d end of her lower deck free from flame. Here, as she
rushed past, the boys caught a glimpse of the only sign of life they
could discover aboard the ill-fated packet. It was a dog leaping from
side to side, and barking furiously.

They had hardly noted his presence when a curious thing happened.
There came an explosion of steam, a crash, and the starboard wheel
dropped from its shaft. Thus crippled, the blazing craft made a grand
sweep of half a circle in front of the raft. Then, as the other wheel
also became disabled and ceased its mad churnings, the boat lay with
her head up-stream, drifting helplessly with the current. The packet
was not more than a couple of hundred feet from the raft when its wild
progress was thus checked, and now the barkings of the dog, that had
already attracted the boy's attention, were heard more plainly than
before.

All at once Billy Brackett, who had regained the wave-washed deck of
the raft, called out, "It's Bim! I know his voice!"

With this he again sprang into the skiff, with the evident intention of
attempting to rescue his four-footed comrade. Winn Caspar was just in
time to scramble in over the stern as the skiff shot away. "I may be
of some help," he said.

As they neared the burning boat, they saw that the dog was indeed Bim.
He answered their calls with frantic barks of joy, but refused to leap
into the skiff or into the water, as they urged him to.

He would run back out of their sight instead, and then reappear,
barking frantically all the while. Once he seemed to be dragging
something, and trying to hold it up for their inspection.

"The dear old dog has some good reason for acting in that way," said
Billy Brackett, "and I must go to him."

Winn had not the heart to remonstrate against an attempt to aid Bim,
even though its extreme danger was obvious. The blazing hull, from
which most of the upper works were now burned away, was liable to
plunge to the bottom at any moment, and the boy shuddered at the
thought of being engulfed in the seething whirlpool which would thus be
created. He involuntarily cringed, too, at the thought of the red-hot
boilers ready to burst and deluge all surrounding objects with scalding
steam and hissing water. Still, he would not have spoken a single word
to deter Billy Brackett from his daring project even had he known it
would be heeded.

While these thoughts flashed through Winn's mind, his companion was
clambering up over