of the reigning
belles of Memphis, handed him a banner and made a pleasant address of
welcome.

Holding on to the gunwale of the gig, Paul replied in a felicitous
manner as he accepted the trophy from her hands. The reception at
Memphis was in accordance with the enthusiasm of the excursionists and
Paul resumed the voyage Monday afternoon with the well wishes of the
populace.

That night another terrific storm almost overwhelmed him. Huge trees
were borne to the earth on either side of him as though they were
reeds. Rain turned to hail and the river was whitened by the icy stones.
So great was their forge that he was compelled to stand up in the stream
to shield his head and face with the broad blade of his paddle and his
knuckles were badly bruised. In a short time he experienced a sensation
of leaking. He thought the hail stones had cut his dress; but next
morning, landing on a sandbar, he found himself as dry as a pebble, the
leaking sensation having been caused by the sudden change in the
temperature of the water owing to the melting of the hail stones. In the
darkness, he missed the cut off, by which he could have saved fifteen
miles of paddling, and went around Walnut Bend. At daybreak, he saw a
negro on the bank and inquired his whereabouts.

"Yo'se in de bend shoah 'nough Cap'en; but I'se pow'ful glad yo' missed
the cut off, cause I wanted to see yo' awful bad."

Paul did not sympathize with the darkey's joy and that unnecessary
fifteen miles was the hardest pull of the entire trip, to his mind.

That morning was very lonely along the river and he was still lecturing
himself for missing the convenient cut off, when away around a distant
bend he could hear the beating paddles of an approaching steamboat. That
animated him and he pulled with renewed vigor until he met a boat
which was loaded with excursionists from Helena, Arkansas. He hauled up
alongside and the excursionists begged him to go ashore and visit their
city. He was feeling sore and declined the kind invitation; other boats
came up until he was surrounded. They insisted earnestly and so kindly
that he should stop oft at Helena, that he finally consented to do so
and rest a couple of hours, as his watch and lamp were smashed and that
would give him an opportunity to get them fixed. He was enthusiastically
welcomed to the city, and a committee of citizens was appointed to get
anything he might want. The mayor and several other of