The Last of the Flatboats

by George Cary Eggleston

  CHAPTER XXIII

  THROUGH THE CREVASSE

  As the daylight increased, it became possible to see a little furtherinto the fog, and there was now a little air stirring in fitful fashion,which tore holes in the thick bank of mist, but only for a moment or twoat a time.

  Through one of these brief openings Phil presently made a startlingdiscovery. The flatboat was running at an exceedingly rapid rate along anearly overflowed levee on the Mississippi side of the river, and withinfifty or sixty feet of it. The crest of the embankment rose only a fewinches above the level of the water, and the current was swifter thanany that Phil had seen since the flatboat had left the falls of the Ohiobehind. What it all meant Phil did not know, nor could he imagine how orwhy the boat had drifted out of the main current to the shore in thisway; but he felt that there was danger there, and calling his comradesto the sweeps, made every effort to regain the outer reaches of theriver. But try as they might at the oars, the boat persisted in huggingthe bank, while her speed seemed momentarily to increase. Men on thelevee were calling to Phil, but so excitedly that he could not make outtheir meaning.

  Presently there was another little break in the fog-bank, and Phil sawwhat was the matter. Just ahead of the boat the levee had given way, andthe river was plunging like a Niagara through a crevasse, already two orthree hundred feet wide, and growing wider with every second. The boathad been caught in the current leading to the crevasse, and was nowbeing drawn into the swirling rapid.

  Phil had hardly time to realize the situation before the boat beganwhirling about madly, and a moment later she plunged head foremostthrough the crevasse and out into the seething waste of waters that wasnow overspreading fields and woodlands beyond. As the land here lay muchlower than the surface of the river, and as the country had not yet hadtime, since the levee broke, to fill to anything like the river level,passing through the crevasse was like plunging over a cataract, andafter passing through, the boat was carried forward at a truly fearfulspeed across the fields. Fortunately, she encountered no obstacle. Hadshe struck anything in that mad career, the box-like craft would havebeen broken instantly to bits.

  As she receded from the river she left the worst of the fog behind. Itwas possible now to see for fifty or a hundred yards in every direction,and what the boys saw was appalling. There were horses and cattlefrantically struggling in the water, only to sink beneath it at last,for even the strongest horse could not swim far in a surging torrentlike that.

  There were cross currents of great violence too, and eddies andwhirlpools created by the seemingly angry efforts of the water to findthe lowest levels and occupy them. These erratic currents tookpossession of the boat, and whirled her hither and thither, until hercrew lost all sense of direction and distance, and everything elseexcept the necessity of clinging to the sweep bars to avoid beingspilled overboard by the sudden careenings of the boat to one side andthen the other, and her plungings as the water swept her onward.

  Once they saw a human being struggling in the seething water. A momentlater he was gone, but whether drowned or carried away to some point ofrescue there was no way of finding out.

  Once they swept past a stately dwelling-house, submerged except asto its roof; what fate had befallen its inhabitants they could neverknow, for the next instant a strong current caught the boat, and droveit, side first, straight toward a great barn that had been carried offits foundations and was now afloat. For a moment the boys expectedto be driven against the barn with appalling violence--an event thatwould have meant immediate destruction. But the currents changed in aninstant, so that the barn was carried in one direction and the boatin another. As the two drifted apart there were despairing cries fromthe floating building, which had been badly crushed in collision withsomething, and was in danger of falling to pieces at any moment. Theboys looked, and caught a glimpse of a number of negro children clingingto the wrecked structure. An instant later the barn disappeared in whatwas left of the fog.

  The boys were sickened by what they had seen and by what they felt mustbe its sequel. It is a fearful thing to have to stand still, doingnothing, when human creatures are being carried to a cruel death beforeone's eyes. But as yet the boys could do nothing except cling to theirown boat. Two of their skiffs had been carried away, and it would havebeen certain death to make even an effort to launch any of the others.

  They were swept on and on for miles. They had passed beyond thecultivated lands and out into a forest. Here the danger was greater thanever, as a single collision with a tree would have made an end ofeverything. But the turbulence of the water was slowly subsiding atlast, and the boat floated, still unsteadily indeed, but with lessviolent plungings than before. It was possible now, by exercising greatcare, to move about a little, and Phil quickly seized the opportunity toget some things done that he deemed necessary.

  "Irv, you and Constant go to the starboard pump," he said hurriedly; "Edand Will to the other; the boat must be badly wrenched, and she'll fillwith water. Pump like maniacs."

  The boys went to their posts, and managed to work the pumps, though withdifficulty. Water came freely in answer to their efforts, showing thatPhil's conjecture was correct.

  Phil himself climbed down the little companionway, receiving somebruises and one rather ugly cut on the head as he did so, for the suddentossings of the boat still continued, though less violently than before.He found matters below in rather better condition than he had feared.The space under the flooring--or the bilge, as it is called--was full,and there was a good deal of water washing about above the floor. Theboat was too unsteady for Phil to estimate the depth of the leakage,or to discover the rapidity with which the water was coming in. But hehoped that diligent pumping might yet save the craft.

  Having hurriedly made his inspection, he proceeded next to fill a basketwith food, taking first that which could be eaten without furthercooking,--canned goods, dried beef, and the like,--and, returning to thedeck, deposited his stores in one of the skiffs. He repeated thisseveral times, till he had fully provisioned two of the boats. It didnot require many minutes to do this, and they were minutes that he couldnot use to better advantage in any other way, for there was still nopossibility of directing the flatboat's course by using the oars, andPhil deemed it wise thus to provision the skiffs, so that if the boatshould sink, he and his comrades, or some of them, at least, might havea chance of escape in them without starving before reaching dry landsomewhere.

  The boat had passed safely through the first stretch of timber lands,and was now floating over a broad reach of open plantation country. Butthe fog was gone now, and, as there was woodland in sight a few milesfarther on in the direction in which the current was carrying them, Philand his friends felt that their respite was likely to be a brief one.

  He relieved Ed at the pump, and ordered him to rest. But the boyprotested that he was still fresh, and would have worked on if Phil hadpermitted. Even in this time of danger and hurried effort, Phil couldnot help thinking how greatly his brother's health and strength hadimproved.

  "Ed's getting well," he said to Irv, as the two tugged at the pump.

  "Yes," rejoined the tall fellow; "a month ago he couldn't have done suchwork as this to save his life."

  "And twenty-four hours of such a fog as we've been through would havekilled him to a certainty. Now he doesn't even cough."

  A little later, as the boat began floating more steadily, Phil calledout:--

  "Go below, Ed, and see how much water is in the hold."

  Ed's report convinced the young captain that the leaks were at least notgaining upon the pumps. An hour later, the boat having become quitesteady again, Phil found that the pumps were gaining on the water, whichby that time did not rise above the flooring.

  The boat had by this time passed again into a forest, and, while thecurrent was now a steady one, it was still very strong. Phil consideredthe situation carefully, and decided upon his course of action.

  "Take a line in a skiff, Will, and pass
it once around a tree, then runoff with the end of it and hold on, letting it slip as slowly aspossible on the tree till the boat comes to a halt. Then make fast."

  To the others he explained:--

  "We must check her speed gradually. In such a current as this to stopher suddenly would sling her against some tree like a whip cracker."

  Then he turned to Irv, and said, "Take another line, and do the samething on another tree."

  By the time that Irv pushed off in his skiff Will had got his line inplace around a tree, and had rowed away fifty yards with the end of it.As it tightened, the rope began slipping on the tree, dragging the skifftoward it. Phil called to Will:--

  "Don't get hurt, Will! Let go your rope when you are dragged nearly tothe tree."

  Will did so just in time to save himself from an ugly collision, but hisefforts had considerably checked the flatboat's speed, and by the timehe let go the line Irv had the other rope around a tree and wasrepeating the operation. This second line brought the boat to astandstill, and under Phil's direction she was securely made fast bothbow and stern, so that she could not swing about in any direction.