AFTER THE EXPLOSION.
When the explosion occurred, the wind was nearly dead ahead, and we were
floating with the current, which was the particular reason why we had
come so near being run down by the contestants.
"What's the matter?" asked Flora, alarmed by the noise, but unable to
explain the cause of it.
"One of those steamers has burst her boiler. Didn't you see the pieces
fly?" I replied.
"But where are the people we saw laughing and talking as she went by?"
continued she, with a shudder.
"A good many of them will never laugh and talk any more."
"Hookie!" shouted Sim, as soon as he comprehended the nature of the
disaster. "That's wus'n fallin' in the river."
"Get out the sail, Sim!" I added, sharply.
"What you want the sail for?" inquired he. "The wind ain't right for
it."
"Up with it, and we will talk about that afterwards."
Letting go the steering oar, I hastened to Sim's assistance, while the
raft whirled in the current as she went down the mighty river. We
hoisted the sail, hauled in the braces, and I took my place on the
platform again. After no little labor at the steering oar, I succeeded
in putting the raft before the wind, thus heading her up the river.
"What are you going to do, Buckland?" asked Flora, who was watching the
scene of the accident with the most painful interest.
"Hundreds of those poor people have already perished, and more will be
drowned, unless they have some help," I replied, much excited. "I am
going to try and get up there, so as to be of some service."
"O, I hope you will! But there are boats out picking them up already,"
added she, wringing her hands, as she realized more vividly the nature
of the terrible catastrophe.
"I'm going to do all I can," I replied, thrilled by the exciting scene,
which, though a mile distant, we could understand and realize.
I expected the hull of the steamer would float down the river with the
swift current, bringing with it all its fearful surroundings; but in her
haste to outstrip her competitor, she had run into the shallow water,
and when riven by the explosion, had sunk. The awful scene, therefore,
did not come down the stream, as I anticipated. In a few moments, three
steamboats, besides the one which had been engaged in the race, were
hovering about the wreck, and at least a dozen boats were busy in
picking up the sufferers.
I found that it was utterly impossible to make any progress against the
current with the raft. Though the wind was tolerably fresh from the
southward, and the sail drew well, it barely held its own. The wreck and
the raft remained about the same distance apart as at the moment of the
explosion. But it was a consolation to know that our services were not
absolutely needed, so abundant was the assistance afforded from the
shore, and from the passing steamers.
In a short time parts of the wreck began to come down the river. We
picked up a broken door, and other pieces of the wood-work, but nothing
of any great value. We kept a sharp lookout for any survivors who might
have been overlooked by the boats about us; but as yet we saw none, or
even any who had been killed. Finding we could be of no service, I was
about to turn the raft, and resume our voyage, when Flora called my
attention to an object floating at some distance from us.
"It's a woman, Buckland!" exclaimed she, clasping my arm with convulsive
energy.
"So it is," I replied, with my heart almost in my throat.
We were all too young and inexperienced to behold a human being
apparently at the gates of death without a tremendous sensation of
horror.
"Hookie!" gasped Sim, after he had gazed an instant at the object, his
breath collapsing as he uttered the favorite expression.
"Can't you save her?" cried Flora, in trembling tones.
"I will if I can."
"O, do save her. It's terrible."
"She is clinging to a piece of wood, and has her head quite out of
water," I added, as I turned the raft.
The unfortunate person was still some distance farther up the stream
than the raft. I told Sim to trim the sail, and I hoped to get my clumsy
craft in such a position that the current would bring the woman towards
it, so that we could intercept her.
"Help! Help!" called the sufferer, in faint and fearful tones, as we
came nearer to her.
"Hold on a few moments longer," I replied.
"I can't!" she answered, evidently chilled by the cold, and exhausted by
her fruitless struggles.
"Only a moment," I added.
That moment was a fearfully long one, and at the end of it came failure.
The raft disappointed me. The current was bearing the helpless female by
it, but not more than fifty feet distant. It might as well have been a
mile, so far as our capacity to overcome the space between us was
concerned.
"Down with the sail, Sim!" I shouted, sharply.
"Hookie!" gasped Sim, still standing with his mouth wide open, gazing at
the poor woman.
"Down with it!" I repeated, giving him a kick to sharpen his wits.
He stumbled to the sail; but his fingers were all thumbs, and he could
not untie the halyard. I was obliged to do it myself, for the sail had
filled aback, and it was retarding the progress of the raft.
"Help! Save me!" cried the unhappy person again, but fainter than
before, as hope appeared to desert her.
"Hold on a moment more!" I shouted to her.
I grasped the steering oar, and vainly struggled to turn the raft, so as
to bring it near enough to the sufferer to enable me to haul her on
board; but the only effect was to cause it to whirl in the current. Both
the woman and our craft were carried along by the stream, fifty feet
apart; but neither had the power to approach any nearer to the other.
"I'm sinking!" called the woman, throwing one of her hands up into the
air.
"No! Hold on for your life!" I shouted, as loud as I could scream.
My voice had some effect upon her, for she grasped the stick to which
she was clinging.
"O, Buckland!" cried Flora, wringing her hands and sobbing hysterically.
"Can't you do something?"
"I can, and will!" I replied, with some of the earnestness that thrilled
my soul; and I felt that I ought to die myself rather than permit the
poor sufferer to perish before my eyes.
"Do!" gasped my poor sister; and I knew she would have sacrificed her
precious life to save that of the stranger.
"Come here, Sim!" I called.
My blundering deck hand came promptly at my call, and I gave him the
steering oar, bidding him keep the raft steady before the current. I
took the long lines, which I used as mooring ropes, and tied them
together, making a cord at least a hundred feet in length. I took off
all my clothes but my pants and shirt, and secured the cord around my
body, making fast the other end to the raft.
"Sim!" said I, startling him with the sharpness of my tones.
"Yes; I'm here, Buck! Hookie!" stammered he.
"Mind what you're about!"
"O, yes! I will!"
"When I tell you, let go the oar, and pull in on this rope."
"I'll help him," said Flora.
"Don't you touch the rope, Flora. You may get dragged overboard."
"What shall I do?"
"You may make a fire in the stove, if you can," I answered, wishing to
get her out of the reach of danger if I could.
"I will, Buckland;" and she went into the house.
I was a powerful swimmer, and nerved by the peril of the stranger in the
water, I felt able to do anything. I let myself down into the river, and
struck out with all my strength towards the sufferer. The current of the
Mississippi is swift and treacherous. It was the hardest swimming I had
ever known; and, dragging the rope after me, I had a fierce struggle to
make any progress. In going those fifty feet, it seemed to me that I
worked hard enough to accomplish a mile.
I reached the sufferer, and grasped the stick to which she clung. I was
nearly exhausted myself by the violence of my efforts. I waited a moment
to regain my breath, before I attempted to deal with the difficulties of
the situation. I glanced at the person for whom I was to struggle. She
was not a woman, but a girl of fourteen. She was in a sinking condition,
apparently more from the effects of fear than actual suffering, for the
stick to which she clung afforded her ample support.
Afraid that the act of hauling us in would detach her from the stick, I
grasped it firmly with one hand, and clasped her around the waist with
the other. Her frame quivered with the cold and the terror of her
situation. As all persons in peril of drowning are apt to do, she was
disposed to cling to me.
"Don't be afraid," said I to her. "You are safe now."
"Save me!" gasped she, hardly loud enough to be heard.
"Haul in!" I shouted to Sim.
I felt the rope cutting my waist as Sim jerked and tugged at it with
all his strength. There was no lack of zeal on his part, but if anything
had depended upon coolness and skill, we might both have been drowned. I
kept a firm hold upon my helpless charge, and managed to keep her head
above the water, though my own was dragged under several times by the
clumsiness of my willing friend.
Sim pulled and hauled with energy, if not with skill. When he abandoned
the steering oar, the raft began to whirl, and thus to complicate his
labor. I caught a glance of the simple-minded fellow, as the craft
turned, and I heard him yell, "Hookie!" He was nonplussed by the change
of the raft; but he did not know enough to follow it round upon the
outside. I am not sure this freak of the current did not save us from a
calamity, for as it revolved, and the rope became tangled in the
platform, we were thrown against the raft, thus saving my helpmate half
his toil. Fortunately the end of the stick on which I floated struck the
logs first, and broke the force of what might otherwise have been a
stunning blow.
"Tie the rope, Sim!" I called to my assistant, who was now on the other
side of the raft.
"O, Buckland!" cried Flora, as she came out of the house and gazed at me
with an expression of intense pain.
"Hookie!" ejaculated Sim, rushing to the point where I had seized hold
of the raft.
[Illustration: AFTER THE EXPLOSION.--Page 221.]
He stood there, jumping up and down on both feet, bewildered and
helpless.