spended over the boiler deck. The firemen, just
roused from their dream of comfort, no more passed round the coarse
jest, no more whistled "Boatman, dance," but, like automata, threw the
fuel into the roaring furnaces. Occasionally, the startling note of the
great bell roused the deck-watch from his slumber, and he sang over
again the monotonous song that told the pilot how far his keel was from
the sands below. Again the bell pealed a heavy stroke, which indicated
that the steamer was in free water, and the leadsman settled himself for
another nap.

The passengers, save those whom we have before noted, were deep in the
arms of Morpheus, rejoicing, no doubt, in their dreams, over the many
tedious hours they thus annihilated.

Wakeful and watchful, Henry Carroll still kept his post. Ever present to
his mind was the fair being over whose safety his vigil was kept. Her
image, clothed in all the gorgeous fancies which the love-sick brain
conjures up, spoke in silver tones to his heart, and the melody of her
voice thrilled his soul. Descending from the dignity of the man, he
built childish air-castles, wherein he throned his idol, and in a few
fleeting moments squandered years of happiness by her side. The perils
of the past, the sternness of the present, the responsibilities of the
future, all faded away, and from their ashes rose the bright empress of
his soul.

This, we know, was all very foolish of him; but then it must be
remembered he was in love, and men in love can scarcely be called
accountable beings.

Thus he dreamed, and thus he trod the fairy ground of imagination, nor
heeded the creaking timbers and the increasing rapidity of the puffs
from the escape-pipe. To a man not intoxicated by the dream of young
love these facts would have indicated a great increase in the speed of
the boat; but he noticed them not.

By the motions of the Chalmetta it was plain that, though incapable of
accomplishing any wonderful feat in the attainment of speed, she had a
considerable amount of that commodity somewhat vulgarly termed "spunk."
As she passed the mouth of the Yazoo river, another steamer, apparently
of her own calibre, rounded gracefully into the channel, from a
wood-yard. This boat--the Flatfoot, No. 3--seemed, by her straining and
puffing, to throw the gauntlet to the Chalmetta; a challenge, real or
imaginary, which the latter made haste to accept,--or, rather, her
sleepy firemen did, for, without leave or license