There were hard days and night, for the river is rough and wild in many places, but there were also sunny days when the Rambler glided over the water like a duck in a fountain pond!
And Captain Joe and Teddy, the bear, enjoyed the trip as much as the boys did. When there were campfires on the shore at night the two had many a run in the forest. And Teddy always returned, to sleep with his soft little nose against the dog’s hairy shoulder!
Alex caught fish. Case made bread, and Clay hunted up the history of the country they were passing through and read it to them in the cabin after the amusement-filled days were over. It was in every way an ideal trip—a summer trip over one of the grandest rivers in the world.
“I hope,” Clay said, one night in Portland, after it was all over, “that we shall have as much fun on the Colorado.”
“It was pretty serious sometimes on the Columbia,” Gran said.
“Oh, yes, but we enjoyed it, except the time a bear wanted me to come out of my tree!” laughed Alex. “The Colorado offers chances for just as much excitement. Don’t you ever think we are going to a pink tea party when we sail down the Colorado, through the canyons and over the rapids.”
Whether or not the trip down the Colorado was a “pink tea party” will be told in the next volume of this series: “The Motor Boat Boys on the Colorado; or, the Clue in the Rocks.”
And Captain Joe and Teddy? They were as happy at the finish of the Columbia river trip as the others, and as ready to go over to the Colorado and do it all over again!
THE END.