Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-05-14

was standing. Silent, it was supposed.
was bringing in his train.
Above the distant jagged line of
mountains rose red ball. A new day
began. And again the Dragon rose; a
mountain of water came rolling dam
ward.
Three trains ran steaming on the
rails.
Don't stop now to blast the big
ones. Pour 'em on :" ordered Richard.
There was a long wait before any
rock fell. Marshall and Richard wait
ed for the pour. The whistles blew
again. Then they saw what was
wrong. The morning light showed a
rock weighing several tons which was
resisting the efforts of the pressing
crew. Out of the gloom sprang other
figures with crowbars. The rock tot
tered. fell. The river tossed it as
though 1t were a tennis ball. sent 1t
hurting down the lower face Of the
dam.
Things began to go wild. The men
were growing reckless. They were
sagging toward exhaustion: mistakes
were made. Another rock, as heavy as
the last, was worked toward the edge.
Men We're thick about it with crow
bars. They hurried. One concerted
effort, drawing back as the rock top
pied over the edge. One man was too
slow, or too tired. He slipped. The
watchers on the bank saw a flash of
waving arms, heard cry; they had a
glimpse of a blackened face as the
foam caught It, The waters closed
over him.
There was a hush of horror; halt.
God himself couldn't save that poor
devil" cried Marshall. "Have the
work go on"
Pour rocks on that wretch down
there? Pin him down? Never had it
seemed more like war! "a man
down? Ride over him to victory p'
Soberly Richard signaled for the work
to go on.
The rock-pour suffered as If in hor-
ror. The women turned sick with fear.
No one knew who it was. Some poor
Mexican, probably.
"Who was it?" demanded Richard,
running down to the track.
1.-THE young Mexican, Hestrada. L
tried to 'elp. e wasn't fit"
"Who was it?" Marshall had run
down to see why the work paused.
Richard turned shocked eyes on his
chief. Estrada - The beautiful
mournful eyes of Eduardo We're on
him, not Marshall's, Mortified. Now he
knew why Estrada had said. 81 can't
see it finished"
Richard !" The engineer did not
recognize the quenched voice. "The
work has got to go on"
1t came to Richard as he gave the
| orders that Eduardo was closer to Mar
| shall than to him. 'AS near a son as
he'll ever have" He turned a minute
! later to see his chief standing bare
headed. His own cap came off.
"We're burying the lad" said Mar
shall.
The minute of funeral had to bC
pushed aside. The river would not
wait. Train after train was rushed or
TO the trestles; wave after wave hi
them. But perceptibly the. dam was
steadying. The rapid fire of rock wa:
| telling.
Another ridge of yellow waters rose
The roll of water came slowly, dwin
ding as it came; 1t broke against the
| trestle weakly. For the first time lhC
trestle never shuddered. Workers ant
watchers breathed as a unit the frs
deep breath that night. There was
change. Every eye was on the rivel
where 1t touched the rim of the dam
Suddenly a chorused cry rose. The
river had stopped rising. The whistles
screamed themselves hoarse.
And then a girl, sitting on the bank
4 saw two men grab each other by tn,
hand. She was too far away to heal