The Outdoor Chums on the Gulf | Page 8

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."
"And depend on it, Frank knows. He's been picking up information
right and left ever since we got here," remarked Will, who was, of

course, carrying his beloved camera, with which he had taken many
splendid pictures of the past exploits of the four chums.
"When do we get under way?" asked Bluff, eagerly, as he examined the
provisions made for cooking, with a battery of little lamps fashioned to
burn kerosene in the shape of gas--Bluff was always interested in all
that pertained to the cooking parts of an expedition.
"Everything is ready now," remarked Frank. "We'll go back to the inn,
all but Will, settle our score, and fetch what few things are left. I've got
a rough chart of the river, you know, boys, on which we'll have to
depend until we get to the gulf."
"And then?" asked Will.
"Oh, the Government charts will carry us, then, the rest of the way.
They have everything down, up to several miles off shore, and all the
bayous and cuts besides. Come on, Jerry and Bluff; get busy."
Left in charge of the boat for half an hour, Will sat there in the warm
sunshine, trying to picture what it looked like up around cold, bleak
Centerville just then. As he fondled his camera other memories were
called up, in which it had done its share in the way of perpetuating the
exciting events connected with the various outings enjoyed by the four
chums.
While Will sits thus and lets his mind wander back to other scenes it
may be just as well for us to take a quick survey of these same events,
so as to understand something of the ties that held these four boys
together.
They formed the Rod, Gun and Camera Club, and their first outing had
been at the time a storm took part of