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Page 16
"Never mind them," resumed the corporal, again delivering
himself of a little wit; "muskets will be of far more
use to us just now than pikes. We must fish them up--there
will be the devil to pay if we go home without them."
"Then there's no other way than diving for them," said
Jackson, still looking downwards. "Not even the glitter
of a barrel can I see. They must have buried themselves
in the weeds. I say, Weston," slightly raising his head
and turning his face to the party named, "You're a good
diver?"
"Yes, and Collins is better than me."
"Well then, here's at it," resumed Jackson, rising and
commencing to strip. "It's only by groping and feeling
that we can find the arms, and when once we've tumbled
on 'em, it will be easy enough to get 'em up with one
hand, while we swim with the other. We must plunge here
from the stern," he added, as the men whom he had named
jumped on board and commenced stripping themselves.
"How came the Injin to knock the muskets overboard,
Corporal?" inquired one of the party who had not yet
spoken--a fat, portly man, with a long hooked nose, and
a peaked chin.
"I'm dashed," replied Nixon, "if I can tell myself, though
I was looking at him as he jumped from one end of the
boat to the other. All I know is, the firelocks were
propped against the stern of the boat as we placed them,
with the backs of the cartouch boxes slung under the
ramrods, and I suppose, for I don't know how else it
could be done, that instead of alighting on the seat, he
must have passed it, and putting his foot on the muzzles,
tipped them with the weight of his body, head over heels
into the water."
"Corporal," Ventured Collins, as he removed his last
garment, "you asked that painted chap if he saw anything
green in your eye. Now, that's as it may be, but hang
me, if it wasn't a little green to take him for a
Pottawattamie?"
"And how do you know he was'nt a Pottawattamie? Who made
you a judge of Indian flesh?" retorted the corporal, with
an air of dissatisfaction.
"Didn't he say he was, and didn't he wear a chiefs medal?"
"Say? Yes, I'll be bound he'd say and wear anything to
gull us, but I'm sure he's no Pottawattamie. I never seen
a Pottawattamie of that build. They are tall, thin,
skinny, bony fellows--while this chap was square, stoat,
broad-shouldered, and full of muscle."
Corporal Nixon pondered a little, because half-convinced,
but would not acknowledge that he could have been mistaken.
"Are you all ready?" he at length inquired, anxious, like
most men, when driven into a corner on one topic, to
introduce another.
"All ready," answered Jackson, taking the first plunge
in the direction in which he knew the muskets must have
fallen.
Before following his example, the others waited for his
report. This was soon made. He had got hold of one of
the muskets, and partly lifted it from its bed, but the
net-work of strong weeds above it, opposing too much
resistance, he had been compelled to quit his hold, and
came to the surface of the water for air.
"Here's for another trial," shouted Collins, as he made
his plunge in the same direction. In a few seconds he
too, reappeared, bearing in his right hand, not a firelock,
but the two missing cartouch boxes.
"Better luck next time," remarked corporal Nixon. "I
think my lads, if two of you were to separate the weeds
with your hands, so as to clear each musket, the other
might easily bring it up."
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