HOW WE CONQUERED HALLECK TCSTENUGGEE. 313 



a curious scene, and impressed one with a feeling of awe. 

 The old tokens by the way, here a ford named after some 

 bloody massacre, and there a little log pen whitened by 

 the bones of those who fell there at bay together, hemmed 

 in by the pursuing savage, were so frequent and well- 

 remembered, that the soldier crossed the woods with a 

 ceaseless watchfulness. He travelled all day with his 

 utmost speed, lest his pursuers might come up on his 

 trail, and at night lay down in the darkness without his 

 fire, that his covert might not be disclosed. The celerity 

 of the passage was the safety of the party. 



Thus we crossed over to Fort Fraser, on the Hitchi- 

 pucksasi, and two days more brought us to Fort Gardi- 

 ner, on the ford of the river that connects two of the 

 largest of the lakes of central Florida, Lake Kississimee 

 and Lake Tohopekaliga. These forts were nothing more 

 than heavy cabins built of logs, and defended by pali- 

 sades, sometimes garrisoned by a company of men, and 

 sometimes only houses of refuge. The one last named 

 was in the margin of the cypress swamps, and was one of 

 those huge shallow tarns, whose black waters, encumbered 

 by logs and cypress knees, and encroaching into the dense 

 forest by interminable arms^ were more intricate than the 

 labyrinth of Crete. The Indians excelled in the navigation 

 of these lakes. Their canoes left no trail, and they could be 

 hovering about for weeks, without the scouts discovering 

 their presence. If they wanted to leave, they knew of 

 water connections through to a score of other lakes, or 

 they could flee away to the South down the Kississimee 



14 



