I should soon know
all. In due time all would be revealed.

How readily my heart yielded to these delicious words! I no longer
doubted. How could I, with those large eyes, full of love-light,
shining through the tear-bedewed lashes?

My heart yielded. Once more my arms closed affectionately around the
form of my betrothed, and a fervent kiss renewed the vow of our
betrothal.

We could have remained long upon this love-hallowed spot, but prudence
prompted us to leave it. We were too near to the point of danger. At
the distance of two hundred yards was the fence that separated Gayarre's
plantation from the wild woods; and from that could even be seen the
house itself, far off over the fields. The thicket concealed this, it
was true; but should pursuit lead that way, the thicket would be the
first place that would be searched. It would be necessary to seek a
hiding-place farther off in the woods.

I bethought me of the flowery glade--the scene of my adventure with the
_crotalus_. Around it the underwood was thick and shady, and there were
spots where we could remain screened from the observation of the keenest
eyes. At that moment I thought only of such concealment. It never
entered my head that there were means of discovering us, even in the
heart of the tangled thicket, or the pathless maze of the cane-brake. I
resolved, therefore, to make at once for the glade.

The pawpaw thicket, where we had passed the night, lay near the
south-eastern angle of Gayarre's plantation. To reach the glade it
would be necessary for us to pass a mile or more to the northward. By
taking a diagonal line through the woods, the chances were ten to one we
should lose our way, and perhaps not find a proper place of concealment.
The chances were, too, that we might not find a path, through the
network of swamps and bayous that traversed the forest in every
direction.

I resolved, therefore, to skirt the plantation, until I had reached the
path that I had before followed to the glade, and which I now
remembered. There would be some risk until we had got to the northward
of Gayarre's plantation; but we should keep at a distance from the
fence, and as much as possible in the underwood. Fortunately a belt of
"palmetto" land, marking the limits of the annual inundation, extended
northward through the woods, and parallel to the line of fence. This
singular vegetation, with its broad fan-like fronds, formed an excellent
cover;