"That you go on her bond for this claim--which seems to me so clearly illegal that I think you can never be held upon the bond--and----" "Remind me, when this is over, that you are to come to my house to-night for consultation on that point. Now go on." "Well, by going on her bond for this claim, instead of asking the creditors to release the boat on your promise as made in the telegram, you can secure her immediate release, making yourself liable, at worst, for no more than the six hundred dollars claimed." "But if I do that, what is to prevent another tie-up at Memphis and another at Vicksburg and others wherever the boat may happen to land. She's in debt up to the top of her smokestacks, all along the river." "As you own the cargo, and she can't carry another ton, why should you let her stop at all? I suppose the captain would do as you desire in that matter. You might request him to run through without any landings." "Request be hanged. I'll tell him what to do and he'll do it. He knows where cargoes come from. Can you get the papers ready?" "I can, sir." "All right. Do it at once." Then turning to a shipping clerk he sent for the captain of the steamer, to whom he said: "Get up steam at once. You are to leave in less than an hour. How much coal have you?" The captain told him. "Take two light barges of coal in tow, one on each side, and draw on them for fuel. When they're empty cast them loose with two men on each to land them. You can pick them up on your return trip. You are to steam to New Orleans without a landing anywhere. You understand?" The captain understood. By this time the papers were ready and after half an hour spent in legal formalities the released steamboat cast loose from the wharf and backed out into the river. Then Captain Hallam turned to Guilford Duncan and said: "I've an idea that you'll do. If you like I'll put you at regular work at a monthly salary, and we'll see how we get on together." "I should like that." "Very well. Now, where are you boarding?" "Nowhere. I get what I want to eat at the booths down along the levee." "But where do you sleep?" "Among the big lumber piles down there on Fourth street." Captain Hallam looked at the young man for a moment with something like admiration in his eyes. Presently he said: "You'll do. You've got grit and you'll 'make the riffle,' sure. But you must live more regularly, now that you are to have a salary. I know what it means to live as you've been doing. I used to do it myself. I could tell to a cent the nutritive value of a pegged pie or a sewed one, and at a single glance I could guess the probable proportions of the dog and cat in a sausage. That sort of thing's all right for a little while, but not for long, and as for the sleeping among lumber piles, it's risky. I used to sleep in an empty sugar hogshead by preference, but sleeping out of doors may give you rheumatism."