[figure description] Page 221.[end figure description]

“The next morning, having waited in vain
for our lagging boat, we bade farewell to the
settlers of Gallipolis, by whom we were advised
to be on our guard during the remainder
of the voyage; and especially to beware
of the country about the mouth of the Scioto,
where several doleful accidents had already
happened, and where boats were so frequently
attacked that it was suspected the savages
had there formed a permanent post for the
annoyance of emigrants.

“We were told also to have a care against
being led into danger by white men—refugees
and renegades; who were accustomed
to present themselves on the banks of the
river, at the appearance of a boat, into which

[figure description] Page 222.[end figure description]

they piteously entreated to be taken, declaring
themselves captives just escaped from
the Indians, or shipwrecked boatmen left
helpless amid the horrors of the wilderness;
which protestations, when hearkened to, commonly
led the unsuspecting emigrant into an
Indian ambush prepared for him on the shore,
and thus to death or captivity. This peculiar
caution had been several times before enforced
upon us at the settlements we had previously
visited; and we left Gallipolis with a
full determination to be cajoled by no such
villanous wiles, how craftily soever devised
and practised.

“We were now, as we had every reason
to believe, much nearer to danger from the
Indians than we had been before, in the higher
regions of the Ohio: yet, it is certain, we
left Gallipolis with less fear and anxiety
among us than when we set out. We had,
in fact, become accustomed to our boat, to
the Ohio, to the solitude of the wilderness
through which we floated, to the idea of danger,
which we had conned over in our minds
until we grew tired of it, and turned to happier
and more cheerful thoughts. We were
better navigators too, and understood our
power of keeping ourselves out of mischief,

[figure description] Page 223.[end figure description]

by keeping our boat from the banks of the
river, and so beyond the reach of Indian rifles;
and, besides, we were all learned in Indian
wiles and stratagems, to know which
was to know how to escape them.

“And thus it happened, that we left Gallipolis
with light hearts, and approached the
scene where danger was most to be apprehended,
with a degree of indifference amounting
almost to fatality. Such blind security,
growing with increase of peril, and attended
with every kind of carelessness and negligence,
was often found among the Ohio voyagers
of that day, and was as often the cause
of calamities, which a little common-sense
solicitude would have enabled the unhappy
adventurers easily to avoid.

“The day on which we left Gallipolis proved,
perhaps, the most agreeable of the whole
voyage. It was now late in Spring; the weather
was warm and genial, and the magnificent
forests bordering the river were in full
leaf and bloom, filling the eye with beauty
and the nostrils with sweet odours. The
evening was still more delicious, and was
passed by the engagès in mirth and jollity, in
singing, and even in dancing; for which we
had an incentive provided in a fiddle, sawed

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and clawed in the true old `Virginny,' style
by one of the Colonel's negroes. And in
this kind of diversion we were freely indulged
by our commander, because it seemed to
amuse the mind of his fair daughter, who sat
for awhile looking on the dance, smiling encouragement.

“By and by, however, the weather changed,
and a shower fell, which put an end to the
untimely revelry; and the dancers retreated
to the cabin and their beds, leaving the deck
in possession of the usual watch of four men,
of whom the one at the steering oar was the
only one actually engaged in any duty. This
first shower was but the precursor of others,
which continued to fall at intervals during the
night, and of a change from warm to very
cold weather; so that, by and by, the deck
lost many of its chrms, even to the men of
the watch, becoming, in truth, the most uncomfortable
part of the whole boat. I remember
being vastly pleased at ending my own
watch, which happened at midnight, and
creeping down to a warm bunk in the cabin,
where slumber was so many degrees more
agreeable than in the cold wet air above.

“Upon leaving Gallipolis, Captain Sharpe,
who was often seized with fits of military

[figure description] Page 225.[end figure description]

fire and zeal, had thought proper to harangue
the crew upon the dangers we ought now to
expect to encounter, and exhort us to a careful
performance of all our duties, of which
the night-watching was, as he justly observed,
the most important; and as we should, in
all probability, during the course of the following
night, reach the mouth of the Scioto,
which, all knew, was regarded as the most
dangerous point of the whole navigation, he
especially enjoined it upon us, this night, to
watch in reality—that is, to keep our eyes
open and about us, instead of lying down to
sleep, as we had been in the habit of doing
for several nights past. And to encourage
us in our duties, he declared that he intended
for the future, or so long as danger should
seem to threaten, to share them with us—
that is, to take part with us in the watch;
and he accordingly appointed himself to the
middle watch, the longest and dreariest of
all, from midnight until four in the morning.

“His zeal greatly delighted Colonel Storm,
who swore, `that was the way for a soldier
to behave;' though I cannot say it was
equally agreeable to the boatmen. On the
contrary, I heard a great deal of grumbling
among them, upon this particular night,

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when, at the change of the watch, Captain
Sharpe was heard getting up to join the next
band of watchers. It was generally apprehended
that the presence of the disciplined
soldier would interfere with all the little arrangements
which the men might otherwise
have taken to secure their own comfort.
Happily for the grumblers, Captain Sharpe
proved to be no such severe disciplinarian.

“I retired to my bed, and there slept, perhaps,
three hours; when I was wakened by a
terrible dream of Indians attacking the boat;
which so disturbed and disordered my mind
that I was not able to get to sleep again; and
being weary of my cot, I got up, and crept to
the deck, for the purpose of looking out upon
the night. As I made my way through the
cabin, in which was burning a little lamp,
yielding a meagre light, I was astonished to
perceive Captain Sharpe, with several—indeed,
as it afterward proved, all—the men of
his watch, lying sound asleep on the floor,
having evidently slipt away, one after the
other, from their duties on deck.

“Although surprised at this dereliction on
the part of the gallant soldier, especially after
the great zeal he had displayed during the
day, I was not at all concerned or alarmed,

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being of an opinion, which I had frequently
expressed, when kept longer than I liked at
the helm—namely, that the boat could make
her way down the river just as well without
steering as with. Nevertheless, as the experiment
had never before been actually tried,
I felt some curiosity to find how it succeeded;
and accordingly stept immediately out on
deck to see; which was a feat the less disagreeable
as the showers were now over, the
clouds had broken away, and the stars shining
so brilliantly that objects nigh at hand
could be pretty distinctly discerned.

“Knowing that all the watch were in the
cabin fast asleep, judge my astonishment to
find, as I did, the moment I reached the deck,
a human figure at the steering oar, and the
boat within but half a dozen yards of the
river-bank, upon which the unknown helmsman
seemed urging it with might and main;
and fancy the terror that instantly seized me,
when, looking upon the apparition, I discovered
the spectral refugee, (for who could it
be but he?) the hero of the ghost story, who,
with a person all ghastly to behold, and a
visage bound with a bloody handkerchief,
and cadaverously resembling my poor discarded
friend, Tom Connor's, had stolen into

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the boat, and was now driving it furiously
ashore.

“At this sight, I was seized with a terrible
panic, as may be supposed, and uttering
a yell that instantly roused every soul on
board, leaped from the deck among my comrades,
who came tumbling out, some shrieking
`Indians!' and others asking what was
the matter. I told them we were going
ashore, and that a ghost was at the helm;
upon which two thirds of them ran back into
the cabin, where they fell upon their knees
and cried for mercy, while others, bolder or
more curious, rushed upon the deck to have
a view of the spectre. But the spectre was
gone, entirely vanished away into air, or into
the river; and the only evidence of his visit
was seen as the broad-horn suddenly swept
round a jutting point, which it almost touched,
and then, borne onwards by a powerful
current, shot again into the channel.

“This extraordinary occurrence produced,
as may be imagined, an extaordinary ferment;
in the midst of which I was summoned to the
presence of the commander in chief; with
whom I found the fair Alicia, looking wild
with fright, and also Captain Sharpe, the latter
busily engaged in assuring Colonel Storm,

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for I overheard him, as I approached, that
`all was well—nothing was the matter, only
an uproar made by a man roused from his
sleep by the nightmare.'

“`You saw a ghost, you loon?' said Colonel
Storm, turning from the soldier to myself;
`what's the matter?'

“Upon this, I told the veteran the whole
story, not omitting the soldierly desertion of
his post by the gallant Captain—notwithstanding
that this worthy gentleman made
me many significant hints to hold my tongue—
among others, by touching his pocket with
one hand and his lip with the other, as if to
say, `keep your peace, and you shall be well
rewarded;' and then scowling like a thundergust,
when he found I proceeded, without regarding
his efforts to check me.

“My relation produced a considerable effect
both upon the old gentleman and his
daughter; but it seemed to me, they were
more struck by the exposure of Captain
Sharpe's desertion of his post, than by any
thing else, the lady looking upon him with
mingled wonder and contempt, while the
Colonel grumbled his displeasure aloud—
`Conduct for a court-martial—Fine officer-like
behaviour, by George, sir!'

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“Captain Sharpe declared `it was all a
mistake—a very unaccountable occurrence;
protested he had not left the deck two minutes,
and only left it to treat the watch, who
were cold and wet, to a glass of liquor; and
that it was a mere accident and inadvertence,
if the helmsman left his post at the same time;'
all which—as unconscionable a falsehood as
was ever uttered—the worthy personage
offered to prove by calling in the men; whose
assertions, backed by his own word, `he
hoped Colonel Storm would think sufficient
to disprove the charge of a single individual
like me, especially after the veritable nonsense
I had just told them about the ghost.'

“`Humph!' said the Colonel, with a snort—
`what sort of a ghost was it?'

“`It was like Mr. Connor,' said I; `only
that it was pale and grim, and had a bloody
handkerchief round its brows.'—At which
words, Miss Storm looked wilder than ever,
and even the Colonel her father started, with
a piteous `God bless my soul! Hope nothing
has happened the boy—Never forgive myself,
if he should haunt me!'

“Here Captain Sharpe interfered, asking
the Colonel with a laugh, `if he really believed
my ridiculous story? if he did not see

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that the poor lad' (meaning me,) `had been
dreaming; and that all I had seen, or thought
I had seen, was mere visionary nothing.' In
short, I believe he quite staggered the Colonel;
who, however, having finished examining
me, ordered me out of the cabin; so that I
never knew what was the result of Captain
Sharpe's ingenious attempt to explain away
his desertion of his duties of deck.

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