eat rains, it must have firm ground somewhere, and he had noticed
also in the thickening twilight that the bushes ahead seemed much larger
than usual. A dozen steps and the mire was not more than six inches
deep. Then with a subdued cry of triumph he seized the bushes, pulled
himself among them, and stood not more than moccasin deep in the mud.

"It's the best place we've come to yet," he said. "I can't see over the
thicket, but I'm hoping that we'll find beyond it some kind of a hill
and dry ground."

"I know we will," said Long Jim, confidently. "It's 'cause I wished an'
prayed so hard. It's a lucky thing, Paul, that you had me to do the
wishin' an' prayin', 'stead o' Shif'less Sol, 'cause then we'd hev
walked into black mire a thousan' feet deep. Ef the prayers uv the
sinners are answered a-tall, a-tall, they're answered wrong."

Shif'less Sol shook his head scornfully.

"Let's go on, Henry," he said, "afore Long Jim talks us plum' to death,
a thing I'd hate to hev happen to me, jest when we're 'bout to reach the
promised land."

Henry pushed his way through dense bushes and trailing vines, and he
noticed with intense joy that all the time the earth was growing firmer.
The others followed silently in his tracks. In five minutes he emerged
from the thicket, and then he could not repress an exclamation of
pleasure. They had come upon a low hill, an acre perhaps in extent, as
firm as any soil and well grown with thick low oaks. Where the shade was
not too deep the grass was rich, and the five, the others repeating
Henry's cry of joy, threw themselves upon it and luxuriated.

"It's fine," said Shif'less Sol, "to lay here an' to feel that the earth
under you ain't quiverin' like a heap o' jelly. I turn from one side to
the other an' then back ag'in, an' I don't sink into no mud, a-tall,
a-tall."

"An' this, Paul, is the o-sis that you wuz talkin' 'bout, an' that I
wished an' prayed into the right place fur us?" said Long Jim.

"Oasis, Jim, not o-sis," said Paul.

"Oasis or o-sis, it's jest ez good to me by either name, an' I think
I'll stick to o-sis, 'cause it's easier to say. But, Paul, did you ever
see a finer piece uv land? Did you ever see finer, richer soil? Did you
ever see more splendiferous grass or grander oaks?"

"I feel about it just as you do," laughed Paul.

Henry lay still a full ten minutes, resting after their tremendous
efforts in the swamp, then he rose, walked through their oasis and
disco