The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-04-10
A SOmnambulist Pilot.
Coa1ine n Steamboat Through n Crooked
Pass In the Dark.
BY MARK TWAIN.

!, Coa1Ine Steamboat Through a Crooke
, Pass In the Dark.
. BY MARK TWAIN.
) There used to be an excellent pile
on the river, Mr.. X, who was a SON
nambulist. It was said that, if hi
, mind was troubled about bad piece G
} river, he was pretty sure to get up an
! walk in his sleep and do strange Things
He was once fellow pilot for a trip o
two with George E., on great Ne,
Orleans passenger packet. Late on
night the boat was approaching Heleua
Ark, the water was low, and the cross
ing above the town in a very blind ant
crossing Since E. had, and, as tn,
night was particularly drizzly, sullel
and dark, E-was considering whethe
he had not better have X. called to as
sist in running the place, when the dool
opened and X. walked in.
"Let ne take her, Mr.. E.; I've
seen this place since you have, and it il
SO crooked that reckon can run it my
self, easier than could tell you how tc
do it,
It is kind of you, and L swear I am
willing. I haven't got another drop OF
perspiration left in me. I have been
spinning around the wheel like a SOUR.
rel. 1t is SO dark I can't tell which
way she is swinging till she is comign
around like whirligig."
| So E. took a seat on the bench,
painting and breathless. X assumed
the wheel without saying anything,
| steadied the waltzing steamer with a
| turn or two, and then stood at ease,
| coaxing her little to this side and then
to that, as gently and as sweetly as if
the time had been MONDAY. When E
- observed the marvel of steering,
he wished he had not confessed. He
stared and wondered, and finally said
''Well, I thought knew how to steer
steamboat, but that was another mis-
take of mine"
K. said nothing, but went serenely on
with his work. He rang for leads he
rang to slow down the steam; he worked
the boat carefully and neatly into invis-
ible marks, tn IN stood at the centre of
the wheel and peered out blandly into
the blackness, fore and aft, to verify
his position; as the leads shoaled more
and more, he stopped the engines en-
tirely. and the dead silence and suspense
of " drifting" followed; when the shoal-
est water was struck he cracked on the
steam, carried her handsomely over,
and then began to work her warily into
the next system of shoal marks the
same patient, heedful use of leads and
engines followed the boat slipped
through without touching bottom, and
entered upon the third and last intri-
cacy of the crossing; imperceptiblv she
moved through the gloom, crept by
inches into her marks, drifted tediously
till the shoalest water was cried, and
then, under a tremendous head of steam,
went swinging over the reef and away
into deep water and safety
E. let his long pent breath pour
out in long, relieving sigh, and said
That the sweetest piece of pilot
sippi river! wouldn't have believed
it could be done, if I hadn't seen it..
There was no reply, and he added:
"Just hold her five minutes longer,
partner, and let me run down and get
cup of coffee"
A minute later E. was biting
into a pie down in the "texas," and
comforting himself with coffee. Just
then the night Waterman happened in,
and was about to happen out again,
when he noticed E., and exclaimed !: |
"Who is at the wheel, sir ?'
"Dart for the pilot-house quicker
than lightning.
The next moment both men were |
flying up the pilot house companion |
way three steps at iumpi Nobody
there The great steamer was whis-
thing down the middle of the river at q |
her own sweet will +! The Waterman
shot ont of the place again. E.
seized the wheel, set an engine back
with power, and held his breath while
the boat reluctantly swung away from a
+" tow-head" which he was about to
knock into the middle of the Gulf of !
Mexico
'By and by the Waterman came back
and said:
"Didn't that lunatic tell you he was
asleep when he first came up here ?"
ono"
"Well, he was. I found him walk
ing along on the top of The ratings,
Just as unconcerned as another man
would walk pavement and put him
TO bed. Now just this minute there he
was away astern, going through that
sort of tight-rope deviltry the same as
before"
"Well, I think I'll stay by, next time
he has one of those fits. But I hope
he'll have them often. You Just ought
to have seen him take the boat through
Helena crossing. I never saw anything
so gaudy before. And if he can do
such gold-leaf. kid-glove. diamond
breast pin plotting when he is sound
asleep, what couldn't he do if he was
lead?"