Oliver Optic

“ 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. ”

“ With good living on board the Sylvania, and with his mind relieved of all anxiety about his daily food and shelter, he had picked up wonderfully during the month of our trip up the river.
"Well, Miles, how do you get on?" I asked as I ascended the gangway.
"First-rate, Captain Garningham. I haven't been so happy for years as I am now," he replied with a cheerful smile. "I begin to think I may live for some years yet."
"I hope you will live for many years yet," I replied. "Mr. Peeks has been on board this afternoon, has he not?" ”

“ I replied, confidently. "They hurried the Islander down the river; and when both vessels are doing their best the Sylvania gains about a knot an hour on the Islander. I have tried this with her when she had a sailing-master on board who knew all about her, and had sailed her hundreds of miles. I don't believe Captain Blastblow can do any better with her than Captain Braceback; and I used to beat him every time."
"I dare say you are quite right, Captain Alick," added Colonel Shepard. "It is reasonable to suppose that a man who is used to a vessel can do better with her than a stranger." ”

“ I added.
"His name is Billy Bell, and I know him very well," replied Colonel Hungerford. "You have a very distinguished and wealthy ship's company, Captain Alick. I wished to distribute a thousand dollars, more or less, among them; but I see that such a proposition would be taken as an insult by some of them."
"It would be taken as it was intended, not as an insult; but it would be respectfully declined by the captain, the mate, the two deck-hands, and perhaps by all the others; for I am sure that no one on board would be willing to be paid for an act of common humanity," I replied. ”

“ I shouted, walking from one end to the other of the steamer. But I made no further explanation.
There was a call for maps and guide-books then, succeeded by an anxious study for a few moments.
"This is the mouth of the Illinois River!" exclaimed Miss Margie, rushing up to me.
"I don't deny it," I replied. To avoid more questions, I went to the pilot-house.
"We are making about twelve miles an hour," said the pilot of the Sylvania.
"How can that be? The most we could make in the Mississippi was seven miles against the strong current." ”

“ Shepard. "What can you do, Captain Alick?"
"We have just passed the entrance to St. Augustine harbor. We could run back, and make a port there," I replied.
"Then do it, for mercy's sake," said the lady, as a heavy sea rolled the steamer down to her gunwale.
"I should certainly have suggested doing so, if we had not been in chase of the Islander."
"That need not make any difference, Captain Alick."
"The gale may last all night as well as all day, Alick," added my father. "We are sailing for pleasure, and there is no pleasure in being beaten about in this manner. ”

“ Does he mean to run away with the Islander?" demanded Colonel Shepard, when he realized that his steam-yacht was again trying to elude him.
"He must have seen the Sylvania," I replied, very much perplexed by the conduct of the captain of the Islander. "If he stopped at Key West at all, he must have seen us before he started."
"Is it possible to overtake her, Captain Alick?" asked Colonel Shepard, nervously.
"As the case now stands, Captain Blastblow is running away from us. He has some object in view which we cannot comprehend. ”

“ This was agreeable news, and all hands directed their gaze to the point where the Islander was believed to be. The gale was increasing in force every moment. Though I had no fears for the safety of the vessel, I knew how fearfully so small a steamer as the Sylvania leaped and rolled in a heavy gale, and I was not a little concerned about the comfort of my passengers. We had had a very thorough trial of her pitching and rolling in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and I did not like to subject the Shepards and the Tiffanys to any unnecessary discomfort. ”

“ All you have to do is to follow her. There is our pilot-boat; and this is as far as we usually take vessels."
"But I don't care to have you leave us here, Captain Cayo," I replied. "It is clear enough that the Islander intends to keep out of our way. She may run in among the Dry Tortugas, and having a pilot on board, she could easily elude us."
"She might do that when she finds you are gaining on her, as I see you are, for we have made half a knot on her since we came out of the channel. But if we leave the pilot-boat behind, I can't get off the steamer when you don't want me any longer. ”

“ It all looked to me like a region in which I should not care to live.
"We are leaving the Islander a good way behind us," said Washburn, when I returned to the pilot-house, after my survey of the surrounding country.
"She is only about half a mile astern of us," I replied. "I suppose we shall gain about half a mile an hour on her in this current, when we drive the Sylvania."
"It is five o'clock in the afternoon," added the mate, glancing at the clock. "I estimate that we are all of fifty miles from New Orleans. Do you intend to run after dark, Alick?" ”

“ I replied. "Captain Blastblow knows that the party are bound up the Mississippi River. He knows the Sylvania is, at any rate; and he would not have headed to the southward if he had not intended to make the same trip, always supposing he has misunderstood his instructions."
"By six o'clock to-night, if everything holds as it is, we ought to overhaul the Islander, if we don't miss her in the fog, and Captain Blastblow don't do any better in her than any one else has ever done," continued Washburn. "But the wind is freshening, Captain Alick." ”

“ The propeller whirled like a circular saw, such as I had often observed in the lumber-mills at home. I almost fancied that I could hear it buzz.
I watched the edge of the crevasse, but I could not see that we either gained or lost. For several minutes we struggled against the savage tide. It was a desperate situation. ”

“ I have been on the water most of the time since I was ten years old, either on the sea or on the great lakes. I have had as rough a time on Lake Superior as we had last night, if not a rougher." I told my story as briefly as I could.
"Your education has not been neglected, Captain Alick," continued Captain Mayfield. "If you had not managed the Sylvania so well last night, most of us must have perished; for I have no doubt that the Olive went to pieces before midnight. She was a well-built vessel, but rather old. ”

“ The Sylvania soon got up her best speed, and the pilot steered the steamer for a point just above the crevasse. I closed the windows of the pilot-house, and directed all hands to go on the hurricane-deck, except the engineers and firemen.
"I think you ought to stop the engine, for she will go through quick enough without any help," suggested the pilot.
"We must have steerage-way, or we can do nothing," I replied with quick tones, for we were within a few fathoms of the whirl of waters that were dashing through the crevasse. ”

“ In my opinion, he has concealed the money on his person, for you seem to have no doubt that he divided with the young swell."
"That looks very reasonable," added Colonel Shepard. "I think if I had a large sum on board of a vessel, I should provide myself with a money-belt, and keep the treasure in it at all times."
"All we have to do is to search him," said Captain Blastblow. "We shall soon find out whether or not he is a party to the robbery. I suppose there isn't any doubt about the young swell, as the steward called him, and which I think is the best description of him." ”

“ I am told that you managed the Sylvania very well, and I have no doubt of it; but it was a terrible storm for such a small vessel. Last night I wished I was in the Sylvania, for I was very much alarmed when we were carried down the river by that terrible building."
"My wife don't feel safe in the city," added Colonel Shepard. "She is afraid we may be inundated here. She prefers to be on board of the steamer, and wants to start up the river immediately."
"I do feel safer on the river than I do on shore," said Mrs. Shepard. ”

“ It was clear now, if it had not been before, that Cornwood's visit to Key West related to Nick Boomsby, and not to the detention of the Islander when she arrived there. The equal division of the money explained the long and rather stormy conversations between the passengers of the Islander. Cornwood was smart, if he was nothing else in the way of honesty and uprightness. He had bullied and persuaded poor Nick Boomsby to give him half the money, and would probably have stolen the other half before the vessel got to New Orleans, if we had not captured her on the way. ”

“ But it is possible to be honest without being handsome; and rogues assume virtues they do not possess. Certainly, the valuable package was not concealed upon the person of Buckner. The only alternative was, that he had thrown it away,—cast it into some hole, or pitched it into the river.
"There can be no doubt this is the man that took the package from the counter, for no one else came near me while I was in the saloon," reasoned Peverell, whose vehemence had calmed down, and given place to a deep anxiety. ”

“ He and his mother kept the old sores open.
"I have never been on board of your steamer yet, Captain Alick," said he, with a sort of ghastly grin, which I could not understand. "I wanted to get out this afternoon to make a visit to her."
"She can be seen by everybody who chooses to visit her, and I shall be glad to see you on board of her," I replied. "All hands are on shore now, except Cobbington, who is acting as ship-keeper. He will show you all over the Sylvania, if I am not on board."
"Where are you going from here in her?" asked Nick. ”

“ If we were to sail on our next cruise, as had been arranged, the next morning, I must look up a competent steward. But the Florida season was over, and I anticipated no trouble in finding one.
By this time there was quite a crowd collected in the saloon, and for half an hour longer the robbery was talked over. Nothing new was brought out. Buckner had taken the package from the counter, Nick had pursued him, and the money was not found. They could not get beyond these facts, or beyond these apparent facts, for things are not always as they seem. ”

“ But we shall be within hail of each other most of the time, and you can visit Miss Edith about every day after we get into the Mississippi River."
"I am told the Mississippi is a very large river," mused Miss Margie. "Can you see across it, Captain Alick?"
"No doubt of it," I answered, laughing. "It is not more than a mile wide, as a rule. You must be thinking of the Amazon, which is a hundred and fifty miles wide near its mouth. Vessels must get out of sight of land in crossing it, near the ocean."
"We are all on board, Alick, except Owen," said my father, coming into the pilot-house. ”

“ Shepard. "Can't you do something to make us more comfortable, Captain Alick?"
"I can make you all quite comfortable in less than an hour," I answered. "But our business just now is to overtake the Islander; and if we delay the voyage we may never see her again."
"Plague on the Islander!" exclaimed the lady.
"I don't think there is any particular danger, ladies," interposed my father. "It is altogether a matter of comfort."
"I don't want to have my brains knocked out," added Miss Edith.
"If we keep on we may know who has brains and who has not," laughed Owen. ”

“ We shall have an opportunity to learn which is the faster steamer," I replied.
"The current must be running five or six miles an hour here," said Captain Cayo.
"About five miles an hour is the usual rate of the Mississippi," I answered. "But it runs just as fast for the Islander as it does for the Sylvania."
"That's true; and I doubt if either steamer is making more than six or seven knots an hour."
"The Islander is sheering off from us towards the middle of the river, and that is where she is making her mistake."
"Why so?" asked the pilot. ”

“ We made fast to a tree, and sent Hop Tossford ashore to watch at the bend for the approach of the other steamer.
As the water was deep enough for the Islander in whatever part of it she went, I thought she would come within a few yards of our position, as that would lead her up stream by the shortest way. Our passengers had spent their time in the usual manner on the voyage, and one day at sea was very like any other day when the weather was fine. We had passed out of the fog before midnight, and the two days on the Gulf had been as pleasant as possible. ”

“ Captain Boomsby's saloon was on Bay Street. He had a bar for the white and respectable customers on that street, and another in the rear for negroes. I was never even tempted to drink any intoxicating beverages; and when he became a rumseller, I thought my tyrant had found his proper level. His son Nick tended the front bar, while he waited upon the negroes, who imbibed the cheapest corn-whiskey and apple-brandy by the tumbler-full at a dram.
When I went into the saloon Captain Boomsby was seated in the rear of the room, where he had a view of both bars. He was at least half "full" himself. ”

“ The Islander is not an armed vessel, and Captain Blastblow is not a pirate," replied Colonel Shepard. "Do you suppose anything was out of order on board of the steamer, Captain Alick?"
"It is possible; but if such was the case, the captain would hardly have gone so far down the river," I replied. "If the Islander had needed any more repairs, Captain Blastblow would have remained in Jacksonville and attended to them." ”

“ He has known what poverty is, but he has enough to live on now."
"By the way, Captain Alick, do you happen to have anybody on board who is not 'well to do,' as you call it?" asked the planter.
"Ben Bowman, the assistant, who was in the boat that brought off your family to the steamer, has been a lake sailor, cook and fireman all his life; and I don't know that he has five hundred dollars in the world. He sends most of his wages to his mother, and is one of the truest and bravest men I ever saw."
I also told him the story of Cobbington and the two firemen. ”

“ I added. "But we must land our shipwrecked passengers here, and that will take a little time; and I want a pilot, for I don't like to lose any time in those shoal waters and crooked channels."
"Get your boats all ready, Captain Alick, and it won't take five minutes to land me and my men, and I will put your steamer where you can get a pilot in two minutes," interposed Captain Mayfield. "I have no doubt we should have all perished if you had not come to the wreck at no small peril to your vessel; and I hope the time will come when I shall have a chance to do something for you." ”

“ As soon as we were fairly out in the river, the people on the levees set up a volley of cheers, which was taken up by the negroes on board. I saw the Islander had made fast to a steamer a little below the breach, and I asked the pilot to lay the Sylvania alongside of her.
"Young man, you are a brave boy," said Colonel Hungerford, the planter who had first come on board of the steamer. ”