THE BURIAL. 193 



dog resisted and set up one of those long plaintive howls for which 

 the true deer-hound is so remarkable, and which echoed from shore 

 to shore like the call of a bugle. Lou was sitting in the boat, but 

 at the sound of the dog's voice she sprang out, and running back 

 to the hound, threw herself down on the sand with her arms around 

 his neck, and broke out convulsively sobbing. It was the first tear 

 she had shed since her father's death, and the torrent restrained 

 was the more powerful. 



"Oh! Missus! Jesus help us!" moaned Eose, swaying her 

 head from side to side. 



Mike rose up in his boat and, looking seaward, brushed his hand 

 across his cheek, saying : " Thar aint no show of light yit awhile." 



In a little while Lou came back to the boat, leading Duke by 

 the ear, and having taken her place with the Doctor, the boats 

 glided off into the darkness and the mist, and, using only the 

 paddles, passed like phantoms out of sight. 



All that night we rowed, and the next day, and availing our- 

 selves of the smallest of the open islands for resting-places, avoided 

 surprise. 



Whether the Indians ever followed us I know not, or whether 

 they ever found the grave of the recluse planter by the sea. I 

 never again visited the island, and the craft and ceaseless vigilance 

 of our guide carried us safely amid the dangers by storm and war- 

 fare that constantly surrounded us during the four days that were 

 occupied in getting to Tampa Bay. In the destruction of "Far 

 Away " Lou Jackson had lost nearly all the property of every kind 

 that she owned. Of the twelve negro men that had accompanied 

 us on the hunt, six only were the property of her father and six 

 had been hired, and would now have to be returned to their owner 

 at Pensacola. Lem and Eose, together with five men, would 

 accompany their young mistress and return from Tampa Bay to 

 St. Augustine, where her father's relatives resided, by the first vessel 

 that could be found. This was the meagre plan that she had laid 

 out for herself, as we sailed down the coast. At length we made 

 the point of Egmont Island, and entering the broad bay saw once 

 more the American flag, and stepped ashore in security under the 

 guns of the Fort. 



N 



