el quite so positive about the warmth of their welcome by the lawless
band of shingle-makers peopling the lower reaches of the river that
emptied into the gulf.

So they occasionally chatted as they moved along down the stream. Phil
asked a great variety of questions concerning the possibilities of the
country they were now passing through, as a game preserve.

"They's deer tuh be had aplenty," Tony had answered, readily enough;
"an' now an' then a b'ar. Cats and coons c'n be run across any old
time. Once in a long spell yuh see a painter. Turkeys lie on the
sunny sides o' the swales an' ridges. Then in heaps o' places yuh c'n
scare up flocks o' pa'tridges as fat as butter."

"They call quail by that name down here," remarked Phil, turning to
Larry; "just as they call our black bass of the big mouth species a
'trout' in Florida. You have to understand these things, or else
you'll get badly mixed up. And Tony, my chum here wants to know how
about squirrels; for he thinks he could bag a few of that species of
small game, given a chance, with my Marlin pump-gun."

"Sho! no end o' 'em along the hamaks, both grays an' fox squirrels,"
replied the swamp boy; "they's a tough lot though; and weuns always
boils a squirrel fust before we fries him."

"I've done that many a time myself," laughed Phil; "so I guess the
frisky little nut-crackers are about the same, North and South. But
they make a good stew all right, when a fellow's sharp set with hunger.
I can remember eating a mess, and thinking it the finest supper ever."

A good many miles had been covered by the time the afternoon waned;
although not a great deal of southing may have been made. That river
was the greatest thing to curve, and twist back on its course, Phil had
ever met with. He declared that in some places he could throw a stone
across a neck of land into the water which the boat had passed over
half an hour back.

"Makes me think of a great big snake moving along over the ground,"
Larry had declared as he discussed this feature of the stream with the
others.

But Tony assured them that as they progressed further this peculiarity
would for the most part gradually vanish, and the river, growing wider
and deeper, act in a more sensible manner.

The country was certainly as wild as heart could wish.

"Just to think," Larry had remarked, "outside of a few shanties below
the town we haven't set eyes on the first sign of a man all afternoon.
Why,