IK FLORIDA. 81 



faces. We were just about to give up any idea of 

 further advance, when suddenly we shot out from 

 the small brook into a broad river. Instead of 

 having ascended to the head waters of the Juniper, 

 we had hardly beeu in it at all, having mistaken 

 one of its mouths for the stream proper. The hour 

 was growing late, but this new river seemed so 

 attractive, we were so sure that it was the one we 

 had been looking for, and that it must lead into the 

 lake not far from where we had left our yacht, that 

 we determined to descend it instead of retracing 

 our course by the way we had come. Here it was 

 that I fired at and wounded a real Limpkin, as I 

 have already related. We went down with the cur- 

 rent, having in the broad stream a good chance to 

 use the oars. The sun dropped behind the trees, 

 which were more numerous on the banks of this 

 stream than they had been on those of the other. 

 On and on, and still we did not come to the outlet. 

 It began to look as though we had made a mistake, 

 and this river was a different one from what we had 

 supposed. The prospect of spending the night 

 in the woods now forced itself upon us. My coat 

 was thin, and already the evening air felt chill ; we 

 could make a fire, for we were too old stagers to be 

 caught without matches, but the thought of snakes 

 was not pleasant, in spite of the assurances of their 

 rarity, and the excellence of our antidote. 



Charley had been rowing a long time and was 

 getting tired, so I offered to " spell " him. This I 

 did till the sun had gone entirely and darkness was 



