CHAPTER XXXI.
THE PARLEY.
Only once during the night were the watchers disturbed. Two convictsendeavored to worm their way up to the hut unseen but were quicklyspotted by the captain who emptied his revolver at them without anyother effect than to cause them to take to their heels. Aside fromthis incident the besieged were not disturbed.
The convicts were evidently keeping as keen a watch as the besieged toguard against the possibility of any of them escaping. A hat whichChris squeezed out through a crack between the posts was promptlyriddled with bullets.
Morning found the hunters and their new friend weary with suspense andtheir long inactivity. All longed for a stroll in the open air, achance to stretch their legs, and an unlimited supply of water todrink. It almost seemed that their meager allowance of a pint and ahalf each for the twenty-four hours did little more than increase theirthirst. They could not safely alter their unpleasant situation,however, and they wisely made the best of it and did not grumble.
They had one great consolation in Charley's rapid progress towardshealth. He was gaining with astonishing rapidity and bid fair to becompletely recovered in a few days.
With the coming of another day, the convicts opened an irregular fireupon the doors and windows of the hut. Many of their bullets passedbetween the cracks in the post barricades and imbedded themselves inthe walls. The defenders husbanded their ammunition, firing only whena convict exposed arm or leg. They were satisfied now of theimpregnability of their building and their main concern was to keep outof the way of chance bullets.
The morning was well advanced when Walter, who was watching at awindow, felt a curious sensation in the soles of his feet, and,startled, looked down to find that he was standing in a tiny pool ofwater. With a cry of alarm he sprang to where the big copper sat. Aglance confirmed his worst fears; a stray bullet had torn a great holein the vessel near the bottom, and of their precious store of waterbarely a cupful remained.
It was a staggering blow to all. Food they could exist without forseveral days, but in that warm, humid climate life could not besustained without water for any length of time. Before forty-eighthours had passed they would be confronted by the alternatives ofsurrendering to the convicts, or to suffering the awful tortures ofthirst.
"We must hold out as long as we can," declared Ritter, "something mayturn up. Even death by thirst would be better than torture at thehands of those fiends. What little water is left, I would suggest thatwe save for the sick lad. We can stand thirst longer than he."
The rest agreed heartily to this proposal and the little waterremaining was poured into an empty gourd and placed where it would besafe from bullets. By tacit consent they agreed that their loss shouldbe concealed from Charley, who had slept throughout the incident. Theyknew him well enough to be sure that he would not touch the littlewater remaining if he knew they were suffering from thirst.
To add to the troubles of the little party, the day proved very hot andsultry, not a breath of air stirring. By noon all were very thirsty,and when night came without bringing any relief from the heat, theybegan to suffer severely for lack of water.
The hot night dragged slowly away to bring another breathless sultryday, the close of which found the little party almost at the limits oftheir endurance. Since the night before they had been unable to eatthe dry venison as it greatly increased their thirst. Their tonguesand throats were dry and swollen and every nerve and atom of theirheated bodies clamored for water.
As night fell, Ritter got out the punctured copper and busied himselfin plugging up the hole.
"What are you doing that for?" Walter inquired.
"I'll tell you when the rest are asleep," whispered the young outlaw,"there is no use alarming them."
It was late in the night before the others, tortured by fear andthirst, fell into uneasy slumber, and Walter and Ritter were free tocontinue their conversation.
"We are in a desperate condition," declared Ritter. "In this heat wecannot exist very much longer without water. Something has got to bedone at once if we are to hold out another forty-eight hours."
"But what can we do?" said Walter, hopelessly. "It's sure death toventure outside."
"I am not so sure about that," said the other, "anyway, I am going totry it, anything is better than the tortures we will soon be suffering."
"You'll be killed," exclaimed Walter. "I'll go, Ritter, I can bespared better than you."
"Death by bullet is better than death by thirst," said his companioncoolly, "and you cannot be spared as well as I. Your companions arefond of you and your death would be a terrible blow to them, while I amonly an unknown convict whom no one will miss. But I am gettingtragic," he continued, lightly. "I really think there is a good chanceof success, the night is dark, and the very boldness of the attemptwill be in its favor. They will not dream of one of us venturing rightunder the shadow of their fort."
Although he spoke with apparent sincerity, Walter was not deceived.Both knew the hopelessness of such an attempt. In vain did Walterattempt to dissuade the other, Ritter remained firm.
"We will remove a post from the doorway as quietly as possible and youdo your best to protect me with your rifle," he said.
With a heavy heart, Walter assisted the other to remove the post. Hehad grown very fond of Ritter in the few days they had been together.He admired him for his bravery and the cheeriness and sweetness of hisdisposition under trials and suffering. He gave the outlaw's hand along, friendly clasp at parting.
"May God bring you back safe and sound," he whispered, brokenly.
With a return pressure of the hand, Ritter dropped to his hands andknees and wound his way out of the doorway into the darkness. Walterwatched his progress from the doorway with an anxious heart. He sawhim crawl a considerable distance from the hut, then rise to his feetand saunter carelessly towards the fort. The very boldness of the actmade it successful. The convict on guard no doubt thought the figureone of his companions, needlessly exposing himself to a bullet from thehut, and only wondered vaguely at his taking needless risks and perhapsspeculated dully as to what was the nature of the large object he bore.
Carelessly, Ritter sauntered slowly past the fort and approached thespring. There was no guard posted on that side of the fort and hepartly filled the copper and kneeling by the cool water took a deepdrink and bathed his feverish face in the refreshing liquid. Half ofhis mad task was performed, but, as he fully realized, the riskiestpart was yet to come.
Taking another long drink, he lifted the heavy copper and, bearing itin front of him so as to conceal it as much as possible by his person,he walked slowly back towards the hut.
Two-thirds of the return was covered in safety when the convict guardshouted with an oath, "Come back, you fool, do you want to get thedaylights shot out of you?"
Ritter's answer was a taunting laugh as he bounded towards the hut.
The guard's rifle cracked and the fleeing man staggered drunkenly butsped on, while the convict working the lever of his Winchester withremorseless cruelty, emptied its contents after the fleeing figure.
At the doorway of the hut, Ritter crumpled to his knees.
"Take the copper," he cried to Walter, "I'm hit." Walter quicklyplaced the vessel inside, then, heedless of the rain of bullets,dragged the wounded man inside.
The others had been awakened by the noise and were quickly at his side.
"Chris, give me a hand to lay him on my bed; Captain, replace the postin the doorway," Walter commanded with heartsore calmness.
The wounded man opened his eyes as they laid him gently on the couch.
"It's no use bothering with me, old chap," he said, quietly. "I'm hitin a dozen places and I'm doctor enough to know that I'm going fast."
Walter buried his head by the dying man's side and sobbed dryly.
"There, there," the other said, soothingly, "don't feel bad about it.It's just what I wished for. I'm going to die like a gen
tleman."
Walter hushed his sobs with an effort to catch the feebly spoken words.
The wounded man's eyes closed, and Walter held his breath for a secondthinking him dead, but in a moment he opened them again and smiledfaintly, "There's nothing to a race but the finish," he whispered.
A little longer he lay still breathing heavily. Suddenly by a mightyeffort he raised himself on his elbow, his eyes shining with a strangelight. "Not guilty, your honor," he said in a firm voice, then sankback still and white.
"He's dead," said Walter, brokenly. "He had his wish; he died like ahero."
They covered the still form reverently with a blanket, and the silenceof bitter grief settled on the little party. The others had not becomeso intimate with the dead man as Walter, but they had grown to admirehim greatly, and the thought that he had given up his life in theirservice added to their grief.
Walter's suffering was intense and it was well that his mind was ofnecessity soon forced into other channels.
The convicts, exasperated at the way they had been outwitted, opened aheavy continuous fire upon the hut, under cover of which severalattempts were made to carry the hut by assault. But the assaultingparties were easily discouraged by the steady fire that met them ateach attempt.
"It looks as if they were getting desperate," said the captain. "Ireckon they know now that we can hold out for a long time yet, and theyare gettin' discouraged," and his companions agreed with him.
Towards morning the convicts' fire slackened and gradually ceased.
Just as day was breaking, the distant report of a rifle was borne tothe ears of the besieged.
Charley, who was now able to leave his bed, listened eagerly. "It'sIndian Charley's rifle. I know the sound," he declared, "ten shots; Iwonder what it means."
From the fort, came an answering volley of ten rifle shots.
"It's a signal," cried Walter. "I wonder what it's for."
"Hallo there in the but, we want a parley," hailed a rough voice fromthe fort.
"All right," answered Charley, "send forward one man, unarmed."
A convict emerged from the fort and advanced towards the hut withfearful, hesitating footsteps.
"Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you," Walter called to himencouragingly.
Boy Chums in the Forest; Or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades Page 31