The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1919-02-06
sun; behind it wide sheet OF
water covered everything as far as
they could see to the north.

they could see to the north.
Some ones got to go on from
here!'' shouted the boy. my
horse is all tuckered out!"
With one accord they raced
down the hill for their horses.
WILDER and his father spurred
down to the pasture to get out
their cattle while Lew. with the
fastest horse, went to warn the
Dockstadters, the only family in
their vicinity who had cattle on the
river bottom. The Dockstadters
had just bought ninety head OF
longhorns. which they planned to
feed during the winter.
Fred was mounting his pony
when Lew rode into the yard and
shouted. Hustle your cattle out!
The rivers coming up! Cloudburst
up at Correctionville!'
Hustle your grandmother"
returned Fred calmly. "Why
don't you 60 down and set it afire
with one of your cigar lightersg"
Lew persisted, distressed. mo
there's five or six feet of water
coming in a hurry! Your cattle II
all be drowned! Hurry up! I'll
help!"
Five and six feet of it, hey2"
said Fred, starting his horse up
the draw behind their house. Five
and six makes eleven feet of water.
Is it coming edgeways or side
waysg"
| Lew turned impatiently.
Where's your fathers"
Gone down to Welcome. Good
by, Lew! Come again when
you've got a better one," and away
he went at run, sending up a
shower of mud behind him.
Lew gazed after him with rage
and disgust. He realized with dis
may that his and Wilber's fooling
was likely to cost some one dear.
Going out to the road. he looked
anxiously up the river. From
where he stood he could see the
cornfields waving in the wind, the
sentinel rows of cottonwoods along
the line fences, the elms and will
lows on the banks of the river that
wound back and forth across the
valley. Ali was quiet, but he
knew that close at hand, coming as
fast as horse could trot, was a
raging flood that would destroy
every living thing in its path and
turn the peaceful lowland into a
Shiny quagmire.
He sat his pony a moment, pom
dering. The Dockstadter farm
began at the bluffs behind the
house and ended at the river three
quarters of a mile away. They had
planted corn on the higher ground
near the house, but the large tract
between the cornfeld and the riv-
er, which was too low for crops,
they used for pasture. On a ten
foot grade that ran parallel with
the river through the center of
this pasture was the railway. A
deep ditch with a heavy barbed-
wire fence just beyond flanked the
embankment on either side. The
grade was made high to keep the
tracks above the reach of the fire.
quent floods; the heavy fence was
to keep the cattle off the tracks. A
tunnel or underpass, near the
northern end of the pasture al
lowed them to 60 from one side of
the railway to the other, without
crossing it.
The Dockstadters had built q
very high. heavy wire fence round
the entire tract to keep their rangy
Texas cattle from breaking out.
That fence skirted the lower edge
of the cornfeld and turned to join
the railway fence at each end. On
the other side of the grade the
pasture fence reached to the river.
Lew decided quickly and raced his
pony down to the pasture. No cat
tie were in sight between the corn
field and the railway; it was as he
feared: they were all on the other
side between the grade and the