Beadle's Dime Novels No. 96: Little Moccasin — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TUR WEBSTER STREAM. 18 waves at the most—and growing louder ‘and louder and nearer and nearer at long intervals. “ What is it, major?’ said Gage, appealing to the man whose reptitation for woodcraft and for a knowledge of the whole country, on both sides of the line, seemed coéxténsive, © if not cotval with the pine woods themselves, “Tt is the Webster stream, cutting a new passage for itself somewhere,” said he, with a troubled and somewhat anxious manner which appeared to solemnize both Gage and Perry. “The Webster’ stream! and so far off! It sounds to me more like a winter hurricane, and, if it were warm weather, I should say it would soon be down upon us. Halloo! bear a hand there, boys! look to your props and stays, and get a log or two more on the roof!” shouted Gage. As he spoke, the heavy slab door banged to with a loud report, followed with a reverberation through the woods like . distant thunder, and down came the snow by cartloads from all the uppermost branches of all the giant trees overhanging their little neighborhood. “There, my good sir! there you have it! said Gage “The old north wind is out on the rampage, and we must be prepared for it.” “ Nevertheless, Captain Gage, the noise we hear is not the wind, but the Webster stream, with its tail up, tearing a new passage for itself somewhere, and thundering through the wil- derness like a whirlwind.” “You don’t say so! leaving our whole winter's work high and dry, perhaps, and the logs we haye hauled out.of reach just where we have left them to rot and crumble?” . “ Never fear. The spring freshets will find them out and send them pitching and tumbling on’their way, wherever they may be lodged now. And this new outbreak of old Web- ster’s may give you another outlet and save teaming.” “ Still, I don’t quite understand. Why do we hear the noise now, and why have we never heard it before ?” “We hear it now because the wind is blowing this way, and because of the remarkable deathlike stillness of the night. You are strangely mistaken, however. The noise: we now hear you have heard every day of your life whiie camping out or . lumbering in this neighborhood, though never so near nor so comicbooks.com