FRESCOES FROM THE PAST. 39

I didn't wait to kiss good-lye, but went overboard and broke for shore,
When Jim come along by and by, the big raft was away oat of sight
around the point. I swum out and got aboard, and was mighty glad to see
home again.

The boy did not get the information he was after, but his adven-
ture has furnished the glimpse of the departed raftsman and keelboat-
man which I desire to offer in this place.

I now come to a phase of the Mississippi River life of the flush
times of steamboating, which seems to me to warrant full examina-
tion—the marvellous science of piloting, as displayed there. 1 believe
there has been nothing like it elsewhere in the world.