Without taking his eyes from the plug Willy's right arm described an eloquent arc embracing the earth, the water, the sky, about them. "Big boss--all country! Good tobacco. Strong----" "Boss of the whole country, eh? What business is he in?" "Donno." "Where is he now?" "Donno." "What makes him boss of this country?" "Donno." "And there you are," laughed Higgins. "Willy looks different from a regular Indian; but they're all alike. He loosened up to get this piece of plug; now he 'dunno' anything." "Donno," repeated Willy monotonously. As the dugout scraped and stuck on the bottom the Indian doffed his overalls and displayed the full gorgeousness of the Seminole dress shirt. Payne wondered how in the souls of these swamp dwellers there had developed a taste for a hue as delicate as the pink of the flamingo. Bands of red, yellow, scarlet, mauve and black were embroidered upon the cloth, and upon the shoulders were scarlet tufts resembling epaulets. Willy stepped overboard, barefooted and nude save for his rolled up shirt, and began to shove. A three-foot water moccasin lay coiled on a mud bank in his path and the Indian's bare foot flung it aside as one might kick away a stick. Presently he paused, deep in liquid mud to his thighs, his feet working on something below. "_Alpate_," he said. "'Gator." A commotion followed in the mud; a dark knob appeared above water. There was a thrashing and upheaval and the Indian threw a half-grown alligator upon the bank and dispatched it with a blow from his camp ax. A few rods farther on the canoe was over the shallows and floating easily in a flooded jungle of saw grass which stretched away as far as the eye could reach. "What's this?" demanded Payne. "_Oko_ make river end." "What?" "_Oko_--lake. River end here. We there." Payne drew out his maps and studied them. "Where's Deer Hammock?" "_Echu_ Hammock there." The Indian pointed to a cluster of palmettos that reared its tops above the saw grass to the north. "Go there." They shoved their way through the grass; and as he contemplated the drowned land all round Payne grew warm and then cold with anger. Mile after mile to the east, north and south the watery waste stretched. Here and there a hammock bearing a few trees stood out, like tiny islands in a vast sea. Save for this there was only the uninhabited desolation of the water and grass; and the brilliant sky above. There was no word spoken as they pushed toward the hammock. Higgins had noted the change on Payne's countenance and saw it was no time for careless words. Payne drove his pole into the bottom and drew it out for inspection. "Limestone bottom; a thin scum of muck on top of it; and water." The saw grass grew thicker. Only a water trail worn by dugouts permitted them to go through. Higgins probed the bottom. "About six inches of muck here," he reported, "and a foot of water on it."