120 WILD SPOKTS IN THE SOUTH. 



on all the bushes, or showered down on us from above 

 as we struck the young timber. 



Having reached a point of land in the bend of 

 the river, the ponies were unsaddled, their halters 

 were tied to their knees so that they could not run, 

 though giving them ample liberty to graze, and left 

 behind with an injunction to "Stay thar, yer sarcy 

 critters." 



Again the word was forward. Mike led the way on a 

 long stride, his rifle lying in the hollow of his left arm, 

 and his body bendmg and oscillating to conform to the 

 inequalities of the ground. As he walked he turned 

 hither and thither, taking in w^ith his eye everything in 

 the forest. At times, he would pick up a leaf here 

 and there, giving it a glance, and cast it down again. 

 Where the river bent, and we came where we could see 

 around the elbow, his walk was slow, and his foot came 

 down like a cat's ; when he was in the hollow he ran, 

 and almost halted as he rose the succeeding knoll, and 

 could take a view beyond. 



As we walked, he pointed to a j)lace in the sod, look- 

 ing at me with that communicative glance that said, 

 " There is something pleasant." On looking carefully, I 

 could just see a mark where the grass was thin, but a 

 mark it was, and nothing more ; it might be a natural 

 discoloration, or the result of one of the thousand mo- 

 tions constantly occurring in a forest. 



"What is it?" I asked. 



Mike picked up a broad leaf, one of those growing in 



