Raftmates

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Raftmates, by Kirk Munroe

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Title: Raftmates A Story of the Great River
Author: Kirk Munroe

Release Date: September 16, 2006 [eBook #19303]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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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