t nobody there but Hank Glutter."

"Well, won't he assist you?"

"Bless your heart, honey, no--he ordered me off when I was there just
now, and said things it wouldn't do for you to hear, no how."

"If you should write him a little billet and ask him, may be he
would," suggested mammy.

The note was speedily dispatched, and ran thus:--

"Will Mr. Glutter do Miss DeWolf the favor to assist the
bearer, in bringing her father home."

"Now, honey, 'tween you and me," said daddy, who soon after returned
in high displeasure, "that Hank Glutter can lie as fast as a hoss can
trot. He turned red clar up to his har, when he read your billet, and
sez he to me, 'go tell Miss DeWolf that I've sprained my right arm,
and can't lift a pound.'"

"The Lord be praised, there's a steamer coming," exclaimed Little
Wolf.

All eyes were instantly turned in the direction of the river, and
several miles away, the smoke bursting from the tall pipes of a
steamboat, and curling towards the clouds, was distinctly visible.

"Now, daddy, you must take that boat and carry a letter to--to Mr.
Sherman, and we'll see if we can't outwit Mr. Glutter."

"O, but, honey, 'tween you and me, them 'taters and things must be got
in. What if we should have a frost to-night, and spile 'em. Hank will
send the Doctor home when it's time to lock up, and it don't make much
difference whether he's here or there."

"Yes, it does, daddy, and I'm bound to have father home, now I've set
out, so you run to the landing, and give the signal."

"Hurry him up, mammy," she whispered to her housekeeper, and
immediately went to her writing desk.

"Laws, how can I leave them are taters, mammy?" he said, appealing to
his better-half.

"Laws, you can git back in time to kiver 'em up; you'll better let
'em spile and keep on the right side of the pet. Likely she's got
something _particular_ she wants to say to Mr. Sherman; girls is up to
sich things. There, now, you'd better leave, that are boat is heaving
in sight."

Chimney Rock was one of those insignificant points, on the Upper
Mississippi, where steamers seldom had occasion to land, and it became
necessary to hoist a signal, when any of the inhabitants wished to
take passage on a boat from that place.

Daddy vigorously waved his red flag to and fro, and the result was, in
ten minutes, he had embarked on board the steamer "Golden Era," with
Little Wolf's communication stowed safely away in his pocket.