The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-05-04

tains, for something had burst-a lax
or something high up--and in about |
wink the hull settlement in Yelle
Gulch was swept away. sot on |
bit o. rock, and there wss the watel
rushing down thirty or forty foo
deep, with everything swept before j
mules, and tents, and shanties, ant
stores, ana dead bodies by the dozen
Just then 1 hears a wild sorter shrek
and looking down, see chsp half
swimming, half-swept along by tn
torrent, trying hard to get at tire
that STOOD t'other side.
"Why, it's you, is it, Hez ?" Igssy
to myself as / looked at his wild eye
and stained face, on which the SUI
shone full. "You're a gone econ, Hez
lad, SO you may just as well fold We
arms, say amen, and go down Ike 1
man. How I could spot you now
lad, If I'd got a shooting1ron-pu
you out o. yer misery like. You'll
drown, lad"
He made 8 dash ard tried for /;
branch hanging down, Tut missed it
and got swept against tie rocks
where he showed his arm between
two big bits, but the water gave hin
S wrench, the bone went crack, anC
as sat still there I see him swep
lower and lower, till he elutched at q
bush with his left hand, and hung OF
like grim death to a dead niger.
''Sarved yer right" l says coolly
"Why shouldn't you die like the rest
If I'd had any go in me / shOuli have
plugged yer long ago."
Il owSod fhan nfu Q
start, "it ain't-'tis-tarnatiOn ! 1t
can't lie :"
But it was
There on t'other side, not fifty yards
lower down, en- bit of shelf ol
earth that kept crumbling away as
the water washed il, was Jael kneel-
ing down with her young 'un, and as
looked something seemed to give
my heart jig, just as if some coon
had pulled string. aae
swell, he's bout gomez ] says /;
"and they can't hold out only bout
three minutes. What's It got to do
with me? shan't move"
Just then, as l sot and crawled,
telling myself as chap would be
mad to try and save his friends out of
such flood, let alone bis enemies,
darn me ! il Jael didn't put that there
little squealer's hands together and
hold them up as If she was making it
say its prayers born fool when
that thar string seemed to be pulled,
inside me like, agin my heart and l
couldn't help it jumped up.
"Say, Dab" says to myself, "don't
you be fool. You hate that lot like
pyson, you do. Don't you go and
drown erselt."
Twas bout mad, you know, and
couldn't do as liked, fer, if didn't
begin to rip off my things, wet and
hanging TO me. How they did stick
but cleared half on 'em off, and
then, like mad fool, 1 made o run
and jump, and was fighting hard
with the wster to get across to HeZ's
wife and child.
1t was a bit of a fight. Down /
went, and up went, aud the water
twisted me like leaf bat got out
of the roar, on to the bit OF q shelf
where Jael kneIt when, If the silly
thing didn't begin to hold up to me
her child and her lips, poor darling,
said dumbly, "Save it, save it W
as saw that poor gal, white, horri-
fed, and with hsr yeller hair cling
ing round her, and my old love for
her comes back, and swOre big
oath as I'd save her for myself, or die.
l tore>her dress into ribbons, for there
warn't moment to lose, and bound
that bairn somehow on to my should
ers, she watching me the while; and
then, with my heart beating madly, |
caught her in my arms, she elinging
tightly to me in her fear, and | stood
up, thinking how l could get back
and making ready to leap. The flood
didn't wait for that, though. In q mo-
ment there was culver OF the bank,
and it went from beneath my feet,
leaving me wrestling with the waters
once more. / don't know how 1 did
il, only that, after q fight and being
half smothered, I found myself crawl
ing up the side of the gulch, ever so
low down, and dragging Jael into a
safe place with her BARN. She fell
down afore me, hugged my legs, and
kissed ny feet; and then she started
up and began staring up and down,
ending by seeing, just above her, old
Hez clinging there still, with his
sound arm rammed into the bush,
and his body swept out by the fierce
stream. The next moment she had
seized me by the arm and was pint
ing at him, and she gave wild kind
of shriek. "He's a gone coon, my
gal," I thought she couldn't hear me
was gloatIng over her beautiful
white face and soft, clear neck, as
thought that now she was mine-all
mine, I'd saved her out of the flood,
and there was no Hez to stand in our
way.
TSave him! save him :" she shrek
ed in my ear.
What, Hez? Save Hez, to come
between US once more q? Save her
man I hated and would
gladly see die =? Oh, 1 couldn't do it;
and my looks showed it, she reading
me like a book the while.
No, he might drown-he was
be. No; just then
he moved, But, nonsense / wasn't
going to risk my life for his, and cut
my own throat like, as to the future
She went down on her knees to me,
though, pointing again at where Hez
still fioated and the old feeling of
love for her was stronger on me than
ever
"You're asking me to die for you,
Jael !I shouted in her ear.
"Save him-save HeZ !" she shriek-
ed.
ayes, save him !" 1 groaned to N.Y.
self. "Bring him back TO the happi-
ness that might be mine. But she
loves him-she loves him +; and 1
must"
l gave one look at her-as l thought
my last-and couldn't help it. II she
had asked me dumbly, as she did, to
do something ten times as wild, l
should have done it (; and with run
got well up above aez aforeI jump
ed in once more to have the same
fight with the waters till l swept
down to the bush where he was. I'd
got my knife in my teeth to cut the
bush away, to let him free, but as /
was swept against it my weight tore
it away, and Hez and 1 went down
the stream together him so done up
that he lay helpless on the water.
Something seemed to tell me to finish
him on. a minute under water
would have done it; but JaeIs face
was before me, and at last got to the
other side, with her climbing along
beside US and if it hadn't been for
the hand she stretched down to me 1
should never have crawled out with
old Hez-I was that done.
AS dropped down painting on the
rock, Jael came to my side, leaned
over me and kissed me, and ] turned
away, for the next moment she was
crying hard, and bringing her hus-
band too, and was beginning to feel
once more that had been q fool.
1 amt much more to tell, only that
the flood went down most as quick as
it come up, and Hez got all right
again with his broken arm, and did
well. They wanted muchly to be
friends I; but kept away. 1 felt as
I'd been fool to save him, and 1 was
kinder shamed like of it; so 1 took
of to Frisco, where, after Cumming
about, I took to going voyages to
Panama and back, and the sea seemed
to suit me like, and there 1 stuck to
it.