The Circus Boys on the Mississippi; Or, Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River

by Edgar B. P. Darlington

  CHAPTER XXII

  OVERBOARD INTO THE RIVER

  "I can't understand it," Phil mused, as the soft evening breezeslulled him into slumber.

  "What! What!" he cried suddenly. "What is it? I'm falling!"

  The deck of the "Marie" all at once seemed to have dropped frombeneath him. He felt himself falling through space. What couldit mean?

  With the showman's instinct the Circus Boy quickly turned hisbody, spread out his hands and righted himself.

  The night was black, and as yet he had not succeeded incollecting his senses sufficiently to decide what had happened.He knew that he was falling, but that was all.

  There was a sudden splash as his body struck the water.Phil shot right down beneath it and the waters of theMississippi closed over him.

  He understood then what had happened, but not for an instant didhe lose his presence of mind. Phil had caught his breath as hisfeet touched the water, and now that he had sunk beneath thesurface he began to kick vigorously and work his hands to checkhis downward course.

  A moment of this and he felt himself rising toward the surface.Phil was as good a swimmer as he was a performer in the circusring, and he felt no nervousness, even though his position atthat moment was a perilous one.

  Almost at once he felt his head above the surface of the river,but his eyes were so full of muddy water that he could seenothing at all. Instead of trying to swim, Phil lay over on hisback, floated and began blinking industriously to get the waterout of his eyes. He soon found that he could see once more,though at that moment there was nothing to be seen in theblackness of the night.

  "There's the 'Marie,'" he cried. Phil raised his voice in a goodlusty howl for help, but none heard him. He could see the lightsof the steamboat and they appeared to be far away.

  "There is only one thing left for me to do, and that is to strikeout for the shore. I wonder which way the shore is?"

  Once more he raised himself in the water, for an instant, andgazed toward the rapidly disappearing lights of the 'Marie.'

  "She is going downstream, so if I swim to the left I should reachshore after a while," decided the lad.

  He did not know that the boat had in the meantime made a sharpturn to her right and that in turning to the left he would beswimming downstream, making his attempt to reach shore adifficult one indeed.

  The lad struck out manfully, swimming with long, easy strokes,aided considerably by the current which was sweeping himdownstream much faster than he thought.

  "I'm glad I have only my pajamas on," decided the lad. "If Ihad all my clothes on I fear I should have a pretty tough fight.It's bad enough as it is."

  Talking to himself, in order to keep up his courage, he swamsteadily on, now and then pausing to swim on his back torest himself. He had gone on for nearly an hour when thelad began to wonder why he had not reached shore.

  "Surely the river cannot be so wide at this point. I must havedrifted downstream considerably. Perhaps I haven't been going inthe right direction at all."

  He tried to find out which way the drift was, in order to makeup his mind as to the direction in which the shore lay. In thedarkness, however, he was unable to determine this, so he beganswimming again, trusting to luck to land him on something solid,sooner or later. He knew that this must occur, but whether hisstrength would hold out that long he could not say.

  All at once he caught a peculiar drumming sound. It reminded himof a partridge that he had once heard in the woods, but it seemeda long way off and he could not identify it.

  "I guess it must be my heart, up somewhere near my mouth, that Ihear," said the boy with a short mindless laugh. "Maybe I amgoing to pieces. If I am I deserve to drown."

  About that time Phil decided to turn over on his back and restfor a moment.

  The instant he did so he uttered a sharp exclamation. His eyescaught sight of something that he had not seen before. It lookedto him like some giant shadow, from which twinkled hundredsof lights.

  "It is the 'Marie'!" cried the boy. "They are coming backfor me. No, no, it cannot be the 'Marie,' for this boatis coming from the opposite direction. Yes, it surely isa steamboat!"

  Though Phil did not know it, this was one of the big riverpackets bound down the river from St. Louis.

  "I must get out of the way, or they will run me down, but I wantto keep close enough so I can hail them. I hope this is where Iget on something solid again."

  A few minutes of steady swimming appeared to have taken him outof the path of the river boat. Then Phil rested, lying on hisback, watching the boat narrowly.

  "In almost any other position or place, I might think that was apretty sight. As matters stand, now, it looks dangerous to me."

  His position was more perilous at that moment than heeven dreamed.

  "H-e-l-p! H-e-l-p!" called Phil, in what he thought was aloud tone.

  There were no indications that his cry had been heard by thoseon board the steamboat. He tried it again, but with no bettersuccess than before.

  "I have simply got to keep on yelling my lungs out until Iattract their attention. I am afraid I shall never reach shoreunless I am picked up. I might be able to keep afloat untildaylight, but I doubt it. I shall get so chilled, before then,that I shall have to give up. I've got some fight left in meyet, just the same."

  "A-h-o-y, boat! _Help!_"

  On came the steamer, steadily.

  Suddenly Phil discovered something else. She had changedher course. The boat seemed to be drawing away from him!His heart sank, but almost at once, the boat turned again,following the tortuous channel of the stream.

  She now was sweeping almost directly down upon him. He heardsome call on the upper deck.

  "They are going to run me down!" he gasped.

  Phil threw all his strength into an effort to swim out of thepath of the swiftly moving boat, but he feared he would not beable to clear her.

  The lad uttered a loud shout, then dived deep, coming up at onceonly to find himself almost against the side of the moving craft.

  He grabbed frantically, hoping that his hands might come incontact with some projection to which he could cling, but theslippery sides of the hull slid past him at what seemed almostexpress train speed.

  He was almost on the point of diving again to get away from thedangerous spot, when suddenly, his fingers closed over something.It was a rope, one of the hawsers that had not been fully hauledin when the boat left the last landing place some miles upthe river.

  With a glad cry, both the lad's hands closed over theprecious rope. His joy was short lived. He found himselfdropping back, the river craft still gliding past him.

  The rope was paying out over the boat's side in his hands.

  Phil Forrest was never more cool in his life, but he now beganto realize the well-nigh hopeless position in which be foundhimself placed.

  Suddenly the rope ceased paying out with an abruptness thatjerked him clear out of the water. He fell back with a splash,all but losing hold of the rope as he did so.

  "I've got it! I've got it!" exulted the lad. A rush of waterfilled his mouth, almost suffocating him.

  "I guess I had better keep my mouth closed," thought the boy.

  He was directly astern of the steamboat by this time, and thisplaced him in a much more favorable position than he had beenwhile dragging along at the side.

  Phil began resolutely to work himself along the rope handover hand. It was a desperate undertaking, one calling forstrength and courage of an unusual kind, but he never hesitated.His breath came in long, steady, sighs, for he was going thoughthe water at such a rate of speed that breathing was madedoubly difficult.

  "It is a good thing I am a circus performer. I should probablyhave been at the bottom of the river long ago, had I not been aring man."

  At last, after what seemed hours of struggling, he had succeededin working his way past the stern paddle wheel, and up under thestern of the ship. He twisted the rope about o
ne arm, and withhis head well out of water lay half exhausted while he was shotthrough the water at high speed.

  A few minutes of this, and Phil, considerably rested, began topull himself up.

  Ordinarily this hand over hand climb would have been an easy featfor the Circus Boy. As it was, however, the lad was forced topause every foot or so, and, twisting the rope about an arm and aleg, hang there between sky and water, gasping for breath, everynerve and muscle in his body a-quiver.

  Few men, no matter how strong nor how great their endurance,could have gone through what Phil Forest had endured that night.

  He was glad to be out of the water, where he was in imminentdanger of being drowned as the boat jerked him along. Of coursehe was not obliged to cling to the rope, but the chances of hisreaching shore, were he to let go, he felt were very remote.

  "I am glad Teddy is not here," muttered Phil with a half smileas he thought of his companion back on the "Marie" fast asleep."I wonder what he will think when he finds that I am missing?I hope they do not turn about and come back to look for me, forI hardly think they will be able to do that and make their nextstand in time."

  Once more the lad began pulling himself up the rope. At last,to his great relief, his fingers closed over the stern rail ofthe river boat. Phil pulled himself up as if he were chinningthe bar, though in this case he chinned it only once.

  Elbows were braced on the rail, then the right leg was thrownover and Phil Forrest was high and dry on the deck of a greatriver steamer, after an experience that perhaps never hadbefallen a human being on the Mississippi before.

  He found himself standing face to face with an officer of theboat, who proved to be the mate. The man was so astonished atthe dripping figure that had come over the stern, that, for themoment, he did not speak.

  "Good evening," greeted Phil politely.

  "Who are you?" demanded the mate sternly.

  "I guess I am Old Neptune himself. Maybe I am a mermaid.At least I have just risen from the sea, and mighty gladI am that I have risen."

  The officer seized Phil. Leading the boy to where the lightshone from the main cabin window, he peered into the lad's face.Evidently fairly well satisfied by his brief glance into thehonest eyes of the Circus Boy, the officer quickly turned andled Phil to the forward end of the boat, where he summoned thecaptain, who was lying down in the pilot house.

  "What's this? Whom have you here?"

  "I don't know, sir," answered the officer. "He came over theside half a mile above here."

  "What--what's this--came over the side?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Impossible!"

  "I saw him. I was standing astern when he climbed overthe rail."

  "See here, young man, what does this mean?"

  "I fell from a boat, sir, further up the river. I was trying toswim ashore when you nearly ran me down. You see, I did not knowyou were going to make that sharp turn and I did not have time toget out of the way."

  "That is not a likely story, young man. How did you get aboardthis boat? That is what I want to know."

  Phil explained that he had caught hold of a rope.

  "Is there a rope trailing, mate?"

  "I don't know, sir."

  "Find out."

  The mate returned a few moments later with the information that ahawser was dragging astern.

  "Wonderful!" breathed the captain. "How did you ever do it, andyou only a boy?"

  "I am pretty strong, even if I am a boy," smiled Phil.

  "What is your name?"

  Phil gave it.

  "How did you happen to get in the river?"

  "I told you I fell in, or something of the sort, from the'Fat Marie.'"

  "Never heard of her."

  "I think she was called the 'Mary Jane.'"

  "Oh, that's that circus boat--the Sparling Circus?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Do you belong to the circus?"

  "Yes. I am a bareback rider and a trapeze performer."

  Both men gazed at him with new interest.

  "Well, you beat anything that I ever heard of. You certainlymust be a performer if you did a thing like that. I remember thepilot's telling me he thought he heard someone cry out from theriver, but as the call was not repeated, he thought he must havebeen mistaken. Come in, and we will put you to bed."

  "I have no money with me, sir," said the lad. "If you willextend the courtesies of your craft to me, I will see that youare well paid after I reach my show once more."

  "We will take care of you. Never mind about the pay."

  "By the way, where is your next landing place?"

  "Memphis."

  Phil gave a low whistle.

  "Where do you want to go?"

  "Corinth, I believe is the stand we show at tomorrow."

  "That's not far from Memphis. We will land you at Memphisin the morning and you can take a train back, getting you toCorinth in plenty of time for your show. I will see that youhave a ticket."

  "Thank you ever so much. You are very kind."

  The Circus Boy was put to bed and in a few minutes he was soundasleep, thus far not much the worse for his thrilling experience,though he was completely exhausted, as he realized after he hadtucked himself in his berth.