"Hal, if I didn't have you with me I'd already have made up my mind to tackle this river."
That appeared to insult Hal.
"All I've got to say is I'd be a help to you--not a drag," he said, with some warmth.
"You're always a help, Hal. I can't say anything against your willingness. But you know your weakness. By George! you made trouble enough for me in Arizona. On a trip such as this you'd drive me crazy."
"Ken, I won't make any rash promises. I don't want to queer myself with you. But I'm all right."
"Look here, Hal; let's wait. We've only got to Tampico. Maybe such a trip is impracticable--impossible. Let's find out more about the country."
Hal appeared to take this in good spirit. The boys returned to the hotel and went to bed. Hal promptly fell asleep. But Ken Ward lay awake a long time thinking of the green Santa Rosa, with its magnificent moss-festooned cypresses. And when he did go to sleep it was to dream of the beautiful waterfowl with the white-crested wings, and he was following it on its wild flight down the dark, mysterious river-trail into the jungle.
II
THE HOME OF THE TARPON
Hal's homesickness might never have been in evidence at all, to judge from the way the boy, awakening at dawn, began to talk about the Santa Rosa trip.