Raftmates | Page 3

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.
CHAPTER II.
WINN ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY.
It was during one of these conversations with the boy's mother that
Major Caspar decided to take Winn with him on his raft voyage down
the Mississippi.

"If I find a good chance to place the boy in a first-class school in one of
the large cities after the voyage is ended I shall do so," said the Major.
"It is only fair, though, that he should have a chance to see and learn
something of the world first. After all, there is nothing equal to travel
as an educator. I honestly believe that the war did more in four years
towards educating this nation by stirring its people up and moving large
bodies of them to sections remote from their homes than all our
colleges have in fifty."
"But you mean that Winn shall go to college, of course?" said Mrs.
Caspar, a little anxiously.
"If he wants to, and shows a real liking for study," was the reply; "but
not unless he does. College is by no means the only place where a boy
can receive a liberal education. He may acquire just as good a one in
practical life if he is thoroughly interested in what he is doing and has
an ambition to excel. I believe Winn to be both ambitious and
persevering; but he is impulsive, easily influenced, and impatient of
control. He has no idea of that implicit obedience to orders that is at the
foundation of success in civil life as well as in the army; and, above all,
he is possessed of such an inordinate self-conceit that if it is not
speedily curbed by one or more severe lessons, it may lead him into
serious trouble."
"Oh, John!" expostulated the mother. "Do you realize that you are
saying these horrid things about our own boy--our Winn?"
"Indeed I do, dear," answered the Major, smiling; "and it is because he
is our boy, whom I love better than myself, that I am analyzing his
character so carefully. He has the