epaw«ct?V: ,,-mi ■m* ! W
CHAFFEE
I ROARING HORSE 5
BY ERNEST HAYCOX_|j§
The posse was almost down;
guns began to wake the
echoes Across on the ferry
■tde old man Lee straightened
and ran momentarily out of
sight. When he reappeared
there was a short barreled
ahotgxin in his fists. He peered
through the thin fog, raising
the gun uncertainly, not
knowing what to expect. Mack
Moran yelled at him, but the
•ound of the water only
blurred Mack's meaning. The
posse raced to the river’s edge
and laid a line of fire against
the boat, ail shots falling
short The woman screamed
again and It may have been
that Xavier Francois Lone
star Lee heard that scream,
though the noise of the can
yon might have absorbed so
shrill a sound before it
reached Uie man’s ears. Hut at
any rate he saw the posse
through the fog and he heard
them shooting; and he obeyed
a natural, primitive impulse.
Raising the shotgun he fired
point-blank at the nearing
boat. The fine shot sang and
snapped in the water. Mack
yelled again and ducked.“Let
*er gof The loon’s reachin’ for
■tore shells!"
The second blast came sleet
ing across the Interval, inde
scribably vicious as it sheered
and spat In the current and
whined against the boat’s
side. Jim Chaffee felt a thin,
sharp pain slicing Into his
shoulder; turning, he saw that
Lee was making ready for
another aim, and he under
stood then how Impossible
the situation had of a sudden
become. Buckshot was deadly;
he dared not attempt to bluff
through It So he reversed the
Impulse of the oars and the
boat, urged onward by the
added force, raced into the
dim, droaning depths of the
canyon
tanck Moran s immediate re
action was one of absurd, hi
larious satisfaction. “Doggone
that Lee person. He’ll never
get this boat back again.
Serves him right.” Then he
noticed Chaffee’s wrist
muscles snapping hard against
the oars and at that point the
Stall rcaliation of the ap
proaching ordeal smote him
squarely in the middle of his
shoulder blades. His leathery
cheeks tightened; through
he gray gloom his face seemed
to pucker owlishly, and there
appeared to be a withdrawal
of blood from his compressed
lips. “Man, let’s you and me
hit for the shore sudden;"
“What shore?”
“Huh?* Mack looked around,
startled. The lower end of
that gravel strip upon which
Lee's house precariously
perched war, sliding past them,
starrowing swiftly to nothing
■tore than a ledge. Even as he
looked that ledge fell away
Into the river and was ab
sorbed by the sheer face of
the canyon wall and there was
nothing left but a stubborn,
black expanse of pitted rock
aising and vanishing beyond
the curling mists. The boom
ing fury of water struggling
through 1he farther recesses
grew perceptibly louder. Chaf
iee threw his weight against
the oare and the skiff, travel
ing stern foremost, shot along
like a thing alive. Mack pro
tested. “Say. we’re goin’ thirty
miles an hour, or I’m an Aus
tralian boomerang thrower.
What’s the need of all this
hustle? Let's slow down some
and consider the matter .in de
tail. Me. 1 don’t like to rush.”
“Ain't going as fast as we
■eem, said Chaffee. “But we
might Just as well get this
mrer with. It don’t do any good
to think about Devil’s Boil too
long. Wonder if that posse is
racin' along the rim to reach
Underman's ahead of us?”
Sight of Ice’s ferry long ago
had been shut off by the fog
20
wreath. “Last I saw," said
Mack, “they was all lined up
on the shore, gawpin' at us.
Didn’t seem to be in no hurry.”
“Reasonable for them to
look at it that way,” was Chaf
fee’s grim observation. “Better
take off your boots and shirt.”
“No, sir, I hate to get my
feet wet.”
“Well, here’s where we start.
Lay down on the bottom,
Mack, so I can see the rocks
cornin’ up.”
Mack obeyed. The boat be- ‘
gan to pitch, stern rising and
slapping into the rollers. Up
from the throat of the gorge
came the sound as of a high
wind beating through a forest,
of water pouring over a cliff.
Chaffee lifted his oars and let
the craft drift of its own mo
mentum. Ahead, the river
seemed to slant at an in
creased angle—another piece
of deception moving water
holds up to man—and from
wall to wall there was nothing
but white spearheads flashing
dully in the half light. The
boat leaped onward and began
to turn. Chaffee dipped an
oar, almost losing it. He dug
the current, and rester again.
The black Jaws of a rock
yawned beside him, spray
lashed out and spattered the
prone Mack.
“Sunk?” yelled Mack, half
rising.
The boat rose and dropped
with a force that knocked the
puncher flat on his face. They
were gripped by warring
eddies, pulled and battered
and rocked. Chaffee lowered
both oars and braked the
boat’s speed, body weaving,
muscles and joints cracking
with the immense pressure.
Mack lifted his head again
and found himself canted
against one side, staring into
a hollow that appeared to be
carved from green glass. The
boat sprang back; all this was
behind him, smooth water
lapped against the boards.
Chaffee sagged and wiped
sweat and spray from his face.
Mack crawled to the stern
seat and rolled a cigaret, try
ing to speak casually. “Well,
guess that was the worst of it,
uh?’r
“You know better. We ain’t
been nowhere yet.”
“Our sunny, light-hearted
friend speakin’. Never thought
I’d ever get seasick out in the
middle of the desert. But I
shore squirmed back yonder.
Say—look—there’s a place we
could step ashore. See that
shelf?”
“Yeah. And see what’s back
of it. A wall, straight up.
Would it buy us anything to
land? Can’t fly out of this
hole. And nobody’s goin’ to
row down after us.”
“If I ever get ashore once
—” muttered Mack.
“Do you hear somethin’?”
The canyon trembled with
it—a faint, pulsating snore
that sounded like the gutter
ing of some primeval monster;
yet the tempo remained con
stant, never varying, never
dying out. The farther they
floated the deeper and more
thunderous was the rever
beration thrown across the
towering walls. And somehow,
for all the advancing light of
day, the gorge was plunged in
a more profound twilight. It
began to narrow, and Chaffee
discovered a point jutting out
in front of them. The smooth
ness of the stream face was
broken into warning ridges.
White water beckoned. Around
that approaching point began
the Long Slide, terminating
in the Devil’s Boil. Of the four
men who had started from
Lee’s in the past thirty years,
three had lost their lives in
the Boil; and to that mad,
tortured area with its great
vaults battered by dynamic
hydraulic attacks and its tem
pestuous suction Mack Moran
ana Jim Chaffee were now
rapidly approaching.
"Yuh, I hear it,” gurmbled
Mack. He looked longingly to
the faint strip of shelving on
the south side. "I bet a man
could cut some sort of a stone
ladder up there, Jim.”
"What with?”
"There yuh go again. Well,
call me for breakfast, Mister
Chaffee. If I hear a trumpet
or a harp I’ll know it won’t
be beans and bacon. Go to it,
kid”
The rough water took them,
the boat shot around the jut
ting point of the south wall.
The incline of the river’s bed
seemed far greater than at
any previous stage of the trip.
As they straightened into the
Long Slide a vast roar battered
either precipice and they
were actually dizied by the
impact of a vibrating, stutter
ing conflict of force against
force just beyond sight. In
another moment a charging
white wall of water broke
through the fog; spray covered
them. Chaffee, dog tired,
pulled in the oars.
"What’s the use of dippin’ a
toothpick in Niagara?” The
torrent of sound tore the
words out of his mouth. Mack
looked backward. Chaffee
leaned down. "One man made
it! Hang on to your pants!
Here we go!”
Mack’s face was blurred in
the mist, but he winked and
clamped both arms around
the stern seat. Chaffee
Jammed his feet between boat
bottom and the middle seat.
The skiff swayed and lurched
into a trough; at that moment
Chaffee had a clear view of
the Devil’s Boil—nothing but
cascading fury to one side and
a slick uprearing wall af water
that seemed to defy the law of
gravity on the other. Seeing
it, he pushed the oars under
him, pulled himself as low as
he could, and tightened all
muscles.
There is in water a power
that nothing else under the
blue canopy of heaven pos
sesses. Man may dam it, yet
the slowly impounding force
laps away at the barrier, con
stantly making sallies and
thrust and forever threaten
ing to break free; man may
ride upon it, but never with
a sure sense of safety, for it
is a thing alive, ceaseless and
destructive. It wears away all
before it; it moves onward,
nor can anything check its
final victory. So, as Chaffee
rode into the mists of fury,
he resigned himself to •eath
as others had done, even
though in the dim recesses of
his being the unquenchable
flame of life desire still
burned. One man had made
it, and therefore some alley
existed through the wild and
charging torrent. Thus, with
hope and despair alternating,
he saw himself being drawn
into the terrific maw of the
Boil. The boat was past any
one’s power to check, racing
along the slide with a speed
that taxed his senses. He felt
a suction pulling it lower in
the water. Whether or not it
was true, he did see that tae
surface of the stieam sliced
nearer the gunwales, ac
companied by a sound that
was something like the frying
of bacon in a pan. The mists
turned by degrees from a
damp blanket to an actual
downpour; moment by mo
ment the canyon walls became
dimmer and his ears were
drummed with an intensity of
attack he had never yet ex
perienced. From the heights
of the canyon he often had
heard the drone of this cata
clysmic force; down here,
caught in its grip, the sound
was more like a mingled
screaming and exploding of
the elements.
The boat was filled with
water. So far the speed or the
suction had kept it iron
pitching much, but as the last
sight of the walls obscured
and died, and even the bulk
of the craft itself was barely
visible, the suction appeared
to let go; instantly it began
a crazy, side for side and end
to end careening. The water
gushed around Chaffee's feet.
Great cascades drenched him,
' strangled mm; and an tne
while he was alone, one tiny
cell of living life surrounded
by destruction. In a moment
of clearheadedness he won
dered if Mack was still in the
boat. He didn’t know, couldn’t
hear his partner even if Mack
shouted at the top of his
lungs, and couldn’t see him.
More things were happening
in those few seconds than he
could grasp. But he did feel
a slacking off of the punish
ment, and then the suction
took hold again and the boat
i began to travel in a vast
circle, impelled to a greater
speed, thrown higher at each
revolution until it seemed
certain that in time it would
reach some top-heavy angle
and turn over. Nothing, he
knew, kept the boat from be
ing beaten into fragments
but the steady rhythm of the
whirlpool they were in. And
he lost control entirely of the
time.
But it seemed forever. It
seemed like since he and Mack
had embarked from Lee’s
ferry. So much for the illusion
of time. The mighty rever
beration played tricks with
him; seemed first behind him,
then in front of him. And
actually appeared to sink be
low. Then—and it was like
being released alive from a
burial vault—he caught a
faint sight of the sky. and he
saw one rim of the canyon
perched at some crazy angle
They were traveling upward
no doubt of it. The sensation
was too acute to be mistaken;
and in another moment he
had a small view of Mack, all
in a knot. They were traveling
again at great speed—and
straight ahead. The sky be
came clearer, and for an in
terval the drenching sprays
diminished; Chaffee even
wondered if he might try the
oars.. It was an idle thought
at the moment, for the boat
was checked, smashed by
some reverse current; and
then they fell dizzily, the pit
of Chaffee’s stomach rising
and his feet pushing harder
and harder against the floor
boards to avert what must be
the fatal crash.
The crash never came. It
was as if they were hooked to
a great cradle, swinging from
side to side. Then, in one more
i flashing interval of time, that
I was all changed. The boat
leaped high, swung around
poised and turned over, the
both of them struggling be
neath it. Chaffee, trying to
keep some order in his head,
unlocked his body, pulled him
self to the surface and looked
around. Mack was perched on
the upturned bow, aand ahead
of them lay the finest sight
the most beautiful streten ol
j nature Chaffee thought he
I had ever laid eyes upon—
calm water.
The Boil was behind, and
1 somehow the sound of it was
j no longer sinster. Actually it
Looked like a pretty fine
spectacle. So they went rock
ing precariously through the
lee riffles and struck a slug
gish eddy.
‘G-got a cigaret?” said
! Mack in a voice that was but
a thin shadow of itself.
‘ What makes you stutter?”
questioned Chaffee, nor could
he understand the reedy little
noise in his throat.
• Got a bit cold,” explained
Mack, and then began to
swear. ‘‘Y’don’t look so light
hearted yoreself, by—”
Chaffee studied the receding
Boil. ‘‘Mack, have you got any
mortal idea how we squeezed
through that cataract? Hell,
it’s a mile high and forty feet
| thick.”
‘ No. and I ain't aimin’ to
i go back to find out, either,
j Man. I died so many times in
the last few minutes I got no
fear of the grave left. I bet
St. Peter is hangin’ up a set
of wings right now which he
was aimin’ to try on me.”
•Well, it’s over. Oars gone,
boat leakin’, everything ready
to fall apart, includin’ the
contents. Let’s try to push
this thing ashore and empty
it out. Then proceed with due
leksure to Linderman’s”
(TO B* CONTINUED)
~IBua**ra 1m Not Approved.
The Nomad in the Boston Tran
script.
Apropos ef the Nomad's recent
fmuTU on tiie pronunciation at
tts» Dames of states, "M" writes.
~Uom do sive us the correct pro
•mncuium ol one more state—Mis
mrt It surely can't be that the
final V is pronounced as 'er'. And
th> the name Gotham—long or
abort ‘a’'’
bThumni should have been in
trhofcad is Use Nomad's list. It is or
4toudj pronounced “Mizzoorie,"
the ■**■*’ as ts ” and the last sylla
ble the short ‘l ". Sometimes the
natives say “Mizzoura," but that is
not approved, and there is, of i
course, no sense in it.
Tlie dictionaries say "Go-tham
or Goth-am." The approve,* pro- I
nunciation of the Nottinghamshire i
village in England is Goth-am. but !
Go-tham is common in this coun
try, where New York City has been
sarcastically called by the namel
ever since Irving, in "Salmagundi,”
applied the term in honor of the
supposed stupidity of the Manhat
tanites. And vet the inhabitants
of the original Gotham were not
so stupid after all, for they only
played the fool in order to dis
courage King John from passing
through the place--thereby getting
out of the expense of entertaining
him. There is a tradition, probably
based on this thrifty performance,
that the Nottinghamshire village
was settled by Scots. Irving fixed the
name irremovably on Manhattan.
Gotham obtained its place in Eng
lish classics with Mother Goose's
beautiful quartrain:
Three wise men of Gotham
Went to sea in a bowl.
If their boat had been stronger
My song had been longer.
- ♦ •
Advised to Wait.
From Kansas City star
Among the modern works of art
to be put into the corner stone of
a new apartment hctel Ui New York.
is a copv of Eugene O'Neill's
‘Strange Interlude.” The contractor
should be told to wait until Mr.
O'Neill's new play is ready. "Strange
Interlude" Is only about a li\e-hour
pi-ay- the new one runs three nights,
and will hold down the corner stone
a lot more securely.
—- ♦ ♦ -*
SLUMP SAVES PA1K ALIMONY
Bridgeport, Conn. — 'UP* — Due
t<? business depression. Edward Law
rence and Antonio Lawrence told
the tudge, they were unable to keep
up alimony payments. The court
took cognizance of the business
s ump and reduced their schedule
of payments one-lialf.
WHITE HELMETS
TO AID POLICE
Plan Makes Them More
Conspicuous for
Autoists
„*aris—(UP)—Traffic cops in Par
j, will soon take on the appearance
of policemen from tropical coun
tries; they are going to have white
helmets.
It is not with the idea of pro
tecting them from the sun’s hot
rays, because they will wear their
tropical hats rains or shine, summer
or winter. It is the latest Idea of
Prefect of Police M. Jean Chiappe,
to make traffic controllers more
conspicuous in the rush of autos.
A few months a";o the traffic
section of the metropolitan police
tried out a new kind of hat for the
traffic cops. This hat resembled
the familiar one worn by the
agents, only it had a white wate~
proof band around the top, specially
designed to catch the eye of the
auto driver.
Hat Tests
The hat tests were a success so
long as the weather remained fine,
but as soon as it rained the police
man at the cross-road found the
rain trickled from his hat down his
neck and to keep himself dry he
had to put the hood of his cloak
over his head, which hid the white
band.
The white helmet will be so de
signed as to protect the nock from
the rain-drops and in this way all
is expected to go well with the dif
ficult task of regulating the traf
fic.
Another novelty wnicn intrigues
Parisians at the present time is the I
system of ‘ nailed passages,” which
the French call the safety lanes
across the streets. The lines are
marked by means of large steel
nails. In Introducing these safety
lanes, the police announced that
any driver who knocked down a
pedestrian in a safety zone would
be shown no mercy.
Cop Baiting
This led to a kind of game of
baiting of auto drivers by Parisians,
They walk across the nailed pas
sages with great deliberation,
smiling knowingly to the driver
who Is forced to put on the brakes
to save hitting the pedestrian.
But now it Is the taxi-driver’s
turn to smille. The municipal
budget revealed that it costs the
citizens 30 cents for every nail and
there are an average of 40 nails
in every passage and there are
thousands of passages. What is
more, the money will have to be
paid twice, because it has been
found that the round type of nails
now used are easily ripped up by
traffic and it will be necessary to
replace them with an entirely dif
ferent type.
Social Life in Pen
Appeals to Violators
Buffalo, N. Y.—(UP)—Erie coun
ty has a decidedly popular peniten
tiary. Judges are constantly being
embarrassed by prisoners demand
ing longer sentences and explaining
that ‘‘I stole the ladder in order to
be sent to the Erie county peniten
tiary,” or "Your Honor, the only
way I could get into the ‘pen’ was
to break that window.”
The penitentiary is located at
[Wende, 18 miles west of Buffalo.
One reason for its popularity is
that when not working, the inmates
are free to visit about in the cell
blocks, or rest in their grey-blue
ceils. The days are not entirely
play, however, for park benches,
ballot boxes, caskets, and clothing
for use in county institutions are
made here entirely by the inmates.
Complete idleness is a penalty for
misbehavior.
The entire institution 1s kept
scrupulously clean.
-♦♦..—
One Out of Twelve
Graduates Presidents
Liberty, Mo.—(UP)—A survey of
122 graduates of William Jewell col
lege here showed that one out of 12
became college presidents.
The 10 William Jewell graduates
who have headed educational insti
tutions are:
David J. Evans, former president
of his alma mater and now profes
sor at Rochester-Colgate Divinity
school, Rochester, N. Y.; Francis J.
White, former president of Shang
hai college, Shanghai, China; Asa
Q. Bums, Dodd college,Shreveport,
La.; W. C. Boone. Oklahoma Baptist
university, Shawnee; Thomas Bibb,
Albany college, Albany, Ore.; J. A.
Cooper, Sioux Falls college, Sioux
Falls, S. D.; V. C. Coulter, former
president of Sioux Falls college;
John F. Herget Ouachita college,
Arkdelphia, Ark.; C. B. Miller, for
mer president of Hardin college,
Mexico, Mo.; and John W. Million,
former president of Hardin college
and of Des Moines university.
—■ ■■■ ■'■■■ ♦ ». .—
Enough Proof.
From Answers.
‘There are no two people who
think alike.”
• Oh, yes there are.”
‘‘You'll have to show me.”
‘‘Then whv did Jane and I get
ten sets of teaspoons for wedding
^ presents?
Byrd Pole Hag Will Be
Taken to French Exhibit
Washington — ” * —The Amer- ,
lean flag which Rear Admiral
Richard E. Byrd carried over both
the north and south poles will be
taken abroad this year, according
to the Fiench embassy here.
It will be on display throughout
the year at the International, Co- i
lonial and Overseas exposition at
Paris, according to cable advices re
ceived by the embassy from Hubert
Lyautey, high commissioner of the
exposition. I
W
HAD SEVERE COUGH
EVERY WINTER
Cedar Falls,
Iowa—“The flu
left me with weak
bronchial s and at
the least provo
cation I would
catch a cold and
it would settle in
my bronchials,
setting up an ir
ritation, followed
■
every winter. I would have to give up
my work for a time. Hut since I have
taken Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical
Discovery I have not had any of these
spells. It has so built me up in health
that I go all through the winter with
out having colds or coughs.”-—A. Wag
ner, 515 Lincoln St. Druggists.
Every package contain* a symptom Mank.
Fill It in and mall it to Dr. Pierce** Clinic,
Buffalo, N. Y.* for free medical
Farmer** Ailment*
American farmers are found to
have fewer defects of eyesight and
hearing than workers In other occu
pations, but they are more inclined
to neglect dental defects.
Politeness Pay,
“To smile and bow low,” said Ht
Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “make
an ensy task that sometimes proves
surprisingly remunerative.” — Wash
ington Star.
7/1^
* WW r let constipation
0 poison your system.
August Flower corrects
constipation—even stub
born cases—almost like
magic! Sweetens stom
ach. stirs liver, aids di
gestion. GUARANTEED
CA11 Druggists.
ONSTIPATION
Soon in Same Class
The covetous man never lias money.
And the prodigal will have nono
shortly.—Jonson.
If peach buds liad some of the fur
that the peaches wear later, they
might keep from being nipped by tha
frost.
Preference
‘‘Does your wife like humor?”
“Well, not so much as she likes be
ing humored.”
Are You “Hitting
On AlLSix?”
Liver—Stomach—Bowels—Nerves
Heart—Are They All 100%?
Folks, the human body is just like a
good car, everything must be in work
ing order if you want real performance.
You can’t expect to feel 100%ifyour
liver and stomach are out of order,
nerves jumpy or bowels tied up. You
weak, despondent people who have
been trying to get back the vim and
endurance of earlier years will be de
lighted tosee howquicklystrength.and
energy return thru the use of Tanlac.
Go to your druggist now and get a
bottle of Tanlac. Tanlac has helped
millions so there is no reason why you,
too, can’t begin today to revitalizeyour
entire system. Money back guarantee.
Exchange
Carl—“Here’s some candy. Sweets
for the sweet.” Helen—“Thank you.
Here are some nuts.”
Nature and Argument
All argument will vanish hefor*
one touch of nature.—Column
I
To Housewives
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and we will mail you
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and tell you how you can get, ALSO
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’ Ml Liquid Vsneer Bid*.. Buffalo. N.Y.
The sensible man never complains.
If he breaks Ills leg he is always
thankful that It isn’t his neck.
After giving us a lift, the elevator
is ready to run us down.
WOMEN SHOULD'
LEARN USES
OFJVIAGNESIA
To women who suffer from nausea,
Hr so-called “morning sickness,” this
Is a blessing. Most nurses know it.
It is advised by leading specialists:
Over a small quantity of finely
cracked Ice pour a teaspoonful of
Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia. Sip slow
ly until you are relieved. It ends
sick stomach or inclination to vomit
Its anti-aeid properties make Phil
lips’ Milk of Magnesia quick relief
in heartburn, sour stomach, gas. Its
mild laxative action assures regular
bowel movement. Used as a mouth
wash It helps prevent tooth decajj
during expectancy.
Z-- : —"=- ^
Sioux City Ptg. Co., No. 19-1931.
1
