Savage Flames

“No matter how afraid I am, I must find my way home,” Dorey whispered to herself.

Her heart pounded at the very thought of leaving what safety she might have high above the water and land, in the tree house the two Indian braves had erected.

“Why would they do this?” Dorey said, this time out loud. She was glad to hear her own voice in the darkness. Strange how that made her feel not so alone!

No matter why the boys had done this, Dorey knew she must find her way home. She didn’t want to be in this tree house when the braves returned.

She’d show them a thing or two about abducting a white girl!

Perhaps they thought a girl her age would be easily kept at their tree house. She would prove them wrong.

Her knees trembling and weak, she grabbed thetorch and threw aside the netting that had at least kept the mosquitoes at bay. Then, stumbling on the hem of her dress, she made her way slowly down the steps that led from the tree house.

Finally she was back on the ground.

But suddenly she realized that in the darkness she was quite disoriented. She had no idea which way to go.

Now that she was looking at the shine of the water, where traces of moonglow crept through the leaves of the trees overhead, she saw that at this particular place, the avenues of water led in many different directions.

She had no idea which way to go in order to get home.

And she had no canoe to travel in.

Carrying the torch, she walked on whatever dry land she could find.

She saw eyes in the dark shadows of the trees. She feared she would not last long, out there in the swamp all alone.

Then she screamed as she slid unexpectedly into the water. The grasses of the marsh rose above her head while muck sucked at her feet.

After much scrambling, she was finally able to get back on dry land, although her shoes were soaked and felt strangely heavy on her feet as mud pulled at them with each step she took.

She winced and covered a scream behind a hand when she saw a group of strange lights rising into the air. By, the flickering light of the torch, which she had miraculously been able to hold on to whenshe slid into the water, revealed to her that what she had seen was only a swarm of mosquitoes.

Sighing, fighting off despair as well as mounting fear, Dorey stumbled onward, the skirt of her wet dress tangling around her legs, threatening to trip her again.

But she still managed to travel onward until she stumbled over something.

The torch revealed that it was her own canoe!

Before the young braves had gone home, they must have found her canoe. They had taken the time to partially hide it by burying it partway in the sand.

She thrust the handle of the torch into the sand, and, breathing hard, her heart pounding in her chest from both the effort and excitement of having found her canoe, she finally managed to uncover it. She slid it into the water, glad that her paddle was still inside. Unfortunately, she still didn’t know which way to go.

She tied the torch to the front end of the canoe, where it gave off enough light for her to begin paddling through the water.

She chose one of the three avenues of travel, hoping it would lead her back to the river.

She trembled as she traveled onward beneath trees where she could see snakes wrapped and coiled around the limbs. She was terrified that one would fall down on her at any moment.

Then she felt faint when she heard the sudden rush of movement as an animal leapt from a tree, a streak of black. She recognized a panther’s shrillscreech and was glad when she finally saw it slink off away from her canoe.

Relieved that it was no longer a threat, yet unsure of other dangers that might be lurking nearby, Dorey whispered a prayer to her dead father, asking him to somehow protect and help her.

Chapter Eleven

Man is the only animal that blushes,

Or needs to——Mark Twain