while Henry and Shif'less Sol still lay in the thicket. Their project
to seize Braxton Wyatt and strip him of the maps and plans had been
defeated. Henry knew that the renegade had caught a glimpse of him in the
dusk and among the thick bushes and he expected an immediate alarm. But
when Wyatt raised none, he and Sol lingered. They saw the renegade go to
the Spaniard's side on the little mound, and they saw the two talk long
and earnestly, but, of course, they could not understand a word of what
was said.

"They look mighty pleased with one another," whispered Shif'less Sol, "so
it's bound to mean that they're up to the worst sort o' mischief."

"Yes," replied Henry, "and that mischief is sure to be aimed at our
people."

They waited about a half hour longer and then picked their way back
through the marsh to their own side of the peninsula.

It was now very late and Paul and Jim Hart were sound asleep in the boat,
but Tom Ross was keeping vigilant guard.

"Wuz it them?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Henry. "They're camped on the other side of this neck, and
Braxton Wyatt is still with them. There's big mischief afoot and we've got
to keep on following, waiting our chance, which, I think, will come."

They did not start until noon the next day, in order to give the Spaniards
a longer lead, and they rounded the neck of land very slowly lest they run
into a trap. But when the river lay straight before them again they beheld
nothing. They passed the point where the Spaniards had camped and saw the
dead coals of their fires, but they did not stop, continuing instead
their steady progress down stream.

It now grew hot upon the water. They had come many hundreds of miles since
the start, and they were in a warmer climate. The character of the
vegetation was changing. The cypress and the magnolia became frequent on
the banks, and now and then they saw great, drooping live oaks. The soil
seemed to grow softer and the water was more deeply permeated with mud.
Although the flood was gone, the river spread out in places to a vast
width, and even at its narrowest it was a gigantic stream. Other great,
lazy rivers poured in their volume from east and west. Narrow, deep
inlets, half-hidden in vegetation, extended from either side. There were
bayous, although the five had not yet heard the name, and many of them
swarmed with fish.

The warm air was heavy and languorous and now Shif'less Sol confessed.

"I'm gittin' too much o'