back contents forward {{frabfp168.png}} || eagles of the sky || CHAPTER XX DENIZENS OF THE FLORIDA SWAMPS After all it was perhaps a wise determination on the part of Jack to thus take time by the forelock and endeavor to learn the lay of the land while a fitting opportunity lasted. To start out when darkness lay over everything, with no knowledge whatever concerning the prospect before them, would have doubled the chances for some grievous calamity overtaking them even before they were ready to strike their first blow. Jack had a pretty strong suspicion they were in ocr> the neighborhood of some stretch.of swampland--he fix> the neighborhood of some stretch of swampland--he was backed in this supposition by several things--the general low lay of the ground bordering the great lake and also the fact that snowy white egrets, as well as cranes, flew to and fro during the early morning, as though they must have a roost not far away and he had been told that as a rule these gathering places were to be found in the gloomy depths of a swamp. If they should chance to lose their way in those dark and dismal swamps and find themselves mired in the mud holes, they would be in [[168]] back contents forward