CHAPTER V
ON THE BANKS OF THE WONDERFUL RIVER
It was a busy fortnight that followed. The boys visited every farmerwithin six miles of the landing to secure whatever freight he might bewilling to furnish. They picked and barrelled all of Lampson's apples,dug and bagged and barrelled all the potatoes in that neighborhood, andgot together many small lots of onions, garlic, dried beans, and thelike, including about ten barrels of eggs. These last they collected inbaskets, a few dozen from each farm, and packed them at the landing. Ofcourse every shipper's freight had to be separately marked and receiptedfor, so that the proper returns might be made.
During all this time the boys had lived in a camp of their own making atthe landing, partly to guard the freight against thieves, partly to getused to cooking, etc., for themselves, partly to learn to "rough it,"generally, and more than all because, being healthy-minded boys, theyliked camping for its own sake.
Their little shelter was on the shore, just under the bank. Theyoccupied it only during rains. At other times they lived night and dayin the open air. They worked all day, of course, leaving one of theirnumber on guard, but when night came, they had what Homer calls a "greatbearded fire," built against a fallen sycamore tree of gigantic size,and after supper they sat by it chatting till it was time to sleep.
They were usually tired, but they were excited also, and that often keptthem awake pretty late. The vision of the voyage had taken hold upontheir imaginations. They pictured to themselves the calm joy of floatingfifteen hundred miles and more down the great river, of seeing strange,subtropical regions that had hitherto been but names to them, seeming asremote as the Nile country itself until now.
And as they thought, they talked, but mainly their talk consisted ofquestions fired at Ed Lowry, who was very justly suspected of knowingabout ten times as much about most things as anybody else in thecompany.
Finally, one night Irv Strong got to "supposing" things and asking Edabout them.
"Suppose we run on a sawyer," he said. Ed had been telling them aboutthat particularly dangerous sort of snag.
"Well," said Ed, "we'll try to avoid that, by keeping as nearly as wecan in the channel."
"But suppose we find that a particularly malignant sawyer has squatteddown in the middle of the channel, and is laying for us there?"
"I doubt if sawyers often do that," said Ed, meditatively.
"Well, but suppose one cantankerous old sawyer should do so," insistedIrv. "You can 'suppose a case' and make a sawyer anywhere you please,can't you?"
Everybody laughed. Then Ed said: "Now listen to me, boys. I've beengetting together all the books I can borrow that tell anything about thecountry we're going through, and I'll have them all on board. My plan isto lie on my back in the shade somewhere and read them while you fellowspull at the oars, cook the meals, and do the work generally. Then, whenyou happen to have a little leisure, as you will now and then, I'lltell you what I've learned by my reading."
"Oh, that's your plan, is it?" asked Phil.
"Yes, I've thought it all out carefully," laughed Ed.
"Well, you'll find out before we get far down the river what the dutiesof a flatboat hand are, and you'll _do_ 'em, too, 'accordin' to themeasure of your strength,' as old Mr. Moon always says in experiencemeeting."
"But reading and telling us about it is what Ed can do best," said WillMoreraud, "and that's what we're taking him along for."
"Not a bit of it," quickly responded Phil. "We're taking him along tomake him well and strong like the rest of us, and I'm going to keep himoff his back and on his feet as much as possible, and besides--"
"But, Phil, old fellow," Ed broke in, "didn't you understand that I wasonly joking?"
Ed asked the question with a tender solicitude to which Phil respondedpromptly.
"Of course I did," he replied. "You always do your share in everything,and sometimes more. But I don't think you understand. You know westarted this thing for you. I don't know--maybe you'll never get well ifwe don't do our best to make you--" but Phil had choked up by this time,and he broke away from the group and went down by the river. A littlelater Ed joined him there and, grasping his hand, said:--
"I understand, old fellow."
"No, you don't; at least not quite," replied the boy, who had nowrecovered control of his voice. "You see it's this way. You and I are_twins_. You're some years older than I am, of course, but we've alwaysbeen twins just the same."
"Yes, I understand all that, and feel it."
"No, not all," persisted the younger boy. "You see I've got all thehealth there is between us, and it isn't fair. If you should--well, ifanything should happen to you, I'd never forgive myself for not findingout some way of dividing health with you--"
"But, my dear brother--" broke in Ed.
"Don't interrupt me, now," said Phil, almost hysterically, "because Imust tell you this so that you will understand. When we made up thisscheme and you fellows chose me captain, I got to thinking how muchdepended on me. There was the cargo, representing other people's money,and I was responsible for that. There was the safety of the boat andcrew, and that depended upon me, too. But these weren't the heavy thingsto me. There was your health! That depended on me in a fearful way. Ifelt that I must find out what was best for you to do and then _make_you do it." He laughed a little. "That sounds funny, doesn't it? Theidea of my 'making' you do things!--Never mind that. I went to Dr.Gale--"
"What for?" asked Ed, in astonishment at this new revelation of thechange in Phil's happy-go-lucky ways.
"To find out just what it would be best for you to do and not to do, inorder to make you well and strong like me." He choked a little, butpresently recovered himself and continued. "I found out, and I mean to_make_ you do the things that will save you, even if you hate me formy--"
He could say no more. There was no need. Ed, with his ready mind andbig, generous heart, understood, though he wondered. He grasped hisbrother's hand again and said, between something like sobs:--
"And I'll obey you, Phil! Thank you, and God bless you! Be sure I couldnever hate you or do anything but love you, and you must always knowthat I understand."
Then the two turned away from each other.
On their return to Vevay a few evenings later, Ed said to his mother:--
"You were right, mother; responsibility has already worked a miracle inPhil's character."
"No, you are wrong," said the wise mother. "It is only that you havenever quite understood your brother until now. Nothing really changescharacter--at least nothing changes it suddenly. Circumstances do notalter the character of men or women or boys. They only call out what isalready there. Responsibility and his great affection for you have notchanged your brother in the least. They have only served to make youacquainted with him as you never were before."
"Be very sure I shall never misunderstand him again!" said the boy, withan earnestness not to be mistaken.
LOADING THE FLATBOAT.
"They worked like beavers getting cargo aboard."]
The Last of the Flatboats Page 6