CHAPTER IX
A TRAP AVOIDED AND FRIENDS DISCOVERED
At Rene's cry, suppressed though it was Has-se turned quickly, and intime to see the moccasin glide away through the water. He also notedthe spot of blood on his companion's finger, at which the latter wasgazing with a look of horror.
Without a word the young Indian sprang to Rene's side, drew the littlesharp-pointed dagger from its sheath, and firmly but deliberatelyenlarged with it the minute wound made by the fangs of the snake, untilthe blood flowed freely from it; then raising the hand to his ownmouth, he sucked all that was possible of the poisoned blood from thewound, stopping several times during the operation to rinse his mouthwith water.
When this was done he took a handful of slimy river mud and placed itover the wounded place, bidding his friend hold it there. Then,seizing his paddle, he turned the bow of the canoe up-stream in thedirection from which they had come. He paddled back to a small lagoonthat emptied into the stream, and in which he had noticed a peculiarspecies of water-lily growing as they passed it on their way down.Pulling a handful of these up by the roots, he selected one of thebulbs attached to them, pounded it until it was a mass of fibre, andwashing the river mud from the wounded hand, he replaced it with this.
The hand had already swollen and become very painful, but theapplication of the bruised lily-root acted so like a charm that Rene'sface showed an instant sense of relief, and he expressed his gratitudeto Has-se.
"It is nothing to do," replied the other. "It is but the remedy of mypeople for such things." Then he added, with a sort of pride,
"The pale-faces are wise in many matters that we poor red men knownothing of; but we have at least learned that for every evil there is aremedy close at hand, and that wherever poisonous serpents are foundthere also grows a plant that will render their poison harmless. In ashort time thy hand will be as sound as before it laid hold ofChitta-wewa, the great water-snake."
"Tis marvellous!" exclaimed Rene; "and if thou wouldst return with meto France, bringing with thee a few of these samples and thy knowledgeof their application, thou wouldst become a great medicine-man andobtain much honor of my people."
Has-se only shook his head and smiled at this suggestion; then he said,
"For a time thou must lie perfectly quiet, and keep that upon thy handwet with cool water. Meantime I will carry out a plan of which I havejust conceived the idea. Near by, from the head of this lagoon, thereruns a narrow trail by which a great bend in the stream is cut off, anda point much lower down upon it is reached. If thou wilt remain hereand nurse thy hand, I will cross to the lower stream by this trail; andit may be that I will thus gain more speedy information concerningthose whom we follow."
Rene at once agreed to this plan, and was soon left alone to nurse hishand and meditate upon his present strange position. From his savagesurroundings his thoughts ran back to the uncle whom he had left inFort Caroline to battle with sickness, and possibly with starvation andthe upbraidings of his own men. The boy's heart was full of tendernessfor the brave old soldier who had so promptly assumed the part of afather towards him; and had he not been restrained by the consciousnessof the vital importance of the mission he had undertaken, he would havebeen inclined to return at once and share whatever trials werebesetting the chevalier. From him the boy's thoughts sped to Franceand the old chateau in which he was born. He almost laughed aloud ashe imagined the look of consternation with which old Francois wouldregard him if he could now see him, lying alone in a fragile craft,such as the old servant had never imagined, in the midst of a terriblewilderness of great moss-hung trees, queer-looking plants, blackwaters, and blacker mud.
From these reveries he was suddenly startled by the sound of a slightsplash in the water and a subdued human voice. Raising his head verycautiously above the side of the canoe, Rene caught a glimpse, at themouth of the little lagoon in which his own craft was concealed, ofanother canoe, in which were seated two Indians. It was headedup-stream, but its occupants had paused in their paddling, and fromtheir gestures were evidently considering the exploration of the veryplace in which he lay hidden from them. In one of them Rene recognizedthe unwelcome face of Chitta the Snake, but the other he had neverbefore seen.
With a loudly beating heart and almost without breathing he watchedthem, thankful enough for the shelter of broad lily-leaves that raisedtheir green barrier in front of him. He was fully conscious that uponthe result of the conversation the two were holding, in such low tonesthat he could not distinguish a word, depended his own fate. He knew,from what Has-se had told him, that Chitta regarded him as an enemy,and he knew also that for his enemies an Indian reserves but one fate,and will kill them if he can.
Thus it was with the feeling that he had escaped a mortal peril, andwith a long-drawn sigh of relief, that he saw the discussion come to anend, and the strange canoe continue on its course up-stream. Itdisappeared in the direction from which he and Has-se had come beforeencountering the moccasin. Then he became feverishly impatient toleave a place that seemed so full of danger, and he longed eagerly forHas-se's return.
Although Rene watched anxiously for Has-se, he also cast frequentglances towards the stream, fearful lest Chitta and his companionshould again appear. Thus he was not looking when his friend emergedfrom the forest, and did not hear the light tread of his moccasinedfeet. Nor was he aware of any presence near him, until a low laugh,which so startled him that he almost upset the canoe, gave the firsthint of his friend's return.
"Oh, Has-se!" he exclaimed, in a whisper rendered hoarse by hisexcitement, "glad am I to see thee once more. Chitta is in pursuit ofus, and with him is as evil-looking an Indian as ever I saw, but largeand powerful withal."
Then he related the whole incident of the appearance of the strangecanoe, to which Has-se listened with grave attention.
When Rene had finished he said, "Has-se also has something to tell.Far down the river, on the side opposite the end of the trail, he heardthe sound of many voices, and he knows his people are there. Let us goto them."
"But if we venture out into the stream, will not Chitta and the onewith him see us?"
"If they do not until we float on the river, they must prove themselvesswifter than Hu-la-lah" (the wind) "to catch us before we reachfriends. How is thy hand? Is the sting of Chitta-wewa still painful?"
"Oh! my hand? Why, no; I had no thought of it until now. Thanks tothy application, the pain and the swelling seem alike to have beenremoved."
"Then let us go, and if it comes to meeting Chitta, we will see if wecannot render his sting as harmless as that of his namesakeChitta-wewa."
Very cautiously the two boys paddled their canoe out from the lagoon,and headed it down the narrow river towards the place where they hopedto find friends.
Having reached the stream in safety, they were about to congratulateeach other on their good-fortune, when suddenly a wild scream, such asis made by an enraged panther, came ringing down through the darkforest glade behind them.
"It is the yell of Cat-sha the Tiger, chief of the Seminoles!" criedHas-se. "For the Snake, with the Tiger to aid him, we are no match.If those white arms of thine have strength in them, now is the time toprove it, Ta-lah-lo-ko."
With this the two boys bent over their paddles, and plied them withsuch energy that their light craft fairly hissed through the water, andflew past the gray, motionless columns of the cypresses. Not farbehind came their pursuers, also straining every muscle, and alreadyexulting over the prize that was so nearly within their grasp.
Cat-sha and Chitta had become impatient of waiting in their ambush forthose who failed to come, but who they knew had been following them,and they finally decided to cautiously retrace their course in order tolearn, what had become of them. At the mouth of the lagoon in whichRene had awaited Has-se's return they paused, undecided, for a moment.From the very trail taken by Has-se there branched another, which ledto the distant Seminole fastness in the heart of the great swa
mp.Cat-sha at first thought they would do well to examine this trail; forif it should prove to be some of his own band of whose canoe he hadcaught a glimpse, he would surely discover traces of them here.Chitta, however, said that those who had followed them might chance topass on unnoticed while they were in the lagoon. It would be timeenough to examine the trail after they had been back as far as thebayou, and made certain that nobody was between them and it. Happilyfor Rene de Veaux, this counsel had prevailed, and they had gone on upthe stream.
It was while on their return from the bayou that they had caught sightof the two boys just leaving the lagoon, and that Cat-sha had utteredhis war-cry with such startling effect.
Even at the distance they were, both he and Chitta had seen theFlamingo Feather braided in Has-se's hair, and had also recognized thepeculiar costume worn by him whom they knew as the son of the greatwhite chief.
Faster and faster flew the two canoes in their race of life or deathdown the narrow stream. That of the two boys was the lighter, but theother, impelled by the powerful strokes of the gigantic Cat-sha, keptpace with it from the outset, and at length began slowly to gain uponit. Foot by foot, closer and closer, it came, and as the laboredbreath of the panting boys came shorter and quicker, while theperspiration rolled in great beads from their faces, it seemed asthough they were moving at a snail's pace, and they knew that theunequal struggle could not last much longer.
Suddenly Has-se paused from his labor for an instant, and placing ahand to his mouth, uttered a long, tremulous cry, so wild and shrillthat it roused the forest echoes for miles around.
He had hardly resumed his paddle, after a quick backward glance thatshowed the other canoe to be fearfully near them, when his cry wasanswered by one precisely similar, uttered only a short distance aheadof them.
In another minute an arrow from behind whizzed so close to Has-se'shead that it cut the red feather from his hair, and passing on, itburied itself in Rene's shoulder. At the same instant a canoe filledwith Micco's warriors appeared around a point ahead of them, and thetwo hunted and exhausted boys, seeing it, knew they were saved.