CHAPTER XXIX.
A MYSTERIOUS SHOT.
Indian River, Halifax River, Mosquito Lagoon, and half a dozen rivers,sounds, lagoons, lakes, and inlets on the Atlantic coast of Florida,are different names for the same shallow body of water, separated fromthe main ocean by a narrow strip of sand, which extends north and southfor two hundred miles. Indian River extends from about twenty-fivemiles north of Titusville to the inlet, a distance of one hundredmiles. But Banana River and Mosquito Inlet are separated from it onlyby Merritt's Island, so that these bodies of water overlap each other.The water in these inlets is often not more than three feet deep, sothat no large vessels can navigate them.
AN EXPEDITION TO INDIAN RIVER. Page 292.]
A few years ago a company was formed, having for its purpose thedeepening of the upper St. Johns as far as Lake Washington, about fortymiles south of the point where the Wetumpka lay, and cutting a canalacross to Indian River, not more than eight miles. No progress,however, seems to have been made in the enterprise.
We found three cat-rigged boats at Titusville, which we had nodifficulty in procuring. The ladies would not allow us to leave them atthe settlement, though Cornwood intimated that we might have a roughtime of it. Mr. Garbrook, Cornwood, and myself served as skippers, andwe were all thoroughly acquainted with the business. The boats wereabout the size of the Lakebird, in which I had voyaged in the roughestweather of Lake St. Clair; and as we had only four persons in eachboat, we were not crowded. I had Colonel Shepard, Mr. and Miss Tiffanyin the boat with me.
Our first business was to obtain a supply of bait, which was easilyprocured with our landing-nets, and consisted of small mullet and otherlittle fish, which had to be kept alive. The ladies were in excellentspirits, and even Mrs. Shepard, who had been an invalid for years,entered fully into the spirit of the occasion. When I first met thislady in Portland, she was hardly able to move without assistance; butlatterly she seemed to need no aid from any one. She had taken part inall our frolics and excursions, and her appetite was equal to that ofany person in the party. But no one could be sick in such a deliciousclimate as this was, for we spent all our time in the open air.
Our fishing was to be done mainly by trolling, and as soon as we hadour bait, Colonel Shepard had a mullet on one of his approved squids.We had a six-knot breeze, and I had to attend to the tiller. The baitwas hardly in the water before the Colonel began to tug at his line. Isaw a large fish break in the water, a hundred feet from the boat, and"cut up" in the most extraordinary manner. The New Yorker laboreddiligently for some time, and I luffed up the boat in order to lessenhis labors; but before he got the fish near enough to enable us to seewhat he was, the patent gear snapped, and away went the fish.
I had provided Mr. Tiffany with a line from Lake Superior, and he had afish on before the Colonel had finished his labors with the first one.This line was strong enough to hold anything in the water, and theEnglish gentleman, with my assistance, pulled in a redfish, or spottedbass, which weighed fourteen pounds. I rigged a line for Miss Margie,and she soon brought into the boat without help, which she would notallow any one to give, a sea-trout, similar to the squeteague orweakfish, but not the same thing. In the other boats they were havingthe same luck.
Towards night we began to pull in red snappers from six to twelvepounds in weight. They were perfect beauties, vermilion on the back,the color gradually changing to pink on the belly. The Colonel was allworn out with his exertions, and he was glad to exchange his line forthe tiller of the boat, and I took a hand in the exciting sport. But wewere catching more than we could use, and we landed at a settlementcalled Eau Gallie just before dark, where we were glad to pass thenight.
We stayed two days longer in this delightful region. Every time we wentout fishing we averaged a hundred weight of fish to each line. We sentfive hundred weight across to the Wetumpka, on board of which we hadtons of ice, to be packed for future use. The Colonel was sorry toleave such magnificent fishing, and Owen declared that he would spendall the winters of the rest of his life in the southern part ofFlorida.
On Thursday morning we harnessed up our mule teams, and started acrossthe land for the river. At the end of the week we were to finish ourtrip in Florida; but we were to give two or three days to hunting inthe vicinity of the point where the steamer lay. On our way backthrough the forest we saw game in abundance. On our arrival the muleswere picketed in the woods, for we did not like the music of theirstamping on the planks of the forward deck. We reached the boat an hourbefore dinner-time, and Gopher had red snapper and spotted bass in avariety of styles for the meal. In the afternoon the gentlemen took tothe woods with their sporting gear, but I remained to escort the ladiesand protect them from rattlesnakes and moccasins, which they seemed tofear every time they set foot on shore. But we did not see a snake ofany kind during the whole time we were on the waters of the upper St.Johns. At three o'clock I had the mules harnessed to one of the wagons,and drove the ladies several miles into the forest; they were delightedwith the excursion.
On my return, when the ladies had gone up into the saloon, I went afton the main deck to take a look at the water. The steamer was mooredwith her head to the shore, so that her stern was out in the river. Iwas afraid, as we had had no rain for some days, not even a shower,that the river would fall so as to endanger our getting over the shoal,two miles below, where we had not had more than an inch to spare incoming up. I measured the depth where I had done it every day I hadbeen on board since our arrival, and I found it was two inches lower. Iwas rather alarmed, for I did not like the idea of spending severalweeks in this locality, excellent as the hunting was, for I knew thatthe party would soon tire of it.
While I stood at the stern thinking of it, I heard a noise which Ithought came from the inside of the paddle-box. I listened for sometime but did not hear it again, and I concluded that a young alligator,or some other water animal, had crawled into the opening.
I started to return to the stairs which led from the main deck forwardto the space in front of the saloon. I was passing between two piles oflightwood on my way, when I heard the report of a pistol. A bulletwhistled uncomfortably near my head. I don't claim to be bullet-proof,and I was startled by the sound, and by the whizzing of the ball sonear my head. I made up my mind on the instant that the shot wasintended for me, and that my life was in actual danger. Buck and Hopwere attending to the mules on shore, and I saw no one on the lowerdeck.
Moses Brickland and Ben Bowman were in their rooms, and I called them.I told them what had happened. They had heard the shot; but some onewas shooting about all the time in the vicinity of the boat, and theypaid no attention to such sounds. We searched every part of the lowerdeck, even opening the trap into the paddle-box, made to allow aworkman to get in when repairs were necessary. We could find no person.
"I believe this steamer is haunted, and I wouldn't sail in her anothermonth if you would give her to me," said Ben, who was not ahighly-educated person, though he knew a steam-engine as well as thoughhe had been through college. "I have heard all sorts of noises by nightand by day."
"What sort of noises, Ben?" I asked with interest, not that I wasimpressed with the idea that the Wetumpka was haunted.
"Well, footsteps where no person could be found," replied the engineer."Now, you say you have been fired at, and no one on board could havedone it."
"I don't believe ghosts use fire-arms, Ben," I added, as I saw Cornwoodcome on the forward deck.
He had been hunting with the sportsmen, to assist them with hisknowledge of the game of the country. The moment he saw us he hastenedaft, and asked me what the matter was. As we had not exhibited to himthe evidences that anything was the matter, I was rather surprised atthe question.
"Nothing is the matter, except that a shot was fired at me a littlewhile ago," I replied, as though it were a matter of not muchconsequence.
"I think you are mistaken," he replied very promptly.
"How could I be mistaken when the ball whistl
ed by my head?" Idemanded.
"It might not have been within ten feet of your head, though it soundedas though it were within a few inches. I shot a wild turkey as I cameup, and I fired in the direction of the steamer. It occurred to me thatthe ball might have gone through her, and I confess that I was verycareless," replied Cornwood.
"I think you were, extremely careless," I added coldly.
"But I am sure the ball could not have gone within ten feet of you, orI should have seen you," protested the guide.
"Where is the turkey you shot?" asked Ben, who appeared to have somedoubts in regard to the truth of the story.
"I threw him down on the forecastle as I came on board," answeredCornwood.
We walked to that part of the steamer, and there lay the wild turkey,as handsome a bird as I had ever seen. This evidence satisfied me, foras the Floridian had never failed to do anything he promised, ordisappointed the party in regard to fish and game, he was in high favorwith all on board, at least with those in the cabin.
"Colonel Shepard and Mr. Garningham have shot no end of deer and wildturkey, and they have stacked the game about two miles from thelanding," continued the guide. "They have more than we could bring, andI volunteered to come up for a mule team."
"Buck and Hop are taking care of the pair we used this afternoon; youcan take the others," I replied.
Cornwood went on shore, and in a short time I saw him drive down theshore into the woods.
"Do you believe that story about the wild turkey?" asked Ben, whenCornwood had gone ashore.
"I see no reason to disbelieve it," I replied, looking with interest atthe engineer.
"Do you? Well, I don't; and I didn't believe it when he told it,"replied Ben, as he pointed with his jack-knife at a place in the wildturkey which he had partly dissected. "Do you see that?"
"I do not see anything but blood and meat," I answered.
"You don't! Well, there is the ball that whistled within ten feet ofyour head when you were walking on the main deck."
Ben Bowman applied his knife-blade to the turkey, and pried out thebullet, which had lodged against the breastbone.
I took it in my hand. If his story was true, this was not the ball thatpassed near my head. We made another search for the man who had firedat me, but we looked in vain.