w chickens, or buy some roasting ears that had
survived the touch of frost.

It was thus on Saturday that the little flotilla came to New Orleans,
and the race for the Dixie cup was officially declared to have ended,
with Herb the winner in his steady, reliable big boat, the _Comfort_.

Monday, the twenty-ninth, Jack hunted up the lawyer with whom he had
been in correspondence, and made his presence in the city legally
known. At the proper time he wended his way with the judge to a quaint
old house, where a few persons had gathered to hear the last will and
testament of the singular gentleman who happened to be Jack's mother's
brother, read.

Well, no matter what Jack came in for, it was a handsome sum, and many
times what he had ever anticipated. Certainly, as the lawyer said,
while warmly congratulating the boy from the north, it was worth coming
after.

Considering what a glorious time he had had cruising down the Father of
Waters, Jack believed that he would have been well paid to have even
his expenses of the trip settled; but to get a fortune was a streak of
great luck.

The six boys did not mean to cruise back again. The current of that
mighty river was too sturdy to buck against in a little
twenty-three-foot motor boat. When they had exhausted the pleasures of
the famous Crescent City they made an arrangement whereby the three
boats would be freighted back home.

That left them free to go where they pleased; and hence, after some
wiring back home to get permission, they took a little run down through
Forida [Transcriber's note: Florida?] as the guests of the fortunate
heir to the fortune.

School would open after New Years, so they had to count on getting back
before then. The sight of the beautiful Indian river inspired them
with a desire to some day come again to the sunny south, and spend a
month or more nosing about on the shallow waters of that remarkable
series of lagoons stretching along the entire east coast.

But meanwhile they had other plans in view for the coming summer, when,
free from the trammels of school, they would be able to once more take
their several boats, starting out on a delightful cruise in quest of
adventure, and perhaps in the line of exploration.

To the delight of Jack, later on that winter he received a long letter
from Erastus, written by his daughter, who, it seemed, had had
considerable schooling, and was intending to be a teacher in the negro
college at Tuskeg