id. "We are going to find the boat."

Pomp made a grimace and looked round, as if to say, "Not likely."

"No find a boat, put lot ob 'tick togedder and float down de ribber
home."

"Ah, well, we'll see," I said; and we continued our journey for hour
after hour, always finding some fresh beauty to entice me, or living
object for Pomp to stalk and beg me to shoot. But though we looked here
and there as well as we could, there was no sign of the object of our
search; in fact, I soon began to feel that I had embarked upon an
enterprise that was almost an impossibility.

The river had now grown a little swifter, and though there was plenty of
swampy land down by its banks, it seemed as if we were getting into a
more elevated region, the margin being higher, and here and there quite
precipitous, but it was always more beautiful, and the objects of
natural history grew frequent every hour.

Now it was a squirrel, of which there seemed to be great numbers; then
all at once, as we were threading our way through the low bushes,
something sprang up from its lair and went bounding off among the trees,
giving me just a glimpse of a pretty head with large eyes and small
horns, before it was gone.

"Oh, Mass' George, you ought shoot dat," said Pomp, reproachfully. "Dat
berry good to eat."

"If I had been on the look-out, I could not have hit it," I said. "But
I say, Pomp," I continued, looking round as we came upon a high sandy
bluff through which the river had cut its way, and whose dry, sun-bathed
sides offered a pleasant resting-place, "aren't you tired?"

"No," said the boy, thoughtfully, "Pomp not bit tired, only one leg."

"Well, are you hungry then?"

"Dreffle, Mass' George. You like emp de walletum now?"

"Yes, we'll sit down and have a good meal, and then we shall have to
make haste back."

"Top lil bit, Mass' George," said the boy, cautiously.

"Oh no, there are no pins and forns there to 'tick in us," I said.

"No, Mass' George, but dat sort o' place for rattle tailum 'nake. I go
look fust."

I felt a shudder run through me at the mention of the noxious creature,
and brought the gun to bear as we advanced.

"No; no shoot," whispered the boy. "Big 'tick bess for 'nake."

We advanced very cautiously, with our eyes searching the ground, but
there was nothing in sight, and after selecting a comfortable place
where the sand had slowly been washed down from the bluff till it lay
thick and dry as when i