The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-01-06
The Trouble on the TOrOlitO.
BY FRANCIS LYNDH.
tooprriah.. isaa. b. rr.ao.. Lyna.S
BY FRANCIS LYNDH.

ing MIN alone hO pleau once again AOn
justice.
1t seemed Pity that the girl
should have TO fgat such hopeless
battle alone. l know not, nor shall
ever know, If she believed that he was
free to marry her. But such poor
amends as money may make should
az least be hers; and at the apex of
this thought / determined to follow
her, and TO do what a man and a law
yer might do to help her.
When I came in sight of the high
wall of masonry cutting the upper
canyon across, the thunder was a-roll
In the upper air. ] could hear the
mutter end growl of it, and the vivid
sun brightness of the day, and the
clear arch Of the sky with no
other hint of storm abroad, gave
Il weird effect. The water of the
diminishing torrent was pouring over
the waste weir; and, as on that night
when ! had crept trembling acrosa
the flume bridge, the engineer was
perched upon his barrier, gazing
down at the food.
Nan was on the trail below, Just
where Macpherson had drawn rein on
the night Of the explosion, and when
] came in sight she was calling TO
Wykamp. l was too far away to hear
what she was saying, and the thunder
If the waste weir must have made
her words inaudible to the engineer;
but her imp,. d gestures were
eloquent Sh, .Vss pleading with him
or warning him, l know not which,
and while | looked Wykamp signed
assent and turned to retrace his
steps TO the nearest abutment.
] thought il might be as well to
hold aloof until the time for inter
ference should be fully ripe, and
climbed to a perch on the steep slope
! where 1 should Be out Of their sight
when they met. None the less, I
watched the engineer narrowly, and
when he stopped midway of the dam
in the attitude of one listening in
| tently, I listened, too. Above the
! thunder Of the waste a hoarser roar
filed the air, coming suddenly but
persisting like the sustained jar of a
distant explosion. Like the lions
roar, the sound once heard IS unmis-
taxable. Il was a cloudburst, and the
test Of the great wall of masonry
was fairly upon it.
Wykamp hesitated but an instant
and in that instant a man darted out
of the mouth of the outlet tunnel on
the opposite side of the canyon and
began to climb the mountain side as
one who flies danger. 1t was jacob
Setter, and took IL he had been try
ing 10 ambush the engineer. He, too
had heard the ominous roar of the
oncoming food, and whatever his OBJ
iect had been he had apparently
abandoned it TO seek safety. 1t II
doubtful il Wykamp saw him. Tit
man in the engineer-there is a mar
hidden in whatsoever outward hush
of deprayity poor humanity walks
abroad-was alive al last, and he wat
racing down in great leaps ah'
bounds toward the girl standing il
the very shadow of the towering wall
While locked, he reached her, gath
cred her in his arms and carried he
swiftly aside and up the hither slope
and when he finally stumbled and fei
with her there wss a margin of safet.
behind them.
l held my breath and my hear
skipped a beat when l beheld th
dark wall OF water, brown and debris
laden. rushing down the upper can
. yon upon the great stone barrier
1t seemed incredible that any work
man could Withstand the impact o
such terrible battering ram; and
: climbed still higher, though my pere
was we'll above the level OF the resei
: voir. The engineer had more coul
age, or better confidence IN his oW
! work He had risen and lifted Ma
/ 10 her feet, and together they stoo
and watched the huge brown wall @
. water leap high in air to fling itseI
] over the stone coping sf the dan
The masonry stood the shock like
wall of living rock. The brown cats
/, ract choked the waste weir an
poured many feet deep over the 70
/, of the dam, filing the channel belo'
until at It's maximum the foamin
a torrent was tapping at the feet
: the man and the woman standing o
a the half-5uried bowlder on the hithe
q slope, but they did not move.
d II was while the flood was roarin
4 its loudsst that chanced TO lift M
!. ewes to the opposite cliff where Sc
ter had disappeared. To my horrc
: 1 saw him plunging reckiessly do"
l. the deeliyity toward the submergs
r dam, and his frenzied yells came
4 me above the clamOr of the water
y Not until that great day when u
5 books shall be opened will his moti'
be revealed, but the pointing OF
n was clear enough. He was maxim
"a frantic haste to reach the couple
vi che ravine below, and striving 20 a
ie tieipate by shrek and wild gestur'
a the warning he was bringing.
A. When he reached the stream