“And that we are right now closer to the exploring party than ever before; that would be just fine, eh, Dick?”
“It certainly would, Roger. There, if you look yonder, you can see the sun shining on what can be nothing else than running water.”
“Yes, yes, that’s what it must be, Dick; the river at last! I’ll be glad to see our old friend again. Two months we’ve been following its course; until now we are so far away from our homes that it almost seems as if we might never get back there again. But it does look good to see the water again, and to know that perhaps we’ll even have a taste of fresh fish soon.”
Even the horses seemed to know that the water was close by, for they acted as if given new life, pushing on with a vim that had been lacking during the earlier part of the day.
And so, about an hour before sundown, they came upon the Missouri once more, flowing peacefully between its wide banks, and at this season of the year rather low; so that here and there islands could be seen, as well as sandbars, on the latter of which flocks of birds sought their food.
“Now let’s find a good spot where we can stay until morning; and it must be a fishing place, too,” Roger remarked, as they turned their horses’ heads up-stream.
Ten minutes later he suddenly called out:
“Look! how would that little island do, Dick? We can easily let the horses wade out, because it is hardly to their knees, I feel sure. And if you examine the lower part of the island you’ll agree with me that it’s just the finest place to let a baited hook float down-stream anybody ever could find. Please say yes, Dick!”
Roger was so urgent, and there seemed so little chance of anything like disaster following the move, that even cautions Dick could not resist. And when they put the horses to it, they found that the water, as Roger had declared, was not more than a foot or so in depth, so that the passage was easily accomplished.
It was only a small island, with a few trees growing upon it, though even these showed signs of having been compelled to fight for existence when the spring freshets came along.