Riverport

“ There isn't money enough in Riverport to buy that boat."
"Oh! I don't know," broke in Dave Hanshaw, who had always been more or less of a crack athlete on Riverport's teams; "I heard my father saying only last night that the old Colonel had lost all his money, and was selling out over in Grafton. So you see, perhaps he might be willing to let that pet boat, in which his son rowed to victory, go for a certain sum."
"And Buck," observed Colon, "must have got wind of it a while back. Oh! he's a cute one, all right. He knows how to feather his nest. ”

“ Squire Fishley was a stranger in Riverport. He had not been to Torrentville since I lived with the captain, and I was sure no one knew who it was that had fallen into the river. I comforted him, and assured him it would be all right.
"If your friends on board of the steamer don't expose you, no one else will," I continued.
"They will not; they are going to New Orleans, and will not return for months. ”

“ Well, the first minute that Cap'n Carew dared, after dinner, he slipped out, and he hired the swiftest horse in Riverport and rode for dear life, and told the folks who were in the secret, and some who weren't, what was the matter, and every soul turned to and helped finish loading her and getting the rigging ready and the water aboard; but just as they were leaving the cove—the wind was blowing just right—along came the revenue officer with two or three men, and they come off in a boat and boarded her as important as could be. ”

“ Two of them hunted until they found the lean-to, under which a ramshackle wagon stood that excited the laughter of Colon.
"If Bristles thought the vehicle that little girl had along with her in Riverport was a terror, what'll he ever say to this?" he remarked, after he had doubled up several times in explosive merriment. "Now, if the hoss is anything like what Tom says, I c'n see what a sensation we'll kick up when we strike town. Why, they'll ring the fire bells, and get the chemical engine out to parade after us. Guess they'll think the circus has struck Riverport early this year." ”

“ You know the road to Riverport runs along the bank of the creek, and I don't wish anybody in these parts to see us," I replied.
"The sooner we start, the farther we shall get before morning," added Sim, who was as impatient as Flora.
"We shall be far enough off in the morning. How fast do you suppose the raft will go, Sim?" [184]
"I dunno."
"It will go about as fast as the current without any help; and that is three or four miles an hour. We shall be at least twenty miles from here at five o'clock in the morning." ”

“ Now, keep on working regularly as you are, and brace yourselves, every fellow, for a furious spurt, if we have to make one. Might as well learn what our boat can do, first as last. Take care how you dip in, because a crab would upset us all. They've struck the middle of the river now, and are letting us catch up on them. I can see Whitey, Clem Shooks, Jones, Jimmerson and Ben Gushing, anyway. And they're grinning as if they meant to make monkeys of the Riverport Boat Club boys. ”

“ That night, in the schoolhouse, there was called a meeting of the members of the Riverport Boat Club in order to transact business of great importance. Buck Lemington was more friendly than he had ever before been known. But those boys who knew him so well understood what his sudden conversion meant. He aspired to fill the important position of coxswain on the crew, and was figuring to gain the votes of a majority of those entitled to pass judgment and select officers. ”

“ We've tried our level best, and for two years now only picked up a few crumbs of comfort, while the feast's been spread for Riverport. And yet Mechanicsburg has just as good athletes as you can boast. We manage to win now and then, sometimes by sheer hard work, and again by a fluke. But they seem to be only the minor events; all the big plums go to your crowd."
"That's Fred's diplomacy, Sherley, don't you understand?" said Bristles, with one of his wide grins. "He looks out for it that we get our best licks in the things that count. ”

“ Perhaps they may turn out to have the better all-'round athletes; time will tell."
And time did tell; for the proposed athletic meet came to pass in the Fall. What stirring things happened along about that time, as well as the inspiring incidents connected with the great meet itself, will be recorded in the next story of this series, to be called: "Fred Fenton on the Track; Or, The Athletics of Riverport School." ”

“ And this spirit which had been awakened in Riverport, was bound, he believed, to make for the betterment of the town in every way.
"Perhaps there'll be less work for Dr. Temple," he remarked, at a meeting of the best citizens, when the gymnasium was handed over to the school trustees; "because there'll be far less sickness among our young people. Though possibly a few accidents, as the result of in [41] discretion in exercising too violently, may make amends to our physicians."
Meanwhile the young athletes belonging to Riverport school had been as busy as the proverbial bee. ”

“ And make up your mind Sam'll tell him all about it the first chance he gets, because he wants to get in with that bunch."
"All right," replied Fred, with a shrug of his shoulders; "I don't see where we've got any reason to worry about it. Just say we found the boat drifting on the current of the river, which is the truth, Bristles. Buck can carry on any way he likes; we won't give him any satisfaction. And now, let's get back to what we were talking about when all this rumpus came along; the chances for a boat club in Riverport." ”

“ Thompson. "It will not do to risk having the rheumatism come back."
"I wish I could get something to do," said Randy, while the evening meal was in progress. "I might earn some money and it would help. But there doesn't seem to be any kind of an opening in Riverport."
"Times are rather dull," answered Mr. Thompson. "And I am afraid they will be worse before they are better."
On the following day Randy went out after blackberries. Jack went with him and the boys went up the stream in the latter's boat.
"If I can get a good mess mother is going to preserve some," said Randy. ”

“ My tyrant turned on his heel, and hastened back [14] to the store. Ham Fishley's father was "the old man," and I knew that it would not be for the want of any good will on his part, if the case was not settled by him. I had rebelled, and I must take my chances. I went to the barn, harnessed the black horse to the wagon, and hitched him at a post in the yard, in readiness to go down to Riverport for the mail, which I used to do every evening after supper. ”

“ Fred remarked, looking pleased at being given the opportunity to bring happiness to one he thought so much of as Bristles; "and perhaps you'll be able to pull a better oar, now that this load is off your mind."
"Why, Fred, believe me," said Bristles, soberly, "I feel right now as though I'd be able to put more vim into my work than ever before in all my life. Wow! if I had wings I could hardly seem more like flying, my heart is that light!"
CHAPTER XXIII
THE START OF THE RACE
The great day of the boat race between Riverport and Mechanicsburg opened with a clear sky. ”

“ Even better known than Captain Brooks is the keeper of Lime Rock light in Newport harbor. Should you chance to be in Newport on some pleasant summer afternoon, walk out on the long wharf that runs from the mainland into the west side of the harbor, and [Pg 218] when you have reached its end, wave your handkerchief toward the lighthouse opposite. Soon a woman will appear in the door of the tall gray tower, and running down to the boat moored to the stone wall, step into it, take the oars, and with graceful yet powerful strokes, pull rapidly toward the wharf. ”

“ New forms spring into being. Villages and towns spring up as if by magic, along whose streets throngs of men are passing. And thus, as "coming events cast their shadows before," does the mind wander from the real to the probable. An hour and a half of this sort of revery, and we had come to the Fort Ripley ferry, over which we were to go for the mail. That ferry (and I have seen others on the river like it) is a marvellous invention. It is a flat-boat which is quickly propelled either way across the river by means of the resistance which it offers to the current. ”

“ Nature has a way of sending up a warning sign, that every intelligent fellow ought to heed.
That day passed all too soon, and another night arrived, the last they expected to spend in camp up on the Mohunk. The following day the wagon belonging to Judge Colon, an uncle of the tall boy, and put at the service of the young campers, would come to "tote" all the stuff back to town again, and some of the boys in the bargain.
Of course nine of them would go back, as they had come, in the boat. ”

“ In a neglected seaport like Rivermouth the arrival of a large ship is an event of moment. The prospect of having twenty or thirty jolly tars let loose on the peaceful town excites divers emotions among the inhabitants. The small shopkeepers along the wharves anticipate a thriving trade; the proprietors of the two rival boarding-houses—the “Wee Drop” and the “Mariner's Home”—hasten down to the landing to secure lodgers; and the female population of Anchor Lane turn out to a woman, for a ship fresh from sea is always full of possible husbands and long-lost prodigal sons. ”

“ Above all, think of Richmond, nature’s chosen site for the greatest manufacturing city in America,—her beds of coal and iron, just at hand, her incomparable water power, her tide-water navigation, conducting sea vessels from the foot of her falls, and above them her fine canal to the mountains, through which lie the shortest routes from the eastern tides to the great rivers of the west and the south-west. ”

“ I speak of Richmond-Hill as being the head of the river it there growing very shallow, and dividing into two branches. The high rocky country which forms Broken Bay, is lost as you proceed up the Hawkesbury, had the banks of the river are there covered with timber: the soil is rich light mould; and judging from the little we saw of the country, I should suppose it good land to a very considerable extent. The other branches of fresh water are shoals, but probably run many miles further into the country than we could trace them in our boats. ”

“ This you can readily understand from daily experience at Riverside. Like the verandah there, the poop of the Congress here commands a wide-spread panorama of water, mountain, and valley, ever varying in its aspects of lights and shade, sunshine and clouds, tints and coloring, and tempting one to give too much time to mere admiration of the changing picture.
When the atmosphere is peculiarly brilliant, the mountains stand out with a nearness and strength of light that exposes to clear view the chisellings of their minutest features. ”

“ When one speaks of Riverside he means the whole settlement that is irrigated, and to live in Riverside may mean to live in town, or it may mean a suburban residence ten miles away. In the latter locality the benefits of the country are happily combined with the luxuries of city life. Street cars run from the center of the business part of town down to the end of the settlement. It is a cheap way to view the settlement to board one of these early cars. You can see as much as any one may care to see, but of course cannot stop and examine. The whole drive is one not to be matched anywhere else. ”

“ I was longing for the Plains again, for one more ride, reckless and free, across their broad stretches, for one more gorgeous sunset out on Red Range, one more soft, iridescent twilight purpling down to the evening darkness as I had seen it on "Rockport" all those years. How the real Rockport, the Massachusetts town, faded from me, and the sea, and the college halls, and city buildings. The steam and steel and brick and marble of an older civilization, all gave place to Nature's broad handiwork and the generous-hearted, capable, unprejudiced people of this new West. ”

“ All the merchants deal in bills of exchange on Europe.
“The falls of James River, which obstructed its navigation from the distance of seven miles above Richmond, heretofore imposed the necessity of employing land carriage for that space. At present a canal, running parallel with the course of the river for those seven miles, connects the communication by water, and opens a navigation which extends without interruption 200 miles above Richmond. I have seen one of the two mills at Richmond. It stands below the falls of the river, receives a great power of water, and turns six pair of stones. ”

“ Large boat-building yards, as at Kingston, occupy the foreground, and the warm cinnamons and ochres of newly-varnished boats are generally [195] to be seen, as well as the more crude and garishly painted craft. The islands are tree-covered, and are well placed in the stream. Yet one may note that, popular as Richmond is, it is not flooded in the summer time with such crowds of boating visitors as Hampton. There are more large craft about, and boating people do not care for that.
What remains of Richmond Palace must be sought below the bridge, for it will not be seen without a little effort. ”

“ We rode on the left bank of James river, and passed by a navigable canal, which is said to extend in land about eighty miles above Richmond, and appeared to have been constructed with great care; the wooden bridges were neatly constructed and solid; an aqueduct of two arches, which conducted the canal over a brook having high banks, was well built. About eight o’clock in the evening we reached Richmond, a town of about seventeen thousand inhabitants of both colours. To judge by the houses, Richmond must be a wealthy place. ”

“ Those who are content to leave all the surplusage at home, whether of frivolity or luggage, and honestly mean to enjoy the shore for itself, come where they may forget the world, the flesh, and money-getting. To this sort of life—a hint borrowed of English sea-side customs—Newport has led the way. At Oak Bluffs a city has sprung into existence on this plan, and the shores of New England are dotted with little red-roofed cottages. ”