The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-04-10

the mill, and they might be able
to rescue his comrades from their
snowy grave.
Snow filled gulches lay between
him and the aerial tramway. and
above them huge white razor-edged
snow-combs hung suspended from
the rocky ridges, threatening to
crash down without warning upon
him. He knows that a pistol-shot, a
sharp call, even the bark of a dog,
is often sufficient to precipitate the
menacing masses of snow which
hang on the giant crests of the
Rocky Mountains.
But he plunged headlong into the
first drift. He could not quell, but
he would not yield to the deadly fear
clutching at his heart. Intermina-
BILE seemed his slow advance through
the great snow pillows, around
boulders and over fallen trees. At
times, he was buried in the depths,
wallowing he knew not where, OPP
pressed by dread lest at any moment
he might fling himself owe a preci-
pice. Yet he worked steadily for
ward till he came to the base OF the
forty-foot height of timbered tram
way station.
At intervals of about two hundred
yards these stations were built to
support the tramway. On the plat
form of each station was a shaft bear
ing two heavy iron wheels grooved
to receive the cable, on which
were suspended every hundred feet
the iron ore-buckets running from
the mine to the mill and back to the
mine in an endless chain.
These buckets were so nicely adj
justed, to facilitate dumping, that
any unevenness in loading would
cause them to empty themselves. 1t
was into one Of these swaying buck
cts that Davie meant to make his
flying leap. To miss the cable
clutch, to strike the side of the
bucket in such a way as to cause 1t
in its wild rebound to fling him out,
would be sure death.
Somewhere above Davie a neglect
ed wheel shrieked an uncanny wall
of complaint. Occasionally the click
Of a bucket-grip rang out in the
darkness. The trammer shuddered
as he began to climb up the ice
coated ladder.
When the trammer reached the
slippery landing his nerves were
quivering and his head swan. The
swaying buckets seemed to click a
warning to him as they passed. He
had once seen a man, under the spur
Of whisky and a foolish boast, at
tempt the leap into one Of these
buckets. He had later helped carry
his crushed, lifeless body from the
sharp rocks below. That had been
in the daytime and this was black
night. He shrank back.
Il don't know" he murmured,
whether it can be did in the dark
or no. 1 saw Black Tom miss, an
heared un shrek as un cracked un
bloody skull on the rocks"
Bucket after bucket passed, and
the man still fought with his fears.
He cursed himself for a coward, he
crouched for the leap once and again,
but he hung back, trembling. He
promised himself it should be next
time, but as the buckets came down
out of the darkness he wavered. His
lips. were parched and shriveled, his
blazing eyes strained in their sock
cts.
In an instant it was done. AS
the black bucket slipped down at
him he leaped far out into dizzy
space and caught the clutch. The
bucket swayed from the impact,
tossed like a boat in a heavy sea,
and seemed to hurl him from it.
His mind was a tortured chaos as
he found himself riding in a wild
flight downward. The terrific roer
in his ears churned all sounds to a
scream of malignant triumph.