The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1922-01-27


that had set me thinking
a spinning twirl of the sno,,a
throttle valve set our maehinery IN
iiotlon, and when had thrown the
pump clutch In. we crouched again IN
the least-wet corner to watch the index
OF the tell-tnle steamgause connected
INTO the supply pipe.
We knew that the centrisno.ls ,yoro
voracious steam-eaters; we had proved
.,iat when we were running them in
the Week-long test. had a notion
that maybe Fullerton had fired onlv
one on the battery of three boilers to
run his shower-beth machine, and the
result speedily confirmed this assump-
tion. In a few minutes the steam
pressure had dropped to a point at
which 1t would no longer drive any OF
the pumps, either ours or the one out
slde, and the window cataract stopped
This will be only a breathing
space" l prophesied, getting up to
squeeze some OF the superfuous water
out or my clothes. "Bullerton will do
one OF two things: fire the other two
boilers, or disconnect this steam pipe
Of ours"
Reckon soF' said Daddy.
you'll see In a minute or So"
The attack began even while we
were speaking. sundry hammerings
and twlstings that shook the pipe over
head proving that the besiegers were
going to stop the leak by cutting us
off from the boilers.
Take your whirl at the inventions,
this time, Daddy!" urged. "When
they get this supply pipe cut out, we'll
be In for another ducking-and one
that we can't stop"
Daddy was shaking his head and
wringlng the moisture-and mud-out
of his beard.
"Jerusalem-to-gosh, Stannie, we got
to take chancel" he muttered. ANY.
ways, I'd about as lief die as BIZ
drowned to death. Wen have to muss
that blacksmith shop up and get 1t oui
o. the way, somehow. Gimme q mattel
out o. that tin box o. your'n-if they
amt all soaked to a jIx-whizzlin' sop
1 found the matches, which. luckily
were still dry, and handed him one
Before fairly realized what he wal
going to do, he had taken one OF tht
dynamite cartridges out OF Its buckle
hiding place and was splitting the fus'
with his pocketknife.
"Open that there door into the shop,
he commanded; and when obeyet
mechanically, out weHs the bomb, fz
zing and sputtering, to land in heal
Of scrap iron piled on the farther sid
of the stone-built forge. The sight o
it smoking and splitting sparks In tn
heap Of scrap half hypnotized me,
guess, for I stood gaping at 1t, witt
the door held open, until Daddy Hiram
jerked me away, slammed the door an
yelled to me to help him bar it.
We had barely time to get the doc
closed and fastened with the heaV
wooden bar and to throw ourseive
fiat on the floor behind the hoistin
machinery before the crash came. a
I have previously said, the blacksmit
shop was a rather filmsy, shed-lk
affair, rooted with corrugated lrol
and 1t seemed to us as If broken TIN
bers and pieces Of sheet metal We1
raining down for a full minute ants
: the blast went off.
/ The shock to everything In the We'll
t ity was, Of course, tremendous an
| the stout old shaft-house itself rocKe
t and swayed like tree in hurficah
E But the walls still stood intact, at
t when we got up and peeped throus
q hole which a piece OF the nyH
I SCRAP had torn in the door, we cou
a sae what we had done. 1t was ape
\ ~ The blacksmith shop had dlsa
: neared. leaving nothing but u scatte
a ing of wreckage. The heavy anvil NJ
: hnen thrown from Its block ana u
E forge looked as if a giant had KicA'
1 n Out by the boiler-shed a rack
! cordwood had been toppled over al
y under it a man was struggling 10 N
!. himself. When he saw the mpfrSOa'
! enemy that mild-mannered' sor-sp0k'
Nd soldier that was shut up WI
! would have opened the dooF ana sn
: the struggIer if hadn't stopped M n,
This blowing up of the shop setti
tho sbower-bath business for Us IN
,n,tslv. With the impeachment out
!. The way we had a clear view On u u
Z third side; could command the &c re
= - miners, cabins, as we'll as the DC
!. GRO in their open shed. Wnen =
4 through persuading Daddy Hiram I. !.
: no Couldn't afford to murder I
!, y wounded. the fellow who mac We
wrestling with the woodpsle hao ma
h,s exit and there was loVous ~,
: s,gbt, shortly afterward a pun pun,
e s ared from somewhere in the LOT
J, BACKGROUND, whanged upon our ~ ,
e and there were several to follow ono" -
Z J. aside a from punching few more n0
y a. the iron they did 10 HARM
.Tooks like the Hercules IS t.,e :. =
thing they're most skee t,so . o., =,
naSv With his queer little stut'efi
IA