Paddling under Palmettos — page 283: what you’re looking at

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

274 Paddling Under Palmettos. They found that his discovery was of the utmost importance, for he had come to where the shallow passage which they had been following debouched into another running in the true direction. This latter was deep, and Ned thrilled with the declaration that it had a positive current coming from the northwest. When they lay to for the night they felt that the right stream had been struck at last, and that they were on the way to the lake now without a doubt. This cheered them. That night the green islands about them echoed with their songs. They had left the Everglades, and the water was no longer green with the grass that grew beneath. Never would they forget that sight—it was like looking out upon some great savannah or prairie, and yet all of the grass, dotted with flowers, grew in several feet of water with narrow passages between. Then there was the islands, some of them timbered, with birds singing in the trees, and beyond perhaps a stretch of open water like a lake, dimpled in the gentle breeze. This was the home of the Seminoles. Gomicbooksico