"Oh, why didn't I watch it?" groaned Pete, in agony; and his next glance
was along the bank of the river, with the idea of running till opposite
the boat.
He groaned again as he grasped the fact that he could not run, only walk
for two or three yards before the dense tangle of the forest commenced,
and progress through that was impossible.
"Means zwim for it, Master Nic," he cried, with an attempt at being
cheery; "but look here, lad, if you zee me pulled down by them 'gators
or vish, let it be a lesson to you. Don't you try the water."
Then to himself, as he plunged in:
"Why, o' course he wouldn't. What's the good o' saying that?"
The water was deep and clear close in to the overhanging bank, and Pete
dived out of sight, scaring some occupant of the river, which swept
itself away with as much commotion in the water as was caused by the
man's dive; but when he rose to the surface, yards away, shook his head,
and glanced back over his left shoulder, it was to see Nic's head rise a
short distance behind him, for the younger man had followed on the
instant.
Pete ceased swimming, to allow his companion to come abreast.
"Oh, Master Nic!" he cried, "you zhouldn't ha' done that;" and he
glanced wildly about him as if expecting to see the rugged head of an
alligator rise close by. "Go back, lad; go back. It's on'y one man's
work."
"Go back? No," said Nic firmly. "We must fight it out, shoulders
together, Pete. Come on."
Pete gave vent to something like a sob, and his face grew wrinkled; but
the next moment he forced a smile.
"Well, you're master," he said cheerily; "zo now for it, zir. You zwim
lighter than I do, but I'll race you down to the boat. Virst to lay a
hand on gunwale wins."
"Come on," said Nic, fighting hard to master the horrible feeling that
at any moment they might be attacked from beneath by one or other of the
fierce creatures which inhabited the stream--Nic's dread being mostly
respecting the shark-like gar-fish, which he knew must be abundant.
Pete shared his dread, but they both kept their thoughts to themselves
as they swam on with strong, steady strokes, their light clothing of
shirt and short drawers impeding them but slightly. Life from childhood
on the seashore had conduced to making them expert swimmers; the swift
stream helped them famously; and, keeping well away towards the middle
to avoid the eddies near the shore, they went on steadily after the
boat.
But this, in its light state, was being swept rapidly on, and had so
good a start that for some time the swimmers did not seem to gain upon
it in the least, and at last, as the distance still remained about the
same, a feeling of despair began to attack them.
Pete saw the change in his fellow-swimmer's countenance.
"Take it easy, Master Nic. Long ztroke and zlow. We could keep this up
all day. On'y got to zwim steady: river does all the work."
"We must swim faster, Pete, or we shall never reach the boat," cried
Nic.
"Nay, lad; if we zwim hard we shall get tired out, and lose ground then.
Easy as you can. She may get closer in and be caught by zome of the
branches."
Nic said no more, but swam on, keeping his straining eyes fixed upon the
ever-distant boat, till at last hope began to rise again, for the craft
did happen to be taken by the eddy formed by a stream which joined the
river, and directly after they saw it being driven towards one of the
huge trees which dipped its pendent boughs far out in the water.
The feeling of excitement made Nic's breath come thick and fast as he
saw the boat brush against the leafage, pause for a few moments, and the
young man was ready to utter a cry of joy, but it died out in a low
groan, for the boat continued its progress, the twigs swept over it, and
the power of the stream mastered. But it was caught again, and they saw
it heel over a little, free itself, and then, swaying a little, it
seemed to bound on faster than ever.
"Never mind, lad," said Pete coolly; "it'll catch again soon."
Pete was right; the boat was nearer to the wall of verdure, and it once
more seemed to be entangled in some boughs which dipped below the
surface and hung there, while the swimmers reduced the distance between
them and the boat forty or fifty yards. Then, with a swift gliding
motion, it was off again.
"That's twice," cried Pete. "Third time does it. Zay, Master Nic,
aren't the water nice and cold?"
The look which Nic gave the speaker in his despair checked Pete's
efforts to make the best of things.
"A beast!" he muttered to himself. "I should like to drive my hoof
through her planks. Heavy boat? Why, she dances over the water like a
cork."
At that moment Nic could not suppress a sharp cry, and he made a
spasmodic dash through the water.
"Eh, my lad, what is it?" cried Pete, who was startled.
"One of the great fishes or reptiles made a dash at me and struck me on
the leg," gasped Nic.
"Nay, nay, don't zay that, lad. You kicked again a floating log.
There's hunderds allus going down to the zea."
Nic shook his head, and Pete felt that he was right, for the next minute
he was swimming on with his keen-edged knife held in his teeth, ready
for the emergency which he felt might come; but they suffered no further
alarm. Disappointment followed disappointment, and weariness steadily
set in; but they swam steadily on, till Nic's strength began to fail.
He would not speak, though, till, feeling that he had done all that was
possible, he turned his despairing eyes to Pete.
Before he could speak the latter cried:
"I knowed it, Master Nic, and expected it ever so long past. Now, you
just turn inshore along with me; then you shall lie down and rest while
I go on and ketch the boat. But how I'm to pull her back again' this
zwiff stream, back to you, my lad, is more'n I know."
Nic made no reply, but, breathing hard, he swam with Pete to an open
spot at the side, and had just strength to draw himself out by a hanging
branch, and then drop down exhausted, with the water streaming from him.
"No, no; don't leave me, Pete," he cried hoarsely.
"Must, my lad, must;" cried the man, preparing to turn and swim away.
"You stop there, and I can zee you when I come back."
"It is impossible to overtake it. We must try and get down through the
trees. You can't do it, I tell you."
"Must, and will, my lad," cried Pete. "Never zay die."
Nic sank back and watched the brave fellow as he swam away more
vigorously than ever. At every stroke Pete's shoulders rose well above
the surface, and, to all appearance, he was as fresh as when he started.
But there was the boat gliding down the stream, far enough away now, and
beginning to look small between the towering trees rising on either side
of the straight reach along which Nic gazed; and the watcher's agony
grew intense.
"He'll swim till he gives up and sinks," said Nic to himself; "or else
one of those horrid reptiles will drag him down."
He drew breath a little more hopefully, though, as he saw a bright flash
of light glance from where Pete was swimming, for it told that the keen
knife was held ready in the strong man's teeth; and he knew that the arm
was vigorous that would deliver thrust after thrust at any enemy which
attempted to drag him down.
With the cessation of his exertion, Nic's breath began to come more
easily, and he sat up to watch the head of the swimmer getting rapidly
farther away, feeling that he had been a hindrance to the brave fellow,
who had been studying his companion's powers all the time. But how much
farther off the boat seemed still!--far enough to make Nic's heart sink
lower and lower, and the loneliness of his situation to grow so terrible
that it seemed more than he could bear.
For a full half-hour he sat watching the dazzling water, from which the
sun flashed, while he was in the shade. Pete had not reached the boat,
but he seemed now to be getting very near, though Nic knew how deceptive
the distance was, and gazed on, with a pain coming behind his eyes, till
all at once his heart leaped with joy, as now he could just make out
that the boat was very near the shore, apparently touching some drooping
boughs. Then his heart sank again, for he told himself that it was only
fancy; and he shivered again as he felt how utterly exhausted Pete must
be. Every moment he felt sure that he would see that little, dark speck
disappear, but still it was there; and at last the watcher's heart began
to throb, for the boat must have caught against those boughs. It was
not moving.
The watcher would not believe this for a long time, but at last he
uttered a cry of joy, followed by a groan; for, though the boat was
there, the dark speck which represented Pete's head had disappeared;
and, to make the watcher's despair more profound, the boat began to move
once more, unmistakably gliding from beside the trees. All was over
now, for Nic felt that to struggle longer was hopeless: there was
nothing more to be done but lie down and die.
He held his hands over his brows, straining his failing, aching eyes to
keep the boat in sight as long as he could; and then a strange choking
sensation came into his throat, and he rose to his knees, for there was
a flash of light from the water close to the boat, and another, and
another. There was a strange, indistinct something, too, above the tiny
line made by the gunwale, and it could only mean one thing: Pete had
overtaken it, climbed in, and the flashes of light came from the
disturbed surface of the river.
Pete must be trying to row her back to take him up.
The intense sensation of relief at knowing that the brave fellow was
alive and safe seemed more than Nic could bear. He was already upon his
knees. His face was bowed down upon his hands, and for a few minutes he
did not stir.
At last, with a wave of strength and confidence seeming to run through
every fibre of his body, Nic rose up, feeling fully rested; and, as he
shaded his eyes once more to gaze down the river at the boat, the cloud
of despair had floated away, and the long reach of glistening water
looked like the way back to the bright world of hope and love--the way
to home; while the thought of lying down there to die was but the filmy
vapour of some fevered dream.
Pete was coming back to him: there could be no mistake about that, for
Nic could see more clearly now, and there were moments when he could
distinctly see the flashing of the water when the oars were dipped.
"Oh!" cried Nic, with his excitement rising now to the highest pitch,
"and there was a time when I looked upon that brave, true-hearted fellow
with contempt and disgust. How he is slaving there to send the great,
heavy boat along!"
Nic watched till his eyes ached; and once more his heart began to sink,
for the truth was rapidly being forced upon him that, in spite of Pete's
efforts, the boat remained nearly motionless--the poor fellow was
exhausting himself in his efforts to achieve the impossible.
What to do?
Nic was not long in making up his mind. He knew that Pete would try
till he dropped back in the boat, and it would have been all in vain.
The pair of them could hardly have rowed that heavy boat up-stream, and
they were as yet far above the reach of the tide, or Pete might have
waited and then come up. There was only one thing to do--go down to
him.
A minute or two's trial proved to Nic that he could not tear his way
through the dense growth on the bank till he was opposite his companion
and could hail him to come ashore. There was only one thing to be
done--swim down, and that he dared not do without help.
But the help was near, and he set to work.
He still had his keen knife, and the next moment he was hewing away at a
patch of stout canes growing in the water, and as he attacked them he
shuddered, for there was a wallowing rush, and he caught a glimpse of a
small alligator's tail.
He did not stop, though. He knew that he had frightened the reptile,
and this knowledge that the creatures did fear men gave him
encouragement, making him work hard till he had cut a great bundle,
ample to sustain him in the water. This he firmly bound with cane, and
when this was done he once more gazed at the distant boat, which did not
seem to have moved an inch.
How to make Pete grasp the fact that he was coming to join him? For
even if he saw something floating down he would never think that it was
his companion.
This task too was easy.
Cutting the longest cane he could reach, he cut off the leafy top, made
a notch in what was left, and then inserting the point of his knife in
the remaining sleeve of his shirt, he tore it off, ripped up the seam,
and after dragging one end down through the knot and slit in the cane,
he bound up the end with a strip of cotton, stuck the base firmly in the
bundle or truss he had bound together, and so formed a little white
flag.
"If he sees that he'll know," said Nic triumphantly; and without a
moment's hesitation he thrust off from the bank with his cane bundle
under one arm, and struck out with the other, finding plenty of support,
and nothing more to do than fight his way out to where the stream ran
most swiftly.
The scrap of white cotton fluttered bravely now and then, as, forcing
himself not to think of the dangers that might be around, Nic watched
and watched. He soon began to see the boat more distinctly, and in good
time made out that his companion in misfortune grasped the position,
rowing himself to the nearest drooping tree, making fast to a bough, and
then laying in one oar and fixing the other up astern as a signal for
his companion's guidance.
How short the time seemed then, and how easily Nic glided down, till he
became aware of the fact that Pete was leaning over the side, knife in
hand, watching eagerly. This sent a shudder through the swimmer,
setting him thinking again of the perils that might be near, and how
unlikely any effort of Pete's would be to save him should one of the
reptiles attack.
The dread, however, soon passed off, for Nic's every nerve was strained
to force the bundle of canes across the stream, so that it might drift
right down upon the boat.
He could only succeed in part, and it soon became evident that he would
float by yards away; but Pete was on the alert. He cast the boat adrift
from where he had secured it to a drooping bough, and giving a few
vigorous pulls with one oar, in another minute he had leaned over the
bows, grasped his companion's hands, dragged him into the boat, and
then, as the buoyant bundle of canes floated away, the poor fellow sank
back in the bottom of the boat and lay staring helplessly.
"Don't you take no notice o' me, Master Nic," he said hoarsely. "Just
put an oar over the ztarn and keep her head ztraight. Zhe'll go down
fast enough. We ought to row up to fetch that fish we left, but we
couldn't do it, zir; for I'm dead beat trying to get to you--just dead
beat."
He closed his eyes, and then opened them again as he felt the warm grasp
of Nic's hand, smiled at him, till his eyelids dropped again, and then
sank into a deep stupor more than sleep.