on big flatboats. These flatboats were floated down the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, where the cargoes were sold.
But the Lincolns raised only enough for their own use. They never had
anything left over to sell. Nor could they afford to build a flatboat
for the long trip down the rivers.

"How come?" Sarah asked again.

Abe seized her around the waist and danced her across the floor. She was
out of breath but laughing when he let her go.

"Allen Gentry is taking a cargo of farm truck down to New Orleans to
sell," he explained. "His pa has hired me to help on the flatboat. Mr.
Gentry will pay me eight dollars a month. I reckon Pa will be pleased
about that."

Abe himself was pleased because he was going to see something of the
world. New Orleans was seven hundred miles away. It was a big and
important city. Sarah was pleased because this was the chance that Abe
had been wanting.

He had grown so tall that she had to throw back her head to look up at
him. "I'm right glad for you," she said.

12

[Illustration]

To a boy brought up in the backwoods, the trip down the rivers was one
long adventure. Abe sat at the forward oar, guiding the big flatboat
through the calm, blue waters of the Ohio, while Allen cooked supper on
deck. Afterwards Abe told stories.

After they had reached the southern tip of Illinois, where the Ohio
emptied into the yellow waters of the Mississippi, there was little time
for stories. The boys never knew what to expect next. One minute the
river would be quiet and calm. The next it would rise in the fury of a
sudden storm. The waves rose in a yellow flood that poured over the
deck. Allen at the back oar, Abe at the front oar, had a hard time
keeping the big flatboat from turning over.

At the end of each day, the boys tied up the boat at some place along
the shore. One night after they had gone to sleep, several robbers crept
on board. Abe and Allen awoke just in time. After a long, hard fight,
the robbers turned and fled.

[Illustration]

These dangers only made their adventures seem more exciting. It was
exciting, too, to be a part of the traffic of the river. They saw many
other flatboats like their own. The biggest thrill was in watching the
steamboats, with giant paddle wheels that turned the water into foam.
Their decks were painted a gleaming white, and their brass rails shone
in the sun. No wonder they were called "floating palaces," thought Abe.
Someti