With a little bubbling cry of joy he produced his clasp knife, and went to work busily to hack the ropes in twain.
A score of them were severed, when an ear-splitting crack made him start hastily back. Next instant the whole load of rock fell with a mighty crash, completely blocking the entrance to the subterranean stream that had been draining the life from the river.
Something had to give way, and Red Spider's cunningly constructed dam was directly in the path of the river as it swelled, and rose, and bellied upward. Then, with a roar louder than any thunder, it broke the barrier away, and hurled itself into Black Cañon with irresistible fury, to race and tumble down to where the Silver Bridge Reducing Company's plant was waiting to sully its foaming waters with the red stain of the ore.
[PIGEON-WHISTLE CONCERTS.]
A traveler in Eastern lands tells the following little story of the Chinese and their most unique pigeon whistles.
"One of the most curious expressions of emotional life in China is the application of whistles to a flock of pigeons. These whistles, very light, weighing hardly a few grammes, are attached to the tails of young pigeons soon after their birth, by means of a fine copper wire, so that when the birds fly the wind will blow through the whistles and set them vibrating, thus producing an open-air concert, for the instruments in one and the same flock are all tuned differently. On a serene day in Peking, where these instruments are manufactured with great cleverness and ingenuity, it is possible to enjoy this aerial music while sitting in one's room.
"There are two distinct types of whistles—those consisting of bamboo tubes placed side by side, and a type placed on the principle of tubes attached to a gourd body or wind chest. They are lacquered in yellow, brown, red, and black to protect the material from destructive influences of the atmosphere. The tube whistles have either two, three, or five tubes. In some specimens the five tubes are made of ox-horn instead of bamboo. The gourd whistles are furnished with a mouthpiece, and small apertures to the number of two, three, six, ten, and even thirteen. Certain among them have besides, a number of bamboo tubes, some on the principal mouthpiece, some arranged around it. These varieties are distinguished by different names. Thus a whistle with one mouthpiece and ten tubes is called 'the eleven-eyed one.'"