nd think
of Mr. Bolton, if that was his name. Several passengers got off at
Memphis, and several more got on to take their places, but from the time
the boat rounded to go up the Arkansas River there was no one who had
anything to say to him, if we except the clerk and the barber.

Tom thought he had never seen so lonely and desolate a country as that
through which the Arkansas flowed. Woods were to be seen in every
direction, and here and there a small clearing with a negro or two
scattered about to show that somebody lived there. The boat stopped a
few times to let off a passenger where there was not the sign of a fence
anywhere around, but she never got out a line for them. She awoke the
echoes far and near with her hoarse whistle, shoved out a gang-plank, a
couple of deck-hands ran ashore with the passenger's baggage, and then
she went on her way up the river. The town of Little Rock was situated
in the woods, and above that it was all wilderness until Fort Gibson was
reached. The _Jennie June_ did not tie up alongside the levee, but ran
on till she came to a little boat with steam up, the only boat there was
at the landing, and made fast alongside of her, keeping her wheels
moving all the while, so as not to pull her away from her moorings.

"Have I got to change to that thing?" said Tom.

"Yes, sir," replied the clerk, who hurried past him with a book in his
hands and a pencil behind his ear. "She's the only one who can go above
here at all. Plenty of room on her. I'll be ready to go with you in ten
minutes."

With his baggage between his feet Tom sat down to await the return of
the clerk, and to make a mental estimate of the vessel that was to take
him 150 miles further on his journey. He saw that she had no Texas on
board of her, her pilot-house being seated on the roof of the cabin. Her
engines were small, being no doubt reduced in weight to make her
carrying capacity equal to passing over the shoal places she would find
before her, her spars were ready for use, and she had no roof over her
main-deck. She could get along very well in dry weather, but what would
she do when a rain-storm came up? Tom noticed that a good portion of
baggage was laid out on the boiler deck, and no doubt some of the
passengers slept there; and consequently it would be a dangerous piece
of business for any of the wakeful parties to attempt to promenade the
main-deck with a cigar, as he had often seen done on the _Jennie June_.

"