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THREE LITTLE CRACKERS FROM 
 DOWN IN DIXIE 
 
GIFT BOOK 
 
 SERIES FOR BOYS 
 
 AND GIRLS 
 
 
 w 
 
 Three Little Crackers 
 
 By Will Allen Dromgoole 
 
 Three Children of Galilee 
 
 
 By John Gordon 
 
 Miss Gray’s Girls 
 
 By Jeanette A. Grant 
 
 The Fairy Folk of Blue Hill 
 
 
 By Lily F. Wesselhoeft 
 
 Little Bermuda 
 
 By Maria Louise Pool 
 
 The Wild Ruthvens 
 
 By Curtis York 
 
 King Pippin 
 
 By Mrs. Gerard Ford 
 
 The Adventures of a 
 
 Siberian Cub 
 
 
 By Leon Golschmann 
 
 The Woodranger 
 
 By G. Waldo Browne 
 
 A Bad Penny 
 
 By John T. Wheelwright 
 
 Feats on the Fiord 
 
 By Harriet Marti neau 
 
 Songs and Rhymes for the Little Ones 
 
 
 By Mary W. Morrison 
 
 The Young Pearl Divers 
 
 
 By H. Phelps Whitmarsh 
 
 Timothy Dole 
 
 By Juniata Salsbury 
 
 
 m 
 
 L. C. Page and Company, Publishers 
 
25 “2 
 
 o w 
 
 
THREE LITTLE CRACKERS 
 
 H 
 
 FROM DOWN IN DIXIE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE 
 
 EliustratrtJ bg 
 
 ETHELDRED B. BARRY 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY 
 
 (incorporated) 
 
 1899 
 
Copyright , i8q8 
 
 By L. C. Page and Company 
 (incorporated) 
 
 Colonial ^'3rtss: 
 
 Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 
 Boston, U. S. A. 
 
BJ 3 , 
 
 27 %^! 
 
 To My Friends 
 
 Captain anti £Hrs. 3. 3. ptjarcj 
 
 To WHOM I AM INDEBTED FOR MUCH THAT INSPIRED THE 
 WRITING OF THE STORY, AND WHOSE BEAUTIFUL 
 HOME AT YALAHA HAS SERVED IT FOR 
 A BACKGROUND, THE 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS 
 
 BEG TO MAKE THEIR BOW AND PAY THEIR 
 AFFECTIONATE DUTY 
 
In Dix-ie Landwhar I was torn in Ear-ly on one 
 
 fros-ty mocnin,Look away ! Look away ! Away down south in Dixie. 
 
CHAPTER 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 * 
 
 PAGE 
 
 L 
 
 Pioneers 
 
 13 
 
 II. 
 
 Col Alto, Indians, Bijou .... 
 
 26 
 
 III. 
 
 Adventures and a Rescue 
 
 44 
 
 IV. 
 
 Visitors : Cracker vs. Cracker 
 
 6l 
 
 V. 
 
 The Old Blind Alligator 
 
 75 
 
 VI. 
 
 Who Stole the Bear-trap ? . . . 
 
 9i 
 
 VII. 
 
 Hunting Alligator Eggs .... 
 
 108 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Jacko and the Eggs 
 
 125 
 
 IX. 
 
 TO THE WlTHLACOOCHEE RlVER . 
 
 135 
 
 X. 
 
 Camp Life on the Withlacoochee . 
 
 150 
 
 XI. 
 
 Getting Even; Bears; The Old Well . 
 
 162 
 
 XII. 
 
 A Rescue; Two Famous Letters; Speech- 
 
 
 
 making 
 
 177 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Bijou and the Alligators .... 
 
 197 
 
 XIV. 
 
 More. Alligators 
 
 215 
 
 XV. 
 
 Into the New House 
 
 227 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Yalaha ........ 
 
 238 
 
“The Crackers forgot to stir; but stood 
 
 “The Crackers forgot to stir; but stood 
 
 WATCHING THE MAD ALLIGATOR WITH A KIND 
 
 of helpless fascination ” . . Frontispiece 
 
 Mr. Bus Joiner’s first appearance . . -19 
 
 Col Alto 29 
 
 “The Mate dropped knife and fork”. . . 32 
 
 “ 1 Gophers ! ’ sneered Jack. 1 It’s Indians ! ’ ” . 40 
 
 The Captain and the Mate ..... 45 
 
 The three little Crackers started out to 
 
 hunt Indians 53 
 
 ‘“Wildcats!”’ 55 
 
 The Mate’s flower garden ..... 65 
 
 “ He set off at a brisk trot, . . . the fright- 
 ened BOYS CLINGING TO HIS NECK” . . -71 
 
 “Word came that Uncle James was ill” . . 77 
 
 The old blind alligator. ..... 83 
 
 The alligator wakes up . . . . . .87 
 
 1 1 
 
12 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE, 
 
 The boys’ fright 
 
 
 
 
 
 90 
 
 Minnows for bait 
 
 
 
 
 
 97 
 
 Three little Crackers on duty 
 
 
 
 
 
 102 
 
 On the lake .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 115 
 
 “A RABBIT RAN ACROSS THE TRAIL” 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 18 
 
 In THE BIG PUNCH-BOWL 
 
 
 
 
 
 127 
 
 JACKO AND THE EGGS . 
 
 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 Packing 
 
 
 
 
 
 141 
 
 A PHOSPHATE mine 
 
 
 
 
 
 151 
 
 Jack endeavors to correct Luke 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 160 
 
 Mrs. Joiner 
 
 
 
 
 
 164 
 
 ‘“Bear! Bear! Bear!”’ . 
 
 
 
 
 
 167 
 
 In THE PIT 
 
 
 
 
 
 175 
 
 Going visiting .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 181 
 
 Joe lends a hand to the enemy 
 
 
 
 
 
 18S 
 
 The little Cracker’s maiden speech 
 “The little Cracker rode off on 
 
 his 
 
 LITTLE 
 
 193 
 
 pony ” 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 99 
 
 Mr. Joiner talks 
 
 
 
 
 
 202 
 
 The trap found .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 209 
 
 What killed the alligator . 
 
 
 
 
 
 216 
 
 Mr. Joiner’s fortune 
 
 
 
 
 
 224 
 
 The new house .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 229 
 
 The little Cracker has an idea 
 
 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 The steamer .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 241 
 
THREE LITTLE CRACKERS FROM 
 DOWN IN DIXIE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PIONEERS. 
 
 It was high noon of a day in January, when 
 the steamer landed them, “ dumped them,” the 
 pioneer’s wife had said, at the point most con- 
 venient to their new home in the Florida 
 wilderness. 
 
 There were five of them, not including 
 Polly, the parrot, who really ought to be 
 included, since she was doing more talking 
 at the moment of landing than any one 
 member of the party. 
 
 First, there was the Captain himself, the 
 leader and head of the party, who had once 
 been captain of a steamboat, had prospered, 
 
 13 
 

 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 inherited a fortune with his wife, in the uncul- 
 tivated lands of Florida, and was now moving: 
 his family there to take possession. There 
 was the Captain’s wife, and there were the 
 boys , three of them, three brave, eager, inex- 
 perienced young pioneers. These made up 
 the company “ dumped ” upon the landing that 
 morning in January. 
 
 In their Alabama home, which they had left 
 for the Southern wilderness, the boys answered 
 to the names of “Joseph,” “Jimmie,” and 
 “Jackie.” But the Captain’s wife, as a stimu- 
 lus to the boys’ courage, had shortened the 
 names at the moment of departure. 
 
 They accepted their abbreviated names as 
 a part of the life upon which they were about 
 to enter, — a life that was to have its pleasures 
 and its adventures, without those extreme 
 hardships which usually fall to the lot of the 
 pioneer. 
 
 The change of abode had been necessary, 
 the physician said, because of a consumptive 
 tendency in both branches of the family, that 
 had suddenly given hint of something serious. 
 This hint decided the Captain at once to 
 remove to Florida, where his wife’s brother 
 had gone several years previously. 
 
PIONEERS. 
 
 15 
 
 “ And our boys shall be pioneers,” said the 
 mother, when the three pale young fellows 
 protested against going. “ They shall be 
 pioneers, and help to open a way in the 
 Florida wilderness.” 
 
 The “ pioneer ” idea was fascinating to their 
 young minds, as the mother knew it would be, 
 but the old life was not without its fascina- 
 tions also. The brothers had not made the 
 exchange without more or less regret. 
 
 It was en route that Jack, the youngest, 
 offered his last protest. 
 
 “ It is like not being a boy any more,” said 
 he, “ to be moved off into another country, 
 and to be called just ‘Jack.’ I tell you now, 
 mother, ‘ Jackie ’ is good enough for me.” 
 
 “ Why, who ever heard of a pioneer called 
 ‘ Jackie ? ’ ” laughed the Captain’s wife. “ Why, 
 I think that would suggest a baby, rather than 
 a brave pioneer.” 
 
 She knew that Master Jack had really 
 offered his objections to the abbreviation only 
 since James, the second son, had, in a spirit of 
 teasing, scratched upon a box belonging to his 
 brother, “A Jack — Paris S,” and left it so, 
 with that long, suggestive hyphen between the 
 names. 
 
i6 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 The Captain’s wife had not dared to smile, 
 so she said : 
 
 “ Who ever heard of a pioneer called Jackie ? 
 Or even J ackson ? ” Anticipating Master J ack’s 
 reply. 
 
 Upon which the three, to the Captain’s great 
 amusement, had set up a wild shout of “/ 
 have!” “I have!” “ So have I!” “Where’s 
 Old Hickory ? ” “ Remember Old Hickory, 
 
 mother.” 
 
 “ And so I do,” said the Captain’s wife, recov- 
 ering her ground. “ But I remember the great 
 warrior who opened the way for the white 
 man in the Florida wilderness, was not called 
 ‘ Andy ;’ but because he was so brave, ‘so 
 tough,’ the soldiers said, that neither Andrew, 
 nor Jackson itself, was strong enough, they 
 called him ‘ Old Hickory.’ ” 
 
 And after that no more was said against the 
 new names, or rather the nicknames, and the 
 boys landed by the steamer that noon in Jan- 
 uary were ever after known as Joe, James, and 
 Jack, the pioneers. 
 
 The Captain stood amongst his plunder, 
 boxes and barrels and great bundles, and 
 began to take an inventory. 
 
 “ Everything here,” he announced, after a 
 
PIONEERS. 
 
 17 
 
 moment’s calculating. “Everything here, ex- 
 cept the Cracker, ‘Bus Joiner,’ who was to 
 meet us with his team. Shall we wait for 
 him, or go on ? The house is but a short 
 distance back; up there among those moss- 
 hung live-oaks.” 
 
 “ And leave our goods and chattels ? ” his 
 wife demanded. 
 
 “Nobody to bother,” said the Captain, “and 
 we can be getting acquainted with our new 
 home while waiting for Mr. Joiner. Come, 
 boys ; everybody take a load, and forward, 
 march ! I am Captain of this company.” 
 
 But the Captain’s wife quietly seated her- 
 self upon a great roll of bedding and proceeded 
 to make a remark, the result of which was the 
 name by which we shall know her throughout 
 these pages. 
 
 “ Captain,” said she, “ I shall not desert my 
 possessions. Remember we brought with us, 
 on the steamer, only those things absolutely 
 and immediately necessary, and our valuables. 
 Why, sir, my great-grandmother’s silver is a 
 part of this luggage ; I shall not desert it, sir. 
 Yi you are Captain, please remember that I am 
 Mated 
 
 At this the boys gave a cheer, in which the 
 
i8 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Captain was forced to join. A cheer which 
 continued until the “ Mate ” rose from the bun- 
 dle of bedding, seized the Captain by the arm, 
 and pointed down the long, level opening in 
 the hammock land, an opening that was soon 
 to be christened “ the road,” towards a queer 
 shambling concern that was lazily creeping 
 along through the deep white sand. 
 
 “ What is it ? ” said she. “ Man or beast ? 
 Captain, will you please to give a name to the 
 something that approaches our landing ? ” 
 
 The Captain laughed. 
 
 “ Why, Sue,” said he, “ that is a genuine 
 Florida Cracker, a semi-tropical, native growth. 
 And he is no other than Mr. Bus Joiner, 
 better known to himself as ‘Bus J’iner;’ and 
 he comes to help us to our cabin on the hill up 
 yonder.” 
 
 “ But, father,” said Joe, “ if that is Mr. Joiner, 
 what is the rest of him ? ” 
 
 “The rest of him,” laughed the Captain, “is 
 his team. That upon which he rides is the 
 horse, or rather mare. She is blind, and so he 
 has belled her. The conveyance attached to 
 the mare, and worked upon wooden wheels, is 
 a wagon ; those red, white, and yellow trappings 
 are strips of cloth and old rope ; he calls them 
 
PIONEERS. 
 
 19 
 
 his gear. Quite an original turnout, to say the 
 least of it. Take a good look, and do your 
 commenting while he is at a distance. Not a 
 word about the team in the owner’s hearing, 
 understand.” 
 
 The “good 
 look” showed 
 them a rude 
 wagon-bed 
 hoisted upon 
 wooden wheels, 
 and drawn by a 
 lank, lean, clay- 
 bank mare, fas- 
 tened between 
 the shafts with 
 rope and strings 
 of every size 
 and color. The 
 mare was blind, 
 and from her long neck swung an old cow-bell 
 suspended by a leathern band. 
 
 Astride the mare, long legs dangling, feet 
 almost sweeping the ground, face covered with 
 a coarse, sunburnt beard, long hair falling on 
 his shoulders, and keen, sharp eyes fixed upon 
 the waiting group, sat, in all his glory, “ Mr. 
 
20 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Bus Joiner,” better known to himself and 
 family as Mr. Bus J'iner, the Cracker, with 
 whom the Captain had boarded while superin- 
 tending the buildinaf of his dwelling during his 
 former visit, — before he removed his family to 
 Florida. 
 
 “ A genuine Cracker,” said the Captain, in a 
 low tone. “ Take a good look, boys. That 
 may be a specimen of what you are coming 
 to.” 
 
 “ A genuine Cracker,” repeated the Mate, in 
 a lower tone still, as the curious-looking turn- 
 out drew nearer. As it stopped, and the man 
 prepared to dismount, a voice from the luggage 
 cried out shrilly: 
 
 “ A genuine Cracker ! Ha! ha! Joe, a gen- 
 uine Cracker ! ” 
 
 “ Polly wants a cracker; give it to her, Joe,” 
 the Mate came to the rescue at once ; so that 
 ‘ Mr. Bus J’iner ’ never for one moment doubted 
 the bird was calling for a bit of flour and 
 water. 
 
 The Captain made the company acquainted, 
 and, while they were loading the wagon with 
 the goods, which Mr. Joiner called “ you-unses 
 truck,” they proceeded to make themselves 
 better acquainted. 
 
PIONEERS. 
 
 21 
 
 “This reminds me,” said the Mate, “of the 
 landing of the Pilgrims.” 
 
 “ The which, mu’m? ” said J’iner. 
 
 “ The Pilgrims, — they were a handful of 
 brave folk who came to this country a long 
 time ago — ” 
 
 “ And found nothing but savages,” inter- 
 rupted Jack, before the Mate could stop him. 
 
 “ Plenty un ’em roun’ here,” said the Cracker. 
 
 “ Savages ? ” cried the boys in a breath, 
 unheeding the Mate’s warning winks. 
 
 “Woods full un ’em. Bar, wil’ cat, deer, 
 ’possum, gopher, painter, rattler.” 
 
 “ Oh ! ” again came the triple exclamation. 
 “ Oh, but that’s good ! ” 
 
 “ Will you tell about them, sometimes ? ” 
 said James. 
 
 “ Lots.” 
 
 “ And maybe you go hunting? ” said Joe. 
 
 “ Lots.” 
 
 “Have you ever killed a bear?” said Jack, 
 his eyes wide open with wonder and admiration. 
 
 “ Lots an lots.” 
 
 “ And maybe you’ll let us go hunting with 
 you,” said Joe. “ Father has brought guns, and 
 ordered two rowboats, and says we are to be 
 brave pioneers, and learn all about the wilder- 
 
22 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 ness. Would you let us go hunting long — ” 
 Joe glanced at his mother, and then at the 
 friendly Cracker ; he wished to put himself 
 upon a safe footing,' yet he stammered ever 
 so little before he said — “ long o’ you-uns ? ” 
 
 The confusion of loading the wagon drowned 
 his mother’s words to all ears except those of 
 Jack. “You little Cracker!” he heard her 
 say ; “ you-uns air a reg’lar little Cracker al- 
 ready.” 
 
 At this moment there was a startled excla- 
 mation from Mr. Joiner, who dropped the box 
 he was lifting to his shoulder with a crash, and 
 went running off to a safe distance behind the 
 wagon. 
 
 “ What’s that ? ” he shouted. “ What’s that 
 varmint in the box? Hit laffed, — oh, Laud, 
 it laffed, and put hit’s han’ out fur ter shake — 
 What’s hit, what’s hit, Cap’n ? ” 
 
 Then the boys raised a shout that all the 
 Mate’s winking and frowning could not quell. 
 It was too absurd. A little brown, bald face 
 was thrust from the box, between the slats that 
 had been arranged for ventilation ; a set of 
 tiny white teeth were exhibited in a delighted 
 grin, — there was a funny little titter, the same 
 that had sent the burly Cracker to cover, and 
 
PIONEERS. 
 
 23 
 
 Polly, from her cage behind the bedclothes, 
 sang out : 
 
 “Pretty little Jacko! Pretty little Jacko ! 
 You’re a Cracker, Jacko. Poor little mon- 
 key!” 
 
 The Captain sat down beside the boys, and 
 laughed until he had to hold his sides. The 
 
 O 
 
 Mate alone kept her dignity. 
 
 “ It is only Jacko, Mr. Joiner,” she said. 
 “ He is our monkey, and cannot possibly do 
 any harm while in the box. We keep him 
 chained always, or try to, for when he gets 
 loose, he generally manages to do a good deal 
 of mischief. Put him in the wagon, Joe. And 
 now, Mr. Joiner, if you will lift that bundle of 
 bedding up, and now the parrot’s cage, — look 
 out for your fingers ; Polly is worse than Jacko, 
 — and now, I think, we are ready to start. 
 Wait! There is my roll of oilcloth left; let me 
 get it. This reminds me of a story I once 
 read about a — ” 
 
 “ Mother ! ” 
 
 With a cry of horror James sprang from his 
 place upon the loaded wagon, and, seizing his 
 mother’s arm, dragged her back from the land- 
 ing before the others fairly comprehended what 
 he was doing. As he did so, the bundle of 
 
24 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 “ oilcloth ” gave a turn, and slid back into 
 the water. 
 
 “ Sakes erlive ! ” drawled the Cracker, “ ef ’t 
 warent a ’gator ! ” 
 
 The brown “ roll of oilcloth ” was a hideous, 
 slimy alligator that had come out for a noon 
 bath in the sunshine. 
 
 “ Shouldn’t wonder ef ’t war the blin’ ’gator,” 
 said Mr. Joiner. “ But Laud! the kentry’s full 
 uv ’em. Got ter look sharp, / tol’ you. Look 
 out thar, missus. Ye’re trompin’ on a rat — " 
 With a shriek the Mate sprang to the wagon, 
 and seized the cotton lines. 
 
 “ A rattlesnake ? ” she shouted. “ Get up ! 
 Get away from here ! Take me back to Ala- 
 bama ! to Halifax! to Jericho! Anywhere , but 
 Florida, alligators and rattlesnakes.” 
 
 Then the boys did laugh; so did the Cap- 
 tain ; even the Cracker showed his long, yellow 
 teeth in a grin, while Polly lent a mocking 
 “Ha! ha!” to the chorus. And the Mate, 
 looking back, at last understood the Cracker’s 
 warning. 
 
 “ Yeou ware trompin’ on a rat — ” 
 
 “ Drive on ! ” she commanded, in all the 
 grandeur of offended dignity. “ Drive on, sir.” 
 
 There was nothing for it but to obey; but 
 
PIONEERS. 
 
 25 
 
 under the Cracker’s yellow beard his lips parted 
 in a smile that developed into a chuckle after 
 awhile, and he whispered into the yellow tangle 
 that “ the fine missus ware about to tromple on 
 a rattlin’ big turkle,” — meaning one of the large 
 gopher land-turtles, with which the pioneers 
 were destined to become better acquainted. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 
 
 Ti-ie new arrivals moved into their Florida 
 house, arranged its furnishings, and began to 
 feel at home. One morning, about a week after 
 their arrival, the Captain said to the Mate : 
 “ Now, Sue, lay aside high notions, and name 
 the place, if it must be named. Let it be 
 ‘ Cabin Home,’ or something else as appro- 
 priate. Consider the situation.” 
 
 “ The situation is precisely the point I am 
 considering,” said the Mate. “ The house is of 
 log; seven rooms. As to the furniture, there 
 is a Queen Anne set in one room, and queen 
 somebody else in another. On the walls there 
 are copies, good copies of Dtirer, of Guido, and 
 of Raphael ; to say nothing of my Cleopatra, 
 made directly from a copy of a copy of Cor- 
 reggio’s original. Then, there is the silver to 
 give lustre to our cabin home. That silver 
 belonged to my great-grandmother, sir. I tell 
 
 26 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 27 
 
 you we are somebody, Captain, notwithstand- 
 ing the fortunes have set us down in the wil- 
 derness. Yet, setting aside past grandeur, and 
 present possessions as well, I shall do as you 
 say, ‘ consider the situation.’ And so, consid- 
 ering, I christen our home Col Alto ; high 
 hill. Where are the boys, Captain ? ” 
 
 “ Gone to Drake Point with Mr. Bus Joiner, 
 to see their uncle. Now, Sue, what next?” 
 said the Captain. 
 
 “ ‘Next,’ the horses. If we could have put 
 Bijou into a trunk and brought him along with 
 us, I should not feel so helpless,” laughed the 
 Mate. “ One cannot accomplish much without 
 a horse in a country without cart-roads. Yet, 
 I fancy it will be pleasant living, in this glo- 
 rious climate. I hope it, at least, for the sake of 
 brother James, and the dear darlings.” 
 
 And the Mate sighed as she arranged her 
 old Alabama silver on the home-made side- 
 board. She had suddenly remembered that 
 her invalid brother had not been so well of 
 late ; had not indeed been well enough to pay 
 them a visit yet in their new home, to which 
 he was most anxious to welcome them, since 
 it was he who had persuaded them to move 
 to Florida. The two men, the Captain and 
 
THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 his brother-in-law, had bought up most of the 
 land around them, and had boarded with Mr. 
 Joiner while they helped to build the cabin 
 that was to be their home until they could 
 see “ what was what,” and, perhaps, by and by 
 build better. 
 
 The little Crackers liked their Florida home 
 from the very moment of landing. 
 
 Perhaps you may complain that the boys 
 were not genuine Crackers, since they were 
 born in Alabama, and not in her backwoods, 
 either. But they came to Florida so early, 
 before she was half settled, and became so truly 
 her citizens, they were disposed to believe them- 
 selves genuine Floridians, at any rate. It was 
 the Mate who first called them Crackers, for the 
 reason that they formed such intimate friend- 
 ship with Mr. Joiner that they very readily 
 adopted his dialect and manners. Or would 
 have done so but for the Mate’s continual 
 “ nagging,” as she called it. 
 
 They came home from their uncle’s at the 
 moment when supper was put upon the table. 
 The same moment in which their mother an- 
 nounced the name of their new home, Col Alto. 
 
 “Uncle calls his place ‘ Drake P'int,’ ” said 
 Joe, as he opened a fat potato with his knife. 
 
is > t ) 
 
 COL ALTO. 
 

 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 3 1 
 
 “ ‘ P’int ! ’ ” screamed the Mate. “ Wherever 
 in the world did you pick up such English ? ” 
 
 Joe blushed and made no reply. He knew 
 as well as his mother did that he was indebted 
 to Mr. Bus Joiner for the new pronunciation 
 of Drake Point, his Uncle James’s beautiful 
 tract of land, consisting of the famous Florida 
 hammock land, that wild tangle of live-oaks, 
 gray moss, wild plum and orange, and of the 
 stately and health-giving pine land, farther up 
 from the Point where he had built his home. 
 The Point itself projected into the lake upon 
 whose shores the families had decided to cast 
 their lots. They were wealthy people for those 
 times, and would at once set about the making 
 for themselves of a home. Already a wharf was 
 planned for Drake Point, and several acres of 
 wild orange-trees had been budded with the 
 sweet fruit ; the “ little leaven ” that was to 
 leaven the great forest. For boys who live 
 in Florida soon learn that a sour orange-tree, 
 a natural, wild growth, is easily converted into 
 a sweet one by budding it with the latter. 
 
 Uncle James had come to Florida two years 
 before the others, and, therefore, as the boys 
 said, “ had got the start of them.” By the time 
 the wharf was ready, — there were piles to be 
 
32 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 driven, and the timber for them was still a 
 part of the forest, — there would be a crop of 
 oranges ready to ship from the new grove. 
 
 The boys were intensely interested ; not so 
 much in the appearance of the fruit, as in the 
 disappearance of the hammock. 
 
 “ Uncle is clearing up all the hammock land 
 on his place,” said James. “ Mr. J’iner says 
 
 there won’t be a bar left in the country if the 
 swammocks are cleared up.” 
 
 The Mate dropped her great-grandmother’s 
 knife and fork upon her plate with a great 
 clatter. 
 
 “ A what ? ” she demanded, the twinkle in 
 her eye contradicting the frown on her brow. 
 
 “ Now you’ve done it,” laughed Jack. “ There 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 33 
 
 are lots of bears left yet, mother. We are going 
 out hunting next week, after our things come. 
 Mr. J’iner says there are lots of varmints left. 
 His wife ketched one in a trap last week.” 
 
 The Mate dropped her hands in her lap and 
 laughed. 
 
 “ Oh, you are three little Crackers,” said she. 
 “ Why is it that boys alway pick up the objec- 
 tionable, Captain, can you tell ? ” 
 
 “‘Human natur,’ as J’iner would say,” 
 growled the Captain, under his beard. 
 
 “ Well,” said the Mate, “ though I don’t like 
 to admit it, I will have to own that I have here 
 three Crackers. And Crackers they are until 
 they learn good old Alabama grammar. Joe 
 is my big Cracker, Jim is the middle Cracker, 
 and Jack is the little Cracker. Now that we all 
 understand how the matter stands, we will not 
 have our nerves shocked with ‘ b’ars,’ and ‘ var- 
 mints,’ and ‘ p’ints,’ and the ‘ ketchin’ ’ of wild 
 animals. We will just remember that it’s only 
 a trio of little Cracker children talking to us, 
 and since they know no better we will try to 
 expect no better.” 
 
 The Captain laughed at the look of dismay 
 on the faces of the boys ; the Mate, too, had a 
 twinkle in her eye, but to the boys it seemed 
 
34 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 rather a serious thing to be labelled “ a Florida 
 Cracker” at the beginning of their venture. 
 But labelled they were ; from that moment the 
 Captain and his wife spoke to them and of 
 them as the three little Crackers ; and, after 
 awhile, Uncle James heard about it, and soon 
 he began to call them so, too; and one day, 
 when the Mate received a letter from far-away 
 Alabama, and the writer of it said, “ Give my 
 love to the three little Crackers,” then the boys 
 knew the secret was out. “ All over the 
 world,” the big Cracker said, since Aunt Lizzie 
 knew about it. Though the little Cracker 
 “ reckoned old Alabama war’n’t everything, if 
 Aunt Lizzie did live there,” while the middle 
 Cracker “allowed,” as Mr. Joiner expressed it, 
 “in and about the best thing to do was to 
 make the best of a bad bargain.” A way the 
 dear little Cracker No. 2 had of accepting 
 unpleasant things ; and it was this same trait, 
 “ making the best of it,” that made for him a 
 place in this little book, by the side of the 
 boy who always rushed into things, and the boy 
 who was always ready to run away from the 
 unpleasant. 
 
 But all this will come in, by and by, and 
 has nothing to do with the talk at the supper- 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 35 
 
 table that night, upon which the Crackers 
 received their name. 
 
 Despite the chat and the jokes, the Captain 
 felt uneasy. The household goods had not ar- 
 rived, and the scouts, who went out to look for 
 the wagons the day before, had failed to put in 
 an appearance. There were Indians along the 
 road they were to travel, — friendly, ’tis true, 
 but not too honest. Old Tiger Tail had his 
 camp at Okahumpka there, and while the old 
 chief was honorable enough, there were always 
 sneaks among the redskins. The wagons 
 must come directly through Okahumpka, and 
 should have passed that village several days 
 before. 
 
 “ It is the horses that may tempt them,” said 
 the Captain. “ They would not dare molest 
 my men, unless it be to secure the horses. An 
 Indian will risk his scalp any day for a good 
 horse.” 
 
 “ If they bother Bijou I’ll have them arrested 
 for horse thieves,” said the little Cracker, ready 
 to rush to the rescue of his pony, the tricky, 
 but gentle Bijou. 
 
 The Mate laughed. 
 
 “ Who is to arrest anybody in this wilder- 
 ness, I should like to know. No, little Cracker, 
 
36 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 you are perfectly helpless to prevent it, should 
 a covetous redskin be seized with a desire to 
 possess your pony. Unless you should appeal 
 to old Tiger Tail himself, and I doubt if he 
 could find the thief. Captain, you don’t think 
 the men could have lost the road ? ” 
 
 “ No,” replied the Captain. “ Roads are too 
 scarce in this county to ever offer a danger 
 like that. Couldn’t miss it; that is what 
 makes me uneasy.” 
 
 “And Bijou,” Jack was thinking. “If an 
 Indian wants him, he has only to nab him. 
 And he is off out there in the woods where 
 they are. And of course they want him ; who 
 wouldn’t want Bijou ? ” 
 
 He thought about it during the next hour 
 constantly. Try as he would, he could not get 
 his mind away from the ugly danger — that 
 seemed to grow more ugly and more threaten- 
 ing the more he thought about it — threatening 
 his pet. 
 
 He did not heed, if he even heard, his 
 mother’s plans for the new home. The ham- 
 mock was to be cleared away between the 
 house and the lake, giving a full view of the 
 blue, sun-kissed water that stretched for nearly 
 fifteen miles beyond the bluff, upon which, by 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 37 
 
 and by, the new house was to be erected, if 
 all went well with them in the land of flowers. 
 
 Until then, the cleared space was to be an 
 orange grove ; though there was to be a wharf, 
 and two rowboats for the boys, and, by and by , 
 with the new house, there was to be a yacht 
 for the Mate. 
 
 The present house stood upon a great hill, 
 at its highest point, that went down in a grace- 
 ful slope to the bluff that marked the site of 
 the future home. 
 
 “ Mother,” said the big Cracker, “ isn’t the 
 bluff of sand ? ” 
 
 “ Yes,” replied the Mate, “ all Florida’s sand.” 
 
 “ Except the part that is sand -spurs," said the 
 middle Cracker, at which all joined in a laugh, 
 except the little Cracker, who was busy trying 
 to devise a means of rescuing Bijou from the 
 followers of old Tiger Tail, the Indian chief, 
 located at the village of Okahumpka. Jack 
 heard neither the plans, nor his brother’s bit 
 of wit. 
 
 “ Well, mother,” Joe went on to say, “ain’t 
 you rather building your new house, then, on 
 the sand ? ” 
 
 “‘Ain't' I?” said the Mate. “No, big 
 Cracker, it is not built on sand, but on — ” 
 
38 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 “ Air,” chimed in the middle Cracker. 
 
 “ Kaolin,” said the Mate. “ Kaolin that will 
 one day be shipped to England’s china manu- 
 factories, I tell you ; and then we shall be 
 rich.” 
 
 “ Another castle built on air,” laughed the 
 Captain, as he passed his cup back to be filled 
 with coffee. 
 
 “ Built on kaolin, you mean,” said the Mate. 
 And it was just at this juncture the little 
 Cracker dropped his fork and shouted : 
 
 “/know! / know how we can do. Won’t 
 you, Joe ? Won’t you ? And James ? ” 
 
 The Mate set the Captain’s cup aside, and 
 said, “ W-e-l-l ! ” in a most surprised tone, 
 while the Captain dropped the hot waffle he 
 was lifting to his plate into his lap, instead. 
 The two older Crackers stopped operations upon 
 hot biscuit and Florida syrup to inquire, with 
 their eyes, if the little Cracker had suddenly 
 wakened out of a very bad dream. 
 
 It was the Captain who finally inquired : 
 
 “ What is it, Jack ? Are you dreaming? ” 
 
 “ No, sir,” replied the little Cracker. “ I 
 wasn’t asleep. I only just furgittened to ricker- 
 lict what I ware a-doin’ uv.” 
 
 At this unexpected burst of Cracker elo- 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 39 
 
 quence, the Mate arose at once and dismissed 
 the company. This mattered little to the boys, 
 however, since they had “ eaten as much syrup 
 and biscuit as they could furnish storage for,” so 
 said the Mate, and there never was a boy yet 
 who cared to sit at the table when the storage 
 was all taken. 
 
 Moreover, that mysterious outbreak of Jack’s 
 impressed them oddly. Something lay behind 
 it all. Jack was a great schemer, and evidently 
 there was a scheme on hand. They had great 
 respect for the little Cracker, whose busy brain 
 was ever devising some rare adventure such as 
 boys delight in. 
 
 “Jack ought to have lived in the time of 
 Daniel Boone and belonged to his band,” James 
 thought; though Joe insisted he “ought to 
 have followed Old Hickory against the red- 
 skins,” and both felt sure it was all owing to 
 his name, Andrew Jackson, that Jack “ thought 
 up so many brave things.” 
 
 Anyhow, Jack was the proper stuff for 
 a pioneer, and they felt sure he would 
 “ show Florida some things before he let her 
 g°-” 
 
 So, upon leaving the dining-room, the two 
 older Crackers sought their brother, who had 
 
40 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 
 gone out to the shed at the back door to give 
 Jacko his supper. 
 
 “Say, Jack,” said Joe, “what is it you’re 
 going to do? Hunt gophers or salaman- 
 ders ? ” 
 
 “Gophers!” sneered Jack. “What do I 
 
 want with go- 
 pher tortoise? 
 Mother makes 
 the soup, I don’t. 
 And I ain’t going 
 to hunt salaman- 
 ders, either. It 
 ain’t any of these, 
 — it s Indians ! ” 
 “Indians ? ” 
 cried the others. 
 “ Whyyoucan’t.” 
 “ Why can’t I ? 
 I’ve got a gun, 
 and plenty of 
 shot, and it’s night, and they don t know I 
 am on their trail. Besides, it ain t Indians, 
 exactly, it’s Bijou. I’m going to look for 
 Bijou. I don’t say the Indians have got him, 
 but, if they have, they’ve got to give him up, 
 whether old Tiger Tail makes them or not.” 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 4 1 
 
 “ When are you going ? ” said the big 
 Cracker, full of the great scheme that re- 
 flected so much of the old hero for whom 
 his youngest brother had been called. 
 
 “Right now; to-night,” said Jack. “Soon’s 
 I can load up and fix.” 
 
 There was a slight hesitation, very slight, 
 however, on the part of the middle Cracker. 
 
 “ I don’t think mother would qiiite like to let 
 us,” he faltered. 
 
 “If you’re afraid, stay at home,” said Jack. 
 “ We’re, Joe and I, going to wait till every- 
 body is asleep, so as not to make mother 
 uneasy, and then take our guns, and slip off 
 in the moonlight. It is bright as day these 
 nights, — just the nights for spying Indians.” 
 
 “ Besides,” said Joe, “ I don’t believe 
 mother would care. She said we were to 
 be pioneers, and learn to shoot, and ride, and 
 to protect ourselves and her. She hates a 
 coward, — I’ve heard her say so dozens of 
 times. If we are brave enough to fight 
 Indians who steal our horses, and murder 
 our hands that father brought from Alabama, 
 she wouldn’t try to keep us from it. I know 
 mother.” 
 
 “Yes, we know mother,” said Jack, “and 
 
4 2 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 we know ourselves, Joe and I do, and we 
 are going off to rescue Bijou and the men.” 
 “ Suppose — we get lost ? ” said James, yield- 
 ing at last to the thrilling temptation, — for 
 what boy hasn’t been fired with a desire to 
 fight Indians at some time in his life? To be 
 sure, they were farther removed than were 
 these against whom the three daring little 
 Crackers were planning a crusade, yet they 
 doubtless seemed very near and very real to 
 the readers of Fenimore Cooper, and the 
 lovers of old Kit Carson. “ Suppose we get 
 lost in the hammock somewhere ? ” 
 
 “ Can’t,” said Jack. “ Didn’t you hear father 
 say how plain the road was ? ” 
 
 “ Boys ! ” the Mate opened the door and 
 called. The silence which followed their 
 “Yes, mother,” might have argued their con- 
 sciences were not altogether as satisfied upon 
 the subject of their mother’s approval of the 
 plan on foot, as their nimble tongues and 
 boyish fancies would have made believe. 
 
 “ Boys, bring Polly in, and see that there is 
 wood in the kitchen for morning. And don't 
 forget the water. Remember, mother is cook 
 until the wagons come.” 
 
 They went about their duties cheerfully, 
 
COL ALTO, INDIANS, BIJOU. 43 
 
 and with alacrity, and, when all was ready, and 
 the clock in the Mate’s room had struck eight, 
 they crept away to their beds, their plans all 
 perfected, to wait until the father and mother 
 should fall asleep before starting out upon 
 their raid against the Indians. 
 
 True, there was no danger to be appre- 
 hended in that line, though there were dan- 
 gers, frightful and unseen, threatening the 
 little adventurers, who, as yet, were strangers 
 to the wild Florida forest and its inhabitants. 
 
4 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 
 
 The Captain seemed unusually wide-awake 
 that night, the three boys in the big room 
 joining the sitting-room thought. 
 
 And the Mate had fallen asleep in her chair 
 (they could see her through the open door, by 
 stretching their bodies as far out of bed as 
 possible) three different times, and each time 
 had awakened with a little low laugh to tell 
 some joke upon some one of the three little 
 Crackers. 
 
 “ Captain,” she roused up once to say, 
 “ those boys remind me of a bric-a-brac col- 
 lector, in the way they pick up odd bits of 
 English, if it be English. I heard the wee 
 Cracker, to-day, telling how many deer Mr. 
 Bus Joiner had ‘skint.’ And the middle 
 Cracker told of a bear that ‘ clomb the pal- 
 metto-trees, and et up the palmetto cabbages.’ 
 While Joe, to crown the list of wonders, 
 
 44 
 
ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 45 
 
 declared that ‘ if the Governor of Alabama 
 should ever drop in on us here like he used to 
 do in Alabama and challenge father to a hunt, 
 he meant to bet him he couldn’t shoot wild 
 ducks on the flew to the equal of Bus Joiner, 
 who shot ’em on the flew easy as nothing.’ ” 
 
 The Captain laughed ; he knew the Mate 
 would, by and by, straighten out the English, 
 and it was funny to hear the little Crackers 
 experiment with the dialect of Mr. Joiner. 
 
 The Captain went on with his reading ; for 
 there was but one boat each week, and the 
 
46 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 steamer that came that day had brought in a 
 packet of papers and letters. 
 
 The steamer came up the Ocklawaha from 
 Jacksonville, and they must rely upon this for 
 everything until, so the Mate said, the railroad 
 came ; or else the orange trade should become 
 heavy enough to demand a daily steamer by 
 which to ship the fruit. 
 
 Another castle, the Captain said ; buthe, too, 
 had built great hopes upon this castle, as well 
 as the Mate, who had fallen to nodding again 
 while the Captain read. 
 
 Suddenly she started up. 
 
 “ Did you hear anything ? ” she asked. “ Any- 
 thing moving in the boys’ room ? ” 
 
 The Captain listened a moment. 
 
 “ No,” said he. “ All seems to be quiet in 
 there.” 
 
 “ I thought I heard moving,” said the Mate. 
 “ Cautious moving, as of some one carefully 
 trying to walk about without being heard. 
 The boys are asleep, I suppose ? ” 
 
 “ Long ago,” said the Captain. “ What 
 could keep their tongues still beside ? And 
 I believe I shall follow their example. I am 
 tired out with rooting up palmetto sprouts.” 
 The Captain was true to his word ; in a 
 
ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 
 
 47 
 
 little while he was fast asleep, and the last 
 light in the log house on the hill had ceased 
 to shine. 
 
 But the Mate could not sleep ; the drowsi- 
 ness that had caused her to nod in the bm 
 
 O 
 
 armchair was all gone. That sound of cau- 
 tious, bare, or muffled footsteps heard in the 
 boys’ room still disturbed her thoughts and 
 drove sleep from her eyelids. She attempted 
 in vain to reason herself into content and quiet 
 again. 
 
 “They are good boys,” she told herself; 
 “ they would not be guilty of any disobedient 
 or unmanly tricks.” 
 
 But this did not bring sleep. Finally she 
 arose and went to the window, for, although 
 the month was January, the weather was warm, 
 and the window — secured against the armies 
 of blind mosquitoes that inhabit the lake 
 regions — stood wide open. 
 
 Below, beyond the clearing just made in the 
 hammock, stretched the quiet waters of the 
 lake ; the lake that in the daylight responded 
 to each touch of sunshine by ten thousand 
 thousand sparkling dimples. 
 
 In the soft light of the moon its beauty was 
 no less perfect, only that it was a gentle, sub- 
 
48 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 dued beauty, like the beauty of some people 
 who have grappled with life’s misfortunes until 
 the struggle has made their faces strong, and 
 calm, and confident; the very best of all 
 beauty. 
 
 It had a melancholy about it, too, — that still, 
 moon-mellowed water. Beyond it was her old 
 home, her kindred, her first friends. Then it 
 set her thinking of another vast stream that 
 rolled between her and that other home ; the 
 last home she would sail away to when done 
 with all earthly dwellings. 
 
 Thinking of these things, she forgot her 
 uneasiness, and when she crept back to the 
 Captain’s side at last, it was to drop into a 
 quiet sleep, dreamless and undisturbed. 
 
 Meanwhile, where were the three little 
 Crackers, and what were they about ? 
 
 After waiting as long and as patiently as 
 they considered it possible to wait, they de- 
 cided, in whispers, to steal out at the back 
 door while their parents were still awake. Joe 
 had taken the leadership now, as was usually 
 the case. It was Jack who suggested or con- 
 ceived the wonderful adventures, Joe who 
 executed, to a certain extent, and then it fell 
 to James to take matters in hand, and either 
 
ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 
 
 49 
 
 push them safely through or else to engineer a 
 wise retreat. 
 
 The first thing to be clone was to set the 
 door ajar. The doors were never locked at 
 night, so there were no qualms of conscience 
 as to subjecting their parents to any danger 
 through leaving them open. The guns were 
 set carefully outside, propped against the cabin 
 wall. 
 
 The Crackers made their other simple prep- 
 arations hastily and noiselessly. Joe tiptoed 
 in his bare feet to the chair of clothes, and 
 tossed two suits to the two boys in bed. They 
 slipped into these without leaving the bed, 
 while Joe was getting into his, after having 
 carried three pairs of shoes and stockings to 
 a place of convenience beside the door where 
 they could seize them in passing, and put them 
 on when they were safe on their journey. It 
 was the scraping of James’s shoes against the 
 door, as the owner went out with them in his 
 hand, that had reached Mrs. Parish’s ear, and 
 well-nigh upset their plans, spoiling the whole 
 adventure. 
 
 At last, however, they were out; the moon 
 shone bright enough; a typical night, as Jack 
 had said, “ for spying Indians,” provided the 
 
50 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Indians were not disposed to a similar amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 Below them, like a sea of silver, lay the lake, 
 with that one clearing, made by their father’s 
 men, opening to the white kaolin shore. 
 Around them closed the hammock lands:- a 
 gray wall of forest, with the gray moss, wrapped 
 from tree to tree, and from bough to bough, 
 swaying lightly in the soft lake breeze, until it 
 appeared as if the entire forest were gently 
 rocking itself to rest in the night wind. 
 
 Directly through this jungle ran a long, 
 straight road, the only opening to be seen. 
 
 “Father was right,” said Joe: “there’s no 
 mistaking the road.” 
 
 “ But I wish it didn’t go through that ,” said 
 James, indicating the hammock; “it looks too 
 wildcatty to suit my taste.” 
 
 “ Will you hush? ” exclaimed Joe. “ If you 
 expect to find thieving Indians stretched out 
 in the moonlight waiting to be scalped, you’ll 
 find yourself on a mighty cold trail, as Mr. 
 Joiner says. We’ve got to plow right through 
 that hammock, and we don’t want any wildcat 
 tales to help us on.” 
 
 “ S’pose one should come, anyhow?” said 
 Jack, who, having donned his shoes and stock- 
 
ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 
 
 51 
 
 in£s, began to feel that the real adventure was 
 now truly close upon them. 
 
 Joe interpreted the suggestion to mean an 
 ebbing of courage, so he said, slyly : 
 
 “ Well, if it does, I’m afraid poor Bijou will 
 be et up before we can get there.” 
 
 Jack’s courage came bounding back on the 
 instant, for Bijou was his own special property. 
 
 “ Oh, hurry up ! ” he exclaimed. “ I’m not 
 afraid of a little woods-lot like this. Joe! 
 James! Do come on and save poor Bijou.” 
 And, following Jack’s lead, they entered the 
 hammock, each Cracker grasping his small 
 gun firmly, and each Cracker ready to die for 
 his sake on the instant. At least, each one 
 thought so. 
 
 “It’s awfully still,” said Jack; “seems like 
 you could hear our feet a mile off.” 
 
 “Don’t talk,” said Joe; “it might make — 
 might scare the Indians off.” 
 
 For a few minutes there was silence, save 
 for the almost inaudible sound of their feet 
 sinking into the soft, white sand, — the sound 
 which “ might be heard a mile off.” 
 
 “ I wish we had brought Mr. Bus J’iner 
 along,” said James. “ He likes to hunt In- 
 dians, I reckon, for I asked him yesterday if 
 
5 2 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 he did, and he said he ‘ ain’t jist p’intedly 
 ever fit any, so to speak, but he liked to hunt 
 better’n pizen.’ ” 
 
 “ Maybe he’s out in the woods somewhere 
 now,” said the big Cracker. And the sugges- 
 tion gave new courage to his followers, as he 
 had intended it should. Silence again. Then 
 Jack, inconsistent little Cracker that he was, 
 spoiled, absolutely wrecked, the entire adven- 
 ture, robbing it utterly of its glory by saying : 
 “ I wonder what mother is doing right 
 now ? ” 
 
 “Didn’t I tell you not to talk?” said Joe. 
 “ Maybe you want Bijou et up by Indians.” 
 Nobody spoke after that, for more than 
 half an hour. Yet, though they tramped 
 on bravely to all appearances, in each little 
 Cracker’s heart there was a thought which 
 neither their ambition to shine as heroes, nor 
 their affection for the endangered Bijou could 
 put aside : 
 
 “ What is mother doing ? ” 
 
 One of life’s great lessons had come to them 
 there in the wilderness, thoughtless little wan- 
 derers, had they but known it. It is not what 
 we ourselves suffer at the moment of our 
 keenest sorrow that makes it so hard to bear; 
 
THE THREE LITTLE CRACKERS STARTED OUT TO HUNT 
 INDIANS. 
 
ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 
 
 55 
 
 among different 
 
 but it is the reflection that, but for some 
 careless or sinful act of our own, we might, 
 and happier surroundings, 
 be with those we love. 
 
 The three little 
 Crackers tramped on in 
 silence. Suddenly they 
 stopped still, each heart 
 o-ave a bound, and each 
 un was utterly forgot- 
 ten as a wild, shrill cry 
 
 arose 
 on the 
 
 night, from the 
 jungle upon 
 their left. 
 
 Once, twice, 
 and three times ! 
 
 And then every 
 
 single one of them broke and ran before the 
 
 O 
 
 awful cry of “ Wildcats ! ” 
 
 Without thinking of their course, they had, 
 
56 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 however, run forward, possibly because the 
 cat had cried from the brake slightly in their 
 rear. 
 
 It was James who finally restored something 
 like order in the ranks, but it was when they 
 were beyond the sound of the hungry cat’s 
 voice. 
 
 The boys were willing enough to turn back, 
 but they were not willing to pass that jungle. 
 Joe was for breaking a way around to the lake, 
 and following that until they reached home. 
 
 “ That means to get lost,” said James. 
 “We’ll do nothing of the kind. Besides, we 
 couldn’t get through to save our lives. I 
 tried it with Mr. J’iner. He says ‘no man 
 living can get through a Florida hammock 
 without an axe.’ No, sir, we’re in it, we’ve 
 got to make the best of it. We’ve got to 
 either stay here, press on, or turn back. 
 There’s no sense staying here to be et up 
 by wildcats.” 
 
 “ Don’t talk,” said Joe, softly. 
 
 “I will talk,” declared the middle Cracker; 
 “it’s talking keeps off scare, anyhow. There's 
 no sense staying here, /ain’t going back that 
 road until Miss Cat has had her breakfast. 
 Jack, are you whimpering? Well, you sit here 
 
ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 57 
 
 and cry, while I go on and save Bijou. Maybe 
 I can do it by myself.” 
 
 And then the adventure passed, as usual, 
 into James’s hands. When James set about 
 “ making the best of things,” the others always 
 retired into the ranks of the privates. 
 
 He began by, as he expressed it, “ setting up 
 a tune.” That is to say, he whistled , , that boy- 
 ish dodge for fear, and anger, and heartache. 
 God bless the boy who can stifle his wrongs 
 and unrest’ in an innocent, cheery whistle ! 
 
 The others could only stare in amazement 
 while they listened. It seemed such a daring 
 thing to do, as if inviting all the wild things 
 of the forest to an attack. 
 
 They tramped on this way for about a 
 quarter of a mile farther, each Cracker grasp- 
 ing his gun firmly once more, and each ready 
 to run at the word boo ! 
 
 Then the leader stopped, — among the pal- 
 mettoes there was a commotion of some strange 
 description. Something was ripping away the 
 leaves and bark, to an accompaniment of a 
 low, delighted growl. 
 
 “Bear,” said Joe; “he is getting the pal- 
 metto cabbage.” 
 
 O 
 
 “Easy, now,” commanded James; “the cab- 
 
58 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 bage may satisfy him, and it may not. You 
 may tip it through here.” 
 
 But they found it necessary to “ tip it ” 
 farther than they had expected, for ever and 
 anon the sound of the ripping away of bark 
 came to them as they passed near a group of 
 palmettoes. 
 
 At last the moon disappeared, and then, 
 indeed, the full significance of their adventure 
 dawned upon them. 
 
 “ If we could only get to the opening before 
 it is entirely dark,” said James, “there will not 
 be any danger, except from Indians. And if 
 they attack us we can’t treat them like we did 
 the cat, — we’ve got to fight'.' 
 
 They did reach the opening while there was 
 a glimmer of moonlight. Before them lay a 
 stretch of open marsh-land, from the centre of 
 which came the uncertain glimmer of water. 
 A lakelet, they supposed it to be, but Mr. Bus 
 Joiner had told them so much of the dangers 
 that clustered about these beautiful but treach- 
 erous pools, they decided not to venture any 
 nearer, but to remain where they were until 
 daylight. 
 
 This was easier said than done, for behind 
 them, in the dreadful hammock, they could still 
 
ADVENTURES AND A RESCUE. 59 
 
 “ hear sounds,” which they did not dare to 
 interpret. 
 
 They spoke in whispers, resolved upon but 
 one thing surely : if a bear should attack them, 
 they meant to kill it. 
 
 Day was breaking when a noise overhead 
 caused them to look up. 
 
 From the top of an oak-tree, which had prob- 
 ably been a storehouse for wild bees, coming- 
 straight at them, with business in every move- 
 ment, they saw an ugly, full-grown she bear. 
 
 There was consternation indeed. Jack 
 dropped his gun and showed, distinctly 
 showed, flight. James was the first to grasp 
 the situation fully, and his well-balanced brain 
 responded at once to the necessity of action. 
 He grasped his own weapon a trifle more 
 firmly, and, turning to Jack, said, with a great 
 show of authority, pointing to the gun : 
 
 “ Pick it up ! ” 
 
 Which order was promptly obeyed. 
 
 “ Now,” continued James, “when she starts 
 towards us don’t anybody shoot but Joe. Joe 
 is our best shot. Hit her in the eye, Joe, then 
 I’ll follow if you should miss her. Then Jack 
 can come. All ready there ! There she comes ! 
 Joe, why — don’t — you shoot?” 
 
6o 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 And then, as the bear turned towards them, 
 with a half grinning “ good morning, break- 
 fast,” in her face, the three Crackers dropped 
 their guns and took to their heels, while the 
 bear trotted lazily back into the hammock. 
 
 Verily, the boys ran as for their lives. 
 They ran with such vehemence and with such 
 energy that they almost ran into a small caravan 
 that was headed towards the hammock through 
 which they had made their night march. 
 
 The caravan had evidently stopped for 
 breakfast beside the lakelet, though in the 
 uncertain light the boys noticed nothing 
 except that there were men, Indians, perhaps, 
 in the crowd. 
 
 “Down in the grass !” commanded James; 
 “ that’s the way to fight Indians, always. We’ll 
 have to snake it back to our guns and then fight. ’ 
 
 “ Where’s the grass ? ” laughed Jack. “ Oh, 
 but you’re a dandy fighter not to know our ” 
 (Jack had heard a familiar sound coming from 
 the group of supposed savages) “ Bijou from a 
 horrid redskin ! ” 
 
 And, with a shout, the adventurers rushed 
 upon the caravan, where, indeed, pretty Bijou, 
 the beloved pony, safe from Indian malice, was 
 waiting; to welcome his master. 
 
 O 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 VISITORS : CRACKER VS. CRACKER. 
 
 Affairs were progressing satisfactorily and 
 pleasantly at Col Alto. The weather was 
 delightful, “ delicious,” the Mate said, and in 
 the cabin on the hill there was an air of home 
 already, now that the household furniture had 
 arrived ; there was a cow in the stable, a 
 wagon under the shed, two mules in the field, 
 two rowboats on the lake, Bijou in his stall, 
 and plenty of hands in “ the grove.” For 
 already the cleared ground, that had been a 
 hammock six months before, was spoken of 
 now as “ the grove.” A small lakelet at the 
 foot of the hill on the south side, had been 
 converted into a fish-pond. And just beyond 
 that, the Captain had set his banana grove. 
 
 The Crackers had confined their adventures 
 to daylight since their crusade against the 
 Indians, or else in close company with their 
 friend, Mr. Joiner, whose only business in life 
 
 61 
 
62 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 seemed to be scouring the woods for game, or 
 the palmetto cabbage, that delicious vegetable, 
 free to all, man and beast, who care to have it, 
 or else fishing in the lake for the trout so 
 abundant in those waters. 
 
 The Indian crusade was a sore subject with 
 the boys for a long time. 
 
 Somebody had written about it to Alabama, 
 for, in every letter received from Aunt Lizzie, 
 inquiry was made as to whether there had 
 been any more “crusades against the Indians,” 
 and she spoke for a “ wampum belt ” for her 
 cabinet of curiosities, whenever the crusaders 
 felt they had enough to spare her one. 
 
 As to who wrote, it wasn’t possible to say. 
 They half doubted it was their mother, for she 
 had seemed so sober when the exploit had first 
 come to light, and had impressed it so soundly 
 upon them that anything , adventure or ven- 
 ture, requiring such secrecy as theirs had 
 required, savored , to say the least of it, of 
 wrong. 
 
 “ Daylight is always the best light in which 
 to undertake doubtful measures,” she told 
 them ; and then kissed them all around, and 
 went out with them to pat pretty little Bijou, 
 and to drop a tear or two on his white coat, 
 
VISITORS : CRACKER VS. CRACKER. 63 
 
 when nobody was looking, — a tear for the 
 old days in pleasant Alabama. 
 
 Then Mr. Bus Joiner had had a word to say 
 in regard to the adventure, when he came 
 over the next day to “fetch a couple o’ duck 
 meat ” he had “ kilt on the flew,” and had 
 been told of the midnight raid against the 
 reds. 
 
 “ Stayed all night in the swammock, did 
 ye? Waal, I’m proper glad a ’gator didn’t 
 get ye, or a painter. The swammocks air 
 plumb swarmin’ with painters, an’ catamounts, 
 an’ yother wil’ meat. Wonder ye didn’t git 
 yersives et up. Swammocks is fur varmints, 
 not folkses, — less’n they-uns wants ter hunt; 
 then it be the fittenest place top side o’ crea- 
 tion, I reckin. How many Injuns did you-alls 
 kill, anyhow ? ” 
 
 The Crackers grew very tired of the raid 
 before they heard the last of it. And it was 
 a long time before they heard the last of it, 
 there being so little news, and therefore so 
 little else to talk about. 
 
 But one day it entered into the brain of 
 “ Mr. Bus J’iner” to carry out a threat of some 
 standing, — to “ fotch his fambly over fore 
 shortly ” to pay them a visit. And the visit 
 
6 4 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 did, much to the delight of the three little 
 Crackers, turn the tide of talk, for quite a 
 while, into other channels. 
 
 It was one busy morning, when the Mate 
 was giving orders concerning the flower-gar- 
 
 den she was about to have laid off, and the 
 Crackers were waiting for William, the hired 
 boy, who had followed them from Alabama, 
 to take them out upon the lake. William 
 was teaching them to row, an accomplish- 
 
VISITORS : CRACKER VS. CRACKER. 65 
 
 ment to which, the negro declared, they took 
 like ducks to water. 
 
 They were impatient to be off, and, in con- 
 sequence, were making themselves generally 
 unpleasant company about the place. 
 
 “Uncle James promised to meet us at the 
 Point at nine o’clock,” said Joe. “And it is 
 already past eight. Mother, can't William 
 come now ? ” 
 
 The Mate lifted her head from the bed 
 she was laying off with a slender little gar- 
 den rake. There was a decided spirit in the 
 manner in which the head moved, and a very 
 decided look about the eyes, when once the 
 head was well up. Then, on the instant, 
 the decided look vanished, and in its stead 
 came one of wonder, not unmixed with mirth, 
 while she asked, her eyes fixed upon the road : 
 
 “ What is it ? What on earth can it be ? ” 
 
 All eyes were instantly turned upon the ad- 
 vancing wonder. It consisted of a horse, a 
 long, lank claybank, familiar to their mem- 
 ories as having helped them from the landing 
 the day of their arrival, upon which was 
 mounted Mr. Bus Joiner. There was a 
 familiar tinkle of the cow-bell, too, as the 
 claybank tossed her head. 
 
66 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 There was a new wagon, with “ sure enough” 
 wheels, but minus a bed. Perched upon a pole 
 sat a queer little woman, short, fat, and jolly- 
 looking. She wore a short blue “ kaliker 
 coat ” that showed her feet and ankles, and 
 the “ split ” sunbonnet tied about her ears 
 did not conceal the laughing, good-natured 
 face of the Cracker’s wife. 
 
 I 
 
 There were the two boys, Jake and Luke, 
 perched upon some other part of the wagon, 
 “ wrapped around just like Jacko,” the middle 
 Cracker whispered Joe, as the boys began to 
 unwrap , and the driver, or rider, called “ Whoa, 
 thar,” to the blind mare. He stepped cau- 
 tiously down from the claybank, and the Mate 
 gave herself a vigorous pinch before she went 
 down to the gate to meet “ the family.” 
 
 There were two boys in the family, — two 
 “ wild goats,” the Mate called them after they 
 left, — and so the trip on the lake had to be 
 abandoned for that morning. 
 
 The Crackers felt very like rebelling, but a 
 look from the Mate, and a fear of offending 
 their old friend, who had piloted them through 
 the “jingles” and the “ swam mocks,” and who 
 had promised them further adventures, both 
 by land and water, restrained them. 
 
visitors: cracker vs. cracker. 67 
 
 While the Mate entertained Mrs. Joiner in 
 the sitting-room, the little Crackers took the 
 boys around the place to see “ you-allses things,” 
 as they had requested them to do. 
 
 They had no sooner appeared at the back 
 door, however, than Polly set up a cry of : 
 
 “You’re a Cracker! You’re a Cracker! 
 Ha! ha! ha!” And one of the Joiner boys 
 threw a lemon peel at her, striking her on 
 the head, which so enraged the little Cracker 
 that he would have rolled up his sleeves and 
 avenged the insult to Polly then and there but 
 for James’s interference. 
 
 “Come on away, Jack,” said James; “you 
 can’t fight company.” 
 
 “ Then company can’t fight Polly,” declared 
 the namesake of Old Hickory. “ Manners is 
 manners, and company is company.” 
 
 “Well, come on and see the monkey,” said 
 James, and the quarrel was soon forgotten in 
 the antics of Jacko, who grinned and chattered, 
 and rubbed his stomach, and reached his long 
 arm out in an effort to touch the tangle of yel- 
 low hair that crowned the heads of the visitors. 
 
 “Kin hit bite?” asked Jake, the oldest of 
 the Joiners. 
 
 “ Put your finger in his mouth and see,” said 
 
68 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 J ack ; upon which the little brown fingers were 
 extended towards the monkey with such inno- 
 cent enjoyment that Joe sprang forward and 
 jerked them away before the delighted Jacko 
 could touch them. 
 
 “ Don’t you know any better than that ? ” he 
 demanded. “ Why, he’d make sausage meat of 
 you in no tim e,just” 
 
 “ He felled me ter,” said the boy, pointing to 
 Jack, who had rolled over on the ground to 
 laugh. 
 
 “Have to do everything you’re ‘felled,’ I 
 reckon,” said Jack. “Well, then, I tell you to 
 wash your hands when you go home ; they 
 need it.” 
 
 “ Jack,” said Joe, “ if you don’t let up, I’ll tell 
 mother. You know these boys don’t know any 
 better.” 
 
 An apology which threatened to do more 
 damage than Jack’s advice had done, until 
 James hurried a second time to the rescue. 
 
 “ Let’s go to see Bijou ! ” he exclaimed, as if 
 the bright idea had but just come to him, and 
 Bijou’s stall had not been from the outset the 
 very point of all interest towards which they 
 were making their -way, — via , so to speak, 
 Jacko, Polly, and the fish-pond. 
 
VISITORS : CRACKER VS. CRACKER. 69 
 
 “ Let’s show them Bijou, — they’re bound to 
 like Bijou,” said James. 
 
 And like him they did, — what boy doesn’t 
 like a fat, fleet-footed pony ? Bijou was one 
 of the very fattest and fleetest that ever set 
 hoof on Florida sand. The visitors were so 
 delighted with the pet that Jack’s feelings 
 concerning Polly were entirely soothed. 
 
 “ He’s a slicker,” said Jake ; “ yer jes’ bet he’s 
 a slicker. Kin hit trot ? ” 
 
 “ Trot ? ” said Jack. “ He can trot and pace, 
 and single-foot, and lope , and run.” 
 
 The visitors opened their eyes in admiration. 
 Luke, the younger boy, put out his hand and 
 patted Bijou’s nose, at which the pony lifted 
 its head and bit at the crop of yellow hair that 
 had so fascinated Jacko. 
 
 “ Oh ! ” said Luke. “ You git back.” 
 
 The boys laughed aloud. 
 
 “Mistook it for hay,” said Joe. “Better 
 keep your crop out of sight.” 
 
 At this the boys again showed fight. It 
 was very plain the imported Crackers and the 
 genuine Crackers would never stand upon 
 friendly relations. 
 
 “ Hit’s tricky, anyhow,” said Jake. But this 
 toss of the gauntlet fell unheeded, for James, 
 
?o 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 quietly stroking the pony’s pretty neck, said, 
 caressingly : 
 
 “ He’s an Alabamian, he is. He’s got good 
 blood in him. Like to try him ? ” 
 
 The question created excitement enough, 
 but finally the visitors admitted they would 
 just like to “take a set on his back a minute, 
 case’n they were afeard o’ strange nags.” 
 
 Afraid indeed. It required all possible coax- 
 ing to induce them to mount. Bijou was led 
 outside, and, after much persuasion, the visitors 
 allowed themselves to be “ histed up to hit’s 
 back.” 
 
 No sooner were they up than Jack, who had 
 been waiting the opportunity, whistled, and 
 gave the pony a slight prick in the side. 
 
 It was quite enough for the restless Bijou. 
 He set off at a brisk trot towards the lake, 
 the frightened boys clinging to his neck and 
 to each other, screaming “Paw! Paw! Maw! 
 Aw, paw ! Run here, paw ! Quick ! ” while 
 the others stood, holding their sides with 
 laughter. 
 
 O 
 
 Out came the Mate, Mr. Joiner, and his 
 wife, while William left the flower-bed and ran 
 to rescue the frightened riders. 
 
 The Mate had a suspicion as to how matters 
 
HE SET OFF AT A BRISK TROT, . . . THE FRIGHTENED BOYS CLINGING TO HIS NECK. 
 
VISITORS : CRACKER VS. CRACKER. 
 
 73 
 
 stood, and quickly despatched William, who 
 caught the pony and released the boys. 
 
 But in the minds of the Joiner parents there 
 was never a hint of treachery on the part of 
 the three little Crackers. 
 
 “ Them young-uns o’ ourn is venturesome,” 
 the father declared. “ I ’lows they ull git 
 inter mischief yit, ef they ain’t keerful, an’ git 
 the’r necks broke ; an’ then they ull see ez 
 they ain’t so smart ez they lays they be.” 
 
 The Mate had sent the hired man to take 
 the boys out in the boats. 
 
 “ Put Jack and Joe in one skiff, and in the 
 other take James and the two Joiners,” had 
 been the directions. “ Under no circumstances 
 allow Jack and the Joiners to go out in the 
 same boat. Joe can row one, and you must 
 go in the other. No matter what the boys 
 say, these are the only conditions upon which 
 they can go on the lake.” 
 
 So “ upon these conditions ” they went. It 
 was the first time the Joiners had ever been in 
 a boat, but it was not the last, by any means. 
 
 Whether it is boy-nature to “ take to water,” 
 I am unable to say, but that row with the 
 three little Crackers opened their souls to the 
 delights of the water to such a degree that 
 
74 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 they soon learned to row, and more than once 
 in the days that followed, when a rowboat was 
 missing, the cry might be heard coming from 
 the neighborhood of the landing, “ The Joiners 
 have got my boat.” A trespass which served 
 to broaden the breach which their first meeting 
 had made and which all time was destined never 
 to heal. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 
 
 If there was one thing the Captain and his 
 wife had endeavored to impress upon the boys 
 more than another, it was the danger to be 
 apprehended from alligators. 
 
 The lake was full of them, as indeed were 
 many of the lakelets ; those little harmless- 
 looking pools that are to be found in any 
 of the low, marshy lands in which Florida 
 abounds. The three little Crackers were 
 encouraged to fish, hunt, and row; but swim- 
 ming in the lake was emphatically forbidden. 
 
 The only one who ever thought of disre- 
 garding these admonitions was Bijou, whose 
 special delight, whenever he managed to escape 
 the stall, was to take a plunge in the lake, 
 swim around awhile, and then come out again 
 with a shake of his glossy head, as if the for- 
 bidden pleasure had been a special delight. 
 
 “ The blind alligator will get him some day,” 
 
 75 
 
76 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 the Captain said, whenever such a disobedience 
 on the part of Bijou was reported. “ The old 
 blind alligator will get him yet, if he doesn’t 
 keep out of that lake.” 
 
 The blind alligator was a great, ugly crea- 
 ture that had been seen by the natives for 
 years lying along the lake shore, warming 
 himself in the sunshine on the white kaolin 
 banks. Frequently he had been shot at, 
 although nobody had succeeded in killing the 
 pest, whose depredations were becoming both 
 frequent and alarming, and whose teeth, Mr. 
 Joiner declared, would “fetch a round sum 
 down to the Jacksonville jeweller shop.” 
 
 The creature was totally blind, and was sup- 
 posed to be deaf as well, since it had been 
 known to lie asleep on the lake’s shore until 
 almost stumbled upon by passers along the 
 shore. 
 
 Many sins were laid to the charge of the 
 blind alligator. Missing pigs, a crippled cow, 
 a butchered calf, always called forth the ex- 
 clamation : 
 
 “ The blind alligator has been around here !” 
 Yet, strange to say, nobody had killed him, 
 though to be sure the demand for alligator 
 skin and teeth was not at that time what it is 
 
THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 77 
 
 to-day. Neither were huntsmen so plentiful 
 on the Florida waters. 
 
 One afternoon word came from the Point 
 that Uncle James was ill, and the Mate at once 
 set out about making preparations to go over 
 to see her brother. 
 
 When all was ready, she sent William to 
 tell the Captain 
 that he was 
 wanted to drive 
 with her over to 
 the Point. 
 
 The Captain 
 brought the in- 
 formation that 
 the horses were 
 at the “far grove,” 
 the mules gone 
 to Okahumpka, 
 and even Bijou 
 had been ridden by one of the colored boys on 
 the place to the sawmill on the Ocklawaha 
 River, to inquire about some delayed lumber. 
 
 “ Let’s walk over,” said the Mate ; “ it is not 
 far.” 
 
 “ But sand-spurs,” replied the Captain. “ You 
 would never get there for the sand-spurs.” 
 
78 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 “Well, then, let us row over; there are the 
 boats,” said the Mate, nothing daunted by 
 obstacles. 
 
 “ The boys have gone over to Long Island 
 in the boats, to hunt Indian relics with Mr. 
 Joiner.” 
 
 The Mate tapped her forehead with her fore- 
 finger, a gesture which meant that her think- 
 ing-cap was on. 
 
 “ Where is the section boat ? ” she asked, 
 when the cap had set a moment. 
 
 “ Why, Sue,” said the Captain, “ you don’t 
 mean to say you will risk yourself on the lake 
 in that crazy old section boat ? ” 
 
 “ It seems to be all that is left,” laughed the 
 Mate, “so if you will row me, I will risk it.” 
 
 “Well,” said the Captain, “I can pull as 
 long as she holds together, but she is a risky, 
 rickety concern. A big fish could almost upset 
 her ; and so if sbe lands us both on the bottom 
 of the lake, don’t say / did it.” 
 
 “I’ll not,” replied the Mate. “If we upset 
 and get ourselves ‘drowndead,’ as Mr. Joiner 
 puts it, I’ll promise not to say one word about 
 
 A few minutes later they left the landing in 
 the section boat, a light little skiff made in two 
 
THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 
 
 79 
 
 sections for convenience, when it was necessary 
 to carry a skiff in the wagon to any distant 
 point on the water where a boat would be 
 needed. 
 
 These sections were held together when in 
 use by means of iron rods, which passed through 
 the parts, holding them securely in place. Only 
 two people, “scant two ” the Mate said, could 
 occupy it at the same time ; and then, as she 
 further declared, “ it rocked like a cradle on 
 the treetop.” 
 
 Fortunately, however, the lake was still ; 
 the afternoon was a typical Florida afternoon, 
 — balmy, quiet, dreamful, with the scent of 
 orange blossoms in the air. 
 
 The Captain’s little craft hugged the shore 
 closely, for the Mate insisted on it, saying: 
 “ If we have got to drown, do let it be near 
 home, not so ‘ far away on the deep.’ Dear ! 
 how the little old shell does rock! Reminds 
 me of a sermon I once heard, by an old negro 
 who lived on an Alabama plantation. Fie had 
 for his text Noah’s Ark, and he closed his 
 sermon by saying: ‘ I tell you, brudderin, dis 
 ole work am a ark, lack ole Noey’s wuz. An’ 
 it rock lack his’n, — hit’s a-rockin’ fur de King- 
 dom, fur de Kingdom ; get on de boad, all 
 
8o 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 you what wants ter be saved, fur I tell you de 
 old ark do rock.’ Look out, Captain, you had 
 best pull to the right; there’s an obstruction 
 ahead.” 
 
 “ A what ? ” said the Captain, with a glance 
 over his shoulder. 
 
 “ Oh, nothing more than a big brown log 
 washed up by the wa — Oh, look ! look ! ” 
 
 The Mate pointed to the shore, as she cried 
 out to the Captain to look. 
 
 “ It’s alligators ! Alligators ! Loads of them ! 
 The woods are full of them ! Oh, do look ! ” 
 
 The rower rested his oars while he obeyed 
 the command to look. Upon a strip of low 
 land, where the shore ran down on a level with 
 the water, on the hot, white kaolin, in the 
 afternoon sunshine, lay a great brown alligator, 
 basking; in the g;ood warmth. 
 
 Around him had congregated, of all ages 
 and sizes, to the very smallest, at least forty or 
 fifty others, likewise enjoying the sun. 
 
 “ My ! ” said the Captain, “ they are having a 
 regular picnic out there, all to themselves. 
 Now if the boys could just get at that lay- 
 out — ” 
 
 “ Unless you care to get ‘laid out’ yourself, 
 you had best steer for the open sea,” said the 
 
THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 
 
 8l 
 
 Mate. “ I remember that ‘ a big fish can upset 
 the section boat.’ ” 
 
 “ Pshaw ! ” said the Captain. “ See them 
 scamper at the first intimation of our presence.” 
 
 He dipped the oar in the water, and, sure 
 enough, there was a hasty retreat among the 
 alligators. One by one they dropped back 
 into the water until the very last had disap- 
 peared ; except the big brown fellow that had 
 first attracted their attraction. He remained, 
 upon the bank, his ugly hide glistening in the 
 sun, his great jaws thrust forward until they 
 were half hidden in the coarse swamp grass 
 growing along the lake shore where the land 
 is flat, between the two great bluffs. 
 
 The Mate looked at the brown monster sus- 
 piciously : 
 
 “ What does that mean, my Captain ? ” said 
 she. 
 
 “ It looks as if it means the old fellow is 
 dead; and that his friends and acquaintances 
 of the lake have come to the funeral,” replied 
 the Captain. “ Suppose w r e call by and take 
 an inventory ? ” 
 
 “ Very well,” said the Mate. “ I never heard 
 of alligators being possessed of any very great 
 shrewdness, such as foxes and opossums are 
 
82 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 accredited with, so I suppose the old fellow is 
 truly dead. Pull carefully, Captain, not such 
 heavy strokes ; evenly, evenly ; remember we 
 are in the section boat, and that ‘ a big fish — ’ 
 Oh ! ” 
 
 The Mate uttered a cry of surprised pleasure 
 when the boat had drawn nearer the brown 
 carcass lying on the bank. 
 
 “ Why, Captain,” said she, “ it is the old 
 blind alligator ! the old pig thief ! the old cattle 
 maimer ! the old — old — ” 
 
 “ Gently, wife,” laughed the Captain ; “ he is 
 dead. His faults — ” 
 
 “ And good riddance,” declared the Mate. 
 “ Peace to his leavings, I say, and I truly hope 
 there will now be peace among the stock, now 
 that his highness is dead. Row a little nearer, 
 Captain ; I wish a last, long, comprehensive view 
 of our old terror, so that I may carry an un- 
 abridged report to Bijou of the demise of his 
 old enemy.” 
 
 The Captain pulled the boat around close 
 to the shore, and stopped. They were so 
 close to the alligator they could have touched 
 him with their hands easily, the great, slimy 
 beast that had been the terror of the neighbor- 
 hood for years. 
 
THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 
 
THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 85 
 
 “ Sue,” said the Captain, “ I wish we could 
 manage to tow him home for the boys. What 
 a fuss they would make over that head! Joe 
 buried one last week, for the skull, that was 
 not nearly so fine as this, yet we thought it a 
 fine one.” 
 
 “ And the ivories, too,” said the Mate. “ My 
 vinaigrette ! I don’t doubt there is a splendid 
 one in that great head.” 
 
 “ I am certain of it,” said the Captain. 
 “ Can’t we manage to take him home some- 
 how ? ” 
 
 “Well,” replied the Mate, “ I can’t row, but 
 if you will fasten a line of some kind to the 
 old terror, I will try to tow him back to our 
 lan, diner.” 
 
 O 
 
 “ But a line,” said the Captain; “ I haven’t a 
 line. Let’s see, let’s see ! I must get him 
 home. The boys must have that head, and 
 you your vinaigrette. But how? Put on 
 your thinking-cap, mother.” 
 
 “Well,” said the Mate, “I owe him many 
 and many a grudge. There are wrongs to be 
 avenged in the name of pigs, calves, and what 
 not. Here is my scarf, — take that. It isn’t a 
 new one, but it is a strong one, and long 
 enough to put a little distance between mine 
 
86 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 enemy and me. We will give our young gen- 
 tlemen a start. Now if we had only killed him, 
 instead of picking up his corpse in this way, 
 like the remains of an old wreck the sea has 
 beaten and broken and left stranded on the 
 shore, we might do some very genteel crowing. 
 Ugh! the ugly thing! Give me the oar and I 
 will hold the boat steady while you make the 
 line fast to his head. Ugh ! you old blind 
 beauty, — there’s one for Bijou — ” She gave 
 a vigorous punch, then one shriek, and the 
 oar fell into the bottom of the boat with a 
 great clatter. 
 
 For no sooner did she thrust it into the 
 alligator’s brown side, giving that “ one ” vigor- 
 ous, vengeful prod, than the creature gave a 
 fierce snort, a kind of bull-like bellow, a flop of 
 its great tail, that sent the old section boat 
 spinning out into the lake, and the Captain 
 upon his knees, while he himself dropped back 
 into the water. 
 
 Not quietly, however ; the prod upon his ribs 
 had evidently put him into a great fury. Fie 
 lashed the water with his tail until the white 
 foam and bubbles rose all around the little 
 boat, that was reeling and rocking helplessly 
 before his fury. 
 
THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 
 
 37 
 
 The Captain had seized the oar, but hesi- 
 tated to use it, lest it incite the enemy to a 
 still fiercer attack. One blow of his tail would 
 splinter the light vessel, the Captain knew, or 
 certainly upset it. There was nothing to do but 
 wait, and let the boat drift until out of danger. 
 
 The Mate said never a word, after that one 
 wild shriek, until the excitement was over. 
 She sat quietly in her end of the boat, pale 
 as death, but with a settled determination not 
 to make a very bad situation worse by losing 
 her self-possession. 
 
 But wdien the bellowing at last ceased, and 
 the water became quiet again, the Captain 
 
88 
 
 THREE LITTLE' CRACKERS. 
 
 dipped in the oar and said, a twinkle in his 
 gray eye : 
 
 “ Was the view ‘comprehensive,’ Sue?” Then 
 it was the Mate aroused, and proceeded, in a 
 most vigorous fashion, to resent the recent 
 attack. 
 
 “Just like him,” she declared. “Just like 
 the ugly varmint to be playing ’possum on the 
 bank, pretending to be asleep until we are 
 almost in his very jaws! Oh, dear! just to 
 think how near you were to putting your 
 hands in his mouth ! And how near we both 
 were to going to the bottom of the lake. And 
 how very near we were to a fine skull, and a 
 handsome vinaigrette. Playing ’possum, the 
 sly old beast!” 
 
 “ I think,” said the Captain, “ the creature is 
 deaf, and, therefore, had no intimation of our 
 approach until you punched him in the ribs. 
 At any rate, we will be more careful how we 
 capture dead alligators after this. They might 
 resent the familiarity.” 
 
 “ Reminds me of an old negro who used to 
 live on our plantation when I was a girl,” said 
 the Mate. “He moved to Kansas, along with 
 a score or more of darkies, who had obtained 
 freedom. In a few months the old fellow came 
 
THE OLD BLIND ALLIGATOR. 
 
 89 
 
 back and asked for work. He did not like 
 Kansas, evidently, although all he ever said, 
 when questioned, was that ‘ yer nebber knows 
 what’s what tell yer tries hit.’ So say I. Cap- 
 tain, is that a boat coming across the lake from 
 Long Island ? ” 
 
 Something must be the matter. See ! they 
 are signalling us ! Shall we go to them ? ” 
 
 “ It isn’t a signal of distress,” said the Mate. 
 “ I think we had best not risk the section boat 
 so far from home. Let us wait until they are 
 nearer.” 
 
 In a little while the rowboats, under the vig- 
 
go 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 orous strokes of the boys’ paddles, were in 
 hailing distance. The Crackers were evidently 
 greatly excited, for Joe’s hat was gone, James’s 
 hands were blistered, while Jack’s eyes had a 
 wild, frightened eagerness about them, entirely 
 in keeping with the voice in which he shouted : 
 
 “ Oh, mother, what is it ? What has hap- 
 pened ? We heard you scream ’way over on 
 the island, and came at once. Is anybody 
 hurt, or dead, do tell us quick ? ” 
 
 And then, for the first time, the Mate real- 
 ized how she must indeed have screamed, to 
 be heard over on Long Island. Though never 
 for one moment did she or the Captain fail to 
 realize the extent of the danger to which they 
 had been exposed. 
 
 Nor did the Captain forget to impress upon 
 the boys the fact that they had acted well and 
 wisely in hurrying at once to their mother’s 
 aid, although, as it proved in this case, they 
 could do nothing. 
 
 “ Another time it might be different,” he 
 told them. “ At any rate, never take any 
 chances on a suspected danger. It is better 
 to be deceived many times, than to disregard 
 one real cry for help. This applies to all 
 classes and conditions of life. Remember it.” 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHO STOLE THE BEAR -TRAP? 
 
 Another year marked the continued pros- 
 perity of the family at Col Alto. The wharf 
 had been built, just below the bluff upon 
 which, sometime , the new house was to stand. 
 There were steps, and a long bridge leading 
 down to it, and the steamer called by twice 
 each week. 
 
 The banana stalks were full of fruit, and 
 there were lemons, limes, and sweet oranges 
 in the grove. The Mate had learned to utilize 
 many things that were unknown to her two 
 years before. She had learned that the sour 
 wild oranges made a delicately delicious wine, 
 most agreeable to the sick. 
 
 And after Mr. Joiner had persuaded her to 
 “ bile a few ” palmetto cabbages, and the family 
 had declared it a most delicious dish, she had 
 tried it for pickle and found it equally good ; 
 although she did not encourage the use of 
 
 91 
 
92 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 the palmetto cabbages, since, in order to obtain 
 it, it was necessary to kill the tree, the cabbage 
 consisting of the tender white, nut-like meat, 
 or head, formed in the top of the palmetto-tree. 
 The natives were fond of it, and so, too, were 
 the bears; and so, too, were our Crackers, 
 although it was necessary to fell the tree to get 
 the cabbage ; and, according to the Mate, “ the 
 palmettoes were too handsome to be eaten.” 
 
 The Captain, under her directions, had had 
 a grove of the pretty oriental-looking trees 
 replanted, just to the right of the spot upon 
 which, some day, the new house was to stand. 
 The new house seemed to be getting nearer 
 and nearer all the while, too ; for the Captain 
 had found it necessary to send back to Ala- 
 bama for fifty extra “ hands ” to help in the 
 groves, and that meant prosperity. 
 
 And in the meantime what of the three little 
 Crackers ? Growing in the knowledge of fish- 
 ing, hunting, and trapping ; but how about that 
 other knowledge that hides itself between the 
 covers of books, and must be dug for with a 
 little instrument that is tucked away among 
 tissues and cells, called the brain ? 
 
 The Mate had not forgotten, although she 
 had kept rather quiet about the matter. 
 
WHO STOLE THE BEAR - TRAP ? 93 
 
 One morning, however, she broached the 
 subject to the Captain. 
 
 “ They are getting to be such strong, healthy 
 boys now,” she argued, “ they might go to their 
 books with all safety.” 
 
 “ Give them one more year, mother,” said 
 the Captain ; “ they are young yet, and this 
 half wild life is, as you say, making sturdy 
 lads of them. Give them one more year of 
 freedom, and of sunshine, then we will have 
 a tutor for them. Let them study nature with 
 their friend Joiner one year yet.” 
 
 “ If nature was all they learn of ‘J’iner,’ I 
 would agree very willingly,” laughed the Mate. 
 “ But they are becoming such veritable little 
 Crackers ! Why, only yesterday J oe went down 
 to get his boat, and found it missing. ‘Jake 
 J’iner !’ I heard him tell James, in Mr. Bus 
 Joiner’s own tone and manner; ‘Jake J’iner! I 
 was so mad to find my boat gone that I was 
 fit to fight.’ And James comforted him by ad- 
 mitting that it was indeed the most outdacious- 
 est piece of impudence he ever heard tell on.” 
 
 “ Well,” said the Captain, “ a little dialect 
 more or less can’t do any serious harm. A 
 good tutor will soon regulate all that. Give 
 them another year with Joiner.” 
 
94 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 The little Crackers also begged so hard for 
 “Just one more year, mother.” “We can’t 
 ever be boys again, you know.” “ And we can 
 be men any time, always.” “ Do, mother, dear; 
 don't bring a tutor to Col Alto.” Then Jack 
 settled the matter by reminding the Mate there 
 wasn’t any place for him anyhow until they 
 got the new house, and the yacht that was to 
 be bought at the same time the house was 
 ready. 
 
 “ I am not thinkinsr of housing a tutor in a 
 steam yacht,” said the Mate. “ And as for Col 
 Alto, there are seven rooms. Surely, I can 
 stow him away somewhere, little Cracker.” 
 “But, mother,” said Jack, “there is your 
 room, and there is the sitting-room, and there 
 is the parlor, and the dining-room, our room, 
 and the two company rooms — ” 
 
 “ And what are they for ? ” asked the Mate, 
 with a smile that said, “ Now, sir, you are 
 cornered.” 
 
 “ They are for company,” replied the Cracker. 
 “ They are for the Governor of Alabama when 
 he comes here to go hunting with father.” 
 
 So the matter was dropped for the moment, 
 although the Mate had fully settled it in her 
 own mind that this must be the last year of 
 
WHO STOLE THE BEAR - TRAP ? 95 
 
 freedom — “ ignorance,” she called it — allowed 
 the three little Dixie Crackers. 
 
 It was about this time that the bears and 
 wildcats, with which the hammocks abounded, 
 began to be a great nuisance. 
 
 The young pigs that disappeared, the 
 chickens, and turkeys, caused much annoy- 
 ance to the Captain’s wife. But when the 
 tender young bananas began to disappear as 
 fast as they ripened, the Captain himself awoke 
 to the necessity of taking steps to catch the 
 depredators. 
 
 One morning he came down to the pond 
 where the Mate was helping the Crackers catch 
 minnows, with which to bait their hooks for 
 trout. 
 
 He wore a very long face, and the Mate, 
 who often declared she had not lived opposite 
 that face all these years (about sixteen) for 
 nothing, immediately looked into it, and 
 inquired : 
 
 “ What is wrong, Captain ? ” 
 
 “ Something is ruining my bananas,” replied 
 the Captain. “ Evidently it is some wild ani- 
 mal, for there are tracks about the grove that 
 / think were made by a wildcat. Mr. Joiner, 
 however, insists they are 1 b’ar tracks.’ Any- 
 
96 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 how, they are the tracks made by a thief, and 
 I have sent over to Drake Point to borrow a 
 trap until the wagon goes to Okahumpka, 
 when I shall order one of my own. Lest 
 the trap should not work well, I mean to set 
 a watch on the bananas to-night, and have the 
 animal shot, if possible.” 
 
 At this piece of information there was a 
 great clamor among the Crackers. 
 
 “ Oh, good ! ” “ Oh, let me ! ” “ Let us ! ” 
 
 “We’ll watch!” “We’ll kill the bear that 
 eats the bananas ! ” “ May we, father ? ” 
 
 “ Will you let us ? ” “ Oh, say, do, that we 
 
 may watch ! ” 
 
 “ Easy,” said the Captain. “ One at a time. 
 You wish to guard the banana grove all 
 night ? Remember, it is an all-night job. 
 No sneaking home at the first mew of a 
 wildcat, or sound of a bear in the palmetto- 
 tree.” 
 
 It was so easy to be brave there in the good 
 daylight, while the sun shone on the pond, 
 and the hands were singing in their drowsy, 
 dreamy treble over in the grove, among the 
 lemons. And father and mother stood there, 
 wide-awake, ready to step between them and 
 danger, if danger coiild exist in a world so 
 
MINNOWS FOR BAIT. 
 

 
WHO STOLE THE BEAR - TRAP ? 
 
 99 
 
 tranquilly beautiful and good, and so seemingly 
 safe. 
 
 “ Now, boys,” it was the Mate who lifted 
 a warning voice, “ your father really wishes 
 a watch , not a make-believe, for his bananas. 
 Before you rush into it, consider, — for once 
 you undertake it, you must carry it through.” 
 
 “ Indeed we will, mother,” said James. “We 
 should so like to be of some use to father.” 
 
 “ There are other ways that involve less 
 danger,” replied the Mate. “ The question is, 
 will you stick ? Remember, before you prom- 
 ise, remember the Indian raid! 
 
 “Oh, father, we are not afraid,” said Joe. 
 “We can take our guns and hide over in the 
 garden, our own garden, that we are familiar 
 with. It is not like prowling about in a 
 strange hammock all night.” 
 
 “ And we will just let daylight into that 
 bear; see if we don’t,” added Jack. “Won't 
 we, James?” 
 
 “We’ll make him bite the dust,” said James, 
 “ like Mr. Joiner makes those he kills, 1 worser’n 
 pizen.’ ” 
 
 “ May we, father? You know we can’t ever 
 be brave unless you give us a chance. May 
 we ? ” said the big Cracker, as he brushed the 
 
IOO 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 dirt from his knees, where they had come in 
 contact with the soft, sandy soil, while he 
 “ dipped ” for minnows. 
 
 “Well,” replied the Captain, “we will see; 
 we will see.” 
 
 The Crackers knew what that meant, and 
 already they began to chatter with the Mate 
 about the wonderful exploit they were about 
 to have, and about the hide of the bear, which 
 was to be preserved in a rug, for the Mate’s 
 own use. 
 
 They had not observed the w r ink that passed 
 between the Captain and his wife, nor had the 
 faintest hint of treason entered their minds, 
 when the Captain hurried away to speak to Mr. 
 Joiner, who was assisting that day in rooting 
 up dwarf palmettoes in a piece of new ground 
 they were clearing for lemons, just beyond the 
 orange lands. 
 
 It was finally agreed that they should in- 
 deed act as a watch upon the grove, and 
 destroy, if possible, the bear that was robbing 
 them of their first bananas. Great prepara- 
 tions were made by the three Crackers, — 
 guns were cleaned and loaded, an ambush 
 was built just on the edge of the garden, near 
 which the bear must pass, in getting from the 
 
WIIO STOLE THE BEAR -TRAP? 
 
 IOI 
 
 hammock to the banana grove, and at nine 
 o’clock the Crackers, with their weapons in 
 first-class order, “ went upon duty.” 
 
 The Mate had allowed them an extra sip of 
 coffee, since there was a look in the little 
 Cracker’s eye that wasn’t just the expression 
 for a sentry on duty to wear. She protested, 
 however, against the plan to carry a lunch 
 with them to the garden, — for brave as the 
 Mate was, and brave as she devoutly desired 
 the little Crackers to be, she was a woman, — 
 and she had an idea that food would draw wild 
 animals, whose sense of smell is most acute. 
 She had no desire to draw them to the covert 
 of the Crackers, so, without giving any reason 
 for it, she forbade the lunch. 
 
 The moon was shining when the boys crept 
 under their ambush, and set their guns in 
 position, with the muzzles pointed towards the 
 bananas, whose long stalks rose white and ghost- 
 like in the moonlight, with their long leaves 
 flapping, when the wind stirred them, like the 
 arms of some gaunt giant. A more delighted 
 trio of boys were never given a duty, or one 
 more brave of heart, and ready to attack an 
 enemy. 
 
 This courage may have been due in part to 
 
102 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 the moonlight, — possibly, in a very slight de- 
 gree, to the light that twinkled from the sitting- 
 room window at Col Alto. For they never 
 could have suspected that upon the hill, just 
 beyond them, their good friend Mr. Joiner was 
 also on duty, — said duty being to see that no 
 harm came to the three little Crackers. 
 
 The Captain had instructed them in their 
 duty. There must be no talking or whisper- 
 ing. They must lie perfectly still, and keep 
 their eyes upon the strip of cleared ground 
 lying between the hammock and the grove. 
 Nobody must fire until Joe should give the 
 word. Joe was a good shot for his years and 
 
WHO STOLE THE BEAR - TRAP ? 103 
 
 experience. Moreover, the Captain wished 
 the other two Crackers to feel that their older 
 brother was to some extent their leader and 
 adviser. He especially desired that the big 
 Cracker should feel that a responsibility con- 
 cerning his brothers rested upon him, and 
 neither the Captain nor the Mate ever lost an 
 opportunity for forcing this idea upon his 
 mind. 
 
 The trap had been set slightly back into the 
 grove, where the stalks were thickest and 
 the fruit ripest. It was one of those clumsy 
 iron concerns, that take their captive by the 
 foot, and hold it in a grip of torture until 
 released. It was fastened by an iron chain 
 to a small oak that grew just on the edge of 
 the grove, and directly in the course of the 
 tracks previously discovered. 
 
 It was a royal undertaking at nine ' o’clock. 
 At ten, however, the moon forsook them, and 
 much of the glory of the adventure went out 
 with it. 
 
 If they could only have spoken to each 
 other it would have been some comfort, but 
 orders were positive, and the Crackers were 
 obedient. 
 
 They entered upon a kind of foot tele- 
 
104 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 graphy, however, which for awhile served them 
 very well. A slight punch with the toe upon 
 the calf meant, “ See anything ? ” A rub 
 of the sole upon the calf, in reply, meant 
 “ Nothing.” 
 
 A touch of the heel upon the calf meant, “ I 
 hear a noise.” A kick meant, “ Get your gun 
 ready.” And a chuck in the ribs with the 
 hand meant, “Wake up.” 
 
 It was a very still night, scarcely a sound 
 for a long time. Then the boys’ keen ears 
 did hear something.' It was not a groan, nor 
 a snort exactly, — Joe thought it was an alli- 
 gator’s bellow at first, while James was pretty 
 sure it was a bear. Jack thought it sounded 
 “ more like somebody snoring than anything 
 else.” 
 
 The strange part about it was that it con- 
 tinued all night without interruption ; so the 
 boys said. 
 
 Once Jack dealt Joe a vigorous kick, which 
 brought him to his knees and to his gun with 
 such abrupt promptness that James had a half 
 suspicion he was nodding. 
 
 But, although he obeyed the signal, and 
 “got his gun ready,” nothing more fierce than 
 that mysterious noise from the region of the 
 
WHO STOLE THE BEAR - TRAP ? 105 
 
 hill near by offered itself to their marksman- 
 ship at the moment. 
 
 It was somewhat later that a stealthy figure 
 crept with noiseless step, bristles extended, and 
 yellow eyes glaring, from the gloomy depths of 
 the hammock, and went, like a spirit of evil, 
 straight towards the ambush behind which lay 
 the brave watchers. 
 
 Steady, steady now, little Crackers ; to- 
 morrow will have a tale to tell, no doubt of 
 that. 
 
 It was daylight when the Captain awoke and 
 hurried into his clothes. The Mate turned 
 drowsily, for another nap. 
 
 “ Anything from the boys ? ” she inquired, 
 sleepily. 
 
 “ Not a word,” said the Captain. “ Must be 
 something wrong, or they would have reported 
 before this. I am groins: to look after them.” 
 
 “ Then wait for me,” said the Mate, and 
 hastily putting on her slippers and dressing- 
 gown, she was ready in a moment to set out 
 with the Captain on a tour of inspection and 
 of investigation. 
 
 The grass was heavy with the dew, and at 
 every step the sand-spurs pricked at her stock- 
 ingless feet. But the Mate was a pioneer’s 
 
io6 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 wife, or told herself she was, and a mother ; 
 and into the mothers heart had crept a vague 
 fear, unexpressed but felt, for the dear little 
 three who had begged “ to be of use to father.” 
 
 They went by the banana grove, and saw 
 fresh tracks. There were sisrns of a scramble 
 
 O 
 
 of some description, and marks of something 
 heavy having been dragged across the clearing, 
 towards the hammock. The trap was gone ; 
 only a bit of the broken chain swung from the 
 tree to which it had been locked. 
 
 They hurried on to the ambush, stopped a 
 moment, and then passed on to the hill where 
 Mr. Joiner had been put to watch. 
 
 And then the Mate sat down on the ground, 
 sand-spurs and all, and laughed until the tears 
 rolled down her cheeks. The robber had 
 run off with the trap ; in the ambush lay the 
 three little Crackers , fast asleep, — on the hill, 
 stretched full length, lay Mr. Joiner, still snor- 
 ing away with that vigor that had caused the 
 three Crackers to think an alligator was on 
 the war-path. 
 
 The Mate sent the Captain to the house for 
 the breakfast-bell ; and ten minutes later its 
 deafening tones were sounding in the ears of 
 the sleepers, whose feelings, on being thus 
 
WHO STOLE THE BEAR - TRAP ? IO7 
 
 awakened, can be better imagined than de- 
 scribed. 
 
 But the vvorst was yet to come. During the 
 day, so rapidly does ill news travel, Uncle 
 James sent over to inquire if the boys could 
 be engaged to watch his poultry yard all night; 
 saying that there was a rat that had found an 
 entrance in some way and was stealing the 
 chickens’ food. 
 
 And later came the inevitable letter from 
 Aunt Lizzie, enclosing the story of the “ Seven 
 Sleepers,” also a newspaper slip containing an 
 account of a sentinel who went to sleep at his 
 post and was shot. 
 
 But the worst of all was when they were 
 
 scolding the Joiner boys, whom they had 
 
 caught in the act of removing their boat, and 
 
 Jake put his fingers in his eyes and began to 
 
 rub them, as if just awakening out of sleep, 
 
 and sang out in his flat, Cracker voice, “Is 
 
 that air the breakfus-bell a-ringin’, did yer 
 *\ 
 
 say r 
 
 While Luke inquired, knowingly : 
 
 “ Any bars over ter you-unses bananny grove, 
 this year? ” 
 
 At this the little Crackers said never a word. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HUNTING ALLIGATOR EGGS. 
 
 One morning the Captain drove over to 
 Okahumpka, and, the day being especially 
 pleasant, the Mate decided at the last moment 
 to go with him. 
 
 There was no time to “give orders,” even if 
 the Crackers had not been down in the “far 
 grove,” — the new grove that lay beyond the 
 land cleared the first year of the Captain’s 
 residence in Florida. So word was left with 
 William, for the boys to “ behave themselves, 
 be good boys, and not go out of sight of the 
 house without either William or Mr. Joiner.” 
 
 “ That out of sight of the house clause in- 
 cludes everything, I believe ,” laughed the Mate, 
 as she climbed to a seat in the “ no-top ” 
 buggy which was to convey the two to the 
 nearest village, Okahumpka, now a railroad 
 station. 
 
 They had been gone about an hour when 
 
 108 
 
HUNTING ALLIGATOR EGGS. 
 
 IO9 
 
 the Crackers came home, received their orders, 
 and at once set about finding some means of 
 amusing themselves. 
 
 Another hour passed in this rather forlorn 
 manner; then Jack, the little Cracker, whose fer- 
 tile brain was ever on the inventive quest, 
 startled his brothers by proposing a row over 
 to the Little Island in search of alligator eggs. 
 
 Instead of promptly putting aside the temp- 
 tation, they discussed it. 
 
 “ There are lots of them over there,” said 
 Joe. “ I heard Mr. Joiner tell mother the 
 ‘ Islint ware in an’ about et up with ’gator 
 eggs. 
 
 “ Mother wants some, too ; I heard her say 
 so,” said Jack. “She wants to blow the meat 
 out and send the empty shells to Aunt Lizzie. 
 She’ll be glad to get them, I ’most know.” 
 
 “ Pioneers ought to know all about alligator 
 eggs, anyhow,” added Joe, “and you know we 
 are pioneers, and it is our business to explore. 
 Let’s go. What do you say, James?” 
 
 “ I don’t quite think we ought,” said James, 
 the only one to offer even a faint protest. 
 “ Mother said we were not to go ‘ out of sight 
 of the house. ’ ” 
 
 “ Well, Little Island isn’t out of sight of the 
 
I IO 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 house,” said Jack. And that seemed to settle 
 it ; for without further parley they ran down 
 to the lake, to find one of the rowboats 
 missing. 
 
 “ Jake Joiner! ” snapped Joe, as he pointed 
 to the spot where the boat was always left 
 when not in use. “ I’d just like to have it up- 
 set ’em into the lake sometime, and maybe 
 they’d let it alone,” said Joe. “ I just would.” 
 
 “You wouldn’t like mother to hear you say 
 so, I’ll be bound,” said the little Cracker, as he 
 pushed the remaining boat off the sand and 
 stepped in. 
 
 “We can all go in here, anyhow,” he con- 
 tinued. “ We don’t need two boats, ’thout it’s 
 to haul the ’gator eggs home in. Come on ; 
 pile in, — if the wind rises before we start, that 
 settles it.” 
 
 “ And if it rises before we get back, that 
 settles it,” said James, still hesitating. At 
 which Cracker Joe, already in, and with the 
 oars in his hands, lost patience, and called out, 
 angrily : 
 
 “ See here, if you’re afraid, do you stay there. 
 Jack and I can manage without you; we are 
 pioneers , we are.” 
 
 At which the middle Cracker very reluc- 
 
HUNTING ALLIGATOR EGGS. 
 
 I I I 
 
 tantly climbed into the boat, and Joe “pulled 
 her out to sea.” 
 
 They had forgotten to carry a basket for the 
 eggs. They had forgotten, also, until well out 
 in the lake, how the Mate had repeatedly re- 
 marked upon the danger of robbing an alli- 
 gator’s nest. It was the little Cracker who 
 recalled the remark to the other two, — the 
 same little Cracker who had suggested, and 
 argued for the adventure. 
 
 “ Well,” said the big Cracker, “ I have heard 
 her say many a time that she intended some 
 time to take the boat and go over to the Little 
 Island after alligator eo;s:s.” 
 
 o oo 
 
 “We’ll surprise her with an odd hundred or 
 so,” said James, who, according to his habit, — 
 or disposition, — once into the scrape, dropped 
 the “ oughtn’ts ” and “ shouldn’ts ” and “ might- 
 have-beens ” into the sea of Too Late, and set 
 about finding the very best there was to be 
 found in the enterprise. “ We’ll surprise her with 
 the eggs, and then she won’t scold us, maybe.” 
 
 “ If a big she-alligator swallows us whole, we 
 can’t fetch her nothing,” said the little Cracker, 
 with something very like a quiver in his voice. 
 
 The big Cracker assumed his very grandest 
 air of superiority, and said : 
 
I I 2 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 “ See here, if you are afraid, you had better 
 go back. S’posin’ I turn round and ‘ fetch ’ you 
 to the bank and let you go home.” 
 
 “ S’posin’ you fetch your own self there,” 
 retorted the little Cracker. “ I reckint I’ll 
 hold out about as long as you do, and I reckint 
 I’ll bring back about as many ’gator eggs.” 
 
 “ Reckint so?” said Joe. And at that mo- 
 ment James called to them to leave off quarrel- 
 ling and look where they were going. 
 
 “ Can’t you see there’s a wind rising, Joe ? ” 
 he demanded, “ and that it is driving the boat 
 too far out ? Pull on your oar there, and let 
 Jack be. A fine rower you are ! ” 
 
 In spite of the taunt, however, Joe was a 
 good oarsman. He had merely forgotten, in 
 disputing with Jack, to notice the course they 
 were taking, until, as James said, the wind, 
 which was rising all the while, threatened to 
 sweep the little craft out into the open lake, 
 where, unprotected by the bluffs, there would 
 be serious danger of upsetting among the big 
 waves. 
 
 By a strong sweep of the oar, another, and 
 a dozen more, Joe sent the boat spinning into 
 the right track. 
 
 But somehow that little prelude to the ' 
 
HUNT-ING ALLIGATOR EGGS. I I 3 
 
 adventure had cast a damper over the whole 
 exploit. 
 
 “ Hadn’t we really better turn back ? ” said 
 James. “ There is time to get home yet, but 
 if the wind rises very much it will cut us off 
 out here on the island,” 
 
 “We can raise a distress signal,” said Joe, 
 forgetting there was nobody to see it, “ and 
 besides, we needn’t stay long. We can just 
 grab the eggs and run back to the boat.” 
 
 “ Yes,” said the little Cracker, “ we can, — if 
 they are growing on the trees.” 
 
 “ Well, anyhow, we are too near them to 
 give up now,” declared Joe. “ Here’s the 
 island, and here we are. Why, here’s a land- 
 ing, too, — somebody been here before. Out 
 with you, James, and catch the chain.” 
 
 “We really must not stay long,” said James. 
 “ Look at the lake.” And truly, the pretty 
 lake of sunbeams was a great expanse of boil- 
 ing, frothy waves, that hissed and sputtered 
 angrily against the Little Island. 
 
 The little island was a small spot of land, 
 hammock, covered with a wild, tangled growth, 
 which all natives round about knew to be a 
 covert for rattlesnakes, cats, and the alligators 
 that went there to sun themselves and to de- 
 
I 14 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 posit their eggs. The entire island did not 
 consist of more than two or three acres. 
 
 The boys made the boat fast, and started 
 briskly upon their explorations. “ Why, here 
 is a little path,” exclaimed the big Cracker, 
 “already trom-tramped out! Whoever could 
 have tromped-tramped it ? And wherever does 
 it lead ? ” 
 
 “ Don’t know, but much obliged to the 
 ‘ trom, trom ’ tramper all the same,” said the 
 little Cracker; who never forgot, under cir- 
 cumstances however exciting, to enjoy the big 
 Cracker’s plunges into the Joiner dialect. 
 
 It would have required but a short while to 
 explore the entire island had it not been for 
 the heavy, almost impenetrable growth that, at 
 times, even covered the “ little path ” they had 
 so rejoiced to find. It was a curious kind of 
 a path ; sometimes the growth covered it in a 
 perfect tangle, to within a foot of the ground. 
 Yet, there was no break, no turning aside of 
 the smooth, plainly marked trail. 
 
 “ Looks curious,” said Jack, trying to part 
 the long, gray moss that swung from the oaks 
 above to tangle itself in the growth below. 
 “ I’ll wager there are snakes enough in here if 
 there are no ’gator eggs ; that's what I'll do.” 
 
ON THE LAKE. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HUNTING ALLIGATOR EGGS. I I 7 
 
 “Hush! ’’said Joe. “You ought to know 
 better than to talk about such things out 
 here. If you are afraid — oh! I heard some- 
 thing in the palmettoes over there.” 
 
 It was Jack’s turn to scoff. 
 
 “ Scared ? Who is scared, I’d like to know ? ” 
 said he. “ And when is the time to talk about 
 snakes, if it isn’t when you’re out in the woods ? 
 Wait till you’re in bed at night, I reckon. Oh ! 
 Hush ! I heard something, too ; right over 
 there in that jungle. Let’s turn back. 
 Mother wouldn’t like this, I’m afraid.” And 
 the little Cracker showed a desire to retreat, 
 and that too without “ standing upon the 
 order of his going.” 
 
 “ Ought to have thought of that at first,” 
 said James. “Too late now, and hush! I 
 thought I heard a snort.” 
 
 They stopped in the path to listen, — there 
 was only the sough of the wind, in the palm- 
 trees, the swaying of the gray moss, the occa- 
 sional dropping of a wild orange in the tall, 
 rank grasses, and the splashing of the water 
 against the island. 
 
 “ I reckon it wasn’t anything worse than our 
 consciences,” said James. “Go, on, Joe; push 
 through, and let’s get the eggs. There’ll be 
 
1 18 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 trouble getting back, I’m afraid, if we don’t 
 hurry.” And at this point of the adventure 
 James took the lead. The others fell back, 
 ready to follow, but not ready to admit that each 
 was just a little afraid of their grand exploit. 
 
 But, at every 
 step their 
 courage w 7 as 
 
 O 
 
 going; the 
 slightest break 
 in the under- 
 brush caused 
 them to start. 
 
 bit ran across 
 the trail, and 
 Jack gave a 
 quick, startled 
 cry. 
 
 “Come back!” said Joe. “That’s a bad 
 sio-n ; the worst sism in the world. I heard 
 William say it was ‘ shore death ’ for a rabbit 
 to run across your path. Besides, the wind is 
 rising more and more. We’ll never get home 
 unless w 7 e start now.” 
 
 “ No ; come on,” said James. “ We must get 
 the eggs now. Look ! What is that ? A pig- 
 
HUNTING ALLIGATOR EGGS. II9 
 
 pen, all covered over with sticks. How did it 
 ever get here ? And what is that in it? Oh ! 
 if it isn’t — wait, let’s see ! ” 
 
 He climbed over the body of a fallen tree, 
 and, pushing through a clump of dwarf palmet- 
 toes, stopped before a kind of enclosure very 
 closely resembling that which he had supposed 
 it to be, — a pig’s pen. 
 
 The others leaned over the fallen tree to 
 watch, with eager interest, while James inves- 
 tigated the queer structure and its meaning. 
 
 It was neither square nor round, merely a 
 collection of sticks, moss, and dry leaves, 
 heaped into a kind of wall, across which was 
 laid a great heap of dry brush, so concealing 
 the interior of the pen that the boys did not 
 observe, at first glance, the rich, creamy look- 
 ing eggs, larger than a hen’s eggs, smaller than 
 those of a goose, with which it was literally 
 filled. 
 
 James stood a moment over the pen, peering 
 into the brush, wondering what on earth it 
 could mean. Suddenly he straightened him- 
 self, turned to the boys, and shouted : 
 
 “ It’s the alligator’s nest! It’s the alligator’s 
 nest ! And it’s full of eggs! Come on ! ” 
 
 All fear was instantly forgotten ; all danger, 
 
I 20 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 everything, except their delight in the newly 
 found treasure. They scrambled over the 
 fallen tree, and through the stinging growth, 
 laughing, shouting, totally unconscious of 
 danger. 
 
 The alligator had laid her eggs on the ground, 
 depositing them in the warm sunlight, and then 
 covering and surrounding them with brush and 
 leaves, leaving them to hatch, while she took 
 herself back to the water, as is the habit of 
 these creatures. 
 
 The alligator keeps an eye on the eggs, how- 
 ever, and comes ashore for her snooze, near the 
 place where her embryo family has been set to 
 hatch. 
 
 The Crackers tore away the brush, and be- 
 gan, with all despatch, to rifle the nest. 
 
 “ Where shall we put them? ” cried the little 
 Cracker. “ There are so many.” 
 
 “ In our hats,” said James ; and it was done, 
 and the hats filled at that, so quickly, and there 
 were still so many left, that the question was 
 again raised where to put them. “ In our 
 bosoms,” said James, “ and in our pockets.” 
 
 And when this was done and a few still 
 remained, Joe cried enough. 
 
 “ We will have to leave the old lady a nest- 
 
HUNTING ALLIGATOR EGGS. 
 
 I 2 I 
 
 egg, I reckon,” said he, “ as we are about 
 loaded for all we can carry.” 
 
 “ No,” said Jack ; “ let’s not leave a single one. 
 Alligators ain’t no good, and ought to be de- 
 stroyed, anyhow. Let’s put these in the boat 
 and come back, and — hello ! What’s that ? 
 Oh, Joe, James! Listen! Oh, what is it? 
 Look, look ! ” 
 
 A sound that made their very hearts stand 
 still, a sound half bellow, half roar, like the 
 noise of an angry bull, came to them from 
 the jungle through which they had passed by 
 the little path concerning which they had so 
 carelessly speculated only a few minutes before. 
 
 They waited an instant, and then they saw 
 the horrid head appear above the yellow grass. 
 
 “ It’s the old she-alligator ! ” shouted James. 
 “And she is coming right at us.” 
 
 “O Lord!” cried Jack. “Help us out — 
 this time — oh, what will we do? O Lord, 
 Help us ! ” Nobody jeered this time, — the hor- 
 rid beast was too near ; and coming nearer, com- 
 ing straight up the little path, her own individual 
 work that path, to her “ nest ” on the island. 
 
 In all their lives they had never seen any- 
 thing so angry, so terrible. She was tearing up 
 the very earth with lashings from her sharp 
 
122 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 tail. In a few seconds she had cleared away 
 the strong, wild growth about her as effectually 
 as though a sharp blade had passed over it. 
 When she beheld the boys she began to beat 
 at a strong sapling with her tail ; and before 
 she ceased the tree fell to the ground, actually 
 cut in sunder. Her great mouth, with its hid- 
 eous fangs, opened and shut, sending forth the 
 most unearthly sounds. 
 
 So sudden and so terrible was the attack, the 
 Crackers forgot to stir ; but stood watching the 
 mad alligator with a kind of helpless fascina- 
 tion, although they knew, having been often 
 told, that one blow from the creature’s terrible 
 tail could sweep them into the great open 
 jaws. 
 
 Suddenly she turned, paused an instant, and 
 then James shouted to the boys to “ Run.” 
 
 “ Run,” he cried, “ to the boat! This way! ” 
 And, following his leading, they plunged into 
 the hammock, beating a w r ay through moss and 
 nettle and stinging bamboo, to the w ? ater at a 
 point below the path by which they had come, 
 and which the alligator was holding. 
 
 It was a terrible undertaking, but they knew 
 it was a choice between this and the alligator’s 
 jaws. Life and death hung upon their move- 
 
HUNTING ALLIGATOR EGGS. 
 
 I23 
 
 ments, and the knowledge lent them both 
 strength and courage. 
 
 They reached the boat and were pulling at 
 the chain when Jack shouted, as he leaped in : 
 
 “ She is coming ! Quick! Push out! She’ll 
 overturn the boat with her tail ! ” 
 
 They required no urging to “ push out,” and 
 in a moment more Joe was pulling for home, 
 with all the strength of his young arms. 
 
 “ Let me have an oar, Joe,” said James. “ I 
 feel strong enough to row straight out to the 
 Gulf of Mexico, while that thing is in sight. 
 Look, oh, look ! She' is splintering that tree 
 with her tail.” 
 
 Almost afraid to stir, lest she should put out 
 after them and overturn the boat, the boys 
 glanced back, to see the alligator, still bellow- 
 ing and snorting, lashing the tree, cutting it as 
 with an axe, by her furious blows. 
 
 “ Let’s get away from here,” said Jack. “ My ! 
 but ain’t she a terror ? ” 
 
 When safely away from the island, the Crack- 
 ers took breath, and made an inventory of the 
 remains of their plunder. The eggs had suf- 
 fered in the excitement. 
 
 “ I had thirty when I started,” said Joe. 
 
 “ And I had twenty-three,” said Jack. 
 
THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 I 24 
 
 “And I twenty-seven,” said James. “ Every 
 one in my bosom is smashed. I’m eggy all 
 over, from chin to toe.” 
 
 “So am I,” said Joe; “but the hat is all 
 right ; there’s but one broken one in it.” 
 
 “ I didn’t put any in my bosom,” said Jack. 
 “ I was afraid they would hatch. Mother says 
 one hatched on the parlor-table once, up at 
 Uncle James’s house.” 
 
 From the remains they counted sixty-one 
 eggs. The exploit had been, in one sense, a 
 success ; yet Jack expressed the sentiments of 
 the three when he said : 
 
 “ I’m awful glad we’ve got the eggs to show 
 for our trip. And I’m afraid even that will not 
 quite satisfy mother.” 
 
 A “ fear ” that agitated each little breast of 
 them, and tended to blunt the edge of their 
 triumph no little. 
 
 “ Well,” said James, as the boat touched 
 land, and the treasures were lifted carefully out, 
 “ we’ve got enough eggs, anyhow.” 
 
 “Yes,” said Jack, with a chuckle, “/have. 
 I have got alligator eggs to satisfy me for a 
 mighty long time, / tell you.” 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JACKO AND THE EGGS. 
 
 The Captain and his wife had not returned 
 when the Crackers reached home. But William, 
 who had missed the boat and suspected the 
 cause of its disappearance, told them they 
 might “just expect to catch it,” when they did 
 come home. 
 
 And indeed a suspicion had come to the 
 culprits that they deserved to “ catch it,” what- 
 ever that mysterious term might mean. 
 
 Who shall tell mother? That was the ques- 
 tion to 'be decided before the “ no-top ” came 
 home. 
 
 Joe declared he would not , so that settled 
 that, “short metre,” James said. 
 
 “ I tell you,” said Jack, “ let’s let the eggs 
 tell her. Let’s put them where she can find 
 them first thing, and then she will be so sur- 
 prised, she’ll forget to be angry with us for 
 going out against orders.” 
 
126 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 So they decided to put the eggs in the silver 
 punch-bowl that had belonged to their great- 
 great-grandmother, and had probably at one 
 time'been used for serving punch. The Mate, 
 
 however, did 
 not approve of 
 punch, and as 
 the bowl was not 
 useful as a soup 
 tureen, she kept 
 it, in state, on 
 the sideboard in 
 the dining-room, 
 “ to be admired,” 
 and “ to collect 
 dust.” 
 
 The boys set 
 the bowl in the 
 centre of the 
 dining-table, and 
 filled it with the 
 creamy alligator eggs. Pretty eggs they were 
 of such a dainty, delicate appearance one 
 almost could doubt they were laid by the 
 uncouth, slimy alligator. 
 
 “ Sixty! Five good dozen,” said Joe. “ That 
 ought to satisfy anybody.” 
 
JACICO AND THE EGGS. 
 
 127 
 
 As if ten dozen eggs, or, indeed, any number 
 of eggs, could compensate for an act of wilful 
 disobedience. 
 
 “ Mother likes pretty things,” said Jack, 
 “ and odd things, too.” And in his heart he 
 wished he could present the “ pretty things ” 
 to her with an open face and a clean con- 
 science, and with some hope of an approving 
 smile. 
 
 “ Now,” continued the little Cracker, “ let’s 
 go and hide, and see what will happen.” 
 
 “ No, sir,” said James, “ I won’t ‘ hide.’ That 
 looks too much like a sneak. I’ll stand at the 
 back door until she sees the eggs, but I won’t 
 stand a minute longer.” 
 
 Despite his good resolve, however, the buggy 
 was so long in coming that James allowed 
 himself to be persuaded down to the fish-pond, 
 where he fell in with the “hands,” who were 
 telling great stories of the bears and panthers 
 they had helped to kill in Alabama, and 
 he forgot all about the eggs, until he heard 
 one of the men say the “ master had come 
 home.” 
 
 Immediately he rose, gave a nag at his 
 courage, and set out for the house, briskly, 
 lest the courage should desert him before he 
 
THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 I 28 
 
 could get there. It certainly did take a decided 
 downward turn, when, half way up the hill, he 
 met the Captain. Anger was plainly to be 
 seen in his eyes, as, stopping a moment, he 
 said, in a firm, emphatic way : 
 
 “ Go to the house this instant, sir. Where 
 are your brothers ? ” 
 
 The boy gave a timid little nod towards 
 the pond. “ Down there, sir,” he faltered, and 
 when his father passed on, with those long, 
 quick strides which William had told them 
 always “meant something,” James concluded 
 they were indeed going to “catch it,” and he 
 set out for the house as fast as his feet could 
 carry him. 
 
 To confess; that was his one chance, he 
 thought. And anyhow, he had meant to do 
 so from the first; only he forgot it in listening 
 to the neo-roes’ stories. 
 
 O 
 
 His mother was standing in the dining-room 
 door, her hat still unremoved, her gloves on, 
 and in her hands the silver punch-bowl, empty. 
 
 If the Cracker had been a very great student 
 of faces, he might have discovered that, under 
 all that exceedingly severe air with which the 
 Mate was waiting to receive him, there were 
 unmistakable signs of a laugh, that required 
 
JACKO AND THE EGGS. 
 
 I29 
 
 all the Mate’s will force to keep under and out 
 of sight. 
 
 James only saw the empty bowl and the 
 severe manner, however, and these frightened 
 him almost as much as the old alligator had 
 done, whose nest he had helped to plunder. 
 
 “ Oh, mother,” he began, “ I meant to come 
 right in and tell you, and I for — ” 
 
 “ Go in there, sir,” said the Mate, stepping 
 outside, and pointing within the dining-room. 
 
 Once in, what a spectacle met him ! 
 
 The room seemed to be literally painted 
 with es^s. The five dozen that had been 
 placed in the punch-bowl to “ surprise ” the 
 Mate, had surprised her from the walls instead. 
 There was egg on the floor, egg on the win- 
 dows, egg on the doors and mantel, the side- 
 board, the walls, the very ceiling itself. The 
 long mirror above the mantel was streaked 
 with egg from top to bottom, while a zigzag, 
 ragged crack crossed, diagonally, the smooth, 
 beautiful glass. The vases on the mantel lay 
 on the floor in a hundred or more tiny pieces ; 
 the castor cruets were emptied on the carpet, 
 the salt and pepper had disappeared, there 
 were three broken window-panes, and full, 
 square on the nose of the Governor of Ala- 
 
130 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 bama, that hung upon the wall, was a great 
 yellow blotch of alligator egg. 
 
 James held his breath before the fearful 
 wreck and ruin. 
 
 “ Oh, mother, who did it ? What does it 
 mean ? ” he managed to say, when the full ex- 
 tent of the mischief dawned upon him. 
 
 “ It began,” replied the Mate, “ in an act of 
 disobedience on the part of three boys who 
 knew better. The finishing touches were given 
 by Jacko, — a poor little monkey who broke 
 his chain, but who knew no better. The mon- 
 key received a sound whipping for his part of 
 the mischief. Can you tell what ought to be 
 done with the boys ? ” 
 
 And then the Cracker said the very thing 
 of all things, innocently to be sure, to ensure 
 himself against the punishment Jacko had 
 received. 
 
 “ Oh, mother, whip us ! ” he sobbed. “ Give 
 us all three a good whipping ; we need it. 
 And we are so sorry, and we want to be 
 whipped, and — and — and forgiven.” 
 
 And the Cracker put his arms around the 
 Mate’s neck, and cried for very shame. 
 
 Half an hour later, three little Crackers in 
 three long aprons (and with three long faces), 
 
JACKO AND THE EGGS. . 1 3 1 
 
 each with a rag and a basin of water, were 
 down upon their knees scouring the carpet. 
 
 That done, the Mate had them bring a step- 
 ladder and wipe off the walls, where Jacko had 
 spattered the logs with eggs. Then the win- 
 dows were washed, and the doors. The big 
 mirror they were not required to clean. The 
 Mate declared “ one monkey was quite enough 
 when it came to polishing the mirror.” 
 
 And when all was done, the three little 
 Crackers went off in the grove, and told each 
 other they would have “ much preferred a 
 whipping like Jacko got to the aprons and 
 wash-rags'' 
 
 After supper they heard the Mate telling 
 the Captain about Jacko’s antics. The Mate 
 had no idea they were listening, so' she told it 
 in her very funniest style ; and the Captain 
 laughed until his long beard fairly shook. 
 
 “He was standing in the centre of the table 
 when I opened the door,” said the Mate, 
 “ the punch-bowl at his right hand, which 
 held an egg. He did not hear me open the 
 door, and for a moment I was too startled to 
 stir. 
 
 “ A delightful grin was on his face, as he 
 turned the egg in his hand, then hurled it, with 
 
1 3 2 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 all his strength, against the window-pane. 
 Another and another, as quick as lightning. 
 When I called out, sharply, ‘Jacko!’ he gave 
 one hurried glance at the door where I stood, 
 dived into the punch-bowl, seized the last 
 remaining egg, and sent it at the Governor’s 
 nose, with the precision of an Indian sharp- 
 shooter. The last egg — as if determined not 
 
 to lose one shot ! 
 Then he turned to 
 me, began to rub 
 his stomach and cry. 
 When he found I 
 intended to punish 
 him he broke away, 
 seized the coffee- 
 urn, and ran up to 
 the comb of the 
 kitchen roof, where 
 William had to climb and bring him down.” 
 The boys heard the story through, laughing 
 under their breath. However, the adventure 
 had its other side which, as yet, they had not 
 had the courage to disclose, — that is, the 
 attack of the alligator. 
 
 The Mate brought about the story of their 
 fright and danger before the evening was over, 
 
JACKO AND THE EGGS. 1 33 
 
 very innocently on her part, very effectually on 
 theirs. 
 
 “Joe,” she said, when the family had 
 gathered in the sitting-room for the evening 
 chat, or reading, “ what is that spot on your 
 bosom ? ” 
 
 Joe glanced down at the white waist where 
 the telltale spot seemed, as he looked, to grow 
 larger and larger. 
 
 “ Egg,” said he, dropping his face over the 
 story of Columbus he was reading. 
 
 “ Egg ? Come here,” and the Mate opened 
 the waist and found such a spatter of dry egg 
 and powered shell, that she puckered up her 
 face, and exclaimed : 
 
 “ Why, you look like an unwashed frying- 
 pan ! How did this happen ? Out with the 
 whole story ! ” 
 
 And “out with” it Joe did, not omitting 
 anything, for the Crackers were truthful if 
 sometimes disobedient. 
 
 There were two very sober faces when the 
 boys finished their story. And when they 
 kissed the Mate good night, an hour later, 
 they were wiser (and cleaner) boys, for they 
 had seen a tear on the Mate’s cheek. And 
 they knew that she knelt at her prayers a 
 
134 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 longer time than usual that night. And when, 
 supposing them to be asleep, she went in to 
 kiss them again, they heard her whisper, “ My 
 boys, my own darlings.” 
 
 They lay very still until she went out ; then 
 Joe lifted himself on his elbow, and, leaning out 
 of bed, called to James, who was sleeping with 
 Jack, and said, in a sharp whisper: 
 
 “ Say, I do hope this will not get to the ears 
 of Jake Joiner.” 
 
 “ Nor to Aunt Lizzie’s,” James whispered 
 back in reply. 
 
 Which “hopes,” however, proved to be 
 altogether vain. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TO THE WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER. 
 
 One morning, when the three little Crackers 
 were trying to persuade their mother that it 
 was the season of the year when deer-meat 
 was most to be desired, and “bears ought to be 
 killed, anyhow,” and that they were confident 
 Mr. Joiner would go hunting with them but 
 for the asking, the Captain came upon the 
 scene and, unwittingly, settled the matter for 
 them ; and that, too, in a matter far more satis- 
 factory than they could have hoped to settle it 
 themselves. 
 
 “ Sue,” said he to the Mate, “ Joiner tells me 
 there is phosphate, and gypsum also, on the 
 tract of land on the Withlacoochee River, 
 which I spoke of buying. If it is true I should 
 be sorry to lose the trade, for Florida will need 
 all the fertilizers she can set in the cominsr 
 years. Gypsum and phosphate will hold their 
 own by and by. I was thinking it might be 
 
 J 3S 
 
136 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 pleasant to take the wagon, and provisions 
 enough for a week’s outing, and all go over for 
 a kind of business-pleasure trip. The boys 
 would enjoy it; there is splendid hunting, — 
 deer, bear, and panthers — ” 
 
 “ Panthers ! ” The Crackers had maintained 
 a respectful silence until the magic word, 
 “ panthers ,” was spoken. Deer, bear, and even 
 wildcats had become almost a monotony. But 
 panthers — 
 
 “ Oh, father, let us ! Do let us ! ” A triple 
 shout went up when the Captain replied : 
 
 “ I see no reason why you should not if your 
 mother agrees.” 
 
 “ But the camping ? ” said the Mate. “ We 
 have no tent, and, as Mr. Joiner says, ‘no 
 nothink ’ for camping. And where is the 
 Withlacoochee, anyhow, and how far away are 
 the phosphate fields, my Captain, before I give 
 my consent? ” 
 
 “ The Withlacoochee is a river,” said the 
 Captain. 
 
 “ A stream of water flowing through the 
 land,” the Mate interrupted. “ Go on.” 
 
 “It is some fifty miles to the phosphate 
 fields ; it will require two days in which to 
 make the trip. Joiner is going along as pilot. 
 
TO THE WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER. 
 
 137 
 
 There is a deserted cabin on the place in 
 which he says we can ‘ take up,’ although 
 there is no ‘ chimbly,’ and we will be compelled 
 to do our cooking outside, camp fashion. 
 There will be plenty of fish and wild meat, 
 and we will carry a supply of coffee, corn meal, 
 and tin cups.” 
 
 “ It does sound tempting,” declared the 
 Mate. “ Only, when the hunters are off on 
 the chase, suppose a panther should run off 
 with the cook ? ” 
 
 “ I have provided company for ‘ the cook,’ ” 
 said the Captain. “ If you consent to go, 
 Joiner will take his team over, and in that case 
 Mrs. Joiner and her boys will go along.” 
 
 “Mrs. Joiner will be an addition,” said the 
 Mate, “ but I am not so sure about the boys. 
 They always seem to succeed in ruffling the 
 feathers of my three little Crackers, who do 
 not seem disposed to bear with them, or to 
 recollect that the Joiners have had scant 
 opportunity for polishing those points of 
 honor commonly known as truth, honesty, 
 and cleanliness.” 
 
 The Mate seemed very doubtful indeed, 
 the Crackers thought, as to the expediency of 
 such a combination of companions. But the 
 
138 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 boys did such vigorous insisting, and made 
 such large promises, that consent was finally 
 obtained. 
 
 They were to start early the following 
 morning, so they began preparations at once. 
 A sack of coffee was parched and ground, a 
 sack of meal prepared, and another of brown 
 sugar (the Mate declared hunters never expected 
 white sugar, and that reconciled the Crackers 
 to the muddy “ Fluridy brown ”). A number 
 of tin pans, tin cups, a large boiler, and a 
 water-pail. Then there was a “skillet” for 
 frying fish, a hoe for breaking corn bread, some 
 knives and forks, bedding, straw to sleep on, 
 corn for the horses, and then came the question 
 of packing. 
 
 Mr. Joiner agreed to “fotch the horse-feed” 
 in his wagon, “ if the Cap’n could load the 
 rest.” The “ Cap’n ” thought he could, and 
 so the division of plunder was affected. 
 
 The Crackers were jubilantly impatient; they 
 polished their guns, packed a lot of fishing- 
 tackle, and still the day was not more than 
 half over. 
 
 “ S’posin’ we help mother,” said James. 
 “ That will make the time go. Besides, I 
 heard her say there was so much to be done 
 
TO THE WITIILACOOCIiEE RIVER. 
 
 1 39 
 
 she didn’t see how she could get ready in a 
 day.” 
 
 So they ran off to offer their services to the 
 Mate, who soon found, indeed, that three pairs 
 of nimble hands and willing feet helped won- 
 derfully towards lessening her own steps, and 
 hastening matters for an early start. 
 
 For instance, she had only to say, “ Bring me 
 the cups, Jack,” or “ Now the salt, Joe,” as she 
 knelt before the big box that was to carry their 
 provisions, and afterwards serve as eating-table 
 to the camp. But for the Crackers she would 
 have had to go to the pantry for the things 
 herself ; for no Florida housekeeper ever calls 
 a hand from the field to do the work about the 
 house. And the cook was busy preparing the 
 regular family dinner, in addition to a lunch 
 for the travellers next day. For the Captain 
 said they would only stop at noon long enough 
 to eat a cold lunch and feed the horses. This 
 was necessary if they expected to reach a point 
 on the road where there was a spring, beside 
 which they were to camp for the night. 
 
 It was ten o’clock at night before the final 
 arrangements were made, the last orders 
 given. 
 
 “ Air the house every day, William ; feed 
 
140 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Polly, keep an eye on Jacko; don’t let Bijou 
 go in the lake.” 
 
 To all of which William had replied, again 
 and again: “Yessum; yessum ; yessum.” 
 
 There were three very tired little Crackers 
 to creep into bed that night, and still sleep re- 
 fused to come ; more than once the Mate had 
 called out from the sitting-room : 
 
 “ Boys, remember you must rise early to-mor- 
 row, — leave off talking, now, and go to sleep.” 
 
 And she supposed they had obeyed long ago, 
 when suddenly Jack’s voice called out, sharply: 
 
 “ Mother, oh, mother ! Do you reckon the 
 blind mare and the bell will go to Withla- 
 coochee ? ” 
 
 There was a smothered titter from the bed- 
 room, which told that the Crackers had not for- 
 gotten, for one moment, in slumber, the exciting 
 prospects of the morrow. 
 
 At daybreak, the Captain aroused the fam- 
 ily, and an hour or two later the boys followed 
 their mother into a wagon, where William had 
 spread the straw that was to be their beds for 
 the next week. 
 
 The Captain climbed to his place, and took 
 the lines. 
 
 “We are to meet the Joiners at ‘the far 
 
PACKING. 
 
TO THE WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER. 
 
 r 43 
 
 grove,’ ” said the Captain, “ at the point where 
 the road to their cabin crosses the main road.” 
 
 The Mate was in high spirits, and this en- 
 couraged the boys to as much shouting and 
 talking as their capacity would permit. 
 
 Soon “ the far grove ” was reached ; and 
 there, in the road, headed for the Withla- 
 coochee, stood the Joiner “turnout.” 
 
 “ Pa, ma, the kids, the old blind mare, bell 
 and all,” said Jack, who was immediately re- 
 minded of his promises concerning the Joiners. 
 
 “ Mornin’ ; mornin’, folkses,” was the greet- 
 ing from the wagon, to which the Captain, the 
 Mate, and the Crackers promptly responded, 
 and the procession fell into line for the With- 
 lacoochee. 
 
 It was a beautiful drive, through forests of 
 blooming magnolia, rustling palm, and fes- 
 tooned oak. 
 
 At noon the wagons were drawn up beside 
 a pool of clear water, “a pond” Mr. Joiner 
 called it, where the horses were fed and rested, 
 while the travellers ate their lunch. 
 
 The Mate had insisted upon having sole care 
 of the larder, so that the poor family need feel 
 no chagrin in not furnishing their part. 
 
 “You are our guests,” the Captain had told 
 
144 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 them ; “ and, therefore, since you are going 
 merely to oblige me, I shall insist upon 
 shouldering the entire expense of the expedi- 
 tion.” 
 
 “ All right, Cap’n,” was the reply, and so it 
 chanced the family did not find themselves 
 forced to sit down to a dinner of Cracker bread 
 and potatoes along with their good things. In- 
 stead, there were pickles and eggs, boiled hams 
 and light bread, cold chicken, jelly, and pound- 
 cake. 
 
 “ The last you will see for a week,” said the 
 Mate, as she passed the cake around. “ Hunt- 
 ers do not expect to live on pound-cake and 
 guava jelly.” 
 
 “ Now that am a fac’,” declared Mr. Joiner. 
 “ Cake and reesens is for the rich, I reckint. 
 I’ll take another bite, mu’m, if you please.” 
 
 The “ bite ” was given, in the form of a large 
 slice, the process repeated with the wife and 
 sons, and then the Mate inquired for the 
 spring. 
 
 “ Thar hain’t no ‘ spring,’ mu’m,” said the 
 Cracker ; “ but ef hit’s the pond ye’re wantin’, 
 thar’s hit'.' And he pointed over his shoulder 
 to the pretty, silver-like pool at which the 
 horses had quenched their thirst. 
 
TO THE WITHLACOOCIIEE RIVER. 
 
 H5 
 
 “ A ‘ pond ? ’ ” cried the Mate. “ Don’t call 
 that pretty pool a ‘pond,’ Mr. Joiner. It is a 
 lakelet. A lakelet is a small lake.” 
 
 “ I see,” said the Cracker. “ Jest so. A 
 lakelet air a little lake. I ull rickerlict that.” 
 About ten minutes later a cow, one of the 
 half wild Florida cows, that had evidently es- 
 caped to the woods, and had been living upon 
 the moss and other wild growth of the ham- 
 mocks, came down to the pool for water. At 
 her heels, a topsyturvy, rickety-looking calf 
 was following. 
 
 “ Why,” exclaimed the Mate, “ if yonder isn’t 
 a cow! ” 
 
 “An’ a cowlet, too,” added Mr. Joiner, in 
 a dry, drawling tone. The Mate stared a 
 moment, then said, bluntly: 
 
 “ A what ?" 
 
 “ A cowlet, mu’m,” was the reply. “ Ef a 
 little lake air a lakelet, I ’lowed a little cow 
 ware obleeged to be a cowlet.” 
 
 At which the company laughed so heartily 
 the Mate was forced to own herself “ defeated 
 for once.” 
 
 When the laugh had subsided, the Captain 
 gave orders for moving on ; the teams were 
 put in order, the lunch, or its remains, packed 
 
146 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 away, and again the procession headed for the 
 Withlacoochee. 
 
 It was near sunset when they stopped again, 
 and camped for the night. 
 
 It was not until the fire was made, the 
 kettle filled from the spring, set to boil, and 
 the horses fed and tethered, that the real fun 
 of the trip began. 
 
 Mrs. Joiner and the Mate made preparations 
 for supper while the Captain, the boys, and 
 Mr. joiner took their poles and tramped off 
 to the “ Run ” after trout. 
 
 “ Hit ain’t more’n a half mile,” Mr. Joiner 
 declared, “ an’ we-uns kin pick up a passel o’ 
 trouit in no time.” 
 
 So off they went, returning, sure enough, in 
 a little while, with a string of fish, ready scaled 
 and dressed for the broiler. 
 
 Soon the odors of broiled fish, corn bread, 
 and hot coffee gave interest to proceedings. 
 
 The interest increased amazingly when the > 
 tin plates and cups were brought out, and all 
 gathered about the cheery camp-fire to ex- 
 change jokes and to eat their supper. 
 
 There was no table spread ; each took his 
 plate on his knee, his tin cup in his hand, and 
 there was no further ceremony expected after 
 
TO THE WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER. 
 
 147 
 
 the Captain, with bowed head, had stood up 
 and given thanks for the meal taken in the 
 
 O 
 
 wilderness. 
 
 The three little Crackers were hungry as 
 wolves, yet they could scarcely eat for discuss- 
 ing the wonderful exploits they had been plan- 
 ning during the entire journey. 
 
 They found ready comrades in the Joiner 
 boys ; for whatever may be said as to the dotibt- 
 ful qualities of this couple, they possessed one 
 trait concerning which there was not the faint- 
 est shadow of a doubt: as their father had said 
 of them, they certainly were “venturesome.” 
 The three little Crackers found them ready to 
 enter into all their plans for hunting deer, bear, 
 and even the “ wild painters,” the killing of 
 which was to be the chief feather in the cap 
 of the young hunters. 
 
 When the matter had been discussed in all 
 its varied lights, a question was suddenly 
 sprung by Cracker Jack, which for a moment 
 threatened to seriously interfere with their 
 arrangements. 
 
 “ Why,” said he, “ you haven’t got any gun ; 
 how can you kill panthers without a gun ? ” 
 
 For a moment the question rather staggered 
 the two, but, with his usual agility, Jake leaped 
 
148 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 into the breach which was immediately spanned 
 by the startling rejoinder : 
 
 “ Borry yo-en.” 
 
 “ No, you won’t,” declared the little Cracker, 
 promptly. “ You needn’t set up to that, for I 
 say you won’t.” 
 
 “ Jack ! ” the Mate’s voice broke in upon the 
 dispute; only that one word, “Jack,” but the little 
 Cracker understood that it was intended to say : 
 “ Remember your promise concerning these 
 boys : no disputes, no ridiculing, but charity , 
 charity , charity , for their ignorance.” 
 
 No more was said about the guns that night, 
 but the matter lay heavy on the little Cracker's 
 heart until the women began arranging the 
 wagons for sleeping. In the novelty and ex- 
 citement of these arrangements, all differences 
 were forgotten. And soon the little Cracker, 
 after kneeling upon the sand a moment, his 
 boyish face resting against the hub of the wagon 
 wheel, crept into the wagon, and lay down in 
 the straw beside his mother to sleep. 
 
 The Captain, with Joe and James, had his 
 pallet under the wagon, while on the other side 
 the camp-fire the Joiner family had made their 
 beds and settled themselves for the night in the 
 
 same manner. 
 
TO THE WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER. 
 
 149 
 
 Soon the little company were fast asleep, 
 with only the stars to keep watch, while in 
 their dreams they still could hear the tinkle of 
 water, the muffled music of the “ Run,” seeking 
 the more distant Withlacoochee. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CAMP LIFE ON THE WITIILACOOCHEE. 
 
 The phosphate was all it had been repre- 
 sented ; when the Captain had made sure of 
 that, which he did the very first thing after 
 going into camp, he gave himself up fully to 
 the enjoyment of the holiday. 
 
 Mrs. Joiner and the Mate prepared the fish 
 that were brought in from the river, and the 
 “ wild meat ” brought down in the “ swam- 
 mocks.” 
 
 One morning- the men and boys gave notice 
 they would not return until sunset, as they had 
 found the tracks of a panther in the forest, and 
 they wished to track it to its lair. 
 
 So the women made themselves comfortable 
 in camp, not at all uneasy as to the panther, 
 since the hunters had succeeded in killing noth- 
 ing so far more formidable than a wildcat, two 
 “ ’possums,” and a bear or two. 
 
 There was an Indian mound a short distance 
 
 150 
 
A PHOSPHATE MINE. 
 
CAMP LIFE ON THE WITHLACOOCHEE. 1 53 
 
 from camp, and the Mate had succeeded in 
 arousing Mrs. Joiner’s interest concerning the 
 curiosities that were hidden there. 
 
 Every day they spent a portion of their lei- 
 sure hours “ digging ” for relics. 
 
 They had brought neither hoe nor pick, so 
 there was nothing with which to dig except 
 sticks, and the iron shovel that had been found 
 in the old cabin. 
 
 Their excavations were, therefore, necessarily 
 slow, although promising. 
 
 The Mate was firm in her belief that gold 
 was to be found if they would but dig deep 
 enough down for it. 
 
 She had found a skull, several implements 
 for cooking, arrow-heads, and several handfuls 
 of beads. The beads, which were of varied 
 size and color, were scattered among the bones, 
 and seemed to have been strung without regard 
 to size or style. There were hundreds of tiny 
 blue beads, green beads, and white. Then there 
 were larger ones, that appeared to have been 
 formed with a knife, or some sharp instrument, 
 out of a white, chalky-looking substance. They 
 were found to be very hard, however, and could 
 not be easily broken. 
 
 The women would gather a handful of dirt, 
 
154 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 and out of this pick the beads, which were 
 strung and put away among the Mate’s relics. 
 
 There was another hindrance, however, to 
 their explorations. The mound was a trifle 
 too far from the cabin to ensure perfect safety 
 against the bears, which could be heard con- 
 stantly, ripping open the palmettoes for their 
 cabbage. 
 
 They had “ no fancy for being caught in a 
 hole in the ground by a big, hungry bear.” 
 Especially were they afraid when “ the hole ” 
 became of such depth that there was much 
 difficulty to be found in getting out of it. 
 
 True, they dug steps to the top, but these 
 could only be climbed by the combined efforts 
 of hands and feet; so a hungry bear would, as 
 the Mate said, have time for a jolly good 
 feast before the explorers could reach the top 
 of the flight. 
 
 So, as the Mate said, too, they were forced 
 to watch, as well as work. And, finally, it was 
 decided that one of the boys must remain at 
 home every day and watch for bears, while the 
 explorers dug for treasures. 
 
 The boys rebelled, you may be sure of that. 
 But rebellion had no effect. They were to 
 take it “ turn about ” on “ picket duty.” 
 
CAMP LIFE ON THE WITHLACOOCHEE. 1 55 
 
 It was Cracker Jack’s turn to watch on the 
 morning of the panther hunt, but, by spe- 
 cial vote, he was excused for that day. The 
 women agreed to let him off, — they would 
 trust to their ears, their steps, and their feet 
 one day. 
 
 “ But you must be picket to-morrow,” the 
 Mate informed him, and, as “to-morrow” al- 
 ways seems vague and distant to the juvenile 
 mind, Cracker Jack readily consented. 
 
 t There* were no new developments in the 
 digging that morning, and the noise in 
 the palmettoes became a trifle too distinct 
 to be entirely pleasant ; so at noon the 
 mound was abandoned for the day. 
 
 “ I believe every bear in the country knows 
 we are alone to-day,” the Mate declared, as she 
 “ pulled up ” by the “ steps in the wall.” 
 
 “ Shouldn’t wonder,” was the ready response, 
 and the usual response, from the woman in the 
 rear ; “ the Mate’s convert to the antique,” 
 the Captain called her, on the sly. 
 
 When they had cooked and eaten their din- 
 ner, they found time hanging a little heavy on 
 their hands, and so the Mate proposed they 
 go fishing. 
 
 “ Perhaps we’ll hook a trout for our hunt- 
 
156 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 ers’ supper,” she said, receiving the usual 
 reply of, “ Shouldn’t wonder.” 
 
 They fished for three hours, and caught 
 nothing. Then the Mate lost patience. 
 
 “ Let’s go,” she exclaimed. “ I believe the 
 fish know we are women.” 
 
 “ Shouldn’t wonder,” laughed Mrs. Joiner, 
 “ an’ we ain’t got no more worrems, any- 
 ways.” 
 
 “Well,” said the Mate, “if the bait is all 
 gone, we will have to stop, whether or no. 
 Let’s see now,” — with a glance at the sun, 
 — “ suppose we walk down to the river bank, 
 and look for the hunters. It will soon be 
 sunset, see.” 
 
 Carrying their rods with them, they started 
 down the river bank to meet the hunters. 
 
 Down the river bank did not mean they 
 were to find a pleasant stroll along the water’s 
 edge. Near the water was swamp land, stud- 
 ded with lettuce and wild lilies. Some hun- 
 dred yards back, beyond the strip of hammock 
 that bordered the swamp, stretched an open, 
 sandy way, from which the silvery gleam of 
 the water could be seen through the trees and 
 undergrowth. This was the “ walk along the 
 river bank.” 
 
CAMP LIFE ON THE WITHLACOOCHEE. 1 57 
 
 Beyond this they expected the hunters to 
 emerge from the dense, almost unbroken for- 
 est into which no coaxing could induce the 
 women to enter. 
 
 The sun was still shining, the cabin in sight 
 and easy reach, and the hunters, doubtless, were 
 on their way home. There was no thought of 
 fear in the heart of either, as the two wives 
 strolled carelessly along through the sand to 
 meet their husbands and sons. 
 
 Suddenly, from the narrow strip of ham- 
 mock between them and the river, issued a 
 cry, — a shrill, sharp cry, so weirdly human, 
 yet so strangely unearthly, that it seemed to 
 chill the very blood in their veins, as they 
 listened. 
 
 There is but one animal on earth can utter 
 that weird, wild, half human cry. The two 
 women instinctively understood that it was 
 the cry of the panther the men had been chas- 
 ing all day. The creature had doubtless left 
 the jungle, and sought shelter in the less 
 suspected covert. 
 
 Too frightened to move, they stood for a 
 moment with their eyes fixed upon the ham- 
 mock, expecting to see the terrible beast 
 spring from its hiding-place. There was a 
 
158 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 stir in the undergrowth, — again that inhuman 
 cry, — and both women dropped their fishing- 
 rods, and ran for the camp as for life. 
 
 Truly, there was a great story to tell that 
 night while they sat around the camp-fire, 
 having had their supper of wild game, corn 
 bread, and black coffee. 
 
 The men were disposed to doubt. “Jest a 
 wil’cat, I reckint,” was Mr. Joiner’s comment, 
 while the Captain said nothing, but “looked 
 mighty wise,” the Mate thought. 
 
 The three little Crackers, however, had not 
 a particle of doubt as to the animal that had 
 frightened their mother. They were as posi- 
 tive it was a panther as that they existed, and 
 they were fully resolved, among themselves, 
 before retiring to their straw pallets, that they 
 would take a hunt on the morrow, on their 
 own responsibility, the little Cracker having 
 forgotten entirely that it was his day to do 
 sentinel duty at the Indian mound. 
 
 But long before the little Crackers had 
 opened their eyes the next morning, Mr. Bus 
 Joiner and the Captain had taken their guns 
 and left the cabin. 
 
 “ We’ll just peep into the brush,” the Captain 
 whispered the Mate. “ Don’t waken the boys, 
 
CAMP LIFE ON THE WITHLACOOCHEE. 1 59 
 
 and wait breakfast; we will be back in time 
 for it.” 
 
 The Mate did not waken the Crackers to 
 light the fire ; a task that had been assigned 
 them at the beginning of their expedition. 
 
 “ They are worn out with yesterday’s tramp,” 
 she said to Mrs. Joiner, when the good 
 woman emerged from the cabin with her 
 sleeves pushed up ready to help get the break- 
 fast. “ Let them sleep until the men come 
 home. I think we can manage without them 
 one morning.” 
 
 “Shouldn’t wonder,” said Mrs. Joiner. “ I’ll 
 fotch the water while you light the fire. They 
 fotched all the wood and truck last night, poor 
 things.” 
 
 Meanwhile the “ poor things ” slept on, un- 
 conscious of the fine proceedings that were 
 going on in the hammock, near by. 
 
 When, half an hour later, they were called 
 to breakfast, and actually stumbled tipon a 
 beautiful panther which the hunters had 
 killed in the hammock, they found no words 
 in which to express their disappointment at 
 having been permitted to have no hand in 
 the hunt. 
 
 “ Sleep ! ” sneered Cracker Jack. “ I wonder 
 
l6o THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 who cares to sleep on a hunting trip. Mother, 
 I didn't think you’d do — us — so — ” 
 
 “ He’s goin’ to cry,” said Luke, pointing with 
 exasperating precision at the drop hanging 
 
 upon the tip of the little Cracker’s nose. “ He’s 
 goin’ to cry. 
 
 “ ‘ Cry; baby, cry, 
 
 Stick yer finger in your eye, 
 Tell yer mammy — ’ ” 
 
 He never got any further. The little Cracker 
 forgot all promises about “ charity, charity, 
 charity ; ” he even forgot the dead panther, and 
 
CAMP LIFE ON THE WITIILACOOCHEE. l6l 
 
 the failure to waken him for the hunt, as he 
 fairly flew at Luke ; and before the Mate could 
 interfere the two were rolling over each other 
 in a way that must have shamed the panther 
 itself, had it been alive to witness the scuffle. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 GETTING EVEN ; BEARS ; THE OLD WELL. 
 
 Cracker Jack was in disgrace for fighting. 
 He had the chagrin of seeing the other boys 
 load their rifles, while the eager-eyed Joiner 
 pair looked on, preparatory to another panther 
 hunt. Jack knew that at that moment Mr. 
 Joiner was skinning the dead panther; for 
 he had heard him telling the Mate that he 
 “ reckint he had skunt in and about five hun- 
 dred wild varmints all told.” But Jack could 
 only hear; he was not permitted to take any 
 part in the day’s pleasures and excitements. 
 
 When, at the last, all was ready, and the 
 hunters started off to the woods, followed as 
 usual by the weaponless Joiner boys, the little 
 Cracker realized for the first time how unpleas- 
 ant, how tantalizing it was to see other boys 
 hunting, and not to be able to join them. 
 
 The reflection stirred a good impulse in his 
 heart. He went to the door, and called to 
 Luke : 
 
 162 
 
GETTING EVEN; BEARS; THE OLD WELL. 1 63 
 
 “ Come here,” he said, “ I want you a 
 minute.” 
 
 The boy came reluctantly back. 
 
 “ Gwine fight ? ” he asked, stopping at a safe 
 distance outside. 
 
 “ No,” replied Jack. “ I called you back to 
 lend you my gun.” 
 
 The boy’s eyes fairly shone. “ Sho nuff ? ” 
 said he. “ Yer mean it fer true ? ” 
 
 “Yes,” said Jack. “ There it is, take it, and 
 go. I hope — ” and the little Cracker’s voice 
 trembled — “I hope you’ll have a good hunt. 
 I lend you the gun because I fought you.'' 
 
 The delighted Luke went running back to 
 join the boys, flourishing the gun as he ran, 
 and shouting at the top of his voice : 
 
 “ He lent it ter me ’case he fit me ! He lent 
 it to me ’case he fit me! ” 
 
 The Mate, standing just outside the door, 
 heard every word that had passed. If J ack could 
 have seen her face when she turned it from 
 him a few minutes later, while she tied a veil 
 about her head, he would have noticed that her 
 lips wore a smile of rare tenderness. 
 
 But Jack did not see the smile, nor did he 
 know his mother had heard his offer of the 
 gun, so, when she said, “ Come, Jack, it is 
 
164 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 your day at the Indian mound,” he followed 
 her out to the despised mound, under the 
 impression that she was still inflicting upon 
 him the punishment incurred by fighting 
 Luke Joiner. 
 
 When he saw his mother and Mrs. Joiner, 
 with their sharp sticks, and buckets for carry- 
 ing their find , go down into the 
 Indian mound, leaving him alone 
 at the entrance, then, indeed, he 
 realized the loneliness that was 
 before him. True, he did smile 
 at the funny manner in which 
 the explorers went in, backward, 
 using both hands and feet like 
 a child that has not learned to 
 walk, but endeavors to go down 
 a flight of steps. 
 
 “ Now, son,” the Mate said, as 
 her face reached a level with the opening, “ the 
 excavation is getting real deep, so that it is diffi- 
 cult to get out. Moreover, sound is somewhat 
 deadened by the earth about us. So do you 
 keep your eyes open, and if you should see a 
 bear, do you call to us instantly. Don’t lose a 
 minute. Scream as hard as you can, and keep 
 on screaming. Don’t stop until you see us 
 
GETTING EVEN; BEARS; THE OLD WELL. 165 
 
 out of the mound. Do you understand, 
 Jack?” 
 
 “ Yes, mother,” said disconsolate Jack, as he 
 seated himself forlornly to one side the open- 
 ing, with his face to the hammock. 
 
 A few minutes later, when the women had 
 disappeared down their steps, Jack heard the 
 sound of approaching footsteps. Turning 
 quickly, he saw his brothers, Joe and James, 
 comino- back from the hunt. 
 
 O 
 
 He was about to cry out to them to know 
 why they had turned back, when they mo- 
 tioned him to silence. 
 
 “ Come here, Jack,” said Joe, beckoning furi- 
 ously the while. 
 
 “We didn’t care for a hunt without you, 
 to-day,” said the big Cracker, “ so we came 
 back to stay with you.” 
 
 “ Oh, Joe, did you ? ” said Jack. “ Did you 
 really, you and James ? ” 
 
 “ Softly, softly,” cautioned the big Cracker. 
 “ We’ve got a scheme on foot.” 
 
 “To get even with mother and Mrs. Joiner 
 for not waking us this morning,” said James. 
 “ Oh, but it’s a fine one.” 
 
 There was a whispered consultation, much 
 gesticulating, many a desperate effort, seem- 
 
i66 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 ingly, to smother a laugh, and finally the 
 Crackers separated. 
 
 Joe and James walked off some little dis- 
 tance and hid themselves behind two large 
 oaks. Jack resumed his watch beside the 
 mound. 
 
 For thirty minutes, perhaps longer, there 
 was silence, except for the voices of the two 
 women digging among the graves of the 
 Indians. 
 
 Suddenly the little Cracker on guard put his 
 face into the opening and shouted, “ Bear ! 
 Bear!” 
 
 The next instant he was gone ; but he 
 strictly obeyed his instructions, for not once 
 did he give over screaming, but shouted, 
 “ Bear ! Bear ! Bear ! Bear ! Bear ! ” at the top 
 of his lungs, until he saw his mother and her 
 companion come tumbling out of the mound, 
 veritably covered with dirt, and screaming, 
 “ Bear ! Bear ! ” with full as much vehemence 
 as Jack was doing. 
 
 Once out, they did not u r ait to see in which 
 direction the bear was coming, but set out in 
 pursuit of the only object they could see ; that 
 was the little Cracker’s legs making all haste 
 for the camp. 
 
BEAR ! BEAR ! BEAR ! 
 
GETTING EVEN; BEARS; THE OLD WELL. 1 69 
 
 “ Bear ! Bear ! ” How they did scream ! As 
 if the bear had been just at their heels. 
 
 At this moment, Joe and James came rush- 
 ing up with their guns, and crying, “Where? 
 Where is the bear, mother ? ” 
 
 “ Why — ” the Mate turned to look for the 
 bear; then she turned to look for Jack. He 
 had vanished utterly. 
 
 “You, Jack? ” she called. “ Where is there 
 any bear ? ” 
 
 A muffled, laughter-choked voice replied 
 from within the cabin : 
 
 “ In the woods, mother.” 
 
 “Mother,” said James, slyly, “don’t you 
 think we are about even now? You will wake 
 us up for the next panther hunt, will you not, 
 mother ? ” 
 
 “ Get out ; every one of you,” replied the 
 Mate, with a ridiculous attempt at severity. 
 “ No, we are not even. You will bear in mind, 
 young gentlemen, that I consider you are one 
 ahead, and that I shall, sooner or later, ‘get 
 even.’ Be off with you ; playing pranks upon 
 your mother ! Off, I say ! ” 
 
 The little Cracker looked wistfully at his 
 mother. 
 
 “ May I ‘ be off ’ also ? ” he asked, hesitatingly. 
 
170 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 The Mate drew the boy to her side, and, 
 bending her head, left a kiss upon the boyish, 
 upturned face. 
 
 “Yes, go and enjoy the day you have made 
 pleasant for another. I heard Luke shooting 
 over in the hammock a little while as:o.” 
 
 So the joke upon their mother terminated 
 satisfactorily to the little Crackers. As they 
 went off, however, to examine their traps, and 
 see what they could “ pick up ” in the way of 
 game along the edge of the hammock, they 
 speculated no little as to the joke their mother 
 was plotting against them, as a means of 
 “ evening up things.” 
 
 “ It will be a good one, you can depend 
 upon that,” said Joe. “ I know mother; when 
 she sets her head to do a thing, as Mr. Joiner 
 says, ‘ it’s sot.’ ” 
 
 Still, as the day passed on, they went home 
 to dinner, and nothing was said or done, they 
 concluded she had forgotten all about it, and 
 so they, too, allowed it to slip their minds. 
 
 Near the cabin, some little distance to the 
 right of the Indian mound, was an old well, 
 or the commencement of a well, which the for- 
 mer owner of the place had begun to dig, but 
 had never completed. This well — it was not 
 
GETTING EVEN; BEARS; THE OLD WELL. 1 7 1 
 
 more than ten feet deep — was carefully cov- 
 ered during the day and night, for fear the 
 horses might slip their halters, and, falling into 
 it, break their legs or necks. 
 
 This hole — it amounted to nothing more — 
 was a favorite resort with the boys. They 
 had arranged seats at the bottom of the pit 
 by means of stumps and the trunks of small 
 saplings, found on the edge of the hammock. 
 
 They let themselves down to this retreat — 
 they called it their “ conference room ” — by 
 means of a rope, the rope used for the bundles 
 of bedding brought to the camp. This rope 
 was securely fastened to an oak that grew 
 convenient to the well, and reached, “ barely 
 reached,” the tip of Jack’s fingers when he 
 stood upon one of the seats of the conference 
 room. 
 
 One end of the line hung in the well always ; 
 the boys declaring they would take no risks on 
 their “ ladder,” as it was their sole means of 
 ascending and descending into and out of their 
 retreat. 
 
 When they wished to go down, they seized 
 the rope and slid, hand over hand, down the 
 line, until their feet touched the “seats” at the 
 bottom. 
 
172 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Coming up, they took hold upon the rope, 
 pressed their feet, or knees, against the wall of 
 the pit, and pulled themselves to the top. 
 
 After dinner, on the day of the bear scare, 
 the Crackers retired to the conference room 
 for consultation regarding the next day’s sport. 
 
 The Mate, busy with clearing away the din- 
 ner, saw them descend, and slyly winked at 
 Mrs. Joiner, who was scraping the “leavings” 
 from a frying-pan in which a couple of fish had 
 lately sputtered and browned. 
 
 “ A good time to pay yer grudge, ain’t hit ? ” 
 she asked, as keenly intent upon vengeance as 
 was the Mate herself. 
 
 “ An admirable time,” replied the Mate. 
 “Just the very best time I could possibly 
 desire. But we must not hurry too much ; 
 allow them ten minutes in which to ‘settle 
 down to business.’ ” 
 
 When the ten minutes were up the dinner 
 things had been cleared away, and the Mate and 
 her accomplice were ready for business, also. 
 
 “ Now,” said the Mate, “do you run and get 
 the bell from the mare’s neck. Don’t allow it 
 to tinkle once, if you can prevent it. Muffle the 
 clapper with your hand, and bring the bell to 
 me under the oak-tree.” 
 
GETTING EVEN; BEARS; THE OLD WELL. 1 73 
 
 And while little Mrs. Joiner ran around to 
 the shed (a shed constructed of boughs, moss, 
 and brush), to despoil the claybank of her 
 adornment, the Mate hurried out to the oak 
 around which the rope of ascent and descent 
 was fastened. 
 
 She waited, her hand upon the line, until 
 the sound of voices in the conference room 
 assured her the boys were in the midst of some 
 interesting discussion. 
 
 Then she gently, cautiously, noiselessly gave 
 a slight pull upon the rope, drawing it about 
 a foot up, no more ; she knew they could not 
 possibly reach it, yet would not suspect any- 
 thing, as they would be sure to do if she drew 
 it entirely out of the well. 
 
 “ In their frantic efforts to seize it they 
 will simply suppose they have missed it,” she 
 argued, to her own mind. 
 
 She fastened the line by crossing it into 
 a loop and passing a sharp stake through the 
 loop into the ground. Then she took the bell, 
 listened a moment for a lull in the discussion, 
 and then tinkled the bell softly. 
 
 “ Hello ! ” came from below, “ the claybank’s 
 loose.” 
 
 The bell tinkled on, softly at first, as if the 
 
174 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 mare was feeding at some distance. Then the 
 sound grew a trifle more distinct, as the Mate 
 moved towards the well. Nearer still; a voice 
 below shouted, authoritatively : 
 
 “ Whoa, up there ! ” 
 
 The bell tinkled on, nearer the pit’s edge. 
 
 “ Whoa ! ” again came the command, more 
 emphatic than before. There was just a hint 
 of fear in the voice this time. 
 
 But the bell refused to obey. The listeners 
 below realized that it was very near the pit’s 
 edge. 
 
 “ Whoa ! Whoa ! ” They shouted in chorus. 
 “ She’s going to tumble in on us,” Jack’s voice 
 announced above the cries of “Whoa! Whoa!” 
 “ Whoa, up there, you old blind bat, you — ” 
 “Whoa! Whoa!” 
 
 But the bell drew nearer and nearer. It was 
 so close, indeed, the Mate could tell the very 
 moment when the Crackers sprang for the 
 rope — and missed it. 
 
 Then the bell tinkled at the very verge of 
 the pit, and such a shout as went up from the 
 conference room. Mrs. Joiner stuffed her 
 apron in her mouth for fear the boys would 
 hear her laugh. 
 
 “Mother!” “Mother!” “Whoa!” “Whoa, 
 
GETTING EVEN; BEARS; THE OLD WELL. I 75 
 
 up there ! ” “ Oh, mother ! Won’t you lead the 
 old mare away ? ” “ Mother ! ” “ Mother ! ” 
 
 At that moment the Mate’s face appeared 
 over the edge 
 of the pit; she 
 held the bell in 
 full view of the 
 terrified Crack- 
 ers, and shouted 
 “ Bears ! Bears ! ” 
 before she ran 
 away to laugh 
 with Mrs. Joiner 
 over the success 
 of the plot. 
 
 The Crackers 
 were completely 
 routed. They 
 didn’t even dare 
 to chirp over the 
 bear scheme to 
 the Captain when 
 they gathered that night round the camp-fire. 
 
 The Mate told about it, however, and about 
 the bell scare , too. And when the laugh had 
 subsided, the Crackers admitted, reluctantly, 
 that they had been “ sold.” 
 
176 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 “Still, mother," said James, “you did run. 
 Oh, how you did run from that bear ! ” 
 
 “ And you did holler ,” added Jack. “ I never 
 heard anybody holler so.” 
 
 “ That is because you were not on the out- 
 side when the claybank threatened to walk 
 into the well,” said the Mate. And again the 
 verdict was that the Mate had the best of the 
 joke. 
 
 “ We-uns air afearcl of bar,” Mrs Joiner ad- 
 mitted. “ We-uns air mighty ’feared of b'ar. 
 But for bosses now, well, we ain’t so might’ly 
 sheered o’ hosses, as some air.” 
 
 And the three little Crackers said never a 
 word. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A RESCUE ; TWO FAMOUS LETTERS ; SPEECH- 
 MAKING. 
 
 The little Crackers were at home again; 
 they had enjoyed their holiday, and so, too, 
 had the older people, but they had all come 
 back to Col Alto with a kind of feeling that 
 frolics are good, now and then, but, after all, 
 home is the best thing. It has such a restful 
 air, such a good, safe air. 
 
 “ I tell you, mother,” said Cracker Joe, as he 
 stretched himself on a sofa, “ this place is much 
 handsomer than I thought it. Why, when we 
 first came the walls seemed too low, after our 
 Alabama home, and they did look shabby, 
 those logs and that daubing did. But some- 
 how it looks really fine now. And the ceiling 
 seems high enough for anybody.” 
 
 The Mate smiled, and worked on with the 
 sock she was darning. She was not ready to 
 explain that it was contrast, in each instance, 
 
 177 
 
178 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 that had affected the Cracker’s opinion of their 
 cabin on the hill. She wished the boys to feel 
 satisfied with their home and surroundings. 
 If the cabin by the Withlacoochee had accom- 
 plished that for them, she would not regret the 
 holiday, certainly. 
 
 “We did have a good time, though,” Joe 
 added, as if his words might have conveyed 
 a hint of disappointment regarding their trip. 
 “We did have a good time, and no mistake.” 
 “ Except the Joiner boys,” added Jack, who 
 had entered the room unnoticed. “ The Joiners 
 were a ‘mistake.’ I mean the Joiner boys.” 
 
 “ Jack ? ” 
 
 “ Now, mother,” said the Cracker, “the con- 
 tract ended with the expedition. I don’t have 
 to be polite to them here, where they are on 
 their own ground. They are out in our boat 
 this blessed minute, without asking us ; how 
 can a fellow like boys that do such things ? ” 
 “ I think, Jack,” said the Mate, “ that if you 
 would endeavor to make friends of those boys, 
 instead of waging war against them, you would 
 find it an easier way out of your annoyances 
 from them.” 
 
 “ Friends!” said Jack. “ I don’t want them 
 for friends ! I want our boat. I wish it would 
 
A RESCUE. 
 
 179 
 
 upset ’em in the lake and give ’em such a scare 
 they would let it be. That’s what I wish,” 
 declared the little Cracker; and nothing the 
 Mate could say — she said a good deal, you 
 may be sure — could induce him to regard the 
 Joiner pests as other than a nuisance and a 
 worry. 
 
 “You would feel bad enough if the boat 
 should upset and endanger the boys’ lives,” she 
 told him. 
 
 “ No, mother, I wouldn’t,” the little Cracker 
 insisted. “ I wish it would scare them good. 
 I heard Joe say the same thing, and James 
 wishes it, too, only he won’t say so.” 
 
 “ I am Mad to know I have one son too noble 
 
 O 
 
 to give expression to wicked wishes,” said the 
 Mate, folding the socks, that had been neatly 
 darned during the discussion, and put away 
 in the work-basket. 
 
 “ You will both learn some day that kindness 
 conquers more speedily and more effectually 
 than force. You will learn, too, for it is one of 
 life’s inevitable lessons, that thoughtless wishes 
 come back upon the wisher, often with interest, 
 too, and at a moment when they are least ex- 
 pected or desired. I hope you may not learn 
 this by experience, however. Now, run away 
 
l8o THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 and dress yourselves. We are all to go over 
 to Drake Point to tea with Uncle James this 
 evening.” 
 
 The Crackers were rejoiced to hear this. 
 There was nothing they enjoyed more than a 
 visit to the Point. Uncle James had travelled 
 a great deal, and knew so much that was inter- 
 esting. But he was an invalid, and so it was 
 only on rare occasions the boys were allowed 
 entire evenings with him. 
 
 “ I shall ask him about the Pilgrims’ Rock at 
 Plymouth, and the things in the hall there, that 
 once belonged to Myles Standish. He has 
 seen them all, and promised to tell me about 
 them. He says lots of people believe the rock 
 is a fraud, and that the Pilgrims did not land 
 on it at all. I shall ask him all about it this 
 evening ; ” and the Cracker began his prepara- 
 tions for the visit with alacrity. 
 
 “He promised to tell me about the Hermitage 
 and Old Hickory,” said Jack. “ I'd rather hear 
 about the little Indian Old Hickory brought 
 home from the Creek War, than to hear all about 
 the foreigners who landed on the rock.” 
 
 “ My story comes first,” the big Cracker in- 
 sisted, as he dipped his face into a basin of fresh 
 water. “ I claimed first. Besides, you know 
 
A RESCUE. 
 
 181 
 
 all about that Indian story. You know his 
 tribe had all been killed — ” 
 
 “ His family,” corrected the little Cracker. 
 
 “ No, his tribe,” Joe insisted, and the little 
 Cracker said no more, although Joe knew he 
 had not really yielded his opinion ; he merely 
 wished to hear 
 again the story 
 of the old hero 
 whose name he 
 bore. 
 
 “His tribe had 
 all been killed,” 
 
 Joe went on to 
 say, between the 
 dabs he made 
 into the wash- 
 bowl, “ and the 
 Indians wanted 
 to kill him , too. 
 
 That was their custom. But one good Indian 
 picked up the little Indian and brought him to 
 General Jackson. And the general sent the 
 little Indian home to play with his own son.” 
 
 “ Didn’t have any ‘ own son,’ ” said the little 
 Cracker. “ He only had an adopted son. And 
 he sent the Indian home because, he said, he 
 
182 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 reminded him of his own self. He was left all 
 by himself when his mother died of smallpox, 
 nursing soldiers, and his brother died, too, and 
 only the boy Andrew was left. So he wrote 
 his wife and told her so, and told her to keep 
 the boy in the house and take care of him. I 
 saw the letters my own self; a lady from Ten- 
 nessee had them in Alabama, and she got them 
 at the Hermitage, and mother made a copy of 
 them for me, because the lady gave the originals 
 to uncle.” 
 
 “ Oh, I know all about that,” said the big 
 Cracker. “ I know the Indian’s name, too, and 
 you don’t.” 
 
 “ It was Lyncoya,” said the little Cracker, 
 jubilantly. “ But they shortened it to ‘ Linco,’ 
 the slaves at the Hermitage did. Now! ” 
 
 Now,’ ” said Joe, “ I’m ready. And ‘ now ’ 
 I don’t see why a boy wants to hear a story he 
 knows all by heart. That’s what /say. Now! ” 
 
 And the big Cracker ran off to enjoy, in 
 contemplation, the wonderful stories he would 
 hear during the evening from Uncle James. 
 
 He ran down to the lake to see if the Joiners 
 had returned with the boat. No, it was still 
 missing, and the lake was rougher, he thought, 
 than he had ever seen it. 
 
A RESCUE. 
 
 lS3 
 
 “ Why, they can’t row in a wind like this ,” 
 he exclaimed, involuntarily. And then he re- 
 membered his ugly wish that the boat would 
 upset and “ pitch the boys into the water.” 
 
 It seemed a very dreadful wish now, when a 
 possibility of its fulfilment stared him in the 
 face. He had an impulse to get in the other 
 boat and go out after them. He knew he could 
 manage it, for his father had said he was a “fine 
 rower,” and Joe knew, himself, that his arms 
 were strong and his head cool on the water. 
 
 “ But I have on my new suit,” he told him- 
 self ; “ and if I go I’ll miss the Pilgrims, and 
 spoil my clothes, and — I wont ! They are 
 not worth it.” 
 
 He really thought, however, that he would , 
 until William came down and told him he 
 thought the boys had crossed the lake. And, 
 in that case, they would know better than to 
 return in such a wind. 
 
 “ And the Captain says,” William continued, 
 “ you are to wait and go over in the ‘ no-top ’ 
 with him. Your mother and the boys have 
 gone on to the Point in the spring wagin.” 
 
 Joe did not quite like the idea of waiting; 
 but it sounded a trifle important to be told he 
 was “ to go over with his father,” so he said 
 
184 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 nothing more than that he hoped his father 
 would not be very late going. 
 
 The truth was, the big Cracker was afraid of 
 missing that Jackson story. He was every whit 
 as fond of it as was Cracker Jack. He would 
 not miss the reading of Old Hickory’s letter to 
 his wife, telling about the Creek War, and the 
 Indian boy, Lyncoya, “ Oh, not for anything .” 
 Uncle James possessed the real letters; there 
 were two of them, telling of Lyncoya ; “ the 
 genuine articles,” he called them, which the 
 Tennessee lady had given him. Such old let- 
 ters, written in 18 ij ; so musty, “ mellow,” Uncle 
 James called them, and so queer. No envelopes, 
 but just a funny folding of one sheet of paper 
 over another, with a little dab of red wax to 
 hold it. 
 
 And no postage stamps on them, only a 
 notice down in one corner to show that they 
 were sent “ by the bearer of the express.” 
 
 They were addressed to Mrs. Rachel Jack- 
 son, Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee. 
 Oh, he knew those old letters by heart ; they 
 were so queer. 
 
 “ Jack thinks he’s the only one to like Old 
 Hickory, because he’s named for him,” said 
 Joe. “ But oh, I do want to see those 
 
A RESCUE. 185 
 
 old letters! Though I don’t want Jack to 
 know.” 
 
 There was one who did know, however. 
 Uncle James had not watched the faces of his 
 nephews for nothing when he told them of the 
 old hero of the Indian wars and of New Or- 
 leans. And he had refused to begin Cracker 
 Jack’s story until Joe should arrive, or else 
 some news of him. For at eight o’clock the 
 Captain had not put in an appearance, and had 
 sent no reason for the delay. When, fifteen 
 minutes later, he did arrive, alone, but with a 
 very touching excuse from Joe, the story-tell- 
 ing began. But Uncle James had not forgot- 
 ten the brave big Cracker who had not accepted 
 his invitation to tea. The “ splendid uncle ” had 
 a little idea of his own that he did not include 
 in the story of Lyncoya. Nor did the listen- 
 ing Crackers dream of what their uncle was 
 thinking when he said, in folding the precious 
 letters : 
 
 “Take your last look; this is the last time 
 your Uncle James, intends to exhibit these 
 documents.” 
 
 The big Cracker, meantime, was spending a 
 very different sort of evening. 
 
 When it began to grow dark he became 
 
1 86 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 very restless to be off to the Point. But 
 the Captain was not quite ready ; he had 
 been detained until “almost too late to go,” 
 he declared. 
 
 While waiting, Joe went back and forth, 
 to and from the lake. There was an uneasy 
 feeling in his heart, — what if those boys had 
 upset in the lake ? 
 
 It was a raw night, although clear ; the wind 
 blew until the water actually hissed. The idea 
 of those two children, unused as they were to 
 boats, attempting to cross the lake on such a 
 night was terrible. 
 
 William went down to draw the remaining 
 skiff farther up out of the water. 
 
 “It do beat so ! ” he explained to Joe. “ The 
 water do beat so ag’inst the boats.” 
 
 “William,” said Joe, “do you think those 
 boys are on the other side ? ” 
 
 “ Their pappy says he reckints they went 
 ’cross to their uncle’s and will stay all night,” 
 replied the hired man. “ He ain't skeered 
 ’bout ’em ; we-alls needn’t be." 
 
 “ Hush ! ” said Joe. “ What is that ? Wait ! 
 I heard a cry. Oh, William, bring me the oar- 
 locks, quick, and the oars. Somebody is call- 
 ing for help. Run ! It is those boys ; and 
 
A RESCUE. 
 
 I8 7 
 
 they have neither oars nor oar-locks. They 
 stole the boat, and went out with only two 
 paddles which they made. Here ! Tell father 
 not to wait for me.” 
 
 The man had dragged the oars and locks 
 from their hiding-place under the steps. He 
 pulled the boat out and fastened the locks 
 while Joe was getting in. It had all happened 
 so quickly, so unexpectedly, the man had not 
 thought of raising a protest. It was doubtless 
 that cry of helpless terror that urged him on, 
 as it was urging the brave rescuer who was 
 pulling with all his strength towards the spot 
 from which the call seemed to come. 
 
 “ Help ! Help ! ” Above the hissing of the 
 waves he heard it. And he heard, also, deep 
 down in his heart, the echo of that wicked 
 wish, that the boat would upset. 
 
 He remembered his mother’s w ? ords : “ They 
 come back at a moment when they are least 
 expected or desired.” 
 
 “ Help ! Help ! We are — drowning ! ” 
 
 He heard the words distinctly, and knew 
 he was drawing near to the boys. He plied 
 the oar with new strength as he shouted, to 
 encourage them : “ Hold on ; I am coming.” 
 Three times he repeated the call, and hear- 
 
THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 1 88 
 
 ing no reply, he concluded they must have 
 drowned. He tried again, however: 
 
 “ Hold on ; I am coming, — coming ! ” 
 
 “ Waal, yer better come on, then,” said a 
 voice near by, “ elst we’ll drowen.” 
 
 Then the big 
 Cracker felt a 
 reaction take 
 place. 
 
 “ Drown , 
 then ! ” said he. 
 “ You ought to 
 drown. Where 
 are you, any- 
 how ? ” 
 
 “ Right here,” 
 replied the 
 voice of Jake. 
 “ W e’s holdin’ 
 ter the boat ; 
 hit’s turnt 
 over. 
 
 Guided by the voice, Joe pulled on. It was 
 darker now, but he managed to find the upset 
 boat, and rowing around it, felt in the darkness 
 until his hand touched one of the boys heads. 
 He jerked him by the collar as his boat moved 
 
A RESCUE. 189 
 
 on, and pulled him in, dropping him, like a 
 fish, in the bottom of the skiff. 
 
 “ Much obleeged ter yer,” said Jake, when 
 he felt bottom. 
 
 “ Shut up ! " said Joe. “ I want none o' your 
 ‘ much obleegin’.’ ” 
 
 The truth was, Joe began to think of the 
 Point about this time, and the good things he 
 was missing. 
 
 He rowed back, however, and pulled Luke 
 in, and then, with the help of Jake, he suc- 
 ceeded in righting the overturned boat and in 
 towing it back to the wharf. 
 
 Then he went off to bed, after a look at his 
 clothes, which were soaked by the water, but 
 which William assured him would “come dry 
 in time'.' 
 
 Sleep was another matter, however. For 
 just as he would be ready to drop off, some- 
 thing would “ pop up into his head,” so he told 
 the Mate afterwards, and say, “ He’s telling 
 about Myles Standish’s sword now.” Or else, 
 “He has finished Old Hickory,” or “Just at 
 this minute they are looking at the letters.” 
 And away sleep would go for that time. 
 
 He got up at last, and dressed, and went 
 out to talk with William until the others 
 
190 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 should get home. And when they did come, 
 earlier than he expected them, and his mother 
 handed him a little package, “with Uncle 
 James’s compliments,” he was so heartily glad 
 that he had rescued the Joiners instead of 
 going away for his own pleasure that he could 
 almost have shouted aloud his joy. 
 
 For the package contained a note from Uncle 
 James, enclosing the letters. Not copies; but 
 the genuine, original letters, musty and old, 
 and indeed “mellow,” written by Old Hickory 
 from Strother to his wife in the far-away Her- 
 mitage. And in the letters was the story 
 of the Indian boy, Lyncoya, whom he had 
 rescued from the Creeks, who would have put 
 him to death, according to their custom, when 
 the other members of his family had been 
 slain. In the letter the great general explained 
 to his wife that it was a feeling of sympathy 
 that had moved him to rescue the little savage, 
 and to send him home to the Hermitage. 
 Lyncoya’s situation had so closely resembled 
 his own, at a time when the fortunes of war 
 had left him, likewise, alone in the world. 
 
 The Crackers leaned their elbows upon the 
 table, and studied the dim old sheets until the 
 Mate called bedtime. Then they crept into 
 
A RESCUE. 
 
 191 
 
 bed, wondering if they, too, might not be so 
 fortunate as to have the privilege of fighting 
 for their country some day, and speculating 
 upon the chances of a rebellion on the part of 
 old Tiger Tail, the peaceable old chief over on 
 the Indian River. 
 
 The following morning there was a consul- 
 tation at Col Alto. The Mate was closeted 
 for more than an hour with the three little 
 Crackers. 
 
 The Captain, passing the door, which was 
 locked upon the inside, heard a sound as of 
 some one rehearsing a speech. He heard 
 enough to give him a hint as to what was 
 going on. His face wore a smile as he tip- 
 toed past the door, and he whispered himself 
 something about a steam yacht: “They shall 
 have a steam yacht if they do that,” he told 
 himself. 
 
 Later in the day William was despatched to 
 the Joiner cabin to tell the boys, Luke and 
 Jake, they were especially wanted at Col Alto. 
 
 The Crackers met them at the gate, and the 
 Mate, concealed behind the jasmine arbor, saw 
 Joe, as master of ceremonies, conduct the vis- 
 itors to the steps that led down to the lake 
 
192 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 shore, where the two rowboats were lying, side 
 by side. From her position she could see and 
 hear all that passed. 
 
 The little Crackers had been persuaded to 
 give one of the rowboats to the Joiner boys. 
 She had made it easier to accomplish by giving 
 a little ceremony to the occasion. Jack was 
 to make the presentation speech, with Joe to 
 prompt him in case of failure. James was 
 reserved for a last resort in case both the 
 others failed. 
 
 “Now, boys,” the Mate had said, “be very 
 careful not to remind the boys of their former 
 conduct regarding the boat. Do not say they 
 stoic it, whatever you say.” 
 
 “ But, mother, they did,” James had insisted. 
 But the Mate ignored the interruption. “And 
 do not,” she continued, “ give them a hint that 
 you are buying them with a gift.” 
 
 “ But we are,” James would have it so. 
 “You know we are giving them one of our 
 boats so that they will let the other one be.” 
 
 “ Why,” the Mate replied, “ I thought it was 
 because you truly intended to try to influence 
 the boys to a more correct sense of honor.” 
 James had not responded to this further 
 than by a doubtful shake of the head, so 
 
THE LITTLE CRACKER’S MAIDEN SPEECH. 
 
A RESCUE. 
 
 x 95 
 
 that the Mate retired behind the jasmine 
 arbor with rather doubtful feelings as to 
 the entire success of the occasion. 
 
 When the boys reached the steps they 
 stopped. 
 
 Joe, James, and Jack removed their caps, 
 seeing which, the Joiner boys did the same. 
 Cracker Jack stepped forward and began: 
 
 “ Boys,” said he, “ and — boys ” (the speech 
 as taught by the Mate was “ boys and 
 friends" ). “We sent for you to-day in order 
 to present to you ” (it was the little Cracker’s 
 maiden speech ; there were visible signs of 
 emotion as the speaker proceeded) “ to pre- 
 sent to you — one of the — one of our boats. 
 In doing this we wish to — to — tell you — to 
 assure you that — that — that we give you this 
 boat to keep you from stealing ours — ” 
 
 “No!” Joe hurried to the rescue. “Not 
 that, Jack; mother said we mustn’t mention 
 that. We give you this boat for — for — 
 for not stealing ours.” 
 
 It was James’s turn; he realized that both 
 speakers had failed to say the proper thing. 
 It rested with him, therefore, to smooth the 
 ruffled feelings of the visitors, and at the 
 same time to rescue the Mate’s fine speech. 
 
196 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Full of the importance of the occasion, he 
 rose proudly to the effort : 
 
 “ The boys have not said what they intended, 
 Luke,” said he. “ They meant to say that we 
 give you this boat to keep you from stealing 
 ours any more'.' 
 
 And the Mate in her arbor laughed softly 
 and declared, ‘“Truth is mighty, and will 
 prevail.’ ” 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BIJOU AND THE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 “ Dear me ! ” exclaimed the Mate, one morn- 
 ing at the breakfast-table. “ Do you know, 
 Captain, it is almost a year since we discussed 
 the school question ? ” 
 
 “ Eight months, mother,” said the little 
 Cracker. “ It is only eight months.” 
 
 “ Eight and four are twelve ,” replied the 
 Mate. “ Now that the new house is begun, 
 the boys are well and strong, the grove flour- 
 ishing, we must think of our Crackers. Brother 
 James has offered to get a tutor from among 
 his old college friends, and I have accepted 
 the offer. He promised to have him here the 
 week of our removal into the new house. He 
 comes from Tennessee.” 
 
 “ I hope he isn’t a softy,” said Jack. “And 
 I hope he isn’t as fierce as a bear, either.” 
 
 “ Was Old Hickory a ‘ softy ? ’ ” said James. 
 “He was a Tennessean, too.” At which the 
 
 197 
 
I gS THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 little Cracker rushed to the defence of his hero 
 by declaring that he was not born a Tennessean 
 really, since the Big Bend State was at that 
 time but a part of the great Territory of North 
 Carolina. “ Though,” the little Cracker ad- 
 mitted, “ he did have a farm, and a law office, 
 and a race-track, and was judge in Tennessee.” 
 
 “ Boys,” said the Mate, “ we are not discuss- 
 ing Old Hickory just at present, but your new 
 tutor. Understand, he will be here sometime 
 in October, and you will then be expected to 
 go gracefully into harness. You have had a 
 long, pleasant holiday.” 
 
 “ I shall not be sorry to go to work, mother,” 
 said Joe. “ Fun is a good thing, but I believe 
 a boy could get tired of a good time. I shall 
 be really glad to see my books again.” 
 
 “ I am glad to hear it,” said the Mate, “ and 
 I hope your example will not be lost upon 
 your brothers.” 
 
 At this moment William put his head in at 
 the door to say that Mr. James wished for 
 Master Jack to come over to the Point on 
 Bijou, and go for a short ride with him. 
 He had sent his man Ike over to bring the 
 message and to ride back with the little 
 master. 
 
THE LITTLE CRACKER RODE OFF ON HIS LITTLE PONY. 
 
BIJOU AND THE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 201 
 
 “ May I, mother? ” said Jack, his face expres- 
 sive of the pleasure the invitation foretold. 
 
 “ Yes,” replied the Mate, “ but don't ride too 
 near Uncle Ike’s horse ; it is a vicious animal, 
 and Bijou might get a kick.” 
 
 So the little Cracker rode off on his little 
 pony, feeling very important as well as very 
 happy. 
 
 A few minutes after Jack’s departure, Mr. 
 Bus Joiner dropped in. Dropped out, would 
 perhaps more appropriately express the style of 
 the visit, since he stood without, leaning upon 
 the window-sill, a fishing-rod in one hand, a 
 tin bucket containing “ a col’ snack ” in the 
 other. 
 
 “ Mis’ Parish,” said he to the Mate, who was 
 still sitting in her place at the breakfast-table, 
 polishing the spoons, the other members of 
 the family having dispersed about the place 
 according to their several inclinations. 
 
 “ Mis’ Parish, I drapped by ter tell yeou 
 about that thar nag o’ Master Jack’s.” 
 
 “Well, Mr. Joiner,” replied the Mate, “what 
 has Bijou been doing ? I hope he hasn’t been 
 troubling things over your way.” 
 
 “ Lor’, no, mu’m,” said the visitor, “ he 
 wouldn’t do that ; he’s too well acquainted 
 
202 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 with our folkses fur that. An’ thar ain't 
 nothin’ thar nohows, ’thout’n hit be the ole 
 ’oman an’ the childern. Hit’s about hisse’f 
 I ware a thinkin’ ; he’d ought ter be kep’ out'n 
 the lake. I jest called by, drapped in as it ware, 
 
 ter say ter that thar nag 
 as how ’gators an’ hosses 
 can’t occupy the same 
 lake at onc't .” 
 
 The Mate smiled, as she 
 rubbed vigorously upon 
 her great - grandmother’s 
 silver teaspoons. She was 
 about to say, “ Have you 
 notified the pony ? ” but a 
 glance at the sober face of 
 her neighbor caused 
 her to say instead : 
 
 “ Has he been in 
 the lake again, Mr. 
 Joiner ? ” 
 
 “ Yes, mu’m. An’ I’m aj 'card the blind ’gator 
 ’ll fetch him off some o’ these days. Ever 
 sence the white sower ware took I hev been 
 a-expectin’ uv the nag ter go. I see his tracks, 
 fresh tracks, Mis’ Parish, showin’ whar he hev 
 been in swimmin’ no longer’n yistiddy; an' 
 
BIJOU AND THE ALLIGATORS. 203 
 
 sez I, the blind ’gator’ll git yeou yit, sir, some 
 o’ these days, same’s it done the white sower.” 
 
 “ The white sow ! JV/iose sow ? ” the Mate 
 inquired with interest. That was a calamity 
 that had not been reported to her. 
 
 “ Why, you-unses,” said Mr. Joiner. “ It 
 ware this erway. I ware deown ter the lake, 
 aimin’ ter ketch a trouit fur we-unses dinner. 
 I ware tolerble still so’s not ter skeer the fish 
 off, an’ I reckint the big ’gator didn’t know 
 I ware reound. An’ ez fur me, I ware not 
 thinkin’ o’ the ’gator no more’n nothin’, 
 though hit ware layin’ sorter pulled up out’n 
 the water like. Might a-nibbled at me stid o’ 
 the sower if hit ware so minded, I ware that 
 clos’t. But bein’ blind, I reckint he didn’t 
 sight me. An’ the wind blowin’ contrary, I 
 reckint he didn’t scent the flavior uv me. So 
 he jest lay thar an’ snoozed. 
 
 “ Ayfter a bit the white sower kem a-trippin’ 
 down ter the water, nosyin’ inter things, an’ 
 puttin’ on all manner o’ airs. Thinkin’ the 
 critter’d nose inter my snack bucket, I sez, sez 
 I, ‘ Sovey ! ’ 
 
 “ But she jest trotted right on, same’s ef I 
 hadn’t soveyed, right on, tell she run smack 
 agin the big ’gator. Sez I ag’in, louder’n 
 
204 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 before times, ‘ Sovey ! ’ An’ sez she, peartly, 
 
 ‘ Humph ! ’ 
 
 “ An’ jest then a big black somethin’ riz up 
 out’n the water ; a long tail whizzed round, a 
 pair o’ big jaws opened up, the tail slapped the 
 white peeg in, an’ all went deown together. I 
 see hit with my own eyes. An’ sez I when 
 I see them tracks yistiddy, ‘ Mr. Beeshoo, you- 
 uns’ll go the way o’ the white sower yet, ef 
 yer hain’t keerful.’ An’ I thought hit ud look 
 onneighborly not ter stop by an’ say so." 
 
 The Mate thanked the visitor for his 
 trouble, and said she would have to “ speak 
 to Bijou. That was a fish tale not to be 
 disregarded.” 
 
 “ A ’ 'gator tail, Mis’ Parish,” the narrator 
 corrected ; “ hit’s the ’gators fights with thar 
 tails. I reckint a ’gator couldn’t be said ter 
 be a fish.” 
 
 Poor Bijou, — the Captain had already threat- 
 ened to sell him if he could not be kept away 
 from the lake. The threat had created 
 such an outbreak among the little Crackers, 
 however, that the good Captain speedily 
 relented. 
 
 “You must watch him yourselves, then,” he 
 compromised the matter by saying. “ You 
 
BIJOU AND THE ALLIGATORS. 205 
 
 must watch him yourselves, ancl if the alli- 
 gators eat him, you need not expect another 
 pony, that’s all.” 
 
 So the little Crackers had taken the matter 
 in hand, and for some weeks there had been no 
 report of the pet having been in the forbidden 
 waters. 
 
 One morning, however, to cpiote from Mr. 
 Bus Joiner, he had “come up missing.” 
 
 It was the morning Jack rode over to his 
 uncle’s with Ike ; the identical morning when 
 notice was served upon the Mate that he would 
 surely “ go the way of the white sower ” unless 
 measures were taken to prevent. 
 
 Jack had ridden off in high spirits. He 
 found his uncle astride his big bay, Prince, at 
 the “ big gate,” waiting for him. 
 
 In a little while they were riding away, side 
 by side, towards the hammock, through which 
 a pleasant, shaded road had been cut. 
 
 “We will have to take it leisurely, Jack,” 
 said Uncle James, “and also keep rather in the 
 shade of the hammock. Violent exercise and 
 too much heat are not good for invalids, they 
 say back there at 1 the house ; but they have 
 not prohibited story-telling yet. So if they 
 cheat us of a brisk canter, we will outwit them 
 
206 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 by a pleasant story. ‘ It’s an ill wind turns 
 none to good,’ Master Jack.” 
 
 “ That’s what mother says,” Jack replied. 
 “ Then she has another good one that might 
 fit into your case, uncle,” he continued. “ It is 
 something about ‘ compensation,’ but it means 
 that what you miss one way is always made up 
 to you in another way.” 
 
 “An excellent ‘fit,’ Jack,” laughed Uncle 
 James, “ a most excellent ‘ fit.’ ” 
 
 So they chatted pleasantly — the uncle and 
 nephew were very congenial company indeed 
 — until they reached the hammock. 
 
 But just as they were entering the wood, 
 both horses stopped, threw up their heads, 
 began to breathe heavily through their nostrils, 
 planted their fore feet firmly, and refused to stir. 
 
 “ Why, uncle,” cried Jack, “ I never saw 
 Bijou do so before — ” 
 
 “ They smell some kind of wild animal,” 
 said Uncle James, in a low voice. “ Turn 
 back, Jack; they will not pass it.” 
 
 When the animals had been wheeled about, 
 Uncle James said, “Ride back to the house, 
 Jack, and tell your aunt to send my gun.” 
 
 It required no second bidding to make the 
 little Cracker “ ride.” 
 
BIJOU AND THE ALLIGATORS. 207 
 
 A wild animal ! An adventure come to meet 
 them of its own accord ! It seemed too good to 
 be true. 
 
 “Wait,” said Uncle James, as Jack was can- 
 tering off. 
 
 “ It is a gun , not one of those little concerns 
 you boys are accustomed to handling. Are 
 you sure you can manage it ? ” 
 
 “ Perfectly sure, uncle,” said Jack. “ I will 
 be very careful ; you need have no fears.” 
 
 “ Go, then, and be quick about it,” said 
 Uncle James. And in a few minutes the little 
 Cracker came cantering back with the gun 
 lying across the saddle before him. 
 
 “ Is your pony nervous ? ” said Uncle James, 
 dismounting, and taking the gun. 
 
 “ No, sir,” said Jack, who was dismounting, 
 also, “ but mother requires us to get down 
 when there is any shooting. Besides, sir, I 
 would like to go along with you.” 
 
 “Well, — I think it will be safe,” said his 
 uncle, half hesitating. “ Hitch your pony to a 
 sapling, and come.” 
 
 They had scarcely gotten well into the wood, 
 when they heard a low, fierce growl from a 
 jungle upon their right. 
 
 The uncle motioned silence. “ Something 
 
208 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 unusual there,” he whispered. “ The creature 
 neither attempts to escape nor offers to attack 
 us. Wait here, Jack.” 
 
 Jack stood in the road, while his uncle broke 
 an opening into the thicket from which the 
 savage snarls were sounding. 
 
 A moment later there was a sharp report, 
 and the snarling ceased. Then Uncle James 
 appeared on the edge of the thicket, laughing. 
 
 “ I say, Jack,” he called, “ how long is it 
 since something ran away with my steel trap 
 in your father’s banana grove ? ” 
 
 “ Eight months, uncle,” replied Jack. “ I 
 heard mother say so this very morning.” 
 
 “ Eight months! Come here, Jack.” 
 
 The boy followed his uncle into the thicket, 
 where, when the brush and growth had been 
 pushed aside, he saw a lean, half starved wild- 
 cat lying there dead, a bullet in its brain, and 
 the missing trap still clinging to its foot. 
 
 “ Now,” said his uncle, “ what do you think 
 of that ? ” 
 
 “ I think,” said the astonished little Cracker, 
 “ that at last I know who stole the bear-trap.” 
 Such a terrible-looking thief as it was ! It 
 had carried the steel trap on its foot for eight 
 months. 
 
THE TRAP FOUND. 
 
BIJOU AND THE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 21 I 
 
 “ It has literally starved . said Uncle James. 
 “ But the real wonder is, that it did not die 
 long ago.” 
 
 He stooped, touched a spring, and removed 
 the trap. 
 
 “ So, simple, and yet so sure,” he said. “ And 
 that is an idea worth noting, Jack. The sure 
 things of life are operated by a very simple 
 machinery ; it is the complications that make 
 confusion. You will find the rule to apply to 
 the moral as well as the natural world, where 
 truth is the simple thing that unlocks the traps 
 set for the unwary.” 
 
 “ Yes, sir,” said Jack, wondering vaguely how 
 it was that his uncle always found something 
 wonderful, a lesson, a sermon, or a story, in 
 everything with which he came in contact. 
 
 “Uncle,” — the lost trap was too much for 
 the little Cracker’s patience, however, — “I 
 should like to ride home and tell father about 
 that trap.” 
 
 “ I was about to suggest that we change our 
 plans, and make Col Alto our objective point,” 
 said Uncle James. “ That will be a very good 
 ride on a morning like this. Why, Jack, where 
 is your pony ? ” 
 
 Sure enough, Bijou was missing. In the 
 
212 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 excitement, the little Cracker had not secured 
 him well, and he had contrived to slip his fas- 
 tenings and had run away to Col Alto. 
 
 “Well,” said Jack, “ I call that cool!” 
 
 “Gone home, I suspect,” said Uncle James. 
 “ Scramble up behind me ; the Prince will ‘tote 
 double,’ as Mr. Joiner says, and we will soon 
 catch up with the runaway.” 
 
 Soon they related the wonderful story of the 
 stolen trap to the family at Col Alto. There 
 had been exclamations and interrogations suffi- 
 cient to fill a chapter. In the midst of the ex- 
 citement, William appeared around the house 
 and beckoned to Jack. 
 
 “ I hates to tell you, Master Jack,” said he, 
 “but if you please to just look a-there /” 
 
 He pointed to Bijou, standing meekly by 
 with bowed head and subdued air, very much 
 resembling a boy who had been into forbidden 
 paths and has met with unpleasant adventures. 
 
 Jack gave one long, horrified glance at the 
 pony’s flank, which lay open to the bone, the 
 skin and torn flesh hanging almost to the 
 o;round. In an instant he understood that at 
 last the prophecies of Cracker Bus had been 
 fulfilled, and that Bijou had come in contact 
 with the blind alligator. Jack never once 
 
BIJOU AND THE ALLIGATORS. 213 
 
 thought of scolding, however ; that ugly, gaping 
 wound drove all feeling save that of tenderness 
 from his heart. His lip quivered, something 
 suspiciously sparkling sprang to his eyes and 
 trembled a moment upon his cheek. And 
 then the little Cracker threw his arms about 
 his pony’s neck and burst into tears. 
 
 “Oh, Bijou!” he sobbed, “poor, poor Bijou! 
 Run for father, William; run for father, quick.” 
 
 But the worst of all, to Jack, was the sewing 
 of the skin again. 
 
 First Bijou objected to being thrown. They 
 did get him upon his side at last, however, and 
 the Captain clipped away the bits of mangled 
 flesh, bathed and anointed the wound until 
 the blood had ceased to flow; after which, 
 while William and the boys assisted, he drew 
 the wound carefully together until the gaping 
 rent was closed, tenderly replaced the skin, or 
 hide, and with skilful, dexterous stitches fas- 
 tened it into position. 
 
 “And now,” said he, when the last stitch 
 had been taken and Bijou assisted to his feet 
 again, “ if lockjaw doesn't set in, he is safe 
 enough. But,” he added, slowly and earnestly, 
 “ there will be a scar." 
 
 And there was indeed an ugly scar, that 
 
214 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 never disappeared ; the Crackers called it his 
 “ Insignia of Disobedience 
 
 One thing was noticeable, however, — Bijou 
 never ventured into the lake again. 
 
 The Mate, to be sure, could not miss the 
 opportunity for turning her little sermon out 
 of the adventure. 
 
 “ Ponies,” said she, “ are like boys ; they 
 must needs have their lesson now and then. 
 The more severe the lesson, the more effect- 
 ive. But disobedience usually leaves its scar. 
 Sometimes it is only an expression left upon 
 the face ; sometimes it is not visible to the eye 
 at all ; but the scar is there, whether it be the 
 disfiguring of the body or merely a little un- 
 seen, unsuspected hurt, deep down in the heart, 
 it is there. And it affects, according to its 
 magnitude, all after life.” 
 
 And the Crackers understood. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MORE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 The Crackers came in one morning with 
 some very wonderful news, — good news it was 
 to the people all around the lake. Bijou must 
 have thought it good news, also, if he could 
 have had an opinion on the subject. 
 
 The old blind alligator was dead. His ugly 
 carcass had been washed upon the shore by 
 the waves that very morning. 
 
 Upon investigation he was found to be 
 totally blind, both eyes having been put out 
 evidently by a bullet that had glanced them, 
 without striking that vital spot, which alone 
 deals death to the alligator, just between the 
 eyes. 
 
 “ But the last bullet brought him down, 
 mother,” said Joe. “ The last bullet went 
 ‘slam home,’ as Mr. Joiner says.” 
 
 “ And who slammed it, may I inquire ? ” said 
 the Mate, at which the Crackers laughed heart- 
 
 2I 5 
 
216 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 ily, and the little Cracker cried, “ Why, don’t 
 you know? It was the Joiner boys. They 
 were out in our boat, — the one we gave them, 
 — hunting ’gators for a man at Jacksonville 
 who keeps a curiosity store. They had their 
 father’s gun, and when the big ’gator came 
 
 along out of the 
 water and spread 
 himself out to dry 
 on the shore, Jake 
 just dropped the 
 boat around to a 
 point near by and 
 got out, and tipped 
 around to the blind 
 alligator’s head and 
 chunked a bullet 
 into his old noodle 
 that laid him out, / 
 tell you.” 
 
 “ Why, what a description,” laughed the 
 Mate, who perceived at once that the killing 
 of the blind alligator had worked a change in 
 the boys’ respect for their young neighbors. 
 “ And then what happened ?” 
 
 “Why,” said James, “the waves took him 
 off, for he made a lunge, you may be sure, and 
 
MORE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 217 
 
 the boys didn’t know for certain that he was 
 dead until this morning, when the men found 
 him washed up again. The boys said they 
 were ‘ mighty glad, so’s their pappy wouldn’t 
 whoop ’em for stealing the gun. 
 
 “And when they investigated him,” it was 
 Joe’s turn to add his testimony to the recital, 
 “ they found him to be totally blind.” 
 
 “ And did the investigation find him to be 
 totally deaf also ? ” said the Mate. At which 
 the Crackers looked dubious for a moment, 
 until the middle Cracker causdit the twinkle 
 in the Mate’s eye and took his cue from it. 
 
 “ I think not, mother,” said he, “ because 
 when found nobody said anything about his 
 not having any ears, though they did say he 
 had no eyes.” 
 
 The Mate laughed heartily over this clever 
 retort upon the part of the viiddle Cracker. 
 
 “That reminds me,” said she, “of a story I 
 once read of a man who was supposed to have 
 been lost at sea. He was the heir to a great 
 estate, it seems, and his friends took measures 
 at once for finding his corpse, ‘ for decent burial.’ 
 In all the leading journals there were adver- 
 tisements for him ; their notices informed the 
 public that the missing dead man might be 
 
2iS THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 ‘easily identified by a red head, a game leg, 
 and itn impediment in his speech. Also he 
 was a trifle near-sighted.’ ” 
 
 Still, for all the joking, the Mate was truly 
 glad the old terror had been slain. 
 
 “ I hope,” said she, “ we will have no more 
 alligator adventures, but shall be free from the 
 horrid creatures, their presence and their dep- 
 redations, from this time forth and forever. 
 We are becoming civilized citizens; let the 
 alligators and the wildcats understand that.” 
 
 In spite of the wish, however, she was des- 
 tined to hear a good deal more of the ugly 
 inhabitants of the lake. It was about this time 
 that Florida began to attract the universal 
 attention of Northerners seeking a milder 
 winter climate. Each winter the immigration 
 had increased, until she could scarcely enter- 
 tain her guests. 
 
 With the coming of strangers a new enter- 
 prise had opened up, — the manufacture of 
 bags, pockets, purses, and belts, from the skin 
 of alligators. 
 
 In addition to this, as if Dame Fashion had 
 determined to assist the Crackers in ridding 
 themselves of their pests, the baby alligators 
 began to be wanted. 
 
MORE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 219 
 
 Souvenirs, — everybody must have an alli- 
 gator to carry home and exhibit to their 
 friends at the North. The “man in Jack- 
 sonville,” who kept the “ curiosity store,” had 
 notified the lakeshore people that he would 
 purchase at fifty cents each every baby alli- 
 gator brought or sent “ in good condition ” to 
 his house at Jacksonville. 
 
 A tempting offer to the Cracker element 
 living along the lakes, to whom fifty cents 
 seemed a rare prize for the “varmints.” 
 
 Mr. Bus Joiner went into the business of 
 collecting and shipping alligators more briskly, 
 perhaps, than he had ever been known to go 
 into anything. Unless, as his wife suggested, 
 “ it mought be his victuals.” 
 
 There was a regular tri-weekly steamer on 
 the lake at this time, thanks to the orange 
 groves, and so the speculator found no diffi- 
 culty in getting his stock to Jacksonville “in 
 good condition.” 
 
 Twice each week he shipped a keg of alli- 
 gators, via the lake, the Ocklawaha River and 
 the St. Johns, to the market at Jacksonville. 
 
 “ Why, Mis’ Parish,” he said to the Mate one 
 morning, as he crossed the yard according 
 to his custom, that being “ a nigh cut ” to the 
 
220 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 water, “ I be gettin’ rich a-sellin’ baby gators. 
 I made ten dollars last week, an’ eight the week 
 afore that. I aims to make twenty this week. 
 One o’ the hands on you-unses place hev told 
 me uv a place over on the Long Islint whar 
 they air plentifuller than ye ever see. I’m 
 aimin’ ter git thar this mornin’, if them young 
 raskils o’ mine hain’t took ’n’ took the boat 
 slam off.” 
 
 “ The boat is down there,” said the Mate, 
 indicating the point below where she had seen 
 the boys leave it to follow her own boys on a 
 gopher hunt. “ The boat is down there ; if 
 you hurry a little you can get off before the 
 boys return. I saw them going up to the 
 grove with my boys to hunt gopher tortoise. 
 But I tell you, Mr. Joiner, it is a very un- 
 certain business, hunting alligators, and / 
 think the risk overbalances the profit. Look 
 out you don’t go the way of the white sow.” 
 
 “ Lor,” said the speculator in “ baby ’gators,” 
 with a knowing grin, “ womens alius thinks 
 that erway. My wife thinks jest like yeou 
 thinks. That’s natchel fur womens. They’re 
 skerry.” 
 
 The Mate did not feel disposed to argue the 
 matter ; she had sounded a warning, without 
 
MORE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 221 
 
 effect, and she had no more to say on the 
 subject. 
 
 But as she saw the man rowing off to the 
 island, a great pity rose in her heart. 
 
 He was so ignorant ; what else could be 
 expected of him, than that he should seize 
 each and any opportunity that offered for 
 making a little money ? 
 
 Watching him thus, rowing away upon his 
 dangerous errand, she thought of her own 
 boys, the three darling little Crackers, and 
 again she resolved that their new tutor must 
 come at once, — just as soon as they were 
 moved into the new house. “ And there 
 must be books ordered,” she said, aloud, her 
 eyes still fixed upon the fast fading boat. 
 “ Books are the great foundation of all man- 
 hood. Good books, good men ; bad books, 
 doubtful men. I shall order a carefully 
 selected little library for them before I sleep. 
 I would not have my boys grow up into — 
 that , — not for the wealth of a world.” 
 
 And again she nodded towards the retreat- 
 ing rowboat. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Bus Joiner entertained very 
 different views as he paddled away to his 
 destination. 
 
2 22 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 “ Ef I ketch fifty it ud make twenty-five 
 dollars,” he calculated. “ But Lor’, I hain’t got 
 no use fur all that thar money. I declar’ to 
 goodness ef I ain’t gittin’ right down graspin’, 
 ’sociatin’ ez I hev been a-doin’ uv with the rich 
 o’ this worl’. Useter be I could manage on a 
 dollar or so oncet in a while, with the help o’ 
 the good Lord what chucked the lake with 
 trouit an’ the swammocks with wild meat 
 and palmetter cabbage. Lor’, but things hev 
 changed, — changed mightily ! ” 
 
 The change, or thoughts of it, seemed to 
 affect him greatly, for he dropped the oar in 
 the water slowly, as if lost in thought, though 
 he gave no further expression to his opinions, 
 and soon the boat touched the shore of the 
 Long Island, and the old Cracker landed. 
 
 The inevitable snack, that had occupied the 
 seat with him, seemed to have become a kind 
 of burden to him. He intended making a tour 
 of the island ; it would be too late for the 
 snack before he returned, and it would come 
 “ onhandy,” he argued, “ ter fetch it round all 
 the way.” 
 
 Therefore, in order to rid himself of the 
 burden, and at the same time settle the quan- 
 dary, he sat down on the edge of the boat 
 
MORE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 and ate his lunch before starting upon his 
 explorations. 
 
 “ I guess hit’ll settle hit” he said, as he 
 opened the tin bucket and began operations 
 upon the corn bread, fried bacon, and turtle 
 eggs that Mrs. Joiner had “put up” for his 
 dinner. 
 
 It was not ten o’clock when he set the 
 bucket back in the boat and started around 
 the island on the search for “ baby ’gators.” 
 
 He intended to make a circuit of the island 
 really, but concluded he had best cross to 
 “ t’other side ” and take it “ half ’n half, ez 
 t’ware.” 
 
 So he went across, taking as straight line as 
 possible. In less than an hour he had reached 
 the shore at a point almost directly opposite 
 that upon which he had left the boat. Then 
 he turned to the right, “ fur luck,” he told him- 
 self, and started, keeping near the shore, back 
 to his boat. 
 
 When he had gone about half the distance 
 he suddenly stopped ; his eyes seemed ready to 
 burst their sockets, so wonderful was the sight 
 upon which he had stumbled. A fortune, a 
 full fortune to him , was lying there at his very 
 feet, basking in the sun. 
 
224 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 “Full a hunderd,” he muttered, as he 
 tipped carefully into their midst and began 
 to seize upon the small, wriggling, serpent-like 
 creatures, the baby alligators. 
 
 He thrust them into his bosom, making; a 
 hurried calculation the while. Now and then a 
 
 harmless sting 
 told him that 
 even baby alli- 
 gators were 
 “bornded with 
 thar teeth.” 
 Fifty, — he 
 had caught 
 an even fifty, 
 when, seeing 
 one somewhat 
 larger than 
 the rest, he 
 made a grab for it, and caught it, intending to 
 carry it along in his hand. 
 
 But the alligator was not to be so easily 
 carried off. It gave a sharp, queer kind of cry, 
 and almost instantly the old female appeared 
 at the water’s edge. 
 
 She seemed to comprehend at one glance 
 that her family was being carried off, 
 
MORE ALLIGATORS. 
 
 225 
 
 and in two minutes she had rushed to the 
 rescue. 
 
 The robber dropped the alligator he was car- 
 rying, and ran. But the mother was between 
 him and the boat, and in order to reach it he 
 must pass her. 
 
 She understood his design, he thought, for 
 she put herself directly in his path and began 
 to lash at him with her tail. 
 
 At the same moment the alligators he had 
 concealed in his bosom, hearing the snoring of 
 the old one, began to reply to it. This seemed 
 to enrage the creature so that she would cer- 
 tainly have killed the would-be robber could 
 she have reached him. 
 
 Realizing that he must rid himself of his 
 spoil, Mr. Joiner began to tear the alligators 
 from his bosom and to throw them out to his 
 pursuer, while he struck into the hammock to 
 find, if possible, an opening to the spot where 
 his boat lay. 
 
 He succeeded in getting rid of all the alli- 
 gators except one. That one had wriggled 
 around to his back, and he could not reach it. 
 And all the while the creature kept up that 
 horrid crying noise that called the mother to 
 pursuit. 
 
226 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Breathless, pale, and frightened, Mr. Joiner 
 reached the boat. His skin was torn, his body 
 a mass of bites and bruises, when he tossed the 
 chain into the skiff and tumbled in after it, 
 leaving the mad alligator on the shore, so close 
 upon him that he received a parting lash from 
 her tail as he scrambled into the boat. 
 
 He pulled out as speedily as might be ; when 
 at a safe distance, and somewhat recovered 
 from his fright, he placed the oars in the bot- 
 tom of the boat, and, allowing her to drift for 
 a moment, he thrust his hand into his bosom 
 and drew out the remaining ’gator, looked at it 
 steadily a moment, — it was the last of the “big 
 fortune” that had sunned in the sand at his feet, 
 — then he quietly dropped it into the lake. 
 
 “ Money made that easy air boun’ ter be on- 
 healthy,” he said, as he resumed the oars. “ I 
 ware teached ez hit ware ter be ’arned by the 
 sweat o’ the brow, an’ not picked up in the sand.” 
 And from that time forth, nobody ever heard 
 of the keg of baby alligators being shipped 
 “twicet a week” to the house in Jacksonville. 
 
 Mr. Joiner’s financial ambitions seemed to 
 have adapted themselves again to “ a dollar 
 now and then,” with which he was to all ap- 
 pearances content. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 INTO THE NEW HOUSE. 
 
 Truly, the pioneers had prospered. “ The 
 grove will pay for itself in another year,” said 
 the Captain, as he stood at the door of the new 
 house , the Mate at his side, watching the three 
 figures coming up from the wharf where the 
 steamer had touched a moment to get the last 
 of the oranges, waiting to be shipped to New 
 York. 
 
 The new house was finished at last. It was 
 one of those roomy old-time plantation houses, 
 with deep galleries, and wide sunny halls and 
 windows that reached from floor to ceiling 
 looking out upon the lake : that sheet of 
 sparkling, sunshiny water for which the Mate 
 had never been able to find a name sufficiently 
 expressive of its beauty. 
 
 To the right of the front gallery stood the 
 palm grove, with beds here and there, of nat- 
 ural flowers, crimson camelias and white, scar- 
 let geraniums, and begonias of every order. 
 
 22 7 
 
228 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 Yellow jasmine and climbing roses were 
 everywhere. The dainty smilax reached out 
 its tender tendrils to clasp the sturdy palm, 
 while citron, lime, and cocoanut made a rare 
 “ annex,” as the Mate was pleased to call it, to 
 the palms; the whole being backed by the 
 orange-trees that stood between the new house 
 and the old. 
 
 “ Yes,” — the Mate nestled her cheek against 
 the Captain’s sleeve, — “ the lines have fallen 
 to us in pleasant places.” 
 
 It was their first evening in the new house ; 
 everything was in order, except the hanging of 
 a few pictures ; even Polly, from her perch at 
 the sitting-room window, was calling, lustily : 
 
 “Pretty little Jacko! Poor little Jacko! 
 Funny little Jacko ! ” 
 
 And from the roof of the long piazza, to 
 which height the new chain gave him access, 
 the delighted monkey rubbed his little brown 
 stomach and chattered a response, of whose 
 meaning he alone was in possession. It was 
 doubtless satisfactory to the parrot, however, 
 for she flapped her green wings and shouted 
 “ Ha ! ha ! ha ! ” in her most musical key. 
 
 The steamer, with the oranges, passed on in 
 a track of crimson sunlight that faded into the 
 
THE NEW HOUSE. 
 
INTO THE NEW HOUSE. 
 
 2 3 I 
 
 dullish afterglow as the sun went down, some- 
 where beyond the lake, and the three little 
 Crackers were called in to their first supper in 
 the new house. 
 
 “ Boys,” said the Mate, when they were all 
 seated about the table, “ I wish a little help 
 after supper. I am going to hang the Gover- 
 nor of Alabama.” 
 
 Then they had a great laugh at the mother’s 
 expense ; one asked if he was to be hung by 
 the thumbs ; another thought it should be 
 by the heels , while the big Cracker suggested 
 that “men were generally hung ‘by the neck 
 until they were dead.’ ” 
 
 “ And now,” said the Mate, when the laugh 
 had subsided, “ we must look around for a 
 name for our new place. Put on your think- 
 ing-caps, my boys ; everybody must have a 
 part in this. I have a fancy, somehow, for 
 a name that has villa after it, or to it.” 
 
 “To distinguish us from the natives, 
 mother ? ” asked the little Cracker, with a 
 chuckle that decided the fate of the villa 
 immediately. 
 
 “No,” replied the Mate; “since I have 
 really ‘ come to stay,’ to be one of them, I 
 shall not live in a villa. Suggest something, 
 
232 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 everybody. Captain! Joe! James! Sug- 
 gestions ! Suggestions are in order. What 
 shall we call our Florida home ? ” 
 
 And the Mate, crossing her great-grand- 
 mother’s silver knife and fork upon her 
 plate, was, she announced, “ ready to receive 
 nominations.” 
 
 “Call it ‘Crow’s Nest,”’ said Joe; “it is so 
 high and homelike.” 
 
 “Call it ‘ Buzzard’s Roost,’ ” scoffed the Mate, 
 “or ‘Chicken Coop,’ or ‘Turkey Top,’ or 
 something after any other convenient fowl 
 or bird. Anything but a ‘ crow .’ 'Let us hear 
 from you, James.” 
 
 “ How would ‘ Lake House ’ do ? ” said the 
 middle Cracker. “ It is so near the lake, and 
 on one of her highest bluffs ; and it certainly 
 is a house, mother.” 
 
 “Then we might call it ‘Boat House’ just 
 as appropriately,” laughed the Mate. “No 
 boys, you have not touched my idea, yet. 
 Cracker Jack, let us hear from you.” 
 
 The little Cracker very gravely followed his 
 mother’s example of laying aside his knife and 
 fork. 
 
 “ Your great-great-grandmother’s,” whispered 
 the big Cracker. Jack paid no heed, however, 
 
INTO THE NEW HOUSE. 
 
 233 
 
 to the sly suggestion that was intended to 
 upset the gravity with which he entered upon 
 the important business before him. 
 
 “ Mother,” said the dear little Cracker, “let’s 
 build a town.” 
 
 “A — ‘ town ? ’ ” 
 
 The Mate came very near upsetting her 
 great-grandmother’s coffee-urn into her lap. 
 
 “ Yessum,” said the Cracker. “A town; 
 and let’s name the town instead of the house. 
 There are nearly a hundred men employed on 
 our two places, uncle’s and father’s. Some of 
 them have brought their families with them, 
 and I heard uncle say the others would like 
 to do so. Two-thirds of these men are white, 
 I heard father say that ; and these men, with 
 us and the Joiners, are cpiite enough to start 
 a town. Let’s do it, and call it ‘ Sweet 
 Orange.’ ” 
 
 “ Why, bless the boy, what a head for busi- 
 ness,” said the Captain. The Mate screamed 
 “ Mercy me ! ” and began an involuntary ap- 
 plause with the tips of her great-grandmother’s 
 knife and fork. 
 
 “ We will do it,” said the Captain. “ I shall 
 open a store, and build a church, and set up a 
 blacksmith’s shop for Joiner, who is ‘ toler’ble 
 
234 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 handy’ about business like that. Yes, mother, 
 we will ‘ build a town'. ” 
 
 “ That reminds me,” said the Mate, “ of my 
 old Latin class. There was one great dunce 
 
 in the class who had managed somehow to 
 pull along as far as the Reader. It was Bul- 
 lion’s old Reader, and I remember the exact 
 sentence. It was book sixth of the Roman 
 history. The sentence begins 1 Anno urbis 
 
INTO THE NEW HOUSE. 
 
 235 
 
 condi tee sexcentesimo septuagesimo sexto , L. 
 Licinio — ’ 
 
 “ At examination time, which was a great 
 day in those times, — and the examination was 
 always oral, and the teachers were always ner- 
 vous for fear their pupils would fail to do them 
 as much credit as would be expected, for the 
 ‘ friends and acquaintances ’ of the school were 
 expected to be present, and it was considered 
 a great disgrace to ‘ miss,’ that is, not to be 
 able to answer every question put to you, — 
 well, the Latin class was called, and as luck 
 or skilful manoeuvring on the part of the 
 teacher would have it, our dunce was the first 
 one called upon to exhibit her ability in 
 translating. 
 
 “ She opened her book, and startled both 
 school and faculty by announcing to the hall 
 full of visitors that ‘ Anno built a city l I am 
 afraid Jack’s town will be, like Anno’s, a mis- 
 take in translation. Still, Captain, I — ” 
 
 She put her great-grandmother’s silver tongs 
 into the sugar bowl, lifted three lumps, — they 
 were not blocks in those days, but lumps , — 
 dropped them into the Captain’s cup that had 
 been sent back, like Oliver Twist’s bowl, for 
 “ more,” poured in the cream, the coffee, and 
 
236 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 then (nobody else had spoken, either ; they 
 knew those grand pauses of the Mate’s always 
 meant something to come) she spoke : 
 
 “It isn’t a bad idea, — no, it” — another 
 pause — “ it is a — really good thought. Well 
 do it , Captain. We will build a town and call 
 it ‘Sweet Orange.’ Only, we will — /will — 
 write to old Tiger Tail, the chief, formerly at 
 Okahumpka, but lately removed to a settle- 
 ment on the Indian River, and get the Indian 
 word for ‘ Sweet Orange.’ And, since one 
 great thought suggests a thousand, I shall also 
 ask the chief for the name of our lake. It 
 ought to be ‘ Sunbeams,’ though it is just as 
 like to be the ‘Lake of the Spotted Toad’ 
 as anything else. 
 
 “ I shall write to-night. And while we are 
 about it, Captain, suppose you do a little cor- 
 responding on the subject of the steam ) r acht 
 you promised the pioneers. Since they have 
 learned to ‘ paddle their own canoe ’ to perfec- 
 tion, build cities, and otherwise interest them- 
 selves in the matters of progress, I think they 
 are entitled to promotion.” 
 
 This suggestion won the hearty approval of 
 the three little Crackers. They were on the 
 verge of forgetting themselves and giving the 
 
INTO THE NEW HOUSE. 
 
 2 37 
 
 Mate a ‘ rousing cheer,’ but were prevented by 
 her rising at the very first intimation of such a 
 thing and declaring she was going, at once, to 
 write the letter to old Tiger Tail over on 
 Indian River. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 YALAI-IA ! 
 
 The three little Crackers had been occupy- 
 ing, with their parents, the new house for 
 about one month, when one bright morning, 
 early, the Captain ordered the “no-top” brought 
 to the door, and drove off to the post-office at 
 Okahumpka. 
 
 He had acted very mysteriously, the boys 
 thought, asking none of them to accompany 
 him, and giving such short replies to their 
 cpiestions they could not fail to understand 
 that he did not care to be interrogated. 
 
 In fact, matters had been “kind o’ dark,” the 
 Crackers thought, for several weeks now. 
 
 The Captain and Mate had held several 
 private conferences, to which nobody had been 
 admitted except Uncle James, who had ridden 
 over twice upon some mysterious mission. 
 
 The boys felt somehow as if they were badly 
 treated. And when the Captain drove off in 
 
 238 
 
YALAHA ! 
 
 239 
 
 that indifferent way, they felt as if they no 
 longer had any say-so in matters at all. 
 
 Then, too, the Mate had managed to send 
 them upon some kind of errand, as far from 
 the wharf as possible, whenever the steamer 
 came in, — as if determined to take from them 
 even that one poor little pleasure. 
 
 They were not in a very good frame of 
 mind that morning when the Captain drove 
 off. 
 
 “S’posin’ we take a row, anyhow,” said Jack; 
 “ it will help us forget how we are not wanted 
 about the house.” 
 
 “‘S’posin” you try to talk like Mr. Joiner’s 
 Jake,” said Joe. “I believe you could ‘a-mos’ 
 do it.” 
 
 “Boys! Boys!” the Mate was calling from 
 the front door. “ Do you not wish to go over 
 to uncle’s to spend the day ? ” 
 
 The Crackers were about to shout a hearty 
 affirmative, when James, glancing across the 
 water, perceived that the steamer was coming 
 in. 
 
 “Look there,” said he. “Just wants to get 
 rid of us. No, mother,” he shouted, “we 
 would rather watch the steamer.” 
 
 “ Boys ! ” And this time there was a hint 
 
240 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 of impatience, alarm indeed, in the Mate’s 
 voice. “ Boys, I say, come here instantly.” 
 There was no mistaking that call, what- 
 ever doubt they may have felt regarding the 
 first. 
 
 “ Boys,” said she, when sulking, fretful, and 
 impatient, they stood at her side, “ you are to 
 go at once to Drake Point. Your uncle 
 knows that — ah!” The Mate had been very 
 near to telling a secret. 
 
 “Your uncle is expecting you. You are 
 not to return until William calls for you with 
 Bijou and the ‘no-top.’ You are to be — ” 
 
 “ Mother,” — Cracker James’s eyes were fixed 
 upon the incoming steamer, — “isn’t the steamer 
 towing something this way? ” 
 
 “You are to go at once,” said the Mate. 
 “ And — ” 
 
 “ But, mother, the steam — ” 
 
 “ Will you let the steamer be?” cried the 
 Mate. “ Ike is waiting with the buggy from 
 the Point to carry you over there. Go!” And 
 the Mate actually took the middle Cracker 
 by the shoulders and, turning him about, 
 pushed him into the hall and out at the 
 back door, where she hurried the three into 
 the buggy and started them off with all des- 
 
YALAHA ! 
 
 2 4 I 
 
 patch, just at the moment when the steamer 
 whistled for the wharf. 
 
 Even then Cracker James looked back to 
 say : 
 
 “Just please let us see her come — ” 
 
 “Go!” she commanded, and thrusting her 
 fingers into her ears, the Mate ran in, and, 
 dropping into a chair, laughed until the tears 
 ran down her cheeks. 
 
 Indeed she laughed 
 until William put his 
 head in at the window 
 to say: 
 
 “ Miss Lou, hit’s 
 come.” 
 
 Then she remem- 
 bered, and, seizing 
 her garden hat, ran 
 down to the wharf to welcome “hit” into port. 
 
 It was three o’clock in the afternoon before 
 the “ no-top,” with Bijou in tow, started for the 
 Point. 
 
 It was nearly an hour later when the. Mate 
 heard the boys talking to the monkey at the 
 back door. She went out at once to them, and 
 at once they knew that something had hap- 
 pened. There were to be no more secrets to 
 
242 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 shut them off from each other ; the old good, 
 friendly times had come back again ; they read 
 it in her face before she led them in, then out 
 again at the front door. 
 
 Several gentlemen were standing on the 
 wharf, among them the Captain ; and the Mate 
 said, as she led the way down to join them, 
 with the three little Crackers in tow: 
 
 “Your father brought two gentlemen home 
 with him from Okahumpka to-day. They 
 came that far on the train.” 
 
 Before the Crackers could reply, they had 
 reached the steps leading down to the wharf. 
 Suddenly they stopped ; and such an expres- 
 sion as came into their faces, and such a shout 
 as went up from three little throats, it would 
 have done your heart good to have seen and 
 heard. 
 
 Lying upon the water, as quietly at home as 
 if she had been there always, was the daintiest, 
 sauciest little green yacht, with red and white 
 curtains waving a merry “ how-do ” to the 
 astonished little Crackers staring at her as if 
 she had suddenly dropped upon them from the 
 clouds. 
 
 A graceful line of smoke was curling up- 
 wards from a funny little stack, and while they 
 
YALAHA ! 
 
 243 
 
 stood staring, a saucy little whistle sounded, 
 and the Captain’s voice shouted : 
 
 “ All aboard the Dot'' 
 
 The Dot! What a darling little Dot it was! 
 The Mate led them down to the gentlemen, 
 who were evidently waiting to go aboard with 
 them. 
 
 And then, for the first time, the Crackers 
 remembered there was company, and that they 
 were called upon to pay their respects to the 
 guests, who, so far, had received very little 
 notice from them. 
 
 The Mate said nothing by way of introduc- 
 tion, and, thinking it rather peculiar, the big 
 Cracker glanced from his mother to the visitors 
 a moment, and then he stepped forward, and, 
 removing his hat, offered his hand to one of 
 the guests, while he cried : 
 
 “ Why, mother ! Mother, if it isn’t the 
 Governor of Alabama ! ” 
 
 “ And this gentleman,” said the Mate, when 
 the three Crackers had shaken the hand of 
 their Alabama friend, “ is our new tutor, 
 Mr. Long. Mr. Long, let me present to 
 you the three little Crackers from down in 
 Dixie.” 
 
 And when the Crackers had each given a 
 
244 
 
 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 hand to their new instructor, the Captain 
 called, “ All aboard for the Dot” and the 
 happy company “ took passage.” 
 
 The Captain was at the engine; he had been 
 an excellent engineer in the first days of his 
 manhood. He called to the Mate, as she was 
 about to settle herself comfortably among the 
 cushions that William had brought down, to 
 know if she would take the rudder and direct 
 the course of the Dot. 
 
 “ The rudder ? ” cried the Mate. “ Why, I 
 do not so much as know where it is.” 
 
 Then there was a great laugh at the Mate’s 
 expense, and the Captain sent a momentary 
 thrill of alarm into the hearts of the three 
 Crackers by announcing that it was impossible 
 to give the company a ride, unless some one 
 should take the rudder. 
 
 It was a great relief to the boys when the 
 new tutor rose and offered to pilot the yacht, 
 which offer was very cheerfully accepted by 
 the engineer. 
 
 He proved such a skilful pilot, the Captain 
 laughingly inquired if he had learned his trade 
 in Tennessee waters. 
 
 “No,” said he; “our streams are as fair as 
 any, but our people have not learned, as yet, to 
 
YALAHA ! 
 
 245 
 
 seek for pleasure from them. I once belonged 
 to a yachting club at college in New Bngland ; 
 I like boating.” 
 
 The Crackers liked him from that moment : 
 he had been a boy himself ; he liked boating. 
 Oh, they would have good times on the Dot 
 with the new tutor at the rudder. 
 
 They were very happy Crackers indeed. 
 They examined every nook and cranny about 
 the saucy little Dot , not forgetting the long, 
 horn-like tin box, in which the Captain had 
 stowed the “ ship’s papers.” They read his 
 defense as engineer, giving him permission 
 to run the Dot; then they examined the 
 rules and the signals, and wished for the big 
 steamer to pass, in order that they might sa- 
 lute her. 
 
 And at last, when they had seen all there 
 was to see, the Mate called for attention 
 while she removed from her pocket two let- 
 ters. 
 
 One was a very pompous, important-looking 
 document, and bore the Washington, D. C., 
 postmark. 
 
 The other was a small, queer-looking yellow 
 envelope, plentifully toned with finger-marks, 
 and adorned with the funniest zisfzas: writinsr 
 
 OO O 
 
246 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 that had ever fallen under the eyes of the 
 three Crackers. 
 
 “ This,” said the Mate, tapping the small 
 yellow envelope with her forefinger, “ is from my 
 friend, Tiger Tail, on the Indian River. It is 
 written, however, by Tom Tiger, son of the 
 chief, for reasons that you will soon under- 
 stand.” 
 
 She opened the letter (it was more than three 
 weeks old, but the Crackers did not suspect it), 
 and read it aloud, though the company, after 
 examining the writing, wondered how she had 
 been able to get the meaning out of those 
 curious letters. It said : 
 
 “ Got your letter. In our language sweet orange is 
 Ya-la-ha. Sour orange is Ya-lap-pa. Your lake is Lake 
 of Sunbeams, in our language Astatula. 
 
 “My son Tom Tiger writes the letter, the old chief 
 know not to write. From 
 
 “The Chief Tiger Tail.” 
 
 The Mate folded the letter amid general 
 applause. “ I am so glad to get the name of 
 our lake,” she said. “ And to think it is truly, 
 after all, the Lake of Sunbeams ! I was so 
 afraid it would be Spotted Toad. And our 
 town, that is to be, is Yalaha. Now boys, 
 
YALAHA ! 
 
 247 
 
 pronounce it: Y a- la-ha ! Ya/kha; with the 
 
 accent on the second syllable. Good! Now 
 you may give three cheers, I see you can 
 scarcely keep them down, one for Yalaha, 
 one for the Dot, and one for the Lake of 
 Sunbeams, Astatula.” 
 
 “ And a tiger for the old chief,” said the 
 Governor of Alabama, quickly. And the 
 Crackers, the Mate, the Captain, the new 
 tutor, and even the Governor himself re- 
 sponded to the very best of their ability. 
 
 “ And now,” said the Mate, opening the 
 official-looking document from Washington, 
 “ we will proceed with our town.” 
 
 The document advised that from that time 
 forth a post-office would be enrolled among 
 the government’s list of offices, to be called 
 “ Yallaha." 
 
 The Mate dropped the letter upon her lap 
 and groaned. The seal had been set, the 
 stamp ordered ; the thing was done, and there 
 was no undoing it. Yallaha ! And the old chief’s 
 word was Yalaha. The Captain, poor fellow, 
 had, in making the application, thoughtlessly 
 added an to Tom Tiger Tail’s spelling. 
 The Mate was in despair. 
 
 “ Now, isn’t it too bad ! ” said she. “ Isn’t it 
 
248 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. 
 
 just too bad to spoil our pretty Indian name 
 so! ” 
 
 “ Oh,” said the Captain, as he let off a little 
 more steam and signalled the steersman to 
 head the Dot homeward, “ it doesn’t matter. 
 It really doesn’t matter in the least, Sue ; one 
 / more or less is nothing, and nobody else is 
 going to write to old Tiger Tail to find out 
 if we have spelled our town correctly. It 
 doesn’t matter at all.” 
 
 “But,” insisted the Mate, “it does matter. 
 Why, I can hear Mr. Bus Joiner this blessed 
 minute, in my mind, explaining to the thou- 
 sands who are coming here by and by, to pur- 
 chase land, and to make orange groves, that 
 the name of our town is ‘ Yallerha ” 
 
 And so indeed it proved. The old Cracker, 
 and the Cracker's descendants, could never 
 teach their tongues the beautiful Indian 
 Yalaha. 
 
 To the strangers, however, who have drifted 
 into the place, though they sometimes wonder 
 at Uncle Sam’s poor spelling, and sometimes 
 talk of petitioning him against the obnoxious 
 “/,” the rippling rhythm of the Indian word 
 appeals at once ; and at once they accept it : 
 Yalaha, sweet orange. 
 
YALAHA ! 
 
 249 
 
 But to the natives who are not affected by 
 the march of progress, the home of the three 
 little Crackers, away down in Dixie, is to this 
 good day “ Yallerhar.” 
 
 finis 
 
 
GIFT BOOK SERIES FOR BOYS 
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 THREE LITTLE CRACKERS. By Will Allen Diiomgoole, 
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 A fascinating story for boys and girls. The adventures of a 
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