The Washington times., 1938-01-14

Mere size in people does not, as
a rule, give them menacing ap'
pearance, but in Gentry's case, it
did because his kind of size was
frightening.
He was tall-over six feet, but
unless you measured beside him
you wouldn't realize that, because
he gave the impression of squat
ness; he was so broad and barrel
chested.
Gentry's peculiar build was par
ticularly adaptable to his work as
an underground blaster. His ire
mendous lung capacity made It
possible for him to stay at great
depths in the earth much longer
than the average man. The other
men avoided him as rule.
KID SUSPICIOUS
There was one in particular
whom Bill Gentry would have
liked to know better, to help, If
he could, and that was The Kid.
Nobody knew The Kids name, al
though he was carried on the pay
roll as Jack Smith.
Starved and embittered he had
hung around the job for several
weeks until finally the superin-
tendent took him on as a sort OF
combined water and powder boy.
Gentry worried about the cough
which racked The Kid whenever
he emerged from the compression
chamber. But The r i'd repulSed
his fumbling attempt at friendli-
ness with bright h. rd suspicion.
How about a hunk of my sand
wich?" Gentry would mutter, hur-
riedly and shamefully. Where The
Kids small salary went, he didn't
know, but the boy never seemed
to have any lunch.
"You know what you can do
with it, baboon," he would shout,
without realizing that the big
mans hands would never harm
him, or that his words carried
pain to Gentry's heart.
1t built him up, in pitiful way,
to hear the shouts of laughter
from the rest of the crew, and to
see Gentry turn aside, looking
more forbidding than ever.
One day in midwinter, they were
working late shifts on the caisson.
Two hundred feet down it went,
and almost half a mile horizon
tally under the river bottom.
Foot by foot the tunnel had bur
rowed, with the compression cham
ber at it's head, a steel shield, and
strong timbers holding up the tenn
poraEy concrete work overhead.
Beyond the concrete there were
scores of feet of bedrock, and over
the bedrock, the river bottom
Sludge, itself under the pressure
Of thousands of tons of river
water.
Beneath, the men worked; with
each blast, the compression head
would be opened, and wiry, clay
Spattered figures would dart in and
out shoveling the broken rock and
mud onto the conveyor cars which
would then begin the long jour
ney to the surface.
PreSSureS had to be very care
fully regulated when cars or men
left the chamber so that the deli
cately preserved balance of the
place would not be disturbed, re-
Sulting in severe, and possibly fatal
cases Of "the bends" the deathIy
fear Of all pressure workers.
Bill Gentry called The Kid over,
and the boy reluctantly responded.
AS powder boy, he had, of course,
70 respond to the blaster'S orders.
There's holes enough there for
one more load before we quit.
Gimme 20 sticks" Gentry said.
OFFERS TO TEACH KID
The Kid nodded and turned to
go to the magazine, where the
so per cent nitre-glycerine dyna.
mite sticks were kept. He placed
the sticks in a neat pile at Gen
try'S feet. The blaster looked at
him .curiously.
wouldn't you like to see how
I do this-maybe you could learn
somethin'. You'd like 10 get a
better job sometime, wouldn't
you?" he asked.
I'm eatin', amt ~" The Kids
suspicious were aroused. This
was gag of some kind. What
do I want to know about that
for? Ia hell with you and your
powder"
Something snapped in Gentry's
brain. With startling swiftness,
his long arms flashed out, and
his hamlike hands grabbed T h e
Kids shoulders.
He lifted the powder boy bodily,
at arms length, and drew him
closer. When he spoke, his voice
held real anger.
You're gonna do like say"
he rumbled, and shifted the grip
of one hand from shoulder to coat
collar.
He held the struggling Kid in
the air with that one hand, and
waved the other threateningly.
"I'll slap your ears off, see, if you
don't do like I say"
"Okay, okay I'll watch you
His voice rose again to it's accus-
toned ShrillnesS. "Only let me
down, will you?"
He was put down, and the two
then set to work.
Each operation, Gentry ex.
planned haltingly in his rough
buried voice. The Kid watched
bored at first, and finally inter.
ested. He was caught off-guard for