CHAPTER VI 
CEDAR KEYS 
O CTOBER 23 . To-day I reached the 
sea. While I was yet many miles back 
in the palmy woods, I caught the 
scent of the salt sea breeze which, although I 
had so many years lived far from sea breezes, 
suddenly conjured up Dunbar, its rocky coast, 
winds and waves; and my whole childhood, 
that seemed to have utterly vanished in the 
New World, was now restored amid the Florida 
woods by that one breath from the sea. For- 
gotten were the palms and magnolias and the 
thousand flowers that enclosed me. I could 
see only dulse and tangle, long-winged gulls, 
the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, and the 
old castle, schools, churches, and long coun- 
try rambles in search of birds’ nests. I do not 
wonder that the weary camels coming from 
the scorching African deserts should be able to 
scent the Nile. 
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