by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XVIII.
AT THE MOUTH OF THE OHIO.
It must have been eight o'clock when Flora opened the window of herroom. She told me she had slept soundly, and felt as well as ever shedid in her life. I think Sim would have snored till noon if I had notcalled him; but he had slept at least six hours, and I concluded that hecould stand it till night. I gave him the steering oar, and Flora and Igot breakfast. Our first meal on board was not entirely satisfactory,for we had no table, and only one chair.
I took the helm again while Sim ate his breakfast, and then went to bedmyself; for I found, after my night of watching and excitement, I was inno condition to work. My companions were as considerate of me as I hadbeen of them, and permitted me to sleep till the middle of theafternoon. I was "as good as new" then; and, after we had dined, I putup a table, and made a couple of stools.
During the day, we met two steamboats, and passed a huge flat-boatloaded with grain; but no one on board of them seemed to take anyparticular notice of us. Every kind of a craft is seen on the greatwestern rivers, and none is so strange as to excite a sensation in themind of the beholder. At six o'clock we had been afloat about twentyhours; and, according to my estimate, it was nearly time for us to seethe Mississippi. The Wisconsin had widened as we advanced, and I wassure that we should be in the great river before midnight.
After supper, I discussed with Sim the subject of keeping watch duringthe night, and we decided that four hours were enough for each of us tosteer at one time. But we had no means of measuring time in the night,and we could only guess at the length of the watch. I was to serve fromeight till twelve, and Sim from twelve till four, when I was to take myplace again.
Flora retired early on the second night, and I sent Sim to bed as soonas it was fairly dark. I was alone again, in the solitude of that wasteof waters. The novelty of the scene had in some measure worn off. I hadnothing but my own thoughts to amuse me. The river appeared still to bewidening, and, as I had anticipated, before my watch had ended, the raftentered the Mississippi. The river was high, the current much strongerthan it had been in the Wisconsin, and the progress of the raft wascorrespondingly increased. I met a steamboat struggling against thestream, and passed quite near to her. The swell that she left behind hercaused the raft to roll heavily for a moment; but it did not disturb thesleepers in the house.
I called Sim at twelve o'clock, as nearly as I could judge, and hefaithfully promised me that he would keep awake till daylight. I lefthim alone on the platform, and turned in, though not without some doubtsin regard to his ability to be true to his promise. I went to sleep verypromptly, and I must do Sim the justice to say that I found the raft allright when he called me at sunrise, an hour later than the time agreedupon. He told me that nothing had happened during the night, exceptthat a steamboat had nearly upset the raft.
I do not intend to make a daily record of our voyage down the river. Oneday was very much like the next day, and all days were alike. On theafternoon of the first day on the Mississippi, we approached a village,where there was a steamboat landing. We were in want of supplies for ourtable, and I decided to stop for an hour or two. But I found that it wasan easier matter to go ahead than it was to stop, for the raft had gotinto the habit of doing so. The water was too deep to permit the use ofpoles, and we were helplessly carried past the village.
I was vexed at this mishap, for I did not like to drink my coffeewithout milk. However, we came to another and a larger village aboutsundown, and, making my calculations in good season, I succeeded indriving the raft into the shallow water where we could use the poles. Westruck the shore some distance above the place; but a walk of half amile was not objectionable, after our long confinement on the raft.
At this town I purchased a cheap clock, and an old, patched sail, whichhad been used on a wood-boat, as well as some provisions and groceries.Sim and I lugged these articles to the raft, and immediately cast offagain. I put the clock up in the house, where it could be seen throughthe door without leaving the platform. The lantern hung over it, so thatwe could tell the time by night.
I had great hopes of the sail, and the next day I rigged it upon twopoles, serving as yards. On one corner of the sail I found a block,which had been used for the sheet. I fastened it at the masthead, sothat we could hoist and lower the sail at pleasure. I was no navigator,and no sailor; and I had to experiment with the sail and rigging for along while before I could make them work to my satisfaction.
My inventive powers did not fail me, and by attaching a rope to each endof the two yards, I obtained the control of the canvas. When I hadcompleted the work, and hoisted the sail, I was delighted with itsoperation. The wind came pretty fresh from the north-west, and I thinkthe raft made five, if not six miles an hour with its help. With thesail drawing well, the labor of steering was reduced more than half. Theraft had no tendency to whirl round, and it was really a pleasure tosteer her. We were not obliged to follow the current in its broad sweepsaround the bends of the river, and we saved many miles by taking "shortcuts." I found, too, that the raft was under better control, and,instead of being at the mercy of the current, we could go where wepleased. When there was any wind, and it came from the right direction,I could make a landing where and when I wished with very littledifficulty.
Day after day we continued on our voyage, Sim and I dividing equallybetween us the labor at the steering oar. We could not use the sail allthe time, but it was a vast help to us when the wind was favorable. Astime permitted, I made improvements on the house, which added to ourcomfort. I put up two berths, which we filled with hay obtained from theprairies. I made a closet for the dishes, and a well in the body of theraft, where the kettle of milk could be kept cool in the water.
We made a landing almost every day at some town, and on Sunday we hauledup and went to church, whenever we were in a place where we could do so.On our sixth day it rained in torrents, and I hauled up at the bank of ariver, and made fast to a tree. It was not comfortable to stand on theplatform, wet to the skin, and steer. Sim and I slept nearly the wholeday, while Flora read the books and newspapers which I had bought at thetowns. I had done all the work I could find to do on the raft, and hadfitted up the house to my mind. I had an easy time of it.
At one of the large towns I found what was called "A Panorama of theMississippi River," which I bought and put up in the house. After thiswe knew just where we were, for the Panorama was a kind of chart, withall the towns on the river, the streams which flowed into it, and thedistances from place to place, indicated upon it. With a good breeze wemade about a hundred miles in twenty-four hours, and when we could notuse the sail, the current carried us sixty miles.
When we reached the mouth of the Missouri, the prospect seemed to me,who had never seen a considerable body of water, to be like a greatinland sea. Flora was appalled at our distance from the land, and Simshouted, "Hookie!" Our raft, which had seemed so large on the streamwhere it had been built, now loomed puny and insignificant. Greatsteamboats, three times as large as any I had ever seen, and looming upfar above the water, dashed by us. Huge flat-boats floated lazily downthe river, and the scene became more lively and exciting as we advanced.A new world had opened to us.
From the broad river we saw the great city of St. Louis, and we gazedwith wonder and astonishment at its dense mass of houses, its busylevee, and the crowds of steamboats which thronged it. We had never seenthe great world before, and we were overwhelmed with surprise. Flora wassilent, and Sim cried "Hookie" a hundred times within an hour.
The swift current and the steady breeze carried us away from this stormyscene into the quiet of nature; for the great river has its solitudes,though many times in the day we saw steamboats going up and down, orencountered other craft voyaging towards the Gulf.
On the tenth day we approached the mouth of the Ohio. Again the expanseof waters increased, till it seemed to my narrow vision to be almost anocean. It was nearly dark, and the weather was as pleasant as a maiden'sdream. We had adva
nced about seven degrees of latitude towards thesouth, and Nature was clothed in her brightest green. We had steppedfrom the cold spring of Wisconsin to the mild summer of the South. Tendays before we had been among leafless trees; now we were in the midstof luxuriant foliage. Flora sat in her arm-chair, near the platform,enjoying the scene with me.
"If you are tired of the raft, Flora, we will go the rest of the way ina steamboat," I said, after we had spoken of the changing seasons we hadexperienced.
"I am not tired of it--far from it," she replied.
"We have over a thousand miles farther to go."
"I think I shall only regret the river was not longer when we get to NewOrleans."
"I wonder what Captain Fishley thinks has become of us," I added,chuckling, as I thought of the family we had left.
"He and his wife must be puzzled; but I suppose they won't find outwhere we are till we write to them."
"They will not know at present then. We have got rid of our tyrants now,and I am in no hurry to see them again."
"Twig the steamers!" shouted Sim, from the roof of the house, where hehad perched himself to observe the prospect. "They are having a race."
I had seen them before, and I wished they had been farther off, for oneof them seemed to be determined to run over the raft, in her efforts tocut off her rival. Our craft was in the middle of the channel, and oneof the steamers passed on each side of us, and so close that we werenearly swamped in the surges produced by their wheels. I breathed easierwhen the boats had passed, for I knew how reckless they were under theexcitement of a race. I could hear them creak and groan under thepressure, as they went by.
We watched them as they rushed forward on their course. They were justrounding into the Ohio, on their mad career, when we saw one of themsuddenly fly in pieces, torn, rent, shivered, the atmosphere filled withfragments. Then came a terrific explosion, like the din of anearthquake, shaking the raft with its violence. The boiler of thesteamer had exploded.