nch him at once into the labyrinth of swamps and woods, that
stretched away for hundreds of miles before him. It is true, there were
some scattered settlements upon the bayous farther west, but most of the
country between them was a wilderness.

In an hour or so our travellers had ridden clear of the settlements that
surrounded Point Coupee, and were following the forest "trails," rarely
travelled except by roving Indians, or the white hunters of the border
country. The boys knew them well. They had often passed that way on
former hunting expeditions.

I shall not detail too minutely the events that occurred along their
line of march. This would tire you, and take up too much space. I
shall take you at once to their first encampment, where they had halted
for the night.

It was in a small glade or opening, such as are often met with in the
forests west of the Mississippi. There was about an acre of clear
ground, covered with grass and flowers, among which helianthus and blue
lupines were conspicuous. Tall trees grew all around; and you could
tell from their leaves that these trees were of different kinds. You
might have told that from their trunks as well, for these were unlike
each other. Some were smooth, while upon others the bark was cracked,
and crisped outward in large scales a foot or more in length. The
beautiful tulip-tree (_liriodendron_) was easily distinguished by its
straight column-like trunks, out of which are sawed those great planks
of _white poplar_ you may have seen, for that is the name by which it is
known among carpenters and builders. The name of _tulip-tree_ comes
from its flowers, which in size and shape very much resemble tulips, and
are of a greenish-yellow colour tinged with orange. It was the
characteristic tree around the glade. There were many others, though;
and most conspicuous, with its large wax-like leaves and blossoms, was
the magnolia grandiflora. The lofty sugar-maple (_acer saccharinum_)
was seen, and lower down the leafy buck-eye (_aesculus flava_) with its
pretty orange-flowers, and the shell-bark hickory--the _juglans alba_ of
the botanists. Huge creeping plants stretched from tree to tree, or ran
slanting upward; and on one side of the glade you might observe the
thick cane-reeds (_arundo gigantea_), growing like tall grass. The
forest on the other side was more open; no doubt, because some former
fire had burned down the underwood in that direction. The fan