CONVALESCENCE AND CATASTROPHE
Ned's hopes and plans were suddenly changed, and he no longer hoped
for help, but planned to take Dick to the coast himself. For Dick
was getting well. There was no doubt about it. His appetite came
back, until, instead of urging him to eat, Ned waited for him to ask
twice for food before giving it to him. He was still thin and weak,
but his spirits bubbled over, and his laughter was on tap, ready to
be turned on any minute. He began to clamor for a move toward the
coast, but Ned was obdurate and refused to stir for a week. Then one
day Ned started out and paddled some miles toward the coast,
examining the shores of the keys and the mangrove-lined banks of the
salt-water rivers for a camping-ground. He could have made his own
camp on the overflowed meadows almost anywhere, but Dick was still
an invalid and Ned was always anxious about him. Six miles from the
camp, where he had left Dick with Tom, Ned found a good camping
site, marked by a freak palmetto with a trunk that branched into two
stems about midway up. The ground was covered with palmetto scrub,
which Ned examined carefully for rattlesnakes, after which he got
out his fly-rod and caught a mess of fish for supper. On his return
to camp the lynx sprang into the canoe, seized one of the fish and
growled so fiercely that Ned thought best to let him keep it.
[Illustration: "NED FOUND A GOOD CAMPING SITE MARKED BY A FREAK
PALMETTO"]
"Fresh water is all out, Dick," said Ned that night, "so I'll start
at daylight and go back to the river and fill up. I'll take it
slowly and be here about noon. Then we can start out and make easy
work of being in the new camp long before sun-down."
"Ned, I can paddle all right, and I'm going to help. I am sick of
being a baby."
"Go 'way, chile, you make me tired. Don't forget that I'm your
doctor," replied Ned.
"Do you see any chance of getting to the coast?"
"Yes; pretty sure thing. I found a deep channel near the camp with
some porpoises playing in it, and I think it's near the head of one
of the big coast rivers. I am almost certain it's Rodgers River."
[Illustration: "THE LYNX SPRANG INTO THE CANOE AND SEIZED ONE OF THE
FISH"]
Ned was a tired boy when the day's work was done and the young
explorers were settled in the new camp, but a night's sleep braced
him up so that he agreed to his chum's plan to make a dash for the
coast, for Dick had said:
"What is the use of losing a lot of time in prospecting for a soft
spot for me to sleep? We can be on the coast to-night within sight
of houses and help if we need it, which we don't, for I'm going to
do my share of the paddling. I know that coast and you don't, so
I'll naturally be boss."
When the little canoe had been loaded with all their stores and
trophies, and the boys were ready for their final trip, Tom stepped
gravely aboard, and seating himself in the bow, turned to Ned with
an expression which Dick translated as:
"I am here, you may start the engine."
Ned dipped his paddle deeply in the water, that with his every
stroke flowed more swiftly. The banks became well defined, and
although the stream was so crooked that it flowed by turns to every
point of the compass, its general trend was to the west. The river
broadened and the channel deepened, the forest on the banks became
more heavily timbered, and the boys recognized the beautiful Rodgers
River. Curlews and water-turkeys watched them from the trees; herons
flew lazily up from the shoals as the canoe approached; porpoises,
going out with the tide, rolled their backs out of water and gave
sniffs of affright as they saw the canoe beside them. The fin of a
great shark, longer than their canoe, cut the water as its owner
swiftly pursued a six-foot tarpon, which escaped by leaping in the
air within thirty feet of the canoe, toward which it was headed.
Another clash of the shark brought its huge body within its length
of the boys, while the great mouth, with its rows of serrated
teeth, razor-sharp, opened wide to take in the tarpon, which leaped
wildly ten feet in the air, and turning, plunged head-down straight
for Ned as he sat in the canoe, paddle in hand. Dick started up from
his seat, while Ned tried to fend off with the paddle, but the hard,
pointed head of the big tarpon tore through the bottom of the
fragile canoe as if it had been paper. A minute later the shattered
canoe was floating down the river, while everything sinkable had
gone to the bottom.
[Illustration: "PORPOISES ROLLED THEIR BACKS OUT OF THE WATER"]
Tom, who had been asleep in the bottom of the canoe, was swimming
for shore, and Ned, who had not for a second lost his presence of
mind, was treading water and supporting the unconscious Dick, who
had been struck by the tail of the tarpon as the big fish crushed
the canoe. Even as the tarpon struck the canoe Ned was reaching out
for Dick, and the boys went down together.
Then to Ned came the struggle for life--for two lives. His only
thought was of Dick. Dick mustn't drown; Dick's face must be kept
out of the water; he must get Dick ashore. He swam high, wasting his
efforts to keep Dick's head above the surface. Strength goes fast
when one struggles in the water, and Ned was soon gasping for
breath. As he struck out more and more feebly for the bank, while
the current swept him down the stream, he sank lower and lower,
until only his eyes were above the surface and his lungs seemed
bursting for want of air. A great shark swept past him, and the wave
from the big fish rolled over him. He felt his senses going, his
muscles refused to respond to the call of his brain. His grasp on
Dick was loosening, and the thought of this roused him to renew the
struggle. To save Dick he must save himself; he must breathe; he
must not exhaust himself, and above all his mind must not wander. He
was _so_ tired; for himself he would have given up the struggle and
dropped into rest, but for Dick--never! A great calmness came to
him. He rolled over with his head thrown back until all but his face
was under water. This floated clear of the surface as he lay back
and drew air into his smothered lungs in great gulps. He began to
kick out with his feet and was soon swimming on his back toward the
bank, making fair progress with little effort. Some of his strength
came back, and he found that he was easily dragging Dick along,
happily with his face upward. Hope took the place of despair, and
Ned felt that now he could swim for hours. He saw the overhanging
branches of trees above him and knew he was nearing the bank. Then
suddenly he found himself aground on a shoal with water less than
knee-deep. He dragged the unconscious form of his companion into the
jungle on the bank, and a great wave of thankfulness rolled over him
as he felt the weak beating of Dick's heart, which was followed by
the familiar smile as the boy opened his eyes.
[Illustration: "THE HARD, POINTED HEAD OF THE BIG TARPON TORE
THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE FRAGILE CANOE"]
"Well, Neddy, what have you been doing now, and what are you going
to do? Last time I saw you a thousand-pound fish was dropping on
your head. Seems as if he hit me, too."
"Going to make a camp for the two of us, feed us, and get us out of
the wilderness. That's what I am going to do," replied Ned.
"You'll do it, all right; but what have you got to work with?"
"Pocket-knife and some matches. First thing I'll make a fire to dry
you. Then I'll forage. You see, Dick, we've got to stay right here
until you get strong enough to travel. I can make a palmetto shack
big enough to keep the rain off in half a day. The worst trouble
will be fresh water, but I think I can fix that. I know how to get
things to eat. I have picked up a couple of old cocoanuts, and I'll
bring them to you in an hour full of water. Then to-morrow I will
start early and find that old shack where we camped in the
graveyard. You remember that old kettle there? Well, I'll bring it
here full of fresh water. Then if you don't get well pretty quick
I'll leave you plenty to eat and drink and find my way to the coast.
I can do it in a day, and have your old friend, who don't believe we
know a manatee from a tarpon, up here with his boat the next day
sure."
"Don't do it, Neddy. I'd be thinking of a hundred things happening
to you, and the night would be pretty lonesome without even Tom."
Ned started away from the river through a wooded swamp, and before
he had gone a quarter of a mile struck a prairie on which several
deer were feeding. The animals seemed to know that he had no weapon,
for they showed no alarm until he had walked some distance toward
them. There were a number of small ponds near him, and as Ned
approached the nearest one a small alligator slipped from the bank
into the water. The boy had provided himself with a short, heavy
pole, and he waded fearlessly in after the 'gator; but although the
pond was not thirty feet across and he explored every foot of it, he
could not find the reptile. He finally came across an opening in the
bank, in which he thrust his pole, when it was promptly seized by
the alligator. Ned tried to pull the reptile within reach, but when
the head came out of the cave it was larger than he had looked for,
and before he had made up his mind to tackle it the creature had let
go of the pole and gone back in his cave. Then the boy got earnest
and determined to have that alligator if he had to crawl into the
cave after him. He sharpened a bit of branch that stuck out beside
the big end of his pole like the barb of a harpoon, and again thrust
it in the cave. Soon he had the reptile fighting mad with his head
out of the cave, when he pushed the pole into his open mouth, and
catching the barb in the soft skin under the alligator's jaw, just
as Dick had done weeks before, hauled him out of the cave and
dragged him out on the bank. When a few yards from the pond the
reptile broke loose from the barb and started back for the pond.
Ned was after him like a tiger and struck two or three smashing
blows on the creature's head with his pole, and then, as the reptile
neared the water, threw himself on its back and seizing its jaws
held them together while he turned the brute on its back. At first
the alligator lashed out with its tail, but soon became quiet; and
then Ned got out his knife and severed the spine of the reptile.
The water of the pond was so nearly fresh that its taste was only
slightly sweetish, and after Ned had drank all he could hold he
filled his two cocoanuts for Dick. On his way to camp he hunted up a
young palmetto for the bud or cabbage which grew in the top of the
tree. The sharp edges of the great, tough leaves tore his flesh as
he climbed through them, and it was only after more than an hour of
hard work with his knife that he secured the cabbage he was working
for. By this time the water he had drunk had oozed out through his
pores. He was so parched with thirst that he took a long walk back
to the pond and filled up again.
That night Dick and Ned had broiled alligator steak and palmetto
cabbage for supper. Both suffered so much for want of water that Ned
started out at daylight to find the old abandoned plantation. Dick
was pale and his smile so wan that Ned's heart was sore at leaving
him. He was too earnest to think of trivial things, and he sloshed
through the swamp without thought of the swaying heads of little
speckle-bellies in his path, or the great, ugly cotton-mouth
moccasins that moved slowly aside as he wallowed through their
lairs. He stopped long enough on the border of the prairie to find a
club, with which he fiercely pounded to death a rattlesnake, upon
whose coils he had nearly stepped when the locust-like warning found
its way to his consciousness.
After about three miles of tramping, during which he waded
waist-deep across two sloughs, the prairie opened upon familiar
ground, and Ned knew that he was opposite the plantation he sought.
In the decaying building he found an old bucket that would hold
three or four gallons, and a couple of quart cans in which water
could be boiled. From a tamarind tree he gathered the half-dried
fruit with its sweet acidity, and in the old garden he discovered a
few stalks of sugar-cane. He picked up a rusty fish-hook and from an
old net got a quantity of string. Then filling his bucket with rain
water, he started back to Dick and the camp. The journey was a hard
one, and though he refused to drink a drop of the water, half of it
was lost on the way. The weight of it pressed him down in the mire
of the sloughs until he sank to the armpits as he held the heavy
bucket on his head. Dick laughed aloud with joy, even if it was a
bit hysterical, when Ned got home to camp.
"Been lonesome?" asked Ned after Dick had drank a quart of water
and looked as if he wanted a gallon more.
"Not very. Tom has amused me," replied Dick, as he pointed to a
branch over his head. Ned looked up, and there was Tom gazing
benignly down upon him.
"Wonder if Tom is hungry?" said Ned.
"Guess not. I tried him with a piece of alligator steak, and he
turned his nose up at that."
"What do you think he would say to a mess of fish?" and Ned produced
his fish-hook and line. Dick's eyes glistened.
"Oh! I am so hungry for some broiled fish."
Most Florida streams are alive with fish that are not fussy about
the tackle with which they are taken. Ned baited his hook with a
piece of alligator, which was promptly seized by a salt-water cat.
The cat-fish was given to the wildcat, which grabbed it fiercely.
Two mangrove snappers were the result of a few minutes' fishing. Ned
put some tamarinds in one of the quart tins, which he filled with
water and then stirred with a stick of sugar-cane which had been
peeled and split.
Dick perked up a good deal during his supper of broiled fish,
palmetto cabbage and tamarind water, after which Ned made him a tin
of tea from the leaves of the sweet bay. In the days that followed
Ned gathered oysters, which he found some distance down the river,
caught fish and killed several heron and a young curlew with sticks.
The broils, roasts and stews which he made would have done credit
to a professional cook. He wanted to set snares for rabbits and
birds, but had to give it up owing to the difficulty of making a
snare which would distinguish between Tom, whom he didn't wish to
catch, and the rabbits which he wanted.
Dick was improving, but so very slowly that Ned determined to find
his way to the coast and get help. He put it off, at Dick's request,
for several days, until they had been in camp a week, when one
afternoon it was agreed that Ned should start early the next
morning. Dick, who was feeling very blue at the prospect of Ned's
leaving him, was lying on his bed of moss when suddenly he sat up.