The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-11-01
"seshere," be said. '.rm going to Try
I. There's my card and"- S
"Walk? Waal, nowp- -

f
But Jack was gone.
The rain had slackened to cold steady
drlzzle, and as he walked down the track
Jack could hear the creek rushing and
roaring along far beyond it's banks,
booming and eddying nearly mile wide.
The water near the edge was compar-
atively calm, but out in the channel the
current, marked by driftwood, was dash
ing and foaming furiously.
The trestle work of the bridge was ont
of sight.
Jack stopped. 1t was growing dark.
Through rift i'll the clouds the sun had
set red, and the reflection made the creek
more horrible. Here and there tall syc-
amore trelnbled in the water, white in
the rapidly deepening dusk.
Of course to attempt to cross was fol-
ly. Suppose the Philos did lose-what
then9 What did it really matter? Then
he seemed to hear the shouts of the VIC
torious Linos-Guthridge triumphant
cheer-and to see his own society sitting
crushed and silent.
He would try it.
He looked back for q moment at the
station and the light dying in the west
behind it. Then he frightened his grasp
on his cane, the pride of his juniors
heart, and stepping upon the stringers
at the side of the track he began.
The water was an inch, then ankle
deep and icy cold. He could scarcely
see the ties, but he felt with his cane
along the edge of the BEAM
Farther out the track sloped and the
water deepened. Jack could not see the
CT Inf he. fol Co.. IL,
fully. 1t was growing so dark he could
not see the farther shore. He did not
dare look up or down the creek, and the
whirl of the water made him dizzy.
Suddenly the water became knee deep
with the sagging of the old bridge, and
he entered the channel The current
nearly swept him off his feet. He stood
| still, heartily repenting the foolhardy
undertaking. To return was impossible.
| Two steps more. The roar of the
black water grew deafening; took pos
| session of him. Jack looked up stream.
A huge dim mass was floating swiftly
down the creek. 1t was Il section of a
covered bridge. 1t swayed toward one
shore, then toward the other, with hor-
rible drunken reel. The boy reeled, too,
stumbled, and the cane was swept be-
You'd his reach instantly. He fell ON his
hands and knees, and there chung to the
beam, the water surging to his neck.
He got his head again presently He
caught IL glimpse of few lights here
and there i'll the town. The roar of the
river dashing on into the night drowned
his voice. He closed his eyes and wait
ed. The floating section of the bridge
seemed hours coming. He thought of
the warm dining room at home and his
mothers face above the teacups. He
could see the debating hall through a
luminous mist. He wondered if Hal
stead would speak in his place.
He was growing numb with the chill
of the water. The river seemed to whirl
and rock about him. Then there was
noise like thunder The bridge had
struck the trestle. a wave swept over
him. The trestle trembled, swayed, the
bridge fioated broadside, then struck
again. The trestle tottered, wavered,
then the bridge settled against it and
was stationary, and as Jack mechanical
ly crawled on again he knew that the
trestle would hold.
Meantime in the debating hall the de-
bate on Resolved, That strikes are JUS
tifable," had begun. Guthridge had
mounted the rostrum amid the cheers of
his society, while the Philos were giving
Gardner advice enough to have driven
10 men mad.
Guthridge had demolished one by one
the hopes of the opposition. Every Philo
was silent. Gardiner went hot, then
cold, by turns. 1t was in vain for him
to answer Guthridgc.
The brilliant speech drew to a close.
"'Strike till the last armed foe ex-
pires,'" shouted Guthridge, waving his
arms madly. "'Strile for your affairs
and your fires. Strike for the green
graves of your siresr There are
strikes
He broke off silently. Every Philo
was on his feet cheering like mad Four
times the college yell rang out like Il
battlecry. Four times, and then the
crowd parted. There in their midst,
painting with the quick run from the
bridge, his eyes ablaze with excitement
and his figure disguised in suit of Hal
stead's old clothes, stood Jack
Of course the Philos won, and every
body remembers how all the class cheered
when the class historian OH class day, a
fortnight later, told what Jack dared
and did for the glory of the Philos!-
Ruth Prescott in Washington News.