Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1909-11-11

Wire around the JuttlnS point. Inc
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 10 take up the
slack" when | should signal.
The pole was a peeled spruce set
solidly in a three-foot hole, which had
been literally drilled in the rock, and
had no thought of it breaking. Catch
ing the wire across my biceps and
chest, | mounted quickly. AS | climbed
| noticed that the grain of the pole
ran in long spiral and that the sun
checks We're unusually open and ex-
tended. i glanced down at Buckle. He
was standing between the base of the
pole and the edge of the precipice,
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.
pice, and | slipped round on the land
side of it and lifted myself with my
breast above its top, so that ! might
the more easily make the tie" Slip.
ping the Ratchet handle into my belt
and drawing pliers and a tie-wire
from the strap, I shouted: Pull
ahead" 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 &c
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, a "kink" in the
wire, and a sudden thrill of fear shot
through my heart. Only a linemar
could appreciate what this meant at
that moment, for the long spruce pole
was being pulled back not unlike a
ill6lNH bON ltduN W ldulltH du dI
row. | was the arrow and the boiling
| Trinity, 100 feet below, was the target
at which ! was TO be shot. The wire
was a number eight, galvanized. but q
perfect "kink' is simply hoop drawn
down to point, which, when sufficient
! pull is applied, sewers the wire like 6
knife.
lnstinctively | clutched the top OF
! the pole with my right hand anC
| pulled the wire toward the kink with
my left to ease" it, shouting like mad
| heard Red Buckle give a mighty yell
! but at that instant the wire, drawn
like 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 pinionec
! it in his arms, while /, thrown oven
and around the top, found myself
hanging above the Trinity with 100
feet of air beneath me and my belt
caught over the point of the bracket.
| heard Buckles bones crack and felt
a tremor come up the senseless WOOD
from his mighty muscles.
slide down! Slide down." | hearc
7 him shout. But | could not, for | 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
NAMED in the hole in the ground.
! threw my glance about, and, ! remem
! it, and saw Buckles knotted hands
| white with pressure, his hrm-set feet
grinding into the stones, his wide
shoulders quivering, his dark, bent
head and purple, swelling neck, anc
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 breath away save
for his herculean strength. In the
black terror that rushed upon me
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 falling tent of night The gush
ing roar Of the river at the bottom OF
the abyss arose to a wild clamor in my
ears, then suddenly fell to a train OF
odd whisperings.
! When I 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 frs,
time during our intercourse his power
full features rippled with a smile.
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 l had q
crown I'd put it on your head"
His lips trembled and he gripped my
hand moment. then, wavering slight
| ly, he walked away.