"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 always interested in all
that pertained to the cooking parts of an expedition.

"Everything is ready now," remarked Frank. "We'll go back to the inn, all
but Will, settle our score, and fetch what few things are left. I've got
a rough chart of the river, you know, boys, on which we'll have to depend
until we get to the gulf."

"And then?" asked Will.