FLORIDA: THE GULF COAST 143 



strangeness he selected my room though other 

 of his friends were quartered close by. 



To this day the details of his trip, or how he 

 escaped from the place where he was shut up, are 

 a mystery. The whole affair, however, becoming 

 known, caused much comment among the officers 

 and passengers, and finally came to the ears of 

 the captain. After breakfast the next morning, 

 he said to me : " Mr. Scott, that's a clever dog of 

 yours. I don't think such a dog need be under 

 restraint, and I wish to extend to him the liberty 

 of the ship." From that time until Florida was 

 reached Grouse sat at the captain's table and 

 enjoyed all the privileges of a first-class passenger, 

 and many more. 



The journey from Jacksonville was to Ocala, a 

 town some five miles from the headwaters of the 

 Ocklawaha River at Silver Spring. Therefore, 

 the first part of the route was familiar. 



I had pictured the Ocklawaha as it appeared 

 four years earlier, and had excited the imagina- 

 tion of the other members of the party by stories 

 of the birds, the alligators, and the charm and 

 novelty of the trip. Confident of a great pleasure 

 in store for us all, I did not dream that any change 

 could have taken place in the short time which had 

 elapsed. However, the first few miles of the wind- 

 ing waterway, after leaving Palatka, was marked by 

 wide and radical difference in the conditions, and 



