Managing and Using Information Systems A Strategic Approach 6th Edition Pearlson Solutions Manual

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Chapter 6: Architecture and Infrastructure
Overview
This chapter focuses on how organizations move from strategy (vision) to architecture (design)
to infrastructure (implementation of design). This is a good chapter in which to include
discussions of hardware, software, and network technologies that make up the infrastructure of
an organization. That includes the latest architectural trends (mainframe, client/server, peer-to-
peer, wireless, etc.), business communications trends (broadband, ISDN, DSL, etc.), and
information management trends (data warehousing, database management, web services such as
Web 2.0, etc). This should be supplemented appropriately based on the instructor's and the
student's interests and background. Consult the instructor’s community site for current
technologies and trends.
Discussion Opener: In the slides, questions are furnished about the Mohawk opening case, as
well as answers in the notes section of the first slide.
Alternate Discussion Opener: What are some of the challenges companies face when they
implement large, complex information systems, such as ERP systems? Summarize actions
managers can take to mitigate the effects of end user resistance.
Key Points in Chapter
Most students believe they need a thorough understanding of technologies to understand how
their businesses can prosper with information systems. They are both right and wrong. A basic,
fundamental understanding of technologies is necessary; but a detailed, technical understanding
of all technologies is not only unnecessary but a fruitless exercise. Any technology covered in a
course today will most likely be out of date by graduation time. Therefore it is the point of view
of this book, and this chapter in particular, to offer a very basic framework for understanding
technologies and for learning how to manage them. It is envisioned that students will use the
basic framework, but in any specific situation, they will need to deeply study the specific
technology they intend to use.
The beginning of this chapter describes Mohawk paper’s transformation of their business due to
opportunities presented by a major bankruptcy in the envelope industry. Mohawk was able to
make use of business partners to assist in their adaptation of particular product lines, on the road
to insourcing each product line.
This chapter focuses on architecture and infrastructure using comparisons to a structural
architecture approach. First, there is a vision of what should be built. This equates to the strategy.
Then, the architect develops plans based on the vision. The plans provide guidance and direction
for others involved in building the system (or building). The architecture is the blueprint which

translates the business strategy into a workable plan. The infrastructure includes the physical
components which, once assembled, execute the plan.
The large number of IT choices available, coupled with the fast pace of technology changes,
makes it nearly impossible to build the perfect architecture. But managers must, nevertheless,
make decisions in this environment. The first step is translating strategy into architecture, and the
second is to translate architecture into infrastructure. Strategy drives a number of business goals.
The goals, in turn, drive business requirements, which drive architectural requirements. The
architecture drives a number of functional specifications, which drive decisions about hardware,
software, networks, and data. Essentially, the process model begins with an abstract concept and
finishes with tangible elements that satisfy the original vision.
A simple framework is presented for use by managers who seek to understand both what a
current information system looks like, and what questions to ask in order to build a new one.
The framework is shown in the table below (this is a simplified version of the Figure 6.3 in the
textbook).
Component What Who Where
Hardware
Software
Network
Data
This framework is most useful when applied to both architectural and infrastructure decisions.
Figure 6.4 describes common architectures, and software-defined architecture is new to this
edition. This new concept is still emerging and new cases and examples are likely to be found in
the future.
The concept “Bring Your Own Device” is described. This topic can be used to engage students
in a friendly debate on the pros (e.g. transfer the cost of the device to the employee, familiarity
using a personal device, less training required) and cons (e.g. security, lack of standardization,
maintenance headaches for IT staff) of a BYOD corporate policy.
Consumerization of IT is also discussed. This involves creating mobile applications for
employee and customer convenience. The expectation is that you will provide an online “app”
for most software functionality that is web-enabled.
Enterprise Architecture includes four key components: core business processes, shared data
(e.g. centralized repository or data warehouse), linking and automation technologies, and
customer groups. Information from experts Ross, Weill and Robertson from their book
“Enterprise Architecture as a Strategy” (2006) is the main source of information for this section.
Enterprise Architecture is important to highlight as many companies have embraced enterprise
systems (SAP, Peoplesoft/Oracle, etc.). A good discussion point for this section may be to
discuss the challenges of implementing such a framework, particularly within a global
organization, or use the GiantCo.com case (later in the chapter).

Virtualization and cloud computing are two concepts that move computing requirements to
third party vendors, transferring the responsibilities and maintenance from the corporate IT
group to a separate entity. Core components that are typically offloaded to vendors are servers,
storage, backup, network, and disaster recovery.
Other managerial considerations when designing and implementing an appropriate information
system are explored. The first is to understand existing architecture, which allows the manager to
evaluate the requirements of an evolving business strategy in terms of current IT capacity and
capability. Second, there is the issue of strategic timeframe. By the time an IT decision is made,
the technology is often already out of date. The architecture must take into account technological
advances and have the capability to adapt as technologies evolve. Third, technical issues
including adaptability, scalability, standardization, maintainability, and security are
introduced. It is important to focus on the security portion of this discussion since that is a
tremendous risk for organizations and must be carefully and properly planned. Fourth, financial
justifications for IT investments are difficult, if not impossible, to calculate since they include
both tangible and intangible costs. Payback calculations in the form of increased productivity,
increased interoperability, improved service, and others are often considered "soft numbers."
(Financial issues are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 8: The Business of IT.)
This chapter takes students through a simple case, GiantCo.com, to illustrate how to go from
strategy to infrastructure, using the framework and questions posed in the chapter. Figure 6.7
provides an example of the managerial considerations using the GiantCo.com case.
Social Business Lens: Building Social-Mobile Applications – Given the ubiquitous usage of
mobile communications devices, social mobile applications are becoming an expectation by this
population. The widespread adoption of smartphones is changing digital communications in
general. Corporations must respond to this demand.
Illustrative Answers to Discussion Questions
1. Think about a company you know well. What would be an example of IT architecture at that
company? An example of the IT infrastructure?
Ans: This is an open-ended question, asking students to draw upon their personal experiences.
An answer would include a description of the architecture as distinct from the infrastructure, and
the advanced student might even start with a strategic business goal and show how it was
translated into both an architectural goal and an infrastructure. Others might use the matrix
framework from the chapter to describe the architecture or infrastructure. Architectural goals
might be used to build an information system that efficiently connects employees, customers,
and vendors, and supplies them with information they need at the time they need it. The
infrastructure that supports that architectural goal might be an intranet connecting personal
computers in every office, supporting software, and a centralized data warehouse with the data
available.

2. What, in your opinion, is the difference between a decentralized architecture and a centralized
architecture? What is an example of a business decision that would be affected by the choice of
the architecture?
Ans: This is a more difficult question for a non-IT manager. Decentralized architecture
(previously referred to as client/server architecture) would be one where the personal computers
(e.g. laptops or desktops) and the network itself contain intelligence, store data, and perform
localized processing. In comparison, a centralized architecture (previously called mainframe
architecture) is one where the majority, if not all, of the data storage and processing functions are
performed by the server. In a centralized architecture, the local systems simply "connect" to the
server and the server does all the work. An example of a business decision that might be affected
is the decision to open up the company's systems to customers. If the architecture is centralized,
the customers need only connect to the server. If the system is decentralized, the customers need
to be added as separate and independent nodes on the network. Security concerns differ for both
architectures, based on where the data is stored and where the processing is performed. For
example, centralized architectures would need protection against problems that might bring
down the whole system. Decentralized architectures would need protection from corrupting the
data and software that might be stored on the local PCs.
3. From your personal experience, what is an example of software as a service? Of BYOD?
Ans: Students will offer a variety of answers from their personal experiences. Google Docs is a
useful starting point for classroom discussion. The software is maintained by the vendor, not
installed on the personal device. The local (or client) device uses the applications through an
Internet connection, making the software universally available and accessible, as long as the user
is online.
BYOD is a hot topic being discussed by managers, without a clear consensus on the outcome.
Students should critically assess the benefits and risks associated with a BYOD corporate policy.
For example, the benefits might include employee familiarity with the devices, transferring the
cost of the device to the employee, and less training required by the employer. Risks might
include network security, lack of standardization and compatibility across the network, and
maintenance headaches for IT staff trying to troubleshoot a large variety of device malfunctions.
Finally, a clear and comprehensive BYOD corporate policy would be required in order to protect
the company from liability with employees and customers.
4. Each of the following companies would benefit from software-defined architecture or
conventional, owned hardware and software. State which you would advise each of the following
fictitious firms (plus the IRS) to adopt and explain why.
a. StableCo is a firm that sells industrial paper shredders. Its business has remained steady
for two decades and it has a strong and diverse customer base.
Ans: Stableco could benefit from a conventional approach, as they do not suffer from
dynamic changes. They are also not dependent on one or two customers. If they intend to
move into new markets, however, they might need to adapt to a software-defined
architecture.

b. DynamicCo is a fast-growing six-year old firm that has relied on three to five key
wholesale customers for its entire existence. However, the list of key customers changes
every year, and during two of the years, sales declined sharply.
Ans: DynamicCo requires agility and could benefit from software-defined architecture.
Their needs change often, and they are dependent on a small number of customers that
change often as well.
c. Plastics3000 is an old, stable plastics manufacturing firm that has kept its sales steady in
the face of competitors as the result of an active research and development team that uses
advanced software to analyze large amounts of data to develop new compounds. Once or
twice a week, office personnel complain of the network becoming very slow.
Ans: Plastics3000 sometimes requires R&D to have more capacity and a software-
defined network would be very useful in allocating capacity when necessary.
d. A downtown Las Vegas casino monitors each slot machine continuously for early
detection of malfunctions such as winnings or losses trending beyond their threshold
limits.
Ans: The casino is likely to need only small amounts of data communication for
performing the monitoring. A small amount of telecommunications bandwidth would
likely be adequate, and there would be little gain from “borrowing” from it.
e. CallPerfect provides call center services to pharmacies. Phone calls are routed to the
company after hours and messages are delivered to the pharmacy manager the next
morning.
If the call center’s bandwidth needs are high during the day but needs are low overnight,
a software-defined architecture would make sense.
f. At the IRS, tax forms are available online for citizens to complete and file with the IRS
electronically by April 15. A call center routes calls to agents who answer taxpayers’
questions.
Because the website takes care of high-bandwidth needs (complex and graphical forms),
the greatest concern is the call center. Like CallPerfect in (e) above, if the call center’s
needs for bandwidth are high during the day, a software-defined architecture would be
quite appropriate.
g. At LittlePeople, Inc., a day care center, parents are called using software on the
administrator’s computer when there is a weather emergency. The school has averaged
120 families for many years.
Because the day care center has only intermittent needs to use a relatively small number
of regular telephone calls, a conventional architecture would save money and complexity
without missed opportunities.

Further Discussion Questions
1. The use of mobile technologies in the workplace has the potential to provide advantage to the
organization. When thinking of mobile computing and communication devices such as a
smartphone, how does this affect the complex interplay between choices of IT infrastructure,
architecture, and software?
2. To supplement this chapter in a classroom setting, students can be asked to research and report
on a current technology. The reporting can take place in a number of ways: students can prepare
a written report (I suggest making it 5 pages or less, since writing less is much more difficult
than writing more); students can prepare a 1-2 page briefing (which they can copy or post on a
web site for their classmates); students can deliver a presentation on the topic and distribute a
one-page “take away” summary; or students can be charged with teaching the topic to classmates
(which, in my class, meant anything but a PowerPoint-type presentation; it had to be fun,
entertaining, and teach something specific about their chosen topic).
4. Corporations are making the assumption that everyone uses a smartphone. For example, QR
(Quick Response) codes can be found in magazines, on posters, and on brochures for all sorts of
products. How does this perpetuate the negative outcomes created by the “Digital Divide”? What
can companies do to change this perception of alienating a sub-population of their customer
base?
Cases
Case Study 6-1: Enterprise Architecture at American Express
This case covers American Express’s use of enterprise architecture to provide a framework to
unite IT and business strategies. Individual units use a common set of road maps to develop and
build architecture and governance processes.
1. What are the key components of the architecture American Express has created?
Ans: The key components presented in the case focus on reference architectures and road maps.
Using a standardized language and initiatives, the company is able to create applications that
work on a common platform.
2. Why was it important to standardize so much of the architecture? What are the advantages
and disadvantages of a standard EA for American Express?
Ans: American Express was determined to maintain a common architecture to improve
efficiency. The advantages include easier maintenance for the IT staff, common language and
general understanding for American Express employees, and a consistent interface for
customers. The disadvantages will focus on the requirement for units to comply with the
standardized architecture. This might require significant changes and modifications, leading to

some initial confusion. There might be resistance from individuals less convinced of the
importance of developing a common architecture.
3. Describe how the new architecture supports the goals and strategy of American Express.
Ans: The corporate goals are to align IT and the business strategy. This includes a consistent
customer experience and the ability to evolve as the industry changes. The enterprise architecture
will facilitate the presentation of new products and services that come along. This structure will
permit the company to grow and change as necessary.
4. What types of future payment products and services should be anticipated and prepared for
by the EA group? What is your vision of how payments might work? If you were advising the
CIO of American Express, what would you suggest his group prepare for?
Ans: With the consumerization of applications, customers will expect to be able to make mobile
payments, check their accounts using their smartphones, and use American Express services at
any time. Smartphone apps will need to include scanner features to deposit checks. Customers
will expect to be able to reconcile problems with their accounts without having to interact with a
human service agent. Electronic signatures will be the norm, allowing for real-time processing of
transactions. American Express will have to continue to innovate. Maintaining a continuous
dialogue with customers and listening to their feedback will allow the company to respond
quickly to new demands. This feedback can also be obtained through social networking outlets.
Case Study 6-2: The Case of Extreme Scientists
This case discusses the use of cloud computing to analyze large, complex data sets. No longer
will individuals require expensive, proprietary technologies to perform intensive calculations.
These functions can be performed relatively cheaply, requiring users to only pay for the capacity
required.
Sample answers to discussion questions:
1. How would you describe the architecture Dr. Schadt uses to do his research?
Ans: The architecture used by Dr. Schadt is a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Amazon.com
is a web-enabled service that the scientist can access using an Internet connection.
2. What are the risks Dr. Schadt faces by using Amazon for his supercomputing? What are the
benefits?
Ans: The risks would include security, reliability, and scalability. Dr. Schadt must rely on the
third party vendor to ensure that any sensitive data is adequately and reasonably protected from
unauthorized access. Users are dependent on the vendor for 24/7 reliability as part of the
contractual agreement. Dr. Schadt is also counting on Amazon to ensure that the capacity is
available, even if his needs increase dramatically. In each case, the end-users must trust that the

vendor will meet their needs. The benefits are that Dr. Schadt can use an advanced analytical
system to process his data while not having to maintain that system himself. He pays a relatively
minimal cost for only the services he uses, without having the expense of hardware, software,
network, and IT staff to ensure the operation of the system. This meets the user’s needs while
shifting the burden of responsibility to the vendor.
3. If you were advising a company trying to make a decision about using cloud computing for
key business applications, what would you advise and why?
Ans: My advice would be to research carefully before signing any contracts. The company needs
to be confident that the vendor is reliable and that the data will be secure. A mutually acceptable
fee structure would be negotiated, as well as intentions for the vendor to maintain current
technologies. It would be unacceptable for the vendor to allow the technologies to lapse, ignoring
any relevant innovations that enter the market. I would consult other clients to determine their
satisfaction with the vendor, and assess the stability of the firm. I would also prefer a vendor that
is somewhat familiar with the needs of companies in our industry.
Supplemental Readings:
Other Cases:
Saab mini-case (now available at
https://books.google.com/books?id=gQkAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=cio+magaz
ine+saab&source=bl&ots=aCcIDYW8i8&sig=Lh4rITasF1IHNSGS5bM6JURA2Bs&hl=en&sa=
X&ved=0ahUKEwjQloyggbLJAhXMND4KHbdwA3UQ6AEIOTAG#v=onepage&q=cio%20m
agazine%20saab&f=false). The case is described in more detail at the source. It shows how
Saab’s vision is embodied in its infrastructure. They were able to facilitate dealer access to
corporate information to improve the timeliness of the information and to consolidate the
information about vehicles, customers, warranties, sales, and service that is accurate to the xxx%
level. These requirements were then translated into infrastructure: this IRIS system is written in
Java using IBM DB2 running on the IBM AS/400. Lotus Domino is the middleware that
mediates between the legacy system and the front-end Web interface.
Cisco Systems Architecture: ERP and Web-Enabled IT by Nolan, R.L., Harvard Business
School, 301099, 23 pages, 2005 (setting: California)
This case discusses Cisco’s replacement of legacy back-office systems with its strategic I-Net.
This includes the ERP implementation and connecting with customers over the Internet. Students
will gain an appreciation of the complexity of implementing an ERP system.
Mercedes-Benz India by Chandrasekhar, R., Haggerty, N., and Venkatagiri, S., Richard Ivey
School of Business, W11084, 13 pages, (setting: India)
While relocating a manufacturing facility to India, the company’s CIO must decide on the
appropriate architecture, IT infrastructure, and IT skills necessary to support the new plant.

Students will be required to consider various tradeoffs as they make managerial decisions. The
international setting will also help students to appreciate the added complexity of global
operations.
Offshoring at EDC by H.W. Lane & D.T.A. Wesley; Richard Ivey School of Business
Education Development Center (EDC), a non-governmental organization, is an example of
offshoring best practice and will help identify factors for successful implementation of an
outsourcing project.
Up In Smoke: Rebuilding After an IT Disaster by S. C. Ross, C. K. Tyran, D. J. Auer Idea
Group Publishing, 2005 (18 pages)
This case discusses the issues faced by the college as they resumed operations and planned for
rebuilding their information technology operations. The almost-total destruction of the college's
server assets offered a unique opportunity to rethink the IT architecture for the college.
End-User System Development: Lessons from a Case Study of IT Usage, by M. E. Jennex;
Idea Group Publishing; 2005; (14 pages)
This case looks at a study of end-user computing within the engineering organizations of an
electric utility undergoing deregulation. The case was initiated when management perceived that
too much engineering time was spent doing IS functions.
Power Conflict, Commitment & the Development of Sales & Marketing IS/IT
Infrastructures at Digital Devices, Inc., T. Butler; Idea Group Publishing. 2005; (18 pages)
The case reports on the web of individual, group and institutional commitments and influences
on the IS development and implementation processes in an organizational culture that promoted
and supported user-led development.
Prudential Chamberlain Stiehl: The Evolution of an IT Architecture for a Residential Real
Estate Firm, A. Borchers and B. Mills, Idea Publishing Group, 16 pages, IT5622, (setting: U.S.)
This case describes the evolution of an IT architecture for Prudential Chamberlain Stiehl
Realtors (PCSR), a 14 office, 250 sales agent real estate firm located in Southeast Michigan.
Information Systems Development and Business Fit in Dynamic Environments, P. Kanellis,
P. Papadopoulou, and D. Martakos, Idea Publishing Group, 12 pages, IT5669
This case describes the effects of privatization on a large industrial organization and sets the
context for illustrating the vulnerability of information systems in turbulent environments. The
case presents a detailed chronology of the events that lead to an increased awareness of the
importance of information systems flexibility. The case examines the difficulties faced by an
organization when its information systems were incapable of dealing with frantic changes in
environmental contingencies.

Nation-Wide ICT Infrastructure Introduction and Its Leverage for Overall Development,
P. Pale and J. Gojsi, Idea Publishing Group, 24 pages, IT5690
This case describes a ten-year effort of creating an information and communications technology
infrastructure in Croatia. Although initially an independent agency, five years after it began
operation, the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNet—had been transformed into
a government agency. The case explores the question of whether or not CARNet has truly been
successful and seeks to answer the question of whether the initial goals have been realistic and
achievements sufficient, considering the low penetration of ICT into the Croatian society.
Outrigger Hotels and Resorts: A Case Study, Gabe Piccoli, 2005, Communications of AIS,
Volume 15, Article 5
This case describes the history, strategy, and current information systems infrastructure of a mid-
size, privately owned hospitality firm. The case is designed to provide the substantial
background information needed to engage successfully in setting a direction for IS resources and
their use at Outrigger Hotels and Resorts headquartered in Hawaii.
Supplemental Readings/Articles
Stamas, Paul J., Michelle L. Kaarst-Brown, and Scott A. Bernard. "The Business
Transformation Payoffs of Cloud Services at Mohawk." MIS Quarterly Executive 13.4
(2014).
Grisot, Miria, Ole Hanseth, and Anne Asmyr Thorseng. "Innovation of, in, on
infrastructures: articulating the role of architecture in information infrastructure
evolution." Journal of the Association for Information Systems 15.4 (2014): 197-219.
McAfee, A. “What Every CEO Needs to Know About the Cloud,” Harvard Business Review
R1111J, November, 2011.
This article provides a general discussion of the anticipated benefits of cloud computing. It also
includes a discussion of the challenges associated with the conversion to cloud computing, and
the resources necessary to facilitate a smooth transition.
Apgar, M. & Keane, J.M. “New Business with the New Military,” Harvard Business
Review. 82(2). 2004.
Virtually all aspects of the military are changing to ensure that it can fight unpredictable threats
while sustaining the infrastructure needed to support and train forces. The military is turning to
nontraditional business partners to meet a wide range of needs, from health care to housing to
information technology.

Kane, K. “Leveraging the New IT Infrastructure for Strategic Agility,” Balanced Scorecard
Report. Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003 (5 pages).
In most companies, IT infrastructure is built in an ad hoc, piecemeal manner, with heavy
investments made on a project or operational basis--and little forethought given to how it must
support the enterprise's evolving strategy. IT infrastructure along with thoughtful, deliberate
decision-making made jointly by business and IT leaders delivers the strategic agility
organizations need in a rapidly changing world.
Managing Your 'Ecosystem', William M. Ulrich, Computerworld, (January 22, 2001)
Component-based frameworks for E-commerce, Peter Fingar, Communications of the ACM
Volume 43, No. 10 (Oct. 2000). Pages 61 - 67.
Personalized communication networks, Doug Riecken, Communications of the ACM
Volume 43, No. 8 (Aug. 2000). Pages 41 - 42.
Capturing human intelligence in the net, Paul B. Kantor, Endre Boros, Benjamin Melamed,
Vladimir Meñkov, Bracha Shapira and David J. Neu. Communications of the ACM
Volume 43, No. 8 (Aug. 2000). Pages 112 - 115.
New I/O architecture draws strong backers, Nancy Weil, Computerworld, (January 08, 1999).
See also the companion article on this architecture at: I/O Rivals Declare Truce, Plan New
Architecture, Stacy Collett, Computerworld, (September 06, 1999).
Schwab simplifies Web trade architecture, Carol Sliwa, Computerworld, (February 22, 1999).
Architecture's promise of better performance will take a while, April Jacobs,
Computerworld, (April 27, 1998).
Books
NOTE: There are many books written about IT architecture and infrastructures, ranging from
very technical to highly managerial. Interested faculty and students should visit local bookstores
and/or online bookstores for the most current titles. Below is just a sampling.
McGovern, J. The Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture. NY: Prentice Hall, 2003.
Wiell, P. and Marianne Broadbent Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders
Capitalize on Information Technology. MA: HBS Publishing, 1998.
Cook, M. Building Enterprise Information Architecture: Reengineering Information Systems.
Prentice Hall, 1996.

Fitzgerald, Jerry, and Alan Dennis. Business Data Communications and Networking. John
Wiley, 1996.
Keen, Peter G.W. & Cummins, J. Michael. Networks in Action: Business Choices and
Telecommunications Decisions. Belmont, CA; Wadsworth, 1994.
Rowe, Stanford H., Telecommunications for Managers. 3rd. ed., Prentice Hall, 1995.
Stallings, William, & Van Slyke, Richard. Business Data Communications. 2nd. ed.,
Macmillan, New York, 1994.
Stallings, William. Data and Computer Communication. MacMillan, 1993.
Websites
www.techweb.com/encyclopedia
TechWeb's TechEncyclopedia offers definitions and links for more than 20000 information
technology terms.
A dictionary of more than 1,000 terms is available at http://www.consp.com/it-information-
technology-terminology-dictionary
A glossary of thousands of technology definitions can be found at http://whatis.techtarget.com/
News
Sept 25, 2015: Fortune says there is mounting evidence that we have a "multi-cloud" world.
Have students read the article at http://fortune.com/2015/09/25/multi-cloud-management/ and
ask them the following: (1) Why would a firm use multiple clouds? (2) Are many vendors
supporting multi-cloud environments? (3) What are "bare metal" implementations? What is an
advantage and a disadvantage of "bare metal" applications?
January 29, 2015: Microsoft has released Office for Tablets, which can have powerful
implications on infrastructure decisions. Have students read the article
at http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/mobile-applications/microsoft-office-arrives-on-
android-tablets-/d/d-id/1318861?itc=edit_in_body_cro and ask them to think of a situation in
which a firm would provide Android tablets to managers who travel quite a bit. Ask them the
following: (1) Would the absence or presence of Office on tablet platform affect the decision?
(2) Given the roll-out, how would a tablet now be more attractive than a thin laptop for the
travelers? (3) Would the pricing model have an impact on the screen size that you would choose
to provide to the travelers? (4) What infrastructure decision would you make in the area of soft

keyboards versus keyboard cases with real keys? Would keyboard size enter into your decision-
making?

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there must be a channel somewhere, and he determined to find it.
With great and laborious care he launched the boat and sprang into
it. Fending off from the teeth of the gorge with his oar, he worked
his way gradually to the right. Twice he had to jump to a floe and
haul his boat out from between two grinding cakes. But in spite of
the labor, of darkness, of weary limbs, and hands numbed with cold,
he gained, until at last he reached the gap and was carried through.
He floated nearly a mile before he could make his way to shore. It
was bleak enough, but he uttered a fervent “Thank God” as he set
foot on solid ground. The river bordered a cornfield at this point, and
many of the rotting stacks were still standing. Kenneth made for one
of these and burrowing into it, sank down to rest. He was
desperately weary and almost unbearably cold, but thankful to his
heart’s core for his escape.
“If I could only rest here till morning,” he thought. It was a
sheltered spot, and he began to feel the reaction following his
tremendous exertions. He was languid and drowsy, and his fast
stiffening muscles cried out for rest. It was a temptation the sorely
tried boy found hard to resist; but the thought of his friends aboard
the yacht, their state of mind when they discovered his absence, and
the loss of their only means of reaching shore, urged him on and
gave him no peace. His imagination pictured the hazardous things
the boys might do if he was not there to calm them. As he lay curled
up on the frozen ground, under the stiflingly dusty stalks, visions
rose of the boys jumping overboard and attempting to swim ashore;
of their setting the “Gazelle” adrift in the hope that she would reach
the bank. Many other waking dreams disturbed him, most of them
absolutely impracticable, but to his overtired and excited imagination
painfully real, and his anxiety finally drove him out of his nest into
the biting cold again.
Then Kenneth stopped to think, to plan, a minute. He had but one
oar—he could not row against the strong current and floating ice—
he could not drag the boat through the water, the shore was too
uneven and fringed, moreover, with ice. Bare fields and brown
waters surrounded him, there was no sign of human habitation,

there was no help to be had, and he must reach the yacht that night
—but how? He studied hard, and could think of but one way—to
drag the boat overland till he was above the “Gazelle’s” anchorage,
then launch it and drift down with the current.
How great the distance was he did not know, but he realized that
it was a long way and that the journey could only be made by the
hardest kind of work, under the most trying of circumstances.
His very body revolted at the cruelly hard exertions, every nerve
and muscle crying for rest; but his will was strong, and he forced his
aching body to do his bidding.
“His Nibs” weighed but seventy-five pounds with her entire
equipment, but what the boat lacked in avoirdupois it gained twofold
in bulkiness. There was some snow on the ground, and this helped
somewhat to slide the small craft along on its strange overland
journey.
So began the hardest experience Ransom had ever yet
encountered. Facing the stiff wind and zero temperature, he slowly
dragged the dead weight over the thinly frosted ground. Oh, so
slowly he crawled along; now going round an obstruction, now
climbing over a stump—forever hauling the reluctant boat along.
Every few hundred yards the nearly exhausted lad stopped to catch
his breath and rest under a heap of cornstalks or a mound of
rubbish, burrowing like an animal. His hands and feet ached with
cold, several times his ears lost their sense of feeling and had to be
rubbed back to life with snow.
He grew dizzy with faintness, for it will be remembered that he,
with the other boys, had had insufficient food for days, and he had
not eaten a morsel since six o’clock. His back ached, his legs ached,
his head ached, he was utterly exhausted; but still he kept on
doggedly. At last he reached a point on a line with the “Gazelle;” he
could just make her out silhouetted against the sombre sky. He knew
his journey was nearly at an end, and he went forward with a last
desperate gathering together of his powers. At length, judging that
he was far enough up stream to launch, he shoved “His Nibs’s” stem

into the water with fear and trembling, for the little craft had passed
through a trying ordeal, scraping over rough ground, stones and
sticks. Ransom could not see if the frail craft leaked, but it certainly
floated. He jumped in and pushed off, still anxious but hopeful,
feeling that he was homeward bound. The “Gazelle” was still afloat—
the thought cheered him.
With the single oar in hand he sat in the stern sheets, and using it
as both a rudder and a propeller, he avoided some floes and
lessened the shock of contact with others.
At last the “Gazelle” loomed up ahead, serene and steady—the
dearest spot on earth to the castaway.
“All right, boys,” Kenneth shouted huskily as he drew near, “I’m O.
K.”
There was no response.
“His Nibs” swept alongside and Kenneth, grasping at the shrouds,
stopped himself and clambered stiffly aboard. All was quiet. His
imagination pictured all sorts of horrible mishaps to the crew, and he
ran aft, stopping only to secure “His Nibs.” Yanking open the frosted
hatch, he pulled open the door and rushed below.
A chorus of snores greeted him. Not one of them knew he had
been gone four hours.
Kenneth did not disturb them; but after hauling the small boat on
deck out of harm’s way he crawled into his bunk and fell into the
stupor of utter exhaustion.
Early next morning all hands were wakened by the bump and
crash of ice, and another day of anxiety began. The morning after,
however, found an improvement in the conditions—the ice had
almost stopped running and the weather moderated. “His Nibs” was
launched and the bottom was sounded for half a mile in every
direction, in hopes that a channel might be found to shore, or down
the river to a more sheltered spot. But bars obstructed everywhere.
There was no water deep enough to float the yacht at her present
draft, except in the basin in which she rested.

“Well, here goes the rest of our ballast,” said Ransom, after the
last soundings had been taken; and all hands began with what
strength they had left to heave over the iron. By taking down the
rigging and tying it together, it was found that a line could be made
fast to shore. The sturdy little anchor was raised and the “Gazelle,”
working her windlass, was drawn to the bank. In her lightened
condition she floated over the bars. Once more they were safe, and
the boys felt that God had been good to them to bring them through
so many perils.
Frank, the nimrod of the party, went ashore and shot a rabbit; a
fire was built, and soon all hands were feasting on hot, nourishing
food—the first for many days. How good it tasted only those who
have been nearly starved can realize.
The sleep which the four voyagers put in the night of the 12th of
December, 1898, was like that of hibernating bears, and fully as
restful.
Kenneth and Arthur drew the long strands of yarn this time, and
set off to find Commerce, Missouri, ten miles across country.
It was a long walk, but the two boys enjoyed it hugely—indeed, it
was a relief to be able to walk straight ahead without having to stop
to turn at the end of a cockpit or the butt of a bowsprit.
For the first few miles the talk was continuous, and many were the
jokes about the mockery of the phrase “The Sunny South” when the
mercury lingered about the zero mark. But as they neared the end of
their journey they talked less, and put more of their strength into
the unaccustomed exercise of walking.
Reaching the town, they telegraphed home that all was well—a
message which they knew would relieve much anxiety. They also
wrote to the postmasters along the line to send mail to the crew at
Commerce. Then, for the first time in two months, they slept in a
bed—a luxury they felt they fully deserved. The boarding-house at
which they had put up was a clean, pleasant place, and the bed—
the feather variety—seemed veritably heaven to them.

Two pleasant girls were also staying at this house, and the boys
had the added pleasure of feminine society. They talked to the
interested maidens of their adventures until the girls’ faces flushed
and their eyes brightened—yes, and moistened even—with sympathy
when they were told of an especially trying experience.
They had had many interested listeners all along the line, but the
hero-worshipping look in the eyes of the two girls was particularly
sweet to the boys.
“Say, Ken,” Arthur said comfortably, as he tumbled into bed, “let’s
stay a week.”
“Yes, this bed is immense, isn’t it?”
“Oh, hang the bed!” Arthur growled. “You’re the most material
duffer; there is something besides creature comforts in this world,
after all, you know.”
“No, I am not. I appreciate a pretty audience as much as”—
Ransom interrupted himself with a yawn—“you do, but whaz-zer use
of discussing——”
Another yawn stopped his speech, and at the end of it he was
sound asleep.
“H’m!” grunted Arthur in disgust, and he turned his back upon
him.
The purchases the two made the next day weighted their backs
but lightened their pockets, and Ransom had to telegraph for more
money.
It took considerable resolution to break away from the pleasant
society at the boarding-house and trudge the long miles to the yawl
carrying a heavy pack. But they summoned up courage, and with a
pleasant good-bye and a grateful “Come again” ringing in their ears,
they once more started out on their adventures.
At the end of three days they were back again, Kenneth to receive
his money order, which was due by that time, and the mate to help
carry more supplies. That night they told more thrilling tales and

took part in a candy-pull. The next day Arthur had to return alone.
Kenneth’s money order had not come, so he had to wait for it.
“Why didn’t I work the money order racket?” said Arthur, as he
reluctantly shouldered his pack. “Ransom’s in luck this time.”
For a week Kenneth waited for word from home; then he began to
get nervous; he did not know if all was well or not. Letters came for
the other boys, but none for him. He got more than nervous; he
became absolutely anxious. Moreover, he wanted to get under way
again. The little town of Commerce, with its 1,600 people, he had
explored thoroughly; made excursions into the woods and had some
good shooting; but in spite of unaccustomed pleasures he was
restless. He wanted to be moving down the river again. Whether it
was the lack of news from home or some other cause, he could not
tell, but he had a foreboding of some impending disaster. At the end
of the sixth day of his stay in the little Missouri town Frank
appeared. An anxious look was on his face.
“My! I’m glad to see you, Ken,” said he. “We wondered what had
become of you, so I traipsed over to see.”
Kenneth explained the difficulty. “Everything all right aboard the
‘Gazelle’?” he asked.
“Well, no,” Frank said reluctantly. “When are you coming back?”
“To-morrow, I hope. But what’s the matter aboard?” Kenneth
remembered his forebodings. “Don’t keep me waiting; what is it?”
“The fact is, Arthur’s sick, and neither Clyde nor I know what to do
for him.”
“What’s the matter with him?”
“I don’t know. He has a bad cold and some fever, I guess, and he
seems kinder flighty.” Frank began to reveal his anxiety. “When he
showed up the other day after walking from here he talked sort of
queer about the game you played on him, the girls you met, and
about a feather bed—got ’em all mixed up. Had a terrible cough,
too. He’s in bed now.”

“I wish I could go back with you, but I will have to wait for that
money—I need it.”
Frank returned alone after taking a good rest, and Ransom waited
for news from home.
Late in the afternoon of the next day it came. Cheerful, helpful
letters from the dear ones in Michigan. The money order came too.
Kenneth bought his supplies, and, after bidding his friends good-
bye, started out on the long journey. During his stay in Commerce
the weather had softened, the frost had come out of the ground,
and thick, sticky mud made walking difficult. The boy stepped out in
lively fashion, in spite of the eighty-five pound pack he carried and
the heavy rubber boots he wore. He forgot the weight and
discomfort in his anxiety to get to the yacht and the sick friend
aboard of her.
It was four o’clock when he started, and he had not been on his
way much over an hour before the darkness fell, and he had to pick
his way warily. Of necessity he moved slowly, and the pack grew
heavier with every stride. The sticky mud held on to his rubber boots
so that his heels slipped up and down inside until they began to
chafe and grow tender. An hour later he was still walking—more and
more slowly under the weight of the pack, which seemed to have
acquired the weight of a house. Blisters had formed on his heels and
were rapidly wearing off to raw flesh.
When he hailed the “Gazelle” at seven o’clock, after three hours of
most agonizing trudging, he was very nearly exhausted and his heels
were bleeding. The absolute necessity of reaching Arthur soon and
of applying the little knowledge he had of medicines, had kept him
from going under, and had given him courage to go on his way.
“Thank God, you’ve come!” was Clyde’s greeting when he came to
ferry Kenneth over.
“How’s Arthur?” was the skipper’s first inquiry.
“Crazy; clean crazy, and awful sick.” Clyde was clearly greatly
worried.

“Oh! I guess he’ll come out all right.” Ransom saw that it was his
play to put on a cheerful front and conceal the anxiety, the physical
weariness and pain he felt. “You can’t kill a Morrow, you know.”
They stepped aboard, and the first thing the captain heard was his
friend’s incoherent muttering.
Arthur lay tossing on his bunk in the chilly, musty cabin, half
clothed and in very evident discomfort. His eyes were open, and it
cut Kenneth to the quick to see that there was not a sign of
recognition in them.
All weariness and pain were forgotten in the work which followed
to make the sick boy more comfortable. Hot soups were prepared
and fed to him. Ransom had luckily provided a medicine chest for
just such an emergency, and now he drew on its resources wisely.
It was midnight before Arthur was quieted and asleep. During the
entire evening the three boys were as busy as they could be,
cooking, heating water, cleaning up and setting things to rights.
Then only could a council be held and the situation discussed in all
its bearings.
“Well, Doc,” said Frank, smiling wanly, “what do you think is the
matter with Art?”
“I wish I was an M. D.” No wish was more fervently spoken. “Oh!
Arthur has a bad cold, I think,” Ransom began his diagnosis, “and
his nerves are used up. Too much ice pounding and threatening, and
not enough sleep.”
“What shall we do?” Clyde asked. “These are pretty small quarters
to care for a sick man.”
“We’ll spoil his rest cluttering round,” suggested Frank.
“Well, I think that if we put him ashore in a hospital he would miss
us and the familiar things around; he would have nothing to think of
but himself, and he would worry himself worse,” Kenneth expressed
his convictions with emphasis.
“But he would get better care,” Frank objected.

“Oh, I think we can look out for him all right,” the skipper
interposed, “and I honestly believe that if he came to himself in a
hospital with strange people round, nurses and things, he would
think that he was terribly sick, and the thought of it might really do
him up. If we keep him aboard—and I promise you that I will nurse
him with all-fired care—(Kenneth spoke so earnestly that his friends
were touched and reached forth hands of fellowship)—I think that
when he comes to and finds himself with us and on the old ‘Gazelle,’
he will pull himself together in great shape and brace up. As long as
Arthur has his nerve with him, he’s all right. We have had a tough
time of it, and he has lost his grip a bit; but I am dead sure that if
we stick by him he will pull through all right.”
“It’s all right, old man,” Clyde said heartily. “We are with you. Ain’t
we, Frank?”
Frank said nothing, but got up and crossing the cabin took the
skipper’s right hand while Clyde took the left. The three gripped hard
for a second in silence. It was a compact to stand together through
the trials that they knew were coming.
It was a strange scene: the little cabin, dimly lighted by the
swinging lamp; the sick boy in the corner bunk forward on the
starboard side lay breathing heavily, his flushed face in deep
shadow. The three boys sat on Ransom’s bunk in a row on the
opposite side, the soft light shining on their anxious faces, their
hands still clasped. Outside the great river rushed, and the “Gazelle”
tugged at her moorings, the rudder slatted, the booms creaked
against the masts and the rigging hummed an answer to each
passing gust.
It was a time to try the temper of the young voyagers, and
bravely they stood the test.
“Well, what’s the matter with turning in?” It was Kenneth’s voice
that broke the stillness.
Not till Frank and Clyde had begun to snore had Ransom time to
care for his aching heels. To pull off his boots was trying, but when
he came to take off his stockings he could hardly suppress a cry of

agony. The blood had clotted and stuck to the raw spot, and it felt
as if he was pulling the nerves out by the roots. It was a long time
before the burning pain allowed him to sleep.
At the first opportunity the voyage was continued; and it was with
a feeling of relief almost amounting to hilarity that the line ashore
was cast off, and the “Gazelle,” her bowsprit pointing down stream,
got under way again. That treacherous place, fraught with so many
perils, such weariness, pain, and anxiety, was behind them at last.
They were headed for the land of promise, the real “Sunny South.”
Even Arthur seemed to be less fretful, less exacting. Perhaps the
swish of the water along the yacht’s smooth sides was soothing, or
maybe the heave of the little craft as she felt the pressure of the
wind, comforted the sick boy. Certainly, it had that effect on his
more fortunate companions.
When the “Gazelle” flew past the mouth of the Ohio River and
anchored just below, the crew felt that they were really getting
there. They visited Cairo, and though they were impressed with the
advantage of its superior location at the junction of the two great
rivers, they were glad that they did not live in its low-lying streets.
At Columbus, Kentucky, the crew made the acquaintance of a
physician and dentist, who travelled about the South in a private car.
Though Kenneth felt that his diagnosis of Arthur’s case was correct,
he was mighty glad to have a physician confirm it. Arthur improved
slowly—too slowly. He had a genuine case of nervous prostration. At
times he was delirious, and then he lived over again all the horror of
the yacht’s long imprisonment in the drifting ice. The poor boy’s
malady made him exasperatingly irritable and hard to please, so that
the cabin of the “Gazelle” was by no means the cheery home it had
been.
But the captain’s cheerful fortitude and determination to see the
thing through in spite of hostile elements, scant means, sickness and
utter ignorance of the stream, inspired the busy members of the
crew so that they worked together in beautiful harmony.

On the afternoon of Christmas Day the “Gazelle” drew abreast the
front of Columbus, Kentucky, and while Frank and Clyde went ashore
for mail, Kenneth stayed aboard to look after the invalid mate and
cook the Christmas dinner. As the fragrant odor of broiling game and
steaming coffee rose, Kenneth thought of the far-away Michigan
home; of his father, mother and relatives gathered round the ample,
homely table; of the snatches of cheerful talk and gentle raillery; of
the warmth and comfort and love.
“Say, Ken,” sounded a plaintive voice from the other side of the
cabin, “where are the boys? What are we waiting here for? Give me
a drink, will you?”
It was a painful awakening, but Ransom satisfied Arthur’s wants,
soothed him, and braced himself with the determination that win he
must and win he would in spite of all obstacles.

CHAPTER VII
SAILING WITH FROZEN RIGGING
From Columbus, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee, as the crow
flies is, approximately, but one hundred and twenty-five miles, but
by river it is two hundred and twenty-eight tortuous, puzzling miles.
This distance the “Gazelle” made in nine days, including delays
caused by fog, adverse winds and extra careful sailing on account of
the sick boy.
The “Father of Waters” the party found to be an absorbingly
interesting stream. At every turn (and on an average there was a
turn about every other minute, it seemed to them) they saw
something new, something strange and interesting. As they cruised
along, people told them of river towns which the Mississippi had now
left far inland as it had gradually formed a new channel and
straightened its course. Others told of farms which had contributed a
third or even four-fifths of their acreage in a single year to the
undermining current of the stream; the land not infrequently being
added to another farm not far below. The changes in the stream
played all sorts of pranks with the boundaries of States. A man living
in Missouri might in a single night find his property switched over
into Kentucky or Tennessee, the boundary line, the Mississippi
having carved for itself a new channel and cut its way through a
bend.
After leaving Columbus, Kentucky, the “Gazelle” found herself on a
straight piece of water with a strong wind on the starboard quarter.
Ransom claimed that every point of sailing was the “Gazelle’s” best—

running, reaching and beating to windward, all best—but, at any
rate, she skimmed along this day like a bird. Kenneth was at the
stick, while Frank held the Mississippi guide to watch out for beacons
and channel marks. For once all was clear, the channel straight and
no dangerous shoals marked. It was a relief to strike such a good
piece of river. The air was bracingly cold, and all three of the boys
felt exhilarated.
“How is it down below, Art?” Frank inquired cheerfully. “How is it
with the ‘land-lubber lying down below, below’?”
“I’m below, all right.” The voice was weak but vehement. “Still, I
object to being called a land-lubber. I’ll show you fellows one of
these days that I’m as good a sailor as any of you.”
“Art is getting touchy,” said Kenneth. “He’ll be all right soon, I am
willing to bet.”
“Will you look at that!” exclaimed Clyde, who had been gazing
forward for some time. “Just wait until I get my gun.”
He pointed to a black object that was bobbing up and down in the
brown flood. It looked like an animal swimming against the strong
current. While Clyde went below, Ransom shifted his helm in order
to get nearer, and before he realized it they were bearing down on
the object at terrific speed. The yacht, going with the current, was
making almost ten miles an hour.
“Sheer off, for heaven’s sake, Ken!” sang out Frank. “Quick!” Then
as the yacht yawed to starboard she passed the black thing which
had excited Clyde’s hunting instincts.
“Gee! you ought to know a ‘sawyer’ when you see it, by this time.”
Frank’s tone was full of superior disgust.
“How did you find out what a sawyer was, Mr. Smarty?” Clyde was
trying to conceal his gun behind him, and he looked foolish. “What is
it, any way? I bet you don’t know.”
“Don’t I, just! It’s a piece of timber, one end of which, water-
logged, sinks to the bottom and is partly buried; the current
overcomes the buoyancy of the wood from time to time and causes

the upper end to sink; this makes the motion like a man sawing
wood—hence the name.”
“Thanks, Professor.” Clyde made a mock bow. “But all the same,
the captain himself didn’t know what it was, and pretty near
punched the boat’s bottom full of holes.”
As they went southward the character of the country changed.
The high, heavily timbered bluffs, often bold with jutting rocks, so
characteristic of the upper river, began to give way to more easy
slopes. The stream broadened and the level rose higher each day.
Often, as the “Gazelle” sped along, a river steamer was met
ploughing along up the great stream. Her long gangways raised up
before her like horns (long gangways made necessary by the gently
sloping banks and absence of docks); her tall stacks, side by side,
running athwartships, bore between them the insignia of the line, an
anchor or a wheel. The stacks ended in a fancy top, which Ransom
said reminded him of pictures of the trimming the little girls of long
ago wore round the end of their pantalettes. The river boats are very
shallow, and very wide for their length, but in spite of their
unboatlike appearance and their great thrashing wheels, they make
good time. Sometimes a speed of fifteen miles an hour against the
current, and twenty-five with the stream, is attained.
Kenneth congratulated himself repeatedly that he had started on
this trip, for he realized that in no other way could he have gained
so much information about shipping.
They stopped several days at Memphis, partly to give Arthur a
quiet rest, partly because the weather conditions were against them.
At the levee a number of boats were nosing the bank, their long
gangplanks outstretched before them like great arms. A constant
stream of roustabouts trundling bales of cotton, rolling barrels,
lugging boxes, went up the gangways. The mate stood near at hand,
in a conspicuous spot, where he could see and be seen, and so
belabored the toiling men with torrents of words, that it seemed as if
he was the motive power of the entire procession. The negroes

seemed not to notice him at all, but moved along at a steady,
rhythmical gait.
Frank and Clyde stood watching. They marvelled at the amount of
stuff carried aboard. “I bet they work the same racket that the
spectacular shows employ,” Clyde said after a while. “If you look aft
there somewhere, you would see the same niggers carrying the
same bundles and things ashore again.”
“Oh, come off!” exclaimed the other.
“Yes, sure; they form an endless chain.”
Frank vouchsafed him no further reply, but suggested that they try
to get on board and see for themselves.
“Can we come aboard?” Frank shouted to the mate when he
stopped to take breath.
“I reckon you can,” was the answer. “Look out, you yellow-livered
son of a bale of cotton! Do you want to knock the young gentlemen
overboard?”
The two boys got on deck and out of range of the mate’s rapid fire
of invective as soon as they could. As luck would have it, they ran up
against a pilot the first thing, to whom they told something of their
trip. This the boys found, as usual, to be an open sesame, and their
newly discovered friend showed them over the steamboat, and
pumped them for stories about their trip. From the hold, which was
hardly seven feet deep, to the hurricane deck and the pilot house
they went. The wheel house reached, the pilot was in his own
domain, and he made them sit down while he pumped them dry. He
marvelled that a boat of the “Gazelle’s” draught could come through
at this stage of the water, with only sails for motive power.
From the great brass-bound steering wheel to the tall boilers,
which could not find room in the hold, and showed half their
circumference above the first deck, the boat was full of interest to
the young voyagers.
“Jiminy! what a lot she carries,” Clyde exclaimed, as he noticed the
pile of cotton bales, boxes and barrels which was rapidly growing, till

it seemed as if it would fill the boat from her blunt bow to stern
post.
“She’ll carry a thousand tons without turning a hair,” said the pilot
calmly, as he shook their hands. “Tell your captain to come aboard if
he cares to.”
Ransom did “care to,” and he went over the craft from keel to
flagstaff; noticed her construction, and marvelled at her shallowness
—it was part of his business as well as his pleasure, and he
wondered how the steamboat mate’s talk would sound if the oaths
were left out. He imagined it would simply be intermittent silence.
In describing it afterwards, he said that the mate’s language was
like a rapid-fire gun with a plentiful supply of blank ammunition.
Arthur improved rapidly, and by the time they had explored
Memphis—visited its fine old Southern mansions, the busy cotton
market, and hobnobbed with the steamboat people—he seemed
much more like his old self, though his painful thinness and
weakness showed how seriously ill he had been.
After staying at Memphis for ten days, the “Gazelle” spread her
sails, and slipped down the river on her way to the sea.
At Peters, Arkansas, the boys spied a cabin boat tied up in a little
cove, and there was a big “26” painted on its side.
“Well, this is luck!” said Kenneth. “There are the chaps we saw
above Philadelphia Point. Hail them, Frank.”
“Hulloo, twenty-six!” Frank’s shout rang out in the frosty air. “Is
the boss in?”
A head appeared at the door of the cabin. “The boss is in, who
wants to see him?” it said.
The “Gazelle” rounded to, and tied up to the bank a little below
the cabin boat. As soon as the sails were furled, and everything
made ship-shape, all four boys visited their friends, and for the
greater part of a week spent most of their time aboard the roomy,
warm house boat. Arthur improved wonderfully, and all hands began
to gain weight and grow fat on the game which they shot.

The crew of the “Gazelle” were almost won over from the more
strenuous life of sailing, to the free and easy cabin-boat life, which is
the nearest approach to tramping that a dweller on the water can
come to. All along the river the boys saw cabin boats drifting slowly
along down stream, or tied up in the shelter of little coves near
some town. Boats of varying degrees of respectability composed this
fleet. Boats well built, clean and always brightly painted, homes of
fairly prosperous families, whose head worked on shore while the
home was afloat, in such manner saving rent and taxes. Boats built
of bits of timber, boards, and rusty tin, shanties afloat, the
temporary homes of the lowest order of river people. Theatres,
dance halls, dives of various sorts, churches, stores—all had their
representatives on the mighty stream. A great host of nomadic
people that followed the heat to lower river in winter, and ran up
stream from it in summer.
Many of the river people were like the dwellers of No. 26, merely
temporary members of the river community, who took this method
of seeing the river, and resting from the stress of business.
It was with a feeling of regret that the boys at last took leave of
their hosts and went aboard their thoroughly cleaned and freshened
yacht. All hoped that the “good-by” they shouted over the fast
widening strip of water would prove after all to be only “au revoir.”
“There’s no use talking, boys,” the skipper said gravely, “we’ve just
got to hump ourselves and get south, where it’s warm, so that we
won’t have to burn so much oil. It’s simply ruinous.”
“All right; if you keep healthy, Art, and we don’t run aground, and
the boat don’t get holes punched in her with the ice,” Clyde
remarked, “we may see New Orleans before the glorious Fourth.”
“It’s no joke, Clyde,” said Ransom. “I’m almost busted, and I won’t
have enough to carry me through the Gulf if we don’t hurry.”
“Like the old coon who hurried up to finish his job before his
whitewash gave out,” laughed Frank.
But in spite of good resolutions and ardent hopes, progress was
slow. Head winds sprang up, dense fog shut down, obscuring

channel marks, even snow fell—the weather was certainly against
them.
TAKING SOUNDINGS.
“... FRANK SHOUTED, ‘THREE FATHOMS!’”
“The ‘Sunny South,’” Ransom quoted scornfully one morning when
he put his head out of the companionway and got a block of snow
down his neck. “They have a funny brand of sun down here.” Yet as
he looked shoreward, his eye rested on an old Southern mansion.
Fluted columns supported its double portico, wide-spreading trees

from which hung in festoons the (to Northern eyes) weird Spanish
moss, clustered thickly around it; beyond were cotton fields, the
whiteness of the blossoms rivalling the freshly fallen snow.
“Say, fellows, pinch me, will you?” Kenneth shouted down to his
friends. “I’ve got a bad dream, I guess. All hands on deck to shovel
snow.” Kenneth’s shout was very fierce. Frank appeared with a
broom, Clyde with a dust pan, and Arthur brought a scrubbing
brush.
“Pipe sweepers, mate,” commanded the captain.
Arthur’s whistle was a failure, for the simple reason that one
cannot pucker the mouth to whistle and laugh at the same time, but
the crew understood, and all hands turned to and swept the decks
free of snow.
“Pipe breakfast,” was the next order. This was not necessary,
however; all four boys tried to get through the two-foot wide
companionway at once, and all four stuck while the tantalizing odor
of steaming coffee filled their nostrils. Clyde fell out of the bunch to
the cabin floor, which relieved the jam, and gave the others a
chance.
At Vicksburg the boys tied up for four days, and visited the bone
of contention between the North and the South so many years ago.
They found many reminders of the great siege—earthworks still
plainly visible, the old stone house where Grant and Pemberton met
to arrange for the surrender of the town. Most impressive of all was
the great national cemetery—a great city of the dead. Then the boys
realized as they never could by any other means the terrible
struggle, the bravery shown on both sides, and the despair of the
besieged as they were hemmed in more and more closely by the
Union lines, while their ammunition gave out and the food grew
scarce. The travellers found that the war was still the chief topic of
conversation in the South, and they got a point of view new to them.
Events were still dated on the “time of the war,” so it seemed as if
the great conflict had taken place but a few years ago. There was a
new topic, however, that the Northern boys could talk about without

the least danger of giving offence. In the war with Spain, the sons of
the Union and the Confederate soldier fought side by side, and the
people on both sides of Mason and Dixon’s line were equally proud
of their achievements.
As the “Gazelle” got under way and sailed down stream, the boys
looked back at the heights, while their thoughts carried them back to
the time when Porter’s fleets lay at anchor in about the same
position and waited for the storm of iron from the guns mounted
there to cease. But the wind was blowing half a gale, and their
attention was called back with a jar from the past to the very
practical present. The stream was now very full, and there was little
danger of running aground, so Kenneth determined to sail in spite of
the freshening wind and the steady drizzle that froze as it fell. It was
Arthur’s turn at the stick, but it was just the kind of weather to hurt
one weakened by illness, so Kenneth took his place, and sailed the
boat. The wind a little abaft the beam (another of the best points of
sailing, according to Ransom), the little boat sped on, racing,
seemingly, with the billows the gale kicked up.
The other three boys stayed below in comfort, while the captain,
wrapped in a big ulster and crowned with a yellow sou’wester, held
the tiller, and looked the part of the weatherbeaten mariner down to
the ground.
The wind was steady and very strong, so that the yacht keeled
over before it, and almost buried her lee rail under; the sails
rounded out to the blast, and as the rain froze on them, the rigging,
the spars and the deck, she looked like a great candied boat, such
as the confectioners like to display in their store windows. It was
exhilarating, this flying along in the wintry air, but the frozen rigging
and stiffened sheets made sailing difficult and dangerous. It would
be impossible to reef, and difficult to lower the canvas under these
conditions.
With eyes alert, and ready hand on tiller, Kenneth watched for
snags, for reefs or for sand bars, while the cold rain dashed into his
face in spite of the close-drawn sou’wester. Mile after mile the good
craft sped on—swift, sure and steady. Past islands low lying and gray

in the mist, past forests of cypress, white and glistening with frost,
the gray moss hanging from the branches sleet covered and
crackling in the wind. It was a run to remember, a run that
stimulated, yet at the same time left the steersman surprisingly
tired, as Ransom found when he tried to work his stiffened limbs and
help furl the canvas.
“I wish that this sail had a few hinges,” Frank complained, as he
thumped it in a vain endeavor to roll it up compactly. “Might as well
try to roll up a piece of plank.”
It took over an hour to get things stowed properly that under
ordinary circumstances could have been disposed of in fifteen
minutes; and though the captain firmly intended to write up his log
that night, it was only by the exercise of a good deal of will power
that he kept awake till supper was over.
The following day the “Gazelle” lay close to the levees of Natchez,
having covered the distance of ninety-three miles in less than a day
and a half.
This old town the boys thought the most beautiful that they had
seen. The stately old mansions were surrounded by gardens, and
trees grew everywhere.
The town crowned the last of the heights of the Mississippi, and
the view from the bluff is one of the finest anywhere along the river.
Before starting on the cruise the boys had read about the places
they were likely to visit, and they recalled that Natchez was one of
the earliest settlements on the river. They remembered, too, that the
Natchez Indians, perhaps the most intelligent of their race, were one
of the ten first tribes to run foul of the white man’s civilization. Swift
and sure pacification, by means of the sword, was their lot.
“Natchez under the hill,” as the cluster of houses occupying the
narrow strip of land between the river and the steep slope is called,
was as unattractive and foul as Natchez proper was beautiful and
wholesome. Not many years ago it bore the reputation of being one
of the hardest places on the Mississippi, and even when the boys
anchored off its water front, they found it far from desirable.

A run of a hundred and thirty-nine miles in three days brought the
“Gazelle” and her crew to Baton Rouge. Though the wind was
blowing hard when they reached the town, they had to be content
with the meagre shelter of a few scattered trees on a low point. It
was practically an open anchorage.
“Looks squally,” Arthur remarked as he tied the last stop on the
furled mainsail. “How’s the glass?”
“Going down like thunder,” Ransom answered from below.
“Thermometer shows 15 degs. Gee, I hope this wind lets up.”
“Shall I put out the other anchor?” the mate inquired. It was a
precaution Kenneth thought wise to take.
“I’ll bet we have troubles to burn to-night,” the skipper said half to
himself, as he lashed down everything movable with light line and
rope yarn.
By the time supper was finished, the wind was howling through
the rigging like a thousand demons. The little ship tugged at her
anchors, and bobbed up and down over seas that grew more
turbulent each moment.
The usual cheerful talk, jests and snatches of songs were much
subdued, or, indeed, entirely lacking this night. Instead, the four sat
and talked abstractedly with lowered voices, and from time to time,
the talker would interrupt himself to listen to some peculiarly vicious
blast.
The light of the pendent lamp, as it swung with the motion of the
boat, cast strange, distorted, dancing shadows, and the boys sat
close together as they listened to the howling of the wind. They
were not afraid, but the agitation of the elements, the wind, the
cold, and the continuous jumping and staggering motion of the
yacht sent uncomfortable chills down their spines.
“I’ll play you Pedro,” Kenneth’s voice sounded strangely loud in the
cabin. He felt that it was not good to sit still and listen to the
tempest.
The table was propped up, and the cards dealt, but it was playing
under difficulties—someone had to keep his hand on the cards

played to make them stay on the table. The boys’ hearts were not in
it, and they made absurd mistakes. Kenneth rallied them, and tried
in every way to steer their thoughts away from the danger, the
tempest and the cold; but in spite of all he could do, the boys
stopped playing and listened with all their ears. The hum of the
rigging, the slap of the waves against the sides, the quick snap-snap
of the tight drawn halliards against the masts—all contributed to the
mighty chorus in honor of the gale.
Of a sudden there was a heavy thud and then a sliding sound—a
sound different from all the other voices of the storm.
“What was that?” It was hard to tell whether it was one voice or
four that uttered the words. The boys sprang to their feet, and stood
for a brief moment listening.

CHAPTER VIII
AN ICY STORM OFF “SUNNY” BATON ROUGE
On the alert but motionless, the four boys waited for a repetition
of the strange noise, wondering what it meant. The wind still
shrieked; all the pandemonium of sound continued, but the queer
sound was not repeated, neither was the unusual jar.
Kenneth was the first to move. He jumped to the companionway,
and pushed at the hinged doors leading on deck, but they did not
move. Glued with the frost, they refused to open. He put his
shoulder against them, and pushed with all his might. The expected
happened—the doors opened suddenly, and Kenneth found himself
sprawling on the floor of the cockpit. He skinned his shin on the
brass-bound step of the companionway ladder, and his funny bone
tingled from a blow it got on the deck. The boy tried to rise to his
feet, but a sudden swing of the boat made him slip on the icy boards
and fall swiftly down again. From his prone position, he looked
around him. The light coming up through the open companionway
gleamed yellow on the ice-coated, glistening boom, and the furled
sail propped up in the crotch. As Ransom’s eyes became accustomed
to the darkness, he saw what it was that had startled them all. “His
Nibs,” hauled up on the narrow strip of deck aft of the rudder post,
had slipped when the “Gazelle” had made a sudden plunge, and
sliding on the icy rail had thumped into the cockpit. Perfectly safe,
but ludicrously out of place, the little boat looked like a big St.
Bernard in a lady’s lap.

“Look!” the prostrate captain called to his friends. “‘His Nibs’ was
getting lonesome and was coming down into the cabin for the sake
of sociability.”
The other three crawled on deck, having learned caution through
the skipper’s mishap, and crouched in the wet, slippery cockpit while
they looked around.
The gale, still increasing rather than abating, was raising
tremendous seas. The “Gazelle” rolled, her rails under at times, and
her bowsprit jabbed the white-capped waves.
“I am going forward to see if the anchors are O. K.” Kenneth
spoke loudly enough, but the wind snatched the words from his
mouth and the boys did not hear what he said.
Ransom managed to get on his feet, and, grasping the beading of
the cabin, he pulled himself erect. A quick lurch almost threw him
overboard, but he reached up and grabbed the boom overhead just
in time. Holding on to this with both arms, he slowly worked himself
forward.
The other boys, crouching in the cockpit, wondered what he was
up to. They watched his dim figure crawling painfully along, and
once their hearts came into their throats as, his feet slipping from
under him, he hung for an instant from the icy boom almost directly
over the raging river. The light streaming from the cabin shone into
their strained, anxious faces and blinded them so that they could
hardly see the figure of “Ken,” on whom they had learned to rely. At
last he disappeared altogether behind the mast and was swallowed
up in the blackness.
“Ken! Come back! Come back!” Arthur, who was still weak, could
not stand the strain; he could not bear to think of what might
happen to his friend.
The wind shrieked in derision—so, at least, it seemed to the
anxious boy—the elements combined to drown his voice. The gale
howled on; the rain froze as it fell, and the waves dashed at the
boys like fierce dogs foaming at the mouth.

Frank, at last feeling that he must know what had become of
Ransom, sprang up, and grasping the icy spar, crept forward. Many
times he lost his foothold, but always managed somehow to catch
himself in time. Slipping and sliding, fighting the gale, he reached
the mast. The journey was one of only twenty feet, but the gale was
so fierce and the exertion of keeping his footing so great that he
arrived at the end of it out of breath and almost exhausted. It was
inky black, and only with difficulty could he distinguish the familiar
objects on the forecastle—the bitts, and the two rigid anchor cables
leading from it. Lying across them was Kenneth, gripping one, while
the yacht’s bow rose and fell, dashing the spray clear over his
prostrate figure.
“What’s the matter, Ken?” Frank shouted, so as to be heard above
the wind. “Are you hurt? Brace up, old man!”
The other did not speak for a minute; then he answered in a
strained voice: “Give me a hand, old chap, will you? I’ve hurt my
foot—wrenched it, I guess; pains like blazes.”
That he was pretty badly hurt, Frank guessed by the way in which
he drew in his breath as he shifted his position.
“Got a good hold there, Frank? Grab those halliards. It’s terrible
slippery—Ouch! Easy, now.”
It was a difficult job that Frank had in hand. The ice-covered
decks could not be depended on at all; if the boys began to slide,
they would slip right off the sloping cabin roof into the water; the
boat was jumping on the choppy seas like a bucking horse, and the
wind blew with hurricane force. Kenneth could help himself hardly at
all, and Frank struggled with him till the sweat stood out on his brow
in great beads. At last both got over the entangling anchor cables,
and breathing hard, hugged the stick as if their lives depended on it,
which came very near being the case.
“You—had—better—leave—me—here—old—chap,” panted
Kenneth. “My—ankle—hurts—like—the—old—Harry. Can’t—travel—
much.”
“What did you do to it?”

“Got—caught—under—cleat—on—the butt—of—the—bowsprit.”
“Gee! that’s tough!” sympathized Frank.
“Gave it a terrible wrench. Regular monkey wrench.” It was a grim
situation to joke about.
“Leave you here?” said Frank, coming back to Ken’s suggestion. “I
guess not! What do you take me for, anyway? I know how to work
it, all right. You hang on to the mast a minute.”
Releasing his grip on Ransom, Chauvet picked up the end of the
peak halliard coiled at his feet, and with great difficulty straightened
out its frozen turns, for he had but one free hand—he could not
release his hold on the sailhoop that he grasped for an instant.
Taking the stiff line, he passed it around his body and then around
the boom. Holding on by his legs to the mast, he worked away at
the frozen line until he had knotted the end to the main part—made
a bowline. The loop was around his waist and the boom.
“Now, Ken, we’re all right—I have lashed myself to this spar, and
my hands are free. I’ll yell to Clyde,” and suiting the action to the
word he shouted aft.
Ransom hung on to the line about Frank’s waist, while Frank half
held, half supported him. Slowly they moved along, stumbling, often
swinging with the boat, till the rope cut into Chauvet’s body cruelly.
It was exhausting work.
Soon Clyde came stumbling, slipping and fighting forward against
the gale, and in a minute was helping Frank to support the gritty
captain.
It was a thankful group that dropped into the warm, bright cabin
—dripping wet and numbed with cold, out of breath, well-nigh
exhausted, but thankful to the heart’s core.
Arthur cut the shoe from Ransom’s swelling ankle, and then bound
it tightly with a cloth saturated with witch hazel.
“Chasing anchors on stormy nights seems to be fatal for me,”
Kenneth remarked, as he lay on his bunk regarding his bandaged

foot. “I’ll give you fellows a chance next time—I don’t want to be
piggish about it.”
Presently the cabin light was turned down and all hands got into
their berths. Not a tongue moved, but brains were active; not an
eyelid felt heavy, but the boys resolutely kept them closed. The
storm raged on; gust succeeded gust, the rain beat down on the thin
cabin roof with increasing fierceness. It was a trying night, and each
of the four boys was glad enough to see the gray light come stealing
in through the frosted port lights. They had all thought that they
would never see daylight again, though each had kept his fears to
himself.
The wind still roared and the rain poured down, but the yacht
tossed and rolled less violently; her movements were slower and
sluggish, quite unlike those of the usually sprightly, light “Gazelle.”
“Sea must have gone down,” commented Clyde, in a casual way,
as he noted that the others were awake. “Queer, wind’s blowing
great guns, too.”
Kenneth sat up suddenly and bumped his head on the deck beam
above. This made him wince, and he drew his game foot suddenly
against the boat’s side. Kenneth made so wry a face that his friends
could not help laughing outright—an honest laugh, in spite of the
sympathy they felt.
“Both ends at once.” The captain tried to rub his head and his
ankle at the same moment, and found it a good deal of a stretch.
“There is a new bar to be charted here.” His finger went gingerly
round the bump on his forehead.
“Frank, go on deck, will you, and see if things are moderating. I’d
like to get into some cove or another.”
Chauvet made his way to the ladder and shoved the doors with all
his might; but it was only after repeated blows with a heavy rope
fender that they opened.
“Great Scott!” he shouted. “Look here. Ice! Why, there’s no boat
left—it’s all ice! Well, I’ll be switched—why, we’ll have to chop her

out, or she’ll sink with the weight of it—she’s down by the head
now.”
Fresh exclamations of amazement followed as each head
appeared in turn from below. It was true. The yacht was literally
covered with ice, from one to six inches thick at the bow, where the
spray combined with the rain to add to the layers of white coating.
The sluggish movement of the vessel was explained—the weight of
the ice burdened her. Here was a pleasing condition of things.
The boys snatched a hasty breakfast, and taking hatchets,
hammers—anything with a sharp edge—they attacked the ice. Even
Ransom insisted upon taking a hand. The boat was very beautiful in
her glassy coating. The rigging, fringed with icicles, and the cold,
gray light shining on the polished surface, made it look like a dull
jewel. The boys, however, saw nothing of the beautiful side of it.
There was a mighty job before them; a cold, hard, dangerous job,
and they went at it as they had done with all the previous difficulties
which they had encountered—with courage and energy.
Colder and colder it grew, until the thermometer registered five
degrees below zero. The yacht still rolled and pitched so that the
boys found it necessary to lash themselves to mast, spars and
rigging while they chopped. The spray flew up and dashed into their
faces and almost instantly froze; the sleeves of their coats became
as hard and as stiff as iron pipes, and their hands stiffened so that
the fingers could not hold the axe helves. Every few minutes one or
the other would have to stop, go below and thaw out. They worked
desperately, but new layers of frost formed almost as fast as the
boys could hack it off. But chop and shovel they must or sink in plain
sight of the town, inaccessible as though the boat were miles from
shore.
How they ever lived through the three days during which the
storm continued, God, who saved them, alone knows. It seemed
almost a miracle that so small a craft should have lived through what
it did.

When at the end of the weary time the wind subsided, the yacht
rode over the choppy waves in much the same buoyant way as
before—she was weather proof; but her crew was utterly exhausted;
hands and faces were cut and bleeding from the fierce onslaught of
the sleet-laden wind; fingers, toes and ears were frost-bitten,
innumerable bruises—true badges of honor—covered their bodies,
and the captain suffered intolerably from his injured ankle.
“Hours chopping ice off the ‘Gazelle’ to keep her from sinking
under the weight of it,” quoted Kenneth from the entry in his log.
“And this in the heart of the ‘Sunny South.’”
“I don’t believe there is any ‘Sunny South.’” Clyde was tired out,
and his sentiments expressed his condition.
“Remember the old coon at Natchez?” said Frank. “He must have
been a twin of Methuselah; he said he had never seen ice on the
river so far south before, and he had lived on the Mississippi all his
life.”
It was many, many hours before the “Gazelle” was free enough of
her burden to allow the crew to rest; and not until three days of gale
had spent its spite upon them could she be got under way and
anchored in a sheltered spot.
After sending reassuring letters to anxious ones at home, the
“Gazelle” sped southward, seeking for a sheltered spot to lie by and
allow the ice which was sure to follow to pass by.
At the little town of St. Gabriels the “Gazelle” found a snug nest,
where, for a time, the ice ceased from troubling, and she floated
secure.
It was with a grateful heart that Kenneth rose on Sunday morning,
February 19th, and from the safe anchorage saw the great cakes of
ice go racing by on the swift current.
“We can’t hold a service aboard,” he said to Arthur, who appeared
on deck about the same time. “But let’s dress ship for a thanksgiving
offering.”
All four agreed with alacrity, and for the next hour scarcely a word
was spoken except as one fellow sung out, “Where is that swab?” or

another, “Who’s got the bath-brick?” Hardly a day passed (except
when the boat was in actual danger) that the “Gazelle” did not get a
thorough cleaning—brasses shined, decks scrubbed, cabin scoured,
bedding aired, dishes well washed and even the dishcloth cleaned
and spread to dry. But this was a special day, and the yacht was as
sweet within as soap and water, elbow grease and determined wills
could make her. The crowning of the work came when the “Gazelle”
was decked in her colors; the flags spelling her name in the
international code fluttering in the breeze, and above all Old Glory—
surely a splendid emblem of what these youngsters gallantly
typified, American perseverance, pluck and enterprise. It was a
proud crew that lined up on the bank to admire their achievement,
and their hearts were filled with gratitude to Providence that they
had been brought through so many dangers safely.
“Kin I hab one of dese yer flags?” Some one pulled at Kenneth’s
sleeve, and he looked down into a small, black, kinky-hair framed
face. It was a little pickaninny, scantily clad and shivering in the keen
air.
“What do you want it for?”
Embarrassment showed on every shining feature of the little face.
“Foh—foh a crazy quilt,” she managed to say at last.
Ransom could not spare one of his flags, but he dug into a locker
and pulled out a piece of red flannel (a token of his mother’s
thoughtfulness) which pleased the black youngster almost as much.
The visits of the darky population were frequent that day, and the
many requests for “one of doze flags” suggested the thought that
the first black youngster had spread the news that the ship’s
company could be worked.
Two days later the ice had almost disappeared and the “Gazelle”
left her snug berth for the last stretch of her journey to the Crescent
City. The delay seemed to add to the yacht’s eagerness to be gone,
for she sped on her way like a horse on its first gallop after a winter
in the stable.

On, on she flew, drawing nearer to her goal, scarred from contact
with ice, snags and sandbars, but still unhurt, triumphant. Surely the
sun was rewarding their persistence; for he no longer hid his face
from them, but shone out in all mellowness and geniality. Their
worries fled at his warm touch, and their hearts sang his praises.
The “Gazelle” seemed glad as she forged ahead, as if to say,
“Hurrah! I have conquered, I have stood old Mississippi’s bumps and
jars! All these are of the past, and now for Old Ocean!”
Light after light was passed and marked off on the list, and soon
the last one shone out. It had no name, so as they lustily gave three
cheers for the last of the little beacons which had so long been their
guides and dubbed it “Omega,” the “Gazelle” sped on with only the
smoke of the great cotton market as a guide. New Orleans was in
sight.
The pillars of smoke—the smoke of the city of their dreams—led
them on. They could hardly realize that that dim cloud, that dark
streak in the distance was really the city which they had striven so
hard to reach.
A feeling of great satisfaction came over them as the “Gazelle”
responded to the tiller, which was thrown hard down, and headed
into the wind. A few flaps of the sails in the evening breeze, the
sudden splash of the anchor forward, followed by the swir of the
cable as it ran through the chocks, and the creaking pulleys as the
sails were lowered, was the music in honor of the “Gazelle’s”
successful voyage from far away Michigan to New Orleans.
The trip of one thousand eight hundred miles had been full of
incident and some satisfaction, purchased, however, at the price of
severe toil and many hardships, with a decided preponderance of
troubles over pleasures. Sickness had visited the crew at a time
when their location made medical aid impossible; the most severe
winter recorded, accompanied with the ice packs and low stages of
water, made it seem many times as if all hands were indeed
candidates for admission into the realms of “Davy Jones’s locker.”
But all this was now of the past; for here was the “Gazelle” anchored

in a snug cove in the outskirts of the Southern metropolis safe and
sound, the captain and crew strong, well, happy, and in all ways
improved by their struggles.
The sun was still two hours high when Kenneth and Frank rowed
ashore in “His Nibs” and scrambled up the steep side of the high
levee which protects the city from inundation.
As they looked back on the “Gazelle” so peacefully riding at her
anchorage, they felt like giving three lusty cheers for their floating
home. Beyond the yacht and moored at the docks were two
immense ocean-going steamships, while a short distance up the
river was a full-rigged ship with loosened canvas falling in graceful
folds from the yards. The scene was a pleasing one, and the two
boys drank it in with all their eyes; they loved the sea, and these
monster boats had a peculiar charm for them. But the “clang, clang”
of a bell suddenly awakened them from their reverie, and they
started in all haste to get down town for the mail they knew must be
waiting.
The anchorage was at Carrollton, one of the suburbs of New
Orleans, so the boys had a splendid opportunity of seeing the city on
their long trolley-car journey to the main Post Office. The batch of
mail that was handed out to them gladdened their hearts, and it
took considerable resolution to refrain from camping right out on the
Post Office steps and reading their letters. They remembered,
however, their promise to Arthur and Clyde to bring back with them
the wherewithal to make a feast in honor of their safe arrival in the
Crescent City.
“Gee! I’d like to know what’s in those letters.” Frank gazed at them
longingly as they walked along. “Look at the fatness of that, will
you?”
“I’ve got a fatness myself,” retorted Kenneth, holding a thick letter
bearing several stamps. “We have just about time enough to buy
some truck and get back. What do you say to some oysters?”
“That goes,” was Frank’s hearty endorsement.

Oysters were cheap, they found, so they bought a goodly supply,
and for want of a better carrier put them in a stout paper bag.
The two boys started out bravely, with the bag of oysters between
them, each carrying a bundle of papers and mail under their arms.
They saw many things that interested them—quaint old buildings
with balconies and twisted ironwork, and numbers of picturesque,
dark-skinned people wearing bright colors wherever it was possible.
Frank and Kenneth were so interested in watching what was going
on about them—the people, the buildings, and all the hundred and
one things that would interest a Northern boy in a Southern city—
that they forgot all about the load of oysters till they noticed that the
people who met and passed them were smiling broadly.
“Have I got a smudge on my nose, Frank?” asked Kenneth, trying
vainly to squint down that member.
“No. Have I?” Frank’s answer and question came in the same
breath.
“Well, what in thunder are these people grin——”
There was a soft tearing sound, and then a hollow rattle. The boys
looked down quickly and saw that the damp oysters had softened
the paper so that the bag no longer held them, and they were
falling, leaving a generous trail behind them.
Frank and Kenneth scratched their heads; there were no shops
near at hand, the bag was no earthly use, they were a long way
from the anchorage, and the oysters were much too precious to be
abandoned.
“What’s the matter with tying up the sleeves of this old coat and
making a bag of it?” Frank’s inventive brain was beginning to work.
“That’s all right, if you don’t object,” was the reply.
An hour later two boys, one of them in his shirt sleeves, came
stumbling along in the dusk toward the levee near which the
“Gazelle” was anchored.
“‘Gazelle’ ahoy!” they hailed. “Have you got room for a bunch of
oysters and a couple of appetites?”

Evidently there was plenty of room, for “His Nibs” came rushing
across to take all three over, the “bunch of oysters” and the “two
appetites” to the yacht, where they found two more appetites
eagerly waiting their coming.
Ransom and his friends had planned to stay but ten days in New
Orleans; just time enough to put in a new mast and refit generally
for the long sea voyage before them. Their good intentions,
however, were balked at every turn. The parents of all the boys,
except Ransom’s, besought them to return; made all sorts of
inducements to persuade them to give up the trip; did everything, in
fact, except actually command them. A death in Clyde’s family made
it imperative that he should go back, and it grieved the boys to have
him leave. Clyde was as disappointed as any; and as he boarded the
train to go North he said: “I’d give a farm to be coming instead of
going.”
The crew was now reduced to three, and Ransom feared that
Clyde’s return would influence the others and break up the cruise.
The letters to Frank and Arthur grew more and more insistent,
until one day Chauvet came to Ransom. “Ken,” said he, “this is
getting pretty serious. My people come as near saying that they’ll
disown me if I don’t come back as they can without actually writing
the words. I want to go the rest of the way and play the whole
game, and it would be a low down trick to leave you stranded here
without a crew.”
“Well,” said Kenneth, as he sat down by Frank’s side on the levee
in the warm sunshine, “you’ll have to do as you think best, but—I
never told you that my father and mother offered me their house if I
would give up the trip, did I?”
Frank opened his eyes at this.
“No, I didn’t, but it’s a fact; and when I told them that I didn’t
have to be paid to stay and would not go if they felt so strongly
about it, they came right around and said, ‘Go, and God bless you.’”
Kenneth’s eyes moistened a little as he harked back to the time,
and a vivid picture of his far away Northern home arose before him.

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