Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-04
use It, aren't you. you b'ssed. itty, woot-

sumstootsum." etc
When she tabbed her forehead in Seth.
5r.'s ticklish ribs and burrowed, the baby
emitted Joyous noises that might have been
taken for approval They sufficed the easy
conscience of Alice. and she hobbled about
on her knees harvesting the shekels. She
forced them Into Seths pocket, got his hat,
slammed II on his head. kissed him and
showed out of the door,
He went with bowed head to the derrick,
gave Tom money enough to pay for the
repairs. and little extra to buy cigars and
things.
When Tom returned with a new rotary
and resharpened bit, he ordered Seth off
the premises.
"You go way fom heah. Mista Radford,"
he commanded. You are daid beat You
need Sleep
Seth yielded. and went back to Alice He
could still hear the humble of the revolv-
ing drill when he fell asleep at midnight,
worn out with dependency. He slept like
dead man. for hours.
Suddenly he sat up aghast. Had a wild
cat leaped at his throat and screamed In
his very ear? He rubbed his eyes, and
looked about. The scream continued. 1t
was like the death-cry of thousand pan
theirs. The very physical impact of 1t was
Q terrific pain.
He leaped from his bed. Day was just
breaking, and in the rosy twilight of dawn
he could see Alice staring at him and hug
gins the baby to her breast. From her look
he could tell she was calling to him. From
the baby's distorted scarlet features he
could see that Seth, jr., was bowling with
all the horse power of his lungs. But not
sound could he hear except that fearful
Shrek.
He went close to Alice and yelled at her,
but she shook her head; she could not hear
a syllable. Her features were wrung with
the torture Of the noise. He motioned her
to cover her head with ,ne bed covers.
Then he slipped into a few clothes, and
hurried out. clasping his hands about his
ears as If to keep his skull from being split
with the clamor.
He saw his crew running away from his
We'll. The long steel cable had been sent
lying like Irvine string two joints OF
pipe had been hurled against a tree and
wrapped around it. The derrick was almost
hidden In white haze; a geyser of fine
sand was streaming upward and eating
away the lofty crown-block
Seth knew what 1t was. He found Tom
and they gesticula ted at each other; they
made faces, but no audible sound. Their
voices were vain as candles In the full sun
light. Each was trying to yell the same
thing.
She's gasser, blowing her head off,"
They We're soaked. drowned, obliterated in
sea of intolerable noise
A mile away at the railroad station the
passengers were equally made dumb by the
uproar II man wanted a ticket he had
70 write out the name of the station. An
engine rolled In with bell that rocked
without sound and a whistle emitting
pufIs of white steam that no one heard.
The animals Of the region were greatly
Seoioeo' mere was much breaking of
harness on the part of horses, and one or
Two galloped about under empty saddles.
their riders were doubtless stuck In the
mud somewhere, head first. "A few pigs,
wandering here and there had shifted at
the noise and returned to their luxurious
wallows in the oily muck
suddenly Tom clutched Setn and pointed
~ ne saw one OF the pigs struggle and pant,
tnen fall over. Others did the same. A
frightened hound came scurryng about for
It's master. stopped short, shivered. fought
Tor breath, dropped dead. Chickens flopped
on their backs as IL bowled over by I'm
heard shot ~ oi'
Seth thought of his family. A sluggish
river or fatal gas was flowing toward the
p;s III mouse. He covered his nose with
10 yen alarms or pound on doors-nothins
could be heard e
When he dashed into his own room, he
wrapping the pillow about her ears and
the baby's. She did not hear Seth enter
She could not understand his wild motions.
her. ~ wiz.
Tom had followed Seth into the house
ana now followed him out, dragging the
lanoiady and her daughter, each by an
ready to receive. and she was scratcbine
Tom with might and MAN. Sister lane
chleny regretted her curl papers; she was
whacking Tom with wire hairbrush
Sabines In the arms of the Romans: their
resistance was unavailing till Seth and
Tom had gained a safe distance to the
windward. There the women could look
back and see the chickens, the pigs and
the dogs lying asphyxiated by the inyisi-
pie death that flowed stealthily north, in
oreathed of 1t deeply. Here and there were
men smitten blind from few Limitations
OF the gas. They held their foreheads in
their hands and rocked with anguish
knowing that they must suffer for DAYS
before sight or comfort would return,
Inc ear-sawing noise continued and ef-
Tort at speech was resigned. But the an
pearance OF the women was eloquent to
the eye, and they were soon Invited to
When there were no more lives to save
Seth and Tom took counsel in such sign
language as they could improvse
The crew knew their business and hur-
ried to the nearest general store, where
they got wads of cotton which they packed
into their ears. Then they went blowing
through the greasy mud till they found a
patch OF blue clay. They dug their hands
into 1t and slapped 1t over their ears by
| the fistful. When they were masked, all
but the eyes, nose and mouth, they fol-
lowed Seth's lead, and keeping to the
Windward Of the deadly breeze made a
rush for the derrick.
The sand blast that ate away the collar
on the joints Of pipe and the case-hard-
ened rings Of the new rotary table. spared
the softer tissues of their faces and hands,
but the scream Of the giant gas whistle
slashed through their heads with the agony
Of countless knives.
Orders were given by selling a man and
pointing. The crew worked like mad.
sweating with the torment of the din.
Everything was bungled in the haste and