American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-03-13

He seized the other side of the whee
and helped to spin it around until it wa
hard down, and then we held it so. Thu
boat resisted and refused to answer TO
awhile, and next she came surging t,
starboard, mounted the reef, and sent
long, angry ridge of water foaming away
from her bows.
"Now watch her; watch her like
cat, or she'll get away from you. WheI
she fights strong and the tiller slips lit
tie, in jerky, greasy sort of a way, lie
up on her trifie; it is the way she tells
you at night the water is too shoal; bu
keep edging her up; little by little, to
ward the point. You are well up on the
bar now; there is bar under every
point, because the water that comes
down around it forms an eddy and al
lows the sediment to sink. Do you see
those fine lines on the face of the water
that branch out like the ribs of a fan:
Well, those are little reefs; you just want
to miss the ends Of them, but run them
pretty close. Now look outlook out
Don't you crowd that slick, greasy look
| ing place; there amt nine feet there
sine won't stand it. She begins to smell
it; look sharp, tell you! Oh, blazes
there you go! Stop the starboard wheel
Quick! Ship up to back! Set her backr
| The engine bells jingled and the en-
| gines answered promptly, shooting white
columns of steam far aloft out of the
scape pipes, but it was too late. The
boat had snselt" the bar in good earnest
| the fOamy ridges that radiated from her
bows suddenly disappeared, a great dead
| swell came rolling forward and swept
ahead of her, she careened far over to
larboard and went tearing away toward
the other shore as if she was about scared
| to death. We were good mile from
where we ought to have been when we
finally got the upper hand of her again.
During the afternoon watch the next
day Mr.. B asked me if knew how
| to ran the DeXt few miles. l said:
go inside the first snag above the
point, outside the next one, start out
from the lower end of Higgins wood yard,
make a square crossing, and"
That's all right. I'll be back before
you close up on the next point"
But he wasn't. He was still below
when l rounded it and entered upon a
piece of river which [ had some misgiv-
ings about. did not know that he was
hiding behind chimney to see how
would perform. l went gayly along,
getting prouder and prouder, for he had
never left the boat in my sole charge
such length of time before. l even
got to setting" her and letting the wheel
go entirely, while Ivain-gloriously turned
my back and inspected the stern marks
and hummed a tune, a sort of easy
Indifference which L had prodigious-
ly admired in B. and other great
pilots. Once | inspected rather long,
and when 1 faced to the front
again my heart flew into my mouth
- suddenly that if hadn't clapped my
teeth together would have lost 1t. One
of those frightful blue reefs was stretch
ing its deadly length across our bows.
My head was gone in moment; did
not know which end / stood on; 1
gasped and could not get my breath; l
spun the wheel down with such rapidity
that it wove itself together like spiders
web; the boat answered and turned
square away from the reef, but the reef
followed her! l fled, and still it followed
still it kept right across my bowsl /
never looked to see where l was going,
/ only fled. The awful crash was immi-
nent-why didn't that villain come! If
l committed the crime of ringing a bell
l might be thrown overheard. But bet
ter than kill the boat So in blind des-
peration started such a rafting "shiv-
aree" down below as never had astound-
ed an engineer in the world before,
fancy. Amidst the frenzy of the bells
the engines began to back and fill in a
furious way, and my reason forsook its
thrOne-we were about to crash into the
woods on the other side of the river.
Just then Mr.. B. stepped calmly into
view on the hurricane deck. My soul
went out to him in gratitude. My dis
tress vanished; l would have felt safe
on the brink of Niagara with Mr.. B
on the hurricane deck. He blandly and
sweetly took his tooth-pick out of his
mouth between his fingers as if it were a
cigar-we were just in the act of climb
ing an overhangng big tree, and the pas
sengers were scudding astern like rats
and lifted up these con mands to me ever
So gently:
"Stop the starboard! Stop the lar
board! Set her back on BOTH"
The boat hesitated, halted, pressed
her nose among the boughs at critical
instant, then reluctantly began to back
away.
"Stop the larboardl Come ahead on
it, Stop the starboard. Come ahead on
it, Point her for the BARI
l sailed away as serenely as IA sum-
mer's morning. MIR. b came in and
said, with mock simplicity:
"When you have hail, my boy, you
ought to tap the big bell three times be-
fore you land, so that the engineer can
get ready"
l blushed under the sarcasm and said
hadn't had any hail.
"Ah! then it was for wood, suppose.
The officer of the watch will tell you
when he wants to wood up"
1 went on consuming and said | wasn't
after wood
Indeed! Why, what could you want
over there in the bend, then? Did you
ever know of boat following a bend
upstream at this stage of the river:"
No, sir; and / wasn't a-trying to fol
low it. | was getting away from a bluff
reef"
No, it wasn't bluff reef; there isn't
one within three miles of where you
were"
t" But saw it. 1t was AS bluff as that
one yonder."
"Just about; run over it."
g Do you give it an order:'
- es; run over it,"
If don't, | wish i may die
" All right; l am taking the response
bility"
| was Just as anxious to kill the boat
now as had been to save her before. |
impressed my orders upon my memory,
to be used at the inquest, and made Il
straight break for the reef. As 1t disap-
peared under our bows | held my breath;
but we slid over it like oil
Now don't you see the differences 1t
wasn't anything but wind reef The
wind does that"
so see; but it is exactly like bluff
reef. How am | ever going to tell them
apart"
g cant tell you II is an instinct
BY and by you will just naturally know
one from the other, but YOU never win he
able to explain why or how you know
them apart
1t turned out to be true. The face of
the water in time became a wonderful
bopk-a book that was a dead language