"Do you think it was a bad trade?" asked Mark. He could not help grinning, now the danger was past.
"No, I don't—for the old scow was beginning to leak!" answered Bob, and then both boys laughed outright.
"Now we've got a mule, what we shall need next is a wagon," went on Mark, a moment later. "Then some provisions, and ho! for the wild West and gold!"
Finding a suitable hotel, they remained there over night and had the mule cared for. Mark named the animal Darling, and Darling he remained for the rest of the wonderful trip. Taken all in all he was not a bad mule, although inclined at times to be tricky.
By consulting the hotel clerk they learned that they could obtain passage on a steamboat bound up the Missouri River, and also transportation for the mule, and left Cairo that noon, on the Pride of the River, a steamboat that had seen better days.
"What a crowd of passengers!" remarked Bob. "Wonder if they are all bound for the gold fields?"
"Likely not," replied Mark. "Some are settlers and planters, and others are just plain business men."
"And some are gamblers," added the sailor boy. And he was right, for gambling flourished vigorously in those days on all the boats of the Mississippi and the Missouri. The game went on day and night, and many a fortune was lost. The great majority of the gamblers were tricksters, and sometimes, when one was caught at his tricks, he was shot or run off the boat.
"What a life to lead!" said Bob. "I can tell you, no gambling for me!"
"Nor for me," answered Mark. "The fellow who gambles deserves to lose; and I guess he generally does, too, unless he's a sharp."