"
"Oh, papa, how can you say so?" cried Elta, springing up and throwing
her arms about his neck. "How can you say that you could ever be an
old fogy?"
"Perhaps I'm not, dear, to you," answered the Major, smiling at his
daughter's impetuosity; "but to young fellows mingling with the world
for the first time nothing pertaining to the past seems of any value as
compared with the present or immediate future. Consequently a
companion who is near enough of an age to sympathize with the pursuits
and feelings of such a one can influence him more strongly than a
person whose thoughts are oftener with the past than with the future."
"I can't bear to hear you talk so, husband," said Mrs. Caspar. "As if
our Winn wouldn't be more readily influenced by his own father and
mother than by any one else in the world! At the same time, I think
William's plan well worth considering, for I have hated the idea of
that raft trip for you. I have dreaded being left alone here with only
Elta, too, though I wouldn't say so when I thought there wasn't
anything else to be done."
With this unanimous acceptance of the young engineer's plan, it took
but a short time to arrange its details, and before dark everything was
settled. The Major was to leave for Madison the next morning, while
Billy Brackett was to start down the creek that very evening, so as to
be ready at daylight to begin his search for the missing raft at the
point where it had been last reported.
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