448 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



the country about the Yellowstone. He showed 

 much interest in my camera work and spoke of 

 the great opportunities in that direction which 

 came his way. This is Part I of the story. 



On the 8th of April, 1890, I was hunting with 

 the camera on the mainland southeast of Marco 

 in Florida. We were near the Royal Palm 

 Hammock, which my companion had never seen, 

 but were separated from it by a stream of water. 

 We discovered a skiff on the bank which had pre- 

 sumably been left there by hunters. We com- 

 mandeered that skiff and I left a card pinned to 

 a tree stating that I had borrowed the skiff and 

 would return it within an hour. It was several 

 hours before we got back to find two justly indig- 

 nant men sitting on the bank waiting for us. 

 The anger of one of them melted away as he re- 

 minded me that he was Edward Hofer, erstwhile 

 a Rocky Mountain guide, but now piloting Mr. 

 Andrews through the Ten Thousand Islands of 

 Florida. Again he was interested in my work as 

 I told him of flash-light photographs of alligators 



