The diamond drill., 1922-01-13
The Girl,
a Horse
and a
Dog
CONTINUED From Last Week)


CONTINUED From Last Week)
only degree or so less Egyptian than
that OF the shaft-house interior.
Though / could see nothing suspi-
clous Il was very evident that the dog
could hear something. He had his nose
TO the crack under the door and was
growing. / quieted him and listened
Something was going on. either inside
OF the cabin on back Of it In the dead
silence / could distinguish low muir
muir Of voices and. moment later. a
sound like that which would be made
by the cautious opening OF one OF the
sliding windows. While / still had my
eye 10 the peep-hole Jet OF flame
spurted from the dark bulk OF the cab
In, and simultaneously a bullet tore
through the shaft-house roof. The
raiders had captured our outworks.
The report and the bullet clatter
aroused Daddy Hiram. and when i
turned he was at my elbow.
~Done crope up on us. have they,
sonf" he said In his usual unruffled
manner. Then: Maybe this is Just a
sort o. false notion over here. S'pose
you try and get squint at things over
on the blacksmith-shop side. Stannie."
stumbled across TO the other door,
taking the collie with me. I could see
nothing In that direction: less than
nothing. since the lean-to shop build
ing cut of what little light the stars
gave. But the black darkness didn't
hamper Barney's ears or his nose. and
his eagerness to get back TO the real
battle front was a good proof that
there was as yet nothing stirring on
our side OF things.
Cropping my way back to Daddy I
found that he had one Of the Winches-
ters and semed to be trying to at
ramrod to the barrel. When finally
made out what he was doing found
that he had thrust a piece OF heavy
wire into the gun-barrel and was Inn
paling one OF the dynamite cartridges
on Its projecting end.
LIT skyrocket," he chuckled; then,
with quaint humor: "You stnnd by
with match, Stannle. and let's see
what-all's goin' TO happen. When I
say the word, you stick your match TO
the fuse"
Heavens maybe didn't enjoy de-
Iightful little spasm as got a flash
light mental picture Of that old man
fumbling around with a lighted cart
ridge at the muzzle of his gun. trying
. 10 poke cartridge and gun-barrel
through hole In the door that couldn't
possibly have been over two and n
half inches I'm diameter-and I'm the
dark, at that What II he shouldn't be
able 10 find the hole in timer Or II he
should succeed In finding It and the
rifle bullet should jam on the wirei
Or any one of a dozen "ifs" that might
fall to rid MS OF the deadly thing be-
fore IL should go off and blow us to
kingdom come?
But there was no time TO haggle
about 1t. and the whang Of another
high-powered bullet on the iron roof
over our heads speeded things up.
''Do your do" Daddy muttered; and
struck a match, sheltered the tiny
flame In my followed hands until II
got going good, and then, with silent
prayer that Daddy might not miss the
hole. stuck the blaze TO the frayed end
Of the powder string.
Coming all three together as IL
seemed to me. there were spittings like
those of an angry cat. pun Of chok-
Ing powder smoke, and the crack OF
the rifle. For just about three seconds
nothing further happened: but at the
fourth second or thereabouts-oh, boy
The cabin was stoutly and solidly
built OF logs. az I may have mentioned.