wling-piece,
as also with one of the heavy fire-locks we had in the house.

"An emergency might come," he said; and what with his instructions and
those of Morgan, I was, if not a good marksman, as fairly expert as
could be expected from a boy of my years.

I soon had the gun from its slings, and, providing myself with powder
and ball, rejoined Pomp, whose eyes rolled with excitement at the sight
of the piece.

"Me carry de powder shot bag," he cried, eagerly; and I let him sling
the pouches over his shoulder, and followed behind him, as he marched
off with head erect, and a look of pride that was ludicrous. He was, as
a rule, a creature apparently made up of springs, which were always
setting him in motion; but when bound upon any shooting or fishing
excursion the natural pride in his brain rose above everything else, and
I was often turned into quite a secondary personage, and had to obey.

It was so upon this occasion, for just as we reached the edge of the
forest he stopped short, and in a stern whisper said--

"'Top here and load um gun, or wake ole 'gator where um sleep."

I obeyed, of course, ramming home a bullet, and as I was in the act of
removing the rod from the barrel, Pomp suddenly exclaimed--

"Top um bit."

He ran off at full speed, and came back with his eyes flashing, and
flourishing a small axe which he had fetched from the shed. This he
directly after thrust into his belt, and holding up his hand,
whispered--

"Now, no make noise. I go first."

He went on, leading me through the drier part of the swamp, and right
away from the river, to my great wonderment; but after walking silently
about half an hour he stopped, again held up his hand, and then with the
greatest of caution crept on through the bushes, and in and out among
the swamp-trees, never making the slightest sound, and I followed as
well as I could for about a quarter of an hour, when he signed to me to
stop, and I knew by the bright light a little farther on that the river
was pretty near.

The next moment he was down flat, crawling slowly over the mossy ground,
looking back to see if I was watching him, and pausing at last close to
a gnarled old tree, which he tried to keep between him and the water.

I had been watching him lying there for about five minutes, when I
became aware of the fact that he was returning as silently as he had
gone, and as he reached me he put his lips to my ear.

"'Gator sleep in de mud. Mass'