n!" rose the shrill-voiced chorus, and six pairs of bare legs
dangling over the water scrambled up to a stand. "Jing! if it ain't Dan
Dolan,--Dan Dolan all diked up like a swell! Hi-yi-yi-yi, Dan! Where are
you going, Dan?"

"Seashore, New England, Killykinick!" Dan shouted back, quite unconscious
of the smiles and stares of the passengers. "Off for the summer! Hooray!"

"Hooray--hooray!" with a series of whoops and catcalls came back the Wharf
Rat's farewells, echoing with such friendly memories of a rough past that
Dan was struck speechless by the fierce contrasting voice in his ear.

"You darned dunderhead!" whispered Dud Fielding. "Can't you keep quiet in
a decent crowd?"

"Eh?" said Dan in bewilderment.

"Don't you see everybody staring at us?" continued Dud, wrathfully. "To be
shouting at dirty little beggars like those and disgracing us all!"

"Disgracing you?" echoed Dan.

"Yes," said Dud, still hot with pride and rage. "And there are the Fosters
on the upper deck,--people I know. Come, Jim, let's cut off before they
see us with this low-down chump."

And Dud led easy-going Jim to the other side of the boat.

"Low-down chump!" Unconscious as he was of any offense, Dan felt the
scornful sting of the words, and his hot blood began to boil; but he
remembered the "pricks and goads" he had resolved to bear bravely, and
shut his lips tight together as Freddy stole a small hand into his own.

With the last "Hi-yi" the Wharf Rats had settled back to their occupation,
and Freddy eyed them from the growing distance most favorably.

"Did you ever fish like that, Dan?" he asked with interest.

"Often," was the brief reply; for Dan was still hot and sore.

"Golly, it must be fun! And did you catch anything, Dan?"

"My dinner," answered Dan, grimly.

"Jing!" exclaimed Freddy, breathlessly. "That was great! When we get to
Killykinick let us go out like those bare legged boys and catch our
dinner, too."

And Dan laughed and forgot he was a "low-down chump" as he agreed they
would catch dinners whenever possible. Then he and Freddy proceeded to
explore the big boat high and low, decks, cabins, saloons, machinery
wherever visible. Freddy, who had made similar explorations with Uncle Tom
as guide, was quite posted in steamboat workings; but it was all new and
wonderful to Dan, who had only dry book-knowledge of levers and cogs and
wheels; and to watch them in action, to gaze down into the fiery depths of
the furn