SAM'S LECTURE.
The people of the fort made no search for Sam and his companions; not
because they cared nothing for them, but simply because they believed
them certainly dead. Mr. Hardwicke, himself, had seen Sam start with
little Judie towards the fort, before the dog charge was made, and as
neither the boys nor Judie had ever reached the gates, he had no doubt
whatever that his three children were slain, as was Mrs. Phillips, the
only other person who had failed to get inside the stockade. Mr.
Hardwicke wished to go out in search of their bodies, but was overruled
by his companions, who, knowing that the savages were still in the
immediate vicinity, thought it simply a reckless and unnecessary risk,
to go hunting for the bodies of their friends hundreds of yards away,
and immediately in front of the place at which the Indians were last
seen. The idea was abandoned, therefore, and the fort party marched away
in the darkness of a cloudy night, towards Fort Glass. Leaving them to
find their way if they can, let us return to Sam and his little band.
Seeing the Indians coming towards them, they lay down in the high weeds.
The savages hurrying forward to reinforce their friends, passed within a
few feet of the young people, but did not see them. The storming of the
fort then began, and after watching the evolutions of the Indians for
some time, Sam said:
"We mustn't stay here. Those red skins are working around this way, and 'll
find us. Crawl on your hands and knees, all of you, and follow me."
"Whar's ye gwine to, Mas' Sam?" asked Joe.
"_Sh, sh_," said Judie. "Don't talk Joe, but do as Brother Sam tells
you. Don't you know he always knows what's best? Besides, maybe he
hasn't quite found out where he's going yet, himself."
But Joe was not as confident of Sam's genius for doing the right thing
as Judie was, and so, after crawling for some distance, he again broke
silence.
"Miss Judie."
"What do you want, Joe?"
"Does _you_ know whar Mas' Sam's a-takin' us to, an' what he's gwine to
do when he gits dar?"
"No, of course I don't."
"How you know den, dat he's doin' de bes' thing?"
But the conversation was terminated by a word from Sam, who said, in a
whisper,
"Joe, I'll tell you _where we're going if you keep talking_."
"Whar, Mas' Sam?"
"Into the hands of the Indians. Keep your mouth shut, if you don't want
your hair lifted off your head."
As the black boy certainly did not want his hair cut Indian fashion, he
became silent at once.
When they had travelled in this way until they could no longer hear the
yells of the Indians and the popping of guns at the fort, Sam called a
halt. It was now nearly midnight.
"Here is a good place to spend the rest of the night," he said, "and we
must be as still as we can. We can stay here till to-morrow night, and
then we must try to get to Fort Glass. It's about twelve or thirteen
miles from here."
"Le's go on now, Mas' Sam; I'se afear'd to stay here," said the black
boy.
"We can't," said Sam. "I got scratched in the foot with a stray bullet,
just as we went into the thicket there at the fort, and I can't walk. I
am a little faint and must lie down."
At this little Judie, who fairly idolized Sam, and felt perfectly safe
from Indians and everything else when he was with her, was disposed to
set up a wail of sorrow and fright. If poor Sam were wounded, he might
die, she thought, and the thought was too much for her.
Sam soothed her, however, and the poor, tired little girl was soon fast
asleep in his arms.
"Bring some moss, boys," he said to his companions, "and make a bed for
Judie here by this log."
When he had laid her down, he drew off his shoe and wrapped the wounded
foot in some of the long gray moss which hangs in great festoons from
the trees of that region. Joe, with the true negro genius for sleeping,
was already snoring at the foot of a tree. Sam quietly called Tom to his
side.
"Tom," said he, "my foot is bleeding pretty badly, and I can't see till
morning to do anything for it. I have wrapped it up in moss, stuffing
the softest parts into the wound, and that may stop it after a while.
But I may not be able to travel to-morrow night, and if I can't you must
leave me here and try to find your way to Fort Glass, with Judie. You
must remember that her life will depend on you, and try to do your duty
without flinching. Don't try to travel in the daytime. Go on to the
south as fast as you can of nights, keeping in the woods and thickets,
and as soon as you see a streak of gray in the sky find a good
hiding-place and stop. You can get some corn and some sweet potatoes out
of any field, but you must eat them raw, as it wont do to make a fire.
Now go to sleep. I may be able to travel myself, but if I shouldn't,
remember you are a brave man's son, and must do your duty as a
Hardwicke should." And with that he shook the little fellow's hand.
After a time Tom, overcome by weariness, fell asleep, but Sam remained
awake all night, trying to staunch the flow of blood from his foot. He
knew that if he could go on with the others their chance of safety would
be vastly greater than without him, and so he was disposed to leave no
effort untried to be in a fit condition to travel the next night. When
morning came Sam called Tom and Joe, and directed them to examine his
wound, into which he could not see very well.
"Is the blood of a bright red, as it comes out, or a dark red?" he
asked.
"Bright," they both said.
"Then it comes from an artery," he replied. "Are you sure it is bright
red?"
The boys were not quite sure.
"Does it come in a steady stream or in spurts?" he asked.
"It spurts, and stops and spurts again," said Tom.
"It is an artery, then," said Sam. "Look and see if you can find the
place it comes from."
The boys made a careful examination and at last found the artery, a
small one, which was cut only about half way across.
"All right," said Sam. "If that's the case, I think I know how to stop
the blood. Put your finger in, and _break the artery clear in two_".
"O Sam, then you'll bleed to death," said Tom.
"No I won't. Do as I tell you."
"Let me cut it, then. It wont hurt you so much."
"No, no, no," cried Sam, staying his hand. "Don't cut it. Tear it, I
tell you, and be quick."
Tom tore it, and the blood stopped almost immediately. Sam then bound
the foot up with strips of cloth torn from his clothing, and as he did
so said:
"Now I'll tell you both all about this so that you'll know what to do
another time. If you know only _what_ to do, you may forget; but if you
know _why_, you'll remember. The blood comes out from the heart to all
parts of the body in arteries, and when it leaves the heart it is bright
red, because it is clean and pure. Your heart is a sort of force-pump,
and every time it beats it forces the blood all over you. The arteries
fork and branch out in every direction, until they terminate in
millions of little veins smaller than the finest hairs, and these
running together make bigger veins, through which the blood is carried
to the lungs. In the veins it flows steadily, because the _capillary_
veins, the ones like hairs, are so small that the spurts can't be felt
beyond them. The blood in the veins is thick and dark, because it has
taken up all the impurities from the system; but when it gets to the
lungs your breath takes up all these and carries them off, leaving the
blood pure again for another round. Now the arteries are long elastic
tubes, that is to say, they will stretch a little, and fly back again,
if you pull them, and when one is cut nearly but not quite off, the
contraction keeps it wide open. If it is cut or torn entirely in two,
the end draws back, and nine times in ten, if the artery is a small one,
the drawing back shuts the end up entirely and the blood stops. But it
is better to tear it than to cut it, because when torn the edges are
jagged and it shrivels up more. I don't quite understand why, myself,
but that is what the surgical books say. When anybody is hurt and
bleeding badly, the first thing to do is to find out whether it is an
artery or a vein that's cut. If the blood is bright and comes out in
spurts, it's an artery. If it is dark, and flows steadily, it's a vein.
If it's an artery and isn't cut quite in two, tear it in two. If that
don't stop it, you must make a knot in a handkerchief and then press
your finger above the cut in different places till you find where the
artery is by the blood stopping. Then put the knot on that place and tie
the handkerchief around the limb. You can stop a vein in the same way
and more easily, but if it's a vein you must tie the handkerchief so
that the cut place will be between it and the heart. You see the blood
comes from the heart in the arteries, and goes back towards the heart in
the veins, and so to stop an artery you tie inside, and to stop a vein
outside of the cut place."
I think it altogether probable that Master Sam would have gone into
quite a lecture on anatomy and minor surgery, if little Judie had not
waked up just then complaining of hunger. What he told the boys,
however, is well worth remembering. He took little Judie on his lap and
sent the two boys out to find a field of potatoes or corn. When they
came back all four made a breakfast of raw sweet potatoes, drinking
water which Tom brought in his wool hat from a creek not very far away.
Sam grew stronger during the day, and at night the party set out on
their way to Fort Glass. Sam's foot was not painful, but he was afraid
of starting the blood again, and so he held it up, walking with a rude
crutch which he had made during the day.