186 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Thikd Flobida Episode: The Lost One. 



" A ' LIVE OAKER ' employed on the St. John's Eiver, in East 

 Florida, left his cabin — situated on the banks of that stream — 

 and, with an axe on his shoulder, proceeded towards the swamp, 

 in which he had several times before plied his trade of felling 

 and squaring the giant trees that afford the most valuable 

 timber for naval architecture and other purposes. At the 

 season which is the best for this kind of labour, heavy fogs not 

 nnfrequently cover the country, so as to render it difficult for 

 one to see farther than thirty or forty yards in any direction. 

 The woods, too, present so little variety, that every tree seems 

 the mere counterpart of every other; and the grass, when it 

 has not been burnt, is so tall, that a man of ordinary stature 

 cannot see over it ; whence it is necessary for him to proceed 

 with great caution, lest he should unwittingly deviate from the 

 ill-defined trail which he follows. To increase the difficulty, 

 several trails often meet, in which case — unless the explorer be 

 perfectly acquainted with the neighbourhood — it would be well 

 for him to lie down and wait until the fog should disperse. 

 The live oaker had been jogging onwards for several hours, and 

 became aware that he must have travelled considerably more 

 than the distance between his cabin and the ' hummock ' which 

 he desired to reach. To his alarm, at the moment when the fog 

 dispersed, he saw that the sun was at its meridian height, and he 

 could not recognize a single object around him. Young, healthy, 



