Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-29
Copyright, 1913. by Harper & Brothers

with yeXauon that Def lace WAS buIh-
ing. She was sure he was laughing at
her.
Cant 1 read the manuscript" he
pleaded.
Heavens. No! r She changed
the subject abruptly. I've left word
to be called the minute the ice starts TO
go out. l want to see the last act of
the drama"
When O'Neil left her he was vaguely
perpiexed, for something in her bear
ing did not seem quite natural. He
was forlorn, too, at the prospect of los
ing her. He wondered If fathers suf-
fered thus, or if a lover could be more
deeply panied at a parting than he,
Somehow he seemed 70 share the feel
ings Of both.
Early on the following morning Eliza
was awakened by a sound of shouting
outside her window. She lay half
dazcd for a moment or two until the
! significance of the uproar made itself
| apparent; then she leaped from her
bed.
: Men were crying:
| There she goesr'
| shes going out!''
/
/ rustic and scuff of flying feet. and in
! the next room Dan was evidently
I throwing himself into his clothes Ike
1 a fireman. Eliza called to him, but he
/ did not answer, and the next moment
| he had fed, upsetting some article OF
! furniture in his haste Drawing her
curtains aside, the girl saw in the
Frightening dawn men pouring down
the street dressing as they went. They
! seemed half demented. They were
( yelling at one another, but she could
not gather from their words whether
it was the ice which was moving or
/ the bridge. The bridge. That posi-
bility set her to dressing with tremu-
lOus fingers, her heart sick with fear.
/ She called TO Natalie, but scarcely rec
ognized her own voice.
.'I-don't know" came the muff1ed
reply to her question. 1T sounds like
something terrible. I'm afraid Dan
/ will fall in or-get hurt" The confu-
sion in the street was growing. Eliza"
Natalie's voice was tragic.
What is it dearT"
'H-help me, quick
How"
Il can't find my other shoe"
But Eliza was sitting on the floor.
lacing up her own stout boots. and
an instant later she followed her broth
er. pursued by a wall of dismay from
the adjoining chamber Through the
chill morning light she hurried. asking
/ many questions, but receiving no CO
herent reply from the racing men.
Then, after endless moments of sus-
Dense. she saw with relief that the
massive superStructure of the bridge
was still standing. Above the shout
ing she heard another sound. indis-
tinct, but inSistent. 1t filed the air
with a whispering movement; it was
punctuated at intervals by dull rum
bling and grinding She found the
river bank black with forms, but like
cat she wormed her way through the
crowd until the whole panorama lay
! before her.
The bridge stood as she had seen it
on the esterday-slender, strong. su-
perb in the simplicity of its splendid
outline. but beneath it and as far as
her eyes could follow the river she
saw, not the solid spread Of white to
/ which she had become accustomed. but
a moving expanse of foes. At first the
.
masses. acres in extent but soon these
began to be rem apart; irregular black
seams ran through them, opened. clos
ed and threw up ridges Of ice shavings
as they ground together. The foes
! were rubbing against the banks, they
! came sliding out over the dry shore
like tremendous sheets of cardboard
manipulated by unseen hands, and not
until their nine foot edges were expos
ed to view did the mind grasp the ap-
palling significance of their movement.
They swept down in phalanxes upon
the wedgelike ice breakers which stood
guard above the bridge piers, then they
halted, separated. and the armored cut
ting edges sheared through them like
/ blades.
A half mile below, where the Salmon
| flung itself headlOng against the upper
wing of Jackson glacier. the floating
ice was checked by the narrowed pas
sageway. There a jam was forming,
! and as the river heayed and tore at its
| growing burden q spectacular struggle
! went on. The sound of it came family
| but impressively to the watchers-a
| grinding and crushing of bergs, a roar
! of escaping waters. Fragments were
! upended, masses were rearing them
| selves edgewise into the air, were oveF-
| turning and collapsing. They wers
| wedging themselves into every cOnceiv-
able angle, and the crowding process
| sion from above was adding to the bar
/ rier momentarily. AS the passageway
! became blocked the Waters rose; the
| river piled itself up SO swiftly that
! the eye could note its rise along the
| banks.
| But the attention Of the crowd was
| divided between the jam and some
| thing far out on the bridge itself. At
| first glance Eliza did not comprehend:
then she heard a man explaining:
He was going out when we got
here and now he won't come back"
The girl gasped. for she recognized