A safe trip, but an eventful one; on it occurred that last interview with Brown, already mentioned. It is recorded in the Mississippi book, but cannot be omitted here. Somewhere down the river (it was in Eagle Bend) Henry appeared on the hurricane deck to bring an order from the captain for a landing to be made a little lower down. Brown was somewhat deaf, but would never confess it. He may not have understood the order; at all events he gave no sign of having heard it, and went straight ahead. He disliked Henry as he disliked everybody of finer grain than himself, and in any case was too arrogant to ask for a repetition. They were passing the landing when Captain Klinefelter appeared on deck and called to him to let the boat come around, adding:
“Didn’t Henry tell you to land here?”
“No, sir.”
Captain. Klinefelter turned to Sam:
“Didn’t you hear him?”
“Yes, sir.”
Brown said: “Shut your mouth! You never heard anything of the kind.”
By and by Henry came into the pilot-house, unaware of any trouble. Brown set upon him in his ugliest manner.
“Here, why didn’t you tell me we had got to land at that plantation?” he demanded.
Henry was always polite, always gentle.