wearisome, but they became an important
part of the daily program with the venturesome small boat cruisers, and
as necessary as partaking of their meals.

Once more luck seemed to favor them, for after a long search Jimmie
discovered what seemed to be a series of little coves, in one of which
they could doubtless find water enough to float the _Tramp_.

It was almost dusk by now, and they would have to deduct considerable
time from their balance sheet in making up the record for the day's
run, according to the conditions set for the participants in the race.

"Think we can get in?" asked Jack of his mate; for Jimmie was in the
bow, using a pole to test the depth of the water.

"Aisy it is, wid plenty of wather, and to spare," came the reassuring
reply.

So, urging the boat gently on, Jack sent her over the bar and into what
proved to be a splendid little cove, apparently just made for a haven
of refuge to small craft, risking the dangers of the vast river flood.

"Snug as a bug in a rug!" declared Jack, joyfully, as they came to a
stop in the cove, being able to run alongside the bank, which fact
would allow of their going ashore if they chose.

Jimmie looked about him a bit nervously.

"Sure it's mesilf is wonderin' if we'll have the luck to run slap up
against that other motor boat agin," he called out, as Jack happened to
be bending over the engine at the moment.

The skipper made no response, as his attention happened to be taken up
just then with something that required a little work. But the words
had been spoken loud enough to have been heard twenty yards away in
that quiet nook.

"I wouldn't shout so, if I were you, Jimmie," remarked Jack a little
later, as he came back to where the other was getting the tent ready
for erecting over the boat.

"Why, who's agoin' to hear me, sure?" demanded Jimmie, at the same time
casting a nervous glance around at the heavy growth of bushes and trees
that bordered their little cove.

"Oh! I don't suppose there's a human being within a mile of us right
now," admitted Jack, laughingly; "but all the same it isn't good policy
to tell all you know. Nobody can be sure there isn't some tramp lying
hidden in these woods. And we don't want company, you see."

Frequently after that Jimmie would turn to glance around him, even
while he was building the fire ashore and cooking the supper over it
for a change. He could not get the warning of his boatmate out of his
head