CHAPTER VI 



CEDAR KEYS 



OCTOBER 23. To-day I reached the 

 sea. While I was yet many miles back 

 in the palmy woods, I caught the 

 scent of the salt sea breeze which, although I 

 had so many years lived far from sea breezes, 

 suddenly conjured up Dunbar, its rocky coast, 

 winds and waves; and my whole childhood, 

 that seemed to have utterly vanished in the 

 New World, was now restored amid the Florida 

 woods by that one breath from the sea. For 

 gotten were the palms and magnolias and the 

 thousand flowers that enclosed me. I could 

 see only dulse and tangle, long-winged gulls, 

 the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, and the 

 old castle, schools, churches, and long coun 

 try rambles in search of birds nests. I do not 

 wonder that the weary camels coming from 

 the scorching African deserts should be able to 

 scent the Nile. 



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