WRECKED.
THE boys had obeyed the old sailor's order, and, though greatly shaken
by the shock, they retained their hold on the boat.
"Quick, get on the rocks," shouted the Captain. "She'll pound to pieces
in a jiffy."
Fortunately, the boat's bow had been driven up on the ledge nearly
out of the water. The boys dropped over the side followed by the
old sailor, and, though beaten and bruised against the sharp rocks
succeeded in struggling out upon the one which reared itself above
the water. They glanced back to where the boat had struck, but, short
as had been their struggle out, it had witnessed the destruction
of the staunch craft. Only that portion of her bow lodged upon the
reef remained intact, the balance of her hull was a mass of twisted,
splintered, broken planks.
Great as was the danger from which they had escaped, their present
position was still far from safe. The slippery rock afforded but
insecure footing and it was frequently swept by the larger seas. At
such times, they had all they could do to keep from being swept off its
slimy surface.
"I reckon, we've struck on a reef," the Captain said, anxiously. "It
all depends upon the tide whether we are safe or not. If it's low tide,
now, high tide will cover this rock so deep that we'll not be able to
hang on to it."
It soon became evident that the tide was still rising, though slowly.
The waves began sweeping over the flat rock with such violence that
the tired, wretched, anxious, little party could hardly maintain their
footing. To the right and left of them, rose other higher masses of
rock, but they did not dare to attempt to reach them through the
darkness and the boiling surf. Wet, cold, hungry, and wretched; they
clung to their insecure refuge until day began to break in the East.
With the coming of light they strained their brine-smarting eyes to
discover what manner of place it was upon which they had been thrown.
The outlook was not reassuring. They were, as the Captain had surmised,
on a point of low-lying reef, most of which was constantly wave-swept
by the monstrous surges. To the East of them, lay a low, marshy shore
dotted here and there with small islands covered with cedar hammocks,
but between them and the islands was at least two miles of foaming
water. The boys gazed wistfully at the longed-for land.
"We can't make it," Charley said, sadly. "Chris might, perhaps, be
able to swim it, but it would be a long swim for the rest of us at any
time, and, tired and weak as we are now, it would be impossible. We
will have to stick it out here until the storm goes down a bit, then,
try to fashion some kind of a raft out of the planks of the diving
boat."
"We can't be far from Judson," said the Captain, with an attempt at
cheerfulness. "A boat may come by an' pick us up any minute."
But the boys were not cheered by any such prospect. They knew that the
chance of any boat being out in such weather was very small indeed.
One fact, however, gave them a little hope; the tide was undoubtedly
falling. It had evidently been almost at its height when they had
landed on the rock.
"I wish we had something to eat," Walter sighed, "we have had nothing
but a little bread in two days. I begin to feel weak all over."
Chris gazed thoughtfully at the water on the shore-side of the rock. "I
reckon, I might find somethin' down dar," he observed. "I'se goin' to
try it anyway. You white chilluns has sho' got to hab somethin' to eat."
Although the water was somewhat smoother to the lee of the rocks,
it boiled and foamed there threateningly and the boys endeavored to
dissuade the plucky little negro from the attempt, but their objections
only made him the more determined.
"Golly! you chilluns doan know what a diver dis nigger is," he said,
proudly. "You jes' stay still an' watch him now." He removed his
clothes, handing them to Charley to hold, slipped over the side of the
rock, and sank down beneath the surface. He was gone so long that the
watchers had begun to grow anxious when he reappeared, blowing like a
porpoise. In one hand, he held tightly clenched, a big stone crab and a
large conch.
"Take 'em," he exclaimed, "I'se goin' down again. Dar's heaps more of
dem on de bottom."
He continued diving until he had brought up six more conchs and two
more crabs, then he crawled out on the rock completely exhausted, and
held up one foot for their inspection. There was a tiny puncture in the
sole of it from which the blood was slowly trickling.
"I reckon, I'se goin' to hab some trubble wid dat foot," he observed,
gravely. "Ole Mister Stingaree gib me a dig dar. He warn't much bigger
dan a plate, but der horns are powerful poison."
His announcement sent a chill of fear to the hearts of his companions,
for they all well-knew the dangerous character of the flat, horn-tailed
fish which lurks on the bottom in Florida waters. The Captain did not
lose a second in whipping out his sheath knife and cutting open the
puncture which he washed out thoroughly with sea water. He then made
Chris sit on the edge of the rock and hang his foot over in the water.
The plucky little negro bore the operation with unflinching
cheerfulness. "I sho' wish you'd open up one ob dem conch for me, Massa
Charley," he observed. "If dis ting's goin' to make me sick, I wants to
be dat much ahead."
Charley quickly broke open one of the conchs and gave him the meat,--a
big lump of tough flesh, almost sufficient for an entire meal. He also
opened several others for the Captain, Walter, and himself, upon which
they made a hearty and strengthening, if somewhat tasteless, meal.
Chris ate but little of the tough meat, he soon pushed it away from him
with a weary little sigh.
"I doan want no moah," he said, quietly. "I'ze gettin' berry sick.
Reckon ole Mister Stingaree dun got dis nigger for sho'."
His little ebony face soon took on a dull-ashen hue and he began to
vomit violently; passing from these spells into a heavy stupor, the
mysterious subtle poison from the stingaree was getting in its work.
His grieving companions watched him in helpless suspense, there was
nothing they could do to relieve his sufferings.
"We can't let him die like this," Charley cried, as the little sufferer
twitched in spasms of pain. "I am going to try to reach shore and find
help. He has taken bigger risks for us many a time."
Neither Walter or the Captain tried to stop him. They would have gladly
offered to make the attempt in his place but he was the strongest and
best swimmer of the three.
He removed his jacket and shoes and with a last good-bye, plunged off
of the rock and headed for the distant shore. He had not gone more than
twenty yards when he stopped with a cry of joy.
"Come on," he called back, "the water isn't more than three feet deep
here. There's only a deep place near the rocks and you can get across
that easily."
But he had to return to help them get Chris across the deep narrow
channel, for the little negro's struggles in his spasms threatened
to drown his helpers. At last, the dangerous stretch of water was
safely crossed, and, leaving Walter and the Captain to half float and
half carry Chris between them, the lad waded ahead, picking out the
shoalest and smoothest path to the shore. They arrived there spent and
panting and sank down for a moment to recover their breath. It was not
an inviting-looking place where they had landed. A low rock-strewn
marsh, covered with tall, rank grass stretched away before them for
two or three miles before it met the higher, heavily-wooded mainland.
Here and there the marsh was dotted with small, island-like clumps of
dark green cedar trees, and, picking up the light, little negro in his
strong, young arms, Charley headed for the nearest of these, followed
by his exhausted companions. The passage was made with difficulty; low
needle-pointed rocks strewed the way, and here and there lay pools
of soft, boggy mud, tenanted by repulsive, swollen looking moccasins.
It needed care to avoid the one without stepping on the other, but,
at last, the patch of high ground was reached and, laying his burden
beneath a wide-spreading cedar, Charley turned to his companions.
"We have got to work quick if we are to stand a chance even of saving
him," he said, crisply. "Walter, get in to the mainland as quick as
you can and bring me all the palmetto berries you can find,--hurry.
Captain, let me take your flint and steel and then get me a lot of soft
mud from the marsh."
Tired though they were, the two hastened away to execute his orders,
while Charley worked swiftly to carry out the plan he had formed while
coming ashore. It was a heroic one, but rough measures were the only
ones it was in his power to apply. Hastily gathering together a pile
of dead cedar limbs, he lit a fire with the flint and steel. While it
was blazing up, he stripped off his belt and, tying it above Chris'
knee, with a stick twisted it tight until it was embedded in the flesh,
shutting off the flow of blood from below to the heart. He next heated
a small stone in the now blazing fire and applied it while hot to the
swollen wound. The smell of the crisping flesh sickened him, but he
doggedly stuck to his task until he judged the wound was sufficiently
cauterized. Chris lay mercifully lost to the pain in a deep stupor. The
lad had just finished burning the wound when the Captain returned with
his jacket full of soft mud, and, emptying it out, hastened back for
another load. Charley heaped a lot of rocks upon the fire, and, as soon
as they were hot, ranged them close on each side of the wounded limb,
heaping the soft mud on top of them until he had formed an air-tight
mound over the leg. He now had a great poultice of hot mud of great
drawing power, the danger was that Chris might be attacked by other
spasms and succeed in working his leg out from the hot covering. To
prevent this, the lad tore his shirt up into strips and, binding the
little negro tightly, piled stones around the encased leg so that it
could not be easily moved.