Laura Lee Hope - The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms

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"And now to find our mislaid steamer!" cried Russ, gaily.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE PALM HUT

Breakfast, on the shore of the sluggish and swamp-like stream where the
big rowboat was moored, was a meagre meal, indeed. For after a moment of
consideration it was decided not to use up all the food that remained.

"We may need some for luncheon," explained Russ, who seemed to have taken
command of the little party. "We may not be able to reach the steamer by
noon."

"Do you think we'll _ever_ be able to reach it, old man?" asked Paul, in
a low voice.

"Oh, sure. We've just _got_ to find it!" whispered the young operator,
with a quick glance at the girls.

"That's so," agreed Paul. But he knew, as well as did Russ, that it would
be no easy matter.

And so the "rations" were divided into two parts, though with all there
would not have been enough for one substantial meal. Fortunately,
however, the coffee was plentiful. The cook, when told to put up a lunch
for the picnic party that was to figure in the moving pictures, had been
very liberal, otherwise there would have been no food left now. And in
the matter of coffee enough had been put in to make several large pots
full.

As for water, some had been brought along, but, luckily, after this was
exhausted Russ managed to find a spring on shore, not far from where the
boat was moored.

"We'll have to take a chance on it," he said. "Anyhow, boiling the water
for coffee will kill all the germs in it."

"And we can't be too particular," agreed Mrs. Maguire.

The embers of the camp fire kindled in the night were blown into flame,
and soon a genial blaze was leaping upward under the big trees. The
refugees gathered about it and ate the scanty meal, drinking several cups
of coffee.

"That will keep us up, and help to ward off fevers which may lurk in
these swamps," said Paul.

The girls had freshened themselves by washing at the side of the brook
which flowed from the spring, and then having arranged their hair, with
the aid of their side combs, and a pocket mirror Alice carried, they
looked, as Paul said, "as sweet as magnolia blossoms."

"Oh, magnolias!" cried Ruth. "If we could only find our _Magnolia_--the
steamer!"

"Oh, we'll find her," said Russ, easily--more easily than he felt.

"We look like wrecks beside the girls," declared Paul, as he ran his hand
over his unshaven chin.

"Don't you dare desert us to look for a barber!" commanded Ruth. "To be
left alone in these woods--ugh!" and she shuddered as she looked about.
Certainly it was very lonely.

"It isn't as bad as last night, though," said Alice. "I feel quite at
home, now. I wonder what became of that animal you shot, Russ? I'd like
to see what it was."

"I wouldn't," declared Ruth, decidedly.

Breakfast over, the blankets and cushions of the boat were spread out in
the sun to dry, for they were damp from the rain and dew.

"And now the question is--what are we to do?" asked Mrs. Maguire. "We
don't want to spend another night in the woods if we can help it."

"I should say not!" cried Russ. "We'll start off in a little while and
make our way back to the steamer."

"Can you find it?" asked Ruth.

"Well, it can't be so very far off," spoke Russ, evasively. "The trouble
is there are so many twists and turns to these creeks and rivers that we
lost our way. I wish I had thought to bring a compass but, since we
didn't, we'll have to go by the sun. I think the steamer lies in that
general neighborhood," and he pointed in a south-easterly direction.

"I think so, too," agreed Paul. "And if we row that way I think we'll get
back."

Alice, who had gone over to the sunny spot where the blankets and
cushions had been put to dry, uttered an exclamation.

"Look!" she cried, and when Paul reached her side she pointed to some
bright red spots on the leaves.

"That's blood!" cried the young actor. "Russ, you winged that beast last
night, all right."

"Is that so? Let's have a look for him! Maybe I killed him. I'd like to
see what sort of a creature it was."

The two young men went a little way into the wood, and then came a call:

"Here he is--dead as a door nail."

"Oh, what is it? I want to see it!" cried Alice, who had a good deal of
the curious boy in her make-up.

"Don't go!" begged Ruth.

"I shall, too. It can't hurt me--if it's dead."

"I know, dear, but--"

Alice went, however.

"It's a lynx," said Russ, as he looked at the dead beast. "I can tell by
those queer little tufts of hair on the ears."

"Are they dangerous?" asked Alice.

"Oh, I guess so, if you had one cornered. They can keep a fellow awake,
anyhow, that's one sure thing. I must have fired better than I knew. But
then the shot scattered so."

"He must have been pretty close to us," remarked Paul.

"Ugh! I don't like to think of it," murmured Alice, with a little shiver.
"Suppose he had jumped into the boat?"

"Don't suppose," laughed Russ.

"Come!" called Mrs. Maguire from where she had remained near the boat
with Ruth. "If we're going, we'd better start."

"That's right," agreed Russ. "The sooner we start the quicker we'll get
there."

The blankets and cushions were arranged in the craft to make comfortable
places for the girls and Mrs. Maguire, and then the remains of the food,
and the coffee outfit, having been stowed away, Paul and Russ took the
oars, and once more the refugees were under way.

As nearly as possible, allowing for the twists and turns of the stream,
the course was in the direction Russ and Paul had agreed upon as being
the best. From time to time, as they rowed on, they paused to listen for
any hails which would probably be given by the searching party from the
steamer.

"For of course daddy will start out after us," said Ruth. "Poor daddy!"

"I guess there's no doubt of that," agreed Russ. "The only trouble is
they won't know where to look for us."

"Wouldn't they go first to the place where we took the picnic films?"
asked Alice.

"I suppose so, yes; but when we came away from there we left no trail
they could follow. So it will be sort of hit or miss with them, as it
will be with us."

"We ought to fire the gun once in a while," suggested Mrs. Maguire.
"That's what all lost persons do."

"Good idea!" commented Russ. "I should have done it before. And they will
probably fire to attract our attention, for there are several guns
aboard the steamer."

They now made up a definite program, to the effect that they would stop
every half-hour to listen for possible shouts and shots and would also
shout and fire in their turn.

This was done, but the sun was nearly noon high, and they had heard no
sounds save the natural ones of the swamp and forest.

Now and then they would see alligators in the waters up or down which
they rowed, but the saurians showed no disposition to molest the boat.
And Russ had too few cartridges to wish to waste any on the creatures.

"We may have to spend another night in the open," he confided to Paul.

"It doesn't look very hopeful," agreed the young actor.

Noon came, and as far as could be told from listening, and from looking
about, they were as far off as ever from the steamer.

"And yet it may be within a comparatively short distance of us," said
Russ, as cheerfully as he could. "Only the woods are so dense that we
can't see it, and if our voices and the sounds of the gun carry to the
_Magnolia_ those aboard can't tell from which direction they come."

They had been keeping on in the course first decided on--southeast--and
there were many twists and turns to the trail.

"Would it be any better to get out and walk?" asked Ruth.

"I think not," said Russ. "The boat is really easiest and best for us."
He did not say so, but he thought that if they had to spend another night
in the open the boat would be absolutely necessary. So they remained
aboard.

At noon they tied up, and went ashore to eat the last of the food. Only a
little coffee remained, and as the final meagre crumbs were disposed of
each one feared to look the others in the face.

What would be next--where would the next meal come from?

No one could answer.

"Well, we'd better move on, I suppose," suggested Russ, after a pause.
"No good staying here."

"That's the idea," agreed Paul, trying to speak cheerfully.

He glanced at the two girls. Ruth's lips were quivering, and she seemed
on the verge of tears. Alice was bearing up better, but she, too, showed
the effects of the strain.

Mrs. Maguire was a pillar of strength and courage.

"Whist! And it's laughin' we'll be at ourselves in a little while--to
think we were scared!" she cried, with a forced Irish brogue. "We'll be
soon aboard the steamer tellin' what good times we had, an' the others
will be wishin' they'd been along."

"I--I wish I could believe so," faltered Ruth.

The boys rowed on, and they were glad of the exertion, for it kept them
from brooding over the troubles of their situation, and a troublesome
situation it was--they admitted that.

The afternoon was half gone, and in spite of having traveled several
miles, twisting this way and that, there were no signs of the steamer.

The boat made a turn in a stream that seemed more sluggish and lonely
than any of the others. But it was broader and this gave the boys hope.

"We may get somewhere on this creek," observed Russ, pulling hard at the
oars.

Alice gave a startled cry, pointed toward the shore and said:

"Look!"

They all gazed to where she indicated, and there, on the bank of the
stream, was a small hut, made of palm leaves, while in front of it, tied
to an overhanging tree, was a large motor boat!

CHAPTER XXIV

THE LOST ARE FOUND

"What does it mean?"

"A boat at last!"

"Human beings, anyhow!"

Thus came the excited calls from those in the rowing craft, as it drifted
toward the hut on shore--a palm leaf hut that seemed crudely made. Russ
and Paul had ceased rowing at the sight of the motor boat, and now their
own craft was merely drifting.

"Hurry up, there!" begged Alice. "There must be someone on shore who can
put us on the right path. Oh, what a relief!"

"Isn't it!" agreed Ruth, with tears in her eyes. But they were tears of
joy, now.

"This came in the nick of time," murmured Russ to Paul. "I was about
ready to give up."

"Yes?" agreed Paul, half-questioningly. "And yet isn't it queer we don't
see some sign of life?" he asked, in a low voice. "We have made noise
enough, but no one has come out of that hut. And the hut itself doesn't
seem like a very permanent sort of residence; does it?"

"Indeed it doesn't," spoke Russ. "But it may be one just put up for a
night or two by a hunter. Anyhow, we'll soon find out what it means, and
if anyone is there who can tell us which way to go."

He and Paul resumed their rowing and a little later were close beside the
moored motor boat. It was a large craft, and well appointed, though now
it showed signs of being weather-beaten; it was scratched and marred. But
it seemed to be in good running order.

"Ahoy there!" called Russ, as he made fast their own boat. "Ahoy in the
hut!"

There was no answer.

"Maybe they're asleep," suggested Ruth.

"We can apologize for waking them up," said Alice. "Oh, to think we have
help at last!"

Russ and Paul looked at each other. They were not quite so sure, now, in
view of the silence, that help was at hand.

Still, the fact that the boat was tied showed that it had not merely
drifted to the spot. Some human agency must have been about at some time
or other.

With Russ and Paul in the lead the little party made their way to the
palm leaf hut. It was ingeniously made--a glance showed that. A palm tree
had been taken for the centre pole, and about this had been tied layer
after layer of palm leaves, so laid as to shed the rain.

The hut was circular, and at the outer edge of the roof poles had been
driven into the ground to support it. There was a small opening, which
necessitated stooping to enter, and this doorway, if such it could be
called, was covered by a sort of curtain of palm leaves, made in layers
and fastened together with withes and wild leaves, laced in and out.

"Quite a piece of work!" commented Paul. "Now I wonder how one is to
knock at a palm leaf door?"

"Don't knock--call," suggested Russ, and, raising his voice, he fairly
shouted:

"Is anyone here?"

There was no answer.

"I wonder if it would be impolite to open the door, or the curtain, and
look in?" suggested Alice.

"Under the circumstances--I think not," answered Mrs. Maguire. "We need
help, and this is the first sign we have seen of it."

Russ stepped forward, and, after a moment of hesitation lifted the
curtain of palm leaves. The interior of the hut was rather dark, and,
for a moment he could see nothing.

"Anyone there?" asked Paul.

"Not a soul," was the disappointing reply. "It's empty."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Alice.

"What are we to do?" Ruth wanted to know.

No one could answer her. Russ was busy making a more thorough examination
of the interior of the hut.

"It's a good place to stay--if we have to," he said to Paul, who had
joined him inside.

"And it looks as though we'd have to--eh?"

"I'm afraid so."

Russ fastened the palm curtain back and this let in more light. Then the
others came up, though there was not room for them all inside. The hut
would hold three comfortably--no more.

"Who has been here?"

"What sort of a hut is it?"

"Has anyone been here lately?"

Ruth, Alice, and Mrs. Maguire, in turn, asked these questions.

"I don't know who has been here," said Russ, "but it's the sort of a hut
a native might build--possibly a Seminole Indian. Or some hunters may
have it to stay a few nights in a spot where they could get alligators,
or whatever game they were after. The fact that the boat is here seems
to show they haven't gone for good."

"Oh, then they may come back!" cried Ruth.

"Very likely to, I should say," spoke Russ. "We'll just stick around
until they do."

"I hope they come back before dark," ventured Ruth, and her sister echoed
the wish.

A closer examination of the hut showed two rude bunks, made of sticks,
raised slightly above the surface of the ground. The bunks were covered
with thick layers of Spanish moss, and were evidently far from being
uncomfortable. A few blankets showed that the occupants did not lack for
a little comfort.

There were a few cooking utensils scattered about, and outside, the ashes
of a camp fire, made between stones--a sort of oven--showed how the meals
were prepared. But there was little evidence of food, save a few empty
tins.

"There are evidently two persons staying here," observed Russ, as he
looked at a packing box, which served as a table, and noted two tin
plates, and two knives, forks and spoons. "It must be real jolly, camping
this way."

"I'd rather have a tent," said Paul. "This palm leaf hut looks artistic,
and all that, but not very secure."

"It's secure enough in good weather," declared Russ. "Well, I guess the
only thing to do is to wait until these folks come back. They won't
remain away all night, I hardly think."

"But if they don't come back until dark, what shall we do?" asked Ruth.
"We can't stay out all night again."

"We may have to," declared practical Alice.

"That is so, and we may as well face the issue," said Russ, somewhat
gravely. "And now that we have found a sign of human beings, who can
possibly tell us which way to go to find the steamer, it would be foolish
to waste this chance. If we go off by ourselves again we may get farther
and farther away from the _Magnolia_."

"That is so," agreed Paul. "I think we had better stay."

"That's what I say!" exclaimed Mrs. Maguire. "It seems like company just
to look at that boat and the hut, and to know that someone has been here
lately, and will come back."

"Oh, they'll be sure to come back," Russ said. "That's is too good a boat
to abandon. Why, it must be worth a thousand dollars."

He and Paul went down to examine it, while the moving picture girls and
Mrs. Maguire looked about the hut.

"It seems almost like home, after what we have been through," remarked
Ruth.

"I wish there was something to eat here," said Alice, after a stroll
about the vicinity of the hut. "Whoever lives here must get their
supplies in from day to day, and eat them all up."

"Or they may be out after supplies now," added Mrs. Maguire.

The shadows were lengthening, but the sun was still bright, and it would
not be night for several hours. There was a period of anxious waiting.

"I wonder if we hadn't better shout again, and fire a few shots?"
remarked Paul. "We may be near our own steamer now, though it doesn't
seem so. We might be in another country, for all we can tell."

"I believe we will give a few signals," agreed Russ. "And I can spare a
couple of cartridges. I only wish I could see something worth eating to
shoot at. Then I could be killing two birds with one stone--giving a
signal and providing a meal."

But there seemed no suitable mark for the weapon to be aimed at, and,
after they had united their voices in a chorus of calls, Russ fired
twice--at intervals.

Then came a period of anxious waiting and silence.

"Call once more," suggested Ruth.

"Hark!" exclaimed Alice, raising her hand to add to her injunction, for
Russ had been about to speak. "I heard something."

They all listened intently.

"There it is again!" whispered Alice.

Unmistakably now they all heard voices calling--voices that increased in
intensity--coming nearer.

"Oh, they've found us! They've found us!" half sobbed Ruth.

"Call again, boys--I--I can't," faltered Alice.

Russ and Paul shouted.

Again came an unmistakable answer. Now was heard a crashing in the
underbrush that told of the approach of someone, and, a moment later
there came into view, on the far side of the clearing, where stood the
palm leaf hut, two girls, one with a gun over her shoulder, and the other
with a brace of birds hanging from her waist.

The two girls stopped for a moment, and then, with joyful shouts, rushed
forward.

As for our friends, they seemed paralyzed with astonishment. It was so
different from what they had expected. Then Alice found her voice, and
cried:

"The two lost girls--we have found them!"

CHAPTER XXV

OUT OF THE WILDS

For perhaps several seconds the two parties strangely met in that Florida
wild stood staring at one another. Then the two girls hurried forward,
and one of them exclaimed:

"Oh, have you come for us?"

"Not exactly, Miss Madison."

"Oh--you--you know us?" gasped the other.

"Certainly, Mabel," laughed Alice. "Don't you remember us--the moving
picture girls?"

"Ruth--Alice DeVere!" came the simultaneous cry from the lost girls--now
the _found_ girls. "Oh, how did you ever get here?" asked Helen Madison,
for it was really she and her sister. Alice had recognized them first,
and Ruth knew them a moment later.

"We are lost, like yourselves," said Ruth. "Oh, but can you tell us where
our steamer is?"

"Your steamer--no!" half-sobbed Mabel. "Oh, it is awful! We have been
lost a long time--it seems a month, but of course it isn't. We can't
find our way out of this wilderness. It is a labyrinth, and we dare not
go far from this hut for fear we shall never find it again. It has been
terrible. But if you are lost you cannot help us. What shall we do?"

"Let us eat first," suggested Russ, practically. "You have some birds
there. I fancy you are as hungry as we are. We have some crackers and
coffee. We'll get up a meal and then decide what to do. Come, Paul, we're
the commissary department."

"Oh, but we must hear your story!" cried Ruth to the lost girls, after
she had presented Mrs. Maguire and the boys. "We read about you in the
paper, and we heard of you from the hotel clerk in Sycamore."

"There isn't much to tell," said Mabel. "We started off after wild
orchids. Well, we became lost, and in trying to find our way back we
wandered farther and farther into the swamp. We had our motor boat, as
you see, and quite a quantity of provisions, which was lucky for us. We
tried our best to get out, but could not.

"Finally we found this spot--the hut was already here, built by alligator
hunters, very likely. We appropriated it, and the small quantity of food
it contained. Since then we have lived on that and what we could shoot.
Fortunately game was plentiful, but we have so longed for some bread and
coffee. I am dying for a cup."

"Dinner will soon be served," laughed Russ, who, with Paul, was preparing
a rude meal, broiling the birds over a camp fire.

"And now tell us about yourselves," suggested Mabel to Alice. "Oh! to
think of meeting you again this way," and she recalled the first meeting
in the train going to the New England backwoods.

By degrees, and with each one telling a part, the story of the moving
picture players was related. They told how they had looked in vain for
their steamer. Mabel and Helen Madison also went more into details,
giving some of their trying experiences in the swamps and bayous.

"But for days we have not tried to find our way from here," said Mabel.
"Our motor boat broke down, and we can't get it to go."

"I fancy I can fix it," said Russ, "but the question is: Which way to go?
We may only get to a worse place."

"Let us eat, anyhow," suggested Paul.

It was not a very elaborate meal, but it put new heart and courage into
the lost ones.

"We'll get back somehow--some time," declared Alice, who was now almost
her old self. "And then won't everybody be glad!"

Night was coming on, but before the advent of darkness Russ had remedied
the defect in the motor boat. There was trouble with the ignition system,
and also with the carbureter.

"Now we could go, if we knew which way to go," he said, as he tested the
craft.

"Hark!" exclaimed Alice, suddenly.

The sound of a cheerful whistle came through the screen of trees.

"Oh!" gasped Ruth. "Who can it be?"

She had her answer a moment later.

Around a bend in the stream, rowing a battered boat, came an old colored
man. It was he who was making the melody. Cheerfully he whistled, and
more happily was he listened to.

"Ahoy there, Uncle!" called Russ. "Can you tell us where we are, and
where the _Magnolia_ is tied up?"

The old colored man was so startled by the sudden hail, breaking in on
his whistling, that he nearly went overboard. He recovered himself,
however, and called out:

"Whut--whut yo' all doin' at mah cabin?"

"Is this your place, Uncle?" asked Russ.

"It shore am. An'--an'--I bids yo' all welcome--I shore does, honey!" he
added quickly, remembering his hospitality.

"We've made ourselves at home," said Mabel. "Oh, whoever you are, can you
show us the way out of this wilderness?"

"Kin I show yo' all a way outen dish yeah woods? I shore kin, honey lamb!
I knows dish yeah place laik a book, even if I cain't read. Where all
does yo' all want t' go? Oh, wait a minute, though. Hole on! I done got
t' ax yo' all some questions. Hab yo' all seen any photographers round
'bout yeah?"

"Photographers?" repeated Paul.

"Yais, sah! I done passed a steamer yist'day, an' dey all on board was
monstrous peeved 'cause dey done lost der photographer. Yo' all know--he
takes dese pictures dat twinkle laik stars--yo' know, slidin' pictures, I
guess dey calls 'em."

"Do you mean moving pictures?" asked Russ, eagerly.

"Uh, huh! Dat's what I means, honey. All on board dish yeah steamer was
pow'ful worried case de moving picture man an' some oders got lost. Yo'
all didn't see 'em; did yo' all?"

"We're them!" cried Alice, with a justifiable disregard of grammar.

"And can you take us to that steamer?" asked Ruth, eagerly.

"I shore can, honey lamb; but it's quite a far way t' row t'night."

"We can go in the motor boat!" cried Mabel. "Oh, how glad I am that we
have it. There's gasoline enough, I think, and there is a powerful
searchlight. Oh, Helen, we're found--we're found!" and she fell to
sobbing on her sister's shoulder.

Ruth and Alice, too, clasped their arms about each other. All their
troubles seemed over now.

"Do you think you can pilot us to that steamer?" asked Russ.

"I shore can, honey lamb!" chuckled the old negro. "I'se libbed in dese
waters boy an' man all mah life. Yo' can't lose me!"

"And is this your place?" asked Mrs. Maguire, pointing to the palm hut.

"Dat's what it am, honey lamb. Uh, huh! I comes heah t' hunt alligators
an' sea cows. Sometimes I stays fer a week at a time. I jest come up now
t' see if dere any traces of 'gators. I'se gwine t' start in huntin' next
week."

"Oh, isn't he a dear!" laughed Alice, with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Well, I guess you can postpone your investigation for a while,"
suggested Russ. "It's getting dark, Uncle, and we'd like to get back to
the steamer. Now, if you'll pilot us we'll pay you well, and see that
you get back in the morning. You can stay on the _Magnolia_ to-night--if
we find her."

"Oh, I'll find her, all right--don't yo' all let dat fret yo'!" chuckled
the negro. "I knows jest where's she tied. It's a few miles from heah,
but in dat choo-choo boat yo' all kin soon be dere."

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