-bank, Tim proposed landing to look
after turtle eggs. "Hurrah! here they are by dozens," he cried out; and
he brought as many as he could carry. They looked to me unusually large
for the eggs of the fresh-water turtle, but I did not wish to raise
unpleasant doubts in his mind as to what they were. Hunger compelled us
to cook some of them. They were certainly rather rank; but not until we
had taken the edge off our appetites did I observe to him that perhaps
they were crocodile eggs.

"Suppose they are," said Tim, without being at all horrified; "I'd
sooner eat them than their mother; but if I was hungry, and could get
nothing else, I'd dine off her flesh with the greatest pleasure in the
world."

The banks now rose in some places several feet above the water, and were
clothed with pine, live-oak, magnolia, laurel, and other trees. There
were fewer marshes, and the country appeared more suitable for
settlements than it did higher up. At last we came in sight, on the
right bank, of a house surrounded by an orchard and a garden. No one
waved to us, however, as we approached, and not a human being was to be
seen. As we drew nearer we saw that the roof was gone, and that the
orchard and garden were overrun with creepers and weeds. We landed and
collected a supply of oranges and other fruit, which we found very
refreshing. We were on the point of returning to the canoe, when I
heard a cackling sound. It was that of some tame hens. We made our way
to the spot from which it proceeded, where we found a hen-house and
several fowls, with three nests of eggs, one of which contained eight or
ten freshly laid, but on the other eggs the hens had been sitting for
some time. This was indeed a godsend, for we could eat the eggs raw
should we have no time to land and cook them. I secured the eggs.

"Sure it will be as well to have the birds too," observed Tim. "They'll
keep alive, and we can kill and eat them as they're wanted."

Saying this, he caught four of the hens, and securing them by their
legs, threw them over his shoulder, where they hung screaming and
struggling.

"I am afraid these will betray us, should any Indians be near," I
observed.

"They'll be quite aisy soon," answered Tim. "They've got sense enough
to know it's of no use makin' a fuss when they cannot help themselves."

Fortunately Tim found some corn in an out-house, the door of which had
been closed, so that the hens had been unable to get at