The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1943-01-21
d1G DARK IlGHTNINC1l IA
MEAIA By HELEN TOPPING MILLER - HA4 60
nIW
WIN U. EFNrURt

down before. Then the Dlack
kelly joint rode up and was cou-
pied to the pipe-and the whole
! went down, the swivel slankeo
into place again, the rotary turn
ed as the draw gear grunted and
whined-and deeper and deeper
into the earth sank the hungry
bits.
At the top of the derrick the
crown block, with its great pull
leys, spun and hummed as the
heavy cables Stacked and tighten
ed. His boots splashed with mud
, and grease. Harvey stood fascln-
ated, as long as the rotary turn
ed and drill was going down, but
when the roar of the gears ceas-
ed and the clanking of chains be-
gan and the pipe came up slowly
soldering mud and water, anx-
iety frightened his face:
"Something wrcng?''"
rNope-just changing bits.
Want to see what they're getting
out now? Don't come too close,
you'll get all muddy"
He crouched over the slush pit
and brought up a handful OF
gray, dripping debris in his palm
Feel that? That's rock-'cap-
rock oil men call it. Down be-
low they'll hit chalk, perhaps
limestone, maybe. Then, if we're
lucky, there will be yellowish
rock with streaks of sand and oil
in it-and then we're down.
Hickey's going to change bits
now. Have to keep grinding them
all the time"
Poor old earth! I wonder if il
hurts
''No groans yet. But some
times the earth hates the drill
and blows it out-and then for
weeks you live with trouble.
You get a blowout on well-a
crater at the top and the sides
cave in and the gas roars out like
something out OF hell. I've seen
one blowout"
How do they know the drills
going straight down? Suppose
it wobbled around and went
crooked and maybe ended up
away over on old man Harper's
place"
"Not likely-not that much.
But a variation of a quarterback
there at the surface can widen till
it gets pretty big at the bottom
of the Observation-Disclosures.
I've seen wells put down that hit
the casing on other wells, three
hundred feet away"
II wish we could get over on
Harper'S place - I wish we'd
bore straight through his house
the mean old thing!
seen your sister lately?"
"They were coming out Sun
day-and then Dad was still an
cry so Mother phoned Grace not
to come. She didn't want Dad
and Oliver to get into a fight"
She knocked on the fence post
with her clinched knuckles. I'm
stiff. Help me down. I think
I'm tired of this oil we'll. I think
I need a maple fudge sundae.
Let's get this mud off and 60 to
town."
! Cant do it. I'm a working
man. Your father expects me to
stay around. When anything
/ happens, it happens quick, on a
job like this. Good-by, idle wo-
man."
"Good-by, Mud-dauber. Let
me know when you get oil, will
your"
II won't need to let you know.
You'll hear the gang yell all the
way to town"
Seven hundred feet, and still
Hickey's draw gear groaned, and
the cables held, and the rotary
turned. Hickey grinned his
toothless, malicious grin when
ever Gary was around. But Ma
son had announced that Gary
Tallman was his field superin-
tendent, and there was nothing
for Hickey to do but listen when
Gary spoke.
The sun grew hot and Hickey
shut down his gear often to oil
up. But nights were still cool,
and the steamy mist drifted over
the slush pit, where water, warm
ed by friction, speWed out end
lessly, bringing up from the
earth the grist of the drill. But
still the rotary turned and the
bits went down and Hickey kept
on grinning.
Eight hundred feet and a
steamy morning, and Gary look
ed up to see a hairy figure lean
ing against the tool box. A
roughneck eased his itching nose
,..:4L H. hall of L 10 f;c& opI c7oof