The Crittenden press., 1920-01-23

so long was plungng down the cata-
ract.
He ran on, breathleSs, and the stu
pendOus spectacle went on before his
eyes. A mighty barrier. piled up for
Il few moments against the rocks that
spanncd the cataract, gave promise of
arreSlins the debacle. Behind il the
logs spun and twisted. All the freight
of the river, far back from the hills.
was sweeping onward. an irresistible
army, forging past stone and boulder
tossing, upheaving mounting the dam.
whose cement wall was now sub
merged, swept by the mllk-whte tor
rent to where had been the boom. The
| clashng Of the logs against that wood.
en- wall was like batterlng rams against
a city wall. Then swiftly, as Hilary
st!ll ran. he saw the picture dissolve.
The wall of logs went down into the
cataract, and column Of spray rose
higher than the flume. flared funnel
wise and caught the sunlight into pris-
mntically banded hues like rainbow,
and went down.
over the cataract swept the logs, un-
impeded now. The river had burst its
chains and spewed It's burdens into the
Gulf. Fanlike, the lumber began TO
spread and stain the gray st. Lawrence
surface with mottled brown.
Hilary reached the waste place be-
side the mill. The wOrkmen stood
there, impotently watching the ruin of
their toll. II was the wreck OF every
thing. There could be no hope of build
ing up the boom in the face of that
torrent of water until the river was
low enough for the closing of the dam
gates to keep II pent back. And long
before that time the entire lumber
load Of Rocky river would be in the
Gulf. Hilary looked on In embittered
silence. He might MS well give up now
and 60 home. Brousseau and Nature
had united to thwart him.
The workmen had been Joined by
the mill hands, who had left their
work ana hurried down TO the boom
when the catastrophe occurred. They
seemed all TO have lost their heads.
They were chattering eXcltedly; Hill
airy could not understand word. but
Connell started and looked about him.
Like many uneducated men, he had
the faculty Of getting en- rapport with
men Of other speech. Evidently he
had heard something said that puz-
zled and alarmed him.
> "What is it," Hilary asked.
"Where's Jean Baptiste?" said Lnfe
: 81 don't know. He set off the dyna'
mite, and that ended his job. WhyT
Nothing" said Lafe, still glancing
about him.
Hilary looked nt him curlously. but
7 said no more. He began TO push his
way through the crowd in the dlrec'
= tion of the Office. He had not invited
Lafe to accompany him, but Lafe was
nj his elbow when he went in, followed
him inside the room. and took Il chan
beside him.
Hilary looked at him with whim
steal smile. "We're finished, Lafe
+, This affair, coming on top Of the can
! ceiling of those jObbers' leases. has
ended me-"
Lafe scratched his chin, but sait
nothing to this.
you see" said Hilary, according tC
my reckoning we shall have about for
, ~ thousand dollars on hand abou
September first. That will last us I'll
Christmas. On the first of the yeaI
we shall be up against II, We neet
another sixty thousand TO carry u
I through the winter, TIL navigation
l opens and we call sell our cutting, n,
< banks going TO lend us anything Will
= our record
1--WE can ship six thousand cords b!
December first" said Lafe.
"Thirty.hve thousand dollars-per
haps less"
1--WE could get more out Of thos'
! river bottoms" suggested Lafe.
And shut down In the middle o
March,"
AS far as ] can see" Lnfc blurtc,
out, "you'll be about ten thousand shy
Mr.. Askew. assuming things 90 fairl.
well. That's why | came here. Yo,
see, It's like this. I've got nearly elgh
thousand In the First National hanl
at Shoeburyport. Mass Clarice-Mrs
Connell, that ls-wouldn't let me bu.
her house on the inStallmcnt plai
rs wanted to. She said as I'd neye
know when we'd need the money, an,
II couldn't pay M on time they'd &c
II away from us somehow, no matte
what the contract said. II SCENE,
mighty unreasonable to me, Mr.. As
kew, but I'm glud now-l sure az
glad"
"Lnfc," said Hilary, "are you crnz.
enough to suppose I'm going to tax
the money that you and Mrs. Conncl
have been saving up for n home, nm,
put Il into this bankrupt cCnccrnT
"Oh. shucksw said Lafe. "Wh
that mint nothing. | guess know
good thing when see one. I'm loan
Ing It to you. Mr.. Askcw, nt--any rat
you want to pay me-"
"Lnfc. you're Il fool" said Hilary
trying to keep his voice steady: an
: tempted But I'm not going to talk
" IT,"
"rhcn | guess I'll take the next hon
Il homer shouted l.ufc. 81 ulnt goin
If to work for n busted concern what
!. going to leave me stranded up here Il
r. mldwnter. not drawing n cent. an
;. ClnrIcc-my wlfc-unl the Kids II
Shoeburyport No. slrl You TAX,
+. that or I'll leave. II amt so crnz
. as you think. ltll give inc nn intercs
IA, .,,,,tut, m, Inst nunpp nut az ,h