Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-16

NE&EGhJI ..""ut anu CnfeW himself heart and soul
car. - H'' "'" nio'Vi'
ana success came TO Jordson at last az IL
cvlnes 70 most men with earnest purpose The
Wnoie OF one day and the whole Of one night he
sat az MS deal table and made calculations and
measured lines and drew plans to scale.
=, ana when the gray light Of morning came
Cnrougn g the window it showed white face still
Porlng over growing heap Of papers, white
naggard face with CLEAN of triumph in the rest
less less eyes. And on the paper the motor-car had
become an accomplished fact.
In less than three months from tbe dat. ,-h.r
the first castings had been thrown into the cresl
ea enc car was completed, and Jordison sold his
nIy-norse power Jacquart for nine hundred
pounds. -'"e iiunieN
on october 20 Jordison took the frst run on
ms new motor. 1t was blowing half a gale. pour
ny s wl'n ram, and the roads were deep in mud
ana Water' 1t was severe test for the new car
Dut she came through it splendidly and olouohed
Cnrougn tne storm like ship through a heavy
sea, Throwing up a shower of mud like snrav IN
eaSn SIDE Of her Jordison revelled in the ride.
TOT enree hours he sat with his hand on the
steerlng wheel and in that time they had travers-
ed Essex from north to south and east to west
lApp sat shivering and cursing by his side.
Lpp's face did not brighten until thew came
wlcnin sgnt OF the Red House. The ugly build
ing on the little hill had never appeared in SO
attractive light to him before. No mariner re-
""ihiiS lium u stormy voyage could have wal
coined the first glimpse of home with greater iov
and thankfuness ~
linen, as they rushed along the STRAIGHT road
the hill In front of them was suddenly hidden in
a nasn OF binding light. A few seconds later A
ioud report burst on their ears and the ground
trembled beneath them
lnstinctivey Jordison put on the brake. inst as
man SHUTS his eyes to protect them from dam
ger, not stopping to reason whether he will come
to harm or not 0'ni'
Inc great car slowed down. and neerinc
through the driving rain, the two occupants saw
heavy cloud of smoke pouring across the
marshes, and long tongues of fire leaping up from
| the hill - -i'A'
''The dynamite said Jordison. hastily
large supply of this dangerous material had been
stored near the engine-house. Jordison had pro.
| posed to blast out cave in the solid rock close
| TO the road, where he could keep his motor and
large store Of petrol
We pad enough OF your cursed motor" growled
Llpp Il only wish it had been in the shed and
Gawd bless the dynamite then, | saw. I'd ike
! to see it in smithereens"
| Jordlson smiled sweetly. Then he released tbe
brake, pulled the lever toward him and the car
glided forward
In less than five minutes the car came to a
| standstlll at the gate. The wind was from the
| southwest and the smoke was carried away from
them, but it hid the Red House from view.
| Jordison did not much whether any one
was killed or not, but he very thankful that
the car was finished, and that it had not been
blown to pieces in the explosion He had no de-
sire to plunge into the thick and awful smote
and investigate matters. He sounded the horn
on the car dozen times and waited for informal
ton.
In two minutes time Jenny appeared round the
bottom of the hill. He was black with ov soot
from head to foot. His right cheek was bleeding
and he limped
damage done?"
Curse you, and -motors,' the man
growled, echoing Lpp's sentiments almost TO the
very words in which they had been expressed
Arr bricks caught my leg, and a bit of
somethin' as grazed my cheek, and
II am not anxious about you. Jermv." Tor
Olson broke in abruptly; "what about the houseso
1t stands" Jenny replied. Tive not been in
it, and shant till the smokes gone The engine
house is now an ole in the ground, as far asI
| can see"
"Where's Susanson?"
'Iding in ditch, and calling down the wrath
of even on yer cad"
who's been foolng with the dynanite!" he
said, abruptly
| Better ask Susanson," the man replied. "He,s
been poking about in the shed all the morning.
| Toward dark the blazing spirit burnt itself out
The flames dwindled down to hickering sheets Of
blue, sweeping along the ground and spoutinr I'm
from the crevices where the petrol still Law hid
The dense volume of smoke died away into a
thick stream of vapor that the wind scattered as
soon as it formed.
Susanson emerged from his hiding-pIace and
came crawling up with request for food and wa
| ter.
He questioned to the explosion. bu,
nothing could be got out Of him. Both Linn and
Jenny kicked him, and Jordison did not infer
fere Then all four men made their way to the
Red House.
In the fading light they could see the ravavss
wrought by the explosion. The engine-house was
as Jenny had said mere hole in the ground
a pit of smoking debris. From it, as from the
centre of a star, ran great cracks and assures IN
the rock, some nearly two feet in width.
| The Red House itself still stood but there w..
not pane Of glass in the windows. and moi q
chimney left standing on its roofs. The walls
were scanned with narrow cracks, and the whole
building eant two or three degrees out Of tbe
perpendicular and the cellar had gaping hole in
the floor.
Jordson made careful inspection of the wall.
and came to the conclusion that there was no ;ro
mediate danger to the main structure of ~.
house, but there was hole through the crust
of the earth and underneath huge Dit
| But the next morning Jordison told Linn 10
get rope and couple of lanterns He was
determined TO investigate what Law beneath M
| cellar and find out for himself whether n would
be safe TO remain any longer in the Red House
Lpp made the rope fast to one of the bars of
the pantry window at the head of the stairs
and taking the heavy coils on his arm, moved eau.
tiously down to the cellar, and flung them into
the black gulf that yawned beneath them They
could hear the rope strike the bottom, and knew
that il was long enough for their purpose Then
Jordison placed rug beneath the rope and the
| iaooed edae of the broken haRstones and han.-