As Maurice said it reminded him of a garden that grew while the
proprietor slept, for they could count on so many miles a day with
ordinary good luck, and not a hand put out to urge the craft
along.

While both these boys had spent much of their lives upon the banks
of the Ohio, and were accustomed to the various sights familiar to
all river dwellers, at the same time things had a vastly different
appearance now that they were afloat and actually drawing a little
nearer and nearer to the sunny southland with each passing hour.

They were in good spirits all the time, and hailed other voyagers
with the customary salutations suitable to the occasion.

It became no unusual thing to see one or two flatboats with cabins
something like their own, either drifting lazily along the stream
or tied up close to the bank; for, as has been said before, the
river is a muchly traveled highway, and the types of people that
make use of it in their annual pilgrimages south must prove of
tremendous interest to any one fond of studying humanity.

It was a banner day for the travelers, clear and fairly pleasant,
one that in the rougher times ahead would always be looked back to
as a period to be envied.

They made great progress, too, and when the afternoon sun waning
in the west warned them that it was time to keep their eyes about
for a decent place in which to pass the night, Maurice calculated
that they had come all of forty miles since morning, which was
making quite a gap in the distance separating them from the