Part 2 (1/2)

”Binney? Why, he is a young fellow, about Winn's age, who went across the plains with me a year ago. By-the-way, where is Winn? I want to see the boy. And where is the Major?”

Then, as Mrs. Caspar explained the absence of her husband and son, all her anxieties returned, so that before she finished her face again wore a very sober and troubled expression.

”So that is the situation, is it?” remarked the new-comer, reflectively. ”I see that Winn is not behind his age in getting into sc.r.a.pes. He reminds me of another young fellow who went campmates with me on the plains, Glen Matherson--no, Eddy. No; come to think of it, his name is Elting. Well, any way, he had just such a habit of getting into all sorts of messes; but he always came out of each one bright and smiling, right side up with care, and ready for the next.”

”He had names enough, whoever he was,” said Elta, a little coldly; for it seemed to her that this flippant young uncle was rather inclined to disparage her own dear brother. ”Yes, he certainly had names to spare; but if he was half as well able to take care of himself as our Winn is, no one ever had an excuse for worrying about him.”

”No, indeed!” broke in the young man, eagerly; ”but I tell you he was-- Why, you just ought to have seen him when--”

”Here comes father!” cried Elta, joyfully, running to throw open the door as she spoke.

[1] See _Campmates_, by the same Author.

CHAPTER IV.

BILLY BRACKETT STARTS DOWN THE RIVER.

It needed but a glance at Major Caspar's face, as, dripping and weary, he entered the house, to show that his search for the raft had been fruitless. His wife's mother-instinct translated his expression at once, and the quick tears started to her eyes as she exclaimed,

”My boy! What has happened to him?”

”Nothing serious, you may rest a.s.sured, my dear,” replied the Major.

”I have not seen him; but I have heard of the raft, and there is no question as to its safety. We reached the mouth of the creek without discovering a trace of it. Then we went down the river as far as the Elbow, where we waited in the slack-water to hail up-bound steamboats.

The first had seen nothing of the raft; but the second, one of the 'Diamond Jo' boats, reported that they had seen such a raft--one with three shanties on it--at daybreak, in the 'Slant Crossing,' ten miles below. If I could have got a down-river boat I should have boarded her and gone in pursuit, sending the men back to tell you what I had done.

As we were unable to hail the only one that pa.s.sed, I gave it up and came back to report progress.”

”Oh, I am so glad you did!” cried Mrs. Caspar.

”So am I,” said the young stranger, speaking for the first time since the Major's entrance. The latter had glanced curiously at him once or twice while talking to his wife, but without a gleam of recognition.

Now, as he looked inquiringly at him again, Mrs. Caspar exclaimed:

”Why, John, don't you know him? It's William--my own brother William, just come from California.”

”So it is,” replied the Major, giving the young man a hearty hand-shake--”so it is, William Brackett himself. But, my dear fellow, I must confess I was so far from recognizing you that I thought your name was--”

”'Mud' I reckon,” interrupted the other, laughing; ”and so it will be before long, if I don't get a chance to clean up. But, Major, by the time both of us are wrung out and dried, and sister has looked up some dinner, I'll be ready to unfold a plan that will make things look as bright for you and Winn and the rest of us as the sun that's breaking away the clouds is going to make the sky directly.”

Mrs. Caspar's brother William, ”Billy Brackett,” as all his friends called him, was a young civil engineer of more than usual ability. He had already gained a larger stock of experience and seen more of his own country than most men of his age, which was about twenty-six. From government work in the East and on the lower Mississippi he had gone to the Kansas Pacific Railway, been detailed to accompany an exploring party across the plains, and, after spending some time on the Pacific coast, had just returned to the Mississippi Valley--out of a job, to be sure, but with the certainty of obtaining one whenever he should want it. From the moment of leaving San Francisco he had intended making the Caspars a visit, and had directed his journey towards their home.

In Chicago he had run across an engineering friend named Hobart, who was at that moment regretting the pressure of business that forbade his trying for what promised to be a most profitable contract. It was one for furnis.h.i.+ng all the bridge timber to be used in the construction of a new railway through Wisconsin. The bids were to be opened in Madison two days later. Acting upon the impulse of the moment, Billy Brackett hastened to that city and tendered a bid for the contract, which, to his surprise, was accepted.

In doing this the young engineer had counted upon the a.s.sistance of his brother-in-law, from whose mill he expected to obtain the timber he had thus contracted to furnish. As the work must be begun immediately, he hurried on to the Major's house with an offer of partners.h.i.+p in this promising undertaking, and arrived as we have seen.

”It's a big thing Major,” the young man said in conclusion, after explaining these details at the dinner-table; ”and it's not only a big thing in itself, but it will lead to other contracts equally good.”

”I should like nothing better than to join you in such an enterprise Billy,” replied the Major; ”but I don't see how I can go into it just now, with this affair of Winn and the raft on my hands. You say the work must be begun at once?”