"I am listening," blurted out Wilson. "Say, man, if I had your nerve, and what I know about poker on this river, I"d own the country."
"But listen--"
"No. I just want to set here and admire you a few minutes before I tell the deck-hands to throw you into the river."
"Captain," said Eddring, pulling up his chair, "after I"m done with what I have on hand, you may throw me into the river, if you like. I don"t think it will make much difference. But now, don"t you think you"re running this boat. The real commander of this boat, Captain Wilson, is the supreme law of this land--that law under which the gentlemen of the South are bound at any time and all times to give courtesy and comfort to a woman when she needs them." Wilson looked at him mutely, the muscles on his jaw straining up again. He jerked his head toward the aft state-rooms with a gesture of query. Eddring nodded.
"She"s a beauty, too," said Wilson, sighing. "Reminds me of my own wife, the way she used to look--the way my own girl looks now.
You"re a lucky man."
"Captain Wilson, I don"t figure in this thing personally at all. But now I"ll tell you the whole story, and let you decide for yourself."
He went on speaking slowly, evenly, gently, impersonally, telling what had been the case of Miss Lady upon the very night preceding; telling how great was the stress of events at the head of the Delta, very far away, and impossible now of access. He made no offer of pecuniary reward, but stated his case simply and asked his auditor to put himself in his own position.
As he spoke, the chair of Captain Wilson began to edge toward his own. In the eyes of the old steamboat man there came a glisten strange to them. His hand unconsciously reached out. "Stop!" he roared. "Give me your hand. The boat is yours! Of _course_ she is."
Eddring was silent, for there came a lump in his own throat, as he felt Wilson"s a.s.suring hand clap him on the shoulder.
"You"re what _I_ call a thoroughbred," said the latter. "Man, can you play poker? You certainly can make a pair of deuces look like a full house. Get up an" shake hands. You"re right. The boat"s yours. Uncle Sam can wait--the whole d.a.m.ned North American continent can wait--"
Eddring rose and took him by the hand.
"Well, that"s my case, Captain," said he. "We"ve both one errand, and that"s to protect the white people of the Delta; and to get hold of the truth which will put this girl where she belongs. Public necessity is the greatest of all laws; unless it be the unwritten and general law which I know you"ve respected all your life."
"Well, man--" Wilson broke into an uproarious laugh, "you certainly are the yellow flower of the forest. It"s mighty seldom I"ve laid down to a line of talk, but I ain"t ashamed to do it now. Here"s the boat, and we"ll run her express, as soon as we can get rid of the mail and pa.s.sengers up above. Any river-man knows what levee-cutting means, and what it means if the n.i.g.g.e.rs get out of hand. I"ll take you in--why, I know Cal Blount myself--and I couldn"t look my own daughter in the face again if I didn"t do just what you say."
CHAPTER XI
THE WILDERNESS
Between the cities of Memphis and Vicksburg there lies a great battle-ground. It has known encounters between red men and red, between red men and white, and has known the shock of arms when white has been arrayed against white. Most of all, it is a battle-ground yet to be, whereon perhaps there shall be waged a conflict between white and black. Always, too, it will be the battle-ground between civilized man and the relapsing savagery of nature; between man and the wilderness; between the white race and great Messasebe, Father of the Waters.
Father Messasebe is, after all, but weakly bound to the ways of commerce. His voice is always for the wild; his wish is for the ancient ways. Here in the far wild country--a part of which even to- day is a more trackless and a less known wilderness than any in the heart of our remotest mountain ranges--the great river reaches out a thousand clutching fingers for his own, claiming it as a home even now for his savagery; asking it, if not for a wild red race, then for the black one which may one day prove its savage successor.
Here is the reekingly rich soil of the great Delta--that name not meaning the wide marshes of the actual mouth of the Mississippi, but the fat acc.u.mulated soil of centuries caged in by that long, incurving dam of the hills which, far inland from the current of the swift water-way, begins at the head of the vast body of tangled Yazoo lands, and drops down, pinching in at the base of a great "V," where the bluffs converge near Vicksburg. These hills spreading out on either side hold in their wide arms an empire, the richest and most fertile land, though perhaps still the least known, of any to be found in this America. They hold also a population little understood; a people bold, undaunted, American. These arms of the hills hold also a vast problem; the problem of black and white, less settled to-day than it has been at any time these one hundred years.
Here in this land, more than two hundred miles in length and half as much in width, Father Messasebe extends his fingers. Sluggish bayous run across the waste as their fancy leads them, their current depending upon the whim of the river, or perhaps on that of the streams from the hill country which const.i.tutes the great dam of the Delta. The crooked Yazoo is marked on the maps as crossing almost from the north to the south of this wilderness; yet the Yazoo can scarce claim a bed all its own, for it pa.s.ses through many ancient bayous, and is fed by many of the old "hatchees" which the canoes of the red man explored long ago. Upon one side of the Yazoo comes the Sunflower, deep cut into the fathomless loam; yet sometimes the Sunflower is reversed in current; and the Sunflower and the Hushpuckenay may be one stream or two; and the latter may run as the levees say, or as the floods dictate; while above them both, at the head of the Yazoo, are bayous and "pa.s.ses" which make a water-way once continuous from the great river into its lesser parallel.
Messasebe sometimes flows peacefully through channels marked out for him by man, yet this is but his whim; for a thousand years are as naught to the Maker of Messasebe, and Messasebe therefore may bide his time. But when the sport of the floods begins, and the currents are reversed, and the streams hurry down with cross tributes from the hills, and the wild waters have forgotten all control--then is when Messasebe the Mighty grasps and clutches with his wide fingers, and exults as of old in his wilderness!
Here in the heart of the Delta lay the Big House, a dot on the face of things; having, however, its problems, personal or impersonal, small and great. As John Eddring knew, there was trouble at the Big House now. The hours pa.s.sed slowly enough on the journey up the turbulent flood of the great river. The railways were in places gone for miles. All that Eddring could do was to get by steamer as nearly as possible opposite the Big House plantation, and then win through by small boat as best he might, across the overflow.
Even the most diligent makers of maps can not keep pace with Father Messasebe. Along its southernmost course there are thousands of arms and lakes and bayous where for a time the river ran until it tired, and sought new scenes, new ways across the forests and cane-brakes.
The charts may show you that this river is the boundary of a certain state; but who shall tell where or what that boundary may be? Who can trace the _filum aquae_ of the most erratic and arrogant river in all the world? The river is not now as it was ten years ago, nor the same to-day as it will be ten years hence. Channel and cut-off and island and main current go on in their juggling, and will do so when generations shall have been forgotten. When the floods are out, and when Messasebe is at his ancient game, there is no channel; there is no map, no chart; there is a wilderness.
It was across this watery wilderness that John Eddring and his ally, Captain Wilson, urged their way on the wildest journey ever known even in the mad times of this great river. In a half-delirium which set aside all reason and all reckoning, the bow of the st.u.r.dy boat was driven against the down-coming seas, opening up one after another of the channel marks; parting one after another of the ma.s.sed groups of shadows; churning round bend after bend, faster and faster, day and night, until, far up in the welter of the new waters, she forsook all charts and guides in the fury of her quest, and steamed forward in her own fashion, black smoke belching continually from her flues, and the pant of her fuming engine bidding fair to tear out the inadequate covering of her sides. Pilot and captain let go all track of the miles behind, looking only at those ahead. They got contempt for ordinary dangers. So, pushing her way on, against and across currents, shaving the bends, essaying every cut-off, the boat in her strange race hurried on, running express for the purposes of justice, and in the cause of the permanency of society.
At last they were far up the river, above the mouth of the Arkansas, and opposite the great swamps which lie between the Arkansas and the White upon the western side; so that now the greater portion of the journey was well-nigh done. Eddring and Wilson, both haggard with fatigue, stood on the bridge together and gazed out over the watery prospect.
"This overflow means millions in losses to the planters in the Delta," said Wilson. Eddring nodded.
"If levee-cutters started this flood up in Tullahoma, and the planters ever get hold of them, I shouldn"t think it would be exactly healthy," added Wilson. "This means everything under water, clean to the Yazoo. Looks like those fellows in there had had their share of trouble lately."
"Nothing but trouble for four or five years," said Eddring. "Black politics."
"Yes," said Wilson, sighing, "when Mr. n.i.g.g.e.r gets the notion that he"d like to be school superintendent or county treasurer, or something of the kind, he"s goin" to be mighty willin" to lay down the hoe. I even think he would be willin", if he was asked, to let the white man do the hoein", and him do the governin"." Eddring made no answer, but gazed steadily out over the racing seas of tawny water.
"At any rate, we"ll soon be there now," said he at length. "How can I pay you, Captain Wilson? How can I thank you?"
"Well," said Wilson, thoughtfully, "you might give me your note, the way a friend of mine, Judge Osborn, down at New Orleans, did once.
That was in the war, you know, and Judge Osborn was a Confederate colonel. He had to take pa.s.sage on a river boat, and they got hung up somewhere, and he and the Cap"n played a little poker for several days. Colonel couldn"t win nohow. At the end of the week he owed the Cap"n four hundred thousand dollars--Confederate money, of course. At last says he, "See here, Cap"n, now I owe you this four hundred thousand dollars, and I can"t pay you by about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Now, what am I going to go? Shall I give you my note?" The Cap"n he looks at the Colonel, and says he, "Ain"t I treated you all right, Colonel? Ain"t I fed you good enough? Did I ever do you any harm?" The Colonel "lowed he had been treated all right. "Well, then," says the Cap"n, "what have you got against me?
What do you want to give me your note for? Take everything I"ve got; take my boat, but please, sir, don"t give me your note." Now that"s the way I feel. I don"t want your thanks, and I don"t want your note."
Eddring laughed frankly. "Well, Captain," said he, "let it go that way. I won"t give you my note, nor my thanks; but when you are in my part of the world, come and live with me. After I get through with these things in there, I shall see you again sometime. There are some gentlemen of the Delta who will never forget Captain Wilson."
"Well," the gruff old Captain answered him, "I"ll tell my little girl about it, and I reckon I"ll get my pay from her. But now I shall have to be leavin" you before long," he resumed, as he studied again the appearance of the country into which they had now come. "We"re raisin" the Old Bend landin", or the place where it ought to be."
"Wait a minute, Captain," said Eddring, "we"ll need a skiff. Put in two or three blankets and something for coffee, if you will. It looks pretty rough in there, and we might not get through before dark."
Eddring swept a hand toward the submerged forest, which, sh.o.r.eless and all afloat, appeared upon their right, stretching away in every direction as far as the eye could reach through the evening haze.
"I will fix you up the best I can," said Wilson. "But now, do you know that country in yonder? Are you safe in going in?"
"I have hunted bear and deer all over there," said Eddring. "The main current across this big bend ought to carry us inland into a bayou that runs not far from the Big House. It is not more than twenty miles or so to the plantation. If I can strike the course of the Tippohatchee bayou, a few hours ought to take us through. If it comes dark before we get there, we shall have to camp, that is all about it. If a fellow tried to travel through in the night-time, he might land at Greeneville, or Vicksburg, or anywhere else."
"Well," said Wilson, "if you must go, I won"t try to stop you. I"ll have the skiff fixed up."
So, finally, after her journey up the river, the _Opelousas Queen_ rounded the thin neck of the long river bend, and with a hoa.r.s.e growl of relief, rather than of signal, slowed down and reversed, plowed up the yellow waters into billows half-white, and so lay breathing heavily, with just enough way to hold her against the current.
During the entire course of the journey, Eddring had not approached either Madame Delcha.s.se or Miss Lady in personal conversation, and the latter had proved quite as willing to avoid him. Madame Delcha.s.se had taken great and voluble interest in matters about the boat, and was often seen on deck. To her Eddring now sent his message, which brought both the ladies to the lower deck, for the first time in two days.
"What," cried madame, "we go in that leedle boat! _Ah, non!_ I stay by the ship; also mademoiselle."
Miss Lady said nothing; she looked at the frail skiff, the turbulent river, and the great woods beyond, already growing mysterious beneath the veil of coming evening.
"Madame," said Eddring, "I can"t argue about it. You must go." He turned upon her the stern face of one who, having a.s.sumed all responsibility, exacts in return implicit obedience.
"We shall drown," said madame.
Eddring turned gravely to the girl. "There is no danger. I can a.s.sure you of that. I shall do my best. I am sorry that it is so. But we must go. It is the only way to reach Colonel Blount"s."
Upon Miss Lady"s pale face there sat the look of one resigned with fatalism to whatever issue might appear. She made no further speech, but was the first to step into the boat. Madame Delcha.s.se, still grumbling, followed clumsily. Eddring helped them in, took up the oars, and the two deck-hands, who had been holding the skiff, clambered back aboard the _Queen_. Eddring settled himself to the oars, and they cast off. The little skiff rocked, tossed, turned, and headed toward the sh.o.r.e under the strong stroke of the oars.
Presently the set of the inbound current aided the oars, so that soon they were at the fringe of the forest. Eddring rose and waved a hand back to the watchers who were looking after them from the guards of the steamer. The _Queen_ roared out a deep salute, and then the little skiff pa.s.sed out of sight into the wilderness.