"'Spose," she said, "Beeboo not warm de bowl ob de big pipe plenty proper, den de dear chile Bill take a chill."
"You're a dear old soul, Beeb," said Bill.
Then the dear old soul carefully wiped the amber mouth-piece with her apron, and handed Burly Bill his comforter.
The great raft swayed and swung gently to and fro, so Bill sang his pet sea-song, "The Rose of Allandale". He was finishing that bonnie verse--
"My life had been a wilderness,
Unblest by fortune's gale,
Had fate not linked my lot to hers,
The Rose of Allandale",
when all at once an ominous grating was heard coming from beneath the raft, and motion ceased as suddenly as did Bill's song.
"Save us from evil!" cried Bill. "The raft is aground!"
[CHAPTER V--A DAY IN THE FOREST WILDS]
Burly Bill laid down his banjo. Then he pushed his great extinguisher of a thumb into the bowl of his big meerschaum, and arose.
"De good Lawd ha' mussy on our souls, chillun!" cried Beeboo, twisting her apron into a calico rope. "We soon be all at de bottom ob de deep, and de 'gators a-pickin' de bones ob us!"