The Monticellonian., 1903-09-10
rain which came near upsettinr him a,

What do you mean, Robbie Carson ? Have heard what?"
 About Tom. He's undertook 60 cut the jam above the mill, an mos evor'- body says he'll be Killed. Sposed you knew about it" And swelling over the importance of his message. the thought less urchin galloped on his way.
 For a minute or more Margaret stood looking blankly across the street through the flashing rain. Every bitter word she had uttered that morning recurred to her mind in all its cruel strength, and seemed to burn itself in on her very soul in great red letters of fire. The look, half of anger. half of sad re- proach, with which he had turned from her and kissed the baby sleeping quietly in it's crib-every incident of their quar- rel returned with significance magni- lied thousandfold by her fears.
 T called him worthless and drunken, |" she said, with dry eyes and pale, tremb- ling lips. and he is neither. Poor Tom! Though he does drink sometimes. it is through Encouragement and disappoint- ment at his hard lot, and he is always kind to me. Oh, God, if l could recall my words But is it too late? l may save him yet?"
 The Curtis Lumber company's mills stood on the level bottom adjacent to the river and about 100 yards from it. Half a mile above the mills the railroad crossed the river over long iron bridge, and from point just below the southern end of the bridge an artificial ditch had been cut to float the logs into the mill at high water. 1t was this bridge and the ditch that were responsible for the trouble which now prevailed
 Au Sable river was roaring booming, yellow flood. All day the great sawlogs, broken from their moorings above. had been rushing by in thousands. But now Immense pine trees, torn up by their roots, were borne upon the bosom of the raging torrent One of these monarchs of the forest had caught between the two middle piers of the bridge, and formed the nucleus of rapidly growing mass of timber and debris, the long stems of the great pines wrnhing and rolling together like the hideous forms of gigantic ser- pents. Not only was the bridge threat ened with momentary destruction. but the dam thus formed caught the waters up and hurled them and their ponderous armature down the ditch and against the mills below. with violence that must soon accomplish their destruction.
 To get at the pine trunk and cut 1t would release the straining, tumhing mass, restore the raging waters to their natural channel. ard save the bridge and the mills. But woe to him who cut 1t,
 When Tom Harding ax in hand, stepped upon the bridge and started on his mission. not one of the group who stood looking on in breathless silence but felt that he was witnessing a tra- gedy.
 The man is committing sheer, down. right suicide said an old lumberman who had spent his life in the forest and on the river. Tt oughtn't to be allowed"
 But Tom had already reached the mid dle of the long structure. and was feeling his way down over the tumbling, grind ing pile as only lumberman can Now he stood with careful footing upon the huge pine stem. bending under the awful strain, and now he piled his ax with tell ing vigor. making the chips fly at each powerful stroke. To an eye not eogni- zant of his terrible danger the sturdy lumberman might have been following his daily vocation for anything in his look or manner that denoted the con- trary
 But the woman. wild-eyed and pant ing, with hair disheveled and hanging in rain-soaked tresses Gown her back. who just now joined the group on the bank, realized his danger and piercing shriek mingled with the roar of the waters.
 "0h, Tom, dear Tom. come hack to me, Forgive my cruel words. and come back for baby's sake and mine," and she held the little. wet. shivering thing up in full view of its parent out on the river.
 He heard not her words. but he saw his child. and every feeling vanished be- fore the paternal He turned and looked al the towering mass above him. and for moment those on shore hoped he might escape. But the next, A terrible grind ing crash. as the great tree parted. an awful, muff1ed roar, and for single in- stant the lumberman' s form stood poised on the broken tree. He kissed his hand once. and above the din came the words. Tt was for you Maggie; you and the baby" and then he went down. and was borne away by the rushing swirl of wa ters
 Half an hour later searchers found limp, unconscious body suspended to the branches of a tree where it had been left by the now receding waters. It was at first thought that the man was dead but closer examination revealed the fact that he breathed. and liberal draught from a lumberman's flask forced Gown his throat partly restored him to conscious ness. That night Tom Harding was car ried home to his wife. terribly maired and bruised. 1t is true. but still alive. Under her tender and happy ministra- tions he finally recovered. and from his terrible experience he cleaned lesson that will last him all his life To-day not happier trio lives than Tom and Mar caret and their baby.-Farm and Fire side
 INDIAN BANK DEPOSITORS.