Breakfast was made off the frog legs and gar fish and as soon as it was finished, they took up their journey for Clearwater.
Charley took the lead, bearing the box with its precious batteries, and the others followed carrying the handkerchiefs of food.
They soon found that it was going to be hard, slow traveling. They could only make slow progress picking their way between the dense-growing trees and over the slippery roots. Every few paces they would have to stop and listen to make sure from the sound of the sea, that they were traveling in the right direction. At noon when they stopped to eat lunch, they estimated that they had covered but three miles. But the slowness was not the worst feature of their march, every step had to be made with watchful care. Never in all their Florida experiences had they seen so many snakes. Many were harmless, brightly-colored, water snakes, which wriggled at their approach, but besides these, there were dozens of moccasins sunning themselves on the roots,—great, sullen, sluggish reptiles they were, many being as big around as a man's leg. They would not move from the places where they lay and our little party had to pick their way carefully around each, for to be bitten by one would mean a horrible, agonizing death. To add to their troubles, they were constantly slipping and falling on the slippery roots, bruising and hurting themselves.
"I hope it isn't much further till we come to the end of these cypresses," Charley said, as they nibbled at their lunch. "This kind of going is dangerous. We are liable to break an arm or leg before we get out of here."
"Massa Chas," Chris observed, "why don't we-alls take to de water? Hit would sho' be a heap easier an' we wouldn't be runnin' on dem pesky snakes all de time."
"Somebody kick me," Charley cried, sheepishly. "Of all the big fools in this state, we are the biggest. Here we have been wearing ourselves out over these pesky roots when we might have been wading comfortably along in the edge of the surf."
Until Chris had spoken, they had none of them thought of so simple a solution of their difficulty. Being on shore, it had been the natural thing for them to try to make their way on shore.
No time was lost in following the little negro's suggestion. As already stated, there was no beach, the gulf meeting the forest, but the water along the edge of trees was not much over a foot in depth and the bottom was of hard sand. Their progress was now more rapid and free from the danger of snakes, but, much to their surprise, they found it much more tiring than the route over the roots. Only those who have tried walking in water for a distance, can realize the strain on the leg muscles.
By the middle of the afternoon, they were thoroughly tired out and Charley called a halt.
"We had better make camp," he said. "We don't want to wear ourselves out the first day, and besides, it will take us some time to build a platform and get ready for the night."