Free Houseboat Girl by Lois Lenski

here. The wind would wash the houseboat up on this concrete and wreck it.”
    Farther on, a good, harbor was found sheltered by high trees from the wind. It was rough that night and the family heard the waves slapping against the hull all night long. But aside from fallen branches of trees, no damage was done. The next day was stormy and rainy, so they stayed where they were. Mama did her ironing, Daddy worked on his engines while the children played. Dan and Patsy did acrobatic stunts until they were tired.
    The next day Kentucky was left behind and Tennessee appeared on their left bank. It was still windy and the wind was up river as before. That made hard going, so progress was slow. The children were bored and restless because nothing happened. Then they heard a power boat coming.
    “What the heck is that?” asked Patsy.
    “It’s a big cruiser,” said Milly. “That’s a Fleetcraft, isn’t it, Daddy?”
    “Looks like it,” said Daddy. “Mighty pretty boat, and fast, too. Worth a lot of money. You got to be rich to have one of those boats, but I wouldn’t trade it for my little old houseboat.”
    The big cruiser went sailing by, making the houseboat seem as out-of-date as a log-cabin flatboat of a century before.
    “I’d like to have a ride on it just once,” sighed Milly.
    “Me, too,” said Dan.
    “You can have it,” said Patsy. “Me and Daddy’ll keep the houseboat. We don’t want to go that fast.”
    Because of the wind, the day’s run was short, only to Tiptonville, Tennessee. Daddy eased into the bank below the landing of the busy ferry. The town could not be seen as it was too far from the river. Daddy and Milly walked all the way to the post office to see if her package had come, but it wasn’t there. Back at the houseboat Mama had started supper, when the children came running in to announce that Blackie was missing.
    “Now, what next?” cried Mama.
    “Blackie followed us up the hill,” said Milly, “and I told him to go back. I didn’t see him after that. Why don’t you kids watch where he goes?”
    “Oh, don’t worry, he’ll come back,” said Mama. “Blackie knows the hand that feeds him.”
    Patsy could not wait for the dog to come back of himself. She ran up on the dock where there was a small store for boat supplies. The man there pointed up the hill.
    “I saw a black dog go up that-a-way,” he told her. “He was heading toward the ferry.”
    Patsy sent Dan back to the houseboat to tell Mama. When he returned, they hurried on. They came up to the landing barge, where a ferryboat was waiting. A line of six or eight cars began to move ahead slowly. The children looked around, but there was no sign of Blackie.
    “Blackie! Blackie! Where are you?” cried Patsy.
    “I bet somebody in one of those cars took him,” said Dan.
    “We’ll look in their windows and see,” said Patsy fiercely. “If we find him, we’ll pull him out. They’d better not steal our Blackie.” Tears filled her eyes.
    They watched the cars going on the ferry, but there was no black dog in any of them.
    “Maybe he went on the ferryboat,” said Dan.
    Patsy looked fearfully at Dan. “How will we get him off?”
    “We’ll go right on the boat and take him,” said Dan, showing unexpected courage.
    “But I’m afraid,” said Patsy. “The ferryboat might go off with us.”
    “It’ll go off with Blackie if we don’t hurry,” said Dan.
    Patsy forgot her fears. The next minute she and Dan were running onto the ferryboat. The man who was putting the chain across the stern waited to let them on. He looked at them as if foot passengers were unusual.
    “Where you kids going?” he asked gruffly.
    Patsy stopped, her heart in her mouth. “We’re not crossing over…” she began.
    “Well, get off then!” the man scolded.
    “But our dog…he’s lost and we’ve got to find him,” spoke up Dan, “and you can’t stop us either!”
    “Hey, what’s this?” called a man passenger, laughing.