Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1902-02-06
The Trouble q
on the TOro1itO.
BY FRANCIS LYNDE.
Copyright 1893, by Francis Lynde)
CHAPTER X.-CoNTNUED.
Copyright 1893, by Francis Lyndo

a hundred yards below the dam
workings my ditch crossed the trail
below and the stream by boX-hume
bridge; a crazy structure on spind-
ling stills that weaved and racked
under me as | ran. | did not dare to
look down or aside until ! had won
across; and then ! saw that | was
too late, and that l was on the
wrong side of the stream. The
wooden coffer-dam was built out
from the other side of the canyon;
and the engineer, leaving his horse
where l had once left mine, had
climbed to the top of the timbering
20 look down into the seething flood
hammering at its upper side and
sweeping foam-fecked past its outer
extremity. And on the trail below,
with his horse ncighboring playful
Ky with Wykamp's, was Macpherson,
waiting quietly until the engineer
should finish his inspection and come
down.
My end of the fume was in the
shadow of the canyon wall, and |
knew that neither of them could see
me; but ! stood up and waved my
arms and shouted to them. NY
tongue claye to my teeth, and
whether my cries were louder than
whispers, | know not. 1t mattered
little; the thunder of the torrent
was deafening, and no warning shout
of mine could dominate it. With
shaking knees l climbed a little
higher on the canyon wall to lay hold
of a gnarled tree growing from a
cleft in the rock. When [ looked
again, the engineer had turned to
creep back over the cob-house tim
bering of the co'fer-dam. In the bal
Rncing instant ! saw a worm-like
chread of fire eating its way up into
the black shadows on the down
streSm side of the timbering: saw it.
and saw that Macpherson had seen
at He was urging his horse up the
GTaii, and his ringing shout came to
zue above the din and turmoil of the
waters. Then the thread of fire dis
appeared and rumbling crash shook
the mountain like the shock of an
earthquake. | heard the grinding
crunch of shattered timbers, and
when | looked again the coffer-dam
had become a mere log-iam in the
secthing whirlpool, and the released
torrent was brcast-high on the trail
where Macpherson had halted. But
for the sight of him sending his
horse zigzag up the steep acclivity
opposite, | should have tainted and
fallen. As it was, my brain reeled
and horrible nausea seized me. For
mt that moment Macpherson flung
himself from the back of the scram-
bling bronco and ran out on the
wreck of the timbering to look
down into the surging maeIstrom
roaring through the gap. [ looked,
zoo, and saw what he saw. In the
spume of the caldron, clinging des-
perately to one of the half-sub-
merged logs of the wrecked Golfer
dam, was the engineer. / saw his
face upturned in the moonlight, and
It was the face of man whose life
had eaten out the fortitude where
with brave man may go to his
death.
And on the broken timbering
above, within arm's-reach of the
drowning man, Macpherson stood and
looked down upon him. He had but
to withhold his hand, and Gods ven.
geance would fall swift and sure
upon the poor worm writhing on its
log in the reek and spume of the
whirlpool.