On the next day the journey westward was resumed. They went partly by stage and then struck a coal road and got a "lift" on one of the cars. After that came a journey on one of the streams flowing into the Ohio. Then they got aboard a flatboat bound for the Mississippi.
"This is something like," said Bob, as they watched the boat glide along. The flatboat was of fair size and carried twenty or thirty passengers. The deckhands were negroes and they sang as they worked. The furnace on the craft burnt wood, and they often had to make a landing at a yard along the river bank, to get fresh fuel aboard.
They were making one of these landings when the two boys saw a lively discussion going on between two men. One was trying to sell a good-sized scow to the other for ten dollars. The other man, however, wanted to give only five dollars.
"Say, we might take that scow!" cried Mark. "We could easily float down to the Mississippi in it and then sell it at Cairo, or some other point. We could take provisions along, and such traveling would be very cheap."
"Let's do it!" cried Bob. The idea of navigating a craft of their own appealed to him, in spite of the fact that he wanted no more of life on the ocean.
They went ashore, and after a few minutes' talk bought the scow for eight dollars. Then, from a nearby farmer, they procured some provisions, and by nightfall were on their way westward once more.
"Let's call the scow Eldorado," cried Mark. "And you are now Captain Bob."
"What does Eldorado mean?" questioned Bob. "I hear them talking of California as an Eldorado."
"It means Golden—the Land of Gold," answered Mark.
"Well, this scow isn't golden—it's mud-color, Mark."