The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-12-30
A RIVER TRAGEDY

We was fifty feet on yer way" And
the old logger relapsed into meditation,
with q cough in which ] thought l
could detect tinge of pity.
The slight sudttering which / pos
sessed of Woodcraft was enough to tell
me that the remarks just made related
to an enormous pile of heterogeneous
logs and trunks OF trees, that formed
compact mass bridging the stream
some quarter of a mile above. the slip
perry and treacherous nature of which
might well prove fatal to a tyro in the
redwoOds, should he attempt to cross
that rude and periloIs causeway. which
noticed on passing in the afternoon,
constituted then the only practicable
connection between shore and shore.
The company had relapsed into ST.
lence only broken by the swish of the
driving rain upon the cabins walls,
when suddenly the door was thrown
open and a fourth woodsman stepped
unceremOniously in.
Hello. Dan Higgins" exclaimed the
trio, almost i'm a breath. as the new
conner brought his dripping, oilskin-clad
figure nearer the fire
whats brought We out in sech a
night as this?" said Bill making room
for him: I'D ha' thought you'd rather
ha' stayed in doors wi the old woman.
L SIlud, III your pidCts yOu DCl-
al came down to borror yer hook,
returned the person addressed as Dan
Higgins, shaking the rain from his
clothes; mines broke"
What We want with hook might ?"
chorused the crowd.
"Gwine to cross the creek an sit
medicine for the little gal" replied Dan.
Shes took awful bad wi the new
r,onay, and notin' III do the old woman
but to git medicine from the Point
right away. Whar's yer hook? Oh, thar
| it is in the corner" he continued, walk
ing to one end of the cabin and taking
up a long pole tipped with steel, some
thing like a boathook, used OCCASION
ally by loggers TO steady themselves
upon such passages as Dan now pro-
posed TO make.
How were the logs lookin' as We
come along, DAM" asked Bill, refec-
! lively.
1.-THE water was laDpn' 'em purity
| lively" replied Dan; but that there
| big trunks layin' right cross stream
below. and it'll take a might big push
| to start her. Guess she's all right Tor
a day or two yet, anyways
wall. eff we're bound to make it, -
| said Bill. getting w and saiting the ac-
| ton TO the word. I'll see We acrost the
creek with the lantern" and 81 saying,
both men stepped out into the dark,
pulling the cabin door with some ciiii-
Guilty behind them.
1t might have been ten or fifteen
minutes after, that a low, deep sound.
quite distinct from that made by tie
swirl of the water tapping the banks of
| the stream some fifty yards below the
cabin, suddenly fell upon their ears.
Both the woodsmen in the cabin jumped
to their feet simultaneously, and l aid
/ likewise.
The logs hez busted cried Jun,
"an' the chances is as low Dan Hlg-
gins an Bill hain't got acrost yes- Like
enough theys got caught. an, ef SO,
God help emf and the logger caught
up lantern and jumped out OF the
cabin without waiting to put on mis- hat.
speedily followed by his partner and
myself. all of Us making our way III the
direction of the creek. The nuiIied
sound. like the deep, distant ruTnoling
4, of thunder. came heavier, and began to
resolve itself lie the grinding and
groaning Of the trunks of the gigantic
trees. now rather felt than seen. NOV
| ing down the creek slowly to the posi-
| ton where we stood.
Thar they are,7 exclaimed jim, his
already blanched face looking even
most ghastly beneath the rays OF the
| lantern carried i'm his partners hand.