Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1904-08-23
the summit by particles from the
sides sliding into the cavity.

sides sliding into the cavity.
If one has ever watched in an
hour-glass some grain larger than
the others hang for a time on the
edge of the vortex until the sup
porting grains fall away from I'M
der it and it rolls down the slope
to disappear in the central quick
sand, one will understand the peril
that threatened Braithwait. Once
let him be dragged within the in
fuence of the suction, and moth
ing could save him from being
buried alive in the smothering
grain.
The student never thought
harder or faster than he did dur
ing the next few seconds. All
was quiet in the bin save for the
soft sliding of the myriad kernels
toward the invisible depression in
the center. He realized clearly
the only course which held out the
least hope of safety. Throwing
off his Overcoat he tossed it aside
in the blackness. Then with
hands and feet he began to scoop
the grain away from his corner
and push it toward the center.
The cavity thus made gave him
a brief respite, until the sinking
of its wall set him to digging des-
ately again.
Thus he fought and struggled
in the blackness, until utter ia
tigue oyercame him. His muscles
ached almost to numbness. His
breath came short. He was
drenched with perspiratiOn. But
there was no cessation in the
movement of the grain. Slowly it
gained upon him as he made his
losing fight. The horror of the
death that impended goaded him
to extreme efforts, but his dimin-
ished strength could not cope with
the steady sinking of the wheat
Oh. if they would only close the
spout below!
The catastrophe, long averted,
came at last. The edge crumbled
beneath his feet; he slipped, stag
gered. fell. Down the steep slope
he rolled, madly trying to check
his progress by thrusting his arms
and legs into the yielding mass;
but to no avail. His hands grasped
only the sliding kernels.
In a moment he was above the
central vortex. Wild with terror,
he put forth the most desperate
efforts to climb the sides of the
pit. Again and again he seemed
to be in a fair way to regain the
top; but each time, after he had
crept up a little distance, the grain
would slip beneath him, carrying
him back to the bottom. The mo-
ment came at last when he could
not free his ankles from the clutch
of the gulf. Down he sank in the
quagmire. observation-disclosures!
A resistless power beneath
seemed to be grasping his feet in
clutch thatneither increased nor
loOsened. There was something
terrible about its sameness.
Now the grain reached his
knees, now it was halfway up his
thighs, now he was buried to the
waist. Higher and higher it crept,
until it was close under his arm
pits. In a very short time it would
be over his head, and he would die
horribly under the choking kerr
nels.
I But help came to Braithwait
just as all hope was leaving him.
4 Heavy steps shuified along the
( floor overhead. The sinking man
realized that it was his last Oppor-
tunity, and cry after cry burst
from his lips.
/ His shouts were heard. The
steps halted for a moment, then
the cover above was flung sudden
ly back, admitting the first light
that had reached the prisoners
eyes since he had fallen through
the opening and the trap had
changed shut. A red face, with
bristling dusty-white mustache,
peered into the blackness of the
bin.
The wheat was sliding over
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