nterrupted Mrs.
Perkins sharply. "You do your thinking for your husband and I'll do
the thinking for mine; and I guess if you do that you won't have to
fill in your time meddling with others."

"Well! Well, I never----"

"Ladies!" murmured Granger. "Let us not allow this little
inconvenience which we have experienced to disturb our equanimity."

"Let's have that agin," growled a fat gentleman. "You say we can't get
up the river, hey? Well, what's the matter with driving up?"

"The magnificent oiled highway which is going to bring thousands of
visitors to our Colony has not quite been built down to the mouth of
the river here."

"All right. We'll walk up to where she begins. Ain't no cripples
aboard, far's I can see."

"The one bad piece of land in the district unfortunately lies between
the mouth of the river. It is a small swamp--only a small one--then
the fair uplands of our Colony begin. But until the road is built
across it the river is the only means of travel inland and that, as I
sorrowfully tell you, is blocked. Come; let us forget our business,
our future wealth, for the time being and revel in the subtropical joys
at Flora City. The land will remain. Each day sees an increase in its
value. Good friends, we're getting ready to sail. All aboard for
beautiful Flora City."

"Slick enough!" chuckled Higgins, where he and Payne were standing in
the background. "I'll say he does it well. Now let's step up there
and tell him how many kinds of a liar he is."

"Hold on," muttered Roger. "I'm here to get some business done; I'm
here to get up the river and see that land."

"Sure."

"This boat isn't going up, there's no question of that; calling him a
liar wouldn't send the boat upstream."

"Not an inch."

"And it would warn them that we were onto the fact that boats can go
up, and that we intend to go."

"Oh, you intend to go, do you? How, for instance?"

"That tub, the Cormorant, is going up. I don't know when, but that's
where she's bound. I'm going on her."

Higgins made no reply.

"You don't want to tackle it, I see."

"No, you don't see anything of the sort," retorted Higgins. "I'm going
with you all right; I've made up my mind to that. I was just trying to
figure how we are going to work it. You're right; if we tell 'em we're
staying here, the Cormorant won't go up. There's something slick going
on round here so we've got to be slickers ourselves. We've got to
sneak