THE COMPLETE NOVELS OF MARK TWAIN - 12 Books in One Edition. Марк Твен

in it, turning the street into a liquid quagmire which could only be crossed on pieces of plank thrown here and there.

      About the chief cabin, which was the store and grocery of this mart of trade, the mud was more liquid than elsewhere, and the rude platform in front of it and the drygoods boxes mounted thereon were places of refuge for all the loafers of the place. Down by the stream was a dilapidated building which served for a hemp warehouse, and a shaky wharf extended out from it, into the water. In fact a flatboat was there moored by it, it’s setting poles lying across the gunwales. Above the town the stream was crossed by a crazy wooden bridge, the supports of which leaned all ways in the soggy soil; the absence of a plank here and there in the flooring made the crossing of the bridge faster than a walk an offense not necessary to be prohibited by law.

      “This, gentlemen,” said Jeff, “is Columbus River, alias Goose Run. If it was widened, and deepened, and straightened, and made, long enough, it would be one of the finest rivers in the western country.”

      As the sun rose and sent his level beams along the stream, the thin stratum of mist, or malaria, rose also and dispersed, but the light was not able to enliven the dull water nor give any hint of its apparently fathomless depth. Venerable mud-turtles crawled up and roosted upon the old logs in the stream, their backs glistening in the sun, the first inhabitants of the metropolis to begin the active business of the day.

      It was not long, however, before smoke began to issue from the city chimneys; and before the engineers had finished their breakfast they were the object of the curious inspection of six or eight boys and men, who lounged into the camp and gazed about them with languid interest, their hands in their pockets every one.

      “Good morning; gentlemen,” called out the chief engineer, from the table.

      “Good mawning,” drawled out the spokesman of the party. “I allow thish-yers the railroad, I heern it was a-comin’.”

      “Yes, this is the railroad; all but the rails and the ironhorse.”

      “I reckon you kin git all the rails you want oaten my white oak timber over, thar,” replied the first speaker, who appeared to be a man of property and willing to strike up a trade.

      “You’ll have to negotiate with the contractors about the rails, sir,” said Jeff; “here’s Mr. Brierly, I’ve no doubt would like to buy your rails when the time comes.”

      “O,” said the man, “I thought maybe you’d fetch the whole bilin along with you. But if you want rails, I’ve got em, haint I Eph.”

      “Heaps,” said Eph, without taking his eyes off the group at the table.

      “Well,” said Mr. Thompson, rising from his seat and moving towards his tent, “the railroad has come to Stone’s Landing, sure; I move we take a drink on it all round.”

      The proposal met with universal favor. Jeff gave prosperity to Stone’s Landing and navigation to Goose Run, and the toast was washed down with gusto, in the simple fluid of corn; and with the return compliment that a rail road was a good thing, and that Jeff Thompson was no slouch.

      About ten o’clock a horse and wagon was descried making a slow approach to the camp over the prairie. As it drew near, the wagon was seen to contain a portly gentleman, who hitched impatiently forward on his seat, shook the reins and gently touched up his horse, in the vain attempt to communicate his own energy to that dull beast, and looked eagerly at the tents. When the conveyance at length drew up to Mr. Thompson’s door, the gentleman descended with great deliberation, straightened himself up, rubbed his hands, and beaming satisfaction from every part of his radiant frame, advanced to the group that was gathered to welcome him, and which had saluted him by name as soon as he came within hearing.

      “Welcome to Napoleon, gentlemen, welcome. I am proud to see you here Mr. Thompson. You are, looking well Mr. Sterling. This is the country, sir. Right glad to see you Mr. Brierly. You got that basket of champagne? No? Those blasted river thieves! I’ll never send anything more by ‘em. The best brand, Roederer. The last I had in my cellar, from a lot sent me by Sir George Gore — took him out on a buffalo hunt, when he visited our country. Is always sending me some trifle. You haven’t looked about any yet, gentlemen? It’s in the rough yet, in the rough. Those buildings will all have to come down. That’s the place for the public square, Court House, hotels, churches, jail — all that sort of thing. About where we stand, the deepo. How does that strike your engineering eye, Mr. Thompson? Down yonder the business streets, running to the wharves. The University up there, on rising ground, sightly place, see the river for miles. That’s Columbus river, only forty-nine miles to the Missouri. You see what it is, placid, steady, no current to interfere with navigation, wants widening in places and dredging, dredge out the harbor and raise a levee in front of the town; made by nature on purpose for a mart. Look at all this country, not another building within ten miles, no other navigable stream, lay of the land points right here; hemp, tobacco, corn, must come here. The railroad will do it, Napoleon won’t know itself in a year.”

      “Don’t now evidently,” said Philip aside to Harry. “Have you breakfasted Colonel?”

      “Hastily. Cup of coffee. Can’t trust any coffee I don’t import myself. But I put up a basket of provisions, — wife would put in a few delicacies, women always will, and a half dozen of that Burgundy, I was telling you of Mr. Briefly. By the way, you never got to dine with me.” And the Colonel strode away to the wagon and looked under the seat for the basket.

      Apparently it was not there. For the Colonel raised up the flap, looked in front and behind, and then exclaimed,

      “Confound it. That comes of not doing a thing yourself. I trusted to the women folks to set that basket in the wagon, and it ain’t there.”

      The camp cook speedily prepared a savory breakfast for the Colonel, broiled chicken, eggs, cornbread, and coffee, to which he did ample justice, and topped off with a drop of Old Bourbon, from Mr. Thompson’s private store, a brand which he said he knew well, he should think it came from his own sideboard.

      While the engineer corps went to the field, to run back a couple of miles and ascertain, approximately, if a road could ever get down to the Landing, and to sight ahead across the Run, and see if it could ever get out again, Col. Sellers and Harry sat down and began to roughly map out the city of Napoleon on a large piece of drawing paper.

      “I’ve got the refusal of a mile square here,” said the Colonel, “in our names, for a year, with a quarter interest reserved for the four owners.”

      They laid out the town liberally, not lacking room, leaving space for the railroad to come in, and for the river as it was to be when improved.

      The engineers reported that the railroad could come in, by taking a little sweep and crossing the stream on a high bridge, but the grades would be steep. Col. Sellers said he didn’t care so much about the grades, if the road could only be made to reach the elevators on the river. The next day Mr. Thompson made a hasty survey of the stream for a mile or two, so that the Colonel and Harry were enabled to show on their map how nobly that would accommodate the city. Jeff took a little writing from the Colonel and Harry for a prospective share but Philip declined to join in, saying that he had no money, and didn’t want to make engagements he couldn’t fulfill.

      The next morning the camp moved on, followed till it was out of sight by the listless eyes of the group in front of the store, one of whom remarked that, “he’d be doggoned if he ever expected to see that railroad any mo’.”

      Harry went with the Colonel to Hawkeye to complete their arrangements, a part of which was the preparation of a petition to congress for the improvement of the navigation of Columbus River.

      CHAPTER XVIII.

      Table of Contents

      Eight years have passed since the death of Mr. Hawkins.