blessed
if there was anything else I could think of," said George; "but it
takes my mate here to have 'em all in his mind, even if he can't cook
like Josh."

"Let's hear what we forgot, then, Nick!" demanded Herb.

"Oysters!" immediately cried the other, triumphantly. "This is the
country for the delicious bivalve, I understand, and the season is on.
I'd made up my mind some time ago, when this trip was first planned,
that I was going to have lots of feasts in that line. When a fellow
lives away back on the Mississippi River he gets mighty few chances for
real fresh oysters, you know, and I do love 'em so much!"

"And a few more things in the bargain," chuckled Josh, who never could
resist a chance to get in a sly dig at his friend.

"Lots of 'em," replied the stout boy, calmly, and without a blush.

"But I thought you understood all about that," remarked Jack. "We
expect to pick up all the oysters we want on the way, so there was no
use laying in a supply at the start, when we needed room for more
important stores."

"Depend on it, Nick, you'll get all the bivalves you want before we're
through with this cruise," Herb prophesied.

"Bring 'em on, then," boasted Nick. "I'm ready to tackle a mountain of
'em right off the reel, in the shell or out. Never believed I could
get enough oysters. But about what time do we go ashore, boys?"

"He's getting hungry already, I do believe?" cried Josh. "Honest, now,
to keep that fellow from complaining, there ought to be a bag of
crackers and cheese hung up all the time within his reach, so he could
take a snack every hour or two. I reckon those fat legs of his'n must
be hollow, for how else could he stow away all the grub he does? He's
a regular Oliver Twist, calling for more, more!"

Nick took all this in the best of humor. He even grinned, just as
though he might look on it as some sort of compliment.

"I guess I was born hungry, and never got over the complaint," he
observed; "but that don't answer my question, Jack. It's near four o
'clock, right now, and it gets dark not a great while after six, you
know."

"All right, then; in about another hour we'll think of looking up a
creek along the shore, and make a snug harbor. Then for a fire, and a
supper, the first of the new cruise," the skipper of the _Tramp_
replied.

"Hear! hear! only another hour to wait," declared Nick, waving his hat
exultantly.

"Think you can hold out that long?" demanded Josh.