Previously, the captain returned to the ship in a drunken state.
Joe remembered that night well. He and Anders had somehow managed to subdue the captain and eventually got the old salt to his sleeping quarters. Mrs. Munshaw, the enraged passenger, found young Emily on the poop-deck and put her daughter to bed in her own cabin. The rest of the crew and passengers arrived back at the ship quite late and some of them were in worse shape than the captain.
The B.C. Express did not meet the scheduled departure time of 4:00 A.M. However, she did pull away from the Siems-Carey wharf by 8:30 the same morning. "Fore and Aft," the boatswain called. The deck crew took up their positions and before long the ship swung around in the river and was on its way down the rambling Fraser to South Fort George.
Joe was on the foredeck during the departure and for the first few hours after clearing Mile 53 he was put to work washing down the wooden decks with a scrub-brush. He didn't mind the work as the decks were not very dirty. The weather had changed that day for the better and now Joe had the hot sun on his back and the cool breeze in his face. He filled his pail with river water using a heaving-line and rinsed off the different areas of the deck as he scrubbed.
Some of the passengers lounged in deck chairs on the first balcony. From this level they could see all the sights including the fabulous scenery and sometimes wild animals. At one point Joe spotted a bull moose near the banks of the river. From time to time Joe would look up from his scrubbing to see if the captain were watching.
From the wheelhouse Captain Baker navigated the Fraser with reverence. He had studied the river on previous trips and knew it well. The man had great respect for the mighty and unpredictable water-highway.
Generally navigation between Tte Jaune Cache and South Fort George was good during the high water with the exception of the two canyons and one whirlpool on route.
The B.C. Express made a short stop at Croydon Landing to pick up a photographer, Mr. Fred Munshaw. He would be joining his family onboard. Munshaw had been taking photographs of the railway construction in the area while his wife and daughter had been visiting friends up-stream at Mile 53.
Three miles past Croydon a white flag appeared on the port side riverbank. Joe had been told this was a sign that passengers wanted to be picked up. He
informed Mr. Hastings the boatswain.
In the next episode, No free rides, Captain Baker exercises his duty as master of the B.C. Express and takes on a ruthless railway rogue.
