YOUNG IN YEARS ONLY.
"Well done, white boy," complimented the strange Indian.
"Pass me one of those rifles," requested Frank.
"White boy better leave rifle; take bow and arrows," advised Socato.
"Rifle make noise; bow and arrow make no noise."
"All right; what you say goes. Return to the hut, Barney, and stay there
till we show up."
"But th' spook----"
"Hang the spook! We'll know where to find you, if you go there."
"The Great White Phantom will not harm those who offer him no harm,"
declared the Indian.
"I am not so afraid of spooks as I am of---- Jumping Jupiter!"
There was a flash of fire from the darkness on shore, the report of a
gun, and a bullet whirred through the air, cutting the professor's
speech short, and causing him to duck down into the canoe.
"Those fellows have located us," said Frank, swiftly. "We must get away
immediately. Remember, wait at the hut."
Socato's paddle dropped without a sound into the water, and the canoe
slid away into the night.
The professor and Barney lost no time in moving, and it was well they
did so, for, a few seconds later, another shot came from the shore, and
the bullet skipped along the water just where the canoes had been.
Frank trusted everything to Socato, even though he had never seen or
heard of the Seminole before. Something about the voice of the Indian
convinced the boy that he was honest, for all that his darkness was such
that Frank could not see his face and did not know how he looked.
The Indian sent the canoe through the water with a speed and silence
that was a revelation to Frank Merriwell. The paddle made no sound, and
it seemed that the prow of the canoe scarcely raised a ripple, for all
that they were gliding along so swiftly.
"Where are you going?" whispered Frank, observing that they were leaving
the camp-fire astern.
"White boy trust Socato?"
"If I didn't, I shouldn't be here. Of course, I do."
"Then keep cool. Socato take him round to place where we can come up
behind bad white men. We try to fool 'um."
"Good!"
The light of the camp-fire died out, and then, a few moments later,
another camp-fire seemed to glow across a strip of low land.
"See it?" whispered the Indian, with caution.
"Yes. What party is camped there--friends of yours, Socato?"
"Not much!"
"Who, then?"
"That same fire."
"Same fire as which?"
"One bad white men build."
Frank was astonished.
"Oh, say! how is that? We left that fire behind us, Socato."
"And we have come round by the water till it is before us again."
This was true, but the darkness had been so intense that Frank did not
see how their course was changing.
"I see how you mean to come up behind them," said the boy. "You are
going to land and cross to their camp."
"That right. They won't look for us that way."
"I reckon not."
Soon the rushes closed in on either side, and the Indian sent the canoe
twisting in and out amid their tall stalks like a creeping panther. He
seemed to know every inch of the way, and followed it as well as if it
were broad noonday.
Frank's admiration for the fellow grew with each moment, and he felt
that he could, indeed, trust Socato.
"If we save that girl and the old man, you shall be well paid for the
job," declared the boy, feeling that it was well to dangle a reward
before the Indian's mental vision.
"It is good," was the whispered retort. "Socato is poor."
In a few moments they crept through the rushes till the canoe lay close
to a bank, and the Indian directed Frank to get out.
The camp-fire could not be seen from that position, but the boy well
knew it was not far away.
Taking his bow, with the quiver of arrows slung to his back, the lad
left the canoe, being followed immediately by the Seminole, who lifted
the prow of the frail craft out upon the bank, and then led the way.
Passing round a thick mass of reeds, they soon reached a position where
they could see the camp-fire and the moving forms of the sailors. Just
as they reached this position, Leslie Gage was seen to dash up to the
fire and kick the burning brands in various directions.
"He has done that so that the firelight might not reveal them to us,"
thought Frank. "They still believe us near, although they know not where
we are."
Crouching and creeping, Socato led the way, and Frank followed closely,
wondering what scheme the Indian could have in his head, yet trusting
everything to his sagacity.
In a short time they were near enough to hear the conversation of the
bewildered and alarmed sailors. The men were certain a band of savages
were close at hand, for they did not dream that the arrow which had
dropped Jaggers was fired by the hand of a white person.
"The sooner we get away from here, the better it will be for us,"
declared Leslie Gage.
"We'll have to get away in the boats," said a grizzled
villainous-looking, one-eyed old sailor, who was known as Ben Bowsprit.
"Fo' de Lawd's sake!" gasped the third sailor, who was a negro, called
Black Tom; "how's we gwine to run right out dar whar de critter am dat
fired de arrer inter Jack Jaggers?"
"The 'critter' doesn't seem to be there any longer," assured Gage.
"Those two shots must have frightened him away."
"That's right," agreed Bowsprit. "This has been an unlucky stop fer us,
mates. Tomlinson is dead, an' Jaggers----"
"I ain't dead, but I'm bleedin', bleedin', bleedin'!" moaned the fellow
who had been hit by Frank's arrow. "There's a big tear in my shoulder,
an' I'm afeared I've made my last cruise."
"It serves you right," came harshly from the boy leader of the ruffianly
crew. "Tomlinson attempted to set himself up as head of this crew--as
captain over me. You backed him. All the time, you knew I was the leader
in every move we have made."
"And a pretty pass you have led us to!" whined the wounded wretch.
"Where's the money you said the captain had stored away? Where's the
reward we'd receive for the captain alive and well? We turned mutineers
at your instigation, and what have we made of it? We've set the law
agin' us, an' here we are. The _Bonny Elsie_ has gone up in smoke----"
"Through the carelessness of a lot of drunken fools!" snarled Gage. "She
should not have been burned. But for that, we wouldn't be here now,
hiding from officers of the law."
"Well, here we are," growled Ben Bowsprit, "an' shiver my timbers if we
seem able to get out of this howlin' swamp! The more we try, the more we
seem ter git lost."
"Fo' goodness, be yo' gwine to stan' roun' an' chin, an' chin, an'
chin?" demanded Black Tom.
"The fire's out, and we can't be seen," spoke Gage, swiftly, in a low
tone. "Get the boats ready. You two are to take the old man in one; I'll
take the girl in the other."
"It's the gal you've cared fer all the time," cried Jaggers, madly. "It
was for her you led us into this scrape."
"Shut up!"
"I won't! You can't make me shut up, Gage."
"Well, you'll have a chance to talk to yourself and Tomlinson before
long. Tomlinson will be jolly company."
"You've killed him!" accused the wounded man. "I saw you strike the
blow, and I'll swear to that, my hearty!"
"It's not likely you'll be given a chance to swear to it, Jaggers. I may
have killed him, but it was in self-defense. He was doing his best to
get his knife into me."
"Yes, we was tryin' to finish you," admitted Jaggers. "With you out of
the way, Tomlinson would have been cap'n, and I first mate. You've kept
your eyes on the gal all the time. I don't believe you thought the cap'n
had money at all. It was to get the gal you led us into this business.
She'd snubbed you--said she despised you, and you made up your mind to
carry her off against her will."
"If that was my game, you must confess I succeeded very well. But I
can't waste more time talking to you. Get the boats ready, boys. I will
take the smaller. Put Cap'n Bellwood in the larger, and look out for
him."
The two sailors obeyed his orders. Boy though he was, Gage had resolved
to become a leader of men, and he had succeeded.
The girl, quite overcome, was prostrate at the feet of her father, who
was bound to the cypress tree.
There was a look of pain and despair on the face of the old captain. His
heart bled as he looked down at his wretched daughter, and he groaned:
"Merciful Heaven! what will become of her? It were better that she
should die than remain in the power of that young villain!"
"What are you muttering about, old man?" coarsely demanded Gage, as he
bent to lift the girl. "You seem to be muttering to yourself the greater
part of the time."
"You wretch! you young monster!" grated the old shipmaster. "Do you
think you can escape the retribution that pursues all such dastardly
creatures as you?"
"Oh, you make me tired! I have found out that the goody-good people do
not always come out on top in this world. Besides that, it's too late
for me to turn back now. I started wrong at school, and I have been
going wrong ever since. It's natural for me; I can't help it."
"Spare my child!"
"Oh, don't worry about her. I'll take care of her."
"If you harm her, may the wrath of Heaven fall on your head!"
"Let it go at that. I will be very tender and considerate with her.
Come, Elsie."
He attempted to lift her to her feet, but she drew from him, shuddering
and screaming wildly:
"Don't touch me!"
"Now, don't be a little fool!" he said, harshly. "You make me sick with
your tantrums! Come on, now."
But she screamed the louder, seeming to stand in the utmost terror of
him.
With a savage exclamation, Gage tore off his coat and wrapped it about
the girl's head so that her cries were smothered.
"Perhaps that will keep you still a bit!" he snapped, catching her up in
his arms, and bearing her to the smaller boat, in which he carefully
placed her.
She did not faint. As her hands were bound behind her, she could not
remove the coat from about her head, and she sat as he placed her, with
it enveloping her nearly to the waist.
"Is everything ready?" asked Gage. "Where are all the guns? Somebody
take Tomlinson's weapons. Let Jaggers have his. He may need them when we
are gone."
"Don't leave me here to die alone!" piteously pleaded the wounded
sailor. "I'm pretty well gone now, but I don't want to be left here
alone!"
Gage left the small boat for a moment, and approached the spot where the
pleading wretch lay.
"Jaggers," he said, "it's the fate you deserve. You agreed to stand by
me, but you went back on your oath, and tried to kill me."
"And now you're going to leave me here to bleed to death or starve?"
"Why shouldn't I? The tables are turned on you, my fine fellow."
"Well, I'm sure you won't leave me."
"You are?"
"Yes."
"Why won't I?"
"This is why!"
Jaggers flung up his hand, from which a spout of flame seemed to leap,
and the report of a pistol sounded over the marsh.
Leslie Gage fell in a heap to the ground.