The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-11-05
THE PILOTS
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(Original.l

| (Original1
Il was in the late onpleasantness,"
said the Mississippi pilot, ''and it's my
opinion that all this thing called hero
ism depends on circumstances. When
a brave mans cornered he amt any
better n coward. I've butted up
ag'in fortyfications, and I've legged ii
The boat was moving swiftly down
! with the stream, and the pilot was now
pulling the wheel with all his strength,
then letting it fly around like Fourth
| OF July pinwheel.
But l don't have to draw on myself
for an argument. l was stars and
bars boy myself. I'll take one O. your
fellers, as brave a man as ever fought
under the stars and stripes. Dye see
that bank over thar? l remember a
! day when there was good deal dom
! on that bank. 1t was about fou' years
after the close Of the war, and the car
petbag business was humpin'. The
gineral idee of a carpetbagger, both
without any decency whatever. Some
| Of 'em was. But Major Machinery was
a different sort He had risen from the
ranks in the Union army, and when the
war was over. bein' only twenty-seven
| years old, he concluded to settle in the
! south and grow up with the country
| after its new birth. There was lot of
nO'the'n officers TUX that fever, and !
reckon they all come to grief
1.-THE major bought plantation over
thar. He didn't pay much TO it, TO il
| wasn't wo'th much. His neighbOrs
tried to drive him out in var'us ways,
| but he was good pluck and refused to
be driv. One day when l was pilot o.
the Talladega we come 1oatin' down
yere just as we're dom now, and,
roundin' to. putin her nose upstream.
! to deliver the mail. l wanted to git
| some tobaccer, so l tole the cap'n I'd
take the mail bag up. He tole me to 90
| ahead. and, rollin' it under my arm
| TO- thar wasn't much in i'll struck
! out. l found a big crowd on the blum,
| and they fOllered me to the postoffice.
handed in the mail bag, and just then
in walked Major Machinery. There was
| one letter in the bag, and that had the
majors name on it. The postmaster
handed it out to him.
THAT made the crowd mad. One
man said that yo' couldn't expect moth
in better from Il Yankee gov'ment than
to deliver only letters TO Yankees The
! major, who had seen all the fishtin' he
wanted in the late war. TUX his letter
and went out, or. ruther. he was goin'
out when one of the crowd put out his
foot and tripped him. The major
stumbled, but didn't say nOthin'. He
knowed it was intentional, but IL he
said anything there he'd have to fight
for his life. There was man he had
on his plantation in the crowd and two
or three sOuth'n UniOnists that had set
tied thar to be under the majors wing.
When the man that had tripped the
major saw it didn't move him to give
'em a chance to kill him he rOared out:
"'Yo' Yankee carpetbagger. what g.
yo' mean by carryin' off the mail with
yo'? We don't want no hogs down
yerer
1.-The major whipped out revolver
and stuck it under the mans nose 80
quick that the Teller fell back, and the
major went out. He hadn't been gone
more'n few minutes when they jam
med the man that wo'ked on his planta-
ton agin the wall, and he hit one of
'em on the head. The Union men tried
to get at him to get him out o. their
way, and pretty soon it was a stand OF
between the two factions. l got out
O the way O the flynn bullets. As
! was maxim off heavy man that had
been shot fell on me and knocked me
down. 1t occurred to me that it would
be we'll TO me to lay whar l fell
leastaways there's no use to kill a
dead man, an concluded I'd be dead
TO- awhile, till the shOotin' was over.
II didn't see nOthin' more-I didn't
want to-but the major, hearin' the
fracas, went back, and he and his little
| gang KEEP the fire eaters at bay TO-
! some time. Then most Of the majors
hackers was killed. AS l was tellin'
| yo', I didn't see nothin' that was goin'
| stray shots left near me; then got up
and made tracks TO the boat.
Everybody on board had left the
WHAT boat, and some of 'em had lock-
ed themselves in stateroOms. The
| deck hands had all tumbled into the
hold, and the cap'n had hid in the pilot
house. l run aboard and, SEEM no
one, run out to the WHAT boat ag'in
and Embossed the cables. We drifted
off, and, yankin' the engineer out of
his hidin' place behind the engine,
tole him to be ready for signals as soon
as got to the pilot house. In half a
minute l was at the wheel. Her stern
was just tOuchin' the shore when l
rung to go ahead, and we steamed out
into deep water.
Putin her pose downstream,
looked back at the scene Of the fight
and saw the major comm on the dead
run with crowd an eighth of a mile
behind him, all firm at him. 1 sig
nailed to stop her and would "a sent