Page:Dick Hamilton's Fortune.djvu/130

118 it gittin' stuck, an' you'll see suthin' worth watchin'."

With the long clothes pole Silas gave the big wheel a cautious poke. It began to move slowly, and he released a big spring.

"Stand back, everybody!" he called. "She vibrates suthin' terrible when she gits goin', an' I don't want nobody t' git hurt!"

At first the wheel barely turned. Silas gave it another prod with the clothes pole and it moved more quickly. Then it released another spring and began to gather speed. Faster and faster it went, the iron balls rolling along the hollow spokes and dropping out with a noise like distant thunder.

"There she goes!" cried the old man, his chin whiskers vibrating in the intensity of his excitement. "There she goes!"

Faster and faster the wheel whizzed around. The balls began dropping with such a continuous noise that one had to shout to be heard.

"How do you stop it?" called Dick.

"No, it won't stop," replied Mr. Kendall, misunderstanding the question.

"Well, how you going to get it home?" shouted Bricktop.

"Oh, when I want to stop it I jest throw th' chain at it, an' it tangles up in th' wheel, an' slows up enough so I can fasten it. If I didn't it would go on—forever—jest like that there brook."

The machine did seem to be working well,