Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-05-03

3
to buy himself some coffee and mo-
lasses
Delighted" said I. '.if you'll get
back in good time. so won't keep sup
PER waiting at the farm"
'I'll be back inside of an hour. sure, -
replied Mat. confidently
Knowing Mats fondness for little
gossip at the grocery. felt by no means
SO confident; but could not hesitate to
oblige him in the matter, small enough
return for the favors he was doing me
daily.
stayed in the water nearly half an
hour, and while 1 was swimming about
l noticed that the wind was fast fresh
eninR. The steep and broken waves
made swimming somewhat difficult,
and the crests of the whitecaps that &C.
casionally slapped me in the face made
me gasp for breath. While dressing 1
thought, with some CONSERVATION, that
this vigorous wind would prove a seri-
Gus hlndrance to Mat Barnes return,
as it would be blowing directly in his
teeth
For time sat sullily in the door of
the boom house, with my feet on Il
block to keep them out Of the wet
The door opened away from the wind,
and against the back of the little struc-
ture the waves were beginning to lash
with sufficient violence to make me I'M
easy. / strained my eyes up-river to
catch the first glimpse of Mat forcing
his way cleverly against the tossing
white caps. But no such welcome vi
sion rewarded me. At las 1 was COM
PEELED to acknowledge that the storm
had become too violent for him to re-
turn against it without assistance. l
should have to wait in the boom house
either till the wind abated. or till Mat
should succeed in finding pair of stout
arms and a willing heart to come with
him to my rescue.
At first my thoughts dwelt with keen
regret on the smoking pancakes and
luscious maple strip that knew were
even then awaiting me at the farm
house under the hill, and somewhat
bitterly l reTiled Mats lack of consid-
Grafton. But as the sky grew rapidly
dark. while it wanted yet a half hour
of shutdown, and the wind came shrek
ing more madly down from the hills.
and the boom house began to creak and
groan and shudder beneath the waves
that were leapirg upon it, anxiety for
my safety took the place of all other
considerations
Frail as the boom house appeared, it
was well jointed and framed. or it
would simply have gone to pieces under
the various assaults of wind and waves
and the rolling of the boom The floor.
in particular, was very carefully Sc
cured, being bolted to the boom at the
four corners. that it might not be torn
away by any chance collision with log
or ice cake. At every wave, however,
the water came squirting through the
cracks of the wall. and 1 was drenched
almost before l knew it Through the
open door, too, the back wash of the
waves rolled heavily. and. even with
out the increasing peril of the situa-
ton, the prospect of having to pass the
night in such cold, unacceptable slop was
far from comforting.
The door was made to fit snugly, SO
shut it in the hope of keeping out some
of the water, but in the almost total
darkness that ensued my apprehensions
became unbearabIe. The writing roll
Of the boom grew more and more ex-
cessive, and produced d sickening sem
sation. l threw the door open again,
but was greeted with such a fierce rush
of wave and spray that 1 shut it as
quickly as l could.
had never before been on the boom
house after dark, so l did not know
what MAJ was accustomed to do for
light. After much difficult cropping.
however, found t in box, fortunately
quite waterproof, in which were
matches and a good long piece of can
die VIII en- had succeeded in getting
the candle to burn l stuck a fork
through it and pinned it to the driest
spot 1 could find, which was the edge of
Mats bunk, away up close to the roof.
Presently squirt of water struck the
veering and smoky flame. and again 1
was in darkn ess OF course l lost no
time in relighting the candle. but
within ten minutes it. was out again.
repeated the process, and was prepared
to keep it up as long as the matches
would hold out In fact 1 was thankful
for that little annoyance, as it gave me
something to do and diverted my mind
somewhat from my own helplessness
and from the imminent peril of the sit
uation.
There was absolutely nothing that
could do to help myself. To reach the
shore by crawling along the boom
would have been quite impossible.
should have inevitably been swept off
before going three feet beyond the
shelter of the boom house In those
choppy and formless seas and in the
bewildering darkness, 1 should have
found it impossible to swim, or even to
keep my mind clear as to the direction
in which the shore lay. Though a
strong swimmer, and accustomed to
rough water. l knew very we'll that in
that chaos should soon be exhausted,
and either drowned or dashed against
the boom. There was nothing to do
but wait and pray that the boom
house might hold together till calm or
daylight
It was a strange picture my faint
candle revealed to me, within the four
narrow walls of my refuge. All the
implements and accessories of Mats
somewhat primitive housekeeping had
been shaken from their shelves or from
the nails on which they hung. and were
coasting about the floor with a tinny
chatter. as the boom twisted and
lurched from side to side. Three joints
of rust-eaten stovepipe kept them in
countenance; and from time to time
had to jump nimbly aside to save my
shins from being broken by the careen-
ing little stove. Sometimes I would be
thrown heavily against the wall or the