diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:53:46 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:53:46 -0700 |
| commit | a983dd1aa6fba7af595a9584d25430370844eef9 (patch) | |
| tree | c7261176763dc0005ad98145d25cfb0194ea2c02 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-8.txt | 5199 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 86221 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 438654 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/18622-h.htm | 5472 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_005.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2052 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_013.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2247 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_023.jpg | bin | 0 -> 60723 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_028.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2136 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_046.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2358 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_051.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2565 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_059.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2474 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_062.jpg | bin | 0 -> 37860 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_075.jpg | bin | 0 -> 5311 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_081.jpg | bin | 0 -> 54976 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_084.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2451 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_099.jpg | bin | 0 -> 3002 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_100.jpg | bin | 0 -> 11942 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_109.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2403 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_121.jpg | bin | 0 -> 2414 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_137.jpg | bin | 0 -> 67793 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622-h/images/image_190.jpg | bin | 0 -> 81436 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622.txt | 5199 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18622.zip | bin | 0 -> 86224 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
26 files changed, 15886 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18622-8.txt b/18622-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ebb361 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5199 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Captain Sam, by George Cary Eggleston + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Captain Sam + The Boy Scouts of 1814 + + +Author: George Cary Eggleston + + + +Release Date: June 19, 2006 [eBook #18622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SAM*** + + +E-text prepared by David Edwards, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from +scanned images of public domain material generously made available by the +Google Books Library Project +(http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/library.html) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18622-h.htm or 18622-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/2/18622/18622-h/18622-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/2/18622/18622-h.zip) + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + the the Google Books Library Project. See + http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN04016133&id + + + + + +The Big Brother Series. + +CAPTAIN SAM + +Or + +The Boy Scouts of 1814 + +by + +GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON + +Author of "The Big Brother," etc., etc. + + + + + + + +New York: +G. P. Putnam's Sons, +182 Fifth Avenue. +1876. +Copyright. +G. P. Putnam's Sons. +1876. + + + + +TO MY BOY-FRIEND + +MONTAGUE DOUGLAS, + +IN RECOGNITION OF HIS MANLY CHARACTER, AND IN MEMORY + +OF THE FOOT-JOURNEYS WE MADE TOGETHER A YEAR AGO, + +I DEDICATE THIS BOOK. + + + + +CAPTAIN SAM. + +CHAPTER I. + +A MUTINY. + + +"If you open your mouth again, I'll drive my fist down your throat!" + +The young man, or boy rather,--for he was not yet eighteen years +old,--who made this very emphatic remark, was a stalwart, well-built +youth, lithe of limb, elastic in movement, slender, straight, tall, +with a rather thin face, upon which there was as yet no trace of +coming beard, high cheek bones, and eyes that seemed almost to emit +sparks of fire as their lids snapped rapidly together. He spoke in a +low tone, without a sign of anger in his voice, but with a look of +earnestness which must have convinced the person to whom he addressed +his not very suave remark, that he really meant to do precisely what +he threatened. + +As he spoke he laid his left hand upon the other's shoulder, and +placed his face as near to his companion's as was possible without +bringing their noses into actual contact; but he neither clenched nor +shook his fist. Persons who mention weapons which they really have +made up their minds to use, do not display them in a threatening +manner. That is the device of bullies who think to frighten their +adversaries by the threatening exhibition as they do by their +threatening words. Sam Hardwicke was not a bully, and he did not wish +to frighten anybody. He merely wished to make the boy hold his tongue, +and he meant to do that in any case, using whatever measure of +violence he might find necessary to that end. He mentioned his fist +merely because he meant to use that weapon if it should be necessary. + +His companion saw his determination, and remained silent. + +"Now," resumed Sam, "I wish to say something to all of you, and I will +say it to you as an officer should talk to soldiers on a subject of +this sort. Fall into line! Right dress! steady, front!" + +The boys were drawn up in line, and their commander stood at six paces +from them. + +"Attention!" he cried, "I wish you to know and remember that we are +engaged in no child's play. We are soldiers. You have not yet been +mustered into service, it is true, but you are soldiers, nevertheless, +and you shall obey as such. Listen. When it became known in the +neighborhood that I had determined to join General Jackson and serve +as a soldier you boys proposed to go with me. I agreed, with a +condition, and that condition was that we should organize ourselves +into a company, elect a captain, and march to Camp Jackson under his +command, not go there like a parcel of school-boys or a flock of sheep +and be sent home again for our pains. You liked the notion, and we +made a fair bargain. I was ready to serve under anybody you might +choose for captain. I didn't ask you to elect me, but you did it. You +voted for me, ever one of you, and made me Captain. From that moment I +have been responsible for everything. + +"I lead you and provide necessary food. I plan everything and am +responsible for everything. If you misbehave as you go through the +country I shall be held to blame and I shall be to blame. But not a +man of you shall misbehave. I am your commander, you made me that, and +you can't undo it. Until we get to Camp Jackson I mean to command this +company, and I'll find means of enforcing what I order. That is all. +Right face! Break ranks!" + +A shout went up, in reply. + +"Good for Captain Sam!" cried the boys. "Three cheers for our +captain!" + +"Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!" + +All the boys,--there were about a dozen of them--joined in this shout, +except Jake Elliott, the mutineer, who had provoked the young +captain's anger by insisting upon quitting the camp without +permission, and had even threatened Sam when the young commander bade +him remain where he was. + +The revolt was effectually quelled. The mutineer had found a master in +his former school-mate, and forebore to provoke the threatened +corporal punishment further. + +The camp was in the edge of a strip of woods on the bank of the +Alabama river, the time, afternoon, in the autumn of the year 1814. +The boys had marched for three days through canebrakes, and swamps, +and had still a long march before them. Sam had called a halt earlier +than usual that day for reasons of his own, which he did not explain +to his fellows. Jake Elliott had objected, and his objection being +peremptorily overruled by Sam, he had undertaken to go on alone to the +point at which he wished to pass the remainder of the day, and the +night. Sam had ordered him to remain within the lines of the camp. He +had replied insolently with a threat that he would himself take charge +of the camp, as the oldest person there, when Sam quelled the mutiny +after the manner already set forth. + +Now that he was effectually put down, he brooded sulkily, meditating +revenge. + +As night came on, the camp fire of pitch pine threw a ruddy glow over +the trees, and the boys, weary as they were with marching, gathered +around the blazing logs, and laughed and sang merrily, Jake Elliott +was silent and sullen through it all, and when at last Sam ordered +all to their rest for the night, Jake crept off to a tree near the +edge of the prescribed camp limits and threw himself down there. +Presently a companion joined him, a boy not more than fourteen years +of age, who was greatly awed by Sam's sternness, and who naturally +sought to draw Jake into conversation on the subject. + +"You're as big as Sam is," he said after a while, "and I wonder you +let him talk so sharp to you. You're afraid o' him, aint you?" + +"No, but you are." + +"Yes I am. I'm afraid o' the lightning too, and he's got it in him, or +I'm mistaken." + +"Yes 'n' you fellows hurrahed for him, 'cause you was afraid to stand +up for yourselves." + +"To stand up for you, you mean, Jake. It wasn't our quarrel. We like +Sam, if we are afraid o' him, an' between him an' you there wa'nt no +call for us to take sides against him. Besides we're soldiers, you +know, an' he's capt'n." + +"A purty capt'n he is, aint he, an' you're a purty soldier, aint you. +A soldier owning up that he's afraid," said Jake tauntingly. + +"Well, you're afraid too, you know you are, else you wouldn't 'a' shut +up that way like a turtle when he told you to." + +"No, I aint afraid, neither, and you'll find it out 'fore you're done +with it. I didn't choose to say anything then, but _I'll get even with +Sam Hardwicke yet_, you see if I don't." + +"Mas' Jake," said a lump of something which had been lying quietly a +little way off all this time, but which now raised itself up and +became a black boy by the name of Joe, who had insisted upon +accompanying Sam in his campaigns; "Mas' Jake, I'se dun know'd Mas' +Sam a good deal better'n you know him, an' I'se dun seed a good many +things try to git even wid him, 'fore now; Injuns, water, fire, +sunshine, fever 'n ager, bullets an' starvation all dun try it right +under my eyes, an' bless my soul none on 'em ever managed it yit." + +"You shut up, you black rascal," was the only reply vouchsafed the +colored boy. + +"Me?" he asked, "oh, I'll shut up, of course, but I jist thought I'd +tell you 'cause you might make a sort o' 'zastrous mistake you know. +Other folks dun dun it fore now, tryin' to git even wid Mas' Sam." + +"Go to sleep, you rascal," replied Jake, "or I'll skin you alive." + +Joe snored immediately and Jake's companion laughed as he crept away +toward the fire. An hour later the camp was slumbering quietly in the +starlight, Sam sleeping by himself under a clump of bushes on the side +of the camp opposite that chosen by Jake Elliott for his +resting-place. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK. + + +Sam Hardwicke had thrown himself down under a clump of bushes, as I +have said, a little apart from the rest of the boys. Before he went to +sleep, however, his brother Tom, a lad about twelve years of age, but +rather large for his years, came and lay down by his side, the two +falling at once into conversation. + +"What made you fire up so quick with Jake Elliott, Sam?" asked the +younger boy. + +"Because he is a bully who would give trouble if he dared. I didn't want +to have a fight with him and so I thought it best to take the first +opportunity of teaching him the first duty of a soldier,--obedience." + +"But you might have reasoned with him, as you generally do with +people." + +"No I couldn't," replied Sam. + +"Why not?" Tom asked. + +"Because he isn't reasonable. He's the sort of person who needs a +master to say 'do' and 'don't.' Reasoning is thrown away on some +people." + +"But you had good reasons, didn't you, for stopping here instead of +going on further?" asked Tom. + +"Certainly. There's the Mackey house five miles ahead, and if we'd +gone on we must have stopped near it to night?" + +"Well, what of that?" + +"Jake Elliott would have pilfered something there." + +"How do you know?" asked Tom in some surprise at his brother's +positiveness. + +"Because," Sam replied, "he tried to steal some eggs last night at +Bungay's. I stopped him, and that's why I choose to camp every night +out of harm's way, and keep all of you within strict limits. I don't +mean to have people say we're a set of thieves. Besides, Jake Elliott +has meant to give trouble from the first, and I have only waited for a +chance to put him down. He isn't satisfied yet, but he's afraid to do +anything but sneak. He'll try some trick to get even with me pretty +soon." + +"Oh, Sam, you must look out then," cried Tom in alarm for his brother. +"Why don't you send him back home?" + +"For two or three reasons. In the first place General Jackson needs +all the volunteers he can get." + +"Well, what else?" + +"That's enough, but there's another good reason. If I let him go away +it would be saying that I can't manage him, and that would be a sorry +confession for a soldier to make. I can manage him, and I will, too." + +"But Sam, he'll do you some harm or other." + +"Of course he will if he can, but that is a risk I have to take." + +"Well, I'm going to sleep here by you, any how," said Tom. + +"No you mustn't," replied the elder boy. "You must go over by the fire +where the other boys are, and sleep there." + +"Why, Sam?" + +"Well, in the first place, if I'm not a match in wits for Jake +Elliott, I've no business to continue captain, and I've no right to +shirk any trial of skill that he may choose to make. Besides you're my +brother, and it will make the other boys think I'm partial if you stay +here with me. Go back there and sleep by the fire. I'll take care of +myself." + +"But Sam--" began Tom. + +"_You've_ seen me take care of myself in tighter places than any that +he can put me in, haven't you?" asked Sam. "There's the root fortress +within ten feet of us. You haven't forgotten it have you?" + +"No," said Tom, rising to go, "and I don't think I shall forget it +soon; but I don't like to let my 'Big Brother' sleep here alone with +Jake Elliott around." + +"Never mind me, I tell you, but go to the boys and go to sleep. I'll +take care of myself." + +With that the two boys separated, Tom walking away to the fire, and +Sam rolling himself up in his blanket for a quiet sleep. He had +already removed his boots, coat and hat, and thrown them together in a +pile, as he had done every night since the march began, partly +because he knew that it is always better to sleep with the limbs as +free as possible from pressure of any kind, and partly because he +suffered a little from an old wound in the foot, received about a year +before in the Indian assault upon Fort Sinquefield, and found it more +comfortable, after walking all day, to remove his boots. + +The camp grew quiet only by degrees. Boys have so many things to talk +about that when they are together they are pretty certain to talk a +good while before going to sleep, and especially so when they are +lying in the open air, under the starlight, near a pile of blazing +logs. They all stretched themselves out on the ground, weary with +their day's march, and determined to go at once to sleep, but somehow +each one found something that he wanted to say and so it was more than +an hour before the camp was quite still. Then every one slept except +Jake Elliott. He lay quietly by a tree, and seemed to be sleeping +soundly enough, but in fact he was not even dozing. He was laying +plans. He had a grudge against Sam Hardwicke, as we know, and was +very busily thinking what he could do by way of revenge. He meant to +do it at night, whatever it might be, because he was afraid to attempt +any thing openly, which would bring on a conflict with Sam, of whom he +was very heartily afraid. He was ready to do any thing that would +annoy Sam, however mean it might be, for he was a coward seeking +revenge, and cowardice is so mean a thing itself, that it always keeps +the meanest kind of company in the breasts of boys or men who harbor +it. Boys are apt to make mistakes about cowardice, however, and men +too for that matter, confounding it with timidity and nervousness, and +imagining that the ability to face unknown danger boldly is courage. +There could be no greater mistake than this, and it is worth while to +correct it. The bravest man I ever knew was so timid that he shrunk +from a shower bath and jumped like a girl if any one clapped hands +suddenly behind him. Cowardice is a matter of character. Brave men are +they who face danger coolly when it is their duty to do so, not +because they do not fear danger but because they will not run away +from a duty. Cowards often go into danger boastfully and without +seeming to care a fig for it, merely because they are conscious of +their own fault and afraid that somebody will find it out. Cowards are +men or women or boys, who lack character, and a genuine coward is very +sure to show his lack of moral character in other ways than by +shunning danger. They lie, because they fear to tell the truth, which +is a thing that requires a good deal of moral courage sometimes. They +are apt to be revengeful, too, because they resent other people's +superiority to themselves, and are not strong enough in manliness to +be generous. They seek revenge for petty wrongs, real or imaginary, in +sly, sneaking, cowardly ways because--well because they are cowards. +Jake Elliott was a boy of this sort. He was always a bully, and people +who imagined that courage is best shown by fighting and blustering, +thought Jake a very brave fellow. If they could have known him +somewhat better, they would have discovered that all his fighting was +done merely to conceal the fact that he was afraid to fight. He +measured his adversaries pretty accurately, and in ordinary +circumstances he would have fought Sam, when that young man talked to +him as he did in the beginning of this story. There was that in Sam's +bearing, however, which made Jake afraid to resist the imperious will +that asserted itself more in the quiet tone than in the threatening +words. He was Sam's full equal physically, but he had quailed before +him, and he could scarcely determine why. It annoyed him sorely as he +remembered the loud cheering of the boys. He chafed under the +consciousness of defeat, and dreaded, the hints he was sure to receive +whenever he should bully any of his companions, that he had a score +still unsettled with Sam Hardwicke. He knew that he was a coward, and +that the other boys had found it out, and he almost groaned as he lay +there in the silence and darkness, meditating revenge. + +A little after midnight he got up silently and crept along the river +bank to the clump of bushes where Sam lay soundly sleeping. His first +impulse was to jump upon the sleeper and fight him with an unfair +advantage, but he was not yet free from the restraining influence of +Sam's eye and voice so recently brought to bear upon him. + +No, he dared not attack Sam even with so great an advantage. He must +injure him secretly as he had determined to do. + +Creeping along upon all-fours, he felt about for Sam's boots, and +finding them at last, was just about to move away with them when Sam +turned over. + +Jake sank down into the sand and listened, his heart beating and the +sweat standing in great drops on his forehead. Sam did not move again, +however, but seemed still to sleep. After waiting a long time Jake +crept away noiselessly, as he had come. + +Slipping down over the low sand bank he stood by the river's edge with +the boots in his hand. + +"Now," he muttered to himself, "I guess I'll be even with 'Captain +Sam.' By the time he marches a day or two barefoot with that game foot +o' his'n, I guess he'll begin to wish he hadn't been quite so sassy." + +Filling the boots with sand he swung them back and forth, meaning to +toss them as far out into the river as he could. Just as he was about +quitting his hold of them, a terrifying thought seized him. The +sand-filled boots would make a good deal of noise in striking the +water, and Sam on the bank above would be sure to hear. Jake was ready +enough to injure Sam, but he was not by any means ready to encounter +that particularly cool and determined youth, while engaged in the act +of doing him a surreptitious injury. He must go higher up the stream +before putting his purpose into execution. + +The bank at this point was crowned with a great pile of drift wood, +the accumulation of many floods, which had been caught and held in its +place by two great trees from the roots of which the water had +gradually washed the sand away until the trees themselves stood up +upon great root legs, fifteen feet long. The trees and the drift pile +were the same in which Sam Hardwicke had hidden his little party a +year before, when the fortunes of Indian war had thrown him, with Tom +and his sister, and the black boy Joe, upon their own resources in the +Indian haunted forest. The story is told in a former volume of this +series.[1] Sam's resting place just now was within a few feet of +the great tree roots, but Sam was not sleeping there, as Jake Elliott +supposed. He had been wide enough awake, ever since Jake first +startled him out of sleep, and he had silently observed that worthy's +manoeuvres through the bushes. Jake crept along the edge of the +drift pile to its further end, intending to toss the boots into the +river as soon as he should be sufficiently far from Sam for safety. As +he went, however, his awakened caution grew upon him. He reflected +that Sam would suspect him when he should miss his boots the next +morning, and might see fit to call him to account for their absence. +He intended, in that case, stoutly to deny all knowledge of the +affair, but he could not tell in advance precisely how persistent +Sam's suspicion might be, and it seemed to him better to leave +himself a "hole to crawl through," as he phrased it, if the necessity +should come. He resolved, therefore, that instead of throwing the +boots away, he would hide them so securely that no one else could +possibly find them. "Then," thought he, "if the worst comes to the +worst I can find 'em, and still stick to it that I didn't take 'em +away." An opening in the pile of drift-wood just at hand, was +suggestive, and Jake crept into it passing under a great log that lay +lengthwise just over the entrance. The passage way through the drift +was a very narrow one but it did not come to an end at the end of the +great log as Jake had expected, and he felt his way further. The +passage turned and twisted about, but he went on, dark as it was. +After a while he found himself in a sort of chamber under one of the +great trees, and inside the line of its great twisted roots. He did +not know where he was, however, but Sam or Tom or Joe could have told +him all about the place. + +[Footnote 1: The Big Brother, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. A +friend suggests that many northern readers may doubt the existence of +such trees as those which I have described briefly here, and more +fully in "The Big Brother." I think it right to explain, therefore, +that I have seen many such trees with roots exposed in the manner +described, in the west and south, and my favorite playing place as a +boy was under precisely such a tree. Of course no tree could stand the +sudden removal of ten or fifteen feet of earth from beneath it; but +the trees described have gradually undergone this process, and the +roots have struck constantly deeper, their exposed parts gradually +changing from roots, in the proper sense, to something like a +downward-branching tree trunk.] + +[Illustration: GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK.] + +Here his journey seemed to be effectually interrupted, and he thrust +the boots, as he supposed, into a hole, driving them with some little +force through a tangled net work of small roots. What he really did +do, however, was to drive them through a net work of small roots, +between two great ones, into the outer air, at the very spot from +which he had taken them. When he quitted his hold of them, leaving +them, as he supposed, buried in the centre of a great drift pile, they +lay in fact by Sam's coat and hat, right where they had lain when Sam +went to sleep. + +Sam had silently observed him as he entered the drift pile, and +running quickly to the entrance he seized a stick of timber and drew +it toward him with all his force. Sam Hardwicke had an excellent habit +of remembering not only things that were certainly useful to know, but +things also which might be useful. When Jake entered the drift pile, +Sam remembered that during his own stay there a year before, he had +carefully examined the great log which formed the archway of the +entrance, and that it was kept in its place only by this single stick +of timber acting as a wedge. Pulling this out, therefore, he let the +farther end of the great tree trunk fall, and completely blocked the +passage way. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +REVENGE OF A DIFFERENT SORT. + + +No matter where one begins to tell a story there is always something +back of the beginning that must be told for the sake of making the +matter clear. Whatever you tell, something else must have happened +before it and something else before that and something else before +that, so that there is really no end to the beginnings that might be +made. The only way I can think of by which a whole story could be told +would be to begin back at Adam and Eve and work on down to the present +time; and even then the story would not be finished and nobody but a +prophet ever could finish it. + +The only way to tell a story then is to plunge into it somewhere as I +did two chapters back, follow it until we get hold of it, and then go +back and explain how it came about before going on with it. I must +tell you just now who these boys were, where they were and how they +came to be there. All this must be told sometime and whenever it is +told somebody or something must wait somewhere, and I really think +Jake Elliott may as well wait there in the drift-pile as not. He +deserves nothing better. + +During the summer of the year 1813, while the United States and great +Britain were at war, a general Indian war came on which raged with +especial violence in middle and southern Alabama. The Indians fought +desperately, but General Jackson managed to conquer them thoroughly. +He was empowered by the government to make a treaty with them and he +insisted that they should make a treaty which they could not help +keeping. He made them give up a large part of their land, and so +arranged the boundaries as to make the Indians powerless for further +harm. + +The Indians hesitated a long time before they would sign the treaty, +but it was Jackson's way to finish whatever he undertook, and not +leave it to be done over again. As the people of the border used to +say, he "left no gaps in the fences behind him," and so he insisted +upon the treaty and the Indians at last signed it. Meantime, however, +a great many of the Indians, and among them several of their most +savage chiefs had escaped to Florida, which was then Spanish +territory. + +Jackson remained at his camp in southern Alabama through the summer of +1814 bringing the Indians to terms. During the summer it became +evident that the British were preparing an expedition against Mobile +and New Orleans, and Jackson was placed in command of the whole +southwest, with instructions to defend that part of the country. This +was all very well, and very wise, too, for there was no man in the +country who was fitter than he for the kind of work he was thus called +on to do; but there was one very serious obstacle in his way. He had +his commission; he had full authority to conduct the campaign; he had +everything in fact except an army, and it does not require a very +shrewd person to guess that an army is a rather important part of a +general's outfit for defending a large territory. He called for +volunteers and accepted any kind that came. He even published a +special address to the free negroes within the threatened district and +asked them to become soldiers, a thing that nobody had ever thought of +before. + +The boys in the southwest were strong, hearty fellows, used to the +woods, accustomed to hardship and not afraid of danger. Many of them +had fought bravely during the Indian war, and when Jackson called for +volunteers, a good many of these boys joined him, some of them being +mere lads just turning into their teens. + +Sam Hardwicke, was noted all through that country for several reasons. +In the first place he was a boy of very fine appearance and unusual +skill in all the things which help to make either a boy or a man +popular in a new country. He was a capital shot with rifle or +shot-gun; he was a superb horseman, a tireless walker, and an expert +in all the arts of the hunter. + +He was strong and active of body, and better still he was a boy of +better intellect and better education than was common in that country +at that early day when there were few schools and poor ones. His +father was a gentleman of wealth and education, who had removed to +Alabama for the sake of his health a few years before, bringing a +large library with him, and he had educated his children very +carefully, acting as their teacher himself. Sam was ready for college, +and but for Jackson's call for troops he would have been on his way to +Virginia, to attend the old William and Mary University there, at the +time our story begins. When it became known, however, that men were +needed to defend the country against the British, Sam thought it his +duty to help, and reluctantly resolved to postpone the beginning of +his college course for another year. + +All these things made Sam Hardwicke a special favorite, and persons a +great deal older than he was, held him in very high regard, on account +of his superior education, but more particularly on account of the +real superiority which was the result of that education; and I want to +say, right here, that the difference between a man or boy whose +education has been good and one who has had very little instruction, +is a good deal greater than many persons think. It is a mistake to +suppose that the difference lies only in what one has learned and the +other has not. What you learn in school is the smallest part of the +good you get there. Half of it is usually worthless as information, +and much of it is sure to be forgotten; but the work of learning it is +not thrown away on that account. In learning it you train and +discipline and cultivate your mind, making it grow both in strength +and in capacity, and so the educated man has really a stronger and +better intellect than he ever would have had without education. Many +persons suppose,--and I have known even college professors who made +the mistake,--that a boy's mind is like a meal-bag, which will hold +just so much and needs filling. They fill it as they would fill the +meal-bag, for the sake of the meal and without a thought of the bag. +In fact a boy's mind is more like the boy himself. It will not do to +try to make a man out of him by stuffing meat and bread down his +throat. The meat and bread fill him very quickly, but he isn't +fully-grown when he is full. To make a man of him we must give him +food in proper quantities, and let it help him to grow, and the things +you learn in school are chiefly valuable as food for the mind. +Education makes the intellect grow as truly as food makes the body do +so; and so I say that Sam Hardwicke's superiority in intellect to the +boys and even to most of the men about him, consisted of something +more than merely a larger stock of information. He was intellectually +larger than they, and if any boy who reads this book supposes that a +well-trained intellect is of no account in the practical affairs of +life, it is time for him to begin correcting some very dangerous +notions. + +To get back to the story, I must stop moralizing and say that when Sam +made up his mind to volunteer, a number of boys in the neighborhood +determined to follow his example, and, as Sam has already explained, +the little company was organized, under Sam's command as captain. Of +course Sam had no real military authority, and he did not for a moment +suppose that his little band of boys would be recognized as a company +or he as a captain, on their arrival at Camp Jackson; but they had +agreed to march under Sam's command, and he knew how to exercise +authority, even when it was held by so loose a tenure as that of mere +agreement among a lot of boys. + +We now come back to the drift-pile. When Jake had carefully hidden +Sam's boots, as he supposed, deep within the recesses of the great +pile of logs and brush and roots, he began groping his way back toward +the entrance. It was pitch dark of course, but by walking slowly and +feeling his way carefully, he managed to follow the passage way. Just +as he began to think that he must be pretty nearly out of the den, +however, he came suddenly upon an obstruction. Feeling about carefully +he found that the passage in which he stood had come to an abrupt +termination. We know, of course what had happened, but Jake did not. +He had come to the end of the log which Sam had thrown down to stop up +the passage way, and there was really no way for him to go. He +supposed, of course, that he had somehow wandered out of his way, +leaving the main alley and following a side one to its end. He +therefore retraced his steps, feeling, as he went, for an opening upon +one side or the other. He found several, but none of them did him any +good. Following each a little way he came to its end in the matted +logs, and had to try again. Presently he began to get nervous and +frightened. He imagined all sorts of things and so lost his presence +of mind that he forgot the outer appearance and size of the drift +pile, and frightened himself still further by imagining that it must +extend for miles in every direction, and that he might be hopelessly +lost within its dark mazes. When he became frightened, he hurried his +footsteps, as nervous people always do, and the result was that he +blacked one of his eyes very badly by running against a projecting +piece of timber. He was weary as well as frightened, but he dared not +give up his effort to get out. Hour after hour--and the hours seemed +weeks to him,--he wandered back and forth, afraid to call for +assistance, and afraid above everything else that morning would come +and that he would be forced to remain there in the drift pile while +the boys marched away, or to call aloud for assistance and be caught +in his own meanness without the power to deny it. Finally morning +broke, and he could hear the boys as they began preparing for +breakfast. It was his morning, according to agreement, to cut wood +for the fire and bring water, and so a search was made for him at +once. He heard several of the boys calling at the top of their lungs. + +"Jake Elliott! Jake! Ja-a-a-ke!!" He knew then that his time had come. + +What had Sam been doing all this time? Sleeping, I believe, for the +most part, but he had not gone to sleep without making up his mind +precisely what course to pursue. When he threw the log down, he meant +merely to shut Jake Elliott and his own boots up for safe keeping, and +it was his purpose, when morning should come, to "have it out" with +the boot thief, in one way or another, as circumstances, and Jake's +temper after his night's adventure, might determine. + +He walked back, therefore, to his place of rest, after he had blocked +up the entrance of the drift-pile, and threw himself down again under +the bushes. Ten or fifteen minutes later he heard a slight noise at +the root of the great tree near him, and, looking, saw something which +looked surprisingly like a pair of boots, trying to force themselves +out between two of the exposed roots. Then he heard retreating +footsteps within the space enclosed by the circle of roots, and began +to suspect the precise state of affairs. Examining the boots he +discovered that they were his own, and he quickly guessed the truth +that Jake had pushed them out from the inside, under the impression +that he was driving them into a hole in the centre of the tangled +drift. + +Sam was a brave boy, too brave to be vindictive, and so he quickly +decided that as he had recovered his boots he would subject his enemy +only to so much punishment as he thought was necessary to secure his +good behavior afterward. He knew that the boys would torment Jake +unmercifully if the true story of the night's exploits should become +known to them, and while he knew that the culprit deserved the +severest lesson, he was too magnanimous to subject him to so sore a +trial. He went to sleep, therefore, resolved to release his enemy +quietly in the morning, before the other boys should be astir. +Unluckily he overslept himself, and so the first hint of the dawn he +received was from the loud calling of the boys for Jake Elliott. +Fortunately Jake had not yet nerved himself up to the point of +answering and calling for assistance, and so Sam had still a chance to +execute his plan. + +"Never mind calling Jake," he cried, as he rose from his couch of +bushes, "but run down to the spring and bring some water. I have Jake +engaged elsewhere." + +The boys suspected at once that Sam and Jake had arranged a private +battle to be fought somewhere in the woods beyond camp lines, a battle +with fists for the mastery, and they were strongly disposed to follow +their captain as he started up the river. + +"Stop," cried Sam. "I have business with Jake, which will not interest +you. Besides, I think it best that you shall remain here. Go to the +spring, as I tell you, and then go back to the fire, and get +breakfast. Jake and I will be there in time to help you eat it. If one +of you follows me a foot of the way, I--never mind; I tell you you +must not follow me, and you shall not." + +There were some symptoms of a turbulent, but good-natured revolt, but +Sam's earnestness quieted it, and the boys reluctantly drew back. + +Passing around to the further side of the drift-pile, more than a +hundred yards away from the nearest point of the camp, Sam called in a +low tone:-- + +"Jake! Jake!" + +"What is it?" asked Jake presently, trembling in voice as he trembled +in limb, for he was now thoroughly broken and frightened. He dreaded +the meeting with Sam nearly as much as he dreaded the terrible fate +which seemed to him the only alternative, namely, that of remaining in +the drift-pile to starve. + +"Come down this way," said Sam. + +"Well," answered Jake when he had moved a little way toward Sam. + +"Do you see a hole in the top, just above your head?" asked Sam. + +"Yes, but I can't see the sky through it." + +"Never mind, get a stick to boost you, and climb up into it." + +Jake did as he was told to do, and upon climbing up found that there +was a sort of passage way running laterally through the upper part of +the timber, crooked and so narrow that he could scarcely force his +way through it. Whither it led, he had no idea, but he obeyed Sam's +injunction to follow it, though he did so with great difficulty, as in +many places sticks were in the way, which it required his utmost +strength to remove. The passage through which he was crawling so +painfully, was one which Sam and his companions had made by dint of +great labor, during their residence in the tree root cavern a year +before. It led from the main alley way to their post of observation on +top of the pile, their look-out, from which they had been accustomed +to examine the country around, to see if there were Indians about, +when they had occasion to expose themselves outside of their place of +refuge. As the only way into this passage was through a "blind" hole +in the roof of the main alley way, no one would ever have suspected +its existence. + +After awhile Jake's head emerged from the very top of the drift pile, +and he saw Sam lying flat down, just before him. He instinctively +shrank back. + +"Come on," said Sam; "but don't rise up or the boys will see us. Crawl +out of the hole and then follow me on your hands and knees." + +Jake obeyed, and the two presently jumped down to the ground on the +side of the hummock furthest from camp. + +Jake's first glance revealed Sam fully dressed, and standing firmly +_in his boots_. There could be no mistake about it, and yet a moment +before he would have made oath that those very boots were hidden +hopelessly within the deepest recesses of the drift-pile. He could not +restrain the exclamation which rose to his lips:-- + +"_Where_ DID _you get them boots_?" + +"Never mind where, or how. I have a word or two to say to you. You +took my boots and were on the point of throwing them into the river. +If you think such an act by way of revenge was manly and worthy of a +soldier, I will not dispute the point. You must determine that for +yourself." + +"Let me tell you about it, Sam," began Jake in an apologetic voice. + +"No, it isn't necessary," replied Sam. "I know all about it, and it +will not help the matter to lie about it. Listen to me. You were about +to throw the boots into the river; but you changed your mind. You know +why, of course, while I can only guess; but it doesn't matter. You +took them into the drift pile and put them into a hole there. The next +thing you know of them I have them on my feet, and I assure you I +haven't been inside the drift pile since you entered it. Solve that +riddle in any way you choose. I blocked up the entrance, and this +morning I have let you out. Not one of the boys knows anything about +this affair, and not one of them shall know, unless you choose to tell +them, which you won't, of course. Now come on to camp and get ready +for breakfast." + +With that Sam led the way. Presently Jake halted. + +"Sam," he said. + +"Well." + +"My eye's all bunged up. What'll the boys say?" + +"I don't know." + +"What must I tell 'em?" + +"Anything you choose. It is not my affair." + +"They'll think you've whipped me?" exclaimed Jake in alarm. + +"Well, I have, haven't I?" + +"No, we hain't fit at all." + +"Yes we have,--not with our fists, but with our characters, and I have +whipped you fairly. Never mind that. You can say you did it by +accident in the dark, which will be true." + +"But Sam!" said Jake, again halting. + +"Well, what is it now?" + +"What made you let me out an' keep the secret from the boys?" + +"Because I thought it would be mean, unmanly and wrong in me to take +such a revenge." + +"Is that the only reason?" + +"Yes, that is the only reason." + +"You didn't do it 'cause you was afraid?" he asked, incredulously. + +"No, of course not. I'm not in the least afraid of you, Jake." + +"Why not? I'm bigger'n you." + +"Yes, but you're an awful coward, Jake, and nobody knows it better +than I do, except you. You wouldn't dare to lay a finger on me. I +could make you lie down before me and--Pshaw! you know you're a coward +and that's enough about it." + +"Why didn't you leave me for the boys to find, then, and tell the +whole story?" + +"Because I'm not a coward or a sneak. I've told you once, but of +course you can't understand it; come along. I'm hungry." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A CERTIFICATE OF CHARACTER. + + +Three or four days after the morning of Jake Elliott's release, Sam +led his little company into Camp Jackson and reported their arrival. + +As Sam had anticipated, General Jackson decided at once that the boys +could become useful to him only by volunteering in some of the +companies already organized, and Sam began to look about for a company +in which he and Tom would be acceptable. The other boys were of course +free to choose for themselves, and Sam declined to act for them in the +matter. As for Joe the black boy, he knew how to make himself useful +in any command, as a servant, and he was resolved to follow Sam's +fortunes, wherever they might lead. + +"You see Mas' Sam," he said, "you'n Mas' Tommy might git yer selves +into some sort o' scrape or udder, an' then yer's sho' to need Joe to +git you out. Didn't Joe git you out 'n dat ar fix dar in de drifpile +more'n a yeah ago? Howsomever, 'taint becomin' to talk 'bout dat, +'cause your fathah he dun pay me fer dat dar job, he is. But you'll +need Joe any how, an' wha you goes Joe goes, an' dey aint no gettin +roun' dat ar fac, nohow yer kin fix it." + +On the very morning of Sam's arrival, as he was beginning his search +for a suitable command in which to enlist, he met Tandy Walker, the +celebrated guide and scout, whose memory is still fondly cherished in +the southwest for his courage, his skill and his tireless +perseverance. Tandy was now limping along on a rude crutch, with one +of his feet bandaged up. + +Sam greeted him heartily and asked, of course, about his hurt, which +Tandy explained as the result of "a wrestle he had had with an axe," +meaning that he had cut his foot in chopping wood. He tarried but a +moment with Sam, excusing himself for his hurried departure on the +ground that he had been sent for by General Jackson. Having heard +Sam's story and plans Tandy limped on, and was soon ushered into +Jackson's inner apartment. + +When the general saw him he exclaimed-- + +"What, you're not on the sick list are you, Walker?" + +"Well no, not adzac'ly, giner'l, but I ain't adzac'ly a _walker_ now, +fur all that's my name." + +"What's the matter?" asked Jackson. + +"Nothin', only I've dun split my foot open with a axe, giner'l." + +"That is very unfortunate," replied Jackson, "very unfortunate, +indeed." + +"Yes, it aint adzac'ly what you might call _lucky_, giner'l." + +"It certainly isn't!" said Jackson, a smile for a moment taking the +place of the look of vexation which his face wore; "and it isn't lucky +for me either, for I need you just now." + +"I'm sorry, giner'l, if ther's any work to be done in my line, but it +can't be helped, you know." + +"Of course not. The fact is Tandy, I want something done that I can't +easily find any body else to do. I'm satisfied now that the British +are at Pensacola and are arming Indians there, and that the +treacherous Spanish governor is harboring them on his _neutral_ +territory. I have proof of that now. Look at that rifle there. That's +one of the guns they have given out to Indians, and a friendly Indian +brought it to me this morning. But you know the Indians, Walker; I +can't get anything definite out of them. I _must_ find out all about +this affair, and you're the only man I could trust with the task." + +"I b'lieve that's jist about the way the land lays, giner'l," replied +Tandy, "but I'll tell you what it is; if ther' aint a _man_ here you +kin tie to fur that sort o' work, ther's a purty well grown boy +that'll do it up for you equal to me or anybody else, or my name aint +Tandy Walker, and that's what the old woman at home calls me." + +A little further conversation revealed the fact that the boy alluded +to was none other than our friend Sam Hardwicke. General Jackson +hesitated, expressing some doubts of Sam's qualifications for so +delicate a task. He feared that so young a person might lack the +coolness and discretion necessary, and said so. To all of this Tandy +replied:-- + +"You'd trust the job to me, if I could walk, wouldn't you, giner'l?" + +"Certainly; no other man would be half so good." + +"Well then, giner'l, lem me tell you, that Sam Hardwicke is Tandy +Walker, spun harder an' finer, made out'n better wool, doubled an' +twisted, and _mighty keerfully waxed_ into the bargain. He's a smart +one, if there ever was one. He's edicated too, an' knows books like a +school teacher. He's the sharpest feller in the woods I ever seed, an' +he's got jist a little the keenest scent for the right thing to do in +a tight place that you ever seed in man or boy. Better'n all, he never +loses that cool head o' his'n no matter what happens." + +"That is a hearty recommendation, certainly," said the general. +"Suppose you send young Hardwicke to me; of course nothing must be +said of all this." + +"Certainly giner'l. Nobody ever gits any news out'n my talk." And with +that Tandy made his awkward bow, his awkwarder salute, and limped +away. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SAM LAYS HIS PLANS. + + +Half an hour later Sam Hardwicke entered General Jackson's private +office, and was received with some little surprise upon the +commander's part. + +"Why, you're the young man who reported in command of some young +recruits, are you not?" he asked. + +Sam replied that he was. + +"I didn't understand it so," replied Jackson, "when Walker recommended +you for this service. However, it is all the better so, because _I_ +know your devotion, and Tandy has assured me of your competence. Sit +down, our talk is likely to be a long one." + +When Sam was comfortably seated, with his hat "hung up on the floor," +as Tandy Walker would have said, the general resumed. + +"You understand of course," he said, "that whatever I say to you, must +be kept a profound secret, now and hereafter, whether you go on the +expedition I have in mind or not." + +"You may depend upon my discretion, sir. I think I know how to be +silent." + +"Do you? Then you have learned a good lesson well. Take care that you +never forget it. Let me tell you in the outset that the task I want +you to undertake is a difficult and perhaps a dangerous one. It will +require patience, pluck, intelligence and _tact_. Tandy Walker tells +me that you have these qualities, and he ought to know, perhaps, but I +shall find out for myself before we have done talking. I shall tell +you what the circumstances are and what I wish to have done. Then you +must decide whether or not you wish to undertake it; and if you do, +you must take what time you wish for consideration, and then tell me +what your plans are for its accomplishment. I shall then be able to +judge whether or not you are likely to succeed. You understand me of +course?" + +"Perfectly, I think," replied Sam. + +"Very well then. You know that a good many of the worst of these +Creeks escaped to Florida, Peter McQueen among them. I could not +pursue them beyond the border, because Florida is Spanish territory, +and Spain is, or at least professes to be, friendly to the United +States, and neutral in our war with the British. Now, however, I have +good authority for believing that the Spanish Governor at Pensacola is +treacherously aiding not only the Indians but the British also. A +force of British, I hear, has landed there, and friendly Indians tell +me that they are arming the runaway Creeks, meaning to use them +against us. The Indians tell big stories, so big that I can place no +reliance upon them, and what I want is accurate information about +affairs at Pensacola. If there is a British force there, it means to +make an attack on Mobile or New Orleans. I must know the exact facts, +whatever they are, so that I may take proper precautions. I must know +the size of the force, the number of their ships, and on what terms +they have been received by the Spaniards. If they are made welcome at +Pensacola, and permitted by the Spaniards to make that a convenient +base of operations against us, the government may see fit to authorize +me to break up the hornet's nest before the swarm gets too big to be +handled safely. However, that is another matter. What I want is +positive information of the exact facts, whatever they are. The +difficulties in the way are great. We are at peace with Spain, and +must do no hostile act upon her soil. I cannot even send an armed +scouting party to get the information I need. If you go, you must go +unarmed, and even then you may be arrested and dealt hardly with. It +will require the utmost discretion as well as courage, to accomplish +the task, and I have no wish that you should undertake it if you +hesitate to do so." + +"I do not hesitate, sir," replied Sam, "if, after hearing my plan, you +think me competent for the business." + +"Very well then," replied the general, "when will you be ready to lay +your plan before me?" + +"I am ready now, sir," said Sam, "so far at least as the general plan +is concerned; little things will have to be dealt with as they +arise." + +"Certainly. What is your plan in outline?" + +"To go to Florida on a trapping and fishing excursion. I am not a +soldier yet, and may go, if I like, peacefully into the territory of a +friendly nation. I can take some of my boys with me, and camp by the +water side. I can easily go into Pensacola and find out what is going +on there. I shouldn't wish to be a spy, general, but this is scarcely +that, I think. The enemy has been received by a power professing to be +friendly. That power has given us no notice of hostility, and until +that is done I see no impropriety in going into his territory for +information not about his affairs at all, unless he is proving +treacherous, which would entitle us to do that, but about those of our +enemy, whom he should regard as an invader, however he may regard him +in fact." + +"You've read some law, I see," said the general. + +"No sir," replied Sam, blushing to think how he had been expounding to +the general, a nice point which that officer must understand much +better than he did. "No sir, I have read no law except a book or two +on the laws of nations, which my father said every gentleman should +be familiar with." + +"A very wise and excellent father he must be," replied Jackson, "if I +may judge of him by the training he has given his son." + +"Thank you, sir, in his name," answered Sam, rising and making his +best bow. + +"To come back to the business in hand," resumed Jackson. "You'll need +a boat and some camp equipments." + +"A boat, yes, but as for camp equipments, I can make out without them +very well. I've camped a good deal and I know how to manage." + +"Very well, then, you'll be all the lighter. How many of your boys +will you need?" + +"Two or three,--partly to make a show of a camp, but more because it +may be necessary to send some of them back with news. My brother Tom +and my black boy, with one or two others will be enough." + +"Very well. Now you must be off as soon as possible. I shall march to +Mobile in a day or two, and organize for defence there. Send your news +there. You had better march directly from this place, so that your +arrival will excite no suspicion. I will provide you with a map of the +country. Have you a compass?" + +"Yes sir, I brought one with me from home." + +"There are boats enough to be had among the fishermen, I suppose, but +how to provide you with one is the most serious problem I have to +solve in this matter. My army chest is empty, and my personal purse is +equally so." + +"I can manage all that, sir, if I may take an axe or two and an adze +from the shop here." + +"How?" + +"By digging out a canoe. I've done it before, and know how to handle +the tools." + +"You certainly do not lack the sort of resources which a commander +needs in such a country as this, where he must first create his army +and then arm and feed it without money. You'll make a general yet, I +fancy." + +"At present I am not even a private," replied Sam, "though the boys +call me Captain Sam." + +"Do they? Then Captain Sam it shall be, and I wish you a successful +campaign before Pensacola, Captain. Get your forces into marching +order at once. Take all of your boys, unless some of them have +already enlisted,--it won't do to take actual soldiers with you, as +yours must be a citizen's camp,--and march as early as you can. I'll +see that you are properly provided with the tools you need." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CAPTAIN SAM BEGINS HIS MARCH. + + +At noon the next day Sam marched away from the camp at the head of his +little company, reduced now to precisely six boys in all, counting the +colored boy Joe, but not counting Captain Sam himself. Jake Elliott +was one of the company, rather against Sam's wish, but he had begged +for permission to go, and Sam thought his size and strength might be +of use in some emergency. Tommy was of the party of course, and the +other boys were Billy Bunker--called Billy Bowlegs by the boys, +because he was not bow-legged at all but on the contrary badly +knock-kneed,--Bob Sharp, a boy of about Tommy's size and age, and +Sidney Russell, a boy of thirteen, who had "run to legs," his +companions said, and was already nearly six feet high, and so slender +that, notwithstanding his extreme height, he was the lightest boy in +the company. The rest of the party had already enlisted and could not +go. + +The outfit was complete, after Sam's notions of completeness; that is +to say, it included every thing which was absolutely necessary and not +an ounce of anything that could be safely spared. For tools they had +two axes, with rather short handles, a small hatchet, a pocket rule +and an adze; to this list might be added their large pocket knives, +which every man and boy on the frontier carries habitually. For camp +utensils each boy had a tin cup and that was all, except a single +light skillet, which they were to carry alternately, as they were to +do with the tools. Each boy carried a blanket tightly rolled up, and +each had, at the start, eight pounds of corn meal and four pounds of +bacon, with a small sack of salt each, which could be carried in any +pocket. This was all. They had no arms and no ammunition. + +Their destination and the purpose of their journey were wholly unknown +to anybody in the camp, except General Jackson and Tandy Walker. The +boys themselves were as ignorant as anybody on this subject. Sam had +enlisted them in the service, merely telling them that he was going on +an expedition which might prove difficult, dangerous and full of +hardship. He told them that he could not make them legal soldiers +before leaving, but that implicit obedience was absolutely necessary, +and that he wanted no boy to go with him who was not willing to trust +his judgment absolutely and obey orders as a soldier does, without +knowing why they are given or what they are meant to accomplish. To +put this matter on a proper basis, he drew up an enlistment paper as +follows:-- + +"We, whose names are signed below, volunteer to go with Samuel +Hardwicke and under his command, on the expedition which he is about +beginning. We have been duly warned of the dangers and hardships to be +encountered; we freely undertake to endure the hardships without +shrinking, and to face the dangers as soldiers should; and, +understanding the necessity of discipline and obedience, we promise, +each of us upon his honor, fully to recognize the authority of Samuel +Hardwicke as our Captain, appointed by General Jackson; we promise +upon honor, to obey his command, as implicity as if we were regularly +enlisted soldiers, and he a properly commissioned officer." + +(Signed.) + +[Illustration: signatures] + +When this paper was signed by all the boys, including black Joe, who +insisted upon attaching his name to it in the printing letters which +"little Miss Judie" had taught him, it was placed in General Jackson's +hands for keeping, and Sam marched his party away, amid the wondering +curiosity of the few troops who were in camp. They knew that this +party went out under orders of some sort from head quarters, but they +could not imagine whither it was going or why. Many of them had tried +to get information from the boys themselves, but as the boys knew +absolutely nothing about it, they could answer no questions, except +with the rather unsatisfactory formula "I dunno." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SAM'S TRAVELLING FACTORY. + + +The boys marched steadily until sunset, when Sam called a halt and +selected a camping place for the night. He ordered a fire built and +himself superintended the preparation of supper, limiting the amount +of food cooked for each member of the party, a regulation which he +enforced strictly throughout the march, lest any of the boys should +imprudently eat their rations too fast, which, as their route lay +through woods and swamps in a part of the country scarcely at all +settled, would bring disaster upon the expedition of course. Sam had +calculated the march to last about ten days, but he hoped to +accomplish it within a briefer time. The supplies they had would last +ten days, and Sam hoped to add to them by killing game from time to +time, for although the party were unarmed, Sam knew ways of getting +game without gunpowder, and meant to put some of them in practice. + +Toward evening of the first day out, he had stopped in a canebrake and +cut three well seasoned canes, selecting straight, tall ones, about an +inch in diameter, and taking care that they tapered as little and as +regularly as possible. Cutting them off at both ends and leaving them +about fifteen feet in length, he next cut three or four small canes, +very long and green ones, without flaw. + +That night, as soon as supper was over he brought his canes to the +fire and laid them down, preparatory to beginning work upon them. + +"What are you a goin' to do with them canes, Sam?" asked Billy +Bowlegs. + +"What do you think, Billy?" + +"Dog-gone ef I know," replied Billy. + +"Suppose you quit saying 'dog-gone' Billy," said Sam. "It isn't a very +good thing to say, and you've said it thirty-two times this +afternoon." + +"Have I? well, what's the odds if I have?" + +"Well, it's a bad habit, and if you'll quit it, I'll give you one of +those canes when I get them ready." + +"What 'er you goin' to make 'em into?" + +"Guns," said Sam, working away as hard as he could with his +jack-knife. + +"Guns! what sort o' guns? Powder'd burst 'em in a minute, and besides +we aint got no powder." + +"No, but I'm going to make guns out of these canes, and I'm going to +kill something with them too." + +"What sort o' guns?" + +"Blow guns." + +"What's a blow gun, Mas. Sam?" asked Joe, becoming interested, as all +the boy were now. + +Sam was too busy to answer at the moment and so Tom, who had seen +Sam's blow guns at home, answered for him. + +"He's going to burn out the joints and then make arrows with iron +points and some rabbit fur around the light ends. The fur fills up the +hole in the cane, and when he blows in the end it sends the arrow off +like a bullet. But Sam!" he cried, suddenly thinking of something. + +"What is it?" asked the elder brother without looking up. + +"What are you going to burn them out with?" + +"With that little rod," answered Sam, tossing a bit of iron about six +inches long towards his brother, "I brought it with me on purpose." + +"Well, but it won't reach; you've got to reach all the joints you +know, and the rod must be as long as the cane." + +"Oh no, not by any means." + +"Yes it must, of course it must," exclaimed all the boys in a breath. +"It's just like burning out a pipe stem with a wire." + +"No it is not," replied Sam, smiling, "but suppose it is. I can burn +out a pipe stem with a wire half as long as the stem." + +"How?" asked two or three boys at once. + +"By burning first from one end and then from the other." + +"Yes, that's so," answered Sid Russell slowly, drawling his words out +as if he had to drag them up through his long legs, "but that don't +tell how you're goin' to bore out a big cane, fifteen feet long with a +little iron rod not more 'n six or eight inches long." + +"Well, if you will be patient a moment, I'll show you," answered Sam, +picking up the bit of iron. Trimming off the end of one of his small +green canes, Sam measured it by the iron rod and trimmed again. He +continued this process until he had the end of the cane a trifle +larger than the iron was. Then taking an iron tube or band out of his +pocket, he drove the iron rod firmly into it for the distance of about +half an inch, leaving the other end of the tube open. Into this he +forced the end of the small green cane and having made it firm he had +a rod about ten feet long. + +"There," he said, "I have a rod long enough to reach a good deal more +than half way through either one of my big canes. It isn't iron except +at the end, and it doesn't need to be," and with that he thrust the +end of the bit of iron into the fire to heat. + +"Now, Tom," he said, "you must burn the canes out while I do something +else." + +I wonder if there is any boy who needs a fuller explanation than the +one which Sam has already given, of what was going forward. There may +be boys enough, for aught I know, who never went fishing in their +lives, and so do not know what canes, or reeds, or cane-poles, as +they are variously called, are like. I must explain, therefore, that +the canes which Sam proposed to burn out, were precisely such as those +that are commonly used as fishing rods. These canes grow all over the +South, in the swamps. They are, in fact, a kind of gigantic grass, +although the people who are most familiar with them do not dream of +the fact. The botanists call them a grass, at any rate, and the +botanists know. Each cane is a long, straight rod, tapering very +gently, with "joints," as they are called, about eight or ten inches +apart. These joints are simply places where the cane, outside, is a +little larger than it is between joints, while inside each joint +consists of a hard woody partition, across the hollow tube, which is +otherwise continuous. Sam's plan was simply to burn these partitions +away with a hot iron, which would convert the cane into a long, +slender, wooden tube, very hard, very light, and straight as an arrow. + +Tom went to work at once to burn out the joints, a work which occupied +a good deal of time, as the iron had to be re-heated a great many +times. He worked very steadily, however with the assistance of two or +three of the boys, and managed during that first evening to get two of +the blow guns burned out. + +Meantime Sam made an arrow, very small and only about ten inches long, +out of some dry cedar. + +"Now," he said, "I want those of you who are not busy burning out the +canes, to go to work making arrows just like that, while I do +something else." + +The boys went to work with a will, while Sam, going into the nearest +thicket, cut a green stick about three quarters of an inch in +diameter. Returning to the fire, he split one end of this stick for a +little way, converting it into a sort of rude pincer. He then unrolled +his blanket, and revealed to the astonished gaze of his companions +several pounds of horse shoe nails. + +"What on earth are you goin' to do with them horse shoe nails?" asked +Hilly Bowlegs, looking up from the cedar arrow on which he was +working. + +"I'm going to make arrow heads out of them," answered Sam, thrusting +several of them into the bed of coals. + +With the side of an axe for an anvil, and the hatchet for a hammer, +Sam was soon very busy forging his wrought nails into sharp arrow +points, holding the hot iron in his wooden pincers. Among the things +that Sam had thought it worth while to learn something about, was +blacksmithing, and he was really expert in the simpler arts of the +smith. He could shoe a horse, "point" a plow, or weld iron or steel, +very well indeed. + +He had learned this as he had learned a good many other things, merely +because he thought that every young man should know how to do +tolerably well whatever he might sometime need to do, and in a new +country where shops are scarce and workmen are not always to be found, +there is no mechanical art which it is not sometimes very convenient +to know something about. + +Sam wrought now so expertly that within less than an hour he had made +six arrow points. These he fitted to six of the arrows, and then he +suspended work for the evening, and marked progress on his map; that +is to say, he pricked on his map with a pin the course followed during +the afternoon, estimating the distance travelled as accurately as he +could. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A MOTION WHICH WAS NOT IN ORDER. + + +The next day the march was resumed, and continued with some haltings +for rest until about three o'clock, when Sam chose a camp for the +night, saying that they had already made a better march than he had +planned for that day, and that there was no occasion to break +themselves down by going further. + +The work was at once resumed upon guns and arrows, Sam beginning by +finishing the arrows already made. He cut strips from a hare's skin +which Tommy had brought with him at Sam's request, making each strip +about four or five inches long, and just wide enough to meet around +the end of an arrow. Binding these strips firmly, the arrows were +complete. Each was a slender, light stick of cedar, shod at one end +with a slender iron point, and bound around at the other, for a +distance of several inches, with the fur of the hare. Pushing one of +these into the mouth end of his blow gun, Sam showed his companions +that the fur completely filled the tube, so that when he should blow +in the end the arrow would be driven through and out with considerable +force. + +Pointing the gun toward a tree a little way off, Sam blew, and in a +moment the arrow was seen sticking in the tree, its head being almost +wholly buried in the solid wood. + +The boys all wanted to try the new guns, of course, and Sam permitted +them to do so, greatly to their delight, as long as the daylight +lasted. Then the manufacture of new arrows began, the boys working +earnestly now, because they were interested. + +After awhile Sam took out his map and began pricking the course upon +it. + +"I say, Sam," said Bob Sharp, "how do you do that?" + +"How do I do what? Prick the map?" + +"No, I mean how do you know where we are and which way we go?" + +"That's just what I want to know," said Sid Russell. + +"And me, too," chimed in Billy Bunker and Jake Elliott. + +"Well, come here, all of you," replied Sam, "and I'll show you. We +started there, at camp Jackson,--you see, don't you, where the Coosa +and the Tallapoosa rivers come together and we are going down there," +pointing to a spot on the map, "to the sea, or rather to the Bay near +Pensacola." + +"Are we! Good! I never saw the sea," said Sid Russell, speaking faster +than any of the boys had ever heard him speak before. + +"Yes, that is the place we're going to, and presently I'll tell you +what we're going for; but one thing at a time. You see the course is a +little west of south, nearly but not quite southwest. The distance, in +an air line is about a hundred and twenty-five miles: that is to say +Pensacola is about a hundred and ten miles further south than camp +Jackson, and about fifty miles further west." + +"That would be a hundred and sixty miles then," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Yes," replied Sam, "it would if we went due south and then due west, +taking the base and perpendicular of a right angled triangle, instead +of its hypothenuse." + +"Whew, what's all them words I wonder," exclaimed Billy. + +"Well, I'll try to show you what I mean," said Sam, taking a stick and +drawing in the sand a figure like this: + +[Illustration] + +"There," said Sam, "that's a right angled triangle, but you may call +it a thingimajig if you like; it doesn't matter about the name. +Suppose we start at the top to go to the left hand lower corner; don't +you see that it would be further to go straight down to the right hand +lower corner and then across to the left hand lower corner, than to go +straight from the top to the left hand lower corner." + +"Certainly," replied Billy, "it's just like going cat a cornered +across a field." + +"Well," said Sam, pointing with his finger, "if I were to draw a +triangle here on the map beginning at camp Jackson and running due +south to the line of Pensacola, and then due west to Pensacola itself, +with a third line running 'cat a cornered' as you say, from camp +Jackson straight to Pensacola, the line due south would be about a +hundred and ten miles long and the one due west about fifty miles +long, while the 'cat a cornered' line would be about a hundred and +twenty five miles long." + +"How do you find out that last,--the cat a cornered line's length?" +asked Tom. + +"I can't explain that to you," said Sam, "because you haven't studied +geometry." + +"Oh well, tell us anyhow, if we don't understand it," said Sid +Russell, who sat with his mouth open. + +"Sid wants to find out how to tell how far it is from his head to his +heels, without having to make the trip when he's tired," said Bob +Sharp, who was always poking fun at Sid's long legs. + +"Well," said Sam smiling, "I know the length of that line because I +know that the square described on the hypothenuse of a right angled +triangle is equal to the sum of the squares described on the other two +sides." + +"Whew! it fairly takes the breath out of a fellow to hear you rattle +that off," replied Sid. + +"Come," resumed Sam, "we aren't getting on with what we undertook. Now +look and listen. Here is the line we would follow if we could go +straight from Camp Jackson to Pensacola. If we could follow it, I +would only have to guess how many miles we march each day, and mark it +down on the map. But we can't go straight, because of swamps and +creeks and canebrakes, so I must keep looking at my compass to find +out what direction we do go; then I mark on the map the route we have +followed each day, and the distance, and each night's camp gives me a +new starting point." + +"Yes, but Sam," said Tom, suddenly thinking of something. + +"Well, what is it, Tom?" + +"Suppose you guess wrong as to the distance travelled each day?" + +"Well, suppose I do; I can't miss it very far." + +"No, but it gives you a wrong starting-point for the next day, and two +or three mistakes would throw you clear out." + +"Yes, but I make corrections constantly. You see, I have changed the +place of last night's camp a little on the map." + +"How do you make corrections?" + +"By the creeks and rivers. Here, for instance, is a creek that we +ought to cross about ten miles ahead. If we come to it short of that, +or if it proves to be further off, I shall know that I have got +to-night's camp placed wrong on the map. I shall then correct my +estimate. When we come to the next creek I shall be able to make my +guess still more certain, and by the time we get to Pensacola I shall +have the whole march marked pretty nearly right on the map." + +"I'd give a purty price for that there head o' your'n, Sam," said Sid +Russell. + +"It isn't for sale, Sid, and besides it will be a good deal cheaper to +use the one you have, taking care to make it as good as anybody's. Now +let me explain to all of you why we are going to Pensacola," and with +that Sam entered into the plans which we know all about already, and +which need not be repeated here. When he had finished the boys plied +him with questions, which he answered as well as he could. Jake +Elliott said nothing for a time, but after a while he ventured to +ask:-- + +"Don't they hang fellows they ketch in that sort o' business?" + +"They hang spies," replied Sam, "but they can scarcely hold us to be +spies, especially as we shall be in the territory of a friendly +neutral nation, where there cannot properly be a British camp at all." + +"Well, but mayn't they do it anyhow, just as they are a campin' there, +anyhow?" + +"Of course they may, but I do not think it likely. In the first place +we mustn't let them suspect us, and in the second, we must make use of +what law there is if we should be arrested." + +"Well, but if it all failed, what then?" asked Jake. + +"Oh, shut up Jake," cried Billy Bowlegs. "You're afeard, that's what's +the matter with you." + +"Well," replied Sam "that is simply a risk that we have to run, like +any other risk in war. I told you all in advance that the expedition +was a hazardous one." + +"Of course you did, an' what's more you didn't want Jake Elliott to +come either," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Go into your hole, Jake, if you're scared," said Bob Sharp. + +"Jake ain't scared, he's only bashful," drawled Sid Russell. + +"I ain't afraid no more'n the rest of you," said Jake, "but you're all +fools enough to run your heads into a noose." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Sam, looking up quickly from the map +over which he had been poring. + +"I mean just this," replied Jake, "that this here business 'll end in +gettin' us into trouble that we wont git out of soon, an' I move we +draw out'n it right now, afore its too late." + +Sam was on his feet in an instant. + +[Illustration: "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, SIR?"] + +"Do you know what you're saying sir?" he cried. "Do you understand who +is master here? Do you know that no motions are in order? Let me +tell you once for all that I will tolerate no further mutinous words +from you. If I hear another word of the kind from you, or see a sign +of misconduct on your part, I shall take measures for your punishment. +Stop! I want no answer. I have warned you and that is enough." + +Sam's sudden assertion of his authority, in terms so peremptory, took +Jake completely by surprise. Sam was a good tempered fellow, and not +at all disposed to "put on airs" as boys say, and hence he had been as +easy and familiar with his companions as if they had been merely a lot +of school boys out for a holiday; but when Jake Elliott suggested a +revolt, Sam, the good natured companion, became Captain Sam, the stern +commander, at once. + +The other boys saw at once the necessity and propriety of the rebuke +he had administered. They believed Jake Elliott to be a coward and a +bully, and they were glad to see him properly and promptly checked in +his effort to give trouble. + +It was growing late and the boys presently threw themselves down on +their beds of soft gray moss and were soon sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +JAKE ELLIOTT GETS EVEN WITH SAM. + + +Jake Elliott was a coward all over, and clear through. He had always +been a bully and pretended to the possession of unusual courage. He +had tyrannized over small boys, threatened boys of his own size and +sneered at boys whom he thought able to hold their own against him in +a fight. He had had many fights in his time, but had always managed to +get the best of his opponents, by the very simple process of choosing +for the purpose, boys who were not as strong as he was. As a result of +all this he had acquired a great reputation among his fellows, and +most of the boys in his neighborhood were very careful not to provoke +him; but he was a great coward through it all, and when he first came +in collision with Sam Hardwicke his cowardice showed itself too +plainly to be mistaken. Now there is a curious thing about cowards of +this sort. When they are once found out they lose the little +appearance of courage that they have taken such pains to maintain, and +become at once the most abject and shameless dastards imaginable. That +was what happened to Jake Elliott. When Sam conquered him so +effectually on the occasion of the boot stealing, he lost all the +pride he had and all his meanness seemed to come to the surface. If he +had had a spark of manliness in him, he would have recognized Sam's +generosity in sparing him at that time, and would have behaved himself +better afterward. As it was he simply cherished his malice and +resolved to do Sam all the injury he could in secret. + +When Sam organized his expedition at Camp Jackson, Jake had two +motives in joining it. In the first place things around the camp +looked too much like genuine preparation for a hard fight with the +enemy, and Jake thought that if he should enlist he would be forced to +fight, which was precisely what he did not mean to do if he could +help it. By joining Sam's party, however, he would escape the +necessity of enlisting, and he thought that the little band was going +away from danger instead of going into it. He thought, too, that if +any real danger should come, under Sam's leadership, he could run away +from it, or sneak out in some way, and as he would not be a regularly +enlisted soldier, no punishment could follow. + +This was his first reason for joining. His second one was still more +unworthy. He was bent upon doing Sam all the secret injury he could, +and he thought that by going with him he would have opportunities to +wreak his vengeance, which he would otherwise lose. + +When he learned, as we have seen, whither Sam was leading his party, +and on what errand, he was really frightened, and Sam's sharp rebuke +made him still bitterer in his feelings toward his young commander. A +coward with a grudge which he is afraid to avenge openly, is a very +dangerous foe. He will do anything against his adversary which he +thinks he can do safely, by sneaking, and when Jake Elliott threw +himself down on his pile of moss he did not mean to go to sleep. He +meant to revenge himself on Sam before morning, and at the same time +to make it impossible for the expedition to go on. If he could force +Sam to return to Camp Jackson, he said to himself, he would humiliate +that young man beyond endurance, and at the same time get himself out +of the danger into which Sam was leading him. Everybody would laugh at +Sam, and call him a coward, and suspect him of failing in his +expedition purposely, all of which would please Jake Elliott mightily. + +How to accomplish all this was a problem which Jake thought he had +solved by a sudden inspiration. He had formed his plan at the very +moment of receiving Sam's rebuke, and he waited now only for a chance +to execute it. + +An hour passed; two hours, three. It was after midnight, and all the +boys were sleeping soundly. Jake arose noiselessly and crept to the +tree at whose roots Sam had laid his baggage. It was thirty feet or +more from any of the boys, and Jake was not afraid of waking them. He +fumbled about in Sam's baggage until he felt something hard and round +and cold. He drew out a little circular brass box about two and a half +inches in diameter, with a glass top to it. It was Sam's compass. He +tried hard to raise the glass in some way, but failed. Finally, with +much fear, lest he should awaken some of the boys, he struck the glass +with the end of his heavy Jack knife and broke it. This admitted his +fingers, and taking out the needle of the compass he broke it half in +two. Then replacing the brass lid, leaving all the pieces of the +ruined instrument inside, he slipped the compass back into its +original place and crept back to his bed by the fire. + +"Now," he thought "I reckon Mr. Sam Hardwicke's long head will be +puzzled, and I reckon I'll be even with him, when he gives up that he +can't go on, and has to turn back to Camp Jackson. A pretty story +he'll have to tell, and wont people want to know how his compass got +broke? They'll think it very curious, and maybe they wont suspect that +he broke it himself, for an excuse. Oh! wont they though!" + +He fairly chuckled with delight, in anticipation of Sam's humiliation. +He knew that the country south of them was wholly unsettled, a +perfect wilderness of woods and canebrakes and swamps, which nobody +could go through without some guide as to the points of the compass, +and hence he was satisfied that the destruction of Sam's instrument +was an effectual way of compelling the young captain to retreat while +it was still possible to retrace the trail the party had made in +coming. He was so delighted that he could not sleep and hours passed +before he closed his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A DISTURBANCE IN CAMP. + + +Jake Elliott got very little sleep that night. Indeed it was nearly +daylight when he fell asleep and it was one of Sam's marching rules to +march early. He waked the boys every morning as soon as it was +sufficiently light for them to begin preparing breakfast, and by +sunrise they were ready to begin their day's march. + +This morning it was cloudy and there were symptoms of a coming storm. +Sam was up at the first breaking of day, and he hurriedly waked the +boys. + +"Come, boys," he said, "we must hurry or we shall be too late to cross +a river that's ahead of us, before it begins to rise. Get breakfast +over as quickly as possible, for we mustn't fail to make seventeen +miles to-day, and if it rains heavily it'll be bad marching in this +swamp. There's higher ground ahead of us for to-morrow, but we mustn't +be caught in here by high water in the creeks." + +The boys sprang up quickly and made all haste in the preparation of +breakfast. Jake Elliott was dull and moody. The fact is he was sleepy +and tired with the night's excitement, and in no very good condition +to march. He dragged with his share of the work, but breakfast was +soon over, and Sam was ready to start. Taking out his compass to get +his bearings right he opened it, and saw the ruin that had been +wrought. + +He looked up in surprise and caught Jake Elliott's eye. In an instant +he guessed the truth. + +"Lay down your bundles, boys," he said, "we cannot start just yet." + +"Why not, Captain Sam?" asked two or three boys in a breath. + +"Because Jake Elliott has broken our compass," replied Sam, looking +the offender fixedly in the eye. + +"Shame on the wretched coward," exclaimed the boys. "Let's duck him in +the creek." + +"I'm not a coward, and whoever says I broke the compass--" + +"Silence!" cried Sam peremptorily. "Don't finish that sentence, Jake. +It isn't a wise thing to do. Besides there's no use putting it in that +way. 'Whoever says,' is a vague sort of phrase. You know very well who +said that you broke the compass. I said it; Sam Hardwicke said it, and +you do not dare to say that I lie. Don't try to say it by calling me +'whoever says.' That isn't my name." + +Sam was as cool and quiet as possible. There was no sign of agitation +in his voice, and no anger in his tone. The boys, however, were +furious. They were in earnest in this expedition, and they supposed, +of course, that the destruction of the compass would force them to +return to camp. Beside this, it angered them to think that Jake had +done so mean a thing. + +Billy Bowlegs, the smallest boy in the party, was especially furious. +Walking up to Jake with his fists clenched, he said: + +"Jake Elliott, you're a sneak and a coward, and you daren't answer for +yourself. Just deny it please, do deny it, so's I can bat you in the +mouth. I'm hungry to wallop you. Do say I lie, or say anything, open +your head, or lift your hand, or wink your eye, or look at me, or do +something. Just give me any sort of excuse and I'll give you what you +deserve, now and here." + +Billy screamed this out at the top of his voice, advancing on Jake +every moment, as the latter drew back. + +"What can I say to make you fight?" he continued. "I'll call you +anything that's mean. Just say what it shall be and consider it said. +Won't any thing make you fight? _There_, and _there_ and _there_, now +may be you'll resent that." + +The words "there and there and there" were accompanied by three +vigorous slaps which Billy laid with a will on Jake's cheeks, in +despair of provoking him to resent anything less positive. It was all +done in a moment, and in another instant Sam had brought Billy Bowlegs +to his senses, by quietly leading him away and saying. + +"Let him alone, Billy; there's no credit in fighting such a coward." + +Enough had occurred, however, to show that Jake was thoroughly scared +by the little fellow's violence, and he could not have been more +thoroughly whipped than he was already. + +When order had been restored, Sam said quietly:-- + +"The breaking of the compass is a serious mishap, and the want of it +will give us trouble all the way; but luckily it is not fatal to our +expedition, if you boys will help me work out the problem without the +aid of the needle." + +"Help you! You see if we wont!" cried the enthusiastic boys in chorus. + +"Thank you," replied Sam, lifting his cap, "I thought I could depend +upon you." + +"But can you really find the way without the compass, Sam?" asked Tom. + +"Certainly, else I shouldn't be fit to be in the woods." + +"How can you do it?" + +"I'll show you presently." + +"What'll you do with Jake?" asked Sid Russell. + +"I'll take him with us," replied Sam. + +"Is that all?" + +"That is enough, I think. He is the worst punished boy or man in +America this minute, and he'll be punished every minute while he stays +with us." + +"Well but ain't nothin' more to be done to him? Can't I just duck him +a little or something of that sort?" + +"No, certainly not. We all know him now, as a coward and a miserable +sneak. What's the good of demonstrating it further? It would be +dirtying your own hands." + +"That's kind o' so, captain, but I'd sort o' like to duck him a little +anyhow. The creek's so handy down there." + +"No," said Sam. "I want no further reference made to this matter. Jake +Elliott will go on with us, and as I have said already, he's punished +enough. Besides it may prove to be a lesson to him. He may do better +hereafter, and if he does, if he shows a genuine disposition to atone +for his misconduct by good behavior in the future, I want nobody to +tell of what has occurred here, after we get back to our friends. I +ask that now of you boys as a favor, and I shall think nobody my +friend who will not join me in this effort to make a man out of our +companion. I am ready to forgive him freely, and the quarrel has been +mine from the first. You can certainly afford to hold your tongues at +my request, if Jake tries to do better hereafter. I want your promise +to that effect." + +The boys required some urging before they would promise, but their +admiration for Sam's magnanimity was too great for them to persist in +refusing anything that he asked of them. They promised at last, not +only not to refer to the matter during their campaign, but to keep it +a secret afterward, provided Jake should be guilty of no further +misconduct. + +"Thank you, boys," said Sam, "and now, Jake," he continued, "you have +a chance to redeem your reputation. You cannot undo what you have +done, but you can act like a man hereafter, without having this +business thrown up to you." + +Sam held out his hand, but Jake pretended not to see it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BACKWOODS GEOMETRY. + + +The quarrel having ended in the way described in the last chapter, the +boys were compelled to find something else to talk about, as they were +under a pledge not to refer further to that matter. They were +prepared, therefore, to take an interest in Sam's preparations for +resuming the march without the assistance of a compass. Their +curiosity was great to know how he meant to proceed, and it was made +greater by what he did first. + +The clouds were thick and heavy, as I have already said, so that there +was no chance to look at the sun for guidance; but Sam Hardwicke was +full of resources. He had a good habit of observing whatever he saw +and remembering it, whether he saw any reason to suppose that it +might be of use to him or not. Just now he remembered something which +he had observed the evening before, and he proceeded at once to make +use of it. + +He cut a stick, sharpened it a little at one end, and drove it into +the ground at a spot which he had selected for the purpose. Then he +walked away twenty or thirty paces and drove another stake, sighting +from one to the other, and taking pains to get them in line with a +tree which stood at a little distance from the first stake. + +"What are you doing, Captain Sam?" asked Bob Sharp, unable to restrain +his curiosity. + +"I am getting the points of the compass," replied Sam. + +"Yes, but how are you a doin' it?" asked Sid Russell. + +"Well," replied Sam, "I'll show you. Just before sunset yesterday I +wanted to mark my map, and I sat down right here," pointing to a spot +near the first stake, "because it was shady here. The trunk of that +big tree threw its shadow here. Now the sun does not set exactly in +the west in this latitude, but a little south of west at this time of +year. The line of a tree's shadow, therefore, at sunset must be from +the tree a trifle north of east. Now I have driven this stake" +(pointing to the first one) "just a little to the right of the middle +of the shadow, as I remember it, so that a line from the stake to the +middle of the tree-trunk must be very nearly an east and west line. +The other stake I drove merely to aid me in tracing this line. Now I +will go on with my work, explaining as I go." + +Taking his pocket-rule he measured off twenty feet east and west from +his first stake, and drove a stake at each point. + +"Now," he said, "I have an east and west line, forty feet long, with a +stake at each end and a stake in the middle." + +This is what he had: + +[Illustration] + +"A north and south line will run straight across this, at right +angles, and I can draw it pretty accurately with my eye, but to be +exact I have measured this line as you see. Now I'll draw a line as +nearly as I can straight across this one, and of precisely the same +length." + +He drew and staked the second line, and this is what he had: + +[Illustration] + +"Now," he said, "if I have drawn my last line exactly at right angles +with my first one, it runs north and south; and to find out whether or +not I have drawn it exactly, I must measure. If it is just right it +will be precisely the same distance from the south stake to the east +stake as from the south stake to the west stake; and from the east +stake to the south one will be southwest, while from the west to the +south will be south-east." + +With that Sam measured, and found that he was just a trifle out. +Readjusting his north and south stakes, he soon had his lines right. + +"Now," he resumed, "I know the points of the compass, and I'll explain +how you can help me. Our course lies exactly in a line from me through +that big gum tree over there to the dead sycamore beyond. If we go +toward the gum, keeping it always in a line with the sycamore, we +shall go perfectly straight, of course; and by choosing another tree +away beyond the sycamore and in line with it, just before we get to +the gum tree, we shall still go on in a perfectly straight line. We +might keep that up for any distance, and travel in as straight a line +as a compass can mark. Now if this country was an open one with no +bogs to go around, and nothing to keep us from going straight ahead, I +shouldn't need any assistance, but could go on in a straight line all +day long. As it is, I must establish a long straight line, reaching as +far ahead as possible, and then pick out two things in the line, one +near me and one at the far end, which we can recognize again from any +point. Then we'll go on by the best route we can till we come to the +furthest object, and then I'll show you how to get the line again. +What I want you to do is to notice the 'object trees' as we'll call +them, so that we can be sure of them at any time. Notice them in +starting, and as often afterward as you can see them. The appearance +of trees varies with distance and point of view, and it is important +that we shall be sure of our object trees and make no mistake about +them." + +"All right, Captain Sam," cried the boys, "pick out your object +trees." + +"Well," said Sam, "the big sycamore yonder will do for one, and that +tall leaning pine away over there almost out of sight must do for the +other. That is in our line, and what we've got to do is to get to it. +It doesn't matter by how crooked a route, if we can remember the +sycamore tree again and pick it out from there." + +"We'll watch 'em captain, and we won't let 'em slip away from us," +said Sid Russell. + +"Thank you, boys," replied Sam; "I shall be so busy picking our way, +that I can't watch them very well. Now then, we're ready, come on." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW TO HAVE A "LONG HEAD." + + +Two hours steady walking, over logs and brush, through canebrakes, +across a creek, and through a tangle of vines, brought the party to +the leaning pine tree. From that point the old sycamore tree looked +not at all as it did from the point of starting. The boys had taken +pains to watch its changes of appearance, however, and were able to +point it out with certainty to Sam. + +"But what's the good of knowing it now?" asked Sid Russell, "we aint a +goin' back that way agin'." + +"No," said Sam, "but it is necessary to know it, nevertheless. How +would you know which way to go without it, Sid?" + +"Well, I'd pick out another tree ahead an' walk towards it." + +"Well, but how would you know what tree to select?" + +"Why I'd take one in a line with the pine." + +"Well, every tree is in a line with the pine. It depends on where you +stand to take sight." + +"That's so; but how's the old sycamore to help us?" + +"By giving us a point to take sight from. Let me show you. Our proper +course of march is in the direction of a line drawn from the sycamore +to this pine tree. What we want to do is to prolong that line, and +find some tree further on that stands in it. If I stand on the line, +between the sycamore and the pine and turn my face toward the pine, +I'll be looking in exactly the right direction, and can pick out the +right tree to march to, by sighting on the pine. The trouble is to get +in the right place to take sight from. To do that I must find the line +between the sycamore and the pine. Now you go over there beyond the +pine, and take sight on it at the sycamore till you get the two trees +in a line with you. Then I'll stand over here, between the two object +trees, and move to the right or left as you tell me to do, till you +find that I am exactly in the line between them. Then I can pick out +the right tree ahead." + +Sid did as he was told, the boys all looking on with great interest, +and presently Sam had selected their next object tree. The boys were +astonished greatly at what they thought Sam's marvellous knowledge, +but to their wondering comments Sam replied:-- + +"I haven't done anything wonderful. A little knowledge of mathematics +has helped me, perhaps, but there isn't a thing in all this that isn't +perfectly simple. Any one of you might have found out all this for +himself, without books and without a teacher. It only requires you to +think a little and to use your eyes. Besides you've all done the same +thing many a time." + +"I'll _bet_ I never did," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Yes you have, Billy, but you did it without thinking about it." + +"When?" + +"Whenever you have shot a rifle at anything." + +"How?" + +"By taking aim. You look through one sight over the other and at the +game, and you know then that you've got it in a line with your eye +and the sights. I've only been turning the thing around, and nobody +taught me how. You've only got to _use_ your eyes and your head to +make them worth ten times as much to you as they are now." + +"Seems to me," said Sid Russell, "as if your head 'n eyes, or least +ways your head is a mighty oncommon good one." + +"You're right dah, Mas' Sid," said Black Joe; "you're right for +sartain. I'se dun see Mas' Sam do some mighty cur'ous things, I is. He +dun make a fire wid water once, sho's you're born. 'Sides dat, I'se +dun heah de gentlemen say's how he's got a head more 'n a yard long, +and I'm blest if I don't b'lieve it's so." + +All this was said at a little distance from Sam and beyond his +hearing, but he knew very well in what estimation his companions held +him, and he was anxious to impress them, not with his own superiority, +but with the fact that the difference was due chiefly to his habit of +thinking and observing. He wanted them to improve by association with +him, and to that end he took pains to show them the advantage which a +habit of observing everything and thinking about it gives its +possessor. For this reason he took pains to make no display of his +knowledge of Latin or of anything else which they had no chance to +learn. He wanted them to learn to use their eyes, their ears and their +heads, knowing very well that the greater as well as the better part +of education comes by observation and thinking, rather than from +books. + +Just now he was striding forward as rapidly as he could, as it was +beginning to rain. + +"Keep your eye on the hind sight boys, and don't lose it," he cried; +"we must hurry or we shall be caught in a pocket to-night." + +Hour after hour they marched, the rain pouring down steadily, and the +ground becoming every moment softer. The walking wearied them +terribly, but they pushed on in the hope that they might be able to +cross the upper waters of the Nepalgah river before night. This would +place them on the west bank of that stream, where Sam believed that he +should find the marching tolerable. If they should fail in this, Sam +feared that the water would rise during the night, and fill all the +bottom lands. In that event he must continue marching down the east +bank of the river; not going very far out of his way, it is true, but +having to pass through what he was satisfied must be a much more +difficult country than that on the other side. + +Night came at last, and they were yet not within sight of the stream, +notwithstanding their utmost exertions. Sam called a halt just before +dark, and selected a camping place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WHAT DOES SAM MEAN? + + +When the halt was called, Sam said, very much to the astonishment of +the boys:-- + +"We must build a house here, boys." + +"A house!" exclaimed Tom, "What for, pray?" + +"To live in, of course. What else are houses for?" + +"Yes, of course, but aren't we going on?" + +"Not at present, and it rains. We must dry our clothes to-night if we +can, and keep as dry as we can while we stay here, which may be for a +day or two. To do that we must have a house, but it need not be a very +good one. Joe!" + +"Yes, sah." + +"Build a fire right here." + +"Agin de big log dah, Mas' Sam?" pointing to the trunk of a great +tree which had fallen in some earlier storm. + +"No, build it right here. Sid, you and Bob Sharp go down into the +canebrake there and get two or three dozen of the longest canes you +can find." + +"Green ones?" asked Bob. + +"Green or dry, it doesn't matter in the least," answered Sam. "The +rest of you boys go down into the swamp off there and cut a lot of the +palmetes you find there,--this sort of thing," pointing to one of the +plants which grew at his feet. "Get as many of them as you can, the +more the better. The fire will be burning presently and will throw a +light all around." + +The boys were puzzled, but they hurried away to the work assigned +them. Sam busied himself digging a trench on the side of the fallen +tree opposite the fire. The great branches of the tree held it up many +feet from the ground at the point selected, and it was Sam's purpose +to make the trunk the front of his house, building behind it, and +having the fire in front. The lower part of the trunk was high enough +from the ground to let all the boys, except Sid Russell, pass under +without stooping; Sid had to stoop a little. + +The fire blazed presently, and by the time that Sam had his ditch done +the boys began to come in with loads of cane and palmetes. The +palmetes are plants out of which what we call "palm-leaf fans" are +made. They grow in bunches right out of the ground in many southern +swamps. Each leaf is simply a palm leaf fan that needs ironing out +flat, except that the edge consists of long points which are cut off +in making the fans. + +Sam cut two forked sticks and drove them in the ground about ten feet +from the fallen tree trunk, and about ten feet apart. When driven in +they were about five feet high, while the top of the trunk was perhaps +eight feet from the ground. Cutting a long, straight pole, Sam laid it +in the forks of his two stakes, parallel with the tree trunk. Then +taking the canes he laid them from this pole to the top of the tree +trunk, for rafters, placing them as close to each other as possible. +On top of them he laid the palmete leaves, taking care to lap them +over each other like shingles. When the roof was well covered with +them, he made the boys bring some armfuls of the long gray moss which +abounds in southern forests, and lay it on top of the roof, to hold +the palmete leaves in place, and to prevent them from blowing away. +For sides to the house bushes answered very well, and in less than an +hour after the company halted, they were safely housed in a shed open +only on the side toward the fire, and the ground within was rapidly +drying, while supper was in course of preparation. + +"Sam," said Tom presently. + +"Well," answered Sam. + +"What did you dig that big ditch for? a little one would have carried +off all the water that'll drip from the roof." + +"Yes, but I dug this one to carry off other water than that." + +"What water?" + +"That which was already in the ground that the house is built on. You +see this soil is largely composed of sand, and water runs out of it +very rapidly if it has anywhere to run to. I made the ditch for it to +run into, and if you'll examine the ground here you'll find that my +trench is doing its work very well indeed." + +"That's a fac'," said Sid Russell, feeling of the sand. + +"I say Sam," said Billy Bowlegs, squaring himself before Sam, with +arms akimbo. + +"Well, say it then," replied Sam, laughing, and assuming a similar +attitude. + +"If there is any little thing, about any sort o' thing, that you don't +happen to know, I wish you'd just oblige me by telling me what it is." + +"I haven't time, Billy," laughed Sam, "the list of things I don't know +is too long to begin this late in the evening." + +"Well, you've made me feel like an idiot every day since we started on +this tramp, by knowing all about things, and doing little things that +any fool ought to have thought of, and not one of us fools did." + +"Come, supper is ready," replied Sam. + +After supper the boys busied themselves drying their clothes by the +roaring fire of pitch pine which blazed and crackled in front of the +tent, making the air within like that of an oven. While they were +at it they fell to talking, of course, and it is equally a matter of +course that they talked about the subject which was uppermost in +their minds. They knew very well that until the house was built, and +supper over, they could get nothing out of Sam. "He never will explain +anything till every body is ready to listen," said Sid Russell, who +had become one of Sam's heartiest admirers. Recognizing the truth of +Sid's observation, the boys had tacitly consented to postpone all +questions respecting Sam's plans and queer manoeuvres until after +supper, when there was time for him to talk and for them to listen. +Now that the time had come, the long repressed curiosity broke forth +in questions. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SAM CLEARS UP THE MYSTERY. + + +Tommy was the spokesman. + +"Now then, Sam," he said, holding out his trowsers toward the fire to +dry them, "tell us all about it." + +"I can't," replied Sam. + +"Why not?" + +"Because I don't know all about it myself." + +"Well, what do you mean by building this shed?" + +"Don't call it a shed, Tom," said Billy Bowlegs, "it's a mansion, and +these are our broad acres all around here." + +"Yes, and the alligators down in the swamp there are our cattle," said +Sam. + +"And here's our fowls," said Billy, slapping at the mosquitoes, "game +ones they are too, ain't they?" + +"Stop your nonsense," said Sid Russell, "I want to hear Sam's +explanation. Tell us, Sam, what did you build the shanty for?" + +"To live in while it rains, to be sure." + +"Yes, but how long are we going to stay here?" + +"I don't know." + +"Well then, why are we to stop here at all?" asked Tom, "and what have +you been thinking about all the afternoon? You didn't open your head +after it began raining, until we got here; you were working out +something, and this halt means that you've worked it out. What is it? +That's what we want to know." + +"You're partly right," said Sam, laughing, "but you're partly wrong. I +have been thinking how to get out of this pocket we're caught in, and +I've partly worked it out, but not entirely. That is to say, I must +wait till morning before I can say precisely what I shall have to do. +Let me show you where we are;" and with that Sam took out his map and +spread it on the ground before him, while the boys clustered around. + +"Here we are," pointing to a spot on the map, "near the Nepalgah +river, at the upper end of the peninsula it makes with the Patsaliga +and the Connecuh rivers. You see the Patsaliga and the Nepalgah both +run into the Connecuh, their mouths being not many miles apart. This +peninsula that we're on is low, swampy, and full of creeks, a little +lower down. This heavy rain will raise all the rivers and all the +creeks, and make them spread out all over the low grounds on both +sides. The land is higher on the other side of the Nepalgah river, and +it was my plan to cross over to-day, but when this rain came on I +began to think it not at all likely that we could get to the river +before night, and then I began to lay plans for use in case of a +failure." + +"That's what you've been puzzling over all the afternoon, then?" said +Bob Sharp. + +"Yes. I've been wondering what we should do, and trying to hit upon +some plan. You see the matter stands thus: we can't go on on this +side, that is certain; the river will be out of its banks to-morrow +morning, and we can't easily get across it; and if we were across it +would still be difficult marching, as there are creeks and swamps +enough to bother us over there." + +"What are we to do, then?" asked Tommy, uneasily. "We _mustn't_ go +back. That'll never do." + +"Never you mind, Tom," said Sid Russell, whose faith in Sam's +fertility of resource was literally boundless, "never you mind. We +ain't a goin' back if the Captain knows it. He's got it all fixed +somehow in his head, you may bet your bottom dollar. Just wait till he +explains." + +"That's so," said Billy Bowlegs, "only it seems to me he's got a +mighty hard sum this time, an' if he's got the right answer I'd like +to see just what it is." + +"He's got it, ain't you, Sam?" asked Sid, confidently. + +"I believe I have," said Sam. + +"What is it?" asked all the boys in a breath. + +"Canoe," answered Sam. + +"To cross the river with? That's the trick," said Bob Sharp. + +"No," replied Sam, "that was what I first thought of; or rather, I +first thought of building some sort of a raft to cross the river on, +and then it occurred to me that we could go on faster on high water in +a canoe than on foot; so my notion is to dig out a good big canoe and +ride all the way in it." + +"Can we do that?" + +"Yes, the Nepalgah river runs into the Connecuh, and the Connecuh into +the Escambia, and the Escambia runs into Escambia Bay, and Escambia +Bay is an arm of Pensacola Bay. Here, look at it on the map; you see +it's as straight a course as we could go even on land, or pretty +nearly." + +"Well, but you said you couldn't tell till morning about it." + +"I can't. I am not absolutely sure where we are, but I think we are +within a very short distance of the river. I shall look in the +morning, and if we are, we'll dig the canoe here, or rather, we'll +live here and dig the canoe down by the river, for it must be a big +one to carry all of us, and we can't carry it any distance. If I find +that we are not as near the river as I suppose, we must break up here +and find a camping ground further on. At all events we'll dig the +canoe and ride in it. The rivers will be high, and it will be easy +travelling with the current, while there won't be any danger of +getting the fever from being on the water, as there would have been +before the rain when the water was low. Come, our clothes are dry now +and we must go to sleep, as we've a hard day's work before us." + +"How long will it take to dig out the canoe?" asked Bob Sharp. + +"One day, I hope, but it may take as much as three. Luckily we've +killed so much game to-day, that we needn't be afraid of running out +of victuals. But we must lose no time." + +"Oh, Sam--" began one of the boys after all had laid down for the +night. + +"I won't open my mouth again to-night, except to yawn," said Sam, and +it was not long before the whole party were asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A FOREST SHIP YARD. + + +Day light had no sooner shown itself the next morning than Sam started +away from the camp on a tour of observation. He was a fine looking +fellow as he strode through the woods, straight as an arrow, broad +shouldered, brawny, with legs that seemed all the more shapely for +being clothed in closely fitting trowsers that were thrust into his +long boot legs. Two of his companions watched him walk away in the +early light. + +"What a splendid fellow he is, outside and inside!" said Bob Sharp, +half to himself and half to Jake Elliott, who stood by the fire. Jake +said nothing and Bob was left to guess for himself what impression +their stalwart young leader had made upon that moody youth. Meantime +Sam had disappeared in the forest. He walked on for a little way when +he came to a creek, a small one ordinarily, scarcely more than a +crooked brook, but swollen now to considerable size. + +"This may do," he said to himself. "At all events it leads to the +river, and I may as well explore it as I go." + +Accordingly he followed the stream. Mile after mile he walked, through +bottom lands that were well nigh impassable now, never losing sight of +the creek until he reached its point of junction with the river. It +was still raining, but Sam persisted in the work of exploration until +he knew the country thoroughly which lay between his camp and the +river. Then he returned, not weary with his four hours' walking, but +very decidedly hungry. + +Luckily, Bob Sharp's enthusiastic admiration for his leader had taken +a very prosaic and practical turn. It was Bob's turn to prepare +breakfast, and a hare was to be cooked. The boys wanted it cut up and +fried, but Bob remained firm. + +"No, siree," he said, "Captain Sam's gone off to look out for us, +without waiting for his breakfast, and when he comes back he's to +have roast rabbit for breakfast, and his pick of the pieces at that. +If any of you boys want fried victuals you may go and kill your own +rabbits and fry them for yourselves, or you may cook your bacon. I +killed this game myself, and nobody shall eat a mouthful of it till +Captain Sam carves it." + +The boys were hungry, but they agreed with Bob, when he thus +peremptorily suggested the propriety of awaiting their young leader's +return, and so when Sam got back, about ten o'clock, he found a hungry +company and a beautifully roasted hare awaiting him, the latter +hanging by a string to a branch of an over-hanging tree immediately in +front of the fire. + +After remonstrating with the boys in a good natured way, for delaying +their breakfast so long, Sam carved, as Bob had put it; that is to say +he held the hare by a hind leg, while another boy held it by a fore +leg, and with their jack knives they quickly divided it into pieces, +using the skillet for a platter. + +The boys were not so hungry that they could forget their curiosity as +to the result of Sam's exploration. + +"Where are we, Sam?" + +"Did you find the river?" + +"Is it close by?" + +These and half a dozen similar questions were asked in rapid +succession. + +"One thing at a time," said Sam, "or, better still, listen and I'll +tell you all about it without waiting to be questioned." + +"All right, any way to get the news out of you," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Well then," said Sam, "to begin with, we're not very near the river. +It's about five miles away, as nearly as I can judge." + +Billy Bowlegs's countenance fell. + +"Then we can't make the canoe here after all our work to build a +house." + +"I didn't say that, Billy. On the contrary, I think we must make it +here, as there is no fit place for a camp nearer the river than this. +Beside, the river will be out of its banks pretty soon if the rain +continues, and will overflow all the low grounds." + +"Then we've got to carry the canoe five miles! We can't do it, that's +all," said Jake Elliott, who had not spoken before. + +Sam looked at Jake rather sternly, and was about to make him a sharp +answer, but changed his mind and said instead:-- + +"You and Billy are in too big a hurry to draw conclusions, Jake. Billy +begins by assuming that because the river is five miles away we can't +make the canoe here, and you jump to the conclusion that if we make it +here we must carry it five miles. The fact is, you're both wrong. We +can make it here, and we needn't carry it five miles, or one mile, or +half a mile." + +"How's that?" asked Tom. + +"Now _you're_ in a hurry, are you Tom? I was just about to explain and +only stopped to swallow, but before I could do it you pushed a +question in between my teeth." + +"SILENCE!" roared Billy Bowlegs, "the court cannot be heard." Billy's +father was sheriff of his county, and Billy had often heard him make +more noise in commanding silence in the court room than the room full +of people were making by requiring the caution. + +Silence succeeding the laughter which Billy's unfilial mimicry had +provoked, Sam resumed his explanation. + +"There's a creek down there about a hundred yards, which runs into the +river. It is a small affair, but is pretty well up now, and my plan is +to make the canoe here and paddle her down the creek to the river +while the water is high." + +"Hurrah! now for work!" shouted the boys, who by this time had +finished their breakfast. + +"Where's your timber, Sam?" asked Tom, bringing in the axes and adze +out of the tent. + +Sam had taken pains to select a proper tree for his purpose, a +gigantic poplar more than three feet in diameter, which lay near the +creek, where it had fallen several years before. + +When the boys saw it, they looked at Sam in astonishment. + +"Why, Sam, you don't mean to work that great big thing into a dug-out, +do you?" asked Sid Russell. + +"Why not, Sid?" asked Sam. + +"Why, its bigger'n a dozen dug-outs." + +"Yes, that is true, but we're not going to make an ordinary canoe. +We're going to cut out something as nearly like a yawl, or a ship's +launch as possible. She is to be sixteen feet long, and three and a +quarter feet wide amidships." + +Sam had learned a good deal about boats during his boyhood in +Baltimore. + +"Whew! what do you want such a whopper for?" + +"Well, in the first place such a boat will be of use to us down at +Pensacola, where we couldn't use an ordinary canoe at all. You see I'm +going to shape her like a sea boat, partly by cutting away, and partly +by pinning a keel to her." + +"What'll you pin it on with?" asked Tom. + +"With pins, of course; wooden ones." + +"What'll you bore the holes with?" + +"With my bit of iron, heated red hot." + +"That's so. So you can." + +"But, Sam," said Sid. + +"Well?" + +"You said that was in the first place; what's the next?" + +"In the next place, we'll need such a boat in running down the +river." + +"Why?" + +"Because there'll be no fit camping places in the low grounds, even if +the water isn't over the banks, and so we must stay in the boat night +and day, which would be rather an uncomfortable thing to do in a +little round bottomed dug-out, that would turn over if a fellow +nodded. Beside that I'm anxious to make all the time I can and when we +leave here I mean to push ahead night and day without stopping." + +"How'll we manage without eatin' or sleepin'?" asked Jake Elliott, who +seemed somehow to be interested chiefly in discovering what appeared +to him to be insurmountable obstacles in the way of the execution of +Sam's plans. + +"I have no thought," answered Sam, "of trying to do without either +eating or sleeping." + +"Where'll we eat," asked Jake, "ef we don't stop nowhere?" + +"In the boat, of course." + +"Yes, but where'll we cook?" + +"Here," answered Sam. + +"Before we start?" + +"Yes, certainly. We'll kill some game, cook it at night and eat it +cold on the way with cold bread. That will save our bacon to cook fish +with down at Pensacola." + +"Well, but how about sleeping?" + +"That is one of my reasons for making so large a boat. We can sleep in +her very comfortably, one staying awake to steer and paddle, all of us +taking turns at it." + +This plan was eagerly welcomed by the boys, who speedily fell to work +upon the log under Sam's direction. The poplar was very easily worked, +and the boys were all of them skilled in the use of the axes. +Relieving each other at the work, they did not permit it to cease for +a moment, and in half an hour the trunk of the tree was severed in two +places, giving them a log of the desired length to work on. + +Then began the work of hewing it into shape, and this admitted of four +boys working at once, two with the axes, one with the adze and one +with the hatchet. When night came the log had already assumed the +shape of a rude boat, turned bottom up, and Sam was more than +satisfied with the progress made. His comrades were enthusiastic, +however, and insisted upon building a bonfire and working for an hour +or two by its light, after supper. They could not work at shaping it +by such a light, but they turned it over and hewed the side which was +to be dug out, down to a level with its future gunwales. The next day +they began work early, and when they quitted it at night their task +was done. The boat was a rude affair but reasonably well shaped, +broad, so that she drew very little water considering her weight, and +with a keel which kept her perfectly steady in the water. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CAPTAIN SAM PLAYS THE PART OF A SKIPPER. + + +The launching of the boat was easy enough, and she rode beautifully on +the water. To test her capacity to remain right side up, Sam put the +boys one by one on her gunwale, and found that their combined weight, +thrown as far as possible to one side, was barely sufficient to make +her take water. + +The stores were stowed carefully in the bow and stern; rough seats +were fitted in after the manner of a boat's thwarts, but not fastened. +They were left moveable for the purpose of making it possible for +several of the boys to lie down in the bottom of the boat at once. +There was no rudder as yet, although it was Sam's purpose to fix one +to the stern as soon as possible, and also to make a mast when they +should get to Pensacola, where a sail could be procured. For the +present two long poles and some rough paddles were their propelling +power. + +"When we get out into the river," said Sam, "she will float pretty +rapidly on the high water, and we need only use the paddles to give +her steerage, and to paddle her out of eddies." + +"What are the poles for?" asked Tom. + +"To push her in shoal water, for one thing," answered Sam, "and to +fend off of banks and trees." + +A large quantity of the long gray moss of the swamps was stored in the +bottom for bedding purposes, and the boat was ready for her +passengers. One by one they took their places, Sam in the bow, and the +voyage down the creek began. This stream was very crooked, and many +fallen trees interrupted its course, so that it was very difficult to +navigate it with so long a boat. In addition to this, the river had +risen much faster than the creek, and the back water had entirely +destroyed the creek's current, so that the boat must be pushed and +paddled every inch of the way. + +Nearly the entire day was consumed in getting to the river, five +miles away from the starting place, and as the afternoon waned the +boys grew tired, while Jake Elliott began to manifest his old +disposition to criticise Sam's plans. + +"May be we'll make five mile a day, an' may be we wont," he said. +"We'll git to Pensacola in six or eight weeks, I s'pose, if we don't +starve by the way, an' _if_ this water runs that way." + +"Very well," said Sam, "the longer we are on the route the better it +will please you, Jake." + +"Why?" + +"Because you don't want to get there at all. But we'll be there sooner +than you think?" + +"How long do you reckon it will take us, Sam?" asked Billy. + +"I don't know, because I don't know how long we'll be getting out of +this creek." + +"Well, I mean after we get into the river." + +"About a day and a half," replied Sam, "possibly less." + +"You don't mean it?" + +"Don't I? What do I mean, then?" + +"How far is it?" + +"Less than a hundred miles." + +"Well, we can't go a hundred miles in a day and a half." + +"Can't we? I think we can. We'll run day and night, you know, and the +current, at this stage of the water, can't be much less than five +miles an hour. Four miles an hour will take us ninety-six miles in +twenty-four hours." + +"Hurrah for Captain Sam!" shouted Sid Russell, "Yonder's the river, +an' she's a runnin' like a mill tail, too." + +Sid was standing up, and his great length lifted his head high enough +to permit him to see the rapidly running stream long before any one +else did. The rest strained their eyes, or rather their necks trying +to catch a glimpse of the stream, but the undergrowth of the swamp lay +between them and the sight. Sid's announcement put new energy into +them, however, and they plied their paddles vigorously for ten +minutes, when, with a sudden swing around a last curve of the creek, +Sam brought his boat fairly out into the river, and turned her head +down stream. The river was full to its banks, and in places it had +already overflowed. The current was so strong that the mouth of the +creek, out of which they had come, was out of sight in a very few +minutes. Work with the paddles was suspended, Sam only dipping his +into the water occasionally for the purpose of keeping the boat +straight in mid-channel. The river was full of drift-wood, some of it +consisting of large logs and uprooted trees, and night was already +falling. Jake Elliott now spoke again. + +"We ain't a goin' to try to run in the dark in all this 'ere drift, +are we?" he asked. + +"I can't say that we are," replied Sam. + +"Why, you're not going to stop for the night, are you, Sam?" asked +Billy Bowlegs, who was enjoying the boat ride greatly. + +"Certainly not," replied Sam. + +"Why, you said you was, jist a minute ago," muttered Jake Elliott. + +"Oh, no! I didn't," said Sam, whose patience had been sorely taxed +already by Jake's persistent disposition to find fault. + +"What did you say, then?" asked that worthy. + +"Merely that we're not going to try to run in the dark to-night." + +"Well, you're a goin' to stop then?" + +"No, I am not." + +"I see how dat is," said Joe, suddenly catching an idea. + +"Well, explain it to Jake, then," said Sam laughing. + +"W'y, Mas' Jake, don't you see de moon's gwine to shine bright as day, +an' so dey ain't a gwine to be no dark to-night." + +"That's it, Joe," replied Sam, "but if there was no moon I'd still go +on. The drift isn't in the least dangerous." + +"Why not, Sam?" asked Tom. + +"Well, in the first place, it wouldn't be very easy to knock a hole in +such a boat as this anyhow, and as we're only floating, we go exactly +with the drift nearest us; we go faster than the drift in by the shore +there, because we're in the strongest part of the current, but the +drift nearest us is in the same current, and moves as fast as we do, +or pretty nearly so. My paddling adds something to our speed, but not +much. I only paddle enough to keep the boat straight in the channel. +If we were to stop against the bank, and fasten the boat there, the +drift would bump us pretty badly, but it can do us no harm so long as +we float along with it." + +[Illustration: SAM PLAYS THE PART OF SKIPPER.] + +The moon, nearly at its full, was rising now, and very soon the river +became a picture. Running rapidly, bank full, with tall trees bending +over and throwing their shadows across it, with here and there a +fragment of a moon glade on the water, while the dense undergrowth of +the woods, lying in shadow, gave the stream a margin of inky blackness +on each side,--it was a scene to stimulate the imaginations of the +group of healthy boys who sat in the boat gliding silently but swiftly +down the river. + +Hour after hour they sped on, not a boy among them in the least +disposed to avail himself of Sam's permission to lie down for a nap on +the moss in the bottom of the boat. Every bend of the river gave them +a new picture to look at, and finally Sam had to use authority to make +the boys lie down. + +"We must all sleep some," he said, "for to-morrow the sun will shine +too strong for sleeping, and we've done a hard day's work. It will be +now about seven or eight hours until sunrise, and there are just +seven of us. It will take half an hour for the rest of you to get to +sleep, and so I'll run the boat for an hour and a half. Then I'll wake +Billy, and he can run it an hour. Then Joe must take the paddle,--his +name is Butler, you see,--and so on in alphabetical order, each of you +taking charge for an hour. If anything happens,--if you get into an +eddy, or for any other reason find yourselves in doubt about anything, +wake me at once. Now go to sleep." + +Sam took the first watch, because he wished to see, before going to +sleep, that everything was likely to go well. Then he waked Billy +Bowlegs, and, surrendering the paddle to him, went to sleep. + +There was no noise to disturb any one, and all the boys slept soundly, +none of them more soundly than Sam, who had worked especially hard +during the day, and had had a weight of responsibility upon him during +the difficult voyage down the creek. He was quietly sleeping some +hours later when suddenly the boat was sharply jarred, and turned very +nearly on her side, while the water could be heard surging around her +bow and stern. + +Sam was on his feet in a moment, and the other boys sprang up quickly. + +"Who's at the oar?" cried Sam, "and what's the matter?" + +"We've got tangled in the drift, just as I told you we would," +answered Jake Elliott from the bow, where he sat, paddle in hand, he +being on watch at the time. + +"Just as you meant that we should," answered Sam. "You've deliberately +paddled us out of the current into a drift hammock, you sneaking +scoundrel," continued Sam, now thoroughly angry, seizing Jake by the +shoulders, and throwing him violently into the bottom of the boat. "I +have a notion to give you a good thrashing right here, or to set you +ashore and go on without you." + +"Do it, Captain! Do it! He deserves it," cried the boys, but Sam had +made up his mind not to give way to his temper, however provoking +Jake's conduct might be, and as soon as he could master himself, he +renewed his resolution, which had been broken only in the moment of +sudden awakening. + +The boat was not damaged in the least, but her position was a +difficult one from which to extricate her. She lay on the upper side +of a pile of drift which had lodged against some trees, and a floating +tree had swept down against her side, pinning her to the hammock, as +such drift piles are called in the South. The work of freeing her +required all of Sam's judgment, as well as all the boys' strength, but +within half an hour, or a little more, the boat was again in the +stream. + +"Now," said Sam, speaking very calmly, "we've lost a good deal of +sleep and must make it up. Jake Elliott, you will take the paddle +again, and keep it till sunrise." + +"Well, but what if he runs us into another snarl?" asked Sid Russell, +uneasily. + +"He won't make any more mistakes," replied Sam. + +"How can you be sure of that?" queried Tom. + +"Because I have whispered in his ear," said Sam. + +What Sam had whispered in Jake's ear was this:-- + +"_If any further accidents happen to-night, I'll put you ashore in +the swamp, and leave you there. I mean it._" + +He did mean it, and Jake was convinced of the fact. He knew very well, +too, that if he should be left there in the swamp, with all the creeks +out of their banks, the chances were a thousand to one against his +success in getting back to civilization again. Sam's threat was a +harsh one, but nothing less harsh would have answered his purpose, and +he knew very well that Jake would not dare to incur the threatened +penalty. + +The boys slept again, and soundly. The night waned and day dawned, and +still the current carried them forward. They breakfasted in the boat, +first stripping to the waist and sluicing their heads, necks, arms and +chests with water. Breakfast was scarcely over when the boat shot out +of the Nepalgah into the Connecuh river, whereat the boys gave a +cheer. About noon they entered the Escambia river, and their speed +slackened. Here they had met the influence of the tide which checked +the force of the current, and their progress grew steadily slower, +until Sam directed the use of the paddles. They had long since left +the drift wood behind, lodged along the banks, and they had now a +broader and straighter stream than before, although it was still not +very broad nor very straight. Two boys paddled at a time, one upon +each side, while a third steered, and by relieving each other +occasionally they maintained a very good rate of speed. + +The moon was well up into the sky again when the river spread out into +Escambia bay, and the boat was moored with a grape vine, in a little +cove on one of the small islands in the upper end of the bay, about +fifteen miles above Pensacola. The boys leaped upon land again gladly. +Their voyage had been made successfully, and they were at last in the +neighborhood of the danger they had set out to encounter, and the duty +they had undertaken to do. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THLUCCO. + + +"What's your plan now, Sam?" asked Tom, when the boat had been +secured, and a fire built. + +"First and foremost, where are we?" asked Sid Russell. + +"Yes, an' how fur is it to somewhere else?" questioned Billy Bowlegs. + +"An' is we gwine to somewher's or somewher's else?" demanded black +Joe, with a grin. + +"One question at a time," said Sam, "and they will go a good deal +farther." + +"Well, begin with Sid's question, then?" said Tommy. "His is the most +sensible; where are we?" + +"We're on an island," returned Sam, "and the island is somewhere here +in the upper part of Escambia bay. You see how it lies on our map. +The bay ends down there in Pensacola bay, and there is Pensacola, +about fifteen miles away. We came here, you know, to find out what is +going on in Pensacola and its neighborhood, and my plan is to run down +past the town, to some point four or five miles below, in the +neighborhood of Fort Barrancas. There I'll set up a fishing camp, but +first I must get tackle, and, if possible, some duck cloth for a +sail." + +At this point the conversation was interrupted by the sudden +appearance of a canoe's bow in their midst. Their fire was built near +the water's edge, and the canoe which interrupted them had been +paddled silently to the bank, so that its bow extended nearly into +their fire. + +"Ugh, how do," said a voice in the canoe, "how do, pale faces," and +with that the solitary occupant of the canoe leaped ashore and seated +himself in the circle around the fire. + +Joe was frightened, but the other boys were reasonably self-possessed. + +"Injun see fire; Injun come see. Injun friend." + +"White man friend, too," said Sam, holding out his hand. "Injun eat?" +offering the visitor some food. + +"No. Injun eat heap while ago. Injun no hungry, but Injun friendly. +Fire good. Fire warm Injun." + +Sam continued the conversation, desiring to learn whether or not there +was an Indian encampment in the neighborhood. He was not afraid of an +Indian attack, for the Indians were not on the war path in Florida, +but he was afraid of having his boat and tools stolen. + +"Injun's friends over there?" asked Sam, pointing in the direction +from which the canoe had come. + +"No; Injun's friends not here. You know Injun; you see him before?" + +"No," said Sam, "I don't remember you." + +"Injun see you, all same. Injun General Jackson's friend. Injun see +you when you come General Jackson's camp. Me go way then for General +Jackson." + +Here was a revelation. The young savage was, or professed to be, one +of the friendly Indians whom General Jackson was using as scouts. It +was certain that he had seen Sam on his entrance into General +Jackson's camp, and he must have left immediately after Sam's arrival +there. + +"How did you get here so quick?" asked Sam. + +"Me run 'cross country. Injun run heap." + +"Where did you get your canoe?" + +"Steal um," answered the Indian with the utmost complacency. + +"Have you been here before?" + +"Yes. Injun fish here heap. Injun go fishin' to-morrow." + +"Where will you get lines and hooks." + +"Me got um." + +"Where did you get them?" + +"Steal um," answered he again. + +"We're going fishing, too," said Sam. + +"You got hooks? You got lines? You got bait?" + +"No," said Sam. + +"Injun get um for you." + +"How?" + +"Steal um." + +"No," said Sam, "you mustn't steal for us. I'll go to Pensacola and +buy what I want. But you may go with us, if you will, and show us +where to fish." + +"Me go. Injun show you,--down there," pointing down the bay, "heap +fish there." + +The Indian, Sam was disposed to think, was a valuable acquisition, +although he was not disposed to trust him with a knowledge of the real +nature of his mission. Warning the boys, therefore, not to reveal the +secret, he admitted the Indian, whose name was Thlucco, to his +company, not as a member, but as a sort of guide. + +The next morning the boat went down the bay to the town, where Sam +stopped to purchase certain necessary supplies, chiefly fishing tackle +and the materials for making a sail, and to take observations. + +He found many British officers and soldiers lounging around the town, +and had no difficulty in discovering that they were made heartily +welcome by the Spanish authorities, notwithstanding the professed +neutrality of Spain. It was clear enough that while the Spaniards were +at peace with us, they were permitting our enemy to make their +territory his base of supplies, and a convenient starting point of +military and naval operations against us. All this was in violation of +every law of neutrality, and it fully justified Jackson in invading +Florida, and driving the British out of Pensacola, as he did, not very +long afterward. + +Sam "pottered around," as he expressed it, making his purchases as +deliberately as possible, and neglecting no opportunity to learn what +he could, with eyes and ears wide open. + +In an open square he saw a sight which astonished him not a little. +Captain Woodbine, a British officer in full uniform, was endeavoring +to drill a band of Indians, whom he had dressed in red coats and +trowsers. A more ridiculous performance was never seen anywhere, and +only an officer like Captain Woodbine, who knew absolutely nothing of +the habits and character of the American Indian, would ever have +thought of attempting to make regularly drilled and uniformed soldiers +out of men of that race. They were excellent fighters, in their own +savage way, but no amount of drilling could turn them into soldiers +of the civilized pattern. + +It was a cruel, inhuman thing to think of setting these savages +against the Americans at all, for their notion of war was simply to +murder men, women and children indiscriminately, and to burn houses +and take scalps; but to try to make soldiers out of them was in a high +degree ridiculous, and Sam could scarcely restrain his disposition to +laugh aloud, as he saw them floundering about in trowsers for the +first time in their lives and trying to make out what it all meant. + +Thlucco, wrapped in his blanket, bare-headed and bare-footed, looked +at the performance with an expression of profound contempt on his +face. + +"Red-coat-big-hat-white man big fool!" was the only comment he had to +make upon Captain Woodbine and his drill. + +Having bought what he wanted, and learned what he could, Sam returned +to his boat, and paddled down the bay to a point not far from Fort +Barrancas. Here he established his fishing camp, and began work upon +his rudder, mast and sail. Before the evening was over he had his boat +ready for sea, and was prepared to begin the work of fishing the next +morning. He had news for General Jackson; and before going to sleep he +wrote his first despatch. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"INJUN NO FOOL." + + +Sam's despatch, written by the light of a few pine knots and with as +much care as if it had been an important state paper,--for whatever +Sam Hardwicke did he tried to do well,--was in these words:-- + +TO MAJOR GENERAL JACKSON, + +Commanding Department of the South-West, + +MOBILE, ALABAMA. + +GENERAL: + + I arrived with my party to-day. In Pensacola, I found the + British hospitably entertained, not only by the people, but + by Governor Mauriquez himself. They are actually enlisting + the savages in their service, arming them with rifles and + knives and attempting to make regular soldiers out of them. + I saw a British captain drilling about fifty Indians in the + public square of the town at noon to-day. + + I beg to report, also, that the British occupy the defensive + works of the town, including Fort Barrancas, from the + flagstaffs of which float both the British and the Spanish + ensigns, as if the two were allies in this war. + + I am unable to report as yet what the strength of the + British force here is. I have observed men from seven + different companies, in the streets, but have been unable to + learn, without direct inquiry, which would excite suspicion, + whether all these companies are present in full strength, or + whether there are also others here. + + The ships in the bay, so far as I can make them out, are the + Hermes, Captain Percy, 22 guns; the Sophia, Captain Lockyer, + 18 guns; the Carron, 20 guns; and the Childers, 18 guns. + + I shall diligently seek to discover the plans and purposes + of the expedition, and will not neglect to report to you + promptly, whatever I may be able to find out. At present it + is evident only that an expedition is fitting out here + against some point on our coast. + + I shall send this by a trusty messenger at daybreak. + + All of which is respectfully submitted. + +(Signed,) + +SAMUEL HARDWICKE, + +Commanding Scouting Party. + +This document was duly dated from "Fishing Camp, Five miles below +Pensacola," and when it was written, Sam quietly waked Bob Sharp. + +"Bob," he said, "I have an important duty for you to do." + +"I'm your man, Sam, for anything that turns up." + +"Yes, I know that," replied Sam, "and that is why I picked you out +for this business. The choice lay between you and Sid Russell, and I +chose you, because I shall need a very rapid walker a little later to +carry a still more important despatch, I fancy." + +"It's a despatch, then," said Bob. + +"Yes, a despatch to General Jackson. You'll find him at Mobile, and it +isn't more than sixty or seventy miles across the country. I bought +three compasses in Pensacola to-day, and you can take one of them with +you. I can't give you my map, but I'll copy it for you on a sheet of +paper. Go to bed now, and be ready to start at daylight. I'll cook up +some food for you, so that you needn't stop on the way to do any +cooking. You must make the distance in the shortest time you can!" + +"After delivering the despatch, then what?" asked Bob. + +"Well, if you want to, you can come back here." + +"Of course I want to," said Bob. + +"But you must rest first, and I'm not at all sure that you'll find us +here. Perhaps you'd better wait in Mobile, at least till my next +despatch comes. Then General Jackson will tell you what to do." + +"If you'll just give me permission to start right back, I'll be here +in a week. I kin make twenty-five miles a day, easy, an' that'll more +'n git me back here in that time." + +"Very well, come back then." + +At daylight Bob was off, and when the boys awoke they were full of +curiosity to know the meaning of his absence. While Thlucco was around +Sam would tell them nothing except that he had sent Bob away on an +errand. When Thlucco went to the boat to arrange something about the +fishing tackle, Sam briefly explained the matter, and cautioned the +boys to talk of it no more. + +An hour later they went fishing on a slack tide, and when it turned +and began to run too full for the fish to bite they sailed their boat +to the shore, with fish enough in it to satisfy the most eager of +fishermen. + +During the afternoon Sam sent Sid Russell, into the town, nominally to +buy some trifling thing but really with secret instructions to find +out what he could about the British forces, their movements, their +purposes and their plans. + +"Injun go town, too," said Thlucco, and without more ado "Injun" went. + +When he returned, about ten o'clock that night, he brought with him a +gun of superior workmanship, and a pouch full of ammunition. + +"Where did you get that?" asked Sam in surprise. + +"Pensacola," said the young savage. + +"How?" + +"Injun 'list. Big-hat-red-coat-white man give Injun gun, drill Injun." + +"What in the world did you do that for?" asked Sam. + +"Um. Injun got eyes. Sam got no guns. Sam need um. Injun git um. Injun +'list agin. Big-hat-red-coat-white man give Injun 'nother gun. Injun +'list six, seven times, git guns for boys." + +"But we don't want any guns, Thlucco." + +"Um. Injun no fool. Sam Jackson man. Injun know. Sam Jackson man. Boys +Jackson men. Sam find out things, boys go tell Jackson. Bob go first. +Um. Injun no fool. Injun Jackson man. Injun git guns, heap." + +"But what can we do with them when you get them, Thlucco?" + +"Um. Injun no fool. May be red coat men spy Sam. Sam caught. Sam want +guns. Um. Injun no fool." + +Sam saw that it was useless to prolong the conversation. Thlucco was +stolidly bent upon doing as he pleased, and the only thing for Sam to +do was to take care to conceal the guns from the observation of +anybody who might happen to visit the camp. + +Thlucco went to town every day and enlisted anew, only to desert with +his gun each time. Finally he enlisted twice in one day, and the next +day three times, bringing to Sam a gun for each enlistment. By the end +of the week Sam had an armory of ten new rifles, with a store of +ammunition for each. Thlucco could not count very well, and it +required a good deal of persuasion on Sam's part to induce him to stop +enlisting. He was persuaded at last, however, that there were more +than enough guns in camp to arm the whole party, and then he consented +to remain away from the town. + +On the evening of the sixth day of their stay in the fishing camp, the +boys were just sitting down to their supper of fried fish, when a +familiar voice said:-- + +"I think you might make room for me." + +"Bob Sharp back again, as sure's we're here!" exclaimed Billy Bowlegs, +and all the boys rose hastily to greet their comrade. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAM SEEKS INFORMATION IN THE DARK. + + +"Why, Bob, old fellow, how are you?" + +"You don't mean to say you've got back agin?" + +"How'd you find it in the woods?" + +These and a dozen other questions were asked while poor Bob's hand was +wrung nearly off. + +"Now, see here," said Bob, "I can't answer a dozen questions at once. +Besides, I've got despatches for the Captain." + +"Have you?" asked Sam. "Let me have them, then." + +Bob handed Sam an official looking document, which was merely an +acknowledgment of his service, a request that he should not abate his +diligence, and an instruction to use his own discretion in the conduct +of his expedition. Then followed questions and answers innumerable, +and the boys learned that General Jackson was in Mobile, without an +army, and likely to be without one until the Tennessee volunteers +should arrive. + +Supper over, Sam quietly informed the boys that he was going into the +town, and that he could not say when he should return. + +"What're you a goin' to town this time o' night for?" asked Sid +Russell, who was strongly prejudiced against staying awake a moment +later than was necessary after the sun went down. + +"I've laid some plans to get some information," replied Sam, "and I'm +going after it," and with that he jumped into the boat, with only Tom +for company. In truth, Sam had been in search of the information that +he was going after for several days, and he had reason to hope that he +might get it on this particular night. + +He had already learned that several of the British vessels, now lying +in the bay, had sailed away some little time before, and that they had +returned on the night before Bob's arrival. He knew that their voyage +must have had some connection with the plans they had laid for +operations against the American coast, and he thought if he could +discover the nature and purpose of this recent expedition, it would +give him a clew to their projects for the future. To accomplish this +he had taken many risks while the ships were away, and he was now +going to try a new way of getting at facts. + +He sailed his boat up to the town, and before landing, said to Tom:-- + +"When I'm ashore, you put off a little way from land and lie-to for an +hour or so. When I want you, I'll come down here to the water's edge +and whistle like a Whip-Will's Widow. When you hear me, run ashore. If +I don't come by midnight, go back to camp, and march at once for +Mobile." + +"Why can't I lie here by the shore till you come. You're going into +danger and may need me." + +"First, because there are ruffians around here who might put you +ashore and steal the boat; but secondly, because I don't want to +excite suspicion by having our boat seen around here at night. It's so +dark that nobody can recognize her if you lie-to a hundred yards from +shore. I'm going into danger, but you can't help me." + +Avoiding further parley, Sam jumped ashore, and walked quietly up into +the town, through the main street, until he came to a house built +after the Spanish model, with a rickety stair-way outside. Up this +stair-way he climbed, and when he had reached the top he pushed the +door open and entered. He found himself in a dark passage, but by +feeling he presently discovered a door. As he opened it he said:-- + +"It's a dark night." + +"Is it dark?" answered a voice from within. + +"It is very dark." + +All this appeared to be merely a pre-arranged signal, for it had no +sooner been uttered than the owner of the voice within, who seemed +satisfied of Sam's identity, struck a light, with flint and steel, and +carefully closed the door. + +The man was apparently a dark mulatto, and his hair was matted about +his head as if with some glutinous substance. + +"You sent me this note?" asked Sam. + +"Yes, I gave it to the Injun. He said you'd help me." + +There was a brogue in the man's voice, very slight,--too slight, +indeed, to be represented in print,--and yet it was perceptible, and +it attracted Sam's attention. Perhaps he would scarcely have noticed +it but for the fact that all his senses were keenly on the alert. He +was not at all sure that he was acting prudently in visiting this man. +He had no knowledge whatever of the man, except that Thlucco had +somehow found him and arranged a meeting. Thlucco had brought Sam a +scrap of dirty paper, on which were traced in a scarcely legible +scrawl, these words:-- + +"Your man must say, 'It's a dark night!' I'll say, 'Is it dark.' We +will know each other then." + +In delivering this note, with directions as to the method of finding +the man, Thlucco had said:-- + +"Injun no fool. Injun know m'latter man. M'latter man tell Sam heap. +Sam take m'latter man way." + +By diligent questioning, Sam had made out that this man had knowledge +of affairs in the British camp which he was willing to sell for some +service that Sam could do him. + +Sam was not sure of Thlucco. His knowledge of the Indian character did +not predispose him to trust Indian professions of friendship, and he +strongly suspected treachery of some sort here. He thought it possible +that this was only a scheme to entrap his secret and himself, and he +had gone to the conference determined to be on his guard, and in the +event of trouble, to use the stout cudgel which he carried as +vigorously as possible. + +"If we are to talk," he said to the man, "you must come with me." + +The man hesitated, afraid, apparently, of treachery. + +"I do not know you," he said, "and the Indian may have lied." + +"Listen to me," said Sam in reply, "I do not know you, and the Indian +may have lied to me. Yet I have trusted myself here in the dark. You +must trust something to me. Go with me, and when we have talked +together for an hour, if you wish to return here, I pledge you my word +of honor, as a gentleman's son, to bring you back safely. If you will +not go with me, we may as well part at once. I positively will not say +another word, I'm going. Follow me in silence, or stay here, as you +please." + +With that Sam opened the door and walked out. The man quickly +extinguished the light and crept after Sam, in his bare feet. + +Sam led the way by a route just outside the town, without exchanging a +word with his companion. Half an hour's walking brought them to the +lonely strip of beach on which Sam had landed. + +"Whip-Will's Widow," whistled Sam, shrilly. + +His companion started back in affright, and was on the point of +running away, when Sam seized him by the arm, and, shaking him +vigorously, said:-- + +"I'll not play you false. Trust me. I have a boat here." + +"You come from the Fort?" said the man in abject terror. + +"No, I do not. I am an American," said Sam, no longer hesitating to +reveal his nationality, now that he saw how terrified the man was at +thought of falling into British hands. + +The words re-assured the man, and when Tom came ashore with the boat +he embarked without further hesitation. + +"Beat about, Tom," said Sam, "I may have to land again. I have +promised this man to return him safely to the place in which I found +him, if we don't come to some agreement. Sail around here while we +talk." + +Turning to the man, he said:-- + +"Let us talk in a low voice. Who are you, and what?" + +"I'm a deserter from the marine corps." + +"British?" + +"Yes. I'm an Irishman. I've blacked my hair and skin, that's all." + +"When did you desert?" + +"Yesterday. I was to be flogged for insubordination, and I jist run +away." + +"Were you with the late expedition?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well. I think we can come to an understanding. You want to get +away, out of reach of capture?" + +"Sure I do. If I'm caught, I'll be shot without mercy." + +"Very well. Now if you'll tell me everything you know, I'll help you +to get away. More than that, I'll get you away, within our own lines. +I have the means at my command." + +"Faith an' I'll tell you everything I ever know'd in my life, if +you'll only get me out of this." + +The man was now in precisely the mood in which Sam wished to have him. +He had already confessed his desertion, and had now every reason to +speak freely and truly, and it was evident that he meant to do so. + +"Tom," said Sam. + +"Well," replied Tom. + +"You may beat up toward our camp, now." + +"And you'll save me?" asked the man, seizing Sam's hand and wringing +it. + +"I will. Now let's come to business." + +"I'm ready," answered the man. + +"Where did the ships go?" + +"To the Island of Barrataria." + +"To treat with Jean Lafitte, the pirate?" exclaimed Sam. + +"Yes, to enlist him and his cut-throats in the war against you." + +"Did they succeed?" + +"I don't know. The officers dined with Lafitte, and treated him like a +prince. They came away in good spirits, and must have succeeded, else +they'd a' been glum enough." + +"What do they propose to do next?" + +"They're a goin' to sail again in a few days, and the boys say it's +for Mobile this time. The men had orders yesterday to get ready." + +"What preparation are they making?" + +"They're storing the ships and taking water aboard. The marines are +kept in quarters on shore, and a lot o' them red savages is in camp at +the fort, with Captain Woodbine in command." + +"Well, now," said Sam, "tell me why you think the next movement will +be against Mobile? May it not be New Orleans instead?" + +"Well, you see them pirates is wanted for the New Orleans work. They +know all the channels, and have got the pilots. When the fleet starts +for New Orleans some o' them 'll be on board. Besides, the officers +talk over their rum, and the men hear 'em, an' all the talk is about +Mobile, and Mobile Point, whatever that is; so its pretty sure +they're going to Mobile first."[2] + +[Footnote 2: It is scarcely necessary to tell readers who are familiar +with American History, that Jean Lafitte was not properly a pirate, +although he was called so in 1814; nor is it necessary to tell here +how the British attempt to use his lawless band against the Americans +miscarried. All that belongs to the domain of legitimate history.] + +By this time the boat, which was running under a good stiff breeze, +ran upon the beach by Sam's camp, and Sam led the way to the dying +camp fire, which he replenished, for the sake of the light. Then +getting his writing materials he prepared a despatch to General +Jackson. It ran as follows:-- + +CAMP NEAR PENSACOLA, + +September 8th, 1814. + +TO MAJOR-GENERAL JACKSON, + +Commanding Department of the South-West. + +GENERAL:-- + + I beg to report that several of the British vessels of war + now lying at anchor in the harbor of Pensacola, have just + returned from a brief voyage, the object and nature of which + I have endeavored to discover. I have succeeded in finding a + deserter from the British marine corps, from whom, under + promise of protection, I have drawn such information as he + possesses. He accompanied the late expedition, and tells me + that it went to the Island of Barrataria, to seek the + assistance of Jean Lafitte, the pirate, and his gang of + outlaws, against the United States. Whether the negotiations + to that end were successful or not, he does not know, but he + supposes, from the temper in which the officers returned, + that they were. + + From this deserter I learn, also, that preparations are + making for a hostile movement, which the British marines and + soldiers believe, from the remarks made by officers in their + presence, is to be directed against Mobile by way of Mobile + Point, which I take to be the point of land which guards the + entrance to Mobile bay, where Fort Bowyer stands. + + I send the deserter with the messenger who takes this to + you, partly because I have promised to secure him against + recapture, and partly because you may desire to question him + further. + + There are no present appearances of the immediate sailing of + this expedition, but from what the deserter tells me, I + presume that it will sail within a few days. I shall remain + here still, to get what information I can, and will report + to you promptly whatever I learn. I cannot say how long I + shall be able to stay, as a British officer visited my camp + yesterday, and questioned my boys, as I thought, rather + suspiciously. I shall be on the alert, and take no + unnecessary risk of capture. + + All of which is respectfully submitted. + +SAMUEL HARDWICKE, + +Commanding Scouting Party. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A SUSPICIOUS OCCURRENCE. + + +When Sam had finished his despatch he quietly aroused Bob Sharp and +Sidney Russell, and entered into conversation with them. + +"Sid," he said, "I have a prisoner and a despatch of very great +importance to send to General Jackson. You must take the despatch and +leave as soon as possible, with the prisoner, who is a deserter and +who must be got away from here before daylight. Bob, I want you to +give Sid as good directions as you can, as you've been over the route +twice." + +"Yes an' I've sort o' blazed it too, and picked out all sorts o' +land-marks to steer by, but I don't knows I can make any body else +understand 'em. Are you in a big hurry with the despatch?" + +"Yes, the biggest kind. It's of the utmost importance, and time is +every thing. A single hour lost may lose Mobile or a battle." + +"Then maybe Sid an' me'd both better go,--Sid to do the fast running +an' me to show him the way." + +"There's no use of both of you going," replied Sam, "but if you had +had a couple of days rest I would send you instead of Sid, because you +know the way, and I don't believe anybody can make the distance any +quicker than you have done it." + +"I know a feller that kin," replied Bob. + +"Who is it?" asked Sam. + +"Me." + +"You? How do you mean?" + +"I mean that I kin go to Mobile most a day quicker 'n I dun it before. +I got into a lot o' tangles before that I know how to keep out of +now." + +"Yes, but you can't start back again without at least a day's rest." + +"Can't I though? I'm as fresh as an Irish potato without salt, an' if +you just say the word, I'll be off the minute you git your papers +ready. The boys have got somethin' cooked I reckon." + +Sam complimented Bob upon his vigor and readiness, and accepted his +offer. Ten minutes sufficed for all necessary preparations, and Bob +was about starting with his prisoner, when Sid Russell spoke. + +"I say, Sam, did you say this 'ere feller's a deserter?" + +"Yes. What of it?" + +"Nothing only there's a camp o' British an' Injuns back there a little +ways, an' if Bob don't look out he'll run right into it." + +"A camp? Where?" asked Sam. + +"Right in rear of us, not three hundred yards away." + +"When was it established there?" + +"To-night, just after you went away in the boat." + +"All right," replied Sam. "Jump into the boat, Bob, and we'll sail +down below and you can start from there." + +It was easy enough to carry Bob and the deserter down to a point below +the camp, but Sam was not at all pleased to find the British so near +him. He feared already that he was suspected, and he was not sure that +this placing of troops near him was not a preparation for something +else. At all events, it was very embarrassing, for the reason that it +would prevent him from withdrawing his party suddenly to the woods on +their retreat, if anything should happen, and this made Sam uneasy. He +returned to camp, after parting with Bob and the deserter, and sat for +an hour revolving matters in his mind. + +At first he was disposed to wake the boys and quietly withdraw by +water to a point lower down, but upon reflection he was convinced that +his removal by night immediately after the troops had been stationed +near him, would only tend to excite suspicion. He thought, too, that +he must have been wrong in supposing that the camp had been +established in rear of him with any reference to him or his party. + +"If they suspected us in the least, they would arrest us without +waiting to make sure of their suspicions," he thought; nevertheless, +it was awkward to be shut in and cut off from the easy retreat which +he had planned, as a means of escape, in the event of necessity, and +he determined to seek an excuse for removing within a day or two from +his present camping place to one which would leave him freer in his +movements. He was so troubled that he could not sleep, and the +flickering blaze of the dying camp fire annoyed him. He got up, +therefore, from his seat on a log and went to the boat and sat down in +the stern sheets to think. + +He had no fear of danger for himself, or rather, he was prepared to +encounter, without flinching, any danger into which his duty might +lead him; but I have not succeeded very well in making my readers +acquainted with Sam Hardwicke's character, if they do not know that he +was a thoroughly conscientious boy, and from the beginning of this +expedition until now, he had never once forgotten that his authority, +as its commander, involved with it a heavy responsibility. + +"These boys," he frequently said to himself, "are subject to my +command. They must go where I lead them, and have no chance to use +their own judgments. I decide where they shall go and what they shall +do, and I am responsible for the consequences to them." + +Feeling his responsibility thus deeply, he was troubled now lest any +mistake of his should lead them into unnecessary danger. He carefully +weighed every circumstance which could possibly affect his decision, +and his judgment was that his duty required him to remain yet a day or +two in the neighborhood of Pensacola, and that it would only tend to +awaken suspicion if he should remove his camp to any other point on +the shores of the bay. He must stay where he was, and risk the +consequences. If ill should befall the boys it would be an unavoidable +ill, incurred in the discharge of duty, and he would have no reason, +he thought, to reproach himself. + +Just as he reached this conclusion, Thlucco came from somewhere out of +the darkness, and stepping into the boat took a seat just in front of +Sam, facing him. + +"Why, Thlucco," exclaimed Sam, "where did you come from?" + +"Sh--sh--," said Thlucco. "Injun know. Injun no fool. Injun want +Sam." + +"What do you want with Sam?" + +"Sam git caught! Injun no fool. Injun see." + +"What do you mean, Thlucco? Speak out. If there is any danger, I want +to know it." + +"Ugh! Injun know Jake Elliott!" + +"What about Jake?" asked Sam. + +"Um, Jake Elliott _devil_. Jake hate Sam. Jake hate General Jackson. +Injun no fool. Injun see." + +Sam was interested now, but it was not easy to draw anything like +detailed information out of Thlucco. + +"What makes you think that, Thlucco? What have you seen or heard?" + +"Um. Injun see. Injun know. Injun no fool. Jake cuss Sam. Jake cuss +Jackson. Injun hear." + +"When did you hear him curse me or General Jackson, Thlucco?" asked +Sam. + +"Um. To-day! 'Nother day, too! 'Nother day 'fore that." + +"What did he say?" + +"Um. Jake _cuss_. Um. Jake gone." + +"What!" exclaimed Sam. "Gone! where?" + +"Um. Injun don't know. Injun know Jake gone." + +"When did he leave camp?" + +"Um. When Sam go 'way Jake go too! Injun follow Jake. Jake cuss Injun. +Injun come back." + +"Is that all you know, Thlucco?" + +"Um. That's all. That's 'nough. Jake gone 'way." + +Sam jumped out of the boat and waked the boys. + +"Where did Jake Elliott go to-night?" he asked. + +None of the boys knew. + +"Did any one of you see him leave camp?" + +"Yes," answered Billy Bowlegs, "but we didn't pay much attention to +him. He's been so glum lately that we've been glad to have him out of +sight." + +"Has he ever gone away before?" asked Sam. + +"No, only he never stays right in camp. He sleeps over there by them +trees," said Billy Bowlegs, pointing to a clump of trees about forty +or fifty yards away, "an' I guess he's only gone over there. He never +stays with us when you're not here." + +Sam strode over to the trees indicated, and searched carefully, but +could find no trace of Jake there. Returning to the camp he asked:-- + +"Did any of you observe which way he went when he went away?" + +"Yes," answered Sid Russell, "he went toward his trees." + +"That is toward the town," answered Sam. + +"Yes, so it is." + +"Have you observed anything peculiar about his conduct lately?" + +"No," replied Billy Bowlegs, "only that he's been a gettin' glummer +an' glummer. I'll tell you what it is, Captain Sam, I'll bet a big +button he's deserted an' gone home. He's a coward and he's been scared +ever since he found out that you wa'n't foolin' about this bein' a +genu-_ine_, dangerous piece of work, an' I'll bet he's cut his lucky, +an' gone home, an' if ever I get back there I'll pull his nose for a +sneak, you just see if I don't." + +"Very well," said Sam, "go to sleep again, then. If he has gone home +it is a good riddance of very bad rubbish." + +Sam was not by any means satisfied that Jake had gone home, however. +Indeed he was pretty well convinced that he had done nothing of the +sort, and he wished for a chance to think, so that he might determine +what was best to be done. He believed Jake would not dare to go home +as a deserter, knowing very well what reputation he would have to bear +ever afterward, in a community in which personal courage was held to +be the first of the virtues, and the lack of it the worst possible +vice. Where had he gone, then, and for what? Sam did not know, but he +had an opinion on the subject which grew stronger and stronger the +more he revolved the matter in his mind. + +Jake Elliott, he knew, had a personal grudge against him, and no very +kindly feeling for the other boys. He was confessedly afraid to +continue in the service in which he was engaged, and it was not easy +for him to quit it. There was just one safe way out of it; and that +offered, not safety only, but revenge of precisely the kind that Jake +Elliott was likely to take. Sam knew very well that, notwithstanding +his magnanimity, Jake still bitterly hated him, and still cherished +the design of wreaking his vengeance upon him at the first +opportunity. + +"What is more probable, then," he asked himself, "than that Jake is +trying to betray us into the hands of the enemy to die as spies? He is +abundantly capable of the treachery and the meanness, and his +desertion of the camp to-night strongly confirms the suspicion." + +This much being decided, it was necessary for Sam to determine what +should be done in the circumstances. If there had been no camp in his +rear, he would have withdrawn his command through the woods at once. +As it was, he must find some other way. It was clearly his duty to +escape with his boys, if he could, and to lose no time in attempting +it. The danger was now too near at hand, and too positive to be +ignored, and there was really very little more for him to do here. He +must escape at once. + +But could he escape? + +That was a question which the event would have to answer, as Sam could +not do it. Unluckily, it was already beginning to grow light, and he +would not have the shelter of darkness. + +He aroused the boys again, before they had had time to get to sleep, +and quietly began his preparations. + +"Make no noise," he said, "but put what provisions you have, and all +your things into the boat. _Don't forget the guns and the ammunition._ +Sid! take our little water keg and run and fill it with fresh water." + +The boys set about their preparations hurriedly, although they but +dimly guessed the meaning of Sam's singular orders. + +At that moment Jake Elliott shuffled into the camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +JAKE ELLIOTT MAKES ANOTHER EFFORT TO GET EVEN. + + +As it is impossible to tell at one time the story of the doings of two +different sets of persons in two different places, it follows that, if +both are to be told, one must be told first and the other afterward. + +For precisely this reason, I must leave Sam and his party for a time +now, while I tell where Jake Elliott had been, and what he had been +about. + +When Sam let him off as easily as he could at the time of the compass +affair, and even went out of his way to prevent the boys from +referring to that transaction, he did so with the distinct purpose of +giving Jake an opportunity and a motive to redeem his reputation; and +he sincerely hoped that Jake would avail himself of the chance. + +It is not easy for a man or boy of right impulses to imagine the +feelings, or to comprehend the acts of a person whose impulses are all +wrong, and so it was that Sam fell into the error of supposing that +his badly behaved follower would repent of his misconduct and do +better in future. This was what all the boys thought that Jake ought +to do, and what Sam thought he would do; but in truth he was disposed +to do nothing of the sort, and Sam was not very long in discovering +the fact. Instead of feeling grateful to Sam for shielding him against +the taunts of his companions, he hated Sam more cordially than ever, +when he found how completely he had failed in his attempt to embarrass +the expedition. He nursed his malice and brooded over it, determined +to seize the first opportunity of "getting even," as he expressed it, +and from that hour his thoughts were all of revenge, complete, +successful, merciless. He was willing enough, too, to include the +other boys in this wreaking of vengeance, as he included them now in +his malice. + +His first attempt to accomplish his purpose, as we know already, was +an effort to wreck the boat in a drift pile, and that affair served +to open Sam's eyes to the true character of the boy with whom he had +to deal. He trusted him no more, and managed him thereafter only by +appeals to his fears. + +When the camp was formed near Pensacola, Sam carefully canvassed the +possibilities of Jake's misconduct, and concluded that the worst he +could do would be to injure the boat or her tackle, and he +sufficiently guarded against that by always sleeping near the little +craft. + +Jake was more desperately bent upon revenge than Sam supposed, and +from the hour of going into camp he diligently worked over his plan +for accomplishing his purpose. He had learned by previous failures, to +dread Sam's quickness of perception, of which, indeed, he stood almost +superstitiously in awe. He would not venture to take a single step +toward the accomplishment of the end he had set himself, until his +plans should be mature. For many days, therefore, he only meditated +revenge not daring, as yet, to attempt it by any active measures. At +last, however, he was satisfied that his plans were beyond Sam's +power to penetrate, and he was ready to put them into execution. On +the night of Bob Sharp's return, which was the night last described in +previous chapters, Sam went to the town, as we know, accompanied by +Tom, who sailed the boat. As soon as he was fairly out of sight Jake +walked away toward Pensacola. The distance was considerable, and the +way a very difficult one, as the tide was too high for walking on the +beach, so that it was nearly midnight when Jake knocked at a house on +a side street. + +"Who is there?" asked a night-capped personage from an upper window. + +"A friend," answered Jake. + +"What do you want?" said the night-capped head, rather gruffly. + +"I want to see the Leftenant." + +"What do you want with me?" + +"I want to talk with you." + +"Oh, go to the mischief! I'm in bed." + +"But I must see you to-night," said Jake. + +"On business?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Important?" + +"Yes." + +"Won't it keep till morning?" + +"No, sir; I'm afraid not." + +"Very well. I suppose I must see you then. Push the door open and find +your way up the stairs." + +Jake did as he was told to do, and presently found himself in the room +where Lieutenant Coxetter had been sleeping. That distinguished +servant of His Majesty, King George, had meantime drawn on his +trowsers, and he now lighted a little oil lamp, which threw a wretched +apology for light a few feet into the surrounding darkness. + +"Now then," said the officer, in no very pleasant tones, "What do you +want with me at this time o' night? Who are you, and where do you come +from?" + +Jake was so nervous that he found it impossible to find a place at +which to begin his story, and the impatient Lieutenant spurred him +with direct questions. + +"What's your name?" he asked. "You can tell that, can't you?" + +"Yes, sir," faltered Jake. + +[Illustration: "SPEAK, MAN! OR I CHOKE YOU."] + +"Well, tell it then, and be quick about it." + +"My name is Jacob Elliott," said that worthy, fairly gasping for +breath in his embarrassment. + +"Oh! you do know your name, then," said the officer. "Now, then, where +do you come from?" + +"From Alabama," answered Jake. + +"From Alabama! the mischief you do! You're an American then? What the +mischief are you doing here?" + +"Oh, sir, that's just what I want to tell you about, if you'll let +me." + +"If I'll _let_ you? Ain't I doing my very best to _make_ you? Havn't I +been worming your facts out of you with a corkscrew? But you'd better +be quick about giving an account of yourself. If you don't give a +pretty satisfactory one, too, I'll arrest you as a _spy_,--a _spy_, my +good fellow, do you understand? _A spy_, and we hang that sort o' +people. Come, be quick." + +"Spies! that's just it, Lieutenant. I came here to-night to tell you +about spies." + +"Then why the mischief don't you do it? You'll drive me mad with your +halting tongue. Speak man, or I'll choke you!" and with that the +officer stood up and bent forward over Jake, to that young man's +serious discomfiture. + +"They's some spies here--" Jake began. "Where?" asked the impatient +officer interrupting him. + +"Down there, in a camp," said Jake, talking as rapidly as he could, +lest the officer should interrupt him again; "Down there in a camp by +the bay, an' they've got a boat an' guns, an' they're boys, an' they +pretend to be a fishin' party." + +"Ah!" said the Lieutenant, "I thought I'd make you find your tongue. +Now listen to me, and answer my questions, and mind you don't lie to +me, sir; mind you don't lie." + +"I won't. I pledge you my honor--," began Jake. + +"Never mind pledging that; it isn't worth pledging. You see you're a +sneak, else you wouldn't be here telling tales on your fellow +countrymen. But never mind. It's my business to make use of you. I'm +provost-marshal." + +This was not at all the sort of treatment Jake had expected to receive +at the hands of British officers. He had supposed that the value of +his services in betraying his fellows, would be recognized and +rewarded, and he had even dreamed of receiving marked attentions and a +good, comfortable, safe place in the British service in recompense. It +had never occurred to him that while all military men must get what +information they can from deserters, and traitors, they do not respect +the sneaking fellows in the least, but on the contrary hold them in +profoundest contempt, almost spurning them with their boots. Jake had +gone too far to retreat, however, and must now tell his whole story. +He told where the boys were, and how they had come there, and for what +purpose, lying only enough to make it appear that he himself had never +willingly joined them, but had been deceived at first, and forced +afterward into the service. + +The Lieutenant listened to the story and then asked:-- + +"Have you anything to show for all this?" + +"How do you mean?" asked Jake. + +"Why, you wretched coward, don't you understand? How am I to know how +much of your story is true, and how much of it false? Of course it +isn't all true. You couldn't talk so long without telling some lies. +What I want to know is, what can you show for all this story? If I +arrest these boys, what can be proved on them?" + +"Well, the Captain's got a despatch from General Jackson; that'll +prove something." + +"When did he get it?" + +"To-night." + +"Very well. That's something. Now you just sit still till I tell you +to do something else." + +So saying the Lieutenant summoned a courier or two, and sent them off +with notes. + +"These boys have a boat, you say?" + +"Yes." + +"Do they know how to sail it?" + +"A little; the Captain handles it better'n the rest." + +"Has he ever been to sea?" + +"No, sir." + +"What sort of a boat is it?" + +"A dug-out; we made it ourselves." + +"Oh, did you? Why didn't you tell me that first? Never mind, it's all +right. They'll never try to put to sea in a dug-out, but they may try +to escape to some point lower down the bay in it, so my message to +the fort won't be amiss." + +The Lieutenant had sent a message to the fort that at daylight he +should arrest the party, and that if they should take the alarm and +try to escape by water, a boat must be sent from the fort to overhaul +them. + +He now dressed himself, first sending for a file of soldiers under a +sergeant, with instructions to parade at his door immediately. + +When all was ready he said to Jake. + +"Now then, young man, come with me, and guide me to the camp of these +lads." + +Jake led the way, and when a little after daylight they approached the +camp the Lieutenant said to him:-- + +"I don't want to make any mistake in this business. You go ahead to +the camp and see if the lads are there. That'll throw 'em off their +guard, and I'll come up in five minutes." + +"But Lieu--" began Jake, remonstratingly. + +"Hold your tongue, and do as I tell you, or I'll string you up to a +tree, you rascal." + +Thus admonished, Jake walked on in fear and trembling to the camp. As +he approached it he observed the unusual stir which was going on, and +wondered what it meant, but he did not for a moment imagine that Sam +had guessed the truth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE SEA FIGHT. + + +When Jake entered the camp it was fairly light, and as Sam looked at +him he caught a glimpse of the file of soldiers in the thicket, three +or four hundred yards away. + +He knew what it meant. + +"We're about to leave this place, Jake," said Sam, as the boys stowed +the last of their things in the boat, "we're about to leave this +place, and you're just in time. Get in." + +"Well, but where--" began the culprit. + +"Get in," interrupted Sam, who stood with one of the rifles in his +hands. + +Jake hesitated, and was indeed upon the point of running away, when +Sam, placing the muzzle of his gun almost against Jake's breast, +said:-- + +"Get into the boat instantly, or I'll let daylight through you, sir." + +There was no help for it, and Jake obeyed. + +Sam quickly cast the boat loose, and as he did so, the Lieutenant +discovered his purpose, and started his men at a full run toward the +camp. + +Sam pushed the boat off and, taking his place in the stern, took the +helm. + +"Hoist the sail, quick!" he said; and the sail went up in a moment. A +strong breeze was blowing and the sail quickly bellied in the wind. + +"Lie down, every man of you," cried Sam, but without setting the +example. A moment later a shower of bullets whistled around his ears. +He had seen that the soldiers were about to fire upon him, and had +ordered his companions to lie down, confident that the thick solid +sides of the boat would pretty effectually protect them. + +As for himself, he must take the chances and navigate his boat. The +soldiers were not move than fifty yards from him when they fired but +luckily they failed to hit him. + +"Now for a run!" he exclaimed. "Before they can load again, I'll be +out of range, or pretty nearly." + +The breeze was very fresh, almost high, and as the boat got out from +under the lee of the shore timber, she heeled over upon one side, and +sped rapidly through the water. The Lieutenant made his men fire +again, but the distance was now so great that their bullets flew wide +of the mark. + +"We're off boys at last. Look out for Jake Elliott and don't let him +jump overboard, or he'll swim ashore. He is a prisoner." + +"Is he? what for?" asked Billy Bowlegs. + +"For betraying us to the British." + +At this moment a boat pushed out from the dock at the fort, and Sid +Russell, who was Sam's most efficient lieutenant, and was scanning the +whole bay for indications of pursuit, cried: + +"There goes a row boat out from the fort, Sam, an' they's soldiers on +board 'n her. I see their guns." + +"Arm yourselves, boys," was Sam's reply. "I want to say a word first. +Jake Elliott has betrayed us to these people, and they are trying to +arrest us. If they catch us, we shall be treated as spies; that is to +say, we shall be hanged to the most convenient tree. I believe we're +all the sons of brave men, and ready to die, if we must, but I, for +one, don't mean to die like a dog, and for that reason I'll never be +taken alive." + +"Nor me," "nor me," "nor me," answered the boys, neglectful of +grammar, but very much in earnest. + +"Very well, then," replied Sam. "It is understood that we're not going +to surrender, whatever happens." + +"It's agreed," answered every boy there except the wretched prisoner, +who was no longer counted one of them. + +"That boat has no sail," said Sam, "and she's got half a mile to row +through rough water before she crosses our track half a mile ahead. I +think I can give her the slip. If I can't we'll fight it out, right +here in the boat. Now, then, one cheer for the American flag!" and as +he said it, Sam drew forth a little flag which he had carried in all +his wanderings, for use if he should need it, and ran it up to his +mast head by a rude halyard which he had arranged in anticipation of +some such adventure as this. + +The boys gave the cheer from the bottom of their broad chests, and +every one took the place which Sam assigned him, with gun in hand. +Meantime Sam tacked the boat in such a way as to throw the point of +meeting between her and the British boat as far from the fort as +possible. It was very doubtful whether he could pass that point before +the row boat, propelled by six oars in the hands of skilled oarsmen, +should reach it. If not, there remained only the alternative of +"fighting it out." + +"Reserve your fire, boys, till I tell you to shoot. There are only six +armed men in that boat. If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale. +You mustn't shoot till we come to close quarters. Then take good aim, +and make your fire tell. A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives. +Above all, keep perfectly cool. We've work to do that needs coolness +as well as determination." + +The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Sam +saw that he would succeed in passing it first, but narrowly, he +thought. + +"We'll beat them, boys," he said. "The sea is rough, and they can't +do much at long range, and they won't get more than one shot close to +us." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, after +the manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day. The two +boats were not a hundred yards apart, but the roughness of the water, +on which the row boat bobbed about like a cork, rendered the volley +ineffective. + +"They're good soldiers with an idiot commanding them," said Sam. + +"Why?" asked Tom, who was very coolly studying the situation. + +"Because he made them fire too soon," replied Sam, "and we can slip by +now while they're loading. Don't shoot, Joe!" he exclaimed to the +black boy who was manifestly on the point of doing so. "Don't shoot, +we've got the best of them now; we are past them and making the +distance greater every second. Give them a cheer to take home with +them. Hurrah!" + +It was raining now, and the wind was blowing a gale, so that Sam's +boat was running at a speed which made pursuit utterly hopeless. The +British soldiers fired three or four scattering shots, and then +cheered in their turn, in recognition of the admirable skill and +courage with which their young adversary had eluded them. + +Sam's escape was not made yet, however. A war ship lay below, and her +commander seeing the chase, and the firing in the bay, manned a light +boat with marines, and sent her out to intercept Sam's craft, without +very clearly understanding the situation or its meaning. + +Sam saw this boat put off from the ship, and knew in an instant what +it meant. He saw, too, that he had no chance to slip by it as he had +done by the other, as it was already very near to him, and almost in +his track. + +"Now, boys," he said very calmly, "we've got to fight. There's no +chance to slip by that boat, and we've got to whip her in a fair +fight, or get whipped. Keep your wits about you, and listen for +orders. Cover your gun pans to keep your priming dry. Here, Tom, take +the tiller. I must go to the bow." + +Tom took the helm, and as he did so Sam said to him:-- + +"Keep straight ahead till I give you orders to change your course, and +then do it instantly, no matter what happens. I've an idea that I know +how to manage this affair now. You have only to listen for orders, and +obey them promptly." + +"I'll do what you order, no matter what it is," said Tom, and Sam went +at once to the bow of his boat. + +His boys were crouching down on their knees to keep themselves as +steady as they could, and their guns, which they were protecting from +the rain, were not visible to the men in the other boat, who were +astonished to find that they had, as they supposed, only to arrest a +boat's crew of unarmed boys. + +The boats were now within a stone's throw of each other, the English +boat lying a little to the left of Sam's track, but the officer in +command of it, supposing that the party would surrender at the word of +command, ordered his men not to open fire. + +"They's a mighty heap on 'em for sich a little boat," whispered Sid +Russell. + +"So much the better," said Sam. "They're badly crowded." + +Then, turning to his companions, he said:-- + +"Lie down, quick, they'll fire in a moment." + +The boys could see no indication of any such purpose on the part of +the British marines, but Sam knew what he was about and he knew that +his next order to his boys would draw a volley upon them. + +Turning to Tom, and straightening himself up to his full height, while +the British officer was loudly calling to him to lie to and surrender, +Sam cried out: + +"Jam your helm down to larboard, Tom, quick and hard, and ram her into +'em!" + +Tom was on the point of hesitating, but remembering Sam's previous +injunction and his own promise, he did as he was ordered, suddenly +changing the boat's course and running her directly toward the British +row boat, which was now not a dozen yards away. The speed at which she +was going was fearful. The British, seeing the manoeuvre, fired, but +wildly, and the next moment Sam's great solid hulk of a boat struck +the British craft amidships, crushed in her sides, cut her in two, and +literally ran over her. + +"Now, bring her back to the wind," cried Sam, "and hold your course." + +The boat swung around and was flying before the wind again in a +second. Boats were rapidly lowered from the war ship to rescue the +struggling marines from the water into which Sam had so +unceremoniously thrown them. + +"Three cheers for our naval victory, and three more for our +commodore!" called out Billy Bowlegs, and the response came quickly. + +"It's too soon to cheer," said Sam. "We're not out of the scrape yet." + +The next moment a puff of smoke showed itself on the side of the war +ship and a shower of grape shot whizzed angrily around the boat. A +second and a third discharge followed, and then came solid shot, +sixty-four pounders, howling like demons over the boys' heads, and +plowing the water all around them. Their speed quickly took them out +of range, however, and the firing ceased. + +They now had time to look about them and estimate damages. None of the +solid shot had taken effect, but three of the grape shot had struck +the boat, greatly marring her beauty, but doing her no serious damage. + +"Are any of you hurt?" asked Sam. All the boys reported themselves +well. + +"Then make a place for me in the middle of the boat, where I can lie +down," replied Sam, "I'm wounded." + +"Where?" + +"How?" + +"Not badly, I hope, Sam?" the boys answered quickly. + +"I'm hurt in two places. They shot me as we ran over that boat," said +Sam, "but not very badly, I think. I'm faint, however," and as he lay +down in the boat he lost consciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +CAPTAIN SAM. + + +The boys were now badly frightened, and the more so because they did +not know what to do for their chief, who lay dying, as they supposed. +His left hand and shoulder were bleeding profusely, and Tom, +remembering some instructions that Sam had once given him[3] with +respect to the stopping of a flow of blood, at once examined the +wounds, to discover their nature. Two fingers of Sam's left hand had +been carried away, and a deep flesh wound showed itself in his +shoulder. By the use of a handkerchief or two Tom soon succeeded in +staunching the flow of blood, while one of the other boys sailed the +boat. After a little while the dashing rain revived the wounded boy, +and while he was still very weak, he was able, within an hour, to +take the direction of affairs into his own hands again. + +[Footnote 3: See "The Big Brother" Chapter 3.] + +But what mischief maybe done in an hour! The boys had never once +thought of anything but Sam, during all that time, and they had been +sailing for an hour straight out into the Gulf of Mexico, at a furious +rate of speed! It was pouring down rain, and land was nowhere visible! + +When Sam's questions drew out these facts, the boys were disposed to +be very much frightened. + +"There's no cause for alarm, I think," said Sam, reassuringly. "I +think I know how to manage it, and perhaps it is better so." + +"Of course you know how to manage," said Sid Russell, admiringly. "I'm +prepared to bet my hat an' boots on that, now or any other time. You +always do know how to manage, whatever turns up. That long head o' +your'n's got more'n a little in it." + +Sam smiled rather feebly and replied:-- + +"Wait till I get you out of the scrape we're in, Sid, before you +praise me." + +"Well, I'll take it on trust," said Sid, "an' back my judgment on it, +too." + +"Let me have your compass, Tom," he said; and taking the instrument +which he had confided to Tom's hands at starting on the voyage, he +opened his map just enough to catch a glimpse of the coast lines +marked on it, having one of the boys hold a hat over it, to protect it +from the rain as he did so. After a little while he said:-- + +"Take the helm, Tom, and hold the boat due west. There, that will do. +Now let her go, and keep her at that. The wind is north-east, and +she'll make good time in this direction." + +"Where are you aiming for, Sam?" asked Tom. + +"The mouth of Mobile Bay." + +"Does it lie west?" + +"Not exactly, but a little north of west. We can sail faster due west, +however, and after awhile we'll tack to the north till we see land. +It's about forty miles from the mouth of Pensacola Bay to the mouth of +Mobile bay, and we're going, I think, about six or seven miles an +hour." + +"But, how'll you find the mouth of the bay?" + +"I don't know that I can, but I can find land easily enough, as it +stretches in a bow all along to the north of us. But I want to strike +as near the mouth of the bay as I can, so as to have as little +marching to do as possible. If I can get into the bay, I can sail +clear up to Mobile." + +"But, Sam?" + +"Well." + +"What if it storms? It looks like it was going to." + +"Well, I think we can weather it. This boat can't spring a leak, and +if she fills full of water she won't sink, for she's only a log +hollowed out." + +"That's so, but won't she turn over like a log?" + +"I think not. She's heaviest at the bottom, and I made her keel very +heavy on purpose." + +"Why, did you expect to go to sea in her?" + +"No, but I thought I might have to do it, to get away from Pensacola." + +"Did you think of that when you planned her, up there in the woods?" + +"Yes." + +"Yes," said Sid, "of course he did! Don't he always think of every +thing before it comes?" + +It was rapidly coming on to storm. The rain was falling very slightly +now, and the wind was shifting to the east and rapidly rising. Sam +directed the boys to shorten sail, and showed them how to do it. The +wind grew stronger and stronger, suddenly shifting to the south. The +sail was still further shortened. The sea now began coming up, and Sam +saw that their chief danger was that of getting washed overboard. He +cautioned the boys against this, and changed the boat's course, so as +to keep her as nearly as possible where she was. A heavy sea broke +over her, and carried away their only water keg, which was a dire +calamity. After a little while their store of food went, and they were +at sea, in a storm, without food or water! + +"I say, Sam," said Tom. + +"What is it?" + +"Is there land all to the north of us?" + +"Yes." + +"How far is it?" + +"Twenty miles, perhaps,--possibly less." + +"Why can't we head the boat about, and run for it?" + +"Because the wind is blowing on shore, and there's a heavy surf +running." + +"What of that?" + +"Why, simply this, that if we run ashore on a long, flat beach, the +boat will be beaten to splinters a mile or more from land." + +"How?" + +"By the waves; they would lift her up, and receding let her drop +suddenly on the sands, splitting her to pieces in no time, and the +very next wave would do the same thing for us. We must stay out here +till the storm's over. There's nothing else for it." + +The storm lasted long enough to make a furious sea, and the boys could +do nothing but hold on to the boat's gunwales. As night came on the +wind ceased, very suddenly, as it frequently does in Southern seas, +but the waves still rolled mountain high. + +"When the sea goes down we'll try to make land, won't we, Sam?" asked +Tom. + +"Yes, but before the surf is safe for us, we can sail several hours +toward Mobile, and gain that much. Indeed, I think we can get that far +west before it will be tolerably safe to run ashore. We're hungry and +thirsty, of course, but we must endure it. There's no other way." + +The boat was presently headed to the west, and the sail unfurled +again, but as the night advanced the wind fell to a mere breeze, and +then died altogether. It began to grow hazy. The haze deepened into a +dense fog. The sea went down, and the boat rocked idly on a ground +swell. + +"Now, let's run ashore," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"What will we run with? There isn't a cap full of wind on the Gulf of +Mexico, and there won't be while this fog lasts." + +"What shall we do, then?" + +"Nothing, for there is literally nothing to be done," answered Sam. + +"Mas' Sam," said Joe, "I'll tell you what." + +"Well, Joe, what is it?" + +"Ef we jist had a couple o' paddles." + +"But we just haven't a couple of paddles," answered Sam. "No, what we +need now is courage and endurance. We must wait for a wind, and keep +our courage up. We are suffering already with hunger and thirst, and +will suffer more, but it can't be helped. We must keep our courage up, +and endure that which we cannot do anything to cure. It is harder to +endure suffering than to encounter danger, but a brave man, or a brave +boy, can do both without murmuring." + +Sam's words encouraged his companions, and they managed to get some +sleep. After awhile day dawned, and the fog was still thick around +them, while not a zephyr was astir. Nearly an hour later, a sudden +booming startled them. It was a cannon, and was very near. + +"What is that?" asked the boys in a breath. + +"A sunrise gun, I think," said Sam, "and it's on a ship or a fort. Now +then all together with a shout." + +They shouted in concert. No answer came. They shouted again and again, +and finally their shout was answered. A little later a row boat came +out into the fog, and the first man Sam saw in it was Tandy Walker. + +It is not necessary to repeat the greetings and the explanations that +were given. Sam learned that the gun had been fired from Fort Bowyer, +the guardian fortress, which, standing on Mobile Point, commanded the +entrance to the bay. The fort had been garrisoned only the day before, +and Tandy was one of the garrison. Sam's boat had drifted further west +than he had supposed, and he found himself now precisely at the point +he had tried to reach. + + * * * * * + +As Sam was too weak to walk, and there was no wind with which to sail +up to the town, a messenger was sent by land from the fort, bearing to +General Jackson a detailed account of Sam's wanderings and adventures +in the shape of a written report. When the wind served, the little +band of weary wanderers sailed up to Mobile, and when Sam reached the +hospital to which he had been assigned for the treatment of his +wounds, he found there an official despatch from General Jackson, from +which the following is an extract:-- + +"The commanding General begs to express his high sense of the services +rendered by Samuel Hardwicke and his band, and his appreciation of the +rare courage, discretion and fortitude displayed by the youthful +leader of the Pensacola scouting party. A few blank commissions in the +volunteer forces having been placed in the commanding General's hands +for bestowal upon deserving men, he is greatly pleased to issue the +first of them to Mr. Hardwicke, in recognition of his gallant conduct, +creating him a captain of volunteers, to date from the day of his +departure on his recent mission." + +"So, you're really 'Captain Sam' after all," said Sid Russell, when +the document was read in his presence, and the formal commission had +been inspected reverently by all the boys. + +"Yes, an' he's been a real 'Captain Sam' all the time," said Billy +Bowlegs. + +What became of Jake Elliott? + +If he had been an enlisted soldier he would have been tried by court +martial. As it was, the boys formally drummed him out of their +company, and he disappeared from Mobile. He did not go home as the +boys learned a few months later, when, after the battle of New +Orleans, peace was proclaimed throughout the land, and they were led +back by their favorite hero, Captain Sam. + + +THE END. + + + + +CAPITAL BOOKS FOR BOYS. + + +I. YOUNG MECHANIC (THE). Practical Carpentry. Containing Directions +for the use of all kinds of Tools, and for the construction of Steam +Engines and Mechanical Models, including the Art of Turning in Wood +and Metal. Illustrated, small 4to, cloth extra. $1.75 + + "A valuable book, eminently useful to beginners, and + suggestive even to the experienced and skillful."--_Albany + Journal_. + +II. AMONGST MACHINES. By the author of "The Young Mechanic." Square +octavo, very fully illustrated, cloth extra. $2.00 + +III. THE BIG BROTHER. A Story for Boys, of Indian War. By GEORGE +CARY EGGLESTON. Small octavo, illustrated, cloth extra. $1.50 + + "An admirable story* *strikingly realistic."_--Boston + Transcript._ + + "Leaves little to be desired."--_Phila. Enquirer_. + +IV. CAPTAIN SAM; or, The Boy Scout of 1814. By GEORGE CARY +EGGLESTON, author of "The Big Brother," "How to Educate +Yourself," etc., etc. Octavo, illustrated. $1.50 + + The thousands of boys who read with delight Mr. Eggleston's + first volume, will eagerly welcome the appearance of the + further history of "The Big Brother" and his friends. + +V. BOYS OF OTHER COUNTRIES. Stories for American Boys. By BAYARD +TAYLOR. Octavo, cloth, illustrated; uniform with "Big Brother." +$1.50. + +VI. THE BOY WITH AN IDEA. By MRS. EILVART. Octavo, +illustrated, cloth extra. $1.75 + +VII. THE HOUSE WITH SPECTACLES. By LEORA B. ROBINSON. +Square 16mo, with frontispiece, cloth extra. + +VIII. ONCE UPON A TIME. Stories for Children, of the Ancient Gods +and Heroes. By MARY E. CRAIGIE. Square 16mo, cloth extra, +illustrated. + +IX. RODDY'S IDEAL. By HELEN K. JOHNSON, author of "Roddy's +Romance," "Roddy's Reality," etc. Square 16mo, cloth extra. + +CRITICISMS ON "RODDY'S ROMANCE." + +"Such a funny, quaint, delightful sort of book, that we hope it will +fall into the hands of countless boys and girls, to make glad their +hearts."--_Liberal Christian._ + +"A book full of the vivacity and the fun of a school-boy's life, with +a noble lesson for all boys to take to heart."--_Watchman and +Reflector_. + +***Any of the above books will be sent, post-paid, by the publishers, +on receipt of the price. + + + + +Putnams' Series of Popular Manuals. + + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE MICROSCOPE. + +By EDWIN LANKESTER, M.D., F.R.S. Illustrated by 250 Drawings +from Nature. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. + + "This beautiful little volume is a very complete manual for + the amateur microscopist. *** The 'Half-Hours' are filled + with clear and agreeable descriptions, whilst eight plates, + executed with the most beautiful minuteness and sharpness, + exhibit no less than 250 objects with the utmost attainable + distinctness."--_Critic_. + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE TELESCOPE: + +Being a popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a means of +Amusement and Instruction. Adapted to inexpensive instruments. By R. +A. PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S. 12mo, cloth, with illustrations on +stone and wood. Price, $1.25. + + "It is crammed with starry plates on wood and stone, and + among the celestial phenomena described or figured, by far + the larger number may be profitably examined with small + telescopes."--_Illustrated Times._ + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE STARS: + +A Plain and Easy Guide to the Knowledge of the Constellations, showing +in 12 Maps, the Position of the Principal Star-Groups Night after +Night throughout the Year, with introduction and a separate +explanation of each Map. True for every Year. By RICHARD A. +PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S. Demy 4to. Price, $2.25. + + "Nothing so well calculated to give a rapid and thorough + knowledge of the position of the stars in the firmament has + ever been designed or published hitherto. Mr. Proctor's + 'Half-Hours with the Stars' will become a text-book in all + schools, and an invaluable aid to all teachers of the + young."--_Weekly Times._ + +MANUAL OF POPULAR PHYSIOLOGY: + +Being an Attempt to Explain the Science of Life in Untechnical +Language. By HENRY LAWSON, M.D. 18mo, with 90 Illustrations. +Price, $1.25. + +Man's Mechanism, Life, Force, Food, Digestion, Respiration, Heat, the +Skin, the Kidneys, Nervous System, Organs of Sense, &c., &c., &c. + + "Dr. Lawson has succeeded in rendering his manual amusing as + well as instructive. All the great facts in human physiology + are presented to the reader successively; and either for + private reading or for classes, this manual will be found + well adapted for initiating the uninformed into the + mysteries of the structure and function of their own + bodies."--_Athenæum._ + +WOMAN BEFORE THE LAW. + +By JOHN PROFFATT, LL.B., of the New York Bar. + + Contents.--I. Former Status of Women. II. Legal Conditions + of Marriage. III. Personal Rights and Disabilities of the + Wife. IV. Rights of Property, Real and Personal. V. Dower. + VI. Reciprocal Rights and Duties of Mother and Children. + VII. Divorce. + +12mo, cloth, $1. Half bound, $1.25. + +BASTIAT. SOPHISMS OF PROTECTION. + +By FREDERIC BASTIAT. With Preface by HORACE WHITE. +Cloth. Price $1.00. + +REEVES. The Students' Own Speaker. A Manual of Oratory + +By Paul Reeves. 12mo, boards, 75 cts.; cloth, 90 cts. + + The "Student's Own Book," by Paul Reeves, which forms the + first of the Handy-Book Series, is notable among other + points in giving "a good deal for the money." The amount of + matter in this book, which is in clear and neat, though + small type, fully equals that in other books of twice the + size and cost. It contains many new pieces not to be found + in any of the school text-books. It aims to meet the wants + of a large number outside of the school-room, while it is + also well adapted for school use. + + The _Philadelphia Inquirer_ says of it: + + "The general rules laid down, and the suggestions thrown + out, are excellent, while the pieces furnished for + declamation are well chosen. The book is one deserving a + wide circulation." + + Another good authority says: + + "We have never before seen a collection so admirably adapted + for its purpose. Prose and verse, humor, eloquence, + description, alteration, burlesque discourse of every + kind.... For schools, clubs, and fireside amusement, it will + be found an almost inexhaustible source of entertainment.... + The instruction ... is sensible and practical." + +RICHARDSON. House Building. From a Cottage to a Mansion. + +A Practical Guide to Members of Building Societies, and all interested +in selecting or Building a House. By C. J. Richardson, Architect, +author of "Old English Mansions." With 600 illustrations. Crown 8vo, +cloth extra, $3.50. + +RITCHIE. The Romance of History--France. By Leitch Ritchie. +Illustrated. 12mo, cloth extra, $2.50. + +ROGERS. Social Economy. By Prof. E. Thorold Rogers (Tooke Professor +of Economic Science, Oxford, England), editor of "Smith's Wealth of +Nations." Revised and edited for American readers. 12mo, cloth, 75 +cts. + + This little volume gives in the compass of 150 pages, + concise yet comprehensive answers to the most important + questions of Social Economy. The relations of men to each + other, the nature of property, the meaning of capital, the + position of the laborer, the definition of money, the work + of government, the character of business, are all set forth + with clearness and scientific thoroughness. The book, from + its simplicity and the excellence of its instruction, is + especially adapted for use in schools, while the information + it contains is of value and interest to all classes of + readers. + + "It is this sort of knowledge that is contained in Prof. + Rogers' book, which we cannot too highly recommend to the + use of teachers, students, and the general + public."--_American Athenæum_. + +ROGERS. The Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers. Including "Italy," +"Columbus," "Pleasures of Memory," etc., with portrait. 12mo, cloth +extra, $1.50; half calf, $3.50. + +SEGUIN. A Manual of Thermometry. For Mothers, Nurses, and all who +have charge of the Sick and the Young. By Edward Seguin, M.D. 12mo, +cloth, 75 cts. + + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, + +_182 Fifth Avenue, New York._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SAM*** + + +******* This file should be named 18622-8.txt or 18622-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/2/18622 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/18622-8.zip b/18622-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..407277e --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-8.zip diff --git a/18622-h.zip b/18622-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9bd51a --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h.zip diff --git a/18622-h/18622-h.htm b/18622-h/18622-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a35e697 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/18622-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5472 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Captain Sam, by George Cary Eggleston</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + a[name] { position:absolute; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:#ff0000} + + table { width:80%; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: solid black 1px;} + .tocch { text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + .tocpg {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + img {border-style:solid; border-color:#000000; border-width: 1px; } +img.img1 {border:none; } +.f1 {font-size:smaller; } +.sig { margin-left:70%; } +.sig1 {margin-left:15%; } +.sig2 {margin-left:20%; } +.sig3 {margin-left:5%; } +.sig4 {margin-left:60%; } +.sig5 {margin-left:55%; } +.sig6 { margin-left:85%; } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + + + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size:smaller;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-top: + 0em; margin-right: 0.25em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: solid 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-bottom; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 80%;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Captain Sam, by George Cary Eggleston</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Captain Sam</p> +<p> The Boy Scouts of 1814</p> +<p>Author: George Cary Eggleston</p> +<p>Release Date: June 19, 2006 [eBook #18622]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SAM***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by David Edwards, Sankar Viswanathan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/">http://www.pgdp.net/</a>)<br /> + from scanned images of public domain material<br /> + generously made available by the Google Books Library Project<br /> + (<a href="http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/library.html">http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/library.html</a>)</h3> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + the the Google Books Library Project. See + <a href="http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN04016133&id"> + http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN04016133&id</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> + <div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /> +The Table of Contents is not part of the original book.</p></div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<h4><i>THE BIG BROTHER SERIES</i>.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h1>CAPTAIN SAM</h1> + + +<h4>OR</h4> + + +<h1>THE BOY SCOUTS OF 1814</h1> +<p> </p> +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON</h2> +<h4><i>Author of "The Big Brother," etc., etc.</i></h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h4>NEW YORK:</h4> +<h3>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,</h3> +<h4>182 <span class="smcap">Fifth Avenue</span>.</h4> +<h4>1876.</h4> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS.</p> + +<p class="center">1876. +</p> + +<hr style="width:65%" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tocch f1">CHAPTER</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td class="tocpg f1">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">I</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CAPTAIN_SAM">A MUTINY.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">II</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">III</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">REVENGE OF A DIFFERENT SORT.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IV</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">A CERTIFICATE OF CHARACTER.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">V</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">SAM LAYS HIS PLANS.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VI</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CAPTAIN SAM BEGINS HIS MARCH.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">SAM'S TRAVELLING FACTORY.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">A MOTION WHICH WAS NOT IN ORDER.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IX</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">JAKE ELLIOTT GETS EVEN WITH SAM.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">X</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">A DISTURBANCE IN CAMP.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XI</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">BACKWOODS GEOMETRY.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">HOW TO HAVE A "LONG HEAD."</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">WHAT DOES SAM MEAN?</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIV</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">SAM CLEARS UP THE MYSTERY.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XV</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">A FOREST SHIP YARD.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XVI</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CAPTAIN SAM PLAYS THE PART OF A SKIPPER.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XVII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">THLUCCO.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XVIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">"INJUN NO FOOL."</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIX</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">SAM SEEKS INFORMATION IN THE DARK.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XX</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">A SUSPICIOUS OCCURRENCE.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXI</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">JAKE ELLIOTT MAKES ANOTHER EFFORT TO GET EVEN.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">THE SEA FIGHT.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CAPTAIN SAM.</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +<hr style="width:65%" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">To my Boy-Friend</span></h3> +<h2>MONTAGUE DOUGLAS,</h2> + +<h4>IN RECOGNITION OF HIS MANLY CHARACTER, AND IN MEMORY<br /> + OF THE FOOT-JOURNEYS WE MADE TOGETHER A YEAR AGO,<br /> + <br /> +I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.</h4> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CAPTAIN_SAM" id="CAPTAIN_SAM"></a>CAPTAIN SAM.</h2> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>A MUTINY.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_005.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="53" /></div> +<p>f you open your mouth again, I'll drive my fist down your throat!"</p> + +<p>The young man, or boy rather,—for he was not yet eighteen years +old,—who made this very emphatic remark, was a stalwart, well-built +youth, lithe of limb, elastic in movement, slender, straight, tall, +with a rather thin face, upon which there was as yet no trace of +coming beard, high cheek bones, and eyes that seemed almost to emit +sparks of fire as their lids snapped rapidly together. He spoke in a +low tone, without a sign of anger in his voice, but with a look of +earnestness which must have convinced the person to whom he ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>dressed +his not very suave remark, that he really meant to do precisely what +he threatened.</p> + +<p>As he spoke he laid his left hand upon the other's shoulder, and +placed his face as near to his companion's as was possible without +bringing their noses into actual contact; but he neither clenched nor +shook his fist. Persons who mention weapons which they really have +made up their minds to use, do not display them in a threatening +manner. That is the device of bullies who think to frighten their +adversaries by the threatening exhibition as they do by their +threatening words. Sam Hardwicke was not a bully, and he did not wish +to frighten anybody. He merely wished to make the boy hold his tongue, +and he meant to do that in any case, using whatever measure of +violence he might find necessary to that end. He mentioned his fist +merely because he meant to use that weapon if it should be necessary.</p> + +<p>His companion saw his determination, and remained silent.</p> + +<p>"Now," resumed Sam, "I wish to say something to all of you, and I will +say it to you as an officer should talk to soldiers on a subject of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +this sort. Fall into line! Right dress! steady, front!"</p> + +<p>The boys were drawn up in line, and their commander stood at six paces +from them.</p> + +<p>"Attention!" he cried, "I wish you to know and remember that we are +engaged in no child's play. We are soldiers. You have not yet been +mustered into service, it is true, but you are soldiers, nevertheless, +and you shall obey as such. Listen. When it became known in the +neighborhood that I had determined to join General Jackson and serve +as a soldier you boys proposed to go with me. I agreed, with a +condition, and that condition was that we should organize ourselves +into a company, elect a captain, and march to Camp Jackson under his +command, not go there like a parcel of school-boys or a flock of sheep +and be sent home again for our pains. You liked the notion, and we +made a fair bargain. I was ready to serve under anybody you might +choose for captain. I didn't ask you to elect me, but you did it. You +voted for me, ever one of you, and made me Captain. From that moment I +have been responsible for everything.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I lead you and provide necessary food. I plan everything and am +responsible for everything. If you misbehave as you go through the +country I shall be held to blame and I shall be to blame. But not a +man of you shall misbehave. I am your commander, you made me that, and +you can't undo it. Until we get to Camp Jackson I mean to command this +company, and I'll find means of enforcing what I order. That is all. +Right face! Break ranks!"</p> + +<p>A shout went up, in reply.</p> + +<p>"Good for Captain Sam!" cried the boys. "Three cheers for our +captain!"</p> + +<p>"Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!"</p> + +<p>All the boys,—there were about a dozen of them—joined in this shout, +except Jake Elliott, the mutineer, who had provoked the young +captain's anger by insisting upon quitting the camp without +permission, and had even threatened Sam when the young commander bade +him remain where he was.</p> + +<p>The revolt was effectually quelled. The mutineer had found a master in +his former school-mate, and forebore to provoke the threatened +corporal punishment further.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>The camp was in the edge of a strip of woods on the bank of the +Alabama river, the time, afternoon, in the autumn of the year 1814. +The boys had marched for three days through canebrakes, and swamps, +and had still a long march before them. Sam had called a halt earlier +than usual that day for reasons of his own, which he did not explain +to his fellows. Jake Elliott had objected, and his objection being +peremptorily overruled by Sam, he had undertaken to go on alone to the +point at which he wished to pass the remainder of the day, and the +night. Sam had ordered him to remain within the lines of the camp. He +had replied insolently with a threat that he would himself take charge +of the camp, as the oldest person there, when Sam quelled the mutiny +after the manner already set forth.</p> + +<p>Now that he was effectually put down, he brooded sulkily, meditating +revenge.</p> + +<p>As night came on, the camp fire of pitch pine threw a ruddy glow over +the trees, and the boys, weary as they were with marching, gathered +around the blazing logs, and laughed and sang merrily, Jake Elliott +was silent and sullen through it all,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> and when at last Sam ordered +all to their rest for the night, Jake crept off to a tree near the +edge of the prescribed camp limits and threw himself down there. +Presently a companion joined him, a boy not more than fourteen years +of age, who was greatly awed by Sam's sternness, and who naturally +sought to draw Jake into conversation on the subject.</p> + +<p>"You're as big as Sam is," he said after a while, "and I wonder you +let him talk so sharp to you. You're afraid o' him, aint you?"</p> + +<p>"No, but you are."</p> + +<p>"Yes I am. I'm afraid o' the lightning too, and he's got it in him, or +I'm mistaken."</p> + +<p>"Yes 'n' you fellows hurrahed for him, 'cause you was afraid to stand +up for yourselves."</p> + +<p>"To stand up for you, you mean, Jake. It wasn't our quarrel. We like +Sam, if we are afraid o' him, an' between him an' you there wa'nt no +call for us to take sides against him. Besides we're soldiers, you +know, an' he's capt'n."</p> + +<p>"A purty capt'n he is, aint he, an' you're a purty soldier, aint you. +A soldier owning up that he's afraid," said Jake tauntingly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, you're afraid too, you know you are, else you wouldn't 'a' shut +up that way like a turtle when he told you to."</p> + +<p>"No, I aint afraid, neither, and you'll find it out 'fore you're done +with it. I didn't choose to say anything then, but <i>I'll get even with +Sam Hardwicke yet</i>, you see if I don't."</p> + +<p>"Mas' Jake," said a lump of something which had been lying quietly a +little way off all this time, but which now raised itself up and +became a black boy by the name of Joe, who had insisted upon +accompanying Sam in his campaigns; "Mas' Jake, I'se dun know'd Mas' +Sam a good deal better'n you know him, an' I'se dun seed a good many +things try to git even wid him, 'fore now; Injuns, water, fire, +sunshine, fever 'n ager, bullets an' starvation all dun try it right +under my eyes, an' bless my soul none on 'em ever managed it yit."</p> + +<p>"You shut up, you black rascal," was the only reply vouchsafed the +colored boy.</p> + +<p>"Me?" he asked, "oh, I'll shut up, of course, but I jist thought I'd +tell you 'cause you might make a sort o' 'zastrous mistake you know. +Other folks dun dun it fore now, tryin' to git even wid Mas' Sam."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Go to sleep, you rascal," replied Jake, "or I'll skin you alive."</p> + +<p>Joe snored immediately and Jake's companion laughed as he crept away +toward the fire. An hour later the camp was slumbering quietly in the +starlight, Sam sleeping by himself under a clump of bushes on the side +of the camp opposite that chosen by Jake Elliott for his +resting-place.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_013.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="51" /></div> +<p>am Hardwicke had thrown himself down under a clump of bushes, as I + have said, a little apart from the rest of the boys. Before he went to + sleep, however, his brother Tom, a lad about twelve years of age, but + rather large for his years, came and lay down by his side, the two + falling at once into conversation.</p> +<p>"What made you fire up so quick with Jake Elliott, Sam?" asked the +younger boy.</p> + +<p>"Because he is a bully who would give trouble if he dared. I didn't +want to have a fight with him and so I thought it best to take the +first opportunity of teaching him the first duty of a +soldier,—obedience."</p> + +<p>"But you might have reasoned with him, as you generally do with +people."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No I couldn't," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" Tom asked.</p> + +<p>"Because he isn't reasonable. He's the sort of person who needs a +master to say 'do' and 'don't.' Reasoning is thrown away on some +people."</p> + +<p>"But you had good reasons, didn't you, for stopping here instead of +going on further?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"Certainly. There's the Mackey house five miles ahead, and if we'd +gone on we must have stopped near it to night?"</p> + +<p>"Well, what of that?"</p> + +<p>"Jake Elliott would have pilfered something there."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" asked Tom in some surprise at his brother's +positiveness.</p> + +<p>"Because," Sam replied, "he tried to steal some eggs last night at +Bungay's. I stopped him, and that's why I choose to camp every night +out of harm's way, and keep all of you within strict limits. I don't +mean to have people say we're a set of thieves. Besides, Jake Elliott +has meant to give trouble from the first, and I have only waited for a +chance to put him down. He isn't satisfied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> yet, but he's afraid to do +anything but sneak. He'll try some trick to get even with me pretty +soon."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sam, you must look out then," cried Tom in alarm for his brother. +"Why don't you send him back home?"</p> + +<p>"For two or three reasons. In the first place General Jackson needs +all the volunteers he can get."</p> + +<p>"Well, what else?"</p> + +<p>"That's enough, but there's another good reason. If I let him go away +it would be saying that I can't manage him, and that would be a sorry +confession for a soldier to make. I can manage him, and I will, too."</p> + +<p>"But Sam, he'll do you some harm or other."</p> + +<p>"Of course he will if he can, but that is a risk I have to take."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to sleep here by you, any how," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"No you mustn't," replied the elder boy. "You must go over by the fire +where the other boys are, and sleep there."</p> + +<p>"Why, Sam?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, in the first place, if I'm not a match in wits for Jake +Elliott, I've no business to continue captain, and I've no right to +shirk any trial of skill that he may choose to make. Besides you're my +brother, and it will make the other boys think I'm partial if you stay +here with me. Go back there and sleep by the fire. I'll take care of +myself."</p> + +<p>"But Sam—" began Tom.</p> + +<p>"<i>You've</i> seen me take care of myself in tighter places than any that +he can put me in, haven't you?" asked Sam. "There's the root fortress +within ten feet of us. You haven't forgotten it have you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Tom, rising to go, "and I don't think I shall forget it +soon; but I don't like to let my 'Big Brother' sleep here alone with +Jake Elliott around."</p> + +<p>"Never mind me, I tell you, but go to the boys and go to sleep. I'll +take care of myself."</p> + +<p>With that the two boys separated, Tom walking away to the fire, and +Sam rolling himself up in his blanket for a quiet sleep. He had +already removed his boots, coat and hat, and thrown them together in a +pile, as he had done every night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> since the march began, partly +because he knew that it is always better to sleep with the limbs as +free as possible from pressure of any kind, and partly because he +suffered a little from an old wound in the foot, received about a year +before in the Indian assault upon Fort Sinquefield, and found it more +comfortable, after walking all day, to remove his boots.</p> + +<p>The camp grew quiet only by degrees. Boys have so many things to talk +about that when they are together they are pretty certain to talk a +good while before going to sleep, and especially so when they are +lying in the open air, under the starlight, near a pile of blazing +logs. They all stretched themselves out on the ground, weary with +their day's march, and determined to go at once to sleep, but somehow +each one found something that he wanted to say and so it was more than +an hour before the camp was quite still. Then every one slept except +Jake Elliott. He lay quietly by a tree, and seemed to be sleeping +soundly enough, but in fact he was not even dozing. He was laying +plans. He had a grudge against Sam Hardwicke, as we know, and was +very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> busily thinking what he could do by way of revenge. He meant to +do it at night, whatever it might be, because he was afraid to attempt +any thing openly, which would bring on a conflict with Sam, of whom he +was very heartily afraid. He was ready to do any thing that would +annoy Sam, however mean it might be, for he was a coward seeking +revenge, and cowardice is so mean a thing itself, that it always keeps +the meanest kind of company in the breasts of boys or men who harbor +it. Boys are apt to make mistakes about cowardice, however, and men +too for that matter, confounding it with timidity and nervousness, and +imagining that the ability to face unknown danger boldly is courage. +There could be no greater mistake than this, and it is worth while to +correct it. The bravest man I ever knew was so timid that he shrunk +from a shower bath and jumped like a girl if any one clapped hands +suddenly behind him. Cowardice is a matter of character. Brave men are +they who face danger coolly when it is their duty to do so, not +because they do not fear danger but because they will not run away +from a duty. Cowards often go into danger boastfully and with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>out +seeming to care a fig for it, merely because they are conscious of +their own fault and afraid that somebody will find it out. Cowards are +men or women or boys, who lack character, and a genuine coward is very +sure to show his lack of moral character in other ways than by +shunning danger. They lie, because they fear to tell the truth, which +is a thing that requires a good deal of moral courage sometimes. They +are apt to be revengeful, too, because they resent other people's +superiority to themselves, and are not strong enough in manliness to +be generous. They seek revenge for petty wrongs, real or imaginary, in +sly, sneaking, cowardly ways because—well because they are cowards. +Jake Elliott was a boy of this sort. He was always a bully, and people +who imagined that courage is best shown by fighting and blustering, +thought Jake a very brave fellow. If they could have known him +somewhat better, they would have discovered that all his fighting was +done merely to conceal the fact that he was afraid to fight. He +measured his adversaries pretty accurately, and in ordinary +circumstances he would have fought Sam, when that young man talked to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +him as he did in the beginning of this story. There was that in Sam's +bearing, however, which made Jake afraid to resist the imperious will +that asserted itself more in the quiet tone than in the threatening +words. He was Sam's full equal physically, but he had quailed before +him, and he could scarcely determine why. It annoyed him sorely as he +remembered the loud cheering of the boys. He chafed under the +consciousness of defeat, and dreaded, the hints he was sure to receive +whenever he should bully any of his companions, that he had a score +still unsettled with Sam Hardwicke. He knew that he was a coward, and +that the other boys had found it out, and he almost groaned as he lay +there in the silence and darkness, meditating revenge.</p> + +<p>A little after midnight he got up silently and crept along the river +bank to the clump of bushes where Sam lay soundly sleeping. His first +impulse was to jump upon the sleeper and fight him with an unfair +advantage, but he was not yet free from the restraining influence of +Sam's eye and voice so recently brought to bear upon him.</p> + +<p>No, he dared not attack Sam even with so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> great an advantage. He must +injure him secretly as he had determined to do.</p> + +<p>Creeping along upon all-fours, he felt about for Sam's boots, and +finding them at last, was just about to move away with them when Sam +turned over.</p> + +<p>Jake sank down into the sand and listened, his heart beating and the +sweat standing in great drops on his forehead. Sam did not move again, +however, but seemed still to sleep. After waiting a long time Jake +crept away noiselessly, as he had come.</p> + +<p>Slipping down over the low sand bank he stood by the river's edge with +the boots in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Now," he muttered to himself, "I guess I'll be even with 'Captain +Sam.' By the time he marches a day or two barefoot with that game foot +o' his'n, I guess he'll begin to wish he hadn't been quite so sassy."</p> + +<p>Filling the boots with sand he swung them back and forth, meaning to +toss them as far out into the river as he could. Just as he was about +quitting his hold of them, a terrifying thought seized him. The +sand-filled boots would make a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> good deal of noise in striking the +water, and Sam on the bank above would be sure to hear. Jake was ready +enough to injure Sam, but he was not by any means ready to encounter +that particularly cool and determined youth, while engaged in the act +of doing him a surreptitious injury. He must go higher up the stream +before putting his purpose into execution.</p> + +<p>The bank at this point was crowned with a great pile of drift wood, +the accumulation of many floods, which had been caught and held in its +place by two great trees from the roots of which the water had +gradually washed the sand away until the trees themselves stood up +upon great root legs, fifteen feet long. The trees and the drift pile +were the same in which Sam Hardwicke had hidden his little party a +year before, when the fortunes of Indian war had thrown him, with Tom +and his sister, and the black boy Joe, upon their own resources in the +Indian haunted forest. The story is told in a former volume of this +series.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Sam's resting place just now was within <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>a few feet of +the great tree roots, but Sam was not sleeping there, as Jake Elliott +supposed. He had been wide enough awake, ever since Jake first +startled him out of sleep, and he had silently observed that worthy's +manœuvres through the bushes. Jake crept along the edge of the +drift pile to its further end, intending to toss the boots into the +river as soon as he should be sufficiently far from Sam for safety. As +he went, however, his awakened caution grew upon him. He reflected +that Sam would suspect him when he should miss his boots the next +morning, and might see fit to call him to account for their absence. +He intended, in that case, stoutly to deny all knowledge of the +affair, but he could not tell in advance precisely how persistent +Sam's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> suspicion might be, and it seemed to him better to leave +himself a "hole to crawl through," as he phrased it, if the necessity +should come. He resolved, therefore, that instead of throwing the +boots away, he would hide them so securely that no one else could +possibly find them. "Then," thought he, "if the worst comes to the +worst I can find 'em, and still stick to it that I didn't take 'em +away." An opening in the pile of drift-wood just at hand, was +suggestive, and Jake crept into it passing under a great log that lay +lengthwise just over the entrance. The passage way through the drift +was a very narrow one but it did not come to an end at the end of the +great log as Jake had expected, and he felt his way further. The +passage turned and twisted about, but he went on, dark as it was. +After a while he found himself in a sort of chamber under one of the +great trees, and inside the line of its great twisted roots. He did +not know where he was, however, but Sam or Tom or Joe could have told +him all about the place.</p> +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Big Brother, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. A +friend suggests that many northern readers may doubt the existence of +such trees as those which I have described briefly here, and more +fully in "The Big Brother." I think it right to explain, therefore, +that I have seen many such trees with roots exposed in the manner +described, in the west and south, and my favorite playing place as a +boy was under precisely such a tree. Of course no tree could stand the +sudden removal of ten or fifteen feet of earth from beneath it; but +the trees described have gradually undergone this process, and the +roots have struck constantly deeper, their exposed parts gradually +changing from roots, in the proper sense, to something like a +downward-branching tree trunk.</p></div></div> +<p> </p> +<div class="center"><img src="images/image_023.jpg" alt="GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK." width="400" height="628" /><br /> +<span class="caption">GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK.</span></div> + +<p>Here his journey seemed to be effectually interrupted, and he thrust +the boots, as he supposed, into a hole, driving them with some little +force<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> through a tangled net work of small roots. What he really did +do, however, was to drive them through a net work of small roots, +between two great ones, into the outer air, at the very spot from +which he had taken them. When he quitted his hold of them, leaving +them, as he supposed, buried in the centre of a great drift pile, they +lay in fact by Sam's coat and hat, right where they had lain when Sam +went to sleep.</p> + +<p>Sam had silently observed him as he entered the drift pile, and +running quickly to the entrance he seized a stick of timber and drew +it toward him with all his force. Sam Hardwicke had an excellent habit +of remembering not only things that were certainly useful to know, but +things also which might be useful. When Jake entered the drift pile, +Sam remembered that during his own stay there a year before, he had +carefully examined the great log which formed the archway of the +entrance, and that it was kept in its place only by this single stick +of timber acting as a wedge. Pulling this out, therefore, he let the +farther end of the great tree trunk fall, and completely blocked the +passage way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>REVENGE OF A DIFFERENT SORT.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_028.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> + +<p>o matter where one begins to tell a story there is always something + back of the beginning that must be told for the sake of making the + matter clear. Whatever you tell, something else must have happened + before it and something else before that and something else before + that, so that there is really no end to the beginnings that might be + made. The only way I can think of by which a whole story could be told + would be to begin back at Adam and Eve and work on down to the present + time; and even then the story would not be finished and nobody but a + prophet ever could finish it.</p> +<p>The only way to tell a story then is to plunge into it somewhere as I +did two chapters back, follow it until we get hold of it, and then go +back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> and explain how it came about before going on with it. I must +tell you just now who these boys were, where they were and how they +came to be there. All this must be told sometime and whenever it is +told somebody or something must wait somewhere, and I really think +Jake Elliott may as well wait there in the drift-pile as not. He +deserves nothing better.</p> + +<p>During the summer of the year 1813, while the United States and great +Britain were at war, a general Indian war came on which raged with +especial violence in middle and southern Alabama. The Indians fought +desperately, but General Jackson managed to conquer them thoroughly. +He was empowered by the government to make a treaty with them and he +insisted that they should make a treaty which they could not help +keeping. He made them give up a large part of their land, and so +arranged the boundaries as to make the Indians powerless for further +harm.</p> + +<p>The Indians hesitated a long time before they would sign the treaty, +but it was Jackson's way to finish whatever he undertook, and not +leave it to be done over again. As the people of the border<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> used to +say, he "left no gaps in the fences behind him," and so he insisted +upon the treaty and the Indians at last signed it. Meantime, however, +a great many of the Indians, and among them several of their most +savage chiefs had escaped to Florida, which was then Spanish +territory.</p> + +<p>Jackson remained at his camp in southern Alabama through the summer of +1814 bringing the Indians to terms. During the summer it became +evident that the British were preparing an expedition against Mobile +and New Orleans, and Jackson was placed in command of the whole +southwest, with instructions to defend that part of the country. This +was all very well, and very wise, too, for there was no man in the +country who was fitter than he for the kind of work he was thus called +on to do; but there was one very serious obstacle in his way. He had +his commission; he had full authority to conduct the campaign; he had +everything in fact except an army, and it does not require a very +shrewd person to guess that an army is a rather important part of a +general's outfit for defending a large territory. He called for +volunteers and accepted any kind that came. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> even published a +special address to the free negroes within the threatened district and +asked them to become soldiers, a thing that nobody had ever thought of +before.</p> + +<p>The boys in the southwest were strong, hearty fellows, used to the +woods, accustomed to hardship and not afraid of danger. Many of them +had fought bravely during the Indian war, and when Jackson called for +volunteers, a good many of these boys joined him, some of them being +mere lads just turning into their teens.</p> + +<p>Sam Hardwicke, was noted all through that country for several reasons. +In the first place he was a boy of very fine appearance and unusual +skill in all the things which help to make either a boy or a man +popular in a new country. He was a capital shot with rifle or +shot-gun; he was a superb horseman, a tireless walker, and an expert +in all the arts of the hunter.</p> + +<p>He was strong and active of body, and better still he was a boy of +better intellect and better education than was common in that country +at that early day when there were few schools and poor ones. His +father was a gentleman of wealth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> and education, who had removed to +Alabama for the sake of his health a few years before, bringing a +large library with him, and he had educated his children very +carefully, acting as their teacher himself. Sam was ready for college, +and but for Jackson's call for troops he would have been on his way to +Virginia, to attend the old William and Mary University there, at the +time our story begins. When it became known, however, that men were +needed to defend the country against the British, Sam thought it his +duty to help, and reluctantly resolved to postpone the beginning of +his college course for another year.</p> + +<p>All these things made Sam Hardwicke a special favorite, and persons a +great deal older than he was, held him in very high regard, on account +of his superior education, but more particularly on account of the +real superiority which was the result of that education; and I want to +say, right here, that the difference between a man or boy whose +education has been good and one who has had very little instruction, +is a good deal greater than many persons think. It is a mistake to +suppose that the difference lies only in what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> one has learned and the +other has not. What you learn in school is the smallest part of the +good you get there. Half of it is usually worthless as information, +and much of it is sure to be forgotten; but the work of learning it is +not thrown away on that account. In learning it you train and +discipline and cultivate your mind, making it grow both in strength +and in capacity, and so the educated man has really a stronger and +better intellect than he ever would have had without education. Many +persons suppose,—and I have known even college professors who made +the mistake,—that a boy's mind is like a meal-bag, which will hold +just so much and needs filling. They fill it as they would fill the +meal-bag, for the sake of the meal and without a thought of the bag. +In fact a boy's mind is more like the boy himself. It will not do to +try to make a man out of him by stuffing meat and bread down his +throat. The meat and bread fill him very quickly, but he isn't +fully-grown when he is full. To make a man of him we must give him +food in proper quantities, and let it help him to grow, and the things +you learn in school are chiefly valuable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> as food for the mind. +Education makes the intellect grow as truly as food makes the body do +so; and so I say that Sam Hardwicke's superiority in intellect to the +boys and even to most of the men about him, consisted of something +more than merely a larger stock of information. He was intellectually +larger than they, and if any boy who reads this book supposes that a +well-trained intellect is of no account in the practical affairs of +life, it is time for him to begin correcting some very dangerous +notions.</p> + +<p>To get back to the story, I must stop moralizing and say that when Sam +made up his mind to volunteer, a number of boys in the neighborhood +determined to follow his example, and, as Sam has already explained, +the little company was organized, under Sam's command as captain. Of +course Sam had no real military authority, and he did not for a moment +suppose that his little band of boys would be recognized as a company +or he as a captain, on their arrival at Camp Jackson; but they had +agreed to march under Sam's command, and he knew how to exercise +authority, even when it was held by so loose a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> tenure as that of mere +agreement among a lot of boys.</p> + +<p>We now come back to the drift-pile. When Jake had carefully hidden +Sam's boots, as he supposed, deep within the recesses of the great +pile of logs and brush and roots, he began groping his way back toward +the entrance. It was pitch dark of course, but by walking slowly and +feeling his way carefully, he managed to follow the passage way. Just +as he began to think that he must be pretty nearly out of the den, +however, he came suddenly upon an obstruction. Feeling about carefully +he found that the passage in which he stood had come to an abrupt +termination. We know, of course what had happened, but Jake did not. +He had come to the end of the log which Sam had thrown down to stop up +the passage way, and there was really no way for him to go. He +supposed, of course, that he had somehow wandered out of his way, +leaving the main alley and following a side one to its end. He +therefore retraced his steps, feeling, as he went, for an opening upon +one side or the other. He found several, but none of them did him any +good. Fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>lowing each a little way he came to its end in the matted +logs, and had to try again. Presently he began to get nervous and +frightened. He imagined all sorts of things and so lost his presence +of mind that he forgot the outer appearance and size of the drift +pile, and frightened himself still further by imagining that it must +extend for miles in every direction, and that he might be hopelessly +lost within its dark mazes. When he became frightened, he hurried his +footsteps, as nervous people always do, and the result was that he +blacked one of his eyes very badly by running against a projecting +piece of timber. He was weary as well as frightened, but he dared not +give up his effort to get out. Hour after hour—and the hours seemed +weeks to him,—he wandered back and forth, afraid to call for +assistance, and afraid above everything else that morning would come +and that he would be forced to remain there in the drift pile while +the boys marched away, or to call aloud for assistance and be caught +in his own meanness without the power to deny it. Finally morning +broke, and he could hear the boys as they began preparing for +breakfast. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> his morning, according to agreement, to cut wood +for the fire and bring water, and so a search was made for him at +once. He heard several of the boys calling at the top of their lungs.</p> + +<p>"Jake Elliott! Jake! Ja-a-a-ke!!" He knew then that his time had come.</p> + +<p>What had Sam been doing all this time? Sleeping, I believe, for the +most part, but he had not gone to sleep without making up his mind +precisely what course to pursue. When he threw the log down, he meant +merely to shut Jake Elliott and his own boots up for safe keeping, and +it was his purpose, when morning should come, to "have it out" with +the boot thief, in one way or another, as circumstances, and Jake's +temper after his night's adventure, might determine.</p> + +<p>He walked back, therefore, to his place of rest, after he had blocked +up the entrance of the drift-pile, and threw himself down again under +the bushes. Ten or fifteen minutes later he heard a slight noise at +the root of the great tree near him, and, looking, saw something which +looked surprisingly like a pair of boots, trying to force themselves +out between two of the exposed roots. Then he heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> retreating +footsteps within the space enclosed by the circle of roots, and began +to suspect the precise state of affairs. Examining the boots he +discovered that they were his own, and he quickly guessed the truth +that Jake had pushed them out from the inside, under the impression +that he was driving them into a hole in the centre of the tangled +drift.</p> + +<p>Sam was a brave boy, too brave to be vindictive, and so he quickly +decided that as he had recovered his boots he would subject his enemy +only to so much punishment as he thought was necessary to secure his +good behavior afterward. He knew that the boys would torment Jake +unmercifully if the true story of the night's exploits should become +known to them, and while he knew that the culprit deserved the +severest lesson, he was too magnanimous to subject him to so sore a +trial. He went to sleep, therefore, resolved to release his enemy +quietly in the morning, before the other boys should be astir. +Unluckily he overslept himself, and so the first hint of the dawn he +received was from the loud calling of the boys for Jake Elliott. +Fortunately Jake had not yet nerved himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> up to the point of +answering and calling for assistance, and so Sam had still a chance to +execute his plan.</p> + +<p>"Never mind calling Jake," he cried, as he rose from his couch of +bushes, "but run down to the spring and bring some water. I have Jake +engaged elsewhere."</p> + +<p>The boys suspected at once that Sam and Jake had arranged a private +battle to be fought somewhere in the woods beyond camp lines, a battle +with fists for the mastery, and they were strongly disposed to follow +their captain as he started up the river.</p> + +<p>"Stop," cried Sam. "I have business with Jake, which will not interest +you. Besides, I think it best that you shall remain here. Go to the +spring, as I tell you, and then go back to the fire, and get +breakfast. Jake and I will be there in time to help you eat it. If one +of you follows me a foot of the way, I—never mind; I tell you you +must not follow me, and you shall not."</p> + +<p>There were some symptoms of a turbulent, but good-natured revolt, but +Sam's earnestness quieted it, and the boys reluctantly drew back.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>Passing around to the further side of the drift-pile, more than a +hundred yards away from the nearest point of the camp, Sam called in a +low tone:—</p> + +<p>"Jake! Jake!"</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Jake presently, trembling in voice as he trembled +in limb, for he was now thoroughly broken and frightened. He dreaded +the meeting with Sam nearly as much as he dreaded the terrible fate +which seemed to him the only alternative, namely, that of remaining in +the drift-pile to starve.</p> + +<p>"Come down this way," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"Well," answered Jake when he had moved a little way toward Sam.</p> + +<p>"Do you see a hole in the top, just above your head?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I can't see the sky through it."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, get a stick to boost you, and climb up into it."</p> + +<p>Jake did as he was told to do, and upon climbing up found that there +was a sort of passage way running laterally through the upper part of +the timber, crooked and so narrow that he could scarce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>ly force his +way through it. Whither it led, he had no idea, but he obeyed Sam's +injunction to follow it, though he did so with great difficulty, as in +many places sticks were in the way, which it required his utmost +strength to remove. The passage through which he was crawling so +painfully, was one which Sam and his companions had made by dint of +great labor, during their residence in the tree root cavern a year +before. It led from the main alley way to their post of observation on +top of the pile, their look-out, from which they had been accustomed +to examine the country around, to see if there were Indians about, +when they had occasion to expose themselves outside of their place of +refuge. As the only way into this passage was through a "blind" hole +in the roof of the main alley way, no one would ever have suspected +its existence.</p> + +<p>After awhile Jake's head emerged from the very top of the drift pile, +and he saw Sam lying flat down, just before him. He instinctively +shrank back.</p> + +<p>"Come on," said Sam; "but don't rise up or the boys will see us. Crawl +out of the hole and then follow me on your hands and knees."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jake obeyed, and the two presently jumped down to the ground on the +side of the hummock furthest from camp.</p> + +<p>Jake's first glance revealed Sam fully dressed, and standing firmly +<i>in his boots</i>. There could be no mistake about it, and yet a moment +before he would have made oath that those very boots were hidden +hopelessly within the deepest recesses of the drift-pile. He could not +restrain the exclamation which rose to his lips:—</p> + +<p>"<i>Where</i> <span class="smcap">DID</span> <i>you get them boots</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind where, or how. I have a word or two to say to you. You +took my boots and were on the point of throwing them into the river. +If you think such an act by way of revenge was manly and worthy of a +soldier, I will not dispute the point. You must determine that for +yourself."</p> + +<p>"Let me tell you about it, Sam," began Jake in an apologetic voice.</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't necessary," replied Sam. "I know all about it, and it +will not help the matter to lie about it. Listen to me. You were about +to throw the boots into the river; but you changed your mind. You know +why, of course, while I can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> only guess; but it doesn't matter. You +took them into the drift pile and put them into a hole there. The next +thing you know of them I have them on my feet, and I assure you I +haven't been inside the drift pile since you entered it. Solve that +riddle in any way you choose. I blocked up the entrance, and this +morning I have let you out. Not one of the boys knows anything about +this affair, and not one of them shall know, unless you choose to tell +them, which you won't, of course. Now come on to camp and get ready +for breakfast."</p> + +<p>With that Sam led the way. Presently Jake halted.</p> + +<p>"Sam," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well."</p> + +<p>"My eye's all bunged up. What'll the boys say?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"What must I tell 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Anything you choose. It is not my affair."</p> + +<p>"They'll think you've whipped me?" exclaimed Jake in alarm.</p> + +<p>"Well, I have, haven't I?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, we hain't fit at all."</p> + +<p>"Yes we have,—not with our fists, but with our characters, and I have +whipped you fairly. Never mind that. You can say you did it by +accident in the dark, which will be true."</p> + +<p>"But Sam!" said Jake, again halting.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it now?"</p> + +<p>"What made you let me out an' keep the secret from the boys?"</p> + +<p>"Because I thought it would be mean, unmanly and wrong in me to take +such a revenge."</p> + +<p>"Is that the only reason?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the only reason."</p> + +<p>"You didn't do it 'cause you was afraid?" he asked, incredulously.</p> + +<p>"No, of course not. I'm not in the least afraid of you, Jake."</p> + +<p>"Why not? I'm bigger'n you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you're an awful coward, Jake, and nobody knows it better +than I do, except you. You wouldn't dare to lay a finger on me. I +could make you lie down before me and—Pshaw! you know you're a coward +and that's enough about it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why didn't you leave me for the boys to find, then, and tell the +whole story?"</p> + +<p>"Because I'm not a coward or a sneak. I've told you once, but of +course you can't understand it; come along. I'm hungry."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>A CERTIFICATE OF CHARACTER.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>hree or four days after the morning of Jake Elliott's release, Sam + led his little company into Camp Jackson and reported their arrival.</p> +<p>As Sam had anticipated, General Jackson decided at once that the boys +could become useful to him only by volunteering in some of the +companies already organized, and Sam began to look about for a company +in which he and Tom would be acceptable. The other boys were of course +free to choose for themselves, and Sam declined to act for them in the +matter. As for Joe the black boy, he knew how to make himself useful +in any command, as a servant, and he was resolved to follow Sam's +fortunes, wherever they might lead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You see Mas' Sam," he said, "you'n Mas' Tommy might git yer selves +into some sort o' scrape or udder, an' then yer's sho' to need Joe to +git you out. Didn't Joe git you out 'n dat ar fix dar in de drifpile +more'n a yeah ago? Howsomever, 'taint becomin' to talk 'bout dat, +'cause your fathah he dun pay me fer dat dar job, he is. But you'll +need Joe any how, an' wha you goes Joe goes, an' dey aint no gettin +roun' dat ar fac, nohow yer kin fix it."</p> + +<p>On the very morning of Sam's arrival, as he was beginning his search +for a suitable command in which to enlist, he met Tandy Walker, the +celebrated guide and scout, whose memory is still fondly cherished in +the southwest for his courage, his skill and his tireless +perseverance. Tandy was now limping along on a rude crutch, with one +of his feet bandaged up.</p> + +<p>Sam greeted him heartily and asked, of course, about his hurt, which +Tandy explained as the result of "a wrestle he had had with an axe," +meaning that he had cut his foot in chopping wood. He tarried but a +moment with Sam, excusing himself for his hurried departure on the +ground that he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> been sent for by General Jackson. Having heard +Sam's story and plans Tandy limped on, and was soon ushered into +Jackson's inner apartment.</p> + +<p>When the general saw him he exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"What, you're not on the sick list are you, Walker?"</p> + +<p>"Well no, not adzac'ly, giner'l, but I ain't adzac'ly a <i>walker</i> now, +fur all that's my name."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Jackson.</p> + +<p>"Nothin', only I've dun split my foot open with a axe, giner'l."</p> + +<p>"That is very unfortunate," replied Jackson, "very unfortunate, +indeed."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it aint adzac'ly what you might call <i>lucky</i>, giner'l."</p> + +<p>"It certainly isn't!" said Jackson, a smile for a moment taking the +place of the look of vexation which his face wore; "and it isn't lucky +for me either, for I need you just now."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, giner'l, if ther's any work to be done in my line, but it +can't be helped, you know."</p> + +<p>"Of course not. The fact is Tandy, I want something done that I can't +easily find any body else to do. I'm satisfied now that the British +are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> at Pensacola and are arming Indians there, and that the +treacherous Spanish governor is harboring them on his <i>neutral</i> +territory. I have proof of that now. Look at that rifle there. That's +one of the guns they have given out to Indians, and a friendly Indian +brought it to me this morning. But you know the Indians, Walker; I +can't get anything definite out of them. I <i>must</i> find out all about +this affair, and you're the only man I could trust with the task."</p> + +<p>"I b'lieve that's jist about the way the land lays, giner'l," replied +Tandy, "but I'll tell you what it is; if ther' aint a <i>man</i> here you +kin tie to fur that sort o' work, ther's a purty well grown boy +that'll do it up for you equal to me or anybody else, or my name aint +Tandy Walker, and that's what the old woman at home calls me."</p> + +<p>A little further conversation revealed the fact that the boy alluded +to was none other than our friend Sam Hardwicke. General Jackson +hesitated, expressing some doubts of Sam's qualifications for so +delicate a task. He feared that so young a person might lack the +coolness and discretion necessary, and said so. To all of this Tandy +replied:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"You'd trust the job to me, if I could walk, wouldn't you, giner'l?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; no other man would be half so good."</p> + +<p>"Well then, giner'l, lem me tell you, that Sam Hardwicke is Tandy +Walker, spun harder an' finer, made out'n better wool, doubled an' +twisted, and <i>mighty keerfully waxed</i> into the bargain. He's a smart +one, if there ever was one. He's edicated too, an' knows books like a +school teacher. He's the sharpest feller in the woods I ever seed, an' +he's got jist a little the keenest scent for the right thing to do in +a tight place that you ever seed in man or boy. Better'n all, he never +loses that cool head o' his'n no matter what happens."</p> + +<p>"That is a hearty recommendation, certainly," said the general. +"Suppose you send young Hardwicke to me; of course nothing must be +said of all this."</p> + +<p>"Certainly giner'l. Nobody ever gits any news out'n my talk." And with +that Tandy made his awkward bow, his awkwarder salute, and limped +away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>SAM LAYS HIS PLANS.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_051.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="51" /></div> +<p>alf an hour later Sam Hardwicke entered General Jackson's private + office, and was received with some little surprise upon the + commander's part.</p> +<p>"Why, you're the young man who reported in command of some young +recruits, are you not?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Sam replied that he was.</p> + +<p>"I didn't understand it so," replied Jackson, "when Walker recommended +you for this service. However, it is all the better so, because <i>I</i> +know your devotion, and Tandy has assured me of your competence. Sit +down, our talk is likely to be a long one."</p> + +<p>When Sam was comfortably seated, with his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> hat "hung up on the floor," +as Tandy Walker would have said, the general resumed.</p> + +<p>"You understand of course," he said, "that whatever I say to you, must +be kept a profound secret, now and hereafter, whether you go on the +expedition I have in mind or not."</p> + +<p>"You may depend upon my discretion, sir. I think I know how to be +silent."</p> + +<p>"Do you? Then you have learned a good lesson well. Take care that you +never forget it. Let me tell you in the outset that the task I want +you to undertake is a difficult and perhaps a dangerous one. It will +require patience, pluck, intelligence and <i>tact</i>. Tandy Walker tells +me that you have these qualities, and he ought to know, perhaps, but I +shall find out for myself before we have done talking. I shall tell +you what the circumstances are and what I wish to have done. Then you +must decide whether or not you wish to undertake it; and if you do, +you must take what time you wish for consideration, and then tell me +what your plans are for its accomplishment. I shall then be able to +judge whether or not you are likely to succeed. You understand me of +course?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Perfectly, I think," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"Very well then. You know that a good many of the worst of these +Creeks escaped to Florida, Peter McQueen among them. I could not +pursue them beyond the border, because Florida is Spanish territory, +and Spain is, or at least professes to be, friendly to the United +States, and neutral in our war with the British. Now, however, I have +good authority for believing that the Spanish Governor at Pensacola is +treacherously aiding not only the Indians but the British also. A +force of British, I hear, has landed there, and friendly Indians tell +me that they are arming the runaway Creeks, meaning to use them +against us. The Indians tell big stories, so big that I can place no +reliance upon them, and what I want is accurate information about +affairs at Pensacola. If there is a British force there, it means to +make an attack on Mobile or New Orleans. I must know the exact facts, +whatever they are, so that I may take proper precautions. I must know +the size of the force, the number of their ships, and on what terms +they have been received by the Spaniards. If they are made welcome at +Pensacola, and per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>mitted by the Spaniards to make that a convenient +base of operations against us, the government may see fit to authorize +me to break up the hornet's nest before the swarm gets too big to be +handled safely. However, that is another matter. What I want is +positive information of the exact facts, whatever they are. The +difficulties in the way are great. We are at peace with Spain, and +must do no hostile act upon her soil. I cannot even send an armed +scouting party to get the information I need. If you go, you must go +unarmed, and even then you may be arrested and dealt hardly with. It +will require the utmost discretion as well as courage, to accomplish +the task, and I have no wish that you should undertake it if you +hesitate to do so."</p> + +<p>"I do not hesitate, sir," replied Sam, "if, after hearing my plan, you +think me competent for the business."</p> + +<p>"Very well then," replied the general, "when will you be ready to lay +your plan before me?"</p> + +<p>"I am ready now, sir," said Sam, "so far at least as the general plan +is concerned; little things will have to be dealt with as they +arise."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Certainly. What is your plan in outline?"</p> + +<p>"To go to Florida on a trapping and fishing excursion. I am not a +soldier yet, and may go, if I like, peacefully into the territory of a +friendly nation. I can take some of my boys with me, and camp by the +water side. I can easily go into Pensacola and find out what is going +on there. I shouldn't wish to be a spy, general, but this is scarcely +that, I think. The enemy has been received by a power professing to be +friendly. That power has given us no notice of hostility, and until +that is done I see no impropriety in going into his territory for +information not about his affairs at all, unless he is proving +treacherous, which would entitle us to do that, but about those of our +enemy, whom he should regard as an invader, however he may regard him +in fact."</p> + +<p>"You've read some law, I see," said the general.</p> + +<p>"No sir," replied Sam, blushing to think how he had been expounding to +the general, a nice point which that officer must understand much +better than he did. "No sir, I have read no law except a book or two +on the laws of nations,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> which my father said every gentleman should +be familiar with."</p> + +<p>"A very wise and excellent father he must be," replied Jackson, "if I +may judge of him by the training he has given his son."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir, in his name," answered Sam, rising and making his +best bow.</p> + +<p>"To come back to the business in hand," resumed Jackson. "You'll need +a boat and some camp equipments."</p> + +<p>"A boat, yes, but as for camp equipments, I can make out without them +very well. I've camped a good deal and I know how to manage."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then, you'll be all the lighter. How many of your boys +will you need?"</p> + +<p>"Two or three,—partly to make a show of a camp, but more because it +may be necessary to send some of them back with news. My brother Tom +and my black boy, with one or two others will be enough."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Now you must be off as soon as possible. I shall march to +Mobile in a day or two, and organize for defence there. Send your news +there. You had better march directly from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> this place, so that your +arrival will excite no suspicion. I will provide you with a map of the +country. Have you a compass?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir, I brought one with me from home."</p> + +<p>"There are boats enough to be had among the fishermen, I suppose, but +how to provide you with one is the most serious problem I have to +solve in this matter. My army chest is empty, and my personal purse is +equally so."</p> + +<p>"I can manage all that, sir, if I may take an axe or two and an adze +from the shop here."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"By digging out a canoe. I've done it before, and know how to handle +the tools."</p> + +<p>"You certainly do not lack the sort of resources which a commander +needs in such a country as this, where he must first create his army +and then arm and feed it without money. You'll make a general yet, I +fancy."</p> + +<p>"At present I am not even a private," replied Sam, "though the boys +call me Captain Sam."</p> + +<p>"Do they? Then Captain Sam it shall be, and I wish you a successful +campaign before Pensacola, Captain. Get your forces into marching +order at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> once. Take all of your boys, unless some of them have +already enlisted,—it won't do to take actual soldiers with you, as +yours must be a citizen's camp,—and march as early as you can. I'll +see that you are properly provided with the tools you need."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>CAPTAIN SAM BEGINS HIS MARCH.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_059.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="51" /></div> +<p>t noon the next day Sam marched away from the camp at the head of his + little company, reduced now to precisely six boys in all, counting the + colored boy Joe, but not counting Captain Sam himself. Jake Elliott + was one of the company, rather against Sam's wish, but he had begged + for permission to go, and Sam thought his size and strength might be + of use in some emergency. Tommy was of the party of course, and the + other boys were Billy Bunker—called Billy Bowlegs by the boys, + because he was not bow-legged at all but on the contrary badly + knock-kneed,—Bob Sharp, a boy of about Tommy's size and age, and + Sidney Russell, a boy of thirteen, who had "run to legs," his + companions said, and was already nearly six feet high, and so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> slender + that, notwithstanding his extreme height, he was the lightest boy in + the company. The rest of the party had already enlisted and could not + go.</p> +<p>The outfit was complete, after Sam's notions of completeness; that is +to say, it included every thing which was absolutely necessary and not +an ounce of anything that could be safely spared. For tools they had +two axes, with rather short handles, a small hatchet, a pocket rule +and an adze; to this list might be added their large pocket knives, +which every man and boy on the frontier carries habitually. For camp +utensils each boy had a tin cup and that was all, except a single +light skillet, which they were to carry alternately, as they were to +do with the tools. Each boy carried a blanket tightly rolled up, and +each had, at the start, eight pounds of corn meal and four pounds of +bacon, with a small sack of salt each, which could be carried in any +pocket. This was all. They had no arms and no ammunition.</p> + +<p>Their destination and the purpose of their journey were wholly unknown +to anybody in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> camp, except General Jackson and Tandy Walker. The +boys themselves were as ignorant as anybody on this subject. Sam had +enlisted them in the service, merely telling them that he was going on +an expedition which might prove difficult, dangerous and full of +hardship. He told them that he could not make them legal soldiers +before leaving, but that implicit obedience was absolutely necessary, +and that he wanted no boy to go with him who was not willing to trust +his judgment absolutely and obey orders as a soldier does, without +knowing why they are given or what they are meant to accomplish. To +put this matter on a proper basis, he drew up an enlistment paper as +follows:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"We, whose names are signed below, volunteer to go with Samuel +Hardwicke and under his command, on the expedition which he is about +beginning. We have been duly warned of the dangers and hardships to be +encountered; we freely undertake to endure the hardships without +shrinking, and to face the dangers as soldiers should; and, +understanding the necessity of discipline and obedience, we promise, +each of us upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> his honor, fully to recognize the authority of Samuel +Hardwicke as our Captain, appointed by General Jackson; we promise +upon honor, to obey his command, as implicity as if we were regularly +enlisted soldiers, and he a properly commissioned officer."</p> + +<p class="sig1">(Signed.)</p> + +<p class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_062.jpg" alt="Signatures." width="400" height="318" /><br /> +</p> + +<p>When this paper was signed by all the boys, including black Joe, who +insisted upon attaching his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> name to it in the printing letters which +"little Miss Judie" had taught him, it was placed in General Jackson's +hands for keeping, and Sam marched his party away, amid the wondering +curiosity of the few troops who were in camp. They knew that this +party went out under orders of some sort from head quarters, but they +could not imagine whither it was going or why. Many of them had tried +to get information from the boys themselves, but as the boys knew +absolutely nothing about it, they could answer no questions, except +with the rather unsatisfactory formula "I dunno."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>SAM'S TRAVELLING FACTORY.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>he boys marched steadily until sunset, when Sam called a halt and + selected a camping place for the night. He ordered a fire built and + himself superintended the preparation of supper, limiting the amount + of food cooked for each member of the party, a regulation which he + enforced strictly throughout the march, lest any of the boys should + imprudently eat their rations too fast, which, as their route lay + through woods and swamps in a part of the country scarcely at all + settled, would bring disaster upon the expedition of course. Sam had + calculated the march to last about ten days, but he hoped to + accomplish it within a briefer time. The supplies they had would last + ten days, and Sam hoped to add to them by killing game from time to + time, for al<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>though the party were unarmed, Sam knew ways of getting + game without gunpowder, and meant to put some of them in practice.</p> +<p>Toward evening of the first day out, he had stopped in a canebrake and +cut three well seasoned canes, selecting straight, tall ones, about an +inch in diameter, and taking care that they tapered as little and as +regularly as possible. Cutting them off at both ends and leaving them +about fifteen feet in length, he next cut three or four small canes, +very long and green ones, without flaw.</p> + +<p>That night, as soon as supper was over he brought his canes to the +fire and laid them down, preparatory to beginning work upon them.</p> + +<p>"What are you a goin' to do with them canes, Sam?" asked Billy +Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"What do you think, Billy?"</p> + +<p>"Dog-gone ef I know," replied Billy.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you quit saying 'dog-gone' Billy," said Sam. "It isn't a very +good thing to say, and you've said it thirty-two times this +afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Have I? well, what's the odds if I have?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it's a bad habit, and if you'll quit it, I'll give you one of +those canes when I get them ready."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What 'er you goin' to make 'em into?"</p> + +<p>"Guns," said Sam, working away as hard as he could with his +jack-knife.</p> + +<p>"Guns! what sort o' guns? Powder'd burst 'em in a minute, and besides +we aint got no powder."</p> + +<p>"No, but I'm going to make guns out of these canes, and I'm going to +kill something with them too."</p> + +<p>"What sort o' guns?"</p> + +<p>"Blow guns."</p> + +<p>"What's a blow gun, Mas. Sam?" asked Joe, becoming interested, as all +the boy were now.</p> + +<p>Sam was too busy to answer at the moment and so Tom, who had seen +Sam's blow guns at home, answered for him.</p> + +<p>"He's going to burn out the joints and then make arrows with iron +points and some rabbit fur around the light ends. The fur fills up the +hole in the cane, and when he blows in the end it sends the arrow off +like a bullet. But Sam!" he cried, suddenly thinking of something.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked the elder brother without looking up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What are you going to burn them out with?"</p> + +<p>"With that little rod," answered Sam, tossing a bit of iron about six +inches long towards his brother, "I brought it with me on purpose."</p> + +<p>"Well, but it won't reach; you've got to reach all the joints you +know, and the rod must be as long as the cane."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, not by any means."</p> + +<p>"Yes it must, of course it must," exclaimed all the boys in a breath. +"It's just like burning out a pipe stem with a wire."</p> + +<p>"No it is not," replied Sam, smiling, "but suppose it is. I can burn +out a pipe stem with a wire half as long as the stem."</p> + +<p>"How?" asked two or three boys at once.</p> + +<p>"By burning first from one end and then from the other."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's so," answered Sid Russell slowly, drawling his words out +as if he had to drag them up through his long legs, "but that don't +tell how you're goin' to bore out a big cane, fifteen feet long with a +little iron rod not more 'n six or eight inches long."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you will be patient a moment, I'll show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> you," answered Sam, +picking up the bit of iron. Trimming off the end of one of his small +green canes, Sam measured it by the iron rod and trimmed again. He +continued this process until he had the end of the cane a trifle +larger than the iron was. Then taking an iron tube or band out of his +pocket, he drove the iron rod firmly into it for the distance of about +half an inch, leaving the other end of the tube open. Into this he +forced the end of the small green cane and having made it firm he had +a rod about ten feet long.</p> + +<p>"There," he said, "I have a rod long enough to reach a good deal more +than half way through either one of my big canes. It isn't iron except +at the end, and it doesn't need to be," and with that he thrust the +end of the bit of iron into the fire to heat.</p> + +<p>"Now, Tom," he said, "you must burn the canes out while I do something +else."</p> + +<p>I wonder if there is any boy who needs a fuller explanation than the +one which Sam has already given, of what was going forward. There may +be boys enough, for aught I know, who never went fishing in their +lives, and so do not know what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> canes, or reeds, or cane-poles, as +they are variously called, are like. I must explain, therefore, that +the canes which Sam proposed to burn out, were precisely such as those +that are commonly used as fishing rods. These canes grow all over the +South, in the swamps. They are, in fact, a kind of gigantic grass, +although the people who are most familiar with them do not dream of +the fact. The botanists call them a grass, at any rate, and the +botanists know. Each cane is a long, straight rod, tapering very +gently, with "joints," as they are called, about eight or ten inches +apart. These joints are simply places where the cane, outside, is a +little larger than it is between joints, while inside each joint +consists of a hard woody partition, across the hollow tube, which is +otherwise continuous. Sam's plan was simply to burn these partitions +away with a hot iron, which would convert the cane into a long, +slender, wooden tube, very hard, very light, and straight as an arrow.</p> + +<p>Tom went to work at once to burn out the joints, a work which occupied +a good deal of time, as the iron had to be re-heated a great many +times. He worked very steadily, however with the assist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>ance of two or +three of the boys, and managed during that first evening to get two of +the blow guns burned out.</p> + +<p>Meantime Sam made an arrow, very small and only about ten inches long, +out of some dry cedar.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "I want those of you who are not busy burning out the +canes, to go to work making arrows just like that, while I do +something else."</p> + +<p>The boys went to work with a will, while Sam, going into the nearest +thicket, cut a green stick about three quarters of an inch in +diameter. Returning to the fire, he split one end of this stick for a +little way, converting it into a sort of rude pincer. He then unrolled +his blanket, and revealed to the astonished gaze of his companions +several pounds of horse shoe nails.</p> + +<p>"What on earth are you goin' to do with them horse shoe nails?" asked +Hilly Bowlegs, looking up from the cedar arrow on which he was +working.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to make arrow heads out of them," answered Sam, thrusting +several of them into the bed of coals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>With the side of an axe for an anvil, and the hatchet for a hammer, +Sam was soon very busy forging his wrought nails into sharp arrow +points, holding the hot iron in his wooden pincers. Among the things +that Sam had thought it worth while to learn something about, was +blacksmithing, and he was really expert in the simpler arts of the +smith. He could shoe a horse, "point" a plow, or weld iron or steel, +very well indeed.</p> + +<p>He had learned this as he had learned a good many other things, merely +because he thought that every young man should know how to do +tolerably well whatever he might sometime need to do, and in a new +country where shops are scarce and workmen are not always to be found, +there is no mechanical art which it is not sometimes very convenient +to know something about.</p> + +<p>Sam wrought now so expertly that within less than an hour he had made +six arrow points. These he fitted to six of the arrows, and then he +suspended work for the evening, and marked progress on his map; that +is to say, he pricked on his map with a pin the course followed during +the afternoon, estimating the distance travelled as accurately as he +could.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>A MOTION WHICH WAS NOT IN ORDER.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>he next day the march was resumed, and continued with some haltings +for rest until about three o'clock, when Sam chose a camp for the +night, saying that they had already made a better march than he had +planned for that day, and that there was no occasion to break +themselves down by going further.</p> + +<p>The work was at once resumed upon guns and arrows, Sam beginning by +finishing the arrows already made. He cut strips from a hare's skin +which Tommy had brought with him at Sam's request, making each strip +about four or five inches long, and just wide enough to meet around +the end of an arrow. Binding these strips firmly, the arrows were +complete. Each was a slender, light stick of cedar, shod at one end +with a slen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>der iron point, and bound around at the other, for a +distance of several inches, with the fur of the hare. Pushing one of +these into the mouth end of his blow gun, Sam showed his companions +that the fur completely filled the tube, so that when he should blow +in the end the arrow would be driven through and out with considerable +force.</p> + +<p>Pointing the gun toward a tree a little way off, Sam blew, and in a +moment the arrow was seen sticking in the tree, its head being almost +wholly buried in the solid wood.</p> + +<p>The boys all wanted to try the new guns, of course, and Sam permitted +them to do so, greatly to their delight, as long as the daylight +lasted. Then the manufacture of new arrows began, the boys working +earnestly now, because they were interested.</p> + +<p>After awhile Sam took out his map and began pricking the course upon +it.</p> + +<p>"I say, Sam," said Bob Sharp, "how do you do that?"</p> + +<p>"How do I do what? Prick the map?"</p> + +<p>"No, I mean how do you know where we are and which way we go?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's just what I want to know," said Sid Russell.</p> + +<p>"And me, too," chimed in Billy Bunker and Jake Elliott.</p> + +<p>"Well, come here, all of you," replied Sam, "and I'll show you. We +started there, at camp Jackson,—you see, don't you, where the Coosa +and the Tallapoosa rivers come together and we are going down there," +pointing to a spot on the map, "to the sea, or rather to the Bay near +Pensacola."</p> + +<p>"Are we! Good! I never saw the sea," said Sid Russell, speaking faster +than any of the boys had ever heard him speak before.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the place we're going to, and presently I'll tell you +what we're going for; but one thing at a time. You see the course is a +little west of south, nearly but not quite southwest. The distance, in +an air line is about a hundred and twenty-five miles: that is to say +Pensacola is about a hundred and ten miles further south than camp +Jackson, and about fifty miles further west."</p> + +<p>"That would be a hundred and sixty miles then," said Billy Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Sam, "it would if we went due<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> south and then due west, +taking the base and perpendicular of a right angled triangle, instead +of its hypothenuse."</p> + +<p>"Whew, what's all them words I wonder," exclaimed Billy.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll try to show you what I mean," said Sam, taking a stick and +drawing in the sand a figure like this:</p> + +<div class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_075.jpg" alt="Illustration." width="200" height="193" /></div> + +<p>"There," said Sam, "that's a right angled triangle, but you may call +it a thingimajig if you like; it doesn't matter about the name. +Suppose we start at the top to go to the left hand lower corner; don't +you see that it would be further to go straight down to the right hand +lower corner and then across to the left hand lower corner, than to go +straight from the top to the left hand lower corner."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied Billy, "it's just like going cat a cornered +across a field."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well," said Sam, pointing with his finger, "if I were to draw a +triangle here on the map beginning at camp Jackson and running due +south to the line of Pensacola, and then due west to Pensacola itself, +with a third line running 'cat a cornered' as you say, from camp +Jackson straight to Pensacola, the line due south would be about a +hundred and ten miles long and the one due west about fifty miles +long, while the 'cat a cornered' line would be about a hundred and +twenty five miles long."</p> + +<p>"How do you find out that last,—the cat a cornered line's length?" +asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"I can't explain that to you," said Sam, "because you haven't studied +geometry."</p> + +<p>"Oh well, tell us anyhow, if we don't understand it," said Sid +Russell, who sat with his mouth open.</p> + +<p>"Sid wants to find out how to tell how far it is from his head to his +heels, without having to make the trip when he's tired," said Bob +Sharp, who was always poking fun at Sid's long legs.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Sam smiling, "I know the length of that line because I +know that the square<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> described on the hypothenuse of a right angled +triangle is equal to the sum of the squares described on the other two +sides."</p> + +<p>"Whew! it fairly takes the breath out of a fellow to hear you rattle +that off," replied Sid.</p> + +<p>"Come," resumed Sam, "we aren't getting on with what we undertook. Now +look and listen. Here is the line we would follow if we could go +straight from Camp Jackson to Pensacola. If we could follow it, I +would only have to guess how many miles we march each day, and mark it +down on the map. But we can't go straight, because of swamps and +creeks and canebrakes, so I must keep looking at my compass to find +out what direction we do go; then I mark on the map the route we have +followed each day, and the distance, and each night's camp gives me a +new starting point."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but Sam," said Tom, suddenly thinking of something.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose you guess wrong as to the distance travelled each day?"</p> + +<p>"Well, suppose I do; I can't miss it very far."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, but it gives you a wrong starting-point for the next day, and two +or three mistakes would throw you clear out."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I make corrections constantly. You see, I have changed the +place of last night's camp a little on the map."</p> + +<p>"How do you make corrections?"</p> + +<p>"By the creeks and rivers. Here, for instance, is a creek that we +ought to cross about ten miles ahead. If we come to it short of that, +or if it proves to be further off, I shall know that I have got +to-night's camp placed wrong on the map. I shall then correct my +estimate. When we come to the next creek I shall be able to make my +guess still more certain, and by the time we get to Pensacola I shall +have the whole march marked pretty nearly right on the map."</p> + +<p>"I'd give a purty price for that there head o' your'n, Sam," said Sid +Russell.</p> + +<p>"It isn't for sale, Sid, and besides it will be a good deal cheaper to +use the one you have, taking care to make it as good as anybody's. Now +let me explain to all of you why we are going to Pensacola," and with +that Sam entered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> into the plans which we know all about already, and +which need not be repeated here. When he had finished the boys plied +him with questions, which he answered as well as he could. Jake +Elliott said nothing for a time, but after a while he ventured to +ask:—</p> + +<p>"Don't they hang fellows they ketch in that sort o' business?"</p> + +<p>"They hang spies," replied Sam, "but they can scarcely hold us to be +spies, especially as we shall be in the territory of a friendly +neutral nation, where there cannot properly be a British camp at all."</p> + +<p>"Well, but mayn't they do it anyhow, just as they are a campin' there, +anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"Of course they may, but I do not think it likely. In the first place +we mustn't let them suspect us, and in the second, we must make use of +what law there is if we should be arrested."</p> + +<p>"Well, but if it all failed, what then?" asked Jake.</p> + +<p>"Oh, shut up Jake," cried Billy Bowlegs. "You're afeard, that's what's +the matter with you."</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Sam "that is simply a risk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> that we have to run, like +any other risk in war. I told you all in advance that the expedition +was a hazardous one."</p> + +<p>"Of course you did, an' what's more you didn't want Jake Elliott to +come either," said Billy Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"Go into your hole, Jake, if you're scared," said Bob Sharp.</p> + +<p>"Jake ain't scared, he's only bashful," drawled Sid Russell.</p> + +<p>"I ain't afraid no more'n the rest of you," said Jake, "but you're all +fools enough to run your heads into a noose."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?" asked Sam, looking up quickly from the map +over which he had been poring.</p> + +<p>"I mean just this," replied Jake, "that this here business 'll end in +gettin' us into trouble that we wont git out of soon, an' I move we +draw out'n it right now, afore its too late."</p> + +<p>Sam was on his feet in an instant.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/image_081.jpg" alt=""DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, SIR?"" width="350" height="536" /><br /> +<span class="caption">"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, SIR?"</span></div> + +<p>"Do you know what you're saying sir?" he cried. "Do you understand who +is master here? Do you know that no motions are in order? Let <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>me +tell you once for all that I will tolerate no further mutinous words +from you. If I hear another word of the kind from you, or see a sign +of misconduct on your part, I shall take measures for your punishment. +Stop! I want no answer. I have warned you and that is enough."</p> + +<p>Sam's sudden assertion of his authority, in terms so peremptory, took +Jake completely by surprise. Sam was a good tempered fellow, and not +at all disposed to "put on airs" as boys say, and hence he had been as +easy and familiar with his companions as if they had been merely a lot +of school boys out for a holiday; but when Jake Elliott suggested a +revolt, Sam, the good natured companion, became Captain Sam, the stern +commander, at once.</p> + +<p>The other boys saw at once the necessity and propriety of the rebuke +he had administered. They believed Jake Elliott to be a coward and a +bully, and they were glad to see him properly and promptly checked in +his effort to give trouble.</p> + +<p>It was growing late and the boys presently threw themselves down on +their beds of soft gray moss and were soon sound asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>JAKE ELLIOTT GETS EVEN WITH SAM.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_084.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ake Elliott was a coward all over, and clear through. He had always + been a bully and pretended to the possession of unusual courage. He + had tyrannized over small boys, threatened boys of his own size and + sneered at boys whom he thought able to hold their own against him in + a fight. He had had many fights in his time, but had always managed to + get the best of his opponents, by the very simple process of choosing + for the purpose, boys who were not as strong as he was. As a result of + all this he had acquired a great reputation among his fellows, and + most of the boys in his neighborhood were very careful not to provoke + him; but he was a great coward through it all, and when he first came + in collision with Sam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> Hardwicke his cowardice showed itself too + plainly to be mistaken. Now there is a curious thing about cowards of + this sort. When they are once found out they lose the little + appearance of courage that they have taken such pains to maintain, and + become at once the most abject and shameless dastards imaginable. That + was what happened to Jake Elliott. When Sam conquered him so + effectually on the occasion of the boot stealing, he lost all the + pride he had and all his meanness seemed to come to the surface. If he + had had a spark of manliness in him, he would have recognized Sam's + generosity in sparing him at that time, and would have behaved himself + better afterward. As it was he simply cherished his malice and + resolved to do Sam all the injury he could in secret.</p> +<p>When Sam organized his expedition at Camp Jackson, Jake had two +motives in joining it. In the first place things around the camp +looked too much like genuine preparation for a hard fight with the +enemy, and Jake thought that if he should enlist he would be forced to +fight, which was precisely what he did not mean to do if he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> could +help it. By joining Sam's party, however, he would escape the +necessity of enlisting, and he thought that the little band was going +away from danger instead of going into it. He thought, too, that if +any real danger should come, under Sam's leadership, he could run away +from it, or sneak out in some way, and as he would not be a regularly +enlisted soldier, no punishment could follow.</p> + +<p>This was his first reason for joining. His second one was still more +unworthy. He was bent upon doing Sam all the secret injury he could, +and he thought that by going with him he would have opportunities to +wreak his vengeance, which he would otherwise lose.</p> + +<p>When he learned, as we have seen, whither Sam was leading his party, +and on what errand, he was really frightened, and Sam's sharp rebuke +made him still bitterer in his feelings toward his young commander. A +coward with a grudge which he is afraid to avenge openly, is a very +dangerous foe. He will do anything against his adversary which he +thinks he can do safely, by sneaking, and when Jake Elliott threw +himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> down on his pile of moss he did not mean to go to sleep. He +meant to revenge himself on Sam before morning, and at the same time +to make it impossible for the expedition to go on. If he could force +Sam to return to Camp Jackson, he said to himself, he would humiliate +that young man beyond endurance, and at the same time get himself out +of the danger into which Sam was leading him. Everybody would laugh at +Sam, and call him a coward, and suspect him of failing in his +expedition purposely, all of which would please Jake Elliott mightily.</p> + +<p>How to accomplish all this was a problem which Jake thought he had +solved by a sudden inspiration. He had formed his plan at the very +moment of receiving Sam's rebuke, and he waited now only for a chance +to execute it.</p> + +<p>An hour passed; two hours, three. It was after midnight, and all the +boys were sleeping soundly. Jake arose noiselessly and crept to the +tree at whose roots Sam had laid his baggage. It was thirty feet or +more from any of the boys, and Jake was not afraid of waking them. He +fumbled about in Sam's baggage until he felt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> something hard and round +and cold. He drew out a little circular brass box about two and a half +inches in diameter, with a glass top to it. It was Sam's compass. He +tried hard to raise the glass in some way, but failed. Finally, with +much fear, lest he should awaken some of the boys, he struck the glass +with the end of his heavy Jack knife and broke it. This admitted his +fingers, and taking out the needle of the compass he broke it half in +two. Then replacing the brass lid, leaving all the pieces of the +ruined instrument inside, he slipped the compass back into its +original place and crept back to his bed by the fire.</p> + +<p>"Now," he thought "I reckon Mr. Sam Hardwicke's long head will be +puzzled, and I reckon I'll be even with him, when he gives up that he +can't go on, and has to turn back to Camp Jackson. A pretty story +he'll have to tell, and wont people want to know how his compass got +broke? They'll think it very curious, and maybe they wont suspect that +he broke it himself, for an excuse. Oh! wont they though!"</p> + +<p>He fairly chuckled with delight, in anticipation of Sam's humiliation. +He knew that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> country south of them was wholly unsettled, a +perfect wilderness of woods and canebrakes and swamps, which nobody +could go through without some guide as to the points of the compass, +and hence he was satisfied that the destruction of Sam's instrument +was an effectual way of compelling the young captain to retreat while +it was still possible to retrace the trail the party had made in +coming. He was so delighted that he could not sleep and hours passed +before he closed his eyes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>A DISTURBANCE IN CAMP.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_084.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ake Elliott got very little sleep that night. Indeed it was nearly +daylight when he fell asleep and it was one of Sam's marching rules to +march early. He waked the boys every morning as soon as it was +sufficiently light for them to begin preparing breakfast, and by +sunrise they were ready to begin their day's march.</p> + +<p>This morning it was cloudy and there were symptoms of a coming storm. +Sam was up at the first breaking of day, and he hurriedly waked the +boys.</p> + +<p>"Come, boys," he said, "we must hurry or we shall be too late to cross +a river that's ahead of us, before it begins to rise. Get breakfast +over as quickly as possible, for we mustn't fail to make seventeen +miles to-day, and if it rains heavily it'll be bad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> marching in this +swamp. There's higher ground ahead of us for to-morrow, but we mustn't +be caught in here by high water in the creeks."</p> + +<p>The boys sprang up quickly and made all haste in the preparation of +breakfast. Jake Elliott was dull and moody. The fact is he was sleepy +and tired with the night's excitement, and in no very good condition +to march. He dragged with his share of the work, but breakfast was +soon over, and Sam was ready to start. Taking out his compass to get +his bearings right he opened it, and saw the ruin that had been +wrought.</p> + +<p>He looked up in surprise and caught Jake Elliott's eye. In an instant +he guessed the truth.</p> + +<p>"Lay down your bundles, boys," he said, "we cannot start just yet."</p> + +<p>"Why not, Captain Sam?" asked two or three boys in a breath.</p> + +<p>"Because Jake Elliott has broken our compass," replied Sam, looking +the offender fixedly in the eye.</p> + +<p>"Shame on the wretched coward," exclaimed the boys. "Let's duck him in +the creek."</p> + +<p>"I'm not a coward, and whoever says I broke the compass—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Silence!" cried Sam peremptorily. "Don't finish that sentence, Jake. +It isn't a wise thing to do. Besides there's no use putting it in that +way. 'Whoever says,' is a vague sort of phrase. You know very well who +said that you broke the compass. I said it; Sam Hardwicke said it, and +you do not dare to say that I lie. Don't try to say it by calling me +'whoever says.' That isn't my name."</p> + +<p>Sam was as cool and quiet as possible. There was no sign of agitation +in his voice, and no anger in his tone. The boys, however, were +furious. They were in earnest in this expedition, and they supposed, +of course, that the destruction of the compass would force them to +return to camp. Beside this, it angered them to think that Jake had +done so mean a thing.</p> + +<p>Billy Bowlegs, the smallest boy in the party, was especially furious. +Walking up to Jake with his fists clenched, he said:</p> + +<p>"Jake Elliott, you're a sneak and a coward, and you daren't answer for +yourself. Just deny it please, do deny it, so's I can bat you in the +mouth. I'm hungry to wallop you. Do say I lie, or say anything, open +your head, or lift your hand, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> wink your eye, or look at me, or do +something. Just give me any sort of excuse and I'll give you what you +deserve, now and here."</p> + +<p>Billy screamed this out at the top of his voice, advancing on Jake +every moment, as the latter drew back.</p> + +<p>"What can I say to make you fight?" he continued. "I'll call you +anything that's mean. Just say what it shall be and consider it said. +Won't any thing make you fight? <i>There</i>, and <i>there</i> and <i>there</i>, now +may be you'll resent that."</p> + +<p>The words "there and there and there" were accompanied by three +vigorous slaps which Billy laid with a will on Jake's cheeks, in +despair of provoking him to resent anything less positive. It was all +done in a moment, and in another instant Sam had brought Billy Bowlegs +to his senses, by quietly leading him away and saying.</p> + +<p>"Let him alone, Billy; there's no credit in fighting such a coward."</p> + +<p>Enough had occurred, however, to show that Jake was thoroughly scared +by the little fellow's violence, and he could not have been more +thoroughly whipped than he was already.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> + +<p>When order had been restored, Sam said quietly:—</p> + +<p>"The breaking of the compass is a serious mishap, and the want of it +will give us trouble all the way; but luckily it is not fatal to our +expedition, if you boys will help me work out the problem without the +aid of the needle."</p> + +<p>"Help you! You see if we wont!" cried the enthusiastic boys in chorus.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," replied Sam, lifting his cap, "I thought I could depend +upon you."</p> + +<p>"But can you really find the way without the compass, Sam?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, else I shouldn't be fit to be in the woods."</p> + +<p>"How can you do it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll show you presently."</p> + +<p>"What'll you do with Jake?" asked Sid Russell.</p> + +<p>"I'll take him with us," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"That is enough, I think. He is the worst punished boy or man in +America this minute, and he'll be punished every minute while he stays +with us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well but ain't nothin' more to be done to him? Can't I just duck him +a little or something of that sort?"</p> + +<p>"No, certainly not. We all know him now, as a coward and a miserable +sneak. What's the good of demonstrating it further? It would be +dirtying your own hands."</p> + +<p>"That's kind o' so, captain, but I'd sort o' like to duck him a little +anyhow. The creek's so handy down there."</p> + +<p>"No," said Sam. "I want no further reference made to this matter. Jake +Elliott will go on with us, and as I have said already, he's punished +enough. Besides it may prove to be a lesson to him. He may do better +hereafter, and if he does, if he shows a genuine disposition to atone +for his misconduct by good behavior in the future, I want nobody to +tell of what has occurred here, after we get back to our friends. I +ask that now of you boys as a favor, and I shall think nobody my +friend who will not join me in this effort to make a man out of our +companion. I am ready to forgive him freely, and the quarrel has been +mine from the first. You can certainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> afford to hold your tongues at +my request, if Jake tries to do better hereafter. I want your promise +to that effect."</p> + +<p>The boys required some urging before they would promise, but their +admiration for Sam's magnanimity was too great for them to persist in +refusing anything that he asked of them. They promised at last, not +only not to refer to the matter during their campaign, but to keep it +a secret afterward, provided Jake should be guilty of no further +misconduct.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, boys," said Sam, "and now, Jake," he continued, "you have +a chance to redeem your reputation. You cannot undo what you have +done, but you can act like a man hereafter, without having this +business thrown up to you."</p> + +<p>Sam held out his hand, but Jake pretended not to see it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>BACKWOODS GEOMETRY.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>he quarrel having ended in the way described in the last chapter, the + boys were compelled to find something else to talk about, as they were + under a pledge not to refer further to that matter. They were + prepared, therefore, to take an interest in Sam's preparations for + resuming the march without the assistance of a compass. Their + curiosity was great to know how he meant to proceed, and it was made + greater by what he did first.</p> +<p>The clouds were thick and heavy, as I have already said, so that there +was no chance to look at the sun for guidance; but Sam Hardwicke was +full of resources. He had a good habit of observing whatever he saw +and remembering it, whether he saw any reason to suppose that it +might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> be of use to him or not. Just now he remembered something which +he had observed the evening before, and he proceeded at once to make +use of it.</p> + +<p>He cut a stick, sharpened it a little at one end, and drove it into +the ground at a spot which he had selected for the purpose. Then he +walked away twenty or thirty paces and drove another stake, sighting +from one to the other, and taking pains to get them in line with a +tree which stood at a little distance from the first stake.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing, Captain Sam?" asked Bob Sharp, unable to restrain +his curiosity.</p> + +<p>"I am getting the points of the compass," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but how are you a doin' it?" asked Sid Russell.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Sam, "I'll show you. Just before sunset yesterday I +wanted to mark my map, and I sat down right here," pointing to a spot +near the first stake, "because it was shady here. The trunk of that +big tree threw its shadow here. Now the sun does not set exactly in +the west in this latitude, but a little south of west at this time of +year. The line of a tree's shadow,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> therefore, at sunset must be from +the tree a trifle north of east. Now I have driven this stake" +(pointing to the first one) "just a little to the right of the middle +of the shadow, as I remember it, so that a line from the stake to the +middle of the tree-trunk must be very nearly an east and west line. +The other stake I drove merely to aid me in tracing this line. Now I +will go on with my work, explaining as I go."</p> + +<p>Taking his pocket-rule he measured off twenty feet east and west from +his first stake, and drove a stake at each point.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "I have an east and west line, forty feet long, with a +stake at each end and a stake in the middle."</p> + +<p>This is what he had:</p> + +<p class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_099.jpg" alt="Illustration." width="300" height="50" /></p> + +<p>"A north and south line will run straight across this, at right +angles, and I can draw it pretty accurately with my eye, but to be +exact I have measured this line as you see. Now I'll draw a line as +nearly as I can straight across this one, and of precisely the same +length."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + +<p>He drew and staked the second line, and this is what he had:</p> + +<p class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_100.jpg" alt="Illustration." width="300" height="299" /></p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "if I have drawn my last line exactly at right angles +with my first one, it runs north and south; and to find out whether or +not I have drawn it exactly, I must measure. If it is just right it +will be precisely the same distance from the south stake to the east +stake as from the south stake to the west stake; and from the east +stake to the south one will be southwest, while from the west to the +south will be south-east."</p> + +<p>With that Sam measured, and found that he was just a trifle out. +Readjusting his north and south stakes, he soon had his lines right.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now," he resumed, "I know the points of the compass, and I'll explain +how you can help me. Our course lies exactly in a line from me through +that big gum tree over there to the dead sycamore beyond. If we go +toward the gum, keeping it always in a line with the sycamore, we +shall go perfectly straight, of course; and by choosing another tree +away beyond the sycamore and in line with it, just before we get to +the gum tree, we shall still go on in a perfectly straight line. We +might keep that up for any distance, and travel in as straight a line +as a compass can mark. Now if this country was an open one with no +bogs to go around, and nothing to keep us from going straight ahead, I +shouldn't need any assistance, but could go on in a straight line all +day long. As it is, I must establish a long straight line, reaching as +far ahead as possible, and then pick out two things in the line, one +near me and one at the far end, which we can recognize again from any +point. Then we'll go on by the best route we can till we come to the +furthest object, and then I'll show you how to get the line again. +What I want you to do is to notice the 'object<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> trees' as we'll call +them, so that we can be sure of them at any time. Notice them in +starting, and as often afterward as you can see them. The appearance +of trees varies with distance and point of view, and it is important +that we shall be sure of our object trees and make no mistake about +them."</p> + +<p>"All right, Captain Sam," cried the boys, "pick out your object +trees."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Sam, "the big sycamore yonder will do for one, and that +tall leaning pine away over there almost out of sight must do for the +other. That is in our line, and what we've got to do is to get to it. +It doesn't matter by how crooked a route, if we can remember the +sycamore tree again and pick it out from there."</p> + +<p>"We'll watch 'em captain, and we won't let 'em slip away from us," +said Sid Russell.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, boys," replied Sam; "I shall be so busy picking our way, +that I can't watch them very well. Now then, we're ready, come on."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>HOW TO HAVE A "LONG HEAD."</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>wo hours steady walking, over logs and brush, through canebrakes, +across a creek, and through a tangle of vines, brought the party to +the leaning pine tree. From that point the old sycamore tree looked +not at all as it did from the point of starting. The boys had taken +pains to watch its changes of appearance, however, and were able to +point it out with certainty to Sam.</p> + +<p>"But what's the good of knowing it now?" asked Sid Russell, "we aint a +goin' back that way agin'."</p> + +<p>"No," said Sam, "but it is necessary to know it, nevertheless. How +would you know which way to go without it, Sid?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd pick out another tree ahead an' walk towards it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, but how would you know what tree to select?"</p> + +<p>"Why I'd take one in a line with the pine."</p> + +<p>"Well, every tree is in a line with the pine. It depends on where you +stand to take sight."</p> + +<p>"That's so; but how's the old sycamore to help us?"</p> + +<p>"By giving us a point to take sight from. Let me show you. Our proper +course of march is in the direction of a line drawn from the sycamore +to this pine tree. What we want to do is to prolong that line, and +find some tree further on that stands in it. If I stand on the line, +between the sycamore and the pine and turn my face toward the pine, +I'll be looking in exactly the right direction, and can pick out the +right tree to march to, by sighting on the pine. The trouble is to get +in the right place to take sight from. To do that I must find the line +between the sycamore and the pine. Now you go over there beyond the +pine, and take sight on it at the sycamore till you get the two trees +in a line with you. Then I'll stand over here, between the two object +trees, and move to the right or left as you tell me to do, till you +find<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> that I am exactly in the line between them. Then I can pick out +the right tree ahead."</p> + +<p>Sid did as he was told, the boys all looking on with great interest, +and presently Sam had selected their next object tree. The boys were +astonished greatly at what they thought Sam's marvellous knowledge, +but to their wondering comments Sam replied:—</p> + +<p>"I haven't done anything wonderful. A little knowledge of mathematics +has helped me, perhaps, but there isn't a thing in all this that isn't +perfectly simple. Any one of you might have found out all this for +himself, without books and without a teacher. It only requires you to +think a little and to use your eyes. Besides you've all done the same +thing many a time."</p> + +<p>"I'll <i>bet</i> I never did," said Billy Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"Yes you have, Billy, but you did it without thinking about it."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Whenever you have shot a rifle at anything."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"By taking aim. You look through one sight over the other and at the +game, and you know then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> that you've got it in a line with your eye +and the sights. I've only been turning the thing around, and nobody +taught me how. You've only got to <i>use</i> your eyes and your head to +make them worth ten times as much to you as they are now."</p> + +<p>"Seems to me," said Sid Russell, "as if your head 'n eyes, or least +ways your head is a mighty oncommon good one."</p> + +<p>"You're right dah, Mas' Sid," said Black Joe; "you're right for +sartain. I'se dun see Mas' Sam do some mighty cur'ous things, I is. He +dun make a fire wid water once, sho's you're born. 'Sides dat, I'se +dun heah de gentlemen say's how he's got a head more 'n a yard long, +and I'm blest if I don't b'lieve it's so."</p> + +<p>All this was said at a little distance from Sam and beyond his +hearing, but he knew very well in what estimation his companions held +him, and he was anxious to impress them, not with his own superiority, +but with the fact that the difference was due chiefly to his habit of +thinking and observing. He wanted them to improve by association with +him, and to that end he took pains to show them the advantage which a +habit of observ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>ing everything and thinking about it gives its +possessor. For this reason he took pains to make no display of his +knowledge of Latin or of anything else which they had no chance to +learn. He wanted them to learn to use their eyes, their ears and their +heads, knowing very well that the greater as well as the better part +of education comes by observation and thinking, rather than from +books.</p> + +<p>Just now he was striding forward as rapidly as he could, as it was +beginning to rain.</p> + +<p>"Keep your eye on the hind sight boys, and don't lose it," he cried; +"we must hurry or we shall be caught in a pocket to-night."</p> + +<p>Hour after hour they marched, the rain pouring down steadily, and the +ground becoming every moment softer. The walking wearied them +terribly, but they pushed on in the hope that they might be able to +cross the upper waters of the Nepalgah river before night. This would +place them on the west bank of that stream, where Sam believed that he +should find the marching tolerable. If they should fail in this, Sam +feared that the water would rise during the night, and fill all the +bottom lands. In that event he must con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>tinue marching down the east +bank of the river; not going very far out of his way, it is true, but +having to pass through what he was satisfied must be a much more +difficult country than that on the other side.</p> + +<p>Night came at last, and they were yet not within sight of the stream, +notwithstanding their utmost exertions. Sam called a halt just before +dark, and selected a camping place.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT DOES SAM MEAN?</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_109.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen the halt was called, Sam said, very much to the astonishment of + the boys:—</p> +<p>"We must build a house here, boys."</p> + +<p>"A house!" exclaimed Tom, "What for, pray?"</p> + +<p>"To live in, of course. What else are houses for?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course, but aren't we going on?"</p> + +<p>"Not at present, and it rains. We must dry our clothes to-night if we +can, and keep as dry as we can while we stay here, which may be for a +day or two. To do that we must have a house, but it need not be a very +good one. Joe!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sah."</p> + +<p>"Build a fire right here."</p> + +<p>"Agin de big log dah, Mas' Sam?" pointing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> to the trunk of a great +tree which had fallen in some earlier storm.</p> + +<p>"No, build it right here. Sid, you and Bob Sharp go down into the +canebrake there and get two or three dozen of the longest canes you +can find."</p> + +<p>"Green ones?" asked Bob.</p> + +<p>"Green or dry, it doesn't matter in the least," answered Sam. "The +rest of you boys go down into the swamp off there and cut a lot of the +palmetes you find there,—this sort of thing," pointing to one of the +plants which grew at his feet. "Get as many of them as you can, the +more the better. The fire will be burning presently and will throw a +light all around."</p> + +<p>The boys were puzzled, but they hurried away to the work assigned +them. Sam busied himself digging a trench on the side of the fallen +tree opposite the fire. The great branches of the tree held it up many +feet from the ground at the point selected, and it was Sam's purpose +to make the trunk the front of his house, building behind it, and +having the fire in front. The lower part of the trunk was high enough +from the ground to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> let all the boys, except Sid Russell, pass under +without stooping; Sid had to stoop a little.</p> + +<p>The fire blazed presently, and by the time that Sam had his ditch done +the boys began to come in with loads of cane and palmetes. The +palmetes are plants out of which what we call "palm-leaf fans" are +made. They grow in bunches right out of the ground in many southern +swamps. Each leaf is simply a palm leaf fan that needs ironing out +flat, except that the edge consists of long points which are cut off +in making the fans.</p> + +<p>Sam cut two forked sticks and drove them in the ground about ten feet +from the fallen tree trunk, and about ten feet apart. When driven in +they were about five feet high, while the top of the trunk was perhaps +eight feet from the ground. Cutting a long, straight pole, Sam laid it +in the forks of his two stakes, parallel with the tree trunk. Then +taking the canes he laid them from this pole to the top of the tree +trunk, for rafters, placing them as close to each other as possible. +On top of them he laid the palmete leaves, taking care to lap them +over each other like shingles. When the roof was well covered with +them, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> made the boys bring some armfuls of the long gray moss which +abounds in southern forests, and lay it on top of the roof, to hold +the palmete leaves in place, and to prevent them from blowing away. +For sides to the house bushes answered very well, and in less than an +hour after the company halted, they were safely housed in a shed open +only on the side toward the fire, and the ground within was rapidly +drying, while supper was in course of preparation.</p> + +<p>"Sam," said Tom presently.</p> + +<p>"Well," answered Sam.</p> + +<p>"What did you dig that big ditch for? a little one would have carried +off all the water that'll drip from the roof."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I dug this one to carry off other water than that."</p> + +<p>"What water?"</p> + +<p>"That which was already in the ground that the house is built on. You +see this soil is largely composed of sand, and water runs out of it +very rapidly if it has anywhere to run to. I made the ditch for it to +run into, and if you'll examine the ground here you'll find that my +trench is doing its work very well indeed."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's a fac'," said Sid Russell, feeling of the sand.</p> + +<p>"I say Sam," said Billy Bowlegs, squaring himself before Sam, with +arms akimbo.</p> + +<p>"Well, say it then," replied Sam, laughing, and assuming a similar +attitude.</p> + +<p>"If there is any little thing, about any sort o' thing, that you don't +happen to know, I wish you'd just oblige me by telling me what it is."</p> + +<p>"I haven't time, Billy," laughed Sam, "the list of things I don't know +is too long to begin this late in the evening."</p> + +<p>"Well, you've made me feel like an idiot every day since we started on +this tramp, by knowing all about things, and doing little things that +any fool ought to have thought of, and not one of us fools did."</p> + +<p>"Come, supper is ready," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>After supper the boys busied themselves drying their clothes by the +roaring fire of pitch pine which blazed and crackled in front of the +tent, making the air within like that of an oven. While they were +at it they fell to talking, of course, and it is equally a matter of +course that they talked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> about the subject which was uppermost in +their minds. They knew very well that until the house was built, and +supper over, they could get nothing out of Sam. "He never will explain +anything till every body is ready to listen," said Sid Russell, who +had become one of Sam's heartiest admirers. Recognizing the truth of +Sid's observation, the boys had tacitly consented to postpone all +questions respecting Sam's plans and queer manœuvres until after +supper, when there was time for him to talk and for them to listen. +Now that the time had come, the long repressed curiosity broke forth +in questions.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>SAM CLEARS UP THE MYSTERY.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>ommy was the spokesman.</p> +<p>"Now then, Sam," he said, holding out his trowsers toward the fire to +dry them, "tell us all about it."</p> + +<p>"I can't," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because I don't know all about it myself."</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you mean by building this shed?"</p> + +<p>"Don't call it a shed, Tom," said Billy Bowlegs, "it's a mansion, and +these are our broad acres all around here."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and the alligators down in the swamp there are our cattle," said +Sam.</p> + +<p>"And here's our fowls," said Billy, slapping at the mosquitoes, "game +ones they are too, ain't they?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Stop your nonsense," said Sid Russell, "I want to hear Sam's +explanation. Tell us, Sam, what did you build the shanty for?"</p> + +<p>"To live in while it rains, to be sure."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but how long are we going to stay here?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Well then, why are we to stop here at all?" asked Tom, "and what have +you been thinking about all the afternoon? You didn't open your head +after it began raining, until we got here; you were working out +something, and this halt means that you've worked it out. What is it? +That's what we want to know."</p> + +<p>"You're partly right," said Sam, laughing, "but you're partly wrong. I +have been thinking how to get out of this pocket we're caught in, and +I've partly worked it out, but not entirely. That is to say, I must +wait till morning before I can say precisely what I shall have to do. +Let me show you where we are;" and with that Sam took out his map and +spread it on the ground before him, while the boys clustered around.</p> + +<p>"Here we are," pointing to a spot on the map,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> "near the Nepalgah +river, at the upper end of the peninsula it makes with the Patsaliga +and the Connecuh rivers. You see the Patsaliga and the Nepalgah both +run into the Connecuh, their mouths being not many miles apart. This +peninsula that we're on is low, swampy, and full of creeks, a little +lower down. This heavy rain will raise all the rivers and all the +creeks, and make them spread out all over the low grounds on both +sides. The land is higher on the other side of the Nepalgah river, and +it was my plan to cross over to-day, but when this rain came on I +began to think it not at all likely that we could get to the river +before night, and then I began to lay plans for use in case of a +failure."</p> + +<p>"That's what you've been puzzling over all the afternoon, then?" said +Bob Sharp.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I've been wondering what we should do, and trying to hit upon +some plan. You see the matter stands thus: we can't go on on this +side, that is certain; the river will be out of its banks to-morrow +morning, and we can't easily get across it; and if we were across it +would still be difficult<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> marching, as there are creeks and swamps +enough to bother us over there."</p> + +<p>"What are we to do, then?" asked Tommy, uneasily. "We <i>mustn't</i> go +back. That'll never do."</p> + +<p>"Never you mind, Tom," said Sid Russell, whose faith in Sam's +fertility of resource was literally boundless, "never you mind. We +ain't a goin' back if the Captain knows it. He's got it all fixed +somehow in his head, you may bet your bottom dollar. Just wait till he +explains."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Billy Bowlegs, "only it seems to me he's got a +mighty hard sum this time, an' if he's got the right answer I'd like +to see just what it is."</p> + +<p>"He's got it, ain't you, Sam?" asked Sid, confidently.</p> + +<p>"I believe I have," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked all the boys in a breath.</p> + +<p>"Canoe," answered Sam.</p> + +<p>"To cross the river with? That's the trick," said Bob Sharp.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Sam, "that was what I first thought of; or rather, I +first thought of building<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> some sort of a raft to cross the river on, +and then it occurred to me that we could go on faster on high water in +a canoe than on foot; so my notion is to dig out a good big canoe and +ride all the way in it."</p> + +<p>"Can we do that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Nepalgah river runs into the Connecuh, and the Connecuh into +the Escambia, and the Escambia runs into Escambia Bay, and Escambia +Bay is an arm of Pensacola Bay. Here, look at it on the map; you see +it's as straight a course as we could go even on land, or pretty +nearly."</p> + +<p>"Well, but you said you couldn't tell till morning about it."</p> + +<p>"I can't. I am not absolutely sure where we are, but I think we are +within a very short distance of the river. I shall look in the +morning, and if we are, we'll dig the canoe here, or rather, we'll +live here and dig the canoe down by the river, for it must be a big +one to carry all of us, and we can't carry it any distance. If I find +that we are not as near the river as I suppose, we must break up here +and find a camping ground further on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> At all events we'll dig the +canoe and ride in it. The rivers will be high, and it will be easy +travelling with the current, while there won't be any danger of +getting the fever from being on the water, as there would have been +before the rain when the water was low. Come, our clothes are dry now +and we must go to sleep, as we've a hard day's work before us."</p> + +<p>"How long will it take to dig out the canoe?" asked Bob Sharp.</p> + +<p>"One day, I hope, but it may take as much as three. Luckily we've +killed so much game to-day, that we needn't be afraid of running out +of victuals. But we must lose no time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sam—" began one of the boys after all had laid down for the +night.</p> + +<p>"I won't open my mouth again to-night, except to yawn," said Sam, and +it was not long before the whole party were asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>A FOREST SHIP YARD.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_121.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>ay light had no sooner shown itself the next morning than Sam started + away from the camp on a tour of observation. He was a fine looking + fellow as he strode through the woods, straight as an arrow, broad + shouldered, brawny, with legs that seemed all the more shapely for + being clothed in closely fitting trowsers that were thrust into his + long boot legs. Two of his companions watched him walk away in the + early light.</p> +<p>"What a splendid fellow he is, outside and inside!" said Bob Sharp, +half to himself and half to Jake Elliott, who stood by the fire. Jake +said nothing and Bob was left to guess for himself what impression +their stalwart young leader had made upon that moody youth. Meantime +Sam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> had disappeared in the forest. He walked on for a little way when +he came to a creek, a small one ordinarily, scarcely more than a +crooked brook, but swollen now to considerable size.</p> + +<p>"This may do," he said to himself. "At all events it leads to the +river, and I may as well explore it as I go."</p> + +<p>Accordingly he followed the stream. Mile after mile he walked, through +bottom lands that were well nigh impassable now, never losing sight of +the creek until he reached its point of junction with the river. It +was still raining, but Sam persisted in the work of exploration until +he knew the country thoroughly which lay between his camp and the +river. Then he returned, not weary with his four hours' walking, but +very decidedly hungry.</p> + +<p>Luckily, Bob Sharp's enthusiastic admiration for his leader had taken +a very prosaic and practical turn. It was Bob's turn to prepare +breakfast, and a hare was to be cooked. The boys wanted it cut up and +fried, but Bob remained firm.</p> + +<p>"No, siree," he said, "Captain Sam's gone off to look out for us, +without waiting for his break<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>fast, and when he comes back he's to +have roast rabbit for breakfast, and his pick of the pieces at that. +If any of you boys want fried victuals you may go and kill your own +rabbits and fry them for yourselves, or you may cook your bacon. I +killed this game myself, and nobody shall eat a mouthful of it till +Captain Sam carves it."</p> + +<p>The boys were hungry, but they agreed with Bob, when he thus +peremptorily suggested the propriety of awaiting their young leader's +return, and so when Sam got back, about ten o'clock, he found a hungry +company and a beautifully roasted hare awaiting him, the latter +hanging by a string to a branch of an over-hanging tree immediately in +front of the fire.</p> + +<p>After remonstrating with the boys in a good natured way, for delaying +their breakfast so long, Sam carved, as Bob had put it; that is to say +he held the hare by a hind leg, while another boy held it by a fore +leg, and with their jack knives they quickly divided it into pieces, +using the skillet for a platter.</p> + +<p>The boys were not so hungry that they could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> forget their curiosity as +to the result of Sam's exploration.</p> + +<p>"Where are we, Sam?"</p> + +<p>"Did you find the river?"</p> + +<p>"Is it close by?"</p> + +<p>These and half a dozen similar questions were asked in rapid +succession.</p> + +<p>"One thing at a time," said Sam, "or, better still, listen and I'll +tell you all about it without waiting to be questioned."</p> + +<p>"All right, any way to get the news out of you," said Billy Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said Sam, "to begin with, we're not very near the river. +It's about five miles away, as nearly as I can judge."</p> + +<p>Billy Bowlegs's countenance fell.</p> + +<p>"Then we can't make the canoe here after all our work to build a +house."</p> + +<p>"I didn't say that, Billy. On the contrary, I think we must make it +here, as there is no fit place for a camp nearer the river than this. +Beside, the river will be out of its banks pretty soon if the rain +continues, and will overflow all the low grounds."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then we've got to carry the canoe five miles! We can't do it, that's +all," said Jake Elliott, who had not spoken before.</p> + +<p>Sam looked at Jake rather sternly, and was about to make him a sharp +answer, but changed his mind and said instead:—</p> + +<p>"You and Billy are in too big a hurry to draw conclusions, Jake. Billy +begins by assuming that because the river is five miles away we can't +make the canoe here, and you jump to the conclusion that if we make it +here we must carry it five miles. The fact is, you're both wrong. We +can make it here, and we needn't carry it five miles, or one mile, or +half a mile."</p> + +<p>"How's that?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"Now <i>you're</i> in a hurry, are you Tom? I was just about to explain and +only stopped to swallow, but before I could do it you pushed a +question in between my teeth."</p> + +<p>"SILENCE!" roared Billy Bowlegs, "the court cannot be heard." Billy's +father was sheriff of his county, and Billy had often heard him make +more noise in commanding silence in the court room than the room full +of people were making by requiring the caution.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>Silence succeeding the laughter which Billy's unfilial mimicry had +provoked, Sam resumed his explanation.</p> + +<p>"There's a creek down there about a hundred yards, which runs into the +river. It is a small affair, but is pretty well up now, and my plan is +to make the canoe here and paddle her down the creek to the river +while the water is high."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah! now for work!" shouted the boys, who by this time had +finished their breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Where's your timber, Sam?" asked Tom, bringing in the axes and adze +out of the tent.</p> + +<p>Sam had taken pains to select a proper tree for his purpose, a +gigantic poplar more than three feet in diameter, which lay near the +creek, where it had fallen several years before.</p> + +<p>When the boys saw it, they looked at Sam in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Why, Sam, you don't mean to work that great big thing into a dug-out, +do you?" asked Sid Russell.</p> + +<p>"Why not, Sid?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Why, its bigger'n a dozen dug-outs."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is true, but we're not going to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> an ordinary canoe. +We're going to cut out something as nearly like a yawl, or a ship's +launch as possible. She is to be sixteen feet long, and three and a +quarter feet wide amidships."</p> + +<p>Sam had learned a good deal about boats during his boyhood in +Baltimore.</p> + +<p>"Whew! what do you want such a whopper for?"</p> + +<p>"Well, in the first place such a boat will be of use to us down at +Pensacola, where we couldn't use an ordinary canoe at all. You see I'm +going to shape her like a sea boat, partly by cutting away, and partly +by pinning a keel to her."</p> + +<p>"What'll you pin it on with?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"With pins, of course; wooden ones."</p> + +<p>"What'll you bore the holes with?"</p> + +<p>"With my bit of iron, heated red hot."</p> + +<p>"That's so. So you can."</p> + +<p>"But, Sam," said Sid.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"You said that was in the first place; what's the next?"</p> + +<p>"In the next place, we'll need such a boat in running down the +river."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because there'll be no fit camping places in the low grounds, even if +the water isn't over the banks, and so we must stay in the boat night +and day, which would be rather an uncomfortable thing to do in a +little round bottomed dug-out, that would turn over if a fellow +nodded. Beside that I'm anxious to make all the time I can and when we +leave here I mean to push ahead night and day without stopping."</p> + +<p>"How'll we manage without eatin' or sleepin'?" asked Jake Elliott, who +seemed somehow to be interested chiefly in discovering what appeared +to him to be insurmountable obstacles in the way of the execution of +Sam's plans.</p> + +<p>"I have no thought," answered Sam, "of trying to do without either +eating or sleeping."</p> + +<p>"Where'll we eat," asked Jake, "ef we don't stop nowhere?"</p> + +<p>"In the boat, of course."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but where'll we cook?"</p> + +<p>"Here," answered Sam.</p> + +<p>"Before we start?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly. We'll kill some game, cook<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> it at night and eat it +cold on the way with cold bread. That will save our bacon to cook fish +with down at Pensacola."</p> + +<p>"Well, but how about sleeping?"</p> + +<p>"That is one of my reasons for making so large a boat. We can sleep in +her very comfortably, one staying awake to steer and paddle, all of us +taking turns at it."</p> + +<p>This plan was eagerly welcomed by the boys, who speedily fell to work +upon the log under Sam's direction. The poplar was very easily worked, +and the boys were all of them skilled in the use of the axes. +Relieving each other at the work, they did not permit it to cease for +a moment, and in half an hour the trunk of the tree was severed in two +places, giving them a log of the desired length to work on.</p> + +<p>Then began the work of hewing it into shape, and this admitted of four +boys working at once, two with the axes, one with the adze and one +with the hatchet. When night came the log had already assumed the +shape of a rude boat, turned bottom up, and Sam was more than +satisfied with the progress made. His comrades were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> enthusiastic, +however, and insisted upon building a bonfire and working for an hour +or two by its light, after supper. They could not work at shaping it +by such a light, but they turned it over and hewed the side which was +to be dug out, down to a level with its future gunwales. The next day +they began work early, and when they quitted it at night their task +was done. The boat was a rude affair but reasonably well shaped, +broad, so that she drew very little water considering her weight, and +with a keel which kept her perfectly steady in the water.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>CAPTAIN SAM PLAYS THE PART OF A SKIPPER.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>he launching of the boat was easy enough, and she rode beautifully on +the water. To test her capacity to remain right side up, Sam put the +boys one by one on her gunwale, and found that their combined weight, +thrown as far as possible to one side, was barely sufficient to make +her take water.</p> + +<p>The stores were stowed carefully in the bow and stern; rough seats +were fitted in after the manner of a boat's thwarts, but not fastened. +They were left moveable for the purpose of making it possible for +several of the boys to lie down in the bottom of the boat at once. +There was no rudder as yet, although it was Sam's purpose to fix one +to the stern as soon as possible, and also to make a mast when they +should get to Pensacola,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> where a sail could be procured. For the +present two long poles and some rough paddles were their propelling +power.</p> + +<p>"When we get out into the river," said Sam, "she will float pretty +rapidly on the high water, and we need only use the paddles to give +her steerage, and to paddle her out of eddies."</p> + +<p>"What are the poles for?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"To push her in shoal water, for one thing," answered Sam, "and to +fend off of banks and trees."</p> + +<p>A large quantity of the long gray moss of the swamps was stored in the +bottom for bedding purposes, and the boat was ready for her +passengers. One by one they took their places, Sam in the bow, and the +voyage down the creek began. This stream was very crooked, and many +fallen trees interrupted its course, so that it was very difficult to +navigate it with so long a boat. In addition to this, the river had +risen much faster than the creek, and the back water had entirely +destroyed the creek's current, so that the boat must be pushed and +paddled every inch of the way.</p> + +<p>Nearly the entire day was consumed in getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> to the river, five +miles away from the starting place, and as the afternoon waned the +boys grew tired, while Jake Elliott began to manifest his old +disposition to criticise Sam's plans.</p> + +<p>"May be we'll make five mile a day, an' may be we wont," he said. +"We'll git to Pensacola in six or eight weeks, I s'pose, if we don't +starve by the way, an' <i>if</i> this water runs that way."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Sam, "the longer we are on the route the better it +will please you, Jake."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because you don't want to get there at all. But we'll be there sooner +than you think?"</p> + +<p>"How long do you reckon it will take us, Sam?" asked Billy.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, because I don't know how long we'll be getting out of +this creek."</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean after we get into the river."</p> + +<p>"About a day and a half," replied Sam, "possibly less."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't I? What do I mean, then?"</p> + +<p>"How far is it?"</p> + +<p>"Less than a hundred miles."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, we can't go a hundred miles in a day and a half."</p> + +<p>"Can't we? I think we can. We'll run day and night, you know, and the +current, at this stage of the water, can't be much less than five +miles an hour. Four miles an hour will take us ninety-six miles in +twenty-four hours."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah for Captain Sam!" shouted Sid Russell, "Yonder's the river, +an' she's a runnin' like a mill tail, too."</p> + +<p>Sid was standing up, and his great length lifted his head high enough +to permit him to see the rapidly running stream long before any one +else did. The rest strained their eyes, or rather their necks trying +to catch a glimpse of the stream, but the undergrowth of the swamp lay +between them and the sight. Sid's announcement put new energy into +them, however, and they plied their paddles vigorously for ten +minutes, when, with a sudden swing around a last curve of the creek, +Sam brought his boat fairly out into the river, and turned her head +down stream. The river was full to its banks, and in places it had +already overflowed. The current was so strong that the mouth of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +creek, out of which they had come, was out of sight in a very few +minutes. Work with the paddles was suspended, Sam only dipping his +into the water occasionally for the purpose of keeping the boat +straight in mid-channel. The river was full of drift-wood, some of it +consisting of large logs and uprooted trees, and night was already +falling. Jake Elliott now spoke again.</p> + +<p>"We ain't a goin' to try to run in the dark in all this 'ere drift, +are we?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I can't say that we are," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"Why, you're not going to stop for the night, are you, Sam?" asked +Billy Bowlegs, who was enjoying the boat ride greatly.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"Why, you said you was, jist a minute ago," muttered Jake Elliott.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I didn't," said Sam, whose patience had been sorely taxed +already by Jake's persistent disposition to find fault.</p> + +<p>"What did you say, then?" asked that worthy.</p> + +<p>"Merely that we're not going to try to run in the dark to-night."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, you're a goin' to stop then?"</p> + +<p>"No, I am not."</p> + +<p>"I see how dat is," said Joe, suddenly catching an idea.</p> + +<p>"Well, explain it to Jake, then," said Sam laughing.</p> + +<p>"W'y, Mas' Jake, don't you see de moon's gwine to shine bright as day, +an' so dey ain't a gwine to be no dark to-night."</p> + +<p>"That's it, Joe," replied Sam, "but if there was no moon I'd still go +on. The drift isn't in the least dangerous."</p> + +<p>"Why not, Sam?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"Well, in the first place, it wouldn't be very easy to knock a hole in +such a boat as this anyhow, and as we're only floating, we go exactly +with the drift nearest us; we go faster than the drift in by the shore +there, because we're in the strongest part of the current, but the +drift nearest us is in the same current, and moves as fast as we do, +or pretty nearly so. My paddling adds something to our speed, but not +much. I only paddle enough to keep the boat straight in the channel. +If we were to stop against the bank, and fasten the boat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>there, the +drift would bump us pretty badly, but it can do us no harm so long as +we float along with it."</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/image_137.jpg" alt="SAM PLAYS THE PART OF SKIPPER." width="350" height="555" /><br /> +<span class="caption">SAM PLAYS THE PART OF SKIPPER.</span></p> + +<p>The moon, nearly at its full, was rising now, and very soon the river +became a picture. Running rapidly, bank full, with tall trees bending +over and throwing their shadows across it, with here and there a +fragment of a moon glade on the water, while the dense undergrowth of +the woods, lying in shadow, gave the stream a margin of inky blackness +on each side,—it was a scene to stimulate the imaginations of the +group of healthy boys who sat in the boat gliding silently but swiftly +down the river.</p> + +<p>Hour after hour they sped on, not a boy among them in the least +disposed to avail himself of Sam's permission to lie down for a nap on +the moss in the bottom of the boat. Every bend of the river gave them +a new picture to look at, and finally Sam had to use authority to make +the boys lie down.</p> + +<p>"We must all sleep some," he said, "for to-morrow the sun will shine +too strong for sleeping, and we've done a hard day's work. It will be +now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> about seven or eight hours until sunrise, and there are just +seven of us. It will take half an hour for the rest of you to get to +sleep, and so I'll run the boat for an hour and a half. Then I'll wake +Billy, and he can run it an hour. Then Joe must take the paddle,—his +name is Butler, you see,—and so on in alphabetical order, each of you +taking charge for an hour. If anything happens,—if you get into an +eddy, or for any other reason find yourselves in doubt about anything, +wake me at once. Now go to sleep."</p> + +<p>Sam took the first watch, because he wished to see, before going to +sleep, that everything was likely to go well. Then he waked Billy +Bowlegs, and, surrendering the paddle to him, went to sleep.</p> + +<p>There was no noise to disturb any one, and all the boys slept soundly, +none of them more soundly than Sam, who had worked especially hard +during the day, and had had a weight of responsibility upon him during +the difficult voyage down the creek. He was quietly sleeping some +hours later when suddenly the boat was sharply jarred, and turned very +nearly on her side, while the water could be heard surging around her +bow and stern.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sam was on his feet in a moment, and the other boys sprang up quickly.</p> + +<p>"Who's at the oar?" cried Sam, "and what's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"We've got tangled in the drift, just as I told you we would," +answered Jake Elliott from the bow, where he sat, paddle in hand, he +being on watch at the time.</p> + +<p>"Just as you meant that we should," answered Sam. "You've deliberately +paddled us out of the current into a drift hammock, you sneaking +scoundrel," continued Sam, now thoroughly angry, seizing Jake by the +shoulders, and throwing him violently into the bottom of the boat. "I +have a notion to give you a good thrashing right here, or to set you +ashore and go on without you."</p> + +<p>"Do it, Captain! Do it! He deserves it," cried the boys, but Sam had +made up his mind not to give way to his temper, however provoking +Jake's conduct might be, and as soon as he could master himself, he +renewed his resolution, which had been broken only in the moment of +sudden awakening.</p> + +<p>The boat was not damaged in the least, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> her position was a +difficult one from which to extricate her. She lay on the upper side +of a pile of drift which had lodged against some trees, and a floating +tree had swept down against her side, pinning her to the hammock, as +such drift piles are called in the South. The work of freeing her +required all of Sam's judgment, as well as all the boys' strength, but +within half an hour, or a little more, the boat was again in the +stream.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Sam, speaking very calmly, "we've lost a good deal of +sleep and must make it up. Jake Elliott, you will take the paddle +again, and keep it till sunrise."</p> + +<p>"Well, but what if he runs us into another snarl?" asked Sid Russell, +uneasily.</p> + +<p>"He won't make any more mistakes," replied Sam.</p> + +<p>"How can you be sure of that?" queried Tom.</p> + +<p>"Because I have whispered in his ear," said Sam.</p> + +<p>What Sam had whispered in Jake's ear was this:—</p> + +<p>"<i>If any further accidents happen to-night, I'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> put you ashore in +the swamp, and leave you there. I mean it.</i>"</p> + +<p>He did mean it, and Jake was convinced of the fact. He knew very well, +too, that if he should be left there in the swamp, with all the creeks +out of their banks, the chances were a thousand to one against his +success in getting back to civilization again. Sam's threat was a +harsh one, but nothing less harsh would have answered his purpose, and +he knew very well that Jake would not dare to incur the threatened +penalty.</p> + +<p>The boys slept again, and soundly. The night waned and day dawned, and +still the current carried them forward. They breakfasted in the boat, +first stripping to the waist and sluicing their heads, necks, arms and +chests with water. Breakfast was scarcely over when the boat shot out +of the Nepalgah into the Connecuh river, whereat the boys gave a +cheer. About noon they entered the Escambia river, and their speed +slackened. Here they had met the influence of the tide which checked +the force of the current, and their progress grew steadily slower, +until Sam directed the use of the paddles. They had long since left +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> drift wood behind, lodged along the banks, and they had now a +broader and straighter stream than before, although it was still not +very broad nor very straight. Two boys paddled at a time, one upon +each side, while a third steered, and by relieving each other +occasionally they maintained a very good rate of speed.</p> + +<p>The moon was well up into the sky again when the river spread out into +Escambia bay, and the boat was moored with a grape vine, in a little +cove on one of the small islands in the upper end of the bay, about +fifteen miles above Pensacola. The boys leaped upon land again gladly. +Their voyage had been made successfully, and they were at last in the +neighborhood of the danger they had set out to encounter, and the duty +they had undertaken to do.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>THLUCCO.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_109.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>hat's your plan now, Sam?" asked Tom, when the boat had been +secured, and a fire built.</p> + +<p>"First and foremost, where are we?" asked Sid Russell.</p> + +<p>"Yes, an' how fur is it to somewhere else?" questioned Billy Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"An' is we gwine to somewher's or somewher's else?" demanded black +Joe, with a grin.</p> + +<p>"One question at a time," said Sam, "and they will go a good deal +farther."</p> + +<p>"Well, begin with Sid's question, then?" said Tommy. "His is the most +sensible; where are we?"</p> + +<p>"We're on an island," returned Sam, "and the island is somewhere here +in the upper part of Es<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>cambia bay. You see how it lies on our map. +The bay ends down there in Pensacola bay, and there is Pensacola, +about fifteen miles away. We came here, you know, to find out what is +going on in Pensacola and its neighborhood, and my plan is to run down +past the town, to some point four or five miles below, in the +neighborhood of Fort Barrancas. There I'll set up a fishing camp, but +first I must get tackle, and, if possible, some duck cloth for a +sail."</p> + +<p>At this point the conversation was interrupted by the sudden +appearance of a canoe's bow in their midst. Their fire was built near +the water's edge, and the canoe which interrupted them had been +paddled silently to the bank, so that its bow extended nearly into +their fire.</p> + +<p>"Ugh, how do," said a voice in the canoe, "how do, pale faces," and +with that the solitary occupant of the canoe leaped ashore and seated +himself in the circle around the fire.</p> + +<p>Joe was frightened, but the other boys were reasonably self-possessed.</p> + +<p>"Injun see fire; Injun come see. Injun friend."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>"White man friend, too," said Sam, holding out his hand. "Injun eat?" +offering the visitor some food.</p> + +<p>"No. Injun eat heap while ago. Injun no hungry, but Injun friendly. +Fire good. Fire warm Injun."</p> + +<p>Sam continued the conversation, desiring to learn whether or not there +was an Indian encampment in the neighborhood. He was not afraid of an +Indian attack, for the Indians were not on the war path in Florida, +but he was afraid of having his boat and tools stolen.</p> + +<p>"Injun's friends over there?" asked Sam, pointing in the direction +from which the canoe had come.</p> + +<p>"No; Injun's friends not here. You know Injun; you see him before?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Sam, "I don't remember you."</p> + +<p>"Injun see you, all same. Injun General Jackson's friend. Injun see +you when you come General Jackson's camp. Me go way then for General +Jackson."</p> + +<p>Here was a revelation. The young savage was, or professed to be, one +of the friendly Indians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> whom General Jackson was using as scouts. It +was certain that he had seen Sam on his entrance into General +Jackson's camp, and he must have left immediately after Sam's arrival +there.</p> + +<p>"How did you get here so quick?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Me run 'cross country. Injun run heap."</p> + +<p>"Where did you get your canoe?"</p> + +<p>"Steal um," answered the Indian with the utmost complacency.</p> + +<p>"Have you been here before?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Injun fish here heap. Injun go fishin' to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Where will you get lines and hooks."</p> + +<p>"Me got um."</p> + +<p>"Where did you get them?"</p> + +<p>"Steal um," answered he again.</p> + +<p>"We're going fishing, too," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"You got hooks? You got lines? You got bait?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"Injun get um for you."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"Steal um."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No," said Sam, "you mustn't steal for us. I'll go to Pensacola and +buy what I want. But you may go with us, if you will, and show us +where to fish."</p> + +<p>"Me go. Injun show you,—down there," pointing down the bay, "heap +fish there."</p> + +<p>The Indian, Sam was disposed to think, was a valuable acquisition, +although he was not disposed to trust him with a knowledge of the real +nature of his mission. Warning the boys, therefore, not to reveal the +secret, he admitted the Indian, whose name was Thlucco, to his +company, not as a member, but as a sort of guide.</p> + +<p>The next morning the boat went down the bay to the town, where Sam +stopped to purchase certain necessary supplies, chiefly fishing tackle +and the materials for making a sail, and to take observations.</p> + +<p>He found many British officers and soldiers lounging around the town, +and had no difficulty in discovering that they were made heartily +welcome by the Spanish authorities, notwithstanding the professed +neutrality of Spain. It was clear enough that while the Spaniards were +at peace with us,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> they were permitting our enemy to make their +territory his base of supplies, and a convenient starting point of +military and naval operations against us. All this was in violation of +every law of neutrality, and it fully justified Jackson in invading +Florida, and driving the British out of Pensacola, as he did, not very +long afterward.</p> + +<p>Sam "pottered around," as he expressed it, making his purchases as +deliberately as possible, and neglecting no opportunity to learn what +he could, with eyes and ears wide open.</p> + +<p>In an open square he saw a sight which astonished him not a little. +Captain Woodbine, a British officer in full uniform, was endeavoring +to drill a band of Indians, whom he had dressed in red coats and +trowsers. A more ridiculous performance was never seen anywhere, and +only an officer like Captain Woodbine, who knew absolutely nothing of +the habits and character of the American Indian, would ever have +thought of attempting to make regularly drilled and uniformed soldiers +out of men of that race. They were excellent fighters, in their own +savage way, but no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> amount of drilling could turn them into soldiers +of the civilized pattern.</p> + +<p>It was a cruel, inhuman thing to think of setting these savages +against the Americans at all, for their notion of war was simply to +murder men, women and children indiscriminately, and to burn houses +and take scalps; but to try to make soldiers out of them was in a high +degree ridiculous, and Sam could scarcely restrain his disposition to +laugh aloud, as he saw them floundering about in trowsers for the +first time in their lives and trying to make out what it all meant.</p> + +<p>Thlucco, wrapped in his blanket, bare-headed and bare-footed, looked +at the performance with an expression of profound contempt on his +face.</p> + +<p>"Red-coat-big-hat-white man big fool!" was the only comment he had to +make upon Captain Woodbine and his drill.</p> + +<p>Having bought what he wanted, and learned what he could, Sam returned +to his boat, and paddled down the bay to a point not far from Fort +Barrancas. Here he established his fishing camp, and began work upon +his rudder, mast and sail. Before the evening was over he had his boat +ready<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> for sea, and was prepared to begin the work of fishing the next +morning. He had news for General Jackson; and before going to sleep he +wrote his first despatch.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>"INJUN NO FOOL."</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_013.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="51" /></div> +<p>am's despatch, written by the light of a few pine knots and with as +much care as if it had been an important state paper,—for whatever +Sam Hardwicke did he tried to do well,—was in these words:—</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">To Major General Jackson</span>,</p> + +<p class="sig2">Commanding Department of the South-West,</p> + +<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Mobile, Alabama</span>.</p> + +<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">General</span>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I arrived with my party to-day. In Pensacola, I found the +British hospitably entertained, not only by the people, but +by Governor Mauriquez himself. They are actually enlisting +the savages in their service, arming them with rifles and +knives and attempting to make regular soldiers out of them. +I saw a British captain drilling about fifty Indians in the +public square of the town at noon to-day.</p> + +<p>I beg to report, also, that the British occupy the defensive +works of the town, including Fort Barrancas, from the +flagstaffs of which float both the British and the Spanish +ensigns, as if the two were allies in this war.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>I am unable to report as yet what the strength of the +British force here is. I have observed men from seven +different companies, in the streets, but have been unable to +learn, without direct inquiry, which would excite suspicion, +whether all these companies are present in full strength, or +whether there are also others here.</p> + +<p>The ships in the bay, so far as I can make them out, are the +Hermes, Captain Percy, 22 guns; the Sophia, Captain Lockyer, +18 guns; the Carron, 20 guns; and the Childers, 18 guns.</p> + +<p>I shall diligently seek to discover the plans and purposes +of the expedition, and will not neglect to report to you +promptly, whatever I may be able to find out. At present it +is evident only that an expedition is fitting out here +against some point on our coast.</p> + +<p class="sig3">I shall send this by a trusty messenger at daybreak.</p> + +<p class="sig3">All of which is respectfully submitted.</p> +</div> + +<p class="sig2">(Signed,)</p> + +<p class="sig5">SAMUEL HARDWICKE,</p> + +<p class="sig4">Commanding Scouting Party.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>This document was duly dated from "Fishing Camp, Five miles below +Pensacola," and when it was written, Sam quietly waked Bob Sharp.</p> + +<p>"Bob," he said, "I have an important duty for you to do."</p> + +<p>"I'm your man, Sam, for anything that turns up."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know that," replied Sam, "and that is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>why I picked you out +for this business. The choice lay between you and Sid Russell, and I +chose you, because I shall need a very rapid walker a little later to +carry a still more important despatch, I fancy."</p> + +<p>"It's a despatch, then," said Bob.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a despatch to General Jackson. You'll find him at Mobile, and it +isn't more than sixty or seventy miles across the country. I bought +three compasses in Pensacola to-day, and you can take one of them with +you. I can't give you my map, but I'll copy it for you on a sheet of +paper. Go to bed now, and be ready to start at daylight. I'll cook up +some food for you, so that you needn't stop on the way to do any +cooking. You must make the distance in the shortest time you can!"</p> + +<p>"After delivering the despatch, then what?" asked Bob.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you want to, you can come back here."</p> + +<p>"Of course I want to," said Bob.</p> + +<p>"But you must rest first, and I'm not at all sure that you'll find us +here. Perhaps you'd better wait in Mobile, at least till my next +despatch comes. Then General Jackson will tell you what to do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you'll just give me permission to start right back, I'll be here +in a week. I kin make twenty-five miles a day, easy, an' that'll more +'n git me back here in that time."</p> + +<p>"Very well, come back then."</p> + +<p>At daylight Bob was off, and when the boys awoke they were full of +curiosity to know the meaning of his absence. While Thlucco was around +Sam would tell them nothing except that he had sent Bob away on an +errand. When Thlucco went to the boat to arrange something about the +fishing tackle, Sam briefly explained the matter, and cautioned the +boys to talk of it no more.</p> + +<p>An hour later they went fishing on a slack tide, and when it turned +and began to run too full for the fish to bite they sailed their boat +to the shore, with fish enough in it to satisfy the most eager of +fishermen.</p> + +<p>During the afternoon Sam sent Sid Russell, into the town, nominally to +buy some trifling thing but really with secret instructions to find +out what he could about the British forces, their movements, their +purposes and their plans.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Injun go town, too," said Thlucco, and without more ado "Injun" went.</p> + +<p>When he returned, about ten o'clock that night, he brought with him a +gun of superior workmanship, and a pouch full of ammunition.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get that?" asked Sam in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Pensacola," said the young savage.</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"Injun 'list. Big-hat-red-coat-white man give Injun gun, drill Injun."</p> + +<p>"What in the world did you do that for?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Um. Injun got eyes. Sam got no guns. Sam need um. Injun git um. Injun +'list agin. Big-hat-red-coat-white man give Injun 'nother gun. Injun +'list six, seven times, git guns for boys."</p> + +<p>"But we don't want any guns, Thlucco."</p> + +<p>"Um. Injun no fool. Sam Jackson man. Injun know. Sam Jackson man. Boys +Jackson men. Sam find out things, boys go tell Jackson. Bob go first. +Um. Injun no fool. Injun Jackson man. Injun git guns, heap."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But what can we do with them when you get them, Thlucco?"</p> + +<p>"Um. Injun no fool. May be red coat men spy Sam. Sam caught. Sam want +guns. Um. Injun no fool."</p> + +<p>Sam saw that it was useless to prolong the conversation. Thlucco was +stolidly bent upon doing as he pleased, and the only thing for Sam to +do was to take care to conceal the guns from the observation of +anybody who might happen to visit the camp.</p> + +<p>Thlucco went to town every day and enlisted anew, only to desert with +his gun each time. Finally he enlisted twice in one day, and the next +day three times, bringing to Sam a gun for each enlistment. By the end +of the week Sam had an armory of ten new rifles, with a store of +ammunition for each. Thlucco could not count very well, and it +required a good deal of persuasion on Sam's part to induce him to stop +enlisting. He was persuaded at last, however, that there were more +than enough guns in camp to arm the whole party, and then he consented +to remain away from the town.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the evening of the sixth day of their stay in the fishing camp, the +boys were just sitting down to their supper of fried fish, when a +familiar voice said:—</p> + +<p>"I think you might make room for me."</p> + +<p>"Bob Sharp back again, as sure's we're here!" exclaimed Billy Bowlegs, +and all the boys rose hastily to greet their comrade.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>SAM SEEKS INFORMATION IN THE DARK.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_109.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>hy, Bob, old fellow, how are you?"</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say you've got back agin?"</p> + +<p>"How'd you find it in the woods?"</p> + +<p>These and a dozen other questions were asked while poor Bob's hand was +wrung nearly off.</p> + +<p>"Now, see here," said Bob, "I can't answer a dozen questions at once. +Besides, I've got despatches for the Captain."</p> + +<p>"Have you?" asked Sam. "Let me have them, then."</p> + +<p>Bob handed Sam an official looking document, which was merely an +acknowledgment of his service, a request that he should not abate his +diligence, and an instruction to use his own discretion in the conduct +of his expedition. Then fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>lowed questions and answers innumerable, +and the boys learned that General Jackson was in Mobile, without an +army, and likely to be without one until the Tennessee volunteers +should arrive.</p> + +<p>Supper over, Sam quietly informed the boys that he was going into the +town, and that he could not say when he should return.</p> + +<p>"What're you a goin' to town this time o' night for?" asked Sid +Russell, who was strongly prejudiced against staying awake a moment +later than was necessary after the sun went down.</p> + +<p>"I've laid some plans to get some information," replied Sam, "and I'm +going after it," and with that he jumped into the boat, with only Tom +for company. In truth, Sam had been in search of the information that +he was going after for several days, and he had reason to hope that he +might get it on this particular night.</p> + +<p>He had already learned that several of the British vessels, now lying +in the bay, had sailed away some little time before, and that they had +returned on the night before Bob's arrival. He knew that their voyage +must have had some connection with the plans they had laid for +operations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> against the American coast, and he thought if he could +discover the nature and purpose of this recent expedition, it would +give him a clew to their projects for the future. To accomplish this +he had taken many risks while the ships were away, and he was now +going to try a new way of getting at facts.</p> + +<p>He sailed his boat up to the town, and before landing, said to Tom:—</p> + +<p>"When I'm ashore, you put off a little way from land and lie-to for an +hour or so. When I want you, I'll come down here to the water's edge +and whistle like a Whip-Will's Widow. When you hear me, run ashore. If +I don't come by midnight, go back to camp, and march at once for +Mobile."</p> + +<p>"Why can't I lie here by the shore till you come. You're going into +danger and may need me."</p> + +<p>"First, because there are ruffians around here who might put you +ashore and steal the boat; but secondly, because I don't want to +excite suspicion by having our boat seen around here at night. It's so +dark that nobody can recognize her if you lie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>-to a hundred yards from +shore. I'm going into danger, but you can't help me."</p> + +<p>Avoiding further parley, Sam jumped ashore, and walked quietly up into +the town, through the main street, until he came to a house built +after the Spanish model, with a rickety stair-way outside. Up this +stair-way he climbed, and when he had reached the top he pushed the +door open and entered. He found himself in a dark passage, but by +feeling he presently discovered a door. As he opened it he said:—</p> + +<p>"It's a dark night."</p> + +<p>"Is it dark?" answered a voice from within.</p> + +<p>"It is very dark."</p> + +<p>All this appeared to be merely a pre-arranged signal, for it had no +sooner been uttered than the owner of the voice within, who seemed +satisfied of Sam's identity, struck a light, with flint and steel, and +carefully closed the door.</p> + +<p>The man was apparently a dark mulatto, and his hair was matted about +his head as if with some glutinous substance.</p> + +<p>"You sent me this note?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I gave it to the Injun. He said you'd help me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a brogue in the man's voice, very slight,—too slight, +indeed, to be represented in print,—and yet it was perceptible, and +it attracted Sam's attention. Perhaps he would scarcely have noticed +it but for the fact that all his senses were keenly on the alert. He +was not at all sure that he was acting prudently in visiting this man. +He had no knowledge whatever of the man, except that Thlucco had +somehow found him and arranged a meeting. Thlucco had brought Sam a +scrap of dirty paper, on which were traced in a scarcely legible +scrawl, these words:—</p> + +<p>"Your man must say, 'It's a dark night!' I'll say, 'Is it dark.' We +will know each other then."</p> + +<p>In delivering this note, with directions as to the method of finding +the man, Thlucco had said:—</p> + +<p>"Injun no fool. Injun know m'latter man. M'latter man tell Sam heap. +Sam take m'latter man way."</p> + +<p>By diligent questioning, Sam had made out that this man had knowledge +of affairs in the British camp which he was willing to sell for some +service that Sam could do him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sam was not sure of Thlucco. His knowledge of the Indian character did +not predispose him to trust Indian professions of friendship, and he +strongly suspected treachery of some sort here. He thought it possible +that this was only a scheme to entrap his secret and himself, and he +had gone to the conference determined to be on his guard, and in the +event of trouble, to use the stout cudgel which he carried as +vigorously as possible.</p> + +<p>"If we are to talk," he said to the man, "you must come with me."</p> + +<p>The man hesitated, afraid, apparently, of treachery.</p> + +<p>"I do not know you," he said, "and the Indian may have lied."</p> + +<p>"Listen to me," said Sam in reply, "I do not know you, and the Indian +may have lied to me. Yet I have trusted myself here in the dark. You +must trust something to me. Go with me, and when we have talked +together for an hour, if you wish to return here, I pledge you my word +of honor, as a gentleman's son, to bring you back safely. If you will +not go with me, we may as well part at once. I positively will not say +another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> word, I'm going. Follow me in silence, or stay here, as you +please."</p> + +<p>With that Sam opened the door and walked out. The man quickly +extinguished the light and crept after Sam, in his bare feet.</p> + +<p>Sam led the way by a route just outside the town, without exchanging a +word with his companion. Half an hour's walking brought them to the +lonely strip of beach on which Sam had landed.</p> + +<p>"Whip-Will's Widow," whistled Sam, shrilly.</p> + +<p>His companion started back in affright, and was on the point of +running away, when Sam seized him by the arm, and, shaking him +vigorously, said:—</p> + +<p>"I'll not play you false. Trust me. I have a boat here."</p> + +<p>"You come from the Fort?" said the man in abject terror.</p> + +<p>"No, I do not. I am an American," said Sam, no longer hesitating to +reveal his nationality, now that he saw how terrified the man was at +thought of falling into British hands.</p> + +<p>The words re-assured the man, and when Tom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> came ashore with the boat +he embarked without further hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Beat about, Tom," said Sam, "I may have to land again. I have +promised this man to return him safely to the place in which I found +him, if we don't come to some agreement. Sail around here while we +talk."</p> + +<p>Turning to the man, he said:—</p> + +<p>"Let us talk in a low voice. Who are you, and what?"</p> + +<p>"I'm a deserter from the marine corps."</p> + +<p>"British?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I'm an Irishman. I've blacked my hair and skin, that's all."</p> + +<p>"When did you desert?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday. I was to be flogged for insubordination, and I jist run +away."</p> + +<p>"Were you with the late expedition?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Very well. I think we can come to an understanding. You want to get +away, out of reach of capture?"</p> + +<p>"Sure I do. If I'm caught, I'll be shot without mercy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well. Now if you'll tell me everything you know, I'll help you +to get away. More than that, I'll get you away, within our own lines. +I have the means at my command."</p> + +<p>"Faith an' I'll tell you everything I ever know'd in my life, if +you'll only get me out of this."</p> + +<p>The man was now in precisely the mood in which Sam wished to have him. +He had already confessed his desertion, and had now every reason to +speak freely and truly, and it was evident that he meant to do so.</p> + +<p>"Tom," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Tom.</p> + +<p>"You may beat up toward our camp, now."</p> + +<p>"And you'll save me?" asked the man, seizing Sam's hand and wringing +it.</p> + +<p>"I will. Now let's come to business."</p> + +<p>"I'm ready," answered the man.</p> + +<p>"Where did the ships go?"</p> + +<p>"To the Island of Barrataria."</p> + +<p>"To treat with Jean Lafitte, the pirate?" exclaimed Sam.</p> + +<p>"Yes, to enlist him and his cut-throats in the war against you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Did they succeed?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. The officers dined with Lafitte, and treated him like a +prince. They came away in good spirits, and must have succeeded, else +they'd a' been glum enough."</p> + +<p>"What do they propose to do next?"</p> + +<p>"They're a goin' to sail again in a few days, and the boys say it's +for Mobile this time. The men had orders yesterday to get ready."</p> + +<p>"What preparation are they making?"</p> + +<p>"They're storing the ships and taking water aboard. The marines are +kept in quarters on shore, and a lot o' them red savages is in camp at +the fort, with Captain Woodbine in command."</p> + +<p>"Well, now," said Sam, "tell me why you think the next movement will +be against Mobile? May it not be New Orleans instead?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see them pirates is wanted for the New Orleans work. They +know all the channels, and have got the pilots. When the fleet starts +for New Orleans some o' them 'll be on board. Besides, the officers +talk over their rum, and the men hear 'em, an' all the talk is about +Mobile, and Mo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>bile Point, whatever that is; so its pretty sure +they're going to Mobile first."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> It is scarcely necessary to tell readers who are familiar +with American History, that Jean Lafitte was not properly a pirate, +although he was called so in 1814; nor is it necessary to tell here +how the British attempt to use his lawless band against the Americans +miscarried. All that belongs to the domain of legitimate history.</p></div></div> + +<p>By this time the boat, which was running under a good stiff breeze, +ran upon the beach by Sam's camp, and Sam led the way to the dying +camp fire, which he replenished, for the sake of the light. Then +getting his writing materials he prepared a despatch to General +Jackson. It ran as follows:—</p> + + +<p class="sig4"><span class="smcap">Camp near Pensacola</span>,</p> + +<p class="sig">September 8th, 1814.</p> + +<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">To Major-General Jackson</span>,</p> + +<p class="sig1">Commanding Department of the South-West.</p> + +<p class="sig3"><span class="smcap">General</span>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I beg to report that several of the British vessels of war +now lying at anchor in the harbor of Pensacola, have just +returned from a brief voyage, the object and nature of which +I have endeavored to discover. I have succeeded in finding a +deserter from the British marine corps, from whom, under +promise of protection, I have drawn such information as he +possesses. He accompanied the late expedition, and tells me +that it went to the Island of Barrataria, to seek the +assistance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> of Jean Lafitte, the pirate, and his gang of +outlaws, against the United States. Whether the negotiations +to that end were successful or not, he does not know, but he +supposes, from the temper in which the officers returned, +that they were.</p> + +<p>From this deserter I learn, also, that preparations are +making for a hostile movement, which the British marines and +soldiers believe, from the remarks made by officers in their +presence, is to be directed against Mobile by way of Mobile +Point, which I take to be the point of land which guards the +entrance to Mobile bay, where Fort Bowyer stands.</p> + +<p>I send the deserter with the messenger who takes this to +you, partly because I have promised to secure him against +recapture, and partly because you may desire to question him +further.</p> + +<p>There are no present appearances of the immediate sailing of +this expedition, but from what the deserter tells me, I +presume that it will sail within a few days. I shall remain +here still, to get what information I can, and will report +to you promptly whatever I learn. I cannot say how long I +shall be able to stay, as a British officer visited my camp +yesterday, and questioned my boys, as I thought, rather +suspiciously. I shall be on the alert, and take no +unnecessary risk of capture.</p> + +<p class="sig1">All of which is respectfully submitted.</p> +</div> + +<p class="sig5">SAMUEL HARDWICKE,</p> + +<p class="sig4">Commanding Scouting Party.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>A SUSPICIOUS OCCURRENCE.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_109.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen Sam had finished his despatch he quietly aroused Bob Sharp and +Sidney Russell, and entered into conversation with them.</p> + +<p>"Sid," he said, "I have a prisoner and a despatch of very great +importance to send to General Jackson. You must take the despatch and +leave as soon as possible, with the prisoner, who is a deserter and +who must be got away from here before daylight. Bob, I want you to +give Sid as good directions as you can, as you've been over the route +twice."</p> + +<p>"Yes an' I've sort o' blazed it too, and picked out all sorts o' +land-marks to steer by, but I don't knows I can make any body else +understand 'em. Are you in a big hurry with the despatch?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, the biggest kind. It's of the utmost importance, and time is +every thing. A single hour lost may lose Mobile or a battle."</p> + +<p>"Then maybe Sid an' me'd both better go,—Sid to do the fast running +an' me to show him the way."</p> + +<p>"There's no use of both of you going," replied Sam, "but if you had +had a couple of days rest I would send you instead of Sid, because you +know the way, and I don't believe anybody can make the distance any +quicker than you have done it."</p> + +<p>"I know a feller that kin," replied Bob.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Me."</p> + +<p>"You? How do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I mean that I kin go to Mobile most a day quicker 'n I dun it before. +I got into a lot o' tangles before that I know how to keep out of +now."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you can't start back again without at least a day's rest."</p> + +<p>"Can't I though? I'm as fresh as an Irish potato without salt, an' if +you just say the word,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> I'll be off the minute you git your papers +ready. The boys have got somethin' cooked I reckon."</p> + +<p>Sam complimented Bob upon his vigor and readiness, and accepted his +offer. Ten minutes sufficed for all necessary preparations, and Bob +was about starting with his prisoner, when Sid Russell spoke.</p> + +<p>"I say, Sam, did you say this 'ere feller's a deserter?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. What of it?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing only there's a camp o' British an' Injuns back there a little +ways, an' if Bob don't look out he'll run right into it."</p> + +<p>"A camp? Where?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Right in rear of us, not three hundred yards away."</p> + +<p>"When was it established there?"</p> + +<p>"To-night, just after you went away in the boat."</p> + +<p>"All right," replied Sam. "Jump into the boat, Bob, and we'll sail +down below and you can start from there."</p> + +<p>It was easy enough to carry Bob and the deserter down to a point below +the camp, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> Sam was not at all pleased to find the British so near +him. He feared already that he was suspected, and he was not sure that +this placing of troops near him was not a preparation for something +else. At all events, it was very embarrassing, for the reason that it +would prevent him from withdrawing his party suddenly to the woods on +their retreat, if anything should happen, and this made Sam uneasy. He +returned to camp, after parting with Bob and the deserter, and sat for +an hour revolving matters in his mind.</p> + +<p>At first he was disposed to wake the boys and quietly withdraw by +water to a point lower down, but upon reflection he was convinced that +his removal by night immediately after the troops had been stationed +near him, would only tend to excite suspicion. He thought, too, that +he must have been wrong in supposing that the camp had been +established in rear of him with any reference to him or his party.</p> + +<p>"If they suspected us in the least, they would arrest us without +waiting to make sure of their suspicions," he thought; nevertheless, +it was awk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>ward to be shut in and cut off from the easy retreat which +he had planned, as a means of escape, in the event of necessity, and +he determined to seek an excuse for removing within a day or two from +his present camping place to one which would leave him freer in his +movements. He was so troubled that he could not sleep, and the +flickering blaze of the dying camp fire annoyed him. He got up, +therefore, from his seat on a log and went to the boat and sat down in +the stern sheets to think.</p> + +<p>He had no fear of danger for himself, or rather, he was prepared to +encounter, without flinching, any danger into which his duty might +lead him; but I have not succeeded very well in making my readers +acquainted with Sam Hardwicke's character, if they do not know that he +was a thoroughly conscientious boy, and from the beginning of this +expedition until now, he had never once forgotten that his authority, +as its commander, involved with it a heavy responsibility.</p> + +<p>"These boys," he frequently said to himself, "are subject to my +command. They must go where I lead them, and have no chance to use +their own judgments. I decide where they shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> go and what they shall +do, and I am responsible for the consequences to them."</p> + +<p>Feeling his responsibility thus deeply, he was troubled now lest any +mistake of his should lead them into unnecessary danger. He carefully +weighed every circumstance which could possibly affect his decision, +and his judgment was that his duty required him to remain yet a day or +two in the neighborhood of Pensacola, and that it would only tend to +awaken suspicion if he should remove his camp to any other point on +the shores of the bay. He must stay where he was, and risk the +consequences. If ill should befall the boys it would be an unavoidable +ill, incurred in the discharge of duty, and he would have no reason, +he thought, to reproach himself.</p> + +<p>Just as he reached this conclusion, Thlucco came from somewhere out of +the darkness, and stepping into the boat took a seat just in front of +Sam, facing him.</p> + +<p>"Why, Thlucco," exclaimed Sam, "where did you come from?"</p> + +<p>"Sh—sh—," said Thlucco. "Injun know. Injun no fool. Injun want +Sam."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What do you want with Sam?"</p> + +<p>"Sam git caught! Injun no fool. Injun see."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Thlucco? Speak out. If there is any danger, I want +to know it."</p> + +<p>"Ugh! Injun know Jake Elliott!"</p> + +<p>"What about Jake?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"Um, Jake Elliott <i>devil</i>. Jake hate Sam. Jake hate General Jackson. +Injun no fool. Injun see."</p> + +<p>Sam was interested now, but it was not easy to draw anything like +detailed information out of Thlucco.</p> + +<p>"What makes you think that, Thlucco? What have you seen or heard?"</p> + +<p>"Um. Injun see. Injun know. Injun no fool. Jake cuss Sam. Jake cuss +Jackson. Injun hear."</p> + +<p>"When did you hear him curse me or General Jackson, Thlucco?" asked +Sam.</p> + +<p>"Um. To-day! 'Nother day, too! 'Nother day 'fore that."</p> + +<p>"What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"Um. Jake <i>cuss</i>. Um. Jake gone."</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed Sam. "Gone! where?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Um. Injun don't know. Injun know Jake gone."</p> + +<p>"When did he leave camp?"</p> + +<p>"Um. When Sam go 'way Jake go too! Injun follow Jake. Jake cuss Injun. +Injun come back."</p> + +<p>"Is that all you know, Thlucco?"</p> + +<p>"Um. That's all. That's 'nough. Jake gone 'way."</p> + +<p>Sam jumped out of the boat and waked the boys.</p> + +<p>"Where did Jake Elliott go to-night?" he asked.</p> + +<p>None of the boys knew.</p> + +<p>"Did any one of you see him leave camp?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Billy Bowlegs, "but we didn't pay much attention to +him. He's been so glum lately that we've been glad to have him out of +sight."</p> + +<p>"Has he ever gone away before?" asked Sam.</p> + +<p>"No, only he never stays right in camp. He sleeps over there by them +trees," said Billy Bowlegs, pointing to a clump of trees about forty +or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> fifty yards away, "an' I guess he's only gone over there. He never +stays with us when you're not here."</p> + +<p>Sam strode over to the trees indicated, and searched carefully, but +could find no trace of Jake there. Returning to the camp he asked:—</p> + +<p>"Did any of you observe which way he went when he went away?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Sid Russell, "he went toward his trees."</p> + +<p>"That is toward the town," answered Sam.</p> + +<p>"Yes, so it is."</p> + +<p>"Have you observed anything peculiar about his conduct lately?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Billy Bowlegs, "only that he's been a gettin' glummer +an' glummer. I'll tell you what it is, Captain Sam, I'll bet a big +button he's deserted an' gone home. He's a coward and he's been scared +ever since he found out that you wa'n't foolin' about this bein' a +genu-<i>ine</i>, dangerous piece of work, an' I'll bet he's cut his lucky, +an' gone home, an' if ever I get back there I'll pull his nose for a +sneak, you just see if I don't."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Sam, "go to sleep again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> then. If he has gone home +it is a good riddance of very bad rubbish."</p> + +<p>Sam was not by any means satisfied that Jake had gone home, however. +Indeed he was pretty well convinced that he had done nothing of the +sort, and he wished for a chance to think, so that he might determine +what was best to be done. He believed Jake would not dare to go home +as a deserter, knowing very well what reputation he would have to bear +ever afterward, in a community in which personal courage was held to +be the first of the virtues, and the lack of it the worst possible +vice. Where had he gone, then, and for what? Sam did not know, but he +had an opinion on the subject which grew stronger and stronger the +more he revolved the matter in his mind.</p> + +<p>Jake Elliott, he knew, had a personal grudge against him, and no very +kindly feeling for the other boys. He was confessedly afraid to +continue in the service in which he was engaged, and it was not easy +for him to quit it. There was just one safe way out of it; and that +offered, not safety only, but revenge of precisely the kind that Jake +Elliott was likely to take. Sam knew very well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> that, notwithstanding +his magnanimity, Jake still bitterly hated him, and still cherished +the design of wreaking his vengeance upon him at the first +opportunity.</p> + +<p>"What is more probable, then," he asked himself, "than that Jake is +trying to betray us into the hands of the enemy to die as spies? He is +abundantly capable of the treachery and the meanness, and his +desertion of the camp to-night strongly confirms the suspicion."</p> + +<p>This much being decided, it was necessary for Sam to determine what +should be done in the circumstances. If there had been no camp in his +rear, he would have withdrawn his command through the woods at once. +As it was, he must find some other way. It was clearly his duty to +escape with his boys, if he could, and to lose no time in attempting +it. The danger was now too near at hand, and too positive to be +ignored, and there was really very little more for him to do here. He +must escape at once.</p> + +<p>But could he escape?</p> + +<p>That was a question which the event would have to answer, as Sam could +not do it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> Unluckily, it was already beginning to grow light, and he +would not have the shelter of darkness.</p> + +<p>He aroused the boys again, before they had had time to get to sleep, +and quietly began his preparations.</p> + +<p>"Make no noise," he said, "but put what provisions you have, and all +your things into the boat. <i>Don't forget the guns and the ammunition.</i> +Sid! take our little water keg and run and fill it with fresh water."</p> + +<p>The boys set about their preparations hurriedly, although they but +dimly guessed the meaning of Sam's singular orders.</p> + +<p>At that moment Jake Elliott shuffled into the camp.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>JAKE ELLIOTT MAKES ANOTHER EFFORT TO GET EVEN.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_059.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="51" /></div> +<p>s it is impossible to tell at one time the story of the doings of two +different sets of persons in two different places, it follows that, if +both are to be told, one must be told first and the other afterward.</p> + +<p>For precisely this reason, I must leave Sam and his party for a time +now, while I tell where Jake Elliott had been, and what he had been +about.</p> + +<p>When Sam let him off as easily as he could at the time of the compass +affair, and even went out of his way to prevent the boys from +referring to that transaction, he did so with the distinct purpose of +giving Jake an opportunity and a motive to redeem his reputation; and +he sincerely hoped that Jake would avail himself of the chance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is not easy for a man or boy of right impulses to imagine the +feelings, or to comprehend the acts of a person whose impulses are all +wrong, and so it was that Sam fell into the error of supposing that +his badly behaved follower would repent of his misconduct and do +better in future. This was what all the boys thought that Jake ought +to do, and what Sam thought he would do; but in truth he was disposed +to do nothing of the sort, and Sam was not very long in discovering +the fact. Instead of feeling grateful to Sam for shielding him against +the taunts of his companions, he hated Sam more cordially than ever, +when he found how completely he had failed in his attempt to embarrass +the expedition. He nursed his malice and brooded over it, determined +to seize the first opportunity of "getting even," as he expressed it, +and from that hour his thoughts were all of revenge, complete, +successful, merciless. He was willing enough, too, to include the +other boys in this wreaking of vengeance, as he included them now in +his malice.</p> + +<p>His first attempt to accomplish his purpose, as we know already, was +an effort to wreck the boat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> in a drift pile, and that affair served +to open Sam's eyes to the true character of the boy with whom he had +to deal. He trusted him no more, and managed him thereafter only by +appeals to his fears.</p> + +<p>When the camp was formed near Pensacola, Sam carefully canvassed the +possibilities of Jake's misconduct, and concluded that the worst he +could do would be to injure the boat or her tackle, and he +sufficiently guarded against that by always sleeping near the little +craft.</p> + +<p>Jake was more desperately bent upon revenge than Sam supposed, and +from the hour of going into camp he diligently worked over his plan +for accomplishing his purpose. He had learned by previous failures, to +dread Sam's quickness of perception, of which, indeed, he stood almost +superstitiously in awe. He would not venture to take a single step +toward the accomplishment of the end he had set himself, until his +plans should be mature. For many days, therefore, he only meditated +revenge not daring, as yet, to attempt it by any active measures. At +last, however, he was satisfied that his plans were beyond Sam's +power<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> to penetrate, and he was ready to put them into execution. On +the night of Bob Sharp's return, which was the night last described in +previous chapters, Sam went to the town, as we know, accompanied by +Tom, who sailed the boat. As soon as he was fairly out of sight Jake +walked away toward Pensacola. The distance was considerable, and the +way a very difficult one, as the tide was too high for walking on the +beach, so that it was nearly midnight when Jake knocked at a house on +a side street.</p> + +<p>"Who is there?" asked a night-capped personage from an upper window.</p> + +<p>"A friend," answered Jake.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" said the night-capped head, rather gruffly.</p> + +<p>"I want to see the Leftenant."</p> + +<p>"What do you want with me?"</p> + +<p>"I want to talk with you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, go to the mischief! I'm in bed."</p> + +<p>"But I must see you to-night," said Jake.</p> + +<p>"On business?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Important?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Won't it keep till morning?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; I'm afraid not."</p> + +<p>"Very well. I suppose I must see you then. Push the door open and find +your way up the stairs."</p> + +<p>Jake did as he was told to do, and presently found himself in the room +where Lieutenant Coxetter had been sleeping. That distinguished +servant of His Majesty, King George, had meantime drawn on his +trowsers, and he now lighted a little oil lamp, which threw a wretched +apology for light a few feet into the surrounding darkness.</p> + +<p>"Now then," said the officer, in no very pleasant tones, "What do you +want with me at this time o' night? Who are you, and where do you come +from?"</p> + +<p>Jake was so nervous that he found it impossible to find a place at +which to begin his story, and the impatient Lieutenant spurred him +with direct questions.</p> + +<p>"What's your name?" he asked. "You can tell that, can't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," faltered Jake.</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/image_190.jpg" alt=""SPEAK, MAN! OR I CHOKE YOU."" width="400" height="618" /><br /> +<span class="caption">"SPEAK, MAN! OR I CHOKE YOU."</span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, tell it then, and be quick about it."</p> + +<p>"My name is Jacob Elliott," said that worthy, fairly gasping for +breath in his embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you do know your name, then," said the officer. "Now, then, where +do you come from?"</p> + +<p>"From Alabama," answered Jake.</p> + +<p>"From Alabama! the mischief you do! You're an American then? What the +mischief are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir, that's just what I want to tell you about, if you'll let +me."</p> + +<p>"If I'll <i>let</i> you? Ain't I doing my very best to <i>make</i> you? Havn't I +been worming your facts out of you with a corkscrew? But you'd better +be quick about giving an account of yourself. If you don't give a +pretty satisfactory one, too, I'll arrest you as a <i>spy</i>,—a <i>spy</i>, my +good fellow, do you understand? <i>A spy</i>, and we hang that sort o' +people. Come, be quick."</p> + +<p>"Spies! that's just it, Lieutenant. I came here to-night to tell you +about spies."</p> + +<p>"Then why the mischief don't you do it? You'll drive me mad with your +halting tongue. Speak man, or I'll choke you!" and with that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +officer stood up and bent forward over Jake, to that young man's +serious discomfiture.</p> + +<p>"They's some spies here—" Jake began. "Where?" asked the impatient +officer interrupting him.</p> + +<p>"Down there, in a camp," said Jake, talking as rapidly as he could, +lest the officer should interrupt him again; "Down there in a camp by +the bay, an' they've got a boat an' guns, an' they're boys, an' they +pretend to be a fishin' party."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the Lieutenant, "I thought I'd make you find your tongue. +Now listen to me, and answer my questions, and mind you don't lie to +me, sir; mind you don't lie."</p> + +<p>"I won't. I pledge you my honor—," began Jake.</p> + +<p>"Never mind pledging that; it isn't worth pledging. You see you're a +sneak, else you wouldn't be here telling tales on your fellow +countrymen. But never mind. It's my business to make use of you. I'm +provost-marshal."</p> + +<p>This was not at all the sort of treatment Jake had expected to receive +at the hands of British officers. He had supposed that the value of +his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> services in betraying his fellows, would be recognized and +rewarded, and he had even dreamed of receiving marked attentions and a +good, comfortable, safe place in the British service in recompense. It +had never occurred to him that while all military men must get what +information they can from deserters, and traitors, they do not respect +the sneaking fellows in the least, but on the contrary hold them in +profoundest contempt, almost spurning them with their boots. Jake had +gone too far to retreat, however, and must now tell his whole story. +He told where the boys were, and how they had come there, and for what +purpose, lying only enough to make it appear that he himself had never +willingly joined them, but had been deceived at first, and forced +afterward into the service.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant listened to the story and then asked:—</p> + +<p>"Have you anything to show for all this?"</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?" asked Jake.</p> + +<p>"Why, you wretched coward, don't you understand? How am I to know how +much of your story is true, and how much of it false? Of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> course it +isn't all true. You couldn't talk so long without telling some lies. +What I want to know is, what can you show for all this story? If I +arrest these boys, what can be proved on them?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the Captain's got a despatch from General Jackson; that'll +prove something."</p> + +<p>"When did he get it?"</p> + +<p>"To-night."</p> + +<p>"Very well. That's something. Now you just sit still till I tell you +to do something else."</p> + +<p>So saying the Lieutenant summoned a courier or two, and sent them off +with notes.</p> + +<p>"These boys have a boat, you say?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Do they know how to sail it?"</p> + +<p>"A little; the Captain handles it better'n the rest."</p> + +<p>"Has he ever been to sea?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"What sort of a boat is it?"</p> + +<p>"A dug-out; we made it ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Oh, did you? Why didn't you tell me that first? Never mind, it's all +right. They'll never try to put to sea in a dug-out, but they may try +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> escape to some point lower down the bay in it, so my message to +the fort won't be amiss."</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant had sent a message to the fort that at daylight he +should arrest the party, and that if they should take the alarm and +try to escape by water, a boat must be sent from the fort to overhaul +them.</p> + +<p>He now dressed himself, first sending for a file of soldiers under a +sergeant, with instructions to parade at his door immediately.</p> + +<p>When all was ready he said to Jake.</p> + +<p>"Now then, young man, come with me, and guide me to the camp of these +lads."</p> + +<p>Jake led the way, and when a little after daylight they approached the +camp the Lieutenant said to him:—</p> + +<p>"I don't want to make any mistake in this business. You go ahead to +the camp and see if the lads are there. That'll throw 'em off their +guard, and I'll come up in five minutes."</p> + +<p>"But Lieu—" began Jake, remonstratingly.</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue, and do as I tell you, or I'll string you up to a +tree, you rascal."</p> + +<p>Thus admonished, Jake walked on in fear and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> trembling to the camp. As +he approached it he observed the unusual stir which was going on, and +wondered what it meant, but he did not for a moment imagine that Sam +had guessed the truth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SEA FIGHT.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_109.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="50" /></div> +<p>hen Jake entered the camp it was fairly light, and as Sam looked at +him he caught a glimpse of the file of soldiers in the thicket, three +or four hundred yards away.</p> + +<p> +He knew what it meant.</p> + +<p>"We're about to leave this place, Jake," said Sam, as the boys stowed +the last of their things in the boat, "we're about to leave this +place, and you're just in time. Get in."</p> + +<p>"Well, but where—" began the culprit.</p> + +<p>"Get in," interrupted Sam, who stood with one of the rifles in his +hands.</p> + +<p>Jake hesitated, and was indeed upon the point of running away, when +Sam, placing the muzzle of his gun almost against Jake's breast, +said:—</p> + +<p>"Get into the boat instantly, or I'll let daylight through you, sir."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was no help for it, and Jake obeyed.</p> + +<p>Sam quickly cast the boat loose, and as he did so, the Lieutenant +discovered his purpose, and started his men at a full run toward the +camp.</p> + +<p>Sam pushed the boat off and, taking his place in the stern, took the +helm.</p> + +<p>"Hoist the sail, quick!" he said; and the sail went up in a moment. A +strong breeze was blowing and the sail quickly bellied in the wind.</p> + +<p>"Lie down, every man of you," cried Sam, but without setting the +example. A moment later a shower of bullets whistled around his ears. +He had seen that the soldiers were about to fire upon him, and had +ordered his companions to lie down, confident that the thick solid +sides of the boat would pretty effectually protect them.</p> + +<p>As for himself, he must take the chances and navigate his boat. The +soldiers were not move than fifty yards from him when they fired but +luckily they failed to hit him.</p> + +<p>"Now for a run!" he exclaimed. "Before they can load again, I'll be +out of range, or pretty nearly."</p> + +<p>The breeze was very fresh, almost high, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> as the boat got out from +under the lee of the shore timber, she heeled over upon one side, and +sped rapidly through the water. The Lieutenant made his men fire +again, but the distance was now so great that their bullets flew wide +of the mark.</p> + +<p>"We're off boys at last. Look out for Jake Elliott and don't let him +jump overboard, or he'll swim ashore. He is a prisoner."</p> + +<p>"Is he? what for?" asked Billy Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"For betraying us to the British."</p> + +<p>At this moment a boat pushed out from the dock at the fort, and Sid +Russell, who was Sam's most efficient lieutenant, and was scanning the +whole bay for indications of pursuit, cried:</p> + +<p>"There goes a row boat out from the fort, Sam, an' they's soldiers on +board 'n her. I see their guns."</p> + +<p>"Arm yourselves, boys," was Sam's reply. "I want to say a word first. +Jake Elliott has betrayed us to these people, and they are trying to +arrest us. If they catch us, we shall be treated as spies; that is to +say, we shall be hanged to the most convenient tree. I believe we're +all the sons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> of brave men, and ready to die, if we must, but I, for +one, don't mean to die like a dog, and for that reason I'll never be +taken alive."</p> + +<p>"Nor me," "nor me," "nor me," answered the boys, neglectful of +grammar, but very much in earnest.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then," replied Sam. "It is understood that we're not going +to surrender, whatever happens."</p> + +<p>"It's agreed," answered every boy there except the wretched prisoner, +who was no longer counted one of them.</p> + +<p>"That boat has no sail," said Sam, "and she's got half a mile to row +through rough water before she crosses our track half a mile ahead. I +think I can give her the slip. If I can't we'll fight it out, right +here in the boat. Now, then, one cheer for the American flag!" and as +he said it, Sam drew forth a little flag which he had carried in all +his wanderings, for use if he should need it, and ran it up to his +mast head by a rude halyard which he had arranged in anticipation of +some such adventure as this.</p> + +<p>The boys gave the cheer from the bottom of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> their broad chests, and +every one took the place which Sam assigned him, with gun in hand. +Meantime Sam tacked the boat in such a way as to throw the point of +meeting between her and the British boat as far from the fort as +possible. It was very doubtful whether he could pass that point before +the row boat, propelled by six oars in the hands of skilled oarsmen, +should reach it. If not, there remained only the alternative of +"fighting it out."</p> + +<p>"Reserve your fire, boys, till I tell you to shoot. There are only six +armed men in that boat. If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale. +You mustn't shoot till we come to close quarters. Then take good aim, +and make your fire tell. A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives. +Above all, keep perfectly cool. We've work to do that needs coolness +as well as determination."</p> + +<p>The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Sam +saw that he would succeed in passing it first, but narrowly, he +thought.</p> + +<p>"We'll beat them, boys," he said. "The sea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> is rough, and they can't +do much at long range, and they won't get more than one shot close to +us." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, after +the manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day. The two +boats were not a hundred yards apart, but the roughness of the water, +on which the row boat bobbed about like a cork, rendered the volley +ineffective.</p> + +<p>"They're good soldiers with an idiot commanding them," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Tom, who was very coolly studying the situation.</p> + +<p>"Because he made them fire too soon," replied Sam, "and we can slip by +now while they're loading. Don't shoot, Joe!" he exclaimed to the +black boy who was manifestly on the point of doing so. "Don't shoot, +we've got the best of them now; we are past them and making the +distance greater every second. Give them a cheer to take home with +them. Hurrah!"</p> + +<p>It was raining now, and the wind was blowing a gale, so that Sam's +boat was running at a speed which made pursuit utterly hopeless. The +British<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> soldiers fired three or four scattering shots, and then +cheered in their turn, in recognition of the admirable skill and +courage with which their young adversary had eluded them.</p> + +<p>Sam's escape was not made yet, however. A war ship lay below, and her +commander seeing the chase, and the firing in the bay, manned a light +boat with marines, and sent her out to intercept Sam's craft, without +very clearly understanding the situation or its meaning.</p> + +<p>Sam saw this boat put off from the ship, and knew in an instant what +it meant. He saw, too, that he had no chance to slip by it as he had +done by the other, as it was already very near to him, and almost in +his track.</p> + +<p>"Now, boys," he said very calmly, "we've got to fight. There's no +chance to slip by that boat, and we've got to whip her in a fair +fight, or get whipped. Keep your wits about you, and listen for +orders. Cover your gun pans to keep your priming dry. Here, Tom, take +the tiller. I must go to the bow."</p> + +<p>Tom took the helm, and as he did so Sam said to him:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Keep straight ahead till I give you orders to change your course, and +then do it instantly, no matter what happens. I've an idea that I know +how to manage this affair now. You have only to listen for orders, and +obey them promptly."</p> + +<p>"I'll do what you order, no matter what it is," said Tom, and Sam went +at once to the bow of his boat.</p> + +<p>His boys were crouching down on their knees to keep themselves as +steady as they could, and their guns, which they were protecting from +the rain, were not visible to the men in the other boat, who were +astonished to find that they had, as they supposed, only to arrest a +boat's crew of unarmed boys.</p> + +<p>The boats were now within a stone's throw of each other, the English +boat lying a little to the left of Sam's track, but the officer in +command of it, supposing that the party would surrender at the word of +command, ordered his men not to open fire.</p> + +<p>"They's a mighty heap on 'em for sich a little boat," whispered Sid +Russell.</p> + +<p>"So much the better," said Sam. "They're badly crowded."</p> + +<p>Then, turning to his companions, he said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Lie down, quick, they'll fire in a moment."</p> + +<p>The boys could see no indication of any such purpose on the part of +the British marines, but Sam knew what he was about and he knew that +his next order to his boys would draw a volley upon them.</p> + +<p>Turning to Tom, and straightening himself up to his full height, while +the British officer was loudly calling to him to lie to and surrender, +Sam cried out:</p> + +<p>"Jam your helm down to larboard, Tom, quick and hard, and ram her into +'em!"</p> + +<p>Tom was on the point of hesitating, but remembering Sam's previous +injunction and his own promise, he did as he was ordered, suddenly +changing the boat's course and running her directly toward the British +row boat, which was now not a dozen yards away. The speed at which she +was going was fearful. The British, seeing the manœuvre, fired, but +wildly, and the next moment Sam's great solid hulk of a boat struck +the British craft amidships, crushed in her sides, cut her in two, and +literally ran over her.</p> + +<p>"Now, bring her back to the wind," cried Sam, "and hold your course."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> + +<p>The boat swung around and was flying before the wind again in a +second. Boats were rapidly lowered from the war ship to rescue the +struggling marines from the water into which Sam had so +unceremoniously thrown them.</p> + +<p>"Three cheers for our naval victory, and three more for our +commodore!" called out Billy Bowlegs, and the response came quickly.</p> + +<p>"It's too soon to cheer," said Sam. "We're not out of the scrape yet."</p> + +<p>The next moment a puff of smoke showed itself on the side of the war +ship and a shower of grape shot whizzed angrily around the boat. A +second and a third discharge followed, and then came solid shot, +sixty-four pounders, howling like demons over the boys' heads, and +plowing the water all around them. Their speed quickly took them out +of range, however, and the firing ceased.</p> + +<p>They now had time to look about them and estimate damages. None of the +solid shot had taken effect, but three of the grape shot had struck +the boat, greatly marring her beauty, but doing her no serious damage.</p> + +<p>"Are any of you hurt?" asked Sam. All the boys reported themselves +well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then make a place for me in the middle of the boat, where I can lie +down," replied Sam, "I'm wounded."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"Not badly, I hope, Sam?" the boys answered quickly.</p> + +<p>"I'm hurt in two places. They shot me as we ran over that boat," said +Sam, "but not very badly, I think. I'm faint, however," and as he lay +down in the boat he lost consciousness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>CAPTAIN SAM.</h3> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_046.jpg" alt="Drop Cap" width="50" height="49" /></div> +<p>he boys were now badly frightened, and the more so because they did +not know what to do for their chief, who lay dying, as they supposed. +His left hand and shoulder were bleeding profusely, and Tom, +remembering some instructions that Sam had once given him<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> with +respect to the stopping of a flow of blood, at once examined the +wounds, to discover their nature. Two fingers of Sam's left hand had +been carried away, and a deep flesh wound showed itself in his +shoulder. By the use of a handkerchief or two Tom soon succeeded in +staunching the flow of blood, while one of the other boys sailed the +boat. After a little while the dashing rain revived the wounded boy, +and while he was still very weak, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>he was able, within an hour, to +take the direction of affairs into his own hands again.</p> +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See "The Big Brother" Chapter 3.</p></div></div> + +<p>But what mischief maybe done in an hour! The boys had never once +thought of anything but Sam, during all that time, and they had been +sailing for an hour straight out into the Gulf of Mexico, at a furious +rate of speed! It was pouring down rain, and land was nowhere visible!</p> + +<p>When Sam's questions drew out these facts, the boys were disposed to +be very much frightened.</p> + +<p>"There's no cause for alarm, I think," said Sam, reassuringly. "I +think I know how to manage it, and perhaps it is better so."</p> + +<p>"Of course you know how to manage," said Sid Russell, admiringly. "I'm +prepared to bet my hat an' boots on that, now or any other time. You +always do know how to manage, whatever turns up. That long head o' +your'n's got more'n a little in it."</p> + +<p>Sam smiled rather feebly and replied:—</p> + +<p>"Wait till I get you out of the scrape we're in, Sid, before you +praise me."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll take it on trust," said Sid, "an' back my judgment on it, +too."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let me have your compass, Tom," he said; and taking the instrument +which he had confided to Tom's hands at starting on the voyage, he +opened his map just enough to catch a glimpse of the coast lines +marked on it, having one of the boys hold a hat over it, to protect it +from the rain as he did so. After a little while he said:—</p> + +<p>"Take the helm, Tom, and hold the boat due west. There, that will do. +Now let her go, and keep her at that. The wind is north-east, and +she'll make good time in this direction."</p> + +<p>"Where are you aiming for, Sam?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"The mouth of Mobile Bay."</p> + +<p>"Does it lie west?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly, but a little north of west. We can sail faster due west, +however, and after awhile we'll tack to the north till we see land. +It's about forty miles from the mouth of Pensacola Bay to the mouth of +Mobile bay, and we're going, I think, about six or seven miles an +hour."</p> + +<p>"But, how'll you find the mouth of the bay?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I can, but I can find land<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> easily enough, as it +stretches in a bow all along to the north of us. But I want to strike +as near the mouth of the bay as I can, so as to have as little +marching to do as possible. If I can get into the bay, I can sail +clear up to Mobile."</p> + +<p>"But, Sam?"</p> + +<p>"Well."</p> + +<p>"What if it storms? It looks like it was going to."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think we can weather it. This boat can't spring a leak, and +if she fills full of water she won't sink, for she's only a log +hollowed out."</p> + +<p>"That's so, but won't she turn over like a log?"</p> + +<p>"I think not. She's heaviest at the bottom, and I made her keel very +heavy on purpose."</p> + +<p>"Why, did you expect to go to sea in her?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I thought I might have to do it, to get away from Pensacola."</p> + +<p>"Did you think of that when you planned her, up there in the woods?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sid, "of course he did! Don't he always think of every +thing before it comes?"</p> + +<p>It was rapidly coming on to storm. The rain was falling very slightly +now, and the wind was shifting to the east and rapidly rising. Sam +directed the boys to shorten sail, and showed them how to do it. The +wind grew stronger and stronger, suddenly shifting to the south. The +sail was still further shortened. The sea now began coming up, and Sam +saw that their chief danger was that of getting washed overboard. He +cautioned the boys against this, and changed the boat's course, so as +to keep her as nearly as possible where she was. A heavy sea broke +over her, and carried away their only water keg, which was a dire +calamity. After a little while their store of food went, and they were +at sea, in a storm, without food or water!</p> + +<p>"I say, Sam," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"Is there land all to the north of us?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"How far is it?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty miles, perhaps,—possibly less."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why can't we head the boat about, and run for it?"</p> + +<p>"Because the wind is blowing on shore, and there's a heavy surf +running."</p> + +<p>"What of that?"</p> + +<p>"Why, simply this, that if we run ashore on a long, flat beach, the +boat will be beaten to splinters a mile or more from land."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"By the waves; they would lift her up, and receding let her drop +suddenly on the sands, splitting her to pieces in no time, and the +very next wave would do the same thing for us. We must stay out here +till the storm's over. There's nothing else for it."</p> + +<p>The storm lasted long enough to make a furious sea, and the boys could +do nothing but hold on to the boat's gunwales. As night came on the +wind ceased, very suddenly, as it frequently does in Southern seas, +but the waves still rolled mountain high.</p> + +<p>"When the sea goes down we'll try to make land, won't we, Sam?" asked +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but before the surf is safe for us, we can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> sail several hours +toward Mobile, and gain that much. Indeed, I think we can get that far +west before it will be tolerably safe to run ashore. We're hungry and +thirsty, of course, but we must endure it. There's no other way."</p> + +<p>The boat was presently headed to the west, and the sail unfurled +again, but as the night advanced the wind fell to a mere breeze, and +then died altogether. It began to grow hazy. The haze deepened into a +dense fog. The sea went down, and the boat rocked idly on a ground +swell.</p> + +<p>"Now, let's run ashore," said Billy Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>"What will we run with? There isn't a cap full of wind on the Gulf of +Mexico, and there won't be while this fog lasts."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do, then?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, for there is literally nothing to be done," answered Sam.</p> + +<p>"Mas' Sam," said Joe, "I'll tell you what."</p> + +<p>"Well, Joe, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"Ef we jist had a couple o' paddles."</p> + +<p>"But we just haven't a couple of paddles," answered Sam. "No, what we +need now is courage and endurance. We must wait for a wind, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> keep +our courage up. We are suffering already with hunger and thirst, and +will suffer more, but it can't be helped. We must keep our courage up, +and endure that which we cannot do anything to cure. It is harder to +endure suffering than to encounter danger, but a brave man, or a brave +boy, can do both without murmuring."</p> + +<p>Sam's words encouraged his companions, and they managed to get some +sleep. After awhile day dawned, and the fog was still thick around +them, while not a zephyr was astir. Nearly an hour later, a sudden +booming startled them. It was a cannon, and was very near.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" asked the boys in a breath.</p> + +<p>"A sunrise gun, I think," said Sam, "and it's on a ship or a fort. Now +then all together with a shout."</p> + +<p>They shouted in concert. No answer came. They shouted again and again, +and finally their shout was answered. A little later a row boat came +out into the fog, and the first man Sam saw in it was Tandy Walker.</p> + +<p>It is not necessary to repeat the greetings and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> the explanations that +were given. Sam learned that the gun had been fired from Fort Bowyer, +the guardian fortress, which, standing on Mobile Point, commanded the +entrance to the bay. The fort had been garrisoned only the day before, +and Tandy was one of the garrison. Sam's boat had drifted further west +than he had supposed, and he found himself now precisely at the point +he had tried to reach.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>As Sam was too weak to walk, and there was no wind with which to sail +up to the town, a messenger was sent by land from the fort, bearing to +General Jackson a detailed account of Sam's wanderings and adventures +in the shape of a written report. When the wind served, the little +band of weary wanderers sailed up to Mobile, and when Sam reached the +hospital to which he had been assigned for the treatment of his +wounds, he found there an official despatch from General Jackson, from +which the following is an extract:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"The commanding General begs to express his high sense of the services +rendered by Samuel Hardwicke and his band, and his appreciation of the +rare courage, discretion and fortitude displayed by the youthful +leader of the Pensacola scouting party. A few blank commissions in the +volunteer forces having been placed in the commanding General's hands +for bestowal upon deserving men, he is greatly pleased to issue the +first of them to Mr. Hardwicke, in recognition of his gallant conduct, +creating him a captain of volunteers, to date from the day of his +departure on his recent mission."</p> + +<p>"So, you're really 'Captain Sam' after all," said Sid Russell, when +the document was read in his presence, and the formal commission had +been inspected reverently by all the boys.</p> + +<p>"Yes, an' he's been a real 'Captain Sam' all the time," said Billy +Bowlegs.</p> + +<p>What became of Jake Elliott?</p> + +<p>If he had been an enlisted soldier he would have been tried by court +martial. As it was, the boys formally drummed him out of their +company, and he disappeared from Mobile. He did not go home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> as the +boys learned a few months later, when, after the battle of New +Orleans, peace was proclaimed throughout the land, and they were led +back by their favorite hero, Captain Sam.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The End.</span></h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CAPITAL_BOOKS_FOR_BOYS" id="CAPITAL_BOOKS_FOR_BOYS"></a>CAPITAL BOOKS FOR BOYS.</h2> + + +<p><b>I. YOUNG MECHANIC (THE). Practical Carpentry.</b> Containing Directions +for the use of all kinds of Tools, and for the construction of Steam +Engines and Mechanical Models, including the Art of Turning in Wood +and Metal. Illustrated, small 4to, cloth extra. <br /> +<span class="sig6">$1.75</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A valuable book, eminently useful to beginners, and +suggestive even to the experienced and skillful."—<i>Albany +Journal</i>.</p></div> + +<p><b>II. AMONGST MACHINES</b>. By the author of "The Young Mechanic." Square +octavo, very fully illustrated, cloth extra. <br /> +<span class="sig6">$2.00</span></p> + +<p><b>III. THE BIG BROTHER.</b> A Story for Boys, of Indian War. By <span class="smcap">George +Cary Eggleston</span>. Small octavo, illustrated, cloth extra. <br /> +<span class="sig6">$1.50</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"An admirable story* *strikingly realistic."<i>—Boston +Transcript.</i></p> + +<p>"Leaves little to be desired."—<i>Phila. Enquirer</i>.</p></div> + +<p><b>IV. CAPTAIN SAM</b>; or, <b>The Boy Scout of 1814.</b> By <span class="smcap">George Cary +Eggleston</span>, author of "The Big Brother," "How to Educate +Yourself," etc., etc. Octavo, illustrated. <br /> +<span class="sig6">$1.50</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The thousands of boys who read with delight Mr. Eggleston's +first volume, will eagerly welcome the appearance of the +further history of "The Big Brother" and his friends.</p></div> + +<p><b>V. BOYS OF OTHER COUNTRIES.</b> Stories for American Boys. By <span class="smcap">Bayard +Taylor</span>. Octavo, cloth, illustrated; uniform with "Big Brother."<br /> + +<span class="sig6">$1.50.</span></p> + +<p><b>VI. THE BOY WITH AN IDEA.</b> By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Eilvart.</span> Octavo, +illustrated, cloth extra. <br /> +<span class="sig6">$1.75</span></p> + +<p><b>VII. THE HOUSE WITH SPECTACLES.</b> By <span class="smcap">Leora B. Robinson.</span> +Square 16mo, with frontispiece, cloth extra.</p> + +<p><b>VIII. ONCE UPON A TIME</b>. Stories for Children, of the Ancient Gods +and Heroes. By <span class="smcap">Mary E. Craigie.</span> Square 16mo, cloth extra, +illustrated.</p> + +<p><b>IX. RODDY'S IDEAL.</b> By <span class="smcap">Helen K. Johnson</span>, author of "Roddy's +Romance," "Roddy's Reality," etc. Square 16mo, cloth extra.</p> + + +<h3>CRITICISMS ON "RODDY'S ROMANCE."</h3> +<p>"Such a funny, quaint, delightful sort of book, that we hope it will +fall into the hands of countless boys and girls, to make glad their +hearts."—<i>Liberal Christian.</i></p> + +<p>"A book full of the vivacity and the fun of a school-boy's life, with +a noble lesson for all boys to take to heart."—<i>Watchman and +Reflector</i>.</p> + +<h4>***Any of the above books +will be sent, post-paid, by the publishers, on receipt of the price.</h4> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Putnams_Series_of_Popular_Manuals" id="Putnams_Series_of_Popular_Manuals"></a>Putnams' Series of Popular Manuals.</h2> + + +<p>HALF-HOURS WITH THE MICROSCOPE.</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Edwin Lankester</span>, M.D., F.R.S. Illustrated by 250 Drawings +from Nature. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"This beautiful little volume is a very complete manual for +the amateur microscopist. *** The 'Half-Hours' are filled +with clear and agreeable descriptions, whilst eight plates, +executed with the most beautiful minuteness and sharpness, +exhibit no less than 250 objects with the utmost attainable +distinctness."—<i>Critic</i>.</p></div> + +<p>HALF-HOURS WITH THE TELESCOPE:</p> + +<p>Being a popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a means of +Amusement and Instruction. Adapted to inexpensive instruments. By R. +A. <span class="smcap">Proctor</span>, B.A., F.R.A.S. 12mo, cloth, with illustrations on +stone and wood. Price, $1.25.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is crammed with starry plates on wood and stone, and +among the celestial phenomena described or figured, by far +the larger number may be profitably examined with small +telescopes."—<i>Illustrated Times.</i></p></div> + +<p>HALF-HOURS WITH THE STARS:</p> + +<p>A Plain and Easy Guide to the Knowledge of the Constellations, showing +in 12 Maps, the Position of the Principal Star-Groups Night after +Night throughout the Year, with introduction and a separate +explanation of each Map. True for every Year. By <span class="smcap">Richard</span> A. +<span class="smcap">Proctor</span>, B.A., F.R.A.S. Demy 4to. Price, $2.25.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nothing so well calculated to give a rapid and thorough +knowledge of the position of the stars in the firmament has +ever been designed or published hitherto. Mr. Proctor's +'Half-Hours with the Stars' will become a text-book in all +schools, and an invaluable aid to all teachers of the +young."—<i>Weekly Times.</i></p></div> + +<p>MANUAL OF POPULAR PHYSIOLOGY:</p> + +<p>Being an Attempt to Explain the Science of Life in Untechnical +Language. By <span class="smcap">Henry Lawson</span>, M.D. 18mo, with 90 Illustrations. +Price, $1.25.</p> + +<p>Man's Mechanism, Life, Force, Food, Digestion, Respiration, Heat, the +Skin, the Kidneys, Nervous System, Organs of Sense, &c., &c., &c.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dr. Lawson has succeeded in rendering his manual amusing as +well as instructive. All the great facts in human physiology +are presented to the reader successively; and either for +private reading or for classes, this manual will be found +well adapted for initiating the uninformed into the +mysteries of the structure and function of their own +bodies."—<i>Athenæum.</i></p></div> + +<p>WOMAN BEFORE THE LAW.</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">John Proffatt</span>, LL.B., of the New York Bar.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Contents.—I. Former Status of Women. II. Legal Conditions +of Marriage. III. Personal Rights and Disabilities of the +Wife. IV. Rights of Property, Real and Personal. V. Dower. +VI. Reciprocal Rights and Duties of Mother and Children. +VII. Divorce.</p></div> + +<p>12mo, cloth, $1. Half bound, $1.25.</p> + +<p>BASTIAT. SOPHISMS OF PROTECTION.</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Frederic Bastiat</span>. With Preface by <span class="smcap">Horace White</span>. +Cloth. Price $1.00.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> + + +<p><b>REEVES. The Students' Own Speaker.</b> <b>A Manual of Oratory</b></p> + +<p>By Paul Reeves. 12mo, boards, 75 cts.; cloth, 90 cts.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The "Student's Own Book," by Paul Reeves, which forms the +first of the Handy-Book Series, is notable among other +points in giving "a good deal for the money." The amount of +matter in this book, which is in clear and neat, though +small type, fully equals that in other books of twice the +size and cost. It contains many new pieces not to be found +in any of the school text-books. It aims to meet the wants +of a large number outside of the school-room, while it is +also well adapted for school use.</p> + +<p>The <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i> says of it:</p> + +<p>"The general rules laid down, and the suggestions thrown +out, are excellent, while the pieces furnished for +declamation are well chosen. The book is one deserving a +wide circulation."</p> + +<p>Another good authority says:</p> + +<p>"We have never before seen a collection so admirably adapted +for its purpose. Prose and verse, humor, eloquence, +description, alteration, burlesque discourse of every +kind.... For schools, clubs, and fireside amusement, it will +be found an almost inexhaustible source of entertainment.... +The instruction ... is sensible and practical."</p></div> + + +<p><b>RICHARDSON. House Building. From a Cottage to a Mansion.</b></p> + +<p>A Practical Guide to Members of Building Societies, and all interested +in selecting or Building a House. By C. J. Richardson, Architect, +author of "Old English Mansions." With 600 illustrations. Crown 8vo, +cloth extra, $3.50.</p> + + +<p><b>RITCHIE. The Romance of History—France. By Leitch Ritchie.</b> +Illustrated. 12mo, cloth extra, $2.50.</p> + + +<p><b>ROGERS. Social Economy.</b> By Prof. E. Thorold Rogers (Tooke Professor +of Economic Science, Oxford, England), editor of "Smith's Wealth of +Nations." Revised and edited for American readers. 12mo, cloth, 75 +cts.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This little volume gives in the compass of 150 pages, +concise yet comprehensive answers to the most important +questions of Social Economy. The relations of men to each +other, the nature of property, the meaning of capital, the +position of the laborer, the definition of money, the work +of government, the character of business, are all set forth +with clearness and scientific thoroughness. The book, from +its simplicity and the excellence of its instruction, is +especially adapted for use in schools, while the information +it contains is of value and interest to all classes of +readers.</p> + +<p>"It is this sort of knowledge that is contained in Prof. +Rogers' book, which we cannot too highly recommend to the +use of teachers, students, and the general +public."—<i>American Athenæum</i>.</p></div> + + +<p><b>ROGERS. The Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers.</b> Including "Italy," +"Columbus," "Pleasures of Memory," etc., with portrait. 12mo, cloth +extra, $1.50; half calf, $3.50.</p> + + +<p><b>SEGUIN. A Manual of Thermometry.</b> For Mothers, Nurses, and all who +have charge of the Sick and the Young. By Edward Seguin, M.D. 12mo, +cloth, 75 cts.</p> + +<h3>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,<br /> + +<i>182, Fifth Avnue, New York. </i></h3> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SAM***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18622-h.txt or 18622-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/2/18622">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/6/2/18622</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_005.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7cacbb --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_005.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_013.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_013.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..54bdca0 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_013.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_023.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_023.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..76090e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_023.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_028.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_028.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a35a71 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_028.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_046.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_046.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26ec4f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_046.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_051.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_051.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e33e8fe --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_051.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_059.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_059.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fea2a51 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_059.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_062.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_062.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d99d21c --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_062.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_075.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_075.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..091d0bc --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_075.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_081.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_081.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1abf5c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_081.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_084.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_084.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..478613c --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_084.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_099.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_099.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03ed32f --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_099.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_100.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_100.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e019db --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_100.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_109.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_109.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a13a3af --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_109.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_121.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_121.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3cbb593 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_121.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_137.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_137.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..11ffd8d --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_137.jpg diff --git a/18622-h/images/image_190.jpg b/18622-h/images/image_190.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ca2c51 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622-h/images/image_190.jpg diff --git a/18622.txt b/18622.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4e260a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5199 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Captain Sam, by George Cary Eggleston + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Captain Sam + The Boy Scouts of 1814 + + +Author: George Cary Eggleston + + + +Release Date: June 19, 2006 [eBook #18622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SAM*** + + +E-text prepared by David Edwards, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) from +scanned images of public domain material generously made available by the +Google Books Library Project +(http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/library.html) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18622-h.htm or 18622-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/2/18622/18622-h/18622-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/2/18622/18622-h.zip) + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + the the Google Books Library Project. See + http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN04016133&id + + + + + +The Big Brother Series. + +CAPTAIN SAM + +Or + +The Boy Scouts of 1814 + +by + +GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON + +Author of "The Big Brother," etc., etc. + + + + + + + +New York: +G. P. Putnam's Sons, +182 Fifth Avenue. +1876. +Copyright. +G. P. Putnam's Sons. +1876. + + + + +TO MY BOY-FRIEND + +MONTAGUE DOUGLAS, + +IN RECOGNITION OF HIS MANLY CHARACTER, AND IN MEMORY + +OF THE FOOT-JOURNEYS WE MADE TOGETHER A YEAR AGO, + +I DEDICATE THIS BOOK. + + + + +CAPTAIN SAM. + +CHAPTER I. + +A MUTINY. + + +"If you open your mouth again, I'll drive my fist down your throat!" + +The young man, or boy rather,--for he was not yet eighteen years +old,--who made this very emphatic remark, was a stalwart, well-built +youth, lithe of limb, elastic in movement, slender, straight, tall, +with a rather thin face, upon which there was as yet no trace of +coming beard, high cheek bones, and eyes that seemed almost to emit +sparks of fire as their lids snapped rapidly together. He spoke in a +low tone, without a sign of anger in his voice, but with a look of +earnestness which must have convinced the person to whom he addressed +his not very suave remark, that he really meant to do precisely what +he threatened. + +As he spoke he laid his left hand upon the other's shoulder, and +placed his face as near to his companion's as was possible without +bringing their noses into actual contact; but he neither clenched nor +shook his fist. Persons who mention weapons which they really have +made up their minds to use, do not display them in a threatening +manner. That is the device of bullies who think to frighten their +adversaries by the threatening exhibition as they do by their +threatening words. Sam Hardwicke was not a bully, and he did not wish +to frighten anybody. He merely wished to make the boy hold his tongue, +and he meant to do that in any case, using whatever measure of +violence he might find necessary to that end. He mentioned his fist +merely because he meant to use that weapon if it should be necessary. + +His companion saw his determination, and remained silent. + +"Now," resumed Sam, "I wish to say something to all of you, and I will +say it to you as an officer should talk to soldiers on a subject of +this sort. Fall into line! Right dress! steady, front!" + +The boys were drawn up in line, and their commander stood at six paces +from them. + +"Attention!" he cried, "I wish you to know and remember that we are +engaged in no child's play. We are soldiers. You have not yet been +mustered into service, it is true, but you are soldiers, nevertheless, +and you shall obey as such. Listen. When it became known in the +neighborhood that I had determined to join General Jackson and serve +as a soldier you boys proposed to go with me. I agreed, with a +condition, and that condition was that we should organize ourselves +into a company, elect a captain, and march to Camp Jackson under his +command, not go there like a parcel of school-boys or a flock of sheep +and be sent home again for our pains. You liked the notion, and we +made a fair bargain. I was ready to serve under anybody you might +choose for captain. I didn't ask you to elect me, but you did it. You +voted for me, ever one of you, and made me Captain. From that moment I +have been responsible for everything. + +"I lead you and provide necessary food. I plan everything and am +responsible for everything. If you misbehave as you go through the +country I shall be held to blame and I shall be to blame. But not a +man of you shall misbehave. I am your commander, you made me that, and +you can't undo it. Until we get to Camp Jackson I mean to command this +company, and I'll find means of enforcing what I order. That is all. +Right face! Break ranks!" + +A shout went up, in reply. + +"Good for Captain Sam!" cried the boys. "Three cheers for our +captain!" + +"Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!" + +All the boys,--there were about a dozen of them--joined in this shout, +except Jake Elliott, the mutineer, who had provoked the young +captain's anger by insisting upon quitting the camp without +permission, and had even threatened Sam when the young commander bade +him remain where he was. + +The revolt was effectually quelled. The mutineer had found a master in +his former school-mate, and forebore to provoke the threatened +corporal punishment further. + +The camp was in the edge of a strip of woods on the bank of the +Alabama river, the time, afternoon, in the autumn of the year 1814. +The boys had marched for three days through canebrakes, and swamps, +and had still a long march before them. Sam had called a halt earlier +than usual that day for reasons of his own, which he did not explain +to his fellows. Jake Elliott had objected, and his objection being +peremptorily overruled by Sam, he had undertaken to go on alone to the +point at which he wished to pass the remainder of the day, and the +night. Sam had ordered him to remain within the lines of the camp. He +had replied insolently with a threat that he would himself take charge +of the camp, as the oldest person there, when Sam quelled the mutiny +after the manner already set forth. + +Now that he was effectually put down, he brooded sulkily, meditating +revenge. + +As night came on, the camp fire of pitch pine threw a ruddy glow over +the trees, and the boys, weary as they were with marching, gathered +around the blazing logs, and laughed and sang merrily, Jake Elliott +was silent and sullen through it all, and when at last Sam ordered +all to their rest for the night, Jake crept off to a tree near the +edge of the prescribed camp limits and threw himself down there. +Presently a companion joined him, a boy not more than fourteen years +of age, who was greatly awed by Sam's sternness, and who naturally +sought to draw Jake into conversation on the subject. + +"You're as big as Sam is," he said after a while, "and I wonder you +let him talk so sharp to you. You're afraid o' him, aint you?" + +"No, but you are." + +"Yes I am. I'm afraid o' the lightning too, and he's got it in him, or +I'm mistaken." + +"Yes 'n' you fellows hurrahed for him, 'cause you was afraid to stand +up for yourselves." + +"To stand up for you, you mean, Jake. It wasn't our quarrel. We like +Sam, if we are afraid o' him, an' between him an' you there wa'nt no +call for us to take sides against him. Besides we're soldiers, you +know, an' he's capt'n." + +"A purty capt'n he is, aint he, an' you're a purty soldier, aint you. +A soldier owning up that he's afraid," said Jake tauntingly. + +"Well, you're afraid too, you know you are, else you wouldn't 'a' shut +up that way like a turtle when he told you to." + +"No, I aint afraid, neither, and you'll find it out 'fore you're done +with it. I didn't choose to say anything then, but _I'll get even with +Sam Hardwicke yet_, you see if I don't." + +"Mas' Jake," said a lump of something which had been lying quietly a +little way off all this time, but which now raised itself up and +became a black boy by the name of Joe, who had insisted upon +accompanying Sam in his campaigns; "Mas' Jake, I'se dun know'd Mas' +Sam a good deal better'n you know him, an' I'se dun seed a good many +things try to git even wid him, 'fore now; Injuns, water, fire, +sunshine, fever 'n ager, bullets an' starvation all dun try it right +under my eyes, an' bless my soul none on 'em ever managed it yit." + +"You shut up, you black rascal," was the only reply vouchsafed the +colored boy. + +"Me?" he asked, "oh, I'll shut up, of course, but I jist thought I'd +tell you 'cause you might make a sort o' 'zastrous mistake you know. +Other folks dun dun it fore now, tryin' to git even wid Mas' Sam." + +"Go to sleep, you rascal," replied Jake, "or I'll skin you alive." + +Joe snored immediately and Jake's companion laughed as he crept away +toward the fire. An hour later the camp was slumbering quietly in the +starlight, Sam sleeping by himself under a clump of bushes on the side +of the camp opposite that chosen by Jake Elliott for his +resting-place. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK. + + +Sam Hardwicke had thrown himself down under a clump of bushes, as I +have said, a little apart from the rest of the boys. Before he went to +sleep, however, his brother Tom, a lad about twelve years of age, but +rather large for his years, came and lay down by his side, the two +falling at once into conversation. + +"What made you fire up so quick with Jake Elliott, Sam?" asked the +younger boy. + +"Because he is a bully who would give trouble if he dared. I didn't want +to have a fight with him and so I thought it best to take the first +opportunity of teaching him the first duty of a soldier,--obedience." + +"But you might have reasoned with him, as you generally do with +people." + +"No I couldn't," replied Sam. + +"Why not?" Tom asked. + +"Because he isn't reasonable. He's the sort of person who needs a +master to say 'do' and 'don't.' Reasoning is thrown away on some +people." + +"But you had good reasons, didn't you, for stopping here instead of +going on further?" asked Tom. + +"Certainly. There's the Mackey house five miles ahead, and if we'd +gone on we must have stopped near it to night?" + +"Well, what of that?" + +"Jake Elliott would have pilfered something there." + +"How do you know?" asked Tom in some surprise at his brother's +positiveness. + +"Because," Sam replied, "he tried to steal some eggs last night at +Bungay's. I stopped him, and that's why I choose to camp every night +out of harm's way, and keep all of you within strict limits. I don't +mean to have people say we're a set of thieves. Besides, Jake Elliott +has meant to give trouble from the first, and I have only waited for a +chance to put him down. He isn't satisfied yet, but he's afraid to do +anything but sneak. He'll try some trick to get even with me pretty +soon." + +"Oh, Sam, you must look out then," cried Tom in alarm for his brother. +"Why don't you send him back home?" + +"For two or three reasons. In the first place General Jackson needs +all the volunteers he can get." + +"Well, what else?" + +"That's enough, but there's another good reason. If I let him go away +it would be saying that I can't manage him, and that would be a sorry +confession for a soldier to make. I can manage him, and I will, too." + +"But Sam, he'll do you some harm or other." + +"Of course he will if he can, but that is a risk I have to take." + +"Well, I'm going to sleep here by you, any how," said Tom. + +"No you mustn't," replied the elder boy. "You must go over by the fire +where the other boys are, and sleep there." + +"Why, Sam?" + +"Well, in the first place, if I'm not a match in wits for Jake +Elliott, I've no business to continue captain, and I've no right to +shirk any trial of skill that he may choose to make. Besides you're my +brother, and it will make the other boys think I'm partial if you stay +here with me. Go back there and sleep by the fire. I'll take care of +myself." + +"But Sam--" began Tom. + +"_You've_ seen me take care of myself in tighter places than any that +he can put me in, haven't you?" asked Sam. "There's the root fortress +within ten feet of us. You haven't forgotten it have you?" + +"No," said Tom, rising to go, "and I don't think I shall forget it +soon; but I don't like to let my 'Big Brother' sleep here alone with +Jake Elliott around." + +"Never mind me, I tell you, but go to the boys and go to sleep. I'll +take care of myself." + +With that the two boys separated, Tom walking away to the fire, and +Sam rolling himself up in his blanket for a quiet sleep. He had +already removed his boots, coat and hat, and thrown them together in a +pile, as he had done every night since the march began, partly +because he knew that it is always better to sleep with the limbs as +free as possible from pressure of any kind, and partly because he +suffered a little from an old wound in the foot, received about a year +before in the Indian assault upon Fort Sinquefield, and found it more +comfortable, after walking all day, to remove his boots. + +The camp grew quiet only by degrees. Boys have so many things to talk +about that when they are together they are pretty certain to talk a +good while before going to sleep, and especially so when they are +lying in the open air, under the starlight, near a pile of blazing +logs. They all stretched themselves out on the ground, weary with +their day's march, and determined to go at once to sleep, but somehow +each one found something that he wanted to say and so it was more than +an hour before the camp was quite still. Then every one slept except +Jake Elliott. He lay quietly by a tree, and seemed to be sleeping +soundly enough, but in fact he was not even dozing. He was laying +plans. He had a grudge against Sam Hardwicke, as we know, and was +very busily thinking what he could do by way of revenge. He meant to +do it at night, whatever it might be, because he was afraid to attempt +any thing openly, which would bring on a conflict with Sam, of whom he +was very heartily afraid. He was ready to do any thing that would +annoy Sam, however mean it might be, for he was a coward seeking +revenge, and cowardice is so mean a thing itself, that it always keeps +the meanest kind of company in the breasts of boys or men who harbor +it. Boys are apt to make mistakes about cowardice, however, and men +too for that matter, confounding it with timidity and nervousness, and +imagining that the ability to face unknown danger boldly is courage. +There could be no greater mistake than this, and it is worth while to +correct it. The bravest man I ever knew was so timid that he shrunk +from a shower bath and jumped like a girl if any one clapped hands +suddenly behind him. Cowardice is a matter of character. Brave men are +they who face danger coolly when it is their duty to do so, not +because they do not fear danger but because they will not run away +from a duty. Cowards often go into danger boastfully and without +seeming to care a fig for it, merely because they are conscious of +their own fault and afraid that somebody will find it out. Cowards are +men or women or boys, who lack character, and a genuine coward is very +sure to show his lack of moral character in other ways than by +shunning danger. They lie, because they fear to tell the truth, which +is a thing that requires a good deal of moral courage sometimes. They +are apt to be revengeful, too, because they resent other people's +superiority to themselves, and are not strong enough in manliness to +be generous. They seek revenge for petty wrongs, real or imaginary, in +sly, sneaking, cowardly ways because--well because they are cowards. +Jake Elliott was a boy of this sort. He was always a bully, and people +who imagined that courage is best shown by fighting and blustering, +thought Jake a very brave fellow. If they could have known him +somewhat better, they would have discovered that all his fighting was +done merely to conceal the fact that he was afraid to fight. He +measured his adversaries pretty accurately, and in ordinary +circumstances he would have fought Sam, when that young man talked to +him as he did in the beginning of this story. There was that in Sam's +bearing, however, which made Jake afraid to resist the imperious will +that asserted itself more in the quiet tone than in the threatening +words. He was Sam's full equal physically, but he had quailed before +him, and he could scarcely determine why. It annoyed him sorely as he +remembered the loud cheering of the boys. He chafed under the +consciousness of defeat, and dreaded, the hints he was sure to receive +whenever he should bully any of his companions, that he had a score +still unsettled with Sam Hardwicke. He knew that he was a coward, and +that the other boys had found it out, and he almost groaned as he lay +there in the silence and darkness, meditating revenge. + +A little after midnight he got up silently and crept along the river +bank to the clump of bushes where Sam lay soundly sleeping. His first +impulse was to jump upon the sleeper and fight him with an unfair +advantage, but he was not yet free from the restraining influence of +Sam's eye and voice so recently brought to bear upon him. + +No, he dared not attack Sam even with so great an advantage. He must +injure him secretly as he had determined to do. + +Creeping along upon all-fours, he felt about for Sam's boots, and +finding them at last, was just about to move away with them when Sam +turned over. + +Jake sank down into the sand and listened, his heart beating and the +sweat standing in great drops on his forehead. Sam did not move again, +however, but seemed still to sleep. After waiting a long time Jake +crept away noiselessly, as he had come. + +Slipping down over the low sand bank he stood by the river's edge with +the boots in his hand. + +"Now," he muttered to himself, "I guess I'll be even with 'Captain +Sam.' By the time he marches a day or two barefoot with that game foot +o' his'n, I guess he'll begin to wish he hadn't been quite so sassy." + +Filling the boots with sand he swung them back and forth, meaning to +toss them as far out into the river as he could. Just as he was about +quitting his hold of them, a terrifying thought seized him. The +sand-filled boots would make a good deal of noise in striking the +water, and Sam on the bank above would be sure to hear. Jake was ready +enough to injure Sam, but he was not by any means ready to encounter +that particularly cool and determined youth, while engaged in the act +of doing him a surreptitious injury. He must go higher up the stream +before putting his purpose into execution. + +The bank at this point was crowned with a great pile of drift wood, +the accumulation of many floods, which had been caught and held in its +place by two great trees from the roots of which the water had +gradually washed the sand away until the trees themselves stood up +upon great root legs, fifteen feet long. The trees and the drift pile +were the same in which Sam Hardwicke had hidden his little party a +year before, when the fortunes of Indian war had thrown him, with Tom +and his sister, and the black boy Joe, upon their own resources in the +Indian haunted forest. The story is told in a former volume of this +series.[1] Sam's resting place just now was within a few feet of +the great tree roots, but Sam was not sleeping there, as Jake Elliott +supposed. He had been wide enough awake, ever since Jake first +startled him out of sleep, and he had silently observed that worthy's +manoeuvres through the bushes. Jake crept along the edge of the +drift pile to its further end, intending to toss the boots into the +river as soon as he should be sufficiently far from Sam for safety. As +he went, however, his awakened caution grew upon him. He reflected +that Sam would suspect him when he should miss his boots the next +morning, and might see fit to call him to account for their absence. +He intended, in that case, stoutly to deny all knowledge of the +affair, but he could not tell in advance precisely how persistent +Sam's suspicion might be, and it seemed to him better to leave +himself a "hole to crawl through," as he phrased it, if the necessity +should come. He resolved, therefore, that instead of throwing the +boots away, he would hide them so securely that no one else could +possibly find them. "Then," thought he, "if the worst comes to the +worst I can find 'em, and still stick to it that I didn't take 'em +away." An opening in the pile of drift-wood just at hand, was +suggestive, and Jake crept into it passing under a great log that lay +lengthwise just over the entrance. The passage way through the drift +was a very narrow one but it did not come to an end at the end of the +great log as Jake had expected, and he felt his way further. The +passage turned and twisted about, but he went on, dark as it was. +After a while he found himself in a sort of chamber under one of the +great trees, and inside the line of its great twisted roots. He did +not know where he was, however, but Sam or Tom or Joe could have told +him all about the place. + +[Footnote 1: The Big Brother, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. A +friend suggests that many northern readers may doubt the existence of +such trees as those which I have described briefly here, and more +fully in "The Big Brother." I think it right to explain, therefore, +that I have seen many such trees with roots exposed in the manner +described, in the west and south, and my favorite playing place as a +boy was under precisely such a tree. Of course no tree could stand the +sudden removal of ten or fifteen feet of earth from beneath it; but +the trees described have gradually undergone this process, and the +roots have struck constantly deeper, their exposed parts gradually +changing from roots, in the proper sense, to something like a +downward-branching tree trunk.] + +[Illustration: GETTING EVEN IN THE DARK.] + +Here his journey seemed to be effectually interrupted, and he thrust +the boots, as he supposed, into a hole, driving them with some little +force through a tangled net work of small roots. What he really did +do, however, was to drive them through a net work of small roots, +between two great ones, into the outer air, at the very spot from +which he had taken them. When he quitted his hold of them, leaving +them, as he supposed, buried in the centre of a great drift pile, they +lay in fact by Sam's coat and hat, right where they had lain when Sam +went to sleep. + +Sam had silently observed him as he entered the drift pile, and +running quickly to the entrance he seized a stick of timber and drew +it toward him with all his force. Sam Hardwicke had an excellent habit +of remembering not only things that were certainly useful to know, but +things also which might be useful. When Jake entered the drift pile, +Sam remembered that during his own stay there a year before, he had +carefully examined the great log which formed the archway of the +entrance, and that it was kept in its place only by this single stick +of timber acting as a wedge. Pulling this out, therefore, he let the +farther end of the great tree trunk fall, and completely blocked the +passage way. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +REVENGE OF A DIFFERENT SORT. + + +No matter where one begins to tell a story there is always something +back of the beginning that must be told for the sake of making the +matter clear. Whatever you tell, something else must have happened +before it and something else before that and something else before +that, so that there is really no end to the beginnings that might be +made. The only way I can think of by which a whole story could be told +would be to begin back at Adam and Eve and work on down to the present +time; and even then the story would not be finished and nobody but a +prophet ever could finish it. + +The only way to tell a story then is to plunge into it somewhere as I +did two chapters back, follow it until we get hold of it, and then go +back and explain how it came about before going on with it. I must +tell you just now who these boys were, where they were and how they +came to be there. All this must be told sometime and whenever it is +told somebody or something must wait somewhere, and I really think +Jake Elliott may as well wait there in the drift-pile as not. He +deserves nothing better. + +During the summer of the year 1813, while the United States and great +Britain were at war, a general Indian war came on which raged with +especial violence in middle and southern Alabama. The Indians fought +desperately, but General Jackson managed to conquer them thoroughly. +He was empowered by the government to make a treaty with them and he +insisted that they should make a treaty which they could not help +keeping. He made them give up a large part of their land, and so +arranged the boundaries as to make the Indians powerless for further +harm. + +The Indians hesitated a long time before they would sign the treaty, +but it was Jackson's way to finish whatever he undertook, and not +leave it to be done over again. As the people of the border used to +say, he "left no gaps in the fences behind him," and so he insisted +upon the treaty and the Indians at last signed it. Meantime, however, +a great many of the Indians, and among them several of their most +savage chiefs had escaped to Florida, which was then Spanish +territory. + +Jackson remained at his camp in southern Alabama through the summer of +1814 bringing the Indians to terms. During the summer it became +evident that the British were preparing an expedition against Mobile +and New Orleans, and Jackson was placed in command of the whole +southwest, with instructions to defend that part of the country. This +was all very well, and very wise, too, for there was no man in the +country who was fitter than he for the kind of work he was thus called +on to do; but there was one very serious obstacle in his way. He had +his commission; he had full authority to conduct the campaign; he had +everything in fact except an army, and it does not require a very +shrewd person to guess that an army is a rather important part of a +general's outfit for defending a large territory. He called for +volunteers and accepted any kind that came. He even published a +special address to the free negroes within the threatened district and +asked them to become soldiers, a thing that nobody had ever thought of +before. + +The boys in the southwest were strong, hearty fellows, used to the +woods, accustomed to hardship and not afraid of danger. Many of them +had fought bravely during the Indian war, and when Jackson called for +volunteers, a good many of these boys joined him, some of them being +mere lads just turning into their teens. + +Sam Hardwicke, was noted all through that country for several reasons. +In the first place he was a boy of very fine appearance and unusual +skill in all the things which help to make either a boy or a man +popular in a new country. He was a capital shot with rifle or +shot-gun; he was a superb horseman, a tireless walker, and an expert +in all the arts of the hunter. + +He was strong and active of body, and better still he was a boy of +better intellect and better education than was common in that country +at that early day when there were few schools and poor ones. His +father was a gentleman of wealth and education, who had removed to +Alabama for the sake of his health a few years before, bringing a +large library with him, and he had educated his children very +carefully, acting as their teacher himself. Sam was ready for college, +and but for Jackson's call for troops he would have been on his way to +Virginia, to attend the old William and Mary University there, at the +time our story begins. When it became known, however, that men were +needed to defend the country against the British, Sam thought it his +duty to help, and reluctantly resolved to postpone the beginning of +his college course for another year. + +All these things made Sam Hardwicke a special favorite, and persons a +great deal older than he was, held him in very high regard, on account +of his superior education, but more particularly on account of the +real superiority which was the result of that education; and I want to +say, right here, that the difference between a man or boy whose +education has been good and one who has had very little instruction, +is a good deal greater than many persons think. It is a mistake to +suppose that the difference lies only in what one has learned and the +other has not. What you learn in school is the smallest part of the +good you get there. Half of it is usually worthless as information, +and much of it is sure to be forgotten; but the work of learning it is +not thrown away on that account. In learning it you train and +discipline and cultivate your mind, making it grow both in strength +and in capacity, and so the educated man has really a stronger and +better intellect than he ever would have had without education. Many +persons suppose,--and I have known even college professors who made +the mistake,--that a boy's mind is like a meal-bag, which will hold +just so much and needs filling. They fill it as they would fill the +meal-bag, for the sake of the meal and without a thought of the bag. +In fact a boy's mind is more like the boy himself. It will not do to +try to make a man out of him by stuffing meat and bread down his +throat. The meat and bread fill him very quickly, but he isn't +fully-grown when he is full. To make a man of him we must give him +food in proper quantities, and let it help him to grow, and the things +you learn in school are chiefly valuable as food for the mind. +Education makes the intellect grow as truly as food makes the body do +so; and so I say that Sam Hardwicke's superiority in intellect to the +boys and even to most of the men about him, consisted of something +more than merely a larger stock of information. He was intellectually +larger than they, and if any boy who reads this book supposes that a +well-trained intellect is of no account in the practical affairs of +life, it is time for him to begin correcting some very dangerous +notions. + +To get back to the story, I must stop moralizing and say that when Sam +made up his mind to volunteer, a number of boys in the neighborhood +determined to follow his example, and, as Sam has already explained, +the little company was organized, under Sam's command as captain. Of +course Sam had no real military authority, and he did not for a moment +suppose that his little band of boys would be recognized as a company +or he as a captain, on their arrival at Camp Jackson; but they had +agreed to march under Sam's command, and he knew how to exercise +authority, even when it was held by so loose a tenure as that of mere +agreement among a lot of boys. + +We now come back to the drift-pile. When Jake had carefully hidden +Sam's boots, as he supposed, deep within the recesses of the great +pile of logs and brush and roots, he began groping his way back toward +the entrance. It was pitch dark of course, but by walking slowly and +feeling his way carefully, he managed to follow the passage way. Just +as he began to think that he must be pretty nearly out of the den, +however, he came suddenly upon an obstruction. Feeling about carefully +he found that the passage in which he stood had come to an abrupt +termination. We know, of course what had happened, but Jake did not. +He had come to the end of the log which Sam had thrown down to stop up +the passage way, and there was really no way for him to go. He +supposed, of course, that he had somehow wandered out of his way, +leaving the main alley and following a side one to its end. He +therefore retraced his steps, feeling, as he went, for an opening upon +one side or the other. He found several, but none of them did him any +good. Following each a little way he came to its end in the matted +logs, and had to try again. Presently he began to get nervous and +frightened. He imagined all sorts of things and so lost his presence +of mind that he forgot the outer appearance and size of the drift +pile, and frightened himself still further by imagining that it must +extend for miles in every direction, and that he might be hopelessly +lost within its dark mazes. When he became frightened, he hurried his +footsteps, as nervous people always do, and the result was that he +blacked one of his eyes very badly by running against a projecting +piece of timber. He was weary as well as frightened, but he dared not +give up his effort to get out. Hour after hour--and the hours seemed +weeks to him,--he wandered back and forth, afraid to call for +assistance, and afraid above everything else that morning would come +and that he would be forced to remain there in the drift pile while +the boys marched away, or to call aloud for assistance and be caught +in his own meanness without the power to deny it. Finally morning +broke, and he could hear the boys as they began preparing for +breakfast. It was his morning, according to agreement, to cut wood +for the fire and bring water, and so a search was made for him at +once. He heard several of the boys calling at the top of their lungs. + +"Jake Elliott! Jake! Ja-a-a-ke!!" He knew then that his time had come. + +What had Sam been doing all this time? Sleeping, I believe, for the +most part, but he had not gone to sleep without making up his mind +precisely what course to pursue. When he threw the log down, he meant +merely to shut Jake Elliott and his own boots up for safe keeping, and +it was his purpose, when morning should come, to "have it out" with +the boot thief, in one way or another, as circumstances, and Jake's +temper after his night's adventure, might determine. + +He walked back, therefore, to his place of rest, after he had blocked +up the entrance of the drift-pile, and threw himself down again under +the bushes. Ten or fifteen minutes later he heard a slight noise at +the root of the great tree near him, and, looking, saw something which +looked surprisingly like a pair of boots, trying to force themselves +out between two of the exposed roots. Then he heard retreating +footsteps within the space enclosed by the circle of roots, and began +to suspect the precise state of affairs. Examining the boots he +discovered that they were his own, and he quickly guessed the truth +that Jake had pushed them out from the inside, under the impression +that he was driving them into a hole in the centre of the tangled +drift. + +Sam was a brave boy, too brave to be vindictive, and so he quickly +decided that as he had recovered his boots he would subject his enemy +only to so much punishment as he thought was necessary to secure his +good behavior afterward. He knew that the boys would torment Jake +unmercifully if the true story of the night's exploits should become +known to them, and while he knew that the culprit deserved the +severest lesson, he was too magnanimous to subject him to so sore a +trial. He went to sleep, therefore, resolved to release his enemy +quietly in the morning, before the other boys should be astir. +Unluckily he overslept himself, and so the first hint of the dawn he +received was from the loud calling of the boys for Jake Elliott. +Fortunately Jake had not yet nerved himself up to the point of +answering and calling for assistance, and so Sam had still a chance to +execute his plan. + +"Never mind calling Jake," he cried, as he rose from his couch of +bushes, "but run down to the spring and bring some water. I have Jake +engaged elsewhere." + +The boys suspected at once that Sam and Jake had arranged a private +battle to be fought somewhere in the woods beyond camp lines, a battle +with fists for the mastery, and they were strongly disposed to follow +their captain as he started up the river. + +"Stop," cried Sam. "I have business with Jake, which will not interest +you. Besides, I think it best that you shall remain here. Go to the +spring, as I tell you, and then go back to the fire, and get +breakfast. Jake and I will be there in time to help you eat it. If one +of you follows me a foot of the way, I--never mind; I tell you you +must not follow me, and you shall not." + +There were some symptoms of a turbulent, but good-natured revolt, but +Sam's earnestness quieted it, and the boys reluctantly drew back. + +Passing around to the further side of the drift-pile, more than a +hundred yards away from the nearest point of the camp, Sam called in a +low tone:-- + +"Jake! Jake!" + +"What is it?" asked Jake presently, trembling in voice as he trembled +in limb, for he was now thoroughly broken and frightened. He dreaded +the meeting with Sam nearly as much as he dreaded the terrible fate +which seemed to him the only alternative, namely, that of remaining in +the drift-pile to starve. + +"Come down this way," said Sam. + +"Well," answered Jake when he had moved a little way toward Sam. + +"Do you see a hole in the top, just above your head?" asked Sam. + +"Yes, but I can't see the sky through it." + +"Never mind, get a stick to boost you, and climb up into it." + +Jake did as he was told to do, and upon climbing up found that there +was a sort of passage way running laterally through the upper part of +the timber, crooked and so narrow that he could scarcely force his +way through it. Whither it led, he had no idea, but he obeyed Sam's +injunction to follow it, though he did so with great difficulty, as in +many places sticks were in the way, which it required his utmost +strength to remove. The passage through which he was crawling so +painfully, was one which Sam and his companions had made by dint of +great labor, during their residence in the tree root cavern a year +before. It led from the main alley way to their post of observation on +top of the pile, their look-out, from which they had been accustomed +to examine the country around, to see if there were Indians about, +when they had occasion to expose themselves outside of their place of +refuge. As the only way into this passage was through a "blind" hole +in the roof of the main alley way, no one would ever have suspected +its existence. + +After awhile Jake's head emerged from the very top of the drift pile, +and he saw Sam lying flat down, just before him. He instinctively +shrank back. + +"Come on," said Sam; "but don't rise up or the boys will see us. Crawl +out of the hole and then follow me on your hands and knees." + +Jake obeyed, and the two presently jumped down to the ground on the +side of the hummock furthest from camp. + +Jake's first glance revealed Sam fully dressed, and standing firmly +_in his boots_. There could be no mistake about it, and yet a moment +before he would have made oath that those very boots were hidden +hopelessly within the deepest recesses of the drift-pile. He could not +restrain the exclamation which rose to his lips:-- + +"_Where_ DID _you get them boots_?" + +"Never mind where, or how. I have a word or two to say to you. You +took my boots and were on the point of throwing them into the river. +If you think such an act by way of revenge was manly and worthy of a +soldier, I will not dispute the point. You must determine that for +yourself." + +"Let me tell you about it, Sam," began Jake in an apologetic voice. + +"No, it isn't necessary," replied Sam. "I know all about it, and it +will not help the matter to lie about it. Listen to me. You were about +to throw the boots into the river; but you changed your mind. You know +why, of course, while I can only guess; but it doesn't matter. You +took them into the drift pile and put them into a hole there. The next +thing you know of them I have them on my feet, and I assure you I +haven't been inside the drift pile since you entered it. Solve that +riddle in any way you choose. I blocked up the entrance, and this +morning I have let you out. Not one of the boys knows anything about +this affair, and not one of them shall know, unless you choose to tell +them, which you won't, of course. Now come on to camp and get ready +for breakfast." + +With that Sam led the way. Presently Jake halted. + +"Sam," he said. + +"Well." + +"My eye's all bunged up. What'll the boys say?" + +"I don't know." + +"What must I tell 'em?" + +"Anything you choose. It is not my affair." + +"They'll think you've whipped me?" exclaimed Jake in alarm. + +"Well, I have, haven't I?" + +"No, we hain't fit at all." + +"Yes we have,--not with our fists, but with our characters, and I have +whipped you fairly. Never mind that. You can say you did it by +accident in the dark, which will be true." + +"But Sam!" said Jake, again halting. + +"Well, what is it now?" + +"What made you let me out an' keep the secret from the boys?" + +"Because I thought it would be mean, unmanly and wrong in me to take +such a revenge." + +"Is that the only reason?" + +"Yes, that is the only reason." + +"You didn't do it 'cause you was afraid?" he asked, incredulously. + +"No, of course not. I'm not in the least afraid of you, Jake." + +"Why not? I'm bigger'n you." + +"Yes, but you're an awful coward, Jake, and nobody knows it better +than I do, except you. You wouldn't dare to lay a finger on me. I +could make you lie down before me and--Pshaw! you know you're a coward +and that's enough about it." + +"Why didn't you leave me for the boys to find, then, and tell the +whole story?" + +"Because I'm not a coward or a sneak. I've told you once, but of +course you can't understand it; come along. I'm hungry." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A CERTIFICATE OF CHARACTER. + + +Three or four days after the morning of Jake Elliott's release, Sam +led his little company into Camp Jackson and reported their arrival. + +As Sam had anticipated, General Jackson decided at once that the boys +could become useful to him only by volunteering in some of the +companies already organized, and Sam began to look about for a company +in which he and Tom would be acceptable. The other boys were of course +free to choose for themselves, and Sam declined to act for them in the +matter. As for Joe the black boy, he knew how to make himself useful +in any command, as a servant, and he was resolved to follow Sam's +fortunes, wherever they might lead. + +"You see Mas' Sam," he said, "you'n Mas' Tommy might git yer selves +into some sort o' scrape or udder, an' then yer's sho' to need Joe to +git you out. Didn't Joe git you out 'n dat ar fix dar in de drifpile +more'n a yeah ago? Howsomever, 'taint becomin' to talk 'bout dat, +'cause your fathah he dun pay me fer dat dar job, he is. But you'll +need Joe any how, an' wha you goes Joe goes, an' dey aint no gettin +roun' dat ar fac, nohow yer kin fix it." + +On the very morning of Sam's arrival, as he was beginning his search +for a suitable command in which to enlist, he met Tandy Walker, the +celebrated guide and scout, whose memory is still fondly cherished in +the southwest for his courage, his skill and his tireless +perseverance. Tandy was now limping along on a rude crutch, with one +of his feet bandaged up. + +Sam greeted him heartily and asked, of course, about his hurt, which +Tandy explained as the result of "a wrestle he had had with an axe," +meaning that he had cut his foot in chopping wood. He tarried but a +moment with Sam, excusing himself for his hurried departure on the +ground that he had been sent for by General Jackson. Having heard +Sam's story and plans Tandy limped on, and was soon ushered into +Jackson's inner apartment. + +When the general saw him he exclaimed-- + +"What, you're not on the sick list are you, Walker?" + +"Well no, not adzac'ly, giner'l, but I ain't adzac'ly a _walker_ now, +fur all that's my name." + +"What's the matter?" asked Jackson. + +"Nothin', only I've dun split my foot open with a axe, giner'l." + +"That is very unfortunate," replied Jackson, "very unfortunate, +indeed." + +"Yes, it aint adzac'ly what you might call _lucky_, giner'l." + +"It certainly isn't!" said Jackson, a smile for a moment taking the +place of the look of vexation which his face wore; "and it isn't lucky +for me either, for I need you just now." + +"I'm sorry, giner'l, if ther's any work to be done in my line, but it +can't be helped, you know." + +"Of course not. The fact is Tandy, I want something done that I can't +easily find any body else to do. I'm satisfied now that the British +are at Pensacola and are arming Indians there, and that the +treacherous Spanish governor is harboring them on his _neutral_ +territory. I have proof of that now. Look at that rifle there. That's +one of the guns they have given out to Indians, and a friendly Indian +brought it to me this morning. But you know the Indians, Walker; I +can't get anything definite out of them. I _must_ find out all about +this affair, and you're the only man I could trust with the task." + +"I b'lieve that's jist about the way the land lays, giner'l," replied +Tandy, "but I'll tell you what it is; if ther' aint a _man_ here you +kin tie to fur that sort o' work, ther's a purty well grown boy +that'll do it up for you equal to me or anybody else, or my name aint +Tandy Walker, and that's what the old woman at home calls me." + +A little further conversation revealed the fact that the boy alluded +to was none other than our friend Sam Hardwicke. General Jackson +hesitated, expressing some doubts of Sam's qualifications for so +delicate a task. He feared that so young a person might lack the +coolness and discretion necessary, and said so. To all of this Tandy +replied:-- + +"You'd trust the job to me, if I could walk, wouldn't you, giner'l?" + +"Certainly; no other man would be half so good." + +"Well then, giner'l, lem me tell you, that Sam Hardwicke is Tandy +Walker, spun harder an' finer, made out'n better wool, doubled an' +twisted, and _mighty keerfully waxed_ into the bargain. He's a smart +one, if there ever was one. He's edicated too, an' knows books like a +school teacher. He's the sharpest feller in the woods I ever seed, an' +he's got jist a little the keenest scent for the right thing to do in +a tight place that you ever seed in man or boy. Better'n all, he never +loses that cool head o' his'n no matter what happens." + +"That is a hearty recommendation, certainly," said the general. +"Suppose you send young Hardwicke to me; of course nothing must be +said of all this." + +"Certainly giner'l. Nobody ever gits any news out'n my talk." And with +that Tandy made his awkward bow, his awkwarder salute, and limped +away. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SAM LAYS HIS PLANS. + + +Half an hour later Sam Hardwicke entered General Jackson's private +office, and was received with some little surprise upon the +commander's part. + +"Why, you're the young man who reported in command of some young +recruits, are you not?" he asked. + +Sam replied that he was. + +"I didn't understand it so," replied Jackson, "when Walker recommended +you for this service. However, it is all the better so, because _I_ +know your devotion, and Tandy has assured me of your competence. Sit +down, our talk is likely to be a long one." + +When Sam was comfortably seated, with his hat "hung up on the floor," +as Tandy Walker would have said, the general resumed. + +"You understand of course," he said, "that whatever I say to you, must +be kept a profound secret, now and hereafter, whether you go on the +expedition I have in mind or not." + +"You may depend upon my discretion, sir. I think I know how to be +silent." + +"Do you? Then you have learned a good lesson well. Take care that you +never forget it. Let me tell you in the outset that the task I want +you to undertake is a difficult and perhaps a dangerous one. It will +require patience, pluck, intelligence and _tact_. Tandy Walker tells +me that you have these qualities, and he ought to know, perhaps, but I +shall find out for myself before we have done talking. I shall tell +you what the circumstances are and what I wish to have done. Then you +must decide whether or not you wish to undertake it; and if you do, +you must take what time you wish for consideration, and then tell me +what your plans are for its accomplishment. I shall then be able to +judge whether or not you are likely to succeed. You understand me of +course?" + +"Perfectly, I think," replied Sam. + +"Very well then. You know that a good many of the worst of these +Creeks escaped to Florida, Peter McQueen among them. I could not +pursue them beyond the border, because Florida is Spanish territory, +and Spain is, or at least professes to be, friendly to the United +States, and neutral in our war with the British. Now, however, I have +good authority for believing that the Spanish Governor at Pensacola is +treacherously aiding not only the Indians but the British also. A +force of British, I hear, has landed there, and friendly Indians tell +me that they are arming the runaway Creeks, meaning to use them +against us. The Indians tell big stories, so big that I can place no +reliance upon them, and what I want is accurate information about +affairs at Pensacola. If there is a British force there, it means to +make an attack on Mobile or New Orleans. I must know the exact facts, +whatever they are, so that I may take proper precautions. I must know +the size of the force, the number of their ships, and on what terms +they have been received by the Spaniards. If they are made welcome at +Pensacola, and permitted by the Spaniards to make that a convenient +base of operations against us, the government may see fit to authorize +me to break up the hornet's nest before the swarm gets too big to be +handled safely. However, that is another matter. What I want is +positive information of the exact facts, whatever they are. The +difficulties in the way are great. We are at peace with Spain, and +must do no hostile act upon her soil. I cannot even send an armed +scouting party to get the information I need. If you go, you must go +unarmed, and even then you may be arrested and dealt hardly with. It +will require the utmost discretion as well as courage, to accomplish +the task, and I have no wish that you should undertake it if you +hesitate to do so." + +"I do not hesitate, sir," replied Sam, "if, after hearing my plan, you +think me competent for the business." + +"Very well then," replied the general, "when will you be ready to lay +your plan before me?" + +"I am ready now, sir," said Sam, "so far at least as the general plan +is concerned; little things will have to be dealt with as they +arise." + +"Certainly. What is your plan in outline?" + +"To go to Florida on a trapping and fishing excursion. I am not a +soldier yet, and may go, if I like, peacefully into the territory of a +friendly nation. I can take some of my boys with me, and camp by the +water side. I can easily go into Pensacola and find out what is going +on there. I shouldn't wish to be a spy, general, but this is scarcely +that, I think. The enemy has been received by a power professing to be +friendly. That power has given us no notice of hostility, and until +that is done I see no impropriety in going into his territory for +information not about his affairs at all, unless he is proving +treacherous, which would entitle us to do that, but about those of our +enemy, whom he should regard as an invader, however he may regard him +in fact." + +"You've read some law, I see," said the general. + +"No sir," replied Sam, blushing to think how he had been expounding to +the general, a nice point which that officer must understand much +better than he did. "No sir, I have read no law except a book or two +on the laws of nations, which my father said every gentleman should +be familiar with." + +"A very wise and excellent father he must be," replied Jackson, "if I +may judge of him by the training he has given his son." + +"Thank you, sir, in his name," answered Sam, rising and making his +best bow. + +"To come back to the business in hand," resumed Jackson. "You'll need +a boat and some camp equipments." + +"A boat, yes, but as for camp equipments, I can make out without them +very well. I've camped a good deal and I know how to manage." + +"Very well, then, you'll be all the lighter. How many of your boys +will you need?" + +"Two or three,--partly to make a show of a camp, but more because it +may be necessary to send some of them back with news. My brother Tom +and my black boy, with one or two others will be enough." + +"Very well. Now you must be off as soon as possible. I shall march to +Mobile in a day or two, and organize for defence there. Send your news +there. You had better march directly from this place, so that your +arrival will excite no suspicion. I will provide you with a map of the +country. Have you a compass?" + +"Yes sir, I brought one with me from home." + +"There are boats enough to be had among the fishermen, I suppose, but +how to provide you with one is the most serious problem I have to +solve in this matter. My army chest is empty, and my personal purse is +equally so." + +"I can manage all that, sir, if I may take an axe or two and an adze +from the shop here." + +"How?" + +"By digging out a canoe. I've done it before, and know how to handle +the tools." + +"You certainly do not lack the sort of resources which a commander +needs in such a country as this, where he must first create his army +and then arm and feed it without money. You'll make a general yet, I +fancy." + +"At present I am not even a private," replied Sam, "though the boys +call me Captain Sam." + +"Do they? Then Captain Sam it shall be, and I wish you a successful +campaign before Pensacola, Captain. Get your forces into marching +order at once. Take all of your boys, unless some of them have +already enlisted,--it won't do to take actual soldiers with you, as +yours must be a citizen's camp,--and march as early as you can. I'll +see that you are properly provided with the tools you need." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CAPTAIN SAM BEGINS HIS MARCH. + + +At noon the next day Sam marched away from the camp at the head of his +little company, reduced now to precisely six boys in all, counting the +colored boy Joe, but not counting Captain Sam himself. Jake Elliott +was one of the company, rather against Sam's wish, but he had begged +for permission to go, and Sam thought his size and strength might be +of use in some emergency. Tommy was of the party of course, and the +other boys were Billy Bunker--called Billy Bowlegs by the boys, +because he was not bow-legged at all but on the contrary badly +knock-kneed,--Bob Sharp, a boy of about Tommy's size and age, and +Sidney Russell, a boy of thirteen, who had "run to legs," his +companions said, and was already nearly six feet high, and so slender +that, notwithstanding his extreme height, he was the lightest boy in +the company. The rest of the party had already enlisted and could not +go. + +The outfit was complete, after Sam's notions of completeness; that is +to say, it included every thing which was absolutely necessary and not +an ounce of anything that could be safely spared. For tools they had +two axes, with rather short handles, a small hatchet, a pocket rule +and an adze; to this list might be added their large pocket knives, +which every man and boy on the frontier carries habitually. For camp +utensils each boy had a tin cup and that was all, except a single +light skillet, which they were to carry alternately, as they were to +do with the tools. Each boy carried a blanket tightly rolled up, and +each had, at the start, eight pounds of corn meal and four pounds of +bacon, with a small sack of salt each, which could be carried in any +pocket. This was all. They had no arms and no ammunition. + +Their destination and the purpose of their journey were wholly unknown +to anybody in the camp, except General Jackson and Tandy Walker. The +boys themselves were as ignorant as anybody on this subject. Sam had +enlisted them in the service, merely telling them that he was going on +an expedition which might prove difficult, dangerous and full of +hardship. He told them that he could not make them legal soldiers +before leaving, but that implicit obedience was absolutely necessary, +and that he wanted no boy to go with him who was not willing to trust +his judgment absolutely and obey orders as a soldier does, without +knowing why they are given or what they are meant to accomplish. To +put this matter on a proper basis, he drew up an enlistment paper as +follows:-- + +"We, whose names are signed below, volunteer to go with Samuel +Hardwicke and under his command, on the expedition which he is about +beginning. We have been duly warned of the dangers and hardships to be +encountered; we freely undertake to endure the hardships without +shrinking, and to face the dangers as soldiers should; and, +understanding the necessity of discipline and obedience, we promise, +each of us upon his honor, fully to recognize the authority of Samuel +Hardwicke as our Captain, appointed by General Jackson; we promise +upon honor, to obey his command, as implicity as if we were regularly +enlisted soldiers, and he a properly commissioned officer." + +(Signed.) + +[Illustration: signatures] + +When this paper was signed by all the boys, including black Joe, who +insisted upon attaching his name to it in the printing letters which +"little Miss Judie" had taught him, it was placed in General Jackson's +hands for keeping, and Sam marched his party away, amid the wondering +curiosity of the few troops who were in camp. They knew that this +party went out under orders of some sort from head quarters, but they +could not imagine whither it was going or why. Many of them had tried +to get information from the boys themselves, but as the boys knew +absolutely nothing about it, they could answer no questions, except +with the rather unsatisfactory formula "I dunno." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SAM'S TRAVELLING FACTORY. + + +The boys marched steadily until sunset, when Sam called a halt and +selected a camping place for the night. He ordered a fire built and +himself superintended the preparation of supper, limiting the amount +of food cooked for each member of the party, a regulation which he +enforced strictly throughout the march, lest any of the boys should +imprudently eat their rations too fast, which, as their route lay +through woods and swamps in a part of the country scarcely at all +settled, would bring disaster upon the expedition of course. Sam had +calculated the march to last about ten days, but he hoped to +accomplish it within a briefer time. The supplies they had would last +ten days, and Sam hoped to add to them by killing game from time to +time, for although the party were unarmed, Sam knew ways of getting +game without gunpowder, and meant to put some of them in practice. + +Toward evening of the first day out, he had stopped in a canebrake and +cut three well seasoned canes, selecting straight, tall ones, about an +inch in diameter, and taking care that they tapered as little and as +regularly as possible. Cutting them off at both ends and leaving them +about fifteen feet in length, he next cut three or four small canes, +very long and green ones, without flaw. + +That night, as soon as supper was over he brought his canes to the +fire and laid them down, preparatory to beginning work upon them. + +"What are you a goin' to do with them canes, Sam?" asked Billy +Bowlegs. + +"What do you think, Billy?" + +"Dog-gone ef I know," replied Billy. + +"Suppose you quit saying 'dog-gone' Billy," said Sam. "It isn't a very +good thing to say, and you've said it thirty-two times this +afternoon." + +"Have I? well, what's the odds if I have?" + +"Well, it's a bad habit, and if you'll quit it, I'll give you one of +those canes when I get them ready." + +"What 'er you goin' to make 'em into?" + +"Guns," said Sam, working away as hard as he could with his +jack-knife. + +"Guns! what sort o' guns? Powder'd burst 'em in a minute, and besides +we aint got no powder." + +"No, but I'm going to make guns out of these canes, and I'm going to +kill something with them too." + +"What sort o' guns?" + +"Blow guns." + +"What's a blow gun, Mas. Sam?" asked Joe, becoming interested, as all +the boy were now. + +Sam was too busy to answer at the moment and so Tom, who had seen +Sam's blow guns at home, answered for him. + +"He's going to burn out the joints and then make arrows with iron +points and some rabbit fur around the light ends. The fur fills up the +hole in the cane, and when he blows in the end it sends the arrow off +like a bullet. But Sam!" he cried, suddenly thinking of something. + +"What is it?" asked the elder brother without looking up. + +"What are you going to burn them out with?" + +"With that little rod," answered Sam, tossing a bit of iron about six +inches long towards his brother, "I brought it with me on purpose." + +"Well, but it won't reach; you've got to reach all the joints you +know, and the rod must be as long as the cane." + +"Oh no, not by any means." + +"Yes it must, of course it must," exclaimed all the boys in a breath. +"It's just like burning out a pipe stem with a wire." + +"No it is not," replied Sam, smiling, "but suppose it is. I can burn +out a pipe stem with a wire half as long as the stem." + +"How?" asked two or three boys at once. + +"By burning first from one end and then from the other." + +"Yes, that's so," answered Sid Russell slowly, drawling his words out +as if he had to drag them up through his long legs, "but that don't +tell how you're goin' to bore out a big cane, fifteen feet long with a +little iron rod not more 'n six or eight inches long." + +"Well, if you will be patient a moment, I'll show you," answered Sam, +picking up the bit of iron. Trimming off the end of one of his small +green canes, Sam measured it by the iron rod and trimmed again. He +continued this process until he had the end of the cane a trifle +larger than the iron was. Then taking an iron tube or band out of his +pocket, he drove the iron rod firmly into it for the distance of about +half an inch, leaving the other end of the tube open. Into this he +forced the end of the small green cane and having made it firm he had +a rod about ten feet long. + +"There," he said, "I have a rod long enough to reach a good deal more +than half way through either one of my big canes. It isn't iron except +at the end, and it doesn't need to be," and with that he thrust the +end of the bit of iron into the fire to heat. + +"Now, Tom," he said, "you must burn the canes out while I do something +else." + +I wonder if there is any boy who needs a fuller explanation than the +one which Sam has already given, of what was going forward. There may +be boys enough, for aught I know, who never went fishing in their +lives, and so do not know what canes, or reeds, or cane-poles, as +they are variously called, are like. I must explain, therefore, that +the canes which Sam proposed to burn out, were precisely such as those +that are commonly used as fishing rods. These canes grow all over the +South, in the swamps. They are, in fact, a kind of gigantic grass, +although the people who are most familiar with them do not dream of +the fact. The botanists call them a grass, at any rate, and the +botanists know. Each cane is a long, straight rod, tapering very +gently, with "joints," as they are called, about eight or ten inches +apart. These joints are simply places where the cane, outside, is a +little larger than it is between joints, while inside each joint +consists of a hard woody partition, across the hollow tube, which is +otherwise continuous. Sam's plan was simply to burn these partitions +away with a hot iron, which would convert the cane into a long, +slender, wooden tube, very hard, very light, and straight as an arrow. + +Tom went to work at once to burn out the joints, a work which occupied +a good deal of time, as the iron had to be re-heated a great many +times. He worked very steadily, however with the assistance of two or +three of the boys, and managed during that first evening to get two of +the blow guns burned out. + +Meantime Sam made an arrow, very small and only about ten inches long, +out of some dry cedar. + +"Now," he said, "I want those of you who are not busy burning out the +canes, to go to work making arrows just like that, while I do +something else." + +The boys went to work with a will, while Sam, going into the nearest +thicket, cut a green stick about three quarters of an inch in +diameter. Returning to the fire, he split one end of this stick for a +little way, converting it into a sort of rude pincer. He then unrolled +his blanket, and revealed to the astonished gaze of his companions +several pounds of horse shoe nails. + +"What on earth are you goin' to do with them horse shoe nails?" asked +Hilly Bowlegs, looking up from the cedar arrow on which he was +working. + +"I'm going to make arrow heads out of them," answered Sam, thrusting +several of them into the bed of coals. + +With the side of an axe for an anvil, and the hatchet for a hammer, +Sam was soon very busy forging his wrought nails into sharp arrow +points, holding the hot iron in his wooden pincers. Among the things +that Sam had thought it worth while to learn something about, was +blacksmithing, and he was really expert in the simpler arts of the +smith. He could shoe a horse, "point" a plow, or weld iron or steel, +very well indeed. + +He had learned this as he had learned a good many other things, merely +because he thought that every young man should know how to do +tolerably well whatever he might sometime need to do, and in a new +country where shops are scarce and workmen are not always to be found, +there is no mechanical art which it is not sometimes very convenient +to know something about. + +Sam wrought now so expertly that within less than an hour he had made +six arrow points. These he fitted to six of the arrows, and then he +suspended work for the evening, and marked progress on his map; that +is to say, he pricked on his map with a pin the course followed during +the afternoon, estimating the distance travelled as accurately as he +could. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A MOTION WHICH WAS NOT IN ORDER. + + +The next day the march was resumed, and continued with some haltings +for rest until about three o'clock, when Sam chose a camp for the +night, saying that they had already made a better march than he had +planned for that day, and that there was no occasion to break +themselves down by going further. + +The work was at once resumed upon guns and arrows, Sam beginning by +finishing the arrows already made. He cut strips from a hare's skin +which Tommy had brought with him at Sam's request, making each strip +about four or five inches long, and just wide enough to meet around +the end of an arrow. Binding these strips firmly, the arrows were +complete. Each was a slender, light stick of cedar, shod at one end +with a slender iron point, and bound around at the other, for a +distance of several inches, with the fur of the hare. Pushing one of +these into the mouth end of his blow gun, Sam showed his companions +that the fur completely filled the tube, so that when he should blow +in the end the arrow would be driven through and out with considerable +force. + +Pointing the gun toward a tree a little way off, Sam blew, and in a +moment the arrow was seen sticking in the tree, its head being almost +wholly buried in the solid wood. + +The boys all wanted to try the new guns, of course, and Sam permitted +them to do so, greatly to their delight, as long as the daylight +lasted. Then the manufacture of new arrows began, the boys working +earnestly now, because they were interested. + +After awhile Sam took out his map and began pricking the course upon +it. + +"I say, Sam," said Bob Sharp, "how do you do that?" + +"How do I do what? Prick the map?" + +"No, I mean how do you know where we are and which way we go?" + +"That's just what I want to know," said Sid Russell. + +"And me, too," chimed in Billy Bunker and Jake Elliott. + +"Well, come here, all of you," replied Sam, "and I'll show you. We +started there, at camp Jackson,--you see, don't you, where the Coosa +and the Tallapoosa rivers come together and we are going down there," +pointing to a spot on the map, "to the sea, or rather to the Bay near +Pensacola." + +"Are we! Good! I never saw the sea," said Sid Russell, speaking faster +than any of the boys had ever heard him speak before. + +"Yes, that is the place we're going to, and presently I'll tell you +what we're going for; but one thing at a time. You see the course is a +little west of south, nearly but not quite southwest. The distance, in +an air line is about a hundred and twenty-five miles: that is to say +Pensacola is about a hundred and ten miles further south than camp +Jackson, and about fifty miles further west." + +"That would be a hundred and sixty miles then," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Yes," replied Sam, "it would if we went due south and then due west, +taking the base and perpendicular of a right angled triangle, instead +of its hypothenuse." + +"Whew, what's all them words I wonder," exclaimed Billy. + +"Well, I'll try to show you what I mean," said Sam, taking a stick and +drawing in the sand a figure like this: + +[Illustration] + +"There," said Sam, "that's a right angled triangle, but you may call +it a thingimajig if you like; it doesn't matter about the name. +Suppose we start at the top to go to the left hand lower corner; don't +you see that it would be further to go straight down to the right hand +lower corner and then across to the left hand lower corner, than to go +straight from the top to the left hand lower corner." + +"Certainly," replied Billy, "it's just like going cat a cornered +across a field." + +"Well," said Sam, pointing with his finger, "if I were to draw a +triangle here on the map beginning at camp Jackson and running due +south to the line of Pensacola, and then due west to Pensacola itself, +with a third line running 'cat a cornered' as you say, from camp +Jackson straight to Pensacola, the line due south would be about a +hundred and ten miles long and the one due west about fifty miles +long, while the 'cat a cornered' line would be about a hundred and +twenty five miles long." + +"How do you find out that last,--the cat a cornered line's length?" +asked Tom. + +"I can't explain that to you," said Sam, "because you haven't studied +geometry." + +"Oh well, tell us anyhow, if we don't understand it," said Sid +Russell, who sat with his mouth open. + +"Sid wants to find out how to tell how far it is from his head to his +heels, without having to make the trip when he's tired," said Bob +Sharp, who was always poking fun at Sid's long legs. + +"Well," said Sam smiling, "I know the length of that line because I +know that the square described on the hypothenuse of a right angled +triangle is equal to the sum of the squares described on the other two +sides." + +"Whew! it fairly takes the breath out of a fellow to hear you rattle +that off," replied Sid. + +"Come," resumed Sam, "we aren't getting on with what we undertook. Now +look and listen. Here is the line we would follow if we could go +straight from Camp Jackson to Pensacola. If we could follow it, I +would only have to guess how many miles we march each day, and mark it +down on the map. But we can't go straight, because of swamps and +creeks and canebrakes, so I must keep looking at my compass to find +out what direction we do go; then I mark on the map the route we have +followed each day, and the distance, and each night's camp gives me a +new starting point." + +"Yes, but Sam," said Tom, suddenly thinking of something. + +"Well, what is it, Tom?" + +"Suppose you guess wrong as to the distance travelled each day?" + +"Well, suppose I do; I can't miss it very far." + +"No, but it gives you a wrong starting-point for the next day, and two +or three mistakes would throw you clear out." + +"Yes, but I make corrections constantly. You see, I have changed the +place of last night's camp a little on the map." + +"How do you make corrections?" + +"By the creeks and rivers. Here, for instance, is a creek that we +ought to cross about ten miles ahead. If we come to it short of that, +or if it proves to be further off, I shall know that I have got +to-night's camp placed wrong on the map. I shall then correct my +estimate. When we come to the next creek I shall be able to make my +guess still more certain, and by the time we get to Pensacola I shall +have the whole march marked pretty nearly right on the map." + +"I'd give a purty price for that there head o' your'n, Sam," said Sid +Russell. + +"It isn't for sale, Sid, and besides it will be a good deal cheaper to +use the one you have, taking care to make it as good as anybody's. Now +let me explain to all of you why we are going to Pensacola," and with +that Sam entered into the plans which we know all about already, and +which need not be repeated here. When he had finished the boys plied +him with questions, which he answered as well as he could. Jake +Elliott said nothing for a time, but after a while he ventured to +ask:-- + +"Don't they hang fellows they ketch in that sort o' business?" + +"They hang spies," replied Sam, "but they can scarcely hold us to be +spies, especially as we shall be in the territory of a friendly +neutral nation, where there cannot properly be a British camp at all." + +"Well, but mayn't they do it anyhow, just as they are a campin' there, +anyhow?" + +"Of course they may, but I do not think it likely. In the first place +we mustn't let them suspect us, and in the second, we must make use of +what law there is if we should be arrested." + +"Well, but if it all failed, what then?" asked Jake. + +"Oh, shut up Jake," cried Billy Bowlegs. "You're afeard, that's what's +the matter with you." + +"Well," replied Sam "that is simply a risk that we have to run, like +any other risk in war. I told you all in advance that the expedition +was a hazardous one." + +"Of course you did, an' what's more you didn't want Jake Elliott to +come either," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Go into your hole, Jake, if you're scared," said Bob Sharp. + +"Jake ain't scared, he's only bashful," drawled Sid Russell. + +"I ain't afraid no more'n the rest of you," said Jake, "but you're all +fools enough to run your heads into a noose." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Sam, looking up quickly from the map +over which he had been poring. + +"I mean just this," replied Jake, "that this here business 'll end in +gettin' us into trouble that we wont git out of soon, an' I move we +draw out'n it right now, afore its too late." + +Sam was on his feet in an instant. + +[Illustration: "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, SIR?"] + +"Do you know what you're saying sir?" he cried. "Do you understand who +is master here? Do you know that no motions are in order? Let me +tell you once for all that I will tolerate no further mutinous words +from you. If I hear another word of the kind from you, or see a sign +of misconduct on your part, I shall take measures for your punishment. +Stop! I want no answer. I have warned you and that is enough." + +Sam's sudden assertion of his authority, in terms so peremptory, took +Jake completely by surprise. Sam was a good tempered fellow, and not +at all disposed to "put on airs" as boys say, and hence he had been as +easy and familiar with his companions as if they had been merely a lot +of school boys out for a holiday; but when Jake Elliott suggested a +revolt, Sam, the good natured companion, became Captain Sam, the stern +commander, at once. + +The other boys saw at once the necessity and propriety of the rebuke +he had administered. They believed Jake Elliott to be a coward and a +bully, and they were glad to see him properly and promptly checked in +his effort to give trouble. + +It was growing late and the boys presently threw themselves down on +their beds of soft gray moss and were soon sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +JAKE ELLIOTT GETS EVEN WITH SAM. + + +Jake Elliott was a coward all over, and clear through. He had always +been a bully and pretended to the possession of unusual courage. He +had tyrannized over small boys, threatened boys of his own size and +sneered at boys whom he thought able to hold their own against him in +a fight. He had had many fights in his time, but had always managed to +get the best of his opponents, by the very simple process of choosing +for the purpose, boys who were not as strong as he was. As a result of +all this he had acquired a great reputation among his fellows, and +most of the boys in his neighborhood were very careful not to provoke +him; but he was a great coward through it all, and when he first came +in collision with Sam Hardwicke his cowardice showed itself too +plainly to be mistaken. Now there is a curious thing about cowards of +this sort. When they are once found out they lose the little +appearance of courage that they have taken such pains to maintain, and +become at once the most abject and shameless dastards imaginable. That +was what happened to Jake Elliott. When Sam conquered him so +effectually on the occasion of the boot stealing, he lost all the +pride he had and all his meanness seemed to come to the surface. If he +had had a spark of manliness in him, he would have recognized Sam's +generosity in sparing him at that time, and would have behaved himself +better afterward. As it was he simply cherished his malice and +resolved to do Sam all the injury he could in secret. + +When Sam organized his expedition at Camp Jackson, Jake had two +motives in joining it. In the first place things around the camp +looked too much like genuine preparation for a hard fight with the +enemy, and Jake thought that if he should enlist he would be forced to +fight, which was precisely what he did not mean to do if he could +help it. By joining Sam's party, however, he would escape the +necessity of enlisting, and he thought that the little band was going +away from danger instead of going into it. He thought, too, that if +any real danger should come, under Sam's leadership, he could run away +from it, or sneak out in some way, and as he would not be a regularly +enlisted soldier, no punishment could follow. + +This was his first reason for joining. His second one was still more +unworthy. He was bent upon doing Sam all the secret injury he could, +and he thought that by going with him he would have opportunities to +wreak his vengeance, which he would otherwise lose. + +When he learned, as we have seen, whither Sam was leading his party, +and on what errand, he was really frightened, and Sam's sharp rebuke +made him still bitterer in his feelings toward his young commander. A +coward with a grudge which he is afraid to avenge openly, is a very +dangerous foe. He will do anything against his adversary which he +thinks he can do safely, by sneaking, and when Jake Elliott threw +himself down on his pile of moss he did not mean to go to sleep. He +meant to revenge himself on Sam before morning, and at the same time +to make it impossible for the expedition to go on. If he could force +Sam to return to Camp Jackson, he said to himself, he would humiliate +that young man beyond endurance, and at the same time get himself out +of the danger into which Sam was leading him. Everybody would laugh at +Sam, and call him a coward, and suspect him of failing in his +expedition purposely, all of which would please Jake Elliott mightily. + +How to accomplish all this was a problem which Jake thought he had +solved by a sudden inspiration. He had formed his plan at the very +moment of receiving Sam's rebuke, and he waited now only for a chance +to execute it. + +An hour passed; two hours, three. It was after midnight, and all the +boys were sleeping soundly. Jake arose noiselessly and crept to the +tree at whose roots Sam had laid his baggage. It was thirty feet or +more from any of the boys, and Jake was not afraid of waking them. He +fumbled about in Sam's baggage until he felt something hard and round +and cold. He drew out a little circular brass box about two and a half +inches in diameter, with a glass top to it. It was Sam's compass. He +tried hard to raise the glass in some way, but failed. Finally, with +much fear, lest he should awaken some of the boys, he struck the glass +with the end of his heavy Jack knife and broke it. This admitted his +fingers, and taking out the needle of the compass he broke it half in +two. Then replacing the brass lid, leaving all the pieces of the +ruined instrument inside, he slipped the compass back into its +original place and crept back to his bed by the fire. + +"Now," he thought "I reckon Mr. Sam Hardwicke's long head will be +puzzled, and I reckon I'll be even with him, when he gives up that he +can't go on, and has to turn back to Camp Jackson. A pretty story +he'll have to tell, and wont people want to know how his compass got +broke? They'll think it very curious, and maybe they wont suspect that +he broke it himself, for an excuse. Oh! wont they though!" + +He fairly chuckled with delight, in anticipation of Sam's humiliation. +He knew that the country south of them was wholly unsettled, a +perfect wilderness of woods and canebrakes and swamps, which nobody +could go through without some guide as to the points of the compass, +and hence he was satisfied that the destruction of Sam's instrument +was an effectual way of compelling the young captain to retreat while +it was still possible to retrace the trail the party had made in +coming. He was so delighted that he could not sleep and hours passed +before he closed his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A DISTURBANCE IN CAMP. + + +Jake Elliott got very little sleep that night. Indeed it was nearly +daylight when he fell asleep and it was one of Sam's marching rules to +march early. He waked the boys every morning as soon as it was +sufficiently light for them to begin preparing breakfast, and by +sunrise they were ready to begin their day's march. + +This morning it was cloudy and there were symptoms of a coming storm. +Sam was up at the first breaking of day, and he hurriedly waked the +boys. + +"Come, boys," he said, "we must hurry or we shall be too late to cross +a river that's ahead of us, before it begins to rise. Get breakfast +over as quickly as possible, for we mustn't fail to make seventeen +miles to-day, and if it rains heavily it'll be bad marching in this +swamp. There's higher ground ahead of us for to-morrow, but we mustn't +be caught in here by high water in the creeks." + +The boys sprang up quickly and made all haste in the preparation of +breakfast. Jake Elliott was dull and moody. The fact is he was sleepy +and tired with the night's excitement, and in no very good condition +to march. He dragged with his share of the work, but breakfast was +soon over, and Sam was ready to start. Taking out his compass to get +his bearings right he opened it, and saw the ruin that had been +wrought. + +He looked up in surprise and caught Jake Elliott's eye. In an instant +he guessed the truth. + +"Lay down your bundles, boys," he said, "we cannot start just yet." + +"Why not, Captain Sam?" asked two or three boys in a breath. + +"Because Jake Elliott has broken our compass," replied Sam, looking +the offender fixedly in the eye. + +"Shame on the wretched coward," exclaimed the boys. "Let's duck him in +the creek." + +"I'm not a coward, and whoever says I broke the compass--" + +"Silence!" cried Sam peremptorily. "Don't finish that sentence, Jake. +It isn't a wise thing to do. Besides there's no use putting it in that +way. 'Whoever says,' is a vague sort of phrase. You know very well who +said that you broke the compass. I said it; Sam Hardwicke said it, and +you do not dare to say that I lie. Don't try to say it by calling me +'whoever says.' That isn't my name." + +Sam was as cool and quiet as possible. There was no sign of agitation +in his voice, and no anger in his tone. The boys, however, were +furious. They were in earnest in this expedition, and they supposed, +of course, that the destruction of the compass would force them to +return to camp. Beside this, it angered them to think that Jake had +done so mean a thing. + +Billy Bowlegs, the smallest boy in the party, was especially furious. +Walking up to Jake with his fists clenched, he said: + +"Jake Elliott, you're a sneak and a coward, and you daren't answer for +yourself. Just deny it please, do deny it, so's I can bat you in the +mouth. I'm hungry to wallop you. Do say I lie, or say anything, open +your head, or lift your hand, or wink your eye, or look at me, or do +something. Just give me any sort of excuse and I'll give you what you +deserve, now and here." + +Billy screamed this out at the top of his voice, advancing on Jake +every moment, as the latter drew back. + +"What can I say to make you fight?" he continued. "I'll call you +anything that's mean. Just say what it shall be and consider it said. +Won't any thing make you fight? _There_, and _there_ and _there_, now +may be you'll resent that." + +The words "there and there and there" were accompanied by three +vigorous slaps which Billy laid with a will on Jake's cheeks, in +despair of provoking him to resent anything less positive. It was all +done in a moment, and in another instant Sam had brought Billy Bowlegs +to his senses, by quietly leading him away and saying. + +"Let him alone, Billy; there's no credit in fighting such a coward." + +Enough had occurred, however, to show that Jake was thoroughly scared +by the little fellow's violence, and he could not have been more +thoroughly whipped than he was already. + +When order had been restored, Sam said quietly:-- + +"The breaking of the compass is a serious mishap, and the want of it +will give us trouble all the way; but luckily it is not fatal to our +expedition, if you boys will help me work out the problem without the +aid of the needle." + +"Help you! You see if we wont!" cried the enthusiastic boys in chorus. + +"Thank you," replied Sam, lifting his cap, "I thought I could depend +upon you." + +"But can you really find the way without the compass, Sam?" asked Tom. + +"Certainly, else I shouldn't be fit to be in the woods." + +"How can you do it?" + +"I'll show you presently." + +"What'll you do with Jake?" asked Sid Russell. + +"I'll take him with us," replied Sam. + +"Is that all?" + +"That is enough, I think. He is the worst punished boy or man in +America this minute, and he'll be punished every minute while he stays +with us." + +"Well but ain't nothin' more to be done to him? Can't I just duck him +a little or something of that sort?" + +"No, certainly not. We all know him now, as a coward and a miserable +sneak. What's the good of demonstrating it further? It would be +dirtying your own hands." + +"That's kind o' so, captain, but I'd sort o' like to duck him a little +anyhow. The creek's so handy down there." + +"No," said Sam. "I want no further reference made to this matter. Jake +Elliott will go on with us, and as I have said already, he's punished +enough. Besides it may prove to be a lesson to him. He may do better +hereafter, and if he does, if he shows a genuine disposition to atone +for his misconduct by good behavior in the future, I want nobody to +tell of what has occurred here, after we get back to our friends. I +ask that now of you boys as a favor, and I shall think nobody my +friend who will not join me in this effort to make a man out of our +companion. I am ready to forgive him freely, and the quarrel has been +mine from the first. You can certainly afford to hold your tongues at +my request, if Jake tries to do better hereafter. I want your promise +to that effect." + +The boys required some urging before they would promise, but their +admiration for Sam's magnanimity was too great for them to persist in +refusing anything that he asked of them. They promised at last, not +only not to refer to the matter during their campaign, but to keep it +a secret afterward, provided Jake should be guilty of no further +misconduct. + +"Thank you, boys," said Sam, "and now, Jake," he continued, "you have +a chance to redeem your reputation. You cannot undo what you have +done, but you can act like a man hereafter, without having this +business thrown up to you." + +Sam held out his hand, but Jake pretended not to see it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BACKWOODS GEOMETRY. + + +The quarrel having ended in the way described in the last chapter, the +boys were compelled to find something else to talk about, as they were +under a pledge not to refer further to that matter. They were +prepared, therefore, to take an interest in Sam's preparations for +resuming the march without the assistance of a compass. Their +curiosity was great to know how he meant to proceed, and it was made +greater by what he did first. + +The clouds were thick and heavy, as I have already said, so that there +was no chance to look at the sun for guidance; but Sam Hardwicke was +full of resources. He had a good habit of observing whatever he saw +and remembering it, whether he saw any reason to suppose that it +might be of use to him or not. Just now he remembered something which +he had observed the evening before, and he proceeded at once to make +use of it. + +He cut a stick, sharpened it a little at one end, and drove it into +the ground at a spot which he had selected for the purpose. Then he +walked away twenty or thirty paces and drove another stake, sighting +from one to the other, and taking pains to get them in line with a +tree which stood at a little distance from the first stake. + +"What are you doing, Captain Sam?" asked Bob Sharp, unable to restrain +his curiosity. + +"I am getting the points of the compass," replied Sam. + +"Yes, but how are you a doin' it?" asked Sid Russell. + +"Well," replied Sam, "I'll show you. Just before sunset yesterday I +wanted to mark my map, and I sat down right here," pointing to a spot +near the first stake, "because it was shady here. The trunk of that +big tree threw its shadow here. Now the sun does not set exactly in +the west in this latitude, but a little south of west at this time of +year. The line of a tree's shadow, therefore, at sunset must be from +the tree a trifle north of east. Now I have driven this stake" +(pointing to the first one) "just a little to the right of the middle +of the shadow, as I remember it, so that a line from the stake to the +middle of the tree-trunk must be very nearly an east and west line. +The other stake I drove merely to aid me in tracing this line. Now I +will go on with my work, explaining as I go." + +Taking his pocket-rule he measured off twenty feet east and west from +his first stake, and drove a stake at each point. + +"Now," he said, "I have an east and west line, forty feet long, with a +stake at each end and a stake in the middle." + +This is what he had: + +[Illustration] + +"A north and south line will run straight across this, at right +angles, and I can draw it pretty accurately with my eye, but to be +exact I have measured this line as you see. Now I'll draw a line as +nearly as I can straight across this one, and of precisely the same +length." + +He drew and staked the second line, and this is what he had: + +[Illustration] + +"Now," he said, "if I have drawn my last line exactly at right angles +with my first one, it runs north and south; and to find out whether or +not I have drawn it exactly, I must measure. If it is just right it +will be precisely the same distance from the south stake to the east +stake as from the south stake to the west stake; and from the east +stake to the south one will be southwest, while from the west to the +south will be south-east." + +With that Sam measured, and found that he was just a trifle out. +Readjusting his north and south stakes, he soon had his lines right. + +"Now," he resumed, "I know the points of the compass, and I'll explain +how you can help me. Our course lies exactly in a line from me through +that big gum tree over there to the dead sycamore beyond. If we go +toward the gum, keeping it always in a line with the sycamore, we +shall go perfectly straight, of course; and by choosing another tree +away beyond the sycamore and in line with it, just before we get to +the gum tree, we shall still go on in a perfectly straight line. We +might keep that up for any distance, and travel in as straight a line +as a compass can mark. Now if this country was an open one with no +bogs to go around, and nothing to keep us from going straight ahead, I +shouldn't need any assistance, but could go on in a straight line all +day long. As it is, I must establish a long straight line, reaching as +far ahead as possible, and then pick out two things in the line, one +near me and one at the far end, which we can recognize again from any +point. Then we'll go on by the best route we can till we come to the +furthest object, and then I'll show you how to get the line again. +What I want you to do is to notice the 'object trees' as we'll call +them, so that we can be sure of them at any time. Notice them in +starting, and as often afterward as you can see them. The appearance +of trees varies with distance and point of view, and it is important +that we shall be sure of our object trees and make no mistake about +them." + +"All right, Captain Sam," cried the boys, "pick out your object +trees." + +"Well," said Sam, "the big sycamore yonder will do for one, and that +tall leaning pine away over there almost out of sight must do for the +other. That is in our line, and what we've got to do is to get to it. +It doesn't matter by how crooked a route, if we can remember the +sycamore tree again and pick it out from there." + +"We'll watch 'em captain, and we won't let 'em slip away from us," +said Sid Russell. + +"Thank you, boys," replied Sam; "I shall be so busy picking our way, +that I can't watch them very well. Now then, we're ready, come on." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW TO HAVE A "LONG HEAD." + + +Two hours steady walking, over logs and brush, through canebrakes, +across a creek, and through a tangle of vines, brought the party to +the leaning pine tree. From that point the old sycamore tree looked +not at all as it did from the point of starting. The boys had taken +pains to watch its changes of appearance, however, and were able to +point it out with certainty to Sam. + +"But what's the good of knowing it now?" asked Sid Russell, "we aint a +goin' back that way agin'." + +"No," said Sam, "but it is necessary to know it, nevertheless. How +would you know which way to go without it, Sid?" + +"Well, I'd pick out another tree ahead an' walk towards it." + +"Well, but how would you know what tree to select?" + +"Why I'd take one in a line with the pine." + +"Well, every tree is in a line with the pine. It depends on where you +stand to take sight." + +"That's so; but how's the old sycamore to help us?" + +"By giving us a point to take sight from. Let me show you. Our proper +course of march is in the direction of a line drawn from the sycamore +to this pine tree. What we want to do is to prolong that line, and +find some tree further on that stands in it. If I stand on the line, +between the sycamore and the pine and turn my face toward the pine, +I'll be looking in exactly the right direction, and can pick out the +right tree to march to, by sighting on the pine. The trouble is to get +in the right place to take sight from. To do that I must find the line +between the sycamore and the pine. Now you go over there beyond the +pine, and take sight on it at the sycamore till you get the two trees +in a line with you. Then I'll stand over here, between the two object +trees, and move to the right or left as you tell me to do, till you +find that I am exactly in the line between them. Then I can pick out +the right tree ahead." + +Sid did as he was told, the boys all looking on with great interest, +and presently Sam had selected their next object tree. The boys were +astonished greatly at what they thought Sam's marvellous knowledge, +but to their wondering comments Sam replied:-- + +"I haven't done anything wonderful. A little knowledge of mathematics +has helped me, perhaps, but there isn't a thing in all this that isn't +perfectly simple. Any one of you might have found out all this for +himself, without books and without a teacher. It only requires you to +think a little and to use your eyes. Besides you've all done the same +thing many a time." + +"I'll _bet_ I never did," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Yes you have, Billy, but you did it without thinking about it." + +"When?" + +"Whenever you have shot a rifle at anything." + +"How?" + +"By taking aim. You look through one sight over the other and at the +game, and you know then that you've got it in a line with your eye +and the sights. I've only been turning the thing around, and nobody +taught me how. You've only got to _use_ your eyes and your head to +make them worth ten times as much to you as they are now." + +"Seems to me," said Sid Russell, "as if your head 'n eyes, or least +ways your head is a mighty oncommon good one." + +"You're right dah, Mas' Sid," said Black Joe; "you're right for +sartain. I'se dun see Mas' Sam do some mighty cur'ous things, I is. He +dun make a fire wid water once, sho's you're born. 'Sides dat, I'se +dun heah de gentlemen say's how he's got a head more 'n a yard long, +and I'm blest if I don't b'lieve it's so." + +All this was said at a little distance from Sam and beyond his +hearing, but he knew very well in what estimation his companions held +him, and he was anxious to impress them, not with his own superiority, +but with the fact that the difference was due chiefly to his habit of +thinking and observing. He wanted them to improve by association with +him, and to that end he took pains to show them the advantage which a +habit of observing everything and thinking about it gives its +possessor. For this reason he took pains to make no display of his +knowledge of Latin or of anything else which they had no chance to +learn. He wanted them to learn to use their eyes, their ears and their +heads, knowing very well that the greater as well as the better part +of education comes by observation and thinking, rather than from +books. + +Just now he was striding forward as rapidly as he could, as it was +beginning to rain. + +"Keep your eye on the hind sight boys, and don't lose it," he cried; +"we must hurry or we shall be caught in a pocket to-night." + +Hour after hour they marched, the rain pouring down steadily, and the +ground becoming every moment softer. The walking wearied them +terribly, but they pushed on in the hope that they might be able to +cross the upper waters of the Nepalgah river before night. This would +place them on the west bank of that stream, where Sam believed that he +should find the marching tolerable. If they should fail in this, Sam +feared that the water would rise during the night, and fill all the +bottom lands. In that event he must continue marching down the east +bank of the river; not going very far out of his way, it is true, but +having to pass through what he was satisfied must be a much more +difficult country than that on the other side. + +Night came at last, and they were yet not within sight of the stream, +notwithstanding their utmost exertions. Sam called a halt just before +dark, and selected a camping place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WHAT DOES SAM MEAN? + + +When the halt was called, Sam said, very much to the astonishment of +the boys:-- + +"We must build a house here, boys." + +"A house!" exclaimed Tom, "What for, pray?" + +"To live in, of course. What else are houses for?" + +"Yes, of course, but aren't we going on?" + +"Not at present, and it rains. We must dry our clothes to-night if we +can, and keep as dry as we can while we stay here, which may be for a +day or two. To do that we must have a house, but it need not be a very +good one. Joe!" + +"Yes, sah." + +"Build a fire right here." + +"Agin de big log dah, Mas' Sam?" pointing to the trunk of a great +tree which had fallen in some earlier storm. + +"No, build it right here. Sid, you and Bob Sharp go down into the +canebrake there and get two or three dozen of the longest canes you +can find." + +"Green ones?" asked Bob. + +"Green or dry, it doesn't matter in the least," answered Sam. "The +rest of you boys go down into the swamp off there and cut a lot of the +palmetes you find there,--this sort of thing," pointing to one of the +plants which grew at his feet. "Get as many of them as you can, the +more the better. The fire will be burning presently and will throw a +light all around." + +The boys were puzzled, but they hurried away to the work assigned +them. Sam busied himself digging a trench on the side of the fallen +tree opposite the fire. The great branches of the tree held it up many +feet from the ground at the point selected, and it was Sam's purpose +to make the trunk the front of his house, building behind it, and +having the fire in front. The lower part of the trunk was high enough +from the ground to let all the boys, except Sid Russell, pass under +without stooping; Sid had to stoop a little. + +The fire blazed presently, and by the time that Sam had his ditch done +the boys began to come in with loads of cane and palmetes. The +palmetes are plants out of which what we call "palm-leaf fans" are +made. They grow in bunches right out of the ground in many southern +swamps. Each leaf is simply a palm leaf fan that needs ironing out +flat, except that the edge consists of long points which are cut off +in making the fans. + +Sam cut two forked sticks and drove them in the ground about ten feet +from the fallen tree trunk, and about ten feet apart. When driven in +they were about five feet high, while the top of the trunk was perhaps +eight feet from the ground. Cutting a long, straight pole, Sam laid it +in the forks of his two stakes, parallel with the tree trunk. Then +taking the canes he laid them from this pole to the top of the tree +trunk, for rafters, placing them as close to each other as possible. +On top of them he laid the palmete leaves, taking care to lap them +over each other like shingles. When the roof was well covered with +them, he made the boys bring some armfuls of the long gray moss which +abounds in southern forests, and lay it on top of the roof, to hold +the palmete leaves in place, and to prevent them from blowing away. +For sides to the house bushes answered very well, and in less than an +hour after the company halted, they were safely housed in a shed open +only on the side toward the fire, and the ground within was rapidly +drying, while supper was in course of preparation. + +"Sam," said Tom presently. + +"Well," answered Sam. + +"What did you dig that big ditch for? a little one would have carried +off all the water that'll drip from the roof." + +"Yes, but I dug this one to carry off other water than that." + +"What water?" + +"That which was already in the ground that the house is built on. You +see this soil is largely composed of sand, and water runs out of it +very rapidly if it has anywhere to run to. I made the ditch for it to +run into, and if you'll examine the ground here you'll find that my +trench is doing its work very well indeed." + +"That's a fac'," said Sid Russell, feeling of the sand. + +"I say Sam," said Billy Bowlegs, squaring himself before Sam, with +arms akimbo. + +"Well, say it then," replied Sam, laughing, and assuming a similar +attitude. + +"If there is any little thing, about any sort o' thing, that you don't +happen to know, I wish you'd just oblige me by telling me what it is." + +"I haven't time, Billy," laughed Sam, "the list of things I don't know +is too long to begin this late in the evening." + +"Well, you've made me feel like an idiot every day since we started on +this tramp, by knowing all about things, and doing little things that +any fool ought to have thought of, and not one of us fools did." + +"Come, supper is ready," replied Sam. + +After supper the boys busied themselves drying their clothes by the +roaring fire of pitch pine which blazed and crackled in front of the +tent, making the air within like that of an oven. While they were +at it they fell to talking, of course, and it is equally a matter of +course that they talked about the subject which was uppermost in +their minds. They knew very well that until the house was built, and +supper over, they could get nothing out of Sam. "He never will explain +anything till every body is ready to listen," said Sid Russell, who +had become one of Sam's heartiest admirers. Recognizing the truth of +Sid's observation, the boys had tacitly consented to postpone all +questions respecting Sam's plans and queer manoeuvres until after +supper, when there was time for him to talk and for them to listen. +Now that the time had come, the long repressed curiosity broke forth +in questions. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SAM CLEARS UP THE MYSTERY. + + +Tommy was the spokesman. + +"Now then, Sam," he said, holding out his trowsers toward the fire to +dry them, "tell us all about it." + +"I can't," replied Sam. + +"Why not?" + +"Because I don't know all about it myself." + +"Well, what do you mean by building this shed?" + +"Don't call it a shed, Tom," said Billy Bowlegs, "it's a mansion, and +these are our broad acres all around here." + +"Yes, and the alligators down in the swamp there are our cattle," said +Sam. + +"And here's our fowls," said Billy, slapping at the mosquitoes, "game +ones they are too, ain't they?" + +"Stop your nonsense," said Sid Russell, "I want to hear Sam's +explanation. Tell us, Sam, what did you build the shanty for?" + +"To live in while it rains, to be sure." + +"Yes, but how long are we going to stay here?" + +"I don't know." + +"Well then, why are we to stop here at all?" asked Tom, "and what have +you been thinking about all the afternoon? You didn't open your head +after it began raining, until we got here; you were working out +something, and this halt means that you've worked it out. What is it? +That's what we want to know." + +"You're partly right," said Sam, laughing, "but you're partly wrong. I +have been thinking how to get out of this pocket we're caught in, and +I've partly worked it out, but not entirely. That is to say, I must +wait till morning before I can say precisely what I shall have to do. +Let me show you where we are;" and with that Sam took out his map and +spread it on the ground before him, while the boys clustered around. + +"Here we are," pointing to a spot on the map, "near the Nepalgah +river, at the upper end of the peninsula it makes with the Patsaliga +and the Connecuh rivers. You see the Patsaliga and the Nepalgah both +run into the Connecuh, their mouths being not many miles apart. This +peninsula that we're on is low, swampy, and full of creeks, a little +lower down. This heavy rain will raise all the rivers and all the +creeks, and make them spread out all over the low grounds on both +sides. The land is higher on the other side of the Nepalgah river, and +it was my plan to cross over to-day, but when this rain came on I +began to think it not at all likely that we could get to the river +before night, and then I began to lay plans for use in case of a +failure." + +"That's what you've been puzzling over all the afternoon, then?" said +Bob Sharp. + +"Yes. I've been wondering what we should do, and trying to hit upon +some plan. You see the matter stands thus: we can't go on on this +side, that is certain; the river will be out of its banks to-morrow +morning, and we can't easily get across it; and if we were across it +would still be difficult marching, as there are creeks and swamps +enough to bother us over there." + +"What are we to do, then?" asked Tommy, uneasily. "We _mustn't_ go +back. That'll never do." + +"Never you mind, Tom," said Sid Russell, whose faith in Sam's +fertility of resource was literally boundless, "never you mind. We +ain't a goin' back if the Captain knows it. He's got it all fixed +somehow in his head, you may bet your bottom dollar. Just wait till he +explains." + +"That's so," said Billy Bowlegs, "only it seems to me he's got a +mighty hard sum this time, an' if he's got the right answer I'd like +to see just what it is." + +"He's got it, ain't you, Sam?" asked Sid, confidently. + +"I believe I have," said Sam. + +"What is it?" asked all the boys in a breath. + +"Canoe," answered Sam. + +"To cross the river with? That's the trick," said Bob Sharp. + +"No," replied Sam, "that was what I first thought of; or rather, I +first thought of building some sort of a raft to cross the river on, +and then it occurred to me that we could go on faster on high water in +a canoe than on foot; so my notion is to dig out a good big canoe and +ride all the way in it." + +"Can we do that?" + +"Yes, the Nepalgah river runs into the Connecuh, and the Connecuh into +the Escambia, and the Escambia runs into Escambia Bay, and Escambia +Bay is an arm of Pensacola Bay. Here, look at it on the map; you see +it's as straight a course as we could go even on land, or pretty +nearly." + +"Well, but you said you couldn't tell till morning about it." + +"I can't. I am not absolutely sure where we are, but I think we are +within a very short distance of the river. I shall look in the +morning, and if we are, we'll dig the canoe here, or rather, we'll +live here and dig the canoe down by the river, for it must be a big +one to carry all of us, and we can't carry it any distance. If I find +that we are not as near the river as I suppose, we must break up here +and find a camping ground further on. At all events we'll dig the +canoe and ride in it. The rivers will be high, and it will be easy +travelling with the current, while there won't be any danger of +getting the fever from being on the water, as there would have been +before the rain when the water was low. Come, our clothes are dry now +and we must go to sleep, as we've a hard day's work before us." + +"How long will it take to dig out the canoe?" asked Bob Sharp. + +"One day, I hope, but it may take as much as three. Luckily we've +killed so much game to-day, that we needn't be afraid of running out +of victuals. But we must lose no time." + +"Oh, Sam--" began one of the boys after all had laid down for the +night. + +"I won't open my mouth again to-night, except to yawn," said Sam, and +it was not long before the whole party were asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A FOREST SHIP YARD. + + +Day light had no sooner shown itself the next morning than Sam started +away from the camp on a tour of observation. He was a fine looking +fellow as he strode through the woods, straight as an arrow, broad +shouldered, brawny, with legs that seemed all the more shapely for +being clothed in closely fitting trowsers that were thrust into his +long boot legs. Two of his companions watched him walk away in the +early light. + +"What a splendid fellow he is, outside and inside!" said Bob Sharp, +half to himself and half to Jake Elliott, who stood by the fire. Jake +said nothing and Bob was left to guess for himself what impression +their stalwart young leader had made upon that moody youth. Meantime +Sam had disappeared in the forest. He walked on for a little way when +he came to a creek, a small one ordinarily, scarcely more than a +crooked brook, but swollen now to considerable size. + +"This may do," he said to himself. "At all events it leads to the +river, and I may as well explore it as I go." + +Accordingly he followed the stream. Mile after mile he walked, through +bottom lands that were well nigh impassable now, never losing sight of +the creek until he reached its point of junction with the river. It +was still raining, but Sam persisted in the work of exploration until +he knew the country thoroughly which lay between his camp and the +river. Then he returned, not weary with his four hours' walking, but +very decidedly hungry. + +Luckily, Bob Sharp's enthusiastic admiration for his leader had taken +a very prosaic and practical turn. It was Bob's turn to prepare +breakfast, and a hare was to be cooked. The boys wanted it cut up and +fried, but Bob remained firm. + +"No, siree," he said, "Captain Sam's gone off to look out for us, +without waiting for his breakfast, and when he comes back he's to +have roast rabbit for breakfast, and his pick of the pieces at that. +If any of you boys want fried victuals you may go and kill your own +rabbits and fry them for yourselves, or you may cook your bacon. I +killed this game myself, and nobody shall eat a mouthful of it till +Captain Sam carves it." + +The boys were hungry, but they agreed with Bob, when he thus +peremptorily suggested the propriety of awaiting their young leader's +return, and so when Sam got back, about ten o'clock, he found a hungry +company and a beautifully roasted hare awaiting him, the latter +hanging by a string to a branch of an over-hanging tree immediately in +front of the fire. + +After remonstrating with the boys in a good natured way, for delaying +their breakfast so long, Sam carved, as Bob had put it; that is to say +he held the hare by a hind leg, while another boy held it by a fore +leg, and with their jack knives they quickly divided it into pieces, +using the skillet for a platter. + +The boys were not so hungry that they could forget their curiosity as +to the result of Sam's exploration. + +"Where are we, Sam?" + +"Did you find the river?" + +"Is it close by?" + +These and half a dozen similar questions were asked in rapid +succession. + +"One thing at a time," said Sam, "or, better still, listen and I'll +tell you all about it without waiting to be questioned." + +"All right, any way to get the news out of you," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"Well then," said Sam, "to begin with, we're not very near the river. +It's about five miles away, as nearly as I can judge." + +Billy Bowlegs's countenance fell. + +"Then we can't make the canoe here after all our work to build a +house." + +"I didn't say that, Billy. On the contrary, I think we must make it +here, as there is no fit place for a camp nearer the river than this. +Beside, the river will be out of its banks pretty soon if the rain +continues, and will overflow all the low grounds." + +"Then we've got to carry the canoe five miles! We can't do it, that's +all," said Jake Elliott, who had not spoken before. + +Sam looked at Jake rather sternly, and was about to make him a sharp +answer, but changed his mind and said instead:-- + +"You and Billy are in too big a hurry to draw conclusions, Jake. Billy +begins by assuming that because the river is five miles away we can't +make the canoe here, and you jump to the conclusion that if we make it +here we must carry it five miles. The fact is, you're both wrong. We +can make it here, and we needn't carry it five miles, or one mile, or +half a mile." + +"How's that?" asked Tom. + +"Now _you're_ in a hurry, are you Tom? I was just about to explain and +only stopped to swallow, but before I could do it you pushed a +question in between my teeth." + +"SILENCE!" roared Billy Bowlegs, "the court cannot be heard." Billy's +father was sheriff of his county, and Billy had often heard him make +more noise in commanding silence in the court room than the room full +of people were making by requiring the caution. + +Silence succeeding the laughter which Billy's unfilial mimicry had +provoked, Sam resumed his explanation. + +"There's a creek down there about a hundred yards, which runs into the +river. It is a small affair, but is pretty well up now, and my plan is +to make the canoe here and paddle her down the creek to the river +while the water is high." + +"Hurrah! now for work!" shouted the boys, who by this time had +finished their breakfast. + +"Where's your timber, Sam?" asked Tom, bringing in the axes and adze +out of the tent. + +Sam had taken pains to select a proper tree for his purpose, a +gigantic poplar more than three feet in diameter, which lay near the +creek, where it had fallen several years before. + +When the boys saw it, they looked at Sam in astonishment. + +"Why, Sam, you don't mean to work that great big thing into a dug-out, +do you?" asked Sid Russell. + +"Why not, Sid?" asked Sam. + +"Why, its bigger'n a dozen dug-outs." + +"Yes, that is true, but we're not going to make an ordinary canoe. +We're going to cut out something as nearly like a yawl, or a ship's +launch as possible. She is to be sixteen feet long, and three and a +quarter feet wide amidships." + +Sam had learned a good deal about boats during his boyhood in +Baltimore. + +"Whew! what do you want such a whopper for?" + +"Well, in the first place such a boat will be of use to us down at +Pensacola, where we couldn't use an ordinary canoe at all. You see I'm +going to shape her like a sea boat, partly by cutting away, and partly +by pinning a keel to her." + +"What'll you pin it on with?" asked Tom. + +"With pins, of course; wooden ones." + +"What'll you bore the holes with?" + +"With my bit of iron, heated red hot." + +"That's so. So you can." + +"But, Sam," said Sid. + +"Well?" + +"You said that was in the first place; what's the next?" + +"In the next place, we'll need such a boat in running down the +river." + +"Why?" + +"Because there'll be no fit camping places in the low grounds, even if +the water isn't over the banks, and so we must stay in the boat night +and day, which would be rather an uncomfortable thing to do in a +little round bottomed dug-out, that would turn over if a fellow +nodded. Beside that I'm anxious to make all the time I can and when we +leave here I mean to push ahead night and day without stopping." + +"How'll we manage without eatin' or sleepin'?" asked Jake Elliott, who +seemed somehow to be interested chiefly in discovering what appeared +to him to be insurmountable obstacles in the way of the execution of +Sam's plans. + +"I have no thought," answered Sam, "of trying to do without either +eating or sleeping." + +"Where'll we eat," asked Jake, "ef we don't stop nowhere?" + +"In the boat, of course." + +"Yes, but where'll we cook?" + +"Here," answered Sam. + +"Before we start?" + +"Yes, certainly. We'll kill some game, cook it at night and eat it +cold on the way with cold bread. That will save our bacon to cook fish +with down at Pensacola." + +"Well, but how about sleeping?" + +"That is one of my reasons for making so large a boat. We can sleep in +her very comfortably, one staying awake to steer and paddle, all of us +taking turns at it." + +This plan was eagerly welcomed by the boys, who speedily fell to work +upon the log under Sam's direction. The poplar was very easily worked, +and the boys were all of them skilled in the use of the axes. +Relieving each other at the work, they did not permit it to cease for +a moment, and in half an hour the trunk of the tree was severed in two +places, giving them a log of the desired length to work on. + +Then began the work of hewing it into shape, and this admitted of four +boys working at once, two with the axes, one with the adze and one +with the hatchet. When night came the log had already assumed the +shape of a rude boat, turned bottom up, and Sam was more than +satisfied with the progress made. His comrades were enthusiastic, +however, and insisted upon building a bonfire and working for an hour +or two by its light, after supper. They could not work at shaping it +by such a light, but they turned it over and hewed the side which was +to be dug out, down to a level with its future gunwales. The next day +they began work early, and when they quitted it at night their task +was done. The boat was a rude affair but reasonably well shaped, +broad, so that she drew very little water considering her weight, and +with a keel which kept her perfectly steady in the water. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CAPTAIN SAM PLAYS THE PART OF A SKIPPER. + + +The launching of the boat was easy enough, and she rode beautifully on +the water. To test her capacity to remain right side up, Sam put the +boys one by one on her gunwale, and found that their combined weight, +thrown as far as possible to one side, was barely sufficient to make +her take water. + +The stores were stowed carefully in the bow and stern; rough seats +were fitted in after the manner of a boat's thwarts, but not fastened. +They were left moveable for the purpose of making it possible for +several of the boys to lie down in the bottom of the boat at once. +There was no rudder as yet, although it was Sam's purpose to fix one +to the stern as soon as possible, and also to make a mast when they +should get to Pensacola, where a sail could be procured. For the +present two long poles and some rough paddles were their propelling +power. + +"When we get out into the river," said Sam, "she will float pretty +rapidly on the high water, and we need only use the paddles to give +her steerage, and to paddle her out of eddies." + +"What are the poles for?" asked Tom. + +"To push her in shoal water, for one thing," answered Sam, "and to +fend off of banks and trees." + +A large quantity of the long gray moss of the swamps was stored in the +bottom for bedding purposes, and the boat was ready for her +passengers. One by one they took their places, Sam in the bow, and the +voyage down the creek began. This stream was very crooked, and many +fallen trees interrupted its course, so that it was very difficult to +navigate it with so long a boat. In addition to this, the river had +risen much faster than the creek, and the back water had entirely +destroyed the creek's current, so that the boat must be pushed and +paddled every inch of the way. + +Nearly the entire day was consumed in getting to the river, five +miles away from the starting place, and as the afternoon waned the +boys grew tired, while Jake Elliott began to manifest his old +disposition to criticise Sam's plans. + +"May be we'll make five mile a day, an' may be we wont," he said. +"We'll git to Pensacola in six or eight weeks, I s'pose, if we don't +starve by the way, an' _if_ this water runs that way." + +"Very well," said Sam, "the longer we are on the route the better it +will please you, Jake." + +"Why?" + +"Because you don't want to get there at all. But we'll be there sooner +than you think?" + +"How long do you reckon it will take us, Sam?" asked Billy. + +"I don't know, because I don't know how long we'll be getting out of +this creek." + +"Well, I mean after we get into the river." + +"About a day and a half," replied Sam, "possibly less." + +"You don't mean it?" + +"Don't I? What do I mean, then?" + +"How far is it?" + +"Less than a hundred miles." + +"Well, we can't go a hundred miles in a day and a half." + +"Can't we? I think we can. We'll run day and night, you know, and the +current, at this stage of the water, can't be much less than five +miles an hour. Four miles an hour will take us ninety-six miles in +twenty-four hours." + +"Hurrah for Captain Sam!" shouted Sid Russell, "Yonder's the river, +an' she's a runnin' like a mill tail, too." + +Sid was standing up, and his great length lifted his head high enough +to permit him to see the rapidly running stream long before any one +else did. The rest strained their eyes, or rather their necks trying +to catch a glimpse of the stream, but the undergrowth of the swamp lay +between them and the sight. Sid's announcement put new energy into +them, however, and they plied their paddles vigorously for ten +minutes, when, with a sudden swing around a last curve of the creek, +Sam brought his boat fairly out into the river, and turned her head +down stream. The river was full to its banks, and in places it had +already overflowed. The current was so strong that the mouth of the +creek, out of which they had come, was out of sight in a very few +minutes. Work with the paddles was suspended, Sam only dipping his +into the water occasionally for the purpose of keeping the boat +straight in mid-channel. The river was full of drift-wood, some of it +consisting of large logs and uprooted trees, and night was already +falling. Jake Elliott now spoke again. + +"We ain't a goin' to try to run in the dark in all this 'ere drift, +are we?" he asked. + +"I can't say that we are," replied Sam. + +"Why, you're not going to stop for the night, are you, Sam?" asked +Billy Bowlegs, who was enjoying the boat ride greatly. + +"Certainly not," replied Sam. + +"Why, you said you was, jist a minute ago," muttered Jake Elliott. + +"Oh, no! I didn't," said Sam, whose patience had been sorely taxed +already by Jake's persistent disposition to find fault. + +"What did you say, then?" asked that worthy. + +"Merely that we're not going to try to run in the dark to-night." + +"Well, you're a goin' to stop then?" + +"No, I am not." + +"I see how dat is," said Joe, suddenly catching an idea. + +"Well, explain it to Jake, then," said Sam laughing. + +"W'y, Mas' Jake, don't you see de moon's gwine to shine bright as day, +an' so dey ain't a gwine to be no dark to-night." + +"That's it, Joe," replied Sam, "but if there was no moon I'd still go +on. The drift isn't in the least dangerous." + +"Why not, Sam?" asked Tom. + +"Well, in the first place, it wouldn't be very easy to knock a hole in +such a boat as this anyhow, and as we're only floating, we go exactly +with the drift nearest us; we go faster than the drift in by the shore +there, because we're in the strongest part of the current, but the +drift nearest us is in the same current, and moves as fast as we do, +or pretty nearly so. My paddling adds something to our speed, but not +much. I only paddle enough to keep the boat straight in the channel. +If we were to stop against the bank, and fasten the boat there, the +drift would bump us pretty badly, but it can do us no harm so long as +we float along with it." + +[Illustration: SAM PLAYS THE PART OF SKIPPER.] + +The moon, nearly at its full, was rising now, and very soon the river +became a picture. Running rapidly, bank full, with tall trees bending +over and throwing their shadows across it, with here and there a +fragment of a moon glade on the water, while the dense undergrowth of +the woods, lying in shadow, gave the stream a margin of inky blackness +on each side,--it was a scene to stimulate the imaginations of the +group of healthy boys who sat in the boat gliding silently but swiftly +down the river. + +Hour after hour they sped on, not a boy among them in the least +disposed to avail himself of Sam's permission to lie down for a nap on +the moss in the bottom of the boat. Every bend of the river gave them +a new picture to look at, and finally Sam had to use authority to make +the boys lie down. + +"We must all sleep some," he said, "for to-morrow the sun will shine +too strong for sleeping, and we've done a hard day's work. It will be +now about seven or eight hours until sunrise, and there are just +seven of us. It will take half an hour for the rest of you to get to +sleep, and so I'll run the boat for an hour and a half. Then I'll wake +Billy, and he can run it an hour. Then Joe must take the paddle,--his +name is Butler, you see,--and so on in alphabetical order, each of you +taking charge for an hour. If anything happens,--if you get into an +eddy, or for any other reason find yourselves in doubt about anything, +wake me at once. Now go to sleep." + +Sam took the first watch, because he wished to see, before going to +sleep, that everything was likely to go well. Then he waked Billy +Bowlegs, and, surrendering the paddle to him, went to sleep. + +There was no noise to disturb any one, and all the boys slept soundly, +none of them more soundly than Sam, who had worked especially hard +during the day, and had had a weight of responsibility upon him during +the difficult voyage down the creek. He was quietly sleeping some +hours later when suddenly the boat was sharply jarred, and turned very +nearly on her side, while the water could be heard surging around her +bow and stern. + +Sam was on his feet in a moment, and the other boys sprang up quickly. + +"Who's at the oar?" cried Sam, "and what's the matter?" + +"We've got tangled in the drift, just as I told you we would," +answered Jake Elliott from the bow, where he sat, paddle in hand, he +being on watch at the time. + +"Just as you meant that we should," answered Sam. "You've deliberately +paddled us out of the current into a drift hammock, you sneaking +scoundrel," continued Sam, now thoroughly angry, seizing Jake by the +shoulders, and throwing him violently into the bottom of the boat. "I +have a notion to give you a good thrashing right here, or to set you +ashore and go on without you." + +"Do it, Captain! Do it! He deserves it," cried the boys, but Sam had +made up his mind not to give way to his temper, however provoking +Jake's conduct might be, and as soon as he could master himself, he +renewed his resolution, which had been broken only in the moment of +sudden awakening. + +The boat was not damaged in the least, but her position was a +difficult one from which to extricate her. She lay on the upper side +of a pile of drift which had lodged against some trees, and a floating +tree had swept down against her side, pinning her to the hammock, as +such drift piles are called in the South. The work of freeing her +required all of Sam's judgment, as well as all the boys' strength, but +within half an hour, or a little more, the boat was again in the +stream. + +"Now," said Sam, speaking very calmly, "we've lost a good deal of +sleep and must make it up. Jake Elliott, you will take the paddle +again, and keep it till sunrise." + +"Well, but what if he runs us into another snarl?" asked Sid Russell, +uneasily. + +"He won't make any more mistakes," replied Sam. + +"How can you be sure of that?" queried Tom. + +"Because I have whispered in his ear," said Sam. + +What Sam had whispered in Jake's ear was this:-- + +"_If any further accidents happen to-night, I'll put you ashore in +the swamp, and leave you there. I mean it._" + +He did mean it, and Jake was convinced of the fact. He knew very well, +too, that if he should be left there in the swamp, with all the creeks +out of their banks, the chances were a thousand to one against his +success in getting back to civilization again. Sam's threat was a +harsh one, but nothing less harsh would have answered his purpose, and +he knew very well that Jake would not dare to incur the threatened +penalty. + +The boys slept again, and soundly. The night waned and day dawned, and +still the current carried them forward. They breakfasted in the boat, +first stripping to the waist and sluicing their heads, necks, arms and +chests with water. Breakfast was scarcely over when the boat shot out +of the Nepalgah into the Connecuh river, whereat the boys gave a +cheer. About noon they entered the Escambia river, and their speed +slackened. Here they had met the influence of the tide which checked +the force of the current, and their progress grew steadily slower, +until Sam directed the use of the paddles. They had long since left +the drift wood behind, lodged along the banks, and they had now a +broader and straighter stream than before, although it was still not +very broad nor very straight. Two boys paddled at a time, one upon +each side, while a third steered, and by relieving each other +occasionally they maintained a very good rate of speed. + +The moon was well up into the sky again when the river spread out into +Escambia bay, and the boat was moored with a grape vine, in a little +cove on one of the small islands in the upper end of the bay, about +fifteen miles above Pensacola. The boys leaped upon land again gladly. +Their voyage had been made successfully, and they were at last in the +neighborhood of the danger they had set out to encounter, and the duty +they had undertaken to do. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THLUCCO. + + +"What's your plan now, Sam?" asked Tom, when the boat had been +secured, and a fire built. + +"First and foremost, where are we?" asked Sid Russell. + +"Yes, an' how fur is it to somewhere else?" questioned Billy Bowlegs. + +"An' is we gwine to somewher's or somewher's else?" demanded black +Joe, with a grin. + +"One question at a time," said Sam, "and they will go a good deal +farther." + +"Well, begin with Sid's question, then?" said Tommy. "His is the most +sensible; where are we?" + +"We're on an island," returned Sam, "and the island is somewhere here +in the upper part of Escambia bay. You see how it lies on our map. +The bay ends down there in Pensacola bay, and there is Pensacola, +about fifteen miles away. We came here, you know, to find out what is +going on in Pensacola and its neighborhood, and my plan is to run down +past the town, to some point four or five miles below, in the +neighborhood of Fort Barrancas. There I'll set up a fishing camp, but +first I must get tackle, and, if possible, some duck cloth for a +sail." + +At this point the conversation was interrupted by the sudden +appearance of a canoe's bow in their midst. Their fire was built near +the water's edge, and the canoe which interrupted them had been +paddled silently to the bank, so that its bow extended nearly into +their fire. + +"Ugh, how do," said a voice in the canoe, "how do, pale faces," and +with that the solitary occupant of the canoe leaped ashore and seated +himself in the circle around the fire. + +Joe was frightened, but the other boys were reasonably self-possessed. + +"Injun see fire; Injun come see. Injun friend." + +"White man friend, too," said Sam, holding out his hand. "Injun eat?" +offering the visitor some food. + +"No. Injun eat heap while ago. Injun no hungry, but Injun friendly. +Fire good. Fire warm Injun." + +Sam continued the conversation, desiring to learn whether or not there +was an Indian encampment in the neighborhood. He was not afraid of an +Indian attack, for the Indians were not on the war path in Florida, +but he was afraid of having his boat and tools stolen. + +"Injun's friends over there?" asked Sam, pointing in the direction +from which the canoe had come. + +"No; Injun's friends not here. You know Injun; you see him before?" + +"No," said Sam, "I don't remember you." + +"Injun see you, all same. Injun General Jackson's friend. Injun see +you when you come General Jackson's camp. Me go way then for General +Jackson." + +Here was a revelation. The young savage was, or professed to be, one +of the friendly Indians whom General Jackson was using as scouts. It +was certain that he had seen Sam on his entrance into General +Jackson's camp, and he must have left immediately after Sam's arrival +there. + +"How did you get here so quick?" asked Sam. + +"Me run 'cross country. Injun run heap." + +"Where did you get your canoe?" + +"Steal um," answered the Indian with the utmost complacency. + +"Have you been here before?" + +"Yes. Injun fish here heap. Injun go fishin' to-morrow." + +"Where will you get lines and hooks." + +"Me got um." + +"Where did you get them?" + +"Steal um," answered he again. + +"We're going fishing, too," said Sam. + +"You got hooks? You got lines? You got bait?" + +"No," said Sam. + +"Injun get um for you." + +"How?" + +"Steal um." + +"No," said Sam, "you mustn't steal for us. I'll go to Pensacola and +buy what I want. But you may go with us, if you will, and show us +where to fish." + +"Me go. Injun show you,--down there," pointing down the bay, "heap +fish there." + +The Indian, Sam was disposed to think, was a valuable acquisition, +although he was not disposed to trust him with a knowledge of the real +nature of his mission. Warning the boys, therefore, not to reveal the +secret, he admitted the Indian, whose name was Thlucco, to his +company, not as a member, but as a sort of guide. + +The next morning the boat went down the bay to the town, where Sam +stopped to purchase certain necessary supplies, chiefly fishing tackle +and the materials for making a sail, and to take observations. + +He found many British officers and soldiers lounging around the town, +and had no difficulty in discovering that they were made heartily +welcome by the Spanish authorities, notwithstanding the professed +neutrality of Spain. It was clear enough that while the Spaniards were +at peace with us, they were permitting our enemy to make their +territory his base of supplies, and a convenient starting point of +military and naval operations against us. All this was in violation of +every law of neutrality, and it fully justified Jackson in invading +Florida, and driving the British out of Pensacola, as he did, not very +long afterward. + +Sam "pottered around," as he expressed it, making his purchases as +deliberately as possible, and neglecting no opportunity to learn what +he could, with eyes and ears wide open. + +In an open square he saw a sight which astonished him not a little. +Captain Woodbine, a British officer in full uniform, was endeavoring +to drill a band of Indians, whom he had dressed in red coats and +trowsers. A more ridiculous performance was never seen anywhere, and +only an officer like Captain Woodbine, who knew absolutely nothing of +the habits and character of the American Indian, would ever have +thought of attempting to make regularly drilled and uniformed soldiers +out of men of that race. They were excellent fighters, in their own +savage way, but no amount of drilling could turn them into soldiers +of the civilized pattern. + +It was a cruel, inhuman thing to think of setting these savages +against the Americans at all, for their notion of war was simply to +murder men, women and children indiscriminately, and to burn houses +and take scalps; but to try to make soldiers out of them was in a high +degree ridiculous, and Sam could scarcely restrain his disposition to +laugh aloud, as he saw them floundering about in trowsers for the +first time in their lives and trying to make out what it all meant. + +Thlucco, wrapped in his blanket, bare-headed and bare-footed, looked +at the performance with an expression of profound contempt on his +face. + +"Red-coat-big-hat-white man big fool!" was the only comment he had to +make upon Captain Woodbine and his drill. + +Having bought what he wanted, and learned what he could, Sam returned +to his boat, and paddled down the bay to a point not far from Fort +Barrancas. Here he established his fishing camp, and began work upon +his rudder, mast and sail. Before the evening was over he had his boat +ready for sea, and was prepared to begin the work of fishing the next +morning. He had news for General Jackson; and before going to sleep he +wrote his first despatch. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"INJUN NO FOOL." + + +Sam's despatch, written by the light of a few pine knots and with as +much care as if it had been an important state paper,--for whatever +Sam Hardwicke did he tried to do well,--was in these words:-- + +TO MAJOR GENERAL JACKSON, + +Commanding Department of the South-West, + +MOBILE, ALABAMA. + +GENERAL: + + I arrived with my party to-day. In Pensacola, I found the + British hospitably entertained, not only by the people, but + by Governor Mauriquez himself. They are actually enlisting + the savages in their service, arming them with rifles and + knives and attempting to make regular soldiers out of them. + I saw a British captain drilling about fifty Indians in the + public square of the town at noon to-day. + + I beg to report, also, that the British occupy the defensive + works of the town, including Fort Barrancas, from the + flagstaffs of which float both the British and the Spanish + ensigns, as if the two were allies in this war. + + I am unable to report as yet what the strength of the + British force here is. I have observed men from seven + different companies, in the streets, but have been unable to + learn, without direct inquiry, which would excite suspicion, + whether all these companies are present in full strength, or + whether there are also others here. + + The ships in the bay, so far as I can make them out, are the + Hermes, Captain Percy, 22 guns; the Sophia, Captain Lockyer, + 18 guns; the Carron, 20 guns; and the Childers, 18 guns. + + I shall diligently seek to discover the plans and purposes + of the expedition, and will not neglect to report to you + promptly, whatever I may be able to find out. At present it + is evident only that an expedition is fitting out here + against some point on our coast. + + I shall send this by a trusty messenger at daybreak. + + All of which is respectfully submitted. + +(Signed,) + +SAMUEL HARDWICKE, + +Commanding Scouting Party. + +This document was duly dated from "Fishing Camp, Five miles below +Pensacola," and when it was written, Sam quietly waked Bob Sharp. + +"Bob," he said, "I have an important duty for you to do." + +"I'm your man, Sam, for anything that turns up." + +"Yes, I know that," replied Sam, "and that is why I picked you out +for this business. The choice lay between you and Sid Russell, and I +chose you, because I shall need a very rapid walker a little later to +carry a still more important despatch, I fancy." + +"It's a despatch, then," said Bob. + +"Yes, a despatch to General Jackson. You'll find him at Mobile, and it +isn't more than sixty or seventy miles across the country. I bought +three compasses in Pensacola to-day, and you can take one of them with +you. I can't give you my map, but I'll copy it for you on a sheet of +paper. Go to bed now, and be ready to start at daylight. I'll cook up +some food for you, so that you needn't stop on the way to do any +cooking. You must make the distance in the shortest time you can!" + +"After delivering the despatch, then what?" asked Bob. + +"Well, if you want to, you can come back here." + +"Of course I want to," said Bob. + +"But you must rest first, and I'm not at all sure that you'll find us +here. Perhaps you'd better wait in Mobile, at least till my next +despatch comes. Then General Jackson will tell you what to do." + +"If you'll just give me permission to start right back, I'll be here +in a week. I kin make twenty-five miles a day, easy, an' that'll more +'n git me back here in that time." + +"Very well, come back then." + +At daylight Bob was off, and when the boys awoke they were full of +curiosity to know the meaning of his absence. While Thlucco was around +Sam would tell them nothing except that he had sent Bob away on an +errand. When Thlucco went to the boat to arrange something about the +fishing tackle, Sam briefly explained the matter, and cautioned the +boys to talk of it no more. + +An hour later they went fishing on a slack tide, and when it turned +and began to run too full for the fish to bite they sailed their boat +to the shore, with fish enough in it to satisfy the most eager of +fishermen. + +During the afternoon Sam sent Sid Russell, into the town, nominally to +buy some trifling thing but really with secret instructions to find +out what he could about the British forces, their movements, their +purposes and their plans. + +"Injun go town, too," said Thlucco, and without more ado "Injun" went. + +When he returned, about ten o'clock that night, he brought with him a +gun of superior workmanship, and a pouch full of ammunition. + +"Where did you get that?" asked Sam in surprise. + +"Pensacola," said the young savage. + +"How?" + +"Injun 'list. Big-hat-red-coat-white man give Injun gun, drill Injun." + +"What in the world did you do that for?" asked Sam. + +"Um. Injun got eyes. Sam got no guns. Sam need um. Injun git um. Injun +'list agin. Big-hat-red-coat-white man give Injun 'nother gun. Injun +'list six, seven times, git guns for boys." + +"But we don't want any guns, Thlucco." + +"Um. Injun no fool. Sam Jackson man. Injun know. Sam Jackson man. Boys +Jackson men. Sam find out things, boys go tell Jackson. Bob go first. +Um. Injun no fool. Injun Jackson man. Injun git guns, heap." + +"But what can we do with them when you get them, Thlucco?" + +"Um. Injun no fool. May be red coat men spy Sam. Sam caught. Sam want +guns. Um. Injun no fool." + +Sam saw that it was useless to prolong the conversation. Thlucco was +stolidly bent upon doing as he pleased, and the only thing for Sam to +do was to take care to conceal the guns from the observation of +anybody who might happen to visit the camp. + +Thlucco went to town every day and enlisted anew, only to desert with +his gun each time. Finally he enlisted twice in one day, and the next +day three times, bringing to Sam a gun for each enlistment. By the end +of the week Sam had an armory of ten new rifles, with a store of +ammunition for each. Thlucco could not count very well, and it +required a good deal of persuasion on Sam's part to induce him to stop +enlisting. He was persuaded at last, however, that there were more +than enough guns in camp to arm the whole party, and then he consented +to remain away from the town. + +On the evening of the sixth day of their stay in the fishing camp, the +boys were just sitting down to their supper of fried fish, when a +familiar voice said:-- + +"I think you might make room for me." + +"Bob Sharp back again, as sure's we're here!" exclaimed Billy Bowlegs, +and all the boys rose hastily to greet their comrade. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAM SEEKS INFORMATION IN THE DARK. + + +"Why, Bob, old fellow, how are you?" + +"You don't mean to say you've got back agin?" + +"How'd you find it in the woods?" + +These and a dozen other questions were asked while poor Bob's hand was +wrung nearly off. + +"Now, see here," said Bob, "I can't answer a dozen questions at once. +Besides, I've got despatches for the Captain." + +"Have you?" asked Sam. "Let me have them, then." + +Bob handed Sam an official looking document, which was merely an +acknowledgment of his service, a request that he should not abate his +diligence, and an instruction to use his own discretion in the conduct +of his expedition. Then followed questions and answers innumerable, +and the boys learned that General Jackson was in Mobile, without an +army, and likely to be without one until the Tennessee volunteers +should arrive. + +Supper over, Sam quietly informed the boys that he was going into the +town, and that he could not say when he should return. + +"What're you a goin' to town this time o' night for?" asked Sid +Russell, who was strongly prejudiced against staying awake a moment +later than was necessary after the sun went down. + +"I've laid some plans to get some information," replied Sam, "and I'm +going after it," and with that he jumped into the boat, with only Tom +for company. In truth, Sam had been in search of the information that +he was going after for several days, and he had reason to hope that he +might get it on this particular night. + +He had already learned that several of the British vessels, now lying +in the bay, had sailed away some little time before, and that they had +returned on the night before Bob's arrival. He knew that their voyage +must have had some connection with the plans they had laid for +operations against the American coast, and he thought if he could +discover the nature and purpose of this recent expedition, it would +give him a clew to their projects for the future. To accomplish this +he had taken many risks while the ships were away, and he was now +going to try a new way of getting at facts. + +He sailed his boat up to the town, and before landing, said to Tom:-- + +"When I'm ashore, you put off a little way from land and lie-to for an +hour or so. When I want you, I'll come down here to the water's edge +and whistle like a Whip-Will's Widow. When you hear me, run ashore. If +I don't come by midnight, go back to camp, and march at once for +Mobile." + +"Why can't I lie here by the shore till you come. You're going into +danger and may need me." + +"First, because there are ruffians around here who might put you +ashore and steal the boat; but secondly, because I don't want to +excite suspicion by having our boat seen around here at night. It's so +dark that nobody can recognize her if you lie-to a hundred yards from +shore. I'm going into danger, but you can't help me." + +Avoiding further parley, Sam jumped ashore, and walked quietly up into +the town, through the main street, until he came to a house built +after the Spanish model, with a rickety stair-way outside. Up this +stair-way he climbed, and when he had reached the top he pushed the +door open and entered. He found himself in a dark passage, but by +feeling he presently discovered a door. As he opened it he said:-- + +"It's a dark night." + +"Is it dark?" answered a voice from within. + +"It is very dark." + +All this appeared to be merely a pre-arranged signal, for it had no +sooner been uttered than the owner of the voice within, who seemed +satisfied of Sam's identity, struck a light, with flint and steel, and +carefully closed the door. + +The man was apparently a dark mulatto, and his hair was matted about +his head as if with some glutinous substance. + +"You sent me this note?" asked Sam. + +"Yes, I gave it to the Injun. He said you'd help me." + +There was a brogue in the man's voice, very slight,--too slight, +indeed, to be represented in print,--and yet it was perceptible, and +it attracted Sam's attention. Perhaps he would scarcely have noticed +it but for the fact that all his senses were keenly on the alert. He +was not at all sure that he was acting prudently in visiting this man. +He had no knowledge whatever of the man, except that Thlucco had +somehow found him and arranged a meeting. Thlucco had brought Sam a +scrap of dirty paper, on which were traced in a scarcely legible +scrawl, these words:-- + +"Your man must say, 'It's a dark night!' I'll say, 'Is it dark.' We +will know each other then." + +In delivering this note, with directions as to the method of finding +the man, Thlucco had said:-- + +"Injun no fool. Injun know m'latter man. M'latter man tell Sam heap. +Sam take m'latter man way." + +By diligent questioning, Sam had made out that this man had knowledge +of affairs in the British camp which he was willing to sell for some +service that Sam could do him. + +Sam was not sure of Thlucco. His knowledge of the Indian character did +not predispose him to trust Indian professions of friendship, and he +strongly suspected treachery of some sort here. He thought it possible +that this was only a scheme to entrap his secret and himself, and he +had gone to the conference determined to be on his guard, and in the +event of trouble, to use the stout cudgel which he carried as +vigorously as possible. + +"If we are to talk," he said to the man, "you must come with me." + +The man hesitated, afraid, apparently, of treachery. + +"I do not know you," he said, "and the Indian may have lied." + +"Listen to me," said Sam in reply, "I do not know you, and the Indian +may have lied to me. Yet I have trusted myself here in the dark. You +must trust something to me. Go with me, and when we have talked +together for an hour, if you wish to return here, I pledge you my word +of honor, as a gentleman's son, to bring you back safely. If you will +not go with me, we may as well part at once. I positively will not say +another word, I'm going. Follow me in silence, or stay here, as you +please." + +With that Sam opened the door and walked out. The man quickly +extinguished the light and crept after Sam, in his bare feet. + +Sam led the way by a route just outside the town, without exchanging a +word with his companion. Half an hour's walking brought them to the +lonely strip of beach on which Sam had landed. + +"Whip-Will's Widow," whistled Sam, shrilly. + +His companion started back in affright, and was on the point of +running away, when Sam seized him by the arm, and, shaking him +vigorously, said:-- + +"I'll not play you false. Trust me. I have a boat here." + +"You come from the Fort?" said the man in abject terror. + +"No, I do not. I am an American," said Sam, no longer hesitating to +reveal his nationality, now that he saw how terrified the man was at +thought of falling into British hands. + +The words re-assured the man, and when Tom came ashore with the boat +he embarked without further hesitation. + +"Beat about, Tom," said Sam, "I may have to land again. I have +promised this man to return him safely to the place in which I found +him, if we don't come to some agreement. Sail around here while we +talk." + +Turning to the man, he said:-- + +"Let us talk in a low voice. Who are you, and what?" + +"I'm a deserter from the marine corps." + +"British?" + +"Yes. I'm an Irishman. I've blacked my hair and skin, that's all." + +"When did you desert?" + +"Yesterday. I was to be flogged for insubordination, and I jist run +away." + +"Were you with the late expedition?" + +"Yes." + +"Very well. I think we can come to an understanding. You want to get +away, out of reach of capture?" + +"Sure I do. If I'm caught, I'll be shot without mercy." + +"Very well. Now if you'll tell me everything you know, I'll help you +to get away. More than that, I'll get you away, within our own lines. +I have the means at my command." + +"Faith an' I'll tell you everything I ever know'd in my life, if +you'll only get me out of this." + +The man was now in precisely the mood in which Sam wished to have him. +He had already confessed his desertion, and had now every reason to +speak freely and truly, and it was evident that he meant to do so. + +"Tom," said Sam. + +"Well," replied Tom. + +"You may beat up toward our camp, now." + +"And you'll save me?" asked the man, seizing Sam's hand and wringing +it. + +"I will. Now let's come to business." + +"I'm ready," answered the man. + +"Where did the ships go?" + +"To the Island of Barrataria." + +"To treat with Jean Lafitte, the pirate?" exclaimed Sam. + +"Yes, to enlist him and his cut-throats in the war against you." + +"Did they succeed?" + +"I don't know. The officers dined with Lafitte, and treated him like a +prince. They came away in good spirits, and must have succeeded, else +they'd a' been glum enough." + +"What do they propose to do next?" + +"They're a goin' to sail again in a few days, and the boys say it's +for Mobile this time. The men had orders yesterday to get ready." + +"What preparation are they making?" + +"They're storing the ships and taking water aboard. The marines are +kept in quarters on shore, and a lot o' them red savages is in camp at +the fort, with Captain Woodbine in command." + +"Well, now," said Sam, "tell me why you think the next movement will +be against Mobile? May it not be New Orleans instead?" + +"Well, you see them pirates is wanted for the New Orleans work. They +know all the channels, and have got the pilots. When the fleet starts +for New Orleans some o' them 'll be on board. Besides, the officers +talk over their rum, and the men hear 'em, an' all the talk is about +Mobile, and Mobile Point, whatever that is; so its pretty sure +they're going to Mobile first."[2] + +[Footnote 2: It is scarcely necessary to tell readers who are familiar +with American History, that Jean Lafitte was not properly a pirate, +although he was called so in 1814; nor is it necessary to tell here +how the British attempt to use his lawless band against the Americans +miscarried. All that belongs to the domain of legitimate history.] + +By this time the boat, which was running under a good stiff breeze, +ran upon the beach by Sam's camp, and Sam led the way to the dying +camp fire, which he replenished, for the sake of the light. Then +getting his writing materials he prepared a despatch to General +Jackson. It ran as follows:-- + +CAMP NEAR PENSACOLA, + +September 8th, 1814. + +TO MAJOR-GENERAL JACKSON, + +Commanding Department of the South-West. + +GENERAL:-- + + I beg to report that several of the British vessels of war + now lying at anchor in the harbor of Pensacola, have just + returned from a brief voyage, the object and nature of which + I have endeavored to discover. I have succeeded in finding a + deserter from the British marine corps, from whom, under + promise of protection, I have drawn such information as he + possesses. He accompanied the late expedition, and tells me + that it went to the Island of Barrataria, to seek the + assistance of Jean Lafitte, the pirate, and his gang of + outlaws, against the United States. Whether the negotiations + to that end were successful or not, he does not know, but he + supposes, from the temper in which the officers returned, + that they were. + + From this deserter I learn, also, that preparations are + making for a hostile movement, which the British marines and + soldiers believe, from the remarks made by officers in their + presence, is to be directed against Mobile by way of Mobile + Point, which I take to be the point of land which guards the + entrance to Mobile bay, where Fort Bowyer stands. + + I send the deserter with the messenger who takes this to + you, partly because I have promised to secure him against + recapture, and partly because you may desire to question him + further. + + There are no present appearances of the immediate sailing of + this expedition, but from what the deserter tells me, I + presume that it will sail within a few days. I shall remain + here still, to get what information I can, and will report + to you promptly whatever I learn. I cannot say how long I + shall be able to stay, as a British officer visited my camp + yesterday, and questioned my boys, as I thought, rather + suspiciously. I shall be on the alert, and take no + unnecessary risk of capture. + + All of which is respectfully submitted. + +SAMUEL HARDWICKE, + +Commanding Scouting Party. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A SUSPICIOUS OCCURRENCE. + + +When Sam had finished his despatch he quietly aroused Bob Sharp and +Sidney Russell, and entered into conversation with them. + +"Sid," he said, "I have a prisoner and a despatch of very great +importance to send to General Jackson. You must take the despatch and +leave as soon as possible, with the prisoner, who is a deserter and +who must be got away from here before daylight. Bob, I want you to +give Sid as good directions as you can, as you've been over the route +twice." + +"Yes an' I've sort o' blazed it too, and picked out all sorts o' +land-marks to steer by, but I don't knows I can make any body else +understand 'em. Are you in a big hurry with the despatch?" + +"Yes, the biggest kind. It's of the utmost importance, and time is +every thing. A single hour lost may lose Mobile or a battle." + +"Then maybe Sid an' me'd both better go,--Sid to do the fast running +an' me to show him the way." + +"There's no use of both of you going," replied Sam, "but if you had +had a couple of days rest I would send you instead of Sid, because you +know the way, and I don't believe anybody can make the distance any +quicker than you have done it." + +"I know a feller that kin," replied Bob. + +"Who is it?" asked Sam. + +"Me." + +"You? How do you mean?" + +"I mean that I kin go to Mobile most a day quicker 'n I dun it before. +I got into a lot o' tangles before that I know how to keep out of +now." + +"Yes, but you can't start back again without at least a day's rest." + +"Can't I though? I'm as fresh as an Irish potato without salt, an' if +you just say the word, I'll be off the minute you git your papers +ready. The boys have got somethin' cooked I reckon." + +Sam complimented Bob upon his vigor and readiness, and accepted his +offer. Ten minutes sufficed for all necessary preparations, and Bob +was about starting with his prisoner, when Sid Russell spoke. + +"I say, Sam, did you say this 'ere feller's a deserter?" + +"Yes. What of it?" + +"Nothing only there's a camp o' British an' Injuns back there a little +ways, an' if Bob don't look out he'll run right into it." + +"A camp? Where?" asked Sam. + +"Right in rear of us, not three hundred yards away." + +"When was it established there?" + +"To-night, just after you went away in the boat." + +"All right," replied Sam. "Jump into the boat, Bob, and we'll sail +down below and you can start from there." + +It was easy enough to carry Bob and the deserter down to a point below +the camp, but Sam was not at all pleased to find the British so near +him. He feared already that he was suspected, and he was not sure that +this placing of troops near him was not a preparation for something +else. At all events, it was very embarrassing, for the reason that it +would prevent him from withdrawing his party suddenly to the woods on +their retreat, if anything should happen, and this made Sam uneasy. He +returned to camp, after parting with Bob and the deserter, and sat for +an hour revolving matters in his mind. + +At first he was disposed to wake the boys and quietly withdraw by +water to a point lower down, but upon reflection he was convinced that +his removal by night immediately after the troops had been stationed +near him, would only tend to excite suspicion. He thought, too, that +he must have been wrong in supposing that the camp had been +established in rear of him with any reference to him or his party. + +"If they suspected us in the least, they would arrest us without +waiting to make sure of their suspicions," he thought; nevertheless, +it was awkward to be shut in and cut off from the easy retreat which +he had planned, as a means of escape, in the event of necessity, and +he determined to seek an excuse for removing within a day or two from +his present camping place to one which would leave him freer in his +movements. He was so troubled that he could not sleep, and the +flickering blaze of the dying camp fire annoyed him. He got up, +therefore, from his seat on a log and went to the boat and sat down in +the stern sheets to think. + +He had no fear of danger for himself, or rather, he was prepared to +encounter, without flinching, any danger into which his duty might +lead him; but I have not succeeded very well in making my readers +acquainted with Sam Hardwicke's character, if they do not know that he +was a thoroughly conscientious boy, and from the beginning of this +expedition until now, he had never once forgotten that his authority, +as its commander, involved with it a heavy responsibility. + +"These boys," he frequently said to himself, "are subject to my +command. They must go where I lead them, and have no chance to use +their own judgments. I decide where they shall go and what they shall +do, and I am responsible for the consequences to them." + +Feeling his responsibility thus deeply, he was troubled now lest any +mistake of his should lead them into unnecessary danger. He carefully +weighed every circumstance which could possibly affect his decision, +and his judgment was that his duty required him to remain yet a day or +two in the neighborhood of Pensacola, and that it would only tend to +awaken suspicion if he should remove his camp to any other point on +the shores of the bay. He must stay where he was, and risk the +consequences. If ill should befall the boys it would be an unavoidable +ill, incurred in the discharge of duty, and he would have no reason, +he thought, to reproach himself. + +Just as he reached this conclusion, Thlucco came from somewhere out of +the darkness, and stepping into the boat took a seat just in front of +Sam, facing him. + +"Why, Thlucco," exclaimed Sam, "where did you come from?" + +"Sh--sh--," said Thlucco. "Injun know. Injun no fool. Injun want +Sam." + +"What do you want with Sam?" + +"Sam git caught! Injun no fool. Injun see." + +"What do you mean, Thlucco? Speak out. If there is any danger, I want +to know it." + +"Ugh! Injun know Jake Elliott!" + +"What about Jake?" asked Sam. + +"Um, Jake Elliott _devil_. Jake hate Sam. Jake hate General Jackson. +Injun no fool. Injun see." + +Sam was interested now, but it was not easy to draw anything like +detailed information out of Thlucco. + +"What makes you think that, Thlucco? What have you seen or heard?" + +"Um. Injun see. Injun know. Injun no fool. Jake cuss Sam. Jake cuss +Jackson. Injun hear." + +"When did you hear him curse me or General Jackson, Thlucco?" asked +Sam. + +"Um. To-day! 'Nother day, too! 'Nother day 'fore that." + +"What did he say?" + +"Um. Jake _cuss_. Um. Jake gone." + +"What!" exclaimed Sam. "Gone! where?" + +"Um. Injun don't know. Injun know Jake gone." + +"When did he leave camp?" + +"Um. When Sam go 'way Jake go too! Injun follow Jake. Jake cuss Injun. +Injun come back." + +"Is that all you know, Thlucco?" + +"Um. That's all. That's 'nough. Jake gone 'way." + +Sam jumped out of the boat and waked the boys. + +"Where did Jake Elliott go to-night?" he asked. + +None of the boys knew. + +"Did any one of you see him leave camp?" + +"Yes," answered Billy Bowlegs, "but we didn't pay much attention to +him. He's been so glum lately that we've been glad to have him out of +sight." + +"Has he ever gone away before?" asked Sam. + +"No, only he never stays right in camp. He sleeps over there by them +trees," said Billy Bowlegs, pointing to a clump of trees about forty +or fifty yards away, "an' I guess he's only gone over there. He never +stays with us when you're not here." + +Sam strode over to the trees indicated, and searched carefully, but +could find no trace of Jake there. Returning to the camp he asked:-- + +"Did any of you observe which way he went when he went away?" + +"Yes," answered Sid Russell, "he went toward his trees." + +"That is toward the town," answered Sam. + +"Yes, so it is." + +"Have you observed anything peculiar about his conduct lately?" + +"No," replied Billy Bowlegs, "only that he's been a gettin' glummer +an' glummer. I'll tell you what it is, Captain Sam, I'll bet a big +button he's deserted an' gone home. He's a coward and he's been scared +ever since he found out that you wa'n't foolin' about this bein' a +genu-_ine_, dangerous piece of work, an' I'll bet he's cut his lucky, +an' gone home, an' if ever I get back there I'll pull his nose for a +sneak, you just see if I don't." + +"Very well," said Sam, "go to sleep again, then. If he has gone home +it is a good riddance of very bad rubbish." + +Sam was not by any means satisfied that Jake had gone home, however. +Indeed he was pretty well convinced that he had done nothing of the +sort, and he wished for a chance to think, so that he might determine +what was best to be done. He believed Jake would not dare to go home +as a deserter, knowing very well what reputation he would have to bear +ever afterward, in a community in which personal courage was held to +be the first of the virtues, and the lack of it the worst possible +vice. Where had he gone, then, and for what? Sam did not know, but he +had an opinion on the subject which grew stronger and stronger the +more he revolved the matter in his mind. + +Jake Elliott, he knew, had a personal grudge against him, and no very +kindly feeling for the other boys. He was confessedly afraid to +continue in the service in which he was engaged, and it was not easy +for him to quit it. There was just one safe way out of it; and that +offered, not safety only, but revenge of precisely the kind that Jake +Elliott was likely to take. Sam knew very well that, notwithstanding +his magnanimity, Jake still bitterly hated him, and still cherished +the design of wreaking his vengeance upon him at the first +opportunity. + +"What is more probable, then," he asked himself, "than that Jake is +trying to betray us into the hands of the enemy to die as spies? He is +abundantly capable of the treachery and the meanness, and his +desertion of the camp to-night strongly confirms the suspicion." + +This much being decided, it was necessary for Sam to determine what +should be done in the circumstances. If there had been no camp in his +rear, he would have withdrawn his command through the woods at once. +As it was, he must find some other way. It was clearly his duty to +escape with his boys, if he could, and to lose no time in attempting +it. The danger was now too near at hand, and too positive to be +ignored, and there was really very little more for him to do here. He +must escape at once. + +But could he escape? + +That was a question which the event would have to answer, as Sam could +not do it. Unluckily, it was already beginning to grow light, and he +would not have the shelter of darkness. + +He aroused the boys again, before they had had time to get to sleep, +and quietly began his preparations. + +"Make no noise," he said, "but put what provisions you have, and all +your things into the boat. _Don't forget the guns and the ammunition._ +Sid! take our little water keg and run and fill it with fresh water." + +The boys set about their preparations hurriedly, although they but +dimly guessed the meaning of Sam's singular orders. + +At that moment Jake Elliott shuffled into the camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +JAKE ELLIOTT MAKES ANOTHER EFFORT TO GET EVEN. + + +As it is impossible to tell at one time the story of the doings of two +different sets of persons in two different places, it follows that, if +both are to be told, one must be told first and the other afterward. + +For precisely this reason, I must leave Sam and his party for a time +now, while I tell where Jake Elliott had been, and what he had been +about. + +When Sam let him off as easily as he could at the time of the compass +affair, and even went out of his way to prevent the boys from +referring to that transaction, he did so with the distinct purpose of +giving Jake an opportunity and a motive to redeem his reputation; and +he sincerely hoped that Jake would avail himself of the chance. + +It is not easy for a man or boy of right impulses to imagine the +feelings, or to comprehend the acts of a person whose impulses are all +wrong, and so it was that Sam fell into the error of supposing that +his badly behaved follower would repent of his misconduct and do +better in future. This was what all the boys thought that Jake ought +to do, and what Sam thought he would do; but in truth he was disposed +to do nothing of the sort, and Sam was not very long in discovering +the fact. Instead of feeling grateful to Sam for shielding him against +the taunts of his companions, he hated Sam more cordially than ever, +when he found how completely he had failed in his attempt to embarrass +the expedition. He nursed his malice and brooded over it, determined +to seize the first opportunity of "getting even," as he expressed it, +and from that hour his thoughts were all of revenge, complete, +successful, merciless. He was willing enough, too, to include the +other boys in this wreaking of vengeance, as he included them now in +his malice. + +His first attempt to accomplish his purpose, as we know already, was +an effort to wreck the boat in a drift pile, and that affair served +to open Sam's eyes to the true character of the boy with whom he had +to deal. He trusted him no more, and managed him thereafter only by +appeals to his fears. + +When the camp was formed near Pensacola, Sam carefully canvassed the +possibilities of Jake's misconduct, and concluded that the worst he +could do would be to injure the boat or her tackle, and he +sufficiently guarded against that by always sleeping near the little +craft. + +Jake was more desperately bent upon revenge than Sam supposed, and +from the hour of going into camp he diligently worked over his plan +for accomplishing his purpose. He had learned by previous failures, to +dread Sam's quickness of perception, of which, indeed, he stood almost +superstitiously in awe. He would not venture to take a single step +toward the accomplishment of the end he had set himself, until his +plans should be mature. For many days, therefore, he only meditated +revenge not daring, as yet, to attempt it by any active measures. At +last, however, he was satisfied that his plans were beyond Sam's +power to penetrate, and he was ready to put them into execution. On +the night of Bob Sharp's return, which was the night last described in +previous chapters, Sam went to the town, as we know, accompanied by +Tom, who sailed the boat. As soon as he was fairly out of sight Jake +walked away toward Pensacola. The distance was considerable, and the +way a very difficult one, as the tide was too high for walking on the +beach, so that it was nearly midnight when Jake knocked at a house on +a side street. + +"Who is there?" asked a night-capped personage from an upper window. + +"A friend," answered Jake. + +"What do you want?" said the night-capped head, rather gruffly. + +"I want to see the Leftenant." + +"What do you want with me?" + +"I want to talk with you." + +"Oh, go to the mischief! I'm in bed." + +"But I must see you to-night," said Jake. + +"On business?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Important?" + +"Yes." + +"Won't it keep till morning?" + +"No, sir; I'm afraid not." + +"Very well. I suppose I must see you then. Push the door open and find +your way up the stairs." + +Jake did as he was told to do, and presently found himself in the room +where Lieutenant Coxetter had been sleeping. That distinguished +servant of His Majesty, King George, had meantime drawn on his +trowsers, and he now lighted a little oil lamp, which threw a wretched +apology for light a few feet into the surrounding darkness. + +"Now then," said the officer, in no very pleasant tones, "What do you +want with me at this time o' night? Who are you, and where do you come +from?" + +Jake was so nervous that he found it impossible to find a place at +which to begin his story, and the impatient Lieutenant spurred him +with direct questions. + +"What's your name?" he asked. "You can tell that, can't you?" + +"Yes, sir," faltered Jake. + +[Illustration: "SPEAK, MAN! OR I CHOKE YOU."] + +"Well, tell it then, and be quick about it." + +"My name is Jacob Elliott," said that worthy, fairly gasping for +breath in his embarrassment. + +"Oh! you do know your name, then," said the officer. "Now, then, where +do you come from?" + +"From Alabama," answered Jake. + +"From Alabama! the mischief you do! You're an American then? What the +mischief are you doing here?" + +"Oh, sir, that's just what I want to tell you about, if you'll let +me." + +"If I'll _let_ you? Ain't I doing my very best to _make_ you? Havn't I +been worming your facts out of you with a corkscrew? But you'd better +be quick about giving an account of yourself. If you don't give a +pretty satisfactory one, too, I'll arrest you as a _spy_,--a _spy_, my +good fellow, do you understand? _A spy_, and we hang that sort o' +people. Come, be quick." + +"Spies! that's just it, Lieutenant. I came here to-night to tell you +about spies." + +"Then why the mischief don't you do it? You'll drive me mad with your +halting tongue. Speak man, or I'll choke you!" and with that the +officer stood up and bent forward over Jake, to that young man's +serious discomfiture. + +"They's some spies here--" Jake began. "Where?" asked the impatient +officer interrupting him. + +"Down there, in a camp," said Jake, talking as rapidly as he could, +lest the officer should interrupt him again; "Down there in a camp by +the bay, an' they've got a boat an' guns, an' they're boys, an' they +pretend to be a fishin' party." + +"Ah!" said the Lieutenant, "I thought I'd make you find your tongue. +Now listen to me, and answer my questions, and mind you don't lie to +me, sir; mind you don't lie." + +"I won't. I pledge you my honor--," began Jake. + +"Never mind pledging that; it isn't worth pledging. You see you're a +sneak, else you wouldn't be here telling tales on your fellow +countrymen. But never mind. It's my business to make use of you. I'm +provost-marshal." + +This was not at all the sort of treatment Jake had expected to receive +at the hands of British officers. He had supposed that the value of +his services in betraying his fellows, would be recognized and +rewarded, and he had even dreamed of receiving marked attentions and a +good, comfortable, safe place in the British service in recompense. It +had never occurred to him that while all military men must get what +information they can from deserters, and traitors, they do not respect +the sneaking fellows in the least, but on the contrary hold them in +profoundest contempt, almost spurning them with their boots. Jake had +gone too far to retreat, however, and must now tell his whole story. +He told where the boys were, and how they had come there, and for what +purpose, lying only enough to make it appear that he himself had never +willingly joined them, but had been deceived at first, and forced +afterward into the service. + +The Lieutenant listened to the story and then asked:-- + +"Have you anything to show for all this?" + +"How do you mean?" asked Jake. + +"Why, you wretched coward, don't you understand? How am I to know how +much of your story is true, and how much of it false? Of course it +isn't all true. You couldn't talk so long without telling some lies. +What I want to know is, what can you show for all this story? If I +arrest these boys, what can be proved on them?" + +"Well, the Captain's got a despatch from General Jackson; that'll +prove something." + +"When did he get it?" + +"To-night." + +"Very well. That's something. Now you just sit still till I tell you +to do something else." + +So saying the Lieutenant summoned a courier or two, and sent them off +with notes. + +"These boys have a boat, you say?" + +"Yes." + +"Do they know how to sail it?" + +"A little; the Captain handles it better'n the rest." + +"Has he ever been to sea?" + +"No, sir." + +"What sort of a boat is it?" + +"A dug-out; we made it ourselves." + +"Oh, did you? Why didn't you tell me that first? Never mind, it's all +right. They'll never try to put to sea in a dug-out, but they may try +to escape to some point lower down the bay in it, so my message to +the fort won't be amiss." + +The Lieutenant had sent a message to the fort that at daylight he +should arrest the party, and that if they should take the alarm and +try to escape by water, a boat must be sent from the fort to overhaul +them. + +He now dressed himself, first sending for a file of soldiers under a +sergeant, with instructions to parade at his door immediately. + +When all was ready he said to Jake. + +"Now then, young man, come with me, and guide me to the camp of these +lads." + +Jake led the way, and when a little after daylight they approached the +camp the Lieutenant said to him:-- + +"I don't want to make any mistake in this business. You go ahead to +the camp and see if the lads are there. That'll throw 'em off their +guard, and I'll come up in five minutes." + +"But Lieu--" began Jake, remonstratingly. + +"Hold your tongue, and do as I tell you, or I'll string you up to a +tree, you rascal." + +Thus admonished, Jake walked on in fear and trembling to the camp. As +he approached it he observed the unusual stir which was going on, and +wondered what it meant, but he did not for a moment imagine that Sam +had guessed the truth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE SEA FIGHT. + + +When Jake entered the camp it was fairly light, and as Sam looked at +him he caught a glimpse of the file of soldiers in the thicket, three +or four hundred yards away. + +He knew what it meant. + +"We're about to leave this place, Jake," said Sam, as the boys stowed +the last of their things in the boat, "we're about to leave this +place, and you're just in time. Get in." + +"Well, but where--" began the culprit. + +"Get in," interrupted Sam, who stood with one of the rifles in his +hands. + +Jake hesitated, and was indeed upon the point of running away, when +Sam, placing the muzzle of his gun almost against Jake's breast, +said:-- + +"Get into the boat instantly, or I'll let daylight through you, sir." + +There was no help for it, and Jake obeyed. + +Sam quickly cast the boat loose, and as he did so, the Lieutenant +discovered his purpose, and started his men at a full run toward the +camp. + +Sam pushed the boat off and, taking his place in the stern, took the +helm. + +"Hoist the sail, quick!" he said; and the sail went up in a moment. A +strong breeze was blowing and the sail quickly bellied in the wind. + +"Lie down, every man of you," cried Sam, but without setting the +example. A moment later a shower of bullets whistled around his ears. +He had seen that the soldiers were about to fire upon him, and had +ordered his companions to lie down, confident that the thick solid +sides of the boat would pretty effectually protect them. + +As for himself, he must take the chances and navigate his boat. The +soldiers were not move than fifty yards from him when they fired but +luckily they failed to hit him. + +"Now for a run!" he exclaimed. "Before they can load again, I'll be +out of range, or pretty nearly." + +The breeze was very fresh, almost high, and as the boat got out from +under the lee of the shore timber, she heeled over upon one side, and +sped rapidly through the water. The Lieutenant made his men fire +again, but the distance was now so great that their bullets flew wide +of the mark. + +"We're off boys at last. Look out for Jake Elliott and don't let him +jump overboard, or he'll swim ashore. He is a prisoner." + +"Is he? what for?" asked Billy Bowlegs. + +"For betraying us to the British." + +At this moment a boat pushed out from the dock at the fort, and Sid +Russell, who was Sam's most efficient lieutenant, and was scanning the +whole bay for indications of pursuit, cried: + +"There goes a row boat out from the fort, Sam, an' they's soldiers on +board 'n her. I see their guns." + +"Arm yourselves, boys," was Sam's reply. "I want to say a word first. +Jake Elliott has betrayed us to these people, and they are trying to +arrest us. If they catch us, we shall be treated as spies; that is to +say, we shall be hanged to the most convenient tree. I believe we're +all the sons of brave men, and ready to die, if we must, but I, for +one, don't mean to die like a dog, and for that reason I'll never be +taken alive." + +"Nor me," "nor me," "nor me," answered the boys, neglectful of +grammar, but very much in earnest. + +"Very well, then," replied Sam. "It is understood that we're not going +to surrender, whatever happens." + +"It's agreed," answered every boy there except the wretched prisoner, +who was no longer counted one of them. + +"That boat has no sail," said Sam, "and she's got half a mile to row +through rough water before she crosses our track half a mile ahead. I +think I can give her the slip. If I can't we'll fight it out, right +here in the boat. Now, then, one cheer for the American flag!" and as +he said it, Sam drew forth a little flag which he had carried in all +his wanderings, for use if he should need it, and ran it up to his +mast head by a rude halyard which he had arranged in anticipation of +some such adventure as this. + +The boys gave the cheer from the bottom of their broad chests, and +every one took the place which Sam assigned him, with gun in hand. +Meantime Sam tacked the boat in such a way as to throw the point of +meeting between her and the British boat as far from the fort as +possible. It was very doubtful whether he could pass that point before +the row boat, propelled by six oars in the hands of skilled oarsmen, +should reach it. If not, there remained only the alternative of +"fighting it out." + +"Reserve your fire, boys, till I tell you to shoot. There are only six +armed men in that boat. If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale. +You mustn't shoot till we come to close quarters. Then take good aim, +and make your fire tell. A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives. +Above all, keep perfectly cool. We've work to do that needs coolness +as well as determination." + +The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Sam +saw that he would succeed in passing it first, but narrowly, he +thought. + +"We'll beat them, boys," he said. "The sea is rough, and they can't +do much at long range, and they won't get more than one shot close to +us." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, after +the manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day. The two +boats were not a hundred yards apart, but the roughness of the water, +on which the row boat bobbed about like a cork, rendered the volley +ineffective. + +"They're good soldiers with an idiot commanding them," said Sam. + +"Why?" asked Tom, who was very coolly studying the situation. + +"Because he made them fire too soon," replied Sam, "and we can slip by +now while they're loading. Don't shoot, Joe!" he exclaimed to the +black boy who was manifestly on the point of doing so. "Don't shoot, +we've got the best of them now; we are past them and making the +distance greater every second. Give them a cheer to take home with +them. Hurrah!" + +It was raining now, and the wind was blowing a gale, so that Sam's +boat was running at a speed which made pursuit utterly hopeless. The +British soldiers fired three or four scattering shots, and then +cheered in their turn, in recognition of the admirable skill and +courage with which their young adversary had eluded them. + +Sam's escape was not made yet, however. A war ship lay below, and her +commander seeing the chase, and the firing in the bay, manned a light +boat with marines, and sent her out to intercept Sam's craft, without +very clearly understanding the situation or its meaning. + +Sam saw this boat put off from the ship, and knew in an instant what +it meant. He saw, too, that he had no chance to slip by it as he had +done by the other, as it was already very near to him, and almost in +his track. + +"Now, boys," he said very calmly, "we've got to fight. There's no +chance to slip by that boat, and we've got to whip her in a fair +fight, or get whipped. Keep your wits about you, and listen for +orders. Cover your gun pans to keep your priming dry. Here, Tom, take +the tiller. I must go to the bow." + +Tom took the helm, and as he did so Sam said to him:-- + +"Keep straight ahead till I give you orders to change your course, and +then do it instantly, no matter what happens. I've an idea that I know +how to manage this affair now. You have only to listen for orders, and +obey them promptly." + +"I'll do what you order, no matter what it is," said Tom, and Sam went +at once to the bow of his boat. + +His boys were crouching down on their knees to keep themselves as +steady as they could, and their guns, which they were protecting from +the rain, were not visible to the men in the other boat, who were +astonished to find that they had, as they supposed, only to arrest a +boat's crew of unarmed boys. + +The boats were now within a stone's throw of each other, the English +boat lying a little to the left of Sam's track, but the officer in +command of it, supposing that the party would surrender at the word of +command, ordered his men not to open fire. + +"They's a mighty heap on 'em for sich a little boat," whispered Sid +Russell. + +"So much the better," said Sam. "They're badly crowded." + +Then, turning to his companions, he said:-- + +"Lie down, quick, they'll fire in a moment." + +The boys could see no indication of any such purpose on the part of +the British marines, but Sam knew what he was about and he knew that +his next order to his boys would draw a volley upon them. + +Turning to Tom, and straightening himself up to his full height, while +the British officer was loudly calling to him to lie to and surrender, +Sam cried out: + +"Jam your helm down to larboard, Tom, quick and hard, and ram her into +'em!" + +Tom was on the point of hesitating, but remembering Sam's previous +injunction and his own promise, he did as he was ordered, suddenly +changing the boat's course and running her directly toward the British +row boat, which was now not a dozen yards away. The speed at which she +was going was fearful. The British, seeing the manoeuvre, fired, but +wildly, and the next moment Sam's great solid hulk of a boat struck +the British craft amidships, crushed in her sides, cut her in two, and +literally ran over her. + +"Now, bring her back to the wind," cried Sam, "and hold your course." + +The boat swung around and was flying before the wind again in a +second. Boats were rapidly lowered from the war ship to rescue the +struggling marines from the water into which Sam had so +unceremoniously thrown them. + +"Three cheers for our naval victory, and three more for our +commodore!" called out Billy Bowlegs, and the response came quickly. + +"It's too soon to cheer," said Sam. "We're not out of the scrape yet." + +The next moment a puff of smoke showed itself on the side of the war +ship and a shower of grape shot whizzed angrily around the boat. A +second and a third discharge followed, and then came solid shot, +sixty-four pounders, howling like demons over the boys' heads, and +plowing the water all around them. Their speed quickly took them out +of range, however, and the firing ceased. + +They now had time to look about them and estimate damages. None of the +solid shot had taken effect, but three of the grape shot had struck +the boat, greatly marring her beauty, but doing her no serious damage. + +"Are any of you hurt?" asked Sam. All the boys reported themselves +well. + +"Then make a place for me in the middle of the boat, where I can lie +down," replied Sam, "I'm wounded." + +"Where?" + +"How?" + +"Not badly, I hope, Sam?" the boys answered quickly. + +"I'm hurt in two places. They shot me as we ran over that boat," said +Sam, "but not very badly, I think. I'm faint, however," and as he lay +down in the boat he lost consciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +CAPTAIN SAM. + + +The boys were now badly frightened, and the more so because they did +not know what to do for their chief, who lay dying, as they supposed. +His left hand and shoulder were bleeding profusely, and Tom, +remembering some instructions that Sam had once given him[3] with +respect to the stopping of a flow of blood, at once examined the +wounds, to discover their nature. Two fingers of Sam's left hand had +been carried away, and a deep flesh wound showed itself in his +shoulder. By the use of a handkerchief or two Tom soon succeeded in +staunching the flow of blood, while one of the other boys sailed the +boat. After a little while the dashing rain revived the wounded boy, +and while he was still very weak, he was able, within an hour, to +take the direction of affairs into his own hands again. + +[Footnote 3: See "The Big Brother" Chapter 3.] + +But what mischief maybe done in an hour! The boys had never once +thought of anything but Sam, during all that time, and they had been +sailing for an hour straight out into the Gulf of Mexico, at a furious +rate of speed! It was pouring down rain, and land was nowhere visible! + +When Sam's questions drew out these facts, the boys were disposed to +be very much frightened. + +"There's no cause for alarm, I think," said Sam, reassuringly. "I +think I know how to manage it, and perhaps it is better so." + +"Of course you know how to manage," said Sid Russell, admiringly. "I'm +prepared to bet my hat an' boots on that, now or any other time. You +always do know how to manage, whatever turns up. That long head o' +your'n's got more'n a little in it." + +Sam smiled rather feebly and replied:-- + +"Wait till I get you out of the scrape we're in, Sid, before you +praise me." + +"Well, I'll take it on trust," said Sid, "an' back my judgment on it, +too." + +"Let me have your compass, Tom," he said; and taking the instrument +which he had confided to Tom's hands at starting on the voyage, he +opened his map just enough to catch a glimpse of the coast lines +marked on it, having one of the boys hold a hat over it, to protect it +from the rain as he did so. After a little while he said:-- + +"Take the helm, Tom, and hold the boat due west. There, that will do. +Now let her go, and keep her at that. The wind is north-east, and +she'll make good time in this direction." + +"Where are you aiming for, Sam?" asked Tom. + +"The mouth of Mobile Bay." + +"Does it lie west?" + +"Not exactly, but a little north of west. We can sail faster due west, +however, and after awhile we'll tack to the north till we see land. +It's about forty miles from the mouth of Pensacola Bay to the mouth of +Mobile bay, and we're going, I think, about six or seven miles an +hour." + +"But, how'll you find the mouth of the bay?" + +"I don't know that I can, but I can find land easily enough, as it +stretches in a bow all along to the north of us. But I want to strike +as near the mouth of the bay as I can, so as to have as little +marching to do as possible. If I can get into the bay, I can sail +clear up to Mobile." + +"But, Sam?" + +"Well." + +"What if it storms? It looks like it was going to." + +"Well, I think we can weather it. This boat can't spring a leak, and +if she fills full of water she won't sink, for she's only a log +hollowed out." + +"That's so, but won't she turn over like a log?" + +"I think not. She's heaviest at the bottom, and I made her keel very +heavy on purpose." + +"Why, did you expect to go to sea in her?" + +"No, but I thought I might have to do it, to get away from Pensacola." + +"Did you think of that when you planned her, up there in the woods?" + +"Yes." + +"Yes," said Sid, "of course he did! Don't he always think of every +thing before it comes?" + +It was rapidly coming on to storm. The rain was falling very slightly +now, and the wind was shifting to the east and rapidly rising. Sam +directed the boys to shorten sail, and showed them how to do it. The +wind grew stronger and stronger, suddenly shifting to the south. The +sail was still further shortened. The sea now began coming up, and Sam +saw that their chief danger was that of getting washed overboard. He +cautioned the boys against this, and changed the boat's course, so as +to keep her as nearly as possible where she was. A heavy sea broke +over her, and carried away their only water keg, which was a dire +calamity. After a little while their store of food went, and they were +at sea, in a storm, without food or water! + +"I say, Sam," said Tom. + +"What is it?" + +"Is there land all to the north of us?" + +"Yes." + +"How far is it?" + +"Twenty miles, perhaps,--possibly less." + +"Why can't we head the boat about, and run for it?" + +"Because the wind is blowing on shore, and there's a heavy surf +running." + +"What of that?" + +"Why, simply this, that if we run ashore on a long, flat beach, the +boat will be beaten to splinters a mile or more from land." + +"How?" + +"By the waves; they would lift her up, and receding let her drop +suddenly on the sands, splitting her to pieces in no time, and the +very next wave would do the same thing for us. We must stay out here +till the storm's over. There's nothing else for it." + +The storm lasted long enough to make a furious sea, and the boys could +do nothing but hold on to the boat's gunwales. As night came on the +wind ceased, very suddenly, as it frequently does in Southern seas, +but the waves still rolled mountain high. + +"When the sea goes down we'll try to make land, won't we, Sam?" asked +Tom. + +"Yes, but before the surf is safe for us, we can sail several hours +toward Mobile, and gain that much. Indeed, I think we can get that far +west before it will be tolerably safe to run ashore. We're hungry and +thirsty, of course, but we must endure it. There's no other way." + +The boat was presently headed to the west, and the sail unfurled +again, but as the night advanced the wind fell to a mere breeze, and +then died altogether. It began to grow hazy. The haze deepened into a +dense fog. The sea went down, and the boat rocked idly on a ground +swell. + +"Now, let's run ashore," said Billy Bowlegs. + +"What will we run with? There isn't a cap full of wind on the Gulf of +Mexico, and there won't be while this fog lasts." + +"What shall we do, then?" + +"Nothing, for there is literally nothing to be done," answered Sam. + +"Mas' Sam," said Joe, "I'll tell you what." + +"Well, Joe, what is it?" + +"Ef we jist had a couple o' paddles." + +"But we just haven't a couple of paddles," answered Sam. "No, what we +need now is courage and endurance. We must wait for a wind, and keep +our courage up. We are suffering already with hunger and thirst, and +will suffer more, but it can't be helped. We must keep our courage up, +and endure that which we cannot do anything to cure. It is harder to +endure suffering than to encounter danger, but a brave man, or a brave +boy, can do both without murmuring." + +Sam's words encouraged his companions, and they managed to get some +sleep. After awhile day dawned, and the fog was still thick around +them, while not a zephyr was astir. Nearly an hour later, a sudden +booming startled them. It was a cannon, and was very near. + +"What is that?" asked the boys in a breath. + +"A sunrise gun, I think," said Sam, "and it's on a ship or a fort. Now +then all together with a shout." + +They shouted in concert. No answer came. They shouted again and again, +and finally their shout was answered. A little later a row boat came +out into the fog, and the first man Sam saw in it was Tandy Walker. + +It is not necessary to repeat the greetings and the explanations that +were given. Sam learned that the gun had been fired from Fort Bowyer, +the guardian fortress, which, standing on Mobile Point, commanded the +entrance to the bay. The fort had been garrisoned only the day before, +and Tandy was one of the garrison. Sam's boat had drifted further west +than he had supposed, and he found himself now precisely at the point +he had tried to reach. + + * * * * * + +As Sam was too weak to walk, and there was no wind with which to sail +up to the town, a messenger was sent by land from the fort, bearing to +General Jackson a detailed account of Sam's wanderings and adventures +in the shape of a written report. When the wind served, the little +band of weary wanderers sailed up to Mobile, and when Sam reached the +hospital to which he had been assigned for the treatment of his +wounds, he found there an official despatch from General Jackson, from +which the following is an extract:-- + +"The commanding General begs to express his high sense of the services +rendered by Samuel Hardwicke and his band, and his appreciation of the +rare courage, discretion and fortitude displayed by the youthful +leader of the Pensacola scouting party. A few blank commissions in the +volunteer forces having been placed in the commanding General's hands +for bestowal upon deserving men, he is greatly pleased to issue the +first of them to Mr. Hardwicke, in recognition of his gallant conduct, +creating him a captain of volunteers, to date from the day of his +departure on his recent mission." + +"So, you're really 'Captain Sam' after all," said Sid Russell, when +the document was read in his presence, and the formal commission had +been inspected reverently by all the boys. + +"Yes, an' he's been a real 'Captain Sam' all the time," said Billy +Bowlegs. + +What became of Jake Elliott? + +If he had been an enlisted soldier he would have been tried by court +martial. As it was, the boys formally drummed him out of their +company, and he disappeared from Mobile. He did not go home as the +boys learned a few months later, when, after the battle of New +Orleans, peace was proclaimed throughout the land, and they were led +back by their favorite hero, Captain Sam. + + +THE END. + + + + +CAPITAL BOOKS FOR BOYS. + + +I. YOUNG MECHANIC (THE). Practical Carpentry. Containing Directions +for the use of all kinds of Tools, and for the construction of Steam +Engines and Mechanical Models, including the Art of Turning in Wood +and Metal. Illustrated, small 4to, cloth extra. $1.75 + + "A valuable book, eminently useful to beginners, and + suggestive even to the experienced and skillful."--_Albany + Journal_. + +II. AMONGST MACHINES. By the author of "The Young Mechanic." Square +octavo, very fully illustrated, cloth extra. $2.00 + +III. THE BIG BROTHER. A Story for Boys, of Indian War. By GEORGE +CARY EGGLESTON. Small octavo, illustrated, cloth extra. $1.50 + + "An admirable story* *strikingly realistic."_--Boston + Transcript._ + + "Leaves little to be desired."--_Phila. Enquirer_. + +IV. CAPTAIN SAM; or, The Boy Scout of 1814. By GEORGE CARY +EGGLESTON, author of "The Big Brother," "How to Educate +Yourself," etc., etc. Octavo, illustrated. $1.50 + + The thousands of boys who read with delight Mr. Eggleston's + first volume, will eagerly welcome the appearance of the + further history of "The Big Brother" and his friends. + +V. BOYS OF OTHER COUNTRIES. Stories for American Boys. By BAYARD +TAYLOR. Octavo, cloth, illustrated; uniform with "Big Brother." +$1.50. + +VI. THE BOY WITH AN IDEA. By MRS. EILVART. Octavo, +illustrated, cloth extra. $1.75 + +VII. THE HOUSE WITH SPECTACLES. By LEORA B. ROBINSON. +Square 16mo, with frontispiece, cloth extra. + +VIII. ONCE UPON A TIME. Stories for Children, of the Ancient Gods +and Heroes. By MARY E. CRAIGIE. Square 16mo, cloth extra, +illustrated. + +IX. RODDY'S IDEAL. By HELEN K. JOHNSON, author of "Roddy's +Romance," "Roddy's Reality," etc. Square 16mo, cloth extra. + +CRITICISMS ON "RODDY'S ROMANCE." + +"Such a funny, quaint, delightful sort of book, that we hope it will +fall into the hands of countless boys and girls, to make glad their +hearts."--_Liberal Christian._ + +"A book full of the vivacity and the fun of a school-boy's life, with +a noble lesson for all boys to take to heart."--_Watchman and +Reflector_. + +***Any of the above books will be sent, post-paid, by the publishers, +on receipt of the price. + + + + +Putnams' Series of Popular Manuals. + + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE MICROSCOPE. + +By EDWIN LANKESTER, M.D., F.R.S. Illustrated by 250 Drawings +from Nature. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. + + "This beautiful little volume is a very complete manual for + the amateur microscopist. *** The 'Half-Hours' are filled + with clear and agreeable descriptions, whilst eight plates, + executed with the most beautiful minuteness and sharpness, + exhibit no less than 250 objects with the utmost attainable + distinctness."--_Critic_. + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE TELESCOPE: + +Being a popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a means of +Amusement and Instruction. Adapted to inexpensive instruments. By R. +A. PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S. 12mo, cloth, with illustrations on +stone and wood. Price, $1.25. + + "It is crammed with starry plates on wood and stone, and + among the celestial phenomena described or figured, by far + the larger number may be profitably examined with small + telescopes."--_Illustrated Times._ + +HALF-HOURS WITH THE STARS: + +A Plain and Easy Guide to the Knowledge of the Constellations, showing +in 12 Maps, the Position of the Principal Star-Groups Night after +Night throughout the Year, with introduction and a separate +explanation of each Map. True for every Year. By RICHARD A. +PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S. Demy 4to. Price, $2.25. + + "Nothing so well calculated to give a rapid and thorough + knowledge of the position of the stars in the firmament has + ever been designed or published hitherto. Mr. Proctor's + 'Half-Hours with the Stars' will become a text-book in all + schools, and an invaluable aid to all teachers of the + young."--_Weekly Times._ + +MANUAL OF POPULAR PHYSIOLOGY: + +Being an Attempt to Explain the Science of Life in Untechnical +Language. By HENRY LAWSON, M.D. 18mo, with 90 Illustrations. +Price, $1.25. + +Man's Mechanism, Life, Force, Food, Digestion, Respiration, Heat, the +Skin, the Kidneys, Nervous System, Organs of Sense, &c., &c., &c. + + "Dr. Lawson has succeeded in rendering his manual amusing as + well as instructive. All the great facts in human physiology + are presented to the reader successively; and either for + private reading or for classes, this manual will be found + well adapted for initiating the uninformed into the + mysteries of the structure and function of their own + bodies."--_Athenaeum._ + +WOMAN BEFORE THE LAW. + +By JOHN PROFFATT, LL.B., of the New York Bar. + + Contents.--I. Former Status of Women. II. Legal Conditions + of Marriage. III. Personal Rights and Disabilities of the + Wife. IV. Rights of Property, Real and Personal. V. Dower. + VI. Reciprocal Rights and Duties of Mother and Children. + VII. Divorce. + +12mo, cloth, $1. Half bound, $1.25. + +BASTIAT. SOPHISMS OF PROTECTION. + +By FREDERIC BASTIAT. With Preface by HORACE WHITE. +Cloth. Price $1.00. + +REEVES. The Students' Own Speaker. A Manual of Oratory + +By Paul Reeves. 12mo, boards, 75 cts.; cloth, 90 cts. + + The "Student's Own Book," by Paul Reeves, which forms the + first of the Handy-Book Series, is notable among other + points in giving "a good deal for the money." The amount of + matter in this book, which is in clear and neat, though + small type, fully equals that in other books of twice the + size and cost. It contains many new pieces not to be found + in any of the school text-books. It aims to meet the wants + of a large number outside of the school-room, while it is + also well adapted for school use. + + The _Philadelphia Inquirer_ says of it: + + "The general rules laid down, and the suggestions thrown + out, are excellent, while the pieces furnished for + declamation are well chosen. The book is one deserving a + wide circulation." + + Another good authority says: + + "We have never before seen a collection so admirably adapted + for its purpose. Prose and verse, humor, eloquence, + description, alteration, burlesque discourse of every + kind.... For schools, clubs, and fireside amusement, it will + be found an almost inexhaustible source of entertainment.... + The instruction ... is sensible and practical." + +RICHARDSON. House Building. From a Cottage to a Mansion. + +A Practical Guide to Members of Building Societies, and all interested +in selecting or Building a House. By C. J. Richardson, Architect, +author of "Old English Mansions." With 600 illustrations. Crown 8vo, +cloth extra, $3.50. + +RITCHIE. The Romance of History--France. By Leitch Ritchie. +Illustrated. 12mo, cloth extra, $2.50. + +ROGERS. Social Economy. By Prof. E. Thorold Rogers (Tooke Professor +of Economic Science, Oxford, England), editor of "Smith's Wealth of +Nations." Revised and edited for American readers. 12mo, cloth, 75 +cts. + + This little volume gives in the compass of 150 pages, + concise yet comprehensive answers to the most important + questions of Social Economy. The relations of men to each + other, the nature of property, the meaning of capital, the + position of the laborer, the definition of money, the work + of government, the character of business, are all set forth + with clearness and scientific thoroughness. The book, from + its simplicity and the excellence of its instruction, is + especially adapted for use in schools, while the information + it contains is of value and interest to all classes of + readers. + + "It is this sort of knowledge that is contained in Prof. + Rogers' book, which we cannot too highly recommend to the + use of teachers, students, and the general + public."--_American Athenaeum_. + +ROGERS. The Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers. Including "Italy," +"Columbus," "Pleasures of Memory," etc., with portrait. 12mo, cloth +extra, $1.50; half calf, $3.50. + +SEGUIN. A Manual of Thermometry. For Mothers, Nurses, and all who +have charge of the Sick and the Young. By Edward Seguin, M.D. 12mo, +cloth, 75 cts. + + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, + +_182 Fifth Avenue, New York._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN SAM*** + + +******* This file should be named 18622.txt or 18622.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/2/18622 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/18622.zip b/18622.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c8b0c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/18622.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0f81eb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #18622 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18622) |
