Chap freely related the reasons for his coming on board the Winkyminky, which greatly interested the countess; and then, working backward with his story, he told what had happened since he left home. This account took a long time, and was only interrupted by the hauling in of one large cat-fish, which greatly horrified the countess, and induced her to ask Chap to put up his line and confine himself to his story, which she found more entertaining than her novel. In spite of the fact that Chap did not belong to an aristocratic circle, the countess was very glad to talk to him, for he was the only person on board in whom she could take the slightest interest, and they soon became very well acquainted. She was going, with her negro servant, to join her husband in Jacksonville, and had intended to take passage from Enterprise in the Von Glode; but she was too late for that boat, and was obliged to take the Winkyminky. This inconvenient little boat did not suit her taste at all; but she had to make the best of it, and was very glad to have on board such an original and pleasant boy as Chap. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXXI. A POINT OF HONOR. Nearly all that day the Winkyminky paddled bravely on her way, and then, all of a sudden, she stopped. A large cog-wheel, which was a part of her machinery, had broken. The engineer had known this wheel was going to break; but he hoped it would last till they got to Jacksonville. Everybody was greatly disturbed at this accident, especially when the captain told them it could not have occurred in a worse place. The Winkyminky drew but little water, and thus was sometimes enabled to make short cuts that a larger boat would not attempt, and, being a very slow craft, she saved distance whenever she could. To avoid a long curve, she had gone inside of a wooded island, and here the accident had taken place. No large steamboat could come to her assistance here; but the captain said that the Rosa, the only small boat that would leave Jacksonville that week, would probably be along in a day or two, and would, most likely, pass inside the island. Then, he said, he would see what he could do to prevail upon her to turn back and tow his boat to the city. This was poor comfort to the passengers, and they grumbled greatly; but nothing came of the grumbling, and they went to bed that night with the steamboat anchored near a small island, which shut it out from view of the body of the river, while the main shore, a hundred or more yards away, was wild and uninhabited. In the morning it was found that they were out of fresh water, but the captain said that about half a mile down-stream, on the main shore, there was a spring, and having put a barrel on board a small boat, he sent two of his hands to fill it with water.