"Good! You have a better head than I have, Bill; and it's you that should have been skipper, not me."
Nothing was done that day, however, except making a few more attempts with the steamer at full speed to tow her off. She did shift and slue round a little, but that was all.
Next morning dawned as beautifully as any that had gone before it.
There were fleecy clouds, however, hurrying across the sky as if on business bent, and the blue between them was bluer than ever our young folks had seen it.
Dick Temple, with Roland and Peggy, had made up their minds to go on shore for another day while the work of dismantling the raft went on.
But a fierce south wind began to blow, driving heavy black clouds before it, and lashing the river into foam.
One of those terrible tropic storms was evidently on the cards, and come it did right soon.
The darkest blackness was away to the west, and here, though no thunder could be heard, the lightning was very vivid. It was evident that this was the vortex of the hurricane, for only a few drops of rain fell around the raft.
The picnic scheme was of course abandoned, and all waited anxiously enough for something to come.
That something did come in less than an hour--the descent of the mighty Amazon in flood. Its tributaries had no doubt been swollen by the awful rain and water-spouts, and poured into the great queen of rivers double their usual discharge.