whether he intended to
remain there long or not, but nature settled doubts for him. His head
drooped, and soon he slept as easily and peacefully as if he had been at
home at Pendleton in his own bed.

Then the wilderness blotted him out for the time. The little wild
animals scurried through the grass or ran up trees. In the far distance
an owl hooted solemnly at nothing, and he slept the mighty sleep of
exhaustion.

CHAPTER V. HUNTED

Dick slept the whole night through, which was a very good thing for him,
because he needed it, and because he could have made no progress in the
thick darkness through the marshy wilderness. No human beings saw him,
but the wild animals took more than one look. Not all were little. One
big clumsy brute, wagging his head in a curious, comic way, shuffled up
from the edge of the swamp, sniffed the strange human odor, and, still
wagging his comic head, came rather close to the sleeping boy. Then the
black bear decided to be afraid, and lumbered back into the bushes.

An owl perched on a bough almost over Dick's head, but this was game far
too large for Mr. Owl's beak and talons, and he soon flew away in search
of something nearer his size. A raccoon on a bough stared with glowing
eyes and then slid out of sight.

Man, although he had just come, became king of this swamp, king for the
night. The prowling beasts and birds of prey, after their first look,
gave Dick all the berth he needed, and he did not awake until a bright
sun was well above the edge of the earth. Then he rose, shook himself,
much like an animal coming from its lair, and bathed his face in a
little stream which ran down the hill into the swamp. It was swollen and
painful from the mosquito bites, but he resolved not to think of them,
and ate breakfast from the saddlebags, after which he studied his map a
little.

Baggage and rifle on shoulder, he pursued a course south by east. There
was a strong breeze which gave him a rest from the dreaded insects, and
he pushed on with vigorous footsteps. The country remained thoroughly
wild, and he soon had proof of it. Another deer, this time obviously
started up by himself, sprang from the canebrake and darted away in the
woods. He noted tracks of bear and resolved some day when the war was
over to come there hunting.

His course led him again from firm ground into a region of marshes and
lagoons, which he crossed with difficulty, arriving about an hour before
noon at a