Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1905-08-10
5 At High
5 Water Marx
s BY c. B. LEWIS
s Copyright, 1905, By r. 3. Mcclure
BY c. B. LEWIS
Copyright. 1905, bp r. 8. Mcclure

E~~r~~~x>~NN>n/\ NnnAnnrN~N<>r/S
The two center piers of the great
railroad bridge over the Goomtree
river had been finished, and there was
much rejoicing. They had been SUM-
In the muddy bed of the stream a dis
lance Of sixty feet, and they lowered
almost as high above the surface. 1t
had taken thousands Of tons of stone
and thousands Of bags of cement and
hundreds of days work to complete
these piers. They had had the labor
of thousand men and fifty elephants.
When they were finished holiday
was given to all the workmen, and
the chief engineer gazed proudly at
his work and said:
''They are done at last. Floods may
roll down-earthquakes may topple
down forests-come what may, and
my piers will stand here when thou
sand years have passed away"
ut is so, sahib-it is so," answered
the voice Of a thousand natives, and
then they cheered him and his work
When thousand native Indian
workmen are employed together on
one job there are three or four castles.
There are masons, carpenters, elephant
drivers. shovelers, boatmen and what
not. There is enmity between the
castles, there Is jealousy between the
different trades, there is chance every
hour in the day for general riot, and
the men must be under strict dis
cipline. The superintendent word
must be law from which there Is no
appeal. A culprit is not told to go
hence, because he has bound himself
and the company has bound itself. He
is punished by fine, Imprisonment or
the lash. Because Of this custom this
news ran through camp one morning:
'At the hour of high noon today the
flag of punishment will be raised on the
staff, and Kim Nassik will be tied to
the post and logged. Three times has
bis overseer warned him, and three
times has he muttered and cursed be-
low his breath and failed to amend his
conduct. Kim Nassik is lazy, and he
has made Bundara, his elephant, the
same. When both driver and elephant
are lazy, the work flags. One man and
his beast can hinder a hundred others.
1t is right that Kim Nassik should be
well logged"
When the elephant driver, after sew
eral warnings, had been sentenced to
punishment, he replied to the superin-
tendent:
Your words are true, sahib, and
would not have you take them back.
l have been lacking in diligence, and
Bundara has agreed with me, but we
have reason. A few Sundays ago he
got loose and ran away to the jungle.
We hunted for him for hours. When
we finally came upon him he was talk
ing with wild elephant. He came to
me at my bidding, but that night, when
all the camp was asleep, he whispered
in my ear that we were fretting the
river; that the waters We're growing
and complaining; that some evil would
surely fall upon us if we damned
them back. For million years the
Goomtree has had free flow to the sea.
Could it be otherwise than that she
should be angry and that some disas-
ter should befall us?"
"How is it with the trees-with the
grass-with all else that man uses?"
asked the official "If the river Is a
million years old men have used her
for a million years. Thousands Of
boats and RATS have tloated down her
current and she has not complained.
Men must travel, and they must have
bridges on which to cross streams.
We have not damned the current
back. There Is plenty Of room for 1t
strong beast, but he is lazy. He has
told you this story that he may have
less work to do. You shall have twen-
ty lashes at the post before all men,
and Bundara shall also look on as a
warning to tell no more lies"
"As you WILL sahib."
At noon the whipping took place, but
the punishment was not severe. 1t
was because of the moral effect that
| it was inflicted. Kim Nassik's ele-
| plant was there, and he dropped his
head and tears ran from his eyes. They
said he felt pity for his master and
| that his conscience troubled him. To
spare the feelings Of man and beast,
the superintendent gave them half a
day off the works-half day In which
to repent and decide to do better in
| the future.
| At shutdown all labor ceased, and It
was reported that Nassik and his beast
had gone to the Jungles. That was a
serious offense. The elephant was gov
eminent property and was hired to
the railroad company at SO much per
| day. Nassik had been his mahout for
ten years, but he was no more. He
had incurred a serious penalty by flee
| Ing. and party was made to bring
him back, but they hunted in vain. In
four weeks the incident was almost
forgotten.
| In time the great iron beams were
stretched from pier to pier, and cross
beams and Orders were put In place,
and from sunup to shutdown the hot