nsation told him he had once again been visited by the
tiny but venomous red-bug pest which he hated with all his heart.

"Drat the little beggars," he was muttering as he kept on digging at his
leg, "they sure do beat anything I ever run acrost in all my wanderin's.
It ain't so bad to be slappin' at pesky skeeters, 'cause I'm used to
sich bloodsuckers; but sandflies, and' jiggers, an' redbugs make a
combination that'd be hard to beat."

"Try that kerosene again, brother," advised Jack, who somehow seemed to
be a favored one, since he was immune from similar attacks, and greatly
envied on that account by his unlucky; pal.

"Yeah!" growled the usually good tempered Perk, "I've rubbed that on,
an' witch hazel, an' all sorts o' lotions till I guess now I smell like
a stick-pot set out, with old rags smoulderin' to keep the skeets away.
Salt water helps a mite, but this scratchin' which I just can't let up
on to save my life, makes things worse right along."

Thereupon he kicked off his shoes, removed his socks, and thrust both
feet over the side to dabble them in the saline water of the lagoon.

"Keep an eye out for that big 'gator we scared off the bank a while
back," warned Jack, wickedly, "he might think it was a wild duck
splashing, and try to pot it for his supper."

"Huh! mebbe now that's about the only way to get relief--let him snap
the foot off an' it won't itch me any more."

Nevertheless, despite this reckless assertion Perk quickly ceased his
splashing and resumed his footgear, heroically refraining from rubbing
the affected parts. After a short interval of staring at the glowing
heavens, as if the sight fairly fascinated him, Perk again spoke, this
time finding something of more importance than insect bites to talk
about.

"Wall," he drawled in his customary slow fashion, "here's hopin' we
ain't agoin' to be knocked out in our calculations tonight, but get a
line on what the boys are doin' up the coast, eh, partner?"

"Won't be our fault if we don't," said Jack, who doubtless recognized
from the signs that his mate had something in his mind, which he meant
to spring on him by cautious insinuations and half questions.

"A right decent crate that was we saw pass over early this morning I'd
say, old hoss," continued Perk, nodding his head as if to punctuate his
remarks and also to cause his thoughts to flow more smoothly. "I had a
good peep at it as we lay behind that bunch o' saw palmetto out front,
a