The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1922-01-10
CHAPTER XIV.
Applied Hydraulics.


Daddy, as / climbed down from the
earth sacks, land that shows us the
quality of the humanity stuff we have
to deal with. Fullerton will never get
that bunch to rush us in the open"
THAT'S something gained, anyway"
said the old man; land ever 1T bit
helps. But if they amt goin' to take
1t standin' up, we got to look out for
Injin dOins; the snake-in-the- grass
kind. Charley Fullerton amt goin' to
quit none so easy"
Nevertheless, for an hour or more,
1t looked as if the jumpers had quit.
In due time the cooking fire in the lit
tie glade Burned out, and no one
came TO rekindle it. Around and about
the solemn silence of the mountain
wilderness ringed us in, and it was
hard TO realize that the siege had not
been abandOned-thOughw we knew well
enough IT hadn't.
We put in the time as best we could,
tinkering up our defenses and trying
10 provide for all the contingencies.
For one thing, Daddy found a big
auger and used it to bore -loopholes at
various places through the wall, by
approaches to the shaft-house on two
Of the three exposed sides. Eastward
ly, the blacksmith shop interviewed be-
tween US and the boiler shed-it was
built as a lean-to against that side of
the shaft-hOuse-andi in that direction
we were necessarily blind The fourth
side, as / have said, faced an abrupt
cliff Of the mountain, a rocky wall
rising to maybe twice the height of
the buildings and almost overhang-
ing them. At its summit this cliff
tapered off into a steep upward slope,
bare of timber; hence we were COM
paratively secure from attack in that
quarter.
As to provisioning we were not so
badly off. Daddy Hiram, well used in
his long experience as a prOspectOr to
figuring upon the longevity of grub
stakes" estimated that, what with the
canned stuff, part of a sack of flour.
and another of cornmeal, we could live
for week, though the cooking was
going TO be rather incOnvenient For
a fire we should have to resort to the
forge in the blacksmith shop. and the
shop was nothing but an Open-cracked
shed, as 1 have described it, entirely
, indefenSible if the raiders should con-
clude to rush it,
In the fulness Of time the period of
suspense came to an end, and we were
given audible proof that Fullerton had
finally made his dispositions" as an
army man would say. The announce
ment came In the form of a rife bullet
ripping through the roof of the shaft
house as If the stout iron roofing had
been so much paper.
1.-THE fun's a-beginnin'," said Daddy
and the words were hardly out of his
mouth before another bullet came, this
time from the opposite direction, and
it, also, tore through the roof.
"Got us surrounded" Daddy grim
aced, when third shot came from still
another point of the compass; and
within the next fifteen minutes Butler
tons demonstration was made CON-
plete. The shots, fired one at a time,
and at intervals of a minute or so,
came from all three of the exposed
sides of the building, and the time
elapsing between the ripping crashes
on the roof and the crack of the guns
told us that the marksmen were all
well beyond the range of our Win
chesters, even If we could have seen
them-which we couldn't.
Fullerton had evidently given his
men orders to aim at the roof, for II
was only a stray bullet now and then
that came through the walls. After a
time the purpose Of the bombardment
became obvious Fullerton seemed to
have absorbed the idea that he could
break our nerye-wear US out. After
the first fusillade the shots came al
intervals of maybe five minutes; just
often enough to keep US on the strain
and l don't mind admitting that the
object was handsomely gained. 1 cant
speak for Daddy Hiram or the dog
but at the end of the first hour was
little better than a bunch of raw
nerves.
AS all days must, this wearisome
first day came to an end at last, and
with the coming of dusk the lombard
ment stopped-with our roof looking
like sieve.
But after darkness had settled down
we were made to feel in another way
how acutely helpless we were. We
could see nothing, hear nothing
Though we knew we were surrounded
the silence and solitude were unbroken
and the strain was greater than that