The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-02-04
Chapter A
BLACK WATER

HORRIGAN had lanterns lighting
the way from the storehouses t
the dam. They were shielded by
st.el guards stuck n the ground,
but even at that their light was I'M
certain. That dam!
Willett plowed through to the
edge of the river. The dam was
going, all right. He went into action
on the spot
"Sandbags!" he shouted. "And
mating! On the run! Come on.
lBucky, chase 'em along. The women
too"
He was in six places at once. di.
recting. ordering. singing the heavy
sandbags around as though they
we're filled with cotton. and the
gang got into 1t as though they
were fighting for their lives.
The women Joined the fight too.
There was a worse fury than the
storm abroad tonight-it was the
fury of that tall figure who snapped
back viciously at the wildly surging
river.
How they fought Sandbags but
dressing the dam at vital points to
Withstand the, tremendous pressure
i. OF an, unchecked river. Water was
splitting over the top. That was all
right, the half-flnished construction
work below could stand anything
but the sudden wild break Of the
whole river. . .
,Willett was out on the dam. the
water swirling all around him.
black water that sucked at his
knees, and poured into his face a.
he knelt and gripped the edge.
And as Willett fought, he thought
of the girl back in the hut with only
Rosa. saw her hand cropping for his.
felt a deeper courage somehow. But
If she didn't make tt
Look down. look down that
lonely road"
He knew how his father had felt.
Life had gone out of his father too.
left him staggering. stunned. He'd
never been able to love anybody else
but Vic, and Terry knew from the
moment he'd seen Allaire she was
the only girl he could ever love
either.
Fight, you Quaking wretches!
Your boss has to be strong no mat
ter what happens. He has to look
down that lonely road and he has
to travel it alone, gallant and strong.
And so they strained through the
hours. Corrigan wild man with
the Chaikis hopping before his
blasts, and Willett keeping the res.
cue work travelling surely and
swiftly. Governor you're going to
be served this job in Valhalla, and
you can thank a girl for 1t.
But he dared that surging rivers
force once too often out there on
that Quivering dam. His grip was
torn loose as he tried to get a sand
bag into place.
He felt himself spun around in
the wild water and an instant later
his head was driven against the dam
with stunning force. Lights flashed
before his eyes as a terrible dizzi.
ness overcame m.
He gasped for breath and the
water poured into his throat. He was
going down, exhausted, stunned,
half dead.
THE water seemed very soft sud
l. denly, soft with the heavy muf.
fling feeling of a wooden quilt
thrown over the head. And the bot.
tom of the river was soft too. oozy.
Ishifty, soft muck that had been
stirred into putrid cloud that blind.
ed and strangled and obscured his
sense0 T&tyAwhlett could find no
breath, 20 strength
J HisY strength twas febbing fast
You'll have to look down, Allaire,
look down a lonely road-the guy
you married is through.
q Allaire! He seemed to see her
hand as it had reached out for his
in those shadows caused by the flick.
ering lamp. A girl who had followed
him to Pluto's Playground and was
standing between life and death
herself now.
Allaire!
Willett stopped right on the
threshold of unconsciousness. With
a terrible effort of will he reused
himself to battle, to find some more
stren 9Th from somewhere. He
couldn't leave her alone, he couldn't.
iAllaire was fighting for her life too.
|! From somewhere his dispersed
forces rallied. He snapped the mind.
,paralyzed spell of the water that
whirled him around and blinded and
deafened him; he fought for the
surface. holding grimly to the last
of his ebbing strength. straining for
what seemed to him a white hand