CHAPTER VIII.
THE STEAM-BOAT IN THE FOREST.
We were in a narrow river, where the tall trees met overhead, while thelower branches and the smaller trees brushed against the little boat asit steamed along. This was the Oclawaha River, and Rectus and I thoughtit was as good as fairy-land. We stood on the bow of the boat, whichwasn't two feet above the water, and took in everything there was tosee.
The river wound around in among the great trees, so that we seldom couldsee more than a few hundred yards ahead, and every turn we made showedus some new picture of green trees and hanging moss and glimpses intothe heart of the forest, while everything was reflected in the river,which was as quiet as a looking-glass.
"Talk of theatres!" said Rectus.
"No, don't," said I.
At this moment we both gave a little jump, for a gun went off justbehind us. We turned around quickly, and saw that the tall yellow-legshad just fired at a big bird. He didn't hit it.
"Hello!" said Rectus; "we'd better get our gun. The game is beginning toshow itself." And off he ran for the rifle.
I didn't know that Rectus had such a bloodthirsty style of mind; butthere were a good many things about him that I didn't know. When he cameback, he loaded the rifle, which was a little breech-loader, and beganeagerly looking about for game.
Corny had been on the upper deck; but in a minute or two she camerunning out to us.
"Oh! do you know," she called out, "that there are alligators in thisriver? Do you think they could crawl up into the boat? We go awfullynear shore sometimes. They sleep on shore. I do hope I'll see one soon."
"Well, keep a sharp look-out, and perhaps you may," said I.
She sat down on a box near the edge of the deck, and peered into thewater and along the shore as if she had been sent there to watch forbreakers ahead. Every now and then she screamed out:
"There's one! There! There! There!"
But it was generally a log, or a reflection, or something else that wasnot an alligator.
Of course we were very near both shores at all times, for the river isso narrow that a small boy could throw a ball over it; but occasionallythe deeper part of the channel flowed so near one shore that we ranright up close to the trees, and the branches flapped up against thepeople on the little forward deck, making the ladies, especially thelady belonging to the yellow-legged party, crouch and scream as if somewood-demon had stuck a hand into the boat and made a grab for theirbonnets.
This commotion every now and then, and the almost continual reports fromthe guns on board, and Corny's screams when she thought she saw analligator, made the scene quite lively.
Rectus and I took a turn every half-hour at the rifle. It was really agreat deal more agreeable to look out at the beautiful pictures thatcame up before us every few minutes; but, as we had the gun, we couldn'thelp keeping up a watch for game, besides.
"There!" I whispered to Rectus; "see that big bird! On that limb! Take acrack at him!"
It was a water-turkey, and he sat placidly on a limb close to thewater's edge, and about a boat's length ahead of us.
Rectus took a good aim. He slowly turned as the boat approached thebird, keeping his aim upon him, and then he fired.
The water-turkey stuck out his long, snake-like neck, and said:
"Quee! Quee! Quee!"
And then he ran along the limb quite gayly.
"Bang! bang!" went the guns of the yellow-legs, and the turkey actuallystopped and looked back. Then he said:
"Quee! Quee!" again, and ran in among the thick leaves.
I believe I could have hit him with a stone.
"It don't seem to be any use," said Mr. Chipperton, who was standingbehind us, "to fire at the birds along this river. They know just whatto do. I'm almost sure I saw that bird wink. It wouldn't surprise me ifthe fellows that own the rifles are in conspiracy with these birds. Theylet out rifles that wont hit, and the birds know it, and sit there andlaugh at the passengers. Why, I tell you, sir, if the people who travelup and down this river were all regular shooters, there wouldn't be abird left in six months."
At this moment Corny saw an alligator,--a real one. It was lying on alog, near shore, and just ahead of the boat. She set up such a yell thatit made every one of us jump, and her mother came rushing out of thesaloon to see if she was dead. The alligator, who was a good-sizedfellow, was so scared that he just slid off his log without taking timeto get decently awake, and before any one but Rectus and myself had achance to see him. The ladies were very much annoyed at this, and urgedCorny to scream softly the next time she saw one. Alligators were prettyscarce this trip, for some reason or other. For one thing, the weatherwas not very warm, and they don't care to come out in the open airunless they can give their cold bodies a good warming up.
Corny now went up on the upper deck, because she thought that she mightsee alligators farther ahead if she got up higher. In five minutes, shehad her hat taken off by a branch of a tree, which swept upon her, asshe was leaning over the rail. She called to the pilot to stop the boatand go back for her hat, but the captain, who was up in the pilot-house,stuck out his head and said he reckoned she'd have to wait until theycame back. The hat would hang there for a day or two. Corny made noanswer to this, but disappeared into the saloon.
In a little while, she came out on the lower deck, wearing a seal-skinhat. She brought a stool with her, and put it near the bow of the boat,a little in front and on one side of the box on which Rectus and I weresitting. Then she sat quietly down and gazed out ahead. The seal-skincap was rather too warm for the day, perhaps, but she looked very prettyin it.
Directly she looked around at us.
"Where do you shoot alligators?" said she.
"Anywhere, where you may happen to see them," said I, laughing. "On theland, in the water, or wherever they may be."
"I mean in what part of their bodies?" said she.
"Oh! in the eye," I answered.
"Either eye?" she asked.
"Yes; it don't matter which. But how are you going to hit them?"
"I've got a revolver," said she.
And she turned around, like the turret of an iron-clad, until the muzzleof a big seven-shooter pointed right at us.
"My conscience!" I exclaimed; "where did you get that? Don't point itthis way!"
"Oh! it's father's. He let me have it. I am going to shoot the firstalligator I see. You needn't be afraid of my screaming this time," andshe revolved back to her former position.
"One good thing," said Rectus to me, in a low voice; "her pistol isn'tcocked."
I had noticed this, and I hoped also that it wasn't loaded.
"Which eye do you shut?" said Corny, turning suddenly upon us.
"Both!" said Rectus.
She did not answer, but looked at me, and I told her to shut her lefteye, but to be very particular not to turn around again without loweringher pistol.
She resumed her former position, and we breathed a little easier,although I thought that it might be well for us to go to some other partof the boat until she had finished her sport.
I was about to suggest this to Rectus, when suddenly Corny sprang to herfeet, and began blazing away at something ahead. Bang! bang! bang! shewent, seven times.
"Why, she didn't stop once to cock it!" cried Rectus, and I was amazedto see how she had fired so rapidly. But as soon as I had counted seven,I stepped up to her and took her pistol. She explained to me how itworked. It was one of those pistols in which the same pull of thetrigger jerks up the hammer and lets it down,--the most unsafe thingsthat any one can carry.
"Too bad!" she exclaimed. "I believe it was only a log! But wont youplease load it up again for me? Here are some cartridges."
"Corny," said I, "how would you like to have our rifle? It will bebetter than a pistol for you."
She agreed, instantly, to this exchange, and I showed her how to holdand manage the gun. I didn't think it was a very good thing for a girlto have, but it was a great deal safe
r than the pistol for the people onboard. The latter I put in my pocket.
Corny made one shot, but did no execution. The other gunners on boardhad been firing away, for some time, at two little birds that kept aheadof us, skimming along over the water, just out of reach of the shot thatwas sent scattering after them.
"I think it's a shame," said Corny, "to shoot such little birds as that.They can't eat 'em."
"No," said I; "and they can't hit 'em, either, which is a great dealbetter."
But very soon after this, the shorter yellow-legged man did hit a bird.It was a water-turkey, that had been sitting on a tree, just as weturned a corner. The big bird spread out its wings, made a dolefulflutter, and fell into the underbrush by the shore.
"Wont they stop to get him?" asked Corny, with her eyes open as wide asthey would go.
One of the hands was standing by, and he laughed.
"Stop the boat when a man shoots a bird? I reckon not. And there isn'tanybody that would go into all that underbrush and water only for a birdlike that, anyway."
"Well, I think it's murder!" cried Corny. "I thought they ate 'em. Here!Take your gun. I'm much obliged; but I don't want to kill things justto see them fall down and die."
I took the gun very willingly,--although I did not think that Cornywould injure any birds with it,--but I asked her what she thought aboutalligators. She certainly had not supposed that they were killed forfood.
"Alligators are wild beasts," she said. "Give me my pistol. I am goingto take it back to father."
And away she went. Rectus and I did not keep up our rifle practice muchlonger. We couldn't hit anything, and the thought that, if we shouldwound or kill a bird, it would be of no earthly good to us or anybodyelse, made us follow Corny's example, and we put away our gun. But theother gunners did not stop. As long as daylight lasted a ceaselessbanging was kept up.
We were sitting on the forward deck, looking out at the beautiful scenesthrough which we were passing, and occasionally turning back to see thatnone of the gunners posted themselves where they might make ourpositions uncomfortable, when Corny came back to us.
"Can either of you speak French?" she asked.
Rectus couldn't; but I told her that I understood the language tolerablywell, and asked her why she wished to know.
"It's just this," she said. "You see those two men with yellow boots,and the lady with them? She's one of their wives."
"How many wives have they got?" interrupted Rectus, speaking to Cornyalmost for the first time.
"I mean she is the wife of one of them, of course," she answered, alittle sharply; and then she turned herself somewhat more toward me."And the whole set try to make out they're French, for they talk itnearly all the time. But they're not French, for I heard them talk agood deal better English than they can talk French; and every time abranch nearly hits her, that lady sings out in regular English. And,besides, I know that their French isn't French French, because I canunderstand a great deal of it, and if it was I couldn't do it. I cantalk French a good deal better than I can understand it, anyway. TheFrench people jumble everything up so that I can't make head or tail ofit. Father says he don't wonder they have had so many revolutions, whenthey can't speak their own language more distinctly. He tried to learnit, but didn't keep it up long, and so I took lessons. For, when we goto France, one of us ought to know how to talk, or we shall be cheateddreadfully. Well, you see, over on the little deck, up there, is thatgentleman with his wife and a young lady, and they're all travellingtogether, and these make-believe French people have been jabbering aboutthem ever so long, thinking that nobody else on board understandsFrench. But I listened to them. I couldn't make out all they said, but Icould tell that they were saying all sorts of things about those otherpeople, and trying to settle which lady the gentleman was married to,and they made a big mistake, too, for they said the small lady was theone."
"How do you know they were wrong?" I said.
"Why, I went to the gentleman and asked him. I guess he ought to know.And now, if you'll come up there, I'd just like to show those peoplethat they can't talk out loud about the other passengers and have nobodyknow what they're saying."
"You want to go there and talk French, so as to show them that youunderstand it?" said I.
"Yes," answered Corny, "that's just it."
"All right; come along," said I. "They may be glad to find out that youknow what they're talking about."
And so we all went to the upper deck, Rectus as willing as anybody tosee the fun.
Corny seated herself on a little stool near the yellow-legged party, themen of which had put down their guns for a time. Rectus and I sat on theforward railing, near her. Directly she cleared her throat, and then,after looking about her on each side, said to me, in very distincttones:
"_Voy-ezz vows cett hommy ett ses ducks femmys seelah?_"[B]
I came near roaring out laughing, but I managed to keep my facestraight, and said: "_Oui._"
"Well, then,--I mean _Bean donk lah peetit femmy nest pah lah femmy duehommy. Lah oter femmy este sah femmy._"[C]
"VOY-EZZ VOWS CETT HOMMY ETT SES DUCKS FEMMYS SEELAH?"]
At this, there was no holding in any longer. I burst out laughing, sothat I came near falling off the railing; Rectus laughed because I did;the gentleman with the wife and the young lady laughed madly, and Mr.Chipperton, who came out of the saloon on hearing the uproar, laughedquite cheerfully, and asked what it was all about. But Corny didn'tlaugh. She turned around short to see what effect her speech had had onthe yellow-legged party. It had a good deal of effect. They reddenedand looked at us. Then they drew their chairs closer together, andturned their backs to us. What they thought, we never knew; but Cornydeclared to me afterward that they talked no more French,--at least whenshe was about.
The gentleman who had been the subject of Corny's French discoursecalled her over to him, and the four had a gay talk together. I heardCorny tell them that she never could pronounce French in the French way.She pronounced it just as it was spelt, and her father said that oughtto be the rule with every language. She had never had a regular teacher;but if people laughed so much at the way she talked, perhaps her fatherought to get her one.
I liked Corny better the more I knew of her. It was easy to see that shehad taught herself all that she knew. Her mother held her back a gooddeal, no doubt; but her father seemed more like a boy-companion thananything else, and if Corny hadn't been a very smart girl, she wouldhave been a pretty bad kind of a girl by this time. But she wasn'tanything of the sort, although she did do and say everything that cameinto her head to say or do. Rectus did not agree with me about Corny. Hedidn't like her.
When it grew dark, I thought we should stop somewhere for the night, forit was hard enough for the boat to twist and squeeze herself along theriver in broad daylight. She bumped against big trees that stood on theedge of the stream, and swashed through bushes that stuck out too farfrom the banks; but she was built for bumping and scratching, anddidn't mind it. Sometimes she would turn around a corner and make ashort cut through a whole plantation of lily-pads and spatterdocks,--orthings like them,--and she would scrape over a sunken log as easily as awagon-wheel rolls over a stone. She drew only two feet of water, and wasflat-bottomed. When she made a very short turn, the men had to push herstern around with poles. Indeed, there was a man with a pole at the bowa good deal of the time, and sometimes he had more pushing off to dothan he could manage by himself.
When Mr. Chipperton saw what tight places we had to squeeze through, headmitted that it was quite proper not to try to bring the bigsteam-boats up here.
But the boat didn't stop. She kept right on. She had to go a hundred andforty miles up that narrow river, and if she made the whole trip fromPilatka and back in two days, she had no time to lose. So, when it wasdark, a big iron box was set up on top of the pilot-house, and a firewas built in it of pine-knots and bits of fat pine. This blazed finely,and lighted up the river and the trees on each side, and sometimes threw
out such a light that we could see quite a distance ahead. Everybodycame out to see the wonderful sight. It was more like fairy-land thanever. When the fire died down a little, the distant scenery seemed tofade away and become indistinct and shadowy, and the great trees stoodup like their own ghosts all around us; and then, when fresh knots werethrown in, the fire would blaze up, and the whole scene would belighted up again, and every tree and bush, and almost every leaf, alongthe water's edge would be tipped with light, while everything wasreflected in the smooth, glittering water.
Rectus and I could hardly go in to supper, and we got through the mealin short order. We staid out on deck until after eleven o'clock, andCorny staid with us a good part of the time. At last, her father camedown after her, for they were all going to bed.
"This is a grand sight," said Mr. Chipperton. "I never saw anything toequal it in any transformation scene at a theatre. Some of our theatrepeople ought to come down here and study it up, so as to get upsomething of the kind for exhibition in the cities."
Just before we went into bed, our steam-whistle began to sound, and awayoff in the depths of the forest we could hear every now and then anotherwhistle. The captain told us that there was a boat coming down theriver, and that she would soon pass us. The river did not look wideenough for two boats; but when the other whistle sounded as if it werequite near, we ran our boat close into shore among the spatterdocks, ina little cove, and waited there, leaving the channel for the other boat.
Directly, it came around a curve just ahead of us, and truly it was asplendid sight. The lower part of the boat was all lighted up, and thefire was blazing away grandly in its iron box, high up in the air.
To see such a glowing, sparkling apparition as this come sailing out ofthe depths of the dark forest, was grand! Rectus said he felt likebursting into poetry; but he didn't. He wasn't much on rhymes. He hadopportunity enough, though, to get up a pretty good-sized poem, for wewere kept awake a long time after we went to bed by the boughs of thetrees on shore scratching and tapping against the outside of ourstate-room.
When we went out on deck the next morning, the first person we saw wasCorny, holding on to the flag-staff at the bow and looking over the edgeof the deck into the water.
"What are you looking at?" said I, as we went up to her.
"See there!" she cried. "See that turtle! And those two fishes! Look!look!"
We didn't need to be told twice to look. The water was just as clear ascrystal, and you could see the bottom everywhere, even in the deepestplaces, with the great rocks covered with some glittering greensubstance that looked like emerald slabs, and the fish and turtlesswimming about as if they thought there was no one looking at them.
I couldn't understand how the water had become so clear; but I was toldthat we had left the river proper and were now in a stream that flowedfrom Silver Spring, which was the end of our voyage into the cypresswoods. The water in the spring and in this stream was almosttransparent,--very different from the regular water of the river.
About ten o'clock, we reached Silver Spring, which is like a littlelake, with some houses on the bank. We made fast at a wharf, and, as wewere to stop here some hours, everybody got ready to go ashore.
Corny was the first one ready. Her mother thought she ought not to go,but her father said there was no harm in it.
"If she does," said Mrs. Chipperton, "she'll get herself into some sortof a predicament before she comes back."
I found that in such a case as this Mrs. Chipperton was generallyright.
FOOTNOTES:
[B] "_Voyez-vous cet homme et ces deux femmes cela?_"--Do you see thatman and those two women there?
[C] "_Bien donc, la petite femme n'est pas la femme du homme. La autrefemme est sa femme._"--Well, then, the little woman is not the wife ofthe man. The other woman is his wife. [Of course, the French in this,and the preceding, foot-note is Corny's.--THE AUTHOR.]