190 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



ketch us ou the sly, fur they kuow they aren't a match for honest 

 folks, nohow. Ef it warn't fur this ere young woman, and Rose, 

 and the boys, we might lay around and rub out some of those 

 varmints, and like enough get back some of the people they stole 

 from the house. But it's a mighty onsafe game to play, with a 

 handful of niggers to bother one, and I reckon we'd best make 

 tracks." 



" But where shall we turn to ? " asked the Doctor, looking 

 around him. 



" Well, ef we go north, it aren't a great way to Lorenzo's clear- 

 ing, but I kind o' think Lorenzo has lost his hayar night 'fore last, 

 with the rest on 'em. The surest place would be Tampa Bay ; 

 thar we 'd have the Fort, and from thar Lou Jackson could pass 

 up to where she would." 



" Poor girl ! poor girl ! " said the Doctor.  What is to become 

 of her ? She seems very calm ; I was afraid she would feel it 

 more. She has not shed a tear or made a sob since it happened." 



" A hound don't yowl much when he 's hard hurt," replied Mike. 



" What of the body, Mike ? " I asked. " We must bury it 

 some time, and where ? " 



" Them sarpents won't let it stay buried long ; they want his 

 hayar." 



" You don't mean to say they would despoil his grave for his 

 scalp ? " 



" I mean they are 'bout among the islands, nosing us out this 

 minute like wolves." 



" Mike ! " said the Doctor, looking around anxiously. 



" 'Taint likely they '11 find us to-night, though they know 

 pretty much where we be ; but their spies '11 be in all the passes 

 at light to see where we go, and what we take with us, and they '11 

 dog us to Tampa, and ef they can't get our hayar, they 11 try to 

 get his'n. We can't carry him four days' journey to the Fort" 



" We could bury him in the sea," said the Doctor, " and there 

 he would remain undisturbed." 



" His darter wouldn't give in to that," said Mike. 



" How do you know ? " 



" Wall, I reckon." 



