Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-22
tcoNrrNuEp FROM Yesterday

euREeSteu u possloilty Inv Shi
slopes extended for half mile; he
knew there must be many cables.
'If we had giants to paddle it we
might use the ferry-scow which is
pulled up in the logan down there"
mourned one of the men. He pointed
TO a cleft in the rivers bank.
as there scow there?" demanded
AIdrich.
"It is the ferry boat for Beaupre
upper settlement when the high waters
come in the fall, M'ser."
Aldrich leaped from his horse. He
was captain forsooth now.
No more doubt or hesitancy in his
mind! Fate had put the tools into his
grasp.
"You men with horses gallop over to
the snubbing-slopes. Bring all the
cables. II there are more in the store
camp make the boss let you take them.
Tell him it's life or death! Here!
Bring axes, some of the rest of you!
Go out on that point and trim one of
those biggest beech trees for snub-
bing post. Pick the treo that's rooted
firmest. Swing that scow free and
hold her to the bank. Everybody to
work, my men,"
Then there were hurrying and sour
rying, shouts and clamor. They saw
what he planned TO do.
1t was q desperate expedient, but,
with many hands to help, 1t offered a
chance
The point OF land on which men
were smoothing the trunk of the big
tree commanded the low island which
the raging river had formed of Beau
pre- meadows.
Aidrich sent men hurrying for all
the horses that could be gathered, for
oxen, for more men. He ran here and
there, exhorting, commanding, sug.
gesting. Men toiled feverishly, will.
ingly They came with the cables. they
came With more horses, and staring
oxen were hurried to the scene, fioun-
dering through the mud.
The toilers clasped the smoothed
tree with two coils of cable, and men
who understood the snubbing Of the
loaded sleds on the slopes Of the
woods stood by to pay out.
Aldrich understood the desperate
chances of the floating scow. The ice
jam hung in Temiscouata narrows
like the sword of Damocles.
II want two good men to help me
with the steering oars on this scow,"
he told them. He leaped on board
from the bank. You know what it
will mean if that ice-jam gives way.
If there are two of you without wives
or children you are the ones to come
Two volunteers sprang to the deck
OF the scow. With their heavy sweeps
the three sculled into the current,
holding the nose of the craft offshore
in the direction of the island. Ice
beat against the planks, drift stuff
menaced, the rolled flood trailed BAN
ners of froth past; but the scow went
on, eased down the turbulent tide at
the end of the straining cable.
The frantic folk on the island saw
s and understood. They ran and massed
themselves at the point where the
scow must land. They screamed and
leaped and waved their hands.
Aldrich, toiling at one of the sweeps,
shouted encouragement and advice as
the scow swung near the land.
"Your wives and your children,
men." he counseled. I'VE must make
more than one trip. The weak ones
first Be Frenchmen.
They at the other end of the cable
understood their part in this frantic
gamble with death.
Aldrich signaled with flourish of his
hat that the scow had grounded.
He signaled again when the loading
of the first cargo had been finished. He
took his stand at the post to which the
end of the cable was knotted. Though
every horse, OK and man on the main
was now tugging at the tow-rope, thai
moment was an anxious one. Could
thew furnish the power to stem thai
2 current? Would the scow live through
that battle with fiotsam and ice? Aid
rich was hemmed in by sobbing, fear
ing woman and children; he left sob
bing men behind him on the shore
He saw the long cable heave from
the yellow water he felt the scow
move, swaying in the current.
He and his men armed themselves
with the sweeps.
4 They couched the heavy oars like
lances in rest.
They met the shock Of the oncominf
,ce.cakes, fitting with those whit
knights of the watery field, endeaVor
ing to break the shock of their i'm
pact on the planks of the scow' ]
was truly mans work, that task was
Blows that racked the bones wer
dealt by the ice-cakes.
Aldrich set his teeth and fought
Knowing that the safety of that loa
of humanity depended on his keepint
those mad charges of the ice in cheek
diverting the direct onslaught. An
\ all the time he was fearing to hea
the thunder which would announc
that Temiscouata had opened he
laws TO spit out those gigantic goblet
which choked her.
But he won in that first throw o
the dice with Death!
Dontipp living promo with his tW