River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1915-10-14

making an opening into the debris
through the forward windows. They
talked great deal, at first, strong.
capable voices. They were interior
ing with each other. then helping,
combining their strength to move
heavy stones and the like, then they
were silent, working independently, or
in effective unison.
Tim German was the possessor of a
Observation-Disclosures watch. with %
jewels on the inside and ruby on
the winding stem, and he constituted
himself timekeeper
Thirty minutes" he called out. Its
ou-' shift"
}he men crawled IN from outside,
but they stayed in the front compart-
ment. The air was growing a trife
close, and they breathed heavily.
"Goodby, girl" called the gayly ~
nereal voice Of Ted Teasdale. Illus
band is going to work"
Another interminable wait, while
the air grew more sitting. There was
no further levity after Lincoln and the
motorman and Mccarthy had come
back; for the condition was becoming
serious. Some air must undoubtedly
be finding its way to the car through
the loose debris. but the carbOnic acid
gas exhaled from a dozen pairs of
lungs was beginning to pocket, and
the opening ahead, though steadily
pushing forward, displayed no signs
OF lessening solidity.
They established shorter shifts now;
quarter of an hour. The men came
silently in and out, and as silently
worked, and as silently rested, while
the girls carried that heavy burden of
women's hardest labor: waiting!
Gregory was the first to give out,
then the injured motorman. When
their turns came. they had not the
strength nor the air in their lungs.
Strong Mccarthy was the next to join
them.
The shifts had reduced to two, Of
two men EACH by now; Ted and old
Tim, and Allison and the rector; and
these latter two worked double time.
Their lips and their tongues were
parched and cracking, and in their
periods of rest they sat motionlessly
facing each other, with q wheeze in
the drawing of their breath. Their
stentorian breathing could be heard
from the forward end OF their little
tunnel clear back into the car, where
the three girls were battling to pre-
serve their senses against the poison
Gus gases which were now all that
they had to breathe. Acting on the
the car to escape the gradually rising
| level of the carbonic gas, stood, as the
time progressed, with their mouths
agape and their breasts heaving and
sharp pains in their lungs at every
breath Arly dropped. silently crum-
ping to the floor; then. a few minutes
later lucille, and, panic-stricken by
the thought that they had gone under,
Gail FIST her own senses Keeling, when
sudde ally. looking ahead through eyes
which were staring, she saw crack
Of blessed light'
y
The crack OF light Widened. Another
one appeared, some four feet to the
right of it. and Gail already fancied
that she could feel q freshening of the
air she breathed with such tearing
pain. Against the light of the OPEN
ings, two figures, the only two which
were left to work, strove. at first with
tho slow, limp motions OF exhaustion.
and then with the renewed vigor of
approaching triumph. She could dis.
tinguish them clearly now, by the
light which streamed in, the stocky,
strong figure of Allison and the tail.
sinewy figure of the rector. They were
working frantically. Allison with his
coat off. and the rector with his coat
and vest both removed, and one sleeve
torn almost entirely from his shirt, re.
vealing his swelling biceps, and a
long, red scratch. Calls senses were
numbed, so that they were reduced to
almost merely optical consciousness,
so that she saw things photograph
ically; but, even in her numbness. she
realized that what she had thought
2 trace or weakness in the rector, was
only the grace which had rounded his
strength.
The two figures bent inward toward
each other. There was a moment OF
mighty straining, and then the whole
center between the two cracks rolled
away. A huge boulder had barred the
path, and it's removal let down q rush
of pure, fresh air from the ground
above, let down, too, q food of daz-
cling light; and in the curving, under
rim of the opening, stood the two stall
wart men who were the survival Of
the tittest! The mere instinct of self
preservation drove Gail forward. with
cry, toward the source of that life
giving air. and she scrambled through
the window and ran toward the two
men. They came hurriedly down to
meet her, and each gave her a hand.
HLAnrEo