He said she had a gray mare aboard, and a preacher.

To me, this sufficiently accounted for the disaster; as it did, of course, to Mumford, who added-- 'But there are many ignorant people who would scoff at such a matter, and call it superstition.

But you will always notice that they are people who have never traveled with a gray mare and a preacher.

I went down the river once in such company.

We grounded at Bloody Island; we grounded at Hanging Dog; we grounded just below this same Commerce; we jolted Beaver Dam Rock; we hit one of the worst breaks in the 'Graveyard' behind Goose Island; we had a roustabout killed in a fight; we burnt a boiler; broke a shaft; collapsed a flue; and went into Cairo with nine feet of water in the hold--may have been more, may have been less.