bellows placed on each side of the hull of the craft, just below the water-line, and worked by an odd but not complicated system of ropes, valves, and pulleys. When the keel of the vessel grates against the sand or obstruction these bellows are to be filled with air, and, thus buoyed up, the ship is expected to float lightly and gaily over the shoal which would otherwise have proved a serious interruption to her voyage.

“The model, which is about eighteen or twenty inches long, and has the air of being whittled with a knife out of a shingle and a cigar-box, is built without any elaboration or ornament, or any extra apparatus beyond that necessary to show the operation of buoying the steamer over the obstructions. Herein it differs from very many of the models which share with it the shelter of the immense halls of the Patent Office, and which are fashioned with wonderful nicety and exquisite finish, as if much of the labour and thought and affection of a lifetime had been devoted to their construction. This is a model of a different kind; carved as one might imagine a retired rail-splitter would whittle, strongly, but not smoothly, and evidently made with a view solely to convey, by the simplest possible means, to the minds of the patent authorities, an idea of the purpose and plan of the simple invention. The label on the steamer’s deck informs us that the patent was obtained; but we do not learn that the navigation of the Western rivers was revolutionized by this quaint conception. The modest little model has reposed here sixteen years; and, since it found its resting-place here on the shelf, the shrewd inventor has found it his task to guide the Ship of State over shoals more perilous, and obstructions more obstinate, than any prophet dreamed of when Abraham Lincoln wrote his bold autograph on the prow of this miniature steamer.”

When the boat was safely over the dam, in the deep pool below, it was re-loaded, and then sped on its way. At Salt Creek Offutt stopped to make a purchase of live hogs, but the wild, vicious animals were determined not to go on board, and they were full of fight. Once on board, they might make fearful war upon each other, causing much trouble to the trader and his crew. After vainly trying to drive the hogs towards the river, Abraham remarked,—

“It’s no use; they are too ugly to go where you want them to go.”

“They wouldn’t be hogs, if they did,” responded Offutt. “You’ll have to get up some sort of a tackling, Abe, to get them aboard, as you got the boat over the dam.” The last remark was made partly in praise of Abraham, and partly in a vein of humour.

“Sew up their eyes and tie their legs,” exclaimed Abraham; “there’s no other way to get them aboard and keep them still after they get there.”

“That’s it, exactly, Abe,” replied Offutt; “I knew that you could find a way out of the trouble. Let’s see you put your theory in practice.”

Abraham seized a hog by the ears, and directed Hanks to hold him by the tail, while Offutt should tie his legs and sew up his eyelids. “If he fights, he must fight in the dark,” he added.

The experiment proved successful; and the hogs were loaded into a cart and drawn to the river, where Abraham took them up in his long arms, one by one, and carried them aboard.

“Rather cruel,” he said, “but there’s no help for it. In a battle with wild hogs we must use war tactics.”

“You’re a genius, Abe,” said Offutt; “ugly hogs and dams and shoals are of little account to you.”

Before leaving Salt Creek Abraham rigged up “curious-looking sails,” with plank and cloth, to increase their speed. The device accomplished his purpose; but it “was a sight to behold,” as one reliable witness declared. When they “rushed down through Beardstown,” the craft presented such a comical appearance that “the people came out and laughed at them.”