to declare that it had a whiff of salt in it!" exclaimed Jerry.

"And I could, in imagination, smell those fine fat oysters roasting,"
said Bluff, smacking his lips in anticipation.

"You're on, all right. The gulf is close at hand. Indeed, I'm adding a
little speed just now, in the hope that we may be able to open it up
before night," remarked Frank.

"How about that bend, just below? Somehow, it strikes me that once we
round that something may be doing. It's just a sneaking notion, but you
wait," ventured Jerry.

Ten minutes later they swept around the bend in question, and a cry burst
from every lip, for there, in the light of the declining sun, lay the
great Mexican Gulf, stretching as far in the distance as the eye could
see.

The river cruise was ended, and another kind of adventure lay before
them.




CHAPTER XI

ALL THE COMFORTS OF SALT WATER


"Why are you slowing up, Frank?"