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Page 16
The oysters had also come from the water, in a great bunch that Has-se
had just been able to lift and carry to the fire. To cook them he had
simply placed the entire bunch on the coals, where they had roasted in
their shells, which now gaped wide open, offering their contents to be
eaten.
The eggs were plover's eggs, of which Has-se had discovered several
nests among the tall marsh grass. They also had been roasted in the
hot sand, from which the fire had been raked one side.
The vegetable puzzled R�n� considerably, for he had never seen its
like, and knew not what to make of it. When he asked Has-se what it
was, the latter laughed, with the soft, musical laugh, peculiar to his
people, and answered,
"Dost thou not know thy namesake, Ta-lah-lo-ko? It is the leaf bud of
a young palm-tree, and with us Indians it takes the place of bread when
we have neither a-chee" (the maize) "nor koonti-katki" (the
starch-root).
It was indeed the tender leaf bud of the cabbage-palm, roasted in its
own husk, and to R�n� it tasted much like roasted chestnuts.
From the shells on the beach he obtained a small quantity of salt, that
had been left in them by the evaporated water of some former high tide.
This he wanted for both his fish and his eggs. Then the two boys sat
down to their feast, and ate and laughed and chatted, and enjoyed it so
thoroughly that one of them at least thought nothing had ever tasted so
good to him before.
After breakfast, as there were no dishes to be washed, and nothing to
be packed to carry with them, they were able to resume their journey at
once. Until nearly noon they were hemmed in by the monotonous
salt-marshes; then they crossed a wide sheet of open water, and entered
the mouth of a wild, dark river that flowed into it from the west. The
rest of that day and most of the next was occupied in the ascent of
this river, which ever grew darker and narrower as they neared its
source. They worked incessantly at the paddles, and made such speed
that Has-se said they must certainly overtake his people before they
reached the land of the Alachuas.
Several times during these two days he ran the canoe ashore at places
that his keen vision noted as having been the landing-places of other
canoes. At each of these places he found the ashes and charred sticks
that denoted recent camp-fires, and each time after making such a
discovery he returned to R�n� with a puzzled and thoughtful expression
on his face. His companion noticed this, and finally inquired the
cause.
"What troubles thee, my Has-se?" he asked. "Thy looks betoken a
worriment of some kind. May I not share it with thee?"
For a few minutes Has-se plied his paddle vigorously and in silence;
then he said, more as if thinking aloud than in answer to R�n�'s
question, "Others besides ourselves are in pursuit of my people, and I
fear they are enemies."
"What is thy reason for thus thinking?"
"Because I find that each halting-place of Micco's band has been
carefully examined after their departure. I have also found the
remains of several small but recent camp-fires on opposite sides of the
river from theirs, and around them I find the traces of but two men.
One of these men is very large, and he wears moccasins that were never
made by my people. I fear they are enemies."
"But why should they be enemies?" asked R�n�. "May they not be some of
thy band left behind like thyself. Or may not one of them be of thy
tribe, and the other be one of the guests who attended the Feast of
Ripe Corn?"
"That is easily answered," replied the young Indian. "If they were
friends who for some reason had been left behind, and were now anxious
to rejoin those whom they follow, they could have done so long since.
Their fires burned at the same time with those of my people, and they
have visited Micco's camps before the ashes of his fires grew cold.
Besides, in each case their own fires were carefully hidden, so that
they could not by any chance be seen by those who were in advance of
them."
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