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Read Ebook: Plane and Plank; or The Mishaps of a Mechanic by Optic Oliver Kilburn Samuel Smith Engraver Herrick Henry Walker Illustrator
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Ebook has 1515 lines and 45926 words, and 31 pages
verybody was hurrying as though his life depended upon his celerity.
"I shall believe they were all drowned if I don't hear something from them soon," I said.
"That is not at all probable, and I shall not believe anything of that kind till I have positive evidence of it. It is just as easy, and a great deal more pleasant, to think everything is right with them, instead of wrong, until we get the facts."
"You haven't the same interest in the matter that I have, captain."
"That may be; but I don't believe in making myself miserable about anything on mere guesswork. I think it is all right with your friends. But I must say, if you don't hear from them to-day, we must make different arrangements for you, for my owners intend to send the Fawn down to New Orleans with a freight which we take on at Alton. We shall go up there to-morrow."
"What will you do with Mr. Gracewood's goods and baggage?"
"Send them to the storehouse. There!" exclaimed he, suddenly, as he pointed to a man who was wheeling a box on shore. "That is one of the hands who went with the Gracewoods in the small boat. And there is the other. We shall soon know what has become of your friends."
The fact that these two men had come down in the Daylight was hopeful, at least, and Captain Davis and I hastened down to question them; but the master of the steamer would not release them from their work, and we were obliged to wait till the hurry was over before we obtained the coveted information.
IN WHICH PHIL HEARS FROM HIS FRIENDS, AND VISITS MR. CLINCH.
The two deck hands, who had worked their passage down on the Daylight, were relieved from duty as soon as the baggage of the passengers had been put on shore. They followed Captain Davis to the Fawn, where we drew from them all the information they had in regard to the Gracewoods.
"Where are the passengers who went with you?" was the first question which the captain asked, when we started up the levee.
"At Delaware City, sir. The lady was sick, and not quite able to come down in the Daylight," replied one of the men.
"Sick!" I exclaimed.
"Sick; but not very bad, I believe. She caught a cold coming down the river," answered the spokesman.
"Where is she?"
"At a house in the town; I don't know whose it is."
"Was the young lady sick?" I inquired, anxiously.
"No; she was first rate."
"But how came you at Delaware City?"
"We couldn't help going there, Captain Davis," replied the spokesman of the two, who was evidently embarrassed.
"You couldn't help it?" said the captain.
"No, sir; we could not. The current was very swift."
"Explain yourself, man. I didn't suppose I had sent a couple of hands in the boat with those passengers who couldn't handle a pair of oars."
"I didn't think so, either. We did as well as any men could; the gentleman will tell you so when you see him."
"Well, what did you do? What was the matter?" demanded the captain, impatiently.
"There was a line stretched across that cut-off. I suppose the man that owned the island used it to haul his bateau across by; for it was a seven-mile current in the place."
"It was all of that," added the other man, by way of fortifying the statement of his companion.
"Go on," said the captain.
"Well, sir, the boat ran on to that line, and it carried her bow clear out of water," continued the spokesman. "In fact, the water came in over the stern, and wet the lady who sat farthest aft. I sprang forward to trim the boat, for I did not know what the matter was then. In my hurry I lost my oar overboard. I couldn't help it, for I was thinking only of saving the ladies from drowning, for both of them were screaming with fright."
"That's so," said the other man. "They were scared out of their wits."
"When I went to the bow, I couldn't tell what the matter was. I took the other oar, and sounded with it, to see if we were aground, and then I felt the rope. It was caught just under the bow, where there was a break in the iron shoe. I put the end of the oar on the line, and crowded it down so that the boat could slide over it. But the blade of the oar was split, and the line was jammed into the crack. The boat went over, and when I tried to pull in the oar, it was fast. The current took the boat, and gave me such a jerk that I had to let go, or go overboard."
"And you left the oar fast to the line?"
"Yes, sir; I couldn't help it."
"Perhaps you couldn't; but go on."
"We went on in spite of ourselves. The current carried the boat through the cut-off into the river. I tried to pull up one of the thwarts, to use as a paddle, but we couldn't start them. It was very dark and foggy, as you know, captain, and we couldn't see where we were. We watched our chances as well as we could, and tried to get hold of something."
"Why didn't you sing out?"
"That's what we did. But the current carried us over the other side of the river from Leavenworth, and I suppose no one heard us; at any rate no one came to help us. The poor lady who had got wet in the cut-off was shivering with cold, and we tried everything we could think of to stop the boat; but still we kept going down stream, whirling round now and then."
"Well, how did you stop her at last?" demanded the captain, finding that the spokesman was disposed to be rather diffuse in his narrative.
"After we had been going about two hours--Wasn't it two hours, Dick?"
"It wasn't less than that."
"No matter how long it was. Go on," interposed the captain, who did not care to listen to a discussion on this point.
"Well, sir, we almost run into a man who was crossing the river in a bateau, with a lot of groceries. We shouted to him, and he run his boat alongside of us. We made fast to him, and he pulled us to the shore. He told us we were on the other side of the river from Delaware City. Mr. Gracewood made a trade with him to take us over to that place, and I helped him row over, towing the boat astern of us. I reckon the gentleman paid him well for his trouble."
"Where did they go then?" asked the captain.
"They went to a house in the town. The lady was all used up, and had chills and fever that night; but they thought she was better in the morning. They sent up to Leavenworth for a doctor."
"Then she was very sick," I added.
"No; the doctor didn't say so. He thought she would be out in a week."
"Where did you go then?" asked the captain.
"We found a place to sleep on the levee. Mr. Gracewood gave us five dollars apiece, and--"
"And you got drunk," suggested the captain.
"No, sir; we did not. I won't say we didn't take something, for we were cold."
"Why didn't you go up to Leavenworth, where you knew the boat would be in the morning?"
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