CHAPTER IX-WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COMPOUND

"How about it?" asked Bill an hour later. "Time to travel?"

"I guess those lads behind the stockade should be pretty well off to bye-bye by this time," yawned Osceola, getting stiffly to his feet. "In more ways than one, I hate to leave the shelter of this good old tree.

It certainly has proved a help in time of need!"

Bill likewise stood up and balanced himself on their airy perch in the darkness. "Well, I can see your point," he answered, "but I'm not getting sentimental about it. Ever since that filthy snake poked his nose at me, I've been waiting for his wife or brother or sister to drop on me. I can't see in the dark like you. So the sooner we make the road, the happier I'll be."

Notwithstanding the urge that prompted Bill to hasten, it took the two some time to reach the corduroy road. Osceola took the lead. He seemed to have no trouble in discerning obstacles quite invisible to Bill. At the base of the tree, he caught his white friend's hand, and after a few words of caution, started forward.

To Bill the trip seemed endless. They had not gone far when he lost all sense of direction. Along slimy roots, first above and then below water, they made their way. It was impossible to pierce the inky shadow under the trees. If it had not been for Osceola's uncanny power, half instinct, half sight, Bill would have floundered into the soft mud of the swamp and been sucked down into the ooze. How long the journey took, Bill could never figure out when later he thought about it. The actual distance was not great, but the time taken to travel it seemed years.

"Here we are," exclaimed Osceola at last. "Step on to that log, and be careful. It runs up the side of the dump at the end of the road."

Bill felt with his foot in the darkness, touched one of the tree trunks thrown down to act as road ballast. A scramble up the steep incline followed, the Indian still guiding him by the hand, and they were standing on the corduroy.

They were now no longer under the forest canopy and above their heads the heavens were studded with stars. Without a word, the youths broke into a trot. Fifty yards from the stockade gates they halted. There came a whispered conference, and then two dark figures entered the shadow cast by the trees and crawled forward along the roadside.

Just before they reached the gates they turned to the right. Following the log wall, they continued to creep on until they arrived midway between two of the flood lights which illuminated the compound. These were placed on high poles, perhaps ten feet above the twelve-foot stockade.

Bill grasped more firmly the short, thick stick he carried, and placed his mouth close to Osceola's ear. "Lucky Martinengo never thought that prisoners might want to get _into_ this place, rather than break out of it," he whispered. "If those lights faced this way, we'd sure be out of luck."

The Seminole grunted a low a.s.sent.

"Stand with your back to the wall," Bill continued, "and give me a hand up. When the guard comes along, I'll bean him with this club. Then I'll pa.s.s him over to you."

"Okay. But after you drop him over, get on this side of the wall again, while I'm tying him up with the creepers. One of those devils inside is likely to spot you, otherwise."

"Good idea-I'll do that. Ready?"

For, answer, Osceola got to his feet and walked over to the stockade.

Here he turned, placed his back against the wall and made a stirrup of his clasped hands.

Bill stuck the club into his waistband and a moment later was standing on his friend's broad shoulders. Up went his hands and he chinned himself to the top of the wall. A broad sentry-bench ran along the inside of the stockade. Lounging with his back to the logs, sat a guard, every feature of his unpleasant face made plain by the blazing floodlights.

Bill lowered himself onto Osceola's shoulders and leaned forward.

"He's sound asleep!" he whispered tensely.

"Fine. We'll leave him alone, then. Get an arm over the top and stand by for my weight when I hoist myself up."

Bill obeyed and the Indian caught his leg. Then came a moment of severe strain-and Osceola clung to the wall at his side.

Up and over they went together. Bare feet touched the sentry-bench, tiptoed to the edge and the lads disappeared beneath it. They had reached their first objective in less than two minutes.

Safe for the moment from outside observation, Bill followed Osceola as the young Indian skirted the wall in the deep shadow below the sentry-bench. No word was spoken. Each knew exactly what he must do, and kept his mind focussed on that performance. True, the first part of their plan was working out far better than they had expected, but the second and third stages of their enterprise were far more dangerous.

Although they were elated by their success so far, neither was overconfident.

Osceola stopped short and pointed to a building that stood possibly twenty yards away. Smaller than most of the houses, it was a bungalow, with wide verandas extending round the entire structure. It was shingled, and topped with a low-eaved roof of attractive green tiles.

The contrast between this comfortable-looking dwelling and the barn-like quarters of the slaves was as p.r.o.nounced as day and night, or the contrast between home and prison. Bill had not slept in a comfortable bed for some time. Then and there he determined to finish out the rest of the night in that bungalow!

Between the sentry-bench and the house there was no shelter of any kind.

Floodlights streamed down on the hardbaked clay of the compound, bringing every rut or small unevenness of the surface into clear relief.

Moreover, the ground was within the direct line of vision of the sentries.

"Do we crawl-or make a dash for it?" hissed Osceola.

"The sooner, the quicker. We're more likely to attract attention moving fast, but we're harder to hit!"

The Seminole nodded. "Ready if you are."

"Let's go!"

Together they sprinted across the open s.p.a.ce. Each moment Bill expected the drilling pain of a rifle bullet between his shoulders, and it took considerable will power not to crouch and slacken his pace. Their naked feet made no sound at all on the hard earth and rather less than a second later, the two vaulted the veranda railing and sank down behind it.

Certain that so far their presence within the compound had not been discovered, Bill got to his feet again. With Osceola at his heels, he crossed the piazza to a screened door, pulled it open and entered the house.

They found themselves in a kitchen where a gas stove stood in one corner, across from a large sink. Polished pans and cooking pots hung below long shelves stacked with cans of food, packages of cereal and the like.

"Too bad we can't help ourselves to a meal," whispered Osceola. "I'm famished, aren't you?"

"Sure am. But come on now, when we've finished the job ahead, it will be time to think of food. I prefer starving a bit longer-it's one better than dying by the lash! Through that door is our way. Quiet! if those lads in there wake up before we want them to, you and I are out of luck."

Osceola opened the door indicated by Bill and they slipped through it, closing it softly behind them. They were now in a hall which ran forward bisecting this part of the house. There were two open doors on their left. Bill pointed to the nearer and they tiptoed to the sill.

Thin rays from the floodlights filtered in through half open blinds. By this dim light Bill and Osceola made out the figure of a man sprawled on a cot by the window. A small bureau, two straight chairs, a wardrobe trunk and gra.s.s matting on the floor completed the room's furnishings.

On one of the chairs lay a small pile of clothes; on the other, close to the head of the bed was an automatic revolver and a gold-faced watch.

Osceola pa.s.sed like a shadow across the intervening s.p.a.ce and grasped the gun. Bill closed the door to the hall. Neither made the slightest sound. Then Bill nodded to his friend. Osceola promptly kicked the side of the cot and the sleeper awoke to find himself looking into a blue-black muzzle.

"One peep out of you and I'll blow your head off!" remarked the Indian in a low, dispa.s.sionate voice. "Turn on your face and put your hands behind your back."

A single glance into his captor's eyes was enough for the fellow on the bed. Those smoldering fires of pent-up hate won the battle before it was begun. The young man hastened to comply with instructions.

Bill came over to the bed and while Osceola continued to cover their prostrate prisoner with the automatic, he tore a sheet into long strips.

With these the fellow on the bed was scientifically bound and gagged.

Then the two friends moved on to the next room.

In there, exactly the same thing happened. Ten minutes after entering the bungalow, Bill and his Seminole friend were masters of the place.

"I don't suppose this house has a cellar," mused Bill. They were in the kitchen, preparing a much needed meal.

"Not a chance," said Osceola, from the stove. "You'll strike water a foot down anywhere in this compound. Haven't you got those cans of corned beef open? This skillet is piping hot."

Bill tossed him the cans, placed a bowl of eggs within reach of the cook and commenced to slice bread.