The Colfax chronicle., 1892-01-02

they saw he naQ come aOOaru at oAoo
fastened themselves in the shanty.
boiling the door. There they remained
till they knew that the raft had again
reached rough water on its onward
course toward the falls.
They found it necessary to come ont
very soon, however, because they
wanted to kno if the raft was head
ing close to the wind. There was the
bear. with his muzzle thrust down, not
having moved from the place where he
first stopped. There was no doubt in
the boys minds that the bear had
chased the two deer through the woods
putting them into the water and had
swan out in pursuit of them; but the
great shaggy brute faced the two
brothers, glaring at their lanterns,
and still made no step toward them;
and he was evidently in great terror.
for the hurricane was every moment
growing louder and louder, the sea
running higher upon the raft, and the
whole fabric creaking and straining,
and threatening to go apart at any mo-
ment The land to windward was
bleak and rocky. and the storm came
bowling down turning the face of the
like white and driving the water in one
continuous drenching shower over the
raft.
About a mile below was the remorse-
less falls, pitch of about forty feet in
the river, sheer over rocky wall, a
place over which it was next to impos-
sible for any living thing to go and not
be pounded to death in the rocks be-
low by the thunderous overflow of
water. The boys still chung desper-
ately to the hope of being able to bring
the raft to land, but they soon saw that
it was impossible. The current grew
swifter and swifter, and they could see,
by the cleaning waves that flashed
under the light of their swinging
lanterns that they were moving along
almost as fast as boat under full sail.
Exte nding out into the lake about
half mile above the falls, was a rocky
point upon which fort had been
erected a great many years ago, dnring
the Fenian invasion, by the Dominion
government, and as the country round
about at the time was disturbed by an
uprising of Indians and Metis, several
soldiers were kept there on guard
for many weeks. The water
for quarter of mile from the
end where the garrison stood was shall
low, and the waves broke from the
bottom. rising to height of from
twelve to fifteen feet. Albert and
Frank had now taken down the sails,
for they found that to touch shore was
impossible, and they were more willing
to trust themselves to the violence OF
midlake than the sure destruction be-
low. But they had gone down too far
and the swift current was dragging
them steadily along toward the fatal
brink. They waved their lanterns
madly when they saw the lights
cleaning in the fort aud again cried
and cried for help, but the air was
full of the booming noises of the storm
and their voices fell far short of reach.
| ing the shore. Then the raft reached
the toughest piece of water they had
encountered yet; it heaved and
strained, and as the great pillows
rolled under it its surface looked
almost as uneven as the face oi
the lake. Then, with a crash,
it parted almost in the middle,
the end where the steering oars were
placed drifting off from the part con.
tanning the caboose, the boys and the
wild animals. The shanty was placed
in the middle of the joint. and the
brothers. fearing that the whole mass
would go to pieces, stood by the door
still waving their lanterns. The bear
was seized with the general terror, and
crept about from log to log, getting
farther away from the edge. He soon
smclled the two deer, but made no at
tempt to attack them, being evidently
too terrified to care for anything excep,
his own safety. Now the raft was di,
rectly opposite the reef where the wa,
ter was roughest; it lurched and
swayed for a minute or so, then, in
some indescribable way, it seemed te
| go all to pieces at once, each joint
however. remaining intact. Two oi
the joints adhered to the one on which
the shanty stood. But the bear was
set adrift on square of his own, and
the waves at every souse nearly GOV,
cred him. The two deer crept around
to where the boys were standing and
| shuddered with dread.
Then the dark shore was suddenly
illuminated, there was q loud report
and dark object struck the raft nea,
where the shanty stood and went roll,
ing over it into the sea. The brothers
ventured from the door of the caboose
to see what had happened and found
stout rope lying across the joint mex,
to the one upon which they stood. The
truth dawned upon them; the cable had
been shot from a mortar in the fort,
and here was their deliver.
ance. They at once took hold oi
the heavy rope and made it fast tc
the two outer corners of their little
raft, then swung their lantern. In few
seconds twenty pairs of stalwart
arms were pulling on the cable
and drawing it slowly foot BY foot