The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-03-18

During The afternoon watch the
next day, MT. B-asked me if /
knew how 10 run the next few miles.
I 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 al right. III be back be-
fore you close up on the next point"
But he wasn't. He was still below
when I rounded il and entered upon
piece of river which had some mis-
givings about. did not know that
ne was hiding behind 4 chimney to
see how / would perform. | went
gsyly along, getting prOIder aud
pr0uder, for lie had never left the
boat i'm my sole charge sueh length
or time before l even got 10 "set-
ting" her and letting the wheel go en-
tirely, while / vain-giOTiously turned
my back and inspected the stern
marks and h1mmed tune, q sort OF
easy Indifference which l had prodigi-
ously admired ia B-and other
great pilots. Once inspected rather
long, and when faced to the front
again my heart flew iRtO-m mouth
so suddenly that if hadn't clapped
INV teeth together 1 would have lost
| it. One of those frighttul bluff reefs
was stretching its deadly length right
across our bows My head was gone
/ in a moment; 1 did not know which
end stood on; / gasped aud could
not get my breath ; l spun the wheel
down with such rapidity that it wOve
! itself together like q spiders web
! the boat answered and turned square
away from the reef, but the reef fol-
1 lowed her / fled, and still it follow
ed--still it kept right across my bows
! I never looked TO see where l was gO-
/ ing, | only fled.D The awful crash was
/ imminent-why didn't that villain
lcomel II / committed the crime of
ringinga bell I might get thrown over
| board. But better that than kill the
boat. So in blind desperation start
ed such a rafting "shivaree"1 down
I below IS never had astounded an en-
| gineer in that world before, fancy.
Amidst the frenzy of the bells the en-
gines began to back and ill in furi-
Gus way and my reason fortoOk 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. Nv soul went out to him in
gratitude. NY distress vanished /
would have felt safe on the brink of
Niagara, with Mr.. b on the hurri-
cane deck. He blandly aud sweetly
took his tOOthpick out of his mouth
between his fingers, as If il were a
cigar,Lwe were just in the act OF
climbing an Overhanging big tree,
and the passengers were seudding
astern like Fats,-and lifted up these
commands to meever so gently: =
nStop the staTbOard- Stop, the lar |
board. Set her back on bOth.p sr
The boat hesitated, halted, pressed |
her nose among the boughs critical
instant, then reluctantly began to
back away. /
''Stop the Iarboard.. Come ahead
on it. Stop the starboard. Come
ahead on it. Point her for the bar"
Isailsd away as serenely as a sum-
mer's morning. Mr.. B-came iniand
said with mock simplicity !
t'When you have a hail, my boy
you ought to tap the big bell three
times before you land, so that the ca
gineers can get resdy.p 2. q
blushed under the sarcasm, and
said hadn't any hail. ssI
"Ah! Then it was for wood, sup
pose. The officer of the watch will
tell you when he wants to wood -up.n
L went on consuming, and said l
wasn't after wood. '1t
"Indeed? Why, what could you
want over here in the bend, then.
Did you ever know of a boat follow
ing bend upstream at this stage OF
the river?n -HJ 49, Il
mo, Sir,-and l wasn't trying to !
follow it. was getting away from a
bluff reef" i
"No, it wasn't bluff reef; there
isn't one within three miles of where
you were,"
''But l saw it. 1t was as bluff as
that one yOnder.n
"Just about. Run over it."
ado You give it rs an order ," i
ayes. Run over it ~
s'If don't wish may die"
"All right; l am taking the respon-
sibillty." ab
[ was Just as anxious to kill the
boat, now, as / had been to save her
before. l impressed my orders upon
my memory, to be used at the in.
quest, and made a straight break for
the reef. As 1t disappeared under our
bows I held my breath but we slid
over it like oil.
Now, don't you see the difference?
1t wasn't anything but wind reef.
The wind does that"
$50 see. But it is exactly like a
bluff reef. How am ] ever going to
tell them apart? l.l
''I can't tell you. 1t is an instinct.
By and by, you will just naturally
EHOtU one from the other, but you
never viii be able to explain why or
how you know them apart" Oh
IL turned out to be true. The face
of the water, in time, became won
derful boOk-a book that was a dead
language to the uneducated passenger
but which told its mind to me with
out reserve, delivering its most cher
ished secrets as clearly as if it uttered
them with a voice. And it was not
book to beread once and thrown aside,
for it had new story to tell every
day. Throughout the long twelve hum
dred miles there was never page
that was void OF interest, never
one that you could leave I'M
read without loss, never one that you
would want to skip, thinking you
could find higher enjoyment in some
other thing. There never was so wOnd-
erful book written by man; never one
whose interest was so absorbing, so
unfiagging, so sparklingly renewed
! with every re-perusal. The passenger
who could not read il was charmed
with a peculiar sort of faint dimple
on its surface ton the rare occasions
! when he did not overlook it altOgeth-
er); but to the pilot that was an tall
cizcd passage; indeed lit was more than
that; was a legend of the largest capitals
with string of shouting exclamation
points atthe end ,Of it; for it meant
that a wreck or q rock was buried
! there that could tear the life out of the
strongest vessel that ever fiOated. 1t
| is the faintest and simplest express
sion the water ever makes, and the
most hideOus to pilots eye. In truth
the passenger who could not read this
book saw nothing but all manner of
pretty pictures in it, painted by the
sun and shaded by the clouds, where
as to the trainei eye those were not
pictures at all, but the grimmest and
most dead-earnest Of reading matter.
Now when had mastered the Ian
guage of this water and had come to
know every trifiing feature that bor-
dered the great river as familiarly as
L know the letters of the alphabet,
had made valuable acquisition. But
had lost something, too. had lost
something which could never be re-
! stored to me while L lived. All the
grace, the beauty, the poetry had gone
OIt of the majestic riverI L still keep
in mind a certain wonderful sunset
which I witnessed when steamb boat
ing was newto me. A broad expanse
of the river was turned to blood in
I the middle distance the red hue
frightened into gold, through which
solitary log came floating, black
and conspicuous; in one place long,
5lanting mark lay sparkling, upon
the water in another the surface
was, broken by boiling, tum bling rings,
/ that were. as many-tinted as an opal
where the ruddy flush was faintest, was
4 smooth spot that was covered with
graceful circles and radiating lines,
ever so deiicately traced; the shore on
our left was densely wooded, and the
sombre shadow that fell from this for
est was broken in one place by long
ruffied trail that shOne like silver;