The Washington herald., 1914-04-12

.
foot was sheer depth of seventy feet
II was dangerous place They pushed
by truck of fuel to get to the railing
that crowned the place. The reek of
the furnace, sulphurous vspor streaked
with pungent bitterness, seemed to make
the distant hillside of Hanley quiver.
The moon was riding out now from
among a drift of clouds, half way up
the sky above the undulating wooded
outlines of Newcastle The steaming
canal ran away from below them un-
der an indistinct bridge. and vanished
into the dim haze of the fiat fields to-
ward Burslem.
That's the conc I've been telling you
Of" shouted Horrocks, "and, below that,
sixty feet of fire and molten metal. with
the air of the blast frothing through it
like gas in soda water"
Raut gripped the handrail tightly, and
stared down at the cone. The heat was
intense. The boiling of the iron and
the tumult of the blast made thunder
Gus accompaniment to Horrocks' voice
But the thing had to be gone through
now. Perhaps, after all
in the middle" bawled Horrocks.
Temperature near a thousand degrees
If you were dropped into it-hash into
fame like a pinch of gunpowder in a
candle Put your hand out and feel the
heat of his breath. Why, even up here
I've seen the rain water boiling off the
trucks. And that cone there. It's a
damned sight too hot for roasting cakes.
The top side of it's 800 degrees"
Three hundred degrees" said Raut.
Three hundred centigrade, mind!"
said Horrocks. ct will boil the blood
out of you in no time"
"Eigh?" said Raut, and turned.
Boil the blood out of you in No
you DON'T"
Let me goT screamed Raut. Let
go my arm"
With one hand he clutched at the
handrail, then with both. For moment
the two men stood swaying. Then sud-
denly, with violent jerk, Horrocks had
twisted him from his hold. He clutched
at Horrocks and missed, his foot went
back into empty air; in midair he twist
ed himself, and then cheek and shoulder
and knee struck the hot cone together.
He clutched the chain by which the
cone hung, and the thing sank an infni-
tesimal amount as he struck it. A cir
Gle of glowing red appeared about him,
and a tongue of fame, released from the
chaos within, fickered up toward him
An intense pain sssailed him at the
knees, and he could smell the singeing
of his hands. He raised himself to his
feet and tried to climb up the chain,
and then something struck his head.
Black and shining with the moonlight
the throat of the furnace rose about him.
Horrocks he saw stood above him by
one of the trucks of fuel on the rail The
gesticulating figure was bright and white
in the moonlight, and shouting: "Fiz-
zle, you fool! Fizzle, you hunter of
womenl You hot-blooded hound Boil
boill boilp
Suddenly he caught up handful of
coal out of the truck and flung it delib-
erately, lump after lump, at Raut..
"HorrocksT cried Raut, .Horrocks!"
He clung crying to the chain, pulling
himself up from the burning of the cone.
Each missile Horrocks flung hit him.
His clothes charred and glowed, and
as he struggled the cone dropped and
rush of hot suffocating gas whooped out
and burned round him in swift breath
OF fame.
His human likeness departed from
him. When the momentary red had
passed Horrocks saw a charred black
ened figure, its head streaked with blood,
still clutching and funbling with the
chain and writhing in agony-a cindery
animal, an inhuman, monstrous creature
that began sobbing, intermittent Shrek
Abruptly at the sight Of the ironmas-
ter's anger passed. A deadly sickness
came rpon him. The heavy odor of
burning flesh came drifting up to his
nostrils. His sanity returned to him.
God have mercy upon me" he cried.
'Oh, God! what have | done
He knew the thing below him, save
that it still moved and felt, was already
a dead man-that the blood OF the poor
wretch must be boiling in his veins. An
intense realization OF that agony came
to his mind and overcamc every other
feeling. For a moment he stood irres-
olute. and then, turning to the truck, he
hastily tilted its contents upon the strug-
Cling thing that had once been man
The mass fell with a thud and went
radiating over the cone. With the thud
the shrek ended, and boiling confu-
sion of smoke, dust, and flame came
rushing up toward him. AS it passed he
saw the cone clear again.
Then he staggered back and stood
trembling, clinging to the rail with both
hands His Ips moved. but no words