It Was
Evening - Dim Twilight - The Captain's Hat Was Perched Upon The Big Bell,
And I Supposed The Intellectual End Of The Captain Was In It, But Such
Was Not The Case.
The captain was very strict; therefore I knew better
than to touch a bell without orders.
My duty was to hold the boat
steadily on her calamitous course, and leave the consequences to take
care of themselves - which I did. So we went plowing past the sterns of
steamboats and getting closer and closer - the crash was bound to come
very soon - and still that hat never budged; for alas, the captain was
napping in the texas.... Things were becoming exceedingly nervous and
uncomfortable. It seemed to me that the captain was not going to appear
in time to see the entertainment. But he did. Just as we were walking
into the stern of a steamboat, he stepped out on deck, and said, with
heavenly serenity, 'Set her back on both' - which I did; but a trifle
late, however, for the next moment we went smashing through that other
boat's flimsy outer works with a most prodigious racket. The captain
never said a word to me about the matter afterwards, except to remark
that I had done right, and that he hoped I would not hesitate to act in
the same way again in like circumstances.
One of the pilots whom I had known when I was on the river had died a
very honorable death. His boat caught fire, and he remained at the
wheel until he got her safe to land.
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