CHAPTER XVII.
A NEW DANGER.
The night brought its alarms with it. Every noise in the woods roundabout startled the alert sentinel, and there always are noises at night,not only in the woods but in houses also, as we all find out, when forany reason we are awake and on the alert. It seemed to each of the boysduring this night, that there never were so many sounds which could notbe explained: crackling noises, like those which are produced by thebreaking of dry sticks under foot; sounds of footsteps, and of hardbreathing; a thousand different sounds, in short, each of which seemedfor the time being surely to indicate the stealthy approach of some foe.
Morning came at last, however, and no ill had befallen the camp. It wasvoted at breakfast that this day should be devoted exclusively tofortification, security being deemed of more pressing importance thanescape from the island.
By steady persistence the work was carried forward until the line oftall, leaning pickets was more than half-way round the camp. This atleast reduced the space to be watched through the night to less thanhalf its former length, and as the night passed quietly with no sign ofan enemy about, it was unanimously resolved, the next morning, thatSunday should be kept as a day of rest, the opinion being that thecompletion of the stockade could not now be called a work of necessity.
During Sunday night, however, the boys had reason to modify this opinionsomewhat. About two o'clock Ned, who was on guard at the time, armedwith a big club, awoke his companions, saying, in a whisper:
"Get up, quick! There's somebody about."
The two sleepers sprang to their feet quickly, and, seizing their clubs,joined Ned outside the hut.
By way of precaution the boys had cut a considerable number of short,thick, and very heavy clubs, which could be made to serve a goodpurpose as missiles. Thrown with violence from the hand they werelikely to be of much greater service than stones or brickbats would havebeen, if such things had been at hand. Armed with these clubs the boyspeered and listened. For a while they heard nothing. Then a low growlcame from the bushes, and the sound of a sharp blow followed itimmediately. Evidently one of the squatters was sneaking around thecamp, and when his dog growled he struck it to secure silence.
The boys waited a long time but heard nothing more. Finally, in a lowwhisper, Ned said:
"There can't be more than one of them here."
"No, I suppose not," answered Jack, "but let's be quiet and see what hewants."
All became still again, and as the boys from their hiding-place couldnot be seen by any one in the bushes, the prowler had every reason tosuppose that they were asleep. After perhaps an hour's waiting, Jackwhispered:
"I see him; he is crawling on his stomach to the fire. H--sh! let's seewhat he wants."
The man could be seen only in dim outline until he reached the fire,and, taking a smouldering brand, blew it to quicken its burning. Thelight thus created revealed his face, and the sight was not a pleasantone to the boys. They saw in their visitor as ugly and forbidding aspecimen of untamed humanity as one often meets. He was a negro of thesmall, ugly, tough-looking variety, seen nowhere in this country excepton the South Carolina and Georgia coast. About five feet two incheshigh, he had a small, flat head, large, muscular arms and body, shortlegs, and no clothing except a sort of sack with head- and arm-holes init, worn as a shirt. His brow was so low and retreating, that his eyesseemed to project beyond it. His nose was flattened out as if it hadtried to spread itself evenly all over his face. His thick lips were tooshort to cover his big teeth, and it is hardly necessary to add that helooked far less like a rational human being than like some wild animal.
When he had satisfied himself that his brand was burning, he crept a fewpaces further, and his purpose was revealed. He meant to set fire to thepile of plank that the boat was to be built of.
"Quick now," said Jack, "give him a volley of clubs and then charge!"
"GIVE HIM A VOLLEY AND THEN CHARGE!"]
It was no sooner said than done. Standing at less than twenty feetdistance, the boys threw one club each at the intruder, and then,snatching other clubs, one in each hand, rushed upon him. Rising, heknocked Jack down, but was brought to his own knees by Charley's club.At that moment the man's dog, a surly-looking brute, seized Charley, andit required the combined efforts of all three boys--for Jack was upagain in an instant--to beat the creature off. While they were engagedin this, the dog's master, finding himself outnumbered and overmatched,took to his heels and the camp was clear, for the dog quickly followed,howling with pain.
"Are you much hurt, Charley?" was the first question asked when theenemy's retreat left the boys free to think of themselves.
"I'm pretty severely bitten," was the reply, "but luckily it's in thefleshy part of my thigh, and the flesh isn't torn. One of you must havestruck very quickly, or I shouldn't have got off so easily. See," hecontinued, when the fire had been stirred into a blaze, "the bruteburied his teeth, but let go again without shaking me."
"Yes, I saw him jump at you, and tried to hit him before he got hold,"said Ned. "I must have struck him just as he seized you--half a secondtoo late to save you entirely, but I hit him fairly on the head."
"And he had to let go of me to howl," said Charley, who, in spite of hispain, was in good spirits after the exciting encounter. "By the way, areyou hurt, Jack?"
"I've an earache," said Jack, turning his head and showing an inflamedand swollen ear; "but I'm glad that fellow didn't hit me fairly in theface, as he meant to do. It would have settled the question ofphotographs for me for all time, I think. Why, if I had caught that blowon the face my nose would have been distributed over the rest of mycountenance as evenly as his is."
"You look solemn, Ned," said Charley; "are you hurt too?"
"No, but I'm thinking."
"Well, out with your thought then. What is it?"
"Only that we're fairly in for it now."
"In for what?"
"War."
"War?"
"Yes. You don't suppose we're going to have peace with the squattersnow, do you? They'll attack us in force as sure as sunrise and sunset."
"Well, it's my opinion that one of them, at least, has got as much of usas he wants," said Charley.
"Very likely," answered Ned; "but now he'll want to give us something,by way of returning the compliment. He'll bring all his friends with himnext time."
"But I don't see what we've done that they should interfere with us."
"Oh! don't you? Well, that's because you don't look at the matter withtheir eyes. You see, when we first came here they didn't object. Theytook a fancy to our coffee and flour and bacon, and the rest of it, andhelped themselves, but they didn't in the least object to us or ourpresence. Having got all we had for them to steal, they let us alone.But when they found that we were getting rice out of what they calledtheir field, it put a new face on the matter, and they objected. Youbaffled the one that got after you, and he hurt himself trying to catchyou. That was another offence on our part, and so this fellow that washere to-night determined to get even with us by burning us out. He hasbeen pretty badly whipped, and he isn't likely to forget it. He'll bringall his friends here and we must take care of ourselves, for we shan'tget any coddling, I can assure you, if we fall into their hands."
"You are right, Ned," said Jack; "and now we must really take care ofourselves. It's nearly morning, and we may as well get breakfast at onceand get an early start. We must be ready to receive those fellows whenthey come."