Later in the night there was alarm and confusion on board. The steamer Itasca, at a landing, ran into the Grey Eagle, breaking her paddle-wheel. There was a crash, and for some time none knew the extent of the injury received. The engines were stopped. The emigrants sleeping on the deck, near the broken wheel, roused by the collision, were transferred, with their sleeping children, to the other side, and fruitless attempts were made to repair the injury. After a delay of two hours the machinery was again set in motion, and the one paddle-wheel had to do all the work. Happily Norman and his mother, who were on the quiet side of the boat, slept through all the noise and confusion.
CHAPTER X.
FOURTH DAY UPON THE MISSISSIPPI.
Safely led and guided by pilots who could tell
The pulses of the river, its windings, and its swell;
Who knew its closest secrets, by dark as well as light,
Each bluff and ringing forest, each swamp or looming height.
Mackay.
Early in the morning Winona appeared, surrounded by its protecting hills, reposing, as do most of those pretty towns, in the shadow of the great bluffs, “like peace in the bosom of strength.”
The boat stopped for some time at La Crosse, a very nourishing town. Here Mrs. Lester saw two Indians in blankets and leggings, a sight Norman missed, to his great disappointment. He was at the other end of the boat, too far off to be summoned in time.
The pilot, having just left his watch of six hours, came and invited them to come up to the pilot-house in the afternoon. It was a welcome invitation, for the day was very warm, and the pilot-house, with its cool breeze, and its commanding view of the scenery, was a most desirable place. Norman admired the handsome pilot as, with steadfast eye and erect figure, he stood at the wheel, scanning the waters, and guiding the vessel in the channel, winding round the islands, and from one shore to the other of the great river. Turning the wheel, first to the right, and then to the left, it seems very easy work, a very simple operation; and yet what destinies depend upon those movements; fortune, happiness, life, all involved! Hundreds of human beings pass days of enjoyment and nights of quiet rest because they have faith in their pilot.