Bill Bolton-Flying Midshipman

through barred windows and there came a r

lazy dogs!" shout

, bringing forth a scream f

, remained slumped on the floor. The overseer turned them over with his foot, then realized th

n up in line. Bill, and the party who had arrived with him were

n as he filed past. The line of slaves swung round toward their prison house. Back there once more, they sank to the ground and partook of their

in the water," advised Osceola, who was seated be

his filthy stuff, Osceola. Why, it'

iend. "And at that the ship's biscuits are better than the mess we get at noon. If you don

e the stonelike substance was softening, he studied the young Seminole chief. By daylight, Osceola proved to be a tall, rangy fellow, with the finely cut features and the hi

e rest of the water. The evil mess gagged him in spite of his hunger, but he could not afford to starv

An overseer, armed with shortstocked whip and automatic revolver unbarred the double doors of the stockade and swung them inward. The guards,

ir-plants, and other parasites. Exposed roots of the trees, interlocked with the roots of their neighbors, looked like giant snakes twisting in and out of the muck and water. Though the sun was but half an hour high the steaming swamp seemed to sap every ounc

the stockade, it came out on a lagoon, dotted with cypress-covered islands. Here, sunlight brightened the long stretches of open water, and Bill saw that lovely orchids bloomed on many of the trees, and that

a mile. Though it ended abruptly at this point, Bill s

which looked like crosses between coal barges and canal boats. "Those b

work?" Bill inquired

eens and allowed to flow in shallow streams over wide inclined surfaces called tables. These tables are corrugated in such a way that all heavy substance

for me," said Bill.

he gold particles become attached. Later the quicksilver is washed from the blankets, and the gold taken from it by som

en't all go

ongest of us are extending this road farther along the lagoon. But we've

the slave gang were ordered aboard. Axes were passed out to others, who went on

s, the man pointed to a stack of iron wheelbarrows. After taking an empty barrow apiece, the two friends trundled them in a long line of barrow men down a planked incline to the muck heap formed by the

im to the end of the road. Here, under the direction of overseers, the loads were dumped into the virgin swamp. It looked to Bill as though the black wate

wirebound lash descended upon the defenseless back of the transgressor. Loads were heavy and the strain on little-used muscles was terrific, especially on the stretch

ck and shoulders, and with a yell of pain Bill spra

azy hound-or I'll c

ld unarmed men do against these beasts? An uprising of all the slaves would be practically an impossibility, quartered as they were in separate prisons. He also began to understand that even the uprising of one prison-house gang was not to be considered. By the end of

it be accomplished? He was still cogitating the matter, when the head overseer raised a police whistle to his lip

wheels. With this went a slab of stale bread and a crock of water. The stew, if it could be called that, was lukewarm and so r

corduroy road, and as soon as they had fini

is Thursday, and by Saturday the heat has soured it to such an extent tha

bread and the last

er," he muttered wearily. "No wonder the men die off qu

ve to be flown here by plane from Shell Island. But I'm too tired to talk, Bill. B

way, and a couple of minutes later, his

and his blistered hands made slumber an impossibility. Myriads of buzzing, stinging mosquitoes added to hi

it was quite as arduous as the morning's toil. There was absolutely no let up. As soon as one barrow was filled, another took its place. The wet m

lash without mercy at the first sign of flagging. Bill felt its burning pai

were dumped on the mud at the end of the corduroy to solidify the foundation of the extended roadway.

new that within five or ten minutes they would be forced to knock o

him again. But instead of desisting in his cruelty, the man continued

shed toward the guard and swinging his shovel like a club, brought it down on the

shouted, "it's

edge of the muck heap. There came two splashes as the lads dove. Revolvers bark