Newspaper Page Text
10
Iht fuluufc UllIbN.
had time to warn the mill men ,
Gerald knew that they could not
prevent the raft from crushing into
the boom and releasing the logs.
There was nothing—
Then Gerald recalled something
one of the yard men had told him
aDout rafts. They could be stopped
by being steered into shore and tied
there with a strong cable that was
carried for that purpose. But in
this case there was no one to steer
the raftno one to throw
the cable around a friendly tree
when the raft touched shore.
The raft was deserted. It had
gone wild. It was bent oti destruct-
i n.
Gerald looked again at the plung
ing mass of logs. Two hundred
feet above the bridge the murky
river. It was three logs length—
nearly a hundred feet—long at the
stern, proved firmly in the rough
clasps of oak was a huge sweep
that had been built to steer the un*
weildy craft along a less turbulent
stream. The raft could be steered
if there were some or.e to handle
that enormous sweep.
The boy realized that he was the
“only someone” to meet the emerg
ency With one final glance to fix
the location of the speeding raft as
its rugged prow nosed its way
under the bridge, be ran across the
tracks, climbed with lightninglike
speed over the tressle work, and
dropped to his hands and knees on
the outer edge of the bridge tim
bers. Then with the ability ot an
acrobat, he swung down to full
arm’s length—ahd dropped!
Down—down ! It seemed to him
that he must have fallen fifty feet
before he felt the grateful stapiUty
of the raft as he landed upon it.
At the rate .this floating aval
anche of logs was going, it would
only be a few minutes until the
mill would be reacned, and unless
he worked hurriedly and cooly, his
wild leap would prove futile, after
all.
Moving unsteadily along the
swerving raft, he reached the steer
ing sweep. Though he threw all
his weight on the heavy rudder,
he was scarcely able to move it.
right or left. After a second des
perate tug, the sweep swung
an inch or so upon its pivot and
the raft responded by veering
slightly toward the shore. Then
throwing all his strength into an
other effort, he changed the course
of the plunging craft from right to
left just to prove to himself that
he had enough strengih to swim the
quickest refuge. There was little
time, though for experimenting.
Around a bend in the broadened
river the younthful pilot caught
sight of a welcome clump of syca
mores. Swinging desperately at
the roughl rudder, he turned the
mammoth craft toward the shore.
Slowly and grudginly the raft re
sponded to the rudder and inched
toward the trees. Little by little
the haven was approached.
Finally as if impatient at being
curbed by so youthful a pilot, the
logs of the raft broke over a weak
resistance of boughs and with a
grind against the outermoht tree.
Deserting the cumbersome sweep,
Gerald hurried along the treach
erous surface of the raft to throw
the cable around the tree lash it fast
to the logs of the raft. To his horror,
he found that the cable was no long
er on the raft. A mere shred of a bro
ken rope fastened to one of the for
ward logs showed how the force of
the stream had broken the feeble
moorings of the raft at some an
chorage up the river.
Sickened by the discovery, the
boy made no effort to check the
shifting progress of the raft as it
drifted back
to midstream.
He
could think
of no way now
to
forestall the
destruction of
the
boom.
Then out
of the depth of
his
dispair came
a wild hope.
He
realized that
the odds were
ter-
ribly against
him but it was a
plan
worth a final effort. Less than a
hundred yards above the Kedwood
Mills there was a shallow flat
where, in summer, mountain drive
rs brought in large loads of saw-
logs and left them there to await
the saw. With the river *ut of
bound*, this fiat had become a
muddy lake filled with floating
debris from the mill. The back
wash of the river’s current nn.de it
an eddy filled swamp bale from
the rush of the river itself. If by
some happy circumstance the raft
could be maneuvered into this
swamp, the boom would be saved.
Nearer and nearer came the
boon. The black smokestacks of
the Redwood Mills came intc view ;
then the piles of lumber in the
yards, of log6 held in subjection
by the endangered boom. Steadily,
insistently forward ran the raft as
if anxious to crash into the logs
and liberate them from their bond
age.
The big minute had arrived!
Gerald swung every pound upon „
the rudder sweep. Slowly the raft
yielded. Haltingly, it ploughed its
way to the edge of the current.
Still more slowly, it ventured into
the submerged willows along the
shore as Gerald brought the iudder
more effectively into play. Then at
last, as if in desperation, it swung
around and again for a second the
battle hung dangerously in the
balance. With every ounce of his
little body thrown into action, the
boy swept the rudder tnrough the
churning water and brought the
ponderous craft into line. Then it
plunged— a conquered force—
through the willows, away from
the tug of the current and into the
calm lake above the mill.
1 he conquered raft seemed to
whirl madly beneath the feet of
the boy; the world grew dark
and—
When the light came back,
Gerald realized that he was in the
office of the Redwood Company
and that Bartlett, rough, gruff
Bill Bartlett, was talking and his
voice wasn’t rough after all :
“He saved the boon ; that’s what
he did, the plucky kid! That raft
broke loose at Plummer’s Landing
and it would have gone clean
through the boom if it hadn’t been
for him, It took nerve, and the
boy had it.”
And then to Gerald :
“Youngster, we’e going to hang
on o you!”—The Boys \Vorld.
I, Tb* Tim* For AD Good M«n to Como to The Aid ot Tbe Future Hint. F.tc.