Graham guardian., 1922-03-03
FRANCIS LYNDE<

saoes not appear particularly grateful
Finally the true situation, apparent 4
any one less deeply in love and possibly
Ieas dense dawns on Stanford. and hi
reaiizea that he has found the Girl, tn,
Horse and the Dos. and particularly THh
GIRL
was run away with the had TO be-
reckon we Just got to grit our teeth,
son. and tough II out the best we can y
During this waiting interval, which
seemed like hours and was probably
only a few minutes, we were momen-
tarily' expecting another crash. 1t did
not come; but In due course of time
we heard a stir outside and then
voices, and. one of the voices, which
was. not Bullerton's said: "Ill bet
that cartridge smoked 'em out good an
plenty, caPn- Gimme tn AK, Tom, till
we ku'st open the door an. have a
squlnt at EN-"
Just at that moment submerging
wave of depression surged over me
and showed me down so deep that
think possibly IL Fullerton had called
out and demanded our surrender
should have been tempted to tell him
that was not SO much of hog as
not to know when | had enough. But
the old man squeezed in beside me tn.
der the arched boiler, plate was made
Of better fiber; he was game to the
last hair in his beard. With Wild
Indian yell he hunched his Winchester
INTO position and fred once, twice,
thrice, at the door, as rapidly as he
could pump the relonding lever.
A scattering fusillade was the reply
to this, but the, aim was bad and the
only result was to set the air of our
prison fortress to buzzing as If q
swarm of angry bees had been turned
loose on us. After this, the raiders
withdrew, so we judged; at all events,
the silence of the dark hour before
daybreak shut down upon us again,
aud once more we had space in which
to gather our minds" as Daddy put
It.
1t may be a dastardly confession of
weakness to admit It, but am free to
say that the eprolOpged struggle was
gradually undermining my nerve. II
Bullertoh had made up his mind to
write Off the loss of the mine buildings
and machinery, II was a battle lost for
us. 1t could be only q, question of a
little time, and enough daylight to en-.
able. the -bWnpefy'~t0 tlff6SM Straight,
until we should be buried In the wreck
Of the shafthouse and hoist--and with.
out the privilege of dying in good,
old-fashioned, stand.up fght.N'1- '''s
All Of this l hastily pointed out to
Daddy Hiram, adding that, for Jeanles
sake, IL for no better reason, he ought
to take his chance of staying upon
earth. AS long as l live l shall
always have a high respect for the
wrath Of mild-mannered man. The
old prospector was fairly Berserk,
mad, foaming at the mouth, and short
Of dragging him out by main strength
there was no way of making him Lst,
go. ...-
"No, SIR; done promised your
gran'paw at I'd stand by for him, and
he paid me money for dOin' 1t. When
them helTlons get this here mine,
they're goin' to dig hole somewheres
and bury Inc afterward," was all
could get out Of him.
We were not given very much more
time for discussion, or for anything
else. The first faint grazing dawn was
coming, and with the partial tighten.
ing Of the inner gloom, we craned.our
necks-like double-headed turtle
peering out of Its shetland got
glimpse Of the damage done by the in.
itial thunderbOlt, We saw 1t without
any trouble: great hole torn in the
sheetiron roof directly over the hoist
and shaft mouth.' Knowing the use
and effect Of explosives pretty well,
Daddy said that the bomb had gone off
pretnaturely; had exploded before II
had fairly lighted upon the roof.
"If II hadn't-if Ii had been layin'
on the roof when 1t went ofr--we
wouldn't be'ylookin' up fat that hole
right now, Stannie, my son. Wed be
moggln' up the golden stair and avon /
derin' how much farther II was to the !
New Jerusalem. and what kind o. |
harps they was goin' TO give us when |
we got there. We sure would"
We didn't keep our heads out very
long. While we were staring up at
the hole and at the. patch of sky be.
yond II q small dark object with a
smoke'blue comets tail trailing be. !
hind II crossed our line Of sight, and |
we ducked and held our breath---or at |
least, I held mine. The crash came
almost immediately, and It was fol. !
lowed in swift succession by second
and third Luckily, none OF the
three hit the shaft-house. nor indeed, /
fell very near TO Il; and this uncer.
talnty Of ann told us where the attack
was coming from, The bomb throw.
ers were posted somewhere OPT the I,
steep slope Of ofthesmountain above us;
the slope which have described as.
up from the brink OF thel
abrupt cliff overlooking the mine
plant.
They'll get the range, after a