The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1905-01-21
-Rennery's helehIrg prrty falr.

hited himself mp by mis- hands TO
place on Stowler's back yard. Their
the rancher opened fire. Il amt hint,
In al trouble, Stowler, but l reckon
you know YOU girl amt got enough
2omin to her 10 make il worth my
{ boys while TO marry her"
Stowler reached for his boots,
paused with n in each hand as If
trying to decide which one to throw
first, and then weakly subsidized Col
dern it," be muttered, q amt a bin
a-teasin' your son to marry Liza"
You dasn't,' returned Walker, loft
lily. But I Jest thought as how Ia
drift up and let ye know that I amt
stuck Oh his MARVIN the daughter of
a mar that lives IN an ornery old
scow like this. Hennery 'ull hey a
ranch and he's a place to raise truck.
and he aint no call to be sparkin'
Eliza, nOhow you put it."
81 guess your Hennery's doin' all
the teasin' that's bin done. Walker"
said Stowler, holly. and it's up to you
20 clear out. Sabe?'
Within five minutes Mr.. Walker was
swing down stream and Stowler was
returning his rifle to the rack Just
above the rear door. He was instead
lily cursing everybody tibet sot them
sells up to be somebody" His daugh-
ter was CRYING yo%ciferously and look
ing down the river.
This ended all open communication
between the lovers for several weeks.
During this time the spring rains de-
scended vigorously and the river rose
almost by jumps, When the rain
stopped and the sun was out once more
StOwler looked across the Columbia |
and counted the trees whirling down
in the grasp of the current After
scratching his head he spent the after
noon in tying ropes of various stages
of decay to the scow and stakes driven
In the muddy bank. He explained to
Eliza that it looked as If there might
float.
Two days later the skids washed
away from under the house of Stowler
and his six years residence was
changed. Eliza and he ate their bacon
unconcerneGly and went to bed, to
wake up with the sound of running
water in their ears. After a few mo-
nfents Of inspection Stowlar summed
up the situation in one remark: "The
cddy's gone; places gone; we're
goin'."
Where" cried Eliza.
Dunno was the response.
All through the night they sat on
the careening deck of their house and
wondered when things would end. At {
daylight Stowler's eyes told him that
they were 20 miles below their old |
home and still going. Lucky | curked |
her seams last winter" he said to his g
laughter. She sails along in good {
Wonder where We'll fetch up?" I
81 hope we won't go out to sea" :
said Eliza, fearfully. d
GOSH cried her father. Il amt q
bought O that" SO he devoted his II
'nergies to rigging up a sweep and e
With this he tried to steer the scow is
nto a shore eddy. But the Columbia W
ook things into its own hands and at il
midnight Stowler's house was landed
With a jar on an unknown point OF
and. After an hours scraping about
t settled firmly on the new founda- Of
ION and father and daughter waited h,
Or the morning to take possession of al
heir newly-acquired property. pt
Daylight showed that the scow had Va
cen cast up on a tongue of land that M
Ioped up into virgin forest. There Pr
as no house in sight and Stowler III
"aggered proudly out to skid up the Fl
oat. This vas a toilsome operation. W.
'r in the afternoon the river began as
} rise again, and as fast as he got w
'erythlnS solid the rising water I'M DC
a his work. Blu finally by a crude be
Management of ropes and anchors he Ii,
oored the house boat bet ween some w,
'otectin2 trees out Of the current and mi
sted from his labors to eat a supper w
oked by Eliza, who wept secretly. Ike
W days later Stowler had beach all
mbed" sufficient lumber 10 make ,nc
.erything secure, and in a fit of pride Pc
went so far as to build a fence
ting the point off from the tree
own mainland.
lhere was one trouble with the not
nee. 1t couldn't be painted. 1t wa pal
ade OF small branches and sapplings ME
nj basketwise. But the general eff ha,
It was pretty good, and Eliza and we
+ father reloiced exceedingly. Her tioI
her because he was now a house lin
lder; Eliza because she was equal he
station to her Hennery. afIa
The day after the fence was com bur
tie the clouds that had been lying in cou
towy masses over the hills spread fow
| and covered the sky. Then il her
and the water that fell was so sug
nteons that one could see a rods tior
gun III any direction. Within three swe
rs the Columbia river was a rag we
torrent, and trees and brush faip
lin began to drift by the new swe
ce of Mr.. StowIer. But his house
5 fast, and the trees along the bank
IL against Tuue SEockS, ana A
daily grew more triumphant as he Nesl
!dered the blessings of a benign ro
no
the end of a week provisions be- "y
to run short in the Stowler house of II
d, and the man determined to go ar
)ss the river to a little town to get was
le bacon and flour. He hauled out fraa
skiif, put in the oars and a big IA l.,