The galled jade was wincing and inventing stories, for they could not and did not afterwards refuse their unused tickets whenever we found it advisable to use them.
As the months passed Chicora improved herself in the good-will of the travelling public, being admirably handled by Captain Harbottle.
At Niagara it was a ticklish job to get into and away from the lower dock. The Rothesay always moved down in order to get as close as she could, frequently we had to warn her to keep further away.
When coming into the river Chicora had to be driven sharp across from the point at the Fort, on the United States side, to the dock on the Niagara side, to be brought up, all standing, with her bow only a few feet below the Rothesay's stern. Often it looked as though she must run into the other before the way could be stopped, and that a collision must take place.
Coming down the river it was a less dangerous, but a more difficult manoeuvre. The steamers always move swiftly in the quick current which sweeps past Fort George to the docks. As on or each day, both the other steamers lay at the same time in front of their dock, their hulls extended far out into the stream, and Chicora coming down had to make a double curve, like an S, to get her place at the lower dock. It was a pretty thing to see, but Harbottle always managed it by just skimming, but not touching, the other boats' side. The harmony between him on the bridge and Monroe in the engine room apparently being complete, and besides, Chicora steers like a yacht.
At Lewiston things went easier, yet even here the Rothesay would edge back down the front.
Niagara Navigation Co. Steamer "spinning" in the Rapids below Queenston Heights. [Page 105]