“Why, yuh see, Shurff,” he began, softly, “I done took consid’able int’rest in everything ’bout this heah ole swamp; an’ when I fust cotch theh story ’bout theh Jasper fambly, I investigates, an’ larns how a cupple o’ theh boys used tuh hide out in the swamp days at a time, when theh ole man he was riled at ’em, an’ nobody ever cud find out whar they stayed.”
“I see that same just got your spunk up,” remarked the officer with a grin, “and ye was detarmined ye’d find it out fo’ y’self, eh, Tom?”
“W’ich I did afore I was satisfied,” continued the other, “an’ we’en I larned as how a Jasper hed kim back, tuh disappear like to Alligator Swamp, w’y, don’t yuh see, I jest nat’rally concludes as how he must be one o’ them as used to play hide an’ seek thar. So I reckons I’d know whar tuh find theh same; an’ arter runnin’ acrost that ole boat whar we did, I hain’t any doubts ’bout hit. He’s thar, as sure’s my name’s Thomas Beauregarde Smith.”
“But tell us somethin’ about the nest, now,” urged the sheriff.
“This heah trail’ll lead us plumb thar, see if she don’t,” remarked the guide, wagging his head with conviction. “Yuh see, tuh git tuh the place it’s fust necessary tuh cross a big bed o’ muck whar a sunken ridge lies. I had tuh feel my way acrost mighty keerful; ’cause if yuh takes a wrong step chances are yuh’ll be up tuh yuh waist in mud; an’ if so be thar hain’t nobody ’round thet section tuh lend yuh a helpin’ hand yuh kin make up yuh mind it’s the end. I seen quicksand sum in my time, but they ain’t a sarkimstance alongside that muck fo’ suckin’ yuh in.”
Bumpus tightened his fists as he heard this stated. He seemed to have a sudden inspiration, or fear, and it was to the effect that if any single person in all that host were unlucky enough to slip from that concealed ledge, and test the depth of that muck bed, he would be the wretched victim—was it not always the case that he had to play the part of the “goat” in any performance?
“But once over thet bad part an’ the rest is easy sailin’, Shurff,” the guide went on to say, confidently, “fo’ yuh see, they’s a sorter wooded island thar; an’ outside o’ them Jasper boys an’ me, I done reckon as how nobody ever did find theh way tuh git oveh thar. All I asks yuh is tuh keep right still till we kin kinder s’round theh shack an’ s’prise him!”
“Then there is some sort of house, is there?” asked Thad, thinking again of the little girl, and what a cover over her head might mean in wet weather.
“I allow as thar be, suh; leastwise ’twar thar w’en I larst been oveh. You see, it happens as how the ’gators they don’t use thet island, frum sum cause er other, an’ so I neveh keered tuh stay thar any time; so it’s ben sum yeahs sense larst I crossed. But I hain’t forgot theh way, I reckons, an’ I’ll guide yuh thar, safe an’ sound.”
“Glad to heah ye say that, Tom,” remarked the sheriff: “and fo’ the sake of this heah fine boy I sure hopes that we’ll find his sister, too.”