e was the same with all of them. Here was a uniform habit of
vegetation, and Sam knew enough to know that such a habit was not likely
to be confined to one particular locality. He began thinking of the
woods around home, and especially of a clump of trees in the yard at his
father's house, the moss-covered roots of which were Judie's favorite
playing place. This moss, he remembered, was nearly all on the north
side of the trees, whose southern roots were bare. All the other mossy
trees he could remember taught the same lesson, namely, that the green
moss which grows around the bases of trees, grows chiefly on the north
side. He had no doubt that the law was a general, if not a universal
one, and as the mossy trees were very numerous, he had a guide easily
followed. Striking out northwardly, therefore, he travelled several
miles before stopping, coming then to a suitable resting-place he lay
down to gather strength for the night's journey. When night came,
however, it had been raining for some hours, and in addition to the
darkness of a rainy night in a swamp, Sam found the soft alluvial soil
so saturated with water that he sank almost to his knees at every step.
Finding it impossible to go on he stopped again on the highest and
dryest piece of ground he could find, and prepared to spend the night
there. Cutting down a number of thick-leaved bushes he arranged them
against a fallen tree, as a shelter.

He had been lying down but a short time when he discovered that pretty
nearly all the rain that fell on his bush roof found its way through in
great drops from the leaves. It then occurred to him that he had erred
in placing the bushes with their tops up. This indeed, made them mere
catchers and conductors of water to the space they covered. Turning
them, so that their drooping leaves pointed downward, he was not long in
making a really comfortable shelter, through which very little water
could find its way.

Towards morning he waked and found himself lying in water. He could see
nothing in the darkness, but supposed that the rain had in some way made
a pool where he was lying. On coming out from his tent, however, he
found matters much worse than he had thought. In whatever direction he
looked he could see nothing but water, and he knew what the trouble was.
The rain had been very heavy all along the creek, and the stream having
very little fall had spread out over the whole surface of the swamp.
There was nothing to do