The Big Brother | Page 9

little girl, I think I know where we are. Let me think."
"I know wha' we is. Mas' Sam," said Joe.
"Where, Joe," asked Sam, incredulously.
"We'se dun' los',--dat's wha' we is," replied Joe.
Sam laughed.
"I know more than that," said Tom, "I know where we're lost."
"Wha', Mas' Tom?" cried Joe, eagerly.
"In a swamp," said Tom.
"And I know what swamp," said Sam, "which is better still. This
swamp is the low grounds of a little creek, and I've been in it before
to-night. I don't know just which way to go to get out, because I don't
know just what part of the swamp we're in. But if my foot was well I'd
soon find out."
"How, Mas' Sam?"
"I'd climb that sweet gum and look for landmarks."
"Lan' marks? what's dem, Mas' Sam? will dey bite?"
"No, Joe, I mean I would look around and find something or other to
steer by,--a house an open field or something."
"I kin climb, Mas' Sam," replied Joe, "an' I'll be up dat dar tree in less'n
no time."
[Illustration: "WE 'S DUN LOS'--DATS WHAT WE IS."]
And up the tree he went as nimbly as any squirrel might. As he went up,
Sam cautioned him to make no noise, and not to shout, but to look
around carefully, and then to come down and tell what he had seen.

"I see a big openin'," said Joe, when he reached the ground again, "an'
nigh de middle uv it dey's a big grove, wid a littler one jis' off to de
left."
"Yes," said Sam, "I thought you'd see that. That's where Watkins's
house stood: now which way is it?"
"Which-a-way's what, Mas' Sam?"
"The opening with the groves in it."
"I 'clar' I dunno, Mas' Sam."
It had not entered Joe's head to mark the direction, and so he had to
climb the tree again. In going up and coming down, however, he
wound around the tree two or three times and was no wiser when he
returned to the ground than before he began his ascent.
"Look, Joe," said Sam. "Do you see that bright star through the trees?"
"De brightest one, Mas' Sam?"
"Yes."
"Yes, I sees it."
"Well, climb the tree, and when you get to the top, turn your face
towards that star. Then see which way the opening is, and remember
whether it is straight ahead of you, behind you, or to the right or left."
Joe went up the tree again and this time managed to bring down the
information that when he looked at the star the opening was on his left.
With the knowledge of locality and direction thus gained, Sam was not
long in finding his way to firm ground again, and as soon as he did so
he selected a hiding-place for the day, as the morning was now at hand.
The next night they had fewer difficulties, the woods through which
they had to pass being freer from undergrowth than those they had

already traversed, and when the third morning broke they were within a
mile or two of Fort Glass. Sam thought at first of pushing on at once to
the fort, but, seeing "Indian sign" in the shape of some smouldering
fires near a spring, he abandoned the undertaking until night should
come again, and hid his little company in the woods. Something to eat
was the one immediate necessity. They were all nearly famished, and
neither corn nor sweet potatoes were to be found anywhere in the
vicinity. Sam directed the boys to bring some rushes from the creek
bottoms, and peeling these, he and his companions ate the pith, which
is slightly succulent and in a small degree nourishing. Sam had learned
this fact by accident while out hunting one day, and Sam took care
never to forget anything which might be useful. Towards night, when
the rushes failed to satisfy their hunger, Sam was puzzling himself over
the problem of getting food, when Tom asked him if he knew the name
of a singular tree he had seen while out after rushes.
"It has the biggest leaves I ever saw," he said, "and they all grow right
out of its top. Some of 'em are six feet long, and they've got folds in 'em.
There ain't any limbs to the tree at all."
"Where did you see that?" asked Sam eagerly.
"Right over there, about a hundred yards."
"Good! It's palmetto. I didn't know there was one this far from the sea
though. Here, take my big knife and you and Joe go and cut out as
much as you can of the soft part just where the leaves come out. It's
what they call palmetto cabbage, and it's very good to eat