The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-04-28

"I expedition had proved fail
U ure, as Thorpe had foreseen.
but at the cud Of the week.
when the water began to recede. they
came upon mass of flesh and bones.
The man was unrccognizable. The re-
mains were wrapped in canvas and
sent for interment to the cemetery at
Marquette. Three of the others were
never found. The last did not come 10
light until after the drive had quite lin
ished.
Down at the booms the jam crew
received the drive as fast as 1t came
down. From one crib to another across
the broad extent of the rivers mouth
heavy booms were chained end TO end
efIectually 10 close the exit TO Lake
Superior. Against these the logs car
omed softly in the slackened current
and stopped. The cribs were very
heavy, with slanting instead of square
tops. in order that the pressure might
be downward instead of sidewise. In
a short time the surface of the lagoon
was covered by brown carpet of logs
running in strange patterns Ike wind
rows of fallen grain. The drive was
all but over.
Up till now the weather had been
clear. hut oppressively hot for this
time OF year The heat had come sud
denly and maintained itself well. The
men had worked for the most part in
undershirts. They were as much in
the water as ont of II. for the icy bath
had become almost grateful. lIamil-
ton, the journalist. who had attached
himself definitely to the drive, distrib-
uted punches OF papers. in which the
men read that the unsea sonable condi-
tions prevailed all over the country.
At length. however. it gave signs of
breaking. The sky. which had been OF
a steel blue. harborcd great piled thun-
der heads. Toward evening the thun.
der heads shifted and finally dissipat-
cd, TO be sure. but the portent was
there.
Hamilton's papers began To tell of
washouts and cloudbursts in the south
and west The men wished they had
some of that water here.
So finally the drive approached its
end and all concerned began in antici-
patton to taste the weariness that
awaited them. The few remaining
tasks still confronting them all at once
seemed more formidable than what
they had accomplished. The work for
the first time became dogged, distaste-
full. Even Thorpe was infected. He,
too, wanted more than anything else
TO drop on the bed in Mrs. Hathaway's
boarding house. There remained but
a few things TO do. A mile Of sacking
would carry the drive beyond the in
fiuenee of freshet water. After that
there would be no hurry.
He looked round at the hard. fatigue
worn faces of the men about him, and
he suddenly felt great rush of affec-
ton for these comrades who had so un-
reservedly spent themselves for his af-
fair. Their features showed eXhaus-
ton, il is true. but their eyes cleaned
still with the steady, half humorous
purpose of the pioneer. When they
caught his glance they grinned good
humoredly.
All at once Thorpe turned and start
ed for the bank.
THAT II do. boys he said quietly to
the nearest group. She's down."
1t was noon. The sackers looked up
in surprise. Behind them, to their very
feet, rushed the soft smooth slope of
Hemlock rapids. Below them flowed a
broad, peaceful river. The drive had
passed its last obstruction. To all in
tents and purposes it was over.
Calmly, with matter of fact direct
ness. as though they had not achieved
the impossible, they shouldered their
peaveys and struck into the broad wag-
on road. In the middle distance loomed
the tall stacks Of the mill, with the lit
tie board town about it. Across the eye