And when finally the parting moment came, there were hurried good-byes, the bags were thrown into the baggage car, and as the train pulled out those of their school friends who had come down to see them off, as well as their relatives, waved a shower of handkerchiefs amid a chorus of shouts.

“Hurrah!” cried Bluff, as he settled down in his seat, “we’re on the way to the greatest time of our lives!"’

CHAPTER IV

JERRY MEETS TROUBLE HALF WAY

“Ain’t she a beauty, though?”

“Finest thing ever put in the water!  And to think we’re going to live aboard her for nearly two weeks!  It’s the greatest luck ever!” observed Will.

“Talk to me about your automobiles and aeroplanes, give me a neat little motor-boat for mine.  I wouldn’t change places with King George just now.”

Frank said nothing, but the smile on his face was a satisfied one.  Indeed, it could not well be otherwise.  Any boy who loved camping and cruising as much as he did must have been thrilled at the prospect of running that jaunty little craft for a spell, navigating new waterways and making discoveries constantly, such as are calculated to please the hearts of hunters and water-dogs in general.

The motor-boat was one of the most modern make.  It had an automobile hood for the front, and this could be so extended that the entire boat was shielded.  On the other hand, on sunny days it could be pushed back, allowing of perfect freedom.

The journey south had been effected without any accident.  They were now stopping at a little hotel in this town on the river where the railroad crossed.  It was a section of Northern Florida.  The great and mysterious Gulf of Mexico, they knew, lay not a far stretch away toward the south.  Indeed, Jerry had declared he could already smell salt water, though his chums laughed at him, and declared that it was more likely the odor of the mud along the bank of the narrow but deep stream down which they expected to cruise shortly.

“All the same, I’ll be mighty glad to set eyes on that same gulf,” said Jerry; “I’ve always wanted to see it, ever since I read about the doings of those old filibusters who used to lie in wait and seize the treasure ships going home from the Spanish Main.”

“Listen to him, will you?” broke out Bluff, laughing.  “Honest, now, I believe he expects to run across a few of those old fossil pirates, Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and their kind.”

“Well, hardly, but it may be we’ll meet up with a few up-to-date pirates before we get through—­chaps who can charge ten prices for something you just feel you must have.  The times are out of joint, boys.  Things have changed a little, that’s all, but the world is just as full of human sharks as ever,” argued Jerry.

“I guess Jerry’s right, fellows, and when that gaunt landlord of the inn presents his little bill perhaps you’ll say that the buccaneer came sooner than you expected.  Besides, who can say what lies before us?  There are many swamps to be passed through, I’m told, and they say that more than one fugitive black, wanted for some crime, lives out in those places.  We must keep our eyes open all the time.”