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When he saw us, I saw him perform some task that made his little boat veer to the left so that he would pass us with a generous space of water between us As I stared at him and his unusual vessel, I heard heavy footsteps on the deck behindtobacco into their pipes as they strolled toward the bow for their evening sestured with his unlit pipe and observed genially, "Now there’s a sight you hardly see anyster, we often encountered such as hirow those boats, you know The gourds from such a vine are i and shape the fruits as they grow When the gourds are large enough, they cut them from the vine, let them dry and harden, and then shape each one into a boat"

"Now that’s a tale," ed him with a smile

"No, sir, as I’, and once even watched theo And I think it’s been over a year since I’ve seen a izard on this river," the captain countered

The little boat had drawn abreast of us as he spoke, and a strange chill ran upthe hair stand up on my neck and arms The captain spoke true The man in the boat stood tall and still, but he held his spread hands out toward his little sail as if guiding soentle breeze was blowing But the wind that the Plains er than the mild breeze that barely stirredthe boat steadily upstrea like it, and I knew a ainst the sinking sun, was at once so peaceful and so powerful a sight that I felt it sank into ic, the wind, and the river, his shell boat ht I kneould reht to the end of my days As he passed us, one of our pole, and the izard acknowledged hiun blast from the upper deck behind me Iron pellets struck the izard’s sail and shredded it Aswith the shock, I saw the craft tip and the man spilled into the river A moof the captain and the raucous laughter fro ofnobles stood on the upper deck, arhter over their prank I looked back toward the izard’s boat, but saw nothing there but blackness and water

I turned to my father in horror "They murdered him!"

Captain Rhosher had already left us and was running toward the ladder that led to the upper deck One of our Plainsmen polemen was faster He did not use the ladder, but scrambled up the side of the cabins to the upper deck, where he seized their gun The poleman threildly away from them, and it sailed over the side of the boat, splashed, and sank A unshot, was on the scene He seized the Plains hi nobles as the captain hurried up the ladder Down on the deck, the other poleth of the flatboat, scanning the river for any sign of the izard I ran to the railing and leaned out as far as I could In the darkness, I could barely make out our wake "I can’t see him!" I called out

AHe tookto our cabin, Nevare This is none of our doing, and none of our business We shall stay clear of it"

"They shot the izard!" My heart was ha with the shock of what had happened "They killed him"

"They shot his sail The iron pellet destroyed theThat was all," my father insisted

"But I can’t see hilanced at the water, and then pulled firmly at my arm "He’s probably swum to shore He’d be far astern of us by now; that’s why you can’t see hierly On the upper deck, Captain Rhosher was shouting at the guide about keeping "those drunken youngsters under control" while one of the young un that had been thrown overboard and de that the captain co so a fist The captain still stood between him and the others