hereabouts even from his most
confidential friends. He at once quits the river, and thus for a good
while suspends his navigation. He takes special precaution to secure his
little transport by drawing it a considerable distance from the water, a
feat which required no great effort. The party stroll out of the way,
and up the rising beach, watching for a time the tardy movement of the
'flat.' Tired of this they continue their slow ramble further into the
interior, in hopes, at the same time, of making some accidental
discovery by which to replenish their commissariat, which was quite
empty, and made their steps faint and feeble, for it was now
considerably past noon. As 'fortune favors the brave' they did succeed
in making a discovery. They saw 'the opening' of a small plantation in
the forest, an event which, in Carolina, is hailed with immense
satisfaction by those who chance to lose their way in the woods, as
suggestive of kindness and hospitality. Nothing short of such a
treatment would be expected by our adventurers as a matter of course, if
they could only afford to throw themselves upon the hospitality of
settlers. In their situation, however, they must take their bearings
with anxious circumspection, and weigh the consequences of the
possibility of their falling into the hands of foes. But here, all of a
sudden, their path is intercepted by the actual presence of a formidable
foe. One of the pursuers? No, but one equally defiant. It is a huge
serpent of the 'Whip snake' species, which never gives way, but always
takes a bold and defiant stand. It took its stand about fifty yards
ahead, ready for battle, its head, and about a yard of its length, in
semi-erect posture, and displaying every sign of its proverbial enmity
to Adam's race. It has no poison, but its mode of attack is still more
horrible, by throwing itself with electric speed in coils around its
antagonist, tight as the strongest cord, and lashing with a yard of its
tail, till it puts its combatant to death. Knowing its nature, the
assailed levels his piece, and in an instant leaves the assailant
turning a thousand somersaults until its strength is spent, and, is at
last, wriggling on the ground.

The discharge of the musket was the signal to those within hearing that
somebody was about. It awakened to his senses an old negro, the honest
'Uncle Ned,' and brought him to the edge of the 'clearing,' in order to
satisfy his curiosity, and to see if it was 'o