The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-02-24
AT MICHAEL DUFRENE'S SHOP.
By Ira Rich Kent.


still aching bruises of recent thrash
ing at Joe Dufrene's hands, conceived
the idea of weakening these braces to
such an extent as to let the whole plat
form collapse into the river.
1t may be difficult to believe that
boy not actually vicious could serious
ly plan such al piece of malicious mis-
chief. That Tom Gallison could do 1t
shows to what pitch the animosity
of this long feud had brought us.
With Tom to plan was to execute.
He passed the word about among us,
that we might be on hand to hear and
see the thrilling crash; and after sup
per that night he set out in the early
May twilight to carry out his design.
He knew that at that hour no one
would be in the shop.
Leaving ten boys hidden in the thick
bushes on the bank of the river oppo-
site the shop, Tom crossed the high
way bridge fifty yards upstream. He
made his way carefully through the
alders, and a moment later appeared
at the edge of the river underneath
the bridge. He carried light carpen-
ter's saw, and had hatchet stuck into
the waistband of his trousers.
Ordinarily the river here, below the
Rawson's Pond dam, is low, and prog
ress along its sandy bed is easy; but
the spring floods were now pouring
over the apron of the dam in a noisy
| Ho, lie, hal 20 hi.
way through the bushes at the edge
of the water.
In another moment, however, he was
beneath the platform and had begun
the ascent of the almost precipitous
bank, pulling himself up by hand-and-
fcotholds on the struggling bushes.
Just what his plan of procedure
might be we did not know, but Tom
was handy with tools, and we felt sure
that he was equal to the mechanical
difficulties Of his task. Peering through
our loopholes in the bushes we watched
him.
He had now reached to the right
hand brace, which, like the others, ex-
tended from the edge of the four-foot
platform at an agile of about As de-
grees, to an upright beam spiked to
the side Of the shop and extending to
the bottom of the stone foundation.
Seating himself saddlewise in the an
gle of the timber, Tom began to Saw
into the four-by-four brace from the
upper side, about a foot in front of him,
and cut IL three-quarters through. The
noise of the water kept the sound of
his saw from being noticeable.
Tom now passed to the left-hand
brace. This, as we judged from his
movements, he found so rotted as to be
of little value as a support. After one
or two cuts with his hatchet he return
ed to the center brace, above which was
piled the heap Of iron, and which was
now almost the sole support of the
platform.
This time he stocd up in the angle
of the brace and leaned forward, sup
porting himself by grasping with his
left hand crosspiece of the floor
above him, while he used the saw
with his right.
He made his cut as far up toward the
end of the brace as he could reach, and
parallel with the line of the platform,
instead of straight across the timber,
es before. He then drew a long piece
Of clothes-line from where it had been
fastened inside his jacket and tied one
end round the cut brace few inches
from the end
Now with the saw and the other end
OF the line in one hand, and using the
other to hold on with Tom climbed
down from the brace and began to de-
scend the bank.
His purpose evidently was to get out
from under the now dangerous plat
form, and then, with a hard yank up
on the cord, disturb the weakened Gen.
ter brace enough to bring the structure
breaking away from its insecure at
tachment to the shop, crashing, slid
ing, smashing into the river!
The rope would slip off the end Of
the brace, and it and the boy would be
out of sight before any one arrived
leaving the sawed ends the only evil
dence of the cause of the mischief
and they would be at the bottom OF the
pile of debris or swept away by the
swift river.
Of detection or punishments Tom
probably had as little thought as any
of us. But both were imminent in a
fashion mere terrible than he could
have imagined.
1t was done in one fearful moment
Tom, hurrying to reach the bottom
Of the bank, tripped, stumbled, apd fell
headlong, the cord still clutched
tightly in his hand. The pull upon the
line was even harder and sharper than
he had planned. The brace yielded.
| Before our Mortified eyes the boy
turned half somersault, and fell, face
up, into the edge Of the river. And
upon him, with a crashing roar that
drowned ever our shrieks of terror.
slid the broken, weighted platform!
Screaming at the ton of our voices