it
is as follows:

The boat was detained at a landing at a small Kentucky town where the
laws against gambling were supposed to be very strict. Some of the
officers of the boat were determined to kill time by staking a few
dollars at poker, faro or something worse, and inquiries were made in
consequence as to where a game could be found. These resulted
satisfactorily from the gamblers' standpoint, and the crowd took
themselves to the appointed spot, taking with them the very stout,
good-natured, but not very speculative first mate. The game was played
in a small room at the rear of an almost equally small restaurant.
Everything went well for awhile, and those who were winning thought they
had everything the heart could possibly desire. All at once one of the
colored help came rushing in with a notification that the place was
being raided.

It was a case of every man for himself. As is usual in cases of this
kind, one or two got under the table, where of course they were promptly
found and arrested. Two others jumped out of the window, into the arms
of two deputies, who were standing there to receive them. The mate,
caught for the first time in his life in a gambling resort, thought of a
very good plan of escape. Snatching up his hat and coat he walked into
the kitchen, where he found a good-natured colored lady hard at work
stirring batter in anticipation of some table luxury for a coming meal.
With admirable presence of mind the mate picked up an apron, tied it
around him and telling "mammy" to take a few minutes' rest as she was
evidently overtired, he seized her wooden spoon and went on stirring the
batter as though he had never done anything else in his life.

In the meantime every other member of the party had been caught and
taken to the little frame building which answered the purpose of jail
and police-court combined. Various conjectures were exchanged as to the
fate of the mate, whose ignorance of the events incidental to gambling
raids was expected to prove very inconvenient to him in a variety of
ways. All anxiety on this score was, however, thrown away. The old man
acted his part so well that when the raiders saw him laboriously at work
with the wooden spoon they concluded that he was a member of the
establishment. In consequence of this they let him alone, and when the
raid was over he replaced his hat and coat, with the indifference and
nonchalance of an experienced actor, and went quietly back to the b