The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1921-09-08
751e
Combustible
Limited
(Copyright.)s
BY AUGUSTUS WHITFIELD

Landing. Four in number, they had
been thrown together by the cosmic
swirl which governs the movements
of the derelict. Volition to them was
4 negative factor.
Say, fellows" remarked Phono-
graph Pete, "Pll bet that the man who
invented work was professional la
Dor agitator.
"What you want to talk about work
for?" growled Sleepy Sam. you make
me tired"
II rise to a point of ORDER" inter-
rupted Loquacious Louie. eff Pete is
prompted to put in record merely
for the sake of standing before his
own megaphone and hearing himself
vociferate, / protest, but if he can
slip in something that possesses the
quality of novel entertainment, I'm no
protestant"
What you got on your mind, Peter"
asked Pugilistic Patrick.
"A couple of years ago." began Pete
Il was doing some topographic re-
search work up in Pennsylvania. In
vestigating the lay of the land with
an eye to the future Locating Ravens
of rest where fellow might secure
three meals and liberty without the
consequent ennui of ringing up on the
tme-clock.
"One day, after shaking the dust of
bum burg from my clothes and the
constable from my trail, hit the rail-
road track a few miles out and wait
ed the arrival of my private car. There
must have been a holiday on the line,
for nothing came along, and I was
finally forced to locomote by my own
powers of locomotiOn
"a little farther on, the village
loomed into view. 1t was fair-look-
ing town, judging from my point of
vantage, and l hoped to add it to my
list of eligible localities.
'The sight of that likely looking
burg put ginger into my hating foot.
steps, and l soon arrived at the out
skirts. There was a string of cars
drawn up on a siding along the fence
which surrounded some buildings.
81 was wondering what kind of plant
1t might be, when on passing a place
where the string of cars was broken
about fifteen feet, saw painted on the
fence in huge white letters against
black background:
DANGEROUS: POWDER WORKS.
Il quickly put out my pipe which
was smoking, and stuck it in my peck.
ct. l had no desire to start on an ex-
petition in search of the milkmaids un
In the milky way.
Work, in the abstract, has never
appealed to me, and how man in the
full possession of his faculties can as
soclate with a job in a powder fac
tory beats me.
Just think, fellows, of working
along for five days with your eve on
the clock, calculating how many more
hours 1t is before payday comes
around, and then, when the timepiece
has only one more lap to go, somebody
does fool thing and the whole out
nj blows up, sending you to, kingdom
come with a full weeks paw uncol
lected"
well, l knew from hearsay that a
powder works is q sort of slumheriny
Nesuvius so I proceeded to disassoci-
ate myself from the proximity. hot
footed it past that open space in the
string of cars. AS I was passing the
last car in the bunch, l happened to
look at it, and nearly jumped out of
my socks when 1 saw thin wreath of
smoke coming out from it.
II l did hundred-yard dash down the
tra}E in record time, then stopped. I
looked around to see if l could locate
any one who was trying to qualify for
the Nobel courage prize but the
place was shy on candidates.
81 ran back to the car and tried
to open the door, but found it locked.
thought that if l could find out what
the car contained l could proceed more
intelligently with the first-aid stunt,
but 1t was a clean lockout, so | was
forced to proceed along other lines.
=. THE smoke was pouring out in thick
volumes by this time, and l realized
that l had to get it moving pretty soon
or hustle myself out of the danger
zone, l worked the bar until 1 had
a crop Of blisters on both hands, but
the fiery freight was immovable as a
tenement house rent collector.
Suddenly I made the startling dis
covery that the brakes were set.
ran around to the front end of the car
and climbing up l quickly loosened the
brake. Then climbing down, I rushed
back and had that car going in no
time
"After moving it along a few feet,
the car started to run of its own ac-
cord, and l realized that there was a
slight grade at that point, sufficient to
allow it to travel by gravity
Il ran ahead and swung aboard. As
I climbed to the top the flames began
to eat their way through the roof, at
the rear end. l grasped the brake
wheel and spun it around so as to get
control of the car should the grade
get too stiff.
SLOWLY, my fiery chariot gathered
speed, and by the time we struck the
village we We're exceeding the speed
limit. AS we struck the crossing the
Waterman rushed out of his; shanty
and made some unintelIigible remark
to me, but | kept on going
Il looked ahead and saw that the