my way out of the forest. If I do
not reach the doctor in less than twenty minutes, there is no hope. O
God!"

"Doctor!--mass' Edwad sick? What ail um? Tell Gabr'l. If dat's da
case, him guide de brack man's friend at risk ob life. What young mass'
ail?"

"See! I have been bitten by a rattlesnake."

I bared my arm, and showed the wound and the swelling.

"Ho! dat indeed! sure 'nuff--it are da bite ob de rattlesnake. Doctor
no good for dat. Tobacc'-juice no good. Gabr'l best doctor for de
rattlesnake. Come 'long, young mass'!"

"What! you are going to guide me, then?"

"I'se a gwine to _cure_ you, mass'."

"You?"

"Ye, mass'! tell you doctor no good--know nuffin' 't all 'bout it--he
kill you--truss Ole Gabe--he cure you. Come 'long, mass', no time t' be
loss."

I had for the moment forgotten the peculiar reputation which the black
enjoyed--that of a snake-charmer and snake-doctor as well, although I
had so late been thinking of it. The remembrance of this fact now
returned, accompanied by a very different train of reflections.

"No doubt," thought I, "he possesses the requisite knowledge--knows the
antidote, and how to apply it. No doubt he is the very man. The
doctor, as he says, may not understand how to treat me."

I had no very great confidence that the doctor could cure me. I was
only running to him as a sort of _dernier ressort_.

"This Gabriel--this snake-charmer, is the very man. How fortunate I
should have met with him!"

After a moment's hesitation--during the time these reflections were
passing through my mind--I called out to the black--

"Lead on! I follow you!"

Whither did he intend to guide me? What was he going to do? Where was
_he_ to find an antidote? How was he to cure me?

To these questions, hurriedly put, I received no reply.

"You truss me, mass' Edward; you foller me!" were all the words the
black would utter as he strode off among the trees.

I had no choice but to follow him.

After proceeding several hundred yards through the cypress swamp, I saw
some spots of sky in front of us. This indicated an opening in the
woods, and for that I saw my guide was heading. I was not surprised on
reaching this opening to find that it was the glade--again the fatal
glade!

To my eyes how changed its aspect! I could not bear the bright sun that
gleamed into it. The sheen of its flowers wearied my sight--their
perfume made me sick!

Maybe I only fancied thi