"I dare say the Islander could not handle herself very well on the land, if she found any land to get on," added Owen.
"It is more likely that the house, or whatever it is, was afloat when the Islander knocked for admission," I continued.
"If the steamer knocked, the house appears to have opened to her."
"How is your steam, Moses?" I called through the tube to the engineer.
"Rather low for working in this current," came back to me through the tube.
At that moment the Islander whistled again. I pulled our whistle line, and found we had steam enough to give a smart reply; but I was not willing to trust the Sylvania to the rapid river without a full head of steam. I lighted another Bengola. In its glare I saw that the other steamer was backing her screw, as probably she had been doing from the beginning. I judged that the building was about fifty feet long, and, as it was partly submerged, it presented a large broadside to the rapid current.
"I don't see how she got into that scrape, unless she was looking for a night's lodging," said Washburn. "That building is big enough to be seen in the dark."
"Of course Captain Blastblow did not intend to run into it," I added. "Probably he had not time to get out of the way when he first saw it."
"But it seems to me I should not go far with such a load before I shook it off."
"But don't you see that he can't pull out of the house?" demanded Owen. "He is stuck fast in her side."