New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-02-28

| salt OF the earth and privileged to snu
captains and lord it over everything deaf
and alive in steamboat. 1 present.,
climbed up on the bench; did not think i
was safe to go to sleep while this lunati
was on watch
However, must have gone to sleep il
the course of time. because the next thio
l was aware of was the fact that day wa
breaking. Mr.. W gone. and Mr. b a
| the wheel again. So it was four O'Clock ant
all well-but me: felt like skinful o
dry bones and all of them trying TO ache a
once.
| Mr.. b asked me what had stayed ~
there for. l confessed that it was to do Mr.
W a benevolence; tell him where he
| was. 1t took five minutes for the entire
preparedness of the thing to filter into
| Mr. BIS system, and then I Judge il
filled him nearly up to the chin; because he
| paid Inc a co,opliment-and not much of q
one either. He said:
! We'll. taking you byaDd large, you Dc
| seem to be more different kinds of an ass
| than any creature l ever saw before. What
| did You suppose he wanted 70 know for!"
| l said thought it might be convenient
| to him.
Convenience Dash Didn't tell rou
| that mans got to know the river i'll the
night the same as he'd know his own front
hall,"
"Well, can follow the front hall ia the
dark if you know it is the front hall. but
suppose you set me down in the middle of it
in the dark aud not tell me which ball il il;
how AIN to know
well, you've got TO, on the river
"All right. Then I'm glad | never said
anything to Mr.. W"
II should say go. Why. he'd have
slammed you through the window anu ut
terly ruined hundred dollars worth of
windowsash and stuff
l was glad this damage had been saved.
for it would have made me unpopular with
the owners. They always hated any body
who had the name of being careless, and
iniuring things.
I went to work. now, to learn the shape
of the river; and OF all the eluding and un-
graspable objects that ever l tried TO get
mind or hands on, that was the chief. I
would fasten my eyes upon sharp. wooded
point that projected far into the river some
miles ahead of NE. and go to laboriously
Photographic its shape upon my braj 4:
and just as l was beginning TO succeed 70
my satisfaction, We would draw up toward
it and the exasperating thing would begin
to melt away and fold back into the
bank. If there had been conspicuous
dead tree standing upon the very point of
the cape. | would find that tree incon-
spicuousy merged into the general forest,
aud occupying the middle of straight
shore, when got abreast OF it. No prom
inent hill would stick to its shape long
enough for me to make Up my mind what its
form really was, but it Was as d;ssOlving
and changeful as if it had been a mountain
OF butter in the hottest corner of the |
tropics. Nothing ever had the shape when
| was coming down stream that it had |
borne when I went up. | mentioned these |
little difficulties to Mr.. B.. lie said
That's the very main virtue OF the thing. |
Ii the shapes didlo change eve~y three |
seconds they wouldn't be OF any use. Take
this place where we are now. for instance.
As long as that hill over yonder Is only one
hill, l can boom right along the way I'm
going; but the moment it splits at the top
to starbOard in hurry. or I'll bang this
boats brains out against rock; and
hen the moment one OF the prongs
If the swings behind the other. I've
got to waltz to larboard again, or Iii have
4 Misunderstanding with snag that would
snatch the keelson out of this steam boat as
neatly as il it were silver in your hand.
i that hill didn't change its shape on bad
lights there would be an awful Steamboat
graveyard around here inside OF year"
1t was plain that l had to learn the shape
# the river in all the different ways that
ould be thought of-upside down, wrong
nd first, inside out, fore and aft and
thortships then know what 10 do on
ray nights when 1t hadn't any shape at all
70 set about it, In the course of time I
egan to get the best of this knotty lesson,
nd my self complacency moved to the
ront once more. Mr.. b was all fixed
nd ready to start it TO the rear again. He |
pened on ME after this fashion:
"HOW much water did We have in the !
lidcle crossing at Hole-in the Wall, trip
efore last!'
| considered this az outrage. said.
Every trip, down and up, the ]eadsmen
re singing through that tangled place for
lree-quarters OF an hour on a stretch. How |
0 you reckon can rememb Der such a mess
thatw
"My bay, you've got to remember it. {
GU We got to reme.n Der the exac. spol and
lie exact marks the beats lar 10 W hen we ,
al the shoalest water, in every one Of tho ,
'o0 shoal places between ST. Louis and
CIV Orleans: and you mustn't get the Z
loal sOundiugs and marks OF one trim , =
liked up with the shoal sountliurs and
arks OF another, either, for they're NOT a
ten twice alike. You must keep them i
parate." q
w nen came to myself again, | said:
NV hen get so that can do that, I'll be Y
Die to raise the dead. and then wont q
we to pilot steamboat in order to make | e
living. want to retire from this busi- t
ss. l want siush -bucket ans. a brush: C
n only mt tor roGstabout. | haven't rot I
ans enough to be pil05; ana if | had | I
ouidnt have strength enough II carry Il
EN- around, unless went on crutches., o
Now drop that When say III learn q
man the river, mean it. And Won can o
pend on 1t III learn him or Kill him" Il
mere was no Use IN arguing with 4 rer- 81
n like this. 1pronptlr put such a strain jt
my memory that by and by even the n
oal water and the tless crossing b
srks began TO stay with ne. But the re- ST
10 was Just the same. | never could more IL
an get one knoity thing learned before ! p
other presented itself. Now l had often | cl
IN pilots gazing at the water aud pretend d
to read II, as II it were a book; bat it | "
Us BOOK that told ne nothing a time t.
NE at last. however, when NJ b in
'meG TO think me tar enough advanced TO | IL
ar lesson on water reading. So he OF
gan: OF
DO you see that long sldnting line on the "
e OF the wafer. Now that's reef. More vi
er, lite bluff reel. There is a solid sand 10
under it that is nearly as straight up "
down as the side OF a house. There is
nty OF water close up 70 il, but mighty &C
lie on top OF it. Ii you We're TO hi. if YOU al
uld knock the boats brains out. Do YOU "
where the line tringes out at the upper :"
and begins to fade away pi
Yes. sir ds
We'll, that IL low place; that i. the
III of the reef. You can climb over tbara of
not hurt anything. Cross over now, ey
l follow along close under the reei-easy tn
ter there--not much current" th
folio wed the reef along till approac ned va
fringed end. Then Mr.. b said: tn
Now. get ready. Wait till give tue CO
ri. She won't want to mount The reef: a Al
It hates shoal water. Stand by--wait- "a
lt-keep her we'll in hand. Now cra1np in
down. Snatch her. snatch herr W
La Seized tia 0ti rr:.lo - |