"I had hoped to get there by to-morrow. However, it doesn't look as if we should be able to do so if it comes off so hot."
"Is the Nueces a large river?" asked Walter.
"Sometimes. And it is a lively stream when there happens to be a freshet and both forks are pouring a flood down into it. We will try to bed down near the river and you boys can have some sport swimming. Do all of you swim?"
"Yes," they chorused.
"That's good. The cowpunchers will have a time of it, too."
"I can float," Stacy Brown informed him eagerly.
"So could I if I were as fat as you. I could float all day," retorted Ned Rector. "You couldn't sink if you were to fill your pockets with stones. There is some advantage in being fat, anyway."
"He didn't seem to float the day he fell in among the steers," said one of the cowboys.
"That isn't fair," interrupted Stallings. "The steers put the gopher under, that day. Any of you would have gone down with a mob of cows piling on top of you."
"The river is near the church you were telling me about, isn't it?" inquired Tad of Big-foot in a low tone.