Year: 1875

the inventor eyes Go the most OF IN
looking. Whether he felt kind Q
reckless trust in the instinct of hi
haIf-witted companion, or indolentl
concluded that nothing wrong coul
I happen, he was sadly to blame 70
charging himself so little with tn
important duty before him.


Not a word was said BY eithe
watcher, and only the deep roar of tn
furnace was heard through the vas
foundry.


George finished his supper, ant
sauntered into one of the tool shops t,
find his pipe. Inventor" sat alon'
before the great blast The one rati
onal faculty of his feeble mind EN-
abled him to comprehend what i
meant, and even something of th'
magnitude of the enterprise that wa.
ripenlng inside those burning walls
He knew that the furnace was full O.
valuable metal, and that close beside
him, buried out of sight in the deep
sand, was the huge mould, so soon t.
be filed with the precious cast. de
knew and could see that all the chan
nels for the flow of the fiery liquid
were ready, and that near the mouth
of the furnace stood the long iron rod
that was to be used when the moment
came to let the molten stream.


All this his limited thoughts took
in by habit. Dimly conscious that
something great was soon to be done,
he sat with his eyes on the furnace,
absorbed and intent.


Suddenly something startled him.
There was a slight noise, and a burn
ing crack appeared near the top OF
the furnace. Then another crack,
and scorching brick fell out and
rolled to the ground at his feet!


The lad opened his mouth to shrek,
but so terrified was he that the sounds
stuck in his throat, as if he had been
in a fit of nightmare.


A thin red stream followed the tal
len brick. and trickled down the fur
mace side like running lava. Then
came another alarming noise, and d
thin gap halfway down the masonry
let out more of the Kissing metal.


Where was George? Was the un'
faithful fellow still hunting for his
pipe? The furnace was bursting,
with only a poor, half idiot lad tC
guard it!


What could he do? He did what
perhaps Il lad in his right mind would
not have dared to do. Rushing to the
mouth of the furnace he seized the
long iron rod that stood near, and
tapped the vent. One desperate thrust
with the sharp point up the terrible
furnel-a few quick, prying strokes
Stand back, now ! The coninlng clay
fell away, and the yellow-whlte flood
spurtc,l ont with resistess force. II
leaped into the clay lined troughs
and hissed its, way, flaming down tc
the mouth of the bell-mold.


The fool" bad done deed wor
thy of Il genera on field Of battle


Was it too late? Every moment
new fssures opened in the doomed
furnace. Some OF the upper stones
toppIed over Still the mental pour
ed out into the mould. But the waste
vas great from those gaping flaws
The pressure was relieved by the
opened vent, but the leaks multiplied
continually. 1t was art running a
race with ruin.


Poor "Mopus stood powerless be
fore the coming catastrophe. His
knees knocked together, and his Lead
swan. \ great heap Of red-hot bricks
and rubbish fell at his feet. He had
barely thought to get ont Of the way
and save his lite. He heard wild
shout of human voices in the distance,
then an awful roar behind him, and
and he saw and felt himself pursued
by surges of seething fire. Sharp,
blistering pains pierced his flesh at a
hundred points. The rest was all Il
horrible, unintelligible dream. 1t
was if he had suddenly sunk into the
earth and been swallowed up forever


BY seven O'Clock krcomparative quiet
reigned again on the scene OF disaster
Ruins Law everywhere. The engine,
had quenched the flames that had
caught the building, and the men
blackened with smoke, stood in silent
groups about the remains Of the fur
mace. 1t had fallen to pieces, and
nothing wa. left but heaps of steam
ing rubbish.


Poor "Inventor,' who had been
found with the tapping-rod in hi
hand, lying on his face in the sand
frighttully burned, had been carried
to his home.


Little was said, but the few word;
spoken, uttered with no mild empha
sis the natural wrath Of the master
and the hands against the man
George, whose excuses for himself
only exaggerated his offan e.


"See what he's done" said they a
few days later, as they stood in the
half-burned foundry. Give thou,
sand dollars gone to waste in min
ute! The best job in twenty year,
spoiled. The rascal, to 90 hunting
tor his pipe, and leave that suffering
idiot to watch! l. that al he can
say for himself? Out upon such
careIessness!' Why, the boy didn't
even know enough to bawl out when
he must have seen the furnace tumb-
ling to pieces


The master, who had more at stake
than the men, of course felt the loss
more keenly than they. He almost
wept with mingled gTiet and rage. -
Suddenly something peculiar caught
81, Iokr,- anI ka