The Flat, a marsh-bordered lake formed by the junction with the river of Two-Pond Run and Turtle Creek, was nearly a mile long and about half a mile wide. It held two small islands and was in most places bordered by rushes and pond weeds. Beyond The Flat, Fox River bore to the right for three miles and was there joined by the Little Fox. Between Two-Pond Run and the Fox, northward, lay what was called River Swamp, a territory of swamp and hummock, twisting waterways, and numerous ponds. The ponds and streams held many fish, and in season water fowl congregated there in numbers. It was a favorite hunting ground with the adventurous, but one needed to know it well in order to navigate its confusing thoroughfares. Many tales were told of hunters or fishermen who had lost their way for days amidst that watery labyrinth. Somewhere beyond the dark cedar swamps and the oak and maple-clad hummocks lay that community of ill-repute, Swamp Hole, but outsiders were careful not to approach very closely to it, since it was well known that the Swamp-Holers considered fishing and hunting in River Swamp a privilege confined to themselves and had more than once shown resentment at the incursion of strangers. So thoroughly was this conviction of theirs respected that few persons throughout the State could boast of having seen Cypress Lake, a three-mile body of water lying north of Swamp Hole. Wonderful stories were told of Cypress Lake; of its unfathomable depths, of the huge fish that lived there, of the mysterious disappearance of certain bold spirits who had unwisely sought to explore it. It got its name from a considerable growth of bald cypress which bordered it, and it was claimed that not for more than seventy miles farther south could a cypress tree be found again.