Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1901-04-27
CHAPTER Zv.-(Continued)

CHAPTER Xv.-(Continued)
The day Waterman of the ferry COM
pany. smoking his pipe on the bank as
John drove down by him, warned him. as
he did all who seemed to be strangers.
THE ice isn't as safe as 1t has BEEN
But they are still crossing on it, an
swered John, argumentatively. There
Is cutter just starting to come across
from Pittsburg now"
"Oh. yes. They do. And they will,
until somebody breaks through and Is
drowned, ] suppose, as they do every
winter. ! don't say 1t isn't safe enough
yet, for single horse and cutter IL you
are careful: but you'll have to look out
you don't get off the curving track that
Is marked out. There are thin patches
inside the bends, both ways. where 1t
wouldn't be safe for a man to go afoot.
let alone drive horse"
THANK you heartily for the caution"
replied the young man, gathering up his
reins, ''rll stick to the road and go fast"
That's the safest way"
And fast John did go. Whether the
black horse was inspired by the novelty
Of trotting upon so level a floor, and feel.
ing the cutter hardly a feathers weight
HIiii, nc WIS couSCiouS
that there was danger in giving the Ice
time to crack under him, none may say,
but whatever the cause, he went across
we'll inside n thrce-minute gait. He was
still slowly mounting the steep. deeply
rutted road from the river into the city
when a two.horse sleigh, with two men
In II, dashed across the bridge over Saw.
Mill Hun from Tcmperanceville into
South Pittsburg and down the slope to
the ferry landing.
There the faithful Waterman halted
them, to repeat the warning he had
given to John Cameron a few minutes be.
fore.
you'd better not go out on the Ice
with that doublc-team"' he cried to them
why not?"
1.-THE Ice may not hold you. 1t has
been getting weaker for several days
past, and heavy teams don't chance II
any MORE
While he was speaking, the cutter Johu
had remarked starting from Pittsburs
reached the bank and came slowly up.
''He seems to have come across al
right" argued Simeon Mulveil, who wa,
one Of the men In the sleigh, jerking hi,
head toward the man In the cutter.
"Oh, yes. But there's only one OF
him and one horse"
Flows the iccY" shouted Rufus Goldi,
TO the lonely driver.
Good enough, l guess" the man re-
piled, with an air Of Indifference, stop
ping to let his horse rest little.
did it crack muchY'
"Not that I noticed, only about the
middle, where I met n cutter going thu
ooer way, and the double weight made
II holler some."
did that cutter have young man
and u girl In III" demanded Simeon
eagerly.
EYES,"
With an oath and without waiting 70,
any further information or hearing the
warming cried after him to stick to the
road" Simeon gave his horses the lash
and they plunged down the bank and GU,
on the Ice.
Instead OF following the long, curvinp
sweep Of the comparatively safe track
he drove In a straight line toward the
landing on the farther side of the river
The ferry Waterman and the man In tn.
cutter, the latter standing up In hi.
vehicle to see better, watched In silence
and with staring eyes the progress OF
the foolhardy travellers. The sleigh
crossed the first thin field OF leo and
passed the middle Of the stream In safety
Gosh" exclaimed the Waterman
They'll do it; but I wouldn't try 1t fol
a farm"
At that very moment. when the swiftly
flying vehicle was within Il hundred
yards of the Pittsburg shore, horses, mel
and sleigh suddenly disappeared from
sight. There was no struggle, no re-
appearance and battling for life, nothing
but wide circular expanse Of water, tina,
looked black, and In which big pieces OF
Ice slowly came to the surface and lazil,
drifted down to the lower side.