"You mean Sunflower River, do you not?" asked Tad.

"Yes. What do you know about it?" inquired Lilly, raising his eyebrows.

"Not very much. I know there is such a place some twenty miles to the westward of where we are located at present," answered Butler.

"As I have said before, you boys don't need a guide."

"No, I think we need a guardian as much as anything. I move that we appoint you as Master Stacy's guardian," suggested Ned.

"Carried," shouted Walter.

"Excuse me, as Ichabod would say. I may be something of a success as a guide, but as the guardian of our young friend I fear I should be a miserable failure. I am too slow for a job like that. It needs a younger and more active man than myself for that position."

"You are right it does," piped up Stacy.

"It needs a hustler to keep going with Stacy Brown. When do we strike camp?"

"After breakfast," answered Tad.