The Outdoor Chums On A Houseboat Part 3

"I don't see any reason why we couldn't move out of here before night comes," he remarked. "Bluff could see to getting all our stuff aboard, while some of the rest accompanied me to buy the provisions. They'll deliver the stuff here right away; and then we can cut loose. We've got clothes and ammunition and all such things, including blankets for the crowd."

"Hurrah! I'll get a move on right away, and yank that lot of bags down here in a jiffy," declared Bluff, always ready to do things in a hurry.

"Well," remarked Mr. Whittaker, "I reckon you boys expect to have a great time of it this summer; and if I was some years younger I'd just like to be along with you. From the way you talk I rather imagine this isn't the first trip you four've taken in company."

At that the boys looked at each other and laughed.

"What the Outdoor Chums have gone through with would fill lots of books," Frank took occasion to remark; "and if I had the time I'd like to tell you a few of the good times we've had together. But we've got to get a hustle on if we want to drop down the river this afternoon; because there's always lots to do at the last minute. Off you go, Bluff; and Will, you come with me. I think Jerry had better help Bluff manage the luggage."

And so they separated, each couple going about the business in hand with the energy boys can always display when they expect to have a good time.

"Be mighty careful with my camera case," called out Will, after the others. "If anything happened to that tool of mine, you'd never hear the last of it. And then, however would we get any pictures of the queer things that happen by the way? I expect to snap off some striking views of you fellows doing stunts. Remember some of the ones we've got in the alb.u.m at home?"

"Just forget about them right now," answered Bluff, who knew that he himself figured in not a few of them, often in rather undignified att.i.tudes, for instance where the wide-awake artist had happened to catch him sitting astride a limb, with an angry bull below.

Within two hours they had come back again to the boatyard; and Bluff, with the help of Jerry, managed to get aboard all their traps, brought from home.

"Good, there's going to be plenty of room," Bluff declared, as he tugged several of the last bundles up the gang-plank leading to the deck of the boat; "because we carry enough duffle to sink a small boat-guns, cooking utensils, blankets, clothes bags with changes of woolens, photographic stuff by the bushel. And there come Frank and Will, loaded to the gunwales with packages, too."

"Is that all the grub we're going to stack up with, for a voyage that may take four or six weeks?" demanded Jerry, in dismay, when the newcomers put their packages down aboard the houseboat.

"Oh! dear me, no," said Will; "these are only the little extras we picked up on the way here; fruit and cakes, and some things we happened to forget in the grocery. The wagon-load will be along shortly now."

"That sounds about right," declared Jerry. "Honest, now, I'm that hungry a wagon-load of grub has the proper sort of ring, because I think I can make away with the entire collection at a sitting. Bring on your whole ham, and a dozen or two fried eggs. Think of the delicious coffee our friend Bluff here used to make, when he got his hand in. Oh! how can I wait till we're afloat, for supper to come along?"

"Well, there's the wagon right now," said Frank; "so we needn't be long in having Mr. Whittaker set us afloat on the river. After that some of us will have to man the big sweep here, and guide the boat."

"And think of us wise ones figuring on having an engine to do all the work?" exclaimed Jerry, throwing up his hands. "But Bluff here has got a nice little surprise for you, boys."

"What is it, Bluff?" asked Will, eagerly.

"It's about a name for our new craft," replied the other, with a knowing look on his face. "You see, we had it all made up to call her the Paragon or perhaps the Wanderer. But, fellows, after setting my eyes on the condition of affairs here, it struck me that names like those would be sort of out of order. And while Jerry was waiting to see the rest of our things loaded on the wagon, I just stepped into a paint shop, and had him fix me up something on a neat little board. This goes over the door here, and can be read half a mile away. Now, hold your breath, boys!"

With that he began to undo a package he had brought, and which was carefully tied up in brown paper. Whipping the long narrow board free, presently Bluff held it up to the very spot where he had declared he meant to fasten it with nails. And as the others read what he had had painted on the signboard, they gave a shout of appreciation, for the name seemed to just hit the right chord.

It was "Pot Luck!"

CHAPTER IV-THE PERIL ON THE RIVER

"What do you think of it, boys?" asked Bluff, as he stood there, still holding up the board over the cabin door.

"Couldn't have picked out a better name if you'd looked over the whole dictionary," declared Frank. "It strikes right at the heart of things."

"We're sure going to take _pot-luck_ while we're aboard this jolly rover!" remarked Jerry, with a rollicking laugh, as he swept his hand around at the bare condition of the cabin's interior. "Your uncle must have known what sort of boys we were, and how we'd manage to get along with a makes.h.i.+ft boat."

"Well," said Bluff, "I'm glad you like my choice. Just happened to think of it, you know; and seemed like it covered our case. And so _Pot Luck_ goes; eh, boys?"

"There's a hammer, and some nails on a shelf inside here, so you can hang it up where it belongs in a jiffy," remarked Will, darting inside to bring the articles he mentioned to Bluff, who was still standing there with his arms extended.

And a few l.u.s.ty blows from the hammer served to fasten the board up securely.

"Hurrah! three cheers for the good old _Pot Luck!_" cried Jerry; and they were given with a will, much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of some s.h.i.+p carpenters repairing a tugboat near by.

"If we had our flag hoisted now," observed Bluff, "I'd dip the colors to the christening of the houseboat. As it is, we take off our hats to her."

"Long may she wave; or, rather, ride the waves!" commented Frank.

"And safe may she carry the Outdoor Chums on their voyage to the Sunny South," remarked Will. "May no tempest toss her about like a chip; and may she skip all the sand bars they say are always lying in wait to grip a floating boat."

The arrival of the wagon carrying their supplies put an end to further talk; and for some little time all of them were as busy as bees storing the things on board.

"Never mind where they go now," Frank had said, in the beginning. "After we get fairly afloat we can stow them in a better way. All we want now is to make sure they don't get under our feet."

"Or else drop overboard," added Jerry, who had made sure to hang a canvas-covered ham where it would be particularly safe; for fried ham was one of his favorite dishes; and Jerry had dozens of them in his list of prize feeds.

Finally the empty wagon told that all had been taken aboard. Frank checked off the articles, and announced that nothing they had paid for was forgotten.

"And now to see about getting pushed out in the current, where we've got to work our pa.s.sage," he observed; at which the others manifested their delight.

Will, true to his pa.s.sion, had seized upon his camera, and seemed ready to get some sort of snapshot of the "launching," as he termed it.

Whenever anything out of the usual was about to take place, Will could be depended on to show up, eager to transfer the scene to a plate or film, and so insure its being enjoyed for all time to come, affording much amus.e.m.e.nt and often laughter.

Jerry was already going around the inside of the cabin, with a mysterious look on his face, sounding the wooden walls, and evidently trying to locate some place of concealment where a queer old fellow would be apt to hide a lot of valuables, and then forget all about them until stricken down by some accident in far-away New Orleans.

Apparently the others would never hear the end of that idea until the cruise came to a termination, or the persistent Jerry unearthed a solution of the mystery.

The boat builder had a way of warping the houseboat out of his enclosure, and setting it adrift on the bosom of the Mississippi. At this point the river looked to be quite a good-sized stream to the boys; but later on they would deem this next door to a creek, after they had navigated the lower reaches, where it is sometimes twenty miles across from bank to bank.

The last word was said, and Mr. Whittaker waved his hand to the four young voyagers, wis.h.i.+ng them the best of luck.

"Whoop! we're off at last!" cried Bluff, as the current took the floating houseboat in its grip, and began to carry the unwieldy craft slowly along.

"Take a hand here, and be ready to swing her further out into the river," called Frank. "It's dangerous to keep near the sh.o.r.e, the boat builder said. All together, now, boys; away she goes!"

When four stout young college boys put their shoulders to the task, something has just got to be doing. And as they toiled at that big sweep the clumsy houseboat slowly but steadily lurched away from the sh.o.r.e, and began to get more of the force of the current, that always runs stronger toward the middle of the river.

The city lay behind them now, and none of the boys felt the least bit of regret. They loved the open, and outdoor life was with them a pa.s.sion.

Looking back, they could admire the picture that was presented to Will when he snapped his camera upon the last glimpse they would have of St.

Paul, lying on the upper reach of the mighty river.

"Oh! don't I feel like whooping it up, though!" cried Jerry; "because we've made a start on our long voyage!"

"Makes me think of that other trip we took down in Florida, when we had that fine little launch to handle, and saw something of life along the coast after we came out of that river," Frank was saying, as he kept pus.h.i.+ng with the sweep, so as to clear the sh.o.r.e more than ever.