I]ST THE CYPRESS SWAMPS. 195 



me to its shores ere another sun had set. Making every 

 preparation, the morning agreed upon I sought my 

 guide. To my surprise, he refused to go, alleging, as 

 his only reason, that Tiger wouldn t let him. All my 

 persuasions were useless. Offers of revolver, howie 

 knife, and money were alike unavailing. Tiger was 

 chief in the head chiefs absence, and could not be dis 

 obeyed. The reason of Tiger s veto, as I afterward 

 ascertained, was that I had not counselled him first, and 

 he felt affronted. At last a happy thought struck me. 

 Would he go within a mile of the lake ? Yes, he would 

 do that ; and we were soon on the trail leading westward. 

 We passed through a small settlement of shanties, the 

 inhabitants of which had gone on a hunt, leaving all 

 their household goods stored away beneath the palmetto 

 thatch. Over broad prairies we travelled without seeing 

 an indication of life, and through pine barrens without 

 a single animal visible ; all had been killed, probably, by 

 the Indians. Soon we left the dense swamp that circled 

 the edge of the piney woods, and struck a wide stretch 

 of prairie extending north and south as far as the eye 

 could reach. West we could see the tall cypress said to 

 border the lake. Just as we reached a little clump of 

 palmettoes, about midway the prairie, a thunder-storm 

 such as only Florida is capable of burst upon us. For 

 an hour the flood came down, and drenched us and our 

 goods, although we were covered with the broad leaves 

 of the palmetto. 



Soon it was over, and the sun came out, and there 

 was a solemn hush, broken only by a low, sullen roar, like 

 the roll of the sea, coming from the west. I knew with 

 out other explanation what that was. It was the break 

 ing of the surf upon the shore of Lake Okeechobee. So 



