“Six feet! Six f——”
Bang! She hit the bottom! George shouted through the tube:
“Spread her wide open! Whale it at her!”
Pow-wow-chow! The escape-pipes belched snowy pillars of steam aloft, the boat ground and surged and trembled—and slid over into——
“M-a-r-k twain!”
“Quarter-her——”
“Tap! tap! tap!” (to signify “Lay in the leads”)
And away she went, flying up the willow shore, with the whole silver sea of the Mississippi stretching abroad on every hand.
No Amaranth in sight!
“Ha-ha, boys, we took a couple of tricks that time!” said the captain.