e palmetto field, which
was about half a mile wide. The man who had gone after the bear, had
rejoined us, and from him we learned that the brake was bordered on the
western side by a dense thicket of wild-plum, apple, and acacia trees,
through which there was not the least sign of a path. On arriving there
we saw that his account was a correct one; and, to add to our
difficulties, the nature of the ground in our front now changed, and the
cane-brake sank down into sort of swampy bottom, extending to the
northern extremity of the lake. Our situation was an embarrassing one.
Before us, an impassable swamp; to our right, water; to our left, an
impenetrable thicket; and four hours out of the eight that had been
allotted to us already elapsed. There seemed nothing to be done but to
retrace our steps; but, before doing so, we resolved to make a last
effort to find a path. To this end we separated, taking different
directions, and for nearly half an hour we wandered through the thicket,
amongst bushes and brambles, tearing and scratching ourselves to no
purpose. At last, when I for one was about to abandon the search in
despair, a loud hurrah gave notice that the path was found. We were soon
all grouped around the lucky discoverer; but to our considerable
disappointment, instead of finding him at the entrance of the wished-for
road, we beheld him gravely contemplating a cow, which was cropping the
grass quite undisturbed by our approach. Nevertheless, this was no bad
find, if we could only ascertain whether it was a strayed cow that had
wandered far from its home, or a beast of regular habits that passed
each night in its master's cow-house. An Ohioman solved the question, by
pointing out that the animal had evidently been milked that morning; and
as we were debating how we should induce Brindle to proceed in the
direction of its domicile, he settled that difficulty also, by firing
off his rifle so close to the beast's tail, that the bullet carried off
a patch of hair, and grazed the skin. The cow gave a tremendous spring,
and rushed through a thicket, as if a score of wolves had been at its
heels. We followed, and the brute led us to a tolerably good path
through the wilderness, which we had thought impenetrable. It was
doubtless the path that was to take us to the appointed place of
meeting; and we now slackened our pace, and followed the cow's trail
more leisurely. We had proceeded about a mile, when a strong light in
the di