Raymond S. Spears

Name: River Laughter — Chapter 4
Author: Raymond S. Spears

River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

Summary

“River Laughter — Chapter 4”, published in 1919, is a work by Raymond S. Spears. It explores elements such as fog, Columbiana and Mendova.

Quotes from River Laughter — Chapter 4 (Raymond S. Spears)

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ Things are never twice alike down that river. The anchor on her deck—that was kind of human and mischievous, but the voices and whisperings in the dark—the passing of strange sounds among human voices.
The wonder, more than the ominousness, appealed to her. She heard some one say something plain at last. Some one hailed:
“Say, Jack! There’s an awful fog on the river!”
“Tha’ so?” some one asked sleepily.
“Yeh! Say, Jack—Jack—Jack—Jack! Say—we’re adrift, Jack! Say——”
Columbiana heard some one tumbling out of a squeaky bunk or bed and heard a pattering of feet. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ As she looked, other heads appeared above the fog here and there as far as she could see: heads of men and women, some with whiskers and some with disheveled hair, some with circles of agitated fog around them as they waved their arms.
Through the fog echoed the laugh of the night, and half an hour later the fog was gone, except for little shreds. Forty or fifty, shanty-boats and motor-boats pulled shoreward, and eddies where there hadn’t been three boats at once in twenty years suddenly had whole shanty-boat towns with an indignant, puzzled and revengeful population. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ Columbiana had considerable knowledge of the river’s whims and whimsies, and she was in an expectant mood in consequence. From all directions she heard the passing of shanty-boat and motor-boat sounds. Away off yonder, some motor-boat man was running his engine with the cut-out open, and the throbbing of the exhaust whaled through the fog, hammering the ears—though it was miles away. Suddenly the motor choked up and then exploded with a hoarser note—in reverse. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ She felt the boat heaving ever so little, up and down, as if in long rollers, and she knew it was a crossing. It might be above Mendova in the reach or at the foot of Mendova Bend or away down below Mendova.
She remembered the pirates, and her hand stole to the butt of her automatic. She went through her two rooms and looked around from her stern deck with an electric-flash to see by—but all she could see was the fog, dragging into lines. The fog eddied around in coils, spirals, puffs and lumps. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ Every little while there would be a yell of excitement, or at least agitation, as some sleeper awakened and hailed the fog. The old-timers would answer back with a roar of laughter, but the laughter quickly perished. Word had gone around: several boats from Gas-House Slough at Mendova, boats from the shanty-town at Mutton Island and through Sentinel Cut-off and trippers who had just landed in—they didn’t know where—were within a mile or so. And word passed up and down that indicated four or five miles in the shanty-boat fleet. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ Instantly from away off yonder a voice swore profanely—
“Well, by the Lord Harry, if I’d married any such dad-blasted old son of a no-’count son-of-a-gun ’s him, I bet I’d shift him an’ ’vorce him!”
“Why?” Columbiana asked.
“Why? Why?” the man yelled, “Why, dang blast hit! I went to sleep up in Mendova Bend on to Gas House Slough an’ I had a good job at three-fifty a day, an’ now where the —— am I, an’ how the —— ’d I get here in this dangblasted fog—hey?”
“That’s no way to talk to a lady!” Columbiana called imperturbably.
“Lady! Lady! No lady ever married this danged Old Mississip’!” ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ Columbiana floated down close to the west bank eddies till she saw a tall, slim man with thin, brown face standing on a great shanty-boat deck with an expression of bewilderment on his features.
“Excuse me!” he hailed her. “I am greatly disturbed, perturbed, and I am a stranger down the river——”
“A soft-paw?” she asked, sweetly.
“Yes, indeed! Just so; if you——”
“All right,” she smiled. “I’ll come over and see what’s the matter.”
She pulled in and made fast to the stern of the big boat. She climbed aboard and went into the cabin. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ The Mississippi River is a stranger to its own people. It occurred to her that perhaps there had been some great change in the Bottoms; perhaps the lands had sunk again, and perhaps there had been earthquakes, eruptions, caves and upheavals? ”

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Source: Wikisource

Raymond S. Spears, River Laughter — Chapter 4 (1919)

“ She had been too long on the river not to know the terror of circumstantial evidence applied to shanty-boaters.
“Yo’ two alone on this yeah boat?” Sheriff Dabonne demanded. “Ho law! Yo' two’s swell-lookin’ pirates. All dressed up, eh? Sho!”
“Shucks!” Columbiana looked him in the eye to say. “Are honest folks so scarce where you’re from that you don’t know them when you see them. Not that kind!”
“Hue-e!” members of the posse yelled, and the sheriff reddened.
“Yo’ all cayn’t play no innocent game on me!” he declared. “We gets five-hundred dollars for this year outfit up to Mendova, yo’ two! ”

Raymond S. Spears

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Quotes from River Laughter — Chapter 4 (Raymond S. Spears)

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