oleanders, and camellias grew with a rank and untrained
luxuriance, and all were matted together with vines of honeysuckle
and clematis.

The front porch of the house was so rotten and broken that, after
forcing their way through the wild growth of the garden, the party
had to cross it very carefully in order to enter the open door.
The interior proved to be in a much better condition than they had
dared hope, judging from the outside appearance of the house. It
was filled with the close, musty odor common to deserted
buildings, and they quickly threw wide open all the windows and
doors that were not nailed up. On the first floor were four large
rooms, each containing a fireplace and several closets, and up-
stairs were four more, lighted by the dormer windows in the roof.
A broad hall ran through the house from front to rear, opening
upon a wide back porch which was also much out of repair. Beneath
this porch Mr. Elmer discovered a brick cistern half full of dirty
water, which he knew must be very foul, as the gutters along the
roof were so rotten and broken that they could not have furnished
a fresh supply in a long time.

Behind the main house, and surrounded by large fig-trees, they
found another building, in a fair state of preservation,
containing two rooms, one of which had been the kitchen. In the
huge fireplace of this kitchen they were surprised to see freshly
burned sticks and a quantity of ashes, while about the floor were
scattered feathers and bones, and in one corner was a pile of moss
that looked as though it has been used for a bed. Beyond the
kitchen were the ruins of several out-buildings that had fallen by
reason of their age, or been blown down during a gale.