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will, in order to pass the place he spoke
of before the Indians could get to it, and
aided by the rapid current, our little
boat fairly flew down the stream. As
we approached the dreaded locality
where we knew the open pine land came
down to the water’s edge, we scanned
the shore closely for our expected foes,
but not a living thing was anywhere
visible. We were just beginning to con
gratulate ourselves on being beforehand
with them, when six or eight of the sav
ages rose up from a clump of bushes
on the bank, and fired a volley into
our boat; but fortunately without touch
ing any one except Bob Harris, who
was slightly grazed on his arm by a bul
let. At the moment the Indians fired
upon us, we were passing a little marshy
islet, that lay about the centre of the
stream, which was thickly covered with
a dense growth of tall grass and bushes.
“Pull for the island, quick, boys,”
said Bob, “ and we’ll give the rascals a
fight any how.”
We hastened to comply with the order
of Bob, who by tacit consent had assum
ed the command in the emergency, and
besides there was evidently no other
chance leltus, as the Indians were below
us, and their bullets were already falling
thick and fast around our boat. Lucki
ly, on the side of the islet next to us
there was a little narrow cove, of suffi
cient depth to take in our boat, and into
this we pushed it with our oars, and in
a few moments were hidden from the
view of the Indians by the rank grass
and bushes and drift-wood with which
it was covered.
But the Indians still continued to
fire upon us at random, and the mo
ment we landed, we went to work,
and soon built up a sort of breastwork
of drift-wood which afforded us a tem
porary shelter from ther bullets.
It is astonishing how fast men or boys
can work under such circumstances ! I
once saw some prisoners we had with us
in less than fifteen minutes after we had
got into a battle with the Mexicans, dig
holes in the hard prairies with their but
cher knives , sufficiently deep to shelter
themselves from the balls of their friends.
People, in cases of great emergency, are
apt to think fast, and if they do not lose
their presence of mind, to act promptly.
“Boys, 1 ’ said Bob Harris, when he
found that our breastwork was sufficient
to afford us protection from the bullets
of the Indians, “ it will be necessary for
one of us, to watch the movements of
the enemy, for fear they may concoct
and carry out some scheme to take us
by surprise. Who will volunteer to
take the first ‘ watch?’ ”
“I will,” said Tommy Hughes.
“Well then,” replied Bob, “creep
out cautiously to the edge of the bushes
at the upper end of the island, where
you can command a good view of the
river above, and if you see any suspi
cious movements, come back at once
and let us know of it. If the Indians
should attempt to ‘ board us ’ on rafts,
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
they can only do so by launching them
on the river above, for they could not
pole them up stream against this cur
rent.”
Tommy seized his rifle, and in obedi
ence to the order of Captain Bob,
slipped off through the grass and bushes
in the direction of the upper end of
the island.
“ If we can only keep them at bay,”
said Bob, “until night comes on, we can
‘ run the gauntlet’ and pass them in our
boat with but little danger, under cover
of the darkness.”
“ Well,” said Jimmy Dunn, as a bullet
knocked the dust into his eyes from one
of the drift logs in our breastwork, “if
this is what you call ‘ camp hunting,’
I have seen enough of it already to sat
isfy me.”
“ Oh, poh I” replied Bob Harris,
“you won’t mind a little scrimmage like
this at all after you get used to it.”
“ No, but I should never get used to
it,” replied Jimmy, ducking his head as
a bullet whistled a few inches above it.
“I’m very fond of hunting, but when the
game gets to shooting rifle balls back at
a fellow, the sport is a little too exciting
to suit me.”
“ The rascals are fixing up some
plan to board us,” said Bob. “They
have quit their yelling, and I think I
can hear the sound of their hatchets
chopping in the swamp above us. We
must prevent them from getting on the
island at all hazzard, for if they should
effect a landing our case will be a hope
less one, indeed.”
“ We all assured the captain that we
would do our best to keep them at a dis
tance. For half an hour or more, noth
ing was heard from our wily foes, ex
cept the continued chopping sound we
had noticed before in the swamp above.
At length we saw our spy, Jimmy, com
ing hurriedly through the bushes to
wards us. We knew in a moment he
had made some discovery of importance
to us, and as soon as he came up we all
eagerly inquired, “what is the matter?”
“ Matter.enough,” he answered ; “the
rascals have built a raft above us, and
eight or ten of them are now on it, and
they’ll be aboard of us in less than ten
minutes unless we can manage in some
way to stop them.”
“ Boys,” said Capt. Bob, in a low but
determined tone, “ now comes the tug
of war. We must ‘ sicken’ the fellows
of this job, and they’ll not be apt to
try their luck on the water again. We
must give them a warm reception, if we
would keep our scalps on the top of our
heads an hour longer. See that your
guns and ammunition are all in order
and follow me.”
Saying this, he took his way towards
the upper end of the little island, and the
rest of us cautiously followed in his
wake. The islet, as I have said, was s
a very small one, (perhaps not a quar
ter of an acre in extent,) and we soon
came to the upper extremity. Here we
laid down in the rank grass, whilst Capt.
Bob went on as far as he could without
exposing himself to the Indians, to re
connoitre their movements. Before
leaving us, he told us the instant we
heard the report of his rifle to rush for
ward to the end of the islet, take ‘ sure
aim’ and fire as rapidly and as effective
ly as we could at the Indians on the
raft.
He had scarcely had time, we thought,
to reach the end of the islet, when the
report of his rifle gave us notice that
the moment for action had come. Spring
ing from our ambush, we darted for
ward and commenced pouring in a dead
ly fire from our rifles upon the party of
Indians who were rapidly nearing us on
their raft. The Indians from the shore
returned our fire, and their bullets whist
led spitefully around us, but the party
on the raft were so much ‘ demoralized’
by our sudden and spirited ‘sortie’ that
they jumped overboard and swam ashore
leaving most of their guns and equip
ments upon it.
The Indians on the shore, when they
witnessed the discomfiture of their com
rades on the raft, raised a deafening yell
of rage and disappointment, and gave us
a general volley from their rifles, but as
we were pretty much hidden from their
view by the grass and bushes, they fired
at random, an 1 their balls went harm
lsesly over our heads. The deserted
raft floated down and lodged on the end
of our island. Two Indians were lying
upon it killed by our rifle balls, and the
guns and accoutrements of five or six
others who had escaped to the shore by
swimming.
“ Well done, boys,” said Capt. Bob,
“you have behaved like veterans and
have gallantly repelled the enemy. I
shall certainly mention you all honora
bly in my report to headquarters. Nev
ertheless, I believe there is a great
deal of truth in the old saying, ‘discre
tion is the better part of valor,’ and as
there is no necessity for all of us to re
main here, exposed to the enemy’s
fire, if someone will volunteer to take
the place of Tommy Hughes on watch,
the rest will retire to the shelter of our
breastwork, and wait patiently for anoth
er demonstration on the part of the In
dians ; though I rather think they wont
try the raft again.”
Wiley Sparks volunteered to keep
watch and the rest of us took shelter
once more behind our breastwork.
The hours rolled by and nothing was
heard from the Indians. Jimmy Dunn
proposed we should embark again on
our boat, as he thought the Indians,
despairing of routing us from our strong
hold, had abandoned the field. But
Bob Harris thought it most prudent to
wait until dark before we made a move,
as he said it was probable the Indians
were still in the vicinity, and were keep
ing quiet for the purpose of decoying
us from our entrenchment. The rest
of us coincided in opinion with Capt.
Bob, so we remained quietly behind our
breastwork, satisfying our hunger with
some ‘hard tack’and raw pork, which
one of the boys brought from the boat.
As soon as night came on (and for
tunately for us it was a very dark one,)
Capt. Bob detailed Jimmy Dunn and
myself to go on board the Indian raft
that had lodged at the head of the is
land, and bring off as “trophies of our
victory” the guns and accoutrements we
had observed lying upon it. Jimmy
and I accordingly went to the spot where
the raft had lodged, and going on board,
gathered up all the guns and accoutie
ments we could find, six rifles and as
many shot pouches and powder horns.
The two dead Indians were still lying
upon it, stretched out upon their backs,
looking hideously ferocious in the dim
light, with their grinning teeth and paint
ed faces.
We hurried back to the boat with our
trophies,and all got on board as noiseless
ly as possible. Pushing her silently out
of the little nook that had proved such
a ‘ harbor of refuge’ to us, we soon got
into the current, and took our way
down the river. But we had scarcely
gone a hundred yards when the bank on
our right was lit up with the flashing of
guns, and the woods around echoed
with the appalling yells of the Indians.
The bullets whistled in all directions
about us, but none of us were struck-
The darkness of the night alone saved
us from inevitable destruction. Had wo
attempted to pass the Indians in day
light we would all undoubtedly have
been killed.
“Give way, boys,” shouted Capt. Bob,
as the Indians opened fire upon us, “and
we’ll soon be out of reach of the ras
cals.”
But we needed no incentive to do
this, and tugged at the oars lustily un
til we were safe beyond the bullets ol t he
enemy.
“ Boys,” said Bob to us, after we had
slackened our speed, on finding that we
were out of reach of the Indians, “we
have not done much in the way of hunt
ing this time, but we have had a glori
ous ‘ scrimmage’ with the Indians, and
that will make us famous through all
the country round for at least two con
secutive weeks. I wouldn’t have miss
ed it for any consideration. What do
you say, Jimmy?”
“Well, Capt. Bob,” said Jimmy,
“ since I have come safe out of it, with
my scalp still on the top of my head, I
am very well satisfied, but whenever
you propose taking another ‘camp
hunt’ on the head of the Wakulla, I
wish it distinctly understood that I am
‘ out of the ring.’ Hunting is one
thing, and I’m very fond of it, and
fighting Indians all day from a mud
flat is another thing, and I have ‘ sour
ed upon it’ entirely—that’s all I have to
say on the subject.”
In two or three hours we reached the
mouth of the river, where we exhibited
our ‘ trophies’ to a gaping crowd, in
coroboration of the story we told of our
fight with the Indians. As Capt. Bob