"I wish it were light enough for some pictures," sighed Russ.
"Nothing much gets away from you, old man," laughed Paul. "Are your ladies comfortable?" he asked, as he joined Russ in the bow of the boat, the other three being in the broad stern.
"Very comfortable," answered Alice. "Only I wish we had brought a mosquito netting along. The little pests are after me with a vengeance."
"I can build a smudge on shore, and that may keep them off," offered Russ. "In fact, a smudge is about the only kind of a fire I could make, as everything is so damp."
This proved to be the case. But a heavy smoke was soon floating over the boat, and this did seem to keep away the pests.
"What had we better do?" asked Russ of Paul, as they piled more damp fuel on the smudge-fire.
"Well, we'll have to stand watch and watch, of course. And we will have the gun ready. It's all loaded. No telling what might happen. A bobcat might take a notion to come aboard, or an alligator might nose us out. We'll have to be on the watch."
Little or nothing could be told about the surrounding country in the darkness, even illuminated as it was by the moon. The river stretched away in either direction, and both banks were heavily wooded.
"Br-r-r! but it's creepy here!" sighed Ruth, as the two young men got into the boat again.
"Is that a light—a lantern—off there?" asked Alice, suddenly, as she sat up and pointed.