The Adair County news., 1922-01-03
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~CCoPYRIGHT BY CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS Il

NA~Nh Al lhC NliuS by circumstances
over which had no control, my cue
to be on my way the following morning
couldn't have been delayed much be-
yOnd the appetiZing breakfast to which
L sat down little after seven o'clock.
But once l had reached the end of
the rainbow, and had no intention of
moving on before l could have nv
chance to dig for the pot of gold which
is said to be the reward of successful
rainbow chaSerS, l was casting about
Tor an excuse to prolong my stay when
Twombly, in accordance with the bit
Of talk which 1 had overheard in the
loft chamber, took the matter out of
my hands.
when we was talkin' about auter-
mobiles and such, las night, you let
on to me that you knOwed something
about machinery" was the way he be-
gan. IF you amt in a tearin' hurry
TO be goin somewheres, maybe / could
get you to hang round for a spell and
show me how to take a steam engine
to pieces so t could clean 1t I'D and
keep it from gOIn' to rack and ruin"
with all the pleasure Imaginable"
fastened to say, before he could have
time to change his mind.
While the cerulean-eyed maiden was
carrying the dishes out of the kitchen.
the old man donned overalls and a
jumper, and few minutes later was
introduced to the mine-my mine, II
you please-or rather to so much of it
as was open to any visitor other than
a submarine diver.
My heart went hot in sympathy for
good old Grandfather Jasper. The
scoundrels who had done him I'D had
not been content with merely selling
him the gold brick; they had let him
spend thousands more for the pump
ing machinery, after they, themselves,
were well assured that he was merely
throwing money away.
asked Daddy what he wished to
do with the machinery. He said he
was afraid IT might be rusting inside,
standing unused so long, and he want
ed to take it apart; especially the
steam engine. So 1 told him how to
begin, and he fell to work; but in just
a few minutes his awkwardness with
the tools gave me fit of the willies.
'See here" 1 said; "If you've got
another pair of overalIs and jumper
-"
"Sure pop, I have" he admitted;
and that was how discovered my first
real job of hOnest-tO-gOOdnes work.
We stuck at it until noon, disas-
sembling, and Scraping rust, and pol
ishing and oiling, and incidentally find
ng the machinery in a great deal bet
ter condition than it had any right to
be after standing idle for so long a
time. OF course, l bunged my soft
= hands all up, and got as dirty as a
pig. and all that; but that first fore
noon is written down in my life as one
of the most enjoyable I've ever known.
And when Daddy Hiram called the
noon halt, and we went across to the
cabin to wash up for dinner, | was
hungry. | think that forenoon meas
ured about the only useful half-day'S
work I'd ever done; and the afternoon
made it a full day. Say, peOple-it
was great! For the first time in an
idle, happy-gO-lucky life l had job
with concrete object in view, and a
keen ambition to see it through. was
thirstily eager to get that machinery
in shape and to start those old he
pumps, and this in spite of Daddy Hi
rams repeated assurances that it
IL folI
During a Woodworking interval of
two weeks a number of things had
happened. One was visit from the
Notwithstanding Anglican who
had impressed me with the fact that
he belonged to the Ancient and Honor
able Order of the Silver Star. I'll have
to tell about that visit, because it
proved what a tremendously lucky
thing it was for me that / had fallen
among friends.
1t was this way. On the second day
Of my stay in the bosom of the Twom-
bly, family l noticed that battered
surveying Instrument transit which
was probably leftover from the time
when the Cinnabar was a working
proposition, with an engineer to figure
out its dips and angles-had been
moved from its place in the corner of
the living room and was stood upon
its three legs at a small, square win
dow which looked out over the plateau
bench of the mountain to the south
eastward.
Two mornings afterward found out
the why and wherefore of the old
transit and fits "set up" as an engineer
would say. Daddy Hiram and 1 were
standing with our backs to the hearth
IRE. waiting for breakfast to be put
on the table, when jeanne came IN
from the kitchen with great stack
of hot batter-cakes AS she darted
out again after the coffee and bacon,
she paused just a fraction of a second
to put her eye to the telescope. /
didn't see what kind of a signal it was
that she passed to Daddy Hiram, but
whatever. its nature, it made him get
action in a tearing hurry.
up into the loft with you, quick,
Stannie - he Wiped at me; and as ]