The Press., 1905-08-30
At High
Water Marx
Byc. .. LEW1s
copmtoht. 1906, BY r. B. Mcclure

Inc TWO CSAIeE piers VI TIC great
railroad bridge over the Goomtree
river had been finished, and there was
much rejoicing. They had been sunk
In the muddy bed Of the stream q dis
lance OF sixty feet. and they lowered
| almost as high above the surface. It
had taken thousands of tons of stone
| and thousands OF bags Of cement and
| hundreds OF days work to complete
| these piers. They had4had the labor
Of a 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: -:
'sThey are done az 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"
eft IL 20, sahib-it Is co." answered
the voice Of thousand natives, and
then they cheered him and his work.
When q 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 10 jealousy between the
different trades, there Is chance every
hour in the day for a general riot, and
the men must be under a strict dis
cipline. The guperintendent's word
must be law from which there Is no
appeal. A culprit IL; not.&old. to go
- - q, R.Ov
and the company has bound itself. He
N punished by nne, imprisonment or
the lash. because Of this custom this
news ran through camp one morning:
AT the hour Of high noon today the
Gag of punishment will be raised on the
stan, and Kim Nassik will be tied to
the post and logged. Three times has
his 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 hags. One man and
his beast can hinder a. hundred others.
It Is right that Kim Nassik should be
well logged"
When the elephant driver, after sew
efaI warnings, had been sentenced to
punishment, he replied to the superin-
tepdent: H.: go, : :? - 49,
"Your words are true, sahib, and l
would, not have you take them back.
have been lacking In diligence, and
Bundara, has agreed with me. but we
have a reason. A few Sundays ago he
got loose and ran away to the jungle.
We hunted for him Tor hours. When
we finally came upon him he was talk
ing with q. wild elephant. He came to
me at my bidding, but that night, when
ell the camp was asleep; he whispered
In my ear that we were fretting the
river. that the waters were growing
and complaining: that some evil would
surely fall upon us If we damned
them back. !, For, a million years the
0oomtree haa.had free dow to the sea.
Gould it be otherwise. than that she
should be angry and that some disas-
ter should befaA usT -:'t 49,
"How is It with the trees-with the
Krassrwith all else that man -usesT
asked the official. IF the river is a
million years old men have used her
for a million years. Thousands OF
hoatsaand rafts have Hoated 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 it
10 flow onward. Bundara is a big,
strong beast. but he is lazy. He has
told you this story that he may have
less work to do. You shall have TWEEN
g lashes at the post before all men,
and Bundara shall also look on as a
warning to tell no more les"
L "As you will, sahib." .-'>... ...
At noon: the whipping took place, but
the: punishment was not severe. It
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 of the .works-half day In which
to repent and decide to do better In
At sundown all labor ceased, and, Il
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 serious penalty by nee-
ing, and a party was made to bring
him back, but they hunted in vain In
four weeks the incident was almost
forgotten. '.'t -
In time the great iron beams were
stretched from pier to pier, and cross
beams and girders were put In place,
and from sunup to shutdown the hot
/ air Quivered under the strokes Of the
scores Of hammers. The approaches
were filled in and spans laid to the
piers, and the chief engineer looked
over his work with a smile Of satisfac-
ton. .-.- So
"All Isl going WELL" he said to him
self. ''In another sixty days the iron
horse will be snorting across this struc-
ture., The Go0mtree - on the rise, and
q food will come, but we need not fear
It. We cleared it's banks Of driftwood
for fifty miles last year. Nothing here
can dam its waters back and imperil
the bridge" '%-
An hour after Nassik had been pun
ished he had clasped his arms around
the trunk Of his elephant and said:
'Bundara, I have been disgraced be.
fore q thousand men because you told
me what the wild elephant said. I do
not believe you lied, but let US 60 to
the Jungles and be by ourselves. II the
Goomtree Is fretted and harassed, then
she will take revenge. We should not
be punished for what the sahibs are
doing" f4:' =
The pair fed afar. Sometimes they
were alone and sometimes In the COM