on the wharf. "If they're going up past the bend to-day,
they'll have to get a move," he remarked. "Here, Bobby, want to blow the
whistle?"

He lifted the boy up in the hollow of one arm. "There, that's it; that
handle. Pull down on it, and let go."

Bobby did so and his little heart almost stopped at the shock of the
blast, so loud was it, and so near.

"Now again," commanded Captain Marsh.

Bobby recovered and obeyed. The passengers began to embark.

Captain Marsh watched until the last was safely aboard; then he set
Bobby gently to the floor.

"If you want to see out, go sit on the bunk back there," he advised.

Somebody cast off the lines. Captain Marsh pulled the other handle. A
sharp tinkling bell struck somewhere far in the depths of the craft.
Immediately Bobby felt beneath him the upheaval and trembling of some
mighty force. The wharf seemed to slip back. In another moment at a
second tinkle of the bell the tug had gathered headway, and the little
boy was watching with delight the sandhills and buildings on one side
and the other slipping by in regular succession.

Captain Marsh stood easily staring directly ahead of him, and paying no
more attention to the child. Bobby sat very straight in his absorption.
New impressions were coming to him so fast that he had no desire to
move. The slow turn of the great wheel; the throb of the engine; the
swift passing of water; the orderly procession of the river banks; the
feeling of smooth, resistless motion--these sufficed. How long he might
have sat there if undisturbed, it would be hard to say; but at the end
of a few moments Angus McMullen looked in at the door.

"What you stayin' here for, Bobby?" he inquired with contemptuous
wonder. "Come on out and see the big waves we're making."

Outside Bobby found all the grown-ups gathered forward of the pilot
house. The older people were seated on folding camp chairs, the
equilibrium of which they found some difficulty in maintaining on the
sloping deck. Bradford, Carlin, Welton and Miss Proctor, however, had
established themselves in the extreme bow. Miss Proctor perched on the
bitts, while the men stood or leaned near at hand. Occasionally, as the
tug changed course, Miss Proctor would utter a little exclamation and
thrust her arms out aimlessly, as though uncertain. All three of the men
thereupon assured her balance for her. With the group Bobby saw the
little girl with light hair.

"Not up there," advised An