ugh,
and not badly formed for speed. Susannah stepped into it without much
hope, scarcely caring what she did, but still provoking the young
boatman to attempt the crossing.

"I shan't give you any money," she said, "but you can row me a bit if
you like till I see how fast you can go. You don't understand the
currents, I am sure."

"Currents!" said the boy, "I guess I understand all there is to know
about them."

Talking thus in light banter, they actually proceeded out onto the bosom
of the milky flood without hearing any cry from the shore or seeing any
one who took note of their departure. The pellucid and comforting light
of the blinded sun grew warmer; the hum of industry in the town behind
rose cheerfully upon the quiet air, and as the calling of the April
bluebird in the fields grew more faint, the splash of the oars and the
whirr of the gray water-fowl began to be accompanied by a low distant
sound as of a watermill.

"It's the excursion steamer," said the boy. "We'll get in her waves and
you'll be scared. Ladies is always scared of waves."

She asked if the steam-boat would stop at the Nauvoo wharf, but he
explained, with the knowledge that boys are apt to have of such details,
that this steamer was coming from Fort Madison, and would keep to the
Missouri side, that he had heard that there were some State officials on
board her, escorting the Governor of Kentucky, who was prospecting for a
Land Company.

They saw the white hulk of the steam-boat looming upon the water to the
north. Her side paddle-wheels churned the flood. A strong purpose took
possession of Susannah; she knew what she was going to do.

She said to the boy, "No one could stop a steamer when she once starts
until she gets to her next port."

"I bet the engineman could stop her just as easy as that." The boy
backed water with his oars suddenly.

"But no one on the river could make him stop and get aboard."

"Yes, they could. My pap stopped one once. We was living down near
Cairo, but not near a wharf."

"How did he do it?" she asked, and her interest was intense.

"Why, you just put up your hands like a trumpet and yell through them as
loud as you can, and you go on waving and hollering. My pap said the
best plan was to call out 'Runaway nigger! Large reward!' They'd be sure
to stop then to know all about it, and when they'd once stopped they
don't mind your clambering up, if you can pay the fare."

Susannah felt herself wholly u