e as if it was a moonlight
summer night an' he had all the sea-room in a couple of oceans.

"'Air ye goin' to stop at Houghton?' I asks him, sort o' sarcastic, 'or
are ye gittin' up speed enough to run on a mile or two after ye hit the
shore?'

"'Don't ye worry,' he said, with a short laugh, 'ye c'n tie my ears an'
eyes up doorin' a hurricane, 'n' I can smell my way to port!'

"An' I'm tellin' ye he did. Without nary a light nor nothin' to guide
him--for the snow was worse 'n any fog--he went full speed ahead. An'
when he tinkled that little telegraph bell to the engine room, I was
wonderin' if he was within ten miles o' the place. But as that craft
slowed down, ye can b'lieve me or not 's you like, she glided up to her
own pier like as if it was a ferry-boat in a dead calm.

"'I've got to hand it to you, Cap'n,' I says to him, 'I wouldn't ha'
believed it unless I seen it.'

"'That's my end,' say the cap'n, 'I know my work, same's you know yours.
I'm bettin' my pile on you fellers makin' good 'most any ol' time.' Made
me feel good, all right."

"It sure does make a difference," put in Eric, "when you know that
people have confidence in you."

"Right you are, boy," said the old keeper, and continued his story.
"That pier was jest a mass o' folks, thick as they c'd stand. An' when
they saw the tug with us on board, they cheered, 'n' cheered, 'n'
cheered. There was a dozen to grab the lines 'n' make 'em fast, 'n'
before she was even tied up, a mob grabbed our boat an' apparatus an'
rushed it to the railroad.

"While we was a-comin' over the strait, the superintendent o' the
railroad division was got up, 'n' told all about the wreck. He was a
spry man, too, 'n' by the time the tug was in, he had orders out to
clear the track 'n' a special train was waitin' in the station. She was
ready fitted up with a couple of open cars for the boat an' apparatus,
an' one coach for us.

"They didn't let us touch nothin'.

"'Keep your strength, men,' the superintendent said to the crew, 'my
boys will put your stuff aboard.'

"They did. That boat an' the apparatus an' everything else was aboard
that special, jest about as quick as we could climb into the cars. We
had a special train all right! She jest whizzed along that track, not
worryin' about nothin'. Signals didn't matter, for the track had been
cleared in advance. The superintendent had come on the train with us.
He'd wired ahead to Marquette, an' when we slowed up there