The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-06-24

gate and the lower gate were raised and
the big wheel felt the stir of the water In
its every bucket In tumbled the corn
from bag after bag into the hopper, and
the upper milestone ground on the
neither milestone, and the yellow corr
became yellow meal, and was poured
into the bags, and away went their own.
er, happy over his success. When he
was gone Andrew ate breakfast, and
down came the water faster and in
greater volume every instant; and the
old mill Numbered at every swift revo'
luton of the great wheel, that actually
groaned on its axis, as the water plunged
and splashed, filling the wheel-race
with foam.
Meanwhile honey and buckwheat
cakes kept Andrew busy at the table
until Augustus, who had breakfasted
while his brother played miller, opened 8
door and called out:
Father wants to know If Mr.. Cook
helped you shut the gates"
"Oh, my!" whispered Andrew
s'Don't tell Father, but the gates are
both wide open. Come on, Gus, and
Wen get 'em down."
Away went the boys. They darted
unier the doorway and ran through
the mill to the race and the upper gate
The current was very strong; the race
itself could not hold all the water tina,
came to it. The force of it resisted the
lads united strength, for the water was
full now of slush.
Ann stood in the doorway, baby Alb
by in her arms, and watched the boys al
work.
"There's something wrong at the
mill, father" she said. 'sI'm going to
run down and see, if you'll hold Abby"
The poor miller sat there, helpless,
and grooming away his troubles to the
baby, while Ann appeared at the race,
sledge hammer in hand.
"You must stop it at once" she
cried, ssor the wheel will break, and
then what yould become of us?''
With mighty blows from as many
hands as could lay hold on the hammer,
the gate went slowly down as far as it
could be driven, and, by the time the
lower gate was reached, it was easy to
close that, but still the water came from
somewhere. The old mill fairly shook
amid the creaking cries of its straining
wheels and timbers.
"The river is breaking up! The ice
is coming over the fall? The water is
up to the mill-foor!" cry one and an
other in horror.
"Out, out with the meal! Let us
save all we CAM" shouts Andrew. 81
can manage one bag, and you two can
carry another. Take these first
One, two, ten, twenty, forty bags of
corn and rye the young Steeles saved
before the water drove them out of the
mill. And the wheel worked faster than
ever all the time, and the air was full of
the rush and the roar of Mad River at
its breaking up.
Meanwhile the miller himself SET the
baby a-crying, out of pure sympathy
with her papa's lamentations (but chill
dren did not say s'papa" in those days.,
for he verify believed that he should be
compelled to sit there until the flood
came and carried him away-so long
were the children gone, and so alarmed
was he at the laundering noises.
He was about to do something desper-
ate with Abby, when the arbutus face
a little poppy. like now, it must be owned
in the doorway with:
"Oh, Father! I'm afraid the mill will
60 down, but we've saved every bit of
John Lathrop's rye, and Mr.. Holiness
wheat. We thought we'd get theirs,
cause they'd need it most, and the river
is rising so fast you can see it come up,
and-and-but here comes grandfather!
He's managed to come down the hill
this morning."
"Where's your father? Where's your
father? Where's your father?'' Re-
sounded through the kitchen before Ann
had time to get into that room and to
reply;
said, "but l think there isn't much dan
ger of the houses going, though there
IS an awful power of snow up the valley
to get away somehow. Don't be fright.
ened, child" he added, as the warm
color paled in the girls face. Give
seen many freshet in my time, and
paid taxes for more new bridges than
declare, Albert, you down again with
the rheumatism! Too bad! Too bad!
We'd better manage to get you up the
hill afore night" he ran on. sMean-
while, I'll see to things at the mill.
Don't you worry now, my boy. Your
old father is worth something yet," and
away went the good old man, peering
here and looking there, to see to this
and that, and feeling very glad that all
the sheep and the cows were on the. hill
side of the river. 1t would be so easy to
escape up the long lift of land. An
thony Steele had built his house up there
with due regard to possible times like
the present one.
Nowhere could he find Andrew and
Augustus. They had disappeared from
sig ht.
"Where are the boys, AnnP" called
their father. "Why don't the boys
come and see me? 1 want to speak to
them"
Ann heard, but something made her
hesitate.
"Ann, call the boys!" came at last,
in . tone that she felt, and that made
her paler than she had been before.
"Father!" she said, ''they wont hear
me. They've gone!"
"Gone whereof" he Numbered.
's Where could the rascals 60 to-, when
We are all on the verge of destruction?"