The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-11-24


Jungle have stories to tell of their ad-
ventures in this land of intense heat
mighty wild beasts and pestiferous
insects. But perhaps one Of the most
unusual and dreadful experiences that
any of the road builders so far have
undergone happened to Elliot Warfeld
q junior engineer in the surveying
corps that made preliminary surveys
for this railroad in the vicinity OF
Lake Tanganyika.
Warfield had just recovered from a
light attack of African fever, and was
lounging about camp, not yet Glite
able to stand the strain of alLday work
with the surveying corps beneath The
tropical sun, when it occurred to him
that ramble in the neighboring jungle
would do him no harm
Accordingly, he took his repeating
rifle, filled his pockets with cartridges,
and stalked off into the thick forest
Just behind the camp without word
TO anyone
He had no intention of going far:
but he soon came upon the fresh trail
of a small herd of buffalo, and he fol-
lowed the trail on and on. He did not
come up with the buffalo, and finally,
about mid-afternoon, when he was
eight or nine miles from camp, his
growing exhaustion warned him to
give up the chase.
He had not retraced his steps far
when a glimpse of black clouds in the
west told him that one of the frequent
thunder storms of the season would
soon be upon him. He hurried along
looking for a hollow tree or hollow
log that would afford shelter from
the threatened deluge.
Meanwhile with much vivid light
ming and crashing thunder, the storm
came on. Warfield had not sc Ne more
than half mile before it broke with
q heavy dash of rain and a rush of
wind that in moment became verit-
able hurricane. The huge forest trees
bent and broke before its power like
brittle reeds; great branches were
snapped off and came hurtling to the
ull6uly tluuho
were uprooted, and fell with crash.
In gravest peril, the young engineer
ran this way and that. Suddenly big
tree toppled short distance behind
him, and crashed upon clump of
younger trees, sending them down in
all directions. He sprang wildly to one
side, but he could not get out of range.
He heard the whistling sound of
branches swooping through the air to-
ward him; then he remembered no
more.
When Warfeld returned to conscious
ness. he was lying prone upon his back
on the ground, and the intense dark
ness of moonless night was all about
him. His head felt swelled to the size
of bushel basket, there was a crush
ing weight across the lower part of
his body, and when he tried to move,
\ terrible grating pain stabbed him in
the right leg, just above the knee. He
felt about him, to find that he was en-
tangled in and partly covered by the
mass of branches of fallen tree, and
that one heavy branch, or fork of the
tree, at least five inches in circum-
ference, rested across both legs be-
tween thigh and knee, and pinned him
tight to the earth
To struggle to free himself was his
first impulse, but his movements
brought back the shooting pains to
his right leg. He realized now that,
in addition to being crushed to the
ground and having his head bruised,
he was suffering with broken leg,
and he lay very quiet wondering how
It was he had not been killed, and try
ing to think what he could do. r.,
All was very still about him; the
storm had long since passed; a dozen
stars winked down at him through
the open space in the forest left by the
fallen trees. He wondered what time
of night it was, and drew out his
watch, listened, and found 1t stopped
Again he ATTEMPTED to draw his legs out
from under the weight that held him
prisoner; but he could not move them
D fraction of an inch, and the intense
agony brought on by the struggle now
made him abandon all hope of release
until some one should come to his aid. |
Then be began to speculate how quick
iy aid would be like TO come. His alb
pence, of course, had been discovered |
when the surveying gang had returned
to camp in the evening; but an effec-
tive search could not be instituted, he
Knew, in the darkness of night. He |
doubted IL any serious attempt to find |
him would be. made until morning. |
Even then the searchers would have |
the least idea what had become Of |
him; they could only search the jungle
at random, and the jungle was wide.
Now he bethought himself Of his
rife; If he fired 1t from time to time it |
would attract the attention Of any one
who came very near. He reached out
his hands in all directions, but could
not discover the weapon.
Like snails the night hours dragged
themselves away. His leg, swelling
under the crushing weight that bore
upon 1t. tortured him horribly. He
Sas tormented, too, with the highly |