BORDER LIFE IN THE WEST. 
215 
But the river was falling fast when we left Louisville, and 
we found great difiiculty on that account, in the way of our 
navigation ; and indeed, when we reached the point of land- 
ing, just at the head of the rapids, which was not until eleven 
o'clock of a dark night, we found to our great dismay, that 
the captain could not be induced to land on the Kentucky 
side by any entreaties. He said that at such a stage of the 
water, landing on that side was entirely unsafe, and that he 
would not risk the safety of his boat and other passengers 
for the accommodation of one or two — ^but as he offered to 
land us on the Indiana side, where there was a small wood- 
yard and cabin, in which we could take shelter until morn- 
ing, we were bound to feel satisfied. 
However great this obligation was, my elderly companion 
did not seem by any means to appreciate it with sufficient 
gratitude. When he found that the captain was brutally de- 
termined upon his course, he said nothing more, but seemed 
reconciled to put the best possible face upon the matter. I 
could see, though, from his manner, that there was something 
behind the studied coolness with which he accepted the 
alternative; what it meant I could not comprehend, for I 
had been too long absent from the country to be at all aware 
of the then infamous reputation of that portion of the Indiana 
border. The boat stopped in the middle of the stream, and 
the yawl was manned to put us, with our baggage, on shore, 
when, as we were entering, we found ourselves about to be 
joined by a third party, whose " traps " had been handed 
forward, and had been passed down. First came four square 
boxes of cherry-wood, highly varnished, and ostentatiously 
mounted with silver — German silver, I suppose — and which 
proved very weighty ; so much so, that the hands " in- 
dulged in many mysterious jokes about them, enjoining each 
other to be careful not to let them fall, for if they " bust " 
open and " spilt anything," it might be too much " for a man 
to stand," &c. Then came several large and heavy black 
trunks. 
