The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1920-02-28

]
logs which the Rocky river had borne
50 long was plunging down the cata-
ract.
He ran on, breathess, and the stu
! pendous spectacle went on before his
! eyes. A mighty barrier, piled up for
Il few moments against the rocks that
| Spanned the cataract. gave promise of
! arreSting the debacle Behind it 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 milk-whte tor
rent to where had been the boom The
claShing of the logs against that wood
en- wall was like battering rams against
a city wall. Then swiftly, as Hilary
still ran, he saw the picture dissolve.
! The wall of logs went down into the
cataract. and Il column of spray rose
higher than the flume. fared funnel
wise and caught the sunlight into pris-
and went down.
Over the cataract swept the logs, I'M
impeded now. The river had burst it's
chains and spewed it's burdens into the
Gulf. Fanlike, the lumber began to
spread and stain the gray st. Lawrence
surface with notified brown.
Hilary reached the waste place be-
side the mill. The workmen stood
there, impotenty watching the ruin of
their toll. It 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 it pent back. And long
before that time the entire lumber
load of Rocky river would be in the
Gulf Hilary looked on i'm embittered
silence. He might as well give up now
and 20 home. Brousseau and Nature
had united to thwart him.
The workmen had been joined by
the mill hands, who had left their
work and hurried down to the boom
when the catastrophe occurred They
seemed all to have lost their heads.
They were chattering excitedly; Hill
airy could not understand q 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 Lafe
Il don't know. He set off the dyna-
mite. and that ended his job. Why?
Nothing" said LATE, still glancing
about him.
Hilary looked at him curiously, but
said no more. He began to push his
way through the crowd in the direc-
ton of the office He had not invited
LATE to accompany him, but LATE was
at his elbow when he went in, followed
him inside the ROOM and took chair
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-"
Late scratched his chin, but said
nothing to this.
"You see" said Hilary, according to
my reckoning we shall have about for
ty thousand dollars on hand about
September first That will last US till
Christmas. On the first of the year
another sixty thousand to carry us
through the winter, till navigation
opens and we call sell our cutting. No
banks going to lend US anything with
our record"
1--WE can ship six thousand cords by
December first" said LATE.
''Thirty-five thousand dolars--per-
haps less"
"We could get more out of those
river bottoms" suggested LATE.
and shut down in the middle of
March,"
AS far as / can see" LATE blurted |
out, you'll be about ten thousand shy, /
Mr.. Askew. assuming things go fairly /
well. That's why I came here. You I
see, it's like this. I've got nearly eight I
thousand in the First National bank I
ut Shoeburyport, Mass. Clarice-Mrs. I
Cornell, that is-wouldn't let me buy I
her n house on the installment plan /
rs ! wanted to. She said as I'd never
Lnnvy whom yotd mood tho money and
If / couldn't pay up on time they'd get +
it away from us somehow, no matter
what the contract said. 1t seemed
mighty unreasonable to me, Mr.. AS
kew, but I'm glad now--I sure am
glad"
"Lafe," said Hilary, ARE you crazy
enough to suppose I'm going to take
the money that you and Mrs. Connell
have been saving up for home, and
put it into this bankrupt concrn|
"Oh, shucks!" said LATE. why
that amt nothing ! guess / know
good thing when ! see one. I'm loan
ing it to you, Mr.. Askew, at-any rate
you want to pay me-
"Lafe. you're fool" said Hilary,
trying to keep his voice steady: I'm
tempted. But I'm not going to take
it."
"Then / guess I'll take the next boat
homer shouted LATE. 81 amt going
to work for a busted concern what's
going to leave me stranded up here in
midwinter not drawing cent and