At two o'clock the Captain asked the mate how we were getting on. "Oh, pretty glibly, sir," replied the mate; "we can scarcely tell what headway we _are_ making, for we are obliged to keep the middle of the river, and there is the shadow of a fog rising. This wood seems rather better than that we took in at Yellow-Face's, but we're nearly out again, and must be looking out for more. I saw a light just ahead on the right--shall we hail?" "Yes, yes," replied the Captain; "ring the bell and ask 'em what's the price of wood up here, (I've got you again; here's double kings.)" I heard the bell and the pilot's hail, "What's' _your_ price for wood?" A youthful voice on the shore answered, "Three _and_ a quarter!" "D--net!" ejaculated the Captain, who had just lost the price of two cords to the pilot--the strangers suffering _some_ at the same time--"three and a quarter again! Are we _never_ to get to a cheaper country? (Deal, sir, if you please; better luck next time.)" The other pilot's voice was again heard on deck: "How much _have_ you?" "Only about ten cords, sir," was the reply of the youthful salesman. The Captain here told Thompson to take six cords, which would last till daylight--and again turned his attention to the game. The pilots here changed places. _When did they sleep?_ Wood taken in, the _Caravan_ again took her place in the middle of the stream, paddling on as usual. Day at length dawned. The brag-party broke up and settlements were being made, during which operation the Captain's bragging propensities were exercised in cracking up the speed of his boat, which, by his reckoning, must have made at least sixty miles, and _would_ have made many more if he could have procured good wood. It appears the two passengers, in their first lesson, had incidentally lost one hundred and twenty dollars. The Captain, as he rose to see about taking in some _good_ wood, which he felt sure of obtaining now that he had got above the level country, winked at his opponent, the pilot, with whom he had been on very bad terms during the progress of the game, and said, in an undertone, "Forty apiece for you and I and James (the other pilot) is not bad for one night." I had risen and went out with the Captain, to enjoy a view of the bluffs. There was just fog enough to prevent the vision taking in more than sixty yards--so I was disappointed in _my_ expectation. We were nearing the shore, for the purpose of looking for wood, the banks being invisible from the middle of the river. "There it is!" exclaimed the Captain; "stop her!" Ding--ding--ding! went the big bell, and the Captain hailed: "Hallo! the woodyard!" "Hallo yourself!" answered a squeaking female voice, which came from a woman with a petticoat over her shoulders in place of a shawl. "What's the price of wood?" "I think you ought to know the price by this time," answered the old lady in the petticoat; "it's three and a qua-a-rter! and now you know it."