No engineer was ever sleepy or careless when his heart was in a race.

He was constantly on the alert, trying gauge-cocks and watching things.

The dangerous place was on slow, plodding boats, where the engineers drowsed around and allowed chips to get into the 'doctor' and shut off the water supply from the boilers.
In the 'flush times' of steamboating, a race between two notoriously fleet steamers was an event of vast importance.

The date was set for it several weeks in advance, and from that time forward, the whole Mississippi Valley was in a state of consuming excitement.

Politics and the weather were dropped, and people talked only of the coming race.