Washington telegraph., 1921-02-18
isa-,.- 4---y i.lallLLO
New Z3a.alceT Probably Broke
Many S.. eel RECORDS.
Fortunate to Live to Write OF Mad
Journey Across Frso.piee, and a
Night OF Terror.

A thrilling adventure ia the timber
lands Of New Zealand is related by
Mr.. David Blake, who met with it as
result Of a quarrel with a man named
Smertz. DO you know the great divide
on Mount Siberia? asks Mr.. Blake in
the Wide World Magazine | had the
contract for cutting out and sending
down the timber from the upper
slopes. Across the gulch, taut as a
bOw-string steel cable stretched for
eight hundred feet. The kauri logs,
slung to an UNDERLYING trolley running
on huge sheaves. were sent over the
wire to the other side A guide rope,
hooked to the trolley, served to check
the run and ease the timber to the
landing stage below.
Rod Mckenzie, Duncan and Smertz
worked In my gang. 1t was the end of
the day IN late autumn. The last log
IA monster twenty feet long by thirty
In girth-hung ready for launching. /
was on the point Of giving the signal.
when, fancying | noticed a slackness
IN one Of tire slings, | mounted the
log.
This was Smer,4's moment for de,
ferred vengeance. AS quick as light
ming he swung his AK and sprang the
hook of the guide rope from the sock
ct. On the instant the huge log gath
cred headway down the iaut wire.
Some one screamed, Jump Dave,
Jump" But there was no ti!ne.
All this happened In flash. I threw
myself face down upon the log and
yrippsd the sling chains with a grip
Of DEATH Bushes, ground and tree
stumps flew backward beneath me in
a mad blur Of speed. The racing
sheaves, in their iron block casing,
screamed and shrilled. Fire flashed
from them. Fire ran along the wire,
Showers Of sparks flew out upon the
wind.
Suddenly there was a jar, the grind
and shrek of metal on metal.
screamed and closed my eyes. There
was a Jerk that wrenched my arms
in their sockets, and the mad rush
stopped. The strained wire above
sprang, bent again and hummed like
twanged bowstrlng, The log, hang.
ing beneath, leaped up and down, up
and down. l was jolted from my hold
and, for a horrible minute, with one
hand clutched In the chains, hung over
the abyss. Slowly, painfully, l dragged
myself up again. My nerves were in
rags, my limbs shook, and my teeth
chattered. I took off my belt and
reeving It through a chain link, shift.
ed position; then / rebuckled the
strong leather round my waist.
This is what had happened. The pin
in the lower block had worked loose
The wire had jumped the groove In
the sheave wheel, becoming jammed
/ between It and the iron casing, and
the log had braked itself by its Owl
weight.
A stT wind had blown during the
] afternoon, and with night II hardened
into a gale from the southeast. II
roared, swooplng through the defile
Rain and wlnd-drlven hail hissed
across the darkness in fierce gusts
| Flannel shirt and trousers, which rep
/ resented all my clothing, were little
/ protection against the fierce cold.
could not move TO ease my position
Ice formed on the chains and on the
wood my clothing froze hard and stiff
The night was as dark as the mouth
Of q pit. A single big star broke at
intervals through the wrack Of hylnl
scud. watched It idly as lay in a
sort Of trance.
/ awoke I'm a warm bed II was
Dick, my close companion, that lad
come out along the wire in the morn.
| ing after the storm. He had brought
with him sort of chair Of strong
rope running on a pulley; but how he
| had managed on that swaying, slippery
log TO get me- helpless and uncon-
scious. into the chair / do not know
Smertz? The boss got him away
from the boys, locked him inside his
Office and stood guard over hlmf It'll
the police came. Otherwi7
wonld have killed him.