55. Serving Omphale
So intent were the rest on the condition of the sufferer, that it was not until the night was half gone, and their hope of Roxy's living had slowly revived, that the long-continued absence of Bonamy excited alarm. A search of the farm was instituted, and when morning came, inquiries were made about the village, and plans were even talked of for dragging the river in search of the body, on the supposition that he had drowned himself. But Bill McKay, full of curiosity about the mysterious bareheaded man who had promised in this wild fashion to return " when he had served out his time," resorted early to town, that he might find out abont him. Bill's story and Mark's disappearance were soon fitted together, and it was generally agreed that Bonamy had " gone crazy." A man was sent to Louisville to search for him, but he was not tracked farther than his landing from the " Lady Pike " in the morning; for Bonamy's mental aberration had settled down into a mania for self-punishment. He had gone to Louisville, partly because the Louisville boat happened to come along at the moment, and partly because the Indiana state-prison was at Jeffersonville, on the opposite bank of the river from that city. But when his wita were cleared a little by the sleep of the night, he remembered that however guilty he might be, there was nc place for an unconvicted criminal in the penitentialy.
AIready the mania was taking a milder form, and he con tented himsolf, after having bought a rough hat at a Jew's shop in Louisville, with walking along a canal bank through Shippingsport to the wretched village known in that day as Portland, where two or three boats from the lowei country were lying. He succeeded in hiring himself out to the mate of the "Sultana" as a deck-hand, a term applied then to the men who are now called roustabouts, or, in strict steamboat-men's parlance, " roosters." He could not have chosen a more severe punishment, outside of the penitentiary, for the roustabout, as the lowest man in the steamboat hierarchy, was subject to the kicks and cuffs of everybody, from the captain dovvn to the third mate. But there was something of dignity in Bonamy's speech and manner that procured him much immunity from the insults heaped upon his fellows, while his rugged frame and great physical strength made him the equal of the rudest of his companions in carrying sacks of corn and coffee, or in rolling off sugar hogsheads. Perhaps, also, his physical strength and the fire in his eye had something to do with the mate's unwonted respect for him. Doubtless the hard work was the best cure for his brain. The weariness of lifting and carrying made him sleep, and the sleep brought a gradual mental recuperation. By the time the ' ; Sultana " had reached Evansville, he began to wonder at his own abruptness in leaving Luzerne, without even waiting till Hoxy's funeral was over, and he began to reflect that there would be search made for him. So he posted a note to his brother-in-law, in which he simply said : " Pm serving out my time. I'll come home when Pm through." This idea of penal servitude for a definite time was fixed in his mind.
The letter did not reach Luzerne until Roxy was far on her way to recovery and had been informed of all the incidents of her sickness and of Mark's departure. Letters were immediately sent to Evansville, but of course no trace could be found of Bonamy. Advertisements were inserted in Louisville papers but without avail. There were neither telegraphs nor railroads. But Roxy, when she recovered, made use of the best means within her reach. Since the whole trade of the village by flat-boat was with the " lower country," she wrote letters to every flat-boat pilot and flat-boat hand whose address she could get at every point up and down the Mississippi, asking them to keep a lookout for Mark. There were also a certain number of old inhabitants of the village who were doing business in New Orleans, and to these Roxy sent word. That he was serving on flat-boat or raft, or on the deck of a steamboat, came to be the general impression. And when a second letter came from Memphis, saying : " The work is hard, but I can stand it till my time is out," there seemed no doubt that he was on a steamboat ; the time from Evansville to Memphis was too quick for any other mode of travel. In her eagerness to find him, Roxy even visited the coal-boats and salt-boats that touched the village landing and had interviews also with the boatmen who came ashore ii skiffs for supplies, giving them a careful description of Mark's person.