ams and Charley. From the stern where he
was sitting Mr. Grigsby approved, to Francisco, with a jocular sentence
in Spanish, at which Francisco grinned again. Maria spoke aside, and
Mr. Adams nodded, translating to Charley:

"Maria says we have paid for the boat and it is our boat. He and
Francisco want it understood that they are gentlemen and honest."

"As long as we treat them right they'll treat us right," put in Mr.
Grigsby. "We're lucky. I've seen some of these boats change hands
half a dozen times, already."

"Yes; when once you get to bribing there's no end to it," asserted Mr.
Adams. "I don't trust anybody I can bribe."

The baggage was in the boat; the small trunk toward the stern, and
bedding rolls arranged toward the bows. Francisco had dumped in a
boiled ham and a sack of rice; he took the other supplies from Charley
and his father, and stowed them also. A pair of broad-bladed paddles
lay along the gunwales, fore and aft.

"Go ahead," spoke Maria, stepping back from the canopy. He motioned
his passengers into the canoe.

"Good!" said Mr. Adams. "Get into the bows, Charley. You and I'll sit
amidships, Grigsby. How many canoes ahead of us?"

"About a dozen, I reckon."

"We ketch 'em," assured Maria, confidently.

He and Gonzales seized the gunwales and bent low, shoving. The dug-out
slipped down the slimy bank, through the ooze, into the water, and with
final shove Maria and Francisco vaulted aboard. Maria in the stern,
behind the trunk, Francisco kneeling at Charley's feet, between the
bedding rolls, they grasped their paddles, and swung the canoe
up-stream. With a few powerful strokes they left behind them the bank,
where the white horde, crazed by the sight of another boat making
start, shouted and gestured more frantically than ever.

Charley just glimpsed still another boat putting out from the landing,
when his canoe swept around a curve, and landing and crowd and village
all were blotted from view by a mass of foliage. Even the sounds of
bargaining ceased. The canoe might have been a thousand miles into the
wilderness, where nobody lived.

"All right," remarked Charley's father, settling himself comfortably.
"Now 'go ahead,' as they say. There are 300 people waiting at Panama
for the _California_, and I only hope we get there in time."

"Maria says we'll reach Cruces in three days, if we don't have
accidents," spoke Mr. Grigsby. "Might as well enjoy the scenery."

The