They were approaching the settled parts of Louisiana.

It is true, it was only the thinnest fringe of white people extending along either shore of the river a short distance above New Orleans, but they were coming to a region in which they would be noticed, and they might have to explain their presence before they wished to do so.
Nor had they found any opportunity to capture Braxton Wyatt and his maps and plans.

Nevertheless, they hung so closely on the trail of Alvarez that every night and morning they could see the smoke of his camp fire.
They stopped one evening in a cove of the river, sheltered by great mournful cypresses, and Henry and Shif'less Sol went out again to scrutinize the Spanish camp.

They returned before midnight with unusual news.

Alvarez with his whole force had turned from the Mississippi and had gone up a bayou about four miles.