished, I made
myself believe that our enemies were not pursuing us, and descended
quickly to look at my companion.
"What we do now, Mass' George--kedge fis?"
"If we can," I said; "but how?"
"Pomp show Mass' George."
He led on through the thick growth just outside the forest edge, and
looking sharply from side to side, soon pitched upon a couple of long,
thin, tapering canes, which he hacked off and trimmed neatly, so that
they formed a pair of very decent fishing-rods, and he looked at me
triumphantly.
"Dah!" he said.
"But where are the hooks and lines?"
Pomp's face was wonderful in its change.
"Wha de hookum line?" he said.
"Yes, you can't catch fish like that."
Scratching the head when puzzled must be a natural act common to all
peoples, for the boy gave his woolly sconce a good scratch with first
one hand and then the other.
"Dat berry 'tupid," he said at last; "Pomp no 'tink of dat. What we do
now?"
I stood musing for a few minutes as puzzled as he was. Then the bright
thought came, and I took the lighter of the two canes, cut off the most
pliant part, and then tearing my silk neckerchief in thin strips, I
split the end of the cane, thrust in the haft of the knife, so that it
was held as by a fork, and bound the cane tightly down the length of the
knife-handle, and also below, so that the wood should split no farther;
and as the knife was narrow in blade, and ran to a sharp point, we now
had a formidable lance, with shaft fully twelve feet long.
"There!" I said triumphantly in turn, as I looked at Pomp.
"'Tick um froo de fis?" he said.
"Yes. We must find some deep pool, and see if we cannot spear
something, so as to be food for the day."
"Mass' George 'tick um fis, Pomp find um."
I nodded, eager enough to try and get something in the way of food, so
that we might be better able to bear our day's journey, for I felt that
somehow we must get back; but I always hesitated from starting, lest we
should be seen by pursuing Indians, and being recaptured, have no chance
of giving the alarm at home.
Pomp was not long in finding a deep hole close under the bank, in whose
clear, tree-shaded water I could see about a dozen fish slowly gliding
about. They were only small, but anything was food for us then; and
introducing my lance cautiously, I waited my opportunity, and then
struck rapidly at a fish.
Vain effort! The fish was out of reach before the point of the knife
could reach him; and a few more such strokes emptied the hole, but not
in the way I intended.
"Find another," I said; and Pomp crept along, and soon signed to me to
come.
As he made way for me, and I crept to the edge, I felt a thrill of
pleasure, for there, close under the bank, just balanced over some
water-weed, was a fine fish about a foot and a half long.
"If I can get you," I thought, "we shall do."
Carefully getting my spear-shaft upright, I lowered the point, and
aiming carefully, I struck.
Whether I aimed badly, or the refraction of the water was not allowed
for, I cannot say, but there was no result. I only saw a quivering of
the surface and the fish was off into the river.
The same result for a dozen more tries, and then Pomp said
protestingly--
"I nebber tink dat ob any good."
"But it is good if I could strike one," I said, testily.
"Um on'y tummle off 'gain, Mass' George."
"Never mind; try and find another good hole, I'll do it yet."
He gave his head a rub and went on along the river-side, peering among
the overhanging bushes, and one way and another we made a trail that any
one could have followed; but likely holes and pools were scarce now, and
I was getting hot, faint, and weary, when, after creeping close to the
edge of the stream again, Pomp signed to me to give him the lance.
I hesitated for a moment, not liking to give up, but ended by passing
the spear; and, taking it, Pomp lay flat down, crept to the edge where
the bank overhung the river, as it proved, very gently thrust his eyes
beyond, drew back, and quickly picked a good-sized bunch of long grass,
which he bound at one end, opened the bunch at the other, and put it on
like a cap, the result being that the long grassy strands hung right
over his face loosely.
He laughed at me, and crept back again, moving his head slowly to and
fro for a few moments, as if to get the occupants of the pool used to
his presence.
Then very slowly and cautiously he manipulated the lance shaft, so that
it was upright, and holding it with both hands lowered the point down
and down till six feet had disappeared, then seven, eight, nine at
least; and as I was thinking how deep it must be down there, the long
cane became stationary, with the boy's hands holding it above his head.
I stood leaning forward, wondering what luck he would have, and full of
hope, for I was too hungry to feel envious and hope that he would miss.
But still he did not strike, and the moments glided on till I was
getting quite out of patience, and about to creep forward and look down
to see how big the fish might be, when, quick as thought, down went the
shaft with a tremendous dig, and then, with the cane quivering
exceedingly, Pomp seemed to be holding something he had pinned tightly
down against the bottom, till its first fierce struggles were at an end.
"Got him?" I exclaimed, joyfully.
"Pomp 'tick knife right froo um," he panted; and then springing up, he
rapidly drew the shaft from the water, hand over hand, till, to my
intense astonishment, he raised to the bank, muddy, dripping, and
flapping heavily, the largest terrapin I had seen, and putting his foot
upon it, he drew out the spear, which had transfixed it right in the
middle of the back.
"Dah!" he exclaimed; and seizing his capture, he led the way into the
forest, where, risking discovery, we soon had a fire of dead sticks and
pine-needles blazing merrily over the shell of our terrapin, off which
we made at last, if not a good meal, a sufficiently satisfying one to
give us spirit for trying to get back home.