ave been
on board a flat all my days, and am not going to be hurried along in one
of them puffing things. They have their uses, I am ready enough to
allow, when the current is swift and the wind light; I am glad enough of
a cast now and then, but to be always in a bustle and flurry is more
than I could stand. Come along, youngster, with your sack; the boat is a
quarter of a mile down."

Taking up his portmanteau, Frank followed his conductor, who with long
strides led the way along the wharf. Not a word was spoken till they
reached the side of the boat. This was not a flat such as now are in
general use, but a large boat some forty feet in length by fourteen
wide, almost flat-bottomed, and capable of carrying a cargo of eight or
ten tons of goods. In the stern was a little cabin some eight feet long
for the captain and his mate. In front was a similar structure for the
four negroes who formed the crew.

She carried one mast, with a large lug-sail. She had four sweeps, but
these were seldom used. When the wind was fair she ran before it, when
it was foul the mast was lowered; if it fell calm when they were coming
down the stream they drifted with it, if when going up, they either
anchored or poled her along in the back waters close inshore, or made
their way up the numerous channels where the stream flowed sluggishly,
or tied on behind a tug if one happened to come along.

Their principal work was to carry up supplies to the various plantations
along the banks, to trade with the villages, and to bring down produce
to New Orleans; for the stopping-places of the steamers were at wide
distances apart, and the number of steamers themselves very small in
comparison with those now afloat on the great river. At times they made
longer journeys, going up as far as St. Louis; but in that case they
were generally, as Frank afterwards learned, towed up the whole
distance.

"Hi! Pete, shove that plank ashore," Hiram shouted, and a negro at once
showed his head above a scuttle in the bow of the boat, and then
emerging, pushed a plank across the fifteen feet of water which
intervened between the flat and the wharf.

"That's your first lesson, young man," Hiram said. "Never on no account
lay your craft close alongside; thar's river thieves at these landings
as would empty half the cargo if you left the boat for ten minutes, if
they could step aboard, and these niggers are always asleep the minute
after you take your eyes off them.