St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-03-05

with the waters edge: they all looked
about alike to me they were monot-
on"usly unpcturesque. | hoped Mr..
B. would change the subject. But
NO; he would crowd up around point.
huggimg the shore with affection. and
then say. ''the slack water ends here.
abreast this bunch of China trees now
we cross over SO we crossed over.
! took the wheel once or twice, but
| had no luck. either came near
chipping the edge off sugar planta-
ton, OF else | waved to" far from the
shore. and so dropped back into dis
grace and got abused.
The watch was ended at last. and
We took supper and went to bed. At
midnight the glare of lantern Shone
i'll my eyes. and the night watchman
said
Come turn out -
And then he left. | could not un-
der>tand this extraordinary proceed
nre; :" | presently gave up trying to.
and dozed off to sleep. Pretty soon
the Waterman was back again. and
this time he WAS gruti. | was annoyed.
| said
Nv hat do you want to come bother
ing around here in the middle of the
night for? Now. like aS not I'll not
get to sleep again tonight"
The watchman said:
''Nell. if this amt good. I'm bleSt.
The off watch" WAS just turning in.
and heard some brutal laughter from
them. and such remarks aS "llrllO.
Watchman amt the new cub turn
eel ont yet He's delicate. likely.
Give him some sugar in Il rag and send
for the chamher-maid to sing rocka
hN-hahN to him
About this time MIR. b appeared
on the scene. Something like minute
later WAS climbing the pilot h"u>,.
steps with some of MY clothes on and
the rest III my arms. Mr.. b was
close behind. commenting. Here WAS
>0mtthit = fresh this thing of gcttin"
up in the middle of the night to go to
work. 1t WAS Il detail in plotting that
had never occurred to me AT all. !
knew thar boats ran all night. but
somehow had never happened to r.
fleet that some one had to get out OF Il
warm bed to run them. | began t" fear
that plotting WAS not quite So romantic
IL had imagined it was: there wa>
something very real and work like
about this new phase "t it.
Mr. i made for the shore and
soon was >cr;tping it, just the same a>
if il had been daylight. And not only
that. but singing
Father in heaven the day : declining. -tc-
1t seemed to me that had put my life
in the keeping OF this peculiarly rcck
les ourca>t. Presently he turned "n
me and said
Nv hat l. the nam, ot the tiI>t point
above New Orleans -
WAS gratltcd to lic able to au>Nrr
promptly. and | did. | said didn't
know.
"Dunt hnOr r.
This manner .inlted me. ] wis down
at the foot again i'll il moment. But
had 10 say just what had said before.
"Wrll. You IL Il smart one. said Mr.
..What's the name OF the next point -
Once more | didn't know.
"Wrll. this heats anything. Tell me
the nam" "t dHg point "r place ! told
You.
studied q while and decided
cuuidh't.
.'L"ok -a-hclr What d" You srait
from. above TWclve- Mile Point to cross
oVcrG p
Il don't know
"I"u- You don't know - mimick
lng my draWIrnL manner ot speech.
What do .}"u know -
Il nothing. for certain.
BY the great Caesars ghost. believe
Won, lou'rc the >tupidc>t dundcrhrad
| ever saw or ever heard of. 81 help me.
NOSES, The idea ot go" being Il pilot
-you' Why YOU don't know enough T."
Pilot Il COW down IL lane"
Oh. Int his wrath was up, Ill" Was Il
nervous man. aud he >huillcd from one
side ot his wheel to the other ~ II the
fluoI was hot. He would boil awhile To
himself. and then overflow and >cald
me again.
Look u here, What do y"u sup
pose told YOU the name of those points
for ,"
trcmhlnglN considered a moment
and then the devil of temptation pro-
Nokrd me to say:
We'll -to-hc entertaining. guess.
This was IL red rag to the bull. He
ragged and stormcd 50 Che wa> CROSSING
the river at the timc) that ! judge ii
made him blind. hccause he ran over
OF course the traders sent up IA NollrN
of red hot profanity. Never was a man
50 grateful aS Mr.. B-waS. because
he was blim full. and here were sub
lectS who would talk back. He threw
opeu Il window. thrust his head out.
and such an iruption followed us |
never heard before. The fainter and
farther away the scOwmen's curses
dIifted. the higher Mr.. B lifted
his voice and the wcightier grew his
adjectives. When he closed the win
dow he was empty. You could have
drawn seine through his system and
not caught curses enough to disturb
your mother With. Presently he said
to me in the gentlest way:
"My boy, you must get Il little MEM
orandum book. and every time | tell
YOU Il thing, put it down right away.
There's only one way To he pilot. and
that is to get this entire river by heart.
You have to know it just like b c.
That was dismal revelation to me.
for my memory was never loaded with
anything but blank cartridges. How
ever. | did not feel discouraged. |
Judged that it was best to make some
allowance. for doubtless Mr.. B was
''strctching.
BY this time he had goue seven or
eight hundred miles up the river, | had
learned to be tolerably plucky up
stream steersman, in daylight. and be
fore we reached St. Louis had made Il
tritle of progress in night work, but on
ly Il tritie. | had note book that fair
ly blistled with the names of towns.
points" bars, islands. bends, reaches,
etc. but the information was to be