Morning dawned upon the Magdalena.  Frank was on duty at the time and drank in the lovely picture.  Birds flew overhead, cranes arose from along the shallows in near the shore, where they had been fishing for their breakfast, and there were many strange feathered creatures to be seen, such as the boy had never up to now set eyes upon.

Some of the crew were trailing fish lines astern and every now and then a prize would be hauled aboard, which later on might afford a meal for passengers and workers.

Andy soon made his appearance, the rising sun having sent a few slant rays into his sleeping quarters and aroused him by falling on his face.

“This is something like, eh, Frank?” he remarked, as he drew in a big breath of the bracing morning air.

“I should remark, yes,” was the other’s reply.

“We’ve apparently left all our dangers behind,” Andy ventured.  “That is, I mean there’s little likelihood of our being robbed of our precious machine now, with both government officials and envious revolutionists left in the lurch.”

“I was just asking Felipe and he says we shall have another day and night of bucking up against this nasty current.  You see, Andy, it’s on an unusually big bender right now, which makes it doubly hard to fight it.”

“Oh, well, what can’t be cured must be endured, I guess.  So I’ll try to take it as easy as I may and be thankful it’s no worse,” Andy replied.

The morning passed without any event worth mentioning.  And all the while they kept steadily at the business of eating up some of the two hundred miles that Felipe assured them lay between Magangue and the city at the mouth of the big river.

Another thing was worrying Andy, however.  He finally broached the subject to his comrade knowing that in this way he would get relief.

“That blessed old engine has been doing bully for a long time now, Frank, but judging from past experiences, she’s due for another sulky fit soon.  Whatever would we do if she let down all of a sudden, while we were right in the worst kind of a swift current?  My! we’d be carried miles downstream before we could do anything.”

“Oh, no we wouldn’t!” remarked the other, smiling.

“Then you’ve been thinking it all over and made ready to offset a balk, I bet anything,” declared Andy, with vehemence.

“Do you see that anchor forward?” asked Frank, pointing from where they stood on the raised deck aft.  “Well, that’s got a good long stout chain attached and is placed where a kick will send it over.  Notice old Quita squatting close by?  Think he’s taking a snooze, he seems so quiet?  But all the time the old chap’s on the alert, and he has his orders, too.”

“To upset the anchor over the bow, you mean?” asked Andy.

“Just that,” came Frank’s reply.  “If anything happens to the machinery you’ll hear a series of quick whistles from Felipe.  The boat won’t even have a chance to lose headway before over plumps the big mudhook, and we’ll just take a rest out in the river until repairs can be made again by Engineer McClintock and his assistants.”