was
finished."

"How would you have loaded the wheat?" demanded Elta.

"Why, boated it down, of course."

"And so added largely to its cost," answered the practical girl. "You
know, Winn, that it was ever so much cheaper to build the raft here
than it would have been 'way down there, and, besides, father wasn't
ready to start when it was finished. I heard him tell mother that he
didn't care to get away before the 1st of November. Anyhow, father
must understand his own business better than a sixteen-year-old boy,
even if that boy's name is Winn Caspar."

"Oh, I never saw such a girl as you are!" exclaimed Winn, impatiently.
"You are always making objections to my plans, and telling me that I'm
only a boy. You'd rather any time travel in a rut that some one else
had made than mark out a track for yourself. For my part, I'd much
rather think out my own plans and try new ways."

"So do I, Winnie; but--"

"Oh, don't call me 'Winnie,' whatever you do! I'm as tired of pet
names and baby talk as I am of waiting here for high-water that won't
ever come."

With this the petulant lad rose to his feet, and leaping ashore,
disappeared among the trees of the river-bank, leaving Elta to gaze
after him with a grieved expression, and a suspicion of tears in her
brown eyes.

In spite of this little scene, Winn Caspar was not an ill-tempered boy.
He had not learned the beauty of self-control, and thus often spoke
hastily, and without considering the feelings of others. He was also
apt to think that if things were left to his management, he could
improve upon almost any plan proposed or carried out by some one else.
He had mingled but little with other boys, and as "man of the family"
during his father's four years of absence in the army, had conceived a
false estimate of his own importance and ability.

Absorbed by pressing business cares after resuming the pursuits of a
peaceful life, Major Caspar had been slow to note the imperfections in
his boy's character. He was deeply grieved when his eyes were finally
opened to them, and held many an earnest consultation with his wife
concerning the son, who was at once the source of their greatest
anxiety and the object of their fondest hopes.

CHAPTER II.

WINN ASSUMES A RESPONSIBILITY.

It was during one of these conversations with the boy's mother that
Major Caspar decided to take Winn with him on his raft voyage down the
Mississippi.

"If I find a good chance