noon
he was once more in undisputed possession of the raft , and once more floating on it down the great river . Wildly happy , the exhausted boy flung himself down on the wet planks , and yielded to pleasant reflections . It was only twenty miles to St. Louis . The current was carrying him at the rate of five miles an hour , so that he ought to reach the city soon after noon . There he would hail some steamboat or tug , and get it to tow his raft to a safe mooring-place . Then he would telegraph to both his father and his Uncle Billy . After that he would engage some stout man to help guard the raft until his friends arrived .