ied sights.

"Now, Jim," said Shif'less Sol in a warning tone to Long Jim, "I've got
advice to give you. I wuz in a big town once. I told you about that time I
went to Baltimore when I wuz a little boy, an' so I'm fit to tell you how
to behave. New Or-lee-yuns ain't like the woods, Jim. Don't you be too
handy with your gun. Ef you see a man follerin' along behind you ez ef he
wuz trailin' you, don't you up an' take a shot at him. Like ez not he's
about his business, only it happens to be in the same direction that
you're goin'. An', Jim, don't you go to gittin' dizzy, through seein' so
many people about. Mebbe you don't think thar will be sech a crowd, but
you'll believe it when you see it."

"Sol Hyde," rejoined Long Jim indignantly, "I'm sorry New Or-lee-yuns
ain't right at the sea, 'cause the sea is salt, so I've heard, an' then ef
I wuz to dip you in it three or four times it would do you a pow'ful lot
uv good. Salt is shorely mighty helpful in the curin' up uv fresh things."

"There goes another of those canoes," said Paul, "but I can't tell whether
it's a white man or an Indian in it."

"It's a white man," said Henry, "but I fancy it's a West Indian Frenchman
or Spaniard. I've heard that some of them are as dark as Indians."

"Time to think 'bout tyin' up for the dark," said Tom Ross. "We might go
on all night, but we need to save our strength fur to-morrow. What do you
say to that little cove over thar on the west bank, Henry?"

"Looks as if it would be the right place," replied Henry, "and it is
certainly time to stop. The sun seems to go down faster here than it does
In Kentucky."

The twilight was spreading swiftly over the arch from west to east as they
entered the cove and tied "The Galleon" to a live oak. Paul leaped
joyfully ashore, glad to stretch his limbs again. The others quickly
followed, and they set about gathering wood to build a fire. They were out
of the Indian country now and they had no need to be cautious.

Paul bestirred himself looking for brushwood. Presently he found at the
edge of the water a dead bough which was long enough to be broken into
several sticks of convenient length. He picked it up, and for the purpose
of breaking it brought it down heavily on a large brown log lying in the
mud near the water.

To Paul's amazement and horror, the big brown log got into action at
either end. One end, in the shape of a tail, whipped around at him, barely
missing him, and the other end,