CHAPTER XXXI
AN OFFER OF HELP
On the day before they reached Vicksburg, the planter whose family hadbeen rescued was able to have a long conversation with Phil. His firstdisposition had been to recognize Irv as the master spirit of the crew,because of his controlling activity in the matter of restoring thestarved party to life and health, but he was quickly instructedotherwise by Irving himself.
He explained to Phil just who and what he was.
"I have lost a great deal, of course, by this overflow, but fortunatelythe bulk of my cotton crop was already shipped before the flood came, sothat that is safe. Moreover, I am not altogether dependent upon myplanting operations. In short,--you will understand that I say this byway of explanation and not otherwise,--I am a fairly well-to-do man,--Imay even say a very well-to-do man,--independently of my plantingoperations."
"I am glad to hear that," said Phil, "because it has troubled me a gooddeal, especially as I have looked at Baby and the other children. I havewondered what was to become of them, and in what way we boys might besthelp you and them over the bridge."
"I am glad you said that," the planter responded. "That gives me theopportunity I am seeking. In the same spirit in which you have beenthinking of helping me, I want you to let me help you and your comrades.I don't know anything of the circumstances of the young men whocompose this crew, yourself or the others; but I assume that if yourcircumstances were particularly comfortable, you would hardly be engagedin the not very profitable business of running a flatboat. At your ages,you would more probably be in school."
"So we are," said Phil; "we are none of us particularly well-to-do, butwe are able to stay at home and go to school. This trip is a kind of alark--or partly that and partly a thing done to restore my brother'shealth; but we are obliged to make it pay its own way, anyhow, becausewe could not afford the trip otherwise. Of course, we are out of schoolfor the time being, that is to say, for a few months, but we all expectto make that up. As to college, I don't know. Probably not many of uswill ever be able to afford that."
"That, then, is exactly what I want to come to," said the gentleman."You are obviously boys of good parentage. I cannot offer to pay you forthe great service you have done to me and mine--no, no; don't interruptme now; let me say this out. I should not think of insulting you in anysuch way as that; but why should you not let me contribute out of theabundance that I still possess to the expense of a college course forall five of you very bright young fellows? Believe me, nothing in theworld could give me a greater gratification than to do this. You haverescued me and mine from a fate so terrible that I shudder to think ofit even now. Let me in my turn help a little to advance your interestsin life."
Phil thought for a considerable time before he replied. Not that he hadany notion of accepting the offer thus made, but that he did not want,in rejecting it, to hurt the feelings of a man so generous, and one whohad made the offer with so much delicacy. At last the boy said:--
"Believe me, sir, I appreciate, and all my comrades will when I tellthem of it, the good feeling and the generosity that have dictated youroffer, but we could not on any account accept it. I am sure that in thisI speak for all. I believe that any boy in this country who really wantsan education can get it, if he chooses to work hard enough and liveplainly enough. My brother has not been able to go to school much at anytime in his life, because of his ill-health, and yet he is much the besteducated one among us, and if he lives, he will be reckoned awell-educated man, even among men who are college graduates. As for therest of us, we can get a college education, as I said, if we choose towork hard enough and live hard enough. If we don't choose to do that,why, we must go without. But we thank you all the same, and I want youto know that we recognize the generosity of your offer, though we cannotaccept it. Now, please don't let's talk of that any more, because itisn't pleasant to refuse a request such as yours; for I take it fromyour manner and tone that you mean it as a request rather than as anoffer of aid."
With that, Phil walked away, and there was naturally no more to be said.But an hour later the gentleman, who was still feeble from his lateexposure and suffering, asked Phil again to sit down by him. Then hesaid:--
"I am not going to reopen the question that we discussed a while ago,because I understand and honor your decision with regard to it. Butthere is another little service that I am in position to render you, andthat I might render to anybody with whom I came into pleasant contact.My name counts for a good deal with my commission merchant in NewOrleans; for how much it counts, it would not be quite modest for me tosay; but, at any rate, I want to give you a letter to him, if you willallow me. When you get there, you will wish to sell your cargo, and ofcourse you will be surrounded by buyers, but most of them will bedisposed to take advantage of your youth and of your inexperience in themarket. I cannot imagine how, in their hands, you can escape the lossof a considerable part of the value of what you have to sell. Now thecommission merchant to whom I wish to give you a letter is a man of thevery highest integrity, besides being my personal friend and my agent inbusiness. I suggest that you place the whole matter of the sale of yourboat and cargo in his hands, and I am confident that the difference inthe results will be many hundreds of dollars in your favor. This is, asI said, a service that I might render even to a casual acquaintance.Surely, you will not deny me the privilege of rendering it to a group ofyoung men who have done for me what you boys have."
Phil rose and stood before him embarrassed.
"I suppose," he said, "I ought to consult my comrades before acceptingeven this favor at your hands, but I shan't do anything of the kind. Iunderstand what you feel and what you mean, and if you won't askanything of your commission merchant except that he shall sell us out onhis usual terms, I shall frankly be very much obliged to you for theletter you offer; for it has really been a source of a good deal ofanxiety to me, this thing of how to sell out when we get there."
It was so arranged; and as the gentleman and his family were to quit theboat at Vicksburg, the letter was written that day.
At Vicksburg the boys offered the hospitality of their boat to theirguests until such time as proper clothing could be provided for them,their condition of destitution being one in which it was impossible forthem to think of going ashore. This offer was frankly accepted, and asthe boys were themselves in sad need of supplies, the delay of two orthree days was not only of no consequence to them, but it introduced anew element of life on board _The Last of the Flatboats_. The lady sentinto the town for dressmakers and seamstresses in such numbers as mightenable her quickly to equip herself and the children for a reappearanceamong civilized human beings. The cabin became a workroom, and twosewing-machines were installed even upon the deck. It looked a littleodd, but, as Irv Strong put it, "it's only another incident in a voyagethat began with Jim Hughes and promises to end we do not know with what.Anyhow, we've had good luck on the whole, and if we don't come outahead now, it'll probably be our own fault."
This was the feeling of all the boys. They had the open Mississippibefore them for the brief remainder of their journey. The river wasstill enormously full, of course, but it was falling now, and belowVicksburg it had been kept well within the levees, so that there was nofurther probability of any cross-country excursions on the part of _TheLast of the Flatboats_. They had nothing to do, apparently, but to castthe boat loose and let her float the rest of the way upon placid waters.But this again is getting ahead of my story. The boat is still tied tothe bank at Vicksburg. Let us return to her.