o
the point of one any second."

"Mercy! Do you think we are coming on a sleeping sawyer now?" asked
Evaleen.

The captain hoped not, and directed attention to another phenomenon
not of a nature to induce feelings of security.

"What do you see away down the river?"

"Do you mean that low island?"

"Yes, an island and not an island. Wait until we drift nearer. You
will see river moss and rank water plants growing over the surface,
but it is not part of the firm land; it is a wooden island."

"How? A wooden island?"

"Just so. We shall see many such. Logs and all kinds of drift lodge
against the upper part of a stable island or peninsula, and the
accumulated mass grows into a great raft matted together by roots and
vines. The whole thing, driven by winds or currents, sometimes swings
free from its anchorage and drifts away. Then it is called a floating,
or wandering island."

Lucrece, who had been sweeping the circle of the horizon with the
seaman's glass, caught far to the northward, the glimpse of a sail.

"I see away up the river what looks like a leetle black house, with a
white thing on the roof."

"That boat," said Winslow, "is miles and miles behind us; it is above
the second bend. Let me look.--She carries a square sail, amidships,
as we do, but she is not a barge. Stop, I know what she is--there's a
flag at the top of the mast--she must be a government transport,
coming with troops for Fort Adams or the Natchitoches country."

Lucrece caught a quick breath and asked eagerly:

"Troops from St. Louis, think you?"

"Most likely, miss."

Evaleen's interest was also excited, but she kept silent, and soon
slipped away alone into her cabin. The French maiden remained on deck
a long time, watching the transport, whenever she could bring it
within the field of vision.

"The soldiers, will they perhaps overtake us?" she inquired, turning
her brilliant big eyes to Winslow.

"Like enough; but you needn't be afraid of the reg'lars; they won't
molest us."

"I haf no fear; I haf curiositee."

At last Lucrece returned the glass to the captain, thanked him, and
slowly sought her companion, keeping a small, brown hand just over her
heart to make sure that a precious letter which she carried there was
still safe and in its right place.

Lucrece and Evaleen had readily fallen into sympathetic relations.
Days of chattering on deck, and nights of prattle before falling
asleep on the same couch, left few gir