Graham guardian., 1922-02-17

W luxe CUdnCe. llt lnuIleTPu. any
ways, I'd about rs lief die as be
drowned to death. Wen have to muss
that blacksmith shop up and get II out
o the way, somehow. Gimme match
out o. that tin box o your'n-if they
amt all soaked to jlz-whixzlin' sop"
! found the matches, which. luckily.
were still dry, and handed him one.
Before fairly realized what he was
going to do, he had taken one Of the
dynamite cartridges out Of its bucket
hiding place and was splitting the fuse
with his pocketknife.
open that there door into the shop"
he commanded; and when / obeyed
mechanically, out went the bomb, fiz-
zing and sputtering, TO land In a heap
IF scrap iron piled on the farther side
OF the stone-built forge. The sight OF
II smoking and splitting sparks In the
heap of scrap half hypnotized me,
guess, for l stood gaping at II, with
the door held open, until Daddy HiraIr
jerked me away, slammed the door p1d
yelled to me TO help him bar IL.
We had barely time to get the door
closed and fastened with the heavy
wooden bar and TO throw ourselves
fiat on the floor behind the hoisting
machinery before the crash came As
I have previously said, the blacksmith
shop was rather filmsy, shed-like
affair, rooted with corrugated iron,
and 1t seemed to us as Il broken TIM
bers and pieces Of sheet metal were
raining down for full minute after
the blast went of.
The shock to everything In the vicin-
ity was, of course, tremendous and
the stout old Shaft-house itself rocked
and swayed like tree In hurricane.
But the walls still stood intact, and
when we got up and peeped through
a hole which piece Of the flying
scrap had torn in the door, we could
see what we had done. II was a-plen-
ty. The blacksmith shop had disnp.
peared. leaving nothing but scatter
ing of wreckage. The heavy anvil had
been thrown from Its block and the
lpI sc l'VNVu IL Slulb hlNhth
II. Out by the boiler-shed a rack OF
cordwOod had been toppled over and
under 1t man was struggling to free
himself. When he saw the imprisoned
enemy that mild-manncred, soft-spoken
old soldier that l was shut up with
would have opened the door and shot
the struggler if I hadn't stopped him.
This blowing up of the shop settled
the ShOwer-bath business for us def
lnitely. With the impediment out of
the way we had clear view on this
third side; could command the row
Of miners cabins, as well as the boil
ers in their open shed. When | got
through persuading Daddy Hiram that
we couldn't afford to murder the
wounded. the fellow who had been
wrestling with the wOodpile had made
his exit and there was nobody In
sight. Shortly afterward bullet
fired from somewhere In the forest
background. whanged upon our roof
and there were several to follow; but
aside from punching few more holes
in the iron they did no harm.
Looks like the Hercules is the one
thing they're most skeercd Of" said
Daddy, with his queer little suffering
chucIilr. Nov maybe they'll leave us
have time to get ourselves dried ou'
q mite"
Totting up the results Of the shower
bath we'd lad, Il bread famine prom
iScd 10 be the worst of them. The few
cans Of beans. tomatoes and peaches
tile campers standhys--were nm
hurt of course, and the muddied bacon
could be washed with water drawn
from the flooded shaft. But the -four
in its sack was merely blob OF paste
md was beyond redemption and the
C0rnmcal was the same. In view OF
The results | wondered If Fullerton
hadn't Shrrwdly calculated upon wash
ing our COnmisSary out Of existence
when he planned his overerown lawn
sprinkler. But maybe that was giving
him credit for more ingenuity than he
really had.
Through what remained of the after
noon the rifle firing continued, coming
sometimes from one angle and some
times from another. but always can
uily from safe distance and always
under cover Of the surrounding forest.
Daddy Hiram. grlmly optimistic. ex-
tracted a swallow or So of encourage
ment out of the persistent pOt-shOot-
ing.
Dunno as you've ever noticed 1t,
Stannie, but if you'll only let hog
alone long enough he'll shove himself
under the bob-wire fence far enough
to get caught" he said. Charley Bull
lerton, now; he's plum forgot that
'Tropla's less n five miles away and
that sound carries mighty long dis
tances in these mountains in clear
weather."
Continued next week.