St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1921-12-31

ton, SO to speak, Of the pandemo nium
made by crowd OF country boys
serenading a newly married pair with
tin pans and such-like noise-making
implements.
..What in the name o Joab!' slut
tered Daddy Hiram. Reckon them
gosh-dummed pirateers we gone plum
loony?"
"Wait," l qualified and had to
shout to make myself heard. ."There'll
be more to follow. This is only the
curtain-raiser."
But my guess appeared to be no
good. For quite some little time we
crouched, guns at the ready, prepared
to repel the assault which we natural
ly supposed would be made under
cover Of the distracting racket. But
there was no assault, though the mean
ingless clamor kept up without abate-
ment. I-s- 5...s
BY the time we were beginning to
grow trifle hardened to it the clamor
stopped as abruptly as it had begun
and the silence which succeeded was
even more deafening than the noise
had been. While I fancied could see
dim figures stealing down the road
that led to the bench below, heard
Daddy say: "Now, what in the name
O. Jehoiachim-"
He had turned away from his peep
| hole and could sense, rather than see,
that he was rubbing his eyes. Then I
realized that upon me, also, a sudden
| blindness had fallen; the interior OF
the shafthouse had become as dark
as the inside of a pocket. The effect
| was so Supplying that 1t took both
| Of US q minute or so to understand
that some change as yet undetinable
had been wrought either in US or in
our surroundings during the noisy In.
| terlude.
| "Great Jehu!" exclaimed the old
man-though he was within arms
| reach could make him out only as q
dim shAdow-"Great Jehu! IL b'lieve
| I'm goin' blind, Stannie! IL can't
see nothin' a-tall!"
"Don't worry" I fastened to say:
"Tm in the same boat. We've been
looking too long and steadily through
those auger-holes. It'll pass In min
ute"
! But it didn't pass and presently the
voice Of my old side partner came
again. out of the darkness.
"P'raps It's cloudin' up some," he
suggested In half-whisper. II can't
see no stars through them windows"
l At this l looked toward the window
openings, but the interior blackness
had blotted them out completely. AL
most instinctively turned back to the
door and put an eye to- loophole.
| One glance was enough. The trouble,
whatever it might be, was with us and
not with the sky. The stars were
shining as brightly as ever.
Don't move, Daddy" I cautioned.
and then CROPPED my way along the
wall >and climbed to the top Of our
earth-sack breastwork at point which
I guessed to be under the nearest OF
the two windows.
When I drew myself up and tried to
thrust a hand through the opening
the mysterious darkness was ex-
planned. The window embrasures were
stopped up, both Of them, on the out
side by something that felt like a
heavy canvas curtain, though how tina
curtain was held in place I could not
determine. But it was firmly braced
in some way. With all the purchase
II could get-which wasn't much-l
couldn't dislodge 1t or push 1t aside.
1 Making my way back TO- the door
told Daddy what / had found.
| "Huh!" he said: "that old tarpaulin
that was out yonder In the ore she'd
How dye reckon they got It there.
Stannie?"
| ats hoisted on a framework Of
some kind, and they did it while we
were rubbering and trying to find ont
what all that noise was about"
" We were not kept very long in doubt
as to what the next enemy move was
to be. With the cessation Of the TOM
tom clatter the collie had grown curl
ously restless. We couldn't see him.
but we could hear him running from
post to pillar, shifting at the cracks
and occasionally giving whining
growl. Presently he began to cough
and sneeze; then he came racing back
to us, fattening himself to hold his
nose to the crack under the door and
taking long breaths as II he were half
stifed. I stopped to pat him and I'M
mediately imagined was smelling
burning sulphur matches.
"Get down here, Daddy, and smell
this dogl" I whispered. rs It old
fashioned matches, or whatT'
One sniff was all that the old man
needed.
Gosh-to-gee-whiz -brimstone" Id
! choked; "them devils are smokin' 10
outl That's why they stopped up them
window holes: SO we couldn't get any
airl"
There appeared to be little enough
time for any defensive move. The as
phyxiating gas was coming stronger
every moment, and any search for its
source seemed utterly hopeless. Yet
We went at It, coughing and choking,
and stumbling over everything in the
darkness, as matter Of course.
/ After all 1t was Barney who Il honor
him with the human pronoun because
he certainly deserved it) it was Bar
ney who showed us the devils door