To hungry, hearty boys, used of late to the rough fare of the frontier, and just from a hard trip in an ox-wagon, with very short rations indeed, this profusion of good things was a real delight. Sandy's mouth watered, but he gently sighed to himself, "'Most takes away my appetite." The polite, even servile, waiters pressed the lads with the best of everything on the generous board; and Sandy's cup of happiness was full when a jolly darky, his ebony face shining with good-nature, brought him some frosted cake, charlotte russe, and spun sugar and macaroons from one of the shattered pyramids. "D'ye s'pose they break those up every day?" whispered Sandy to the more dignified Charlie. "Suttinly, suh," replied the colored man, overhearing the question; "suttinly, suh. Dis yere boat is de fastest and de finest on de Big Muddy, young gent; an' dere's nuttin' in dis yere worl' that the 'New Lucy' doan have on her table; an' doan yer fergit it, young mas'r," he added, with respectful pride in his voice. "My! what a tuck-out! I've ate and ate until I'm fairly fit to bust," said Sandy, as the three boys, their dinner over, sauntered out into the open air and beheld the banks of the river swiftly slipping by as they glided down the stream. Just then, glancing around, his eye caught the amused smile of a tall and lovely lady who was standing near by, chatting with two or three rather superior-looking young people whom the lad had first noticed when the question of having the baggage brought on board at Leavenworth was under discussion. Sandy's brown cheek flushed; but the pretty lady, extending her hand, said: "Pardon my smiling, my boy; but I have a dear lad at home in Baltimore who always says just that after his Christmas dinner, and sometimes on other occasions, perhaps; and his name is Sandy, too. I think I heard your brother call you Sandy? This is your brother, is it not?" And the lady turned towards Charlie. The lad explained the relationship of the little party, and the lady from Baltimore introduced the members of her party. They had been far up the river to Fort Benton, where they had spent some weeks with friends who were in the military garrison at that post. The young men, of whom there were three in the party, had been out hunting for buffalo, elk, and other big game. Had the boys ever killed any buffalo? The pleasant-faced young gentleman who asked the question had noticed that they had a full supply of guns when they came aboard at Leavenworth. Yes, they had killed buffalo; at least, Sandy had; and the youngster's exploit on the bluff of the Republican Fork was glowingly narrated by the generous and manly Charlie. This story broke the ice with the newly met voyagers and, before the gong sounded for supper, the Whittier boys, as they still called themselves, were quite as well acquainted with the party from Baltimore, as they thought, as they would have been if they had been neighbors and friends on the banks of the Republican.