The bell boomed. The last transatlantic stranger shuffled aboard, wan and feeble. Now to one wheel, now to the other, the pilot jingled to back away, then to stop, then to go ahead, then to both for full speed, and once more the beautiful craft moved majestically up the river. Her course shifted from south to west, the shores for a time widened apart, the low-roofed city swung and sank away backward, groves of orange and magnolia grew plainer to the eye than suburban streets, and the course changed again, from west to north. Soon on the right, behind a high levee and backed by a sombre swamp forest, appeared the live-oaks and gardens of Carrollton, and presently on the left came Nine-mile Point and another bend of the river westward. As the boat's prow turned, the waters, from shore to shore, reflected the low sun so dazzlingly that nearly all the passengers on the roof moved aft, whence, ravished by the ascending odors of supper, they went below. But the handsome old man, the sedate youth, the girl, the nurse, remained. Captain Courteney came along the deck and crossed toward the four, eyed from head to foot by the girl even after he had stopped near her. But her gaze drew no glance from him. "Well, Hugh," he said. The youth turned with a smile that bettered every meaning in his too passive countenance: "Well, father?" "Oh!" breathed the startled girl. She looked eagerly into the three male faces, beamed round upon her dark attendant, and then looked again at grandfather, father, and son. "Why, of course!" she softly laughed. "John," said the older man, "this young lady is a daughter of Gideon Hayle." "I thought as much." The benign captain lifted his hat and accepted and dropped again the dainty hand proffered him with childish readiness. "Then you're the youngest of seven children." Her reply was a gay nod. Presently, with a merry glint between her long lashes, she said: "I'm Ramsey." The captain's smile grew: "That must be great fun." The girl looked from one to another, puzzled. "Why, just to be Ramsey," he explained. "Isn't it?" She gave him a wary, sidewise glance and looked out over the water. "My three married sisters all live near this river," she musingly said; "one in Louisiana, two in Mississippi." Her sidelong glance repeated itself: "I know who it would be fun to be--for me--or for anybody!" Her eyes widened as her brother's had done, though in an amiable, elated way. "Your father?" asked the captain. She all but danced: "How'd you know?" "I saw him--in your eyes," was the placid reply. "Your father and I, and your grandfather Hayle, and this gentleman here----" "Ya-ass, ya-ass!" drawled the nurse in worshipping reminiscence, and Ramsey laughed to Hugh, and all the while the captain persisted: "We've built and owned rival boats----" "Fawty yeah'!" murmured the nurse. "Fawty yeah'!" "Yes, yes!" chirruped the girl. "Pop-a's up the river now, building the _Paragon_! We're on our way to join him!"