oads could not send out trains, bridges
had been carried away, and many lives had been lost. It was an
appalling state of things. Vast numbers of men were employed in
strengthening the levees above New Orleans. The Missouri River had
risen higher than ever before, and whole villages had been carried away
in the North-western States.

I found my father in the reading-room of the St. Charles devouring the
contents of a newspaper. He began to give me the startling
intelligence, but I told him I had just read it. I then stated the
situation in relation to our two prisoners. He was alarmed at the
prospect of a long delay, for the heat was intense in the city.
Besides, we were not sure the city itself would not be inundated by the
rising waters.

My father was as much perplexed as I was. Our business was "Yachting on
the Mississippi," and the idea of being detained two or even three
weeks for the officials of two States to investigate a case that was
plain enough to us was hardly to be endured on the one hand, while we
had no desire to have a crime go unpunished on the other. We were
certainly in a dilemma. We decided to have a conference with the rest
of the party.

We found them in the ladies' parlor. Mrs. Shepard was fanning herself
vigorously, and I judged that she was in a very unhappy state of mind.
I had seen very little of my passengers during the voyage from
Jacksonville, for the heavy sea which constantly deluged the deck had
kept them in the cabin. I spoke to the colonel's wife, and hoped she
was very well.

"I am not well at all, Captain Alick," she replied. "My nerves are
shaken all to pieces by the voyage from Jacksonville, and if my husband
owns the Islander for the next twenty years I shall never go to sea in
her again."

"Indeed, is it so bad as that? But you have not been in the Islander in
any very heavy weather," I added.

"I was in the Sylvania when I never expected to see land again; and I
shall never forget that terrible time after the shipwreck, for I never
suffered so much in one night, though I have crossed the Atlantic four
times. I am told that you managed the Sylvania very well, and I have no
doubt of it; but it was a terrible storm for such a small vessel. Last
night I wished I was in the Sylvania, for I was very much alarmed when
we were carried down the river by that terrible building."

"My wife don't feel safe in the city," added Colonel Shepard. "She is
afraid we may be inundated h