When, that afternoon, a halt was made, Captain Lewis cheered them with the announcement that there could be little doubt they would reach the mouth of the big river by the following night at the latest. Indeed, as the men had already discovered that the water was strongly impregnated with salt, they hardly needed this assurance to convince them that their long journey was on the eve of termination.
They gave the commander a hearty cheer, however, when he told them this welcome fact, then set about making what was certainly one of the happiest camps of the entire trip.
As usual the two boys talked things over while they sat resting after supper had been dispatched. Roger had sniffed the air several times, and he finally broke out with a declaration.
“There seems to be something queer in the air, Dick; something I’ve never before noticed in all my life. And to tell you the truth, I can make nothing of it.”
“I may be wrong,” Dick told him; “but, from all I’ve heard grandfather say, I think that must be the salty taste they say one can notice when the air comes straight off the sea. If that is so, it proves we are close to the mouth of the river right now.”
After that Roger amused himself by sniffing the air many times. It seemed to give him fresh encouragement to have a silent but powerful proof carried by the night breeze to their river camp.
Taken in all, it was a rather restless night for some of the adventurers, and the boys in particular awoke many times, to sit up and listen. Once Dick even fancied he could hear a far-off, dull, booming sound that could hardly be thunder, since the stars were out, and not a cloud as big as his hand in sight.
“I wonder,” the boy said softly to himself, with a feeling almost of awe, “if that can be the sea pounding on the shore. Grandfather has often told us how it makes a great noise when the tide is coming in, each wave running along and turning over as it breaks on the sand.”
He even sat there for a long while listening, though thinking it best not to arouse Roger, who chanced to be sleeping at the time. Only when the strange sound died out, owing to a change of wind, or the turn of the tide, Dick consented once more to drop back in his blanket. But, when he did get to sleep again, his dreams were of the glorious triumph that awaited them close at hand.
The last day dawned, and the camp was early astir. Breakfast was hastily eaten, the small amount of boat packing attended to, and after that a start was made.