Show CHAPTER XI Continued With ith eyes of terror Sam Kit Kirby 1 scanned the boiling expanse through which the barge was drifting but nowhere could he catch sight of ot i Danny Royal lIe He turned to shout to his pilot only to discover that he also was missing and that the I steering sweep was smashed God Hes He's gone toned oried the old I man It was sue J jue Je e that inundation succeeding the mishap had swept I Ithe the after deck and now the scow was not only r A but lut i it lacked a man of ot experience to direct Its ts course I Rouletta KIrby JUt was tugging at ather ather ather her fathers father's arm She lifted a white horrified face tace to his and exclaimed I II Danny I 1 saw him him him-go go Her fathers father's dead face was I switching he nodded silently Then he pointed at the tha cataract toward which they were being carried He I opened his lips to say something but one of ot the crew came running back shouting hoarsely and waving I his arms Were going over the fellow tellow clamored Well all be drowned I Kirby felled him with a blow I from his artificial hand then I when the man scrambled to his his' feet his employed ordered I Get busy Do what you can I For Jor himself he took Royals Royal's I sweep and struggled with It It But Buthe Buthe i he was woefully Ignorant of ot how to apply his strength and end had only j the faintest dea Idea what he ought to do I Meanwhile the thunder of the White Horse steadily Increased Having brought the last of ot the he Courteau boats through through- the canon Doret Dot piloted the little I I flotilla across across ss to the town of White Horse and there collected collected I his money while Pierce Phillips and the other men pitched camp IThe i iThe The labor of making things comfortable com corn I for the night did not prevent prevent pre pre- vent ent Lucky Broad from discussing at some length the exciting mci- mci IncI 1 I dents of ot the afternoon I 1 hope her Highness got an eyeful eye- eye i ful rul ul of ot me shooting the chutes chute said he for that's tn rny my farewell trip trip trip- positively my last appearance In any water act ct I I Mighty decent of ot you and the Kid to volunteer Pierce told him It sure was the other agreed I Takes a daredevils like Ike t j thim him and me to Lo pull that kind kina of ot a I bonehead play ay Mr 11 Bridges wha was waa within within I I hearing distance shrugged with an an n assumption of ot careless I ence It takes more moren n n a little lather to scare me he ho boasted Im a divin Venus and I 1 ate It I up up You You liar liar Lucky Lucky cried Why every quill on your head was I 1 standing up and you rou look five years rears older n you did this morning You heard the undertaker shaking out your shroud all the way down Clown Clown- you ou know you ou did I 1 never seen a a. aman aman man as scared as you was When Bridges accepted the accusation with a grin the speaker ran on In it-i Ina Ina a less resentful I 1 dont don't mind saying it hardened my arteries some It made me think of ot all my sins and follies I remembered all the bets Id I'd overlooked Recollect that pioneer we laid for four tour hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred at Dyea I IThe The Kid nodded Sure I re remember remember remember re- re member him easy He He squawked so loud you gave him back half halt of it And all the time he had a thousand thousand thousand thou thou- sand sand sewed in his shirt Wasted opportunities like that lay heavy on a man when he hears the angels angola tuning tuning- up and smells the calla calla- liles Illes Bridges agreed in all seriousness and went on to say Lucky If It I 1 gotta get out of this country the way I got into It Im I'm going to to let you bury me in Dawson Look at them rapids ahead of ot us Why the guy that laid out this river was off his nut Youre talking sense Well AVell stick till they build a railroad up to us or else well we'll l I t em pin a pair pall of soft sott pine overcoats on the two of ot us The Idea of ot us S calling ourselves ourselves ourselves our our- selves wiseacres and doing circus stunts like this Were We're suckers Well Tell be working In lit the the- mines mines mines' next I bet Ill I'll see you onto a pick handle before we get out last Not me Ive I've raised my blister and If It ever I 1 get another callous It 11 be from abed Safe an sane that's me I I- I Bridges' Bridges words were cut short by byan byan byan an exclamation from Doret who I had approached In company with the Countess Courteau i Hallo Hano the French-Canadian French I broke in Dere comes flat dat beeg j barge Out from the lower end of ot the gorge the K iby craft h had d emerged j jIt it was wag plunging along with explosions i of ot white foam from beneath Its Us bow and with Its sweeps rising and falling To Doret's companions It seemed that the scow had come thrOugh handily I enough awl aul was In little further danger b but t for some reason or other had hadt blazed into excite- excite ment Down the the bank banI he leaped j I thc then n ho he raised hIs voice voce and sent t forth a loud c cry It was wasted ef effort effort ef- ef I fort tort for i it failed Caned to carry arry Nevertheless Nevertheless Never Never- the warning note noie in his hs voice brought his Isis hearers running I after him hm the matter Pierce In In- In The rhe pilot paid no heed he began waving his cap In long sweeps cursing meanwhile in a. a patois which the others could not understand Even en while they stared at the Rou Rouletta etta she drove head on Into an expanse of tumbling breakers then the the onlookers onlooker could could not believe their e eyes she eyes she stopped slopped dead still as It If she had come to the end ot of a steel cable or as If It she sloe had collided with an Invisible wall Instantly her entire after atter part was wa smothered In white Slowly her Iser bow rose out of ot the chaos until perhaps ten feet o of her bottom was exposed then she assumed a list Cist The Countess uttered a strangled Oh h Did you See Theres There's a man overboard Her eyes were quick but others too had beheld a dark dalk bundle picked d dup up by some my mysterious agency and flung end over oer end Into the waves The Rouletta's deck load was dissolving dissolving dissolving dis dis- dis- dis solving a moment or two and she turned completely around then thea drifted free Why Why theY they brought the girl along cred cried the Countess In growIng growing growing grow grow- ing dismay Sam Kirby Kirty should have had better sense He ought to tobe tobe tobe be l hung ung- ung From the tents and boats along the bank from the village above people were assembling hurriedly a aI ababel ababel I babel of oaths of shouts arose i found his isis recent employer employer employer em em- plucking at his sleeve Theres a woman out there there there- Kirbys Kirby's girl she was crying Cant you rou do something Walt Wait He flung flun- oft off her grasp and watched intently Soon the helpless scow was abreast of the encampment and In I spite of the frantic efforts of ot her crew to propel her shoreward she drifted momentarily closer loser to the cataract below Manifestly It was Impossible to row and Intercept the derelict before she took the plunge and so helpless in this extremity the audience began to stream down over the tue rounded boulders which formed the margin of ot the river r. r On On- the opposite bank another crowd was keeping pace with the wreck As they ran these those people shouted atone atone at atone one another other aI and d gesticulated wildly Their faces were white whito their words were meaningless for it was Vas a spectacle spectacle spec spec- tense ense tense with Imminent disaster that they the beheld it turned them sick with apprehension Immediately tely a above o e White White- WhiteHorse Horse Hors the current gathers Itself for the final plunge and although at t the thelast last moment the Rouletta seemed above to straighten herself out and take the rapids head on some malign malign ma- ma Influence checked her swing and she lunged luned over to I the tho torrent A roar issued from the throats of ot the beholders tho the craft reappeared I i and then a moment momen later was halt half I hidden again in the smother m It I I eSh nb could be seen n that she was completely corn com o awash and that those thone gallopIng gallop gallop- j jing ing In- white horses were charging charging chars chars- Ing over her She was buffeted about as by battering b rams the ro- ro j of her eat cargo was being rapIdly rap- rap I Idly icIly torn from h her r deck Soon an another another another an- an other shout arose for tor human figures could be seen still sUll dinging clinging to her Onward the scow went until once i again she fetched up on a reef reet or a 1 arock ft rock which the low stage of of the river had brought close to tho the surface sur- sur aurI I I face race there she hung D Doret ret had gone Into ac- ac r lion ere ore this Having sa himself him him- self that some of the Rouletta's I i crow remained alive he ho cast cast loose the tho painter of or the nearest sId skiff and called to Phillips who was standing close by Come on We goin- goin get dose people Now Pierce had had enough rough wat water r for tor one ona day 1 it seemed to him hm that there must be other men In this crowd better qualified by training than he to undertake this rescue But no one stepped forward forward for tor- ward and so he obeyed Doret's or order or- or der As he slipped out of ot his coat and kicked off oct his is boots he reflected reflect reflect- ed with a a. sinking feeling of disappointment disappointment dis dis- appointment that his his' emotions were not by an any means such as a b. really courageous man would experience He was completely lacking In en enthusiasm enthusiasm enthusiasm en- en for this enterprise for It struck him as risky nay foolhardy Insane to take a boat over that cataract cataract cataract cat cat- In an attempt to snatch hu human human human hu- hu man beings out from the very midst of those threshing breakers It Jt seemed d more than likely that all hands would be bo drowned In the theun theun- taking dot and he could not summon un-I un the reckless abandon necessary to face tace that likelihood with anything except the frankest apprehension I He was WIlS surprised at himself for tor he had Imagined that when his moment moment moment mo mo- ment came If It ever It did that he Phillips would prove rove to be a rather exceptional onal person Instead he discovered discovered dis- dis covered that he was something ot oJ a coward The unexpectedness of of I this discovery astonished the young I man Being deeply and thoroughly thorough thorough- ly frightened It t was nothing less I Ithan than the abhorrence at allowing that fright to become known which stiffened his determination In his own sight eight he dwindled to very small proportions then came the realization that tsat Doret was having difficulty in securing volunteers to togo togo togo go wl with them and he was considerably considerably consid consid- I heartened at finding he was not greatly different from the rest I of ot these people help the Vho's goin us Frenchman was shouting Come now you ou stout fellers tellers Deres Dere's lady on dat scow Aint nobody I got nerve It was a tribute to the manhood manhood of or the North that after a brief I hesitation several men offered themselves At the last moment however Broad and Budges el elbowed elbowed el el- bowed the others aside saying Here you That's our boat and we know how she handles Into the skiff they piled and hurriedly hurriedly hurriedly hur hur- stripped down then In obedience to Doret's command they settled themselves at the forward oars l leaving Pierce to set the stroke I Polton stood braced In irs the stern like a gondolier and when willing hand had shot the boat out into I the current he leaned his weight upon the after aCter oars be beneath Mth his and Pierces Pierce's efforts the ash bla bent Out into the hurrying tb fic flo flothe the four tour men sent their craft th with a mighty heave the pu Its Us bow down swung stream a ar helped to drive it t directly at t ti throat of or the cataract There Thre came a breath tak plunge during which the skiff and its crew were hl f from the view of ot those on sh shout shot shot- out into Into sight they lunged a agi ag and In a a. cloud of ot spray went 0 ga loping through the waves At risk of capsizing tb th turned around and battling fur tur against the current p we swept down stern first upon t stranded barge Doret's face VI turned back over his shoulder I u Continued on following page I Winds of Chance 1 Continued from preceding page was distance gauging with practiced eye the and va Va- va- va garies of the tumbling torrent when he flung himself upon the oars Pierce Phillips felt his own strength completely dwarfed b by that of the big pilot hands his in a viselike grasp he wielded th the sweeps as if they were reeds and with them he wielded Phillips Two people only were left upon the Rouletta that sidewIse plunge having carried the crew away Once again Sam Kirbys Kirby's artificial hand had proved its usefulness and without its aid it is doubtful it if either he or his daughter could have withstood the deluge For a second time he had sunk that sharp steel hook into the solid soUd wood and had managed by virtue of that advantage advantage advantage tage to save save- himself and his girl Both of them were half drowned they were well vell nigh frozen too now however fi finding ding ding- themselves in temporary security Kirby had broached one of the few remaining cases of bottled goods As the roWboat rowboat rowboat row- row boat came close its occupants saw him press a drink upon his daughter daugh daugh- ter the then gulp one himself It was Impossible either to lay laythe laythe laythe the skiff alongside the wreck with an any degree of care or or orto to hold her there as a matter of fact the two hulls collided with a crash Kid Bridges oar snapped off short and the side of the lighter boat was smashed In Water poured over the rescuers For an Instant it seemed I that they were doomed but clawing clawing clawing claw claw- ing fiercely at whatever they could lay hands upon they checked their I progress long enough for the castaways castaways castaways cast cast- to obey Doret's shout of command The girl flung herself herselt into Pierces Pierce's arms her father followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed landing anding in in ina a a heap amid amid- ships Even as they Jumped the skiff was was was' torn awa away and hurried onward by the flood Sam Kirby raised himself to his knees and turned his ashen face to Rouletta Hurt you any kid he in inqui in- in qui red The The girl shook her head She was very white her teeth were chattering her wet dress clung tightly to her figure Staring fixedly at the retreating barge the old man cried All gone All gone Then bracing himself with his good hand he brandished his steel hook at the rapids and heaped curses upon them A mile half-mile below the wreck Doret brought his crippled skiff into an eddy and there the crowd which had kept pace with it it down the river bank lent willing assistance in effecting a landing As Kirby stepped ashore he shook hands with the men who had jeopardIzed jeopardized jeopardized their lives for him and his daughter in a cheerless colorless colorless' voice he said It looks to me like you boys bors had a drink coming From his coat pocket he drew a abo bo bottle tle of whisky with a blow of that artificial hand he struck off its neck and then proffered It to Doret Dr Drick Drik k hearty said he t r. r 1 n- n nr r tid t fit To Be Continued |