Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-09-20

huge log, which. lay between her and
the wind. Thet'housen was not large
enough to hold Theodore, too, and SO
he made his bed upon stone just ont
side. Down came the rain, while the
thunder drew nearer and nearer, till the
forest seemed one vast crash and roar.
Through the dark trees the children saw
the lightning darting and dancing over
the sky. Arminda sobbed and trembled;
but Theodore comforted her by telling
her not 10 be frightened, .sfor he vas
there with her. Perhaps even his
stout little heart would have quailed had
he not been sustained by his pride in his
"house.n
~ What's goin' to hurt Us, here2,' he
shouted, proudly,> amid the turnfltaof
sound Ilike to be out in the RAIN
81 liketto get wet, too" .Arminda an
swered, weakly. at makes my skeeter-
bites feel good" -
, The lightning by degrees grew faihter
and the thunder farther away; but all
night long the wind and rain, keptSon
together The children clungS4e-fach
other and whispered that they were mot
afraid. 49,
Morning came at last, but still the
tempest ragged. Theodore looked rue
fully about him when he arose, and re-
sorted Immediately for comfort to the
pail of berries he had wisely sheltered.
I'm getting sick of this,r fe remarked
day" ~, q y-z. |" ~
But alas for such hopes, The whole
day was spent in patient hat fruitless
pledding over the wet leaves, with the
rain still falling, and that night tliey
had to seek their rest uponN a huge,
sloping stone under / the projecting
boughs of a thick-leaved tfee-sipce
that was the driest bed that they could
find.
By this time, you may be sure, they
were in a sorry plight. Their hands and
heads fairly ached from the bites of
swarmingsf mosquitoes they were
scratched and bruised y~themr Ascram-
bles through the tangle Of the under
brush; and though they managed to
keep their pals filed with berries, they
Were becoming very hungry for some
more satisfying food ArIhinda was
now too foot-sore to walk more than a
few steps at time, and Theodore had
to carry her. Their Clothes had become
so soaked that they were a heavy bur
den; even Theodore was too weary to
tramp very far in a day; and poor little
Arminda was almost sick with fatigue
and hunger.
On the next day, however. they came
upon a brook and began to follow it as
Theodore had planned. and made what
progress they could. The win dhad died
down, and, save for the "drip, drip
of the drenched trees, the great
storm was over. It left the lit
tie wanderers pitiably weak and
sore, but still brave and hopeful, and
they kept on their way along the bank
of the brook, until, in the afternoon of
Friday, they reached, as we have seen,
the edge of the larger7stream.. Content
with this triumph of his new plan, The
pdorc prepa ed the little couch of"leaves
for his sister to rest upon, as. already de-
scribed, and sat-doWn on the log beside
her. sAnd when she dropped asleep from
WEAKNESS, he began to wonder how long
it would take-them to get home by-fel-
lowing the river shore, and whether his
poor, little sister, would have strength
to stand the journey, or he to carry
her. rg..-ss ..- -r~.-~ ..-- --.-y,, o., -,
But a speedier deliverance was even
then at hand. It was on that day that
the great woods re-echoed in all direc-
tons with the calls and shouts of thir-
teen hundred men; vet none of their
loud halloos had reached Theodore, as
he sat upon the log that afternoon, all
that he and his sister were
the objects of such great expedition.
Indeed, it was late in the day, and the
army had really failed like the other
smaller searching parties, having passed
beyond or far to the side of the spot
where the children We're now resting;
and yet it had not failed either, as you
shall see. It'so happened that,four men
belonging to the Searching regiment
Jagged behind their companions, and,
failing to catch up with them. went
hither and thither, forgetting
the children entirely in their desire to
rejoin their fellows. But being miners,
and having little knowledge of wood
craft, they Soon found themselves hope
lessly bewildered, and had to confess
that, instead of finding the lost children,
they were in the unpleasant predica-
ment of being themselves lost in the
woods. .sst
1t can not be said that, considering
how much older they were, they bore
uISGoNCIf Will tsDCtlCL SOpl
than the children had shown. But all
they could do was to keep up constant
halloo, in the hope that some of the re-
turning parties would hear them. This,
therefore. they set about doing as Justify
as possible, but for long time without
reply. At last, however, as they stood
silent, listening after one of their loud
calls, one of the men said: ''Hark!
What was that?" Faint and weak
through the far distance came an an
swering ''Halloo-oon' They moved
over in the direction whence it came
and again repeated their call, and
stopped to listen. Again it was an
swered, more clearly this time, but on
lhe instant one of the men said, breath
|essly: That is boys voicer'
Theysran. forward quickly. and before
ong came in sight of the boy himself,
and one of the party shouted to him:
'sWho are you?'
II am Theodore LORE, Twas the an
swer. tr>
= ..Vbere do Won liveo,' - =.