Swamps have their peculiar features.Those of the Waccamaw were indeed desolate, while the swamps of the St.Mary's were full of sunshine for the traveller.Soon after the canoe had commenced her river journey, a sharp sound, like that produced by a man striking the water with a broad, flat stick, reached my ears.As this sound was frequently repeated, and always in advance of my boat, it roused my curiosity.
It proved to come from alligators.One after another slipped off the banks, striking the water with their tails as they took refuge in the river from the disturber of their peace.To observe the movements of these reptiles I ran the canoe within two rods of the left shore, and by rapid paddling was enabled to arrive opposite a creature as he entered the water.When thus confronted, the alligator would depress his ugly head, lash the water once with his tail, and dive under the canoe, a most thoroughly alarmed animal.All these alligators were mere babies, very few being over four feet long.Had they been as large as the one which greeted me at Colonel's Island, I should not have investigated their dispositions, but would have considered discretion the better part of valor, and left them undisturbed in their sun-baths on the banks.
In all my experience with the hundreds of alligators I have seen in the southern rivers and swamps of North America, every one, both large and small, fled at the approach of man.
The experience of some of my friends in their acquaintance with American alligators has been of a more serious nature.It is well to exercise care about camping at night close to the water infested with large saurians, as one of these strong fellows could easily seize a sleeping man by the leg and draw him into the river.They do not seem to fear a recumbent or bowed figure, but, like most wild animals, flee before the upright form of man.
Late in the afternoon I passed an island, made by a "cut-off" through a bend of the river, and, according to previous directions, counted fourteen bends or reaches in the river which was to guide me to Stewart's Ferry, the owner of which lived back in the woods, his cabin not being discernible from the river.Near this spot, which is occasionally visited by lumbermen and pinywoods settlers, I drew my canoe on to a sandy beach one rod in length.A little bluff, five or six feet above the water, furnished me with the broad leaves of the saw-palmetto, a dwarfish sort of palm, which I arranged for a bed.The provision-basket was placed at my head.A little fire of light-wood cheered me for a while, but its bright flame soon attracted winged insects in large numbers.Having made a cup of chocolate, and eaten some of Captain Akin's chipped beef and crackers, I continued my preparations for the night.Feeling somewhat nervous about large alligators, I covered myself with a piece of painted canvas, which was stiff and strong, and placed the little revolver, my only weapon, under my blanket.
As I fully realized the novelty of my strange position in this desolate region, it was some time before I could compose myself and sleep.It was a night of dreams.Sounds indistinct but numerous troubled my brain, until I was fully roused to wakefulness by horrible visions and doleful cries.The chuck-will's-widow, which in the south supplies the place of our whippoorwill, repeated his oft-told tale of "chuckwill's-widow, chuck-will's-widow," with untiring earnestness.The owls hooted wildly, with a chorus of cries from animals and reptiles not recognizable by me, excepting the snarling voices of the coons fighting in the forest.These last were old acquaintances, however, as they frequently gathered round my camp at night to pick up the remains of supper.
While I listened, there rose a cry so hideous in its character and so belligerent in its tone, that Itrembled with fear upon my palm-leaf mattress.
It resembled the bellowing of an infuriated bull, but was louder and more penetrating in its effect.
The proximity of this animal was indeed unpleasant, for he had planted himself on the river's edge, near the little bluff upon which my camp had been constructed.The loud roar was answered by a similar bellow from the other side of the river, and for a long time did these two male alligators keep up their challenging cries, without coming to combat.Numerous wood-mice attacked my provision-basket, and even worked their way through the leaves of my palmetto mattress.
Thus with an endless variety of annoyances the night wore wearily away, but the light of the rising sun did not penetrate the thick fog which enveloped the river until after eight o'clock, when I embarked for a second day's journey upon the stream, which had now attained a width of five or six rods.Rafts of logs blocked the river as I approached the settlement of Trader's Hill, and upon a most insecure footing the canoe was dragged over a quarter of a mile of logs, and put into the water on the lower side of the "jam." Crossing several of these log "jams,"which covered the entire width of the St.Mary's, I became weary of the task, and, after the last was reached, determined to go into camp until the next day, when suddenly the voices of men in the woods were heard.
Soon a gentleman, with two raftsmen, appeared and kindly greeted me.They had been notified of my approach at Trader's Hill by a courier sent from Dutton across the woods, and these men, whose knowledge of wood-craft is wonderful, had timed my movements so correctly that they had arrived just in time to meet me at this point.The two raftsmen rubbed the canoe all over with their hands, and expressed delight at its beautiful finish in their own peculiar vernacular.
"She's the dog-gonedest thing I ever seed, and jist as putty as a new coffin!" exclaimed one.
"Indeed, she's the handsomest trick I ever did blink on," said the second.
