396 
FOREST AND STREAM 
August, 1919 
most impatient duck hunter. At every 
muck hole they hovered in colorful, flut- 
tering groups, unafraid, even at the near 
approach of the party. 
“It is too late to even attempt mak- 
ing the boats before nightfall,” said Mr. 
King, “we will proceed down stream un- 
til sunset and then select a likely camp- 
ing site. It is difficult enough to navi- 
gate these rivers in broad daylight. I 
have no wish to tackle them after dark.” 
Hendry, John Jr. and the two stran- 
gers w^re for pushing right ahead, as 
they descended the Sweetwater, but Mr. 
King was unbending and finally they 
stopped at a little point where the stream 
was some twenty feet wide and the thick 
hammock could be cut away with com- 
parative ease, when all five swung their 
machetes and hatchets. 
“The birds seem to like this place of 
ours,” exclaimed John, as he stood with 
his father at the extremity of the point, 
“there must be a dozen varieties and 
hundreds winged over the bays as we 
approached. Do you suppose it’s a nest- 
ing place?” 
For answer, Mr. King led John do^\^l 
to the water’s edge and pointed to the 
tangled snarl of mangrove and bay roots. 
“There,” said he, “is the answer to 
your question; Hendry will soon be bait- 
gathering, if I am not very much mis- 
taken.” 
Falling to his hands and knees, the boy 
scooped into the shallow water. 
“Alive with crawfish!” was his excla- 
mation, “I never saw so many in all 
my life. The water and roots are swarm- 
ing with them. So this is what attracts 
the birds?” 
“They are very fond of this delicious 
relish,” his father smiled, “and Sweet- 
water River seems to grow them as large 
as plump shrimp. Look Son, up and 
down stream, as far as you can see, it 
is one living mass of crawfish. Some- 
thing in the rock formation of the soil 
and the bed of the river here have made 
it a natural breeding ground.” 
John was fascinated by the sight and 
nets were made, with which Hendry and 
the lad dipped up enough for the next 
day’s fishing. This operation was ac- 
complished in a surprisingly short time. 
■PlXH-- E 
ONEJ and BslTTEf?. 
We Follow the King Party Through 
the Final West Coast Trails of Its 
Remarkable Expedition, and Bring 
Up Sharply at Alligator Bay. 
First View of a Large Rookery. 
The Sinister Barriers of the Jun- 
gle. Where the Tarpon Are at 
Their Best. Strange Night Camps 
in the “Stay Out” Country. A 
View of Old Fort Harrell. 
I T was really an old map, an 
ancient and honorable map, 
a map that had been handed 
down from one generation of 
Chokoloskee traders and hunt- 
ers to another, that whetted 
Mr. King’s appetite for a visit 
to Old Fort Harrell. 
He had seen it on the crude 
counter in Smallwood’s store, 
as that angular monarch of the 
shell-mound island told of the 
glory that was once Florida’s. 
This “Old Jeff Jmvis” map, as 
it is called, has great historic 
interest as we have intimated, 
it being one of the first and 
perhaps 
only in- 
t i m a t e 
study of a 
primitive 
country. 
A.A.Hum- 
phries, of 
' the U. S. 
Engineers, had put 
this invaluable infor- 
mation on paper, and 
there, in an obscure 
corner, was a cross- 
mark that stood for 
the famous fort where 
brave men had stood 
guard through long 
and lonely vigils that 
the Seminoles might 
understand they could 
never have their own 
unchallenged 
way again. And now 
that the travelers 
were actually on the 
ground, after a pictur- 
esque jaunt up Sweet- 
water River, there 
was little to see save 
the solitude of ham- 
mocks and marshy 
ground stretching 
away into misty per- 
spective, and ridges of 
rotted wood where 
once had been fortifi- 
cations. They stood as a mute testimony to 
the ravaging work of time which brings 
all of man’s creations at last to dust. 
There were tracks of deer, of the small 
red Florida breed and indications that 
mother and doe had pattered along un- 
der the damp leaves of a friendly ham- 
mock, on their way to the prairies, but 
actual sight of them was not gained, to 
Hendry’s disappointment. 
White, red and black bays were every- 
where in evidence and multitudes of birds 
along the narrow river. Snake-birds, 
Louisiana blues, wood ibis and ducks, 
until it seemed cruel to even blaze away 
at them with rifle or shot-gun. Of mal- 
lards there were enough to satisfy the 
