Its
interior was divided into two rooms, the after one of which was a tiny
affair only six by ten feet. It was furnished with two bunks, one
above the other, a table, two camp-chairs, and several shelves, on one
of which were a dozen books of travel and history. This was the
sleeping-room that Winn was to share with his father.
A door from this opened into the main living-room of the "shanty."
Here were bunks for six men, a dining-table, several benches, barrels,
and boxes of provisions, and the galley, with its stove and ample
supply of pots, pans, and dishes. The bunks were filled with fresh,
sweet-smelling wheat straw, covered with heavy army blankets, and the
whole affair was about the most comfortable "shanty" ever set up on a
Mississippi timber raft. To Winn it seemed as though nothing could be
more perfect or inviting, and he longed for the time when it should be
his temporary home.
For a whole month after the raft was finished, loaded, and ready to set
forth on its uncertain voyage, it remained hard and fast aground where
it was built. To Winn's impatience it seemed as though high-water
never would come.
"I don't believe this old raft is ever going to float any more than the
mill itself," he remarked pettishly to his sister Elta one day in
October, as they sat together on the _Venture_ and watched the sluggish
current of the little river.
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