Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-10-17

parked furlously, as II to snow that ne
at any rate had nothing to do with
this melancholy noise.
"'Tis some poor dog from one of
the barges," said Sam, going to the
door. and flinging it wide open. The
wind burst into the room and there
was another long howl.
Good dog! said Sam, and then as
he whistled encouragingly, dripping
animal SUNK into the room and
crouched pitifully at Mrs. Dowsett's
feet. Sam closed the door and looked
at the miserable object. Then sudden
ly he strobe forward and rolled it over
on its back.
"'Tis Pat he said quickly. Mr."
Shils dog. Poor brute! He's had a bad
time
And indeed it was very different
dog from the sleek glossy animal that
had last come to the cottage. His wet
matted hair chung close to his skin,
and showed the outline of his bones
He was painfully thin and apparently
so weak that he could hardly move.
faint mad I s'pose,' said Mrs.
Dowsett
Mad retorted her husband. mo,
hem starved and done up. Get him a
bit OF food and water, that's a good
woman. and I'll have look outside.
P'raps his master amt a long way off.
Dogs be mighty faithful. and I've
heard of EN- staying by a body till"
But seeing that his wife had disap-
peared, he paused. and fetching his
lantern, he lit it and opened the door.
Then he climbed up the wooden steps
in the bank outside.
AS he neared the top of the stair,
a wave came foaming over the edge,
and the dinghy, nicely balanced on a
foot of it's keel, came rolling down
| the slone. and crashed into the wall
of the house itself
CHAPTER xxx.
The heavy boat missed Dowsett' s
| left shoulder by bare six inches, and
the wave drenched him from head to
| foot Then the door was flung open,
and Mrs. Dowsett appeared against
the background of light.
"What be up What be up?' sho
screamed, her thin sharp voice rising
above the tumult Of the storm. "Come
down, you fule; the house is fallin'.'
| ANU, luuSGd. lIS WI LILY "biiioii
might we'll have supposed that the
heavens themselves were crashing
down on her cottage, for the dinghy
| had shaken the wooden building with
such violence that the plate had dane.
ed off the kitchen shelves.
The man slowly descended the lad,
der, and his wife seized him by the
arm.
"'Tis only the old boat he growled
"'Tain't knocked the house down, has
her? The waters begun to top the
bank. and wave Topped over and
rolled her down"
Lantern in hand, he inspected the
timbers of the house. Two of then?
was the sole extent of the damage
Mrs. Dowsett was treasured, but she
cast an anxious glance at the tall bank
Of earth and stone.
"'Tis q good WALL" she muttered
I" Twill hold Come you in, Sam, anL
change clothes, afore you get chilled
| 'I'll take the boat round tothel
side of the house." he replied
''Therell be a deal Of water down
this bank afore tide turns, and mebbt
she'll bump hole in us and hersel
as we'll Lend hand, will 'ee?"
He caught hold of the boat with his
powerful hands, and dragged it along
the path to the back of the cottage
Mrs. Dowsett lent the assistance Of
her thin, muscular arms. Scarcely
had they reached the shelter of the
building when great wave curlec
over the top of the bank and surgec
round the house in flood of water
six inches deep.
"The doors OPEN" screamed Mrs
Dowsett, and, entering by the bacl
door, she splashed and padded alons
the passage till she reached the
kitchen. The water was an inch deel
on the floor, but Pat slept calmly be
fore the fire, too exhausted to move
from his unenviable position.
bolted it, and her husband brought II
an old piece of sailcloth and laid i
against the bottom of the woodwork
This, weighted with few pieces o
scrap iron, formed some kind of oh
struction to the water which nigh
force its way in through the crack
Wed best get upstairs" he salt
grimly. eff us don't want to get ou
feet wet"
There was loud crash against tn
wall Of the house, and. as the door rat
tied. thin streams of water squirtet
under the canvas. A look of fear cam
into Mrs. Dowsett's face
"'Tis now't," the man said with
CHEEKY laugh. Twill all drain OF
into the big ditch behind and there
eight hundred acres of land for it t
spread itself in. I'm thinlyin' W.
needn't have moved owt but the cal
pet"
But the wall, SAM" she muttered
eff she goes = | amt afeared In
thinkin' OF that poor lass upstairs. CO.