Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-29

tiers should disappear beyond the hope Of
rediScOvery.
He did his best. flying down the long
tunnel reaches with little regard for the
precarious footing. tripping over the cross
ties of the miniature tranway. and col
iding with the walls. now and then, be-
tween the widely separated electric bulbs.
Far below In the deeper levels he could
hear the drumming chatter of the power
drills and the purring Of the compressed
air. but the upper gangWay was deserted
and 1t was not until he was stumbling
through the timbered portal that a watch
front and halt him. There was 20 time
to spare for soft words skillful eva
SONS. With a savage upper-cut that
caught the Waterman on the point of the
jaw and sent him crashing among the
picks and shovels of the mine-TnOuth tool
room. Judson darted out into the moon
light. But yet the fierce race was
only fairly begun. Without stopping to
look for a path, the ex-engineer flung
himself at the steep hillside running,
falling. clambering on hands and knees,
bursting by main strength through the
tangled thickets of young pines, and hurl-
ing himself blindly over loose-ying bowl
ders and the trunks OF fallen trees.
When, after what seemed like an eternity
of lung-bursting struggles. he came out
upon the bare summit of the ridge. MS
tongue was like a dry stick in his mouth,
refusing to shape the curses that his soul
was HSdplDS upon the aIcOnoi WHICH tldu
made him a wind-broken, gasping weak
ling in the prime of his manhood.
For. after all the agoniZing strivingS. he
was too late. 1t was a rough quarter
mile down to the shadowy group OF
buildings, Whence the lrumming of the
dynamo and the quick exhausts of the
high-speeded steam engine rose on the
still night air Judson knew that the
last lap was not in his trembling muscles.
OF In the humping heart and the wind
lungs Mnranvar a ~
there were. was either to the right or the
left OF the point TO which he had at
tanned; fronting him there was a steep
cliff. trfing enough as to real heights
and depths, but an all-sufficient barrier
for spent runner.
The ex-eng1neer crawled cautiously TO
the edge of the barrier cliff, rubbed the
sweat out Of his smarting eyes. and peer
ed down into the half-lighted shadows of
the stockaded Enclosure. 1t was not Very
long before he made them Out-two in
d stinct figures moving about among the
disused and diiapidated ore sheds clus-
tering at the track end Of the old spur.
Now and again a light glOwed for an in
slant and died out, like the momentarv
brilliance OF gigantic FREELY. by which
the watcher on the cliffs summit knew
that the two were guiding their move
ments by the help of an electric fash
lamp.
What they were doing did not long re-
main a mystery. Judson heard a dis
lance diminished sound. like the grinding
of rusty wheels upon iron rails. and pres
emily a shadowy thing glided out of one
of the ore sheds and took its place upon
the track of the old spur Followed a
series OF clankings still more familiar TO
the watcher-the ting of metal upon
metal, as of crowbars and other tools
cast carelessly, one upon the other. m
the loading OF the shadowy vehicle. Max
ing a telescope of his hands to shut out
the glare from the lighted windows of the
the two figures mounting to their places
on the deck OF the thing which he now