e young engineer, almost angrily; "and I
only hope I can manage to drop him on top of one of your heads."

With this he started up the tree, and disappeared among its thick
brandies. He quickly made his way to the top. Then the rustling of
leaves ceased, there was a moment of silence, followed by a muttered
exclamation, and Billy Brackett came hastily down to where the others
were expectantly awaiting him.

"Let's go home, boys," he said, as he picked up his axe and started in
the direction of the river. "Come, Bim; your reputation as a 'coon dog
is so well established that there is no need to test it any further."

Poor Solon, who was too old and stiff to climb the tree, was completely
mystified by these strange proceedings; but his expostulation of,

"Wha--wha's de meanin' ob dish yer--!" was cut short by the departure
of his companions, and he was obliged to hasten after them.

A few minutes after the 'coon hunters had gone a big boy, and a little
girl with a tear-stained face, who had come from a house just beyond
the corn-field, reached the spot, to which they had been attracted by
the firelight. As they did so, the child uttered a cry of joy, sprang
to the water-oak, and caught up a frightened-looking little black and
white kitten that was cautiously descending the big trunk backward.

To this day the outcome of that 'coon hunt remains a sealed mystery to
poor Solon, while Bim has never been invited to go on another.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE GREAT RIVER AND ITS MISCHIEF.

The scenery amid which the good raft _Venture_ performed its long and
eventful voyage changed almost with the rapidity of a kaleidoscope, but
was ever fascinating and full of pleasant surprises. The flaming
autumnal foliage of the forest-lined banks through which the first
hundred miles or so were made, gave way to masses of sombre browns or
rich purples, and these in turn to the flecked white of cotton-fields,
the dark green of live-oaks, and the silver gray of Spanish moss. The
picturesque cliffs of the upper river, rising in places to almost
mountainous heights, were merged into the lowlands of canebrakes and
swamps, broken by ranges of bluffs along the eastern bank after the
Ohio was passed. On these bluffs were perched many cities and towns
that were full of interest to our raftmates; among them, Memphis,
Vicksburg, Natchez, and Baton Rouge. Every here and there in the low
bottom lands of the "Delta" below Memphis they s