CHAPTER XIX
PILGRIMS FROM OLD CHICAGO
The "peck of trouble" referred to as their portion by Clay turned outto be a full bushel, and good measure at that, in a very short time.Although the boys turned on the power--a thing they should have donelong before--as soon as the crest of water came in sight, the_Rambler_ was pitched down toward the swamp like a chip.
If the boys had been able to direct her course, they might have heldher in the current, and so kept out of the muck hole into which shewas swept when the water cut around a bend, driving straight on theshore. But just as the craft was getting under control a mass of limbsand cane-brake tangled her propellers, and she went down with theflood, striking, as has been said, in a swamp where the head of thebayou had been, and into which the water still poured.
It was pitch dark out on the river and in the swamp, but the lights ofthe _Rambler_ cast a circle of illumination about the spot where shelay, so that the black, bubbling water, with all the unclean reptilesit was forcing forth from their haunts, was in full view. It wascarrying wreckage now, and this was piling up between the current andthe boat, shutting off all chances of backing out, even if the currentwould have permitted it. It was indeed a desperate situation.
The motor boat had come to a stop against two monster cypress trees,between which she had wedged her nose. Only for this she might havebeen carried farther into the swamp, the water being deep for somedistance ahead.
During the whirling passage down the bayou, while the boat was bumpingagainst tree trunks and bounding off with a jar and a swish to goswinging around again, like a foolish dancer doing the time limit,Mose had clung tightly to one of Clay's legs. At the very beginning ofthat mad race he had caught sight of a couple of alligators, and wasin deadly fear that they would climb on board and make a meal of him!
When the boat finally lodged between the giant trees, the little negroboy bounded from the deck and, seizing hold of a mass of vines,clambered up the tree to the west like a young monkey! Believing thathe would have to help the others up, he carried a rope with him!Finally, sitting astride of a limb, he called down what he consideredvery good advice to the boys on the boat.
"Dey done get yo', sho'!" he warned. "Catch on de rope an' shin up!"
Serious as the situation was, with the water trinkling in over thestern of the motor boat, the boys grinned at each other at the frightof the boy.
"Come on down!" Alex. called. "If the boat should break away from thetrees, you would be left alone in the swamp. Come on down and help getthe boat out of this blessed swamp! You may get out with your rope andtow her if you want to!" he added, with a chuckle.
"Fo' de Lawd!" cried Mose, shuddering at the idea of getting intowater inhabited by monsters who would leave a fat pig to feast off ablack boy!
At least that was what one of the boys had said to him!
Attracted by the strange lights, walking and creeping things now begangathering in the shadows at the rim of the circle of light. Once Claycaught sight of the soft, appealing eyes of a deer, and now and thenthe howls of a swamp cat came to their ears above the roaring of theflood. Great water snakes struck their heads above the surface andlooked, red-eyed, and hostile, at the boys.
Swamp creatures with soft fur and frightened eyes crouched on fallentrees and scanned the deck as a possible refuge. To make the scenemore desolate still, if possible, two round-eyed owls answered eachother's cries from a near-by cypress.
"Say," Jule whispered to Clay, during a little lull in the rain,"there's a man by that tree. I've been watching him a long time. Lookat him!"
Clay followed the line of the pointing finger and laughed.
"Why, that's a bear!" he shouted. "A swamp bear--one of the kind TeddyRoosevelt came down here to shoot when he was president! Let him aloneand he'll let us alone. They fight like devils when wounded ormolested."
The boys all agreed to let the bear alone, but Captain Joe and Teddyseemed to have notions of hospitality. The dog barked invitingly, andTeddy did a stunt of bear talk which brought the wanderer one treenearer to the boat. He was now in the circle of light, and could getno nearer without swimming.
"He sees Teddy and wants to ask his advice!" Jule laughed.
At that moment Mose, noting that the boys were gazing fixedly in onedirection, turned his eyes that way and saw the bear. The shriek helet out might, it seemed, have been heard in New Orleans, if the windhad been blowing in that direction!
"Ah's a gone coon!" he wailed, after that one yell. "Ah's a goin' wharde good niggers go! Good bear! Good bear!" he added coaxingly.
The bear looked upon the scene for a moment longer with disapprovingeyes and then turned away. For a moment he was seen walking on jammedlogs, alternately wading through shallow places, and then he was lostin the darkness.
"There!" Alex. called out to Mose, "you've frightened our bear off!"
"Dat yo' bear?" asked Mose. "Den yo' keep yo' animile out our ya'd!"
Although frequently invited to return to the boat, Mose insisted onkeeping his place in the tree. Now and then he called out that a bearor a deer was about to board the _Rambler_, but for the most part hesat still, looking about for more things to be frightened at!
The _Rambler_ was now securely fastened in between the two trees,standing on a level, or floating on a level, rather. There wasconsiderable water under the deck, it having worked its way downthrough the joints about the hatches, and the boys proceeded to liftall available covers and bail it out.
"How are we ever going to get out of here?" asked Jule, working awaywith a basin and a sponge. "These trees will hold us forever."
"We'll have to cut them down, Silly!" answered Case. "Just as soon asthe water goes down, we'll crawl out on one of the mattresses and fixthe propellers."
"Mattresses!" answered Jule. "They drifted away long ago."
"Look ahead and see," remarked Case, and Jule did so.
The willow and brake mattresses which had been towed down stream wereloose from the motor boat, but they were in sight, having lodgedagainst the mud bank farther in the swamp. They could be reached, theboys figured, by a little wading after the flood subsided, which itwas certain to do before long.
"You see," Case went on, "the trees will hold the boat up, like it wasin a dry dock, and we can fix the propellers and the leak and thenchop down the trees and get out. Perhaps we can follow this channelout to the river. If there wasn't an opening somewhere, the currenthere wouldn't be so fierce!"
"There may be a channel," Clay agreed, "but if there is it must befull of standing trees and hidden snags. If we ever get out of here,we'd better run back to the main channel, and keep out of such holesin future!"
"There wouldn't be any fun in river trips," laughed Alex., swinging anaxe at the head of a water snake which was trying to get up on thedeck, "if it wasn't for the adventure there is in it! I wouldn't havemissed this for anything!"
With the last word of this endorsement of the situation on his lipsAlex. took a header over the gunwale of the boat into the water! Agreat trunk had bunted the _Rambler_ on the port side, and she hadtipped so as to knock the boy off his feet and over the railing beforehe could make up his mind what was coming off!
"Wow!" cried Clay, as the boy came, spluttering to the surface.
"You wouldn't miss this for anything!" roared Case.
"Bring a couple of snakes and an alligator out with you!" requestedJule.
Mose, sitting on the limb, high up in the tree, called down to the boythat a water snake was trying to get into his pocket, and that analligator was nosing about his leg.
Disregarding all comment and advice, Alex. crawled back on deck andsat looking wrathfully into the flood. But his anger did not lastlong.
"If that log hadn't come along," he said, "I should have forgotten mybath. When it comes daylight, I'm going to get up a race with thatalligator, with the snake as referee! Mose can enter if he wants to!"
Mose shivered at the thought. He was now climbing highe
r. When nearthe top he gave another yell and hustled down to a lower limb, wherehe sat with his hands clinging tightly to the trunk.
"Fo' de Lawd's sake!" he shrieked.
"What is it now?" asked Jule. "If you don't come down I'll shoot you!"
Mose pointed to the rim of the light zone and cried that the riverrobbers had come to get the boat. The boys looked where he pointed andsaw three young men standing in a submerged grove of cypress trees.All were armed and all were bearded and forbidding in appearance. Asthe boys looked one stepped forward.
"Just a second," Clay called. "That is near enough!"