The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-03-03


motion, and when | had thrown tie
pump clutch in, we crouched again in
the least-wet corner TO watch the index
Of the t~ell-tale ~steamgauge connected
into the supply pipe.
We knew that the ce~ntrifugalS were
VoraciOus Steam-eaterS; we had proved
tlat when we were running them in
the wcek-long test. | had a notion
that maybe Fullerton had fired only
one of the battery of three boilers to
run his shOwer-bath machine, and the
result speedily confirmed this aSSump-
ton. In Il few minutes the steam
pressure had dropped TO a point at
which il would no longer drive any OF
the pumps. either ours or the one out
side. and the window cataract stopped.
This will be only a breathing
space" | p~rophesied, getting up to
squeeze some Of the superfluOus water
out of my clothes. "Bullerton will do
one Of two things: fire the other two
boilers, or disconnect this steam pipe
Of ours"
Reckon SOP" said Daddy.
you'll see in a minute or So"
The attack began ever while we
were speaking, sundry hammerings
and twistings 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,
FIT, tiA,o naIl,. ~ Irrn1 tslt'h.n
they get this supply pipe cut out, we'll
be III for another ducking-and n
that we can't stop"
Daddy was shaking his head and
wringing the mOisture-and mud-Out
of his beard.
"Jerusalem-to-gosh, Stannie, we got
to take a chance! :" he muttered. "Any-
ways, I'd about as lief die as be
drowned TO death. Wen have to muSS
that blacksmith shop UP and get 1T out
o the way, somehow. Gimme a match
out o that tin box o yOur'n-if they
amt all soaked to Il iiz-whizZlin' sop"
| found the patches. which, luckily,
were still dry, and handed him one.
Before | fairly realized what he was
going to do, he had taken one of the
dynamite cartridges out Of its bucket
hiding place and was splitting the fuse
with his pocketknife.
"Open that there door into the shop"
he commanded and when / obeyed
mechanically, Out went the bomb, fiz-
zing and suffering, to land in a heap
90 4, ;rn,, ,ilnI Or, tIa 20 rtInr Ciln
Of the stone-built forge. The sight Of
it smoking and splitting sparks in the
heap Of scrap half hypnotized me, /
guess. for l stood gaping at it, with
the door held open, until Daddy Hiram
jerked me away, CANNED the door and
yelled to me to help him bar it.
We had barely time to get the door
closed and fastened with the heavy
wooden bar and 10 throw ourselves
fiat on the floor behind the hosting
machinery before the crash came. AS
l have previously said, the blacksmith
shop was q rather tlimsy, Shed-like
affair, rooted with corrugated iron,
and it seemed to us as If broken tim
bers and pieces of sheet metal were
raining down for a full minute after
the blast went off.
The shock to everything in the vicin-
ity was, of course, tremendous and
the stout old shaft-house itself rocked
and swayed like a tree in a hurricane.
when we got up and peeped through
a hole which a piece Of the flying
scrap had torn in the door, we could
see what we had done. 1t was a-plen-
ty. The blacksmith shop had disap-
peared. leaving nothing but u scatter
ing of wreckage. The heavy anvil had
been thrown from its block and the
forge looked as if a giant had kicked
it. Out by the bOiler-shed a rack Of
cordwOod had been toppled over and
under it a man was struggling 10 free
himself. When he saw the imprisoned
enemy that mild-mannered, sOft-spoken
old soldier that / was shut up with
would have opened the door and shot
the struggler if l hadn't stopped him.
This blowing up of the shop settled
the SDOWeT-DdlH UuSliieSS lOT us ucl-
initely. With the impeachment out of
the way We had a clear view on this
third side; could command the row
Of miners cabins, as well as the boil
ers i'm their open shed. When l got
through persuading Daddy Hiram that
we couldn't afford to murder the
wounded, the fellow who had been
wrestling with the w~oodpile had made
his exit and there was nobody I'm
sight. Shortly afterward a bullet,
fired from somewhere in the forest
background, whanged upon our roof,
and there were several to follow; but
aside from punching a few more holes
i'm the iron they did no harm.
Looks like the Hercules is the one
thing they're most skeered Of said
Daddy, with his queer little suffering
chuckle. "Now maybe they'll leave us
have time TO get ourselves dried out
a mite"
Totting up the results of the shower