In the Wilds of Florida: A Tale of Warfare and Hunting
Page 33
ableto obtain as much food as they required; and there being three people topaddle the canoe, they had come down the river more rapidly than we hadbeen able to do, moving on night and day, one of them only sleeping at atime.
"Then were you coming to look for Tim and me?" I asked.
"No," answered Carlos; "we thought you must either have made your waylong ago to one of the forts, or been captured and killed by theIndians. When I got back, I found those at home in a fearful state ofgrief and anxiety about Juanita. She has disappeared, and been carriedoff by some one. Suspicion strongly turns against that fellow Rochford,who came with Lejoillie to our house. She and Rita, and two blackservants, had ridden out a short distance only from Castle Kearney, whenJuanita suddenly exclaimed that she would canter on ahead of them.Before they could advise her not to go, she was off, and was soon hiddenfrom sight. They rode forward, expecting her every instant to reappear;but when they reached a more open part of the forest, she was nowherevisible. Nor could they discover any traces of her horse's hoofs--probably because they did not look for them in the right place. I thinkthat I should have found them had I been there. In vain they shoutedand galloped about in all directions. From that day to this nothing hasbeen heard of her. There can be no doubt, however, that she must havebeen carried off, as Rita is confident she would not have gone of herown accord. But whether Rochford or Indians are guilty of the deed isstill a matter of doubt. I decidedly believe that Rochford has had ahand in it. I never felt very cordial towards him from the first,though you seemed to fancy him a very fine fellow, with his wild notionsof getting freedom for the blacks, and giving the Redskins their rights;but I believe there's nothing he would stick at. Uncle Michael andCaptain Norton blame themselves greatly. They and my father lost notime in organising a plan for recovering my poor sister, and punishingRochford, or any one else who may be found guilty. They took JudgeShurtleff into their counsels: he stuck out, however, to the last thatRochford was innocent; and told them that he had information that a bandof Indians had been in the neighbourhood, and had retreated up the leftbank of the river. He advised that one party should proceed in thisdirection by water, and then landing, proceed west--so as to prevent theIndians making their way farther south--to reunite with another partymoving west, of which my father was to take charge. They were then tocome down south, so as to be able to follow up the marauders should theyturn back again, or try to escape westward."
Carlos gave further explanations of the proposed plan of proceedings. Iat once became as eager as any one to carry them out; though a shorttime before I had felt so wearied that I could scarcely use my paddle, Inow declared that I was ready to begin the march as soon as it wassettled we should land. I found that the point fixed upon was only amile or two farther up the river. Had we been a little later we shouldprobably have missed our friends altogether. The boat did not stop atthe place where we had lighted our fire, which was allowed to continueburning, to assist in deceiving any Indians who might be in theneighbourhood. From the reports we had heard, we were well aware thatthose we were likely to meet with would prove unfriendly, if not openenemies, and that we should have to be cautious in our proceedings.
For some time I was kept awake by having to talk and listen to myfriends; but at length my head began to nod.
"Just lean back, and make yourself comfortable," said my father.
I followed his advice, and was soon fast asleep. I was awakened byfeeling the boat run against the bank, and I found that we were about toland. Dawn had just broken, and I could see the dark outlines of thetrees on the opposite side of the river against the brightening sky. Acrew of four hands were left in the boat, and charged to navigate herback to Castle Kearney. They were provided with arms, and were directedto allow no Indian canoe to come alongside on any pretext whatever. Ifound that we now mustered thirty-six men, including Tim and myself. Itwas, after all, but a small party should we encounter any large band ofIndians, who were not likely to attack us unless far superior to us inforce. Still, we possessed good rifles and plenty of ammunition, sothat we considered ourselves a match for three times our own number ofnatives, many of whom were likely to be armed only with bows and arrows,or should they have guns, with those of an inferior character. Twentyof our party were soldiers under Captain Norton's command, the otherswere volunteers. We had a few of my uncle's people, and the rest camefrom Roseville. As the Indians would probably not have expected so manywhite men to come up the river, we had hopes of taking them by surprise.
Captain Norton, my father, and Tim were the only old soldiers among us;for even the regulars had had no experience of warfare. Tim, therefore,found himself raised to the rank of third in command, the scouts beingplaced under his orders--an honourable though dangerous appointment.
We remained only sufficient time to enable the men to eat what may becalled a breakfast, to strap on their knapsacks, and get themselves intomarching trim, when the order to advance was given; and Tim and hisscouts, six of the most active men, went ahead, having receivedinstructions never to get beyond hailing distance of each other, or gettoo much in advance to be prevented from falling back quickly on themain body. After going some distance, we marched across a pine-barren,with a marsh on our left, over which Indians could scarcely make theirway, while here and there on our right were hummocks, thick bottoms inwhich a whole army of natives might have concealed themselves. Ourfriends, I should have said, had brought half-a-dozen of the largeblood-hounds I have before described, which were used for huntingocelots and other fierce game, as well as for searching out runawaynegroes. These were likely to prove of the greatest service inexploring the hummocks, as they would quickly give tongue on discoveringany lurking enemies. We felt pretty sure, therefore, that we had nofoes on our right, or that we had left any behind us. Our great object,however, was to find some Indians who could give us information eitherof Juanita or Rochford; whether they were together, or whether eitherone or the other had been seen. From what I had heard of the Indians, Ihad very little hope of success.
We marched on all day, frequently, however, in consequence of the natureof the ground, making but slow progress. We could carry, of course, buta small quantity of provisions, chiefly flour, coffee, pepper, and salt,so that we depended on our guns for supplying ourselves with game. Itmight have been better had we been able to be independent of hunting, aswe ran a risk of being separated, and falling into the hands of ourenemies, should any be on the watch to cut us off.
We had now to cross an extensive tract of prairie land, which covers alarge portion of the interior of the country north of the Everglades. Ihave already described its unpleasant character. The sun struck down onour heads with intense force, there being few trees to afford us shade.Our legs were torn by the sharp teeth of the palmetto; and the onlywater we could obtain was from stagnant pools fringed with tallsaw-grass, through which it was difficult to penetrate to get to thewater, such as it was. Sometimes, after a great deal of trouble, and atthe risk of being snapped up by an alligator, we found the waterbrackish and utterly undrinkable. Occasionally we came uponpine-islands, slight sandy elevations above the prairie covered by tallpine-trees. We here got the benefit of shade, but no water was to beobtained near them. We had one advantage, however, in crossing theprairie: no enemies in any number could find concealment to burst outsuddenly upon us, as we knew they might well do where the country wasthickly wooded. While crossing the prairie we saw no four-footed game,nor even any of the wild cattle which we had expected to find there.The opinion was that they had been driven off by the Indians.
We had made but slow progress; for owing to those abominablesaw-palmetto roots, we could seldom march more than two miles an hour.At length, darkness approaching, we were compelled to camp on apine-island. It was the best spot we could select, as we could hold it,should we be attacked during the night, against any number of Indians.We had, however, to content ourselves with but a short allowance ofwater, which we had brought from the
last pool. We had, however, killedseveral ducks and plovers, and three large snowy herons, which the menate in spite of their rank taste. We, of course, placed sentries on thewatch, and sent out several scouts, accompanied by blood-hounds, who, weknew, would not fail to discover any Indians lurking in theneighbourhood. The most experienced backwoodsman of our party hadexamined the ground as we came along in search of Indian trails, butnone of recent date had been perceived. We were aware, however, thatthe natives might, if they were so disposed, easily pass us on their wayto the south, where, among the impenetrable woods of the Everglades,they might set us at defiance. Our great object, therefore, was to findan Indian who, either from a friendly disposition towards the whites, orfrom being ready to receive a bribe, would act as our guide, and bringus information as to where those we were in search of were to be found.
As my father, Captain Norton, Lejoillie, Carlos, and I