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Page 22
When this was done he took a handful of slimy river mud and placed it
over the wounded place, bidding his friend hold it there. Then,
seizing his paddle, he turned the bow of the canoe up-stream in the
direction from which they had come. He paddled back to a small lagoon
that emptied into the stream, and in which he had noticed a peculiar
species of water-lily growing as they passed it on their way down.
Pulling a handful of these up by the roots, he selected one of the
bulbs attached to them, pounded it until it was a mass of fibre, and
washing the river mud from the wounded hand, he replaced it with this.
The hand had already swollen and become very painful, but the
application of the bruised lily-root acted so like a charm that R�n�'s
face showed an instant sense of relief, and he expressed his gratitude
to Has-se.
"It is nothing to do," replied the other. "It is but the remedy of my
people for such things." Then he added, with a sort of pride,
"The pale-faces are wise in many matters that we poor red men know
nothing of; but we have at least learned that for every evil there is a
remedy close at hand, and that wherever poisonous serpents are found
there also grows a plant that will render their poison harmless. In a
short time thy hand will be as sound as before it laid hold of
Chitta-wewa, the great water-snake."
"Tis marvellous!" exclaimed R�n�; "and if thou wouldst return with me
to France, bringing with thee a few of these samples and thy knowledge
of their application, thou wouldst become a great medicine-man and
obtain much honor of my people."
Has-se only shook his head and smiled at this suggestion; then he said,
"For a time thou must lie perfectly quiet, and keep that upon thy hand
wet with cool water. Meantime I will carry out a plan of which I have
just conceived the idea. Near by, from the head of this lagoon, there
runs a narrow trail by which a great bend in the stream is cut off, and
a point much lower down upon it is reached. If thou wilt remain here
and nurse thy hand, I will cross to the lower stream by this trail; and
it may be that I will thus gain more speedy information concerning
those whom we follow."
R�n� at once agreed to this plan, and was soon left alone to nurse his
hand and meditate upon his present strange position. From his savage
surroundings his thoughts ran back to the uncle whom he had left in
Fort Caroline to battle with sickness, and possibly with starvation and
the upbraidings of his own men. The boy's heart was full of tenderness
for the brave old soldier who had so promptly assumed the part of a
father towards him; and had he not been restrained by the consciousness
of the vital importance of the mission he had undertaken, he would have
been inclined to return at once and share whatever trials were
besetting the chevalier. From him the boy's thoughts sped to France
and the old chateau in which he was born. He almost laughed aloud as
he imagined the look of consternation with which old Fran�ois would
regard him if he could now see him, lying alone in a fragile craft,
such as the old servant had never imagined, in the midst of a terrible
wilderness of great moss-hung trees, queer-looking plants, black
waters, and blacker mud.
From these reveries he was suddenly startled by the sound of a slight
splash in the water and a subdued human voice. Raising his head very
cautiously above the side of the canoe, R�n� caught a glimpse, at the
mouth of the little lagoon in which his own craft was concealed, of
another canoe, in which were seated two Indians. It was headed
up-stream, but its occupants had paused in their paddling, and from
their gestures were evidently considering the exploration of the very
place in which he lay hidden from them. In one of them R�n� recognized
the unwelcome face of Chitta the Snake, but the other he had never
before seen.
With a loudly beating heart and almost without breathing he watched
them, thankful enough for the shelter of broad lily-leaves that raised
their green barrier in front of him. He was fully conscious that upon
the result of the conversation the two were holding, in such low tones
that he could not distinguish a word, depended his own fate. He knew,
from what Has-se had told him, that Chitta regarded him as an enemy,
and he knew also that for his enemies an Indian reserves but one fate,
and will kill them if he can.
Thus it was with the feeling that he had escaped a mortal peril, and
with a long-drawn sigh of relief, that he saw the discussion come to an
end, and the strange canoe continue on its course up-stream. It
disappeared in the direction from which he and Has-se had come before
encountering the moccasin. Then he became feverishly impatient to
leave a place that seemed so full of danger, and he longed eagerly for
Has-se's return.
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