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