FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25  
26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   >>   >|  
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Riverman, by Stewart Edward White This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Riverman Author: Stewart Edward White Posting Date: August 3, 2008 [EBook #1099] Release Date: November, 1997 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIVERMAN *** Produced by Anonymous Volunteers, and Thorild Vrang Bennett THE RIVERMAN by Stewart Edward White I The time was the year 1872, and the place a bend in the river above a long pond terminating in a dam. Beyond this dam, and on a flat lower than it, stood a two-story mill structure. Save for a small, stump-dotted clearing, and the road that led from it, all else was forest. Here in the bottom-lands, following the course of the stream, the hardwoods grew dense, their uppermost branches just beginning to spray out in the first green of spring. Farther back, where the higher lands arose from the swamp, could be discerned the graceful frond of white pines and hemlock, and the sturdy tops of Norways and spruce. A strong wind blew up the length of the pond. It ruffled the surface of the water, swooping down in fan-shaped, scurrying cat's-paws, turning the dark-blue surface as one turns the nap of velvet. At the upper end of the pond it even succeeded in raising quite respectable wavelets, which LAP LAP LAPPED eagerly against a barrier of floating logs that filled completely the mouth of the inlet river. And behind this barrier were other logs, and yet others, as far as the eye could see, so that the entire surface of the stream was carpeted by the brown timbers. A man could have walked down the middle of that river as down a highway. On the bank, and in a small woods-opening, burned two fires, their smoke ducking and twisting under the buffeting of the wind. The first of these fires occupied a shallow trench dug for its accommodation, and was overarched by a rustic framework from which hung several pails, kettles, and pots. An injured-looking, chubby man in a battered brown derby hat moved here and there. He divided his time between the utensils and an indifferent youth--his "cookee." The other, and larger, fire centred a rectangle compos
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25  
26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Stewart

 

surface

 

Edward

 

RIVERMAN

 

stream

 

barrier

 

Riverman

 

Project

 
Gutenberg
 

LAPPED


centred

 

respectable

 

wavelets

 
larger
 

completely

 
indifferent
 
filled
 
raising
 

floating

 
cookee

eagerly

 

scurrying

 

shaped

 

swooping

 

length

 

ruffled

 

compos

 

turning

 

rectangle

 
velvet

succeeded
 
shallow
 
occupied
 

trench

 

buffeting

 

ducking

 
twisting
 
accommodation
 
overarched
 

battered


injured
 

kettles

 

rustic

 

framework

 

burned

 

entire

 

carpeted

 

divided

 

chubby

 

utensils