The Last of the Flatboats

by George Cary Eggleston

  CHAPTER XXVIII

  A HARD-WON VICTORY

  Phil's further explorations below, which occupied perhaps half an hour,convinced him that the pumps, if worked to their utmost capacity, werecapable of emptying the hold of water within three or four hours,possibly somewhat sooner, as the tarpaulin was doing its work better,now that the flatboat was cast loose. The current was no longerinterfering, as the boat was now moving with the stream, and the weightof the craft was pressing it closer to the canvas beneath.

  Phil realized that to keep the pumps at work to the full for so long atime would fearfully tax the crew's strength, taxing it perhaps evenbeyond its capacity of endurance. But he saw no alternative. The watersimply must be got out of the hold. Till that should be done there wouldbe no possibility of finding and stopping the leaks.

  So going again on deck, he said to his comrades:--

  "I'll tell you what, boys, we've got to work for all we're worth now forthe next two or three hours. We must get at the inside of the bottom ofthe boat and find these leaks. We can't do that till we empty her ofwater, or get her pretty nearly empty."

  "But how in the world are we to get at the leaks under all our freight?"asked Will Moreraud.

  "We have got to move the freight," said Phil.

  "But where?" asked Irv.

  "Well," said Phil, "we've got to throw part of it overboard, I suppose,in order to give us room. Then we've got to shift the rest of it littleby little from one spot to another, exposing a part of the bottom eachtime. We must find every leak that we can, and stop every one that iscapable of being stopped. It will take two or three hours to pump thewater out, and, I suppose, it will take two or three days to get theseleaks fully stopped. In the meantime, we are all going to be enormouslytired, and of course--"

  "And of course we'll all be as cross as a sawbuck," said Irv Strong;"tired people always are; what we've got to do is to look out and notquarrel."

  "Oh, well," said Phil, "I will take care of that. I am as cross as twosawbucks already, but I haven't quarrelled with anybody yet, and I don'tmean to. And I'll keep the rest of you too busy to quarrel. We willpostpone all that until we get to New Orleans--"

  "If we ever do get to New Orleans," said Ed.

  "Ever get to New Orleans? Why, we have got to get to New Orleans. Wehave undertaken to do that job for the owners of this cargo, and we aregoing to do it, if we have to pump the Mississippi River three timesthrough this boat in getting there. Our present task is to reduce thenecessity for pumping as much as we can."

  Phil found by experiment that one boy at each pump was nearly asefficient as two, and as the work of pumping was exhausting, he decidedto keep only two boys at it, one at each pump. Then, taking the othertwo with him, he went below and with buckets they began dipping waterfrom the hold and pouring it overboard at the bow. In this way theyadded largely to the work of the pumps, and every fifteen minutes or sotwo of the boys handling buckets would go to the pumps, and the twotired fellows at the pumps would come below and work with buckets.

  It was wearisome work, but there was at any rate the encouragement ofsuccess. By one o'clock in the afternoon the water in the hold was sofar reduced that it was no longer possible to dip it up with bucketswith any profit. So Phil stopped that part of the work, and decided tokeep the boys on very short shifts at the pumps, leaving them to restcompletely between their tours of duty. He let two of them work for tenminutes. Then another pair took their places for ten minutes. Then thefifth one of the party--for Phil did his "stint" like the rest--becameone of the relief pair, thus giving one boy twenty minutes' rest insteadof ten. This extra rest came in its turn of course to each of the boys,so that each boy worked forty minutes--ten minutes at a time--andrested sixty minutes out of every one hundred minutes or every hour andtwo-thirds.

  About five o'clock in the afternoon Phil made one of his frequentjourneys of inspection in the hold. He came on deck with an encouragedlook in his tired face.

  "We've got the water pretty nearly all out now, boys. Our next job is tokeep it out by stopping leaks. We'll work one pump all the time. I thinkthat will keep even with the leaks, or pretty nearly so. If we find thewater gaining on us, we'll set the other pump going for a while."

  "And what's your plan for stopping leaks, Phil?" asked Irv.

  "First of all we'll find the leaks," said Phil. "Then we'll do whateverwe can to stop them."

  "Oh, yes, we know that," said Irv, with a touch of irritation in hisvoice, "but you know I meant--"

  "Come, Irv, no quarrelling!" said Will Moreraud. "You're tired andcross, but so are the rest of us."

  "I own up, and beg pardon," said Irv, regaining his good nature by aneffort, but instantly. "Phil, may I take time for a cold plunge beforeyou assign me to my next duty?"

  "Certainly," said Phil. "And I'll take one with you. Come, boys, we'llall be the better for the shock of a shockingly cold bath. Jump in, allof you!"

  And they all did, for, to the surprise of every one, Ed leaped overboardwith them and swam twice around the boat before coming out of the verycold water and into the still colder air.

  "Ed's getting well, Phil," said Irv.

  "Yes," said Phil, as he watched his brother rubbing himself down. "Twoweeks ago he would have come out of that water shivering as if with anague, and the color of a table-cloth. Now look at him! He's as red as aboiled lobster, and he's actually laughing as he rubs the skin off withthat piece of sanded tarpaulin that he has mistaken for a Turkish towel.Here, Ed, take a towel, or would you rather have some sandpaper or arasp?"

  "Thanks, old fellow," said Ed, who had of course heard all the remarksconcerning himself, "but this cloth feels good. I believe I am gettingbetter. I've quit 'barking' anyhow."

  "That's so," said Irv. "You haven't dared utter a cough since thatmorning when _The Last of the Flatboats_ tried to make the last ofherself by quitting the river and coming off on this little picnic inthe Mississippi swamps."

  "If you young gentlemen have quite finished your discussion of pasthappenings, and are ready to give attention to present exigencies," saidPhil, in that mocking tone which he sometimes playfully adopted, "you'llplease put your clothes on and report for duty in the hold, wherethere's some important work to be done. It's your turn at the pump,Constant. Get thee to thy task, and don't forget to remind me when yourtime's up.

  "Now," said Phil, when they threw open the forward door of the flatboatto open a passage for taking out freight, "I suppose we ought to divideup the loss by throwing out about an equal quantity of each owner'sfreight. But we can't do it, so there's an end of that."

  "Oh, the law will take care of all that," said Ed.

  "The law? How?"

  "Why the law requires everybody interested in the boat or the cargo toshare the loss, when freight must be thrown overboard to save the ship."

  "But how can that be done?" asked Irv.

  "Why, we must keep account of what we throw overboard. When we sell therest at New Orleans, we shall know just what was the value of the partjettisoned,--that's the law term for throwing things overboard, Ibelieve,--and that loss must be divided among the owners of the boatherself, the owners of cargo on board, and the insurance companies, ifany of the freight is insured. Each one's share of the loss will be inprecise proportion to his interest."

  "Illustrate," said Will Moreraud.

  "Well," rejoined Ed, "suppose we find the boat and her total cargo to beworth one thousand dollars--"

  "Oh, rubbish! It's worth many times that," broke in Will. "Why, I shouldvalue--"

  "Never mind that," said the other. "I'm 'supposing a case,' as Irv says,and simply for convenience I take one thousand dollars as the totalvalue of the boat and everything in her. Now, suppose we have to throwoverboard one hundred dollars' worth. That is one-tenth of the whole.That tenth must be divided, not equally, but proportionally, among allthe persons interested. Suppose the boat is worth two hundred dollars.That is one-fifth the total value, and so the boat owners must bearone
-fifth of the one hundred dollars' loss. That is to say, we fellowsshould have to 'pony up' twenty dollars among us, or four dollarsapiece. A man owning three hundred dollars' worth of freight would becharged thirty dollars, and so on through the list."

  "Oh, I see," said Phil, who in the meantime had been studying ways andmeans of accomplishing the practical purpose in hand. "And a very goodarrangement it is. Now stop talking, and let's heave out some of thesebales of hay."

  "Why not take some of the other things instead?" asked Irv. "They areheavier, and to throw them over would lighten the boat more."

  All this while the boys were at work getting the hay out.

  "We aren't trying to lighten the boat," replied Phil. "We're only tryingto make room, and the hay takes up more room, dollar's worth fordollar's worth, than anything else. So it's cheapest to 'jettison'hay--thanks for that new word, Ed. Now, heave ho!" And the first bale ofhay went over the bow into the water.

  "Now, another!"

  In a brief time a considerable space was cleared.

  "That will do, I think," said Phil. "We shan't have to 'jettison'anything more, if you fellows will stop your chatter and get to work. Ifyou don't, I'll jettison some of the crew."

  This brought a needed smile, for the boys were by this time almostexhausted with work and loss of sleep. Phil thought of this. He had nothimself slept a moment since his discovery that the boat was sinking atmidnight of the night before, while all the rest had caught refreshinglittle naps between their tours of duty at the pumps. But he lefthimself out of the account in laying his plans.

  "See here, boys," he said, "there isn't room for more than one of you towork here with me at these leaks. One must stay at the pump on deck, ofcourse, but the other two might as well go to sleep till we need you tomove freight again."

  "Oh, I like that," said Irv. "But why shouldn't _you_ do a little of thesleeping, instead of shoving it all off on us, as you've done all day?"

  "Oh, never mind about me. I shan't sleep till we get things in shape, soyou and Ed go to sleep. You go and relieve Constant at the pump, Will,and let him come and help me."

  "You said there was to be no quarrelling," said Irv, "and I have thusfar obeyed. I have even stood Ed's exposition of the law about throwingfreight overboard, without a murmur, but now I'm going to quarrel withthe skipper of this craft, if he doesn't consent to take his full andfair share of the sleeping that simply has to be done. He always takeshis full share of the work, even to the cooking. It was only yesterdaythat he made the worst pot of coffee we've had yet. I insist that heshall not be permitted basely to shirk his fair share of the sleeping."

  The other boys echoed the kindly sentiment that Irv had put in thatplayful way, and Phil was touched by their consideration. Instinctivelyholding out his hands to them, he said:--

  "Thank you, fellows. It's awfully good of you. But I simply could notsleep now. I cannot close my eyes till I see this work of stopping leaksso well advanced as to be sure that the boat is safe. I promise youthat just as soon as that is accomplished I'll let you fellows go onwith the work, and I'll take even a double turn at sleeping."

  "You'll promise that?"

  "Yes. And by way of compromise, and to keep you from quarrelling, Irv,I'll let you postpone your first sleeping turn till you can get mesomething hot to swallow--a canned soup with an egg in it, or somethingelse sustaining. I'm hungry."

  During the day's excitements there had been no regular meals served onthe boat, but as there happened to be a cold boiled ham in the larderand plenty of bread, the boys had indulged frequently in sandwiches. Butit now occurred to them that Phil, in his anxiety, had quite forgottento do this, and had, in fact, eaten nothing whatever for more thaneighteen hours. So Irv hastened to prepare him some food of the kind hehad asked for.

  In the meantime, Phil and Constant, armed with hammers and nails, andbits of board which they from time to time sawed or cut to fit spaces,were busy at the leaks. When they had done all they could in that waywithin the space laid bare by the removal of the hay, they rolled otherfreight into that space, thus exposing another part of the bottom.

  A TOUR OF INSPECTION.

  "'Hello! Irv; we've found the crevasse at last.'"]

  In this way the work went forward during the night, all of the boysexcept Phil securing some sleep in brief snatches, and all of themministering, so far as they were permitted, to their captain's need fortempting food.

  About daylight, in making a shift of freight, Phil suddenly came uponsomething that made him call out:--

  "Hello! what's this? I say, Irv,"--for Irving was then working withhim,--"we've found the crevasse at last."

  "I should say so," said Irv, with a slower drawl than usual, as he heldup his lantern and looked. "The Mississippi River and all its large andinteresting family of tributaries seem trying to come aboard here."

  Just where the gunwale joined the bottom planks of the boat a great seamhad been wrenched open, and the water was actually spouting and spurtingthrough it.

  "There's one consolation," said Phil. "There isn't any other leak likethis anywhere."

  "How do you know?"

  "Why, if there were two such, we should have gone to Davy Jones'slocker long ago."

  Then the two boys set to work trying to fasten a board over the openseam, but their efforts failed completely. Their united strength was notsufficient even to press the board against the timbers, much less tohold it in place long enough to nail it there. For the whole weight ofthe boat and cargo was pressing down into the river and forcing this jetof water upward through the opening.

  "Call the entire crew, Irv," said Phil. "We shall need them all for thisjob--including the fellow at the pump."

  Then, while Irv went to summon the boys, Phil secured a piece of plankthree inches thick, very green and very heavy, which had been purchasedat Vevay to serve as a staging over which to roll freight in taking iton or discharging it.

  "Get me the brace and bit, Will--the quarter-inch auger bit. And, Ed,see if you can find the spikes that were left over in building the boat.Bring the heaviest hammers we've got too, some of you."

  All this while the boy was measuring, calculating, sawing, and hewingwith an axe to fit his great plank to its place. He bored holes in itat intervals, to facilitate the driving of spikes through its tough andtenacious thickness.

  When all was ready, the boys made a strenuous effort to force the timberdown against the crack, but to no purpose. Their strength and weightwere not sufficient.

  Presently a happy thought struck Will Moreraud.

  "Wait a minute," he said, and with that he rolled several barrels ofcorn meal into the open space.

  "Now," he cried, "three of you stand on one end of the plank while Idrive it into place. Let the other end ride free of the bottom, but oneof you hold it so that it can't slew away from the gunwale."

  The boys did this, and Will succeeded in driving one end of the timberinto place while three of his comrades stood upon that end of it. Theother end was held up by the waterspout a foot from the bottom of theboat, but Ed was holding it against the gunwale, in the place where itwas desired to force it down.

  "Now, hold it so," said Will, "and I'll force it down."

  With that he turned a two-hundred-pound barrel of meal on end upon theplank just beyond the point where the three boys were standing. Thispressed the timber down somewhat, and Will helped it with anotherbarrel. Then he began bringing heavy sacks of corn and oats, so heavythat he could scarcely handle them. These he piled high on top of themeal barrels, and the combined weight forced the plank down to within aninch of the bottom.

  With one end securely weighted down, he began piling freight in the sameway upon the other. Now and then the resisting water would push theheavy and heavily weighted plank away from the gunwale and force apassage for itself between. But when the plank was securely weighteddown upon the bottom, two or three of the boys, acting together, wereable, with axes and heavy hammers, to drive it finally and firmlyaga
inst the side of the boat.

  Then with the long wrought-iron spikes it was firmly secured in itsplace, but Phil decided not to remove any of the freight that was piledon top of it, lest the tremendous water pressure from below should forceeven the great iron spikes out of their sockets and set the leak goingagain. Indeed, to prevent this he directed his comrades to pile all thefreight they could so that its weight should fall upon the protectingtimber.

  By the time that all this was done it was eleven o'clock in the morning,and Irv Strong turned to Phil with an earnest look in his eyes, andsaid:--

  "We claim the fulfilment of your promise, Phil. You must go to sleepnow."

  The other boys stood by Irv's side with faces as earnest as his own. Itwas obvious that he spoke for all of them and as the result of anunderstanding. Phil hesitated for a moment. Then he said:--

  "Thank you, fellows, all of you. I'll do as you say."

  As he almost staggered toward the cabin in his exhaustion, he paused,still thoughtful of the general welfare, and said:--

  "Irv, you take charge while I sleep, and call me if anything happens."

  Two minutes later the lad was deeply slumbering.