OCR Text |
Show ] 00 oar~ ion. bccau .·~ 011<' of i.. he o1lH'l'S 1nigh L geL broke, on a sn;1g or sntnl't hing. 'r (' fixe< 1 up a short fork eel ~i ick to hang i he ol<1 lantern on; b<'cause \\·c Jnusi alway: light th<' lant<'rn ·when eyer we Sl'C a st e~n1hoai c01ning clown strcain, i o k<'cp fro1n getting run over; hni.. we wonhln't have i..o light it for up-.·trc£nn b oats nnl e~s \\·e sec we wa · in whaL i hey call a "crossing;" for the river wa. pr 'tlY high yet, very ]o,v hmk· h cing .·till a little undecwaier; ·o np-houncl boats di<1n'L alway · run the chann 1, bui huntl'c.l easy water. Thi. secon<l night "\Ye run between ·even and eight hour:-:, with a cturent that was nutking ov r four mil an hour. \\'"e catchccl fish, and talked, and we took a Hwim now an<..l i hen to keep off sleepine.· ·. It wa · kind of sol 1nn, drifting down ilw big still ri v r, laying on our backs looking up at the star,, and we didn't ever feel like talking lou(l, and it warn't often that \VC laughed, only a little kind of a low chuckle. Vtr c l1ad 1nighty goocl wcath r, as a general thing, and nothing ever happ0necl to us at all, that night, nor th next, nor the n ext. Every night w passed town , some of them away up on black hill.·idcs, nothing but ju.t a shiny bed of lights, not a hou.-) could you , ce. The fifth night we pass c1 Ht. J_Jouis, and it was like the whole world lit up. In SL P tersburg they used to Hay there was twenty or thirty thousand people in St. Louis, bnl I never believ d it till I see that wonderful spread of lights at two o ,clock that still night. There warn't a sound. there ; everyhod y was asleep. Every night, now, I used to slip a hore, towards ten o'clock, at orne little village, and buy ten or fifteen c nts' worth of meal or bacon or other stuff to eat ; and sometimes I lifted a chicken that warn't roo 'ling comfortable, and took him along. ~ap alway~ said, ta~e a chicken when you get a chance, becauc.:e 1f you don t want h1m yourself you can ea ·y find ·omebody thal doe. ' and a good deed ain't ever forgot. I never see pap when l(J l he cli<ln'L want ihc chick<'H hin1:-:elf, hut thai i~ what h, u: ·~..1 (o ~ :1y, :ulyw:\y. "'lorni11g:-:, lH'forc <1aylight, I , l ipp<·d i11to cnrn -fit'ld~ ancl l1mTn\\·c·d a, \\at cnneloH, cr a nl u:-:lnnel~~n, or <t punkin ~ or .'Olll \ 11 ('\\ ('orn, or thing:-: of' tl1a1~ kind. P:q> :thr:tys :-::1 id it \r:\rn'{ no ' I I ---< ~ l '"'"'' \ . Ill~ ~0:\TETDIE,' LTI<'T l ~D A 'lll~KE~ . harm to bolTO"\V things, if yon was 1ncaning to pay then1 baek :'ometiln ; but tl1c 'vidow said it wnrn'i nnyt hing but a ·oft nam for stealing, and no clec nt b c1y would cl it. Ji1n · aiel he r ckon d the wido\v wa.· partly right nnd pap wa.· partly right ; , o the b , t way would be for n . to pi ·k out two r thr things from th li. t and say w wouldn't horrow 1 hPm any 1nore |