CHAPTER VII
THE MEETING IN THE GLADES
"The Everglades at last!" said d.i.c.k the next morning as the rays of the rising sun fell on the waters of the Everglades in the distance and lit up the clumps of cypress and groups of palmettos that dotted the prairie before him. A little to the north and extending into the Glades was a row of willows which Johnny visited and found that it marked the course of a slough that crossed the prairie and extended far out into the Glades.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE EVERGLADES AT LAST"]
They were soon afloat in this slough, paddling toward the Everglades, but the channel which they followed was crooked and it was an hour before they reached them. The boys made their camp beside a little group of palmettos on a bit of dry ground which had often been used for that purpose. Johnny pointed to a faint line in the gra.s.s of the Glades and told d.i.c.k that it was an Indian trail.
d.i.c.k was excited at the thought that the chum he had come so far to meet might even now be in sight. When, far to the north, he saw what Johnny said was an Indian canoe with two people poling it, he could scarcely restrain himself from paddling out to meet it. The canoe came on rapidly, and d.i.c.k"s excitement increased until he began to fancy that in one of the faces that showed above the gra.s.s he could make out the features of his chum, when Johnny dashed his hopes to the ground by saying:
"Them"s Injuns. Squaws, too. B"lieve I know "em."
Then as the approaching faces showed more clearly through the tall gra.s.s:
"Sure thing. It"s Miami Billy"s girls. They"ll savvy where Charley Tommy is."
The Indian girls were poling past the canoe without appearing to see it, when Johnny spoke to them. Then the girls, who were clothed in the brightest of prints, with ma.s.ses of beads on their necks, sat down in their canoe and had a pow-wow with Johnny that was altogether unintelligible to d.i.c.k. When the girls had gone, Johnny explained:
"Squaws say: "Think so Charley Tommy not been Osceola Camp, two moons. Been Big Cypress; hunt "gator. Maybe so hunt with white man.
Not been Charley Tiger camp this moon." The girls left that camp day "fore yesterday. Only other trail from Tiger"s camp goes t" Miami.
We c"n camp right here "nd ketch "em sure."
Johnny proposed that while waiting they do some alligator hunting.
They got out their canvas and rigged up a regular camp. d.i.c.k wrote a few lines on a sc.r.a.p of paper, addressed it "Mr. Edward Barstow,"
and fastened it on a palmetto tree, in such a way that no one pa.s.sing along the trail could fail to see it. The boys then unpacked the canoe, and turning it upside down on a bit of dry land stowed their stores under it. They gathered a lot of gra.s.s for their beds, arranged for an early start in the morning, and slept dreamlessly till morning came. The hunt was to be on foot, and Johnny insisted that d.i.c.k carry the rifle, while he made up a light pack for himself of axe, frying-pan, forks and a little bacon, corn meal, bait and matches. When d.i.c.k saw Johnny"s pack, he said to him:
"Won"t we get back to-night?"
"Mebbe so, but you can"t allers tell. We might get to follerin"
sumthin and be gone two or three days. I don"t reckon we"re goin" to get lost, though we may be bothered some."
"If there"s a chance of that we haven"t got enough to eat."
"Got plenty. All we really want is a rifle, matches and salt. They"d be good for a month."
"What do you do for bread?"
"Cut the bud out of a cabbage tree."
The boys tramped across the prairie to a belt of cypress, where Johnny stopped for some minutes, looking back to study the landscape and take note of every clump of trees and bit of water in sight.
"I thought you were not afraid of getting lost," said d.i.c.k.
"I ain"t afraid. I could alters git home all right, but I"d hate to lose the canoe."
The cypress strand was swampy, and they crossed it by stepping from root to root, excepting that once, when d.i.c.k was looking at a moccasin, he made a misstep and landed in the mud, where he sank to his waist. The woods were narrow, and beyond them was a broad prairie with clumps of trees and pools of water scattered through it. As they walked and waded they crossed the tracks of many animals and birds, to most of which Johnny could give names. There were plenty of "c.o.o.ns, a few wildcats, some deer, and one bear, while between the little ponds alligators had worn regular paths.
"What"s that?" said d.i.c.k as a lizard-like creature scuttled through the gra.s.s some fifty yards in front of him.
""Gator! Shoot quick, "fore he gits t" that pond!"
d.i.c.k fired, and his bullet spattered the mud over the reptile"s back as it slid into the water.
d.i.c.k was very much chagrined at missing his quarry, but Johnny consoled him.
"I"ll git ye another shot at him. I"ll call him out o" the water, and if he don"t come I"ll take a stick an" go in there an" run him out."
Johnny stood beside the pond and grunted in imitation of a young alligator. In a few minutes two black dots appeared on the surface of the water, and, slowly rising, disclosed the eyes and the point of the nose of an alligator. Johnny grunted again, and the big mouth opened wide to take in the baby "gator which the reptile thought he heard. Then the h.o.r.n.y ridges of the back began to appear, and soon the whole body of the reptile lay on the surface. Johnny whispered to d.i.c.k:
"Shoot him in that hump behind his eyes." d.i.c.k took careful aim and fired. The alligator rolled slowly over, with its yellow belly on top and its four paws uplifted. Johnny waded into the pond and dragged out the body of the reptile, which d.i.c.k helped him skin.
When this had been done Johnny cut from the creature a round strip of white flesh, about a foot long, beginning at the hind leg and running toward the tail.
"What"s that for?" said d.i.c.k.
"Fur dinner. I told ye we"d find "nuff t" eat."
"Do yon s"pose I"m going to eat that?"
"Sure! "nd yer goin" ter like it."
"Then I wish I hadn"t helped skin it."
Just as the boys were leaving the pond they heard a little grunt, and turning around saw a baby alligator, less than two feet long, lying on the surface.
"Want ter ketch that alive?" asked Johnny.
"Can you do it?"
"I"ll show" yer."
And Johnny took off his shoes and waded into the pond. He waded about the pond, feeling in the mud with his toes until he felt the reptile, when, slipping his toes under it he lifted his foot suddenly and brought the alligator near enough to the surface to be able to seize him. d.i.c.k was delighted with the captive, but was frank enough to say:
"Johnny, I said once that I could learn to do anything that you could. I take that back. I couldn"t learn to do what you did then in a thousand years."
Johnny laughed and said:
"You"d do it this afternoon, and I"ll bet on it."
Johnny tied a string around the jaws of their little pet and handed it to d.i.c.k, who carried the wiggly thing so awkwardly that Johnny took it back and, opening the bosom of his shirt, put the alligator where he would have a soft bed and plenty of room to prowl around.
"That"s another thing I"d be scared to do," said d.i.c.k.
Johnny led the way to a clump of palmettos beside a clear little spring and a nice shady bit of ground, where they made a camp-fire, after driving away a family of moccasins that seemed to own the place. A slice of alligator steak, nicely browned, was served on a palmetto fan to d.i.c.k, who nibbled squeamishly at the delicate morsel at first, but soon handed back his leafy plate for another helping.
"Wouldn"t have believed it," said d.i.c.k, "but I never tasted any better meat."
"Wait till I cook ye a rattler. That beats fried chicken."