<h2 id="c12"><span class="h2line1">CHAPTER XII</span> <br/><span class="h2line2"><i>BRIDGE OUT!</i></span></h2>
<p>Flash was prepared for a curt refusal. Surprisingly,
Doyle considered a moment, and then began
to unload equipment. He said nothing, but his
smoldering eyes made it clear he intended to make a
full report to Mr. Clewes.</p>
<p>With camera set up and focused on the bridge,
Flash nervously waited. The only thing which would
justify his high-handed action would be success. If
the bridge failed to go out, Doyle would score heavily
in the final reckoning.</p>
<p>The water rose higher and higher, slapping against
the piling with a powerful surge. Yet the bridge held.
Minutes elapsed and Flash became increasingly uneasy.
Surely, he thought, the structure could not
withstand such punishment for long.</p>
<p>Doyle looked at his watch with a disgusted expression.</p>
<p>“We’ve wasted another half hour—” he began.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</div>
<p>From far down the road came the roar of a fast
traveling automobile. Flash and Doyle both turned
to stare.</p>
<p>A car raced toward the bridge at seventy miles an
hour. It struck a dip in the road where water flowed,
and the tires sent up a great muddy sheet. With undiminished
speed, the automobile sped on.</p>
<p>At the bridge, guards leaped into action, shouting
and waving their red flags to draw attention to the
barrier.</p>
<p>The driver could not fail to see that the bridge entrance
was blocked. Still the car roared on. Flash
suddenly comprehended the reason. The man was
being pursued by a state highway police car. If he
halted for the bridge, it meant capture!</p>
<p>“There’s our picture, Doyle!” he shouted. “Get
ready!”</p>
<p>The car struck the barrier with a resounding crash.
Boards splintered like so much match wood, but
scarcely slowed down the daring driver. Bridge girders
rattled and planks pounded as the automobile
plunged on.</p>
<p>Nothing happened for a moment. And then a cry
of horror arose from the crowd of spectators.</p>
<p>“It’s going out!”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</div>
<p>One side of the bridge wrenched free from the piling
and swung around in the swift current. There it held
an instant and then slowly toppled sideways into the
boiling flood. As the car slid with it, the driver
pushed open the door and leaped into the river. His
dark head remained above the surface for a minute,
then disappeared.</p>
<p>Horrified at the disaster, Flash nevertheless pivoted
his camera to photograph the entire scene—the crumbling
of the bridge, the driver’s wild leap, even the arrival
of the state police car which raced to the end of
the road and stopped with a jolting lurch.</p>
<p>Attracted by a startled outcry from the excited
spectators, his gaze was drawn far down river. He
caught a fleeting glimpse of the struggling man before
the unfortunate fellow was pulled under again by the
racing current.</p>
<p>The distance was too great for an effective shot,
but Flash was not thinking of pictures. Leaving his
camera behind, he plunged into a deep ditch at the
roadside. Wading across, muddy water oozing about
his armpits, he ran on through a soggy field to a bend
in the river.</p>
<p>Once more he glimpsed the struggling man who was
fighting gamely for life against overpowering odds.</p>
<p>With no thought for his own safety, Flash kicked
off his shoes and dived into the river. Exerting all of
his strength, he fought to keep from being carried
downstream.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</div>
<p>He had judged the current accurately, for the man
was brought directly toward him. Reaching out, he
barely grasped him by the coat. There was a brief
struggle and they both disappeared beneath the surface.</p>
<p>After an exhausting effort they regained the surface,
and drifted with the current, using what strength
remained to keep their heads above water. Even
with lungs bursting, Flash managed to hold tightly to
the man. Whenever he could, he gulped in air, but
breath and strength were ebbing.</p>
<p>Suddenly he felt himself dashed against a solid object.
The current had brought a long, heavy plank
downstream. He pulled himself and his companion
onto it, and they clung with head and shoulders well
above water.</p>
<p>For a minute the river carried them swiftly. Then
their ride ended abruptly, as the plank caught against
a half-submerged fallen tree which was festooned with
a motley collection of debris and foam.</p>
<p>There the plank lodged fast. They were able to
secure fairly firm holds on the projecting arms of the
tree, but the current whipped their legs beneath them
and threatened to sweep them on.</p>
<p>Grimly they clung to their precarious refuge. The
man Flash had aided aroused himself after a dazed
moment, and looked about in panic.</p>
<p>“Easy now,” warned Flash.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</div>
<p>Instead of thanking the cameraman for saving his
life, he began to revile him.</p>
<p>“If you had kept out of this I would have made a
clean get-away! Now the dicks probably are on my
tail!”</p>
<p>The man’s words proved prophetic for the state
police had followed down river and were at a point
opposite where the pair clung.</p>
<p>A rope sailed accurately through the air, settling
across the tree. Reaching to his full length, Flash was
able to grasp it. As he started to knot it about his
companion’s body, the man struck wildly at him.</p>
<p>“They won’t get me!” he shouted hoarsely. “I’ll
drown first!”</p>
<p>His hold loosened, but Flash acted quickly. He
seized the man’s coat collar with his left hand, maintaining
his own grasp on the tree limb. The swift current
whipped his legs from beneath him.</p>
<p>But help was at hand. A state patrolman who was
a strong swimmer, reached the sunken tree. He tied
the rope about the struggling man and signaled for a
fast haul-in to shore. Flash followed with the officer.</p>
<p>“Good work,” a trooper praised him. “You took a
big chance, young man, both with the river and your
pal here. Know who he is?”</p>
<p>Flash shook his head. He was searching for his discarded
shoes.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</div>
<p>“Andy Clevenger.”</p>
<p>“Not the bank robber?”</p>
<p>“The same. He was recognized at a quarantine
stop, but got away. We’ve chased him twenty miles.”</p>
<p>Flash began wringing water from his ruined suit.
He was plastered with mud from head to foot.</p>
<p>“There’s a reward out for Clevenger’s capture,” the
state policeman went on. “You may get some of the
money. Give me your name and address. I think I
can guarantee you a new suit at least.”</p>
<p>“I can use it. And I’d like permission to take some
pictures before you pack this fellow off to jail.”</p>
<p>“Go right ahead.”</p>
<p>Handcuffed, the prisoner was led back to the patrol
car where Flash shot close-ups and obtained complete
information about his past record.</p>
<p>Doyle, somewhat stunned by the events which had
transpired, had little to say.</p>
<p>“Are you sorry we waited?” Flash asked him.
“These pictures should stack up any day with a polo
match.”</p>
<p>“You’re a fool for luck, just as Joe said,” Doyle
muttered. “I suppose you knew just what would happen?”</p>
<p>“I only hoped for a good bridge picture. But when
Lady Luck showers down I believe in spreading a wide
net.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</div>
<p>Flash was shivering from cold. Wrapping himself
in his overcoat, he allowed Doyle to do most of the
loading work.</p>
<p>Back in town once more, he sought a clothing store
and quickly purchased a new suit. While it was
cheaply tailored, he thought it would serve until he
reached Excelsior City.</p>
<p>“You look like a country rube in that outfit,” Doyle
jeered as his companion climbed back into the sound
truck.</p>
<p>“Can’t help it,” Flash replied, undisturbed. “It’s
warm and clean, at least.”</p>
<p>The cameramen followed Highway 23, avoiding the
river. At the first city of any size which boasted an
airport, they paused long enough to ship their cans of
film to the home office. Then they drove on at break-neck
speed for Excelsior City.</p>
<p>Doyle squinted at a clock in a store window as they
went through a town.</p>
<p>“By skipping lunch we still might get there in time
for the last chukker of the game,” he announced.</p>
<p>“It won’t do any harm to try,” Flash agreed. “But
after the pictures we just took, polo will seem pretty
tame.”</p>
<p>“It’s our assignment,” Doyle said sharply. “Don’t
forget that.”</p>
<p>“I’ve not forgotten.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</div>
<p>Flash glanced sideways at his companion. He
could not believe that Doyle honestly thought they
had made a mistake in passing up a polo game for the
flood pictures. Obviously, the technician had a special
reason for wishing to reach Excelsior City.</p>
<p>“And that reason,” he reflected, “has nothing to do
with our work. If I’m any good at guessing, he’s bent
on wangling an invitation to Rascomb’s lodge!”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</div>
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