The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-12-17

little spell
tDf t4gssrse. In the darkness, made
fhielSer b. the cleud Of dust the expIo-
sion rad kicked up. we couldn't tell
Isar had become OF the cabin gar
risen. Of whether or no we'd killed all
ssr ans Of il. But the immediate re-
suit vas perfectly soul-sstisfying
There sere no more roof boml ard
rnesars. and after we had remained on
watch together for perhaps half an
hour. Daddy sent me to the blankets
for ms forty winks did this and after
GARD played . Iow-down trick On me-
For. what with the previous nights
broken rest. and the more Or less eS
ifiiag and strenuous day. / SLEPT ike
i tired baby. and when / awOke the
sun was shining in at the two high
window holes at something more than
al acute angle. AM DADDY Hiram was
maxim. coffee and frying bacon and
baking pan-bread Ger chip IRE
built on a piece Of boiler iron 9e had
turned down for hearth purposes the
previous evening
The eId angel too1 my reproach-
fuI abuse for his unselfishness quite
good-naturedly as he did most things
and made his report of the nights
doings. Up TO midnight there had
been nothing stirring; bur after that
there hal been noises on the black
the jumpers we're al work on some
thing In the boiler shed Since this
lay beyond our field Of vision, We
couldn't see what was going on, nor
could we apply the dynamite remedy.
Shortly after We had finished break
fast the work noises began again. but
with the bianketing blacksmith shop in
the way we couldn't see a thing and
could only make wild guesses at what
the raiders were up to. Along about
the middle Of the forenoon they fired
up one or more of the boilers; Whit
Of wind coming along the side of the
mountain blew file smoke over so that
some of II drifted into the shaft-house
through the high windows Still we
were completely lost In the guessing
wilderness.
II was little after noon. while we
were squatting on the floor to eat
another meal warmed up over the chip
fire. that We found out the answer
20 all the guesses and learned what
the mechanical noises of the night
and forenoon had been leading up to.
One Of the left-oyers from the work
ing period Of the mine WAS a go0d-sized
steam force pump which. we took 1t,
had once been installed on one Of the
lower mine levels and had been hoisted
out of the shaft ahead of the adyanc-
ing water flood and put under shelter
in corner of the boiler shed. As
/ was passing my tiIl cup for more of
Daddy's excellent coffee the rattle and
clank of pump began to make itself
heard. together with the coughing
chug-chug OF the steam exhaust there
from.
That's that Iow-level pump !! ex-
claimed .'They must have connected
it up with the boil"
Whoosh that was just as far as l
got. In the middle midst of the word
boilers" two-inch jet of muddy wa
ter came curying up through enc of
the window openings to arch over and
fall. splash all over us as We. sat
munchng our dinner. EverlastiRgly
ruined the dinner. put out the fire. up
set the coffee pot. and made drowned
rats of both of us in less time than it
takes TO tell it-much less.
Co.. 81. n e
and ducked and lodged. like the
drowned rats | speak of hunting for
q hole. But now Bullerton's devilish
engineering ingenuity came into play.
BY some means as yet unknown TO us.
he had c0ntrived movable nozzle to
his squirt gun. and in another minute
there wasn't a single dry spot left in
that shafthouse. | venture to say that
Daddy and and the dog ran a fun
mile trying TO get out of range of that
demoniacal soZzle-machine, but there
wasn't a corner of the place that it
couldn't, and didn't, reach
During the night the scoundrels had
laid pipe line from the pump in the
boiler shed alongside of our prison
fortress; this with an upright extern
sion on the business end of it. At the
top of the sandpipe stem there was an
elbow with a short joint of pipe
screwed into it TO point our way; and
on the end of this nozzle there was
piece of rubber hose. Under the ierky
impulses of the pump strokes this fiex-
ole extension of the nozzle Topped
mp and down and around and side
wise, like the nose Of q patent lawn
sprinkler; and there you are-or there
we were.
"Gosh-to- Solomon ~ Daddy splut-
tered, I'VE amt on the water wagon
we're spank inside of it, Are you re-
memberin'. Stannie, that they can keep
this gosh-duIn thing up frever? All In
the world they've got to do is to put
stick O. wood on the fire now and
then Saw. son they got US goin and
comm : we can't eat and we can't
sleep no more whatever -
by heavens 4 own those boilers,
and If | could get a stick of dynamite