Captain,' cried I, 'the Washington's passing you; it's all up with
the honour of the Helen M'Gregor.'

"The captain stood there as if his face had been rubbed over with
chalk, and the drops of sweat ran down his forehead. The five steamers
that we had passed were now hurraing with delight to see that we
should be humbled in our turn. 'Captain,' said I, 'will you let
yourself be beaten out of the field without firing a shot? The Helen
M'Gregor is a new ship--Crack on, man!'

"He could stand it no longer, but ran forward and screamed out to the
stokers. 'More wood!' cried he, 'High pressure, high pressure!'

"'Blaze away, boys!' cried I, 'Blaze away, and hurra for the Helen
M'Gregor!'

"And the fellows pitched whole cartloads of wood upon the fire, and
stirred and poked away till they were wet through with perspiration,
and our chimney began to whistle and sing, that it was a pleasure to
hear it. We were just entering the Ohio, the Washington close upon our
heels, when old Lambton and Emily came running upon deck in an
almighty fright.

"'Mr Doughby, for heaven's sake! Mr Doughby--captain, for God's sake!
Will you destroy yourself, and the steamer, and your fellow-citizens?
Will you race with the George Washington?'

"'For God's sake, Mr Doughby!' cried the Miss.

"'Mr Doughby!' squealed the old Yankee, who had quite forgotten his
stiffness, 'I demand and insist that you use your influence to prevent
the captain from racing.'

"'Pshaw!' said I, 'it's nothing of the sort--ain't going to race--only
want to see which ship goes quickest.'

"'That must not be. I protest against it--the safety of our
fellow-citizens--our own. If the boiler bursts'----

"'Nonsense!' said I--'safety of our fellow-citizens! Our
fellow-citizens _are_ in safety. We don't mean to race, Mister
Lambton,' says I; 'we are only trying for a minute which ship can go
the fastest.'

"'Mr Doughby!' cried Emily, half beside herself--throwing her arms
round me, and trying to drag me towards the engine--'Mr Doughby, if
you have the smallest affection--regard I would say--for me, exert
your influence, stop this horrid racing!'

"And then she left me and ran to the captain, who was standing beside
the engineer.

"The Washington was close behind us--we, as I said before, were
running slap into the mouth of the Ohio. There's no finer piece of
water in the whole world for a race. The current of the Mississippi
drives back that of the Ohio as far as