He glared triumphantly at Nick, whose mouth opened in sheer amazement upon hearing the audacious proposition.

"If he don"t take the cake for trying to do the queerest things, now!"

the fat boy exclaimed. "Why, it"s just silly to think of him capturing a manatee, and harnessing it, like they say Father Neptune does the dolphins. And Jack, looky here, a manatee can"t be a fish at all, any more than an alligator is."

"Tell me why?" demanded Jimmy, pugnaciously. "Sure, it"s amphibious it do be, and lives under the water all the toime. I think I"ve got ye there, Nick, me bhoy."

"But listen," Nick continued, with conviction in his manner, "haven"t you heard it called a sea cow; and can a cow be a fish, Jack?" with which he turned triumphantly toward the laughing umpire.

"Now, what"s the matter with a cow-whale?" asked Jimmy; "and yet deny that a whale is a fish if ye dare?"

"Jack, settle that, won"t you, before he goes and brings in every old varmint to be found in this region?" pleaded Nick.

But Jack was too wise. He did not want to shut out the possibility of their having the time of their lives, should the energetic and ambitious Jimmy attempt to carry his plans into effect.

"No, I"m not going to bother my head over things that may never happen,"

he declared; and with that Jimmy paddled away in the little d.i.n.ky, grinning broadly at the uneasy Nick.

"n.o.body just knows what that fellow _will_ do next," muttered the fat boy, as he followed his retreating rival with his eyes.

Meanwhile Jack was taking a look around with his gla.s.ses.

"Somehow I don"t altogether like this place after we"ve anch.o.r.ed," he remarked.

"And why?" inquired Herb.

"For one thing," Jack continued, "it"s more exposed than would be pleasant, if one of those Northers we"ve been hearing so much about should spring up in the night. And I"ve been watching those ibis and cranes flying over for some time now. They all head in one quarter, and from that I reckon there"s a bird roost over yonder."

Herb p.r.i.c.ked up his ears, for he had long since expressed a desire to look in on a real roosting place, where all kinds of birds came together each night.

"I tell you, Jack," he remarked, eagerly, "let"s change our anchorage, and head that way. It can"t be more than a mile or so further in, d"ye think?"

"Not more than that," was the reply.

"But we don"t want to get lost among these blooming islands!" said George.

"We could make some sort of mark as we go, to leave a trail, and it would be easy to come out the same way," was Jack"s sensible suggestion.

"But how about Jimmy; if he came back here, and found us gone, there would be a howl, believe me?" Nick observed.

"It happens by good luck that he"s headed in just the right direction, so I could pick him up on the way," Jack declared.

"And that would wind up his fishing for today, wouldn"t it?" asked Nick.

"It surely would," was the reply of the _Tramp"s_ skipper; whereupon the fat boy heaved an audible sigh of gratification.

"Then I vote in favor of doing what Jack says, and having a peep in at the bird colony tonight, if we can," he remarked.

"We might as well, I suppose," Josh put in, being somewhat curious himself with regard to what such a roost looked like.

"I say this," continued Jack, who thought his sudden desire to change their anchorage needed further explanation, "because I understand that these roosts, once so plentiful in Southern Florida, are hard to find nowadays; and we might not have another chance to see the sight."

"What happens to make "em scarce?" asked Josh.

"Oh, well! the main thing has been that plume hunters have found them out, and murdered the birds by the thousands. It"s worse when they hunt out the nesting places of the herons, and kill the mother birds, just to get the aigrette, which, it happens, is always at its best about the time the birds have young."

"Say, I"ve read a lot about that," mentioned George; "and they tell us that it"s the most dreadful thing to visit one of those nesting places in the swamp after the plume hunters have been at their b.l.o.o.d.y work.

Thousands of young birds are starving in the nests, and the sounds they put up just haunt a fellow forever."

"None of that in mine," declared tender-hearted Nick, firmly.

"I guess we all say the same," Jack added; "but when our intention is only to see what such a place looks like, n.o.body can blame us for going."

"I should hope not," said George. "But do we get up our mudhooks right now, Jack, and mosey out of this nook?"

"That"s the programme, and here goes for my anchor. Whew! it"s stuck fast in the mud, all right. Give me a lift, Josh, after you and Herb have pulled yours up on deck," and inside of five minutes all of them had washed the mud from the forked anchors, which were then placed conveniently on the forward deck, where they could be dropped overboard with a push.

Then the boats moved off.

This time it was the steady going old _Comfort_ that took the lead--Jack being in no particular hurry and George, as usual, being compelled to tamper with his eccentric motor, before he could get it to going right.

Of course Herb meant to fall back presently, and let the _Tramp_ take the lead; but it was really so seldom that he had a chance to leave the others in the lurch that he and Josh seemed to enjoy running away.

Jack, of course, was on the lookout for the first sign of his teammate.

Jimmy was discovered rowing frantically around one end of the big island, as though, upon hearing the popping of exhausts, he had been seized with a sudden fear lest he was in danger of being abandoned there in that terrible region, with not a foot of high land within many miles.

"Hi! howld on there, Jack darlint!" he called out, stopping to wave a hand toward the advancing _Tramp_.

When alongside he of course demanded to know what it all meant; and upon learning that they were about to go a mile or so further in, Jimmy shook his head in a discouraged manner, saying:

"Arrah! now, as if I couldn"t say through a stone that has a hole in the same. I do be belaving that it"s all the fault of that same sly one, Nick. He"s that fearful of me accomplishin" me threat, and securin" a whopper of a fish, that he invents all sorts of rasons for being on the jump. But I"ll get the better of him yet, say if I don"t, Jack, me bhoy!"

He climbed aboard, still grumbling, as though unable to convince himself that this was not all some smart scheme, engineered by his rival, in order to keep him from securing a prize catch.

Herb was still far ahead, and skirting some of the many islands. When he reached a certain point he had marked out for himself, he intended to lie to, and wait for the coming of Jack. George had started on at a fast gait, and doubtless was determined to head off the clumsy _Comfort_, which fact may have urged Herb to do his best and cut corners sharply.

All of which led up to a sequel.

Jack suddenly missed the loud noise that usually accompanied the progress of the broad-beamed boat. As he looked up he discovered that George was heading straight for the _Comfort_, which hung near the point of an island; also that both Herb and Josh were jumping wildly about, as though greatly excited.

"What do be the matter with the gossoons?" asked Jimmy.

"I don"t know for certain," replied Jack; "but I"ve got my suspicions.

Herb was running in a careless way and just as like as not he managed to snag his boat. If that"s what happened, we"re in for a peck of trouble; for there"s no boat builder within many miles of this place, and we"d be lucky to find even a piece of sh.o.r.e to pull her up on."

CHAPTER XV.

THE BIRD ROOST.