Part 5 (1/2)
The captain was still more rea.s.suring.
”Well, we're lucky that we've brought her this near sh.o.r.e.” He wiped his forehead with a rather unsteady hand. ”Ten minutes ago my heart was in my mouth. I thought sure she'd sink in mid-stream. You're perfectly safe now, Miss Hallowell. Better go to your state-room and get some sleep.”
”Yes, the _Lucy_ will rest still as a church now,” said the young fireman, with a heartening chuckle. ”She's hard aground. Though that's no thanks to our pilot. I say, McCloskey! Where were you trying to steer us? Into a lumber-yard?”
Down the hurricane deck came Mr. McCloskey, white beard waving, eyes twinkling, jaunty and serene as a May morning.
”This little incident is no fault of me steerin',” said he, with delightful unconcern. ”'Twas the carelessness of thim raftsmen, letting their logs get away, no less. Sure, captain dear, I'd sue them for damages.”
”I'll be more likely to sue you for running full speed after dark, against orders,” muttered the captain. Then he laughed. ”I ought to put you in irons. But the man doesn't live that can hold a grudge against you, McCloskey. Take hold now, boys. Bank your fires, then we'll patch her up as best we can for the night.”
Marian went to her state-room, but not to sleep. There was little sleep that night for anybody. In spite of protecting sand-bar and anchor, the boat careened wretchedly. Strange groans and shrieks rose from the engine-room; hurrying footsteps came and went through the narrow gangway. And the rush of the swift current, the b.u.mp of ice-cakes, and the sweep of floating brush past her window kept her aroused and trembling. It seemed years before the tiny window grew gray with dawn.
The captain's voice reached her ears.
”No, the _Lucy_ isn't damaged as badly as we thought. But it will take us two days of bulkheading before we dare go on. You'd best take your sister up to the camp in my launch. It is at your service.”
”That's good news!” sighed Marian. ”Anything to escape from this sinking s.h.i.+p. I don't like playing Casabianca one bit.”
She swallowed the hot coffee and corn bread which the captain's boy brought to her door, and hurried on deck. Their embarking was highly exciting; for poor Empress, having been coaxed with difficulty from the eagle's roost, where she had spent the night, promptly lost her head at sight of the water and fled shrieking to the pilot-house. Rod, the pilot, the engineer, and the young fireman together hunted her from her fastness, and, after a wild chase, returned scratched but victorious, with Empress raging in a gunny-sack.
”Best keep her there till you're ash.o.r.e, miss,” laughed the young fireman. And Marian took the precaution to tie the mouth of the sack with double knots.
Up-stream puffed the launch, past Grafton Landing into the narrower but clearer current of the Illinois River. Now the black mud banks rose into bluffs and wooded hills. Here and there a marshy backwater showed a faint tinge of early green. But there was not a village in sight; not even a solitary farm-house. Hour after hour they steamed slowly up the dull river, beneath the gray mist-hooded sky. Marian looked resentfully at her brother. He had unrolled a portfolio of blue-prints, and sat over them, as absorbed and as indifferent to the cold and discomfort as if he were sitting at his own desk at home.
”He's so rapt over his miserable old contract that he is not giving me one thought,” Marian sulked to herself. ”I just wish that I had put my foot down, and had refused, flatly, to come with him. If I had dreamed the West would be like this!”
Presently the launch whistled. An answering whistle came from up-stream. Rod dropped his blue-prints with a shout.
”Look, Marian. There is the contract camp, the whole plant! See, straight ahead!”
Marian stared. There was not a house to be seen; but high on the right bank stood an army of tents; and below, moored close to sh.o.r.e, lay a whole village of boats, strung in long double file. Midway stood a gigantic steam-dredge. Its vivid red-painted machinery reared high on its black, oil-soaked platform, its strange sprawling crane spread its iron wings, like the pinions of some vast ungainly bird of prey.
Around it were ranked several flat-boats, a trim steam-launch, a whole regiment of house-boats. Rod's eyes sparkled. He drew a sharp breath.
”This is my job, all right. Isn't it sumptuous, Marian! Will you look at that dredge! Isn't she magnificent? So is the whole outfit, barges and all. That's worth walking from Boston to see!”
”Is it?” Marian choked back the vicious little retort. ”Well, I'd be willing to walk back to Boston--to get away!”
”Ahoy the launch! This is Mr. Hallowell?” A tall, haggard man in oilskins and hip boots came striding across the dredge. ”Glad to see you, sir. We hoped that you would arrive to-day. I am Carlisle, the engineer in charge.” He leaned over the rail to give Rod's hand a friendly grip. He spoke with a dry, formal manner, yet his lean yellow face was full of kindly interest. ”And this is your sister, Miss Hallowell? You have come to a rather forlorn summer resort, Miss Hallowell, but we will do our best to make it endurable for you.”
Roderick, red with pleasure, stood up to greet his new chief. Behind Mr. Carlisle towered a broad-shouldered, heavily built young man, in very muddy khaki and leggings, his blond wind-burnt face s.h.i.+ning with a hospitable grin.
”This is our Mr. Burford, Mr. Hallowell. At present, you and he will superintend the night s.h.i.+fts.”
Mr. Burford gave Roderick a hearty handshake, and beamed upon Marian.
”Mr. Burford will be particularly glad to welcome you, Miss Hallowell, on Mrs. Burford's account. She has been living here on the work for several months, the only lady who has graced our camp until to-day. I know that she will be eager for your companions.h.i.+p.”
Mr. Burford grew fairly radiant.
”Sally Lou will be wild when she learns that you are really here,” he declared eagerly, in his deep southern drawl. ”She has talked of your coming every minute since the news came that we might hope to have you with us. You will find us a mighty primitive set, but you and Sally Lou can have plenty of fun together, I know. I'd like to bring her and the kiddies to see you as soon as you feel equal to receiving us.”
”Thank you very much.” Marian tried her best to be gracious and friendly. But she was so tired that young Burford's broad smiling face seemed to blur and waver through a thickening mist. ”I'm sure I shall be charmed----”