n
be used very far up on the Platte, and sometimes even bullboats can't go
up."

"How was it that the fur company's boat was tied at the levee at St.
Louis, after we left?" asked Tom. "Rather late for her, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," answered the captain. "The great event on this river has
always been the annual upstream fur packet. She is coming along
somewhere behind us, and very likely will pass us before we reach the
mouth of the Kaw. They take bigger chances with the river than we do
because they've got to get up to Fort Union and away again while
there's water enough." He looked at Patience. "Are you going far, Miss
Cooper?" he asked, anxious to get the conversation into channels more to
his liking.

"Santa Fe, captain," she answered as placidly as though it were a
shopping trip from her home to the downtown stores of St. Louis.

"Well, well!" he exclaimed, as if he had not known it. "That will be
quite an undertaking!"

Tom Boyd was staring at her aghast, doubting his ears. The slowly
changing expression on his face caught her attention and she smiled at
him.

"You look as if you had seen a ghost, Mr. Boyd," she laughed.

"I'm going to do my very best not to see one, Miss Cooper; or let anyone
else see one," he answered mysteriously. "I am glad that I, too, am
bound for Santa Fe. It is a great surprise and pleasure to learn that
you are going over the same trail."

"Why, didn't you say that you were going over the Oregon Trail this
year?" she quickly asked. "At least, I understood you that way."

"I often let my enthusiasm run away with me," he answered. "Much as I
would like to go out to Oregon I will have to wait until my affairs will
permit me to follow my inclination. You see, I've made two trips to
Santa Fe, it has got into my blood, and there are reasons why I must go
over that trail again. And then, knowing the trail so well, it is
possible that I can make very good arrangements this year. But isn't it
a most remarkable coincidence?"

"Very," drily answered the captain. "By the way, Mr. Boyd: you and Mr.
Cooper seem to be quite friendly, and neither of you waste much time in
the company of your present roommates. Seeing that you are both bunked
with strangers, how would it suit you if I put you together in the same
room? Good: then I'll speak to Mr. Cooper, and if it's agreeable to him
I'll have the change made. Sorry to tear myself away from you two, but I
must be leaving now." He bowed and ste