In the darkness, he missed the cut off, by which he could have saved fifteen miles of paddling, and went around Walnut Bend.

At daybreak, he saw a negro on the bank and inquired his whereabouts.
"Yo'se in de bend shoah 'nough Cap'en; but I'se pow'ful glad yo' missed the cut off, cause I wanted to see yo' awful bad." Paul did not sympathize with the darkey's joy and that unnecessary fifteen miles was the hardest pull of the entire trip, to his mind.
That morning was very lonely along the river and he was still lecturing himself for missing the convenient cut off, when away around a distant bend he could hear the beating paddles of an approaching steamboat.

That animated him and he pulled with renewed vigor until he met a boat which was loaded with excursionists from Helena, Arkansas.

He hauled up alongside and the excursionists begged him to go ashore and visit their city.

He was feeling sore and declined the kind invitation; other boats came up until he was surrounded.