St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1922-01-14

attacks had failed to lower by SO
much as a fraction of an inch, was
gone, and with it had vanished the
two big centrifuga1s, the platform
upon which they had stood, and their
pipe connections. Gone, likewise was
the greater part. Of the heavy wooden
Shaft-lining: A little of this remained
In the upper part of the shaft, but
from point possibly twenty-five feet
down, there was nothing but the bare
rock sides Of the square pit swept by
the receding flood.
AS for the hollow roaring noise
which had followed the crash of the
explosion, and which still continued,
there was a good and sufficient reason
plainly visible from the pits mouth.
eastern side Of the shaft stream Of
water big enough to run good-sized
hydroelectric plant was pouring into
the perpendicular cavern, and it was
its plunging descent into the bowels
of the earth which was making the
mimic thunder
Beasley was the first to find speech.
where the blazes is all that water
comm from?' he exploded.
"That's just what we're going to
find out!" I barked. "Can you and
Daddy handle my weight in rope
slingY'
They both protested that they could
handle two of me If necessary, and
sling was quickly rugged and I was
lowered into the pit. At the nearer.
view thus obtained, some of the mys-i
teries were instantly made clear. The
reason why the wooden boxing disap-
shaft was that it had never extended
any farther down. It had been mere
ly box with bottom and all those
pipe-dream impressions which had
tried to register themselves on the
day when l had my struggle with the
suction-pipe octopus were instantly
translated into facts. could have
sworn, then, that there was bottom
in the box, and there was a bottom.
And that other impression-tha had
encountered an inrushing stream Of
ice-cold water in the chilling depths;
here was the stream; a foot-thick,
never-failing cataract, pouring In
through perfectly good and substan-
tial conduit Of twelve-inch iron pipe!
In flash the whole criminal mys-
%ho n1
mine was Illuminated for me. Haul
away" l called to the two above;
and when they had drawn me up to
the pits mouth and I could get upon
my feet, I yipped at Daddy and the
marshal to come on, and led them In
an outdoor race along the mine ledge
to the eastward; hundred-yards
dash which brought us to the banks
of the swift little mountain torrent in
the right-hand gulch.
A brief search revealed precisely
what I was expecting to find; what
anyone in possession of the facts pre-
cedent would have expected to find.
In the middle Of a small pool slightly
upstream from the path level-a peck
eted bit Of water neatly screened and
half hidden by a growth OF low
branching spruces-we saw cone
shaped whirlpool swirl into which
good third of the stream flow was
vanishing. Below this pool an appar-
emily accidental heaping Of rocks
formed a small dam which kept the
little reservoir full.
Without a word, Daddy Hiram and
the Angelic marshal plunged reckless
ly into the stream and with their bare
hands tore away the loose-rock dam.
With the removal Of the slight barrier
and the consequent clearing OF the
course of the stream, the pocket reser-
yoir Immediately sucked dry, the inlet
of the cataracting pipe was exposed,
and the secret Of the flooded Cinnabar