Two tents were pitched in the background, which served to keep off the dew while the men slept.
The negroes, who had been hired in place of the villainous whites, slept on the ground, close to burning fires, without any covering over them, unless it rained, and in that case Jack Howard told them they could haul the boat up and crawl under it.
After Van Vincent had announced his intention of hunting down Doc Clancy until he had been caught, Jack Howard offered to go in with him in the enterprise if he and his two companions would join the exploring party.
Van broached the subject to the mate and Gregory, and they readily agreed to it.
"Very well," said our hero to Howard, "your offer is accepted. We join your party and proceed with you in your explorations, so long as we do not turn from the trail of Doc Clancy."
"We will follow him, even if he goes to the very heart of this wild continent!" exclaimed Jack Howard, warmly.
The party remained in camp until slightly past noon, and they would not have left it then had it not been that an unforeseen circumstance took place.
While they were eating dinner one of the blacks came rushing up with the intelligence that the bad white men had just gone up the river in their boat.
The river was nearly straight at this point, and, rushing down to the water's edge, Van and Jack Howard saw Doc Clancy and his allies proceeding rapidly up the stream.