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Show I THE GIRL, A HORSE AND A DOG I I ' ' By FRANCIS LYNDE . I Bll " Ooprrlcht br Chart n Bcrlbner'a Sons H CHAPTER XIV. Continued. ti tm a Httlc after noon, while- wo K". Mating o' 10 tt00 RSer ma warmed up over the chip KJ I that we found out the answer H .1 1 llio guesses nnU learned whnt K. mechanical noises of tho ulght K-1 forenoon had been lendlfig up to. K,, of the left-overs from tho work-K, work-K, t fiod of tho mine was a good-sized K..m force pump which, wo took It, Klonee been Installed oil ono of tho Kcernlne levels and hail been hoisted Kit of the shaft nhend of tho ndvanc-K ndvanc-K r water flood and put under shelter Hi corner of the boiler shed. As Krti pal"R m t,n cup t0T m?r0 ot KIWi excellent coffeo tho rnttlo and Kick of a pump began to muko Itself Kird. together with tho coughing KLt-cbus of tho steam exhaust there- KiTtiat' that low-level pumpl' I ex-K'llned. ex-K'llned. "They must ,mvo connected K tp with the boll" ttlwshl that wus Just as far as I Kit In the middle midst of tho word KbtlltnV a two-Inch Jet of muddy wn-Kr wn-Kr csnie curving up through one of K) window openings to arch over and Kn. iplash, ull over us as wo sat Keening our dinner. Everlastingly Kined the dinner, put out tho lire, up-Ket up-Ket the coffee pot, and made drowned Kt ot l)0"' of us ln ,css t'"10 tlm" lt Hates to tell It much less. Hft much for that. Of course, we ran Hid ducked and dodged, like tho Kwned rals l snenk of nuntl"S for K holt. But now Iiullerton's devilish cjiiiwrlng Ingenuity came Into piny. Hi; tome menus ns yet unknown to us, He bad contrived n movablo nozzle to n Another Minute There Wasn't a jingle Dry Spot In the Shaft- ) Hour. M njulrt-cun, and In another mlnuto dHli WMI't a single dry spot, left ln t uumhouse. 1 venture to say that " and I nnd the dog ran a full jjW e '?'" to set out ot rango of that Kr. cal 0Me-ninchlne, but there HUE'1 corncr of' tho plnco that It J1! and didn't, reach. "During the night the scoundrels hnd W Pipe lino from tho pump ln tho Mr 6he,I alongside of our prison 'Kfj this with nn upright cxten-r.7,'ho cxten-r.7,'ho business end of It. At tho ne sandplpo stem there was nn (jr "Ith a short Joint of plpo Ci. ln,t0 It to Point our way; and WJr. d.?' ,hls nozr,u tbore wns a mzr ""J" hose. Under tho Jerky !.?. . I0 m,lnn strokes this flex-S flex-S TT n of ,no ,,ozz'o flopped lit lit nml nround nntl 8ld-i'sKklV 8ld-i'sKklV noso of n I'"tent lawn iWUere n Uler you nre or thcrc !:;' '' on the water wngon- I?fi,,18l,,f,t, Arc you re-MCI re-MCI St',m,lt'' tl'nt they enn keep MX he Kt to do Is to put m o wood on tw flro nw nnil "Miti S": ,,lpy KOt "8 Kola1 and m ns h? cflr,t Cl,t' nnl wo ca"'t "B , 10ro whatever!" &' ! WV" ,,,0S0 l,ol,crs-"fcv"1 l,ol,crs-"fcv"1 Ket " stick of dynnmlto ' Mi tmS ,"x the ,c,,ow tl'fs flr-rfK,,t flr-rfK,,t A 8lllvm!l; nnd then tho ' n . "?' norn' "Hny. Dnddy, rffldtah n',0TU 0UU,,, ,,,m,e m" rfH'ft,fti"(,,,,,n'Bmo1iunro. '"'Irown tho bright Idea. ,: CHAPTER XV. M.HLBh ExPo'v"-'u ExPo'v"-'u fciitai" !'"0,:vhlc' ought to "amm . 1,8elf ,m,ch sooner. ' th nt ,th0 ""-mouth M4 ai,he WRU or,r our "ends, lHii,n ,th0 0"t',,,"0 of lts 8"ds Jacket of asbestes un- der u, wetting from the wnter Jet tlmt hnd sot mo thinking. J ' A spinning twirl of the etminn throttle valve wt our machine yh" notion, and when I hnd thrown t P.r,est S '" W Cr"Ucl,P" """' ?nfn ti ,C ateum8ugo connected Into the supplv pipy iVeikUew ,h',t "'o ccntrlfURaUi were wrnclojw steam-oaters; we .,,, JS t o wock-Iong test. I ! one o , ,mtter. of thrw bolw8 x run his sliower-Duth machine, and the result speedily confirmed this ,," Hon. in a tew minutes the steam pressure had dropped to a point at which It would no Ioniser drive any of tho pumps, either ours or tho one out-she out-she and the window cataract stopped. .2h ? rWl" b only n bre 'ln spnee," I prophesied, Retting up to squeeze some of the superfluous water out of my clothes. "Ilullcrton will do one of two things: lire the other two boilers, or disconnect this steam plpo of ours." "Iteckon so?" said Daddy. "You'll see In u minute or so." The attack began even while we were speaking, sundry hammerings and twlstlngs that shook tho plpo over-head over-head proving that the besiegers were going to stop the lenk by cutting us off from the hollers. "Take your whirl at the Inventions, this time, Dnddyl" I urged. "When they get this supply plpo cut out, we'll bo In for another ducking and one thnt we can't stop." Daddy wns shaking his head and wringing the moisture and mud out of his heard. "Jerusalem-to-gosh, Stannle, wo got to take n chancel" he muttered. "Anyways, "Any-ways, I'd about ns lief die as bo drowned to death. We'll have to muss that blacksmith shop up nnd get lt out o' the way, somehow, aimmo a nintcli out o' that tin box o' yourn If they ain't all soaked to a Jlz-whlzzlln' sop." I found the matches, which, luckily, were still dry, and handed him one. Hefore I fairly realized what he was going to do, he had taken ono of the dynamite cartridges out of Its bucket hiding place nnd wns splitting the fuse with his pockctknlfe. "Open that there door Into the shop," lfe commanded; and when I obeyed mechanically, out went the bomb, fizzing fiz-zing and sputtering, to Innd In n henp of scrnp Iron piled on the farther side of tho stone-built forge. The sight of It smoking and spitting sparks ln the henp of scrnp half hypnotized me, I guess, for I stood gnplng nt It, with the door held open, until Dnddy Hiram Jerked me away, slammed the door nnd yelled to me to help him hnr It. We hnd barely time to get tho door closed and fastened with' tho heavy wooden bar and to throw ourselves tint on the floor behind the hoisting machinery before the crnsh came. As I have previously said, the blacksmith shop was a rather flimsy, shed-like nffnlr, roofed with corrugated Iron, nnd It seemed to us as If broken timbers tim-bers and pieces of sheet metal were raining down for a full minute after the blast went off. The shock to everything In the vicinity vicin-ity wns, of course, tremendous nnd tho stout old ehuft-houso Itself rocked und swuywl like a tree In a hurricane. Hut the walls still stood Intact, and when we got up and peeped through a holo which n piece of the Hying scrnp had torn In tho door, we could see what we hnd done. It wns a-plen-ty. Tho blncksmlth shop had disappeared, disap-peared, leaving nothing but a scattering scatter-ing of wreckage. The hwvy nnvtl had been thrown from Its block nnd tlie forgo looked ns If a clnnt had kicked It. Out by the boiler-shed a rack of cordwood hnd bceu toppled over nnd under It a man was struggling to free himself. When he saw tlw Imprisoned enemy that mlld-rannnere.l, soft-spoken old soldier thnt 1 was shut up with would have opened the door nnd shot the straggler If I hadn't stopped him. This blowing up of the shop settled tho shower-hath business fu- us definitely. def-initely. With the Impediment out of tho way we had a clear view on this third Hide; could command the row of miners' cabins, as well ns the hollers holl-ers in their open frhed. When I got through persundlng Dnddy Illrnm that wo couldn't afford to murder the wounded, the fellow who hnd been wrestling with tho woodpile had made his exit and there wiih nobody In sight. Shortly afterward a bullet, tired from somewhere In the forest background, whanged upon our roof, and there were severul to follow; hut aside from punching a few more holes In the Iron they did no harm. "Looks like the 'Hercules' Is the one thing they're most sheered of. said Dnddy. with his queer little stuttering chuckle. "Now maybe they'll Imve us hnve tlmo to got ourselves dried out n mite." , , Totting up the results of the shower-bath shower-bath we'd had, a bread fnmlno i promised prom-ised to be tho wor.t of them. The fe cans of beans, tomntoos nnd poache -tho cun.pery standbys-were unhurt, un-hurt, of course, nnd tho muddled bacon cou 11 b washed with water drawn ?ron the flooded shaft. Hut the lleur niu sck was merely a blob of past. and was beyond redemption and tho rr,,W"r8 ,he Sam'- ln view of mdn t shrewdly calculated npon wash, in our commissary out of existence when ho planned his overgrown lawn-sprinkler. lawn-sprinkler. lint nmyhe thnt was giving Mm credit for more Ingenuity than he really hnd. Through whnt remained of the afternoon after-noon the rlile tiring continued, coming sometimes from one nngle and sometimes some-times from another, hut always can-nily can-nily from a safe distance and always under cover of tho surrounding forest. J'nddy Hiram, grimly optimistic, ex-truUed ex-truUed a swallow or so of encouragement encourage-ment out of the persistent pot-shoot-lug. "Dunno as you've ever noticed It, "tannic, but ,If you'll only let n hog alone long enough he'll shovo himself under the bob-wire fenco far enough to get caught," he said. "Charley Bui-h'rton, Bui-h'rton, now; he's plum' forgot that jropla's less 'n five miles nway und that sound carries mighty long distances dis-tances In these mountains In clear weather." "What difference does that maker I asked. "It mny make a heap o' difference. Looks to me like somebody Buddy fuller, 'r Jim Hoggerty, the section boss, 'r some of 'em down yonder d begin n-wonderln', niter a spell, what In tarnation all this here blastln' and rllle-poppln' up on old Cinnabar Is n p'lntln' at and come nnd sec." "Do you think tho racket will carry that far?" "It sure will. Ono night afore "Tro-pla "Tro-pla hnd gone as dead as she Is now, a bunch o' cowpunch's got Into an argy-meat argy-meat nt IJIue-nose Hill's plnco nnd we henrd the crnckln' and poppln' up here Jennie and me llko It was Just over yonder In Orcnser gulch." "Well?" said I, "If your nephew or any of the others henr It. what then?" As I asked the question one of tho low-aimed shots tore through the sido of the building, struck the Iron frame of tho hoist, flattened Itself nnd dropped Into the old man's lap. Picking Pick-ing up the hot bit of lead to dandle It from hand to hand he went on much as If picking up bullets that were fired at htm hnd leen his dally recreation. "Curiosity killed the cat, Stanlno, son. You let some one o' tho folks down yonder ln 'Tropin sny, 'IJy gol I wonder whnt all that shootln's for? and the next thing you know, somo-body'U somo-body'U be moggln' up hero to find out." Along about dusk some member of tho besieging party tried to make a reconnaissance. re-connaissance. I happened to be keeping tlm lookout on the cabin side of our fortress nnd saw a man dodging among the pines back of the house. When I reported to Daddy he took a simp shot at the pi nee I pointed out to him and there was a wild yell and a stir In the young pities as though u hog were galloping gal-loping through them. "Just to let em know tlmt we're still alive and klckln'," said tho tfd man, with another of his quavery chuckles. "I reckon maybe that's what they was almln' to rind out." Towslhly lt was. At aJI events, the rllle lire stopped with the coming of darkness, ami as we faced our second night of defense wo had plenty of time to sit around and think nnd speculate upon what tho outcome was going to be. Taking It all In all, It was the fan-tustlc fan-tustlc humor of the thing that hit me hardest. Six short weeks earlier people peo-ple ut home lmd been calling me all tho hard names tlmt fall to the lot of the Idle ne'er-do-well ; a yourig chap with enough Inheritance money to keep lilm In ties und shoes and shirts nnd to buy gus for his car though that hist asked for a good bit on the rising cost of iracJlne and not enough to make life, or anything connected therewith, there-with, u'ry much worth while. Also these same people were saying behind my back, of course, but there were always plenty of them to repent the saying to my face that I was , good stock gone to seed, would never amount to a hill of beans In anything tlmt asked for Initiative or resourcefulness, resource-fulness, or primitive rough stuff of any sort; that I was due to go on dollln , inyM-lf up und playing skittles io the end of the chapter which would prob- j alby stnge Itself In nn asylum for tin feelUe-mlnded. Also, again, nt thnt same time, which was six weeks-or six thousand years ago, I wns en-gwtwl en-gwtwl to Untitle; with mighty little prospect of innrrylng her, to be sure, hut with no thought of marrying any-lMMly any-lMMly olw. And now ... I looked nround nt the shadowy walls of tho grim old Cln-i.almr Cln-i.almr shr.ft-honse, looming darkly nnd still dripping, tlrk. tack, from their earlv-nfiernoon mud hath; folt my soggy sog-gy clothe; stared across at Daddj Hliam sitting backed up against the Imlst with ids logs Jaekknlted und his hands locked over his knees; It wns a L-rotoquo plHi-droam; there was no other nnnie for It. I broke out In a lanuh thnt wns n bellow. "Split It up, Stannle." urged the old man dryly. "I nllow you ain't goln' l be cloie-fisted enough to keep n good Joke all t yourself Hi no such a hoe down ns this." "I'll try," I said, and' did It the best I knew how, tfvlmj him some Idea of the life I had lived and Its earth-wide, earth-wide, abysmal difference from the experience ex-perience of the past six weeks. Silence for a time and then: "llook-Iearnln' nnd good clothes and entln with u flat fork V all right, Stannle, but they don't ranko tho man n'r the woman ; there's got to bo some-thin' some-thin' Inside; somethln' a henp bigger than any o' them things." "Quito so," I admitted. Another silence luid nt tho end of It the old philosopher again; "You been sort o' sore nbout tny Jennie, since yesterduy . . . She's been entln your gran-paw's brend, like me, and you thought, and I thought, that she might nt least 'vo waited a little spell afore she run off with Char-ley Char-ley Uullcrton. Mnybo we've been Jumpln' nt things too sudden, Stannic. What made her rldo 'way up yonder to Greaser sldln' to catch that truln? And how como Charley Uullerton to marry her one day and bo up hero with his bunch o' gunmen by daybreak the nex mornlnT "Has Jeannte friends ln Angels with whom sho could be staying?" I asked. "Not a single soul. Ho'd n-had to leavo her at tho Chink's hotel; and tlmt ain't no place for a woman, married mar-ried 'r t'otherwlse." "Hut supposing they didn't go to Angels?" 44 "There nln't no other plnco they could go and let him get back, as you might say, In tho same day." "Say It all, Daddy," I prompted. "There nln't much to say, Stannic, boy, 'ceptln what I said afore, that maybe we'd been Jumpln at things sort o' blind-like. Jennnle'a got a heap o' sense If I do say lt as shouldn't und tho wholo gee-rlplttln' thing, as wo been puttln' It up, nln't no more llko her than winter's like dog-days." Having run tho subject Into a corner cor-ner wo were both speechless for a little lit-tle tlmo nnd I think It was almost with a Sienso of relief tlmt wo sprang nlcrt when tho dog, hitherto sleeping quietly at our feet, jumped up nnd ran to hold his noso nt the thrctiludd of tho door opening upon the dump head. CHAPTER XVI Burnt Matohea. Following the dog to tho door, wo could neither seo nor henr anything going on outside, though Uaincy's snlfllugs under tho door nnd his low growl warned us thnt something wns afoot, cither on the dump head or lit tho partly wrecked cabin beyond. While wo were stUI pooping and peering, peer-ing, each at his auger-hole and each ready to take an offhand shot nt anything any-thing thnt seemed suspicious, the si-lencu si-lencu of the mountain night was ripped and torn by tho most hideous clamor Imaginable, arising, apparently, ln tho cabin or perhaps from tho graving of trees Just behind It. Tho rnclftt was deafening; coinioirahle to nothing thnt I'd ever heard; u maguliled orchestration, orchestra-tion, so to speak, of tlte pandemonium made by a crowd of country boys serenading it nowly murrled pair with tin pans and such-tike nolse-mnklng Implements. "What ln tho niuno o Jonul" stuttered stut-tered Dnddy HLrum. "Iteckon them gosh-dummed plrateers 'vo gone plum' loony?" "Walt," I qualified, and I had to shout to make myself heard. "There'll I Stared Across at Daddy Hiram. be more to follow. This Is only the eurtnln-mlsor." Hut my guess appeared to be no good. Kor quite some little tlmo wc crouched, guns at the ready, prepnred to ropol the assault which we naturally natural-ly supposed would be made under cover of the distracting rncket. Hut there was no nsmtult, though the meaningless mean-ingless clamor kopt up without abatement. abate-ment. Hy tho tlmo wo were beginning to grow a trifle hardened to It the clamor stopped as abruptly as lt had begun and the silence which succeeded wns even more deufoulug than the noise I had been. While I fancied I could see dim figures stealing down tho road Hint led to the bench below, I heard Daddy say: "Now, what In tho name o' Jeholachlm " He hnd turned nway from IvIb peephole peep-hole and I could sense, rather than see, that he was rubbing his eyes. Then I realized that upon me, also, a sudden blindness hnd fallen; tho Interior of tho Bhnfthoueo had becomo as dark as tho Insldo of a pocket. Tho effect was so stupefying that It took both of us a mlnuto or so to understand that somo chango as yet undeflnnblo had been wronght either In us or ln our surroundings during the noisy Interlude. In-terlude. "drent Jehul" exclaimed tho old man though ho was within arui's-reach arui's-reach I could mako htm out only as n dim shadow "Great Jehu I I I b'llovo I'm goln' blind, Stnnnlol I I cant seo nolhln' n-tnlll" "Don't worry," I hnstened to sny; "I'm ln tho snmo boot. We'vo been looking too long and steadily through those auger-holes. It'll pass ln a minute." min-ute." Hut It didn't pass and presently tho voice of my old Bldo partner enmo ugaln out of tho darkness. "frniw It's cloudln' up somo," ho suggested In a half-whisper. "I can't soo no stars through them windows." At tlds I looked toward tho window openings, but tho Interior blackness had blotted them out completely. Almost Al-most Instinctively I turned back to the door and put nu oyo to a loophole. One glnnco wns enough. The trouble, whatever It might be, wns with us nnd not with tho sky. Tho stars were shining ns brightly as over. "Don't move, Daddy," I cautioned, nnd theri groped my wny along tho wall and climbed to tho top of our earth-sack breastwork ot a point which I guessed to bo under tho nearest of tho two windows. When I drew myself up nnd tried to thrust a hand through tho opening tho mysterious darkness wns explained. ex-plained. The window embrasures wero stopped up, both .of them, on tho out-sldo out-sldo by something that felt llko a heavy canvas curtain, though how tho curtain wns held In plnco I could not determine. Hut It wns firmly braced In somo way. With all tho purchaso I could get which wasn't much I couldn't dlslodgo It or push It aside. Making my wny back to tho door I told Dnddy what I had found. "Huh I" ho said; "that old tarpaulin that was out yonder In tho ore shed. How d'ye, reckon they got It thuro, Stannlo? "It's hoisted on a framework of some kind, nnd they did It while wo were rubbering nnd trying to find out whnt nil that nolso wns about." Wo wens not kept very long In doubt as to what the next enemy movo was to be. With tho cessntlon ot tho tomtom tom-tom clatter the colllo had grown curiously curi-ously restless. Wo couldn't seo him, but wo could hear him running from post to pUIar, snlfllag at tho cracks and occasionally giving n whining growl. Presently ho iwgan to cough and sneezo; then he camo racing back to us, flattening himself to hold his nose to tho crack under tho door nnd taking long breaths as If he wero half stifled. I stooped to pot him and Immediately Im-mediately Imagined I was smelling burning sulphur matches, "Get down hero, Daddy, nnd smell this dogt" I whispered. "Is lt old-fashioned old-fashioned matches, or what?" One sniff was all that tho old man needed. "Gosh-to-iree-whlz brlmatono I" ho choked; "them devils ore smokln' us out I Hint's why they stopped up them window holes; so wo couldn't get any alrl" There appeared to bo little enough tlmo for nny defensive move. Tho ns-phyxlatlug ns-phyxlatlug gas was coming stronger every moment, and any search for Its source twomed utterly hopeless. Yut we went ut It, coughing nnd choking, und stumbling over everything In tho darkness, as a matter of course. After all lt was Harney who (I honor him with the human pronoun because ho certainly deserved It) It was Harney Har-ney who showed us the devil's doorway. door-way. Tho red glow was now sending enough light through crueks and crevices crev-ices and the bullet rlpplngs overhead to make our Inner darkness u degreo or so less than Stygian. Missing the dog for a moment at our common breathing hole, we saw him circling n particular hit In the floor and snarling snarl-ing at It us If It were something alive. At that wo both romumborod thnt the shafthouso lltnr was raised a foot or so from tho rocky ledgo on tho down-mountain sl1e, and that tho space underneath was partly open. Daddy iolnteil to tN) circling dog, "Hurney's got HI" ho panted. "They've run tholr hlmnoy up under tho floor I" Then: "Whore In Sam HUl did you leave that ax?" Tho ax was near nt hand and I ran for It. Holding my breath I began to cliop mndly at tho floor planking. Hy this tlmo tho air was so bail that It was-Impossible to breathe It, and after a few blows I had to drop tho ax and nm to tho breathing gap. Dnddy took his cue Instantly, snatching up the ax lis I flung lt down and hucklng away as long as ho could hold his breath. When Jio wns forced to mako a bolt fl for tho life-saving holo In the door, I M ran ln again ; thus got n couplo of tho M floor planks loose nnd pried them out. H In tho spnee beneath tho open- H cracked floor wo found Uullerton's H chimney end; on oh discorded boiler H fluo, It seemed to be, lending up from H tho bench below'. From unearthing M tho deadly thing to muzzling lt with H ono of our wet blankets was the H brenthlosa work of only a mlnuto or M two; and with tho gas-main thus shut M off, tho nlr In tho ahafthoiuo soon bo- M cumo bcarablo again, tho holo wo hnd M chopped through tho floor serving as u ventilator through which tho cool, H crisp night nlr como rushing In n re- M vivifying blast. M Our first care, nftcr a prolonged sllenco led us to bcllevo that tho raid- H era had withdrawn to study up somo Daddy Took Hla Cue Instantly. K fresh schemo for getting rid of us, wns to get a bar nnd pry our two doors M open so tlmt tho brcczo might blow M through and nlr tho placo out n bit K Closing and barring tho doom nftcr K tho sulphur stench hod been reduced , M to u mere mutch-box odor, wo estub- K llshed our night-watch, Daddy Hiram K taking the llrst trick under a solemn K promlso to call mo at the end of a K couplo of hour's. Thin tlmo ho behnved , K better, rousing mo a llttlo before mid- K fight. Ho reported everything quiet, and Minted to tho sleeping dog ns cvl- M denco that there were no Intruders jH within smelling distance. M "Keen thnt-nwny ever since you K turned ln," ho said, meaning, as I took jK It, that tho dog had been resting easy. B "You can Just keep an eye on Harney, K If anything goes to stlrrln', ho'll know K It afore you will."- H Nothing did stir; and after Daddy K had gono to wrap himself In his damp K blankets, I had my work cut out for B me keeping nwako; In fact, X shouldn't flK want to swear thwt I was fully avvaka H during all of tho ono hundred und twenty minutes that my sentry-go last K cL No mutter about that Bullerton K didn't spring any more surprises on us K during my Mintch; and when I turned H the fortress over to Daddy at two K o'clock I was able to pass tho "all tK quiet" report back to him and go to nH tho blankets wttli an eosy conscience. jB I hud Just dropped asleep, as It K seemed to me though In rcaUty I had slept like n log for more 'thun two 9Yfl hours when Daddy Hiram camo to fll shake mo awake. M "Soinctbtn doin'," he announced fH -quietly, und when I sat up I saw that jH the oolllu was moving uneasily from VAVJ one dour to tho other, stopping now jH mid then to stand motionless with his JH eurs cocked and his head on one sldo: iH "Harney hears something," I von- ' H lured; nnd n moment later Daddy I Hfl broke In: Vfl "Huh I It's plain enough for my old , JKI ears, now; It's u wagon comln' across H the bench." aVfl (to nn CONTINUED.) H |