The Flamingo Feather

by Kirk Munroe

  CHAPTER XI

  RENE'S RETURN

  When Rene de Veaux sank down in the bottom of the canoe, completelyexhausted by his labors at the paddle, and by the pain of Chitta'sarrow that quivered in his shoulder, he became almost unconscious, andonly dimly realized that they had escaped from their cruel pursuers.Then he had a vague knowledge of being lifted from the canoe and borneaway, very gently, he knew nor cared not whither, and then he seemed tofall asleep. When he again awoke to an interest in his surroundings,he felt that a soft hand was smoothing his brow, and the air was cooledby a delicious sweet-scented breeze. Opening his eyes, he saw bendingover him, and fanning him with a fan woven of fragrant grasses,Has-se's beautiful sister Nethla.

  As he attempted to rise she gently restrained him, and bidding him liestill for a moment, she left the lodge. Directly afterwards shereturned, accompanied by Has-se, whose face was radiant with joy atseeing his friend once more, and finding him so much better than he haddared hope.

  The Indian lad told Rene that those who came so promptly to theirrescue upon hearing his call had stopped for a minute upon reachingthem to learn who their pursuers were, and how many there were of them.Cat-sha and Chitta had taken instant advantage of this delay to paddleswiftly up-stream and disappear in the depths of the great swamp, whereit was impossible to track them, and so had escaped.

  The fortunate meeting between the boys and their friends was owing to ascarcity of provisions among Micco's followers, which had obliged themto remain in camp for two days, while the hunters went in pursuit ofgame to replenish the larder.

  The next evening, thanks to the wonderful healing properties of theherbs applied by Nethla to his wound, Rene was able to recline on asoft couch of furs in front of the chief's lodge, near a great fire,and enjoy with the rest the feast of venison, wild turkey, and bear'smeat that had been prepared to celebrate the successful return of thehunters.

  As he lay there, thoroughly enjoying the feast and the novelty of thescene, Has-se came to him and placed in his hand the Flamingo Featherthat had been cut from his hair on the day before by Chitta's arrow.As he did so he said, "This I give to thee, Ta-lah-lo-ko, as a token offriendship forever between us, and for thee to keep in memory of thisday. It is a token such as may only be exchanged between chiefs or thesons of chiefs; and if at any time it shall be sent to me or any of mypeople in thy name, whatever request comes with it from thee must begranted even at the cost of life. Keep the emblem hidden, and wear itnot, for that may only be done by the chiefs of my tribe, or those whoare sons of chiefs."

  As he took the precious feather, and thanked Has-se warmly for the giftand its assurance of friendship, Rene noted with surprise that attachedto it was a slender gold chain fastening a golden pin of strange andexquisite make. It was by these that the feather had been confined inHas-se's hair, and it was the cutting of this chain by Chitta's arrowthat had loosened it.

  In answer to Rene's inquiries Has-se explained that these ornamentscame from a distant country in the direction of the setting sun, wheregold was like the sands on the shores of the great salt waters, andwhence they had reached his tribe through the hands of many traders.[1]

  At sunrise on the following morning the journey towards the land of theAlachuas was resumed, and Rene occupied with Nethla a canoe that waspaddled by Has-se and Yah-chi-la-ne (the Eagle), Nethla's young warriorhusband. The stream down which they floated soon left the great swampand widened into a broad river, the high banks of which were coveredwith the most luxuriant vegetation and beautiful flowers. The Indianscalled it Withlacoochee, but the Spaniards afterwards changed its nameto San Juanita (pronounced San Wawneeta), or Little St. John, fromwhich in these days it has come to be known as the Suwanee.

  The river contained great numbers of alligators, of which, when theywent into camp, the Indians killed many, for the sake of the valuableoil that was to be extracted from the fat embedded in the joints oftheir tails.

  On the second day after Rene and Has-se joined them the tribe reachedthe land of the Alachuas, a people speaking the same language withthemselves, and bound to them by closest ties of friendship. It was aland of broad savannas, studded with groves of magnolia and oak trees,and abounding in springs of the purest water. The clear streamsrunning from these great springs teemed with the finest fish, and thecountry watered by them was overrun with game of every variety. It wasindeed a land of plenty, and from its peace-loving and hospitabledwellers the visitors from the far East received a warm welcome.

  On the very day of their arrival they selected the site for the camp,which they expected to occupy for some months. It was in the midst ofa grand oak grove, surrounding a crystal spring; and before sunset theslightly built lodges had sprung up as though by magic among its trees,the sparks from the camp-fires gleamed like myriads of fire-flies amongthe moss-hung branches, and the tribe was at home.

  Rene de Veaux, as became his rank, was invited to occupy the lodge ofMicco the chief, in which he shared the bear-skin couch of his friendthe chief's son and Bow-bearer. Here, during the week that his woundtook to heal completely, he rested as happily as though the worldcontained no cares or anxieties. He spent most of this time in addingto his knowledge of the Indian language, with which, with Has-se andthe beautiful Nethla as teachers, he quickly became familiar. Thanksto the glowing descriptions of the power and glory of the white mengiven by his friends, Rene found himself treated with distinguishedconsideration by the Alachuas, who regarded him with the greatestinterest and curiosity. He was always spoken of by them as the youngwhite chief, and his slightest wishes were gratified as soon as he madethem known.

  At the end of a week Rene felt sufficiently strong and well to setabout accomplishing the mission that had brought him to this pleasantcountry. Accordingly he sought an interview with the Alachua chief,and displayed before him the trinkets contained in the package that hehad so carefully brought with him from Fort Caroline. As the chiefgazed with delight and amazement at what he regarded as a mostwonderful treasure, but what in reality was only a lot of knives,hatchets, mirrors, and fish-hooks, Rene explained to him the distressof the white men in Fort Caroline, caused by the destruction of theirwinter's supply of provisions. He then said that if the chief would,out of the abundance of the Alachuas, give him twelve canoe-loads ofcorn, and send warriors enough to conduct them in safety to the whiteman's fort on the great river of the East, he would give him thepackage of trinkets there displayed, and would promise, in the name ofhis uncle the great white chief, a package of equal size and value foreach canoe-load of provisions delivered at the fort. He also pledgedhis word that the Alachua warriors who should escort the provisionsshould be kindly treated by the white men in Fort Caroline, and shouldbe allowed to return at once to their own country.

  After taking a day to consider this proposal, and to consult with hiswise men concerning it, the Alachua chief agreed to accept it, andgreatly to Rene's delight the gathering together of the twelvecanoe-loads of corn was at once begun. No difficulty was experiencedin procuring an escort for them, for all the young Alachua warriors whohad not attended the Feast of Ripe Corn were anxious to visit FortCaroline, and see for themselves the white men, and the great"thunder-bows," as the Indians named the cannon that stood in itsembrasures.

  Thus, within two weeks of the time of his arrival in the land of theAlachuas, Rene was ready to set forth on his return to Fort Caroline.With him were to go his friend Has-se, who had obtained a reluctantconsent from Micco his father to take the journey, and fifty youngAlachua warriors, under command of Yah-chi-la-ne, Has-se'sbrother-in-law.

  The white lad had made many pleasant friendships among these simplepeople, and it was with feelings of sadness that he bade farewell tothe beautiful Nethla, the grave and stately Micco, the good chief ofthe Alachuas, and many others who had been kind to him, and whom hefeared he might never see again.

  The little fleet of twenty canoes, twelve of which were heavily ladenwith corn, started on their long journey a
t daybreak of a still, coolmorning, in the presence of the entire population of Micco's camp, anda great number of the Alachuas who had collected to see them off. Inthe leading canoe were Rene, Has-se, Yah-chi-la-ne, and a young warriornamed Oli-catara (the Bear's Paw). As it shot from the bank, theentire assembly of Indians on shore shouted,

  "Farewell, Ta-lah-lo-ko!"

  "Farewell, Ta-lah-lo-ko!"]

  "Farewell to the young white chief!"

  "Do not forget us, Ta-lah-lo-ko."

  These shouts sounded very pleasantly to Rene, for they showed that hehad succeeded in gaining not only the respect but the affection ofthese kindly people, and he stood up and waved his cap to them untilthey were hidden from his sight by a bend in the river.

  On this journey nothing worthy of note happened until the party hadnearly passed through the great swamp, when some of the warriorsdetected signs that led them to suspect that another party, eastwardbound, had passed that way shortly before. The greatest vigilance wasnow exercised, and every effort made to discover the nature of thisparty. For some time no further trace of them was found; but among thevast salt-marshes of the coast these efforts were crowned with success.Here two warriors who had been sent to the main-land to examine thevicinity of a fine spring of fresh water returned, and reported thatthey had found a recently abandoned camp. From unmistakable signs theyknew that it had been occupied by a war-party of those Indian outlawswhom they called Seminoles.

  This gave Rene great uneasiness, for he feared that since they hadreceived Chitta into their ranks, he had told them of the distress ofthe garrison of Fort Caroline, and induced them to attempt an attackupon it.

  Even as Rene had supposed, and only a day before he and the Alachuasreached that point, Chitta, together with the gigantic Cat-sha, and theband of outlaws whom they had joined in the great swamp, had passedthat way. Their object was to surround Fort Caroline, and harass itsweakened garrison by cutting off any stragglers who might venturebeyond its walls, until they should have so reduced the number of itsdefenders that it would fall an easy prey into their hands.

  Upon arriving in the vicinity of the fort, the Seminoles found there astrong war-party of angry savages from the South, who were alsowatching for an opportunity to make a successful attack upon it, andthus obtain satisfaction for the destruction of one of their villagesby the white gold-hunters. With these savages the Seminoles joinedforces, and Cat-sha, whose fame as a bold warrior had spread over theentire land, was given command of the little army thus formed.

  When they made their attack and were driven back from the walls of thefort by the terrifying roar of its great guns, it was Cat-sha whoplanned the ambush that so nearly proved fatal to Simon, the armorer,and his men. So well had he contrived the movements of his savageforces that but for a sudden and unexpected attack from behind he wouldcertainly have captured the fort.

  Rene's anxiety for the safety of his countrymen, when he discoveredthat the Seminoles were moving towards the fort, caused him to urgeupon Yah-chi-la-ne the need of all possible haste in the hope ofovertaking them. The Alachuas were as anxious as he to come intocontact with their Seminole enemies, and so rapidly did they travelthat they finally entered the River of May in time to hear the thunderof guns from the fort when the first attack of the savages was repulsed.

  Landing some distance below the fort, and leaving only a few warriorsin charge of the canoes, the rest of the little band proceeded with theutmost caution up the river bank until they came in sight of the tallshell mound. Here they remained concealed, while scouts were sent outto discover the exact condition of affairs. Gliding with wonderfulease and silence amid the dense underbrush, these went, and, at the endof two hours returned. They had discovered Cat-sha's plan of anambush, and reported that the white men were even then leaving the fortto attack the shell mound.

  Then Yah-chi-la-ne ordered an advance, and dashed forward, with Reneand Has-se close beside him, and followed by his eager warriors. Theyreached the scene of the conflict just as the white soldiers were aboutto be overwhelmed by the swarming savages, and in time to pounce uponthe rear of the astonished Seminoles; and scatter them like the forestleaves before a whirlwind.

  It was while charging by Has-se's side in this, his first battle, thatRene de Veaux gave utterance to the cry of "France to the Rescue!" thathad so amazed Simon, the armorer, and those with him who heard it.

  [1]Has-se doubtless referred to Mexico, which was known by the Indiansas "The Land of Gold."--K. M.