Chapter IV. Taking a Galleon

The Free Rangers

by Joseph A. Altsheler

Henry and Shif'less Sol spied upon the Spanish camp again the next
day, and returned with news that the two chiefs had departed, but
that Braxton Wyatt had remained, evidently intending to accompany
Alvarez to New Orleans, where they were sure the Spanish leader now
intended going.

"I think, too," said Henry, "that they will break up camp in the
morning and march. I believe that they came up on the Mississippi,
and will return the same way."

"Then they have boats," said Paul in dismay, "and we have
none."

"But we can get one," said Henry significantly.

"If you want a thing, jest go an' git it," said Shif'less Sol.
"I remember once when I wuz a leetle bit a boy back in the East, I
hankered terribly after some hickory nuts that I knowed wuz in a
grove about a mile from our house. I suffered days an' days o'
anguish fur them hickory nuts, wishin' mighty bad all the time that I
had 'em. At the end o' two weeks I walked over an' got 'em, an' my
sufferin' stopped off short."

"That's just what we mean to do about our boat, step over and
get it," said Henry laughing. But he did not divulge his plan and
the others were content to wait for the event.

As Henry had predicted the Spanish camp broke up the following
morning, and Alvarez and his force took up a march almost due
eastward. They traveled in an easy fashion, and showed no signs of
apprehension, Alvarez deeming that fifty well-armed men were not in
any danger from wandering tribes. He did not know that five resolute
borderers were following closely behind him, even looking into his
camp at night, and knowing every important thing that he did. Braxton
Wyatt may have suspected it, but he said nothing, aware that it could
not be prevented.

The five were well prepared. They carried a large supply of
ammunition, a blanket each, and jerked meat. If their food supplies
gave out there was the forest swarming with game, and they knew that
it swarmed in the same fashion all the way down to New Orleans. They
would camp at sunset three or four miles from the Spaniards, keeping
watch the night through, and in the morning it was easy enough to
take up the trail of Alvarez and his men, which, to their experienced
eyes, was like a high road leading through the forest.

One evening just as the sun was setting Henry parted some
twining bushes and looked over a cliff. The others came to his side
and they, too, looked as he was looking. At their very feet lay the
mighty Mississippi. They had seen it before, but it was never so
impressive as now. Great at any time it was in spring flood, rolling
a vast, yellow current down toward the Gulf. The waters overflowed
on the low, eastern shore, and it was so far across that they could
not see the further bank in the shadowed evening. The setting sun,
nevertheless, lighted up the middle of the current with blood-red
gleams, and the five gazed with a certain awe at the mighty stream,
as it flowed ever onward. It was the highly imaginative Paul who was
impressed the most.

"We know where it goes to," he said, "but I wonder where it
comes from."

Henry waved his hand vaguely toward the North.

"Up there somewhere," he said, "a thousand miles from here, or
maybe two thousand. Nobody can tell."

Paul did not say anything more, but continued to gaze at the
vast, yellow current of the Mississippi, coming out of the unknown
regions of the far north and flowing into lands of the far south,
almost as mysterious and vague, once belonging to France but now
owning the lordship of Spain. It was the homely language of
Shif'less Sol that recalled him from his dreams.

"It's purty big out thar, an' looks ez if you couldn't tamper
with it - this here river stands no foolin'- but do you know, Paul,
water's pow'ful friendly. It's always travelin' about, always on the
move. Land stands still, it's always thar, an' never sees nothin'
new, but water jest keeps a' movin', seein' new countries, here
to-day, somewhar else to-morrow, havin' new banks, breathin' new air,
floatin' peacefully on to new people, gatherin' in their talk an'
ways.

"Jest think! This river comes out o' we don't know whar, sees
all the wilderness, whispers to the bars and buffaloes an' Injun
tribes ez it goes by, takes a look at us standin' here on the bank,
an', after wonderin' what we're about, slips on down hundreds o'
miles to Louisianny, gazin' at the French thar on the bank at New
Orleans, an' then shoots out into the sea."

"Thar to be lost," said the unpoetical Long Jim.

"Not to be lost, never to be lost, Jim," said Shif'less Sol
earnestly. "That Missip water is still thar in the sea, an' it goes
slippin' an' slidin' along with the salt clean to all them old
continents. It takes a look in at England, that's fightin' us in the
East, an' if the English could understand the water's language it
might tell 'em a lot o' things that wuz wuth their knowin'. An' then
it goes on to Spain an' France an' Germany, whar they talk all them
useless tongues, an' after a while it takes a whirl clean 'roun'
Africa an' Asia, an' sees goodness knows what, an' then goes slippin'
off to see islands in oceans that I ain't ever heard tell on.
Jumpin' Jehoshaphat but ain't that a movin' an' stirrin' life fur
ye!"

Sol drew a deep breath and Paul looked at him with shining
eyes.

"You've said a good deal of what I was thinking, Sol," he said,
"but for which I couldn't find words."

"We're likely to travel with the river for a while," said Tom
Ross, "an' we must purvide a way."

"We'll do it soon," said Henry.

They camped that night in a dense grove near the bank, but they
built no fire. After midnight Henry and Shif'less Sol slipped away
and went northward.

"'Bout four miles on we'll strike them Spaniards," said the
shiftless one.

It was a close calculation, as at the end of the four miles they
saw the light of a fire flaring through the trees and bushes and knew
that they had come upon Alvarez and his men. Their camp lay on
rather low ground beside a little bay of the Mississippi, and the
keen eyes of the two woodsmen saw at once that the force of Alvarez
had been increased.

"He's got about seventy men whar he had about fifty afore," said
Shif'less Sol as they crept nearer.

"They came on boats as I thought," replied Henry, "and he left a
detachment here with the boats, while he went across country. Maybe
he was on an exploring expedition or something of that kind, when
Braxton Wyatt overtook him with his proposition.

Sol looked at Henry and Henry looked at Sol. A ray of moonlight
fell upon their tanned and stern faces. Then as they looked a
twinkle appeared in the eye of each. The twinkle deepened and the
two broke simultaneously into a soundless laugh.

"We want one of those boats," said Henry.

"We shorely do," said Shif'less Sol.

"We need it in the course of our duty," said Henry.

"We jest can't git along without it," said Shif'less Sol.

"It will be much easier floating down the middle of the
Mississippi in a boat than it will be walking along the bank all the
way."

"It will shorely save the feet, an' give a feller time to think,
while the current's doin' the work. It jest suits a lazy man like
me."

Again they broke simultaneously into a laugh that contained no
sound, but which was full of mirth.

"It's taking what doesn't belong to us, and we are not at war
with the Spanish," said Henry.

"They tried to hold Paul a prisoner, and they're not at war with
us," rejoined Sol. "We've got a right to hit back. Besides, we're
doin' it to save a war, and we're only borrowin' their boat fur their
own good."

The two, without further ado, made a circuit around the Spanish
camp, coming down on the northern side. There fortunately for them
the trees and bushes were thick to the water's edge, and the shore
was very low. In fact, the river, owing to the flood, overlapped the
bushes.

They redoubled their caution, using every art and device of
woodcraft to approach without noise. They could see the flare of the
camp fire beyond the bushes, and now and then they caught sight of a
sentinel's head. They felt amply justified in this attempt, for
Alvarez had not only held Paul a prisoner, but was plotting with the
Indian chiefs to slay all the white people in Kentucky.

"Here are the boats," whispered Henry.

There they were, eight in number, large, strong boats, every one
with several pairs of oars, and tied with ropes to the bushes.

The eyes of Shif'less Sol watered as he gazed.

"They look pow'ful good to a lazy man," he said, "I could
shorely sleep mighty comf'table in one a' them while Jim Hart wuz
pullin' at the oars."

"I think the small one at the end nearest to us would just suit
our party," said Henry; "although it has more, it could be handled
easily with a single pair of oars."

"Shorely!" said Shif'less Sol, "but how to git away with it is
now the question."

It was indeed a problem, vexing and likewise dangerous. A
sentinel, musket on shoulder, walked up and down in front of the
Spanish navy, and he seemed to be very wide awake. Moreover, two men
slept in each boat.

"We must get that sentinel somehow," said Henry, "not to hurt
him, but to see that he doesn't talk for the next half hour or
so."

"What's your idea?" asked the shiftless one.

Henry whispered to him rapidly and Sol grinned with
satisfaction.

"Good enough," said the shiftless one. "It'll work," and he
crept away from Henry deep in the bushes a little west of the
sentinel. A moment or two later the Spaniard on watch was startled
by a sharp, warning hiss from the edge of the thicket. He knew very
well what made it - a rattlesnake, a thing that he loathed and
feared. He certainly did not want such a deadly reptile sliding
through the grass on his feet, and, clubbing his musket, he walked
forward, looking intently for the venomous thing. He did not see it
at first and all his faculties became absorbed in the search.
Holding the clubbed musket ready for an instant blow he peered into
the grass and short bushes. He was a Spaniard not without courage,
but he was oppressed by the night, the wilderness, the huge river
flowing by, and his feeling that he was far, very far, from Spain.
Under the circumstances, the poisonous hiss inspired him with an
intense dread and he was eager to slay. He leaned a little farther,
swinging the musket butt back and forth, ready for a quick blow when
he should see the target.

He did not hear a light step behind him, but he did feel a
powerful arm grasp him around the waist, pinning his own arms to his
side, while a hand was clasped over his mouth, checking the ready cry
that could not pass his lips. Then before his starting eyes a figure
rose out of the bushes whence the hiss had come. It was not that of
a rattlesnake, but that of a man, a tall man with powerful shoulders,
blue eyes, and yellow hair, undoubtedly one of the ferocious
Americans.

The sentinel felt that his hour had come, and he began to patter
his prayers in his throat, but the two Americans, the one before him,
and the one who had grasped him from behind, did not slay him at
once. Instead they said words together in their harsh tongue. Then
they tore pieces from the sentinel's clothing, made a wad of it and
pressed it into his mouth. They also tied a strip from the same
clothing over his mouth and behind his head, and, still despoiling
his clothing, they bound him hand and foot and laid him in the
bushes, where he was invisible to his comrades 'and could only see a
sky in which a few dim stars danced. But on the whole he was glad.
They had not killed him as he had expected, and the gag in his mouth
was soft. Moreover, his comrades would surely find him in time and
release him.

Henry and Shif'less Sol turned away and smiled again at each
other.

"Not much trouble, that," whispered the shiftless one. "He wuz
shorely a skeered Spaniard ef I kin read a man's face. Guess he wuz
glad to get off ez easy ez he did. Now fur the boat!"

"Here we are," said Henry. "We must pitch out the two men
sleeping in it - you take one and I'll take the other - and then we
must seize the oars and pull like mad, because the whole camp will be
up."

The boat was tied with a rope to a stout sapling and two Spanish
soldiers slumbered in great peace inside. The oars lay beside them.
Henry cut the rope with one sweep of his long-bladed hunting-knife,
and then he and Shif'less Sol sprang into the boat. Each seized a
man by the shoulders and lifted him in his powerful arms. It was a
chance that one of the sleepers was Luiz, and, when he was snatched
suddenly from blissful dreams to somber fact, he opened his eyes to
see bending over him the same grave, tanned being who had rescued him
from the raging buffalo.

But it was not a beneficent spirit, because Luiz was tossed
bodily the next moment into three feet of muddy water. He uttered a
cry of terror and despair as he went down, and another Spaniard
uttered a similar cry at the same moment. Both cries were cut off
short by mouthfuls of the Mississippi, but the two Spaniards came up
a moment later, and began to wade hastily to the shore. Each cast a
frightened glance behind him, and saw their boat disappearing on the
river's bosom, carrying the two evil spirits with it.

"I shorely enjoyed that," said Shif'less Sol, as the oars bent
beneath his powerful stroke. "That Spaniard's face as he woke up an'
found hisself whirled out into the Mississippi w'uz the funniest
thing I ever seed, an' I had the fun, too, without hurting him. It
ain't often, Paul, that you kin do what you need to do an' be full o'
laugh, too, an' so when the time comes I make the most o' it."

"It was worth seeing," said Henry, "and we've been in great
luck, too. There, hear 'em! They've got the water out of their
mouths and are giving tongue again! Pull, Sol! Pull!"

Loud shouts came from the sentinels who had risen from their
bath and it was followed by cries in the Spanish camp. Torches
flared, there was the sound of running footsteps, and dusky figures
appeared at the river's bank.

"Pull, Sol! Pull!" exhorted Henry again. "We're not yet out of
range!"

Shots were fired and bullets pattered on the water but none
reached the boat. They heard angry cries, imprecations, and they saw
one figure apparently giving commands, which they were sure was that
of Francisco Alvarez.

"Now if they had our Kentucky rifles and real marksmen," said
Shif'less Sol, "they could pick you an' me off without any trouble.
Thar's light enough. But with them old bell-mouthed muskets they
can't do much. No, Henry, we're bold pirates on the high seas an'
we've been an' took a Spanish gallyun - ain't that what they call
their treasure ships? 'Pears to me, Henry, I kinder like bein' a
pirate, 'specially when you do the takin', an' ain't took
yourself."

"That's so," laughed Henry, "but we'd better keep pulling, Sol,
with all our might. They're sure to pursue, and, as they have plenty
of men for the oars, we need all the start that we can get."

They were well out in the middle of the stream now, and the
deep, powerful current of the Mississippi was aiding them greatly,
but both glanced back. The shore was lined with men and another
volley was fired. All the bullets fell short, and Shif'less Sol
laughed contemptuously.

"Now they are beginnin' the pursuit," he said.

Four boats had been cut loose, and, filled with Spaniards, they
were pushed from the bank. Henry turned the prow of their own boat
until it bore in a slanting direction toward the eastern shore.

"What's your plan?" asked the shiftless one.

"The river, you know, has overflowed on the eastern shore over
there for three or four miles; we must lose ourselves in the forest
on that side."

"An' let 'em pass us?"

"That's just it. We want 'em to go on ahead of us to Louisiana,
while we follow. Besides we've got to pick up Paul and Jim and
Tom."

Shouts arose from the pursuers and more shots were fired, but
they were still beyond the range of the Spanish muskets and the two
were untouched. They were not even alarmed.

"There's a lot of confusion in the boats," said Henry, who
looked back again with a critical eye, "and as they don't pull
together they're not gaining. The night is also growing darker and
that helps us, too. Keep it up, Sol."

"All right," said the shiftless one, increasing his stroke.
"It's fine to be a pirate, Henry. Wonder why I never tried it afore!
But I believe I'll always be a pirate at night when you've got more
chance to git away."

"You're right as usual, Sol," said Henry as he, too, increased
his stroke.

They pulled away for some time without further words, and the
pursuers, also, settled into silence save for an encouraging shout
now and then to the rowers. Henry thought that he discerned both
Alvarez and Braxton Wyatt in the foremost boat and he could imagine
the rage and chagrin of both.

"I believe they're gaining," he said presently to Sol.

"Yes," replied the shiftless one, "that big boat thar is
creepin' up."

"Crack!" came a report and a bullet embedded itself in the stout
wood of their own boat. Both recognized the report. It was not that
of a Spanish musket, but the lashing fire of a Kentucky rifle like
their own.

"That was Braxton Wyatt," said Henry. "I thought I could make
him out in that boat. He's got a rifle that reaches and he's a
danger."

"Why don't you talk back?" asked Shif'less Sol.

"I will," replied Henry. "We're not at war with Spain, but we
are surely at war with Braxton Wyatt. I think the second man in the
boat is Braxton. Hold her steady just a second, Sol."

Henry shipped his oars, knelt a moment, and up went the long,
slender barrel of his Kentucky rifle. As he looked down the sight he
was sure that the man at whom he was aiming was Braxton Wyatt, and he
was sure, moreover, that he would not miss. But a feeling for which
he could not account made him deflect slightly the muzzle of his
weapon.

Braxton Wyatt richly deserved death for crimes already done and
he would be, as long as he lived, a deadly menace to the border. But
Henry felt that he could not be both judge and executioner. He and
Braxton Wyatt had been young boys together. So, when he deflected the
muzzle of his rifle, it was to turn the bullet from his heart to his
arm.

The rifle flashed, the sharp report echoed over the flowing
waters, and a cry of pain came from the pursuing boat, which quickly
slackened its speed.

"I hit him in the arm only," said Henry.

Shif'less Sol glanced at his comrade and he understood, but he
made no criticism.

"Ef you've stung him in the arm," he said, "it ain't likely that
he kin use that rifle o' his ag'in, an' I notice, too, since you shot
that them oarsmen ain't burnin' up with zeal. Now you row, Henry,
while I plunk a bullet in among 'em, an' they'll burn less than
ever."

Shif'less Sol fired. He did not shoot to kill, but his bullet
whistled unpleasantly near the heads of the rowers, and, as he had
predicted, they rapidly lost zeal. The captured boat slid swiftly
ahead.

"Here we are among the trees," said Henry. "Now, Sol, keep on
rowing and I'll look out that we don't run into anything."

The swollen waters rose far up on the trunks of the trees, which
grew thickly here, and Sol rowed slowly, making no noise save a
slight ripple, while Henry pushed the prow of the boat away from the
trunks and the bushes. It was very dark here and in a few minutes the
pursuing boats were shut out of sight.

"Thar ain't eyes enough in that Spanish camp to find us now,"
said Shif'less Sol.

But they rowed deeper and deeper into the forest, and then, in a
cluster of trees where they could not be seen ten feet away, they
stopped and listened. Not a sound but the lapping of the water came
to their ears.

"We'll take a good rest and then row Northward, still keeping in
the forest," said Henry.

They shipped their oars and drew long, deep breaths of relief
and satisfaction.

"Henry," said Shif'less Sol presently in a tone of great
exultation, "have you noticed that this is a shore enough gall-yun
that we've took? We didn't know it, but we jest boarded and sailed
away with a real treasure ship. Look!"

He opened a locker and took out two fine ornamented guns. "What
are these?" he said.

"Why, those are fowling pieces," replied Henry, "and they are of
the very best English make. We'll certainly borrow those, Sol."

"Yes, an' this end o' the locker is full o' powder an' shot fur
'em. Thar's no lack o' ammunition, an' look here, Henry, at
these!"

He took out of another locker three beautiful rapiers with
polished hilts and decorated scabbards.

"Spaniards like sech tools ez these," continued the shiftless
one, "an' they're mighty purty to look at, but ez fur me give me my
good old Kentucky rifle. At a hundred yards what chance would them
things have ag'in me?"

"We'll borrow them, too," said Henry. "We may have a use for
them later on. They're weapons that never have to be reloaded."

Sol drew forth one of the small swords and held it up so a shaft
of moonlight fell across the blade, and showed the keen edge.

"They're such fine weepins they must hey belonged to that thar
Spanish commander hisself," he said. "After all, a thing like this
mightn't be bad when you come to it right close. Mebbe Paul could
handle it. You know Mr. Pennypacker used to teach him how to swing
the sword. This is how it goes: Ah, ha! Aa ha! touched you thar!
How's that my hearty!"

Shif'less Sol lunged at the night air, slashed, cut, swept his
sword around in circles, and then laughed again. But none of his
exclamations was uttered above a whisper. Henry was forced to
smile.

"Put it down, Sol," he said, "and let's see what else we've got.
It may be that we've taken Alvarez's own private boat."

Sol opened the locker again, and held up a curiously shaped
stone jug, which he contemplated for a few moments. Then he took out
the topper, smelled the contents, and looked appreciatively at his
comrade.

"Henry," he said, "I'm going to risk it."

"It's no risk."

Sol turned the jug up to his lips, took a mouthful, which he
held for a moment or two, and then swallowed. After waiting a half
minute he uttered a deep sigh of content, and rubbed his chest.

"It tasted good all the way down, Henry," he said. "Here's
something writ over the label, but I guess it's Spanish, another o'
them useless tongues, an' so it tells nothin'."

"Put it back," said Henry. "It's some of those fancy liquors,
but we'll keep it for times when we're wet or cold or tired out."

"All right," said Sol, "an' here's three more little jugs like
it."

"What else do you find?" asked Henry.

"Oh, look at these, will you!" exclaimed Sol, holding up two
splendid double barreled duelling pistols of Spanish make.

"Now I'm sure that this is the boat of Alvarez himself," said
Henry. "Such fine things as these could belong only to the Commander.
Those are duelling pistols, Sol, but they can be made mighty useful,
too, for our defense in case of a pinch. We'll keep them, too."

The shiftless one put them back and opening another locker
uttered a little cry of delight.

"A hull carpenter shop!" he exclaimed. "Jest look, Henry! A fine
axe, hammers an' hatchets, an' saws an' augers an' a lot o' other
things pow'ful useful to fellers like us that have to cut an' bore
their own way out here in the woods. This is shorely one o' them
gall-yuns that Paul tells us about, an' I guess we're about ez
highfalutin' an lucky pirates ez any o' them."

"You're right, Sol," said Henry. "This boat is a great find, and
it's lawful prize as they began the war upon us by seizing Paul.
Keep on looking, Sol."

"Here's some beautiful blankets," continued the shiftless one.
"Guess they were made to trade with the Injuns. But it's more'n
likely that this here most gorg-y-us one will, on occasions, shelter,
warm, purtect an' otherwise care fur the deservin' body o' one
Solomon Hyde, a highly valooable citizen o' the new country they call
Kentucky. An' say, Henry, what do you call this?"

His voice took a rapidly rising inflection, as he held up a
glittering garment, puffed with magnificent lace.

"That," said Henry, "is what they call a doublet, and I should
say that it is the finest one belonging to Captain Alvarez. Oh,
won't he be angry!"

Sol slipped off his hunting shirt, and slipped on the
doublet.

"It's a little tight in the shoulders," he said, "but I could
wear it in a pinch, that is, I guess I'd hey to wear it in a pinch.
Say, Henry, ain't I a beauty?"

He stood up in the boat and turned slowly around and around, his
arms extended and the doublet glittering. Henry leaned against the
side of the boat and laughed.

"It doesn't suit you, Sol," he replied, "you're a fine looking
man, but it's in your own way, not the Spanish way."

Sol took off the garment, folded it up carefully, and put it
back in the locker.

"Anyway, I'm goin' to claim it," he said. "I want it to make Jim
Hart jealous. An', Henry, thar's a lot more things here, a little
tent all rolled up, some bottles o' medicine, some more clothes, two
big bottles o' brandy, and a whole lot o' housekeepin' truck, like
pins an' needles an' thread, an' them things that kin be pow'ful
useful to us on a long journey. An' jumpin' Jehoshaphat, Henry,
here's a little bag o' silver an' gold!"

"Put that back!" said Henry hastily. "Put it back, Sol! Their
goods we'll borrow as fair spoil, but we won't touch their money. Put
it back and none of us will ever take that bag out again."

"You're right, Henry," said Sol soberly. "I wouldn't handle a
single coin in that bag thar. Here she goes right under the bottom
o' everything in this locker, an' thar she'll stay. But, Henry, our
gall-yun is the biggest find we ever made in our lives. I never
dreamed o' travelin' in sech style an' comfort down the
Mississippi."

"Do you think it's going to grow lighter?" asked Henry.

"No," replied Sol decidedly. "It's been a shy kind o' moon
to-night, an' it's a gittin' so much shyer that it's plumb afraid to
show its face. In three minutes it will hide behind a big cloud
that's edgin' up over thar, an' we won't see it no more to-night."

"Then we'll pull down to the edge of the woods and see if the
Spaniards have given up the chase."

"An' be keerful not to run into any snags or sech like. We
don't want to wreck a magnificent gallyun like this when we've got
her."

They had been lying in the flooded forest about two hours, and
now they pulled very cautiously toward the main stream. It was a
large boat for two men, however strong, to handle, but they got
through without colliding with snag or tree trunk, or making any
noise that could be heard a dozen yards away.