, 1875-03-27

so gently:
SStop the starhoard! Stop the lar
boardl Set her back on both.'
The boat hesitsted, halted, pressed
her nose among the boughs at 4 critical
instant, then reluctantly began to back
away.
"Stop the hrboard! Come ahead on
it! Stop the starboard! Come ahead on
it, Point her tor the bari
| sailed away as serenely as sum,
mcr's morning Mr.. B came in and
said, with mock simplicity:
"Whcn YOU have hail, my boy, YOU
ought to tap tie big bell three times be-
fore you land, 50 that the engineer can
get ready"
blushed uIder the sarcasm and said
! hadn't had any hail.
"Ah, then i was for wood, suppose.
The officer of the watch viii tell you
when he wants to wood up"
went on consuming and said | wasn't
after wood.
Indeed. VIII, what could you want
over there in The bend, then? Did you
ever knov- Of boat following bend
upstream at this stage of the river"
q No, sir; and wasn't a-trying to fol
low it. was getting away from bluff
reef"
" No, it wasn't bluff reef; there isn't
one within three miles of where sou
were"
But saw it. ltwas as bluff as that
one yonder."
"Just about; run over II.
Do you give it as an order:"
Yes; run over it"
"If don't, | wiSL may die"
Al right; am taking the response
biIiy."
WAS Just as anxious TO Kill the boat
now rs had been 10 save her before l
impressed my orders upon my memory,
to he used at the Inquest, and made a
straight break for the reef. As 1t dlsap-
pcarcd under our bows ! held my breath;
but We slid over it like oil.
Now don't you see the difference: Ii
wasn't anything but wind reef The
wind does that"
so | see; but il is exactly like bluff
reef. How am | ever going to tell them
apart"
Il can't tell YOU. Ii is an instinct.
BY and by you will Just naturally kno"
one from the other, but you never will be
able to explain why or how you kno"
them apart"
1t turned out to be true. The face OF
the water in time became wonderful
| boOk-a book that was dead language
| to the uneducated passenger, but which
| told its mind to me without reserve, de
| livcring its most cherished secrets as
clearly as if it uttered them with voice
And ii was not book 10 be read once
and thrown one side, for it had new
story to tell every day, Throrgh
out the long 1900 miles there
was never q page that was void Of inter
| est, never one that you could leave un'
/ read without loss, never one that you
wanted to skip, thinking you could FIND
higher enjoyment in some other thing
| There never was so wonderful book
written by man; ngvcT one whose inter
| est was 50 absorbing, so unflagging, SC
! sparklinglY-TCnewed with every rcpcru
/ sal. The passenger who could not read
/ il was charmed with q peculiar sort OF
/ faint dimplc on its surface ton the rart
/ occasions when he did not overlook it aL
/ logcther); but 10 the pilot there was ar
! itGljci1od passage; indeed, it was more
/ than that, it was legend of the largcs
/ capitals, with a string OF shouting eX
clamatiOn points at the end of it 4; for II
meant that a wreck or rock was buried
! there that could tear the life out of the
/ strongest vessel that ever tlOated. 1t Is
the faintcst and simplest expression the
water ever makes, and the most hidcou
to pilots eye In truth, the passenger
who could not read this book SAW moth
Ing hut all manner of pretty pictures II
il, painted by the sun and shaded by th'
! clouds, whereas to The trained eye thcst
were not pictures at all, but the grim
NEST and most dcad-carncst Of reading
matter