[CHAPTER XI]
THE WONDERFUL RIVER
As the “Knobs”—which is the name given to the high hills back of New Albany—receded, the day was still young. It was also overcast and cool. So Ed, who was always studying something, brought his big map up on deck and, spreading it out, lay down on his stomach to study it. He worked over it till dinner time, and in the afternoon he spread it out again.
The boys having gathered around him, he said:—
“I say, fellows, we are making a journey that we ought to remember as long as we live. We are going over a small but important part of the greatest river system in the world.”
“‘Small but important part,’” said Will, quoting. “Well, I like that.”
“What’s your objection,” said Ed Lowry, for the moment borrowing Irv Strong’s playful method,—“what’s your objection to my carefully chosen descriptive adjectives?”
“Well, we’re going over pretty nearly the whole of it, aren’t we?”