Up the River
Up the River
OR
YACHTING ON THE MISSISSIPPI
By
OLIVER OPTIC
AUTHOR OF "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD" "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "THE
WOODVILLE SERIES" "THE STARRY FLAG SERIES" "THE BOAT CLUB
STORIES" "THE LAKE SHORE SERIES" "THE UPWARD AND
ONWARD SERIES" "THE YACHT CLUB SERIES"
"THE RIVERDALE STORIES" ETC.
WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM
1882
COPYRIGHT,
1881,
BY WILLIAM T. ADAMS.
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
NO. 4 PEARL STREET.
TO MY YOUNG FRIEND
MINNIE ETHEL ADAMS,
This Book
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES.
GOING WEST; OR, THE PERILS OF A POOR BOY.
OUT WEST; OR, ROUGHING IT ON THE GREAT LAKES.
LAKE BREEZES; OR, THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA.
GOING SOUTH; OR, YACHTING ON THE ATLANTIC COAST.
DOWN SOUTH; OR, YACHT ADVENTURES IN FLORIDA.
UP THE RIVER; OR, YACHTING ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
PREFACE.
UP THE RIVER is the sixth and last of "The Great Western Series." The events of the story occur on the coast of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and on the Mississippi River. The volume and the series close with the return of the hero, by a route not often taken by tourists, to his home in Michigan. His voyaging on the ocean, the Great Lakes, and the Father of Waters, is finished for the present; but the writer believes that his principal character has grown wiser and better since he was first introduced to the reader. He has made mistakes of judgment, but whatever of example and inspiration he may impart to the reader will be that of a
true and noble boy, with no vices to disfigure his character, and no low aims to lead him from "the straight and narrow path" of duty.
The author has a copy of his first book before him as he writes. On the title-page is this line: "A Tale of the Mississippi and the South-West." The preface, dated 1852, contains this passage: "In the summer of 1848, the author of the following tale was a passenger on board of a steamboat from New Orleans to Cincinnati.
During the passage—one of the most prolonged and uncomfortable in the annals of western river navigation—the plot of this story was arranged. Many of its incidents, and all of its descriptions of steamboat life will be recognized by the voyager on the Mississippi." Since that time the author has travelled on the upper waters of the great river.
His last book, by a coincidence at the present time, also relates to the Mississippi. Nearly a generation has passed away between the first and the last; and the latter is the writer's seventy-fifth book. The author has endeavored to make his works correct in facts and descriptions, as well as in moral tendency; and in the preparation of them he has travelled over fifty thousand miles by sea and land.
To his young friends,—some of the earlier of whom are now middle-aged men and women, with boys and girls of their own, reading the same books their fathers and mothers read a quarter of a century ago,—to his young friends the author again returns his sincere and hearty thanks for the favor they have bestowed upon his numerous volumes.
DORCHESTER, MASS., June 1, 1881.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
IN CAPTAIN BOOMSBY'S SALOON
11
CHAPTER II.
FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS
23
CHAPTER III.
ADIEU TO THE BOOMSBYS
34
CHAPTER IV.
NICK BOOMSBY HAS ASPIRATIONS
47
CHAPTER V.
THE STRANGE MOVEMENT OF THE ISLANDER
59
CHAPTER VI.
A LIVELY CHASE
71
CHAPTER VII.
A FOG OFF THE FLORIDA COAST
81
CHAPTER VIII.
A PORT IN A STORM
93
CHAPTER IX.
A VISIT FROM AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE
104
CHAPTER X.
INTELLIGENCE OF THE ISLANDER
116
CHAPTER XI.
DIFFICULT NAVIGATION
127
CHAPTER XII.
THE CALAMITY ON FRENCH REEF
138
CHAPTER XIII.
A NIGHT LOST IN THE STORM
149
CHAPTER XIV.
LOOKING FOR THE ISLANDER
160
CHAPTER XV.
A PARTIAL SOLUTION OF THE MYSTERY
172
CHAPTER XVI.
ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO
184
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SYLVANIA IN AMBUSH
196
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW NICK BOOMSBY MANAGED HIS CASE
208
CHAPTER XIX.
A SEARCH FOR THE LOST TREASURE
220
CHAPTER XX.
THE THEORY AND THE FACTS
231
CHAPTER XXI.
UP THE MISSISSIPPI
242
CHAPTER XXII.
THE ISLANDER IN A BAD FIX
253
CHAPTER XXIII.
AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION
265
CHAPTER XXIV.
A CREVASSE ON THE MISSISSIPPI
277
CHAPTER XXV.
SAILING ACROSS THE FIELDS
289
CHAPTER XXVI.
A DESPERATE STRUGGLE WITH THE RUSHING
WATERS
301
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE PLANTER AND HIS FAMILY
312
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A DISTINGUISHED PASSENGER
324
CHAPTER XXIX.
UP THE RIVER FOR MANY DAYS
335
CHAPTER XXX.
UP ANOTHER RIVER AND HOME AGAIN
347