Manton insisted on the raftmates turning in for a nap, while he and
Solon kept watch. He remained on board the _Venture_ all that day, and
by sunset the current had borne the raft forward so rapidly that they
were able to tie up near Columbus, Kentucky. At this point the owner
of Moss Bank bade his new-made friends _au revoir_, and started by rail
for his Louisiana home.
After his departure, and during the month of drifting that followed,
the raftmates talked so much of Moss Bank, and listened to so many
stories concerning it from Solon, that to their minds it grew to be the
objective point of their trip, and seemed as though it must be the one
place towards which their whole voyage was tending. Much as they
anticipated the reaching of this far-southern plantation, however, they
would have been greatly surprised and decidedly incredulous had any one
told them that it was indeed to mark the limit of their voyage, and
that there the good raft _Venture_, from Wisconsin for New Orleans, was
destined to vanish, and become but a fading memory. But so it was, as
they found out, and as we shall see.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BIM'S 'COON.
Through the last week of November and the first three of December our
raftmates drifted steadily southward down the great river. Although it
was the most unpleasant season of the year, and they encountered both
cold rains and bitter winds that chilled them to the marrow, the boys
thoroughly enjoyed their experience.
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