scene
which greeted my vision as I went on board of her, nor to describe the
horror with which I glanced at the long row of ghastly corpses which had
been taken from the water.

It was a sickening sight, and terrible were the groans and the wailings
of the sufferers which resounded through the boat. I learned that the
captain of the ill-fated steamer was among the dead. If it had not been
so, an hour in the midst of this horrible din of sighs, and wails, and
groans would have been an all-sufficient punishment, if he had a human
heart in his bosom, for the base crime of sacrificing those precious
lives to the stupid rivalry of the hour.

The officers and passengers had been engaged in making up lists of the
wounded and the dead. Among the latter I found the name of Mrs.
Goodridge and Mr. Spear. I shuddered as I realized that the worst fears
of Emily were confirmed. I informed the clerk of the boat that I had
saved one of the passengers, and her name was stricken from the list of
the dead, and added to that of the living.

I learned that the body of Mrs. Goodridge had been recovered, and that
friends on board of the steamer would take charge of it. There was
nothing more for me to do, and I fled, sick at heart, from the awful
spectacle. I went to a small hotel near the landing, and though I slept
heavily, awake or in my slumber, the scenes of death and woe I had
beheld still haunted my mind. I took an early breakfast, and then
endeavored to find a boat bound down the river. There was none in Cairo
that would start that day, and it might be several days before I could
obtain a passage. I could not think of prolonging the agonizing suspense
of our passenger on the raft, or of leaving the two females to the care
of so heavy a thinker as Sim Gwynn. If a squall or a sudden rise of the
river occurred, my assistant would be helpless; and if the raft broke
loose, he would not have wit enough to bring it up to the shore again.

I walked up and down the levee, thinking what I should do. I could not
charter a steamer, and there was no conveyance on the other side of the
Mississippi. While I was thus fretting at the delay, I came to a yard
where boats were kept for sale. Most of them were for the use of
steamers, and were far beyond my means; but I found a second-hand skiff,
which I purchased for ten dollars, including in the price a pair of good
oars. It would be a handy thing to have on the raft, and if I had had it
when I fir