Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/457

402. He passed up the canal, came through the Feeder and entered the lake, just as we did, beneath the living arch of cypress. "He wrote all the time he was in my boat," says the man who brought him to the lake. This negro boatman, called "Uncle Tony," was a well-known character. From his own lips the story of the poet's visit has been written down by Mr. Robert Arnold of Suffolk, Va. Here is Uncle Tony's story: —

"I shall never forgit dat time. One momin' I war gittin' my skiff reddy to go to de lake, a mighty nice-lookin' man cum up to me an' sed: 'Ar you de man dat will carry me to de Lake ob de Dismal Swamp for which I will pay you £1?' De gentman talked so putty dat I tole him to git in my skiff an' I wood carry him to de lake. I notice dat he kep writin' all de way. When I got to de horse camps (a large encampment of negro wood-cutters), I stopped to git somefin' to eat. He cum outen de skiff an' ax me what I stop for. I tole him I stop to eat some meat an' bread. He ax me if I would have a drink. I tuk off my hat an' tole him dat I would be much obleeged to him for it. He fetched a silber jug, wid a silber cup for a stopper, an' sed: 'My man, dis is Irish whiskey, brung it all de way from home.' He tole me dat his name was Thomas Moore, and dat he