"She must be going up to the coal-fleet," thought Tony, as he ran swiftly down the levee, swinging his hat over his head. "I shall have plenty of time to go up with her, and get back to the depot before the train starts for home."
The captain saw him coming, and knowing who he was, delayed the order to cast off until Tony had run up the gang-plank. The latter stopped on the hurricane-deck to exchange a few words of greeting with the "old man," and then went into the pilot-house, where he found George Ackerman at the wheel. George had now been on the river for more than six months, and the reader will have some idea of the progress he had made in his new vocation when we tell him that he was the only pilot on board the Telegraph at that moment, that Mr. Black, after being engaged for the trip, had gone to Webster Groves to take leave of his family, that his partner, Mr. Kelsey, was somewhere on shore, and that neither of them had felt the least hesitation in leaving George to take the boat up to the coal-fleet, and bring her back again.
Our hero did not yet know the river, but he was a fine steersman, and could make a landing or get the boat under way almost as well as anybody. He was worth something now, and Mr. Black paid him twenty dollars a month for his services. Regarding this in the light of a promotion, George wrote to Texas about it, and was afterwards very sorry that he had done so, for Uncle John, prompted by Ned, at once shut down on the monthly allowance which he had thus far sent him regularly. The amount he received was enough to clothe him as well as he cared to dress; he was under no expense for board, for when he was not running on the river, he lived with Mr. Black, in his home at Webster Groves. But still George did not like that act on the part of Uncle John. It showed him that his guardian was determined to exercise all the authority he possessed, and more, too, if he could.
"How are you, Tony?" exclaimed George. "Sit down until I back her out and straighten her up, and then I'll talk to you."
"And I'll take your place at the wheel, won't I?" said Tony, as he took a seat on the elevated bench.
"Of course; that's always understood."
The two boys, having often been thrown into each other's society of late, were well acquainted, and a sort of friendship had sprung up between them. Mr. Black had been employed on one or another of Mr. Richardson's boats ever since he left the General Quitman, and of course George went with him everywhere as his assistant. Tony, who thoroughly hated school and everything belonging to it, was deeply in love with the water, and spent all his leisure hours in loitering about the levee; and whenever any of his father's boats were moved from one wharf-boat to another, or sent up to the coal-fleet, Tony was generally on hand to do the steering. He took unbounded delight in a boat, and looked forward with impatience to the day when he would take his position as captain of one of the swiftest and most beautiful steamers on the river. What sort of an apprenticeship he would have to serve before he would be qualified to fill so responsible a berth, Tony did not know. In fact, it was something about which he seldom troubled himself. There was one thing he was certain of, however, and that was, he was not going to begin as deck hand or watchman, or even as clerk or mate. The deck hands were a low set, in Tony's estimation. Besides, they were obliged to handle the freight, and that was not a genteel business. Watchmen were only a grade higher than the deck hands, clerks had too much to do with figures, and mates were generally too rough in dress and language to suit the boy. He had heard of men stepping from the pilot-house into the captain's place, and if he had to serve in any subordinate capacity before he could take command of a steamer, he thought he would rather be a pilot than anything else. These officers and the clerks comprise the aristocracy among river men. They generally dress in the height of fashion, sport a good deal of jewelry, and the pilots, if they choose to do so, can wear kid gloves while they are at work. Their money comes easily, and, as a rule, goes easier. Where there is one prudent man among them, like Mr. Black, who puts his earnings into a home, there are a dozen who make all haste to get rid of them.
We ought to say right here, that the prospect of becoming a riverman, did not exactly suit Tony. His first love was the sea. He thought about it during his waking hours, and dreamed of it when he was asleep. He sang forecastle songs, told sea stories, and tried to talk and walk like a sailor. When his father emphatically refused to aid him in carrying out his insane ideas, Tony shed a good many tears in secret; banged his school-books about more spitefully than ever; and fell back upon the river as the next best thing to think about. If he went there he would accept nothing but a high position, and he would hold it only temporarily; for as soon as he became his own master, he would start as straight for salt water as he could go.
"How do you like the river by this time?" asked Tony, as the Telegraph was backed rapidly away from the wharf-boat.
"First rate!" replied George with great enthusiasm. "I like it better and better every day, and I know I shall never get tired of it. I don't think I should like to go back to herding cattle again."