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perfectly	still only striking the	tail from side	to side.	One	has	to be
careful to keep out of the way of that tail. The tail tastes good when the animal is	not too large or old. In the night the alligators	bellow	like	oxen.
They make	the sound by striking the	jaws together.
We hunted deer in the reeds one day on a little peninsular running out in the river. They set fire to the reeds and drove the deer out to where we were standing.	Four were shot, but I	did not get any.	But the	next	day	I was
fortunate enough to kill one while I was rowing up the bayou to get to the schooner.
Everything went well now for a while, and I was well pleased. Bill and I stayed on the schooner, but our helper changed sometimes. One time we got hold of one that came near getting me in trouble - he halfway persuaded me to help in making counterfeit dollars. I should procure what was needed, and he would give me half of what he made. He showed me some I could not tell them from real. I went so far as to give him a dollar to buy copper, but fortunately I changed my mind. He told me afterwards he had run away from his home to make the counterfeits. I did not feel inclined to have him around any longer, but bade him leave the vessel, which he did when we got back.
On the way home we had bad winds up the river, so we tied the schooner to the bank, as the water is deep close to land. Here I got into a quarrel with the boy I had persuaded to run away, and finally he got so impertinent I struck him. He got perfectly crazy and wanted to get to town right away to report me. To get there before us he jumped ashore and started to walk. But we were on the opposite side from Pearlington, so he had to cross the river somehow. In the meantime we got a good wind and sailed up the river to town, where we heard that Henry had not yet arrived. I began to be afraid he was lost in the swamp, as I knew he had to go through it to come over. I kept on watching the banks, and toward night he came and signaled the schooner. I rowed after him in a most miserable condition. His face and hands were so swollen from mosquito bites I scarcely knew him. He was very humble, and begged me just to take him over, and he would never be saucy any more.
Next	time we went	to New Orleans	the	harbor master	came on	board and
spoke to me. As he could hear I was a foreigner he asked for my papers to prove I was a naturalized citizen, without which one cannot command a vessel. As I had none, he said it was his duty to seize the schooner, but he warned me not to come another time without my papers. When I got home of course, I told Williams and said it was best for him to get another captain, as I wanted to make a trip to Baltimore, where nearly all of my clothes were. He did not want to let me go, and said he would get my papers if only I would stay. But I wanted to look around the country, so I refused, but promised to come soon again.
He paid me what he owed me, and I stayed with him another two weeks before I	went away. I	amused myself	with	hunting and	fishing.	One day
Williams asked me to take some bees off.	His son should	help me. We	had	no
sulfur, but we thought we could stun	them	by setting the	hive over a hole	in
the ground and burning tarred rags. But the hive was so heavy we dropped it before we got to the hole. The bees flew out and stung Alfred, so he ran away and left me alone with them. I got them over the hole and set fire to the rags.	It	all went very	fine without my	getting a single	sting. Alfred came
back,	and	thought they must be stunned enough,	so he lifted	the hive.	The bees
flew out in swarms and nearly ruined	us.	We ran as hard	as we could,	but	it
was a long time before they left us.	We	waited till next	morning when	we got
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