required
assurances, agreeing that we would merely state the fact that we had
found the canoe on the bank of the river, and that as, from the time it
had been there, its owners were not likely to return, we had
appropriated it.

The black, having wished us good-bye, commenced his journey through the
forest; while we, shoving off from the bank, began to paddle down the
sluggish stream. We kept in the centre, where the current appeared
strongest, resolving to paddle all day so as to lose no time. Often our
progress was stopped by immense quantities of water-lilies and other
aquatic plants which spread over the stream; and in many places it was
so shallow that we could touch the bottom with our paddles. Here the
water was of a rich brown colour, in many places with a green scum on
it, which so completely concealed the alligators moving beneath the
surface that we ran against several of the monsters, the whisk of whose
tails sent the water flying over us, and very nearly, on more than one
occasion, upset the canoe. How we longed for ammunition to kill some of
the water-fowl which rose from the sedgy shores! Sometimes our course
led us through immense expanses of marsh covered with saw-grass, with
here and there islands formed by uprooted trees, brushwood, and reeds
matted together. In other places the vegetation which clothed both
sides of the river was rich and beautiful in the extreme. Sometimes we
found ourselves sweeping by the edge of a cypress swamp, huge trunks, or
"knees," as the distorted stems are called, projecting far into the
water, and we had to keep a bright look-out not to run against them.

Though sleepy and tired enough, we agreed to paddle on all night, or as
long as we could keep awake. Often the river was not fifty yards wide,
sometimes much less; then it would expand into lakes two or three miles
in width. I was under some apprehensions that should a storm suddenly
arise while crossing them, we should be upset; but, as Tim observed,
when I made a remark to this effect--

"It's no use troubling ourselves about what might not happen. We will
just trust in Providence, an' do our best."

The first night we lit one of our torches, and paddled on as long as we
could keep our eyes open. During the time, we passed through another
cypress swamp, when the light from the torch, as we twisted in and out
among the stems of the trees, made them assume weird and strange forms;
while the occasional cry