Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1909-02-27

oldD VI llltldl.
Norma, as il the excitement of the
discovery had acted as a tonic, re-
leased herself from the supporting
arms, walked to the shining brass
structure, and leaned against it.
Brockton pulled off his cap and
scratched his head in a puzzled way,
and Jenkins removed the glasses from
his nose and began nervously polish
ing them. The other engineers gained
at each other, at the inventor and then
back to the hole wherein to all appear
ances was buried the thing on which
they had built all their hope. "Old
BIZ Roberts stood by it's edges. look
ing down and examining the broken
wires, picture of perplexity or de-
spair He came back and crowded
through their midst, examining a con-
nection and tracing out one of the
strands, and then stood in listless at
titude, his brows drawn into a frown.
and his arms hanging loose and pendu.
lous from his shoulders. The time
stretched into minutes, and Jenkins
and Norma began discussion, to
which the others listened, striving to
understand the phraseology of cleo
trical science, of which many Of them
had little more than the layman's
knowledge. Suddenly a sharp cry
came from the inventor.
They looked to the other side OF the
room, whittier he had retreated, and
beheld him jumping up and down like
a mailman. His fists were clenched
and thrust into the air, where they
opened clawlike and waved a tremolo
OF excitement. 1--WE got it," he
steamed. I've solved it,"
They drew back from him, fearing
that failure had loosened his brain;
but he rushed through the group, cX-
citedly calling for men to repair the
break. The admiral, unused to his
periods of enthusiasm, stared at him
blankly his lower jaw unconsciously
dropping until his mouth yawned in
cavernous suspense. In his mind
nothing but insanity could account for
this Outburst.
Norma. on the other hand, laid
restraining hand on his arm and said:
Father, what's the matter? What
is it,"
We've been working in the dark"
he answered vehemently, and then
with the jubilation of boy but in a
calmer tone continued: "By an ac.
cident We have discovered powers in
our combination OF electricity and
metallurgy that We have not dreamed
of, and which. if we can control them,
make the resistant armor we came
down here to manufacture as useless
as wooden hull"
The admiral suddenly dropped his
bulk to stool. Good Cod" he
gasped, ARE you mad?"
Norma. like one from whose eyes a
hcodwink has been suddenly removed,
and appearing almost to have read her
fathers mind, put her hand out to his
shoulder and looked at him searching
~. \ slow grin of great eXultation
swept over the lean old face into
which she peered, drove the wrinkles
into the corners of the eyes, and a
mass of radiating burrows round the
mouth.
You've guessed it," he said, and
then turned to the admiral. "Brockton
you don't know what that hole meant;
but in an hour from now I'm going to
show you. That is, Norma, my as.
sistant, and | will"
Then in sudden frenzy for work
he asked them all to leave until he
sent for them. and they, wondering
and specializing on his next endeavor,
obeyed. Only the workmen, who had
descended into tho cavity and we're
preparing to hoist the plate and mold,
and the admiral, by special invitation,
remained. The clang Of hammers re-
sounded holloway through the room
as the timbers beneath the floor were
shored up by the carpenters; then
came the setting Of another and lar
ger tank than the one which had been
so Unexpectedly driven into the earth.
The smaller plates which had been in.
tended only for experimental purposes
were exhausted, and therefore they
had nothing on which to operate save
two immense castings weighing many
tons. Wide sliding doors rolled back,
and workmen from the foundry, with
straining muscles and clinging toes,
slowly pushed in low-wheeled cars on
which rested the huge pieces of metal
A steel crane projected its ungainly
arm, reached slowly down, and in a
Titanic grasp picked up one piece,
moved it into position over the new
bed, and deposited it in great basin
whose material indicated that it would
be able to withstand any heat.
The admiral in boyish exuberance
would have thrown wide the door: but
the inventor, remembering the other
contretemps, forbade. The latter
busted himself for few minutes in
his storehouse, and returned with
sheet of peculiar insulation which was
of his own invention, almost inde-
structible by heat, and a resistant to
any form of radioactivity, which he
placed with great care on top Of the
huge plate. The second plate was