Up the River Part 33

"He is the son of a distinguished ex-governor of one of the States, and the nephew of----"

"Precisely so; I know his uncle very well. I can do nothing for him.

And your two deckhands?" continued the planter.

"They are the sons of English gentlemen, over here on a vacation, and their fathers have each an income of over ten thousand pounds a-year,"

I added, quietly.

"Your engineer, whose skill and pluck carried us through the creva.s.se, is, I dare say, one of the sons of her Majesty, the Queen of England,"

added the pa.s.senger, laughing.

"On the contrary, he is a son of a Michigan farmer, now well to do in the world," I replied.

"Of course, he is a millionaire!"

"O, no, sir, only in comfortable circ.u.mstances. 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 a.s.sistant, 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 judged that he felt very grateful for the service the Sylvania had rendered to him and "his people," and that he was thinking up some way to reward her officers and crew for what they had done.

"The pilot is a Louisiana man, and says he was raised near St.

Charles," 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.

"A strange ship and a strange crew," added Colonel Hungerford. "Perhaps we shall find some way to get out of it."

I had just resolved not to a.s.sist him in his task, for it was a little humiliating to have my crew paid for what they had done, when Miss Blanche and Miss Margie came on the hurricane deck. They were already fast friends. The English girl began to pour out a volley of questions about the river and the steamers we saw, and I answered them as well as I could; but Colonel Hungerford was better acquainted with the scene, and he took the task upon himself of informing her, leaving Miss Blanche to ply me with other interrogatories.

I told her all about the steamer, her going south, our adventures in Florida, and our yachting on the Mississippi, which had thus far been a series of adventures. Then she wanted to know who and what my father was, and I told her all I had just related to her father.

"Then you will one day be Sir Alexander Garningham, and as a genuine republican, I shall be under the necessity of hating you, Captain Alick," said she, mirthfully.

"Then I promise never to allow myself to be called by that t.i.tle," I replied. "I have said as much to my father; and he does not like to be called by anything but his military t.i.tle, for he says he has earned that fighting against the enemies of his queen. But I am a democrat, and don't believe in any t.i.tles. Are you really a Republican, Miss Hungerford?"

"I am a republican, but I am also a Democrat."

"I see! and I am a democrat and also a Republican."

"I don't think it will be safe for us to talk politics. You may do that with father."

"I have told you my story, Miss Hungerford; and now it is no more than fair that you should tell me yours," I added.

"I shall be very happy to give you my whole history from my birth to the present day," replied the fair maiden, laughing. "I was born at St.

Charles, and lived there and in New Orleans until about a year ago, since which time we have resided most of the time in Baton Rouge."

"Then your home is not at St. Charles?"

"Oh, yes! Our home is there, but we have one at the capital of the state also," said the mischievous girl.

"I thought you were going to your uncle's in Baton Rouge to stay until the mansion was repaired."

"I haven't any uncle in Baton Rouge, or anywhere else," chuckled Miss Blanche.

"Your father certainly said he should stay at his brother's in Baton Rouge," I added, puzzled by the statement.

"That was just as we girls used to say we were 'going to grandmother's'

when we went to the seminary."

"Who is your father, Miss Hungerford?" I asked, repeating the question the planter had put to me.

"Colonel Hungerford," she answered, navely.

"Yes, I know; but what is he?"

"The Governor of Louisiana," replied Miss Blanche, with a merry laugh.

"The governor!" I exclaimed, appalled to think I had been talking so familiarly to the chief magistrate of the state.

"But he won't let any one call him governor when he is not attending to his official duties, if he can help it. He likes to be a plain citizen when he is off duty," continued the young lady. "We went down to stay a few days at the plantation."

Miss Margie's father called her, and thought it was too damp for her to be out after dark. We all went below, and the colonel said he must smoke his cigar. I conducted him to the pilot-house, where Owen and Miss Edith were spending the evening. My father was there also; and I took the occasion to introduce our distinguished guest to him again, with his t.i.tle in full.

"So you have found me out, Captain Alick," said his excellency, with a pleasant laugh, which did much to restore the equilibrium between us.

"That puss of mine has been telling family secrets, and you must promise not to tell anybody what you have discovered."

"No one not on board," I replied.

"Everybody else will know the secret, so that I shall gain nothing. But we will not quarrel about trifles."

Everybody on board was tired enough to retire early, and before ten o'clock we had the deck and pilot-house to ourselves. The watches continued the same as before. Washburn gave up his berth in our room to Billy Bell, as we learned to call him, for the captain and mate never had their watch below at the same time, and we could both occupy the same bed at different times. The river is a mile wide, and at the present high stage of the water, there was no difficulty in steering, under the instructions of the pilot.

We had a sort of panorama, or diagram of the river, which I had obtained in New Orleans, arranged on the s.p.a.ce between the windows of the pilot-house, so that we could tell where we were at all times. Ben Bowman had put the chart on rollers, and it could be wound up from one end to the other. The only things that were likely to bother us were the bayous and cut-offs; and the pilot was at hand at any moment he might be needed.

We pa.s.sed no place of importance during the night; and at five o'clock in the morning we were at Donaldsonville. We made fast to the levee, and as we were in no hurry, I did not call any of the pa.s.sengers. I told Gopher and Cobbington who the planter we had rescued was, that they might have things in proper condition at the breakfast-table. I inquired what boats had stopped at the place, and learned that the Queen of the South had left two hours before. This showed that her speed did not exceed that of our little fleet.

I asked if any pa.s.sengers had landed, and was informed that several had done so. I thought I would visit the hotels, and see if Cornwood and Nick were at any one of them. I was about to leave the steamer when the governor came out of the cabin. He insisted that I should not leave the vessel, as the rascals might see me. They could not escape from the place except by boat. He went ash.o.r.e himself, after I had given him a full description of the fugitives.

He returned in a short time, and said a report would come down in the course of an hour or two. Our party had a merry time at breakfast, and the meal was as elaborate as the resources of the New Orleans market and the skill of Gopher could make it. Colonel Hungerford, as he insisted that we should call him, was in the highest spirits. Before the meal was over, a gentleman came on board and desired to see the governor. He was the marshal of the city. No such pa.s.sengers as had been described to him had landed. He had telegraphed to Baton Rouge for the police to search the steamer on her arrival.

Nothing more could be done, and we started up the river again. We arrived at the capital of the state at four in the afternoon. We spent the day in viewing the wonders of the mighty river, the waters of which were almost up to the top of the levees. The governor said that the country was inundated for thirty miles, though we could see but little water except what was between the fringe of the trees on the banks of the stream.

It takes the waters about a month to travel from the melting snows on the north and north-west to the Gulf. At the mouth of the Missouri the flood rises about twenty-five feet; below the Ohio the rise is sometimes more than fifty feet, while at New Orleans it seldom exceeds twelve feet. The greater height, caused by the addition of the waters of the Ohio to the flood, is reduced in Louisiana by the pa.s.sage of much of the flow through the Atchafalaya, La Fourche, and other bayous, into the Gulf of Mexico.