The Lake County star., 1877-11-15

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plorer, as soon as IL became known
that had traversed the DEVILS Race
| Course In. June. People heard OF u,
somehow, out In the country, aud
fiocked to the cross roads to see me. ]
insured number Of them, but in pur-
suance OF my plan, speedily pushed
| on to the plantation ofMr. +. y,
the king Of the swamp--a rich man of
fine intelligence and ripe cnlture, an
old friend Of my fathers whose exam
pie and influence / knew were all
powerful. Iarrived at his house Sat.
urday evening, and remained over
Sunday, enjoying no little the restfui
company OF his excellent wife and in
teresting children. ,as- ,.s
| l carefully avoided asking him to
insure, cOntenting myself with seeking
his advice as to my course in the
swamp. This brought up the subject
of insurance Saturday night, and In
answer to his own and his wife's inter
ested questions, / explained the mat
ter. Sunday was passed quietly, with
out reference tn any sort of business,
but on Monday morning, when L
asked for my horse, Mr.. said he
wished me to prepare applications for
himself and his wife first. He insured
for fifteen thousand dollars, and his
wife for ten thousand, and / received
bis check on New Orleans house In
payment OF the premiums. He sug-
gested that might spare myself the
| trouble of a second venture into the
swamp by collecting as l went, and
agreeing to deliver the policies when
they should come. not to the applicants
themselves, but to u we'll known gen
| tIeman who lived "out In civiliza
tion," and adopted the suggestion at
once.
My hosts example was contagious,
and within three days had prepared
applications for every insurable man
or woman I'm the swamp who was able
to pay the premium, and my pocket
book had grown cOrpulent with checks
on New Orleans. My canvassing tour
ended on the eastern side of the Talla-
hatche, in the county between the
river and the Yalabusha, the two
streams which unite just above Green
wood to make the YazOO. spent the
night with Mr.. rs nephew, who
applied for a policy as soon as he
learned that his uncle had set the ex-
ample. The county physicians had
served me as examining surgeons, and
my work was now done. But how
was / to get out of the swamp
again? This was problem that puz-
zled me no little. / dreaded u second
attempt to traverse the Race Course
more than did a compulsory stay Of
a month in my present quarters, but
was, nevertheless, very anxious to get
home again. 1 approached my host
on the subject.
"Mr. T., is there any possible
way out of the swamp except the
Greenwood routeY
"Ln July AMI August there Is; and
If you've pluck enough to try It,,
you may get out that way now, possi-
bly,"
Ireplied that 1 believed had pluck
enough for anything, to which he
answered:
"Well, reckon you have, as you
crossed the Race Course. You can
rid, down the river bank till you come
to little open place, three miles below,
where big dead sweetgum stands by
itself. Here you must turn square to
your left, and ride about twelve miles
across country to the bank of the Yal-
abusha. It's through the woods all
the way, and it's pretty well covered
with water, which may be swimming
deep i'm some places. But you once
reach the Yalabusha, you'll have "a
pretty good road-with a swimming
slough now and then-down to the
ferry, ten or twelve miles below. There
you must cross, and you'll have high
ground-but the ferryman will direct
you. If you get that far you will have
no trouble, but I'm afraid you'll find
it difficult to get that far. You'd better
make up your mind to stay and go
fishing with me-"
Declining the hospitality, took my
departure. When turned from the
Tallahatchee, and undertook to cross
to the Yalabusha, found the whole
country under water. In places 1t
was too deep for wading, but by swim
ming there, and resting my horse i'm
the shallower parts, thought could
succeed in crossing. Just as l was
starting, however, another difficulty
Of q rather alarming sort presented it.
self. The sky was overcast, and when
l should once be ir the overbowed for
est, there was danger Of becoming
confused and losing my way. In that
event, with water oil around me,
must inevitably perish and the thought
of death by slow torture, there in the
gloomy swamp, appalled, me. had
seen something Of surveying in my
time, and presently hit upon plan
Of procedure, which l thought might
serve my purpose. knew, In vague,
Yalabusha lay, and If could follow q
straight line after starting in that di.
rectiOn, must get to that river sooner
or later, I thought. In starting, there
fore, selected two trees, In line with
each other and with me, and rode for
ward, keeping them in a line be-
fore me, until reached the
first. Then pausing, / chose new
second tree rs far in advance as posi-.
BILE, and repeating this from time to
time, I was able to work slowly for
ward in the direction wished to fol-
low. There was good deal of swim
ming TO be done, however, and the
horriblestillness of the forest oppressed
me terribly. After had been i'm the
woods and in the water for several
hours, I fancied sometimes that after
all must have lost my way, and that
had already travelled many miles
farther than I ought, to reach the
4 banks of the Yalabuslia. The water
made my head swim, and attributed
the fact to failing reason. / fancied
that my intellect was departing, and
that was wandering hOpelessly about
in the water. The sameness ofappear.
ance everywhere fed this fear, until
could with difficulty convince myself
that was not travelling In fatal cir
cult. / became 30 nervous that the
splashing of my horses feet in the
water gave me acute pain. If there
had been spot of earth visible any.
where I might have dismounted fol
rest, but there was none. The water
was nowhere less than three or foui
feet deep. L felt that was In fever,
and presently I grew so blind that
could with difficulty make out my
guide-trees.. Finally they faded out
entirely, and everything grew hazy
and indistinct around me. reeled In
my saddle, and was forced to lean for.
ward and clasp INV horse "a neck to keer