Mower County transcript., 1904-02-24

Henrys after much difficulty and
nervous fumblfne Inandged to loosen
thesswamps book and after much more
did1cultyy 7 u succeeded III smnlaKing at fsst,
about stheesgray mare's neck Il Eabian.
intended with this to choke the animal
to that peculiar state when she would
nOaI IKE DaAoonE on the WaIer ann.
two; men could with ease draw her over
theedge of the fee Then the unexpect-
ed happened. !, u. ", s. s..
The instant Henrys had passed the
end Of the chain through the knot Pat,
possessed by some Hibernian notion
that now all was fast, let go of the bit.
Jenny's head at once went under, and
the end Of the logging chain glided
over and fell plump in the hole.
E Imme ediately all confusion. ..Jen-
ny kicked and struggled, churned the
water, throwing it about, kicking out
in every direction. Once horses
head dips strongly the game is over.
No animal browns more quickly. The
two young boys scrambled away, and
French oaths could not induce them to
approach. Molly, still upheld by Fa-
bian, looked at him piteously with her
strange, intelligent eyes, holding her.
self motionless and rigid with COM
plete confidence in this master who had
never failed her before. Fabian dug
his heels into the ice, but could not
hang on. The drowning horse was
more than dead weight. Presently it
became question of letting go or be-
ing dragged into the lake on top of the
animals. With sob the little French
man relinquished his hold. The water
seemed slowly to rise and overfilm the
troubled look of pleading in NIolly's
eyes.
"Assassins!' hissed Laveque at the
two unfortunate youths; that was ALL
II suppose it was a good deal my
fault" commented Radway, doubtfully
shaking his head after Laveque had
left the Office. II ought to have been
surer about the ice."
Radway was so confirmed in his be-
lief as to his own ,culpability that he
quite overlooked Fabian's just conten-
ton that the mere thinness of the ice
was in reality no excuse for the losing
of the horses. So Pat and Henrys were
not discharged; were not instructed to
''get their time" Fabian Laveaue
promptly demanded his.
II no work wild dat fool dat no t'ink
wit hees haid!'
This deprived the camp at once of a
teamster and a team. When you re-
fleet that one pair of horses takes care
Of the exertiOns of crew Of sawyers.
several swampers and three Or four
cant hook men you will readily, see
what serious arrangement their loss
would cause.
Railway did his best He took three
days to search out big team of farm
horses. Then it became necessary to
find driver. After some deliberation
he decided to advance Bob Stratton to
the post, that decker having had
more or less experience the year before
Erickson, the Swede, while not star
cant hook man, was nevertheless sure
and reliable. Radway placed him in
Stratton's place. He remembered
Thorpe.
So the young man received his first
promotion toward the ranks of skilled
labor. He gained at last a field Of ap-
plication for the accuracy he had SO in
telligently acquired while roadmaking,
for now a false stroke >marred a saw
log; and besides, what was more to his
taste, he found himself near the actual
scene Of operation-at the front, as it
were.
Here he learned why and when the
sawyers threw a tree up or down hill,
and how small standing timber they
tried to fell it through, what consider