Boy Chums in the Forest; Or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades Read online

  Produced by Al Haines

  Cover art]

  [Frontispiece: "Now, we are in for it," said Charlie, as he found aseat in the fork of a limb. Page 229.]

  The Boy Chums

  In the Forest

  OR

  Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades

  BY WILMER M. ELY

  Author of "The Boy Chums on Indian River," "The Boy Chums on Haunted Island," "The Boy Chums' Perilous Cruise," "The Boy Chums in the Gulf of Mexico."

  Title page art]

  A. L. BURT COMPANY

  NEW YORK

  Copyright 1910

  BY A. L. BURT COMPANY

  Under the Title of The Young Plume Hunters

  THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER

  I. [Transcriber's note: no title] II. ON THE WAY III. WOODCRAFT IV. A LESSON V. THE 'GATOR HUNTERS VI. SOME SURPRISES VII. THE QUAGMIRE VIII. THE BATTLE IX. THE BEES AND THE BEAR X. SHOOTING A THIEF XI. THE PAWPAWS XII. CHARLEY'S MISTAKE XIII. THE BATTLE XIV. THE VICTIMS XV. A FLAG OF TRUCE XVI. THE RETREAT XVII. THE FLIGHT BY NIGHT XVIII. CAPTURED XIX. THE SWAMP XX. SAVED XXI. THE TREASURE XXII. DISAPPOINTMENT XXIII. MORE MYSTERY XXIV. MORE SURPRISES XXV. THE CHAPEL XXVI. PREPARATIONS XXVII. A TERRIBLE NIGHT XXVIII. PREPARATIONS XXIX. THE ENEMY XXX. THE ATTACK XXXI. THE PARLEY XXXII. HELP XXXIII. THE SEMINOLES XXXIV. THE RETURN

  THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST

  OR

  Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades.

  CHAPTER I.

  Night had fallen upon a wild Florida forest, and all was still save forthe hooting of a distant owl and the occasional plaintive call of awhip-poor-will. In a little clearing by the side of a faintbridle-path a huge fire of fat pine knots roared and crackled, lightingup the small cleared space and throwing its flickering rays in amongstthe dark, gloomy pines.

  At the edge of the clearing, two wiry little Florida ponies, tetheredwith rawhide ropes, browsed upon the short, dry wire-grass.

  Nearer to the fire lay a neatly done-up pack, and beside it ahigh-pommeled Mexican saddle, while the firelight gleamed on thepolished barrels of a fine shotgun and rifle leaning against the pack.

  Close to the blaze a heap of glowing coals had been raked a little toone side, and upon them rested a coffee-pot and large frying-pan fromwhich stole forth appetizing odors of steaming coffee and frying bacon.

  The man bending over the coals was heavily bearded and past middle age,but his broad shoulders and huge frame still gave evidence of greatstrength and endurance. There was about him an air of anxiousexpectancy, and from time to time he rose from his crouching positionand with hand to ear listened intently.

  "I sort o' wonder if they'll all fail me," he muttered, as he removedthe frying-pan from the coals but set it near enough to keep thecontents hot.

  As if in answer to his soliloquy, there rose above the crackling of thefire, the muffled distant thud of galloping hoofs. A few moments latera well-built, sturdy lad astride a mettlesome pony dashed into thecircle of firelight.

  Throwing the reins over the pony's head, the rider leaped from thesaddle and with a rush had the elderly man clasped in his arms in anaffectionate hug.

  "Captain Westfield!" he shouted in boyish delight.

  "Charley West," cried the man, "glad to see you, lad, glad to see you.My! you have grown. How are you, boy?"

  "Fine, Captain, couldn't be better. But wait 'till I 'tend to my pony,and we will have a good, long powwow."

  With sure swift movements, the newcomer removed saddle, pack, and guns,and staked his pony out near the others. This done he returned to thefire.

  "What's in the wind?" he began, firing in the questions with the speedof a Maxim. "Something worth while, judging from that mysteriousletter of yours. What is the scheme? Why this secret meeting in theforest instead of in town? Why"--but the man he called captaininterrupted him with a chuckle.

  "Hold a minute, lad. Just bowse your jib for a bit. You must behungry, boy."

  "Starved as a wolf. I could even eat a razorback, if I didn't have tosee it before it was cooked."

  The captain forked out a quantity of crisp bacon upon a tin plate andfilled a big granite cup with fragrant coffee, for Charlie West, andfrom his saddle-bags brought out a bag of hardtack. Helping himselfalso, both fell to with a will.

  "What were you doin' when you got my letter, Charley?" asked thecaptain between mouthfuls.

  "Nothing, just kicking myself and brooding away in the city." Thelad's bright, clear eyes looked frankly into the captain's as hecontinued. "I have been making a fool of myself, Captain. Got intosome mischief with a crowd of fellows at school. Of course, I gotcaught and had to bear the whole blame for the silly joke we hadplayed. The faculty has suspended me for a term. I would have got offwith only a reprimand if I would have told the names of the otherfellows, but I couldn't do that, you know."

  "No," nodded the captain, approvingly, "that would have been sneakish.But how are you fixed for money, Charley?"

  The lad's face fell. "I spent it at first as though there was no endto my little pile," he said. "I had pulled up when your letter came,but I only had enough left to pay my way back to Florida, buy thispony, and the outfit you suggested. There's nothing left. The fellowstried to get me to stay and work in the city until the next school termopens, but I told them, no! that I was going back to the best friend aboy ever had, back to the man who had been just as good as a father tome ever since my own folks died and left me a young boy alone inFlorida. I told them of some of the adventures we had been throughtogether, and what dandy chums we've been for such a long time."

  "You told them city fellows all that?" exclaimed the delighted captain,"you talked to 'em like that, Charley?"

  "Certainly, it was only the truth," said the lad, stoutly. "But it isyour turn now, Captain. I am wild with curiosity."

  "Lay to for a while, lad; I am expectin' another member for our crewany time now, and it's no use spinnin' the same yarn twice."

  Charley's open face clouded a trifle, and he hesitated before he said,"I am not questioning your judgment, Captain, but you and I have campedout enough to know that a good camp-mate is about the scarcest articleto be found. If we take in a stranger on this trip, which I surmisefrom the outfits is going to be a long one, the chances are more thaneven that he will turn out a quitter or a shirker."

  The captain knocked the ashes from his pipe as he inquired, "Now whowould you select for a third member, Charley?"

  "I do not know anyone in Florida I would want to take a chance on for along trip. I only know two fellows I would like to have along, and wecan't get them. One is Walter Hazard, the Ohio boy who chummed with usdown here for so long. The other is that little Bahama darky, Chris,whom Walter insisted on taking back north with him and putting in aschool. There wasn't a yellow streak in either one, and Chris was awonderful camp-fire cook."

  "I wrote to Walt two days afore I wrote to you," observed the captain,calmly.

  Charley stared at the simple old sailor in frank amazement. "Yousurely don't imagine he'll drop whatever he is doing and travel athousand miles just for a trip with you and I?" he at last recoveredhimself enough to demand.

  The captain nodded complacently. "I've sort of got a feelin' that way,an' if I ain't mistaken, them's his pony's hoofs comin' now--somewaythey sound different from what yours did, though."
>
  Both adventurers rose to their feet and stood eagerly peering into thedarkness from which there came the thud of rapidly approaching hoofs.

  A moment later and two ponies were reined up in the circle offire-light. As Charley recognized one less robust than himself, hegave a shout of delight and with a rush dragged him from his saddle inan affectionate embrace, while the captain, his eyes dancing withpleasure, was wringing the hand of a widely-grinning little darky whohad dismounted from the other animal.

  "Go easy, Charley," said the newcomer with a happy grin, "you'resqueezing all the wind out of my body, and that is all there is in itnow. Chris and I had to hustle to make connections and get here ontime. We haven't had a bite to eat to-day."

  "Walter Hazard, you are the one person I would have picked out for thistrip," Charley cried joyfully, "and Chris, too, it seems almost toogood to be true. But come over to the fire, and we will cure thatempty feeling in a minute. The captain is helping Chris put the poniesup."

  Charley quickly routed out a clean plate, and heaped it up with baconand hardtack, reserving, however, a generous portion for Chris.

  "Fall to and don't wait," he commanded, and Walter lingered for nosecond bidding.

  In a few minutes they were joined by the captain and the little negro,who was quickly helped to the balance of the bacon and coffee.

  As the two munched away, the captain and Charley plied them withquestions which the hungry newcomers answered between mouthfuls.

  "How was you gettin' along when that thar letter of mine reached you,Walt," asked the captain, gravely.

  "Good and bad both," said the youth, draining his cup with a sigh ofsatisfaction. "Some time before I had bought up the mortgage on thefarm without saying a word to father or mother. I was selfish, Iguess, but I wanted the pleasure of their surprise." His eyes sparkledmoistly. "My! it was great. It was worth every cent, although it tooknearly every dollar of my little pile. You had ought to have been upthere to see them the morning the mortgage fell due. Their faces weresad, enough to have made you cry. Thirty years they had worked andlived on that farm, and I guess there is no spot on earth quite thesame to them. When mother lifted up her plate and saw the canceledmortgage underneath, it was some time before she grasped its meaning,and then she just broke down and cried. There were tears of joy infather's eyes, too, and I began to feel a lump in my throat, so I justgot up and streaked it out for the barn, where I stayed until thingscalmed down a bit. But I am making a long story out of how my moneywent. I went to work in a store after that, but it wasn't long beforeI began to run down and the doctor would have long talks with fatherand mother. Then your letter came, and--well, here I am."

  "And Chris, how did he happen to come?" inquired Charley.

  "Trace chains couldn't have held him back when he heard I was comingback to join you. They wouldn't give him a vacation, but they wouldnot keep him in the school after he began to have regular violentfits," said Walter, dryly.

  "Fits," exclaimed Charley, with a glance at the grinning ebony face,the very picture of health. "He never had a real fit in his life."

  "Maybe not, Massa Charley," admitted the vain little darky, "but,golly, I couldn't let you chillens go off alone widout Chris to lookafter you. Dey was powerful like real fits, anyway. I used to getberry sick, too, chewin' up de soap to make de foam. Reckon dis niggermade a martyr of hisself just to come along and look out for you-alls."

  Charley turned to the captain to hide his grin. "It's your turn now,Captain. We've all showed our colors, even to Chris. It's up to younow to explain this business."

  The captain knocked the ashes from the bowl of his pipe beforeremarking sagely, "I've noticed as how fish will bite at a good manykinds of bait, but if you want to make sartin sho' of a boy, thar'sonly one bait to use, and that's a good big chunk of mystery."

  He glanced around at the suddenly crestfallen faces about him, andhastened to continue, "Don't look so down, lads. I ain't brought allof you so fer just for a joke. I just wanted to make sure of you and Ididn't want the town people nosin' around and askin' questions, that'swhy I named this meetin' place."

  The three faces brightened again. "Go on, Captain, come to the point,"urged Walter, eagerly.

  But the captain was enjoying their suspense, and with a twinkle in hiseye proceeded slowly, "I was sort of loafin' around town one day abouttwo weeks ago when I come across a Seminole, who, I reckon, had beensent in by his squaw to trade for red calico and beads," he paused fora moment and Charley exclaimed impatiently--

  "Bother the Indian, we are not bound for the Everglades to fight them,are we?"

  "He was about the drunkest brave I ever saw," continued the captain,calmly ignoring the interruption. "When I came across him he wassittin' on the end of a waterin' trough declaimin' what a great Injunhe was, givin' war-whoops, an' cryin' by turns. One of his remarkssorter interested me and I didn't lose no time in makin' friends.Lads, I couldn't have stuck no closer to that redskin if he had been mylong lost brother. I kept him away from other folks, an' by an' by Itipped him into the waterin' trough, kinder accident-like. The watersorter sobered him up a little an' pretty soon he began to want to hitthe trail for home. I helped him out of town an' started him back forcamp, where, I reckon, his old lady was waitin' to give him fits forforgettin' the calico and beads." The captain paused as if his talewas completed.

  "For goodness' sake, Captain, what has your drunken Indian got to dowith us?" demanded Charley, his patience at an end.

  The captain lowered his voice dramatically. "Lads, that Seminole wascarryin' around on him over five hundred dollars' worth of white andpink aigret plumes."

  "Whew!" whistled the boys, half incredulously.

  "Yes," affirmed the captain, "an' I found out where he got them, too.He let out that he bagged them all out by the Upper St. John's River,due west of here. He declared the birds were as thick as the stars atnight, but I reckon some allowance has to be made for poetic licenseand the red liquor he had in him."

  Three boyish faces were shining, now, and questions and answers mingledin eager confusion.

  "How far is it to the river?"

  "Two long days' travel."

  "What kind of birds bear the plumes?"

  "The blue heron, and the pink and white egret."

  "What are the plumes worth?"

  "Five dollars an ounce for perfect ones."

  "Whew, it will be just like finding money."

  Likely the eager young hunters would have talked the entire night away,but the captain soon interrupted their flow of questions.

  "Plenty of time to talk to-morrow, lads. Get to bed now, for we wantto start at daybreak."

  The boys promptly obeyed. Blankets were spread out near the fire, andwith their saddles for pillows the little party were soon in the landof dreams, blissfully unaware of the terrible experiences through whichthey were soon to pass.