Saying that they should
probably be gone all day they started at once, leaving the others
absorbed in the task of housecleaning.
They reached solid ground not far from the creek's edge and walked along
briskly, following the course of the stream back toward its source. The
soil was black and deep and the forest magnificent. Great beeches and
hickories were mingled with the willows and live oaks and cypresses, and
the foliage was thick, green, and beautiful. The birds seemed innumerable,
and now and then flocks of wild fowl rose with a whir from the creek's
edge. Keen, penetrating odors of forest and wild flower came to their
nostrils.
Both boys threw up their heads, inhaled the odors, and thrilled in every
fiber. They were very young, care could never stay with them long and now
they felt only the sheer, pure delight of living. They looked back. The
forest had already shut out their boat, and one who did not know would not
have dreamed that the longest river in the world was only a mile or two
away. They were alone in the wilderness and they did not care. They were
sufficient, for the moment, each to the other.
As they advanced, the creek narrowed and the forest thickened. The trees
not only grew closer together, but there was a vast mass and network of
trailing vines, extended from trunk to trunk and bough to bough.
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