ey will not know at present then. We have got rid of our tyrants now,
and I am in no hurry to see them again."

"Twig the steamers!" shouted Sim, from the roof of the house, where he
had perched himself to observe the prospect. "They are having a race."

I had seen them before, and I wished they had been farther off, for one
of them seemed to be determined to run over the raft, in her efforts to
cut off her rival. Our craft was in the middle of the channel, and one
of the steamers passed on each side of us, and so close that we were
nearly swamped in the surges produced by their wheels. I breathed easier
when the boats had passed, for I knew how reckless they were under the
excitement of a race. I could hear them creak and groan under the
pressure, as they went by.

We watched them as they rushed forward on their course. They were just
rounding into the Ohio, on their mad career, when we saw one of them
suddenly fly in pieces, torn, rent, shivered, the atmosphere filled with
fragments. Then came a terrific explosion, like the din of an
earthquake, shaking the raft with its violence. The boiler of the
steamer had exploded.

CHAPTER XIX.

AFTER THE EXPLOSION.

When the explosion occurred, the wind was nearly dead ahead, and we were
floating with the current, which was the particular reason why we had
come so near being run down by the contestants.

"What's the matter?" asked Flora, alarmed by the noise, but unable to
explain the cause of it.

"One of those steamers has burst her boiler. Didn't you see the pieces
fly?" I replied.

"But where are the people we saw laughing and talking as she went by?"
continued she, with a shudder.

"A good many of them will never laugh and talk any more."

"Hookie!" shouted Sim, as soon as he comprehended the nature of the
disaster. "That's wus'n fallin' in the river."

"Get out the sail, Sim!" I added, sharply.

"What you want the sail for?" inquired he. "The wind ain't right for
it."

"Up with it, and we will talk about that afterwards."

Letting go the steering oar, I hastened to Sim's assistance, while the
raft whirled in the current as she went down the mighty river. We
hoisted the sail, hauled in the braces, and I took my place on the
platform again. After no little labor at the steering oar, I succeeded
in putting the raft before the wind, thus heading her up the river.

"What are you going to do, Buckland?" asked Flora, who was watching the
scene of the