s, Dick announced that Tom and he were tired of Injuns and
wanted to light out. The whole Indian family saw them off, even the
squaws coming half way to the canoe from their camp. Dick carried
Tom on his shoulder and the lynx stepped into the canoe as if it had
always owned it and curled up on the canvas of the tent.

"Where do you want to go, Dick?"

"What's the use of asking me? You have been talking Everglades and
Big Cypress in a steady streak, for two days to that old Injun. You
must have a map of his brain by this time."

"We can go through the Everglades to Lake Okeechobee, out through
the canal and down the Caloosahatchee, but the Everglades will be
much the same as we have seen, only more and worse saw-grass and so
harder work. If we go to the east we will pretty soon come out at
the coast which we want to avoid. I think we had better strike
across to the prairies and the border land between the Everglades
and the Big Cypress Swamp. Bear, deer, panther and wild turkey are
to be found in that country, and we won't have to hurry so much to
get through in the time we talked of for the trip. What do you say?"

"The woods for me, every time. Then I think it would be better for
Tom's health. I am afraid he would get melancholy if we kept him on
the water too much. Let's put in a big day's work and get somewhere.
I can stand sleeping in the water once in a while, but don't like it
as a regular thing."

They put in their big day's work without getting very far. They
struck shoal water in the morning where little pillars of coral,
rising almost to the surface, threatened to tear a hole in their
canoe. When they got overboard and waded, the same sharp points of
coral hurt their feet and bruised their shins. During the afternoon
they held their course, as best they could, for a tall palmetto,
which, lifting its head above a waste of water and grass, gave
promise of land enough for a camp beneath it. They dragged the
canoe through a narrow strand of saw-grass, but were turned westward
by a heavier band of the same obstacle, and finally made their camp
for the night on a bushy little submerged key, where Ned lay on top
of the canoe and was kept from sleeping by the fear of rolling over
into the water, and Dick lay on a bed of brush that soon settled
into the water with him. At first Tom climbed a little tree, but
didn't seem pleased with his quarters. He looked at Dick's bed for a
moment and turned in for the night wi