52 IN LOWER FLORIDA IVILDS 



east for several days and the sea was exceed- 

 ingly rough. 



"I doan' know, sah," he said, "dis mighty bad 

 win', an' dar'U be a big sea in _de channel. I 

 doubt if I can put yo acrass, sah." 



I told him I was very anxious to go and again 

 he surveyed the weather. "If dere's any mans 

 in dis islan' can put yo 'crass it's Jos6f" — the 

 accent on the last syllable — "but yo got no idee 

 how rough it is in dat channel." I strongly urged 

 him to make an attempt, and at last after scratch- 

 ing his head several times and telling me that 

 No Name was full of rattlesnakes he said: 



"I try it, boss, but I tell yo one t'ing, if I put 

 yo 'crass yo got to pay me mighty well foh it." 



I had only money enough reasonably to carry 

 me through the trip, and as I thought that "Jos6f " 

 intended to make me pay an exorbitant price I 

 very reluctantly concluded to give up going. 

 However, I plucked up sufficient courage to ask 

 how much. 



"Hit'U take de bes' paht of a day, boss, an' I 

 bleedzed to chahge yo doUah an' a half." 



As soon as I could recover from my astonishment 

 at his exorbitant figure I told him we would go. 



