When they came in later he looked up eagerly, as though he must have guessed that they had been talking over what should be done about him. And so Frank considered it good policy to let him know the decision they had reached.
“We’re going to carry you part way down the river, Mr. Snow,” he remarked; “and when we put you ashore, perhaps at Memphis, we’ll try and scare up enough money in the bunch to see you through by railroad to New Orleans. That’s the best we can do; and even then we’re stretching the orders of the party who owns the boat, and who was mighty particular that we harbor no strangers aboard on the trip, for some reason or other, which we do not understand.”
Frank thought he caught a peculiar twinkle of the shrewd eyes, as he said this; but immediately Luther Snow showed evidence of considerable feeling as he insisted on shaking hands with each one of the chums in order.
“You are a noble lot of boys,” he said, his voice trembling with real emotion; “and it was a lucky day for me when I met with you. I’ll never forget you; never!”
And so the _Pot Luck_ received another addition to the passenger list. Luther Snow seemed disposed to take his share of the work, and at times insisted on being allowed to do certain tasks.
“Don’t make me feel so much ashamed of being a trespasser on your bounty, lads,” he would remark, as he forced Jerry to let him cook a meal a few days after he joined them.
And to the astonishment of the boys he gave them a fine spread, changing their menu in a way that was pleasing. Jerry himself was the first to declare that it was splendid, for there was not a bit of jealousy in his disposition.
Luther seemed pleased to think that he could make himself useful in some way; because he realized that the boys would much rather be alone by themselves on this voyage down the great river.
They had passed the mouth of the Missouri, and the addition of so much water caused the widening of the Mississippi, so that the opposite shore seemed a great distance away.
Nothing out of the way had happened all this time, though weeks had now passed since the four chums first started on their Southern journey. The moon had waxed and waned, and there was again a young crescent in the western sky when the sun had sunk behind the far distant Missouri shore.