The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1909-03-18

leaning outward In order to carry The
wire around the jutting point. The
men reeled the wire by it on the wa.
ter side, and proceeded out Of sight
downward and around the rocky head.
fastening their handvises to the wire
and with pulling straps about their
shoulders, ready to take up the
slack" when l should signal.
The pole was a peeled spruce set
solidly in a three-foot hole, which had
been literally drilled in the rock, and I
had no thought of it breaking. Catch.
ing the wire across my biceps and
chest. l mounted quickly. AS l climbed
| noticed that the grain of the pole
ran In long spiral and that the "sun
checks were unusually open and en-
tended. / glanced down at Buckle. He
was standing between the base of the
pole and the edge of the precipice, a
watchful. uneasy look in his face. The
hollow roar of the Trinity came up
seemingly from beneath my very feet.
Reaching the top kicked the climber.
spur of my right foot into the wood,
threw my left leg around the pole,
and, mailing on the bracket. placed the
wire in the insulator groove. The
pol leaned strongly toward the preci.
plce, and slipped round OH the land
side OF it and lifted myself with my
breast above its top. so that l might
the more easily make the tie" Slip.
ping the Ratchet handle into my belt
and drawing pliers and tie-wire
from the strap, shouted: Pull
aAead!" Apparently the unseen reel.
men could not hear on account of the
noise of the river, so shook the wire
and they began taking up the slack,
moving backward down the slope and
leaning against their pulling.straps. AS
the wire came taut the pole began to
straighten with the pressure, for the
men were around the point and were
pulling against the lean of the pole.
shouted for them to "let up" but they
could not hear. At that instant saw,
not ten feet from me, "kink" in the
Wire, and a sudden thrill of fear shot
through my heart. Only a lineman
could appreciate what this meant, at
that moment, for the long spruce pole
was being pulled back not unlike a
mighty bow ready to launch an ar
row. l was the arrow and the boiling
Trinity. 100 feet below, was the target
at which l was to be shot. The wire
was number eight, galvanized, but a
perfect "kink" is simply hoop drawn
down to point, which, when sufficient
pull is applied, sewers the wire like a
knife.
lnstfnctively 1 clutched the top of
the pole with my right hand and
pulled the wire toward the kink with
my left to lease" it, shouting like mad,
l heard Red Buckle give mighty yell,
but at that instant the wire, drawn
IKE tense bow-string, snapped at the
kink and the pole shot back toward
the precipice, and, under the shock of
recoil and my weight, split at the
base.
Red Buckle leaped against it with
his breast and shoulder and pinioned
1t in his arms, while I, thrown over
and around the top, found myself
hanging above the Trinity with 100
feet OF air beneath me and nv belt
caught over the point of the bracket!
heard Buckles bones crack and felt
tremor come up the senseless wood
from his mighty muscles.
Slide down! Slide down." 1 heard
him shout. But could not, for 1 was
hanging from the bracket on the under
side of the tip of the pole. A prong
OF the broken base of the pole re.
manned in the hole in the ground. 1
threw my glance about, and, remem-
it, and saw Buckles knotted hands,
white with pressure, his flrm-set feet
grinding into the stones, his wide
shoulders quivering, his dark, bent
head and purple, swelling neck, and
heard sharp gasps of breath coming
through his grinding teeth. He was
trying to straighten the pole, but could
not. My body, hanging 20 feet away
at the tip Of the mast-like piece of
timber, was frightful burden. Death
for me was only a breath away save
for his herculean strength. In the
black terror that rushed upon me I
threw my glance about, and, remem.
Der, the tops Of the mountains seemed
to fall toward me and the sky seemed
to turn dark and close down upon me
like a falling tent of night. The gush-
ing roar of the river at the bottom OF
the abyss arose to wild clamor in my
cars, then suddenly fell to a train of
odd whisperings.
When l got my senses back was
lying on the rocky bench. The reel
men were standing beside me. Buckle
was dropping against the uprising
swell of the mountain-wall, white.
faced and laboring for breath. We
looked at each other. and for the first
time during our intercourse his power
full features rippled with a smile. r
got up weakly and grasped his hand.
Red Buckle" said, Ito me you are
the greatest of all Indians and the
greatest of all white men. If had a
crown Id put it on your head."
His lips trembled and he gripped NV