110 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 
of the Mississippi, the contemplated canal through the 
Isthmus of Darien, and the ability of the steam war- 
ships; he said, that in the contemplation of the subject, 
“his feelings war propelled by five hundred horse- 
power—that the bows of his imagination cut through 
the muddy waters of reality—that the practicability of 
his notions was as certain as a rudder in giving the pro- 
per direction—that his judgment, like a safety-valve to 
his mind, would always keep him from advocating any 
thing that would burst up, and that it was unfortunate 
that Robert Fulton had not lived to be President of the 
United States.” 
With such enlarged ideas he wiled away the hours 
of dinner ;—arriving at the mouth of “ Dry Outlet ” (a 
little ditch that draws off some of the waters of the 
Mississippi when very high), the pilot turned the bows 
of the “ Emperor” into its mouth, and shot down, 
along with an empty flour barrel, with an alacrity that 
sent the bows of the boat high and dry on land, the first 
bend it came to. 
A great deal of hard work got it off, and away the 
steamer went again, at one time sideways, at another 
every way, hitting against the soft alluvial banks, or 
brushing the pipes among the branches of overhanging 
trees. Finally the current got too strong, and carried 
it along with alarming velocity. The bows of the boat 
were turned up stream, and thus managed to keep an 
onward progress compatible with safety. 
