Raymond S. Spears

“ They slowed the push of the motor, and as they reached the tree, the line was taken into the skiff, and the launch swung out around and down to the levee, where Kalas was waiting for them.
Kalas was one of the old, famous river engineers, who for years had studied the Mississippi, fought it, planned campaigns against it, and through it all had kept his love for the magnificence of that great flood, the might of which makes the efforts of men seem so puny and ineffectual at times, but which at other times responds to the restraints of revetments and levees. ”

“ Sibley, especially, had heard many stories of the desperate work of the river bad-men, and in the overflow they were sure to be more reckless than ever. An expedition with a sheriff’s posse against a crew of pirates might be a dangerous one if the pirates were found at work or caught while trying to make their escape with booty.
Sibley, however, replied promptly. "If you want us, we’ll go,"
"Good boys! You know how to drive the boat better than any of us!" the sheriff, John Tainell, exclaimed. He waved his hand and four of his special deputies ran over to the launch and climbed into it. ”

“ New Madrid was a famous trading-station and river town in the old days, and the long continued series of earthquakes in those bottoms that startled the country from 1812 during several years were known by the name of the town the Spanish had settled. ”

“ We all are the sheriff and his posse."
For reply there was an echo from the woods, and then from somewhere, apparently a long distance away, there sounded a mocking laugh. As the launch rubbed along the house-boat’s side, the sheriff sprang to the stern deck with two of the deputies; the other two, when Sibley had steered to the bow, sprang aboard. Jimmy caught a cleat with a stern-line loop, and, Sibley having stopped the motor, jumped aboard with a bowline, and made fast. ”

“ The current was too swift for them to stem it and work up through, though they could get nearly up to the line of the levee that had washed out. From a skiff, manned by three men, a keg was floated down to them with a half-inch rope tied to it. They caught the keg, and the skiffmen made the other end fast to a little gum-tree. Then Sibley and Jimmy hauled in the line, hand over hand, and, with the power of the motor behind them made the slope of the running torrent. Once over the low crest, the motor picked up and they could hardly pull in the line fast enough. ”