ered that they were
only sixteen miles from Omaha and at the next bend they landed to cook
breakfast and rest. One of the bores encountered all the way down after
striking the towns, was the man who persisted in telling them all about
the great flood of "last spring." He was found at every town and village
and the voyagers were given all the various details of that flood
until it became nauseating, so much so, that it made Boyton irritable
whenever mentioned. As he lighted a cigar and stretched his limbs on the
sand bar to enjoy a rest before proceeding to Omaha, he remarked to his
companion that they would not be annoyed by flood fiends there; but his
confidence was without foundation. In less than ten minutes after he
made the remark, a man landed from a little skiff and seating himself on
a log, while a gleam of satisfaction shot from his eyes, said:
"Strangers, you couldn't a laid down on that bar so comfortable and
easy last spring. The big flood--"

"Hop into that boat and get away from here," fairly yelled Paul,
springing to his feet, "or I'll pitch you into the river, where you can
tell your miserable flood stories to the fishes."

The man looked at the threatening navigator a moment, boarded his boat
and with disappointment lining every feature, pulled a short distance
away, then resting on his oars, triumphantly shouted: "It was high
enough over thet ere bank." A club was flung at him as he drifted out
of sight around the bar.

Resuming the voyage, Omaha came in sight as they rounded the next bend
and beheld the Union Pacific bridge that spans the river.

"Ah," joyously exclaimed Creelman, "We're out of the wilderness. There's
the first bridge."

At that point a party of friends and representatives of the press, met
the travelers and escorted them to the city, where thousands of people
lined the bank to extend a welcome. One man, who probably intended to
commit suicide, threw off his coat and shouting that he could swim as
well as that fellow, jumped in and was drowned. Boyton had great
difficulty in getting through the crowd to a carriage which conveyed him
to a hotel.

That evening, after a wash and getting into suits of clothes which they
had shipped ahead, Paul and Creelman met a party of friends and
newspaper men in their room and entertained them with an account of some
of the adventures of the trip.

On leaving Omaha after a pleasant rest of a day, the voyagers reali