estimates, it would leave just the result which the engineer
could obtain on an emergency like the present.

The Sylvania went into the rapid current, which we began to feel at
fifty yards from the gap. But it did not stop, or even sensibly detain
us, for the water was scattered as soon as it passed through the
opening. We made our course at a right angle with the levee, and kept
the helm firmly against any tendency to "wabble;" for if the swift tide
had struck her on the side, it would have hurled her around in spite of
us.

At twenty yards from the levee we began to slacken our speed, for here
we got almost the full force of the current. But she still went ahead,
though she quivered as if the struggle would shake her in pieces. Not
one of us said a word in the pilot-house. I directed the helm, for I
was more accustomed to the working of the steamer than any of my
companions.

The bow went up abreast of the inside of the dike. The Sylvania
trembled like a race-horse after his first heat. We held her head
steadily up to the work, but I could not see that she gained a single
inch. The propeller whirled like a circular saw, such as I had often
observed in the lumber-mills at home. I almost fancied that I could
hear it buzz.

I watched the edge of the crevasse, but I could not see that we either
gained or lost. For several minutes we struggled against the savage
tide. It was a desperate situation. The people on the levee, now
swelled into a crowd by the arrival of several steamers, were watching
us with intense interest. No one spoke a word.

"Look out sharp for the helm, Mr. Bell," I shouted, so as to be heard
above the roar of the rushing waters and the clang of the engine.

I thought he did not respond to my movements with the wheel as promptly
as was necessary. I felt that the least turn to the right or the left
would be fatal to us, for by this time I realized that the situation
was vastly more perilous than when we went into the current before. The
least "wabble" might cause the current to strike her on the side, and
send her over on her beam ends in the vortex below us.

"Can't you crowd her a little more, Moses," I called through the
speaking-tube.

"Not much more," he promptly replied.

"We are not losing anything," said the pilot, holding his breath.

"Mind the helm," I replied, for I felt that I could not hold her alone.
"If we get the bow half a degree across the current, it is all up with
us."