," said Tom.

"There is only one objection," answered Dick. "If the houseboat is
not there, we'll be losing a lot of valuable time."

"Is the entrance to the bayou very narrow?" asked Tom. "For if it
is, the houseboat would be apt to strike the mud shore and leave marks."

"Yes, it is narrow, and we'll look for marks by all means," answered
the young Southerner.

As they were moving with the stream it did not take the launch long
to reach the bayou that connected the lake with the Mississippi. But
close to the bayou entrance the swirling waters had cast up a ridge
or bar of mud and on this the launch slid and stuck fast.

"Hullo, we're stuck!" cried Tom.

"And we are up out of the water too," came from his younger brother.

"Can't we back?" asked Fred.

"I'll try it," returned Harold Bird.

The screw of the launch was reversible and he made the change in
power. The water was churned up into a muddy foam, but that was all.
The _Venus_ did not budge an inch.

"One of the joys of a life 'on der rollings deeps'!" grumbled Tom,
imitating Hans. "Songbird, can't you compose an ode in honor of the
occasion?"

"Certainly I can," said Songbird promptly, and started:

"As firm as a rock, our launch now rests
Upon her bed of mud,
As safe as a ship on a golden sea--"

"Or a clothespin in a tub!" finished Tom. "Songbird, give us something
better, or none at all."

"Say, vot has a clothesbin in a dub to do mit being stuck here
alretty?" questioned Hans, innocently.

"Why, Hansy, old boy, that's easy," cried Tom. "A clothespin is for
sticking something fast, and we are stuck fast. Now, can't you see
the joke, as the blind astronomer said to the deaf musician?"

"Yah, dot's so, but ve ain't stuck on no clothes-pins," answered
Hans, soberly. "Ve vos stuck on der Mississippies Rifer, ain't it."

"Score one for Hans," came, with a laugh, from Sam. "Hans, what do
you think we ought to do?"

"Dake a rope py der shore und bull der poat loose."

"That's the talk," said Songbird. "Hans can carry the rope ashore.
The water is only a foot deep."

"And the mud is about sixteen feet deep," put in Dick, quickly. "Don't
try it, unless you want to sink out of sight."

For several minutes all sat still in the launch, viewing the situation
with considerable dismay.

"This is something I didn't bargain for," said Fred. "But we may as
well make the best of it."

"Let us try to shove her off," suggested Dick.

On board the