A VERY SERIOUS PREDICAMENT.
The four explorers left on the mound island were very far from spending
so pleasant an evening as that enjoyed by Quorum in the Seminole
village. They were full of anxiety both as to his fate and their own.
In some respects their position was not so bad as if they had been cast
away on a desert island in the ocean, while in others it was worse.
In the latter case they might hope to sight and signal some passing
vessel, but here there was no chance for anything of that kind. At the
best, they would not see anything except Indian canoes, and, under the
circumstances, they could have little hope of obtaining aid from these.
Their revolvers were still loaded, and they had between them half a
dozen cartridges for their guns, but thus far they had discovered no
traces of game on the island. They would not lack for fresh-water, but
with only a single bag of biscuit, the food question was likely to
become a serious one within a short time. They had no knowledge of
any white settlements within less than a hundred miles of where they
were. These could only be reached by wading and swimming through the
trackless 'Glades and bewildering cypress swamps. Undoubtedly some of
the 'Glade islands were occupied by Indians, but they might explore
as many of these as their strength would permit them to reach without
finding one thus inhabited. Their situation was certainly a most
perplexing one, and as they sat around a fire, eating a scanty supper
of hardtack and discussing their prospects, these appeared gloomy in
the extreme.
Still, the Lieutenant well knew that he must, if possible, keep up the
spirits of his little party, and that the worst thing they could do was
to take a hopeless view of the situation. So he said:
"Well, boys, though we seem to be in a nasty predicament, it might be
a great deal worse, and we have still many things to be thankful for.
I once drifted for a week in an open boat in the middle of the South
Pacific. There were seven of us, and only one man of the party had the
faith and courage to continue cheerful and hopeful through it all. On
the very day that we swallowed our last drop of water, and while the
rest of us were lying despairingly in the bottom of the boat, he sat
up on watch, and finally discovered the trading schooner that picked us
up."
"I," said Sumner, "do not feel nearly so badly now as I did when
drifting out to sea in the dark on that wretched raft a couple of weeks
ago. I expected every minute to be washed off and be snapped up by
sharks; but, after all, the loneliness was the worst part of it."
"Right you are, Mr. Sumner," said the sailor. "A man can stand a heap
of suffering along with others, that would throw him on his beam ends
in no time if he was compelled to navigate by himself. I mind one
time that I was lost in a fog, in a dory, on the Grand Banks. As we
had grub and water in the boat, I didn't worry much, till my dorymate
fell overboard and got drownded. The weight of his 'ilers and rubber
boots sunk him like a shot. After that I wellnigh went crazy with the
loneliness. I couldn't seem to eat or drink; and though I was picked
up the very next day, that one night of loneliness seemed like a year
of torment. Oh yes, sir, men can save themselves in company, when they
won't lift a hand if left alone."
"I don't think I was ever in a worse fix than this one," remarked
Worth, dolefully.
"Probably not, my boy," said the Lieutenant, cheerily. "You are young
yet, and have just made a start on your career of adventure. All things
must have a beginning, you know. The next time you find yourself in an
unpleasant situation, you will take great satisfaction in looking back
and describing this one as having been much worse. No adventure worth
the telling can be had without a certain degree of mental or physical
suffering, and the more of this that is endured the greater the
satisfaction in looking back on it. Now that we can do nothing before
daylight, I propose that we make ourselves as comfortable as possible,
and sleep as soundly as possible. By so doing we shall be able to
face our situation with renewed strength and courage in the morning.
To-morrow we will explore the island, discover its resources, and
perhaps find traces of Quorum and the boats. Failing in this, I propose
that we construct as good a raft as we can with the means at hand. With
it to carry our guns, besides affording us some support, we will make
our way back to the place where those cowboys were camped this morning.
From there we can follow their trail until we overtake them, or reach
some settlement."
Cheered by having a definite plan of operations thus outlined, all
hands set to work to gather such materials for bedding as they could
find in the darkness, and an hour later the little camp was buried in
profound slumber.
To their breakfast of hardtack the following morning Sumner added a
hatful of cocoa-plums that he had gathered while the others still
slept. Soon after sunrise they divided into two parties--the Lieutenant
and Worth forming one, and Sumner and the sailor the other--and set out
in opposite directions to make their way around the island.
"I don't want any one to fire a gun except in case of absolute
necessity," said Lieutenant Carey. "And if a shot is heard from either
party, the others will at once hasten in that direction."
"Can't we even shoot my gobbler if we meet him?" queried Worth.
"No, I think not," replied the Lieutenant, with a smile; "that is,
unless he shows fight, for I expect your gobbler would turn out to be a
turkey without feathers, and standing about six feet high. I mean," he
added, as Worth's puzzled face showed that he did not understand, "that
the call by which you were led away from Quorum was, in all likelihood,
uttered by an Indian for that very purpose."
So difficult was their progress through the luxuriant and
densely-matted undergrowth of that Everglade isle that, though it was
not more than a couple of miles in circumference, it was nearly noon
before the two parties again met. They had discovered nothing except
that the island was uninhabited, and they were its sole occupants. Nor
had they seen anything that would give a clew to the fate that had
overtaken poor Quorum.
"While I don't for a moment suppose that the fellow has deserted,"
said the Lieutenant, "I wish, with all my heart, that we knew what had
become of him."
"Indeed, he has not deserted," replied Sumner, warmly. "I'll answer for
Quorum as I would for myself. Wherever he is, he will come back to us
if he gets half a chance."
"Yes, I believe he will; and I only hope he may get the chance. Now let
us go to the top of the mound for one more comprehensive look at our
surroundings, and then we will begin our preparations for leaving the
island."
From the summit of the mound the same tranquil scene on which
Lieutenant Carey and Sumner had gazed with such pleasure the evening
before, only more widely extended, greeted their eyes. It was as devoid
of human life now as then, and its present beauties failed to interest
them.
"I said that we would probably spend to-day here," remarked the
Lieutenant. "But I must confess that my present interest in this mound
lies in getting away from it as quickly as possible. I have no longer
the least desire to investigate its mysteries, and so let us descend to
our more important work."
Returning to their landing-place, and eating a most unsatisfactory
lunch of hardtack, they began to search for materials from which to
build their raft. These were hard to find, and still harder to prepare
for the required purpose. There was plenty of timber, but it was
green, and they had no weapons with which to attack it except their
sheath-knives. Neither had they any nails nor ropes, and their lashings
must be made of vines.
After a whole afternoon of diligent labor, a nondescript affair of
different lengths and jagged ends lay on the ground at the water's edge
ready for launching. With infinite difficulty and pains they got it
into the water, only to have the mortification of seeing it immediately
sink.
"Well, boys," said the Lieutenant, in a voice that trembled in spite of
his effort to make it sound cheerful, "that raft is a decided failure.
Unless we can find some wood better suited to our purpose, I am afraid
we must give up the idea altogether, and try to reach the cypress belt
without any such aid."
"If we only had a few sticks of the timber that is so plenty along the
reef!" said Sumner, thinking of his own previous efforts in the raft
line.
"We might as well wish for our canoes, and done with it," said Worth,
despondently.
Just then they thought they heard a far-away shout in the forest behind
them. Instinctively grasping their guns, they stood in listening
attitudes. It was repeated, this time more distinctly, and they looked
at each other wonderingly.
At the third shout Sumner exclaimed, joyously: "It's Quorum! I know it
is!" He would have plunged into the forest to meet the new-comer, but
the Lieutenant restrained him, saying: "Wait a minute. Let us be sure
that this is not another trap."
A few moments later there was no longer any mistaking the voice, and
their answering shouts guided Quorum, his honest face beaming with joy
and excitement, to the place where they were awaiting him.