Читать книгу: «Bobby Blake on a Plantation: or, Lost in the Great Swamp», страница 7

CHAPTER XIX
IN DESPERATE PERIL

Bobby stood the first watch, Fred the second, and Lee the last. Nothing of any importance occurred during the night, although the swamp all around them seemed teeming with life. Above the croaking of frogs and the hum of night insects there rose at times a strange bellowing noise, that sent shivers creeping over Bobby and Fred, and which they were at a loss to explain. But next morning Lee told them the source of the strange noise.

“What you heard were alligators,” said Lee. “There are lots of them in this swamp, and we’ve got to look out for them. They’re pretty fierce, and they’ll attack anything under the sun.”

“Gee!” said Bobby, “if I had known that, I think I’d have spent the night up a tree. I could hear one pretty close while I was keeping the fire going, too.”

“Probably he was attracted by the light of the fire,” said Lee. “But I don’t think they’d bother any one on land, as a rule. But they’ll tackle anything in the water, and if they once get a grip with those pointed teeth of theirs, its all over for the one that’s caught. The alligator just drags him down under the surface, waits until he’s drowned and then drags him up on the nearest sandbank and swallows him at his leisure.”

“That’s fine – for the alligator,” muttered Fred, with a slight shiver which was not all the result of the clinging mist. “I don’t think I’ll do much swimming while we’re in this swamp.”

“I’d advise you not to,” said Lee. “I sure hate ’gators, but just the same I wouldn’t mind finding a few of their eggs for breakfast.”

“Eggs!” exclaimed Bobby and Fred together.

“Certainly,” said Lee, laughing at their amazed look. “I don’t care for them much as a rule, but one or two now wouldn’t be half bad.”

“Good-night!” exclaimed Fred. “What do they taste like, anyway?”

“Oh, they’re not so bad. They have a rather unpleasant musky taste, but if you’re hungry enough you don’t mind that. The darkeys think they’re fine, and spend a lot of time hunting them out.”

“Where do you find the eggs?” inquired Fred.

“The ’gators dig out holes in the sand or mud, fill them with eggs, and then cover the whole thing over with more sand,” said Lee. “After a while the heat of the sun hatches out the eggs, and then the mother ’gator takes charge of the little fellows and protects them until they’re big enough to take care of themselves.”

“Well, I feel hungry enough now to eat an alligator egg omelet,” said Bobby. “I think we’d better get started, and maybe we’ll run across one of those cute little nests Lee was telling us about.”

After eating the last of the fish they had caught the day before, the boys started out, intending to follow the river as nearly as possible. But they soon found that the ground kept getting softer at every step they took, and were forced to bear away from the stream, although still keeping as near as possible to the right direction. Lee was more experienced than the other boys in the matter of making progress over this kind of treacherous footing, and he took the lead. On every side dark pools of water oozed up through the quaking ground. Here and there tussocks of grass had formed, and these offered the only footing to be had at all. Even these were very soft and shaky, and it was necessary to leap continually from one to the other in order to avoid sinking in. At rare intervals some larger hillock then, usual would give the boys a chance to rest a few minutes and get their breath, and it was on one of these that they paused at last, panting and tired.

“Gee!” exclaimed Bobby, as he mopped at his streaming face. “A mile of this is worse than ten miles on hard ground.”

“Harder, and a lot more dangerous,” agreed Lee, soberly. “One fall into one of those green pools and you’d be done for. It would suck you down so fast that nothing could save you.”

The heat was growing intense, and, aided by the rank steam that ascended from the rotting vegetation, seemed almost unbearable. But the boys knew that they had to keep on, because if darkness found them before they reached some firmer ground, their fate would be sealed. After nightfall they would be almost certain to fall into one of the green and stagnant pools and be sucked down to a horrible death.

Even as the boys tried to rest and get their breath, they could feel their feet slowly sinking into the muddy grass, and as they lifted their feet pools of water formed in the depressions left by them.

“Guess it’s a case of ‘keep moving,’” said Fred, as one foot sank in to his ankles and he pulled it out with difficulty. “This swamp is the last place in the world I’d pick for a hike if I had my choice.”

“There’s no choice about this,” said Bobby, setting his lips grimly. “We’re here, and we’ve got to get out just as soon as we can. Let’s go!”

Somewhat rested by their brief halt, they started on again. Suddenly Lee, who was ahead, shouted a warning.

“We can’t get any farther this way!” he cried, as Bobby and Fred caught up with him, and he pointed ahead. The boys saw a large stagnant pond, covered with green scum, from which protruded the rotting trunks of trees. At intervals around the bank lay what appeared to be other logs, but even as they looked, one of these seeming logs stirred, and crawling slowly through the ooze, flopped into the water with a loud splash.

“We’re blocked, sure enough,” said Bobby. “We’ll have to go back and try some fresh path.”

“Looks that way,” assented Lee. “And I hope we find some bit of solid ground soon, fellows, because I’m pretty near all in. I can’t go much further.”

For the first time the boys realized the deadly danger in which they stood. The strenuous exertions necessary to keep away from being swallowed up by the black mud, the terrific heat, and the deadly gases that rose continually from the rotting vegetable matter, were all combining to sap their strength. And if that once gave out they realized there was no alternative but death in the clinging, suffocating mud.

Bobby felt his own heart sink, but he showed nothing of this in his manner as he said: “Ah, we’ll be all right in a little while, Lee. We’re bound to hit dry ground pretty soon. Keep a stiff upper lip and we’ll get through right enough.”

“Well, you’d better set the pace, and I’ll do my best to keep up,” returned the Southern boy.

Accordingly, Bobby started off, followed by Lee, with Fred last. Bobby had become somewhat used to picking his way over the grass tussocks by this time, and in addition he seemed to have a sort of instinct which, told him what path to take and which to avoid. Under his guidance they made better progress, and after a time Fred remarked:

“I may be only dreaming, but it seems to me that the ground is getting a little firmer. What do you fellows think?”

“I reckon it is,” panted Lee. “I’ve heard the darkeys say there was an island in the swamp somewhere, and maybe we’re getting near it.”

Sure enough, they soon spied higher ground ahead of them, with some trees growing on it. The sight gave them fresh courage, and they struggled gamely on, until at last came a time when they could put foot to ground without feeling it sink into slimy mud.

CHAPTER XX
THE ALLIGATOR’S JAWS

“Thank Heaven,” gasped Lee, as the three boys threw themselves down and lay panting in the grateful shade of a big tree. “I’m all in. I couldn’t possibly have gone half a mile more.”

“I guess we’re about as bad,” said Fred. “I’m willing to admit that I was never so near the end of my rope. Any one would have thought you knew this island was here, Bobby, from the way you headed for it.”

“It was just a guess,” declared Bobby. “I figured that probably if we got further away from the river the ground might be less swampy and it would pay us to go in that direction even if we were getting farther from home.”

“We wouldn’t have got there very fast the way I was heading you anyway,” said Lee. “Poor mother will be terribly worried about us.”

“Yes,” agreed Bobby soberly, “that’s the trouble; when, we fellows get into trouble of any kind, our mothers suffer more over it than we do.”

In a short time they had recovered a good deal from their strenuous exertions, and now all three found themselves ravenously hungry. But to feel hungry and to satisfy that hunger were two very different things, as they soon discovered. They had read of people marooned on islands in the ocean, but in every such case there had seemed to be a convenient flock of goats or a handy beach strewn with shellfish. But after the boys had thoroughly ransacked their island, they found no such convenient supply. The place was only about a quarter of a mile across, hemmed in on every side with brown water and black mud.

Luckily, however, they had hung onto their fishing rods, and they had no difficulty in digging up a plentiful supply of worms in the rich earth. Fred was the first to get a bite, and he reeled in the fish as fast as he could, being much too eager to see the fish toasting over a fire to make any attempt to “play” him. It was not long before they had four small fish, and these they proceeded to clean and kill without wasting any time over it.

“Scubbity-yow!” exclaimed Fred, as he bit into the delicious morsel, “I never knew a fish could taste so good. These fellows are only samples. We’ll have to get busy and catch about a hundred more before I’ll feel satisfied.”

“If you’ll eat a hundred, I’ll catch them for you,” laughed Bobby.

“And I’ll clean them and cook them for you,” seconded Lee.

“All right, go ahead and start in,” said Fred, but the others were not to be taken in so easily.

“No, you don’t,” laughed Bobby. “You get busy and catch some yourself. I’ll bet you couldn’t eat two more to save your life.”

“Well, I’d have a lot of fun trying, anyway,” said Fred, regretfully. “But if you fellows are too lazy to catch fish for me, I suppose I’ll have to do it myself.”

“Looks a lot that way,” agreed Lee, as he cast his line into the water. “You’d better hurry, too, before Bobby and I have them all out.”

They caught and ate fish until they could eat no more, and then lay down in the shade to rest.

“This might be worse, I suppose,” said Bobby, chewing reflectively on a long blade of grass. “A couple of hours ago it would have seemed like Heaven to us.”

“It isn’t so bad here,” said Lee, “but we can’t stay here forever, and after we leave we’ll be as badly off as we were before.”

“Likely,” admitted Bobby, “but then, on the other hand, it doesn’t seem possible we’ll strike anything worse than we went through this morning, anyway.”

“Oh, cut out worrying about the future,” broke in Fred. “For my part, I’ve had enough to eat – although I’ll admit a steady fish diet is beginning to get tiresome – and I’ve got a soft and shady place to lie where I can hear the little birdies singing. So why worry, say I.”

“Yes,” said Lee, scornfully, “and you can hear the pretty alligators singing, too, if you listen hard. Not to mention the mosquitoes and bull-frogs.”

“Better let him be cheerful while he can, Lee,” said Bobby. “He’ll soon forget how happy he is after we get started again.”

“Well, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for, anyway,” contended Fred. “Suppose we’d all been as fat as Pee Wee, and had to go hopping through this everlasting swamp like – like – ”

“Like turkeys on a hot stove?” suggested Lee.

“That seems to about cover it.” said Fred, with a laugh, “even if it isn’t very complimentary to us. But as I was saying, if we’d all been as fat as Pee Wee, we’d never have got here at all. This swamp was never intended for heavyweights.”

“I don’t think it was ever intended for any kind of human being,” said Lee.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Bobby. “It strikes me that this would be an ideal place to put Ap Plunkit and Ben Tompkins, for instance.”

“Wow!” yelled Fred, delightedly. “You certainly had an idea that time, Bobby. And while we’re at it, why not Sandy Jackson and his friend, Snath? Seems to me they’d fit in pretty well, too.”

“Come to think of it, though,” said Bobby, with a serious air, “don’t you think it would be playing it rather low down on the poor alligators! What have they ever done to us that we should wish that bunch on them?”

“Perhaps you’re right,” conceded Fred. “I hadn’t thought of that before. But I guess some of those big fellows we saw this morning are able to take care of themselves.”

“I don’t know who those fellows are you’re talking about, except Snath,” said Lee, “but if they’re any meaner than alligators, I don’t want to know anything about them. They’re the meanest things alive, I think.”

“Speaking of ’gators reminds me,” said Bobby, “why not try and locate some of those eggs you were telling us about, Lee? A little change of diet wouldn’t do us any harm.”

“All right, let’s look for some,” said Lee, springing to his feet, “that is, if Fred isn’t having too good a time doing nothing to be disturbed.”

“No rest for the wicked,” groaned Fred, scrambling to his feet. “Lead on, Lee, I’m with you.”

The three boys followed around the shore, looking for a sandy beach, which, as Lee told them, was the most likely place to find the eggs. Lee had cut himself a sharp stick, and when they had at last found a sandy place, he stuck this into the sand at intervals, afterwards examining the end to see if it had found a nest. After quite a time spent in fruitless proddings, he at last met with success. The end of the stick came up dripping yellow.

“Here’s a nest!” he shouted. “Dig in, fellows and we’ll soon have all we want.”

Suiting the action to the word, he began scooping up the sand with his hands, and Bobby and Fred followed suit. In a short time they had uncovered a small heap of alligator eggs, each one about the size of a goose’s egg. Absorbed in their find, they had no thought of danger, until suddenly Bobby, chancing to glance up, gave a wild yell of warning. Springing to their feet, Fred and Lee saw a huge alligator, measuring a good fifteen feet, almost on top of them, great jaws gaping and small, vicious eyes snapping wickedly!

CHAPTER XXI
A TERRIBLE MOMENT

All three boys jumped for safety, but Fred’s ankle turned in the soft sand, and he fell, striking his head against a stone as he went down. Stunned, he lay an easy prey for the alligator, that made for him with all the speed of which it was capable.

For a brief second Bobby and Lee stood rooted in their tracks, appalled at the horrible menace to their friend. Then, quick as a flash, Bobby leaped toward the ugly monster, picking up the stick Lee had been using for hunting eggs.

The alligator was not ten feet from Fred when Bobby leaped in front of it, and using the stick as a club, dealt the ferocious brute a stinging blow on the end of its snout. The vicious little eyes blinked, but the monster did not stop. Again Bobby struck, with all the strength of his sinewy young arm. The great jaws snapped wickedly, but the alligator could not stand this severe pain in the only sensitive part of his anatomy, and it stopped a moment, glaring at this presumptuous human who looked so small and yet could hurt so much. Following up his advantage, Bobby struck again, and at the same second Lee dashed in and, exerting all his strength, lifted Fred in his arms and staggered off with him.

The alligator, infuriated at being thus deprived of its prey, made a wild lunge at Bobby, who tried to land another effective blow on the sensitive snout. But this time he missed, and the big reptile caught the stick in its jaws, snapping it to splinters. Bobby was thrown off his balance and nearly followed the stick, but recovered his poise just in time, for the alligator turned with surprising agility and slashed at him with its heavy tail. Had that deadly blow reached its mark Bobby’s career would have ended. He could not recover his balance in time to run, but as the powerful tail whizzed toward him he seized the only chance left him, and leaped clear over it. The alligator never got another chance at him, for when he landed he was off like a shot after his chums. The alligator followed him for a few steps, but apparently saw that it was hopeless to try to catch him, and turning, dragged itself down to the water, which it entered with a sullen splash.

Bobby, seeing this over his shoulder, slowed down and called to Lee, who laid Fred on the ground and started trying to revive him. By the time Bobby arrived Fred had opened his eyes, and now, with Lee’s help, he made shift to sit up.

“What happened to me?” he inquired, feebly.

“Not near as much as almost happened to you,” said Bobby. “You came pretty near waking up inside an alligator. But how do you feel now, Fred?” and he knelt beside his chum to examine a bad looking cut just over his temple.

“Oh, a little dizzy but I guess I can still sit up and take notice,” said Fred, with a weak grin. “I remember falling now, and I suppose I must have knocked my head on something. What happened after that?”

“Oh, nothing much,” said Bobby. “I took the alligator’s attention off you, and Lee toted you away to a safer place than the neighborhood of that nest. I’ve got an idea that must have been the owner of those eggs that attacked us.”

“The way you tell it, it doesn’t seem like much, but I’ve got an idea you and Lee saved my life,” said Fred.

“Oh well, we only did what you would have done for either of us if we had been down and out,” said Bobby, “so let’s forget about it. The worst part of it is we’re as far as ever from having alligator egg omelet.”

“Well, let’s go back and get them, then,” said Fred coolly, getting to his feet. “My head still feels a little funny, but anyway I can keep a look-out, while you two get the eggs. We won’t be caught napping this time, and I guess we can run faster than any ’gator.”

“I like your nerve, anyway!” exclaimed Lee, “Here you’ve been within an ace of being gobbled up by that ugly brute, and still you want to go back and have another try at her precious eggs. Likely enough she’ll get you for good this time.”

“I’m game to try it, anyway,” said Bobby. “But I don’t think you’d better come, Fred. That was a pretty bad crack you got, and you’d better wait here while we try it.”

“Not a bit of it,” protested Fred. “I feel all right now, and I’m going to have alligator eggs for supper if I have to go for them alone.”

“All right then, back we go,” said Bobby, and the three boys retraced their steps to where they had all three narrowly escaped death only a few minutes before. When they arrived, there was no sign of the alligator, however, and it did not take them long to uncover the eggs. There was a large number of them, each one about the size and shape of a large goose egg, and the boys took off their coats and wrapped as many of the eggs as they could carry in them. But they took no chances of being surprised this time, and kept a sharp look-out. And it was well they did, for they had no more than got the eggs wrapped up than Lee gave a shout of warning.

“Here she comes, fellows!” he yelled, “let’s go!”

The boys needed no second admonition, but after a startled glance, took to their heels in most earnest fashion. For sure enough, the mother alligator, after cooling her smarting nose in the water, had had an uneasy feeling that all was not well, and had started up the bank to investigate. When she caught sight of the boys she gave a bellow and dragged herself through the sand at increased speed, but the boys did not wait for her coming this time, and were soon at a safe distance.

“Gee!” exclaimed Bobby, slowing down. “It’s a lucky thing that alligators can’t run fast. If they could, I guess we’d have to live in trees.”

“They’re slow enough on land, but you ought to see them in the water,” returned Lee. “They can go fast enough then, believe me.”

“I’ll believe you right away, without putting it to a test,” laughed Fred. “An alligator’s mouth seems too full of teeth to suit me.”

“Yes, they have got a pretty complete outfit,” said Lee, “and they keep growing in all the time, the new ones forcing out the old. I’ve heard that a ’gator has four or five sets of teeth during a lifetime.”

“Gee!” exclaimed Bobby. “I should think one set like that would last any animal a lifetime.”

“Yes, but they often break them taking bites out of people who try to steal their eggs,” said Lee. “It must hurt the poor alligators when they break a tooth that way.”

“That’s the only reason I ran so fast,” said Fred. “I wasn’t afraid of the alligator, but I didn’t want the poor thing to hurt its teeth on me.”

“Oh, we believe that,” said Lee sarcastically.

“Well, if you believe that, you’ll believe anything,” said Fred brazenly. “I’ll have to think up something real good next time.”

“I don’t mind telling you fellows the real reason why I ran, if you coax me,” declared Bobby.

“I’ll bite,” said Lee. “Why did you run?”

“Because I couldn’t fly,” replied Bobby.