Quite a crowd of persons were on hand to witness the operations, as word of what was intended had spread through the neighborhood. There were also several other reporters there, and one or two photographers. Larry found the foreman in charge of the work, and asked him to explain the plan, so as to get a good understanding of it when he should write the story. The foreman went into details about putting a small charge of dynamite under one corner of the stack.
“The force of dynamite is mainly downward,” he stated. “But we think there will be enough upward power to the blast to gently tilt the chimney over to the east, where it will fall without doing any damage.”
“What if it falls the other way, and crashes down on top of those low buildings?” asked Larry.
“We have it guyed up with ropes to prevent that,” was the answer. “I guess there’s no danger.”
The preliminary work was almost finished, when a man, carrying a red flag, came out of a small shanty.
“There goes the dynamite,” said Larry, to the picture man. “Now you’ll see some fun, I am thinking.”
The foreman made everyone move back out of harm’s way. Most persons were glad enough to obey the request, but the reporters, including Larry, said if they had to stay so far back they could see nothing.
“But think of the risk you run,” objected the foreman. “Some of you may be killed.”
“We’ll take the chance,” replied several. “We want to be close by when the stack hits the ground, and so do the photographers.”
The foreman interposed no more objections, but ordered the work to go on.