ew
days. So he helped her to climb the little stair that winds to the top
of the texas,--that sanctified roof where the pilot-house squats. The
girl clung to her bonnet Will you like her any the less when you know
that it was a shovel bonnet, with long red ribbons that tied under
her chin? It became her wonderfully. "Captain Lige," she said, almost
tearfully, as she took his arm, "how I thank heaven that you came up the
river this afternoon!"

"Jinny," said the Captain, "did you ever know why cabins are called
staterooms?"

"Why, no," answered she, puzzled.

"There was an old fellow named Shreve who ran steamboats before Jackson
fought the redcoats at New Orleans. In Shreve's time the cabins were
curtained off, just like these new-fangled sleeping-car berths. The old
man built wooden rooms, and he named them after the different states,
Kentuck, and Illinois, and Pennsylvania. So that when a fellow came
aboard he'd say: 'What state am I in, Cap?' And from this river has the
name spread all over the world--stateroom. That's mighty interesting,"
said Captain Lige.

"Yea," said Virginia; "why didn't you tell me long ago."

"And I'll bet you can't say," the Captain continued, "why this house
we're standing on is called the texas."

"Because it is annexed to the states," she replied, quick a flash.

"Well, you're bright," said he. "Old Tufts got that notion, when Texas
came in. Like to see Bill Jenks?"

"Of course," said Virginia.

Bill Jenks was Captain Brent's senior pilot. His skin hung on his face
in folds, like that of a rhinoceros It was very much the same color. His
grizzled hair was all lengths, like a worn-out mop; his hand reminded
one of an eagle's claw, and his teeth were a pine yellow. He greeted
only such people as he deemed worthy of notice, but he had held Virginia
in his arms.

"William," said the young lady, roguishly, "how is the eye, location,
and memory?"

William abandoned himself to a laugh. When this happened it was put in
the Juanita's log.

"So the Cap'n be still harpin' on that?" he said, "Miss Jinny, he's just
plumb crazy on a pilot's qualifications."

"He says that you are the best pilot on the river, but I don't believe
it," said Virginia.

William cackled again. He made a place for her on the leather-padded
seat at the back of the pilot house, where for a long time she sat
staring at the flag trembling on the jackstaff between the great sombre
pipes. The sun fell down, but hi