The Daughter of the Storage. Howells William Dean

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      While the pilot went on with his talk, and in regular, rhythmical motion

      Swayed from one side to the other before his wheel, and we listened,

      Certain typical facts of the picturesque life of the river

      Won their way to our consciousness as without help of our senses.

      It was along about the beginning of March, but already

      In the sleepy sunshine the budding maples and willows,

      Where they waded out in the shallow wash of the freshet,

      Showed the dull red and the yellow green of their blossoms and catkins,

      And in their tops the foremost flocks of blackbirds debated

      As to which they should colonize first. The indolent house-boats

      Loafing along the shore, sent up in silvery spirals

      Out of their kitchen pipes the smoke of their casual breakfasts.

      Once a wide tow of coal-barges, loaded clear down to the gunwales,

      Gave us the slack of the current, with proper formalities shouted

      By the hoarse-throated stern-wheeler that pushed the black barges before her,

      And as she passed us poured a foamy cascade from her paddles.

      Then, as a raft of logs, which the spread of the barges had hidden,

      River-wide, weltered in sight, with a sudden jump forward the pilot

      Dropped his whole weight on the spokes of the wheel just in time to escape it.

      "Always give those fellows," he joked, "all the leeway they ask for;

      Worst kind of thing on the river you want your boat to run into.

      Where had I got about Captain Dunlevy? Oh yes, I remember.

      Well, when the railroads began to run away from the steamboats,

      Taking the carrying trade in the very edge of the water,

      It was all up with the old flush times, and Captain Dunlevy

      Had to climb down with the rest of us pilots till he was only

      Captain the same as any and every pilot is captain,

      Glad enough, too, to be getting his hundred and twenty-five dollars

      Through the months of the spring and fall while navigation was open.

      Never lowered himself, though, a bit from captain and owner,

      Knew his rights and yours, and never would thought of allowing

      Any such thing as a liberty from you or taking one with you.

      I had been his cub, and all that I knew of the river

      Captain Dunlevy had learnt me; and if you know what the feeling

      Is of a cub for the pilot that learns him the river, you'll trust me

      When I tell you I felt it the highest kind of an honor

      Having him for my partner; and when I came up to relieve him,

      One day, here at the wheel, and actu'lly thought that I found him

      Taking that island there on the left, I thought I was crazy.

      No, I couldn't believe my senses, and yet I couldn't endure it.

      Seeing him climb the spokes of the wheel to warp the Kanawha,

      With the biggest trip of passengers ever she carried,

      Round on the bar at the left that fairly stuck out of the water.

      Well, as I said, he learnt me all that I knew of the river,

      And was I to learn him now which side to take of an island

      When I knew he knew it like his right hand from his left hand?

      My, but I hated to speak! It certainly seemed like my tongue clove,

      Like the Bible says, to the roof of my mouth! But I had to.

      'Captain,' I says, and it seemed like another person was talking,

      'Do you usu'lly take that island there on the eastward?'

      'Yes,' he says, and he laughed, 'and I thought I had learnt you to do it,

      When you was going up.' 'But not going down, did you, captain?'

      'Down?' And he whirled at me, and, without ever stopping his laughing,

      Turned as white as a sheet, and his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets.

      Then he whirled back again, and looked up and down on the river,

      Like he was hunting out the shape of the shore and the landmarks.

      Well, I suppose the thing has happened to every one sometime,

      When you find the points of the compass have swapped with each other,

      And at the instant you're looking, the North and the South have changed places.

      I knew what was in his mind as well as Dunlevy himself did.

      Neither one of us spoke a word for nearly a minute.

      Then in a kind of whisper he says, 'Take the wheel, Captain Davis!'

      Let the spokes fly, and while I made a jump forwards to catch them,

      Staggered into that chair – well, the very one you are in, ma'am.

      Set there breathing quick, and, when he could speak, all he said was,

      'This is the end of it for me on the river, СКАЧАТЬ