Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-01-07

clients of hoisting spoil from vertical
workings was in skin bags, made fast
by two, three. or even five rawhide
ropes, each manned by It's own hauling
crew. This was expensive in labor,
and lowing to the chafe on the we'll
lip in ropes also, and therefore 1t was
avoided as much as possible. Only In
rare instances we're the workers
hauled up vertical shafts For the
most part they climbed up by notched
chicken ladders set diagonally, though
in the very early times, when shafts
measured two feet nine by four feet
three as a standard all the world over,
they climbed up by means of foot
brackets set opposite one another on
the two longer sides.
The engineer, who in the year B. C.
TOO had planned the Bergash we'll, prob
ably hoped to strike water within the
first hundred feet. When he was dis.
appointed in this. he did not proceed
straight away to sinking in inclines
from the bottom Of his hundred-foot
level. That would have entailed dill.
Guilty in hosting his spoil.
But being thoughtful man, he put
down another set Of inclines from the
surface to the hundred-foot level so
that all rock mined below could he
carried direct by baskets and skin
bags to daylight without once having
to be hauled by the rope men. have
often wondered. by the way, whether
they did this work by driving it over.
hand from below. OF course upraisea
but that is technical point
which has little bearing on this memo.
of Captain Kettle and Miss Emily
Dubbs N
If Captain Kettle had tried to climb
the hundred-foot vertical finish to the
well-shaft he would have been met at
the upper end (although, of course, he
did not know this) by solid door OF
three.inch oak held down by perhaps
foot of the gravel which floored one
OF the courtyards OF the fortress. But
at the foot Of this vertical shaft he
paused. lingering the footholds, and
recruiting his breath; and while en-
gagged In these easy employments,
fancied he felt draft IN tie neigh
borhood of his left ear.
= His right ear was facing the incline
up which he had assembled and his LEFT
ear $50 he had imagined in the dark
was close to the solid rock. In order
that there should be no doubt about
it. he wetted finger and held it IN
The finger chilled most distinctly on
tho left side There was a draft and
therefore another passage somewhere
"" lighted one of his precious
matches. and discovered the entrance to
the farther set of inclines Of which
have sDoFen. and which the saint had
never mentioned, and Gas it turned
ont had never heard Of And it was
up these. walking. and not climbing
that Kettle made his entrance into the
fortress.
Sometime ago when during some
forgotten siege. work on the bottom
incline ha' suddenly struck water
and to well was pronounced cam
'Irlete. the surface end had been wallet
up, and furnished with a door. Tbs
was somewhere about $50 or $50 a. ID
The well has not been used much since
because of it's propensity for harborine
carbon dioxid, and Is far as can make
out, the door has only been opened
during five of the fortress many
sieges. They have rock-cut rain
water cisterns which supply everyday
use. and anything up to Ave years
siege
Of course the door has been re-
newed good many times since then
because even white oak from the MD
Atlas ranges lasts only a bare nightt
ears when it is fully exposed to ths
weather. But the same type OF pom
,,derous, complicated, wooden, Berhe1
key has been used during all the cen
turtles to shoot the wooden bolt in the
marvellous wooden lock, and 1t Is ON
cially supposed to occupy nail inlthe
kad's treasure vault. and probably
hangs there to this day.
The only drawback to these old locks
is that they are entirely open on the
inside, and even without wasting a
match over the process, Kettle was
able to lift the timbers one by one with
his fingers, and pull the cobweb-clog
ged bolt out Of it's socket. The. mas
sive oak door was inclined to scream
on its vertical pivots. But when III
was dragged open sixtyfourth of ar
inch at pull. with a neat boot pressed
against the inside to- steady it. this
complaining sound was reduced to the
merest murmur. And when the gar
was wide enough Captain Kettle step
ped out into the full smell Of an active
cow stable. . ..r
Two lady COWS scented him stimuli
:. |taneously, and snuffled him with moist
noses, and presently diagnosing him
as stranger. plunged backward
against their head ropes.
"Coosh. coosh:" said Kettle sooth-
lingly and the cows, not knowing that
British term Of endearment, plunged
harder to the right hand and to the
left The sailor was annoyed at his
lack of agricultural charm, but took
advantage of the fairway, and made
swift passage to the rear. Moonlight
glimmered in through an arrow slit
and he grasped the elementary fact
that the stable held another building
above it's sturdy arches.
ITO be Continued.)