Graham guardian., 1922-01-13
CHAPTER VIli.
The Laborinq Pumps.

pretty nearly As good as ever. and my
two Good Snmaritans reluctantly con
sented to my going back to work,
Jeanie renewing the bandage on my
broken head, and laying many injunc-
tions upon Daddy Hiram to send me
right back to the cabin IL | didn't be-
have; "behaving." in her use of the
word, meaning that | was to take 1t
easy on the job.
That sounded mighty good TO me,
the way she said it. Most men, | fan.
cy, are only UvergrOwn children in the
sense that they like to he fuSSed over
| by their wumankind. Don't mistake
me, please: | wasn't in love with her
then. Candidly, don't think | knew
what real love was. But it was
| mighty pleasant to live in the same
| house with her, and to eat her deli
cious cooking; to be with her every
day, and to have those undisturbed
evening half-hours with her in front
| of the fire. If l had had to get out;
| or if there had been another man {.
but | won't anticipate.
In due time and after We had COM
! pletely overhauled the rusted and
| gummed-up machinery, Daddy and |
| happened upon a day when we were
| ready to put fire under the boilers and
we did it. If | should live to be
| hundred years old, | shall never forget
| the tense, suppressed excitement that
| grIpppd me as we brought the wood for
| the furnaces that bright. hot, July
: morning. BY eight O'Clock we had
ninety pounds of steam pressure on
! the boilers, but we held of until ii
! had climbed to the regular working
| pressure Of one hundred and twenty.
! Then | started the pumps; two big
! centrifugal SuctiOnS, mounted on Il
! platform I'm the shaft mouth and 50
! arranged that they could be lowered
10 follow the water level dOWn-if II
should go down; pumps that each
threw stream six inches in diameter.
. After the pumps were started and
the indicators showed, or seemed to
show, that they were working up to
full capacity. | rugged up measuring
/ gauge; 4 bit Of wood for float, With
string tied to It, and the string pass
! Ing over pulley In the shafthOuSe
! root-hraming with weight on the end
fit. II the water level should go down,
| the float would sink with it. pulling
the weight up. A smooth board, with
feet. inches and fractions penciled on
Il, was stood up beside the weight TO
answer for measuring scale.
At the end Of the hour the float
hadn't moved hairs BREADTH; not a
hundredjh part ot an inch, so far rs we
could see.
~ don't believe the pumps are work
ing" exploded "Surcly they'd make
some little difference in the level un-
less that shafts got all the under
ground water in the world TO back 1t
whack in some way. Where does the
discharge water empty itSelf?'
Daddy knew this, too.
"Over In the left-hand gulch-intO
the creek"
"Show me-" I directed.
we IDlilU lIt UiSCIuISt from llit
!; pumps a little way below the end Of
the path; ten-inch pipe which had
been laid underground from the shaft
house. presumably to keep it from
freezing in winter. The end of the
pipe stuck out over the stream and II
was projecting pretty nearly solid
tcn-lnch jet Of water. The pumps were
working all right; there was no doubt
. about that. | dug up enough of my
college math to figure that two six.
inch streams would just about All q
tcn-inCh pipe. and here II was, running
!. full and pouring like another torrent
into the gulCh. SO back we went IA
the mine buildings to pile more wood
into the furnaces aud to resume 0ur
: watching Of the Indicator and It's pen
cil-mnrkcd scale.
Noon caught up with US after g
: whlle-wlth nothing doing save that
; we were rapidly diminishing our wood
pile. For solid week we chopped
. down trees and split them up. Daddy
and !, and kept the fires roaring under
the boilers and kept those monster
pumps whirrng and grinding away a
. the shaft mouth-night and day. mine
you; watch on and watch on. And
: right straight through ii all. that littl,
. Indicator weight had rugged up Stooc
: : stock still; never moved the width o
: one of the pencil marks | had draw
. on Its gauge board.
by this time my stubhOrnneSs wa
= yielding something to the stil more
!. stubborn fact. If all this pumping
!. hadn't even started the food towart
. its dimInutiOn, truly all the waters un
1 der the earth must be backing the I'm
' failing we'll of that drowned shaft
Z Toward the last I think we KEEP
= on more from force Of habit than any
: thing else, hut at the cud Of the wcpl
: | gave In md consented to lei tn
. fires die down, though II was like pull
= ing teeth TO do II. Something, indeed
= I brought Out "f III" overtime work
. disappointing as II had been In tn
: hard aS n keg OF nails; ns strong II
mule, and the fierce toll of wool
= chopping aud boiler firing had give
n M" an appetite fur real work that tHir
" made me ache when Thought q
stopping. We thrashed II out that eve
= ming, the three of us before the Twin
- room fire, after Daddy and had hna
= ~ stopped the pumps and let the stcal
= run down.
"a ,.,.l..,,, ,...,n hni,,IA L. ...,n l.,I.