Licking Valley courier., 1921-12-22
CHAPTER vii.
The Laborlna Pumps.


On the third day after l had tried
to brain myself in the old boiler I was.
pretty nearly as good as ever, and my
two Good Samaritans reluctantly con:
sented to my going back to work
Jeanie renewing the bandage on my
broken head, and laying many injunc.
tions upon Daddy Hiram to send me
right back to the cabin II didn't be
have; behaving" In her use Of the
word, meaning that I was to take II
easy on the job. - ::
That sounded mighty good to me
the way she said 1t. Most men, fan.
cy, are only overgrown children In the
sense that they like to be fused over
by their womankind. Don't mistake
me, please; wasn't In love with hei
then. Candidly, don't think /. knew
what a real love was. But 1t was
mighty pleasant to live In the same
house with her, and to eat her dell
cious cooking; to be with her every
day, and to have those undisturbed
evening half-hours with her In front
Of the fire. II had had to get out;
or II there had been another man
but won't anticipate.
In due time and after we had COM
pletely overhauled the rusted and
gummed-up machinery, Daddy and ]
happened upon day when we were
ready to put fire under the boilers and
we did 1t. II should live to be a,
hundred years old, shall never forget
the tense, suppressed excitement that
grlpped me as we brought the wood for
the furnaces that bright, hot, July
morning. BY eight o'clock we had
ninety pounds Of steam pressure on
the boilers, but we held of until II
had climbed to the regular working
pressure of one hundred and twenty.
Then ! started the pumps; two big
centrifugal suctions. mounted on a
platform In the shaft mouth and so
arranged that they could be lowered
to follow the water level down-if 1t
should 60 down; pumps that each
threw a stream six inches In diameter.
After the pumps were started and
the indicators showed, or seemed to
show, that they were working up to
full capacity. rigged up measuring
gauge; q bit Of wood for q float, with
string tied to 1t, and the string pass
ing over pulley In the shafthouse
roof1beaming with a weight on the end
Of 1t. II the water level should 90 down,
the float would sink with II, pulling
the weight up. A smooth board, with
feet, inches and fractions penciled on
II, was stood up beside the weight to
answer for o measuring scale,
At the end OF the hour the float
hadn't moved q hairs breadth; not q
hundredth part Of an inch. SO far a. we
could see,
NJ don't believe the pumps are work.
ingi" ! exploded. "Surely they'd make
some little difference In the level un'
less that shafts got all the under
ground water In the woFd tn hack II
up. Those indicators must be out OF
whack In some way. Where does the
discharge water empty itselfr
Daddy knew this, too.
cover In the. left.band gulch-intt
the creek"
"show me-" / directed,
We found the discharge from th'
pumps a little way below the end %
the path; q ten:ihch pipe which hat
been laid underground from the shaft
house, presumably to keep It from
freezing In winter. The end Of tn,
pipe stuck out over the stream and 1
was projecting pretty nearly soil,
ten-inch Jet Of water. The pumps wer
working all right there was no doub
about that. I dug up enough Of m,
college mathsto figure that two six
incf streams would Just about nm.
ten-inch pipe, and here II was, runnin
full and pouring like another torren
into the gulch. So back we went t
the mine buildings to pile more WOO
into the furnaces and to resume ou
watching Of the indicator and Its per
cil-marked scale,
Noon caught up with US after
while-with nothing. doing save tha
we were rapidly diminishing our woot
pile. For a solid week we choppe
down trees and split them up, Dadd
aud ], and kept the fires roaring unde
the boilers and Kept those monst'
pumps whlrring andsgrindlng away {
! the shaft mouthAnight and day. min
you; watch on and. watch of. An
right straight through II all, that lltt
|, indicator weight had rigged up stoC
, stock still; never moved the width ,
= one Of the pencil marks had draw
, on Its gauge board,
n BY this time my stubbornness WI
a yielding something to the still moi
y stubborn fact. II all this pumpii
hadn't even started the flood towai
p Its dlminutlon, truly all the waters u
der the earth must be backing the u
failing we'll Of that drowned SHIFT
|. Toward the last l think we ke
on more frosw force Of habit than an
thing else, bur at the end Of the wei
q gave In aud consented to let Il
a fires die down, though II was like pu
ing teeth to do " Something, indee
4 | brought out ofN'he overtime wor
disappointing as 1t hSus. .heen in {
major sense; l was muscled' am
d hard as keg Of nails; as strong \
~ Continued on page three.J