Our Fellows

e large canoes loaded with settlers swept down the b

he mud on the top of the cliff, and that was all that remained to tell o

to escape from his perilous situation—whether he imitated Mark’s example, and swam over the falls, or the Swamp Drago

lows explored the county from one end to the other, but without finding the slightest trace of Luke Red

hat was a great day with us. From the time we were old enough to be trusted with horses and guns, we had made it a point to spend the day hunt

e day drew near. Wild turkeys were not only exceedingly scarce that year, but the few we saw 86during our rambles were so shy that it was next to an impossibility to shoot one

m before we became aware that somebody was interfering with our arrangements. He visite

e guilt upon him were unsuccessful. We came up with the gentleman at last, however, and took a little satisfaction out of him for

ellows, his clothes all covered with mud that had been 87splashed over them by his horse’s feet, and his face red with anger. H

ully into one corner, “we might as well give it up. I don

y. “If we don’t succeed in capturing a turkey, we will s

t to hunt wild geese on a raft, y

eated Duke. “Whe

ask Tom Mason. He knows. It is gone, and I had to build a

mind that so much as the loss of our canoe. The Spitfire—that was the name we had given her—was a swift, handy little craft, and as it was the first one our fellows ever built, and we

re as many as fifty turkeys that roost on that island at night, and that some of them must get in that

down at once, and send a couple of darkey

f provisions 89we should need during the two days we expected to remain in the swamp, I heard a great rumpus in the house, such as might have been occasioned by a squad

ran around the house, and saw a grou

on his horse, flourishing his riding-whip in

best to induce Tom to dismount, threatening to pull

uld be severely punished, I jumped over the bars and joined t

I think you have good cheek to come to me for favors after treating me as you have done. But I will tell you one thing—you had

two minutes, I will convince you that you had better ste

Let go his horse, Mark. Now, friend Mason,” I added, as Mark released his hold o

e up the lane, and then

t boat you were talkin

it,” repl

sympathize with thieves are no better than they are. You won’t go hunting or fishing with me; b

n regard to the company we keep. We’re rathe

oing to make things exceedingly lively for all of you this winter, if you only knew it.

put spurs to his horse and galloped away,

vents of the morning, and about eleven o’cloc

visiting our traps, and you can imagine what our feelings were when we found that

ce Mark visited them at daylight, an

been robbed? By the feathers that w

by way of the bayou, for we tracked him to the bank, a

are one with the soul to appreciate such things, you will know how we enjoyed the pleasant sight that greeted our eye

bed hands over the cheerful blaze, looked around on

to remain in the woods all the rest of our lives, jud

uilt with its back to the wind and the front open to the fire; and looking inside,

e fire, and on the other was the wagon, beside which

light the good things mother had put up for us, now and then turning his head to look a

n the field” for many a year, and one memorable night was the scene

Mark, as we drew up around the fire. “Have yo

ll around it. I reckon we’ll get some turkeys outen dar afo’ night, ’kase Cuff is hid in the b

were at an end, for that day at least. We talked the matter over whil

y in the woods, they were always to be found there, and the secret lay in the fact tha

, and our object in doing so was that the turkeys mig

onceal themselves in the bushes on the bank of the bayou, and hold themselves in readiness to alarm

to a turn and Sam had finished laying the table, Cuff came dashing into camp, breathless and excit

more about dinner just then, but seized our

sooner had he emerged from the bushes than he drew back

t him, “we are not the only ones who are 96w

ard the island. Our evil genius was not in sight, but his canoe was, and it wa

kly and quietly, we can catch him in the act of stealing our game

tells us what he has done with our boat

gside of the bank, and it was but the work of a mo

ngs in the bushes on the island, and a moment afterward a flock

has frightened them away before t

are more turkeys in that boat than

lf-way across the bayou, the robber came in sight, carrying a turkey slung over each shoulder.

“We ain’t a-goin’ to put up with this yere kind of business no longer. We

en rooted to the ground, and then, dro

hoved off. He could manage a canoe as well as any Indian, and he would certainly have succeeded in effecting his escape, had it not been for Sandy Todd. He saw that there was but one way to prevent the robber from

ater is in December, even in a warm climate like ours), but he kept on, and, af

his paddle in the air. “Let go, I s

elled. “Those turkeys are ours

, capsize the 99canoe and spi

e more, and for the last time, Sandy Todd, I tell you

nd our fellow, acting upon Herbert’s suggestion, placed his hands upon the side of the canoe,

e surface, his face blue with the cold, and his te

rk. “You shan’t touch dry land again until y

w a boy who could swim like that Tom Mason—and in spite of all Duke’s efforts 100to cu

nd without swimming the bayou, and we did not think he would be likely

n hot pursuit of the robber; but we did not come within sight of him until we reached the foot of the island, and then, to our surprise, we discovered him i

e winter is over, that I am not done with you. I have a plan in my head that will astonis

this morning that you didn’t know any t

e was hidden in the bushes not ten f

er, and we’re bo

am done with her, just

hile we ran back to the head of the island, intending to jump into his boat an

sed the means to follow him, he held straight for the nearest s

ck to the head of the island, we told one another that Tom Mason should never get

do you suppose there are? Twenty-three; enough to furnish a Christmas dinner for half the planters in the settlement. We’ve done enough for one day,

ing enemy to deal with, left Duke and Herbert to watch our ga

something had been going on there during our absence. My first thought was of my mare. She was gone. There was the sap

she, Joe?”

to find out,” I replied. “I never

e,” said Sandy, confidently. “That t

Mason told us about,” said Mark. “After he landed from

ntil I had questioned the negroes who just then came running up. The answers they gave to my hurried inquiries d

d us to the bayou, leaving the camp to take care of itself. Our evil genius, or any oth

ad been stolen. It will be enough to say that Sandy rode back to the bayou after Duke and Herbert, and tha

find it again when he wanted it (I tell you it cost me a struggle to do that; I had half a mind to turn it adrift,

zed as highly as I prized Black Be

hing encouraging to say to me, and father and

ry, poring over a book, and looking none

certain what he had done with the horse he had stolen, and so earnestly protested hi

promised to do all in his power to assist us in recovering the lost