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RAFTMATES
A Story of the Great River
by
KIRK MUNROE
Author of
"Dorymates" "Campmates" "Canoemates" Etc.
Illustrated
[Frontispiece: "Winn dashed away with the speed of a deer."]
New York and London
Harper & Brothers Publishers
1902
Copyright, 1893, by Harper & Brothers.
All rights reserved
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. THE RAFT
II. WINN ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY
III. A MUD-BESPATTERED ARRIVAL FROM CALIFORNIA
IV. BILLY BRACKETT STARTS DOWN THE RIVER
V. HOW THE VOYAGE WAS BEGUN
VI. MR. GILDER AND HIS RUDE RECEPTION
VII. A GANG OF "RIVER-TRADERS"
VIII. DISAPPEARANCE OF THE RAFT
IX. ALONE ON THE ISLAND
X. A NIGHT OF STRANGE HAPPENINGS
XI. BILLY BRACKETT'S SURPRISING SITUATION
XII. THE TRAPPERS TRAPPED
XIII. WINN'S LONELY CRUISE
XIV. A PEAL OF GIRLISH LAUGHTER
XV. "CAP'N COD," SABELLA, AND THE "WHATNOT"
XVI. BIM MAKES AN ENEMY
XVII. THE TRUTH, BUT NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH
XVIII. FOLLOWING THE TRAIL
XIX. A CURIOUS COMPLICATION
XX. BIM GROWLS
XXI. EVERY ONE EXPLAINS
XXII. A "MEWEL" NAMED "REWARD"
XXIII. REWARD RUNS AWAY WITH THE PANORAMA
XXIV. WINN DISCOVERS HIS LONG-LOST RAFT
XXV. THE RAFT AND SHOW-BOAT CHANGE CREWS
XXVI. A DISASTROUS COLLISION
XXVII. IS THIS OUR RAFT OR NOT?
XXVIII. THE RESCUE OF SABELLA
XXIX. BIM BRINGS ABOUT A JOYFUL MEETING
XXX. IN CLOD'S CABIN
XXXI. CAMPMATES TURN RAFTMATES
XXXII. THE "RIVER-TRADERS" ATTEMPT TO REGAIN POSSESSION
XXXIII. WHERE IS BIM?
XXXIV. A BLAZE ON THE RIVER
XXXV. BIM'S HEROISM
XXXVI. THE MASTER OF MOSS BANK
XXXVII. BIM'S COON
XXXVIII. THE GREAT RIVER AND ITS MISCHIEF
XXXIX. HURLED THROUGH THE CREVASSE AND WRECKED
XL. A MEETING OF MATES
ILLUSTRATIONS.
"WINN DASHED AWAY WITH THE SPEED OF A DEER" . . . _Frontispiece_
"WINN SECURED ONE END OF THE CABLE TO THAT
PART OF THE BOOM RESTING AGAINST THE SNAG"
"'WHY, THE RAFT HAS GONE!' EXCLAIMED ELTA"
"'HOLD ON, YOUNG MAN! ONE AT A TIME IS ENOUGH'"
"A BROAD STREAM OF WHEAT RUSHED OUT ON DECK"
"'WATCH HIM, BIM!'"
"'WHO'S THERE?' CRIED THE OLD MAN"
"BILLY BRACKETT UTTERED A CRY OF AMAZEMENT"
WINN'S INTRODUCTION TO SABELLA
BILLY BRACKETT IS A FRIEND IN NEED
"THE MULE WAS PURCHASED THAT AFTERNOON"
"WITH A PRODIGIOUS LEAP HE LANDED SQUARELY ON REWARD'S HEAD"
"'THE RAFT HAS GONE, AND WE ARE AFTER IT'"
THE RESCUE OF SABELLA
"THE NEXT INSTANT HE SPRANG TO HIS FEET WITH A CRY"
"THE STRONG ARMS LIFTED HIM AS THEY WOULD A CHILD"
"LIKE YOUNG TIGERS THE BOYS TUGGED AT THE HEAVY SWEEPS"
"'YO' CALLIN' DAT AR PLANTASHUN MOSS BACK?' EXCLAIMED SOLON"
"THE LANTERNS OF THE WORKING GANG GLANCING HERE AND THERE
LIKE FIRE-FLIES"
A REUNION OF "MATES"
RAFT MATES.
CHAPTER I.
THE RAFT.
Although the _Venture_ was by no means so large a raft as many that
Winn Caspar had watched glide down the Mississippi, he considered it
about the finest craft of that description ever put together. He was
also a little more proud of it than of anything else in the whole
world. Of course he excepted his brave soldier father, who had gone to
the war as a private, to come home when it was all over wearing a
major's uniform; and his dear mother, who for four weary years had been
both father and mother to him, and his sister Elta, who was not only
the prettiest girl in the county, but, to Winn's mind, the cleverest.
But outside of his immediate family, the raft, the _Venture_, as his
father had named it, was the object of the boy's most sincere
admiration and pride. Had he not helped build it? Did he not know
every timber and plank and board in it? Had he not assisted in loading
it with enough bushels of wheat to feed an army? Was he not about to
leave home for the first time in his life, to float away down the great
river and out into the wide world on it? Certainly he had, and did,
and was. So no wonder he was proud of the raft, and impatient for the
waters of the little river, on a bank of which the Caspar's lived, to
be high enough to float it, that they might make a start.
Winn had never known any home but this one near the edge of the vast
pine forests of Wisconsin. Here Major Caspar had brought his New
England bride many years before. Here he had built up a mill business
that was promising him a fortune in a few years more at the time when
the war called him. When peace was declared, this business was
wellnigh ruined, and the soldier must begin life again as a poor man.
For many months he struggled, but made little head-way against adverse
fortune. The mill turned out lumber fast enough, but there was no
demand for it, or those who wanted it were too poor to pay its price.
At length the Major decided upon a bold venture. The Caspar mill was
but a short distance from the Mississippi. Far away down the great
river were cities where money was plenty, and where lumber and farm
products were in demand. There were not half enough steamboats on the
river, and freights were high; but the vast waterway with its ceaseless
current was free to all. Why should not he do as others had done and
were constantly doing--raft his goods to a market? It would take time,
of course; but a few months of the autumn and winter could be spared as
well as not, and so it was finally decided that the venture should be
undertaken.
It was not to be a timber raft only. Major Caspar did not care to
attempt the navigating of a huge affair, such as his entire stock of
sawed material would have made, nor could he afford the expense of a
large crew. Then, too, while ready money was scarce in his
neighborhood, the prairie wheat crop of that season was unusually good.
So he exchanged half his lumber for wheat, and devoted his leisure
during the summer to the construction of a raft with the remainder.
This raft contained the very choice of the mill's output for that
season--squared timbers, planks, and boards enough to load a ship. It
was provided with two long sweeps, or steering oars, at each end, with
a roomy shanty for the accommodation of the crew, and with two other
buildings for the stowing of cargo. The floors of these structures
were raised a foot above the deck of the raft, and were made
water-tight, so that when waves or swells from passing steamboats broke
over the raft, their contents would not be injured. In front of the
central building, or "shanty," was a bed of sand six feet square,
enclosed by wooden sides, on which the camp-fires were to be built.
Much of the cooking would also be done here. Besides this there was a
small stove in the "shanty" for use during cold or wet weather.
The "shanty" had a door and three windows, and was in other ways made
unusually comfortable. The Major said that after four years of
roughing it, he now meant to take his comfort wherever he could find
it, even though it was only on a raft. So the _Venture's_ "shanty" was
very different from the rude lean-to or shelter of rough boards, such
as was to be seen on most of the timber rafts of the great river. Its
interior was divided into two rooms, the after one of which was a tiny
affair only six by ten feet. It was furnished with two bunks, one
above the other, a table, two camp-chairs, and several shelves, on one
of which were a dozen books of travel and history. This was the
sleeping-room that Winn was to share with his father.
A door from this opened into the main living-room of the "shanty."
Here were bunks for six men, a dining-table, several benches, barrels,
and boxes of provisions, and the galley, with its stove and ample
supply of pots, pans, and dishes. The bunks were filled with fresh,
sweet-smelling wheat straw, covered with heavy army blankets, and the
whole affair was about the most comfortable "shanty" ever set up on a
Mississippi timber raft. To Winn it seemed as though nothing could be
more perfect or inviting, and he longed for the time when it should be
his temporary home.
For a whole month after the raft was finished, loaded, and ready to set
forth on its uncertain voyage, it remained hard and fast aground where
it was built. To Winn's impatience it seemed as though high-water
never would come.
"I don't believe this old raft is ever going to float any more than the
mill itself," he remarked pettishly to his sister Elta one day in
October, as they sat together on the _Venture_ and watched the sluggish
current of the little river.
"Father thinks it will," answered Elta, quietly.
"Oh yes. Of course father thinks so; but he may be mistaken as well as
other folks. Now if I'd had the building of this craft, I would have
floated all the material down to the mouth of the creek. Then
everything would have been ready for a start as soon as she was
finished."
"How would you have loaded the wheat?" demanded Elta.
"Why, boated it down, of course."
"And so added largely to its cost," answered the practical girl. "You
know, Winn, that it was ever so much cheaper to build the raft here
than it would have been 'way down there, and, besides, father wasn't
ready to start when it was finished. I heard him tell mother that he
didn't care to get away before the 1st of November. Anyhow, father
must understand his own business better than a sixteen-year-old boy,
even if that boy's name is Winn Caspar."
"Oh, I never saw such a girl as you are!" exclaimed Winn, impatiently.
"You are always making objections to my plans, and telling me that I'm
only a boy. You'd rather any time travel in a rut that some one else
had made than mark out a track for yourself. For my part, I'd much
rather think out my own plans and try new ways."
"So do I, Winnie; but--"
"Oh, don't call me 'Winnie,' whatever you do! I'm as tired of pet
names and baby talk as I am of waiting here for high-water that won't
ever come."
With this the petulant lad rose to his feet, and leaping ashore,
disappeared among the trees of the river-bank, leaving Elta to gaze
after him with a grieved expression, and a suspicion of tears in her
brown eyes.
In spite of this little scene, Winn Caspar was not an ill-tempered boy.
He had not learned the beauty of self-control, and thus often spoke
hastily, and without considering the feelings of others. He was also
apt to think that if things were left to his management, he could
improve upon almost any plan proposed or carried out by some one else.
He had mingled but little with other boys, and as "man of the family"
during his father's four years of absence in the army, had conceived a
false estimate of his own importance and ability.
Absorbed by pressing business cares after resuming the pursuits of a
peaceful life, Major Caspar had been slow to note the imperfections in
his boy's character. He was deeply grieved when his eyes were finally
opened to them, and held many an earnest consultation with his wife
concerning the son, who was at once the source of their greatest
anxiety and the object of their fondest hopes.