have
moved away west, having probably made up their minds to accept the
offers of the government and vacate the country."

When I mentioned our encounter with the Indians in the lagoon, he
replied that they were probably a party of hunters who considered that
they had a better right to the deer than we had, and that,
notwithstanding the apprehensions of the old judge, they would not
likely have molested us; besides which, as the place was a long way off,
we should certainly not meet with them on our contemplated excursion.
Though my uncle at first offered some objections to the proposal, he
ultimately gave his daughters permission to make the excursion.

Tim came into my room before he went to bed, and expressed himself as
highly satisfied with his quarters.

"Sure, it's a fine place, Mr. Maurice,--a regular castle. The
drawbridge is raised and the portcullis closed, so that a thieving
Redskin would find it a hard matter to make his way in. From what I
hear, it is not unlikely that before long they'll be trying to drive the
whites out of the country."

"I heard very differently at supper," I observed. "My uncle is
satisfied they are peaceably disposed, and that there will be no more
trouble about them."

"That's because he gets his knowledge from the whites, Mr. Maurice. The
nigger boys know more of what's going on than they do."

After breakfast next morning we set out on our expedition. Carlos had
provided me with a pony like those he and his sisters rode. We were
accompanied by Toby, a black boy, who went to hold the horses and make
himself useful in any other way, and by Tim, who carried a rifle. I
took mine, and Carlos said that he never went out without a brace of
pistols and a fowling-piece.

The ground in the immediate neighbourhood of Castle Kearney was part of
my uncle's property, and was well cultivated; but we very soon got into
the primeval forests, where the woodman's axe had been employed only in
cutting a path along which baggage animals could proceed in single file.
The trees were mostly live-oak or pine, amid which grew magnolias and
laurels. The ground was very uneven, though from the river it looked
level. We had to cross what is called a hummock, which was in reality a
depression, but not low enough to be swampy. Here grew huge
cabbage-palms, cotton-trees, and scarlet maples, with a dense
undergrowth of sumach, hydrangeas, azaleas, and many other shrubs; while
from the branches h