19G Itf THE CYPRESS SWAMPS. 



near, yet likely to remain as unseen as though I was a 

 hundred miles away, for my Indian guide refused to go 

 further, and to seek a trail was an almost hopeless task. 

 No present would tempt him ; no mount of persuasion 

 move him. So we left him to return to his camp, and 

 pursued our way toward the north. All that afternoon 

 we hunted for a trail that would take us to the lake ; 

 but none was found, and so we made our fire beneath a 

 lone clump of pines at night, having accomplished 

 nothing. Over thirty years before had the troopers, 

 hunting the Seminoles, camped in this very place. There 

 existed here but one trace of civilization, and that was 

 the old wagon trail over which the supplies for Fort Van 

 Swearengen and the lower forts were drawn. Though 

 unused since the Indian war, except by some settler flee 

 ing from the dread of conscription during the rebellion, 

 it still showed to the experienced eye where the wheels 

 had worn. How strange that impression should remain 

 so long ! Though at first unable to discover the slightest 

 trace of it, I could soon follow its course almost instinc 

 tively, as sometimes the evidences of its existence were so 

 indefinite that I could hardly tell what it was that showed 

 it. It might be a worn palmetto root, a different kind of 

 grass, or a slight depression in the retentive soil ; some 

 times, seeing it rods away, a close examination near 

 would fail to reveal its presence. Next morning we 

 followed the trail till it lost itself in a swamp, and then 

 we struck the piney woods, intending to swing around till 

 we could fetch Fort Basscngcr, on the Kissimee river. 

 On and on we went, till our passage seemed stopped by a 

 black, deep creek, overhung with dark cypress, and 

 swarming with alligators. This creek was no doubt flow 

 ing directly into Okeechobce, but, as much as I wanted to 



