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

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send she sleep sound through ali
this
"'Tis "a good wall" he replied stur-
Oily; father helped to build her, and
he said twas a good wall. and he
oughter know. You get upstairs, that's
a good woman. and I'll fetch Ripper
afore he gets drowned. You take Pat
along Of you, and put him in the lasss
room We can't have a dog fight on
top of all this row."
Mrs. Dowsett went upstairs and half
dragged, halr coaxed the miserable
Pat into Lauras bedroom. He lay
down in a ,ornsr, and feeDly licked
his paws Laura. still under the tnf1u.
ence of the dug which Dr.. Hardy had
given her, slept soundlv. snd neither
the din OF the storm. nor the roar of
the waves against the sea-wall, nor
-he continual splash and clatter of the
water aga1tsSi tf,e side Of the house
itself rousrd her from her sleep.
God .....a tho sleepin' stuff hold"
! Mrs Dowse,t murnured much as a
mariner might speak Of his cable.
! Then Dowset appeared with the col
| lie. and before the dog could growl
or cry out at Pats presence. he was
kicked through the 1oo- 30 to heap
| Of curtains.
"You sit with the lass" said Dow
sett "I'll &C into the lumber room,
and keep an eve on the creek and the
old wall. III hang a lantern or two
outside, and. se they say in papers,
report progress.
He spoke lightly, but, az he enter.
ed the other bedroom and closed the
door behind him, his heart was heavy
indeed He knew that if the wall gave
and there was vet another hour of
| flood to run nothing on earth could
save them. The house, and all In it,
would be swept into one roaring. pitt
less sea Of destruction. He threaded
his way carefully through the piles OF
/ furniture, and, reaching the window.
opened it. He could see nothing within
the light Of the lamp he held in his
hand but a mist of spray, caught up
by the wind and hurled into his face.
When he had left Laura's bed
room, his wife shaded the lamp so
that it's light should not fall on the
eyes of the sleeping girl, and then sal
down by the bedside and commenced
to darn some socks. Her dull white
face. thrown into relief by the lamp
against a BACKGROUND of darkness,
looked as though it had been cut out
Of stone by some barbaric workman
1t was ugly and motionless, and abso-
lutely without expression. But the
eyes were fixed on ragged sock, and
the busy fingers moved increasingly.
One of the blessings granted to
those who live their monotonous lives
without impatience or intelligence, Is
that they can pursue their ordinary
avocations in crisis which would re-
duce more sensitive natures to the
verge of prostration. At any moment
the sea-wall might give way, and
Mrs. Dowsett would be forced to strug-
gle vainly with death. But she contin-
ued to darn as though everything de-
pended on the result of her labors.
The noise of the sea on the wall
increased as the tide rose and began
to pour over the top III continuous
cataract The spray beat against the
glass with such violence that the
window ratified In its frame. III the
room underneath Mrs Dowsett could
hear the swish and Swirl of water, as
though the foo, h~9 been converted
into an inland Sea-
Then there web y loud crash, and a
blast Of air rushing up the staircase
told It's own story. TIE front door had
given way. Mrs. Dowsett rose to her
feet, and, opening the door leading to
n
husband
Doors gone" she said quickly
YOU'D best go down and have a
look"
"'Tis tust rs well she's gone" he
replied, "'Twtll let the water through
'Tis sluicIng against the house like a
river, I reckon banks gone lower
down. but it takes q. deal Of water to
food eight hundred acres. 'Tain't
moren foot deep outside There's g
boat a-comin up the Darkwater.
seed her starhoard light just now"
Mrs. Dowsett closed the door and
returned to the bedside. AS she re-
sumed her seat Laura gave a deer
sigh and opened her eyes
Where am r." she whispered faint
ly as she stared round the unfamiliar
{ room.
"You'm all right, dearie." said Mrs
5 Dowsett, smoothing down the pillow
with gentle hand. "You'm at Dow
. sett's farm, as safe and quiet as YOU'D
: be anywhere in the world"
WHY" she murmured. "Why?" oh
remember. I must have tainted. How
silly of mel"
flush. dearie. Don't zee talk. Jus
' you lie quiet. You've been Ill, but It's
all right now. You've just got to lie
quiet"
where is Mr.. Shil?" Laura asked
in q peevish voice.
He's been here and looked aftel
you, miss. Hem gone now for !bit O
rest. but he'll be back in the rlornin,