POKE DECEIVES A CUE'OSITY AND TELLS A YARN. 



CHAPTER XXin. 



POKE RECEIVES A CUR'OSITY AND TELLS A YAKN". 



" Oblivion here thy wisdom is, 



Thy thrift the sleep of cares ; 

 For a proud idleness like this 

 Crowns all life's mean affairs." 



EMERSON. 



THE Indian prisoners had gone with most of the gar- 

 rison to Tampa Bay ; the fort looked desolate in contrast 

 with its previous crowd and excitement, and we were 

 anxious to start for the east coast. 



Our party had made preparations to descend the 

 Ochlawaha to Lake George, and thence down the St. 

 Johns, and Mike had employed his leisure, and our negro 

 boys, Scip and Caesar, in building two dug-out canoes. 

 In these our " plunder " was carefully stowed, and with a 

 store of salt provisions from the fort, one pleasant day 

 we embarked and swept away down the current. 



There is something of unusual novelty in descending a 

 Florida river. An aspect of dreariness that only long 

 habit overcomes, quiets the tongue and awes the heart. 

 The black turbid river boils in circular eddies, or spreads 

 in motionless lagoons, far into the neighboring woods. 

 The stiff cypress trees stand naked with their feet in the 



