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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.