om a distance than we should
have been had we been able to light our fires in the hollows, where,
during the night, we should have had the advantage of concealment. At
the same time, from the high ground we could the better see an enemy
approaching. Still, we had gone thus far and had not met any Indians,
so that we might hope to perform the rest of the journey without
encountering them.

The night passed away without our being disturbed. Occasionally a few
creatures would pass by, their shadowy forms scarcely distinguishable
through the gloom. We knew that they were either deer or wild cattle.
Now and then a wolf would approach, or a puma, or ocelot; but a shout
would send them to the rightabout.

As soon as daylight appeared, with the aid of Jup, who accompanied me, I
succeeded in getting to the top of a tall pine. On looking out I was
convinced, from the clear green to the north of the lake, and from its
flat appearance, that it was swampy. As far as I could judge, the
swamps extended to the shore of another small lake, still farther to the
north, Jup agreed with me that it would save a troublesome journey
through marshes if we were to cross the lake, as had at first been
proposed.

Directly breakfast was over, therefore, we set off for the shore of the
lake, where we were fortunate in finding a hard piece of ground by the
side of a stream which ran into it, a point extending out into the
water; and we could only hope that we should find a similar
landing-place on the opposite side. On the hard ground, a couple of
feet above the water, grew a number of pines. Several of the smaller as
well as larger trees had been blown down by a hurricane, and were
sufficiently dry, and yet not rotten, for our purpose. Lopping off the
roots and branches, we collected six trees, each about thirty feet long,
which one by one we managed to roll into the water. The cross-pieces
were more easily obtained. The whole were fastened together with what
the Spaniards call sipos, or creepers, which make a very tolerable rope
for such a purpose. On the top of this framework we placed a sort of
platform of reeds, which would, we hoped, keep us free from the water.
We had still to cut some long poles; a couple of spars for masts, and
two more for yards; a paddle to steer by, and one for each of us. Night
was approaching by the time we had quite finished. Altogether we were
well content with our performance, though perhaps a more e