The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1905-12-01

v
Que chance in ten he might be saved.
Lacroix quickly shouted his plan to
Weston, and together the two vaulted
the canal, and, ice-hooks in hand ran
down river as fast as they could. It
was race for the students life. Could
they win it? The other workmen,
themselves too far off to render assist
ance, stood breathIessly watching the
| two runners.
Even if they reached the lower canal
! before Carroll was swept down to it,
would their efforts be Of any avail?
rhe river was broad. How could they
be sure that he would be carried
straight downstream! Should a cross
current defect his course only few
feet to right or left it might be impos-
sible for them to reach Linn. What if
his body should not rise at all to the
surface!
AS Carroll was borne on beneath the
ice he heard the regular thump! thump!
of approaching feet Then two leaping
! figures cut off the sunlight for a mo-
ment. Ono halted and peered down;
ana the student recognized Wcstons
Mortified face. The latter pointed
straight, ahead, end ran on. A light
broke on CarrolIs brain. He remem-
bered the other canal, and knew that
his friends We're running toward ii, in
the hope Of saving him as he was
swept by.
The love Of life, relinquished but
few seconds before, again asserted its
sway over Carrolls mind Gould he
do anything to make his rescue more
probable? Something bumped against
him. 1t was his ice-hook, drifting on
ward with its long, buoyant wooden
handle uppermost. Involuntary he
grasped ii. Could he but keep his
senses until the canal was reached, the
stick might help him.
All these things were happening
much more quickly than they can be
told. AS Carroll pressed himself down
he caught a glimpse of a darkness in
the water ahead and he knew that
this marked the edge Of the snow-field,
as yet uDremoyed from the surface.
He crossed the line. and was enyeloped
in semi-darkness. A hundred feet ahead
was the canal. Could he keep his
senses until that was reached?
Up to this time he had successfully
resisted his impulse to breathe; but
now lie could wait no longer. AS the
water flowed into his notrils he suf-
fered all the agonies OF strangulation.
Choking, fighting for life, he was swept
on by the steady current.
Down through the snow toward the
canal rushed Weston and Lacroix.
They must leap across it, in order to
take advantage Of the brief space that
would elapse from the instant when
the students body appeared on the
upper side of that narrow passage of
black water until it was again borne
under the ice at the lower edge.
True, it meant a spring of only a
few feet, a mere trlde for an active
man on solid ground; but to the two
runners, slipping through three inches
of snow on that CLASSY surface, with
no firm spot on which to brace their
feet, and almost certain death await
ing a plunge into the canal, it was a
serious matte. But neither hesitated.
Come on, Louisr shouted Weston,
dashing along at full speed.
The Frenchman ran close behind
him. On they plowed together through
the snow, raising a white cloud as they
ran. The canal was now only ten feet
ahead. In another moment it yawned
beneath them-to all appearance only
a long snowy trench, six feet wide and
few inches deep. But under the ice
at its bottom, barely thicker than a
viRdoW-pane, death lurked if one
Glanced to stumble.
Weston gave leap into the air, and
sailed over the dangerous ditch, his
feet striking a yard beyond its edge.
LacroiX followed suit. In n moment
both were sprawling in the snow, roll
ing over and over, striving to check
their momentum and to regain their
feet
BY sticking their ice-hooks into the
surface lHey soon arrested tuClE
course Darling back to the canal,
they began to break the thin ice with
which it was skinned Soon they had
opened a space twenty feet in length.
Meanwhile Carroll was being borne
swiftly along under the snow-feld.
His senses were fast leaving him. The
next few seconds would turn the scale
either for life or death.
Out he flashed suddenly into the
binding sunlight A rush of cold air
smote his face. He had come up just
between Weston and Lacroix, and too
far off for either of them to reach
him at once.
He heard their shouts and saw tho