All that day, while Bart had been thus performing the part of a faithful friend, he had also been forwarding to the utmost the preparations for the coming journey. These preparations consisted chiefly in fishing-tackle of various kinds. One day was quite sufficient for this, and so, on the day after, the whole party left. Their departure took place at sunrise. Solomon had left before them, and had gone in the early morning twilight to the steamer in which they were to embark, where he had concealed himself behind a row of flour barrels. At seven o’clock the boat started. The boys walked forward, and there, to the utter amazement of Phil and Pat, the first object that met their eyes was Solomon. They had only heard Bart’s account of his unsuccessful visit, and had given him up. But now he appeared, radiant, joyous, ecstatic; and though a large, white smouch was over his right cheek, caused by his lying down with his face pressed against a flour barrel, yet that white spot did not at all detract from the exultant and triumphant expression that overspread his face. His little black beads of eyes twinkled with delight; his legs went hopping up from the deck in all directions; and he would certainly then and there have indulged in a real, original, genuine, plantation break-down, had not rheumatiz gently reminded him that there were limits to the exercise of his muscular powers. The route which they took to the Bay de Chaleur was apparently a roundabout one; but in reality it was the shortest way to get to their destination. First they went up the river St. John, and after a time they intended to turn off into the country. As they sailed up that beautiful river, they gazed with admiration upon the varying scenes that opened upon them every moment. With that river and its features Bart was quite familiar; but the others had never seen it before, and were never tired of looking out upon the surrounding valley. First of all they found themselves in a narrow gorge shut in by precipices. Emerging from this, they entered a broad expanse of water looking like an extensive lake. Traversing this, the river narrowed again, and the sheet of water ran on before their eyes in a straight line for many miles, with high hills, some wooded, some cultivated on either side. Passing on, they left this behind; and now the course of the river was a winding one, leading them on amidst varied scenery of high hills and fertile valleys. Beyond this, again, the high hills departed, and a broad extent of meadow land, dotted with groves and orchards and white farm-houses, and covered over with luxuriant vegetation, spread away on every side as far as the eye could reach. Here the scene was not so varied as it had been at first, but it was rich and glorious, showing to them a favored land, a land flowing with milk and honey. This rich and fertile land continued till the steamer stopped at Fredericton.