The House Boat Boys; Or, Drifting Down to the Sunny SouthRathborne, St. George
General
The House Boat Boys; Or, Drifting Down to the Sunny South
Rathborne, St. George
Boats and boating -- Juvenile fiction; Houseboats -- Juvenile fiction; Mississippi River -- Juvenile fiction
It became very cold in the cabin, despite the half-way decent fire
they kept going all night, and their blankets did not seem to be
sufficient covering to induce warmth, for Maurice was shivering
most of the time.
A flimsy boat like the one they were on can seem like an iceberg
during a heavy wind that sweeps across a wide stretch of rough
water, and comes straight out of the Alaska region; then, the
waves that were kicked up by its passage across the river dashed
against the side of the boat and flew in spray over the very top
of the cabin, freezing upon the wall in great icicles, and adding
to the general discomfort, for in the morning they had difficulty
in breaking their way out of the door.
About four o'clock Maurice could not stand it any longer, and
getting up, he pulled on his sweater and sat down to make the
stove red hot, after which it became fairly comfortable in the
cabin and Thad slept on.
Luckily the storm was of short duration, and with the morning the
wind seemed to have gone down considerably, with promise of a
further mitigation of the cold during the day.
Of course, neither of the boys enjoyed such an experience, but
they were of a philosophical turn of mind and ready to accept
things as they eame along, making the most of the good and
enduring the evil when it could not be avoided.
Lucky the lad who has been blessed with a disposition after this
kind, for life will have a bountiful supply of pleasures in store
for him, out of which no temporary adversity may cheat him.
They started downstream again after breakfast, for the snow had
ceased and it was easily possible to see their course.
The morning packet breasting the current hove in sight a short
time after they cut loose from their night's anchorage, and it was
always a pleasure for them to wave to those aboard these boats--
never did the pilot aloft in his little house wfeere he handled
the wheel fail to respond to the waving of a handkerchief--it was
the custom of the river, and one would be lacking in common
politeness if he refused to answer such a friendly greeting.
By noon they were making great progress again, and Maurice began
to have hopes of bringing up at Paducah by night; but there were
so many twists and turns to the river he had not counted on that
when the afternoon drew near its close and they saw a town at the
mouth of a river coming in on the Kentucky side, he knew it must
be Smithland lying at the junction of the Cumberland with the
Ohio.
Once again they floated past a town, unwilling to put in for fear
of trouble with some of the rough characters usually found along
the river front in all of these places.
Fortunately, after experiencing some difficulty in crossing the
mouth of the Cumberland, which was belching forth a volume of
yellow water that carried the shanty-boat out some distance,
despite their efforts, they finally managed to find a place to
stay for the night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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