stol.

At first he saw--nothing. He must be turned around. No; the view of
the opposite direction was equally blank. Then, for an instant, he
caught a glimpse of shadowy tree-tops just dissolving into formless
mist. The blessed fog had folded its protecting arms about him, and he
was safe.

Hurrah! he was once more in undisputed possession of the raft, and once
more floating on it down the great river.

Wildly happy, the exhausted boy flung himself down on the wet planks,
and yielded to pleasant reflections. It was only twenty miles to St.
Louis. The current was carrying him at the rate of five miles an hour,
so that he ought to reach the city soon after noon. There he would
hail some steamboat or tug, and get it to tow his raft to a safe
mooring-place. Then he would telegraph to both his father and his
Uncle Billy. After that he would engage some stout man to help guard
the raft until his friends arrived. Or perhaps he would buy a revolver
and guard it himself, and when his father and Uncle Billy came along,
he would challenge them before allowing them to step on board. Yes,
that would be the scheme, and the boy became very proud of himself as
he thought of the praises in store for him.

At length Winn rose from his moist resting-place, and began to examine
his surroundings. How strange the raft did look, to be sure. He
wouldn't have believed its appearance could have been so altered, and
now wondered that he had ever recognized it. In fact, the only feature
that seemed at all familiar, as he studied it, was the forward gable
end of the "shanty." But somehow the building itself appeared much
longer than when he last saw it. Still, there was that interior. He
had seen the partition, with its door leading into his own little room,
and he never heard of a raft "shanty" with a partition in it until this
one was built. He must have another look at that interior.

The locked door baffled him. It was of such solid construction, and
its lock was so well made, that it resisted all his efforts to force
it. The windows were provided with heavy wooden shutters that were
fastened on the inside. For an hour Winn busied himself with vain
efforts to effect an entrance. At the end of that time he was
discouraged. He was also uneasy. He had heard steamboats pass him,
but could see nothing of them on account of the fog. The last one
passed very close. The next might run him down. How he wished the
raft we