Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-01-02
below theDanl

In the boiler-house, pumping the pit
clear for the morrow's work. A
thirty-hour Southwestern was dying
out In the rather unreasonable novel.
ty, spring thunderstorm with album
dant sheet lightning.
Wetherbee strewei a fresh shovel-
mi OF coal over the glowing Are
& bed.
Look down at the next fash,
Bent" said he, and see If we're
gaining on the water"
Foster leaned out through the lit
tie window by the hoistre. The hum
dred-foot chasm right below him was
suddenly filled with dazzling white
light, showing the tracks still food
ed and the walls gushing with num-
erous streams. A suspiciously large
torrent directly opposite drew his
quick glance up beyond the summit
OF the cliff to a low bank of earth.
The blaze vanished with tremen.
dOus thunder-crash that almost drown
ed his cry of alarm:
US running over the dam!''
The engineer was quickly at his
side, peering into the gloom.
Can't bel" he exclaimed. Just
before dark the ice was solid, and six
inches below the top
But the next flash convinced him
You're right, Bent!' he shouted.
That means troubled"
Shall Irun after Tom Sparrow and
his brother?" inquired Foster.
We haven't second to waste.
The two OF us can do more than a
dozen could in fifteen minutes"
Hastily donning caps and rubber
coats. they each seized a coalshovel
and We frbee hung the lighted lam
tern on Is left arm. AS they hur-
ried toward the door, he jerked down
the white-cord and looped it over a
nail, Overhead pealed out the seam
blast, shrill and insistent.
That may call somebody, II the
storm isn't too loud" said he.
Buffeteds by the southwest gale,
they lrted ,tAesedge Of the pit at %
cautious dog-trot through the wet,
slippery grass. Now the lightning
revealed their path with painful dis.
tinctness; now only the dancing rays
from their lantern penetrated the
gloom.
Mind your footing!" exclaimed
the engineer, as they drew closer to
the brink. i,s
The cause Of this hurried expedition
was an eight-foot dam across an old
ssunken road through the top-rock be-
tween the Hammond quarry and the
adjoining Sales quarry, now aban-
doned and full of water. This road con.
structed some twenty years before,
when the rock was hauled out by teams
/ and both plants were operated on
the same level, had fallen into dis
use as the excavations grew deeper
and steam-hoisting was introduced.
The abandonment of the Sales quarry
and Its gradual flooding had made a
dam necessary the previous summer.
= As twas expected that work would
soon be resumed and the pit pumped
Z out, the owners of the Hammond
quarry erected only temporary dirt
wall, which was increased In height
with the rise OF the water.
Should 1t yield a body Of water
eight feet deep and covering three
or four acres would rush and food
the deeper but smaller pit.
As Wetherbee looked down from
the bank above the road, he gave a
cry Of dismay. A second later Eos.
ter stood beside him, gazing at the
dam. There was good reason for
alarm.
The rotten ice in the Sales quarry
had Abroken up. The strong wind,
raking 1t from end to end and blow
ing directly down the road, had kick
ed up a chop that was splashing
over the dam and washing away its
rain-softened top. Half a dozen rap
Idly increasing streams were gully
ing out the soft slope. No time
was to be lost.
Setting the lantern on the edge Of
the grass, the engineer sprang down,
shovel in hand, followed. by his assist
ant. They began to dig clay from
the banks on his side, and to throw 1t
on the face of the dam. which was
thirty feet long and about the same
distance from the brink of the quar-
sry. 1t was hard work. The surface
was little better than porridge, and
the frost still fingered underneath;
and almost every shovelful had to
be carried from ten to twenty feet.
While they were trying to stop one
streamlet with soft mud, the others
were growing larger.
n Both were soon drenched with rain.
The wind had snatched off the engi-
neer's cap, and he worked barehead-
ed, the bald spot on his crown show
ing white in the lantern-flare. AS he
noticed that the mud was washed
away almost as fast as it was
brought, a happy thought struck him.
Don't throw it on shovel by show
81, Bent, said he. Lets get a lot
together, and pile it all at once. That's
the best way to stop the water
The largest stream was soon check
ed by this means, and the shovelers
then turned their attention to the next
in size. In few minutes another
mound of clay had been amassed.
We've got it!'' painted Wetherbee.
At that very instant the gale snuffed
out the lantern.
There was nothing forit but to work
on In the darkness with what chance