Part 20 (1/2)

”You don't say!” exclaimed Bluff. ”Now, I reckon you mean our friend, Ossie Fredericks; don't you, Frank?”

”Just what I do,” returned the other. ”Of course it was too gloomy for me to make sure, and the boat was some distance out; but I could partly see the shape of the cabin, and it seemed to correspond with that on the _Lounger_. Then it was running with power, for we all must have heard the sound of the engine exhaust.”

”Looks like that crowd meant to take as long a voyage as we've got ahead of us; and we're apt to run across 'em in New Orleans, when we get there,” Will remarked.

”Well, we don't own the river, and can't tell 'em to go back home, because their company isn't wanted,” said Jerry.

”I hope we see nothing more of them, because Oswald is bound to get even with Frank for something or other,” was what Will observed; for he was by nature the most peaceable of all the Outdoor Chums, and disliked a row.

”Yes, get even with him for saving his life,” grunted Bluff. ”If ever you catch me taking chances with a howling mob of roustabouts, or any other thing, just to save a fellow like Ossie Fredericks the beating he ought to have, why you'll know it-that's what!”

But Frank, although he made no remark, knew this was not so. He understood Bluff better than the other did himself. In fact, he often said that the bark of Bluff was worse than his bite; and he felt positive that if the occasion arose again, whereby his chum could save even Ossie Fredericks from being injured, Bluff would put himself out to do it.

In the morning they saw that what had been said about the driftwood was certainly true; for out on the swelling river even uprooted trees were floating, having been undermined up one of the many tributaries of the Mississippi.

”Look sharp, fellows,” said Bluff, ”and if you see a lone chicken coop coming along, let me know. It's me into the little dinghy then, and away to the rescue. I'd sure hate to see any fowls drown.”

”And to save them from it, you'd cut their heads off; eh, Bluff?”

laughed Frank, as he pa.s.sed in to help Jerry with the breakfast.

All through that day they kept pa.s.sing trees that were afloat, and which, somehow, did not seem able to make as good progress on the current of the river as did the houseboat.

Bluff was frequently using the field gla.s.ses to spy out that expected hencoop which he stoutly declared would be along shortly; but as they had corned-beef hash for supper that night, with some baking powder biscuits, which Jerry baked, it can be set down as positive that no fowls arrived by flood-express, or otherwise.

Even the fis.h.i.+ng seemed to be useless while the river was at such a ”booming” stage, and Jerry hardly knew what to do with himself evenings, for that had become his favorite pursuit of late.

Again they had had a heavy downpour during the afternoon. Of course the roof of the cabin kept them from being bothered while the rain continued, and they could laugh at such happenings. But Frank kept pretty close to the sh.o.r.e, lest they lose sight of it when the mist hung over the river, and find themselves too far out.

Even the boats bound up-river seemed to be having troubles of their own in dodging the floating trees and logs; for they did much whistling as long as they remained within ear-shot of the boy-voyagers.

About five in the afternoon, Frank concluded that they had better be on the lookout for a place to tie up.

”I know it's earlier than usual,” he said, noticing that the others seemed somewhat surprised at his declaration; ”but you notice how the banks are crumbling all along here. We'll be lucky enough to find a tree to-night that will answer for our hawser. You notice that we don't call it a cable any more, since we bought that big heavy rope to take the place of the one that played us such a mean trick by breaking, in that storm, and letting the boat go adrift. Hawser sounds so much more like business, too.”

”How about that place down below, Frank?” asked Jerry, pointing. ”Looks like a good tree close to the edge of the bank, all right. Shall we work her in?”

”I suppose so,” replied Frank; and yet as they approached the spot he was seen to shake his head seriously.

”Won't do, I'm afraid, boys,” he observed.

”But, Frank, that tree would hold a church; it's a big chap, and not rotten either, so far as I can see,” Bluff remarked.

”And look at its roots sticking out, would you?” Jerry added; ”why, Frank, even some of them would hold the boat, if we didn't want to climb the bank.”

”There's danger of a cave-in, boys,” Frank went on to say. ”One must have gone right above here, this very afternoon; and if ever it does come, why, you can see that giant tree must topple over into the river.

They always fall that way.”