The National tribune., 1902-08-14

camp in our own coach" Shorty gave
another imitation of the coach horn, but
somehow it did not have anything like
| the ring it had in the morning.
| Wet as Newfoundland dogs, with rills
of mud and water running from every
seam and corner of their saturated gar
ments and flooding the coach, they clam
bered in at the top of the hill and had a
brief rest to their tired bodies as Shorty
| rushed the horses down the other side, at
| frequent and imminent risks of upsetting
and rolling them over and over down the
precipitous banks.
| AT the bottom they came upon a sight
| which abashed even ShOrty's hope and
confidence. A long, wide swale there was
so bad that the division in charge of the
trains had been compelled to corduroy it.
The rain had already raised the water
so that the corduroy logs were afloat and
swimming out of place where the current
struck them.
well, that ends the coach-and- four
circus" grumbled Wash Lambert, as he
surveyed the scene and gave a contempt
uous kick toward the vehicle. 'Ive been
wanting to stop fOoling and walk for sew
eral hours'-
stop foOling and walk?" echoed Mon
ty Scruggs. with shudder in his tired
limbs. What do you call what we've
been doing since we started up that hill? ~
las this old family ark amt flat
boat, and the horses hain't fins and flip
pers, there hain't no living chance of get
ting it any further. Let's shake the old
trap and cut around through the woods in
that direction, and see if we can't sur
round this swamp and find some way to
get across the creek where it's narrower"
What! Drop our fOur-in-hand and
sneak into camp like lot Of lazy strag-
glers!" exclaimed Shorty. Not on your
payroll. And what would we do with
poor Tom, who amt able to walk? No,
sir. We're going to stick to this rig as
long as there is tire on the wheel and q
shoe on the horses. We're going into camp
in way to astonish the boys, unless my
right hand forgets its cunning and my
tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth"
Corporal Elliottw said Otterbein Kra-
mer. in the awful tone he used to admon-
ish Shorty against using Biblical language
hippantly.
81 surveyed the country as well as he
could through the rain, to see if there was
likelihood of any other crossing in the
neighborhood, and came to the conclusion
that when they located the road, the peo-
pie of the country had selected the best
and probably the only crossing for miles,
1--WE must try to get across here, boys.
There's no help for it that l can see. And
we must try to get this stage across, in
order to carry Tom, who is getting very
weak. We must get him to the Surgeon
isn't some way to make this corduroy
stick. Abe, let's you and me carry those
logs there down and lay them alOrg the
ends of the sticks. That'Il weight 'em
down so that they'll stay The rest of
you gather up logs and chunks to do the
same thing"
81 and Abe carried their log out and
- Al.
with Washs and Monty's assistance. on
the other side of the road. 1t was wet. |
hard work, chilling them to the bone, but |
they kept at it, and Shorty drove the |
horses forward as fast as the way was in |
order. Presently they came to gap made
by the current. and Si had to wade out up
to his waist to recover the logs that had |
floated away. Then they had to carry
chunks and stuff down and fill in the hole |
for the replaced logs to rest on.
'As I've said before" Wash Lamebrt
kept repeating, as he splashed around and
struggled through the mud below the
water, "Fd as lief walk. feel as IL all
the color had been soaked out of nv blood
until it's as white as fish's, but if we're
helping poor Tom along it's all right"
They! worried along with the greatest
however, and finally got the
coach over the corduroy, and toward the
farther edge of the swamp Then they
did not feel as if they had " ounce of
strength left, and every muscle panied rs
with the tOOthache. They were terribly
hungry, too, and cup of hot coffee would
have been a blessing, but fire was i'm
possible anywhere in that morass.
IF we could only sit down and rest it'd {
be something" murmured Wash Lambert. I
,s they watched the coach pass on and
begin to struggle again with the mud, ,
hut there amt nothing within five feet
II the surface Of the water solid enough {