The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-01-23

As they looked and listened, Kate re-
allied that this was no ordinary freshet
but the product Of heavy rainfall over
the whole vast watershed, which had ac-
cumulated its forces in thousands Of tiny
rivulets, and joining issue with the noun
tain stream, plunged down its narrow
channel a mighty and irresistible power.
Even as they looked she saw wall Of
water suddenly rear up above and come
down toward them like miniature tidal
wave.
The dam built by the new water COM
! pany had fiven away,
They ran back from the shore to high
er ground, and not a moment too soon.
! The stream rose several feet in a second.
II cut into the solid banks on either side,
and bushes and young trees, rooted up
and sucked in by the greed y current, went
spinning by. A giant sycamore wavered
flung out i,s bare skeleton limbs as if in
ghostly protest, and fell far out into the
stream, interlocking It's branches with a
sturdy evergreen oak which stood ON the
opposite bank, while its trunk, loosely
anchored by long, suake-like roots, tossed
helplessly in midsiream.
Mamma See the big boards oomingl"
cried out her little daughter
Kate looked Gar up stream and saw a
timber sailing leisurely along. Now il
caught on a projecting snag and SWING
half abont, now ii tstruck ON a submerged
island. and idly disengaged itself and
sauntered on. Behind it was another,
and yet another-the stream was black
with them.
"Oh, my God The railroad bridge ,
The railroad bridge, and the afternoon
train nearly due, soon to rush down a
steep grade 10 a leap into that vawning
chasm. Her first impulse was to start up
the cannon, but she instantly checked
herself What folly, when miles ofover-
flow lay between her and the doomed
train Word must be sent down 10 the
station, and from there telegram 10 the
next stopping place above the bridge.
But how The hired man Jim had gone
an hour before to ihe.yillage to get the
mail and have his daily gossip with the
loungers Of the place. Even if he were
here, neither horse nor man was fleet
enough to cover the circuitous road that
lay between. Then she looked at the
PROSTATE sycamore. Down the stream,
leisu7ely, but nearer and nearer still, sail
ed the great timbers
Marian, take little brother and go
straight TO the house. and stay there Til
mamma comes back"
she had already pulled herself up by
one Of the roots and was creeping stealth
lily along the sway ing trunk. Here her
dress caught on g branch there She had
to climb down and crawl along With her
feet under the water to avoid az upright
limb. Once she slipped and LOST her
hold. and was nearly sucked into the ed
dying current, but She caught at i stout
projection and swung herself up once
more
She could hear the swash Of the heavy
timbers upstream as they rocked Iazily
upon the water, but she lid no. dare TO
look. before her the main trunk of the
tree was lost-and she saw two diyerzing
limbs, one low in the water, the other
licked with the oak in mii-air Which
20 take She dared not hesitate, but be-
gan q pegiious climb along the upper
limb, slippery and naked in places, wa
yering So that she grew dizzy and shut
her eyes to keep from falling. And, 50,
lying prone upon it, hand over hand. she
crep, the entire length. and the great
stick OF timber struck heavily against the
fallen sycamore, and just as Kate swung
herself into the branches Of the oak she
felt her support give way, and with a
groan and crash, and wild-up tossings Of
its skeleton arms, the old tree tore loose
from It's mooungs. and was swept down
stream toward the bay.
Her hands torn and bleeding, Kate
Middleton reached solid ground at length
and first her maternal instinct asserted
itself, and she looked back and saw her
children stan Ting still and looking after
her She pointed home with gesture
that they dared not disobey, and saw
them turn and run up the lane. then sped
along her way.
She was not Light Of foot, as in her girl
hood: whereas, she was ouce feet as q
deer and swift motion was very JOY to
her she now realized that she was grow
ingto be a astout and middle-aged woman.
She moved heavily and clunsiiy and la
bored for breath, and her feet were hk e
clo,ls beneath hef. There was mile OF
rough and rocky ground 70 be covered
before she reached the station, and the
train-oh, but 10 possess once more the
agility of her sirihood
Which would be first would the train.
flying across the upper levels Of the Coast
Range, reach the next station before the
brave woman bad sent her message OF
warming? How many times she asked
herself Tie question she could not have
told. She scarcely dared hope that she
might be in time. Her. heart seemed
ready 10 burst with grief for the terrible
misery threatenings SO many happy homes.
Alas for the orphaned children who
might cry aloud to heaven that night
Alas for fathers and mothers whom the
morrow might behold bowed down with
sorrow, Alas for the husbands and
wives
She was crossing the bed Of one of the
many abandoned channels of the impet-
nous mountain stream, rocky pathway,
strewn with the spoils Of by gone fresheis
where. even then, shallow stream was
ripping past, token Of the torrents sur
plus force. She faltered, smitten by a
new and awful thought What if Tom
Tom, who was not 10 come for two days
more Tom, who bad started out in alto
geiher different direction-should have
cut short his excursion, or with his par
ty. driven home 10y the continued rains,
somehow wandered to one of the upper
stations. and boarded the train for home
there2
Where was her vaunted physical
strength nov? What was she, after all,
h,,. n weak wrefcbed woman with trary,-