in preparations; and
it was agreed that the party should set off the next morning, should
Rochford in the meantime not have made his appearance.

Carlos at first declared that as he had nothing to do with the stranger,
he should remain to look after his sisters; but he afterwards consented
to join the party, Tim and I, with Lejoillie, felt ourselves bound to
go.

As Rochford did not return, the Roseville volunteers assembled in front
of the judge's house at daybreak, the time agreed on. They formed a
motley group, in every variety of costume: some were whites, others
brown men and blacks, with two or three half-caste Indians. The
question was, who should take the command. The judge would have been
the proper person; but as he could not possibly go--and had he done so,
he would have greatly impeded the progress of more active men--
Lejoillie, though a stranger, was requested to lead the party.

"For one object I will go," he said. "I am not fond of fighting; but I
wish to find my friend, and will endeavour to conduct you to the best of
my ability."

We mustered between thirty and forty men and boys, with all sorts of
arms and, as I have said, in every variety of costume. Each man had
been directed to carry provisions for his own consumption, as we should
certainly be out the whole of one day, and perhaps for a night and a
second day. I don't know what Captain Norton would have said had he
seen us as we marched along in a straggling fashion, many of the men
with pipes in their mouths, and all either talking or laughing loudly.

Having left the settlement behind, we crossed a wide extent of prairie
land, where the sun beat down on our heads, and we had to force our way
among the sharp teeth of the saw-palmetto, which scratched our legs and
tore our trousers, and sometimes inflicted disagreeable wounds. Then we
came to what is called a "pine-barren;" the ground being flat and the
soil of a sandy nature, out of which rose enormous tall pines, having
beneath them a growth of rank grass, and here and there clumps of low
bushes, well calculated to conceal an enemy, while our course was often
impeded by fallen trunks and half-burned stumps. Several times we had
to turn aside to avoid the swampy ponds, fringed with tall saw-grass;
from amid which rose snipes, plovers, and wild-ducks, and occasionally
flocks of the beautiful white egret and snowy heron. The water was
brackish, and covered with lilies of varied colour