Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-06-22

only be sealed - al, ztarvei to death.
and in any such attempt what unknown
exits may he not have. He recalled
the mysterious magazine in the south
western wall of the rotunda with its
wooden doors and its sign Of danger.
Vas this a magazine? Might not that
impression have been created TO keep
secret an unknOvn exit until an emer.
gency occurred? lie had heard La
port speak Of the magazine. He would
talk 10 the old man about ir.
His imagination pictured n long
chasm leading to some unsupported
region of country with its exit hidden
in the mountains. He foresaw in
his fancy besieging army encamping
over n mine or fallen upon by a sudden
force that sprang up as if by magic in
its rear-and then disappeared, and he
began TO ask himself II this conspiracy
had not gathered into its ranks most
of the malign forces of civilization
which under the names of nihilism and
anarchy seek mainly to destroy.
Intolerable as these reflections were
to a man compelled to see the progress
of all this diabolism and prevented
from raising n warning cry or lifting
a finger, there were other considera-
tions that were even more poignant
Here was an innocent and intelligent
girl who, with her father. would be in
volved in the inevitable catastrophe
or thrown into the hands of Fenning
and Calicot had grown to have a pro-
found sympathy for her. Lieut.. Stock
ing, as he well knew, had with his inn
pulsive temperament developed still
stronger interest in her, and Stocking
by his very nature could not be de-
pended on 20 assist him
In turning over these perplexities in
his mind he was aware of an undis-
turbed conviction hiding away in his
nature, that the normal intelligence
and moral force ought in some way to
be able to circumvent all this mischief
But how?
Some kind of n vague scheme of es-
cape for Stocking and Miss Laport,
through what be conceived to be tbs
secret exit OF the magazine, shaped It.
self in his mind, and then he got hold
ct Laport one day after comforting
with the old mah's daughter. The
three were eating their breakfast to-
gether when Calicot approached the
Subject Of the magazine guardedly,
with the one purpose Of finding out, If
possible, what Laport knew about it.
To his astonishmenth he knew all about
it. He had surveyed it. 1t was an enor-
nous pocket in the southwest wall OF
the rotunda, it's mouth facing the
northeastern direction of the cave, and
IL had no other outlet. Calicot felt
his vague hopes all vanish as heard
this, but Laport went on talking un-
suspiciously. 1T is" said he, "a peril
GUS piece of business and i told Hen
bricks so at the start, but he never
could see it in that light He has an
enormous amount of powder, fixed am
munition and other explosives stored
there. There must be hundred thou
sand pounds. I believe he has some
kind Of notion that he might have to
blow his way out of the cave at some
time, but he never can do it at the
point of the magazine"
And why not?"
Because the rock is seventy-fve feet
thick at that point"
'And suppose the magazine should
explode?"
"In that case, every living soul in
the Laran on this side of the maga-
zine, would be killed"
Calicot was listening eagerly, but he
did not clearly understand, so the old
man glibly explained.
'If by any accident" he said, the
powder isexploded there the magazine
will simply go off like an enormous
stone cannon, whose mouth points to
the northeast passages. Can you not
see that the sudden conclusion and
compression Of the afr in the confined
spaces, reaching to the last wall of the
arena, will kill every thing by shock?
The whole force must expend itself in
what is really an enormous pneumatic
tube. Hendricks is a wonderful man
in dealing with events, but he makes
some singular mistakes in dealing with
physics"