The Last of the Flatboats

by George Cary Eggleston

  CHAPTER XXVI

  THE CREW AND THEIR CAPTAIN

  Utterly worn out as he was, it was not a part of Phil's purpose--it wasnot in his nature, indeed--to neglect any duty. He ate a hearty supperwith the boys, during which he talked very little. Once he said,suddenly:--

  "I suspect it's the Tallahatchie."

  "What do you mean?" asked Ed.

  "Why, the river we've reached. It lies to the left of our course. If itwas the Sunflower, it would lie to the right. Anyhow, it runs into theYazoo, and that's all we ask of it."

  "By the way, Ed," said Irv, "how long is the Yazoo?"

  "I don't know, I'm sure," said Ed. "I'll get the map after supper, andlook."

  "Don't bother," said Phil. "The navigable part of it is one hundred andseventy-five miles long."

  "How did you come to know that?" asked Will. "I thought Ed was thegeographer of this expedition."

  "So he is. But I'm captain, worse luck to it, and it's my first businessto know what lies ahead. So I looked this thing up on the map. TheYalobusha and Tallahatchie run together somewhere near a village calledGreenwood, which is probably a hundred feet or so under water justnow,--we may even float over the highest steeple in that interestingtown, when we get to it,--and those two streams form the Yazoo. By theway, that little side issue of a river happens to be considerablylonger, in its navigable part, than one of the most celebrated rivers inthe world--the Hudson."

  "You don't mean it?" exclaimed Irv, for once surprised out of his drawl.

  "Maybe I don't. But I think I do. Ask Ed to study it out. I'm too tiredto talk. I'm going to sleep for ten minutes now. Wake me up at the endof that time. Don't fail!"

  With that the exhausted boy rolled into a bunk, and in an instant wasasleep again.

  Ed got out his maps and studied them for a while.

  "He's right, boys," said the older one, after some measurements on themap.

  "Of course he is," said Constant. "He's got into the habit of beingright since we chose him to be 'IT' for this trip. But go on, Ed. Tellus about it."

  "Well," said Ed, still scrutinizing the map, "the navigable part of theHudson, from New York to Troy, is about one hundred and fifty-six mileslong. The navigable part of the Yazoo is, as Phil said, one hundred andseventy-five miles long. Oh, by the way--"

  "What is the thought behind that exclamation?" said Irv, when Ed paused;for Irv's spirits were irrepressible.

  "It just occurs to me," said Ed, "that this wonderful river of ours, theMississippi with its tributaries, is almost exactly one hundred times aslong--in its navigable parts--as the greatest commercial river of theEast."

  "In other words," said Irv, "the East isn't in it with us. Its greatHudson River would scarcely more than make a tail for the Mississippibelow New Orleans. It would just about stretch from Cincinnati toLouisville. It would cover only a little more than half the distancefrom St. Louis to Cairo, or from Cairo to Memphis."

  "True!" said Ed, "and pretty much the same thing is true of every greatriver in Europe. Not one of them would make a really important tributaryof our wonderful river. All of them put together wouldn't compare withthe Ohio and its affluents."

  "Phil's ten minutes are up," said Will. "I hate to wake him, but thatwas his order."

  Phil had come, in this time of stress, to live mainly within himself. Hewas too much absorbed with his responsibilities to be able to put themaside, or even to treat them lightly.

  "I'm 'IT,' and so I'm responsible," he had said to Ed, "and I mustthink. Sometimes it doesn't pay to talk, and sometimes I'm too tired totalk. I must just give orders without explaining them. You explain itall to the other fellows, and don't let them misunderstand. I don't likethe job of commanding, even a little bit. But you fellows set me at it,and I accepted the responsibility. I'll bear it to the end, but--"

  "We all understand, Phil," said Irv Strong, who had joined thebrothers. "Your crew was never better satisfied with its captain than itis to-day. But it will be still more loyal to-morrow and next day, andevery other day till the voyage is ended." Then in lighter vein--for Irvnever liked to be serious for long at a time--he added: "Why, I wouldn'teven whisper if you told me not to, and you remember Mrs. Dupont postedme first, and you next, as irreclaimable whisperers."

  But to return to the night in question. When Phil was waked he took alantern and made a minute inspection of the boat, inside and outside.Then he dropped into a skiff and rowed away to examine the mooringscritically. On his return he said to his comrades:--

  "The boat is leaking a good deal more than I like. The strain shereceived back there, yesterday or the day before, or a thousand yearsago--I'm sure I don't remember when it was--is beginning to tell uponher. One pump is no longer quite enough to keep the water in the bilge.We must keep both going--not quite all the time, of course, and not veryviolently, but pretty steadily. So that's the order for to-night. Twofellows on watch all the time, and both pumps to be kept going most ofthe time. I'll sleep till two o'clock. Then wake me, and I'll take myturn at a pump."

  The boys would have liked to exempt him from that duty. But his tone didnot invite question or protest of any kind. It did not admit even ofargument. It was a command--and Phil was commander.