The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1922-01-17

his cue instantly, snatching up the az
as flung 1t down and hacking away
a. long as he could hold his breath.
When he was forced to make bolt
for the life-saving hole in the door, I
ran In again; thus got couple Of the
floor planks loose and pried them out.
In the space beneath the open
cracked floor we found Bullerton's
chimney end; an old discarded boiler
fiue, 1t seemed to be, leading up from
the bench below. From unearthing
the deadly thing to muzzllng it with
one of our wet blankets was the
breathless work of only a minute or
two; and with the gas-main thus shut
of, the air In the shafthouse soon be-
came bearable again, the hole we had
chopped through the floor serving as
a ventilatOr through which the cool,
crisp night air came rushing in a re-
vivifying blast.
Our first care, after a prolonged
silence led US to believe that the raid
ers had withdrawn to study up some
fresh scheme for getting rid of US, was
to get bar and pry our two doors
open so that the breeze might blow
through and air the place out a bit.
Closing and barring the doors after
the sulphur stencil had been reduced
to mere matchbox OdOr, we estab-
lished our night-watch, Daddy Hiram
taking the first trick under a solemn
promise to call me at the end of a
couple of hours. This time he behaved
/ better, rOusing me little before mid
night. He reported everything quiet,
and pointed to the sleeping dog as evil
dence that there were no intruders
within smelling distance.
Been that-away ever since you
turned in" he said, meaning, as took
1t, that the dog had been resting easy.
you can just keep an eye on Barney
If anything goes to stirrin', he'll know
1t afOre you WILL"
Nothing did stir; and after Daddy
had gone to wrap himself in his damp
blankets, 1 had my work cut out for
me keeping awake; in fact, shouldn't
want to swear that I was fully awake
during all of the one hundred and
twenty minutes that my sentry-go last
ed. No matter about that. Fullerton
didn't spring any more surprises ON us
during my watch; and when 1 turned
the fortress over to Daddy at two
o'clock 1 was able to pass the "all
quiet" report back to him and go to
the blankets with an easy conscience.
1 had just dropped asleep, as 1t
seemed to me-though in reality I had
slept like a log for more than two
hours-when Daddy Hiram came to
shake me awake.
"Somethin' DOM" he announced
quietly, and when sat up I saw that
the collie was moving uneasily from
one door to the other. stopping now
and then to stand mot:snless with his
ears cooked and his head on one side
Barney hears something" l ven-
tured; and a moment later Daddy
broke in:
Huh! it's plain enough for my old
ears, now; it's wagon comm across
the bench"
Now the presence of a wagon on our
bench at this early hour in the morn
ing might mean either one of two
Numerically opposite things: Our
deliverance; or the upcOming of re-
Inducements for the raiders. We were
not left long in doubt. Shortly after
the rack-rack of the wagon wheels
stopped we heard footsteps. and the
hair stiffened on Barney's back. Next
we heard BullertOn's voice, just out
side and apparently under our window
openings.
'BrOughton the voice called: "can
you hear me?'
$50 well that you'd better keep out
of range" l snapped back.
"All right-Hsten. You've got TO get
out, BrOughtOn-that's fiat | haven't
wanted to 60 to extremes. For per
fectly obvious and commonplace rea-
sons l don't want to have to kill YOU
to get rid of you. But we are not go
ing to gentle you any more. You've
already hurt four of my men. and two
of the four are crippled The next
time we hit YOU it'll be for finish"
'Yes," said l. "You brought the
new club up in wagon, didn't your"
He ignored this.
ave could starve you out If we
chose to take the time know pretty
well what you've got to eat-Or rather
what YOU haven't got. It's your privi-
lege to take your life in your own
hands, BroughtOn; that's UP to you.
But how about the old MANI"
"The old mans a-plenty good and
able to speak for hisself!" yapped
Daddy. you do your durndest,
Charley Fullerton 7"
"All right once more. You'll hear
from us directly, now; and as 1 said
before, we've quit gentling you. That's
my last wOrd''
For time after this the silence.
and the darkness, since it was the hour
before dawn, were thick enough to be
cut with an ak. But the dog was
more restless than ever, and we knew
that something we could neither see
nor hear must be going on. After a
while I asked the question that had
been worrying me ever since 1 had
heard tbo OoT1