th Ned in the canoe. Good
progress was made on the following day, for the boys were tired of
trying to sleep on the water and meant to find land enough for a
camp before another night. They found much open water, most of the
grass was light and the few strands of saw-grass they encountered
were easily avoided. They saw few keys and all of those were
submerged. So again when night came there was no dry land for a camp
and the bed of branches was built up in the shallow water. About
midnight Ned, noticing that his companion was restless, said to him:

"Dick, can you sleep any more?"

"Sleep any more?" said the indignant Dick. "I haven't slept any,
yet."

"Then let's get out of this and paddle the rest of the night. It's
full moon, paddling isn't half as hard as trying to sleep on that
bed and we may get somewhere."

"Good thing, and I move that we keep paddling till we get to those
woods you talked about, if it takes a week. Tom votes with me.
Motion carried."

About the middle of the forenoon they saw a clump of palmettos on a
key, for which they headed at once, where they found ground which
had been often camped upon. Dick climbed a tree and could make out a
forest near the horizon, in the west. A few more hours' work would
see them out of the Glades, but they chose to rest for the remainder
of the day.

"There goes your pet. That's the last of him," said Ned, pointing to
the lynx in the top of the tree, which Dick had climbed.

"He'll come back all right. If he doesn't I'll go up and fetch him
by the scruff of his neck."

[Illustration: "THERE GOES YOUR PET. THAT'S THE LAST OF HIM"]

Dick was right, for when the wild-cat saw the stores broken into for
dinner he came down for his portion of meat and then curled up for a
nap on his canvas in the canoe. Tom tolerated Ned, but never
permitted any familiarities from him, while Dick could handle him as
he chose and the lynx only smiled, in his own fashion.

To reach the woods they were aiming for the boys left the Indian
trail they were on and, after forcing their way through a strand of
saw-grass, found themselves on a prairie, bounded on the west by a
heavy growth of cypress, oak and other heavy timber, while the
prairie itself was made beautiful by picturesque little groups of
palmettos which were scattered through it.

CHAPTER XVIII

DICK'S WILDCAT AND OTHER WILD THINGS

The Everglades had been crossed and that great region of romance was
no lo