retted that he and Winn were not to
continue their voyage down the river on the _Whatnot_, that the former
finally said:

"Well, sir, if you really want us to, I don't see why we shouldn't
travel with you until we overhaul our raft. I am rather taken with
this show business myself, and have always had a desire to appear on
the stage. As for Winn, and that other young monkey, Don Blossom--"

"All right," laughed Winn. "I'd rather take the part of monkey than of
mule, any day."

"Other young monkey," continued Billy Brackett, gravely, without
noticing this interruption, "we'll hitch them together and exhibit them
as Siamese twins. Oh, I tell you, gentlemen, we'll give a show such as
never was seen on this little old river. I don't suppose this craft is
as fast as some of the larger steamboats, but she can certainly
overtake a raft, and we might just as well have some fun out of the
trip as not."

"But she is not a steamboat," confessed Cap'n Cod.

"Not a steamboat! What is she then, and how do you propel her?"

"She is only a mule-boat, and at present, as we have no mule, we merely
drift with the current."

At this Billy Brackett became thoughtful, and asked to be shown into
the engine-room. He had not appreciated Winn's reference to acting the
part of a mule until now; but at sight of the treadmill, and a sudden
realization of the part his nephew had taken in the performance of the
preceding evening, he laughed until the tears filled his eyes, and the
others laughed in sympathy.

"Oh, Winn, Winn!" he cried. "You'll be the death of me yet! I wonder
if ever an uncle was blessed with such an absurd nephew before?"

"That's all right, Uncle Billy," said Winn; "but you just step in and
work that treadmill for an hour. Then see if you'll laugh. Eh, Solon?"

"No, sah. Ole Solom he don' git in dere no mo'. He gwine strike, he
am, agin dish yer mewel bizness."

"Look here, Winn," said Billy Brackett, when he had recovered his
gravity, "didn't I offer a reward for your discovery?"

"To be sure you did; and I meant to claim it, too. That's what I got
the printer to point out Mr. 'Brickell' for. So I'll take it now, if
you please."

"That is one of the rewards I expected to earn," remarked Cap'n Cod.
"And I wrote to your father for full particulars concerning your
disappearance; but I don't suppose there is any chance for me now, so
long as you have discovered yourself, unless you could make it
conven