egan gliding slowly up stream. With the aid of
the long paddles, he easily worked the craft so far out in the stream
that there was no danger of running into any of the overhanging limbs
and vegetation.

Jethro did not make the mistake of paddling the flatboat into the middle
of the current, which was so much stronger there as to impede, if not to
check, its progress altogether. And, as before stated, there could be no
saying how much longer this favorable wind would continue.

The dusky youth overflowed with complacency when he sat down at the prow
and noticed the satisfactory trend of events.

He was within a dozen yards or so of the wooded bank, sometimes
approaching still closer, in accordance with the configuration of the
land. His desire to keep advancing, while the chance was his, led him to
venture further in, in order to take advantage of the sluggish current.
Once or twice he felt a projecting root graze the bottom, and again the
craft came almost to a standstill from partially grounding in a shallow
portion. Its momentum, however, carried it over into deeper water, when
its speed instantly increased.

Seeing nothing for him to do, Jethro seated himself at the bow, with his
rifle resting in the boat near him, and his feet hanging over the water.

"Mr. Kenton and Boone and Altman and Ashbridge and all de rest ob de
folks couldn't hab tought ob dis if dey had put their minds altogeder
onto it. It was Jethro Juggens dat trotted out de idee. Some folks tinks
he ain't much more dan a fool, and mebbe he ain't, but he knows a ting
or two, and when dey cotch sight--"

At that instant the flatboat struck a shallow portion with such
suddenness that it instantly stopped, and the youth, unprepared for the
shock, sprawled overboard with a loud splash.

Nothing more serious than a shock and wetting resulted, and when he
clambered to his feet the water did not reach to his knees. Grasping the
prow with his huge hand, and applying his prodigious strength, he easily
forced the front of the boat into deeper water and swung himself over
the gunwale.

"Dat sort of bus'ness am inconwenieut, and it musn't happen agin."

Several sweeps of the two oars, he grasped one in either hand, worked
the craft sufficiently far from land to prevent any repetition of his
mishap. Then, caring naught for his moistened clothing, he sat down at
the prow again.

The boat was moving steadily up stream, with more speed, indeed, than it
had