CHAPTER XVI. 



Second Florida Episode : The Lost One. 



'LIVE OAKER ' employed on the St. John's 

 River, in East Florida, left his cabin — situated 

 on the banks of that stream — and, with an axe 

 on his shoulder, proceeded towards the swamp, in which 

 he had several times before plied his trade of felling and 

 squaring the giant trees that afford the most valuable tim- 

 ber for naval architecture and other purposes. At the 

 season which is the best for this kind of labor, heavy fogs 

 not unfrequently cover the country, so as to render it diffi- 

 cult for one to see farther than thirty or forty yards in any 

 direction. The woods, too, present so little variety, that 

 every tree seems the mere counterpart of every other ; 

 and the grass, when it has not been burnt, is so tall, that 

 a man of ordinar}' stature cannot see over it ; whence it 

 is necessary for him to proceed with great caution, lest he 

 should unwittingly deviate from the ill-defined trail which 

 he follows. To increase the difficulty, several trails often 

 meet, in which case — unless the explorer be perfectly ac- 

 quainted with the neighborhood — it would be well for him 

 to lie down and wait until the fog should disperse. The 

 live oaker had been jogging onwards for several hours, and 

 became aware that he must have travelled considerably 

 more than the distance between his cabin and the ' hum- 

 mock ' which he desired to reach. To his alarm, at the 

 moment when the fog dispersed, he saw that the sun was 

 at its meridian height, and he could not recognize a single 

 object around him. Young, healthy, and active, he im- 



