McCloud and I now took his skiff, and for two days floated down the Wisconsin River till we reached the Mississippi, boarded the first steamboat we could hail, and let our own little craft adrift.

In due time we reached St.Louis and boarded another steamer for New Orleans.
At a wood-yard, about dark, a lot of negroes, little and big, came on board to sell brooms.

The boat's clerk seemed to know negro character pretty well, so he got out his violin and played for them.

For a while the young colored gentry listened in silence, but pretty soon he struck a tune that suited them, and they began to dance in their own wild style.
In seven days from St.Louis we landed in New Orleans, and found the government steamer, Falcon, advertised to sail in two days.

We went together to one of the slave warehouses.