174 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



through the Snapping Turtle swamp ; we will cross 

 here." 



" And our horses 1 " said I. 



" They are grazing in the rushes. They'll be took 

 care of. "We shall have rain to-night, and to-morrow 

 they may come round without singeing a hoof." 



I had found myself once or twice upon the borders 

 of the swamp that now lay before us, but had always 

 considered it impenetrable, and I did not understand, 

 as I gazed into its gloomy depths, how we could 

 possibly cross it. 



"Is there any beaten path or road through the 

 swamp?" inquired I of the old man. 



" Path or road ! Do you take it for a gentleman's 

 park ] There's the path that natur' has made." And 

 he sprang upon the trunk of a tree covered with moss 

 and creepers, which rose out of the vast depth of mud 

 that formed the swamp. 



" Here's the path," said he. 



"Then we will wait and come round with our 

 horses," I replied. ""Where shall we find them 1 ?" 



"As you please, stranger. We shall cross the 

 swamp. Only, if you can't do like your horses, and 

 sup off bulrushes, you are likely to fast for the next 

 twenty-four hours." 



" And why so ] There is game and wild-fowl for 

 the shooting." 



" No doubt there is, if you can eat them raw, like 

 the Injuns. Where will you find, within two miles 



