" But somehow the building itself appeared much
longer than when he last saw it. Still, there was that interior. He
had seen the partition, with its door leading into his own little room,
and he never heard of a raft "shanty" with a partition in it until this
one was built. He must have another look at that interior.
The locked door baffled him. It was of such solid construction, and
its lock was so well made, that it resisted all his efforts to force
it. The windows were provided with heavy wooden shutters that were
fastened on the inside. For an hour Winn busied himself with vain
efforts to effect an entrance. At the end of that time he was
discouraged. He was also uneasy. He had heard steamboats pass him,
but could see nothing of them on account of the fog. The last one
passed very close. The next might run him down. How he wished the
raft were safely tied to some bank or levee. It was awful to be thus
blindly drifting, right in the track of steamboats. The fog hung so
low over the water that their pilots were lifted well above it, and
could see the landmarks by which they were guided. They could also see
other steamboats; but such things as scows and rafts had no business to
be moving at such a time. They were supposed to be snugly tied up, and
consequently no pilot would be on the lookout for them.
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