Paddling under Palmettos — page 260: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

® 4 - i - | } Paddling Under Palmettos. 251 gators, snakes, fresh-water turtles, crawlers of all kinds, and birds innumerable—these were their con- stant companions. hey were off soon after sunrise, and Ned led the way up a narrow creek to the “egg farm,” as he called it. Of course, it was in the swamp. A more fearful-looking place Archie never gazed upon. Here all manner of plume birds nested, and the presence of thousands of eggs brought to the spot animals and reptiles that were fond of delicate mor- sels. Feathers covered the ground, while the odor was simply fearful. Snakes gathered by scores, some of them hideous monsters. Archie was fearful lest one should fall from a tree upon his canoe and chase him overboard. The noise, too, was awful; the chattering and shrieking of birds, old and young, making the welkin ring, so that a few minutes gave the canoeists quite enough. “Whew! Let’s get out of this,” said Ned. “Ditto!” “Tsn’t it awful?” from Archie. (E(0) Eomichbooks