The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1912-08-09

IL VSssS
torrent toward him and with 1t came
the woman.
She was almost spent She had
been struck by 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 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
flood. As he seized her she gave way
suddenly, as If 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 man of giant strength,
but the struggle babe fair to be too
much even for him. 1t seemed az II
the mountain behind him was giving
way. He set his teeth, he tried des-
perately to hold on, he thrust out HE
right hand, holding her with the 9th
or one and clawed at the dripping
rock in vain. In a moment tho tor
rent mastered him and when 1t did 30
it seized him with fury and threw him
like a stone from q 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 his
head above water and to keep from
being dashed against the logs that
tumbled end over end or whirle6
sideways, or were damned into clus-
tiers 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 man
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 and
heavier the woman dragged in an un-
conscious heap It would have been
easier for him If he had let her 90:
she would never know and he could
then escape. The idea never once &C.
CURED to him. He had indeed with
drawn from his kind, but when one
depended upon him all the old appeal
of weak humanity awoke quick re-
Spouse in the bosom Of the strong.
He would die with the stranger rath-
er than yield her to the torrent or
admit himself beaten and give up the
fight. So the conscious and the un--
conscious struggled through the mar
row of the canon.
Presently with the rush and hurl Of
a bullet from the mouth of a gun.
they found themselves in a shallow
lake through which the waters still
rushed nightly, breaking over rocks,
digging away shallow-rooted trees.
leaping, biting, snarling, tearing at tho
big walls spread away on either side.
He had husbanded some of his
strength for this final effort. this last
chance of escape. Below them at the
other end of this open the walls came
together again. There the descent
was sharper than before and the wa.
ter ran to the opening with racing
speed. Once again in the torrent and
they would be swept to death in spite
of ALL
Shifting his grasp to the woman's
hair, now unbound, he held her with
one hand and swan hard with tho
other. The current still ran swiftly
but with no gigantic upheaving waves
as before. It was more easy to avoid
floating timber and debris, and on one
side where the ground sloped some.
what gently the quick water flowed
more slowly. He struck out despsr
ately for 1t, forcing himself away from
the main stream into the shadows
and ever dragging the woman. Was
1t hours or minutes or seconds after
that he gained the battle and reared
the shore at the lowest edge!
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Photograph.
The photograph consists Of q seriea