The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-12-23
CHAPTER VII.
Honorable Scars.

If / had been what I had invited
Jeanne Twombly to imagine me: mere
ly an ordinary drifting tourist set
hfoot In the wilds by circumstances
over which had no control, my cue
to be on my way the following morning
couldn't have been delayed much be-
gond the appetizlng breakfast to which
I sat down little after seven O'Clock.
But once / had reached the end Of
The rainbow, and had no intention of
moving on before could have my
chance to dig for the pot OF gold which
Is said to be the reward of successful
rainbow ohasers, ] was casting about
for an excuse to prolong my stay when
Twombiy, in accordance with the bit
Of talk which had overheard in. the
loft chamber, took the matter out of
NY hands.
when we was talkin' about auter-
mobiles and such, las night, you let
On to me that you knowed something
about machinery" was the way he be-
gan. III you ain't In a tearin' hurry
10 be goin' somewheres, maybe ! could
get you to hang round for spell and
show me how to take a steam engine
to pieces so I could clean 1t up and
keep IL from goin' to rack and ruin"
with all the pleasure imaginable.
fastened to say. before he could have
time TO change his mind.
While the cerulean-eyed maiden was
carrying the dishes out OF the kitchen,
the old man donned oyeralls and
jumper. and few minutes later was
introduced TO the mine--my mine, IL
ycu piease-0r rather to so much OF Ii
as wes open to any visitor other than
a submarine diver,
My heart went hot In sympathy for
good old Grandfather Jasper. The
scoundrels who had done him up had
not been content with merely selling
him the gold brick; they had let him
spend thousands more for the pump
Ing machinery. after they, themselves,
were well assured that he was merely
throwing money away.
/ asked Daddy what he wished to
do with the machinery. He said he
was afraid II might be rusting inside,
standing unused so long, and he want
ed to rake 1t apart; especially the
steam engine So l told him how e
begin, and he fell TO work but In just
few minutes his awkwardness with
the tools gave me fit Of the willies
''See here" said; IF you've got
another pair of overalls and jumper
s
"Sure pop, have" he admitted
and that was how l discovered my frs
real job of honest-to-goodnes work.
We stuck at Il until noon, disas
sepabling, and scraping rust, and pol
ishing and oiling, and incidentally find
Ing the machinery In great deal bet
ter condition than 1t had any right t
he after standing idle for so long
time. OF course, l bunged my sof
hauds all up. and got as dirty as
pig, and all that; but that first fore
noon is written down In my life as on
of the most enjoyable I've ever known
And when Daddy Hiram called tn
noon halt and we went across to tn
cabin to wash up for dinner. wa
hungry. think that forenoon meas
ured about the only useful halliday
work I'd ever done; and the afternoo
made it full day. Say, people
was great For the first time in q
idle, happy-go-iucky life had a 10
with concrete object In view, and
keen ambition TO see 1t through. wa
thirstily eager TO get that machiner
In shape and 10 start those old n
pumps. and this % spite of Daddy Il
rams repeated assurances that
.swouidn't do no good a-tall. I
During ii Woodworking interval
two weeks number of things li
nappened! One was visit from 4