The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-07-11

water, dark green in its steady flow,
each moment running sWifter, tore
about his legs. Swift and certain
were his strokes, and soon the leaks
were closed.
Then, as he stood silent, shiTering
violently, listening foc trickllnS
sounds, a faraway rumble came to
his ears. 1t began hollow and low
and ghostly, and increased to the
thunder of rapid firing. instantly
Nelson knew what it was. The hour
has passed, and the logs were rush
ing down upon him!
Like flash he dropped the calk-
ing-iron and sprang for the top of
| the gigantic V. His one thought was
to leap over the side. But although
he had done it hundreds of times, he
! bungled that once-the once that in
volved his safety, perhaps his life.
He excitedly threw one leg toward
the ridge-and struck the candle!
Instantly he was in total darkness,
his grip torn loose.
The approaching roar increased to
the crash of thunder as the great
redwood trunks swept down toward
him. Again and again he struggled
| for the top, and each time he fell
back in the face of the renewed force
of the stream His brain became
dizzy, his agonized voice returned to
| mock him.
Then, he throught of the fume-
boat, fastened to the flume not far
from him. He struggled ahead and
reached for it blindly. His hands
closed upon the hook that held it.
While his brain echoed to the roar of
the logs, he crawled upon it, released
the fastenings and shot down the
fume.
The drive came on, scraping and
rending and crashing. He lay fiat,
doubled up, gasping and wheeling.
He was conscious only of dynamic
rush and throb in his head. Half
dazed, his senses returned just as the
drive struck the fiume-boat. Nelson
was shot along the tunnel with ter
rife speed. The air swished past
him and the water cot into his face,
| binding and stinging him like drip
pings of molten lead.
Still clinging to the boat, he was
hurled out of the tunnel into the brill
liant sunlight. Ahead he saw, as
through a veil, white, frothing sea,
dashing always into his eyes. Then,
as in a dream, he realized that death
awaited him at the jump-off, when
he should be hurled out among the
! logs into the river! There was but
one chance. If the tender at Geyser
Peak should see him he could stop
the flow. But would there be time
enough to allow the water to cease
and the logs to. settle in the chute?
Meanwhile, with swiftness he
had never before thought possible,
the lumber forced the boat down the
fiume Behind him the logs doomed
and thundered in headlong, inexora-
BILE pursuit.
He was carried through the gloom
Of the short tunnel and over the high
steel trestles as one dropped from
a precipice. The flume sides became
! lower and lower. The speed de-
! creased in the lower canon, and as
Nelson looked ahead, the converging
! blurs took shape in faraway noun
tains, snow-capped in the pale radi-
ance of the early twilight, and in
thick forests of redwood and yellow
pines, shaggy and gaunt upon the
| mountain slopes.
Over the spans that bridged the
| boiling streams sped the drift, on
and on and on, hurtling and tumbling
and booming, winding now through
the lower canon toward the river.
The jump-off was only four miles
away. Could he throw himself over
the edge before he reached it? He
tried to lift his legs, but ne was too
weak. Nelson prayed that the ten
der at Geyser Peak would be at his
| post. 1t was his one chance of life.
The timber rushed on, more swift
ly now, close upon Geyser Peak.
| Nelson was alert again. AS he was
hurled past, he cried out in a voice
tense with agony, the love of life
strong upon him. Had the tender
seen him? Had he heard? The
climbers face was stung with the
rush of water, and his eyes were
blinded.
The drift reached the last grade.
TIE hills and cliffs gave way once
more to confused blurs, the swish
of air flung back his hair from his
face. Mountain and hill and bluff
whir!ed past him, unseen and un-
cared for. Nelson still ciung to the
beat, huddled up, helpless with ter
ro-. Miles behind in the mountains
lay the long tunnel; three miles
ahead was the jump-off!
Then suddenly, as Nelson gripped
the fiume-boat and prayed desperate
ly for life, he felt the rush of the
craft slacken, and the terrific force
behind him lost its vitality. New