All ready!" said Jim, under his breath.

Let her come!"

The boat sprang away, from the bank like a deer, and darted in a long

diagonal toward the other shore. She closed in again and thrashed her

fierce way along the willows as before. The captain put down the glass:

"Lord how she walks up on us! I do hate to be beat!"

"Jim," said George, looking straight ahead, watching the slightest yawing

of the boat and promptly meeting it with the wheel, "how'll it do to try

Murderer's Chute?"

Well, it's--it's taking chances. How was the cottonwood stump on the

false point below Boardman's Island this morning?"

Water just touching the roots."

Well it's pretty close work. That gives six feet scant in the head of

Murderer's Chute. We can just barely rub through if we hit it exactly

right. But it's worth trying. She don't dare tackle it!"--meaning the

Amaranth.

In another instant the Boreas plunged into what seemed a crooked creek,

and the Amaranth's approaching lights were shut out in a moment. Not a

The Gilded Age