About noon
Nothing escaped their eagle eyes on the shore , and from time to time one would draw the attention of the other to some point of especial interest . Now it might be the peculiar formation of a point of land , some trees , a swamp with hanging Spanish moss , which , however , was nothing to what they would see further south -- or anon perhaps it was some negro cabin on an elevation , with the pickaninnies playing by the door , and the strapping woman of the household leaning against the post , always smoking her clay pipe . Maurice , with the hunter instinct , watched the flight of an osprey that was circling the river brink with an eye to dinner ; and later on observed an eagle drop down into a fluttering flock of ducks , from which he evidently took his usual toll , as presently he flew heavily away , with some dark object dangling below . About noon they had a little lunch , Thad making a pot of coffee , and otherwise the meal was called in local parlance a `` snack , '' which would seem to mean a pickup affair that could be eaten standing if necessary . They wished to get this duty out of the way , for by the signs it was believed that they must be approaching Cairo , and as the junction of the two rivers is a turbulent place , with considerable craft moving about , the boys considered it wise to have their full attention fixed upon their movements . After all , it was a mere nothing -- they simply turned a point and found themselves upon a much wider stretch of water -- and this was the famous Mississippi ! Now they were really heading south , and no matter how much colder the weather grew , it could not freeze them in and stop their flight to the desired port .