"I know the steamer'll burst its boiler, or catch afire, or sink, or something! I know it!"
"Lord, Hannah, don't dishearten people that-a-way! Why should the steamer do anything of the kind?" said Reuben, with a doubtful and troubled air.
"Because they are always and for everlasting a-doing of such things. Just think what happened to the 'Geyser'—burst her boiler and scalded everybody to death!"
"Law, Hannah! that was only one in a—"
"And the 'Vesuvius,'" fiercely continued Hannah; "the 'Vesuvius' caught on fire and burned down to the water's edge, and was so found—a floating charcoal, and every soul on board perished."
"Lord, Hannah, you're enough to make anybody's flesh creep. Surely that was only—"
"And then there was the 'Wave,' as struck St. George's bar and smashed all to pieces, and all on board were drowned!"
"Well, but, Hannah, you know—"
"And the 'Boreas,' that was lost in a gale. And the 'White Bear,' that was jammed to smash between two icebergs. And the 'Platina,' that sunk to the bottom with a clear sky and a smooth sea. Sunk to the bottom as if she had been so much lead. And the—"
"Goodness, gracious, me alive! And the Lord bless my soul, Hannah! You turn my very blood to water with your stories. Ishmael, don't you go!"