magnify-phone by all means."

There was a fair-sized megaphone on the houseboat, used to call to
persons on shore, if necessary, and, bringing this out, the eldest
Rover placed it to his mouth.

"On board the lumber raft!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Sheer
off! Don't run us down!"

"We are not running you down," was the surly answer from a man at
the front of the raft.

"Yes, you are, and we want you to keep off."

"Go on in toward the west shore and you will be all right," said the
man. He was a burly looking individual, with an unusually long nose.

By this time the lumber raft was sweeping closer. The raft and the
houseboat were moving in the same direction, and this kept them for
the time being apart.

"If you don't keep off, there will be trouble," cried Sam.

"Oh, you boys dry up!" was the reply from the man with the long nose,
and now they recognized him as a fellow they had met in a hotel at
their last stopping place. The man had had a row with a porter, and
had made himself generally disagreeable.

The houseboat was under the immediate command of Captain Starr. The
captain, a rather strange individual, was not feeling very well, and
had gone off to take a nap. Now it was thought best by all to call him.

"The overgrown wood-choppers!" growled the captain as soon as he had
come out on deck and taken in the situation. "Sheer off!" he yelled.
"Do you hear?"

"Turn in toward shore," was the answering cry.

"We can't--it's too shallow."

"Is it really too shallow?" asked Dick.

"I think so. We are not in the channel as it is."

"I'm going to get a gun," came from Tom, and off he rushed to secure
the firearm.

The raft had now swept so close that several on board could be seen
plainly. They were a rough-looking sort, and the man with the long
nose was the shrewdest of the lot.

"We'll have to turn in, or we'll be hit!" ejaculated Sam. "Those side
logs are bound to strike the cabin!"

He pointed to some timbers that projected over the edge of the raft.
They were only a few feet off and might crash into the cabin of the
houseboat at any moment.

In anger at being forced to change his course, Captain Starr turned
the houseboat toward the bank of the river. Then the big raft began
to pass them, just as Tom reappeared, shotgun in hand.

"I ought to have you arrested for this!" stormed Captain Starr. His
words were always louder than his actions.

"Bah!" answered the man with the long n