"Hi there!" shouted old Joel again. "How am I goin to git along without that
dawg? Throw him off, Boy--throw him off, I tell ye!" Chad seized the dog by
the shoulders, but Jack braced himself and, like a child, looked up in his
master's face. Chad let go and shook his head.

A frantic yell from Tall Tom at the bow oar drew every eye to him. The current
was stronger than anyone guessed and the raft was being swept by an eddy
straight for the point of the opposite shore where there was a sharp turn in
the river.

"Watch out thar," shouted old Joel, "you're goin to 'bow'!" Dolph and Rube
were slashing the stern oar forward and back through the swift water, but
straight the huge craft made for that deadly point. Every man had hold of an
oar and was tussling in silence for life. Every man on shore was yelling
directions and warning, while the women shrank back with frightened faces.
Chad scarcely knew what the matter was, but he gripped his rifle and squeezed
Jack closer to him. He heard Tom roar a last warning as the craft struck,
quivered a moment, and the stern swept around. The craft had "bowed."

"Watch out--jump, boys, jump! Watch when she humps! Watch yo' legs!" These
were the cries from the shore, and still Chad did not understand. He saw Tom
leap from the bow, and, as the stern swung to the other shore, Dolph, too,
leaped. Then the stern struck. The raft humped in the middle like a bucking
horse--the logs ground savagely together. Chad heard a cry of pain from Jack
and saw the dog fly up in the air and drop in the water. He and his gun had
gone up, too, but he came back on the raft with one leg in between two logs
and he drew it up in time to keep the limb from being smashed to a pulp as the
logs crashed together again, but not quickly enough to save the foot from a
painful squeeze. Then he saw Tom and Dolph leap back again, the raft whirled
on and steadied in its course, and behind him he saw Jack swimming feebly for