ADVENTURES IX LOUISIANA. 173 



tress, " I've a notion we had better be movin' out o' 

 the way o' the fire. Now, strangers, in with you." 

 And he helped Carleton and myself into the boat, 

 where we lay down, and became insensible from heat 

 and exhaustion. 



When we recovered our senses, we found ourselves 

 in the bottom of the boat, and the old Yankee stand- 

 ing by us with a bottle of whisky in his hand, which 

 he invited us to taste. We felt better for the 

 cordial, and began to look around us. 



Before us lay an apparently interminable cypress 

 swamp, behind us a sheet of water, formed by the 

 junction of the two creeks, and at present overhung 

 by a mass of smoke that concealed the horizon from 

 our view. From time to time there was a burst of 

 flame that lit up the swamp, and caused the cypress- 

 trees to appear as if they grew out of a sea of fire. 



" Come," said the old Yankee, " we must get on. 

 It is near sunset, and we have far to go." 



" And which way does our road lie 1 " I asked. 



"Across the cypress swamp, unless you'd rather 

 go round it." 



" The shortest road is the best," said Carleton. 



" The shortest road is the best ! " repeated the 

 Yankee contemptuously, and turning to his com- 

 panions. " Spoken like a Britisher. Well, he shall 

 have his own way, and the more so as I believe it to 

 be as good a one as the other. James," added he, 

 turning to one of the men, " you go further down, 



