Paddling under Palmettos — page 288: what you’re looking at

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

Paddling Under Palmettos. 279 This fair wind wafted them on with fine success, the sails doing great execution. That night they were at the mouth of the Kissimee River, but slept aboard their boats, deeming it more advisable. Here they met an old fellow upon a peculiar flat- boat. He was a hunter, Alligator Ferguson by name, and had a great many saurian skins on board the home-made craft, which he was about to take up to Kissimee City. They had a good deal of fun with him during the evening, as he was a comical old genius. Archie had anchored beyond him, but the south wind waited such a strong scent to his nostrils, coming from the alligator-hunter’s boat, that he was obliged to change his anchorage and haul around more to windward. Lying there in his canoe and smoking his pipe, Archie allowed his mind to run back over the whole trip, beginning with the launch upon Tomoka Creek. His mind lingered more fondly upon certain points than others. The brightest feature was of Eden and its genial proprietor, Captain Richards, with his smiling face and joking ways. From one point to another his thoughts fitted, Gomicbooks (E(0)