swung around and the journey to Baraville was begun. It did not take long, and by half-past ten o'clock the Dora was tied up at the town levee, much to the astonishment of many colored folks who had never seen such a craft.
The Rovers' first movement was to ask if the launch had stopped there, and from a colored riverman they learned that the Venus had come in very early in the morning and had left again after those on board had gotten breakfast and a box of things—what the negro did not know.
"I heah dem folks talk erbout New Orleans," said the colored man. "I dun 'spect da gone dat way fo' certainly, I do!"
"Did you see the launch leave?" asked Sam.
"I suah did—an' a mighty po'erful smell dat boat did leab behind it!"
"That was the gasoline," said Fred, laughing.
"I 'spect it was, yes, sah," answered the colored man.
"If they went to New Orleans then we ought to go too—and be quick about it," said Dick.
"Don't you want to send some word to the ladies and the girls first?" asked Harold Bird.
"To be sure. We can send a telegram for all, and then send letters, too."
This was done, and the ladies and girls were told not to be alarmed—that all were satisfied everything would come out right in the end.
