The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-01-24
THE INDIAN STATE SENTINEL WEDNESDAY, JANUARY "a

of the great trees, flooding the stock ard
fences completely out of sight. Logs, boards
and great eold-looking cakes of ice, even
the bodies of dead cattle, were swept fur
iously on. The heads-only the heads and
horns-of some of their own cattle could be
seen here and there, as the poor creatures
SWAN feebly to and fro.
Looking down in frightened awe from
the open window, the lad saw that the del
wing, guttering current had already attack
cd the foundation of the Eouse, which stood
considerably higher than the cattle yards,
and that the doorsteps below were under
water.
AS the danger Of the situation dswned
upon him, the lads terror grew. Again
and again he shouted TO Rudolph; but there
was no response save the rush and the roar
of the river.
Then be ran to the room of little Jennie
and Izsh, who had already been awakened
by his shouts. With frightened sobs the
| children clung to their brother, scarcely
daring TO look out upon the frightful scene
about them. "Where is Rudolph Where
is Rudolphf' they sobbed.
Henry soothed them as best he could,
and leaving them st the head of the stair
water had risen.
To his increased alarm he found that the
kitchen floor was already covered, and that
the muddy water was pouring in through
the cracks about the door. 1t was rising
fsst-hsd risen ever since he first looked
out upon it.
Then for few moments the boys cour-
age almost deserted him; he trembled vic.
Ian a,H kaa int 10 an
fatherl motherl why amt you here2" he
cried out.
Then the crash of huge ice-cake against
the door aroused him.
foung as he was he realized that the
house must soon be swept away if the water
continued to rise, and almost iercely wiping
away his tears, he tried to think of some
means by which he might save his little sis
tiers and himself.
Through the kithen window he saw the
trunk of the great elm beneath which stood
the grindstone, only q few feet from the
broad doorstep-a huge tree, four or FIVE
feet in diameter. The waters were dashing
against its massive trunk. That, at least,
seemed proof against their utmost strength.
"The old elml The old elmp he cried.
IF we could only get up among the big
limbsp And then he formed his heroic
plan and proceeded to put il into execution.
The elm had great outstretching branches,
one of the largest of which extended across
q corner of the kitchen roof, which was
nearly fiat and easy of access from q win
dow in the second story of the house
Henry had often climbed tut there and
mounted the branch, from which he could
ascend nearly to the top of the tree-a
dizzy height however, which he seldom at
tempted.
1.-THE food can't dig the old elm out" he
thought. "It's stood there too long"
But little Izsh and Jenniel he feared for
them. 1t was as much as he himself dared
do to climb the tree, and he feared the lit
tie girls would grow dizzy and fall into
the rushing waters beneath. The brave
boy thought of all this, and solved the prob
lem in a manner that speaks we'll both for
his courage and his invention.
Wsding through the water on the kitchen
floor, he reached the woodshed and there
procured his mothers clothes line, also
coil of larger rope and an old door, besides
a number of loose boards which stood in
corner. Carrying these up stairs, where
the little girls stood crying and calling for
"papa and mamma" he put them out on
the kitchen roof.
"Stop crying, girls" he exclaimed, cheer
lily; stop your crying. Pa and ma will be
here soon as they can get boat, and I'll
take care of you till they come. We're
going to get up in the big elm and build us
q house up there and take up victuals. The
water never will take that old tree away,
and we can live up there like squirrels"
The energetic lad now sped about the
house to complete his preparation for their
strange change of abode. Even little Jen-
ME, the younger sister, caught something
of his courage; and both the girls ran
about helping in whatever way they could.
Some leaves of bread, bucket of dough-
nuts, together with dried beef, q smoked
ham, aud several wooden blankets were laid
out on the kitchen roof. Then Henry
bound the clothes-line about his waist and
climbed on the great branch, and thence up
to the large limbs above, to q height of some
twenty feet above the rushing waters.
Selecting spot where two limbs branched
of parallel with each other, he now lowered
one end Of his rope to his sisters, for the
old door and boards. Before climbing up
he had instructed them what to do and how
to do it; and In q very short time the
boards, the door and the other coils of rope
were hauled up one after another, and Sc
curely fastened.
The door and boards were then placed
on the parallel branches and tied with a
rope; and in this manner q small floor, or
platform, six or eight feet square, was laid,
large enough for all three to sit or lie on.
II did not take long now to draw up the
food and blankets; but there still remained
for the lad the harder and more perilous
task of hosting up the little girls to his
airy platform.
He had reserved the longest and strong
est rope for this purpose, and looping it in
the middle over limb and letting the two
ends fall to the roof, he descended and tied
an end firmly bsnesth the arms of both Izah
and Jennie in turn.
To climb back t his old position was but
the work of moment. Then came the
real work. Izsh was a plump little girl,
and Jennie was still heavier, though not IS
old. They were frightened and screamed
considerably, but he hauled them up, one
after the other, safely on to the platform.
Meanwhile the wild rushing waters were
steadily rising, and had now nearly reached
the kitchen window-sills. Still larger cakes
of ice were driving ponderously along
among the trees; occasionally one ground
against the elm, giving it heavy, jarring
bump, or struck the walls of the house with
q force that made the timbers crack.
The little girls trembled with fear; and
now that the excitement of climbing into
the tree was over. despair again seized upon
than In vain Harry triad In ouIat THAR