Up the River by Oliver Optic — Read

I was quite exhausted after my efforts and the strain put upon me, and I was in no humor even to be praised. Some of the negroes our boats picked up on planks and on their toppling houses might have been drowned; but I did not believe the people in the mansion-houses were in any great danger. However, I had never seen an inundation before, and I may have been mistaken. My father was one of the first to visit me in the pilot-house.

"You have done well, Alick," said he; and that was all he did say, for he was not given to praising any one beyond his desert. "What are you going to do with all these people?"