3<5° 



RECREA riON. 



must get back into the "channel." The 

 invitation ran thus : 



"Be sure to come up to-night, and 

 bring your friend or friends." With a 

 P. S. as follows : " Please stop at the 

 house and get my tennis net and bring 

 it with you. It is an old one, but will 

 do here. The court is in good condi- 

 tion and we are just dying for a game. 

 Yours, lovingly," etc. 



It is needless to say I lost no time 

 in getting the net, and in hunting up Lou. 

 We would go up in the yacht of course. 



"I'll tell you," said he, " its going to 

 be a still night ; let's not invite any one 

 else, but you take the wheel and I'll 

 take the engine and we'll see what she 

 can do." 



That was just what I would have 

 suggested, had he not done so, and 

 with a lunch for two, we hurried to the 

 boat house to get everything ready. 

 Lou put in his fire, and got up steam, 

 while I polished the railings and decks, 

 and lighted the lamps. I wanted her 

 to look as well as she ran. Lou 

 was as good an engineer as ever stood 

 at a marine throttle. The engine was 

 his hobby, and he governed it carefully 

 and scientifically. I had chosen the 

 wheel from the first, and by experience 

 had learned to keep her straight when 

 in good water, and to keep the channel 

 when there was one. I also knew the 

 river like a book — all its bars, reefs and 

 shore marks — so that nothing short of 

 a fog could bother me in running, day 

 or night. 



I had finished my work on deck, and 

 while waiting for the boiler to make 

 steam I thought of " her " and the tennis 

 net. Perhaps I would have time to 

 patch it up a little before we started, so 

 I got it out, spread it on the dock, and, 

 with some fish line carefully mended the 

 broken meshes. 



Lou was now ready and I put the net 

 aboard, took the wheel, gave him his 

 bells, and we swung out into the river. 



" Look at your watch," Lou shouted 

 up through the tube, as I straightened 

 her out, and put her nose up stream. 

 As I did so, I gave him the jingler, or 

 speed bell, and the boat shot ahead 

 like an arrow. Then everything was 

 silent except the ripple of the water as 

 it curled and parted her bows. I set- 

 tled back on my stool, and enjoyed the 

 love-ly scene about me. 



It was a beautiful evening, early in 

 October. The leaves had turned and 

 were reflected in the water, with the 

 last faint tints of the sunset, in colors 

 unknown to art. The moon was rising 

 in the east, big and full. Occasionally 

 I could hear the croaking of the frogs, 

 from the shore, mingled with the shrill 

 whistle of a large night bird, which 

 seemed to be following us up the stream. 

 Every now and then, he would fly di- 

 rectly across our bow. I whistled an 

 old tune and was in a happy state of 

 mind. We were making splendid time, 

 as I knew by an occasional glance at 

 my watch, and at the landmarks along the 

 shore. Lou was busy with the engine, 

 which he had not left for an instant 

 since the start. Suddenly he whistled 

 up through the tube. 



" Have we passed camp Echo yet ?" 



" No," I replied, " we are just below 

 there now." 



"Well, just run in," said he. "I 

 have a message for one of the boys r 

 and if you don't mind I would like to 

 lay there for a few minutes. The pack- 

 ing in one of the valve stems is blowing 

 out, and I want to fix it." 



" All right," I answered ; and giving 

 him a slow bell I turned her toward the 

 dock, where we stopped and made her 

 fast. Lou at once set about re-packing 

 the valve while I sat on the dock and 

 chatted with the campers, who were all 

 friends of ours. However, I was im- 

 patient to be off again, for we had yet 

 five miles to go, and most of it was 

 over bad water. Thus far it had been 

 plain sailing, but above this point there 

 were two sets of dangerous reefs, where 

 a boat of our draft had to pick her way 

 carefully through the narrow channel. 



I glanced at the sky and saw it was 

 fast becoming filled with black clouds, 

 which at times completely obscured the 

 moon and threw changeable shadows on 

 the water and the shore. These shadows 

 are puzzling to river pilots at night, as 

 they make the shore-line appear indis- 

 tinct. To help us out on such occasions 

 we had rigged up a neat contrivance. 

 We managed to get a small locomotive 

 head-light, which we made more power- 

 ful by putting in a double lens. This 

 we had mounted on a swivel on the top 

 of the pilot-house. With this the light 

 could be thrown in any direction by 

 turning the hand-wheel on the inside ;. 



