Evening Star Newspaper, January 15, 1925, Page 46

The Ar vant A Story of Mystery and Adventure BY VICTOR MacCLURE. Cepyright, 1934, by Harper & Brothers. (Continued from Yesterday's § We bertired the Clutha by the bun. galow gnd store, and, with the ald began to unload yres. In Philip - of Devonridge, sweated like an) Jaborer of blood untinged by blue and the three other men about town Messrs. Haynes, Fitzalan and Gre son, as alse the two American bo: Lippencott and . Curtis, took th coats off and worked with equal zei They were willing and handy beyond my dearest hope. Brooks and Dans, the two mechanics, threw themselves into the work with the cool precision of men accustomed to handling m tle wherever it agine, began to h E creasing his welght y the violenee of his exercise Smithers’ chief job after the unload. ing of the Clutha was the putting together of two flat-bottomed barges. for, as indicated earller, Sam had been a shipwright in his Until that task was sccomplished Sam was in charge of operations, and his work was excellent. We had brought two small power boats on the deck of the Clatha, and these were transported to the creek behind the stc Duse. 1t was a matter of we we liad thé barges on the nd our stores—or part of t m-—! into them. “We would h: &t least two. journeys whole of the Clutha's cargo could be &ot up to the caves. Sam Smithers was left behind in charge of the storehouse and the moored Clutha, and at had ac- quired the job where he could just ®it and think. The prospect of weeks of isolation did not daunt the stout warrant officer in the least, and I knew that in the unlikely event of visitors no inquiries would get past his tremendous placidity and bovine pression. Sleepy Sam was link with the outside world. vage to the plateau was toll- some and arduous to the point nearly of torture. There was now no ques- tion of portage as i he canoe. k and again we w until we co might mov across the £ where the®tough undergrowth and silted weeds of vears impeded us— only to find a kilometer further on that a similar task awaited us. We carved and dug our way with saw and ax and spade. Our skins and clothing were scratched and rent by thorns. Insects bit us, bloodthirsty brutes that they were, until our faces llen out of recognition. But n, ever with commendable s where my crew was con- ¢ , and we tugged our barges behind us all the way And after weeks and weeks of toil the nine rag- amuffins that we had become sailed into the cavern of the plateau with perhaps & trifie more dignity than our appearances were warrant for. oL We found the garrison of three in good order. The master—if it cannot be said he was in good health, for he never was that—at least was his self-contained and indomitable self. Grumstock and Higgins grinned cheerfully and took pains to tell me that they had never been so hard driven in their lives, nor had they ever met any one for whom they would sooner work than for the master. That they had been working was evident The living- room floor had been levelled, and big windows had been hewn to the face of the north clift. Space enough had been provided for over 50 men, and clean healthy barracks it made. The two seamen had become fair hunters, as witness the store of dried venlson provided, which, with bacon from wild plg, had been cured under directions from the chief. The masters laboratory now was well set out, and it only needed the instruments we had brought up and electrical power to be as complete and up to date as any in the world. The chief welcomed his new ad- them even as it charmed. He plained the possi s of the cavern to them, and did not minimize the amount of work which would have to be done, but notwithstanding the wtarkness of his doctrine of labor he fired them with the romanoce of the scheme. If ho promised to drive them hard, they welcomed the promise. That night as we rested after the labor of eur voyage to the plateau. Steve Curtis was not too weary to play his guitar and eing to us, or to whistle. It.was a marvelous per- formance which enthralled my two seamen, Higgine and Grumstock, so that they. were open of. mouth and ove to sn astonishing degree. The 1ilt of Bteve's negra melodies was xo haunting that the morning found n humming or whistling at A good sign, 1 thoug jef looked in at the ved a little, then went work. I found hfm laboratory before going to bed “Ah, Seton,” he sald. "I am glad Fou looked in. Your crew Is distinctly promising. I like that boy Curtis With the guitar. He is an acquisition. And the rest seem good metal. I.con- gratulate you—and myself.” “I'm glad you'rs pleased, sir.” “The little man—Thetford, is 17— he has_skilful hands and intelli- Zence—" “That's our Instrument maker, sir. T think you'll find him useful in the laboratory.” T am sure I shall, if I am any judge of men. Good-might, Seton. You have done well.” Next morning was devoted to un- loading the barges. We landed the various pleces of plant as near their uitimate bases as we could; the ofi- plant to its proper cave, the machines in thelr shop, the instruments by the laboratory. When the unloading was done, the €ang with the exception of the echanics, Brooks and Dane, and Thetford, went off under the charge of Devonridge to fetch up the re- mainder of the stores, while my men ooncentrated on fixing a temporary electric supply to the laboratory, The power for running the dynamo we got | from a small petrol cngine, and both these we bedded on the solid rock with deep-set bolts and conerete. The acoumulators and transformers for bringing the voltage up'to the high figure required by the chief for his work we lajd down in a ljttle eave near his laboratory. This work eccupled us two or three days, but we finished it to the chiefs ’.a:.ll{:cllloa,o who then took Thetford nto the laboratory I e tory and became deeply The measuring up of the caves and the setting out of the plans for the machine shop, the dynamos and the turbines were our next task, but Brooks. Dane and myself had much of it finished,' with several of the machine beds levelled and drilled for the bolts, befors the barge party re- turned with the remainder of the Clytha's first cargo. Some of the m.im now lrbr‘l’vrd was heavy, and we were obliged to eut dewn large. trees and float them iato " | strong flume of wood to divert the :|the stream, we secured an excellent °|were Billy Haynes and Devonridge, the latter insisting he w “|In the laboratery, with the help of the cave to make sheers for lifting it. We aconomized effort by lifting the heavy pleces right to their beds. Our most difficult -task was the set- |ting of the mains for the turbines, | but we managed it by constructing a stream n its course a little, so that we could work dry-shod fin its natural channel. By t of hewing out portions of a side tunnel from setting for the hydraulic mains, and | these were conducted to where the | turbines were conveniently placed at one end of the workshop floor. We were fortunate in the matter of concrete. The rock of the cavern was free from clay, and had nothing in it to hin the close and strong binding of the cement e chief selected our quarry for pling the. stote from s minor cave Our stouse fully qual- ified for the joh by being able to sing one song called “Stonecracker John.” {e sung the ditty as he did his work with such unremitting _ardor that even the monosvllabic Haynes was noved to profane eloguence. It was necessary that all the heav- ler work should be done before the company was broken up for a further voyage to civilization. We ran out of cement, for example, and certain of the plant had not been at New Orleans when the Clutha made her first trip. But months passed before | we had the turbines in working order with the big dynamos sleeping beside them, or had all the machines laid out with their motors and swhtches. Yet, when 1 looked along the cav- |ern and saw the water gleaming un- der the ze of powerful arcs, the array of machines under their covers, the waterfall harnessed to our use and the dynamos converting its power, I found it strange to realize that over a year had passed since 1 first paddled into the cavern. Much had been done in the time, and the days had flashed by on swift wings—all the more swift because the work had held us happily absorbed. I could say, with the chief, that we had done well. But we had only made a start even then. . If the work done by the mechanical land laboring section of the crew could be fairly commended. the brain of the community had seldom slept the now enthuslastic Thetford, the master had been working out many of our problems. In my spare time I had started to design an airship, and had made working drawings for its construction. To this the chief bent very frequently his trained and fertile mind. He brooded over my drawings, correcting them here, adding to them there, and there was not a stroke of his pencil but outlined some amazing 1dea (Continued In Tomorrow's Star) ' Jewish women have curly hair in a larger proportion than is found with any other raece. PHILLIPS ANTACI D’ CORRECTIVE LAXATIVE THE CHAS H PHILLIPS CHEMICAL CO NEW vORK Unless you ask for “Phillips,” you may not get the original Milk of Mag- nesia prescribed by physicians for 80 years. Protect your doctor and yourself by avoiding imitations of the genuine “Phillips.” 25-cent bottles, also 50-cent bottles, contain directions—any drug store, Beauty A Gleamy Mass of Hair | 35¢ “Danderine” does Wonders for Any Girl's Hair ur hair, just moisten your hair-brush with a little “Dander- ine” and brush it through your hair. 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On sale to- morrow at prices that will save one thousand Wash- ingtonians anywhere from $10 to $40. Don’t Let Anything Keep You Away If it's slushy underfoot, get out your gaiters; if it’s pouring cats and dogs, don’t be discouraged—but get here! For it isn’t very often that Sheldon and Seociety Brand go on the auction block—that you can pick the finest coats in our stock at two new, low prices. Every New Model is Here Fly-front Chesterfields, English Guard coats, luxurious great coats that give that “million-dollar look,” tube coats now in favor with well groomed Britishers, and all the other lesser and greater lights that are part and parcel of the well known overcoat family. As to the Fabrics well as a great many of the best American coatings. Many new light shades for the younger element, as well as blues, oxfords, blacks, dark browns, and so on. Plenty of plaids, plenty of mixtures and plenty of class. EETRRR , Come Early--or You May Be Too Late This is the sale men wait for. It will-pay you to be here early while selections are at their height. This spectacular clearaway only occurs every twelve months—here’s the chance to get a coat at a bargain price that will be giving you service for the next two or three years. A full range of sizes, of course. X ; N\ ‘As this is one of the most important sales of the season, we have made special arrangements to see that you get excellent serv- ice; extra clothing salesmen will be on hand to handle the usual January rush that this event always occasions. (First Ficor—The Hecht Co.) N The Hecht Co. 1 ,v_“ I -r Reduced! '35 -—for dred and fifty Shel- don Overcoats that three hun- sold earlier in the season at The Hecht Co. for $45, $50 and $55. —for six hundred and fifty Society Brand and Sheldon Overcoats thfii sold earlierin theseason at The Hecht Co. for $60, $65, $75, $80 and $85. If you have a dependable Big Ben, let it do its stuff, and be -here early to- morrow.