The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1915-01-01

Alan Negotiates for the 5urros.
left carelessly thrust into the wall by
Marrophat's lieutenant, and guttering.
had dropped a flaming wick into lit
tie heap of bone-dry debris This last
famed, licked hungrily at the timber
ing that upheld the falls of the tunnel.
The timbering caught fire without de-
lay In a space of time incredibly
brief the flames were spreading right
and left, the tunnel was a vault of
blistering fury.
AS Alan said his last mute farewell
to Rose and Barcus, the fire spread
out in the bottom of the shaft and in
vaded the powder room.
Alan had guessed Alright at Mario
phat's design; the key of blasting pow
der was less than an eighth full; it's
explosion could not possibly have eff
fected the cavern Alan had at first
feared.
But what Marrophat had overlooked
was the proximity to the key of some
several sticks of dynamite, masked by
film of earth that had fallen from
the crumbling walls.
When the blazing fuse dropped
sparks into the blasting powder this
last exploded right willingly and the
dynamite took its cue without the
least delay.
The resultant defamation was ter
rife. The bulkhead was crushed in
like an eggshell barrier. Part of the
walls fell in, but the tunnels and shaft
remained intact. The released flood
streamed out and spread swiftly to the
farthest recesses of the burning tun-
mel. Dense clouds of steam filled that
place of terror as the fires were extin-
guished.
Swept with the stream as 1t poured
out of the tunnel, Alan contrived
throughout to retain his hold round
the waist of Rose. Barcus shot past
him unseen in the darkness. 1t was
not until Alan had contrived to catch
an unburned timber and stay himself
and his almost witless burden beneath
the mouth of the shaft that he discov-
STeQ DARIUS dllNS, IL dllIOoI uHl CSoS-
nizable in his mask of mold and SCOT,
battling back toward the shaft against
the kneedeep tide.
Half-binded and stifed as he was by
the reek of steam and powder fumes,
Alan struggled with himself until his
wits were passably clear.
Immediately before him dangled the
hosting bucket and rope.
Surrendering the care of Rose to
Barcus, Alan climbed into the bucket
and stared upward, examining the
walls of the shaft for way to the ,
top.
There was none other than the most
difficult; gaps too great to be bridged
by climbing showed in the wooden
ladders.
The one feasible route was via the
rope. And there was nobody at the
top to work the windiass-and Alan
hoped there would be nobody to OPP
pose his essay.
He addressed himself to the task
without murmuring-lifted himself up
on the rope, wound it round one leg,
and began that heartbreaking climb.
How he accomplished it he never
knew. That it must be accomplished
was his one, ali-absorbing thought.
And somehow, by some almost super
human effort, it was eventually accom-
plished.
He arrived at the top of the shaft
far too exhausted to show surprise
when, falling in half-fainting condi-
lion 81 thin Two feet OF the brink, he
saw Judith Urine running like mad
across the clearing.
But without her aid he would not
within hours have been able to work
the windlass and lift Rose and Bar
Gus to the surface.
CTO BE CONTINUED