(Ebook) The 8051 Microcontroller and Embedded

Systems Using Assembly and C by Muhammad Ali

Mazidi, Janice Gillispie Mazidi, Rolin D.
McKinlay ISBN 9788131710265, 8131710262,
013119402 download
https://ebooknice.com/product/the-8051-microcontroller-and-
embedded-systems-using-assembly-and-c-5536564

Explore and download more ebooks at ebooknice.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

(Ebook) The 8051 Microcontroller and Embedded Systems by Muhammad Ali

Mazidi, Janice G. Mazidi, Rolin D. McKinlay ISBN 9781292026572,
129202657X

https://ebooknice.com/product/the-8051-microcontroller-and-embedded-
systems-22040974

(Ebook) PIC Microcontroller and Embedded Systems by Muhammad Ali

Mazidi, Rolin D. McKinlay, Danny Causey ISBN 9780131194045, 0131194046

https://ebooknice.com/product/pic-microcontroller-and-embedded-
systems-1864342

(Ebook) AVR Microcontroller and Embedded Systems: Using Assembly and C

(Pearson Custom Electronics Technology) by Muhammad Ali Mazidi, Sarmad
Naimi, Sepehr Naimi ISBN 9780138003319, 0138003319

https://ebooknice.com/product/avr-microcontroller-and-embedded-
systems-using-assembly-and-c-pearson-custom-electronics-
technology-11329894

(Ebook) 80X86 IBM PC and Compatible Computers: Assembly Language,

Design, and Interfacing Volumes I & II (4th Edition) by Muhammad Ali
Mazidi, Janice Gillispie-Mazidi ISBN 9780130617750, 013061775X

https://ebooknice.com/product/80x86-ibm-pc-and-compatible-computers-
assembly-language-design-and-interfacing-volumes-i-ii-4th-
edition-2148270
(Ebook) The STM32F103 Arm Microcontroller and Embedded Systems_ Using
Assembly and C_ Print Replica eBook_nodrm by Muhammad Ali Mazidi
Sepehr Naimi Sarmad Naimi

https://ebooknice.com/product/the-stm32f103-arm-microcontroller-and-
embedded-systems-using-assembly-and-c-print-replica-ebook-
nodrm-54990102

(Ebook) Biota Grow 2C gather 2C cook by Loucas, Jason; Viles, James

ISBN 9781459699816, 9781743365571, 9781925268492, 1459699815,
1743365578, 1925268497

https://ebooknice.com/product/biota-grow-2c-gather-2c-cook-6661374

(Ebook) SAT II Success MATH 1C and 2C 2002 (Peterson's SAT II Success)

by Peterson's ISBN 9780768906677, 0768906679

https://ebooknice.com/product/sat-ii-success-
math-1c-and-2c-2002-peterson-s-sat-ii-success-1722018

(Ebook) Matematik 5000+ Kurs 2c Lärobok by Lena Alfredsson, Hans

Heikne, Sanna Bodemyr ISBN 9789127456600, 9127456609

https://ebooknice.com/product/matematik-5000-kurs-2c-larobok-23848312

(Ebook) Stm32 Arm Programming for Embedded Systems by Muhammad Ali

Mazidi, Shujen Chen, Eshragh Ghaemi ISBN 9780997925944, 0997925949

https://ebooknice.com/product/stm32-arm-programming-for-embedded-
systems-22881268
Tl
T1
 ... "

THE 8051 MICRO CONTROLLER

AND EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Using Assembly and C

SECOND EDITION

Muhammad Ali Mazidi

Janice Gillispie Mazidi
Rolin D. McKinlay

--
PEARSON
Prentice
Hall

pper addle River, ew Jersey

Columbus, Ohio
 ealato ing-in-Publicalion Data
tlbnryofCongrtM g and C / Muhammad
~lJ.t~h.Muh.1mmad All. d bedded systems: using Assembly,
I luoconlrolltr an em . J
Tht: 80S m , . • Mazidi Rolin 0 McKtn ay.
Ah MUldl, Janke Gillispie 1

I : ~~ 1,l.119402-X (alk. paper) d I" systems. I McKinlay, Rolin D.IL

I ~rilmmi!blt conirollers.2. Embedde compu
Tl\k

IJ22] P76MJ78 2006

.2989 dell
2005054446

Edllor: Kale unsnar ..

Edltorl.l Assistant; Lara Dimmick
Production Editor: Kevin Happell
o..lgn Coordlnalo" Diane Ernsberger
Covar Deslgne" Bryan Huber
Cover Art; Super Stock
Production Managa" Matt Ollenweller
Stnlor Marketing Coordinator: Liz Farrell
Stnlor Marketing Managar: Ben Leonard

op)'Tlght 0 2006 by Pearson Edncation, Ine., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 074~8.Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights
"""rved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright and permission should be obtaine
d
from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or tranSmission in any form or by any means,
electrcmc, mechanical,
Pcmllssiol\s Department. photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding pennission(s), write to: Rights and

Pearson Prentice Hall'" is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc.

Pearson- is a registered trademark of Pearson pic
Pr nUce Hall- is a registered trademark of Pearson Education, Inc.
Peal>Ol1Education Ltd.
P arson Education Singapore, Pte., Ltd. Pearson Education Australia PTY, Lintited
Pearson Education Canada, Ltd.
Petlt!On Education-Japan Pearson Education North Asia Ltd.
Pearson Educacion de Mexico, SA de C. V.
Pearsoll Education MalaYSia, Pte. LId.
Pearson Education lnc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

ISBN: o-l3-119402-X
 ... man's glory lieth in his knowledge,
his upright conduct, his praiseworthy character,
his wisdom, and not in his nationality or rank.

- Baha'u'llah
 CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

CHAPTERS
I
0: Introduction to Computing 23
I: The 8051 Microcontrollers 37
2:
8051 Assembly Language Programming
69
3: Jump, Loop, and Call Instructions
9
4: I/O Port programming
109
s: 80SI Addressing Modes
1'9
6: Arithmetic & Logic Instructions and Programs
I I
7: 80SI Programming in C
80SI Hardware Connection and Intel Hex File 217
8:
8051 Timer Programming in Assembly and C 2 9
9:
Ed 10: 80SI Serial Port Programming in Assembly and C 277
Ed II: Interrupts Programming in Assembly and C 317
PI 51
De 12: LCD and Keyboard Interfacing
Co 13: ADC. DAC. and Sensor Interfacing 37
Co 14: 8051 Interfacing to External Memory 411
PI
So IS: 8051 Interfacing with the 8255 449
So 16: DS12887 RTC Interfacing and Programming 467
17: Motor Control: Relay, PWM. DC. and Stepper Motors 491

APPENDICES
A: 8051
B. Instructions
. I
Timing and Registers
,
.
52
B: asrcs of WIre Wrapping
C: Ie Technology adS . Issues 56
0:
FI h n ystem DeSIgn 567
Owe arts and Pseudocode
E: 8051 Primer for X86 P 7
F: ASCII Codes rogrammers 592
G: Assemblers. Development R 593
H: Data Sheets eSOurces. and Suppliers 594
596
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER 0: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING 1

Section 0.1: Numbering and coding systems 2
Section 0.2: Digital primer 9
Section 0.3: Inside the computer 13

CHAPTER 1: THE 8051 MICROCONTROLLERS 23

Section 1.1: Microcontrollers and embedded processors 24
Section 1.2: Overview of the 8051 family 28

CHAPTER 2: 8051 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING 37

Section 2.1: Inside the 8051 38
Section 2.2: Introduction to 8051 Assembly programming 41
Section 2.3: Assembling and running an 8051 program 44
Section 2.4: The program counter and ROM space in the 8051 46
Section 2.5: 8051 data types and directives 49
Section 2.6: 8051 flag bits and the PSW register 52
Section 2.7: 8051 register banks and stack 55

CHAPTER 3: JUMP, LOOP, AND CALL INSTRUCTIONS 69

Section 3.1: Loop and jump instructions 70
Section 3.2: Call instructions 75
Section 3.3: Time delay for various 8051 chips 80

CHAPTER 4: I/O PORT PROGRAMMING 93

Section 4.1: 8051 I/O programming 94
Section 4.2: I/O bit manipulation programming 100

CHAPTER 5: 8051 ADDRESSING MODES 109

Section 5.1: Immediate and register addressing modes 110
Section 5.2: Accessing memory using various addressing modes 112
Section 5.3: Bit addresses for I/O and RAM 122
Section 5.4: Extra 128-byte on-chip RAM in 8052 13\

CHAPTER 6: ARITHMETIC & LOGIC INSTRUCTIONS

AND PROGRAMS 139
Section 6.1: Arithmetic instructions 140
Section 6.2: Signed number concepts and arithmetic operations 150
Section 6.3: Logic and compare instructions 155
Section 6.4: Rotate instruction and data serialization 161
Section 6.5: BCD, ASCII, and other application programs :167

v
-
 CHAPTER 7: 8051 PROGRAMMING IN C
181
Section 7.1: Data types and time delay in 805 I C
182
Section 7.2: I/O programming in 8051 C
188
Section 7.3: Logic operations in 8051 C
194
Section 7.4: Data conversion programs in 8051 C
199
Section 7.5: Accessing code ROM space in 8051 C
204
Section 7.6: Data serialization using 8051 C
209

CHAPTER 8: 8051 HARDWARE CONNECTION AND

INTEL HEX FILE
217
Section 8.1: Pin description of the 805 I
218
Section 8.2: Design and test of DS89C4xO trainer
224
Section 8.3: Explaining the Intel hex file
232

CHAPTER 9: 8051 TIMER PROGRAMMING

IN ASSEMBLY AND C
239
Section 9.1: Programming 8051 timers
240
Section 9.2: Counter programming
255
Section 9.3: Programming timers 0 and I in 8051 C 260

CHAPTER 10: 8051 SERIAL PORT PROGRAMMING

IN ASSEMBLY AND C
277
Section 10.1: Basics of serial communication 278
Section 10.2: 8051 connection to RS232 285
Section 10.3: 8051 serial port programming in Assembly 287
Section 10.4: Programming the second serial port 300
Section 10.5: Serial port programming in C 306

CHAPTER II: INTERRUPTS PROGRAMMING

IN ASSEMBLY AND C 317
Section I 1.1: 8051 interrupts 318
Section 11.2: Programming timer interrupts 322
Section I 1.3: Programming external hardware interrupts 326
Section 11.4: Programming the serial communication interrupt 333
Section I1.5: Interrupt priority in the 8051/52 337
Section 11.6: Interrupt programming in C 340

CHAPTER 12: LCD AND KEYBOARD INTERFACING 351

Section 12.1: LCD interfacing 352
Section 12.2: Keyboard interfacing 363

CHAPTER 13: ADC, DAC, AND SENSOR INTERFACING 373

Section 13. I: Parallel and serial ADC 374
Section 13.2: DAC interfacing 398
Section 13.3: Sensor interfacing and signal conditioning 403

VI
CHAPTER 14: 8051 INTERFACING TO EXTERNAL MEMORY 411
Section 14.1: Sem iconductor memory 412
Section 14.2: Memory address decoding 422
Section 14.3: 803 1/51 interfacing with external ROM 425
Section 14.4: 8051 data memory space 430
Section 14.5: Accessing external data memory in 8051 C 440

CHAPTER 15: 8051INTERFACING WITH THE 8255 449

Section 15.1: Programming the 8255 450
Section 15.2: 8255 interfacing 458
Section J 5.3: 8051 C programming for the 8255 462

CHAPTER 16: DS12887 RTC INTERFACING

AND PROGRAMMING 467
Section 16.1: DS 12887 RTC interfacing 468
Section 16.2: OSI2887 RTC programming in C 476
Section 16.3: Alarm, SQW, and IRQ features of the
DS 12887 chip 479

CHAPTER 17: MOTOR CONTROL: RELAY, PWM, DC,

AND STEPPER MOTORS 491
Section 17.1: Relays and optoisolators 492
Section 17.2: Stepper motor interfacing 498
Section 17.3: DC motor interfacing and PWM 507

APPENDIX A: 8051 INSTRUCTIONS, TIMING, AND REGISTERS 523

APPENDIX B: BASICS OF WIRE WRAPPING 563

APPENDIX C: IC TECHNOLOGY AND SYSTEM DESIGN ISSUES 567

APPENDIX D: FLOWCHARTS AND PSEUDOCODE 587

APPENDIX E: 8051 PRlMER FOR X86 PROGRAMMERS 592

APPENDIX F: ASCll CODES 593'

APPENDIX G: ASSEMBLERS, DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES,

AND SUPPLIERS 594

APPENDIX H: DATA SHEETS 596

INDEX 617

vii
K .. ,ad....,
h J In III Iroduc 1(1) dlgilal 'our e. Knowledge of
hIp/iii ut I n t neces ry. A hhough the book is
tt lund in,~ 'mhly language programming, stu-
pcncnce w ill be able 10 gain a ma tery of
nd I.m on their proje ts right away. For the 8051
~ k, a ha", knowledge of C programming is

..",.n,·. ICp ppr .h I used to cover various aspects of

1.1II,1I"",£;e
1)1' • mrrung and interfacing. Many examples and
n 10 I tI f) the concept and provide students with an
din' Rev le\\ qu lions are provided at the end of each
m n POlOt of lh ecuon.
ver num f t m (bmary. decimal, and hex), and provides
J • nd mpuier terminology. This is designed
h nical engineering students, who have not
\ ho need to refresh their memory on these

the 0 I and feature of other 8051 fam-

I. n ~OOO.and D 9C4xO. It also pro-
hIp •
r hue lure 0/ the 0 I and explains the
-to-run program. It also explores the
 In Chapter 3 the topics of loop, jump, and call instructions are discussed,
with many programming examples.
Chapter 4 is dedicated to the discussion of I/O ports. This allows students
who are working on a project to start experimenting with 8051 I/O interfacing and
start the project as soon as possible.
Chapter 5 covers the 8051 addressing modes and explains how to use the
code space of the 8051 to store data, as well as how to access data.
Chapter 6 is dedicated to arithmetic, logic instructions, and programs.
The C programming of the 8051 is covered in Chapter 7.
In Chapter 8 we discuss the hardware connection of the 8051 chip.
Chapter 9 describes the 8051 timers and how to use them as event counters.
Chapter 10 is dedicated to serial data communication of the 8051 and its
interfacing to the RS232. It also shows 8051 communication with COM ports of
the [BM PC and compatible computers. In addition, the second serial port of the
DS89C4xO is also covered.
Chapter 11 provides a detailed discussion of 8051 interrupts with many
examples on how to write interrupt handler programs.
Chapter 12 shows 8051 interfacing with real-world devices such as LCDs
and keyboards.
Chapter 13 shows 8051 interfacing with real-world devices such as DAC
chips, ADC chips, and sensors.
In Chapter 14 we cover 8031/51 interfacing with external memories, both
ROM and RAM.
Chapter 15 addresses the issue of adding additional ports to the 8031/51
using an 8255 chip.
Chapter 16 shows how to connect and program the DS 12887 real-time
clock chip.
Finally, Chapter 17 shows basic interfacing to relays, optoisolators, and
motors.
The appendices have been designed to provide all reference material
required for the topics covered in the book. Appendix A describes each 8051
instruction in detail, with examples. Appendix A also provides the Clock count for
instructions, 8051 register diagrams, and RAM memory maps. Appendix B
describes basics of wire wrapping. Appendix C covers IC technology and logic
families, as well as 8051 I/O port interfacing and fan-out. Make sure you study this
before connecting the 8051 to an external device. 1n Appendix D, the use of flow-
charts and psuedocode is explored. Appendix E is for students familiar with x86
architecture who need to make a rapid transition to 8051 architecture. Appendix F
provides the table of ASCII characters. Appendix G lists resources for assembler
shareware, and electronics parts. Appendix H contains data sheets for the 8051 and
other IC chips.

ix
 ond edition .. of 0-1 program-
What is new in the sec . edition is the addition A sembI languag
The biggest change inWhile
this new
Chapters I t hough
r 6 blyand
use language pr _
ming throughou t ,the book.
ith ChapterI 7, we haddition
ve both Assem
includes t h e following new
. Iy, starting .ws discussed. The secon e
exclusive
grams for all the topic

features: . (Chapter 7)
8051 C programming . ers ( ection 9.3)
Anew chapter 00 he 80" C programm ing of ";89<:4'0 ch ip ( ecti n 10:')
A new secuon on 1 d serial port of the D d erial pan ( e lion
A new section on the ~~;~ C programming of the econ
A new secnon on the . I I 6)

10.5) . . of interrupts
th 8051 C programming ( c lion 14.4)
0 h' (Section .
A new secuon on e KB SRAM of the DS89C4x C Ip ( ecti n 14. )
Programming of", , ro ramming of ~I"",, memory 16)
A new section on the 8051 ~:7 :TC (real-time clock) chip ( hapter
A new chapter
A new chapter on
on motors,
the DSI2relays, and optoisolators (Chapter 17)
E
E
P
lab manual h b k b the
The lab manual and suppo~ rnat~.rialslEd' and otite.er
for this Web
authors can be found at the www.MlcroDlglla.eom

S","",," ""00."'_""",, ,"'" . f

The solutions manual was produced wu. h tee h h Ipo. f Ardeshirfor theI rm
dr (0
\ _
harif University). The solutions manual and PowerPotnt@ slide ir Pr mi e
ings are available online for instructors only. Instructors Can Contact the
Ila/l representative or visit wWw.prenhall.eom.
Acknowledgments

This book is the result of the dedication and encouragement of many indi-
viduals. Our sincere and heartfelt appreciation goes to all of them.
First, we Would like 10 thank PrOfessor Danny Morse, the rno t knowl-
edgeable and experienced person on the 8051 that we know. He felt a trong need
for a book such as this, and due to his lack of time he encOuraged 1I 10 write it. He
i the one who introduced us to this microcontroller and was always there, ready
10 discuss issues related to 8051 architecture.

0 Also we Would like to express our sincere thanks to Profe SOr Iyde
book.
K ,hI o f De Vry Univers. 0/ for hi, h"p'o' ""'''''"' 00 the ,~'" ,f the '''''00
in .dll'"" the""ow'"8 pmf,",," ,"d _"" 'Oo"' '"'" whII," ing
the""" in '" "P"""",oo
'h'm """"y, ,,"r.~,
f,""
in "'" m
PhilG"Id~"diobo B,"Y"
"",,'01" II" '"""' ,,' we mM'
Do V~ UoI;",~, R,bon
lV'gh"",,, p,,,,,,,, "'",""
U"'i,m '" "m boo, D"" B'.m", J'Im H'.. ''''
~ Rob."", y'''Y Ch""" N"
J,m" Doo'" Ro,," MI,,,,, I B,,,, ''''00
"0
Hoang, and Trevor Isra.
II,J"" ~ ""Y H'", """
J"h"~",J"" K,,,,:M""" I M'"h;", M,"
 Acknowledgments for the second edition
Thanks to the reviewers of this edition: Jack Adams, Merrimack College;
Hector Gutierrez, Florida Institute of Technology; Martin Hebel, Southern Illinois
University; Gary Hill, California State University - Long Beach; Juan Vargas,
University of Central Florida; Richard W. Wall, University of Idaho; and Rainer
Weschke, SUNY - Suffolk.
Numerous professors, students, and individuals sent us comments and
errors found in the first edition. Many others made suggestions for the second
edition. We would like to thank all of them sincerely for their enthusiam and support.
We hope to create a list of their names on our Web site at
www.MicroDigitaIEd.com. They are Danny Morse, Clyde Knight, Shah ram
Rohani (all from DeVry University), Javad Rasti (Esfahan University), Nassir
Abedi (KN. Toosi University), Hooman Shayani (BIHE), Jaco Vosloo
(Stellenbosh University), Mohammad Khalid Kerani, Hassan Mohammadi Abdar
(Azad University), Jeff Solinsky, Alijah Ballard, Jacob Stauffer, Vaibhav Joshi,
Michael Kelley, and Dan Masterson.
Finally, we would like to thank the people at Prentice Hall, in particular
our editor Kate Linsner, who continues to support and encourage our writing, and
our production editor Kevin Happell, who made the book a reality.
We enjoyed writing this book, and hope you enjoy reading it and using it
for your courses and projects. Please let us know if you have any suggestions or
find any errors .

. Assemblers
The following gives sites where you can download assemblers:

www.MicroDigitalEd.com
www.keil.com for Keil Corporation
www.fsinc.com for Franklin Software, Inc.

Another interesting Web site is www.8052.com. which contains more

discussion on the microcontroller. Finally, the following site provides useful Intel
manuals:

http://developer.intel.com/design/mcs51/docs_mcs51.htm

SafariX: Where the Web Meets Textbooks for Student Savings!

SafariX Textbooks Online" is an exciting n'ew choice for students looking
to save money. As an alternative to purchasing the print textbook, students can
subscribe to the same content online and save up to 50% off the suggested list
price of the prim text. With a SafariX WebBook, students can search the text,
make notes online, print out reading assignments that incorporate lecture notes,
and bookmark important passages for later review. For more information, or to
subscribe to the SafariX WebBook, visit http://www.safarix.com.

- xi
 AtlUU I 1m: I\U II """ ..
Whati
Ali Mazidi went to Tabrll
Muhamma d U . ahe
fi both Southern Methodi l 0I1e1'l11)
degrees rom d hi Ph D In a
Dallas. He is currenlly a.b. : on. . .
Department of Southern Methodist VOile II) lie I
textbook, The 80x86 IBM PC and CIlI/lf'</IIh1l'
Prentice Hall. He leaches microproce t-
A University in Dallas, Texas. .
• A Janice Gillispie Mazidi has a M rer 01
A Science from the University of orth Texas. h h " c
A as a software engineer in Dallas. he h been hid 'ChilI I \ III r
10. lionmanager, and was responsible for solhl re ckl I pm III a
• A Iy used textbook, The 8Ox86 IBM PC anti 1I1IIp</lr"l tN I/' 1/
P from Prentice Hall.
• A
A
Rolin McKinlay has a BSEET fr m De\/) llll\1;
working on his Masler's degree and PE licen . In Ih' ,.
I'I I
, A
rently self-employed as a programmer and ir UII rd d I '/I r, r
in MicroDigitaIEd.com.

The authors can be Contacled aI/he fol/oll In -m "

any comments or suggestions, or if you find II) cit I •
Sol [email protected]
mmazidi@microdigi,aJed.com
hari rmckinJaY@microdigi,aled.com
rngs
Iiall
Ack
 This volume is dedicated to the memory of Dr. A. Davoodi,
Professor of Tehran University, who in the tumultuous years a/my youth
taught me the importance of an independent search for truth.
- Muhammad Ali Mazidi

To Betsy.for all the love, encouragement, and sacrifice she has made/or me.
- Rolin D. Mckinlay

xiii
 r
r

"
f>
I'
 CHAPTER 0

INTRODUCTION TO
COMPUTING

OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to:

» Convert any number from base 2, base 10, or base 16 to either of the
other two bases
» Add and subtract hex numbers
» Add binary numbers
» Represent any binary number in 2's complement
» Represent an alphanumeric string in ASCII code
» Describe logical operations AND, OR, NOT, XOR, NAND, NOR
» Use logic gates to diagram simple circuits
» Explain the difference between a bit, a nibble, a byte, and a word
» Give precise mathematical defmitions of the terms kilobyte, megabyte,
gigabyte, and terabyte
» Explain the difference between RAM and ROM and describe their use
» Describe the purpose of the major components of a computer system
» List the three types of buses found in computers and describe the
purpose of each type of bus
» Describe the role of the CPU in computer systems
» List the major components of the CPU and describe the purpose of each

1
 ana 1I'1lu·.....·- ...... - . _. )' ~
To understand the software basic concep!. underlymg mput r d ign
ter some very , be II d .
one must first mas d'tl'on of digital comput rs n h pIer
iem, hi h 10 the tra I d
I this chapter (w ic 'and coding 'yslems rc pre enre Iter an
On)the fundamentals of numbenng llew of the work 109 In rd the c mpul r is
, , I' gates, an overv " f' P
'ntroduetIon to ogle . we give a brief hi I ry o r hlle lure
I 'I' the last sectIOn , d f .
given, Fmal y, 10 have an adequale ba kgrourt 10 10'10) rh I pic
Although some,readers maYendcdthat the matcrial be 00 d. h wever bneny.
of Ihis chapter, It IS rccomIO

SECTION0.1: NUMBERING AND CODING SYSrE S

'ngs usc base 10 (de 1fI1I,{) ruhm II .. mpurc u
Whereas h uman bel .
rbebase 2 (binary) system. In this section we expl In h \\ 10 nv 'n fr Ih d _
imaI systemto the binary system, and VICCversa, Th nvem 01 rep :tll:tllon of
binarynumbers in base 16,called hexadecimal, I 0 I c v red 10.. 11, Ih bma-
ry formatof the alphanumeric code, called ASCII. IS pi n:d

Decimal and binary number systems

Although there has been speculation rh t Ih ' on '10 of th rem
is the fact that human beings have 10 fingers. th re I s IUlel
aboulthe reason behind the usc of the binarysystem In om pule Th
em is used in computers because I and 0 represent the I'" \ III
and off. Whcreas in base 10 therc arc 10 di lin I ym Is. O. I .••
therearc only two, 0 and J, with which to generate num r a
I
its 0 through 9; binary contains digits 0 and I only. Th 1\\ In
I, arc commonly referred to as bits.

Convertingfrom decimal to binary

be ~ne method of converting from de imollo blndry I I dlVI Ih
r 2 'elm I
D~ th y repeatedly, keeping track of the re/lUlllld'''' Thi pr
UDh e quohcnl becomcs zero Th . nllnu
10obtain Ihc binary number Th" , ~ remalndcn. re lh n \\ nil n In r \ rd r
Eumple 8-1 ' IS IS emonstraled In Empie 0-1

Convert 2510 to binary,

SoluMa:
Quot:ient
25/2 = 12 Rema:inder
12/2 = 6 1 LSB (leas
6/2 =
3
o 81 01 c n b1 )
3/2 =
1
o
1/2 = 1
o
1
MSB (moSt signi
Therefore,2510" Jl001 c 0 1t)
2·

- --::------
2

-
 Converting from binary to decimal 74068310
To convert from binary to decimal, it is
important to understand the concept of weight ~ 10°
~ 3
101 = 80
associated with each digit position. First, as an 6 x
102 = 600
analogy, recall the weight of numbers in the base 0 x
103 = 0000
10 system, as shown in the diagram. By the same 4 104
x = 40000
token, each digit position in a number in base 2 7 X 105 = 700000
has a weight associated with it: 740683

1101012 = Decimal Binary

1X20 = 1x1 = 1 1
OX21 = Ox2 = 0 00
2
1X2 = 1X4 4 100
3
OX2 = Ox8 = 0 0000
1x24 1X16 16 10000
1X25 = 1x32 = J2 100000
53 110101

Knowing the weight of each bit in a binary number makes it simple to add
them together to get its decimal equivalent, as shown in Example 0-2.

Example 0-2
Convert 110012 to decimal.

SOlution:
Weight: 16 8 4 2 1
Digits: 1 I 0 0 1
Sum: 16 + 8+ 0+ 0+ 1=2510

Knowing the weight associated with each binary bit position allows one to
convert a decimal number to binary directly instead of going through the process
of repeated division. This is shown in Example 0-3.

Example 0-3
Use the concept of weight to convert 39, 0 to binary.

Solution:
Weight: 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 0 0 I 1 1
32 + 0+ 0+ 4+ 2+ 1=39
Therefore, 3910 = 1001112,

CHAPTER 0: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING 3

 Table 0-1: Base 16
Hexadecimal system Number Systems
Base 16, or the hexadecimal system as it is called in
computer literature, is used as a convenient representation Decimal Binary Hex
of binary numbers. For example, it is much easier for a o 0000 o
human being 10 represent a string of Os and I s such as 0001
100010010110 a its hexadecimal equivalent of896H. The 2 0010 2
binary ystem has 2 digits, 0 and I. The base 10 system has J 0011 J
10 digits, 0 through 9. The hexadecimal (base 16) system 4 0100 4
ha 16 digits. In base 16, the first 10 digits, 0 to 9, arc the 5 0101 5
same as in decimal, and for the remaining six digits, the let- 6 0110 6
ters A, B, C, D, E, and F are used. Table 0-1 shows the 7 0111 7
equivalent binary, decimal, and hexadecimal representa- 8 1000 8
tions for 0 10 15. 9 1001 9
10 1010 A
Converting between binary and hex 11 1011 B
. To represent a binary number as its equivalent hexa- 12 1100 c
decimal number, start from the right and group 4 bi ts at a 13 1101 o
lime, replacing cach 4-bit binary number with its hex equiv- 14 1110 E
alent shown III Table 0-1. To convert from hex to bi 15 1111 F
each h ex die:
Iglt IS rep Iaced with its 4-bit binary e uivalmary,
ee Examples 0-4 and 0-5. q cnt,

Example 0-4

Represent binary 100111110 I 0 I in hex.

Solution:
First the number is d .
Then each groupe. mto sets of 4 bits: 100 I I11I 0101
group of 4 bits IS replaced with its hex e . I .
1001 1111 0101 quiva ent:
9 F 5
Therefore, 100111110 I0 12 = 9F5 hexadecimal.

Example 0-5
Convert hex 29B to binary.
I Solulion:
2 9 B
Dropping the I~ding ~e~~~ gi 100 II0 II 0 II
ves 0011011
Converting from decimal to hex .
onvertmg from deCimal t h
I. Convert to bimary first and0 ex could be a
th pproaehed in two
method of conven: . en Convert to h ways:
2. C nvcn direetlye~lng ddeclmal to hex. ex. Example 0-6 shows this
. om eelmal to I b
remamders. Experimentin . lex y repeated divisio .
g With this method is left n, keepmg track of the
to the reader.
4
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
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.
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebooknice.com