In March, when the snow finally melted, the country was flooded
and traveling by land was utterly out of the question. The boys,
therefore, bought a large canoe, and in it floated down the
Sangamon River to keep their appointment with Offut. It was in
this somewhat unusual way that Lincoln made his first entry into
the town whose name was afterward to be linked with his own.
Offut was waiting for them, with the discouraging news that he
had been unable to get a flatboat at Beardstown. The young men
promptly offered to make the flatboat, since one was not to be
bought; and they set to work, felling the trees for it on the
banks of the stream. Abraham's father had been a carpenter, so
the use of tools was no mystery to him; and during his trip to
New Orleans with Allen Gentry he had learned enough about
flatboats to give him confidence in this task of shipbuilding.
Neither Johnston nor Hanks was gifted with skill or industry, and
it is clear that Lincoln was, from the start, leader of the
party, master of construction, and captain of the craft.
The floods went down rapidly while the boat was building, and
when they tried to sail their new craft it stuck midway across
the dam of Rutledge's mill at New Salem, a village of fifteen or
twenty houses not many miles from their starting-point. With its
bow high in air, and its stern under water, it looked like some
ungainly fish trying to fly, or some bird making an unsuccessful
attempt to swim.
Pages:
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39