a foot
by the next high tide, a month later, an excavation was made wherein to
build the steamer that she might certainly come afloat at the desired
time. Sixty holes had to be made in the iron plates so that the four
stiffening timbers could be attached to the bottom to prevent the craft
from breaking in two under the extra-heavy boiler. Inside, cross timbers
were also added to resist the strain. On, December 17th, two steamers
appeared from the fort, in command, respectively, of Johnson and Wilcox,
to transport the army supplies to their destination. Robinson, after
whom the landing was called because he had a cabin there, was with the
steamboats, and, as he knew the river, especially as far as Yuma, Ives
engaged him for pilot.

By the end of the month, the Explorer, as the Ives boat was named, was
ready for the expected high tide. She was fifty-four feet long over all,
not quite half the length of Johnson's Colorado. Amidships she was open,
but the bow was decked, and at the stern was a cabin, seven by eight
feet, the top of which formed an outlook. For armament, she was supplied
on the bow with a four-pound howitzer, though this weapon was not likely
to be of much service. When the anticipated flood arrived on the night
of December 30th, steam was turned on at the critical moment, the
engines worked the stern-wheel, and Lieutenant Ives had the satisfaction
of seeing the Explorer, under the bright moonlight, slowly back out of
the pit which had been her cradle into the swirling, seething current.
As the tide continued to rise, Ives feared the whole flat would soon be
inundated, so everything belonging to the expedition was stowed on board
till the Explorer's gunwales were no more than six inches above
the surface. Through this circumstance, the expedition came near a
disastrous end the next night, when the steamer proceeded up the
river on the flood tide. A squall was met and the boat shipped water
alarmingly, but fortunately the wind died away as quickly as it had
come up. The Explorer was saved, and the journey was continued over the
swiftly gliding torrent.

As they went on after this in daylight, some Cocopas they met grinned
rather contemptuously, and called this the "chiquito steamboat." A
considerable amount of stores was left on the bank in their care, to
be picked up by Captain Wilcox, who, going down on one of the fort
steamers, had passed the Explorer, and offered to take these extra
stores to the fort o