"What do you want, Mr. Wolverton?" asked Bob, coolly, as he stood at one end of the boat and surveyed the excited agent.

"Come ashore, or I'll have you arrested," shouted the irate Wolverton.

"You are very kind, Mr. Wolverton; but I am in considerable of a hurry, and have not time to comply with your request."

"You'd better come ashore, if you know what's best for yourself."

"Please state your business! If it is anything to my advantage, I may come; but I am just ready to start for St. Louis."

"Is my nephew Sam on your boat?"

"I don't see him. Why should he be on board?"

"I suspect him of running away, the ungrateful young rascal? I thought he might be scheming to go down the river with you."

"Clip," said Bob, gravely, "has Sam Wolverton engaged passage with us?"

"Not as I knows on, Massa Bob."

"If he should, charge him fifteen dollars."

"Yes, Massa Bob," answered Clip, with a grin.

"If you wish your nephew to go to St. Louis on my boat, Mr. Wolverton," said Bob, with ceremonious politeness, "I will take him, being a friend, for fifteen dollars, excursion ticket. You can't complain of that."

"But I don't want him to go," roared Wolverton. "I tell you he has run away."

"That's very strange, considering how kindly and liberally you have always treated him."

Wolverton eyed Bob suspiciously, for he knew well enough that the remark was ironical.

"None of your gammon, young man!" he said, crabbedly. "Send Sam ashore."

"Really, Mr. Wolverton, you must be joking. What have I got to do with Sam?"

"I don't believe a word you say. I mean to search your boat."

"You had better do it at once, then, for it is time for me to start."

"But how am I to get aboard," asked the agent, perplexed.

"You might swim," suggested Bob, "or wade. The water is shallow—not higher than your neck, anywhere."

"That is nonsense. Steer your boat to shore, that I may board her."

"It can't be done, Mr. Wolverton. We can only drift down with the current."

"Then how am I to get aboard?"

"That is your lookout."

Just then Mr. Wolverton espied the flat-bottomed boat which Bob proposed to take with him. He had attached it by a line to the stern of the ferry-boat.

"Row over and take me across."

"I can't spare the time."

Wolverton was about to give vent to his wrath at this refusal, when he observed a boat approaching, rowed by a German boy named Otto Brandes.

"Come here, boy, and row me out to yonder boat," he said.

Otto paused in his rowing, and, understanding the man with whom he was dealing, he asked, quietly: "How much will you pay me, Mr. Wolverton?"

"Five cents to take me over and back," answered the agent, with some hesitation.

Otto laughed.

"I don't work for any such wages," he said.

"I'll give you ten; but be quick about it."

"Give me a quarter and I'll do it."

"Do you think I am made of money?" said Wolverton, in anger. "That is an outrageous extortion."

"All right! Then hire somebody else," said Otto, coolly.

After a fruitless effort to beat down the price, Wolverton sulkily agreed to the terms, and Otto rowed to the bank.

"Now, row with all your might," said the agent, as he seated himself in one end of the boat.

"Your fare, please," said Otto.

"I'll pay you when the trip is over," said Wolverton. "It's a poor paymaster that pays in advance."

"Then you'd better get out of the boat. Railroad and boat tickets are always paid in advance."

"I'll give you ten cents now, and the balance when I land."

"It won't do, Mr. Wolverton. I don't care much about the job anyway; I'm in a hurry to get home."

Otto lived about half a mile further down the creek.

Much against his will, the agent was obliged to deposit the passage-money in the boy's hand before he would consent to take up the oars and commence rowing.

"That rascal Sam is putting me to all this expense," he said to himself. "I'll take my pay out of his skin once I get hold of him."

Clip went up to the barrel in which Sam was concealed.

"Ol' Wolverton is comin', Massa Sam," he said. "Don't you make no noise, and we'll fool de ol' man."

In spite of this assurance, poor Sam trembled in his narrow place of concealment. He knew that he would fare badly if his uncle got hold of him.

"How's he coming?" he asked in a stifled voice.

"Otto Brandes is rowin' him. He's in Otto's boat."

"It's mean of Otto!"

"No; he don't know what de ol' man is after."

It took scarcely two minutes for Wolverton to reach the ferry-boat. He mounted it with fire in his eye.

"Now, where is Sam?" he demanded in a peremptory tone.

"You can search for him, Mr. Wolverton," said Bob, coolly. "You seem to know more about where he is than I do."

Wolverton began to peer here and there, looking into bins of wheat and all sorts of improbable places.

Clip took a broom and began to sweep energetically. Bob could not explain this sudden fit of industry till he saw Clip slyly slip the broom between Wolverton's legs as he was hurrying along, thereby upsetting the unfortunate agent, who tumbled sprawling on the deck.

"Why, you black imp!" he exclaimed, furiously, as he picked himself up, "what made you do that?"

"Couldn't help it, Massa Wolverton! I 'clare to gracious I couldn't!" said Clip, rolling his eyes in a most wonderful manner. "Are you hurt, Massa Wolverton?"

"I most broke my knee!" growled Wolverton, as he rose and limped towards the other end of the boat. "I may be laid up for a week."

"It was de ol' broom did it," said Clip, innocently. "Never see such a broom!"

Bob had hard work to keep a straight face, as he heard Clip's odd accusation against the unoffending broom.

This accident seemed to dampen Wolverton's enthusiasm, and the pain in his knee increasing made him desirous of getting home as soon as possible. Besides, he began to suspect that he was on a wrong scent, as he had thus far found no traces of his runaway nephew. He never once noticed the barrel, over which the piece of sail-cloth had been thrown so carelessly.

"Well, did you find Sam?" asked Bob, composedly.

"No!" snapped Wolverton.

"I seed him jest before you came, Massa Wolverton," said Clip.

"Where?" asked the agent, eagerly.

"Runnin' along the bank."

"In what direction?"

Clip pointed up the creek.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"You didn't ask me, Massa Wolverton."

"Take me ashore quick!" said Wolverton to Otto.

"Hurry up, Massa Wolverton, and mebbe you'll catch him!"

Wolverton was already in the boat, and Otto was rowing him to the shore.

Clip went to the barrel and released the prisoner.

"De ol' man's gone, Sam!" he said.

"I'm glad of it, Clip. I'm almost suffocated."

"Golly, didn't we fool him!" and Clip lay down on his back on deck, and gave way to an explosion of mirth.

A minute later the rope was drawn in, and the ferry-boat started on its adventurous career down the creek.