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Derrick Sterling: A Story of the Mines

by Kirk Munroe · English · Gutenberg #21863 · 322,785 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: Derrick Sterling: A Story of the Mines

Author: Kirk Munroe


        
Release date: June 19, 2007 [eBook #21863]
                Most recently updated: October 24, 2007

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DERRICK STERLING: A STORY OF THE MINES ***




Produced by David Edwards, Brett Fishburne, Mary Meehan
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net









                            DERRICK STERLING

                          A STORY OF THE MINES

                             BY KIRK MUNROE

                    Author of "THE FLAMINGO FEATHER"



[Illustration: IN THE BURNING BREAKER.]



NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY HARPER & BROTHERS
COPYRIGHT, 19l6, BY KIRK MUNROE

PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.




CONTENTS


I. IN THE BURNING BREAKER

II. A FEARFUL RIDE

III. THE MINE BOSS TAKES DERRICK INTO HIS CONFIDENCE

IV. INTRODUCING HARRY, THE BUMPING-MULE

V. ATTACKED BY ENEMIES, AND LOST IN THE MINE

VI. THE SECRET MEETING.--A PLUNGE DOWN AN AIR SHAFT

VII. A CRIPPLE'S BRAVE DEED

VIII. DERRICK STERLING'S SPLENDID REVENGE

IX. SOCRATES, THE WISE MINE RAT

X. IN THE OLD WORKINGS.--MISLED BY AN ALTERED LINE

XI. A FATAL EXPLOSION OF FIRE-DAMP

XII. THE MINE BOSS IN A DILEMMA

XIII. LADIES IN THE MINE.--HARRY MULE'S SAD MISHAP

XIV. A LIFE IS SAVED AND DERRICK IS PROMOTED

XV. A "SQUEEZE" AND A FALL OF ROCK

XVI. BURSTING OF AN UNDERGROUND RESERVOIR

XVII. IMPRISONED IN THE FLOODED MINE

XVIII. TO THE RESCUE!--A MESSAGE FROM THE PRISONERS

XIX. RESTORED TO DAYLIGHT

XX. GOOD-BY TO THE COLLIERY




ILLUSTRATIONS


In the burning breaker

"Here, lad, lead this mule down the rest of the way, will ye?"

Suddenly there came a blinding flash, a roar as of a cannon

Good-by to the colliery




DERRICK STERLING: A STORY OF THE MINES




CHAPTER I

IN THE BURNING BREAKER


"Fire! Fire in the breaker! Oh, the boys! the poor boys!" These cries,
and many like them--wild, heartrending, and full of fear--were heard on
all sides. They served to empty the houses, and the one street of the
little mining village of Raven Brook was quickly filled with excited
people.

It was late in the afternoon of a hot summer's day, and the white-faced
miners of the night shift were just leaving their homes. Some of them,
with lunch-pails and water-cans slung over their shoulders by light iron
chains, were gathered about the mouth of the slope, prepared to descend
into the dark underground depths where they toiled. The wives of the day
shift men, some of whom, black as negroes with coal-dust, powder-smoke,
and soot, had already been drawn up the long slope, were busy preparing
supper. From the mountainous piles of refuse, of "culm," barefooted
children, nearly as black as their miner fathers, were tramping homeward
with burdens of coal that they had gleaned from the waste. High above
the village, sharply outlined against the western sky, towered the huge,
black bulk of the breaker.

The clang of its machinery had suddenly ceased, though the shutting-down
whistle had not yet sounded. From its many windows poured volumes of
smoke, more dense than the clouds of coal-dust with which they were
generally filled, and little tongues of red flame were licking its
weather-beaten timbers. It was an old breaker that had been in use many
years, and within a few days it would have been abandoned for the new
one, recently built on the opposite side of the valley. It was still in
operation, however, and within its grimy walls a hundred boys had sat
beside the noisy coal chutes all through that summer's day, picking out
bits of slate and tossing them into the waste-bins. From early morning
they had breathed the dust-laden air, and in cramped positions had
sorted the shallow streams of coal that constantly flowed down from the
crushers and screens above. Most of them were between ten and fourteen
years of age, though there were a few who were even younger than ten,
and some who were more than sixteen years old.[1]

[Footnote 1: A law of the State of Pennsylvania forbids the employment
of boys less than twelve years old in breakers, or less than fourteen in
mines. This law is not, however, strictly enforced.]

Among these breaker boys two were particularly noticeable, although they
were just as black and grimy as the others, and were doing exactly the
same work. The elder of these, Derrick Sterling, was a manly-looking
fellow, whose face, in spite of its coating of coal-dust, expressed
energy, determination, and a quicker intelligence than that of any of
his young companions. He was the only son of Gilbert Sterling, who had
been one of the mining engineers connected with the Raven Brook
Colliery. The father had been disabled by an accident in the mines, and
after lingering for more than a year, had died a few months before the
date of this story, leaving a wife and two children, Derrick and little
Helen.

For nearly five years before his father's death Derrick had attended a
boarding-school near Philadelphia; but the sad event made a vast
difference in his prospects for life, and compelled his return to the
colliery village that he called home.

Mr. Sterling had always lived up to his moderate income, and though his
salary was continued to the time of his death, the family then found
themselves confronted by extreme poverty. They owned their little
vine-covered cottage, at one end of the straggling village street, and
in this Mrs. Sterling began to take boarders, with the hope of thus
supporting her children. Her struggle was a hard one, and when one of
the boarders, who was superintendent of the breaker, or "breaker boss,"
offered Derrick employment in his department, the boy was so anxious to
help his mother that he gladly accepted the offer. Nothing else seemed
open to him, and anything was better than idleness. So, after winning a
reluctant consent from his mother, Derrick began to earn thirty-five
cents a day, at that hardest and most monotonous of all forms of
youthful labor, picking slate in a coal-breaker.

He had been brought up and educated so differently from any of his
companions of the chutes that the life was infinitely harder for him
than for them. He hated dirt, and loved to be nice and clean, which
nobody could be for a minute in the breaker. He also loved the sunlight,
the fields, and the woods; but no sunshine ever penetrated the thick
dust-clouds within these walls. In the summer-time it shone fierce and
hot on the long sloping roof, just above the boys' heads, until the
interior was like an oven, and in winter they were chilled by the cold
winds that blew in through the ever-open windows.

Here, and under these conditions, Derrick must work from seven o'clock
in the morning until six in the evening. At noon the boys were allowed
forty minutes in which to eat the luncheons brought in their little tin
pails, and draw a few breaths of fresh air. During the first few weeks
of this life there were times when it seemed to Derrick that he could
not bear it any longer. More than once, as he sat beside the rattling
chute, mechanically sorting the never-ending stream, with hands cut and
bruised by the sharp slate, great tears rolled down his grimy cheeks.
Over and over again had he been tempted to rush from the breaker, never
to return to it; but each time he had seemed to see the patient face of
his hard-working mother, or to feel the clinging arms of little Helen
about his neck. He would remember how they were depending on his two
dollars a week, and, instead of running away, would turn again to his
work with a new energy, determined that, since he was to be a breaker
boy, he would be the best in the colliery.

In this he had succeeded so well as to win praise, even from Mr. Guffy,
the breaker boss, who usually had nothing but harsh words and blows for
the boys who came under his rule. He had also been noticed by the
superintendent of the colliery, and promised a place in the mine as soon
as a vacancy should occur that he could fill. In the breaker he had been
promoted from one seat to another, until for several weeks past he had
occupied the very last one on the line of his chute. Here he gave the
coal its final inspection before it shot down into the bins, from which
it was loaded into cars waiting to carry it to cities hundreds of miles
away. Above all, Derrick was now receiving the highest wages paid to
breaker boys, and was able to hand his mother three big silver dollars
every Saturday night.

The first time he did this seemed to him the proudest moment of his
life, for, as she kissed him, his mother said that this sum was
sufficient to pay all his expenses, that he was now actually supporting
himself, and was therefore as independent as any man in the colliery.

It was a wonderful help to him, during the last few weeks of his breaker
boy life, to think over these words and to realize that by his own
efforts he had become a self-supporting member of society. It really
seemed as though he increased in stature twice as fast after that little
talk with his mother. At the same time his clothes appeared to shrink
from the responsibility of covering an independent man, instead of the
boy for whom they had originally been intended.

Beside Derrick Sterling, that hot summer afternoon, sat Paul Evert, a
slender, delicate boy with a fine head set above a deformed body. He did
not seem much more than half as large as Derrick, though he was but a
few months younger, and his great wistful eyes held a frightened look,
as of some animal that is hunted. He too had been compelled by poverty
to go into the cruel breaker, and try to win from it a few loaves of
bread for the many little hungry mouths at home, which the miner father
and feeble mother found it so hard to feed.

For a long time the rude boys of Raven Brook had teased and persecuted
"Polly Evert," as they called him, on account of his humped back and
withered leg, and for a long time Derrick Sterling had been his stanch
friend and protector. While the even-tempered lad used every effort to
avoid quarrels on his own behalf, he would spring like a young tiger to
rescue Paul Evert from his persecutors. Many a time had he stood at bay
before a little mob of sooty-faced village boys, and dared them to touch
the crippled lad who crouched trembling behind him.

On this very day, during the noon breathing-spell, he had been compelled
to thrash Bill Tooley, the village bully, on Paul's behalf. Bill had
been a mule-driver in the mine, but had been discharged from there a few
days before, and taken into the breaker. He now sat beside Paul, and
during the whole morning had steadily tormented him, in spite of the
lad's entreaties to be let alone and Derrick's fierce threats from the
other side.

That Derrick had not escaped scot-free from the noon-hour encounter was
shown by a deep cut on his upper lip. That Bill Tooley had been much
more severely punished was evident from the swollen condition of his
face, and from the fact that he now worked in sullen silence, without
attempting any further annoyance of the hump-backed lad beside him. Only
by occasional glances full of hate cast at both Derrick and Paul did he
show the true state of his feelings, and indicate the revengeful nature
of his thoughts.

This was Paul's first day in the breaker, where he had been given work
by the gruff boss only upon Derrick Sterling's earnest entreaty. Derrick
had promised that he would initiate his friend into all the details of
the business, and look after him generally. He had his doubts concerning
Paul's fitness for the work and the terrible life of a breaker boy, and
had begged him not to try it.

Paul's pitiful "What else can I do, Derrick? I have got to earn some
money somehow," completely silenced him; for he knew only too well that
in a colliery there is but one employment open to a boy who cannot drive
a mule or find work in the mine. Therefore he had promised to try and
secure a place for his crippled friend, and had finally succeeded.

Paul was struggling bravely to finish this long, weary first day's work
in a manner that should reflect credit upon his protector; but the hours
seemed to drag into weeks, and each minute he feared he should break
down entirely. He tried to hide the cruel slate cuts on his hands, nor
let Derrick discover how his back ached, and how he was choked by the
coal-dust. He even attempted to smile when Derrick spoke to him, though
his ear, unaccustomed to the noise of the machinery and the rushing
coal, failed to catch what was said.

While the crippled lad, in company with a hundred other boys, was thus
anxiously awaiting the welcome sound of the shutting-down whistle, at
the first blast of which the torrents of coal would cease to flow, and
they would all rush for the stairway that led out-of-doors, the air
gradually became filled with something even more stifling than
coal-dust--something that choked them and made their eyes smart. It was
the pungent smoke of burning wood; and by the time they fully realized
its presence the air was thick with it, and to breathe seemed wellnigh
impossible. Then, just as the boys were beginning to start from their
seats, and cast frightened glances at each other, the machinery stopped;
and amid the comparative silence that followed they heard the cry of
"Fire!" and the voice of the breaker boss shouting, "Clear out of this,
you young rascals! Run for your lives! Don't you see the breaker's
afire?"

As he spoke a great burst of flame sprang up one of the waste chutes
from the boiler-room beneath them, and with a wild rush the hundred boys
made towards the one door-way that led to the open air and safety.

Obeying the impulse of the moment, Derrick sprang toward it with the
rest. Before he could reach it a faint cry of "Derrick, oh, Derrick,
don't leave me!" caused him to turn and begin a desperate struggle
against the mass of boys who surged and crushed behind him. Several
times he thought he should be borne through the door-way, but he fought
with such fury that he finally won his way back out of the crowd and to
where Paul was still sitting.

"Come on, Polly," he cried, "we haven't any time to lose."

"I can't, Derrick," was the answer; "my crutch is gone."

Surely enough, the lame boy's crutch, which had been leaned against the
wall behind him, had disappeared, and he was helpless.

At first Derrick thought he would carry him, and made the attempt; but
his strength was not equal to the task, and he was forced to set his
burden down after taking a few steps towards the door.

He called loudly to the last of the boys, who was just disappearing
through the door-way, to come and help him. At the call the boy turned
his face towards them. It was that of Bill Tooley, and it bore a grin of
malicious triumph.

The next instant the great door swung to with a crash that sounded like
a knell in the ears of Derrick Sterling, for he knew that it closed with
a powerful spring lock, the key of which was in Mr. Guffy's pocket.

The crash of the closing door was followed by a second burst of flame
that came rushing and leaping up the chutes, and above its roar the boys
heard shrill voices in the village crying, "Fire! Fire in the breaker!"




CHAPTER II

A FEARFUL RIDE


As Derrick and Paul realized that they were left alone in the burning
breaker, in which the heat was now intense, and that they were cut off
from the stairway by the closed and bolted door, they remained for a
moment speechless with despair. Then Derrick flung himself furiously
against the heavy door again and again, with a vague hope that he might
thus force it to give way. His efforts were of no avail, and he only
exhausted his strength; for the massive framework did not even tremble
beneath the weight of his body.

Still he could not believe but that somebody would open it for them, and
he would not leave the door until tiny flames creeping beneath it warned
him that the stairway was on fire and that all chances of escape in that
direction were gone. He tried to make himself seen and heard at one of
the open windows, but was driven back by the swirling smoke. Then he
turned to Paul, who still sat quietly where he had been left. The
crippled lad had not uttered a single cry of fear, though the eager
flames had approached him so closely that he could feel their hot
breath, and knew that in another minute the place where he sat would be
surrounded by them.

As Derrick sprang to his side, with the intention of dragging him as far
as possible from them, he said,

"The slope, Derrick! If we could only get to the top of the slope,
couldn't we somehow escape by it?"

"I never thought of it!" cried Derrick. "We might. We'll try anyhow, for
if we stay here another minute we shall be roasted to death."

Stooping, he lifted Paul in his lithe young arms, and with a strength
born of despair began to carry him up the long and devious way that led
to the very top of the lofty building. He had scarcely taken a dozen
steps, and was already staggering beneath his burden, when he stumbled
and nearly fell over some object lying on the floor. With an
exclamation, he set Paul down and picked it up.

It was the crutch, Paul's own crutch; and it was so far above where they
had sat at work that it seemed as though it must have been flung there.

The boys did not pause to consider how the crutch came to be where they
found it, but joyfully seizing it, Paul used it so effectively that they
quickly gained the top of the building and stood at the upper end of the
long slope.

It was a framework of massive timbers supported by high trestle-work,
that led from the highest point of the breaker down the hill-side into
the valley, where it entered the ground. From there it was continued
down into the very lowest depths of the mine. On it were double tracks
of iron rails, up which, by means of an immensely long and strong wire
cable, the laden coal cars were drawn from the bottom of the mine to the
top of the breaker. As a loaded car was drawn up, an empty one, on the
opposite track, went down. The angle of the slope was as steep as the
sharply pitched roof of a house, and its length, from the bottom of the
mine to the top of the breaker, was over half a mile.

This particular slope was provided with a peculiar arrangement by which
a car loaded with slate or other refuse, after being drawn up from the
mine to a point a short distance above the surface, could be run
backward over a vertical switch that was lowered into place behind it.
This vertical switch would carry it out on the dump or refuse heap. The
top of the dump presented a broad, level surface for half a mile, on
which was laid a system of tracks. Over these the waste cars were drawn
by mules to the very edge of the dump, where their contents were tipped
out and allowed to slide down the hill-side. During working hours a boy
was stationed at this switch, whose business it was to set it according
to the instructions received from a gong near him. This could be struck
either from the bottom of the mine or the top of the breaker, by means
of a strong wire leading in both directions from it. One stroke on the
gong meant to set the switch for the mine, and two strokes to set it for
the dump. A flight of rude steps led up along the side of the slope from
the mouth of the mine to the top of the breaker.

Derrick and Paul thought that perhaps they might make their way down
this flight of steps and thus escape from the blazing building; but when
they reached the end of the slope, and looked down, they saw that this
would be impossible. Already the steps were on fire, and the whole
slope, as far as they could see, was enveloped in a dense cloud of
smoke. Through it shot flaming tongues that were greedily licking the
timbers of the tall trestle-work.

If Derrick had been alone he would have made the attempt to rush down
the steps, and force his way through the barrier of smoke and flame; but
he knew that for his companion this would be impossible, and that even
to try it meant certain death.

As he hesitated, and turned this way and that, uncertain of what to
attempt, an ominous crash from behind, followed by another and another,
warned them that the floors of the building were giving way and letting
the heavy machinery fall into the roaring furnace beneath. They knew
that the walls must quickly follow, and that with them they too must be
dragged down into the raging flames.

Paul, sitting on the floor, buried his face in his hands, shutting his
eyes upon the surrounding horrors, and prayed.

Derrick stood up, gazing steadily at the rushing flames, and thought
with the rapidity of lightning. Suddenly his eye fell upon an empty
coal-car standing on the track at the very edge of the slope, and he
cried,

"Here's a chance, Paul! and it's our only one. Get into this car, quick
as you can. Hurry! I feel the walls shaking."

As Paul clambered into the car in obedience to his friend's
instructions, though without an idea of what was about to happen,
Derrick sprang to one side, where a brass handle hung from the wall, and
pulled it twice with all his might; then back to the car, where he cast
off the hooks by which the great wire cable was attached to it. Again he
pulled furiously, twice, at the brass handle.

He had done all that lay in his power, and was now about to make one
last, terrible effort to escape. The red flames had crept closer and
closer, and were now eagerly reaching out their cruel arms towards the
boys from all sides. Beneath them the supports of the building tottered,
and in another moment it must fall. Down the slope the shining rails of
the track disappeared in an impenetrable cloud of smoke, and Derrick
could not see whether his signal to the switch-tender had been obeyed or
not.

As Paul crouched on the bottom, at one end of the car, his companion
said,

"I'm going to push her over and let her go down the slope, Polly. If the
trestle hasn't burned away she'll take us through the fire and smoke
quick enough. If there's anybody down there and he's heard the gong and
set the switch, we'll go flying off over the dump. I guess I can stop
her with the brake before she gets to the edge. It's half a mile, you
know. If the switch is open, we'll go like a streak down into the mine
and be smashed into a million pieces. It won't be any worse than being
burned to death, though. Now good-by, old man, if I don't ever see you
alive again. Here goes."

"Good-by, dear Derrick."

Then the crippled lad closed his eyes and held his breath in awful
expectation. Derrick placed one shoulder against the car, gave a strong
push, and, as he felt it move, sprang on one of the bumpers and seized
the brake handle that projected a few inches above its side.

In the mean time the two boys had been missed in the village, and as it
became known that they were still within the breaker, the entire
population, frenzied with excitement, gathered about the blazing
building, making vain efforts to discover their whereabouts, that they
might attempt a rescue.

No men on earth are braver in time of danger, or more ready to face it
in rescuing imperilled comrades, than the miners of the anthracite
collieries. Had they known where to find Derrick and Paul, a score of
stalwart fellows would willingly have dashed into the flames after them.
As it was, no sign that they were still in existence had been
discovered, and the spectators of the fire were forced to stand and
watch it in all the bitterness of utter helplessness.

One man indeed ran up the blazing stairway, and with a mighty blow from
the pick he carried crashed open the door against which Derrick had so
vainly flung himself. Only a great burst of flame leaped forth and drove
him backward, with his clothing on fire and the hair burned from his
face. He was Paul Evert's father.

Upon receipt of the tidings that her boy was shut up in the burning
breaker, without any apparent means of escape, Mrs. Sterling had fallen
as though dead, and now lay, happily, unconscious of his awful peril.
Little Helen sat by her mother's bedside, too stunned and frightened
even to cry.

In Paul's home a crowd of wailing women surrounded Mrs. Evert, whose
many children clung sobbing to her skirts.

Suddenly two sharp strokes of a gong rang out, loud and clear, above the
roar of the flames and the crash of falling timbers. The crowd of
anxious spectators heard the sound, and from them arose a mighty, joyous
shout. "They're alive! They're alive! They're at the top of the slope!"

But what could be done? The trestle was already blazing, and the upper
end of the slope was hidden from the view of those below by dense
volumes of ink-black smoke.

Again the gong rang out, "one, two," and one man of all that throng
thought he knew what it meant. Springing to the mine entrance, the old
breaker boss threw over the switch bar, and set the vertical switch for
the dump.

Then came a crash of falling walls, and out of the accompanying burst of
fire and smoke, down along the shining track of the slope, shot a
thunder-bolt.

It seemed like a thunder-bolt to the awe-stricken spectators, as it
rushed out of the flames, leaving a long trail of smoke behind it. In
reality it was a coal-car, bearing in one end a crouching figure and a
crutch. At the other end stood Derrick Sterling, bareheaded, with rigid
form and strained muscles, and with one hand on the brake handle.

With a frightful velocity the car crossed the vertical switch and shot
out over the level surface of the dump. Derrick felt the strength of a
young giant as he tugged at that brake handle. The wood smoked from the
friction as it ground against the wheel; but it did its duty. On the
very edge of the dump, half a mile from the vertical switch, the car
stopped, and Derrick sat down beside it, sick and exhausted from the
terrible nervous strain of the few minutes just past.

It seemed hours since the machinery had stopped in the breaker and the
rush of boys had been made for the door-way; but it was barely ten
minutes since the first alarm had been given. From the time he stood
face to face with death at the top of the slope, and started that car on
its downward rush through the flame and smoke, less than two minutes had
passed, but they spanned the space between life and death.

As yet Derrick could not realize that they had escaped nor did he until
he felt a pair of arms thrown about his neck and heard Paul's voice
saying,

"Derrick, dear Derrick! you have saved my life, and as long as it lasts
I shall love you. If ever I have a chance to show it, you shall see how
dearly."

Then Derrick stood up and looked about him. A crowd of men and boys were
running along the top of the dump towards them. In another minute they
had both been placed in the car, and amid the joyous cries and exultant
cheers it was being rapidly rolled back towards the village.

When Mrs. Sterling began to recover consciousness she smiled at the boy
whom she saw standing beside her, and said, faintly,

"I've had an awful dream, Derrick, and I thank God it was only a dream."

And Derrick said, "Amen, mother."




CHAPTER III

THE MINE BOSS TAKES DERRICK INTO HIS CONFIDENCE


In a mining community serious accidents, and even terrible disasters,
are of such frequent occurrence that in Raven Brook the burning of the
old breaker soon ceased to furnish a topic of conversation.

It was not until the day after that of the fire that Derrick learned of
the presence of mind displayed by the old breaker boss in comprehending
his signal on the gong and setting the vertical switch for the dump. As
soon as the old man came home that evening, Derrick went to his room
prepared to pour out his heartfelt thanks. He had hardly begun when the
breaker boss interrupted him with,

"There, that'll do, an' I don't want to hear no more on it. Any fool
knows that two gongs means 'dump switch,' an' when one's been in the
mines forty year, man an' boy, as I have, he don't take no credit to
himself for doing fool's work. When you get older you'll know better'n
to mention sich a thing."

"But, Mr. Guffy--"

"That'll do, I tell ye!" roared the irascible old man. "Clear outen
here, and go over to Warren Jones's; he wants to see ye. Hold on!" he
added, as Derrick was about to leave the room. "On your way stop and
tell that hunchback butty[2] of yourn to be on hand in the new breaker
at sharp seven to-morrow morning, if he wants to keep his job. Do ye
hear?"

[Footnote 2: Butty is the word used by miners to denote helper or
partner.]

As he went out Derrick smiled to think of the old man's pride, which
would not allow him to accept thanks or praise from a boy for performing
a creditable action.

At the same time the breaker boss was muttering to himself, "He's a fine
lad. If he'd 'a' come to grief through any fault of mine I'd never got
over it. 'Twon't do, though, to let him see that I think more of him
than of any others of the young scoundrels. Boys allus gets so upperty
if they thinks you're a-favorin' of 'em. They must be kep' down! Yes,
sir! kep' down, boys must be."

Derrick could not help wondering why he too had not been ordered to
report at the new breaker the next morning, but thought it better not to
ask any questions. After supper he went over to see Mr. Jones, in
obedience to the instructions received from the breaker boss.

Warren Jones, the assistant superintendent, or, as he was generally
termed, the "mine boss," of the Raven Brook Colliery, was a
pleasant-faced, outspoken young man of about thirty. At present he was
acting as superintendent, and the burden of responsibility bore heavily
upon him. He had a host of warm friends, but had made some bitter
enemies among the miners by his direct honesty of purpose and
determination to deal out even-handed justice to all over whom he
exercised authority. Although generally good-natured and slow to find
fault, he could be quick and stern enough when occasion demanded.

Such was the man who greeted Derrick Sterling cordially that evening,
showed him into his library, and made him sit down, saying that he
wished to have a little talk with him. He spoke in terms of such praise
of Derrick's behavior on the previous day as to bring a blush of
pleasure to the boy's cheeks.

"By-the-way, Derrick," he asked, "how did the breaker catch fire?"

"I haven't the least idea, sir," answered Derrick, looking up in
surprise.

"Oh, all right," said the other, carelessly. "I didn't know but what you
might have heard something said about it."

"No, sir, I haven't; that is, not anything that I thought amounted to
anything. I have heard some of the boys talking about 'Mollies,' and
saying that they beat the world for floods and fires. What are 'Mollies'
anyway, Mr. Jones?"

The mine boss looked at him curiously for a moment before replying,

"If you really don't know, it's time you did, for you're likely to see
and hear a great deal of them if you decide to make mining your business
in life. All that I know about them is this:

"Many years ago a young woman named Mary, or Mollie Maguire, was
murdered in Ireland, and several young fellows belonging to an order
called 'Ribbonmen' bound themselves by an oath to avenge her death and
kill her murderer. They succeeded so well in this undertaking, and
escaped detection so easily, that they proceeded to redress other
wrongs, real and fancied. They were joined by other men of their own way
of thinking, and finally they became a widely spread and powerful
society. In course of time, whenever anybody was mysteriously killed in
Ireland, it came to be said that the Mollie Maguires had done it, and so
the name clung to them.

"At last the murderous order was introduced into this region by some
Irish miners who wished to get rid of an objectionable overseer, and
also to control the labor unions among the miners. It has so spread that
now its members are known to exist in every mining community of the
anthracite country. It is one of the most cowardly organizations ever
formed by men, and one of the most cruel. Its victims are given no
warning of the fate in store for them, but are struck down in the dark,
or from an ambush, by unseen hands.

"Often the murderer has no previous acquaintance with, or knowledge of,
the man whom he kills. He blindly obeys the command of his infernal
order, and is thus made a tool to avenge some petty grievance or fancied
injury.

"The Mollies have become a plague-spot that threatens the health and
life of this region. It is the duty of every honest man and boy who is
brought into any sort of contact with them to thwart their evil designs
in every possible way."

"Well," said Derrick, drawing a long breath, "I had no idea that there
were such wicked men in this country."

"No," he answered the mine boss, "you are but a boy, and have had but
little experience in the wickedness of this world; but I know you are
brave, and I believe you to be honest and loyal. I am therefore going to
trust you, and tell you something that I had no intention of mentioning
when I sent for you this evening. It is this:

"I have every reason to believe the Mollies are strong in this colliery,
and that they intend to make trouble here. I have lately received
several anonymous letters making demands that cannot possibly be
granted, and containing vague threats of what will happen in case they
are not satisfied. This morning I found this note pinned to my door."

Here Mr. Jones opened a drawer of his desk, and took from it a dirty
sheet of paper, which he handed to Derrick. On it was scrawled the
following:

     "Bosses take Wornin'. New breakers can burn as well as old. Fires
     cost munny. Better pay it in wage to

     "MOLLIE."

As the boy finished reading this strange communication which was at the
same time an admission and a threat, he looked up in surprise and began,
"Then you think, sir--"

"Yes," interrupted the mine boss. "I not only think, but I feel
convinced, that the mischief has begun. Moreover, I am determined that
it shall end before it goes any further. I am most anxious to discover
who is at the bottom of it, and in this I want you to help me."

"Want _me_ to help!" exclaimed Derrick, in astonishment.

"Yes, you," answered Mr. Jones, smiling. "Your very youth and
inexperience will render you less likely to be suspected than an older
person. I am certain that I can count upon the son of my old friend
Gilbert Sterling to perform truly and faithfully any duty which his
employers may see fit to intrust him with. Is it not so, Derrick?"

"Yes, sir, it is," cried the boy. "Just tell me what you want me to do,
and if I don't succeed it won't be because I haven't tried my best."

"That is just what I expected you to say," remarked the mine boss,
quietly. "Now we will lay our first plans. I suppose you have had enough
of the breaker, haven't you?"

"Indeed I have, sir."

"Very well. For a change I am going to offer you a job in the mine where
I will give you a bumping-mule to drive. Your wages will be five dollars
a week."

"A bumping-mule?" queried Derrick, in a tone of perplexity not unmixed
with disappointment. From the preceding conversation he had expected to
be intrusted with something very different from mule-driving; nor had he
any idea what sort of an animal the one in question might be.

This time Mr. Jones not only smiled but laughed outright; for, from the
boy's face and tone, he easily understood what was passing in his mind.

"A bumping-mule," he explained, "is the animal that draws the loaded
coal-cars from the chambers, or breasts, to where they are made up into
trains. These trains are then hauled by a team of mules to the foot of
the slope. Then, when the empty cars are brought back, the bumping-mule
distributes them to the several places where they are required. I
suppose his title comes from his causing the cars to bump together as he
makes them up into trains. In attending to your duties as driver of this
most important mule, I can assure you that your time will be fully
occupied from the minute you go into the mine until you leave it.

"I suppose," he added, with a humorous twinkle in his eyes, "that our
conversation led you to think you were to be appointed 'air boss' of the
mine, or placed in charge of a gang at the very least?"

"No, sir," answered Derrick, a little hesitatingly; "I ain't quite such
a greeny as that. But I don't see how I can help you very much by just
driving a bumping-mule."

"You can help me in two ways: first, by doing your duty so faithfully
that I may be able to depend on you at all times; second, while I am in
doubt as to whom I may trust, it will be of great assistance to me to
know that there is at least one person constantly in the mine who will
be true to the interests of his employers, and on the alert to detect
any attempt to injure them."

"I hope you don't mean that I am to be a spy in the mine, sir?"

"No, my boy, I do not. I want you to attend strictly to your duties as
driver of a bumping-mule. At the same time I want you to consider that
your eyes and ears are acting in the place of my eyes and ears. If at
any time they see or hear anything which according to your best judgment
I ought to know, I hope you will be man enough to tell me of it."

"Well, sir," answered Derrick, "I am glad of a chance to go into the
mine and to earn five dollars a week. If you will let me do whatever I
think is right about telling you things without making any promises, I
will keep my eyes and ears wide open."

"That is all that I want you to do, my boy."

"All right, sir, then I'll do my best; and I hope I sha'n't have
anything to tell you except about the bumping-mule."

"So do I hope so with all my heart, Derrick," said the mine boss,
gravely; "for I am inclined to think that if you have anything else to
tell me it will be something very serious and unpleasant. Now you may
take this order for a pair of rubber boots and a miner's cap and lamp
over to the store and get the things. Be on hand to go down with the
first gang of the morning shift. You will find me in the mine, and I
will see that you are properly set to work. Good-night."

"Good-night," answered Derrick, as, with the store order in his hand,
and his mind full of conflicting emotions, he left the house.

Several miners of the day shift were in the store when Derrick went to
present his order. By questioning him as to what he wanted with mine
clothes, they soon learned that he was to begin life underground the
next day as driver of a bumping-mule.

"De young bantam'll find it a tougher job than riding empty cars down de
slope," sneered one big ugly-looking fellow, whose name was Monk Tooley,
and who was Bill Tooley's father.

"I reckon you've laid in a big supply of cuss-words as a stock in trade!
Eh, lad?" asked another.

"No, I haven't," said Derrick, flushing hotly. "I don't believe in
swearing, and if I can't drive a mule without it I won't drive him at
all."

"Then I reckon you'll hunt some other business putty quick," answered
the miner with a coarse laugh in which the others joined. "Mules won't
work without they hears the peculiar langwidge they's most fond of."

"Well," said Derrick, "we'll see." And leaving the store with his
purchases he started homeward. On the way he stopped to deliver Mr.
Guffy's message to Paul Evert, and to tell his friend the great news
that on the following day he was to begin the life of a miner.

"I wish I was going with you," said Paul.

"I wish you were, Polly," answered Derrick. "Perhaps there will be a
chance for you down there before long, and by that time I will have
learned all the ropes, and can tell you what's what."

Although Derrick had lived much among collieries, he had never been
allowed to go down into a mine. His parents had kept him as much as
possible from associating with the rough mine lads of the village. Thus,
until he went into the breaker to earn his own living, he had held but
slight intercourse with them. His friend Paul, being the son of a miner,
knew far more of underground life than he, and often smiled at his
ignorance of many of the commonest mine terms.

Derrick was a peculiar boy in one respect. He disliked to ask questions,
and would rather spend time and patience in finding out things for
himself, if it were possible for him to do so. What he thus learned he
never forgot.

He was thoroughly familiar with the surface workings of a colliery, and
could explain the construction of the great pumps that kept the mine
free from water, the huge, swiftly revolving fan that drew all foul air
from it, or any of its other machinery. His father's profession had long
seemed to him a most desirable one, and he spent much of his spare time
in studying such engineering books as still remained in the house. He
loved to pore over his father's tracings and maps of the old workings.
With these he had become so well acquainted that he believed he could
locate on the surface the exact spots beneath which ran the gangways,
headings, and breasts of the abandoned portions of the mine.

By means of these old maps he had also discovered on the mountain side,
more than a mile away, the mouth of a drift leading into a vein worked
out and abandoned more than twenty years before. This discovery he kept
to himself as a precious secret bequeathed to him by his father, though
he had not the slightest idea that it would ever be of any practical
value to him.

After leaving Paul, Derrick hurried home to tell his mother the great
news that he was to work in the mine and earn five dollars a week, and
to show her his mine clothes. He was greatly disappointed that instead
of rejoicing over his brightening prospects she only gazed at him
without speaking, until the tears filled her eyes and rolled down her
pale cheeks.

"Why, mother," he said, "aren't you glad? Only think--five dollars a
week!"

"Oh, my boy, my boy," she exclaimed, drawing him to her, "I can't let
you go down into that horrible place! 'Twas there your father met his
death."

"Shall I go back to the breaker, then, mother?"

"No, no; I didn't mean what I said. God has delivered you from one
fearful peril, and he can guide you safely through all others. Yes, I am
glad, Derrick--glad of any step that you take forward; but oh, my boy,
be very careful wherever you go. Remember how precious your life is to
me."

Dressed in his new mine clothes, Derrick hurried through breakfast the
next morning, and started for the mouth of the slope bright and early.

On his way he met Bill Tooley, who stopped him by calling out, "Look
a-here, young feller. They say yer a-going down ter drive my mule."

"Didn't know you had a mule," answered Derrick, pleasantly.

"Well, I did have a mule; an' what's more, I'm going ter have him again.
Any feller that goes to driving him before I get back will be sorry he
ever done it, that's all. I don't care if he is the bosses' pet, and did
take a ride in a hand-car."




CHAPTER IV

INTRODUCING HARRY, THE BUMPING-MULE


As Derrick walked towards the entrance to the mine, he wondered what the
bully whom he had just met meant by what he said. He did not then know
that Bill Tooley had been discharged from the mine by Mr. Jones for
brutal treatment of the mule he had driven, and for general laziness and
neglect of his duties.

At the mouth of the "travelling-road," down which the early arrivals
were compelled to make their way into the mine, Derrick was greeted by a
little group of miners who were lighting their lamps and preparing to
descend.

"'Tis bonny to see thee, Derrick lad," called out one of them.

"'Twill be luck to the mine to have such as you in her," said another.

"My lad would ha' been your age an' he'd lived," said a third. "'Twould
ha' been a proud day for me to ha' seen him alongside o' thee, lad,
lighting his bit lamp, and ready to take up the life of an honest
miner."

In the group was Tom Evert, Paul's father, a brawny, muscular man, who
was considered one of the best miners in Raven Brook. Taking Derrick a
little to one side, he said,

"They tell me, lad, thou'rt to drive Bill Tooley's mule."

"I don't know anything about Bill Tooley's mule," answered Derrick. "I
only know that Mr. Jones said I was to drive a bumping-mule, and I
intend to do exactly what he tells me."

"Of course, lad, of course; but the bumping-mule he has in mind will be
Bill Tooley's, I doubt not, and I'd rather 'twould be another than you
had the job. Bill Tooley, with his feyther to back him, is certain to
take it out, some way or another, of the lad that steps into his place."

"I'm not afraid of Bill Tooley, as you ought to know, Mr. Evert," said
Derrick, somewhat boastfully, as he thought of the thrashing he had so
recently given the young man in question.

"Of course not, lad, of course not. I know you can lick him fast enough
in fair fight. My poor little Paul can bear ready witness to that, for
which I'm under obligations to you. It's not fair fighting I mean; for
when it comes to argyfying with them Tooleys, it's foul play you must
look out for; and what the young un lacks in pluck he makes up in
inflooence."

Derrick was about to ask what he meant, but was interrupted by a
movement of the miners towards the entrance. In another moment he found
himself rapidly descending the steep steps of the travelling-road, and
feeling that the attempt to keep pace with the long-limbed fellows ahead
of him must certainly result in his pitching headlong into the unknown
depth of blackness.

The travelling-road was a gigantic stairway, leading at a steep angle
directly down into the earth. It was high enough for a man to stand
upright in without hitting his head against the roof, and it was
provided with steps. They were cut or dug out of the rock, earth, or
coal down through which the road passed, and were very broad and very
high. The front edge of each was formed of a smooth round log. From the
roof and sides of the road dripped and trickled little streams of water
that made everything in it wet and soggy, and rendered the edges of the
steps particularly slippery.

The air in the road was chilly in comparison with that of the warm
summer's morning in which the outside world was rejoicing, and Derrick
shivered as he first encountered its penetrating dampness. Of course the
darkness was intense, but at first it was partially dispelled by the
lights of the half-dozen miners in whose company he had entered the
road. As they gradually left him behind, their twinkling lights grew
fainter and fainter, until at last they vanished entirely, and Derrick
found himself stumbling alone down the apparently interminable stairway.

While yet in company with the miners, he had passed through one door
made of heavy planks, that completely closed the road, and now he came
to another. Through its chinks and cracks there was a rush of air from
outside inward that hummed and whistled like a small gale. It took all
of Derrick's strength to pull this door open, and it closed behind him
with a crash that reverberated in long, hollow echoes down the black
depths before him.

Some distance below he was startled by a heavy booming sound from above,
which was followed by a tremendous clattering, mingled with shouts and
cries. In the first of these sounds he recognized the closing of the
door through which he had recently passed, but he could not account for
the others.

They were continued, and grew louder and louder as they approached,
until at length they were close at hand, and he saw lights and a
confused mass of struggling forms directly above him. Stepping to one
side, Derrick flattened himself against the wall to let them pass; but
just as the miner who came first reached that point, he tossed the end
of a rope into the boy's hands, saying, "Here, lad, lead this mule down
the rest of the way, will ye? I'm in a powerful hurry myself."

[Illustration: "HERE, LAD, LEAD THIS MULE DOWN THE REST OF THE WAY, WILL YE?"]

In another instant he had gone, leaping with immense strides down the
precipitous steps, and Derrick found himself staring into the comical
face of a large mule which, with his fore-feet on one step and his hind
ones on that above, looked as though he were about to stand on his head.

"Go on, can't yer!" called out an impatient voice from behind the mule.
"Do ye think I can hang onto this 'ere blessed tail all day? A mule's no
feather-weight, let me tell yer."

Then Derrick realized that another man held the mule by the tail, and
was exerting all his strength to prevent him from going down too fast.
Accepting the situation, he started ahead, encouraging the mule to
follow; but this arrangement did not seem to suit the animal, for he
refused to budge a step from where he stood, nor could the man in the
rear push him along.

"Here, you!" the man called out to Derrick, "come back here and steer
him while I take his head. When he gets started, hang on to his tail
with all your might, and hold back all yer can."

So they changed places, and the mule was so greatly pleased at having
got his own way that he began to plunge down the stairs with great
rapidity. Derrick felt almost as though he were being rushed through
space on the tail of a comet, and shuddered to think of the broken limbs
and general destruction that must inevitably follow such reckless
travelling. The mule, however, seemed to know what he was about as well
as the man who led him, and took such good care of himself that Derrick
soon plucked up courage, and even began to enjoy the situation.

As he was thinking that they must be somewhere near the centre of the
earth, the mule gave an unusually violent plunge forward, and then
stopped so suddenly that poor Derrick found himself sprawling on the
animal's back, with both arms clasped tightly about his neck. With this
the mule began to caper and shake himself so violently that the boy was
forced to loose his hold and fall to the ground, amid roars of laughter
from a score of miners who witnessed the scene.

Greatly confused, Derrick scrambled to his feet, gave a reproachful
glance at the mule, which was calmly gazing at him with a wondering look
in his wide-open eyes, and turned to see in what sort of a place he had
been so unceremoniously landed. At the same moment Mr. Jones, dressed in
miner's costume, and looking as grimy as any of the others, stepped from
the laughing group and said,

"My boy, I congratulate you on being the first person who ever rode into
this mine on mule-back, I am glad you found the travelling-road so good.
Came on your own mule too. How did you know this was the bumping-mule
you were to drive?"

"I didn't know what sort of a mule he was until just as we got here and
he bumped me off his back," replied Derrick; "and I begin to think that
he knows more about driving than I do."

"Well, you have made a notable beginning," said the mine boss, "and I am
sure you two will get along capitally together. Harry Mule, this is
Derrick Sterling, who is to be your new driver, and I want you to behave
yourself with him." Then to Derrick he said, "Harry has the reputation
of being the most knowing, and at the same time the most perverse, mule
in the mine. I believe though he only shows bad temper to those who
abuse him, and I have selected you to be his driver because I know you
will treat him kindly, and give him a chance to recover his lost
reputation. If he does not behave himself with you, I shall put him in
the tread-mill. Now stand there out of the way for a few minutes, and
then I will show you where you are to work."

Derrick did as he was directed, and quickly found himself intensely
interested in the strange and busy scene before him. The travelling-road
entered the mine in a large chamber close beside the foot of the slope
that led upward to the new breaker. From this chamber branched several
galleries, or "gangways," in which were laid railway-tracks. Over these,
trains of loaded and empty coal-cars drawn by mules were constantly
coming and going. By the side of the track in each gangway was a ditch
containing a stream of ink-black water, flowing towards a central well
in one corner of the chamber, from which it was pumped to the surface.
Opposite to where he stood, Derrick saw the black, yawning mouth of
another slope, which, as he afterwards learned, led down into still
lower depths of the mine. The men around him were handling long bars of
railroad iron, which they were loading with a great racket on cars, and
despatching to distant gangways in which new tracks were needed. Two
large reflector lamps in addition to the miners' lamps made the chamber
quite bright, and with all its noise and bustle it seemed to Derrick the
most interesting place he had ever been in. He was sorry when the mine
boss called and told him to bring along his mule and follow him.

They entered one of the gangways, leading from the central chamber,
which the mine boss said was known as Gangway No. 1. He also told
Derrick something about his mule, and said that by its last driver, Bill
Tooley, the poor animal had been so cruelly abused that he had sent it
to the surface for a few days to recover from the effects.

"I guess he has recovered," said Derrick, "judging from the way he
brought me into the mine."

They had not gone very far before they came to a closed door on one side
of the gangway beyond which the mule absolutely refused to go, in spite
of all Derrick's coaxings and commands.

"It is the door of his stable," said the mine boss, who stood quietly
looking on, without offering any assistance or advice, waiting to see
what the boy would do.

Tying the end of the halter to one of the rails of the track on which
they were walking, Derrick started into the stable, where he quickly
found what he wanted. Coming out with a handful of oats, he let the mule
have a little taste of them; and then, loosening the halter, tried to
tempt him forward with them. This plan failed, for Harry declined to
yield to temptation, and remained immovable. Then Derrick turned a
questioning glance upon the mine boss, who said,

"Never again hitch an animal to a track along which cars are liable to
come at any moment. Now, why don't you beat the mule?"

"Oh no, sir!" exclaimed Derrick, in distress. "I don't want to do that."

"Neither do I want you to," laughed the other. "I only asked why you
didn't?"

"Because," said Derrick, "I want him to become fond of me, and my mother
says the most stubborn animals can be conquered by kindness, while
beatings only make them worse."

"Which is as true as gospel," said the mine boss. "Well, the only other
thing I can suggest is for you to go into the stable, get the harness
that hangs on the peg nearest the door, and put it on him."

Acting upon this hint, Derrick had hardly finished buckling the last
strap of the harness when the mule began to move steadily forward of his
own accord.

"That's his way," said the mine boss. "In harness he knows that he is
expected to work, but without it he thinks he may do as he pleases."

Presently the mule stumbled slightly, and again he stopped and refused
to go ahead.

"Do you know what is the matter now, sir?" asked Derrick.

"I think perhaps he wants his lamp lighted," replied the mine boss.

A miner's lamp, attached to a broad piece of leather, hung down in front
of the mule from his collar.

The boy lighted this lamp, and immediately the mule began to move on,
showing that this was exactly what he had wanted.

"Seems to me he knows almost as much as folks," cried Derrick, highly
delighted at this new proof of his mule's intelligence.

"Quite as much as most folks, and more than some," answered his
companion, dryly.

During their long walk they passed through several doors which, as
Derrick was told, served to regulate the currents of air constantly
flowing in and out of the mine, and kept in motion by the great fan at
its mouth. Whenever they approached one of these the mine boss called,
loudly, "Door," and it was immediately opened by a boy who sat behind it
and closed it again as soon as they had passed. Each of these boys had
besides his little flaring lamp, such as everybody in the mine carried,
a can of oil for refilling it, a lunch-pail and a tin water-bottle, and
each of them spent from eight to ten hours at his post without leaving
it.

Finally Derrick and the mine boss came to a junction of several
galleries, a sort of mine cross-roads, and the former was told that this
was to be his headquarters, for here was where the trains were made up,
and from here the empty cars were distributed. At the farther end of
each of the headings leading from this junction two or more miners were
at work drilling, blasting, and picking tons of coal from between its
enclosing walls of slate. They were all doing their best to fill the
cars which it was Derrick's business to haul to the junction and replace
with empty ones. There were also a number of miners at work in breasts,
or openings at the sides of the gangways that followed the slant of the
coal vein, who expected to be supplied with empty cars and have their
loaded ones taken away by Derrick. These breast miners filled their cars
very quickly, as the moment they loosened the coal it slid down the
slaty incline, above which it had been bedded, to a wooden chute on the
edge of the gangway that discharged it directly into them.

As Derrick was told of all this, he realized that he and Harry Mule
would have to get around pretty fast to attend to these duties, and
supply empty cars as they were needed.

What interested him most in this part of the mine was an alcove hewn
from solid rock near the junction, in which was a complete smithy. It
had forge, anvil, and bellows, and was presided over by a blacksmith
named Job Taskar, as ugly a looking fellow, Derrick thought, as he had
ever seen. Here the mules were shod, tools were sharpened, and broken
iron-work was repaired. It was a busy place, and its glowing forge,
together with the showers of sparks with which Job Taskar's lusty blows
almost constantly surrounded the anvil, made it appear particularly
cheerful and bright amid the all-pervading darkness. Nearly every man
and boy in that section of the mine was obliged to visit the smithy at
least once during working hours. Thus it became a great news centre, and
offered temptations to many of its visitors to linger long after their
business was finished.

After pointing out to Derrick the several places at which his services
would be required, the mine boss left him, and the boy found himself
fully launched on his new career.

He soon discovered that Harry Mule knew much more of the business than
he did, and by allowing him to have his own way, and go where he thought
best, Derrick got along with very few mistakes. Among the miners upon
whom he had to attend he found brawny Tom Evert, stripped to the waist,
lying on his side, and working above his head, but bringing down the
coal in glistening showers with each sturdy blow of his pick. When he
saw Derrick he paused in his work long enough to exchange a cheery
greeting with him and to dash the perspiration from his eyes with the
back of his grimy hand; then at it he went again with redoubled energy.

At the end of one of the headings Derrick found another acquaintance in
the person of Monk Tooley. He scowled when he saw the new driver, and
growled out that he'd better look sharp and see to it he was never kept
waiting for cars, or it would be the worse for him.

Twice Derrick started to leave this place, and each time the miner
called him back on some trivial pretext. The boy could not see, nor did
he suspect, what the man was doing, but as he turned away for the third
time, Monk Tooley sprang past him with a shout, and ran down the
heading. Derrick did not hear what he said, but turning to look behind
him, he saw a flash of fire, and had barely time to throw himself face
downward, behind his car, when he was stunned by a tremendous explosion.
Directly afterwards he was nearly buried beneath an avalanche of rock
and coal.




CHAPTER V

ATTACKED BY ENEMIES, AND LOST IN THE MINE


Although Derrick was terribly frightened by the explosion, and
considerably bruised by the shower of rocks and coal that followed it,
the car had so protected him that he was not seriously hurt. Had his
mule started forward the heavily loaded car must have run over and
killed him. Fortunately Harry was too experienced a miner to allow such
a trifling thing as a blast to disturb his equanimity, especially as the
two false starts already made had placed him at some little distance
from it. To be sure, he had shaken his head at the flying bits of coal,
and had even kicked out viciously at one large piece that fell near his
heels. The iron-shod hoof had shattered the big lump, and sent its
fragments flying over Derrick, but in the darkness and confusion the boy
thought it was only part of the explosion, and was thankful that matters
were no worse.

As Derrick cleared himself from the mass of rubbish that had fallen on
him, and staggered to his feet, he was nearly suffocated by the dense
clouds of powder-smoke from the blast. He was also in utter darkness,
both his lamp and that of Harry Mule having been blown out. In his
inexperience he had not thought to provide matches before entering the
mine, and now he found himself in a darkness more dense than any he had
ever dreamed of, without any means of procuring a light. His heart grew
heavy within him as he realized his situation, for he had no idea
whether the miner who had played so cruel and dangerous a trick upon him
would return or not.

An impatient movement on the part of Harry Mule suggested a plan to him.
Casting off the chain by which the mule was attached to the car, and
holding the end in his hand, he said, "Go on, Harry, and take me out of
this place." At this command the intelligent animal started off towards
the junction as unhesitatingly as though surrounded by brightest
daylight, and Derrick followed.

They had not gone far before they met Monk Tooley, leisurely returning
to the scene of his labors.

"Hello! Mr. Mule-driver," he shouted, "what are you a-doing here in de
dark, an' how do yer like mining far as ye've got? Been studying de
effect of blarsts, and a-testing of 'em by pussunal experience?"

Derrick felt a great lump rising in his throat, and bitter thoughts and
words crowded each other closely in his mind. He knew, however, that the
man before him was as greatly his superior in wordy strife as in bodily
strength, so he simply said,

"The next time you try to kill me you'd better take some surer means of
doing it."

"Kill you! Who says I wanted to kill you?" demanded the miner, fiercely,
as he stopped and glared at the boy. "Didn't I holler to ye to run?
Didn't I give yer fair warnin' that I was shootin' a blarst? Didn't I?
Course I did and yer didn't pay no 'tention to it. Oh no, sonny! 'twon't
do. Ye mustn't talk 'bout killin' down in dese workin's, cause 'twon't
be 'lowed. Come back now, an' git my wagon. Here's a light for yer, but
don't let me hear no more talk 'bout killin', or ye may have a chance to
wish yer was dead long before yer really is."

Derrick made no reply to this, but turning Harry Mule about, they went
back after the car. He was convinced that this man was his bitter and
unscrupulous enemy, and made up his mind that he must be constantly on
his guard against him. He did not tell anybody of this startling
incident of his first day's experience in the mine for a long time
afterwards; as, upon thinking it over, he realized that the peril, which
he had so happily escaped might readily be charged to his own
carelessness.

At lunch time he let Harry Mule make his own way back to the mine stable
for oats and water. He had been told by the mine boss that the knowing
animal would not only do this, but would afterwards return to his place
of duty when started towards it by one of the stable-boys. While the
mule was gone, his young driver went into the blacksmith's shop to eat
his own lunch in company with Job Taskar, who had invited him to do so.
Job questioned Derrick closely as to his acquaintance among the men and
boys of the colliery, and asked particularly in regard to his likings or
dislikings of the several overseers.

"I hear thee's a great friend o' t' mine boss," said Job.

"Not at all," answered Derrick. "Mr. Jones was a friend of my father's,
but I hardly know him."

"All says thee's boss's favorite."

"I'm sure I don't know why they should. Of course it was good of him to
give me a job; but he had to get somebody to drive the mule. It doesn't
seem to me that I've got any easier place than anybody else."

Here Derrick put one hand up to his badly aching head, which had been
bruised by a flying chunk from Monk Tooley's blast.

Noting the movement, Job asked what was the matter, for although he had
heard about the blast from Monk Tooley, he wanted to learn what the boy
thought of it.

"I got hit by a falling chunk," replied Derrick, guardedly.

"Humph!" growled Job; "better keep clear o' they chunks. One on 'em
might hit ye once too often some time."

Job held no more conversation with the boy, but lighted his pipe, and
sat at one side of the forge, scowling and smoking. Derrick also kept
silence, as he sat on the opposite side of the forge, rubbing his aching
head with a grimy hand.

While they sat thus, several miners dropped in for a smoke and a chat.
They all looked curiously at Derrick, but none of them spoke to him.
Thus neglected, he felt very unhappy and uncomfortable, and was glad
when the jingling of Harry Mule's harness outside gave notice that it
was again time to go to work.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully and monotonously, for, with the
exception of burly Tom Evert, who gave the lad a cheery word whenever he
passed him, nobody spoke to him. Even Harry Mule seemed to realize that
his young driver was not having a very pleasant time, and rubbed his
nose sympathetically against his shoulder, as much as to say, "I'm sorry
for you, and I'll stand by you even if nobody else does."

At last, in some mysterious way, everybody seemed to know all at once,
that it was time to quit work, and Harry Mule knew it as quickly as
anybody. Before Derrick noticed that the miners had stopped work, this
remarkable animal, having just been unhitched from a car, threw up his
head, uttered a prolonged and ear-rasping bray, and started off on a
brisk trot, with a tremendous clatter and jingling of chains, towards
his stable.

The door-boys heard him coming, opened their doors to let him pass,
closed them after him, and started on a run for the foot of the slope.

Of course Derrick followed his charge as fast as possible, calling, as
he ran, "Whoa, Harry! Whoa! Stop that mule, he's running away!" Neither
Harry nor anybody else paid the slightest attention to him, and when he
finally reached the stable he found his mule already there, exchanging
squeals and kicks with several other bumping-mules that had come in from
other parts of the mine.

Then he knew that it was really quitting-time, and went to work, as
quickly as his inexperience would allow, to rub Harry down, water and
feed him, and make him comfortable for the night. Everybody else who had
stable-work to do finished it before he, and when at last he felt at
liberty to leave the mine and start towards the upper world and the
fresh air he longed so ardently to breathe again, he was alone.

Derrick found his way without difficulty to the large chamber at the
foot of the slope. There, as he did not see any cars ready to go up, he
turned towards the travelling-road, with the intention of climbing the
steep stairway he had descended that morning.

Suddenly there arose cries of "There he is! There he is! Head him off!"

Before the startled lad knew what was about to happen, he was surrounded
by a score of sooty-faced boys. Cutting him off from the
travelling-road, these boys pushed him, in spite of his opposition and
protests, into a far corner of the chamber, where, with his back against
the wall, he made a stand and demanded what they wanted of him.

"A treat! a treat!" shouted several.

Then room was made for one who seemed to exercise authority over them,
and who, as he stepped forward, Derrick recognized with surprise as Bill
Tooley, ex-mule driver, and now breaker boy.

"What are you down here for, and what does all this mean, Bill?" asked
Derrick, as calmly as he could.

"It means," answered Bill, putting his disagreeable face very close to
Derrick's, "dat yer've got ter pay fer comin' down inter de mine, an'
fer takin' my mule, when I told yer not ter; dat's what it means. An' it
means dat we're goin' ter initerate yer inter de order of 'Young
Sleepers,' what every boy in de mine has got ter belong ter."

Derrick had heard of this order of "Young Sleepers," and knew it to be
composed of the very worst young rascals in the coal region. He knew
that they were up to all kinds of wickedness, and that most of the petty
crimes of the community were charged to them. In an instant he made up
his mind that he would rather suffer almost anything than become a
member of such a gang.

While these thoughts were passing through his mind the cry of "A treat!
a treat!" was again raised, and Bill Tooley again addressed Derrick,
saying,

"Ter pay yer way inter de mine, de fellers says yer must set up a kag er
beer. Ter pay fer drivin' my mule, I say yer got ter take a lickin', an'
after that we'll initerate yer."

Now, both Derrick's father and mother had taught him to abhor liquor in
every form; so to the boy's first proposition he promptly answered,

"I haven't got any money, and couldn't afford to buy a keg of beer, even
if I wanted to. I don't want to, because I'm a blue ribbon, and wouldn't
buy even a glass of beer if I had all the money in the world. I won't
join your society either, and I don't see how you can initiate me when I
don't choose to become a member. As for a licking, it'll take more than
you to give it to me, Bill Tooley!"

With these bold words the young mule-driver made a spring at his chief
tormenter, in a desperate effort to break through the surrounding group
of boys. In the distance he saw the twinkling lights of some miners, and
thought if he could only reach them they would afford him protection.

Derrick's defiant speech for an instant paralyzed his hearers with its
very boldness; but as he sprang at Bill Tooley they also made a rush at
him with howls of anger. He succeeded in hitting their leader one
staggering blow, but was quickly overpowered by numbers and flung to the
ground, where the young savages beat and kicked him so cruelly that he
thought they were about to kill him.

He tried to scream for help, but could not utter a sound, and the miners
who passed on their way to the slope thought the fracas was only a
quarrel among some of the boys and paid no attention to it.

At length Bill Tooley ordered the boys to cease from pummelling their
victim, and stooping over him, tied a dirty cloth over his eyes; then he
gave a whispered order, and several of the boys, lifting the helpless
lad by his head and feet, bore him away.

After carrying him what seemed to Derrick an interminable distance, and
passing through a number of doors, as he could tell by hearing them
loudly opened and closed, his bearers suddenly dropped him on the hard
ground. Then Bill Tooley's voice said,

"Yer'll lie dere now till yer make up yer mind ter jine de Young
Sleepers. Den yer can come an' let me know, an' I'll attend ter yer
initeration. Till then yer'll stay where yer are, if it's a thousand
years; fer no one'll come a-nigh yer an' yer can't find de way out."

While Bill was thus talking the other boys quietly slipped away. As he
finished he also moved off, so softly that Derrick did not hear the
sound of his retreating footsteps. It was not until some minutes had
passed that he realized that he had been left, and was alone.

Meantime those who had thus abandoned their victim to the horrors of
black solitude, in what to him was an unknown part of the mine, were
gathered together at no great distance from him. There they waited to
gloat over the cries that they hoped he would utter as soon as he
realized that he was abandoned. In this they were disappointed, for
though they lingered half an hour not a sound did they hear; then two of
the boldest among them decided to take a look at their prisoner.
Shielding the single lamp that lighted their steps so that its rays
should not be seen at any great distance, they crept cautiously to where
they had left him.

He was gone!

This had not been expected, and with an ill-defined feeling of dread
they hurried back to the others and made their report.

"Oh, well, let him go!" exclaimed Bill Tooley, brutally. "'Twon't hurt
him to spend a while in de gangway. Let's go up to supper, and
afterwards come down an' hunt him."

As none of them dared to object to any proposal made by the bully, the
whole gang of begrimed and evil-minded young savages hurried to the foot
of the slope. Here they tumbled into a car, and in a few minutes were
drawn up to the surface, where they scattered towards their respective
homes and waiting suppers.

Paul Evert, who ever since work had ceased in the breaker, more than an
hour before, had lingered near the mouth of the slope, waiting for the
appearance of his friend, ventured to ask one of them if he had seen
Derrick.

"Don't know nothing about him," was the reply, as, greatly alarmed to
find the lad whom he had helped to persecute already made an object of
inquiry, the Young Sleeper hurried away.

Bill Tooley had overheard Paul's question, and stepping up to him, he
said, "Look a-here, young feller, yer ain't got no call as I knows on to
be a meddling wid what goes on in de mine and don't concern you. I don't
mind tellin' yer, though, that yer butty's doin' overwork, and mebbe
won't come up all night. I heerd one of de bosses orderin' him to it."

Although Paul thought this somewhat strange, he knew that the miners
frequently stayed down to do overwork, and was much relieved at such a
plausible explanation of his friend's non-appearance. On his way home he
stopped to tell Mrs. Sterling what he had heard. He found her very
anxious, and just about to go out and make inquiries concerning her boy.
The information that Paul brought relieved her mind somewhat, and
thanking him for it, she turned back into the house with a sigh, and
gave little Helen her supper, at the same time setting aside a liberal
portion for Derrick when he should come.

Until nearly ten o'clock she waited, frequently going to the door to
look and listen; then she could bear the suspense no longer. Throwing a
shawl over her head, and bidding Helen remain where she was for a few
minutes, the anxious mother started to go to the house of the mine boss
to gain certain information of her boy. As she opened her own front
door, something that she saw caused her to utter a cry and stand
trembling on the threshold.




CHAPTER VI

THE SECRET MEETING--A PLUNGE DOWN AN AIR-SHAFT


What Mrs. Sterling saw was her own son Derrick, who was just about to
enter the house. As the light from behind her shone full upon him, he
presented a sorry spectacle, and one well calculated to draw forth an
exclamation from an anxious mother. Hatless and coatless, his face
bruised, swollen, and so covered with blood and coal-dust that its
features were almost unrecognizable, he could not well have presented a
more striking contrast to the clean, cheerful lad whom she had sent down
into the mine with a kiss and a blessing that very morning.

"Why, Derrick!" she exclaimed, the moment she made sure that it was
really he. "What has happened to you? has there been an accident? They
said you were kept down for overwork. Tell me the worst at once, dear!
Are you badly hurt?"

"No, indeed, mother," answered the boy in as cheerful a tone as he could
command. "I am not much hurt, only bruised and banged a little by a
blast that I carelessly stayed too close to. A little hot water and soap
will put me all right again after I've had some supper; but, if you love
me, mother, give me something to eat quickly, for I'm most starved."

By this time they were within the house, and as Mrs. Sterling hastened
to make ready the supper she had saved for Derrick, he dropped into a
chair utterly exhausted. He might well be exhausted, for what he had
passed through and suffered since leaving home that morning could not
have been borne by a boy of weaker constitution or less strength of
will. He was greatly revived by two cups of strong tea and the food set
before him. After satisfying his hunger he went to his own room, and
took a bath in water as hot as he could bear it, and washed his cuts and
bruises with white castile-soap, a piece of which Mrs. Sterling always
managed to keep on hand for such emergencies. It was fortunate for her
peace of mind that the fond mother did not see the cruel bruises that
covered her boy's body from head to foot.

The bath refreshed him so much, and so loosened the joints that were
beginning to feel very stiff and painful, that Derrick believed he was
able, before going to bed, to perform the one duty still remaining to be
done. Mrs. Sterling thought he had gone to bed, and was greatly
surprised to see him come from his room fully dressed. When he told her
that he must go out again to deliver an important message to the mine
boss, she begged him to wait until morning, or at least to let her carry
it for him. Assuring her that it was absolutely necessary that he should
deliver the message himself that very night, and saying that he would be
back within an hour, Derrick kissed his mother and went out.

On the street he met with but one person, a miner hurrying towards the
slope, to whom he did not speak, and who he thought did not recognize
him.

Mr. Jones had closed his house for the night, and was about to retire,
when he was startled by a knock at the outer door. Recent events had
rendered him so suspicious and cautious that he stepped to his desk and
took from it a revolver, which he held in his hand as he stood near the
door, and without opening it, called out,

"Who's there? and what do you want at this time of night?"

As softly as he could, and yet make himself heard, Derrick answered,

"It is I, sir, Derrick Sterling, and I have got something important to
tell you."

At this answer a man who had stolen up behind Derrick, unperceived by
him in the darkness, slipped away with noiseless but hurried footsteps.

"Is anybody with you?" demanded the mine boss, without opening the door.

"No, sir; I am all alone."

Then the door was cautiously opened, Derrick was bidden to step inside
quickly, and it was immediately closed again and bolted. Leading the way
into the library, the mine boss said, not unkindly, but somewhat
impatiently,

"Well, Sterling, what brings you here at this time of night? working
boys should be in bed and asleep before this."

While Derrick is explaining to the mine boss why he is not abed and
asleep, and giving his reasons for disturbing him at that late hour, we
will return to the mine, and see for ourselves what befell him there,
after the events narrated in the last chapter.

The Young Sleepers had left him blindfolded, alone, and in total
darkness, lying on the floor of an unfamiliar gangway. The boy's first
impulse, when he realized that his persecutors had departed and left him
alone, was to tear the bandage from his eyes and fling it far from him.
Of course this did not enable him to see anything, but he felt more free
now that the cloth was removed, and was thankful they had not bound his
wrists so that he could not have reached it.

His next impulse was to shout for help, but an instant's reflection
decided him not to do so. It was not at all probable that anybody except
his tormentors would hear him, and they would only rejoice at this
evidence of his distress. He knew that all his shoutings would not bring
them to him until they were ready to come, and he felt that he had too
little strength left to waste it thus uselessly.

He could not bear to remain where he was without at least making an
attempt to help himself; so he rose to his feet, and feeling his way
very cautiously, began to walk along the gangway. Although he did not
know it, he involuntarily turned in the opposite direction from the
place where Bill Tooley and his companions were waiting and listening to
hear from him.

For some time Derrick expected to reach a door, behind which he should
find a boy, or to meet a train of mule-cars, or a miner who would lead
him to the foot of the slope. At length, however, when he had walked a
long distance, and yet found none of these, his courage began to leave
him and a wild terror to take its place.

Suddenly, like a flash, it occurred to him that he had not struck any
rails in walking, nor felt any indications of a car-track. Filled with a
new dread, he stooped down, and with trembling hands felt every inch of
the wet floor from one side of the gangway to the other. There was no
sign of a track, and he knew, what he had already suspected, that it had
been torn up, and that he was in an abandoned gangway, which another
human being might not enter for years.

This revelation of the full horror of his situation was too much for the
overstrained nerves of the poor lad. He uttered a loud cry, which was
echoed and re-echoed with startling distinctness through the silent,
rock-walled gallery, flung himself on the wet floor, and burst into
bitter sobbings.

How long he lay there, in a sort of semi-stupor after this first
outburst of his despair, he had no means of knowing, but he was finally
roused into an attitude of eager attention by what sounded like a
distant murmur of voices. He sat up, and then sprang to his feet,
rubbing his eyes and staring in a bewildered manner into the darkness of
the gangway ahead of him. Did he see a light only a few paces before
him? It seemed so. Yet he was not sure, for it was not a direct ray, as
from a lamp, but a sort of dim, flickering radiance that appeared to
rise from the very floor almost at his feet.

For several minutes Derrick stared at it incredulously, unable to fathom
the mystery of its appearance. Was it a light produced by human agency,
or was it one of those weird illuminations that sometimes arise from the
dampness and foul air of old mines? He stepped towards it to satisfy
himself of its true character, and as he did so was confronted by a
danger so terrible that, although he had escaped it, his heart almost
stopped beating as he realized its full extent.

By the vague light proceeding from it he saw a pit-hole occupying the
entire width of the gangway, and apparently of great depth. Around its
edge had been built a barrier of logs breast-high. Through age these had
so decayed and fallen that, had Derrick continued a few steps further on
his way, instead of stopping to indulge his grief, he must have walked
into the pit and fallen to the bottom.

The sound of voices that he had heard came up through this opening, and
he was just about to call for help, to whoever was down there, when his
attention was arrested by one voice louder and harsher than the others.
It sounded like that of Job Taskar, the blacksmith, and it said, as
though in settlement of some dispute,

"I don't care a rap who does it, or how it is done, Jones must be put
out of the way somehow or other."

Another voice, which was hardly audible, asked, "What about the kid?"

To this came answer in a voice which there was no mistaking for other
than Monk Tooley's,

"De Young Sleepers is lookin' arter him. Dey're givin' him a big scare.
Blinded him, and toted him back and for'ard, going in and out t'old
gangway door between whiles to make him think he was a long ways off.
Den dey left him just inside t'old gangway, nigh de slope. He thinks
he's at de far end of nowhere by dis time. Dey'll soon drive him from de
mine."

"If they don't, others will," said Job Taskar's voice. "We don't want no
boss's pets spying round this mine. Now, lads, we'll get out of this.
Remember, next regular meeting's on the 27th. We'll fix then how all's
to be done."

There was a confused murmuring after this, but Derrick could make
nothing out of it, and in a few minutes a strong draught of air sucked
down the hole over which he hung, and the dim light disappeared. As it
did so, the poor lad gave one wild cry for help. It only reached the
ears of the last of those below as he was leaving the chamber in which
they had held their meeting. To him it sounded so awful and supernatural
that he was greatly frightened, and hurried on after the others, leaving
the door open behind him, whereby the strong draught down the air-shaft
was continued.

For a few minutes Derrick thought he was indeed lost, and gave himself
up to despair. Then he gradually recalled the words of Monk Tooley that
referred to himself, and received a gleam of hope from them. If indeed
he had been left just inside the door of an old gangway, near the foot
of the slope, might he not find his way back to it and escape? He
shuddered as he thought of the long walk through the awful darkness, but
he was no better off where he was. So, with much thinking and
hesitation, he finally started back on the road he had come, carefully
feeling his way and making but slow progress.

He thought he should never reach the end; but at last he came to a door,
beyond which he heard the sound of human voices, and through the
crevices of which air was rushing outward. Cautiously he pulled it open,
fearing lest some of his late persecutors might be waiting to seize him.
The way was clear, and though he saw several lights in the distance,
none was near him. Gently closing the door, he darted towards the
travelling-road down which he had come that morning, and entered it
without having been observed.

The climb up the gigantic stairway was a tedious one for the weary lad,
and called for such frequent rests that it occupied him nearly an hour.
When he finally reached the top he had barely strength enough left to
drag himself home.

This was the story that Derrick Sterling told the assistant
superintendent in the library of the latter's house that night.

Mr. Jones listened to it with the gravest and most earnest attention,
only interrupting now and then to ask a question concerning some point
that was not made quite clear, or to give utterance to an expression of
sympathy as Derrick related some of his sufferings.

The brave lad had not intended to say anything regarding his treatment
by the Young Sleepers, but was obliged to do so in answer to questions
as to how he happened to be left in the old gangway.

When he had finished, the mine boss grasped him warmly by the hand, and
said,

"My boy, by this timely information, so miraculously obtained, you have
doubtless given me a chance for my life which I should not otherwise
have had. Your adventures have been most thrilling, and your deliverance
wonderful. Now go home and to bed; you must not think of going to work
again until I give you permission to do so."

Once more Derrick found his mother anxiously awaiting his return. He
told her that the mine boss had been very kind to him, and that as he
was not going to work the next day she need not waken him in the
morning. Then he threw himself, all dressed as he was, upon his bed, and
while trying to relate to her some of the events of his first day in the
mine, fell into a profound sleep.

Meantime other events, equally thrilling with those just related, were
taking place in the mine.

Bill Tooley's brutal disposition was mainly the result of his home
training and influences, for he could not remember having had a single
gentle or kind word spoken to him in all his stormy life. In spite of it
he was troubled with some prickings of conscience, and a sort of pity
that evening, as he reflected upon the unhappy condition of the lad whom
he had left to wander alone amid the awful blackness of the abandoned
gangway. He had not intended to do anything so cruel as this when he
first left Derrick where he did. He thought the boy would certainly cry
out for help, and after allowing him to suffer thus for a short time he
meant to go to him and offer to release him upon condition of his
joining the Young Sleepers. This plan had been upset by Derrick's
disappearance, and then it was more to assert his authority over his
companions than with the idea of inflicting further cruelty upon their
victim that he had ordered him to be left for a while. Now he began to
feel anxious concerning the fate of the lad, and eager to effect his
release.

Feeling thus, as soon as he had finished an uncomfortable supper in his
wretched home, filled with quarrelling children, and ruled by a
slatternly, shrill-voiced mother, he hurried out to try and induce some
of his companions to accompany him down into the mine in a search for
Derrick. He had some difficulty in doing this, for the other boys were
badly frightened by what had taken place, and dreaded to return into the
mine. It was more than an hour after he started out before he had
persuaded four of the boldest among them to join him in the proposed
search.

As this little party gathered at the mouth of the slope, and prepared to
descend in a car that was about to start down with some timbers for
props, a timid voice said,

"Can't I go too, Bill? Please let me! I know you are going to look for
Derrick. Please, Bill!"

It was Paul Evert, who, with an undefined feeling of dread and fear for
the safety of his friend, had hung on the outskirts of various groups of
boys in the village street until from their conversations he had learned
the whole story. With senses sharpened by anxiety and love, he had
discovered that Bill Tooley and his companions were going in search of
the missing lad. Now, with his father's mine cap bearing its tiny lamp
on his head, he begged to be allowed to go with them.

Bill hesitated for a moment, and then, for fear lest if he refused Paul
would spread the story of what he had discovered, or perhaps, moved by
some better feeling, he said, "Yes, pile in if yer want to, dough I
don't see what good you can do."

Overjoyed to receive this permission, Paul hastily scrambled into the
car just as it began to move, and in a few minutes was landed with the
rest at the foot of the slope.

Some time before this Derrick had emerged from the old gangway, and
turned into the travelling-road, up which he was now laboriously making
his way.

There did not happen to be an overseer at the bottom of the slope just
then, and to the one or two men who observed them the presence of boys
in the mine at all hours of the day and night was too common to attract
comment; so the little party had no difficulty in entering the old
gangway without being noticed or questioned.

For some reason which he could not explain Paul had brought with him a
new clothes-line, which he now carried, coiled and hung about his neck.
Bill Tooley took the lead, and Paul, with the aid of his crutch, hobbled
along close after him, while the others walked fearfully in a bunch at
some little distance behind.

They had not gone far when Bill stopped and picked up a piece of cloth
from the ground.

"Here's what was over his eyes," he said, "an' as it's a bit furder dan
where we left 'im, it shows he's gone furder in."

The boys gazed at the cloth in awe-struck silence, as though it were
something to be dreaded; and, when Bill called out, "Come on, fellers,
yer won't never find nothing a-standin' dere like a lot o' balky mules,"
they followed him even more reluctantly than before.

Lighted by their lamps, they made far more rapid progress than poor
Derrick had in the darkness, and soon approached the place where he had
discovered the dim, reflected light above the mouth of the old
air-shaft. Just here the oil in their leader's lamp began to give out,
and its flame to burn with a waning and uncertain light.

All at once a strong draught of air extinguished it entirely. He took a
step forward in the darkness towards a log which he had barely seen, and
thought might be Derrick Sterling lying down. Then came a terrible cry,
and Paul's light showed nothing in front of him save the yawning mouth
of the shaft down which Bill Tooley had pitched headlong!




CHAPTER VII

A CRIPPLE'S BRAVE DEED


As Bill Tooley thus met the fate Derrick had so narrowly escaped, and
the Young Sleepers who followed him were left without a leader, they
were thrown into a sad state of confusion. Two of them started to run
back, another threw himself on the floor and burst into loud
lamentations, while the fourth stood motionless and silent from fear. Of
them all, only Paul Evert, the crippled lad, retained his presence of
mind.

As upon all such occasions he who retains full command of his faculties
and remains calm at once assumes the position of a leader, so it was
now.

In a voice that sounded loud and stern as compared with his ordinary
gentle tone, Paul commanded the runaways to stop and return at once.
They hesitated a moment and then obeyed him. He ordered the boy who lay
upon the floor to cease his outcries and get up. Then the little fellow
approached as close to the air-shaft as he dared, and lying down, with
his head beyond its edge, he listened. In a moment he was rewarded for
his pains, for he heard a faint moan. There came another more
distinctly, and he knew that wherever Bill Tooley was he was still
alive, and might possibly be saved.

Taking the lamp from his cap, and the coil of line from about his neck,
where it seemed to have been placed for this very emergency, he tied the
one to an end of the other and gently lowered it into the shaft. Before
doing this he ordered two of the boys to hold him tightly by the legs,
and thus prevent him from slipping over the edge. Quieted, and with some
of their courage restored by his coolness, they did as he directed, and
held him with so firm a grip that for many days afterwards his legs bore
black and blue imprints of their fingers.

As the little lamp swung downward the draught of air caused it to flare
and flicker as though it were about to be extinguished, but it was
nearly full of oil, and the wick had just been pricked up, so it
continued to burn and throw an uncertain light upon the glistening
masses of coal that formed the sides of the shaft. It had not been
lowered more than ten feet when its feeble rays disclosed a dark object,
apparently suspended in mid-air, in the centre of the shaft. It was Bill
Tooley, and Paul saw that by some means his downward plunge had been
arrested, and that he was now clinging to an invisible support.

Hastily pulling up the lamp, Paul replaced it on his cap, and doubling
his line, made one end of it fast to an old timber prop or support of
the gangway roof that stood a short distance from the shaft. Knotting
the loose end about his body, and bidding the boys place one of the old
logs close to the edge of the shaft and hold it there to prevent the
rope from being chafed or cut, the brave little hump-backed lad, who,
like most of those in his condition, was unusually strong in his arms,
swung himself into the dark hole. Down he slid into the blackness,
slowly and cautiously, until he came to the object of his search. It was
Bill Tooley's limp body hanging across a stout timber brace, which,
extending from side to side of the shaft and firmly bedded in its walls
at each end, had been left there by the miners who cut this air-channel.

As Paul's withered leg was of no assistance to him in clinging to the
timber, he lashed himself securely to it before attempting to do
anything for the boy who had so recently been his enemy and tormentor,
and was now dependent upon his efforts for even a chance for life. Bill
was not unconscious, though so weak from pain and fright as to be nearly
helpless. Under the influence of Paul's cheering words, and after the
line had been securely fastened about his body, he was induced to let go
his desperate hold of the timber and grasp the rope. Then Paul called
out to the boys above to pull up very slowly and carefully, as the least
carelessness might result in dashing both Bill and him to the bottom of
the shaft.

Bill Tooley was a heavy weight for the frightened boys at the top to
manage, and several times, even in the short distance of ten feet, his
upward progress was arrested, and Paul feared that they were about to
let him slip back. Obeying his instructions, two of the boys walked away
with the rope, instead of trying to pull up hand-over-hand, while the
other two held the log at the edge in place, and made ready to catch
hold of Bill's arm as soon as he should come within reach.

Finally his head appeared above the surface, and he was dragged,
screaming with pain, over the edge, and laid groaning on the floor of
the gangway. Then the rope was again lowered to the brave little fellow
who was clinging in perfect darkness--for his light had at length blown
out--to the timber brace in the shaft. He was drawn to the surface much
more quickly and easily than Bill Tooley had been; but when he found
himself once more in safety, a reaction from the nervous strain of the
past half-hour set in. Throwing himself down beside Bill, he began to
sob so violently as to greatly astonish the boys, who beheld but could
not comprehend this weakness in one whose strong will had but a minute
before so completely mastered theirs.

In a few moments Paul recovered his composure sufficiently to ask two of
the boys to go to the chamber at the foot of the slope and procure
assistance to carry Bill Tooley, who was evidently unable to walk. After
a long delay these two returned, in company with several miners, who
brought a stretcher such as is often kept in coal mines in readiness for
the accidents that are so common to them.

From what the messenger boys had told them, these men knew most of the
facts connected with the accident. They were so loud in their praise of
Paul for his brave deed that he became greatly confused, though it must
be confessed that praise from these great strong men, any one of whom
would be proud to have done what he had, sounded very pleasantly to the
crippled lad. In order to have a little time to think it all over, he
hobbled on ahead of the others, who moved but slowly with their burden.

When he was thus alone with his thoughts, Paul suddenly remembered the
object for which he had entered the mine. It had been completely lost
sight of in the excitement of the past hour, but now he realized that
they had discovered nothing concerning Derrick's fate. He grew faint and
cold at the remembrance of the air-shaft. Did his dear friend's body lie
at the bottom of it? He trembled as he thought how very possibly this
might be the case, and waiting for the men to overtake him, he asked if
they knew anything of Derrick Sterling.

"Yes," answered one of them, "I saw him come out of his mother's house
as I was passing on my way to the slope, more'n half an hour ago."

"Are you sure?" asked Paul, in great surprise.

"Certainly I am. Why not? was there anything strange in that?"

"Yes, we thought he was lost in the mine, and have been hunting for
him."

"Well, you were mistaken, that's all, and you've had your hunt for
nothing."

Paul was made very happy by this news, though it greatly puzzled him.
The other boys were relieved to hear that Derrick was safe, but greatly
alarmed as to what fate was in store for them as a punishment for the
injuries they had inflicted upon him. Judging from what they would have
done under similar circumstances, they did not doubt that Derrick had
already spread the story of his wrongs through the village, together
with the names of all those who had persecuted him.

At length the party reached the foot of the slope, and Bill Tooley, with
his head resting in Paul Evert's lap, and moaning with pain, was sent in
an empty car to the surface. The bully had made himself so unpopular by
his cruelty, and by his overbearing ways, that nobody except Paul felt
very sorry for him. When it was learned that he had received his
injuries in consequence of his persecution of Derrick Sterling, the
general verdict was that he was rightly served.

The injured boy was carried to his home, whither Paul accompanied him;
but the latter was so frightened by the outcries of Mrs. Tooley when she
learned what had happened that he hurried away without entering the
house. On his way home he stopped at the Sterlings' to inquire if
Derrick were really safe, and was much comforted to learn that he had
just come in and gone to bed--"Where you should be yourself, Paul," said
Mrs. Sterling, kindly, as she bade him good-night.

As the tired but light-hearted boy hobbled into his own home, his
father, who had sat up waiting for him, without knowing where he had
been, roughly ordered him to bed, saying it was no time of night for
lads like him to be prowling about the street.

The sensitive little fellow went up-stairs without a word, all his
light-heartedness dispelled by this harsh reception, and the tears
starting to his eyes. His back ached so from his unwonted exertions that
even after he got to bed he tossed and tumbled feverishly for several
hours before falling into a troubled sleep.

Tom Evert left his house earlier than usual the next morning, and went
to the mouth of the slope, where he found a number of his friends
assembled. They began to congratulate him, and continued to do so until
in great bewilderment he exclaimed,

"What's it for, mates? Is it a joke?"

"For thy son, man."

"For my son? which of 'em?"

"Thy crippled lad, Paul, of course. Is the man daft?"

"No; but I think ye must be, to be running on in such a fashion about a
lad that's not only a wellnigh helpless cripple, but I'm afeared is
going bad ways. 'Twas nearer midnight nor sundown before he came in frae
t' street last night, and I sent him to bed wi' a flea in his ear."

A perfect roar of laughter greeted this speech.

"Wellnigh helpless, is he?" cried one. "Well, if he's helpless I'd like
to know what you'd name helpful?"

"Going to the bad, is he?"

"Out late o' nights! That's a good one."

"An' yez sint him to bed wid a flea in his ear, an' him just afther
doin' the dade should mak' ye the proudest fayther in de place! Did iver
I moind de likes of that?"

These and many similar expressions greeted the ear of the astonished
miner, and from them he began to comprehend that his son Paul had done
something wonderful, and had thereby become a famous character in the
village. At length, after much effort, for they would not believe but
that he knew the whole story, he learned of his boy's brave deed of the
night before. Instead of going down the slope the miner hurried home,
where he found Paul, looking very pale and languid, just sitting down to
his breakfast.

Picking up the frail boy, and holding him in his strong arms as he used
to when he was a baby, the delighted father exclaimed,

"Paul, lad, forgie me this time, and I'll never speak thee rough again.
Thee's made me, I think, the proudest man in the state this day.
Crippled and all, thee's proved thyself worth a score of straight lads,
and to thy fayther thee's worth all the lads in the world. Mither, our
Paul's done that any man in t' mine might be proud of, an' he's the talk
of the colliery."

Thus was Paul more than repaid for all his suffering of the night
before, and as he hobbled to his work in the new breaker that morning he
was once more happy and light-hearted.

The evening before, Job Taskar had called Monk Tooley from his house,
and as they walked away together he said, in a low but significant tone,

"That Sterling lad's not down in the mine, Monk."

"He must be dere, fer de Sleepers left him where he'd be safe, an' I
know he's not come up de slope since."

"He's not there, I tell you; for I just now saw him going into Jones's
house, and heard him say he had something important to tell him."

"If yer saw him and heerd him of course he must be up; but I don't see
how he did it. If he's told de boss anything it must be a blab on de
Sleepers, fer he can't know anything else."

"Whatever it is, he's dangerous to have round, and we must look out for
him."

"All right! just leave him to me. I'll have de Sleepers fix him. Dey'll
do anything my boy Bill tells 'em; he's got 'em under his thumb."

"Look sharp about it, then."

"Ay, ay, mate, I'll give Bill de word to-night soon as he comes in."

Then the two separated, and Monk Tooley went home, thinking over a plan
by which the Young Sleepers, under his son Bill's direction, could
effectually drive Derrick Sterling from the mine. As he opened his own
door he called out in his loud, rough voice,

"Bill come in yet?"

Stepping into the front room, he stood still in amazement. The wife of a
neighbor was holding up a warning finger towards him, and saying,
"Sh--h!"

His own wife and two other women were bending over a bed in one corner,
and the children, whom he had never before known to be quiet when awake,
were standing or sitting silently in various frightened attitudes about
the room.

"Who is it?" he asked, hoarsely, with an attempt at a whisper.

"It's Bill," answered one of the women. "He's badly hurted, falling down
a shaft in the mine, and is like to die. They say Paul the cripple saved
him."

"Bill! my Bill! You're lying!" cried the miner, fiercely. "Bill came out
of de mine wid de day shift. I seen him."

Rough and cruel as he was, the man had, hidden somewhere in his being, a
deep-seated affection for his son Bill. Although he had never been heard
to speak other than harshly to him, Bill was the pride and joy of his
hard life. A blow aimed at Bill struck him with redoubled force. His
hatred of Derrick Sterling arose from the fact that the lad had thrashed
his boy. Now to tell him that his boy Bill was so badly hurt that he was
likely to die was like wrenching from him all that he held worth living
for.

The women made way for the rough miner as he strode to where his son lay
on a heap of soiled bedclothing, tossing and moaning, but unconscious,
and in a high fever. One look was enough, and then Monk Tooley left the
house, and set forth on a ten-mile walk through the night to fetch the
nearest doctor.

By sunrise the doctor had come and gone again, having done what he
could. He said the boy would live if he were kept quiet and had careful
nursing, but that he was injured in such a way that he might be lame for
the rest of his life.

When Monk Tooley went down into the mine that day--for he must now work
harder and more steadily than ever to support this added burden--he was
a silent, heart-broken man.

It was nearly noon before Derrick Sterling awoke after his first day of
bitter experience in the mine. Though he was still sore and lame, hot
water and sleep, two of nature's most powerful remedies in cases of his
kind, had worked such wonders for him that he felt quite ready to enter
the mine again, and face whatever new trials it might have in store for
him.

After dinner the mine boss came to see him, and was amazed to find him
looking so well and cheerful.

"You seem to come up smiling after every knock down, Derrick," he said.
"I shouldn't wonder if you would even be ready to go down into the mine
again to-morrow."

"Indeed I think I must, sir," said Derrick, earnestly. "I don't believe
any one else can get along with Harry Mule as well as I can."

"Let me see. How many years have you been driving him?" asked Mr. Jones,
gravely.

"Only one day, sir," replied Derrick laughing, "but I think he's very
fond of me, and I know I am of him."

"All right; if you insist upon it, you shall go down again to-morrow to
your bumping-mule. Now I want to talk to you seriously."

The conversation that followed was long and earnest, and it was ended by
Mr. Jones saying, just before he left, "I must manage somehow or other
to be there on the 27th, and I want you to go with me, for I don't know
anybody else whom I dare trust. It only remains for us to discover a
way."




CHAPTER VIII

DERRICK STERLING'S SPLENDID REVENGE


The new breaker, in which Paul Evert now worked as a slate-picker, was
in general appearance very much like the old one, but its interior
arrangement was different, and of such a nature as to make life much
easier for those who worked in it. The greatest improvement was the
introduction of a set of machines called "jigs." The coal from the mine,
after being drawn to the very top of the breaker, first passed between
great spiked rollers, or "crushers;" then through a series of "screens,"
provided with holes of different sizes, that separated it into several
grades of egg, stove, nut, pea, buckwheat, etc. From the screens it was
led into the jigs. These are perforated iron cylinders set in tubs of
water, and fitted with movable iron bottoms placed at a slight angle. A
small steam-engine attached to each machine raises and lowers or "jigs"
this iron bottom a few inches each way very rapidly. The contents of the
cylinders are thus constantly shaken in water, and as the slate is
heavier than the coal, most of it settles to the bottom, and is carried
off through a waste chute. The wet coal runs out through other chutes
placed a little higher than that for slate, and extending down through
the length of the breaker to the storage bins at its bottom. Along these
chutes in the new breaker, as in the old one, sat rows of boys picking
out the bits of slate that had escaped the jigs, and among them was Paul
Evert.

When Derrick Sterling entered the new breaker on the afternoon of the
day following that which had brought such memorable adventures, he was
surprised at the comparative absence of coal-dust. It still rose in
clouds from the crushers and screens, but there was none above the
chutes. He understood the theory of jigs, but had never seen them at
work, and now he was so greatly interested in watching them as almost to
forget the errand on which he had come. It was only when Mr. Guffy spoke
to him that he thought of it, and handed the breaker boss the note he
had come to give him.

"All right," said the boss reading it. "I'm sorry to lose him, for he is
a quiet, steady lad, and, could in time be made very useful as a picker.
I doubt, though, if his back would hold out long at the work. Yes, you
may take him along now if you want to."

Stepping over to where his friend sat, Derrick said, "Come, Paul, you're
not to work any more to-day; I want to have a talk with you outside."

When they had left the breaker, Derrick said, "How would you like to go
down into the mine, Paul, and be a door-tender, very near where I work,
and get twice as much money as you can make in the breaker?"

"Of course I should like it," answered Paul, gravely; "but I don't think
they want a cripple like me down there."

"Yes, they do want just exactly such a fellow as you are; they found out
last night what you could do in a mine. Mr. Jones says that if you want
to you can go down with me to-morrow morning, and begin at once without
waiting for the end of the month. You are to go with me to the store
this evening for your mine cap, lamp, and boots. See, here's the order
for them."

Paul stared at the order for a moment as though he could not believe it
was real. Then exclaiming, "Oh goody, Derrick! I'm so glad to get out of
that hateful, back-aching breaker," he gave a funny little twirl of his
body around his crutch, which was his way of expressing great joy.

Derrick shared this joy equally with Paul, and to see them one would
have supposed they had just come into fortunes at least. To a stranger
such rejoicings over an offer of monotonous work down in the blackness
of a coal mine would have seemed absurd, but if he had ever been a
breaker boy he could have fully sympathized with them.

The two boys were standing beside the check-board, near the mouth of the
slope, and after their rejoicings had somewhat subsided Derrick said,
"Let's see who's sent up the most to-day."

The check-board was something like the small black-board that hangs
behind the teacher's desk in a school-room. It was provided with several
rows of pegs, on which hung a number of wooden tags. Each of these tags,
or checks, had cut into it the initials or private mark of the miner to
whom it belonged. When a miner working in the underground breasts or
chambers filled a car with coal and started it on its way to the slope,
he hung on it one of his checks. When the same car reached the top of
the slope the "check boss" stationed there took the check from it and
hung it in its proper place on the check-board. At the end of
working-hours the number of checks thus hung up for each miner was
counted, and the same number of car-loads of coal credited to him.

Acting on Derrick's suggestion, the boys turned to the check-board, and
quickly saw that there were more checks marked M. T. than anything else.

"Why, Monk Tooley has got the most by three loads!" exclaimed Derrick,
counting them.

"He must have worked all through lunch-hour, and like a mule at that. I
wonder what's got into him?"

"Perhaps he's trying to make up for what Bill won't earn now," suggested
Paul, quietly.

"That's so," said Derrick. "I never thought of that, Polly; and I
haven't thanked you yet for going down into the mine to look for me last
night, or told you what a splendid fellow I think you are."

"Please don't, Derrick," interrupted Paul, with a troubled expression;
"you mustn't thank me for anything I tried to do for you. Don't I owe
you more than anything I can ever do will pay for? Didn't you bring me
out of the burning breaker? and don't I love you more than most anybody
on earth?"

"Well, you're a plucky fellow anyway," said Derrick, "and I'd rather
have you down in the mine if there was any trouble than half of the men
who are there. Let's stop and see how Bill Tooley's getting along on our
way home."

"All right," assented Paul; "only if his mother's there I shall be
almost afraid to go in."

As the boys walked away from the vicinity of the check-board, a man who
had come up the slope but a few minutes before, and had been watching
them unobserved, stepped up to it. He was Job Taskar the blacksmith,
known to the men who met in the chamber at the bottom of the air-shaft,
in the old workings, as Body-master of Raven Brook. The check boss had
asked him to stop there a minute, and look out for any cars that might
come up, while he stepped inside the breaker.

Casting a hurried glance around to see that no one was looking, Job
Taskar slipped three of Monk Tooley's checks from their peg, thrust them
into his pocket, altered the chalked figure above the peg, and resumed
his place.

When Derrick and Paul reached the Tooleys' house it seemed to them even
more noisy than usual. Several women sat gossiping with Mrs. Tooley in
the door-way, while a dozen children and several dogs ran screaming or
barking and quarrelling in and out of the room where the sick boy lay.

They asked his mother how he was, and what the doctor had said of his
condition.

"Ye can go in and see for yourselves how he is," was the reply, "there's
naught to hinder. Doctor said he was to be kept perfectly quiet and have
nussin', but how he's going to get either with them brats rampaging and
howling, and me the only one to look after them, is more than I know."

Accepting this invitation, the boys stepped inside, and picking their
way among the children and dogs to the untidy bed on which Bill lay,
spoke to him and asked him if there was anything they could do for him.

He was conscious, though very weak and in great pain, and on opening his
eyes he whispered, "Water."

For more than an hour he had longed for it, until his parched tongue was
ready to cleave to the roof of his mouth, but nobody had come near him,
and he could not make himself heard above the noise of the children.

Taking the tin dipper that lay on a chair beside the bed Derrick went
out to the hydrant to fill it with the cool mountain water that flowed
there.

Paul drew a tattered window-shade so that the hot western sun should not
shine full in the sick boy's face, loosened his shirt at the neck,
smoothed back the matted hair from his forehead, and with a threatening
shake of his crutch, drove a howling dog and several screaming children
from the room.

These little attentions soothed the sufferer, and he looked up
gratefully and wonderingly at Paul. When Derrick returned with the water
he lifted his head, and stretched out his hand eagerly for it. At that
moment Mrs. Tooley came bustling to the bedside to see what the boys
were doing. Catching sight of the dipper she snatched it from Derrick's
hand, crying out that it would kill the boy to give him cold water, "and
him ragin' wid a fever." This so frightened the boys that they hurriedly
took their departure, and poor Bill cast such a wistful, despairing
glance after them as they left the house that their hearts were filled
with pity for him.

At the supper-table that evening Derrick asked:

"Does it hurt people who have a fever to give them water, mother?"

"No, dear; I do not think it does. My experience teaches me to give
feverish patients all the cooling drinks they want."

Then Derrick told her what he had seen and learned of Bill Tooley's
condition that afternoon. He so excited her pity by his description of
the dirt, noise, and neglect from which the sick lad was suffering that
she finally exclaimed, "Poor fellow! I wish we had room to take care of
him here!"

"Do you, mother, really? I wanted to ask you, but was almost afraid to,
if he couldn't come here and have my room till he gets well. You see
he's always treated Polly worse than he has me, and yet Polly risked his
life for him. It isn't anywhere near so much to do as that, of course;
but I'd like to give up my room to him, and nurse him when I was home,
if you could look after him a little when I wasn't. I can sleep on the
floor close to the bed, and be ready to wait on him nights. You know I
always liked the floor better than a bed, anyway, and I believe he'll
die if he stays where he is."

They knew each other so well, this mother and son, that a question of
this kind was easily settled between them. Though both fully realized
what a task they were undertaking, it was decided that if his parents
would consent Bill Tooley should be brought to their house to be nursed.

When Monk Tooley came up from the mine that evening and examined the
check-board to see how the numbers to his credit compared with the tally
he had kept, he became very angry, and accused the check boss of
cheating him. The latter said he knew nothing about it. There were the
checks to speak for themselves. He had hung each one on the peg as it
came up.

"Den dey've been stolen!" exclaimed the angry man, "an' if I catch him
as done it, I'll make him smart for it, dat's all."

The check boss tried to show him how perfectly useless it would be for
anybody to steal another's checks. "You know yourself it wouldn't do him
any good, Tooley," he said. "He couldn't claim anything on 'em, or make
any kind of a raise on 'em; besides I've been right here every minute of
the day, barrin' a couple when I ran inside the breaker on an errand.
Then I left Job Taskar, as honest a man as there is in the colliery, to
keep watch, and he said nothing passed while I was gone."

"Well," answered Monk Tooley, "I'm cheated outer three loads, and you
know what dat is ter a man what's worked overtime ter make 'em, an' has
sickness and doctor's bills at home. But I'll catch de thief yet, an'
when I do he'll wish he'd never know'd what a check was."

As he was walking down the street after supper, smoking a pipe and
thinking of his sick boy, who seemed to have grown worse since morning,
and of his lost checks, Monk Tooley was accosted by Derrick Sterling,
who said,

"Good-evening, Mr. Tooley. How's Bill this evening?"

"None de better fer your askin'," was the surly answer, for the man felt
very bitter against Derrick, to whom he attributed all his son's
trouble.

"I'm sorry to hear that he isn't any better," continued the boy,
determined not to be easily rebuffed.

"Well, I'm glad yer sorry, an' wish yer was sorrier."

This did not seem to promise a very pleasant conversation, but Derrick
persevered, saying,

"It must be very hard for Mrs. Tooley to keep so many children quiet,
and I believe the doctor said Bill must not be troubled by noise, didn't
he?"

"Yes, an' if ye'd muzzle yer own mouth de whole place would be quieter."

"My mother wanted me to say to you that if you'd like to send Bill over
to our house for a few days, it's so quiet over there that she thought
it would do him good, and she'd be very glad to have him," said Derrick,
plunging boldly into the business he had undertaken to manage.

"Tell yer mother ter mind her own brats an' leave me ter mind mine, den
de road'll be wide enough for de both of us," was the ungracious answer
made by the surly miner to this offer, as he turned away and left
Derrick standing angry and mortified behind him.

"That comes of trying to do unto others as you would have others do unto
you," he muttered to himself. "Seems to me the best way is to do unto
others as they do unto you, and then nobody can complain. I declare if I
had as ugly a temper as that man has I'd go and drown myself. I don't
believe he's got one spark of human feeling in him."

Monk Tooley was not quite so bad as Derrick thought him, but just at
that time everything seemed to go wrong with him, and he was like some
savage animal suffering from a pain for which it can find no relief. He
began to repent of his ugliness to Derrick almost as soon as the latter
had left him, saying to himself, "Maybe de lad meant kindly arter all."

Going back to his untidy, noisy home, he entered the house, and standing
by his son's bedside gazed curiously at him. The boy was evidently
growing worse each minute, as even the unpractised eye of the miner
could see. He was tossing in a high fever, calling constantly for the
water which in her ignorance his mother would not give him, nor did he
appear to recognize any of those who stood near.

"I fear me his time's come," said one of the neighbor women, several of
whom, attracted by curiosity, came and went in and out of the house.

Although the remark was not intended for his ears, Monk Tooley heard it,
and apparently it brought him to a sudden determination. Without a word
he left the house and walked directly to that of the Sterlings. Entering
the open door-way without the ceremony of knocking, which was little
practised in that colliery village, he found the family gathered in
their tiny sitting-room, Derrick poring intently over a plan of the old
workings of the mine, Helen reading, and their mother sewing.

Bowing awkwardly to Mrs. Sterling, he said, "Derrick tells me, missus,
dat you're willin' to take my poor lad in and nuss him a bit. His own
mither has no knowledge of de trade, an' he's just dyin' over yon. If
yer mean it, and will do fer him, yer'll never want for a man to lift a
hand fer you and yours as long as Monk Tooley is widin call."

"I do mean it, Mr. Tooley, and if you can only get him here, I'll gladly
do what I can for him," said Mrs. Sterling.

"I'll bring him, mum, I'll go fer him now;" and Monk Tooley, with
another awkward pull at the brim of his hat, left the house.

In five minutes he was back, accompanied by another miner, and between
them they bore a mattress on which lay the sick boy.

He was undressed, bathed, and placed in Derrick's cool, clean bed.
Within an hour cooling drinks and outward applications had so reduced
the fever and quieted him that he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Within the same time all the village knew, and wondered over the
knowledge, that Monk Tooley's sick lad was being cared for in the house
of the widow Sterling.




CHAPTER IX

SOCRATES, THE WISE MINE RAT


When Derrick and Paul found themselves descending the slope, together
with a carful of miners, the next morning, it seemed to them a long time
since they had traversed its black depths. So accustomed do the toilers
of the colliery become to exciting incidents that elsewhere would
furnish subject for weeks of thought and conversation, that often a
single day suffices to divert their attention to something new. So it
was with our two boys, in whose minds their recent adventures were
already shorn of their terrors, and only thought of as something
unpleasant, to be forgotten as quickly as possible. Therefore they did
not speak of them as they talked together in low tones, but only of the
present and the future.

"I think it's awful good of you and your mother to take Bill Tooley into
your own house and nurse him," said Paul.

"Oh no," laughed Derrick, "it isn't so very good. Revenge is what we are
after, and that is one way of getting it."

Hearing Bill Tooley's name mentioned between the boys, one of the miners
who rode in the car with them had leaned forward to learn what they were
saying. At Derrick's last remark this man started back and gazed at him
curiously.

"He's got the very stuff in him to make a Mollie of," he thought. "To
think he's so sly. He's got the fellow he hates into his own house,
pretending that he wants to nurse him, and now he's going to take out
his revenge on him. Perhaps he's going to poison him, or fix pins in the
bed so they'll stick him. Anyway, I'll have to give Monk the hint of
what he's up to." Then, admiringly, and half aloud, he muttered, still
looking at Derrick, "The young villain!"

From the foot of the slope Derrick set off for the stable to get Harry
Mule, while Paul waited for the making up of a train of empty cars, in
which he was to ride to the junction near the blacksmith's shop. There
Derrick was to meet him, take him to his post of duty, and tell him
about opening and closing the door, and tending the switch of which he
was to have charge.

In spite of the fact that he and Derrick had been friends but a single
day, Harry Mule appeared to recognize his young driver, and gave him a
cordial greeting as he entered the stable. At least he threw up his head
and uttered a tremendous bray, which went "Haw! he-haw, he-haw, he-haw!"
and sounded so absurdly like a laugh that Derrick laughed from sympathy
until the tears ran down his cheeks. The mule gazed at him with a look
of wonder in his big eyes, and stood so meek and quiet while his harness
was being put on that Derrick thought perhaps his feelings had been
hurt. To soothe them he talked to him, and told him that Paul had come
down into the mine to work.

As they left the stable, and Derrick stopped to fasten the door, Harry
started in the opposite direction from that in which he should have
gone, and ran down the gangway, kicking up his heels and braying, as
though he were a frisky young colt in a pasture instead of an old
bumping-mule down in a coal-mine. Derrick ran after him, and for some
time could see the reflection of the collar-lamp, which was swung
violently to and fro by the animal's rapid motion. The disappearance of
this light in the distance was followed by an angry shouting and a
muffled crash.

Derrick was provoked that his mule should have made all this trouble,
and was anxious to discover the full extent of the mischief done, but he
could not help laughing when he reached the scene of confusion. The
first object he saw was Harry himself, standing still and gazing
demurely at him with the wondering look which was his most common
expression. He was hitched in front of a string of mules which were
attached to a train of empty cars, and was evidently prepared to act as
their leader. The boy driver of these mules, with many muttered
exclamations, was trying to disentangle their harness from the snarl it
had got into, and in one of the cars stood Paul Evert, looking somewhat
dilapidated and greatly disgusted.

"Hullo, Derrick!" he called out. "Where did that mule come from?"

"Why, that's Harry, my bumping-mule," answered Derrick as he came up
laughing.

"Bumping-mule! I should think he was," said Paul. "He made these cars
stop so quick that I was almost bumped out of 'em, and the skin's all
knocked off my nose. I don't see what he wanted to come bumping along
this way for."

"Why, I told him you were coming," said Derrick, "and I suppose he
wanted to welcome you to the mine."

"Well, I'm sorry you told him, and--"

Just then the driver shouted "Gee up!" and Harry Mule, anxious to do his
duty in his new position, started ahead so briskly as to pull the other
three mules promptly into line and give a violent jerk to the cars.
Losing his balance with this unexpected motion, Paul sat suddenly down
in the bottom of the car he was in, and there he wisely decided to
remain.

When they reached the junction, Derrick asked Paul to wait for him until
he and Harry Mule had distributed the empty cars to their several
destinations. Attracted by its cheerful light, Paul stepped inside the
blacksmith's shop, where Job Taskar, who was hammering away as busily as
usual, glanced up as he entered, but paid no further attention to him. A
minute later the smith, who had just begun his day's work, and still
wore his coat, pulled it off and flung it to one side. Something dropped
from one of its pockets unnoticed by him as he did so, and Paul was on
the point of calling his attention to it. He did not, however, because
the smith's helper, a slim, dreary-looking young man, to whom nobody
ever paid much attention, also noticed the falling object, and picked it
up without being seen by Job. Gazing at it curiously for a moment, he
restored it, as Paul thought, to the pocket from which it had fallen. In
reality, he slipped it into a pocket of his own coat which lay under
that of his boss.

Derrick now came back, and with him Paul went to the door that he was to
tend. Just inside of it, on a platform laid above the ditch of black,
rapidly flowing water, stood a rude arm-chair made out of rough boards.
Above it hung a board full of holes into which several pegs were thrust.
Derrick told Paul that with these pegs he must keep tally of the number
of loaded cars that passed this station, and that he must always be
ready to answer promptly the call of "Door." Within reach from the chair
was a lever by means of which the switch was moved. Paul was told that
after each door call there would come another explaining on which track
the approaching cars were to go, and that he must listen carefully for
it and set the switch accordingly. After showing him the large oil-can
from which he might refill his lamp, Derrick bade him good-by and
returned to his own work.

This morning passed much more pleasantly to the young mule-driver than
the first one had. Not only did Tom Evert greet him cordially, and thank
him for what he had done for Paul, but Monk Tooley gave him a gruff
"Mornin', lad," and most of the other men spoke pleasantly to him, as
though to atone in a measure for his previous suffering. Above all, he
occasionally had to pass Paul's station, and the mere sight of his
faithful friend leaning on his crutch and holding open the door was a
source of joy.

As Paul had much spare time on his hands, he occupied it in becoming
acquainted with his surroundings, and was especially interested in the
curious markings on the black slate walls of the gangway near his door.
Many of these were in the form of exquisite ferns, others of curious
leaves such as he had never seen, quaint patterns like the scales and
bones of queer fishes, or the ripplings of water on a smooth beach. In
one place he found tiny tracks, as though a small bird had run quickly
across it, and had stamped the imprint of its feet on the hard surface.

It was Paul's first lesson in geology, and it gave him his first idea
that this hard slate, and the veins of coal enclosed between its solid
walls, might have had a previous existence in another form. He pondered
upon the length of time that must have passed since those ferns grew,
and since that running bird made those footprints, and finally concluded
to ask Derrick if he knew.

At noon, after Harry Mule had been sent jingling to his stable, Derrick
rejoined his friend, and they ate lunch together. As they talked of the
strange markings on the walls, and Derrick confessed that he knew no
more concerning their age than Paul, the latter suddenly paused, and
with a slight gesture directed attention to something in the roadway.

Looking in the direction indicated, Derrick saw, sitting bolt-upright on
its hind-legs, and gazing steadily at them, an immense rat. He was quite
gray, and evidently very old; nor did he seem to be in the least bit
afraid of them.

"Doesn't he look wise?" whispered Paul.

"As wise as Socrates," answered Derrick.

Not having had Derrick's education, Paul did not know who Socrates was,
but the name pleased him, and he said it over softly to
himself--"Socrates, Soc, Socrates. That's what I'm going to call him,
Derrick--'Socrates.' I've seen him round here two or three times this
morning, and every time he's sat up just like that, and looked as if he
knew all that I was thinking about. I believe he could tell how old the
ferns are."

"I don't believe they're as old as he is," replied Derrick, laughing.

The rat did not seem to like this, for at Derrick's laughter he gave a
little squeak and darted away, disappearing beneath the door.

Within five minutes Paul pointed again, and there sat the rat in
precisely the same position as before.

"Perhaps this is what he wants," said Paul, throwing a bit of bread
towards the rat. Approaching it cautiously, the beast first smelled of
it, and then seizing it in his mouth again darted beneath the door.
Several times did he thus come for food, but he always carried it away
without stopping to eat even a crumb.

"He must have a large and hungry family," said Derrick.

"Or else it isn't his dinner-hour yet, and he is waiting for the proper
time to eat," laughed Paul.

Always after this Socrates the rat was a regular attendant upon the boys
at lunch-time, and he never failed to receive a share of whatever they
had to eat. Often at other times, when no sound save the steady gurgle
of the black water beneath him broke the tomb-like silence of the
gangway, Paul would see the little beady eyes flashing here and there in
the dim lamplight, and would feel a sense of companionship very
comforting to his loneliness. At such times Paul would talk to the rat
about the queer pictures on the walls, and ask him questions concerning
them. For hours he talked thus to his wise-looking companion, until he
began to believe that the rat understood him, and could really answer if
he chose.

Sometimes when he was asked a question he could not answer, he would
reply, "I don't know, but I'll speak to Socrates about it"; and at the
first opportunity he would explain the whole difficulty to his
gray-whiskered friend. Frequently, by thus thinking and talking the
matter over, he would arrive at some conclusion, more or less correct,
and this he would report as "What Socrates thinks."

At noon that day Monk Tooley, as usual, ate his lunch and smoked his
pipe with Job Taskar in the blacksmith's shop; but he was very quiet,
and not inclined to be talkative as was his habit. When he left, the
blacksmith's helper slipped out after him, and saying, "'Ere's summut I
think belongs to you, Mr. Tooley," handed him three bits of wood, on
each of which was deeply scored M. T.

"My lost checks!" exclaimed the miner. "Where'd yer get 'em, Boodle?"

"They dropped out hof Taskar's pocket when 'e flung hoff 'is coat this
mornin', and hi picked 'em hup unbeknownst to 'im."

"So he's de one as stole 'em, is he?" began the miner in a passion.
Then, changing his tone, he added, "But never mind, Boodle; of course he
only took 'em for de joke, and we'll say no more about it. Yer needn't
mention havin' found 'em."

"Hall right, Mr. Tooley, hit shall be has you says," replied the helper,
meekly, though he was really greatly disappointed at this turn of
affairs. He disliked as much as he feared his boss, and had hoped that
this little incident might lead to a quarrel between him and the miner
whose lost property he had just restored.

Monk Tooley went back to his work muttering to himself, "All dis means
summut; but we'll just lie low a bit, and mebbe Body-master an me'll
have a score ter settle yet."

The Young Sleepers had been so badly demoralized by the incidents
following their attempt to extract a treat from Derrick, and especially
by the mishap of their leader, that they had not the courage to repeat
the experiment. Derrick and Paul therefore left the mine that evening
without being molested. They took pains, however, not to be very far
behind two brawny pillars of strength in the shape of Tom Evert and Monk
Tooley when they reached the foot of the slope.

Before going home Monk Tooley walked with Derrick to the Widow
Sterling's, to inquire after his boy, and was much pleased to learn that
he was getting along nicely.

"It lightens my heart ter hear yer say dat, missus," he said to Mrs.
Sterling, "an' it's not one woman in ten thousand would do what yer
doin' fer my poor lad."

"Derrick proposed it," said Mrs. Sterling, with a mother's anxiety that
her son should receive all the credit due him. "Without his help I'm
afraid I should not have been able to invite Bill to come here."

"He's a fine lad, missus," replied the miner, "an' if de time ever comes
dat I can serve you or him, my name's not Monk Tooley if I don't jump at
de chance."

After sitting a while with Bill, and doing what lay in his power to make
him comfortable, Derrick again got out his father's plans of the old
workings of the mine, and pored over them intently. Finally he
exclaimed, "It's all right; I am sure of it!"

"What are you so sure of, my son?" asked his mother, looking up from her
work.

"Something I have been trying to find out for Mr. Jones, mother, but he
does not want a word said about it; so I must keep the secret to myself,
at any rate until after I have seen him."

"Seems to me that you and Mr. Jones have a great many secrets together.
You really are becoming quite an important young man, Derrick."

Although Derrick only smiled in reply, he thought to himself that his
mother was about right, and hoped others would take the same view of his
importance that she did.

Selecting some tracing-paper from among the things left by his father,
the boy made a tracing from the plan he had been studying. He followed
all the lines of the original carefully, except in one place where the
plan was so indistinct that he could not tell exactly where they were
intended to go. Being in a hurry, and feeling confident that they should
be continued in a certain direction, he drew them so without verifying
his conclusions.

When he had finished he left the house, and went directly to that of the
mine boss, taking the tracings he had just made with him.




CHAPTER X

IN THE OLD WORKINGS--MISLED BY AN ALTERED LINE


Mr. Jones was expecting Derrick that evening, and was waiting somewhat
impatiently for him. When the boy at last arrived he was taken into the
library, where, as soon as the door was closed, the mine boss asked:

"Well, Derrick, have you heard anything more about the meeting?"

"Not a word, sir."

"To-morrow is the 27th, you know."

"Yes, sir, I know it is."

"And my fate, and perhaps yours too, may be decided within twenty-four
hours from now."

At this Derrick started; he had not realized that he was in any
particular danger.

"Do you think, sir, they would pay any attention to a boy like me?" he
asked.

"I certainly do," replied the mine boss. "They would pay attention to
anybody or anything that stood in their way, or seemed likely to
interfere with their plans. I am afraid, from what Job Taskar said the
other day, that they consider your presence in the mine as dangerous to
them. I am sorry that my liking for you, and efforts to promote your
interests, should have placed you in such an unpleasant position. If you
like I will try and get you a place as errand boy in the main office of
the company, where you will be in no danger."

"Oh, no, sir!" exclaimed Derrick. "Please don't think of such a thing.
I'd rather take my chances with the Mollies in the mine than go into an
office. There I should never be anything but a clerk; while here I may
some day become an engineer, as my father was. Don't you think I may,
sir?"

"Yes," answered the other, smiling at the boy's earnestness, "I think
any boy of ordinary intelligence and blessed with good health can in
time occupy any position he chooses, if he directs his whole energy in
that direction, and makes up his mind that no obstacle shall turn him
from it."

"I have made a beginning, sir," said Derrick, much encouraged by these
words from one who was so greatly his superior in age, knowledge, and
position, and whose opinion he valued so highly.

"Have you?" asked the mine boss, with a kindly interest. "In what way?"

"I am studying my father's books, and trying to work out problems from
some old plans I found among his papers. One of them is a plan of the
very oldest workings of this mine, and I have brought a tracing of a
part of it to show you."

"Very good," said Mr. Jones, glancing at the tracing carelessly. "I have
no doubt that in time you will become a famous engineer."

Although this was spoken kindly enough, it was evident that the
speaker's thoughts were far away, probably trying to devise some means
for being present at the approaching meeting in the mine.

Noting this, Derrick said, "I did not bring the tracing just to show
what sort of work I could do, sir, but because I think it will lead us
to where we can hear what they say at that meeting."

Instantly the mine boss exhibited a new interest. "Explain it," he said.

Then Derrick told him of the old drift-mouth he had discovered, and said
he felt confident that if they followed the gangway leading in from it
they would reach the top of the old air-shaft into which Bill Tooley had
fallen, and up which had come the voices of the Mollies at their
previous meeting.

"If we could get there by this back way it would be capital!" exclaimed
the mine boss. "In that case my presence in the mine would be unknown
and unsuspected; whereas, if we should go in as you did, from the other
end of the old gangway, we could hardly escape discovery. If that route
proves practicable a great load is lifted from my mind; for, somehow or
other, I must find out what these Mollies are up to. You are of course
sure of the correctness of the plans?"

"My father drew them," answered Derrick.

"I was not questioning your father's accuracy; I only wanted to know if
this tracing was an exact copy of the original."

"Yes, sir, it is," answered Derrick, though with a slight hesitation in
his voice as he thought of the one place he had not been quite sure of.
This was where the plan had been somewhat blotted and blurred, so that
he could not see whether or not two lines joined each other. Having made
up his mind that they ought to be joined, he had thus drawn them on his
tracing. It was such a small thing that he did not consider it worth
mentioning. Thus, without meaning to make a false statement, he said
that his tracing was an exact copy of the original, and by so doing
prepared the way for the serious consequence that followed.

Derrick was a fine, manly fellow, and was possessed of noble traits of
character, but like many another boy he was inclined to be conceited,
and to imagine that he knew as much if not a little more than his
elders. Nor was he backward in parading his knowledge, or even of
allowing it to appear greater than it really was.

In the present instance he was proud of the confidence reposed in him by
the mine boss, and of the skill with which he had prepared the plan of
operations they were now discussing. It really seemed to him that he was
about to become the leader in a very difficult enterprise in which the
other was to be a follower.

The mine boss, with a quick penetration of human character, gained by
years of study and experience, suspected something of this weakness on
Derrick's part, but did not consider that either the proper time or
opportunity had yet come for warning him against it.

So Derrick's plan was discussed in all its details, and before they
separated that night it was adopted.

In order that the mistake made by Derrick in his slight alteration of
the plan of the old workings, as shown in his tracing, may be
understood, a few words of explanation are necessary.

The old drift-mouth, that he had discovered almost hidden beneath a
tangle of vines and bushes, was on a mountain side above a deep valley.
Farther down was the mouth of a second drift, which he had not
discovered, and knew nothing of. On the opposite side of the mountain
was another valley, the bottom of which was on about the same level as
the higher of these drifts. The old workings ran from them through the
mountain, and under this valley in which the present colliery was
located.

When the gangway from the upper of the two drifts had been opened as far
as the valley, the vein that it followed took a sudden dip. The gangway
was in consequence changed into a slope, which finally led into the
workings beneath. Some time after they had been abandoned a great
"break" or cave-in of the ground above there had occurred at the edge of
the valley, and by it an opening was made into the lower set of
workings. It was on the opposite side of the valley from this break that
the new workings were now being pushed; and somewhere between it and
them was the old air-shaft and the chamber that the Mollies had selected
as their place of secret meeting.

Now Derrick had got hold of a plan of the lower set of these old
workings which he knew nothing of, and thought it was a plan of the
upper set, which in reality only extended to the edge of the valley. He
knew that the upper drift-mouth was on about the same level as the top
of the old air-shaft, and thought he had a plan showing that the two
were connected. He reasoned that by entering the old gangway at the
break, and following it under the valley, they would not only save
distance, but would be conducted directly to the top of the air-shaft
which they wished to reach. By the joining of those two lines at the
blurred place on the plan it was made to conform so perfectly to this
theory that he felt satisfied his conclusions were correct, and
consequently made his confident statements to Mr. Jones.

The latter had been connected with the Raven Brook Colliery but a few
months, and knew nothing of its old and abandoned workings, not yet
having found time to study their plans or explore them. He did know,
however, that Mr. Sterling had been one of the company's most trusted
engineers, and that Derrick had long been interested in poring over and
tracing his father's plans of these very workings. When, therefore, he
had carefully examined the tracing that the boy had made, and now
assured him was an exact copy of the original plan, and found that it
showed a system of galleries by which the top of the air-shaft might be
gained from the break, he had no hesitation in saying that they would
make the attempt to reach it from that direction. Had he sent for the
original plan he would have quickly discovered Derrick's error. He
thought of doing this, but did not, for fear of wounding the lad's
feelings by appearing to mistrust him.

It was arranged between them that Mr. Jones should leave the village on
the afternoon of the 27th, as though bound on some distant expedition,
and have it understood that he might possibly be absent all night. An
hour before sundown he was to be at the break, prepared to explore the
old gangway to which it gave entrance. Here Derrick was to meet him,
after having left the mine an hour earlier than usual, gone home for
supper, and told his mother that he should be out late on some business
for the mine boss.

This plan was successfully followed, without suspicion being aroused,
and the young mine boss met his boy companion at the appointed time and
place. They both had safety-lamps, and each carried a small can of oil,
for they did not know how long they might have to remain in the mine.

In the break they found a rickety ladder that had been placed there for
the use of the village children, who were accustomed to come here with
baskets, and in a small way mine coal for home use from the sides of the
old gangway. Descending this, they lighted their lamps at the bottom,
and entering the black opening began to follow the path marked out on
Derrick's tracing.

For some distance the way was comparatively smooth, and they made rapid
progress. Then they began to encounter various obstacles. Here a mass of
rock had fallen from the roof, and they must clamber over it. In another
place a quantity of waste material had so dammed a ditch that for nearly
a quarter of a mile the gangway was flooded with cold, black water,
through which they had to wade. It was above their knees, and, filling
their rubber boots, made them so heavy as to greatly impede their
progress. In several places where the old timber props had rotted out,
such masses of rubbish choked the gangway that they were compelled to
crawl on their hands and knees for long distances through the low spaces
that were still left. Once they were on the point of turning back, but
animated by the importance of their errand they kept on, cheering each
other with the thought that they would not be obliged to come back this
same way in order to leave the mine.

During the earlier portion of the journey, as they encountered these
obstacles, the mine boss urged, almost commanded, Derrick to go back and
leave him to continue the undertaking alone. In spite of some faults the
lad was no coward, and he begged so earnestly to be allowed to keep on
that the other consented, on condition that no greater danger presented
itself.

At length they had overcome so many difficulties that the road behind
them fairly bristled with dangers, and the young man felt it would be an
act of cruelty to send the boy back to encounter them alone.

Now and then, as they crawled over piles of fallen debris, and there was
but little space between them and the roof, the flames within their
safety-lamps burned faint and blue, and they breathed with great
difficulty. The mine boss knew they were passing through spaces filled
with the deadly "fire-damp," and he urged Derrick to make all possible
haste towards more open places where they could keep below its
influence.

They passed through a door in a fair state of preservation, but fairly
covered with the pure white fungus growth of glistening frost-like
sprays, which in the mine are called "water crystals." Everywhere were
the signs of long neglect and decay, and unenlivened by the cheering
sounds of human toil the place was weird and awful. The very drippings
from the roof fell with an uncanny splash that struck a chill into
Derrick's heart. Long before they reached the end of their journey he
regretted having planned and proposed it; but he bravely kept his fears
and regrets to himself, and plodded sturdily on behind his companion. As
for the latter, his thoughts were also of a most dismal character. He
realized even more fully than Derrick the dangerous position in which
they had placed themselves, and felt that his experience should have
warned him against such an undertaking.

Meantime those who were to meet in the old chamber at the bottom of the
air-shaft were already gathered together, and were earnestly discussing
the affairs of their order. Job Taskar, as presiding officer, made a
long speech. In it he denounced the mine boss for discharging several of
their members, and refusing to take them back, though petitioned to do
so by a large number of those who remained at work. He also charged him
with placing a spy in the mine in the person of Derrick Sterling, and of
having removed the son of one of their most prominent members to make
room for him. At this point he looked steadily at Monk Tooley.

"Don't yer say nothin' agin Derrick Sterling," growled that miner, "fer
I won't hear ter it. He's doin' fer my lad this minute what dere isn't
anoder man in de meetin' er in Raven Brook Colliery, nor I don't believe
in de State, would ha' done in his place."

"Do yer know what he's doing it for?" interrupted another member,
springing to his feet. "No, yer don't, an' yer can't make a guess at it;
but I can tell yer. It's for revenge, an' nothing else. I heerd him say
it his own self to Paul the cripple, coming down the slope, only
yesterday morning. 'I'm taking out my revenge on him,' says he; them's
his very words."

"All right," replied Monk Tooley, "if yer heerd him say it, den he's
doin' it fer revenge, and it's de biggest kind of revenge I ever knowed
of a man or a boy ter take out on anoder. Do yer know dat he's give up
his own bed ter my Bill, an' dat he sets up nights awaitin' on him an'
a-nussin' of him? No, yer don't know nothin' about it, an' I don't want
ter hear anoder word from yer agin him. I'm his friend, I am."

An awkward silence followed this announcement, for the members thought
that perhaps if Monk Tooley were Derrick Sterling's friend, he might
also be a friend of the mine boss, whom they had almost decided should
be put out of the way.

The silence was finally broken by Job Taskar, who asked sarcastically if
Monk Tooley knew who stole his three checks from the check-board two
days before.

"Yes, I do," answered the miner, promptly.

"Then you know it was this same sneaking boss's pet, Derrick Sterling."

"No, I don't."

"I tell you I saw him do it!" cried Job, in a rage. "Him and the
hunchback went up to the board together, and when the boss stepped away,
so they thought nobody wasn't looking, the pet slipped 'em into his
pocket. I saw it with my own eyes."

"An' I tell yer yer lie!" shouted Monk Tooley. "Here's de checks, an'
dey come outen yer own pocket, yer black-hearted old scoundrel!"

At these astounding words Job Taskar sprang towards Monk Tooley with
clinched fists, as though to strike him, and all present watched for the
encounter in breathless suspense.

Just then the door behind them was pushed open, and standing on its
threshold they saw the mine boss and Derrick Sterling.




CHAPTER XI

A FATAL EXPLOSION OF FIRE-DAMP


At this startling apparition of the last two persons in the world whom
they would have expected to see in that place, the assembled miners
remained for some moments motionless with astonishment. Having stationed
a trusty sentinel at the end of the gangway nearest the new workings,
who was to give them instant warning of the approach of any outsider,
they imagined themselves perfectly safe from interruption. They had not
considered the possibility of an approach from the rear through the
abandoned workings, for they were generally believed to be impassable
owing to deadly gases and the quantity of material that had fallen in
them. Thus the unannounced appearance of the very persons whose fate
they had just been discussing seemed almost supernatural, and a feeling
of dread pervaded the assembly.

On the other hand, Mr. Jones and his companion were equally, if not more
greatly, dismayed. Having approached the door during a momentary silence
among the miners, they had not been warned by any sound of what they
should find beyond it. Thinking that they were upon an upper level, and
separated from their enemies by many feet of solid rock, they suddenly
found themselves in their very midst.

At the first view of what was disclosed by the opening door, Derrick
uttered a little frightened cry, and involuntarily drew back as though
about to run away. It was only a momentary impulse. In an instant his
courage returned, the hot blood surged into his face, and stepping
boldly forward he stood beside the mine boss, determined to share
whatever fate was in store for him.

Among the Mollies the first to recover from his stupefaction was Job
Taskar, who crying "Here they are, lads! Now we've got 'em!" made a
spring at the mine boss, with clinched fist still uplifted, as it had
been to strike Monk Tooley.

The black muzzle of a revolver promptly presented to his face by the
steady hand of the young man caused him to stagger back with a snarl of
baffled rage. Taking a couple of steps forward, which motion Derrick
followed, and standing in full view of all the Mollies, with the
revolver still held in his hand where it could be plainly seen, the mine
boss said:

"My men, I want you to excuse this interruption to your meeting, and
listen to me for a few minutes. I think I know why you are thus
assembled in secret. It is to decide upon some means of getting rid of
me and of my young friend Derrick Sterling. You have been taught by this
man that we are your enemies, and are working against your interests.
Let me give you a few facts that will serve to show who are your real
enemies, and who are your true friends.

"Job Taskar is, I believe, your Body-master and leader. He had told you
that this lad is a spy, sent into the mine to discover your secrets and
work against you. He hates Derrick Sterling. Why?

"A few years ago Job Taskar was blacksmith to a distant colliery in
another district. This lad's father was engineer in the same mine.
Taskar was paid by the men for sharpening their tools, so much for each
one. They were compelled to go to him by the rules of the colliery. He
so destroyed the temper of the drills and other tools brought to him as
to make them require sharpening much oftener than they would if he had
done his work honestly. He was thus stealing much of the miners'
hard-earned wages. Mr. Sterling found this out, procured Taskar's
discharge from the works, and had an honest man put in his place. When
the same gentleman found the same dishonest blacksmith working in this
mine he warned him that if he caught him at any of his old tricks he
would have him discharged from here. Now Taskar hates that engineer's
son, and wants to have him put out of the way. Do you wonder at it?

"He wants me removed for a much more simple reason. It is that he would
like to be mine boss in my place. This would so increase his influence
in your society that he might in time be made a county delegate, and
live without further labor upon money extorted from hard-working
miners."

At this point the members glanced uneasily at each other. They were
amazed at the knowledge showed by the mine boss of their affairs.

"Now, my men, a few more words and I am through," continued the speaker.
"In regard to those of your number whom I discharged, and refused to
take back, although petitioned to do so, you know who they are, and I
needn't mention names. I will only say that they were detected in an
attempt to injure the pumps and destroy the fans. Had they succeeded the
colliery would have been closed, and all hands thrown out of work for an
indefinite length of time. You would have been in danger from fire-damp
and water. Probably some lives would have been lost. They were
unscrupulous men, and had they succeeded in their villainy you would
have been the greatest sufferers.

"As for you, sir," he said, sternly, turning to Job Taskar, "I have long
had my eye on you, and have come to the conclusion that this mine and
all employed in it would be better off if you should leave it. I
therefore take this opportunity to discharge you from this company's
service. If after to-night you ever enter this mine again it will be at
your peril."

The man was too thoroughly cowed by the boldness of this proceeding to
utter a word, and when the young mine boss, saying "Come, Derrick," and
"Good-evening, men," suddenly stepped outside the door and closed it, he
stood for an instant motionless. Then with a howl of "Stop 'em! Don't
let 'em escape!" he tore open the door and sprang into the gangway
beyond. It was silent and dark, not even a glimmer of light betraying
the presence or existence of those who had but that moment left the
chamber.

For a brief space the man stood bewildered, and then began to run
towards the door that opened into the new workings. Several of the
miners followed him until they came to where their sentinel stood. He,
watchful and on the alert, as he had been ever since they left him
there, was greatly surprised at their haste and the impatient demands
made of him as to why he had allowed two persons to pass. Of course he
stoutly denied having done so, and declared he had seen no living being
since taking his station at that place.

"Then they're back in the old workings, lads, and we'll have 'em yet,"
cried Job Taskar. "They can't get out, for the gangway's choked beyond.
They must have been hid yonder near the place of meeting since
lunch-time, waiting for us, and they're hid now, waiting till we leave,
so's they can sneak out. But they can't fool us any more, an' we'll get
'em this time."

With this the man, fuming with rage and disappointed hate, turned and
retraced his steps up the gangway, followed by four of his companions.
The rest of the Mollies, feeling that no more business would be
transacted that evening, and having no inclination to join in the human
hunt, dispersed to different parts of the new workings, or went up the
slopes to the surface. Monk Tooley stayed behind, not for the purpose of
joining in the pursuit of the mine boss and his companion, but with a
vague idea of protecting Derrick from harm in case they should be
caught.

Led by Job Taskar, the four Mollies eagerly and carefully explored every
foot of the gangway, and even climbed up into several worked-out breasts
at its side, thinking the fugitives might be hidden in them.

After surmounting several minor obstacles, they finally came to one that
was much more serious. It was a mass of fallen debris that filled the
gangway to within a couple of feet of its roof, and extended for a long
distance. Thinking that perhaps it completely choked the passage a few
yards farther on, and that he might now find those whom he sought in
hiding, like foxes run to earth, Taskar eagerly scrambled up over the
loose rocks and chunks of coal, reaching the top while his followers
were still at some distance behind.

[Illustration: SUDDENLY THERE CAME A BLINDING FLASH, A ROAR AS OF A CANNON]

Suddenly there came a blinding flash, a roar as of a cannon discharged
in that confined space, a furious rush of air that extinguished every
light and shrouded the gangway in a profound darkness, and the rattling
crash of falling rocks and broken timbers. The Mollies who followed Job
were hurled, stunned and bleeding, to the floor of the gangway. Even
Monk Tooley, who was at a considerable distance behind them, was thrown
violently against one of the side walls. As for Job Taskar, he lay dead
on the heap of debris over which he had been climbing when the uncovered
flame of his lamp ignited the terrible fire-damp that hung close under
the roof. He was burned almost beyond recognition, and the clothes were
torn from his body. Among the fragments of these afterwards picked up
was found a portion of a letter which read:

      "_It will be impossible to obtain the position until_
    _position must be supported by a number of votes wh_
                              _when you become mine boss._

    "_You know as well as anybody that a county delega_

When the battered and bruised miners had recovered their senses,
relighted their lamps, and ascertained the fate of their leader, they
were content to drag themselves out from the gangway without pursuing
any further the search in which they had been engaged. Fortunately for
them the quantity of gas exploded had been small, else they might have
been instantly killed, or the gangway so shattered as to completely bar
their way of escape, and hold them buried alive between its black walls.
As it was, it brought down a great mass of debris on top of that already
fallen, and so choked the passage beyond where Job Taskar's body lay
that it was effectually closed.

Although Derrick and the mine boss were far in advance of their
pursuers, and had already passed most of the obstacles to their rapid
progress, they were very sensible of the shock of the explosion when it
occurred. The rush of air that immediately followed was strong enough to
extinguish their safety-lamps, and cause them to stagger, but it did
them no injury.

When these two had so suddenly stepped from the presence of the Mollies,
and slammed the door in their faces, they had instantly extinguished
their lamps, and started on a run back through the gangway by which they
had come. Of course, in the utter darkness, they could not run fast nor
far, but they were well beyond the circle of light from Job Taskar's
lamp when he sprang out after them, and that was all they wanted. When
they saw the little cluster of flickering lights borne by the Mollies
disappear in the opposite direction from that they were taking, they
felt greatly relieved, and a few minutes later ventured to relight their
own lamps and continue their retreat.

"Looks as if we'd got to go out the way we came in, after all, doesn't
it, sir?" said Derrick, who was the first to speak.

"It does rather look that way," answered the mine boss, "but I'd rather
risk it, under the circumstances, than face those fellows just now. They
have had a chance to recover from their surprise at our appearance, and
some of them are as mad as hornets to think they let us go. A moment's
hesitation when we opened that door and found ourselves among them would
probably have cost us our lives. Our very boldness was all that saved
us. A danger boldly faced is robbed of half its terrors.

"By-the-way, Derrick, our coming on those fellows as we did was a most
remarkable thing. I thought your tracing was leading us to the top of
the air-shaft instead of to the chamber at its bottom. We must be on a
lower level than we thought. How do you account for it? Can you have
made a mistake in regard to the plans?"

Derrick's heart sank within him as he remembered the weak spot in his
tracing; but he answered, "I don't think so, sir; though it does look as
if something was wrong."

Here conversation was interrupted by the difficulties of the road, for
they had reached the mass of fallen debris that blocked Job Taskar's way
a little later.

As they crawled on hands and knees over the obstruction, the mine boss
said, hoarsely, and with great difficulty, "Hurry, boy! there's gas
enough here to kill us if we breathe it many minutes. If we had naked
lights instead of safeties we'd be blown into eternity."

After they had safely passed this danger he said, "I hope with all my
heart that those fellows won't come that way looking for us; there's
sure to be an explosion if they do. I don't believe they will, though,"
he added, after a moment's reflection; "they're too old hands to expose
themselves needlessly to the fire-damp."

They had again waded through the icy water, which the mine boss said he
must have drawn off before it increased so as to be dangerous, and were
well along towards the opening into the break, when the muffled sound of
the explosion reached their ears.

"There's trouble back there!" exclaimed Mr. Jones, as he relighted their
lamps, which the rush of air had extinguished, "and I'm afraid that
somebody has got hurt. You go on out, Derrick, and I'll go back and see.
No, I won't, either. I can get there as quickly, and do more good, by
going round outside and down the slope. Come, let us run."

In a few minutes they had reached the bottom of the break, climbed the
rickety ladder, and once more they stood in safety beneath the starlit
sky of the outer world.

"Eight o'clock," said Mr. Jones, looking at his watch. "We've been in
there three hours, Derrick, and seen some pretty lively times. What I
can't understand, though, is how we got in on that lower level. Never
mind now; we must run, for I'm anxious about that explosion."

The news of the disaster in the mine had already reached the surface,
but nobody knew exactly how or where it had taken place. A crowd of
people, including many women and children, was rapidly gathering about
the mouth of the slope, anxious to learn tidings of those dear to them
who were down in the mine with the night shift.

The voice of the mine boss calling out that the explosion had occurred
in an abandoned gangway, and that nobody who was in the new workings was
hurt, gave the first intimation of his presence among them. His words
carried comfort to the hearts of many who heard them, but filled with
dismay the minds of those who had seen him but a short time before at
the underground meeting. They had thought he must surely be still in the
mine, and could in no way account for his presence, for they knew
positively that he had not come up by the slope or the travelling-road.

While the mine boss was speaking, Derrick felt a hand on his shoulder,
and turning, he saw Paul Evert, who exclaimed, joyfully, "Oh, Derrick,
I'm so glad! I was afraid you were down in the mine, and I was going to
help hunt for you."

"No, Polly, I'm all right, as you can see; but I wish you'd run home and
tell mother I am--will you?"

Paul went willingly to do this, and Derrick prepared to follow the mine
boss once more into the underground depths, to render what assistance he
could.

They were about to step into an empty car and start down the slope, when
the signal was given from below to pull up a loaded car, and they waited
to see what it might contain. As it came slowly to the surface, and
within the light of their lamps, they saw in it Monk Tooley and four
other miners, who, battered and bruised, had evidently suffered from the
explosion.

When the first of these was helped carefully from the car, and his
glance fell upon the mine boss, with Derrick Sterling standing beside
him, a look of fear came into his face, he uttered a loud cry, staggered
back, and would have fallen had not Monk Tooley caught him.




CHAPTER XII

THE MINE BOSS IN A DILEMMA


The companions of the Mollie who exhibited such consternation at the
sight of the mine boss were almost as frightened as he to see those for
whom they had been so recently searching through the old workings, and
who they thought must surely have been killed by the explosion, standing
before them. They shrunk back as the young man stepped towards them; but
reassured by his cheery words, they allowed him to help them from the
car, and were almost ready to believe that it was not he, but some other
who had confronted them so boldly at the meeting. He could not have been
kinder to them if they had been his dear friends; and from that hour
they ranked among his firmest supporters and adherents in the colliery.

Derrick caught hold of Monk Tooley, and insisted upon taking him, as he
said, to see Bill, and show him that he was all right. In reality he
wanted to give the man a chance to rest, and recover somewhat from his
recent trying experience, before meeting with his wife and children.

Bill Tooley, under kind care, amid quiet and pleasant surroundings, and
aided by his own strong constitution, was in a fair way to recover his
health and strength. The fever had left him, and he was able to sit up
for a few minutes at a time. The only serious trouble seemed to be with
his right leg. It gave him great pain, and was threatened with a
permanent lameness. He already seemed a different boy from what he had
been, and would hardly be recognized for the bully of a short time
before. He gave way to occasional outbursts of impatient anger, but
these were always quieted by the gentle presence and soothing words of
either Mrs. Sterling or little Helen; and in his rough way he would
express sorrow for them by saying, "Don't yer mind me, mum; I don' mean
nothin'; only dis ere blessed leg gits de best of me sometimes." Or to
Helen, "Don't yer be afeared, sissy; I know I talks awful ugly; but I
ain't. It's only de pain of de leg breakin' out in bad words."

The meeting between father and son that night, when Derrick persuaded
Monk Tooley to go home with him, was curious to witness. Bill was as
fond of his father, in his way, as the latter was of him, and had been
very anxious when he knew he was in the mine at the time of the
explosion. Both were much affected when Monk stepped to his son's
bedside; but they had no words to express their feelings. The father
said,

"Well, lad, how goes it?"

Bill answered, "Middlin', feyther. I heerd yer got blowed up."

"Well, yer see I didn't. Job Taskar's killed, though."

"Better him nor anoder."

"Yes. Yer want ter be gittin' outen dis, son. Times is hard, an' idlin's
expensive."

"All right, feyther; I'll soon be in de breaker agin."

This was all; but the two were assured of each other's safety and
well-being, and for them that was enough.

Monk Tooley accepted a cup of tea from Mrs. Sterling, and departed with
a very warm feeling in his heart towards those who were doing so much
for his boy.

His wife and the neighbor women, who as usual were gathered in her
house, were loud in their exclamations of pleasure and wonder at seeing
him safe home again from "the blowing up of the mine," but he gruffly
bade them "be quiet, and not be making all that gabble about a trifle."

The mine boss took an early opportunity to examine the plans of the old
workings, and soon discovered the slight difference between them and
Derrick's tracing that they had followed in their recent expedition.
Summoning the boy, he pointed it out, and asked him whether he had made
a mistake in copying the plan, or had purposely made the alteration that
had led to such serious consequences.

Derrick confessed that he had added a little to one line of the plan,
because he thought the line was intended to go that way, and when he
drew it so it seemed to make everything come out all right.

"Well," said Mr. Jones, "the result shows that instead of making
everything come out all right, you made it come all wrong. Now, Derrick,
I want this to be a lesson that you will remember all your life. By
making that one little bit of a change in a single line you placed
yourself and me in great peril. In consequence of the situation to which
it led one man has lost his life, and several others came very near
doing so. You thought you knew better than your father who drew that
plan, and in your ignorance undertook to improve upon his work.

"I won't say that good may not come out of all this, for I believe that
with the loss of their leader the society of Mollies is broken up, in
this colliery at least, for some time to come, but that does not make
your fault any the less.

"Remember, my boy," he added, somewhat more gently, as he saw great
tears rolling down the lad's cheeks, "that the little things of this
life lead to and make up its great events, and it is only by paying the
closest attention to them that we can ever hope to achieve good
results."

This was all that was ever said to Derrick upon this subject, but it was
enough, and he will never forget it. When he left the presence of the
mine boss he was overwhelmed with shame, and was angry to think that
what he considered so trifling a thing as to be unworthy of mention
should be treated so seriously. For an hour he walked alone through the
woods back of the village, and gave himself up to bitter thoughts.
Gradually he began to realize that every word the mine boss had said was
true, and to see what he had done in its proper light. He thought of all
the kindness Mr. Jones had shown him, and the confidence reposed in him.
Finally he broke out with, "I have been a conceited fool, and now I know
it. If I ever catch Derrick Sterling getting into a scrape of this kind
again for want of paying attention to little things, or by thinking he
knows more than anybody else, he'll hear from me, that's all."

This was only a vague threat, but it meant a great deal, and from that
day to this neither of these failings has been noticed in the young
miner, even by those most intimately acquainted with him.

Nearly two weeks after this, upon returning home one evening from his
day's work in the mine, Derrick found a message from Mr. Jones awaiting
him. It asked him to call that evening, as the mine boss wished to see
and consult him upon business of importance.

Mrs. Sterling was greatly pleased at this, for it showed that her boy
still enjoyed the confidence of the man who had it in his power to do so
much for him, and that his favor was not withdrawn in consequence of the
recent affair of the tracing. Derrick had told his mother the whole
story, without making any effort to shield himself from blame; and
though she had trembled at the resulting consequences of his fault, and
the knowledge of how much worse they might have been, she had rejoiced
at the manner in which he accepted its lesson. She had only feared that
Mr. Jones, upon whom so much depended, would never trust her boy again,
or take him into his confidence as he had done.

Derrick was made equally happy by the message; for since the day on
which the mine boss had pointed out the weak spot in his character, and
delivered his little lecture on the wickedness of neglecting details, he
had held no conversation with him. He made haste to finish his supper,
wondering all the while, with his mother and Bill Tooley, who was now
able to sit at the table with them, what the business could be.

"There's some ladies over there," said little Helen; "they came to-day,
and I saw them."

"Where?" asked Derrick.

"At Mr. Jones's."

Now as the young mine boss was a bachelor, and lived alone, with the
exception of an old negro servant, this was startling information, and
her hearers thought Helen must have made some mistake. However, on the
chance that she might be right, Derrick was more particular than usual
in getting rid of every particle of grime and coal-dust, and dressed
himself in his best clothes. These, though much worn, nearly outgrown,
and even mended in several places, were scrupulously neat, and made him
appear the young gentleman he really was.

Although Derrick had been away to boarding-school, and was very
differently brought up from the other boys of the village, he was not at
all accustomed to society, especially that of ladies, and he felt
extremely diffident at the prospect of meeting these strangers, if
indeed Helen's report were true.

As he approached the house of the mine boss he saw that it was more
brilliantly lighted than usual, and just as he reached the door a
shadow, apparently that of a young girl, moved across one of the white
window-shades.

Instead of ringing the bell the boy walked rapidly on, with a quickly
beating heart, for some distance past the house.

"Supposing it should be a girl," he thought to himself, "I should never
dare say anything to her, and she'd find it out in a minute; then she'd
make fun of me. I wish I knew whether I was going to see them, or see
Mr. Jones alone. I hope he won't make me go in and be introduced."

Undoubtedly Derrick was bashful, and while he had apparently been brave
in the burning breaker, and in various trying situations, was only a
coward after all.

Again he approached the house, and again he walked hurriedly past it. As
he turned and walked towards it for the third time somebody came rapidly
from the opposite direction, and stopped at the very door he was afraid
to enter. They reached it at the same moment, and the somebody
recognizing him, said heartily, "Ah, Derrick, is that you? I'm glad I
got back in time. I was unexpectedly detained by business, and feared
you might get here before me. Walk in."

There was no help for it now. Wishing with all his heart that he were
safely at home, or down in the mine, or anywhere but where he was, and
trembling with nervousness, Derrick found himself a moment later inside
the house, and--alone with Mr. Jones in the library.

"Sit down, Derrick," said the latter, as he stood in front of the
fireplace. "I have sent for you to ask you to help me out of a sort of a
scrape."

So he was not to be asked to meet strange ladies or girls after all, and
his fears were groundless. What a goose he had been! Why should he be
afraid of a girl anyhow? she wouldn't bite him. These and other similar
thoughts flashed through Derrick's mind as he tried to listen to Mr.
Jones, and to overcome a feeling of disappointment that in spite of his
efforts presently filled his mind.

"It is this," continued the mine boss. "For some time past my only
sister, Mrs. Halford, who lives in Philadelphia, has been threatening to
bring her daughter Nellie on a trip through the Lehigh Valley into the
coal region to see me, and be taken down into a mine. They arrived
unexpectedly this afternoon, and have got to return home the day after
to-morrow; so to-morrow is the only opportunity they will have for
visiting the mine. Of course I had made arrangements to take them
around, and show them everything there is to be seen; but now I find I
can't do it. Two hours ago I received a telegram telling me that an
important case, in which I am the principal witness, is to be tried in
Mauch Chunk to-morrow, and I must be there without fail. Now I want you
to take my place, act as guide to the ladies, and show them all the
sights of interest about the colliery, both above-ground and in the
mine. Will you do this for me?"

Derrick hesitated, blushed, stammered, turned first hot and then cold,
until Mr. Jones, who was watching him with an air of surprise and
amusement, laughed outright.

"What is the matter?" he asked at length. "Ain't I offering you a
pleasanter job than that of driving a bumping-mule all day?"

"No, sir--I mean yes, sir; of course I will, sir," said Derrick, finally
recovering his voice. "Only don't you think one of the older men--"

"Oh, nonsense! You're old enough, and know the colliery well enough. I
don't want them taken through the old workings," added Mr. Jones, with a
twinkle in his eyes.

"If you did, sir, I believe I could guide them as well as anybody!"
exclaimed Derrick, with all his self-possession restored, together with
a touch of his old self-conceit.

"I haven't a doubt of it," answered the other. "Now, if it's all settled
that you are to act as their escort to-morrow, step into the parlor and
let me introduce you to the ladies."

With this he threw open the door connecting the two rooms, and said,
"Sister, this is Derrick Sterling, of whom I have spoken to you so
often, and who will act as your guide in my place to-morrow. Derrick,
this is my sister, Mrs. Halford, and my niece, Miss Nellie."

Poor Derrick felt very much as he had done when, with the same
companion, he had been unexpectedly ushered into the meeting of the
Mollie Maguires, and, as on that occasion, his impulse was to run away.
Before he had a chance to do anything so foolish, a motherly-looking
woman, evidently older than Mr. Jones, but bearing a strong resemblance
to him, stepped forward, and taking the boy by the hand, said, "I am
very glad to meet you, Derrick, for my brother has told me what a brave
fellow you are, and that he feels perfectly safe in trusting us to your
guidance to-morrow."

Then Miss Nellie, a pretty girl of about his own age, whose eyes
twinkled with mischief, held out her hand, and said, "I think you must
be a regular hero, Mr. Sterling, for I'm sure you've been through as
much as most of the book heroes I've read about."

Blushing furiously at this, and coloring a still deeper scarlet from the
knowledge that he was blushing, and that they were all looking at him,
Derrick barely touched the tips of the little fingers held out to him.
Then thinking that this perhaps seemed rude, he made another attempt to
grasp the offered hand more heartily, but it was so quickly withdrawn
that this time he did not touch it at all, whereupon everybody laughed
good-naturedly.

Instead of further embarrassing the boy, this laugh had the effect of
setting him at his ease, and in another minute he was chatting as
pleasantly with Miss Nellie and her mother as though they had been old
friends.

Before he left them it was arranged that, early in the morning, he
should show the ladies all that was to be seen above-ground, and that
they should spend the heat of the day in the cool depths of the mine.

The boy had much to tell his mother, little Helen, and Bill Tooley, who
were sitting up waiting for him, when he arrived home; but, after all,
he left them to wonder over the age of Miss Halford, whom he only
casually mentioned as Mr. Jones's niece.




CHAPTER XIII

LADIES IN THE MINE--HARRY MULE'S SAD MISHAP


When Derrick awoke the next morning, at an unusually early hour, it was
with the impression that some great pleasure was in store for him.
Before breakfast he went down into the mine to give Harry Mule's sleek
coat an extra rub, and to arrange for another boy and mule to take their
places that day.

At eight o'clock he presented himself at the door of Mr. Jones's house,
dressed in clean blue blouse and overalls, but wearing his
smoke-blackened cap and the heavy boots that are so necessary in the wet
underground passages of a mine. The mine boss had already gone to Mauch
Chunk, and Miss Nellie was watching behind some half-closed shutters for
the appearance of their young guide.

"Here he is, mamma!" she exclaimed, as she finally caught sight of
Derrick. "How funnily he is dressed! but what a becoming suit it is! it
makes him look so much more manly. Why don't he ring the bell, I wonder?
He's standing staring at the door as though he expected it to open of
itself. Ahem! _ahem!_"

This sound, coming faintly to Derrick's ear, seemed to banish his
hesitation, for the next instant the bell was rung furiously. The truth
is he had been seized with another diffident fit, and had it not been
broad daylight he would probably have walked back and forth in front of
the door several times before screwing up his courage to the
bell-ringing point.

The door was opened before the bell had stopped jingling, and an anxious
voice inquired, "Is it fire?" Then Miss Nellie, apparently seeing the
visitor for the first time, exclaimed, with charming simplicity,

"Oh no! Excuse me. I see it's only you, Mr. Sterling. How stupid of me!
Won't you walk in? I thought perhaps it was something serious."

"Only I, and I wish it was somebody else," thought bashful Derrick, as,
in obedience to this invitation, he stepped inside the door. Leaving him
standing there, Miss Mischief ran up-stairs to tell her mother, in so
loud a tone that he could plainly hear her, that Mr. Sterling had come
for them, and was evidently in an awful hurry.

"I'm in for a perfectly horrid time," said poor Derrick to himself. "I
can see plain enough that she means to make fun of me all day."

Mrs. Halford's kind greeting and ready tact made the boy feel more at
ease, and before they reached the new breaker--the first place to which
he carried them--he felt that perhaps he might not be going to have such
a very unpleasant day after all.

Both Mrs. Halford and Miss Nellie were greatly interested in watching
the machinery of the breaker and the quick work of the slate-picker
boys; but in spite of the jigs and the wet chutes the coal-dust was so
thick that they did not feel able to remain there more than a few
minutes.

As they came out Mrs. Halford said, "Poor little fellows! What a
terribly hard life they must lead!"

"Yes, Mamma, it's awful," said Miss Nellie. "And don't they look just
like little negro minstrels? I don't see, though, how they ever tell the
slate from the coal. It all looks exactly alike to me."

"The slate isn't so black as the coal," explained Derrick, "and doesn't
have the same shine."

They walked out over the great dump, and the ladies were amazed at its
extent.

"Why, it seems as if every bit of slate, and coal too, ever dug in the
mine must be piled up here!" exclaimed Miss Nellie.

"Oh no," said Derrick, "only about half the product of the mine is
waste, and only part of that comes up here. A great quantity is dumped
into the old breasts down in the workings to fill them up, and at the
same time to get rid of it easily."

"But isn't there a great deal of coal that would burn in this mountain
of refuse?" asked the girl.

"Yes, indeed, there is; and sometimes the piles get on fire, and then
they seem to burn forever."

"I have an acquaintance in Philadelphia," said Mrs. Halford, "who has
been trying experiments with the dust of these waste heaps. He pressed
it in egg-shaped moulds, and has succeeded in making capital stove coal
from it. The process is at present too expensive to be profitable, but I
have no doubt that cheaper methods will be discovered, and that within a
few years these culm piles will become valuable."

"What's the use of bothering with it when there's an inexhaustible
supply of coal in the ground?" asked Miss Nellie.

"But there isn't," answered Derrick. "This coal region only covers a
limited area, and some time every bit of fuel will be taken out of it. I
have heard that it is the only place in the world where anthracite has
been found. Isn't it, Mrs. Halford?"

"I believe so," answered that lady; "or at least the only place in which
anthracite of such fine quality as this has been discovered. Inferior
grades of hard coal are mined in several other localities, and
bituminous or soft coal exists almost everywhere."

From the culm pile they went to see the great pumping-engine, and the
huge fans that act as lungs to the mine, constantly forcing out the foul
air and compelling fresh to enter it. Then, as the day was growing warm,
they did not care to go any farther, but went back towards the house to
prepare for their descent into the mine.

On their way they stopped to call on Mrs. Sterling at Derrick's home,
which, covered with its climbing vines, offered a pleasing contrast to
the unpainted, bare-looking houses lining the village street beyond it.
Here both Mrs. Halford and Miss Nellie were greatly interested in Bill
Tooley, of whom they had already heard. He could not be induced to enter
into conversation with them, merely answering, "yes, 'm" or "no, 'm" to
their questions; but from what he said after they had gone he evidently
thought their call was intended solely for him. For a long time he
cherished it in his memory, and often spoke of it as a most wonderful
event.

Derrick took this opportunity to secure his lunch-pail and water-can,
which he slung by their chains over his shoulder. When the ladies had
prepared themselves for their mine expedition, he was amused to see that
Miss Nellie was similarly equipped, she having found and appropriated
those belonging to her uncle. Both the ladies wore old dresses, and
India-rubber boots, which they had brought with them for this very
purpose, and both were provided with waterproof cloaks.

At the mouth of the slope Derrick said something through a speaking-tube
that reached down into the mine. Directly the clang of a gong was heard
in the breaker above them, and the great wire cable, extending its vast
length between the rails of the tracks, began to move. Two minutes later
a new coal-car, one of a lot that had been delivered in the mine the day
before, and had not yet been used, was drawn up out of the blackness to
the mouth of the slope, and stopped in front of them. Some hay had been
thrown into the bottom, and as the ladies were helped in, Miss Nellie
exclaimed that it looked as though they were going on a straw-ride.

Handing each of them a lighted lantern to carry, and lighting the lamp
on his cap, Derrick tugged at the wire leading to the distant
engine-room, and gave the signal to lower. The car at once began to
move, and as they felt themselves going almost straight down into the
blackness between the wet, glistening walls of the slope, and were
chilled by the cold breath of the mine, the mother and daughter clung to
each other apprehensively.

At first they looked back and watched the little patch of daylight at
the mouth of the slope grow rapidly smaller and more indistinct, until
it looked almost like a star. Then Derrick warned them that there was
danger of hitting their heads against the low roof, and said they must
hold them below the sides of the car. When next they lifted them they
were amid the wonders of the underground world, in the great chamber at
the foot of the slope. They were surrounded by a darkness that was only
made the more intense at a short distance from them by the glimmering
lights of a group of miners who had gathered to watch their arrival.
Here Derrick left them while he ran to the stable to get his mule.

The ladies did not get out of the car, but stood in it after the cable
had been cast off, and watched the loaded coal-wagons as, one at a time,
they were pushed to the foot of the slope, and quickly drawn up out of
sight. During this interval their eyes gradually became accustomed to
the lamp-lit darkness, so that they could see much better than at first.

In a few minutes their young guide returned, leading Harry Mule, whose
swinging collar-lamp and wondering expression struck Miss Nellie as so
comical that she could not help laughing at him.

"Haw! he-haw, he-haw, he-haw!" brayed Harry Mule, in answer to the
unaccustomed sound; and at this greeting the girl laughed more heartily
than ever.

The mule was hitched to the car, Derrick sprang in front, cracked the
whip that had hung about his neck, and they started on what, to two of
them at least, was the most novel ride they had ever undertaken.

When they reached his stable Harry Mule stopped short and refused to go
on.

"What is the matter?" asked Miss Nellie.

"I expect he wants us to go in and see his house," answered Derrick.

"Why, I never heard of such a funny mule. Do you suppose he knows we are
visitors?"

"Of course he does," answered the boy, gravely; "and he knows that
visitors always want to see the mine stable."

So they all went in to look at it. In the long, low, narrow chamber,
hewn from solid rock, were thirty stalls. Several of them were occupied
by spare mules, who turned an inquiring gaze at the visitors, and
blinked in the light of their lanterns. At one end were bales of hay and
bags of oats, while just outside the door stood a long water-trough,
which, as mine water is unfit for use, was supplied from above-ground
through iron pipes brought down the slope. In spite of living in a
continual midnight, so far from pastures and the light of day, which
some of them did not see from one year's end to another, these mine
mules were fat and sleek, and appeared perfectly contented with their
lot.

Apparently satisfied that justice had been done to his place of abode,
Harry Mule offered no further objection to moving on, when they again
got into the car, and the stable was quickly left behind.

By-and-by Derrick called out "Door!"

As it opened for them to pass, and Paul Evert recognized his friend, he
cried, "Oh, Derrick, Socrates--" Then seeing the visitors, he stopped
abruptly, and stared at them in confusion.

"Never mind, Polly; we'll be back pretty soon," shouted Derrick, as the
car rolled on, "and then you can tell us all about it."

"What did he say?" inquired Mrs. Halford.

"I didn't quite understand," replied Derrick; "but, if you don't mind,
we'll go back there after a while and eat our lunch with Polly--he'd be
so pleased!--and then we'll ask him."

"Who is Polly?" asked Miss Nellie.

"He's Paul Evert, my best friend, and he's a cripple."

"Oh, he's the boy you saved from the burning breaker! Yes, indeed,
mamma, let's go back and eat our lunch with him."

Mrs. Halford agreed to this, and after they had visited the blacksmith's
shop, where a cheery young fellow named Aleck was installed in Job
Taskar's place, they went back to Paul's station.

Both the ladies were charmed with the gentle simplicity and quaintness
of the crippled lad, and he thought he had never been so happy as in
acting the part of host to this underground picnic party. He showed them
all the strange and beautiful pictures on the walls of the gangway, and
Derrick managed to break off for them a couple of thin scales of slate
on which were impressed the delicate outlines of fern leaves.

Mrs. Halford sat in Paul's arm-chair, and he made a bench of the
tally-board for Miss Nellie. The two boys were content to sit on the
railway track, and each ate out of his or her own lunch-pail.

All at once Paul said, "'Sh! There they are! See!"

At this the visitors looked in the direction indicated, and both
screamed.

"Oh, you've frightened them away!" said Paul, regretfully.

"Why, I do believe they were rats!" cried Mrs. Halford, in a tone of
great surprise.

"Of course they were," answered Paul--"my rat Socrates and Mrs. Socrates
and a whole lot of little Soc rats. I meant to tell you, Derrick; he
brought them out this morning, his wife and a family of such cunning
little fellows."

When the ladies had heard the whole story of Socrates the rat, and how
wise he was, they became greatly interested, and wished he would appear
again.

"He will," said Paul, "if we only keep quiet. He's too wise to stay away
at lunch-time, but he don't like loud talking."

So they all kept very quiet, and sure enough the rat did come back after
a little while, and sitting upon his hind-legs, gravely surveyed the
party. In the gloom behind him could be seen the shining beady eyes of
some members of his family, who made comical attempts to sit up as he
did.

Being duly fed, they all scampered away with squeaks of thanks, and soon
afterwards Harry Mule broke up the picnic by coming jingling back from
his stable, to which he had been sent for dinner.

"I think he is just the very dearest old mule I ever saw," said Miss
Nellie, when they were once more seated in the car, and Harry, was
taking them towards a distant heading.

"Yes, indeed, he is," answered Derrick, proud to hear his mule thus
praised; "and I love him as much as--as he loves me," he finished, with
a laugh.

They spent several hours in visiting different parts of the mine, and
becoming acquainted with all the details of its many operations. At the
end of one heading they found the miners who had just finished drilling
a hole deep in the wall of coal beyond them, and were about to fire a
blast. The visitors were intensely interested in watching their
operations. First a cartridge of stiff brown paper and powder was made.
The paper was rolled into the shape of a long cylinder, about as big
round as a broom-handle, the end of a fuse was inserted in the powder
with which it was filled, and the cartridge was thrust into the hole
just prepared for it. Then it was tamped with clay, the fuse was
lighted, the miners uttered loud cries of "Blast ho!" and everybody ran
away to a safe distance.

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