Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-07-11


WIlHlIIUT
without sound. and before its upward
belching had ceased tongue of flame
spurted out Of its crest, and after that,
perhaps two seconds later. came the
explosion. There was a rumbling and
jarr!ng, as If the earth were con-
vulsed under foot. Volumes Of dense
black smoke shot upward. shutting the
mountain In an impenetrable pail Of
gloom. and in an instant these rolling.
twisting volumes of black smoke be-
came lurid. and an explosion like that
Of thousand great guns rent the air
AS fast as the eye could follow sheets
Of flame shot out Of the sea Of smoke.
climbing higher and higher in light
ming flashes until the lurid tongues
licked the air quarter of mile above
the startled wilderness. Explosion fol-
lowed explosion. some Of them coming
In hollow. reverberating booms, others
sounding as If in midair The heav-
ems were filed with hurtling rocks:
solid masses Of granite ten feet square
were thrown q hundred feet away:
rocks weighing ton were hurled still
farther. as II they were no more than
stones flung by the hand Of giant:
chunks that would have crashed from
the roof to the basement Of a sky
scraper dropped third and nearly
half mile away. For three minutes
the frightful convulsions continued.
Then the lurid lights died out Of the
pail of smoke. and the pail itself be-
gan to settle. Rowland felt grip on
his arm. Dumbly he turned and look
ed into the white, staring face Of the
superintendent. His ears tingled. ev-
cry fiber in him seemed unstrung.
MacDonald's voice came to him
strange and weird.
What do you think Of that. How
hnd%
The two men gripped hands. and
when they looked again they saw dim
~ through dust and smoke only torn
and shattered masses Of rock where
the path Of the new road to the bay.
Howland talked but little on their
way back to camp. The scene that he
had Just witnessed affected him
strangely. 1t stirred once more with
in him all Of his old ambition. all Of
his old enthusiasm. and yet neither
found voice in words. He was glad
when the dinner was over at Thorne's.
and. with the going Of the mail sledge
and the senior engineer. there came
over him still deeper sense Of Joy.
Now he was In charge. II was his
road from that hour on. he was 10
charge-in charge Of the greatest rail-
road building job on earth-he, Jack
Rowland, who less than twenty years
ago was barefOoted, half starved
urchin peddling papers in the streets
where he was now famous! And now
what was this black thing that had
come up to threaten his chances just
us he had about won his great fghtt
He clinched his hands as he thought
again of what had already happened
the cowardly attempt on his life. the
warnings, and his blood boiled to fever
heat. That night. after he had seen
Meleese. he would know what to do.
But he would not be driven away as
Gregson and Thone had been driven.
He was determined on that
The gloom Of night falls early In the
great northern midwinter, and 1t was
already growing dusk when there came
the sound Of voice outside Howland's
cabin. followed moment later by q
loud knock at the door. At Howland's
invitation the door opened, and the
head and shoulders Of man appeared.
Something has gone wrong out Mt
the north coyote, sir, and Mr.. MacDon-
aid wants you Just as fast as you can
get out there" he said. He sent me
down for you with sledge.'
Macdonald told ME the thing was
ready for firing" said Howland, put
ting on his hat and coat. whats
the NATTER"
bad packing. I guess. Heard him
swearing about 1t. He's in terrible
sweat to see you"
Half an hour later the sledge drew
up close to the place where Howland
had seen score Of men packing bags
of powder and dynamite earlier In the
day. Half n dozen lanterns were
burning among the rocks, but there
was no sign Of movement or life. The
engineers companion gave n sudden
sharp crack Of his long whip. and In
response to 1t there came q muffied
Hello" from ont Of the gloom.
That's Macdonald. sir. You'll find
him right up there near that second
light, where the coyote opens up. Hes
grilling the life out Of half a dozen
men in the chamber. where he found
the dynamite on top Of the powder in
stead of under It."
"All rightw called back Howland,
starting up among the rocks. Hardly
had he taken a dozen steps when
dark object shot out behind him and
fell with crushing force on his head.
With a groaning cry he fell forward
on his face. For a few moments he
was conscious of voices about him.
He knew that he was being lifted In
the arms of men and that after
time they were carrying him so that
his feet dragged on the ground. After
that he seemed to be sinking down
down-down-until he lost all sense
Of existence In a chaos Of inky black.
ness.
CHAPTER VII.
THE HOUR OF DEATH.