Up the River; or, Yachting on the Mississippi

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  A DISTINGUISHED PASSENGER.

  The planter went on deck with me after supper, and we paid our firstvisit to the Islander, where we were courteously received by theShepards. On our return we went on the hurricane deck to take a look atthe shores, as well as we could see them, for it was almost dark bythis time.

  "Who is your father, Captain Garningham, or, if you will forgive me forit, Captain Alick?" asked the Colonel.

  "Major Garningham, formerly of the British army," I replied.

  "Yes, yes, I know all that; but what is he?" persisted my newpassenger.

  "I don't know that he is anything in particular just now," I answered,perplexed by the earnestness of Colonel Hungerford. "He is certainlyneither a soldier nor a sailor, a tinker nor a tailor."

  "Is he an American?"

  "No, sir; he was born in England. His father was Sir AlexanderGarningham, and he is Sir Bent Garningham, Baronet, whose estates andlast residence were at Shalford, Essex."

  "I see," said the passenger. "Then he is a baronet."

  "He is; but he insists upon dropping his title in this country."

  "In my intercourse with him I shall take pleasure in dropping it,"added the planter. "But, Captain Alick,--excuse me if I am toofamiliar."

  "I am seldom called by any other name, and I have not the slightestobjection to the name," I interposed.

  "As I was going to say, Captain Alick, I am not a little embarrassed bythe situation. You and your associates have rendered me an importantservice, and it would afford me very great satisfaction to acknowledgeit. You are the captain of the steamer, and your father is a verywealthy man."

  "He is, sir," I replied; for I wished to leave no doubt in his mind onthis subject.

  "Your mate was very efficient. What is he?"

  "He is the son of a distinguished ex-governor of one of the States, andthe 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, andtheir 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 crevasse,is, I dare say, one of the sons of her Majesty, the Queen of England,"added the passenger, laughing.

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

  "Of course, he is a millionaire!"

  "O, no, sir, only in comfortable circumstances. He has known whatpoverty is, but he has enough to live on now."

  "By the way, Captain Alick, do you happen to have anybody on board whois not 'well to do,' as you call it?" asked the planter.

  "Ben Bowman, the assistant, who was in the boat that brought off yourfamily to the steamer, has been a lake sailor, cook and fireman all hislife; 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 andbravest men I ever saw."

  I also told him the story of Cobbington and the two firemen. I judgedthat he felt very grateful for the service the Sylvania had rendered tohim and "his people," and that he was thinking up some way to rewardher 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 ColonelHungerford. "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 aninsult by some of them."

  "It would be taken as it was intended, not as an insult; but it wouldbe 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 wouldbe willing to be paid for an act of common humanity," I replied.

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

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

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

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

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

  "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 thatwith father."

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

  "I shall be very happy to give you my whole history from my birth tothe 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 thestate also," said the mischievous girl.

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

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

  "Your father certainly said he should stay at his brother's in BatonRouge," 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 questionthe planter had put to me.

  "Colonel Hungerford," she answered, naively.

  "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 sofamiliarly to the chief magistrate of the state.

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

  Miss Margie's father called her, and thought it was too damp for her tobe out after dark. We all went below, and the colonel said he mustsmoke his cigar. I conducted him to the pilot-house, where Owen andMiss Edith were spending the evening. My father was there also; and Itook the occasion to introduce our distinguished guest to him again,with his title in full.

  "So you have found me out, Captain Alick," said his excellency, with apleasant laugh, which did much to restore the equilibrium between us."That puss of mine has been telling family secrets, and you mustpromise 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. Butwe will not quarrel about trifles."

  Everybody on board was tired enough to retire early, and before teno'clock we had the deck and pilot-house to ourselves. The watchescontinued the same as before. Washburn gave up his berth in our roo
m toBilly Bell, as we learned to call him, for the captain and mate neverhad their watch below at the same time, and we could both occupy thesame bed at different times. The river is a mile wide, and at thepresent 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 hadobtained in New Orleans, arranged on the space between the windows ofthe pilot-house, so that we could tell where we were at all times. BenBowman had put the chart on rollers, and it could be wound up from oneend to the other. The only things that were likely to bother us werethe bayous and cut-offs; and the pilot was at hand at any moment hemight be needed.

  We passed no place of importance during the night; and at five o'clockin 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 passengers. Itold Gopher and Cobbington who the planter we had rescued was, thatthey might have things in proper condition at the breakfast-table. Iinquired what boats had stopped at the place, and learned that theQueen of the South had left two hours before. This showed that herspeed did not exceed that of our little fleet.

  I asked if any passengers had landed, and was informed that several haddone so. I thought I would visit the hotels, and see if Cornwood andNick were at any one of them. I was about to leave the steamer when thegovernor came out of the cabin. He insisted that I should not leave thevessel, as the rascals might see me. They could not escape from theplace except by boat. He went ashore himself, after I had given him afull description of the fugitives.

  He returned in a short time, and said a report would come down in thecourse of an hour or two. Our party had a merry time at breakfast, andthe meal was as elaborate as the resources of the New Orleans marketand the skill of Gopher could make it. Colonel Hungerford, as heinsisted that we should call him, was in the highest spirits. Beforethe meal was over, a gentleman came on board and desired to see thegovernor. He was the marshal of the city. No such passengers as hadbeen described to him had landed. He had telegraphed to Baton Rouge forthe police to search the steamer on her arrival.

  Nothing more could be done, and we started up the river again. Wearrived at the capital of the state at four in the afternoon. We spentthe day in viewing the wonders of the mighty river, the waters of whichwere almost up to the top of the levees. The governor said that thecountry was inundated for thirty miles, though we could see but littlewater except what was between the fringe of the trees on the banks ofthe stream.

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

  On our arrival at the capital, we found that the Queen had not beensearched, for telegraphic communication with points below had been cutoff by the flood.