American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-11-13

of the magnitude of the enterprise thai
was ripening inside those burning walls
He knew that the furnace was full of val
liable metal, and that close beside him,
buried out of sight in the deep sand, was
the huge mold, so soon to be filled with
the precious cast. He knew and could
see that all the channels for the flow OF
the fiery liquid were ready, and that
near the mouth of the furnace stood the
long iron rod that was to be used when
the moment came to let ON the molten
stream.
All this his limited thoughts took in by
habit. Dimly conscious that something
was soon to be done, he sat with his eyes
on the furnace absorbed and intent.
Suddenly something startled him There
was a slight noise, and q burning crack
appeared near the top of the furnace.
Then another crack, and a scorching
his feet.
The lad opened his mouth to shrek,
but 80 terrified was he that the sound stuck
in his throat as if he had been in a fit of
nightmare.
Athin, red stream followed the fallen
brick, and trickled down the furnace side
like running lava. Then came another
alarming noise, and a thin gap half way
down the masonry let out more of the hiss
ing metal.
Where was George? Was the unfaithful
fellow still hunting for his piper The
furnace was bursting. with only a Door
half idiot lad to guard it.
What could he do? He did what per.
hans a lad in his right mind would NOT
have dared to do Flushing to the mouth
of the furnace. he se1zed the long iron rod
that stood near and tanned the vent One
desnerafe Thrust with sharp point nm the
terrible fnnnel-a few nuick nrvino
strokes Stand hack now The confinins
CLAW fell away, and the yellow-white flood
spurted out with resistless force. 1t leaped
into the clay-lined troughs, and Missed its
way. flaming. down to the mouth of the
The fool'' had done a deed worthy OF
a general on field of battle.
Was it too late? Every moment new
assures opened in the doomed furnace
Some of the upper stones toppled over
Still the metal poured ont into the
mold. But the waste was great from those
gaping flaws. The pressure was relieved
by the open vent. but the leaks multiplied
continually. 1t was art running a race
with ruin.
Poor " Mopus" stood powerless before
the coming catastrophe. His knees
knocked together and his head SWAN. A
fell at his feet. He had barely thought to
get out of the way and save his life. He
heard a wild shout of human voices in the
distance. then an awful roar behind him,
and he saw and felt himself pursued by
surpes of seething fire. Sharp. bIisterine
pains pierced his flesh at hundred points
The rest was all horrible, unintelligible
dream. 1t was as if he had suddenly sank
into the earth and had been swallowed up
forever.
By seven O'Clock comparative quiet
reigned again on the scene of disaster.
Ruins lay everywhere. The engines had
quenched the flames that had caught the
building, and the men, blackened with
smoke, stood in silent groups around the
remains OF the furnace. 1t had fallen to
steaming rubbish.
Poor Inventor" who had been found
with the tapping-rod in his hands, lying
on his face in the sand frightfully burned,
had been carried to his home.
Little was said, but the few words
spoken uttered with no mild emphasis the
natural wrath OF the master and hands
against the man George, whose excuses
for himself only exaggerated his ofense.
See what he's done" said they, few
days later, as they stood in the half burned
waste in a minutel The best job in twenty
years spoiled. The rascal, to 60 hunting
for his pipe and leave that suffering idiot
to watch! Is that all he can say for him
self! Out upon SUCH careiessness! why,
the boy didn't even know enough to bawl
out when he must have seen the furnace
tumbling to pieces"
The master, who had more at stake than
the men, of course felt the loss more
keenly than they. He almost wept with
mingled grief and rage. Suddenly some
thing peculiar caught his eve among the
debris. and he cried in a startled voice:
.Halloo, WHATS tbisp WHATS thisy,
He snatched mn a fragment of one of
the trouehs which mad led from the mold.
There were traces of the stresm IF bronze
still rnnn;nc in If Then the possible
meaning of fbe iron found in the Injured
bows hand flashed upon him.
bring me a shovel, quickp' he
shouted.
A spade was put into his hands, and he
began neryously to heave away the hot
mass that Law piled over the bell mold.
It was a hercuiean task, but he worked
like a giant, and three or four of his men
took hold and helped him.
Brickbats. ore Stag and ashes flew in
every direction. Presently the masters
spade penetrated the sand and touched
something hard. He stopped down.
Then he leaped I'D like one half frantic,
and plying his spade with redoubled en-
erey tore away the remaining sand. dis.
closing what looked like a great metallic
RING
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