On the top of the ridge-boards, the lads saw a half-dressed negro boy.

THE RIVER MOTOR BOAT BOYS

ON THE MISSISSIPPI

OR

On the Trail to the Gulf

By HARRY GORDON

Author of

“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Colorado,”

“The River Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence,”

“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Amazon,”

“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Columbia,”

“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Ohio.”

Copyright, 1913

By A. L. Burt Company

THE SIX RIVER MOTOR BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI

Contents

THE SIX RIVER MOTOR BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI

CHAPTER I—A RAMBLER RECEPTION DAY

A white bulldog of ferocious aspect lay sound asleep under a small table. Lying across the dog’s neck, with his soft muzzle hidden between capable paws, was a quarter-grown grizzly bear. Now and then Captain Joe, as the dog was named, stirred uneasily in his sleep, as if in remonstrance at the liberties which Teddy, the cub, was taking with his person. The bulldog and the cub snored in unison!

The table under which the animals slept stood in the middle of the small cabin of the motor boat Rambler, and the Rambler was pulling at her anchor chain in the muddy water of the Mississippi river—pulling and jerking for all the world like a fat pig with a ring in his nose trying to get rid of the line which held him in captivity.

Although early in November, there were wandering flakes of snow in the air, and a chill wind from the northwest was sweeping over the Mississippi valley. There had been several days of continuous rain, and, at Cairo, where the motor boat lay, both the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers were out of their