Canyon City news. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1903-1908, 1905-01-27
The BIazed Trail"
[Continued from lst page ]


weather conditions and the cruel rowc
10. Of Thorpe.
Tho latter had now no thought be-
yond his work. and that was the
thought Of Il madman, lie had been
stern and nnyiclding enough before,
goodness knows. hut now he was terri
bic. Not for an instant was there
resting spell. The vcricst chore boy
talked. thought. dreamed. of nothing
but saw logs. Men whispered vaguely
of record cut. The difficulties Of
snow. accident topography, were
swept aside like straws. Little time
was wasted and no opportunities. 1t
did not matter how smoothly affairs
happened to be running for the mo-
ment; every advantage, even the small
est. was eagerly seized to advance the
work A drop of five degrees during
the frequent warm spells brought out
the sprinklers even in the dead OF
night. At night the men fell into their
hunks like sand bags, and their last
conscious thought. if indeed they had
any at all, was of cagerness for the
morrow 1t was madness. but II was
the madness these men loved.
For now to his old religion Thorpe
had added II fnnaticism. and over the
fanaticism was gradually creeping n
film OF doubt To the conscientious
energy which sense of duty supplied
was added the tremendous kinetic
force of love turned into other chan
nels. And In the wild nights while the
other men slept Thorpe's half crazed
brain was revolving over and over
again the words of the sentence he had
heard from Hilda's lips. There can be
nothing better than love"
His actions. his mind. his very soul.
vehemently denied the proposition. He
chung us ever 10 his high Pnrltanlc
idea of mans purpose. But down deep
in q very tiny. sacred corner OF his
heart a very small voice sometimes
made itself heard when other more
militant voices were still: 1T may be.
1t may be-"
The last rIonth Of hauling was also
one of snow. Each day n little fell.
BY and by the accumula ton amounted
10 much In the woods where the wind
could not get at II it lay deep and soft
above the tops of bushes. On either
side of the logging roads the snow piled
SO high rs TO form kind OF rampant.
When all this water In suspense should
begin to flow and to seek its level In
the water courses Of the district the
logs would have plenty to float them
at least.
So late did the cold weather last that.
even with the added blowing to do, the
six camps beat all records. On the
banks at Camp One were 100000
feet The totals Of all five amounted
TO 33,OOO.OO0. About 100000 Of this
was on French creek. the remainder
on the main bank of the Ossawina-
makee. Besides this. the firm up river.
Sadler e. Smith. had put up some H.
600, 900 more. The drive promised to
be quite an affair.
About the 18th of April attention be-
came strained. Every day the mount
ing sun made heavy attacks on the
snow; every night the temperature
dropped below the freezing point. The
river began TO show more air holes. &C.
casional open places. About the CEN
ter the ice looked worn and soggy.
Some one saw flock Of geese high 10
the air. Then came rain.
One morning early Long Jim Pine
came into the mems camp bearing a
huge chunk of tallow. This he held
against the hot stove until its surface
had softened. when he began TO swab
liberal quantities of grease on his
spiked river shoes. which he fished out
from under his bunk.
"She's comm. boys" he said.
He donned a pair Of wooden trousers
that had been chopped off at the knee.
thick wooden stockings and the river
shoes. Then he frightened his broad
leather belt about his heavy shirt
cooked his little hat over his ear and
walked over in the corner to select
peavey from the lot the blacksmith had
just put in shape. a peavey is like
cant hook except that it is pointed at
the end. Thus il can be used either as
a hook or pike. AT the same moment
Shearer. similarly attired and equipped.
appeared in the doorway. The opening
Of the portal admitted roar Of sound.
The river was rising.
Come on, boys; she's on" said ne
sharply.
Lively. boys. lively" shouted
Thorpe. She'll be down on us before
we know It"
Above the creaking Of dead branches
In the wind sounded steady roar like
the believing Of q wild beast flashing
itself to fury. The freshet was abroad.
The men heard 1t. and their eyes
Frightened with the lust Of battle.
They cheered.
At the banks Of the river Thorpe is
sued his directions The affair had
been all prearranged. Immediately
above the first rollways was Dam
Three. with its two wide sluices
through which veritabie food could
be ioOsened at will: tben four miles far
ther lay the rollway OF Sadler & Smith,
the up river firm. and above them tum-
bled over a forty-Hyc foot ledge the
beautiful Siscoe falls. These first roll
H..