Year: 1877

Certing, mannyl I could tell her


pipes across the Mazoura."


And you will overhaul herr"


Wont we, though L tell We.
stranger, so sure as my name is Ben


Blower, that that last bar'l move in the
furnace has put jist the smart chance of
go ahead into us to cut off the Flame
from yonder pint, or send our boat to
kingdom come"


The deuce| exclaimed a bystander,
who, intensely interested in the race.
was leaning the while against the parti-
tions of the boiler-room. GIVE chosen
a nice place to see the fun, near this
boiler p


"Not so bad as if you were in it p
coolly observed Ben, as the other walked
rapidly away.


Gas if he were in it !! In what-in
the boiler ?"


Certing. Doesn't folks sometimes
go into bilers, manny?"


81 should think there'd be other parts
OF the boat more comfortable"


"That's right; poking your fun at me
at oncet. But wait till we get through
this brush with the old Flame, and I'll
tell ye of a regular fxin' scrape that
man got into. It's true, too, every
word of it-as sure as my name is Ben
Blower.


"You have seen the Flame, then,
atore, strangers Six years ago, when
new upon the river, she was real out
and-outer, I tell ye. was at that time
a hand aboard of her. Yes [ be-
longed to her at the time of her great
race with the Collar. You've heer'n,
mayhap, of the blow-up by which we
lost it? They made great fuss about
1t; but it was nothing but mere fzz of
hot water, after all. Only the springing
OF few rivets, which loosened biler
plate, or two, and let out a thin spirting
upon some fellers, that hadn't sense
enough to get out of the way. Well,
the Collar took off our passengers, and
We ran into Smasher's Landing to repair
damages, and bury the poor fools that
were killed. Here we laid by for mat
ter of thirty hours Or SO, and got things
to rights for bran new start. There
was some carpenters work yet to he
done, but the captain said that that
might be fixed off just as well when we
were under weigh-we had worked hard,
the weather was sour, and we needn't do
any more jist now--we might take the
afternoon to ourselves, but the next
morning he'd get up steam bright and
early, and we'd all come out new. There
was no temperance society at Smasher's
Landing, and went ashore upon lark,
with one of the hands,"


L omit the worthy Beniamin's adven-
lures upon land; and, despairing of
fully conveying his language in it's
original Doric force, will not hesitate to
give the rest of his singular narrative in
my own words, save where, in few in
stances, / can recall his precise phra-
seology, which the reader will readily
recognize.


"The night was raw and sleety when I
regained the deck of our boat. The Off
GERS, instead of leaving watch
above, had closed up everything and
shut themselves in the cabin. The fire.
room only was open. The boards dashed
from the outside by the explosion had
not yet been replaced. The floor of the
room was wet, and there was scarcely
a corner which afforded shelter from
the driving storm. was about leaving
the room, resigned to sleep in the open
air, and bent only upon getting under
the lee of some bulkhead that would
protect me against the wind. In pass-
ing out, kept my arms stretched for
ward to feel my way in the dark, but
my feet came in contact with a heavy
iron lid; stumbled, and, as I fell,
stuck one of my hands into the I" man
hole" CT think this was the name he |
gave me to the oval-shaped opening in
the head of the boiler) through which
The smith had entered to make his re-
pairs fell, with my arm thrust so far
into the aperture that received pret-
By smart blow in the face as it came in
contact with the head of the boiler, and
did not hesitate to drag my body afte: !