UP THE OCKLAWAHA TO LAKE GRIFFIN.
The spring in which we were moored was a pond covering several acres,
from which the run, nine miles in length, conveys its waters to the
Ocklawaha. It was so dark when we made fast the night before, that we
could not tell exactly in what sort of a place we were.
"This spring is said to be the Fountain of Youth, which Ponce de Leon
looked after," said Cornwood, as our passengers gathered on deck in
front of the pilot-house, after breakfast. "Out in the middle of this
pool, the water is eighty feet deep."
"I never saw so large a volume of clear water; and it is a great pity
that Ponce de Leon didn't find it, though it probably would not have
made the old gentleman any younger," added Colonel Shepard. "What sort
of a fish is it I see in this pond, with a long nose?"
"That is the gar-fish; but it is of no account. He is more like an
alligator than a common fish. There is an alligator-gar at the South.
But our best fish are not to be found to any great extent in these
waters, which are stirred up every day by steamers and rafts. In the
upper waters of the St. Johns you will find the best fish and game,
though there is plenty of both up this stream."
The party landed, and found on shore a village in the midst of the
forest, with stores and a hotel. In the vicinity were cotton and sugar
plantations, with many Northern settlers engaged in orange-growing and
raising early vegetables for the Northern markets. At the landing,
crates of green peas and cucumbers were ready for the steamer, which in
less than twenty-four hours could land them in Jacksonville. But we
were not much interested in examining the commercial features of the
place, and after we had looked over a few orange-groves and fields of
bananas, we returned on board. A steamer had just arrived from below,
and it was a busy scene at the landing.
"That steamer must have come up in the night," said Mr. Tiffany, as we
went on board of the Wetumpka.
"O, yes; steamers run in the night up the Ocklawaha," replied Cornwood.
"But they can see nothing, even in a moonlight night, under the trees
that shade the stream in so many places," added the English gentleman.
"On the forward part of the boat they have fires of light wood, which
illuminate their course for some distance ahead. They don't all get up
here so easy as we did, for they are generally heavily loaded and draw
a foot more water, which makes a difference in the navigation. During a
considerable portion of the year, Silver Springs is the head of
navigation on this river; but freight is brought down from Leesburg in
barges, which Yankees call scows."
"But how do they move the scows?"
"With setting-poles, assisted by the current of the river. This place
is only five miles from Ocala, to which a railroad has been laid out,
though it may be years before it is built," replied Cornwood. "We are
in the very heart of Florida now. It is not more than thirty-five miles
to Gainesville, to which a stage runs from Ocala three times a week;
and that place is on the railroad to Cedar Keys. We are forty-five
miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and sixty from the Atlantic. It is
thirty miles in a straight line to the St. Johns River, at the southern
point of Lake George."
Steam was up on the Wetumpka, and we cast off the fasts from the
landing-pier. All the party were on the main deck, looking down into
the deep, clear water. The young ladies screamed forth their delight at
the reflected objects in the water, and at the fish on the bottom,
eighty feet down. We entered the run, and in another hour we were
stemming the gentle tide of the Ocklawaha again. The stream was
somewhat narrower than below the spring, from which it receives a large
volume of water.
"Forward, there!" shouted Cornwood from the pilot-house.
"On deck, sir!" returned Buck Lingley, who was on duty there.
"Stand by with the pole."
Buck seized a pole, of which there were several on the forecastle; but
he had no idea what he was to do with it, for he was a salt-water
sailor. Cobbington was sitting on the deck, and saw that the deck-hand
was puzzled by the situation, and took another pole to assist and show
the old salt what to do. At about this time we were driven from our
position forward of the saloon by the overhanging branches of the trees
and the trailing vines. Cornwood had struck the bell, and the
paddle-wheel stopped. But the steamer went ahead until the bow struck
the bank of the stream. Overhead the trees met, and formed an arch
above us, and the long vines were caught in various parts of the boat.
It seemed to me that we were in a bad scrape, and I looked to the pilot
to ascertain if he considered the situation a difficult one. He did not
seem to me to be at all disturbed, and I thought it was not worth while
to make any outcry. I went down on the main-deck. I found the water was
very shallow in the middle of the river, and Cornwood had taken the
side where the greatest depth was to be had, though we were thereby
more snarled up in the branches of the trees than we should have been
if we had hugged the other side of the stream.
At this point the river made a sharp turn, inclining to an acute angle;
and the current flowed by the longest way around the bend. Cobbington
struck his pike-pole into a tree on the shore, and Buck followed his
example. They shoved the head of the boat off, so that she pointed up
the stream, while an occasional turn of the wheel was given to send her
ahead. The vines and branches snapped and twanged as they broke or
slipped from the parts of the boat where they were caught. In a few
minutes we were clear of the obstructions, though we had to work the
boat around the bends, and through masses of trees in this way, at
least twenty times in the course of the forenoon.
The river was full of alligators, and our sportsmen amused themselves
by firing at them, but with no great success, for the wobbling of the
boat interfered with their aim. About one o'clock we came to a
landing-place, where a few logs had been laid and tied into the sand to
form a sort of wharf. On the bank was a shanty, and we concluded to
stop for a while and have a run on shore, as the ground seemed to be
high enough to give us standing room. Dinner was ready, and as soon as
we had disposed of it we went on the wharf.
We walked through the woods a short distance, and then came to an
orange-grove, with fields of corn six inches high, and sugar-cane of
the same height. Across these fields we could see a house, but we did
not care to visit it. The woods were full of flowers, and the ladies
gathered bouquets to adorn the cabin. I was assisting Miss Margie in
this pleasant occupation, when I suddenly heard a rattling sound just
ahead of me.
The young lady was between me and the spot from which the sound came.
Near her was Chloe, for we did not think it was necessary to confine
her to the boats in these wilds of the interior. I did not believe that
Griffin Leeds had followed us farther than Pilatka, though I had
neither seen nor heard from him since we left him tied to the railing
of the pier at Orange Park.
"Run away from there, Miss Margie! This way!" screamed Chloe, with
energy. "Come to me, missy!"
Though I had no idea what the matter was, I concluded to retreat in the
same direction. The scream of the stewardess brought up the rest of the
party, who demanded the cause of the outcry.
"That was a rattlesnake in there!" exclaimed Chloe. "I know his music
well enough."
"I should like to see him," said Owen, who had brought his gun with him
for the chance of any game he might see.
I picked up a stick, and went with him. As we approached the spot where
we had been before, the rattling was renewed.
"Look out, Mr. Owen! That snake will jump six feet, and bite as quick
as a flash," screamed Chloe.
"There he is," said Hop Tossford, when we were within twenty feet of
the reptile.
He was coiled up in a heap, and looked like a very large snake. He was
shaking all over, apparently with anger at being disturbed by our
approach; and it was this motion that shook the rattles in his tail.
While we were looking at him he made a leap which brought him within
twelve or fourteen feet of us, and again coiled himself up for another
spring. Owen aimed his gun, and fired into the centre of the coil. The
rattlesnake whirled and wriggled for a moment, and then lay still. We
could see that his head had been torn all to pieces by the shot, and he
was as dead as it was possible for a snake to be. We straightened him
out, and found that he was six feet long. When positively assured that
he was dead, the ladies came up and examined him. But he was not a
pleasant sight to look upon, and a glance or two satisfied them. They
wanted no more flowers, and insisted upon going on board at once.
As we started for the boat, we met a gentleman coming down the path
from the house to the landing. He proved to be the owner of the
plantation, who had come down to see what steamer was at the wharf. He
invited us to his house, and would be delighted to have us stay a week;
but we felt obliged to decline the invitation with many thanks.
"I should not dare to stay here even a day," said Miss Margie.
"Why not, miss?" asked the gentleman, who was a native of South
Carolina.
[Illustration: OWEN AIMED HIS GUN AND FIRED. Page 280.]
"Mr. Garningham has just killed a monstrous rattlesnake; and I should
be afraid of my life to stay where they are," replied the English
maiden.
"We don't mind them at all," replied the gentleman, laughing. "I have
lived here ten years, and not one of our people has ever been bitten by
a rattlesnake. In fact, I hardly ever heard of such a thing as any one
being bitten by a rattlesnake. There are three times as many deaths
from suicide in the South, as from the bites of moccasins and
rattlesnakes put together. You get used to them in a little while, and
don't mind anything more about them than you do the mocking-birds that
sing day and night."
"I don't like them at all," added Miss Margie.
"I can't say that I like them," continued the gentleman. "I make a
business of killing them when I come across them. I have no doubt the
snake you killed was the one that came into my house the other day. We
had a big hunt for him, and couldn't find him; and I am very much
obliged to the gentleman that shot him. Very likely we shall not see
another one for a year."
The gentleman walked with us to the landing, and waited there till the
Wetumpka was out of sight. At five o'clock in the afternoon we entered
Lake Griffin, which I judged to be about ten miles long, and moored at
Leesburg in season for supper. This place is the county-town of Sumter
County, and the head of navigation by the Ocklawaha. One end of the
town was on Lake Hawkins, and there were a dozen lakes within a few
miles of it. We found nothing very different from what we had seen. Our
sportsmen brought in large quantities of small game, upon which we
feasted, and we sailed about the lake, exchanging hospitalities with
the people who treated us like old friends.