So, after infinite labor and trial he constructed a raft which would bear him on the surface of the water.
When he had launched this he got upon it, gathering up his legs so as to keep out of reach of the alligators, and with a long pole pushed himself off from shore.

Sometimes paddling and sometimes pushing his pole against the bottom, he at last got across the river and took up his journey upon dry land.
But our pirate had not progressed very far upon the other side of the river before he met with a new difficulty of a very formidable character.

This was a great forest of mangrove trees, which grow in muddy and watery places and which have many roots, some coming down from the branches, and some extending themselves in a hopeless tangle in the water and mud.

It would have been impossible for even a stork to walk through this forest, but as there was no way of getting around it Bartholemy determined to go through it, even if he could not walk.

No athlete of the present day, no matter if he should be a most accomplished circus-man, could reasonably expect to perform the feat which this bold pirate successfully accomplished.