The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-01-04
CHAPTER LII

CHAPTER LII.
What is it?" Whats the matter?"
What the helTs uD?' What hap
pened2' burst on Wallace in a volley.
It's Dyer gasped the young man.
81 found him on the boom, He held
me up with gun while he filed the
boom chains between the center piers.
They're just ready TO go. I got away
by diving. Hurry and put in a new
/ chain; you haven't much time!"
Hes gone-er now" interjected
Solly grimly, Charley is on his trail
and he is hit
Thorpe's intelligence Ieaped promptly
to the practical question.
"Injun Charlie, where'd he come
from? sent him up Sadler & Smiths.
It's twenty miles, even through the
woods
As though by way of colossal answer.
the whole surface of the jam moved
inward and upward, thrusting the logs
bristling against the horizon.
shes going TO break" shouted
Thorpe, starting on a run towards the
river. "A chain, quick"
The men followed. strung high with
excitement. Hamilton. the journalist,
paused long enough to glance up
stream Then he, too, ran after them,
screaming that the river above was full
Of logs. By that they all knew that
1njun Chdrley's mission had failed, and
that something under ten million feet
of logs were racing down the river like
so many battering rams
At the boom the great jam was al
ready a-tremble with eagerness to
spring Indeed a miracle alone seemed
to hold the timbers in place
It's death, certain death, TO go out
on that BOOM" muttered Billy Mason
Tim Shearer stepped forward coolly,
ready as always to assume the peTilOuS
duty. He was thrust back by Thorpe,
| who seized the chain. cold-shut and
hammer which Scotty Parsons brought,
and ran lightly out over the booms
| shouting:
Back backI Don't follow me. on
your HvesI Keep 'em back, TIM
The swift water boiled from under
the booms. Bang. smash! bangi crashed
the logs, mile upstream, but plainly
| audible above the waters and the wind.
/ Thorpe knelt. dropped the cold-shut
] through on either side of the weak
ened link, and prepared to close it with
/ his hammer. He intended further to
strengthen the connection with the
! other chain.
Lem me hold her for you. You
/ can't close her alone said an unex-
| pected voice next his elbow.
| Thorpe looked up in surprise and
anger. Over him leaned Big Junko. The
/ men had been unable to prevent his
| following. Animated by the blind de-
vOtion of the animal for its master,
and further stung to action by that
| masters doubt of his fidelity, the giant
| had followed to assist as he might
You damned fool cried Thorpe ex-
asperated, then held the hammer to
him, strike While keep the chain un-
| derneath." he commanded.
Big JunkO leaned forward to obey,
kicking strongly his caulks into the
y Fra,-N = Il
| spikes, worn blunt by the river work
already accomplished, failed to grip.
Big Junko slipped, caught himself by
! an effort. OVerbalanced in the other di-
rectiOn. and fell into the stream. The
current at once swept him away, but
| fortunately in such a direction that he
was enabled to catch the slanting end
| of dead head" log whose lower end
was damned in the crib. The dead head
! was slippery, the current strong; Big
| Junko had no crevice by which to as
sure his hold In another moment he
| would be torn away.
i Let go and swimi" shouted Thorpe.
| I can't SWIM replied Junko in so
low a voice as to be scarcely audible
For a moment Thorpe stared at him.
Tell Carrie" said Big Junko
Then there beneath the swirling
gray sky, under the frowning jam. in
the midst of flood waters, Thorpe had
his second great moment of decision.
He did not pause to weigh reasons or
chances, to discuss with himself ex-
pediency, or the mOralities OF failure
HIS actions were foreordained, me-
chanical. All at once the great forces
which the winter had been bringing
to power crystallized into something
bigger than himself or his ideas. The
trial lay before him; there was no
choice.
Now clearly, with no shadow of
doubt, he took the other view: There
could be nothing better than love. Men
their works. their deeds. were little
things. Success was a little thing: the
opinion of men little thing. Instantly
he felt the truth of it.
And here was Love in danger. That
it held its moments habitation in clay
of the coaFser mould had nothing "a
do with the great eternal truth of it
For the first time in his life Thorpe
felt the full crushing power of an alb
straction- Without thought, instinc-
lively, he threw before the necessity OF
the moment all that was lesser. It was
the triumph of what was real in the
man over that which environment
alienation. difficulties had raised III
within him.
At Big Junkos words. Thorpe raised
his hammer and with one mighty blow
severed the chains which bound the
ends of the booms across the opening
The free end of one of the poles imme-
diately swung down with the current
in the direction of Big Junko. Thorpe
like a cat ran to the end of the boom
seized the giant by the collar. and
dragged him through the water t.
. safety.
~Run.~ he shouted. Run for your
nfei"
The two started desperately back
skirting the edge of the logs, which
now the very seconds alone seemed L
hold back They were drenched and
blinded with spray. deafened with the
crash of timbers settling to the leap
The men on shore could no longer see
them for the smother The great crust
of logs had actually begun its first ma
jestic sliding motion when at last the.
emerged TO safety.
At first a few Of the loose timber'
found the opening, slipping quietl,
through with the current; then more
| finally the front of the jam drove for
ward and an instant later the smooth
! swift motion had gained its impetus
and was sweeping the entire drive dow
through the gap.
Rank after rank like soldiers charg
; ing. they ran The great fierce wins