Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1922-06-30


beside the cars as the fantall dipped
into the water; Coryet, again leading
the crew, cleared the leader OF those
mndly charging cars and ran 1t over
the stern.
The fore trucks fell and, before the
rear trucks reached the edge, the
stern lifted and caught the car In the
middle; 1t balanced, half over the wa
ter, half over the deck. Corvet
crouched under the car with crow.
bar; Alan and two others went with
him; they worked the car on until the
weight of the end over the water tipped
1t down; the balance broke. and the
car tumbled and dlved. Corvet, hay
Ing cleared another hundred tons.
leaped back. calling to the crew,
They followed him again. unques-
tioning, obedient. Alan followed close
to him. 1t was not pity which stirred
him now for Benjamin Corvet nor was
IL bitterness; but 1t certainly was not
contempt. OF oil the ways In which he
bad fancied finding Benjamin Corvet,
he had never thought OF seeing him
| like thisi
K was, probably, only for flash;
but the great quality of leadership
which he had once possessed, which
| Sheriff. had described TO Alan and
which had been destroyed by the threat
| over him. had returned TO him In this
desperate emergency which he had ere
ated. How much or how little of his
| own condition Corvet understood, Alan
| could not tell; 1t was plain only that
he comprehended that he had been the
cause of the catastrophe. and In his
fierce will to repair 1t he not only dis.
regarded all risk to himself; he also
had summoned up from within him and
was spending the last strength OF his
spirit But he was spending II IN a
losing fight.
| He got off two more cars; yet the
deck only dipped lower, and water
washed farther and farther up over
the fantail. Men, leaplng from before
the charging cars, got caught in the
murderous melee of iron and steel
and wheels; mems shrill cries came
amid the scream of metal. Alan, tug
| EiDI Ut a NkdNC gAihNh uVNu
man, felt aid beside him and, turn
| ing, he saw the priest whom he had
! passed on the stairs, The priest was
bruised and bloody; this was not his
first effort to aid. Together they lifted
an end OF the crate; they bent--Alan
stepped back, and the priest knelt
alone. his lips repeating the prayer for
/ oil nf mr. from
behind and the priest rose and turned.
He saw men caught between two
wrecks Of cars crushing together ;
there was no moment to reach them T;
he stood and raised his arms to them.
his head thrown back, his voice calling
to them, as they died, the words OF
absolution.
Three more cars at the cost of two
lives the crew cleared. while the
sheathing of ice spread over the steel
inboard, and dissolution of all the
| cargo became complete. Cut stone and
motor parts, GLASSES and castings. fur
niture and beams, swept back and
forth. while the cars burst and spin.
tered, became monstrous missiles hurt
ling forward, sidewlse, aslant. recOil-
ing. Yet men, though scattered slngly
tried TO stay them by ropes and chains
while the water washed higher and
higher. Dimly. far away, deafened out
by the clangor, the steam whistle OF
Number % was blowing the four long
blasts OF distress: Alan heard the
sound now and then with indifferent
wonder. All destruction had come fOI
him to he contained within this cal
deck here the ship oosed tai itself all
clements of humiliation; who could
aid Il from without? Alan caught the
end OF chain which Coryet flung him
and, though he knew II was useless
he carried Il across from one stanchior
10 the next. Something, sweeping
across the deck. caught him and car
rled him with Il; II brought him he
fore the coupled line Of trucks which
hurtled back and forth where the rails
of track three had been. He Va'
hurled before them and rolled over
something cold and heavy pinned HIN
down; and upon him, the car trucks
came.
But, before them. something waru
and liying--a hand ana bare arm
catching him quickly and pulling n
him, iugged him little farther on
Alan, looking up, saw Coryet beside
him; Cowet, unable TO move hin
! farther, was crouching down there
with him Alan yelled 10 him to leap
to twist aside mud get out Of the way
but Corvet only crouched closer an
Put his arms over Alan; then th'
wreckagc came upon them, driylnI
them apart. AS the movement stopped
Alan still coul0 see Coryet dimly b!
the glow of the incandescent lamp
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