Chapter 14

ENCOUNTER WITH OUTLAWS

One day, just after the boys had returned from an unsuccessful hunt for deer and Dick was at his usual occupation of training his pet, they heard the sound of oars, and a skiff, rowed by a man who looked like a product of the swamp, landed beside the camp.

"Kin you fellers let me have a little salt to save my hides? 'Gators are pretty thick 'nd my salt's gi'n out."

"We have only about a bushel of salt, but you can have half; yes, we can spare you three-quarters of it. We only use it for specimens and there'll be enough left for us," said Ned.

"That's mighty kind o' you, 'nd I won't fergit it, tho' that won't be any use t' you, bein's ye ain't likely t' see me ag'in."

"Why not? You go to Myers, I suppose. We might meet you there and we'd be glad to see you."

"Thar's other folks 'd be glad t' see me thar, perticiler the sheriff. Ain't you fellers skeered, now yer know yer talkin' t' an outlaw?"

"Not much," laughed Ned. "If you are an outlaw you have probably had all the trouble you want."

"You bet I hev."

"Then you aren't looking for any more. So what is there to scare us?"

"Not a blame thing. But you boys is plucky. There's men 'd fight shy o' staying 'round here."

"Well, it doesn't worry us. We didn't suppose there was any one around here, though, and we wondered who it was we heard shooting last night and we are glad to find out. Did you get any big alligators?"

"'Twasn't me shootin'. I didn't shoot las' night. Say! You've gotter look out! I know them fellers. One on 'em's bad and you boys ain't safe. I'm goin' ter hang 'round, 'n if you smell trouble jest fire two shots 'nd trouble'll cum a-humpin' fur them fellers,"

"All right and much obliged, and if anything does come that we can't manage we'll remember you, sure."

Whenever the boys passed a pond on the prairie they stopped and grunted till the young 'gators came to the surface. One day Dick fired a shot near enough to splash one that had come up, but in ten minutes the reptile had forgotten his scare and again answered the call. Dick was disposed to wade in the pond and catch the little 'gator, but Ned coaxed him out of the notion and proposed that they find a cave and rope another 'gator to cheer up Dick's pet, which he said was getting lonesome. This pleased Dick and the boys spent half a day finding an inhabited cave, when they secured its occupant with no trouble excepting that, as the alligator came out of his hole, Dick slipped on the muddy turf and was dragged into the pond. The 'gator was soon brought out on the prairie and its jaws tied. It was larger than the one first captured, and Dick didn't try to carry it on his back, but led and dragged it the entire distance.

As the boys approached their camp they saw a skiff, with two rough-looking men in it, just being pushed from the bank. Ned called to the men, but received no reply, and the skiff was rowed rapidly away.

"That spells trouble," said Ned. "Those are the fellows that our outlaw warned us against."

The boys found their stores in some confusion and a lot of them had disappeared, and with them had gone Ned's rifle, which he had left in camp. Ned was quite too angry to speak and walked quickly to the canoe, followed by Dick.

"What are you going to do, Ned?"

"Going to get that rifle."

"All right. I'm with you."

"Dick, I'm going alone. It's a fool's errand and I don't want you mixed up in it."

"Maybe it is a fool's errand, I guess it is, and that's the very reason I'm going with you, Ned. You know I'm going, that I wouldn't miss going with you for the world and you haven't any right to ask me to be a sneak and crawl out of the trouble, for it is trouble and probably big trouble."

"Why, Dick, boy, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, and I'm sure glad to have you with me, only you must let me manage when we find those fellows."

"Of course you'll run the thing and I won't interfere, unless it becomes mighty necessary, which is quite some likely."

As they got into the canoe Dick said:

"Don't you want the shotgun?"

"No. Got better weapons than that."

"Glad of it. You'll need 'em."

The boys paddled rapidly down the narrow river for several miles before they came up to the men they were seeking, who were then just getting out of the little skiff into a larger one which had a canvas cover and was evidently used as a camp.

Dick guided the canoe beside the larger boat and Ned spoke quietly to one of the men, who was scowling at him.

"You know what I have come for. I want my rifle."

"What rifle? I don't know anything about your rifle."

"I mean the rifle you stole from our camp this afternoon. I want it and I'm going to have it."

"See here," said the man, who was purple with rage, as he picked up a rifle, "I'll blow the top of your head off if you tell me I lie."

"You lie," said Ned calmly. "You are a liar, a thief and a coward. Now give me that rifle. I am not going to ask you for it many more times."

"I won't give it to you and I don't know what keeps me from blowing your head off. I believe I will yet."

"I can tell you why you don't. Because you know there would be a hundred men on your trail who would never leave it while you were alive. Because you wouldn't dare show your face to man, woman or child, white, black or red, in Lee County or anywhere else. Because your own partner would be the first to give you up."

"He would, would he?"

"Yes, he would!" said the man referred to. "Don't be a fool, but give the kid his gun, or I will."

The rifle was handed to Ned and the boys paddled back to their camp. On the way Dick said:

"I was scared stiff, Ned, when that fellow took up his rifle and I saw how mad he was. Weren't you a little bit frightened yourself?"

"Not then. I'm a good deal scared now to think of it."

As the boys that night sat leaning against a log which they had made soft with masses of long gray moss, watching the dying out of the fire which had cooked their supper, another skiff touched at their bank, bringing the man to whom they had given the salt and also carrying the carcass of a fine buck.

"There, boys, better smoke what yer can't eat by termorrer. I'll show yer how."

"We know how and we're very much obliged. But we must pay for it, you know."

"I can't take a cent and it makes me feel bad t' have yer talk about it. Have yer seen them fellers yit?"

"Oh, yes. They called on us and we returned the call. We didn't happen to be at home when they called, though," said Dick.

"They come here t' your camp?"

"Yes. They certainly came."

"'nd you not here?"

"No."

"What did they take?"

"Stole a rifle," said Dick.

"I'll git it back. Don't yer worry, I'll git it back and I'll start now," and the outlaw rose from the log on which he was sitting.

"Don't go. We got the rifle back."

"How did yer do it?"

Dick told the story of the recovery of the rifle. The outlaw sat for a minute looking down at the ashes of the fire, and then, speaking very slowly and with emphatic little nods between the words, said:

"And them's th' fellers I thought needed lookin' arter."

There was silence for some time and then Ned spoke in a voice that was low from suppressed feeling.

"My friend, I don't know your name. I don't know what you did. I don't ask it. But I believe you are too good a man to be living the life of an outlaw. Now, can't something be done to help you? If some men of influence worked for your pardon, couldn't it be got?"

"Reckon not. It's bin tried. I'll tell yer jist how 'twas. I killed a man. He worried me 'nd threatened me 'nd tried ter kill me with a knife, 'f I'd shot him then, nobody'd said nuthin', but I waited 'nd then I got scared, thot he'd kill me, 'nd one day I shot him. I was put in th' pen, then I was sent t' the chain gang 'nd set t' boxin' trees f'r turpentine. Saw a man flogged day I got thar. Sed I'd never git whipped if work would save me. I was the strongest man in the gang. Boxed more trees 'n anybody. More I did, more I had t'. I don't say I was whipped. If I was I didn't deserve it. If I was 'nd ever see th' man that did it I'll kill him. Know how turpentine gangs is guarded? Boy sits up on platform with rifle 'nd gives orders. S'pose yer sassy to him or he just wants fun with yer. When Cap--that's th' man that whips--comes 'long, boy sez feller's bin shirkin'. Then feller's tied t' tree 'nd Cap beats him till feller begs t' be killed. I don't want t' hurt anybody 'cept one feller, but I ain't goin' back t' no chain gang. If the sheriff holds me up, 'nd sez 'Come back or I'll shoot,' I'll say 'Shoot!'"

The boys were very silent after the outlaw's story and when he left them they shook hands warmly with him and asked what they could do for him; ammunition, food, clothing, money, anything they had was at his service.

"Don't want nuthin'. You've give me more'n you'll ever know," said the outlaw gruffly.

But the gruffness was a bit tremulous and there were tears in the man's voice.

The outlaw got in the way of spending his evenings with the young explorers and Ned pumped him dry of his knowledge of the Everglades, the Big Cypress and the lesser swamps of South Florida. He made charts from lines traced in the dirt to show rivers, bays, prairie land and swamps. Ned learned of hidden creeks that connected waters thought to be completely separated by land and of others that could be connected by a short carry.