gh fence was built along the road in front of it. Just as we had
gotten fairly started away from the timber and in front of this fence
the sounds of a horse galloping in our direction caused us to make a
sudden choice between an unwise meeting and a slide down the steep river
bank. We slid.

The horsemen reined up in front of the farmhouse, just abreast of where
we were hugging the slippery bank, and we heard him call out some inmate
of the house and ask the way to Rondo, where, it seemed, they were
having a dance.

The danger to result from meeting with undesirable people was
considerable, and we had quite a scare on account of our narrow margin
of time for evading this fast rider, but we soon became glad of the
forced tumble over the river bank.

As soon as we were recovered from our scare and momentary confusion we
found that our slide down the bank had landed us within easy reach of a
canoe, the very thing most needed by us at that time. In fact, if we had
gone down the bank with more momentum either the canoe or the water
under it would have stopped our descent.

This discovery seemed providential, and we regarded it as a good omen of
our success.

An investigation proved the canoe to be a poor affair, but we concluded
that we could cross two at a time, and Rummel and Miller started, I
keeping pace with them on the bank as the canoe carried them down. They
got over all right, and Miller landed, Rummel coming back for me. Both
Miller and myself now walked down stream, as the canoe made as much
distance that way as across, and when Rummel had finally picked me up
and landed me we met Miller at least a mile down stream from where we
had started the movement.

During this operation Miller and I had to keep close to the river in
order that we might not lose sight of each other or the canoe, and, by
thus being unable to choose the best places for a convenient walk, we
were pretty well scratched by the briers and other impediments that
seemed to exist in profusion just where we had to go.

Having no further use for the canoe, we upset it and let it go. Then we
started across the river bottom.

We had no trouble until we struck a bayou, which the moonlight showed to
be quite wide. We could not tell how deep it was, but we found that it
had a soft bottom, and we did not venture to wade the sluggish stream.
After a long search up and down the edge, during which we got tangled up
in some brush and made a row which s