The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-12-06

Before the pressure OF the food the
lone cottonwood groaned and popped.
bending slowly. On each side of the
accumulated snag a mill-race of bob
bing trees, posts and bushes swept
past, and the rumble of huge boulders
rolling on the bottom sounded above
the swash of the tumbling waves.
But deepest of all, like the growl Of
some destroying monster, came the
roar of the immediate waters, burrow.
ing beneath the roots of the sturdy
cottonwood, washing its little island of
soil away like sugar, and threatening
at every moment TO root it up and over.
whelm horses and men alike, as they
lowered behind its protecting bulk.
There was no choice about it for
Philip Westbrook. He went down the
rope with rush, clutched the first
horse, and was passed on by Shaw to
the second.
Then, mt the touch of his knife, the
picket rope popped like rifle shot, and
they We're swept on with the torrentl
Huge, sinuous waves, four and five
feet high, yet flowing smooth and oily
over their new-formed bed of sand,
showed where the current ran swiftest,
and into this Shaw headed his horse,
making for the left-hand side of the
stream, where, in the perpetual wind
ing of the river long sand-spit jutted
out almost to Che opposite shore.
But hardly had he reached the middle
Of the current when there was a great
crash behind. Rising on wave, he
saw the lone cottonwood and all its
mass of drift heave forward and rush
down upon them.
Reckoning frantically to Westbrook,
he turned his horses head from the
shore, and drove straight ahead with
the Swiftest current. Behind, the con.
fused mass of trees and drift, bound
together by a great section Of barbed
wire fence, spread out like an enor.
nous drag-net and swept after them.
Although at each plunge their horses
heads went through the crests of the
waves, Shaw and Westbrook still held
to the swiftest current, for to be caught
in that tangle of barbed wire and
splintered wood meant certain death.
Already light sticks of wood and
masses of punky drift were bobbing
round them, but the drag-net Of barbed
wire and trees was held back by its
greater weight and the catching of
scraggy roots.
Yet where the current was strongest
a great loop, a drifting tangle Of wire
and cedar posts, reached after them
like the feelers of great monster
clutchng at its prey. Then the more
buoyant Of the free cedar posts shot
past them and darted on over the
waves.
In ruck of sticks and driftwood the
swimming horses were carried swiftly
round the point Of the sand-spit and
into the lower bend of the river Part
of the wire fence caught on the point
and hung dangling; then, as the other
end was sucked past, It tore loose and
dragged along behind
But no sooner did Ezra Shaw pass
the turn and see that the wire was
caught than he pulled his half-drowned
horse to the right and urged him for
the shore. Below them stretched out
another point; it was their last chance
to escape. Desperately the tired horses
paved the water, fighting to gain the
shore, vet swept on by the current
Ac nhnp 41,aip ainht at,d
turned against the current, once more
the loops of barbed wire, hurried on
by the swiftest water, reached out to
enwrap them.
Nearer and nearer they crept, and
Shaw saw that they were caught.
Swim for it!' he yelled to West
brook, who followed near, and plunged
into the muddy waters. Desperately he
kicked and floundered, but his heavy
boots weighed him down, and he was
glad to seize upon fence-post and
float. Just then he saw his horse,
freed of its burden, striking boldly
out for the shore.
Throwing aside his float he lunged
fiercely after it, and with final furry
Of hard swimming managed to catch
it by the tail There he clung until, ig.
ANONYMOUSLY, he was dragged into shal.
low water. ASsr.ls~sssss'a -
But Westbrook proved better swim
mer, and was able to gain the shore
unaided, while his horse, landing on
the tip of the point, barely escaped
the onrush of the terrible barbedwire
fence.
Two hours later, mounted on Their
draggled horses, Ezra Shaw and West.
brook rode back along the clean.
secured river-bed.
Scarcely a trickle of water mean.
dered down the channel in the wake OF
that awful torrent. In the dusty road
down which the travellers had plunged
into the treacherous dry-wash the
tracks of their wagon wheels were still
clear and fresh-not a drop of rain
had fallen to lay the dust; but that
wagon was now probably ten miles
down the canon, its wheels buried deep
in the sand, the bed piled up on some
mountainous snag.
"These clsudbursts are sure sudden"
said Shaw, surveying the river-bed
ruefully. II reckon you understand
now why I generally camp on the
bank"