lf in a mass of foliage, where unseen by any one I
had quite a range of the road. Up to this hour I had not seen a soul. At
first I watched the little stretch of road with eagerness, but no one
appearing I turned my attention to watching the evolutions of a huge
yellow spider which was spreading its net near by. While absorbed, and
almost fascinated, I was suddenly roused by the sharp, quick beating of
hoofs on the sandy road. Giving a startled glance, I saw a man unarmed,
but evidently a soldier, gallop quickly by on a mule. Twenty minutes
later an old-fashioned cart containing four half-dressed negroes and
drawn by four wretched mules passed. The men were silent and downcast.
Before 1 o'clock thirty people had passed, several being soldiers of the
guardia civil (armed police).

Then starting to spy out the land from the bushes and vines bordering
the swamp I could see a bridge crossing the neck of the swamp, but,
worst of all, quite a collection of houses at the other side, reaching
down to the beach, and a wharf that ran out into the water quite fifty
yards, with, no doubt, a guardhouse and police station among them. I saw
my way blocked. It seemed certain there would be sentries on guard at
the bridge, or so near it as to make it impossible for me to cross
unobserved. The swamp extended inland apparently for three or four
miles, and the jungle grew so dense as to make it impossible to
penetrate it in an effort to go around, so I determined not to venture
crossing the bridge, but to swim for it.

The swamp spread on both sides of the lagoon, and there was no such
thing as wading in that almost liquid morass, so I tried to find by
daylight a place where the mud was covered with water enough at least to
make swimming possible, but no such place could I find.

Everywhere a black tangled mass of rotting leaves and creepers spread,
making such a horrible slime that I shrank from attempting to cross it
to the open water. Once over that there was the same ordeal to go
through on the other side, and I knew I could only do it at full
length--that is, to lie flat and pull myself along as well as possible.
The simplest way was to wade out into the sea, then to swim far enough
outside of the pier to escape observation from any one who might chance
to be on it.

But this involved the chance of a horrible death, the sea there swarming
with sharks, which at night come in shore. Therefore, after cogitating
the matter, I resolved