152 HORSE, FOOT, AND DRAGOONS. 



cow-boys is makin' a terrible clean sweep of the kentry !" That 

 they have not been long gone is evident. Two half- charred 

 wagons stand in the " corral," the wooden fence of which is 

 brightly burning, the flames licking the edge of a great wood- 

 pile, that even as we pass bursts into flames. In a small field 

 of waving corn joining a potato-patch the carcass of a mule is 

 lying, while right on the bank, the red blood still flowing from 

 a hole in its head, a large dog — a hound — is stretched lifeless. 

 Near a pile of debris, which may have been a kitchen or other 

 out-house of some kind, for a pot or two and tin camp-kettle 

 are hanging from the low fire -seared branches of a tree hard 

 by, a few chickens, shrilly cackling, are huddled together. No 

 other sign of life is visible, and as we proceed, the quiet of 

 the wilderness is broken only by the snort of our steam -pipes 

 and the thump, thump, of our great wheel beating up the mud- 

 dy waters. Suddenly there is a movement among the " roost- 

 ers " on the deck below ; they are gazing with bated breath 

 and blanched faces at something on the river's bank. Follow 

 the direction of their gaze, and peer into the dense thicket 

 where, above the matted willows growing up from the black 

 ooze, that dead tree raises its white, barkless branches like 

 skeleton arms, as if in fearful exultation over the dreadful fruit 

 it bears. Almost hidden from our sight by the tangle of un- 

 derbrush and low trees, somethincr is hano-ino- there motion- 

 less and still, something formless and shadowy in the gloom of 

 the jungle, something indistinct, but fearful in its mystery and 

 silence, a silence rendered yet more appalling by the hoarse 

 croaks of the black-winged ravens, ill-omened carrion birds, cir- 

 cling above the thicket, and fluttering on the topmost branches 

 of the blasted tree. 



"Look! look! down thar by them cotton - woods ! that's 

 them! that's the cow-boys!" Half hidden in a mass of wild 



