Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-08-08

A ER !
torrent toward him and with It came
the woman.
She was almost spent. She had
been struck by a log upheaved by
some mighty wave, her hands were
moving feebly, her eyes were closed
she was drowning. dying. but indomit-
ably battling on. He stopped down
and as a surge lifted her, he threw
his arm around her waist and then he
braced himself against the rock to
sustain the full thrust Of the mighty
food. AS he seized her she gave way
suddenly, as II after having done all
that she could there was now nothing
left but to trust herself to his hand
and Gods. She hung a dead weight
on his arm in the ravening water
which dragged and tore at her madly.
He was a man of giant strength
but the struggle babe fair to be TOO
much even for him. 1t seemed as II
| the mountain behind him was giving
way. He set his teeth, he tried des-
perately to hold on, he thrust o MS
right hand, holding her with the 9TH
err one, and clawed at the dripping
rock in vain. In a moment the tor
rent mastered him and when 1t did SO
1t seized him with fury and threw him
like a stone from a sling into the
seething vortex Of the mid-stream,
But In all this he did not, or would
not, release her.
Such was the swiftness OF the mo-
ton with which they were swept
downward that he had little need to
swim, his only effort was to keep MS
head above water and to keep from
being dashed against the logs that
tumbled end over end or Whirled
sideways, or we're jammed into clus-
ters only to burst out on every hand.
He struggled furiously to keep him
self from being overwhelmed in the
seething madness, and what was
harder, to keep the lifeless woman IN
his arms from being stricken or
wrenched away. He knew that below
the narrows where the canon widened
the water would subside, the awful
fury of the rain would presently cease
If he could steer clear of the rocks In
the broad he might win to land with
her.
The chances against him were thou
sands to nothing. But what are
chances in the eyes of God! The mar
in his solitude had not forgotten to
pray. his habits stood him in good
stead now. He petitioned shortly
brokenly, in brief unspoken words as
he battled through the long dragging
seconds.
Fighting, clinging, struggling, pray
ing, he was swept on. Heavier ant
, heavier the woman dragged in an IN
3 conscious heap. 1t would have bee
{ easier for him II he had let her go
: she would never know and he coul'
then escape. The idea v once oe
Cured to him. He had indeed with
l drawn from his kind, but when on
1 depended upon him all the old appea
o of weak humanity awoke quick re
g Spouse in the bosom of the strong
He would die with the stranger ratf
er than yield her to the torrent o
g admit himself beaten and give up tn
fight. So the conscious and the III
conscious struggled through the ma.
e row of the canon.
u Presently with the rush and hurl {
d a bullet from the mouth of a gul
they found themselves in a shallo'
lake through which the waters sti
rushed nightly, breaking over rock
digging away shallow-rooted tree
"a leaping, biting, snarling, tearing at Il
big walls spread away on either sid
), He had husbanded some of h
strength for this final effort, this la
~ chance of escape. Below them at Il
= other end of this open the walls can
:, together again. There the desce
- was sharper than before and the "
~ ter ran to the opening with racil
speed. Once again in the torrent a.
they would be swept to death in spi
Of all.
Shifting his grasp to the woman
~ hair, now unbound, he held her wi
one hand and swan hard with t
!, ne other. The current still a swift
le but with no gigantic upheaving wav
NJ as before. 1t was more easy to ave
IN floating timber and debris, and on c
.eu side where the ground sloped sor
- what gently the quick water flow
more slowly. He struck out desp
ne ate1y for 1t, forcing himself away fir
zen the main stream into the shallo
II and ever dragging the woman. v
It hours or minutes OF seconds af
that he gained the battln and neai
'nd the shore at the lowest edge?
ght CTo BE CoNTINUEDl