“Cap’n, that was the closest call I’ve ever had on the Sound, and I’ve been on it, boy and man, for five-and-fifty years.”
That was what the chief pilot said to Captain Smith when he returned to the pilot-house after he had seen Hattie Butler to her state-room, and taken a turn to the engine-room and forward deck below to see how things went there.
“How on earth did we ever get in so far, with the wind holding where it did?” chimed in the other pilot. “Our course ought to have kept us full five miles farther out.”
“There was a stiff sou’wester all the night and day before, and with the tide at ebb it made a terrible current setting out by Montauk. I should have thought of it. I headed well over for smooth water, but not enough to throw us so far in shore, by ten miles, rather than five. I’ll never forget this experience. We have over four hundred souls on board, and had it not been for that bright-eyed girl, where would they be now?”
“Who is she, cap?”
“I don’t know. She gave me her name. Hattie Butler—that is all I know. She wears the dress, and has the manners of a high-born lady; and, as you saw, though the face was pale then, she is as pretty as pretty can be.”
“I was too bad scared to look at her,” said the chief pilot. “I’m hardly over it yet. The passengers will make up a purse for her when they hear of it. If they don’t, they don’t deserve the luck they’ve had.”
“She has begged me not to tell of it at all,” replied the captain; “but I don’t see how I can keep my mouth shut. And there are three or four newspaper men on board, and they’d never forgive me if I kept it from them. But I’ll not speak of it at the breakfast table to all of ’em, as I meant to.”
The steamer was now heading her course, and the wind going down a little, while the rain, that fell heavier than ever, made the sea a great deal smoother.
But the steamer was hours behind, and though Mr. Bishop, the chief engineer, drove the firemen to their work, the steamer could not make Fall River within four hours of the regular train time. But the captain told his passengers at the breakfast-table that there would be a special train ready when the boat reached her wharf to take them right on, and he added that it was better to be late and safe than early and in peril, adding a remark which he credited to his engineer: