A Boy Crusoe; or, The Golden Treasure of the Virgin Islands
Page 12
*CHAPTER XII.*
_*Return to the Coast; A Mangrove Swamp; Fever*_*.*
When I awoke it was morning, and the sun was fully an hour up. Taking ahasty bath in the cool water of the stream, and after a hurried meal,crossing the stream on the stones that were not submerged, I set offalong the east bank. The stream flowed in a northerly direction. Bykeeping close to the edge of the forest I made rapid progress. Nothingoccurred to distract my attention, except the sight of a small flock ofpigeons, one of which I killed. I encamped for the night in the edge ofa thicket, and made a fire to roast the bird which I plucked whilewaiting for a bed of coals.
At daylight in the morning I continued my course down the stream whichwas now much wider and deeper. Its edge was thickly fringed withbamboo, and the idea came to me that I might construct a raft from them,and float down stream to the coast; but then, the stream was apt tobecome suddenly shallow in places, and it contained many large stones,and after delaying for several days while constructing the raft, itmight prove to be time and labor lost.
At the close of the fourth day, as the sun was declining behind the palmtrees, I was astonished, on emerging from a thicket, to see the ocean,blue and calm, stretching out before me. I had failed to note the factthat I had followed a more direct course from the coast than when Imarched toward the interior, and that the mountains were much nearer thenorth coast than the west. For the last two days I had noticed that thecocoanut palms were more plentiful, as were also the bamboos along thestream, both of which should have reminded me of my approach to saltwater. I had reached the coast sooner than I expected.
Knowing that I would probably not be able to cross the stream at itsmouth, I found a place where a few stones rose above the water, andmanaged to cross to the other bank. The mouth of this stream differedfrom that of either of the other two streams that I had seen. It wasbroad and muddy, covering a wide expanse, and what seemed the strangestto me was that trees were growing from the water, covering the entirearea of the mouth of the stream. Each tree rested upon the apex formedby a cluster of roots, which rose from the water, looking like giganticspiders or devil-fish. I could see under the whole aquatic forest, atangle of slimy roots above the dark water. The air was permeated by anindescribable stench; and around the edge of the dark recess, black,hairy crabs crawled about, or lay by the festering pools. I concludedthat this was one of the famous mangrove swamps, and I decided to retirefrom such an undesirable locality.
Accordingly I proceeded along the beach until I was free from the smellof the swamp, where I made camp for the night beneath some spreadingtrees near the water's edge, making a fire and roasting yams, andbroiling a pigeon which I had killed just after crossing the stream.
When I awoke in the morning I felt that a change had come over me. Ifelt dazed, the back of my head was aching, and I had a burning fever.After a few moments I remembered the swamp. The air which I had beenbreathing must be laden with fever. I staggered to my feet and, withoutstopping to get breakfast, I started along the beach, my course nowbeing toward the west.
I felt very weak and walked with great difficulty. I was obliged to stopfrequently to rest, and toward mid-day I managed to eat the remainder ofthe pigeon that I had broiled the night before. Once I saw some orangetrees, but the fruit was both sour and bitter. I sucked some of thejuice, however. The bitter and the acid seemed to allay my fever alittle, and I soon felt less weak. I camped at sundown, and went tosleep with confidence that my condition would be improved in themorning, as I was at a safe distance from the swamp.
For two days more I marched along the shore, finding sweet orange-treesfrequently, and plenty of pigeons whenever I chose to make a shortdetour into the forest.
At last a high mound appeared ahead where the shore seemed to take asharp sweep toward the south, and, hurrying forward, I was soon standingat the top of it and, to my great joy, looking down upon the bay where Ihad been cast ashore.
Crossing the familiar little stream, I hastened toward my house. It waswith a feeling of relief that I saw that everything was apparently as Ihad left it.