e boarded the _Whatnot_ merely to
gratify the curiosity excited by her strange appearance. As it was, he
felt that he had no time to spare, and so hastened on.

It was quite dark as he approached the lights marking the town he was
seeking; but as he drew near he discovered what appeared like a part of
the levee slowly moving out from shore. Above it rose dimly a white
object that he had taken for a house, and still above this shown a
lantern. In a moment he saw that it was a raft resuming its voyage
down the river, and he determined to make an inquiry from its crew
before landing.

Pulling his skiff alongside, the young man sprang aboard. As he did so
he noticed that the white object was a tent, and that there was a
single "shanty" amidship. It was the very raft that had been described
to him as being the only one to pass down the river the day before.
These details so occupied his attention that he did not notice a skiff
made fast to the side of the raft just forward of where he tied his
own. Not seeing it, he did not, of course, ask any questions
concerning it. If he had, he might have learned that the raftsmen had
just picked it up, floating, empty and ownerless, down the river.
There had been no oars in it, but they had rowed it to the raft with an
extra pair from their own skiff. In their preparations for departure
they had not yet found time to examine it, and knew nothing of its
contents.

As Billy Brackett walked towards the "shanty," there was a sudden
commotion at its entrance. A gruff voice exclaimed,

"Get out of here, you cur!"

This command was evidently accompanied by a savage kick, which was
immediately followed by a yell and a heavy fall as Bim's white teeth
sank deep in the calf of one of Mr. Plater's legs.

The dog, tired of his long confinement in the skiff, had eagerly leaped
aboard the raft, and with friendly inquisitiveness had poked his nose
into the open doorway of the "shanty" just as Plater was emerging from
it.

Bim's master realized in a moment what had happened, and sprang to the
scene just as two other figures came running in the same direction from
the forward end of the raft.

Mr. Plater, though on his back, had nearly succeeded in drawing a
pistol from his hip pocket. In a few seconds more poor Bim's earthly
career would have been ended, but his owner's movements were quick
enough to save him, and before the pistol could be drawn, Billy
Brackett had seized the dog's