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Bennet was full of curiosity as to the old town as he looked about on his arrival at Orangeburg with Dr. Tansey, but was also impatient to arrive at his destination. There seemed to be some urgent appeal forcing him on. With this urge on him he secured an automobile and started for the country. Just out of Orangeburg, on the road north, after he had gone not more than a few miles, he came to a swollen stream, called Long Branch, flowing rapidly toward the Edisto.

There was a long foot bridge over this and there had been a temporary bridge for automobiles. For most of the traffic that crossed it, however, there was no bridge; horses, mules and vehicles were forced to wade through. Most southern streams, no matter how small, run through wide swampy areas. Sometimes these streams are shallow at their deepest, while for half mile on each side water may be flowing in the same direction, making a very wide stream but very shallow and clear.

Long Branch was such a stream. On either side of the main channel for a half mile or more, through patches of swamp growth bamboo, and palmetto, there raced over the sand and mud the waters of this stream. In dry seasons the stream narrowed to the main channel, and automobiles could be driven across. At every freshet, however, the stream became swollen and impassable save for horses or high wheeled vehicles.

Bennet's chauffeur, coming to this stream and seeing its