CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
"Now, Pomp," I said, after we had each lain down and had a good heartydrink of clear water, "the way to get home is to make a raft and floatdown the river."
"Don't want raft--want um boat," he said.
"Do you know what a raft is?" I said.
"No, Mass' George."
I explained to him, and he shook his head.
"'Gator come and pick Pomp and Mass' George off."
"We must make it so big that they could not."
"How make big raft?--no chopper to cut down tree."
"We must cut down and tie together bundles of canes," I said, after along pause, well occupied by thinking. "They will bear us if we liedown upon them. We have a knife; let's try."
It was no easy task to get the knife free, for the threads by which itwas bound into the split end of the cane had swollen; but it was clearat last, and selecting a suitable spot where the shore was quite a canebrake, we toiled away cutting and tying together bundle after bundle ofcanes, till we had six which roughly resembled as many big trusses ofstraw. These we secured to four of the stoutest canes we could find,passing them through the bands crosswise, and after a good deal ofdifficulty, and at the risk of undoing our work, we managed to thrust itoff the bank into the river, where, to my great delight, upon trying it,the buoyancy far exceeded my expectations. In fact, though we could nothave stood upon it, lying down it supported us well, and without anyhesitation, after cutting a couple of light poles for steering ordirecting, we thrust off from the side, and began gliding down thestream.
From that moment it seemed as if our troubles were over, for we hadlittle difficulty in keeping well out from the overhanging boughs, whilea thrust or two with our poles enabled us to avoid fallen trees andpatches of growth rising from the river shallows.
I soon felt convinced that if the bands we had made would hold out, weshould have no difficulty in floating down, for I could recall no rapidsor falls likely to give us trouble. Certainly we had seen nor heardneither. Our risks were from the collapse of our raft, from thereptiles that we kept seeing from time to time as we glided slowly on,and from the Indians, whom, as I scanned the bank, I expected moment bymoment to see start from the dense growth which fringed the sides with ayell.
If we could have felt secure, the ride down the river would have beendelightful, for it was all in the bright sunshine, with a wall of theloveliest verdure on either side. Flowers hung in clusters, or sprangfrom the moist banks; birds flitted here and there, and every now andthen some great heron or crane sprang up with flapping wings and harshcry at being disturbed while fishing.
But every now and then an excited movement on the part of Pomp told methat an alligator was in sight, sunning himself on a shoal, or where hehad beaten down the reedy growth as he had crawled out upon the bank.
Such movements on the boy's part were perilous, the side of the raftgoing down slowly and steadily, till I forced him to lie still.
"They will not touch us," I said, "unless we are struggling in thewater. Do you want to fall in or upset the raft?"
He shuddered, and his eyes rolled a little, but he lay still, and weglided on till we must have gone down a couple of miles, when all atonce Pomp uttered a cry.
"Hush!" I said, despairingly. "You will be heard."
"Nebber mind. Quick, Mass' George! Push! Push!"
I could not understand what he meant, but it was evident that somethingwas wrong, and there was no time to ask for an explanation; so I helpedall I could to push the raft toward the farther shore, convinced thatthe Indians were upon us, and that we must seek safety in the forestonce again.
It was easy enough to float with the stream, but hard work to make theraft to move as we wished, and we must have gone down fully a hundredyards farther before there was a chance to seize an overhanging branch,and tow the raft to a clear piece of the farther bank, on to which Pompscrambled at once.
"Quick, Mass' George, quick!" he cried; and leaving me to follow, hedisappeared at once in the dense cane and bush.
I was not long in following; and as I got ashore I saw the raft caughtby an eddy, as it rose relieved from my weight, and as I plunged intothe thicket I had a glimpse of it being carried out into the swiftstream.
I was too much excited and hurried to follow Pomp, whom I heard crashingon before me, to pause to think about our retreat being now cut off bywater, unless we made a new raft. The Indians must be there withinview, I felt; but why did no arrows come; and why did not my companionplunge at once into the forest?
The explanation came directly, as I struggled on, seeing my route markedby trampled down reed and broken twig, for Pomp suddenly shouted--
"I got um, Mass' George."
What had he got? Something eatable, I felt, for he was always hungry;and to obtain this we had lost our raft, and should have all the work todo over again.
"Hush!" I whispered, angrily; "you will be heard."
"Done matter now," came from close at hand, though I could see nothingyet. "Pomp fine um."
I struggled out of the low brushwood, and came into a more open part ofthe bank, and there stood in astonishment, to find my companion dancingwith delight, and pointing to where, six feet above my head, just as ithad been left by the subsiding of the water, and on a nearly even keel,was the lost boat, perched among the bushes, and apparently none theworse for its journey.
"Oh, Pomp!" I cried, as excited now as he, "this is a find."
"See juss lit' bit ob um back up dah, Mass' George," he said. "Come tryand get um down."
I beat and pressed down the bushes as much as I could, and together wereached the stern of the boat; but as I touched it a fresh thought aroseto damp my spirits.
There was the boat, but in what condition was it? It did not seempossible that it could have been drifting about in that flood and lefthere without damage--a hole made by some jagged projecting tree branch,or a plank started.
"Now den, Mass' George, pull."
I dragged at the stem, and then uttered a warning cry and threw myselfback, for the boat was so lightly perched on the bushes that it camedown with a rush, and as we started up again, and examined it, as far asI could see it was completely uninjured, and even the oars were in theirplaces beneath the thwarts.
The rest of the journey toward the water was not quite so easy, but wetugged and lifted, and by degrees got it on the few yards farther, andat last had the satisfaction of sending it crashing down into a bed ofreedy growth, and springing in to push it onward into the stream, where,once clear of the dense water grasses, it began to glide down easily andwell.
Now that the excitement of the discovery and launching of the boat wasover, it all seemed to have been a kind of day-dream; and though I tookmy seat on a thwart, and got an oar over the side, I could hardlybelieve it real till I recalled that it was possible that our actionshad all been watched, and that amongst the trees and bushes of the otherside dozens of keen eyes might be aiming arrows at us, and the oaralmost dropped from my hand.
Pomp was thinking of our enemies too, for, as he got his oar over theside, and was looking down stream, he exclaimed suddenly--
"Yah! Who 'fraid now? Look, Mass' George, dat big ugly ole 'gator,dah."
"Pomp!" I cried, in an excited whisper; and I half rose to fling myselfdown, to lie in shelter of the boat's side.
For at that moment, from some distance off, came a cry that I recognisedas an Indian yell.