The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-10-05

&E T#A N&1 1870 #TTEF ~ EGE - sAA
slowly beneath the surface. And then.
for the first time. fear clutched at
Fairchilds heart--fear which hope
could not Ignore.
There's his hat" 1t was d miner
staring downward. rs
Fairchfld had seen IT, bnt he strove
to put aside the thought. IN
'.True,"" he answered, ..'btut anyone
could lose 4 hat, simply by looking
over the edge of the shaft. Harry's 4
strong man. Certainly he would know
how TO swim. And In any event he
should have been able to have kepf,
afioat for atsIeast a few minutes. RIO
dainesaln that he heard a shout and
ran righlp In here; but all that he
could see was rnffled water and a float
ing hat. Il Then he paused s1d-
denly. IT had come to him that Ro-s
dame might have helped II. the demise
of Harry 8 Y. ,, * - 80 W
Shouts sounded from outside. and,
the roaring or a motor truck as It
made It's slow. tortnous way up the
4, boulder-strewn rsad with it's gullfes
and innumerable ruts. Voices came.
rulnblfng and varied. Lights. : Gain.
ing the mouth OF the tunnel, Fairchild
could see q mass Of shad ownss outlined
by the carbides. all following the lead
Herstifp, Of a small, excited man, Sam
Herbenfelder., stiH seeking his dia-
mond. 2ASsf sas%sk4sf 49, 4 - EEE.
the MIG pump from the Argona,ut
tunnel was aboard the truck. which.
was followed aby two other auto v 3
thicles, each loaded with ~sasoIine efl
gines and smaller pumps. A hundred
men were In the crowd. all equipped
with ropes and buckets. Sam Herben-
felder's pleas had been heard. The
search was about to begin for tie
body of Harry and the diamond that
circled one finger. And Fairchild has.
tened to do his part. 80.
Until far, into the night they worked
and strained to put the big pump, into
position while crews of men. four and
five in a group. bailed water as fast
as possible. that the aggregate might
be lessened to the greatest possible
extent before the pumps, with their
hoses. were attached. Then the gaso-
line engines began to snort, great
lengths of. tubing were let, Down into
the shaft, and squirting water started
down the mountain side as the task
of unwatering the shaft began.
But It was q slow Job. Morning
found the distance. to the water length
ened byEtwentyz to thirty feet, and the
bucket brigades nearly at the end of
their ropes. Men trudged down the
hills to breakfast sending others in.
their places. Fairchild stayed on to
meet Mother. Howard and assuage her
nervousness as best he could, dividing
his time between her and the task be-
fore him. Noon found more water
than ever tumbltng down the hills
the smaller pumps were working now
In unison with the larger one. After
no0n-and most Of Ohadi was there.
Fairchild could distinguish the form
of Anita Richmond In the hundreds Of
women and men clustered about the
opening of the tunnel. and for once
she was not in the company Of Maui
rice Rodaine.. He hurried to her and
she smiled at his approach.
"Have they found anything yetr
"Nothing-so far. Except that there
is plenty OF water in the shaft. I'm
trying not to believe it." .-
y hope 1t isn't true" Her voice was
low and serious. {@.Father was talking
to me-about you. And we hoped you
two would succeed-this time"
Evidently her father had told her
more than she cared to relate. Fair
child caught the infection in her voice
but disregarded II.
81 owe you an apology" he said
bluntly. -
"For what?" #5+
Last. night. I couldn't resist tt
forgot for a moment that you were
there. But II hope that you'll be-
lieve me to be a gentleman, in spite
Of It"
She smiled up at him quickly.
u already have had proof of that.
FL am only hoping that you will be-
Hcve Newell, that your forget some
thing"
"You mean %5"% -
MI yes" she ~countered quickly, as
though to cut off his explanation. ut
seemed like a great deal. Yet 1t was
nothing at ali. I would feel much hap
pier II I were sure .you had disre-
garded it."
Fafrchild looked at her for a long
time, studying her with his serious
blue eyes. wondering about many
things. wishing that he knew more Of
women and their ways. At last he
said the thing that he fell, the straight
forward outburst Of 4 Straightforward
man: S1'> =
"You're not going TO 30 offended II
i tell Won something n
"Certainly not.
.sThe sheriff came along just after
you had made the turn. He was look
lng for an auto bandit. &
what!.s She stared hi him with
wide-open, almost laughing eyes. .But
you don't believe = Nv y9%:2
He was looking for d man." said
Fairchild quietly. ii told him that
q hadn't seen anything but--a boy. I
was willing to do that then--because
III couldn't believe that q girl like You
would Then he stumbled and halt
ia. a moment he sought speech while
she smiled up af him. Then D d II
came: I'll don't care what 1t was.
I'll like you. Honest. i do. + liked
You 10 much when was changing
that tire that / didn't even notice ii
when Won nut thesnnonev III my hand.