National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1874-01-16
A STEAMBOAT RACE,
GrapDc Description OF n Scene on the
Mississippi River.

Hraphc Description of Scene on tn
Mississippi River.
lFro,n the Gilded Age, a novel written coniointl
by Mark Twain and Charles ID. Warnerl.
At night the boat forged on through
She deep solitudes of the river, hardly
ever discovering light to testify to :,
human presence mile after mile an(
league after league the vast bend
We're guarded by unbroken walls o
forest th'.t had never been disturbed by
the voice or the football of man, OF
felt the edge of his sacrilegious axe.
An hour after supper the moon came
tup, and Clay and Washington (twc
boys) assembled to the hurricane deck
to revel again in their new realm of en-.
chantment. They ran races up and
down the deck, climbed about the bell,
made friends with the passenger dogs
chained under the life boat, tried to
make friends with passenger bear
fastened to the verge staff, but were not
encouraged "skinned the cat" on the
hog chains; in word. exhausted the
amusement possibilities of the deck.
Then they looked wistfully up at the
pilot house, and finally, little by little,
Clay ventured up there, followed diff
dently by Washington. The pilot turned
presently to "get his stern Marks" saw
the lads, and invited them in. This
cozey little house, built entirely of
glass, and commanding a marvellous
prospect in every direction, was a ma
gician's throne to them, and their en-
joyment of the place was simply bound
less.
They sat them down on high bench
and looked miles ahead, and saw the
wooded capes fold back and reveal the
bends beyond and they looked miles
to the rear and saw the silvery highway
diminish its breadth by degrees and
close itself together in the distance.
Presently the pilot said:
By George, yonder comes the
Amaranth p
A spark appeared, close to the water,
several miles down the river. The pilot
took his glass and looked at it steadily
for moment, and said, chiefly to him
self:
1t can't be the Blue Wing. She
couldn't pick us up in this way. It's
the Amaranth, sure"
He bent over speaking tube and
said:
"Who's on watch down there ?"
A hollow, unhuman voice rumbled up
through the tube in answer:
am. Second engineer"
GOOD You want to stir your
stumps, now, Harry-the Amaranth's
just turned the point-and she's just
humpinp herself. too 70
The pilot took hold of rope sthat
stretched out forward, jerked it twice,
and two mellow strokes of the big bell
resounded. A voice out on the deck
shouted:
Stand by, down there, with that
larboard lead !"
"No, 1 don't want the lead," said
the pilot, 81 want you. Roust out the
old man tell him the Amaranth's CON-
ing. And go and call Jim-tell him."
AYE, aye, sir II
The "old man" was the captain he
is always called so on steamboats, and
ships. "Jim" was the other pilot
Within two minutes both of these men
were flying up the pilot house stairway
three steps at Jump. Jim was in his
shirt sleeves, with his coat and vest on
his arm. He said:
" L was just turning in. Where's the
glass ?"
He took it and looked.
"Don't appear to be any night hawk
on the jack staff it's the Amaranth,
dead sure p
The captain took long look and only
said:
Dompot;op -
George Davis, the pilot on watch,
elbows she loaded ?"
"Two inches by the head, sir"
""Tain't enough"
The captain shouted now:
"Call the mate. Tell him to call all
hands and get lot of that sugar for.
ward. Put her ten inches by the head.
Lively, now !"
"Aye, aye, sir y
A riot of shouting and trampling
foated up from below presently, and
the uneasy steering of the boat soon
showed that she was getting "down by
the head"
The three men in the pilot house be-
gan to talk in short, sharp sentences,
low and earnestly. AS their excitement
rose their voices went down. AS fast as
one of them put down the spy glass an
othes took it up; but always ith a
studied air of calmness. Each time the
verdict was:
"She's gainingl'
The captain spoke through the tube.
:" What steam are you carrying?
"A hundred and forty-two, sir But
she's getting hotter and hotter all the
time."
That's it !! I thought it wasn't any
slouch that was running that middle bar
in Hog Eye Bend. If it's WASH
Hastings what he don't know
about the river amt worth knowing-a [
regular gold leaf, kid-glove, diamond
breastpin pilot Wash. Hastings is. We ,
won't take any tricks off of him, old
man p