n the floor, when it struck me as something very fresh,
that as the wind was still two points off, I could make one more sally
into the country. Before the thought had time to cool, my horse was
brought to the door, and looking about for a companion, I asked Miss
H----, who hesitated and declined; but I found one in Lieut. T----, who
was that morning going over to Picolata. The distance is eighteen miles,
through an unbroken pine-barren, (one opening only, at Fort Searle, twelve
miles out,) and an under-growth of palmettos of just sufficient height for
Indians to hide in. For a long time the travel over all that portion of
the territory lying south of a line fifty miles north of us, was with an
escort of fifteen or twenty men, who moved at a slow rate, a hundred yards
apart, so as not to present to the Indians more than one or two shots at a
time from any one point.

Notwithstanding the precaution of a strong escort every day, out or in, on
the Picolata road, there had been more downright murdering there than in
any other part of the territory, some having been shot down almost in
sight of Augustine. This was not escort-day, but if it had been, our
horses were not disposed to be six hours in the sun, in going so short a
distance. The little grey steed that I had been using for some weeks was
not by any means a lady's article, but he had been alongside of them in
many a ride on the beach, and so learned the trick of combining the
playful and gallant in a very pretty manner. His ambition was to be always
up to the mark, and a head more if his companion would allow it; but at
the least indication of rivalry his head went down, and nothing less than
iron muscles could keep him from his twelve-mile gait. If not well-matched
it was his delight to dash ahead for a hundred yards, and then stop and
look back, or perhaps return, make a short sweep around his companion, jog
on sociably for a little, and then repeat the manoeuvre; and in doing this
my arms were only sufficient to guide him a little in case he attempted
the barren, and keep him clear of the saw-palmetto. T----'s animal
belonged at Picolata. The quarter-master at the barracks had sent him up
to be taken over, and as we mounted at the Florida House, I could not help
smiling as I recognized the same fellow that the quarter-master had
politely sent me for a similar purpose some time previous. He was
long-bodied and very long-limbed, and having been brought up in camp, his