n you leave your boat, if you don't want it knocked into
kindling wood by a steamer."

"Tie a knot! Smash the boat! Why--why--you're all wet!" exclaimed the
other.

"Shouldn't wonder," observed the boy calmly. "The Chicago River isn't
exactly dry at this time of the year."

He finished tying the boat, making a regular sailor's knot, and then
started up the gangplank. Clearly he might expect no reward from this
man.

"Hold on a minute," said the owner of the boat.

"I'm in a hurry," replied Nat, "I want to get my clothes. They're up
on the pier, and somebody might take a notion to walk off with 'em.
Not that they're worth an awful lot, but they're all I have. Guess
you'll have to excuse me."

"Going for your clothes? I don't exactly understand."

"He jumped off the dock and got your boat, which went adrift right in
the course of that steamer," explained a 'longshoreman who had
listened to the conversation and who had seen what Nat did. "Plucky
thing it was, too. If it hadn't been for him you wouldn't have any
boat now."

"Is that so? I didn't understand. I thought he was trying to steal my
boat."

"Steal your boat? Say, you don't belong around here, do you?"

"No. My father is the owner of a small steam yacht, and I am taking a
trip with him. This is the first time I was ever in Chicago. The yacht
is tied out there, beyond some other vessels, and I took this boat and
came ashore a while ago to see the sights. When I came back I saw that
boy in my boat."

"Humph!" murmured the 'longshoreman as he turned away. "You want to
take a few lessons in tying ropes. That boy did you a good service."

"I see he did, and I'm sorry I spoke the way I did. I'll give him a
reward."

By this time Nat was up on the pier from which he had jumped. He found
his clothes, and put them on over his wet undergarments. The day was
hot, and he knew the latter would soon dry.

Besides, he was used to being wet half the time, as he and other lads
of his acquaintance frequently dived off the stringpiece and swam
around in the lake. So when the owner of the rescued rowboat looked
for the boy he could not see him. But he determined to make up for his
unintentional rudeness, and so went after Nat.

He found the boy with a number of others crowded about the entrance to
the freight office.

"May I speak to you a few moments?" asked the young man.

"Guess you'll have to excuse me," replied Nat. "I'm busy."

"What doing?"

"I'm wait