EPISODES JJi PILOT JL1JP& 437
put the farm into the hands of an agricultural erpert to be worked
on shares—out of every three loads of corn the expert to have two
and the pilot the third, But at the end of the season the pilot
received no corn. The expert explained that his share was not
reached. The farm produced only two loads.
Some of the pilots whom I had known had had adventures—the
outcome fortunate, sometimes, but not in all cases. Captain Mont-
gomery, whom I had steered for when he was a pilot, commanded
the Confederate fleet in the great battle before Memphis; when his
vessel went down, he swam ashore, fought his way through a aquad
of soldiers, and made a gallant and narrow escape. He was always a
cool man; nothing could disturb his serenity. Once when he was
captain of the * Crescent City/ I was bringing the boat into port at
New Orleans, and momently expecting orders from the hurricane
deck, but received none. I had stopped the wheels, and there my
authority and responsibility ceased. 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 them-
selves—which I did. So we went ploughing past the sterns of steam-
boats 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 becomii^ 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 &
most prodigious racket. The captain never said a word to me about
the matter afterwards, except to remark th&t 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 oea the river
had died a very honourable death. His boat caught fire, and 1*9