She asked if the steam-boat would stop at the Nauvoo wharf, but he explained, with the knowledge that boys are apt to have of such details, that this steamer was coming from Fort Madison, and would keep to the Missouri side, that he had heard that there were some State officials on board her, escorting the Governor of Kentucky, who was prospecting for a Land Company.
They saw the white hulk of the steam-boat looming upon the water to the north. Her side paddle-wheels churned the flood. A strong purpose took possession of Susannah; she knew what she was going to do.
She said to the boy, "No one could stop a steamer when she once starts until she gets to her next port."
"I bet the engineman could stop her just as easy as that." The boy backed water with his oars suddenly.
"But no one on the river could make him stop and get aboard."
"Yes, they could. My pap stopped one once. We was living down near Cairo, but not near a wharf."
"How did he do it?" she asked, and her interest was intense.
"Why, you just put up your hands like a trumpet and yell through them as loud as you can, and you go on waving and hollering. My pap said the best plan was to call out 'Runaway nigger! Large reward!' They'd be sure to stop then to know all about it, and when they'd once stopped they don't mind your clambering up, if you can pay the fare."
Susannah felt herself wholly unequal to the loud task described.
"They would never stop for you," she, said. "You are only a boy, and they would know 'twas only mischief."