THE CAVE MAN SETS FORTH
Close to my ear I heard a warning: "Sh!"--at the same time feeling a
hand squeeze my arm. It was dusk. While I slept the shadows had
lengthened and blended into those soft gray tones of twilight that give
mystery to forests of the South. Cautiously I raised my head and,
following the tense stare of Smilax, saw the cause of his agitation.
Three men were standing on the larger island, at the spot where Efaw
Kotee and Jess had stood, and one held a piece of coiled rope tied to a
grappling hook. They were whispering and chuckling. Then he with the
iron hook began to swing it back and forth, finally letting it fly
across the water into the punt, whereupon they chuckled again. Now they
began to haul in the line at a lively rate, doubtless fearing that
Echochee, aroused by the noise, would rush out and frustrate them. But
the house remained quiet, even dark; and, since the boat's painter was
of slim material, there could be only one result when they gave a hard
pull--the punt was theirs.
This procedure disturbed Smilax, no less myself. There was deviltry
afoot, yet hardly a plan for capturing the girl as other punts were
available. But the next moment we breathed easier, for the men broke
into a boisterous laugh, and one called:
"Ole hatchet-face, yo're done out-punted this time!"
Another, bending over and slapping his thigh in mirthful ecstasy,
guffawed:
"Bill says she's done out-_punted_," whereupon they again laughed, and a
third called:
"This here busts yo' chance of makin' a git-away to-night, yer ole
she-devil! The chief's on to yer, he is!"
"They expect an escape," I whispered.
Smilax nodded. His face was grave.
Then came a most exasperating moment, when I hugged the ground so close
that my body felt no thicker than a playing card. The men, each picking
up a rifle, stepped into the punt and paddled to our side. Two of them
climbed the bank, one going about a hundred yards to our left, and the
other, passing within ten feet of us, went the opposite way. We could
not follow him with our eyes but knew, by counting his steps, that he
stopped at about an equal distance. Then the punt glided back and
disappeared behind the little island. Guards! Sentinels! We were
trapped, as well as those whom we had come to save!
The firm fingers of Smilax had never left my arm, a continuous caution
for silence that I minded well. Ten minutes passed, and the trees had
all but lost their shapes. In another ten minutes the night wholly
enveloped us, and then the black man moved so that his lips were at my
ear, while he barely whispered:
"Me go; noise in camp will help. You wait still like dead; me come back
soon."
I did not attempt to answer, for there was nothing to say. Flanked by
the two sentinels, I was pretty sure to wait, and wait like dead, too.
He began to move then, yet he did not seem to move. But as I
watched--more with my senses than my eyes--I knew that he had worked his
head and shoulders out of our shelter, and was edging himself along at
the rate of perhaps a foot a minute. Soon I realized that he had
entirely gone; that, free of the saw-palmetto--a most difficult stuff in
which to move silently--he was topping the bank. I could imagine how he
glided now, alligator fashion, head downward to the water; and I could
almost feel the moment he slid noiselessly into it. I waited for the owl
call--"two times, then stop soft in middle."
And now an electric torch flashed where the sentry on my right was
posted, and I froze, wondering if it were directed at Smilax. But no
challenge came. In a very short interval it flashed again, and the
fellow called in military style:
"Post one, seven o'clock, and all's well!"
The voice at my left took it up:
"Post two, seven o'clock, and all's well!"
From somewhere beyond Sylvia's island the third guard called post three,
and silence followed. I was glad to find that they called their posts.
It told us that there were only three, and gave a very fair idea of
their positions. Of course, we could not hope, with this military
precaution, to have one of them fall asleep at a convenient moment.
Especially would this not happen with a newly placed guard--and these
fellows were on watch to-night for the first time, else we would have
seen them, or they us, when we came that morning. Smilax, also, would
have discovered them the night before. Sylvia and Echochee, therefore,
had just come under suspicion of intending to escape--and we were in the
nick of time, although I felt staggered by the job ahead of us.
After another wait the fellow at post one again flashed his torch--on
his watch, no doubt, because from time to time there were other flashes
and, after the last of these, he called half-past seven. That was good
for us, too--the half hours! Eight o'clock came, then half after, then
nine. The lights in the camp had been extinguished. A real owl hooted
mournfully somewhere back in the forest. I was waiting for post one to
be called again when a voice, not twelve inches from my face, whispered:
"All right; come; slow like me. When you think you can no go more slow,
then go two times as slow."
Had it not been for that last piece of advice I might have made a mess
of things, but by moving at first scarcely more than an inch a minute,
by distributing my feeling sense to every part of my body, detecting the
slightest pull at my clothing, the merest contact with any little twig
that might traitorously snap--in fact, by almost wishing myself along--I
came at last free of the palmettoes and lay beside him. From there our
progress was easier, and shortly we got to our hands and knees.
After following in this manner for two hundred yards Smilax stopped and
sat down.
"You do good," he said. "Wait; me go back."
"What for?" I asked, in surprise. "Tell me what Echochee said?"
"After 'while," he answered. "Me go fix pine needles where we crawl out;
then take look at all's-well-men. You wait."
I should never have thought about obliterating our trail in the pine
needles, yet now saw that it was a very necessary thing to do, for men
can not crawl on their stomachs without mussing the ground if it is at
all soft. In the morning those fellows would see our tracks leading from
the palmetto patch and, to a certainty, be waiting for us when we
returned.
He was back sooner than I expected, and we took a good swinging pace to
camp. Not till he had made a mere handful of fire and warmed over some
coffee (gods of good things, how delicious it was!) and I had lighted my
pipe (O, goddess Nicotine, what a pipe!) would he speak. Then suddenly
he said:
"We no lay out to-morrow."
"Why?" I asked, quickly alarmed that Sylvia had refused to come.
"No use. When men on guard call, we find 'em easy. No much palmetto; we
slip up good."
I laughed; not at what he said, but because to laugh was irresistible.
My nerves were just a little drunk on relaxation.
"Come across with what Echochee said," I told him.
He grinned and nodded.
"Echochee know me. Me no call like owl, for 'fraid all's-well-men no be
fooled; so crawl close and scratch on wall. She come to place inside,
then me put mouth to crack and say in Seminole: 'Echochee, me
Tachachobee.' She squat down by crack and whisper back: 'You lie. What
your father name?' Me say: 'Black boy got no father; Echochee friend,
Wanona, squaw of Kittimee, raise him.' Then she ask back quick: 'How
many pickaninny Kittimee and Wanona had?' Me say: 'Boy child.' She
whisper quicker: 'What wigwam stood in morning shadow to Kittimee?' Me
say: 'Echochee wigwam.' She say: 'Who next?' Me say: 'Pattawa, him shoot
long gun.' She wait 'while, and say: 'If you Tachachobee, what scar you
got on left leg?' Me say: 'No scar on left leg, scar on right leg; four
teeth of Pawpawloochee spotted dog what wildcat kill.' She know then me
tell no lie, and unlock door and come out, and take my hand. 'You big
man now, Tachachobee,' she say. 'Me got big man job, Echochee,' me say,
and tell her how me take 'em 'way."
I was charmed with the way Echochee had put Smilax through the third
degree, so to speak, because it proved that Sylvia had a shrewd
protector; one who would at least not be outmatched except by
force--and, judging from the tray episode, even force would have to be
considerable.
"She go in," Smilax continued, "and tell Lady, then Lady come out and
say: 'Good. We be ready. How we know when you come?' And me tell her
this, Mister Jack, so you listen for you have to do um. Me say: 'You
hear men call what time?' She say she do. Me say: 'You hear 'em call
all's well?' She say she do, and me say: 'When you hear one call
all's-er-well, unlock door for me come quick.'"
"You want me to call all's-er-well, instead of all's-well? Is that the
idea?"
"Good. We slip up on guard; you take man at One, me man at Two; we kill
'em quick and make no noise. Man at Three far off; him no count. Me wait
then till time for next call. If me hear all's-er-well, me know you no
dead, and go in water. Then you come quick and quiet to place where Two
is dead and make call for him. Then Three will answer; we no care 'bout
Three. If me take long, and come time for 'nother call, you do um same
as first. Soon we be over."
"You won't have a punt," I suggested.
"No need um; water so," he drew his hand across his waist. "Tote Lady,
then Echochee."
"She doesn't know I'm to be there?"
"No; plenty time."
That night I slept heavily, as a man who has regained the bloom of
health, and awoke with the rosy dawn. A few fiery bars shot across the
sky, which the trees, brush and grass reflected. Red, everywhere red;
and I thought how much more red the night would be after Smilax and I
had silenced Posts One and Two. I raised my head and looked for him. The
fire was burning, our breakfast was cooking. He had doubtless gone to
the spring for water, so I rolled out of my lean-to and started to the
pool; but stopped, listening.
Somewhere ahead of me I heard his voice, deep and musical, droning a
weird kind of chant that seemed to be utterly everlasting. It was not
loud, but rather like a deep organ note that carries a long distance. In
a while he came nearer, walking unconcernedly with his face to the sky.
Over and over and over the chant continued; truly a sort of world
without end.
"Do you know the second verse?" I cheerily asked, as he was about to
pass.
He stopped, swung around, and showed his teeth in a smile that was as
free from worry as the day.
"Me sing askabee," he explained. "Enemy go down when me sing askabee."
"Then pray continue, by all means," I said hurriedly, "Maybe after
breakfast we can manage to knock out a duet."
"We build fort after breakfast," he replied, unmindful of my banter.
"Breakfast 'bout ready. Get wet quick and come back soon." It's a wonder
he hadn't told me to smoke.
On the southern and western edge of our "island"--thus being nearest
Efaw Kotee's settlement--were a lot of fallen palms; trees that many
years ago had been killed by fire and now lay partially rotted. The best
of these Smilax had planned to make into a fort; not an elaborate
affair, but a shoulder-high hollow square, around which was to be built
another hollow square, a three foot space between their walls to be
filled with sand. It was a good idea, and would stop a Krag or modern
Springfield bullet with ease.
We worked on this till noon; he trimming, lifting and placing the
logs--and elephants have never swung teak more splendidly--while I, with
our jointed camp spade, filled in the sand. The use of an axe could not
possibly betray our position as Efaw Kotee had been betrayed, because
the breeze continued from him to us, and also for the equally good
reason that the bite of an axe in soggy palmetto does not sound with
anything like the ring that is caused by hardwood. So our walls grew,
being fitted with nice precision that gave them more than enough
strength to sustain the filling of sand--which, in turn, was kept from
sifting through the interstices by a double lining of palm leaves.
After an early luncheon we went back to add a few finishing touches, and
then stood off admiring it.
"Oughtn't we put in a stock of provisions?" I asked.
"No stay long 'nough in there to get much hungry," Smilax shook his
head. "One night and they pull um down and got us. Good to keep 'em off
in daytime; after dark we run in grass."
There was something in what he said.
With the approach of evening a curious calm came over me. Perhaps it was
the nearness of action, perhaps because I had accustomed myself to the
thought that before another dawn I must deliberately slip upon a fellow
man and destroy him. In France, with a battle raging, men lost their
identity, and if--or when--we killed one, we rarely knew it. But in this
peaceful country it seemed a more murderous thing to do. Yet perhaps
the truest reason why my nerves had turned to steel was the dominating
thought of Sylvia.
Twice I rehearsed before Smilax what I was to do. I stood apart and
called: "Post One, nine o'clock, and all's-er-well!" to let him judge if
my voice differed materially from the one we heard last night. This was
most important, as the suspicion of the guard at post Three must not be
aroused. I then called the next post in an altered voice, and felt well
pleased when Smilax said the tones were near enough to pass.
It was an uncanny rehearsal, this imitating the voices of those whom we
should have made forever silent, but if there existed anywhere on earth
a justification for the taking of human life it rested with Smilax and
me. We were not killers, but defenders; we did not go so much to destroy
as to save. Our way was the only way to rescue a helpless girl and a
faithful old woman from destruction. Two men, or two hundred, made no
difference now; I would kill all, or any number, who stood in the way of
that beloved girl's safety.
We looked over our firearms. I had given him Tommy's "l'il crack-crack"
which, with my own, were the only weapons we intended to take--I mean
the only explosive weapons, for Smilax carried his long, keen-edged
hunting knife, a thing he was never without; and I, likewise, strapped
on my own. After this we went about putting the camp in order; building
a shelter tent by the spring for Sylvia and an adjacent lean-to for
Echochee. Joyfully I robbed myself of bedding, arranged comfortable
shake-downs with moss and leaves of the cabbage palm, and did everything
conceivable to make the place attractive.
I had demurred at first about coming back here for a day or two;
wanting, instead, to travel as speedily as possible to Big Cove, where
the _Whim_--and if not the _Whim_, at least the _Orchid_--would be at
our disposal. But he showed me the futility of this. In the first place,
that was exactly what Efaw Kotee would be suspecting when the escape
became known. The dead sentries, certain to be discovered when they
failed to call the next half hour, would reveal the story of outside
help, so the pursuit would be swift and directly up the coast--swifter,
indeed, than she might be able to travel.
"Why shouldn't they think we'd taken her off in a small boat," I asked,
"and escaped through the islands?"
"Then Efaw Kotee want to know why kill guard on mainland."
"That's so. But, Smilax, suppose we hide the guards?"
He thought a moment over this, but finally shook his head.
"No good. Then Efaw Kotee say guard run off with Lady, so he come back
'cross prairie same as up and down shore. That make our chance ve'y bad.
No. They find men dead, then hunt quick through forest up beach; maybe
down beach. After 'while, maybe they find sign where me and you camp in
L'il Cove; then they know small boat been there and gone. Then they come
home mad, and when all quiet we make big circle to _Whim_. Some day we
come back; maybe kill 'em all. Me want Jess; him crack Smilax head. That
good plan; you smoke."
I lay on the ground and smiled. Kill 'em all! Gods, but I was going back
into the primitive by leaps and bounds! I wondered if that girl would
trust herself to me, were she to know!
"Me big fool," Smilax suddenly cried, smashing a fist into the palm of
his hand.
"What's the matter?" I sat up, asking.
"Me ought to be in L'il Cove and make fresh signs. Me big fool!"
It would have been a cute move, but now too late, and I told him so.
"No too late," he sprang up. "Three hour more sun."
"But, Smilax, it took us the best part of a day to come here! You can't
do it!"
"Me go short way back, and fast." He pointed to the western sky, at an
angle of about twenty degrees above the horizon, asking: "When night
come you see big star there?"
I nodded. It was Jupiter or Venus, I didn't know which; but it was large
and beautiful, and I had seen it many evenings.
"When um touch top of trees you start. Me meet you on far side of
prairie."
Feeling to see if his weapons were securely holstered he was off without
another word to make signs in the sand at Little Cove that would look as
though this very afternoon a landing party had been there, and I
wondered if real Indians could possess the foresight of this big negro.
In amazement I watched him growing smaller and smaller across the sea of
grass; going north-by-northwest now, and not the way we came. The
prairie in this direction must have extended five miles before it met
the forest, and as long as my eyes could follow him he was jogging at a
good free trot. By this more direct route he had perhaps ten or twelve
miles to go each way; and his return would be at night, lighted by a
partial moon. I knew that he would make it, and be at our meeting place
when I arrived, but how he could possibly do so was in a realm beyond my
comprehension.
When the evening star sank and touched the forest I quietly left our
camp. The night air was delightfully mellow, but my soul, my nerves, my
determination were as cold as the long blade of my knife. In our present
days of railroads, telegraphs and institutions of learning I was merely
a chap setting out to take a girl from a den of rogues; but in this
night-bathed Florida wilderness civilization had been stripped to the
bone. I was a man going forth to steal a female--I had come from my lair
at dusk, set off with a snarl on my lips and a firm grip upon my stone
axe; so completely dominated by this feeling that human pawns who might
stand in the way would be of no more consequence than ants.
From the lighter prairie I cautiously approached the black shadows of
the forest, made impenetrably dark by a network of branches and a mat of
leaves which no ray from the half grown moon could pierce. As I was
about to enter Smilax arose from the ground in front of me.
"Good," he whispered. "We rest li'l while; then go fix 'em."