Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-02-26

the lower?"
"Upper."
81 can't do it. The stumps are ont
of the water at this stage. It's nc
great distance to the lower, and you
will have to get along with that.
"All right, sir. If Jones don't like
it he'll have to lump it, l reckon"
And then the mate left. My exul
tation began to cool and my wondei
to come up. Here was man who
not only proposed to find this planta
ton on such night, but to find eth
er end of it you preferred. dread
fully wanted to ask a question, but
was carrying about as many short an.
swers as my cargoroom would admit
of, SO held my peace. All Idesired
to ask Mr.. B. was the simple
question whether he was ass enough
to really imagine he was going to
find that plantation Oh 4 night when
all plantations were exactly alike and
all the same color. But l held ill.,
| used to have fine inspirations OF
prudence in those days.
Mr.. b made for the shore and
soon was scraping it, just the same as
if it had been daylight. And not
only that, but singing
Father in Heaven, the day is declining, etc
1t seemed to me that I had put my
life in the keeping of peculiarly
reckless outcast. Presently he turned
on me and said:
whats the name of the first point
above New Orleans?"
l was gratitied to be able to answer
promptly, and l did. l said l didn't
/ know.
'Don't Eao,c 2"
His manner jolted me. Twas down
at the root again in moment. But
had to say Just what had said be-
fore.
"Well, you're smart one" said
Mr.. B. "What's the name of the
nect point?"
Once more | didn't know.
''Weil, that beats anything. Tell
me the name of any point or place |
told you"
l studied awhile and decided that l
couldn't.
''Look-a-here! What do you start
out from, above Twelve-Mile-Poin
to cross over?"
"I-I-don't know"
"You-you-don't know" MIN
licking my drawling manner of speech.
"What do you know"
'I--I-nothing for certain"
''By the great Caesars ghost, l be-
licve you! You're the stupidest dun
derhead | ever saw or ever heard of,
SO help me Moses! The idea Of you
being apilot-you! Why, you don't
know enough to pilot COW down a
lane"
Oh, but his wrath was up! He
was a nervous man, and he shuffied
from one side of his wheel to the
other as though the floor was hot.
He would boil awhile to himself and
then overflow and scald me again.
''Look-a-here! What do you sup
pose | told You the name of those
points for"
tremblingly considered a moment
and then the devil of temptation pro-
voked me to say:
"Well-to-to-bc entertaining, l
thought"
This was red flag to the bull.
He ragged and stormed SO (he was
crossing the river at the time), that l
Judged it made him blind, because
he ran over the steering-oar of a trad
ing scow. OF course the traders sent
up volley of red-hot profanity
Never was a man so grateful as MIR.
b was; because he was brim full
and here were objects who would
talk back. He threw open window,
thrust his head out, and such an IL
ruption followed as | never had be-
fore heard. The fainter and farther
away the scowmens' curses dritted,
the higher Mr.. b lifted his voice
and the weightier his adjectives
grew. When he closed the window
he was empty. You could have drawn
a seine through his system and not
caught curses enough to disturb your
mother with. Presently he said to
me, i'll the gentlest way:
'My boy, you must get little
memorandum-book, and every time
that l tell you a thing Tut it down
right away. There's only one way to
be a pilot, and that is to get this en-
tire river by heart. You have to know
it just like A, B, c."
That was dismal revelation to
me; for my memory was never load
ed with anything but blank cartridges.
However, I did not feel discouraged
long. l judged that it was best to
make some allowances, for doubtless
Mr.. B was stretching" Pres
entity he pulled a rope and struck a
few strokes on the big bell. The stars
were all gone, now, and the night
was black as ink. l could hear the
wheels churn along the bank but l
was not entirely certain that | could
see the shore. The voice Of the in
visible Waterman called up from the
hurricane deck:
"What's this, sir?"
".Jones' plantation"
said to myself wish l might
venture to offer small bet that it
wasn't. But l did not chirp. only
waited to see. Mr.. B handled
the engine bells, and in due time the
boats nose came to the land, u torch
glowing from the forccastle, man
skipped ashore, Il darkey's voice on
the bank said, "Gimmc de carpet-bag,
Mars JONES'" and the next moment
we were standing mp the river again
al serene. l reflected deeply awhile
and then said-but not aloud, Well,
the finding of that plantation was the
luckiest accident that ever happened;
but it couldn't happen again in a
hundred years. And l fully believed
it asas an accident, too.
BY the time we had gone seven OF
eight hundred miles up the river |
had learned to be a tolerably plucky
up stream steersman, in daylight, and
before We reached st. Louis | had
made trihe of progress i'll nigh,