I was quite exhausted after my efforts and the strain put upon me, and I was in no humor even to be praised. Some of the negroes our boats picked up on planks and on their toppling houses might have been drowned; but I did not believe the people in the mansion-houses were in any great danger. However, I had never seen an inundation before, and I may have been mistaken. My father was one of the first to visit me in the pilot-house.
"You have done well, Alick," said he; and that was all he did say, for he was not given to praising any one beyond his desert. "What are you going to do with all these people?"
"We can land them, or put them on board of one of the steamers here," I replied; and I had not thought of the matter before.
"Mrs. Shepard is very nervous indeed, and is anxious to get away from this place," continued my father.
"The Islander might have gone on," I suggested.
"We could not leave until assured that you did not need the assistance of the other steamer. We were about to send a line to you and attach it to one of the steamers. The only trouble was to get a line long enough and strong enough."
While we were talking Colonel Hungerford came into the pilot-house. I introduced him to my father, and the planter indulged in more praise which I do not care to repeat. He informed me that he had chartered one of the river steamers to take his servants and those of the other planters down to Carrollton, a few miles below.
"I am now going on board of another steamer to inquire if she is bound up the river, for I have concluded to visit my brother at Baton Rouge. But I suppose my mansion will not be fit to live in for some weeks to come, if ever. I desire to know your address, Captain Alick,—excuse me, but that is what I hear others call you,—that I may communicate with you at some future time."
"Quite unnecessary," said my father, with a smile, as though he suspected the object of the inquiry.
"But I desire to express my sense of obligation to your son for the great service he has rendered me and my family," persisted the planter.