The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-10-03

the Jam above the mill, an mos ever
body says he'll be killed. S'posed you
knew about it." And swelling over the
importance Of his message, the thought
less urchin galloped on his way.
For q minute OF more Margaret stood
looking blanlzly across. the street
through the dashing rain.r Every bitter
word she had uttered that mofninE
required to her mand Ia an its. cruel Z
strength, and seemed to burn itself "a on
her very soul "a great red Ilttels 81 ire.
7Fs i66k haif 81 anger half 0f res
proseh. win which lie had turne pl
her and Kissed tai ahy leepir aufeti
ia its crib every Incl emit Of 4Na
tel returned With SIC iilcanee nagnie
ned thousandfold by her fears.
''I 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, 1t is |
through discOuragementa and disappoint- !
ment at his hard lot, and he is always
kind to me- Oh, God, If I could recall
my wOFdsl But is ii too late? may
save him YETI"
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 a 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 It 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 a rapidly growing mass Of
timber and debris, the long stems Of the
great pines writhing 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, tumbling
mass, restore the raging watersto theil
Z. natural channel, and save the bridge and
the mills. But woe to him who cut Il!
When Tom Harding, al in hand
: stepped upon the bridge and started OF
+. his mission, not one Of the group whC
st6od looking on In breathless silence
. but felt that he was witnessing ira
+. gedy.
"The man is committing sheer. down
right suicide said an old lumbermal
:: who had spent his life in the forest ant
: on the river. "It oughtn't to be allowed.
" But Tom had already reached the mid
ID die of the long structure, and was feelin
n his way down over the tumbling, grind
A ing pile as only a lumberman can. NOV
q he stood with careful footing upon tn
Is huge pine stem, bending under the awfu
,- strain, and now he piled his ak with tell
NJ ing vigor, making the chips fly at eac
m powerful stroke. To an eye not cogni
n zant of his terrible danger the sturd
= lumberman might have been follOwin
~ his daily vocation for anything in hi
no look or manner that denoted the COZ
~ trary.
he But the woman, wild-eyed and pam
ing, with hair disheveled and hanging
~ rain-soaked tresses down her back, WI
," just now Joined the group on the ban
ar realized his danger, and piercing shrie
,is mingled with the roar Of the waters.
ar ooh, Tom, dear Tom, come back to mi
,Iv Forgive my cruel words, and come baC
bo for baby's sake and mine!P and 81
i'm held the little, wet, shivering thing l
m in full view of its parent out on the rive
9 a He heard not her words, but he ss
nts his child, and every feeling vanished b
or fore the paternal. He turned and look
NV at the towering mass above him, and (
nc a momen hose on shore hoped he mig
,dd escape. Bui the next! A terrible grin
ate ing crash, u the great tree parted,
awful, mufled roar, and for a single
~ stant the lumberman's form stood pois
= o., on the broken tree. He kissed his ha
once, and above the din came the wor
''It was for you Maggie; you and
.,eS Eou baby" and then he went down. and "
m .Isn borne away by the rushing swirl Of v
- ters.
IA Half an hour later searchers found
w limp, unconscious body suspended to
branches of a tree where it had been !
by the now receding waters. It was
ne ne first thought that the man was dead,
closer examination revealed the fact d
he breathed, and liberal draught froI
W. lumberman's flask forced down
~ ~ throat partly restored him to conscio
'liS ness. That night Tom Harding was c
ried home to his wife, terribly main
lut- and bruised, it Is true, but still ali
nell Under her tender and happy minisi
sen tions he finally recovered, and from
ciHs terrible experience he CLEANED a les
Ine that will last him al his life. To-day
'llIn a happier trio lives than Tom and N
un- garet and their baby. Farm and =
:, - side,
1 his The Taking Way.
80. The Patriot fear lest we do not {