The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-05-21

His long, awkward legs trembling
with excitement, his long ears point
ing stifly forward, his distended nos
trils shifting and snorting, he stared
anxiously this way and that from
the swirling, treacherous current to
the silent man polling the scow
The river, at this point nearly half
mile wide, daunted him now that
he saw it at such close quarters, al
though all summer he had been view
ing 1t with equanimity from the
| shore. A few hundred yards above
the comparatively quiet course of the
ferry he saw a long line OF white,
leaping waves, stretching from bank
to bank with menacing roar, and
seeming. as 1t were, about to rush
| down upon the slow ferryboat and
overwhelm It,
When he looked toward the other
side of the scow, the prospect was
| equally threatening. The roar from
below was worse than the roar from
above, and the whole river, just here
so radiant with the sunset glow. grew
black with gloom and white with fury
as 1t plunged through a rocky chasm
strewn with lodges. The only thing
that comforted him at all and kept
his fears within bounds was the pa
tient, sturdy figure of the man, polling
the scow steadily toward shore.
This nervous passenger on the
primitive backwoods ferry was colt
about six months old, whose mother
had died the previous day. His own
er, busy lumberman, was now send
Ing him across the river to a neigh
boris farm to be taken care Of, be-
cause he was of good Morgan strain.
The ferryman had taken the pre-
caution to hitch the end of his halter
rope to thwart amidships, lest he
should get wild and jump overheard;
but the colt. although his dark brown
coat was still woolly with the rough
ness of babyhood, had too much
breadth between the eyes to be guilty
of any such foolishness. He felt
frightened and strange and very lone
ly; but he knew 1t was his business
Just to trust the man and keep still.
When the animal trusts the man,
he generally comes out all right; but
once In long while fate interferes
capriciously, and the utterly unex-
pected happens. Hundreds of times,
and with never a mishap, the ferry
man had poled his clumsy scow across
the dangerous passage between the
rapids-the only possible crossing
place for miles in either direction.
But this evening, when che scow was
just about mid-channel, for some in
applicable reason the tough and we'll
tried pole OF white spruce snapped.
1t broke short off in the middle of
mighty thrust. And overheard, head
first, went the ferryman.
AS the man fell, his foot caught in
the hook of q heavy chain used for
securing hay-carts and such vehicles
on the snow; and as the clumsy craft
swung free in the current, the man
was dragged beneath it, He would
have been drowned in a few seconds
In such water; but at last, in the
twisting, the captive foot fell clear.
The man came to the surface on the
upper side of the scow, made one de-
spairing but successful clutch, got
hold of the edge, and with his last
strength drew himself aboard, all but
suffocated, and with broken ankle.
Tricked by years of security, he
had left his spare pole on the shore.
There was ABSOLUTELY nothing to do
but let the scow drift, and pray that
by some succession of miracles she
might survive nine miles of rapids
and gain the placid reaches below.
AS the man, white and suIIen.
crouched on the bottom of the SEQ,
and held his ankle, the colt eyed him
wonderingly. Then he eyed the river
very anxiously, and presently braced
his legs wide apart as the scow gave
strange, disconcerting lurch. Tho
roar was growing swiftly louder, and
those fierce white waves appeared to
be rushing right up the middle Of the
river to meet the scow Daunted at
the sight, he crowded as close as he
could to the ferryman, and nosed him
as IL to call his attention to the peril.
In very few minutes the scow
was in the rapids. But the current
had carried her well inshore. where
there CHANGED to be. for several miles.
comparatively free channel. few
rocks and no disastrous lodges. She
swung and wallowed sickeningly.
bumped so violently once the colts
knees gave way beneath him. and
twice he was all but hurled over
board; and she took I'm great. slosh-
Ing crests of waves till she was half
full OF water But she was not built
to sink. and her ribs were sound; and
for miles she pounded her terrible
way In safety through the bewilder-
Ing tumult
At last a long, jutting promontorv
OF rock started the current on a new
slant, and she was swept staggering
across to the other shore. Here. for
nearly two miles, she slipped with as
tonishing good luck down a narrow
siuice-like lane Of almost smooth
water
As n to compensate for this for
tune, however, she was suddenly
caught by a violent cross-current
snatched out OF a clear way. and
swept heavily over a ledge. At the
foot Of this ledge she was fairly
smothered for some seconds. The
man chung obstlnately to the gun
wales, and the colt. by sheer good
luck, fell in the acovy Tnofo.d az d, 49,.