Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-03-24
and without the privilege Of dying
in good, old-fashioned. stand-up

fight.
All Of this I hastily pointed out to
Daddy. Hiram. adding that, for
he ought to take his chance Of stay
ing upon earth. AS long as I live 1
shall always have a high respect for
the wrath Of a mild-mannered man.
The IL p~rospector was fairly Ber-
serk. mad. foaming at the mouth, and
short OF dragging him out\ by main
strength there was no way of making
him let go.
mo. sir; I done promised your
gran'paw at I'd stand by for him. and
he paid me money for dom It. When
them .hellions get this here mine,
they're Roin' to dig a hole some
where's and bury me a~fterward," vas
all l could get out of him.
We nc given very much moro
time for discussion. or for anything
was coming, and with the partial
tightening Of the inner gloom, we
craned our necks-like a double
headed turtle peerin4 out of its shell
and got g. glimpse of the damage
done by the initial thunderbolt. We
say it without any trouble: q great
hole torn in the sheetiron roof direct
knowing the use, and effect Of explo-
sives pretty we'll, Daddy said that the,
bomb had gone of p~rematurely; had
exploded before 1t had fairly lighted
upon the roof.
IT it hadn't-if it had been layin'
on. the roof when It went olive
Wouldn't be lookin' up at that hole
nogE1n' up the golden stair and a.
wonderin' how much father It was t
the New Jerusalem. and what kind O.
harps they waS Eoini to give US when
We got there. We sure, would"
F, We didn't keep our heads out very.
long. While we wero staring up at
the hole and at the patch Of sky be-
smoke-blue comets tail trailing be-
hind 1t crossed line Of sight, and
we ducked and held our breath-or at
least. I held mine. The crash came
almost Immediately. and 1t wa fol-
lowed in swift succession by a second
and q third. Luckily. non Of the
three hit the shaft-house. nor. indeed.
tainty of aim told III where the attack
was coming FROM. Tho bomb throw
ers were posted somewhere on tho
steep slope Of the mountain above US;
the slope which I have described az
running up from the brink Of the.
abrupt cliff overlooking the mine
plant.
'They1l get the range, after a
while." Daddy erunted. And when
they do. I reckon it'll be Kood-by. fair
world. for a couple Of us and one
mighty good dog. I'm a-tellin' you,
stannie. son. the shot that comes
down through that hole fxes US a.
plenty. sufrertn. Methusaleh! what
all Is the folks down yonder at 'Tro-
pia a-dreamin, about. to let all this
bangin' and whang:n' go on UP here
without comm up to find out what's
maxim it,"
The Atropia that I remembered
was 80 nearly moribund that I didn't
wonder it wasn't making any stir In
our behalf: so. when a few p~attering
rife shots which seemed to originate
on the great bench below began to
slit In among the bomb echoes. I took
it that Fullerton had divided his force
and was trying to rattle us two ways
at once. AS for that. however, the
bigger b~ombardment kept us from
speculating very curiously upon any
thing else. Two. mor Of the giant
crackers had fallen to the right OF us,
m OF them into the wreck Of the
blacksmith shop, to send up a spout
ing volcano Of scrap which fell a Soc
ond or 80 later in a thunderous rain
and then.
For a fitting instant It seemed a.
II 1t must drop squarely in front Of
the iron shield under which We were
jammed-in which case even the un-
dertaker wouldn't have been needed
not any whatsoever, as Daddy Hiram
would nave said. But at the critical
point in its flight the hurting thing
licked " the top Of the hoist frame
and it's downward course was defect
ed the needed hair ~s-breadth, causing
it to come down beyond the machin-
cry. and not on our side Of things.
Nevertheless, we were covering in an
ticipation Of q blost which would nos
likely heave the entire machinery aR-
eregation e bodily upon us when
the explosion came.
We saw the belching column Of
fame Inc gas going skyward beyond
the machinery barrier, taking a full
half OF the roof with 1t, as II the blast
had come from the mouth Of a Rigan-