The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-08-18

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the block high above. 1t was neces-
sary to make one or two tests to see
that everything worked smoothly.
"All ready" he shouted. From the
right bank came the response in Rob
bins deep bass:
"Fall away, boys!"
4 salf-dozen Prince Edward Island
ers surged upon the rope, and Jules
was snapped ten feet into the air.
"Don't do it so quick!" he shouted.
You'll break me in two. Once
again!"
This time they did better. But
no further experiments could be trled.
Robbins chafed at the delay; every
minute was precious The French
man fell vigorously to work.
. 1t was ten o'clock on May morn
ing. A thick river mist filled the
gorge. The men on the opposite banks
could hardly see one another. al
though the stalwart, red-shirted nsure
on the logs below was plainly visible
from both sides.
The quick strokes of his ak re-
sounded DULY through the chasm;
and fifty pairs Of eyes were 10
cused on him, as he swung the
keen steel. Nothing could 10
done until the jam was cleared
Robbins, grasping a small spruce on
the verge of the bluff, leaned OUT
over empty space, his gaze fixed on
the axman below, ready to give ene
signal to pull to the expectant men
behind him.
Fast fell the strokes. The great
log was nearly cut through when the
foreman's practised eye saw that tne
lam was beginning to weaken
Grandgent himself. busy with MS
chopping, did not observe this hoo-
bins uttered shout: !.
"There she goes! All right. Jules!
Up with him, boys!"
So suddenly did the excited men
respond that the Frenchman was
snapped off the logs before he reaiiz-
ed what was happening His ak ne"
from his hand.
The sudden shock jerked the rope
from the pulley-wheel. 1t fell BACK
dropped between the wheel ana
side of the block. and there stuck
fast. For the fraction of a second the
men swayed at the rope. Then hoD-
bins. who instantly realized the cat
astrophe that was imminent If six
Iusty men continued straining on one
small line of hemp. roared out at the
top of his lungs:
"Stop hauling!"
AT the very instant that Grand
gent was snapped UP the jam mad
broken. Impelled by the volume OF
logs and water behind it. the head OF
the drive came surging down the
Staircase with the thunder OF an
avalanche, each separate stick seem
ingly endowed with life, rolling
plunging, battling with its fellows.
Jules had fallen back SO that his
boot-soles were only four or five feet
above the grinding mass. He was
fully alive to his peril as he hung
there in the mist among the dartlng
qeaping river monsters. A glance at
the taut rope extending from the
block to the bank told him what had
happened; and he raised both arms
over his head with the intention or
pulling himself up hand over hand.
But just at that moment a log
sprang out of the boiling turmoil ana
struck his legt leg heavy blow
breaking the bone just below the knee,
The sudden sharp pain made the
Frenchman faint. His arms dropped
and he hung half-insensible, spinning
slowly round and round. like spider
at the end of its thread!
The throat of the gorge was now
a veritable maelstrom. From head to
foot the rapids were in motion, a
rough, irregular floor of heaving logs
all of which must pass through that
narrow chasm in which the French
man hung. In that raging pit no man
could call his life his own from one
second to another.
How could the lumbermen rescue
their comrade? For the first time in
his twenty years of river driving
Robbins was at loss for expedients.
The hauling line had evidently
caught so firmly in the block that no
effort could disengage it. Had the
main cable itself been longer, 1t might
have been possible to unite its ends
from the tree trunks and draw 1t
across the river; but there had been
barely enough to be made fast at
either end.
To the knot in It's middle the block
had been tied so firmly that it was
useless to hope to loosen 1t; a tug
strong enough to break its bonds
might tear asnader the rope itself.
Any one of a dozen men would
gladly have gone out on the cable,
hand over hand. and cut the pulley
clear, so that it might be drawn in
to the bank. But would the rope
stand this double strain? No expert
ments could be tried now. for fall
x,1o- h,f ono thing for the