102 FLORIDA DAYS.

 took away. The Sergeant is not quite sure
 whether this attack was before or after this
 same sailor had crawled out upon the cliffs of
 Terra del Fuego, feeling his way with strong
 brown hands when the fog hung so thick across
 great precipices that he could not see where he
 was, and then, at the very last cliff, lying flat on
 his belly, his chin out into infinite space, star-
 ing with great eyes over the edge of the world.
 He was a brave man, that Drake, the Sergeant
 admits, but he had not much sense; what was
 the use of risking his life in such a fashion?
 But it was a very long time before this -
 the Sergeant goes backward in his story- that
 Ponce de Leon made his second landing, com-
 ing again, to search in desperate hope where he
had searched before. Memory of the gracious
sky, of the trees and flowers, of the hush of
dreams, tempted him to come once more; or
perhaps he felt vaguely that he had been young
eleven years ago, and so the Fountain of Youth
had not revealed itself to him, but now-now
that he was very, very old, so- old that even the
longing for youth was dulled -why might he