The midland journal., 1946-03-08
CHAPTER XII

''Sure-even if / have to put on
q song and dance to keep them
amused"
He hurried away, and the old man
turned to watch the proceedings
here. Adam and Cumberland came
beside him.
The wrecking-crew must have
worked late last night to accomplish
30 much. Two pines of good girth
had been cut and trimmed to serve
as shears; their butts anchored on
the rim of the ledge, against iron
bars set in holes drilled in the solid
granite; their tips crossed and
lsshed with chains from which
steel pulley and cable were suspend
ed. The shears were guyed with
wire cables carried back and am
cllored to trees in the fringe of the
wood behi-d. Men were busy tight
eling the cables, tending the winch,
skouting questions and commands.
At the edge pf the precipice the
foreman, on his hands and knees,
watched a man who swan nude in
the quarry pool below. The fall from
Che pulley descended beside this
man. He floated on his back, pad
ding with his hands, and called up:
more slack, Mike! I must get a
hitch around the axle!"
OK" said Mike, and waved his
hand in signal. The winch creaked;
the ropes whirred; the steel fall
descended six inches, foot, two
teet deeper into the water.
"1'n try it now," the swimmer
decided. "Don's take any strain on
d while I'm down."
He made neat surface dive; his
Aeefs cleaned in the sun. He seemed
10 be out Of sight for long time;
but at length Adam saw pale blur
In Che gray water, and then the
mans head appeared. He rolled on
1sas back, lay breathing deeply for
q moment, shouted:
'Sake up on it now! think I've
got It'll Don't lift-just draw it
Tight" az
The fall drew taut and stopped;
and the swimmer once more de-
sceDdcd.
When this time he broke the sur
face again, he swan a little away
from the chain. "Now take 1t up!"
he called. "Till the front end is out
Of water, so I can see if the hook
b set all right"
The winch revolved, and the fall
began to climb laboriously upward.
The man swan away a rod or
two and waited.
So out of that gray concealing
water, wheels appeared, and fen
der, a mudguard, the front of
streaming radiator. /. !. Adams heart
leaped, driven by an intense excite
ment. This was, after all, no more
than a car which some one had
wished to hide; yet its resurrection
from that hiding place, where it
might have lain forever, had in it
something dramatic, almost omi-
nous. It was like the emergence Of
. monster, slowly, from its lair;
slow. lethargic-and ponderous with
consequences!
"Hold it'll" called the man below.
The winch stopped while he swan
toward tho car. Adam felt some
one beside him. Here was Tope, on
hands and knees, peering down; the
District Attorney just beyond.
"O.K.l" shouted the swimmer tri-
umphantlf. "You can have It'll Take
Il awayl'
He began to swim toward the
farther side Of the quarry, where his
clothes lay on a rock in the sun.
Mike Frame waited till the SWIM
mer was well clear before he gave
The signal.
And at last it was here just be-
low them. 1t hung six feet beyond
their reach, its bottom toward them.
They all stared at the bottom of
this car, searching 1t with eyes abb
surdly intent, as though it might
have some secret to reveal.
And then suddenly Tope stood up;
he spoke to Mike. in sharp irritated
tones. ''What are you going to do
with it?" he demanded.
"Eh?" said Mike. "Do with it?
Why-drag it out of therel That's
what you wanted, wasn't it?"
Tope's temper fiared. The old man
was tired, impatient. 'How?" he in
sisted. "You can't reach out and
pick it like an apple, and you've got
no way to swing these shears in.
You've wasted all this time-and it's
as far away now as it ever was!
Man. you"
Then abruptly he checked himself.
His eyes were fixed on the car, hang
ing now within ten feet of them,
Elk feet out of reach. He moved to
pne side, approaching the edge of
the precipice as closely as possible.
The men on the winch continued to
wind; the car rose higher. And Tope
sailed sharply:
Stop! Stop itf''
Mike lifted his hand In signal. Mat
Cumberland came To Tope's side,1
gked What is II, Topper" s.
Tlae old naan was staring Ia 81