rk
our way. We must hang on to our money as long as we can." So Mitch went
right up to the captain and says: "Can we get a job on this here boat,
me and my chum?"

The captain says, "What can you do?"

"We can do anything," says Mitch.

"Can you peel potatoes, and carry water, and wait on table?"

"Yes, sir," says Mitch.

"All right," says the captain. "You're hired; ten cents a day and board.
Report in the mornin' at six o'clock."

"I'm ready now," says Mitch.

"Report in the mornin'," says the captain.

Then Mitch says: "Why can't we go on board now, and go to bed and be
ready when six o'clock comes?"

Just then he began to holler at some niggers carryin' some boxes, and he
said to us, "Get out of the way there." We stepped aside, and the
niggers got between us and the captain, and when they was past the
captain had disappeared. We couldn't see him nowheres. There was a man
standin' there, a kind of boss, it seemed. So we asked him when the boat
was goin' back to St. Louis, and he said to-morrow at noon. Then another
boss spoke up and said, "No, we're goin' up to Copperas Creek, back
Saturday." "Who says so?" "Well, that's the talk." "You didn't get that
from the captain." "No, but that's the talk."

"Gee," said Mitch, "what wouldn't you give to sleep on her? We could
sleep on the deck. Let's wait and ask the captain."

We waited around for about an hour. But the captain didn't appear. Then
Mitch says: "Come on, Skeet, we're hired, we belong on this boat, we
have a right to get on her, let's climb around there up to the deck."

So we watched so nobody could see us. We climbed around, up the poles,
over the railing, and got on to the deck. It was way off toward the bow
and nobody was there. We looked at the river a bit. Things got quieter
and quieter. Finally we lay down on the deck and fell asleep.

[Illustration: Susie Skinner]

And pretty soon I began to feel it was gettin' daylight. I didn't sleep
very well. And by and by I felt somebody nudgin' me, and I opened my
eyes, and there stood a man in a white apron with a white cap on. And he
says, "Here, what you doin' here? You ain't got no right on this boat."
He nudged Mitch, and Mitch woke up. Then the man said, "Where do you
boys belong? Did you get on at Bath, or Beardstown?"

"We got on here," says Mitch. "We're hired. The captain hired us to peel
potatoes and carry water, and we're here ready to work."

"You are, are you?" says the cook, for