them in good stead.

"Ask th' captain how bad she is!" shouted Tom as he caught sight of Joe
Cooper tearing through the crowd like a madman. "I got Patience an'
another woman here!"

"I might 'a' known it," yelled Uncle Joe, fighting back the way he had
come. In a moment he returned and shouted until the frantic crowd gave
him heed. "Cap'n says she can't sink! Cap'n says she can't sink! Listen,
damn ye! Cap'n says she can't sink. He's groundin' her on a bar! Keep
'em out of them boats, boys! _Don't_ let them fools get in th' boats!
Not till th' very last thing! They'll only swamp 'em."

"Good fer you, St. Louis!" roared a mountaineer, playing with a skinning
knife in most suggestive manner.

"Th' boilers'll blow up! Th' boilers'll blow up! Look out for th'
boilers!" yelled a tenderfoot, fighting to get to the boats. "They'll
blow up! They'll blow----"

Zack took one swift step sideways and brought the butt of his pistol
down on the jumping jack's head. "Let 'em blow, sister!" he shouted.
"_You_ won't hear 'em! Any more scared o' th' boilers?" he yelled,
facing the crowd menacingly. "They won't blow up till th' water gits to
'em, an' when it does we'll all be knee-deep in it. Thar on this hyar
deck, ye sheep!"

One man was running around in a circle not five feet across, moaning and
blubbering. Tom glanced at him as he came around and stepped quickly
forward, his foot streaking out and up. It caught the human pinwheel on
the chest and he turned a beautiful back flip into the crowd. Zack's
booming laugh roared out over the water and he slapped Tom resoundingly
on the shoulder.

"More fun right hyar than in a free-fer-all at a winter rendyvoo,
pardner. You kick wuss nor a mule. An' whar _you_ goin'?" he asked a
tin-horn gambler who took advantage of his lapse of alertness to dart
past him. Zack swung his stiff arm and the gambler bounced back as
though he had been struck with a club. "Thar's plenty o' it hyar if yer
lookin' fer it," he shouted, raising his pistol.

Uncle Joe clawed his way back again, Tom's double-barreled rifle in his
hands, and grimly took his place at his friend's side. Suddenly he
cocked his head and then heard Tom's voice bellow past his ear.

"Listen, you fools! Th' fur boat! Th' fur boat!" he yelled at the top of
his lungs. His companions and the other little group of resolute men
took up the cry, and as the furor of the crowd died down, the answering
blasts rolled up the river. Suddenl