id Paul, "we're like travelers in a great desert looking
for an oasis."
"We ain't as hungry ez all that," said Long Jim.
"You won't get angry if I laugh, Jim, will you?" asked Paul.
"Don't mind me. Go ahead an' laugh all you want."
"An oasis is not something to eat, Jim. It's a green and watered place
in an ocean of sand."
"Seems to me that we waste time lookin' fur a place that's more watered
than all these we're crossin'. What I want is a dry place, a piece out
uv that ocean uv sand you're talkin' 'bout."
"The conditions are merely reversed. My illustration holds good."
"What did you say, Paul? Them wuz mighty big words."
"Never mind. You'll find out in due time. Just you pray for an oasis in
this swamp, because that is what we want, and we want it bad."
"All right, Paul, I'm prayin'. I ain't shore what I'm prayin' fur, but I
take your word fur it."
Henry rose and led on again, anxious of heart. They were well hidden, it
was true, in the great swamp, but they must find some place to lay their
heads. It was impossible to rest in the black ooze that surrounded them,
and if they did not reach firmer ground soon he did not know what they
would do. The sun was already low, and, in the east, the shadows were
gathering. Around them all things were clothed in gloom. Even that touch
of forbidding beauty, of which Paul had spoken was gone and the whole
swamp became dark and sinister.
Henry was compelled to walk with the utmost care, lest he become
engulfed, and finally all of them cut lengths of cane with which they
felt about in the mire before they advanced.
"Pray hard, Long Jim," said Paul. "Pray hard for that oasis, because the
night will soon be here, and if we don't find our oasis we'll have to
stand in our tracks until day, and that's a mighty hard thing to do."
"I wuz never wishin' an prayin' harder in my life."
"I think your prayer is answered," interrupted Henry, who was thrusting
here and there with his cane. "To the right the ground seems to be
growing more solid. The mire is not more than a foot deep. I think I'll
venture in that direction. What do you say, boys?"
"Might ez well try it," said Shif'less Sol. "It may be a last chance,
but sometimes a last chance wins."
Henry, feeling carefully with the long, stout cane, plunged into the
slough. He was more anxious than he was willing to say, but at the same
time he was hopeful. As the swamp was due, at least in large part, to
the gr
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