THE ISLANDER IN A BAD FIX.
The silver light from the Bengola enabled me to see clearly the strange
sight that presented itself to our gaze. Owen was smoking his cigar,
and Washburn and my father were talking about India. The whistle and
the shout from the steamer were the first intimations we had that
anything was wrong. I could see some lights in the gloom that hung over
the river, but nothing to enable me to ascertain the situation, until
the Bengola illuminated the scene.
It was a strange sight. I could not tell whether the building was a
house or a stable, though it appeared to have too many windows for the
latter. The Islander, it appeared, had run her bow into the structure
up to the pilot-house. The steamer was still working her screw. But the
odd complication floated slowly down the stream towards the bank of the
river opposite the position of the Sylvania.
"Call all hands!" I said, with energy. "Tell the engineer to stir up
the fires."
Washburn hastened to execute the orders, and the rest of us watched
with increasing wonder the floating mass, which was every moment
increasing its distance from us.
"I say, Captain Alick, can you tell me what all that means?" asked Owen
Garningham. "Was the Islander going into that house to spend the
night?"
"I really can't say whether she was or not; but it is not likely that
the steamer went on shore for a night's lodging in the building," I
replied.
"I dare say the Islander could not handle herself very well on the
land, if she found any land to get on," added Owen.
"It is more likely that the house, or whatever it is, was afloat when
the Islander knocked for admission," I continued.
"If the steamer knocked, the house appears to have opened to her."
"How is your steam, Moses?" I called through the tube to the engineer.
"Rather low for working in this current," came back to me through the
tube.
At that moment the Islander whistled again. I pulled our whistle line,
and found we had steam enough to give a smart reply; but I was not
willing to trust the Sylvania to the rapid river without a full head of
steam. I lighted another Bengola. In its glare I saw that the other
steamer was backing her screw, as probably she had been doing from the
beginning. I judged that the building was about fifty feet long, and,
as it was partly submerged, it presented a large broadside to the rapid
current.
"I don't see how she got into that scrape, unless she was looking for a
night's lodging," said Washburn. "That building is big enough to be
seen in the dark."
"Of course Captain Blastblow did not intend to run into it," I added.
"Probably he had not time to get out of the way when he first saw it."
"But it seems to me I should not go far with such a load before I shook
it off."
"But don't you see that he can't pull out of the house?" demanded Owen.
"He is stuck fast in her side."
"They have axes on board the Islander; and I don't think it would take
our crew long to cut her out of that hole," added Washburn. "Why does
she keep whistling? Her captain can imagine that we have not steam
enough to work the Sylvania in such a current."
"I say, Washy, have you ever been down the Danube?" asked Owen.
"I never have been. I was never in Europe," replied the mate.
"I should say this current is quite as swift as that of the Danube at
Vienna; and it makes seven miles an hour there."
"The ordinary current of the Mississippi is about five miles an hour,
and in such a freshet it must be as much as seven."
"What is a freshet, Mr. Mate?"
"An inundation; an overflow of the water; a flood; a----"
"Cut it short! I understand it perfectly. I never heard it called a
freshet before. Has it anything to do with the fact that this is fresh
water, Washy?"
"I don't think it has, though I never heard of such a thing as a
freshet in salt water, which could not very well be, since a freshet is
caused by heavy rains and the melting of the snow," replied Washburn.
"You never heard of a freshet before! Where have you been all your
life?"
"That's an American word, Mr. Washburn," interposed my father. "I never
heard it except in this country."
At this moment Mr. Tiffany and his daughter joined us in the
pilot-house, after asking if they might come in. I gave them chairs and
explained to them the rather ludicrous situation of the Islander. All
hands were on the forecastle except the chief engineer and Landy
Perkins. I ordered a Bengola to be burned on the top-gallant forecastle
to enable them to see the Islander and its odd burden.
"Mr. Brickland says he has steam enough," said Landy Perkins, reporting
to me at the pilothouse.
"All right," I replied. "Buck, cast off the hawser, when I bring her up
to it."
The end of the fast had been passed around a pine-tree, and made fast
at the bitts, so that we could unmoor without going on shore. I rang to
go ahead; and when the hawser was hauled in, I backed the steamer away
from the bank. I directed the deck hands to keep the fireworks ablaze
that I might see where to steer. I soon discovered the Islander and the
building, and ran for them as fast as possible. As we had the current
with us, we made at least fifteen miles an hour.
As the Sylvania came nearer to her consort, I could better make out the
condition of things on board of her. The building appeared to be some
kind of a workshop. The Islander had drove her bow through its side. I
concluded that some of the boarding and studding had not been broken
off. The bow had carried them within the structure, and the lower ends
had dropped down on the deck, and thus prevented the vessel from
withdrawing her forward part.
As we came nearer to her, I had our fenders hung over the port side. We
had two gilded axes slung on the front of the pilot-house, which had
probably never been taken from their resting-places. I told Ben Bowman
to take one of these, and Dyer Perkins the other, for both of them had
had some experience in the woods. I had made up my mind just where the
trouble was. I directed Washburn to go on board of the Islander when we
got alongside of her, and superintend the cutting away of the boards
and joists, with two more men from the other steamer.
Buck and Hop were to stand by the hawsers by which we were to make fast
to the Islander. As soon as we came up abreast of the consort, I saw
Colonel Shepard and his family on the quarter-deck. They were very much
alarmed at the situation, for Mrs. Shepard was wringing her hands in
terror, and the colonel was trying to comfort her. As soon as our bow
came abreast of the party, Owen made a long leap to the deck of the
Islander. It was a careless trick, and he deserved to fall overboard
for risking his life when there was not the least need of it. As soon
as we were fairly alongside our consort, the deck hands leaped on board
of her with the fasts, and we were soon securely lashed together.
"Stop your screw, Captain Blastblow!" I shouted, though I realized a
moment later that I had no business to give orders to him, or to
undertake to manage the business of the occasion.
Washburn leaped on board with his two axe-men, and I heard him politely
ask the captain to send two of his men with axes to assist him. Captain
Blastblow not only stopped the steamer, but he instantly ordered his
mate and another man to do what the mate of the Sylvania desired.
"I think we had better go ahead, Captain Blastblow," I continued,
trying to be less imperative than before.
"If you see the way out of this scrape, Captain Alick, I am willing to
do anything you say," replied the captain of the Islander.
"I think I do see the way out of it; and the best plan is to go ahead,
full steam," I answered.
I had a theory, though I had had as yet no opportunity to test its
correctness. I called Buck to the wheel, and told him to steer for the
middle of the river. I was afraid if the building struck the bank it
might be tumbled over on the steamers. I went on board of the Islander.
I asked the captain to steer for the middle of the river, and then went
forward into the building. My theory in regard to the boarding and
studding was correct. Washburn was directing the four men, and
assisting them himself, to pull out the boards and joists. They had
little occasion to use the axes after the two steamers began to go
ahead. Backing the Islander had tightened up every piece of lumber that
had been forced in by the bow. The harder the boat pulled back, the
more firmly the joists were held in their places. It was no wonder to
me that the captain had not been able to shake off this unwieldy
burden.
My first thought, in having the steamers go ahead, was to prevent the
Islander from drawing out of the building while my men were in it, for
they might have been crushed by the swaying of the structure. When we
went ahead, we not only loosened the timbers and boards, so that they
could be removed from their positions, but we prevented the Islander
from coming out of her lodging-place until the hands were in a safe
part of the boat.
"There, sir, I think she is all clear now," said Washburn.
I could find nothing to impede the withdrawal of our consort's bow, and
I sent my hands back to the Sylvania, and directed the others to go
abaft the pilot-house of the Islander. I requested Captain Blastblow to
keep his craft going till I rang my gong. I returned to the pilot-house
of the Sylvania, and rang to stop her. The gong of the Islander
followed suit instantly. I waited a minute to notice the effect. I
expected the consort would draw out of her "chancery" at once; but she
did not. I told the mate to see that our hawsers were good for a hard
pull, and he soon reported them fast and strong.
"Now, back her, if you please, Captain Blastblow," I called to the
Islander.
At the same time I rang two bells. Both steamers began to back at the
same time. The Islander immediately went clear of the building, which
continued on its way down the river. No crash, or severe wrench, as I
had anticipated, attended the separation of the steamer and its burden.
"You are all right now, Captain Blastblow!" I shouted, rejoiced that he
had got rid of his incubus.
"Thank you, Captain Alick, for your assistance; and I think we will lie
up with you," answered the captain of the Islander.
We cast off the fasts, and the consort followed us up to the place
where we had moored before, and made fast to a tree just below us.
Presently the captain came up to pay us a visit. I inquired about his
prisoners first, and learned that they were under the care of Captain
Cayo in the fore-cabin.
"Our people seem to think you were looking for a night's lodging in
that floating building, Captain Blastblow," I said.
"Well, not exactly," added the captain. "We have been very sorry, for
the last hour and a half, while we were dragged down the river by that
building, that we did not follow your example, and hang up for the
night."
"Where did you pick up that house, captain?" asked Owen.
"I kept a sharp lookout on the top-gallant forecastle; but none of us
saw the building until it was too late to get out of the way," replied
Captain Blastblow. "Following the example of Captain Alick, I kept as
close to the shore on the port side as possible. About an hour after we
left you, I saw something black loom up before me, and the next instant
we struck her at full speed. The house had floated out of a bayou, I
found, which was the reason we did not see it sooner. It was a building
where they worked on rice. It was stretched across a creek, so that the
rice could be dropped into a boat under it. We have a white man and two
negroes on board that we saved from it."
After a long talk, in which Captain Blastblow did me the honor to say
that I was a "smart boy," he returned to his craft, and the rest of us
turned in.