148 ON THE UPPER ST. JOHN’S. 
was no such fortune. One bird, soaring in 
company with a buzzard at a most extraordi- 
nary height straight over the river, greatly 
excited my curiosity. The captain declared 
that it must be a great blue heron; but he 
had never seen one thus engaged, nor, so far 
as I can learn, has any one else ever done so. 
Its upper parts seemed to be mostly white, 
and I can only surmise that it may have 
been a sandhill crane, a bird which is said 
to have such a habit. 
As I left the boat [had a little experience 
of the seamy side of Southern travel; no- 
thing to be angry about, perhaps, but annoy- 
ing, nevertheless, on a hot day. I surren- 
dered my check to the purser of the boat, 
and the deck hands put my trunk upon the 
landing at Blue Spring. But there was no 
one there to receive it, and the station was 
locked. We had missed the noon train, with 
which we were advertised to connect, by so 
many hours that I had ceased to think about 
it. Finally, a negro, one of several who 
were fishing thereabouts, advised me to go 
“up to the house,’ which he pointed out be- 
hind some woods, and see the agent. This 
I did, and the agent, in turn, advised me to 
