"Let us go after him," said Dick, and the others agreed. But pursuit
was useless, the burly negro was gone. Later they learned that he
was Watermelon Pete, the rascal who had gotten into a row at the
nearby plantation.

"Are you hurt, Grace?" was Sam's first question after the chase had
come to an end.

"No, but that colored man nearly scared the life out of me," she
answered, and then told her story.

"I wonder if we'll ever see him again," said Fred.

"Most likely not," answered Dick. But he was mistaken. He was to meet
Watermelon Pete, and under circumstances as surprising as any that
he had yet encountered.

"Well, there is one satisfaction," remarked Songbird. "He didn't get
away with any of the stuff."

"No, but he mussed de dinin'-room all up!" growled Aleck. "An' dat
silber has got to be shined up ag'in befoah we kin use it."

During the day, several half-intoxicated colored men came on board
of the _Dora_ and made it decidedly unpleasant for all hands.

"We may as well get out of here," said Dick, and the others agreed
with him.

Two negroes were on board at the time, and Captain Starr ordered them
ashore.

"Give us some rum, an' we'll go," answered one of them impudently.

"You're going, and without any rum!" cried Dick wrathfully, and ran
the colored man to the gangplank. Sam and Tom caught hold of the
other colored man and did likewise.

"Let go ob me!" roared one of the fellows, and then both of them
began to struggle and use language not fit for polite ears to hear.

"Dump them into the river--the bath will do them good," suggested
Songbird, and in a trice this was accomplished, and both went down
with a loud splash. By the time they had managed to crawl to the
shore through the mud, the houseboat was a good distance out into
the stream. The negroes shouted and shook their fists, but the Rovers
and their friends, and even Aleck, laughed at them.

"Dem fool niggers don't know nuffin'," growled the cook. "I'se 'shamed
ob 'em, I is!"

"Perhaps they won't be so fresh when another houseboat comes along,"
said Fred.

"Or else they'll do their best to get square," put in Tom.

The journey down the river was continued, and soon the plantation
and the village were left far in the distance.

CHAPTER V

DAN BAXTER APPEARS

Two days later found the houseboat moored to one of the docks at a
small city in Arkansas. It was a bustling place of perhaps four
thousand inhabitants and comman