Fire in the Woods / Illustrated

by James De Mille

He did not know what. By this time his father was home, and he at once went to him and told him all about it. At this story Mr. Darner’s anxiety was equal to that of Bart. He himself had heard, in the course of the day, about the accident, but had never imagined that it so nearly affected him. The moment that he learned this from Bart, he at once went forth to make further inquiries, to see what could be done, and to commence a search in any possible way in which a search might be made.

He went first of all to the suspension bridge, and made inquiries of the toll-keeper. That functionary was able to tell him all that could be told. It amounted to very little. He had heard shouts on the bridge, over which two or three people were passing, and had gone out to see what was the matter. He had just got out in time to see two men—or two boys, he did not know which—swept by the current under the bridge. There was a boat also, bottom upwards. He and all the rest stood staring in horror without doing anything. To do anything was in fact impossible. The bridge was far above the water, precipices intervened, and the current was running so fast that the figures were swept away before they could fairly understand what had happened.

Were they alive, or dead?

This was the question which Bart asked in intense anxiety and dread.

The toll-keeper could not say, but his impression at the time was, that they were alive; he also had an idea that one of them was clinging to a bit of wood. But he would not be sure.

“Could he make out their clothes—what they were like?”

No; for only their heads were above water. They had no hats. They uttered no cry, and made no noise whatever, but he did not think that they were dead. Still they did not seem to be swimming, and the whole thing was a puzzle.

Unable to get any more satisfaction from the toll-keeper, Mr. Darner next went to the town, and made inquiries among the boatmen and fishermen. There was but one reply from all of them, and that was, that they had seen nothing. They informed him that there had been a thick fog in the harbor all day, and a boat might drift out to sea without being noticed. All of them thought it very unlikely that any men, after being upset in the Falls, could avoid drowning, although, at the same time, they were willing to allow that it was just possible. But if so, the only chance that they could have was to be picked up while in the harbor. If any men were to drift down the harbor, in the fog, without being observed, out into the bay, there did not seem any chance of their being saved.

Such was the opinion of those who knew most about it. Full of anxiety, and almost despair, Bart and his father then went elsewhere on their hopeless errand. They visited the tug-boat men, the ferry-boat men; they questioned many of the scow men and rafts-men; but though most of these men had heard about the accident, none of them had either seen or heard of any men, or of any boat, drifting down the harbor.

This took away from Bart and his father almost their last hope. Yet still they were not willing to give up their search, but continued until late into the night their now apparently hopeless task.