"Now go ahead and harpoon your fish and I"ll show you how to keep a canoe trimmed. What you really need is a scow," said Ned.
"If I couldn"t throw a harpoon over the side of a canoe without going over the other side myself, I"d give up fishing and try farming. Now just paddle softly in the wake of that big fin. Know what it is? I thought not. Well, it"s the bayonet fin of the tarpon, my son, and if you"ll paddle quietly and stay inside the boat, you shall have the fun of your life."
The tarpon was tame, and Ned paddled within twenty feet of it without frightening it, but d.i.c.k made a poor shot. The back of a tarpon is narrow and a small mark for a harpoon when thrown from behind the fish, and d.i.c.k"s weapon grazed its side, while the pole fell across the back of the tarpon, causing it to give one wild leap and depart for regions unknown. d.i.c.k was now out for tarpon, and paid no attention to smaller fish, many of which came within striking distance. Tarpon were scarce that day, and d.i.c.k"s next chance was an hour in coming, and then the fish happened to be headed for the canoe. The boy had not learned the difficulty of throwing an iron through the coat of mail of a tarpon excepting from abaft the beam of the fish, and he drew in his harpoon with a beautiful four-inch scale fixed on its point.
"Take the harpoon, Ned. I couldn"t hit a house."
"Yes, you could. You hit that tarpon. Only trouble was, you didn"t know where to hit it. Keep on practicing. You said I"d have the fun of my life, and I"m having it."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE STRICKEN TARPON LEAPED SIX FEET IN THE AIR"]
Half an hour later d.i.c.k made a beautiful, long throw of nearly thirty feet, and the stricken tarpon leaped six feet in the air. For two hundred yards the frantic fish towed the canoe in a straight line, at a high rate of speed, and then began a series of leaps in the air. Some of these were long jumps which barely cleared the surface of the water, while others were from eight to ten feet vertically upward. The tarpon then darted away in a new direction, blistering d.i.c.k"s hands as the line tore through them. For a quarter of an hour the drag of the canoe made little difference in the speed of the tarpon, but then it began to slacken and d.i.c.k was able to pull the canoe up beside the fish, which gave a leap and a sweep of its tail that drenched both of the boys and, if the tarpon had been a foot nearer, would have wrecked their craft. Again the creature dashed away, getting back most of the line that d.i.c.k had taken in.
Once more the fish weakened, and the canoe was drawn up beside it, and once more it sprang in the air and dashed away. But with each fresh effort the tarpon became weaker, until d.i.c.k said to Ned:
"He"s about played out. Better take the gaff next time I get near him and see if you can land him in the canoe."
"No," replied Ned, "he"s your tarpon and you can gaff him yourself.
He"ll capsize the canoe when he comes aboard and I want to be ready to swim."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE TARPON BEGAN A SERIES OF LEAPS"]
d.i.c.k drew the canoe beside the tarpon and, dropping the harpoon-line, held the handle of the big gaff-hook in both hands, ready to strike. But the fish saw the uplifted weapon and sheered away, swimming with renewed vigor, and d.i.c.k had to work for another half hour before his quarry was quiet enough for the blow. This delay was fortunate for the boys, since it left the tarpon too tired to struggle. When d.i.c.k sank the steel gaff deep in the throat of the Silver King and dragged it over the side of the frail canoe, Ned sat in the bottom of the craft with a hand on each gunwale, ready to balance the boat or swim, as events might indicate.
The boys took a lot of the big silver scales as souvenirs and then slid the body of the tarpon into the bay, where it was soon devoured by a couple of wandering sharks.
CHAPTER XI
GHOSTS AND ALLIGATORS
The boys spent a day exploring the bay to the east and south, finding but a single creek, which lost itself in the jungle after wandering a few miles.
"I don"t believe we can get through this way," said d.i.c.k to his chum, as they were resting, after an hour of hard work, cutting away branches of trees and dragging the canoe. "Mr. Streeter told me that the Indians say there is no creek between the bays at the head of Broad River, where we are, and the rivers south of it. Suppose we work our way to the mouth of this river and then follow the coast down to Harney"s, which is the next river south of us and the longest one in South Florida."
"All right, and we can explore that big creek running west from the foot of this bay, which we saw yesterday."
The boys found the creek to be deep with swift water, but so crooked that a snake would have had to slow up to get through it. After two miles of paddling, which advanced them about half a mile, they found themselves in a broad smooth-flowing river, the most beautiful stream they had ever seen. The big trees on the banks were clothed with airplants, draped with long, flowing gray moss and garlanded with flowering and sweet-scented vines. Sometimes an opening in the forest showed broad savannahs, or prairies, or disclosed groups of tall palmettos or magnificent royal palms, the grandest tree that grows. The water was mirror-like, and the great trees, capped by a ma.s.s of white clouds in the blue of the heavens, were repeated below in a reflection that was perfect. The boys paddled for a long time, silent as if in a dream, when Ned spoke in a voice so low that his companion could scarcely hear what he said:
"Does it make you think of Heaven, d.i.c.k?"
"Guess it does; only," added d.i.c.k, in a louder tone, "it will make you think of the other place, pretty soon."
"What do you mean?"
"It"s a deserted river. Only ghosts stay here. The plantations are grown over, the houses rotting and little sticks in the ground tell where the old owners are. The climate is so bad that skull and bone notices grow on the trees. Then things happen. People eat something and die, or fall out of their boats and drown, or go out in the woods and stay till the buzzards find them. Oh, but it"s the peaceful, lovely Rodgers River!"
"Why, where did you hear all that, d.i.c.k?"
"From Mr. Streeter. He talked a lot and I didn"t forget much that he said. Then Johnny had heard the talk of convicts, and others who ought to have been, and told me about them almost in a whisper, for fear somebody would hear him."
"There"s a rotting old shack, now, by that date palm. Are you afraid of ghosts?"
"No, rather like "em. I wouldn"t mind camping with them for a day or two, with you for company."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "GROUPS OF TALL PALMETTOS, OR MAGNIFICENT TALL PALMS"]
The house looked too spooky and snaky to live in, and the boys made their camp in the open, near a tamarind tree and, as they observed later, beside an overgrown grave. An old barrel under the eaves of the house was nearly full of rain water, which they were likely to need, since their only supply of fresh water was contained in a five-gallon can, which would hold about two days" requirements. The rain water was good and would have been better but for Ned"s gruesome inquiry:
"You don"t suppose it has been poisoned, do you, d.i.c.k?"
On their first afternoon the boys crossed the swampy jungle in the rear of the old plantation and found themselves on a typical South Florida prairie. On it were oases of fire-blackened palmettos, little ponds, palmetto scrub and bits of soggy meadow, in which they often sank to their knees, as they plodded across them. There were tracks of wild animals in the meadows and regular trails of alligators between the ponds. Billy stopped beside one of the ponds and grunted, as he had been taught by Johnny, until a little "gator showed his head.
"See that alligator, Ned? Let"s go in there and fetch him out."
"Not much do I go in that mud-hole, alligator or no alligator."
"Then, just you watch me," said d.i.c.k, as he took off his shoes and stockings.
"See here, d.i.c.ky boy, come out of there," said Ned.
But d.i.c.k kept on, wading all round the pond before he felt the wiggle he wanted. Perhaps his toes were less tough than Johnny"s, or maybe he didn"t manage them as well, for one of them got in a baby "gator"s mouth. d.i.c.k couldn"t suppress a yell as two rows of needle-like teeth sunk into his flesh, and he jerked his foot away so violently that he lost the chance of bagging his game. Then Ned came floundering through the mud and almost dragged him out of the pond.
"I mean to get that little alligator if it takes all day, only I won"t try him barefoot again," said d.i.c.k, as he slowly drew his stocking over his aching toe.
d.i.c.k waded out into the pond again and for half an hour explored with his feet for the reptile he was after, but all in vain. Several times he thought he touched the creature with his shoe, but could not be sure. Then he waded ash.o.r.e and began taking off his shoes.
"What are you going to do now, d.i.c.k?" said Ned.
"Johnny waded barefoot into just such a pond as that and brought out a "gator. I told him then that what he could do, I could. I"m plumb scared to go in that pond barefoot, but that young Cracker, who"s a year younger than I, waded right in without stopping to think whether it was safe or not. If Johnny was here he"d have that "gator out of that pond, toes or no toes, and that"s what I"m going to do,"
and d.i.c.k waded barefoot into the pond again and began feeling around in the mud with his toes.
"If you feel that way about it, I"m with you, d.i.c.k," said Ned, as he began to take off his shoes. But before he reached the water the reptile had been caught, and d.i.c.k waded ash.o.r.e with the wriggling little alligator in his hand.
"There"s a bigger one in there. He whacked me on the shin with his tail, just after I caught the little one. Let"s get him."
The boys waded side by side, the length of the pond, several times without finding another "gator, although the occasional roiling of the water showed that there were others in the pond. They were about to give up the hunt when something struck Ned"s leg and, grabbing suddenly at the thing, he found that he had a five-foot alligator by the head. He held the jaws of the "gator shut while d.i.c.k seized the hind legs of the reptile, and together they carried the creature ash.o.r.e.
"I wonder where that fellow was hidden," said d.i.c.k, after the alligator had been safely tied. "My toes have felt in every inch of the mud in the bottom of that pond. Maybe there"s another one. Let"s get him," and d.i.c.k started into the pond.
"Wait till I get some clubs and I"ll be with you. There may be a big "gator in there who wouldn"t be satisfied with a toe."
It was well they had clubs when they went back in the pond, for after a few minutes" searching, d.i.c.k struck something, and the tail of a reptile came to the surface beside him. As he grabbed it with both hands, and hung on with all his strength, a long body curved upward from it, a big head was uplifted, and two rows of ivory teeth gleamed from wide-opened jaws before d.i.c.k"s eyes. Before the boy could move or the beast strike, Ned"s club came crashing down on the reptile"s head. As the jaws closed and the head fell back, a second and yet more furious blow fell upon it. As they dragged the stunned or dead "gator out of the pond, Ned said:
"I"m going to round-skin this alligator and save the skull, for mounting. I"ll keep it in my den as a reminder of this trip and of you."