Vienna; and it makes seven miles an hour there."

"The ordinary current of the Mississippi is about five miles an hour,
and in such a freshet it must be as much as seven."

"What is a freshet, Mr. Mate?"

"An inundation; an overflow of the water; a flood; a----"

"Cut it short! I understand it perfectly. I never heard it called a
freshet before. Has it anything to do with the fact that this is fresh
water, Washy?"

"I don't think it has, though I never heard of such a thing as a
freshet in salt water, which could not very well be, since a freshet is
caused by heavy rains and the melting of the snow," replied Washburn.
"You never heard of a freshet before! Where have you been all your
life?"

"That's an American word, Mr. Washburn," interposed my father. "I never
heard it except in this country."

At this moment Mr. Tiffany and his daughter joined us in the
pilot-house, after asking if they might come in. I gave them chairs and
explained to them the rather ludicrous situation of the Islander. All
hands were on the forecastle except the chief engineer and Landy
Perkins. I ordered a Bengola to be burned on the top-gallant forecastle
to enable them to see the Islander and its odd burden.

"Mr. Brickland says he has steam enough," said Landy Perkins, reporting
to me at the pilothouse.

"All right," I replied. "Buck, cast off the hawser, when I bring her up
to it."

The end of the fast had been passed around a pine-tree, and made fast
at the bitts, so that we could unmoor without going on shore. I rang to
go ahead; and when the hawser was hauled in, I backed the steamer away
from the bank. I directed the deck hands to keep the fireworks ablaze
that I might see where to steer. I soon discovered the Islander and the
building, and ran for them as fast as possible. As we had the current
with us, we made at least fifteen miles an hour.

As the Sylvania came nearer to her consort, I could better make out the
condition of things on board of her. The building appeared to be some
kind of a workshop. The Islander had drove her bow through its side. I
concluded that some of the boarding and studding had not been broken
off. The bow had carried them within the structure, and the lower ends
had dropped down on the deck, and thus prevented the vessel from
withdrawing her forward part.

As we came nearer to her, I had our fenders hung over the port side. We
had two gilded axes slung on the front of the pilot-house, which had