and Rick occupied
the time by reading aloud to Scotty, who was piloting.

"'The Choptank River is navigable for large ships to the city of
Cambridge, a principal Eastern Shore port. Yachts will find the river
navigable for twenty miles beyond Cambridge, depending on their draft,
while boats of shallow draft can cruise all the way into the State of
Delaware.'" Rick paused in his reading and looked up. "Be fun to go up
one of these rivers to the source, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe we can," Scotty replied. "Read on."

"'The name Choptank comes from the Choptank Indians who lived in the
area until the middle of the nineteenth century. These Indians were
first discovered by Captain John Smith when he sailed into Chesapeake
Bay in search of a location for what later became the Jamestown
Colony.'"

"We're sailing through history," Scotty commented. "And we'd better step
on it." He pushed the throttles forward. The houseboat accelerated to
its top speed of about twelve miles an hour.

"What's up?" Rick demanded.

"Look to the southwest. That must be one of those Chesapeake Bay squalls
the book warns about."

There was a black line of clouds some distance away, but Rick could see
that the squall line was moving fast, crossing the bay in their
direction. He swung the chart table up and studied the situation. They
were close to the south shore of the Choptank River now, and the chart
showed no easily accessible place of shelter in the vicinity. They would
have to run for the Little Choptank, the next river to the south. The
chart showed several creeks off the Little Choptank. They could duck
into the one nearest the river mouth.

"Can we ride it out if we have to?" Rick asked.

Scotty grinned. "We'll find out, if we have to. But I'd rather not be in
open water when a squall hits this barge. It's not built for storms.
Keep your fingers crossed and hope we get to cover before it hits."

"I hear you talking. I'm going to do a little research." Rick ducked
into the cabin and took the tide tables from the bookshelf. Back on
deck, he leafed through the official publication and found that the
nearest point for tidal data was the Choptank River Light, only a few
miles away and clearly visible. High and low tides at the light were
about three hours and fifteen minutes earlier than Baltimore, the data
station for the area. Rick checked Baltimore data for the date,
subtracted quickly, and glanced at his watch.

"High tide in about a