Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. ADVENTURE IN THE SWAMPS. The prairie traveller never sleeps after daybreak. He is usually astir before that time. He has many " chores " to perform, unknown to the ordinary traveller who rests in the roadside inn. He has to pack up his tent and bed, cook his own breakfast, and saddle his horse. All this requires time, therefore an early start is necessary. We were on our feet before the sun had shown his disc above the black-jacks. Lanty had the start of us, and had freshened up his fire. Already the coffee-kettic was bubbling audibly, and the great frying-pan perfumed the camp with an incense more agreeable than the odours of Araby. The raw air of the morning had brought everybody around the fire. Thompson was pruning and cleansing his nails ; the Kentuckian was cutting a fresh " chunk" from Ivs plug of " James's River;" the doctor had just returned from the stream, where he had refreshed himselt by a " nip" from his pewter flask ; Besancon was packing up his portfolios; the zoologist was lighting his long pipe, and the "Captain" was looking to his favourite horse, while inhaling the fragrance of an " Havannah." The guides stood with their blankets hanging from their shoulders silent and thoughtful, In half ail hour breakfast was over, the tents and utensils were restored to the waggon, the horses were brought in and saddled, the mules "hitched up," and the expedition once more on its way. This day we made not quite so good a journey. The roads were heavier, the country more thickly timbered, and the ground more hilly. We had several smallstreams to ford, and this retarded our progress. Twenty miles was the extent of our journey. We encamped again without any of us having killed jr seen game. Although we had beaten the bushes on both sides of our...