riverside cultivators; the man who owns one sells milk to his
poorer neighbors. Such a nabob was at last found. The animal was
called down from the rocky hills, by her barefooted owner, who, lank
and malaria-skinned, leaned wearily against the well-curb, while his
wife, also guiltless of hose and shoes, milked into my pail direct
from the lean and hungry brindle.

By the time the crew were reunited, storm-clouds, thick and black,
were fast rising in the west. Scudding down shore for a mile, with
oars and paddle aiding the swift current, we failed to find a
proper camping-place on the muddy bank of the far-stretching bottom.
Rain-drops were now pattering on our rubber spreads, and it was
evident that a blow was coming; but despite this, we bent to the
work with renewed vigor, and shot across to the lee shore of
Indiana--finally landing in the midst of a heavy shower, and hurriedly
pitching tent on a rocky slope at the base of a vertical bank of clay.
Above us, a government beacon shines brightly through the persistent
storm, with the keeper's neat little house and garden a hundred yards
away. In the tree-tops, up a heavily-forested hill beyond, the wind
moans right dismally. In this sheltered nook, we shall be but lulled
to sleep with the ceaseless pelting of the rain.

* * * * *

Louisville, Monday, May 28th.--At midnight, the heavens cleared, with
a cold north wind; the early morning atmosphere was nipping, and we
were glad of the shelter of the tent during breakfast. The river fell
eight inches during the night, and on either bank is a muddy strip,
which will rapidly widen as the water goes down.

Below us, twenty rods or so, moored to the boulder-strewn shore, was a
shanty-boat. In the bustle of landing, last night, we had not noticed
this neighbor, and it was pitch-dark before we had time to get our
bearings. I think it is the most dilapidated affair we have seen on
the river--the frame of the cabin is out of plumb, old clothes serve
for sides and flap loudly in the wind; while two little boys, who
peered at us through slits in the airy walls, looked fairly miserable
with cold.

The proprietor of the craft came up to visit us, while breakfast was
being prepared, and remained until we were ready to depart--a tall,
slouchy fellow, clothed in shreds and patches; he was in the prime of
life, with a depressed nose set in a battered, though not unpleasant
countenance. None of our party had ever