Show HOUSE OF MS CARDS old pop Stel fels fells great sacrifice as a memorial to his daughter mina by ARTHUR arthun JONES donds bonds queried pop scornfully huh it if you tellers in such a blame bearno hurry to set get out of the caissons chaissons cais sons so OB as to knock off work you in danger of them though lie ho was only fifty five everybody know old tho the foro foreman inan of tile construction company as pop it la Is not often that a german hcrman Is found in charge of a gang and when lie to la he is art alit to bo be a man of authority but everybody revered pop because lie ho was known to bo a man devoid of fear you BOO bee boya bay he be would explain to the newcomers them bends bend s Is caused this way andor two throe three four press urea tho the blo blood ad gets full of at air now you got to go back a slow ow or elso else when you gets back to on one pressure them air bubbles baited yet and its going to get I 1 nto into your heart and kill hill you maybe which was as nearly scientific as was necessary for their comprehension dills bills anxious to git back to meet that girl of hla his when tho the smith bu building ild turns out its people said one of tho the rn men n everybody know knew mils bills girl bill was tho the popular sobriquet for mr william allen alien whose uncle was waa junior partner in ili tho the construction company that was sinking its caissons chaissons cais sons deep into the edge of tho the east river adjoining the smith building allen alien was qualifying for an engineer by learning tile tho practical details of tho the work miss elizabeth strickland was employed in tho the smith building a little three story structure soon to be pulled down because of age and general decrepitude it was rarely that the men going to work did not see miss elizabeth seated at her desk beside a window on the top story and looking out to wave her hand to bill pop fol tho the sentimentalist as most moat are was waa once found almost in tears though ho he stoutly attributed his condition to the onton onion which life his landlady had placed in his lunch basket that warning morning say you tellers fellers when I 1 see a nice girl like miss strickland and a alno young teller like that teller feller bill it sort the quivering mass was temporarily halted of makes nie me think of my mina he said eald f old wife bad died two years before and hla his only daughter had been killed in a railroad accident a year later ila ho lived absolutely alone for at fifty ono one does not often make now friends what im afraid of ho he continued munching his luncheon Is that that rotten old ad smith buildings going to fall yes tellers fellers them foundations IEL la rotten lotten fe alors ive been down and ivo seen them some swindling contractor must have set them down on the mud of the river bed there aint one tech inch of concrete con creto under ern em tellers fellers and if that old building falls he paused Impre impressively 1 I tell you from ue tle way them foundations Is twisted she falls plumb into the east river apte a house of cards but auf dont you say nothing to bill Mis always waved a we welcoming hand to pop St lefel ile ho would have died for her she had whispered to him before anybody else was told tho the secret of her engagement to allen alien and had told him he was to td consider himself a privileged guest at the little bungalow which was being built for them out on long island she reminded pop more than ever of mina he went away wiping the tears out of his eyes softhearted soft hearted and stout of soul was ex exaggeratedly ag gerat edly german from his bluchers blu chers to his spectacles and his thatch of iron gray hair lie he had bad gone down in the caisson under several pressures of aimos atmon phere the men were acro pushing the great shield forward scooping out the soft cheese like clay of the river bank and sending up the debris when the gangs hour was ended old remained down alone he wanted to in those smith building foundations again ile he had been worrying about them three months rem remained aind before the old condemned building waa nas to be closed of courbet courset course it was not likely that within three months they would give way they must have been rotten tor for fifty years three three months made little difference suddenly buffel became con conscious clous that something abnormal was happen ing in fact tho the air pressure had been sl slightly agh fly lowered and a little slit silt was drifting in that in itself was not of the greatest consequence probably thoro there was a leaky valve which lowered the atmosphere tension nalon to it hail had happened before and meant only a few hours work lost but this was something different it was no leaky valve ho he saw that now bu but t a B sudden addon influx or of quicksand probably propelled by tho the sudden releasing of tho the pressure of the dead weight ol of clay that had confined it in its inal limits and it was flowing not from tile the south ns as it should have flowed but from the west from immediately beneath the smith building top rop know what that meant the rotten foundations would simply bo swept away the building resting on nothing would collapse as surely as a house of cards falls when tho the under cards are withdrawn the sweat poured down his face ho looked round him in agony then he rushed back to the air lock and entered tho the chamber with the next pressure of atmosphere one man was waiting there and lie he was waa just about to pass pasa back into tho the upper air run shouted Bt St lefel plucking him by the sleeve run like all you was worth you teller and tell era em the smith buildings going to faill the man caught the horrified look on the old germans german I 1 a face and turned and obeyed then turned back into the lowest chamber again and waded through eight inches of swampy sand five minutes I 1 he muttered five minutes and she falls but well save herl lie ile know that a slight obstruction often cheeks checks a vast momentum for a shott short space of time and he with life hla ponderous body what want better purpose could he ha serve so ho he sat down heavily in the mud which reached almost to his armpits As he did so he became conscious that the quivering mass was temporarily halted like ilka some wave meeting a breakwater the rippling surface undulated away from him then slowly it crept round and upward but he had saved a minute and a minute meant tho the margin between death and safety ile ho looked at hla his watch four minutes he said bald five load good now lot let her comal come and the mass rose to his neck and gulped its his watch aad and the hand band that held it and lapped at his chin and nostrils the old man tilted back his head to breathe she looked like mina he muttered as though in extenuation of his sacrifice and suddenly lie he saw ablina beside him her arma arnis outstretched a look of ineffable loven her eyes Il linal he mumbled thickly im coming my dearl dear and the lapping sands na longer oppressed him nor tho the mud waves that now surged over him copyright 1913 by W 0 chapman |