out into the wide world on it? Certainly he had, and did,
and was. So no wonder he was proud of the raft, and impatient for the
waters of the little river, on a bank of which the Caspar's lived, to
be high enough to float it, that they might make a start.

Winn had never known any home but this one near the edge of the vast
pine forests of Wisconsin. Here Major Caspar had brought his New
England bride many years before. Here he had built up a mill business
that was promising him a fortune in a few years more at the time when
the war called him. When peace was declared, this business was
wellnigh ruined, and the soldier must begin life again as a poor man.
For many months he struggled, but made little head-way against adverse
fortune. The mill turned out lumber fast enough, but there was no
demand for it, or those who wanted it were too poor to pay its price.
At length the Major decided upon a bold venture. The Caspar mill was
but a short distance from the Mississippi. Far away down the great
river were cities where money was plenty, and where lumber and farm
products were in demand. There were not half enough steamboats on the
river, and freights were high; but the vast waterway with its ceaseless
current was free to all. Why should not he do as others had done and
were constantly doing--raft his goods to a market? It would take time,
of course; but a few months of the autumn and winter could be spared as
well as not, and so it was finally decided that the venture should be
undertaken.

It was not to be a timber raft only. Major Caspar did not care to
attempt the navigating of a huge affair, such as his entire stock of
sawed material would have made, nor could he afford the expense of a
large crew. Then, too, while ready money was scarce in his
neighborhood, the prairie wheat crop of that season was unusually good.
So he exchanged half his lumber for wheat, and devoted his leisure
during the summer to the construction of a raft with the remainder.

This raft contained the very choice of the mill's output for that
season--squared timbers, planks, and boards enough to load a ship. It
was provided with two long sweeps, or steering oars, at each end, with
a roomy shanty for the accommodation of the crew, and with two other
buildings for the stowing of cargo. The floors of these structures
were raised a foot above the deck of the raft, and were made
water-tight, so that when waves or swells from passing stea