you ever get him into a houseboat? Must have been a big one!"

"Yes, Frank was there," Fremont replied, with a friendly glance at
young Shaw. "His father sent him along to report the expedition."

"I haven't seen any book about it!" broke in another.

"Frank wrote four postal cards and nine letters," laughed Fremont.
"The cards were descriptive of the scenery, and the letters asked
for more money."

"Why can't we get up a trip down the Rio Grande this spring?" was
asked. "The soldiers are on the border, and it would be sporty.
We can stand guard with Uncle Sam."

"I want to know how Fremont got his houseboat," said one of the
lads. "Perhaps we can get one in the same way. It would be fun
to build a boat. Anyhow, I'm for the Rio Grande trip this spring.
It would be glorious."

"We might build the boat up in New Mexico," said the other, "and
drop down to the Gulf. That is, I guess we could. The Rio Grande
is shallow, and large boats run only a short distance up the river,
but we might make it with a small one."

"Let Fremont tell how he built his boat and got his provisions."

"Well," Fremont began, "we were standing on the high bridge at
Nashville, one day, when Frank Shaw brought out the brilliant
thought. He was doing a thinking part just then, for there