The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-10-20

hSoA ~ 0ohO u WAShooS
any more waste of time" he said to
Charley Wade, who was as bright as
the best of them. ''If this swamp
stays, there's q reason for it. What is
it, WadeY"
cts not SO much above the lake lev
ell, sir" said Charley, "and maybe
there's a connection between the two"
"Come here" said Archer, and he
walked the young fellow far down the
bank of the creek. 'Isn't this a good
enough drain?"
"Only it don't drain It," answered
Wade.
And thenN Archer clipped him tight
by the shoulder.
"I've got it, Wade. Look at the
creek and read it and tell me what
you read"
Wade knitted his clear young brows
and stared at the black and gloomy
stream. But he read nothing.
"1ou see nothing?" laughed Archer.
"Then I'll show you engineers what's
wrong. l told you l meant having it
done, and when l say so something's
got to give. Go and get me the boat
up here from the shore. You'll find me
here when you get back"
And while Wade ran for the boat
Archer strobe alongside to the camp.
"Give me an iron rod" he demand
ed of the storekeeper, 'and let me have
it quick. One ten feet long, and stiff
at that. Steal it, take it, get it, man
alive!!"
And as he stood waiting he looked
back between the steel rails running
east past Nemagosenda, Metagama and
Nlpissing till they struck the Ottawa
river and went through under the
crowned city of Ottawa to Montreal.
And westward, westward lay the
mighty mountains, and beyond them
was the sea.
Let US get u bit done. my men,"
said the doctor of the swamp. "Oh, 1
just mean getting it done!'
The storekeeper came hurriedly, try
ing not to run for the sake of his dig
nifty and hardly daring to walk while
the half tanned bear. Archer, danced on
the hot plate of his desire.
So Archer snatched a long clearing
rod from the hands Of his man and,
with it over his shoulder, started back
for his sick spot in the railroad, like a
thick set little surgeon handling a pro-
bang and %hungering for enlightenment,
for he was more like a surgeon than a
doctor, and no dilettante or mere fun
bier at that.
"Ill drain you," he said savagely.
"Ill give you beans. I'll rake up your
vitals, my precious swallower of To-
comotives. I'll make you a mud spot
and scrape you dry with a shovel"
His eyes frightened, and he walked
with a swing. Three deep lines be-
twix his eyes were now two, and If his
diagnosis of this swamp disease were
but accurate he would smooth out
these to a single crease.
He got back to his drain, the slow
and dismal creek, and saw Charley
Wade in the distance coming up from
the lake in a rotten shell called a boat.
step light or you'll step through,
sir" said Charley. "She's a basket
and as crazy as a state asylum"
"Was it easy rowing up, WadeY ask
ed the little bear, handling his rod like
a harpoon.
"Easier up here than below" said
Wade, and the bear grunted joyfully.
"And still she tells you nothingy
Wade looked up chopfallen.
"Not a word, sir"
"You came through a place where it
was a bit weedy, eh?"
II did," said Wade.
LET her drift" said Archer, like a
bear when he smells honey.
And he let his iron hang deep in the
water, but found no bottom.
I'm on mud" said the boss, and he
stood up.
.Let her drift" he said sharply, and
he jabbed into thick ooze.
"Not yet" he growled. eco lower"
Again he jabbed at The under earth,
and the rod vent deeper.
"Ugh!!" said the boss, and there were
three lines between his half closed
eyes.
"Oh, a yard more!!" he cried to Wade,
and then he rammed again at the eartl
and struck q rib. The diyining rod
rang.
Il vi, We got IL. Sdlu Tue surgeon,
and the world was a happy place for
him that moment. 81 touched her
oh, l touched her! Ribs o. rock!"
Wade opened his eyes and UNDER
stood.
"Hurrah!" he cried.
"You read her now?' said Archer,
with the open brows of a child.
She's A, B, G." laughed Wade, and
the boss and the boy shook hands.
What greater joy than to circumvent
the ancient, cunning earth! The Maker
of Things and the builder can declare
1t. Let those of a city's meaner joys
and those who play their little wills
against a brother ants brains laugh if
they will, but they are nothing in the
scales of Fate when God holds the bal
ance and sets against their golden
plumpness some natural lord of the
open air.
"say nothing about this, Wade: not a
wOrd.o cried Archar ssSomo of won