Produced by Al Haines
[Illustration: Cover art]
[Frontispiece: "Now, we are in for it," said Charlie, as he found a
seat in the fork of a limb. Page 229.]
The Boy Chums
In the Forest
OR
Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades
BY WILMER M. ELY
Author of "The Boy Chums on Indian River," "The Boy
Chums on Haunted Island," "The Boy Chums'
Perilous Cruise," "The Boy Chums in the
Gulf of Mexico."
[Illustration: Title page art]
A. L. BURT COMPANY
NEW YORK
Copyright 1910
BY A. L. BURT COMPANY
Under the Title of The Young Plume Hunters
THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. [Transcriber's note: no title]
II. ON THE WAY
III. WOODCRAFT
IV. A LESSON
V. THE 'GATOR HUNTERS
VI. SOME SURPRISES
VII. THE QUAGMIRE
VIII. THE BATTLE
IX. THE BEES AND THE BEAR
X. SHOOTING A THIEF
XI. THE PAWPAWS
XII. CHARLEY'S MISTAKE
XIII. THE BATTLE
XIV. THE VICTIMS
XV. A FLAG OF TRUCE
XVI. THE RETREAT
XVII. THE FLIGHT BY NIGHT
XVIII. CAPTURED
XIX. THE SWAMP
XX. SAVED
XXI. THE TREASURE
XXII. DISAPPOINTMENT
XXIII. MORE MYSTERY
XXIV. MORE SURPRISES
XXV. THE CHAPEL
XXVI. PREPARATIONS
XXVII. A TERRIBLE NIGHT
XXVIII. PREPARATIONS
XXIX. THE ENEMY
XXX. THE ATTACK
XXXI. THE PARLEY
XXXII. HELP
XXXIII. THE SEMINOLES
XXXIV. THE RETURN
THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST
OR
Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades.
CHAPTER I.
Night had fallen upon a wild Florida forest, and all was still save for
the hooting of a distant owl and the occasional plaintive call of a
whip-poor-will. In a little clearing by the side of a faint
bridle-path a huge fire of fat pine knots roared and crackled, lighting
up the small cleared space and throwing its flickering rays in amongst
the dark, gloomy pines.
At the edge of the clearing, two wiry little Florida ponies, tethered
with rawhide ropes, browsed upon the short, dry wire-grass.
Nearer to the fire lay a neatly done-up pack, and beside it a
high-pommeled Mexican saddle, while the firelight gleamed on the
polished barrels of a fine shotgun and rifle leaning against the pack.
Close to the blaze a heap of glowing coals had been raked a little to
one side, and upon them rested a coffee-pot and large frying-pan from
which stole forth appetizing odors of steaming coffee and frying bacon.
The man bending over the coals was heavily bearded and past middle age,
but his broad shoulders and huge frame still gave evidence of great
strength and endurance. There was about him an air of anxious
expectancy, and from time to time he rose from his crouching position
and with hand to ear listened intently.
"I sort o' wonder if they'll all fail me," he muttered, as he removed
the frying-pan from the coals but set it near enough to keep the
contents hot.
As if in answer to his soliloquy, there rose above the crackling of the
fire, the muffled distant thud of galloping hoofs. A few moments later
a well-built, sturdy lad astride a mettlesome pony dashed into the
circle of firelight.
Throwing the reins over the pony's head, the rider leaped from the
saddle and with a rush had the elderly man clasped in his arms in an
affectionate hug.
"Captain Westfield!" he shouted in boyish delight.
"Charley West," cried the man, "glad to see you, lad, glad to see you.
My! you have grown. How are you, boy?"
"Fine, Captain, couldn't be better. But wait 'till I 'tend to my pony,
and we will have a good, long powwow."
With sure swift movements, the newcomer removed saddle, pack, and guns,
and staked his pony out near the others. This done he returned to the
fire.
"What's in the wind?" he began, firing in the questions with the speed
of a Maxim. "Something worth while, judging from that mysterious
letter of yours. What is the scheme? Why this secret meeting in the
forest instead of in town? Why"--but the man he called captain
interrupted him with a chuckle.
"Hold a minute, lad. Just bowse your jib for a bit. You must be
hungry, boy."
"Starved as a wolf. I could even eat a razorback, if I didn't have to
see it before it was cooked."
The captain forked out a quantity of crisp bacon upon a tin plate and
filled a big granite cup with fragrant coffee, for Charlie West, and
from his saddle-bags brought out a bag of hardtack. Helping himself
also, both fell to with a will.
"What were you doin' when you got my letter, Charley?" asked the
captain between mouthfuls.
"Nothing, just kicking myself and brooding away in the city." The
lad's bright, clear eyes looked frankly into the captain's as he
continued. "I have been making a fool of myself, Captain. Got into
some mischief with a crowd of fellows at school. Of course, I got
caught and had to bear the whole blame for the silly joke we had
played. The faculty has suspended me for a term. I would have got off
with only a reprimand if I would have told the names of the other
fellows, but I couldn't do that, you know."
"No," nodded the captain, approvingly, "that would have been sneakish.
But how are you fixed for money, Charley?"
The lad's face fell. "I spent it at first as though there was no end
to my little pile," he said. "I had pulled up when your letter came,
but I only had enough left to pay my way back to Florida, buy this
pony, and the outfit you suggested. There's nothing left. The fellows
tried to get me to stay and work in the city until the next school term
opens, but I told them, no! that I was going back to the best friend a
boy ever had, back to the man who had been just as good as a father to
me ever since my own folks died and left me a young boy alone in
Florida. I told them of some of the adventures we had been through
together, and what dandy chums we've been for such a long time."
"You told them city fellows all that?" exclaimed the delighted captain,
"you talked to 'em like that, Charley?"
"Certainly, it was only the truth," said the lad, stoutly. "But it is
your turn now, Captain. I am wild with curiosity."
"Lay to for a while, lad; I am expectin' another member for our crew
any time now, and it's no use spinnin' the same yarn twice."
Charley's open face clouded a trifle, and he hesitated before he said,
"I am not questioning your judgment, Captain, but you and I have camped
out enough to know that a good camp-mate is about the scarcest article
to be found. If we take in a stranger on this trip, which I surmise
from the outfits is going to be a long one, the chances are more than
even that he will turn out a quitter or a shirker."
The captain knocked the ashes from his pipe as he inquired, "Now who
would you select for a third member, Charley?"
"I do not know anyone in Florida I would want to take a chance on for a
long trip. I only know two fellows I would like to have along, and we
can't get them. One is Walter Hazard, the Ohio boy who chummed with us
down here for so long. The other is that little Bahama darky, Chris,
whom Walter insisted on taking back north with him and putting in a
school. There wasn't a yellow streak in either one, and Chris was a
wonderful camp-fire cook."
"I wrote to Walt two days afore I wrote to you," observed the captain,
calmly.
Charley stared at the simple old sailor in frank amazement. "You
surely don't imagine he'll drop whatever he is doing and travel a
thousand miles just for a trip with you and I?" he at last recovered
himself enough to demand.
The captain nodded complacently. "I've sort of got a feelin' that way,
an' if I ain't mistaken, them's his pony's hoofs comin' now--someway
they sound different from what yours did, though."
Both adventurers rose to their feet and stood eagerly peering into the
darkness from which there came the thud of rapidly approaching hoofs.
A moment later and two ponies were reined up in the circle of
fire-light. As Charley recognized one less robust than himself, he
gave a shout of delight and with a rush dragged him from his saddle in
an affectionate embrace, while the captain, his eyes dancing with
pleasure, was wringing the hand of a widely-grinning little darky who
had dismounted from the other animal.
"Go easy, Charley," said the newcomer with a happy grin, "you're
squeezing all the wind out of my body, and that is all there is in it
now. Chris and I had to hustle to make connections and get here on
time. We haven't had a bite to eat to-day."
"Walter Hazard, you are the one person I would have picked out for this
trip," Charley cried joyfully, "and Chris, too, it seems almost too
good to be true. But come over to the fire, and we will cure that
empty feeling in a minute. The captain is helping Chris put the ponies
up."
Charley quickly routed out a clean plate, and heaped it up with bacon
and hardtack, reserving, however, a generous portion for Chris.
"Fall to and don't wait," he commanded, and Walter lingered for no
second bidding.
In a few minutes they were joined by the captain and the little negro,
who was quickly helped to the balance of the bacon and coffee.
As the two munched away, the captain and Charley plied them with
questions which the hungry newcomers answered between mouthfuls.
"How was you gettin' along when that thar letter of mine reached you,
Walt," asked the captain, gravely.
"Good and bad both," said the youth, draining his cup with a sigh of
satisfaction. "Some time before I had bought up the mortgage on the
farm without saying a word to father or mother. I was selfish, I
guess, but I wanted the pleasure of their surprise." His eyes sparkled
moistly. "My! it was great. It was worth every cent, although it took
nearly every dollar of my little pile. You had ought to have been up
there to see them the morning the mortgage fell due. Their faces were
sad, enough to have made you cry. Thirty years they had worked and
lived on that farm, and I guess there is no spot on earth quite the
same to them. When mother lifted up her plate and saw the canceled
mortgage underneath, it was some time before she grasped its meaning,
and then she just broke down and cried. There were tears of joy in
father's eyes, too, and I began to feel a lump in my throat, so I just
got up and streaked it out for the barn, where I stayed until things
calmed down a bit. But I am making a long story out of how my money
went. I went to work in a store after that, but it wasn't long before
I began to run down and the doctor would have long talks with father
and mother. Then your letter came, and--well, here I am."
"And Chris, how did he happen to come?" inquired Charley.
"Trace chains couldn't have held him back when he heard I was coming
back to join you. They wouldn't give him a vacation, but they would
not keep him in the school after he began to have regular violent
fits," said Walter, dryly.
"Fits," exclaimed Charley, with a glance at the grinning ebony face,
the very picture of health. "He never had a real fit in his life."
"Maybe not, Massa Charley," admitted the vain little darky, "but,
golly, I couldn't let you chillens go off alone widout Chris to look
after you. Dey was powerful like real fits, anyway. I used to get
berry sick, too, chewin' up de soap to make de foam. Reckon dis nigger
made a martyr of hisself just to come along and look out for you-alls."
Charley turned to the captain to hide his grin. "It's your turn now,
Captain. We've all showed our colors, even to Chris. It's up to you
now to explain this business."
The captain knocked the ashes from the bowl of his pipe before
remarking sagely, "I've noticed as how fish will bite at a good many
kinds of bait, but if you want to make sartin sho' of a boy, thar's
only one bait to use, and that's a good big chunk of mystery."
He glanced around at the suddenly crestfallen faces about him, and
hastened to continue, "Don't look so down, lads. I ain't brought all
of you so fer just for a joke. I just wanted to make sure of you and I
didn't want the town people nosin' around and askin' questions, that's
why I named this meetin' place."
The three faces brightened again. "Go on, Captain, come to the point,"
urged Walter, eagerly.
But the captain was enjoying their suspense, and with a twinkle in his
eye proceeded slowly, "I was sort of loafin' around town one day about
two weeks ago when I come across a Seminole, who, I reckon, had been
sent in by his squaw to trade for red calico and beads," he paused for
a moment and Charley exclaimed impatiently--
"Bother the Indian, we are not bound for the Everglades to fight them,
are we?"
"He was about the drunkest brave I ever saw," continued the captain,
calmly ignoring the interruption. "When I came across him he was
sittin' on the end of a waterin' trough declaimin' what a great Injun
he was, givin' war-whoops, an' cryin' by turns. One of his remarks
sorter interested me and I didn't lose no time in makin' friends.
Lads, I couldn't have stuck no closer to that redskin if he had been my
long lost brother. I kept him away from other folks, an' by an' by I
tipped him into the waterin' trough, kinder accident-like. The water
sorter sobered him up a little an' pretty soon he began to want to hit
the trail for home. I helped him out of town an' started him back for
camp, where, I reckon, his old lady was waitin' to give him fits for
forgettin' the calico and beads." The captain paused as if his tale
was completed.
"For goodness' sake, Captain, what has your drunken Indian got to do
with us?" demanded Charley, his patience at an end.
The captain lowered his voice dramatically. "Lads, that Seminole was
carryin' around on him over five hundred dollars' worth of white and
pink aigret plumes."
"Whew!" whistled the boys, half incredulously.
"Yes," affirmed the captain, "an' I found out where he got them, too.
He let out that he bagged them all out by the Upper St. John's River,
due west of here. He declared the birds were as thick as the stars at
night, but I reckon some allowance has to be made for poetic license
and the red liquor he had in him."
Three boyish faces were shining, now, and questions and answers mingled
in eager confusion.
"How far is it to the river?"
"Two long days' travel."
"What kind of birds bear the plumes?"
"The blue heron, and the pink and white egret."
"What are the plumes worth?"
"Five dollars an ounce for perfect ones."
"Whew, it will be just like finding money."
Likely the eager young hunters would have talked the entire night away,
but the captain soon interrupted their flow of questions.
"Plenty of time to talk to-morrow, lads. Get to bed now, for we want
to start at daybreak."
The boys promptly obeyed. Blankets were spread out near the fire, and
with their saddles for pillows the little party were soon in the land
of dreams, blissfully unaware of the terrible experiences through which
they were soon to pass.