110 lis^ FLORIDA. 



mediately in the bushes. Then we could see noth- 

 ing further except the big bird, which had not been 

 alarmed by the preliminaries, and which there was 

 now every probability w^ould become our prize. The 

 ladies were in their hearts already priding them- 

 selves on the loves of bonnets to which his gorgeous 

 attire was to contribute, the doctor had already dis- 

 sected and stuffed him in imagination, and I was 

 wondering whether he was good to eat. We waited 

 till our patience was more than exhausted. Crawl- 

 ing through the tangled mass of a Southern swamp is 

 no easy matter, and wg could do nothing but watch 

 the imposing bird standing there, un terrified, and as 

 still as though he were a graven image, instead of 

 being a thing of beauty and vitality. 



Suddenly he gave a great leap into the air, and 

 then fell upon the sand in death throes which had 

 almost ceased before the report of the discharged 

 rifle came booming over the water. In a moment 

 the deceitful calm of the previous moment passed 

 away, we hauled aft our sheets, and swinging round 

 her head, got Heartsease under way. Charley shoved 

 out the dinkey which he had concealed in the 

 bushes, and in another minute Mr. Green pushed his 

 way through the underbrush to the side of his 

 magnificent victim. When our boatman joined him, 

 the two stood for some time gazing at and handling 

 the crane, while we waited impatiently for their 

 return. 



At last they threw the game, it seemed to us 

 irreverently, into the bottom of the dinkey, and 



