“She looks too soft an’ fleecy,” he said, speaking of the moon.  “When she’s peepin’ through them lacy-lookin’ clouds it means that trouble is about to stir.”

“We’ll keep a watch,” said Henry.

They continued until midnight and Sol’s troubles still kept off, but about that time all noticed a sudden increase of the breeze, accompanied by an equal increase of dampness.

“Something like a storm is coming and you were right, Sol,” said Henry.  “Now, I wish we knew a lot about sailing.”

“But as we don’t,” said Paul, “I think we’d better take in our sail at once.”

They quickly did so and their precaution was wise.  The wind, blowing out of the north, began to shriek, and the boat, even without the aid of a sail, leaped forward.  Driving clouds suddenly shut out the moon, and the yellow waters of the giant stream, lashed by the wind, began to heave and surge in waves like those of the sea.  The treasure ship, “The Galleon,” pitched and rocked like a real galleon in the long swells of the Pacific, but the five knew that she was perfectly safe.  The broad, square Spanish boat could not be swamped.

“Thank God, we’ve taken in that sail,” said Henry.  “We’re going to have a night of it!  Do you think we’d better pull for the shore?”

“Not now,” replied Shif’less Sol, “the wind’s risin’ too fast, an’ we’d hit a tree or a snag, shore.  Better keep ez nearly in the middle o’ the river ez we kin!”

The soundness of Sol’s judgment became apparent at once.  The shriek of the wind rose to a scream and then a roar.  The night became pitchy dark.  They could see nothing around them but a narrow circle of muddy waters heaving violently.  Under the far horizon in the south and west, low, sullen thunder began to mutter.  Suddenly the sky parted before a tremendous flash of lightning that blazed for a moment across the heavens and then went out, leaving the night darker than before.  But in that moment they caught a vivid glimpse of the flooded forest, the great waste of troubled waters, and all the vast desolation about them.  It was weird and uncanny to the last degree, and despite all the dangers and hardships through which they had passed on land, the five steadied their nerves only with supreme efforts of the will.

“We’ve forgot the covering for our boat,” exclaimed Henry.  “Paul, keep her steady, while the rest of you help me.”

It required the strength of four to spread the tarpaulin in the wind and make it all secure, but they were a strong four and the task was quickly done.  Meanwhile the turbulence of air and water were increasing.  The waves on the river rose higher and higher and the wind drove the foam in their faces.  The thunder, no longer a mutter, became one terrific peal after another, and the lightning burned across the great stream in flash after flash.

“I sp’ose it’s jest the same ez bein’ at sea,” said Sol between crashes.  “I don’t know much choice between bein’ drowned in the Mississippi, which I know is muddy, an’ the sea, which they say is salt.”