Bridgeton pioneer., 1917-05-24
What a Great
Peril Did
By F. A. mitchell

| who have incurred shipwreck. all who
have escaped perils wherein each has
stood bravely up in the fight for life,
can never meet again without an ex-
change of heart thrills
While superintendent of a mine in
| New Mexico, finding it necessary to
descend to town where we did our
banking, l started in an ore wagon
drawn by mules. l had hardly got
seated before l saw a girl in a short
skirt and large felt hat carrying an
easel under one arm and box of
| paints under the other coming toward
me. She said she wished to go down,
| and handed her into the seat beside
| me. She was an artist from the east
| and had come out to sketch l little
! thought that at the journeys end we
, would be firmly locked in each others
arms and our courtship would have
lasted less than half an hour.
We were obliged to pass through a
gulch so narrow in parts that there
was barely room for a wagon, the
| rocks rising precipitously on either
hand. Through it the creek when it is
| not dry trickled over sand and stones.
There is a defile on the route about n
mile long, and when one enters it there
is no possibility of getting out except
at one end or the other. BY the time
we had entered the upper end of this
defile we had got acquainted and were
| chatting glibly.
On turning bend we noticed some
| cattle near the lower end of the gulch.
They had been down to drink at one of
the little pools in the creek bed, but
were getting out as fast as their hoofs
would carry them. Our driver uttered
| an exclamation. Then he pulled up
the mules, jumped out and put his ear
to the sand.
"A cloudburst" he cried, white as
the snow upon the mountain top. and.
thinking only of saving himself, de-
tached one of the lead mules, sprang
ON its back and away he went ickety
split without so much as giving us
another word. l knew what a cloud
burst was and that in a short time a
wild torrent would be tearing it's way
along where we We're. Jumping from
the wagon, l detached two mules and
called the one word Hurry" to the
young lady. She knew something was
wrong and sprang down beside me.
Without word l lifted her and put
her astride one of the mules. l be-
thought myself of the whip. l reached
for it, then bounded on to the other
mule l had lOOsened. and we galloped
| away.
took position behind my companion
| and lashed the mule ON which she rode
without cessation. The first sound we
heard-and we heard it soon, too-was
| low murmur, as of a far distant
storm. Then came a sound of the rush
ing OF many waters. l cried to the
| girl not to look back, but l was too
late. She took one glance, what blood
was left in her cheeks left them, and
| she gave spasmOdic grasp at the har-
ness and collar before her. l half
thought she would fall, but after the
first stroke of terror she recovered her.
self and never once lost her nerve.
What she saw was a wall of water
and sand blocking the gulch and NOV
| ing toward us with terrible rapidity
| Less frightful would have been the
| leaps of hungry lion. 1t was push
Ing before it logs, rocks, anything, ev-
erything that it found in it's way.
| There was every chance that we, too,
would in a few minutes be struck by
| the turbulent mass and become an in
sensible part of it.
| Somehow / forgot myself in my in
terest in the girl. 1t seemed to me
that must save her. 1t was not that
1 was brave, but an object made me
| insensible to fear. / lashed her mule
with all my strength and until
mighty roar from behind drowned my
voice yelled. We bounded over rocks
without knowing that they were in our
way; We jumped over logs that on an
| other occasion would have seemed i'm
possible. We must rely ON the agility,
the sure fOotedness of our mules. Ev-
cry moment l dreaded to see the ami
NAL before me go down, but thanked
heaven that our mounts were of that
hardy, sure footed species. Nearer
came the din. Perhaps we would have
been Overtaken sooner had not the tor
rent now and again been for a moment
stayed by sharp bend in the gulch.
Then it would hurl it's advance mass
against the rock. recoil and recon-
mence it's downward course.
We reached the mouth of the gulch
On either hand the ground sloped up
ward. | yelled to the girl to turn her
mule aside, but the din, now only a
few yards behind us, drowned my
voice. The mules both knew as well
as we where safety lay and with
scarcely any abatement of speed dash
ed up the incline, while the horrible
monster that had been pursuing us
whirled on with n disappointed howl.
When the mule before me stopped
was off my own and beside him just
in time to catch the girl as she fell in