224 THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA. 



About five o'clock in the morning ,we were awakened by a 

 great owl who perched on a limb directly over us, and called 

 out in his shrill, piercing voice, Ta-whoo-oo-oo-ah ! 



Jack reached for his gun, crawled out, and by the light of 

 the moon, which shone brightly at the time, shot him. Later 

 in the day, Jack skinned the bird, and will send the skin to a 

 Boston taxidermist. His stately form will probably ere long 

 adorn the window of some apothecary's shop, and I would that 

 a photograph of the scene of his taking off might be hung 

 beside it. It would add greatly to the interest of the 

 occasion. 



There were the heavy branches of the great live-oaks 

 draped in long gray moss, with the pale light of the moon 

 flittering through them ; the blue smoke from our camp-fire 

 curling gently up through the trees ; Jack in his long white 

 nightdress, fluttering ominously in the wind, stalking through 

 the woods with his gun across his arm like a specter ruffian, 

 bent on some foul deed of midnight murder. Finally there 

 was a flash, a string of livid fire reaching away up into the 

 tree-tops, a sudden peal of thunder, a flapping through the 

 branches, a " thud " on the ground and all was silent again. 

 But to describe it is unsatisfactory ; such a picture must be 

 seen to be appreciated. When this was over we got into our 

 harness, put a few biscuits, a few oranges and some salt into 

 our game bags, and as soon as the first messenger of day was 

 visible in the east, we started down the river. By the time 

 we had gone a mile it was light. As we entered the edge of 

 a small hammock, we heard a turkey fly into a palmetto-tree. 

 We walked cautiously toward the tree and as we stopped to 

 listen another stepped out into an opening not more than 

 fifty yards away. I raised my rifle and fired, but from some 

 unaccountable cause, missed. The bird was out of sight be- 

 fore Jack could get a shot. Then we ran in opposite direc- 



