The diamond drill., 1921-11-26

opened things up and gave the little
three-wheeied dinky all the gas II
could use. keeping a sharp lookout
ahead. and meaning TO pull up q little
way short Of the graveyard city. aban-
doning the car and making the actual
approach on foot.
Judging from the way the scenery
was racing backward. estimated that
the little car must be doing at least
thirty miles 10 the hour: which meant
forty minutes or such matter, to
cover the twenty-one miles. II oppos-
ing train or trains. whatever they
might be. would only keep out OF my
way for those precious forty min
minutes.
pushed the small motor 10 its limit
and was getting along beautifully until
suddenly, on a grade that was a bit
sleeper than usual. the popping ex-
haust quit short of. the engine slowed
down. and the car, squeaking and
grinding. came TO stand on low
embankment between two Of the hlll
cuttings.
There wasn't anything very compli-
Gated about the little motor, and soon
discovered that broken ignition wire
was what had killed II. Happily,
there was a small toolbox under the
seat. and In the kit there was pair
OF pliers. But sometimes-and this
was one OF them--a bit Of material IL
as important as the tools 70 work with.
The broken wire was too short to cou-
pie mp again. and there wasn't an inch
OF spare wire to be found In the
kit.
They say that necessity is the moth
er of invention; but I'll defy anybody
TO invent a piece Of wire ia the middle
OF the Great Sahara desert. Every
minute was expecting to hear the
rumble and roar OF a train.
In this extremity IL was little
desert zephyr that gave me the great
idea. A gentle breeze came signing up
the draw from some overheated area
out beyond, and finding no trees on
the barren hills, II sang ITS little song
In the thickly clustering telegraph
wires on the poles. Why, surel 1
said to myself; here was my wire
miles and miles of IT, All / had to do
was TO climb up and get II.
Gentle reader, i wonder IL you've
ever tried TO climb a telegraph pole
without the contrivances that a line
man buckles upon his feet7 II you
haven't the advice of this amateur is
don't. Half dozen times / shinnled
up TO perhaps the height of a mans
head. only TO come sliding down again
on run. At last, by a series OF inch
ings / contrived TO get within arms
reach OF the lowest crosspiece. Pliers
In hand, strained for the nearest
wire, progged IL, and began to twist IT
back and forth TO break IL.
Not TO let me miss any OF the thrills,
IL was at the precise instant of the
wire-breaking that my strainlng ears
caught the sound they had been lis
tening for; a far-away, drumming rum
BILE that seemed to come from nowhere
In particular. Then. out OF the same
indefinite circumambience came
warning that was still more unmlstak-
able-the long-drawn blast Of a loco
motive whistle.
/ didn't climb down that pole; I
came down like the tIme-ball on the
flagstaff In Washington at high noon.
Moreover, ! struck the ground rum
ming, as one might say. All thoughts
of tinkering that confounded motor
had vanished and my one great object
In life was TO get the car of the track
before a worse thing should happen.
l was doing fairly well with the lifting
and tugging when the enemy hove In
sight less than five hundred yards
away. And that wasn't all, either. At
precisely the same Instant as II Il had
been timed by the same mechanism
that had brought the freight train,
here came a Wild engine around the
curve In the opposite direction, with
It's whistle valve held open and making
a racket to wake the dead. The be-
reft motor-car riders had found To-
| comotiye somewhere and were chasing
me.
One mad heave at the stranded gas
oline car. mighty boost that got all
but one wheel OF II In the clear, and
was gone-etreaking II like jack
rabbit for the tall timber--only there
wasn't stick OF timber nearer than
the slopes of the backgroundlng noun
tains.
One glance over my shoulder as
fed showed me what was In for /:
that the story was to be Immediately
continued In our next. Both engineers
tried TO stop; did stop In time to avert
the greater catastrophe. Three or four
men jumped from the freight and two
from the wild engine to come tearing
after me. fancied I could give them
their moneys worth at that game
being In pretty fair training--so
| pitched out 10 try to turn the hypo-
thetical theory into a condition.
II was a great race. Through one
gap and into another we went. maxi
Ing figure eights around the hills and