Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-29
~ Down the Mississippi ~

"An'. after tonight we must begin to find
places, jest off the main river, where we can
tie up" remarked Jethro. There's too much
trade on this ere body of water for us to lay
where any tugboat can slam a lot OF barges
in ON us,
"And if we lay in some cutoff or bayou,
we shall stand a chance of finding game, said
True. =.
you'll find all you want from now out, ="
was Jethro's reply.
And that evening the boys-True and Bent
-oyerhauled, their guns and ammunition
On the following day, Jim watched for GUS
toners while the others kept bright look
out for game; but neither one nor the other
had been seen, when, at noon, the River
Queen was opposite the town of New Madrid,
where the big earthquake OF December 16,
1911 was felt the worst.
Dinner was served, and they were all at the
table, when the River Queen came to sud
den stop, then plunged about for moment
or two, like balky horse, after which she
remained stationary, while the water could be
heard boiling around the stern.
"We've struck something!" exclaimed Jim,
as he started forward.
Its worse than that" said Jethro as he
followed Jim; we've run agroundp'
Il don't see how that can be worse than
striking anything" replied True. If were
there is to il.
Yes admitted Jethro, as he reached the
deck at the bow and stood looking around,
eff you git her off that's all there is to it,;
but you must remember that here is a FIVE
mile current driyin' us on all the time, an
that when you're pushin' her off you've got to
psuh ag'in the current we'll"
The River Queen had run on to the shoal
place above a small island, such will be
found above every island on the Mississippi,
and which are known as 'tow-heads."
She had gone on bow first, and the current
l.2r rsr.IJn 1acko 80 Bic.
shoal, at the same time it was heaping the
sand up behind her as if to render the work
of floating her more difficult.
"Wa'al," remarked Jethro, half to him
self, "she looks as if she had gone on here
to ..fsy stay ,,.. - ao.,o ,u. oa ;s
we only go to work right" said True, i'm
patiently.
"The right way was to have kept watch
SOS to prevent her from swingin' in here. My
experience has been, an I've been ON this
river a good many years, that eight out of
every ten boats that run on to tow-heads like
we've run on to this one, stays there till the
next high water. However, we may as well
set up the spars an see what we can do at
yankin' her of.
Jim acted on the hint at once. The two
spars were taken out in the skiff to the oppo-
site bank On the inside of the island-there
was not length of hawser sufficient to have
allowed the attempt to be made ON the out
| side-and worked firmly into the sand
| To these spars were fastened one end of
the hawser, and then all hands, standing on
the stern of the fatboat, did their best to pdll
her around.
1t was of no use; they would have made
about as much impression on the island if
they had attempted to pull it around and,
after they had worked thus fruitlessly for a
quarter Of an hour, Jethro said, as he ceased
| his efforts:
"Its no use; we can't git her off"
"Do you mean that there 3 no chance of
our going any further?" asked Bent, who
could hardly realize that the voyage was.end-
ed thus abruptly.
'1 mean that it amt very likely you can
go any further in this boat till after high
water comes"
Jim looked around him in despair. If this
was SO, his dream of prosperity had been
ended very suddenly.
! TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SUNDAY