The Last of the Flatboats

by George Cary Eggleston

  CHAPTER XIV

  IN THE HOME OF THE EARTHQUAKES

  One night soon after _The Last of the Flatboats_ left Cairo, Phil'scompass showed that the Mississippi River, whose business it was to runtoward the south, was in fact running due north. Phil recognized this asone of the vagaries of the wonderful river. Consulting his map, he foundthat the river knew its business, that the boat was in New Madrid Bend,where for a space the strangely erratic river runs north, only to turnagain to its southerly course, after having asserted its liberty byrunning in a contrary direction as it does at Cairo, where a line drawndue north from the southerly point of Illinois cuts through a part ofKentucky, a state lying to the south of Illinois. No ordinary map showsthis, but it is nevertheless true. Illinois ends in a hook, whichextends so far south and so far east as to bring a part of Illinois tothe southward of Kentucky.

  Phil had fully grasped this fact. He had reconciled himself to theeccentricities of the wonderful river, and was entirely content to floatnorthward, so long as that seemed to be the river's will.

  But about midnight there came a disturbance. First of all there was agreat roar, as of artillery or Titanic trains of cars somewhere in thecentre of the earth. Then there were severe blows upon the bottom of theflatboat, blows that threatened to break its gunwales in two. Then threegreat waves came up the river, curling over the flatboat's bow andpouring their floods into her hold, as if to swamp her. Then the boatswung around, changed her direction, and for a time ran up the stream,while waves threatened at every moment to overwhelm her.

  Phil, who was on watch at the time, ran to the scuttle to call hiscomrades, but there was no occasion. The tremendous thumps on the bottomof the boat and the swaying of everything backward and forward hadawakened them, and, half clad, they were rushing on deck.

  Just then the boat struck upon a shore bar and went hard aground. Thewater that had come in over her bow had more than filled the bilge; buthow far the disturbance had made the boat leak, Phil could not find out,for she was now resting upon a sandbank near the shore, and of course,supported as she was by the river bottom, she could not settle farther.So Phil ordered all hands to the pumps, in order to get out the wavewater, and to find out as soon as she should float again what waterthere might be coming in through leaks caused by the disturbance justexperienced.

  A little pumping showed that the boat was not leaking seriously. Thewater in the hold went down in about the same proportion that the pumpspoured it out, thus showing that no additional supply was coming inanywhere.

  In half an hour the pumps ceased to "draw." That is to say, no watercame out in response to their activity. But the flatboat was stillaground.

  "Never mind about that," said Irv Strong. "The river is still risingrapidly, and it will soon float us."

  "Yes," answered Phil, "if we are on a level bar and if the boat hasundergone no strain. You see as long as we have bottom under us, weshan't leak to any serious extent. But when we float again, the greatweight of our cargo will make every open seam admit water to its fullcapacity."

  "Of course," said Irv. "But what makes you think there are any openseams?"

  "Nothing," answered Phil, "except a general impulse of precaution. Wewent aground very easily. In fact, I didn't know we were aground till Isaw the water flowing by, and by the way, it is RUNNING UP STREAM!" Ashe said this he leaned over the side and observed the water carefully.

  The other boys joined him and observed the same phenomenon, largelyin wonder, but almost half in fright. The Mississippi River wasunquestionably running the wrong way, and that, too, when a great floodwas pouring down it and seeking its way to the sea.

  "What does it all mean, Ed?" asked Will Moreraud. "Tell us about it, forof course you know."

  "I don't know whether I know or not," responded Ed, with more ofhesitation than was usual in his tone. "I think we have had a smallearthquake. We are in the midst of a region of small earthquakes. Weare in New Madrid Bend, and for the best part of a century that has beena sort of earthquake nest."

  "The river is running down stream again," called out Constant, "and weare beginning to float, too."

  "So we are," said Irv Strong, going to the side and inspecting. "Let'sgo below and find out whether or not we're leaking."

  The suggestion was a timely one. Phil indeed had anticipated it, andwhen his comrades went below they found him there with a lantern,minutely inspecting every point where incoming water might be lookedfor.

  Their search clearly revealed the fact that the flatboat--which was nowagain floating down the stream--was not leaking more than she didordinarily, not so much that a few minutes' pumping now and then couldnot keep her bilge empty.

  Having satisfied themselves of the boat's safety, the boys returned tothe deck, and renewed their demands upon Ed for an explanation.

  "Well, you see," said Ed, "we're in New Madrid Bend. Now, as I said awhile ago, for the best part of a century, and probably for all thecenturies before that, this region has been the home of earthquakes, notvery great ones, but such as we have just experienced. Along about 1811and 1812 it was distressed with much severer ones in an uncommon degree.We have just had the Mississippi River running up stream for five or tenminutes as a result of one of these disturbances. In 1811 it ran upstream for three full days and nights. Great fissures were opened in theearth all over the country round about, and as they always, or at leastgenerally, ran north and south, the settlers used to fell trees east andwest, and build their cabins upon them, so that they might not beswallowed up by the earthquakes."

  "Why didn't they run away from so appalling a danger?" asked Irv Strong.

  "Because they were pioneers," answered Ed, "because they were the sortof heroes we were talking about at Cairo, men who took all the risksthat might come to them in order that they might secure advantages tothemselves and their children. Men of that sort do not run away fromearthquakes, any more than they run away from Indians, or fevers, orfloods, or any other dangers. And by the way, these same people hadIndians to contend with, in their very ugliest moods."

  "How so?" asked two of the boys at once.

  "Why, in the time of the great earthquakes, all of Western Tennesseeand Kentucky, and the greater part of Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabamawere inhabited by savage Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, and other hostiletribes. At that time the great Indiana chief, Tecumseh, conceivedhis plan of uniting all the tribes from Indiana--then a part of theNorthwest Territory--to Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina,and Florida, in a league for determined resistance to the westwardadvance of the whites.

  "It was an opportune time, for a little later the British, being at warwith us, came to Florida and undertook to form an offensive anddefensive alliance with the Indians, whom they supplied with guns andammunition, for the destruction of the United States. And but forJackson's superb war against the Creeks, and later his victory at NewOrleans, they would have succeeded in splitting this country in two.

  "When Tecumseh went south to secure the cooeperation of the Creeks,Choctaws, and Seminoles in this plan for the destruction of our country,he told the Muscogees that on his return to the north he would 'stamphis foot' and they would feel the earth tremble.

  "The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812, which extended intoAlabama and Georgia, came just in time to fulfil this prophetic threat,and there is no doubt that they played a great part in provoking themost dangerous Indian war this country ever knew--the most dangerousbecause, before it was over, there came to our shores a great Britisharmy, the flower of English soldiery, under command of Pakenham,Wellington's most trusted lieutenant--to capture New Orleans and securecontrol of our wonderful river, and all the region west of it."

  "And why didn't they do it?" asked Will Moreraud.

  "Because of Andrew Jackson," answered Ed. "He went to New Orleansto meet them. He had no army, but he created one mostly in a singleafternoon. His only experienced troops were three hundred Tennesseevolunteers under Coffee, one of his old Indian fight
ers. But he hadsome backwoods volunteers, and he enlisted all the merchants he couldin New Orleans, and all their clerks, all the ragamuffins of the city,all the wharf rats, and all the free negroes there, and armed them asbest he could. Half of Pakenham's force had moved from Lake Borgue toa point a few miles below the city. Without waiting for a force fitto fight them with, Jackson cried 'Forward' to his motley collectionof men, and on the night of December 23, 1814, he attacked the greatveteran English army in the dark. It was a fearful fight, and the vigorof it and its insolence as a military operation so appalled the British,that they waited for more than two weeks for the rest of their forcesto come up before trying again to capture the city,--a thing which theyhad intended to do the next morning without the loss of a man. In themeantime, Jackson had fortified himself, and reenforcements had come tohim, so that when the British were at last ready, on the 8th of January,1815, to advance to what they still expected to be the easy conquestof the city, they were 'licked out of their boots.' That, in brief, isthe story of the battle which for the second time decided Americanindependence. For the British in the War of 1812-14 had nothing less inview than the re-conquest of our country, and the restoration of thestates to the condition and status of British colonies."

  "But how about the earthquakes?" asked Irv; "why is this region subjectto them more than others?"

  "I'm not sure that I know," said Ed. "But countries in the neighborhoodof volcanoes are usually either peculiarly subject to earthquakes orespecially exempt from them. It seems that sometimes the volcanoes actas safety valves, while sometimes they don't work in that way till afterthe region round about has been greatly shaken up, preparatory to aneruption."

  "But what have volcanoes got to do with New Madrid Bend?" asked Phil."There aren't any volcanoes in the United States."

  "No," said Ed, thoughtfully; "but there are some hot springs over inArkansas, not very far from here, and they are volcanic of course intheir origin and character. Perhaps if the Arkansas hot springs were arobust volcano, instead of being what they are, there would not be somany earthquakes in this part of the country. If they threw out stonesand lava and let off steam generally as Vesuvius and Etna and the othersdo, perhaps this part of the country wouldn't have so many agues."

  Just then the boat heeled over, the river was broken into great wavesagain, and all creation seemed to be see-sawing north and south. Philcalled the boys to the sweeps, as a matter of precaution, but the boatwas helpless in the raging river. She was driven ashore again; that isto say, she was driven over the brink of a submerged river bank, whereshe stuck securely in the mud.

  This second earthquake did not last more than thirty or forty seconds,but that was long enough to get _The Last of the Flatboats_ into theworst trouble that she had yet encountered. She seemed to be bending inthe middle as if resting upon a fallen tree with both ends free.

  Phil quickly manned the skiffs and instituted an inspection. By the useof poles and lead lines he soon discovered that two-thirds of the boat'slength lay upon a reasonably level bank, the remaining third overhangingit. It was this that was bending her so dangerously.

  "Get inside, boys, quick," he called to his comrades. "The boat's bowoverhangs the bank. We must get all the freight out of it as quickly aspossible."

  Then in brief sentences he gave his commands.

  "Roll those apple barrels into the cabin! Carry those bags of meal ondeck and well astern! Take the anchor there, too! Lighten the bow allyou can!"

  The boys worked like beavers, and after a while the entire forward partof the boat was free of freight. The cabin as a consequence was full,and the deck so piled up with bags and barrels that ordinary navigationwould have been impossible. But at any rate, the danger of breaking theboat in two was averted.

  Phil then got into a skiff with Irv, and armed with some lanterns, wentcarefully all around the boat, measuring depths and looking for possiblyopen seams or other damage. When he returned to the deck he reported:--

  "We are lying in about six inches of Missouri mud with two and a halffeet of water above it, trespassing to that extent upon somebody's farm.But the reports from up the rivers when we were at Cairo were that atleast twelve inches more water might be expected within forty-eighthours, and as it is raining like Noah's flood now, and we only need afew inches of water to set us free, we'll be afloat again by morning ifwe don't have another earthquake to send us still farther out into thecountry."

  The event justified Phil's prediction. About five o'clock in the morningthe flatboat floated again, and with a few vigorous strokes of thesweeps she was sent out into the middle of the river. Then Phil gaveorders for the restoration of the freight to its proper place. Not untilthat was done was it possible to get breakfast, for the cabin had beenpiled full of freight, and when it was done, Phil devoted himself for anhour or more, before he would eat, to an inspection of the boat. Hefound and stopped a few leaks that had been made by the strain, whichhad caused the oakum to loosen in the seams.

  The rain continuing, the boys had a dull day of it, but at any ratetheir boat was in good condition, and was now again floating down streamtoward her destination.