The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1922-04-14
CHAPTER X.-Continued.

Being stopped off short in every
other direction, we finally gravitated
over to the shaft-house and went to
work in an aimless sort of fashion
gathering up the wreckage of the
smashed gear train and putting things
shipshape again. With steam up, we
turned the machinery over a few
times, just to see that everything was
IN working order again. and | threw In
the clutch of the centrifugals, merely
for the satisfaction of hearing the
flood rushing through the outlet When
the pumps were going at full speed I
went to look down the shaft AS be
fore, when we had run the pumps for
n week on end, there was a slight dis
turbance of the water but nothing
mOreA My makeshift flOat-and-pulley
gauge showed no change in the level
Suddenly freak notion seized me
that I'd like to know just what was
going on down in those black depths
into which the suction pipes of the
big pumps led.
Daddy, I'm going TO try to find out
something" l declared and forthwith
began to strip my clothes off. We've
seen the water coming out at the 9th
er end of things, and now, by George,
] mean 10 make sure that it's going in
at this end"
He didn't try very hard to dissuade
me- and a minute or so later I was
crawling down the shaft ladder in the
habiliments that old Mother Nature
gave me. 1t was my first exploration
of the shaft and 1 was surprised to
find It so well and tightly timbered;
boxed" is the better word, since the
Gimbering was really a substantial
wooden box built within the square
Outlinings of the pit Common sense
told me that this must have been done
to prevent the caving in of the sides
and afterward / remembered wonder
ing, at the time, that the shaft should
have been sunk in caving material
when the remainder of the bench upon
which the buildings stood appeared to
be little else than solid rock
By feeling with free foot I could
determine that the pump suction pipes
went on still farther. and then the
real adventure began. The ladder
suddenly gave out, quit. ended. There
were no more rounds below the one
upon which l was standing That be-
ing the case, there was nothing for it
but to dive, feet foremost, and taking
a deep breath, I let go of the ladder
and began to swim downward. Almost |
bet1Se realized it 1 was fighting des- |
perately for dear life. One of the big |
suction pipes had taken hold of a foot |
and leg. like a tentacle of an enor-
nous octopus, and 1 was unable to get |
loose.
After all, it was Daddy Hiram who |
saved my life Suddenly the thunder
OF the pumps, magnified a thousand
fold for me in that icy pit of death,
short and the mechanical |
squid let go Of my leg. With lungs
bursting / shot 70 the surface and |
weakly clutched the ladder. Framed
IN the square of daylight a dozen feet
overhead 1 could see Daddy hanging
over the mouth of the pit; saw him
and heard his shouted words: Freeze
TO the ladder, boy-I'm a-cOmin' down
after ye!"
I was freezing all right I'm both
senses of the word, but I found breath
70 warn him back, and presently man.
aged 10 crawl up the ladder and roll
out upon the shafthouSe floor. In
st4sHiy the old man bounced upon me,
buffeting, Shaping and rubbing, maui
ing me worse than any Turkish-bath
pirate would have dared to. 1t was
keen torture, but it turned the trick,
and by the time 1 was able TO breathe
comfortably again, 1 had acquired q
beautiful gD3nknd hluSb whore bad
been blue-all but the great bruise,
where the suction pipe
had bit me.
OF course, Daddy was chock full Of ;
and concern. mixed up with
D good bit of curiosity. II
"One of the suction pipes" 1 ex-
planned beginning to crawl back into II