No Good Deed 19

I followed the corpse bearers on deck. They seemed on the point of heaving the body over the side, when Haycock caught sight of me,

'No point botherin' the Cap'n,' he cocked an eyebrow at me. 'Anyways, least said, soonest mended, don't they say?'

There was no great splash, as the riverboat was so low in the water. I gave the Cousins Haycock a nod and turned aft, crossing the decks at the rear of the superstructure.

This far up-river the banks were closer together, but not by any great deal. Where there were no sandbanks, a great many boats, large and small, could navigate in comparative safety. There were even a few skiffs, darting about like water boatmen: most likely they were as irritating for the trade and passenger ships along the river. I stood at the rail staring across the water. About a mile upriver, an enormous shape hove into view, even at that distance dwarfing anything else in view. As if to advertise its presence, a loud blast of a steam-whistle played a chord of dubious harmony. Even so far down river as the Grand Turk, the small skiffs began making for the safety of the bank, several taking great risks in front of our riverboat's bow. In ten minutes, the leviathan was alongside the Turk, and I calculated that the beast was travelling at a healthy six knots. The name on the prow was the Natchez VI; it was a huge thing out of Cincinnati and I found it hard to credit that both this giant and the somewhat less than Grand Turk both went by the name of riverboat. A loud blast came from the steam-whistle, a three-pipe affair of quite unnecessary size, I felt that my ears might bleed if I had to hear it ever again.

We would not reach Hannibal for another seven days, by my calculation. So, for several days and nights, I took myself to my cell of a cabin to practice with the concealed derringer. I meant to become deadly in the use of it. It seemed to me more likely that I could master its use, than become a proficient enough cheat at cards, in the time available to me. Besides, I felt I had witnessed a manner of profiting at the table, without the necessity of winning: it merely required the cultivation of suitable confederates.