The Ely miner., 1914-01-30

other; struck more strongly and
the pipe split. Instantly stencil of
escaping gas filled the air. With all
his force Nikolai thrust the end of
the hose into the orifice.
What are you doing?" cried Kaul-
bars in alarm.
Burned out carbon fuse," called
Nikolai Now for the oil-pipe line,
Summers"
We clung to the sides of the pit and
renewed our toll This pipe was
stronger, however. and it required
violent effort to break it. A large,
irregular hole suddenly appeared. and
sudden rush of oil drenched us
to the skin.
The fluid was squirting under the
force OF the pumps. For a moment
we could make no headway 1t
bathed us. running down our clothes,
twisting us round; we clung to the
hose, which writhed and spun in our
hands like an enormous snake. At
last, with final effort, we thrust it
into the orifice. A little jet of Oil
spurted beside it, but meager in COM
parison with what we had damned
back
How long," cried Kaulbars In an
agitated voice. He was becoming
nervous. l saw the revolver tremble
in his hand as it was turned, now
upon Nikolai, now upon myself. Mix
OLAF scrambled out of the pit, / fol-
lowed, and we stood, dripping with oil,
two hardly human figures, in front of
the governor general.
1T is finished!" said Nikolai slow
ly.
A cry came from one of the soldiers.
l spun round and followed the line
of his outstretched finger. Batoum
had suddenly grown dark. The pal
ace, twinkling with it's thousand
lights upon the hill, the brilliantly
illumined quarters of the officers, the
light upon the sea, the lights of the
harbor front, the red glare from the
refineries-all had vanished, leaving
us alone among a world of shadows.
Kaulbars uttered terrible cry and
leveled his pistol at Nikolai's head.
struck up his arm; there was report,
and the bullet went high above our
heads. The governor general stood
irresolute and trembling; his soldiers,
their leader having issued no COM
mand, wavered also.
Look" shouted Nikolai.
A stream of light sprang into the
sky; another, and another. From
every refinery chimney came a leap
ing tongue of ruddy flame; the palace
glowed again; the quarters of the
officers hung out broad banners of
fire. 1t rose into the air, this univer-
sal light, in twisting spirals that
locked and interlaced like streamers
of the Northern Lights. And all
along the harbor front the fires sprang
into life, passing from dock to dock.
Only upon the waters the shadows
brooded. Then, as we watched, we
heard a muffled, distant roar, and a
volcano of flame seemed to spring
from the bed of the sea; columns of
fire shot upward, and dense pail
Of smoke, following them, hid every
IhihS hiOiu Wow, IL q DidShhCoo
deeper than that of night, though rent
here and there by the red streamers
that qIivered at it's heart
The Caspian had been strewn,
smaller than shingles, on the breast
of the waters. And with it, two parts
of the city of Batoum had disap-
peared.
Nikolai touched me on the sleeve.
Kaulbars had dropped his weapon and
stood nodding and smiling at the
flames. Fear seemed to have unhinged
his mind, and he regarded the de-
struction Of his palace as the end of
his term of exile in the Caucasus.
Whether he suspected Nikolai of this
work or believed that he had merely
failed to Illustrate the revolutionists' de-
sign we never knew. We backed slowly
away; then, seeing that Kaulbars still
made no signal, we strode off through
the bewildered soldiers. They called
and moved after US; we walked away
faster; while they waited, wave of
darkness rushed toward us across the
fields, composed of stinging particles
of ashes and SCOT. 1t enyeloped us;
hand in hand we groped our way
through the distracted city to safety.