A week later the party of five (for both Molly and d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k had been elected engineer and Molly chief cook, with Ned as a.s.sistant. 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 a.s.sented; said that he had been wondering where he could sleep his cook when it rained; that d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k, 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 d.i.c.k about that manatee ghost. Now, if you will let d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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? d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "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 sh.o.r.e to keep out of the way of their enemies. They had a lot of fun, but caught no crabs, until d.i.c.k went back to the _Irene_ for a scoop-net and a bucket, which he soon filled with the crustaceans. Molly had never before seen sh.e.l.l-fish growing on trees, so d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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 sh.e.l.ls, while d.i.c.k 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.
d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k"s place at the oar in the skiff, where d.i.c.k remained as a pa.s.senger. 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 d.i.c.k 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 "c.o.o.ns 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, d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "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.
d.i.c.k 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 d.i.c.k at the wheel and Mr.
Barstow and Molly as pa.s.sengers, 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-gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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 d.i.c.k.
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 gra.s.s 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 sh.o.r.e, 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.
d.i.c.k 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, "d.i.c.k 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 n.o.body 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 d.i.c.k and I are in command for two days more."