“Hurrah!” broke in the other, his face full of smiles.

“Then we got to talking,” Thad continued, “and I told him all about what we were trying to do, and he seemed interested and asked questions, principally about you.  What d’ye think; he knows your Uncle Ambrose; why once, many years ago they were together in Cuba?  And he wants both of us to come with him tomorrow when he starts back to his home; because he says he’s got his books in a terrible muss, and would be mighty glad to have you straighten ’em out; and what d’ye think of all that, eh!”

Maurice smiled at his enthusiasm, but was certainly feeling a bit the same way himself.

“Why, all I can say is what you’re so fond of shouting whenever any good luck floats our way—­bully, bully, bully all around!  I felt sure we’d strike something before the worst came; and as usual it was you who had to run across it.  But how are we going to leave our floating home while we pay this week’s visit to the plantation of Mr. Buckleyl”

“I thought of that when he said you must come, too, and when I spoke of it to him he told me of a man he knew living on the river—­that’s his shanty you see below there, with the chimney on the outside—­who would look after the boat and Dixie for a dollar and be glad of the chance.  It’s all fixed, my boy, and you needn’t worry a bit.  We’ll be sure of our grub for a week, see something of a simon-true Southern plantation, earn twenty dollars between us, and get in great shape for business.  Say, is it all right?”

Maurice, of course, declared that it was, and thereupon Thad did one of his regular hornpipes, to the amusement of some darkies on the shore, who began mocking him, but in a way that did not give offense.

So that night they made arrangement with the man Mr. Buckley recommended to have him keep their boat in his care, along with the yellow dog.

In the morning they again bade farewell to their comfortable floating home for a brief time, and meeting the planter, joined him in a ride to the interior where his plantation was located.

Mr. Simon Buckley was a character very interesting to Maurice.

He had been something of a soldier of fortune since the Civil War and drifted pretty much around the whole world, so that he was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge upon almost any subject.

What interested Maurice most of all was his association with Uncle Ambrose in Cuba many years before.  It was with considerable surprise that the lad learned how his steady-going relative had once upon a time been a wild blade, an adventurer as it were, ready to take up with anything that promised excitement, and a hope of gain in a fairly decent way.

Simon Buckley had been very fond of Anthony, it would seem, and his delight at running across a nephew of his old comrade was unmistakable.

The voyagers had never met with a luckier bit of fortune than when Thad chanced to interview this veteran.