So about eleven o"clock the boys set out eagerly. As they were going Blackhawk called to the others, "First to carry out his job wins a _grand coup_!"
"Let the three leaders stake their scalps," said the Woodp.e.c.k.e.r.
"All right. First winner home gets a scalp from each of the others and saves his own."
"Say, boys, you better take along; your hull outfit, some grub an"
your blankets," was the Medicine Man"s last suggestion. "You may have to stay out all night."
Yan would rather have had Sam along, but that couldn"t be, and Peetweet proved a good fellow, though rather slow. They soon left the high ground and came to the bog--flat and seemingly endless and with a few tall Tamaracks. There were some Cedar-birds catching Flies on the tall tree-tops, and a single Flycatcher was calling out: "_Whoit--whoit--whoit!_" Yan did not know until long after that it was the Olive-side. A Sparrow-hawk sailed over, and later a Bald Eagle with a Sparrow-hawk in hot and noisy pursuit. But the most curious thing was the surface of the bog. The spongy stretch of moss among the scattering Tamaracks was dotted with great ma.s.ses of Pitcher Plant, and half concealed by the curious leaves were thousands of Droserae, or fly-eating plants, with their traps set to secure their prey.
The bog was wonderful, but very bad walking. The boys sank knee-deep in the soft moss, and as they went farther, steering only by the sun, they found the moss sank till their feet reached the water below and they were speedily wet to the knees. Yan cut for each a long pole to carry in the hand; in case the bog gave way this would save them from sinking. After two miles of this Peetweet wanted to go back, but was scornfully suppressed by Little Beaver.
Shortly afterward they came to a sluggish little stream in the bog with a peculiar red-and-yellow sc.u.m along its banks. It was deep and soft-bottomed. Yan tried it with the pole--did not dare to wade, so they walked along its course till they found a small tree lying from bank to bank, then crossed on this. Half a mile farther on the bog got dryer, and a ma.s.s of green ahead marked one of the islands of high land. Over this they pa.s.sed quickly, keeping the northwest course.
They now had a succession of small bogs and large islands. The sun was hot here and Peetweet was getting tired. He was thirsty, too, and persisted in drinking the swamp water whenever he found a hole.
"Say, Peetweet, you"ll suffer for that if you don"t quit; that water isn"t fit to drink unless you boil it."
But Peetweet complained of burning thirst and drank recklessly. After two hours" tramp he was very tired and wanted to turn back. Yan sought a dry island and then gathered sticks for a fire, but found all the matches they had were soaking wet with wading through the bog.
Peetweet was much upset by this, not on account of fire now, but in case they should be out all night.
"You wait and see what an Indian does," said Little Beaver. He sought for a dried Balsam Fir, cut the rubbing-sticks, made a bow of a slightly bent branch, and soon had a blazing fire, to Peter"s utter amazement, for he had never seen the trick of making a fire by rubbing-sticks.
After drinking some tea and eating a little, Pete felt more encouraged.
"We have travelled more than six miles now, I reckon," said the Chief; "an hour longer and we shall be in sight of the forest if there is one," and Yan led off across swamps more or less open and islands of burned timber.
Pete began to be appalled by the distance they were putting between them and their friends. "What if we should get lost? They never could find us."
"We won"t get lost," said Yan in some impatience; "and if we did, what of it? We have only to keep on straight north or south for four or five hours and we reach some kind of a settlement."
After an hour"s tramp northeast they came to an island with a tall tree that had branches right to the ground. Yan climbed up. A vast extent of country lay all about him--open flat bogs and timber islands, and on far ahead was a long, dark ma.s.s of solid ever-green--surely the forest he sought. Between him and it he saw water sparkling.
"Oh, Pete, you ought to be up here," he shouted joyfully; "it"s worth the climb to see this view."
"I"d rather see our own back-yard," grumbled Pete.
Yan came down, his face aglow with pleasure, and exclaimed: "It"s close to, now! I saw the Pine woods. Just off there."
"How far?"
"Oh, a couple of miles, at most."
"That"s what you have been saying all along."
"Well, I saw it this time; and there is water out there. I saw that, too."
He tramped on, and in half an hour they came to the water, a deep, clear, slow stream, fringed with scrub willows, covered with lily-pads, and following the middle of a broad, boggy flat. Yan had looked for a pond, and was puzzled by the stream. Then it struck him.
"Caleb said there was only one big stream through this swamp. This must be it. This is Beaver River."
The stream was barely forty feet across, but it was clearly out of the question to find a pole for a bridge, so Yan stripped off, put all his things in a bundle, and throwing them over, swam after them. Pete had to come now or be left.
As they were dressing on the northern side there was a sudden loud "_Bang--swish_!" A torrent of water was thrown in the air, with lily-pads broken from their mooring, the water pattered down, the wavelets settled, and the boys stood in astonishment to see what strange animal had made this disturbance; but nothing more of it was seen, and the mystery remained unsolved.
Then Yan heard a familiar "_Quack!_" down the stream. He took his bow and arrow, while Pete sat gloomily on a hummock. As soon as he peered through the rushes in a little bay he saw three Mallard close at hand. He waited till two were in line, then fired, killing one instantly, and the others flew away. The breeze wafted it within reach of a stick, and he seized it and returned in triumph to Pete, but found him ready to cry. "I want to go home!" he said miserably. The sight of the Mallard cheered him a little, and Yan said: "Come now, Pete, don"t spoil everything, there"s a good fellow. Brace up, and if I don"t show you the Pine woods in twenty minutes I"ll turn and take you home."
As soon as they got to the next island they saw the Pine wood--a solid green bank not half a mile away, and the boys gave a little cheer, and felt, no doubt, as Mungo Park did when first he sighted the Niger. In fifteen minutes they were walking in its dry and delightful aisles.
"Now we"ve won," said Yan, "whatever the others do, and all that remains is to get back."
"I"m awfully tired," said Pete; "let"s rest awhile."
Yan looked at his watch. "It"s four o"clock. I think we"d better camp for the night."
"Oh, no; I want to go home. It looks like rain."
It certainly did, but Yan replied, "Well, let"s eat first." He delayed as much as possible so as to compel the making of a camp, and the rain came unexpectedly, before he even had a fire. Yet to his own delight and Peter"s astonishment he quickly made a rubbing-stick fire, and they hung up their wet clothes about it. Then he dug an Indian well and took lots of time in the preparation, so it was six o"clock before they began to eat, and seven when finished--evidently too late to move out even though the rain seemed to be over. So Yan collected firewood, made a bed of Fir boughs and a windbreak of bushes and bark. The weather was warm, and with the fire and two blankets they pa.s.sed a comfortable night. They heard their old friend the Horned Owl, a Fox barked his querulous "_Yap-yurr!_" close at hand, and once or twice they were awakened by rustling footsteps in the leaves, but slept fairly well.
At dawn Yan was up. He made a fire and heated some water for tea. They had very little bread left, but the Mallard was untouched.
Yan cleaned it, rolled it in wet clay, hid it in the ashes and covered it with glowing coals. This is an Indian method of cooking, but Yan had not fully mastered it. In half an hour he opened his clay pie and found the Duck burned on one side and very raw on the other. Part of it was good, however, so he called his companion to breakfast. Pete sat up white-faced and miserable, evidently a sick boy. Not only had he caught cold, but he was upset by the swamp water he had taken. He was paying the penalty of his indiscretion. He ate a little and drank some tea, then felt better, but clearly was unable to travel that day.
Now for the first time Yan felt a qualm of fear. Separated by a dozen miles of swamp from all help, what could he do with a sick boy? He barked a small dead tree with a knife, then on the smooth surface wrote with a pencil, "Yan Yeoman and Pete Boyle camped here August 10, 18--"
He made Pete comfortable by the fire, and, looking for tracks, he found that during the night two Deer had come nearly into the camp; then he climbed a high tree and scanned the southern horizon for a smoke sign. He saw none there, but to the northwest, beyond some shining yellow hills, he discovered a level plain dotted over with black Fir clumps; from one of these smoke went up, and near it were two or three white things like teepees.
Yan hurried down to tell Pete the good news, but when he confessed that it was two miles farther from home Pete had no notion of going to the Indian camp; so Yan made a smoke fire, and knife-blazing the saplings on two sides as he went, he set out alone for the Indian camp. Getting there in half an hour, he found two log shanties and three teepees. As he came near he had to use a stick to keep off the numerous Dogs. The Indians proved shy, as usual, to White visitors.
Yan made some signs that he had learned from Caleb. Pointing to himself, he held up two fingers--meaning that he was two. Then he pointed to the Pine woods and made sign of the other lying down, and added the hungry sign by pressing in his stomach with the edges of the hands, meaning "I am cut in two here." The Chief Indian offered him a Deer-tongue, but did not take further interest. Yan received it thankfully, made a hasty sketch of the camp, and returned to find Pete much better, but thoroughly alarmed at being so long alone. He was able and anxious now to go back. Yan led off, carrying all the things of the outfit, and his comrade followed slowly and peevishly. When they came to the river, Pete held back in fear, believing that the loud noise they had heard was made by some monster of the deep, who would seize them.
Yan was certain it could be only an explosion of swamp gas, and forced Pete to swim across by setting the example. What the cause really was they never learned.
They travelled very fast now for a time. Pete was helped by the knowledge that he was really going home. A hasty lunch of Deer-tongue delayed them but little. At three they sighted Caleb"s smoke signal, and at four they burst into camp with yells of triumph.
Caleb fired off his revolver, and Turk bayed his ba.s.so profundo full-cry Fox salute. All the others had come back the night before.
Sam said he had "gone ten mile and never got a sight of that blamed river." Guy swore they had gone forty miles, and didn"t believe there was any such river.
"What kind o" country did you see?"
"Nothin" but burned land and rocks."
"H-m, you went too far west--was runnin" parallel with Beaver River."
"Now, Blackhawk, give an account of yourself to Little Beaver," said Woodp.e.c.k.e.r. "Did you two win out?"
"Well," replied the Boiler Chief, "if Hawkeye travelled forty miles, we must have gone sixty. We pointed straight north for three hours and never saw a thing but bogs and islands of burned timber--never a sign of a plain or of Indians. I don"t believe there are any."
"Did you see any sandhills?" asked Little Beaver.
"No."