The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-01-11

1t was peculiar air gauge, a Scottish
Invention, and Blatchford had not seen
one of the kind since he had helped
build the great bridge at Chepultepec,
In Mexico. Then he was a subordin-
ate assistant; now, at eighty-and-
twenty, he was engineer of the Mar
bury Tunnel, under the river of that
name, just outside the important
manufacturing town Of Belchester.
Blatchford's rccollections of tropical
Chepultepec, although doubtless excit-
ing, were, however, suddenly interrupt
ed by the advent of a young girl,
whose.footsteps he had not heard, and
who now stood timidly before him.
The young engineer was on his feet
in an instant. He had very gallant
bearing with women-irrespective of
class-but he was particularly atten-
tive if they happened to be pretty wO-
men.
"Did you wish to see me?" he asked,
smiling.
"Oh, no, sirw faltered the girl; 81
thought-that isl came with mes
sage to"
"One of the men, perhaps"
"Yes."
"You have brother working down
In the air chamber"
The girl blushed. Not brother-a
friend"
"Ah! Well, the men will be up short
iy for dinner. You had better wait.
You see, we are rather short-kanded
at present, and l am obliged to tend
the gauge myself. Sit here and wait"
She seated herself, looking very
pretty, Blatchford thought, with her
neat, simple attire and thick aubNrn
tresses; and the very first thing that
caught her eye was the clock-faced OBJ
ject which Blatchford had called the
''gauge." He saw her glance riveted
upon it, and good-naturedly undertook
to explain that it registered the
amount and pressure of air in the
working chamber far beneath the
river, where, at that moment, seven
stalwart men toiled at the tunnel.
SIS it very dangerous?" she asked.
"What-the work? Well, that de-
pends. You see, air seems innocent
enough, but it is power not to be
trified with. Every man down at the
bottom of this shaft is working at a
pressure of thirty-five pounds to every
square inch of him. 1t is almost like
haino huppad hv q baor NVhan 7 rroSc
this lever-this way-more air is forced
down." He touched one of the levers
Just below the gauge and pointed to
the needle. "There, you see, it is now
thirtysix, thirty-seven, thirty-eight,
thirty pounds to the suuare inch;
and by mere touch OF my finger it
could be forced higher-even up to
sixty-fve. This is almost strong
enough to crush a man."
"How wonderful that mere air
should be so strong" exclaimed the
girl. But what is the use of it--this
air?"
use? Why, we harness it and make
It work. 1t helps US dig our tunnel
under the river, by forcing out the
water and mud. Then, besides, it is
for the workmen to breathe. But,
hello! why are you so pale?"
Kate Maxwell smiled nervously, dis
playing twin rows of perfect teeth.
"Oh, nothing. Only l was thinking
1t must be very terrible to work down
there. Suppose something was to go
wrong with the air-pipes, and they
were to get too much or too little air?"
Blatchford, who, young as he was,
was familiar with death and danger,
shrugged his shoulders.
"We must take risks in every trade.
If the men got too little air, the river
or part of it-would pour in and drown
them; if they got too much and there
was no way for it to escape, it would
crush them. But, after all, it is little
likely that either of these terrible
things could happen, because, you see,
1t is so carefully regulated and the
gauge is so accurate and reliable.
Anyone of intelligence could keep the
supply at thirty-fve pounds, which is
MS much as man ought to stand"
He pulled out his watch and looked
at the time.
Hello" he calculated, in surprise,
'the men are late in coming up to-
day"
The girl shuddered at his words and
cast an ominous glance at the great
iron door Which barred the entrance
to the air lock and led to the working
chamber, as it was called, under the
river.
"Robertw formed itselt involuntar-
lily on her lips.
Although none knew it, Kate Max
wells unaccountable misgivings were
not without justification. Even as the
pair had been talking, seventy feet be-
low where they stood, terrible scene
was being enacted. 1t had been n
struggle for life in the darkness and
oppressed atmosphere of the subter-
ranean air chamber, and her lover,
Robert Leslie, was one of the actors.
"A feud had for some time existed be-
tween young Leslie and another of
the pressure-workers, Edward Dart,
and this feud, of which Kate Maxwell