10(5

LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

might notice that now a dozen other skiffs had been drifting down
upon us without saying anything. You understand, they had been
waiting to see how No. 1 was going to fare. No. 1 making no com-
ment, all the rest would bend to their oars and come on, now; and as
fast as they came the clerk would heave over neat bundles of religious

TRACT DISTBIJBUTINC.'

tracts, tied to shingles. The
amount of hard swearing which
twelve packages of religious lite-
rature will command when impartially divided up among twelve
raftsmen's crews, who have pulled a heavy skuT two miles on a hot
dayto get them, is simply incredible.
As I have said, the big rise brought a new world under my vision.
By the time the river was over its banks we had forsaken pur old
paths and were hourly climbing over bars that had stood ten feet out