* * * * *

The pretty waitress, excitedly engrossed in her story, was unconsciously
acting out the thrilling scene of her dialogue with the Indian, even
imitating his voice and gestures. And Kemper and I listened and watched
her breathlessly, fascinated by her lithe and supple grace as well as by
the astounding story she was so frankly unfolding with the consummate
artlessness of a natural actress.

She turned her flushed face to us:

"I made up my mind," she said, "that Tiger-tail's story was worth
investigating. It was perfectly easy for me to secure corroboration,
because that Seminole went back to his Everglade camp and told every one
of his people that I was a white Seminole because my ancestors also
hunted the three-eyed man and nobody except a Seminole could know that
such a thing as a three-eyed man existed.

"So, the next afternoon off, I embarked in Tiger-tail's canoe and he
took me to his camp. And there I talked to his people, men and women,
questioning, listening, putting this and that together, trying to
discover some foundation for their persistent statements concerning men,
still living in the jungles of Black Bayou, who had three eyes instead
of two.

"All told the same story; all asserted that since the time their records
ran the Seminoles had hunted and slain every three-eyed man they could
catch; and that as long as the Seminoles had lived in the Everglades the
three-eyed men had lived in the forests beyond Black Bayou."