re safely tied to some bank or levee. It was awful to be thus
blindly drifting, right in the track of steamboats. The fog hung so
low over the water that their pilots were lifted well above it, and
could see the landmarks by which they were guided. They could also see
other steamboats; but such things as scows and rafts had no business to
be moving at such a time. They were supposed to be snugly tied up, and
consequently no pilot would be on the lookout for them. Winn knew this
as well as any one, and the knowledge did not tend to reassure him.

If he only had some one with him to help work the heavy sweeps by which
the raft's course might be directed, or even to advise him what to do.
It was dreadful to be alone. What a foolish thing he had done, after
all, in attempting to manage this affair by himself. If he had only
gone back for Billy Brackett. But his boyish pride in his own ability
had again overcome his judgment, and now he must abide by the
consequences.

"I only hope, if I do get run down and killed, they will find out who I
am," thought the poor boy. "It would be horrid to disappear and have
folks say I was a coward, who had run away for fear father would be
angry with me for losing his raft. As if _my_ father would ever do
anything to make me afraid of him! And mother! How badly she would
feel if I should disappear without ever giving her the comfort of
knowing I was dead. There is Elta, too, and the very last time I saw
her I was ugly to her. Oh dear! I wish--well, I wish, for one thing,
that I could get inside that 'shanty,' and out of this miserable
drizzle. I wonder if I can't pick the lock?"

Full of this new idea, Winn obtained a bit of stiff wire from the
handle of a lantern that stood outside the "shanty." This he bent as
well as he could into the rude form of a key, and thus equipped, he
worked patiently at the lock for another hour. At length he threw away
the useless implement in disgust.

"I was never cut out for a burglar, that's certain!" he exclaimed.
"There's one thing I can do, though, and I will, too. I can smash down
the door, and get inside that way."

An axe lay beside a pile of wood near the forward end of the raft; and
armed with this, the boy began to rain vigorous blows upon the stout
door. Before these it quickly yielded, and he thus gained the interior.

Once inside, he gazed about him blankly. Nothing looked familiar;
nothing was as he had expected to fi