184 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



" Take a swallow of this," said he ; " but no, better 

 wait till we are oxit of the swamp. Stop a little till 

 your heart beats quieter. So, you are better now. 

 When you've made two or three such journeys with 

 old Nathan, you'll be quite another man. Now 

 forward again." 



A few minutes later we were out of the swamp, 

 and looking over a field of palmettos that waved and 

 rustled in the moonbeams. The air was fresh, and 

 once more we breathed freely. 



" Now then," said our guide, " a dram, and then 

 in half an hour we are at the Salt Lick." 



" Where ?" asked I. 



"At the Salt Lick, to shoot a deer or two for 

 supper. Holloa ! what is that ? " 



"A thunderclap." 



" A thunderclap ! You have heard but few of 

 them in Louisiana, I guess, or you would know the 

 difference betwixt thunder and the crack of a back- 

 woodsman's rifle. To be sure, yonder oak wood has 

 an almighty echo. That's James's rifle he has shot 

 a stag. There's another shot." 



This time it was evidently a rifle-shot, but re- 

 echoed like thunder from the depths of the immense 

 forest. 



" We must let them know that we're still in whole 

 skins, and not in the maw of an alligator," said the 

 old man, who had been loading his rifle, and now 

 fired it off. 



