I bowed low to hide my extreme satisfaction. It was the rarest of good fortune to have penetrated the reserve with which a Spanish gentleman surrounds the ladies of his family. But it was not my part to dwell upon the fact. I hastened to point out a flatboat which had caught my eye when we first rode down to the bank. "What is your opinion of that craft?" I asked. "So large a boat--for two men? _Santa Maria!_" "Hardly forty feet over all," I replied. "Let us go aboard." He swung to the ground as quickly as myself, and we hitched our horses to the nearest stump. As the flat was moored alongside the rough wharf, we had only to step aboard. The height of the water brought the craft almost on a level with the wharf. A glance or two showed me that the boat was already fitted out with steer-oar, sweeps and poles, a kedge with ample line, and a light skiff, snugly stowed in the ten-foot space of open prow. Having next made sure that she was well calked and dry, I led the senor through the house. It was divided into three apartments or rooms, of which the one nearest the stern was some five feet the longest. "Here," I said, pointing to the rude but well-built fireplace, "is the kitchen, salon, and dining-room of our floating inn." We passed on through the middle and forward rooms. Like the kitchen, both were limited to a width of seven feet by the need of a runway without, along each side of the boat. But Senor Vallois looked about approvingly. "We could share this cabin," he said, glancing about the forward room. "My thanks, senor, but I can make shift to sleep on deck," I replied. "There will be rain--there is always rain in this northern country of yours. No. You will do me the favor of sharing this cabin with me. There are two berths, as you see." I looked gravely at the rude bunks built, one above the other, on the left wall, and bowed my acceptance of the offer. "It is well," he continued. "My niece and her woman will share the middle room. There remains only the question of purchase." "Leave the bargaining to me," I said quickly, at sight of the shrewd-faced Yankee who came down the wharf as we stepped out into the open prow. "The affair is entirely in your hands, doctor," assented the senor. The Yankee stepped aboard with an air of brisk business. "I cal'clate ye want a boat," he began. "Let ye have this 'un dirt cheap." "How much?" I demanded. "One seventy-five." "Lumber cordelled by keelboat from New Orleans?" I rallied him in smiling irony. He looked me up and down with a speculative eye. "We-ell, stranger, I might knock off ten dollars." "You mean fifty." Again he surveyed me; then appraised the rich broadcloth of my companion. "Be ye buyin' fer him?" he queried. "We make the trip together. I can go as high as a hundred and twenty-five. We could do better at Pittsburg, but are willing to give you the bargain, to save our boots."