60 ROUND ABOUT CHICAGO 



But now the gang plank is out, and merrily the 

 crowd boards the ship, struggling a moment in 

 the breathless crush at the plank, and then freely 

 and gladsomely spreading out to occupy all points 

 of vantage on the decks the more decorous in 

 the quiet shade of the lower deck, the more ob- 

 streperous in the open sunlight of the upper, now 

 scorching hot, but soon to be swept by the cool 

 winds of the lake. 



Out of the river we steam, passing other craft 

 loading up with holiday pleasure-seekers. There 

 is the music of bands and merry bantering calls 

 back and forth from the decks. Then we pass the 

 government pier, where queer fishermen roost on 

 top the piles, and at the crib turn northward 

 along the shore. And all in a moment we have 

 exchanged the dusty, breathless, baking heat for 

 the cool, clean, delicious wind that dries our sticky 

 skins and revives our drooping spirits. 



We watch the Lake Shore Drive and Lincoln 

 Park glide by us and give place to the long line 

 of indistinguishable green that marks the land. 

 Our course now lies farther out, for near shore 

 tricky sand-bars abound, and as the green line 

 recedes we turn to the seaward side. The sky 

 has lost its dusty glare and save at the horizon, 

 has become clear and blue, and the wide expanse 



