"It's a pow'ful big river an' a new one, but me an' this
river are already jest like brothers. It ought all to belong to us people
o' Kentucky. When we git to be a great big settled country, hev we got to
float everything down it, right in among the Spaniards or the French, an'
they able to stop us ef they want to? 'Pears to me thar oughtn't to be
anything but a string o' free countries all along the length o' this big
river."
"I think that is what is likely to happen," said Paul looking into the
future, as he did so often. "We'll always be pressing down, and we can't
help it."
"Anyhow," resumed Shif'less Sol, "I'm glad that we've left that thar place
o' Booly, or Bee-yu-ly, or whatever they call it. Funny these furrin'
people can't pronounce names like they spell. Now we Americans, an' the
English, who use our language, call words jest ez they are, but you never
know what a Frenchman or a Spaniard is goin' to make out o' 'em."
They made good progress throughout the day, and saw no sign of the
flotilla of Alvarez which they had feared might overtake them. They were
agreed that it would be wise for them to reach New Orleans first, and
hence they went boldly forward into the country that they regarded as that
of the enemy, confident of their fortune.
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