The Voyage of the Rattletrap

Voyage of the Rattletrap, by
Hayden Carruth

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Title: The Voyage of the Rattletrap
Author: Hayden Carruth
Illustrator: H. M. Wilder
Release Date: August 24, 2005 [EBook #16586]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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VOYAGE OF THE RATTLETRAP ***

Produced by Cyril N. Alberga

Transriber's Note:
The illustration captions at the places where they have been inserted in

the HTML version, not in the exact locations where they occur in the
book.
THE VOYAGE OF THE RATTLETRAP
BY HAYDEN CARRUTH
AUTHOR OF "THE ADVENTURES OF JONES" ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY H. M. WILDER
NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1897

TO
JOHN BRIAR
A POOR COOK BUT A GOOD FELLOW

CONTENTS
CHAP
I. Getting Ready
II. Outward Bound
III. From Lookout Lake To The Missouri River
IV. Into Nebraska
V. Across The Niobrara
VI. By Canyons To Valentine
VII. Through The Sand Hills

VIII. On The Antelope Flats
IX. Off For The Black Hills
X. Among The Mountains
XI. Deadwood
XII. Homeward Bound

ILLUSTRATIONS
MAP The Voyage First Suggested Preparations Grandpa Oldberry
Presages Disaster Snoozer Mutiny Of The Pony Effect Of A Strange
Noise Plan For Rousing A Sound Sleeper First Lesson In Hay Twisting
Investigations Hats Milking The Heifer That Wore A Sleigh Robe Wet
But Hopeful Anti-Horse Thieves Jack Shoots A Grouse Flight Of The
Blacksmith Studying Botany "When The Winds Are Breathing Low"
Sad Result Of Dishonesty First Night Camp In The Sand Hills Dark
Doings Of The Cook No Horse-Feed The Careful Corn Owner A Study
In Red Men A Good Salesman Big Bear Looks Into The Educational
Situation A Lesson In Finance The Rattletrap In The Storm Effect Of A
Dog On A Mexican Post-Mortem On A Grizzly 'gene Starts A
Cook-Book Lack Of Confidence In Mankind Flying Cord-Wood The
Deserted Ranch Old "Blenty Vaters" In The Prairie Fire Well! Well!
Well!
[Frontispiece: Map of the voyage]
THE VOYAGE OF THE RATTLETRAP

I: GETTING READY
Perhaps we were pretty big boys--Jack and I. In fact, I'm afraid we
were so big that we haven't grown much since. But Ollie was a boy,
anyhow; he couldn't have been more than a dozen years old, and we

looked upon him as being a very small boy indeed; though when folks
saw us starting off, some of them seemed to think that we were as
boyish as he, because, they said, it was such a foolish thing to do; and
in some way, I'm sure I don't know how, boys have got the reputation
of always doing foolish things. "They're three of a kind," said Grandpa
Oldberry, as he watched us weigh anchor; "their parents oughter be sent
fer."
Well, it's hard to decide where to begin this true history. We didn't keep
any log on this voyage of the Rattletrap. But I'll certainly have to go
back of the time when Grandpa Oldberry expressed his opinion; and
perhaps I ought to explain how we happened to be in that particular
port. As I said, we--Jack and I--were pretty big boys, so big that we
were off out West and in business for ourselves, though, after all, that
didn't imply that we were very old, because it was a new country, and
everybody was young; after the election the first fall it was found that
the man who had been chosen for county judge wasn't quite twenty-one
years of age yet, and therefore, of course, couldn't hold office; and we
were obliged to wait three weeks till he had had his birthday, and then
to have a special election and choose him again. Everybody was young
except Grandpa Oldberry and Squire Poinsett.
But I was trying to account for our being in the port of Prairie Flower.
Jack had a cheese-factory there, and made small round cheeses. I had a
printing-office, and printed a small square newspaper. In my paper I
used to praise Jack's cheeses, and keep repeating how good they were,
so people bought then; and Jack used, once in a while, to give me a
cheese. So we both managed to live, though I think we sometimes got a
little tired of being men, and wished we were back home, far from thick
round cheeses and thin square newspapers.
One evening in the first week in September, when it was raining as
hard as it could rain, and when the wind was blowing as hard as it
could blow, and was