MOLLY AND THE MANATEE
A week later the party of five (for both Molly and Dick insisted
that Tom belonged) was sailing down the coast in the _Irene_, a half
houseboat with auxiliary engine, which was sailed by Captain Hull.
An engineer and a darky cook had been engaged, but the three young
folks held a meeting and then announced that Dick had been elected
engineer and Molly chief cook, with Ned as assistant. They added
that the man engineer and the darky could "go bounce." When they
notified Mr. Barstow of the result of the meeting he told them to
see Captain Hull and that if they could stand their own cooking and
engineering he thought the captain and himself might manage to live
through it.
The captain grimly assented; said that he had been wondering where
he could sleep his cook when it rained; that Dick couldn't be a
worse engineer than the one he had engaged, and that he hoped he
would keep sober more of the time than the other one was in the
habit of doing.
The _Irene_ was of less than three feet draft, and towed or carried
on her davits a small launch and a skiff. Excepting when the wind
was especially favorable, the sails were kept furled, and an awning
stretched above the cabin-top made of it a pleasant lounging place.
When the _Irene_ was opposite the mouth of Broad and Rodgers rivers,
the whole party, including Tom, who kept beside Dick, were sitting
on the cabin roof, and Mr. Barstow said to his son, as he pointed to
Broad River:
"Is that the river where you caught your phantom manatee, that
wasn't there when you brought a fisherman to get it? You know the
story is all over Myers that you saw a porpoise and imagined the
rest. How was it, Ned?"
"Yon've made a lot of fun of me, Dad, and Molly has bothered the
life out of Dick about that manatee ghost. Now, if you will let Dick
and me boss this boat for three days, no questions to be asked,
we'll show you a sure-enough manatee and give some folks a chance to
think up real handsome apologies."
"But supposing you don't make good?"
"Then Dick and I will do a whole lot of kow-towing ourselves."
"What do you say to that, Molly?"
"See here, sis," interrupted Ned, "it's up to you to put up or shut
up. If you don't give us this chance to make good you are not to say
'manatee' again on this trip."
"Give 'em what they want, Daddy. They can't do much harm in three
days, and just think of the fun I'll have with them afterwards."
"Well, hoys, you shall have your chance. It may prove a good lesson
to you."
"You heard that, Captain? Dick and I are boss for three days, and we
want this boat to start up Broad River immejit!"
"Tide's jist a-bilin' out of the river. It'll take all day to get
anywhere. Hadn't you better anchor at the mouth of the river till it
turns? We can run up the river in the night, so you won't lose any
time."
The _Irene's_ anchor was dropped behind the bar that lies opposite
the mouth of the river, and Molly and the boys went out in the skiff
to call on a family of pelicans which were keeping house on a little
coral key, surrounded by oyster reefs, between Rodgers and Broad
rivers. As the skiff neared the key the old birds flew lazily away
and lit on a mud-flat a hundred yards distant, but the pelican
children waddled around on the oyster reef without showing much
alarm until Dick caught one, when the indignant bird struck him with
its big bill and punched holes in his hat. As the tide fell the
oyster bars were uncovered, the water shoaled on the mud-flats, and
the boys gathered oysters from one, and clams weighing from half a
pound to four pounds each from the other.
[Illustration: "THE INDIGNANT BIRD PUNCHED HOLES THROUGH HIS HAT"]
A fire was built on the reef, bread and coffee brought from the
_Irene_, and Mr. Barstow and Captain Hull invited to a picnic
supper which they were polite enough to say they enjoyed greatly.
After supper Molly and the boys took a walk on the beach on the
north side of Rodgers River and amused themselves by chasing the
crabs that were skurrying along close to the shore to keep out of
the way of their enemies. They had a lot of fun, but caught no
crabs, until Dick went back to the _Irene_ for a scoop-net and a
bucket, which he soon filled with the crustaceans. Molly had never
before seen shell-fish growing on trees, so Dick cut a few
oyster-bearing branches from a mangrove tree and roasted bunches of
the bivalves on the beach. When the sputtering of the oysters on the
branch told Dick they were cooked, he hauled the limb from the
coals, sat down with his companion on the beach, and with sharpened
sticks the young people picked the roasted oysters from their
shells, while Dick told the girl of that other picnic on the coast
near-by after the waterspout had wrecked the _Etta_. They talked
after the oysters were eaten and the fire had gone out, until Ned's
voice came to them:
"Do you kids expect to settle here and grow up with the country?
Don't you know it's 'most night, the tide's been right for the river
for an hour, and everybody is waiting for you?"
When they reached the _Irene_, Mr. Barstow proposed putting off
their start until morning to give Molly and him a chance to see the
river as they sailed up it. Mr. Barstow replied to a quizzical look
from his son:
"Of course, this doesn't come out of your time, Ned. You are to have
your full three days."
"Maybe you'd like to see some fire-hunting," said the captain.
"There are 'gators in these rivers, and there's time before the moon
rises to find one or two. If you don't want one killed I'll fire a
blank cartridge at him, unless you'd like to shine the eyes of one
yourself."
"I don't think I'll try any fire-hunting, but I should like to see
it done," said Mr. Barstow.
Dick was proud of his sculling, and at his request it was arranged
that he should scull the skiff for the captain, while Ned was to
pole the little motor-boat, in which his father and sister would go
with him. Before they had gone far Dick found that he had
overestimated his strength, and that handling the heavy sculling oar
was too much for him. Mr. Barstow offered to pole the motor-boat,
and Ned took Dick's place at the oar in the skiff, where Dick
remained as a passenger. They entered Broad River and Ned sculled
slowly along the bank, while the beam of light from the lantern,
which was bound to the captain's forehead, played along the surface
of the water under the mangroves that overhung the banks and
sometimes swept the banks above the water. In the shallow places
mullet leaped wildly as the rays of the bull's-eye lantern fell on
them, while porpoises sniffed and tarpon splashed in their light.
Sculling was hard work for Ned, who had none of the easy and
graceful swing with which Dick threw his weight on a sculling oar, a
skill which he had acquired during his life on the sponger. Several
times the oar jumped out of the scull hole in the skiff, and once
Ned nearly went overboard. But a little extra noise didn't much
disturb wild creatures that were fascinated by the light; and on the
land 'coons sat motionless, two dots of greenish light told of a
hypnotized wildcat, and when all on the skiff saw the light
reflected from two big, round eyes, while the captain held the beam
from the lantern steadily upon them, Dick whispered:
"What is it?"
"A big buck. Wish I didn't have a blank cartridge in the rifle,"
replied the captain.
They cruised for half a mile up Broad River, then back to its mouth
against a tide that made the captain take the oars of the skiff, to
which the painter of the motor-boat was then fastened. Then Ned
sculled to the mouth of Rodgers River, where, upon a little beach,
the captain first saw the gleam for which he had been looking. Then
for a few minutes Dick took the oar and slowly and more slowly
sculled toward those little round stars. Soon the light from the
bull's-eye on the captain's forehead showed the head and body of the
reptile, which remained as motionless as if cast in bronze, while
Dick held the skiff in place that the launch might come near. With
the roar of the blank cartridge came the scream of a girl and the
quick scrambling of the alligator into the water. Every one wanted
to continue the hunt, but the rising of the moon put a stop to the
sport.
[Illustration: "THE LIGHT FROM THE BULL'S EYE SHOWED THE HEAD AND
BODY OF THE REPTILE"]
In the morning the tide was rushing up the river, and with it came
rolling porpoises and schools of leaping tarpon.
"Couldn't you catch one of those tarpon?" asked Molly.
Dick said nothing, but Ned shook his head slowly, and Molly
understood that he couldn't so quickly forget that desperate
struggle in the water, during which two lives hung by a thread after
a tarpon had wrecked their canoe.
As the _Irene_ sailed up the river birds flew from the trees on her
approach, alligators slid from their beds on the banks, and otters
lifted their round heads above the surface of the stream. Six miles
from its mouth the river spreads out into a bay, and as the boat was
entering it Mr. Barstow called out:
"There is your manatee, sure enough, boys!"
A big, ugly head appeared beside the _Irene_ for an instant,
followed by a column of water thrown in the air by the huge
porpoise-like tail of the frightened animal. The anchor was quickly
dropped and the little motor-boat, with Dick at the wheel and Mr.
Barstow and Molly as passengers, started in pursuit of the sea-cow.
Captain Hull and Ned were in the skiff, which was towed by the
motor-boat. Every few minutes the long eel-grass of the shallow bay
choked the propeller of the motor-boat. Then the motor was stopped,
the skiff pulled under the stern of the power-boat, and Ned, with
half his head and shoulders under water, tore the grass from the
wheel. For two miles all eyes scanned the surface of the water
without sight of the quarry; then came a shout from Molly:
"There it is!"
"Take the wheel, Molly; it's your manatee," replied Dick.
And the girl, without a hat and with her loosened hair streaming
down her back, headed the power-boat straight for the creature,
which was distant about the eighth of a mile. Twice the grass choked
the wheel and twice with desperate haste it was cleared by Ned. The
boat had gone many yards beyond the place where Molly had seen the
animal when there was a great swirl in the water beside the craft,
followed by other swirls, which grew less and less as they led in a
straight line up a broad tideway that opened into the upper end of
the bay. A moment later another series of swirls was seen and
followed, after which, for a time, nothing was seen, although four
pairs of eyes were scanning every inch of the stream ahead of the
boat. Then came a cry from the captain, who had been cannily
watching the water behind the craft. The sea-cow had turned around,
and, swimming silently beneath the boat, would have escaped but for
the glimpse the captain got of him as he rose to breathe just
before reaching a bend in the stream, which would have hidden him
from his pursuers. Soon the motor-boat was again on his trail, never
to leave it till the creature was a captive. For the manatee was
tired and had to come to the surface for breath at shorter and
shorter intervals, until the power-boat almost ran over him at every
turn.
"Turn us loose!" shouted Ned, and in a moment the skiff was free and
being sculled by the captain toward the quarry, while Ned stood in
the bow with a noosed rope in his hand. Soon the manatee rose beside
the skiff, so near that Ned laid the noose over the creature's nose.
But it didn't stay there, for a column of water rose in the air, and
when it subsided Ned was swimming two yards from the skiff.
There was a cry from Molly in the motor-boat which no one noticed,
for in half a minute Ned was back in the skiff and the pursuit was
on keener than ever. Every ten seconds the manatee came up to
breathe, every time he rose he was driven back under water by the
blow of the rope across his nose. Finally the half-strangled
creature lifted his whole head out of the water and held it there
long enough for Ned to slip the noose over it. The next instant the
blow of the manatee's tail deluged the boy with water and jarred the
skiff from bow to stern, which was then dragged through the water at
a rate which for minutes left the motor-boat behind. The sea-cow
carried the skiff around keys, through deep channels, over shallow
banks and under bushes that projected from the shore, until the
animal was fairly tired out. As the speed of the creature slackened,
Ned drew the skiff close beside him, and plunging overboard, threw
his left arm over the neck and with his right hand grasped the right
flipper of the manatee. Then Captain Hull took a hand, and pulling
the skiff up to the manatee was soon swimming beside him and
clinging to his left flipper.
Dick slowed down the motor, while Molly kept the boat circling
around the swimmers until the manatee surrendered and became quiet
as a cow. The motor was stopped, and the sea-cow was brought beside
the boat, where Molly patted the head and laid her hand on the soft
lips of the gentle creature.
"Now, Daddy," said Ned, "Dick and I want a certificate that this
isn't a phantom manatee or a porpoise."
"I'll certify to that, Ned. You boys have made good, although nobody
ever doubted it, anyway, for the fisherman was only having a little
fun with you."
The manatee was so tractable that Captain Hull swam back for the
skiff, while Ned loosened his hold on the flipper of the creature.
Suddenly a cascade of water half-filled the power-boat, drenched
every one in it, and the manatee disappeared. Ned was chagrined, but
Mr. Barstow cheered him:
"It is all for the best, Ned. He had done all he could do for us. We
hadn't time to arrange for his shipment, and so had to set him
free. The only thing I am sorry for is that I didn't go overboard,
too, and have some of the fun. I am just as wet as you are, without
having anything-to show for it."
"Me, too," said Molly, whose red cheeks and sparkling eyes shone
from among streaming mermaid tresses, and whose pretty frock had
been deluged.
"Dad," said Ned, after they were back on the _Irene_, "you know Dick
and I are in command for two days more."
"I thought you were to have charge for three days, or until you
found a manatee."
"No, sir; three days--seventy-two hours, and not a minute less."
"What are you going to do with all that time?"
"I have elected myself senior boss and Dick junior boss, and we are
going to show you and Molly the Everglades. The _Irene_ will start
down Broad River at once. But Molly is to take the power-boat
through the cut-off to Rodgers River, and down that river to its
mouth, where she will find us. Oh, by the way, Dick will go with her
as engineer, but subject to her orders."
When the _Irene_ was opposite the cut-off, the power-boat, with
Molly and Dick on board, was set adrift and was soon twisting and
turning at half speed as it followed the channel of the crooked
creek. Swimming through the creek would have made a snake dizzy, and
the girl at the wheel had to keep it spinning. There were logs to
be dodged and sharp-ended stumps to be avoided. Trees lay nearly
across the stream, leaving barely the width of the boat to spare,
and others under which the boat had to be driven between flexible
branches, while the steerswoman crouched low down in the craft.
There were birds and beasts on the bank, fish and reptiles in the
water, but the girl could spare them scarcely a glance. Great
spiders hung in midair on nets that stretched from bank to bank, and
Molly's face was matted with webs that she could not avoid, while
her teeth were tightly clenched lest she scream when the hairy legs
of a spider with a spread of five inches traveled across her face.
Dick saw her trouble and came forward to where he could lean ahead
of her and take the brunt of the spider's work. Molly spared him a
grateful glance, but got in trouble for it the next instant. For
just then a quick turn of the craft happened to be necessary, and
although Dick helped to roll the wheel, it was too late, and because
of the inattention of a moment the motor-boat crashed into the bank.
The pilot and engineer were thrown violently against the wheel, but
nothing was injured excepting the temper of the girl, who said to
her companion:
"That was all your fault, Dick Williams, and I wish you would go
back to your engine. I will try to manage the wheel by myself."
After two miles of squirmy navigation the boat came out into the
broad, beautiful Rodgers River, down which they turned; and when
Dick pointed out where the tarpon had wrecked their canoe and
stunned him, and told of Ned's struggles to save his life, the
girl's voice trembled and there were tears in her eyes as she
listened and asked questions. The tide was low when they arrived at
the mouth of the river, and Molly ran the boat on one of the oyster
bars that form a network across the entrance to Broad and Rodgers
rivers. Almost the instant the boat touched, Dick was overboard
heaving on the bow, and soon had the craft afloat. Then turning to
Molly, he said, while mischief sparkled in his eyes:
"I am sorry I ran you on that bar, Miss Barstow."
"You shouldn't bear malice, Dick," replied the girl.