No Good Deed 15

My cabin, of necessity, was no luxurious stateroom; rather, a singular version, if a little better appointed, of the slaves' quarters below. The bunk, for it was too humble to aspire to being a bed, had apparently dictated the length of the cabin wall, rather than vice versa. A large chest served as the only furniture and there was, in fact, little room for more than the porcelain any traveller requires. I was not discontented, however. The alternative had been a plusher version of the slaves quarters available above decks for the more impecunious passenger. The fellow I had purchased passage from on the quayside in St. Louis had intimated that - between Agent's sales and ad hoc arrangements like my own - this often meant a top-and-tail arrangement for some legs of the journey. Having taken the carpet bag from the chest, I removed the Yaller House packet and sprawled on the bunk to examine my prize closely.

The packet was wrapped in oilskin and sealed with string and wax. These latter I removed with a knife, one of the few items- other than the watch - I had kept from my own possessions. On opening the oilskin the dusty smell of foxed pages and damp leather associated with old books met my nostrils, occasioning a fit of sneezing. I no longer enjoyed ancient tomes in the way I once had, having found - contrary to Mr Pope's belief - drinking deep of the Pierian spring to be ill-advised, since a deal of learning had often proved to be far more dangerous than a little, at least to me. It was about the size of a journal, but it was not any such thing. The binding was unmarked by any title or sign of ownership. Inside it seemed like a ledger or some kind of book of accounts in miniature.
The first page was filled in so:

|Sta |Sta Ma|StH|Cond|Pass Max|Tra
|NO**|**23**|*5*|*25*|15–20pn*|NO-StL
|BR**|**17**|*3*|*20*|*-”-****|NO-StL
|Na**|***2**|*1*|**4*|10*!!***|NO-StL

There was more of the same until 'St L'appeared in the left hand column on the following page and became the left hand notation in the right hand column. The other notation of the pair read 'M-StP'. This state of affairs continued through four pages of the ledger. Subsequently came a list of digraphs: such as CL or AN for example. Each of these were annotated, to the right hand of the page with any one of Sh, St, Sth, or Ab. There were hundreds of these entries, taking up many pages.

I could make neither head nor tail of it and was about to throw the book to the ground in disgust when I caught sight of a drawing inside the back cover. A title of sorts appeared above and to the left. It read Miss R. There was no delightful cartoon of a nude below it however, but a representation of what I took to be the very river I was navigating. At the southerly end a tidy hand had placed in minuscule lettering 'NO'. At the other extreme the same hand had scribed 'MstP.' At the foot of the page, I read:

'MstP to Can, how?”