Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-09-11

glimpse of the derrick and the ground
around it.. Only one brief look as they
flashed overhead, but 1t was enough.
Jimmy felt a weakness in the pit OF
his stomach at the thought OF going
into the inferno. Ordinary danger he
didn't mind-but this
He brought the plane down steadily.
How did it look TO you from the
air?" the major asked a~nXiously as they
met.
Long shook his head. Pretty bad.
The fires almost up to the derrick. We
didn't get a clear look, but what we
saw was bad enough"
do you still want to try and get
in TO the valve?" the major asked Jim
my. His voice offered leeway to escape
from the promise.
Jimmy had made up his mind. III
try it," he answered.
Nothing more was said. Long helped
him get the suit N. The townsmen
gathered around, stared with morbid
curiosity. A few of their remarks
reached his ears.
Bet he won't come out Of there
alive"
Sure he will. That suit won't burn,
even if the heat does get through.
I've seen Will Carter go in places al
most as bad
Eyes, and he had hoses shooting
water all over him while he was in
there"
That's right. They amt got any
water here"
Another voice-"Bet a dollar he don't
get out"
Jimmy shut his ears to the words,
and stood there waiting for the he'll
met to be put on over his head.
The major spoke. If you feel it
getting too much for you, come right
on out"
Jimmy nodded. Long raised the he'll
met, slipped it over his head. A sense
of STIFFNESS closed down around him.
Long tested the last fastening, patted
him on the back. Jimmy went toward
the edge of the fire, walking awkward
ly in the clumsy asbestos boots and
the hampering weight Of the suit.
Heavy asbestos gloves covered his
hands, made them feel shapeless.
The sun was down over the horizon
now, brief twilight was closing in.
A hard gust Of wind drove the smoke
aside. showing the gaunt skeleton OF
the derrick. It vas trembling, totter-
ing. Jimmy stopped in his tracks at
the edge of the flame covered oil, eyes
glued on that shaking tower of steel.
1t swayed, seemed to lean out. Then
before his eyes it crumbled on the fire
weakened foundations. With a crash
that was plainly audible inside the
bo1p,at ~ pl,prad Iourp into tho hOc0pn
of the fire. A mammoth tongue of
flame seemed to leap over the spot.
Jimmy hesitated a moment longer.
The reflected heat Of the fire was al
ready making itself felt inside the suit.
The task ahead was vastly more diff
cult now than it had been a few min
utes before. The top of the pipe was
covered with a tangled of bis
tering steel, perhaps impossible to get
to. There was nc water to sustain him
and keep the suit cool. Nor was there
any good reason why he should make
this desperate attempt, in which the
stakes were life against the majors
money.
Jimmy didn't think beyond that. He
hunched his shoulders abruptly and
strobe into the smoke.
Heat. He had never known the word
until now. 1t seemed to press in
through the walls of the clumsy suit,
to strike at his body with physical
blows. To wilt the flesh and numb
the muscles.
A steady drumming began against
his helmet, against his body. 1t was
oil raining from overhead. And it
struck and stuck and caught tire. 1t
couldn't have been more than thirty
seconds that he vas in the belt OF
flames. 1t seemed like an age. His
foot struck heavily against an oil Gov
cred timber. He saw that it was at
the edge Of the derrick foundations
where the heavy timbers were being
consumed. Rising up before him were
the sagging Orders of the derrick.
He ducked, crawled under a bent
length of steel, felt the heat OF an
other piece as his gloved right hand
rested on it briefly The air was a little
clearer in here at the heart OF the tire.
Through the writhing, twisting stream
ers of smoke he say the rushing toun-
tain of oil rushing up from the ground.
The night vas fast closing in. The
and shadows into weird fantastic
red light of the flames wrought smoke
shapes. The whole top of the derrick
floor was covered with twisting girders
that had fallen over it.
The heat was making him giddy. The
smoke and acrid air were filling the
helmet. He was feeling strangely weak.
Twenty feet away vas the top of the
pipe, from which the endless stream
of oil shot high. Twenty feet away
and it seemed a mile. He clambered
between other pieces Of steel, through
splashing fountains of oil. One foot
went through a hole in the wooden
floor, down into the deep pool OF oil
that filled the cellar under the derrick
floor. He pulled it out with an effort,
conscious of new danger. If a section
of that floor gave away, it would drop
him into a thick, sticky death. He'd
never be able to get out. He'd sink
in ten feet of crude oil and disappear.
He stepped wei another part of the
derrick, reeled as he stumbled into the
solid steel side of the drilling string,
1t took a great effort Of will to stag
ger stubbornly forward to the top of
the pipe, to lay his clumsily gloved
hands on that valve and tug.