CHAPTER XXXV. BOB'S ARRIVAL IN ST. LOUIS.
Meanwhile Bob and Clip were steaming rapidly down the river. Now that he was pretty sure of recovering his boat and cargo, Bob gave himself up to the enjoyment of the trip, and was fain to confess that he enjoyed it better than working his passage on the ferry-boat. As for Maud, she seemed to feel as much confidence in our hero as if she had known him all her life. She seemed also to appreciate Clip, but in a different way.
"You're a funny boy!" she said.
"Yah, yah, little missy!" laughed Clip.
"Where's your mother?"
"Dunno, missy! I expect she dead."
"My mamma's dead, too. She's in heaven. Is your mamma there too?"
Bob questioned the little girl as to the manner of her abduction. He learned that she had been carried off from the street in which she lived by Brown, who secured her consent by a promise of candy. Then she was put into a carriage, and given something to drink. When she woke up she was on a river steamer, being landed at length at the place where Bob found her.
"Did my papa send you for me?" she asked.