“Not to be lost, never to be lost, Jim,” said Shif’less Sol earnestly.  “That Missip. water is still thar in the sea, an’ it goes slippin’ an’ slidin’ along with the salt clean to all them old continents.  It takes a look in at England, that’s fightin’ us in the East, an’ if the English could understand the water’s language it might tell ’em a lot o’ things that wuz wuth their knowin’.  An’ then it goes on to Spain an’ France an’ Germany, whar they talk all them useless tongues, an’ after a while it takes a whirl clean ‘roun’ Africa an’ Asia, an’ sees goodness knows what, an’ then goes slippin’ off to see islands in oceans that I ain’t ever heard tell on.  Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat but ain’t that a movin’ an’ stirrin’ life fur ye!”

Sol drew a deep breath and Paul looked at him with shining eyes.

“You’ve said a good deal of what I was thinking, Sol,” he said, “but for which I couldn’t find words.”

“We’re likely to travel with the river for a while,” said Tom Ross, “an’ we must purvide a way.”

“We’ll do it soon,” said Henry.

They camped that night in a dense grove near the bank but they built no fire.  After midnight Henry and Shif’less Sol slipped away and went northward.

“’Bout four miles on we’ll strike them Spaniards,” said the shiftless one.

It was a close calculation, as at the end of the four miles they saw the light of a fire flaring through the trees and bushes and knew that they had come upon Alvarez and his men.  Their camp lay on rather low ground beside a little bay of the Mississippi, and the keen eyes of the two woodsmen saw at once that the force of Alvarez had been increased.

“He’s got about seventy men whar he had about fifty afore,” said Shif’less Sol as they crept nearer.

“They came on boats as I thought,” replied Henry, “and he left a detachment here with the boats, while he went across country.  Maybe he was on an exploring expedition or something of that kind, when Braxton Wyatt overtook him with his proposition.”

Sol looked at Henry and Henry looked at Sol.  A ray of moonlight fell upon their tanned and stern faces.  Then as they looked a twinkle appeared in the eye of each.  The twinkle deepened and the two broke simultaneously into a soundless laugh.

“We want one of those boats,” said Henry.

“We shorely do,” said Shif’less Sol.

“We need it in the course of our duty,” said Henry.

“We jest can’t git along without it,” said Shif’less Sol.

“It will be much easier floating down the middle of the Mississippi in a boat than it will be walking along the bank all the way.”

“It will shorely save the feet, an’ give a feller time to think, while the current’s doin’ the work.  It jest suits a lazy man like me.”

Again they broke simultaneously into a laugh that contained no sound, but which was full of mirth.

“It’s taking what doesn’t belong to us, and we are not at war with the Spanish,” said Henry.