"Well, what's the trouble, what do you want?" he roared back.
"Going up to Fort Hamlin. Take us on board."
"Can't stop," the captain shouted, "this is a government boat."
"So is this," replied Rivers, a little nettled, "slow up and take us on board."
Now, as it chanced, the skipper was a choleric little man with a very quick temper, which had not been improved on the trip by the presence of a party of tourists, who had been grumbling at everything American all the way up the river. So he was anxious to magnify the importance of his post and not be at the beck and call of every tramp on the river. Irritated, therefore, he shouted back:
"Get to Fort Hamlin the best way you can, I can't spare any time."
By this time Rivers was warming up, and he did not want to be discomfited before his party, so he yelled back in an authoritative voice:
"Do as you're told and stop that vessel! I want to go on board."
"Oh, you do, do you," sneered the skipper, "then you can want," and he rang the telegraph for full speed ahead.
Rivers was ready with a retort, but Bulson, who on occasion could become furiously angry, suddenly blazed, and picking up a rifle that lay on the boat, he fired across the bows of the steamer as she forged up to the leading canoe.