The Last of the Flatboats

by George Cary Eggleston

  CHAPTER III

  CAPTAIN PHIL

  Ed's report was in all respects favorable to the enterprise. PerryRaymond, who in the old days had built many scores of flatboats, was nowtoo old to undertake an active enterprise. But he told Ed, to the verylast board, how much lumber would be required, and the price of everystick in it. He volunteered, as a mere matter of favor and without anycharge whatever, to superintend and direct the work of the boys inbuilding a boat for themselves. The result was that they could build aboat for a very small fraction of their money, and Perry promised toshow them how to caulk it for themselves.

  Ed had seen the principal merchants of the place, also. It was theirpractice to exchange goods for country produce--any sort that might cometo them, whether hay, or onions, or garlic, or butter, or eggs, orwheat, or wool, or corn, or apples, or what not.

  It was their business to know pretty accurately how much of each kind ofproduce they were likely to get during any given season in return fortheir goods, and how best to market it. They knew to a nicety how muchbutter and how many eggs or how many bushels of onions or how manypounds of hay they could get for a parasol or a bit of lace or a calicodress or a sack of coffee. Their chief problem was how to sell all thesethings to the best advantage afterward. Usually they found their bestmarket down the river.

  So when Ed Lowry presented the case to them they were quick to seeadvantage in it. His proposal was that the boys should provide theflatboat and take her to New Orleans at their own expense; that themerchants should furnish a cargo to be sold on commission either at NewOrleans or on "the coast," as the river country for a few hundred milesabove that city is called, the boys to have a certain part of the moneyas freight and a certain other part as "commission."

  Every merchant in town was ready to furnish a part of the cargo, and itseemed altogether probable that the boys would easily secure morefreight than they could carry, though their flatboat was to be one ofthe biggest that ever floated down the river. As she was likely also tobe one of the last, coming as she did long after that system of rivertransportation had been generally abandoned, Irv Strong, in a burst ofeloquence, proposed that she should be called _The Last of theFlatboats_, in order, he said, "that she may take rank with those nobleliterary productions, 'The Last of the Barons,' 'The Last of theMohicans,' 'The Last of the Mamelukes,' 'The Last Days of Pompeii,' and'The Lay of the Last Minstrel.'"

  Ed Lowry laughed, and the other boys voted for the name proposed.

  As the boat was nearing completion, a few weeks later, and indeed hadalready received a part of her cargo, the question arose, who should beher captain.

  The first impulse of everybody concerned was to say "Ed Lowry," but Edvetoed that.

  "I'm an invalid," he said, "or half an invalid at the best, and thisthing isn't play. There are very serious duties for the captain of aflatboat to do. He must be able to expose himself in all weathers, whichI can't do. He must be ready in resource and very quick to decide. In anemergency, it is far more important to have a quick decision than a wiseone, and especially to have the one who decides a resolute person whowill carry his decision into effect."

  "I see," said Irving Strong. "What we need in a captain is 'obstinatepertinacity.' I move that Phil Lowry, as the possessor of a large andvaried stock of that commodity, be made captain of _The Last of theFlatboats_."

  As Phil was the very youngest of the group, and as he had always beenregarded rather as a ready than a discreet thinker, there was a moment'shesitation. But a little thought convinced every one of the boys thatPhil was by all odds the one among them best fit to undertake thedifficult task of command--the one most likely to bring the enterpriseto a successful termination, especially if any serious difficultiesshould arise, as was pretty certain to happen.

  "It's an awful responsibility for Phil to assume," said Ed that night totheir widowed mother, a woman of unusual wisdom.

  "Yes," she replied; "but, after all, he is the one best fit, and thatought to be the only ground on which men or boys are selected for placesof responsibility. Besides, it will educate Philip in much that he needsto learn. No matter what happens on the voyage, he will come back thebetter for it. He ought to have the discipline that responsibilitygives. The one lesson he most needs to learn is that he is not merely anindividual, but a part of a whole: that his conduct in any case affectsothers as well as himself, and that he is, therefore, responsible toothers and for others. It is well that you boys have made him yourcaptain. Now remember to hold up his hands and obey him loyally in everycase of doubt. That will be hard for you, Edward, because of yoursuperior knowledge--"

  "No, it won't, mother, pardon me," responded Ed: "first, because I knowtoo much about some things not to know that other people know more thanI do about others; and secondly, because I thoroughly understand whatNapoleon meant when he said that 'one bad general in command of an armyis better than two good ones.' The most unwise order promptly executedusually results better than the wisest order left open to debate. Philwill never leave things open to debate when the time comes for quickaction, and besides, mother, I have a much better opinion of Phil'scapacity for command than you think. His readiness and resourcefulnessare remarkable. He may or he may not get us safely to New Orleans. Butif he doesn't, I shall be perfectly certain that nobody else in theparty could."

  So it was that Phil Lowry, the youngest of the party, and the mostharum-scarum boy in all Vevay, was chosen captain of _The Last of theFlatboats_ by those who were to voyage with him, simply because they allbelieved him to be the one best fit for the place.