here should we go? Fort Stoddart is probably surrounded by Indians too,
and so the only thing to do was to make our way down through the Tensaw
Country to Mobile; but that is about eighty or a hundred miles away, and
the fact is I am a little sick from my wound. My foot and leg are all
swelled up, and I've been having a fever, so that I can't travel much
further. It seemed to me that the best thing to do, under the
circumstances, was to find a good hiding-place where it will be easy to
get something to eat, and to stay there till I get better, or something
turns up, and so I thought of the Alabama River as the very best place,
because mussels and things of that kind are better than sweet potatoes,
and here we are; now the next thing is to find a hiding-place, and I
think I know where one is. It has a spring by it, too, which is a good
thing, for drinking this swamp and creek water will make us all sick. I
was all through here on a camp-hunt once, and I remember a place on the
other side of the river where two big hollow trees stand right together
on top of a sort of bluff. About fifty yards further down the river
there is a spring, just under the bluff. We must find the place if we
can, to-night, and to do it we must first get across the river. It's so
low now we can easily wade it, I think, and Judie can be pushed across
on a log."

As soon as night fell the plan was put into execution. The river was
extremely low at the time, and Sam was confident that by choosing a wide
place for their crossing, they could wade the stream easily; but lest
there might be a channel too deep for that, he fastened four logs
together with grapevines, and putting Judie on this raft bade the two
boys tow it over, telling them that if they should find the water too
deep for wading at any point, they could easily support themselves by
clinging to the logs. They had no difficulty, however, and were soon on
the east bank of the stream. Sam's task was a much harder one. The
current was very rapid and the bottom too soft for the easy use of his
crutch, while his strength was almost gone. His spirit sustained him,
however, and after a while he reached the shore. When all were landed,
the search began for the hiding-place Sam had described. It proved to be
more than a mile higher up the river, and when they found it, the day
was breaking. The trees were not hollow, as Sam had supposed. The river
bank in that place is in three terraces, and the two g