122 FLORIDA DAYS.

moorings, and had given shelter by chance to
these curious little creatures upon it; so the vast
current bore it safely to the ocean.
 They must have grown less vague, these for-
gotten sailors, as the salt wind touched their
dreaming eyes, for they made every effort to
control this extraordinary ship, and strangely
enough, after unspeakable suffering and danger,
they did indeed go nearly half-way home; then,
" else they had all died," an English vessel found
them, and bore them back to France.
 But the stupefaction of these deserted men, it
can hardly be called content, had fallen upon
them on their island under the live-oaks-one
cannot imagine that it would have happened,
had their fort been. among the pines in the
barrens. There, of necessity, they would have
lived more eagerly, if less happily.
 There is a keen insistence and perception of
life about the pines which is aggressive and
almost alarming. If nothing else, they confess
a man to himself too plainly. They flood him
with the glare of daylight, and their sparse,
severe branches are too far off for pity or inti-