Captain Bayley's Heir:

d, but we are going to have a change at last; and I can tell you when it blows here it's a caution. They have been having a lot of rain up the country, for the river has been risi

at was moored to a great tree

t for days when they come on this time of year, and you will see there will be a sea on that the boat could hardly live in. I wish we had stopped two hours ago; there was a creek where we co

e river was speedily lashed into angry waves; the rain came down in torrents, and although the left-hand bank was but a quarter of a mile distant it

a bigger storm nor ordinary, and I have seen some biggish storms on the Mississippi too. I have had some narrer escapes of it, I can tell you, special in the days before there was nary a tug on t

d man would have a cargo ready for us, and we wanted a run of a day or two on shore at Orleans before we started up again, so we held on. The wind was higher than we reckoned on, and we was just saying we should have done better to tie up, when there was a crash. I thought at first that she would have gone over with the shock, but she didn't-not that it would have made much odds, for there was a snag through her bottom, and the water pouring in

as the oncertainty of the thing. The trees moved and swayed with the waves and current; the flood we knew was rising still, and any moment they might break away from the snag and go whirling al

a close shave. The wind was northerly and bitter cold, and I don't believe as we could have hung on another night more nor that. Next morning, when we turned out from the nigger's hut to have

g trees, snags, or anything of the kind. I always like hearing the wind when I am snug, and I

with foam; the clouds hung so low that they almost touched the top of the trees; the rain was still falling, and the drops almost hurt from the violence with which they were driven by the wind. The river had risen considerably during the night, and the lower end of the island was already submerged; boughs of trees and driftwood

ad?" Hiram, who had risen s

I should not have had an idea that such a sea could have got up on any river. L

ppi, and may be help to choke up some of the shallow channels, or it may chance to strike the deep channel, and go away right out into the Gulf of Florida, and then the barnacles will get hold of it, and it

ank said, "and be hauled up and cut into timber, or perhaps into f

ou say, there's a chance of its getting through it and coming to be of use after all, and what can a tree wish better than that? But we had best be hauling the boat up to the tree and shifting the rope up the trunk a bit; it's just level wi

when evening came on Frank thought that it w

wind." They had scarcely wrapped themselves in their blankets when the boat swayed as if struck by an eve

Frank exclaim

e roof of the little cabin was stove in, and the boat heeled over until they thought it was going to

appened?" h

lucky it didn't fall directly on us, or it would have knocked the boat into pieces. The door is jammed. Get hold of that hatchet, lad, and make a shift to g

t bigger, and then I will take the lantern and crawl forward and see what has become of the blacks.

s bad a job as the one I was telling you about. Here, lad, put this bottle of rum into your jacket and thi

and leaves. The head-rope was a long one; the tree had fallen directly towards them, and the boat was, as far as Frank could see, wedged in between the branches,

said; "the niggers can't get out, an

effort squeezed himself through the hole and joined Frank

, and another two or three minutes will do their business; here, ri

wo or three planks and hauled up the frightened negroes. It was but just in time

under our feet in another minute. Stick to your lantern, lad, a light is a comfort anyhow; I'll fetch

ank, who was sitting astri

he candles are dry. There ain't mor

eet, sinking, apparently, no lower. "I will look round again," Hiram

so; she was so completely wedged among

the mast and bind her as tight as you can to the branches; pass the ropes under the thwarts. Make haste bef

, and the boat securel

ing over and over, Hiram?" Frank asked, afte

t to lift out of water, and I reckon she keeps the whole affair steady. It couldn't be better if we had planned it. All

you out of that cabin, and I don't blame you; I should have been in just as bad a fright myself if I had been there, though I shouldn't have made such a noise over it. Still, one can't expect m

easily raised, and seeing that the white men appeared to consider

ll then have a shelter we can go into; the water is not over the lockers, but I shouldn't like to go in until we get the door open. If this tree

le than sitting here, for what with the rain and the splashi

isition again, for the door wa

e may be in this here floating forest. That's right. Now, hang one of them lanterns up in the cabin. That's not so bad. Now, lad, our clothes-bags are all right on t

e party, clustered in the little cabin, were soon comparatively warm and cheerful, in spite of the water, which came up to their knees, and when the boat rose on a wav

sand to one that tree would have smashed us up and sunk us then and thar. It was another thousand to one that when we were staved

think now that we should be ungrateful indeed if every one

not to have serious thoughts. It ain't our way to talk about it. I think we try to do our duty by our employers, and if a mate is laid up, he need never fear getting on a shoal for want of a helping hand; and when our time comes, I fancy as there ain't many of us as is afeared of death, or feels very bad about the account they say we have got to render arterwards. It's different with the niggers; it's their way to be singing hymns and having prayer-meetings, and such like. There is some as

r a time there was s

y to be in this fix?"

e safe to make ourselves seen as soon as the weather clears, and there are boats out again; we have only got to light a fire of wet wood to call their attention. I don't expect this here gale will last much longer; after another day it ought to

ee and the waterlogged boat rose but little with the waves, and the bow was submerged deeply every time a wave passed them, the gunwale being at no time more than a few inches out of water. Additional lashings were put on, and then Hiram and Frank returned to the cabin,

's blowing quite so hard, but thar ain't much change

with little change. Sam found in the fore-part of the boat the iron plate on which he built his fire. They fixed this on the roof of the cabin, fastened a tarpaulin across the boughs so as to shelter it from the rain and drift, and then, with some diffic

m said, when he had finishe

e effects of their fright and wetting, and their

as a white man." Another meal, later in the afternoon, alone broke the monotony of the day. The aspect of the weather was unchanged at nightfall, but Hiram asserted that the wind had certainly gone down, and that in the morning there would probably be a break in the weather. They sm

of the boat, and the sluggish efforts of the tree and boat to rise and fall with the water had ceased. He was still more struck, when he went

tin," Hiram said, "though where we are is

erved as a lookout. It was pitch dark outside, and the

river, Hiram, and in behind some big is

It's a bad stroke of luck drifting in here; we may expect to get hung up somewhere, and we shall be in a nice fix then, out of sight of boats going up and down, and with miles and miles of swamp stretching back from the shore. However, it will be time to think of t

motion, and of hearing Hiram say, "There, she is anchored"; but he did not suffer this to rous

eckon, lad, and I feel all the better for

nd seems to have gone quite do

have the s

oon up in t

nothing more than that; there's a mist hanging over them,

aid, "didn't we get fast on something

e, and didn't quite take it in. We are quite out of th

ugh they are when you are making your way up-stream, but no-account places to get stuck in. Now you darkeys below there, wake up, and let's have some food; you will soon have the sun up to warm you and dry your clothes a bit. By

first sparkle of the sun through the leaves brought a shout of delight from the negroes, and directly the

be glad of the shade. Now, let you and I light our pipe

h they were was some eighty yards wide; ahead it seemed to narro

the lower branches touched the bottom or caught in a snag; the water ain't flowing half a mile an hour now, and I reck

g to stay here a few

stay here no time at all, if you will just

" Frank said; "the distance is n

you reckon the s

ty yards,"

, lad-twenty, perhaps, o

t his companio

of the Arkansas, and for miles and miles the country ain't much better than a swamp at the best of times. You can swim to them trees, and roost up in the branches, if the fancy takes yer, and may be we may decide that's the best thing to do, when we have talked it over; but as t

erlogged boat, in the middle of a district submerged for many miles, and surrounded beyond that by fever-stricken swamps,

ble for us to make our e

o, lad; my present idea is it is unpossible, though, if we detarmines at last there ain't nothing else for us to do but to try for it, Hiram Little ain't the man to die without making a hard fight for his life; but I tell you, lad, I looks on it as unpossible. You have been on these banks wi

d, "it seems to me that our onl

ne, but we could make a shift to mend it if we could get her ashore; but there ain't no shore to get her to, that's the misc

deal of difference in the weight, and we should float higher. Then, with hatchet and saw, we must get rid of those below, taking a rope first to the trees and hauling her closer and c

t see much difficulty about that. An

d from her thwarts, tight to that arm overhead. When I got her fixed, I would chop away one of these arms that grip her, and let her float free. We have no tackle that would be of any

N THE MIS

elieve it is to be done that way. I tell you, I did not see my way out of this fix nohow, but you have hit

was by this time well above the trees; the negroes woke up t

tow-rope after me, and make it fast to it; it is possible that when we cut away some of the other boughs

e two great arms were chopped through just beyond the point at which the b

middle of the boat, you boys; I can feel t

hes, and fully half t

t this end of the trunk, lad,

ay the branch which projected under water; but at last this was done, and the boat was placed in position

to this trunk, so as to make a sort of raft that we can put all these tubs on. The ropes would never hold her with her cargo on board. I reckon some of the sugar is spoilt

the evening before the raft was for

, "and then we can stretch ourselves out for the night. We hav

d it, but which, in the end, had proved their means of safety. The raft was fastened alongside by a rope, and the n