"
That night they encamped at the foot of the very bluff on which Rene
had been captured by the Seminoles. The next morning he and his
new-found friend, accompanied by Yah-chi-la-ne and E-chee, ascended the
river to the fort which had lately been the scene of such thrilling
events. Now, ruined and deserted, it was destined to be forever
abandoned to its own solitude.
Although it filled Rene with sadness to witness this ruin of what had
once been a home to him, and in the building of which he had taken such
pride, he had rather see it thus than restored to all its former glory,
but remaining in the shadow of the yellow banner of Spain.
Locating as nearly as might be that portion of the ruins beneath which
the tunnel had penetrated, Rene, and those with him, began a search of
the river-bank for its entrance. At length they discovered not a slab
of bark, such as had formerly covered the entrance, but a block of
stone, of such size that it required their united strength to remove
it. It was also of a color so closely resembling the surrounding soil
that, had they not been looking for some such thing, and been aware of
almost the exact spot in which to search, they would not have noticed
it.
The substitution of this slab of stone for the one of bark proved that
others had meddled with the passage since Rene last passed through it,
and also that these others were white men, probably Spaniards.
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