A Thousand-Mile Walk 



weather to which he had always been accus 

 tomed. But in speaking of animals, he at once 

 became enthusiastic and told many stories of 

 hairbreadth escapes, in the woods about his 

 house, from bears, hungry alligators, wounded 

 deer, etc. &quot;And now,&quot; said he, forgetting in his 

 kindness that I was from the hated North, 

 &quot;you must stay with me a few days. Deer are 

 abundant. I will lend you a rifle and we ll go 

 hunting. I hunt whenever I wish venison, and 

 I can get it about as easily from the woods 

 near by as a shepherd can get mutton out of 

 his flock. And perhaps we will see a bear, for 

 they are far from scarce here, and there are 

 some big gray wolves, too.&quot; 



I expressed a wish to see some large alli 

 gators. &quot;Oh, well,&quot; said he, &quot;I can take you 

 where you will see plenty of those fellows, but 

 they are not much to look at. I once got a good 

 look at an alligator that was lying at the bottom 

 of still, transparent water, and I think that his 

 eyes were the most impressively cold and cruel 

 of any animal I have seen. Many alligators go 

 [ 112 J 



