“You must not think so, madam,” Dick replied. “The current carried us slightly out of the channel and we struck a rock. Our starting on a Friday had nothing whatever to do with it; and certainly you cannot believe that an ignorant negro could bewitch the boat with a rabbit’s foot. That is too ridiculous to think of.” Before the woman could say anything further two men walked through the cabin talking. “I’m going to take my family ashore just as soon as they get out a gangplank,” one of them was saying. “That coon hoodooed the boat, and she’ll have nothing but bad luck.” Dick went down to the lower deck and found the negroes in a great state of excitement. There was not one of them but believed that the accident had been caused by the man with the rabbit’s foot. “I’m a-gwine to sneak first chance I gits,” he heard one of the roustabouts say to another; “no hoodooed boat for me!” “I’m almost sorry this thing happened,” Dick said to himself, “though it’s all in the way of business for me. Nothing in the world will ever convince half of these people that the boat was not bewitched by that steward. I suppose it’s in some such way as this that most wonderful stories originate. But I didn’t imagine that intelligent white people could believe in such nonsense.” There was too much going on, however, for him to spend much time thinking about the coincidence. The Belle of the River was still whistling, and one boat after another came to her assistance, till there were six or eight alongside. As they all burned soft coal, their smoke soon made the air almost unbearable. “Well, that’s an idea!” Dick exclaimed as he watched the proceedings. “A fellow can learn something every day, if he keeps his eyes open.” A man had been down in the hold and had found a ragged hole six feet long and about four feet wide in the boat’s bottom; but as she rested in the mud the hole was temporarily stopped and no more water could flow in. It was the suction pipes that caused Dick’s exclamation. Each of the helping boats got out a big hose and ran one end into the Belle’s hold, while the other end was attached to their steam pumps. When they all began to pump they brought the water out in a hurry, and soon had the hold dry. “Now they’ll build a bulkhead around the hole,” the clerk said to Dick as he stood and watched; “a big square box; and first they’ll lay in a lot of mattresses and pillows off the beds, and then layers of mud and stones, and put a good stout plank cover over it. That will keep us afloat till we get to Paducah. There’s a marine railway at Paducah, and we’ll make repairs there. Say,” he added in a lower voice, “do you think the coon really had anything to do with it?” Dick was too much disgusted to give a serious reply.