ped under its strain, and the water began to come in
fast.

"Bail 'er out!" shouted the pilot. The thunder broke over their heads,
and far away to the left they could see rain and the water white with
foam, but they were nearing the beach at the foot of the street. A
crowd was watching them with motionless intensity.

They were now in the midst of a fleet of anchored boats. The blast
struck the sail, tearing it loose and filling the boat with water, but
Rance held to his rudder, and threading her way among the boats, the
little craft ran half her length upon the sand.

As Rance leaped ashore, he staggered with weakness. Both took shelter
in a near-by boathouse. The boat-keeper jeered at them: "Don't you know
any more'n to go out in such a _tub_ as that on a day like this? I
expected every minute to see you go over."

"We didn't," said Rance. "I guess we made pretty good time."

"Time! you'd better say time! If you'd been five minutes later, you'd
had _time_ enough."

It was a foolhardy thing--Rance could see it now as he looked out on
the mad water, and at the little flat, awkward boat on the sand.

An hour later, as they walked up the wood, they met the other boys
half-way on the road, badly scared.

"By golly! We thought you were goners," said Milton. "Why, we couldn't
see the boat after you got out a little ways. Looked like you were both
sittin' in the water."

They found the camp badly demoralized. Their blankets were wet and the
tent blown out of plumb, but they set to work clearing things up. The
rain passed and the sun came out again, and when they sat down to their
supper, the storm was far away.

It was glorious business to these prairie boys. Released from work in
the hot cornfields, in camp on a lovely lake, with nothing to do but
swim or doze when they pleased, they had the delicious feeling of being
travelers in a strange country--explorers of desert wilds, hunters and
fishers in the wildernesses of the mysterious West.

To Lincoln it was all so beautiful that it almost made him sad. When he
should have enjoyed every moment, he was saying to himself, "Day after
to-morrow we must start for home"--the happy days passed all too
swiftly.

Occasionally Milton said: "I wish I had one o' Mother's biscuits this
morning," or some such remark, but some one usually shied a potato at
him. Such remarks were heretical.

They explored the woods to the south, a wild jungle, which it was easy
to imagine qu