Frank saw to it that no one stayed in too long; and after getting aboard they rubbed down with towels brought for this very purpose. Then every one declared himself as hungry as a bear, and preparations for breakfast were in order. As Jerry had constituted himself chief cook for the trip, to be relieved at intervals by one of the others, Bluff volunteered to lay in a supply of firewood for the little stove. “Give me the axe, and I’ll go ashore to cut up a log,” he remarked. Frank was secretly amused to see that the fire-eater also carried his gun ashore with him. Evidently he had a little suspicion that the bothersome man might be still hovering around the vicinity, and would have to be “shooed off” by a threatening display of hardware, in the shape of a gun that could shoot six times without being removed from the shoulder. Presently the steady strokes of the axe told that Bluff was exercising his muscles to good advantage, and that they could count on at least two days’ supply of firewood as a result of his labors. The breakfast was “prime,” everybody admitted; and Jerry was advised to keep a line or two out for stray catfish every time they tied up for a stop. There were buffalo fish to be caught, Mr. Whittaker had assured them, that, while a little coarse, would be found good eating; and all of them happened to be rather fond of fish as a diet, which was a good thing, under the circumstances. “It isn’t such a hard job to get a start on the old boat, anyhow,” remarked Jerry, as with poles they pushed away from the bank, until the slow current near the shore began to catch them in its grip, and they found the _Pot Luck_ moving. Once they had attained the proper distance from shore, really there was little to do all day long, but keep an eye on things, and make sure the boat did not turn sideways to the stream. By keeping away from the channel they avoided all danger from such boats as passed up or down the river. During the morning Will, who had been looking steadily back over the course they had come, called the attention of the others to something which he seemed to think merited their notice. “That dinky little power-boat yonder keeps hovering just so far behind us,” he said, uneasily. “Well, the fellows aboard have a right to go and come just as they please,” Frank remarked, though he gave the object in question a long look, and then went into the cabin for the field glasses. “Sometimes he comes as close as he is now,” Will went on to say; “and then he seems to stop still, till you can hardly see him in the dim distance, when he’ll start up again. I think sometimes they’re fishing, and anchor in favorite places. Then again I seem to think that perhaps he may be aboard.” “By that you mean our visitor of last night, Marcus Stackpole, I reckon?” Jerry asked. “What do you see, Frank; any fellow without his head-covering on?” Bluff inquired, at the same time.