Thus we rowed cheerfully about, having a good time at the other fellow's expense. Suddenly Johnny, who was steering, dropped his paddle with an exclamation. Yank and I turned to see what had so struck him. Beyond the trees that marked where the bank of the river ought to be we saw two tall smokestacks belching forth a great volume of black smoke. "A steamer!" cried Yank. "Yes, and a good big one!" I added. We lay to our oars and soon drew alongside. She proved to be a side wheeler, of fully seven hundred tons, exactly like the craft we had often seen plying the Hudson. "Now how do you suppose they got her out here?" I marvelled. She was almost completely surrounded by craft of all descriptions; her decks were crowded. We read the name _McKim_ on her paddle boxes. A man with an official cap appeared at the rail. "Bound for San Francisco?" I called to him. "Off in two minutes," he replied. "What's the fare?" "Forty dollars." "Come on, boys," said I to my comrades, at the same time seizing a dangling rope. "Hold on!" cried Yank. "How about our two horses and our blankets, and this boat?" I cast my eye around, and discovered a boy of fourteen or fifteen in the stern of a neat fisherman's dory a few feet away. "Here!" I called to him. "Do you want two good horses and some blankets?" "I ain't got any money." "Don't need any. These are free. We're going down on this boat. You'll find the outfit under the big white oak two miles above the forks on the American. They're yours if you'll go get them." "What do you want me to do?" he demanded suspiciously. "Two things: return this boat to its owner--a man named Lilly who lives----" "I know the boat," the boy interrupted. "The other is to be sure to go up to-day after those horses. They're picketed out." "All right," agreed the boy, whose enthusiasm kindled as his belief in the genuineness of the offer was assured. I seized a rope, swung myself up to the flat fender, and thence to the deck. "Come on!" I called to Yank and Johnny, who were hesitating. "It'll cost more than those horses and blankets are worth to wait." Thereupon they followed me. The boy made fast our boat to his own. Five minutes later we were dropping down the river. "This is what I call real luxury," said Johnny, returning from an inspection of our craft. "There's a barroom, and a gambling layout, and velvet carpets and chairs, mirrors, a minstrel show, and all the fixings. Now who'd expect to run against a layout like this on the river?" "What I'd like to know is how they got her out here," said I. "Look at her! She's a river boat. A six-foot wave ought to swamp her!" We thought of a half dozen solutions, and dismissed them all. The discussion, however, served its purpose in inflaming our curiosity. "I'm going to find some one who knows," I announced at last.