Wherever the mud had lain thick on broad leaf or grass, it had, as I
have said, cracked and fallen off, or been washed away by the heavy
rains and dews, and our grounds and the country round were as beautiful
as ever--more beautiful, I ought to say, for everything was fresher and
greener, and where the swamps had been muddy and parched, and overhung
with dry growth, all was bright and glorious, with the pools full up,
and the water-ways overhung with mossy drapery, glittering and flashing
back the sun's rays wherever the sun pierced the trees.

"Going for a walk, Master George?" said Morgan that morning, as I
sauntered down the garden in the hot sunshine, wondering what I should
do with myself.

"Yes," I said, eagerly, for the question had given me the idea I wanted.
Yes, I would go for a walk.

"Better be careful, my lad. I would not overheat myself. After all
this flooding there may be fever in the air. But there, you will take
care of yourself."

"Yes, Morgan," I said, "I'll try. Seen Pomp anywhere?"

"No; not since breakfast. A lazy young dog. Make his father do all the
work. What's that, sir?"

We both looked sharply round toward the forest, for there was the faint
rustle of something moving, but the sound ceased as he spoke.

"Only a squirrel," I said, at a guess. "I think I shall go and have a
bathe."

"Where?" said Morgan; "not in the river; the stream is too swift, sir,
yet."

"No; in our big pool."

"Better take a pole and prod about well first. After all this water
there may be a young alligator or two crept in."

"Oh, I'm not afraid of them," I said, laughing; and I listened again,
for there was another faint rustle among the leaves, but it ceased, and
I stood watching as Morgan tied up two or three of the great succulent
vine-shoots which were trailing over one of the trees, luxuriating in
the glowing sunshine, and showing goodly-sized bunches of grapes, such
as would in another two months be so many little amber bags of luscious
sweetness.

"Yes, I haven't had a swim since the flood," I thought to myself, as I
went on, leaped over the rough, moss-grown fence, and was soon after
making my way along past the edge of the sugar-cane plantation, where
the weeds were growing like mad, and then through the great, tall-leaved
rows of tobacco in the new clearing, where the stumps of the trees so
laboriously cut down still stood.

In another ten minutes I was out of the glowing sunshine b