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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32322-0.txt b/32322-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a3f940 --- /dev/null +++ b/32322-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8258 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Boy With the U.S. Miners, by Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy With the U.S. Miners + +Author: Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [EBook #32322] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: cover of The Boy With the U. S. Miners] + + + + +[Illustration: NOT DEMONS, BUT SAVIORS. + +Mine rescue crew, equipped with oxygen-breathing apparatus, exploring +mine after a disaster. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + + + +U. S. SERVICE SERIES. + +THE BOY WITH +THE U. S. MINERS + +BY + +FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER + +With Thirty-six Illustrations + +[Illustration] + +BOSTON +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +Copyright, 1922, +BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +All Rights Reserved + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. MINERS + + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + +BERWICK & SMITH CO., +NORWOOD PRESS, +NORWOOD MASS. + + + + +PREFACE + + +No walk of life is more wild and adventurous than that of the questing +miner, whom neither Arctic cold nor tropic heat can bar in his mad +race for the buried treasures of the Earth; no profession is more +hazardous than that of the working miner, whose every step underground +is full of peril. + +Wealth is not all. The thrill of the miner's life lies not in the +making of millions. It lies in the ruggedness of his manhood, in the +vigor of his partnerships, in the roaring ways of the mining camps, +and the life of open spaces. + +Heroism and daring mark the miner. From the waterless deserts of +California to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, from the loftiest peaks +of the snow-capped Sierras to the stifling depths of the Carson Sink, +the prospector has prowled. Lonely and forgotten, his discoveries have +brought great states into being; hungry and poor, he has opened vaults +of riches thousandfold vaster than the treasuries of kings. + +To give a glimpse of the lives of such men, to reveal the amazing +wealth which the Earth yields to those who are willing to dare, and to +set forth what an incalculable debt of gratitude the United States +owes to the miner, is the aim and purpose of + +THE AUTHOR + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I PAGE +UNDERGROUND TERRORS 11 + +CHAPTER II +ENTOMBED ALIVE 40 + +CHAPTER III +THE DANGERS OF RESCUE 67 + +CHAPTER IV +EIGHT DAYS OF DARK 98 + +CHAPTER V +THE LURE OF GOLD 128 + +CHAPTER VI +NUGGETS! 146 + +CHAPTER VII +THE FORTY-NINERS 174 + +CHAPTER VIII +THE GREAT BONANZA 204 + +CHAPTER IX +WHERE TREASURE HIDES 232 + +CHAPTER X +THE ROARING NORTH 256 + +CHAPTER XI +THE LONELY ISLAND 276 + +CHAPTER XII +A SIBERIAN FILIBUSTER 298 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Not Demons, but Saviors Frontispiece + FACING PAGE +How Anton's Father was Killed 12 +Coal-Hewers at Work 13 +Where the Branch Line Forks 13 +Knockers 20 +Gathon, Goblin of the Mines 20 +Dwarfs in the Mine 21 +Miners Descending a Shaft 54 +Falling-in of a Mine 55 +Explosion of "Fire Damp" 55 +Into the Poison-Filled Air 82 +U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car 83 +Interior View showing Life-Saving Equipment 83 +Where the Timber goes 90 +Geophone Expert Listening for Tapping of Survivors 91 +Building the Wall for the "Sand-Hogs" 91 +Divining-Rods 138 +The World's Oldest Picture of Gold-Seekers 139 +Australia's Treasure-House 158 +In the Richest Gold Mine of the World 159 +Sutter's Mill 176 +The Rush to the Gold Mines 177 +The Prospector of To-day 184 +Flume at the Melones Mine 185 +The Coming of the Forty-Niners 194 +David Egelston 195 +The Miner's Sluice 214 +Panning Gold on the Klondyke 215 +Where Deserts Yield Millions 236 +The Eater of Mountains 237 +The Top of the Chilkoot Pass 260 +Pass in the Sierra Nevadas 261 +Hydraulicking in Colorado 300 +America's "Gold-Ship" at Work 301 + + + + +THE BOY WITH THE U S. MINERS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +UNDERGROUND TERRORS + + +"Ay, lad," said the old miner, the pale flame of his cap-lamp lighting +up his wrinkled face and throwing a distorted shadow on the wall of +coal behind, "there's goin' to be a plenty of us killed soon." + +"Likely enough, if they're all as careless as you," Clem retorted. + +"Carelessness ain't got nothin' to do with it," the old man replied. +"The 'knockers' has got to be satisfied! There ain't been an accident +here for months. It'll come soon! The spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood." + +"Nonsense, Otto! The idea of an old-timer like you believing in +goblins and all that superstitious stuff!" + +"It's easy enough for you to say 'nonsense,' Clem Swinton, an' to +make game o' men who were handlin' a coal pick when you was playin' +with a rattle, but that don't change the facts. Why, even Anton, here, +youngster that he is, knows better'n to deny the spirits below ground. +The knockers got your father, Anton, didn't they?" + +Anton Rover, one of the youngest boys in the mine, to whom the old +miner had turned for affirmation, nodded his head in agreement. Like +many of his fellows, the lad was profoundly credulous. + +From his Polish mother--herself the daughter of a Polish miner--Anton +had inherited a firm belief in demons, goblins, gnomes, trolls, +kobolds, knockers, and the various races of weird creatures with which +the Slavic and Teutonic peoples have dowered the world underground. +From his earliest childhood he had been familiar with tales of +subterranean terror, and he knew that his father had often foregone a +day's work and a day's pay rather than go down the mine-shaft if some +evil omen had occurred. + +Yet Anton was willing to accept modern ideas, also. Clem was both his +protector and his chum, and the boy had a great respect for his older +comrade's knowledge and good sense. He was aware, too, that Clem +was unusually well informed, for the young fellow was a natural +student and was fitting himself for a higher position in the mine by +hard reading. This Ohio mine, like many of the American collieries, +maintained a free school and an admirable technical library for the +use of those workers who wished to better themselves. + + +[Illustration: HOW ANTON'S FATHER WAS KILLED. + +Miner, failing to test for vibration when tapping roof-slate, goes to +work and is crushed by falling slate. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: COAL-HEWERS AT WORK. + +Holing or Undercutting in a typical seam not high enough for men to +stand upright. + +_From "Mines and Their Story."_] + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE BRANCH LINE FORKS. + +Loaded car of coal switched to main line and on its way to the shaft. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._] + + +The young student miner was zealous in his efforts to promote modern +ideas among his comrades, and knew that the old superstitions bred +carelessness and a blind belief in Fate. Despite their differences in +age and in points of view, he and Otto were warm friends, and he +returned the old man's attack promptly. + +"So far as Anton's father is concerned, Otto," he said, "it was Jim +Rover's carelessness that killed him. He was caught by a falling roof +just because he wouldn't take the trouble to make sure that the draw +slate overhead was solid before setting to work to undercut the coal. +I know that's so, because he told me, just before he died. I was the +first one to reach him, after the fall, for I was working in the next +room, just around the rib." + +"An' who made the draw slate fall, just when Jim Rover was a-standin' +right under it? Answer me that, Clem Swinton!" + +The other shrugged his shoulders. + +"Every man who's ever handled a coal pick knows that draw slate is apt +to work loose. That's one of the dangers of the business. And the +danger can be avoided, as you know perfectly well, Otto, if a chap +will feel the roof for vibration, with one hand, while he uses the +other to tap on the slate with the flat side of a pick. If he won't +take the trouble--why, it's his own fault if he gets killed. + +"Blaming the 'knockers,' Otto, doesn't hide the fact that nearly a +thousand miners get killed in the United States every year, just +through their own carelessness." + +The old man shook a finger ominously. + +"It isn't always the careless ones what get taken," he declared. "Look +out for yourself, Clem Swinton; look out for yourself! It's you the +knockers'll be after, next, an' much good all your readin'll do you, +then! I warned Jim Rover less'n a week afore he got killed, an' I'm +warnin' you now." + +Anton looked up, fearfully, for old Otto had a reputation as a seer, +in the mine, but Clem only laughed. + +"I put my faith in following out the safety rules, Otto," he replied, +"not in charms and tricks to keep the goblins away." + +The old man, however, was not thus to be set aside. He was as ready to +defend his old-fashioned beliefs as was Clem to advance his modern +theories. + +"Experience goes for somethin'," he affirmed stubbornly. "Boy an' man, +I've been below ground for over forty years. I've worked in Germany, +Belgium, France, and all over this country. Just eight years old I +was, when I went down the shaft for the first time; there weren't no +laws, then, to keep youngsters out of a mine. + +"I was a door-boy to start off with, openin' doors for the coal-cars +to come through. That meant keeping one's ears open. The loaded cars +come a-roarin' down the slopin' galleries, an', if a kid didn't hear +them, he'd get smashed between the coal car an' the door. Even when he +did hear them, he had to jump lively, or he'd get nipped, anyhow. + +"On the other side o' the door it wasn't much better, for the empty +cars were hauled up the slope o' the mine galleries by donkey power, +an', if a kid didn't hear the whistle o' the donkey driver, he'd get +his head clouted an' would be fined two days' pay beside. + +"There warn't no eight-hours' day, then. We worked a shift o' twelve +hours, an' the miners didn't stop between for meals--just took their +grub in bites while they went on holin' coal. All piece-work it was in +them days, an' every miner holed, spragged (or timbered), picked and +loaded his own coal. The more stuff he got out, the more pay. The men +didn't get any too much money, either, an' if a miner wanted to have a +decent pay-check at the end o' the week, he warn't goin' to be +hindered by havin' any trouble with cars. The poor kid at the door got +it comin' to him from all sides. + +"It's different now in coal-mines to what it was then. We hadn't no +electric plant to run ventilatin' fans for keepin' the air fit to +breathe. Nowadays, a man can be nigh as comfortable below ground as he +can be above; but, when I was a kid, the air in a mine was hot, an' +heavy, an' sleepy-like. + +"After breathin' that air for nine or ten hours, it was hard to keep +awake. You'd see the pit-boys comin' up out o' the shaft wi' their +eyes all red an' swollen an' achin'. No, it warn't from gas, it was +just from rubbin' em to keep em' open. An' rubbin' your eyes with +hands all gritty with coal-dust ain't any too good for 'em." + +"Well, Otto," the young fellow interrupted, "you can't deny that +modern methods have improved all that. There aren't any door-boys in a +modern mine. Most of the States in this country have passed laws +requiring that all doors through which coal cars pass must be operated +automatically. The United States Bureau of Mines keeps a sharp +lookout, too. There aren't any donkeys, either, not in up-to-date +mines; endless-chain conveyors take the coal from the face where the +miner has dug it clear to the mouth of the shaft, and load it into the +buckets by a self-tipping device. As for small boys in a mine, as you +said yourself, there aren't any, not in the United States, anyhow." + +"I'm not denyin' that minin' has got easier," was the grudging reply, +"it'd be a wonder if it hadn't. What I'm sayin' is that all your +newfangled schemes don't stop accidents and won't never stop +accidents, not till you get rid o' the knockers an' gas sprites of a +mine. An' that you'll never do! + +"You're like a whole lot o' these young fellows, Clem, who believe +nothin' that they don't see. You don't never stop to think that maybe +it's your own blindness an' not your own cleverness that keeps you +from seem'. Wait till I tell you what happened to me, one time, when I +was a door-boy in Germany. + +"Long afore I first went down into a coal mine, I knew about the +knockers, and where they come from. Dad told me that all the +coal-seams o' the world were forests, once. Long afore Noah an' the +Flood. He'd seen ferns an' leaves o' trees turned into coal. One time, +when digging out a seam, he'd come across the trunk of a tree standin' +upright in the coal, with the roots still in the under clay." + +"That's right enough," agreed Clem, "but the coal-forests were a good +many million years older than Noah!" + +"Maybe, maybe; but you warn't there to see," Otto retorted. "Anyhow, +there were forests, an' these forests were standin' afore the Flood. +Judgin' by what's left, the trees o' these forests must ha' been big. + +"All those trees, Dad used to say, had spirits o' their own, just like +trees have to-day. Elves an' dryads, he used to call 'em. When the +Flood came an' spread deep water over the whole world, the tops o' the +hills were washed into the valleys an' all these forests were covered +in mud an' sand. That's how it is you never find anything but shale or +slate (which is mud-rock) or sandstone above a coal seam. What's more, +when pullin' down slate, you'll often find sea-shells, like mussels +an' clams. Ain't that so?" + +"I won't argue with you about the Flood, Otto, for that's a long +story. But you're dead right in saying that all coal seams are +overlaid with rocks which have been laid down by water, and that +fossil shells are found in the overlying layers. But go ahead and tell +us what you saw." + +"When the Flood came," the old man resumed, "the elves an' dryads what +used to live in the coal-trees were swallowed up in the water. They +weren't drowned, because spirits can't die--at least, that was what +Dad told me. They couldn't go away from their trees, because the trees +were still standin' there, though all covered in mud or sand. So they +had to change their ways for a new life, first under the water, an' +when the waters o' the Flood dried up, under the ground. The elves, +who were the men-spirits o' the forest, became knockers; the dryads, +who were the women-spirits o' the trees, became the sprites o' the gas +damps. + +"In the old days, folks used to be able to see these spirits o' the +forests. They used to build temples to 'em, an' have regular festivals +in the woods, always leavin' some food for 'em to eat. Dad told me +never to forget that the only way to keep on the good side o' the +spirits below ground was to keep out o' the mine on the first day o' +spring an' the last day o' summer, an' every time I took anything to +eat below ground, to leave a bite behind. + +"I've always done it. In all the years I've been minin', I've never +gone down the shaft on March 21st or September 20th, an' I never will. +An', every time I've taken my dinner-pail to the face where I was +workin', I've put a bit o' bread aside for the knockers. You can +believe it or not, as you like, but when I got back to the place, on +my next shift, the bread was gone." + +"Probably rats," commented Clem, in an aside to Anton. + + +[Illustration: KNOCKERS. + +_After a Vignette by Bottrell._] + + +[Illustration: GATHON, GOBLIN OF THE MINES. + +_Fragment of a Composition by Phiz._] + + +[Illustration: DWARFS IN THE MINE. + +The Other Mythical Personages are the King of the Metals and the +Keeper of the Treasures of the Earth. + +_From a German Engraving after Froebom._] + + +The old miner paid no heed to the interruption, if, indeed, he heard +it. + +"That way, I always knew that the knockers were on my side, an' I've +been willin' to hole coal in mines that folks said weren't safe. +What's more, in forty years o' work, I've never lost a day's time from +an accident of any kind. I know I'm safe, because of what happened to +me when I was still a kid. + +"One day--I don't know just why, maybe the air was worse'n +usual--after I'd been lookin' after the door for the bigger part o' +the shift, I dropped right off asleep. Half-dreamin', I heard a loaded +car come roarin' down, but I didn't wake up until it was so close as +to be too late. + +"I scrambled up on my feet an' was just makin' a wild jump forward to +the door, when I felt a little fist--it seemed about the size of a +baby's, but was strong an' hard--hit me right in the chest. It pushed +me back into the corner, out o' the way o' the car, an' held me there. + +"At the same minute, an' just in the nick o' time, the door swung +open. + +"Rubbin' my eyes--they was so gritty wi' coal that I could hardly look +out o' them--I saw what looked like a little man made o' coal +standin' back against the door an' holdin' it open for the car to pass +through. His face was sort o' pale, like a whitewashed wall in the +dark, an' his eyes were red, like sparks. I thought he had a pointed +hat an' long pointed shoes, but I was so scared that I couldn't be +rightly sure. I could just see his whitish face movin' up an' down, +like he was noddin' his head. Then the door slammed shut, the hand +suddenly lifted off my chest an' I didn't see nothin' more. I tell +you, I kept awake after that." + +"You must have opened the door unconsciously, while half-asleep, and +dreamed about seeing the goblin," was Clem's comment. + +But, before the old man could retort, Anton broke in. + +"Father told me he's seen some, just like that. It was in Wales. A +woman visitor had gone down to see the mine." + +Otto shook his head gravely. + +"Never a woman went down a coal mine yet, but an accident happened +right after," he declared. "In the big explosion at Loosburg, when +over four hundred miners were killed, it was found out, after, that +one o' the miners was a woman who had dressed herself in men's +clothes an' was pickin' coal. But what was it your father saw, Anton?" + +"It happened right when the visiting party was in the mine," the boy +explained. "It was in one of the main galleries, which was strongly +timbered. A prop, which had been standing firmly for ever so many +years, suddenly crumbled into splinters and the roof fell on the +woman, hurting her so badly that she died soon after she was taken to +the top. + +"Just after the roof fell, so Father said, he and all the rest of the +miners saw a band of knockers gathered around the pile of fallen roof +and pointing at the figure of the woman crushed beneath. He said the +knockers were laughing so loudly that some of the miners heard the +echoes away at the other end of the mine." + +"And do you believe that, Anton?" queried Clem, incredulously. + +"Father saw them himself," the boy replied, in a tone of finality. + +"Then there's the gas sprites," Otto went on, pleased at having found +a sympathetic listener. "I've never seen 'em myself, but there's +plenty that have. In a mine where I used to work, in Belgium, there +was a man who could see 'em as plain as I see you or Anton. That was +his job, and he was paid handsomely, too. + +"He could walk through a gallery, either in a workin' or an abandoned +mine, an' could tell right away if there was fire damp, or white damp, +or black damp, or stink damp, in the workin's. He could see the gas +sprites himself an' give warnin' where men had better not go. He +didn't have to carry a safety lamp, nor chemical apparatus, nor cages +of mice an' canaries, the way folks do, now. He just walked into the +mine an' saw the sprites. He was friendly to 'em, an' they never did +him no harm." + +"What were they like, Otto?" queried Anton. + +"Shadows o' women," the old man replied promptly. "Fire damp, this +diviner used to say, looked like a figure veiled in red, black damp +was veiled in black wi' white edges, white damp was bluish, an' stink +damp was yellow. When the gas was faint, all he could see was just the +glow o' the colors, very dim; but when the gas was strong then the +shapes o' the women were bold an' clear. + +"The gas sprites, bein' women, catch an' hold the young men an' the +single men more easily than old an' married miners. You don't deny +that single men are more often killed by damps than married men, do +you, Clem?" + +The young miner looked uncomfortable at the question. + +"That's a general belief, and statistics seem to back it up," he +admitted. "But I don't see that it has anything to do with your goblin +ideas, Otto. It's just because the single men, generally, are the +youngest, and they haven't become as immune to the poisonous gases of +the mine as men who have been working below ground all their lives." + +"You can explain away anything, if you have a mind to," Otto retorted +scornfully. "But as long as men are workin' below ground, there's +goin' to be knockers an' sprites o' the damps, an' miners is goin' to +be killed. Me, I've escaped. Why? Because I'm chock-full o' science +an' modern ideas? Not a bit of it! I get along because I know what the +spirits o' the mine expect, an' I give it to 'em. Right now, I'm the +oldest man at work, here, an' I ain't never had an accident." + +"Don't you believe his stories, Anton," the young miner protested, +turning to the boy. "Those antiquated notions will only lead you +astray. The 'damps' are just various kinds of gases coming out of the +coal, and the way to fight them is to keep a strong current of air +going through the mine." + +"How do they come out o' the coal, if you know so much?" questioned +Otto, belligerently. + +"Sure I know! But I don't suppose telling you will change your ideas." + +"It won't," the old miner admitted frankly. "But I've had my say, an' +it's only fair to let you have yours. The youngster, here, can believe +which o' the two he pleases." + +"Well, it's something this way," Clem began, casting about in his mind +for a way to explain the chemistry of mine air as simply as he could. +"Ordinary air--the air above ground--is made up of a little less than +21 per cent. of oxygen and a little more than 78 per cent. of +nitrogen. The rest of it is a mixture of carbon and oxygen which the +books call carbon dioxide or black damp, with some other rare gases +beside. + +"Now, all animals, including man, depend for their life on the oxygen +in the air. If the oxygen drops to 15 per cent., a man will suffer. +That's not likely to happen where miners' lamps or safety-lamps are +used, because the flame of a lamp goes out when there's less than 17 +per cent. oxygen. Even at 19 per cent., a lamp will burn so dimly as +to warn of danger. The nitrogen in the air is inert, that is, it does +neither good nor harm to man. But what I want you to remember, Anton, +is that even in the purest air above ground, there's always some +'black damp,' so it's a bit hard to see where Otto's goblin women come +in! + +"Now, when pure air comes down a coal shaft, a lot of changes happen +to it. Some of the oxygen is consumed by the breathing of the men and +animals in the mine--if there are any donkeys or such--some is taken +up by the burning of lamps, some more by the explosion of blasting +powder, a little is lost by the rusting of iron pyrites--which is +found in many coal mines--and a lot of it is taken up by the coal, +just how, we don't quite know." + +"It's good to hear o' somethin' you don't know," the old miner +remarked sarcastically. "But you're talkin' about dry air, an' the air +in most mines is moist." + +"Quite right," Clem agreed. "It has to be. Mine air is made moist, on +purpose, especially in winter." + +"It is?" Otto's voice expressed unqualified astonishment. + +"It certainly is! In most coal-mines--this one, for instance--all the +air that passes down the intake shaft is moistened by a spray of mixed +water and air, so finely atomized that it floats like a cloud." + +"What for? It's easier to work in dry air'n moist air." + +"It's easier to get blown up, too! In winter time, Otto, the air above +ground is a lot colder than the air in the mine. Cold air can't hold +as much moisture as warm air, and as soon as air gets warmed up a bit, +it tries its hardest to absorb any moisture with which it happens to +come in contact. + +"What happens in a mine, in such a case? Why, as the cold air from +above passes through the galleries of a mine, it gets warmed up. As it +warms up, it draws out from the roofs, the ribs, and the floors all +the water that there is to draw, and makes the mine dead dry. When +coal dust is absolutely dry, it crumbles into finer and finer dust, +until at last the particles are so small that they float in the air. +Then comes disaster, for finely divided coal dust is so explosive that +the smallest flame--even a spark from the stroke of a pick--will set +the whole mine ablaze." + +"I don't see that," interrupted Anton. "If dust is so bad, why do the +bosses hang boards from all the gallery roofs and pile them high with +dust?" + +"Because the dust in those piles is stone dust, my boy," the young +fellow explained. "When an explosion happens, it drives a big blast of +air in front of it, so strong, sometimes, as to knock a man down. The +blast of air blows all the stone dust from those boards and fills the +air chock-full of it. + +"This stone dust, usually made from crushed limestone or crushed +shale, won't burn. The flame of the explosion can't pass through and +the fire can't jump a rock-dust barrier. Even the flame of methane, +which you know better as 'gas,' or fire damp, which has a terrific +force, is choked back by this dense cloud of rock-dust, and, as you +know, all coal mines have more or less methane gas." + +"They don't, either," contradicted Otto. "I've worked in mines for +years at a time an' never seen the 'cap' on the flame of the +safety-lamp, tellin' there's fire damp there." + +"You may not have seen it, but there was gas there, just the same. As +for the cap-flame you're talking about, Otto, I'll admit that it's the +surest way of telling when there's so much fire-damp that the mine is +getting dangerous. But it's a risky test, just the same. You can't see +the little cap of methane gas flame burning above the oil flame of the +lamp until there's 2 per cent. of gas in the air of the mine, and a +little more than 5 per cent. will start an explosion." + +"What makes that cap?" queried Anton. + +"Fire damp or methane gas burning inside the wire gauze of the +safety-lamp." + +"But if the gas is already burning inside, why doesn't it explode +outside?" + +"Just because it's a safety-lamp, my boy. That's why the flame burns +inside a wire gauze. I'll explain that. + +"Suppose you take a lamp with a hot flame--an alcohol or spirit lamp +will do--and light it. Then hold a piece of close-meshed wire gauze +right on the flame. You'll find that the flame will spread under the +wire gauze but will not go through. Hold it long enough, though, until +the wire gets red hot, and, quite suddenly, the flame will pass +through and burn above the gauze as well as below. + +"Try another trick. Put out the lamp and then hold the gauze just +where it was before. You can light the flame above the wire but it +will not pass below the gauze until the wire gets red-hot. That shows +that gas which is not burning can pass through a wire gauze, but that +gas which is aflame cannot pass until the wire is red-hot." + +"Yes," said Anton, "I can see that." + +"Very good. Then, if you have a lamp which is burning inside a +cylinder of wire gauze, the gas of fire-damp can go through, and, if +there's enough of it to burn, it will burn above the flame of the +lamp, making an aureole or 'cap' just as Otto says. But the flaming +gas can't get back through the wire gauze to set fire to the fire-damp +outside, at least, not until the wire gets red-hot, which it's not +likely to do, seeing that the gas is in the middle, not underneath it. + +"That's how they test for fire-damp, nowadays. The flame of a +safety-lamp is drawn down until it shows only a small yellow tip. If +there's any fire-damp in the air, a light-blue halo appears over the +yellow flame. At a little more than 1 per cent., an experienced man +can judge that there is gas there, but the true 'cap,' which is +pointed like a cone, doesn't show until there's 2 per cent. of the +gas. At 3 per cent., the cap will be like a dunce's cap, and more than +half an inch high. At 4 per cent., it will be over an inch high, and +at 4½ per cent. it'll form a column of blue flame. Then it's high time +to get out of the mine, and to get out quickly. + +"In the improved form of safety-lamps, the oil flame burns inside a +glass, but the air which reaches the flame has to pass through two +cylinders of wire gauze. The glass keeps the flame from ever touching +the innermost gauze, and, if an accident happens--such as the breaking +of the glass--it would still be fairly safe, for the burning gas +inside wouldn't pass through the inner gauze until that got red-hot, +and it wouldn't reach the outer gauze because the current of air +passing down between the two layers of wire mesh would keep the outer +gauze cool. This safety-lamp was invented by Sir Humphry Davy, in +England, in 1815, just after a big explosion in an English colliery +had cost hundreds of lives. All mines nowadays require that miners use +either safety-lamps or electric lamps, and it's every miner's +business to report to the boss when he sees a cap of burning gas +inside his safety-lamp." + +The old miner nodded his head in agreement. + +"I won't use an electric lamp," he commented. "It's foolishness. The +gas sprites ain't really malicious. They're willin' enough to give a +warnin'. They'll put a cap on a flame if they don't want folks in that +part of the mine. An electric lamp tells nothin'. It won't even give a +warnin' against black damp." + +"Perfectly true," Clem agreed. "With an oil safety-lamp, the flame +gets dim or even goes out if there's too much black damp. The electric +lamp burns on, just the same, because the light is in a vacuum. Black +damp isn't so dangerous as fire damp, though. It only causes distress +and hard breathing because it shows that there's too big a proportion +of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the air and not enough oxygen. It's +oxygen that a man misses." + +"But black damp'll explode, too," put in Otto. + +"No," the other corrected, "it won't. But it often happens that +there's fire-damp around when black damp is present and the black damp +makes a test for gas difficult. It's the gas that explodes, not the +black damp. + +"It isn't always the explosiveness of a damp that makes it dangerous, +though," he went on. "As Otto could tell you, Anton, white damp is the +worst of the three. And it doesn't give any warning at all." + +"That's why we had that diviner in a Belgian mine," the old man +commented, gravely. "He could see the gas sprites in their blue veils. +But, if there's a lot o' white damp, you can tell it by the flame of a +safety-lamp gettin' a little longer an' brighter." + +"It's not safe to trust it," the young fellow advised. "You'd have +trouble seeing 2 per cent, of white damp, and you'd be dead before you +had much chance to look. Even with 1½ per cent., a man would be likely +to drop before he reached a better-ventilated part of the mine, and he +couldn't see that much on the flame of his safety-lamp at all. To +breathe the air with only 1 per cent. of white damp for an hour would +put a man in such a state that he mightn't recover, and he wouldn't +have had any warning. + +"Luckily, there's much less danger of white damp in mines than there +used to be. It's a gas that's formed only when there's been something +burning. After an explosion in a mine, or a fire, there's sure to be +a lot of it, and rescue parties have always found it their worst foe. +But, in the ordinary working mine, it is rare." + +"Not so rare as all that!" objected Otto. "We used to have a lot of +it, on the other side." + +"You wouldn't now," was the reply. "The white damp of those days was +due to the heavy charges of gunpowder or low explosive that were used, +explosives which are forbidden now in dangerous mines." + +"They were better'n the stuff we use nowadays," grumbled Otto, "they +brought down more coal an' didn't smash it up so bad." + +"They smashed up men, instead," Clem retorted. "And they put a whole +lot of white damp into a mine. That was really dangerous, because, in +those days, people hadn't found out the value of canaries." + +"I've often wondered about that," interjected Anton. "Why do the +testing-parties carry canaries?" + +"Because," answered Clem, with a smile, "canaries are as clever at +seeing the gas sprites as was the Belgian diviner that Otto talks +about. No, but seriously," he went on, "the reason is that canaries +are extremely susceptible to white damp. Less than ¼ of one per cent +of white damp will cause a canary to collapse at once, and a man could +breath that proportion for an hour without much harm. Even a tenth of +one per cent. will cause the little bird to show signs of distress." + +"It's tough on the bird," was Anton's sympathetic comment. + +"Not especially! As soon as a bird begins to show collapse, it is +taken back to the open air and is as frisky and lively as ever in five +minutes. But its value as a warning signal is enormous, for it tells +rescue parties or investigating parties when to put on gas masks or +breathing apparatus containing oxygen. In a well-ventilated mine, +however, where high explosive is used and handled by experienced men, +there's not likely to be much danger from white damp. + +"Stink damp is rare but can sometimes be dangerous. Generally, a +fellow is warned away, because of the smell--which is just like rotten +eggs. The worst part of stink damp is that it smells the worst when +there's only a little of it. When there's so much of it around as to +be deadly, it doesn't smell any worse. You get small quantities of it, +sometimes, in blasting, but generally hydrogen sulphide or stink damp +is found after a mine fire or an explosion. Rescue parties generally +carry a cage of mice as well as one of canaries." + +"With the same idea?" queried Anton. + +"Exactly. As little as a tenth of one per cent. of stink damp makes a +mouse sprawl on his belly, his legs don't seem strong enough to hold +him up; while, in the same air, a canary doesn't suffer a bit. + +"The only real danger in stink damp is when there's water in the mine, +for example when, after a fire, a lot of water has been pumped down +into the workings to put the fire out. Water absorbs stink damp very +easily and gives it up equally easily when stirred. So, if a member of +a rescue party puts his foot in a puddle of water where there has been +stink damp around, so much of the gas may suddenly come up in his face +as to topple him over. + +"But you can see, Anton, that most of the gas troubles in a mine come +from the blasting. That's why, nowadays, the miners who get out the +coal seldom or never fire the shots. Experienced men, trained +especially for that work, are used. After a miner has undercut the +coal, the shot-firer comes. He tests for gas before he begins work, +bores a deep hole in the coal with a drill, tests for gas again in +case he should have tapped a leak in the seam, cleans out the hole, +sends the miner for the box of explosive--which is kept thirty or +forty yards away from the face where the coal is being cut--and +prepares the charge with a detonater which he carries in a box over +his shoulder. The miner never touches either the explosive or the +detonater. Then the shot-firer puts the primed charge in the hole, +jams the hole full of clay with a wooden tamper--a steel bar might +cause a spark and a premature explosion--tests for gas again, connects +the electric wires from a portable battery around the rib corner, +fires the shot, returns to the face and tests for gas again. Then, and +not until then, does the miner begin to dig the coal. That way, every +one in the mine is safe." + +"Yes," growled the old miner, "and the shot-firer doesn't dig any +coal, nor do any hard work, an' gets paid more'n we do." + +"He knows more than you do," Clem responded, "and he gets better pay +because his experience and prudence is worth a lot of money to the +mine. Just think what an explosion costs--to say nothing of the risk +of lives being lost! And you won't find experienced shot-firers or +mine-managers talking about gas sprites, Otto!" + +"Better for 'em if they did!" the old man warned. "For I'm sayin' to +you again, what I said before--the spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ENTOMBED ALIVE + + +"Danger! You're plumb crazy about danger, Clem!" Anton declared +impatiently. + +The older lad gestured to the big building of the pit-mouth before +them, above which the spider-like legs of the headgear soared high, +surmounted by the huge double winding-wheels which give so +characteristic a note to a modern colliery. + +"Any one who forgets that a coal-mine is dangerous is a fool," he +retorted sharply, "and keep that in your head, Anton, my lad. Not that +danger would ever stop me from mining. I like it. I like to feel that +I'm running a risk every time I go into an entry and every time +there's a blast. And I like to feel that I know enough about safety +methods to snap my fingers at the risk. There's excitement in that." + +"There'll be excitement enough, if old Otto's warnings come true," +returned Anton gloomily. + +Two days had passed since the old miner's prophecy, two days without +any unusual incident. Clem had all but forgotten the evil presage, but +Anton was brooding over it. It was his work to load cars in the room +where Clem was mining, and the boy's superstitious nature made him +painfully aware that if any accident happened to his comrade, he would +probably be caught, too. + +Anton had been working in the mine only a few weeks and he had not yet +been able to grasp the need of Clem's incessant teaching with regard +to the extreme prudence needed in colliery work. He had almost caused +a serious accident during his first week by not blocking his car +properly. The half-loaded car had begun to move down the slope of the +mine gallery, it might easily have run clear down into the entry and +possibly killed some one if Clem had not dashed forward and checked +the car before it had too much speed. + +In general, Anton had not reasoned much about the danger or the lack +of danger in coal-mining. He regarded the pit as a matter of course. +It was the only life he knew. All his comrades were at work in the +mine or would be at work therein, as soon as their school-days were +over. The boy himself had started early, soon after his father's +death, since it was the only employment to be got in the neighborhood +and he had his widowed mother to support. + +Clem had found a place in the mine for his friend without any +difficulty, for Anton was powerfully muscled. In this he took after +his father, who had been almost a Hercules and one of the champion +wrestlers of the mine. Born of miner stock on both sides, Anton was +short and squat, able to shovel coal all day without fatigue. He had +accordingly, been taken on as a loader, Clem undertaking to keep an +eye over him. + +It took the older lad all his time to do so. Anton was absolutely +reckless by nature, and, though he was constantly being advised as to +the necessary precautions for making mining safe, he could never be +persuaded to adopt them. + +Instead of blocking his car with one log placed across the track and +another under the car and resting on the transverse log, he would put +a piece of coal under the wheel and trust to its staying there; he +would wear his coat loosely, over his trousers, though he was told +over and over again that he ran the risk of his coat being caught by +the cars, when switching, and being dragged along the side of the rib: +on another occasion, Clem found the boy starting along the +haulage-way used for the coal cars instead of using the man-way +reserved for the workers, in order to save a couple of minutes' time. + +What exasperated Clem even more was that, since Otto's warning, Anton +had become more careless than ever. It was evident that the fatalistic +streak in the boy made him feel that if he were foredoomed to an +accident, there was no use in trying to prevent it. + +The boy's impatient exclamation and his comrade's retort about danger +had occurred while they were in line in front of the lamp shack, +waiting to get their safety-lamps before going down for the day shift. + +As in most well-organized collieries, the safety-lamps were filled and +adjusted by experts, who looked after nothing else. After the lamps +were lighted, they were locked--and not one of the miners was allowed +a key. Thus the lamps could not be opened below ground and there was +no chance for a reckless man to expose a naked flame in a room or +entry where there might chance to be gas. A safety-lamp would not go +out unless the air in the mine was so vitiated that it was dangerous +to life to remain therein, or unless there was some defect in the lamp +which would render it perilous to use. + +After the lamps had been given out, Clem and Anton got in the cage to +go down the shaft. Otto happened to be descending at the same time. + +"We're still waiting for your 'knockers' to show themselves!" Clem +suggested jestingly. + +The old man deigned no reply. Instead, he looked round the cage +meaningly at the other men there, most of whom frowned at Clem's +remark. Among miners, it is believed to bring bad luck to speak or +even to hint of accidents when in the cage. Only Otto's personal +liking for the young fellow kept him from a retort which might have +brought on a quarrel. + +On reaching the bottom, Clem and Anton set out along the man-way +together. It was a walk of nearly a mile underground from the main +shaft of the mine to the distant "room" or square hole in the seam, +where Clem was to dig away the coal face, and which was one of the +rooms from which Anton was loading coal. + +This Ohio colliery was being worked on what is known as the +pillar-and-room method. This consists in dividing the seam of coal +into squares like a chessboard, taking out the coal from each +alternate square, leaving the intervening squares of coal intact to +act as pillars in holding up the roof. They do not look like pillars +to a careless observer, often being blocks of coal thirty yards +square. + +"It seems silly," said Anton, after they had walked on a minute or +two, "to leave all this coal near the shaft and to go digging a mile +away. Why not take all the coal that is handy first?" + +"And have the roof come down and block up all the coal that is beyond? +That would be just throwing away the wealth of the mine." + +"Timber the roof, then!" + +"It would cost too much, for one thing," Clem explained, "and, for +another, all the timber in the world won't hold up a roof if the +excavation is made too big. There's millions of tons of rock pressing +down on a mine roof. Judging by the way you talk, Anton, I don't +believe you understand what a coal formation is, yet." + +"Isn't it like Otto said, then?" + +"Only in a way. Otto's description of the coal forests was near +enough--in spite of his ideas about goblins and sprites--and he was +correct in saying that the forests decayed under water and turned +into coal after they were pressed down by rock. But it wasn't the +Flood that did that, at least not the Flood that Otto was speaking of. +The coal forests existed millions of years before Noah. + +"What's more, it wasn't only just once that the forests were covered +by a deluge. That happened several times, a hundred or more, in some +places. + +"For centuries at a time, these gloomy and steaming forests grew in +boggy land, only a few inches above the level of the sea. Gradually +the land sank, the sea came in, the trees fell and decayed under the +water, and a layer of mud or sand was deposited over them. Then +gradually the land rose again just above the level of the sea, and a +new forest grew. Once more the land sank below the water, the second +forest fell into decay and upon that layer a new deposit of mud or +sand was laid. That gave two layers or seams of coal-forest-bog, to be +turned later into coal by pressure; and two layers or strata of mud or +sand, to be turned into shale and slate or into sandstone, also by +pressure. + +"When a long time elapsed between the swampings, several centuries of +coal forests had made a deep bed of bog, which, ages after, became a +thick seam of coal. When the swampings happened close together, the +layer of bog was shallow, producing a thin seam of coal. In the same +way, the layers of shale or sandstone are thick or thin according to +the length of time that the land was under the water. + +"Because of that, Anton, in nearly every colliery there is not just +one layer or seam of coal, but a number of them. There are sixteen +different seams in this mine, showing that the land rose and fell +sixteen times, probably in the course of a million years. + +"Some mines show much bigger changes. In the famous coal basin of +Mons, in Belgium, there are 157 layers of coal, of which 120 are thick +enough to be workable. The Saar basin, on the left bank of the Rhine, +which has played so important a part in the international troubles +following the end of the World War, has 164 seams, with 77 of them +workable, giving a thickness of 240 feet of coal. However, as the +lowest layers are nearly four miles deep, they will probably never be +worked." + +"Why not?" + +"To start with, the cost of haulage to the top would be enormous. But, +aside from that, a good many mining engineers figure that the +temperature at that depth would be above boiling point. You know, in +general, the farther you go down in a mine, the hotter it gets." + +"What do you mean by a seam being 'workable'?" the boy queried. "Can't +all coal be dug out?" + +"Not by a long shot. At least not so as to be worked at a profit. +Suppose a seam of coal is only a few inches thick, how is a miner +going to dig it out? He couldn't crawl in such a seam, let alone using +his tools there." + +"He could cut out enough rock at the top and bottom to give him a +chance to get in." + +"A miner is paid for digging coal, not digging rock," was the answer. +"What's more, according to your scheme, so much shale or sandstone +would be mixed with the coal that it would be useless for burning. + +"Even seams two feet thick are so hard to work that most of them are +left alone, and a seam three feet thick means extra expense in getting +out the coal because of the difficulty of labor in hewing and +transporting the coal from the face to the shaft. The ideal thickness +is between six and eight feet, where a man can stand upright and can +reach to the roof with a slate bar. That height, too, makes timbering +easy. + +"Very thick seams have their own difficulties. The worst of these is +the supporting of the roof. Take a seam 30 or 40 feet thick, for +example. Look at the size of the hole that is left when the coal is +dug away! Timbering becomes a real problem, there, for the longer a +prop is, Anton, the weaker it is. Coal managers in mines like those +have to do some careful figuring, or the cost of the timber they put +into the mine would be more than the value of the coal they take out." + +"How do they handle it then?" + +"As if it were a quarry, rather than a mine. The seam is worked on +successive levels, but, even then, it is impossible to prevent +constant accidents from the fall of coal or the sudden collapse of a +roof. Take it the world over, and ten miners are killed every day in +collieries alone. I told you coal mining was dangerous." + +"But are there any of those thick seams in the United States?" + +"None of the really thick ones. There's a 40-foot anthracite seam in +Pennsylvania. But in France, near the famous Creusot works, there's a +bed of coal which is 130 feet thick. It's a basin, though, rather than +a seam. + +"So you see, Anton, every coal mine is different, with its layers or +seams of coal of different thicknesses and at varying distances apart. +Some pits are near the surface, some are very deep; some coal is full +of gas, other has very little; some coal is so hard that every bit of +it has to be blasted, in other mines the coal is so soft that the +hewer spends half his time spragging the face so that the coal doesn't +fall on him when he's undercutting or holing. Don't you make the +mistake of thinking that all a miner has to do is to use his pick! +He's got to know his business thoroughly or he's useless to the mine +boss and a danger to all his fellow-workmen. + +"And that isn't all, Anton, not by a good deal! + +"Coal mining might be bad enough, even if the coal seams always ran +level. But it's very seldom that they do. They run up-hill and +down-hill in all sorts of fashions and play hide-and-go-seek in a way +that's fairly bewildering. + +"Nearly all coal seams are broken up by faults. The coal suddenly +seems to stop, and, when you go to hewing it the pick suddenly hits +against a rock wall, right on the level of the seam. In the North +Gallery of this very mine, there's a fault like that. You know where +the 'snagger' is?" + +"Sure," agreed Anton, "you mean where the cars have to be hitched on +to a chain?" + +"Yes, there! The coal seam jumps upwards fifty feet. That's why the +cars, after rolling down nearly a quarter of a mile, by gravity, have +to be pulled up fifty feet by an endless chain, to rejoin the same +seam and then to go rolling on down by themselves." + +"Just what are faults?" + +"H'm, that's a bit hard to explain to you, Anton, because you don't +know anything about geology, but maybe I can get you to see. Faults +are breaks in the layers of rock, or in the stratification, as it is +called. All coal seams and the rocks above and below them have been +laid down by water. Since water levels everything, these layers of +rock were level, once. + +"In ages past, however, the crust of the earth changed a good deal. As +the crust cooled, it contracted, crumpling up these different layers +into all sorts of shapes. Sometimes it bulged them up, sometimes it +hollowed them down so that the edges rose. Quite often a layer of +rock would be cracked right across, and one half would stay level +while the other shot up almost a right angle. A good many mountains +show the result of this, and if you look at such rocks as are sticking +up out of the ground you will see some of them standing right on edge. +Once in a while, part of the broken crust slid over the other part. +Then, too, though the surface may not always show it, there have been +breaks in the strata below, and at the break, the layer has sunk or +risen quite a distance from its former level. + +"If that happens to a coal seam, you can see that where the seam +breaks, suddenly, the rest of it will continue on another level, +perhaps only a few feet higher or lower, perhaps a good deal more. +It's up to the mine geologist to find where the coal has gone to, and +it's the business of the mine engineer to remodel the entire system of +working the mine in order to get at that seam." + +"And are all coal mines mixed up in that funny way?" Anton queried. + +"Most of them. Oh, there's no end to the tricks a coal seam can play. +A deep coal seam may split into two narrow ones, too thin to work. +The whole seam may quickly dwindle away to nothing, showing that, in +ages past, a river came rolling over it and washed away all the forest +bog. Sometimes, especially with the lowermost seams, the forest grew +on rolling land, so that the bottom of the coal seam is irregular, +causing all sorts of trouble in laying rails for the cars to roll on. +Sometimes the layer of rock under a coal seam is so soft that when you +start to timber it, the timbers sink into the floor and the roof comes +toppling down. + +"Among the queerest of all the things a mine geologist strikes are +what are called dykes. These are great shafts of igneous rock, which +were thrust up from the interior of the earth in a white-hot state and +which burned away the coal as they rose. They put a dead stop to a +working. I could tell you a dozen more freak things that a coal seam +can do. A mine geologist has not only a new problem to tackle with +every mine, but, often, with every mine gallery." + +"Is that what you're studying to be, Clem?" + +"No, indeed!" The young fellow's answer was emphatic. "That's 'way out +of my reach. It takes a college man, with special technical training +and a big experience, to be anything of a mine geologist. All I'm +trying to do is to learn enough about it so that when I get to be a +mine boss--if I ever do--I'll know what my chiefs are trying to do and +I'll be able to help them. + +"Take Otto, for example. There isn't a better worker in the mine. He +gets out more coal and less broken stuff than any other man below +ground. But he'll never be anything but a hewer, because he doesn't +want to learn. Why, just the other day, he was growling because the +mine was shut down to repair one of the shafts, though the other shaft +was working all right." + +"So were a lot of the men," Anton put in. "Why couldn't they go on +working, with one shaft?" + +"Against the law," was the crisp answer. "That's the A B C of mining. +And I'll show you why! All mines are required to have two shafts, in +case of accident. That law was passed because of a famous disaster +that happened in England nearly a hundred years ago. + +"In those days, colliers had only one shaft. One day, the beam of an +engine which was directly over a shaft snapped, and a huge piece of +machinery, weighing several tons, tumbled into the shaft and stuck, +not far from the bottom. As it fell, it ripped away the planking which +lined the shaft and a whole lot of loose rock and earth fell on top of +the piece of machinery, blocking up the shaft entirely and stopping +any air from passing. There were over two hundred men and boys at work +below ground. + + +[Illustration: MINERS DESCENDING A SHAFT. + +_From an Old Print._] + + +[Illustration: FALLING-IN OF A MINE.] + + +[Illustration: EXPLOSION OF "FIRE-DAMP."] + + +"With only one shaft, you can see what a mess that made! Before any +digging could be done, the lining of the shaft had to be repaired, +because dirt and rocks were falling into the shaft all the time. +Miners--hundreds of them--were brought from neighboring mines, and +they worked night and day on two-hour shifts, clinging to the sides of +the shaft as thick as bees in a hive. Others, risking their lives with +every stroke of the pick, dug away at the earth and rock that had +fallen on the big chunk of machinery. With all the speed that human +effort could compass, it was six days and nights before a hole had +been made through the obstruction big enough for a man to pass. And, +when the first rescuer reached the workings below, the 200 men were +dead. Not a single one survived. The miners had been entombed alive +without any air passage and could do nothing, absolutely nothing, to +help themselves out of their living grave. + +"Ever since then, every colliery in Europe and the United States is +required to have two shafts, and the law demands that these shall be +no less than fifteen yards apart and connected by a wide passage. Not +only that, but each shaft must have a complete outfit of winding +machinery coupled to separate engines, so that, in the event of an +accident happening to one shaft, the men below ground can be rescued +up the other." + +"That sounds all right," said Anton, rather gloomily, "but suppose the +way to both shafts is blocked?" + +"Not likely," Clem responded cheerfully, "if a mine has been properly +laid out. Take this one, there are half a dozen ways to get from the +face to the shaft." + +"But Otto said--" + +The other turned upon him sharply. + +"I've had about enough of that Otto business! If you can't keep from +thinking about it, keep from talking about it, anyhow!" + +To this rebuke Anton maintained a stubborn silence, and, without +another word said, the two walked on until they reached their +respective places of work. + +In the gloomy world of below ground, where the dusty wall of sooty +black is the only landscape to be seen, one day is very much like +another. Reaching his room, Clem stood his tools in order along the +rib, hung his safety lamp on a nail which he drove into a prop +supporting the roof, and, reaching up so as to put one hand on the +roof, tapped it with the flat side of his pick to make sure that there +was no loose slate overhead. He then examined the coal face, as it had +been left by the hewer who had been working on the night shift, to +make sure that it had been properly spragged or timbered. + +This done, Clem stripped naked to the waist, for it was hot in that +hole far below ground. Then, lying down flat on his side, his bare +shoulder resting on the gritty ground, he started to pick away the +coal at the level of the floor and just above it, making a +wedge-shaped hole extending under the seam for a distance in of three +feet. + +Many mines, especially in America, use mechanical coal-cutters for +this back-breaking labor. These machines are especially useful in +mines where the coal-seams are less than 3½ feet thick, and they are +well adapted to "long-wall" workings where the whole face of the coal +is removed in a single operation. Some are mounted with a toothed bar +which moves in and out, chipping the coal; other types are like +circular saws; several forms have the same action as a miner's pick, +the percussions being at the speed of two hundred strokes a minute, +the motive-power being compressed air. + +In pillar-and-room workings, such as this Ohio mine, chain heading +machines were used. This American invention consists of a bed-plate +which rests on the floor and is secured in position by screw-jacks +braced against the roof and against the rib. On this bed-plate rests a +sliding frame which carries a revolving chain on which cutting tools +are fixed. The machine carries its own motor, which not only drives +the chain, but also slides forward the frame into the cut. When the +cut is made to the full depth of the machine, it is withdrawn, and the +machine moved over its own width and another cut commenced. Several of +these machines were at work in the mine, but chiefly in that part of +it where the pillars were being cut away, and where speed in removing +the coal was a prime necessity. In the more distant rooms, hand labor +was used. + +All these machines work on exactly the same principle as that of the +miner, lying on his back or on his side, and digging at the coal with +his pick. The coal must be undercut as far in as a pick or a +mechanical coal-cutter will reach, for the entire width of the face. +Every few feet, short props or sprags are put in from the edge of the +undermined portion to the floor, to prevent a premature fall, which +might bury the miner. + +When the whole face is undercut and spragged, the shot-firer is +summoned. One or more holes, three feet deep, are bored in the coal, +close to the roof, these holes are filled with explosive and tamped +shut with moist clay, and the charges are fired. This blasting brings +down the coal off the face, clear from the rock roof to the undermined +portion, for such a distance as it has been undercut. + +The miner then shovels away the coal far enough to allow him to lie +down again and continue his terribly laborious task, while the loader +comes and shovels the blasted coal into cars or into endless-chain +conveyors, according to the arrangement of the mine. + +Day in, day out, this hewing continues. While the miner is at work, he +is always in a cramped position, his body twisted, his muscles at a +strain, performing his toilsome labor in the half-dark, in the heat, +in poor air, choked with coal-dust constantly and menaced by death +every moment. He is well paid, but most fully does he earn every cent +he gets. + +The morning had almost passed, and Anton was near the entry, where he +heard, in the distance, a dull rumble like thunder, followed by a +queer cracking sound which seemed to travel along the rock overhead. + +The boy halted involuntarily in his task of pushing an empty car back +to a room for loading. Little as he knew of the noises below ground, +he sensed something strange. The deep silence of a coal mine is +generally broken only by the sharp report of a blast or the rattle of +cars, and this rumble did not resemble either sound. + +A second or two later, a miner dashed past him, without his tools, his +safety-lamp swinging as he ran. + +"The bank is coming down!" he yelled, and disappeared down the +gallery. + +Almost at the same moment, another man came out of the entry, his +naked back gleaming as he passed under the electric light hanging at +the opening of the entry. + +"Make for the shaft, kid!" he shouted, when he saw the shine of +Anton's lamp. + +A sudden babble of excited cries, borne on the strong current of the +ventilating air, reached the boy's ears. + +It was the doom of Otto's warning! + +Shoving a lump of coal under the car-wheel, Anton whirled on his heel +to follow the escaping miners, when, like a blow, came the stunning +thought: + +"Clem!" + +He hesitated an instant, and, while he halted, a second and a louder +crash told him that the fall of rock--wherever it might be +happening--was not over. Every fraction of a second that he delayed +might ruin his chances of escape. + +But Anton was of sturdy miner stock, and, in addition, was thoroughly +fatalistic. That very feature of his character which his older comrade +had blamed so often, now was to show its good side. If he were going +to be caught by the fall, there was no use in his trying to prevent +it, he thought. + +In any case, no matter what might come, though the roof cracked above +him and the coal-ribs crushed beside him, he must warn his friend. + +Turning his back to the way of hope, he tore at his utmost speed +towards the room where Clem was working, taking some small comfort, as +he ran, that the rumbling sounded farther and farther away. + +"Clem!" he cried, panting, as he turned into the room where his friend +was digging coal, "run for your life!" + +By the terror in Anton's voice, the young fellow realized the peril. +In his isolated room, he had not heard a sound. + +Leaping to his feet and grabbing his safety-lamp from the prop, he ran +after Anton, who had started back on the road leading to the shaft. +Fleeter of foot than the boy, he caught up with him in a few yards. + +"What is it?" he queried. + +"The bank's down!" + +"Where?" + +"I don't know. Everywhere. The whole mine's smashing! Every one else +has got out long ago!" + +An ominous creaking sounded over their heads. + +Clem caught his comrade by the arm and pulled him into a narrow entry +near by. + +"Go slow! We don't want to get smashed!" + +He held up his safety-lamp. + +"Look at that prop!" + +The heavy timber was bending like a twig. + +"Get on quick!" cried Anton, struggling against the grasp, but the +young fellow held him fast. + +"Don't lose your head!" he warned. "The current of air has stopped, +sure sign that the way to the shafts is blocked. The nearer we get to +the goaf (waste ground), the more likely we are to get crushed. +Listen!" + +The creaking grew louder, and then, suddenly, with a rush of sound, +the gallery in front of them, into which Anton had been about to +plunge, sagged. The bending prop went into splinters, and, with a +roar, the whole roof fell, the broken rock coming to within a few +yards of where they were standing. + +"Close shave, that!" remarked Clem coolly. + +Anton made no answer, but shivered as he looked. He realized that his +comrade's warning had saved his life. + +The trembling and the creaking recommenced, but farther away; then, +with a gigantic noise of tearing, there came a rending crash, followed +by utter silence. + +"Now!" + +He let go the boy's arm and turned sharp off to the right. + +"That's not the way to the shaft," protested Anton. + +"We'll try the North Gallery," answered Clem. "Likely enough the fall +has followed the line of the fault." + +A sharp run of a hundred yards brought them to a pile of rock blocking +up the passage. Clem licked his hand to make it moist, and then slowly +passed it across the entire face of the obstruction. + +"No!" he said. "There's not a breath of air coming through. That way's +blocked." + +He turned in another direction. With all the ventilation stopped, the +air was growing heavy. Fifty yards' run, and then-- + +Blocked again! + +This time Clem made no comment. He turned back to try the farther side +of the mine. As they wheeled round a corner, and saw a gleam of light +he cried, with a note of relief: + +"There they are! I knew they'd send in a rescue party, right away!" + +Then his voice dropped. + +"No," he added, "there's only one lamp." + +A single miner came running towards them. + +"The North Gallery?" he queried. + +"No good, Jim," Clem answered, who recognized him as a new-comer in +the mine. "Blocked solid!" + +"So's the entries to the goaf! I've been there! How about the old +workings I've heard the boys talk of?" + +The student miner shook his head. + +"Not much chance that way, I'm afraid. They'll be full of gas, sure. +The ventilation has been cut out of there for months. But we can try +it, anyway." + +"I'd ought to ha' known better'n to work this shift," declared Jim, as +they ran. "You mind when you talked to Otto in the cage, comin' down?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, Otto wouldn't go to work, nohow. Said the knockers had been +riled an' he wouldn't take the risk o' goin' agin 'em. The boss swore +at him some, but that didn' faze Otto. He went to the top, just the +same. He had the right hunch. Wish I'd followed him!" + +They ran on, and Jim broke out again: + +"I'd no business to come coal minin', anyway. I'm a prospector, by +rights. Gold's my end, not coal. You're s'posed to know this game. +What chance ha' we got?" + +Clem made no answer in words. He held up his safety-lamp, already +showing a marked blue cap of gas over the flame. + +"I'd seen it a'ready! That means gas, don't it?" + +"We may get through it," said Clem, but his tone was not hopeful. + +They turned into a long gallery leading to the old workings, and, as +they sped along, the cones of gas on the safety lamps grew longer and +longer. + +Presently lumps of slate and rock on the floor heralded the end. + +Quite suddenly, the gleam of the lamps shone on a wall before them. +The roof had fallen in. + +"That's the last chance?" queried Anton, gloomily. + +"The very last," said Clem, "we're buried." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE DANGERS OF RESCUE + + +The midday whistle of the mine had just begun, when a violent blast of +air roared up the intake shaft, followed by a portentous-- + +Cra-a-ack! + +A terrific crash rose from the bowels of the earth. + +The growling rumble of the underground disaster came rolling upward in +throbbing volumes of sound. + +The ground trembled, the buildings shook, the lofty skeleton of the +pit-head gear wavered as though about to let fall the huge revolving +wheels overhead. + +From the engine-house, from the pumping-room, from the ventilation +building, from the screeners and washers, from the picking-belts, from +the loading-yards, from the coking-ovens, from every corner of the +vast above-ground works of a modern colliery, the men came running. + +Some were white of face, some sooty, but all bore an expression of +the most extreme anxiety. + +The mine superintendent, who was also the owner, the mine boss, and +the mining engineer were among the first at the shaft. The doctor and +hospital attendant--whom the law requires to be maintained at all +mines employing more than a hundred men--arrived but a few seconds +later. + +The superintendent, a vigorous Australian, who had taken part in many +a sensational mining rush in his youth, and who had inherited the +ownership of this coal mine from a distant relative but a few years +before, leaped into action. Orders came rattling like hail. + +All haulage of coal from below was stopped. The engine on the second +shaft was thrown into gear, and the cages in both shafts were sent +down to bring up the men. + +Would there be any to bring? + +What did the crash denote? A mere fall of roof, which might cause the +loss of a few lives, or a vast explosion which would sweep every man +below ground to death in a few seconds? + +The cages had hardly reached the bottom when there came the second +crash. + +The crowd around the shaft was thickening. The doors of the hundreds +of cottages clustered in rows about the colliery had been thrown open; +from every direction the women came running, their shawls streaming +behind them. Many of them had already lost fathers or husbands or sons +below ground; all knew the awful menace of that sickening rumble. + +With all the speed that the winding-engines could be made to give, the +cages were hauled up. They had not yet reached the top when a sudden +cry of horror arose. Otto, who had not gone home, despite his +abandonment of the day's work, but who had hung around the pit-head +all day, pointed with his finger to the steep hillside that rose +abruptly above the mine. + +The hill itself was falling! + +The pine forest swayed, as though the huge trees were but blades of +grass, seemed to move downward a few yards, sending up a cloud of +dust, and then fairly plunged down the slope in an avalanche of rocks, +trees and earth mixed with tremendous bowlders. With a roar like the +fall of a near-by thunderbolt, the landslide ripped away the side of +the hill, the ground settling with a shiver like that of an +earthquake, and sagging perceptibly. + +"Sound the emergency whistle!" came the command. + +A minute or two later, a series of shrill screeches gave the signal +for summoning the rescue corps. Nearly all American mines, following +the requirements and suggestions of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, +maintain elaborately equipped rescue stations, manned by picked miners +who are regularly drilled in the use of the apparatus. + +Before the emergency signal had finished sounding the second time, +both the rescue team and the first-aid team were at their places. +Simultaneously, the cages containing the first load of miners came to +the top. + +A great sigh of relief went up. + +"Well?" queried the superintendent to one of the mine foremen, who was +in the first cage. + +"A big roof-fall, sir," was the reply. "It was still fallin' when I +came up. I left Lloyd to handle the men at the bottom while I came up +to report." + +"Gas?" + +"None showin' as yet, sir. But I came right away. It might gather a +bit later." + +"How many missing?" + +"Can't tell, sir. Most o' the men seemed to be gettin' clear." + +"Ready to go down again?" + +"Sure!" + +"All right, get in the cage, then." + +The assistant superintendent, the mining engineer, the safety +inspector, and the fire boss were already in. The foreman jumped in +beside them, and the cage rattled down to the bottom. + +Already the word had spread to the gathering crowd that the accident +was but a roof-fall, not an explosion, that two cages full of miners +had come and that there was a likelihood that most of the men were +safe. + +Volunteers clustered around the mine-owner, clamoring to be allowed to +go down. + +"We'll dig 'em out, sir!" they cried cheerily. + +"Keep back, men!" was the answer. "Wait till we know just what has to +be done. Maybe every one below ground will have a chance to get out." + +There was need for caution. While mine disasters are numerous--over +two thousand men being killed every year in United States collieries +alone--such an accident as this one had rarely happened before. The +landslide above, combined with the sinking of the strata below, +produced a condition which might be of the extremest danger. + +The foreman of the pumping plant was the first to find evidence of +this trouble. He hurried forward, consternation on his face. + +"Mr Owens, the pumps have quit working!" + +"What's wrong?" + +"Pipes busted, sir, probably. The turbine's goin' all right, but she's +suckin' air." + +"How much water were you throwing this morning?" + +"Over three thousand gallons an hour, sir." + +"H'm, it won't take long to drown the mine at that rate. And if there +are any poor fellows cut off--" + +He turned to the store-house keeper. + +"Got plenty of spare pipe?" + +"Lots of it, sir." + +"Get it out!" + +Then, to the mine boss: + +"Murchison, get a new pipe down the uptake shaft as quick as you know +how! Double pay for every man working on the job! Put them on the +jump!" + +As fast as his eye could travel round the circle of eager men, the +boss picked his workers, miners of tried worth. + +Almost as though by magic a line was formed from the storehouse to the +shaft. Mechanics, with their tools ready, were on the ladders by the +time the first joint of pipe reached the shaft, and the first +nine-foot length was flanged on in less than five minutes after the +giving of the order. So fast were the joints thimbled and braced +against the side of the shaft that the long pipe seemed to grow like a +living thing. In an hour's time, the pumps were going again. + +Meanwhile, the time clerk, not needing to wait for his orders, had +checked the names of all the men who had come up the shaft, until the +cage came up empty save for the foreman. + +"That's the last," he said. + +The time clerk closed his book and nodded, then went to the +superintendent. + +"Eight missing, sir." + +"That's bad enough, though it might have been a good deal worse. Make +out a detailed list and bring it here." + +Truly it was bad enough. The fire boss and safety engineer had +reported that fire had broken out in some part of the mine, probably, +for white damp was leaking through. The report of the mining engineer +was graver still. The first subsidence of the mine had caused the +landslide, and the shock of the landslide had crushed all the +galleries leading from the shafts. + +"You mean that all the workings are smashed in?" + +"I wouldn't say that. They can't be, the way the workings are laid +out. But there's more rock to be cleared away than I like to think +about. How many men are caught?" + +"Eight." + +"Do you know whereabouts, Mr Owens?" + +"I'll tell you in a minute. Here's the clerk now." He scanned the +list. "Well, three of them were working in the end galleries." + +"They might be safe," interjected the mining engineer. "That's under +the hill." + +"Two of them," the superintendent continued, "were working in the +broken, out towards the old workings, and the other three were near +the North Gallery." + +"We might get at the last three, but, judging from the lie, the old +workings section will be choked until Doomsday." + +"You mean we can't try to get those two men out?" + +The mining engineer looked his chief full in the face. + +"No, you can't," he said bluntly. "There's a fair chance of rescue in +the North Gallery section, and, as for the others, we might drive +galleries through to the rooms under the hill--though it'll take some +time. The two men in the old workings are gone. They're probably +smashed under the fall, anyway." + +"I'll get all those men out or break my neck trying!" burst out the +owner of the mine. + +"If you scatter your forces, you won't do anything," the mining +engineer retorted. As an expert in his profession, he was prepared to +back his own opinion against all the officials of the mine, from the +owner down, the more so as he knew that his chief had not spent his +life in coal mining. + +Owens glared at him, but he knew that the engineer was right. + +"Lay out the work, then, since you know so much! I'll have the gangs +ready, by the time you are. You think the men in the end galleries can +be got at?" + +"I'm sure of it, if they hold out long enough, and if they're lucky +enough to escape the damps. Our main trouble is going to be the +timbering. Now, the farther in we go, the farther we get from the +break. The roof will be solid back there, most likely. That's why I +think a good chance of rescue lies that way." + +"Get at that end first, then. Clem Swinton's in that group of men. I'd +be sorry to lose him. He's the most promising young fellow in the +mine." + +The mining engineer nodded. + +"I know him. He's been attending the night school. You're right. We +can't afford to lose him. It's easy enough to find miners--especially +foreigners--but a young American who wants to learn the colliery +business thoroughly is rare. I've had my eye on him, too." + +At this point, Otto, who had been edging near his superiors and who +had overheard the conversation, broke in. + +"You don't need to worry over Clem Swinton, Mr. Owens," he said. +"Clem'll get a good scare out o' this, an' that's about all." + +"How do you know, Otto?" The superintendent spoke good-humoredly, for +he knew and liked the old man. On more than one occasion, when a +strike was threatened Otto's good sense had held back his +fellow-miners from violent measures, and his chiefs recognized both +his popularity and his loyalty. "Did your friends the 'knockers' tell +you so?" + +"They did, Mr Owens," was the unperturbed answer. "You'll see if I +ain't right!" + +"I hope you are. I'll put you in charge of one of the gangs at that +end, if you like." + +"I was a-goin' to," responded Otto, who had never doubted that he +would be chosen for the post. + +By four o'clock in the afternoon, work had been thoroughly organized. +The pumps had got control of the water, a temporary ventilating +circuit had been established in an effort to keep the mine air +pure--for the main system had been destroyed by the fall, and the +mining gangs were at work, digging away the obstruction and loading +with feverish haste. + +This was a very different matter from hewing coal, which is always +laid out in regular seams and naturally divided by splitting planes. +The rock from the strata above had fallen into the galleries at all +angles, and was mixed up with the crushed and partly splintered +timbers of the roof and sides. Blasting had to be done on a small +scale and with extreme caution, for there was fire damp in the mine, +due to the lack of complete ventilation. + +The road-bed and rails, on which the cars for the transporting of the +débris must run, were flattened and twisted. It was necessary to lay +down new rails, however shakily. Moreover, since all the coal +conveyors and electric haulage systems were a tangle of wreckage, the +loaded cars had to be pushed by hand all the way along the underground +galleries, to the bottom of the shaft. + +The timbering gangs had a desperate job to do, for there was no solid +flat roof overhead under which props could be put, nor could enough +time be given to build a stable timber roof. Yet, upon the ability of +the timber boss hung the lives of all the rescuers. + +Night came, but without any slacking of the work. The electrical +engineer and his staff strung temporary wires, and, both below ground +and above ground, the colliery workings were as bright as day. + +The scene was one of furious rush. Neighboring mines sent gangs to +help. Cars loaded with mine timbers came from all the near-by +collieries. The news of the accident, published in the local evening +papers, had brought offers of help from every quarter. Before +midnight, officials from the Bureau of Mines were on the scene. + +At 3 o'clock in the morning, one of the great Rescue Cars maintained +by the Bureau rolled into the railroad yards of the colliery. In this +car were experts whose principal work was the direction of rescue +operations in mining disasters, and the car contained a complete +equipment of all the most modern scientific appliances. + +The first rays of Saturday's dawn showed the crowd still gathered +around the shaft. Owens, hollow-eyed from lack of sleep and from +watching, was still directing the operations, but with the advice and +assistance of government officials. + +The work was proceeding apace. The miners' picks rang incessantly, +without a second's pause, each man streaming with perspiration as he +toiled. Rails were put down as fast as the obstruction was dug away. +The timber gangs strove like madmen. Each shift was for two hours +only, with no pause between, for there were men and to spare. + +So the day and the night passed. + +At ten o'clock on Sunday morning, there came a cry-- + +"She's fallin' again!" + +A tremor ran through the mine. + +Another shifting of the strata imperilled all the excavation that had +been done. + +A few minutes' hesitation might have been fatal, but the timber gangs +rushed forward, though the props were bending on every side of them +and threatened, from second to second, to engulf them in falling rock. +In a haste that approached to panic, timbers were thrust up and +braced, so that but a small section of the roof fell. + +Some of the miners quit, the more readily as a couple of them were +badly hurt in the little fall, but for every man who showed the white +feather, there were a score to volunteer. They were led by Owens +himself, who was at the bottom of the shaft when the fall came. With +all the fire of his adventurous youth, he seized a pick and ran +forward to the most dangerous place, crying: + +"Those men are to be got out, or I'll die down here with them! Who +follows?" + +There was no farther talk of quitting. + +On Monday there arrived from Washington a Bureau of Mines expert, with +a new listening-device, known as a geophone. This is an instrument +worked on the microphone plan, so sensitive that it responds to the +slightest vibration, even through dense rock-strata, hundreds of feet +thick. + +"Stop work, all!" came the order. "Not a word, not a whisper! Keep +your feet and hands as still as if you were frozen!" + +There was a tense five minutes as the geophone expert listened. + +Presently he detached from his head the ear-clamps leading to the +microphone receiver. + +"The men are alive!" he declared. "I hear them knocking!" + +"To work, men!" cried the boss, and the picks rang with redoubled +zest. + +It was Tuesday, shortly before dawn, when the rescuers pierced the +first obstruction, only to find another and a worse break beyond. + +A draft of air sucked through. Almost immediately the caps of the +safety lamps showed blue. At the same time, the safety inspector +called, "Back from the face, men! Back, all!" + +He pointed to the little cage he had been holding. + +The canaries had collapsed! + +Carbon monoxide was pouring out, the deadly white damp, that kills as +it strikes! + +The hewers retreated, grumbling. + +"We can stand it, with reliefs!" they declared. + +But the Bureau man was adamant. + +"Get back when you're told," he said shortly. "We'll get those men out +all right. Bring the gas gang here!" + +Then it was that the researches of the trained workers of the Bureau +of Mines showed to their best advantage. + +Along the gallery came a line of strange-eyed and humped figures, +inhuman of appearance, wearing the newly devised respirators by which +men can work in the most vitiated air without harm. + +There are several types of these "gas masks," most of them based on +the principle of carrying compressed oxygen for breathing, and bearing +chambers containing chemicals which absorb the carbonic acid gas and +moisture of the exhaled breath. These masks proved their utility at +the great explosion at Courrières in 1906, the greatest mining +disaster on record, when 1100 miners were killed. + + +[Illustration: INTO THE POISON-FILLED AIR! + +Rescue-Crew of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, equipped with +oxygen-breathing apparatus, facing the deadly "damps." + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: U. S. BUREAU OF MINES RESCUE CAR.] + + +[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW, SHOWING LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT.] + + +It was not long, however, before it became evident that there was a +limit to the usefulness of the respirators. Excellent as they were for +exploring galleries filled with poisonous gas, it was difficult to do +fast digging in them. The work slowed down. + +"Look here, Mr. Owens," protested Otto, "if we don't go no faster'n +we're goin' now, it'll be a month afore we get through. Let us go in! +If the gas is bad, we'll take hour shifts, or half-hour shifts, or +ten-minute shifts, if it comes to that! The men'll tough it out as +long as they can!" + +"What about it?" said the superintendent, to the Director of the +Bureau of Mines car. + +"If the men are willing to take the risk! But we can purify the air to +some extent, anyway. I've a man down there with a Burrell gas +detector, which is several hundred times more sensitive than any +canary, so that we can keep a close watch on the air changes, and +there are plenty of tanks of compressed oxygen to be got. I've some +here in the car, and a telegram to Pittsburgh will bring us more in a +few hours. We can put in another bellows, too. + +"This miner's right enough, about the digging. Fast work can't be done +in respirators. The men will have to use electric cap lamps, of +course, but I've a big supply in the car." + +Back into the poisoned air the miners went. That strain soon tested +out the men, and, as the old miner had said to Clem, a week before, +the young men and the single men were compelled to give up, first. Old +Otto stood up to his work with the best of them, but forty minutes at +a stretch was as long as any of the men could stand. + +On Tuesday night, the rescuers working out from the up-take shaft +broke through the obstruction into the North Gallery. The three men +who had been imprisoned there were found asleep, close to the sleep +that knows no waking, terribly poisoned by the lack of oxygen. + +The mine doctor, who had been waiting at the face until the moment of +breaking through, was the first through the hole. Rapidly he examined +the unconscious men. + +"One's nearly gone," he shouted back, "but I reckon we can save all +three!" + +A mighty cheer rolled through the galleries at the news that the North +Gallery men were saved. It was echoed at the shaft and above ground. + +Without loss of time, the men were brought to the open air and rushed +to the mine hospital. Two hours passed before the first of them +recovered consciousness. + +The geophone expert was at his bedside, waiting impatiently. + +"Have you been knocking any signals lately?" he asked, eagerly, as +soon as the survivor was able to speak. + +"No," the miner answered feebly, "we'd gave up. Thought it wasn't no +use." + +"I heard knocking again this morning," the expert announced. "The men +at the far galleries must be alive still!" + +Wednesday saw no diminution of the endeavor, but more than half the +miners of the rescue crews were down and out, suffering to a greater +or lesser degree from the terrible strain of the short shifts in the +deadly mixture of fire damp and white damp. Yet volunteers were as +plentiful as ever, for both the mine managers and the miners of +neighboring collieries stood ready to help. + +By Wednesday night came the cheering news that the roof overhead was +more solid and that the rock fall had not broken in the floor. The +cars rattled in and out, a car to each shaft in less than three +minutes, loaded and pushed by willing hands. With the North Gallery +men saved, both shafts had been set hauling the débris from the +galleries leading to where Clem, Anton, and Jim were imprisoned. + +At breakfast time, Thursday morning, just at the change of shift, the +geophone expert reported voices. + +The message was sped aloft: + +"The men are still alive! We have heard them talking!" + +The news seemed too good to be credited. Seven days the three men had +been entombed, seven days without food, water or light, seven days in +foul air, probably impregnated with noxious vapors.[1] + +[Footnote 1: A very similar accident, wherein a landslide accompanied +the fall of the coal bank, occurred at Blue Rock, Ohio, in 1856. +There, also, four entombed men were rescued after an imprisonment of +eight days. (F. R-W)] + +Suddenly, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the signal came from below to +the pit-head to cease hauling. + +What had happened? + +There could be but one explanation. The cars must have stopped. + +There had been another fall in the mine, blocking off the gallery. + +The rescuers were caught! + +Like wild-fire the news spread through the mining village. + +Great and excited as had been the crowd before, it was ten times more +excited now. Women, whose husbands were in the rescue gang, shook +their fists at Owens, clamoring that he had sent fifty men to death in +order to save three. The animosity spread to the miners who had lacked +the nerve to volunteer, and all sorts of wild rumors passed among the +crowd. + +There might have been serious trouble, but the gates of the high +fences around the pit-head enclosure had been closed, and the mine +guards, armed with rifles, patrolled the place. Ever since the days of +the "Molly Maguires,"--and many much more recent bloody outbreaks +among coal miners--colliery owners have maintained armed guards. + +Happily there was no actual trouble, though the crowd was getting +ugly, for, a little more than two hours later, there came the cheering +news that a supporting gang of rescue workers had driven a new gallery +through one of the pillars of coal, and that union with the old line +was effected. + +Again a faint rumble! + +Hopes dropped once more, but, after a brief inspection, the mining +engineer reported that the fall had taken place in another part of the +mine and that there was no immediate danger. + +At 8 o'clock that evening, voices could be faintly heard. An hour +later, using a megaphone, the rescuers made the survivors hear that +help was near them. + +"How many of you are there?" + +Thinly, so thinly that the voice could scarcely be heard, came back +the answer: + +"Three." + +"All alive and well?" + +"We are all alive. Jim Getwood and Anton Rover are unconscious. This +is Clem Swinton talking." + +"How is the air?" + +"Getting bad, now." + +"Keep your courage up! We'll have you out soon!" + +The hewers set to work in high spirits, hoping that every blow of the +pick would drive through. + +Then: + +"Stop work, men!" said the Bureau chief suddenly. + +The men stared at him, amazed at the order. All stopped, however, +except old Otto, who continued to use his pick-axe steadily. + +The official grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him round with none +too gentle a hand. + +"Stop, you thick-head, when you're told!" + +"What for? We'll be through this wall in an hour!" + +"You'll have a hole through it, maybe. But what good will that do?" + +Otto stared at the official amazed, and the Bureau of Mines man went +on: + +"You've had to start working in a respirator, after all, haven't you? +Why? Because of white damp! Haven't you got sense enough to see what +would happen as soon as you drove a hole through big enough to let the +white damp in and not big enough to get the men out? How long do you +think they'd last in this air, in their weakened state?" + +Otto looked at him a moment, and then nodded his head. + +"You're right, boss," he admitted. "I'm a fool. I'd never ha' thought +o' that. But what are you goin' to do?" + +"You don't seem to know enough to use your eyes," the official +answered, shortly, "and they told me you were one of the best men in +the mine! What do you suppose we've been doing all this cement +construction along this gallery for the last couple of shifts?" + +"I hadn't stopped to think," admitted Otto, taken aback. + +"Well, you'll have a chance to do some thinking, now." + +In effect, it was not surprising that Otto should not be able to see a +way out of the difficulty, for the problem was a serious one. + +The proportion of white damp, or carbon monoxide, in the air where the +rescuers had now been compelled to work in respirators, was strong +enough to kill a man in ten or fifteen minutes. In the undoubtedly +weakened state of the three survivors, a lesser time than this would +suffice to be fatal. + +If, in the course of digging away the obstruction which remained +between the rescuers and the entombed men, a small hole were made, or +if the rocks should lie in such a manner that there were +interstices between, Clem and his comrades would succumb before a +sufficiently large breach could be made in the wall whereby they might +be dragged through to liberty. + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE TIMBER GOES. + +Whole forests are cut down to hold up the mine galleries. On the +strength of this work the lives of the miners depend. + +_Courtesy of the Wigham Coal Co._] + + +[Illustration: GEOPHONE EXPERT LISTENING FOR TAPPING OF SURVIVORS. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: BUILDING THE WALL FOR THE "SAND-HOGS." + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +If, indeed, it were safe to blast, it might be possible to get rid of +the obstruction by the use of a heavy blast and then rush through and +grab the men. But this was impossible. The Burrell tester showed a +large proportion of methane gas or fire damp, and a blast of any size +might easily start an explosion which would not only wreck the mine, +but also kill every member of the rescue parties, while affording no +chance of getting the imprisoned men. + +How could the wall be taken down, without allowing the gas to +percolate through? + +"Stand back, men," said the official, "here come the 'sand hogs,' +now." + +Amazed, the colliers retreated from the coal face to give place to a +very different group of men. Small and wiry folk, these, dressed in an +entirely different fashion from the miners. The respirators gave them +the same goggle-eyed goblin faces. Not one of them had ever been in a +coal mine before. + +With a speed and dexterity that showed their knowledge of the work, +these men proceeded to build up, at the side of the gallery, close to +the point where the last obstruction still held, a solid face of +concrete, and rapidly cemented it to the somewhat elaborate +construction that had been in process of making all the preceding day, +and to which Otto had paid no heed. + +It was not long before it became evident that a completely closed room +was being made. Other gangs came along, carrying strange screw-doors +of iron, and a multitude of devices new to the eyes of miners. +Everything had been measured and prepared above-ground. It remained +only to throw the material together, according to a prearranged plan. + +By midnight, all was ready. + +Three "sand hogs," with a gallant young doctor who had volunteered, +prepared to enter. + +A steady throbbing sound told that machinery connected with an outlet +pipe--solidly embedded in the cement--had been set in motion. The +newly made walls threatened to bulge inwards, and the signal was given +to stop. + +Then a rushing noise was heard in the inlet pipe, similarly embedded. +The outer of the double doors was opened and the four men stepped in, +entering a tiny ante-chamber. They closed the outer door, which was +absolutely air-tight, opened the inner one, and passed into the +chamber built against the coal face, made of solid cement except for a +circle of coal a yard in diameter. + +A minute or two later, could be heard, faintly, the high screech of +some rapid-cutting machine. + +When Otto came back on his next shift, at 2 o'clock on Friday morning, +the sand hogs were still working. + +Curiosity overcame the old miner's desire not to seem ignorant. + +"Just what is that, sir?" he asked the Bureau official, who was still +on watch. + +"That you, Otto? So you want to know, now, do you? Well, that's a sort +of lightly made caisson, or air-tight chamber, with an air-lock or +double door. It's used a good deal for working under water, but for +the job we have here, it doesn't have to be very solidly built. + +"It's simple enough, when you think it out. We just cemented it up, +put in an air-pump to take out the gassy air that was in it, and then +turned in compressed air, with a pressure of a little more than one +atmosphere, just enough to keep any of the gas from entering the hole +that is being dug through the coal pillar." + +"Why can't gas get in? Gas'll go through coal." + +"Because the pressure from inside is bigger than from outside. The +compressed air is leaking through the coal and driving any gas away." + +"Why didn't you let us get in there to finish the job, if that's all +there is to it?" protested Otto, indignant that strangers should have +the glory of the final rescue, after the miners had done so much. + +"Because you couldn't stand it. Those men are sand hogs. They're used +to working in compressed air. Just as soon as a man gets into a +pressure of two or three atmospheres, unless he's mighty careful he's +apt to get dangerously ill. His blood absorbs too much air. While he's +under compression, he doesn't feel it so much, but if he comes out of +the compression too quickly, the surplus air in his blood can't come +out as slowly as it ought, and little bubbles form in the blood +current. That's deadly. Sometimes these bubbles cause a terrible +caisson disease known as the 'bends,' when all the muscles and joints +are affected; or it may give a paralysis known as 'diver's palsy,' +because divers working in compressed atmospheres suffer the same way; +all too often, it causes sudden death. So you see, Otto, it's not a +chance a man ought to take who knows nothing about it." + +"An' the sand hogs are diggin' in there?" + +"No, they're not digging. We put in a tunnelling machine driven by +compressed air, which is sometimes used for making sewers and the +like. It will bore an even, round hole, just big enough for a man to +crawl through, comfortably. + +"As soon as that hole is pierced through into the room where the +imprisoned men are, the doctor will go in, taking food, wine and +medical supplies, and three respirators as well. Then, when the +survivors are protected against the possible results of a sudden +inrush of gas, it'll be up to you men to get the rest of the wall down +as quick as you can." + +"So that's how it is! We'll be ready, sir, as soon as you give the +word." + +At 6 o'clock, on the Friday morning, the outer door of the caisson +clanged and the foreman of the sand hogs came out. + +"We've pierced through," he said. "The doctor's in there. He says all +the men are alive, as yet, but he doesn't know if they'll recover. +There's not much time to lose, judging by what he says." + +"At the wall, men!" came the order. + +The miners cheered. They were to have the glory of getting their +comrades out, after all. + +The picks hammered on the rock like hail. The cars roared through the +galleries once more. The cages shot upward with their loads. + +At 8 o'clock, a miner's pick went through the wall into the space +leading to the room beyond, but there was still a lot of rock to move +before a clear passage could be made. + +Otto remembered the warning of the Mine Bureau official, and realized +that, had he been left to himself, he would have killed his comrades +at the very moment of rescue. + +At 9 o'clock, the hole was big enough for one of the rescuers to pass. +As before, a doctor was the first to scramble through the opening. + +The excitement above ground was enormous. Each car might bring a +survivor! + +Every time that the cage was a few seconds late, hope rose high. + +"Keep silence, now," said the Mine Bureau's surgeon to the waiting +crowd. "No cheers or shouts remember! The nerves of the men are apt to +be at the breaking point." + +The silence added to the tension. The atmosphere was electric with +anxiety. + +What was happening? + +The cage was rising slowly, slowly! + +Surely the men were there! + +It reached the surface. + +A limp form was borne out and laid on a waiting stretcher. + +It was Anton, his face pinched, his lips blue. + +In the next cage, Jim Getwood was brought up. On seeing his condition, +the mine doctor shook his head dubiously. Artificial respiration was +begun, then and there. + +The cage rose for the third time, bearing Clem Swinton, unconscious +like his comrades, but clearly in better case. + +He stirred as he reached the open air, and his glance encountered that +of the mine owner. + +"I said American mine pluck would get us," he gasped, "if we stuck out +long enough!" + +And he relapsed into unconsciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EIGHT DAYS OF DARK + + +The three comrades were saved, indeed, but it was none too soon. Eight +days below ground without food or light and without any sure hope of +rescue, had brought them to a low ebb. + +Clem, owing to his longer experience in the mine and his more prudent +conserving of the scanty supply of food that fell to his share, had +withstood the strain better than the two other survivors. He was badly +shaken, however, and his nerves were on the edge of collapse. His +efforts to help his companions had held him tense during those +unending hours of darkness and famine, and his optimism had kept him +from the ravages of despair. + +Anton had received a terrible shock, both to body and mind. His hands +and feet had become deadened, as though frozen, and the most vigorous +treatment failed to restore the circulation. From time to time he was +seized by convulsive fits; resembling those of epilepsy, and +characteristic of white damp poisoning. His speech remained thick and +mumbling, and he repeated the same word over and over, a score of +times, without being conscious that he had spoken it. + +Jim Getwood, the prospector, was in the weakest condition of the +three. He lacked the degree of immunity that Clem possessed through +his half-dozen years below ground, and that Anton possessed, in a +minor degree, through heredity. His former life of adventure in the +open air made him all the more susceptible to the poison gases. +Violent headaches brought him to the verge of madness, and alternated +with periods of delirium. He could retain little or no food, and, +several times, the doctor despaired of saving his life. + +Yet, in the history of coal-mining, there are several cases on record +in which men have been even a longer time below ground and recovered. +In a French colliery, two out of thirty men who were buried for +fourteen days, recovered; in a Welsh colliery, one man survived out of +seventy who had been entombed for seventeen days. + +A still more astonishing case occurred in a Scotch coal-mine. A big +roof-fall in a pit in Ayrshire had blocked off all the outlets to the +shaft, save one, by which all the miners were able to escape. One man, +however, finding that the way to the shaft was clear, returned to the +face of the coal where he had been working, in order to get his coat. + +On his way back to the shaft, a second fall occurred, blocking him in. +This happened in 1835, when rescue work was still done in a primitive +fashion. It was not until the twenty-third day that the miner was +reached. He was alive, but in a dying state, his body being covered +with a species of fungus that grows upon decaying mine timbers. He +lived three days after being brought to the surface. + +The longest record of endurance under such conditions occurred in +France, some years later. A well-digger, near Lyons, was buried alive +with a comrade, the sides of a deep well caving in after such a manner +that an air-space of 37 feet was left above the entombed men. + +It was impossible to try to remove the obstruction, for any effort to +do so would only cause the earth and stones to fall on them and crush +the men. In order to attempt rescue, it was necessary to sink a well +as deep as the first, and, when the full depth was reached, to drive +an underground gallery from one to the other. + +Up to the very last day, the rescuers were able to hear tappings, sure +sign that at least one of the men was alive. On the thirtieth day the +rescue was effected. The oldest of the two well-diggers was found +alive, but he was in a terrible condition because of the infection +caused by the corpse of his comrade, who had died two weeks before. +He, also, lived three days after his rescue, but the doctors were +unable to save his life. + +None of these men, however, had to withstand the effects of white damp +in the air; on the other hand, none of them had any supply of food, +however small, to begin with. + +Clem's account of the experiences of the three men in the mine was +awaited with a great deal of interest. Reporters from various +newspapers hung around the mine for several days, waiting for a chance +to get his story. The mine doctor refused permission, however, until +he was assured that the young miner was well on his way to health, +fearing that a reawakening of the memories of that terrible week might +bring about a relapse. Finally he admitted the reporters to the +hospital ward where the three survivors lay, though forbidding Anton +and Jim to speak. + +Clem was willing enough to tell his tale. + +He began with the incident in the cage, on the morning of the +accident, when he had joked with Otto, to the old miner's manifest +objection. He told of Otto's refusal to work that day, according to +the account given him by Jim. He described, also, how Anton had +gallantly abandoned his own chance of safety to come and warn him, and +explained how they had vainly searched an outlet in the direction of +the North Gallery. + +"Right after we met Jim," he went on, "we ran as fast as we could +towards the old workings, to see if we could get out there. I didn't +think there was much chance, because, so far as I could make out, the +fall had happened between where we were working and the shafts. But it +was worth trying, anyway. When we found the wall down, in that +section, and the rock piled up clear to the roof, I knew we were +trapped, sure. + +"Thanks to what I had learned in the night-school classes, I had a +pretty good idea of the general lay-out of the mine. I knew how the +faults lay, and miners, who'd been in this mine a long time, had told +me how gassy the old workings were. + +"In a lesson I'd had on mine ventilation, we'd been told that the +ventilating plant, here, had been enlarged twice over to try to keep +the mine clear of gas. It wasn't hard to figure out that, with the +ventilation stopped, gas would soon begin to collect, and that would +be the end of us. + +"There was a big-enough cap on our safety lamps, as it was, and it +seemed to me that the blue cone grew longer as I looked. I told Jim +that it wasn't safe for us to hang around those old workings, we'd get +poisoned before we knew it and lose any chance we had of rescue. + +"Jim didn't see it my way, at first. + +"'Might as well die here as anywhere!' he said. + +"I didn't like that spirit. I'd read in a book, somewhere, that if a +chap gives up hope, he dies a whole lot quicker than if he keeps up +his spirits. It was about Anton that I was worrying most. I was bent +on trying to get the youngster cheerful if I could, because he was +moping over Otto's prophecy that there was going to be an accident. +You've heard about that, I suppose?" + +The reporters nodded, and Owens, who was listening, added: + +"We've heard a lot about it. The old man called the turn, all right. +But maybe you don't know that he told me, too, that you'd be rescued +and that you'd come out of it, alive?" + +"Did he?" queried Clem, in amazement. + +"Point-blank. It's a good thing for you he did, too, for a whole lot +of first-class men volunteered for the rescue work who couldn't have +been persuaded to enter the mine again, otherwise. The old man stuck +to his belief, even after most of us thought you would be dead. The +geophone expert backed him up, by saying he heard tapping, but it was +Otto's persistence that did the most." + +"It's a queer thing he should guess so closely," commented Clem +thoughtfully. + +But a reporter from a Pittsburgh evening paper, who was anxious to get +the survivor's story on the telegraph wires, broke in impatiently: + +"What was the first thing you did, after you'd found you were +trapped?" + +"We got busy and made a barricade," Clem answered. "I showed Jim and +Anton that, in the old workings where we were, there was a lot of gas. +Our lamps showed it up, good and strong. Now, back in the rooms where +Jim and I had been hewing, there wasn't any gas to speak of. We could +go back there, of course, and that was what Jim wanted to do. + +"But I figured out that, since the ventilation was shut off from our +rooms, the gas which had accumulated in the old workings and which was +steadily seeping through the coal in that section would gradually +creep along the galleries our way. If that happened, we'd be down and +out, before the rescuers had a chance to cut their way through. We +could put up a barricade, though, and cut off the gassy part of the +mine. + +"Jim didn't want to work, at first. If he was going to die, he said, +he might as well die of gas as of hunger. He talked a lot of rot about +its being the easiest death. I was that sore, I could have kicked him. + +"Anton was willing enough to work, though, and when Jim saw the two of +us actually at work, he got over his grouch, went and got his pick and +shovel and slaved as hard as any of us. We piled up the coal and rock, +good and thick, and then scraped up all the fine dust we could find +and made a thick blanket of that to keep the gas from coming through, +as best we could. + +"Putting up that barricade made us mighty hungry. We were working fast +because the gas there was bad, and we knew the quicker we got away +from it, the better for us. Being hungry didn't do us much good. +There wasn't much grub. + +"We had only two pails of dinner, Jim's and mine. Anton's dinner pail +was out by the entry where he took the loaded cars. So we pooled the +food, and divided it into three exactly equal parts, each one of us to +hide his share, and to eat it as quickly or as slowly as he pleased. + +"Jim ate his at once, said he'd rather have one good meal than a lot +of little bites which didn't mean anything. Anton made his last +longer, he still had some food left when the lamps burned out. I only +took a bite or two of mine, at that time, and managed to make eight +meals of it, though, of course, I couldn't tell how many hours or days +apart those meals were." + +"How long did the safety-lamps burn?" asked the reporter. + +"Eight hours after we were caught. They all went out within a few +minutes of each other--and we had them pretty well turned down, too. I +looked at my watch, just as the last one flickered out. It wasn't +quite a quarter past eight." + +"You had no matches?" the reporter asked. + +"Matches? What a fool idea!" exclaimed Clem, amazed at the reporter's +ignorance. "I should say not! Even the lamps are locked. We could +have had light three times as long, if it wasn't for that, burning +first one and then the other, but there's no way to light a lamp below +ground. + +"Before the lamps went out, each of us had scraped up a pile of coal +dust to sleep on. It was plenty warm down there, and getting warmer +all the time. The lack of air made us all heavy and drowsy. We were +all asleep pretty soon after the lamps went out. + +"We woke up in the dark. It was black as pitch, a blackness which +weighed on you. It hurt. One's eyes wanted to fight against it. + +"How long had we been asleep? An hour, ten hours, or the whole +twenty-four? Not one of us could tell. + +"But the sleep had done one good thing. It had helped Jim a lot. He +was full of pep, again. The old prospecting optimism had come back. He +was dead sure that he could find a way out. All it needed was looking +for, he thought. + +"Anton wasn't awake yet, and I didn't want to wake him up. The longer +he slept, the better. I tried to reason with Jim that we'd already +gone to all the openings there could be, but he wouldn't listen to +reason. He wouldn't stay with us. He was restless. He just had to be +up and wandering. + +"'How are you going to find your way back?' I asked him. 'It's easy to +get lost in the dark, and you don't know much about the mine.' + +"'I'll be back with a full dinner-pail while you're sitting there +doing nothing!' he boasted, and off he started. I'd have gone with +him, quick enough, but I didn't want Anton to wake and find himself +alone. + +"After a while Anton woke up. I heard him munching, so I knew he was +at his grub. I warned him not to finish it all at once, but he was so +hungry he couldn't stop. I couldn't blame him much, at that. I was so +ravenous that my stomach seemed to be tying itself up in knots, and +the flesh inside seemed to crawl. + +"I had to tell him that Jim had gone off by himself. Anton didn't say +much to that. In fact, he didn't want to talk at all. He was brooding +all the time. Twice I overheard him muttering to himself, and both +times he was talking about Otto and his warning. + +"I could see he was blaming me, but I'll say this for the boy--he +never once said that he regretted having come back to warn me." + +"That," interrupted the superintendent emphatically, "shows the boy is +good stuff. It takes a good deal of moral courage to keep from blaming +some one else, when you're in a pinch. I remember, once, in West +Australia--" He checked himself. "Go ahead with your story, lad." + +Clem resumed. + +"Some time after--it seemed about an hour, though it may have been a +good deal less or a good deal more--we heard shouting. + +"'Jim's found the way out!' cried Anton, and scrambled to his feet. + +"I grabbed him as he rose. + +"'Don't run off in that fool fashion,' I said to him. 'Make sure where +the shouts are coming from, first. You've been down in a mine long +enough to know that the echoes are apt to make a noise sound as if it +comes in a directly opposite direction from the right one.' + +"'I'm going to find Jim!' he insisted. + +"'If you must run chances, why, I suppose you must,' said I. 'But I'm +going to stay here, where the air's good. Try to get back here. Keep +in touch. You take ten paces forward, then stop and shout. I'll +answer. If you don't hear me, come back.' + +"He promised and started off. For the first fifty yards or +so--supposing that he shouted at every ten paces--I heard him clear +enough. + +"Then--not another sound! What had happened to him? + +"I shouted again and again. + +"No reply! + +"What was I going to do? Both Jim and Anton were wandering around +loose in the mine galleries, and they might stray until they dropped, +without ever finding the way back. I yelled till I was hoarse. + +"Then I got another idea. I took my pick, and kept on hitting the roof +in three regular strokes: 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' and then a pause--just like +that." He illustrated on the head-rail of his hospital bed. "I knew +that the vibration would carry along the rock, farther than the +voice." + +"That's what the geophone man heard," Owens commented to the reporter. +"Go on, lad!" + +"I kept that up," Clem went on, "until my arms ached. I was so tired +in my back and so weak with hunger that bright violet spots kept +dancing before my eyes. But I kept on, just the same. + +"Then I heard a shout, and, presently, Anton came staggering along, +dead beat. He'd been guided back by the sound of the tapping. + +"'No sign of Jim?' I asked + +"'Nothing!' + +"He lay down on the coal dust, and, pretty soon, I heard him breathing +hard. He'd gone right off to sleep, exhausted, poor kid!" + +"How long do you suppose he'd been wandering?" queried the reporter. + +"No way of knowing. But I'm pretty husky, and I can stand an eight +hours' shift of coal hewing without getting too tired. And, I tell +you, I was about done out, just from reaching up and tapping that roof +with a pick. Of course, I was weak. But I reckon it must have been +eight hours, good, that the youngster was straying in those mine +galleries, in the dark, alone. Maybe it was more. + +"I must have gone to sleep, too, but it didn't seem for long. +Half-asleep, I heard Anton say, + +"'There's a rat gnawing at my stomach!' + +"I woke up right quick, at that, for though mine rats are ugly +customers, I thought if we could catch a rat or two, that might give +us food. But what the boy meant was that he was so hungry that it felt +as if a rat were there. + +"I wasn't exactly hungry, leastways, not all the time. The pain came +in cramps, that were bad enough while they lasted, but I didn't feel +anything much between. My tongue was getting swollen, though. I knew +what that meant. Drink of some sort we must have. + +"'Look here, Anton,' I said, 'you tap on the rock, in threes, the same +as I did, and I'll go try to find water. I know the lay-out of this +mine better than you do, and there used to be a sump (hole) near the +goaf (waste rock taken from the main gallery roofs). Maybe there'll be +water there.' + +"I started off, cheerfully enough. I reckoned I knew the mine. So I +do, with a lamp, but I didn't have any idea what it meant to wander in +the pitch-dark. The galleries were low there, too, not more than four +feet high. I had to keep one hand stretched out in front of me to keep +from going headlong into the wall, and the dinner pail that I was +carrying in that hand struck the side more times than I could count; I +kept the other hand above my head, to keep me from cracking my skull +against the cross-timbers holding up the low roof. + +"Before I'd gone a hundred yards, I was so mixed up that I didn't know +which way I was going or where I'd come from. It's a horrible feeling. +The dark is like a trap that you can't feel and you can't see, but you +know it's there. It's being blind with your eyes open. + +"Then it was so ghastly silent, too. A blind man can always hear +something. There's life around him. Down there, not a sound! I'd lost +all hearing of the 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' I'd told Anton to make. + +"All sorts of nasty things came into my head. I might step into a hole +and get crippled. I might walk straight into a pocket of gas, and, +without any safety lamp to tell me of the danger, be poisoned then and +there. The roof might be bulging down, right over my head, ready to +fall and I'd have no warning. + +"I tried to reason it out that all these ideas were just imagination. +Reasoning didn't do much good. Fright got a grip of me. I was in a +cold sweat all over. My heart thumped so that it hurt. I was just +horribly scared, right through, and I had to bite my lips till they +were raw to keep from screaming. + +"I'd have gone under, sure, if I'd been alone, but I had the kid to +think of, and every time the tin dinner pail banged against the wall, +it reminded me of what I'd come to look for. Anton would die of thirst +in a few hours, if I didn't find water. As for Jim, I reckoned he was +probably done for, anyway. + +"I think--I'm not sure but I think so--I had a spell of running +crazily round and round in a circle, trying to get away from +something--I don't know what. It was then I gave my head a bang," he +pointed to the bandage still on his head, "and while that stunned me a +bit, it steadied me, too. + +"By that time, I was lost for fair. I couldn't hear Anton's tapping. I +couldn't hear anything. I tried to turn back and got all mixed up in +the run of the galleries. I wandered this way and that, as blindly as +if I'd never been in the mine before. + +"And then I heard a sound like the ticking of a big clock. + +"That scared me more than anything. + +"I remembered all Otto's' stories about the 'knockers,' and, though I +didn't believe them, I couldn't get them out of my head. Somebody, +something, was knocking softly underground! + +"It wasn't human, that was sure! + +"It couldn't be Anton, because he'd been told to tap in threes. It +couldn't be Jim, for the ticks were too close together to be the +strokes of a pick; besides, I knew that Jim had left his tools behind. +It couldn't be rescuers, because the sound was near me. Near me? It +was almost at my ear. + +"Sometimes breaking timber cracks. It might be a prop gradually giving +way, I thought, just ready to let down a new fall of rock on my head. +But a creaking timber is sometimes loud, sometimes soft, and this +ticking, as I said, was regular, like a big clock. + +"Then I guessed! + +"It was drops of water falling! + +"I could have shouted with relief, but down there, in the dark and the +stillness, the silence was so heavy that I was afraid to shout. + +"I felt my way forward, one step and then a second, and the ticking +stopped. + +"I took a third step and it began again. I stepped backward, and a +little to one side, and the drop fell on my bare shoulder. + +"I took my dinner-pail, moved it forward, backward, this way and that, +until at last I heard the drops falling in the tin. + +"I was too thirsty to wait long. As soon as there was a teaspoonful of +water in the pail, I moistened my tongue with it. That was a relief! I +was able to hold out the tin pail, the next time, until there was a +reasonable drink. + +"Ugh, it was bitter! It tasted coppery and twisted up my mouth, but it +was liquid, at least. After I had a drink or two, I felt better. My +scare passed away. + +"Then I began to think a bit. If water was dropping as quickly as +that, it must be running somewhere. But where? I got down on my hands +and knees and began to feel along the floor. Here it was damp; there, +dry. I crawled along for a few minutes, following the line of the damp +floor, and, sure enough, came to a hollow where a good-sized puddle +had collected. There I was able to half-fill the pail. + +"So far, I was all right. I'd found the water. But how was I to get +back to Anton? And where was Jim, if he were still alive? I hadn't any +idea, any more, of which way to turn. + +"Then I got a scheme. Suppose I just walked straight ahead, keeping my +right hand against the wall, and turning to the right at every opening +I came to? I knew that we were hemmed in at every point. Therefore, I +figured, we must be inside some kind of an irregular circle. The place +where we had made our beds was in the room where I had been working, +which was in the end gallery, and, at that rate, somewhere on the +circumference of that circle. If I kept on going, long enough, I'd be +bound to strike the place. + +"Off I started with the pail half-full of water. I walked, in and out, +up one gallery and down another, coming back to the rock falls which +had blocked the way, and on again. I tried to count my paces, and, +though I forgot sometimes, I figured that I'd done about seven +thousand paces when I heard, faintly: + +"'Tap! Tap! Tap!' + +"It seemed to come from behind me. + +"I wasn't to be fooled by the echoes, though, and so I kept on as I +had been going. Just a little further and I turned a corner and came +to the place where we had made our beds. + +"Anton was down. + +"He hadn't been able to keep on tapping on the roof, as I had told him +to. He hadn't the strength. But the kid's pluck was holding, though +his vitality wasn't. He'd taken his maul (a large hammer used for +driving wedges in the coal) and was lifting this from the ground and +then dropping it, three strokes at a time, like I'd told him to do. + +"When I spoke to him he couldn't answer. His tongue was so swollen +that it just about filled up his whole mouth. + +"I gave him some water, a sip or two at a time, and then, when I +thought he could stand it, a real drink. Even then, I had to go slow, +for my dinner pail was only half-full. + +"I still had a few bites of food left, but I wasn't hungry, I'd gone +too far for that. My mouth was sore, too. The copperas water screwed +up my palate and my tongue like eating unripe bananas does, only a lot +worse. It worked the same way on Anton." + +"It was that water that helped you, though," put in the mine doctor. +"The sulphate of iron in it lowered the activity of the body, drying +it up, so that you could go on with less loss of tissue." + +"It tasted nasty enough to have anything in it! Just the same, it was +water. When I woke up from a nap, I found the pail empty. The +youngster had finished it, but when I rowed him for doing it, he +couldn't remember having drunk it at all. He was only half-conscious, +any way. + +"My tongue was beginning to swell again. I saw we'd have to shift our +headquarters so as to be near that water, or the time would come when +we'd be too weak to go hunting it. So, following the same scheme of +making a whole circle of the part of the mine where we were trapped, I +went back the way I'd come, making sure that Anton was following right +behind me. + +"It seemed a whole lot farther off than I'd thought, I suppose because +I was afraid of passing the place. After a couple of hours, though, I +heard the sound of the dropping water. It was great to hear it again! +We took some long drinks there, I can tell you. Then we scooped up +with our hands some coal dust to lie on, and slumped down again. I was +beginning to feel pretty weak." + +"About what day do you suppose that was?" the reporter asked. + +"I haven't any idea. Sometimes I thought we'd only been down there a +few hours, sometimes it seemed like weeks. I suppose, really, it was +about the third or the fourth day. + +"I woke up suddenly. + +"Somebody was laughing! + +"It was a queer high-pitched laugh, and half-choked, something like +the neighing of a horse. + +"Anton heard it, too. + +"'The knockers are coming for us!' he said to me, hoarsely. 'It's just +like Father said. They're laughing at us!' + +"Well, I don't mind telling you my blood ran a bit cold. I'm not +superstitious, but, for the second time in that mine, I was scared +enough to run. But where to? + +"Anton was gasping horribly; it made me worse to hear him. I put my +hand on his shoulder to quiet him. He was trembling and shaking, like +as he had a chill. + +"The laughing came nearer, and louder. + +"The louder it got, the less I was scared. After the first few seconds +of fright, I got all right again, and started to think quietly. Then +the real reason came to me. + +"It must be Jim! + +"I let out a loud shout. + +"The laughing stopped dead. + +"Then I knew it was Jim; things that weren't human wouldn't care if I +shouted or not. + +"'Keep quiet!' I said to Anton. 'It's Jim, and he's coming this way.' + +"Presently the laughter began again, a sort of half choked scream, +like I said, but it was laughing just the same. It made my flesh creep +to hear it. Somehow it wasn't quite human, more like an animal trying +to laugh like a man. + +"It was quite close to us, now. I got up, for I could hear steps +shuffling along the gallery. + +"Suddenly, something bumped into me, though I thought the steps were +several yards away. + +"It was Jim, sure enough. + +"He gave a sort of screech and both his hands went up to my throat, in +a strangling grip. + +"I'm a good deal bigger than Jim, but I was like a baby in his hands. +He had me like in a vise. + +"'Help! Help! Anton!' I called. 'He's throttling me! It's Jim!' + +"At that, the kid got up, tottering. He was weak enough, but, as you +know, he's really got muscles of iron. In spite of his scare--for he +was dead sure that it was something supernatural--he came to my help. + +"The minute he got his hands on Jim and found that it was really flesh +and blood that he was tackling, and not any sort of goblin, he got +furious. He wrenched at his opponent savagely, and the more furious he +got, the more his strength came back. I could hear his sinews +cracking. + +"But Jim's grip was that of a madman. + +"It was a good thing for me that Anton was the son of the champion +wrestler of the mine. Despite his powerful muscles, he could do +nothing, absolutely nothing against the madman. I felt him let go, and +thought that was the end. My head was bursting, my heart fluttering. + +"Then, with a swift change of hold, the youngster took Jim in a +wrestler's grip, one he had learned from his father. It's a death +hold, unless the other weakens. I heard Jim gasp. The clutch loosened. +At last I could breathe and I shook myself free. + +"But the madman was not tamed. His fists shot out like flails. One +blow took Anton full in the chest. I heard his body crash against the +wall. I could do little to help him, that choking grip had taken away +every ounce of force I had. + +"There wasn't any need for my help. That blow had roused Anton to a +rage but little less than that of his mad foe. He knew nothing of +boxing, but he could wrestle. It was a grim fight, down there in the +dark! + +"Despite the madman's blows, Anton ran in, clutched him in some kind +of a wrestler's grip, lifted him clear off his feet and threw him over +his shoulder. + +"The madman fell heavily on the rock floor and lay like a log. + +"For a minute or two we panted, saying nothing. Then, + +"'Have you killed him, Anton?' I asked. + +"'I don't know. I hope so,' he answered savagely. + +"I felt pretty much that way, myself, at first, for my throat felt as +if it were twisted clear out of shape. But, as I began to feel a bit +better, I thought of Jim lying there. + +"After all, he hadn't had any water! Small wonder he'd gone mad. + +"Staggering--for that grip had nearly done for me--I got over beside +him and knelt down. His heart was still beating, pretty rapidly, at +that. But his jaws were almost locked upwards, forced apart by his +thickened and swollen tongue. + +"I got some water into his mouth, but with difficulty. I couldn't pry +his tongue down far enough to get more than a drop or two in. But I +kept at it--hours, I reckon--and kept on giving him sips of water +until he began to breathe a bit more naturally. + +"Then I reckon I fainted, for, when I came to, I was lying right +across Jim. He was still unconscious, but the tongue was a whole lot +better and he was nearly able to close his mouth. I poured a lot more +water into him. Then I tried to give him a bite from the bread I had +left, but he couldn't swallow. So I gave it to Anton, who was moaning +a good bit. + +"Me, I was getting less and less hungry. The gnawing pain that I'd +felt at the beginning, especially that first time that I was hunting +water, only came back at longer and longer intervals. In between, I +felt quite all right, rather jolly, in fact. I caught myself laughing, +once, the way I'd heard Jim, and I had hard work to stop it. +Hysterical, I reckon. + +"I must have slept a lot, or fainted, I don't know which. I remember +having dreamed that I was rescued, oh, a score of times! Always, when +I was asleep, there seemed plenty of light, generally a bright violet. +It was only when I woke up that it was dark. The blackness was like a +rock lying on my chest. The air I breathed seemed to taste black. + +"Jim got violent, more than once. To end up, I had to tie his feet +with my belt, so he couldn't get up on his feet. I wasn't going to +risk any more fights like we'd had with him at the start. + +"When he wasn't struggling, he was talking. He talked nearly all the +time, and mostly about some gold mine that he'd found, that he knew +would make him a millionaire and that he wanted to go back to. He +described the place, over and over again. I believe I could go right +there, just from hearing him. The only thing that quieted him was when +I answered. Then he'd shut right up, only to begin again, after a +while. + +"What worried me the most about Jim was that he couldn't keep the +bitter water on his stomach. He'd vomit it up, almost as soon as I'd +get it down. I kept pouring it into him, just the same. + +"When I put the last bite of grub into Anton--he was dead +unconscious--it seemed like the end of everything. I lost all track of +time. I don't know what happened, after that. I got quite +light-headed, I think. + +"Half the while, I didn't know whether the time I was dreaming was +real, or the time I was awake. I knew somehow that the air was getting +bad, and I remember thinking that this might be because a rescue party +was trying to get down the wall. + +"But there was always plenty of light when I was asleep, and I liked +that, so, every time I was awake, I tried to go back to sleep." + +"Didn't you hear any sounds of the rescue party coming nearer?" Owens +asked. + +"I heard them all the time, even when they weren't there," Clem +answered. "How was I to tell what was real and what was dream? + +"On one side was Jim telling about his gold mine, on the other was +Anton, crying out from time to time that the knockers had him. Poor +kid, he seemed to be in a nightmare all the while." + +"But when the rescuers first spoke to you," the owner of the mine +suggested, "you answered naturally enough." + +"Perhaps I did, but I don't remember hearing them, at all, and I don't +remember answering, at least, not more than I had a dozen times +before. I'm not sure that I remember when the doctor came in and put a +gas mask on me. It's all sort of vague. + +"The first thing I do remember was coming up to the top and seeing a +green tree. The trees weren't green when I went down a week ago, and I +hadn't dreamed about trees, at all. + +"Right now, it's hard to realize that I was buried down there for a +week. If I wasn't so feeble, I'd think it was only a nightmare." + +"And about this gold mine of Jim's," queried the reporter, scenting +another phase of the story. "What was that?" + +Jim, in a neighboring bed, half-raised himself in anxiety, but his +comrade threw him a reassuring look. + +"You'll have to ask Jim that, when he gets better," Clem answered. "I +can't give away his secret. It might be true!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LURE OF GOLD + + +In Clem's story one word had been spoken, the one word which, in all +ages, has been as a raging fire in men's minds, which has sent scores +to die on the scorching deserts of Africa and Australia, or on the +borders of the Arctic Seas, which has bred fevered adventure, +lawlessness, and murder wherever it has been spoken, the word: + +Gold! + +Many years had passed since Owens had felt this auriferous fever, many +years since his heart had beat impetuously as in the wild days of the +camps of his youth, but the word had rung again in his ears as of old. +The subtle poison of the lure was in his veins once more. He could not +sleep for thinking of the old prospector lying almost at the point of +death in his own mine hospital, and, perhaps, dying with the secret of +millions, untold. + +He reasoned with himself for his foolishness. Over and over again he +reminded himself that he was settled for life as a colliery-owner, and +that coal mines bring far more wealth than gold mines have ever done. +The spell was stronger than his reason. Night after night he sat late +in his library, reading anew the lore of gold that he had once known +so well, and dreaming avid visions over the pages. + +The records of human daring do not reach so far back in the dawn of +history as to show a time when gold was not a goal. In the earliest +laws as yet known--the Laws of Menes in Egypt, B. C. 3000--both gold +and silver were sought and used as standards of value in the royal and +priestly treasuries. Breastplates and ornaments of gold were buried +with the mummies of kings and nobles of Egypt and Mycenae. + +There was gold in Chaldea and Armenia. The fable of Tantalus, who kept +unlawful possession of a golden dog which had been stolen from Zeus, +the great All-Father, was a legend of the gold placer deposits near +Mt. Sipylus, north of Smyrna. The earliest records show a knowledge of +gold in the Caucasus, Ural, and Himalaya Mts. + +The PhÅ“nicians, most adventurous of all the early races, went on long +expeditions to distant lands in search of gold. Cadmus, the +PhÅ“nician, in B. C. 1594, sent miners to Thrace and established a +regular gold-trade thence. As a curious forecast of what was to happen +on the other side of the world, tens of centuries later, the ancient +historian Strabo tells of a wagon-wheel uncovering a nugget of gold +near Mt. Pangeus, not far from the present Bulgarian frontier. + +One of the oldest of all the tales of high adventure was the Quest of +the Golden Fleece, and the fifty heroes who set out on that quest in +the oared ship _Argo_--and hence called the Argonauts--have given +their name to gold-seekers for hundreds of generations. Few tales in +all the world are so wonderful as the old Greek legend of Jason and +the Golden Fleece, a quest of daring, of magic, and of peril. + +The Golden Fleece, itself, was a thing of mystery. Its origin harks +back to the earliest days of the Age of Fable. Thus, in its briefest +form, runs the tale: + +In a minor kingdom of what is now Northern Greece, there lived a king, +Athamas, son of the god of the sea, who had married Nephele, the +goddess of the clouds. But Athamas proved faithless and fell in love +with Ino, grand-daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and +beauty. The cloud-goddess, indignant at this neglect, disappeared, +leaving behind her two children, Phrixus and Helle. + +It was not long before the stepmother conceived a violent hatred for +the children of the first wife. Counting on the spell of her beauty, +she tried to persuade Athamas to get rid of them, but the king +refused. Then Ino fell to base plotting. She brought about a famine in +the land by secretly heating the grains of wheat before they were sown +and thus preventing their growth; then, by a false oracle, she +persuaded the king that the gods were angry and would only be appeased +if he offered his eldest-born, Phrixus, as a sacrifice. For the sake +of his country, the king agreed. + +All was in readiness, Phrixus was on the altar, the officiating priest +had the knife raised, when masses of cloud and fog rolled over the +scene and Nephele appeared, leading a ram with a fleece all threads of +gold. So thick was the fog, that, in an instant, it blotted out all +vision; the priest's hand stayed uplifted, for he could no longer see +his victim to deal the fatal blow. Then came a rift in the fog, and, +through the swirl of mist, Athamas and Ino saw Phrixus and his sister +leap upon the back of the gold-fleeced ram. + +Down the mountain and across the plain the great ram sped, and plunged +into the waters of the strait that lies between Europe and Asia Minor, +breasting the waves with ease. Helle fell from the back of the ram and +was drowned, so that the strait (now known as the Dardanelles) was +known to the Greeks as the Hellespont. + +Phrixus reached the other side in safety. Following the counsel of his +cloud-mother, he sacrificed the ram to the honor of the gods and took +the fleece to Æetes, king of Colchis. Æetes at first received him with +honor, but later proved false to his promises of friendship and made +Phrixus a prisoner. The Golden Fleece was hung up on a tree in the +grove of Ares (god of battle and grandfather of Ino), and there the +mystic treasure was guarded by a dragon which never slept. + +Now Pelias, brother of Athamas, had usurped the throne of Thessaly. +When Jason, son of the true king, Aeson, had grown to man's estate, he +presented himself before Pelias and challenged him to surrender the +kingdom. + +The wily Pelias, knowing well that the people of Thessaly would side +with Jason, did not refuse outright. He demanded, only, that Jason +should show his rightfulness to be deemed a king's son by some act of +heroic bravery. Such a test was not unusual in the Days of Fable, and +Jason agreed. + +"This will I do," said Jason, "name the deed!" + +Cunningly the king answered, + +"Bring me the Golden Fleece!" + +Jason, high-hearted, set out on the quest. Since he must cross the +sea, there must be built a ship. Through the advice of the +cloud-goddess, his mother, he appealed for help to Athene, goddess of +wisdom, and a bitter enemy of Ares and his grand-daughter Ino. The +fifty-oared ship Argo was built, and Athene herself placed in the prow +a piece of oak endowed with the power of speaking oracles. + +The Quest of the Golden Fleece was a deed worthy of heroes, and none +but heroes were members of the crew. Such men--demigods, most of +them--had never been gathered in a crew before. Orpheus, of the +charmed lyre; Zetes and Calaïs, sons of the North Wind; Castor and +Pollux, the divine Twins; Meleager, the hunter of the magic boar; +Theseus, the slayer of tyrants; the all-powerful Hercules, son of +Zeus, whose twelve labors were famous in all antiquity; and others of +little lesser fame, were numbered in that gallant company. + +Many and strange were their adventures in the _Argo_, of which there +is not space to tell. The tale is one of ever-increasing wonder: the +battle with the Harpies, evil birds with human heads; the peril of the +Sirens, whose deadly singing was drowned by Orpheus' song; the menace +of the Symplegades, or moving rocks, which clashed together when a +ship passed between; the fight with the Stymphalian birds, who used +their feathers of brass as arrows; and many more. The story of the +voyage of the _Argo_ is a story that will never die. + +Despite their wanderings and their adventures, the Quest of the Golden +Fleece remained the goal of the Argonauts. After months--or it may +have been years--Jason and the heroes reached the land they sought. +There they presented themselves before Æetes and demanded the Golden +Fleece. + +The king of Colchis looked at these heroes and trembled. Well he knew +that neither he nor his people were a match for such as they. He took +refuge in stratagem, and, as Pelias had done, demanded from Jason the +performance of feats he deemed impossible. He must yoke and tame the +bulls of Hephæstus, god of fire, which snorted flame and had hoofs of +red-hot brass; with these he must plow the field of Ares, god of +battle; that done, he must sow the field with dragon's teeth, from +which a host of armed men would spring, and he must defeat that army. + +Truly, the task was one to tax a hero. But, as the gods would have it, +Jason found a new but dangerous ally. This was Medea, the +witch-daughter of Æetes, grand-daughter of Helios, god of the sun. She +loved her father but little, for her father had imprisoned her for +sorcery and, though she had escaped by means of her black arts, her +dark heart brooded vengeance. Partly from love of Jason and partly +from hatred of Æetes, she leagued herself with the heroes. + +Jason was not proof against her wiles. Moreover, he realized that the +task Æetes had set him was one almost beyond the doing. He accepted +from the dark witch-maiden a magic draught which made him proof +against fire and sword. Thus, scorning alike the fiery breath of the +bulls and the myriad blades of the tiny swordsmen, he plowed the field +of Ares and sowed it with the dragon's teeth. Then he threw a charm +among the ranks of the dwarf warriors who sprang up from the soil, +which caused them to fight, one against the other, until all were +slain. Thus he reached the wood where hung the Golden Fleece. + +There remained still to be conquered the dragon that never slept. +Again the sorceress Medea came to the hero's help. By wild witch songs +she charmed the monster to harmlessness, and, stepping across the +snaky coils, Jason snatched from a bough the Golden Fleece, won at +last! + +Though the Argonauts feared Medea, and though Jason dreaded her fully +as much as he was lured by her, the heroes could not deny that their +quest had been successful mainly through her aid. For her reward, +Medea demanded that they take her back to Greece in the _Argo_, and +she took her young brother Absyrtus, with her. The oracle of oak in +the bow prophesied disaster, but the heroes had pledged their words +and could not retract. + +The _Argo_ had not gone far upon the sea before the heroes saw that +Æetes was pursuing them. Here was a peril, truly, for Ares, god of +battle, was on the pursuer's side. Then Medea seized her young +brother, cut his body into pieces and scattered them on the sea. The +anguished father stopped to collect the fragments and to return them +to the shore for honorable burial. By this shameful device, the +Argonauts escaped. + +So hideous a crime demanded a dreadful expiation, but Jason was to +draw the doom more directly upon his own head. Though he had shuddered +at the murder of Absyrtus and he knew the witch-maid's hands were red +with blood, the spell of Medea's dark beauty overswept his loathing. +At the first land where the _Argo_ stopped, he married her. + +At this the gods were little pleased. They sent a great darkness and +terrible storms which drove the Argonauts over an unknown sea to lands +of new and fearful perils. Once they were all but swallowed in a +quicksand, again, menaced by shipwreck, a third time, a giant whose +body was of brass threatened them with a hideous death from which they +were saved only by the twins, Castor and Pollux. The homeward journey +of the _Argo_ was not less wild and difficult than her coming. + +Yet, at the last, Jason brought back the Golden Fleece to Thessaly, +only to find that the false Pelias had slain Aeson and Jason's mother +and brother during the absence of the Argonauts. His crime was not +left unpunished. Medea persuaded the daughters of Pelias to cut their +father into small pieces and to boil the fragments in a pot with +certain witch-herbs that she gave them, falsely promising that by this +means the old king would regain his youth. Of the later life of Jason +and Medea, there is no need to speak. Misery was their lot, and their +deaths were not long delayed. + +Thus, in fanciful guise, appears in the old Greek legend the record of +the European discovery of the alluvial gold deposits of Colchis, and +to the Argonauts was ascribed the honor of being the first to bring to +Greece the gold of Asia Minor. Even in those early days, the gift of +gold was regarded as the favor of the gods. + +[Footnote 2: One book that should be in every boy's library is Charles +Kingsley's "The Heroes," in which the "Quest of the Golden Fleece" is +related with a beauty unequaled in the English language. The books of +A. J. Church, also, especially his "Stories from Homer," make the old +Greek demigods live once again.] + +There is good reason to believe that the Siege of Troy--the subject of +Homer's Iliad--was not waged alone because of the beauty of Helen of +Troy, but also because the Greeks coveted Mycenæan gold. Excavations +made on the site of ancient Troy have revealed many thin plates of +beaten gold. + + +[Illustration: DIVINING-RODS. + +A, Twig; B, Trench. + +_From an Old Print._] + + +[Illustration: THE WORLD'S OLDEST PICTURE OF GOLD-SEEKERS. + +The three ships of Queen Hatshepsut sent to the Land of Punt (possibly +Somaliland) in 1503-1481, B.C. + +_From a wall-painting in the Temple of Deir-el-Bahri, near Thebes._] + + +Nor was the _Argo_ the only ship to set sail to unknown lands for +gold. As early as the fabled voyage of the Argonauts, or even earlier, +Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt--a mighty woman monarch of whom all too +little is known--sent an expedition to Punt (possibly Somaliland) for +incense and for gold. On the walls of the great temples built during +her reign are found paintings telling the story of this expedition, +picturing, among other things, the bags of gold that the three-masted, +thirty-oared ship brought home. + +Hiram, King of Tyre, who was engaged by King Solomon to bring +treasures for the Temple at Jerusalem, made a long journey to some +distant land (about B. C. 1000) and, after having been three years +away, brought back gold and silver, as well as ivory, apes, and +peacocks. He certainly went to India and may have visited Peru.[3] + +[Footnote 3: For the theory of this early voyage to America, see the +author's "The Quest of the Western World."] + +The Phrygians were known not only as miners of gold but also as +workers in the precious metal. The "golden sands of Pactolus" were +washed a thousand years before the Christian era. The proverbial +wealth of CrÅ“sus and the legend of the "golden touch of Midas" remain +as historic memories of the gold mines of Asia Minor and Arabia, +worked by the Lydian kings. + +When Persia became the mistress of the world, most of this gold was +taken to the courts of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius. Some of it, but +not all, came back in the victorious train of Alexander the Great, +when ten thousand teams of mules and five hundred camels were required +to carry the treasure to the new world capital at Susa. + +Spain, in addition to Egypt and Arabia, became one of the principal +gold-bearing sources of the ancient world. The Carthaginians, +colonists from PhÅ“nicia, conquered the Iberians, who then populated +Spain, and forced them to work in gold mines. They captured negroes +and shipped them to Spain as slaves in the gold diggings. The +Carthaginians also exploited mines in Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. + +Then Rome, rising into power, cast covetous eyes on the gold possessed +by Carthage, and sought to seize it by force of arms. As a result of +her victory in the First Punic (Carthaginian) War, Rome secured the +three islands of the Mediterranean, rich in minerals. + +The Carthaginians, under the leadership of Hannibal, worked the mines +of Spain and Portugal the harder. The rivers Douro and Tagus were +found to be rich in gold-bearing sands. Rome's envy grew. In the +Second Punic War, she captured Spain. From the gold-mines there, +worked by slave labor, came a large share of the riches and luxury of +the Roman Empire. + +To Owens, sitting in his library in an American colliery town, the +long story of civilization seemed to unroll before his eyes and, +everywhere, possession of gold brought power and fame. In every case, +also, that same possession led to luxury and decline. + +When Rome fell, beneath the impact of the barbarian hordes, the +Byzantine Empire, holding the gold-mines of Macedonia, Thrace, and +Asia Minor, rose to a bought magnificence. It crumbled easily, because +it depended on gold to buy its mercenary armies, even as Carthage had +crumbled before Rome. + +The same story was repeated in the Saracenic power, when the +Caliphates of Bagdad and of Damascus rose to that wealth of which the +"Arabian Nights" gives a picture. The mines of Arabia, Egypt, and +Spain were in their hands, and the luxury of such Moorish towns as +Granada was made possible by the final workings of the almost +exhausted alluvial deposits of Spain. It was not until the days of +Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile that the Moors were conquered, and, +in those days, Cortés tapped the gold-stores of Mexico, and Pizarro, +those of Peru. + +As ever, the gold of the Aztecs and the Incas, ruthlessly seized so +soon after the voyages of Columbus, made Spain the mistress of the +world. While the Conquistadores were fighting, Spain remained strong. +When the gold was acquired, Spain began to fall. + +England was a frugal country, then. But, like Rome, as soon as her +neighbor began to acquire vast stores of gold, she sought a pretext +for a war. English pirates and privateers commenced to harry the +treasure-ships of Spain, to plunder the Spanish settlements in +America, and to sack every town that was thought to contain American +gold. Upon this stolen treasure, England rose to wealth and power, as +did also Holland and France, the three nations having made a naval +alliance for greed of Spanish gold. + +Nor was England content with her ill-gotten gains. Through commercial +companies which only thinly disguised colonization projects, she +sought possession of gold-bearing regions. The gold of India, of +Australia, and of South Africa, changed the Kingdom of England into +the British Empire, during the reign of a single queen. No one will +seriously dispute that the annexation of the Transvaal and even the +Boer War of recent years were based on England's desire to control the +enormous gold resources of the Rand, as well as the diamond fields. + +The gold history of the United States is little less striking. The +Louisiana Purchase was based largely on the mineral wealth known to +exist in that territory, the annexation of California and her rise to +statehood were built on gold. The purchase of Alaska in 1867 was +largely due to the discovery of gold in British Columbia in 1857, 1859 +and 1860, and to the discoveries on the Stikine River, Alaska, in +1863. + +The 146 years of life of the United States may be sharply divided into +two equal periods, that before the discovery of gold in California in +1848 and the period following. The amazing strides forward which the +United States has made during this last period are not to be ascribed +only to her virgin soil, to her geographic isolation, or to her form +of government, but more, a thousand times more, to her mining +development. Coal, iron, silver, copper, and above all--gold, opened +up the continent with passionate swiftness and hurled the United +States into the position of one of the great powers of the modern +world. + +So Owens sat a-thinking in his library and racking his brain about +Jim. There, not a stone's throw away, lay a sick man, possibly +possessed of a secret that might change the face of history anew. + +How many times it had happened that a lonely prospector, weary, ragged +and hungry, had, with a stroke of a pick or the flick of a pan, +revealed such sources of wealth as to change a burning desert, a fetid +swamp or a bleak mountain range into a hive of industry! What +statesman has ever wrought as many wonders for his country as has that +questing nomad with his shovel and his shallow pan? + +The spirit of rugged honesty and of fair play which so sharply +distinguishes the real miner from the mere mining speculator lay deep +in Owens. He had worked in the gold diggings, himself, and his +standards of principle were those of the great outdoors. He scorned to +take advantage of the opportunity given him by his position as owner +of the mine to overhear the delirious ravings of the sick man. That he +might not be tempted, he kept away from the hospital ward, except for +a short daily visit of inquiry. + +When Jim grew better, however, and evinced a marked liking for Owens' +company, the mine-owner yielded to his interest in the prospector. +Even then he restrained himself from making so much as an indirect +reference to the secret of his employe, though the matter was seldom +out of his mind. + +He had no thought of filching Jim's secret from him. Honest to the +core, Owens' thoughts were on a larger scale. As a mining man, he +thought naturally what personal profit he could turn, should the +secret prove to be worth while; but he thought far more of Jim. He +rejoiced in the hope that, perhaps, he could bring to fulfilment the +prospector's hidden dream. And, most of all, he wished to play a part +in adding another treasure-hunt to the golden glory of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +NUGGETS! + + +Weeks had passed since the accident, and Jim was still in the +hospital. The disaster had been costly to the colliery, but not +crippling. The shafts--always the most costly portion of mine +development--had not been injured. Many of the galleries had been +reopened. The great ventilation fans were working again at full speed. +The cages of coal were whirling up the shaft as of old. + +Otto, after a short rest, had gone to work. The old miner was well +satisfied with the fulfilment of his prophecies. The "knockers" had +indeed tasted blood, for the two men in the old workings had never +been found. As the mining engineer had supposed, that section of the +mine must be abandoned forever. Moreover, Otto's forecast that Clem +would be rescued, uninjured, also had come true. + +Clem, indeed, was recovering, but the doctor declared him as yet +unfit to resume the arduous work of hewing below ground. Accordingly, +Owens had given him a temporary position as assistant to the safety +inspector of the mine, for the accident had awakened the interest of +the men in safety work, and the young fellow was quite competent to +help in the simpler forms of instruction. + +Anton was still in a weak state. His lungs were affected. He was +living at home with his mother, Owens having granted the boy leave on +full pay until he was entirely well again. + +As the mine fell more and more into its old routine, Owens found +himself oftener at the hospital. The remembrance of old times was +strong in him, and the mine owner seemed to renew his youth in the +rude speech of the prospector, sprinkled as it was with mining terms +once so familiar to his ear. + +Jim's liking for his employer was rapidly growing into comradeship. He +was fully conscious of Owens' delicacy in never referring to the +secret and began to feel that here, at last, was a rich man he could +trust. In the course of time, it was the old prospector who brought +the matter up, first. + +"Has Clem ever said anything more to you about my mine?" he asked +abruptly. + +Owens started, but he got a grip on himself at once. When he answered, +it was in as casual a tone as he could assume. + +"Not another word. I don't suppose he has, to anybody. He seems to +know enough not to talk. You heard how he snubbed the reporter!" + +"I know. I heard him. He's square, is Clem. But I ain't never yet +asked him what I said, down there in the mine. It's been eatin' me, +all the time I've been lyin' here. To think I kep' it quiet all these +years, an' then go blurt it out, jest 'cos I was hungry!" + +"You haven't any reason to blame yourself for that, you were +unconscious. And, like you, I believe Clem is as straight as a +string." + +"Ay," agreed Jim, "he shows color in every pan (specks of gold in +every handful of washed sand). I'd ha' gone West, judgin' from what he +said the other day, if it hadn't been for him." + +"You certainly would." + +"An' that makes us pards (partners) in a way, don't it?" + +Jim paused, and then burst out again, "But I can't help wonderin' +jest how much I told!" + +"You'll have to ask Clem that. You remember, he said nothing to the +reporter except that, in your delirium you were talking about gold." + +"Gold! Did I say gold? Are you dead sure that I said gold?" + +"That's what Clem told, anyway." + +"Then I must sure ha' been dreamin'!" Jim's tone was both embarrassed +and evasive. + +Owens saw, at once, by the prospector's manner that he was nervously +fearful of having betrayed himself and that he wanted to drop the +subject. This seemed a sure sign that the hinted discovery was true. + +It was a ticklish moment. The mine-owner realized that if the matter +were dropped, now, he might never have another chance to get back to +it. Any attempt on his part to renew the subject would be sure to +arouse Jim's suspicion. If he were to be of any service to the old +prospector, he must seize the present opportunity. + +"Too bad that it isn't gold then," he said, half commiseratingly. +"There's nothing in all the world that can make a man rich in a +minute, as gold can. I saw that, often enough, in Australia. That's +the land of nuggets, Jim, big ones! Most of them were found by sheer +luck, and it was poor men who found them, too, mostly. + +"The Australian black-fellows--pretty much savages, those +fellows--knew gold, long before the white men came. They used to make +their javelin-heads of gold because it's the easiest metal to work, +when cold, and is found pure. + +"So it was not so surprising, Jim, that one of the first big gold +finds was made by a black-fellow, a husky tattooed chap who owned no +property except a small apron of matting for his middle, a bunch of +feathers for his hair, a long-handled stone hatchet, and a boomerang. + +"This Cl'ck, as he was called, was employed as a shepherd by Dr. Kerr, +a large sheep-owner in New South Wales. Cl'ck was a fairly intelligent +fellow and had learned to talk a few words of English. He knew gold +when he saw it. Just at the time I'm speaking of, the whole world was +excited over gold, for it was just after the discovery of gold in +California in 1848 and the great gold rush of '49." + +"My father was one of the 'forty-niners,'" put in Jim, eagerly. + +"So you're of the real Argonaut breed, then!" exclaimed Owens, but he +did not push the enquiry, preferring to allow Jim to tell his story in +his own way and in his own time. In order, however, to keep the +subject of gold present in Jim's mind, he continued: + +"For some time there had been vague hints that there might be gold in +Australia, but, before the time of the 'forty-niners' no attention had +been paid to it. + +"For example! Once, in 1834, a ticket-of-leave man (convict out on +parole), working in New South Wales, found a small nugget of pure gold +in the earth and brought it to the nearest town to sell. Being a +convict, he was at once arrested for having possession of the gold, +and not being able to explain how he had got it. His story that he had +found it in the earth was laughed at, for never--so far as the +Australians knew, then--had gold been found in nuggets. As it +happened, a white settler had lost a gold watch a little time before. +The weight of the nugget was just about that of the weight of the case +of a gold watch. The ticket-of-leave man was accused of having stolen +the watch, thrown away the works and melted down the case. He was +found guilty and punished with a hundred and thirty lashes." + +"Whew, that was pilin' it on heavy!" commented Jim. + +"They had to be severe in those days," Owens explained. "Botany Bay +and Port Jackson were penal stations. In those days there were about +fifty thousand white folks in New South Wales and three-quarters of +them were convicts. That meant ruling with an iron hand, if mutiny was +to be prevented. + +"Twice, after that, white settlers found signs of gold, but in such +small quantities that the deposits were not worth working by the +primitive means employed at that time. In 1841, signs of gold were +found not far from Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, but the +Governor personally asked the finder to keep the matter a secret for +there were 45,000 convicts in the colony by that time, and he was +afraid that news of a gold-find might start a revolt that the military +would not be able to quell. + +"Two years later an even more curious discovery was made. Mr. H. +Anderson, who owned a sheep-station where now are found the great +gold-fields of Ballarat--in the province of Victoria, south of +New South Wales--threw away the finest chance to become a +multi-millionaire that ever came to any man. + +"While walking from the home kraal (corral) to his house, in company +with a neighbor, he saw on the ground a small piece of white quartz +shining in the sun and noticed a few thin streaks of yellow in the +quartz. + +"He picked it up in a casual way, cast a glance at it, and handed it +to his companion. + +"'We're the richest men in the world,' he said, jokingly. 'You and I +are running sheep over a gold-mine.' + +"This jesting statement was literally true. + +"But the other, who knew just enough about such matters to be really +ignorant, wanted to display his small store of knowledge. + +"'Gold!' he said contemptuously, 'that's what they call fool's gold. +It's pyrites of some sort. Tut, tut, man! Golden nonsense! The only +gold in this country is what grows on the backs of sheep.' + +"Mr. Anderson, trusting to his companion's supposed better knowledge, +threw the piece of quartz at a pair of wallabies (small kangaroos) +that were leaping about, near by, and thus lost the chance of +becoming the richest man in Australia. Five years later came the news +of the gold-finds in California, and the more thoughtful men in New +South Wales remembered these vague stories about gold having been +found in the island continent. + +"Now, let us get back to Cl'ck. His employer, Dr. Kerr, had bidden him +keep his eyes open for any signs of gold, during his wanderings over +the wild pasture land with his flocks. He promised to give him five +pounds--a large sum for a black-fellow, in those days--for any piece +of gold he should bring in, no matter how small. + +"One day, in February, 1851, while leading his flocks to water at +Meroo Creek, Cl'ck happened to see what looked like a smudge of yellow +on the surface of a good-sized bowlder of quartz. He chipped at it +with his long-handled hatchet, and there, solidly embedded in the +bowlder, was a huge chunk of gold. It weighed over 102 pounds and was +sold for over $20,000. + +"This accidental discovery, which made Kerr rich, and which, +incidentally, gave Cl'ck a hut and a sheep-kraal of his own, was +amazing enough in itself. Even in California, which was then regarded +as the very fountain-head of gold, no such nugget had been found. +Yet, a couple of weeks later, a strike was made of such importance as +to throw even the Black-fellow Nugget in the shade. This second strike +determined the fortunes of Australia. + +"One of the 'forty-niners,' who went to the California gold-fields in +the first ship that sailed from Sydney after the news of the +Sacramento discoveries had reached Australia, was a prospector called +E. H. Hargraves. He got to California in the middle of the rush, but +luck was against him. + +"As happened so often with the men who knew only a little mining, he +thought he could do better than merely follow the crowd. He staked a +claim that looked more promising than the ground on the outskirts of +the established mining camps. The claim proved worthless, or nearly +so. + +"Seeing the vast crowds streaming into California, and being convinced +that there would not be gold enough for all, Hargraves decided to go +home, rather than to stay in the California gold-diggings and die of +hunger--as so many of the forty-niners did." + +Jim nodded assentingly. He knew those stories. Many a one had his +father told him. He was well aware that the trail of gold is a line +of graves. + +"On his way back home," Owens continued, "Hargraves remembered that he +had seen ground in New South Wales which bore a marked resemblance to +the regions where gold had been found in California. It was not +ordinary alluvial gold land, such as prospectors were apt to seek, and +no one had ever suspected that gold might be found there. Hargraves +had kept his eyes open, when in California, and had realized that +alluvial gold was but a beginning, that the biggest amount of wealth +lay in a reef. + +"Reaching Sydney in December, 1850, Hargraves made his way towards +what is now the town of Bathurst. He was out in the field, +prospecting, when the Black-fellow Nugget was found, and heard nothing +about it. + +"Near the end of February, 1851, working in Summerhill Creek, he +discovered sure signs of gold, though in no such alluring quantity as +had been found on the creeks leading into the Sacramento River. He +worked steadily up the creek, not only panning as he went, but also +striking off to right and left to see if the ground gave promise of a +reef. There, on the last day of the month, he found a bowlder of +quartz and gold, or, to speak more correctly, a detached piece of +quartz from a reef, the greater part of which was almost pure gold and +weighed 106 pounds. + +"Hargraves was a man of sense. Instead of hurrying back to the nearest +town with his find, selling it and blowing the money, he did some +further prospecting. He collected specimens from different parts of +the neighborhood, realizing that he had made a discovery not less +sensational than when Sutter found the first gold in his mill-race in +California. + +"Then he went straight to the government authorities of New South +Wales, and, in addition to establishing his own claims, he asked that +a reward be given him by the government. The governor, anxious to stop +the emigration from New South Wales to California, and realizing that +a gold-find would bring enormous wealth and prosperity to the colony, +made him a grant of $50,000 and a pension, providing that he would +reveal the gold-bearing locality to the authorities, first, and +providing the territory should produce a million dollars' worth of +gold. + +"Hargraves was as good as his word. He showed not only the famous +Lewis Ponds, Summerhill, but also another and even bigger field on +the upper waters of the Macquarie River. Owing to their prior +information, the authorities were able to establish mining laws and +good government before the rush set it, and Bathhurst was freed from +the wild orgy of lawlessness which marked the days of the +'forty-niners.' + +"All this, Jim, was a wonderful jump forward for New South Wales, and +the town of Sydney boomed. But it was equally bad for the other +provinces of Australia, and Victoria, being the nearest, suffered +most. Almost every man able to wield a pick or rock a miner's cradle, +deserted his work and rushed to Bathurst. The gold was so easy to +separate from the quartz that a man could get rich using no other tool +than an ordinary hammer. + +"Shepherds and even sheep-owners deserted their flocks, farmers let +their land go to weed, merchants abandoned their shops, manufacturers +allowed their machinery to rust, school-teachers locked the doors of +schools, and workmen of every line of labor flocked to Sydney and +toiled along the widely beaten track to Bathurst. + + +[Illustration: AUSTRALIA'S TREASURE-HOUSE. + +One of the shafts of the Kilgoorlie Gold Mine, more than 1000 feet +below the surface. + +_From "Mines and Their Story," by Bernard Mannix Sidgwick and +Jackson._ + +_Courtesy of Kilgoorlie Gold Mining Co._] + + +[Illustration: IN THE RICHEST GOLD MINE IN THE WORLD. + +Drilling the rock for blasting on the Rand Reefs of South Africa; the +compressed-air drills give a million blows a day, each with the force +of half a ton.] + + +"The authorities of the province of Victoria were in despair. The +colony was plunging into ruin. Something must be done at once. They +offered a huge reward to any one who should find gold within two +hundred miles of Melbourne. On the very same day, two men came to +claim the reward. One had made a strike on the Plenty River, the other +on the Yarra-Yarra. In August, 1851, came the discovery of gold at +Ballarat, gold in its pure form and in large grains. The Bendigo +fields developed immediately after. + +"Then came a rush unparalleled! Money came easy, just as it comes easy +to any man who has the good luck to be first at a strike. Every one +got rich in Ballarat. There were no blanks. It was the richest ground +that ever was found. The grains of gold were so big that they stuck +out and looked at you! + +"Geelong, which was the nearest town to Ballarat, was deserted. Three +months after the discovery of gold the mayor of Geelong complained +that there were only eleven men and over three thousand women and +children in the town." + +"Ay," agreed Jim, "and I remember in Pot-Luck Camp, the first time a +decent woman came into the town, a miner offered her a bag of +gold-dust to just shake hands with him. I've seen seven camps in a +string, wi' maybe a thousand men in each an' nary a woman in the lot!" + +"A camp like that becomes right wild," Owens agreed. "Ballarat, for a +while, was about as dangerous a place as ever the world saw. +Ticket-of-leave men from New South Wales, escaped or paroled convicts +from Tasmania, roughs that had been run out of camps by vigilance +committees in California, Chinese and Malays swarmed there. The +diggers refused to take out licenses, fired on the police, charged the +military stockade, and when the troops charged back and took 125 +prisoners, a jury acquitted every one of the mutineers as upholders of +individual liberty. If a man did not find gold, he starved at the +exorbitant prices demanded for food; if he did make a strike, the +chances were ten to one he would be murdered the next day. Colorado, +at is worst, could not be compared with early days at Ballarat. + +"Bendigo followed right after. That was a nugget corner. During the +year 1852, alone, three big nuggets were found there, one of 24 +pounds, one of 28 pounds, and one of 47 pounds. All these nuggets +revealed outcrops and the finders all became rich men. + +"One of them was found in a queer way. A prospector, or 'fossicker' as +they call them back there, had been panning all along a small creek, +finding hardly enough color to pay him for his day's work. He was +walking on the very edge of the bank, scanning every stone he came to, +but seeing no prospects. Suddenly the bank caved in under him, +throwing him into the water. He came up, spluttering, and there, right +in front of him, the water was washing off the dirt, was one of the +purest nuggets that Australia ever produced. That was probably the +most profitable bath in history." + +"Some men are born lucky!" declared Jim, enviously. + +"That's true," Owens agreed, "and it has been a characteristic of +Australia that all the big finds have been made by lucky accidents. +Even recent discoveries are no exception. Did you ever hear the story +of Pilbarra and the crow?" + +"Never did." + +"It's a classic in Australian gold mining. It's as queer a story as I +know. It doesn't sound true, a bit, but all the documents in the case +are on record. + +"One fine day, a youngster in West Australia--clear across the other +side of the continent from Bathurst and Ballarat--was idling along a +narrow track, as youngsters will, even when sent on a hurried message. +On his way, he saw a black crow hopping some distance away. With a +natural boy movement, he picked up a stone and shied it at the crow. +The bird gave a loud croak and flew away a little distance, but in the +same direction in which the boy was walking. Presently the crow was +within throwing distance, again. The boy stooped to pick up another +stone. + +"Just as he was about to let fly, however, he noticed some gold specks +in it and took it home. There he showed it to his father, who was an +employe in the convict prison there. His father showed it to the +Warden, as he was compelled to do, for he was also a convict, though a +'trusty.' + +"The much-excited Warden knew that the governor of the colony ought to +be notified at once, but how was he to do so without the secret +leaking out through the telegraph office? Forgetting, in his +excitement, that the governor did not know as much about the matter as +he did, he sent the following message: + +"_'Boy here has just thrown stone at crow.'_ + +"He entirely neglected to mention that there was anything special in +either the stone or the crow. + +"The telegram puzzled the governor not a little. But he had a sense of +humor, and he replied to the Warden's telegram with the following +message: + +"_'Yes; but what happened to the crow?'_ + +"The Warden realized his former omission, and risking discovery, +telegraphed: + +"_'Stone, gold.'_ + +"The telegraph operator, not seeing how this could be a reply to the +governor's question thought an error had been made and forwarded the +message: + +"_'Stone cold.'_ + +"The governor thought his friend the Warden must have gone crazy, but +he was not to be outdone. He wired back: + +"_'Forward crow.'_ + +"This time it was the turn of the Warden to be puzzled, and, as soon +as his duties would permit, he went to the capital--almost a +thousand-mile journey--taking, not the crow, but the stone filled with +specks of gold. This was in 1888. Over half-a-million dollars' worth +of gold was taken from Pilbarra before the end of the year. + +"The richest gold field in Australia was hit on by accident four +years later. This was Kimberley. Signs of gold had been found there in +1882, and again in 1886 but not enough to be worth working. In 1892 +two prospectors started out to explore the region. They worked for +weeks and found nothing. One of them, thoroughly disgusted, gave up +the search and started for home. + +"Two nights after, while camping, his horse became restless and +started to plunge and kick at a wombat, near by. The prospector got up +to quiet the beast, fearing he would break the picket-rope. On his +way, he stumbled over a stone, which, in the light of early dawn, he +saw to be rich in gold. He pegged out a claim at once, fetched his +partner, and the two men took out $50,000 worth of gold in three +weeks. This was the beginning of the great Coolgardie field. + +"In the same region, about 24 miles away, not long after the opening +of the Coolgardie field, a miner just missed wealth. There was a small +camp there, but one man had no luck. While sitting dispiritedly in his +dog-tent, just before going to sleep, he began to burrow with his +fingers in the loose soil on which he was slouching and discovered a +small pocket of gold. He was so excited that he shouted out the news +to the camp. + +"Before he could realize what was happening, the other miners crowded +round, and pegged out claims to the very borders of his tent. All he +got out of it was the small bit of ground on which his tent stood. The +pocket only yielded a hundred dollars' worth of gold, his neighbors to +right and left, got more than ten times that amount in the first three +days. + +"I could go on for hours, Jim, telling you about the Australian +gold-fields, but I've said enough to show you that I meant what I said +when I suggested that it was a pity that you hadn't found gold. The +mining of every other metal needs a lot of capital to begin with--as +gold does, when you begin to work a reef--but, in nearly every gold +deposit, there are placers or pockets where a man can clean up +quickly." + +Jim's face was glowing with a lively interest. His excitement had +grown as the mine-owner proceeded. + +"And these here nuggets," he queried, "what makes 'em? Where do they +come from? We don't find anything like that over here!" + +"No," agreed Owens, "you don't. Chunks like 'The Welcome Stranger' +which sold for $48,000 and which was found right in the road, the +wheel of a passing wagon having cut through the soft earth and exposed +it, are peculiar to Australia. Even South Africa, which is the largest +gold-producing country in the world, hasn't any nuggets like that. + +"As for where nuggets come from, Jim, that's a bit of a puzzle. Some +say they grew in the earth, water heavily laden with gold, depositing +more and more of the metal in the one place; other scientists claim +that the nuggets were made in the days when the earth was all fire, +and that the nuggets have been there ever since. Neither theory +answers all the facts. It's truer to say that we don't know, yet, how +nuggets came to be, nor why Australia has most of them. + +"Some day, Jim, if you're interested, I'll try to explain to you the +geology of gold. It's pretty complicated. I did a lot of study on it, +when I was a young chap. Somehow, I seemed to be one of the men who +didn't have any luck at the diggings. So I took to assay work +(ore-testing), out there in Australia, and made more with my little +assay outfit than most of the miners did with their claims." + +Jim propped himself up on one elbow and stared fixedly at the +mine-owner. + +"You know how to make an assay, yourself?" + +"Roughly, yes. Of course, only for field work, you understand. I don't +pretend to be a mineralogical chemist." + +"You can do it yet?" + +"I suppose so. I haven't done any for years. This coal-mine business +has kept me busy. But I've still got my portable assay outfit up at +the house. I kept it for old-time's sake." + +Jim's eyes glistened eagerly. + +"You go to my cabin, Owens," he said, and it was noticeable that he +dropped the "Mr.," "and five long paces due north from my kitchen +window, you dig! You'll find a chunk of ore, there. Assay it, and then +come back here!" + +"But--" + +The old prospector waved the interruption aside, impatiently. + +"Do it, and then talk!" + +Owens shrugged his shoulders and left, but little less excited than +Jim. + +That evening, during the middle of the night shift, when no one was +likely to see him, the mine-owner went to the spot designated and +began to dig. A foot or two beneath the surface, he found the chunk of +ore. He put it in his pocket and hurried to his own house. + +It was nearly dawn before he completed the assay. Then he put the ore +and his memorandum of results in the safe and went to bed for a short +sleep. + +That morning, after breakfast, he returned to the hospital. He found +Jim in an excited state. + +"No, Mr. Owens, there's nothing wrong with him," the doctor explained, +"only he hasn't slept all night. He's been asking for you, every few +minutes." + +When the mine-owner entered the ward, Jim struggled up to a sitting +position. + +"What about it?" he queried. + +Owens closed the door carefully, came up to the sick man's bedside, +and answered quietly, + +"About 110 grains of gold to the ton and 800 ounces of silver. There's +some native copper, too." + +"It's a real find then?" + +"It isn't what you'd call rich," the Australian answered cautiously. + +"How about this, then?" + +Jim took his old coat, which he had got the hospital attendant to +bring him the night before, ripped open a seam, showing a narrow tube +of buckskin running around the hem, and, opening its mouth, poured out +a few grains of yellow metal into the palm of his hand. + +"Free gold!" he said, triumphantly. + +One glance of a trained eye sufficed. + +"That's the stuff, sure enough. But you didn't find much of it, eh?" + +"Where do you get that idea?" + +"The grains are big enough to pan easily. If there was much of it, you +wouldn't have left the place without cleaning up a good stake." + +"There is plenty of it. But I had to get out." + +"Why, then?" + +"To save my skin. An' I couldn't get back there." + +"Back where?" + +"Where I found it." + +"That doesn't tell me much." + +"It ain't intended to." + +"Then why," said Owens, showing irritation, "did you show me the ore +at all?" + +Jim looked at him under lowered eyelids. + +"Have you ever been a prospector, honest?" + +The owner of the coal mine put his hand in his breast pocket. + +"I thought this might interest you," he said, "so I brought it along. +That's me!" + +He put his finger on one of the figures in the picture that he handed +to the prospector. It showed a young fellow, bearded, in the typical +Australian digger's rig-out, panning gold. The photograph was an old +one, evidently, and there was no doubt that it was a resemblance of +Owens in his youth. + +"Ay, it's you," said Jim. + +For some minutes there was silence. The mine-owner let the prospector +think the matter out in his own way. Finally, with an air of desperate +determination, Jim began: + +"I'm gettin' old, now, an' times has changed since I found that ore. I +ain't never give up hope of gettin' back there, but it don't look like +it, now. I ain't the man I was. This last spell has crippled me up, +pretty bad, too. I ain't never goin' to be right husky, again. The +doctor says so." + +"You can have a job above ground, here, as long as you want to." + +Jim nodded appreciation of the offer. + +"That's a square deal," he admitted. "But," he went on viciously, +"I've had enough o' coal. I don't want to see a bit o' coal again, +long's I live! I want to get back to God's country." + +"Which is?" + +"Where I found that!" replied Jim, evasively. + +Owens made no protest. He kept silent, being sure that his companion +would go on to talk. + +"I'm gettin' old," Jim repeated, after a while, "an' it takes two +things to get where I found that ore--a tough constitution an' money. +I got neither. It's a job for a young fellow." + +"I'm not much younger than you are," suggested Owens. + +"Clem is." + +"Well?" + +"But he hasn't got any more money'n I have." + +The mine-owner bent a level glance at the old prospector. + +"Don't beat about the bush so much, Jim. If you don't want to say +anything, why, drop the whole business. If you have anything to say, +spit it out! You want me to grub-stake you? Is that it?" + +"Me an' Clem. I won't do nothin' without Clem. A man has to have a +pardner." + +"I've no objection to Clem. On the contrary. But I don't grub-stake a +man just because he shows me a bit of ore! I've been in the game too +long for that. How do I know where that gold comes from? It might have +been picked up from some mine now working at full blast. As for the +gold-dust--why, it would be queer if you hadn't found some of it, +somewhere. + +"No," he went on, anticipating Jim's interruption, "I'm going to do +the talking for a minute. You wanted to be sure I was a prospector. I +showed you. You wanted to be sure I knew enough about gold to make an +assay. I've done that for you. + +"But confidence can't be all on the one side. You'll have to show your +cards, the same way. You'll have to convince me that you're on the +square, too. I'm not suspecting anything, mind, but this has got to be +an open-and-shut deal, or I don't go in. + +"Tell me who you are, where you've been, what you've done and what you +know about gold deposits, anyway. I've got to know where you found +this ore, how you came to find it, and why you haven't been able to +get back there. You'll have to show me some proof, to start with, and +what chances there are of taking the necessary machinery to the +place, before I think about investing any capital. + +"You can keep back the exact location of the strike to the last, if +you like. If it sounds right, why, I'll think about it. But, mark you, +Jim, I make no promises. You can talk, or not, just as you choose. I'm +not hunting trouble, understand, this colliery keeps me busy enough. +But if you want help, maybe I can give it to you. That ore deposit--if +it's a deposit--can either be let alone or developed. If you let it +alone, it's no good to anybody. If it's developed, there's a chance +that it might make money for the both of us. Decide! It's up to you!" + +Silence fell in the hospital ward. Jim's eyes were far away, evidently +in that strange and distant land where he had made his find. Then he +turned a piercing glance on the mine-owner, who returned it frankly. + +The old prospector cleared his throat and swallowed hard. For a moment +he seemed about to speak, and then stopped himself. At last his +features settled into decision. + +"Send for Clem to come here to-morrow," he said, "I'll tell the +yarn." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE FORTY-NINERS + + +Several days elapsed before Jim took up his story, Owens preferring to +wait until the prospector grew stronger. The mine-owner was shrewd +enough to see that if he did not show too much haste, Jim would be +less suspicious. + +When the time arrived, Jim was up and dressed, though the doctor would +only allow him out of doors for a few minutes at a time. The +prospector had evidently been thinking out the beginning of his story, +for, when his visitors arrived, he opened without preface. + +"There's a lot o' wild yarns been told about the findin' o' gold in +Californy," he began. "I've heard some, an' wild an' woolly they was; +an' I've read some in books, an' they was wilder yet; an' I've seen +some in the movies, an' they was a crime! + +"Not but what them days wasn't tough! They was! The crowds what hit +the minin' camps o' the Sierras in the fifties was out for gold an' +nothin' else, an' they didn't much care how they got it. Father, he +was a forty-niner himself, an' he was a rough un if anything got in +his way. But he had more sense'n most, an', without any book-l'arnin' +to speak of, he knew a heap about gold. If he'd been alive when I made +my strike, old as he was, he'd ha' gone there, an' he'd ha' got there, +too. + +"I come o' Mormon stock, I do. My grand-pap, he made the trail to Salt +Lake City wi' Brigham Young. Grandma, she used a rifle to defend the +home camp, when the Illinois and Indiana folk came to massacre the +women an' children, after the men were gone. Judgin' from what I've +heard about her shootin', there wasn't many bullets wasted. Some o' +these days, when you ain't got nothin' better to do, I'll tell you the +story o' my grand-pap. He come to be one o' the Danites, later.[4] + +[Footnote 4: For the relation of the Mormons and the Danites to the +forty-niners and the emigrant trains going west, see the author's "The +Book of Cowboys."] + +"You'll know the story o' Sutter's Mill, likely, Mr. Owens,"--Jim +returned to the "Mr." in Clem's presence,--"but Clem, he don't know +nothin' about it, an' he ought to be put wise if he's goin' to take a +hand in this game. + +"It all come about in queer fashion, a good deal like it did in +Australia, as Mr. Owens was a-tellin' me a few days ago. The first +signs o' gold was found on the Americanos River, which runs into the +Sacramento. Found by accident, they was, too. + +"There was a chap out them parts--an Indian-fighter--Cap'n Sutter by +name. He owned a lot o' land an' used to run cattle in a small way, +for the time I'm tellin' about was long afore the days o' the cowboys +an' the ol' Texas-Drive trail.[5] This Sutter had a foreman called +James W. Marshall, who, besides his reg'lar job o' handlin' cattle an' +greasers, looked after the runnin' of a one-horse saw-mill on the +Americanos. It was an over-shot water-wheel mill, an' jest roughly +chucked together. + +[Footnote 5: For the history of the Texas trail and the winning of the +West for the United States, see the author's "The Book of Cowboys."] + +"By-'n'-by Marshall begin to notice that the ol' mill wasn't workin' +any too good. A lot o' sand an' gravel had come down wi' the water, +chokin' up the tail-race some. The run-off wouldn't get away fast +enough an' churned up under the water-wheel, causin' a loss o' power. + +"To get the tail-race clear an' to widen her out a bit, Marshall, +he throws the wheel out o' gear, pulls up the gate o' the dam, an' +lets the whole head o' water in the mill-pond go a-flyin'. That water +hit into the tail-race like a hydraulic jet an' scooped her out clear, +carryin' a mass o' sand an' gravel into the river below. + + +[Illustration: SUTTER'S MILL. + +Where Marshall discovered gold, January 19, 1848.] + + +[Illustration: THE RUSH TO THE GOLD MINES. + +Scene in San Francisco in 1849.] + + +"Next day, that was January 19, 1848, Marshall goes down to the river +below the tail-race to see how she's shapin' an' if the cut-out is big +enough. He's walkin' along the bank when he notices something glitter. +He looks again, an' sees what he thinks is a bit o' Spanish opal, not +the real gem, Clem, but a soft stone they find out there which looks +even prettier'n an opal, but wears off an' gets dull in no time. They +sell 'em to greenhorns, still. + +"Marshall don't worry none about that, but by-'n-by, seein' a lot +more, as he thinks, he figures to pick up some, jest to show. +Accordin' as he used to tell the tale, he didn't think it was worth +the trouble, but spottin' one that looks different from the rest, he +reaches down into the water an' fishes it out. + +"It ain't no opal at all. It's a bit o' shiny white quartz wi' a line +o' yellow runnin' through. That's what makes the glitter. He hunts +around some, rememberin' that he'd seen other bits shinin' yellow the +same way, an' finds quite a few, all of 'em looking like scales o' +pure gold. They was jest about the size an' thinness o' the scales +that comes off a rattlesnake's skin after it's dry, an' for a while, +Marshall figured they was some kind o' scale or horn, washed down thin +by the water. + +"In them times, the folks in Californy hadn't no idee o' minin'. It +was still Spanish territory, for one thing, an', for another, there +wasn't any minin' done. So Marshall wasn't thinkin' about gold. It was +jest curiosity what made him hunt up some more o' those queer yellow +scales. + +"The more he found, the more puzzled he got. They was heavy; they bent +like a bit o' metal, a thing a stone won't never do; they could be +scratched with a pocket-knife; they didn't show no layers like horn +does when it's old. The biggest bit he found weighed less'n a quarter +of an ounce, an' this one was stickin' in the bank o' the tail-race, +where the water had been washin' the earth away. + +"He puts this last bit on a flat rock an' hammers it with a stone. It +beats out flat quite easy. Marshall wasn't no fool, an' he knew there +wasn't no yellow metal acted that way but gold or copper, an' native +copper ain't that color. + +"There was one o' the mill-hands wi' Marshall at the time, a chap +called Peter Wimmer. He didn't know any more about gold'n Marshall +did, but he'd heard said that every metal, savin' gold, gets black if +it's boiled in strong lye. Marshall gets Wimmer to keep quiet by +promisin' him a stake in whatever's found, an' tries the boilin' +trick. The flakes o' metal stays put, an' shows nary a sign o' +tarnishin'. + +"By this time, Marshall was gettin' pretty sure that what he'd found +was gold. He hadn't no notion of a gold mine, though, seein' he'd +never heard of any. He reckoned that these flakes must be gold that +had been buried by the Indians, long ago, an' had been washed down; +from a grave, maybe, or some o' the treasure that the Spaniards had +been huntin'. + +"Jest the same, he was curious. He strolled away from the tail-race, +idle-like, an' started huntin' promiscuous. He found specks o' gold +all over. That settled him. He jumped on a horse an' rode down to +Cap'n Sutter wi' the news. + +"Sutter was a whole lot more excited than Marshall was. He was +educated an' knew the history o' Mexico. He knew the Indians in +Californy had possessed gold in the time o' the first comin' o' the +Spaniards, an' he reckoned that gold must ha' come from somewhere. +There'd always been some talk o' gold around where the Spanish +missions had started, and, jest three years afore, a Spanish don had +sent some ore to Mexico, sayin' that there was gold an' silver +a-plenty around, an' the government had better get busy an' develop +it. But the Spaniards weren't havin' any. Ever since they got so badly +fooled, a couple o' hundred years afore, in their hunt for the 'Golden +Cities o' Cibola,'[6] they let Californy alone. + +[Footnote 6: For the gold-hunting expedition of the Spanish +Conquistadores in North America--records of extraordinary heroism and +adventure--see the author's "The Quest of the Western World." For the +gold-stories of Ancient Mexico, see the author's "The Aztec-hunters."] + +"Sutter didn't waste no time. He rode right back to the mill wi' the +foreman. They didn't have to poke around long afore Sutter was plumb +sure it was the real stuff. There was some of it in the Americanos, +but the gold was even thicker in the dried-up creeks an' gulches that +run into the river on both sides. With his penknife, Sutter pried out +o' the rock-face a piece o' gold weighin' nigh two ounces. + +"Some o' the mill-hands had got wise, too. Maybe Wimmer talked--though +he said he hadn't. Maybe they just got a hunch, when they saw Sutter +an' Marshall prospectin' around. They started huntin', too, but the +flakes were small an' took a long time to find. None o' them knew +enough to try washin' the sand, an' all they found didn't amount to +much. + +"Sutter took samples o' the gold to the fort at Monterey, where +General Mason was in command. Mason was more interested in tryin' to +keep the Apaches an' Comanches quiet than he was in fussin' about +metals. He was a soldier, an' minin' wasn't his line. But he knew that +the federal authorities at Washington ought to be notified. + +"There weren't no post nor telegraph in them times--that was 'way +afore the days o' the Pony Express,[7] even--an' Mason sent a special +messenger. Politics were queer in Californy around that time. Spain +claimed the territory, the United States claimed it, an' for a +while--a month, maybe--Californy was a republic on her own. The +messenger reached Washington, all right, an' his report hurried up the +signin' o' the treaty which made Californy American. That happened +jest six weeks after Marshall had picked up his first bit o' gold an' +only two weeks after the messenger arrived. Word was sent to Mason to +be sure an' keep law an' order, no matter what happened. It was a bit +too late, then; goin' an' comin' from Washington took months. + +[Footnote 7: See the author's "The Boy with the U. S. Mail."] + +"Things were happenin' out 'Frisco way. Geo. Bennett, who'd been +workin' at the mill, left there about the middle o' February, takin' +some flakes o' gold with him. When he got to 'Frisco, he met Isaac +Humphrey, who'd worked on the Dahlonega strike, in Georgia, in 1830. +Humphrey took jest one look at the stuff, an' said right away that it +was gold. + +"Bennett an' Humphrey hot-footed it back to the mill. They found it +workin' jest as usual. Some o' the men had picked up more gold, but +casual-like, after workin' hours. Marshall hadn't done any more +prospectin'. Sutter was waitin' to hear from Mason. + +"Humphrey, bein' a gold miner, panned up an' down the river, an' found +plenty o' color. He got quite excited an' declared it was richer'n +the Dahlonega field, which had been pretty good, though the surface +diggin's had petered out fast." + +"What do you mean by 'he panned up and down the river and found +color?'" queried Clem. + +Jim gave a short laugh of surprise. + +"That's right," he said, "you don't know nothin' about prospectin', do +you? I'll tell you. Pannin' is how a prospector gets gold. It sounds +easy, but there's a trick to it, jest the same. + +"A prospector's pan is just like an ordinary tin wash-pan, wi' slopin' +sides, only it's smaller; about a foot across at the bottom, an' made +of iron, not tin. Many a hundred men have got to be millionaires with +nothin' but a pick, a shovel, an' a pan. + +"Supposing now, you're at the gold diggin's. You fill your pan, near +full, with sand or with gravel or earth, or whatever stuff you think +may have a little gold mixed up with it--" + +"Can't you see the gold, then?" queried Clem. + +"Not often, you can't. It don't lie around the ground like +twenty-dollar gold-pieces! Some o' the richest placers ever found +have the gold ground down so fine that it ain't much bigger'n grains +o' dust. + +"Well, havin' nigh filled the pan, like I said, you take it to the +river, an' squattin' down, you hold it jest below the surface o' the +water, one side a trifle higher 'n the other, so the water jest flows +continual over the lower lip o' the pan. Then you give it a sort of +rockin' an' whirlin' motion, so,"--he illustrated with his hands, +Owens smilingly doing the same, "lettin' the lighter mud flow out over +the top. + +"You keep on doin' that, without stoppin', for ten minutes or more. By +the end o' that time, you're rockin' pretty hard, for the heavier +stuff has got to be flicked out; but you've got to mind out, for if +you go too hard, the gold--if there is any--will go out, too. + +"Then you stop, pick out any pebbles in the bottom, lookin' at 'em +hard--for they might show color--an' rock an' whirl the pan some more. +If you've done it right, when you're through, there isn't more'n a +handful o' sand an' grit at the bottom. You look at that as closely as +you know how, an' if here an' there's a little speck o' yellow, you've +found color. That's gold. You spread that handful out in the sun to +dry an' blow away the lighter part. What's left is gold." + + +[Illustration: THE PROSPECTOR OF TO-DAY. + +Gold-bearing stream of Western Canada being panned for dust. + +_Courtesy of the Grand Trunk Railway._] + + +[Illustration: FLUME AT THE MELONES MINE. + +To carry 600 miner's inches of water from the Stanislaus River to the +120-stamp mill.] + + +"Always supposing that there was some gold there to start with," put +in Owens. "How many times have you panned, Jim, without finding any +color?" + +"Millions, I reckon! I panned every day an' all day, once, for two +years, without gettin' enough gold dust to fill a pipe-bowl, an' then +I got a double-handful in half a day. In general, you're doin' all +right if you can get out of each pan enough dust to cover a +finger-nail. So now you know what pannin' is, Clem." + +"It's not such a cinch, at that!" the young fellow commented. + +"But you may strike it rich any day, any hour, any minute!" Jim +exclaimed, the fever of search in his eyes. "When Humphrey got up to +Sutter's Mill, the first man to know anything about gold-washin' that +got there, he was takin' out a thousand dollars a day, easy, for a +month or more. The placers were rich." + +"A 'placer,' Clem," Owens interrupted to explain, "is a deposit where +there is gold mixed with sand, or gravel or mud. It is always a +deposit which has been washed down by water, either a river which is +actually running, or which is found in a dry bed where a river used to +run. Mining people call it an 'alluvial or flood deposit.' Most of the +gold-strikes have been found in this way. Go ahead, Jim." + +"Right about the time that Humphrey was prospectin' an' doin' +handsomely, an Indian, who had worked on placers in Lower California, +told another o' the mill-hands how to get hold o' the dust. Besides +that, a Kentuckian, who'd been spyin' on Marshall an' Sutter, had +noticed that they'd found gold not only in the tail-race, but up the +creeks. Both of 'em went down to 'Frisco. + +"It was interestin', but nobody got excited. Gold strikes weren't +known yet. There'd only been two gold rushes in the United States +afore, neither of 'em big ones. + +"The first was in North Carolina. A young chap, Conrad Reed, was +shootin' fish with a bow and arrow in Meadow Creek. He saw in the +water a good-sized stone with a yellow gleam. Pickin' it up, he found +it heavy--seventeen pounds it weighed--an' he reckoned it was some +kind o' metal, but he didn't think o' gold. That was in 1799. The +stone was used to prop open a stable door for a couple o' years. + +"One day, runnin' short o' groceries an' bein' shy o' ready cash, Reed +thought he'd go into Fayetteville an' see if, maybe, he could raise a +few dollars on the stone, as a curiosity. He took it to a jeweler, who +said he thought there might be gold in it, an' told the young fellow +to come back in the afternoon. + +"When Reed came back, the jeweler showed him a thin wire o' gold, +about as long as a lead pencil, an' said that was all the gold in the +chunk. He offered Reed $3.50 for the gold an' Reed took it. How much +the jeweler kept for himself, no one can't say. + +"That started a little local talk, an' one or two men begun +prospectin' in a shiftless sort o' way. They found nothin'. In 1813, +some placers were found an' there was a mild rush, but it died right +out. There was gold there, sure enough, but scattered so's a man +didn't earn more'n a day's wages at washin'. Jest the same, all the +gold in the United States came from North Carolina for twenty years +after that, more'n a hundred thousand dollars' worth bein' sent to +the Mint. But that's durn little, when you come to look at it, less'n +fourteen dollars a day. An' that's not much for a bunch o' men!" + +"No," admitted Owens, "you couldn't start a gold rush on that. And the +second strike, Jim?" + +"That was the Georgia deposits, at Dahlonega, where Humphrey came +from. They're workin' yet, though small potatoes beside Californy an' +Colorado. + +"Californy was jest about uninhabited, then. There was only fifteen +thousand folks in the whole durn State in 1848. Over a hundred +thousand more came in the two years followin'. O' that lot, ninety per +cent. was prospectors an' the rest was sharks, livin' off 'em. At the +time o' the strike, 'Frisco didn't boast a hundred houses wi' white +folks in them, an' they didn't know nothin' about Georgia an' Carolina +gold. + +"On May 8th, though, one o' the mill-hands come down from Sutter's +Mill. He'd quit work to try gold-findin' on his own, an' takin' a tip +from Humphrey, he'd washed out 23 ounces in four days. A 'Frisco man +paid him $500 for his dust, cash down. That was good earnin's for four +days. + +"Sudden, the fever hit! The news got over the little town like a +prairie fire durin' a dry spell. By night, half the town was talkin' +gold; next mornin', the other half. Nine out o' every ten men quit +work. A pick an' shovel an' a tin pan was worth a hundred dollars +before night. One man paid a thousand dollars for an outfit, includin' +a tent an' a month's grub. He was found dead half-way to the diggings, +murdered for his outfit. + +"The more excited ones an' those with the least money an' sense, +started right off on foot, though it was all of a hundred an' fifty +miles to Sutter's Mill, an' no trail, sixty o' these miles across a +desert without water. No one ever did know how many o' that bunch +ended up by feedin' the turkey buzzards. + +"On the 14th an' 15th, a whole fleet o' launches an' small boats +started out across San Francisco Sound an' Pablo Bay an' up the +Sacramento River, every boat loaded to the gunwales. They said there +was 2,000 men on the way. + +"That wasn't jest a rush, it was a stampede. Not ten men in the entire +crowd knew the first durn thing about prospectin'. They had some fool +idee that pannin' gold was like pickin' flowers, all you had to do was +to find it. Any one what knew better could ha' told 'em, but there +wasn't any one to tell 'em, an' likely, they wouldn't ha' listened if +he had. What's the use o' talkin' to a crazy man? An' a gold-rush is a +bunch o' lunatics. I know! I've been that way myself, more'n once. + +"Out Salt Lake City way, the winter had been bad. We Mormons had gone +to Utah to avoid bein' citizens o' the United States, an' the +government had took in Utah as soon as we made it worth takin'. My +grand-pap an' my father were sore at that, an' they decided to start +off with a party for Californy, which was still Spanish. + +"Right around the 1st o' May, they reached the Sacramento River an' +heard about gold bein' found. They took it as a sign that Providence +was protectin' 'em, an' settled right down there to pan out the +stream. Travelin', as the Mormons always did, with a proper leader, +they pitched an organized camp. Trained to the last notch by their +wanderin's in the wilderness, there wasn't a tenderfoot or an idle man +in the bunch, an', workin' steadily, they begun to clean up pretty +good. + +"Jest a month later come the first wave o' the rush from 'Frisco. They +struck the placers, their mouths fairly waterin' for gold, only to +find the Mormons there already. That was a bit too much! After all +their trouble an' misery, all the expense, all the deaths, they come +to find all the claims along the strike staked out by Mormons. + +"Durin' this time, Californy had been taken over by the United States. +The 'Frisco bunch knew they'd be protected by law for anything they +did against the Mormons, an', after a short pow-wow, they tried to +rush the camp. + +"But my grand-pap, an' some more o' the leaders, who were right handy +with their rifles, were standin' at the ready. They'd fought their way +across the plains, when the redskins were swarmin', an' they weren't +the kind to take back water before a crowd o' tenderfeet. The 'Frisco +men, city chaps a lot o' them, begun to waver, an' asked a parley. + +"The Mormon leader, he told 'em, cold, what they'd get if they come +any farther, an' hinted, pretty broad, that there was more cold lead +around those diggin's than there was gold. But he told 'em, too, that +there was a lot o' the other placers around wi' no one washin' 'em. +The others grumbled but got out. Luckily, there was gold enough for +all, at first. Later on, there was a sure-enough fight over a sluice, +and the bullets went thick. The Mormons knew how to shoot, an' there +was fifty o' the Gentiles dead when they broke back. Our folks were +let alone on the Sacramento, after that. + +"Durin' this month, John Bidwell struck it rich on the Feather River, +75 miles away from Sutter's Mill, and Pearson B. Reading on the Clear +River, 100 miles further on. The news scattered the 'Frisco crowd, +many a man leavin' a good claim in hopes to find a better. Others went +prospectin' on their own. By the end o' the year, along the whole +western slope o' the Sierra Nevada, from Pitt River to the Tuolumne, +there wasn't a stream or a creek or a dry ravine that didn't have some +one prospectin' or pannin' on it. + +"Most o' those that got on to the diggin's in the first two months +made money an' made it fast. A few struck bonanzas and took out a +thousand dollars a day. Quite a lot got good pickin's an' cleaned up +at the rate of a hundred a day. The rest were doin' good if they +cleaned up twenty, an' that was jest about enough to live on, at +minin'-camp prices. I've seen potatoes sell at five dollars apiece to +be eaten raw, when the scurvy was ragin', an' three men were killed +in a fight over the buyin' of a fresh cabbage. + +"Those was tough times, even for the first lot that come from 'Frisco. +There was no sort o' law an' order in the camps, no sanitation an' no +doctors. Typhoid an' dysentery got a good hold by the end o' June. You +could get the reek o' fever an' disease a mile away. + +"Men too sick to walk crawled out to their claims an' died there, +scary lest some claim-jumper should seize their claims. Hope stuck +with 'em to the last. Scores fell dead into the stream, wi' the pan +still in their hands. One time, when they come to carry a dead man +from beside his pan, that he hadn't time to clean up afore death took +him, there was the first color in it that had been found on the claim. +It brought in a pile o' money later. + +"Later, when the real forty-niners came, men o' red blood, vigilance +committees were organized an' the camps got sort o' human. But at the +start, it was ugly. If a man didn't clean up quick, he starved. If he +did, somebody jumped his claim, or put a bullet in him. If the body of +a miner was found floatin', it was called accidental death, even if +his head was blown off, for, the sayin' used to go, 'A miner ought to +carry enough gold dust on him to sink.' Scores, aye, hundreds, died o' +gun-play. + +"About the fine breed o' men that come later, the forty-niners that +crossed the whole plains o' the West from Missouri to Santa Fé an' +beyond, men that brought their women an' children in long lines o' +prairie schooners, keepin' scouts out ahead an' one each side, +fightin' famine, thirst an' redskins all the way, you won't want me to +tell you. Every American knows their story. + +"But every one don't know what them trains o' gold-seekers looked +like, when they reached the diggin's! My father's told me, though. + +"He's seen 'em reach the Sacramento, half-scalped an' with wounds that +never healed. He's seen swingin' at their saddles the scalp-locks o' +Indians they'd scalped theirselves. He's seen women come in with nary +one o' their men-folk left alive. He seen 'em come in crazy, never to +be sane again, after the horrors o' that trail. He's seen a man come +in safe an' untouched, after wheelin' a wheelbarrow nigh three +thousand miles. He's seen seven men an' nine women get to the +Sierras out of a party of 118, leaving 102 dead on the road. + + +[Illustration: THE COMING OF THE FORTY-NINERS.] + + +[Illustration: DAVID EGELSTON. + +A Forty-Niner, and the Discoverer of Gold Hill.] + + +"I've heard tell, an' I believe it, that across the desert stretch a +man could ha' walked for forty miles an' put his foot on a bone at +every step. An' o' those who did reach, most o' them were so weak that +camp fever an' dysentery took 'em off like flies. A good half died at +the diggin's before they ever found a bit o' gold. + +"How many o' the forty-niners died at sea? There's no tellin'. Ships +set out from all corners o' the globe. There was a wild rush from +England. That meant goin' round the Horn, an' there weren't many +steamships, then. Sailin'-ships, so rotten that their owners were glad +to get rid of 'em, were sold to forty-niners at fancy prices. In one +week, eighteen ships sailed from England to go round the Horn to +Californy an' seven arrived. The gold o' Sutter's Mill called many a +good man to leave his bones on the ocean bottom. + +"But it wasn't all bad luck an' dyin'. Lots o' the diggers struck it +rich an' spent it quick. Gamblin' an' drinkin' an' work--that's all +there was to a minin' camp in them days. Spendin' freely give a man a +minute's glory. Treatin' the crowd was the only way to be popular. +An', in a minin' camp, where there's no women to live with, no +children to think of, no homes to go to, what is there but the saloon, +an' what's the use o' the saloon without friends! A bag o' gold-dust +was enough for a spree. + +"Gold-diggin' don't go to make a man careful. It's always to-morrow +that's goin' to be the lucky day. What's the use o' savin' ten dollars +when a stroke o' the pick or a swirl o' the pan may suddenly give a +man a thousand? So they thought. One miner found a pocket that netted +him $60,000 in two weeks, an' when he sobered up, he hadn't six +dollars' worth o' dust left. + +"There was some that stuck to their earnin's, just the same, but they +was either quick with a gun or slow wi' their tongues. Six brothers +come out from England, none o' them ever havin' roughed it before, but +they stuck together an' stayed sober. They were let alone, because to +touch one meant to fight six. They went back to England, at the end o' +the first season, with a million dollars between 'em. + +"One man, who started out from 'Frisco wi' a drove of a hundred hogs, +figurin' on sellin' 'em in the minin' camps for fresh meat, reached +Feather River wi' five. But he sold those five for more'n twice as +much as he'd paid for the hundred. An' that was only the beginnin'! On +the way, his hogs rootin' in the ground had uncovered two pockets. He +covered the places an' marked 'em wi' crosses, so's folks should think +they was graves. On his way back, he took $5,000 out o' one pocket an' +$10,000 out o' the other. An' then some folks try to make out that +there ain't no such thing as luck!" + +"But is it all so chancy as that?" queried Clem. "Surely if a chap +knew in what sort of ground or near what sort of rock gold was +generally found, he'd have some idea where to look." + +"Sure he would," agreed Jim, "but gold goes where it durn pleases, an' +that's the only rule I know. O' course, every prospector has his own +idees, same as he has for playin' poker, but he don't win any quicker +because o' that. Leastways, not so far as I've seen. + +"As for judgin' by the rock an' the color o' the soil, why, you can +take your pick. Take San Diego County, Californy, where I've worked, +the gold lies in schist, sometimes blue, green, or grey. In the +Homestake, South Dakota, red looks good, a sort o' rotten quartz +stained with iron. Black flint's a good sign in Colorado. Snow-white +quartz is often lucky. Purple porphyry sometimes has veins that work +up rich. An' I've seen gold come out o' pink sandstone, yellow +sandstone, all shades o' granite, an' even coal!" + +Clem turned an incredulous glance at Owens, but the mine-owner nodded +agreement. + +"Jim's right," he said, "color isn't any clue. Gold can be found in +any kind of rock. So far as that goes, it shows up in strata of any +geological age. There's gold everywhere. There isn't a range of hills +in any country of the world which may not contain gold. There isn't a +bed of sand or gravel that may not be auriferous. Even the sea beach, +in places, has yielded fortunes. For that matter, there's gold in +every bucket of water you dip up from the sea. + +"But there's not much of it. Geologists have figured that there's +about one cent's worth of gold to every ton of rock in the earth's +crust, but it would take fourteen dollars a ton to handle it. There's +about a hundredth of a cent's worth of gold in a ton of sea water, and +it would cost about ten dollars a ton to get it out. Not much chance +of getting rich that way, is there?" + +"I should say not," declared Clem, with decision. + +"But, as Jim has been pointing out, gold isn't scattered evenly all +through the earth. In some places, it's moderately plentiful, in +others it's scarce or entirely absent. Prospecting for gold, Clem, +doesn't mean looking for a place where there is gold, but looking for +a place where the proportion of gold to the soil or to the rock is +high enough to give a profit in the working of it. + +"It isn't always the place where the gold is most plentiful that gives +the greatest profit, either. A low-grade ore, that is a rock +containing only a small proportion of gold, may be worth a great deal +if it is near the surface, if the rock is easily crushed, if it is +near water-power, and if transportation is not too difficult. + +"A high-grade ore, in which there is a large proportion of gold, may +be worth a good deal less, if it is more difficult to work and less +easy of access. The richest gold-field in the world, that of the Rand, +in South Africa, which gives one-third of the total gold output of the +world, is of an ore so poor that a forty-niner would have turned up +his nose at it, and the machinery, even of thirty years ago, could +have done nothing with it. Nearly all the big mines of to-day are +winning wealth out of low-grade ore. + +"Some of these days, Clem, I'll explain the geology of gold to you, +and show you how it is that the mines which give the richest specimens +are sometimes the poorest mines to work. But I'm breaking into Jim's +story." + +"I was jest a-sayin'," continued Jim, who had listened with impatience +to Owens' explanation, "that them as says there ain't no luck in +minin' ain't never done no minin'. I've been showin' you how some men +got rich in a minute an' hundreds got nothin'. + +"But there was some fields that was a frost, right from the start. +They promised big an' give big for the first scratch or two. +Then--nothin'! Kern River was one o' those an' Father got bit. + +"My grand-pap, he'd gone back to Utah to take command of a band o' +'Destroyin' Angels', as the Gentiles called the Danites, leavin' +Father to go on pannin' on the Sacramento. The claims was peterin' out +fast, but there was good day's wages to be got, still. + +"Then, in 1855, come the news o' the Kern River strike. If folk had +gone crazy in forty-nine, they got crazier still this time. There was +all the fame o' the last strike to lure 'em on. The same ol' story o' +desert trails without water, o' minin' camps that were death-traps, +was repeated, only ten times worse. Twenty thousand started in the +same week. The last few miles was a trail o' blood. Men stabbed their +friends in the back to get to the diggin's first. The stakin' o' +claims was done, six-shooter in hand. + +"And, o' the twenty thousand, there wasn't twenty that cleaned up +rich. My father, he wasn't one o' the twenty. He prospected, up an' +down, until he'd spent the last ounce o' gold-dust he'd got from five +years' work, an' all but starved to death on his way across the +desert, headin' for Utah. + +"When he got into Nevada, he didn't have a pound o' flour left. He +didn't have nothin' left, nothin' but his pick an' shovel an' pan. All +the rest was gone. He didn't have no trade but prospectin'. Well +enough he knew he'd leave his bones on the trail if he tried to foot +it to Salt Lake City. + +"He'd heard about gold being found on the Carson River, in Nevada, in +1850, by Prouse Kelly and John Orr, an' he knew that they'd gone back +an' done well. Several other small placers had been found, noways +rich, but still enough to keep a busy man goin'. He'd learned from his +Kern River experience that a man did better, stickin' to a small +claim'n tryin' for the big prizes, an' he made for the small placers +o' the Carson River. A store-keeper grub-staked him, to start with, +an' in a month or two, he was clear. + +"Next year, that was '56, his pard struck what looked like a silver +vein, an' started off to the city wi' some samples. Father, he stuck +by the gold. That's where he lost out. He prospected in Six Mile Cañon +an' found little color--his bad luck again, for, in '57, two +prospectors made a rich strike less'n a quarter of a mile away from +where he'd been pannin'. They found signs o' silver, too, but chucked +the stuff aside. Father plugged along, an' at last struck a little +pocket in a creek off the Carson. A month's work gave him near a +thousand dollars' worth o' dust, an' he reckoned he'd go back to Salt +Lake City. He'd been away eight years. + +"Grand-pap was still alive an' told Father to stay home an' go +farmin'. But it didn't go. The prospectin' bug had hit Father too +hard. In the spring o' '59 he started back for the Carson River +again, an' Mother come along. She reckoned she might never see him +again, if she didn't. + +"That summer, there was three folks on the claim. Another pard had +come, a little one, what had for his first toy a nugget o' gold tied +on a bit o' string. I was born on a minin' claim, for that little pard +was--me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE GREAT BONANZA + + +"You certainly started young enough in the prospecting game," said +Owens, when Jim told of his birth in a mining camp, "and have you been +at it all your life?" + +"Ever since I was big enough to twirl a pan or rock a cradle!" + +"How do you mean rock a cradle?" queried Clem. "I thought you were in +the cradle!" + +"Not that kind, boy," Jim answered, "what I'm meanin' is a miner's +cradle, or a rocker, as some calls it. I gradooated from one to +t'other." + +"What's a miner's cradle, then?" + +"It's a scheme to make pannin' easier. Pannin' is durn hard work, +Clem. You're squattin' on your hams beside a river all the day long, +you got to hold a pan full o' earth an' water at arm's length an' down +at an angle what nigh tears your arms out o' their sockets, an' then +keep revolvin' the mixture with a circular twist that wrenches the +muscles somethin' cruel. I've seen big men, tough uns, too, fair +cryin' from the pain, at first. + +"Not only that, but you got to work the sodden lumps o' dirt soft wi' +your fingers, so's the grit gets right into the skin. Your hands are +wet nigh all the time. The grit an' the constant washin' o' the water, +in all weathers, cracks the skin all over, so's it's bleedin' most o' +the time. You got to have hands like a bit o' rawhide to stand it. + +"The cradle does the work quicker'n' easier, but it takes three men to +work it right. It looks like a child's cradle from the outside, though +most o' them I've seen was made pretty rough. About six inches from +the top there's a drawer, or sometimes jest a tray, with a bottom o' +iron, punched wi' holes o' different sizes, accordin' to the kind o' +dirt you're workin' in. If your pannin' out don't show no big grains +o' gold-dust, why, you keep the holes o' the cradle small, otherwise, +you got to have 'em bigger. Below that drawer is another one, slopin' +like. It hasn't got no holes. It has cross-bars or cleats, what we +call 'riffles,' to keep the gold from washin' away. + +"One man digs up the pay dirt an' chucks it in at the top o' the +cradle. Another dips up bucket after bucket o' water, continuous, an' +sloshes it in; it's his job, too, to break up the soft lumps an' keep +stirrin' the pasty mess, an' to keep the cradle full o' water. The +third man goes rock, rockin', without stoppin', hours at a time. +Mostly, the pardners spell each other off." + +"But I should think a good deal of gold would be washed away by that +system," objected Clem, "surely the rocking must dash some of it over +the riffles." + +"Some does go," Jim agreed, "but a gang can handle so much more pay +dirt in a day that it more'n makes up. Three men with a cradle can +handle twice as much dirt as the three men workin' separately would, +each with a pan. Team work pays, in minin'--if you can trust your +pardners. + +"Just about the time I was born, Father made pardners with five other +prospectors, all pannin' on the Carson. Their claims were all in a +string, one after the other, so they figures on makin' a sluice. +That's jest a long trough. In richer an' more settled camps they're +made of iron, length after length, all ready to be fixed together like +a stove-pipe, but on the Carson, they was jest hollowed-out logs. + +"Sluices was always a foot deep, a foot an' a half wide, an' as long +as could be made, slopin' slightly, so the water wouldn't run too fast +or too slow, an' wi' riffles every few inches all along. The six +claims I'm tellin' about give a chance for a sluice over a hundred +foot long. To save the trouble o' liftin' water up in a pail, or +pumpin' it, Father made a sort o' small flume, leadin' from the river +higher up right into the sluice, so's the water would run continuous. + +"Bein' there was six o' them, the pardners worked three shifts, eight +hours each. One man dug the dirt, wheeled it in a barrow to the head +o' the sluice an' dumped it on a wooden platform. The other shoveled +it into the sluice, stirred it up, an' broke up the lumps when they +got pasty. Eight hours o' that was a day's work, I'm tellin'! Mother, +she cooked an' washed for all six men, aside lookin' after me. Wi' +meals to be got for all three shifts, she was kep' busy. + +"The sluice didn't stop runnin', day nor night, for a month at a +stretch. Then the water in the flume was turned off, the sluice, +riffles an' platform were scraped clean wi' knives, an' all six +pardners panned the scrapin's. That was the clean-up. It was divided +by weight o' dust into seven equal parts, Mother gettin' a man's +share." + +"Didn't they use any mercury at all on the Carson?" queried Owens. + +"After a bit, our gang did. Not until each man had a bag o' dust set +aside, big enough to buy a few weeks' grub, though. They'd all got +badly bit in Californy, an' quicksilver cost a lot o' money in them +days." + +"What's the quicksilver for?" queried Clem. + +"To catch the gold. If you spread it on the riffles it seems to grab a +hold o' 'color' like glue, an', what's more, nothin' but gold'll stick +to it." + +"Why is that?" + +"I don't know," Jim answered, a bit irritably, "it does, that's all." + +Owens interposed. + +"You can't blame Jim for not knowing why, Clem," he said. "So far as +that goes, I don't believe any chemist in the world can tell you +exactly why quicksilver catches gold. It does, though, sure enough. +But I can show you how it does it, in a way. + +"You know that if iron is exposed to damp air, it turns red with rust? +That is due to the chumminess or the affinity of iron with oxygen. You +know if silver is exposed to city air, where the burning of coal in +furnaces and fireplaces sends a sulphurous smoke into the air, it +turns black? That's due to the fact that silver is a natural chum of +sulphur. Chemically speaking, they make compounds easily. + +"It's the same way with mercury, or, as it is generally called, +quicksilver. Gold and quicksilver are chums, and the minute they get +together they join to form a mixture which is called an amalgam. +That's one of the great discoveries of the age. Gold-mining has taken +a big jump forward since that was found out. + +"You can see yourself how that would work. Whether with a pan, a +cradle, or a sluice, the only thing that enables a miner to separate +the gold from the worthless dirt is that the gold is smaller and +heavier. But suppose the gold dust is so fine as to be invisible, it +will be so light as to wash away easily; if it is in fine flakes, the +flakes will almost float. All that light gold would be lost in the +dirt that flows out of the bottom of the sluice, the tailings, as they +are called. + +"In the days that Jim is describing, two-thirds of the gold was lost +that way. Every one, absolutely every single one of the forty-niners +would have made a fortune, if the chemistry of gold had been as far +advanced then as it is to-day. Even now, men are working over with +profit the tailings that the forty-niners threw away. + +"Suppose, now, you make your sluice, cover the bottom of it and the +riffles with copper plates to hold the quicksilver better, and then +cover your copper with quicksilver. What happens when the dirt and +water come flowing down the sluice? The riffles will catch your heavy +gold, just as well as before, and the quicksilver will catch a lot of +the light gold that used to escape. You've got your gold in the +riffles, then, and you've got a mixture of gold and quicksilver which +has formed an amalgam. + +"Now, the mixture has to be made to give back that gold. First of all +it is pressed through canvas or buckskin in order to get rid of the +liquid quicksilver, which will pass through the weave of the first and +the pores of the second, leaving inside only such of it as has firmly +allied itself with the gold to form the amalgam. + +"The next thing to do is to put this amalgam into a retort, out of +which leads a long pipe, and to subject this retort to intense heat. +Quicksilver is vaporized at a comparatively low temperature--for a +metal. It is driven from the amalgam in the form of vapor, much as +water may be driven off in steam. The quicksilver vapor passes along +this long pipe, which leads to several coils placed in a tank of +running cold water. The cold chills the vapor, condensing it into the +liquid state again, and the quicksilver runs out of the end of the +pipe, ready for use once more. The pure gold is left. + +"But, even with the use of quicksilver on the sluice there was still +40 per cent. of the gold that got away. For many years there was no +practical way of recovering this loss, and the chemists of the world +tore their hair in despair. What was needed was to find some other +chum of gold, even more affectionate than mercury. The chemists found +this new friend, at last, in cyanide, which is a salt of prussic acid. +Cyanide, Clem, is an arrant flirt, as I'll show you, in a minute. + +"Nowadays, the tailings, after passing over the long sluice or flume, +and after having dropped the heavy gold in the riffles and given some +of the light gold to the quicksilver, are led to a huge churn. There +the earth and water are pounded together into a sort of slime. A wheel +lifts this slime into a movable chute from which it is poured into a +series of vats or tanks. These tanks contain cyanide, which has +already allied itself with a chum--potassium. + +"But cyanide likes gold even better than it does potassium, and, as +soon as the slime strikes the vat, the cyanide lets go the potassium +and clings to the gold. Cyanide of gold is formed. So far, so good. +But what the miner wants is pure gold. + +"The cyanide is pumped up out of those tanks into another chute, which +pours it into a second lot of tanks, fastened to the side of which are +large bundles of zinc shavings. The cyanide liked the gold better than +the potassium, but it has the bad taste to prefer zinc even to gold. +It releases the gold and flies to the embrace of the zinc. The gold, +suddenly deserted of the friendship of the cyanide, powders down to +the bottom of the tank, in absolutely pure form, ready to be melted +down into bars. By other processes, which I won't bother you by +describing now, the zinc is released from the cyanide, and the cyanide +is led to its old friend the potassium, ready to begin work anew. So, +you see, nothing is wasted. + +"This process, and this only, has made the astounding wealth of South +Africa, for, as I told you, the reefs there are of very low-grade ore, +so low that Jim, here, would have turned up his nose at it. The +modern ability of chemists to get out the tiniest particle of gold +that lies in the most stubborn rock has made the Rand a richer region +than a prospector's wildest dream." + +"If I'd known all that, forty years ago, I'd be a rich man now," said +Jim, regretfully. + +"You'd have been a millionaire, ten times over," Owens agreed, "but, +since it hadn't been found out, you couldn't have known it. But did +you always stick to gold, Jim? That Carson River country has got more +silver in it than it has gold." + +"Don't I know it? 'Ain't it been rubbed into me, good an' hard? Father +wasn't a cussin' man, noways, but he couldn't keep his tongue in order +like a man should, when he got to talkin' about silver. He threw away +any amount o' high-grade silver ore, while huntin' for gold. The +richest silver mine in the whole world, I reckon, was found less'n a +hundred yards from where he'd been pannin'. + +"It was the same ol' story--he didn't know enough! Workin' hard may +bring a man some money, but havin' savvy will bring him a lot more. + +"Right where Father was workin', he was havin' all sorts o' trouble +wi' a heavy black sand that kep' on fillin' up the riffles like it was +gold. He shoveled away cubic yards of it! An' do you know what that +was? That dirty black sand was nigh pure silver, an' Father was +pannin' less'n quarter of a mile away from the richest section in all +Nevada. He was campin' right on the Comstock Lode! I reckon you've +heard o' that, Mr. Owens!" + +"Every mining man has heard of the Comstock," the mine-owner replied. +"Personally, I don't know a great deal about silver, although the +Broken Hill mine, New South Wales, which is nearly as rich as the +great Nevada deposit, is located not far from my home. I went straight +from gold to coal. So I never did hear the real story of the Comstock. +But you ought to know about it, Jim. Was it found by accident, too?" + +"Rank good luck an' rotten bad luck mixed," Jim answered. "Do I know +that story! The first week's pay I ever drew was on the Comstock. An' +I was born, as I told you, near enough to throw a stone right on to +the Comstock outcrop. This was how it begun! + +"There was two prospectors, Patrick McLaughlin an' Peter O'Riley, +Irishmen both, what had been pannin' gold on Gold Cañon, where, I +told you, Father had been. Luck was poor. Grub was hard to get. The +water o' the Carson had a strong taste, an' wasn't none too healthy. +So the two pardners started diggin' a water-hole down in the gulch, +near where they was workin'. What come up out o' the hole was a yellow +sand, all mixed up with bits o' quartz an' a crumblin' black rock, +much the same as the black sand Father'd been worried with. + + +[Illustration: THE MINER'S SLUICE. + +Such a device as this was being worked by Jim's father when the +Comstock Lode was discovered. + +_Courtesy of Netman & Co._] + + +[Illustration: PANNING GOLD ON THE KLONDYKE. + +Typical summer scene on the junction of the Eldorado and Bonanza +Creeks; "color" showing in both pans.] + + +"Now a prospector'll wash any durn dirt he sees, an' O'Riley, while +waitin' for some bacon to fry, chucked some o' the yellow an' black +sand in a pan an' give it a twirl or two. You can reckon he jumped +some when the pan showed color. He yelled to McLaughlin an' the two o' +them got busy. Every pan showed color, not big, but enough. The +cleanin' up wasn't what you'd call rich but it was steady, an' there +was any amount o' pay dirt in sight. The two begin to fill their +buckskin bags wi' dust, right smartly. + +"Then a low-down, dirty, ornery coyote of a man, Henry Comstock by +name, come amblin' along. A shifty critter was Comstock, trapper, +fur-trader, gambler, claim-jumper, mine-salter, sneak-thief, an' +everything else. He see O'Riley an' McLaughlin cleanin' up the cradle +an' guessed they'd struck it rich. Lyin' glibly, like the yaller dog +he was, he told the prospectors he was the owner o' the land, an' made +'em give up their claims. They went on workin', but on small shares. +The hole got deeper, but by-'n-by got hard to work because this seam +o' black rock got wider'n wider as it went down. Riley an' McLaughlin +dodged the rock, the best they knew how, findin' gold enough to pay +for workin' in the loose dirt on either side. + +"One or two other prospectors drifted up that way, though the pickin's +was small. One o' them, wonderin' what the black rock might be, an' +havin' a hunch it might be lead it was so heavy, put a chunk in the +hands of an assayer in Placerville. + +"The expert couldn't believe his eyes, at first, an' thought some one +was playin' a joke on him. His assay showed a value o' $3,000 per ton +in silver an' $800 per ton in gold. He assayed one or two other bits, +wi' the same result. Here was millions, jest beggin' to be picked up! +Folks got wind of it, right away. That was in November, 1859, too late +in the winter to cross the high Sierras into Nevada. + +"The rush started a-hummin', early in 1860. 'Frisco was fair frothin' +at the mouth. It was a long trail, an' the silver-hungry crowd +couldn't wait. Some o' the craziest got away as early as January. They +caught it heavy! + +"From Sacramento up the old emigrant trail to Placerville weren't no +gentle stroll in winter time! From Placerville to the bottom o' +Johnson Pass was a trail for timber wolves, not for humans. Snow lay +thick. Winds, fit to freeze a b'ar, come a-howlin' down the high +Sierras. A few men got through an' froze to death on Mount Davidson, +the silver actooally ticklin' the soles o' their feet. Some got caught +in slow-slides in the Johnson Pass an' their bodies didn't show up +till June. A lot more died o' starvation an' exposure on the way. + +"That didn't keep the rest from comin'. They fair stormed the Pass. In +March there was a thaw, an' the flood o' men broke through. + +"It was a bad crowd. Aside from decent prospectors and miners, there +was a pack o' gamblers, saloon-keepers, 'bad men,' fake speculators, +an' all the rest o' the human buzzards that follow on the heels of a +rush. They remembered the first days o' the forty-niners, an' every +bad egg in Californy wanted to be the first to murder an' to rob. In +three weeks, the silent an' deserted slopes o' Mount Davidson was +peppered wi' tents. Virginia City had been started an' had become a +roarin' town. + +"That wasn't a minin' camp, it was a hell-hole. I've seen tough joints +in my day, but Virginia City beat all. It wasn't jest the miners lost +their heads, but experts, geologists, an' all, went plumb crazy. +'Twasn't much wonder. That black rock was jest one continooal bonanza. +A gold mine was a fool to it. + +"The ore in one of the shafts--the Potosi Chimney, it was called--was +rangin' steadily over a hundred dollars a ton silver, an' that shaft +alone was bringin' up 650 tons a day. Three prospectors tapped the big +lode at another point, near Esmeralda, worked a week an' took six +thousand dollars apiece for their claims. The man who bought first +rights on Esmeralda, sold them before the end or that summer, for a +quarter of a million. An' yet McLaughlin an' O'Riley havin' given up +their claims to Comstock, got nothin' out of it. As for Comstock, he +filed a false claim of ownership which the courts wouldn' give him, +an' he went down an' out. + +"The Gould & Curry mine, one o' the richest, was bought from its +finders for an old horse, a bottle o' lightnin'-rod whisky, three +blankets, an' two thousand dollars in cash. After four millions had +been taken out of it, an Eastern syndicate come along an' bought it +for seven millions o' dollars--an' they made money out of it, at that! +Six years after the openin' o' the Gould & Curry, there was 57 miles +o' tunnels, all in rich ore, an' the owners had to work it like a coal +mine, leavin' great pillars o' silver to prop up the roof! + +"A telegraph line was run through an' that made Virginia City ten +times worse. It weren't a town o' miners, rightly, not like a gold +placer camp. Silver ore needs capital to work it, an' Virginia City +become a town o' loose fish, speculators, crooked brokers, an' +suckers. One man sold the Eureka mine to eight different people at the +same time, an' he'd never even seen the place an' didn't own a claim +in it. He pocketed eighty thousand dollars in eight days an' was +strung up to the limb of a pine-tree the ninth! + +"There was some good work done, though. Durin' 1861 an' 1862 +road-makers was busy, though laborers was gettin' fancy prices. But +the engineers kep' at it, an' afore the winter o' '62, there was a +wide road where two eight-mule coaches could cross each other at full +gallop without slacking the traces. Tolls were high, so high that the +road-makers got all their money back in the first year. Crack coaches +with relays made the trail from Sacramento to Virginia City in twelve +hours, instead of six weeks, like it was first. Hold-ups were frequent +an' plenty, but a 'road agent' didn't last long where every one +carried a gun. + +"Then come the 'year o' nabobs,' that was '63. The Comstock Lode put +out over $26,000,000 in silver bullion alone, half-a-million dollars +o' silver every week in the year. By that time there was forty big +minin' plants operatin' wi' steam machinery. There weren't no place +for a small man any more, unless he wanted to do minin' on days' +wages, an' mighty few o' the early prospectors ever got any o' the +later wealth o' the Comstock. Father, he wouldn't touch silver, nohow, +but he made more'n the miners did by pannin' the dirt the mines were +throwin' away. They were makin' so much money out o' silver that they +wouldn't bother to take out the gold. + +"Then come the first big smash. Half o' the mines sold to the suckers +weren't worth shucks. Wild-cat mines, they called 'em. There was one, +the Little Monte Cristo, which give the promoter half a million +dollars in shares which he sold to folk in New York an' Philadelphy. +An' they never made more'n an 8-foot pit in it an' didn't take out +enough bullion to melt down into a silver spoon! + +"What was worse, the big mines got down to the rock water-level. At +first, they run little tunnels, what they called 'adits' from the side +o' the mountain an' drained that way. That wasn't no good, much. They +soon got below that. The lode got richer the farther down they went +an' some o' the big companies took to pumpin' out the water. Right +away, they started in to lose money. It cost more to pump than the +silver was worth. The boom dropped with a thud. + +"Then Adolph Sutro come along. He was a big man was Sutro, one o' +these here engineers folks talk about. He offered to build a drainage +tunnel from the foot-hills o' the Carson Valley, just above the river +smack into the heart o' the lode, a distance o' four miles, tappin' +all the mines. He figured that, if it weren't done, all the mines'd +get flooded an' all the wealth o' Comstock'd go to smash. + +"Seein' things were going' so bad, the mine-owners balked at first. +After a while, though, the water come in so free that they all agreed +to give him two dollars a ton for all the ore raised from the mines, +providin' his tunnel drained 'em all, an' providin' he fixed it so +that they could get men an' material through the tunnel, instead o' +having to pull it all up the shaft. It took Sutro six years to get the +capital, but he got it. He begun work in '71. Toward the end o' the +job the work was so hot an' tough that he doubled his rate o' wages, +an' in '77, bein' eighteen years old then, I started operatin' a drill +in the tunnel. I was thar on the day that we broke through." + +Few engineering feats in the history of mining are more famous than +the making of the Sutro Tunnel. In one of the publications of the +U. S. Geological Survey, Eliot Lord has told its story of perseverance +and triumph. + +"Sutro's untiring zeal," wrote Lord, "kindled a like spirit in his +co-workers. Changing shifts urged the drills on without ceasing; +skilled timberers followed up the attack on the breast and covered +the heads of the assailants like shield-bearers. + +"The dump at the mouth of the tunnel grew rapidly to the proportions +of an artificial plateau raised above the surrounding valley slope; +yet the speed of the electric currents which exploded the blasts +scarcely kept pace with the impatient anxiety of the tunnel owners to +reach the lode, when the extent of the great Consolidated Virginia +Bonanza was reported; for every ton raised from the lode was a loss to +them of two dollars, as they thought. + +"Urged on by zeal, pride, and natural covetousness, the miners cut +their way indomitably towards the goal, though, at every step gained +the work grew more painful and more dangerous. + +"The temperature at the face of the heading, had risen from 72° +(Fahr.) at the close of the year 1873 to 83° during the two following +years; though in the summer of 1875 two powerful Root blowers were +constantly employed in forcing air into the tunnel. At the close of +the year 1876, the indicated temperature was 90° and, on the 1st of +January, 1878, the men were working in a temperature of 96°. + +"In spite of the air currents from the blowers, the atmosphere before +the end of the year 1876 had become almost unbearably foul as well as +hot. The candles flickered with a dull light and men often staggered +back from their posts, faint and sickened. + +"During the months preceding the junction with the Savage Mine, the +heading was cut with almost passionate eagerness. The miners were then +two miles from the nearest ventilating shaft, and the heat of their +working chamber was fast growing too intense for human endurance. + +"The pipe which applied compressed air to the drills was opened at +several points and the blowers were worked to their utmost capacity. +Still the mercury rose from 98° on the 1st of March 1878 to 109° on +the 22nd of April, and the temperature of the rock face of the heading +increased from 110° to 114°. Four shifts a day were worked instead of +three, and the men could only work during a small portion of their +nominal hours of labor. + +"Even the tough, wiry mules of the car train could hardly be driven up +to the end of the tunnel and sought for fresh air not less ardently +than the men. Curses, blows, and kicks could scarcely force them away +from the blower-tube openings, and, more than once, a rationally +obstinate mule thrust his head in the end of the canvas air-pipe. He +was literally torn away by main strength, as the miners, when other +means failed, tied his tail to the bodies of two other mules in his +train and forced them to haul back their companion, snorting +viciously, and slipping with stiff legs over the wet floor. + +"Neither men nor animals could long endure work so distressing. +Fortunately, the compressed air drills knew neither weariness nor +pain, and churned their way to the mines without ceasing. + +"A blast from the Savage Mine tore an opening through the wall, in the +evening of that day. The goal for which Sutro had striven so many +years was in sight. He was waiting at the breach, impatient of delay, +and crawled, half-naked, through the jagged opening, while the foul +air of the heading was still gushing into the mine." + +Meanwhile, over the heads of the workers of the Sutro tunnel, a not +less marvelous change had come over the Comstock Lode. This was the +discovery of the Great Bonanza. After the slump of 1864 and the +terrible handicap of the water, mine-owners on the Comstock fell +deeper and deeper into despair. Gone were the wild days of riot and +extravagance. Only by extreme care, by the use of every modern +appliance, by the lowering of wages--some thirty pitched battles, with +six-shooters, marked this period--were they able to keep going at all. + +Then, just as two Irishmen had first found the Comstock, two other +Irishmen forged to the front. These were John W. Mackay, who had begun +work as a day-laborer in the mine, and James G. Fair, a young fellow +who had come to Virginia City with only a few hundred dollars' +capital. They made a daring team. Seizing the opportunities of the +dull times, they bought property after property as it was abandoned by +the owners, who declared that the great lode had "pinched out." With a +third Irishman, Wm. O'Brien, and a 'Frisco miner, James C. Flood, they +bought the entire stretch between the two famous mines--the Ophir and +the Gould & Curry--thus forming what became known to history as the +Virginia Consolidated. The four men paid $50,000 for this huge +property; risking their all on the chance that deeper mining might +reach the supposedly "pinched out" vein. + +They sank a shaft, down, down and down,--nothing! They ran a drift to +meet it from one of their purchased mines, and drilled for +weeks--nothing! Then a thin seam of ore appeared, but so small as to +seem insignificant. Fair pursued this vein. A quarter of a million +dollars were eaten up in chasing this elusive line of ore but the vein +would neither disappear nor get wider. Fair's partners tried to insist +on running galleries in various directions to explore--and did so for +one month while he was ill--but Fair returned insistently again to +that thin thread of silver. There was one place where it was only two +inches thick. And then, in October 1873, the miners cut suddenly into +the Big Bonanza. + +"No discovery," wrote Lord, "to match this one had ever been made on +this earth from the time when the first miner struck a ledge with his +rude pick. The plain facts are as marvelous as a Persian tale, for the +young Aladdin did not see in the glittering cave of the genii such +fabulous riches as were lying in the dark womb of the rock. + +"The wonder grew as the depths were searched out foot by foot. The +Bonanza was cut at a point 1167 feet below the surface, and, as the +shaft went down, it was pierced again at the 1200-foot level. One +hundred feet deeper and the prying pick and drill told the same story, +yet another hundred feet, and the mass appeared to be swelling. When, +finally, the 1500-foot level was reached and ore richer than any +before met with was disclosed, the fancy of the coolest brains ran +wild. How far this great Bonanza would extend, none could predict, but +its expansion seemed to keep pace with the most sanguine imaginings. +To explore it thoroughly was to cut it out bodily; systematic search +through it was a continual revelation." + +The wealth revealed was beyond believing. This Bonanza, alone, yielded +$3,000,000 of silver every month for the first three years. + +Yet it was hard to win. Mackay believed in high wages and paid more +than double the wages given to any miners in any place in the history +of the world. All were picked men, who had passed a severe medical +test. The hours were short. The men worked naked save for a loin-cloth +and shoes to protect them from the hot rocks. The heat reached 110°. +Three men, who stepped accidentally into a deep pool of water, were +scalded to death. The air was foul. The toil was severe. + +Yet ever, the deeper they went, the richer grew the ore. When, at +last, Mackay, Fair, O'Brien, and Flood sold their holdings, the +Bonanza had yielded more than $150,000,000 worth of silver, one-third +of which had passed directly into the pockets of the four men. + +But what of the first discoverers, McLaughlin and Riley? They had +found the silver, but the Bonanza was not for them. McLaughlin worked +for a while as a laborer and then was thrown out of the mine by a +foreman who said he was too old. He tried a dozen small ventures and +not only lost in everything he touched, but caused his partners to +lose, also. Bad fortune dogged him steadily. An old man, worn out and +hopelessly dispirited, died in a hospital and was buried in a pauper's +grave. Later, it was learned that this was McLaughlin. + +O'Riley fared no better. He refused to work for others, believing that +luck would turn, and that he, who had once discovered so rich a prize, +would, some day or other, discover another. One night, in a dream, he +heard what he took to be the voices of the fairies of the mountain +bidding him dig at a certain barren spot on the hill-slopes of the +Sierras, many miles away from the Comstock Lode. + +For days, for weeks, for years, he dug, ever hearing the fancied +voices leading him on, deeper and deeper still. Mackay offered him +money, but O'Riley refused to accept it, demanding that he be given an +equal share in the mine, or nothing. He starved and suffered, +sometimes finding pieces of pure silver and pure gold in his tunnel, +which he ascribed to his fairies (but which rumor says Mackay had +arranged to be placed there) and, in old age, his tunnel fell in and +crippled him. From the hospital he was taken to an insane asylum, +where he died. + +Henry Comstock met the fate he deserved. For years he swaggered about +Virginia City claiming to be its founder and the discoverer of the +Comstock Lode, living on the charity of luckier men who threw him a +bar of silver as one throws a bone to a dog, or else selling wild-cat +shares to greenhorns. More than once he was justly accused of being in +league with the disorderly elements of the city and having taken part +in robberies. But a certain rough sense of pity kept him from being +strung up to a tree as he deserved a dozen times over--and he died, at +last, a suicide. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHERE TREASURE HIDES + + +"You won't be achin', none, to hear all o' my roamin's after I quit +the Sutro Tunnel," Jim resumed, a couple of days later, when Owens and +Clem came to hear the rest of his story, "so I'll cut 'em short. But +you'll be wantin' to hear how it was I got into that queer part o' the +country where I made my strike. + +"It was Father's doin's more'n it was mine. I reckon I'd ha' stuck +around the Comstock Lode an' got into reg'lar silver-quartz minin' if +I'd gone my own way. But Father didn't have no use for silver. He was +a gold prospector, he was, an' he didn't want to do nothin' else. + +"After the Comstock got goin' good, with big stamp-mills poundin' an' +roarin' night an' day, an' when Virginia City begun to settle into a +sure-enough town, Father begun to itch to be away. Folks worried him. +Gold, he used to say, had savvy enough to hide itself when a mob come +around, an', accordin' to Father's ideas, a placer wasn't no good, +anyhow, after two seasons' pickin's. + +"He jest wanted to come along an' skim off the cream o' some new find, +clean up enough dust to keep him goin' for a while, an' then pick up +his stakes an' git! It wasn't jest the money Father was after. He +liked huntin' after gold, jest for the sake o' huntin'. I've seen him +quit a claim that was makin' a fair profit an' start off prospectin', +for the sake o' the change. The wilder the spot, the more chance there +was o' findin' gold, he used to say; the fewer the folks, the bigger +the clean-up. Looked like he was right, too, placer fields peter out +mighty fast when a gang gets there." + +"They are bound to," Owens agreed. + +"But why? There ain't no rule about gold. One placer'll give up +millions in dust, an' another ain't worth pannin'." + +"There's no rule that will tell you where to find placer gold," the +mine-owner corrected, "but don't run away with the idea that gold +deposits are all freaks. As a matter of fact, there is a regular +science to help a good prospector in hunting for reef or quartz gold. +Whether he will find it in sufficient quantity to make the deposit +worth working is quite another matter. + +"You mustn't think, Jim, that gold happens to be in one place and +happens not to be in another as a result of mere chance. There's no +chance in Nature. We think there is, sometimes, merely because the +factors are so terribly complicated that we can't follow them all. + +"What makes the finding of gold seem so much a matter of luck is not +because we don't know how the gold came to be where it is, but because +we can't know the whole history of the Earth before Man came, and we +can't read everything from the rocks which crop out on the surface. +But we have some clues, and if you studied out the big money-making +gold-mines of to-day, you would find that chance has played but a +small part in their discovery and no part at all in their working. + +"A lucky prospector may have been the first to find signs of gold in +the region, but most likely, he got but little out of it. It was the +scientific search which followed that revealed the location of the +great rock deposits below in which the gold was thinly scattered, and +it was highly specialized mining engineering which made them possible +to work. There are mines where ores containing only two dollars' +worth of gold (48 grains, a tenth of an ounce) to the ton are +successfully handled, and the greater part of the big gold-mines run +along quite comfortably on five dollars' worth." + +"You mean on a quarter of an ounce o' gold to the ton!" exclaimed Jim, +amazed. "I've often got ten times that much in one pan!" + +"Exactly. Yet you're not a millionaire, are you? Most gold-mines run +on a narrow margin of profit, a dollar or two to the ton of ore +crushed. So, you see, the works must be on a huge scale in order to +return a dividend on the investment. What's more, you can't afford to +establish a big plant unless there's an enormous amount of ore +available. + +"It's an old rule of wise investors not to put money into a mine that +looks too rich. Why? + +"Because rich ore generally peters out fast. The rich mines always +catch the suckers easily, and they're the ones who lose. A few cents a +ton profit on an immense deposit of low-grade ore means a sure return, +because, as a rule, such ore comes from a very old geological +formation where the gold is evenly scattered, and labor-saving +machinery can be put in with a certainty that those few cents of +profit will continue indefinitely. + +"Gold, as you know, Jim, is always the same price. This has been +agreed upon by all nations. It is the one standard of value. It is +worth a fraction over $20 an ounce. Year in, year out, all over the +world, gold is worth the same. + +"As a result, a gold-mine manager who knows the exact proportion of +gold per ton in the ore of his mine, can calculate to a cent how much +he can afford to pay for mining the ore, crushing it, and separating +the gold by chemical processes. He must figure on the cost of +installing his machinery, on his interest for original outlay, on +depreciation, on the cost of power for his machinery, on the water +power needed for crushing and washing, on transportation for his +supplies and on wages. Usually he will have to build his own railroad +and his own aqueducts. A little saving in one place--even a few cents +per ton--will enable him to make a big profit; a little extra cost, +such as an increase in the price of fuel, of chemicals, or of wages, +will make him bankrupt. + + +[Illustration: WHERE DESERTS YIELD MILLIONS. + +Mill of the Pittsburg-Silver Peak Gold Mining Co., Blair, Nevada.] + + +[Illustration: THE EATER OF MOUNTAINS. + +A hydraulic jet of high pressure, washing away a hill of gravel and +sending the pay dirt through a sluice. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._] + + +"That is why, Jim, even the richest-ored mine in the world--if it be +uneven in its yield of gold per ton--may be worthless, and why a +low-grade mine with an unchanging percentage may be worth millions, so +long as there is plenty of it. It all depends on the cost of +extracting the metal. There are scores, yes, hundreds of gold-deposits +well known to-day, which cannot be worked as long as gold stays $20 an +ounce, because it costs almost as much as that to get it out, but +which would be big money-makers if the gold were worth $25. +Three-quarters of the gold-mines of to-day would shut tight like a +clam, if gold were to drop in price even a dollar or two. What a +capitalist wants to-day is ore, and he is not interested in free gold. +What a prospector looks for, is free gold, and he ignores the rock. +I'm telling you all this, now, Jim, because it's what will be the +important thing when we get to talking, later, over your find." + +"That's all right," the old prospector answered, "but how can a man +tell when he's tappin' a big lot o' rock or jest a little, if it ain't +the free gold what shows him?" + +"He can't tell, as a rule," the mine-owner rejoined. "It takes a +geologist to do that. As I was saying, there are some rules to go by. +Here, I'll give you a notion of how gold came to be in the rocks, and +then you'll see what a geologist can tell and what he can't. + +"To start with, you've got to begin 'way at the beginning of things, +before the crust of the earth was solid and when all the rocks of the +crust were in a melted and half-liquid state. So far as we can make +out, the metals seems to have classified themselves at that time, more +or less, according to density. The lighter elements came to the +surface, the heavier ones stayed at the bottom. It wasn't merely a +question of weight, but of gravitation, centrifugal action and a lot +of things I won't stop to explain to you now. Gold, as you know, is +heavy, that is, it possesses extreme density. It stayed therefore, +mainly at the bottom of this semi-molten sea. + +"But this sea, which covered the whole of the earth's surface, wasn't +altogether liquid, as the oceans are to-day. It was a seething mass of +different densities, some of it liquid, some of it slimy, some of it +thick like sticky mud, acted upon by fearful whirlwinds of electric +forces such as astronomers see in the sun to-day, and by powerful +internal currents which created vast churning whirlpools of +super-heated matter. + +"It's impossible for us to tell where these electric whirlwinds passed +or where these currents were. So, since the original separation of the +metals was highly irregular, no geologist can say with certainty where +gold or silver, lead or tin, will be found in the greatest quantity. + +"Then there's another complication. As you know, most of the metals +have chums or affinities with other substances, just as gold has with +mercury. These chums of the metals were also in that molten ocean, but +not always in the same proportions, nor yet distributed regularly. So +metallic compounds were formed at different times and in diverse +places. These compounds had varying densities, with the result that in +later ages they behaved in a way quite different from the pure metal. +You see, Jim, long before the crust of the earth was even formed, gold +was scattered far and wide, and already was in different forms. + +"Then, little by little, the crust began to form as the earth cooled. +It was just a scum, at first, and was constantly broken up from below. +As it got thicker, it resisted more and more, until the upheavals of +the crust formed the mountains of the earliest or Primary Age. This +crust, which was now solid rock, contained gold, but, naturally, +nowhere in the same proportions. Some had much metal inclusion; some, +little; some, none at all. Besides, between the mountains or in them, +were vast volcanic craters, pouring up molten matter which became what +are known as the eruptive rocks, and these, too, carried up gold from +below. These rocks crystallized and the gold remained in them. + +"But even that wasn't complicated enough for Mother Nature. In those +same eruptive rocks, both of the early and later periods, gold is +mainly found in veins. These veins are of dozens of different sorts, +depending on the rock in which they occur and on Nature's ways of +putting them there. + +"To make it simple to you, I'll only mention two. The most general +method was by fumaroles. These are subterranean blow-holes of vapor +containing sulphur, tellurium, and chlorine compounds, as well as +super-heated steam. These vapors, projected from deep down in the +earth with incredible pressure and energy, acted on the new-made +rocks, formed compounds with the metals, or, when united with hydrogen +in the steam, separated the metals from solutions of their salts, and +forced the metals into cracks in the new-made and cooling eruptive +rocks. According to the kind of rock and the nature of the chemical +agent, a geologist will know for what type of vein to search. The +other most general agent of vein-making was hot water--generally +heavily saturated with sulphur and other chemicals--which dissolved +the gold. This hot water, with gold in solution, seeped into the +cracks and crevices made by the rock as it cooled, thus forming other +types of veins." + +"Hold on a minute, there!" protested Jim. "Water won't dissolve gold." + +"It will and does," was the retort, "especially when certain chemicals +are in the water. As a matter of fact, even to-day, the geysers at +Steamboat Springs, California, and at several places in New Zealand, +deposit gold and silicon in their basins. But let me go on. + +"After the gold was placed in veins in these primary rocks, there came +a period of erosion, and the mountains were worn away. The gold being +harder than rock, it remained and made alluvial deposits of a very +early age. Some, of these old 'placers' are several miles below the +surface, now, others have come again to the surface by all the +superposed rock having been washed away, anew. Some of the gold was +dissolved, as before, and got into the crevices of the newly deposited +rocks made by erosion, known as sedimentary rocks. So, you see, Jim, +even millions of years ago, there was gold in the crystallized +eruptive rock, gold in veins of igneous rock, gold in alluvial +deposits, and, again, gold in veins in the sedimentary rocks. + +"Then came another period of elevation, with a second raising up of +mountain ranges, and with a renewal of violent volcanic action. The +crust was getting more and more unequal, the way in which the metals +were distributed became more and more scattered. Mountains of the +Secondary Age were often made of Primary sedimentary rocks, or of +Primary igneous rocks, so much changed that geologists call them +metamorphic rocks. And, Jim, every time that the rock was changed, the +gold changed either its place or its compound character, or both. Then +came another period of erosion, lasting millions of years, the gold +was washed away to form new placers, or made its way into veins in the +Secondary sedimentary rocks. + +"Then came the great upheaval of the Third or Tertiary Age, in which +new mountains rose, new volcanic vents were opened, and, once more, +much of the gold was acted upon by chemicals, mainly sulphur and +tellurium. In many places silver showed a strong affinity with gold, +forming deposits where the ores were commingled. Once more the +hundreds of centuries of erosion came, to be followed by the upheaving +of the newer mountains of the Fourth or Quaternary Age. So, you see, +Jim, as I told you before, gold can be found in almost every rock and +of every geological period." + +"I don't see that it helps much, then!" declared the old prospector. +"You can go lookin' where you durn please." + +"There's nothing to stop you," agreed Owens cheerfully, "but that's a +hit-and-miss method. And I can show you just how even this little bit +of geology comes in to help the miner. + +"Get this clearly in your head, Jim! Three-quarters of the present +gold production of the world comes from gold that is mixed with +pyrites--which is a sulphide of iron, or from tellurides--in which a +tellurium-hydrogen compound has been the chemical agent. A prospector, +therefore, who uncovers a new field where the gold is in the pyritous +or the telluride form has ten times more chance of attracting capital +than one who finds lumps of native gold lying around loose. + +"It is when a prospector strikes a section where all the gold-bearing +rock has been eroded that he is apt to find the 'pockets' so dear to +his heart. The amazing riches of the Klondyke lay in the fact that +prospectors found, first, the alluvial deposits from the present age +in the sands of the running creeks, and, on ledges high above the +creeks and running into the rocks on either side, the alluvial +deposits, even thicker and richer, of a bygone time." + +"You've got it right," declared Jim, emphatically. "I know 'cos I was +there!" + +"Was it on the Yukon, then, that you made your famous strike?" + +The prospector winced. Evidently, he intended to reach that point in +his own way. + +"I'll tell you about that, after a bit," he answered evasively. "But +you ain't said why placer claims peter out." + +"Can't you see? A placer claim doesn't show where the big store of +gold is, but where it isn't! It shows that the gold has gone. A placer +is just a spot where a little heavy gold, that hasn't been acted on +by chemicals, happens to have been deposited during the erosion of a +mountain which was composed of gold-bearing rock. The rock has been +washed into sand and gravel and a great deal of it taken out to sea. +There's plenty of gold in the sea, as I told you before. + +"But the amount of sand or gravel to be panned along a creek or river +is limited. When that's washed over, there's no more to find. A +prospector gets down to bed-rock and he's through. Then he's either +got to pack up and hunt some new spot where the same erosion has +happened, or, if he's clever enough, he's got to find the rock or reef +from which the gold was washed out. If he doesn't know his geology, +he's apt to waste his time. + +"Then the scientific expert and the capitalist come in. It's the man +with money who profits most by a poor man's strike. He can afford to +sit back and wait. Presently the expert will come back and report +where the gold-bearing rock lies. The capitalist arrives with huge +machinery for mining and crushing the rock, for turning on enormous +water-power, in short, for performing a sort of artificial erosion in +a few days which Nature took hundreds of thousands of years to do. He +pockets millions, where the prospectors who did the first work only +get thousands, or even hundreds, or, sometimes, nothing at all. + +"Your father was perfectly right, Jim, in saying that the prizes of +prospecting are for the man who gets there first. Placers are bound to +peter out quickly. They are Nature's purses, and a purse hasn't any +more money in it than you put in. Even the Klondyke, that astounding +pocket of riches, lasted only three years and then dwindled down. + +"Some of these days, all the available places of the earth will have +been worked over by the casual prospector, and then his day will be +done. The ever-hoping rover of the pick, shovel, and pan is becoming +extinct. Even now, the only spots which hold out any chance of pockets +of gold are in the almost inaccessible section of the globe. + +"The daring seeker for gold must go to the bleak ranges of the frigid +North, where, even in the middle of the summer, the ground is frozen +as hard as a rock a few inches below the surface; or else to the +jungle-clad slopes of the tropics, where fever and stewing heat menace +him with ever-present death; or yet to regions so far removed from +civilization that the white man has not yet penetrated there. The +shores of the Arctic Ocean, the steaming equatorial forests of the +Eastern Andes, or the untrodden valleys of the inner Himalayas offer +the most hopes to the prospector. But he may spend all the gold-dust +he finds, and more, to go there and return. + +"The tundras of Alaska and eastward to Hudson Bay still contain placer +gold, to a surety, gold not difficult to find if a man is willing to +face an Arctic winter and a mosquito-haunted summer to work there. +It's a wonder to me, Jim, that your father didn't join the great rush +to the Fraser River, in British Columbia, in 1856. That was a mad and +sorrowful stampede, if ever there was one!" + +"He was crazy about the Fraser," Jim answered. "All that kep' him from +goin' was the smash-up o' the Kern River rush, which lef' him +dead-broke an' nigh starvin', like I told you. But he never forgot the +Fraser. That's what took us up north, to wind up with. + +"It was in '79, when I was twenty years old, that Father comes into +the cabin, an' says, point blank, + +"'We're a-goin' to the Kootenay.' + +"'Where's that?' I asks. + +"'Somewheres up near the Fraser River. There's gold there, so they're +sayin', like there was on the Sacramento in '49. An' thar ain't no +one, hardly, thar! Fust one in gits it all.' + +"I tried to reason with him. So did Mother, but it weren't no manner +o' use. A week later, we was gone." + +"I shouldn't have thought he'd have found much on the Kootenay," said +Owens reflectively, "it's all vein mining there. That needs heavy +crushing machinery." + +"Not all," Jim corrected. "There's some glacial gravel there an' we +washed out enough to pay our way. But Father wanted something bigger. + +"We struck out from West Kootenay an' hit the trail for Six Mile +Creek, near Kicking Horse Pass, in Upper East Kootenay. We stayed +there a while, but some one, who had a grudge agin the Mormons, pulled +his gun on Father. A 'forty-niner' ain't apt to be lazy on the shoot, +an' Father's gun spit first. We didn't wait for the funeral, but moved +on, an' lively, at that, strikin' for the Fraser." + +"Good thing for you the N. W. M. P. (North West Mounted Police), +didn't strike your trail!" commented Owens. + +"It was a straight-enough deal," protested Jim, "an' the N. W.'s ha' +got plenty o' sense. But that wasn't no reason for hangin' around, +lookin' for trouble. We thought the Fraser'd be healthier. As it +turned out, it wasn't. + +"The Fraser boom was dead. The shacks in the ol' minin' camps was +rottin' to ruin. The machinery--what little there was of it--was lyin' +there, rustin'. The sluices had all fallen to bits, except on Hop +Rabbit Creek. A couple o' hundred men was there still, workin' over +the tailin's, but they was all Chinamen. Up the creek a ways some o' +them was pannin'. + +"Second day we was there, a big Chink comes up to me, an' says, very +quiet like, + +"'You plenty sabbee? Run away quick!' + +"It didn't look that way to me, for I don't take to orderin'. I was +good an' ready to drop that Chink in his tracks, but I did a little +thinkin' first. Two hundred agin two is big odds. I nodded, an' the +big Chink turns away. + +"I didn't say nothin' about the warnin' to Father, for he was that +stubborn he'd ha' waded right in an' tried to clean up the whole +camp. He wouldn't ha' had the chance of a rat in a trap. He'd ha' got +himself carved up in little slices an' that was about all. So I jest +told him that one o' the Chinks had reported there was a new strike on +the Cassiar. Father took the bait like a hungry trout an' we was off +in an hour." + +"But I always thought Chinamen were such a peaceful lot!" exclaimed +Clem. + +"If a Chink comes into a white camp, he's willin' to sing small an' do +what he's told. But in a boom camp that white folks have given up an' +quit, if Johnny Chink comes in, he won't let nary a white come back. I +know! One o' my pardners was in the massacre o' Happy Man Gulch in +'87. That's a yarn worth hearin'! I'll tell it you, some time. + +"Out we trailed to the Cassiar, an', funny enough, though I'd only +been bluffin' to Father about the strike there, we landed on the pay +gravel the very day after French Pete had struck a pocket. He was a +good prospector, was French Pete, an' knew more'n most, but he was +timid like, an' glad to have us there. He could handle Indians--he was +a half-breed himself--but he was that superstitious, he was afraid o' +the dark, alone. He was religious, too, an' Father an' him got along +together famous. We staked out a claim, right next to his, an', for a +few weeks, cleaned up a good fifty dollars a day. + +"Then, one fine mornin', a bunch o' redskins come down, friends o' +French Pete. They palavered some, an', after a while, French Pete he +comes over to us an' says: + +"'We got three days to get out!' + +"Father he put up an awful howl an' was for plugging the redskins full +o' holes, pronto. But French Pete puts it to him that these Injuns was +his friends, an' shootin' wouldn't go. There'd been some kind o' deal +between this tribe an' the Chilkoots, an' every miner on the Divide +knew more'n plenty about the Chilkoots. They'd tortured to death +Georgie Holt, the first prospector that ever went over the Chilkoot +Pass, an' more'n one miner that got into their country wasn't never +heard of no more. + +"So Father puts it up to French Pete where he's goin' next. French +Pete is a good pardner, an' tells a queer tale, but he tells it +straight. He allows there's gold on the islands off the coast an' +shows the lay. + +"Some years afore, so he says, Joe Juneau, an old-time Hudson Bay +trapper, an' Dick Harris, one o' the forty-niners, had found color on +Gold Creek, near the coast, an' had made a pile. Juneau went on +prospectin', though he was rich, an', havin' a generous streak, +grub-staked any man what asked him. That way he got a big share in the +placers found on Silver Bow and doubled his pile. Some other +prospectors what he'd grub-staked reported havin' found gold on the +islands, but nothin' extraordinary. Harris, havin' a business head, +stuck around Gold Creek (the present town of Juneau was formerly +called Harrisburg) an' got rich a-plenty. Juneau an' Harris had more'n +enough to look after, an' never got over to the islands. + +"French Pete, he's an old friend of Juneau an' he knows about this +island game. He reckons it'd be worth pannin'. There's sure-enough +gold up thar to pay for the workin', an' there might be a chance for a +big haul, seein' no one is prospectin' thar. He offers to show Father +where the placers are supposed to be, if he's willin' to come along. +Father likes to stick by his pardner an' agrees. + +"From Cassiar we hoofed it back to Juneau--a long an' a hard +trail--an', after buyin' a small sailboat an' grub enough for three +months, we struck out for Douglas Island. French Pete handled that +boat like a cowboy does a buckin' bronc. We was green wi' scare in +that wild sea, full o' chunks o' ice clashin' all around, but the old +trapper never turns a hair. Presently we landed on a beach which +looked like it was a seal rookery, once, an' works our way to where a +good-sized creek comes plungin' down to the sea. + +"Juneau had it right. The sands along the creek were full o' color, +but the dust was small an' it was slow pannin'. It was all we could do +to make fourteen dollars a day in dust, workin' fourteen hours a day, +maybe; poor pickin's for a spot costin' so much cash an' trouble to +get to. + +"French Pete, though, had plenty o' savvy. From the lie o' the rock, +he reckoned this thin placer gold must ha' been washed out o' the +little mountain what sticks up in one corner o' the island. He let his +placer claim go for a while and prospected for ore. At last he found +what he thought looked like the best spot. The ore was poor in color, +but so soft an' rotten that it could be smashed into dust with a +hammer, an' the gold--what little there was of it--separated out easy. + +"We all staked out half-a-dozen claims, doin' enough work on each to +hold title. Since French Pete had brought us to the island, an' shown +the rock besides, Father an' I promised to give him a quarter o' +whatever we got for our claims, if we ever sold 'em. + +"Off went French Pete in the sail-boat, leavin' us marooned on Douglas +Island, an' in a pickle of a mess supposin' he shouldn't return! But +he come back, sure enough, after about six weeks, havin' found John +Treadwell, a minin' man, who undertakes to buy our claims if Juneau, +after havin' looked 'em over, says they're all right. + +"Juneau an' Treadwell come, a couple o' days after, wi' one o' these +up-to-date engineer Johnnies. The ore's low-grade, but there's head +enough in the creek to run stamp mills by water-power, which makes +cheap crushin'. Treadwell pays French Pete $15,000 for his claims an' +Father an' me $10,000 apiece. Then he buys up the rest o' the island +for next to nothin'. The Treadwell mine's a big un, now, workin' 540 +stamp mills, an', as Mr. Owens says, it's makin' millions out o' low +grade ore. + +"Father had promised Mother, as soon as he got $10,000 clear, he'd go +back home. She holds him to it. After payin' French Pete what we +promised, there's $10,000 for Father an' $5,000 for me, besides what +was left from the Cassiar an' Douglas Island placer clean-ups. Father +an' Mother went back to Utah, leavin' me wi' French Pete an' +Treadwell. + +"But Father couldn't stand it long. While he was prospectin', all +hours, all weathers, he was tough an' strong. Back in town, he begun +to pine. In less'n a year he was dead. Mother didn't live long after +him. That lef' me on my own hook. Douglas Island was too slow, though +Treadwell offered me a good job as long's I cared to stick it out. But +I wanted to be off an' away, feelin' sure, some day, I'd make my big +strike. + +"I was foot-loose, now, wi' five thousand in dust an' the whole world +to roam in. Where was I goin' to find the place where the sands was +nothin' but gold? Somewheres, I was sure! Some day I'd strike it rich +an' never have to work no more. Out in the wild beyond, where no one +else was, millions was waitin' for me!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ROARING NORTH + + +"I was young an' tough in them days an' liked to buck agin hard goin'. +If gold was gettin' scarce where folks was, it was plenty an' free in +the lands that folks didn't dare go to. Naturally enough, I begun to +think o' the Chilkoot country. + +"Ever since Georgie Holt had been tortured to death in a Chilkoot +Indian camp, prospectors had been leery o' that huntin' ground. But +French Pete had heard from a pard o' Juneau's that Dumb MacMillan had +got over the Chilkoot an' struck it rich on what he called Dumb Creek, +runnin' into the Tanana. He'd come back an' cashed his dust, blowed it +in on one wild spree, an' gone over the Pass again. He hadn't never +been heard of no more. + +"Since his second trip, though, the Canadian Government had got a +strangle-hold on the Chilkoots an' was makin' 'em behave. It had +forced 'em to make peace wi' the Stick Indians o' the interior, an' +thrown the fear o' the whites into 'em good an' plenty. So I wasn't +worryin' over Injuns none. The Chilkoot Pass, though, was said to be +something awful to cross, but that wasn't goin' to stop me, when I +knew there was good goin' on the other side an' all the creeks full o' +gold. + +"So I quit Treadwell an' French Pete an' got back to Juneau. There, I +heard that a bunch o' prospectors led by the Schiefflin Brothers had +taken a steamboat, got as far as St. Michael, gone up the Yukon, +wintered at Nuklukayet an' found gold all the way. They'd struck good +placers on Mynook, Hess an' Shevlin Creeks, but the Schiefflins found +the ground always frozen an' terrible hard to work, an' the summer was +so short they figured pannin' on the Yukon wouldn't pay. + +"Think o' that, will you! The Klondyke an' the Eldorado wouldn't pay! + +"That same summer, we heard that there was new gold strikes on the +Lewes an' Big Salmon Rivers, which run into the Upper Yukon. Dumb +MacMillan had found payin' color on the Tanana, flowin' into the +Middle Yukon. The Schiefflins had located plenty o' placers on the +Lower Yukon. + +"It didn't take much figurin' to guess that there was gold all the +way along. I made up my mind to strike over the Chilkoot into the +Stewart River section, jest about unknown then; preparin', durin' the +winter, for an early start. + +"Early in the spring o' '84, eight of us was ready. We had a +sure-enough outfit an' plenty o' grub. We was well fixed for +shootin'-irons, too, for we was goin' up into hostile Injun country. + +"Joe Juneau, who knew a lot about the mountains, tried to head us off, +tellin' what happened to Holt an' MacMillan, but we was sot on goin', +an' struck out for Dyea along the canal trail. There we headed for the +interior. + +"I've seen some rough goin' in my time, an' I come of a stock o' tough +uns, but, I'm tellin' you, that first trip over the Chilkoot Pass was +more'n horrible. I dream about it, yet--an' it's over thirty years +ago! + +"From Dyea to Sheep Camp was bad enough goin', half-frozen muskeg +(mucky swamp), lyin' under soft snow an' all covered with a tangle o' +thorn-vines climbin' over spraggly berry-bushes. There warn't no +trail. It was cut your way, an' drag! We didn't have no dogs, but +lugged the sleighs ourselves. It's only nine miles as the crow flies, +but it took us four days to make it, with our loads. + +"An' then the Chilkoot Pass stuck up in front of us, all black rock +an' white snow, reachin' to the sky, an' clouds hidin' the top. It +seemed like it was a-defyin' of us, well-nigh impossible. + +"We'd ha' gone back, sure, but we knew two men had climbed it a'ready, +Georgie Holt in '72, and Dumb MacMillan, in '80. What they'd done, we +reckoned we could do. + +"Sheer rock, she was, all slick an' icy, to begin with; above that, +stretches o' snow-fields on so steep a slope that a false step meant a +snow-slide an' good-bye! crevasses in the snow goin' down below all +knowin', an' mostly covered over wi' light snow so's you couldn't see +'em; an', near the top, a pile o' loose an' shaky rocks built up like +a wall, straight as the side of a house, an', in some spots, leanin' +over. That was the Chilkoot Pass! + +"The cold was cruel; a steady wind, nigh to a blizzard, sucked through +the Pass continooal, tearin' a man from his footin.' There was no +shelter, an' high up, no fire-wood. + +"There was no trail, neither! We had to go it, blind. An', up that +rock, over them snow-fields, across them crevasses, an', fly-like, +crawling up that wall o' bowlders, we had to drag our dunnage! The +sleighs had to be pulled up, empty. Our sacks o' flour had to be toted +on our backs! An' our bacon an' groceries, enough to last us months! +An' our tools an' cradles! I made five trips to get my stuff +across--an it took me five weeks. Between whiles, I rested, if lyin' +exhausted means rest! + +"There was eight of us that started. There was only three when the +stuff was on the summit o' the pass! Two had been crushed by fallin' +rocks. The other three had all disappeared sudden in a crevasse, what +they thought was solid snow givin' down under 'em. Only Red Bill, Bull +Evans an' me was left. + +"Mind, there was no trail an' no guide! Holt had been over years +before, but the Indians killed him. Dumb MacMillan went over it twice, +an' never was heard of no more. Me an' my pardners was the third, an', +as I was sayin', o' the eight that started, only three got to the +top." + +"Yet how many thousands climbed that Pass after gold had been struck +on the Klondyke?" queried Owens. + + +[Illustration: THE TOP OF THE CHILKOOT PASS. + +The neck to the Klondyke as it appeared in April, 1898, during the +height of the stampede. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._ + +_Copyright, 1898, by S. A. Hegg._] + + +[Illustration: PASS IN THE SIERRA NEVADAS OF CALIFORNIA.] + + +"Thirty thousand an' more, so folks said. Two thousand o' them, +though, died in tryin'. An' they had Injun an' half-breed porters to +tote their dunnage, too! The trail was marked for them. In the last +years o' the big rush, there was an aerial tramway to take up the +stuff. It wasn't like that in my day. We tackled it on our own. + +"When we reached the top, the trouble wasn't over neither. 'Tother +side was rough an' dangerous, all loose rock an' mighty little snow. +We loaded the sleighs an' let 'em down by jerks, all three men hangin' +on to the drag-ropes. But we made the bottom, safe, an' started off +again. No trail, no map, no nothin'! We jest pushed on, blind, three +white men in a country o' hostile Injuns huntin' for a river which we +didn't even know where it was. + +"Followin' a small creek an' pannin' now an' agin--though not findin' +any color--we came at last to Crater Lake an' then on to Lindeman, an' +final, to Lake Bennett. Here, we'd heard before leavin', the Yukon +River begun, an' we started to go round the lake, so's to strike the +bank o' the river. + +"It couldn't be done. Muskeg an' thick forest run clear down to the +shore o' the lake, an' a b'ar couldn't ha' pushed his way through. +Small creeks shot out every which way. Sleighs were worse'n useless. + +"There warn't nothin' to be done but build a boat, an' nary one o' the +three of us knew the fust durn thing about boat-buildin'. But we put +together a kind of a log-raft, that floated, anyway, put the dunnage +aboard it, an' drifted down the lake. This was easy goin', for a +while. + +"All of a sudden, a swift current took us, the lake narrowed into a +river, an', afore we had a chance to pole our heavy an' clumsy raft to +the bank, we was shootin' wi' sickenin' speed down white water. It was +Grand Canyon Rapids, a mile long! Half-way through, the raft struck a +rock an' went to bits, the logs bustin' free. I grabbed one an' went +spinnin' down the rapids. I must ha' hit my head on a snag, for I +don't remember no more till I woke up to find myself on the bank, an' +Bull Evans leanin' over me. + +"'What's the worst, Bull?' I asks, as soon as I realizes. + +"'Red Bill's gone,' he says, 'an' so's most o' the grub. The dunnage +is scattered anywheres along a mile or two. We hoofs it from here. No +more rafts in mine!' + +"An' a good thing we did hoof it, too. If we'd got through the Grand +Canyon Rapids an' struck, unknowin', the White Horse Rapids--what they +afterwards called the 'Miners' Grave'--nary a one o' the three of us +would ha' come out alive. + +"As it was, bein' afoot, we broke away from what afterwards was the +Klondyke Trail, an', instead of striking across Lake Labarge, kep' +between it an' Lake Kluane, strikin' some creeks leadin' into the +White River. There, at last, after three months on the trail, we +panned an' found color. We trailed on, pannin' as we went, cleanin' up +pretty fair, an' final, struck some placers on the Stewart River. The +Injuns was peaceful an' we could get grub from a half-breed tradin' +store near old Fort Selkirk. We wintered there." + +"That was in '85?" Owens queried. + +"Winter o' '85 an' spring o' '86." + +"Then you must have been right on hand for the great strike on +Forty-Mile?" + +"We sure was." + +"But, man, you should have made a fortune, there!" + +"I did!" came Jim's laconic answer. + +"Well?" + +"I made a hundred thousand dollars in three months." + +"What happened to it, then?" + +"That," said the old prospector, leaning back, and looking at his two +hearers, "is a wild an' woolly yarn! Do you want to hear it, or do I +go on to the findin' o' that ore you've got in your hand?" + +"Oh, tell the yarn, Jim!" pleaded Clem, who was less interested in +Jim's strike than was the mine-owner. Owens nodded assent. + +"Pannin' gold," Jim began, "is pretty much the same all over. One +minin' camp is a good deal like another, though Forty-Mile was the +cleanest an' straightest camp I ever struck. I could spin a good many +yarns o' Forty-Mile an' near-by camps, but I'll leave 'em to another +time an' tell you how it was I got poor, again, all in a hurry. + +"With a bunch o' buckskin bags holdin' a hundred thousand dollars in +the coarse nuggety gold o' Forty-Mile, I was good an' ready to take +the back trail. I thought maybe I'd get back again next spring, for +I'd become a sure-enough 'sour-dough' (old-timer of the northern +gold-fields, so-called from camp bread). But I wanted to eat heavy +an' lie soft for a while. I'd spend one winter in 'Frisco, any way, +an' have a run for my money. + +"The more I thought of it, the less I liked the notion o' goin' back +over the Chilkoot Pass. Savin' for the first climb, the out trail was +worse'n the in. All the rapids'd have to be portaged. + +"What was more, the news o' the Forty-Mile strike had reached the +outside, an' the human buzzards was a-flockin' in. The Canadian +authorities held the camps in a tight grip, but the trail was a +No-Man's-Land. A sour-dough comin' out from a strike stood a good +chance o' bein' plugged for his gold an' no one the wiser. + +"A few weeks after the Forty-Mile strike, a rich placer had been +located at Circle, a hundred miles lower down on the Yukon an' across +the Alaskan Boundary jest above where Circle City is now. Nothin' was +easier'n to buy a small row-boat an' float down the Yukon to Circle. +The rapids wasn't worth speakin' about. At Circle we'd take the river +craft runnin' to Fort Yukon, an' then ship on board the steamer for +St. Michael, Skagway an' 'Frisco. + +"No weary miles o' hoofin' it on the trail, no portages, no work, jest +sit in a boat an' take it easy! That hundred thousand made me feel too +lazy to move. + +"We got the boat, bein' willin' to pay whatever fancy price was asked. +While she was still tied up at Forty-Mile, one o' the North West +Mounted Police come up an' asked us where we was headin'. We told him. +He wanted to know how many were goin'. There was my pardner, Bull +Evans, me, an' four more. He shakes his head. + +"'That's about twenty too few,' says he. 'Are you takin' the dust +along?' + +"'Right with us, Johnny,' says we. + +"'You've got more gold'n you have sense,' he comes back, cheerfully. +'Better wait a month or so. We're goin' to convoy a party through the +White Pass to Skagway, takin' the express an' the bank gold, an' you +can come along, safe.' + +"'It's too long a trail for millionaires,' says we. + +"'A dead millionaire ain't worth much,' he says. 'You'll have your +bones picked clean by the crows if you get across the border that +a-way. Alaska ain't the Dominion, not by a long shot.' + +"That hit us wrong. We thought he was jest bluffin', tryin' to make +out that Canada was the only country that could run things right. Most +of us was from the U. S., an' we grouched at his pokin' in. + +"'Law an' order's as good 'tother side o' the line as it is here!' +says Bull. + +"'Have it your own way! I'll send the patrol boat with you as far as +the border. I can't do no more.' + +"We didn't want the patrol, but he sent it, any way, an' we started +out. + +"'Last chance!' he yells, when the border's reached, 'better come +back!' + +"'We ain't quitters!' Bull shouts back, an' on we go, six of us, an' +close on to half a million dollars in dust among the lot. Every man +had a rifle, a six-shooter, an' plenty o' ammunition. All was +old-timers an' quick on the shoot. We reckoned we could take care of +ourselves, good an' plenty. Any way, we weren't goin' to land +anywheres until we struck Circle, so there wouldn't be no danger. + +"We hadn't got more'n ten miles the other side o' the line, jest +beyond the little minin' camp of Eagle, when of a sudden: + +"'Spat!' + +"A bullet strikes the boat, right at the water line, an' she begins to +leak. + +"It was pretty shootin', an' every man reaches for his gun. There's a +curl o' smoke driftin' up from a pile o' rock, but no one shoots, +knowin' well the marksman's under cover. We trims the boat, to keep +the hole out o' water, and then: + +"'Spat! Spat!' + +"One on each side. We stuffs some bits o' rag in the holes, but the +boat begins to fill. One side o' the river's sheer rock, an' there +ain't no landin' there. Cussin' free, an' every man wi' his rifle +ready, we beaches the boat on the other shore an' gets out, ready for +the scrap. + +"Then some one starts to talk, over our heads, hidden in the rocks: + +"'Gents, I'm sure sorry to stop your trip! There's twenty of us, an' +each has his man covered. It ain't no use for you to make trouble. +Them as is reasonable can leave their bags o' dust an' their pop-guns +on the beach, an' walk off fifty paces to the left. Them as wants to +show their shootin' can wait jest two minutes by the watch, an' the +fun'll begin, us havin' the pick o' the shots an' bein' under cover. +The cards is stacked agin you, gents, an' there ain't no use to +play.' + +"We all shoots back, o' course, more to relieve our feelin's'n +anything else, for we knows this new-style road-agent has dodged back +to cover. + +"Me an' four others, we don't hesitate. We lays our bags o' dust an' +our guns on the beach an' toddles off, as directed. Then I looks back +an' sees Bull standin' there, alone. + +"He's a durn fool an' I knows it. But he's my pardner, is Bull! + +"I goes back an' tries to persuade him to eat crow. But Bull's +stubborn as a mule an' don't budge. I ain't a-goin' to leave him. So +we both stands there. + +"The road-agent has been takin' this in, an' presently he pipes up: + +"'Very pretty, gents. Pardners is pardners and that's doin' it +handsome. Put up your hands an' we won't shoot.' + +"For answer, Bull snaps his rifle to his shoulder an' fires. + +"A volley rings out, an' Bull drops dead, a dozen bullets through him. +I wasn't two yards away, but not a shot touched me. + +"Then this road-agent, a tall thin galoot, heavily masked, comes down +to where I'm standin' alone. + +"'It was a dirty bit o' shootin'!' says I, indignant. + +"'You've no cause to complain,' says he, 'nothin' hit you! I like your +spunk in standin' by your pardner. He seems to ha' been a he-man, too, +even if he was a fool. Had he any folks?' + +"'A baby girl back in Montana,' I tells him. + +"'I'm not robbin' babies,' he says to that. 'She gets my share o' the +loot. I give my word. Do you know the address?' + +"I reaches down into Bull's coat, takes a letter from it what he'd +written to his sister, what was lookin' after the kid, an' hands this +bandit the envelope. He reads it, nods an' puts it in his pocket." + +"Did he ever send the money?" suddenly interrupted Owens. + +"He did. I heard, years after, that the sister received thirty +thousand dollars in cash, in a registered letter, sent from Skagway, +an' in the envelope a slip o' paper 'From the Chief o' Circle.'" + +"What happened next, Jim?" queried Clem, excitedly. + +"What, after I'd given the galoot the envelope? He makes a sign an' +half a dozen o' his gang comes down out o' the rocks where they've +been hidin'. They gather up the guns an' the bags o' dust lyin' on the +beach, while some more o' them goes over an' searches the other four +men. + +"'What's the next turn?' I asks the chief. + +"'I don't do things in a small way,' he says. 'Your nerve's good. For +bein' willin' to stand by your pardner, when the rest run like +rabbits. I'll leave you five thousand in dust, an' see you get back to +the border. Unless you want to join our band?' + +"'I don't!' I answers, snappy like. + +"But he was as good as his word. He weighs out an' hands over the +dust, an' two of the gang takes me back to the line. There they gives +me back my shootin'-irons, though, o' course without any ammunition. +Next day I'm back in Forty-Mile." + +"And the other four men?" queried Owens. + +"Two joined the gang, an' later, started to get funny on the Canadian +side. A Vigilance committee strung 'em up. The other two turned up at +Circle City and I never heard no more about 'em. + +"I staked out another claim--though there wasn't much to choose from, +then--an' begins to pan again. But the luck had turned, an' I didn't +strike nothin' rich. + +"I stayed at Forty-Mile that winter, buildin' fires at night on the +frozen dirt to thaw it, an', next day, shovelin' an' haulin' it up to +the top o' my little shaft on the windlass I'd made myself. The pile +o' pay dirt had to be left till the spring thaws for cleanin' up. + +"Ten years I stayed inside, goin' from one placer on the Yukon to +another, makin' a livin', an' that's about all. Now an' again, when I +gets a bit ahead, I sends a bag o' dust to Bull's little gal. + +"In '98, I joins the rush to Nome, an' there's a roarin' wild town! +But luck ain't runnin' my way. Like the rest, I starts to wash the +sand o' the sea-beach, the last place a prospector'd ever look. I +clean up thirty a day, maybe, jest enough to keep goin'. I'm no +richer'n no poorer'n I was ten years afore, but I got Bull's little +gal to work for, an' that keeps me pluggin'. + +"Then, sudden, I gets a letter from the gal, enclosin' a note she's +received. It's short: + +"'Rich pay gravel here.' It's signed with a circle, an' a cross. On +the back, there's a map. + +"I figures this is the Road-Agent o' Circle, an' he's dyin' an' wants +to make restitootion. It's my dooty to Bull's little gal to go an' +find the place. I've jest about money enough to go there, an' the lay +is right. There's a bank of pay gravel more'n two miles long, an' a +hundred feet deep, maybe more. It's frozen, summer'n' winter, an' too +hard for thawin' with wood fires." + +Jim halted for emphasis and looked keenly at the mine-owner. + +"I was thawin' it out wi' coal, when I was there," he said, slowly, +"soft, smudgy coal, brown an' sticky-like." + +"What!" cried Owens in amazement. "Lignite coal?" + +"Not a mile away from the gravel." + +"But why, man--?" Owens stopped. + +"A bunch o' Russian seal-poachers come up an' chased me off, sayin' it +was Russian territory. I believed 'em, at first. I didn't say nothin' +about the gold, but made believe I was huntin' coal. But that lignite, +as you call it, was so sure low-grade that they jest laughed at me. + +"It ain't in Russian territory. It's in the United States, I've found +out that much. But minin' men don't take much stock in what I tell +'em, an' coal men say it's too long a haul. But a man wi' money what +knows coal an' knows gold, an' could do some steam thawin' an' +hydraulickin' would make good." + +Owens looked at him thoughtfully. + +"It's a wild and woolly yarn, all right," he said, "and it sounds like +a story from a book, with the hold-up, and the girl and the idea of +restitution, and the treasure-map and all the rest of it. You haven't +any proof?" + +"Nothin' but what I've told you--an' the map. My pardner's got to take +my say-so." + +"You say you wrote frequently to Bull Evans' daughter?" + +"Once a season--sometimes twice. Whenever I could get some money +through." + +"She will have kept those letters, certainly," the mine-owner mused, +"and the payments through the Express Company will be easy to trace. +Where does the girl live?" + +"In Pittsburgh, now, with her aunt." + +"If I guarantee to advance two hundred thousand, when satisfied that +your story is straight, will you produce the map and come along, +yourself?" + +Jim looked him over. + +"I'll trust you more'n you're willin' to trust me," he said, and took +a thin slip of paper from the buckskin tube out of which he had shaken +the gold dust the day before. "Here's the map. It's an island due +north o' the Diomede Islands in the Behring Sea. The Eskimos call it +Chuklook. There's quartz gold on Ingalook, too. But mind, one-third o' +what you pay for the claim belongs to Bull's little gal." + +"Agreed!" declared Owens. "You trust me an' I'll trust you. The +letters an' the express records, being as you say, I'll go in." + +"Clem bein' a pardner!" Jim insisted. + +"Clem being a partner, sure!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LONELY ISLAND + + +The little _Bunting_, brigantine-rigged, and, yacht-fashion, +possessing an auxiliary screw, plowed the waters of Behring Sea. + +Jim, with Clem and Anton beside him, stood on the foc's'le head, +gazing into the foggy distance. Owens was on the poop, with the owner +of the tiny yacht, who was a personal friend, and moodily scanned the +horizon. Otto, utterly disregarding the universal sea injunction: +"Don't Talk to the Man at the Wheel!" stayed at the stern and +exchanged occasional sentences with the helmsman. + +There were, also, two other passengers on board, both down in the +cabin. One was a grizzled giant, the other was a young woman, some 25 +years of age. The first was a half-brother of Joe Juneau, and was +known throughout the Far North as "The Arctic Wizard" from his uncanny +knowledge of Alaskan mining deposits, and his ability as a mining +engineer in overcoming the peculiar difficulties of frozen ground and +of maintaining machinery in working order under the most rigorous +conditions of weather. The second was "Bull's little gal," more +properly known as Jameine Evans, herself a graduate of the Pittsburgh +School of Mines. + +With the money that had been sent her, when a baby, by the Road-Agent +of Circle, and with the additional sums forwarded from time to time by +Jim, Jameine (so christened as a namesake of the old prospector) had +been able to pay her way through school and college and had taken a +mining course besides. + +This specialized education had been her plan of gratitude. Only by +making herself efficient in a kindred field, she felt, could she ever +be a real "pardner" to Jim; only thus could she repay, in some +measure, the generosity of the old prospector. She had long realized +the unselfishness of the man who had stayed winter after winter in the +frozen North, denying himself the rude pleasures of a mining camp in +order to help "Bull's little gal." + +Ever since Jim had made his famous strike, as a result of the map +which had been sent to her by her father's murderer, Jameine had +regarded herself as the heiress of a dream mine, but a dream which +might, some day, come true. For her own sake, as well as Jim's, she +had read and studied as much as she could of Alaskan conditions. + +It was she who finally disclosed to Jim that the Russian seal-poachers +were probably at fault in chasing him from his strike, and only wanted +to get rid of the inconvenient witness. Thus she had reawakened the +prospector's lagging interest in his find, but lacking the large store +of capital necessary to exploit the mine, she could do nothing. Jim +had used up all his savings in going from town to town trying to +interest a big investor and had finally entered Owens' coal mine in +order to get a little stake again. + +Wizard Juneau was amazed at the extent of mining knowledge shown by +this girl shipmate, and he had spent the greater part of the voyage +from Sitka in imparting to her some of the secrets distilled from his +long experience in frozen mining. He had brought on board the +_Bunting_ many of the publications of the U. S. Geological Survey, and +of the Bureau of Mines, annotated by himself. He had brought, also, a +number of crude maps of half-explored territory, either drawn by his +own hand or by old prospectors, which maps and charts were among his +most prized possessions. + +"Some of these," he explained, "were made by Alf Brooks,[8] one of the +nerviest explorers that the U. S. ever sent out. I've been with him on +more than one reconnoissance survey. And some were made by experts on +the U. S. Revenue Cutter _Bear_.[9] I sailed on her two seasons." + +[Footnote 8: For the Alaskan explorations of Brooks ("Rivers") see the +author's "The Boy with the U. S. Survey."] + +[Footnote 9: For the Behring Sea work of the _Bear_, see the author's +"The Boy with the U. S. Lifesavers."] + +"And do you think, Mr. Juneau, that this island of Uncle Jim's is on +the American side of the line?" + +The "Wizard" pursed his lips with an expression of doubt. + +"It's a toss of the dice," he said. "Ingalook, the easternmost of the +Diomede Islands, where Jim found that piece of gold-bearing quartz, is +sure American territory. I don't take kindly to Ingalook, though. +There'd be trouble, there, in trying to install proper mining and +crushing devices. There's no landing place on that isolated granite +dome standing forlornly out of the sea, except for seals, polar bears, +or crazy prospectors like Jim, there. + +"But this Chukalook Bank of the Road Agent's map, where the pay gravel +and the lignite coal lie--supposing that it's the same as this little +unnamed dot marked on the charts--seems to be right on the +international boundary line. We'll have to wait until we get there to +make accurate observations." + +"Can you do that, too, Mr. Juneau?" + +"Me? No! I can take a sight of course, but not accurate enough where +it's a matter of minutes or even seconds of a degree. But Captain +Robertson can. Like many of these amateur yachtsmen, he's a better +navigator than the captain of some Atlantic liners. It's his hobby. +Besides, he's got instruments of precision aboard that an admiral +would envy. What's more, he's a certificated man, and his say-so on a +nautical observation of longitude would be legal in the courts. Mine +wouldn't." + +"And suppose the island should prove to be on the Russian side?" + +"Then, young lady, you'll have to turn Russian!" + +"What nonsense! You know I wouldn't. No, but speaking seriously?" + +"Well, seriously, then, you'd have to buy the island from the +Bolsheviks, or from the Eastern Siberian Republic, or from the +Japanese, or whoever happens to be claiming it. International rights +up in the Asiatic Arctic are badly mixed up, these days. And that +wouldn't be the worst of it. You'd have to pay stiff royalties and you +wouldn't be sure of any sort of protection--unless it was the +Japanese." + +"We'll buy it, if we have to!" declared Jameine decidedly. "I'm not +going to have anything happen that will spoil Uncle Jim's strike!" + +"He's a regular dad to you, Miss Evans, eh?" + +"He's the only one I ever remember," the girl replied. "My real father +went up to Skagway, just a few weeks after I was born, only having +stayed down in Montana long enough to see me. And, as you know, Mr. +Juneau, he went over the Chilkoot Pass with Uncle Jim and never came +back any more. Mother died when I was quite small. I know Uncle Jim +feels that 'Bull's little gal' is his own. I feel so, too!" + +The grizzled mining engineer patted the hand with which the girl was +holding open the chart. + +"Don't ye worry," he said, kindly, "we'll make good. We'll bluff any +one that comes to Chukalook--supposing we find it--long enough to get +the best o' the pay gravel. If that don't do the trick, we'll fight. + +"And there's another thing. If Chukalook doesn't pan out, there's the +quartz at Ingalook. I've never seen the gold deposit yet--no matter +how poor--that I couldn't turn into money, so long as I could get +enough capital behind me to exploit it." + +"Mr. Owens will give that," asserted Jameine confidently. + +The "Wizard" shook a warning finger. + +"Not just for sentiment, he won't," he said, "not if I read him right. +He's generous enough, and he'd see that you and Jim didn't suffer. But +he's too keen a business man to invest his money unless he sees a fair +chance of return. We've got to show him!" + +"He certainly doesn't seem as enthusiastic about it now, as he did +when we started," Jameine agreed, thoughtfully. + +"That's natural enough! Don't ye forget he's an Australian, and all +the gold fields he's ever seen, there, and in South Africa, were in +hot desert country. These waters don't look promising to him!" + +The "Wizard" was right. Owens was scanning the slate-gray water +flecked with foam and the sky of dripping fog with equal distrust and +dislike. The pieces of ice-floe bobbing in the choppy current inspired +him with uneasiness, even with fear. The assurances of his friend, the +yachtsman, gave him no confidence. + +Had it been possible, he would have been heartily glad to back out of +his agreement, but there was no way he could do it with honor. He had +sought out Jameine in Pittsburgh, had seen Jim's letters, and had +checked up the Express Company's receipts of gold forwarded by the old +prospector from the mining camps of Forty-Mile, of Circle, of Juneau, +of Klondyke, of Dawson City and of Nome. Jameine's hopeful spirit and +her determination to make good on Jim's strike had been infectious. +Owens had set out, almost gaily. But this grim, inhospitable sea put a +damper on his spirits. + +"Doesn't the sun ever shine here, Jack?" he asked abruptly. + +"Not often," was the yachtsman's cheerful answer. "That's why the fur +seals love it. Why, bless you, on Pribilof Islands, where the seal +rockeries lie, there aren't twenty days of sunshine in a year. I know +these waters. I came hunting sea-otter once. We ran two summer months +without seeing the sun." + +"It's no place for me!" declared the mine-owner. "Those who like the +sea can have it, and be welcome!" + +The yachtsman bridled. He loved the sea. + +"Open your nostrils, man, and sniff; that's pure air, at least. It +isn't like what I smelt last time I visited your dirty old coal mine!" +he retorted. "Every dog to its own kennel, Owens! After all, you +wanted to come here." + +Jim felt much the same way. Standing on the foc's'le head, the raw +air, with its sudden hot spells when the sun gleamed dully through the +fog, brought him welcome memories. It seemed homelike, after his brief +experience in a coal mine. As he had said himself, he was a +"sour-dough." The uncanny fascination that the Far North exerts on +those who have once lived there, gripped him hard. + +"Ain't no crowd here to worry a man!" he declared, drawing in deep +breaths, "an' there's room enough to stand straight! Would you want +to go back to them coal galleries, Clem, four feet high an' stinkin'?" + +"They suited me all right before, Jim," the young fellow answered, +"and I don't see why they shouldn't again. I got mightily interested +in coal. Still, I needed a rest, and this trip is interesting, I'll +allow. But wait till we get to the actual mining of the gold, and then +I'll tell you which I like best." + +"An' you, Anton?" + +"I never want to go below ground again," the boy answered promptly. +"But it must be awful cold here in winter--if this is summer!" + +"Ay, it's cold an' dark, no sun at all for two months. An' a man'll go +hungry often. But it's free an' open an' no one has a boss! What's +more, there's gold!" + +Anton shivered. The call of the North had not gripped him, yet. + +Otto, beside the helmsman, was worrying him--neither with the weather, +nor with the question of treasure. To the first he was indifferent, to +the second he was satisfied with drawing full pay every day and not +doing any hewing for it. With huge delight, he was absorbing all the +superstitions of the sea, and giving the steersman a gruesome crop of +tales of knockers and gas sprites underground. + +There was no special reason why he should have come on the voyage, +except that he had asked to come. Owing to Anton's hatred for coal +mining--born of the entombment--Clem had used his position as Jim's +"pardner" to bring the boy along. Otto, having taken what might be +termed a paternal and prophetic interest in the imprisoned men, wanted +to join the party. + +Owens made no objection. He knew laborers would be wanted, and he +preferred men who would not be likely to betray the secret of the +gold. He knew the miner's unswerving loyalty, and was well aware that +loyalty is the one quality which is beyond all price. + +Towards the close of the afternoon, the _Bunting_ shortened sail. They +were drawing near. + +Somewhere, not far from them, lay the Diomede Islands, those two great +granite crags rising sheer out of the sea with deep water on every +side. The lead would give no sign. There is no fog signal on the +Diomedes. In such a thick and clammy mist as hung over the water, a +ship could wreck herself upon those bleak coasts almost before she +saw the surf under her bows. The wind was light, and the brigantine +slid slowly over the water. + +The "Arctic Wizard," his eyes accustomed to the northern skies, was +the first to see a faint purplish blotch in the swirling mist. + +"Land! Captain!" he warned, quickly. "Keep away! Keep well away!" + +Almost instantly, the booming of breakers was heard. + +Well was it for those on board that the _Bunting_ was quick on her +helm! She bore off, just in time, the creaming surf not more than +three cables' length ahead. + +"A little too close for my liking!" exclaimed the yachtsman, but +treating the danger lightly. "That's Ingalook, I suppose, Mr. Juneau?" + +"Ingalook she is. At least, I think so. I've never been quite so +close, before." + +"And I don't want to be, again! Well now, I suppose, the real treasure +hunt begins." + +He called Jim. + +"How did you say Chukalook Bank bore from here?" + +"From Chukalook," Jim answered, "on a clear day, I could see this +island two points east o' south, an' the other island, the Russian +one, three points west o' south." + +The yachtsman looked at him thoughtfully. + +"And there's no knowing what compass correction to allow for a pocket +compass, and there's the magnetic variation besides. Well, we'll work +it out! And how far away do you reckon the island was?" + +"I don't know nothin' about sea distances, Cap'n. She looked just +about the size o' my thumb-nail." + +"So! How high was Chukalook Bank above the water?" + +"She goes up like a wedge o' cake, Cap'n. Maybe five hundred feet at +the highest point. Where I was workin' wasn't more'n fifty foot above +sea level." + +"Well," commented the yachtsman thoughtfully, "allowing for the +curvature of the earth, and for low visibility on these seas that +ought to make Chukalook about thirty or forty miles from here. We'll +put on a little sail and cruise N. N. E. for a few hours." + +But the bank was nearer than Jim supposed. + +Shortly after dawn, a sailor posted in the cross-trees reported a +flat berg to starboard. The sails were furled, and the _Bunting_ came +up to it slowly under her auxiliary screw. + +Jim heard the engines and rushed up on deck. + +"That's Chukalook!" he cried, after the first look. "Now, who says I'm +dreamin'? Wait till I tell Bull's little gal!" + +He had not long to wait. + +The sound of excited voices on deck had awakened the girl, and she +dressed and came up hastily. + +"Jameine!" he shouted, as soon as she came up the companion ladder, +"there's our gold!" + +The girl ran lightly across the deck and pressed the old prospector's +arm. + +"I knew you'd find it, Uncle Jim," she rejoiced, "I said so, all +along!" Then, turning to the mine-owner, who had also come on deck, +she added, "There it is, Mr. Owens!" + +The Australian looked. That low flat bank, slowly sloping upwards, +fringed with ice and deep in snow, was none too reassuring. + +"You're sure?" he asked suspiciously. "It looks to me a whole lot more +like an iceberg than it does like a gold-field!" + +The "Wizard" interrupted, fearing lest Jim should make some rough +rejoinder. + +"It looks like an easy landing-place and that's one good thing," he +said, cheerfully. "The Captain, here, has been making soundings and +says there is good holding ground." + +"That's all I will say, though," put in the yachtsman. "It's not a +harbor. You're exposed here to every wind that blows!" + +"You mean I'd have to build a breakwater?" Owens queried. + +"Probably, if you want smooth water for handling cargoes. But I doubt +if you could manage it. The winter ice would chew your breakwater all +to bits. There's five months of open water, anyway, and the summer +months are not so stormy." + +"I wouldn't try to build a breakwater!" Owens burst out. "How would I +get men and materials up here?" + +The "Wizard" winked at Jim, who was growing restive. + +"Wait till we get Owens ashore and start on the gold," he whispered. +"I've seen these backers get cold feet before, when they hit this +northern country for the first time. They're the worst to hold back, +often, after they once get going." + +But Jim was thoroughly dissatisfied. There was more than a little +likelihood that the old prospector would make some scornful remark, +for he was in his own land now, and had all a "sour-dough's" contempt +for a "tenderfoot." But Jameine's hand was on his arm and he obeyed +the warning pressure. + +The little motor-launch was lowered from the davits, with every member +of the party aboard. None of the sailors was taken, for Jim did not +want to run any risk of strangers taking up claims. The "Wizard" ran +the engine, and the yachtsman took the helm. + +One piece of mechanism, small but very heavy, was lowered into the +boat. It sank her low in the water, but it belonged to the "Wizard" +and he was not the kind of man whose acts any one would question. +Picks, shovels, sledge-hammers, wedges, and dynamite were included in +the cargo. Thus heavily loaded, the boat reached the shore, Jim +pointing out the landing-place. It was not so easy to land as the +Wizard had suggested. It was necessary to wade through the sponge-ice, +churned up the shore, Jameine being carried in the huge arms of the, +"Wizard." + +The snow on the island was almost knee-deep, but, except Owens, none +of the party minded. Jameine was the gayest of all. + +"Lead on to the millions, Uncle Jim!" she cried. + +But the old prospector made the girl take his arm. + +"We'll git there fust, together!" he declared. + +A few minutes tramping brought them to a depression in the snow. + +"Here's the old glory-hole (an open pit, not a shaft), an' nobody's +been here!" he announced triumphantly. He grabbed pickaxe and shovel +and slithered in, with the confidence of a man who knew every inch of +the ground. + +A few scoops of the shovel cleared away the snow. + +Below, though overgrown with dry weeds of many seasons' growing, were +the infallible signs of human handiwork. Even the old sluice was +there, though fallen to pieces. + +The others crowded around the glory-hole. The moment of test had come. + +"Here, 'Wizard'," said Jim, when he had exposed the workings, "there's +where I was pannin' last. Jump in an' take a look." + +The expert, despite his years, leaped in lightly. He took the pick +from Jim's hand, and, with a few vigorous strokes, loosened some of +the gravel. He scrutinized it carefully, first with the naked eye, and +then with a strong pocket lens. + +"Well?" asked Jim, impatiently. + +"Where are the other prospects?" The "Wizard's" kindly tone had +vanished. He was now a mining expert, at his work. Personalities had +faded. Geological questions, only, had weight. + +Silently Jim led him up the slope, Jameine and Clem following. + +Despite the veiling snow, the old prospector located hole after hole +with unfailing accuracy, until seven had been found and examined. The +last one was half-way up the cliff. + +At each prospect the "Wizard" loosened a small handful of gravel, +examined it carefully and put it in a small buckskin bag, pencilling +each bag in order. His expression changed not at all; he bore the true +Western "poker face." + +"What overlies this gravel?" he asked abruptly. + +"Slate," said Jim. + +"Let's see it!" + +They climbed upwards. + +On arriving at the stratum which lay above the gravel, dipping down +at a sharp slope, the expert examined carefully the carbonaceous slate +of which it was composed. + +"We'll go back, now," he said at last. + +But he expressed no opinion. + +"What do you think of it, Mr. Juneau?" queried Owens, when the four +climbers returned to the glory-hole. His tone seemed to suggest that +he half hoped for an unfavorable answer. + +"I'll tell you presently," was the non-committal answer. + +Then he turned to the prospector. + +"Show me that lignite outcrop, now!" + +"Kick the snow away with your feet!" answered Jim, curtly. + +Every one kicked vigorously. Under the snow was a thin layer of soil, +and, below that, not more than two inches beneath the surface, was the +brown-black gleam of a low-grade lignite. Owens broke off a piece from +the outcrop and his expression cleared slightly. Certainly Jim's +statement about the coal was justified, though it was of too low-grade +a quality to be worth exportation; possibly his story about the gold +might prove to be true, also. + +Then the "Wizard," still without a word which might be construed +either as hopeful or as discouraging, brought from the boat the heavy +piece of machinery. He fitted it with a handle and bade Otto turn. The +machine proved to be a small but very powerful crushing-mill, so +devised that the hardest quartz could be ground to powder by hand. +Besides which, it contained within itself, some modern devices for +separating out the gold. + +Bag after bag of the decisive seven was poured in, ground to dust, and +passed through the separating riffles. Each of these riffles had a +self-cleaning device. The expert weighed the gravel before grinding, +weighed the scrapings of the riffles, and made careful notes on the +results of each batch. All was done in utter silence. + +Jim, the true prospector, who had often seen wealth or poverty decided +by the twirl of a pan, stood immovable. If he were worried, he did not +show it. Jameine, on the other hand, was trembling and white. + +At last, the "Wizard," note-book in hand, turned to give his decision. + +"Judging from a direct crushing and separating process, without the +use of mercury," he said, "this gravel ought to give about +six-dollars'-worth of gold to the ton. With mercury, perhaps two or +three more dollars' worth can be extracted, and another couple of +dollars by cyaniding. The gravel is soft and can be hydraulicked, +during the summer. The gold is coarse and easy to separate. The quartz +pebbles will yield more than enough to be worth crushing, but just how +much is indeterminate. + +"That's not rich! By itself, or in the interior, the deposit might not +be worth working. But with lignite right on the ground, to make steam +both for running the machinery and for steam thawing points, and with +a pumping plant using heated sea water for hydraulicking, there ought +to be a net profit of about three dollars a ton." + +The news was received in silence, each voyager occupied with his own +viewpoint of the decision. + +Clem was the first to speak. + +"We've come a long way to get three dollars!" said he, with an attempt +at jocularity. + +Anton grinned assent. Like Clem, he knew nothing about gold-mining. + +Otto waited, well aware that the final result lay between Owens, +Juneau and Jim. + +It was Jameine, with her book-knowledge of mining, who put the vital +question. + +"How many tons do you estimate there may be in the deposit, Mr. +Juneau?" + +"Impossible to say, exactly, especially when the island is masked +under snow. But the prospects have been carefully chosen. They suggest +about four hundred thousand tons in sight, and probably a good deal +more. The gravel is an early Tertiary deposit, lying between two beds +of carbonaceous slate, the lower of which is lignitic. Judging from +the strike of the beds, the gold-bearing gravel runs down under the +sea." + +"Then," said the girl, slowly, "if there are four hundred thousand +tons in sight, which would yield a net profit of three dollars a ton, +you figure on over a million dollars, clear?" + +"If modern machinery is put in and the mine is run on a business +basis, I should say at least that. Possibly more!" + +There was a burst of excited exclamations from all sides. + +Every one turned to Jim, who was looking out across the sea toward +Alaska. + +"Bull, old pardner," he said softly, "I reckon I've made good for your +little gal!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A SIBERIAN FILIBUSTER + + +By July, Chukalook Bank was humming with noise. The clank of +machinery, the pounding of stamp mills, and the grinding smash of +giant jets of water driven from hydraulic nozzles, set vibrating the +tiny islands on the borders of the Arctic Ocean. + +The terns and gulls, driven from their century-old refuge, circled +over the little spot of land with shrill cries and fled to nest on +Ingalook; polar bears, who, in other seasons, had found a dinner of +fat seal on Chukalook, swam toward the island from floating cakes of +ice, and then retreated hurriedly; the sea otter, shyest of all the +fur-bearing creatures of the world, sped to more isolated haunts. + +The island itself was melting like a snowbank beneath a summer sun. A +three-inch jet of water, immeasurably more powerful than the forceful +spout that hisses from a fire-engine hose, roared vengefully night +and day against the gravel bank, and ate away the hill. + +The never-ceasing torrent of gravel and boulders, mingled with the +water, rattled and rumbled downwards with the force of the current +into a massive sluice. The bottom of this sluice was constructed of +paving blocks, crossed with copper-plated riffles of tremendous +strength, on which not less than two tons of mercury had been placed. + +Thus considered, the installation of the Bull Mine--as Jim insisted +that it should be called--was but a simple miners' sluice on an +enormous scale. It was the same device as that which Jim's father and +his partners were working on the Carson River when the Comstock Lode +was discovered, save that the hydraulic jet performed all the work of +digging and shoveling the pay dirt into the sluice. + +Shortly before reaching the sea, however, the works became more +complicated. The "Wizard" and Owens--one with Arctic and the other +with Australian and South African experience--had arranged a system of +separating the gold bearing gravel from the bowlders, and, later, the +unproductive material from that which contained the precious metal. +The smaller, gold-bearing part was washed into the stamp-mills, which +worked incessantly, and which reduced pebbles and grit and sand and +gold to a pasty slime. This, in turn, was led to cyanide tanks. Thus +every particle of the gold was extracted. + +Hydraulicking was not altogether new to Jim. He had seen it done on a +giant scale, as in California during the seventies, when huge +reservoirs and mile-long canals were built at a cost of many millions. +Vast works these, belonging to a short and strange era of mining, +immense constructions, now lying ruined and abandoned in the deserts +of their own making. + +That was before the farmers and fruit-growers of California had +succeeded, in 1884, in securing the passage of a law to prevent +"slicking," as hydraulicking was termed. It was time! Vast stretches +of territory were being reduced to chaos by the appalling havoc which +follows hydraulic operations on a large scale. + +Many rivers were entirely choked by debris from the crumbled mountains +and spread their waters in destructive floods. On one small stream +alone, the Lower Yuba, over 16,000 acres of high-grade farm lands were +reduced to a condition which an official investigator for the state +declared "could not have been surpassed by tornado, flood, earthquake, +and volcano combined." + + +[Illustration: HYDRAULICKING IN COLORADO. + +The "Snowstorm Placer," a typical modern pay-gravel plant. + +_From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co._] + + +[Illustration: AMERICA'S "GOLD-SHIP" AT WORK. + +Dredge operating in Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields, California. + +_From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co._] + + +Before the farmers had succeeded in stopping the hydraulic miners, a +stretch of land, larger than all the territory devastated by the World +War, was rendered a hideous desolation forever incapable of +settlement. Ten years of hydraulicking had brought more than +$150,000,000 in gold dust to the mining interests, but had caused a +perpetual damage that ten times that sum could not repay. + +In every civilized country, to-day, hydraulicking is forbidden, except +on a small scale. It is only permitted in such cases and under such +conditions that the mining company can dispose of the tailings without +injury to property holders further down the stream. + +The "gold ship" has taken the place of the hydraulic jet and the +sluice. It is a weird device! It is nothing more or less than a +dredge, floating in a lake of water--maybe in the middle of a +desert--which, as it moves along, moves its own lake with it. It +dredges, washes, and separates hundreds of tons of sand or gravel with +the same water in which it floats, using the water over and over +again. By law, the tailings which it leaves behind must be leveled, +soil placed thereon and either grass or trees planted. Thus the gold +ship advances over dry land, chewing its own way forward, and remaking +the land it leaves behind. + +On Chukalook Bank, however, hydraulicking was permissible. There were +no farm lands to be spoiled. There were no rivers to be choked up. The +tailings and the refuse could do no harm. On the contrary, by +employing the forces of the current descending in the sluice, the +"Wizard" operated a narrow-gauge tramway on an endless chain, and the +tailings were emptied into cars which ran out to sea, making their own +land as they went. The cars had a dumping device, and needed but one +man to tip them. Thus little by little, a natural breakwater crept out +seawards, forming a harbor in which ships could ride in safety. + +As the "Wizard" had anticipated, Owens had become as enthusiastic +after the value of the mine had been demonstrated as he had been +coldly critical before. The lure of gold caught him anew, and he +invested capital freely. He was an excellent business man and a good +judge of men. Besides paying Juneau a large salary as superintendent +and mine engineer, he had shrewdly put several shares of stock in the +"Wizard's" name, thus ensuring his most hearty support. + +Moreover, Owens had learned to appreciate Jameine. He had found out +that the girl had taken courses in the business side of mine +management as well as in the technical branches, and though her +knowledge was theoretical only, it was sound. With her he could +discuss detailed questions of book-keeping and the like, which only +annoyed the mining expert. Accordingly, Owens appointed Jameine his +personal representative, thus securing Jim's loyalty forever. This +done, he returned to his coal mine in Ohio, leaving the "Wizard" in +charge. + +Otto had been made foreman, and, though he constantly related to the +men under him how different were the ways of coal-mines, he was +inordinately proud of his position. He was able to do that most +important of all things in mine labor--to keep the workmen satisfied +at their work without raising wages to the point where profit ceases. + +Anton, despite his first objection to the country, had become a +hero-worshipper of Jim. He had a new ambition. He desired, above all +things, to reach the sublime height of being regarded as a +"sour-dough." The boy had shown a certain natural quickness for +mechanics, and, while on the yacht, had chummed up with the wireless +operator of the _Bunting_. Capt. Robertson, on his second trip, had +brought with him a small wireless outfit, which the operator installed +on the highest point of Chukalook and taught Anton to handle. + +Clem took the place of assistant to the "Wizard." His small knowledge +of geology--though it was mainly of coal seams--was of service, and +the young fellow was quick to learn. But the principal attraction to +him, on the island, was "Bull's little gal." + +Jim was the life and soul of the mine. He was here, there, and +everywhere. The workmen, especially those who were "sour-doughs" +themselves, found a keen pleasure in the thought that a man like +themselves had thus made good. It fed the fuel of hope which flames so +brilliantly in the Frozen North. + +A typical gold prospector, all the complicated machinery of his own +mine meant little to him. Jameine understood it all and did her best +to explain it to him, but Jim could not be persuaded to take an +interest in it. + +One day he turned his back on the works. With pick, shovel, and pan, +he set off to the other side of the island, where the little creek +ran, and where he had first panned gold on Chukalook, before he began +prospecting the gravel. Once more, from early morning to late evening, +he dug and panned as of old. Each night he returned triumphantly with +half a handful of gold dust as the fruit of his day's toil. + +Jameine did not have the heart to point out to him that, with the Bull +Mine running at full blast, his share of the profits brought him more +wealth in an hour than did a week's laborious panning of the sands of +the little creek. She knew that Jim could have no greater happiness +than, at the end of the day's work, to add a few more grains of gold +dust to the growing heap that rested, in a bowl, openly exposed, on a +rough table in her tiny sitting room. + +But this peaceful exploitation of Chukalook was not to continue +uninterruptedly. + +One morning, the smoke of a good-sized steamer was seen on the +horizon. She came, not from the direction of Ingalook, as the +_Bunting_ and the supply steamers came, but from the Russian island to +the south-west. + +Jim, busily panning on the creek, was the first to see her. He dropped +his tools and hurried to the power house. + +"There's trouble coming, 'Wizard'!" he said briefly, and pointed to +the steamer. + +"You mean she's Russian? It's likely enough, then," was the grave +reply. "Though I don't know that they can do much." + +"They chucked me off here, once!" the old prospector remarked, +revengefully. + +"They'll have their hands full doing it a second time! Counting all +the workmen, we've a pretty strong gang here, Jim. And most of the men +would fight." + +The steamer drew nearer, and the mining expert went into the house for +his field-glasses. + +Presently she was close enough for the glass to reveal an unusually +large number of men on her deck. There was a more sinister omen +still--a six-inch gun in her bow! + +"A converted cruiser! H'm, this looks serious, Jim! Send Anton here, +on the run." + +The boy came instantly. + +The "Wizard" shot out his orders. + +"Get to the mess-tent as quick as you know how and grab some food. Get +a gun and some ammunition. Then climb up to the wireless station right +away. If I blow one blast on the engine-house whistle, don't pay any +attention. If there are two long blasts, you can come back. But if you +hear a succession of short, sharp blasts, be sure you start sending, +and keep on sending!" + +Anton, keenly at attention, answered, + +"What shall I send?" + +"The S.O.S., first. Then the code signal for the Revenue Cutter +_Bear_--you know it, don't you?" + +"Yes." + +"Then send--'Americans in peril, Chukalook' and give the latitude and +longitude. You'll find that written down just inside the cover of the +International Code Book. I put it there in case of need. Repeat the +S.O.S., the code number and the message until you get a reply." + +"And if I don't get a reply?" + +"Keep on sending." + +"Until when?" + +"Until you're shot down, if necessary!" + +"Very well, Mr. Juneau. You can count on me." + +"I know I can, my boy. Now--hurry!" + +The suspicious steamer came nearer and turned the corner of the newly +made breakwater. As she dropped her anchor, she displayed the flag of +the Eastern Siberian Republic, at that time in the hands of the +Bolsheviks. + +"We've some 'sour-doughs' in the plant," suggested Jim. "If there's +goin' to be trouble, they'll be lookin' for front seats. Shall I get +'em here?" + +"You might as well. They can bring their shooting-irons, too." + +Jim was not long gone. When he returned, he brought ten men at his +heels, all of the Roaring North breed. Most of them held posts of +trust in some part of the Bull Mine plant and all were ready to stand +by Jim through thick and thin. + +The "Wizard's" address to the men was brief. + +"Russian 'claim-jumpers,' I reckon," he said, pointing to the steamer. +"If they're looking for trouble, they'll get it. We'll parley first, +and if necessary, shoot afterwards. No one touches his gun till Jim +fires. That's orders. Do you get it?" + +The men nodded. Like most of their kind, they were chary of speech and +the word "claim-jumper" means to a miner what the word "horse-thief" +meant to the cowboy. There was no need to say more. + +The men had gathered none too soon. A boat had put out from the +steamer and was drawing close to shore. There were a dozen sailors +aboard in a nondescript imitation of the Russian naval uniform, but +armed with modern rifles. An officer was in the stern. + +On reaching the landing-place, the officer leaped ashore, followed by +the armed guard. + +"Who owns this mine?" he demanded in good English. + +"An American syndicate," the "Wizard" answered briefly. + +"And who is in charge here?" + +"I am." + +"In that case, I am instructed to notify you that you are occupying +Siberian territory." + +"That," responded the "Wizard" curtly, "is either a geographical error +or a deliberate lie." + +The officer made a gesture towards his hip, evidently forgetting the +sword at his side, a movement which both Jim and the "Wizard" noted. + +"Sir!" he began. + +"This island," the "Wizard" continued, ignoring the interruption, "is +a few seconds more than forty minutes of a degree east of the +international boundary. Observations of the most precise character +have been taken by Captain Robertson of the _Bunting_ and were duly +recorded at Washington more than two months ago." + +The officer seemed taken aback at this definite declaration, but +maintained his position firmly. + +"This is Siberian territory," he repeated. "I have orders to +confiscate whatever gold may have been extracted, and to take +possession of the plant, as it stands, in the name of my government." + +"If you try it, you'll get shot," was the terse reply. + +"You would fire on an officer of--" + +Jim cut in, dryly. + +"I'll fire on an American navy deserter, any time," he said, making a +shrewd guess at the character of the intruder, "an' it won't worry my +conscience none. What's more, I'll put a bullet through a +claim-jumper, whenever I feel like it." + +The self-styled Siberian felt that he was getting the worse of the +argument, and his temper rose. + +"Enough talk! I have received information that you are gold-mining on +Eastern Siberian territory. You are hereby notified that the mine is +confiscated. All those in authority will come aboard the cruiser _Mir_ +as prisoners. You will be taken to the mainland for trial. Perhaps you +will have the opportunity to prove your observations as to longitude, +there!" he sneered. + +"Is the Eastern Siberian Republic at war with the United States?" +queried the "Wizard" with dangerous quietness. + +"That does not concern you! Deliver me, at once, the keys and working +maps of the mine." + +"No!" + +Jim added a western retort that roused the deserter to a livid fury. +He answered viciously, + +"We've a six-inch gun aboard that can blow your works to splinters!" + +"And then?" + +"We'll come ashore and take possession. It won't do you any good to +ask for mercy, then!" + +The "Wizard" stepped forward, his giant frame towering above the +intruder. + +"This parley is over!" he thundered. "I declare you pirates, and give +you five minutes to get yourselves off this island! + +"Jim, get your watch out! If there's one of these scoundrels on shore +at the end of that time, shoot! If any one of them makes a hostile +move, shoot! And shoot to kill!" + +He turned to the supposed Siberian. + +"As for you, you'd better be the first one in the boat! Every one of +these men is a two-gun man, and I reckon you know what that means!" + +The officer stood his ground, and entered upon an argument as to the +rights of the case, but was cut short by Jim's crisp announcement, + +"One minute gone!" + +For a second or two the filibusterer hesitated, but the odds were +even, twelve against twelve. Well he knew that the Americans could +shoot quicker and straighter than his men, who were an undisciplined +lot. He realized, also, that he would be the first to fall. + +Scowling, he gave the order to retreat, amid the open murmurs of his +men, who, under Bolshevist rule, considered themselves the equals of +their officers. + +The instant that they were embarked, the "Wizard" turned to Jim. + +"We haven't many minutes to lose! That hound will open up with the +gun, as soon as he reports on board. + +"Get to the house as quick as you can. Rush Miss Evans and all the +office crowd into No. 2 gravel pit, pronto! Shells can't reach them +there." + +"I'll tell the engineer to whistle to Anton. Then I'll close down the +works and get the men into shelter. But we've got to act lively!" + +Crisply he gave his orders to the waiting men, several of whom were +grumbling because they had not been allowed to "clean up the gang" as +one of them phrased it. They brightened up, however, at the prospect +that there would be a fight. + +Half a minute later, the whistle sent out a succession of sharp +blasts, and, almost simultaneously, there came the sharp crackle of +wireless from the station on the hill. + +A volume of Russian curses was heard coming over the water at this +sound, and the rowers redoubled their efforts. + +Presently, from all corners of the plant, the workers came hurrying. +The last man was hardly down in the gravel pit when there came a +detonation from the sea-front and a shell came whistling over. + +It was not directed at the works, but at the tiny cabin on the top of +the hill which held the wireless outfit. Fortunately, the cabin was +partly sheltered by a rock, and, moreover, it was but a small mark to +try to hit. Some twenty shells passed over the island or exploded idly +on the hill before one struck the sheltering rock. The pieces screamed +over the cabin, one fragment tearing a hole in the roof but doing no +harm to Anton. + +Truth to tell, the boy was thoroughly enjoying himself. He felt a +hero. Never having seen a shot fired in earnest, he hardly realized +what the effects of a shell-burst might be. + +The wireless crackled on. + +For two hours the bombardment continued, several pieces of shell +having passed through the walls above his head. The rock protected the +lower part of the cabin. Anton was crouched low over his instrument, +and, as yet, the aerials were intact. + +Then, suddenly, a piece of bursting shell whizzed across the wires. + +Silence! + +The wireless was down. + +Chukalook Bank was absolutely cut off from all communication with the +outside world. The men of Bull Mine must fight off the Siberian +cruiser, alone. + +The six-inch gun now was turned on the works, a nearer and an easier +target. The power-house, the stamp-mills and the cyanide vats suffered +most. A six-inch shell at close range can do an appalling amount of +destruction. At the end of an hour, most of the works were in ruins. +Yet shells could not destroy the gravel bank, nor damage the great +sluice beyond repair. + +The bombardment ceased for a few minutes. + +Then four boat-loads of men put off from the cruiser, and, at the same +time, the six-inch gun began anew, covering their advance. + +"Let's get down to the shore an' keep 'em from landin'!" cried Jim. + +But the "Wizard" held him back. + +"And have our men killed for nothing? No, Jim, we've got a good +trench here and can hold it. It'll cost them dear to attack." + +"But they'll get all the gold from our last clean-up!" + +"They won't, Uncle Jim," put in Jameine. "I opened the safe and we +carried all the bags here." + +"And your own little pile?" + +The girl shook a little sewing-bag she was carrying, and laughed. + +"I was sewing when you called me, and I only had time to throw it in +here. Gold dust is all mixed up with pins and needles and things." + +Jim nodded. + +"You're right, 'Wizard'," he said. "This is the place we've got to +hold." + +"And we'd better fortify one end of it, solid, if the worst comes to +the worst. Get some of the men to roll bowlders here to make a solid +wall." + +The boats drew up to the landing-place. + +"Hand me one o' them rifles!" suggested one of the twelve men whom Jim +had first chosen. "I'm good on the shoot. Them claim-jumpers is only +about six hundred yards away. I can hit a runnin' rabbit, at that +distance." + +"Good enough," agreed the "Wizard," "if you can pot them off, so much +the better. They began the trouble and they fired first. Are there +any more snipers here?" + +Two more of the men professed themselves to be fair shots. + +Creeping out of the trench, the three snipers esconsced themselves in +cover, leaving only a loophole for their rifles. Presently one, and +then another rifle cracked. + +Two of the invaders fell. + +A volley followed. It pattered harmlessly against the bowlders where +the snipers were hidden and passed high over the heads of the rest of +the men, safe in the gravel-pit. + +"This," said the first sniper, as he took aim and fired a second time, +"is tame sport. It's too easy." + +A third man fell. + +The Siberians scattered. It was clear that they had little taste for +this kind of thing. They found cover, and, for half an hour or more, +not one showed himself. + +Then a little group dashed across towards the house, evidently with +the intention of pillage. The three snipers fired. One man fell, and +two, evidently wounded, limped after their fellows. + +Then, for hours, not a sign! + +Evening drew down, a foggy evening, with a mist so dense that the +faint gleam of what was almost the midnight sun failed to pierce it. +By eleven o'clock, it was nearly dark. + +"They'll attack around midnight, likely," one of the men suggested. +"Can't we make a big fire, 'Wizard'?" + +"There's no wood here, Bob," the expert replied. "As for the lignite, +even if we could get enough of it here without exposing ourselves, it +makes such a lot of smoke that it would help them more than it would +us. No, we'll have to send out scouts, though it'll be dangerous for +those who go. Who'll volunteer?" + +A chorus answered him, the three snipers claiming the preference. + +"No," said their leader, "I can't spare you. But I'll take old-timers, +that's sure!" He chose them carefully. "Now," he said, when he sent +them out, "keep your ears open. Don't shoot unless you have to. If you +see or hear any one coming, get back as quick as you can. It's a risk, +you know!" + +"Aw, 'Wizard'!" exclaimed one of them reproachfully, "you ain't +talkin' to tenderfeet!" + +"If you were a tenderfoot I wouldn't have picked you for a man's job," +the leader answered, knowing well the pride of the "sour-dough." "Out +with you, now, and quietly!" + +An hour passed, and then one of the scouts crawled back. + +"They're comin', 'Wizard'!" + +The other three scouts followed in short order. The Siberians were +advancing in an extended line. + +"To your places, men! Jim, you and the three I named will hold the +breastwork. The girl's there!" + +Jim looked longingly at the edge of the gravel pit, up which the men +were creeping. He was torn between his desire to be in the forefront +of the battle and his eagerness to be near enough to protect Jameine. +But, like all men who have really known the life of the frontier, he +obeyed a leader's orders unquestioningly. + +A few minutes later, out from the half-gloom and the wet fog, an +irregular line of fire ran, as a hundred or more rifles cracked +simultaneously. The miners responded with a scattering fire. + +The Siberians were on them! + +The fog gave the attackers an advantage. The Americans had only the +time to fire a second volley when the Siberians leaped over the edge +of the gravel pit. A furious hand-to-hand conflict began, but the +miners were terribly out-numbered. + +Worse, infinitely worse, the attackers possessed those diabolical +engines of destruction which were developed in the World War--hand +grenades. These, thrown upon the frozen gravel, exploded in all +directions. Into the disordered ranks of the miners, the Siberians +charged with the bayonet. + +Armed only with their rifles, which were useless at close range, and +with six-shooters, a weapon of but short usefulness, the Americans +fought a losing fight. + +Yet they repulsed the first attack, but at a staggering loss. The +"Wizard," seriously but not fatally wounded, was carried behind the +breastwork, his last words before losing consciousness being an order +to cover the shelter with flat slabs of slate, before the Siberians +got near enough to throw their grenades into the little fortified +space. + +Jim straightened up. + +"Good-bye, little gal, if I don't see you again!" he called. "My place +is at the front, now!" + +He assumed the lead. + +A second attack, even more vicious than the first, followed. The +miners had reloaded. Most of them had two guns, hastily snatched from +dead or wounded comrades. But for the grenades, they could have more +than held their own. It was not to be. When the second rush subsided, +the Siberians held one end of the gravel pit. The farther end, where +were Jameine and the wounded men, held firm. + +There came a lull, and, from where they lurked, the defenders saw +suddenly some flashes of light from around the wireless house. + +"They're after Anton!" said Clem. "He's all alone, up there. We can't +leave the kid!" + +"Right!" agreed a couple of the men. "Let's go!" + +But Jim stopped them. + +"We're too few, as it is," he ordered. "Anton must take his chance. +We've the girl here, the wounded, and the gold." + +"He's my partner!" declared Clem, who knew the magic of the word on +Jim. + +"Me, too; I go!" declared Otto, in his most stubborn voice. + +Jim hesitated. A partner's right was sacred. + +"Go ahead, then," he said, "an' quick, afore the fog lifts. She's +gettin' lighter, now!" + +The odds were more even now. Between the barricade that the Siberians +had thrown up hastily and the breastwork held by the miners, there was +an open space, too wide for the throwing of the grenades. The +six-shooters held it clear. + +Again the Siberians rushed. Claim-jumpers they might be, but they were +worthy fighters. They reached almost to the breastwork, and one man +had his arm poised to throw a grenade within, when Jim leaped forward +and brained him with the butt end of a pistol. For full ten minutes, +it was a death-grapple, but the attackers were beaten back. + +The case of the Americans was desperate. Ammunition was growing short. + +Another such attack might finish them. + +The Siberians, however, had suffered heavily, and, all unknowing that +their foes were almost out of cartridges, refused to charge again. + +The faint light strengthened. The mist began to rise. Soon it would be +full daylight. The miners braced themselves for what they feared might +be the last shock. + +Jim, bleeding from two slight wounds, held his men well together. + +There came a babble of voices and then a movement behind the +barricade. + +The Americans stiffened. + +Suddenly, a sharp shot resounded across the water, followed by a +second report, evidently from a gun of different calibre. + +The Siberians clambered from behind their barricade and fled. + +At almost the same instant, Otto, Clem, and Anton were seen to emerge +from the wireless cabin, running down the hill and shouting. The boy +had his arm in a bloody sling. So far as could be seen, the others +were not hurt. + +Jim scrambled to the edge of the gravel-pit and looked to sea. + +There, her guns trained on the filibustering cruiser _Mir_, the Stars +and Stripes flying at her stern, lay the U. S. Revenue Cutter _Bear_, +summoned by the wireless messages of Anton, sent while the roof over +his head was being rent by shell. + +Jim's strike was not to go for nought. The gold of "Bull's little gal" +had welded the partnership that a coal-mine disaster had begun. + + +THE END + + + + +U. S. SERVICE SERIES + +By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER + +Illustrations from photographs taken in work for U. S. Government + +Large 12mo Cloth $1.75 each, net + + "There are no better books for boys than Francis + Rolt-Wheeler's 'U. S. Service Series.'"--_Chicago + Record-Herald._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY + +[Illustration] + +This story describes the thrilling adventures of members of the U. S. +Geological Survey, graphically woven into a stirring narrative that +both pleases and instructs. The author enjoys an intimate acquaintance +with the chiefs of the various bureaus in Washington, and is able to +obtain at first hand the material for his books. + + "There as abundant charm and vigor in the narrative + which is sure to please the boy readers and will do + much toward stimulating their patriotism by making them + alive to the needs of conservation of the vast + resources of their country."--_Chicago News._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS + +The life of a typical boy is followed in all its adventurous +detail--the mighty representative of our country's government, though +young in years--a youthful monarch in a vast domain of forest. Replete +with information, alive with adventure, and inciting patriotism at +every step, this handsome book is one to be instantly appreciated. + + "It is a fascinating romance of real life in our + country, and will prove a great pleasure and + inspiration to the boys who read it."--_The Continent, + Chicago._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. CENSUS + +Through the experiences of a bright American boy, the author shows how +the necessary information is gathered. The securing of this often +involves hardship and peril, requiring journeys by dog-team in the +frozen North and by launch in the alligator-filled Everglades of +Florida, while the enumerator whose work lies among the dangerous +criminal classes of the greater cities must take his life in his own +hands. + + "Every young man should read this story from cover to + cover, thereby getting a clear conception of conditions + as they exist to-day, for such knowledge will have a + clean, invigorating and healthy influence on the young + growing and thinking mind."--_Boston Globe._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FISHERIES + +[Illustration] + +With a bright, active American youth as a hero, is told the story of +the Fisheries, which in their actual importance dwarf every other +human industry. The book does not lack thrilling scenes. The far +Aleutian Islands have witnessed more desperate sea-fighting than has +occurred elsewhere since the days of the Spanish buccaneers, and +pirate craft, which the U. S. Fisheries must watch, rifle in hand, are +prowling in the Behring Sea to-day. The fish-farms of the United +States are as interesting as they are immense in their scope. + + "One of the best books for boys of all ages, so + attractively written and illustrated as to fascinate + the reader into staying up until all hours to finish + it."--_Philadelphia Despatch._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. INDIANS + +[Illustration] + +This book tells all about the Indian as he really was and is; the +Menominee in his birch-bark canoe; the Iroquois in his wigwam in the +forest; the Sioux of the plains upon his war-pony; the Apache, cruel +and unyielding as his arid desert; the Pueblo Indians, with remains of +ancient Spanish civilization lurking in the fastnesses of their massed +communal dwellings; the Tlingit of the Pacific Coast, with his +totem-poles. With a typical bright American youth as a central figure, +a good idea of a great field of national activity is given, and made +thrilling in its human side by the heroism demanded by the +little-known adventures of those who do the work of "Uncle Sam." + + "An exceedingly interesting Indian story, because it is + true, and not merely a dramatic and picturesque + incident of Indian life."--_N. Y. Times._ + + "It tells the Indian's story in a way that will + fascinate the youngster."--_Rochester Herald._ + + +_For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by +the publishers_ + +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected for this electronic edition. + +In Chapter I, a missing period was added after "knock a man down", and +"the he mightn't recover" was changed to "that he mightn't recover". + +In Chapter V, "The Lousiana Purchase" was changed to "The Louisiana +Purchase". Also, there was no footnote marker in the main body of the +text for the second footnote. The footnote has been placed after what +appears to be the most appropriate paragraph. + +In Chapter VI, "wealth and properity" was changed to "wealth and +prosperity". + +In Chapter VII, "a place where the is gold" was changed to "a place +where there is gold", a comma was changed to a period after "blue, +green, or grey", and "Six Mile Canon" was changed to Six Mile Cañon". + +In Chapter VIII, a comma was added after "You can't blame Jim for not +knowing why, Clem". + +In Chapter IX, a quotation mark was added after "other types of +veins", and "left from the Cassier" was changed to "left from the +Cassiar". + +In Chapter X, quotation marks were added after "there ain't no use to +play" and before "Very pretty, gents." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy With the U.S. Miners, by +Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + +***** This file should be named 32322-0.txt or 32322-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/2/32322/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/32322-0.zip b/32322-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38c65b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/32322-0.zip diff --git a/32322-8.txt b/32322-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4edb4cf --- /dev/null +++ b/32322-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8258 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Boy With the U.S. Miners, by Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy With the U.S. Miners + +Author: Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [EBook #32322] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: cover of The Boy With the U. S. Miners] + + + + +[Illustration: NOT DEMONS, BUT SAVIORS. + +Mine rescue crew, equipped with oxygen-breathing apparatus, exploring +mine after a disaster. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + + + +U. S. SERVICE SERIES. + +THE BOY WITH +THE U. S. MINERS + +BY + +FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER + +With Thirty-six Illustrations + +[Illustration] + +BOSTON +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +Copyright, 1922, +BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +All Rights Reserved + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. MINERS + + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + +BERWICK & SMITH CO., +NORWOOD PRESS, +NORWOOD MASS. + + + + +PREFACE + + +No walk of life is more wild and adventurous than that of the questing +miner, whom neither Arctic cold nor tropic heat can bar in his mad +race for the buried treasures of the Earth; no profession is more +hazardous than that of the working miner, whose every step underground +is full of peril. + +Wealth is not all. The thrill of the miner's life lies not in the +making of millions. It lies in the ruggedness of his manhood, in the +vigor of his partnerships, in the roaring ways of the mining camps, +and the life of open spaces. + +Heroism and daring mark the miner. From the waterless deserts of +California to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, from the loftiest peaks +of the snow-capped Sierras to the stifling depths of the Carson Sink, +the prospector has prowled. Lonely and forgotten, his discoveries have +brought great states into being; hungry and poor, he has opened vaults +of riches thousandfold vaster than the treasuries of kings. + +To give a glimpse of the lives of such men, to reveal the amazing +wealth which the Earth yields to those who are willing to dare, and to +set forth what an incalculable debt of gratitude the United States +owes to the miner, is the aim and purpose of + +THE AUTHOR + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I PAGE +UNDERGROUND TERRORS 11 + +CHAPTER II +ENTOMBED ALIVE 40 + +CHAPTER III +THE DANGERS OF RESCUE 67 + +CHAPTER IV +EIGHT DAYS OF DARK 98 + +CHAPTER V +THE LURE OF GOLD 128 + +CHAPTER VI +NUGGETS! 146 + +CHAPTER VII +THE FORTY-NINERS 174 + +CHAPTER VIII +THE GREAT BONANZA 204 + +CHAPTER IX +WHERE TREASURE HIDES 232 + +CHAPTER X +THE ROARING NORTH 256 + +CHAPTER XI +THE LONELY ISLAND 276 + +CHAPTER XII +A SIBERIAN FILIBUSTER 298 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Not Demons, but Saviors Frontispiece + FACING PAGE +How Anton's Father was Killed 12 +Coal-Hewers at Work 13 +Where the Branch Line Forks 13 +Knockers 20 +Gathon, Goblin of the Mines 20 +Dwarfs in the Mine 21 +Miners Descending a Shaft 54 +Falling-in of a Mine 55 +Explosion of "Fire Damp" 55 +Into the Poison-Filled Air 82 +U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car 83 +Interior View showing Life-Saving Equipment 83 +Where the Timber goes 90 +Geophone Expert Listening for Tapping of Survivors 91 +Building the Wall for the "Sand-Hogs" 91 +Divining-Rods 138 +The World's Oldest Picture of Gold-Seekers 139 +Australia's Treasure-House 158 +In the Richest Gold Mine of the World 159 +Sutter's Mill 176 +The Rush to the Gold Mines 177 +The Prospector of To-day 184 +Flume at the Melones Mine 185 +The Coming of the Forty-Niners 194 +David Egelston 195 +The Miner's Sluice 214 +Panning Gold on the Klondyke 215 +Where Deserts Yield Millions 236 +The Eater of Mountains 237 +The Top of the Chilkoot Pass 260 +Pass in the Sierra Nevadas 261 +Hydraulicking in Colorado 300 +America's "Gold-Ship" at Work 301 + + + + +THE BOY WITH THE U S. MINERS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +UNDERGROUND TERRORS + + +"Ay, lad," said the old miner, the pale flame of his cap-lamp lighting +up his wrinkled face and throwing a distorted shadow on the wall of +coal behind, "there's goin' to be a plenty of us killed soon." + +"Likely enough, if they're all as careless as you," Clem retorted. + +"Carelessness ain't got nothin' to do with it," the old man replied. +"The 'knockers' has got to be satisfied! There ain't been an accident +here for months. It'll come soon! The spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood." + +"Nonsense, Otto! The idea of an old-timer like you believing in +goblins and all that superstitious stuff!" + +"It's easy enough for you to say 'nonsense,' Clem Swinton, an' to +make game o' men who were handlin' a coal pick when you was playin' +with a rattle, but that don't change the facts. Why, even Anton, here, +youngster that he is, knows better'n to deny the spirits below ground. +The knockers got your father, Anton, didn't they?" + +Anton Rover, one of the youngest boys in the mine, to whom the old +miner had turned for affirmation, nodded his head in agreement. Like +many of his fellows, the lad was profoundly credulous. + +From his Polish mother--herself the daughter of a Polish miner--Anton +had inherited a firm belief in demons, goblins, gnomes, trolls, +kobolds, knockers, and the various races of weird creatures with which +the Slavic and Teutonic peoples have dowered the world underground. +From his earliest childhood he had been familiar with tales of +subterranean terror, and he knew that his father had often foregone a +day's work and a day's pay rather than go down the mine-shaft if some +evil omen had occurred. + +Yet Anton was willing to accept modern ideas, also. Clem was both his +protector and his chum, and the boy had a great respect for his older +comrade's knowledge and good sense. He was aware, too, that Clem +was unusually well informed, for the young fellow was a natural +student and was fitting himself for a higher position in the mine by +hard reading. This Ohio mine, like many of the American collieries, +maintained a free school and an admirable technical library for the +use of those workers who wished to better themselves. + + +[Illustration: HOW ANTON'S FATHER WAS KILLED. + +Miner, failing to test for vibration when tapping roof-slate, goes to +work and is crushed by falling slate. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: COAL-HEWERS AT WORK. + +Holing or Undercutting in a typical seam not high enough for men to +stand upright. + +_From "Mines and Their Story."_] + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE BRANCH LINE FORKS. + +Loaded car of coal switched to main line and on its way to the shaft. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._] + + +The young student miner was zealous in his efforts to promote modern +ideas among his comrades, and knew that the old superstitions bred +carelessness and a blind belief in Fate. Despite their differences in +age and in points of view, he and Otto were warm friends, and he +returned the old man's attack promptly. + +"So far as Anton's father is concerned, Otto," he said, "it was Jim +Rover's carelessness that killed him. He was caught by a falling roof +just because he wouldn't take the trouble to make sure that the draw +slate overhead was solid before setting to work to undercut the coal. +I know that's so, because he told me, just before he died. I was the +first one to reach him, after the fall, for I was working in the next +room, just around the rib." + +"An' who made the draw slate fall, just when Jim Rover was a-standin' +right under it? Answer me that, Clem Swinton!" + +The other shrugged his shoulders. + +"Every man who's ever handled a coal pick knows that draw slate is apt +to work loose. That's one of the dangers of the business. And the +danger can be avoided, as you know perfectly well, Otto, if a chap +will feel the roof for vibration, with one hand, while he uses the +other to tap on the slate with the flat side of a pick. If he won't +take the trouble--why, it's his own fault if he gets killed. + +"Blaming the 'knockers,' Otto, doesn't hide the fact that nearly a +thousand miners get killed in the United States every year, just +through their own carelessness." + +The old man shook a finger ominously. + +"It isn't always the careless ones what get taken," he declared. "Look +out for yourself, Clem Swinton; look out for yourself! It's you the +knockers'll be after, next, an' much good all your readin'll do you, +then! I warned Jim Rover less'n a week afore he got killed, an' I'm +warnin' you now." + +Anton looked up, fearfully, for old Otto had a reputation as a seer, +in the mine, but Clem only laughed. + +"I put my faith in following out the safety rules, Otto," he replied, +"not in charms and tricks to keep the goblins away." + +The old man, however, was not thus to be set aside. He was as ready to +defend his old-fashioned beliefs as was Clem to advance his modern +theories. + +"Experience goes for somethin'," he affirmed stubbornly. "Boy an' man, +I've been below ground for over forty years. I've worked in Germany, +Belgium, France, and all over this country. Just eight years old I +was, when I went down the shaft for the first time; there weren't no +laws, then, to keep youngsters out of a mine. + +"I was a door-boy to start off with, openin' doors for the coal-cars +to come through. That meant keeping one's ears open. The loaded cars +come a-roarin' down the slopin' galleries, an', if a kid didn't hear +them, he'd get smashed between the coal car an' the door. Even when he +did hear them, he had to jump lively, or he'd get nipped, anyhow. + +"On the other side o' the door it wasn't much better, for the empty +cars were hauled up the slope o' the mine galleries by donkey power, +an', if a kid didn't hear the whistle o' the donkey driver, he'd get +his head clouted an' would be fined two days' pay beside. + +"There warn't no eight-hours' day, then. We worked a shift o' twelve +hours, an' the miners didn't stop between for meals--just took their +grub in bites while they went on holin' coal. All piece-work it was in +them days, an' every miner holed, spragged (or timbered), picked and +loaded his own coal. The more stuff he got out, the more pay. The men +didn't get any too much money, either, an' if a miner wanted to have a +decent pay-check at the end o' the week, he warn't goin' to be +hindered by havin' any trouble with cars. The poor kid at the door got +it comin' to him from all sides. + +"It's different now in coal-mines to what it was then. We hadn't no +electric plant to run ventilatin' fans for keepin' the air fit to +breathe. Nowadays, a man can be nigh as comfortable below ground as he +can be above; but, when I was a kid, the air in a mine was hot, an' +heavy, an' sleepy-like. + +"After breathin' that air for nine or ten hours, it was hard to keep +awake. You'd see the pit-boys comin' up out o' the shaft wi' their +eyes all red an' swollen an' achin'. No, it warn't from gas, it was +just from rubbin' em to keep em' open. An' rubbin' your eyes with +hands all gritty with coal-dust ain't any too good for 'em." + +"Well, Otto," the young fellow interrupted, "you can't deny that +modern methods have improved all that. There aren't any door-boys in a +modern mine. Most of the States in this country have passed laws +requiring that all doors through which coal cars pass must be operated +automatically. The United States Bureau of Mines keeps a sharp +lookout, too. There aren't any donkeys, either, not in up-to-date +mines; endless-chain conveyors take the coal from the face where the +miner has dug it clear to the mouth of the shaft, and load it into the +buckets by a self-tipping device. As for small boys in a mine, as you +said yourself, there aren't any, not in the United States, anyhow." + +"I'm not denyin' that minin' has got easier," was the grudging reply, +"it'd be a wonder if it hadn't. What I'm sayin' is that all your +newfangled schemes don't stop accidents and won't never stop +accidents, not till you get rid o' the knockers an' gas sprites of a +mine. An' that you'll never do! + +"You're like a whole lot o' these young fellows, Clem, who believe +nothin' that they don't see. You don't never stop to think that maybe +it's your own blindness an' not your own cleverness that keeps you +from seem'. Wait till I tell you what happened to me, one time, when I +was a door-boy in Germany. + +"Long afore I first went down into a coal mine, I knew about the +knockers, and where they come from. Dad told me that all the +coal-seams o' the world were forests, once. Long afore Noah an' the +Flood. He'd seen ferns an' leaves o' trees turned into coal. One time, +when digging out a seam, he'd come across the trunk of a tree standin' +upright in the coal, with the roots still in the under clay." + +"That's right enough," agreed Clem, "but the coal-forests were a good +many million years older than Noah!" + +"Maybe, maybe; but you warn't there to see," Otto retorted. "Anyhow, +there were forests, an' these forests were standin' afore the Flood. +Judgin' by what's left, the trees o' these forests must ha' been big. + +"All those trees, Dad used to say, had spirits o' their own, just like +trees have to-day. Elves an' dryads, he used to call 'em. When the +Flood came an' spread deep water over the whole world, the tops o' the +hills were washed into the valleys an' all these forests were covered +in mud an' sand. That's how it is you never find anything but shale or +slate (which is mud-rock) or sandstone above a coal seam. What's more, +when pullin' down slate, you'll often find sea-shells, like mussels +an' clams. Ain't that so?" + +"I won't argue with you about the Flood, Otto, for that's a long +story. But you're dead right in saying that all coal seams are +overlaid with rocks which have been laid down by water, and that +fossil shells are found in the overlying layers. But go ahead and tell +us what you saw." + +"When the Flood came," the old man resumed, "the elves an' dryads what +used to live in the coal-trees were swallowed up in the water. They +weren't drowned, because spirits can't die--at least, that was what +Dad told me. They couldn't go away from their trees, because the trees +were still standin' there, though all covered in mud or sand. So they +had to change their ways for a new life, first under the water, an' +when the waters o' the Flood dried up, under the ground. The elves, +who were the men-spirits o' the forest, became knockers; the dryads, +who were the women-spirits o' the trees, became the sprites o' the gas +damps. + +"In the old days, folks used to be able to see these spirits o' the +forests. They used to build temples to 'em, an' have regular festivals +in the woods, always leavin' some food for 'em to eat. Dad told me +never to forget that the only way to keep on the good side o' the +spirits below ground was to keep out o' the mine on the first day o' +spring an' the last day o' summer, an' every time I took anything to +eat below ground, to leave a bite behind. + +"I've always done it. In all the years I've been minin', I've never +gone down the shaft on March 21st or September 20th, an' I never will. +An', every time I've taken my dinner-pail to the face where I was +workin', I've put a bit o' bread aside for the knockers. You can +believe it or not, as you like, but when I got back to the place, on +my next shift, the bread was gone." + +"Probably rats," commented Clem, in an aside to Anton. + + +[Illustration: KNOCKERS. + +_After a Vignette by Bottrell._] + + +[Illustration: GATHON, GOBLIN OF THE MINES. + +_Fragment of a Composition by Phiz._] + + +[Illustration: DWARFS IN THE MINE. + +The Other Mythical Personages are the King of the Metals and the +Keeper of the Treasures of the Earth. + +_From a German Engraving after Froebom._] + + +The old miner paid no heed to the interruption, if, indeed, he heard +it. + +"That way, I always knew that the knockers were on my side, an' I've +been willin' to hole coal in mines that folks said weren't safe. +What's more, in forty years o' work, I've never lost a day's time from +an accident of any kind. I know I'm safe, because of what happened to +me when I was still a kid. + +"One day--I don't know just why, maybe the air was worse'n +usual--after I'd been lookin' after the door for the bigger part o' +the shift, I dropped right off asleep. Half-dreamin', I heard a loaded +car come roarin' down, but I didn't wake up until it was so close as +to be too late. + +"I scrambled up on my feet an' was just makin' a wild jump forward to +the door, when I felt a little fist--it seemed about the size of a +baby's, but was strong an' hard--hit me right in the chest. It pushed +me back into the corner, out o' the way o' the car, an' held me there. + +"At the same minute, an' just in the nick o' time, the door swung +open. + +"Rubbin' my eyes--they was so gritty wi' coal that I could hardly look +out o' them--I saw what looked like a little man made o' coal +standin' back against the door an' holdin' it open for the car to pass +through. His face was sort o' pale, like a whitewashed wall in the +dark, an' his eyes were red, like sparks. I thought he had a pointed +hat an' long pointed shoes, but I was so scared that I couldn't be +rightly sure. I could just see his whitish face movin' up an' down, +like he was noddin' his head. Then the door slammed shut, the hand +suddenly lifted off my chest an' I didn't see nothin' more. I tell +you, I kept awake after that." + +"You must have opened the door unconsciously, while half-asleep, and +dreamed about seeing the goblin," was Clem's comment. + +But, before the old man could retort, Anton broke in. + +"Father told me he's seen some, just like that. It was in Wales. A +woman visitor had gone down to see the mine." + +Otto shook his head gravely. + +"Never a woman went down a coal mine yet, but an accident happened +right after," he declared. "In the big explosion at Loosburg, when +over four hundred miners were killed, it was found out, after, that +one o' the miners was a woman who had dressed herself in men's +clothes an' was pickin' coal. But what was it your father saw, Anton?" + +"It happened right when the visiting party was in the mine," the boy +explained. "It was in one of the main galleries, which was strongly +timbered. A prop, which had been standing firmly for ever so many +years, suddenly crumbled into splinters and the roof fell on the +woman, hurting her so badly that she died soon after she was taken to +the top. + +"Just after the roof fell, so Father said, he and all the rest of the +miners saw a band of knockers gathered around the pile of fallen roof +and pointing at the figure of the woman crushed beneath. He said the +knockers were laughing so loudly that some of the miners heard the +echoes away at the other end of the mine." + +"And do you believe that, Anton?" queried Clem, incredulously. + +"Father saw them himself," the boy replied, in a tone of finality. + +"Then there's the gas sprites," Otto went on, pleased at having found +a sympathetic listener. "I've never seen 'em myself, but there's +plenty that have. In a mine where I used to work, in Belgium, there +was a man who could see 'em as plain as I see you or Anton. That was +his job, and he was paid handsomely, too. + +"He could walk through a gallery, either in a workin' or an abandoned +mine, an' could tell right away if there was fire damp, or white damp, +or black damp, or stink damp, in the workin's. He could see the gas +sprites himself an' give warnin' where men had better not go. He +didn't have to carry a safety lamp, nor chemical apparatus, nor cages +of mice an' canaries, the way folks do, now. He just walked into the +mine an' saw the sprites. He was friendly to 'em, an' they never did +him no harm." + +"What were they like, Otto?" queried Anton. + +"Shadows o' women," the old man replied promptly. "Fire damp, this +diviner used to say, looked like a figure veiled in red, black damp +was veiled in black wi' white edges, white damp was bluish, an' stink +damp was yellow. When the gas was faint, all he could see was just the +glow o' the colors, very dim; but when the gas was strong then the +shapes o' the women were bold an' clear. + +"The gas sprites, bein' women, catch an' hold the young men an' the +single men more easily than old an' married miners. You don't deny +that single men are more often killed by damps than married men, do +you, Clem?" + +The young miner looked uncomfortable at the question. + +"That's a general belief, and statistics seem to back it up," he +admitted. "But I don't see that it has anything to do with your goblin +ideas, Otto. It's just because the single men, generally, are the +youngest, and they haven't become as immune to the poisonous gases of +the mine as men who have been working below ground all their lives." + +"You can explain away anything, if you have a mind to," Otto retorted +scornfully. "But as long as men are workin' below ground, there's +goin' to be knockers an' sprites o' the damps, an' miners is goin' to +be killed. Me, I've escaped. Why? Because I'm chock-full o' science +an' modern ideas? Not a bit of it! I get along because I know what the +spirits o' the mine expect, an' I give it to 'em. Right now, I'm the +oldest man at work, here, an' I ain't never had an accident." + +"Don't you believe his stories, Anton," the young miner protested, +turning to the boy. "Those antiquated notions will only lead you +astray. The 'damps' are just various kinds of gases coming out of the +coal, and the way to fight them is to keep a strong current of air +going through the mine." + +"How do they come out o' the coal, if you know so much?" questioned +Otto, belligerently. + +"Sure I know! But I don't suppose telling you will change your ideas." + +"It won't," the old miner admitted frankly. "But I've had my say, an' +it's only fair to let you have yours. The youngster, here, can believe +which o' the two he pleases." + +"Well, it's something this way," Clem began, casting about in his mind +for a way to explain the chemistry of mine air as simply as he could. +"Ordinary air--the air above ground--is made up of a little less than +21 per cent. of oxygen and a little more than 78 per cent. of +nitrogen. The rest of it is a mixture of carbon and oxygen which the +books call carbon dioxide or black damp, with some other rare gases +beside. + +"Now, all animals, including man, depend for their life on the oxygen +in the air. If the oxygen drops to 15 per cent., a man will suffer. +That's not likely to happen where miners' lamps or safety-lamps are +used, because the flame of a lamp goes out when there's less than 17 +per cent. oxygen. Even at 19 per cent., a lamp will burn so dimly as +to warn of danger. The nitrogen in the air is inert, that is, it does +neither good nor harm to man. But what I want you to remember, Anton, +is that even in the purest air above ground, there's always some +'black damp,' so it's a bit hard to see where Otto's goblin women come +in! + +"Now, when pure air comes down a coal shaft, a lot of changes happen +to it. Some of the oxygen is consumed by the breathing of the men and +animals in the mine--if there are any donkeys or such--some is taken +up by the burning of lamps, some more by the explosion of blasting +powder, a little is lost by the rusting of iron pyrites--which is +found in many coal mines--and a lot of it is taken up by the coal, +just how, we don't quite know." + +"It's good to hear o' somethin' you don't know," the old miner +remarked sarcastically. "But you're talkin' about dry air, an' the air +in most mines is moist." + +"Quite right," Clem agreed. "It has to be. Mine air is made moist, on +purpose, especially in winter." + +"It is?" Otto's voice expressed unqualified astonishment. + +"It certainly is! In most coal-mines--this one, for instance--all the +air that passes down the intake shaft is moistened by a spray of mixed +water and air, so finely atomized that it floats like a cloud." + +"What for? It's easier to work in dry air'n moist air." + +"It's easier to get blown up, too! In winter time, Otto, the air above +ground is a lot colder than the air in the mine. Cold air can't hold +as much moisture as warm air, and as soon as air gets warmed up a bit, +it tries its hardest to absorb any moisture with which it happens to +come in contact. + +"What happens in a mine, in such a case? Why, as the cold air from +above passes through the galleries of a mine, it gets warmed up. As it +warms up, it draws out from the roofs, the ribs, and the floors all +the water that there is to draw, and makes the mine dead dry. When +coal dust is absolutely dry, it crumbles into finer and finer dust, +until at last the particles are so small that they float in the air. +Then comes disaster, for finely divided coal dust is so explosive that +the smallest flame--even a spark from the stroke of a pick--will set +the whole mine ablaze." + +"I don't see that," interrupted Anton. "If dust is so bad, why do the +bosses hang boards from all the gallery roofs and pile them high with +dust?" + +"Because the dust in those piles is stone dust, my boy," the young +fellow explained. "When an explosion happens, it drives a big blast of +air in front of it, so strong, sometimes, as to knock a man down. The +blast of air blows all the stone dust from those boards and fills the +air chock-full of it. + +"This stone dust, usually made from crushed limestone or crushed +shale, won't burn. The flame of the explosion can't pass through and +the fire can't jump a rock-dust barrier. Even the flame of methane, +which you know better as 'gas,' or fire damp, which has a terrific +force, is choked back by this dense cloud of rock-dust, and, as you +know, all coal mines have more or less methane gas." + +"They don't, either," contradicted Otto. "I've worked in mines for +years at a time an' never seen the 'cap' on the flame of the +safety-lamp, tellin' there's fire damp there." + +"You may not have seen it, but there was gas there, just the same. As +for the cap-flame you're talking about, Otto, I'll admit that it's the +surest way of telling when there's so much fire-damp that the mine is +getting dangerous. But it's a risky test, just the same. You can't see +the little cap of methane gas flame burning above the oil flame of the +lamp until there's 2 per cent. of gas in the air of the mine, and a +little more than 5 per cent. will start an explosion." + +"What makes that cap?" queried Anton. + +"Fire damp or methane gas burning inside the wire gauze of the +safety-lamp." + +"But if the gas is already burning inside, why doesn't it explode +outside?" + +"Just because it's a safety-lamp, my boy. That's why the flame burns +inside a wire gauze. I'll explain that. + +"Suppose you take a lamp with a hot flame--an alcohol or spirit lamp +will do--and light it. Then hold a piece of close-meshed wire gauze +right on the flame. You'll find that the flame will spread under the +wire gauze but will not go through. Hold it long enough, though, until +the wire gets red hot, and, quite suddenly, the flame will pass +through and burn above the gauze as well as below. + +"Try another trick. Put out the lamp and then hold the gauze just +where it was before. You can light the flame above the wire but it +will not pass below the gauze until the wire gets red-hot. That shows +that gas which is not burning can pass through a wire gauze, but that +gas which is aflame cannot pass until the wire is red-hot." + +"Yes," said Anton, "I can see that." + +"Very good. Then, if you have a lamp which is burning inside a +cylinder of wire gauze, the gas of fire-damp can go through, and, if +there's enough of it to burn, it will burn above the flame of the +lamp, making an aureole or 'cap' just as Otto says. But the flaming +gas can't get back through the wire gauze to set fire to the fire-damp +outside, at least, not until the wire gets red-hot, which it's not +likely to do, seeing that the gas is in the middle, not underneath it. + +"That's how they test for fire-damp, nowadays. The flame of a +safety-lamp is drawn down until it shows only a small yellow tip. If +there's any fire-damp in the air, a light-blue halo appears over the +yellow flame. At a little more than 1 per cent., an experienced man +can judge that there is gas there, but the true 'cap,' which is +pointed like a cone, doesn't show until there's 2 per cent. of the +gas. At 3 per cent., the cap will be like a dunce's cap, and more than +half an inch high. At 4 per cent., it will be over an inch high, and +at 4½ per cent. it'll form a column of blue flame. Then it's high time +to get out of the mine, and to get out quickly. + +"In the improved form of safety-lamps, the oil flame burns inside a +glass, but the air which reaches the flame has to pass through two +cylinders of wire gauze. The glass keeps the flame from ever touching +the innermost gauze, and, if an accident happens--such as the breaking +of the glass--it would still be fairly safe, for the burning gas +inside wouldn't pass through the inner gauze until that got red-hot, +and it wouldn't reach the outer gauze because the current of air +passing down between the two layers of wire mesh would keep the outer +gauze cool. This safety-lamp was invented by Sir Humphry Davy, in +England, in 1815, just after a big explosion in an English colliery +had cost hundreds of lives. All mines nowadays require that miners use +either safety-lamps or electric lamps, and it's every miner's +business to report to the boss when he sees a cap of burning gas +inside his safety-lamp." + +The old miner nodded his head in agreement. + +"I won't use an electric lamp," he commented. "It's foolishness. The +gas sprites ain't really malicious. They're willin' enough to give a +warnin'. They'll put a cap on a flame if they don't want folks in that +part of the mine. An electric lamp tells nothin'. It won't even give a +warnin' against black damp." + +"Perfectly true," Clem agreed. "With an oil safety-lamp, the flame +gets dim or even goes out if there's too much black damp. The electric +lamp burns on, just the same, because the light is in a vacuum. Black +damp isn't so dangerous as fire damp, though. It only causes distress +and hard breathing because it shows that there's too big a proportion +of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the air and not enough oxygen. It's +oxygen that a man misses." + +"But black damp'll explode, too," put in Otto. + +"No," the other corrected, "it won't. But it often happens that +there's fire-damp around when black damp is present and the black damp +makes a test for gas difficult. It's the gas that explodes, not the +black damp. + +"It isn't always the explosiveness of a damp that makes it dangerous, +though," he went on. "As Otto could tell you, Anton, white damp is the +worst of the three. And it doesn't give any warning at all." + +"That's why we had that diviner in a Belgian mine," the old man +commented, gravely. "He could see the gas sprites in their blue veils. +But, if there's a lot o' white damp, you can tell it by the flame of a +safety-lamp gettin' a little longer an' brighter." + +"It's not safe to trust it," the young fellow advised. "You'd have +trouble seeing 2 per cent, of white damp, and you'd be dead before you +had much chance to look. Even with 1½ per cent., a man would be likely +to drop before he reached a better-ventilated part of the mine, and he +couldn't see that much on the flame of his safety-lamp at all. To +breathe the air with only 1 per cent. of white damp for an hour would +put a man in such a state that he mightn't recover, and he wouldn't +have had any warning. + +"Luckily, there's much less danger of white damp in mines than there +used to be. It's a gas that's formed only when there's been something +burning. After an explosion in a mine, or a fire, there's sure to be +a lot of it, and rescue parties have always found it their worst foe. +But, in the ordinary working mine, it is rare." + +"Not so rare as all that!" objected Otto. "We used to have a lot of +it, on the other side." + +"You wouldn't now," was the reply. "The white damp of those days was +due to the heavy charges of gunpowder or low explosive that were used, +explosives which are forbidden now in dangerous mines." + +"They were better'n the stuff we use nowadays," grumbled Otto, "they +brought down more coal an' didn't smash it up so bad." + +"They smashed up men, instead," Clem retorted. "And they put a whole +lot of white damp into a mine. That was really dangerous, because, in +those days, people hadn't found out the value of canaries." + +"I've often wondered about that," interjected Anton. "Why do the +testing-parties carry canaries?" + +"Because," answered Clem, with a smile, "canaries are as clever at +seeing the gas sprites as was the Belgian diviner that Otto talks +about. No, but seriously," he went on, "the reason is that canaries +are extremely susceptible to white damp. Less than ¼ of one per cent +of white damp will cause a canary to collapse at once, and a man could +breath that proportion for an hour without much harm. Even a tenth of +one per cent. will cause the little bird to show signs of distress." + +"It's tough on the bird," was Anton's sympathetic comment. + +"Not especially! As soon as a bird begins to show collapse, it is +taken back to the open air and is as frisky and lively as ever in five +minutes. But its value as a warning signal is enormous, for it tells +rescue parties or investigating parties when to put on gas masks or +breathing apparatus containing oxygen. In a well-ventilated mine, +however, where high explosive is used and handled by experienced men, +there's not likely to be much danger from white damp. + +"Stink damp is rare but can sometimes be dangerous. Generally, a +fellow is warned away, because of the smell--which is just like rotten +eggs. The worst part of stink damp is that it smells the worst when +there's only a little of it. When there's so much of it around as to +be deadly, it doesn't smell any worse. You get small quantities of it, +sometimes, in blasting, but generally hydrogen sulphide or stink damp +is found after a mine fire or an explosion. Rescue parties generally +carry a cage of mice as well as one of canaries." + +"With the same idea?" queried Anton. + +"Exactly. As little as a tenth of one per cent. of stink damp makes a +mouse sprawl on his belly, his legs don't seem strong enough to hold +him up; while, in the same air, a canary doesn't suffer a bit. + +"The only real danger in stink damp is when there's water in the mine, +for example when, after a fire, a lot of water has been pumped down +into the workings to put the fire out. Water absorbs stink damp very +easily and gives it up equally easily when stirred. So, if a member of +a rescue party puts his foot in a puddle of water where there has been +stink damp around, so much of the gas may suddenly come up in his face +as to topple him over. + +"But you can see, Anton, that most of the gas troubles in a mine come +from the blasting. That's why, nowadays, the miners who get out the +coal seldom or never fire the shots. Experienced men, trained +especially for that work, are used. After a miner has undercut the +coal, the shot-firer comes. He tests for gas before he begins work, +bores a deep hole in the coal with a drill, tests for gas again in +case he should have tapped a leak in the seam, cleans out the hole, +sends the miner for the box of explosive--which is kept thirty or +forty yards away from the face where the coal is being cut--and +prepares the charge with a detonater which he carries in a box over +his shoulder. The miner never touches either the explosive or the +detonater. Then the shot-firer puts the primed charge in the hole, +jams the hole full of clay with a wooden tamper--a steel bar might +cause a spark and a premature explosion--tests for gas again, connects +the electric wires from a portable battery around the rib corner, +fires the shot, returns to the face and tests for gas again. Then, and +not until then, does the miner begin to dig the coal. That way, every +one in the mine is safe." + +"Yes," growled the old miner, "and the shot-firer doesn't dig any +coal, nor do any hard work, an' gets paid more'n we do." + +"He knows more than you do," Clem responded, "and he gets better pay +because his experience and prudence is worth a lot of money to the +mine. Just think what an explosion costs--to say nothing of the risk +of lives being lost! And you won't find experienced shot-firers or +mine-managers talking about gas sprites, Otto!" + +"Better for 'em if they did!" the old man warned. "For I'm sayin' to +you again, what I said before--the spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ENTOMBED ALIVE + + +"Danger! You're plumb crazy about danger, Clem!" Anton declared +impatiently. + +The older lad gestured to the big building of the pit-mouth before +them, above which the spider-like legs of the headgear soared high, +surmounted by the huge double winding-wheels which give so +characteristic a note to a modern colliery. + +"Any one who forgets that a coal-mine is dangerous is a fool," he +retorted sharply, "and keep that in your head, Anton, my lad. Not that +danger would ever stop me from mining. I like it. I like to feel that +I'm running a risk every time I go into an entry and every time +there's a blast. And I like to feel that I know enough about safety +methods to snap my fingers at the risk. There's excitement in that." + +"There'll be excitement enough, if old Otto's warnings come true," +returned Anton gloomily. + +Two days had passed since the old miner's prophecy, two days without +any unusual incident. Clem had all but forgotten the evil presage, but +Anton was brooding over it. It was his work to load cars in the room +where Clem was mining, and the boy's superstitious nature made him +painfully aware that if any accident happened to his comrade, he would +probably be caught, too. + +Anton had been working in the mine only a few weeks and he had not yet +been able to grasp the need of Clem's incessant teaching with regard +to the extreme prudence needed in colliery work. He had almost caused +a serious accident during his first week by not blocking his car +properly. The half-loaded car had begun to move down the slope of the +mine gallery, it might easily have run clear down into the entry and +possibly killed some one if Clem had not dashed forward and checked +the car before it had too much speed. + +In general, Anton had not reasoned much about the danger or the lack +of danger in coal-mining. He regarded the pit as a matter of course. +It was the only life he knew. All his comrades were at work in the +mine or would be at work therein, as soon as their school-days were +over. The boy himself had started early, soon after his father's +death, since it was the only employment to be got in the neighborhood +and he had his widowed mother to support. + +Clem had found a place in the mine for his friend without any +difficulty, for Anton was powerfully muscled. In this he took after +his father, who had been almost a Hercules and one of the champion +wrestlers of the mine. Born of miner stock on both sides, Anton was +short and squat, able to shovel coal all day without fatigue. He had +accordingly, been taken on as a loader, Clem undertaking to keep an +eye over him. + +It took the older lad all his time to do so. Anton was absolutely +reckless by nature, and, though he was constantly being advised as to +the necessary precautions for making mining safe, he could never be +persuaded to adopt them. + +Instead of blocking his car with one log placed across the track and +another under the car and resting on the transverse log, he would put +a piece of coal under the wheel and trust to its staying there; he +would wear his coat loosely, over his trousers, though he was told +over and over again that he ran the risk of his coat being caught by +the cars, when switching, and being dragged along the side of the rib: +on another occasion, Clem found the boy starting along the +haulage-way used for the coal cars instead of using the man-way +reserved for the workers, in order to save a couple of minutes' time. + +What exasperated Clem even more was that, since Otto's warning, Anton +had become more careless than ever. It was evident that the fatalistic +streak in the boy made him feel that if he were foredoomed to an +accident, there was no use in trying to prevent it. + +The boy's impatient exclamation and his comrade's retort about danger +had occurred while they were in line in front of the lamp shack, +waiting to get their safety-lamps before going down for the day shift. + +As in most well-organized collieries, the safety-lamps were filled and +adjusted by experts, who looked after nothing else. After the lamps +were lighted, they were locked--and not one of the miners was allowed +a key. Thus the lamps could not be opened below ground and there was +no chance for a reckless man to expose a naked flame in a room or +entry where there might chance to be gas. A safety-lamp would not go +out unless the air in the mine was so vitiated that it was dangerous +to life to remain therein, or unless there was some defect in the lamp +which would render it perilous to use. + +After the lamps had been given out, Clem and Anton got in the cage to +go down the shaft. Otto happened to be descending at the same time. + +"We're still waiting for your 'knockers' to show themselves!" Clem +suggested jestingly. + +The old man deigned no reply. Instead, he looked round the cage +meaningly at the other men there, most of whom frowned at Clem's +remark. Among miners, it is believed to bring bad luck to speak or +even to hint of accidents when in the cage. Only Otto's personal +liking for the young fellow kept him from a retort which might have +brought on a quarrel. + +On reaching the bottom, Clem and Anton set out along the man-way +together. It was a walk of nearly a mile underground from the main +shaft of the mine to the distant "room" or square hole in the seam, +where Clem was to dig away the coal face, and which was one of the +rooms from which Anton was loading coal. + +This Ohio colliery was being worked on what is known as the +pillar-and-room method. This consists in dividing the seam of coal +into squares like a chessboard, taking out the coal from each +alternate square, leaving the intervening squares of coal intact to +act as pillars in holding up the roof. They do not look like pillars +to a careless observer, often being blocks of coal thirty yards +square. + +"It seems silly," said Anton, after they had walked on a minute or +two, "to leave all this coal near the shaft and to go digging a mile +away. Why not take all the coal that is handy first?" + +"And have the roof come down and block up all the coal that is beyond? +That would be just throwing away the wealth of the mine." + +"Timber the roof, then!" + +"It would cost too much, for one thing," Clem explained, "and, for +another, all the timber in the world won't hold up a roof if the +excavation is made too big. There's millions of tons of rock pressing +down on a mine roof. Judging by the way you talk, Anton, I don't +believe you understand what a coal formation is, yet." + +"Isn't it like Otto said, then?" + +"Only in a way. Otto's description of the coal forests was near +enough--in spite of his ideas about goblins and sprites--and he was +correct in saying that the forests decayed under water and turned +into coal after they were pressed down by rock. But it wasn't the +Flood that did that, at least not the Flood that Otto was speaking of. +The coal forests existed millions of years before Noah. + +"What's more, it wasn't only just once that the forests were covered +by a deluge. That happened several times, a hundred or more, in some +places. + +"For centuries at a time, these gloomy and steaming forests grew in +boggy land, only a few inches above the level of the sea. Gradually +the land sank, the sea came in, the trees fell and decayed under the +water, and a layer of mud or sand was deposited over them. Then +gradually the land rose again just above the level of the sea, and a +new forest grew. Once more the land sank below the water, the second +forest fell into decay and upon that layer a new deposit of mud or +sand was laid. That gave two layers or seams of coal-forest-bog, to be +turned later into coal by pressure; and two layers or strata of mud or +sand, to be turned into shale and slate or into sandstone, also by +pressure. + +"When a long time elapsed between the swampings, several centuries of +coal forests had made a deep bed of bog, which, ages after, became a +thick seam of coal. When the swampings happened close together, the +layer of bog was shallow, producing a thin seam of coal. In the same +way, the layers of shale or sandstone are thick or thin according to +the length of time that the land was under the water. + +"Because of that, Anton, in nearly every colliery there is not just +one layer or seam of coal, but a number of them. There are sixteen +different seams in this mine, showing that the land rose and fell +sixteen times, probably in the course of a million years. + +"Some mines show much bigger changes. In the famous coal basin of +Mons, in Belgium, there are 157 layers of coal, of which 120 are thick +enough to be workable. The Saar basin, on the left bank of the Rhine, +which has played so important a part in the international troubles +following the end of the World War, has 164 seams, with 77 of them +workable, giving a thickness of 240 feet of coal. However, as the +lowest layers are nearly four miles deep, they will probably never be +worked." + +"Why not?" + +"To start with, the cost of haulage to the top would be enormous. But, +aside from that, a good many mining engineers figure that the +temperature at that depth would be above boiling point. You know, in +general, the farther you go down in a mine, the hotter it gets." + +"What do you mean by a seam being 'workable'?" the boy queried. "Can't +all coal be dug out?" + +"Not by a long shot. At least not so as to be worked at a profit. +Suppose a seam of coal is only a few inches thick, how is a miner +going to dig it out? He couldn't crawl in such a seam, let alone using +his tools there." + +"He could cut out enough rock at the top and bottom to give him a +chance to get in." + +"A miner is paid for digging coal, not digging rock," was the answer. +"What's more, according to your scheme, so much shale or sandstone +would be mixed with the coal that it would be useless for burning. + +"Even seams two feet thick are so hard to work that most of them are +left alone, and a seam three feet thick means extra expense in getting +out the coal because of the difficulty of labor in hewing and +transporting the coal from the face to the shaft. The ideal thickness +is between six and eight feet, where a man can stand upright and can +reach to the roof with a slate bar. That height, too, makes timbering +easy. + +"Very thick seams have their own difficulties. The worst of these is +the supporting of the roof. Take a seam 30 or 40 feet thick, for +example. Look at the size of the hole that is left when the coal is +dug away! Timbering becomes a real problem, there, for the longer a +prop is, Anton, the weaker it is. Coal managers in mines like those +have to do some careful figuring, or the cost of the timber they put +into the mine would be more than the value of the coal they take out." + +"How do they handle it then?" + +"As if it were a quarry, rather than a mine. The seam is worked on +successive levels, but, even then, it is impossible to prevent +constant accidents from the fall of coal or the sudden collapse of a +roof. Take it the world over, and ten miners are killed every day in +collieries alone. I told you coal mining was dangerous." + +"But are there any of those thick seams in the United States?" + +"None of the really thick ones. There's a 40-foot anthracite seam in +Pennsylvania. But in France, near the famous Creusot works, there's a +bed of coal which is 130 feet thick. It's a basin, though, rather than +a seam. + +"So you see, Anton, every coal mine is different, with its layers or +seams of coal of different thicknesses and at varying distances apart. +Some pits are near the surface, some are very deep; some coal is full +of gas, other has very little; some coal is so hard that every bit of +it has to be blasted, in other mines the coal is so soft that the +hewer spends half his time spragging the face so that the coal doesn't +fall on him when he's undercutting or holing. Don't you make the +mistake of thinking that all a miner has to do is to use his pick! +He's got to know his business thoroughly or he's useless to the mine +boss and a danger to all his fellow-workmen. + +"And that isn't all, Anton, not by a good deal! + +"Coal mining might be bad enough, even if the coal seams always ran +level. But it's very seldom that they do. They run up-hill and +down-hill in all sorts of fashions and play hide-and-go-seek in a way +that's fairly bewildering. + +"Nearly all coal seams are broken up by faults. The coal suddenly +seems to stop, and, when you go to hewing it the pick suddenly hits +against a rock wall, right on the level of the seam. In the North +Gallery of this very mine, there's a fault like that. You know where +the 'snagger' is?" + +"Sure," agreed Anton, "you mean where the cars have to be hitched on +to a chain?" + +"Yes, there! The coal seam jumps upwards fifty feet. That's why the +cars, after rolling down nearly a quarter of a mile, by gravity, have +to be pulled up fifty feet by an endless chain, to rejoin the same +seam and then to go rolling on down by themselves." + +"Just what are faults?" + +"H'm, that's a bit hard to explain to you, Anton, because you don't +know anything about geology, but maybe I can get you to see. Faults +are breaks in the layers of rock, or in the stratification, as it is +called. All coal seams and the rocks above and below them have been +laid down by water. Since water levels everything, these layers of +rock were level, once. + +"In ages past, however, the crust of the earth changed a good deal. As +the crust cooled, it contracted, crumpling up these different layers +into all sorts of shapes. Sometimes it bulged them up, sometimes it +hollowed them down so that the edges rose. Quite often a layer of +rock would be cracked right across, and one half would stay level +while the other shot up almost a right angle. A good many mountains +show the result of this, and if you look at such rocks as are sticking +up out of the ground you will see some of them standing right on edge. +Once in a while, part of the broken crust slid over the other part. +Then, too, though the surface may not always show it, there have been +breaks in the strata below, and at the break, the layer has sunk or +risen quite a distance from its former level. + +"If that happens to a coal seam, you can see that where the seam +breaks, suddenly, the rest of it will continue on another level, +perhaps only a few feet higher or lower, perhaps a good deal more. +It's up to the mine geologist to find where the coal has gone to, and +it's the business of the mine engineer to remodel the entire system of +working the mine in order to get at that seam." + +"And are all coal mines mixed up in that funny way?" Anton queried. + +"Most of them. Oh, there's no end to the tricks a coal seam can play. +A deep coal seam may split into two narrow ones, too thin to work. +The whole seam may quickly dwindle away to nothing, showing that, in +ages past, a river came rolling over it and washed away all the forest +bog. Sometimes, especially with the lowermost seams, the forest grew +on rolling land, so that the bottom of the coal seam is irregular, +causing all sorts of trouble in laying rails for the cars to roll on. +Sometimes the layer of rock under a coal seam is so soft that when you +start to timber it, the timbers sink into the floor and the roof comes +toppling down. + +"Among the queerest of all the things a mine geologist strikes are +what are called dykes. These are great shafts of igneous rock, which +were thrust up from the interior of the earth in a white-hot state and +which burned away the coal as they rose. They put a dead stop to a +working. I could tell you a dozen more freak things that a coal seam +can do. A mine geologist has not only a new problem to tackle with +every mine, but, often, with every mine gallery." + +"Is that what you're studying to be, Clem?" + +"No, indeed!" The young fellow's answer was emphatic. "That's 'way out +of my reach. It takes a college man, with special technical training +and a big experience, to be anything of a mine geologist. All I'm +trying to do is to learn enough about it so that when I get to be a +mine boss--if I ever do--I'll know what my chiefs are trying to do and +I'll be able to help them. + +"Take Otto, for example. There isn't a better worker in the mine. He +gets out more coal and less broken stuff than any other man below +ground. But he'll never be anything but a hewer, because he doesn't +want to learn. Why, just the other day, he was growling because the +mine was shut down to repair one of the shafts, though the other shaft +was working all right." + +"So were a lot of the men," Anton put in. "Why couldn't they go on +working, with one shaft?" + +"Against the law," was the crisp answer. "That's the A B C of mining. +And I'll show you why! All mines are required to have two shafts, in +case of accident. That law was passed because of a famous disaster +that happened in England nearly a hundred years ago. + +"In those days, colliers had only one shaft. One day, the beam of an +engine which was directly over a shaft snapped, and a huge piece of +machinery, weighing several tons, tumbled into the shaft and stuck, +not far from the bottom. As it fell, it ripped away the planking which +lined the shaft and a whole lot of loose rock and earth fell on top of +the piece of machinery, blocking up the shaft entirely and stopping +any air from passing. There were over two hundred men and boys at work +below ground. + + +[Illustration: MINERS DESCENDING A SHAFT. + +_From an Old Print._] + + +[Illustration: FALLING-IN OF A MINE.] + + +[Illustration: EXPLOSION OF "FIRE-DAMP."] + + +"With only one shaft, you can see what a mess that made! Before any +digging could be done, the lining of the shaft had to be repaired, +because dirt and rocks were falling into the shaft all the time. +Miners--hundreds of them--were brought from neighboring mines, and +they worked night and day on two-hour shifts, clinging to the sides of +the shaft as thick as bees in a hive. Others, risking their lives with +every stroke of the pick, dug away at the earth and rock that had +fallen on the big chunk of machinery. With all the speed that human +effort could compass, it was six days and nights before a hole had +been made through the obstruction big enough for a man to pass. And, +when the first rescuer reached the workings below, the 200 men were +dead. Not a single one survived. The miners had been entombed alive +without any air passage and could do nothing, absolutely nothing, to +help themselves out of their living grave. + +"Ever since then, every colliery in Europe and the United States is +required to have two shafts, and the law demands that these shall be +no less than fifteen yards apart and connected by a wide passage. Not +only that, but each shaft must have a complete outfit of winding +machinery coupled to separate engines, so that, in the event of an +accident happening to one shaft, the men below ground can be rescued +up the other." + +"That sounds all right," said Anton, rather gloomily, "but suppose the +way to both shafts is blocked?" + +"Not likely," Clem responded cheerfully, "if a mine has been properly +laid out. Take this one, there are half a dozen ways to get from the +face to the shaft." + +"But Otto said--" + +The other turned upon him sharply. + +"I've had about enough of that Otto business! If you can't keep from +thinking about it, keep from talking about it, anyhow!" + +To this rebuke Anton maintained a stubborn silence, and, without +another word said, the two walked on until they reached their +respective places of work. + +In the gloomy world of below ground, where the dusty wall of sooty +black is the only landscape to be seen, one day is very much like +another. Reaching his room, Clem stood his tools in order along the +rib, hung his safety lamp on a nail which he drove into a prop +supporting the roof, and, reaching up so as to put one hand on the +roof, tapped it with the flat side of his pick to make sure that there +was no loose slate overhead. He then examined the coal face, as it had +been left by the hewer who had been working on the night shift, to +make sure that it had been properly spragged or timbered. + +This done, Clem stripped naked to the waist, for it was hot in that +hole far below ground. Then, lying down flat on his side, his bare +shoulder resting on the gritty ground, he started to pick away the +coal at the level of the floor and just above it, making a +wedge-shaped hole extending under the seam for a distance in of three +feet. + +Many mines, especially in America, use mechanical coal-cutters for +this back-breaking labor. These machines are especially useful in +mines where the coal-seams are less than 3½ feet thick, and they are +well adapted to "long-wall" workings where the whole face of the coal +is removed in a single operation. Some are mounted with a toothed bar +which moves in and out, chipping the coal; other types are like +circular saws; several forms have the same action as a miner's pick, +the percussions being at the speed of two hundred strokes a minute, +the motive-power being compressed air. + +In pillar-and-room workings, such as this Ohio mine, chain heading +machines were used. This American invention consists of a bed-plate +which rests on the floor and is secured in position by screw-jacks +braced against the roof and against the rib. On this bed-plate rests a +sliding frame which carries a revolving chain on which cutting tools +are fixed. The machine carries its own motor, which not only drives +the chain, but also slides forward the frame into the cut. When the +cut is made to the full depth of the machine, it is withdrawn, and the +machine moved over its own width and another cut commenced. Several of +these machines were at work in the mine, but chiefly in that part of +it where the pillars were being cut away, and where speed in removing +the coal was a prime necessity. In the more distant rooms, hand labor +was used. + +All these machines work on exactly the same principle as that of the +miner, lying on his back or on his side, and digging at the coal with +his pick. The coal must be undercut as far in as a pick or a +mechanical coal-cutter will reach, for the entire width of the face. +Every few feet, short props or sprags are put in from the edge of the +undermined portion to the floor, to prevent a premature fall, which +might bury the miner. + +When the whole face is undercut and spragged, the shot-firer is +summoned. One or more holes, three feet deep, are bored in the coal, +close to the roof, these holes are filled with explosive and tamped +shut with moist clay, and the charges are fired. This blasting brings +down the coal off the face, clear from the rock roof to the undermined +portion, for such a distance as it has been undercut. + +The miner then shovels away the coal far enough to allow him to lie +down again and continue his terribly laborious task, while the loader +comes and shovels the blasted coal into cars or into endless-chain +conveyors, according to the arrangement of the mine. + +Day in, day out, this hewing continues. While the miner is at work, he +is always in a cramped position, his body twisted, his muscles at a +strain, performing his toilsome labor in the half-dark, in the heat, +in poor air, choked with coal-dust constantly and menaced by death +every moment. He is well paid, but most fully does he earn every cent +he gets. + +The morning had almost passed, and Anton was near the entry, where he +heard, in the distance, a dull rumble like thunder, followed by a +queer cracking sound which seemed to travel along the rock overhead. + +The boy halted involuntarily in his task of pushing an empty car back +to a room for loading. Little as he knew of the noises below ground, +he sensed something strange. The deep silence of a coal mine is +generally broken only by the sharp report of a blast or the rattle of +cars, and this rumble did not resemble either sound. + +A second or two later, a miner dashed past him, without his tools, his +safety-lamp swinging as he ran. + +"The bank is coming down!" he yelled, and disappeared down the +gallery. + +Almost at the same moment, another man came out of the entry, his +naked back gleaming as he passed under the electric light hanging at +the opening of the entry. + +"Make for the shaft, kid!" he shouted, when he saw the shine of +Anton's lamp. + +A sudden babble of excited cries, borne on the strong current of the +ventilating air, reached the boy's ears. + +It was the doom of Otto's warning! + +Shoving a lump of coal under the car-wheel, Anton whirled on his heel +to follow the escaping miners, when, like a blow, came the stunning +thought: + +"Clem!" + +He hesitated an instant, and, while he halted, a second and a louder +crash told him that the fall of rock--wherever it might be +happening--was not over. Every fraction of a second that he delayed +might ruin his chances of escape. + +But Anton was of sturdy miner stock, and, in addition, was thoroughly +fatalistic. That very feature of his character which his older comrade +had blamed so often, now was to show its good side. If he were going +to be caught by the fall, there was no use in his trying to prevent +it, he thought. + +In any case, no matter what might come, though the roof cracked above +him and the coal-ribs crushed beside him, he must warn his friend. + +Turning his back to the way of hope, he tore at his utmost speed +towards the room where Clem was working, taking some small comfort, as +he ran, that the rumbling sounded farther and farther away. + +"Clem!" he cried, panting, as he turned into the room where his friend +was digging coal, "run for your life!" + +By the terror in Anton's voice, the young fellow realized the peril. +In his isolated room, he had not heard a sound. + +Leaping to his feet and grabbing his safety-lamp from the prop, he ran +after Anton, who had started back on the road leading to the shaft. +Fleeter of foot than the boy, he caught up with him in a few yards. + +"What is it?" he queried. + +"The bank's down!" + +"Where?" + +"I don't know. Everywhere. The whole mine's smashing! Every one else +has got out long ago!" + +An ominous creaking sounded over their heads. + +Clem caught his comrade by the arm and pulled him into a narrow entry +near by. + +"Go slow! We don't want to get smashed!" + +He held up his safety-lamp. + +"Look at that prop!" + +The heavy timber was bending like a twig. + +"Get on quick!" cried Anton, struggling against the grasp, but the +young fellow held him fast. + +"Don't lose your head!" he warned. "The current of air has stopped, +sure sign that the way to the shafts is blocked. The nearer we get to +the goaf (waste ground), the more likely we are to get crushed. +Listen!" + +The creaking grew louder, and then, suddenly, with a rush of sound, +the gallery in front of them, into which Anton had been about to +plunge, sagged. The bending prop went into splinters, and, with a +roar, the whole roof fell, the broken rock coming to within a few +yards of where they were standing. + +"Close shave, that!" remarked Clem coolly. + +Anton made no answer, but shivered as he looked. He realized that his +comrade's warning had saved his life. + +The trembling and the creaking recommenced, but farther away; then, +with a gigantic noise of tearing, there came a rending crash, followed +by utter silence. + +"Now!" + +He let go the boy's arm and turned sharp off to the right. + +"That's not the way to the shaft," protested Anton. + +"We'll try the North Gallery," answered Clem. "Likely enough the fall +has followed the line of the fault." + +A sharp run of a hundred yards brought them to a pile of rock blocking +up the passage. Clem licked his hand to make it moist, and then slowly +passed it across the entire face of the obstruction. + +"No!" he said. "There's not a breath of air coming through. That way's +blocked." + +He turned in another direction. With all the ventilation stopped, the +air was growing heavy. Fifty yards' run, and then-- + +Blocked again! + +This time Clem made no comment. He turned back to try the farther side +of the mine. As they wheeled round a corner, and saw a gleam of light +he cried, with a note of relief: + +"There they are! I knew they'd send in a rescue party, right away!" + +Then his voice dropped. + +"No," he added, "there's only one lamp." + +A single miner came running towards them. + +"The North Gallery?" he queried. + +"No good, Jim," Clem answered, who recognized him as a new-comer in +the mine. "Blocked solid!" + +"So's the entries to the goaf! I've been there! How about the old +workings I've heard the boys talk of?" + +The student miner shook his head. + +"Not much chance that way, I'm afraid. They'll be full of gas, sure. +The ventilation has been cut out of there for months. But we can try +it, anyway." + +"I'd ought to ha' known better'n to work this shift," declared Jim, as +they ran. "You mind when you talked to Otto in the cage, comin' down?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, Otto wouldn't go to work, nohow. Said the knockers had been +riled an' he wouldn't take the risk o' goin' agin 'em. The boss swore +at him some, but that didn' faze Otto. He went to the top, just the +same. He had the right hunch. Wish I'd followed him!" + +They ran on, and Jim broke out again: + +"I'd no business to come coal minin', anyway. I'm a prospector, by +rights. Gold's my end, not coal. You're s'posed to know this game. +What chance ha' we got?" + +Clem made no answer in words. He held up his safety-lamp, already +showing a marked blue cap of gas over the flame. + +"I'd seen it a'ready! That means gas, don't it?" + +"We may get through it," said Clem, but his tone was not hopeful. + +They turned into a long gallery leading to the old workings, and, as +they sped along, the cones of gas on the safety lamps grew longer and +longer. + +Presently lumps of slate and rock on the floor heralded the end. + +Quite suddenly, the gleam of the lamps shone on a wall before them. +The roof had fallen in. + +"That's the last chance?" queried Anton, gloomily. + +"The very last," said Clem, "we're buried." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE DANGERS OF RESCUE + + +The midday whistle of the mine had just begun, when a violent blast of +air roared up the intake shaft, followed by a portentous-- + +Cra-a-ack! + +A terrific crash rose from the bowels of the earth. + +The growling rumble of the underground disaster came rolling upward in +throbbing volumes of sound. + +The ground trembled, the buildings shook, the lofty skeleton of the +pit-head gear wavered as though about to let fall the huge revolving +wheels overhead. + +From the engine-house, from the pumping-room, from the ventilation +building, from the screeners and washers, from the picking-belts, from +the loading-yards, from the coking-ovens, from every corner of the +vast above-ground works of a modern colliery, the men came running. + +Some were white of face, some sooty, but all bore an expression of +the most extreme anxiety. + +The mine superintendent, who was also the owner, the mine boss, and +the mining engineer were among the first at the shaft. The doctor and +hospital attendant--whom the law requires to be maintained at all +mines employing more than a hundred men--arrived but a few seconds +later. + +The superintendent, a vigorous Australian, who had taken part in many +a sensational mining rush in his youth, and who had inherited the +ownership of this coal mine from a distant relative but a few years +before, leaped into action. Orders came rattling like hail. + +All haulage of coal from below was stopped. The engine on the second +shaft was thrown into gear, and the cages in both shafts were sent +down to bring up the men. + +Would there be any to bring? + +What did the crash denote? A mere fall of roof, which might cause the +loss of a few lives, or a vast explosion which would sweep every man +below ground to death in a few seconds? + +The cages had hardly reached the bottom when there came the second +crash. + +The crowd around the shaft was thickening. The doors of the hundreds +of cottages clustered in rows about the colliery had been thrown open; +from every direction the women came running, their shawls streaming +behind them. Many of them had already lost fathers or husbands or sons +below ground; all knew the awful menace of that sickening rumble. + +With all the speed that the winding-engines could be made to give, the +cages were hauled up. They had not yet reached the top when a sudden +cry of horror arose. Otto, who had not gone home, despite his +abandonment of the day's work, but who had hung around the pit-head +all day, pointed with his finger to the steep hillside that rose +abruptly above the mine. + +The hill itself was falling! + +The pine forest swayed, as though the huge trees were but blades of +grass, seemed to move downward a few yards, sending up a cloud of +dust, and then fairly plunged down the slope in an avalanche of rocks, +trees and earth mixed with tremendous bowlders. With a roar like the +fall of a near-by thunderbolt, the landslide ripped away the side of +the hill, the ground settling with a shiver like that of an +earthquake, and sagging perceptibly. + +"Sound the emergency whistle!" came the command. + +A minute or two later, a series of shrill screeches gave the signal +for summoning the rescue corps. Nearly all American mines, following +the requirements and suggestions of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, +maintain elaborately equipped rescue stations, manned by picked miners +who are regularly drilled in the use of the apparatus. + +Before the emergency signal had finished sounding the second time, +both the rescue team and the first-aid team were at their places. +Simultaneously, the cages containing the first load of miners came to +the top. + +A great sigh of relief went up. + +"Well?" queried the superintendent to one of the mine foremen, who was +in the first cage. + +"A big roof-fall, sir," was the reply. "It was still fallin' when I +came up. I left Lloyd to handle the men at the bottom while I came up +to report." + +"Gas?" + +"None showin' as yet, sir. But I came right away. It might gather a +bit later." + +"How many missing?" + +"Can't tell, sir. Most o' the men seemed to be gettin' clear." + +"Ready to go down again?" + +"Sure!" + +"All right, get in the cage, then." + +The assistant superintendent, the mining engineer, the safety +inspector, and the fire boss were already in. The foreman jumped in +beside them, and the cage rattled down to the bottom. + +Already the word had spread to the gathering crowd that the accident +was but a roof-fall, not an explosion, that two cages full of miners +had come and that there was a likelihood that most of the men were +safe. + +Volunteers clustered around the mine-owner, clamoring to be allowed to +go down. + +"We'll dig 'em out, sir!" they cried cheerily. + +"Keep back, men!" was the answer. "Wait till we know just what has to +be done. Maybe every one below ground will have a chance to get out." + +There was need for caution. While mine disasters are numerous--over +two thousand men being killed every year in United States collieries +alone--such an accident as this one had rarely happened before. The +landslide above, combined with the sinking of the strata below, +produced a condition which might be of the extremest danger. + +The foreman of the pumping plant was the first to find evidence of +this trouble. He hurried forward, consternation on his face. + +"Mr Owens, the pumps have quit working!" + +"What's wrong?" + +"Pipes busted, sir, probably. The turbine's goin' all right, but she's +suckin' air." + +"How much water were you throwing this morning?" + +"Over three thousand gallons an hour, sir." + +"H'm, it won't take long to drown the mine at that rate. And if there +are any poor fellows cut off--" + +He turned to the store-house keeper. + +"Got plenty of spare pipe?" + +"Lots of it, sir." + +"Get it out!" + +Then, to the mine boss: + +"Murchison, get a new pipe down the uptake shaft as quick as you know +how! Double pay for every man working on the job! Put them on the +jump!" + +As fast as his eye could travel round the circle of eager men, the +boss picked his workers, miners of tried worth. + +Almost as though by magic a line was formed from the storehouse to the +shaft. Mechanics, with their tools ready, were on the ladders by the +time the first joint of pipe reached the shaft, and the first +nine-foot length was flanged on in less than five minutes after the +giving of the order. So fast were the joints thimbled and braced +against the side of the shaft that the long pipe seemed to grow like a +living thing. In an hour's time, the pumps were going again. + +Meanwhile, the time clerk, not needing to wait for his orders, had +checked the names of all the men who had come up the shaft, until the +cage came up empty save for the foreman. + +"That's the last," he said. + +The time clerk closed his book and nodded, then went to the +superintendent. + +"Eight missing, sir." + +"That's bad enough, though it might have been a good deal worse. Make +out a detailed list and bring it here." + +Truly it was bad enough. The fire boss and safety engineer had +reported that fire had broken out in some part of the mine, probably, +for white damp was leaking through. The report of the mining engineer +was graver still. The first subsidence of the mine had caused the +landslide, and the shock of the landslide had crushed all the +galleries leading from the shafts. + +"You mean that all the workings are smashed in?" + +"I wouldn't say that. They can't be, the way the workings are laid +out. But there's more rock to be cleared away than I like to think +about. How many men are caught?" + +"Eight." + +"Do you know whereabouts, Mr Owens?" + +"I'll tell you in a minute. Here's the clerk now." He scanned the +list. "Well, three of them were working in the end galleries." + +"They might be safe," interjected the mining engineer. "That's under +the hill." + +"Two of them," the superintendent continued, "were working in the +broken, out towards the old workings, and the other three were near +the North Gallery." + +"We might get at the last three, but, judging from the lie, the old +workings section will be choked until Doomsday." + +"You mean we can't try to get those two men out?" + +The mining engineer looked his chief full in the face. + +"No, you can't," he said bluntly. "There's a fair chance of rescue in +the North Gallery section, and, as for the others, we might drive +galleries through to the rooms under the hill--though it'll take some +time. The two men in the old workings are gone. They're probably +smashed under the fall, anyway." + +"I'll get all those men out or break my neck trying!" burst out the +owner of the mine. + +"If you scatter your forces, you won't do anything," the mining +engineer retorted. As an expert in his profession, he was prepared to +back his own opinion against all the officials of the mine, from the +owner down, the more so as he knew that his chief had not spent his +life in coal mining. + +Owens glared at him, but he knew that the engineer was right. + +"Lay out the work, then, since you know so much! I'll have the gangs +ready, by the time you are. You think the men in the end galleries can +be got at?" + +"I'm sure of it, if they hold out long enough, and if they're lucky +enough to escape the damps. Our main trouble is going to be the +timbering. Now, the farther in we go, the farther we get from the +break. The roof will be solid back there, most likely. That's why I +think a good chance of rescue lies that way." + +"Get at that end first, then. Clem Swinton's in that group of men. I'd +be sorry to lose him. He's the most promising young fellow in the +mine." + +The mining engineer nodded. + +"I know him. He's been attending the night school. You're right. We +can't afford to lose him. It's easy enough to find miners--especially +foreigners--but a young American who wants to learn the colliery +business thoroughly is rare. I've had my eye on him, too." + +At this point, Otto, who had been edging near his superiors and who +had overheard the conversation, broke in. + +"You don't need to worry over Clem Swinton, Mr. Owens," he said. +"Clem'll get a good scare out o' this, an' that's about all." + +"How do you know, Otto?" The superintendent spoke good-humoredly, for +he knew and liked the old man. On more than one occasion, when a +strike was threatened Otto's good sense had held back his +fellow-miners from violent measures, and his chiefs recognized both +his popularity and his loyalty. "Did your friends the 'knockers' tell +you so?" + +"They did, Mr Owens," was the unperturbed answer. "You'll see if I +ain't right!" + +"I hope you are. I'll put you in charge of one of the gangs at that +end, if you like." + +"I was a-goin' to," responded Otto, who had never doubted that he +would be chosen for the post. + +By four o'clock in the afternoon, work had been thoroughly organized. +The pumps had got control of the water, a temporary ventilating +circuit had been established in an effort to keep the mine air +pure--for the main system had been destroyed by the fall, and the +mining gangs were at work, digging away the obstruction and loading +with feverish haste. + +This was a very different matter from hewing coal, which is always +laid out in regular seams and naturally divided by splitting planes. +The rock from the strata above had fallen into the galleries at all +angles, and was mixed up with the crushed and partly splintered +timbers of the roof and sides. Blasting had to be done on a small +scale and with extreme caution, for there was fire damp in the mine, +due to the lack of complete ventilation. + +The road-bed and rails, on which the cars for the transporting of the +débris must run, were flattened and twisted. It was necessary to lay +down new rails, however shakily. Moreover, since all the coal +conveyors and electric haulage systems were a tangle of wreckage, the +loaded cars had to be pushed by hand all the way along the underground +galleries, to the bottom of the shaft. + +The timbering gangs had a desperate job to do, for there was no solid +flat roof overhead under which props could be put, nor could enough +time be given to build a stable timber roof. Yet, upon the ability of +the timber boss hung the lives of all the rescuers. + +Night came, but without any slacking of the work. The electrical +engineer and his staff strung temporary wires, and, both below ground +and above ground, the colliery workings were as bright as day. + +The scene was one of furious rush. Neighboring mines sent gangs to +help. Cars loaded with mine timbers came from all the near-by +collieries. The news of the accident, published in the local evening +papers, had brought offers of help from every quarter. Before +midnight, officials from the Bureau of Mines were on the scene. + +At 3 o'clock in the morning, one of the great Rescue Cars maintained +by the Bureau rolled into the railroad yards of the colliery. In this +car were experts whose principal work was the direction of rescue +operations in mining disasters, and the car contained a complete +equipment of all the most modern scientific appliances. + +The first rays of Saturday's dawn showed the crowd still gathered +around the shaft. Owens, hollow-eyed from lack of sleep and from +watching, was still directing the operations, but with the advice and +assistance of government officials. + +The work was proceeding apace. The miners' picks rang incessantly, +without a second's pause, each man streaming with perspiration as he +toiled. Rails were put down as fast as the obstruction was dug away. +The timber gangs strove like madmen. Each shift was for two hours +only, with no pause between, for there were men and to spare. + +So the day and the night passed. + +At ten o'clock on Sunday morning, there came a cry-- + +"She's fallin' again!" + +A tremor ran through the mine. + +Another shifting of the strata imperilled all the excavation that had +been done. + +A few minutes' hesitation might have been fatal, but the timber gangs +rushed forward, though the props were bending on every side of them +and threatened, from second to second, to engulf them in falling rock. +In a haste that approached to panic, timbers were thrust up and +braced, so that but a small section of the roof fell. + +Some of the miners quit, the more readily as a couple of them were +badly hurt in the little fall, but for every man who showed the white +feather, there were a score to volunteer. They were led by Owens +himself, who was at the bottom of the shaft when the fall came. With +all the fire of his adventurous youth, he seized a pick and ran +forward to the most dangerous place, crying: + +"Those men are to be got out, or I'll die down here with them! Who +follows?" + +There was no farther talk of quitting. + +On Monday there arrived from Washington a Bureau of Mines expert, with +a new listening-device, known as a geophone. This is an instrument +worked on the microphone plan, so sensitive that it responds to the +slightest vibration, even through dense rock-strata, hundreds of feet +thick. + +"Stop work, all!" came the order. "Not a word, not a whisper! Keep +your feet and hands as still as if you were frozen!" + +There was a tense five minutes as the geophone expert listened. + +Presently he detached from his head the ear-clamps leading to the +microphone receiver. + +"The men are alive!" he declared. "I hear them knocking!" + +"To work, men!" cried the boss, and the picks rang with redoubled +zest. + +It was Tuesday, shortly before dawn, when the rescuers pierced the +first obstruction, only to find another and a worse break beyond. + +A draft of air sucked through. Almost immediately the caps of the +safety lamps showed blue. At the same time, the safety inspector +called, "Back from the face, men! Back, all!" + +He pointed to the little cage he had been holding. + +The canaries had collapsed! + +Carbon monoxide was pouring out, the deadly white damp, that kills as +it strikes! + +The hewers retreated, grumbling. + +"We can stand it, with reliefs!" they declared. + +But the Bureau man was adamant. + +"Get back when you're told," he said shortly. "We'll get those men out +all right. Bring the gas gang here!" + +Then it was that the researches of the trained workers of the Bureau +of Mines showed to their best advantage. + +Along the gallery came a line of strange-eyed and humped figures, +inhuman of appearance, wearing the newly devised respirators by which +men can work in the most vitiated air without harm. + +There are several types of these "gas masks," most of them based on +the principle of carrying compressed oxygen for breathing, and bearing +chambers containing chemicals which absorb the carbonic acid gas and +moisture of the exhaled breath. These masks proved their utility at +the great explosion at Courrières in 1906, the greatest mining +disaster on record, when 1100 miners were killed. + + +[Illustration: INTO THE POISON-FILLED AIR! + +Rescue-Crew of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, equipped with +oxygen-breathing apparatus, facing the deadly "damps." + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: U. S. BUREAU OF MINES RESCUE CAR.] + + +[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW, SHOWING LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT.] + + +It was not long, however, before it became evident that there was a +limit to the usefulness of the respirators. Excellent as they were for +exploring galleries filled with poisonous gas, it was difficult to do +fast digging in them. The work slowed down. + +"Look here, Mr. Owens," protested Otto, "if we don't go no faster'n +we're goin' now, it'll be a month afore we get through. Let us go in! +If the gas is bad, we'll take hour shifts, or half-hour shifts, or +ten-minute shifts, if it comes to that! The men'll tough it out as +long as they can!" + +"What about it?" said the superintendent, to the Director of the +Bureau of Mines car. + +"If the men are willing to take the risk! But we can purify the air to +some extent, anyway. I've a man down there with a Burrell gas +detector, which is several hundred times more sensitive than any +canary, so that we can keep a close watch on the air changes, and +there are plenty of tanks of compressed oxygen to be got. I've some +here in the car, and a telegram to Pittsburgh will bring us more in a +few hours. We can put in another bellows, too. + +"This miner's right enough, about the digging. Fast work can't be done +in respirators. The men will have to use electric cap lamps, of +course, but I've a big supply in the car." + +Back into the poisoned air the miners went. That strain soon tested +out the men, and, as the old miner had said to Clem, a week before, +the young men and the single men were compelled to give up, first. Old +Otto stood up to his work with the best of them, but forty minutes at +a stretch was as long as any of the men could stand. + +On Tuesday night, the rescuers working out from the up-take shaft +broke through the obstruction into the North Gallery. The three men +who had been imprisoned there were found asleep, close to the sleep +that knows no waking, terribly poisoned by the lack of oxygen. + +The mine doctor, who had been waiting at the face until the moment of +breaking through, was the first through the hole. Rapidly he examined +the unconscious men. + +"One's nearly gone," he shouted back, "but I reckon we can save all +three!" + +A mighty cheer rolled through the galleries at the news that the North +Gallery men were saved. It was echoed at the shaft and above ground. + +Without loss of time, the men were brought to the open air and rushed +to the mine hospital. Two hours passed before the first of them +recovered consciousness. + +The geophone expert was at his bedside, waiting impatiently. + +"Have you been knocking any signals lately?" he asked, eagerly, as +soon as the survivor was able to speak. + +"No," the miner answered feebly, "we'd gave up. Thought it wasn't no +use." + +"I heard knocking again this morning," the expert announced. "The men +at the far galleries must be alive still!" + +Wednesday saw no diminution of the endeavor, but more than half the +miners of the rescue crews were down and out, suffering to a greater +or lesser degree from the terrible strain of the short shifts in the +deadly mixture of fire damp and white damp. Yet volunteers were as +plentiful as ever, for both the mine managers and the miners of +neighboring collieries stood ready to help. + +By Wednesday night came the cheering news that the roof overhead was +more solid and that the rock fall had not broken in the floor. The +cars rattled in and out, a car to each shaft in less than three +minutes, loaded and pushed by willing hands. With the North Gallery +men saved, both shafts had been set hauling the débris from the +galleries leading to where Clem, Anton, and Jim were imprisoned. + +At breakfast time, Thursday morning, just at the change of shift, the +geophone expert reported voices. + +The message was sped aloft: + +"The men are still alive! We have heard them talking!" + +The news seemed too good to be credited. Seven days the three men had +been entombed, seven days without food, water or light, seven days in +foul air, probably impregnated with noxious vapors.[1] + +[Footnote 1: A very similar accident, wherein a landslide accompanied +the fall of the coal bank, occurred at Blue Rock, Ohio, in 1856. +There, also, four entombed men were rescued after an imprisonment of +eight days. (F. R-W)] + +Suddenly, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the signal came from below to +the pit-head to cease hauling. + +What had happened? + +There could be but one explanation. The cars must have stopped. + +There had been another fall in the mine, blocking off the gallery. + +The rescuers were caught! + +Like wild-fire the news spread through the mining village. + +Great and excited as had been the crowd before, it was ten times more +excited now. Women, whose husbands were in the rescue gang, shook +their fists at Owens, clamoring that he had sent fifty men to death in +order to save three. The animosity spread to the miners who had lacked +the nerve to volunteer, and all sorts of wild rumors passed among the +crowd. + +There might have been serious trouble, but the gates of the high +fences around the pit-head enclosure had been closed, and the mine +guards, armed with rifles, patrolled the place. Ever since the days of +the "Molly Maguires,"--and many much more recent bloody outbreaks +among coal miners--colliery owners have maintained armed guards. + +Happily there was no actual trouble, though the crowd was getting +ugly, for, a little more than two hours later, there came the cheering +news that a supporting gang of rescue workers had driven a new gallery +through one of the pillars of coal, and that union with the old line +was effected. + +Again a faint rumble! + +Hopes dropped once more, but, after a brief inspection, the mining +engineer reported that the fall had taken place in another part of the +mine and that there was no immediate danger. + +At 8 o'clock that evening, voices could be faintly heard. An hour +later, using a megaphone, the rescuers made the survivors hear that +help was near them. + +"How many of you are there?" + +Thinly, so thinly that the voice could scarcely be heard, came back +the answer: + +"Three." + +"All alive and well?" + +"We are all alive. Jim Getwood and Anton Rover are unconscious. This +is Clem Swinton talking." + +"How is the air?" + +"Getting bad, now." + +"Keep your courage up! We'll have you out soon!" + +The hewers set to work in high spirits, hoping that every blow of the +pick would drive through. + +Then: + +"Stop work, men!" said the Bureau chief suddenly. + +The men stared at him, amazed at the order. All stopped, however, +except old Otto, who continued to use his pick-axe steadily. + +The official grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him round with none +too gentle a hand. + +"Stop, you thick-head, when you're told!" + +"What for? We'll be through this wall in an hour!" + +"You'll have a hole through it, maybe. But what good will that do?" + +Otto stared at the official amazed, and the Bureau of Mines man went +on: + +"You've had to start working in a respirator, after all, haven't you? +Why? Because of white damp! Haven't you got sense enough to see what +would happen as soon as you drove a hole through big enough to let the +white damp in and not big enough to get the men out? How long do you +think they'd last in this air, in their weakened state?" + +Otto looked at him a moment, and then nodded his head. + +"You're right, boss," he admitted. "I'm a fool. I'd never ha' thought +o' that. But what are you goin' to do?" + +"You don't seem to know enough to use your eyes," the official +answered, shortly, "and they told me you were one of the best men in +the mine! What do you suppose we've been doing all this cement +construction along this gallery for the last couple of shifts?" + +"I hadn't stopped to think," admitted Otto, taken aback. + +"Well, you'll have a chance to do some thinking, now." + +In effect, it was not surprising that Otto should not be able to see a +way out of the difficulty, for the problem was a serious one. + +The proportion of white damp, or carbon monoxide, in the air where the +rescuers had now been compelled to work in respirators, was strong +enough to kill a man in ten or fifteen minutes. In the undoubtedly +weakened state of the three survivors, a lesser time than this would +suffice to be fatal. + +If, in the course of digging away the obstruction which remained +between the rescuers and the entombed men, a small hole were made, or +if the rocks should lie in such a manner that there were +interstices between, Clem and his comrades would succumb before a +sufficiently large breach could be made in the wall whereby they might +be dragged through to liberty. + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE TIMBER GOES. + +Whole forests are cut down to hold up the mine galleries. On the +strength of this work the lives of the miners depend. + +_Courtesy of the Wigham Coal Co._] + + +[Illustration: GEOPHONE EXPERT LISTENING FOR TAPPING OF SURVIVORS. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: BUILDING THE WALL FOR THE "SAND-HOGS." + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +If, indeed, it were safe to blast, it might be possible to get rid of +the obstruction by the use of a heavy blast and then rush through and +grab the men. But this was impossible. The Burrell tester showed a +large proportion of methane gas or fire damp, and a blast of any size +might easily start an explosion which would not only wreck the mine, +but also kill every member of the rescue parties, while affording no +chance of getting the imprisoned men. + +How could the wall be taken down, without allowing the gas to +percolate through? + +"Stand back, men," said the official, "here come the 'sand hogs,' +now." + +Amazed, the colliers retreated from the coal face to give place to a +very different group of men. Small and wiry folk, these, dressed in an +entirely different fashion from the miners. The respirators gave them +the same goggle-eyed goblin faces. Not one of them had ever been in a +coal mine before. + +With a speed and dexterity that showed their knowledge of the work, +these men proceeded to build up, at the side of the gallery, close to +the point where the last obstruction still held, a solid face of +concrete, and rapidly cemented it to the somewhat elaborate +construction that had been in process of making all the preceding day, +and to which Otto had paid no heed. + +It was not long before it became evident that a completely closed room +was being made. Other gangs came along, carrying strange screw-doors +of iron, and a multitude of devices new to the eyes of miners. +Everything had been measured and prepared above-ground. It remained +only to throw the material together, according to a prearranged plan. + +By midnight, all was ready. + +Three "sand hogs," with a gallant young doctor who had volunteered, +prepared to enter. + +A steady throbbing sound told that machinery connected with an outlet +pipe--solidly embedded in the cement--had been set in motion. The +newly made walls threatened to bulge inwards, and the signal was given +to stop. + +Then a rushing noise was heard in the inlet pipe, similarly embedded. +The outer of the double doors was opened and the four men stepped in, +entering a tiny ante-chamber. They closed the outer door, which was +absolutely air-tight, opened the inner one, and passed into the +chamber built against the coal face, made of solid cement except for a +circle of coal a yard in diameter. + +A minute or two later, could be heard, faintly, the high screech of +some rapid-cutting machine. + +When Otto came back on his next shift, at 2 o'clock on Friday morning, +the sand hogs were still working. + +Curiosity overcame the old miner's desire not to seem ignorant. + +"Just what is that, sir?" he asked the Bureau official, who was still +on watch. + +"That you, Otto? So you want to know, now, do you? Well, that's a sort +of lightly made caisson, or air-tight chamber, with an air-lock or +double door. It's used a good deal for working under water, but for +the job we have here, it doesn't have to be very solidly built. + +"It's simple enough, when you think it out. We just cemented it up, +put in an air-pump to take out the gassy air that was in it, and then +turned in compressed air, with a pressure of a little more than one +atmosphere, just enough to keep any of the gas from entering the hole +that is being dug through the coal pillar." + +"Why can't gas get in? Gas'll go through coal." + +"Because the pressure from inside is bigger than from outside. The +compressed air is leaking through the coal and driving any gas away." + +"Why didn't you let us get in there to finish the job, if that's all +there is to it?" protested Otto, indignant that strangers should have +the glory of the final rescue, after the miners had done so much. + +"Because you couldn't stand it. Those men are sand hogs. They're used +to working in compressed air. Just as soon as a man gets into a +pressure of two or three atmospheres, unless he's mighty careful he's +apt to get dangerously ill. His blood absorbs too much air. While he's +under compression, he doesn't feel it so much, but if he comes out of +the compression too quickly, the surplus air in his blood can't come +out as slowly as it ought, and little bubbles form in the blood +current. That's deadly. Sometimes these bubbles cause a terrible +caisson disease known as the 'bends,' when all the muscles and joints +are affected; or it may give a paralysis known as 'diver's palsy,' +because divers working in compressed atmospheres suffer the same way; +all too often, it causes sudden death. So you see, Otto, it's not a +chance a man ought to take who knows nothing about it." + +"An' the sand hogs are diggin' in there?" + +"No, they're not digging. We put in a tunnelling machine driven by +compressed air, which is sometimes used for making sewers and the +like. It will bore an even, round hole, just big enough for a man to +crawl through, comfortably. + +"As soon as that hole is pierced through into the room where the +imprisoned men are, the doctor will go in, taking food, wine and +medical supplies, and three respirators as well. Then, when the +survivors are protected against the possible results of a sudden +inrush of gas, it'll be up to you men to get the rest of the wall down +as quick as you can." + +"So that's how it is! We'll be ready, sir, as soon as you give the +word." + +At 6 o'clock, on the Friday morning, the outer door of the caisson +clanged and the foreman of the sand hogs came out. + +"We've pierced through," he said. "The doctor's in there. He says all +the men are alive, as yet, but he doesn't know if they'll recover. +There's not much time to lose, judging by what he says." + +"At the wall, men!" came the order. + +The miners cheered. They were to have the glory of getting their +comrades out, after all. + +The picks hammered on the rock like hail. The cars roared through the +galleries once more. The cages shot upward with their loads. + +At 8 o'clock, a miner's pick went through the wall into the space +leading to the room beyond, but there was still a lot of rock to move +before a clear passage could be made. + +Otto remembered the warning of the Mine Bureau official, and realized +that, had he been left to himself, he would have killed his comrades +at the very moment of rescue. + +At 9 o'clock, the hole was big enough for one of the rescuers to pass. +As before, a doctor was the first to scramble through the opening. + +The excitement above ground was enormous. Each car might bring a +survivor! + +Every time that the cage was a few seconds late, hope rose high. + +"Keep silence, now," said the Mine Bureau's surgeon to the waiting +crowd. "No cheers or shouts remember! The nerves of the men are apt to +be at the breaking point." + +The silence added to the tension. The atmosphere was electric with +anxiety. + +What was happening? + +The cage was rising slowly, slowly! + +Surely the men were there! + +It reached the surface. + +A limp form was borne out and laid on a waiting stretcher. + +It was Anton, his face pinched, his lips blue. + +In the next cage, Jim Getwood was brought up. On seeing his condition, +the mine doctor shook his head dubiously. Artificial respiration was +begun, then and there. + +The cage rose for the third time, bearing Clem Swinton, unconscious +like his comrades, but clearly in better case. + +He stirred as he reached the open air, and his glance encountered that +of the mine owner. + +"I said American mine pluck would get us," he gasped, "if we stuck out +long enough!" + +And he relapsed into unconsciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EIGHT DAYS OF DARK + + +The three comrades were saved, indeed, but it was none too soon. Eight +days below ground without food or light and without any sure hope of +rescue, had brought them to a low ebb. + +Clem, owing to his longer experience in the mine and his more prudent +conserving of the scanty supply of food that fell to his share, had +withstood the strain better than the two other survivors. He was badly +shaken, however, and his nerves were on the edge of collapse. His +efforts to help his companions had held him tense during those +unending hours of darkness and famine, and his optimism had kept him +from the ravages of despair. + +Anton had received a terrible shock, both to body and mind. His hands +and feet had become deadened, as though frozen, and the most vigorous +treatment failed to restore the circulation. From time to time he was +seized by convulsive fits; resembling those of epilepsy, and +characteristic of white damp poisoning. His speech remained thick and +mumbling, and he repeated the same word over and over, a score of +times, without being conscious that he had spoken it. + +Jim Getwood, the prospector, was in the weakest condition of the +three. He lacked the degree of immunity that Clem possessed through +his half-dozen years below ground, and that Anton possessed, in a +minor degree, through heredity. His former life of adventure in the +open air made him all the more susceptible to the poison gases. +Violent headaches brought him to the verge of madness, and alternated +with periods of delirium. He could retain little or no food, and, +several times, the doctor despaired of saving his life. + +Yet, in the history of coal-mining, there are several cases on record +in which men have been even a longer time below ground and recovered. +In a French colliery, two out of thirty men who were buried for +fourteen days, recovered; in a Welsh colliery, one man survived out of +seventy who had been entombed for seventeen days. + +A still more astonishing case occurred in a Scotch coal-mine. A big +roof-fall in a pit in Ayrshire had blocked off all the outlets to the +shaft, save one, by which all the miners were able to escape. One man, +however, finding that the way to the shaft was clear, returned to the +face of the coal where he had been working, in order to get his coat. + +On his way back to the shaft, a second fall occurred, blocking him in. +This happened in 1835, when rescue work was still done in a primitive +fashion. It was not until the twenty-third day that the miner was +reached. He was alive, but in a dying state, his body being covered +with a species of fungus that grows upon decaying mine timbers. He +lived three days after being brought to the surface. + +The longest record of endurance under such conditions occurred in +France, some years later. A well-digger, near Lyons, was buried alive +with a comrade, the sides of a deep well caving in after such a manner +that an air-space of 37 feet was left above the entombed men. + +It was impossible to try to remove the obstruction, for any effort to +do so would only cause the earth and stones to fall on them and crush +the men. In order to attempt rescue, it was necessary to sink a well +as deep as the first, and, when the full depth was reached, to drive +an underground gallery from one to the other. + +Up to the very last day, the rescuers were able to hear tappings, sure +sign that at least one of the men was alive. On the thirtieth day the +rescue was effected. The oldest of the two well-diggers was found +alive, but he was in a terrible condition because of the infection +caused by the corpse of his comrade, who had died two weeks before. +He, also, lived three days after his rescue, but the doctors were +unable to save his life. + +None of these men, however, had to withstand the effects of white damp +in the air; on the other hand, none of them had any supply of food, +however small, to begin with. + +Clem's account of the experiences of the three men in the mine was +awaited with a great deal of interest. Reporters from various +newspapers hung around the mine for several days, waiting for a chance +to get his story. The mine doctor refused permission, however, until +he was assured that the young miner was well on his way to health, +fearing that a reawakening of the memories of that terrible week might +bring about a relapse. Finally he admitted the reporters to the +hospital ward where the three survivors lay, though forbidding Anton +and Jim to speak. + +Clem was willing enough to tell his tale. + +He began with the incident in the cage, on the morning of the +accident, when he had joked with Otto, to the old miner's manifest +objection. He told of Otto's refusal to work that day, according to +the account given him by Jim. He described, also, how Anton had +gallantly abandoned his own chance of safety to come and warn him, and +explained how they had vainly searched an outlet in the direction of +the North Gallery. + +"Right after we met Jim," he went on, "we ran as fast as we could +towards the old workings, to see if we could get out there. I didn't +think there was much chance, because, so far as I could make out, the +fall had happened between where we were working and the shafts. But it +was worth trying, anyway. When we found the wall down, in that +section, and the rock piled up clear to the roof, I knew we were +trapped, sure. + +"Thanks to what I had learned in the night-school classes, I had a +pretty good idea of the general lay-out of the mine. I knew how the +faults lay, and miners, who'd been in this mine a long time, had told +me how gassy the old workings were. + +"In a lesson I'd had on mine ventilation, we'd been told that the +ventilating plant, here, had been enlarged twice over to try to keep +the mine clear of gas. It wasn't hard to figure out that, with the +ventilation stopped, gas would soon begin to collect, and that would +be the end of us. + +"There was a big-enough cap on our safety lamps, as it was, and it +seemed to me that the blue cone grew longer as I looked. I told Jim +that it wasn't safe for us to hang around those old workings, we'd get +poisoned before we knew it and lose any chance we had of rescue. + +"Jim didn't see it my way, at first. + +"'Might as well die here as anywhere!' he said. + +"I didn't like that spirit. I'd read in a book, somewhere, that if a +chap gives up hope, he dies a whole lot quicker than if he keeps up +his spirits. It was about Anton that I was worrying most. I was bent +on trying to get the youngster cheerful if I could, because he was +moping over Otto's prophecy that there was going to be an accident. +You've heard about that, I suppose?" + +The reporters nodded, and Owens, who was listening, added: + +"We've heard a lot about it. The old man called the turn, all right. +But maybe you don't know that he told me, too, that you'd be rescued +and that you'd come out of it, alive?" + +"Did he?" queried Clem, in amazement. + +"Point-blank. It's a good thing for you he did, too, for a whole lot +of first-class men volunteered for the rescue work who couldn't have +been persuaded to enter the mine again, otherwise. The old man stuck +to his belief, even after most of us thought you would be dead. The +geophone expert backed him up, by saying he heard tapping, but it was +Otto's persistence that did the most." + +"It's a queer thing he should guess so closely," commented Clem +thoughtfully. + +But a reporter from a Pittsburgh evening paper, who was anxious to get +the survivor's story on the telegraph wires, broke in impatiently: + +"What was the first thing you did, after you'd found you were +trapped?" + +"We got busy and made a barricade," Clem answered. "I showed Jim and +Anton that, in the old workings where we were, there was a lot of gas. +Our lamps showed it up, good and strong. Now, back in the rooms where +Jim and I had been hewing, there wasn't any gas to speak of. We could +go back there, of course, and that was what Jim wanted to do. + +"But I figured out that, since the ventilation was shut off from our +rooms, the gas which had accumulated in the old workings and which was +steadily seeping through the coal in that section would gradually +creep along the galleries our way. If that happened, we'd be down and +out, before the rescuers had a chance to cut their way through. We +could put up a barricade, though, and cut off the gassy part of the +mine. + +"Jim didn't want to work, at first. If he was going to die, he said, +he might as well die of gas as of hunger. He talked a lot of rot about +its being the easiest death. I was that sore, I could have kicked him. + +"Anton was willing enough to work, though, and when Jim saw the two of +us actually at work, he got over his grouch, went and got his pick and +shovel and slaved as hard as any of us. We piled up the coal and rock, +good and thick, and then scraped up all the fine dust we could find +and made a thick blanket of that to keep the gas from coming through, +as best we could. + +"Putting up that barricade made us mighty hungry. We were working fast +because the gas there was bad, and we knew the quicker we got away +from it, the better for us. Being hungry didn't do us much good. +There wasn't much grub. + +"We had only two pails of dinner, Jim's and mine. Anton's dinner pail +was out by the entry where he took the loaded cars. So we pooled the +food, and divided it into three exactly equal parts, each one of us to +hide his share, and to eat it as quickly or as slowly as he pleased. + +"Jim ate his at once, said he'd rather have one good meal than a lot +of little bites which didn't mean anything. Anton made his last +longer, he still had some food left when the lamps burned out. I only +took a bite or two of mine, at that time, and managed to make eight +meals of it, though, of course, I couldn't tell how many hours or days +apart those meals were." + +"How long did the safety-lamps burn?" asked the reporter. + +"Eight hours after we were caught. They all went out within a few +minutes of each other--and we had them pretty well turned down, too. I +looked at my watch, just as the last one flickered out. It wasn't +quite a quarter past eight." + +"You had no matches?" the reporter asked. + +"Matches? What a fool idea!" exclaimed Clem, amazed at the reporter's +ignorance. "I should say not! Even the lamps are locked. We could +have had light three times as long, if it wasn't for that, burning +first one and then the other, but there's no way to light a lamp below +ground. + +"Before the lamps went out, each of us had scraped up a pile of coal +dust to sleep on. It was plenty warm down there, and getting warmer +all the time. The lack of air made us all heavy and drowsy. We were +all asleep pretty soon after the lamps went out. + +"We woke up in the dark. It was black as pitch, a blackness which +weighed on you. It hurt. One's eyes wanted to fight against it. + +"How long had we been asleep? An hour, ten hours, or the whole +twenty-four? Not one of us could tell. + +"But the sleep had done one good thing. It had helped Jim a lot. He +was full of pep, again. The old prospecting optimism had come back. He +was dead sure that he could find a way out. All it needed was looking +for, he thought. + +"Anton wasn't awake yet, and I didn't want to wake him up. The longer +he slept, the better. I tried to reason with Jim that we'd already +gone to all the openings there could be, but he wouldn't listen to +reason. He wouldn't stay with us. He was restless. He just had to be +up and wandering. + +"'How are you going to find your way back?' I asked him. 'It's easy to +get lost in the dark, and you don't know much about the mine.' + +"'I'll be back with a full dinner-pail while you're sitting there +doing nothing!' he boasted, and off he started. I'd have gone with +him, quick enough, but I didn't want Anton to wake and find himself +alone. + +"After a while Anton woke up. I heard him munching, so I knew he was +at his grub. I warned him not to finish it all at once, but he was so +hungry he couldn't stop. I couldn't blame him much, at that. I was so +ravenous that my stomach seemed to be tying itself up in knots, and +the flesh inside seemed to crawl. + +"I had to tell him that Jim had gone off by himself. Anton didn't say +much to that. In fact, he didn't want to talk at all. He was brooding +all the time. Twice I overheard him muttering to himself, and both +times he was talking about Otto and his warning. + +"I could see he was blaming me, but I'll say this for the boy--he +never once said that he regretted having come back to warn me." + +"That," interrupted the superintendent emphatically, "shows the boy is +good stuff. It takes a good deal of moral courage to keep from blaming +some one else, when you're in a pinch. I remember, once, in West +Australia--" He checked himself. "Go ahead with your story, lad." + +Clem resumed. + +"Some time after--it seemed about an hour, though it may have been a +good deal less or a good deal more--we heard shouting. + +"'Jim's found the way out!' cried Anton, and scrambled to his feet. + +"I grabbed him as he rose. + +"'Don't run off in that fool fashion,' I said to him. 'Make sure where +the shouts are coming from, first. You've been down in a mine long +enough to know that the echoes are apt to make a noise sound as if it +comes in a directly opposite direction from the right one.' + +"'I'm going to find Jim!' he insisted. + +"'If you must run chances, why, I suppose you must,' said I. 'But I'm +going to stay here, where the air's good. Try to get back here. Keep +in touch. You take ten paces forward, then stop and shout. I'll +answer. If you don't hear me, come back.' + +"He promised and started off. For the first fifty yards or +so--supposing that he shouted at every ten paces--I heard him clear +enough. + +"Then--not another sound! What had happened to him? + +"I shouted again and again. + +"No reply! + +"What was I going to do? Both Jim and Anton were wandering around +loose in the mine galleries, and they might stray until they dropped, +without ever finding the way back. I yelled till I was hoarse. + +"Then I got another idea. I took my pick, and kept on hitting the roof +in three regular strokes: 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' and then a pause--just like +that." He illustrated on the head-rail of his hospital bed. "I knew +that the vibration would carry along the rock, farther than the +voice." + +"That's what the geophone man heard," Owens commented to the reporter. +"Go on, lad!" + +"I kept that up," Clem went on, "until my arms ached. I was so tired +in my back and so weak with hunger that bright violet spots kept +dancing before my eyes. But I kept on, just the same. + +"Then I heard a shout, and, presently, Anton came staggering along, +dead beat. He'd been guided back by the sound of the tapping. + +"'No sign of Jim?' I asked + +"'Nothing!' + +"He lay down on the coal dust, and, pretty soon, I heard him breathing +hard. He'd gone right off to sleep, exhausted, poor kid!" + +"How long do you suppose he'd been wandering?" queried the reporter. + +"No way of knowing. But I'm pretty husky, and I can stand an eight +hours' shift of coal hewing without getting too tired. And, I tell +you, I was about done out, just from reaching up and tapping that roof +with a pick. Of course, I was weak. But I reckon it must have been +eight hours, good, that the youngster was straying in those mine +galleries, in the dark, alone. Maybe it was more. + +"I must have gone to sleep, too, but it didn't seem for long. +Half-asleep, I heard Anton say, + +"'There's a rat gnawing at my stomach!' + +"I woke up right quick, at that, for though mine rats are ugly +customers, I thought if we could catch a rat or two, that might give +us food. But what the boy meant was that he was so hungry that it felt +as if a rat were there. + +"I wasn't exactly hungry, leastways, not all the time. The pain came +in cramps, that were bad enough while they lasted, but I didn't feel +anything much between. My tongue was getting swollen, though. I knew +what that meant. Drink of some sort we must have. + +"'Look here, Anton,' I said, 'you tap on the rock, in threes, the same +as I did, and I'll go try to find water. I know the lay-out of this +mine better than you do, and there used to be a sump (hole) near the +goaf (waste rock taken from the main gallery roofs). Maybe there'll be +water there.' + +"I started off, cheerfully enough. I reckoned I knew the mine. So I +do, with a lamp, but I didn't have any idea what it meant to wander in +the pitch-dark. The galleries were low there, too, not more than four +feet high. I had to keep one hand stretched out in front of me to keep +from going headlong into the wall, and the dinner pail that I was +carrying in that hand struck the side more times than I could count; I +kept the other hand above my head, to keep me from cracking my skull +against the cross-timbers holding up the low roof. + +"Before I'd gone a hundred yards, I was so mixed up that I didn't know +which way I was going or where I'd come from. It's a horrible feeling. +The dark is like a trap that you can't feel and you can't see, but you +know it's there. It's being blind with your eyes open. + +"Then it was so ghastly silent, too. A blind man can always hear +something. There's life around him. Down there, not a sound! I'd lost +all hearing of the 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' I'd told Anton to make. + +"All sorts of nasty things came into my head. I might step into a hole +and get crippled. I might walk straight into a pocket of gas, and, +without any safety lamp to tell me of the danger, be poisoned then and +there. The roof might be bulging down, right over my head, ready to +fall and I'd have no warning. + +"I tried to reason it out that all these ideas were just imagination. +Reasoning didn't do much good. Fright got a grip of me. I was in a +cold sweat all over. My heart thumped so that it hurt. I was just +horribly scared, right through, and I had to bite my lips till they +were raw to keep from screaming. + +"I'd have gone under, sure, if I'd been alone, but I had the kid to +think of, and every time the tin dinner pail banged against the wall, +it reminded me of what I'd come to look for. Anton would die of thirst +in a few hours, if I didn't find water. As for Jim, I reckoned he was +probably done for, anyway. + +"I think--I'm not sure but I think so--I had a spell of running +crazily round and round in a circle, trying to get away from +something--I don't know what. It was then I gave my head a bang," he +pointed to the bandage still on his head, "and while that stunned me a +bit, it steadied me, too. + +"By that time, I was lost for fair. I couldn't hear Anton's tapping. I +couldn't hear anything. I tried to turn back and got all mixed up in +the run of the galleries. I wandered this way and that, as blindly as +if I'd never been in the mine before. + +"And then I heard a sound like the ticking of a big clock. + +"That scared me more than anything. + +"I remembered all Otto's' stories about the 'knockers,' and, though I +didn't believe them, I couldn't get them out of my head. Somebody, +something, was knocking softly underground! + +"It wasn't human, that was sure! + +"It couldn't be Anton, because he'd been told to tap in threes. It +couldn't be Jim, for the ticks were too close together to be the +strokes of a pick; besides, I knew that Jim had left his tools behind. +It couldn't be rescuers, because the sound was near me. Near me? It +was almost at my ear. + +"Sometimes breaking timber cracks. It might be a prop gradually giving +way, I thought, just ready to let down a new fall of rock on my head. +But a creaking timber is sometimes loud, sometimes soft, and this +ticking, as I said, was regular, like a big clock. + +"Then I guessed! + +"It was drops of water falling! + +"I could have shouted with relief, but down there, in the dark and the +stillness, the silence was so heavy that I was afraid to shout. + +"I felt my way forward, one step and then a second, and the ticking +stopped. + +"I took a third step and it began again. I stepped backward, and a +little to one side, and the drop fell on my bare shoulder. + +"I took my dinner-pail, moved it forward, backward, this way and that, +until at last I heard the drops falling in the tin. + +"I was too thirsty to wait long. As soon as there was a teaspoonful of +water in the pail, I moistened my tongue with it. That was a relief! I +was able to hold out the tin pail, the next time, until there was a +reasonable drink. + +"Ugh, it was bitter! It tasted coppery and twisted up my mouth, but it +was liquid, at least. After I had a drink or two, I felt better. My +scare passed away. + +"Then I began to think a bit. If water was dropping as quickly as +that, it must be running somewhere. But where? I got down on my hands +and knees and began to feel along the floor. Here it was damp; there, +dry. I crawled along for a few minutes, following the line of the damp +floor, and, sure enough, came to a hollow where a good-sized puddle +had collected. There I was able to half-fill the pail. + +"So far, I was all right. I'd found the water. But how was I to get +back to Anton? And where was Jim, if he were still alive? I hadn't any +idea, any more, of which way to turn. + +"Then I got a scheme. Suppose I just walked straight ahead, keeping my +right hand against the wall, and turning to the right at every opening +I came to? I knew that we were hemmed in at every point. Therefore, I +figured, we must be inside some kind of an irregular circle. The place +where we had made our beds was in the room where I had been working, +which was in the end gallery, and, at that rate, somewhere on the +circumference of that circle. If I kept on going, long enough, I'd be +bound to strike the place. + +"Off I started with the pail half-full of water. I walked, in and out, +up one gallery and down another, coming back to the rock falls which +had blocked the way, and on again. I tried to count my paces, and, +though I forgot sometimes, I figured that I'd done about seven +thousand paces when I heard, faintly: + +"'Tap! Tap! Tap!' + +"It seemed to come from behind me. + +"I wasn't to be fooled by the echoes, though, and so I kept on as I +had been going. Just a little further and I turned a corner and came +to the place where we had made our beds. + +"Anton was down. + +"He hadn't been able to keep on tapping on the roof, as I had told him +to. He hadn't the strength. But the kid's pluck was holding, though +his vitality wasn't. He'd taken his maul (a large hammer used for +driving wedges in the coal) and was lifting this from the ground and +then dropping it, three strokes at a time, like I'd told him to do. + +"When I spoke to him he couldn't answer. His tongue was so swollen +that it just about filled up his whole mouth. + +"I gave him some water, a sip or two at a time, and then, when I +thought he could stand it, a real drink. Even then, I had to go slow, +for my dinner pail was only half-full. + +"I still had a few bites of food left, but I wasn't hungry, I'd gone +too far for that. My mouth was sore, too. The copperas water screwed +up my palate and my tongue like eating unripe bananas does, only a lot +worse. It worked the same way on Anton." + +"It was that water that helped you, though," put in the mine doctor. +"The sulphate of iron in it lowered the activity of the body, drying +it up, so that you could go on with less loss of tissue." + +"It tasted nasty enough to have anything in it! Just the same, it was +water. When I woke up from a nap, I found the pail empty. The +youngster had finished it, but when I rowed him for doing it, he +couldn't remember having drunk it at all. He was only half-conscious, +any way. + +"My tongue was beginning to swell again. I saw we'd have to shift our +headquarters so as to be near that water, or the time would come when +we'd be too weak to go hunting it. So, following the same scheme of +making a whole circle of the part of the mine where we were trapped, I +went back the way I'd come, making sure that Anton was following right +behind me. + +"It seemed a whole lot farther off than I'd thought, I suppose because +I was afraid of passing the place. After a couple of hours, though, I +heard the sound of the dropping water. It was great to hear it again! +We took some long drinks there, I can tell you. Then we scooped up +with our hands some coal dust to lie on, and slumped down again. I was +beginning to feel pretty weak." + +"About what day do you suppose that was?" the reporter asked. + +"I haven't any idea. Sometimes I thought we'd only been down there a +few hours, sometimes it seemed like weeks. I suppose, really, it was +about the third or the fourth day. + +"I woke up suddenly. + +"Somebody was laughing! + +"It was a queer high-pitched laugh, and half-choked, something like +the neighing of a horse. + +"Anton heard it, too. + +"'The knockers are coming for us!' he said to me, hoarsely. 'It's just +like Father said. They're laughing at us!' + +"Well, I don't mind telling you my blood ran a bit cold. I'm not +superstitious, but, for the second time in that mine, I was scared +enough to run. But where to? + +"Anton was gasping horribly; it made me worse to hear him. I put my +hand on his shoulder to quiet him. He was trembling and shaking, like +as he had a chill. + +"The laughing came nearer, and louder. + +"The louder it got, the less I was scared. After the first few seconds +of fright, I got all right again, and started to think quietly. Then +the real reason came to me. + +"It must be Jim! + +"I let out a loud shout. + +"The laughing stopped dead. + +"Then I knew it was Jim; things that weren't human wouldn't care if I +shouted or not. + +"'Keep quiet!' I said to Anton. 'It's Jim, and he's coming this way.' + +"Presently the laughter began again, a sort of half choked scream, +like I said, but it was laughing just the same. It made my flesh creep +to hear it. Somehow it wasn't quite human, more like an animal trying +to laugh like a man. + +"It was quite close to us, now. I got up, for I could hear steps +shuffling along the gallery. + +"Suddenly, something bumped into me, though I thought the steps were +several yards away. + +"It was Jim, sure enough. + +"He gave a sort of screech and both his hands went up to my throat, in +a strangling grip. + +"I'm a good deal bigger than Jim, but I was like a baby in his hands. +He had me like in a vise. + +"'Help! Help! Anton!' I called. 'He's throttling me! It's Jim!' + +"At that, the kid got up, tottering. He was weak enough, but, as you +know, he's really got muscles of iron. In spite of his scare--for he +was dead sure that it was something supernatural--he came to my help. + +"The minute he got his hands on Jim and found that it was really flesh +and blood that he was tackling, and not any sort of goblin, he got +furious. He wrenched at his opponent savagely, and the more furious he +got, the more his strength came back. I could hear his sinews +cracking. + +"But Jim's grip was that of a madman. + +"It was a good thing for me that Anton was the son of the champion +wrestler of the mine. Despite his powerful muscles, he could do +nothing, absolutely nothing against the madman. I felt him let go, and +thought that was the end. My head was bursting, my heart fluttering. + +"Then, with a swift change of hold, the youngster took Jim in a +wrestler's grip, one he had learned from his father. It's a death +hold, unless the other weakens. I heard Jim gasp. The clutch loosened. +At last I could breathe and I shook myself free. + +"But the madman was not tamed. His fists shot out like flails. One +blow took Anton full in the chest. I heard his body crash against the +wall. I could do little to help him, that choking grip had taken away +every ounce of force I had. + +"There wasn't any need for my help. That blow had roused Anton to a +rage but little less than that of his mad foe. He knew nothing of +boxing, but he could wrestle. It was a grim fight, down there in the +dark! + +"Despite the madman's blows, Anton ran in, clutched him in some kind +of a wrestler's grip, lifted him clear off his feet and threw him over +his shoulder. + +"The madman fell heavily on the rock floor and lay like a log. + +"For a minute or two we panted, saying nothing. Then, + +"'Have you killed him, Anton?' I asked. + +"'I don't know. I hope so,' he answered savagely. + +"I felt pretty much that way, myself, at first, for my throat felt as +if it were twisted clear out of shape. But, as I began to feel a bit +better, I thought of Jim lying there. + +"After all, he hadn't had any water! Small wonder he'd gone mad. + +"Staggering--for that grip had nearly done for me--I got over beside +him and knelt down. His heart was still beating, pretty rapidly, at +that. But his jaws were almost locked upwards, forced apart by his +thickened and swollen tongue. + +"I got some water into his mouth, but with difficulty. I couldn't pry +his tongue down far enough to get more than a drop or two in. But I +kept at it--hours, I reckon--and kept on giving him sips of water +until he began to breathe a bit more naturally. + +"Then I reckon I fainted, for, when I came to, I was lying right +across Jim. He was still unconscious, but the tongue was a whole lot +better and he was nearly able to close his mouth. I poured a lot more +water into him. Then I tried to give him a bite from the bread I had +left, but he couldn't swallow. So I gave it to Anton, who was moaning +a good bit. + +"Me, I was getting less and less hungry. The gnawing pain that I'd +felt at the beginning, especially that first time that I was hunting +water, only came back at longer and longer intervals. In between, I +felt quite all right, rather jolly, in fact. I caught myself laughing, +once, the way I'd heard Jim, and I had hard work to stop it. +Hysterical, I reckon. + +"I must have slept a lot, or fainted, I don't know which. I remember +having dreamed that I was rescued, oh, a score of times! Always, when +I was asleep, there seemed plenty of light, generally a bright violet. +It was only when I woke up that it was dark. The blackness was like a +rock lying on my chest. The air I breathed seemed to taste black. + +"Jim got violent, more than once. To end up, I had to tie his feet +with my belt, so he couldn't get up on his feet. I wasn't going to +risk any more fights like we'd had with him at the start. + +"When he wasn't struggling, he was talking. He talked nearly all the +time, and mostly about some gold mine that he'd found, that he knew +would make him a millionaire and that he wanted to go back to. He +described the place, over and over again. I believe I could go right +there, just from hearing him. The only thing that quieted him was when +I answered. Then he'd shut right up, only to begin again, after a +while. + +"What worried me the most about Jim was that he couldn't keep the +bitter water on his stomach. He'd vomit it up, almost as soon as I'd +get it down. I kept pouring it into him, just the same. + +"When I put the last bite of grub into Anton--he was dead +unconscious--it seemed like the end of everything. I lost all track of +time. I don't know what happened, after that. I got quite +light-headed, I think. + +"Half the while, I didn't know whether the time I was dreaming was +real, or the time I was awake. I knew somehow that the air was getting +bad, and I remember thinking that this might be because a rescue party +was trying to get down the wall. + +"But there was always plenty of light when I was asleep, and I liked +that, so, every time I was awake, I tried to go back to sleep." + +"Didn't you hear any sounds of the rescue party coming nearer?" Owens +asked. + +"I heard them all the time, even when they weren't there," Clem +answered. "How was I to tell what was real and what was dream? + +"On one side was Jim telling about his gold mine, on the other was +Anton, crying out from time to time that the knockers had him. Poor +kid, he seemed to be in a nightmare all the while." + +"But when the rescuers first spoke to you," the owner of the mine +suggested, "you answered naturally enough." + +"Perhaps I did, but I don't remember hearing them, at all, and I don't +remember answering, at least, not more than I had a dozen times +before. I'm not sure that I remember when the doctor came in and put a +gas mask on me. It's all sort of vague. + +"The first thing I do remember was coming up to the top and seeing a +green tree. The trees weren't green when I went down a week ago, and I +hadn't dreamed about trees, at all. + +"Right now, it's hard to realize that I was buried down there for a +week. If I wasn't so feeble, I'd think it was only a nightmare." + +"And about this gold mine of Jim's," queried the reporter, scenting +another phase of the story. "What was that?" + +Jim, in a neighboring bed, half-raised himself in anxiety, but his +comrade threw him a reassuring look. + +"You'll have to ask Jim that, when he gets better," Clem answered. "I +can't give away his secret. It might be true!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LURE OF GOLD + + +In Clem's story one word had been spoken, the one word which, in all +ages, has been as a raging fire in men's minds, which has sent scores +to die on the scorching deserts of Africa and Australia, or on the +borders of the Arctic Seas, which has bred fevered adventure, +lawlessness, and murder wherever it has been spoken, the word: + +Gold! + +Many years had passed since Owens had felt this auriferous fever, many +years since his heart had beat impetuously as in the wild days of the +camps of his youth, but the word had rung again in his ears as of old. +The subtle poison of the lure was in his veins once more. He could not +sleep for thinking of the old prospector lying almost at the point of +death in his own mine hospital, and, perhaps, dying with the secret of +millions, untold. + +He reasoned with himself for his foolishness. Over and over again he +reminded himself that he was settled for life as a colliery-owner, and +that coal mines bring far more wealth than gold mines have ever done. +The spell was stronger than his reason. Night after night he sat late +in his library, reading anew the lore of gold that he had once known +so well, and dreaming avid visions over the pages. + +The records of human daring do not reach so far back in the dawn of +history as to show a time when gold was not a goal. In the earliest +laws as yet known--the Laws of Menes in Egypt, B. C. 3000--both gold +and silver were sought and used as standards of value in the royal and +priestly treasuries. Breastplates and ornaments of gold were buried +with the mummies of kings and nobles of Egypt and Mycenae. + +There was gold in Chaldea and Armenia. The fable of Tantalus, who kept +unlawful possession of a golden dog which had been stolen from Zeus, +the great All-Father, was a legend of the gold placer deposits near +Mt. Sipylus, north of Smyrna. The earliest records show a knowledge of +gold in the Caucasus, Ural, and Himalaya Mts. + +The Phoenicians, most adventurous of all the early races, went on long +expeditions to distant lands in search of gold. Cadmus, the +Phoenician, in B. C. 1594, sent miners to Thrace and established a +regular gold-trade thence. As a curious forecast of what was to happen +on the other side of the world, tens of centuries later, the ancient +historian Strabo tells of a wagon-wheel uncovering a nugget of gold +near Mt. Pangeus, not far from the present Bulgarian frontier. + +One of the oldest of all the tales of high adventure was the Quest of +the Golden Fleece, and the fifty heroes who set out on that quest in +the oared ship _Argo_--and hence called the Argonauts--have given +their name to gold-seekers for hundreds of generations. Few tales in +all the world are so wonderful as the old Greek legend of Jason and +the Golden Fleece, a quest of daring, of magic, and of peril. + +The Golden Fleece, itself, was a thing of mystery. Its origin harks +back to the earliest days of the Age of Fable. Thus, in its briefest +form, runs the tale: + +In a minor kingdom of what is now Northern Greece, there lived a king, +Athamas, son of the god of the sea, who had married Nephele, the +goddess of the clouds. But Athamas proved faithless and fell in love +with Ino, grand-daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and +beauty. The cloud-goddess, indignant at this neglect, disappeared, +leaving behind her two children, Phrixus and Helle. + +It was not long before the stepmother conceived a violent hatred for +the children of the first wife. Counting on the spell of her beauty, +she tried to persuade Athamas to get rid of them, but the king +refused. Then Ino fell to base plotting. She brought about a famine in +the land by secretly heating the grains of wheat before they were sown +and thus preventing their growth; then, by a false oracle, she +persuaded the king that the gods were angry and would only be appeased +if he offered his eldest-born, Phrixus, as a sacrifice. For the sake +of his country, the king agreed. + +All was in readiness, Phrixus was on the altar, the officiating priest +had the knife raised, when masses of cloud and fog rolled over the +scene and Nephele appeared, leading a ram with a fleece all threads of +gold. So thick was the fog, that, in an instant, it blotted out all +vision; the priest's hand stayed uplifted, for he could no longer see +his victim to deal the fatal blow. Then came a rift in the fog, and, +through the swirl of mist, Athamas and Ino saw Phrixus and his sister +leap upon the back of the gold-fleeced ram. + +Down the mountain and across the plain the great ram sped, and plunged +into the waters of the strait that lies between Europe and Asia Minor, +breasting the waves with ease. Helle fell from the back of the ram and +was drowned, so that the strait (now known as the Dardanelles) was +known to the Greeks as the Hellespont. + +Phrixus reached the other side in safety. Following the counsel of his +cloud-mother, he sacrificed the ram to the honor of the gods and took +the fleece to Æetes, king of Colchis. Æetes at first received him with +honor, but later proved false to his promises of friendship and made +Phrixus a prisoner. The Golden Fleece was hung up on a tree in the +grove of Ares (god of battle and grandfather of Ino), and there the +mystic treasure was guarded by a dragon which never slept. + +Now Pelias, brother of Athamas, had usurped the throne of Thessaly. +When Jason, son of the true king, Aeson, had grown to man's estate, he +presented himself before Pelias and challenged him to surrender the +kingdom. + +The wily Pelias, knowing well that the people of Thessaly would side +with Jason, did not refuse outright. He demanded, only, that Jason +should show his rightfulness to be deemed a king's son by some act of +heroic bravery. Such a test was not unusual in the Days of Fable, and +Jason agreed. + +"This will I do," said Jason, "name the deed!" + +Cunningly the king answered, + +"Bring me the Golden Fleece!" + +Jason, high-hearted, set out on the quest. Since he must cross the +sea, there must be built a ship. Through the advice of the +cloud-goddess, his mother, he appealed for help to Athene, goddess of +wisdom, and a bitter enemy of Ares and his grand-daughter Ino. The +fifty-oared ship Argo was built, and Athene herself placed in the prow +a piece of oak endowed with the power of speaking oracles. + +The Quest of the Golden Fleece was a deed worthy of heroes, and none +but heroes were members of the crew. Such men--demigods, most of +them--had never been gathered in a crew before. Orpheus, of the +charmed lyre; Zetes and Calaïs, sons of the North Wind; Castor and +Pollux, the divine Twins; Meleager, the hunter of the magic boar; +Theseus, the slayer of tyrants; the all-powerful Hercules, son of +Zeus, whose twelve labors were famous in all antiquity; and others of +little lesser fame, were numbered in that gallant company. + +Many and strange were their adventures in the _Argo_, of which there +is not space to tell. The tale is one of ever-increasing wonder: the +battle with the Harpies, evil birds with human heads; the peril of the +Sirens, whose deadly singing was drowned by Orpheus' song; the menace +of the Symplegades, or moving rocks, which clashed together when a +ship passed between; the fight with the Stymphalian birds, who used +their feathers of brass as arrows; and many more. The story of the +voyage of the _Argo_ is a story that will never die. + +Despite their wanderings and their adventures, the Quest of the Golden +Fleece remained the goal of the Argonauts. After months--or it may +have been years--Jason and the heroes reached the land they sought. +There they presented themselves before Æetes and demanded the Golden +Fleece. + +The king of Colchis looked at these heroes and trembled. Well he knew +that neither he nor his people were a match for such as they. He took +refuge in stratagem, and, as Pelias had done, demanded from Jason the +performance of feats he deemed impossible. He must yoke and tame the +bulls of Hephæstus, god of fire, which snorted flame and had hoofs of +red-hot brass; with these he must plow the field of Ares, god of +battle; that done, he must sow the field with dragon's teeth, from +which a host of armed men would spring, and he must defeat that army. + +Truly, the task was one to tax a hero. But, as the gods would have it, +Jason found a new but dangerous ally. This was Medea, the +witch-daughter of Æetes, grand-daughter of Helios, god of the sun. She +loved her father but little, for her father had imprisoned her for +sorcery and, though she had escaped by means of her black arts, her +dark heart brooded vengeance. Partly from love of Jason and partly +from hatred of Æetes, she leagued herself with the heroes. + +Jason was not proof against her wiles. Moreover, he realized that the +task Æetes had set him was one almost beyond the doing. He accepted +from the dark witch-maiden a magic draught which made him proof +against fire and sword. Thus, scorning alike the fiery breath of the +bulls and the myriad blades of the tiny swordsmen, he plowed the field +of Ares and sowed it with the dragon's teeth. Then he threw a charm +among the ranks of the dwarf warriors who sprang up from the soil, +which caused them to fight, one against the other, until all were +slain. Thus he reached the wood where hung the Golden Fleece. + +There remained still to be conquered the dragon that never slept. +Again the sorceress Medea came to the hero's help. By wild witch songs +she charmed the monster to harmlessness, and, stepping across the +snaky coils, Jason snatched from a bough the Golden Fleece, won at +last! + +Though the Argonauts feared Medea, and though Jason dreaded her fully +as much as he was lured by her, the heroes could not deny that their +quest had been successful mainly through her aid. For her reward, +Medea demanded that they take her back to Greece in the _Argo_, and +she took her young brother Absyrtus, with her. The oracle of oak in +the bow prophesied disaster, but the heroes had pledged their words +and could not retract. + +The _Argo_ had not gone far upon the sea before the heroes saw that +Æetes was pursuing them. Here was a peril, truly, for Ares, god of +battle, was on the pursuer's side. Then Medea seized her young +brother, cut his body into pieces and scattered them on the sea. The +anguished father stopped to collect the fragments and to return them +to the shore for honorable burial. By this shameful device, the +Argonauts escaped. + +So hideous a crime demanded a dreadful expiation, but Jason was to +draw the doom more directly upon his own head. Though he had shuddered +at the murder of Absyrtus and he knew the witch-maid's hands were red +with blood, the spell of Medea's dark beauty overswept his loathing. +At the first land where the _Argo_ stopped, he married her. + +At this the gods were little pleased. They sent a great darkness and +terrible storms which drove the Argonauts over an unknown sea to lands +of new and fearful perils. Once they were all but swallowed in a +quicksand, again, menaced by shipwreck, a third time, a giant whose +body was of brass threatened them with a hideous death from which they +were saved only by the twins, Castor and Pollux. The homeward journey +of the _Argo_ was not less wild and difficult than her coming. + +Yet, at the last, Jason brought back the Golden Fleece to Thessaly, +only to find that the false Pelias had slain Aeson and Jason's mother +and brother during the absence of the Argonauts. His crime was not +left unpunished. Medea persuaded the daughters of Pelias to cut their +father into small pieces and to boil the fragments in a pot with +certain witch-herbs that she gave them, falsely promising that by this +means the old king would regain his youth. Of the later life of Jason +and Medea, there is no need to speak. Misery was their lot, and their +deaths were not long delayed. + +Thus, in fanciful guise, appears in the old Greek legend the record of +the European discovery of the alluvial gold deposits of Colchis, and +to the Argonauts was ascribed the honor of being the first to bring to +Greece the gold of Asia Minor. Even in those early days, the gift of +gold was regarded as the favor of the gods. + +[Footnote 2: One book that should be in every boy's library is Charles +Kingsley's "The Heroes," in which the "Quest of the Golden Fleece" is +related with a beauty unequaled in the English language. The books of +A. J. Church, also, especially his "Stories from Homer," make the old +Greek demigods live once again.] + +There is good reason to believe that the Siege of Troy--the subject of +Homer's Iliad--was not waged alone because of the beauty of Helen of +Troy, but also because the Greeks coveted Mycenæan gold. Excavations +made on the site of ancient Troy have revealed many thin plates of +beaten gold. + + +[Illustration: DIVINING-RODS. + +A, Twig; B, Trench. + +_From an Old Print._] + + +[Illustration: THE WORLD'S OLDEST PICTURE OF GOLD-SEEKERS. + +The three ships of Queen Hatshepsut sent to the Land of Punt (possibly +Somaliland) in 1503-1481, B.C. + +_From a wall-painting in the Temple of Deir-el-Bahri, near Thebes._] + + +Nor was the _Argo_ the only ship to set sail to unknown lands for +gold. As early as the fabled voyage of the Argonauts, or even earlier, +Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt--a mighty woman monarch of whom all too +little is known--sent an expedition to Punt (possibly Somaliland) for +incense and for gold. On the walls of the great temples built during +her reign are found paintings telling the story of this expedition, +picturing, among other things, the bags of gold that the three-masted, +thirty-oared ship brought home. + +Hiram, King of Tyre, who was engaged by King Solomon to bring +treasures for the Temple at Jerusalem, made a long journey to some +distant land (about B. C. 1000) and, after having been three years +away, brought back gold and silver, as well as ivory, apes, and +peacocks. He certainly went to India and may have visited Peru.[3] + +[Footnote 3: For the theory of this early voyage to America, see the +author's "The Quest of the Western World."] + +The Phrygians were known not only as miners of gold but also as +workers in the precious metal. The "golden sands of Pactolus" were +washed a thousand years before the Christian era. The proverbial +wealth of Croesus and the legend of the "golden touch of Midas" remain +as historic memories of the gold mines of Asia Minor and Arabia, +worked by the Lydian kings. + +When Persia became the mistress of the world, most of this gold was +taken to the courts of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius. Some of it, but +not all, came back in the victorious train of Alexander the Great, +when ten thousand teams of mules and five hundred camels were required +to carry the treasure to the new world capital at Susa. + +Spain, in addition to Egypt and Arabia, became one of the principal +gold-bearing sources of the ancient world. The Carthaginians, +colonists from Phoenicia, conquered the Iberians, who then populated +Spain, and forced them to work in gold mines. They captured negroes +and shipped them to Spain as slaves in the gold diggings. The +Carthaginians also exploited mines in Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. + +Then Rome, rising into power, cast covetous eyes on the gold possessed +by Carthage, and sought to seize it by force of arms. As a result of +her victory in the First Punic (Carthaginian) War, Rome secured the +three islands of the Mediterranean, rich in minerals. + +The Carthaginians, under the leadership of Hannibal, worked the mines +of Spain and Portugal the harder. The rivers Douro and Tagus were +found to be rich in gold-bearing sands. Rome's envy grew. In the +Second Punic War, she captured Spain. From the gold-mines there, +worked by slave labor, came a large share of the riches and luxury of +the Roman Empire. + +To Owens, sitting in his library in an American colliery town, the +long story of civilization seemed to unroll before his eyes and, +everywhere, possession of gold brought power and fame. In every case, +also, that same possession led to luxury and decline. + +When Rome fell, beneath the impact of the barbarian hordes, the +Byzantine Empire, holding the gold-mines of Macedonia, Thrace, and +Asia Minor, rose to a bought magnificence. It crumbled easily, because +it depended on gold to buy its mercenary armies, even as Carthage had +crumbled before Rome. + +The same story was repeated in the Saracenic power, when the +Caliphates of Bagdad and of Damascus rose to that wealth of which the +"Arabian Nights" gives a picture. The mines of Arabia, Egypt, and +Spain were in their hands, and the luxury of such Moorish towns as +Granada was made possible by the final workings of the almost +exhausted alluvial deposits of Spain. It was not until the days of +Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile that the Moors were conquered, and, +in those days, Cortés tapped the gold-stores of Mexico, and Pizarro, +those of Peru. + +As ever, the gold of the Aztecs and the Incas, ruthlessly seized so +soon after the voyages of Columbus, made Spain the mistress of the +world. While the Conquistadores were fighting, Spain remained strong. +When the gold was acquired, Spain began to fall. + +England was a frugal country, then. But, like Rome, as soon as her +neighbor began to acquire vast stores of gold, she sought a pretext +for a war. English pirates and privateers commenced to harry the +treasure-ships of Spain, to plunder the Spanish settlements in +America, and to sack every town that was thought to contain American +gold. Upon this stolen treasure, England rose to wealth and power, as +did also Holland and France, the three nations having made a naval +alliance for greed of Spanish gold. + +Nor was England content with her ill-gotten gains. Through commercial +companies which only thinly disguised colonization projects, she +sought possession of gold-bearing regions. The gold of India, of +Australia, and of South Africa, changed the Kingdom of England into +the British Empire, during the reign of a single queen. No one will +seriously dispute that the annexation of the Transvaal and even the +Boer War of recent years were based on England's desire to control the +enormous gold resources of the Rand, as well as the diamond fields. + +The gold history of the United States is little less striking. The +Louisiana Purchase was based largely on the mineral wealth known to +exist in that territory, the annexation of California and her rise to +statehood were built on gold. The purchase of Alaska in 1867 was +largely due to the discovery of gold in British Columbia in 1857, 1859 +and 1860, and to the discoveries on the Stikine River, Alaska, in +1863. + +The 146 years of life of the United States may be sharply divided into +two equal periods, that before the discovery of gold in California in +1848 and the period following. The amazing strides forward which the +United States has made during this last period are not to be ascribed +only to her virgin soil, to her geographic isolation, or to her form +of government, but more, a thousand times more, to her mining +development. Coal, iron, silver, copper, and above all--gold, opened +up the continent with passionate swiftness and hurled the United +States into the position of one of the great powers of the modern +world. + +So Owens sat a-thinking in his library and racking his brain about +Jim. There, not a stone's throw away, lay a sick man, possibly +possessed of a secret that might change the face of history anew. + +How many times it had happened that a lonely prospector, weary, ragged +and hungry, had, with a stroke of a pick or the flick of a pan, +revealed such sources of wealth as to change a burning desert, a fetid +swamp or a bleak mountain range into a hive of industry! What +statesman has ever wrought as many wonders for his country as has that +questing nomad with his shovel and his shallow pan? + +The spirit of rugged honesty and of fair play which so sharply +distinguishes the real miner from the mere mining speculator lay deep +in Owens. He had worked in the gold diggings, himself, and his +standards of principle were those of the great outdoors. He scorned to +take advantage of the opportunity given him by his position as owner +of the mine to overhear the delirious ravings of the sick man. That he +might not be tempted, he kept away from the hospital ward, except for +a short daily visit of inquiry. + +When Jim grew better, however, and evinced a marked liking for Owens' +company, the mine-owner yielded to his interest in the prospector. +Even then he restrained himself from making so much as an indirect +reference to the secret of his employe, though the matter was seldom +out of his mind. + +He had no thought of filching Jim's secret from him. Honest to the +core, Owens' thoughts were on a larger scale. As a mining man, he +thought naturally what personal profit he could turn, should the +secret prove to be worth while; but he thought far more of Jim. He +rejoiced in the hope that, perhaps, he could bring to fulfilment the +prospector's hidden dream. And, most of all, he wished to play a part +in adding another treasure-hunt to the golden glory of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +NUGGETS! + + +Weeks had passed since the accident, and Jim was still in the +hospital. The disaster had been costly to the colliery, but not +crippling. The shafts--always the most costly portion of mine +development--had not been injured. Many of the galleries had been +reopened. The great ventilation fans were working again at full speed. +The cages of coal were whirling up the shaft as of old. + +Otto, after a short rest, had gone to work. The old miner was well +satisfied with the fulfilment of his prophecies. The "knockers" had +indeed tasted blood, for the two men in the old workings had never +been found. As the mining engineer had supposed, that section of the +mine must be abandoned forever. Moreover, Otto's forecast that Clem +would be rescued, uninjured, also had come true. + +Clem, indeed, was recovering, but the doctor declared him as yet +unfit to resume the arduous work of hewing below ground. Accordingly, +Owens had given him a temporary position as assistant to the safety +inspector of the mine, for the accident had awakened the interest of +the men in safety work, and the young fellow was quite competent to +help in the simpler forms of instruction. + +Anton was still in a weak state. His lungs were affected. He was +living at home with his mother, Owens having granted the boy leave on +full pay until he was entirely well again. + +As the mine fell more and more into its old routine, Owens found +himself oftener at the hospital. The remembrance of old times was +strong in him, and the mine owner seemed to renew his youth in the +rude speech of the prospector, sprinkled as it was with mining terms +once so familiar to his ear. + +Jim's liking for his employer was rapidly growing into comradeship. He +was fully conscious of Owens' delicacy in never referring to the +secret and began to feel that here, at last, was a rich man he could +trust. In the course of time, it was the old prospector who brought +the matter up, first. + +"Has Clem ever said anything more to you about my mine?" he asked +abruptly. + +Owens started, but he got a grip on himself at once. When he answered, +it was in as casual a tone as he could assume. + +"Not another word. I don't suppose he has, to anybody. He seems to +know enough not to talk. You heard how he snubbed the reporter!" + +"I know. I heard him. He's square, is Clem. But I ain't never yet +asked him what I said, down there in the mine. It's been eatin' me, +all the time I've been lyin' here. To think I kep' it quiet all these +years, an' then go blurt it out, jest 'cos I was hungry!" + +"You haven't any reason to blame yourself for that, you were +unconscious. And, like you, I believe Clem is as straight as a +string." + +"Ay," agreed Jim, "he shows color in every pan (specks of gold in +every handful of washed sand). I'd ha' gone West, judgin' from what he +said the other day, if it hadn't been for him." + +"You certainly would." + +"An' that makes us pards (partners) in a way, don't it?" + +Jim paused, and then burst out again, "But I can't help wonderin' +jest how much I told!" + +"You'll have to ask Clem that. You remember, he said nothing to the +reporter except that, in your delirium you were talking about gold." + +"Gold! Did I say gold? Are you dead sure that I said gold?" + +"That's what Clem told, anyway." + +"Then I must sure ha' been dreamin'!" Jim's tone was both embarrassed +and evasive. + +Owens saw, at once, by the prospector's manner that he was nervously +fearful of having betrayed himself and that he wanted to drop the +subject. This seemed a sure sign that the hinted discovery was true. + +It was a ticklish moment. The mine-owner realized that if the matter +were dropped, now, he might never have another chance to get back to +it. Any attempt on his part to renew the subject would be sure to +arouse Jim's suspicion. If he were to be of any service to the old +prospector, he must seize the present opportunity. + +"Too bad that it isn't gold then," he said, half commiseratingly. +"There's nothing in all the world that can make a man rich in a +minute, as gold can. I saw that, often enough, in Australia. That's +the land of nuggets, Jim, big ones! Most of them were found by sheer +luck, and it was poor men who found them, too, mostly. + +"The Australian black-fellows--pretty much savages, those +fellows--knew gold, long before the white men came. They used to make +their javelin-heads of gold because it's the easiest metal to work, +when cold, and is found pure. + +"So it was not so surprising, Jim, that one of the first big gold +finds was made by a black-fellow, a husky tattooed chap who owned no +property except a small apron of matting for his middle, a bunch of +feathers for his hair, a long-handled stone hatchet, and a boomerang. + +"This Cl'ck, as he was called, was employed as a shepherd by Dr. Kerr, +a large sheep-owner in New South Wales. Cl'ck was a fairly intelligent +fellow and had learned to talk a few words of English. He knew gold +when he saw it. Just at the time I'm speaking of, the whole world was +excited over gold, for it was just after the discovery of gold in +California in 1848 and the great gold rush of '49." + +"My father was one of the 'forty-niners,'" put in Jim, eagerly. + +"So you're of the real Argonaut breed, then!" exclaimed Owens, but he +did not push the enquiry, preferring to allow Jim to tell his story in +his own way and in his own time. In order, however, to keep the +subject of gold present in Jim's mind, he continued: + +"For some time there had been vague hints that there might be gold in +Australia, but, before the time of the 'forty-niners' no attention had +been paid to it. + +"For example! Once, in 1834, a ticket-of-leave man (convict out on +parole), working in New South Wales, found a small nugget of pure gold +in the earth and brought it to the nearest town to sell. Being a +convict, he was at once arrested for having possession of the gold, +and not being able to explain how he had got it. His story that he had +found it in the earth was laughed at, for never--so far as the +Australians knew, then--had gold been found in nuggets. As it +happened, a white settler had lost a gold watch a little time before. +The weight of the nugget was just about that of the weight of the case +of a gold watch. The ticket-of-leave man was accused of having stolen +the watch, thrown away the works and melted down the case. He was +found guilty and punished with a hundred and thirty lashes." + +"Whew, that was pilin' it on heavy!" commented Jim. + +"They had to be severe in those days," Owens explained. "Botany Bay +and Port Jackson were penal stations. In those days there were about +fifty thousand white folks in New South Wales and three-quarters of +them were convicts. That meant ruling with an iron hand, if mutiny was +to be prevented. + +"Twice, after that, white settlers found signs of gold, but in such +small quantities that the deposits were not worth working by the +primitive means employed at that time. In 1841, signs of gold were +found not far from Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, but the +Governor personally asked the finder to keep the matter a secret for +there were 45,000 convicts in the colony by that time, and he was +afraid that news of a gold-find might start a revolt that the military +would not be able to quell. + +"Two years later an even more curious discovery was made. Mr. H. +Anderson, who owned a sheep-station where now are found the great +gold-fields of Ballarat--in the province of Victoria, south of +New South Wales--threw away the finest chance to become a +multi-millionaire that ever came to any man. + +"While walking from the home kraal (corral) to his house, in company +with a neighbor, he saw on the ground a small piece of white quartz +shining in the sun and noticed a few thin streaks of yellow in the +quartz. + +"He picked it up in a casual way, cast a glance at it, and handed it +to his companion. + +"'We're the richest men in the world,' he said, jokingly. 'You and I +are running sheep over a gold-mine.' + +"This jesting statement was literally true. + +"But the other, who knew just enough about such matters to be really +ignorant, wanted to display his small store of knowledge. + +"'Gold!' he said contemptuously, 'that's what they call fool's gold. +It's pyrites of some sort. Tut, tut, man! Golden nonsense! The only +gold in this country is what grows on the backs of sheep.' + +"Mr. Anderson, trusting to his companion's supposed better knowledge, +threw the piece of quartz at a pair of wallabies (small kangaroos) +that were leaping about, near by, and thus lost the chance of +becoming the richest man in Australia. Five years later came the news +of the gold-finds in California, and the more thoughtful men in New +South Wales remembered these vague stories about gold having been +found in the island continent. + +"Now, let us get back to Cl'ck. His employer, Dr. Kerr, had bidden him +keep his eyes open for any signs of gold, during his wanderings over +the wild pasture land with his flocks. He promised to give him five +pounds--a large sum for a black-fellow, in those days--for any piece +of gold he should bring in, no matter how small. + +"One day, in February, 1851, while leading his flocks to water at +Meroo Creek, Cl'ck happened to see what looked like a smudge of yellow +on the surface of a good-sized bowlder of quartz. He chipped at it +with his long-handled hatchet, and there, solidly embedded in the +bowlder, was a huge chunk of gold. It weighed over 102 pounds and was +sold for over $20,000. + +"This accidental discovery, which made Kerr rich, and which, +incidentally, gave Cl'ck a hut and a sheep-kraal of his own, was +amazing enough in itself. Even in California, which was then regarded +as the very fountain-head of gold, no such nugget had been found. +Yet, a couple of weeks later, a strike was made of such importance as +to throw even the Black-fellow Nugget in the shade. This second strike +determined the fortunes of Australia. + +"One of the 'forty-niners,' who went to the California gold-fields in +the first ship that sailed from Sydney after the news of the +Sacramento discoveries had reached Australia, was a prospector called +E. H. Hargraves. He got to California in the middle of the rush, but +luck was against him. + +"As happened so often with the men who knew only a little mining, he +thought he could do better than merely follow the crowd. He staked a +claim that looked more promising than the ground on the outskirts of +the established mining camps. The claim proved worthless, or nearly +so. + +"Seeing the vast crowds streaming into California, and being convinced +that there would not be gold enough for all, Hargraves decided to go +home, rather than to stay in the California gold-diggings and die of +hunger--as so many of the forty-niners did." + +Jim nodded assentingly. He knew those stories. Many a one had his +father told him. He was well aware that the trail of gold is a line +of graves. + +"On his way back home," Owens continued, "Hargraves remembered that he +had seen ground in New South Wales which bore a marked resemblance to +the regions where gold had been found in California. It was not +ordinary alluvial gold land, such as prospectors were apt to seek, and +no one had ever suspected that gold might be found there. Hargraves +had kept his eyes open, when in California, and had realized that +alluvial gold was but a beginning, that the biggest amount of wealth +lay in a reef. + +"Reaching Sydney in December, 1850, Hargraves made his way towards +what is now the town of Bathurst. He was out in the field, +prospecting, when the Black-fellow Nugget was found, and heard nothing +about it. + +"Near the end of February, 1851, working in Summerhill Creek, he +discovered sure signs of gold, though in no such alluring quantity as +had been found on the creeks leading into the Sacramento River. He +worked steadily up the creek, not only panning as he went, but also +striking off to right and left to see if the ground gave promise of a +reef. There, on the last day of the month, he found a bowlder of +quartz and gold, or, to speak more correctly, a detached piece of +quartz from a reef, the greater part of which was almost pure gold and +weighed 106 pounds. + +"Hargraves was a man of sense. Instead of hurrying back to the nearest +town with his find, selling it and blowing the money, he did some +further prospecting. He collected specimens from different parts of +the neighborhood, realizing that he had made a discovery not less +sensational than when Sutter found the first gold in his mill-race in +California. + +"Then he went straight to the government authorities of New South +Wales, and, in addition to establishing his own claims, he asked that +a reward be given him by the government. The governor, anxious to stop +the emigration from New South Wales to California, and realizing that +a gold-find would bring enormous wealth and prosperity to the colony, +made him a grant of $50,000 and a pension, providing that he would +reveal the gold-bearing locality to the authorities, first, and +providing the territory should produce a million dollars' worth of +gold. + +"Hargraves was as good as his word. He showed not only the famous +Lewis Ponds, Summerhill, but also another and even bigger field on +the upper waters of the Macquarie River. Owing to their prior +information, the authorities were able to establish mining laws and +good government before the rush set it, and Bathhurst was freed from +the wild orgy of lawlessness which marked the days of the +'forty-niners.' + +"All this, Jim, was a wonderful jump forward for New South Wales, and +the town of Sydney boomed. But it was equally bad for the other +provinces of Australia, and Victoria, being the nearest, suffered +most. Almost every man able to wield a pick or rock a miner's cradle, +deserted his work and rushed to Bathurst. The gold was so easy to +separate from the quartz that a man could get rich using no other tool +than an ordinary hammer. + +"Shepherds and even sheep-owners deserted their flocks, farmers let +their land go to weed, merchants abandoned their shops, manufacturers +allowed their machinery to rust, school-teachers locked the doors of +schools, and workmen of every line of labor flocked to Sydney and +toiled along the widely beaten track to Bathurst. + + +[Illustration: AUSTRALIA'S TREASURE-HOUSE. + +One of the shafts of the Kilgoorlie Gold Mine, more than 1000 feet +below the surface. + +_From "Mines and Their Story," by Bernard Mannix Sidgwick and +Jackson._ + +_Courtesy of Kilgoorlie Gold Mining Co._] + + +[Illustration: IN THE RICHEST GOLD MINE IN THE WORLD. + +Drilling the rock for blasting on the Rand Reefs of South Africa; the +compressed-air drills give a million blows a day, each with the force +of half a ton.] + + +"The authorities of the province of Victoria were in despair. The +colony was plunging into ruin. Something must be done at once. They +offered a huge reward to any one who should find gold within two +hundred miles of Melbourne. On the very same day, two men came to +claim the reward. One had made a strike on the Plenty River, the other +on the Yarra-Yarra. In August, 1851, came the discovery of gold at +Ballarat, gold in its pure form and in large grains. The Bendigo +fields developed immediately after. + +"Then came a rush unparalleled! Money came easy, just as it comes easy +to any man who has the good luck to be first at a strike. Every one +got rich in Ballarat. There were no blanks. It was the richest ground +that ever was found. The grains of gold were so big that they stuck +out and looked at you! + +"Geelong, which was the nearest town to Ballarat, was deserted. Three +months after the discovery of gold the mayor of Geelong complained +that there were only eleven men and over three thousand women and +children in the town." + +"Ay," agreed Jim, "and I remember in Pot-Luck Camp, the first time a +decent woman came into the town, a miner offered her a bag of +gold-dust to just shake hands with him. I've seen seven camps in a +string, wi' maybe a thousand men in each an' nary a woman in the lot!" + +"A camp like that becomes right wild," Owens agreed. "Ballarat, for a +while, was about as dangerous a place as ever the world saw. +Ticket-of-leave men from New South Wales, escaped or paroled convicts +from Tasmania, roughs that had been run out of camps by vigilance +committees in California, Chinese and Malays swarmed there. The +diggers refused to take out licenses, fired on the police, charged the +military stockade, and when the troops charged back and took 125 +prisoners, a jury acquitted every one of the mutineers as upholders of +individual liberty. If a man did not find gold, he starved at the +exorbitant prices demanded for food; if he did make a strike, the +chances were ten to one he would be murdered the next day. Colorado, +at is worst, could not be compared with early days at Ballarat. + +"Bendigo followed right after. That was a nugget corner. During the +year 1852, alone, three big nuggets were found there, one of 24 +pounds, one of 28 pounds, and one of 47 pounds. All these nuggets +revealed outcrops and the finders all became rich men. + +"One of them was found in a queer way. A prospector, or 'fossicker' as +they call them back there, had been panning all along a small creek, +finding hardly enough color to pay him for his day's work. He was +walking on the very edge of the bank, scanning every stone he came to, +but seeing no prospects. Suddenly the bank caved in under him, +throwing him into the water. He came up, spluttering, and there, right +in front of him, the water was washing off the dirt, was one of the +purest nuggets that Australia ever produced. That was probably the +most profitable bath in history." + +"Some men are born lucky!" declared Jim, enviously. + +"That's true," Owens agreed, "and it has been a characteristic of +Australia that all the big finds have been made by lucky accidents. +Even recent discoveries are no exception. Did you ever hear the story +of Pilbarra and the crow?" + +"Never did." + +"It's a classic in Australian gold mining. It's as queer a story as I +know. It doesn't sound true, a bit, but all the documents in the case +are on record. + +"One fine day, a youngster in West Australia--clear across the other +side of the continent from Bathurst and Ballarat--was idling along a +narrow track, as youngsters will, even when sent on a hurried message. +On his way, he saw a black crow hopping some distance away. With a +natural boy movement, he picked up a stone and shied it at the crow. +The bird gave a loud croak and flew away a little distance, but in the +same direction in which the boy was walking. Presently the crow was +within throwing distance, again. The boy stooped to pick up another +stone. + +"Just as he was about to let fly, however, he noticed some gold specks +in it and took it home. There he showed it to his father, who was an +employe in the convict prison there. His father showed it to the +Warden, as he was compelled to do, for he was also a convict, though a +'trusty.' + +"The much-excited Warden knew that the governor of the colony ought to +be notified at once, but how was he to do so without the secret +leaking out through the telegraph office? Forgetting, in his +excitement, that the governor did not know as much about the matter as +he did, he sent the following message: + +"_'Boy here has just thrown stone at crow.'_ + +"He entirely neglected to mention that there was anything special in +either the stone or the crow. + +"The telegram puzzled the governor not a little. But he had a sense of +humor, and he replied to the Warden's telegram with the following +message: + +"_'Yes; but what happened to the crow?'_ + +"The Warden realized his former omission, and risking discovery, +telegraphed: + +"_'Stone, gold.'_ + +"The telegraph operator, not seeing how this could be a reply to the +governor's question thought an error had been made and forwarded the +message: + +"_'Stone cold.'_ + +"The governor thought his friend the Warden must have gone crazy, but +he was not to be outdone. He wired back: + +"_'Forward crow.'_ + +"This time it was the turn of the Warden to be puzzled, and, as soon +as his duties would permit, he went to the capital--almost a +thousand-mile journey--taking, not the crow, but the stone filled with +specks of gold. This was in 1888. Over half-a-million dollars' worth +of gold was taken from Pilbarra before the end of the year. + +"The richest gold field in Australia was hit on by accident four +years later. This was Kimberley. Signs of gold had been found there in +1882, and again in 1886 but not enough to be worth working. In 1892 +two prospectors started out to explore the region. They worked for +weeks and found nothing. One of them, thoroughly disgusted, gave up +the search and started for home. + +"Two nights after, while camping, his horse became restless and +started to plunge and kick at a wombat, near by. The prospector got up +to quiet the beast, fearing he would break the picket-rope. On his +way, he stumbled over a stone, which, in the light of early dawn, he +saw to be rich in gold. He pegged out a claim at once, fetched his +partner, and the two men took out $50,000 worth of gold in three +weeks. This was the beginning of the great Coolgardie field. + +"In the same region, about 24 miles away, not long after the opening +of the Coolgardie field, a miner just missed wealth. There was a small +camp there, but one man had no luck. While sitting dispiritedly in his +dog-tent, just before going to sleep, he began to burrow with his +fingers in the loose soil on which he was slouching and discovered a +small pocket of gold. He was so excited that he shouted out the news +to the camp. + +"Before he could realize what was happening, the other miners crowded +round, and pegged out claims to the very borders of his tent. All he +got out of it was the small bit of ground on which his tent stood. The +pocket only yielded a hundred dollars' worth of gold, his neighbors to +right and left, got more than ten times that amount in the first three +days. + +"I could go on for hours, Jim, telling you about the Australian +gold-fields, but I've said enough to show you that I meant what I said +when I suggested that it was a pity that you hadn't found gold. The +mining of every other metal needs a lot of capital to begin with--as +gold does, when you begin to work a reef--but, in nearly every gold +deposit, there are placers or pockets where a man can clean up +quickly." + +Jim's face was glowing with a lively interest. His excitement had +grown as the mine-owner proceeded. + +"And these here nuggets," he queried, "what makes 'em? Where do they +come from? We don't find anything like that over here!" + +"No," agreed Owens, "you don't. Chunks like 'The Welcome Stranger' +which sold for $48,000 and which was found right in the road, the +wheel of a passing wagon having cut through the soft earth and exposed +it, are peculiar to Australia. Even South Africa, which is the largest +gold-producing country in the world, hasn't any nuggets like that. + +"As for where nuggets come from, Jim, that's a bit of a puzzle. Some +say they grew in the earth, water heavily laden with gold, depositing +more and more of the metal in the one place; other scientists claim +that the nuggets were made in the days when the earth was all fire, +and that the nuggets have been there ever since. Neither theory +answers all the facts. It's truer to say that we don't know, yet, how +nuggets came to be, nor why Australia has most of them. + +"Some day, Jim, if you're interested, I'll try to explain to you the +geology of gold. It's pretty complicated. I did a lot of study on it, +when I was a young chap. Somehow, I seemed to be one of the men who +didn't have any luck at the diggings. So I took to assay work +(ore-testing), out there in Australia, and made more with my little +assay outfit than most of the miners did with their claims." + +Jim propped himself up on one elbow and stared fixedly at the +mine-owner. + +"You know how to make an assay, yourself?" + +"Roughly, yes. Of course, only for field work, you understand. I don't +pretend to be a mineralogical chemist." + +"You can do it yet?" + +"I suppose so. I haven't done any for years. This coal-mine business +has kept me busy. But I've still got my portable assay outfit up at +the house. I kept it for old-time's sake." + +Jim's eyes glistened eagerly. + +"You go to my cabin, Owens," he said, and it was noticeable that he +dropped the "Mr.," "and five long paces due north from my kitchen +window, you dig! You'll find a chunk of ore, there. Assay it, and then +come back here!" + +"But--" + +The old prospector waved the interruption aside, impatiently. + +"Do it, and then talk!" + +Owens shrugged his shoulders and left, but little less excited than +Jim. + +That evening, during the middle of the night shift, when no one was +likely to see him, the mine-owner went to the spot designated and +began to dig. A foot or two beneath the surface, he found the chunk of +ore. He put it in his pocket and hurried to his own house. + +It was nearly dawn before he completed the assay. Then he put the ore +and his memorandum of results in the safe and went to bed for a short +sleep. + +That morning, after breakfast, he returned to the hospital. He found +Jim in an excited state. + +"No, Mr. Owens, there's nothing wrong with him," the doctor explained, +"only he hasn't slept all night. He's been asking for you, every few +minutes." + +When the mine-owner entered the ward, Jim struggled up to a sitting +position. + +"What about it?" he queried. + +Owens closed the door carefully, came up to the sick man's bedside, +and answered quietly, + +"About 110 grains of gold to the ton and 800 ounces of silver. There's +some native copper, too." + +"It's a real find then?" + +"It isn't what you'd call rich," the Australian answered cautiously. + +"How about this, then?" + +Jim took his old coat, which he had got the hospital attendant to +bring him the night before, ripped open a seam, showing a narrow tube +of buckskin running around the hem, and, opening its mouth, poured out +a few grains of yellow metal into the palm of his hand. + +"Free gold!" he said, triumphantly. + +One glance of a trained eye sufficed. + +"That's the stuff, sure enough. But you didn't find much of it, eh?" + +"Where do you get that idea?" + +"The grains are big enough to pan easily. If there was much of it, you +wouldn't have left the place without cleaning up a good stake." + +"There is plenty of it. But I had to get out." + +"Why, then?" + +"To save my skin. An' I couldn't get back there." + +"Back where?" + +"Where I found it." + +"That doesn't tell me much." + +"It ain't intended to." + +"Then why," said Owens, showing irritation, "did you show me the ore +at all?" + +Jim looked at him under lowered eyelids. + +"Have you ever been a prospector, honest?" + +The owner of the coal mine put his hand in his breast pocket. + +"I thought this might interest you," he said, "so I brought it along. +That's me!" + +He put his finger on one of the figures in the picture that he handed +to the prospector. It showed a young fellow, bearded, in the typical +Australian digger's rig-out, panning gold. The photograph was an old +one, evidently, and there was no doubt that it was a resemblance of +Owens in his youth. + +"Ay, it's you," said Jim. + +For some minutes there was silence. The mine-owner let the prospector +think the matter out in his own way. Finally, with an air of desperate +determination, Jim began: + +"I'm gettin' old, now, an' times has changed since I found that ore. I +ain't never give up hope of gettin' back there, but it don't look like +it, now. I ain't the man I was. This last spell has crippled me up, +pretty bad, too. I ain't never goin' to be right husky, again. The +doctor says so." + +"You can have a job above ground, here, as long as you want to." + +Jim nodded appreciation of the offer. + +"That's a square deal," he admitted. "But," he went on viciously, +"I've had enough o' coal. I don't want to see a bit o' coal again, +long's I live! I want to get back to God's country." + +"Which is?" + +"Where I found that!" replied Jim, evasively. + +Owens made no protest. He kept silent, being sure that his companion +would go on to talk. + +"I'm gettin' old," Jim repeated, after a while, "an' it takes two +things to get where I found that ore--a tough constitution an' money. +I got neither. It's a job for a young fellow." + +"I'm not much younger than you are," suggested Owens. + +"Clem is." + +"Well?" + +"But he hasn't got any more money'n I have." + +The mine-owner bent a level glance at the old prospector. + +"Don't beat about the bush so much, Jim. If you don't want to say +anything, why, drop the whole business. If you have anything to say, +spit it out! You want me to grub-stake you? Is that it?" + +"Me an' Clem. I won't do nothin' without Clem. A man has to have a +pardner." + +"I've no objection to Clem. On the contrary. But I don't grub-stake a +man just because he shows me a bit of ore! I've been in the game too +long for that. How do I know where that gold comes from? It might have +been picked up from some mine now working at full blast. As for the +gold-dust--why, it would be queer if you hadn't found some of it, +somewhere. + +"No," he went on, anticipating Jim's interruption, "I'm going to do +the talking for a minute. You wanted to be sure I was a prospector. I +showed you. You wanted to be sure I knew enough about gold to make an +assay. I've done that for you. + +"But confidence can't be all on the one side. You'll have to show your +cards, the same way. You'll have to convince me that you're on the +square, too. I'm not suspecting anything, mind, but this has got to be +an open-and-shut deal, or I don't go in. + +"Tell me who you are, where you've been, what you've done and what you +know about gold deposits, anyway. I've got to know where you found +this ore, how you came to find it, and why you haven't been able to +get back there. You'll have to show me some proof, to start with, and +what chances there are of taking the necessary machinery to the +place, before I think about investing any capital. + +"You can keep back the exact location of the strike to the last, if +you like. If it sounds right, why, I'll think about it. But, mark you, +Jim, I make no promises. You can talk, or not, just as you choose. I'm +not hunting trouble, understand, this colliery keeps me busy enough. +But if you want help, maybe I can give it to you. That ore deposit--if +it's a deposit--can either be let alone or developed. If you let it +alone, it's no good to anybody. If it's developed, there's a chance +that it might make money for the both of us. Decide! It's up to you!" + +Silence fell in the hospital ward. Jim's eyes were far away, evidently +in that strange and distant land where he had made his find. Then he +turned a piercing glance on the mine-owner, who returned it frankly. + +The old prospector cleared his throat and swallowed hard. For a moment +he seemed about to speak, and then stopped himself. At last his +features settled into decision. + +"Send for Clem to come here to-morrow," he said, "I'll tell the +yarn." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE FORTY-NINERS + + +Several days elapsed before Jim took up his story, Owens preferring to +wait until the prospector grew stronger. The mine-owner was shrewd +enough to see that if he did not show too much haste, Jim would be +less suspicious. + +When the time arrived, Jim was up and dressed, though the doctor would +only allow him out of doors for a few minutes at a time. The +prospector had evidently been thinking out the beginning of his story, +for, when his visitors arrived, he opened without preface. + +"There's a lot o' wild yarns been told about the findin' o' gold in +Californy," he began. "I've heard some, an' wild an' woolly they was; +an' I've read some in books, an' they was wilder yet; an' I've seen +some in the movies, an' they was a crime! + +"Not but what them days wasn't tough! They was! The crowds what hit +the minin' camps o' the Sierras in the fifties was out for gold an' +nothin' else, an' they didn't much care how they got it. Father, he +was a forty-niner himself, an' he was a rough un if anything got in +his way. But he had more sense'n most, an', without any book-l'arnin' +to speak of, he knew a heap about gold. If he'd been alive when I made +my strike, old as he was, he'd ha' gone there, an' he'd ha' got there, +too. + +"I come o' Mormon stock, I do. My grand-pap, he made the trail to Salt +Lake City wi' Brigham Young. Grandma, she used a rifle to defend the +home camp, when the Illinois and Indiana folk came to massacre the +women an' children, after the men were gone. Judgin' from what I've +heard about her shootin', there wasn't many bullets wasted. Some o' +these days, when you ain't got nothin' better to do, I'll tell you the +story o' my grand-pap. He come to be one o' the Danites, later.[4] + +[Footnote 4: For the relation of the Mormons and the Danites to the +forty-niners and the emigrant trains going west, see the author's "The +Book of Cowboys."] + +"You'll know the story o' Sutter's Mill, likely, Mr. Owens,"--Jim +returned to the "Mr." in Clem's presence,--"but Clem, he don't know +nothin' about it, an' he ought to be put wise if he's goin' to take a +hand in this game. + +"It all come about in queer fashion, a good deal like it did in +Australia, as Mr. Owens was a-tellin' me a few days ago. The first +signs o' gold was found on the Americanos River, which runs into the +Sacramento. Found by accident, they was, too. + +"There was a chap out them parts--an Indian-fighter--Cap'n Sutter by +name. He owned a lot o' land an' used to run cattle in a small way, +for the time I'm tellin' about was long afore the days o' the cowboys +an' the ol' Texas-Drive trail.[5] This Sutter had a foreman called +James W. Marshall, who, besides his reg'lar job o' handlin' cattle an' +greasers, looked after the runnin' of a one-horse saw-mill on the +Americanos. It was an over-shot water-wheel mill, an' jest roughly +chucked together. + +[Footnote 5: For the history of the Texas trail and the winning of the +West for the United States, see the author's "The Book of Cowboys."] + +"By-'n'-by Marshall begin to notice that the ol' mill wasn't workin' +any too good. A lot o' sand an' gravel had come down wi' the water, +chokin' up the tail-race some. The run-off wouldn't get away fast +enough an' churned up under the water-wheel, causin' a loss o' power. + +"To get the tail-race clear an' to widen her out a bit, Marshall, +he throws the wheel out o' gear, pulls up the gate o' the dam, an' +lets the whole head o' water in the mill-pond go a-flyin'. That water +hit into the tail-race like a hydraulic jet an' scooped her out clear, +carryin' a mass o' sand an' gravel into the river below. + + +[Illustration: SUTTER'S MILL. + +Where Marshall discovered gold, January 19, 1848.] + + +[Illustration: THE RUSH TO THE GOLD MINES. + +Scene in San Francisco in 1849.] + + +"Next day, that was January 19, 1848, Marshall goes down to the river +below the tail-race to see how she's shapin' an' if the cut-out is big +enough. He's walkin' along the bank when he notices something glitter. +He looks again, an' sees what he thinks is a bit o' Spanish opal, not +the real gem, Clem, but a soft stone they find out there which looks +even prettier'n an opal, but wears off an' gets dull in no time. They +sell 'em to greenhorns, still. + +"Marshall don't worry none about that, but by-'n-by, seein' a lot +more, as he thinks, he figures to pick up some, jest to show. +Accordin' as he used to tell the tale, he didn't think it was worth +the trouble, but spottin' one that looks different from the rest, he +reaches down into the water an' fishes it out. + +"It ain't no opal at all. It's a bit o' shiny white quartz wi' a line +o' yellow runnin' through. That's what makes the glitter. He hunts +around some, rememberin' that he'd seen other bits shinin' yellow the +same way, an' finds quite a few, all of 'em looking like scales o' +pure gold. They was jest about the size an' thinness o' the scales +that comes off a rattlesnake's skin after it's dry, an' for a while, +Marshall figured they was some kind o' scale or horn, washed down thin +by the water. + +"In them times, the folks in Californy hadn't no idee o' minin'. It +was still Spanish territory, for one thing, an', for another, there +wasn't any minin' done. So Marshall wasn't thinkin' about gold. It was +jest curiosity what made him hunt up some more o' those queer yellow +scales. + +"The more he found, the more puzzled he got. They was heavy; they bent +like a bit o' metal, a thing a stone won't never do; they could be +scratched with a pocket-knife; they didn't show no layers like horn +does when it's old. The biggest bit he found weighed less'n a quarter +of an ounce, an' this one was stickin' in the bank o' the tail-race, +where the water had been washin' the earth away. + +"He puts this last bit on a flat rock an' hammers it with a stone. It +beats out flat quite easy. Marshall wasn't no fool, an' he knew there +wasn't no yellow metal acted that way but gold or copper, an' native +copper ain't that color. + +"There was one o' the mill-hands wi' Marshall at the time, a chap +called Peter Wimmer. He didn't know any more about gold'n Marshall +did, but he'd heard said that every metal, savin' gold, gets black if +it's boiled in strong lye. Marshall gets Wimmer to keep quiet by +promisin' him a stake in whatever's found, an' tries the boilin' +trick. The flakes o' metal stays put, an' shows nary a sign o' +tarnishin'. + +"By this time, Marshall was gettin' pretty sure that what he'd found +was gold. He hadn't no notion of a gold mine, though, seein' he'd +never heard of any. He reckoned that these flakes must be gold that +had been buried by the Indians, long ago, an' had been washed down; +from a grave, maybe, or some o' the treasure that the Spaniards had +been huntin'. + +"Jest the same, he was curious. He strolled away from the tail-race, +idle-like, an' started huntin' promiscuous. He found specks o' gold +all over. That settled him. He jumped on a horse an' rode down to +Cap'n Sutter wi' the news. + +"Sutter was a whole lot more excited than Marshall was. He was +educated an' knew the history o' Mexico. He knew the Indians in +Californy had possessed gold in the time o' the first comin' o' the +Spaniards, an' he reckoned that gold must ha' come from somewhere. +There'd always been some talk o' gold around where the Spanish +missions had started, and, jest three years afore, a Spanish don had +sent some ore to Mexico, sayin' that there was gold an' silver +a-plenty around, an' the government had better get busy an' develop +it. But the Spaniards weren't havin' any. Ever since they got so badly +fooled, a couple o' hundred years afore, in their hunt for the 'Golden +Cities o' Cibola,'[6] they let Californy alone. + +[Footnote 6: For the gold-hunting expedition of the Spanish +Conquistadores in North America--records of extraordinary heroism and +adventure--see the author's "The Quest of the Western World." For the +gold-stories of Ancient Mexico, see the author's "The Aztec-hunters."] + +"Sutter didn't waste no time. He rode right back to the mill wi' the +foreman. They didn't have to poke around long afore Sutter was plumb +sure it was the real stuff. There was some of it in the Americanos, +but the gold was even thicker in the dried-up creeks an' gulches that +run into the river on both sides. With his penknife, Sutter pried out +o' the rock-face a piece o' gold weighin' nigh two ounces. + +"Some o' the mill-hands had got wise, too. Maybe Wimmer talked--though +he said he hadn't. Maybe they just got a hunch, when they saw Sutter +an' Marshall prospectin' around. They started huntin', too, but the +flakes were small an' took a long time to find. None o' them knew +enough to try washin' the sand, an' all they found didn't amount to +much. + +"Sutter took samples o' the gold to the fort at Monterey, where +General Mason was in command. Mason was more interested in tryin' to +keep the Apaches an' Comanches quiet than he was in fussin' about +metals. He was a soldier, an' minin' wasn't his line. But he knew that +the federal authorities at Washington ought to be notified. + +"There weren't no post nor telegraph in them times--that was 'way +afore the days o' the Pony Express,[7] even--an' Mason sent a special +messenger. Politics were queer in Californy around that time. Spain +claimed the territory, the United States claimed it, an' for a +while--a month, maybe--Californy was a republic on her own. The +messenger reached Washington, all right, an' his report hurried up the +signin' o' the treaty which made Californy American. That happened +jest six weeks after Marshall had picked up his first bit o' gold an' +only two weeks after the messenger arrived. Word was sent to Mason to +be sure an' keep law an' order, no matter what happened. It was a bit +too late, then; goin' an' comin' from Washington took months. + +[Footnote 7: See the author's "The Boy with the U. S. Mail."] + +"Things were happenin' out 'Frisco way. Geo. Bennett, who'd been +workin' at the mill, left there about the middle o' February, takin' +some flakes o' gold with him. When he got to 'Frisco, he met Isaac +Humphrey, who'd worked on the Dahlonega strike, in Georgia, in 1830. +Humphrey took jest one look at the stuff, an' said right away that it +was gold. + +"Bennett an' Humphrey hot-footed it back to the mill. They found it +workin' jest as usual. Some o' the men had picked up more gold, but +casual-like, after workin' hours. Marshall hadn't done any more +prospectin'. Sutter was waitin' to hear from Mason. + +"Humphrey, bein' a gold miner, panned up an' down the river, an' found +plenty o' color. He got quite excited an' declared it was richer'n +the Dahlonega field, which had been pretty good, though the surface +diggin's had petered out fast." + +"What do you mean by 'he panned up and down the river and found +color?'" queried Clem. + +Jim gave a short laugh of surprise. + +"That's right," he said, "you don't know nothin' about prospectin', do +you? I'll tell you. Pannin' is how a prospector gets gold. It sounds +easy, but there's a trick to it, jest the same. + +"A prospector's pan is just like an ordinary tin wash-pan, wi' slopin' +sides, only it's smaller; about a foot across at the bottom, an' made +of iron, not tin. Many a hundred men have got to be millionaires with +nothin' but a pick, a shovel, an' a pan. + +"Supposing now, you're at the gold diggin's. You fill your pan, near +full, with sand or with gravel or earth, or whatever stuff you think +may have a little gold mixed up with it--" + +"Can't you see the gold, then?" queried Clem. + +"Not often, you can't. It don't lie around the ground like +twenty-dollar gold-pieces! Some o' the richest placers ever found +have the gold ground down so fine that it ain't much bigger'n grains +o' dust. + +"Well, havin' nigh filled the pan, like I said, you take it to the +river, an' squattin' down, you hold it jest below the surface o' the +water, one side a trifle higher 'n the other, so the water jest flows +continual over the lower lip o' the pan. Then you give it a sort of +rockin' an' whirlin' motion, so,"--he illustrated with his hands, +Owens smilingly doing the same, "lettin' the lighter mud flow out over +the top. + +"You keep on doin' that, without stoppin', for ten minutes or more. By +the end o' that time, you're rockin' pretty hard, for the heavier +stuff has got to be flicked out; but you've got to mind out, for if +you go too hard, the gold--if there is any--will go out, too. + +"Then you stop, pick out any pebbles in the bottom, lookin' at 'em +hard--for they might show color--an' rock an' whirl the pan some more. +If you've done it right, when you're through, there isn't more'n a +handful o' sand an' grit at the bottom. You look at that as closely as +you know how, an' if here an' there's a little speck o' yellow, you've +found color. That's gold. You spread that handful out in the sun to +dry an' blow away the lighter part. What's left is gold." + + +[Illustration: THE PROSPECTOR OF TO-DAY. + +Gold-bearing stream of Western Canada being panned for dust. + +_Courtesy of the Grand Trunk Railway._] + + +[Illustration: FLUME AT THE MELONES MINE. + +To carry 600 miner's inches of water from the Stanislaus River to the +120-stamp mill.] + + +"Always supposing that there was some gold there to start with," put +in Owens. "How many times have you panned, Jim, without finding any +color?" + +"Millions, I reckon! I panned every day an' all day, once, for two +years, without gettin' enough gold dust to fill a pipe-bowl, an' then +I got a double-handful in half a day. In general, you're doin' all +right if you can get out of each pan enough dust to cover a +finger-nail. So now you know what pannin' is, Clem." + +"It's not such a cinch, at that!" the young fellow commented. + +"But you may strike it rich any day, any hour, any minute!" Jim +exclaimed, the fever of search in his eyes. "When Humphrey got up to +Sutter's Mill, the first man to know anything about gold-washin' that +got there, he was takin' out a thousand dollars a day, easy, for a +month or more. The placers were rich." + +"A 'placer,' Clem," Owens interrupted to explain, "is a deposit where +there is gold mixed with sand, or gravel or mud. It is always a +deposit which has been washed down by water, either a river which is +actually running, or which is found in a dry bed where a river used to +run. Mining people call it an 'alluvial or flood deposit.' Most of the +gold-strikes have been found in this way. Go ahead, Jim." + +"Right about the time that Humphrey was prospectin' an' doin' +handsomely, an Indian, who had worked on placers in Lower California, +told another o' the mill-hands how to get hold o' the dust. Besides +that, a Kentuckian, who'd been spyin' on Marshall an' Sutter, had +noticed that they'd found gold not only in the tail-race, but up the +creeks. Both of 'em went down to 'Frisco. + +"It was interestin', but nobody got excited. Gold strikes weren't +known yet. There'd only been two gold rushes in the United States +afore, neither of 'em big ones. + +"The first was in North Carolina. A young chap, Conrad Reed, was +shootin' fish with a bow and arrow in Meadow Creek. He saw in the +water a good-sized stone with a yellow gleam. Pickin' it up, he found +it heavy--seventeen pounds it weighed--an' he reckoned it was some +kind o' metal, but he didn't think o' gold. That was in 1799. The +stone was used to prop open a stable door for a couple o' years. + +"One day, runnin' short o' groceries an' bein' shy o' ready cash, Reed +thought he'd go into Fayetteville an' see if, maybe, he could raise a +few dollars on the stone, as a curiosity. He took it to a jeweler, who +said he thought there might be gold in it, an' told the young fellow +to come back in the afternoon. + +"When Reed came back, the jeweler showed him a thin wire o' gold, +about as long as a lead pencil, an' said that was all the gold in the +chunk. He offered Reed $3.50 for the gold an' Reed took it. How much +the jeweler kept for himself, no one can't say. + +"That started a little local talk, an' one or two men begun +prospectin' in a shiftless sort o' way. They found nothin'. In 1813, +some placers were found an' there was a mild rush, but it died right +out. There was gold there, sure enough, but scattered so's a man +didn't earn more'n a day's wages at washin'. Jest the same, all the +gold in the United States came from North Carolina for twenty years +after that, more'n a hundred thousand dollars' worth bein' sent to +the Mint. But that's durn little, when you come to look at it, less'n +fourteen dollars a day. An' that's not much for a bunch o' men!" + +"No," admitted Owens, "you couldn't start a gold rush on that. And the +second strike, Jim?" + +"That was the Georgia deposits, at Dahlonega, where Humphrey came +from. They're workin' yet, though small potatoes beside Californy an' +Colorado. + +"Californy was jest about uninhabited, then. There was only fifteen +thousand folks in the whole durn State in 1848. Over a hundred +thousand more came in the two years followin'. O' that lot, ninety per +cent. was prospectors an' the rest was sharks, livin' off 'em. At the +time o' the strike, 'Frisco didn't boast a hundred houses wi' white +folks in them, an' they didn't know nothin' about Georgia an' Carolina +gold. + +"On May 8th, though, one o' the mill-hands come down from Sutter's +Mill. He'd quit work to try gold-findin' on his own, an' takin' a tip +from Humphrey, he'd washed out 23 ounces in four days. A 'Frisco man +paid him $500 for his dust, cash down. That was good earnin's for four +days. + +"Sudden, the fever hit! The news got over the little town like a +prairie fire durin' a dry spell. By night, half the town was talkin' +gold; next mornin', the other half. Nine out o' every ten men quit +work. A pick an' shovel an' a tin pan was worth a hundred dollars +before night. One man paid a thousand dollars for an outfit, includin' +a tent an' a month's grub. He was found dead half-way to the diggings, +murdered for his outfit. + +"The more excited ones an' those with the least money an' sense, +started right off on foot, though it was all of a hundred an' fifty +miles to Sutter's Mill, an' no trail, sixty o' these miles across a +desert without water. No one ever did know how many o' that bunch +ended up by feedin' the turkey buzzards. + +"On the 14th an' 15th, a whole fleet o' launches an' small boats +started out across San Francisco Sound an' Pablo Bay an' up the +Sacramento River, every boat loaded to the gunwales. They said there +was 2,000 men on the way. + +"That wasn't jest a rush, it was a stampede. Not ten men in the entire +crowd knew the first durn thing about prospectin'. They had some fool +idee that pannin' gold was like pickin' flowers, all you had to do was +to find it. Any one what knew better could ha' told 'em, but there +wasn't any one to tell 'em, an' likely, they wouldn't ha' listened if +he had. What's the use o' talkin' to a crazy man? An' a gold-rush is a +bunch o' lunatics. I know! I've been that way myself, more'n once. + +"Out Salt Lake City way, the winter had been bad. We Mormons had gone +to Utah to avoid bein' citizens o' the United States, an' the +government had took in Utah as soon as we made it worth takin'. My +grand-pap an' my father were sore at that, an' they decided to start +off with a party for Californy, which was still Spanish. + +"Right around the 1st o' May, they reached the Sacramento River an' +heard about gold bein' found. They took it as a sign that Providence +was protectin' 'em, an' settled right down there to pan out the +stream. Travelin', as the Mormons always did, with a proper leader, +they pitched an organized camp. Trained to the last notch by their +wanderin's in the wilderness, there wasn't a tenderfoot or an idle man +in the bunch, an', workin' steadily, they begun to clean up pretty +good. + +"Jest a month later come the first wave o' the rush from 'Frisco. They +struck the placers, their mouths fairly waterin' for gold, only to +find the Mormons there already. That was a bit too much! After all +their trouble an' misery, all the expense, all the deaths, they come +to find all the claims along the strike staked out by Mormons. + +"Durin' this time, Californy had been taken over by the United States. +The 'Frisco bunch knew they'd be protected by law for anything they +did against the Mormons, an', after a short pow-wow, they tried to +rush the camp. + +"But my grand-pap, an' some more o' the leaders, who were right handy +with their rifles, were standin' at the ready. They'd fought their way +across the plains, when the redskins were swarmin', an' they weren't +the kind to take back water before a crowd o' tenderfeet. The 'Frisco +men, city chaps a lot o' them, begun to waver, an' asked a parley. + +"The Mormon leader, he told 'em, cold, what they'd get if they come +any farther, an' hinted, pretty broad, that there was more cold lead +around those diggin's than there was gold. But he told 'em, too, that +there was a lot o' the other placers around wi' no one washin' 'em. +The others grumbled but got out. Luckily, there was gold enough for +all, at first. Later on, there was a sure-enough fight over a sluice, +and the bullets went thick. The Mormons knew how to shoot, an' there +was fifty o' the Gentiles dead when they broke back. Our folks were +let alone on the Sacramento, after that. + +"Durin' this month, John Bidwell struck it rich on the Feather River, +75 miles away from Sutter's Mill, and Pearson B. Reading on the Clear +River, 100 miles further on. The news scattered the 'Frisco crowd, +many a man leavin' a good claim in hopes to find a better. Others went +prospectin' on their own. By the end o' the year, along the whole +western slope o' the Sierra Nevada, from Pitt River to the Tuolumne, +there wasn't a stream or a creek or a dry ravine that didn't have some +one prospectin' or pannin' on it. + +"Most o' those that got on to the diggin's in the first two months +made money an' made it fast. A few struck bonanzas and took out a +thousand dollars a day. Quite a lot got good pickin's an' cleaned up +at the rate of a hundred a day. The rest were doin' good if they +cleaned up twenty, an' that was jest about enough to live on, at +minin'-camp prices. I've seen potatoes sell at five dollars apiece to +be eaten raw, when the scurvy was ragin', an' three men were killed +in a fight over the buyin' of a fresh cabbage. + +"Those was tough times, even for the first lot that come from 'Frisco. +There was no sort o' law an' order in the camps, no sanitation an' no +doctors. Typhoid an' dysentery got a good hold by the end o' June. You +could get the reek o' fever an' disease a mile away. + +"Men too sick to walk crawled out to their claims an' died there, +scary lest some claim-jumper should seize their claims. Hope stuck +with 'em to the last. Scores fell dead into the stream, wi' the pan +still in their hands. One time, when they come to carry a dead man +from beside his pan, that he hadn't time to clean up afore death took +him, there was the first color in it that had been found on the claim. +It brought in a pile o' money later. + +"Later, when the real forty-niners came, men o' red blood, vigilance +committees were organized an' the camps got sort o' human. But at the +start, it was ugly. If a man didn't clean up quick, he starved. If he +did, somebody jumped his claim, or put a bullet in him. If the body of +a miner was found floatin', it was called accidental death, even if +his head was blown off, for, the sayin' used to go, 'A miner ought to +carry enough gold dust on him to sink.' Scores, aye, hundreds, died o' +gun-play. + +"About the fine breed o' men that come later, the forty-niners that +crossed the whole plains o' the West from Missouri to Santa Fé an' +beyond, men that brought their women an' children in long lines o' +prairie schooners, keepin' scouts out ahead an' one each side, +fightin' famine, thirst an' redskins all the way, you won't want me to +tell you. Every American knows their story. + +"But every one don't know what them trains o' gold-seekers looked +like, when they reached the diggin's! My father's told me, though. + +"He's seen 'em reach the Sacramento, half-scalped an' with wounds that +never healed. He's seen swingin' at their saddles the scalp-locks o' +Indians they'd scalped theirselves. He's seen women come in with nary +one o' their men-folk left alive. He seen 'em come in crazy, never to +be sane again, after the horrors o' that trail. He's seen a man come +in safe an' untouched, after wheelin' a wheelbarrow nigh three +thousand miles. He's seen seven men an' nine women get to the +Sierras out of a party of 118, leaving 102 dead on the road. + + +[Illustration: THE COMING OF THE FORTY-NINERS.] + + +[Illustration: DAVID EGELSTON. + +A Forty-Niner, and the Discoverer of Gold Hill.] + + +"I've heard tell, an' I believe it, that across the desert stretch a +man could ha' walked for forty miles an' put his foot on a bone at +every step. An' o' those who did reach, most o' them were so weak that +camp fever an' dysentery took 'em off like flies. A good half died at +the diggin's before they ever found a bit o' gold. + +"How many o' the forty-niners died at sea? There's no tellin'. Ships +set out from all corners o' the globe. There was a wild rush from +England. That meant goin' round the Horn, an' there weren't many +steamships, then. Sailin'-ships, so rotten that their owners were glad +to get rid of 'em, were sold to forty-niners at fancy prices. In one +week, eighteen ships sailed from England to go round the Horn to +Californy an' seven arrived. The gold o' Sutter's Mill called many a +good man to leave his bones on the ocean bottom. + +"But it wasn't all bad luck an' dyin'. Lots o' the diggers struck it +rich an' spent it quick. Gamblin' an' drinkin' an' work--that's all +there was to a minin' camp in them days. Spendin' freely give a man a +minute's glory. Treatin' the crowd was the only way to be popular. +An', in a minin' camp, where there's no women to live with, no +children to think of, no homes to go to, what is there but the saloon, +an' what's the use o' the saloon without friends! A bag o' gold-dust +was enough for a spree. + +"Gold-diggin' don't go to make a man careful. It's always to-morrow +that's goin' to be the lucky day. What's the use o' savin' ten dollars +when a stroke o' the pick or a swirl o' the pan may suddenly give a +man a thousand? So they thought. One miner found a pocket that netted +him $60,000 in two weeks, an' when he sobered up, he hadn't six +dollars' worth o' dust left. + +"There was some that stuck to their earnin's, just the same, but they +was either quick with a gun or slow wi' their tongues. Six brothers +come out from England, none o' them ever havin' roughed it before, but +they stuck together an' stayed sober. They were let alone, because to +touch one meant to fight six. They went back to England, at the end o' +the first season, with a million dollars between 'em. + +"One man, who started out from 'Frisco wi' a drove of a hundred hogs, +figurin' on sellin' 'em in the minin' camps for fresh meat, reached +Feather River wi' five. But he sold those five for more'n twice as +much as he'd paid for the hundred. An' that was only the beginnin'! On +the way, his hogs rootin' in the ground had uncovered two pockets. He +covered the places an' marked 'em wi' crosses, so's folks should think +they was graves. On his way back, he took $5,000 out o' one pocket an' +$10,000 out o' the other. An' then some folks try to make out that +there ain't no such thing as luck!" + +"But is it all so chancy as that?" queried Clem. "Surely if a chap +knew in what sort of ground or near what sort of rock gold was +generally found, he'd have some idea where to look." + +"Sure he would," agreed Jim, "but gold goes where it durn pleases, an' +that's the only rule I know. O' course, every prospector has his own +idees, same as he has for playin' poker, but he don't win any quicker +because o' that. Leastways, not so far as I've seen. + +"As for judgin' by the rock an' the color o' the soil, why, you can +take your pick. Take San Diego County, Californy, where I've worked, +the gold lies in schist, sometimes blue, green, or grey. In the +Homestake, South Dakota, red looks good, a sort o' rotten quartz +stained with iron. Black flint's a good sign in Colorado. Snow-white +quartz is often lucky. Purple porphyry sometimes has veins that work +up rich. An' I've seen gold come out o' pink sandstone, yellow +sandstone, all shades o' granite, an' even coal!" + +Clem turned an incredulous glance at Owens, but the mine-owner nodded +agreement. + +"Jim's right," he said, "color isn't any clue. Gold can be found in +any kind of rock. So far as that goes, it shows up in strata of any +geological age. There's gold everywhere. There isn't a range of hills +in any country of the world which may not contain gold. There isn't a +bed of sand or gravel that may not be auriferous. Even the sea beach, +in places, has yielded fortunes. For that matter, there's gold in +every bucket of water you dip up from the sea. + +"But there's not much of it. Geologists have figured that there's +about one cent's worth of gold to every ton of rock in the earth's +crust, but it would take fourteen dollars a ton to handle it. There's +about a hundredth of a cent's worth of gold in a ton of sea water, and +it would cost about ten dollars a ton to get it out. Not much chance +of getting rich that way, is there?" + +"I should say not," declared Clem, with decision. + +"But, as Jim has been pointing out, gold isn't scattered evenly all +through the earth. In some places, it's moderately plentiful, in +others it's scarce or entirely absent. Prospecting for gold, Clem, +doesn't mean looking for a place where there is gold, but looking for +a place where the proportion of gold to the soil or to the rock is +high enough to give a profit in the working of it. + +"It isn't always the place where the gold is most plentiful that gives +the greatest profit, either. A low-grade ore, that is a rock +containing only a small proportion of gold, may be worth a great deal +if it is near the surface, if the rock is easily crushed, if it is +near water-power, and if transportation is not too difficult. + +"A high-grade ore, in which there is a large proportion of gold, may +be worth a good deal less, if it is more difficult to work and less +easy of access. The richest gold-field in the world, that of the Rand, +in South Africa, which gives one-third of the total gold output of the +world, is of an ore so poor that a forty-niner would have turned up +his nose at it, and the machinery, even of thirty years ago, could +have done nothing with it. Nearly all the big mines of to-day are +winning wealth out of low-grade ore. + +"Some of these days, Clem, I'll explain the geology of gold to you, +and show you how it is that the mines which give the richest specimens +are sometimes the poorest mines to work. But I'm breaking into Jim's +story." + +"I was jest a-sayin'," continued Jim, who had listened with impatience +to Owens' explanation, "that them as says there ain't no luck in +minin' ain't never done no minin'. I've been showin' you how some men +got rich in a minute an' hundreds got nothin'. + +"But there was some fields that was a frost, right from the start. +They promised big an' give big for the first scratch or two. +Then--nothin'! Kern River was one o' those an' Father got bit. + +"My grand-pap, he'd gone back to Utah to take command of a band o' +'Destroyin' Angels', as the Gentiles called the Danites, leavin' +Father to go on pannin' on the Sacramento. The claims was peterin' out +fast, but there was good day's wages to be got, still. + +"Then, in 1855, come the news o' the Kern River strike. If folk had +gone crazy in forty-nine, they got crazier still this time. There was +all the fame o' the last strike to lure 'em on. The same ol' story o' +desert trails without water, o' minin' camps that were death-traps, +was repeated, only ten times worse. Twenty thousand started in the +same week. The last few miles was a trail o' blood. Men stabbed their +friends in the back to get to the diggin's first. The stakin' o' +claims was done, six-shooter in hand. + +"And, o' the twenty thousand, there wasn't twenty that cleaned up +rich. My father, he wasn't one o' the twenty. He prospected, up an' +down, until he'd spent the last ounce o' gold-dust he'd got from five +years' work, an' all but starved to death on his way across the +desert, headin' for Utah. + +"When he got into Nevada, he didn't have a pound o' flour left. He +didn't have nothin' left, nothin' but his pick an' shovel an' pan. All +the rest was gone. He didn't have no trade but prospectin'. Well +enough he knew he'd leave his bones on the trail if he tried to foot +it to Salt Lake City. + +"He'd heard about gold being found on the Carson River, in Nevada, in +1850, by Prouse Kelly and John Orr, an' he knew that they'd gone back +an' done well. Several other small placers had been found, noways +rich, but still enough to keep a busy man goin'. He'd learned from his +Kern River experience that a man did better, stickin' to a small +claim'n tryin' for the big prizes, an' he made for the small placers +o' the Carson River. A store-keeper grub-staked him, to start with, +an' in a month or two, he was clear. + +"Next year, that was '56, his pard struck what looked like a silver +vein, an' started off to the city wi' some samples. Father, he stuck +by the gold. That's where he lost out. He prospected in Six Mile Cañon +an' found little color--his bad luck again, for, in '57, two +prospectors made a rich strike less'n a quarter of a mile away from +where he'd been pannin'. They found signs o' silver, too, but chucked +the stuff aside. Father plugged along, an' at last struck a little +pocket in a creek off the Carson. A month's work gave him near a +thousand dollars' worth o' dust, an' he reckoned he'd go back to Salt +Lake City. He'd been away eight years. + +"Grand-pap was still alive an' told Father to stay home an' go +farmin'. But it didn't go. The prospectin' bug had hit Father too +hard. In the spring o' '59 he started back for the Carson River +again, an' Mother come along. She reckoned she might never see him +again, if she didn't. + +"That summer, there was three folks on the claim. Another pard had +come, a little one, what had for his first toy a nugget o' gold tied +on a bit o' string. I was born on a minin' claim, for that little pard +was--me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE GREAT BONANZA + + +"You certainly started young enough in the prospecting game," said +Owens, when Jim told of his birth in a mining camp, "and have you been +at it all your life?" + +"Ever since I was big enough to twirl a pan or rock a cradle!" + +"How do you mean rock a cradle?" queried Clem. "I thought you were in +the cradle!" + +"Not that kind, boy," Jim answered, "what I'm meanin' is a miner's +cradle, or a rocker, as some calls it. I gradooated from one to +t'other." + +"What's a miner's cradle, then?" + +"It's a scheme to make pannin' easier. Pannin' is durn hard work, +Clem. You're squattin' on your hams beside a river all the day long, +you got to hold a pan full o' earth an' water at arm's length an' down +at an angle what nigh tears your arms out o' their sockets, an' then +keep revolvin' the mixture with a circular twist that wrenches the +muscles somethin' cruel. I've seen big men, tough uns, too, fair +cryin' from the pain, at first. + +"Not only that, but you got to work the sodden lumps o' dirt soft wi' +your fingers, so's the grit gets right into the skin. Your hands are +wet nigh all the time. The grit an' the constant washin' o' the water, +in all weathers, cracks the skin all over, so's it's bleedin' most o' +the time. You got to have hands like a bit o' rawhide to stand it. + +"The cradle does the work quicker'n' easier, but it takes three men to +work it right. It looks like a child's cradle from the outside, though +most o' them I've seen was made pretty rough. About six inches from +the top there's a drawer, or sometimes jest a tray, with a bottom o' +iron, punched wi' holes o' different sizes, accordin' to the kind o' +dirt you're workin' in. If your pannin' out don't show no big grains +o' gold-dust, why, you keep the holes o' the cradle small, otherwise, +you got to have 'em bigger. Below that drawer is another one, slopin' +like. It hasn't got no holes. It has cross-bars or cleats, what we +call 'riffles,' to keep the gold from washin' away. + +"One man digs up the pay dirt an' chucks it in at the top o' the +cradle. Another dips up bucket after bucket o' water, continuous, an' +sloshes it in; it's his job, too, to break up the soft lumps an' keep +stirrin' the pasty mess, an' to keep the cradle full o' water. The +third man goes rock, rockin', without stoppin', hours at a time. +Mostly, the pardners spell each other off." + +"But I should think a good deal of gold would be washed away by that +system," objected Clem, "surely the rocking must dash some of it over +the riffles." + +"Some does go," Jim agreed, "but a gang can handle so much more pay +dirt in a day that it more'n makes up. Three men with a cradle can +handle twice as much dirt as the three men workin' separately would, +each with a pan. Team work pays, in minin'--if you can trust your +pardners. + +"Just about the time I was born, Father made pardners with five other +prospectors, all pannin' on the Carson. Their claims were all in a +string, one after the other, so they figures on makin' a sluice. +That's jest a long trough. In richer an' more settled camps they're +made of iron, length after length, all ready to be fixed together like +a stove-pipe, but on the Carson, they was jest hollowed-out logs. + +"Sluices was always a foot deep, a foot an' a half wide, an' as long +as could be made, slopin' slightly, so the water wouldn't run too fast +or too slow, an' wi' riffles every few inches all along. The six +claims I'm tellin' about give a chance for a sluice over a hundred +foot long. To save the trouble o' liftin' water up in a pail, or +pumpin' it, Father made a sort o' small flume, leadin' from the river +higher up right into the sluice, so's the water would run continuous. + +"Bein' there was six o' them, the pardners worked three shifts, eight +hours each. One man dug the dirt, wheeled it in a barrow to the head +o' the sluice an' dumped it on a wooden platform. The other shoveled +it into the sluice, stirred it up, an' broke up the lumps when they +got pasty. Eight hours o' that was a day's work, I'm tellin'! Mother, +she cooked an' washed for all six men, aside lookin' after me. Wi' +meals to be got for all three shifts, she was kep' busy. + +"The sluice didn't stop runnin', day nor night, for a month at a +stretch. Then the water in the flume was turned off, the sluice, +riffles an' platform were scraped clean wi' knives, an' all six +pardners panned the scrapin's. That was the clean-up. It was divided +by weight o' dust into seven equal parts, Mother gettin' a man's +share." + +"Didn't they use any mercury at all on the Carson?" queried Owens. + +"After a bit, our gang did. Not until each man had a bag o' dust set +aside, big enough to buy a few weeks' grub, though. They'd all got +badly bit in Californy, an' quicksilver cost a lot o' money in them +days." + +"What's the quicksilver for?" queried Clem. + +"To catch the gold. If you spread it on the riffles it seems to grab a +hold o' 'color' like glue, an', what's more, nothin' but gold'll stick +to it." + +"Why is that?" + +"I don't know," Jim answered, a bit irritably, "it does, that's all." + +Owens interposed. + +"You can't blame Jim for not knowing why, Clem," he said. "So far as +that goes, I don't believe any chemist in the world can tell you +exactly why quicksilver catches gold. It does, though, sure enough. +But I can show you how it does it, in a way. + +"You know that if iron is exposed to damp air, it turns red with rust? +That is due to the chumminess or the affinity of iron with oxygen. You +know if silver is exposed to city air, where the burning of coal in +furnaces and fireplaces sends a sulphurous smoke into the air, it +turns black? That's due to the fact that silver is a natural chum of +sulphur. Chemically speaking, they make compounds easily. + +"It's the same way with mercury, or, as it is generally called, +quicksilver. Gold and quicksilver are chums, and the minute they get +together they join to form a mixture which is called an amalgam. +That's one of the great discoveries of the age. Gold-mining has taken +a big jump forward since that was found out. + +"You can see yourself how that would work. Whether with a pan, a +cradle, or a sluice, the only thing that enables a miner to separate +the gold from the worthless dirt is that the gold is smaller and +heavier. But suppose the gold dust is so fine as to be invisible, it +will be so light as to wash away easily; if it is in fine flakes, the +flakes will almost float. All that light gold would be lost in the +dirt that flows out of the bottom of the sluice, the tailings, as they +are called. + +"In the days that Jim is describing, two-thirds of the gold was lost +that way. Every one, absolutely every single one of the forty-niners +would have made a fortune, if the chemistry of gold had been as far +advanced then as it is to-day. Even now, men are working over with +profit the tailings that the forty-niners threw away. + +"Suppose, now, you make your sluice, cover the bottom of it and the +riffles with copper plates to hold the quicksilver better, and then +cover your copper with quicksilver. What happens when the dirt and +water come flowing down the sluice? The riffles will catch your heavy +gold, just as well as before, and the quicksilver will catch a lot of +the light gold that used to escape. You've got your gold in the +riffles, then, and you've got a mixture of gold and quicksilver which +has formed an amalgam. + +"Now, the mixture has to be made to give back that gold. First of all +it is pressed through canvas or buckskin in order to get rid of the +liquid quicksilver, which will pass through the weave of the first and +the pores of the second, leaving inside only such of it as has firmly +allied itself with the gold to form the amalgam. + +"The next thing to do is to put this amalgam into a retort, out of +which leads a long pipe, and to subject this retort to intense heat. +Quicksilver is vaporized at a comparatively low temperature--for a +metal. It is driven from the amalgam in the form of vapor, much as +water may be driven off in steam. The quicksilver vapor passes along +this long pipe, which leads to several coils placed in a tank of +running cold water. The cold chills the vapor, condensing it into the +liquid state again, and the quicksilver runs out of the end of the +pipe, ready for use once more. The pure gold is left. + +"But, even with the use of quicksilver on the sluice there was still +40 per cent. of the gold that got away. For many years there was no +practical way of recovering this loss, and the chemists of the world +tore their hair in despair. What was needed was to find some other +chum of gold, even more affectionate than mercury. The chemists found +this new friend, at last, in cyanide, which is a salt of prussic acid. +Cyanide, Clem, is an arrant flirt, as I'll show you, in a minute. + +"Nowadays, the tailings, after passing over the long sluice or flume, +and after having dropped the heavy gold in the riffles and given some +of the light gold to the quicksilver, are led to a huge churn. There +the earth and water are pounded together into a sort of slime. A wheel +lifts this slime into a movable chute from which it is poured into a +series of vats or tanks. These tanks contain cyanide, which has +already allied itself with a chum--potassium. + +"But cyanide likes gold even better than it does potassium, and, as +soon as the slime strikes the vat, the cyanide lets go the potassium +and clings to the gold. Cyanide of gold is formed. So far, so good. +But what the miner wants is pure gold. + +"The cyanide is pumped up out of those tanks into another chute, which +pours it into a second lot of tanks, fastened to the side of which are +large bundles of zinc shavings. The cyanide liked the gold better than +the potassium, but it has the bad taste to prefer zinc even to gold. +It releases the gold and flies to the embrace of the zinc. The gold, +suddenly deserted of the friendship of the cyanide, powders down to +the bottom of the tank, in absolutely pure form, ready to be melted +down into bars. By other processes, which I won't bother you by +describing now, the zinc is released from the cyanide, and the cyanide +is led to its old friend the potassium, ready to begin work anew. So, +you see, nothing is wasted. + +"This process, and this only, has made the astounding wealth of South +Africa, for, as I told you, the reefs there are of very low-grade ore, +so low that Jim, here, would have turned up his nose at it. The +modern ability of chemists to get out the tiniest particle of gold +that lies in the most stubborn rock has made the Rand a richer region +than a prospector's wildest dream." + +"If I'd known all that, forty years ago, I'd be a rich man now," said +Jim, regretfully. + +"You'd have been a millionaire, ten times over," Owens agreed, "but, +since it hadn't been found out, you couldn't have known it. But did +you always stick to gold, Jim? That Carson River country has got more +silver in it than it has gold." + +"Don't I know it? 'Ain't it been rubbed into me, good an' hard? Father +wasn't a cussin' man, noways, but he couldn't keep his tongue in order +like a man should, when he got to talkin' about silver. He threw away +any amount o' high-grade silver ore, while huntin' for gold. The +richest silver mine in the whole world, I reckon, was found less'n a +hundred yards from where he'd been pannin'. + +"It was the same ol' story--he didn't know enough! Workin' hard may +bring a man some money, but havin' savvy will bring him a lot more. + +"Right where Father was workin', he was havin' all sorts o' trouble +wi' a heavy black sand that kep' on fillin' up the riffles like it was +gold. He shoveled away cubic yards of it! An' do you know what that +was? That dirty black sand was nigh pure silver, an' Father was +pannin' less'n quarter of a mile away from the richest section in all +Nevada. He was campin' right on the Comstock Lode! I reckon you've +heard o' that, Mr. Owens!" + +"Every mining man has heard of the Comstock," the mine-owner replied. +"Personally, I don't know a great deal about silver, although the +Broken Hill mine, New South Wales, which is nearly as rich as the +great Nevada deposit, is located not far from my home. I went straight +from gold to coal. So I never did hear the real story of the Comstock. +But you ought to know about it, Jim. Was it found by accident, too?" + +"Rank good luck an' rotten bad luck mixed," Jim answered. "Do I know +that story! The first week's pay I ever drew was on the Comstock. An' +I was born, as I told you, near enough to throw a stone right on to +the Comstock outcrop. This was how it begun! + +"There was two prospectors, Patrick McLaughlin an' Peter O'Riley, +Irishmen both, what had been pannin' gold on Gold Cañon, where, I +told you, Father had been. Luck was poor. Grub was hard to get. The +water o' the Carson had a strong taste, an' wasn't none too healthy. +So the two pardners started diggin' a water-hole down in the gulch, +near where they was workin'. What come up out o' the hole was a yellow +sand, all mixed up with bits o' quartz an' a crumblin' black rock, +much the same as the black sand Father'd been worried with. + + +[Illustration: THE MINER'S SLUICE. + +Such a device as this was being worked by Jim's father when the +Comstock Lode was discovered. + +_Courtesy of Netman & Co._] + + +[Illustration: PANNING GOLD ON THE KLONDYKE. + +Typical summer scene on the junction of the Eldorado and Bonanza +Creeks; "color" showing in both pans.] + + +"Now a prospector'll wash any durn dirt he sees, an' O'Riley, while +waitin' for some bacon to fry, chucked some o' the yellow an' black +sand in a pan an' give it a twirl or two. You can reckon he jumped +some when the pan showed color. He yelled to McLaughlin an' the two o' +them got busy. Every pan showed color, not big, but enough. The +cleanin' up wasn't what you'd call rich but it was steady, an' there +was any amount o' pay dirt in sight. The two begin to fill their +buckskin bags wi' dust, right smartly. + +"Then a low-down, dirty, ornery coyote of a man, Henry Comstock by +name, come amblin' along. A shifty critter was Comstock, trapper, +fur-trader, gambler, claim-jumper, mine-salter, sneak-thief, an' +everything else. He see O'Riley an' McLaughlin cleanin' up the cradle +an' guessed they'd struck it rich. Lyin' glibly, like the yaller dog +he was, he told the prospectors he was the owner o' the land, an' made +'em give up their claims. They went on workin', but on small shares. +The hole got deeper, but by-'n-by got hard to work because this seam +o' black rock got wider'n wider as it went down. Riley an' McLaughlin +dodged the rock, the best they knew how, findin' gold enough to pay +for workin' in the loose dirt on either side. + +"One or two other prospectors drifted up that way, though the pickin's +was small. One o' them, wonderin' what the black rock might be, an' +havin' a hunch it might be lead it was so heavy, put a chunk in the +hands of an assayer in Placerville. + +"The expert couldn't believe his eyes, at first, an' thought some one +was playin' a joke on him. His assay showed a value o' $3,000 per ton +in silver an' $800 per ton in gold. He assayed one or two other bits, +wi' the same result. Here was millions, jest beggin' to be picked up! +Folks got wind of it, right away. That was in November, 1859, too late +in the winter to cross the high Sierras into Nevada. + +"The rush started a-hummin', early in 1860. 'Frisco was fair frothin' +at the mouth. It was a long trail, an' the silver-hungry crowd +couldn't wait. Some o' the craziest got away as early as January. They +caught it heavy! + +"From Sacramento up the old emigrant trail to Placerville weren't no +gentle stroll in winter time! From Placerville to the bottom o' +Johnson Pass was a trail for timber wolves, not for humans. Snow lay +thick. Winds, fit to freeze a b'ar, come a-howlin' down the high +Sierras. A few men got through an' froze to death on Mount Davidson, +the silver actooally ticklin' the soles o' their feet. Some got caught +in slow-slides in the Johnson Pass an' their bodies didn't show up +till June. A lot more died o' starvation an' exposure on the way. + +"That didn't keep the rest from comin'. They fair stormed the Pass. In +March there was a thaw, an' the flood o' men broke through. + +"It was a bad crowd. Aside from decent prospectors and miners, there +was a pack o' gamblers, saloon-keepers, 'bad men,' fake speculators, +an' all the rest o' the human buzzards that follow on the heels of a +rush. They remembered the first days o' the forty-niners, an' every +bad egg in Californy wanted to be the first to murder an' to rob. In +three weeks, the silent an' deserted slopes o' Mount Davidson was +peppered wi' tents. Virginia City had been started an' had become a +roarin' town. + +"That wasn't a minin' camp, it was a hell-hole. I've seen tough joints +in my day, but Virginia City beat all. It wasn't jest the miners lost +their heads, but experts, geologists, an' all, went plumb crazy. +'Twasn't much wonder. That black rock was jest one continooal bonanza. +A gold mine was a fool to it. + +"The ore in one of the shafts--the Potosi Chimney, it was called--was +rangin' steadily over a hundred dollars a ton silver, an' that shaft +alone was bringin' up 650 tons a day. Three prospectors tapped the big +lode at another point, near Esmeralda, worked a week an' took six +thousand dollars apiece for their claims. The man who bought first +rights on Esmeralda, sold them before the end or that summer, for a +quarter of a million. An' yet McLaughlin an' O'Riley havin' given up +their claims to Comstock, got nothin' out of it. As for Comstock, he +filed a false claim of ownership which the courts wouldn' give him, +an' he went down an' out. + +"The Gould & Curry mine, one o' the richest, was bought from its +finders for an old horse, a bottle o' lightnin'-rod whisky, three +blankets, an' two thousand dollars in cash. After four millions had +been taken out of it, an Eastern syndicate come along an' bought it +for seven millions o' dollars--an' they made money out of it, at that! +Six years after the openin' o' the Gould & Curry, there was 57 miles +o' tunnels, all in rich ore, an' the owners had to work it like a coal +mine, leavin' great pillars o' silver to prop up the roof! + +"A telegraph line was run through an' that made Virginia City ten +times worse. It weren't a town o' miners, rightly, not like a gold +placer camp. Silver ore needs capital to work it, an' Virginia City +become a town o' loose fish, speculators, crooked brokers, an' +suckers. One man sold the Eureka mine to eight different people at the +same time, an' he'd never even seen the place an' didn't own a claim +in it. He pocketed eighty thousand dollars in eight days an' was +strung up to the limb of a pine-tree the ninth! + +"There was some good work done, though. Durin' 1861 an' 1862 +road-makers was busy, though laborers was gettin' fancy prices. But +the engineers kep' at it, an' afore the winter o' '62, there was a +wide road where two eight-mule coaches could cross each other at full +gallop without slacking the traces. Tolls were high, so high that the +road-makers got all their money back in the first year. Crack coaches +with relays made the trail from Sacramento to Virginia City in twelve +hours, instead of six weeks, like it was first. Hold-ups were frequent +an' plenty, but a 'road agent' didn't last long where every one +carried a gun. + +"Then come the 'year o' nabobs,' that was '63. The Comstock Lode put +out over $26,000,000 in silver bullion alone, half-a-million dollars +o' silver every week in the year. By that time there was forty big +minin' plants operatin' wi' steam machinery. There weren't no place +for a small man any more, unless he wanted to do minin' on days' +wages, an' mighty few o' the early prospectors ever got any o' the +later wealth o' the Comstock. Father, he wouldn't touch silver, nohow, +but he made more'n the miners did by pannin' the dirt the mines were +throwin' away. They were makin' so much money out o' silver that they +wouldn't bother to take out the gold. + +"Then come the first big smash. Half o' the mines sold to the suckers +weren't worth shucks. Wild-cat mines, they called 'em. There was one, +the Little Monte Cristo, which give the promoter half a million +dollars in shares which he sold to folk in New York an' Philadelphy. +An' they never made more'n an 8-foot pit in it an' didn't take out +enough bullion to melt down into a silver spoon! + +"What was worse, the big mines got down to the rock water-level. At +first, they run little tunnels, what they called 'adits' from the side +o' the mountain an' drained that way. That wasn't no good, much. They +soon got below that. The lode got richer the farther down they went +an' some o' the big companies took to pumpin' out the water. Right +away, they started in to lose money. It cost more to pump than the +silver was worth. The boom dropped with a thud. + +"Then Adolph Sutro come along. He was a big man was Sutro, one o' +these here engineers folks talk about. He offered to build a drainage +tunnel from the foot-hills o' the Carson Valley, just above the river +smack into the heart o' the lode, a distance o' four miles, tappin' +all the mines. He figured that, if it weren't done, all the mines'd +get flooded an' all the wealth o' Comstock'd go to smash. + +"Seein' things were going' so bad, the mine-owners balked at first. +After a while, though, the water come in so free that they all agreed +to give him two dollars a ton for all the ore raised from the mines, +providin' his tunnel drained 'em all, an' providin' he fixed it so +that they could get men an' material through the tunnel, instead o' +having to pull it all up the shaft. It took Sutro six years to get the +capital, but he got it. He begun work in '71. Toward the end o' the +job the work was so hot an' tough that he doubled his rate o' wages, +an' in '77, bein' eighteen years old then, I started operatin' a drill +in the tunnel. I was thar on the day that we broke through." + +Few engineering feats in the history of mining are more famous than +the making of the Sutro Tunnel. In one of the publications of the +U. S. Geological Survey, Eliot Lord has told its story of perseverance +and triumph. + +"Sutro's untiring zeal," wrote Lord, "kindled a like spirit in his +co-workers. Changing shifts urged the drills on without ceasing; +skilled timberers followed up the attack on the breast and covered +the heads of the assailants like shield-bearers. + +"The dump at the mouth of the tunnel grew rapidly to the proportions +of an artificial plateau raised above the surrounding valley slope; +yet the speed of the electric currents which exploded the blasts +scarcely kept pace with the impatient anxiety of the tunnel owners to +reach the lode, when the extent of the great Consolidated Virginia +Bonanza was reported; for every ton raised from the lode was a loss to +them of two dollars, as they thought. + +"Urged on by zeal, pride, and natural covetousness, the miners cut +their way indomitably towards the goal, though, at every step gained +the work grew more painful and more dangerous. + +"The temperature at the face of the heading, had risen from 72° +(Fahr.) at the close of the year 1873 to 83° during the two following +years; though in the summer of 1875 two powerful Root blowers were +constantly employed in forcing air into the tunnel. At the close of +the year 1876, the indicated temperature was 90° and, on the 1st of +January, 1878, the men were working in a temperature of 96°. + +"In spite of the air currents from the blowers, the atmosphere before +the end of the year 1876 had become almost unbearably foul as well as +hot. The candles flickered with a dull light and men often staggered +back from their posts, faint and sickened. + +"During the months preceding the junction with the Savage Mine, the +heading was cut with almost passionate eagerness. The miners were then +two miles from the nearest ventilating shaft, and the heat of their +working chamber was fast growing too intense for human endurance. + +"The pipe which applied compressed air to the drills was opened at +several points and the blowers were worked to their utmost capacity. +Still the mercury rose from 98° on the 1st of March 1878 to 109° on +the 22nd of April, and the temperature of the rock face of the heading +increased from 110° to 114°. Four shifts a day were worked instead of +three, and the men could only work during a small portion of their +nominal hours of labor. + +"Even the tough, wiry mules of the car train could hardly be driven up +to the end of the tunnel and sought for fresh air not less ardently +than the men. Curses, blows, and kicks could scarcely force them away +from the blower-tube openings, and, more than once, a rationally +obstinate mule thrust his head in the end of the canvas air-pipe. He +was literally torn away by main strength, as the miners, when other +means failed, tied his tail to the bodies of two other mules in his +train and forced them to haul back their companion, snorting +viciously, and slipping with stiff legs over the wet floor. + +"Neither men nor animals could long endure work so distressing. +Fortunately, the compressed air drills knew neither weariness nor +pain, and churned their way to the mines without ceasing. + +"A blast from the Savage Mine tore an opening through the wall, in the +evening of that day. The goal for which Sutro had striven so many +years was in sight. He was waiting at the breach, impatient of delay, +and crawled, half-naked, through the jagged opening, while the foul +air of the heading was still gushing into the mine." + +Meanwhile, over the heads of the workers of the Sutro tunnel, a not +less marvelous change had come over the Comstock Lode. This was the +discovery of the Great Bonanza. After the slump of 1864 and the +terrible handicap of the water, mine-owners on the Comstock fell +deeper and deeper into despair. Gone were the wild days of riot and +extravagance. Only by extreme care, by the use of every modern +appliance, by the lowering of wages--some thirty pitched battles, with +six-shooters, marked this period--were they able to keep going at all. + +Then, just as two Irishmen had first found the Comstock, two other +Irishmen forged to the front. These were John W. Mackay, who had begun +work as a day-laborer in the mine, and James G. Fair, a young fellow +who had come to Virginia City with only a few hundred dollars' +capital. They made a daring team. Seizing the opportunities of the +dull times, they bought property after property as it was abandoned by +the owners, who declared that the great lode had "pinched out." With a +third Irishman, Wm. O'Brien, and a 'Frisco miner, James C. Flood, they +bought the entire stretch between the two famous mines--the Ophir and +the Gould & Curry--thus forming what became known to history as the +Virginia Consolidated. The four men paid $50,000 for this huge +property; risking their all on the chance that deeper mining might +reach the supposedly "pinched out" vein. + +They sank a shaft, down, down and down,--nothing! They ran a drift to +meet it from one of their purchased mines, and drilled for +weeks--nothing! Then a thin seam of ore appeared, but so small as to +seem insignificant. Fair pursued this vein. A quarter of a million +dollars were eaten up in chasing this elusive line of ore but the vein +would neither disappear nor get wider. Fair's partners tried to insist +on running galleries in various directions to explore--and did so for +one month while he was ill--but Fair returned insistently again to +that thin thread of silver. There was one place where it was only two +inches thick. And then, in October 1873, the miners cut suddenly into +the Big Bonanza. + +"No discovery," wrote Lord, "to match this one had ever been made on +this earth from the time when the first miner struck a ledge with his +rude pick. The plain facts are as marvelous as a Persian tale, for the +young Aladdin did not see in the glittering cave of the genii such +fabulous riches as were lying in the dark womb of the rock. + +"The wonder grew as the depths were searched out foot by foot. The +Bonanza was cut at a point 1167 feet below the surface, and, as the +shaft went down, it was pierced again at the 1200-foot level. One +hundred feet deeper and the prying pick and drill told the same story, +yet another hundred feet, and the mass appeared to be swelling. When, +finally, the 1500-foot level was reached and ore richer than any +before met with was disclosed, the fancy of the coolest brains ran +wild. How far this great Bonanza would extend, none could predict, but +its expansion seemed to keep pace with the most sanguine imaginings. +To explore it thoroughly was to cut it out bodily; systematic search +through it was a continual revelation." + +The wealth revealed was beyond believing. This Bonanza, alone, yielded +$3,000,000 of silver every month for the first three years. + +Yet it was hard to win. Mackay believed in high wages and paid more +than double the wages given to any miners in any place in the history +of the world. All were picked men, who had passed a severe medical +test. The hours were short. The men worked naked save for a loin-cloth +and shoes to protect them from the hot rocks. The heat reached 110°. +Three men, who stepped accidentally into a deep pool of water, were +scalded to death. The air was foul. The toil was severe. + +Yet ever, the deeper they went, the richer grew the ore. When, at +last, Mackay, Fair, O'Brien, and Flood sold their holdings, the +Bonanza had yielded more than $150,000,000 worth of silver, one-third +of which had passed directly into the pockets of the four men. + +But what of the first discoverers, McLaughlin and Riley? They had +found the silver, but the Bonanza was not for them. McLaughlin worked +for a while as a laborer and then was thrown out of the mine by a +foreman who said he was too old. He tried a dozen small ventures and +not only lost in everything he touched, but caused his partners to +lose, also. Bad fortune dogged him steadily. An old man, worn out and +hopelessly dispirited, died in a hospital and was buried in a pauper's +grave. Later, it was learned that this was McLaughlin. + +O'Riley fared no better. He refused to work for others, believing that +luck would turn, and that he, who had once discovered so rich a prize, +would, some day or other, discover another. One night, in a dream, he +heard what he took to be the voices of the fairies of the mountain +bidding him dig at a certain barren spot on the hill-slopes of the +Sierras, many miles away from the Comstock Lode. + +For days, for weeks, for years, he dug, ever hearing the fancied +voices leading him on, deeper and deeper still. Mackay offered him +money, but O'Riley refused to accept it, demanding that he be given an +equal share in the mine, or nothing. He starved and suffered, +sometimes finding pieces of pure silver and pure gold in his tunnel, +which he ascribed to his fairies (but which rumor says Mackay had +arranged to be placed there) and, in old age, his tunnel fell in and +crippled him. From the hospital he was taken to an insane asylum, +where he died. + +Henry Comstock met the fate he deserved. For years he swaggered about +Virginia City claiming to be its founder and the discoverer of the +Comstock Lode, living on the charity of luckier men who threw him a +bar of silver as one throws a bone to a dog, or else selling wild-cat +shares to greenhorns. More than once he was justly accused of being in +league with the disorderly elements of the city and having taken part +in robberies. But a certain rough sense of pity kept him from being +strung up to a tree as he deserved a dozen times over--and he died, at +last, a suicide. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHERE TREASURE HIDES + + +"You won't be achin', none, to hear all o' my roamin's after I quit +the Sutro Tunnel," Jim resumed, a couple of days later, when Owens and +Clem came to hear the rest of his story, "so I'll cut 'em short. But +you'll be wantin' to hear how it was I got into that queer part o' the +country where I made my strike. + +"It was Father's doin's more'n it was mine. I reckon I'd ha' stuck +around the Comstock Lode an' got into reg'lar silver-quartz minin' if +I'd gone my own way. But Father didn't have no use for silver. He was +a gold prospector, he was, an' he didn't want to do nothin' else. + +"After the Comstock got goin' good, with big stamp-mills poundin' an' +roarin' night an' day, an' when Virginia City begun to settle into a +sure-enough town, Father begun to itch to be away. Folks worried him. +Gold, he used to say, had savvy enough to hide itself when a mob come +around, an', accordin' to Father's ideas, a placer wasn't no good, +anyhow, after two seasons' pickin's. + +"He jest wanted to come along an' skim off the cream o' some new find, +clean up enough dust to keep him goin' for a while, an' then pick up +his stakes an' git! It wasn't jest the money Father was after. He +liked huntin' after gold, jest for the sake o' huntin'. I've seen him +quit a claim that was makin' a fair profit an' start off prospectin', +for the sake o' the change. The wilder the spot, the more chance there +was o' findin' gold, he used to say; the fewer the folks, the bigger +the clean-up. Looked like he was right, too, placer fields peter out +mighty fast when a gang gets there." + +"They are bound to," Owens agreed. + +"But why? There ain't no rule about gold. One placer'll give up +millions in dust, an' another ain't worth pannin'." + +"There's no rule that will tell you where to find placer gold," the +mine-owner corrected, "but don't run away with the idea that gold +deposits are all freaks. As a matter of fact, there is a regular +science to help a good prospector in hunting for reef or quartz gold. +Whether he will find it in sufficient quantity to make the deposit +worth working is quite another matter. + +"You mustn't think, Jim, that gold happens to be in one place and +happens not to be in another as a result of mere chance. There's no +chance in Nature. We think there is, sometimes, merely because the +factors are so terribly complicated that we can't follow them all. + +"What makes the finding of gold seem so much a matter of luck is not +because we don't know how the gold came to be where it is, but because +we can't know the whole history of the Earth before Man came, and we +can't read everything from the rocks which crop out on the surface. +But we have some clues, and if you studied out the big money-making +gold-mines of to-day, you would find that chance has played but a +small part in their discovery and no part at all in their working. + +"A lucky prospector may have been the first to find signs of gold in +the region, but most likely, he got but little out of it. It was the +scientific search which followed that revealed the location of the +great rock deposits below in which the gold was thinly scattered, and +it was highly specialized mining engineering which made them possible +to work. There are mines where ores containing only two dollars' +worth of gold (48 grains, a tenth of an ounce) to the ton are +successfully handled, and the greater part of the big gold-mines run +along quite comfortably on five dollars' worth." + +"You mean on a quarter of an ounce o' gold to the ton!" exclaimed Jim, +amazed. "I've often got ten times that much in one pan!" + +"Exactly. Yet you're not a millionaire, are you? Most gold-mines run +on a narrow margin of profit, a dollar or two to the ton of ore +crushed. So, you see, the works must be on a huge scale in order to +return a dividend on the investment. What's more, you can't afford to +establish a big plant unless there's an enormous amount of ore +available. + +"It's an old rule of wise investors not to put money into a mine that +looks too rich. Why? + +"Because rich ore generally peters out fast. The rich mines always +catch the suckers easily, and they're the ones who lose. A few cents a +ton profit on an immense deposit of low-grade ore means a sure return, +because, as a rule, such ore comes from a very old geological +formation where the gold is evenly scattered, and labor-saving +machinery can be put in with a certainty that those few cents of +profit will continue indefinitely. + +"Gold, as you know, Jim, is always the same price. This has been +agreed upon by all nations. It is the one standard of value. It is +worth a fraction over $20 an ounce. Year in, year out, all over the +world, gold is worth the same. + +"As a result, a gold-mine manager who knows the exact proportion of +gold per ton in the ore of his mine, can calculate to a cent how much +he can afford to pay for mining the ore, crushing it, and separating +the gold by chemical processes. He must figure on the cost of +installing his machinery, on his interest for original outlay, on +depreciation, on the cost of power for his machinery, on the water +power needed for crushing and washing, on transportation for his +supplies and on wages. Usually he will have to build his own railroad +and his own aqueducts. A little saving in one place--even a few cents +per ton--will enable him to make a big profit; a little extra cost, +such as an increase in the price of fuel, of chemicals, or of wages, +will make him bankrupt. + + +[Illustration: WHERE DESERTS YIELD MILLIONS. + +Mill of the Pittsburg-Silver Peak Gold Mining Co., Blair, Nevada.] + + +[Illustration: THE EATER OF MOUNTAINS. + +A hydraulic jet of high pressure, washing away a hill of gravel and +sending the pay dirt through a sluice. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._] + + +"That is why, Jim, even the richest-ored mine in the world--if it be +uneven in its yield of gold per ton--may be worthless, and why a +low-grade mine with an unchanging percentage may be worth millions, so +long as there is plenty of it. It all depends on the cost of +extracting the metal. There are scores, yes, hundreds of gold-deposits +well known to-day, which cannot be worked as long as gold stays $20 an +ounce, because it costs almost as much as that to get it out, but +which would be big money-makers if the gold were worth $25. +Three-quarters of the gold-mines of to-day would shut tight like a +clam, if gold were to drop in price even a dollar or two. What a +capitalist wants to-day is ore, and he is not interested in free gold. +What a prospector looks for, is free gold, and he ignores the rock. +I'm telling you all this, now, Jim, because it's what will be the +important thing when we get to talking, later, over your find." + +"That's all right," the old prospector answered, "but how can a man +tell when he's tappin' a big lot o' rock or jest a little, if it ain't +the free gold what shows him?" + +"He can't tell, as a rule," the mine-owner rejoined. "It takes a +geologist to do that. As I was saying, there are some rules to go by. +Here, I'll give you a notion of how gold came to be in the rocks, and +then you'll see what a geologist can tell and what he can't. + +"To start with, you've got to begin 'way at the beginning of things, +before the crust of the earth was solid and when all the rocks of the +crust were in a melted and half-liquid state. So far as we can make +out, the metals seems to have classified themselves at that time, more +or less, according to density. The lighter elements came to the +surface, the heavier ones stayed at the bottom. It wasn't merely a +question of weight, but of gravitation, centrifugal action and a lot +of things I won't stop to explain to you now. Gold, as you know, is +heavy, that is, it possesses extreme density. It stayed therefore, +mainly at the bottom of this semi-molten sea. + +"But this sea, which covered the whole of the earth's surface, wasn't +altogether liquid, as the oceans are to-day. It was a seething mass of +different densities, some of it liquid, some of it slimy, some of it +thick like sticky mud, acted upon by fearful whirlwinds of electric +forces such as astronomers see in the sun to-day, and by powerful +internal currents which created vast churning whirlpools of +super-heated matter. + +"It's impossible for us to tell where these electric whirlwinds passed +or where these currents were. So, since the original separation of the +metals was highly irregular, no geologist can say with certainty where +gold or silver, lead or tin, will be found in the greatest quantity. + +"Then there's another complication. As you know, most of the metals +have chums or affinities with other substances, just as gold has with +mercury. These chums of the metals were also in that molten ocean, but +not always in the same proportions, nor yet distributed regularly. So +metallic compounds were formed at different times and in diverse +places. These compounds had varying densities, with the result that in +later ages they behaved in a way quite different from the pure metal. +You see, Jim, long before the crust of the earth was even formed, gold +was scattered far and wide, and already was in different forms. + +"Then, little by little, the crust began to form as the earth cooled. +It was just a scum, at first, and was constantly broken up from below. +As it got thicker, it resisted more and more, until the upheavals of +the crust formed the mountains of the earliest or Primary Age. This +crust, which was now solid rock, contained gold, but, naturally, +nowhere in the same proportions. Some had much metal inclusion; some, +little; some, none at all. Besides, between the mountains or in them, +were vast volcanic craters, pouring up molten matter which became what +are known as the eruptive rocks, and these, too, carried up gold from +below. These rocks crystallized and the gold remained in them. + +"But even that wasn't complicated enough for Mother Nature. In those +same eruptive rocks, both of the early and later periods, gold is +mainly found in veins. These veins are of dozens of different sorts, +depending on the rock in which they occur and on Nature's ways of +putting them there. + +"To make it simple to you, I'll only mention two. The most general +method was by fumaroles. These are subterranean blow-holes of vapor +containing sulphur, tellurium, and chlorine compounds, as well as +super-heated steam. These vapors, projected from deep down in the +earth with incredible pressure and energy, acted on the new-made +rocks, formed compounds with the metals, or, when united with hydrogen +in the steam, separated the metals from solutions of their salts, and +forced the metals into cracks in the new-made and cooling eruptive +rocks. According to the kind of rock and the nature of the chemical +agent, a geologist will know for what type of vein to search. The +other most general agent of vein-making was hot water--generally +heavily saturated with sulphur and other chemicals--which dissolved +the gold. This hot water, with gold in solution, seeped into the +cracks and crevices made by the rock as it cooled, thus forming other +types of veins." + +"Hold on a minute, there!" protested Jim. "Water won't dissolve gold." + +"It will and does," was the retort, "especially when certain chemicals +are in the water. As a matter of fact, even to-day, the geysers at +Steamboat Springs, California, and at several places in New Zealand, +deposit gold and silicon in their basins. But let me go on. + +"After the gold was placed in veins in these primary rocks, there came +a period of erosion, and the mountains were worn away. The gold being +harder than rock, it remained and made alluvial deposits of a very +early age. Some, of these old 'placers' are several miles below the +surface, now, others have come again to the surface by all the +superposed rock having been washed away, anew. Some of the gold was +dissolved, as before, and got into the crevices of the newly deposited +rocks made by erosion, known as sedimentary rocks. So, you see, Jim, +even millions of years ago, there was gold in the crystallized +eruptive rock, gold in veins of igneous rock, gold in alluvial +deposits, and, again, gold in veins in the sedimentary rocks. + +"Then came another period of elevation, with a second raising up of +mountain ranges, and with a renewal of violent volcanic action. The +crust was getting more and more unequal, the way in which the metals +were distributed became more and more scattered. Mountains of the +Secondary Age were often made of Primary sedimentary rocks, or of +Primary igneous rocks, so much changed that geologists call them +metamorphic rocks. And, Jim, every time that the rock was changed, the +gold changed either its place or its compound character, or both. Then +came another period of erosion, lasting millions of years, the gold +was washed away to form new placers, or made its way into veins in the +Secondary sedimentary rocks. + +"Then came the great upheaval of the Third or Tertiary Age, in which +new mountains rose, new volcanic vents were opened, and, once more, +much of the gold was acted upon by chemicals, mainly sulphur and +tellurium. In many places silver showed a strong affinity with gold, +forming deposits where the ores were commingled. Once more the +hundreds of centuries of erosion came, to be followed by the upheaving +of the newer mountains of the Fourth or Quaternary Age. So, you see, +Jim, as I told you before, gold can be found in almost every rock and +of every geological period." + +"I don't see that it helps much, then!" declared the old prospector. +"You can go lookin' where you durn please." + +"There's nothing to stop you," agreed Owens cheerfully, "but that's a +hit-and-miss method. And I can show you just how even this little bit +of geology comes in to help the miner. + +"Get this clearly in your head, Jim! Three-quarters of the present +gold production of the world comes from gold that is mixed with +pyrites--which is a sulphide of iron, or from tellurides--in which a +tellurium-hydrogen compound has been the chemical agent. A prospector, +therefore, who uncovers a new field where the gold is in the pyritous +or the telluride form has ten times more chance of attracting capital +than one who finds lumps of native gold lying around loose. + +"It is when a prospector strikes a section where all the gold-bearing +rock has been eroded that he is apt to find the 'pockets' so dear to +his heart. The amazing riches of the Klondyke lay in the fact that +prospectors found, first, the alluvial deposits from the present age +in the sands of the running creeks, and, on ledges high above the +creeks and running into the rocks on either side, the alluvial +deposits, even thicker and richer, of a bygone time." + +"You've got it right," declared Jim, emphatically. "I know 'cos I was +there!" + +"Was it on the Yukon, then, that you made your famous strike?" + +The prospector winced. Evidently, he intended to reach that point in +his own way. + +"I'll tell you about that, after a bit," he answered evasively. "But +you ain't said why placer claims peter out." + +"Can't you see? A placer claim doesn't show where the big store of +gold is, but where it isn't! It shows that the gold has gone. A placer +is just a spot where a little heavy gold, that hasn't been acted on +by chemicals, happens to have been deposited during the erosion of a +mountain which was composed of gold-bearing rock. The rock has been +washed into sand and gravel and a great deal of it taken out to sea. +There's plenty of gold in the sea, as I told you before. + +"But the amount of sand or gravel to be panned along a creek or river +is limited. When that's washed over, there's no more to find. A +prospector gets down to bed-rock and he's through. Then he's either +got to pack up and hunt some new spot where the same erosion has +happened, or, if he's clever enough, he's got to find the rock or reef +from which the gold was washed out. If he doesn't know his geology, +he's apt to waste his time. + +"Then the scientific expert and the capitalist come in. It's the man +with money who profits most by a poor man's strike. He can afford to +sit back and wait. Presently the expert will come back and report +where the gold-bearing rock lies. The capitalist arrives with huge +machinery for mining and crushing the rock, for turning on enormous +water-power, in short, for performing a sort of artificial erosion in +a few days which Nature took hundreds of thousands of years to do. He +pockets millions, where the prospectors who did the first work only +get thousands, or even hundreds, or, sometimes, nothing at all. + +"Your father was perfectly right, Jim, in saying that the prizes of +prospecting are for the man who gets there first. Placers are bound to +peter out quickly. They are Nature's purses, and a purse hasn't any +more money in it than you put in. Even the Klondyke, that astounding +pocket of riches, lasted only three years and then dwindled down. + +"Some of these days, all the available places of the earth will have +been worked over by the casual prospector, and then his day will be +done. The ever-hoping rover of the pick, shovel, and pan is becoming +extinct. Even now, the only spots which hold out any chance of pockets +of gold are in the almost inaccessible section of the globe. + +"The daring seeker for gold must go to the bleak ranges of the frigid +North, where, even in the middle of the summer, the ground is frozen +as hard as a rock a few inches below the surface; or else to the +jungle-clad slopes of the tropics, where fever and stewing heat menace +him with ever-present death; or yet to regions so far removed from +civilization that the white man has not yet penetrated there. The +shores of the Arctic Ocean, the steaming equatorial forests of the +Eastern Andes, or the untrodden valleys of the inner Himalayas offer +the most hopes to the prospector. But he may spend all the gold-dust +he finds, and more, to go there and return. + +"The tundras of Alaska and eastward to Hudson Bay still contain placer +gold, to a surety, gold not difficult to find if a man is willing to +face an Arctic winter and a mosquito-haunted summer to work there. +It's a wonder to me, Jim, that your father didn't join the great rush +to the Fraser River, in British Columbia, in 1856. That was a mad and +sorrowful stampede, if ever there was one!" + +"He was crazy about the Fraser," Jim answered. "All that kep' him from +goin' was the smash-up o' the Kern River rush, which lef' him +dead-broke an' nigh starvin', like I told you. But he never forgot the +Fraser. That's what took us up north, to wind up with. + +"It was in '79, when I was twenty years old, that Father comes into +the cabin, an' says, point blank, + +"'We're a-goin' to the Kootenay.' + +"'Where's that?' I asks. + +"'Somewheres up near the Fraser River. There's gold there, so they're +sayin', like there was on the Sacramento in '49. An' thar ain't no +one, hardly, thar! Fust one in gits it all.' + +"I tried to reason with him. So did Mother, but it weren't no manner +o' use. A week later, we was gone." + +"I shouldn't have thought he'd have found much on the Kootenay," said +Owens reflectively, "it's all vein mining there. That needs heavy +crushing machinery." + +"Not all," Jim corrected. "There's some glacial gravel there an' we +washed out enough to pay our way. But Father wanted something bigger. + +"We struck out from West Kootenay an' hit the trail for Six Mile +Creek, near Kicking Horse Pass, in Upper East Kootenay. We stayed +there a while, but some one, who had a grudge agin the Mormons, pulled +his gun on Father. A 'forty-niner' ain't apt to be lazy on the shoot, +an' Father's gun spit first. We didn't wait for the funeral, but moved +on, an' lively, at that, strikin' for the Fraser." + +"Good thing for you the N. W. M. P. (North West Mounted Police), +didn't strike your trail!" commented Owens. + +"It was a straight-enough deal," protested Jim, "an' the N. W.'s ha' +got plenty o' sense. But that wasn't no reason for hangin' around, +lookin' for trouble. We thought the Fraser'd be healthier. As it +turned out, it wasn't. + +"The Fraser boom was dead. The shacks in the ol' minin' camps was +rottin' to ruin. The machinery--what little there was of it--was lyin' +there, rustin'. The sluices had all fallen to bits, except on Hop +Rabbit Creek. A couple o' hundred men was there still, workin' over +the tailin's, but they was all Chinamen. Up the creek a ways some o' +them was pannin'. + +"Second day we was there, a big Chink comes up to me, an' says, very +quiet like, + +"'You plenty sabbee? Run away quick!' + +"It didn't look that way to me, for I don't take to orderin'. I was +good an' ready to drop that Chink in his tracks, but I did a little +thinkin' first. Two hundred agin two is big odds. I nodded, an' the +big Chink turns away. + +"I didn't say nothin' about the warnin' to Father, for he was that +stubborn he'd ha' waded right in an' tried to clean up the whole +camp. He wouldn't ha' had the chance of a rat in a trap. He'd ha' got +himself carved up in little slices an' that was about all. So I jest +told him that one o' the Chinks had reported there was a new strike on +the Cassiar. Father took the bait like a hungry trout an' we was off +in an hour." + +"But I always thought Chinamen were such a peaceful lot!" exclaimed +Clem. + +"If a Chink comes into a white camp, he's willin' to sing small an' do +what he's told. But in a boom camp that white folks have given up an' +quit, if Johnny Chink comes in, he won't let nary a white come back. I +know! One o' my pardners was in the massacre o' Happy Man Gulch in +'87. That's a yarn worth hearin'! I'll tell it you, some time. + +"Out we trailed to the Cassiar, an', funny enough, though I'd only +been bluffin' to Father about the strike there, we landed on the pay +gravel the very day after French Pete had struck a pocket. He was a +good prospector, was French Pete, an' knew more'n most, but he was +timid like, an' glad to have us there. He could handle Indians--he was +a half-breed himself--but he was that superstitious, he was afraid o' +the dark, alone. He was religious, too, an' Father an' him got along +together famous. We staked out a claim, right next to his, an', for a +few weeks, cleaned up a good fifty dollars a day. + +"Then, one fine mornin', a bunch o' redskins come down, friends o' +French Pete. They palavered some, an', after a while, French Pete he +comes over to us an' says: + +"'We got three days to get out!' + +"Father he put up an awful howl an' was for plugging the redskins full +o' holes, pronto. But French Pete puts it to him that these Injuns was +his friends, an' shootin' wouldn't go. There'd been some kind o' deal +between this tribe an' the Chilkoots, an' every miner on the Divide +knew more'n plenty about the Chilkoots. They'd tortured to death +Georgie Holt, the first prospector that ever went over the Chilkoot +Pass, an' more'n one miner that got into their country wasn't never +heard of no more. + +"So Father puts it up to French Pete where he's goin' next. French +Pete is a good pardner, an' tells a queer tale, but he tells it +straight. He allows there's gold on the islands off the coast an' +shows the lay. + +"Some years afore, so he says, Joe Juneau, an old-time Hudson Bay +trapper, an' Dick Harris, one o' the forty-niners, had found color on +Gold Creek, near the coast, an' had made a pile. Juneau went on +prospectin', though he was rich, an', havin' a generous streak, +grub-staked any man what asked him. That way he got a big share in the +placers found on Silver Bow and doubled his pile. Some other +prospectors what he'd grub-staked reported havin' found gold on the +islands, but nothin' extraordinary. Harris, havin' a business head, +stuck around Gold Creek (the present town of Juneau was formerly +called Harrisburg) an' got rich a-plenty. Juneau an' Harris had more'n +enough to look after, an' never got over to the islands. + +"French Pete, he's an old friend of Juneau an' he knows about this +island game. He reckons it'd be worth pannin'. There's sure-enough +gold up thar to pay for the workin', an' there might be a chance for a +big haul, seein' no one is prospectin' thar. He offers to show Father +where the placers are supposed to be, if he's willin' to come along. +Father likes to stick by his pardner an' agrees. + +"From Cassiar we hoofed it back to Juneau--a long an' a hard +trail--an', after buyin' a small sailboat an' grub enough for three +months, we struck out for Douglas Island. French Pete handled that +boat like a cowboy does a buckin' bronc. We was green wi' scare in +that wild sea, full o' chunks o' ice clashin' all around, but the old +trapper never turns a hair. Presently we landed on a beach which +looked like it was a seal rookery, once, an' works our way to where a +good-sized creek comes plungin' down to the sea. + +"Juneau had it right. The sands along the creek were full o' color, +but the dust was small an' it was slow pannin'. It was all we could do +to make fourteen dollars a day in dust, workin' fourteen hours a day, +maybe; poor pickin's for a spot costin' so much cash an' trouble to +get to. + +"French Pete, though, had plenty o' savvy. From the lie o' the rock, +he reckoned this thin placer gold must ha' been washed out o' the +little mountain what sticks up in one corner o' the island. He let his +placer claim go for a while and prospected for ore. At last he found +what he thought looked like the best spot. The ore was poor in color, +but so soft an' rotten that it could be smashed into dust with a +hammer, an' the gold--what little there was of it--separated out easy. + +"We all staked out half-a-dozen claims, doin' enough work on each to +hold title. Since French Pete had brought us to the island, an' shown +the rock besides, Father an' I promised to give him a quarter o' +whatever we got for our claims, if we ever sold 'em. + +"Off went French Pete in the sail-boat, leavin' us marooned on Douglas +Island, an' in a pickle of a mess supposin' he shouldn't return! But +he come back, sure enough, after about six weeks, havin' found John +Treadwell, a minin' man, who undertakes to buy our claims if Juneau, +after havin' looked 'em over, says they're all right. + +"Juneau an' Treadwell come, a couple o' days after, wi' one o' these +up-to-date engineer Johnnies. The ore's low-grade, but there's head +enough in the creek to run stamp mills by water-power, which makes +cheap crushin'. Treadwell pays French Pete $15,000 for his claims an' +Father an' me $10,000 apiece. Then he buys up the rest o' the island +for next to nothin'. The Treadwell mine's a big un, now, workin' 540 +stamp mills, an', as Mr. Owens says, it's makin' millions out o' low +grade ore. + +"Father had promised Mother, as soon as he got $10,000 clear, he'd go +back home. She holds him to it. After payin' French Pete what we +promised, there's $10,000 for Father an' $5,000 for me, besides what +was left from the Cassiar an' Douglas Island placer clean-ups. Father +an' Mother went back to Utah, leavin' me wi' French Pete an' +Treadwell. + +"But Father couldn't stand it long. While he was prospectin', all +hours, all weathers, he was tough an' strong. Back in town, he begun +to pine. In less'n a year he was dead. Mother didn't live long after +him. That lef' me on my own hook. Douglas Island was too slow, though +Treadwell offered me a good job as long's I cared to stick it out. But +I wanted to be off an' away, feelin' sure, some day, I'd make my big +strike. + +"I was foot-loose, now, wi' five thousand in dust an' the whole world +to roam in. Where was I goin' to find the place where the sands was +nothin' but gold? Somewheres, I was sure! Some day I'd strike it rich +an' never have to work no more. Out in the wild beyond, where no one +else was, millions was waitin' for me!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ROARING NORTH + + +"I was young an' tough in them days an' liked to buck agin hard goin'. +If gold was gettin' scarce where folks was, it was plenty an' free in +the lands that folks didn't dare go to. Naturally enough, I begun to +think o' the Chilkoot country. + +"Ever since Georgie Holt had been tortured to death in a Chilkoot +Indian camp, prospectors had been leery o' that huntin' ground. But +French Pete had heard from a pard o' Juneau's that Dumb MacMillan had +got over the Chilkoot an' struck it rich on what he called Dumb Creek, +runnin' into the Tanana. He'd come back an' cashed his dust, blowed it +in on one wild spree, an' gone over the Pass again. He hadn't never +been heard of no more. + +"Since his second trip, though, the Canadian Government had got a +strangle-hold on the Chilkoots an' was makin' 'em behave. It had +forced 'em to make peace wi' the Stick Indians o' the interior, an' +thrown the fear o' the whites into 'em good an' plenty. So I wasn't +worryin' over Injuns none. The Chilkoot Pass, though, was said to be +something awful to cross, but that wasn't goin' to stop me, when I +knew there was good goin' on the other side an' all the creeks full o' +gold. + +"So I quit Treadwell an' French Pete an' got back to Juneau. There, I +heard that a bunch o' prospectors led by the Schiefflin Brothers had +taken a steamboat, got as far as St. Michael, gone up the Yukon, +wintered at Nuklukayet an' found gold all the way. They'd struck good +placers on Mynook, Hess an' Shevlin Creeks, but the Schiefflins found +the ground always frozen an' terrible hard to work, an' the summer was +so short they figured pannin' on the Yukon wouldn't pay. + +"Think o' that, will you! The Klondyke an' the Eldorado wouldn't pay! + +"That same summer, we heard that there was new gold strikes on the +Lewes an' Big Salmon Rivers, which run into the Upper Yukon. Dumb +MacMillan had found payin' color on the Tanana, flowin' into the +Middle Yukon. The Schiefflins had located plenty o' placers on the +Lower Yukon. + +"It didn't take much figurin' to guess that there was gold all the +way along. I made up my mind to strike over the Chilkoot into the +Stewart River section, jest about unknown then; preparin', durin' the +winter, for an early start. + +"Early in the spring o' '84, eight of us was ready. We had a +sure-enough outfit an' plenty o' grub. We was well fixed for +shootin'-irons, too, for we was goin' up into hostile Injun country. + +"Joe Juneau, who knew a lot about the mountains, tried to head us off, +tellin' what happened to Holt an' MacMillan, but we was sot on goin', +an' struck out for Dyea along the canal trail. There we headed for the +interior. + +"I've seen some rough goin' in my time, an' I come of a stock o' tough +uns, but, I'm tellin' you, that first trip over the Chilkoot Pass was +more'n horrible. I dream about it, yet--an' it's over thirty years +ago! + +"From Dyea to Sheep Camp was bad enough goin', half-frozen muskeg +(mucky swamp), lyin' under soft snow an' all covered with a tangle o' +thorn-vines climbin' over spraggly berry-bushes. There warn't no +trail. It was cut your way, an' drag! We didn't have no dogs, but +lugged the sleighs ourselves. It's only nine miles as the crow flies, +but it took us four days to make it, with our loads. + +"An' then the Chilkoot Pass stuck up in front of us, all black rock +an' white snow, reachin' to the sky, an' clouds hidin' the top. It +seemed like it was a-defyin' of us, well-nigh impossible. + +"We'd ha' gone back, sure, but we knew two men had climbed it a'ready, +Georgie Holt in '72, and Dumb MacMillan, in '80. What they'd done, we +reckoned we could do. + +"Sheer rock, she was, all slick an' icy, to begin with; above that, +stretches o' snow-fields on so steep a slope that a false step meant a +snow-slide an' good-bye! crevasses in the snow goin' down below all +knowin', an' mostly covered over wi' light snow so's you couldn't see +'em; an', near the top, a pile o' loose an' shaky rocks built up like +a wall, straight as the side of a house, an', in some spots, leanin' +over. That was the Chilkoot Pass! + +"The cold was cruel; a steady wind, nigh to a blizzard, sucked through +the Pass continooal, tearin' a man from his footin.' There was no +shelter, an' high up, no fire-wood. + +"There was no trail, neither! We had to go it, blind. An', up that +rock, over them snow-fields, across them crevasses, an', fly-like, +crawling up that wall o' bowlders, we had to drag our dunnage! The +sleighs had to be pulled up, empty. Our sacks o' flour had to be toted +on our backs! An' our bacon an' groceries, enough to last us months! +An' our tools an' cradles! I made five trips to get my stuff +across--an it took me five weeks. Between whiles, I rested, if lyin' +exhausted means rest! + +"There was eight of us that started. There was only three when the +stuff was on the summit o' the pass! Two had been crushed by fallin' +rocks. The other three had all disappeared sudden in a crevasse, what +they thought was solid snow givin' down under 'em. Only Red Bill, Bull +Evans an' me was left. + +"Mind, there was no trail an' no guide! Holt had been over years +before, but the Indians killed him. Dumb MacMillan went over it twice, +an' never was heard of no more. Me an' my pardners was the third, an', +as I was sayin', o' the eight that started, only three got to the +top." + +"Yet how many thousands climbed that Pass after gold had been struck +on the Klondyke?" queried Owens. + + +[Illustration: THE TOP OF THE CHILKOOT PASS. + +The neck to the Klondyke as it appeared in April, 1898, during the +height of the stampede. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._ + +_Copyright, 1898, by S. A. Hegg._] + + +[Illustration: PASS IN THE SIERRA NEVADAS OF CALIFORNIA.] + + +"Thirty thousand an' more, so folks said. Two thousand o' them, +though, died in tryin'. An' they had Injun an' half-breed porters to +tote their dunnage, too! The trail was marked for them. In the last +years o' the big rush, there was an aerial tramway to take up the +stuff. It wasn't like that in my day. We tackled it on our own. + +"When we reached the top, the trouble wasn't over neither. 'Tother +side was rough an' dangerous, all loose rock an' mighty little snow. +We loaded the sleighs an' let 'em down by jerks, all three men hangin' +on to the drag-ropes. But we made the bottom, safe, an' started off +again. No trail, no map, no nothin'! We jest pushed on, blind, three +white men in a country o' hostile Injuns huntin' for a river which we +didn't even know where it was. + +"Followin' a small creek an' pannin' now an' agin--though not findin' +any color--we came at last to Crater Lake an' then on to Lindeman, an' +final, to Lake Bennett. Here, we'd heard before leavin', the Yukon +River begun, an' we started to go round the lake, so's to strike the +bank o' the river. + +"It couldn't be done. Muskeg an' thick forest run clear down to the +shore o' the lake, an' a b'ar couldn't ha' pushed his way through. +Small creeks shot out every which way. Sleighs were worse'n useless. + +"There warn't nothin' to be done but build a boat, an' nary one o' the +three of us knew the fust durn thing about boat-buildin'. But we put +together a kind of a log-raft, that floated, anyway, put the dunnage +aboard it, an' drifted down the lake. This was easy goin', for a +while. + +"All of a sudden, a swift current took us, the lake narrowed into a +river, an', afore we had a chance to pole our heavy an' clumsy raft to +the bank, we was shootin' wi' sickenin' speed down white water. It was +Grand Canyon Rapids, a mile long! Half-way through, the raft struck a +rock an' went to bits, the logs bustin' free. I grabbed one an' went +spinnin' down the rapids. I must ha' hit my head on a snag, for I +don't remember no more till I woke up to find myself on the bank, an' +Bull Evans leanin' over me. + +"'What's the worst, Bull?' I asks, as soon as I realizes. + +"'Red Bill's gone,' he says, 'an' so's most o' the grub. The dunnage +is scattered anywheres along a mile or two. We hoofs it from here. No +more rafts in mine!' + +"An' a good thing we did hoof it, too. If we'd got through the Grand +Canyon Rapids an' struck, unknowin', the White Horse Rapids--what they +afterwards called the 'Miners' Grave'--nary a one o' the three of us +would ha' come out alive. + +"As it was, bein' afoot, we broke away from what afterwards was the +Klondyke Trail, an', instead of striking across Lake Labarge, kep' +between it an' Lake Kluane, strikin' some creeks leadin' into the +White River. There, at last, after three months on the trail, we +panned an' found color. We trailed on, pannin' as we went, cleanin' up +pretty fair, an' final, struck some placers on the Stewart River. The +Injuns was peaceful an' we could get grub from a half-breed tradin' +store near old Fort Selkirk. We wintered there." + +"That was in '85?" Owens queried. + +"Winter o' '85 an' spring o' '86." + +"Then you must have been right on hand for the great strike on +Forty-Mile?" + +"We sure was." + +"But, man, you should have made a fortune, there!" + +"I did!" came Jim's laconic answer. + +"Well?" + +"I made a hundred thousand dollars in three months." + +"What happened to it, then?" + +"That," said the old prospector, leaning back, and looking at his two +hearers, "is a wild an' woolly yarn! Do you want to hear it, or do I +go on to the findin' o' that ore you've got in your hand?" + +"Oh, tell the yarn, Jim!" pleaded Clem, who was less interested in +Jim's strike than was the mine-owner. Owens nodded assent. + +"Pannin' gold," Jim began, "is pretty much the same all over. One +minin' camp is a good deal like another, though Forty-Mile was the +cleanest an' straightest camp I ever struck. I could spin a good many +yarns o' Forty-Mile an' near-by camps, but I'll leave 'em to another +time an' tell you how it was I got poor, again, all in a hurry. + +"With a bunch o' buckskin bags holdin' a hundred thousand dollars in +the coarse nuggety gold o' Forty-Mile, I was good an' ready to take +the back trail. I thought maybe I'd get back again next spring, for +I'd become a sure-enough 'sour-dough' (old-timer of the northern +gold-fields, so-called from camp bread). But I wanted to eat heavy +an' lie soft for a while. I'd spend one winter in 'Frisco, any way, +an' have a run for my money. + +"The more I thought of it, the less I liked the notion o' goin' back +over the Chilkoot Pass. Savin' for the first climb, the out trail was +worse'n the in. All the rapids'd have to be portaged. + +"What was more, the news o' the Forty-Mile strike had reached the +outside, an' the human buzzards was a-flockin' in. The Canadian +authorities held the camps in a tight grip, but the trail was a +No-Man's-Land. A sour-dough comin' out from a strike stood a good +chance o' bein' plugged for his gold an' no one the wiser. + +"A few weeks after the Forty-Mile strike, a rich placer had been +located at Circle, a hundred miles lower down on the Yukon an' across +the Alaskan Boundary jest above where Circle City is now. Nothin' was +easier'n to buy a small row-boat an' float down the Yukon to Circle. +The rapids wasn't worth speakin' about. At Circle we'd take the river +craft runnin' to Fort Yukon, an' then ship on board the steamer for +St. Michael, Skagway an' 'Frisco. + +"No weary miles o' hoofin' it on the trail, no portages, no work, jest +sit in a boat an' take it easy! That hundred thousand made me feel too +lazy to move. + +"We got the boat, bein' willin' to pay whatever fancy price was asked. +While she was still tied up at Forty-Mile, one o' the North West +Mounted Police come up an' asked us where we was headin'. We told him. +He wanted to know how many were goin'. There was my pardner, Bull +Evans, me, an' four more. He shakes his head. + +"'That's about twenty too few,' says he. 'Are you takin' the dust +along?' + +"'Right with us, Johnny,' says we. + +"'You've got more gold'n you have sense,' he comes back, cheerfully. +'Better wait a month or so. We're goin' to convoy a party through the +White Pass to Skagway, takin' the express an' the bank gold, an' you +can come along, safe.' + +"'It's too long a trail for millionaires,' says we. + +"'A dead millionaire ain't worth much,' he says. 'You'll have your +bones picked clean by the crows if you get across the border that +a-way. Alaska ain't the Dominion, not by a long shot.' + +"That hit us wrong. We thought he was jest bluffin', tryin' to make +out that Canada was the only country that could run things right. Most +of us was from the U. S., an' we grouched at his pokin' in. + +"'Law an' order's as good 'tother side o' the line as it is here!' +says Bull. + +"'Have it your own way! I'll send the patrol boat with you as far as +the border. I can't do no more.' + +"We didn't want the patrol, but he sent it, any way, an' we started +out. + +"'Last chance!' he yells, when the border's reached, 'better come +back!' + +"'We ain't quitters!' Bull shouts back, an' on we go, six of us, an' +close on to half a million dollars in dust among the lot. Every man +had a rifle, a six-shooter, an' plenty o' ammunition. All was +old-timers an' quick on the shoot. We reckoned we could take care of +ourselves, good an' plenty. Any way, we weren't goin' to land +anywheres until we struck Circle, so there wouldn't be no danger. + +"We hadn't got more'n ten miles the other side o' the line, jest +beyond the little minin' camp of Eagle, when of a sudden: + +"'Spat!' + +"A bullet strikes the boat, right at the water line, an' she begins to +leak. + +"It was pretty shootin', an' every man reaches for his gun. There's a +curl o' smoke driftin' up from a pile o' rock, but no one shoots, +knowin' well the marksman's under cover. We trims the boat, to keep +the hole out o' water, and then: + +"'Spat! Spat!' + +"One on each side. We stuffs some bits o' rag in the holes, but the +boat begins to fill. One side o' the river's sheer rock, an' there +ain't no landin' there. Cussin' free, an' every man wi' his rifle +ready, we beaches the boat on the other shore an' gets out, ready for +the scrap. + +"Then some one starts to talk, over our heads, hidden in the rocks: + +"'Gents, I'm sure sorry to stop your trip! There's twenty of us, an' +each has his man covered. It ain't no use for you to make trouble. +Them as is reasonable can leave their bags o' dust an' their pop-guns +on the beach, an' walk off fifty paces to the left. Them as wants to +show their shootin' can wait jest two minutes by the watch, an' the +fun'll begin, us havin' the pick o' the shots an' bein' under cover. +The cards is stacked agin you, gents, an' there ain't no use to +play.' + +"We all shoots back, o' course, more to relieve our feelin's'n +anything else, for we knows this new-style road-agent has dodged back +to cover. + +"Me an' four others, we don't hesitate. We lays our bags o' dust an' +our guns on the beach an' toddles off, as directed. Then I looks back +an' sees Bull standin' there, alone. + +"He's a durn fool an' I knows it. But he's my pardner, is Bull! + +"I goes back an' tries to persuade him to eat crow. But Bull's +stubborn as a mule an' don't budge. I ain't a-goin' to leave him. So +we both stands there. + +"The road-agent has been takin' this in, an' presently he pipes up: + +"'Very pretty, gents. Pardners is pardners and that's doin' it +handsome. Put up your hands an' we won't shoot.' + +"For answer, Bull snaps his rifle to his shoulder an' fires. + +"A volley rings out, an' Bull drops dead, a dozen bullets through him. +I wasn't two yards away, but not a shot touched me. + +"Then this road-agent, a tall thin galoot, heavily masked, comes down +to where I'm standin' alone. + +"'It was a dirty bit o' shootin'!' says I, indignant. + +"'You've no cause to complain,' says he, 'nothin' hit you! I like your +spunk in standin' by your pardner. He seems to ha' been a he-man, too, +even if he was a fool. Had he any folks?' + +"'A baby girl back in Montana,' I tells him. + +"'I'm not robbin' babies,' he says to that. 'She gets my share o' the +loot. I give my word. Do you know the address?' + +"I reaches down into Bull's coat, takes a letter from it what he'd +written to his sister, what was lookin' after the kid, an' hands this +bandit the envelope. He reads it, nods an' puts it in his pocket." + +"Did he ever send the money?" suddenly interrupted Owens. + +"He did. I heard, years after, that the sister received thirty +thousand dollars in cash, in a registered letter, sent from Skagway, +an' in the envelope a slip o' paper 'From the Chief o' Circle.'" + +"What happened next, Jim?" queried Clem, excitedly. + +"What, after I'd given the galoot the envelope? He makes a sign an' +half a dozen o' his gang comes down out o' the rocks where they've +been hidin'. They gather up the guns an' the bags o' dust lyin' on the +beach, while some more o' them goes over an' searches the other four +men. + +"'What's the next turn?' I asks the chief. + +"'I don't do things in a small way,' he says. 'Your nerve's good. For +bein' willin' to stand by your pardner, when the rest run like +rabbits. I'll leave you five thousand in dust, an' see you get back to +the border. Unless you want to join our band?' + +"'I don't!' I answers, snappy like. + +"But he was as good as his word. He weighs out an' hands over the +dust, an' two of the gang takes me back to the line. There they gives +me back my shootin'-irons, though, o' course without any ammunition. +Next day I'm back in Forty-Mile." + +"And the other four men?" queried Owens. + +"Two joined the gang, an' later, started to get funny on the Canadian +side. A Vigilance committee strung 'em up. The other two turned up at +Circle City and I never heard no more about 'em. + +"I staked out another claim--though there wasn't much to choose from, +then--an' begins to pan again. But the luck had turned, an' I didn't +strike nothin' rich. + +"I stayed at Forty-Mile that winter, buildin' fires at night on the +frozen dirt to thaw it, an', next day, shovelin' an' haulin' it up to +the top o' my little shaft on the windlass I'd made myself. The pile +o' pay dirt had to be left till the spring thaws for cleanin' up. + +"Ten years I stayed inside, goin' from one placer on the Yukon to +another, makin' a livin', an' that's about all. Now an' again, when I +gets a bit ahead, I sends a bag o' dust to Bull's little gal. + +"In '98, I joins the rush to Nome, an' there's a roarin' wild town! +But luck ain't runnin' my way. Like the rest, I starts to wash the +sand o' the sea-beach, the last place a prospector'd ever look. I +clean up thirty a day, maybe, jest enough to keep goin'. I'm no +richer'n no poorer'n I was ten years afore, but I got Bull's little +gal to work for, an' that keeps me pluggin'. + +"Then, sudden, I gets a letter from the gal, enclosin' a note she's +received. It's short: + +"'Rich pay gravel here.' It's signed with a circle, an' a cross. On +the back, there's a map. + +"I figures this is the Road-Agent o' Circle, an' he's dyin' an' wants +to make restitootion. It's my dooty to Bull's little gal to go an' +find the place. I've jest about money enough to go there, an' the lay +is right. There's a bank of pay gravel more'n two miles long, an' a +hundred feet deep, maybe more. It's frozen, summer'n' winter, an' too +hard for thawin' with wood fires." + +Jim halted for emphasis and looked keenly at the mine-owner. + +"I was thawin' it out wi' coal, when I was there," he said, slowly, +"soft, smudgy coal, brown an' sticky-like." + +"What!" cried Owens in amazement. "Lignite coal?" + +"Not a mile away from the gravel." + +"But why, man--?" Owens stopped. + +"A bunch o' Russian seal-poachers come up an' chased me off, sayin' it +was Russian territory. I believed 'em, at first. I didn't say nothin' +about the gold, but made believe I was huntin' coal. But that lignite, +as you call it, was so sure low-grade that they jest laughed at me. + +"It ain't in Russian territory. It's in the United States, I've found +out that much. But minin' men don't take much stock in what I tell +'em, an' coal men say it's too long a haul. But a man wi' money what +knows coal an' knows gold, an' could do some steam thawin' an' +hydraulickin' would make good." + +Owens looked at him thoughtfully. + +"It's a wild and woolly yarn, all right," he said, "and it sounds like +a story from a book, with the hold-up, and the girl and the idea of +restitution, and the treasure-map and all the rest of it. You haven't +any proof?" + +"Nothin' but what I've told you--an' the map. My pardner's got to take +my say-so." + +"You say you wrote frequently to Bull Evans' daughter?" + +"Once a season--sometimes twice. Whenever I could get some money +through." + +"She will have kept those letters, certainly," the mine-owner mused, +"and the payments through the Express Company will be easy to trace. +Where does the girl live?" + +"In Pittsburgh, now, with her aunt." + +"If I guarantee to advance two hundred thousand, when satisfied that +your story is straight, will you produce the map and come along, +yourself?" + +Jim looked him over. + +"I'll trust you more'n you're willin' to trust me," he said, and took +a thin slip of paper from the buckskin tube out of which he had shaken +the gold dust the day before. "Here's the map. It's an island due +north o' the Diomede Islands in the Behring Sea. The Eskimos call it +Chuklook. There's quartz gold on Ingalook, too. But mind, one-third o' +what you pay for the claim belongs to Bull's little gal." + +"Agreed!" declared Owens. "You trust me an' I'll trust you. The +letters an' the express records, being as you say, I'll go in." + +"Clem bein' a pardner!" Jim insisted. + +"Clem being a partner, sure!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LONELY ISLAND + + +The little _Bunting_, brigantine-rigged, and, yacht-fashion, +possessing an auxiliary screw, plowed the waters of Behring Sea. + +Jim, with Clem and Anton beside him, stood on the foc's'le head, +gazing into the foggy distance. Owens was on the poop, with the owner +of the tiny yacht, who was a personal friend, and moodily scanned the +horizon. Otto, utterly disregarding the universal sea injunction: +"Don't Talk to the Man at the Wheel!" stayed at the stern and +exchanged occasional sentences with the helmsman. + +There were, also, two other passengers on board, both down in the +cabin. One was a grizzled giant, the other was a young woman, some 25 +years of age. The first was a half-brother of Joe Juneau, and was +known throughout the Far North as "The Arctic Wizard" from his uncanny +knowledge of Alaskan mining deposits, and his ability as a mining +engineer in overcoming the peculiar difficulties of frozen ground and +of maintaining machinery in working order under the most rigorous +conditions of weather. The second was "Bull's little gal," more +properly known as Jameine Evans, herself a graduate of the Pittsburgh +School of Mines. + +With the money that had been sent her, when a baby, by the Road-Agent +of Circle, and with the additional sums forwarded from time to time by +Jim, Jameine (so christened as a namesake of the old prospector) had +been able to pay her way through school and college and had taken a +mining course besides. + +This specialized education had been her plan of gratitude. Only by +making herself efficient in a kindred field, she felt, could she ever +be a real "pardner" to Jim; only thus could she repay, in some +measure, the generosity of the old prospector. She had long realized +the unselfishness of the man who had stayed winter after winter in the +frozen North, denying himself the rude pleasures of a mining camp in +order to help "Bull's little gal." + +Ever since Jim had made his famous strike, as a result of the map +which had been sent to her by her father's murderer, Jameine had +regarded herself as the heiress of a dream mine, but a dream which +might, some day, come true. For her own sake, as well as Jim's, she +had read and studied as much as she could of Alaskan conditions. + +It was she who finally disclosed to Jim that the Russian seal-poachers +were probably at fault in chasing him from his strike, and only wanted +to get rid of the inconvenient witness. Thus she had reawakened the +prospector's lagging interest in his find, but lacking the large store +of capital necessary to exploit the mine, she could do nothing. Jim +had used up all his savings in going from town to town trying to +interest a big investor and had finally entered Owens' coal mine in +order to get a little stake again. + +Wizard Juneau was amazed at the extent of mining knowledge shown by +this girl shipmate, and he had spent the greater part of the voyage +from Sitka in imparting to her some of the secrets distilled from his +long experience in frozen mining. He had brought on board the +_Bunting_ many of the publications of the U. S. Geological Survey, and +of the Bureau of Mines, annotated by himself. He had brought, also, a +number of crude maps of half-explored territory, either drawn by his +own hand or by old prospectors, which maps and charts were among his +most prized possessions. + +"Some of these," he explained, "were made by Alf Brooks,[8] one of the +nerviest explorers that the U. S. ever sent out. I've been with him on +more than one reconnoissance survey. And some were made by experts on +the U. S. Revenue Cutter _Bear_.[9] I sailed on her two seasons." + +[Footnote 8: For the Alaskan explorations of Brooks ("Rivers") see the +author's "The Boy with the U. S. Survey."] + +[Footnote 9: For the Behring Sea work of the _Bear_, see the author's +"The Boy with the U. S. Lifesavers."] + +"And do you think, Mr. Juneau, that this island of Uncle Jim's is on +the American side of the line?" + +The "Wizard" pursed his lips with an expression of doubt. + +"It's a toss of the dice," he said. "Ingalook, the easternmost of the +Diomede Islands, where Jim found that piece of gold-bearing quartz, is +sure American territory. I don't take kindly to Ingalook, though. +There'd be trouble, there, in trying to install proper mining and +crushing devices. There's no landing place on that isolated granite +dome standing forlornly out of the sea, except for seals, polar bears, +or crazy prospectors like Jim, there. + +"But this Chukalook Bank of the Road Agent's map, where the pay gravel +and the lignite coal lie--supposing that it's the same as this little +unnamed dot marked on the charts--seems to be right on the +international boundary line. We'll have to wait until we get there to +make accurate observations." + +"Can you do that, too, Mr. Juneau?" + +"Me? No! I can take a sight of course, but not accurate enough where +it's a matter of minutes or even seconds of a degree. But Captain +Robertson can. Like many of these amateur yachtsmen, he's a better +navigator than the captain of some Atlantic liners. It's his hobby. +Besides, he's got instruments of precision aboard that an admiral +would envy. What's more, he's a certificated man, and his say-so on a +nautical observation of longitude would be legal in the courts. Mine +wouldn't." + +"And suppose the island should prove to be on the Russian side?" + +"Then, young lady, you'll have to turn Russian!" + +"What nonsense! You know I wouldn't. No, but speaking seriously?" + +"Well, seriously, then, you'd have to buy the island from the +Bolsheviks, or from the Eastern Siberian Republic, or from the +Japanese, or whoever happens to be claiming it. International rights +up in the Asiatic Arctic are badly mixed up, these days. And that +wouldn't be the worst of it. You'd have to pay stiff royalties and you +wouldn't be sure of any sort of protection--unless it was the +Japanese." + +"We'll buy it, if we have to!" declared Jameine decidedly. "I'm not +going to have anything happen that will spoil Uncle Jim's strike!" + +"He's a regular dad to you, Miss Evans, eh?" + +"He's the only one I ever remember," the girl replied. "My real father +went up to Skagway, just a few weeks after I was born, only having +stayed down in Montana long enough to see me. And, as you know, Mr. +Juneau, he went over the Chilkoot Pass with Uncle Jim and never came +back any more. Mother died when I was quite small. I know Uncle Jim +feels that 'Bull's little gal' is his own. I feel so, too!" + +The grizzled mining engineer patted the hand with which the girl was +holding open the chart. + +"Don't ye worry," he said, kindly, "we'll make good. We'll bluff any +one that comes to Chukalook--supposing we find it--long enough to get +the best o' the pay gravel. If that don't do the trick, we'll fight. + +"And there's another thing. If Chukalook doesn't pan out, there's the +quartz at Ingalook. I've never seen the gold deposit yet--no matter +how poor--that I couldn't turn into money, so long as I could get +enough capital behind me to exploit it." + +"Mr. Owens will give that," asserted Jameine confidently. + +The "Wizard" shook a warning finger. + +"Not just for sentiment, he won't," he said, "not if I read him right. +He's generous enough, and he'd see that you and Jim didn't suffer. But +he's too keen a business man to invest his money unless he sees a fair +chance of return. We've got to show him!" + +"He certainly doesn't seem as enthusiastic about it now, as he did +when we started," Jameine agreed, thoughtfully. + +"That's natural enough! Don't ye forget he's an Australian, and all +the gold fields he's ever seen, there, and in South Africa, were in +hot desert country. These waters don't look promising to him!" + +The "Wizard" was right. Owens was scanning the slate-gray water +flecked with foam and the sky of dripping fog with equal distrust and +dislike. The pieces of ice-floe bobbing in the choppy current inspired +him with uneasiness, even with fear. The assurances of his friend, the +yachtsman, gave him no confidence. + +Had it been possible, he would have been heartily glad to back out of +his agreement, but there was no way he could do it with honor. He had +sought out Jameine in Pittsburgh, had seen Jim's letters, and had +checked up the Express Company's receipts of gold forwarded by the old +prospector from the mining camps of Forty-Mile, of Circle, of Juneau, +of Klondyke, of Dawson City and of Nome. Jameine's hopeful spirit and +her determination to make good on Jim's strike had been infectious. +Owens had set out, almost gaily. But this grim, inhospitable sea put a +damper on his spirits. + +"Doesn't the sun ever shine here, Jack?" he asked abruptly. + +"Not often," was the yachtsman's cheerful answer. "That's why the fur +seals love it. Why, bless you, on Pribilof Islands, where the seal +rockeries lie, there aren't twenty days of sunshine in a year. I know +these waters. I came hunting sea-otter once. We ran two summer months +without seeing the sun." + +"It's no place for me!" declared the mine-owner. "Those who like the +sea can have it, and be welcome!" + +The yachtsman bridled. He loved the sea. + +"Open your nostrils, man, and sniff; that's pure air, at least. It +isn't like what I smelt last time I visited your dirty old coal mine!" +he retorted. "Every dog to its own kennel, Owens! After all, you +wanted to come here." + +Jim felt much the same way. Standing on the foc's'le head, the raw +air, with its sudden hot spells when the sun gleamed dully through the +fog, brought him welcome memories. It seemed homelike, after his brief +experience in a coal mine. As he had said himself, he was a +"sour-dough." The uncanny fascination that the Far North exerts on +those who have once lived there, gripped him hard. + +"Ain't no crowd here to worry a man!" he declared, drawing in deep +breaths, "an' there's room enough to stand straight! Would you want +to go back to them coal galleries, Clem, four feet high an' stinkin'?" + +"They suited me all right before, Jim," the young fellow answered, +"and I don't see why they shouldn't again. I got mightily interested +in coal. Still, I needed a rest, and this trip is interesting, I'll +allow. But wait till we get to the actual mining of the gold, and then +I'll tell you which I like best." + +"An' you, Anton?" + +"I never want to go below ground again," the boy answered promptly. +"But it must be awful cold here in winter--if this is summer!" + +"Ay, it's cold an' dark, no sun at all for two months. An' a man'll go +hungry often. But it's free an' open an' no one has a boss! What's +more, there's gold!" + +Anton shivered. The call of the North had not gripped him, yet. + +Otto, beside the helmsman, was worrying him--neither with the weather, +nor with the question of treasure. To the first he was indifferent, to +the second he was satisfied with drawing full pay every day and not +doing any hewing for it. With huge delight, he was absorbing all the +superstitions of the sea, and giving the steersman a gruesome crop of +tales of knockers and gas sprites underground. + +There was no special reason why he should have come on the voyage, +except that he had asked to come. Owing to Anton's hatred for coal +mining--born of the entombment--Clem had used his position as Jim's +"pardner" to bring the boy along. Otto, having taken what might be +termed a paternal and prophetic interest in the imprisoned men, wanted +to join the party. + +Owens made no objection. He knew laborers would be wanted, and he +preferred men who would not be likely to betray the secret of the +gold. He knew the miner's unswerving loyalty, and was well aware that +loyalty is the one quality which is beyond all price. + +Towards the close of the afternoon, the _Bunting_ shortened sail. They +were drawing near. + +Somewhere, not far from them, lay the Diomede Islands, those two great +granite crags rising sheer out of the sea with deep water on every +side. The lead would give no sign. There is no fog signal on the +Diomedes. In such a thick and clammy mist as hung over the water, a +ship could wreck herself upon those bleak coasts almost before she +saw the surf under her bows. The wind was light, and the brigantine +slid slowly over the water. + +The "Arctic Wizard," his eyes accustomed to the northern skies, was +the first to see a faint purplish blotch in the swirling mist. + +"Land! Captain!" he warned, quickly. "Keep away! Keep well away!" + +Almost instantly, the booming of breakers was heard. + +Well was it for those on board that the _Bunting_ was quick on her +helm! She bore off, just in time, the creaming surf not more than +three cables' length ahead. + +"A little too close for my liking!" exclaimed the yachtsman, but +treating the danger lightly. "That's Ingalook, I suppose, Mr. Juneau?" + +"Ingalook she is. At least, I think so. I've never been quite so +close, before." + +"And I don't want to be, again! Well now, I suppose, the real treasure +hunt begins." + +He called Jim. + +"How did you say Chukalook Bank bore from here?" + +"From Chukalook," Jim answered, "on a clear day, I could see this +island two points east o' south, an' the other island, the Russian +one, three points west o' south." + +The yachtsman looked at him thoughtfully. + +"And there's no knowing what compass correction to allow for a pocket +compass, and there's the magnetic variation besides. Well, we'll work +it out! And how far away do you reckon the island was?" + +"I don't know nothin' about sea distances, Cap'n. She looked just +about the size o' my thumb-nail." + +"So! How high was Chukalook Bank above the water?" + +"She goes up like a wedge o' cake, Cap'n. Maybe five hundred feet at +the highest point. Where I was workin' wasn't more'n fifty foot above +sea level." + +"Well," commented the yachtsman thoughtfully, "allowing for the +curvature of the earth, and for low visibility on these seas that +ought to make Chukalook about thirty or forty miles from here. We'll +put on a little sail and cruise N. N. E. for a few hours." + +But the bank was nearer than Jim supposed. + +Shortly after dawn, a sailor posted in the cross-trees reported a +flat berg to starboard. The sails were furled, and the _Bunting_ came +up to it slowly under her auxiliary screw. + +Jim heard the engines and rushed up on deck. + +"That's Chukalook!" he cried, after the first look. "Now, who says I'm +dreamin'? Wait till I tell Bull's little gal!" + +He had not long to wait. + +The sound of excited voices on deck had awakened the girl, and she +dressed and came up hastily. + +"Jameine!" he shouted, as soon as she came up the companion ladder, +"there's our gold!" + +The girl ran lightly across the deck and pressed the old prospector's +arm. + +"I knew you'd find it, Uncle Jim," she rejoiced, "I said so, all +along!" Then, turning to the mine-owner, who had also come on deck, +she added, "There it is, Mr. Owens!" + +The Australian looked. That low flat bank, slowly sloping upwards, +fringed with ice and deep in snow, was none too reassuring. + +"You're sure?" he asked suspiciously. "It looks to me a whole lot more +like an iceberg than it does like a gold-field!" + +The "Wizard" interrupted, fearing lest Jim should make some rough +rejoinder. + +"It looks like an easy landing-place and that's one good thing," he +said, cheerfully. "The Captain, here, has been making soundings and +says there is good holding ground." + +"That's all I will say, though," put in the yachtsman. "It's not a +harbor. You're exposed here to every wind that blows!" + +"You mean I'd have to build a breakwater?" Owens queried. + +"Probably, if you want smooth water for handling cargoes. But I doubt +if you could manage it. The winter ice would chew your breakwater all +to bits. There's five months of open water, anyway, and the summer +months are not so stormy." + +"I wouldn't try to build a breakwater!" Owens burst out. "How would I +get men and materials up here?" + +The "Wizard" winked at Jim, who was growing restive. + +"Wait till we get Owens ashore and start on the gold," he whispered. +"I've seen these backers get cold feet before, when they hit this +northern country for the first time. They're the worst to hold back, +often, after they once get going." + +But Jim was thoroughly dissatisfied. There was more than a little +likelihood that the old prospector would make some scornful remark, +for he was in his own land now, and had all a "sour-dough's" contempt +for a "tenderfoot." But Jameine's hand was on his arm and he obeyed +the warning pressure. + +The little motor-launch was lowered from the davits, with every member +of the party aboard. None of the sailors was taken, for Jim did not +want to run any risk of strangers taking up claims. The "Wizard" ran +the engine, and the yachtsman took the helm. + +One piece of mechanism, small but very heavy, was lowered into the +boat. It sank her low in the water, but it belonged to the "Wizard" +and he was not the kind of man whose acts any one would question. +Picks, shovels, sledge-hammers, wedges, and dynamite were included in +the cargo. Thus heavily loaded, the boat reached the shore, Jim +pointing out the landing-place. It was not so easy to land as the +Wizard had suggested. It was necessary to wade through the sponge-ice, +churned up the shore, Jameine being carried in the huge arms of the, +"Wizard." + +The snow on the island was almost knee-deep, but, except Owens, none +of the party minded. Jameine was the gayest of all. + +"Lead on to the millions, Uncle Jim!" she cried. + +But the old prospector made the girl take his arm. + +"We'll git there fust, together!" he declared. + +A few minutes tramping brought them to a depression in the snow. + +"Here's the old glory-hole (an open pit, not a shaft), an' nobody's +been here!" he announced triumphantly. He grabbed pickaxe and shovel +and slithered in, with the confidence of a man who knew every inch of +the ground. + +A few scoops of the shovel cleared away the snow. + +Below, though overgrown with dry weeds of many seasons' growing, were +the infallible signs of human handiwork. Even the old sluice was +there, though fallen to pieces. + +The others crowded around the glory-hole. The moment of test had come. + +"Here, 'Wizard'," said Jim, when he had exposed the workings, "there's +where I was pannin' last. Jump in an' take a look." + +The expert, despite his years, leaped in lightly. He took the pick +from Jim's hand, and, with a few vigorous strokes, loosened some of +the gravel. He scrutinized it carefully, first with the naked eye, and +then with a strong pocket lens. + +"Well?" asked Jim, impatiently. + +"Where are the other prospects?" The "Wizard's" kindly tone had +vanished. He was now a mining expert, at his work. Personalities had +faded. Geological questions, only, had weight. + +Silently Jim led him up the slope, Jameine and Clem following. + +Despite the veiling snow, the old prospector located hole after hole +with unfailing accuracy, until seven had been found and examined. The +last one was half-way up the cliff. + +At each prospect the "Wizard" loosened a small handful of gravel, +examined it carefully and put it in a small buckskin bag, pencilling +each bag in order. His expression changed not at all; he bore the true +Western "poker face." + +"What overlies this gravel?" he asked abruptly. + +"Slate," said Jim. + +"Let's see it!" + +They climbed upwards. + +On arriving at the stratum which lay above the gravel, dipping down +at a sharp slope, the expert examined carefully the carbonaceous slate +of which it was composed. + +"We'll go back, now," he said at last. + +But he expressed no opinion. + +"What do you think of it, Mr. Juneau?" queried Owens, when the four +climbers returned to the glory-hole. His tone seemed to suggest that +he half hoped for an unfavorable answer. + +"I'll tell you presently," was the non-committal answer. + +Then he turned to the prospector. + +"Show me that lignite outcrop, now!" + +"Kick the snow away with your feet!" answered Jim, curtly. + +Every one kicked vigorously. Under the snow was a thin layer of soil, +and, below that, not more than two inches beneath the surface, was the +brown-black gleam of a low-grade lignite. Owens broke off a piece from +the outcrop and his expression cleared slightly. Certainly Jim's +statement about the coal was justified, though it was of too low-grade +a quality to be worth exportation; possibly his story about the gold +might prove to be true, also. + +Then the "Wizard," still without a word which might be construed +either as hopeful or as discouraging, brought from the boat the heavy +piece of machinery. He fitted it with a handle and bade Otto turn. The +machine proved to be a small but very powerful crushing-mill, so +devised that the hardest quartz could be ground to powder by hand. +Besides which, it contained within itself, some modern devices for +separating out the gold. + +Bag after bag of the decisive seven was poured in, ground to dust, and +passed through the separating riffles. Each of these riffles had a +self-cleaning device. The expert weighed the gravel before grinding, +weighed the scrapings of the riffles, and made careful notes on the +results of each batch. All was done in utter silence. + +Jim, the true prospector, who had often seen wealth or poverty decided +by the twirl of a pan, stood immovable. If he were worried, he did not +show it. Jameine, on the other hand, was trembling and white. + +At last, the "Wizard," note-book in hand, turned to give his decision. + +"Judging from a direct crushing and separating process, without the +use of mercury," he said, "this gravel ought to give about +six-dollars'-worth of gold to the ton. With mercury, perhaps two or +three more dollars' worth can be extracted, and another couple of +dollars by cyaniding. The gravel is soft and can be hydraulicked, +during the summer. The gold is coarse and easy to separate. The quartz +pebbles will yield more than enough to be worth crushing, but just how +much is indeterminate. + +"That's not rich! By itself, or in the interior, the deposit might not +be worth working. But with lignite right on the ground, to make steam +both for running the machinery and for steam thawing points, and with +a pumping plant using heated sea water for hydraulicking, there ought +to be a net profit of about three dollars a ton." + +The news was received in silence, each voyager occupied with his own +viewpoint of the decision. + +Clem was the first to speak. + +"We've come a long way to get three dollars!" said he, with an attempt +at jocularity. + +Anton grinned assent. Like Clem, he knew nothing about gold-mining. + +Otto waited, well aware that the final result lay between Owens, +Juneau and Jim. + +It was Jameine, with her book-knowledge of mining, who put the vital +question. + +"How many tons do you estimate there may be in the deposit, Mr. +Juneau?" + +"Impossible to say, exactly, especially when the island is masked +under snow. But the prospects have been carefully chosen. They suggest +about four hundred thousand tons in sight, and probably a good deal +more. The gravel is an early Tertiary deposit, lying between two beds +of carbonaceous slate, the lower of which is lignitic. Judging from +the strike of the beds, the gold-bearing gravel runs down under the +sea." + +"Then," said the girl, slowly, "if there are four hundred thousand +tons in sight, which would yield a net profit of three dollars a ton, +you figure on over a million dollars, clear?" + +"If modern machinery is put in and the mine is run on a business +basis, I should say at least that. Possibly more!" + +There was a burst of excited exclamations from all sides. + +Every one turned to Jim, who was looking out across the sea toward +Alaska. + +"Bull, old pardner," he said softly, "I reckon I've made good for your +little gal!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A SIBERIAN FILIBUSTER + + +By July, Chukalook Bank was humming with noise. The clank of +machinery, the pounding of stamp mills, and the grinding smash of +giant jets of water driven from hydraulic nozzles, set vibrating the +tiny islands on the borders of the Arctic Ocean. + +The terns and gulls, driven from their century-old refuge, circled +over the little spot of land with shrill cries and fled to nest on +Ingalook; polar bears, who, in other seasons, had found a dinner of +fat seal on Chukalook, swam toward the island from floating cakes of +ice, and then retreated hurriedly; the sea otter, shyest of all the +fur-bearing creatures of the world, sped to more isolated haunts. + +The island itself was melting like a snowbank beneath a summer sun. A +three-inch jet of water, immeasurably more powerful than the forceful +spout that hisses from a fire-engine hose, roared vengefully night +and day against the gravel bank, and ate away the hill. + +The never-ceasing torrent of gravel and boulders, mingled with the +water, rattled and rumbled downwards with the force of the current +into a massive sluice. The bottom of this sluice was constructed of +paving blocks, crossed with copper-plated riffles of tremendous +strength, on which not less than two tons of mercury had been placed. + +Thus considered, the installation of the Bull Mine--as Jim insisted +that it should be called--was but a simple miners' sluice on an +enormous scale. It was the same device as that which Jim's father and +his partners were working on the Carson River when the Comstock Lode +was discovered, save that the hydraulic jet performed all the work of +digging and shoveling the pay dirt into the sluice. + +Shortly before reaching the sea, however, the works became more +complicated. The "Wizard" and Owens--one with Arctic and the other +with Australian and South African experience--had arranged a system of +separating the gold bearing gravel from the bowlders, and, later, the +unproductive material from that which contained the precious metal. +The smaller, gold-bearing part was washed into the stamp-mills, which +worked incessantly, and which reduced pebbles and grit and sand and +gold to a pasty slime. This, in turn, was led to cyanide tanks. Thus +every particle of the gold was extracted. + +Hydraulicking was not altogether new to Jim. He had seen it done on a +giant scale, as in California during the seventies, when huge +reservoirs and mile-long canals were built at a cost of many millions. +Vast works these, belonging to a short and strange era of mining, +immense constructions, now lying ruined and abandoned in the deserts +of their own making. + +That was before the farmers and fruit-growers of California had +succeeded, in 1884, in securing the passage of a law to prevent +"slicking," as hydraulicking was termed. It was time! Vast stretches +of territory were being reduced to chaos by the appalling havoc which +follows hydraulic operations on a large scale. + +Many rivers were entirely choked by debris from the crumbled mountains +and spread their waters in destructive floods. On one small stream +alone, the Lower Yuba, over 16,000 acres of high-grade farm lands were +reduced to a condition which an official investigator for the state +declared "could not have been surpassed by tornado, flood, earthquake, +and volcano combined." + + +[Illustration: HYDRAULICKING IN COLORADO. + +The "Snowstorm Placer," a typical modern pay-gravel plant. + +_From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co._] + + +[Illustration: AMERICA'S "GOLD-SHIP" AT WORK. + +Dredge operating in Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields, California. + +_From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co._] + + +Before the farmers had succeeded in stopping the hydraulic miners, a +stretch of land, larger than all the territory devastated by the World +War, was rendered a hideous desolation forever incapable of +settlement. Ten years of hydraulicking had brought more than +$150,000,000 in gold dust to the mining interests, but had caused a +perpetual damage that ten times that sum could not repay. + +In every civilized country, to-day, hydraulicking is forbidden, except +on a small scale. It is only permitted in such cases and under such +conditions that the mining company can dispose of the tailings without +injury to property holders further down the stream. + +The "gold ship" has taken the place of the hydraulic jet and the +sluice. It is a weird device! It is nothing more or less than a +dredge, floating in a lake of water--maybe in the middle of a +desert--which, as it moves along, moves its own lake with it. It +dredges, washes, and separates hundreds of tons of sand or gravel with +the same water in which it floats, using the water over and over +again. By law, the tailings which it leaves behind must be leveled, +soil placed thereon and either grass or trees planted. Thus the gold +ship advances over dry land, chewing its own way forward, and remaking +the land it leaves behind. + +On Chukalook Bank, however, hydraulicking was permissible. There were +no farm lands to be spoiled. There were no rivers to be choked up. The +tailings and the refuse could do no harm. On the contrary, by +employing the forces of the current descending in the sluice, the +"Wizard" operated a narrow-gauge tramway on an endless chain, and the +tailings were emptied into cars which ran out to sea, making their own +land as they went. The cars had a dumping device, and needed but one +man to tip them. Thus little by little, a natural breakwater crept out +seawards, forming a harbor in which ships could ride in safety. + +As the "Wizard" had anticipated, Owens had become as enthusiastic +after the value of the mine had been demonstrated as he had been +coldly critical before. The lure of gold caught him anew, and he +invested capital freely. He was an excellent business man and a good +judge of men. Besides paying Juneau a large salary as superintendent +and mine engineer, he had shrewdly put several shares of stock in the +"Wizard's" name, thus ensuring his most hearty support. + +Moreover, Owens had learned to appreciate Jameine. He had found out +that the girl had taken courses in the business side of mine +management as well as in the technical branches, and though her +knowledge was theoretical only, it was sound. With her he could +discuss detailed questions of book-keeping and the like, which only +annoyed the mining expert. Accordingly, Owens appointed Jameine his +personal representative, thus securing Jim's loyalty forever. This +done, he returned to his coal mine in Ohio, leaving the "Wizard" in +charge. + +Otto had been made foreman, and, though he constantly related to the +men under him how different were the ways of coal-mines, he was +inordinately proud of his position. He was able to do that most +important of all things in mine labor--to keep the workmen satisfied +at their work without raising wages to the point where profit ceases. + +Anton, despite his first objection to the country, had become a +hero-worshipper of Jim. He had a new ambition. He desired, above all +things, to reach the sublime height of being regarded as a +"sour-dough." The boy had shown a certain natural quickness for +mechanics, and, while on the yacht, had chummed up with the wireless +operator of the _Bunting_. Capt. Robertson, on his second trip, had +brought with him a small wireless outfit, which the operator installed +on the highest point of Chukalook and taught Anton to handle. + +Clem took the place of assistant to the "Wizard." His small knowledge +of geology--though it was mainly of coal seams--was of service, and +the young fellow was quick to learn. But the principal attraction to +him, on the island, was "Bull's little gal." + +Jim was the life and soul of the mine. He was here, there, and +everywhere. The workmen, especially those who were "sour-doughs" +themselves, found a keen pleasure in the thought that a man like +themselves had thus made good. It fed the fuel of hope which flames so +brilliantly in the Frozen North. + +A typical gold prospector, all the complicated machinery of his own +mine meant little to him. Jameine understood it all and did her best +to explain it to him, but Jim could not be persuaded to take an +interest in it. + +One day he turned his back on the works. With pick, shovel, and pan, +he set off to the other side of the island, where the little creek +ran, and where he had first panned gold on Chukalook, before he began +prospecting the gravel. Once more, from early morning to late evening, +he dug and panned as of old. Each night he returned triumphantly with +half a handful of gold dust as the fruit of his day's toil. + +Jameine did not have the heart to point out to him that, with the Bull +Mine running at full blast, his share of the profits brought him more +wealth in an hour than did a week's laborious panning of the sands of +the little creek. She knew that Jim could have no greater happiness +than, at the end of the day's work, to add a few more grains of gold +dust to the growing heap that rested, in a bowl, openly exposed, on a +rough table in her tiny sitting room. + +But this peaceful exploitation of Chukalook was not to continue +uninterruptedly. + +One morning, the smoke of a good-sized steamer was seen on the +horizon. She came, not from the direction of Ingalook, as the +_Bunting_ and the supply steamers came, but from the Russian island to +the south-west. + +Jim, busily panning on the creek, was the first to see her. He dropped +his tools and hurried to the power house. + +"There's trouble coming, 'Wizard'!" he said briefly, and pointed to +the steamer. + +"You mean she's Russian? It's likely enough, then," was the grave +reply. "Though I don't know that they can do much." + +"They chucked me off here, once!" the old prospector remarked, +revengefully. + +"They'll have their hands full doing it a second time! Counting all +the workmen, we've a pretty strong gang here, Jim. And most of the men +would fight." + +The steamer drew nearer, and the mining expert went into the house for +his field-glasses. + +Presently she was close enough for the glass to reveal an unusually +large number of men on her deck. There was a more sinister omen +still--a six-inch gun in her bow! + +"A converted cruiser! H'm, this looks serious, Jim! Send Anton here, +on the run." + +The boy came instantly. + +The "Wizard" shot out his orders. + +"Get to the mess-tent as quick as you know how and grab some food. Get +a gun and some ammunition. Then climb up to the wireless station right +away. If I blow one blast on the engine-house whistle, don't pay any +attention. If there are two long blasts, you can come back. But if you +hear a succession of short, sharp blasts, be sure you start sending, +and keep on sending!" + +Anton, keenly at attention, answered, + +"What shall I send?" + +"The S.O.S., first. Then the code signal for the Revenue Cutter +_Bear_--you know it, don't you?" + +"Yes." + +"Then send--'Americans in peril, Chukalook' and give the latitude and +longitude. You'll find that written down just inside the cover of the +International Code Book. I put it there in case of need. Repeat the +S.O.S., the code number and the message until you get a reply." + +"And if I don't get a reply?" + +"Keep on sending." + +"Until when?" + +"Until you're shot down, if necessary!" + +"Very well, Mr. Juneau. You can count on me." + +"I know I can, my boy. Now--hurry!" + +The suspicious steamer came nearer and turned the corner of the newly +made breakwater. As she dropped her anchor, she displayed the flag of +the Eastern Siberian Republic, at that time in the hands of the +Bolsheviks. + +"We've some 'sour-doughs' in the plant," suggested Jim. "If there's +goin' to be trouble, they'll be lookin' for front seats. Shall I get +'em here?" + +"You might as well. They can bring their shooting-irons, too." + +Jim was not long gone. When he returned, he brought ten men at his +heels, all of the Roaring North breed. Most of them held posts of +trust in some part of the Bull Mine plant and all were ready to stand +by Jim through thick and thin. + +The "Wizard's" address to the men was brief. + +"Russian 'claim-jumpers,' I reckon," he said, pointing to the steamer. +"If they're looking for trouble, they'll get it. We'll parley first, +and if necessary, shoot afterwards. No one touches his gun till Jim +fires. That's orders. Do you get it?" + +The men nodded. Like most of their kind, they were chary of speech and +the word "claim-jumper" means to a miner what the word "horse-thief" +meant to the cowboy. There was no need to say more. + +The men had gathered none too soon. A boat had put out from the +steamer and was drawing close to shore. There were a dozen sailors +aboard in a nondescript imitation of the Russian naval uniform, but +armed with modern rifles. An officer was in the stern. + +On reaching the landing-place, the officer leaped ashore, followed by +the armed guard. + +"Who owns this mine?" he demanded in good English. + +"An American syndicate," the "Wizard" answered briefly. + +"And who is in charge here?" + +"I am." + +"In that case, I am instructed to notify you that you are occupying +Siberian territory." + +"That," responded the "Wizard" curtly, "is either a geographical error +or a deliberate lie." + +The officer made a gesture towards his hip, evidently forgetting the +sword at his side, a movement which both Jim and the "Wizard" noted. + +"Sir!" he began. + +"This island," the "Wizard" continued, ignoring the interruption, "is +a few seconds more than forty minutes of a degree east of the +international boundary. Observations of the most precise character +have been taken by Captain Robertson of the _Bunting_ and were duly +recorded at Washington more than two months ago." + +The officer seemed taken aback at this definite declaration, but +maintained his position firmly. + +"This is Siberian territory," he repeated. "I have orders to +confiscate whatever gold may have been extracted, and to take +possession of the plant, as it stands, in the name of my government." + +"If you try it, you'll get shot," was the terse reply. + +"You would fire on an officer of--" + +Jim cut in, dryly. + +"I'll fire on an American navy deserter, any time," he said, making a +shrewd guess at the character of the intruder, "an' it won't worry my +conscience none. What's more, I'll put a bullet through a +claim-jumper, whenever I feel like it." + +The self-styled Siberian felt that he was getting the worse of the +argument, and his temper rose. + +"Enough talk! I have received information that you are gold-mining on +Eastern Siberian territory. You are hereby notified that the mine is +confiscated. All those in authority will come aboard the cruiser _Mir_ +as prisoners. You will be taken to the mainland for trial. Perhaps you +will have the opportunity to prove your observations as to longitude, +there!" he sneered. + +"Is the Eastern Siberian Republic at war with the United States?" +queried the "Wizard" with dangerous quietness. + +"That does not concern you! Deliver me, at once, the keys and working +maps of the mine." + +"No!" + +Jim added a western retort that roused the deserter to a livid fury. +He answered viciously, + +"We've a six-inch gun aboard that can blow your works to splinters!" + +"And then?" + +"We'll come ashore and take possession. It won't do you any good to +ask for mercy, then!" + +The "Wizard" stepped forward, his giant frame towering above the +intruder. + +"This parley is over!" he thundered. "I declare you pirates, and give +you five minutes to get yourselves off this island! + +"Jim, get your watch out! If there's one of these scoundrels on shore +at the end of that time, shoot! If any one of them makes a hostile +move, shoot! And shoot to kill!" + +He turned to the supposed Siberian. + +"As for you, you'd better be the first one in the boat! Every one of +these men is a two-gun man, and I reckon you know what that means!" + +The officer stood his ground, and entered upon an argument as to the +rights of the case, but was cut short by Jim's crisp announcement, + +"One minute gone!" + +For a second or two the filibusterer hesitated, but the odds were +even, twelve against twelve. Well he knew that the Americans could +shoot quicker and straighter than his men, who were an undisciplined +lot. He realized, also, that he would be the first to fall. + +Scowling, he gave the order to retreat, amid the open murmurs of his +men, who, under Bolshevist rule, considered themselves the equals of +their officers. + +The instant that they were embarked, the "Wizard" turned to Jim. + +"We haven't many minutes to lose! That hound will open up with the +gun, as soon as he reports on board. + +"Get to the house as quick as you can. Rush Miss Evans and all the +office crowd into No. 2 gravel pit, pronto! Shells can't reach them +there." + +"I'll tell the engineer to whistle to Anton. Then I'll close down the +works and get the men into shelter. But we've got to act lively!" + +Crisply he gave his orders to the waiting men, several of whom were +grumbling because they had not been allowed to "clean up the gang" as +one of them phrased it. They brightened up, however, at the prospect +that there would be a fight. + +Half a minute later, the whistle sent out a succession of sharp +blasts, and, almost simultaneously, there came the sharp crackle of +wireless from the station on the hill. + +A volume of Russian curses was heard coming over the water at this +sound, and the rowers redoubled their efforts. + +Presently, from all corners of the plant, the workers came hurrying. +The last man was hardly down in the gravel pit when there came a +detonation from the sea-front and a shell came whistling over. + +It was not directed at the works, but at the tiny cabin on the top of +the hill which held the wireless outfit. Fortunately, the cabin was +partly sheltered by a rock, and, moreover, it was but a small mark to +try to hit. Some twenty shells passed over the island or exploded idly +on the hill before one struck the sheltering rock. The pieces screamed +over the cabin, one fragment tearing a hole in the roof but doing no +harm to Anton. + +Truth to tell, the boy was thoroughly enjoying himself. He felt a +hero. Never having seen a shot fired in earnest, he hardly realized +what the effects of a shell-burst might be. + +The wireless crackled on. + +For two hours the bombardment continued, several pieces of shell +having passed through the walls above his head. The rock protected the +lower part of the cabin. Anton was crouched low over his instrument, +and, as yet, the aerials were intact. + +Then, suddenly, a piece of bursting shell whizzed across the wires. + +Silence! + +The wireless was down. + +Chukalook Bank was absolutely cut off from all communication with the +outside world. The men of Bull Mine must fight off the Siberian +cruiser, alone. + +The six-inch gun now was turned on the works, a nearer and an easier +target. The power-house, the stamp-mills and the cyanide vats suffered +most. A six-inch shell at close range can do an appalling amount of +destruction. At the end of an hour, most of the works were in ruins. +Yet shells could not destroy the gravel bank, nor damage the great +sluice beyond repair. + +The bombardment ceased for a few minutes. + +Then four boat-loads of men put off from the cruiser, and, at the same +time, the six-inch gun began anew, covering their advance. + +"Let's get down to the shore an' keep 'em from landin'!" cried Jim. + +But the "Wizard" held him back. + +"And have our men killed for nothing? No, Jim, we've got a good +trench here and can hold it. It'll cost them dear to attack." + +"But they'll get all the gold from our last clean-up!" + +"They won't, Uncle Jim," put in Jameine. "I opened the safe and we +carried all the bags here." + +"And your own little pile?" + +The girl shook a little sewing-bag she was carrying, and laughed. + +"I was sewing when you called me, and I only had time to throw it in +here. Gold dust is all mixed up with pins and needles and things." + +Jim nodded. + +"You're right, 'Wizard'," he said. "This is the place we've got to +hold." + +"And we'd better fortify one end of it, solid, if the worst comes to +the worst. Get some of the men to roll bowlders here to make a solid +wall." + +The boats drew up to the landing-place. + +"Hand me one o' them rifles!" suggested one of the twelve men whom Jim +had first chosen. "I'm good on the shoot. Them claim-jumpers is only +about six hundred yards away. I can hit a runnin' rabbit, at that +distance." + +"Good enough," agreed the "Wizard," "if you can pot them off, so much +the better. They began the trouble and they fired first. Are there +any more snipers here?" + +Two more of the men professed themselves to be fair shots. + +Creeping out of the trench, the three snipers esconsced themselves in +cover, leaving only a loophole for their rifles. Presently one, and +then another rifle cracked. + +Two of the invaders fell. + +A volley followed. It pattered harmlessly against the bowlders where +the snipers were hidden and passed high over the heads of the rest of +the men, safe in the gravel-pit. + +"This," said the first sniper, as he took aim and fired a second time, +"is tame sport. It's too easy." + +A third man fell. + +The Siberians scattered. It was clear that they had little taste for +this kind of thing. They found cover, and, for half an hour or more, +not one showed himself. + +Then a little group dashed across towards the house, evidently with +the intention of pillage. The three snipers fired. One man fell, and +two, evidently wounded, limped after their fellows. + +Then, for hours, not a sign! + +Evening drew down, a foggy evening, with a mist so dense that the +faint gleam of what was almost the midnight sun failed to pierce it. +By eleven o'clock, it was nearly dark. + +"They'll attack around midnight, likely," one of the men suggested. +"Can't we make a big fire, 'Wizard'?" + +"There's no wood here, Bob," the expert replied. "As for the lignite, +even if we could get enough of it here without exposing ourselves, it +makes such a lot of smoke that it would help them more than it would +us. No, we'll have to send out scouts, though it'll be dangerous for +those who go. Who'll volunteer?" + +A chorus answered him, the three snipers claiming the preference. + +"No," said their leader, "I can't spare you. But I'll take old-timers, +that's sure!" He chose them carefully. "Now," he said, when he sent +them out, "keep your ears open. Don't shoot unless you have to. If you +see or hear any one coming, get back as quick as you can. It's a risk, +you know!" + +"Aw, 'Wizard'!" exclaimed one of them reproachfully, "you ain't +talkin' to tenderfeet!" + +"If you were a tenderfoot I wouldn't have picked you for a man's job," +the leader answered, knowing well the pride of the "sour-dough." "Out +with you, now, and quietly!" + +An hour passed, and then one of the scouts crawled back. + +"They're comin', 'Wizard'!" + +The other three scouts followed in short order. The Siberians were +advancing in an extended line. + +"To your places, men! Jim, you and the three I named will hold the +breastwork. The girl's there!" + +Jim looked longingly at the edge of the gravel pit, up which the men +were creeping. He was torn between his desire to be in the forefront +of the battle and his eagerness to be near enough to protect Jameine. +But, like all men who have really known the life of the frontier, he +obeyed a leader's orders unquestioningly. + +A few minutes later, out from the half-gloom and the wet fog, an +irregular line of fire ran, as a hundred or more rifles cracked +simultaneously. The miners responded with a scattering fire. + +The Siberians were on them! + +The fog gave the attackers an advantage. The Americans had only the +time to fire a second volley when the Siberians leaped over the edge +of the gravel pit. A furious hand-to-hand conflict began, but the +miners were terribly out-numbered. + +Worse, infinitely worse, the attackers possessed those diabolical +engines of destruction which were developed in the World War--hand +grenades. These, thrown upon the frozen gravel, exploded in all +directions. Into the disordered ranks of the miners, the Siberians +charged with the bayonet. + +Armed only with their rifles, which were useless at close range, and +with six-shooters, a weapon of but short usefulness, the Americans +fought a losing fight. + +Yet they repulsed the first attack, but at a staggering loss. The +"Wizard," seriously but not fatally wounded, was carried behind the +breastwork, his last words before losing consciousness being an order +to cover the shelter with flat slabs of slate, before the Siberians +got near enough to throw their grenades into the little fortified +space. + +Jim straightened up. + +"Good-bye, little gal, if I don't see you again!" he called. "My place +is at the front, now!" + +He assumed the lead. + +A second attack, even more vicious than the first, followed. The +miners had reloaded. Most of them had two guns, hastily snatched from +dead or wounded comrades. But for the grenades, they could have more +than held their own. It was not to be. When the second rush subsided, +the Siberians held one end of the gravel pit. The farther end, where +were Jameine and the wounded men, held firm. + +There came a lull, and, from where they lurked, the defenders saw +suddenly some flashes of light from around the wireless house. + +"They're after Anton!" said Clem. "He's all alone, up there. We can't +leave the kid!" + +"Right!" agreed a couple of the men. "Let's go!" + +But Jim stopped them. + +"We're too few, as it is," he ordered. "Anton must take his chance. +We've the girl here, the wounded, and the gold." + +"He's my partner!" declared Clem, who knew the magic of the word on +Jim. + +"Me, too; I go!" declared Otto, in his most stubborn voice. + +Jim hesitated. A partner's right was sacred. + +"Go ahead, then," he said, "an' quick, afore the fog lifts. She's +gettin' lighter, now!" + +The odds were more even now. Between the barricade that the Siberians +had thrown up hastily and the breastwork held by the miners, there was +an open space, too wide for the throwing of the grenades. The +six-shooters held it clear. + +Again the Siberians rushed. Claim-jumpers they might be, but they were +worthy fighters. They reached almost to the breastwork, and one man +had his arm poised to throw a grenade within, when Jim leaped forward +and brained him with the butt end of a pistol. For full ten minutes, +it was a death-grapple, but the attackers were beaten back. + +The case of the Americans was desperate. Ammunition was growing short. + +Another such attack might finish them. + +The Siberians, however, had suffered heavily, and, all unknowing that +their foes were almost out of cartridges, refused to charge again. + +The faint light strengthened. The mist began to rise. Soon it would be +full daylight. The miners braced themselves for what they feared might +be the last shock. + +Jim, bleeding from two slight wounds, held his men well together. + +There came a babble of voices and then a movement behind the +barricade. + +The Americans stiffened. + +Suddenly, a sharp shot resounded across the water, followed by a +second report, evidently from a gun of different calibre. + +The Siberians clambered from behind their barricade and fled. + +At almost the same instant, Otto, Clem, and Anton were seen to emerge +from the wireless cabin, running down the hill and shouting. The boy +had his arm in a bloody sling. So far as could be seen, the others +were not hurt. + +Jim scrambled to the edge of the gravel-pit and looked to sea. + +There, her guns trained on the filibustering cruiser _Mir_, the Stars +and Stripes flying at her stern, lay the U. S. Revenue Cutter _Bear_, +summoned by the wireless messages of Anton, sent while the roof over +his head was being rent by shell. + +Jim's strike was not to go for nought. The gold of "Bull's little gal" +had welded the partnership that a coal-mine disaster had begun. + + +THE END + + + + +U. S. SERVICE SERIES + +By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER + +Illustrations from photographs taken in work for U. S. Government + +Large 12mo Cloth $1.75 each, net + + "There are no better books for boys than Francis + Rolt-Wheeler's 'U. S. Service Series.'"--_Chicago + Record-Herald._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY + +[Illustration] + +This story describes the thrilling adventures of members of the U. S. +Geological Survey, graphically woven into a stirring narrative that +both pleases and instructs. The author enjoys an intimate acquaintance +with the chiefs of the various bureaus in Washington, and is able to +obtain at first hand the material for his books. + + "There as abundant charm and vigor in the narrative + which is sure to please the boy readers and will do + much toward stimulating their patriotism by making them + alive to the needs of conservation of the vast + resources of their country."--_Chicago News._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS + +The life of a typical boy is followed in all its adventurous +detail--the mighty representative of our country's government, though +young in years--a youthful monarch in a vast domain of forest. Replete +with information, alive with adventure, and inciting patriotism at +every step, this handsome book is one to be instantly appreciated. + + "It is a fascinating romance of real life in our + country, and will prove a great pleasure and + inspiration to the boys who read it."--_The Continent, + Chicago._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. CENSUS + +Through the experiences of a bright American boy, the author shows how +the necessary information is gathered. The securing of this often +involves hardship and peril, requiring journeys by dog-team in the +frozen North and by launch in the alligator-filled Everglades of +Florida, while the enumerator whose work lies among the dangerous +criminal classes of the greater cities must take his life in his own +hands. + + "Every young man should read this story from cover to + cover, thereby getting a clear conception of conditions + as they exist to-day, for such knowledge will have a + clean, invigorating and healthy influence on the young + growing and thinking mind."--_Boston Globe._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FISHERIES + +[Illustration] + +With a bright, active American youth as a hero, is told the story of +the Fisheries, which in their actual importance dwarf every other +human industry. The book does not lack thrilling scenes. The far +Aleutian Islands have witnessed more desperate sea-fighting than has +occurred elsewhere since the days of the Spanish buccaneers, and +pirate craft, which the U. S. Fisheries must watch, rifle in hand, are +prowling in the Behring Sea to-day. The fish-farms of the United +States are as interesting as they are immense in their scope. + + "One of the best books for boys of all ages, so + attractively written and illustrated as to fascinate + the reader into staying up until all hours to finish + it."--_Philadelphia Despatch._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. INDIANS + +[Illustration] + +This book tells all about the Indian as he really was and is; the +Menominee in his birch-bark canoe; the Iroquois in his wigwam in the +forest; the Sioux of the plains upon his war-pony; the Apache, cruel +and unyielding as his arid desert; the Pueblo Indians, with remains of +ancient Spanish civilization lurking in the fastnesses of their massed +communal dwellings; the Tlingit of the Pacific Coast, with his +totem-poles. With a typical bright American youth as a central figure, +a good idea of a great field of national activity is given, and made +thrilling in its human side by the heroism demanded by the +little-known adventures of those who do the work of "Uncle Sam." + + "An exceedingly interesting Indian story, because it is + true, and not merely a dramatic and picturesque + incident of Indian life."--_N. Y. Times._ + + "It tells the Indian's story in a way that will + fascinate the youngster."--_Rochester Herald._ + + +_For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by +the publishers_ + +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected for this electronic edition. + +In Chapter I, a missing period was added after "knock a man down", and +"the he mightn't recover" was changed to "that he mightn't recover". + +In Chapter V, "The Lousiana Purchase" was changed to "The Louisiana +Purchase". Also, there was no footnote marker in the main body of the +text for the second footnote. The footnote has been placed after what +appears to be the most appropriate paragraph. + +In Chapter VI, "wealth and properity" was changed to "wealth and +prosperity". + +In Chapter VII, "a place where the is gold" was changed to "a place +where there is gold", a comma was changed to a period after "blue, +green, or grey", and "Six Mile Canon" was changed to Six Mile Cañon". + +In Chapter VIII, a comma was added after "You can't blame Jim for not +knowing why, Clem". + +In Chapter IX, a quotation mark was added after "other types of +veins", and "left from the Cassier" was changed to "left from the +Cassiar". + +In Chapter X, quotation marks were added after "there ain't no use to +play" and before "Very pretty, gents." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy With the U.S. Miners, by +Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + +***** This file should be named 32322-8.txt or 32322-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/2/32322/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy With the U.S. Miners + +Author: Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [EBook #32322] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 335px;"> +<img src="images/cover.png" width="335" height="500" alt="cover" title="The Boy With the U. S. Miners" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="front" id="front"></a> +<img src="images/front.jpg" width="500" height="347" alt="Not Demons, but Saviors." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Not Demons, but Saviors.</p> + +<p>Mine rescue crew, equipped with oxygen-breathing apparatus, exploring +mine after a disaster.</p> + +<p><i>Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines.</i></p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p class="center bigtext">U. S. SERVICE SERIES.</p> + +<h1>THE BOY WITH<br /> +THE U. S. MINERS</h1> + +<p class="center">BY<br /> +<span class="bigtext">FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER</span></p> + +<p class="center smalltext">With Thirty-six Illustrations</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="200" height="244" alt="publisher's logo" title="KNOWLEDGE NO MORE SHALL BE A FOUNTAIN CLOSED" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">BOSTON<br /> +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.</p> + +<p class="center">Copyright, 1922,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>All Rights Reserved</i></p> + +<p class="center smcap">The Boy With the U. S. Miners</p> + +<p class="center smalltext">PRINTED IN U. S. A.</p> + +<p class="center">BERWICK & SMITH CO.,<br /> +<span class="smalltext">NORWOOD PRESS,<br /> +NORWOOD MASS.</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>No walk of life is more wild and adventurous than that of the questing +miner, whom neither Arctic cold nor tropic heat can bar in his mad +race for the buried treasures of the Earth; no profession is more +hazardous than that of the working miner, whose every step underground +is full of peril.</p> + +<p>Wealth is not all. The thrill of the miner's life lies not in the +making of millions. It lies in the ruggedness of his manhood, in the +vigor of his partnerships, in the roaring ways of the mining camps, +and the life of open spaces.</p> + +<p>Heroism and daring mark the miner. From the waterless deserts of +California to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, from the loftiest peaks +of the snow-capped Sierras to the stifling depths of the Carson Sink, +the prospector has prowled. Lonely and forgotten, his discoveries have +brought great states into being; hungry and poor, he has opened vaults +of riches thousandfold vaster than the treasuries of kings.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>To give a glimpse of the lives of such men, to reveal the amazing +wealth which the Earth yields to those who are willing to dare, and to +set forth what an incalculable debt of gratitude the United States +owes to the miner, is the aim and purpose of</p> + +<p class="smcap rightalign">The Author</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER I</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chappage smalltext">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">Underground Terrors</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">11</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER II</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">Entombed Alive</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER III</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">The Dangers of Rescue</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">67</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER IV</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">Eight Days of Dark</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER V</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">The Lure of Gold</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">128</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER VI</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">Nuggets!</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">146</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER VII</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">The Forty-Niners</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">174</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER VIII</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">The Great Bonanza</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">204</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER IX</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">Where Treasure Hides</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">232</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER X</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">The Roaring North</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">256</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER XI</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">The Lonely Island</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">276</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="chapnum">CHAPTER XII</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapname">A Siberian Filibuster</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">298</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="List of Illustrations"> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Not Demons, but Saviors</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#front"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="illpage smalltext">FACING PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">How Anton's Father was Killed</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill12">12</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Coal-Hewers at Work</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill13a">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Where the Branch Line Forks</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill13b">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Knockers</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill20a">20</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Gathon, Goblin of the Mines</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill20b">20</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Dwarfs in the Mine</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill21">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Miners Descending a Shaft</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill54">54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Falling-in of a Mine</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill55a">55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Explosion of "Fire Damp"</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill55b">55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Into the Poison-Filled Air</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill82">82</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill83a">83</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Interior View showing Life-Saving Equipment</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill83b">83</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Where the Timber goes</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill90">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Geophone Expert Listening for Tapping of Survivors</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill91a">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Building the Wall for the "Sand-Hogs"</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill91b">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Divining-Rods</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill138">138</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">The World's Oldest Picture of Gold-Seekers</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill139">139</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Australia's Treasure-House</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill158">158</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">In the Richest Gold Mine of the World</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill159">159</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Sutter's Mill</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill176">176</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">The Rush to the Gold Mines</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill177">177</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">The Prospector of To-day</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill184">184</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Flume at the Melones Mine</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill185">185</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">The Coming of the Forty-Niners</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill194">194</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">David Egelston</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill195">195</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">The Miner's Sluice</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill214">214</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Panning Gold on the Klondyke</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill215">215</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Where Deserts Yield Millions</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill236">236</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">The Eater of Mountains</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill237">237</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">The Top of the Chilkoot Pass</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill260">260</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Pass in the Sierra Nevadas</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill261">261</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">Hydraulicking in Colorado</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill300">300</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="illname">America's "Gold-Ship" at Work</td> +<td class="illpage"><a href="#ill301">301</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<h1>THE BOY WITH THE U S. MINERS</h1> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="smalltext">UNDERGROUND TERRORS</span></h2> + + +<p>"Ay, lad," said the old miner, the pale flame of his cap-lamp lighting +up his wrinkled face and throwing a distorted shadow on the wall of +coal behind, "there's goin' to be a plenty of us killed soon."</p> + +<p>"Likely enough, if they're all as careless as you," Clem retorted.</p> + +<p>"Carelessness ain't got nothin' to do with it," the old man replied. +"The 'knockers' has got to be satisfied! There ain't been an accident +here for months. It'll come soon! The spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Otto! The idea of an old-timer like you believing in +goblins and all that superstitious stuff!"</p> + +<p>"It's easy enough for you to say 'nonsense,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Clem Swinton, an' to +make game o' men who were handlin' a coal pick when you was playin' +with a rattle, but that don't change the facts. Why, even Anton, here, +youngster that he is, knows better'n to deny the spirits below ground. +The knockers got your father, Anton, didn't they?"</p> + +<p>Anton Rover, one of the youngest boys in the mine, to whom the old +miner had turned for affirmation, nodded his head in agreement. Like +many of his fellows, the lad was profoundly credulous.</p> + +<p>From his Polish mother—herself the daughter of a Polish miner—Anton +had inherited a firm belief in demons, goblins, gnomes, trolls, +kobolds, knockers, and the various races of weird creatures with which +the Slavic and Teutonic peoples have dowered the world underground. +From his earliest childhood he had been familiar with tales of +subterranean terror, and he knew that his father had often foregone a +day's work and a day's pay rather than go down the mine-shaft if some +evil omen had occurred.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">Yet Anton was willing to accept modern ideas, also. Clem was both his +protector and his chum, and the boy had a great respect for his older +comrade's knowledge and good sense. He was aware,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> too, that Clem +was unusually well informed, for the young fellow was a natural +student and was fitting himself for a higher position in the mine by +hard reading. This Ohio mine, like many of the American collieries, +maintained a free school and an admirable technical library for the +use of those workers who wished to better themselves.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill12" id="ill12"></a> +<img src="images/ill-12a.jpg" width="500" height="248" alt="How Anton's Father Was Killed, first picture." title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ill-12b.jpg" width="500" height="249" alt="How Anton's Father Was Killed, second picture." title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/ill-12c.jpg" width="500" height="246" alt="How Anton's Father Was Killed, third picture." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">How Anton's Father Was Killed.</p> + +<p>Miner, failing to test for vibration when tapping roof-slate, goes to +work and is crushed by falling slate.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines.</i></p> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill13a" id="ill13a"></a> +<img src="images/ill-13a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Coal-Hewers at Work." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> + +<p class="smcap">Coal-Hewers at Work.</p> + +<p>Holing or Undercutting in a typical seam not high enough for men to +stand upright.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>From "Mines and Their Story."</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill13b" id="ill13b"></a> +<img src="images/ill-13b.jpg" width="500" height="338" alt="Where the Branch Line Forks." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Where the Branch Line Forks.</p> + +<p>Loaded car of coal switched to main line and on its way to the shaft.</p> + +<p><i>From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">The young student miner was zealous in his efforts to promote modern +ideas among his comrades, and knew that the old superstitions bred +carelessness and a blind belief in Fate. Despite their differences in +age and in points of view, he and Otto were warm friends, and he +returned the old man's attack promptly.</p> + +<p>"So far as Anton's father is concerned, Otto," he said, "it was Jim +Rover's carelessness that killed him. He was caught by a falling roof +just because he wouldn't take the trouble to make sure that the draw +slate overhead was solid before setting to work to undercut the coal. +I know that's so, because he told me, just before he died. I was the +first one to reach him, after the fall, for I was working in the next +room, just around the rib."</p> + +<p>"An' who made the draw slate fall, just when Jim Rover was a-standin' +right under it? Answer me that, Clem Swinton!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>The other shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Every man who's ever handled a coal pick knows that draw slate is apt +to work loose. That's one of the dangers of the business. And the +danger can be avoided, as you know perfectly well, Otto, if a chap +will feel the roof for vibration, with one hand, while he uses the +other to tap on the slate with the flat side of a pick. If he won't +take the trouble—why, it's his own fault if he gets killed.</p> + +<p>"Blaming the 'knockers,' Otto, doesn't hide the fact that nearly a +thousand miners get killed in the United States every year, just +through their own carelessness."</p> + +<p>The old man shook a finger ominously.</p> + +<p>"It isn't always the careless ones what get taken," he declared. "Look +out for yourself, Clem Swinton; look out for yourself! It's you the +knockers'll be after, next, an' much good all your readin'll do you, +then! I warned Jim Rover less'n a week afore he got killed, an' I'm +warnin' you now."</p> + +<p>Anton looked up, fearfully, for old Otto had a reputation as a seer, +in the mine, but Clem only laughed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>"I put my faith in following out the safety rules, Otto," he replied, +"not in charms and tricks to keep the goblins away."</p> + +<p>The old man, however, was not thus to be set aside. He was as ready to +defend his old-fashioned beliefs as was Clem to advance his modern +theories.</p> + +<p>"Experience goes for somethin'," he affirmed stubbornly. "Boy an' man, +I've been below ground for over forty years. I've worked in Germany, +Belgium, France, and all over this country. Just eight years old I +was, when I went down the shaft for the first time; there weren't no +laws, then, to keep youngsters out of a mine.</p> + +<p>"I was a door-boy to start off with, openin' doors for the coal-cars +to come through. That meant keeping one's ears open. The loaded cars +come a-roarin' down the slopin' galleries, an', if a kid didn't hear +them, he'd get smashed between the coal car an' the door. Even when he +did hear them, he had to jump lively, or he'd get nipped, anyhow.</p> + +<p>"On the other side o' the door it wasn't much better, for the empty +cars were hauled up the slope o' the mine galleries by donkey power,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +an', if a kid didn't hear the whistle o' the donkey driver, he'd get +his head clouted an' would be fined two days' pay beside.</p> + +<p>"There warn't no eight-hours' day, then. We worked a shift o' twelve +hours, an' the miners didn't stop between for meals—just took their +grub in bites while they went on holin' coal. All piece-work it was in +them days, an' every miner holed, spragged (or timbered), picked and +loaded his own coal. The more stuff he got out, the more pay. The men +didn't get any too much money, either, an' if a miner wanted to have a +decent pay-check at the end o' the week, he warn't goin' to be +hindered by havin' any trouble with cars. The poor kid at the door got +it comin' to him from all sides.</p> + +<p>"It's different now in coal-mines to what it was then. We hadn't no +electric plant to run ventilatin' fans for keepin' the air fit to +breathe. Nowadays, a man can be nigh as comfortable below ground as he +can be above; but, when I was a kid, the air in a mine was hot, an' +heavy, an' sleepy-like.</p> + +<p>"After breathin' that air for nine or ten hours, it was hard to keep +awake. You'd see the pit-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>boys comin' up out o' the shaft wi' their +eyes all red an' swollen an' achin'. No, it warn't from gas, it was +just from rubbin' em to keep em' open. An' rubbin' your eyes with +hands all gritty with coal-dust ain't any too good for 'em."</p> + +<p>"Well, Otto," the young fellow interrupted, "you can't deny that +modern methods have improved all that. There aren't any door-boys in a +modern mine. Most of the States in this country have passed laws +requiring that all doors through which coal cars pass must be operated +automatically. The United States Bureau of Mines keeps a sharp +lookout, too. There aren't any donkeys, either, not in up-to-date +mines; endless-chain conveyors take the coal from the face where the +miner has dug it clear to the mouth of the shaft, and load it into the +buckets by a self-tipping device. As for small boys in a mine, as you +said yourself, there aren't any, not in the United States, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"I'm not denyin' that minin' has got easier," was the grudging reply, +"it'd be a wonder if it hadn't. What I'm sayin' is that all your +newfangled schemes don't stop accidents and won't never stop +accidents, not till you get rid o' the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> knockers an' gas sprites of a +mine. An' that you'll never do!</p> + +<p>"You're like a whole lot o' these young fellows, Clem, who believe +nothin' that they don't see. You don't never stop to think that maybe +it's your own blindness an' not your own cleverness that keeps you +from seem'. Wait till I tell you what happened to me, one time, when I +was a door-boy in Germany.</p> + +<p>"Long afore I first went down into a coal mine, I knew about the +knockers, and where they come from. Dad told me that all the +coal-seams o' the world were forests, once. Long afore Noah an' the +Flood. He'd seen ferns an' leaves o' trees turned into coal. One time, +when digging out a seam, he'd come across the trunk of a tree standin' +upright in the coal, with the roots still in the under clay."</p> + +<p>"That's right enough," agreed Clem, "but the coal-forests were a good +many million years older than Noah!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe, maybe; but you warn't there to see," Otto retorted. "Anyhow, +there were forests, an' these forests were standin' afore the Flood. +Judgin' by what's left, the trees o' these forests must ha' been big.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>"All those trees, Dad used to say, had spirits o' their own, just like +trees have to-day. Elves an' dryads, he used to call 'em. When the +Flood came an' spread deep water over the whole world, the tops o' the +hills were washed into the valleys an' all these forests were covered +in mud an' sand. That's how it is you never find anything but shale or +slate (which is mud-rock) or sandstone above a coal seam. What's more, +when pullin' down slate, you'll often find sea-shells, like mussels +an' clams. Ain't that so?"</p> + +<p>"I won't argue with you about the Flood, Otto, for that's a long +story. But you're dead right in saying that all coal seams are +overlaid with rocks which have been laid down by water, and that +fossil shells are found in the overlying layers. But go ahead and tell +us what you saw."</p> + +<p>"When the Flood came," the old man resumed, "the elves an' dryads what +used to live in the coal-trees were swallowed up in the water. They +weren't drowned, because spirits can't die—at least, that was what +Dad told me. They couldn't go away from their trees, because the trees +were still standin' there, though all covered in mud or sand. So they +had to change their ways for a new life, first under the water, an' +when the wa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>ters o' the Flood dried up, under the ground. The elves, +who were the men-spirits o' the forest, became knockers; the dryads, +who were the women-spirits o' the trees, became the sprites o' the gas +damps.</p> + +<p>"In the old days, folks used to be able to see these spirits o' the +forests. They used to build temples to 'em, an' have regular festivals +in the woods, always leavin' some food for 'em to eat. Dad told me +never to forget that the only way to keep on the good side o' the +spirits below ground was to keep out o' the mine on the first day o' +spring an' the last day o' summer, an' every time I took anything to +eat below ground, to leave a bite behind.</p> + +<p>"I've always done it. In all the years I've been minin', I've never +gone down the shaft on March 21st or September 20th, an' I never will. +An', every time I've taken my dinner-pail to the face where I was +workin', I've put a bit o' bread aside for the knockers. You can +believe it or not, as you like, but when I got back to the place, on +my next shift, the bread was gone."</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"Probably rats," commented Clem, in an aside to Anton.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill20a" id="ill20a"></a> +<img src="images/ill-20a.jpg" width="500" height="406" alt="Knockers." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Knockers.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>After a Vignette by Bottrell.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill20b" id="ill20b"></a> +<img src="images/ill-20b.jpg" width="500" height="387" alt="Gathon, Goblin of the Mines." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Gathon, Goblin of the Mines.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Fragment of a Composition by Phiz.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 309px;"><a name="ill21" id="ill21"></a> +<img src="images/ill-21.jpg" width="309" height="500" alt="Dwarfs in the Mine." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Dwarfs in the Mine.</p> + +<p>The Other Mythical Personages are the King of the Metals and the +Keeper of the Treasures of the Earth.</p> + +<p><i>From a German Engraving after Froebom.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>The old miner paid no heed to the interruption, if, indeed, he heard +it.</p> + +<p>"That way, I always knew that the knockers were on my side, an' I've +been willin' to hole coal in mines that folks said weren't safe. +What's more, in forty years o' work, I've never lost a day's time from +an accident of any kind. I know I'm safe, because of what happened to +me when I was still a kid.</p> + +<p>"One day—I don't know just why, maybe the air was worse'n +usual—after I'd been lookin' after the door for the bigger part o' +the shift, I dropped right off asleep. Half-dreamin', I heard a loaded +car come roarin' down, but I didn't wake up until it was so close as +to be too late.</p> + +<p>"I scrambled up on my feet an' was just makin' a wild jump forward to +the door, when I felt a little fist—it seemed about the size of a +baby's, but was strong an' hard—hit me right in the chest. It pushed +me back into the corner, out o' the way o' the car, an' held me there.</p> + +<p>"At the same minute, an' just in the nick o' time, the door swung +open.</p> + +<p>"Rubbin' my eyes—they was so gritty wi' coal that I could hardly look +out o' them—I saw what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> looked like a little man made o' coal +standin' back against the door an' holdin' it open for the car to pass +through. His face was sort o' pale, like a whitewashed wall in the +dark, an' his eyes were red, like sparks. I thought he had a pointed +hat an' long pointed shoes, but I was so scared that I couldn't be +rightly sure. I could just see his whitish face movin' up an' down, +like he was noddin' his head. Then the door slammed shut, the hand +suddenly lifted off my chest an' I didn't see nothin' more. I tell +you, I kept awake after that."</p> + +<p>"You must have opened the door unconsciously, while half-asleep, and +dreamed about seeing the goblin," was Clem's comment.</p> + +<p>But, before the old man could retort, Anton broke in.</p> + +<p>"Father told me he's seen some, just like that. It was in Wales. A +woman visitor had gone down to see the mine."</p> + +<p>Otto shook his head gravely.</p> + +<p>"Never a woman went down a coal mine yet, but an accident happened +right after," he declared. "In the big explosion at Loosburg, when +over four hundred miners were killed, it was found out, after, that +one o' the miners was a woman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> who had dressed herself in men's +clothes an' was pickin' coal. But what was it your father saw, Anton?"</p> + +<p>"It happened right when the visiting party was in the mine," the boy +explained. "It was in one of the main galleries, which was strongly +timbered. A prop, which had been standing firmly for ever so many +years, suddenly crumbled into splinters and the roof fell on the +woman, hurting her so badly that she died soon after she was taken to +the top.</p> + +<p>"Just after the roof fell, so Father said, he and all the rest of the +miners saw a band of knockers gathered around the pile of fallen roof +and pointing at the figure of the woman crushed beneath. He said the +knockers were laughing so loudly that some of the miners heard the +echoes away at the other end of the mine."</p> + +<p>"And do you believe that, Anton?" queried Clem, incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Father saw them himself," the boy replied, in a tone of finality.</p> + +<p>"Then there's the gas sprites," Otto went on, pleased at having found +a sympathetic listener. "I've never seen 'em myself, but there's +plenty that have. In a mine where I used to work, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> Belgium, there +was a man who could see 'em as plain as I see you or Anton. That was +his job, and he was paid handsomely, too.</p> + +<p>"He could walk through a gallery, either in a workin' or an abandoned +mine, an' could tell right away if there was fire damp, or white damp, +or black damp, or stink damp, in the workin's. He could see the gas +sprites himself an' give warnin' where men had better not go. He +didn't have to carry a safety lamp, nor chemical apparatus, nor cages +of mice an' canaries, the way folks do, now. He just walked into the +mine an' saw the sprites. He was friendly to 'em, an' they never did +him no harm."</p> + +<p>"What were they like, Otto?" queried Anton.</p> + +<p>"Shadows o' women," the old man replied promptly. "Fire damp, this +diviner used to say, looked like a figure veiled in red, black damp +was veiled in black wi' white edges, white damp was bluish, an' stink +damp was yellow. When the gas was faint, all he could see was just the +glow o' the colors, very dim; but when the gas was strong then the +shapes o' the women were bold an' clear.</p> + +<p>"The gas sprites, bein' women, catch an' hold the young men an' the +single men more easily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> than old an' married miners. You don't deny +that single men are more often killed by damps than married men, do +you, Clem?"</p> + +<p>The young miner looked uncomfortable at the question.</p> + +<p>"That's a general belief, and statistics seem to back it up," he +admitted. "But I don't see that it has anything to do with your goblin +ideas, Otto. It's just because the single men, generally, are the +youngest, and they haven't become as immune to the poisonous gases of +the mine as men who have been working below ground all their lives."</p> + +<p>"You can explain away anything, if you have a mind to," Otto retorted +scornfully. "But as long as men are workin' below ground, there's +goin' to be knockers an' sprites o' the damps, an' miners is goin' to +be killed. Me, I've escaped. Why? Because I'm chock-full o' science +an' modern ideas? Not a bit of it! I get along because I know what the +spirits o' the mine expect, an' I give it to 'em. Right now, I'm the +oldest man at work, here, an' I ain't never had an accident."</p> + +<p>"Don't you believe his stories, Anton," the young miner protested, +turning to the boy. "Those antiquated notions will only lead you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +astray. The 'damps' are just various kinds of gases coming out of the +coal, and the way to fight them is to keep a strong current of air +going through the mine."</p> + +<p>"How do they come out o' the coal, if you know so much?" questioned +Otto, belligerently.</p> + +<p>"Sure I know! But I don't suppose telling you will change your ideas."</p> + +<p>"It won't," the old miner admitted frankly. "But I've had my say, an' +it's only fair to let you have yours. The youngster, here, can believe +which o' the two he pleases."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's something this way," Clem began, casting about in his mind +for a way to explain the chemistry of mine air as simply as he could. +"Ordinary air—the air above ground—is made up of a little less than +21 per cent. of oxygen and a little more than 78 per cent. of +nitrogen. The rest of it is a mixture of carbon and oxygen which the +books call carbon dioxide or black damp, with some other rare gases +beside.</p> + +<p>"Now, all animals, including man, depend for their life on the oxygen +in the air. If the oxygen drops to 15 per cent., a man will suffer. +That's not likely to happen where miners' lamps or safety-lamps are +used, because the flame of a lamp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> goes out when there's less than 17 +per cent. oxygen. Even at 19 per cent., a lamp will burn so dimly as +to warn of danger. The nitrogen in the air is inert, that is, it does +neither good nor harm to man. But what I want you to remember, Anton, +is that even in the purest air above ground, there's always some +'black damp,' so it's a bit hard to see where Otto's goblin women come +in!</p> + +<p>"Now, when pure air comes down a coal shaft, a lot of changes happen +to it. Some of the oxygen is consumed by the breathing of the men and +animals in the mine—if there are any donkeys or such—some is taken +up by the burning of lamps, some more by the explosion of blasting +powder, a little is lost by the rusting of iron pyrites—which is +found in many coal mines—and a lot of it is taken up by the coal, +just how, we don't quite know."</p> + +<p>"It's good to hear o' somethin' you don't know," the old miner +remarked sarcastically. "But you're talkin' about dry air, an' the air +in most mines is moist."</p> + +<p>"Quite right," Clem agreed. "It has to be. Mine air is made moist, on +purpose, especially in winter."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>"It is?" Otto's voice expressed unqualified astonishment.</p> + +<p>"It certainly is! In most coal-mines—this one, for instance—all the +air that passes down the intake shaft is moistened by a spray of mixed +water and air, so finely atomized that it floats like a cloud."</p> + +<p>"What for? It's easier to work in dry air'n moist air."</p> + +<p>"It's easier to get blown up, too! In winter time, Otto, the air above +ground is a lot colder than the air in the mine. Cold air can't hold +as much moisture as warm air, and as soon as air gets warmed up a bit, +it tries its hardest to absorb any moisture with which it happens to +come in contact.</p> + +<p>"What happens in a mine, in such a case? Why, as the cold air from +above passes through the galleries of a mine, it gets warmed up. As it +warms up, it draws out from the roofs, the ribs, and the floors all +the water that there is to draw, and makes the mine dead dry. When +coal dust is absolutely dry, it crumbles into finer and finer dust, +until at last the particles are so small that they float in the air. +Then comes disaster, for finely divided coal dust is so explosive that +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> smallest flame—even a spark from the stroke of a pick—will set +the whole mine ablaze."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that," interrupted Anton. "If dust is so bad, why do the +bosses hang boards from all the gallery roofs and pile them high with +dust?"</p> + +<p>"Because the dust in those piles is stone dust, my boy," the young +fellow explained. "When an explosion happens, it drives a big blast of +air in front of it, so strong, sometimes, as to knock a man down. The +blast of air blows all the stone dust from those boards and fills the +air chock-full of it.</p> + +<p>"This stone dust, usually made from crushed limestone or crushed +shale, won't burn. The flame of the explosion can't pass through and +the fire can't jump a rock-dust barrier. Even the flame of methane, +which you know better as 'gas,' or fire damp, which has a terrific +force, is choked back by this dense cloud of rock-dust, and, as you +know, all coal mines have more or less methane gas."</p> + +<p>"They don't, either," contradicted Otto. "I've worked in mines for +years at a time an' never seen the 'cap' on the flame of the +safety-lamp, tellin' there's fire damp there."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>"You may not have seen it, but there was gas there, just the same. As +for the cap-flame you're talking about, Otto, I'll admit that it's the +surest way of telling when there's so much fire-damp that the mine is +getting dangerous. But it's a risky test, just the same. You can't see +the little cap of methane gas flame burning above the oil flame of the +lamp until there's 2 per cent. of gas in the air of the mine, and a +little more than 5 per cent. will start an explosion."</p> + +<p>"What makes that cap?" queried Anton.</p> + +<p>"Fire damp or methane gas burning inside the wire gauze of the +safety-lamp."</p> + +<p>"But if the gas is already burning inside, why doesn't it explode +outside?"</p> + +<p>"Just because it's a safety-lamp, my boy. That's why the flame burns +inside a wire gauze. I'll explain that.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you take a lamp with a hot flame—an alcohol or spirit lamp +will do—and light it. Then hold a piece of close-meshed wire gauze +right on the flame. You'll find that the flame will spread under the +wire gauze but will not go through. Hold it long enough, though, until +the wire gets red hot, and, quite suddenly, the flame<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> will pass +through and burn above the gauze as well as below.</p> + +<p>"Try another trick. Put out the lamp and then hold the gauze just +where it was before. You can light the flame above the wire but it +will not pass below the gauze until the wire gets red-hot. That shows +that gas which is not burning can pass through a wire gauze, but that +gas which is aflame cannot pass until the wire is red-hot."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Anton, "I can see that."</p> + +<p>"Very good. Then, if you have a lamp which is burning inside a +cylinder of wire gauze, the gas of fire-damp can go through, and, if +there's enough of it to burn, it will burn above the flame of the +lamp, making an aureole or 'cap' just as Otto says. But the flaming +gas can't get back through the wire gauze to set fire to the fire-damp +outside, at least, not until the wire gets red-hot, which it's not +likely to do, seeing that the gas is in the middle, not underneath it.</p> + +<p>"That's how they test for fire-damp, nowadays. The flame of a +safety-lamp is drawn down until it shows only a small yellow tip. If +there's any fire-damp in the air, a light-blue halo appears over the +yellow flame. At a little more than 1 per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> cent., an experienced man +can judge that there is gas there, but the true 'cap,' which is +pointed like a cone, doesn't show until there's 2 per cent. of the +gas. At 3 per cent., the cap will be like a dunce's cap, and more than +half an inch high. At 4 per cent., it will be over an inch high, and +at 4-1/2 per cent. it'll form a column of blue flame. Then it's high +time to get out of the mine, and to get out quickly.</p> + +<p>"In the improved form of safety-lamps, the oil flame burns inside a +glass, but the air which reaches the flame has to pass through two +cylinders of wire gauze. The glass keeps the flame from ever touching +the innermost gauze, and, if an accident happens—such as the breaking +of the glass—it would still be fairly safe, for the burning gas +inside wouldn't pass through the inner gauze until that got red-hot, +and it wouldn't reach the outer gauze because the current of air +passing down between the two layers of wire mesh would keep the outer +gauze cool. This safety-lamp was invented by Sir Humphry Davy, in +England, in 1815, just after a big explosion in an English colliery +had cost hundreds of lives. All mines nowadays require that miners use +either safety-lamps or electric lamps, and it's every miner's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +business to report to the boss when he sees a cap of burning gas +inside his safety-lamp."</p> + +<p>The old miner nodded his head in agreement.</p> + +<p>"I won't use an electric lamp," he commented. "It's foolishness. The +gas sprites ain't really malicious. They're willin' enough to give a +warnin'. They'll put a cap on a flame if they don't want folks in that +part of the mine. An electric lamp tells nothin'. It won't even give a +warnin' against black damp."</p> + +<p>"Perfectly true," Clem agreed. "With an oil safety-lamp, the flame +gets dim or even goes out if there's too much black damp. The electric +lamp burns on, just the same, because the light is in a vacuum. Black +damp isn't so dangerous as fire damp, though. It only causes distress +and hard breathing because it shows that there's too big a proportion +of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the air and not enough oxygen. It's +oxygen that a man misses."</p> + +<p>"But black damp'll explode, too," put in Otto.</p> + +<p>"No," the other corrected, "it won't. But it often happens that +there's fire-damp around when black damp is present and the black damp +makes a test for gas difficult. It's the gas that explodes, not the +black damp.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>"It isn't always the explosiveness of a damp that makes it dangerous, +though," he went on. "As Otto could tell you, Anton, white damp is the +worst of the three. And it doesn't give any warning at all."</p> + +<p>"That's why we had that diviner in a Belgian mine," the old man +commented, gravely. "He could see the gas sprites in their blue veils. +But, if there's a lot o' white damp, you can tell it by the flame of a +safety-lamp gettin' a little longer an' brighter."</p> + +<p>"It's not safe to trust it," the young fellow advised. "You'd have +trouble seeing 2 per cent, of white damp, and you'd be dead before you +had much chance to look. Even with 1-1/2 per cent., a man would be +likely to drop before he reached a better-ventilated part of the mine, +and he couldn't see that much on the flame of his safety-lamp at all. +To breathe the air with only 1 per cent. of white damp for an hour +would put a man in such a state that he mightn't recover, and he +wouldn't have had any warning.</p> + +<p>"Luckily, there's much less danger of white damp in mines than there +used to be. It's a gas that's formed only when there's been something +burning. After an explosion in a mine, or a fire,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> there's sure to be +a lot of it, and rescue parties have always found it their worst foe. +But, in the ordinary working mine, it is rare."</p> + +<p>"Not so rare as all that!" objected Otto. "We used to have a lot of +it, on the other side."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't now," was the reply. "The white damp of those days was +due to the heavy charges of gunpowder or low explosive that were used, +explosives which are forbidden now in dangerous mines."</p> + +<p>"They were better'n the stuff we use nowadays," grumbled Otto, "they +brought down more coal an' didn't smash it up so bad."</p> + +<p>"They smashed up men, instead," Clem retorted. "And they put a whole +lot of white damp into a mine. That was really dangerous, because, in +those days, people hadn't found out the value of canaries."</p> + +<p>"I've often wondered about that," interjected Anton. "Why do the +testing-parties carry canaries?"</p> + +<p>"Because," answered Clem, with a smile, "canaries are as clever at +seeing the gas sprites as was the Belgian diviner that Otto talks +about. No, but seriously," he went on, "the reason is that canaries +are extremely susceptible to white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> damp. Less than 1/4 of one per +cent of white damp will cause a canary to collapse at once, and a man +could breath that proportion for an hour without much harm. Even a +tenth of one per cent. will cause the little bird to show signs of +distress."</p> + +<p>"It's tough on the bird," was Anton's sympathetic comment.</p> + +<p>"Not especially! As soon as a bird begins to show collapse, it is +taken back to the open air and is as frisky and lively as ever in five +minutes. But its value as a warning signal is enormous, for it tells +rescue parties or investigating parties when to put on gas masks or +breathing apparatus containing oxygen. In a well-ventilated mine, +however, where high explosive is used and handled by experienced men, +there's not likely to be much danger from white damp.</p> + +<p>"Stink damp is rare but can sometimes be dangerous. Generally, a +fellow is warned away, because of the smell—which is just like rotten +eggs. The worst part of stink damp is that it smells the worst when +there's only a little of it. When there's so much of it around as to +be deadly, it doesn't smell any worse. You get small quantities of it, +sometimes, in blasting, but generally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> hydrogen sulphide or stink damp +is found after a mine fire or an explosion. Rescue parties generally +carry a cage of mice as well as one of canaries."</p> + +<p>"With the same idea?" queried Anton.</p> + +<p>"Exactly. As little as a tenth of one per cent. of stink damp makes a +mouse sprawl on his belly, his legs don't seem strong enough to hold +him up; while, in the same air, a canary doesn't suffer a bit.</p> + +<p>"The only real danger in stink damp is when there's water in the mine, +for example when, after a fire, a lot of water has been pumped down +into the workings to put the fire out. Water absorbs stink damp very +easily and gives it up equally easily when stirred. So, if a member of +a rescue party puts his foot in a puddle of water where there has been +stink damp around, so much of the gas may suddenly come up in his face +as to topple him over.</p> + +<p>"But you can see, Anton, that most of the gas troubles in a mine come +from the blasting. That's why, nowadays, the miners who get out the +coal seldom or never fire the shots. Experienced men, trained +especially for that work, are used. After a miner has undercut the +coal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the shot-firer comes. He tests for gas before he begins work, +bores a deep hole in the coal with a drill, tests for gas again in +case he should have tapped a leak in the seam, cleans out the hole, +sends the miner for the box of explosive—which is kept thirty or +forty yards away from the face where the coal is being cut—and +prepares the charge with a detonater which he carries in a box over +his shoulder. The miner never touches either the explosive or the +detonater. Then the shot-firer puts the primed charge in the hole, +jams the hole full of clay with a wooden tamper—a steel bar might +cause a spark and a premature explosion—tests for gas again, connects +the electric wires from a portable battery around the rib corner, +fires the shot, returns to the face and tests for gas again. Then, and +not until then, does the miner begin to dig the coal. That way, every +one in the mine is safe."</p> + +<p>"Yes," growled the old miner, "and the shot-firer doesn't dig any +coal, nor do any hard work, an' gets paid more'n we do."</p> + +<p>"He knows more than you do," Clem responded, "and he gets better pay +because his experience and prudence is worth a lot of money to the +mine. Just think what an explosion costs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>—to say nothing of the risk +of lives being lost! And you won't find experienced shot-firers or +mine-managers talking about gas sprites, Otto!"</p> + +<p>"Better for 'em if they did!" the old man warned. "For I'm sayin' to +you again, what I said before—the spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood!"</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ENTOMBED ALIVE</span></h2> + + +<p>"Danger! You're plumb crazy about danger, Clem!" Anton declared +impatiently.</p> + +<p>The older lad gestured to the big building of the pit-mouth before +them, above which the spider-like legs of the headgear soared high, +surmounted by the huge double winding-wheels which give so +characteristic a note to a modern colliery.</p> + +<p>"Any one who forgets that a coal-mine is dangerous is a fool," he +retorted sharply, "and keep that in your head, Anton, my lad. Not that +danger would ever stop me from mining. I like it. I like to feel that +I'm running a risk every time I go into an entry and every time +there's a blast. And I like to feel that I know enough about safety +methods to snap my fingers at the risk. There's excitement in that."</p> + +<p>"There'll be excitement enough, if old Otto's warnings come true," +returned Anton gloomily.</p> + +<p>Two days had passed since the old miner's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> prophecy, two days without +any unusual incident. Clem had all but forgotten the evil presage, but +Anton was brooding over it. It was his work to load cars in the room +where Clem was mining, and the boy's superstitious nature made him +painfully aware that if any accident happened to his comrade, he would +probably be caught, too.</p> + +<p>Anton had been working in the mine only a few weeks and he had not yet +been able to grasp the need of Clem's incessant teaching with regard +to the extreme prudence needed in colliery work. He had almost caused +a serious accident during his first week by not blocking his car +properly. The half-loaded car had begun to move down the slope of the +mine gallery, it might easily have run clear down into the entry and +possibly killed some one if Clem had not dashed forward and checked +the car before it had too much speed.</p> + +<p>In general, Anton had not reasoned much about the danger or the lack +of danger in coal-mining. He regarded the pit as a matter of course. +It was the only life he knew. All his comrades were at work in the +mine or would be at work therein, as soon as their school-days were +over. The boy himself had started early, soon after his father's +death, since it was the only employment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> to be got in the neighborhood +and he had his widowed mother to support.</p> + +<p>Clem had found a place in the mine for his friend without any +difficulty, for Anton was powerfully muscled. In this he took after +his father, who had been almost a Hercules and one of the champion +wrestlers of the mine. Born of miner stock on both sides, Anton was +short and squat, able to shovel coal all day without fatigue. He had +accordingly, been taken on as a loader, Clem undertaking to keep an +eye over him.</p> + +<p>It took the older lad all his time to do so. Anton was absolutely +reckless by nature, and, though he was constantly being advised as to +the necessary precautions for making mining safe, he could never be +persuaded to adopt them.</p> + +<p>Instead of blocking his car with one log placed across the track and +another under the car and resting on the transverse log, he would put +a piece of coal under the wheel and trust to its staying there; he +would wear his coat loosely, over his trousers, though he was told +over and over again that he ran the risk of his coat being caught by +the cars, when switching, and being dragged along the side of the rib: +on another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> occasion, Clem found the boy starting along the +haulage-way used for the coal cars instead of using the man-way +reserved for the workers, in order to save a couple of minutes' time.</p> + +<p>What exasperated Clem even more was that, since Otto's warning, Anton +had become more careless than ever. It was evident that the fatalistic +streak in the boy made him feel that if he were foredoomed to an +accident, there was no use in trying to prevent it.</p> + +<p>The boy's impatient exclamation and his comrade's retort about danger +had occurred while they were in line in front of the lamp shack, +waiting to get their safety-lamps before going down for the day shift.</p> + +<p>As in most well-organized collieries, the safety-lamps were filled and +adjusted by experts, who looked after nothing else. After the lamps +were lighted, they were locked—and not one of the miners was allowed +a key. Thus the lamps could not be opened below ground and there was +no chance for a reckless man to expose a naked flame in a room or +entry where there might chance to be gas. A safety-lamp would not go +out unless the air in the mine was so vitiated that it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> dangerous +to life to remain therein, or unless there was some defect in the lamp +which would render it perilous to use.</p> + +<p>After the lamps had been given out, Clem and Anton got in the cage to +go down the shaft. Otto happened to be descending at the same time.</p> + +<p>"We're still waiting for your 'knockers' to show themselves!" Clem +suggested jestingly.</p> + +<p>The old man deigned no reply. Instead, he looked round the cage +meaningly at the other men there, most of whom frowned at Clem's +remark. Among miners, it is believed to bring bad luck to speak or +even to hint of accidents when in the cage. Only Otto's personal +liking for the young fellow kept him from a retort which might have +brought on a quarrel.</p> + +<p>On reaching the bottom, Clem and Anton set out along the man-way +together. It was a walk of nearly a mile underground from the main +shaft of the mine to the distant "room" or square hole in the seam, +where Clem was to dig away the coal face, and which was one of the +rooms from which Anton was loading coal.</p> + +<p>This Ohio colliery was being worked on what is known as the +pillar-and-room method. This consists in dividing the seam of coal +into squares<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> like a chessboard, taking out the coal from each +alternate square, leaving the intervening squares of coal intact to +act as pillars in holding up the roof. They do not look like pillars +to a careless observer, often being blocks of coal thirty yards +square.</p> + +<p>"It seems silly," said Anton, after they had walked on a minute or +two, "to leave all this coal near the shaft and to go digging a mile +away. Why not take all the coal that is handy first?"</p> + +<p>"And have the roof come down and block up all the coal that is beyond? +That would be just throwing away the wealth of the mine."</p> + +<p>"Timber the roof, then!"</p> + +<p>"It would cost too much, for one thing," Clem explained, "and, for +another, all the timber in the world won't hold up a roof if the +excavation is made too big. There's millions of tons of rock pressing +down on a mine roof. Judging by the way you talk, Anton, I don't +believe you understand what a coal formation is, yet."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it like Otto said, then?"</p> + +<p>"Only in a way. Otto's description of the coal forests was near +enough—in spite of his ideas about goblins and sprites—and he was +correct in saying that the forests decayed under water and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> turned +into coal after they were pressed down by rock. But it wasn't the +Flood that did that, at least not the Flood that Otto was speaking of. +The coal forests existed millions of years before Noah.</p> + +<p>"What's more, it wasn't only just once that the forests were covered +by a deluge. That happened several times, a hundred or more, in some +places.</p> + +<p>"For centuries at a time, these gloomy and steaming forests grew in +boggy land, only a few inches above the level of the sea. Gradually +the land sank, the sea came in, the trees fell and decayed under the +water, and a layer of mud or sand was deposited over them. Then +gradually the land rose again just above the level of the sea, and a +new forest grew. Once more the land sank below the water, the second +forest fell into decay and upon that layer a new deposit of mud or +sand was laid. That gave two layers or seams of coal-forest-bog, to be +turned later into coal by pressure; and two layers or strata of mud or +sand, to be turned into shale and slate or into sandstone, also by +pressure.</p> + +<p>"When a long time elapsed between the swampings, several centuries of +coal forests had made a deep bed of bog, which, ages after, became a +thick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> seam of coal. When the swampings happened close together, the +layer of bog was shallow, producing a thin seam of coal. In the same +way, the layers of shale or sandstone are thick or thin according to +the length of time that the land was under the water.</p> + +<p>"Because of that, Anton, in nearly every colliery there is not just +one layer or seam of coal, but a number of them. There are sixteen +different seams in this mine, showing that the land rose and fell +sixteen times, probably in the course of a million years.</p> + +<p>"Some mines show much bigger changes. In the famous coal basin of +Mons, in Belgium, there are 157 layers of coal, of which 120 are thick +enough to be workable. The Saar basin, on the left bank of the Rhine, +which has played so important a part in the international troubles +following the end of the World War, has 164 seams, with 77 of them +workable, giving a thickness of 240 feet of coal. However, as the +lowest layers are nearly four miles deep, they will probably never be +worked."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"To start with, the cost of haulage to the top would be enormous. But, +aside from that, a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> many mining engineers figure that the +temperature at that depth would be above boiling point. You know, in +general, the farther you go down in a mine, the hotter it gets."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by a seam being 'workable'?" the boy queried. "Can't +all coal be dug out?"</p> + +<p>"Not by a long shot. At least not so as to be worked at a profit. +Suppose a seam of coal is only a few inches thick, how is a miner +going to dig it out? He couldn't crawl in such a seam, let alone using +his tools there."</p> + +<p>"He could cut out enough rock at the top and bottom to give him a +chance to get in."</p> + +<p>"A miner is paid for digging coal, not digging rock," was the answer. +"What's more, according to your scheme, so much shale or sandstone +would be mixed with the coal that it would be useless for burning.</p> + +<p>"Even seams two feet thick are so hard to work that most of them are +left alone, and a seam three feet thick means extra expense in getting +out the coal because of the difficulty of labor in hewing and +transporting the coal from the face to the shaft. The ideal thickness +is between six<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> and eight feet, where a man can stand upright and can +reach to the roof with a slate bar. That height, too, makes timbering +easy.</p> + +<p>"Very thick seams have their own difficulties. The worst of these is +the supporting of the roof. Take a seam 30 or 40 feet thick, for +example. Look at the size of the hole that is left when the coal is +dug away! Timbering becomes a real problem, there, for the longer a +prop is, Anton, the weaker it is. Coal managers in mines like those +have to do some careful figuring, or the cost of the timber they put +into the mine would be more than the value of the coal they take out."</p> + +<p>"How do they handle it then?"</p> + +<p>"As if it were a quarry, rather than a mine. The seam is worked on +successive levels, but, even then, it is impossible to prevent +constant accidents from the fall of coal or the sudden collapse of a +roof. Take it the world over, and ten miners are killed every day in +collieries alone. I told you coal mining was dangerous."</p> + +<p>"But are there any of those thick seams in the United States?"</p> + +<p>"None of the really thick ones. There's a 40-foot anthracite seam in +Pennsylvania. But in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> France, near the famous Creusot works, there's a +bed of coal which is 130 feet thick. It's a basin, though, rather than +a seam.</p> + +<p>"So you see, Anton, every coal mine is different, with its layers or +seams of coal of different thicknesses and at varying distances apart. +Some pits are near the surface, some are very deep; some coal is full +of gas, other has very little; some coal is so hard that every bit of +it has to be blasted, in other mines the coal is so soft that the +hewer spends half his time spragging the face so that the coal doesn't +fall on him when he's undercutting or holing. Don't you make the +mistake of thinking that all a miner has to do is to use his pick! +He's got to know his business thoroughly or he's useless to the mine +boss and a danger to all his fellow-workmen.</p> + +<p>"And that isn't all, Anton, not by a good deal!</p> + +<p>"Coal mining might be bad enough, even if the coal seams always ran +level. But it's very seldom that they do. They run up-hill and +down-hill in all sorts of fashions and play hide-and-go-seek in a way +that's fairly bewildering.</p> + +<p>"Nearly all coal seams are broken up by faults. The coal suddenly +seems to stop, and, when you go to hewing it the pick suddenly hits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +against a rock wall, right on the level of the seam. In the North +Gallery of this very mine, there's a fault like that. You know where +the 'snagger' is?"</p> + +<p>"Sure," agreed Anton, "you mean where the cars have to be hitched on +to a chain?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there! The coal seam jumps upwards fifty feet. That's why the +cars, after rolling down nearly a quarter of a mile, by gravity, have +to be pulled up fifty feet by an endless chain, to rejoin the same +seam and then to go rolling on down by themselves."</p> + +<p>"Just what are faults?"</p> + +<p>"H'm, that's a bit hard to explain to you, Anton, because you don't +know anything about geology, but maybe I can get you to see. Faults +are breaks in the layers of rock, or in the stratification, as it is +called. All coal seams and the rocks above and below them have been +laid down by water. Since water levels everything, these layers of +rock were level, once.</p> + +<p>"In ages past, however, the crust of the earth changed a good deal. As +the crust cooled, it contracted, crumpling up these different layers +into all sorts of shapes. Sometimes it bulged them up, sometimes it +hollowed them down so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> that the edges rose. Quite often a layer of +rock would be cracked right across, and one half would stay level +while the other shot up almost a right angle. A good many mountains +show the result of this, and if you look at such rocks as are sticking +up out of the ground you will see some of them standing right on edge. +Once in a while, part of the broken crust slid over the other part. +Then, too, though the surface may not always show it, there have been +breaks in the strata below, and at the break, the layer has sunk or +risen quite a distance from its former level.</p> + +<p>"If that happens to a coal seam, you can see that where the seam +breaks, suddenly, the rest of it will continue on another level, +perhaps only a few feet higher or lower, perhaps a good deal more. +It's up to the mine geologist to find where the coal has gone to, and +it's the business of the mine engineer to remodel the entire system of +working the mine in order to get at that seam."</p> + +<p>"And are all coal mines mixed up in that funny way?" Anton queried.</p> + +<p>"Most of them. Oh, there's no end to the tricks a coal seam can play. +A deep coal seam may split into two narrow ones, too thin to work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +The whole seam may quickly dwindle away to nothing, showing that, in +ages past, a river came rolling over it and washed away all the forest +bog. Sometimes, especially with the lowermost seams, the forest grew +on rolling land, so that the bottom of the coal seam is irregular, +causing all sorts of trouble in laying rails for the cars to roll on. +Sometimes the layer of rock under a coal seam is so soft that when you +start to timber it, the timbers sink into the floor and the roof comes +toppling down.</p> + +<p>"Among the queerest of all the things a mine geologist strikes are +what are called dykes. These are great shafts of igneous rock, which +were thrust up from the interior of the earth in a white-hot state and +which burned away the coal as they rose. They put a dead stop to a +working. I could tell you a dozen more freak things that a coal seam +can do. A mine geologist has not only a new problem to tackle with +every mine, but, often, with every mine gallery."</p> + +<p>"Is that what you're studying to be, Clem?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" The young fellow's answer was emphatic. "That's 'way out +of my reach. It takes a college man, with special technical training +and a big experience, to be anything of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> a mine geologist. All I'm +trying to do is to learn enough about it so that when I get to be a +mine boss—if I ever do—I'll know what my chiefs are trying to do and +I'll be able to help them.</p> + +<p>"Take Otto, for example. There isn't a better worker in the mine. He +gets out more coal and less broken stuff than any other man below +ground. But he'll never be anything but a hewer, because he doesn't +want to learn. Why, just the other day, he was growling because the +mine was shut down to repair one of the shafts, though the other shaft +was working all right."</p> + +<p>"So were a lot of the men," Anton put in. "Why couldn't they go on +working, with one shaft?"</p> + +<p>"Against the law," was the crisp answer. "That's the A B C of mining. +And I'll show you why! All mines are required to have two shafts, in +case of accident. That law was passed because of a famous disaster +that happened in England nearly a hundred years ago.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"In those days, colliers had only one shaft. One day, the beam of an +engine which was directly over a shaft snapped, and a huge piece of +ma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>chinery, weighing several tons, tumbled into the shaft and stuck, +not far from the bottom. As it fell, it ripped away the planking which +lined the shaft and a whole lot of loose rock and earth fell on top of +the piece of machinery, blocking up the shaft entirely and stopping +any air from passing. There were over two hundred men and boys at work +below ground.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 314px;"><a name="ill54" id="ill54"></a> +<img src="images/ill-54.jpg" width="314" height="500" alt="Miners Descending a Shaft." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Miners Descending a Shaft.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>From an Old Print.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill55a" id="ill55a"></a> +<img src="images/ill-55a.jpg" width="500" height="359" alt="Falling-in of a Mine." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap illspace">Falling-in of a Mine.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill55b" id="ill55b"></a> +<img src="images/ill-55b.jpg" width="500" height="363" alt="Explosion of "Fire-Damp."" title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"><p class="smcap">Explosion of "Fire-Damp."</p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">"With only one shaft, you can see what a mess that made! Before any +digging could be done, the lining of the shaft had to be repaired, +because dirt and rocks were falling into the shaft all the time. +Miners—hundreds of them—were brought from neighboring mines, and +they worked night and day on two-hour shifts, clinging to the sides of +the shaft as thick as bees in a hive. Others, risking their lives with +every stroke of the pick, dug away at the earth and rock that had +fallen on the big chunk of machinery. With all the speed that human +effort could compass, it was six days and nights before a hole had +been made through the obstruction big enough for a man to pass. And, +when the first rescuer reached the workings below, the 200 men were +dead. Not a single one survived. The miners had been en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>tombed alive +without any air passage and could do nothing, absolutely nothing, to +help themselves out of their living grave.</p> + +<p>"Ever since then, every colliery in Europe and the United States is +required to have two shafts, and the law demands that these shall be +no less than fifteen yards apart and connected by a wide passage. Not +only that, but each shaft must have a complete outfit of winding +machinery coupled to separate engines, so that, in the event of an +accident happening to one shaft, the men below ground can be rescued +up the other."</p> + +<p>"That sounds all right," said Anton, rather gloomily, "but suppose the +way to both shafts is blocked?"</p> + +<p>"Not likely," Clem responded cheerfully, "if a mine has been properly +laid out. Take this one, there are half a dozen ways to get from the +face to the shaft."</p> + +<p>"But Otto said—"</p> + +<p>The other turned upon him sharply.</p> + +<p>"I've had about enough of that Otto business! If you can't keep from +thinking about it, keep from talking about it, anyhow!"</p> + +<p>To this rebuke Anton maintained a stubborn silence, and, without +another word said, the two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> walked on until they reached their +respective places of work.</p> + +<p>In the gloomy world of below ground, where the dusty wall of sooty +black is the only landscape to be seen, one day is very much like +another. Reaching his room, Clem stood his tools in order along the +rib, hung his safety lamp on a nail which he drove into a prop +supporting the roof, and, reaching up so as to put one hand on the +roof, tapped it with the flat side of his pick to make sure that there +was no loose slate overhead. He then examined the coal face, as it had +been left by the hewer who had been working on the night shift, to +make sure that it had been properly spragged or timbered.</p> + +<p>This done, Clem stripped naked to the waist, for it was hot in that +hole far below ground. Then, lying down flat on his side, his bare +shoulder resting on the gritty ground, he started to pick away the +coal at the level of the floor and just above it, making a +wedge-shaped hole extending under the seam for a distance in of three +feet.</p> + +<p>Many mines, especially in America, use mechanical coal-cutters for +this back-breaking labor. These machines are especially useful in +mines<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> where the coal-seams are less than 3-1/2 feet thick, and they +are well adapted to "long-wall" workings where the whole face of the +coal is removed in a single operation. Some are mounted with a toothed +bar which moves in and out, chipping the coal; other types are like +circular saws; several forms have the same action as a miner's pick, +the percussions being at the speed of two hundred strokes a minute, +the motive-power being compressed air.</p> + +<p>In pillar-and-room workings, such as this Ohio mine, chain heading +machines were used. This American invention consists of a bed-plate +which rests on the floor and is secured in position by screw-jacks +braced against the roof and against the rib. On this bed-plate rests a +sliding frame which carries a revolving chain on which cutting tools +are fixed. The machine carries its own motor, which not only drives +the chain, but also slides forward the frame into the cut. When the +cut is made to the full depth of the machine, it is withdrawn, and the +machine moved over its own width and another cut commenced. Several of +these machines were at work in the mine, but chiefly in that part of +it where the pillars were being cut away, and where speed in removing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +the coal was a prime necessity. In the more distant rooms, hand labor +was used.</p> + +<p>All these machines work on exactly the same principle as that of the +miner, lying on his back or on his side, and digging at the coal with +his pick. The coal must be undercut as far in as a pick or a +mechanical coal-cutter will reach, for the entire width of the face. +Every few feet, short props or sprags are put in from the edge of the +undermined portion to the floor, to prevent a premature fall, which +might bury the miner.</p> + +<p>When the whole face is undercut and spragged, the shot-firer is +summoned. One or more holes, three feet deep, are bored in the coal, +close to the roof, these holes are filled with explosive and tamped +shut with moist clay, and the charges are fired. This blasting brings +down the coal off the face, clear from the rock roof to the undermined +portion, for such a distance as it has been undercut.</p> + +<p>The miner then shovels away the coal far enough to allow him to lie +down again and continue his terribly laborious task, while the loader +comes and shovels the blasted coal into cars or into endless-chain +conveyors, according to the arrangement of the mine.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>Day in, day out, this hewing continues. While the miner is at work, he +is always in a cramped position, his body twisted, his muscles at a +strain, performing his toilsome labor in the half-dark, in the heat, +in poor air, choked with coal-dust constantly and menaced by death +every moment. He is well paid, but most fully does he earn every cent +he gets.</p> + +<p>The morning had almost passed, and Anton was near the entry, where he +heard, in the distance, a dull rumble like thunder, followed by a +queer cracking sound which seemed to travel along the rock overhead.</p> + +<p>The boy halted involuntarily in his task of pushing an empty car back +to a room for loading. Little as he knew of the noises below ground, +he sensed something strange. The deep silence of a coal mine is +generally broken only by the sharp report of a blast or the rattle of +cars, and this rumble did not resemble either sound.</p> + +<p>A second or two later, a miner dashed past him, without his tools, his +safety-lamp swinging as he ran.</p> + +<p>"The bank is coming down!" he yelled, and disappeared down the +gallery.</p> + +<p>Almost at the same moment, another man came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> out of the entry, his +naked back gleaming as he passed under the electric light hanging at +the opening of the entry.</p> + +<p>"Make for the shaft, kid!" he shouted, when he saw the shine of +Anton's lamp.</p> + +<p>A sudden babble of excited cries, borne on the strong current of the +ventilating air, reached the boy's ears.</p> + +<p>It was the doom of Otto's warning!</p> + +<p>Shoving a lump of coal under the car-wheel, Anton whirled on his heel +to follow the escaping miners, when, like a blow, came the stunning +thought:</p> + +<p>"Clem!"</p> + +<p>He hesitated an instant, and, while he halted, a second and a louder +crash told him that the fall of rock—wherever it might be +happening—was not over. Every fraction of a second that he delayed +might ruin his chances of escape.</p> + +<p>But Anton was of sturdy miner stock, and, in addition, was thoroughly +fatalistic. That very feature of his character which his older comrade +had blamed so often, now was to show its good side. If he were going +to be caught by the fall, there was no use in his trying to prevent +it, he thought.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>In any case, no matter what might come, though the roof cracked above +him and the coal-ribs crushed beside him, he must warn his friend.</p> + +<p>Turning his back to the way of hope, he tore at his utmost speed +towards the room where Clem was working, taking some small comfort, as +he ran, that the rumbling sounded farther and farther away.</p> + +<p>"Clem!" he cried, panting, as he turned into the room where his friend +was digging coal, "run for your life!"</p> + +<p>By the terror in Anton's voice, the young fellow realized the peril. +In his isolated room, he had not heard a sound.</p> + +<p>Leaping to his feet and grabbing his safety-lamp from the prop, he ran +after Anton, who had started back on the road leading to the shaft. +Fleeter of foot than the boy, he caught up with him in a few yards.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he queried.</p> + +<p>"The bank's down!"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Everywhere. The whole mine's smashing! Every one else +has got out long ago!"</p> + +<p>An ominous creaking sounded over their heads.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>Clem caught his comrade by the arm and pulled him into a narrow entry +near by.</p> + +<p>"Go slow! We don't want to get smashed!"</p> + +<p>He held up his safety-lamp.</p> + +<p>"Look at that prop!"</p> + +<p>The heavy timber was bending like a twig.</p> + +<p>"Get on quick!" cried Anton, struggling against the grasp, but the +young fellow held him fast.</p> + +<p>"Don't lose your head!" he warned. "The current of air has stopped, +sure sign that the way to the shafts is blocked. The nearer we get to +the goaf (waste ground), the more likely we are to get crushed. +Listen!"</p> + +<p>The creaking grew louder, and then, suddenly, with a rush of sound, +the gallery in front of them, into which Anton had been about to +plunge, sagged. The bending prop went into splinters, and, with a +roar, the whole roof fell, the broken rock coming to within a few +yards of where they were standing.</p> + +<p>"Close shave, that!" remarked Clem coolly.</p> + +<p>Anton made no answer, but shivered as he looked. He realized that his +comrade's warning had saved his life.</p> + +<p>The trembling and the creaking recommenced,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> but farther away; then, +with a gigantic noise of tearing, there came a rending crash, followed +by utter silence.</p> + +<p>"Now!"</p> + +<p>He let go the boy's arm and turned sharp off to the right.</p> + +<p>"That's not the way to the shaft," protested Anton.</p> + +<p>"We'll try the North Gallery," answered Clem. "Likely enough the fall +has followed the line of the fault."</p> + +<p>A sharp run of a hundred yards brought them to a pile of rock blocking +up the passage. Clem licked his hand to make it moist, and then slowly +passed it across the entire face of the obstruction.</p> + +<p>"No!" he said. "There's not a breath of air coming through. That way's +blocked."</p> + +<p>He turned in another direction. With all the ventilation stopped, the +air was growing heavy. Fifty yards' run, and then—</p> + +<p>Blocked again!</p> + +<p>This time Clem made no comment. He turned back to try the farther side +of the mine. As they wheeled round a corner, and saw a gleam of light +he cried, with a note of relief:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>"There they are! I knew they'd send in a rescue party, right away!"</p> + +<p>Then his voice dropped.</p> + +<p>"No," he added, "there's only one lamp."</p> + +<p>A single miner came running towards them.</p> + +<p>"The North Gallery?" he queried.</p> + +<p>"No good, Jim," Clem answered, who recognized him as a new-comer in +the mine. "Blocked solid!"</p> + +<p>"So's the entries to the goaf! I've been there! How about the old +workings I've heard the boys talk of?"</p> + +<p>The student miner shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Not much chance that way, I'm afraid. They'll be full of gas, sure. +The ventilation has been cut out of there for months. But we can try +it, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I'd ought to ha' known better'n to work this shift," declared Jim, as +they ran. "You mind when you talked to Otto in the cage, comin' down?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, Otto wouldn't go to work, nohow. Said the knockers had been +riled an' he wouldn't take the risk o' goin' agin 'em. The boss swore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +at him some, but that didn' faze Otto. He went to the top, just the +same. He had the right hunch. Wish I'd followed him!"</p> + +<p>They ran on, and Jim broke out again:</p> + +<p>"I'd no business to come coal minin', anyway. I'm a prospector, by +rights. Gold's my end, not coal. You're s'posed to know this game. +What chance ha' we got?"</p> + +<p>Clem made no answer in words. He held up his safety-lamp, already +showing a marked blue cap of gas over the flame.</p> + +<p>"I'd seen it a'ready! That means gas, don't it?"</p> + +<p>"We may get through it," said Clem, but his tone was not hopeful.</p> + +<p>They turned into a long gallery leading to the old workings, and, as +they sped along, the cones of gas on the safety lamps grew longer and +longer.</p> + +<p>Presently lumps of slate and rock on the floor heralded the end.</p> + +<p>Quite suddenly, the gleam of the lamps shone on a wall before them. +The roof had fallen in.</p> + +<p>"That's the last chance?" queried Anton, gloomily.</p> + +<p>"The very last," said Clem, "we're buried."</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE DANGERS OF RESCUE</span></h2> + + +<p>The midday whistle of the mine had just begun, when a violent blast of +air roared up the intake shaft, followed by a portentous—</p> + +<p>Cra-a-ack!</p> + +<p>A terrific crash rose from the bowels of the earth.</p> + +<p>The growling rumble of the underground disaster came rolling upward in +throbbing volumes of sound.</p> + +<p>The ground trembled, the buildings shook, the lofty skeleton of the +pit-head gear wavered as though about to let fall the huge revolving +wheels overhead.</p> + +<p>From the engine-house, from the pumping-room, from the ventilation +building, from the screeners and washers, from the picking-belts, from +the loading-yards, from the coking-ovens, from every corner of the +vast above-ground works of a modern colliery, the men came running.</p> + +<p>Some were white of face, some sooty, but all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> bore an expression of +the most extreme anxiety.</p> + +<p>The mine superintendent, who was also the owner, the mine boss, and +the mining engineer were among the first at the shaft. The doctor and +hospital attendant—whom the law requires to be maintained at all +mines employing more than a hundred men—arrived but a few seconds +later.</p> + +<p>The superintendent, a vigorous Australian, who had taken part in many +a sensational mining rush in his youth, and who had inherited the +ownership of this coal mine from a distant relative but a few years +before, leaped into action. Orders came rattling like hail.</p> + +<p>All haulage of coal from below was stopped. The engine on the second +shaft was thrown into gear, and the cages in both shafts were sent +down to bring up the men.</p> + +<p>Would there be any to bring?</p> + +<p>What did the crash denote? A mere fall of roof, which might cause the +loss of a few lives, or a vast explosion which would sweep every man +below ground to death in a few seconds?</p> + +<p>The cages had hardly reached the bottom when there came the second +crash.</p> + +<p>The crowd around the shaft was thickening.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> The doors of the hundreds +of cottages clustered in rows about the colliery had been thrown open; +from every direction the women came running, their shawls streaming +behind them. Many of them had already lost fathers or husbands or sons +below ground; all knew the awful menace of that sickening rumble.</p> + +<p>With all the speed that the winding-engines could be made to give, the +cages were hauled up. They had not yet reached the top when a sudden +cry of horror arose. Otto, who had not gone home, despite his +abandonment of the day's work, but who had hung around the pit-head +all day, pointed with his finger to the steep hillside that rose +abruptly above the mine.</p> + +<p>The hill itself was falling!</p> + +<p>The pine forest swayed, as though the huge trees were but blades of +grass, seemed to move downward a few yards, sending up a cloud of +dust, and then fairly plunged down the slope in an avalanche of rocks, +trees and earth mixed with tremendous bowlders. With a roar like the +fall of a near-by thunderbolt, the landslide ripped away the side of +the hill, the ground settling with a shiver like that of an +earthquake, and sagging perceptibly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>"Sound the emergency whistle!" came the command.</p> + +<p>A minute or two later, a series of shrill screeches gave the signal +for summoning the rescue corps. Nearly all American mines, following +the requirements and suggestions of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, +maintain elaborately equipped rescue stations, manned by picked miners +who are regularly drilled in the use of the apparatus.</p> + +<p>Before the emergency signal had finished sounding the second time, +both the rescue team and the first-aid team were at their places. +Simultaneously, the cages containing the first load of miners came to +the top.</p> + +<p>A great sigh of relief went up.</p> + +<p>"Well?" queried the superintendent to one of the mine foremen, who was +in the first cage.</p> + +<p>"A big roof-fall, sir," was the reply. "It was still fallin' when I +came up. I left Lloyd to handle the men at the bottom while I came up +to report."</p> + +<p>"Gas?"</p> + +<p>"None showin' as yet, sir. But I came right away. It might gather a +bit later."</p> + +<p>"How many missing?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>"Can't tell, sir. Most o' the men seemed to be gettin' clear."</p> + +<p>"Ready to go down again?"</p> + +<p>"Sure!"</p> + +<p>"All right, get in the cage, then."</p> + +<p>The assistant superintendent, the mining engineer, the safety +inspector, and the fire boss were already in. The foreman jumped in +beside them, and the cage rattled down to the bottom.</p> + +<p>Already the word had spread to the gathering crowd that the accident +was but a roof-fall, not an explosion, that two cages full of miners +had come and that there was a likelihood that most of the men were +safe.</p> + +<p>Volunteers clustered around the mine-owner, clamoring to be allowed to +go down.</p> + +<p>"We'll dig 'em out, sir!" they cried cheerily.</p> + +<p>"Keep back, men!" was the answer. "Wait till we know just what has to +be done. Maybe every one below ground will have a chance to get out."</p> + +<p>There was need for caution. While mine disasters are numerous—over +two thousand men being killed every year in United States collieries +alone—such an accident as this one had rarely happened before. The +landslide above, combined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> with the sinking of the strata below, +produced a condition which might be of the extremest danger.</p> + +<p>The foreman of the pumping plant was the first to find evidence of +this trouble. He hurried forward, consternation on his face.</p> + +<p>"Mr Owens, the pumps have quit working!"</p> + +<p>"What's wrong?"</p> + +<p>"Pipes busted, sir, probably. The turbine's goin' all right, but she's +suckin' air."</p> + +<p>"How much water were you throwing this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Over three thousand gallons an hour, sir."</p> + +<p>"H'm, it won't take long to drown the mine at that rate. And if there +are any poor fellows cut off—"</p> + +<p>He turned to the store-house keeper.</p> + +<p>"Got plenty of spare pipe?"</p> + +<p>"Lots of it, sir."</p> + +<p>"Get it out!"</p> + +<p>Then, to the mine boss:</p> + +<p>"Murchison, get a new pipe down the uptake shaft as quick as you know +how! Double pay for every man working on the job! Put them on the +jump!"</p> + +<p>As fast as his eye could travel round the circle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> of eager men, the +boss picked his workers, miners of tried worth.</p> + +<p>Almost as though by magic a line was formed from the storehouse to the +shaft. Mechanics, with their tools ready, were on the ladders by the +time the first joint of pipe reached the shaft, and the first +nine-foot length was flanged on in less than five minutes after the +giving of the order. So fast were the joints thimbled and braced +against the side of the shaft that the long pipe seemed to grow like a +living thing. In an hour's time, the pumps were going again.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the time clerk, not needing to wait for his orders, had +checked the names of all the men who had come up the shaft, until the +cage came up empty save for the foreman.</p> + +<p>"That's the last," he said.</p> + +<p>The time clerk closed his book and nodded, then went to the +superintendent.</p> + +<p>"Eight missing, sir."</p> + +<p>"That's bad enough, though it might have been a good deal worse. Make +out a detailed list and bring it here."</p> + +<p>Truly it was bad enough. The fire boss and safety engineer had +reported that fire had broken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> out in some part of the mine, probably, +for white damp was leaking through. The report of the mining engineer +was graver still. The first subsidence of the mine had caused the +landslide, and the shock of the landslide had crushed all the +galleries leading from the shafts.</p> + +<p>"You mean that all the workings are smashed in?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't say that. They can't be, the way the workings are laid +out. But there's more rock to be cleared away than I like to think +about. How many men are caught?"</p> + +<p>"Eight."</p> + +<p>"Do you know whereabouts, Mr Owens?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you in a minute. Here's the clerk now." He scanned the +list. "Well, three of them were working in the end galleries."</p> + +<p>"They might be safe," interjected the mining engineer. "That's under +the hill."</p> + +<p>"Two of them," the superintendent continued, "were working in the +broken, out towards the old workings, and the other three were near +the North Gallery."</p> + +<p>"We might get at the last three, but, judging from the lie, the old +workings section will be choked until Doomsday."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>"You mean we can't try to get those two men out?"</p> + +<p>The mining engineer looked his chief full in the face.</p> + +<p>"No, you can't," he said bluntly. "There's a fair chance of rescue in +the North Gallery section, and, as for the others, we might drive +galleries through to the rooms under the hill—though it'll take some +time. The two men in the old workings are gone. They're probably +smashed under the fall, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I'll get all those men out or break my neck trying!" burst out the +owner of the mine.</p> + +<p>"If you scatter your forces, you won't do anything," the mining +engineer retorted. As an expert in his profession, he was prepared to +back his own opinion against all the officials of the mine, from the +owner down, the more so as he knew that his chief had not spent his +life in coal mining.</p> + +<p>Owens glared at him, but he knew that the engineer was right.</p> + +<p>"Lay out the work, then, since you know so much! I'll have the gangs +ready, by the time you are. You think the men in the end galleries can +be got at?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of it, if they hold out long enough,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> and if they're lucky +enough to escape the damps. Our main trouble is going to be the +timbering. Now, the farther in we go, the farther we get from the +break. The roof will be solid back there, most likely. That's why I +think a good chance of rescue lies that way."</p> + +<p>"Get at that end first, then. Clem Swinton's in that group of men. I'd +be sorry to lose him. He's the most promising young fellow in the +mine."</p> + +<p>The mining engineer nodded.</p> + +<p>"I know him. He's been attending the night school. You're right. We +can't afford to lose him. It's easy enough to find miners—especially +foreigners—but a young American who wants to learn the colliery +business thoroughly is rare. I've had my eye on him, too."</p> + +<p>At this point, Otto, who had been edging near his superiors and who +had overheard the conversation, broke in.</p> + +<p>"You don't need to worry over Clem Swinton, Mr. Owens," he said. +"Clem'll get a good scare out o' this, an' that's about all."</p> + +<p>"How do you know, Otto?" The superintendent spoke good-humoredly, for +he knew and liked the old man. On more than one occasion, when a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +strike was threatened Otto's good sense had held back his +fellow-miners from violent measures, and his chiefs recognized both +his popularity and his loyalty. "Did your friends the 'knockers' tell +you so?"</p> + +<p>"They did, Mr Owens," was the unperturbed answer. "You'll see if I +ain't right!"</p> + +<p>"I hope you are. I'll put you in charge of one of the gangs at that +end, if you like."</p> + +<p>"I was a-goin' to," responded Otto, who had never doubted that he +would be chosen for the post.</p> + +<p>By four o'clock in the afternoon, work had been thoroughly organized. +The pumps had got control of the water, a temporary ventilating +circuit had been established in an effort to keep the mine air +pure—for the main system had been destroyed by the fall, and the +mining gangs were at work, digging away the obstruction and loading +with feverish haste.</p> + +<p>This was a very different matter from hewing coal, which is always +laid out in regular seams and naturally divided by splitting planes. +The rock from the strata above had fallen into the galleries at all +angles, and was mixed up with the crushed and partly splintered +timbers of the roof<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> and sides. Blasting had to be done on a small +scale and with extreme caution, for there was fire damp in the mine, +due to the lack of complete ventilation.</p> + +<p>The road-bed and rails, on which the cars for the transporting of the +débris must run, were flattened and twisted. It was necessary to lay +down new rails, however shakily. Moreover, since all the coal +conveyors and electric haulage systems were a tangle of wreckage, the +loaded cars had to be pushed by hand all the way along the underground +galleries, to the bottom of the shaft.</p> + +<p>The timbering gangs had a desperate job to do, for there was no solid +flat roof overhead under which props could be put, nor could enough +time be given to build a stable timber roof. Yet, upon the ability of +the timber boss hung the lives of all the rescuers.</p> + +<p>Night came, but without any slacking of the work. The electrical +engineer and his staff strung temporary wires, and, both below ground +and above ground, the colliery workings were as bright as day.</p> + +<p>The scene was one of furious rush. Neighboring mines sent gangs to +help. Cars loaded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> with mine timbers came from all the near-by +collieries. The news of the accident, published in the local evening +papers, had brought offers of help from every quarter. Before +midnight, officials from the Bureau of Mines were on the scene.</p> + +<p>At 3 o'clock in the morning, one of the great Rescue Cars maintained +by the Bureau rolled into the railroad yards of the colliery. In this +car were experts whose principal work was the direction of rescue +operations in mining disasters, and the car contained a complete +equipment of all the most modern scientific appliances.</p> + +<p>The first rays of Saturday's dawn showed the crowd still gathered +around the shaft. Owens, hollow-eyed from lack of sleep and from +watching, was still directing the operations, but with the advice and +assistance of government officials.</p> + +<p>The work was proceeding apace. The miners' picks rang incessantly, +without a second's pause, each man streaming with perspiration as he +toiled. Rails were put down as fast as the obstruction was dug away. +The timber gangs strove like madmen. Each shift was for two hours +only, with no pause between, for there were men and to spare.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>So the day and the night passed.</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock on Sunday morning, there came a cry—</p> + +<p>"She's fallin' again!"</p> + +<p>A tremor ran through the mine.</p> + +<p>Another shifting of the strata imperilled all the excavation that had +been done.</p> + +<p>A few minutes' hesitation might have been fatal, but the timber gangs +rushed forward, though the props were bending on every side of them +and threatened, from second to second, to engulf them in falling rock. +In a haste that approached to panic, timbers were thrust up and +braced, so that but a small section of the roof fell.</p> + +<p>Some of the miners quit, the more readily as a couple of them were +badly hurt in the little fall, but for every man who showed the white +feather, there were a score to volunteer. They were led by Owens +himself, who was at the bottom of the shaft when the fall came. With +all the fire of his adventurous youth, he seized a pick and ran +forward to the most dangerous place, crying:</p> + +<p>"Those men are to be got out, or I'll die down here with them! Who +follows?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>There was no farther talk of quitting.</p> + +<p>On Monday there arrived from Washington a Bureau of Mines expert, with +a new listening-device, known as a geophone. This is an instrument +worked on the microphone plan, so sensitive that it responds to the +slightest vibration, even through dense rock-strata, hundreds of feet +thick.</p> + +<p>"Stop work, all!" came the order. "Not a word, not a whisper! Keep +your feet and hands as still as if you were frozen!"</p> + +<p>There was a tense five minutes as the geophone expert listened.</p> + +<p>Presently he detached from his head the ear-clamps leading to the +microphone receiver.</p> + +<p>"The men are alive!" he declared. "I hear them knocking!"</p> + +<p>"To work, men!" cried the boss, and the picks rang with redoubled +zest.</p> + +<p>It was Tuesday, shortly before dawn, when the rescuers pierced the +first obstruction, only to find another and a worse break beyond.</p> + +<p>A draft of air sucked through. Almost immediately the caps of the +safety lamps showed blue. At the same time, the safety inspector +called, "Back from the face, men! Back, all!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>He pointed to the little cage he had been holding.</p> + +<p>The canaries had collapsed!</p> + +<p>Carbon monoxide was pouring out, the deadly white damp, that kills as +it strikes!</p> + +<p>The hewers retreated, grumbling.</p> + +<p>"We can stand it, with reliefs!" they declared.</p> + +<p>But the Bureau man was adamant.</p> + +<p>"Get back when you're told," he said shortly. "We'll get those men out +all right. Bring the gas gang here!"</p> + +<p>Then it was that the researches of the trained workers of the Bureau +of Mines showed to their best advantage.</p> + +<p>Along the gallery came a line of strange-eyed and humped figures, +inhuman of appearance, wearing the newly devised respirators by which +men can work in the most vitiated air without harm.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">There are several types of these "gas masks," most of them based on +the principle of carrying compressed oxygen for breathing, and bearing +chambers containing chemicals which absorb the carbonic acid gas and +moisture of the exhaled breath. These masks proved their utility at +the great explosion at Courrières in 1906, the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>est mining +disaster on record, when 1100 miners were killed.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill82" id="ill82"></a> +<img src="images/ill-82.jpg" width="500" height="356" alt="Into the Poison-Filled Air!" title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Into the Poison-Filled Air!</p> + +<p>Rescue-Crew of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, equipped with +oxygen-breathing apparatus, facing the deadly "damps."</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill83a" id="ill83a"></a> +<img src="images/ill-83a.jpg" width="500" height="346" alt="U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap illspace">U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill83b" id="ill83b"></a> +<img src="images/ill-83b.jpg" width="500" height="340" alt="Interior View, Showing Life-Saving Equipment." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"><p class="smcap">Interior View, Showing Life-Saving Equipment.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">It was not long, however, before it became evident that there was a +limit to the usefulness of the respirators. Excellent as they were for +exploring galleries filled with poisonous gas, it was difficult to do +fast digging in them. The work slowed down.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Mr. Owens," protested Otto, "if we don't go no faster'n +we're goin' now, it'll be a month afore we get through. Let us go in! +If the gas is bad, we'll take hour shifts, or half-hour shifts, or +ten-minute shifts, if it comes to that! The men'll tough it out as +long as they can!"</p> + +<p>"What about it?" said the superintendent, to the Director of the +Bureau of Mines car.</p> + +<p>"If the men are willing to take the risk! But we can purify the air to +some extent, anyway. I've a man down there with a Burrell gas +detector, which is several hundred times more sensitive than any +canary, so that we can keep a close watch on the air changes, and +there are plenty of tanks of compressed oxygen to be got. I've some +here in the car, and a telegram to Pittsburgh will bring us more in a +few hours. We can put in another bellows, too.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>"This miner's right enough, about the digging. Fast work can't be done +in respirators. The men will have to use electric cap lamps, of +course, but I've a big supply in the car."</p> + +<p>Back into the poisoned air the miners went. That strain soon tested +out the men, and, as the old miner had said to Clem, a week before, +the young men and the single men were compelled to give up, first. Old +Otto stood up to his work with the best of them, but forty minutes at +a stretch was as long as any of the men could stand.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday night, the rescuers working out from the up-take shaft +broke through the obstruction into the North Gallery. The three men +who had been imprisoned there were found asleep, close to the sleep +that knows no waking, terribly poisoned by the lack of oxygen.</p> + +<p>The mine doctor, who had been waiting at the face until the moment of +breaking through, was the first through the hole. Rapidly he examined +the unconscious men.</p> + +<p>"One's nearly gone," he shouted back, "but I reckon we can save all +three!"</p> + +<p>A mighty cheer rolled through the galleries at the news that the North +Gallery men were saved. It was echoed at the shaft and above ground.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>Without loss of time, the men were brought to the open air and rushed +to the mine hospital. Two hours passed before the first of them +recovered consciousness.</p> + +<p>The geophone expert was at his bedside, waiting impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Have you been knocking any signals lately?" he asked, eagerly, as +soon as the survivor was able to speak.</p> + +<p>"No," the miner answered feebly, "we'd gave up. Thought it wasn't no +use."</p> + +<p>"I heard knocking again this morning," the expert announced. "The men +at the far galleries must be alive still!"</p> + +<p>Wednesday saw no diminution of the endeavor, but more than half the +miners of the rescue crews were down and out, suffering to a greater +or lesser degree from the terrible strain of the short shifts in the +deadly mixture of fire damp and white damp. Yet volunteers were as +plentiful as ever, for both the mine managers and the miners of +neighboring collieries stood ready to help.</p> + +<p>By Wednesday night came the cheering news that the roof overhead was +more solid and that the rock fall had not broken in the floor. The +cars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> rattled in and out, a car to each shaft in less than three +minutes, loaded and pushed by willing hands. With the North Gallery +men saved, both shafts had been set hauling the débris from the +galleries leading to where Clem, Anton, and Jim were imprisoned.</p> + +<p>At breakfast time, Thursday morning, just at the change of shift, the +geophone expert reported voices.</p> + +<p>The message was sped aloft:</p> + +<p>"The men are still alive! We have heard them talking!"</p> + +<p>The news seemed too good to be credited. Seven days the three men had +been entombed, seven days without food, water or light, seven days in +foul air, probably impregnated with noxious vapors.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A very similar accident, wherein a landslide accompanied +the fall of the coal bank, occurred at Blue Rock, Ohio, in 1856. +There, also, four entombed men were rescued after an imprisonment of +eight days. (F. R-W)</p></div> + +<p>Suddenly, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the signal came from below to +the pit-head to cease hauling.</p> + +<p>What had happened?</p> + +<p>There could be but one explanation. The cars must have stopped.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>There had been another fall in the mine, blocking off the gallery.</p> + +<p>The rescuers were caught!</p> + +<p>Like wild-fire the news spread through the mining village.</p> + +<p>Great and excited as had been the crowd before, it was ten times more +excited now. Women, whose husbands were in the rescue gang, shook +their fists at Owens, clamoring that he had sent fifty men to death in +order to save three. The animosity spread to the miners who had lacked +the nerve to volunteer, and all sorts of wild rumors passed among the +crowd.</p> + +<p>There might have been serious trouble, but the gates of the high +fences around the pit-head enclosure had been closed, and the mine +guards, armed with rifles, patrolled the place. Ever since the days of +the "Molly Maguires,"—and many much more recent bloody outbreaks +among coal miners—colliery owners have maintained armed guards.</p> + +<p>Happily there was no actual trouble, though the crowd was getting +ugly, for, a little more than two hours later, there came the cheering +news that a supporting gang of rescue workers had driven a new gallery +through one of the pillars of coal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> and that union with the old line +was effected.</p> + +<p>Again a faint rumble!</p> + +<p>Hopes dropped once more, but, after a brief inspection, the mining +engineer reported that the fall had taken place in another part of the +mine and that there was no immediate danger.</p> + +<p>At 8 o'clock that evening, voices could be faintly heard. An hour +later, using a megaphone, the rescuers made the survivors hear that +help was near them.</p> + +<p>"How many of you are there?"</p> + +<p>Thinly, so thinly that the voice could scarcely be heard, came back +the answer:</p> + +<p>"Three."</p> + +<p>"All alive and well?"</p> + +<p>"We are all alive. Jim Getwood and Anton Rover are unconscious. This +is Clem Swinton talking."</p> + +<p>"How is the air?"</p> + +<p>"Getting bad, now."</p> + +<p>"Keep your courage up! We'll have you out soon!"</p> + +<p>The hewers set to work in high spirits, hoping that every blow of the +pick would drive through.</p> + +<p>Then:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>"Stop work, men!" said the Bureau chief suddenly.</p> + +<p>The men stared at him, amazed at the order. All stopped, however, +except old Otto, who continued to use his pick-axe steadily.</p> + +<p>The official grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him round with none +too gentle a hand.</p> + +<p>"Stop, you thick-head, when you're told!"</p> + +<p>"What for? We'll be through this wall in an hour!"</p> + +<p>"You'll have a hole through it, maybe. But what good will that do?"</p> + +<p>Otto stared at the official amazed, and the Bureau of Mines man went +on:</p> + +<p>"You've had to start working in a respirator, after all, haven't you? +Why? Because of white damp! Haven't you got sense enough to see what +would happen as soon as you drove a hole through big enough to let the +white damp in and not big enough to get the men out? How long do you +think they'd last in this air, in their weakened state?"</p> + +<p>Otto looked at him a moment, and then nodded his head.</p> + +<p>"You're right, boss," he admitted. "I'm a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> fool. I'd never ha' thought +o' that. But what are you goin' to do?"</p> + +<p>"You don't seem to know enough to use your eyes," the official +answered, shortly, "and they told me you were one of the best men in +the mine! What do you suppose we've been doing all this cement +construction along this gallery for the last couple of shifts?"</p> + +<p>"I hadn't stopped to think," admitted Otto, taken aback.</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll have a chance to do some thinking, now."</p> + +<p>In effect, it was not surprising that Otto should not be able to see a +way out of the difficulty, for the problem was a serious one.</p> + +<p>The proportion of white damp, or carbon monoxide, in the air where the +rescuers had now been compelled to work in respirators, was strong +enough to kill a man in ten or fifteen minutes. In the undoubtedly +weakened state of the three survivors, a lesser time than this would +suffice to be fatal.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">If, in the course of digging away the obstruction which remained +between the rescuers and the entombed men, a small hole were made, or +if the rocks should lie in such a manner that there were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +interstices between, Clem and his comrades would succumb before a +sufficiently large breach could be made in the wall whereby they might +be dragged through to liberty.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill90" id="ill90"></a> +<img src="images/ill-90.jpg" width="500" height="341" alt="Where the Timber Goes." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Where the Timber Goes.</p> + +<p>Whole forests are cut down to hold up the mine galleries. On the +strength of this work the lives of the miners depend.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Courtesy of the Wigham Coal Co.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 484px;"><a name="ill91a" id="ill91a"></a> +<img src="images/ill-91a.jpg" width="484" height="400" alt="Geophone Expert Listening for Tapping of Survivors." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Geophone Expert Listening for Tapping of Survivors.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 484px;"><a name="ill91b" id="ill91b"></a> +<img src="images/ill-91b.jpg" width="484" height="385" alt="Building the Wall for the "Sand-Hogs."" title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Building the Wall for the "Sand-Hogs."</p> + +<p><i>Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">If, indeed, it were safe to blast, it might be possible to get rid of +the obstruction by the use of a heavy blast and then rush through and +grab the men. But this was impossible. The Burrell tester showed a +large proportion of methane gas or fire damp, and a blast of any size +might easily start an explosion which would not only wreck the mine, +but also kill every member of the rescue parties, while affording no +chance of getting the imprisoned men.</p> + +<p>How could the wall be taken down, without allowing the gas to +percolate through?</p> + +<p>"Stand back, men," said the official, "here come the 'sand hogs,' +now."</p> + +<p>Amazed, the colliers retreated from the coal face to give place to a +very different group of men. Small and wiry folk, these, dressed in an +entirely different fashion from the miners. The respirators gave them +the same goggle-eyed goblin faces. Not one of them had ever been in a +coal mine before.</p> + +<p>With a speed and dexterity that showed their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> knowledge of the work, +these men proceeded to build up, at the side of the gallery, close to +the point where the last obstruction still held, a solid face of +concrete, and rapidly cemented it to the somewhat elaborate +construction that had been in process of making all the preceding day, +and to which Otto had paid no heed.</p> + +<p>It was not long before it became evident that a completely closed room +was being made. Other gangs came along, carrying strange screw-doors +of iron, and a multitude of devices new to the eyes of miners. +Everything had been measured and prepared above-ground. It remained +only to throw the material together, according to a prearranged plan.</p> + +<p>By midnight, all was ready.</p> + +<p>Three "sand hogs," with a gallant young doctor who had volunteered, +prepared to enter.</p> + +<p>A steady throbbing sound told that machinery connected with an outlet +pipe—solidly embedded in the cement—had been set in motion. The +newly made walls threatened to bulge inwards, and the signal was given +to stop.</p> + +<p>Then a rushing noise was heard in the inlet pipe, similarly embedded. +The outer of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> double doors was opened and the four men stepped in, +entering a tiny ante-chamber. They closed the outer door, which was +absolutely air-tight, opened the inner one, and passed into the +chamber built against the coal face, made of solid cement except for a +circle of coal a yard in diameter.</p> + +<p>A minute or two later, could be heard, faintly, the high screech of +some rapid-cutting machine.</p> + +<p>When Otto came back on his next shift, at 2 o'clock on Friday morning, +the sand hogs were still working.</p> + +<p>Curiosity overcame the old miner's desire not to seem ignorant.</p> + +<p>"Just what is that, sir?" he asked the Bureau official, who was still +on watch.</p> + +<p>"That you, Otto? So you want to know, now, do you? Well, that's a sort +of lightly made caisson, or air-tight chamber, with an air-lock or +double door. It's used a good deal for working under water, but for +the job we have here, it doesn't have to be very solidly built.</p> + +<p>"It's simple enough, when you think it out. We just cemented it up, +put in an air-pump to take out the gassy air that was in it, and then +turned in compressed air, with a pressure of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> little more than one +atmosphere, just enough to keep any of the gas from entering the hole +that is being dug through the coal pillar."</p> + +<p>"Why can't gas get in? Gas'll go through coal."</p> + +<p>"Because the pressure from inside is bigger than from outside. The +compressed air is leaking through the coal and driving any gas away."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you let us get in there to finish the job, if that's all +there is to it?" protested Otto, indignant that strangers should have +the glory of the final rescue, after the miners had done so much.</p> + +<p>"Because you couldn't stand it. Those men are sand hogs. They're used +to working in compressed air. Just as soon as a man gets into a +pressure of two or three atmospheres, unless he's mighty careful he's +apt to get dangerously ill. His blood absorbs too much air. While he's +under compression, he doesn't feel it so much, but if he comes out of +the compression too quickly, the surplus air in his blood can't come +out as slowly as it ought, and little bubbles form in the blood +current. That's deadly. Sometimes these bubbles cause a terrible +caisson disease known as the 'bends,' when all the muscles and joints +are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> affected; or it may give a paralysis known as 'diver's palsy,' +because divers working in compressed atmospheres suffer the same way; +all too often, it causes sudden death. So you see, Otto, it's not a +chance a man ought to take who knows nothing about it."</p> + +<p>"An' the sand hogs are diggin' in there?"</p> + +<p>"No, they're not digging. We put in a tunnelling machine driven by +compressed air, which is sometimes used for making sewers and the +like. It will bore an even, round hole, just big enough for a man to +crawl through, comfortably.</p> + +<p>"As soon as that hole is pierced through into the room where the +imprisoned men are, the doctor will go in, taking food, wine and +medical supplies, and three respirators as well. Then, when the +survivors are protected against the possible results of a sudden +inrush of gas, it'll be up to you men to get the rest of the wall down +as quick as you can."</p> + +<p>"So that's how it is! We'll be ready, sir, as soon as you give the +word."</p> + +<p>At 6 o'clock, on the Friday morning, the outer door of the caisson +clanged and the foreman of the sand hogs came out.</p> + +<p>"We've pierced through," he said. "The doc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>tor's in there. He says all +the men are alive, as yet, but he doesn't know if they'll recover. +There's not much time to lose, judging by what he says."</p> + +<p>"At the wall, men!" came the order.</p> + +<p>The miners cheered. They were to have the glory of getting their +comrades out, after all.</p> + +<p>The picks hammered on the rock like hail. The cars roared through the +galleries once more. The cages shot upward with their loads.</p> + +<p>At 8 o'clock, a miner's pick went through the wall into the space +leading to the room beyond, but there was still a lot of rock to move +before a clear passage could be made.</p> + +<p>Otto remembered the warning of the Mine Bureau official, and realized +that, had he been left to himself, he would have killed his comrades +at the very moment of rescue.</p> + +<p>At 9 o'clock, the hole was big enough for one of the rescuers to pass. +As before, a doctor was the first to scramble through the opening.</p> + +<p>The excitement above ground was enormous. Each car might bring a +survivor!</p> + +<p>Every time that the cage was a few seconds late, hope rose high.</p> + +<p>"Keep silence, now," said the Mine Bureau's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> surgeon to the waiting +crowd. "No cheers or shouts remember! The nerves of the men are apt to +be at the breaking point."</p> + +<p>The silence added to the tension. The atmosphere was electric with +anxiety.</p> + +<p>What was happening?</p> + +<p>The cage was rising slowly, slowly!</p> + +<p>Surely the men were there!</p> + +<p>It reached the surface.</p> + +<p>A limp form was borne out and laid on a waiting stretcher.</p> + +<p>It was Anton, his face pinched, his lips blue.</p> + +<p>In the next cage, Jim Getwood was brought up. On seeing his condition, +the mine doctor shook his head dubiously. Artificial respiration was +begun, then and there.</p> + +<p>The cage rose for the third time, bearing Clem Swinton, unconscious +like his comrades, but clearly in better case.</p> + +<p>He stirred as he reached the open air, and his glance encountered that +of the mine owner.</p> + +<p>"I said American mine pluck would get us," he gasped, "if we stuck out +long enough!"</p> + +<p>And he relapsed into unconsciousness.</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">EIGHT DAYS OF DARK</span></h2> + + +<p>The three comrades were saved, indeed, but it was none too soon. Eight +days below ground without food or light and without any sure hope of +rescue, had brought them to a low ebb.</p> + +<p>Clem, owing to his longer experience in the mine and his more prudent +conserving of the scanty supply of food that fell to his share, had +withstood the strain better than the two other survivors. He was badly +shaken, however, and his nerves were on the edge of collapse. His +efforts to help his companions had held him tense during those +unending hours of darkness and famine, and his optimism had kept him +from the ravages of despair.</p> + +<p>Anton had received a terrible shock, both to body and mind. His hands +and feet had become deadened, as though frozen, and the most vigorous +treatment failed to restore the circulation. From<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> time to time he was +seized by convulsive fits; resembling those of epilepsy, and +characteristic of white damp poisoning. His speech remained thick and +mumbling, and he repeated the same word over and over, a score of +times, without being conscious that he had spoken it.</p> + +<p>Jim Getwood, the prospector, was in the weakest condition of the +three. He lacked the degree of immunity that Clem possessed through +his half-dozen years below ground, and that Anton possessed, in a +minor degree, through heredity. His former life of adventure in the +open air made him all the more susceptible to the poison gases. +Violent headaches brought him to the verge of madness, and alternated +with periods of delirium. He could retain little or no food, and, +several times, the doctor despaired of saving his life.</p> + +<p>Yet, in the history of coal-mining, there are several cases on record +in which men have been even a longer time below ground and recovered. +In a French colliery, two out of thirty men who were buried for +fourteen days, recovered; in a Welsh colliery, one man survived out of +seventy who had been entombed for seventeen days.</p> + +<p>A still more astonishing case occurred in a Scotch coal-mine. A big +roof-fall in a pit in Ayr<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>shire had blocked off all the outlets to the +shaft, save one, by which all the miners were able to escape. One man, +however, finding that the way to the shaft was clear, returned to the +face of the coal where he had been working, in order to get his coat.</p> + +<p>On his way back to the shaft, a second fall occurred, blocking him in. +This happened in 1835, when rescue work was still done in a primitive +fashion. It was not until the twenty-third day that the miner was +reached. He was alive, but in a dying state, his body being covered +with a species of fungus that grows upon decaying mine timbers. He +lived three days after being brought to the surface.</p> + +<p>The longest record of endurance under such conditions occurred in +France, some years later. A well-digger, near Lyons, was buried alive +with a comrade, the sides of a deep well caving in after such a manner +that an air-space of 37 feet was left above the entombed men.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to try to remove the obstruction, for any effort to +do so would only cause the earth and stones to fall on them and crush +the men. In order to attempt rescue, it was necessary to sink a well +as deep as the first, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> when the full depth was reached, to drive +an underground gallery from one to the other.</p> + +<p>Up to the very last day, the rescuers were able to hear tappings, sure +sign that at least one of the men was alive. On the thirtieth day the +rescue was effected. The oldest of the two well-diggers was found +alive, but he was in a terrible condition because of the infection +caused by the corpse of his comrade, who had died two weeks before. +He, also, lived three days after his rescue, but the doctors were +unable to save his life.</p> + +<p>None of these men, however, had to withstand the effects of white damp +in the air; on the other hand, none of them had any supply of food, +however small, to begin with.</p> + +<p>Clem's account of the experiences of the three men in the mine was +awaited with a great deal of interest. Reporters from various +newspapers hung around the mine for several days, waiting for a chance +to get his story. The mine doctor refused permission, however, until +he was assured that the young miner was well on his way to health, +fearing that a reawakening of the memories of that terrible week might +bring about a relapse. Finally he admitted the reporters to the +hospital ward where the three survivors lay,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> though forbidding Anton +and Jim to speak.</p> + +<p>Clem was willing enough to tell his tale.</p> + +<p>He began with the incident in the cage, on the morning of the +accident, when he had joked with Otto, to the old miner's manifest +objection. He told of Otto's refusal to work that day, according to +the account given him by Jim. He described, also, how Anton had +gallantly abandoned his own chance of safety to come and warn him, and +explained how they had vainly searched an outlet in the direction of +the North Gallery.</p> + +<p>"Right after we met Jim," he went on, "we ran as fast as we could +towards the old workings, to see if we could get out there. I didn't +think there was much chance, because, so far as I could make out, the +fall had happened between where we were working and the shafts. But it +was worth trying, anyway. When we found the wall down, in that +section, and the rock piled up clear to the roof, I knew we were +trapped, sure.</p> + +<p>"Thanks to what I had learned in the night-school classes, I had a +pretty good idea of the general lay-out of the mine. I knew how the +faults lay, and miners, who'd been in this mine a long time, had told +me how gassy the old workings were.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>"In a lesson I'd had on mine ventilation, we'd been told that the +ventilating plant, here, had been enlarged twice over to try to keep +the mine clear of gas. It wasn't hard to figure out that, with the +ventilation stopped, gas would soon begin to collect, and that would +be the end of us.</p> + +<p>"There was a big-enough cap on our safety lamps, as it was, and it +seemed to me that the blue cone grew longer as I looked. I told Jim +that it wasn't safe for us to hang around those old workings, we'd get +poisoned before we knew it and lose any chance we had of rescue.</p> + +<p>"Jim didn't see it my way, at first.</p> + +<p>"'Might as well die here as anywhere!' he said.</p> + +<p>"I didn't like that spirit. I'd read in a book, somewhere, that if a +chap gives up hope, he dies a whole lot quicker than if he keeps up +his spirits. It was about Anton that I was worrying most. I was bent +on trying to get the youngster cheerful if I could, because he was +moping over Otto's prophecy that there was going to be an accident. +You've heard about that, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>The reporters nodded, and Owens, who was listening, added:</p> + +<p>"We've heard a lot about it. The old man called the turn, all right. +But maybe you don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> know that he told me, too, that you'd be rescued +and that you'd come out of it, alive?"</p> + +<p>"Did he?" queried Clem, in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Point-blank. It's a good thing for you he did, too, for a whole lot +of first-class men volunteered for the rescue work who couldn't have +been persuaded to enter the mine again, otherwise. The old man stuck +to his belief, even after most of us thought you would be dead. The +geophone expert backed him up, by saying he heard tapping, but it was +Otto's persistence that did the most."</p> + +<p>"It's a queer thing he should guess so closely," commented Clem +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>But a reporter from a Pittsburgh evening paper, who was anxious to get +the survivor's story on the telegraph wires, broke in impatiently:</p> + +<p>"What was the first thing you did, after you'd found you were +trapped?"</p> + +<p>"We got busy and made a barricade," Clem answered. "I showed Jim and +Anton that, in the old workings where we were, there was a lot of gas. +Our lamps showed it up, good and strong. Now, back in the rooms where +Jim and I had been hewing, there wasn't any gas to speak of. We could +go back there, of course, and that was what Jim wanted to do.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>"But I figured out that, since the ventilation was shut off from our +rooms, the gas which had accumulated in the old workings and which was +steadily seeping through the coal in that section would gradually +creep along the galleries our way. If that happened, we'd be down and +out, before the rescuers had a chance to cut their way through. We +could put up a barricade, though, and cut off the gassy part of the +mine.</p> + +<p>"Jim didn't want to work, at first. If he was going to die, he said, +he might as well die of gas as of hunger. He talked a lot of rot about +its being the easiest death. I was that sore, I could have kicked him.</p> + +<p>"Anton was willing enough to work, though, and when Jim saw the two of +us actually at work, he got over his grouch, went and got his pick and +shovel and slaved as hard as any of us. We piled up the coal and rock, +good and thick, and then scraped up all the fine dust we could find +and made a thick blanket of that to keep the gas from coming through, +as best we could.</p> + +<p>"Putting up that barricade made us mighty hungry. We were working fast +because the gas there was bad, and we knew the quicker we got away +from it, the better for us. Being hungry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> didn't do us much good. +There wasn't much grub.</p> + +<p>"We had only two pails of dinner, Jim's and mine. Anton's dinner pail +was out by the entry where he took the loaded cars. So we pooled the +food, and divided it into three exactly equal parts, each one of us to +hide his share, and to eat it as quickly or as slowly as he pleased.</p> + +<p>"Jim ate his at once, said he'd rather have one good meal than a lot +of little bites which didn't mean anything. Anton made his last +longer, he still had some food left when the lamps burned out. I only +took a bite or two of mine, at that time, and managed to make eight +meals of it, though, of course, I couldn't tell how many hours or days +apart those meals were."</p> + +<p>"How long did the safety-lamps burn?" asked the reporter.</p> + +<p>"Eight hours after we were caught. They all went out within a few +minutes of each other—and we had them pretty well turned down, too. I +looked at my watch, just as the last one flickered out. It wasn't +quite a quarter past eight."</p> + +<p>"You had no matches?" the reporter asked.</p> + +<p>"Matches? What a fool idea!" exclaimed Clem, amazed at the reporter's +ignorance. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> should say not! Even the lamps are locked. We could +have had light three times as long, if it wasn't for that, burning +first one and then the other, but there's no way to light a lamp below +ground.</p> + +<p>"Before the lamps went out, each of us had scraped up a pile of coal +dust to sleep on. It was plenty warm down there, and getting warmer +all the time. The lack of air made us all heavy and drowsy. We were +all asleep pretty soon after the lamps went out.</p> + +<p>"We woke up in the dark. It was black as pitch, a blackness which +weighed on you. It hurt. One's eyes wanted to fight against it.</p> + +<p>"How long had we been asleep? An hour, ten hours, or the whole +twenty-four? Not one of us could tell.</p> + +<p>"But the sleep had done one good thing. It had helped Jim a lot. He +was full of pep, again. The old prospecting optimism had come back. He +was dead sure that he could find a way out. All it needed was looking +for, he thought.</p> + +<p>"Anton wasn't awake yet, and I didn't want to wake him up. The longer +he slept, the better. I tried to reason with Jim that we'd already +gone to all the openings there could be, but he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> wouldn't listen to +reason. He wouldn't stay with us. He was restless. He just had to be +up and wandering.</p> + +<p>"'How are you going to find your way back?' I asked him. 'It's easy to +get lost in the dark, and you don't know much about the mine.'</p> + +<p>"'I'll be back with a full dinner-pail while you're sitting there +doing nothing!' he boasted, and off he started. I'd have gone with +him, quick enough, but I didn't want Anton to wake and find himself +alone.</p> + +<p>"After a while Anton woke up. I heard him munching, so I knew he was +at his grub. I warned him not to finish it all at once, but he was so +hungry he couldn't stop. I couldn't blame him much, at that. I was so +ravenous that my stomach seemed to be tying itself up in knots, and +the flesh inside seemed to crawl.</p> + +<p>"I had to tell him that Jim had gone off by himself. Anton didn't say +much to that. In fact, he didn't want to talk at all. He was brooding +all the time. Twice I overheard him muttering to himself, and both +times he was talking about Otto and his warning.</p> + +<p>"I could see he was blaming me, but I'll say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> this for the boy—he +never once said that he regretted having come back to warn me."</p> + +<p>"That," interrupted the superintendent emphatically, "shows the boy is +good stuff. It takes a good deal of moral courage to keep from blaming +some one else, when you're in a pinch. I remember, once, in West +Australia—" He checked himself. "Go ahead with your story, lad."</p> + +<p>Clem resumed.</p> + +<p>"Some time after—it seemed about an hour, though it may have been a +good deal less or a good deal more—we heard shouting.</p> + +<p>"'Jim's found the way out!' cried Anton, and scrambled to his feet.</p> + +<p>"I grabbed him as he rose.</p> + +<p>"'Don't run off in that fool fashion,' I said to him. 'Make sure where +the shouts are coming from, first. You've been down in a mine long +enough to know that the echoes are apt to make a noise sound as if it +comes in a directly opposite direction from the right one.'</p> + +<p>"'I'm going to find Jim!' he insisted.</p> + +<p>"'If you must run chances, why, I suppose you must,' said I. 'But I'm +going to stay here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> where the air's good. Try to get back here. Keep +in touch. You take ten paces forward, then stop and shout. I'll +answer. If you don't hear me, come back.'</p> + +<p>"He promised and started off. For the first fifty yards or +so—supposing that he shouted at every ten paces—I heard him clear +enough.</p> + +<p>"Then—not another sound! What had happened to him?</p> + +<p>"I shouted again and again.</p> + +<p>"No reply!</p> + +<p>"What was I going to do? Both Jim and Anton were wandering around +loose in the mine galleries, and they might stray until they dropped, +without ever finding the way back. I yelled till I was hoarse.</p> + +<p>"Then I got another idea. I took my pick, and kept on hitting the roof +in three regular strokes: 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' and then a pause—just like +that." He illustrated on the head-rail of his hospital bed. "I knew +that the vibration would carry along the rock, farther than the +voice."</p> + +<p>"That's what the geophone man heard," Owens commented to the reporter. +"Go on, lad!"</p> + +<p>"I kept that up," Clem went on, "until my arms ached. I was so tired +in my back and so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> weak with hunger that bright violet spots kept +dancing before my eyes. But I kept on, just the same.</p> + +<p>"Then I heard a shout, and, presently, Anton came staggering along, +dead beat. He'd been guided back by the sound of the tapping.</p> + +<p>"'No sign of Jim?' I asked</p> + +<p>"'Nothing!'</p> + +<p>"He lay down on the coal dust, and, pretty soon, I heard him breathing +hard. He'd gone right off to sleep, exhausted, poor kid!"</p> + +<p>"How long do you suppose he'd been wandering?" queried the reporter.</p> + +<p>"No way of knowing. But I'm pretty husky, and I can stand an eight +hours' shift of coal hewing without getting too tired. And, I tell +you, I was about done out, just from reaching up and tapping that roof +with a pick. Of course, I was weak. But I reckon it must have been +eight hours, good, that the youngster was straying in those mine +galleries, in the dark, alone. Maybe it was more.</p> + +<p>"I must have gone to sleep, too, but it didn't seem for long. +Half-asleep, I heard Anton say,</p> + +<p>"'There's a rat gnawing at my stomach!'</p> + +<p>"I woke up right quick, at that, for though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> mine rats are ugly +customers, I thought if we could catch a rat or two, that might give +us food. But what the boy meant was that he was so hungry that it felt +as if a rat were there.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't exactly hungry, leastways, not all the time. The pain came +in cramps, that were bad enough while they lasted, but I didn't feel +anything much between. My tongue was getting swollen, though. I knew +what that meant. Drink of some sort we must have.</p> + +<p>"'Look here, Anton,' I said, 'you tap on the rock, in threes, the same +as I did, and I'll go try to find water. I know the lay-out of this +mine better than you do, and there used to be a sump (hole) near the +goaf (waste rock taken from the main gallery roofs). Maybe there'll be +water there.'</p> + +<p>"I started off, cheerfully enough. I reckoned I knew the mine. So I +do, with a lamp, but I didn't have any idea what it meant to wander in +the pitch-dark. The galleries were low there, too, not more than four +feet high. I had to keep one hand stretched out in front of me to keep +from going headlong into the wall, and the dinner pail that I was +carrying in that hand struck the side more times than I could count; I +kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> the other hand above my head, to keep me from cracking my skull +against the cross-timbers holding up the low roof.</p> + +<p>"Before I'd gone a hundred yards, I was so mixed up that I didn't know +which way I was going or where I'd come from. It's a horrible feeling. +The dark is like a trap that you can't feel and you can't see, but you +know it's there. It's being blind with your eyes open.</p> + +<p>"Then it was so ghastly silent, too. A blind man can always hear +something. There's life around him. Down there, not a sound! I'd lost +all hearing of the 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' I'd told Anton to make.</p> + +<p>"All sorts of nasty things came into my head. I might step into a hole +and get crippled. I might walk straight into a pocket of gas, and, +without any safety lamp to tell me of the danger, be poisoned then and +there. The roof might be bulging down, right over my head, ready to +fall and I'd have no warning.</p> + +<p>"I tried to reason it out that all these ideas were just imagination. +Reasoning didn't do much good. Fright got a grip of me. I was in a +cold sweat all over. My heart thumped so that it hurt. I was just +horribly scared, right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> through, and I had to bite my lips till they +were raw to keep from screaming.</p> + +<p>"I'd have gone under, sure, if I'd been alone, but I had the kid to +think of, and every time the tin dinner pail banged against the wall, +it reminded me of what I'd come to look for. Anton would die of thirst +in a few hours, if I didn't find water. As for Jim, I reckoned he was +probably done for, anyway.</p> + +<p>"I think—I'm not sure but I think so—I had a spell of running +crazily round and round in a circle, trying to get away from +something—I don't know what. It was then I gave my head a bang," he +pointed to the bandage still on his head, "and while that stunned me a +bit, it steadied me, too.</p> + +<p>"By that time, I was lost for fair. I couldn't hear Anton's tapping. I +couldn't hear anything. I tried to turn back and got all mixed up in +the run of the galleries. I wandered this way and that, as blindly as +if I'd never been in the mine before.</p> + +<p>"And then I heard a sound like the ticking of a big clock.</p> + +<p>"That scared me more than anything.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>"I remembered all Otto's' stories about the 'knockers,' and, though I +didn't believe them, I couldn't get them out of my head. Somebody, +something, was knocking softly underground!</p> + +<p>"It wasn't human, that was sure!</p> + +<p>"It couldn't be Anton, because he'd been told to tap in threes. It +couldn't be Jim, for the ticks were too close together to be the +strokes of a pick; besides, I knew that Jim had left his tools behind. +It couldn't be rescuers, because the sound was near me. Near me? It +was almost at my ear.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes breaking timber cracks. It might be a prop gradually giving +way, I thought, just ready to let down a new fall of rock on my head. +But a creaking timber is sometimes loud, sometimes soft, and this +ticking, as I said, was regular, like a big clock.</p> + +<p>"Then I guessed!</p> + +<p>"It was drops of water falling!</p> + +<p>"I could have shouted with relief, but down there, in the dark and the +stillness, the silence was so heavy that I was afraid to shout.</p> + +<p>"I felt my way forward, one step and then a second, and the ticking +stopped.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>"I took a third step and it began again. I stepped backward, and a +little to one side, and the drop fell on my bare shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I took my dinner-pail, moved it forward, backward, this way and that, +until at last I heard the drops falling in the tin.</p> + +<p>"I was too thirsty to wait long. As soon as there was a teaspoonful of +water in the pail, I moistened my tongue with it. That was a relief! I +was able to hold out the tin pail, the next time, until there was a +reasonable drink.</p> + +<p>"Ugh, it was bitter! It tasted coppery and twisted up my mouth, but it +was liquid, at least. After I had a drink or two, I felt better. My +scare passed away.</p> + +<p>"Then I began to think a bit. If water was dropping as quickly as +that, it must be running somewhere. But where? I got down on my hands +and knees and began to feel along the floor. Here it was damp; there, +dry. I crawled along for a few minutes, following the line of the damp +floor, and, sure enough, came to a hollow where a good-sized puddle +had collected. There I was able to half-fill the pail.</p> + +<p>"So far, I was all right. I'd found the water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> But how was I to get +back to Anton? And where was Jim, if he were still alive? I hadn't any +idea, any more, of which way to turn.</p> + +<p>"Then I got a scheme. Suppose I just walked straight ahead, keeping my +right hand against the wall, and turning to the right at every opening +I came to? I knew that we were hemmed in at every point. Therefore, I +figured, we must be inside some kind of an irregular circle. The place +where we had made our beds was in the room where I had been working, +which was in the end gallery, and, at that rate, somewhere on the +circumference of that circle. If I kept on going, long enough, I'd be +bound to strike the place.</p> + +<p>"Off I started with the pail half-full of water. I walked, in and out, +up one gallery and down another, coming back to the rock falls which +had blocked the way, and on again. I tried to count my paces, and, +though I forgot sometimes, I figured that I'd done about seven +thousand paces when I heard, faintly:</p> + +<p>"'Tap! Tap! Tap!'</p> + +<p>"It seemed to come from behind me.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't to be fooled by the echoes, though,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> and so I kept on as I +had been going. Just a little further and I turned a corner and came +to the place where we had made our beds.</p> + +<p>"Anton was down.</p> + +<p>"He hadn't been able to keep on tapping on the roof, as I had told him +to. He hadn't the strength. But the kid's pluck was holding, though +his vitality wasn't. He'd taken his maul (a large hammer used for +driving wedges in the coal) and was lifting this from the ground and +then dropping it, three strokes at a time, like I'd told him to do.</p> + +<p>"When I spoke to him he couldn't answer. His tongue was so swollen +that it just about filled up his whole mouth.</p> + +<p>"I gave him some water, a sip or two at a time, and then, when I +thought he could stand it, a real drink. Even then, I had to go slow, +for my dinner pail was only half-full.</p> + +<p>"I still had a few bites of food left, but I wasn't hungry, I'd gone +too far for that. My mouth was sore, too. The copperas water screwed +up my palate and my tongue like eating unripe bananas does, only a lot +worse. It worked the same way on Anton."</p> + +<p>"It was that water that helped you, though,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> put in the mine doctor. +"The sulphate of iron in it lowered the activity of the body, drying +it up, so that you could go on with less loss of tissue."</p> + +<p>"It tasted nasty enough to have anything in it! Just the same, it was +water. When I woke up from a nap, I found the pail empty. The +youngster had finished it, but when I rowed him for doing it, he +couldn't remember having drunk it at all. He was only half-conscious, +any way.</p> + +<p>"My tongue was beginning to swell again. I saw we'd have to shift our +headquarters so as to be near that water, or the time would come when +we'd be too weak to go hunting it. So, following the same scheme of +making a whole circle of the part of the mine where we were trapped, I +went back the way I'd come, making sure that Anton was following right +behind me.</p> + +<p>"It seemed a whole lot farther off than I'd thought, I suppose because +I was afraid of passing the place. After a couple of hours, though, I +heard the sound of the dropping water. It was great to hear it again! +We took some long drinks there, I can tell you. Then we scooped up +with our hands some coal dust to lie on, and slumped down again. I was +beginning to feel pretty weak."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>"About what day do you suppose that was?" the reporter asked.</p> + +<p>"I haven't any idea. Sometimes I thought we'd only been down there a +few hours, sometimes it seemed like weeks. I suppose, really, it was +about the third or the fourth day.</p> + +<p>"I woke up suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Somebody was laughing!</p> + +<p>"It was a queer high-pitched laugh, and half-choked, something like +the neighing of a horse.</p> + +<p>"Anton heard it, too.</p> + +<p>"'The knockers are coming for us!' he said to me, hoarsely. 'It's just +like Father said. They're laughing at us!'</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't mind telling you my blood ran a bit cold. I'm not +superstitious, but, for the second time in that mine, I was scared +enough to run. But where to?</p> + +<p>"Anton was gasping horribly; it made me worse to hear him. I put my +hand on his shoulder to quiet him. He was trembling and shaking, like +as he had a chill.</p> + +<p>"The laughing came nearer, and louder.</p> + +<p>"The louder it got, the less I was scared. After the first few seconds +of fright, I got all right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> again, and started to think quietly. Then +the real reason came to me.</p> + +<p>"It must be Jim!</p> + +<p>"I let out a loud shout.</p> + +<p>"The laughing stopped dead.</p> + +<p>"Then I knew it was Jim; things that weren't human wouldn't care if I +shouted or not.</p> + +<p>"'Keep quiet!' I said to Anton. 'It's Jim, and he's coming this way.'</p> + +<p>"Presently the laughter began again, a sort of half choked scream, +like I said, but it was laughing just the same. It made my flesh creep +to hear it. Somehow it wasn't quite human, more like an animal trying +to laugh like a man.</p> + +<p>"It was quite close to us, now. I got up, for I could hear steps +shuffling along the gallery.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly, something bumped into me, though I thought the steps were +several yards away.</p> + +<p>"It was Jim, sure enough.</p> + +<p>"He gave a sort of screech and both his hands went up to my throat, in +a strangling grip.</p> + +<p>"I'm a good deal bigger than Jim, but I was like a baby in his hands. +He had me like in a vise.</p> + +<p>"'Help! Help! Anton!' I called. 'He's throttling me! It's Jim!'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>"At that, the kid got up, tottering. He was weak enough, but, as you +know, he's really got muscles of iron. In spite of his scare—for he +was dead sure that it was something supernatural—he came to my help.</p> + +<p>"The minute he got his hands on Jim and found that it was really flesh +and blood that he was tackling, and not any sort of goblin, he got +furious. He wrenched at his opponent savagely, and the more furious he +got, the more his strength came back. I could hear his sinews +cracking.</p> + +<p>"But Jim's grip was that of a madman.</p> + +<p>"It was a good thing for me that Anton was the son of the champion +wrestler of the mine. Despite his powerful muscles, he could do +nothing, absolutely nothing against the madman. I felt him let go, and +thought that was the end. My head was bursting, my heart fluttering.</p> + +<p>"Then, with a swift change of hold, the youngster took Jim in a +wrestler's grip, one he had learned from his father. It's a death +hold, unless the other weakens. I heard Jim gasp. The clutch loosened. +At last I could breathe and I shook myself free.</p> + +<p>"But the madman was not tamed. His fists shot out like flails. One +blow took Anton full<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> in the chest. I heard his body crash against the +wall. I could do little to help him, that choking grip had taken away +every ounce of force I had.</p> + +<p>"There wasn't any need for my help. That blow had roused Anton to a +rage but little less than that of his mad foe. He knew nothing of +boxing, but he could wrestle. It was a grim fight, down there in the +dark!</p> + +<p>"Despite the madman's blows, Anton ran in, clutched him in some kind +of a wrestler's grip, lifted him clear off his feet and threw him over +his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"The madman fell heavily on the rock floor and lay like a log.</p> + +<p>"For a minute or two we panted, saying nothing. Then,</p> + +<p>"'Have you killed him, Anton?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'I don't know. I hope so,' he answered savagely.</p> + +<p>"I felt pretty much that way, myself, at first, for my throat felt as +if it were twisted clear out of shape. But, as I began to feel a bit +better, I thought of Jim lying there.</p> + +<p>"After all, he hadn't had any water! Small wonder he'd gone mad.</p> + +<p>"Staggering—for that grip had nearly done<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> for me—I got over beside +him and knelt down. His heart was still beating, pretty rapidly, at +that. But his jaws were almost locked upwards, forced apart by his +thickened and swollen tongue.</p> + +<p>"I got some water into his mouth, but with difficulty. I couldn't pry +his tongue down far enough to get more than a drop or two in. But I +kept at it—hours, I reckon—and kept on giving him sips of water +until he began to breathe a bit more naturally.</p> + +<p>"Then I reckon I fainted, for, when I came to, I was lying right +across Jim. He was still unconscious, but the tongue was a whole lot +better and he was nearly able to close his mouth. I poured a lot more +water into him. Then I tried to give him a bite from the bread I had +left, but he couldn't swallow. So I gave it to Anton, who was moaning +a good bit.</p> + +<p>"Me, I was getting less and less hungry. The gnawing pain that I'd +felt at the beginning, especially that first time that I was hunting +water, only came back at longer and longer intervals. In between, I +felt quite all right, rather jolly, in fact. I caught myself laughing, +once, the way I'd heard Jim, and I had hard work to stop it. +Hysterical, I reckon.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>"I must have slept a lot, or fainted, I don't know which. I remember +having dreamed that I was rescued, oh, a score of times! Always, when +I was asleep, there seemed plenty of light, generally a bright violet. +It was only when I woke up that it was dark. The blackness was like a +rock lying on my chest. The air I breathed seemed to taste black.</p> + +<p>"Jim got violent, more than once. To end up, I had to tie his feet +with my belt, so he couldn't get up on his feet. I wasn't going to +risk any more fights like we'd had with him at the start.</p> + +<p>"When he wasn't struggling, he was talking. He talked nearly all the +time, and mostly about some gold mine that he'd found, that he knew +would make him a millionaire and that he wanted to go back to. He +described the place, over and over again. I believe I could go right +there, just from hearing him. The only thing that quieted him was when +I answered. Then he'd shut right up, only to begin again, after a +while.</p> + +<p>"What worried me the most about Jim was that he couldn't keep the +bitter water on his stomach. He'd vomit it up, almost as soon as I'd +get it down. I kept pouring it into him, just the same.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>"When I put the last bite of grub into Anton—he was dead +unconscious—it seemed like the end of everything. I lost all track of +time. I don't know what happened, after that. I got quite +light-headed, I think.</p> + +<p>"Half the while, I didn't know whether the time I was dreaming was +real, or the time I was awake. I knew somehow that the air was getting +bad, and I remember thinking that this might be because a rescue party +was trying to get down the wall.</p> + +<p>"But there was always plenty of light when I was asleep, and I liked +that, so, every time I was awake, I tried to go back to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you hear any sounds of the rescue party coming nearer?" Owens +asked.</p> + +<p>"I heard them all the time, even when they weren't there," Clem +answered. "How was I to tell what was real and what was dream?</p> + +<p>"On one side was Jim telling about his gold mine, on the other was +Anton, crying out from time to time that the knockers had him. Poor +kid, he seemed to be in a nightmare all the while."</p> + +<p>"But when the rescuers first spoke to you," the owner of the mine +suggested, "you answered naturally enough."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>"Perhaps I did, but I don't remember hearing them, at all, and I don't +remember answering, at least, not more than I had a dozen times +before. I'm not sure that I remember when the doctor came in and put a +gas mask on me. It's all sort of vague.</p> + +<p>"The first thing I do remember was coming up to the top and seeing a +green tree. The trees weren't green when I went down a week ago, and I +hadn't dreamed about trees, at all.</p> + +<p>"Right now, it's hard to realize that I was buried down there for a +week. If I wasn't so feeble, I'd think it was only a nightmare."</p> + +<p>"And about this gold mine of Jim's," queried the reporter, scenting +another phase of the story. "What was that?"</p> + +<p>Jim, in a neighboring bed, half-raised himself in anxiety, but his +comrade threw him a reassuring look.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to ask Jim that, when he gets better," Clem answered. "I +can't give away his secret. It might be true!"</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE LURE OF GOLD</span></h2> + + +<p>In Clem's story one word had been spoken, the one word which, in all +ages, has been as a raging fire in men's minds, which has sent scores +to die on the scorching deserts of Africa and Australia, or on the +borders of the Arctic Seas, which has bred fevered adventure, +lawlessness, and murder wherever it has been spoken, the word:</p> + +<p>Gold!</p> + +<p>Many years had passed since Owens had felt this auriferous fever, many +years since his heart had beat impetuously as in the wild days of the +camps of his youth, but the word had rung again in his ears as of old. +The subtle poison of the lure was in his veins once more. He could not +sleep for thinking of the old prospector lying almost at the point of +death in his own mine hospital, and, perhaps, dying with the secret of +millions, untold.</p> + +<p>He reasoned with himself for his foolishness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> Over and over again he +reminded himself that he was settled for life as a colliery-owner, and +that coal mines bring far more wealth than gold mines have ever done. +The spell was stronger than his reason. Night after night he sat late +in his library, reading anew the lore of gold that he had once known +so well, and dreaming avid visions over the pages.</p> + +<p>The records of human daring do not reach so far back in the dawn of +history as to show a time when gold was not a goal. In the earliest +laws as yet known—the Laws of Menes in Egypt, B. C. 3000—both gold +and silver were sought and used as standards of value in the royal and +priestly treasuries. Breastplates and ornaments of gold were buried +with the mummies of kings and nobles of Egypt and Mycenae.</p> + +<p>There was gold in Chaldea and Armenia. The fable of Tantalus, who kept +unlawful possession of a golden dog which had been stolen from Zeus, +the great All-Father, was a legend of the gold placer deposits near +Mt. Sipylus, north of Smyrna. The earliest records show a knowledge of +gold in the Caucasus, Ural, and Himalaya Mts.</p> + +<p>The Phœnicians, most adventurous of all the early races, went on long +expeditions to distant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> lands in search of gold. Cadmus, the +Phœnician, in B. C. 1594, sent miners to Thrace and established a +regular gold-trade thence. As a curious forecast of what was to happen +on the other side of the world, tens of centuries later, the ancient +historian Strabo tells of a wagon-wheel uncovering a nugget of gold +near Mt. Pangeus, not far from the present Bulgarian frontier.</p> + +<p>One of the oldest of all the tales of high adventure was the Quest of +the Golden Fleece, and the fifty heroes who set out on that quest in +the oared ship <i>Argo</i>—and hence called the Argonauts—have given +their name to gold-seekers for hundreds of generations. Few tales in +all the world are so wonderful as the old Greek legend of Jason and +the Golden Fleece, a quest of daring, of magic, and of peril.</p> + +<p>The Golden Fleece, itself, was a thing of mystery. Its origin harks +back to the earliest days of the Age of Fable. Thus, in its briefest +form, runs the tale:</p> + +<p>In a minor kingdom of what is now Northern Greece, there lived a king, +Athamas, son of the god of the sea, who had married Nephele, the +goddess of the clouds. But Athamas proved faithless and fell in love +with Ino, grand-daughter of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> Aphrodite, the goddess of love and +beauty. The cloud-goddess, indignant at this neglect, disappeared, +leaving behind her two children, Phrixus and Helle.</p> + +<p>It was not long before the stepmother conceived a violent hatred for +the children of the first wife. Counting on the spell of her beauty, +she tried to persuade Athamas to get rid of them, but the king +refused. Then Ino fell to base plotting. She brought about a famine in +the land by secretly heating the grains of wheat before they were sown +and thus preventing their growth; then, by a false oracle, she +persuaded the king that the gods were angry and would only be appeased +if he offered his eldest-born, Phrixus, as a sacrifice. For the sake +of his country, the king agreed.</p> + +<p>All was in readiness, Phrixus was on the altar, the officiating priest +had the knife raised, when masses of cloud and fog rolled over the +scene and Nephele appeared, leading a ram with a fleece all threads of +gold. So thick was the fog, that, in an instant, it blotted out all +vision; the priest's hand stayed uplifted, for he could no longer see +his victim to deal the fatal blow. Then came a rift in the fog, and, +through the swirl of mist, Athamas and Ino saw Phrixus and his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> sister +leap upon the back of the gold-fleeced ram.</p> + +<p>Down the mountain and across the plain the great ram sped, and plunged +into the waters of the strait that lies between Europe and Asia Minor, +breasting the waves with ease. Helle fell from the back of the ram and +was drowned, so that the strait (now known as the Dardanelles) was +known to the Greeks as the Hellespont.</p> + +<p>Phrixus reached the other side in safety. Following the counsel of his +cloud-mother, he sacrificed the ram to the honor of the gods and took +the fleece to Æetes, king of Colchis. Æetes at first received him with +honor, but later proved false to his promises of friendship and made +Phrixus a prisoner. The Golden Fleece was hung up on a tree in the +grove of Ares (god of battle and grandfather of Ino), and there the +mystic treasure was guarded by a dragon which never slept.</p> + +<p>Now Pelias, brother of Athamas, had usurped the throne of Thessaly. +When Jason, son of the true king, Aeson, had grown to man's estate, he +presented himself before Pelias and challenged him to surrender the +kingdom.</p> + +<p>The wily Pelias, knowing well that the people of Thessaly would side +with Jason, did not refuse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> outright. He demanded, only, that Jason +should show his rightfulness to be deemed a king's son by some act of +heroic bravery. Such a test was not unusual in the Days of Fable, and +Jason agreed.</p> + +<p>"This will I do," said Jason, "name the deed!"</p> + +<p>Cunningly the king answered,</p> + +<p>"Bring me the Golden Fleece!"</p> + +<p>Jason, high-hearted, set out on the quest. Since he must cross the +sea, there must be built a ship. Through the advice of the +cloud-goddess, his mother, he appealed for help to Athene, goddess of +wisdom, and a bitter enemy of Ares and his grand-daughter Ino. The +fifty-oared ship Argo was built, and Athene herself placed in the prow +a piece of oak endowed with the power of speaking oracles.</p> + +<p>The Quest of the Golden Fleece was a deed worthy of heroes, and none +but heroes were members of the crew. Such men—demigods, most of +them—had never been gathered in a crew before. Orpheus, of the +charmed lyre; Zetes and Calaïs, sons of the North Wind; Castor and +Pollux, the divine Twins; Meleager, the hunter of the magic boar; +Theseus, the slayer of tyrants; the all-powerful Hercules, son of +Zeus, whose twelve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> labors were famous in all antiquity; and others of +little lesser fame, were numbered in that gallant company.</p> + +<p>Many and strange were their adventures in the <i>Argo</i>, of which there +is not space to tell. The tale is one of ever-increasing wonder: the +battle with the Harpies, evil birds with human heads; the peril of the +Sirens, whose deadly singing was drowned by Orpheus' song; the menace +of the Symplegades, or moving rocks, which clashed together when a +ship passed between; the fight with the Stymphalian birds, who used +their feathers of brass as arrows; and many more. The story of the +voyage of the <i>Argo</i> is a story that will never die.</p> + +<p>Despite their wanderings and their adventures, the Quest of the Golden +Fleece remained the goal of the Argonauts. After months—or it may +have been years—Jason and the heroes reached the land they sought. +There they presented themselves before Æetes and demanded the Golden +Fleece.</p> + +<p>The king of Colchis looked at these heroes and trembled. Well he knew +that neither he nor his people were a match for such as they. He took +refuge in stratagem, and, as Pelias had done, de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>manded from Jason the +performance of feats he deemed impossible. He must yoke and tame the +bulls of Hephæstus, god of fire, which snorted flame and had hoofs of +red-hot brass; with these he must plow the field of Ares, god of +battle; that done, he must sow the field with dragon's teeth, from +which a host of armed men would spring, and he must defeat that army.</p> + +<p>Truly, the task was one to tax a hero. But, as the gods would have it, +Jason found a new but dangerous ally. This was Medea, the +witch-daughter of Æetes, grand-daughter of Helios, god of the sun. She +loved her father but little, for her father had imprisoned her for +sorcery and, though she had escaped by means of her black arts, her +dark heart brooded vengeance. Partly from love of Jason and partly +from hatred of Æetes, she leagued herself with the heroes.</p> + +<p>Jason was not proof against her wiles. Moreover, he realized that the +task Æetes had set him was one almost beyond the doing. He accepted +from the dark witch-maiden a magic draught which made him proof +against fire and sword. Thus, scorning alike the fiery breath of the +bulls and the myriad blades of the tiny swordsmen, he plowed the field +of Ares and sowed it with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> dragon's teeth. Then he threw a charm +among the ranks of the dwarf warriors who sprang up from the soil, +which caused them to fight, one against the other, until all were +slain. Thus he reached the wood where hung the Golden Fleece.</p> + +<p>There remained still to be conquered the dragon that never slept. +Again the sorceress Medea came to the hero's help. By wild witch songs +she charmed the monster to harmlessness, and, stepping across the +snaky coils, Jason snatched from a bough the Golden Fleece, won at +last!</p> + +<p>Though the Argonauts feared Medea, and though Jason dreaded her fully +as much as he was lured by her, the heroes could not deny that their +quest had been successful mainly through her aid. For her reward, +Medea demanded that they take her back to Greece in the <i>Argo</i>, and +she took her young brother Absyrtus, with her. The oracle of oak in +the bow prophesied disaster, but the heroes had pledged their words +and could not retract.</p> + +<p>The <i>Argo</i> had not gone far upon the sea before the heroes saw that +Æetes was pursuing them. Here was a peril, truly, for Ares, god of +battle, was on the pursuer's side. Then Medea seized her young +brother, cut his body into pieces and scattered them on the sea. The +anguished father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> stopped to collect the fragments and to return them +to the shore for honorable burial. By this shameful device, the +Argonauts escaped.</p> + +<p>So hideous a crime demanded a dreadful expiation, but Jason was to +draw the doom more directly upon his own head. Though he had shuddered +at the murder of Absyrtus and he knew the witch-maid's hands were red +with blood, the spell of Medea's dark beauty overswept his loathing. +At the first land where the <i>Argo</i> stopped, he married her.</p> + +<p>At this the gods were little pleased. They sent a great darkness and +terrible storms which drove the Argonauts over an unknown sea to lands +of new and fearful perils. Once they were all but swallowed in a +quicksand, again, menaced by shipwreck, a third time, a giant whose +body was of brass threatened them with a hideous death from which they +were saved only by the twins, Castor and Pollux. The homeward journey +of the <i>Argo</i> was not less wild and difficult than her coming.</p> + +<p>Yet, at the last, Jason brought back the Golden Fleece to Thessaly, +only to find that the false Pelias had slain Aeson and Jason's mother +and brother during the absence of the Argonauts. His crime was not +left unpunished. Medea per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>suaded the daughters of Pelias to cut their +father into small pieces and to boil the fragments in a pot with +certain witch-herbs that she gave them, falsely promising that by this +means the old king would regain his youth. Of the later life of Jason +and Medea, there is no need to speak. Misery was their lot, and their +deaths were not long delayed.</p> + +<p>Thus, in fanciful guise, appears in the old Greek legend the record of +the European discovery of the alluvial gold deposits of Colchis, and +to the Argonauts was ascribed the honor of being the first to bring to +Greece the gold of Asia Minor. Even in those early days, the gift of +gold was regarded as the favor of the gods.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><span class="label">[2]</span> One book that should be in every boy's library is Charles +Kingsley's "The Heroes," in which the "Quest of the Golden Fleece" is +related with a beauty unequaled in the English language. The books of +A. J. Church, also, especially his "Stories from Homer," make the old +Greek demigods live once again.</p></div> + +<p class="padbottom">There is good reason to believe that the Siege of Troy—the subject of +Homer's Iliad—was not waged alone because of the beauty of Helen of +Troy, but also because the Greeks coveted Mycenæan gold. Excavations +made on the site of ancient Troy have revealed many thin plates of +beaten gold.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill138" id="ill138"></a> +<img src="images/ill-138.jpg" width="500" height="467" alt="Divining-rods." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Divining-Rods.</p> + +<p>A, Twig; B, Trench.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>From an Old Print.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill139" id="ill139"></a> +<img src="images/ill-139.jpg" width="500" height="253" alt="The World's Oldest Picture of Gold-Seekers." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">The World's Oldest Picture of Gold-Seekers.</p> + +<p>The three ships of Queen Hatshepsut sent to the Land of Punt (possibly +Somaliland) in 1503-1481, B.C.</p> + +<p><i>From a wall-painting in the Temple of Deir-el-Bahri, near Thebes.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>Nor was the <i>Argo</i> the only ship to set sail to unknown lands for +gold. As early as the fabled voyage of the Argonauts, or even earlier, +Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt—a mighty woman monarch of whom all too +little is known—sent an expedition to Punt (possibly Somaliland) for +incense and for gold. On the walls of the great temples built during +her reign are found paintings telling the story of this expedition, +picturing, among other things, the bags of gold that the three-masted, +thirty-oared ship brought home.</p> + +<p>Hiram, King of Tyre, who was engaged by King Solomon to bring +treasures for the Temple at Jerusalem, made a long journey to some +distant land (about <span class="smcap">B. C.</span> 1000) and, after having been three years +away, brought back gold and silver, as well as ivory, apes, and +peacocks. He certainly went to India and may have visited Peru.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> For the theory of this early voyage to America, see the +author's "The Quest of the Western World."</p></div> + +<p>The Phrygians were known not only as miners of gold but also as +workers in the precious metal. The "golden sands of Pactolus" were +washed a thousand years before the Christian era. The proverbial +wealth of Crœsus and the legend of the "golden touch of Midas" remain +as historic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> memories of the gold mines of Asia Minor and Arabia, +worked by the Lydian kings.</p> + +<p>When Persia became the mistress of the world, most of this gold was +taken to the courts of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius. Some of it, but +not all, came back in the victorious train of Alexander the Great, +when ten thousand teams of mules and five hundred camels were required +to carry the treasure to the new world capital at Susa.</p> + +<p>Spain, in addition to Egypt and Arabia, became one of the principal +gold-bearing sources of the ancient world. The Carthaginians, +colonists from Phœnicia, conquered the Iberians, who then populated +Spain, and forced them to work in gold mines. They captured negroes +and shipped them to Spain as slaves in the gold diggings. The +Carthaginians also exploited mines in Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica.</p> + +<p>Then Rome, rising into power, cast covetous eyes on the gold possessed +by Carthage, and sought to seize it by force of arms. As a result of +her victory in the First Punic (Carthaginian) War, Rome secured the +three islands of the Mediterranean, rich in minerals.</p> + +<p>The Carthaginians, under the leadership of Hannibal, worked the mines +of Spain and Portu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>gal the harder. The rivers Douro and Tagus were +found to be rich in gold-bearing sands. Rome's envy grew. In the +Second Punic War, she captured Spain. From the gold-mines there, +worked by slave labor, came a large share of the riches and luxury of +the Roman Empire.</p> + +<p>To Owens, sitting in his library in an American colliery town, the +long story of civilization seemed to unroll before his eyes and, +everywhere, possession of gold brought power and fame. In every case, +also, that same possession led to luxury and decline.</p> + +<p>When Rome fell, beneath the impact of the barbarian hordes, the +Byzantine Empire, holding the gold-mines of Macedonia, Thrace, and +Asia Minor, rose to a bought magnificence. It crumbled easily, because +it depended on gold to buy its mercenary armies, even as Carthage had +crumbled before Rome.</p> + +<p>The same story was repeated in the Saracenic power, when the +Caliphates of Bagdad and of Damascus rose to that wealth of which the +"Arabian Nights" gives a picture. The mines of Arabia, Egypt, and +Spain were in their hands, and the luxury of such Moorish towns as +Granada was made possible by the final workings of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> almost +exhausted alluvial deposits of Spain. It was not until the days of +Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile that the Moors were conquered, and, +in those days, Cortés tapped the gold-stores of Mexico, and Pizarro, +those of Peru.</p> + +<p>As ever, the gold of the Aztecs and the Incas, ruthlessly seized so +soon after the voyages of Columbus, made Spain the mistress of the +world. While the Conquistadores were fighting, Spain remained strong. +When the gold was acquired, Spain began to fall.</p> + +<p>England was a frugal country, then. But, like Rome, as soon as her +neighbor began to acquire vast stores of gold, she sought a pretext +for a war. English pirates and privateers commenced to harry the +treasure-ships of Spain, to plunder the Spanish settlements in +America, and to sack every town that was thought to contain American +gold. Upon this stolen treasure, England rose to wealth and power, as +did also Holland and France, the three nations having made a naval +alliance for greed of Spanish gold.</p> + +<p>Nor was England content with her ill-gotten gains. Through commercial +companies which only thinly disguised colonization projects, she +sought possession of gold-bearing regions. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> gold of India, of +Australia, and of South Africa, changed the Kingdom of England into +the British Empire, during the reign of a single queen. No one will +seriously dispute that the annexation of the Transvaal and even the +Boer War of recent years were based on England's desire to control the +enormous gold resources of the Rand, as well as the diamond fields.</p> + +<p>The gold history of the United States is little less striking. The +Louisiana Purchase was based largely on the mineral wealth known to +exist in that territory, the annexation of California and her rise to +statehood were built on gold. The purchase of Alaska in 1867 was +largely due to the discovery of gold in British Columbia in 1857, 1859 +and 1860, and to the discoveries on the Stikine River, Alaska, in +1863.</p> + +<p>The 146 years of life of the United States may be sharply divided into +two equal periods, that before the discovery of gold in California in +1848 and the period following. The amazing strides forward which the +United States has made during this last period are not to be ascribed +only to her virgin soil, to her geographic isolation, or to her form +of government, but more, a thousand times more, to her mining +development.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> Coal, iron, silver, copper, and above all—gold, opened +up the continent with passionate swiftness and hurled the United +States into the position of one of the great powers of the modern +world.</p> + +<p>So Owens sat a-thinking in his library and racking his brain about +Jim. There, not a stone's throw away, lay a sick man, possibly +possessed of a secret that might change the face of history anew.</p> + +<p>How many times it had happened that a lonely prospector, weary, ragged +and hungry, had, with a stroke of a pick or the flick of a pan, +revealed such sources of wealth as to change a burning desert, a fetid +swamp or a bleak mountain range into a hive of industry! What +statesman has ever wrought as many wonders for his country as has that +questing nomad with his shovel and his shallow pan?</p> + +<p>The spirit of rugged honesty and of fair play which so sharply +distinguishes the real miner from the mere mining speculator lay deep +in Owens. He had worked in the gold diggings, himself, and his +standards of principle were those of the great outdoors. He scorned to +take advantage of the opportunity given him by his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> position as owner +of the mine to overhear the delirious ravings of the sick man. That he +might not be tempted, he kept away from the hospital ward, except for +a short daily visit of inquiry.</p> + +<p>When Jim grew better, however, and evinced a marked liking for Owens' +company, the mine-owner yielded to his interest in the prospector. +Even then he restrained himself from making so much as an indirect +reference to the secret of his employe, though the matter was seldom +out of his mind.</p> + +<p>He had no thought of filching Jim's secret from him. Honest to the +core, Owens' thoughts were on a larger scale. As a mining man, he +thought naturally what personal profit he could turn, should the +secret prove to be worth while; but he thought far more of Jim. He +rejoiced in the hope that, perhaps, he could bring to fulfilment the +prospector's hidden dream. And, most of all, he wished to play a part +in adding another treasure-hunt to the golden glory of the world.</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">NUGGETS!</span></h2> + + +<p>Weeks had passed since the accident, and Jim was still in the +hospital. The disaster had been costly to the colliery, but not +crippling. The shafts—always the most costly portion of mine +development—had not been injured. Many of the galleries had been +reopened. The great ventilation fans were working again at full speed. +The cages of coal were whirling up the shaft as of old.</p> + +<p>Otto, after a short rest, had gone to work. The old miner was well +satisfied with the fulfilment of his prophecies. The "knockers" had +indeed tasted blood, for the two men in the old workings had never +been found. As the mining engineer had supposed, that section of the +mine must be abandoned forever. Moreover, Otto's forecast that Clem +would be rescued, uninjured, also had come true.</p> + +<p>Clem, indeed, was recovering, but the doctor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> declared him as yet +unfit to resume the arduous work of hewing below ground. Accordingly, +Owens had given him a temporary position as assistant to the safety +inspector of the mine, for the accident had awakened the interest of +the men in safety work, and the young fellow was quite competent to +help in the simpler forms of instruction.</p> + +<p>Anton was still in a weak state. His lungs were affected. He was +living at home with his mother, Owens having granted the boy leave on +full pay until he was entirely well again.</p> + +<p>As the mine fell more and more into its old routine, Owens found +himself oftener at the hospital. The remembrance of old times was +strong in him, and the mine owner seemed to renew his youth in the +rude speech of the prospector, sprinkled as it was with mining terms +once so familiar to his ear.</p> + +<p>Jim's liking for his employer was rapidly growing into comradeship. He +was fully conscious of Owens' delicacy in never referring to the +secret and began to feel that here, at last, was a rich man he could +trust. In the course of time, it was the old prospector who brought +the matter up, first.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>"Has Clem ever said anything more to you about my mine?" he asked +abruptly.</p> + +<p>Owens started, but he got a grip on himself at once. When he answered, +it was in as casual a tone as he could assume.</p> + +<p>"Not another word. I don't suppose he has, to anybody. He seems to +know enough not to talk. You heard how he snubbed the reporter!"</p> + +<p>"I know. I heard him. He's square, is Clem. But I ain't never yet +asked him what I said, down there in the mine. It's been eatin' me, +all the time I've been lyin' here. To think I kep' it quiet all these +years, an' then go blurt it out, jest 'cos I was hungry!"</p> + +<p>"You haven't any reason to blame yourself for that, you were +unconscious. And, like you, I believe Clem is as straight as a +string."</p> + +<p>"Ay," agreed Jim, "he shows color in every pan (specks of gold in +every handful of washed sand). I'd ha' gone West, judgin' from what he +said the other day, if it hadn't been for him."</p> + +<p>"You certainly would."</p> + +<p>"An' that makes us pards (partners) in a way, don't it?"</p> + +<p>Jim paused, and then burst out again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> "But I can't help wonderin' +jest how much I told!"</p> + +<p>"You'll have to ask Clem that. You remember, he said nothing to the +reporter except that, in your delirium you were talking about gold."</p> + +<p>"Gold! Did I say gold? Are you dead sure that I said gold?"</p> + +<p>"That's what Clem told, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Then I must sure ha' been dreamin'!" Jim's tone was both embarrassed +and evasive.</p> + +<p>Owens saw, at once, by the prospector's manner that he was nervously +fearful of having betrayed himself and that he wanted to drop the +subject. This seemed a sure sign that the hinted discovery was true.</p> + +<p>It was a ticklish moment. The mine-owner realized that if the matter +were dropped, now, he might never have another chance to get back to +it. Any attempt on his part to renew the subject would be sure to +arouse Jim's suspicion. If he were to be of any service to the old +prospector, he must seize the present opportunity.</p> + +<p>"Too bad that it isn't gold then," he said, half commiseratingly. +"There's nothing in all the world that can make a man rich in a +minute, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> gold can. I saw that, often enough, in Australia. That's +the land of nuggets, Jim, big ones! Most of them were found by sheer +luck, and it was poor men who found them, too, mostly.</p> + +<p>"The Australian black-fellows—pretty much savages, those +fellows—knew gold, long before the white men came. They used to make +their javelin-heads of gold because it's the easiest metal to work, +when cold, and is found pure.</p> + +<p>"So it was not so surprising, Jim, that one of the first big gold +finds was made by a black-fellow, a husky tattooed chap who owned no +property except a small apron of matting for his middle, a bunch of +feathers for his hair, a long-handled stone hatchet, and a boomerang.</p> + +<p>"This Cl'ck, as he was called, was employed as a shepherd by Dr. Kerr, +a large sheep-owner in New South Wales. Cl'ck was a fairly intelligent +fellow and had learned to talk a few words of English. He knew gold +when he saw it. Just at the time I'm speaking of, the whole world was +excited over gold, for it was just after the discovery of gold in +California in 1848 and the great gold rush of '49."</p> + +<p>"My father was one of the 'forty-niners,'" put in Jim, eagerly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>"So you're of the real Argonaut breed, then!" exclaimed Owens, but he +did not push the enquiry, preferring to allow Jim to tell his story in +his own way and in his own time. In order, however, to keep the +subject of gold present in Jim's mind, he continued:</p> + +<p>"For some time there had been vague hints that there might be gold in +Australia, but, before the time of the 'forty-niners' no attention had +been paid to it.</p> + +<p>"For example! Once, in 1834, a ticket-of-leave man (convict out on +parole), working in New South Wales, found a small nugget of pure gold +in the earth and brought it to the nearest town to sell. Being a +convict, he was at once arrested for having possession of the gold, +and not being able to explain how he had got it. His story that he had +found it in the earth was laughed at, for never—so far as the +Australians knew, then—had gold been found in nuggets. As it +happened, a white settler had lost a gold watch a little time before. +The weight of the nugget was just about that of the weight of the case +of a gold watch. The ticket-of-leave man was accused of having stolen +the watch, thrown away the works and melted down the case. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> was +found guilty and punished with a hundred and thirty lashes."</p> + +<p>"Whew, that was pilin' it on heavy!" commented Jim.</p> + +<p>"They had to be severe in those days," Owens explained. "Botany Bay +and Port Jackson were penal stations. In those days there were about +fifty thousand white folks in New South Wales and three-quarters of +them were convicts. That meant ruling with an iron hand, if mutiny was +to be prevented.</p> + +<p>"Twice, after that, white settlers found signs of gold, but in such +small quantities that the deposits were not worth working by the +primitive means employed at that time. In 1841, signs of gold were +found not far from Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, but the +Governor personally asked the finder to keep the matter a secret for +there were 45,000 convicts in the colony by that time, and he was +afraid that news of a gold-find might start a revolt that the military +would not be able to quell.</p> + +<p>"Two years later an even more curious discovery was made. Mr. H. +Anderson, who owned a sheep-station where now are found the great +gold-fields of Ballarat—in the province of Vic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>toria, south of +New South Wales—threw away the finest chance to become a +multi-millionaire that ever came to any man.</p> + +<p>"While walking from the home kraal (corral) to his house, in company +with a neighbor, he saw on the ground a small piece of white quartz +shining in the sun and noticed a few thin streaks of yellow in the +quartz.</p> + +<p>"He picked it up in a casual way, cast a glance at it, and handed it +to his companion.</p> + +<p>"'We're the richest men in the world,' he said, jokingly. 'You and I +are running sheep over a gold-mine.'</p> + +<p>"This jesting statement was literally true.</p> + +<p>"But the other, who knew just enough about such matters to be really +ignorant, wanted to display his small store of knowledge.</p> + +<p>"'Gold!' he said contemptuously, 'that's what they call fool's gold. +It's pyrites of some sort. Tut, tut, man! Golden nonsense! The only +gold in this country is what grows on the backs of sheep.'</p> + +<p>"Mr. Anderson, trusting to his companion's supposed better knowledge, +threw the piece of quartz at a pair of wallabies (small kangaroos) +that were leaping about, near by, and thus lost the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> chance of +becoming the richest man in Australia. Five years later came the news +of the gold-finds in California, and the more thoughtful men in New +South Wales remembered these vague stories about gold having been +found in the island continent.</p> + +<p>"Now, let us get back to Cl'ck. His employer, Dr. Kerr, had bidden him +keep his eyes open for any signs of gold, during his wanderings over +the wild pasture land with his flocks. He promised to give him five +pounds—a large sum for a black-fellow, in those days—for any piece +of gold he should bring in, no matter how small.</p> + +<p>"One day, in February, 1851, while leading his flocks to water at +Meroo Creek, Cl'ck happened to see what looked like a smudge of yellow +on the surface of a good-sized bowlder of quartz. He chipped at it +with his long-handled hatchet, and there, solidly embedded in the +bowlder, was a huge chunk of gold. It weighed over 102 pounds and was +sold for over $20,000.</p> + +<p>"This accidental discovery, which made Kerr rich, and which, +incidentally, gave Cl'ck a hut and a sheep-kraal of his own, was +amazing enough in itself. Even in California, which was then regarded +as the very fountain-head of gold, no such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> nugget had been found. +Yet, a couple of weeks later, a strike was made of such importance as +to throw even the Black-fellow Nugget in the shade. This second strike +determined the fortunes of Australia.</p> + +<p>"One of the 'forty-niners,' who went to the California gold-fields in +the first ship that sailed from Sydney after the news of the +Sacramento discoveries had reached Australia, was a prospector called +E. H. Hargraves. He got to California in the middle of the rush, but +luck was against him.</p> + +<p>"As happened so often with the men who knew only a little mining, he +thought he could do better than merely follow the crowd. He staked a +claim that looked more promising than the ground on the outskirts of +the established mining camps. The claim proved worthless, or nearly +so.</p> + +<p>"Seeing the vast crowds streaming into California, and being convinced +that there would not be gold enough for all, Hargraves decided to go +home, rather than to stay in the California gold-diggings and die of +hunger—as so many of the forty-niners did."</p> + +<p>Jim nodded assentingly. He knew those stories. Many a one had his +father told him. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> was well aware that the trail of gold is a line +of graves.</p> + +<p>"On his way back home," Owens continued, "Hargraves remembered that he +had seen ground in New South Wales which bore a marked resemblance to +the regions where gold had been found in California. It was not +ordinary alluvial gold land, such as prospectors were apt to seek, and +no one had ever suspected that gold might be found there. Hargraves +had kept his eyes open, when in California, and had realized that +alluvial gold was but a beginning, that the biggest amount of wealth +lay in a reef.</p> + +<p>"Reaching Sydney in December, 1850, Hargraves made his way towards +what is now the town of Bathurst. He was out in the field, +prospecting, when the Black-fellow Nugget was found, and heard nothing +about it.</p> + +<p>"Near the end of February, 1851, working in Summerhill Creek, he +discovered sure signs of gold, though in no such alluring quantity as +had been found on the creeks leading into the Sacramento River. He +worked steadily up the creek, not only panning as he went, but also +striking off to right and left to see if the ground gave promise of a +reef. There, on the last day of the month,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> he found a bowlder of +quartz and gold, or, to speak more correctly, a detached piece of +quartz from a reef, the greater part of which was almost pure gold and +weighed 106 pounds.</p> + +<p>"Hargraves was a man of sense. Instead of hurrying back to the nearest +town with his find, selling it and blowing the money, he did some +further prospecting. He collected specimens from different parts of +the neighborhood, realizing that he had made a discovery not less +sensational than when Sutter found the first gold in his mill-race in +California.</p> + +<p>"Then he went straight to the government authorities of New South +Wales, and, in addition to establishing his own claims, he asked that +a reward be given him by the government. The governor, anxious to stop +the emigration from New South Wales to California, and realizing that +a gold-find would bring enormous wealth and prosperity to the colony, +made him a grant of $50,000 and a pension, providing that he would +reveal the gold-bearing locality to the authorities, first, and +providing the territory should produce a million dollars' worth of +gold.</p> + +<p>"Hargraves was as good as his word. He showed not only the famous +Lewis Ponds, Sum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>merhill, but also another and even bigger field on +the upper waters of the Macquarie River. Owing to their prior +information, the authorities were able to establish mining laws and +good government before the rush set it, and Bathhurst was freed from +the wild orgy of lawlessness which marked the days of the +'forty-niners.'</p> + +<p>"All this, Jim, was a wonderful jump forward for New South Wales, and +the town of Sydney boomed. But it was equally bad for the other +provinces of Australia, and Victoria, being the nearest, suffered +most. Almost every man able to wield a pick or rock a miner's cradle, +deserted his work and rushed to Bathurst. The gold was so easy to +separate from the quartz that a man could get rich using no other tool +than an ordinary hammer.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"Shepherds and even sheep-owners deserted their flocks, farmers let +their land go to weed, merchants abandoned their shops, manufacturers +allowed their machinery to rust, school-teachers locked the doors of +schools, and workmen of every line of labor flocked to Sydney and +toiled along the widely beaten track to Bathurst.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill158" id="ill158"></a> +<img src="images/ill-158.jpg" width="500" height="314" alt="Australia's Treasure-House." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Australia's Treasure-House.</p> + +<p>One of the shafts of the Kilgoorlie Gold Mine, more than 1000 feet +below the surface.</p> + +<p><i>From "Mines and Their Story," by Bernard Mannix Sidgwick and +Jackson.</i></p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Courtesy of Kilgoorlie Gold Mining Co.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill159" id="ill159"></a> +<img src="images/ill-159.jpg" width="500" height="322" alt="In the Richest Gold Mine in the World." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">In the Richest Gold Mine in the World.</p> + +<p>Drilling the rock for blasting on the Rand Reefs of South Africa; the +compressed-air drills give a million blows a day, each with the force +of half a ton.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">"The authorities of the province of Victoria<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> were in despair. The +colony was plunging into ruin. Something must be done at once. They +offered a huge reward to any one who should find gold within two +hundred miles of Melbourne. On the very same day, two men came to +claim the reward. One had made a strike on the Plenty River, the other +on the Yarra-Yarra. In August, 1851, came the discovery of gold at +Ballarat, gold in its pure form and in large grains. The Bendigo +fields developed immediately after.</p> + +<p>"Then came a rush unparalleled! Money came easy, just as it comes easy +to any man who has the good luck to be first at a strike. Every one +got rich in Ballarat. There were no blanks. It was the richest ground +that ever was found. The grains of gold were so big that they stuck +out and looked at you!</p> + +<p>"Geelong, which was the nearest town to Ballarat, was deserted. Three +months after the discovery of gold the mayor of Geelong complained +that there were only eleven men and over three thousand women and +children in the town."</p> + +<p>"Ay," agreed Jim, "and I remember in Pot-Luck Camp, the first time a +decent woman came into the town, a miner offered her a bag of +gold-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>dust to just shake hands with him. I've seen seven camps in a +string, wi' maybe a thousand men in each an' nary a woman in the lot!"</p> + +<p>"A camp like that becomes right wild," Owens agreed. "Ballarat, for a +while, was about as dangerous a place as ever the world saw. +Ticket-of-leave men from New South Wales, escaped or paroled convicts +from Tasmania, roughs that had been run out of camps by vigilance +committees in California, Chinese and Malays swarmed there. The +diggers refused to take out licenses, fired on the police, charged the +military stockade, and when the troops charged back and took 125 +prisoners, a jury acquitted every one of the mutineers as upholders of +individual liberty. If a man did not find gold, he starved at the +exorbitant prices demanded for food; if he did make a strike, the +chances were ten to one he would be murdered the next day. Colorado, +at is worst, could not be compared with early days at Ballarat.</p> + +<p>"Bendigo followed right after. That was a nugget corner. During the +year 1852, alone, three big nuggets were found there, one of 24 +pounds, one of 28 pounds, and one of 47 pounds. All these nuggets +revealed outcrops and the finders all became rich men.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>"One of them was found in a queer way. A prospector, or 'fossicker' as +they call them back there, had been panning all along a small creek, +finding hardly enough color to pay him for his day's work. He was +walking on the very edge of the bank, scanning every stone he came to, +but seeing no prospects. Suddenly the bank caved in under him, +throwing him into the water. He came up, spluttering, and there, right +in front of him, the water was washing off the dirt, was one of the +purest nuggets that Australia ever produced. That was probably the +most profitable bath in history."</p> + +<p>"Some men are born lucky!" declared Jim, enviously.</p> + +<p>"That's true," Owens agreed, "and it has been a characteristic of +Australia that all the big finds have been made by lucky accidents. +Even recent discoveries are no exception. Did you ever hear the story +of Pilbarra and the crow?"</p> + +<p>"Never did."</p> + +<p>"It's a classic in Australian gold mining. It's as queer a story as I +know. It doesn't sound true, a bit, but all the documents in the case +are on record.</p> + +<p>"One fine day, a youngster in West Australia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>—clear across the other +side of the continent from Bathurst and Ballarat—was idling along a +narrow track, as youngsters will, even when sent on a hurried message. +On his way, he saw a black crow hopping some distance away. With a +natural boy movement, he picked up a stone and shied it at the crow. +The bird gave a loud croak and flew away a little distance, but in the +same direction in which the boy was walking. Presently the crow was +within throwing distance, again. The boy stooped to pick up another +stone.</p> + +<p>"Just as he was about to let fly, however, he noticed some gold specks +in it and took it home. There he showed it to his father, who was an +employe in the convict prison there. His father showed it to the +Warden, as he was compelled to do, for he was also a convict, though a +'trusty.'</p> + +<p>"The much-excited Warden knew that the governor of the colony ought to +be notified at once, but how was he to do so without the secret +leaking out through the telegraph office? Forgetting, in his +excitement, that the governor did not know as much about the matter as +he did, he sent the following message:</p> + +<p>"<i>'Boy here has just thrown stone at crow.'</i></p> + +<p>"He entirely neglected to mention that there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> was anything special in +either the stone or the crow.</p> + +<p>"The telegram puzzled the governor not a little. But he had a sense of +humor, and he replied to the Warden's telegram with the following +message:</p> + +<p>"<i>'Yes; but what happened to the crow?'</i></p> + +<p>"The Warden realized his former omission, and risking discovery, +telegraphed:</p> + +<p>"<i>'Stone, gold.'</i></p> + +<p>"The telegraph operator, not seeing how this could be a reply to the +governor's question thought an error had been made and forwarded the +message:</p> + +<p>"<i>'Stone cold.'</i></p> + +<p>"The governor thought his friend the Warden must have gone crazy, but +he was not to be outdone. He wired back:</p> + +<p>"<i>'Forward crow.'</i></p> + +<p>"This time it was the turn of the Warden to be puzzled, and, as soon +as his duties would permit, he went to the capital—almost a +thousand-mile journey—taking, not the crow, but the stone filled with +specks of gold. This was in 1888. Over half-a-million dollars' worth +of gold was taken from Pilbarra before the end of the year.</p> + +<p>"The richest gold field in Australia was hit on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> by accident four +years later. This was Kimberley. Signs of gold had been found there in +1882, and again in 1886 but not enough to be worth working. In 1892 +two prospectors started out to explore the region. They worked for +weeks and found nothing. One of them, thoroughly disgusted, gave up +the search and started for home.</p> + +<p>"Two nights after, while camping, his horse became restless and +started to plunge and kick at a wombat, near by. The prospector got up +to quiet the beast, fearing he would break the picket-rope. On his +way, he stumbled over a stone, which, in the light of early dawn, he +saw to be rich in gold. He pegged out a claim at once, fetched his +partner, and the two men took out $50,000 worth of gold in three +weeks. This was the beginning of the great Coolgardie field.</p> + +<p>"In the same region, about 24 miles away, not long after the opening +of the Coolgardie field, a miner just missed wealth. There was a small +camp there, but one man had no luck. While sitting dispiritedly in his +dog-tent, just before going to sleep, he began to burrow with his +fingers in the loose soil on which he was slouching and discovered a +small pocket of gold. He was so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> excited that he shouted out the news +to the camp.</p> + +<p>"Before he could realize what was happening, the other miners crowded +round, and pegged out claims to the very borders of his tent. All he +got out of it was the small bit of ground on which his tent stood. The +pocket only yielded a hundred dollars' worth of gold, his neighbors to +right and left, got more than ten times that amount in the first three +days.</p> + +<p>"I could go on for hours, Jim, telling you about the Australian +gold-fields, but I've said enough to show you that I meant what I said +when I suggested that it was a pity that you hadn't found gold. The +mining of every other metal needs a lot of capital to begin with—as +gold does, when you begin to work a reef—but, in nearly every gold +deposit, there are placers or pockets where a man can clean up +quickly."</p> + +<p>Jim's face was glowing with a lively interest. His excitement had +grown as the mine-owner proceeded.</p> + +<p>"And these here nuggets," he queried, "what makes 'em? Where do they +come from? We don't find anything like that over here!"</p> + +<p>"No," agreed Owens, "you don't. Chunks like 'The Welcome Stranger' +which sold for $48,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>000 and which was found right in the road, the +wheel of a passing wagon having cut through the soft earth and exposed +it, are peculiar to Australia. Even South Africa, which is the largest +gold-producing country in the world, hasn't any nuggets like that.</p> + +<p>"As for where nuggets come from, Jim, that's a bit of a puzzle. Some +say they grew in the earth, water heavily laden with gold, depositing +more and more of the metal in the one place; other scientists claim +that the nuggets were made in the days when the earth was all fire, +and that the nuggets have been there ever since. Neither theory +answers all the facts. It's truer to say that we don't know, yet, how +nuggets came to be, nor why Australia has most of them.</p> + +<p>"Some day, Jim, if you're interested, I'll try to explain to you the +geology of gold. It's pretty complicated. I did a lot of study on it, +when I was a young chap. Somehow, I seemed to be one of the men who +didn't have any luck at the diggings. So I took to assay work +(ore-testing), out there in Australia, and made more with my little +assay outfit than most of the miners did with their claims."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>Jim propped himself up on one elbow and stared fixedly at the +mine-owner.</p> + +<p>"You know how to make an assay, yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Roughly, yes. Of course, only for field work, you understand. I don't +pretend to be a mineralogical chemist."</p> + +<p>"You can do it yet?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose so. I haven't done any for years. This coal-mine business +has kept me busy. But I've still got my portable assay outfit up at +the house. I kept it for old-time's sake."</p> + +<p>Jim's eyes glistened eagerly.</p> + +<p>"You go to my cabin, Owens," he said, and it was noticeable that he +dropped the "Mr.," "and five long paces due north from my kitchen +window, you dig! You'll find a chunk of ore, there. Assay it, and then +come back here!"</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>The old prospector waved the interruption aside, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Do it, and then talk!"</p> + +<p>Owens shrugged his shoulders and left, but little less excited than +Jim.</p> + +<p>That evening, during the middle of the night shift, when no one was +likely to see him, the mine-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>owner went to the spot designated and +began to dig. A foot or two beneath the surface, he found the chunk of +ore. He put it in his pocket and hurried to his own house.</p> + +<p>It was nearly dawn before he completed the assay. Then he put the ore +and his memorandum of results in the safe and went to bed for a short +sleep.</p> + +<p>That morning, after breakfast, he returned to the hospital. He found +Jim in an excited state.</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Owens, there's nothing wrong with him," the doctor explained, +"only he hasn't slept all night. He's been asking for you, every few +minutes."</p> + +<p>When the mine-owner entered the ward, Jim struggled up to a sitting +position.</p> + +<p>"What about it?" he queried.</p> + +<p>Owens closed the door carefully, came up to the sick man's bedside, +and answered quietly,</p> + +<p>"About 110 grains of gold to the ton and 800 ounces of silver. There's +some native copper, too."</p> + +<p>"It's a real find then?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't what you'd call rich," the Australian answered cautiously.</p> + +<p>"How about this, then?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>Jim took his old coat, which he had got the hospital attendant to +bring him the night before, ripped open a seam, showing a narrow tube +of buckskin running around the hem, and, opening its mouth, poured out +a few grains of yellow metal into the palm of his hand.</p> + +<p>"Free gold!" he said, triumphantly.</p> + +<p>One glance of a trained eye sufficed.</p> + +<p>"That's the stuff, sure enough. But you didn't find much of it, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Where do you get that idea?"</p> + +<p>"The grains are big enough to pan easily. If there was much of it, you +wouldn't have left the place without cleaning up a good stake."</p> + +<p>"There is plenty of it. But I had to get out."</p> + +<p>"Why, then?"</p> + +<p>"To save my skin. An' I couldn't get back there."</p> + +<p>"Back where?"</p> + +<p>"Where I found it."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't tell me much."</p> + +<p>"It ain't intended to."</p> + +<p>"Then why," said Owens, showing irritation, "did you show me the ore +at all?"</p> + +<p>Jim looked at him under lowered eyelids.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever been a prospector, honest?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>The owner of the coal mine put his hand in his breast pocket.</p> + +<p>"I thought this might interest you," he said, "so I brought it along. +That's me!"</p> + +<p>He put his finger on one of the figures in the picture that he handed +to the prospector. It showed a young fellow, bearded, in the typical +Australian digger's rig-out, panning gold. The photograph was an old +one, evidently, and there was no doubt that it was a resemblance of +Owens in his youth.</p> + +<p>"Ay, it's you," said Jim.</p> + +<p>For some minutes there was silence. The mine-owner let the prospector +think the matter out in his own way. Finally, with an air of desperate +determination, Jim began:</p> + +<p>"I'm gettin' old, now, an' times has changed since I found that ore. I +ain't never give up hope of gettin' back there, but it don't look like +it, now. I ain't the man I was. This last spell has crippled me up, +pretty bad, too. I ain't never goin' to be right husky, again. The +doctor says so."</p> + +<p>"You can have a job above ground, here, as long as you want to."</p> + +<p>Jim nodded appreciation of the offer.</p> + +<p>"That's a square deal," he admitted. "But,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> he went on viciously, +"I've had enough o' coal. I don't want to see a bit o' coal again, +long's I live! I want to get back to God's country."</p> + +<p>"Which is?"</p> + +<p>"Where I found that!" replied Jim, evasively.</p> + +<p>Owens made no protest. He kept silent, being sure that his companion +would go on to talk.</p> + +<p>"I'm gettin' old," Jim repeated, after a while, "an' it takes two +things to get where I found that ore—a tough constitution an' money. +I got neither. It's a job for a young fellow."</p> + +<p>"I'm not much younger than you are," suggested Owens.</p> + +<p>"Clem is."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"But he hasn't got any more money'n I have."</p> + +<p>The mine-owner bent a level glance at the old prospector.</p> + +<p>"Don't beat about the bush so much, Jim. If you don't want to say +anything, why, drop the whole business. If you have anything to say, +spit it out! You want me to grub-stake you? Is that it?"</p> + +<p>"Me an' Clem. I won't do nothin' without Clem. A man has to have a +pardner."</p> + +<p>"I've no objection to Clem. On the contrary.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> But I don't grub-stake a +man just because he shows me a bit of ore! I've been in the game too +long for that. How do I know where that gold comes from? It might have +been picked up from some mine now working at full blast. As for the +gold-dust—why, it would be queer if you hadn't found some of it, +somewhere.</p> + +<p>"No," he went on, anticipating Jim's interruption, "I'm going to do +the talking for a minute. You wanted to be sure I was a prospector. I +showed you. You wanted to be sure I knew enough about gold to make an +assay. I've done that for you.</p> + +<p>"But confidence can't be all on the one side. You'll have to show your +cards, the same way. You'll have to convince me that you're on the +square, too. I'm not suspecting anything, mind, but this has got to be +an open-and-shut deal, or I don't go in.</p> + +<p>"Tell me who you are, where you've been, what you've done and what you +know about gold deposits, anyway. I've got to know where you found +this ore, how you came to find it, and why you haven't been able to +get back there. You'll have to show me some proof, to start with, and +what chances there are of taking the necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> machinery to the +place, before I think about investing any capital.</p> + +<p>"You can keep back the exact location of the strike to the last, if +you like. If it sounds right, why, I'll think about it. But, mark you, +Jim, I make no promises. You can talk, or not, just as you choose. I'm +not hunting trouble, understand, this colliery keeps me busy enough. +But if you want help, maybe I can give it to you. That ore deposit—if +it's a deposit—can either be let alone or developed. If you let it +alone, it's no good to anybody. If it's developed, there's a chance +that it might make money for the both of us. Decide! It's up to you!"</p> + +<p>Silence fell in the hospital ward. Jim's eyes were far away, evidently +in that strange and distant land where he had made his find. Then he +turned a piercing glance on the mine-owner, who returned it frankly.</p> + +<p>The old prospector cleared his throat and swallowed hard. For a moment +he seemed about to speak, and then stopped himself. At last his +features settled into decision.</p> + +<p>"Send for Clem to come here to-morrow," he said, "I'll tell the +yarn."</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE FORTY-NINERS</span></h2> + + +<p>Several days elapsed before Jim took up his story, Owens preferring to +wait until the prospector grew stronger. The mine-owner was shrewd +enough to see that if he did not show too much haste, Jim would be +less suspicious.</p> + +<p>When the time arrived, Jim was up and dressed, though the doctor would +only allow him out of doors for a few minutes at a time. The +prospector had evidently been thinking out the beginning of his story, +for, when his visitors arrived, he opened without preface.</p> + +<p>"There's a lot o' wild yarns been told about the findin' o' gold in +Californy," he began. "I've heard some, an' wild an' woolly they was; +an' I've read some in books, an' they was wilder yet; an' I've seen +some in the movies, an' they was a crime!</p> + +<p>"Not but what them days wasn't tough! They was! The crowds what hit +the minin' camps o' the Sierras in the fifties was out for gold an'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +nothin' else, an' they didn't much care how they got it. Father, he +was a forty-niner himself, an' he was a rough un if anything got in +his way. But he had more sense'n most, an', without any book-l'arnin' +to speak of, he knew a heap about gold. If he'd been alive when I made +my strike, old as he was, he'd ha' gone there, an' he'd ha' got there, +too.</p> + +<p>"I come o' Mormon stock, I do. My grand-pap, he made the trail to Salt +Lake City wi' Brigham Young. Grandma, she used a rifle to defend the +home camp, when the Illinois and Indiana folk came to massacre the +women an' children, after the men were gone. Judgin' from what I've +heard about her shootin', there wasn't many bullets wasted. Some o' +these days, when you ain't got nothin' better to do, I'll tell you the +story o' my grand-pap. He come to be one o' the Danites, later.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> For the relation of the Mormons and the Danites to the +forty-niners and the emigrant trains going west, see the author's "The +Book of Cowboys."</p></div> + +<p>"You'll know the story o' Sutter's Mill, likely, Mr. Owens,"—Jim +returned to the "Mr." in Clem's presence,—"but Clem, he don't know +nothin' about it, an' he ought to be put wise if he's goin' to take a +hand in this game.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>"It all come about in queer fashion, a good deal like it did in +Australia, as Mr. Owens was a-tellin' me a few days ago. The first +signs o' gold was found on the Americanos River, which runs into the +Sacramento. Found by accident, they was, too.</p> + +<p>"There was a chap out them parts—an Indian-fighter—Cap'n Sutter by +name. He owned a lot o' land an' used to run cattle in a small way, +for the time I'm tellin' about was long afore the days o' the cowboys +an' the ol' Texas-Drive trail.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> This Sutter had a foreman called +James W. Marshall, who, besides his reg'lar job o' handlin' cattle an' +greasers, looked after the runnin' of a one-horse saw-mill on the +Americanos. It was an over-shot water-wheel mill, an' jest roughly +chucked together.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> For the history of the Texas trail and the winning of the +West for the United States, see the author's "The Book of Cowboys."</p></div> + +<p>"By-'n'-by Marshall begin to notice that the ol' mill wasn't workin' +any too good. A lot o' sand an' gravel had come down wi' the water, +chokin' up the tail-race some. The run-off wouldn't get away fast +enough an' churned up under the water-wheel, causin' a loss o' power.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"To get the tail-race clear an' to widen her out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> a bit, Marshall, +he throws the wheel out o' gear, pulls up the gate o' the dam, an' +lets the whole head o' water in the mill-pond go a-flyin'. That water +hit into the tail-race like a hydraulic jet an' scooped her out clear, +carryin' a mass o' sand an' gravel into the river below.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill176" id="ill176"></a> +<img src="images/ill-176.jpg" width="500" height="449" alt="Sutter's Mill." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Sutter's Mill.</p> + +<p class="illspace">Where Marshall discovered gold, January 19, 1848.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill177" id="ill177"></a> +<img src="images/ill-177.jpg" width="500" height="315" alt="The Rush to the Gold Mines." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">The Rush to the Gold Mines.</p> + +<p>Scene in San Francisco in 1849.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">"Next day, that was January 19, 1848, Marshall goes down to the river +below the tail-race to see how she's shapin' an' if the cut-out is big +enough. He's walkin' along the bank when he notices something glitter. +He looks again, an' sees what he thinks is a bit o' Spanish opal, not +the real gem, Clem, but a soft stone they find out there which looks +even prettier'n an opal, but wears off an' gets dull in no time. They +sell 'em to greenhorns, still.</p> + +<p>"Marshall don't worry none about that, but by-'n-by, seein' a lot +more, as he thinks, he figures to pick up some, jest to show. +Accordin' as he used to tell the tale, he didn't think it was worth +the trouble, but spottin' one that looks different from the rest, he +reaches down into the water an' fishes it out.</p> + +<p>"It ain't no opal at all. It's a bit o' shiny white quartz wi' a line +o' yellow runnin' through. That's what makes the glitter. He hunts +around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> some, rememberin' that he'd seen other bits shinin' yellow the +same way, an' finds quite a few, all of 'em looking like scales o' +pure gold. They was jest about the size an' thinness o' the scales +that comes off a rattlesnake's skin after it's dry, an' for a while, +Marshall figured they was some kind o' scale or horn, washed down thin +by the water.</p> + +<p>"In them times, the folks in Californy hadn't no idee o' minin'. It +was still Spanish territory, for one thing, an', for another, there +wasn't any minin' done. So Marshall wasn't thinkin' about gold. It was +jest curiosity what made him hunt up some more o' those queer yellow +scales.</p> + +<p>"The more he found, the more puzzled he got. They was heavy; they bent +like a bit o' metal, a thing a stone won't never do; they could be +scratched with a pocket-knife; they didn't show no layers like horn +does when it's old. The biggest bit he found weighed less'n a quarter +of an ounce, an' this one was stickin' in the bank o' the tail-race, +where the water had been washin' the earth away.</p> + +<p>"He puts this last bit on a flat rock an' hammers it with a stone. It +beats out flat quite easy. Marshall wasn't no fool, an' he knew there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +wasn't no yellow metal acted that way but gold or copper, an' native +copper ain't that color.</p> + +<p>"There was one o' the mill-hands wi' Marshall at the time, a chap +called Peter Wimmer. He didn't know any more about gold'n Marshall +did, but he'd heard said that every metal, savin' gold, gets black if +it's boiled in strong lye. Marshall gets Wimmer to keep quiet by +promisin' him a stake in whatever's found, an' tries the boilin' +trick. The flakes o' metal stays put, an' shows nary a sign o' +tarnishin'.</p> + +<p>"By this time, Marshall was gettin' pretty sure that what he'd found +was gold. He hadn't no notion of a gold mine, though, seein' he'd +never heard of any. He reckoned that these flakes must be gold that +had been buried by the Indians, long ago, an' had been washed down; +from a grave, maybe, or some o' the treasure that the Spaniards had +been huntin'.</p> + +<p>"Jest the same, he was curious. He strolled away from the tail-race, +idle-like, an' started huntin' promiscuous. He found specks o' gold +all over. That settled him. He jumped on a horse an' rode down to +Cap'n Sutter wi' the news.</p> + +<p>"Sutter was a whole lot more excited than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> Marshall was. He was +educated an' knew the history o' Mexico. He knew the Indians in +Californy had possessed gold in the time o' the first comin' o' the +Spaniards, an' he reckoned that gold must ha' come from somewhere. +There'd always been some talk o' gold around where the Spanish +missions had started, and, jest three years afore, a Spanish don had +sent some ore to Mexico, sayin' that there was gold an' silver +a-plenty around, an' the government had better get busy an' develop +it. But the Spaniards weren't havin' any. Ever since they got so badly +fooled, a couple o' hundred years afore, in their hunt for the 'Golden +Cities o' Cibola,'<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> they let Californy alone.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> For the gold-hunting expedition of the Spanish +Conquistadores in North America—records of extraordinary heroism and +adventure—see the author's "The Quest of the Western World." For the +gold-stories of Ancient Mexico, see the author's "The Aztec-hunters."</p></div> + +<p>"Sutter didn't waste no time. He rode right back to the mill wi' the +foreman. They didn't have to poke around long afore Sutter was plumb +sure it was the real stuff. There was some of it in the Americanos, +but the gold was even thicker in the dried-up creeks an' gulches that +run into the river on both sides. With his penknife,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Sutter pried out +o' the rock-face a piece o' gold weighin' nigh two ounces.</p> + +<p>"Some o' the mill-hands had got wise, too. Maybe Wimmer talked—though +he said he hadn't. Maybe they just got a hunch, when they saw Sutter +an' Marshall prospectin' around. They started huntin', too, but the +flakes were small an' took a long time to find. None o' them knew +enough to try washin' the sand, an' all they found didn't amount to +much.</p> + +<p>"Sutter took samples o' the gold to the fort at Monterey, where +General Mason was in command. Mason was more interested in tryin' to +keep the Apaches an' Comanches quiet than he was in fussin' about +metals. He was a soldier, an' minin' wasn't his line. But he knew that +the federal authorities at Washington ought to be notified.</p> + +<p>"There weren't no post nor telegraph in them times—that was 'way +afore the days o' the Pony Express,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> even—an' Mason sent a special +messenger. Politics were queer in Californy around that time. Spain +claimed the territory, the United States claimed it, an' for a +while—a month, maybe—Californy was a republic on her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> own. The +messenger reached Washington, all right, an' his report hurried up the +signin' o' the treaty which made Californy American. That happened +jest six weeks after Marshall had picked up his first bit o' gold an' +only two weeks after the messenger arrived. Word was sent to Mason to +be sure an' keep law an' order, no matter what happened. It was a bit +too late, then; goin' an' comin' from Washington took months.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See the author's "The Boy with the U. S. Mail."</p></div> + +<p>"Things were happenin' out 'Frisco way. Geo. Bennett, who'd been +workin' at the mill, left there about the middle o' February, takin' +some flakes o' gold with him. When he got to 'Frisco, he met Isaac +Humphrey, who'd worked on the Dahlonega strike, in Georgia, in 1830. +Humphrey took jest one look at the stuff, an' said right away that it +was gold.</p> + +<p>"Bennett an' Humphrey hot-footed it back to the mill. They found it +workin' jest as usual. Some o' the men had picked up more gold, but +casual-like, after workin' hours. Marshall hadn't done any more +prospectin'. Sutter was waitin' to hear from Mason.</p> + +<p>"Humphrey, bein' a gold miner, panned up an' down the river, an' found +plenty o' color. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> got quite excited an' declared it was richer'n +the Dahlonega field, which had been pretty good, though the surface +diggin's had petered out fast."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by 'he panned up and down the river and found +color?'" queried Clem.</p> + +<p>Jim gave a short laugh of surprise.</p> + +<p>"That's right," he said, "you don't know nothin' about prospectin', do +you? I'll tell you. Pannin' is how a prospector gets gold. It sounds +easy, but there's a trick to it, jest the same.</p> + +<p>"A prospector's pan is just like an ordinary tin wash-pan, wi' slopin' +sides, only it's smaller; about a foot across at the bottom, an' made +of iron, not tin. Many a hundred men have got to be millionaires with +nothin' but a pick, a shovel, an' a pan.</p> + +<p>"Supposing now, you're at the gold diggin's. You fill your pan, near +full, with sand or with gravel or earth, or whatever stuff you think +may have a little gold mixed up with it—"</p> + +<p>"Can't you see the gold, then?" queried Clem.</p> + +<p>"Not often, you can't. It don't lie around the ground like +twenty-dollar gold-pieces! Some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> o' the richest placers ever found +have the gold ground down so fine that it ain't much bigger'n grains +o' dust.</p> + +<p>"Well, havin' nigh filled the pan, like I said, you take it to the +river, an' squattin' down, you hold it jest below the surface o' the +water, one side a trifle higher 'n the other, so the water jest flows +continual over the lower lip o' the pan. Then you give it a sort of +rockin' an' whirlin' motion, so,"—he illustrated with his hands, +Owens smilingly doing the same, "lettin' the lighter mud flow out over +the top.</p> + +<p>"You keep on doin' that, without stoppin', for ten minutes or more. By +the end o' that time, you're rockin' pretty hard, for the heavier +stuff has got to be flicked out; but you've got to mind out, for if +you go too hard, the gold—if there is any—will go out, too.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"Then you stop, pick out any pebbles in the bottom, lookin' at 'em +hard—for they might show color—an' rock an' whirl the pan some more. +If you've done it right, when you're through, there isn't more'n a +handful o' sand an' grit at the bottom. You look at that as closely as +you know how, an' if here an' there's a little speck o' yellow, you've +found color. That's gold. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> spread that handful out in the sun to +dry an' blow away the lighter part. What's left is gold."</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill184" id="ill184"></a> +<img src="images/ill-184.jpg" width="500" height="322" alt="The Prospector of To-Day." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">The Prospector of To-Day.</p> + +<p>Gold-bearing stream of Western Canada being panned for dust.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Courtesy of the Grand Trunk Railway.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill185" id="ill185"></a> +<img src="images/ill-185.jpg" width="500" height="324" alt="Flume at the Melones Mine." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Flume at the Melones Mine.</p> + +<p>To carry 600 miner's inches of water from the Stanislaus River to the +120-stamp mill.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">"Always supposing that there was some gold there to start with," put +in Owens. "How many times have you panned, Jim, without finding any +color?"</p> + +<p>"Millions, I reckon! I panned every day an' all day, once, for two +years, without gettin' enough gold dust to fill a pipe-bowl, an' then +I got a double-handful in half a day. In general, you're doin' all +right if you can get out of each pan enough dust to cover a +finger-nail. So now you know what pannin' is, Clem."</p> + +<p>"It's not such a cinch, at that!" the young fellow commented.</p> + +<p>"But you may strike it rich any day, any hour, any minute!" Jim +exclaimed, the fever of search in his eyes. "When Humphrey got up to +Sutter's Mill, the first man to know anything about gold-washin' that +got there, he was takin' out a thousand dollars a day, easy, for a +month or more. The placers were rich."</p> + +<p>"A 'placer,' Clem," Owens interrupted to explain, "is a deposit where +there is gold mixed with sand, or gravel or mud. It is always a +de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>posit which has been washed down by water, either a river which is +actually running, or which is found in a dry bed where a river used to +run. Mining people call it an 'alluvial or flood deposit.' Most of the +gold-strikes have been found in this way. Go ahead, Jim."</p> + +<p>"Right about the time that Humphrey was prospectin' an' doin' +handsomely, an Indian, who had worked on placers in Lower California, +told another o' the mill-hands how to get hold o' the dust. Besides +that, a Kentuckian, who'd been spyin' on Marshall an' Sutter, had +noticed that they'd found gold not only in the tail-race, but up the +creeks. Both of 'em went down to 'Frisco.</p> + +<p>"It was interestin', but nobody got excited. Gold strikes weren't +known yet. There'd only been two gold rushes in the United States +afore, neither of 'em big ones.</p> + +<p>"The first was in North Carolina. A young chap, Conrad Reed, was +shootin' fish with a bow and arrow in Meadow Creek. He saw in the +water a good-sized stone with a yellow gleam. Pickin' it up, he found +it heavy—seventeen pounds it weighed—an' he reckoned it was some +kind o' metal, but he didn't think o' gold. That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> was in 1799. The +stone was used to prop open a stable door for a couple o' years.</p> + +<p>"One day, runnin' short o' groceries an' bein' shy o' ready cash, Reed +thought he'd go into Fayetteville an' see if, maybe, he could raise a +few dollars on the stone, as a curiosity. He took it to a jeweler, who +said he thought there might be gold in it, an' told the young fellow +to come back in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>"When Reed came back, the jeweler showed him a thin wire o' gold, +about as long as a lead pencil, an' said that was all the gold in the +chunk. He offered Reed $3.50 for the gold an' Reed took it. How much +the jeweler kept for himself, no one can't say.</p> + +<p>"That started a little local talk, an' one or two men begun +prospectin' in a shiftless sort o' way. They found nothin'. In 1813, +some placers were found an' there was a mild rush, but it died right +out. There was gold there, sure enough, but scattered so's a man +didn't earn more'n a day's wages at washin'. Jest the same, all the +gold in the United States came from North Carolina for twenty years +after that, more'n a hundred thousand dollars' worth bein' sent to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +the Mint. But that's durn little, when you come to look at it, less'n +fourteen dollars a day. An' that's not much for a bunch o' men!"</p> + +<p>"No," admitted Owens, "you couldn't start a gold rush on that. And the +second strike, Jim?"</p> + +<p>"That was the Georgia deposits, at Dahlonega, where Humphrey came +from. They're workin' yet, though small potatoes beside Californy an' +Colorado.</p> + +<p>"Californy was jest about uninhabited, then. There was only fifteen +thousand folks in the whole durn State in 1848. Over a hundred +thousand more came in the two years followin'. O' that lot, ninety per +cent. was prospectors an' the rest was sharks, livin' off 'em. At the +time o' the strike, 'Frisco didn't boast a hundred houses wi' white +folks in them, an' they didn't know nothin' about Georgia an' Carolina +gold.</p> + +<p>"On May 8th, though, one o' the mill-hands come down from Sutter's +Mill. He'd quit work to try gold-findin' on his own, an' takin' a tip +from Humphrey, he'd washed out 23 ounces in four days. A 'Frisco man +paid him $500 for his dust, cash down. That was good earnin's for four +days.</p> + +<p>"Sudden, the fever hit! The news got over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> the little town like a +prairie fire durin' a dry spell. By night, half the town was talkin' +gold; next mornin', the other half. Nine out o' every ten men quit +work. A pick an' shovel an' a tin pan was worth a hundred dollars +before night. One man paid a thousand dollars for an outfit, includin' +a tent an' a month's grub. He was found dead half-way to the diggings, +murdered for his outfit.</p> + +<p>"The more excited ones an' those with the least money an' sense, +started right off on foot, though it was all of a hundred an' fifty +miles to Sutter's Mill, an' no trail, sixty o' these miles across a +desert without water. No one ever did know how many o' that bunch +ended up by feedin' the turkey buzzards.</p> + +<p>"On the 14th an' 15th, a whole fleet o' launches an' small boats +started out across San Francisco Sound an' Pablo Bay an' up the +Sacramento River, every boat loaded to the gunwales. They said there +was 2,000 men on the way.</p> + +<p>"That wasn't jest a rush, it was a stampede. Not ten men in the entire +crowd knew the first durn thing about prospectin'. They had some fool +idee that pannin' gold was like pickin' flowers, all you had to do was +to find it. Any one what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> knew better could ha' told 'em, but there +wasn't any one to tell 'em, an' likely, they wouldn't ha' listened if +he had. What's the use o' talkin' to a crazy man? An' a gold-rush is a +bunch o' lunatics. I know! I've been that way myself, more'n once.</p> + +<p>"Out Salt Lake City way, the winter had been bad. We Mormons had gone +to Utah to avoid bein' citizens o' the United States, an' the +government had took in Utah as soon as we made it worth takin'. My +grand-pap an' my father were sore at that, an' they decided to start +off with a party for Californy, which was still Spanish.</p> + +<p>"Right around the 1st o' May, they reached the Sacramento River an' +heard about gold bein' found. They took it as a sign that Providence +was protectin' 'em, an' settled right down there to pan out the +stream. Travelin', as the Mormons always did, with a proper leader, +they pitched an organized camp. Trained to the last notch by their +wanderin's in the wilderness, there wasn't a tenderfoot or an idle man +in the bunch, an', workin' steadily, they begun to clean up pretty +good.</p> + +<p>"Jest a month later come the first wave o' the rush from 'Frisco. They +struck the placers, their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> mouths fairly waterin' for gold, only to +find the Mormons there already. That was a bit too much! After all +their trouble an' misery, all the expense, all the deaths, they come +to find all the claims along the strike staked out by Mormons.</p> + +<p>"Durin' this time, Californy had been taken over by the United States. +The 'Frisco bunch knew they'd be protected by law for anything they +did against the Mormons, an', after a short pow-wow, they tried to +rush the camp.</p> + +<p>"But my grand-pap, an' some more o' the leaders, who were right handy +with their rifles, were standin' at the ready. They'd fought their way +across the plains, when the redskins were swarmin', an' they weren't +the kind to take back water before a crowd o' tenderfeet. The 'Frisco +men, city chaps a lot o' them, begun to waver, an' asked a parley.</p> + +<p>"The Mormon leader, he told 'em, cold, what they'd get if they come +any farther, an' hinted, pretty broad, that there was more cold lead +around those diggin's than there was gold. But he told 'em, too, that +there was a lot o' the other placers around wi' no one washin' 'em. +The others grumbled but got out. Luckily, there was gold enough for +all, at first. Later on, there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> a sure-enough fight over a sluice, +and the bullets went thick. The Mormons knew how to shoot, an' there +was fifty o' the Gentiles dead when they broke back. Our folks were +let alone on the Sacramento, after that.</p> + +<p>"Durin' this month, John Bidwell struck it rich on the Feather River, +75 miles away from Sutter's Mill, and Pearson B. Reading on the Clear +River, 100 miles further on. The news scattered the 'Frisco crowd, +many a man leavin' a good claim in hopes to find a better. Others went +prospectin' on their own. By the end o' the year, along the whole +western slope o' the Sierra Nevada, from Pitt River to the Tuolumne, +there wasn't a stream or a creek or a dry ravine that didn't have some +one prospectin' or pannin' on it.</p> + +<p>"Most o' those that got on to the diggin's in the first two months +made money an' made it fast. A few struck bonanzas and took out a +thousand dollars a day. Quite a lot got good pickin's an' cleaned up +at the rate of a hundred a day. The rest were doin' good if they +cleaned up twenty, an' that was jest about enough to live on, at +minin'-camp prices. I've seen potatoes sell at five dollars apiece to +be eaten raw, when the scurvy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> was ragin', an' three men were killed +in a fight over the buyin' of a fresh cabbage.</p> + +<p>"Those was tough times, even for the first lot that come from 'Frisco. +There was no sort o' law an' order in the camps, no sanitation an' no +doctors. Typhoid an' dysentery got a good hold by the end o' June. You +could get the reek o' fever an' disease a mile away.</p> + +<p>"Men too sick to walk crawled out to their claims an' died there, +scary lest some claim-jumper should seize their claims. Hope stuck +with 'em to the last. Scores fell dead into the stream, wi' the pan +still in their hands. One time, when they come to carry a dead man +from beside his pan, that he hadn't time to clean up afore death took +him, there was the first color in it that had been found on the claim. +It brought in a pile o' money later.</p> + +<p>"Later, when the real forty-niners came, men o' red blood, vigilance +committees were organized an' the camps got sort o' human. But at the +start, it was ugly. If a man didn't clean up quick, he starved. If he +did, somebody jumped his claim, or put a bullet in him. If the body of +a miner was found floatin', it was called accidental death,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> even if +his head was blown off, for, the sayin' used to go, 'A miner ought to +carry enough gold dust on him to sink.' Scores, aye, hundreds, died o' +gun-play.</p> + +<p>"About the fine breed o' men that come later, the forty-niners that +crossed the whole plains o' the West from Missouri to Santa Fé an' +beyond, men that brought their women an' children in long lines o' +prairie schooners, keepin' scouts out ahead an' one each side, +fightin' famine, thirst an' redskins all the way, you won't want me to +tell you. Every American knows their story.</p> + +<p>"But every one don't know what them trains o' gold-seekers looked +like, when they reached the diggin's! My father's told me, though.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"He's seen 'em reach the Sacramento, half-scalped an' with wounds that +never healed. He's seen swingin' at their saddles the scalp-locks o' +Indians they'd scalped theirselves. He's seen women come in with nary +one o' their men-folk left alive. He seen 'em come in crazy, never to +be sane again, after the horrors o' that trail. He's seen a man come +in safe an' untouched, after wheelin' a wheelbarrow nigh three +thousand miles. He's seen seven men an' nine women get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> to the +Sierras out of a party of 118, leaving 102 dead on the road.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;"><a name="ill194" id="ill194"></a> +<img src="images/ill-194.jpg" width="413" height="500" alt="The Coming of the Forty-Niners." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap illspace">The Coming of the Forty-Niners.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="ill195" id="ill195"></a> +<img src="images/ill-195.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="David Egelston." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">David Egelston.</p> + +<p>A Forty-Niner, and the Discoverer of Gold Hill.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="padtop">"I've heard tell, an' I believe it, that across the desert stretch a +man could ha' walked for forty miles an' put his foot on a bone at +every step. An' o' those who did reach, most o' them were so weak that +camp fever an' dysentery took 'em off like flies. A good half died at +the diggin's before they ever found a bit o' gold.</p> + +<p>"How many o' the forty-niners died at sea? There's no tellin'. Ships +set out from all corners o' the globe. There was a wild rush from +England. That meant goin' round the Horn, an' there weren't many +steamships, then. Sailin'-ships, so rotten that their owners were glad +to get rid of 'em, were sold to forty-niners at fancy prices. In one +week, eighteen ships sailed from England to go round the Horn to +Californy an' seven arrived. The gold o' Sutter's Mill called many a +good man to leave his bones on the ocean bottom.</p> + +<p>"But it wasn't all bad luck an' dyin'. Lots o' the diggers struck it +rich an' spent it quick. Gamblin' an' drinkin' an' work—that's all +there was to a minin' camp in them days. Spendin'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> freely give a man a +minute's glory. Treatin' the crowd was the only way to be popular. +An', in a minin' camp, where there's no women to live with, no +children to think of, no homes to go to, what is there but the saloon, +an' what's the use o' the saloon without friends! A bag o' gold-dust +was enough for a spree.</p> + +<p>"Gold-diggin' don't go to make a man careful. It's always to-morrow +that's goin' to be the lucky day. What's the use o' savin' ten dollars +when a stroke o' the pick or a swirl o' the pan may suddenly give a +man a thousand? So they thought. One miner found a pocket that netted +him $60,000 in two weeks, an' when he sobered up, he hadn't six +dollars' worth o' dust left.</p> + +<p>"There was some that stuck to their earnin's, just the same, but they +was either quick with a gun or slow wi' their tongues. Six brothers +come out from England, none o' them ever havin' roughed it before, but +they stuck together an' stayed sober. They were let alone, because to +touch one meant to fight six. They went back to England, at the end o' +the first season, with a million dollars between 'em.</p> + +<p>"One man, who started out from 'Frisco wi' a drove of a hundred hogs, +figurin' on sellin' 'em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> in the minin' camps for fresh meat, reached +Feather River wi' five. But he sold those five for more'n twice as +much as he'd paid for the hundred. An' that was only the beginnin'! On +the way, his hogs rootin' in the ground had uncovered two pockets. He +covered the places an' marked 'em wi' crosses, so's folks should think +they was graves. On his way back, he took $5,000 out o' one pocket an' +$10,000 out o' the other. An' then some folks try to make out that +there ain't no such thing as luck!"</p> + +<p>"But is it all so chancy as that?" queried Clem. "Surely if a chap +knew in what sort of ground or near what sort of rock gold was +generally found, he'd have some idea where to look."</p> + +<p>"Sure he would," agreed Jim, "but gold goes where it durn pleases, an' +that's the only rule I know. O' course, every prospector has his own +idees, same as he has for playin' poker, but he don't win any quicker +because o' that. Leastways, not so far as I've seen.</p> + +<p>"As for judgin' by the rock an' the color o' the soil, why, you can +take your pick. Take San Diego County, Californy, where I've worked, +the gold lies in schist, sometimes blue, green, or grey. In the +Homestake, South Dakota, red looks good,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> a sort o' rotten quartz +stained with iron. Black flint's a good sign in Colorado. Snow-white +quartz is often lucky. Purple porphyry sometimes has veins that work +up rich. An' I've seen gold come out o' pink sandstone, yellow +sandstone, all shades o' granite, an' even coal!"</p> + +<p>Clem turned an incredulous glance at Owens, but the mine-owner nodded +agreement.</p> + +<p>"Jim's right," he said, "color isn't any clue. Gold can be found in +any kind of rock. So far as that goes, it shows up in strata of any +geological age. There's gold everywhere. There isn't a range of hills +in any country of the world which may not contain gold. There isn't a +bed of sand or gravel that may not be auriferous. Even the sea beach, +in places, has yielded fortunes. For that matter, there's gold in +every bucket of water you dip up from the sea.</p> + +<p>"But there's not much of it. Geologists have figured that there's +about one cent's worth of gold to every ton of rock in the earth's +crust, but it would take fourteen dollars a ton to handle it. There's +about a hundredth of a cent's worth of gold in a ton of sea water, and +it would cost about ten dollars a ton to get it out. Not much chance +of getting rich that way, is there?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>"I should say not," declared Clem, with decision.</p> + +<p>"But, as Jim has been pointing out, gold isn't scattered evenly all +through the earth. In some places, it's moderately plentiful, in +others it's scarce or entirely absent. Prospecting for gold, Clem, +doesn't mean looking for a place where there is gold, but looking for +a place where the proportion of gold to the soil or to the rock is +high enough to give a profit in the working of it.</p> + +<p>"It isn't always the place where the gold is most plentiful that gives +the greatest profit, either. A low-grade ore, that is a rock +containing only a small proportion of gold, may be worth a great deal +if it is near the surface, if the rock is easily crushed, if it is +near water-power, and if transportation is not too difficult.</p> + +<p>"A high-grade ore, in which there is a large proportion of gold, may +be worth a good deal less, if it is more difficult to work and less +easy of access. The richest gold-field in the world, that of the Rand, +in South Africa, which gives one-third of the total gold output of the +world, is of an ore so poor that a forty-niner would have turned up +his nose at it, and the machinery, even of thirty years ago, could +have done nothing with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> it. Nearly all the big mines of to-day are +winning wealth out of low-grade ore.</p> + +<p>"Some of these days, Clem, I'll explain the geology of gold to you, +and show you how it is that the mines which give the richest specimens +are sometimes the poorest mines to work. But I'm breaking into Jim's +story."</p> + +<p>"I was jest a-sayin'," continued Jim, who had listened with impatience +to Owens' explanation, "that them as says there ain't no luck in +minin' ain't never done no minin'. I've been showin' you how some men +got rich in a minute an' hundreds got nothin'.</p> + +<p>"But there was some fields that was a frost, right from the start. +They promised big an' give big for the first scratch or two. +Then—nothin'! Kern River was one o' those an' Father got bit.</p> + +<p>"My grand-pap, he'd gone back to Utah to take command of a band o' +'Destroyin' Angels', as the Gentiles called the Danites, leavin' +Father to go on pannin' on the Sacramento. The claims was peterin' out +fast, but there was good day's wages to be got, still.</p> + +<p>"Then, in 1855, come the news o' the Kern River strike. If folk had +gone crazy in forty-nine, they got crazier still this time. There was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +all the fame o' the last strike to lure 'em on. The same ol' story o' +desert trails without water, o' minin' camps that were death-traps, +was repeated, only ten times worse. Twenty thousand started in the +same week. The last few miles was a trail o' blood. Men stabbed their +friends in the back to get to the diggin's first. The stakin' o' +claims was done, six-shooter in hand.</p> + +<p>"And, o' the twenty thousand, there wasn't twenty that cleaned up +rich. My father, he wasn't one o' the twenty. He prospected, up an' +down, until he'd spent the last ounce o' gold-dust he'd got from five +years' work, an' all but starved to death on his way across the +desert, headin' for Utah.</p> + +<p>"When he got into Nevada, he didn't have a pound o' flour left. He +didn't have nothin' left, nothin' but his pick an' shovel an' pan. All +the rest was gone. He didn't have no trade but prospectin'. Well +enough he knew he'd leave his bones on the trail if he tried to foot +it to Salt Lake City.</p> + +<p>"He'd heard about gold being found on the Carson River, in Nevada, in +1850, by Prouse Kelly and John Orr, an' he knew that they'd gone back +an' done well. Several other small placers had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> been found, noways +rich, but still enough to keep a busy man goin'. He'd learned from his +Kern River experience that a man did better, stickin' to a small +claim'n tryin' for the big prizes, an' he made for the small placers +o' the Carson River. A store-keeper grub-staked him, to start with, +an' in a month or two, he was clear.</p> + +<p>"Next year, that was '56, his pard struck what looked like a silver +vein, an' started off to the city wi' some samples. Father, he stuck +by the gold. That's where he lost out. He prospected in Six Mile Cañon +an' found little color—his bad luck again, for, in '57, two +prospectors made a rich strike less'n a quarter of a mile away from +where he'd been pannin'. They found signs o' silver, too, but chucked +the stuff aside. Father plugged along, an' at last struck a little +pocket in a creek off the Carson. A month's work gave him near a +thousand dollars' worth o' dust, an' he reckoned he'd go back to Salt +Lake City. He'd been away eight years.</p> + +<p>"Grand-pap was still alive an' told Father to stay home an' go +farmin'. But it didn't go. The prospectin' bug had hit Father too +hard. In the spring o' '59 he started back for the Carson River<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +again, an' Mother come along. She reckoned she might never see him +again, if she didn't.</p> + +<p>"That summer, there was three folks on the claim. Another pard had +come, a little one, what had for his first toy a nugget o' gold tied +on a bit o' string. I was born on a minin' claim, for that little pard +was—me!"</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE GREAT BONANZA</span></h2> + + +<p>"You certainly started young enough in the prospecting game," said +Owens, when Jim told of his birth in a mining camp, "and have you been +at it all your life?"</p> + +<p>"Ever since I was big enough to twirl a pan or rock a cradle!"</p> + +<p>"How do you mean rock a cradle?" queried Clem. "I thought you were in +the cradle!"</p> + +<p>"Not that kind, boy," Jim answered, "what I'm meanin' is a miner's +cradle, or a rocker, as some calls it. I gradooated from one to +t'other."</p> + +<p>"What's a miner's cradle, then?"</p> + +<p>"It's a scheme to make pannin' easier. Pannin' is durn hard work, +Clem. You're squattin' on your hams beside a river all the day long, +you got to hold a pan full o' earth an' water at arm's length an' down +at an angle what nigh tears your arms out o' their sockets, an' then +keep revolvin' the mixture with a circular twist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> that wrenches the +muscles somethin' cruel. I've seen big men, tough uns, too, fair +cryin' from the pain, at first.</p> + +<p>"Not only that, but you got to work the sodden lumps o' dirt soft wi' +your fingers, so's the grit gets right into the skin. Your hands are +wet nigh all the time. The grit an' the constant washin' o' the water, +in all weathers, cracks the skin all over, so's it's bleedin' most o' +the time. You got to have hands like a bit o' rawhide to stand it.</p> + +<p>"The cradle does the work quicker'n' easier, but it takes three men to +work it right. It looks like a child's cradle from the outside, though +most o' them I've seen was made pretty rough. About six inches from +the top there's a drawer, or sometimes jest a tray, with a bottom o' +iron, punched wi' holes o' different sizes, accordin' to the kind o' +dirt you're workin' in. If your pannin' out don't show no big grains +o' gold-dust, why, you keep the holes o' the cradle small, otherwise, +you got to have 'em bigger. Below that drawer is another one, slopin' +like. It hasn't got no holes. It has cross-bars or cleats, what we +call 'riffles,' to keep the gold from washin' away.</p> + +<p>"One man digs up the pay dirt an' chucks it in at the top o' the +cradle. Another dips up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> bucket after bucket o' water, continuous, an' +sloshes it in; it's his job, too, to break up the soft lumps an' keep +stirrin' the pasty mess, an' to keep the cradle full o' water. The +third man goes rock, rockin', without stoppin', hours at a time. +Mostly, the pardners spell each other off."</p> + +<p>"But I should think a good deal of gold would be washed away by that +system," objected Clem, "surely the rocking must dash some of it over +the riffles."</p> + +<p>"Some does go," Jim agreed, "but a gang can handle so much more pay +dirt in a day that it more'n makes up. Three men with a cradle can +handle twice as much dirt as the three men workin' separately would, +each with a pan. Team work pays, in minin'—if you can trust your +pardners.</p> + +<p>"Just about the time I was born, Father made pardners with five other +prospectors, all pannin' on the Carson. Their claims were all in a +string, one after the other, so they figures on makin' a sluice. +That's jest a long trough. In richer an' more settled camps they're +made of iron, length after length, all ready to be fixed together like +a stove-pipe, but on the Carson, they was jest hollowed-out logs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>"Sluices was always a foot deep, a foot an' a half wide, an' as long +as could be made, slopin' slightly, so the water wouldn't run too fast +or too slow, an' wi' riffles every few inches all along. The six +claims I'm tellin' about give a chance for a sluice over a hundred +foot long. To save the trouble o' liftin' water up in a pail, or +pumpin' it, Father made a sort o' small flume, leadin' from the river +higher up right into the sluice, so's the water would run continuous.</p> + +<p>"Bein' there was six o' them, the pardners worked three shifts, eight +hours each. One man dug the dirt, wheeled it in a barrow to the head +o' the sluice an' dumped it on a wooden platform. The other shoveled +it into the sluice, stirred it up, an' broke up the lumps when they +got pasty. Eight hours o' that was a day's work, I'm tellin'! Mother, +she cooked an' washed for all six men, aside lookin' after me. Wi' +meals to be got for all three shifts, she was kep' busy.</p> + +<p>"The sluice didn't stop runnin', day nor night, for a month at a +stretch. Then the water in the flume was turned off, the sluice, +riffles an' platform were scraped clean wi' knives, an' all six +pardners panned the scrapin's. That was the clean-up. It was divided +by weight o' dust into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> seven equal parts, Mother gettin' a man's +share."</p> + +<p>"Didn't they use any mercury at all on the Carson?" queried Owens.</p> + +<p>"After a bit, our gang did. Not until each man had a bag o' dust set +aside, big enough to buy a few weeks' grub, though. They'd all got +badly bit in Californy, an' quicksilver cost a lot o' money in them +days."</p> + +<p>"What's the quicksilver for?" queried Clem.</p> + +<p>"To catch the gold. If you spread it on the riffles it seems to grab a +hold o' 'color' like glue, an', what's more, nothin' but gold'll stick +to it."</p> + +<p>"Why is that?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Jim answered, a bit irritably, "it does, that's all."</p> + +<p>Owens interposed.</p> + +<p>"You can't blame Jim for not knowing why, Clem," he said. "So far as +that goes, I don't believe any chemist in the world can tell you +exactly why quicksilver catches gold. It does, though, sure enough. +But I can show you how it does it, in a way.</p> + +<p>"You know that if iron is exposed to damp air, it turns red with rust? +That is due to the chumminess or the affinity of iron with oxygen. You +know if silver is exposed to city air, where the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> burning of coal in +furnaces and fireplaces sends a sulphurous smoke into the air, it +turns black? That's due to the fact that silver is a natural chum of +sulphur. Chemically speaking, they make compounds easily.</p> + +<p>"It's the same way with mercury, or, as it is generally called, +quicksilver. Gold and quicksilver are chums, and the minute they get +together they join to form a mixture which is called an amalgam. +That's one of the great discoveries of the age. Gold-mining has taken +a big jump forward since that was found out.</p> + +<p>"You can see yourself how that would work. Whether with a pan, a +cradle, or a sluice, the only thing that enables a miner to separate +the gold from the worthless dirt is that the gold is smaller and +heavier. But suppose the gold dust is so fine as to be invisible, it +will be so light as to wash away easily; if it is in fine flakes, the +flakes will almost float. All that light gold would be lost in the +dirt that flows out of the bottom of the sluice, the tailings, as they +are called.</p> + +<p>"In the days that Jim is describing, two-thirds of the gold was lost +that way. Every one, absolutely every single one of the forty-niners +would have made a fortune, if the chemistry of gold had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> been as far +advanced then as it is to-day. Even now, men are working over with +profit the tailings that the forty-niners threw away.</p> + +<p>"Suppose, now, you make your sluice, cover the bottom of it and the +riffles with copper plates to hold the quicksilver better, and then +cover your copper with quicksilver. What happens when the dirt and +water come flowing down the sluice? The riffles will catch your heavy +gold, just as well as before, and the quicksilver will catch a lot of +the light gold that used to escape. You've got your gold in the +riffles, then, and you've got a mixture of gold and quicksilver which +has formed an amalgam.</p> + +<p>"Now, the mixture has to be made to give back that gold. First of all +it is pressed through canvas or buckskin in order to get rid of the +liquid quicksilver, which will pass through the weave of the first and +the pores of the second, leaving inside only such of it as has firmly +allied itself with the gold to form the amalgam.</p> + +<p>"The next thing to do is to put this amalgam into a retort, out of +which leads a long pipe, and to subject this retort to intense heat. +Quicksilver is vaporized at a comparatively low temperature—for a +metal. It is driven from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> amalgam in the form of vapor, much as +water may be driven off in steam. The quicksilver vapor passes along +this long pipe, which leads to several coils placed in a tank of +running cold water. The cold chills the vapor, condensing it into the +liquid state again, and the quicksilver runs out of the end of the +pipe, ready for use once more. The pure gold is left.</p> + +<p>"But, even with the use of quicksilver on the sluice there was still +40 per cent. of the gold that got away. For many years there was no +practical way of recovering this loss, and the chemists of the world +tore their hair in despair. What was needed was to find some other +chum of gold, even more affectionate than mercury. The chemists found +this new friend, at last, in cyanide, which is a salt of prussic acid. +Cyanide, Clem, is an arrant flirt, as I'll show you, in a minute.</p> + +<p>"Nowadays, the tailings, after passing over the long sluice or flume, +and after having dropped the heavy gold in the riffles and given some +of the light gold to the quicksilver, are led to a huge churn. There +the earth and water are pounded together into a sort of slime. A wheel +lifts this slime into a movable chute from which it is poured into a +series of vats or tanks. These tanks con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>tain cyanide, which has +already allied itself with a chum—potassium.</p> + +<p>"But cyanide likes gold even better than it does potassium, and, as +soon as the slime strikes the vat, the cyanide lets go the potassium +and clings to the gold. Cyanide of gold is formed. So far, so good. +But what the miner wants is pure gold.</p> + +<p>"The cyanide is pumped up out of those tanks into another chute, which +pours it into a second lot of tanks, fastened to the side of which are +large bundles of zinc shavings. The cyanide liked the gold better than +the potassium, but it has the bad taste to prefer zinc even to gold. +It releases the gold and flies to the embrace of the zinc. The gold, +suddenly deserted of the friendship of the cyanide, powders down to +the bottom of the tank, in absolutely pure form, ready to be melted +down into bars. By other processes, which I won't bother you by +describing now, the zinc is released from the cyanide, and the cyanide +is led to its old friend the potassium, ready to begin work anew. So, +you see, nothing is wasted.</p> + +<p>"This process, and this only, has made the astounding wealth of South +Africa, for, as I told you, the reefs there are of very low-grade ore, +so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> low that Jim, here, would have turned up his nose at it. The +modern ability of chemists to get out the tiniest particle of gold +that lies in the most stubborn rock has made the Rand a richer region +than a prospector's wildest dream."</p> + +<p>"If I'd known all that, forty years ago, I'd be a rich man now," said +Jim, regretfully.</p> + +<p>"You'd have been a millionaire, ten times over," Owens agreed, "but, +since it hadn't been found out, you couldn't have known it. But did +you always stick to gold, Jim? That Carson River country has got more +silver in it than it has gold."</p> + +<p>"Don't I know it? 'Ain't it been rubbed into me, good an' hard? Father +wasn't a cussin' man, noways, but he couldn't keep his tongue in order +like a man should, when he got to talkin' about silver. He threw away +any amount o' high-grade silver ore, while huntin' for gold. The +richest silver mine in the whole world, I reckon, was found less'n a +hundred yards from where he'd been pannin'.</p> + +<p>"It was the same ol' story—he didn't know enough! Workin' hard may +bring a man some money, but havin' savvy will bring him a lot more.</p> + +<p>"Right where Father was workin', he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> havin' all sorts o' trouble +wi' a heavy black sand that kep' on fillin' up the riffles like it was +gold. He shoveled away cubic yards of it! An' do you know what that +was? That dirty black sand was nigh pure silver, an' Father was +pannin' less'n quarter of a mile away from the richest section in all +Nevada. He was campin' right on the Comstock Lode! I reckon you've +heard o' that, Mr. Owens!"</p> + +<p>"Every mining man has heard of the Comstock," the mine-owner replied. +"Personally, I don't know a great deal about silver, although the +Broken Hill mine, New South Wales, which is nearly as rich as the +great Nevada deposit, is located not far from my home. I went straight +from gold to coal. So I never did hear the real story of the Comstock. +But you ought to know about it, Jim. Was it found by accident, too?"</p> + +<p>"Rank good luck an' rotten bad luck mixed," Jim answered. "Do I know +that story! The first week's pay I ever drew was on the Comstock. An' +I was born, as I told you, near enough to throw a stone right on to +the Comstock outcrop. This was how it begun!</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"There was two prospectors, Patrick McLaughlin an' Peter O'Riley, +Irishmen both, what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> had been pannin' gold on Gold Cañon, where, I +told you, Father had been. Luck was poor. Grub was hard to get. The +water o' the Carson had a strong taste, an' wasn't none too healthy. +So the two pardners started diggin' a water-hole down in the gulch, +near where they was workin'. What come up out o' the hole was a yellow +sand, all mixed up with bits o' quartz an' a crumblin' black rock, +much the same as the black sand Father'd been worried with.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill214" id="ill214"></a> +<img src="images/ill-214.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="The Miner's Sluice." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">The Miner's Sluice.</p> + +<p>Such a device as this was being worked by Jim's father when the +Comstock Lode was discovered.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Courtesy of Netman & Co.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;"><a name="ill215" id="ill215"></a> +<img src="images/ill-215.jpg" width="338" height="500" alt="Panning Gold on the Klondyke." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Panning Gold on the Klondyke.</p> + +<p>Typical summer scene on the junction of the Eldorado and Bonanza +Creeks; "color" showing in both pans.</p> +</div> + +<p class="padtop">"Now a prospector'll wash any durn dirt he sees, an' O'Riley, while +waitin' for some bacon to fry, chucked some o' the yellow an' black +sand in a pan an' give it a twirl or two. You can reckon he jumped +some when the pan showed color. He yelled to McLaughlin an' the two o' +them got busy. Every pan showed color, not big, but enough. The +cleanin' up wasn't what you'd call rich but it was steady, an' there +was any amount o' pay dirt in sight. The two begin to fill their +buckskin bags wi' dust, right smartly.</p> + +<p>"Then a low-down, dirty, ornery coyote of a man, Henry Comstock by +name, come amblin' along. A shifty critter was Comstock, trapper, +fur-trader, gambler, claim-jumper, mine-salter, sneak-thief, an' +everything else. He see O'Riley<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> an' McLaughlin cleanin' up the cradle +an' guessed they'd struck it rich. Lyin' glibly, like the yaller dog +he was, he told the prospectors he was the owner o' the land, an' made +'em give up their claims. They went on workin', but on small shares. +The hole got deeper, but by-'n-by got hard to work because this seam +o' black rock got wider'n wider as it went down. Riley an' McLaughlin +dodged the rock, the best they knew how, findin' gold enough to pay +for workin' in the loose dirt on either side.</p> + +<p>"One or two other prospectors drifted up that way, though the pickin's +was small. One o' them, wonderin' what the black rock might be, an' +havin' a hunch it might be lead it was so heavy, put a chunk in the +hands of an assayer in Placerville.</p> + +<p>"The expert couldn't believe his eyes, at first, an' thought some one +was playin' a joke on him. His assay showed a value o' $3,000 per ton +in silver an' $800 per ton in gold. He assayed one or two other bits, +wi' the same result. Here was millions, jest beggin' to be picked up! +Folks got wind of it, right away. That was in November, 1859, too late +in the winter to cross the high Sierras into Nevada.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>"The rush started a-hummin', early in 1860. 'Frisco was fair frothin' +at the mouth. It was a long trail, an' the silver-hungry crowd +couldn't wait. Some o' the craziest got away as early as January. They +caught it heavy!</p> + +<p>"From Sacramento up the old emigrant trail to Placerville weren't no +gentle stroll in winter time! From Placerville to the bottom o' +Johnson Pass was a trail for timber wolves, not for humans. Snow lay +thick. Winds, fit to freeze a b'ar, come a-howlin' down the high +Sierras. A few men got through an' froze to death on Mount Davidson, +the silver actooally ticklin' the soles o' their feet. Some got caught +in slow-slides in the Johnson Pass an' their bodies didn't show up +till June. A lot more died o' starvation an' exposure on the way.</p> + +<p>"That didn't keep the rest from comin'. They fair stormed the Pass. In +March there was a thaw, an' the flood o' men broke through.</p> + +<p>"It was a bad crowd. Aside from decent prospectors and miners, there +was a pack o' gamblers, saloon-keepers, 'bad men,' fake speculators, +an' all the rest o' the human buzzards that follow on the heels of a +rush. They remembered the first days o' the forty-niners, an' every +bad egg in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> Californy wanted to be the first to murder an' to rob. In +three weeks, the silent an' deserted slopes o' Mount Davidson was +peppered wi' tents. Virginia City had been started an' had become a +roarin' town.</p> + +<p>"That wasn't a minin' camp, it was a hell-hole. I've seen tough joints +in my day, but Virginia City beat all. It wasn't jest the miners lost +their heads, but experts, geologists, an' all, went plumb crazy. +'Twasn't much wonder. That black rock was jest one continooal bonanza. +A gold mine was a fool to it.</p> + +<p>"The ore in one of the shafts—the Potosi Chimney, it was called—was +rangin' steadily over a hundred dollars a ton silver, an' that shaft +alone was bringin' up 650 tons a day. Three prospectors tapped the big +lode at another point, near Esmeralda, worked a week an' took six +thousand dollars apiece for their claims. The man who bought first +rights on Esmeralda, sold them before the end or that summer, for a +quarter of a million. An' yet McLaughlin an' O'Riley havin' given up +their claims to Comstock, got nothin' out of it. As for Comstock, he +filed a false claim of ownership which the courts wouldn' give him, +an' he went down an' out.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>"The Gould & Curry mine, one o' the richest, was bought from its +finders for an old horse, a bottle o' lightnin'-rod whisky, three +blankets, an' two thousand dollars in cash. After four millions had +been taken out of it, an Eastern syndicate come along an' bought it +for seven millions o' dollars—an' they made money out of it, at that! +Six years after the openin' o' the Gould & Curry, there was 57 miles +o' tunnels, all in rich ore, an' the owners had to work it like a coal +mine, leavin' great pillars o' silver to prop up the roof!</p> + +<p>"A telegraph line was run through an' that made Virginia City ten +times worse. It weren't a town o' miners, rightly, not like a gold +placer camp. Silver ore needs capital to work it, an' Virginia City +become a town o' loose fish, speculators, crooked brokers, an' +suckers. One man sold the Eureka mine to eight different people at the +same time, an' he'd never even seen the place an' didn't own a claim +in it. He pocketed eighty thousand dollars in eight days an' was +strung up to the limb of a pine-tree the ninth!</p> + +<p>"There was some good work done, though. Durin' 1861 an' 1862 +road-makers was busy, though laborers was gettin' fancy prices. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +the engineers kep' at it, an' afore the winter o' '62, there was a +wide road where two eight-mule coaches could cross each other at full +gallop without slacking the traces. Tolls were high, so high that the +road-makers got all their money back in the first year. Crack coaches +with relays made the trail from Sacramento to Virginia City in twelve +hours, instead of six weeks, like it was first. Hold-ups were frequent +an' plenty, but a 'road agent' didn't last long where every one +carried a gun.</p> + +<p>"Then come the 'year o' nabobs,' that was '63. The Comstock Lode put +out over $26,000,000 in silver bullion alone, half-a-million dollars +o' silver every week in the year. By that time there was forty big +minin' plants operatin' wi' steam machinery. There weren't no place +for a small man any more, unless he wanted to do minin' on days' +wages, an' mighty few o' the early prospectors ever got any o' the +later wealth o' the Comstock. Father, he wouldn't touch silver, nohow, +but he made more'n the miners did by pannin' the dirt the mines were +throwin' away. They were makin' so much money out o' silver that they +wouldn't bother to take out the gold.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>"Then come the first big smash. Half o' the mines sold to the suckers +weren't worth shucks. Wild-cat mines, they called 'em. There was one, +the Little Monte Cristo, which give the promoter half a million +dollars in shares which he sold to folk in New York an' Philadelphy. +An' they never made more'n an 8-foot pit in it an' didn't take out +enough bullion to melt down into a silver spoon!</p> + +<p>"What was worse, the big mines got down to the rock water-level. At +first, they run little tunnels, what they called 'adits' from the side +o' the mountain an' drained that way. That wasn't no good, much. They +soon got below that. The lode got richer the farther down they went +an' some o' the big companies took to pumpin' out the water. Right +away, they started in to lose money. It cost more to pump than the +silver was worth. The boom dropped with a thud.</p> + +<p>"Then Adolph Sutro come along. He was a big man was Sutro, one o' +these here engineers folks talk about. He offered to build a drainage +tunnel from the foot-hills o' the Carson Valley, just above the river +smack into the heart o' the lode, a distance o' four miles, tappin' +all the mines. He figured that, if it weren't done, all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> the mines'd +get flooded an' all the wealth o' Comstock'd go to smash.</p> + +<p>"Seein' things were going' so bad, the mine-owners balked at first. +After a while, though, the water come in so free that they all agreed +to give him two dollars a ton for all the ore raised from the mines, +providin' his tunnel drained 'em all, an' providin' he fixed it so +that they could get men an' material through the tunnel, instead o' +having to pull it all up the shaft. It took Sutro six years to get the +capital, but he got it. He begun work in '71. Toward the end o' the +job the work was so hot an' tough that he doubled his rate o' wages, +an' in '77, bein' eighteen years old then, I started operatin' a drill +in the tunnel. I was thar on the day that we broke through."</p> + +<p>Few engineering feats in the history of mining are more famous than +the making of the Sutro Tunnel. In one of the publications of the +U. S. Geological Survey, Eliot Lord has told its story of perseverance +and triumph.</p> + +<p>"Sutro's untiring zeal," wrote Lord, "kindled a like spirit in his +co-workers. Changing shifts urged the drills on without ceasing; +skilled timberers followed up the attack on the breast and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> covered +the heads of the assailants like shield-bearers.</p> + +<p>"The dump at the mouth of the tunnel grew rapidly to the proportions +of an artificial plateau raised above the surrounding valley slope; +yet the speed of the electric currents which exploded the blasts +scarcely kept pace with the impatient anxiety of the tunnel owners to +reach the lode, when the extent of the great Consolidated Virginia +Bonanza was reported; for every ton raised from the lode was a loss to +them of two dollars, as they thought.</p> + +<p>"Urged on by zeal, pride, and natural covetousness, the miners cut +their way indomitably towards the goal, though, at every step gained +the work grew more painful and more dangerous.</p> + +<p>"The temperature at the face of the heading, had risen from 72° +(Fahr.) at the close of the year 1873 to 83° during the two following +years; though in the summer of 1875 two powerful Root blowers were +constantly employed in forcing air into the tunnel. At the close of +the year 1876, the indicated temperature was 90° and, on the 1st of +January, 1878, the men were working in a temperature of 96°.</p> + +<p>"In spite of the air currents from the blowers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> the atmosphere before +the end of the year 1876 had become almost unbearably foul as well as +hot. The candles flickered with a dull light and men often staggered +back from their posts, faint and sickened.</p> + +<p>"During the months preceding the junction with the Savage Mine, the +heading was cut with almost passionate eagerness. The miners were then +two miles from the nearest ventilating shaft, and the heat of their +working chamber was fast growing too intense for human endurance.</p> + +<p>"The pipe which applied compressed air to the drills was opened at +several points and the blowers were worked to their utmost capacity. +Still the mercury rose from 98° on the 1st of March 1878 to 109° on +the 22nd of April, and the temperature of the rock face of the heading +increased from 110° to 114°. Four shifts a day were worked instead of +three, and the men could only work during a small portion of their +nominal hours of labor.</p> + +<p>"Even the tough, wiry mules of the car train could hardly be driven up +to the end of the tunnel and sought for fresh air not less ardently +than the men. Curses, blows, and kicks could scarcely force them away +from the blower-tube<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> openings, and, more than once, a rationally +obstinate mule thrust his head in the end of the canvas air-pipe. He +was literally torn away by main strength, as the miners, when other +means failed, tied his tail to the bodies of two other mules in his +train and forced them to haul back their companion, snorting +viciously, and slipping with stiff legs over the wet floor.</p> + +<p>"Neither men nor animals could long endure work so distressing. +Fortunately, the compressed air drills knew neither weariness nor +pain, and churned their way to the mines without ceasing.</p> + +<p>"A blast from the Savage Mine tore an opening through the wall, in the +evening of that day. The goal for which Sutro had striven so many +years was in sight. He was waiting at the breach, impatient of delay, +and crawled, half-naked, through the jagged opening, while the foul +air of the heading was still gushing into the mine."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, over the heads of the workers of the Sutro tunnel, a not +less marvelous change had come over the Comstock Lode. This was the +discovery of the Great Bonanza. After the slump of 1864 and the +terrible handicap of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> water, mine-owners on the Comstock fell +deeper and deeper into despair. Gone were the wild days of riot and +extravagance. Only by extreme care, by the use of every modern +appliance, by the lowering of wages—some thirty pitched battles, with +six-shooters, marked this period—were they able to keep going at all.</p> + +<p>Then, just as two Irishmen had first found the Comstock, two other +Irishmen forged to the front. These were John W. Mackay, who had begun +work as a day-laborer in the mine, and James G. Fair, a young fellow +who had come to Virginia City with only a few hundred dollars' +capital. They made a daring team. Seizing the opportunities of the +dull times, they bought property after property as it was abandoned by +the owners, who declared that the great lode had "pinched out." With a +third Irishman, Wm. O'Brien, and a 'Frisco miner, James C. Flood, they +bought the entire stretch between the two famous mines—the Ophir and +the Gould & Curry—thus forming what became known to history as the +Virginia Consolidated. The four men paid $50,000 for this huge +property; risking their all on the chance that deeper mining might +reach the supposedly "pinched out" vein.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>They sank a shaft, down, down and down,—nothing! They ran a drift to +meet it from one of their purchased mines, and drilled for +weeks—nothing! Then a thin seam of ore appeared, but so small as to +seem insignificant. Fair pursued this vein. A quarter of a million +dollars were eaten up in chasing this elusive line of ore but the vein +would neither disappear nor get wider. Fair's partners tried to insist +on running galleries in various directions to explore—and did so for +one month while he was ill—but Fair returned insistently again to +that thin thread of silver. There was one place where it was only two +inches thick. And then, in October 1873, the miners cut suddenly into +the Big Bonanza.</p> + +<p>"No discovery," wrote Lord, "to match this one had ever been made on +this earth from the time when the first miner struck a ledge with his +rude pick. The plain facts are as marvelous as a Persian tale, for the +young Aladdin did not see in the glittering cave of the genii such +fabulous riches as were lying in the dark womb of the rock.</p> + +<p>"The wonder grew as the depths were searched out foot by foot. The +Bonanza was cut at a point 1167 feet below the surface, and, as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +shaft went down, it was pierced again at the 1200-foot level. One +hundred feet deeper and the prying pick and drill told the same story, +yet another hundred feet, and the mass appeared to be swelling. When, +finally, the 1500-foot level was reached and ore richer than any +before met with was disclosed, the fancy of the coolest brains ran +wild. How far this great Bonanza would extend, none could predict, but +its expansion seemed to keep pace with the most sanguine imaginings. +To explore it thoroughly was to cut it out bodily; systematic search +through it was a continual revelation."</p> + +<p>The wealth revealed was beyond believing. This Bonanza, alone, yielded +$3,000,000 of silver every month for the first three years.</p> + +<p>Yet it was hard to win. Mackay believed in high wages and paid more +than double the wages given to any miners in any place in the history +of the world. All were picked men, who had passed a severe medical +test. The hours were short. The men worked naked save for a loin-cloth +and shoes to protect them from the hot rocks. The heat reached 110°. +Three men, who stepped accidentally into a deep pool of water, were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +scalded to death. The air was foul. The toil was severe.</p> + +<p>Yet ever, the deeper they went, the richer grew the ore. When, at +last, Mackay, Fair, O'Brien, and Flood sold their holdings, the +Bonanza had yielded more than $150,000,000 worth of silver, one-third +of which had passed directly into the pockets of the four men.</p> + +<p>But what of the first discoverers, McLaughlin and Riley? They had +found the silver, but the Bonanza was not for them. McLaughlin worked +for a while as a laborer and then was thrown out of the mine by a +foreman who said he was too old. He tried a dozen small ventures and +not only lost in everything he touched, but caused his partners to +lose, also. Bad fortune dogged him steadily. An old man, worn out and +hopelessly dispirited, died in a hospital and was buried in a pauper's +grave. Later, it was learned that this was McLaughlin.</p> + +<p>O'Riley fared no better. He refused to work for others, believing that +luck would turn, and that he, who had once discovered so rich a prize, +would, some day or other, discover another. One night, in a dream, he +heard what he took to be the voices of the fairies of the mountain +bidding him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> dig at a certain barren spot on the hill-slopes of the +Sierras, many miles away from the Comstock Lode.</p> + +<p>For days, for weeks, for years, he dug, ever hearing the fancied +voices leading him on, deeper and deeper still. Mackay offered him +money, but O'Riley refused to accept it, demanding that he be given an +equal share in the mine, or nothing. He starved and suffered, +sometimes finding pieces of pure silver and pure gold in his tunnel, +which he ascribed to his fairies (but which rumor says Mackay had +arranged to be placed there) and, in old age, his tunnel fell in and +crippled him. From the hospital he was taken to an insane asylum, +where he died.</p> + +<p>Henry Comstock met the fate he deserved. For years he swaggered about +Virginia City claiming to be its founder and the discoverer of the +Comstock Lode, living on the charity of luckier men who threw him a +bar of silver as one throws a bone to a dog, or else selling wild-cat +shares to greenhorns. More than once he was justly accused of being in +league with the disorderly elements of the city and having taken part +in robberies. But a certain rough sense of pity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> kept him from being +strung up to a tree as he deserved a dozen times over—and he died, at +last, a suicide.</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">WHERE TREASURE HIDES</span></h2> + + +<p>"You won't be achin', none, to hear all o' my roamin's after I quit +the Sutro Tunnel," Jim resumed, a couple of days later, when Owens and +Clem came to hear the rest of his story, "so I'll cut 'em short. But +you'll be wantin' to hear how it was I got into that queer part o' the +country where I made my strike.</p> + +<p>"It was Father's doin's more'n it was mine. I reckon I'd ha' stuck +around the Comstock Lode an' got into reg'lar silver-quartz minin' if +I'd gone my own way. But Father didn't have no use for silver. He was +a gold prospector, he was, an' he didn't want to do nothin' else.</p> + +<p>"After the Comstock got goin' good, with big stamp-mills poundin' an' +roarin' night an' day, an' when Virginia City begun to settle into a +sure-enough town, Father begun to itch to be away. Folks worried him. +Gold, he used to say, had savvy enough to hide itself when a mob<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> come +around, an', accordin' to Father's ideas, a placer wasn't no good, +anyhow, after two seasons' pickin's.</p> + +<p>"He jest wanted to come along an' skim off the cream o' some new find, +clean up enough dust to keep him goin' for a while, an' then pick up +his stakes an' git! It wasn't jest the money Father was after. He +liked huntin' after gold, jest for the sake o' huntin'. I've seen him +quit a claim that was makin' a fair profit an' start off prospectin', +for the sake o' the change. The wilder the spot, the more chance there +was o' findin' gold, he used to say; the fewer the folks, the bigger +the clean-up. Looked like he was right, too, placer fields peter out +mighty fast when a gang gets there."</p> + +<p>"They are bound to," Owens agreed.</p> + +<p>"But why? There ain't no rule about gold. One placer'll give up +millions in dust, an' another ain't worth pannin'."</p> + +<p>"There's no rule that will tell you where to find placer gold," the +mine-owner corrected, "but don't run away with the idea that gold +deposits are all freaks. As a matter of fact, there is a regular +science to help a good prospector in hunting for reef or quartz gold. +Whether he will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> find it in sufficient quantity to make the deposit +worth working is quite another matter.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't think, Jim, that gold happens to be in one place and +happens not to be in another as a result of mere chance. There's no +chance in Nature. We think there is, sometimes, merely because the +factors are so terribly complicated that we can't follow them all.</p> + +<p>"What makes the finding of gold seem so much a matter of luck is not +because we don't know how the gold came to be where it is, but because +we can't know the whole history of the Earth before Man came, and we +can't read everything from the rocks which crop out on the surface. +But we have some clues, and if you studied out the big money-making +gold-mines of to-day, you would find that chance has played but a +small part in their discovery and no part at all in their working.</p> + +<p>"A lucky prospector may have been the first to find signs of gold in +the region, but most likely, he got but little out of it. It was the +scientific search which followed that revealed the location of the +great rock deposits below in which the gold was thinly scattered, and +it was highly specialized mining engineering which made them possible +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> work. There are mines where ores containing only two dollars' +worth of gold (48 grains, a tenth of an ounce) to the ton are +successfully handled, and the greater part of the big gold-mines run +along quite comfortably on five dollars' worth."</p> + +<p>"You mean on a quarter of an ounce o' gold to the ton!" exclaimed Jim, +amazed. "I've often got ten times that much in one pan!"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. Yet you're not a millionaire, are you? Most gold-mines run +on a narrow margin of profit, a dollar or two to the ton of ore +crushed. So, you see, the works must be on a huge scale in order to +return a dividend on the investment. What's more, you can't afford to +establish a big plant unless there's an enormous amount of ore +available.</p> + +<p>"It's an old rule of wise investors not to put money into a mine that +looks too rich. Why?</p> + +<p>"Because rich ore generally peters out fast. The rich mines always +catch the suckers easily, and they're the ones who lose. A few cents a +ton profit on an immense deposit of low-grade ore means a sure return, +because, as a rule, such ore comes from a very old geological +formation where the gold is evenly scattered, and labor-saving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +machinery can be put in with a certainty that those few cents of +profit will continue indefinitely.</p> + +<p>"Gold, as you know, Jim, is always the same price. This has been +agreed upon by all nations. It is the one standard of value. It is +worth a fraction over $20 an ounce. Year in, year out, all over the +world, gold is worth the same.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"As a result, a gold-mine manager who knows the exact proportion of +gold per ton in the ore of his mine, can calculate to a cent how much +he can afford to pay for mining the ore, crushing it, and separating +the gold by chemical processes. He must figure on the cost of +installing his machinery, on his interest for original outlay, on +depreciation, on the cost of power for his machinery, on the water +power needed for crushing and washing, on transportation for his +supplies and on wages. Usually he will have to build his own railroad +and his own aqueducts. A little saving in one place—even a few cents +per ton—will enable him to make a big profit; a little extra cost, +such as an increase in the price of fuel, of chemicals, or of wages, +will make him bankrupt.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill236" id="ill236"></a> +<img src="images/ill-236.jpg" width="500" height="301" alt="Where Deserts Yield Millions." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Where Deserts Yield Millions.</p> + +<p class="illspace">Mill of the Pittsburg-Silver Peak Gold Mining Co., Blair, Nevada.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill237" id="ill237"></a> +<img src="images/ill-237.jpg" width="500" height="316" alt="The Eater of Mountains." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">The Eater of Mountains.</p> + +<p>A hydraulic jet of high pressure, washing away a hill of gravel and +sending the pay dirt through a sluice.</p> + +<p><i>From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="padtop">"That is why, Jim, even the richest-ored mine in the world—if it be +uneven in its yield of gold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> per ton—may be worthless, and why a +low-grade mine with an unchanging percentage may be worth millions, so +long as there is plenty of it. It all depends on the cost of +extracting the metal. There are scores, yes, hundreds of gold-deposits +well known to-day, which cannot be worked as long as gold stays $20 an +ounce, because it costs almost as much as that to get it out, but +which would be big money-makers if the gold were worth $25. +Three-quarters of the gold-mines of to-day would shut tight like a +clam, if gold were to drop in price even a dollar or two. What a +capitalist wants to-day is ore, and he is not interested in free gold. +What a prospector looks for, is free gold, and he ignores the rock. +I'm telling you all this, now, Jim, because it's what will be the +important thing when we get to talking, later, over your find."</p> + +<p>"That's all right," the old prospector answered, "but how can a man +tell when he's tappin' a big lot o' rock or jest a little, if it ain't +the free gold what shows him?"</p> + +<p>"He can't tell, as a rule," the mine-owner rejoined. "It takes a +geologist to do that. As I was saying, there are some rules to go by. +Here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> I'll give you a notion of how gold came to be in the rocks, and +then you'll see what a geologist can tell and what he can't.</p> + +<p>"To start with, you've got to begin 'way at the beginning of things, +before the crust of the earth was solid and when all the rocks of the +crust were in a melted and half-liquid state. So far as we can make +out, the metals seems to have classified themselves at that time, more +or less, according to density. The lighter elements came to the +surface, the heavier ones stayed at the bottom. It wasn't merely a +question of weight, but of gravitation, centrifugal action and a lot +of things I won't stop to explain to you now. Gold, as you know, is +heavy, that is, it possesses extreme density. It stayed therefore, +mainly at the bottom of this semi-molten sea.</p> + +<p>"But this sea, which covered the whole of the earth's surface, wasn't +altogether liquid, as the oceans are to-day. It was a seething mass of +different densities, some of it liquid, some of it slimy, some of it +thick like sticky mud, acted upon by fearful whirlwinds of electric +forces such as astronomers see in the sun to-day, and by powerful +internal currents which created vast churning whirlpools of +super-heated matter.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>"It's impossible for us to tell where these electric whirlwinds passed +or where these currents were. So, since the original separation of the +metals was highly irregular, no geologist can say with certainty where +gold or silver, lead or tin, will be found in the greatest quantity.</p> + +<p>"Then there's another complication. As you know, most of the metals +have chums or affinities with other substances, just as gold has with +mercury. These chums of the metals were also in that molten ocean, but +not always in the same proportions, nor yet distributed regularly. So +metallic compounds were formed at different times and in diverse +places. These compounds had varying densities, with the result that in +later ages they behaved in a way quite different from the pure metal. +You see, Jim, long before the crust of the earth was even formed, gold +was scattered far and wide, and already was in different forms.</p> + +<p>"Then, little by little, the crust began to form as the earth cooled. +It was just a scum, at first, and was constantly broken up from below. +As it got thicker, it resisted more and more, until the upheavals of +the crust formed the mountains of the earliest or Primary Age. This +crust, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> was now solid rock, contained gold, but, naturally, +nowhere in the same proportions. Some had much metal inclusion; some, +little; some, none at all. Besides, between the mountains or in them, +were vast volcanic craters, pouring up molten matter which became what +are known as the eruptive rocks, and these, too, carried up gold from +below. These rocks crystallized and the gold remained in them.</p> + +<p>"But even that wasn't complicated enough for Mother Nature. In those +same eruptive rocks, both of the early and later periods, gold is +mainly found in veins. These veins are of dozens of different sorts, +depending on the rock in which they occur and on Nature's ways of +putting them there.</p> + +<p>"To make it simple to you, I'll only mention two. The most general +method was by fumaroles. These are subterranean blow-holes of vapor +containing sulphur, tellurium, and chlorine compounds, as well as +super-heated steam. These vapors, projected from deep down in the +earth with incredible pressure and energy, acted on the new-made +rocks, formed compounds with the metals, or, when united with hydrogen +in the steam, separated the metals from solutions of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> their salts, and +forced the metals into cracks in the new-made and cooling eruptive +rocks. According to the kind of rock and the nature of the chemical +agent, a geologist will know for what type of vein to search. The +other most general agent of vein-making was hot water—generally +heavily saturated with sulphur and other chemicals—which dissolved +the gold. This hot water, with gold in solution, seeped into the +cracks and crevices made by the rock as it cooled, thus forming other +types of veins."</p> + +<p>"Hold on a minute, there!" protested Jim. "Water won't dissolve gold."</p> + +<p>"It will and does," was the retort, "especially when certain chemicals +are in the water. As a matter of fact, even to-day, the geysers at +Steamboat Springs, California, and at several places in New Zealand, +deposit gold and silicon in their basins. But let me go on.</p> + +<p>"After the gold was placed in veins in these primary rocks, there came +a period of erosion, and the mountains were worn away. The gold being +harder than rock, it remained and made alluvial deposits of a very +early age. Some, of these old 'placers' are several miles below the +surface, now, others have come again to the sur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>face by all the +superposed rock having been washed away, anew. Some of the gold was +dissolved, as before, and got into the crevices of the newly deposited +rocks made by erosion, known as sedimentary rocks. So, you see, Jim, +even millions of years ago, there was gold in the crystallized +eruptive rock, gold in veins of igneous rock, gold in alluvial +deposits, and, again, gold in veins in the sedimentary rocks.</p> + +<p>"Then came another period of elevation, with a second raising up of +mountain ranges, and with a renewal of violent volcanic action. The +crust was getting more and more unequal, the way in which the metals +were distributed became more and more scattered. Mountains of the +Secondary Age were often made of Primary sedimentary rocks, or of +Primary igneous rocks, so much changed that geologists call them +metamorphic rocks. And, Jim, every time that the rock was changed, the +gold changed either its place or its compound character, or both. Then +came another period of erosion, lasting millions of years, the gold +was washed away to form new placers, or made its way into veins in the +Secondary sedimentary rocks.</p> + +<p>"Then came the great upheaval of the Third<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> or Tertiary Age, in which +new mountains rose, new volcanic vents were opened, and, once more, +much of the gold was acted upon by chemicals, mainly sulphur and +tellurium. In many places silver showed a strong affinity with gold, +forming deposits where the ores were commingled. Once more the +hundreds of centuries of erosion came, to be followed by the upheaving +of the newer mountains of the Fourth or Quaternary Age. So, you see, +Jim, as I told you before, gold can be found in almost every rock and +of every geological period."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that it helps much, then!" declared the old prospector. +"You can go lookin' where you durn please."</p> + +<p>"There's nothing to stop you," agreed Owens cheerfully, "but that's a +hit-and-miss method. And I can show you just how even this little bit +of geology comes in to help the miner.</p> + +<p>"Get this clearly in your head, Jim! Three-quarters of the present +gold production of the world comes from gold that is mixed with +pyrites—which is a sulphide of iron, or from tellurides—in which a +tellurium-hydrogen compound has been the chemical agent. A prospector, +therefore, who uncovers a new field where the gold is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> in the pyritous +or the telluride form has ten times more chance of attracting capital +than one who finds lumps of native gold lying around loose.</p> + +<p>"It is when a prospector strikes a section where all the gold-bearing +rock has been eroded that he is apt to find the 'pockets' so dear to +his heart. The amazing riches of the Klondyke lay in the fact that +prospectors found, first, the alluvial deposits from the present age +in the sands of the running creeks, and, on ledges high above the +creeks and running into the rocks on either side, the alluvial +deposits, even thicker and richer, of a bygone time."</p> + +<p>"You've got it right," declared Jim, emphatically. "I know 'cos I was +there!"</p> + +<p>"Was it on the Yukon, then, that you made your famous strike?"</p> + +<p>The prospector winced. Evidently, he intended to reach that point in +his own way.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you about that, after a bit," he answered evasively. "But +you ain't said why placer claims peter out."</p> + +<p>"Can't you see? A placer claim doesn't show where the big store of +gold is, but where it isn't! It shows that the gold has gone. A placer +is just a spot where a little heavy gold, that hasn't been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> acted on +by chemicals, happens to have been deposited during the erosion of a +mountain which was composed of gold-bearing rock. The rock has been +washed into sand and gravel and a great deal of it taken out to sea. +There's plenty of gold in the sea, as I told you before.</p> + +<p>"But the amount of sand or gravel to be panned along a creek or river +is limited. When that's washed over, there's no more to find. A +prospector gets down to bed-rock and he's through. Then he's either +got to pack up and hunt some new spot where the same erosion has +happened, or, if he's clever enough, he's got to find the rock or reef +from which the gold was washed out. If he doesn't know his geology, +he's apt to waste his time.</p> + +<p>"Then the scientific expert and the capitalist come in. It's the man +with money who profits most by a poor man's strike. He can afford to +sit back and wait. Presently the expert will come back and report +where the gold-bearing rock lies. The capitalist arrives with huge +machinery for mining and crushing the rock, for turning on enormous +water-power, in short, for performing a sort of artificial erosion in +a few days which Nature took hundreds of thousands of years to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> do. He +pockets millions, where the prospectors who did the first work only +get thousands, or even hundreds, or, sometimes, nothing at all.</p> + +<p>"Your father was perfectly right, Jim, in saying that the prizes of +prospecting are for the man who gets there first. Placers are bound to +peter out quickly. They are Nature's purses, and a purse hasn't any +more money in it than you put in. Even the Klondyke, that astounding +pocket of riches, lasted only three years and then dwindled down.</p> + +<p>"Some of these days, all the available places of the earth will have +been worked over by the casual prospector, and then his day will be +done. The ever-hoping rover of the pick, shovel, and pan is becoming +extinct. Even now, the only spots which hold out any chance of pockets +of gold are in the almost inaccessible section of the globe.</p> + +<p>"The daring seeker for gold must go to the bleak ranges of the frigid +North, where, even in the middle of the summer, the ground is frozen +as hard as a rock a few inches below the surface; or else to the +jungle-clad slopes of the tropics, where fever and stewing heat menace +him with ever-present death; or yet to regions so far removed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> from +civilization that the white man has not yet penetrated there. The +shores of the Arctic Ocean, the steaming equatorial forests of the +Eastern Andes, or the untrodden valleys of the inner Himalayas offer +the most hopes to the prospector. But he may spend all the gold-dust +he finds, and more, to go there and return.</p> + +<p>"The tundras of Alaska and eastward to Hudson Bay still contain placer +gold, to a surety, gold not difficult to find if a man is willing to +face an Arctic winter and a mosquito-haunted summer to work there. +It's a wonder to me, Jim, that your father didn't join the great rush +to the Fraser River, in British Columbia, in 1856. That was a mad and +sorrowful stampede, if ever there was one!"</p> + +<p>"He was crazy about the Fraser," Jim answered. "All that kep' him from +goin' was the smash-up o' the Kern River rush, which lef' him +dead-broke an' nigh starvin', like I told you. But he never forgot the +Fraser. That's what took us up north, to wind up with.</p> + +<p>"It was in '79, when I was twenty years old, that Father comes into +the cabin, an' says, point blank,</p> + +<p>"'We're a-goin' to the Kootenay.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>"'Where's that?' I asks.</p> + +<p>"'Somewheres up near the Fraser River. There's gold there, so they're +sayin', like there was on the Sacramento in '49. An' thar ain't no +one, hardly, thar! Fust one in gits it all.'</p> + +<p>"I tried to reason with him. So did Mother, but it weren't no manner +o' use. A week later, we was gone."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have thought he'd have found much on the Kootenay," said +Owens reflectively, "it's all vein mining there. That needs heavy +crushing machinery."</p> + +<p>"Not all," Jim corrected. "There's some glacial gravel there an' we +washed out enough to pay our way. But Father wanted something bigger.</p> + +<p>"We struck out from West Kootenay an' hit the trail for Six Mile +Creek, near Kicking Horse Pass, in Upper East Kootenay. We stayed +there a while, but some one, who had a grudge agin the Mormons, pulled +his gun on Father. A 'forty-niner' ain't apt to be lazy on the shoot, +an' Father's gun spit first. We didn't wait for the funeral, but moved +on, an' lively, at that, strikin' for the Fraser."</p> + +<p>"Good thing for you the N. W. M. P. (North<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> West Mounted Police), +didn't strike your trail!" commented Owens.</p> + +<p>"It was a straight-enough deal," protested Jim, "an' the N. W.'s ha' +got plenty o' sense. But that wasn't no reason for hangin' around, +lookin' for trouble. We thought the Fraser'd be healthier. As it +turned out, it wasn't.</p> + +<p>"The Fraser boom was dead. The shacks in the ol' minin' camps was +rottin' to ruin. The machinery—what little there was of it—was lyin' +there, rustin'. The sluices had all fallen to bits, except on Hop +Rabbit Creek. A couple o' hundred men was there still, workin' over +the tailin's, but they was all Chinamen. Up the creek a ways some o' +them was pannin'.</p> + +<p>"Second day we was there, a big Chink comes up to me, an' says, very +quiet like,</p> + +<p>"'You plenty sabbee? Run away quick!'</p> + +<p>"It didn't look that way to me, for I don't take to orderin'. I was +good an' ready to drop that Chink in his tracks, but I did a little +thinkin' first. Two hundred agin two is big odds. I nodded, an' the +big Chink turns away.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say nothin' about the warnin' to Father, for he was that +stubborn he'd ha' waded right in an' tried to clean up the whole +camp.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> He wouldn't ha' had the chance of a rat in a trap. He'd ha' got +himself carved up in little slices an' that was about all. So I jest +told him that one o' the Chinks had reported there was a new strike on +the Cassiar. Father took the bait like a hungry trout an' we was off +in an hour."</p> + +<p>"But I always thought Chinamen were such a peaceful lot!" exclaimed +Clem.</p> + +<p>"If a Chink comes into a white camp, he's willin' to sing small an' do +what he's told. But in a boom camp that white folks have given up an' +quit, if Johnny Chink comes in, he won't let nary a white come back. I +know! One o' my pardners was in the massacre o' Happy Man Gulch in +'87. That's a yarn worth hearin'! I'll tell it you, some time.</p> + +<p>"Out we trailed to the Cassiar, an', funny enough, though I'd only +been bluffin' to Father about the strike there, we landed on the pay +gravel the very day after French Pete had struck a pocket. He was a +good prospector, was French Pete, an' knew more'n most, but he was +timid like, an' glad to have us there. He could handle Indians—he was +a half-breed himself—but he was that superstitious, he was afraid o' +the dark, alone. He was religious, too, an' Father an' him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> got along +together famous. We staked out a claim, right next to his, an', for a +few weeks, cleaned up a good fifty dollars a day.</p> + +<p>"Then, one fine mornin', a bunch o' redskins come down, friends o' +French Pete. They palavered some, an', after a while, French Pete he +comes over to us an' says:</p> + +<p>"'We got three days to get out!'</p> + +<p>"Father he put up an awful howl an' was for plugging the redskins full +o' holes, pronto. But French Pete puts it to him that these Injuns was +his friends, an' shootin' wouldn't go. There'd been some kind o' deal +between this tribe an' the Chilkoots, an' every miner on the Divide +knew more'n plenty about the Chilkoots. They'd tortured to death +Georgie Holt, the first prospector that ever went over the Chilkoot +Pass, an' more'n one miner that got into their country wasn't never +heard of no more.</p> + +<p>"So Father puts it up to French Pete where he's goin' next. French +Pete is a good pardner, an' tells a queer tale, but he tells it +straight. He allows there's gold on the islands off the coast an' +shows the lay.</p> + +<p>"Some years afore, so he says, Joe Juneau, an old-time Hudson Bay +trapper, an' Dick Harris,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> one o' the forty-niners, had found color on +Gold Creek, near the coast, an' had made a pile. Juneau went on +prospectin', though he was rich, an', havin' a generous streak, +grub-staked any man what asked him. That way he got a big share in the +placers found on Silver Bow and doubled his pile. Some other +prospectors what he'd grub-staked reported havin' found gold on the +islands, but nothin' extraordinary. Harris, havin' a business head, +stuck around Gold Creek (the present town of Juneau was formerly +called Harrisburg) an' got rich a-plenty. Juneau an' Harris had more'n +enough to look after, an' never got over to the islands.</p> + +<p>"French Pete, he's an old friend of Juneau an' he knows about this +island game. He reckons it'd be worth pannin'. There's sure-enough +gold up thar to pay for the workin', an' there might be a chance for a +big haul, seein' no one is prospectin' thar. He offers to show Father +where the placers are supposed to be, if he's willin' to come along. +Father likes to stick by his pardner an' agrees.</p> + +<p>"From Cassiar we hoofed it back to Juneau—a long an' a hard +trail—an', after buyin' a small sailboat an' grub enough for three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +months, we struck out for Douglas Island. French Pete handled that +boat like a cowboy does a buckin' bronc. We was green wi' scare in +that wild sea, full o' chunks o' ice clashin' all around, but the old +trapper never turns a hair. Presently we landed on a beach which +looked like it was a seal rookery, once, an' works our way to where a +good-sized creek comes plungin' down to the sea.</p> + +<p>"Juneau had it right. The sands along the creek were full o' color, +but the dust was small an' it was slow pannin'. It was all we could do +to make fourteen dollars a day in dust, workin' fourteen hours a day, +maybe; poor pickin's for a spot costin' so much cash an' trouble to +get to.</p> + +<p>"French Pete, though, had plenty o' savvy. From the lie o' the rock, +he reckoned this thin placer gold must ha' been washed out o' the +little mountain what sticks up in one corner o' the island. He let his +placer claim go for a while and prospected for ore. At last he found +what he thought looked like the best spot. The ore was poor in color, +but so soft an' rotten that it could be smashed into dust with a +hammer, an' the gold—what little there was of it—separated out easy.</p> + +<p>"We all staked out half-a-dozen claims, doin'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> enough work on each to +hold title. Since French Pete had brought us to the island, an' shown +the rock besides, Father an' I promised to give him a quarter o' +whatever we got for our claims, if we ever sold 'em.</p> + +<p>"Off went French Pete in the sail-boat, leavin' us marooned on Douglas +Island, an' in a pickle of a mess supposin' he shouldn't return! But +he come back, sure enough, after about six weeks, havin' found John +Treadwell, a minin' man, who undertakes to buy our claims if Juneau, +after havin' looked 'em over, says they're all right.</p> + +<p>"Juneau an' Treadwell come, a couple o' days after, wi' one o' these +up-to-date engineer Johnnies. The ore's low-grade, but there's head +enough in the creek to run stamp mills by water-power, which makes +cheap crushin'. Treadwell pays French Pete $15,000 for his claims an' +Father an' me $10,000 apiece. Then he buys up the rest o' the island +for next to nothin'. The Treadwell mine's a big un, now, workin' 540 +stamp mills, an', as Mr. Owens says, it's makin' millions out o' low +grade ore.</p> + +<p>"Father had promised Mother, as soon as he got $10,000 clear, he'd go +back home. She holds him to it. After payin' French Pete what we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +promised, there's $10,000 for Father an' $5,000 for me, besides what +was left from the Cassiar an' Douglas Island placer clean-ups. Father +an' Mother went back to Utah, leavin' me wi' French Pete an' +Treadwell.</p> + +<p>"But Father couldn't stand it long. While he was prospectin', all +hours, all weathers, he was tough an' strong. Back in town, he begun +to pine. In less'n a year he was dead. Mother didn't live long after +him. That lef' me on my own hook. Douglas Island was too slow, though +Treadwell offered me a good job as long's I cared to stick it out. But +I wanted to be off an' away, feelin' sure, some day, I'd make my big +strike.</p> + +<p>"I was foot-loose, now, wi' five thousand in dust an' the whole world +to roam in. Where was I goin' to find the place where the sands was +nothin' but gold? Somewheres, I was sure! Some day I'd strike it rich +an' never have to work no more. Out in the wild beyond, where no one +else was, millions was waitin' for me!"</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE ROARING NORTH</span></h2> + + +<p>"I was young an' tough in them days an' liked to buck agin hard goin'. +If gold was gettin' scarce where folks was, it was plenty an' free in +the lands that folks didn't dare go to. Naturally enough, I begun to +think o' the Chilkoot country.</p> + +<p>"Ever since Georgie Holt had been tortured to death in a Chilkoot +Indian camp, prospectors had been leery o' that huntin' ground. But +French Pete had heard from a pard o' Juneau's that Dumb MacMillan had +got over the Chilkoot an' struck it rich on what he called Dumb Creek, +runnin' into the Tanana. He'd come back an' cashed his dust, blowed it +in on one wild spree, an' gone over the Pass again. He hadn't never +been heard of no more.</p> + +<p>"Since his second trip, though, the Canadian Government had got a +strangle-hold on the Chilkoots an' was makin' 'em behave. It had +forced 'em to make peace wi' the Stick Indians o' the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> interior, an' +thrown the fear o' the whites into 'em good an' plenty. So I wasn't +worryin' over Injuns none. The Chilkoot Pass, though, was said to be +something awful to cross, but that wasn't goin' to stop me, when I +knew there was good goin' on the other side an' all the creeks full o' +gold.</p> + +<p>"So I quit Treadwell an' French Pete an' got back to Juneau. There, I +heard that a bunch o' prospectors led by the Schiefflin Brothers had +taken a steamboat, got as far as St. Michael, gone up the Yukon, +wintered at Nuklukayet an' found gold all the way. They'd struck good +placers on Mynook, Hess an' Shevlin Creeks, but the Schiefflins found +the ground always frozen an' terrible hard to work, an' the summer was +so short they figured pannin' on the Yukon wouldn't pay.</p> + +<p>"Think o' that, will you! The Klondyke an' the Eldorado wouldn't pay!</p> + +<p>"That same summer, we heard that there was new gold strikes on the +Lewes an' Big Salmon Rivers, which run into the Upper Yukon. Dumb +MacMillan had found payin' color on the Tanana, flowin' into the +Middle Yukon. The Schiefflins had located plenty o' placers on the +Lower Yukon.</p> + +<p>"It didn't take much figurin' to guess that there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> was gold all the +way along. I made up my mind to strike over the Chilkoot into the +Stewart River section, jest about unknown then; preparin', durin' the +winter, for an early start.</p> + +<p>"Early in the spring o' '84, eight of us was ready. We had a +sure-enough outfit an' plenty o' grub. We was well fixed for +shootin'-irons, too, for we was goin' up into hostile Injun country.</p> + +<p>"Joe Juneau, who knew a lot about the mountains, tried to head us off, +tellin' what happened to Holt an' MacMillan, but we was sot on goin', +an' struck out for Dyea along the canal trail. There we headed for the +interior.</p> + +<p>"I've seen some rough goin' in my time, an' I come of a stock o' tough +uns, but, I'm tellin' you, that first trip over the Chilkoot Pass was +more'n horrible. I dream about it, yet—an' it's over thirty years +ago!</p> + +<p>"From Dyea to Sheep Camp was bad enough goin', half-frozen muskeg +(mucky swamp), lyin' under soft snow an' all covered with a tangle o' +thorn-vines climbin' over spraggly berry-bushes. There warn't no +trail. It was cut your way, an' drag! We didn't have no dogs, but +lugged the sleighs ourselves. It's only nine miles as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> crow flies, +but it took us four days to make it, with our loads.</p> + +<p>"An' then the Chilkoot Pass stuck up in front of us, all black rock +an' white snow, reachin' to the sky, an' clouds hidin' the top. It +seemed like it was a-defyin' of us, well-nigh impossible.</p> + +<p>"We'd ha' gone back, sure, but we knew two men had climbed it a'ready, +Georgie Holt in '72, and Dumb MacMillan, in '80. What they'd done, we +reckoned we could do.</p> + +<p>"Sheer rock, she was, all slick an' icy, to begin with; above that, +stretches o' snow-fields on so steep a slope that a false step meant a +snow-slide an' good-bye! crevasses in the snow goin' down below all +knowin', an' mostly covered over wi' light snow so's you couldn't see +'em; an', near the top, a pile o' loose an' shaky rocks built up like +a wall, straight as the side of a house, an', in some spots, leanin' +over. That was the Chilkoot Pass!</p> + +<p>"The cold was cruel; a steady wind, nigh to a blizzard, sucked through +the Pass continooal, tearin' a man from his footin.' There was no +shelter, an' high up, no fire-wood.</p> + +<p>"There was no trail, neither! We had to go it, blind. An', up that +rock, over them snow-fields,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> across them crevasses, an', fly-like, +crawling up that wall o' bowlders, we had to drag our dunnage! The +sleighs had to be pulled up, empty. Our sacks o' flour had to be toted +on our backs! An' our bacon an' groceries, enough to last us months! +An' our tools an' cradles! I made five trips to get my stuff +across—an it took me five weeks. Between whiles, I rested, if lyin' +exhausted means rest!</p> + +<p>"There was eight of us that started. There was only three when the +stuff was on the summit o' the pass! Two had been crushed by fallin' +rocks. The other three had all disappeared sudden in a crevasse, what +they thought was solid snow givin' down under 'em. Only Red Bill, Bull +Evans an' me was left.</p> + +<p>"Mind, there was no trail an' no guide! Holt had been over years +before, but the Indians killed him. Dumb MacMillan went over it twice, +an' never was heard of no more. Me an' my pardners was the third, an', +as I was sayin', o' the eight that started, only three got to the +top."</p> + +<p class="padbottom">"Yet how many thousands climbed that Pass after gold had been struck +on the Klondyke?" queried Owens.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill260" id="ill260"></a> +<img src="images/ill-260.jpg" width="500" height="339" alt="The Top of the Chilkoot Pass." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">The Top of the Chilkoot Pass.</p> + +<p>The neck to the Klondyke as it appeared in April, 1898, during the +height of the stampede.</p> + +<p><i>From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams.</i></p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>Copyright, 1898, by S. A. Hegg.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill261" id="ill261"></a> +<img src="images/ill-261.jpg" width="500" height="296" alt="Pass in the Sierra Nevadas of California." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Pass in the Sierra Nevadas of California.</p> +</div> + +<p class="padtop">"Thirty thousand an' more, so folks said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> Two thousand o' them, +though, died in tryin'. An' they had Injun an' half-breed porters to +tote their dunnage, too! The trail was marked for them. In the last +years o' the big rush, there was an aerial tramway to take up the +stuff. It wasn't like that in my day. We tackled it on our own.</p> + +<p>"When we reached the top, the trouble wasn't over neither. 'Tother +side was rough an' dangerous, all loose rock an' mighty little snow. +We loaded the sleighs an' let 'em down by jerks, all three men hangin' +on to the drag-ropes. But we made the bottom, safe, an' started off +again. No trail, no map, no nothin'! We jest pushed on, blind, three +white men in a country o' hostile Injuns huntin' for a river which we +didn't even know where it was.</p> + +<p>"Followin' a small creek an' pannin' now an' agin—though not findin' +any color—we came at last to Crater Lake an' then on to Lindeman, an' +final, to Lake Bennett. Here, we'd heard before leavin', the Yukon +River begun, an' we started to go round the lake, so's to strike the +bank o' the river.</p> + +<p>"It couldn't be done. Muskeg an' thick forest run clear down to the +shore o' the lake, an' a b'ar couldn't ha' pushed his way through. +Small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> creeks shot out every which way. Sleighs were worse'n useless.</p> + +<p>"There warn't nothin' to be done but build a boat, an' nary one o' the +three of us knew the fust durn thing about boat-buildin'. But we put +together a kind of a log-raft, that floated, anyway, put the dunnage +aboard it, an' drifted down the lake. This was easy goin', for a +while.</p> + +<p>"All of a sudden, a swift current took us, the lake narrowed into a +river, an', afore we had a chance to pole our heavy an' clumsy raft to +the bank, we was shootin' wi' sickenin' speed down white water. It was +Grand Canyon Rapids, a mile long! Half-way through, the raft struck a +rock an' went to bits, the logs bustin' free. I grabbed one an' went +spinnin' down the rapids. I must ha' hit my head on a snag, for I +don't remember no more till I woke up to find myself on the bank, an' +Bull Evans leanin' over me.</p> + +<p>"'What's the worst, Bull?' I asks, as soon as I realizes.</p> + +<p>"'Red Bill's gone,' he says, 'an' so's most o' the grub. The dunnage +is scattered anywheres along a mile or two. We hoofs it from here. No +more rafts in mine!'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>"An' a good thing we did hoof it, too. If we'd got through the Grand +Canyon Rapids an' struck, unknowin', the White Horse Rapids—what they +afterwards called the 'Miners' Grave'—nary a one o' the three of us +would ha' come out alive.</p> + +<p>"As it was, bein' afoot, we broke away from what afterwards was the +Klondyke Trail, an', instead of striking across Lake Labarge, kep' +between it an' Lake Kluane, strikin' some creeks leadin' into the +White River. There, at last, after three months on the trail, we +panned an' found color. We trailed on, pannin' as we went, cleanin' up +pretty fair, an' final, struck some placers on the Stewart River. The +Injuns was peaceful an' we could get grub from a half-breed tradin' +store near old Fort Selkirk. We wintered there."</p> + +<p>"That was in '85?" Owens queried.</p> + +<p>"Winter o' '85 an' spring o' '86."</p> + +<p>"Then you must have been right on hand for the great strike on +Forty-Mile?"</p> + +<p>"We sure was."</p> + +<p>"But, man, you should have made a fortune, there!"</p> + +<p>"I did!" came Jim's laconic answer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"I made a hundred thousand dollars in three months."</p> + +<p>"What happened to it, then?"</p> + +<p>"That," said the old prospector, leaning back, and looking at his two +hearers, "is a wild an' woolly yarn! Do you want to hear it, or do I +go on to the findin' o' that ore you've got in your hand?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, tell the yarn, Jim!" pleaded Clem, who was less interested in +Jim's strike than was the mine-owner. Owens nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"Pannin' gold," Jim began, "is pretty much the same all over. One +minin' camp is a good deal like another, though Forty-Mile was the +cleanest an' straightest camp I ever struck. I could spin a good many +yarns o' Forty-Mile an' near-by camps, but I'll leave 'em to another +time an' tell you how it was I got poor, again, all in a hurry.</p> + +<p>"With a bunch o' buckskin bags holdin' a hundred thousand dollars in +the coarse nuggety gold o' Forty-Mile, I was good an' ready to take +the back trail. I thought maybe I'd get back again next spring, for +I'd become a sure-enough 'sour-dough' (old-timer of the northern +gold-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>fields, so-called from camp bread). But I wanted to eat heavy +an' lie soft for a while. I'd spend one winter in 'Frisco, any way, +an' have a run for my money.</p> + +<p>"The more I thought of it, the less I liked the notion o' goin' back +over the Chilkoot Pass. Savin' for the first climb, the out trail was +worse'n the in. All the rapids'd have to be portaged.</p> + +<p>"What was more, the news o' the Forty-Mile strike had reached the +outside, an' the human buzzards was a-flockin' in. The Canadian +authorities held the camps in a tight grip, but the trail was a +No-Man's-Land. A sour-dough comin' out from a strike stood a good +chance o' bein' plugged for his gold an' no one the wiser.</p> + +<p>"A few weeks after the Forty-Mile strike, a rich placer had been +located at Circle, a hundred miles lower down on the Yukon an' across +the Alaskan Boundary jest above where Circle City is now. Nothin' was +easier'n to buy a small row-boat an' float down the Yukon to Circle. +The rapids wasn't worth speakin' about. At Circle we'd take the river +craft runnin' to Fort Yukon, an' then ship on board the steamer for +St. Michael, Skagway an' 'Frisco.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>"No weary miles o' hoofin' it on the trail, no portages, no work, jest +sit in a boat an' take it easy! That hundred thousand made me feel too +lazy to move.</p> + +<p>"We got the boat, bein' willin' to pay whatever fancy price was asked. +While she was still tied up at Forty-Mile, one o' the North West +Mounted Police come up an' asked us where we was headin'. We told him. +He wanted to know how many were goin'. There was my pardner, Bull +Evans, me, an' four more. He shakes his head.</p> + +<p>"'That's about twenty too few,' says he. 'Are you takin' the dust +along?'</p> + +<p>"'Right with us, Johnny,' says we.</p> + +<p>"'You've got more gold'n you have sense,' he comes back, cheerfully. +'Better wait a month or so. We're goin' to convoy a party through the +White Pass to Skagway, takin' the express an' the bank gold, an' you +can come along, safe.'</p> + +<p>"'It's too long a trail for millionaires,' says we.</p> + +<p>"'A dead millionaire ain't worth much,' he says. 'You'll have your +bones picked clean by the crows if you get across the border that +a-way. Alaska ain't the Dominion, not by a long shot.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>"That hit us wrong. We thought he was jest bluffin', tryin' to make +out that Canada was the only country that could run things right. Most +of us was from the U. S., an' we grouched at his pokin' in.</p> + +<p>"'Law an' order's as good 'tother side o' the line as it is here!' +says Bull.</p> + +<p>"'Have it your own way! I'll send the patrol boat with you as far as +the border. I can't do no more.'</p> + +<p>"We didn't want the patrol, but he sent it, any way, an' we started +out.</p> + +<p>"'Last chance!' he yells, when the border's reached, 'better come +back!'</p> + +<p>"'We ain't quitters!' Bull shouts back, an' on we go, six of us, an' +close on to half a million dollars in dust among the lot. Every man +had a rifle, a six-shooter, an' plenty o' ammunition. All was +old-timers an' quick on the shoot. We reckoned we could take care of +ourselves, good an' plenty. Any way, we weren't goin' to land +anywheres until we struck Circle, so there wouldn't be no danger.</p> + +<p>"We hadn't got more'n ten miles the other side o' the line, jest +beyond the little minin' camp of Eagle, when of a sudden:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>"'Spat!'</p> + +<p>"A bullet strikes the boat, right at the water line, an' she begins to +leak.</p> + +<p>"It was pretty shootin', an' every man reaches for his gun. There's a +curl o' smoke driftin' up from a pile o' rock, but no one shoots, +knowin' well the marksman's under cover. We trims the boat, to keep +the hole out o' water, and then:</p> + +<p>"'Spat! Spat!'</p> + +<p>"One on each side. We stuffs some bits o' rag in the holes, but the +boat begins to fill. One side o' the river's sheer rock, an' there +ain't no landin' there. Cussin' free, an' every man wi' his rifle +ready, we beaches the boat on the other shore an' gets out, ready for +the scrap.</p> + +<p>"Then some one starts to talk, over our heads, hidden in the rocks:</p> + +<p>"'Gents, I'm sure sorry to stop your trip! There's twenty of us, an' +each has his man covered. It ain't no use for you to make trouble. +Them as is reasonable can leave their bags o' dust an' their pop-guns +on the beach, an' walk off fifty paces to the left. Them as wants to +show their shootin' can wait jest two minutes by the watch, an' the +fun'll begin, us havin' the pick o' the shots an' bein' under cover. +The cards is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> stacked agin you, gents, an' there ain't no use to +play.'</p> + +<p>"We all shoots back, o' course, more to relieve our feelin's'n +anything else, for we knows this new-style road-agent has dodged back +to cover.</p> + +<p>"Me an' four others, we don't hesitate. We lays our bags o' dust an' +our guns on the beach an' toddles off, as directed. Then I looks back +an' sees Bull standin' there, alone.</p> + +<p>"He's a durn fool an' I knows it. But he's my pardner, is Bull!</p> + +<p>"I goes back an' tries to persuade him to eat crow. But Bull's +stubborn as a mule an' don't budge. I ain't a-goin' to leave him. So +we both stands there.</p> + +<p>"The road-agent has been takin' this in, an' presently he pipes up:</p> + +<p>"'Very pretty, gents. Pardners is pardners and that's doin' it +handsome. Put up your hands an' we won't shoot.'</p> + +<p>"For answer, Bull snaps his rifle to his shoulder an' fires.</p> + +<p>"A volley rings out, an' Bull drops dead, a dozen bullets through him. +I wasn't two yards away, but not a shot touched me.</p> + +<p>"Then this road-agent, a tall thin galoot,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> heavily masked, comes down +to where I'm standin' alone.</p> + +<p>"'It was a dirty bit o' shootin'!' says I, indignant.</p> + +<p>"'You've no cause to complain,' says he, 'nothin' hit you! I like your +spunk in standin' by your pardner. He seems to ha' been a he-man, too, +even if he was a fool. Had he any folks?'</p> + +<p>"'A baby girl back in Montana,' I tells him.</p> + +<p>"'I'm not robbin' babies,' he says to that. 'She gets my share o' the +loot. I give my word. Do you know the address?'</p> + +<p>"I reaches down into Bull's coat, takes a letter from it what he'd +written to his sister, what was lookin' after the kid, an' hands this +bandit the envelope. He reads it, nods an' puts it in his pocket."</p> + +<p>"Did he ever send the money?" suddenly interrupted Owens.</p> + +<p>"He did. I heard, years after, that the sister received thirty +thousand dollars in cash, in a registered letter, sent from Skagway, +an' in the envelope a slip o' paper 'From the Chief o' Circle.'"</p> + +<p>"What happened next, Jim?" queried Clem, excitedly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>"What, after I'd given the galoot the envelope? He makes a sign an' +half a dozen o' his gang comes down out o' the rocks where they've +been hidin'. They gather up the guns an' the bags o' dust lyin' on the +beach, while some more o' them goes over an' searches the other four +men.</p> + +<p>"'What's the next turn?' I asks the chief.</p> + +<p>"'I don't do things in a small way,' he says. 'Your nerve's good. For +bein' willin' to stand by your pardner, when the rest run like +rabbits. I'll leave you five thousand in dust, an' see you get back to +the border. Unless you want to join our band?'</p> + +<p>"'I don't!' I answers, snappy like.</p> + +<p>"But he was as good as his word. He weighs out an' hands over the +dust, an' two of the gang takes me back to the line. There they gives +me back my shootin'-irons, though, o' course without any ammunition. +Next day I'm back in Forty-Mile."</p> + +<p>"And the other four men?" queried Owens.</p> + +<p>"Two joined the gang, an' later, started to get funny on the Canadian +side. A Vigilance committee strung 'em up. The other two turned up at +Circle City and I never heard no more about 'em.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>"I staked out another claim—though there wasn't much to choose from, +then—an' begins to pan again. But the luck had turned, an' I didn't +strike nothin' rich.</p> + +<p>"I stayed at Forty-Mile that winter, buildin' fires at night on the +frozen dirt to thaw it, an', next day, shovelin' an' haulin' it up to +the top o' my little shaft on the windlass I'd made myself. The pile +o' pay dirt had to be left till the spring thaws for cleanin' up.</p> + +<p>"Ten years I stayed inside, goin' from one placer on the Yukon to +another, makin' a livin', an' that's about all. Now an' again, when I +gets a bit ahead, I sends a bag o' dust to Bull's little gal.</p> + +<p>"In '98, I joins the rush to Nome, an' there's a roarin' wild town! +But luck ain't runnin' my way. Like the rest, I starts to wash the +sand o' the sea-beach, the last place a prospector'd ever look. I +clean up thirty a day, maybe, jest enough to keep goin'. I'm no +richer'n no poorer'n I was ten years afore, but I got Bull's little +gal to work for, an' that keeps me pluggin'.</p> + +<p>"Then, sudden, I gets a letter from the gal, enclosin' a note she's +received. It's short:</p> + +<p>"'Rich pay gravel here.' It's signed with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> circle, an' a cross. On +the back, there's a map.</p> + +<p>"I figures this is the Road-Agent o' Circle, an' he's dyin' an' wants +to make restitootion. It's my dooty to Bull's little gal to go an' +find the place. I've jest about money enough to go there, an' the lay +is right. There's a bank of pay gravel more'n two miles long, an' a +hundred feet deep, maybe more. It's frozen, summer'n' winter, an' too +hard for thawin' with wood fires."</p> + +<p>Jim halted for emphasis and looked keenly at the mine-owner.</p> + +<p>"I was thawin' it out wi' coal, when I was there," he said, slowly, +"soft, smudgy coal, brown an' sticky-like."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Owens in amazement. "Lignite coal?"</p> + +<p>"Not a mile away from the gravel."</p> + +<p>"But why, man—?" Owens stopped.</p> + +<p>"A bunch o' Russian seal-poachers come up an' chased me off, sayin' it +was Russian territory. I believed 'em, at first. I didn't say nothin' +about the gold, but made believe I was huntin' coal. But that lignite, +as you call it, was so sure low-grade that they jest laughed at me.</p> + +<p>"It ain't in Russian territory. It's in the United States, I've found +out that much. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> minin' men don't take much stock in what I tell +'em, an' coal men say it's too long a haul. But a man wi' money what +knows coal an' knows gold, an' could do some steam thawin' an' +hydraulickin' would make good."</p> + +<p>Owens looked at him thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"It's a wild and woolly yarn, all right," he said, "and it sounds like +a story from a book, with the hold-up, and the girl and the idea of +restitution, and the treasure-map and all the rest of it. You haven't +any proof?"</p> + +<p>"Nothin' but what I've told you—an' the map. My pardner's got to take +my say-so."</p> + +<p>"You say you wrote frequently to Bull Evans' daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Once a season—sometimes twice. Whenever I could get some money +through."</p> + +<p>"She will have kept those letters, certainly," the mine-owner mused, +"and the payments through the Express Company will be easy to trace. +Where does the girl live?"</p> + +<p>"In Pittsburgh, now, with her aunt."</p> + +<p>"If I guarantee to advance two hundred thousand, when satisfied that +your story is straight, will you produce the map and come along, +yourself?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>Jim looked him over.</p> + +<p>"I'll trust you more'n you're willin' to trust me," he said, and took +a thin slip of paper from the buckskin tube out of which he had shaken +the gold dust the day before. "Here's the map. It's an island due +north o' the Diomede Islands in the Behring Sea. The Eskimos call it +Chuklook. There's quartz gold on Ingalook, too. But mind, one-third o' +what you pay for the claim belongs to Bull's little gal."</p> + +<p>"Agreed!" declared Owens. "You trust me an' I'll trust you. The +letters an' the express records, being as you say, I'll go in."</p> + +<p>"Clem bein' a pardner!" Jim insisted.</p> + +<p>"Clem being a partner, sure!"</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE LONELY ISLAND</span></h2> + + +<p>The little <i>Bunting</i>, brigantine-rigged, and, yacht-fashion, +possessing an auxiliary screw, plowed the waters of Behring Sea.</p> + +<p>Jim, with Clem and Anton beside him, stood on the foc's'le head, +gazing into the foggy distance. Owens was on the poop, with the owner +of the tiny yacht, who was a personal friend, and moodily scanned the +horizon. Otto, utterly disregarding the universal sea injunction: +"Don't Talk to the Man at the Wheel!" stayed at the stern and +exchanged occasional sentences with the helmsman.</p> + +<p>There were, also, two other passengers on board, both down in the +cabin. One was a grizzled giant, the other was a young woman, some 25 +years of age. The first was a half-brother of Joe Juneau, and was +known throughout the Far North as "The Arctic Wizard" from his uncanny +knowledge of Alaskan mining deposits, and his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> ability as a mining +engineer in overcoming the peculiar difficulties of frozen ground and +of maintaining machinery in working order under the most rigorous +conditions of weather. The second was "Bull's little gal," more +properly known as Jameine Evans, herself a graduate of the Pittsburgh +School of Mines.</p> + +<p>With the money that had been sent her, when a baby, by the Road-Agent +of Circle, and with the additional sums forwarded from time to time by +Jim, Jameine (so christened as a namesake of the old prospector) had +been able to pay her way through school and college and had taken a +mining course besides.</p> + +<p>This specialized education had been her plan of gratitude. Only by +making herself efficient in a kindred field, she felt, could she ever +be a real "pardner" to Jim; only thus could she repay, in some +measure, the generosity of the old prospector. She had long realized +the unselfishness of the man who had stayed winter after winter in the +frozen North, denying himself the rude pleasures of a mining camp in +order to help "Bull's little gal."</p> + +<p>Ever since Jim had made his famous strike, as a result of the map +which had been sent to her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> by her father's murderer, Jameine had +regarded herself as the heiress of a dream mine, but a dream which +might, some day, come true. For her own sake, as well as Jim's, she +had read and studied as much as she could of Alaskan conditions.</p> + +<p>It was she who finally disclosed to Jim that the Russian seal-poachers +were probably at fault in chasing him from his strike, and only wanted +to get rid of the inconvenient witness. Thus she had reawakened the +prospector's lagging interest in his find, but lacking the large store +of capital necessary to exploit the mine, she could do nothing. Jim +had used up all his savings in going from town to town trying to +interest a big investor and had finally entered Owens' coal mine in +order to get a little stake again.</p> + +<p>Wizard Juneau was amazed at the extent of mining knowledge shown by +this girl shipmate, and he had spent the greater part of the voyage +from Sitka in imparting to her some of the secrets distilled from his +long experience in frozen mining. He had brought on board the +<i>Bunting</i> many of the publications of the U. S. Geological Survey, and +of the Bureau of Mines, annotated by himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> He had brought, also, a +number of crude maps of half-explored territory, either drawn by his +own hand or by old prospectors, which maps and charts were among his +most prized possessions.</p> + +<p>"Some of these," he explained, "were made by Alf Brooks,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> one of the +nerviest explorers that the U. S. ever sent out. I've been with him on +more than one reconnoissance survey. And some were made by experts on +the U. S. Revenue Cutter <i>Bear</i>.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> I sailed on her two seasons."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> For the Alaskan explorations of Brooks ("Rivers") see the +author's "The Boy with the U. S. Survey."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> For the Behring Sea work of the <i>Bear</i>, see the author's +"The Boy with the U. S. Lifesavers."</p></div> + +<p>"And do you think, Mr. Juneau, that this island of Uncle Jim's is on +the American side of the line?"</p> + +<p>The "Wizard" pursed his lips with an expression of doubt.</p> + +<p>"It's a toss of the dice," he said. "Ingalook, the easternmost of the +Diomede Islands, where Jim found that piece of gold-bearing quartz, is +sure American territory. I don't take kindly to Ingalook, though. +There'd be trouble, there, in trying to install proper mining and +crushing devices. There's no landing place on that isolated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> granite +dome standing forlornly out of the sea, except for seals, polar bears, +or crazy prospectors like Jim, there.</p> + +<p>"But this Chukalook Bank of the Road Agent's map, where the pay gravel +and the lignite coal lie—supposing that it's the same as this little +unnamed dot marked on the charts—seems to be right on the +international boundary line. We'll have to wait until we get there to +make accurate observations."</p> + +<p>"Can you do that, too, Mr. Juneau?"</p> + +<p>"Me? No! I can take a sight of course, but not accurate enough where +it's a matter of minutes or even seconds of a degree. But Captain +Robertson can. Like many of these amateur yachtsmen, he's a better +navigator than the captain of some Atlantic liners. It's his hobby. +Besides, he's got instruments of precision aboard that an admiral +would envy. What's more, he's a certificated man, and his say-so on a +nautical observation of longitude would be legal in the courts. Mine +wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"And suppose the island should prove to be on the Russian side?"</p> + +<p>"Then, young lady, you'll have to turn Russian!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>"What nonsense! You know I wouldn't. No, but speaking seriously?"</p> + +<p>"Well, seriously, then, you'd have to buy the island from the +Bolsheviks, or from the Eastern Siberian Republic, or from the +Japanese, or whoever happens to be claiming it. International rights +up in the Asiatic Arctic are badly mixed up, these days. And that +wouldn't be the worst of it. You'd have to pay stiff royalties and you +wouldn't be sure of any sort of protection—unless it was the +Japanese."</p> + +<p>"We'll buy it, if we have to!" declared Jameine decidedly. "I'm not +going to have anything happen that will spoil Uncle Jim's strike!"</p> + +<p>"He's a regular dad to you, Miss Evans, eh?"</p> + +<p>"He's the only one I ever remember," the girl replied. "My real father +went up to Skagway, just a few weeks after I was born, only having +stayed down in Montana long enough to see me. And, as you know, Mr. +Juneau, he went over the Chilkoot Pass with Uncle Jim and never came +back any more. Mother died when I was quite small. I know Uncle Jim +feels that 'Bull's little gal' is his own. I feel so, too!"</p> + +<p>The grizzled mining engineer patted the hand with which the girl was +holding open the chart.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>"Don't ye worry," he said, kindly, "we'll make good. We'll bluff any +one that comes to Chukalook—supposing we find it—long enough to get +the best o' the pay gravel. If that don't do the trick, we'll fight.</p> + +<p>"And there's another thing. If Chukalook doesn't pan out, there's the +quartz at Ingalook. I've never seen the gold deposit yet—no matter +how poor—that I couldn't turn into money, so long as I could get +enough capital behind me to exploit it."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Owens will give that," asserted Jameine confidently.</p> + +<p>The "Wizard" shook a warning finger.</p> + +<p>"Not just for sentiment, he won't," he said, "not if I read him right. +He's generous enough, and he'd see that you and Jim didn't suffer. But +he's too keen a business man to invest his money unless he sees a fair +chance of return. We've got to show him!"</p> + +<p>"He certainly doesn't seem as enthusiastic about it now, as he did +when we started," Jameine agreed, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"That's natural enough! Don't ye forget he's an Australian, and all +the gold fields he's ever seen, there, and in South Africa, were in +hot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> desert country. These waters don't look promising to him!"</p> + +<p>The "Wizard" was right. Owens was scanning the slate-gray water +flecked with foam and the sky of dripping fog with equal distrust and +dislike. The pieces of ice-floe bobbing in the choppy current inspired +him with uneasiness, even with fear. The assurances of his friend, the +yachtsman, gave him no confidence.</p> + +<p>Had it been possible, he would have been heartily glad to back out of +his agreement, but there was no way he could do it with honor. He had +sought out Jameine in Pittsburgh, had seen Jim's letters, and had +checked up the Express Company's receipts of gold forwarded by the old +prospector from the mining camps of Forty-Mile, of Circle, of Juneau, +of Klondyke, of Dawson City and of Nome. Jameine's hopeful spirit and +her determination to make good on Jim's strike had been infectious. +Owens had set out, almost gaily. But this grim, inhospitable sea put a +damper on his spirits.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't the sun ever shine here, Jack?" he asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Not often," was the yachtsman's cheerful answer. "That's why the fur +seals love it. Why,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> bless you, on Pribilof Islands, where the seal +rockeries lie, there aren't twenty days of sunshine in a year. I know +these waters. I came hunting sea-otter once. We ran two summer months +without seeing the sun."</p> + +<p>"It's no place for me!" declared the mine-owner. "Those who like the +sea can have it, and be welcome!"</p> + +<p>The yachtsman bridled. He loved the sea.</p> + +<p>"Open your nostrils, man, and sniff; that's pure air, at least. It +isn't like what I smelt last time I visited your dirty old coal mine!" +he retorted. "Every dog to its own kennel, Owens! After all, you +wanted to come here."</p> + +<p>Jim felt much the same way. Standing on the foc's'le head, the raw +air, with its sudden hot spells when the sun gleamed dully through the +fog, brought him welcome memories. It seemed homelike, after his brief +experience in a coal mine. As he had said himself, he was a +"sour-dough." The uncanny fascination that the Far North exerts on +those who have once lived there, gripped him hard.</p> + +<p>"Ain't no crowd here to worry a man!" he declared, drawing in deep +breaths, "an' there's room enough to stand straight! Would you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> want +to go back to them coal galleries, Clem, four feet high an' stinkin'?"</p> + +<p>"They suited me all right before, Jim," the young fellow answered, +"and I don't see why they shouldn't again. I got mightily interested +in coal. Still, I needed a rest, and this trip is interesting, I'll +allow. But wait till we get to the actual mining of the gold, and then +I'll tell you which I like best."</p> + +<p>"An' you, Anton?"</p> + +<p>"I never want to go below ground again," the boy answered promptly. +"But it must be awful cold here in winter—if this is summer!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, it's cold an' dark, no sun at all for two months. An' a man'll go +hungry often. But it's free an' open an' no one has a boss! What's +more, there's gold!"</p> + +<p>Anton shivered. The call of the North had not gripped him, yet.</p> + +<p>Otto, beside the helmsman, was worrying him—neither with the weather, +nor with the question of treasure. To the first he was indifferent, to +the second he was satisfied with drawing full pay every day and not +doing any hewing for it. With huge delight, he was absorbing all the +superstitions of the sea, and giving the steersman a grue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>some crop of +tales of knockers and gas sprites underground.</p> + +<p>There was no special reason why he should have come on the voyage, +except that he had asked to come. Owing to Anton's hatred for coal +mining—born of the entombment—Clem had used his position as Jim's +"pardner" to bring the boy along. Otto, having taken what might be +termed a paternal and prophetic interest in the imprisoned men, wanted +to join the party.</p> + +<p>Owens made no objection. He knew laborers would be wanted, and he +preferred men who would not be likely to betray the secret of the +gold. He knew the miner's unswerving loyalty, and was well aware that +loyalty is the one quality which is beyond all price.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of the afternoon, the <i>Bunting</i> shortened sail. They +were drawing near.</p> + +<p>Somewhere, not far from them, lay the Diomede Islands, those two great +granite crags rising sheer out of the sea with deep water on every +side. The lead would give no sign. There is no fog signal on the +Diomedes. In such a thick and clammy mist as hung over the water, a +ship could wreck herself upon those bleak coasts almost be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>fore she +saw the surf under her bows. The wind was light, and the brigantine +slid slowly over the water.</p> + +<p>The "Arctic Wizard," his eyes accustomed to the northern skies, was +the first to see a faint purplish blotch in the swirling mist.</p> + +<p>"Land! Captain!" he warned, quickly. "Keep away! Keep well away!"</p> + +<p>Almost instantly, the booming of breakers was heard.</p> + +<p>Well was it for those on board that the <i>Bunting</i> was quick on her +helm! She bore off, just in time, the creaming surf not more than +three cables' length ahead.</p> + +<p>"A little too close for my liking!" exclaimed the yachtsman, but +treating the danger lightly. "That's Ingalook, I suppose, Mr. Juneau?"</p> + +<p>"Ingalook she is. At least, I think so. I've never been quite so +close, before."</p> + +<p>"And I don't want to be, again! Well now, I suppose, the real treasure +hunt begins."</p> + +<p>He called Jim.</p> + +<p>"How did you say Chukalook Bank bore from here?"</p> + +<p>"From Chukalook," Jim answered, "on a clear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> day, I could see this +island two points east o' south, an' the other island, the Russian +one, three points west o' south."</p> + +<p>The yachtsman looked at him thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"And there's no knowing what compass correction to allow for a pocket +compass, and there's the magnetic variation besides. Well, we'll work +it out! And how far away do you reckon the island was?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know nothin' about sea distances, Cap'n. She looked just +about the size o' my thumb-nail."</p> + +<p>"So! How high was Chukalook Bank above the water?"</p> + +<p>"She goes up like a wedge o' cake, Cap'n. Maybe five hundred feet at +the highest point. Where I was workin' wasn't more'n fifty foot above +sea level."</p> + +<p>"Well," commented the yachtsman thoughtfully, "allowing for the +curvature of the earth, and for low visibility on these seas that +ought to make Chukalook about thirty or forty miles from here. We'll +put on a little sail and cruise N. N. E. for a few hours."</p> + +<p>But the bank was nearer than Jim supposed.</p> + +<p>Shortly after dawn, a sailor posted in the cross-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>trees reported a +flat berg to starboard. The sails were furled, and the <i>Bunting</i> came +up to it slowly under her auxiliary screw.</p> + +<p>Jim heard the engines and rushed up on deck.</p> + +<p>"That's Chukalook!" he cried, after the first look. "Now, who says I'm +dreamin'? Wait till I tell Bull's little gal!"</p> + +<p>He had not long to wait.</p> + +<p>The sound of excited voices on deck had awakened the girl, and she +dressed and came up hastily.</p> + +<p>"Jameine!" he shouted, as soon as she came up the companion ladder, +"there's our gold!"</p> + +<p>The girl ran lightly across the deck and pressed the old prospector's +arm.</p> + +<p>"I knew you'd find it, Uncle Jim," she rejoiced, "I said so, all +along!" Then, turning to the mine-owner, who had also come on deck, +she added, "There it is, Mr. Owens!"</p> + +<p>The Australian looked. That low flat bank, slowly sloping upwards, +fringed with ice and deep in snow, was none too reassuring.</p> + +<p>"You're sure?" he asked suspiciously. "It looks to me a whole lot more +like an iceberg than it does like a gold-field!"</p> + +<p>The "Wizard" interrupted, fearing lest Jim should make some rough +rejoinder.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>"It looks like an easy landing-place and that's one good thing," he +said, cheerfully. "The Captain, here, has been making soundings and +says there is good holding ground."</p> + +<p>"That's all I will say, though," put in the yachtsman. "It's not a +harbor. You're exposed here to every wind that blows!"</p> + +<p>"You mean I'd have to build a breakwater?" Owens queried.</p> + +<p>"Probably, if you want smooth water for handling cargoes. But I doubt +if you could manage it. The winter ice would chew your breakwater all +to bits. There's five months of open water, anyway, and the summer +months are not so stormy."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't try to build a breakwater!" Owens burst out. "How would I +get men and materials up here?"</p> + +<p>The "Wizard" winked at Jim, who was growing restive.</p> + +<p>"Wait till we get Owens ashore and start on the gold," he whispered. +"I've seen these backers get cold feet before, when they hit this +northern country for the first time. They're the worst to hold back, +often, after they once get going."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>But Jim was thoroughly dissatisfied. There was more than a little +likelihood that the old prospector would make some scornful remark, +for he was in his own land now, and had all a "sour-dough's" contempt +for a "tenderfoot." But Jameine's hand was on his arm and he obeyed +the warning pressure.</p> + +<p>The little motor-launch was lowered from the davits, with every member +of the party aboard. None of the sailors was taken, for Jim did not +want to run any risk of strangers taking up claims. The "Wizard" ran +the engine, and the yachtsman took the helm.</p> + +<p>One piece of mechanism, small but very heavy, was lowered into the +boat. It sank her low in the water, but it belonged to the "Wizard" +and he was not the kind of man whose acts any one would question. +Picks, shovels, sledge-hammers, wedges, and dynamite were included in +the cargo. Thus heavily loaded, the boat reached the shore, Jim +pointing out the landing-place. It was not so easy to land as the +Wizard had suggested. It was necessary to wade through the sponge-ice, +churned up the shore, Jameine being carried in the huge arms of the, +"Wizard."</p> + +<p>The snow on the island was almost knee-deep,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> but, except Owens, none +of the party minded. Jameine was the gayest of all.</p> + +<p>"Lead on to the millions, Uncle Jim!" she cried.</p> + +<p>But the old prospector made the girl take his arm.</p> + +<p>"We'll git there fust, together!" he declared.</p> + +<p>A few minutes tramping brought them to a depression in the snow.</p> + +<p>"Here's the old glory-hole (an open pit, not a shaft), an' nobody's +been here!" he announced triumphantly. He grabbed pickaxe and shovel +and slithered in, with the confidence of a man who knew every inch of +the ground.</p> + +<p>A few scoops of the shovel cleared away the snow.</p> + +<p>Below, though overgrown with dry weeds of many seasons' growing, were +the infallible signs of human handiwork. Even the old sluice was +there, though fallen to pieces.</p> + +<p>The others crowded around the glory-hole. The moment of test had come.</p> + +<p>"Here, 'Wizard'," said Jim, when he had exposed the workings, "there's +where I was pannin' last. Jump in an' take a look."</p> + +<p>The expert, despite his years, leaped in lightly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> He took the pick +from Jim's hand, and, with a few vigorous strokes, loosened some of +the gravel. He scrutinized it carefully, first with the naked eye, and +then with a strong pocket lens.</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Jim, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Where are the other prospects?" The "Wizard's" kindly tone had +vanished. He was now a mining expert, at his work. Personalities had +faded. Geological questions, only, had weight.</p> + +<p>Silently Jim led him up the slope, Jameine and Clem following.</p> + +<p>Despite the veiling snow, the old prospector located hole after hole +with unfailing accuracy, until seven had been found and examined. The +last one was half-way up the cliff.</p> + +<p>At each prospect the "Wizard" loosened a small handful of gravel, +examined it carefully and put it in a small buckskin bag, pencilling +each bag in order. His expression changed not at all; he bore the true +Western "poker face."</p> + +<p>"What overlies this gravel?" he asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Slate," said Jim.</p> + +<p>"Let's see it!"</p> + +<p>They climbed upwards.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the stratum which lay above the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> gravel, dipping down +at a sharp slope, the expert examined carefully the carbonaceous slate +of which it was composed.</p> + +<p>"We'll go back, now," he said at last.</p> + +<p>But he expressed no opinion.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it, Mr. Juneau?" queried Owens, when the four +climbers returned to the glory-hole. His tone seemed to suggest that +he half hoped for an unfavorable answer.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you presently," was the non-committal answer.</p> + +<p>Then he turned to the prospector.</p> + +<p>"Show me that lignite outcrop, now!"</p> + +<p>"Kick the snow away with your feet!" answered Jim, curtly.</p> + +<p>Every one kicked vigorously. Under the snow was a thin layer of soil, +and, below that, not more than two inches beneath the surface, was the +brown-black gleam of a low-grade lignite. Owens broke off a piece from +the outcrop and his expression cleared slightly. Certainly Jim's +statement about the coal was justified, though it was of too low-grade +a quality to be worth exportation; possibly his story about the gold +might prove to be true, also.</p> + +<p>Then the "Wizard," still without a word which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> might be construed +either as hopeful or as discouraging, brought from the boat the heavy +piece of machinery. He fitted it with a handle and bade Otto turn. The +machine proved to be a small but very powerful crushing-mill, so +devised that the hardest quartz could be ground to powder by hand. +Besides which, it contained within itself, some modern devices for +separating out the gold.</p> + +<p>Bag after bag of the decisive seven was poured in, ground to dust, and +passed through the separating riffles. Each of these riffles had a +self-cleaning device. The expert weighed the gravel before grinding, +weighed the scrapings of the riffles, and made careful notes on the +results of each batch. All was done in utter silence.</p> + +<p>Jim, the true prospector, who had often seen wealth or poverty decided +by the twirl of a pan, stood immovable. If he were worried, he did not +show it. Jameine, on the other hand, was trembling and white.</p> + +<p>At last, the "Wizard," note-book in hand, turned to give his decision.</p> + +<p>"Judging from a direct crushing and separating process, without the +use of mercury," he said, "this gravel ought to give about +six-dollars'-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>worth of gold to the ton. With mercury, perhaps two or +three more dollars' worth can be extracted, and another couple of +dollars by cyaniding. The gravel is soft and can be hydraulicked, +during the summer. The gold is coarse and easy to separate. The quartz +pebbles will yield more than enough to be worth crushing, but just how +much is indeterminate.</p> + +<p>"That's not rich! By itself, or in the interior, the deposit might not +be worth working. But with lignite right on the ground, to make steam +both for running the machinery and for steam thawing points, and with +a pumping plant using heated sea water for hydraulicking, there ought +to be a net profit of about three dollars a ton."</p> + +<p>The news was received in silence, each voyager occupied with his own +viewpoint of the decision.</p> + +<p>Clem was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"We've come a long way to get three dollars!" said he, with an attempt +at jocularity.</p> + +<p>Anton grinned assent. Like Clem, he knew nothing about gold-mining.</p> + +<p>Otto waited, well aware that the final result lay between Owens, +Juneau and Jim.</p> + +<p>It was Jameine, with her book-knowledge of mining, who put the vital +question.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>"How many tons do you estimate there may be in the deposit, Mr. +Juneau?"</p> + +<p>"Impossible to say, exactly, especially when the island is masked +under snow. But the prospects have been carefully chosen. They suggest +about four hundred thousand tons in sight, and probably a good deal +more. The gravel is an early Tertiary deposit, lying between two beds +of carbonaceous slate, the lower of which is lignitic. Judging from +the strike of the beds, the gold-bearing gravel runs down under the +sea."</p> + +<p>"Then," said the girl, slowly, "if there are four hundred thousand +tons in sight, which would yield a net profit of three dollars a ton, +you figure on over a million dollars, clear?"</p> + +<p>"If modern machinery is put in and the mine is run on a business +basis, I should say at least that. Possibly more!"</p> + +<p>There was a burst of excited exclamations from all sides.</p> + +<p>Every one turned to Jim, who was looking out across the sea toward +Alaska.</p> + +<p>"Bull, old pardner," he said softly, "I reckon I've made good for your +little gal!"</p> + +<p class="newchapter"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A SIBERIAN FILIBUSTER</span></h2> + + +<p>By July, Chukalook Bank was humming with noise. The clank of +machinery, the pounding of stamp mills, and the grinding smash of +giant jets of water driven from hydraulic nozzles, set vibrating the +tiny islands on the borders of the Arctic Ocean.</p> + +<p>The terns and gulls, driven from their century-old refuge, circled +over the little spot of land with shrill cries and fled to nest on +Ingalook; polar bears, who, in other seasons, had found a dinner of +fat seal on Chukalook, swam toward the island from floating cakes of +ice, and then retreated hurriedly; the sea otter, shyest of all the +fur-bearing creatures of the world, sped to more isolated haunts.</p> + +<p>The island itself was melting like a snowbank beneath a summer sun. A +three-inch jet of water, immeasurably more powerful than the forceful +spout that hisses from a fire-engine hose,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> roared vengefully night +and day against the gravel bank, and ate away the hill.</p> + +<p>The never-ceasing torrent of gravel and boulders, mingled with the +water, rattled and rumbled downwards with the force of the current +into a massive sluice. The bottom of this sluice was constructed of +paving blocks, crossed with copper-plated riffles of tremendous +strength, on which not less than two tons of mercury had been placed.</p> + +<p>Thus considered, the installation of the Bull Mine—as Jim insisted +that it should be called—was but a simple miners' sluice on an +enormous scale. It was the same device as that which Jim's father and +his partners were working on the Carson River when the Comstock Lode +was discovered, save that the hydraulic jet performed all the work of +digging and shoveling the pay dirt into the sluice.</p> + +<p>Shortly before reaching the sea, however, the works became more +complicated. The "Wizard" and Owens—one with Arctic and the other +with Australian and South African experience—had arranged a system of +separating the gold bearing gravel from the bowlders, and, later, the +unproductive material from that which contained the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> precious metal. +The smaller, gold-bearing part was washed into the stamp-mills, which +worked incessantly, and which reduced pebbles and grit and sand and +gold to a pasty slime. This, in turn, was led to cyanide tanks. Thus +every particle of the gold was extracted.</p> + +<p>Hydraulicking was not altogether new to Jim. He had seen it done on a +giant scale, as in California during the seventies, when huge +reservoirs and mile-long canals were built at a cost of many millions. +Vast works these, belonging to a short and strange era of mining, +immense constructions, now lying ruined and abandoned in the deserts +of their own making.</p> + +<p>That was before the farmers and fruit-growers of California had +succeeded, in 1884, in securing the passage of a law to prevent +"slicking," as hydraulicking was termed. It was time! Vast stretches +of territory were being reduced to chaos by the appalling havoc which +follows hydraulic operations on a large scale.</p> + +<p class="padbottom">Many rivers were entirely choked by debris from the crumbled mountains +and spread their waters in destructive floods. On one small stream +alone, the Lower Yuba, over 16,000 acres of high-grade farm lands were +reduced to a condition which an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> official investigator for the state +declared "could not have been surpassed by tornado, flood, earthquake, +and volcano combined."</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill300" id="ill300"></a> +<img src="images/ill-300.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="Hydraulicking in Colorado." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">Hydraulicking in Colorado.</p> + +<p>The "Snowstorm Placer," a typical modern pay-gravel plant.</p> + +<p class="illspace"><i>From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co.</i></p> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ill301" id="ill301"></a> +<img src="images/ill-301.jpg" width="500" height="305" alt="America's "Gold-Ship" at Work." title="" /> +</div> +<div class="caption"> +<p class="smcap">America's "Gold-Ship" at Work.</p> + +<p>Dredge operating in Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields, California.</p> + +<p><i>From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="padtop">Before the farmers had succeeded in stopping the hydraulic miners, a +stretch of land, larger than all the territory devastated by the World +War, was rendered a hideous desolation forever incapable of +settlement. Ten years of hydraulicking had brought more than +$150,000,000 in gold dust to the mining interests, but had caused a +perpetual damage that ten times that sum could not repay.</p> + +<p>In every civilized country, to-day, hydraulicking is forbidden, except +on a small scale. It is only permitted in such cases and under such +conditions that the mining company can dispose of the tailings without +injury to property holders further down the stream.</p> + +<p>The "gold ship" has taken the place of the hydraulic jet and the +sluice. It is a weird device! It is nothing more or less than a +dredge, floating in a lake of water—maybe in the middle of a +desert—which, as it moves along, moves its own lake with it. It +dredges, washes, and separates hundreds of tons of sand or gravel with +the same water in which it floats, using the water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> over and over +again. By law, the tailings which it leaves behind must be leveled, +soil placed thereon and either grass or trees planted. Thus the gold +ship advances over dry land, chewing its own way forward, and remaking +the land it leaves behind.</p> + +<p>On Chukalook Bank, however, hydraulicking was permissible. There were +no farm lands to be spoiled. There were no rivers to be choked up. The +tailings and the refuse could do no harm. On the contrary, by +employing the forces of the current descending in the sluice, the +"Wizard" operated a narrow-gauge tramway on an endless chain, and the +tailings were emptied into cars which ran out to sea, making their own +land as they went. The cars had a dumping device, and needed but one +man to tip them. Thus little by little, a natural breakwater crept out +seawards, forming a harbor in which ships could ride in safety.</p> + +<p>As the "Wizard" had anticipated, Owens had become as enthusiastic +after the value of the mine had been demonstrated as he had been +coldly critical before. The lure of gold caught him anew, and he +invested capital freely. He was an excellent business man and a good +judge of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> men. Besides paying Juneau a large salary as superintendent +and mine engineer, he had shrewdly put several shares of stock in the +"Wizard's" name, thus ensuring his most hearty support.</p> + +<p>Moreover, Owens had learned to appreciate Jameine. He had found out +that the girl had taken courses in the business side of mine +management as well as in the technical branches, and though her +knowledge was theoretical only, it was sound. With her he could +discuss detailed questions of book-keeping and the like, which only +annoyed the mining expert. Accordingly, Owens appointed Jameine his +personal representative, thus securing Jim's loyalty forever. This +done, he returned to his coal mine in Ohio, leaving the "Wizard" in +charge.</p> + +<p>Otto had been made foreman, and, though he constantly related to the +men under him how different were the ways of coal-mines, he was +inordinately proud of his position. He was able to do that most +important of all things in mine labor—to keep the workmen satisfied +at their work without raising wages to the point where profit ceases.</p> + +<p>Anton, despite his first objection to the country,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> had become a +hero-worshipper of Jim. He had a new ambition. He desired, above all +things, to reach the sublime height of being regarded as a +"sour-dough." The boy had shown a certain natural quickness for +mechanics, and, while on the yacht, had chummed up with the wireless +operator of the <i>Bunting</i>. Capt. Robertson, on his second trip, had +brought with him a small wireless outfit, which the operator installed +on the highest point of Chukalook and taught Anton to handle.</p> + +<p>Clem took the place of assistant to the "Wizard." His small knowledge +of geology—though it was mainly of coal seams—was of service, and +the young fellow was quick to learn. But the principal attraction to +him, on the island, was "Bull's little gal."</p> + +<p>Jim was the life and soul of the mine. He was here, there, and +everywhere. The workmen, especially those who were "sour-doughs" +themselves, found a keen pleasure in the thought that a man like +themselves had thus made good. It fed the fuel of hope which flames so +brilliantly in the Frozen North.</p> + +<p>A typical gold prospector, all the complicated machinery of his own +mine meant little to him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> Jameine understood it all and did her best +to explain it to him, but Jim could not be persuaded to take an +interest in it.</p> + +<p>One day he turned his back on the works. With pick, shovel, and pan, +he set off to the other side of the island, where the little creek +ran, and where he had first panned gold on Chukalook, before he began +prospecting the gravel. Once more, from early morning to late evening, +he dug and panned as of old. Each night he returned triumphantly with +half a handful of gold dust as the fruit of his day's toil.</p> + +<p>Jameine did not have the heart to point out to him that, with the Bull +Mine running at full blast, his share of the profits brought him more +wealth in an hour than did a week's laborious panning of the sands of +the little creek. She knew that Jim could have no greater happiness +than, at the end of the day's work, to add a few more grains of gold +dust to the growing heap that rested, in a bowl, openly exposed, on a +rough table in her tiny sitting room.</p> + +<p>But this peaceful exploitation of Chukalook was not to continue +uninterruptedly.</p> + +<p>One morning, the smoke of a good-sized steamer was seen on the +horizon. She came, not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> from the direction of Ingalook, as the +<i>Bunting</i> and the supply steamers came, but from the Russian island to +the south-west.</p> + +<p>Jim, busily panning on the creek, was the first to see her. He dropped +his tools and hurried to the power house.</p> + +<p>"There's trouble coming, 'Wizard'!" he said briefly, and pointed to +the steamer.</p> + +<p>"You mean she's Russian? It's likely enough, then," was the grave +reply. "Though I don't know that they can do much."</p> + +<p>"They chucked me off here, once!" the old prospector remarked, +revengefully.</p> + +<p>"They'll have their hands full doing it a second time! Counting all +the workmen, we've a pretty strong gang here, Jim. And most of the men +would fight."</p> + +<p>The steamer drew nearer, and the mining expert went into the house for +his field-glasses.</p> + +<p>Presently she was close enough for the glass to reveal an unusually +large number of men on her deck. There was a more sinister omen +still—a six-inch gun in her bow!</p> + +<p>"A converted cruiser! H'm, this looks serious, Jim! Send Anton here, +on the run."</p> + +<p>The boy came instantly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>The "Wizard" shot out his orders.</p> + +<p>"Get to the mess-tent as quick as you know how and grab some food. Get +a gun and some ammunition. Then climb up to the wireless station right +away. If I blow one blast on the engine-house whistle, don't pay any +attention. If there are two long blasts, you can come back. But if you +hear a succession of short, sharp blasts, be sure you start sending, +and keep on sending!"</p> + +<p>Anton, keenly at attention, answered,</p> + +<p>"What shall I send?"</p> + +<p>"The S.O.S., first. Then the code signal for the Revenue Cutter +<i>Bear</i>—you know it, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then send—'Americans in peril, Chukalook' and give the latitude and +longitude. You'll find that written down just inside the cover of the +International Code Book. I put it there in case of need. Repeat the +S.O.S., the code number and the message until you get a reply."</p> + +<p>"And if I don't get a reply?"</p> + +<p>"Keep on sending."</p> + +<p>"Until when?"</p> + +<p>"Until you're shot down, if necessary!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>"Very well, Mr. Juneau. You can count on me."</p> + +<p>"I know I can, my boy. Now—hurry!"</p> + +<p>The suspicious steamer came nearer and turned the corner of the newly +made breakwater. As she dropped her anchor, she displayed the flag of +the Eastern Siberian Republic, at that time in the hands of the +Bolsheviks.</p> + +<p>"We've some 'sour-doughs' in the plant," suggested Jim. "If there's +goin' to be trouble, they'll be lookin' for front seats. Shall I get +'em here?"</p> + +<p>"You might as well. They can bring their shooting-irons, too."</p> + +<p>Jim was not long gone. When he returned, he brought ten men at his +heels, all of the Roaring North breed. Most of them held posts of +trust in some part of the Bull Mine plant and all were ready to stand +by Jim through thick and thin.</p> + +<p>The "Wizard's" address to the men was brief.</p> + +<p>"Russian 'claim-jumpers,' I reckon," he said, pointing to the steamer. +"If they're looking for trouble, they'll get it. We'll parley first, +and if necessary, shoot afterwards. No one touches his gun till Jim +fires. That's orders. Do you get it?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>The men nodded. Like most of their kind, they were chary of speech and +the word "claim-jumper" means to a miner what the word "horse-thief" +meant to the cowboy. There was no need to say more.</p> + +<p>The men had gathered none too soon. A boat had put out from the +steamer and was drawing close to shore. There were a dozen sailors +aboard in a nondescript imitation of the Russian naval uniform, but +armed with modern rifles. An officer was in the stern.</p> + +<p>On reaching the landing-place, the officer leaped ashore, followed by +the armed guard.</p> + +<p>"Who owns this mine?" he demanded in good English.</p> + +<p>"An American syndicate," the "Wizard" answered briefly.</p> + +<p>"And who is in charge here?"</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"In that case, I am instructed to notify you that you are occupying +Siberian territory."</p> + +<p>"That," responded the "Wizard" curtly, "is either a geographical error +or a deliberate lie."</p> + +<p>The officer made a gesture towards his hip, evidently forgetting the +sword at his side, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> movement which both Jim and the "Wizard" noted.</p> + +<p>"Sir!" he began.</p> + +<p>"This island," the "Wizard" continued, ignoring the interruption, "is +a few seconds more than forty minutes of a degree east of the +international boundary. Observations of the most precise character +have been taken by Captain Robertson of the <i>Bunting</i> and were duly +recorded at Washington more than two months ago."</p> + +<p>The officer seemed taken aback at this definite declaration, but +maintained his position firmly.</p> + +<p>"This is Siberian territory," he repeated. "I have orders to +confiscate whatever gold may have been extracted, and to take +possession of the plant, as it stands, in the name of my government."</p> + +<p>"If you try it, you'll get shot," was the terse reply.</p> + +<p>"You would fire on an officer of—"</p> + +<p>Jim cut in, dryly.</p> + +<p>"I'll fire on an American navy deserter, any time," he said, making a +shrewd guess at the character of the intruder, "an' it won't worry my +conscience none. What's more, I'll put a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> bullet through a +claim-jumper, whenever I feel like it."</p> + +<p>The self-styled Siberian felt that he was getting the worse of the +argument, and his temper rose.</p> + +<p>"Enough talk! I have received information that you are gold-mining on +Eastern Siberian territory. You are hereby notified that the mine is +confiscated. All those in authority will come aboard the cruiser <i>Mir</i> +as prisoners. You will be taken to the mainland for trial. Perhaps you +will have the opportunity to prove your observations as to longitude, +there!" he sneered.</p> + +<p>"Is the Eastern Siberian Republic at war with the United States?" +queried the "Wizard" with dangerous quietness.</p> + +<p>"That does not concern you! Deliver me, at once, the keys and working +maps of the mine."</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>Jim added a western retort that roused the deserter to a livid fury. +He answered viciously,</p> + +<p>"We've a six-inch gun aboard that can blow your works to splinters!"</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"We'll come ashore and take possession. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> won't do you any good to +ask for mercy, then!"</p> + +<p>The "Wizard" stepped forward, his giant frame towering above the +intruder.</p> + +<p>"This parley is over!" he thundered. "I declare you pirates, and give +you five minutes to get yourselves off this island!</p> + +<p>"Jim, get your watch out! If there's one of these scoundrels on shore +at the end of that time, shoot! If any one of them makes a hostile +move, shoot! And shoot to kill!"</p> + +<p>He turned to the supposed Siberian.</p> + +<p>"As for you, you'd better be the first one in the boat! Every one of +these men is a two-gun man, and I reckon you know what that means!"</p> + +<p>The officer stood his ground, and entered upon an argument as to the +rights of the case, but was cut short by Jim's crisp announcement,</p> + +<p>"One minute gone!"</p> + +<p>For a second or two the filibusterer hesitated, but the odds were +even, twelve against twelve. Well he knew that the Americans could +shoot quicker and straighter than his men, who were an undisciplined +lot. He realized, also, that he would be the first to fall.</p> + +<p>Scowling, he gave the order to retreat, amid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> the open murmurs of his +men, who, under Bolshevist rule, considered themselves the equals of +their officers.</p> + +<p>The instant that they were embarked, the "Wizard" turned to Jim.</p> + +<p>"We haven't many minutes to lose! That hound will open up with the +gun, as soon as he reports on board.</p> + +<p>"Get to the house as quick as you can. Rush Miss Evans and all the +office crowd into No. 2 gravel pit, pronto! Shells can't reach them +there."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell the engineer to whistle to Anton. Then I'll close down the +works and get the men into shelter. But we've got to act lively!"</p> + +<p>Crisply he gave his orders to the waiting men, several of whom were +grumbling because they had not been allowed to "clean up the gang" as +one of them phrased it. They brightened up, however, at the prospect +that there would be a fight.</p> + +<p>Half a minute later, the whistle sent out a succession of sharp +blasts, and, almost simultaneously, there came the sharp crackle of +wireless from the station on the hill.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>A volume of Russian curses was heard coming over the water at this +sound, and the rowers redoubled their efforts.</p> + +<p>Presently, from all corners of the plant, the workers came hurrying. +The last man was hardly down in the gravel pit when there came a +detonation from the sea-front and a shell came whistling over.</p> + +<p>It was not directed at the works, but at the tiny cabin on the top of +the hill which held the wireless outfit. Fortunately, the cabin was +partly sheltered by a rock, and, moreover, it was but a small mark to +try to hit. Some twenty shells passed over the island or exploded idly +on the hill before one struck the sheltering rock. The pieces screamed +over the cabin, one fragment tearing a hole in the roof but doing no +harm to Anton.</p> + +<p>Truth to tell, the boy was thoroughly enjoying himself. He felt a +hero. Never having seen a shot fired in earnest, he hardly realized +what the effects of a shell-burst might be.</p> + +<p>The wireless crackled on.</p> + +<p>For two hours the bombardment continued, several pieces of shell +having passed through the walls above his head. The rock protected the +lower part of the cabin. Anton was crouched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> low over his instrument, +and, as yet, the aerials were intact.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, a piece of bursting shell whizzed across the wires.</p> + +<p>Silence!</p> + +<p>The wireless was down.</p> + +<p>Chukalook Bank was absolutely cut off from all communication with the +outside world. The men of Bull Mine must fight off the Siberian +cruiser, alone.</p> + +<p>The six-inch gun now was turned on the works, a nearer and an easier +target. The power-house, the stamp-mills and the cyanide vats suffered +most. A six-inch shell at close range can do an appalling amount of +destruction. At the end of an hour, most of the works were in ruins. +Yet shells could not destroy the gravel bank, nor damage the great +sluice beyond repair.</p> + +<p>The bombardment ceased for a few minutes.</p> + +<p>Then four boat-loads of men put off from the cruiser, and, at the same +time, the six-inch gun began anew, covering their advance.</p> + +<p>"Let's get down to the shore an' keep 'em from landin'!" cried Jim.</p> + +<p>But the "Wizard" held him back.</p> + +<p>"And have our men killed for nothing? No,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> Jim, we've got a good +trench here and can hold it. It'll cost them dear to attack."</p> + +<p>"But they'll get all the gold from our last clean-up!"</p> + +<p>"They won't, Uncle Jim," put in Jameine. "I opened the safe and we +carried all the bags here."</p> + +<p>"And your own little pile?"</p> + +<p>The girl shook a little sewing-bag she was carrying, and laughed.</p> + +<p>"I was sewing when you called me, and I only had time to throw it in +here. Gold dust is all mixed up with pins and needles and things."</p> + +<p>Jim nodded.</p> + +<p>"You're right, 'Wizard'," he said. "This is the place we've got to +hold."</p> + +<p>"And we'd better fortify one end of it, solid, if the worst comes to +the worst. Get some of the men to roll bowlders here to make a solid +wall."</p> + +<p>The boats drew up to the landing-place.</p> + +<p>"Hand me one o' them rifles!" suggested one of the twelve men whom Jim +had first chosen. "I'm good on the shoot. Them claim-jumpers is only +about six hundred yards away. I can hit a runnin' rabbit, at that +distance."</p> + +<p>"Good enough," agreed the "Wizard," "if you can pot them off, so much +the better. They be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>gan the trouble and they fired first. Are there +any more snipers here?"</p> + +<p>Two more of the men professed themselves to be fair shots.</p> + +<p>Creeping out of the trench, the three snipers esconsced themselves in +cover, leaving only a loophole for their rifles. Presently one, and +then another rifle cracked.</p> + +<p>Two of the invaders fell.</p> + +<p>A volley followed. It pattered harmlessly against the bowlders where +the snipers were hidden and passed high over the heads of the rest of +the men, safe in the gravel-pit.</p> + +<p>"This," said the first sniper, as he took aim and fired a second time, +"is tame sport. It's too easy."</p> + +<p>A third man fell.</p> + +<p>The Siberians scattered. It was clear that they had little taste for +this kind of thing. They found cover, and, for half an hour or more, +not one showed himself.</p> + +<p>Then a little group dashed across towards the house, evidently with +the intention of pillage. The three snipers fired. One man fell, and +two, evidently wounded, limped after their fellows.</p> + +<p>Then, for hours, not a sign!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>Evening drew down, a foggy evening, with a mist so dense that the +faint gleam of what was almost the midnight sun failed to pierce it. +By eleven o'clock, it was nearly dark.</p> + +<p>"They'll attack around midnight, likely," one of the men suggested. +"Can't we make a big fire, 'Wizard'?"</p> + +<p>"There's no wood here, Bob," the expert replied. "As for the lignite, +even if we could get enough of it here without exposing ourselves, it +makes such a lot of smoke that it would help them more than it would +us. No, we'll have to send out scouts, though it'll be dangerous for +those who go. Who'll volunteer?"</p> + +<p>A chorus answered him, the three snipers claiming the preference.</p> + +<p>"No," said their leader, "I can't spare you. But I'll take old-timers, +that's sure!" He chose them carefully. "Now," he said, when he sent +them out, "keep your ears open. Don't shoot unless you have to. If you +see or hear any one coming, get back as quick as you can. It's a risk, +you know!"</p> + +<p>"Aw, 'Wizard'!" exclaimed one of them reproachfully, "you ain't +talkin' to tenderfeet!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>"If you were a tenderfoot I wouldn't have picked you for a man's job," +the leader answered, knowing well the pride of the "sour-dough." "Out +with you, now, and quietly!"</p> + +<p>An hour passed, and then one of the scouts crawled back.</p> + +<p>"They're comin', 'Wizard'!"</p> + +<p>The other three scouts followed in short order. The Siberians were +advancing in an extended line.</p> + +<p>"To your places, men! Jim, you and the three I named will hold the +breastwork. The girl's there!"</p> + +<p>Jim looked longingly at the edge of the gravel pit, up which the men +were creeping. He was torn between his desire to be in the forefront +of the battle and his eagerness to be near enough to protect Jameine. +But, like all men who have really known the life of the frontier, he +obeyed a leader's orders unquestioningly.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later, out from the half-gloom and the wet fog, an +irregular line of fire ran, as a hundred or more rifles cracked +simultaneously. The miners responded with a scattering fire.</p> + +<p>The Siberians were on them!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>The fog gave the attackers an advantage. The Americans had only the +time to fire a second volley when the Siberians leaped over the edge +of the gravel pit. A furious hand-to-hand conflict began, but the +miners were terribly out-numbered.</p> + +<p>Worse, infinitely worse, the attackers possessed those diabolical +engines of destruction which were developed in the World War—hand +grenades. These, thrown upon the frozen gravel, exploded in all +directions. Into the disordered ranks of the miners, the Siberians +charged with the bayonet.</p> + +<p>Armed only with their rifles, which were useless at close range, and +with six-shooters, a weapon of but short usefulness, the Americans +fought a losing fight.</p> + +<p>Yet they repulsed the first attack, but at a staggering loss. The +"Wizard," seriously but not fatally wounded, was carried behind the +breastwork, his last words before losing consciousness being an order +to cover the shelter with flat slabs of slate, before the Siberians +got near enough to throw their grenades into the little fortified +space.</p> + +<p>Jim straightened up.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>"Good-bye, little gal, if I don't see you again!" he called. "My place +is at the front, now!"</p> + +<p>He assumed the lead.</p> + +<p>A second attack, even more vicious than the first, followed. The +miners had reloaded. Most of them had two guns, hastily snatched from +dead or wounded comrades. But for the grenades, they could have more +than held their own. It was not to be. When the second rush subsided, +the Siberians held one end of the gravel pit. The farther end, where +were Jameine and the wounded men, held firm.</p> + +<p>There came a lull, and, from where they lurked, the defenders saw +suddenly some flashes of light from around the wireless house.</p> + +<p>"They're after Anton!" said Clem. "He's all alone, up there. We can't +leave the kid!"</p> + +<p>"Right!" agreed a couple of the men. "Let's go!"</p> + +<p>But Jim stopped them.</p> + +<p>"We're too few, as it is," he ordered. "Anton must take his chance. +We've the girl here, the wounded, and the gold."</p> + +<p>"He's my partner!" declared Clem, who knew the magic of the word on +Jim.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>"Me, too; I go!" declared Otto, in his most stubborn voice.</p> + +<p>Jim hesitated. A partner's right was sacred.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead, then," he said, "an' quick, afore the fog lifts. She's +gettin' lighter, now!"</p> + +<p>The odds were more even now. Between the barricade that the Siberians +had thrown up hastily and the breastwork held by the miners, there was +an open space, too wide for the throwing of the grenades. The +six-shooters held it clear.</p> + +<p>Again the Siberians rushed. Claim-jumpers they might be, but they were +worthy fighters. They reached almost to the breastwork, and one man +had his arm poised to throw a grenade within, when Jim leaped forward +and brained him with the butt end of a pistol. For full ten minutes, +it was a death-grapple, but the attackers were beaten back.</p> + +<p>The case of the Americans was desperate. Ammunition was growing short.</p> + +<p>Another such attack might finish them.</p> + +<p>The Siberians, however, had suffered heavily, and, all unknowing that +their foes were almost out of cartridges, refused to charge again.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>The faint light strengthened. The mist began to rise. Soon it would be +full daylight. The miners braced themselves for what they feared might +be the last shock.</p> + +<p>Jim, bleeding from two slight wounds, held his men well together.</p> + +<p>There came a babble of voices and then a movement behind the +barricade.</p> + +<p>The Americans stiffened.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, a sharp shot resounded across the water, followed by a +second report, evidently from a gun of different calibre.</p> + +<p>The Siberians clambered from behind their barricade and fled.</p> + +<p>At almost the same instant, Otto, Clem, and Anton were seen to emerge +from the wireless cabin, running down the hill and shouting. The boy +had his arm in a bloody sling. So far as could be seen, the others +were not hurt.</p> + +<p>Jim scrambled to the edge of the gravel-pit and looked to sea.</p> + +<p>There, her guns trained on the filibustering cruiser <i>Mir</i>, the Stars +and Stripes flying at her stern, lay the U. S. Revenue Cutter <i>Bear</i>, +summoned by the wireless messages of Anton, sent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> while the roof over +his head was being rent by shell.</p> + +<p>Jim's strike was not to go for nought. The gold of "Bull's little gal" +had welded the partnership that a coal-mine disaster had begun.</p> + + +<p class="center padtop">THE END</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="bigtext">U. S. SERVICE SERIES</span><br /> +By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrations from photographs taken in work for U. S. Government</p> + +<p class="center">Large 12mo Cloth $1.75 each, net</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There are no better books for boys than Francis +Rolt-Wheeler's 'U. S. Service Series.'"—<i>Chicago +Record-Herald.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="center bigtext">THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 147px;"> +<img src="images/survey.png" width="147" height="200" alt="cover of The Boy With the U. S. Survey" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>This story describes the thrilling adventures of members of the U. S. +Geological Survey, graphically woven into a stirring narrative that +both pleases and instructs. The author enjoys an intimate acquaintance +with the chiefs of the various bureaus in Washington, and is able to +obtain at first hand the material for his books.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There as abundant charm and vigor in the narrative +which is sure to please the boy readers and will do +much toward stimulating their patriotism by making them +alive to the needs of conservation of the vast +resources of their country."—<i>Chicago News.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="center bigtext">THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS</p> + +<p>The life of a typical boy is followed in all its adventurous +detail—the mighty representative of our country's government, though +young in years—a youthful monarch in a vast domain of forest. Replete +with information, alive with adventure, and inciting patriotism at +every step, this handsome book is one to be instantly appreciated.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is a fascinating romance of real life in our +country, and will prove a great pleasure and +inspiration to the boys who read it."—<i>The Continent, +Chicago.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="center bigtext">THE BOY WITH THE U. S. CENSUS</p> + +<p>Through the experiences of a bright American boy, the author shows how +the necessary information is gathered. The securing of this often +involves hardship and peril, requiring journeys by dog-team in the +frozen North and by launch in the alligator-filled Everglades of +Florida, while the enumerator whose work lies among the dangerous +criminal classes of the greater cities must take his life in his own +hands.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Every young man should read this story from cover to +cover, thereby getting a clear conception of conditions +as they exist to-day, for such knowledge will have a +clean, invigorating and healthy influence on the young +growing and thinking mind."—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p></div> + + + +<p class="center bigtext">THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FISHERIES</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 151px;"> +<img src="images/fish.png" width="151" height="200" alt="cover of The Boy With the U. S. Fisheries" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>With a bright, active American youth as a hero, is told the story of +the Fisheries, which in their actual importance dwarf every other +human industry. The book does not lack thrilling scenes. The far +Aleutian Islands have witnessed more desperate sea-fighting than has +occurred elsewhere since the days of the Spanish buccaneers, and +pirate craft, which the U. S. Fisheries must watch, rifle in hand, are +prowling in the Behring Sea to-day. The fish-farms of the United +States are as interesting as they are immense in their scope.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"One of the best books for boys of all ages, so +attractively written and illustrated as to fascinate +the reader into staying up until all hours to finish +it."—<i>Philadelphia Despatch.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="center bigtext">THE BOY WITH THE U. S. INDIANS</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 149px;"> +<img src="images/indian.png" width="149" height="200" alt="cover of The Boy With the U. S. Indians" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>This book tells all about the Indian as he really was and is; the +Menominee in his birch-bark canoe; the Iroquois in his wigwam in the +forest; the Sioux of the plains upon his war-pony; the Apache, cruel +and unyielding as his arid desert; the Pueblo Indians, with remains of +ancient Spanish civilization lurking in the fastnesses of their massed +communal dwellings; the Tlingit of the Pacific Coast, with his +totem-poles. With a typical bright American youth as a central figure, +a good idea of a great field of national activity is given, and made +thrilling in its human side by the heroism demanded by the +little-known adventures of those who do the work of "Uncle Sam."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"An exceedingly interesting Indian story, because it is +true, and not merely a dramatic and picturesque +incident of Indian life."—<i>N. Y. Times.</i></p> + +<p>"It tells the Indian's story in a way that will +fascinate the youngster."—<i>Rochester Herald.</i></p></div> + + +<p class="center padtop"><i>For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by +the publishers</i></p> + +<p class="center bigtext">LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected for this electronic edition.</p> + +<p>In Chapter I, a missing period was added after "knock a man down", and +"the he mightn't recover" was changed to "that he mightn't recover".</p> + +<p>In Chapter V, "The Lousiana Purchase" was changed to "The Louisiana +Purchase". Also, there was no footnote marker in the main body of the +text for the second footnote. The footnote has been placed after what +appears to be the most appropriate paragraph.</p> + +<p>In Chapter VI, "wealth and properity" was changed to "wealth and +prosperity".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VII, "a place where the is gold" was changed to "a place +where there is gold", a comma was changed to a period after "blue, +green, or grey", and "Six Mile Canon" was changed to Six Mile Cañon".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VIII, a comma was added after "You can't blame Jim for not +knowing why, Clem".</p> + +<p>In Chapter IX, a quotation mark was added after "other types of +veins", and "left from the Cassier" was changed to "left from the +Cassiar".</p> + +<p>In Chapter X, quotation marks were added after "there ain't no use to +play" and before "Very pretty, gents."</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy With the U.S. Miners, by +Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + +***** This file should be named 32322-h.htm or 32322-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/2/32322/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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With the U.S. Miners, by Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy With the U.S. Miners + +Author: Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [EBook #32322] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: cover of The Boy With the U. S. Miners] + + + + +[Illustration: NOT DEMONS, BUT SAVIORS. + +Mine rescue crew, equipped with oxygen-breathing apparatus, exploring +mine after a disaster. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + + + +U. S. SERVICE SERIES. + +THE BOY WITH +THE U. S. MINERS + +BY + +FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER + +With Thirty-six Illustrations + +[Illustration] + +BOSTON +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +Copyright, 1922, +BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +All Rights Reserved + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. MINERS + + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + +BERWICK & SMITH CO., +NORWOOD PRESS, +NORWOOD MASS. + + + + +PREFACE + + +No walk of life is more wild and adventurous than that of the questing +miner, whom neither Arctic cold nor tropic heat can bar in his mad +race for the buried treasures of the Earth; no profession is more +hazardous than that of the working miner, whose every step underground +is full of peril. + +Wealth is not all. The thrill of the miner's life lies not in the +making of millions. It lies in the ruggedness of his manhood, in the +vigor of his partnerships, in the roaring ways of the mining camps, +and the life of open spaces. + +Heroism and daring mark the miner. From the waterless deserts of +California to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, from the loftiest peaks +of the snow-capped Sierras to the stifling depths of the Carson Sink, +the prospector has prowled. Lonely and forgotten, his discoveries have +brought great states into being; hungry and poor, he has opened vaults +of riches thousandfold vaster than the treasuries of kings. + +To give a glimpse of the lives of such men, to reveal the amazing +wealth which the Earth yields to those who are willing to dare, and to +set forth what an incalculable debt of gratitude the United States +owes to the miner, is the aim and purpose of + +THE AUTHOR + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I PAGE +UNDERGROUND TERRORS 11 + +CHAPTER II +ENTOMBED ALIVE 40 + +CHAPTER III +THE DANGERS OF RESCUE 67 + +CHAPTER IV +EIGHT DAYS OF DARK 98 + +CHAPTER V +THE LURE OF GOLD 128 + +CHAPTER VI +NUGGETS! 146 + +CHAPTER VII +THE FORTY-NINERS 174 + +CHAPTER VIII +THE GREAT BONANZA 204 + +CHAPTER IX +WHERE TREASURE HIDES 232 + +CHAPTER X +THE ROARING NORTH 256 + +CHAPTER XI +THE LONELY ISLAND 276 + +CHAPTER XII +A SIBERIAN FILIBUSTER 298 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Not Demons, but Saviors Frontispiece + FACING PAGE +How Anton's Father was Killed 12 +Coal-Hewers at Work 13 +Where the Branch Line Forks 13 +Knockers 20 +Gathon, Goblin of the Mines 20 +Dwarfs in the Mine 21 +Miners Descending a Shaft 54 +Falling-in of a Mine 55 +Explosion of "Fire Damp" 55 +Into the Poison-Filled Air 82 +U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue Car 83 +Interior View showing Life-Saving Equipment 83 +Where the Timber goes 90 +Geophone Expert Listening for Tapping of Survivors 91 +Building the Wall for the "Sand-Hogs" 91 +Divining-Rods 138 +The World's Oldest Picture of Gold-Seekers 139 +Australia's Treasure-House 158 +In the Richest Gold Mine of the World 159 +Sutter's Mill 176 +The Rush to the Gold Mines 177 +The Prospector of To-day 184 +Flume at the Melones Mine 185 +The Coming of the Forty-Niners 194 +David Egelston 195 +The Miner's Sluice 214 +Panning Gold on the Klondyke 215 +Where Deserts Yield Millions 236 +The Eater of Mountains 237 +The Top of the Chilkoot Pass 260 +Pass in the Sierra Nevadas 261 +Hydraulicking in Colorado 300 +America's "Gold-Ship" at Work 301 + + + + +THE BOY WITH THE U S. MINERS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +UNDERGROUND TERRORS + + +"Ay, lad," said the old miner, the pale flame of his cap-lamp lighting +up his wrinkled face and throwing a distorted shadow on the wall of +coal behind, "there's goin' to be a plenty of us killed soon." + +"Likely enough, if they're all as careless as you," Clem retorted. + +"Carelessness ain't got nothin' to do with it," the old man replied. +"The 'knockers' has got to be satisfied! There ain't been an accident +here for months. It'll come soon! The spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood." + +"Nonsense, Otto! The idea of an old-timer like you believing in +goblins and all that superstitious stuff!" + +"It's easy enough for you to say 'nonsense,' Clem Swinton, an' to +make game o' men who were handlin' a coal pick when you was playin' +with a rattle, but that don't change the facts. Why, even Anton, here, +youngster that he is, knows better'n to deny the spirits below ground. +The knockers got your father, Anton, didn't they?" + +Anton Rover, one of the youngest boys in the mine, to whom the old +miner had turned for affirmation, nodded his head in agreement. Like +many of his fellows, the lad was profoundly credulous. + +From his Polish mother--herself the daughter of a Polish miner--Anton +had inherited a firm belief in demons, goblins, gnomes, trolls, +kobolds, knockers, and the various races of weird creatures with which +the Slavic and Teutonic peoples have dowered the world underground. +From his earliest childhood he had been familiar with tales of +subterranean terror, and he knew that his father had often foregone a +day's work and a day's pay rather than go down the mine-shaft if some +evil omen had occurred. + +Yet Anton was willing to accept modern ideas, also. Clem was both his +protector and his chum, and the boy had a great respect for his older +comrade's knowledge and good sense. He was aware, too, that Clem +was unusually well informed, for the young fellow was a natural +student and was fitting himself for a higher position in the mine by +hard reading. This Ohio mine, like many of the American collieries, +maintained a free school and an admirable technical library for the +use of those workers who wished to better themselves. + + +[Illustration: HOW ANTON'S FATHER WAS KILLED. + +Miner, failing to test for vibration when tapping roof-slate, goes to +work and is crushed by falling slate. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: COAL-HEWERS AT WORK. + +Holing or Undercutting in a typical seam not high enough for men to +stand upright. + +_From "Mines and Their Story."_] + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE BRANCH LINE FORKS. + +Loaded car of coal switched to main line and on its way to the shaft. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._] + + +The young student miner was zealous in his efforts to promote modern +ideas among his comrades, and knew that the old superstitions bred +carelessness and a blind belief in Fate. Despite their differences in +age and in points of view, he and Otto were warm friends, and he +returned the old man's attack promptly. + +"So far as Anton's father is concerned, Otto," he said, "it was Jim +Rover's carelessness that killed him. He was caught by a falling roof +just because he wouldn't take the trouble to make sure that the draw +slate overhead was solid before setting to work to undercut the coal. +I know that's so, because he told me, just before he died. I was the +first one to reach him, after the fall, for I was working in the next +room, just around the rib." + +"An' who made the draw slate fall, just when Jim Rover was a-standin' +right under it? Answer me that, Clem Swinton!" + +The other shrugged his shoulders. + +"Every man who's ever handled a coal pick knows that draw slate is apt +to work loose. That's one of the dangers of the business. And the +danger can be avoided, as you know perfectly well, Otto, if a chap +will feel the roof for vibration, with one hand, while he uses the +other to tap on the slate with the flat side of a pick. If he won't +take the trouble--why, it's his own fault if he gets killed. + +"Blaming the 'knockers,' Otto, doesn't hide the fact that nearly a +thousand miners get killed in the United States every year, just +through their own carelessness." + +The old man shook a finger ominously. + +"It isn't always the careless ones what get taken," he declared. "Look +out for yourself, Clem Swinton; look out for yourself! It's you the +knockers'll be after, next, an' much good all your readin'll do you, +then! I warned Jim Rover less'n a week afore he got killed, an' I'm +warnin' you now." + +Anton looked up, fearfully, for old Otto had a reputation as a seer, +in the mine, but Clem only laughed. + +"I put my faith in following out the safety rules, Otto," he replied, +"not in charms and tricks to keep the goblins away." + +The old man, however, was not thus to be set aside. He was as ready to +defend his old-fashioned beliefs as was Clem to advance his modern +theories. + +"Experience goes for somethin'," he affirmed stubbornly. "Boy an' man, +I've been below ground for over forty years. I've worked in Germany, +Belgium, France, and all over this country. Just eight years old I +was, when I went down the shaft for the first time; there weren't no +laws, then, to keep youngsters out of a mine. + +"I was a door-boy to start off with, openin' doors for the coal-cars +to come through. That meant keeping one's ears open. The loaded cars +come a-roarin' down the slopin' galleries, an', if a kid didn't hear +them, he'd get smashed between the coal car an' the door. Even when he +did hear them, he had to jump lively, or he'd get nipped, anyhow. + +"On the other side o' the door it wasn't much better, for the empty +cars were hauled up the slope o' the mine galleries by donkey power, +an', if a kid didn't hear the whistle o' the donkey driver, he'd get +his head clouted an' would be fined two days' pay beside. + +"There warn't no eight-hours' day, then. We worked a shift o' twelve +hours, an' the miners didn't stop between for meals--just took their +grub in bites while they went on holin' coal. All piece-work it was in +them days, an' every miner holed, spragged (or timbered), picked and +loaded his own coal. The more stuff he got out, the more pay. The men +didn't get any too much money, either, an' if a miner wanted to have a +decent pay-check at the end o' the week, he warn't goin' to be +hindered by havin' any trouble with cars. The poor kid at the door got +it comin' to him from all sides. + +"It's different now in coal-mines to what it was then. We hadn't no +electric plant to run ventilatin' fans for keepin' the air fit to +breathe. Nowadays, a man can be nigh as comfortable below ground as he +can be above; but, when I was a kid, the air in a mine was hot, an' +heavy, an' sleepy-like. + +"After breathin' that air for nine or ten hours, it was hard to keep +awake. You'd see the pit-boys comin' up out o' the shaft wi' their +eyes all red an' swollen an' achin'. No, it warn't from gas, it was +just from rubbin' em to keep em' open. An' rubbin' your eyes with +hands all gritty with coal-dust ain't any too good for 'em." + +"Well, Otto," the young fellow interrupted, "you can't deny that +modern methods have improved all that. There aren't any door-boys in a +modern mine. Most of the States in this country have passed laws +requiring that all doors through which coal cars pass must be operated +automatically. The United States Bureau of Mines keeps a sharp +lookout, too. There aren't any donkeys, either, not in up-to-date +mines; endless-chain conveyors take the coal from the face where the +miner has dug it clear to the mouth of the shaft, and load it into the +buckets by a self-tipping device. As for small boys in a mine, as you +said yourself, there aren't any, not in the United States, anyhow." + +"I'm not denyin' that minin' has got easier," was the grudging reply, +"it'd be a wonder if it hadn't. What I'm sayin' is that all your +newfangled schemes don't stop accidents and won't never stop +accidents, not till you get rid o' the knockers an' gas sprites of a +mine. An' that you'll never do! + +"You're like a whole lot o' these young fellows, Clem, who believe +nothin' that they don't see. You don't never stop to think that maybe +it's your own blindness an' not your own cleverness that keeps you +from seem'. Wait till I tell you what happened to me, one time, when I +was a door-boy in Germany. + +"Long afore I first went down into a coal mine, I knew about the +knockers, and where they come from. Dad told me that all the +coal-seams o' the world were forests, once. Long afore Noah an' the +Flood. He'd seen ferns an' leaves o' trees turned into coal. One time, +when digging out a seam, he'd come across the trunk of a tree standin' +upright in the coal, with the roots still in the under clay." + +"That's right enough," agreed Clem, "but the coal-forests were a good +many million years older than Noah!" + +"Maybe, maybe; but you warn't there to see," Otto retorted. "Anyhow, +there were forests, an' these forests were standin' afore the Flood. +Judgin' by what's left, the trees o' these forests must ha' been big. + +"All those trees, Dad used to say, had spirits o' their own, just like +trees have to-day. Elves an' dryads, he used to call 'em. When the +Flood came an' spread deep water over the whole world, the tops o' the +hills were washed into the valleys an' all these forests were covered +in mud an' sand. That's how it is you never find anything but shale or +slate (which is mud-rock) or sandstone above a coal seam. What's more, +when pullin' down slate, you'll often find sea-shells, like mussels +an' clams. Ain't that so?" + +"I won't argue with you about the Flood, Otto, for that's a long +story. But you're dead right in saying that all coal seams are +overlaid with rocks which have been laid down by water, and that +fossil shells are found in the overlying layers. But go ahead and tell +us what you saw." + +"When the Flood came," the old man resumed, "the elves an' dryads what +used to live in the coal-trees were swallowed up in the water. They +weren't drowned, because spirits can't die--at least, that was what +Dad told me. They couldn't go away from their trees, because the trees +were still standin' there, though all covered in mud or sand. So they +had to change their ways for a new life, first under the water, an' +when the waters o' the Flood dried up, under the ground. The elves, +who were the men-spirits o' the forest, became knockers; the dryads, +who were the women-spirits o' the trees, became the sprites o' the gas +damps. + +"In the old days, folks used to be able to see these spirits o' the +forests. They used to build temples to 'em, an' have regular festivals +in the woods, always leavin' some food for 'em to eat. Dad told me +never to forget that the only way to keep on the good side o' the +spirits below ground was to keep out o' the mine on the first day o' +spring an' the last day o' summer, an' every time I took anything to +eat below ground, to leave a bite behind. + +"I've always done it. In all the years I've been minin', I've never +gone down the shaft on March 21st or September 20th, an' I never will. +An', every time I've taken my dinner-pail to the face where I was +workin', I've put a bit o' bread aside for the knockers. You can +believe it or not, as you like, but when I got back to the place, on +my next shift, the bread was gone." + +"Probably rats," commented Clem, in an aside to Anton. + + +[Illustration: KNOCKERS. + +_After a Vignette by Bottrell._] + + +[Illustration: GATHON, GOBLIN OF THE MINES. + +_Fragment of a Composition by Phiz._] + + +[Illustration: DWARFS IN THE MINE. + +The Other Mythical Personages are the King of the Metals and the +Keeper of the Treasures of the Earth. + +_From a German Engraving after Froebom._] + + +The old miner paid no heed to the interruption, if, indeed, he heard +it. + +"That way, I always knew that the knockers were on my side, an' I've +been willin' to hole coal in mines that folks said weren't safe. +What's more, in forty years o' work, I've never lost a day's time from +an accident of any kind. I know I'm safe, because of what happened to +me when I was still a kid. + +"One day--I don't know just why, maybe the air was worse'n +usual--after I'd been lookin' after the door for the bigger part o' +the shift, I dropped right off asleep. Half-dreamin', I heard a loaded +car come roarin' down, but I didn't wake up until it was so close as +to be too late. + +"I scrambled up on my feet an' was just makin' a wild jump forward to +the door, when I felt a little fist--it seemed about the size of a +baby's, but was strong an' hard--hit me right in the chest. It pushed +me back into the corner, out o' the way o' the car, an' held me there. + +"At the same minute, an' just in the nick o' time, the door swung +open. + +"Rubbin' my eyes--they was so gritty wi' coal that I could hardly look +out o' them--I saw what looked like a little man made o' coal +standin' back against the door an' holdin' it open for the car to pass +through. His face was sort o' pale, like a whitewashed wall in the +dark, an' his eyes were red, like sparks. I thought he had a pointed +hat an' long pointed shoes, but I was so scared that I couldn't be +rightly sure. I could just see his whitish face movin' up an' down, +like he was noddin' his head. Then the door slammed shut, the hand +suddenly lifted off my chest an' I didn't see nothin' more. I tell +you, I kept awake after that." + +"You must have opened the door unconsciously, while half-asleep, and +dreamed about seeing the goblin," was Clem's comment. + +But, before the old man could retort, Anton broke in. + +"Father told me he's seen some, just like that. It was in Wales. A +woman visitor had gone down to see the mine." + +Otto shook his head gravely. + +"Never a woman went down a coal mine yet, but an accident happened +right after," he declared. "In the big explosion at Loosburg, when +over four hundred miners were killed, it was found out, after, that +one o' the miners was a woman who had dressed herself in men's +clothes an' was pickin' coal. But what was it your father saw, Anton?" + +"It happened right when the visiting party was in the mine," the boy +explained. "It was in one of the main galleries, which was strongly +timbered. A prop, which had been standing firmly for ever so many +years, suddenly crumbled into splinters and the roof fell on the +woman, hurting her so badly that she died soon after she was taken to +the top. + +"Just after the roof fell, so Father said, he and all the rest of the +miners saw a band of knockers gathered around the pile of fallen roof +and pointing at the figure of the woman crushed beneath. He said the +knockers were laughing so loudly that some of the miners heard the +echoes away at the other end of the mine." + +"And do you believe that, Anton?" queried Clem, incredulously. + +"Father saw them himself," the boy replied, in a tone of finality. + +"Then there's the gas sprites," Otto went on, pleased at having found +a sympathetic listener. "I've never seen 'em myself, but there's +plenty that have. In a mine where I used to work, in Belgium, there +was a man who could see 'em as plain as I see you or Anton. That was +his job, and he was paid handsomely, too. + +"He could walk through a gallery, either in a workin' or an abandoned +mine, an' could tell right away if there was fire damp, or white damp, +or black damp, or stink damp, in the workin's. He could see the gas +sprites himself an' give warnin' where men had better not go. He +didn't have to carry a safety lamp, nor chemical apparatus, nor cages +of mice an' canaries, the way folks do, now. He just walked into the +mine an' saw the sprites. He was friendly to 'em, an' they never did +him no harm." + +"What were they like, Otto?" queried Anton. + +"Shadows o' women," the old man replied promptly. "Fire damp, this +diviner used to say, looked like a figure veiled in red, black damp +was veiled in black wi' white edges, white damp was bluish, an' stink +damp was yellow. When the gas was faint, all he could see was just the +glow o' the colors, very dim; but when the gas was strong then the +shapes o' the women were bold an' clear. + +"The gas sprites, bein' women, catch an' hold the young men an' the +single men more easily than old an' married miners. You don't deny +that single men are more often killed by damps than married men, do +you, Clem?" + +The young miner looked uncomfortable at the question. + +"That's a general belief, and statistics seem to back it up," he +admitted. "But I don't see that it has anything to do with your goblin +ideas, Otto. It's just because the single men, generally, are the +youngest, and they haven't become as immune to the poisonous gases of +the mine as men who have been working below ground all their lives." + +"You can explain away anything, if you have a mind to," Otto retorted +scornfully. "But as long as men are workin' below ground, there's +goin' to be knockers an' sprites o' the damps, an' miners is goin' to +be killed. Me, I've escaped. Why? Because I'm chock-full o' science +an' modern ideas? Not a bit of it! I get along because I know what the +spirits o' the mine expect, an' I give it to 'em. Right now, I'm the +oldest man at work, here, an' I ain't never had an accident." + +"Don't you believe his stories, Anton," the young miner protested, +turning to the boy. "Those antiquated notions will only lead you +astray. The 'damps' are just various kinds of gases coming out of the +coal, and the way to fight them is to keep a strong current of air +going through the mine." + +"How do they come out o' the coal, if you know so much?" questioned +Otto, belligerently. + +"Sure I know! But I don't suppose telling you will change your ideas." + +"It won't," the old miner admitted frankly. "But I've had my say, an' +it's only fair to let you have yours. The youngster, here, can believe +which o' the two he pleases." + +"Well, it's something this way," Clem began, casting about in his mind +for a way to explain the chemistry of mine air as simply as he could. +"Ordinary air--the air above ground--is made up of a little less than +21 per cent. of oxygen and a little more than 78 per cent. of +nitrogen. The rest of it is a mixture of carbon and oxygen which the +books call carbon dioxide or black damp, with some other rare gases +beside. + +"Now, all animals, including man, depend for their life on the oxygen +in the air. If the oxygen drops to 15 per cent., a man will suffer. +That's not likely to happen where miners' lamps or safety-lamps are +used, because the flame of a lamp goes out when there's less than 17 +per cent. oxygen. Even at 19 per cent., a lamp will burn so dimly as +to warn of danger. The nitrogen in the air is inert, that is, it does +neither good nor harm to man. But what I want you to remember, Anton, +is that even in the purest air above ground, there's always some +'black damp,' so it's a bit hard to see where Otto's goblin women come +in! + +"Now, when pure air comes down a coal shaft, a lot of changes happen +to it. Some of the oxygen is consumed by the breathing of the men and +animals in the mine--if there are any donkeys or such--some is taken +up by the burning of lamps, some more by the explosion of blasting +powder, a little is lost by the rusting of iron pyrites--which is +found in many coal mines--and a lot of it is taken up by the coal, +just how, we don't quite know." + +"It's good to hear o' somethin' you don't know," the old miner +remarked sarcastically. "But you're talkin' about dry air, an' the air +in most mines is moist." + +"Quite right," Clem agreed. "It has to be. Mine air is made moist, on +purpose, especially in winter." + +"It is?" Otto's voice expressed unqualified astonishment. + +"It certainly is! In most coal-mines--this one, for instance--all the +air that passes down the intake shaft is moistened by a spray of mixed +water and air, so finely atomized that it floats like a cloud." + +"What for? It's easier to work in dry air'n moist air." + +"It's easier to get blown up, too! In winter time, Otto, the air above +ground is a lot colder than the air in the mine. Cold air can't hold +as much moisture as warm air, and as soon as air gets warmed up a bit, +it tries its hardest to absorb any moisture with which it happens to +come in contact. + +"What happens in a mine, in such a case? Why, as the cold air from +above passes through the galleries of a mine, it gets warmed up. As it +warms up, it draws out from the roofs, the ribs, and the floors all +the water that there is to draw, and makes the mine dead dry. When +coal dust is absolutely dry, it crumbles into finer and finer dust, +until at last the particles are so small that they float in the air. +Then comes disaster, for finely divided coal dust is so explosive that +the smallest flame--even a spark from the stroke of a pick--will set +the whole mine ablaze." + +"I don't see that," interrupted Anton. "If dust is so bad, why do the +bosses hang boards from all the gallery roofs and pile them high with +dust?" + +"Because the dust in those piles is stone dust, my boy," the young +fellow explained. "When an explosion happens, it drives a big blast of +air in front of it, so strong, sometimes, as to knock a man down. The +blast of air blows all the stone dust from those boards and fills the +air chock-full of it. + +"This stone dust, usually made from crushed limestone or crushed +shale, won't burn. The flame of the explosion can't pass through and +the fire can't jump a rock-dust barrier. Even the flame of methane, +which you know better as 'gas,' or fire damp, which has a terrific +force, is choked back by this dense cloud of rock-dust, and, as you +know, all coal mines have more or less methane gas." + +"They don't, either," contradicted Otto. "I've worked in mines for +years at a time an' never seen the 'cap' on the flame of the +safety-lamp, tellin' there's fire damp there." + +"You may not have seen it, but there was gas there, just the same. As +for the cap-flame you're talking about, Otto, I'll admit that it's the +surest way of telling when there's so much fire-damp that the mine is +getting dangerous. But it's a risky test, just the same. You can't see +the little cap of methane gas flame burning above the oil flame of the +lamp until there's 2 per cent. of gas in the air of the mine, and a +little more than 5 per cent. will start an explosion." + +"What makes that cap?" queried Anton. + +"Fire damp or methane gas burning inside the wire gauze of the +safety-lamp." + +"But if the gas is already burning inside, why doesn't it explode +outside?" + +"Just because it's a safety-lamp, my boy. That's why the flame burns +inside a wire gauze. I'll explain that. + +"Suppose you take a lamp with a hot flame--an alcohol or spirit lamp +will do--and light it. Then hold a piece of close-meshed wire gauze +right on the flame. You'll find that the flame will spread under the +wire gauze but will not go through. Hold it long enough, though, until +the wire gets red hot, and, quite suddenly, the flame will pass +through and burn above the gauze as well as below. + +"Try another trick. Put out the lamp and then hold the gauze just +where it was before. You can light the flame above the wire but it +will not pass below the gauze until the wire gets red-hot. That shows +that gas which is not burning can pass through a wire gauze, but that +gas which is aflame cannot pass until the wire is red-hot." + +"Yes," said Anton, "I can see that." + +"Very good. Then, if you have a lamp which is burning inside a +cylinder of wire gauze, the gas of fire-damp can go through, and, if +there's enough of it to burn, it will burn above the flame of the +lamp, making an aureole or 'cap' just as Otto says. But the flaming +gas can't get back through the wire gauze to set fire to the fire-damp +outside, at least, not until the wire gets red-hot, which it's not +likely to do, seeing that the gas is in the middle, not underneath it. + +"That's how they test for fire-damp, nowadays. The flame of a +safety-lamp is drawn down until it shows only a small yellow tip. If +there's any fire-damp in the air, a light-blue halo appears over the +yellow flame. At a little more than 1 per cent., an experienced man +can judge that there is gas there, but the true 'cap,' which is +pointed like a cone, doesn't show until there's 2 per cent. of the +gas. At 3 per cent., the cap will be like a dunce's cap, and more than +half an inch high. At 4 per cent., it will be over an inch high, and +at 4-1/2 per cent. it'll form a column of blue flame. Then it's high +time to get out of the mine, and to get out quickly. + +"In the improved form of safety-lamps, the oil flame burns inside a +glass, but the air which reaches the flame has to pass through two +cylinders of wire gauze. The glass keeps the flame from ever touching +the innermost gauze, and, if an accident happens--such as the breaking +of the glass--it would still be fairly safe, for the burning gas +inside wouldn't pass through the inner gauze until that got red-hot, +and it wouldn't reach the outer gauze because the current of air +passing down between the two layers of wire mesh would keep the outer +gauze cool. This safety-lamp was invented by Sir Humphry Davy, in +England, in 1815, just after a big explosion in an English colliery +had cost hundreds of lives. All mines nowadays require that miners use +either safety-lamps or electric lamps, and it's every miner's +business to report to the boss when he sees a cap of burning gas +inside his safety-lamp." + +The old miner nodded his head in agreement. + +"I won't use an electric lamp," he commented. "It's foolishness. The +gas sprites ain't really malicious. They're willin' enough to give a +warnin'. They'll put a cap on a flame if they don't want folks in that +part of the mine. An electric lamp tells nothin'. It won't even give a +warnin' against black damp." + +"Perfectly true," Clem agreed. "With an oil safety-lamp, the flame +gets dim or even goes out if there's too much black damp. The electric +lamp burns on, just the same, because the light is in a vacuum. Black +damp isn't so dangerous as fire damp, though. It only causes distress +and hard breathing because it shows that there's too big a proportion +of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the air and not enough oxygen. It's +oxygen that a man misses." + +"But black damp'll explode, too," put in Otto. + +"No," the other corrected, "it won't. But it often happens that +there's fire-damp around when black damp is present and the black damp +makes a test for gas difficult. It's the gas that explodes, not the +black damp. + +"It isn't always the explosiveness of a damp that makes it dangerous, +though," he went on. "As Otto could tell you, Anton, white damp is the +worst of the three. And it doesn't give any warning at all." + +"That's why we had that diviner in a Belgian mine," the old man +commented, gravely. "He could see the gas sprites in their blue veils. +But, if there's a lot o' white damp, you can tell it by the flame of a +safety-lamp gettin' a little longer an' brighter." + +"It's not safe to trust it," the young fellow advised. "You'd have +trouble seeing 2 per cent, of white damp, and you'd be dead before you +had much chance to look. Even with 1-1/2 per cent., a man would be +likely to drop before he reached a better-ventilated part of the mine, +and he couldn't see that much on the flame of his safety-lamp at all. +To breathe the air with only 1 per cent. of white damp for an hour +would put a man in such a state that he mightn't recover, and he +wouldn't have had any warning. + +"Luckily, there's much less danger of white damp in mines than there +used to be. It's a gas that's formed only when there's been something +burning. After an explosion in a mine, or a fire, there's sure to be +a lot of it, and rescue parties have always found it their worst foe. +But, in the ordinary working mine, it is rare." + +"Not so rare as all that!" objected Otto. "We used to have a lot of +it, on the other side." + +"You wouldn't now," was the reply. "The white damp of those days was +due to the heavy charges of gunpowder or low explosive that were used, +explosives which are forbidden now in dangerous mines." + +"They were better'n the stuff we use nowadays," grumbled Otto, "they +brought down more coal an' didn't smash it up so bad." + +"They smashed up men, instead," Clem retorted. "And they put a whole +lot of white damp into a mine. That was really dangerous, because, in +those days, people hadn't found out the value of canaries." + +"I've often wondered about that," interjected Anton. "Why do the +testing-parties carry canaries?" + +"Because," answered Clem, with a smile, "canaries are as clever at +seeing the gas sprites as was the Belgian diviner that Otto talks +about. No, but seriously," he went on, "the reason is that canaries +are extremely susceptible to white damp. Less than 1/4 of one per +cent of white damp will cause a canary to collapse at once, and a man +could breath that proportion for an hour without much harm. Even a +tenth of one per cent. will cause the little bird to show signs of +distress." + +"It's tough on the bird," was Anton's sympathetic comment. + +"Not especially! As soon as a bird begins to show collapse, it is +taken back to the open air and is as frisky and lively as ever in five +minutes. But its value as a warning signal is enormous, for it tells +rescue parties or investigating parties when to put on gas masks or +breathing apparatus containing oxygen. In a well-ventilated mine, +however, where high explosive is used and handled by experienced men, +there's not likely to be much danger from white damp. + +"Stink damp is rare but can sometimes be dangerous. Generally, a +fellow is warned away, because of the smell--which is just like rotten +eggs. The worst part of stink damp is that it smells the worst when +there's only a little of it. When there's so much of it around as to +be deadly, it doesn't smell any worse. You get small quantities of it, +sometimes, in blasting, but generally hydrogen sulphide or stink damp +is found after a mine fire or an explosion. Rescue parties generally +carry a cage of mice as well as one of canaries." + +"With the same idea?" queried Anton. + +"Exactly. As little as a tenth of one per cent. of stink damp makes a +mouse sprawl on his belly, his legs don't seem strong enough to hold +him up; while, in the same air, a canary doesn't suffer a bit. + +"The only real danger in stink damp is when there's water in the mine, +for example when, after a fire, a lot of water has been pumped down +into the workings to put the fire out. Water absorbs stink damp very +easily and gives it up equally easily when stirred. So, if a member of +a rescue party puts his foot in a puddle of water where there has been +stink damp around, so much of the gas may suddenly come up in his face +as to topple him over. + +"But you can see, Anton, that most of the gas troubles in a mine come +from the blasting. That's why, nowadays, the miners who get out the +coal seldom or never fire the shots. Experienced men, trained +especially for that work, are used. After a miner has undercut the +coal, the shot-firer comes. He tests for gas before he begins work, +bores a deep hole in the coal with a drill, tests for gas again in +case he should have tapped a leak in the seam, cleans out the hole, +sends the miner for the box of explosive--which is kept thirty or +forty yards away from the face where the coal is being cut--and +prepares the charge with a detonater which he carries in a box over +his shoulder. The miner never touches either the explosive or the +detonater. Then the shot-firer puts the primed charge in the hole, +jams the hole full of clay with a wooden tamper--a steel bar might +cause a spark and a premature explosion--tests for gas again, connects +the electric wires from a portable battery around the rib corner, +fires the shot, returns to the face and tests for gas again. Then, and +not until then, does the miner begin to dig the coal. That way, every +one in the mine is safe." + +"Yes," growled the old miner, "and the shot-firer doesn't dig any +coal, nor do any hard work, an' gets paid more'n we do." + +"He knows more than you do," Clem responded, "and he gets better pay +because his experience and prudence is worth a lot of money to the +mine. Just think what an explosion costs--to say nothing of the risk +of lives being lost! And you won't find experienced shot-firers or +mine-managers talking about gas sprites, Otto!" + +"Better for 'em if they did!" the old man warned. "For I'm sayin' to +you again, what I said before--the spirits o' the mine is gettin' +hungry for blood!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ENTOMBED ALIVE + + +"Danger! You're plumb crazy about danger, Clem!" Anton declared +impatiently. + +The older lad gestured to the big building of the pit-mouth before +them, above which the spider-like legs of the headgear soared high, +surmounted by the huge double winding-wheels which give so +characteristic a note to a modern colliery. + +"Any one who forgets that a coal-mine is dangerous is a fool," he +retorted sharply, "and keep that in your head, Anton, my lad. Not that +danger would ever stop me from mining. I like it. I like to feel that +I'm running a risk every time I go into an entry and every time +there's a blast. And I like to feel that I know enough about safety +methods to snap my fingers at the risk. There's excitement in that." + +"There'll be excitement enough, if old Otto's warnings come true," +returned Anton gloomily. + +Two days had passed since the old miner's prophecy, two days without +any unusual incident. Clem had all but forgotten the evil presage, but +Anton was brooding over it. It was his work to load cars in the room +where Clem was mining, and the boy's superstitious nature made him +painfully aware that if any accident happened to his comrade, he would +probably be caught, too. + +Anton had been working in the mine only a few weeks and he had not yet +been able to grasp the need of Clem's incessant teaching with regard +to the extreme prudence needed in colliery work. He had almost caused +a serious accident during his first week by not blocking his car +properly. The half-loaded car had begun to move down the slope of the +mine gallery, it might easily have run clear down into the entry and +possibly killed some one if Clem had not dashed forward and checked +the car before it had too much speed. + +In general, Anton had not reasoned much about the danger or the lack +of danger in coal-mining. He regarded the pit as a matter of course. +It was the only life he knew. All his comrades were at work in the +mine or would be at work therein, as soon as their school-days were +over. The boy himself had started early, soon after his father's +death, since it was the only employment to be got in the neighborhood +and he had his widowed mother to support. + +Clem had found a place in the mine for his friend without any +difficulty, for Anton was powerfully muscled. In this he took after +his father, who had been almost a Hercules and one of the champion +wrestlers of the mine. Born of miner stock on both sides, Anton was +short and squat, able to shovel coal all day without fatigue. He had +accordingly, been taken on as a loader, Clem undertaking to keep an +eye over him. + +It took the older lad all his time to do so. Anton was absolutely +reckless by nature, and, though he was constantly being advised as to +the necessary precautions for making mining safe, he could never be +persuaded to adopt them. + +Instead of blocking his car with one log placed across the track and +another under the car and resting on the transverse log, he would put +a piece of coal under the wheel and trust to its staying there; he +would wear his coat loosely, over his trousers, though he was told +over and over again that he ran the risk of his coat being caught by +the cars, when switching, and being dragged along the side of the rib: +on another occasion, Clem found the boy starting along the +haulage-way used for the coal cars instead of using the man-way +reserved for the workers, in order to save a couple of minutes' time. + +What exasperated Clem even more was that, since Otto's warning, Anton +had become more careless than ever. It was evident that the fatalistic +streak in the boy made him feel that if he were foredoomed to an +accident, there was no use in trying to prevent it. + +The boy's impatient exclamation and his comrade's retort about danger +had occurred while they were in line in front of the lamp shack, +waiting to get their safety-lamps before going down for the day shift. + +As in most well-organized collieries, the safety-lamps were filled and +adjusted by experts, who looked after nothing else. After the lamps +were lighted, they were locked--and not one of the miners was allowed +a key. Thus the lamps could not be opened below ground and there was +no chance for a reckless man to expose a naked flame in a room or +entry where there might chance to be gas. A safety-lamp would not go +out unless the air in the mine was so vitiated that it was dangerous +to life to remain therein, or unless there was some defect in the lamp +which would render it perilous to use. + +After the lamps had been given out, Clem and Anton got in the cage to +go down the shaft. Otto happened to be descending at the same time. + +"We're still waiting for your 'knockers' to show themselves!" Clem +suggested jestingly. + +The old man deigned no reply. Instead, he looked round the cage +meaningly at the other men there, most of whom frowned at Clem's +remark. Among miners, it is believed to bring bad luck to speak or +even to hint of accidents when in the cage. Only Otto's personal +liking for the young fellow kept him from a retort which might have +brought on a quarrel. + +On reaching the bottom, Clem and Anton set out along the man-way +together. It was a walk of nearly a mile underground from the main +shaft of the mine to the distant "room" or square hole in the seam, +where Clem was to dig away the coal face, and which was one of the +rooms from which Anton was loading coal. + +This Ohio colliery was being worked on what is known as the +pillar-and-room method. This consists in dividing the seam of coal +into squares like a chessboard, taking out the coal from each +alternate square, leaving the intervening squares of coal intact to +act as pillars in holding up the roof. They do not look like pillars +to a careless observer, often being blocks of coal thirty yards +square. + +"It seems silly," said Anton, after they had walked on a minute or +two, "to leave all this coal near the shaft and to go digging a mile +away. Why not take all the coal that is handy first?" + +"And have the roof come down and block up all the coal that is beyond? +That would be just throwing away the wealth of the mine." + +"Timber the roof, then!" + +"It would cost too much, for one thing," Clem explained, "and, for +another, all the timber in the world won't hold up a roof if the +excavation is made too big. There's millions of tons of rock pressing +down on a mine roof. Judging by the way you talk, Anton, I don't +believe you understand what a coal formation is, yet." + +"Isn't it like Otto said, then?" + +"Only in a way. Otto's description of the coal forests was near +enough--in spite of his ideas about goblins and sprites--and he was +correct in saying that the forests decayed under water and turned +into coal after they were pressed down by rock. But it wasn't the +Flood that did that, at least not the Flood that Otto was speaking of. +The coal forests existed millions of years before Noah. + +"What's more, it wasn't only just once that the forests were covered +by a deluge. That happened several times, a hundred or more, in some +places. + +"For centuries at a time, these gloomy and steaming forests grew in +boggy land, only a few inches above the level of the sea. Gradually +the land sank, the sea came in, the trees fell and decayed under the +water, and a layer of mud or sand was deposited over them. Then +gradually the land rose again just above the level of the sea, and a +new forest grew. Once more the land sank below the water, the second +forest fell into decay and upon that layer a new deposit of mud or +sand was laid. That gave two layers or seams of coal-forest-bog, to be +turned later into coal by pressure; and two layers or strata of mud or +sand, to be turned into shale and slate or into sandstone, also by +pressure. + +"When a long time elapsed between the swampings, several centuries of +coal forests had made a deep bed of bog, which, ages after, became a +thick seam of coal. When the swampings happened close together, the +layer of bog was shallow, producing a thin seam of coal. In the same +way, the layers of shale or sandstone are thick or thin according to +the length of time that the land was under the water. + +"Because of that, Anton, in nearly every colliery there is not just +one layer or seam of coal, but a number of them. There are sixteen +different seams in this mine, showing that the land rose and fell +sixteen times, probably in the course of a million years. + +"Some mines show much bigger changes. In the famous coal basin of +Mons, in Belgium, there are 157 layers of coal, of which 120 are thick +enough to be workable. The Saar basin, on the left bank of the Rhine, +which has played so important a part in the international troubles +following the end of the World War, has 164 seams, with 77 of them +workable, giving a thickness of 240 feet of coal. However, as the +lowest layers are nearly four miles deep, they will probably never be +worked." + +"Why not?" + +"To start with, the cost of haulage to the top would be enormous. But, +aside from that, a good many mining engineers figure that the +temperature at that depth would be above boiling point. You know, in +general, the farther you go down in a mine, the hotter it gets." + +"What do you mean by a seam being 'workable'?" the boy queried. "Can't +all coal be dug out?" + +"Not by a long shot. At least not so as to be worked at a profit. +Suppose a seam of coal is only a few inches thick, how is a miner +going to dig it out? He couldn't crawl in such a seam, let alone using +his tools there." + +"He could cut out enough rock at the top and bottom to give him a +chance to get in." + +"A miner is paid for digging coal, not digging rock," was the answer. +"What's more, according to your scheme, so much shale or sandstone +would be mixed with the coal that it would be useless for burning. + +"Even seams two feet thick are so hard to work that most of them are +left alone, and a seam three feet thick means extra expense in getting +out the coal because of the difficulty of labor in hewing and +transporting the coal from the face to the shaft. The ideal thickness +is between six and eight feet, where a man can stand upright and can +reach to the roof with a slate bar. That height, too, makes timbering +easy. + +"Very thick seams have their own difficulties. The worst of these is +the supporting of the roof. Take a seam 30 or 40 feet thick, for +example. Look at the size of the hole that is left when the coal is +dug away! Timbering becomes a real problem, there, for the longer a +prop is, Anton, the weaker it is. Coal managers in mines like those +have to do some careful figuring, or the cost of the timber they put +into the mine would be more than the value of the coal they take out." + +"How do they handle it then?" + +"As if it were a quarry, rather than a mine. The seam is worked on +successive levels, but, even then, it is impossible to prevent +constant accidents from the fall of coal or the sudden collapse of a +roof. Take it the world over, and ten miners are killed every day in +collieries alone. I told you coal mining was dangerous." + +"But are there any of those thick seams in the United States?" + +"None of the really thick ones. There's a 40-foot anthracite seam in +Pennsylvania. But in France, near the famous Creusot works, there's a +bed of coal which is 130 feet thick. It's a basin, though, rather than +a seam. + +"So you see, Anton, every coal mine is different, with its layers or +seams of coal of different thicknesses and at varying distances apart. +Some pits are near the surface, some are very deep; some coal is full +of gas, other has very little; some coal is so hard that every bit of +it has to be blasted, in other mines the coal is so soft that the +hewer spends half his time spragging the face so that the coal doesn't +fall on him when he's undercutting or holing. Don't you make the +mistake of thinking that all a miner has to do is to use his pick! +He's got to know his business thoroughly or he's useless to the mine +boss and a danger to all his fellow-workmen. + +"And that isn't all, Anton, not by a good deal! + +"Coal mining might be bad enough, even if the coal seams always ran +level. But it's very seldom that they do. They run up-hill and +down-hill in all sorts of fashions and play hide-and-go-seek in a way +that's fairly bewildering. + +"Nearly all coal seams are broken up by faults. The coal suddenly +seems to stop, and, when you go to hewing it the pick suddenly hits +against a rock wall, right on the level of the seam. In the North +Gallery of this very mine, there's a fault like that. You know where +the 'snagger' is?" + +"Sure," agreed Anton, "you mean where the cars have to be hitched on +to a chain?" + +"Yes, there! The coal seam jumps upwards fifty feet. That's why the +cars, after rolling down nearly a quarter of a mile, by gravity, have +to be pulled up fifty feet by an endless chain, to rejoin the same +seam and then to go rolling on down by themselves." + +"Just what are faults?" + +"H'm, that's a bit hard to explain to you, Anton, because you don't +know anything about geology, but maybe I can get you to see. Faults +are breaks in the layers of rock, or in the stratification, as it is +called. All coal seams and the rocks above and below them have been +laid down by water. Since water levels everything, these layers of +rock were level, once. + +"In ages past, however, the crust of the earth changed a good deal. As +the crust cooled, it contracted, crumpling up these different layers +into all sorts of shapes. Sometimes it bulged them up, sometimes it +hollowed them down so that the edges rose. Quite often a layer of +rock would be cracked right across, and one half would stay level +while the other shot up almost a right angle. A good many mountains +show the result of this, and if you look at such rocks as are sticking +up out of the ground you will see some of them standing right on edge. +Once in a while, part of the broken crust slid over the other part. +Then, too, though the surface may not always show it, there have been +breaks in the strata below, and at the break, the layer has sunk or +risen quite a distance from its former level. + +"If that happens to a coal seam, you can see that where the seam +breaks, suddenly, the rest of it will continue on another level, +perhaps only a few feet higher or lower, perhaps a good deal more. +It's up to the mine geologist to find where the coal has gone to, and +it's the business of the mine engineer to remodel the entire system of +working the mine in order to get at that seam." + +"And are all coal mines mixed up in that funny way?" Anton queried. + +"Most of them. Oh, there's no end to the tricks a coal seam can play. +A deep coal seam may split into two narrow ones, too thin to work. +The whole seam may quickly dwindle away to nothing, showing that, in +ages past, a river came rolling over it and washed away all the forest +bog. Sometimes, especially with the lowermost seams, the forest grew +on rolling land, so that the bottom of the coal seam is irregular, +causing all sorts of trouble in laying rails for the cars to roll on. +Sometimes the layer of rock under a coal seam is so soft that when you +start to timber it, the timbers sink into the floor and the roof comes +toppling down. + +"Among the queerest of all the things a mine geologist strikes are +what are called dykes. These are great shafts of igneous rock, which +were thrust up from the interior of the earth in a white-hot state and +which burned away the coal as they rose. They put a dead stop to a +working. I could tell you a dozen more freak things that a coal seam +can do. A mine geologist has not only a new problem to tackle with +every mine, but, often, with every mine gallery." + +"Is that what you're studying to be, Clem?" + +"No, indeed!" The young fellow's answer was emphatic. "That's 'way out +of my reach. It takes a college man, with special technical training +and a big experience, to be anything of a mine geologist. All I'm +trying to do is to learn enough about it so that when I get to be a +mine boss--if I ever do--I'll know what my chiefs are trying to do and +I'll be able to help them. + +"Take Otto, for example. There isn't a better worker in the mine. He +gets out more coal and less broken stuff than any other man below +ground. But he'll never be anything but a hewer, because he doesn't +want to learn. Why, just the other day, he was growling because the +mine was shut down to repair one of the shafts, though the other shaft +was working all right." + +"So were a lot of the men," Anton put in. "Why couldn't they go on +working, with one shaft?" + +"Against the law," was the crisp answer. "That's the A B C of mining. +And I'll show you why! All mines are required to have two shafts, in +case of accident. That law was passed because of a famous disaster +that happened in England nearly a hundred years ago. + +"In those days, colliers had only one shaft. One day, the beam of an +engine which was directly over a shaft snapped, and a huge piece of +machinery, weighing several tons, tumbled into the shaft and stuck, +not far from the bottom. As it fell, it ripped away the planking which +lined the shaft and a whole lot of loose rock and earth fell on top of +the piece of machinery, blocking up the shaft entirely and stopping +any air from passing. There were over two hundred men and boys at work +below ground. + + +[Illustration: MINERS DESCENDING A SHAFT. + +_From an Old Print._] + + +[Illustration: FALLING-IN OF A MINE.] + + +[Illustration: EXPLOSION OF "FIRE-DAMP."] + + +"With only one shaft, you can see what a mess that made! Before any +digging could be done, the lining of the shaft had to be repaired, +because dirt and rocks were falling into the shaft all the time. +Miners--hundreds of them--were brought from neighboring mines, and +they worked night and day on two-hour shifts, clinging to the sides of +the shaft as thick as bees in a hive. Others, risking their lives with +every stroke of the pick, dug away at the earth and rock that had +fallen on the big chunk of machinery. With all the speed that human +effort could compass, it was six days and nights before a hole had +been made through the obstruction big enough for a man to pass. And, +when the first rescuer reached the workings below, the 200 men were +dead. Not a single one survived. The miners had been entombed alive +without any air passage and could do nothing, absolutely nothing, to +help themselves out of their living grave. + +"Ever since then, every colliery in Europe and the United States is +required to have two shafts, and the law demands that these shall be +no less than fifteen yards apart and connected by a wide passage. Not +only that, but each shaft must have a complete outfit of winding +machinery coupled to separate engines, so that, in the event of an +accident happening to one shaft, the men below ground can be rescued +up the other." + +"That sounds all right," said Anton, rather gloomily, "but suppose the +way to both shafts is blocked?" + +"Not likely," Clem responded cheerfully, "if a mine has been properly +laid out. Take this one, there are half a dozen ways to get from the +face to the shaft." + +"But Otto said--" + +The other turned upon him sharply. + +"I've had about enough of that Otto business! If you can't keep from +thinking about it, keep from talking about it, anyhow!" + +To this rebuke Anton maintained a stubborn silence, and, without +another word said, the two walked on until they reached their +respective places of work. + +In the gloomy world of below ground, where the dusty wall of sooty +black is the only landscape to be seen, one day is very much like +another. Reaching his room, Clem stood his tools in order along the +rib, hung his safety lamp on a nail which he drove into a prop +supporting the roof, and, reaching up so as to put one hand on the +roof, tapped it with the flat side of his pick to make sure that there +was no loose slate overhead. He then examined the coal face, as it had +been left by the hewer who had been working on the night shift, to +make sure that it had been properly spragged or timbered. + +This done, Clem stripped naked to the waist, for it was hot in that +hole far below ground. Then, lying down flat on his side, his bare +shoulder resting on the gritty ground, he started to pick away the +coal at the level of the floor and just above it, making a +wedge-shaped hole extending under the seam for a distance in of three +feet. + +Many mines, especially in America, use mechanical coal-cutters for +this back-breaking labor. These machines are especially useful in +mines where the coal-seams are less than 3-1/2 feet thick, and they +are well adapted to "long-wall" workings where the whole face of the +coal is removed in a single operation. Some are mounted with a toothed +bar which moves in and out, chipping the coal; other types are like +circular saws; several forms have the same action as a miner's pick, +the percussions being at the speed of two hundred strokes a minute, +the motive-power being compressed air. + +In pillar-and-room workings, such as this Ohio mine, chain heading +machines were used. This American invention consists of a bed-plate +which rests on the floor and is secured in position by screw-jacks +braced against the roof and against the rib. On this bed-plate rests a +sliding frame which carries a revolving chain on which cutting tools +are fixed. The machine carries its own motor, which not only drives +the chain, but also slides forward the frame into the cut. When the +cut is made to the full depth of the machine, it is withdrawn, and the +machine moved over its own width and another cut commenced. Several of +these machines were at work in the mine, but chiefly in that part of +it where the pillars were being cut away, and where speed in removing +the coal was a prime necessity. In the more distant rooms, hand labor +was used. + +All these machines work on exactly the same principle as that of the +miner, lying on his back or on his side, and digging at the coal with +his pick. The coal must be undercut as far in as a pick or a +mechanical coal-cutter will reach, for the entire width of the face. +Every few feet, short props or sprags are put in from the edge of the +undermined portion to the floor, to prevent a premature fall, which +might bury the miner. + +When the whole face is undercut and spragged, the shot-firer is +summoned. One or more holes, three feet deep, are bored in the coal, +close to the roof, these holes are filled with explosive and tamped +shut with moist clay, and the charges are fired. This blasting brings +down the coal off the face, clear from the rock roof to the undermined +portion, for such a distance as it has been undercut. + +The miner then shovels away the coal far enough to allow him to lie +down again and continue his terribly laborious task, while the loader +comes and shovels the blasted coal into cars or into endless-chain +conveyors, according to the arrangement of the mine. + +Day in, day out, this hewing continues. While the miner is at work, he +is always in a cramped position, his body twisted, his muscles at a +strain, performing his toilsome labor in the half-dark, in the heat, +in poor air, choked with coal-dust constantly and menaced by death +every moment. He is well paid, but most fully does he earn every cent +he gets. + +The morning had almost passed, and Anton was near the entry, where he +heard, in the distance, a dull rumble like thunder, followed by a +queer cracking sound which seemed to travel along the rock overhead. + +The boy halted involuntarily in his task of pushing an empty car back +to a room for loading. Little as he knew of the noises below ground, +he sensed something strange. The deep silence of a coal mine is +generally broken only by the sharp report of a blast or the rattle of +cars, and this rumble did not resemble either sound. + +A second or two later, a miner dashed past him, without his tools, his +safety-lamp swinging as he ran. + +"The bank is coming down!" he yelled, and disappeared down the +gallery. + +Almost at the same moment, another man came out of the entry, his +naked back gleaming as he passed under the electric light hanging at +the opening of the entry. + +"Make for the shaft, kid!" he shouted, when he saw the shine of +Anton's lamp. + +A sudden babble of excited cries, borne on the strong current of the +ventilating air, reached the boy's ears. + +It was the doom of Otto's warning! + +Shoving a lump of coal under the car-wheel, Anton whirled on his heel +to follow the escaping miners, when, like a blow, came the stunning +thought: + +"Clem!" + +He hesitated an instant, and, while he halted, a second and a louder +crash told him that the fall of rock--wherever it might be +happening--was not over. Every fraction of a second that he delayed +might ruin his chances of escape. + +But Anton was of sturdy miner stock, and, in addition, was thoroughly +fatalistic. That very feature of his character which his older comrade +had blamed so often, now was to show its good side. If he were going +to be caught by the fall, there was no use in his trying to prevent +it, he thought. + +In any case, no matter what might come, though the roof cracked above +him and the coal-ribs crushed beside him, he must warn his friend. + +Turning his back to the way of hope, he tore at his utmost speed +towards the room where Clem was working, taking some small comfort, as +he ran, that the rumbling sounded farther and farther away. + +"Clem!" he cried, panting, as he turned into the room where his friend +was digging coal, "run for your life!" + +By the terror in Anton's voice, the young fellow realized the peril. +In his isolated room, he had not heard a sound. + +Leaping to his feet and grabbing his safety-lamp from the prop, he ran +after Anton, who had started back on the road leading to the shaft. +Fleeter of foot than the boy, he caught up with him in a few yards. + +"What is it?" he queried. + +"The bank's down!" + +"Where?" + +"I don't know. Everywhere. The whole mine's smashing! Every one else +has got out long ago!" + +An ominous creaking sounded over their heads. + +Clem caught his comrade by the arm and pulled him into a narrow entry +near by. + +"Go slow! We don't want to get smashed!" + +He held up his safety-lamp. + +"Look at that prop!" + +The heavy timber was bending like a twig. + +"Get on quick!" cried Anton, struggling against the grasp, but the +young fellow held him fast. + +"Don't lose your head!" he warned. "The current of air has stopped, +sure sign that the way to the shafts is blocked. The nearer we get to +the goaf (waste ground), the more likely we are to get crushed. +Listen!" + +The creaking grew louder, and then, suddenly, with a rush of sound, +the gallery in front of them, into which Anton had been about to +plunge, sagged. The bending prop went into splinters, and, with a +roar, the whole roof fell, the broken rock coming to within a few +yards of where they were standing. + +"Close shave, that!" remarked Clem coolly. + +Anton made no answer, but shivered as he looked. He realized that his +comrade's warning had saved his life. + +The trembling and the creaking recommenced, but farther away; then, +with a gigantic noise of tearing, there came a rending crash, followed +by utter silence. + +"Now!" + +He let go the boy's arm and turned sharp off to the right. + +"That's not the way to the shaft," protested Anton. + +"We'll try the North Gallery," answered Clem. "Likely enough the fall +has followed the line of the fault." + +A sharp run of a hundred yards brought them to a pile of rock blocking +up the passage. Clem licked his hand to make it moist, and then slowly +passed it across the entire face of the obstruction. + +"No!" he said. "There's not a breath of air coming through. That way's +blocked." + +He turned in another direction. With all the ventilation stopped, the +air was growing heavy. Fifty yards' run, and then-- + +Blocked again! + +This time Clem made no comment. He turned back to try the farther side +of the mine. As they wheeled round a corner, and saw a gleam of light +he cried, with a note of relief: + +"There they are! I knew they'd send in a rescue party, right away!" + +Then his voice dropped. + +"No," he added, "there's only one lamp." + +A single miner came running towards them. + +"The North Gallery?" he queried. + +"No good, Jim," Clem answered, who recognized him as a new-comer in +the mine. "Blocked solid!" + +"So's the entries to the goaf! I've been there! How about the old +workings I've heard the boys talk of?" + +The student miner shook his head. + +"Not much chance that way, I'm afraid. They'll be full of gas, sure. +The ventilation has been cut out of there for months. But we can try +it, anyway." + +"I'd ought to ha' known better'n to work this shift," declared Jim, as +they ran. "You mind when you talked to Otto in the cage, comin' down?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, Otto wouldn't go to work, nohow. Said the knockers had been +riled an' he wouldn't take the risk o' goin' agin 'em. The boss swore +at him some, but that didn' faze Otto. He went to the top, just the +same. He had the right hunch. Wish I'd followed him!" + +They ran on, and Jim broke out again: + +"I'd no business to come coal minin', anyway. I'm a prospector, by +rights. Gold's my end, not coal. You're s'posed to know this game. +What chance ha' we got?" + +Clem made no answer in words. He held up his safety-lamp, already +showing a marked blue cap of gas over the flame. + +"I'd seen it a'ready! That means gas, don't it?" + +"We may get through it," said Clem, but his tone was not hopeful. + +They turned into a long gallery leading to the old workings, and, as +they sped along, the cones of gas on the safety lamps grew longer and +longer. + +Presently lumps of slate and rock on the floor heralded the end. + +Quite suddenly, the gleam of the lamps shone on a wall before them. +The roof had fallen in. + +"That's the last chance?" queried Anton, gloomily. + +"The very last," said Clem, "we're buried." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE DANGERS OF RESCUE + + +The midday whistle of the mine had just begun, when a violent blast of +air roared up the intake shaft, followed by a portentous-- + +Cra-a-ack! + +A terrific crash rose from the bowels of the earth. + +The growling rumble of the underground disaster came rolling upward in +throbbing volumes of sound. + +The ground trembled, the buildings shook, the lofty skeleton of the +pit-head gear wavered as though about to let fall the huge revolving +wheels overhead. + +From the engine-house, from the pumping-room, from the ventilation +building, from the screeners and washers, from the picking-belts, from +the loading-yards, from the coking-ovens, from every corner of the +vast above-ground works of a modern colliery, the men came running. + +Some were white of face, some sooty, but all bore an expression of +the most extreme anxiety. + +The mine superintendent, who was also the owner, the mine boss, and +the mining engineer were among the first at the shaft. The doctor and +hospital attendant--whom the law requires to be maintained at all +mines employing more than a hundred men--arrived but a few seconds +later. + +The superintendent, a vigorous Australian, who had taken part in many +a sensational mining rush in his youth, and who had inherited the +ownership of this coal mine from a distant relative but a few years +before, leaped into action. Orders came rattling like hail. + +All haulage of coal from below was stopped. The engine on the second +shaft was thrown into gear, and the cages in both shafts were sent +down to bring up the men. + +Would there be any to bring? + +What did the crash denote? A mere fall of roof, which might cause the +loss of a few lives, or a vast explosion which would sweep every man +below ground to death in a few seconds? + +The cages had hardly reached the bottom when there came the second +crash. + +The crowd around the shaft was thickening. The doors of the hundreds +of cottages clustered in rows about the colliery had been thrown open; +from every direction the women came running, their shawls streaming +behind them. Many of them had already lost fathers or husbands or sons +below ground; all knew the awful menace of that sickening rumble. + +With all the speed that the winding-engines could be made to give, the +cages were hauled up. They had not yet reached the top when a sudden +cry of horror arose. Otto, who had not gone home, despite his +abandonment of the day's work, but who had hung around the pit-head +all day, pointed with his finger to the steep hillside that rose +abruptly above the mine. + +The hill itself was falling! + +The pine forest swayed, as though the huge trees were but blades of +grass, seemed to move downward a few yards, sending up a cloud of +dust, and then fairly plunged down the slope in an avalanche of rocks, +trees and earth mixed with tremendous bowlders. With a roar like the +fall of a near-by thunderbolt, the landslide ripped away the side of +the hill, the ground settling with a shiver like that of an +earthquake, and sagging perceptibly. + +"Sound the emergency whistle!" came the command. + +A minute or two later, a series of shrill screeches gave the signal +for summoning the rescue corps. Nearly all American mines, following +the requirements and suggestions of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, +maintain elaborately equipped rescue stations, manned by picked miners +who are regularly drilled in the use of the apparatus. + +Before the emergency signal had finished sounding the second time, +both the rescue team and the first-aid team were at their places. +Simultaneously, the cages containing the first load of miners came to +the top. + +A great sigh of relief went up. + +"Well?" queried the superintendent to one of the mine foremen, who was +in the first cage. + +"A big roof-fall, sir," was the reply. "It was still fallin' when I +came up. I left Lloyd to handle the men at the bottom while I came up +to report." + +"Gas?" + +"None showin' as yet, sir. But I came right away. It might gather a +bit later." + +"How many missing?" + +"Can't tell, sir. Most o' the men seemed to be gettin' clear." + +"Ready to go down again?" + +"Sure!" + +"All right, get in the cage, then." + +The assistant superintendent, the mining engineer, the safety +inspector, and the fire boss were already in. The foreman jumped in +beside them, and the cage rattled down to the bottom. + +Already the word had spread to the gathering crowd that the accident +was but a roof-fall, not an explosion, that two cages full of miners +had come and that there was a likelihood that most of the men were +safe. + +Volunteers clustered around the mine-owner, clamoring to be allowed to +go down. + +"We'll dig 'em out, sir!" they cried cheerily. + +"Keep back, men!" was the answer. "Wait till we know just what has to +be done. Maybe every one below ground will have a chance to get out." + +There was need for caution. While mine disasters are numerous--over +two thousand men being killed every year in United States collieries +alone--such an accident as this one had rarely happened before. The +landslide above, combined with the sinking of the strata below, +produced a condition which might be of the extremest danger. + +The foreman of the pumping plant was the first to find evidence of +this trouble. He hurried forward, consternation on his face. + +"Mr Owens, the pumps have quit working!" + +"What's wrong?" + +"Pipes busted, sir, probably. The turbine's goin' all right, but she's +suckin' air." + +"How much water were you throwing this morning?" + +"Over three thousand gallons an hour, sir." + +"H'm, it won't take long to drown the mine at that rate. And if there +are any poor fellows cut off--" + +He turned to the store-house keeper. + +"Got plenty of spare pipe?" + +"Lots of it, sir." + +"Get it out!" + +Then, to the mine boss: + +"Murchison, get a new pipe down the uptake shaft as quick as you know +how! Double pay for every man working on the job! Put them on the +jump!" + +As fast as his eye could travel round the circle of eager men, the +boss picked his workers, miners of tried worth. + +Almost as though by magic a line was formed from the storehouse to the +shaft. Mechanics, with their tools ready, were on the ladders by the +time the first joint of pipe reached the shaft, and the first +nine-foot length was flanged on in less than five minutes after the +giving of the order. So fast were the joints thimbled and braced +against the side of the shaft that the long pipe seemed to grow like a +living thing. In an hour's time, the pumps were going again. + +Meanwhile, the time clerk, not needing to wait for his orders, had +checked the names of all the men who had come up the shaft, until the +cage came up empty save for the foreman. + +"That's the last," he said. + +The time clerk closed his book and nodded, then went to the +superintendent. + +"Eight missing, sir." + +"That's bad enough, though it might have been a good deal worse. Make +out a detailed list and bring it here." + +Truly it was bad enough. The fire boss and safety engineer had +reported that fire had broken out in some part of the mine, probably, +for white damp was leaking through. The report of the mining engineer +was graver still. The first subsidence of the mine had caused the +landslide, and the shock of the landslide had crushed all the +galleries leading from the shafts. + +"You mean that all the workings are smashed in?" + +"I wouldn't say that. They can't be, the way the workings are laid +out. But there's more rock to be cleared away than I like to think +about. How many men are caught?" + +"Eight." + +"Do you know whereabouts, Mr Owens?" + +"I'll tell you in a minute. Here's the clerk now." He scanned the +list. "Well, three of them were working in the end galleries." + +"They might be safe," interjected the mining engineer. "That's under +the hill." + +"Two of them," the superintendent continued, "were working in the +broken, out towards the old workings, and the other three were near +the North Gallery." + +"We might get at the last three, but, judging from the lie, the old +workings section will be choked until Doomsday." + +"You mean we can't try to get those two men out?" + +The mining engineer looked his chief full in the face. + +"No, you can't," he said bluntly. "There's a fair chance of rescue in +the North Gallery section, and, as for the others, we might drive +galleries through to the rooms under the hill--though it'll take some +time. The two men in the old workings are gone. They're probably +smashed under the fall, anyway." + +"I'll get all those men out or break my neck trying!" burst out the +owner of the mine. + +"If you scatter your forces, you won't do anything," the mining +engineer retorted. As an expert in his profession, he was prepared to +back his own opinion against all the officials of the mine, from the +owner down, the more so as he knew that his chief had not spent his +life in coal mining. + +Owens glared at him, but he knew that the engineer was right. + +"Lay out the work, then, since you know so much! I'll have the gangs +ready, by the time you are. You think the men in the end galleries can +be got at?" + +"I'm sure of it, if they hold out long enough, and if they're lucky +enough to escape the damps. Our main trouble is going to be the +timbering. Now, the farther in we go, the farther we get from the +break. The roof will be solid back there, most likely. That's why I +think a good chance of rescue lies that way." + +"Get at that end first, then. Clem Swinton's in that group of men. I'd +be sorry to lose him. He's the most promising young fellow in the +mine." + +The mining engineer nodded. + +"I know him. He's been attending the night school. You're right. We +can't afford to lose him. It's easy enough to find miners--especially +foreigners--but a young American who wants to learn the colliery +business thoroughly is rare. I've had my eye on him, too." + +At this point, Otto, who had been edging near his superiors and who +had overheard the conversation, broke in. + +"You don't need to worry over Clem Swinton, Mr. Owens," he said. +"Clem'll get a good scare out o' this, an' that's about all." + +"How do you know, Otto?" The superintendent spoke good-humoredly, for +he knew and liked the old man. On more than one occasion, when a +strike was threatened Otto's good sense had held back his +fellow-miners from violent measures, and his chiefs recognized both +his popularity and his loyalty. "Did your friends the 'knockers' tell +you so?" + +"They did, Mr Owens," was the unperturbed answer. "You'll see if I +ain't right!" + +"I hope you are. I'll put you in charge of one of the gangs at that +end, if you like." + +"I was a-goin' to," responded Otto, who had never doubted that he +would be chosen for the post. + +By four o'clock in the afternoon, work had been thoroughly organized. +The pumps had got control of the water, a temporary ventilating +circuit had been established in an effort to keep the mine air +pure--for the main system had been destroyed by the fall, and the +mining gangs were at work, digging away the obstruction and loading +with feverish haste. + +This was a very different matter from hewing coal, which is always +laid out in regular seams and naturally divided by splitting planes. +The rock from the strata above had fallen into the galleries at all +angles, and was mixed up with the crushed and partly splintered +timbers of the roof and sides. Blasting had to be done on a small +scale and with extreme caution, for there was fire damp in the mine, +due to the lack of complete ventilation. + +The road-bed and rails, on which the cars for the transporting of the +debris must run, were flattened and twisted. It was necessary to lay +down new rails, however shakily. Moreover, since all the coal +conveyors and electric haulage systems were a tangle of wreckage, the +loaded cars had to be pushed by hand all the way along the underground +galleries, to the bottom of the shaft. + +The timbering gangs had a desperate job to do, for there was no solid +flat roof overhead under which props could be put, nor could enough +time be given to build a stable timber roof. Yet, upon the ability of +the timber boss hung the lives of all the rescuers. + +Night came, but without any slacking of the work. The electrical +engineer and his staff strung temporary wires, and, both below ground +and above ground, the colliery workings were as bright as day. + +The scene was one of furious rush. Neighboring mines sent gangs to +help. Cars loaded with mine timbers came from all the near-by +collieries. The news of the accident, published in the local evening +papers, had brought offers of help from every quarter. Before +midnight, officials from the Bureau of Mines were on the scene. + +At 3 o'clock in the morning, one of the great Rescue Cars maintained +by the Bureau rolled into the railroad yards of the colliery. In this +car were experts whose principal work was the direction of rescue +operations in mining disasters, and the car contained a complete +equipment of all the most modern scientific appliances. + +The first rays of Saturday's dawn showed the crowd still gathered +around the shaft. Owens, hollow-eyed from lack of sleep and from +watching, was still directing the operations, but with the advice and +assistance of government officials. + +The work was proceeding apace. The miners' picks rang incessantly, +without a second's pause, each man streaming with perspiration as he +toiled. Rails were put down as fast as the obstruction was dug away. +The timber gangs strove like madmen. Each shift was for two hours +only, with no pause between, for there were men and to spare. + +So the day and the night passed. + +At ten o'clock on Sunday morning, there came a cry-- + +"She's fallin' again!" + +A tremor ran through the mine. + +Another shifting of the strata imperilled all the excavation that had +been done. + +A few minutes' hesitation might have been fatal, but the timber gangs +rushed forward, though the props were bending on every side of them +and threatened, from second to second, to engulf them in falling rock. +In a haste that approached to panic, timbers were thrust up and +braced, so that but a small section of the roof fell. + +Some of the miners quit, the more readily as a couple of them were +badly hurt in the little fall, but for every man who showed the white +feather, there were a score to volunteer. They were led by Owens +himself, who was at the bottom of the shaft when the fall came. With +all the fire of his adventurous youth, he seized a pick and ran +forward to the most dangerous place, crying: + +"Those men are to be got out, or I'll die down here with them! Who +follows?" + +There was no farther talk of quitting. + +On Monday there arrived from Washington a Bureau of Mines expert, with +a new listening-device, known as a geophone. This is an instrument +worked on the microphone plan, so sensitive that it responds to the +slightest vibration, even through dense rock-strata, hundreds of feet +thick. + +"Stop work, all!" came the order. "Not a word, not a whisper! Keep +your feet and hands as still as if you were frozen!" + +There was a tense five minutes as the geophone expert listened. + +Presently he detached from his head the ear-clamps leading to the +microphone receiver. + +"The men are alive!" he declared. "I hear them knocking!" + +"To work, men!" cried the boss, and the picks rang with redoubled +zest. + +It was Tuesday, shortly before dawn, when the rescuers pierced the +first obstruction, only to find another and a worse break beyond. + +A draft of air sucked through. Almost immediately the caps of the +safety lamps showed blue. At the same time, the safety inspector +called, "Back from the face, men! Back, all!" + +He pointed to the little cage he had been holding. + +The canaries had collapsed! + +Carbon monoxide was pouring out, the deadly white damp, that kills as +it strikes! + +The hewers retreated, grumbling. + +"We can stand it, with reliefs!" they declared. + +But the Bureau man was adamant. + +"Get back when you're told," he said shortly. "We'll get those men out +all right. Bring the gas gang here!" + +Then it was that the researches of the trained workers of the Bureau +of Mines showed to their best advantage. + +Along the gallery came a line of strange-eyed and humped figures, +inhuman of appearance, wearing the newly devised respirators by which +men can work in the most vitiated air without harm. + +There are several types of these "gas masks," most of them based on +the principle of carrying compressed oxygen for breathing, and bearing +chambers containing chemicals which absorb the carbonic acid gas and +moisture of the exhaled breath. These masks proved their utility at +the great explosion at Courrieres in 1906, the greatest mining +disaster on record, when 1100 miners were killed. + + +[Illustration: INTO THE POISON-FILLED AIR! + +Rescue-Crew of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, equipped with +oxygen-breathing apparatus, facing the deadly "damps." + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: U. S. BUREAU OF MINES RESCUE CAR.] + + +[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW, SHOWING LIFE-SAVING EQUIPMENT.] + + +It was not long, however, before it became evident that there was a +limit to the usefulness of the respirators. Excellent as they were for +exploring galleries filled with poisonous gas, it was difficult to do +fast digging in them. The work slowed down. + +"Look here, Mr. Owens," protested Otto, "if we don't go no faster'n +we're goin' now, it'll be a month afore we get through. Let us go in! +If the gas is bad, we'll take hour shifts, or half-hour shifts, or +ten-minute shifts, if it comes to that! The men'll tough it out as +long as they can!" + +"What about it?" said the superintendent, to the Director of the +Bureau of Mines car. + +"If the men are willing to take the risk! But we can purify the air to +some extent, anyway. I've a man down there with a Burrell gas +detector, which is several hundred times more sensitive than any +canary, so that we can keep a close watch on the air changes, and +there are plenty of tanks of compressed oxygen to be got. I've some +here in the car, and a telegram to Pittsburgh will bring us more in a +few hours. We can put in another bellows, too. + +"This miner's right enough, about the digging. Fast work can't be done +in respirators. The men will have to use electric cap lamps, of +course, but I've a big supply in the car." + +Back into the poisoned air the miners went. That strain soon tested +out the men, and, as the old miner had said to Clem, a week before, +the young men and the single men were compelled to give up, first. Old +Otto stood up to his work with the best of them, but forty minutes at +a stretch was as long as any of the men could stand. + +On Tuesday night, the rescuers working out from the up-take shaft +broke through the obstruction into the North Gallery. The three men +who had been imprisoned there were found asleep, close to the sleep +that knows no waking, terribly poisoned by the lack of oxygen. + +The mine doctor, who had been waiting at the face until the moment of +breaking through, was the first through the hole. Rapidly he examined +the unconscious men. + +"One's nearly gone," he shouted back, "but I reckon we can save all +three!" + +A mighty cheer rolled through the galleries at the news that the North +Gallery men were saved. It was echoed at the shaft and above ground. + +Without loss of time, the men were brought to the open air and rushed +to the mine hospital. Two hours passed before the first of them +recovered consciousness. + +The geophone expert was at his bedside, waiting impatiently. + +"Have you been knocking any signals lately?" he asked, eagerly, as +soon as the survivor was able to speak. + +"No," the miner answered feebly, "we'd gave up. Thought it wasn't no +use." + +"I heard knocking again this morning," the expert announced. "The men +at the far galleries must be alive still!" + +Wednesday saw no diminution of the endeavor, but more than half the +miners of the rescue crews were down and out, suffering to a greater +or lesser degree from the terrible strain of the short shifts in the +deadly mixture of fire damp and white damp. Yet volunteers were as +plentiful as ever, for both the mine managers and the miners of +neighboring collieries stood ready to help. + +By Wednesday night came the cheering news that the roof overhead was +more solid and that the rock fall had not broken in the floor. The +cars rattled in and out, a car to each shaft in less than three +minutes, loaded and pushed by willing hands. With the North Gallery +men saved, both shafts had been set hauling the debris from the +galleries leading to where Clem, Anton, and Jim were imprisoned. + +At breakfast time, Thursday morning, just at the change of shift, the +geophone expert reported voices. + +The message was sped aloft: + +"The men are still alive! We have heard them talking!" + +The news seemed too good to be credited. Seven days the three men had +been entombed, seven days without food, water or light, seven days in +foul air, probably impregnated with noxious vapors.[1] + +[Footnote 1: A very similar accident, wherein a landslide accompanied +the fall of the coal bank, occurred at Blue Rock, Ohio, in 1856. +There, also, four entombed men were rescued after an imprisonment of +eight days. (F. R-W)] + +Suddenly, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the signal came from below to +the pit-head to cease hauling. + +What had happened? + +There could be but one explanation. The cars must have stopped. + +There had been another fall in the mine, blocking off the gallery. + +The rescuers were caught! + +Like wild-fire the news spread through the mining village. + +Great and excited as had been the crowd before, it was ten times more +excited now. Women, whose husbands were in the rescue gang, shook +their fists at Owens, clamoring that he had sent fifty men to death in +order to save three. The animosity spread to the miners who had lacked +the nerve to volunteer, and all sorts of wild rumors passed among the +crowd. + +There might have been serious trouble, but the gates of the high +fences around the pit-head enclosure had been closed, and the mine +guards, armed with rifles, patrolled the place. Ever since the days of +the "Molly Maguires,"--and many much more recent bloody outbreaks +among coal miners--colliery owners have maintained armed guards. + +Happily there was no actual trouble, though the crowd was getting +ugly, for, a little more than two hours later, there came the cheering +news that a supporting gang of rescue workers had driven a new gallery +through one of the pillars of coal, and that union with the old line +was effected. + +Again a faint rumble! + +Hopes dropped once more, but, after a brief inspection, the mining +engineer reported that the fall had taken place in another part of the +mine and that there was no immediate danger. + +At 8 o'clock that evening, voices could be faintly heard. An hour +later, using a megaphone, the rescuers made the survivors hear that +help was near them. + +"How many of you are there?" + +Thinly, so thinly that the voice could scarcely be heard, came back +the answer: + +"Three." + +"All alive and well?" + +"We are all alive. Jim Getwood and Anton Rover are unconscious. This +is Clem Swinton talking." + +"How is the air?" + +"Getting bad, now." + +"Keep your courage up! We'll have you out soon!" + +The hewers set to work in high spirits, hoping that every blow of the +pick would drive through. + +Then: + +"Stop work, men!" said the Bureau chief suddenly. + +The men stared at him, amazed at the order. All stopped, however, +except old Otto, who continued to use his pick-axe steadily. + +The official grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him round with none +too gentle a hand. + +"Stop, you thick-head, when you're told!" + +"What for? We'll be through this wall in an hour!" + +"You'll have a hole through it, maybe. But what good will that do?" + +Otto stared at the official amazed, and the Bureau of Mines man went +on: + +"You've had to start working in a respirator, after all, haven't you? +Why? Because of white damp! Haven't you got sense enough to see what +would happen as soon as you drove a hole through big enough to let the +white damp in and not big enough to get the men out? How long do you +think they'd last in this air, in their weakened state?" + +Otto looked at him a moment, and then nodded his head. + +"You're right, boss," he admitted. "I'm a fool. I'd never ha' thought +o' that. But what are you goin' to do?" + +"You don't seem to know enough to use your eyes," the official +answered, shortly, "and they told me you were one of the best men in +the mine! What do you suppose we've been doing all this cement +construction along this gallery for the last couple of shifts?" + +"I hadn't stopped to think," admitted Otto, taken aback. + +"Well, you'll have a chance to do some thinking, now." + +In effect, it was not surprising that Otto should not be able to see a +way out of the difficulty, for the problem was a serious one. + +The proportion of white damp, or carbon monoxide, in the air where the +rescuers had now been compelled to work in respirators, was strong +enough to kill a man in ten or fifteen minutes. In the undoubtedly +weakened state of the three survivors, a lesser time than this would +suffice to be fatal. + +If, in the course of digging away the obstruction which remained +between the rescuers and the entombed men, a small hole were made, or +if the rocks should lie in such a manner that there were +interstices between, Clem and his comrades would succumb before a +sufficiently large breach could be made in the wall whereby they might +be dragged through to liberty. + + +[Illustration: WHERE THE TIMBER GOES. + +Whole forests are cut down to hold up the mine galleries. On the +strength of this work the lives of the miners depend. + +_Courtesy of the Wigham Coal Co._] + + +[Illustration: GEOPHONE EXPERT LISTENING FOR TAPPING OF SURVIVORS. + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +[Illustration: BUILDING THE WALL FOR THE "SAND-HOGS." + +_Courtesy of U. S. Bureau of Mines._] + + +If, indeed, it were safe to blast, it might be possible to get rid of +the obstruction by the use of a heavy blast and then rush through and +grab the men. But this was impossible. The Burrell tester showed a +large proportion of methane gas or fire damp, and a blast of any size +might easily start an explosion which would not only wreck the mine, +but also kill every member of the rescue parties, while affording no +chance of getting the imprisoned men. + +How could the wall be taken down, without allowing the gas to +percolate through? + +"Stand back, men," said the official, "here come the 'sand hogs,' +now." + +Amazed, the colliers retreated from the coal face to give place to a +very different group of men. Small and wiry folk, these, dressed in an +entirely different fashion from the miners. The respirators gave them +the same goggle-eyed goblin faces. Not one of them had ever been in a +coal mine before. + +With a speed and dexterity that showed their knowledge of the work, +these men proceeded to build up, at the side of the gallery, close to +the point where the last obstruction still held, a solid face of +concrete, and rapidly cemented it to the somewhat elaborate +construction that had been in process of making all the preceding day, +and to which Otto had paid no heed. + +It was not long before it became evident that a completely closed room +was being made. Other gangs came along, carrying strange screw-doors +of iron, and a multitude of devices new to the eyes of miners. +Everything had been measured and prepared above-ground. It remained +only to throw the material together, according to a prearranged plan. + +By midnight, all was ready. + +Three "sand hogs," with a gallant young doctor who had volunteered, +prepared to enter. + +A steady throbbing sound told that machinery connected with an outlet +pipe--solidly embedded in the cement--had been set in motion. The +newly made walls threatened to bulge inwards, and the signal was given +to stop. + +Then a rushing noise was heard in the inlet pipe, similarly embedded. +The outer of the double doors was opened and the four men stepped in, +entering a tiny ante-chamber. They closed the outer door, which was +absolutely air-tight, opened the inner one, and passed into the +chamber built against the coal face, made of solid cement except for a +circle of coal a yard in diameter. + +A minute or two later, could be heard, faintly, the high screech of +some rapid-cutting machine. + +When Otto came back on his next shift, at 2 o'clock on Friday morning, +the sand hogs were still working. + +Curiosity overcame the old miner's desire not to seem ignorant. + +"Just what is that, sir?" he asked the Bureau official, who was still +on watch. + +"That you, Otto? So you want to know, now, do you? Well, that's a sort +of lightly made caisson, or air-tight chamber, with an air-lock or +double door. It's used a good deal for working under water, but for +the job we have here, it doesn't have to be very solidly built. + +"It's simple enough, when you think it out. We just cemented it up, +put in an air-pump to take out the gassy air that was in it, and then +turned in compressed air, with a pressure of a little more than one +atmosphere, just enough to keep any of the gas from entering the hole +that is being dug through the coal pillar." + +"Why can't gas get in? Gas'll go through coal." + +"Because the pressure from inside is bigger than from outside. The +compressed air is leaking through the coal and driving any gas away." + +"Why didn't you let us get in there to finish the job, if that's all +there is to it?" protested Otto, indignant that strangers should have +the glory of the final rescue, after the miners had done so much. + +"Because you couldn't stand it. Those men are sand hogs. They're used +to working in compressed air. Just as soon as a man gets into a +pressure of two or three atmospheres, unless he's mighty careful he's +apt to get dangerously ill. His blood absorbs too much air. While he's +under compression, he doesn't feel it so much, but if he comes out of +the compression too quickly, the surplus air in his blood can't come +out as slowly as it ought, and little bubbles form in the blood +current. That's deadly. Sometimes these bubbles cause a terrible +caisson disease known as the 'bends,' when all the muscles and joints +are affected; or it may give a paralysis known as 'diver's palsy,' +because divers working in compressed atmospheres suffer the same way; +all too often, it causes sudden death. So you see, Otto, it's not a +chance a man ought to take who knows nothing about it." + +"An' the sand hogs are diggin' in there?" + +"No, they're not digging. We put in a tunnelling machine driven by +compressed air, which is sometimes used for making sewers and the +like. It will bore an even, round hole, just big enough for a man to +crawl through, comfortably. + +"As soon as that hole is pierced through into the room where the +imprisoned men are, the doctor will go in, taking food, wine and +medical supplies, and three respirators as well. Then, when the +survivors are protected against the possible results of a sudden +inrush of gas, it'll be up to you men to get the rest of the wall down +as quick as you can." + +"So that's how it is! We'll be ready, sir, as soon as you give the +word." + +At 6 o'clock, on the Friday morning, the outer door of the caisson +clanged and the foreman of the sand hogs came out. + +"We've pierced through," he said. "The doctor's in there. He says all +the men are alive, as yet, but he doesn't know if they'll recover. +There's not much time to lose, judging by what he says." + +"At the wall, men!" came the order. + +The miners cheered. They were to have the glory of getting their +comrades out, after all. + +The picks hammered on the rock like hail. The cars roared through the +galleries once more. The cages shot upward with their loads. + +At 8 o'clock, a miner's pick went through the wall into the space +leading to the room beyond, but there was still a lot of rock to move +before a clear passage could be made. + +Otto remembered the warning of the Mine Bureau official, and realized +that, had he been left to himself, he would have killed his comrades +at the very moment of rescue. + +At 9 o'clock, the hole was big enough for one of the rescuers to pass. +As before, a doctor was the first to scramble through the opening. + +The excitement above ground was enormous. Each car might bring a +survivor! + +Every time that the cage was a few seconds late, hope rose high. + +"Keep silence, now," said the Mine Bureau's surgeon to the waiting +crowd. "No cheers or shouts remember! The nerves of the men are apt to +be at the breaking point." + +The silence added to the tension. The atmosphere was electric with +anxiety. + +What was happening? + +The cage was rising slowly, slowly! + +Surely the men were there! + +It reached the surface. + +A limp form was borne out and laid on a waiting stretcher. + +It was Anton, his face pinched, his lips blue. + +In the next cage, Jim Getwood was brought up. On seeing his condition, +the mine doctor shook his head dubiously. Artificial respiration was +begun, then and there. + +The cage rose for the third time, bearing Clem Swinton, unconscious +like his comrades, but clearly in better case. + +He stirred as he reached the open air, and his glance encountered that +of the mine owner. + +"I said American mine pluck would get us," he gasped, "if we stuck out +long enough!" + +And he relapsed into unconsciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EIGHT DAYS OF DARK + + +The three comrades were saved, indeed, but it was none too soon. Eight +days below ground without food or light and without any sure hope of +rescue, had brought them to a low ebb. + +Clem, owing to his longer experience in the mine and his more prudent +conserving of the scanty supply of food that fell to his share, had +withstood the strain better than the two other survivors. He was badly +shaken, however, and his nerves were on the edge of collapse. His +efforts to help his companions had held him tense during those +unending hours of darkness and famine, and his optimism had kept him +from the ravages of despair. + +Anton had received a terrible shock, both to body and mind. His hands +and feet had become deadened, as though frozen, and the most vigorous +treatment failed to restore the circulation. From time to time he was +seized by convulsive fits; resembling those of epilepsy, and +characteristic of white damp poisoning. His speech remained thick and +mumbling, and he repeated the same word over and over, a score of +times, without being conscious that he had spoken it. + +Jim Getwood, the prospector, was in the weakest condition of the +three. He lacked the degree of immunity that Clem possessed through +his half-dozen years below ground, and that Anton possessed, in a +minor degree, through heredity. His former life of adventure in the +open air made him all the more susceptible to the poison gases. +Violent headaches brought him to the verge of madness, and alternated +with periods of delirium. He could retain little or no food, and, +several times, the doctor despaired of saving his life. + +Yet, in the history of coal-mining, there are several cases on record +in which men have been even a longer time below ground and recovered. +In a French colliery, two out of thirty men who were buried for +fourteen days, recovered; in a Welsh colliery, one man survived out of +seventy who had been entombed for seventeen days. + +A still more astonishing case occurred in a Scotch coal-mine. A big +roof-fall in a pit in Ayrshire had blocked off all the outlets to the +shaft, save one, by which all the miners were able to escape. One man, +however, finding that the way to the shaft was clear, returned to the +face of the coal where he had been working, in order to get his coat. + +On his way back to the shaft, a second fall occurred, blocking him in. +This happened in 1835, when rescue work was still done in a primitive +fashion. It was not until the twenty-third day that the miner was +reached. He was alive, but in a dying state, his body being covered +with a species of fungus that grows upon decaying mine timbers. He +lived three days after being brought to the surface. + +The longest record of endurance under such conditions occurred in +France, some years later. A well-digger, near Lyons, was buried alive +with a comrade, the sides of a deep well caving in after such a manner +that an air-space of 37 feet was left above the entombed men. + +It was impossible to try to remove the obstruction, for any effort to +do so would only cause the earth and stones to fall on them and crush +the men. In order to attempt rescue, it was necessary to sink a well +as deep as the first, and, when the full depth was reached, to drive +an underground gallery from one to the other. + +Up to the very last day, the rescuers were able to hear tappings, sure +sign that at least one of the men was alive. On the thirtieth day the +rescue was effected. The oldest of the two well-diggers was found +alive, but he was in a terrible condition because of the infection +caused by the corpse of his comrade, who had died two weeks before. +He, also, lived three days after his rescue, but the doctors were +unable to save his life. + +None of these men, however, had to withstand the effects of white damp +in the air; on the other hand, none of them had any supply of food, +however small, to begin with. + +Clem's account of the experiences of the three men in the mine was +awaited with a great deal of interest. Reporters from various +newspapers hung around the mine for several days, waiting for a chance +to get his story. The mine doctor refused permission, however, until +he was assured that the young miner was well on his way to health, +fearing that a reawakening of the memories of that terrible week might +bring about a relapse. Finally he admitted the reporters to the +hospital ward where the three survivors lay, though forbidding Anton +and Jim to speak. + +Clem was willing enough to tell his tale. + +He began with the incident in the cage, on the morning of the +accident, when he had joked with Otto, to the old miner's manifest +objection. He told of Otto's refusal to work that day, according to +the account given him by Jim. He described, also, how Anton had +gallantly abandoned his own chance of safety to come and warn him, and +explained how they had vainly searched an outlet in the direction of +the North Gallery. + +"Right after we met Jim," he went on, "we ran as fast as we could +towards the old workings, to see if we could get out there. I didn't +think there was much chance, because, so far as I could make out, the +fall had happened between where we were working and the shafts. But it +was worth trying, anyway. When we found the wall down, in that +section, and the rock piled up clear to the roof, I knew we were +trapped, sure. + +"Thanks to what I had learned in the night-school classes, I had a +pretty good idea of the general lay-out of the mine. I knew how the +faults lay, and miners, who'd been in this mine a long time, had told +me how gassy the old workings were. + +"In a lesson I'd had on mine ventilation, we'd been told that the +ventilating plant, here, had been enlarged twice over to try to keep +the mine clear of gas. It wasn't hard to figure out that, with the +ventilation stopped, gas would soon begin to collect, and that would +be the end of us. + +"There was a big-enough cap on our safety lamps, as it was, and it +seemed to me that the blue cone grew longer as I looked. I told Jim +that it wasn't safe for us to hang around those old workings, we'd get +poisoned before we knew it and lose any chance we had of rescue. + +"Jim didn't see it my way, at first. + +"'Might as well die here as anywhere!' he said. + +"I didn't like that spirit. I'd read in a book, somewhere, that if a +chap gives up hope, he dies a whole lot quicker than if he keeps up +his spirits. It was about Anton that I was worrying most. I was bent +on trying to get the youngster cheerful if I could, because he was +moping over Otto's prophecy that there was going to be an accident. +You've heard about that, I suppose?" + +The reporters nodded, and Owens, who was listening, added: + +"We've heard a lot about it. The old man called the turn, all right. +But maybe you don't know that he told me, too, that you'd be rescued +and that you'd come out of it, alive?" + +"Did he?" queried Clem, in amazement. + +"Point-blank. It's a good thing for you he did, too, for a whole lot +of first-class men volunteered for the rescue work who couldn't have +been persuaded to enter the mine again, otherwise. The old man stuck +to his belief, even after most of us thought you would be dead. The +geophone expert backed him up, by saying he heard tapping, but it was +Otto's persistence that did the most." + +"It's a queer thing he should guess so closely," commented Clem +thoughtfully. + +But a reporter from a Pittsburgh evening paper, who was anxious to get +the survivor's story on the telegraph wires, broke in impatiently: + +"What was the first thing you did, after you'd found you were +trapped?" + +"We got busy and made a barricade," Clem answered. "I showed Jim and +Anton that, in the old workings where we were, there was a lot of gas. +Our lamps showed it up, good and strong. Now, back in the rooms where +Jim and I had been hewing, there wasn't any gas to speak of. We could +go back there, of course, and that was what Jim wanted to do. + +"But I figured out that, since the ventilation was shut off from our +rooms, the gas which had accumulated in the old workings and which was +steadily seeping through the coal in that section would gradually +creep along the galleries our way. If that happened, we'd be down and +out, before the rescuers had a chance to cut their way through. We +could put up a barricade, though, and cut off the gassy part of the +mine. + +"Jim didn't want to work, at first. If he was going to die, he said, +he might as well die of gas as of hunger. He talked a lot of rot about +its being the easiest death. I was that sore, I could have kicked him. + +"Anton was willing enough to work, though, and when Jim saw the two of +us actually at work, he got over his grouch, went and got his pick and +shovel and slaved as hard as any of us. We piled up the coal and rock, +good and thick, and then scraped up all the fine dust we could find +and made a thick blanket of that to keep the gas from coming through, +as best we could. + +"Putting up that barricade made us mighty hungry. We were working fast +because the gas there was bad, and we knew the quicker we got away +from it, the better for us. Being hungry didn't do us much good. +There wasn't much grub. + +"We had only two pails of dinner, Jim's and mine. Anton's dinner pail +was out by the entry where he took the loaded cars. So we pooled the +food, and divided it into three exactly equal parts, each one of us to +hide his share, and to eat it as quickly or as slowly as he pleased. + +"Jim ate his at once, said he'd rather have one good meal than a lot +of little bites which didn't mean anything. Anton made his last +longer, he still had some food left when the lamps burned out. I only +took a bite or two of mine, at that time, and managed to make eight +meals of it, though, of course, I couldn't tell how many hours or days +apart those meals were." + +"How long did the safety-lamps burn?" asked the reporter. + +"Eight hours after we were caught. They all went out within a few +minutes of each other--and we had them pretty well turned down, too. I +looked at my watch, just as the last one flickered out. It wasn't +quite a quarter past eight." + +"You had no matches?" the reporter asked. + +"Matches? What a fool idea!" exclaimed Clem, amazed at the reporter's +ignorance. "I should say not! Even the lamps are locked. We could +have had light three times as long, if it wasn't for that, burning +first one and then the other, but there's no way to light a lamp below +ground. + +"Before the lamps went out, each of us had scraped up a pile of coal +dust to sleep on. It was plenty warm down there, and getting warmer +all the time. The lack of air made us all heavy and drowsy. We were +all asleep pretty soon after the lamps went out. + +"We woke up in the dark. It was black as pitch, a blackness which +weighed on you. It hurt. One's eyes wanted to fight against it. + +"How long had we been asleep? An hour, ten hours, or the whole +twenty-four? Not one of us could tell. + +"But the sleep had done one good thing. It had helped Jim a lot. He +was full of pep, again. The old prospecting optimism had come back. He +was dead sure that he could find a way out. All it needed was looking +for, he thought. + +"Anton wasn't awake yet, and I didn't want to wake him up. The longer +he slept, the better. I tried to reason with Jim that we'd already +gone to all the openings there could be, but he wouldn't listen to +reason. He wouldn't stay with us. He was restless. He just had to be +up and wandering. + +"'How are you going to find your way back?' I asked him. 'It's easy to +get lost in the dark, and you don't know much about the mine.' + +"'I'll be back with a full dinner-pail while you're sitting there +doing nothing!' he boasted, and off he started. I'd have gone with +him, quick enough, but I didn't want Anton to wake and find himself +alone. + +"After a while Anton woke up. I heard him munching, so I knew he was +at his grub. I warned him not to finish it all at once, but he was so +hungry he couldn't stop. I couldn't blame him much, at that. I was so +ravenous that my stomach seemed to be tying itself up in knots, and +the flesh inside seemed to crawl. + +"I had to tell him that Jim had gone off by himself. Anton didn't say +much to that. In fact, he didn't want to talk at all. He was brooding +all the time. Twice I overheard him muttering to himself, and both +times he was talking about Otto and his warning. + +"I could see he was blaming me, but I'll say this for the boy--he +never once said that he regretted having come back to warn me." + +"That," interrupted the superintendent emphatically, "shows the boy is +good stuff. It takes a good deal of moral courage to keep from blaming +some one else, when you're in a pinch. I remember, once, in West +Australia--" He checked himself. "Go ahead with your story, lad." + +Clem resumed. + +"Some time after--it seemed about an hour, though it may have been a +good deal less or a good deal more--we heard shouting. + +"'Jim's found the way out!' cried Anton, and scrambled to his feet. + +"I grabbed him as he rose. + +"'Don't run off in that fool fashion,' I said to him. 'Make sure where +the shouts are coming from, first. You've been down in a mine long +enough to know that the echoes are apt to make a noise sound as if it +comes in a directly opposite direction from the right one.' + +"'I'm going to find Jim!' he insisted. + +"'If you must run chances, why, I suppose you must,' said I. 'But I'm +going to stay here, where the air's good. Try to get back here. Keep +in touch. You take ten paces forward, then stop and shout. I'll +answer. If you don't hear me, come back.' + +"He promised and started off. For the first fifty yards or +so--supposing that he shouted at every ten paces--I heard him clear +enough. + +"Then--not another sound! What had happened to him? + +"I shouted again and again. + +"No reply! + +"What was I going to do? Both Jim and Anton were wandering around +loose in the mine galleries, and they might stray until they dropped, +without ever finding the way back. I yelled till I was hoarse. + +"Then I got another idea. I took my pick, and kept on hitting the roof +in three regular strokes: 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' and then a pause--just like +that." He illustrated on the head-rail of his hospital bed. "I knew +that the vibration would carry along the rock, farther than the +voice." + +"That's what the geophone man heard," Owens commented to the reporter. +"Go on, lad!" + +"I kept that up," Clem went on, "until my arms ached. I was so tired +in my back and so weak with hunger that bright violet spots kept +dancing before my eyes. But I kept on, just the same. + +"Then I heard a shout, and, presently, Anton came staggering along, +dead beat. He'd been guided back by the sound of the tapping. + +"'No sign of Jim?' I asked + +"'Nothing!' + +"He lay down on the coal dust, and, pretty soon, I heard him breathing +hard. He'd gone right off to sleep, exhausted, poor kid!" + +"How long do you suppose he'd been wandering?" queried the reporter. + +"No way of knowing. But I'm pretty husky, and I can stand an eight +hours' shift of coal hewing without getting too tired. And, I tell +you, I was about done out, just from reaching up and tapping that roof +with a pick. Of course, I was weak. But I reckon it must have been +eight hours, good, that the youngster was straying in those mine +galleries, in the dark, alone. Maybe it was more. + +"I must have gone to sleep, too, but it didn't seem for long. +Half-asleep, I heard Anton say, + +"'There's a rat gnawing at my stomach!' + +"I woke up right quick, at that, for though mine rats are ugly +customers, I thought if we could catch a rat or two, that might give +us food. But what the boy meant was that he was so hungry that it felt +as if a rat were there. + +"I wasn't exactly hungry, leastways, not all the time. The pain came +in cramps, that were bad enough while they lasted, but I didn't feel +anything much between. My tongue was getting swollen, though. I knew +what that meant. Drink of some sort we must have. + +"'Look here, Anton,' I said, 'you tap on the rock, in threes, the same +as I did, and I'll go try to find water. I know the lay-out of this +mine better than you do, and there used to be a sump (hole) near the +goaf (waste rock taken from the main gallery roofs). Maybe there'll be +water there.' + +"I started off, cheerfully enough. I reckoned I knew the mine. So I +do, with a lamp, but I didn't have any idea what it meant to wander in +the pitch-dark. The galleries were low there, too, not more than four +feet high. I had to keep one hand stretched out in front of me to keep +from going headlong into the wall, and the dinner pail that I was +carrying in that hand struck the side more times than I could count; I +kept the other hand above my head, to keep me from cracking my skull +against the cross-timbers holding up the low roof. + +"Before I'd gone a hundred yards, I was so mixed up that I didn't know +which way I was going or where I'd come from. It's a horrible feeling. +The dark is like a trap that you can't feel and you can't see, but you +know it's there. It's being blind with your eyes open. + +"Then it was so ghastly silent, too. A blind man can always hear +something. There's life around him. Down there, not a sound! I'd lost +all hearing of the 'Tap! Tap! Tap!' I'd told Anton to make. + +"All sorts of nasty things came into my head. I might step into a hole +and get crippled. I might walk straight into a pocket of gas, and, +without any safety lamp to tell me of the danger, be poisoned then and +there. The roof might be bulging down, right over my head, ready to +fall and I'd have no warning. + +"I tried to reason it out that all these ideas were just imagination. +Reasoning didn't do much good. Fright got a grip of me. I was in a +cold sweat all over. My heart thumped so that it hurt. I was just +horribly scared, right through, and I had to bite my lips till they +were raw to keep from screaming. + +"I'd have gone under, sure, if I'd been alone, but I had the kid to +think of, and every time the tin dinner pail banged against the wall, +it reminded me of what I'd come to look for. Anton would die of thirst +in a few hours, if I didn't find water. As for Jim, I reckoned he was +probably done for, anyway. + +"I think--I'm not sure but I think so--I had a spell of running +crazily round and round in a circle, trying to get away from +something--I don't know what. It was then I gave my head a bang," he +pointed to the bandage still on his head, "and while that stunned me a +bit, it steadied me, too. + +"By that time, I was lost for fair. I couldn't hear Anton's tapping. I +couldn't hear anything. I tried to turn back and got all mixed up in +the run of the galleries. I wandered this way and that, as blindly as +if I'd never been in the mine before. + +"And then I heard a sound like the ticking of a big clock. + +"That scared me more than anything. + +"I remembered all Otto's' stories about the 'knockers,' and, though I +didn't believe them, I couldn't get them out of my head. Somebody, +something, was knocking softly underground! + +"It wasn't human, that was sure! + +"It couldn't be Anton, because he'd been told to tap in threes. It +couldn't be Jim, for the ticks were too close together to be the +strokes of a pick; besides, I knew that Jim had left his tools behind. +It couldn't be rescuers, because the sound was near me. Near me? It +was almost at my ear. + +"Sometimes breaking timber cracks. It might be a prop gradually giving +way, I thought, just ready to let down a new fall of rock on my head. +But a creaking timber is sometimes loud, sometimes soft, and this +ticking, as I said, was regular, like a big clock. + +"Then I guessed! + +"It was drops of water falling! + +"I could have shouted with relief, but down there, in the dark and the +stillness, the silence was so heavy that I was afraid to shout. + +"I felt my way forward, one step and then a second, and the ticking +stopped. + +"I took a third step and it began again. I stepped backward, and a +little to one side, and the drop fell on my bare shoulder. + +"I took my dinner-pail, moved it forward, backward, this way and that, +until at last I heard the drops falling in the tin. + +"I was too thirsty to wait long. As soon as there was a teaspoonful of +water in the pail, I moistened my tongue with it. That was a relief! I +was able to hold out the tin pail, the next time, until there was a +reasonable drink. + +"Ugh, it was bitter! It tasted coppery and twisted up my mouth, but it +was liquid, at least. After I had a drink or two, I felt better. My +scare passed away. + +"Then I began to think a bit. If water was dropping as quickly as +that, it must be running somewhere. But where? I got down on my hands +and knees and began to feel along the floor. Here it was damp; there, +dry. I crawled along for a few minutes, following the line of the damp +floor, and, sure enough, came to a hollow where a good-sized puddle +had collected. There I was able to half-fill the pail. + +"So far, I was all right. I'd found the water. But how was I to get +back to Anton? And where was Jim, if he were still alive? I hadn't any +idea, any more, of which way to turn. + +"Then I got a scheme. Suppose I just walked straight ahead, keeping my +right hand against the wall, and turning to the right at every opening +I came to? I knew that we were hemmed in at every point. Therefore, I +figured, we must be inside some kind of an irregular circle. The place +where we had made our beds was in the room where I had been working, +which was in the end gallery, and, at that rate, somewhere on the +circumference of that circle. If I kept on going, long enough, I'd be +bound to strike the place. + +"Off I started with the pail half-full of water. I walked, in and out, +up one gallery and down another, coming back to the rock falls which +had blocked the way, and on again. I tried to count my paces, and, +though I forgot sometimes, I figured that I'd done about seven +thousand paces when I heard, faintly: + +"'Tap! Tap! Tap!' + +"It seemed to come from behind me. + +"I wasn't to be fooled by the echoes, though, and so I kept on as I +had been going. Just a little further and I turned a corner and came +to the place where we had made our beds. + +"Anton was down. + +"He hadn't been able to keep on tapping on the roof, as I had told him +to. He hadn't the strength. But the kid's pluck was holding, though +his vitality wasn't. He'd taken his maul (a large hammer used for +driving wedges in the coal) and was lifting this from the ground and +then dropping it, three strokes at a time, like I'd told him to do. + +"When I spoke to him he couldn't answer. His tongue was so swollen +that it just about filled up his whole mouth. + +"I gave him some water, a sip or two at a time, and then, when I +thought he could stand it, a real drink. Even then, I had to go slow, +for my dinner pail was only half-full. + +"I still had a few bites of food left, but I wasn't hungry, I'd gone +too far for that. My mouth was sore, too. The copperas water screwed +up my palate and my tongue like eating unripe bananas does, only a lot +worse. It worked the same way on Anton." + +"It was that water that helped you, though," put in the mine doctor. +"The sulphate of iron in it lowered the activity of the body, drying +it up, so that you could go on with less loss of tissue." + +"It tasted nasty enough to have anything in it! Just the same, it was +water. When I woke up from a nap, I found the pail empty. The +youngster had finished it, but when I rowed him for doing it, he +couldn't remember having drunk it at all. He was only half-conscious, +any way. + +"My tongue was beginning to swell again. I saw we'd have to shift our +headquarters so as to be near that water, or the time would come when +we'd be too weak to go hunting it. So, following the same scheme of +making a whole circle of the part of the mine where we were trapped, I +went back the way I'd come, making sure that Anton was following right +behind me. + +"It seemed a whole lot farther off than I'd thought, I suppose because +I was afraid of passing the place. After a couple of hours, though, I +heard the sound of the dropping water. It was great to hear it again! +We took some long drinks there, I can tell you. Then we scooped up +with our hands some coal dust to lie on, and slumped down again. I was +beginning to feel pretty weak." + +"About what day do you suppose that was?" the reporter asked. + +"I haven't any idea. Sometimes I thought we'd only been down there a +few hours, sometimes it seemed like weeks. I suppose, really, it was +about the third or the fourth day. + +"I woke up suddenly. + +"Somebody was laughing! + +"It was a queer high-pitched laugh, and half-choked, something like +the neighing of a horse. + +"Anton heard it, too. + +"'The knockers are coming for us!' he said to me, hoarsely. 'It's just +like Father said. They're laughing at us!' + +"Well, I don't mind telling you my blood ran a bit cold. I'm not +superstitious, but, for the second time in that mine, I was scared +enough to run. But where to? + +"Anton was gasping horribly; it made me worse to hear him. I put my +hand on his shoulder to quiet him. He was trembling and shaking, like +as he had a chill. + +"The laughing came nearer, and louder. + +"The louder it got, the less I was scared. After the first few seconds +of fright, I got all right again, and started to think quietly. Then +the real reason came to me. + +"It must be Jim! + +"I let out a loud shout. + +"The laughing stopped dead. + +"Then I knew it was Jim; things that weren't human wouldn't care if I +shouted or not. + +"'Keep quiet!' I said to Anton. 'It's Jim, and he's coming this way.' + +"Presently the laughter began again, a sort of half choked scream, +like I said, but it was laughing just the same. It made my flesh creep +to hear it. Somehow it wasn't quite human, more like an animal trying +to laugh like a man. + +"It was quite close to us, now. I got up, for I could hear steps +shuffling along the gallery. + +"Suddenly, something bumped into me, though I thought the steps were +several yards away. + +"It was Jim, sure enough. + +"He gave a sort of screech and both his hands went up to my throat, in +a strangling grip. + +"I'm a good deal bigger than Jim, but I was like a baby in his hands. +He had me like in a vise. + +"'Help! Help! Anton!' I called. 'He's throttling me! It's Jim!' + +"At that, the kid got up, tottering. He was weak enough, but, as you +know, he's really got muscles of iron. In spite of his scare--for he +was dead sure that it was something supernatural--he came to my help. + +"The minute he got his hands on Jim and found that it was really flesh +and blood that he was tackling, and not any sort of goblin, he got +furious. He wrenched at his opponent savagely, and the more furious he +got, the more his strength came back. I could hear his sinews +cracking. + +"But Jim's grip was that of a madman. + +"It was a good thing for me that Anton was the son of the champion +wrestler of the mine. Despite his powerful muscles, he could do +nothing, absolutely nothing against the madman. I felt him let go, and +thought that was the end. My head was bursting, my heart fluttering. + +"Then, with a swift change of hold, the youngster took Jim in a +wrestler's grip, one he had learned from his father. It's a death +hold, unless the other weakens. I heard Jim gasp. The clutch loosened. +At last I could breathe and I shook myself free. + +"But the madman was not tamed. His fists shot out like flails. One +blow took Anton full in the chest. I heard his body crash against the +wall. I could do little to help him, that choking grip had taken away +every ounce of force I had. + +"There wasn't any need for my help. That blow had roused Anton to a +rage but little less than that of his mad foe. He knew nothing of +boxing, but he could wrestle. It was a grim fight, down there in the +dark! + +"Despite the madman's blows, Anton ran in, clutched him in some kind +of a wrestler's grip, lifted him clear off his feet and threw him over +his shoulder. + +"The madman fell heavily on the rock floor and lay like a log. + +"For a minute or two we panted, saying nothing. Then, + +"'Have you killed him, Anton?' I asked. + +"'I don't know. I hope so,' he answered savagely. + +"I felt pretty much that way, myself, at first, for my throat felt as +if it were twisted clear out of shape. But, as I began to feel a bit +better, I thought of Jim lying there. + +"After all, he hadn't had any water! Small wonder he'd gone mad. + +"Staggering--for that grip had nearly done for me--I got over beside +him and knelt down. His heart was still beating, pretty rapidly, at +that. But his jaws were almost locked upwards, forced apart by his +thickened and swollen tongue. + +"I got some water into his mouth, but with difficulty. I couldn't pry +his tongue down far enough to get more than a drop or two in. But I +kept at it--hours, I reckon--and kept on giving him sips of water +until he began to breathe a bit more naturally. + +"Then I reckon I fainted, for, when I came to, I was lying right +across Jim. He was still unconscious, but the tongue was a whole lot +better and he was nearly able to close his mouth. I poured a lot more +water into him. Then I tried to give him a bite from the bread I had +left, but he couldn't swallow. So I gave it to Anton, who was moaning +a good bit. + +"Me, I was getting less and less hungry. The gnawing pain that I'd +felt at the beginning, especially that first time that I was hunting +water, only came back at longer and longer intervals. In between, I +felt quite all right, rather jolly, in fact. I caught myself laughing, +once, the way I'd heard Jim, and I had hard work to stop it. +Hysterical, I reckon. + +"I must have slept a lot, or fainted, I don't know which. I remember +having dreamed that I was rescued, oh, a score of times! Always, when +I was asleep, there seemed plenty of light, generally a bright violet. +It was only when I woke up that it was dark. The blackness was like a +rock lying on my chest. The air I breathed seemed to taste black. + +"Jim got violent, more than once. To end up, I had to tie his feet +with my belt, so he couldn't get up on his feet. I wasn't going to +risk any more fights like we'd had with him at the start. + +"When he wasn't struggling, he was talking. He talked nearly all the +time, and mostly about some gold mine that he'd found, that he knew +would make him a millionaire and that he wanted to go back to. He +described the place, over and over again. I believe I could go right +there, just from hearing him. The only thing that quieted him was when +I answered. Then he'd shut right up, only to begin again, after a +while. + +"What worried me the most about Jim was that he couldn't keep the +bitter water on his stomach. He'd vomit it up, almost as soon as I'd +get it down. I kept pouring it into him, just the same. + +"When I put the last bite of grub into Anton--he was dead +unconscious--it seemed like the end of everything. I lost all track of +time. I don't know what happened, after that. I got quite +light-headed, I think. + +"Half the while, I didn't know whether the time I was dreaming was +real, or the time I was awake. I knew somehow that the air was getting +bad, and I remember thinking that this might be because a rescue party +was trying to get down the wall. + +"But there was always plenty of light when I was asleep, and I liked +that, so, every time I was awake, I tried to go back to sleep." + +"Didn't you hear any sounds of the rescue party coming nearer?" Owens +asked. + +"I heard them all the time, even when they weren't there," Clem +answered. "How was I to tell what was real and what was dream? + +"On one side was Jim telling about his gold mine, on the other was +Anton, crying out from time to time that the knockers had him. Poor +kid, he seemed to be in a nightmare all the while." + +"But when the rescuers first spoke to you," the owner of the mine +suggested, "you answered naturally enough." + +"Perhaps I did, but I don't remember hearing them, at all, and I don't +remember answering, at least, not more than I had a dozen times +before. I'm not sure that I remember when the doctor came in and put a +gas mask on me. It's all sort of vague. + +"The first thing I do remember was coming up to the top and seeing a +green tree. The trees weren't green when I went down a week ago, and I +hadn't dreamed about trees, at all. + +"Right now, it's hard to realize that I was buried down there for a +week. If I wasn't so feeble, I'd think it was only a nightmare." + +"And about this gold mine of Jim's," queried the reporter, scenting +another phase of the story. "What was that?" + +Jim, in a neighboring bed, half-raised himself in anxiety, but his +comrade threw him a reassuring look. + +"You'll have to ask Jim that, when he gets better," Clem answered. "I +can't give away his secret. It might be true!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LURE OF GOLD + + +In Clem's story one word had been spoken, the one word which, in all +ages, has been as a raging fire in men's minds, which has sent scores +to die on the scorching deserts of Africa and Australia, or on the +borders of the Arctic Seas, which has bred fevered adventure, +lawlessness, and murder wherever it has been spoken, the word: + +Gold! + +Many years had passed since Owens had felt this auriferous fever, many +years since his heart had beat impetuously as in the wild days of the +camps of his youth, but the word had rung again in his ears as of old. +The subtle poison of the lure was in his veins once more. He could not +sleep for thinking of the old prospector lying almost at the point of +death in his own mine hospital, and, perhaps, dying with the secret of +millions, untold. + +He reasoned with himself for his foolishness. Over and over again he +reminded himself that he was settled for life as a colliery-owner, and +that coal mines bring far more wealth than gold mines have ever done. +The spell was stronger than his reason. Night after night he sat late +in his library, reading anew the lore of gold that he had once known +so well, and dreaming avid visions over the pages. + +The records of human daring do not reach so far back in the dawn of +history as to show a time when gold was not a goal. In the earliest +laws as yet known--the Laws of Menes in Egypt, B. C. 3000--both gold +and silver were sought and used as standards of value in the royal and +priestly treasuries. Breastplates and ornaments of gold were buried +with the mummies of kings and nobles of Egypt and Mycenae. + +There was gold in Chaldea and Armenia. The fable of Tantalus, who kept +unlawful possession of a golden dog which had been stolen from Zeus, +the great All-Father, was a legend of the gold placer deposits near +Mt. Sipylus, north of Smyrna. The earliest records show a knowledge of +gold in the Caucasus, Ural, and Himalaya Mts. + +The Phoenicians, most adventurous of all the early races, went on long +expeditions to distant lands in search of gold. Cadmus, the +Phoenician, in B. C. 1594, sent miners to Thrace and established a +regular gold-trade thence. As a curious forecast of what was to happen +on the other side of the world, tens of centuries later, the ancient +historian Strabo tells of a wagon-wheel uncovering a nugget of gold +near Mt. Pangeus, not far from the present Bulgarian frontier. + +One of the oldest of all the tales of high adventure was the Quest of +the Golden Fleece, and the fifty heroes who set out on that quest in +the oared ship _Argo_--and hence called the Argonauts--have given +their name to gold-seekers for hundreds of generations. Few tales in +all the world are so wonderful as the old Greek legend of Jason and +the Golden Fleece, a quest of daring, of magic, and of peril. + +The Golden Fleece, itself, was a thing of mystery. Its origin harks +back to the earliest days of the Age of Fable. Thus, in its briefest +form, runs the tale: + +In a minor kingdom of what is now Northern Greece, there lived a king, +Athamas, son of the god of the sea, who had married Nephele, the +goddess of the clouds. But Athamas proved faithless and fell in love +with Ino, grand-daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and +beauty. The cloud-goddess, indignant at this neglect, disappeared, +leaving behind her two children, Phrixus and Helle. + +It was not long before the stepmother conceived a violent hatred for +the children of the first wife. Counting on the spell of her beauty, +she tried to persuade Athamas to get rid of them, but the king +refused. Then Ino fell to base plotting. She brought about a famine in +the land by secretly heating the grains of wheat before they were sown +and thus preventing their growth; then, by a false oracle, she +persuaded the king that the gods were angry and would only be appeased +if he offered his eldest-born, Phrixus, as a sacrifice. For the sake +of his country, the king agreed. + +All was in readiness, Phrixus was on the altar, the officiating priest +had the knife raised, when masses of cloud and fog rolled over the +scene and Nephele appeared, leading a ram with a fleece all threads of +gold. So thick was the fog, that, in an instant, it blotted out all +vision; the priest's hand stayed uplifted, for he could no longer see +his victim to deal the fatal blow. Then came a rift in the fog, and, +through the swirl of mist, Athamas and Ino saw Phrixus and his sister +leap upon the back of the gold-fleeced ram. + +Down the mountain and across the plain the great ram sped, and plunged +into the waters of the strait that lies between Europe and Asia Minor, +breasting the waves with ease. Helle fell from the back of the ram and +was drowned, so that the strait (now known as the Dardanelles) was +known to the Greeks as the Hellespont. + +Phrixus reached the other side in safety. Following the counsel of his +cloud-mother, he sacrificed the ram to the honor of the gods and took +the fleece to Aeetes, king of Colchis. Aeetes at first received him with +honor, but later proved false to his promises of friendship and made +Phrixus a prisoner. The Golden Fleece was hung up on a tree in the +grove of Ares (god of battle and grandfather of Ino), and there the +mystic treasure was guarded by a dragon which never slept. + +Now Pelias, brother of Athamas, had usurped the throne of Thessaly. +When Jason, son of the true king, Aeson, had grown to man's estate, he +presented himself before Pelias and challenged him to surrender the +kingdom. + +The wily Pelias, knowing well that the people of Thessaly would side +with Jason, did not refuse outright. He demanded, only, that Jason +should show his rightfulness to be deemed a king's son by some act of +heroic bravery. Such a test was not unusual in the Days of Fable, and +Jason agreed. + +"This will I do," said Jason, "name the deed!" + +Cunningly the king answered, + +"Bring me the Golden Fleece!" + +Jason, high-hearted, set out on the quest. Since he must cross the +sea, there must be built a ship. Through the advice of the +cloud-goddess, his mother, he appealed for help to Athene, goddess of +wisdom, and a bitter enemy of Ares and his grand-daughter Ino. The +fifty-oared ship Argo was built, and Athene herself placed in the prow +a piece of oak endowed with the power of speaking oracles. + +The Quest of the Golden Fleece was a deed worthy of heroes, and none +but heroes were members of the crew. Such men--demigods, most of +them--had never been gathered in a crew before. Orpheus, of the +charmed lyre; Zetes and Calais, sons of the North Wind; Castor and +Pollux, the divine Twins; Meleager, the hunter of the magic boar; +Theseus, the slayer of tyrants; the all-powerful Hercules, son of +Zeus, whose twelve labors were famous in all antiquity; and others of +little lesser fame, were numbered in that gallant company. + +Many and strange were their adventures in the _Argo_, of which there +is not space to tell. The tale is one of ever-increasing wonder: the +battle with the Harpies, evil birds with human heads; the peril of the +Sirens, whose deadly singing was drowned by Orpheus' song; the menace +of the Symplegades, or moving rocks, which clashed together when a +ship passed between; the fight with the Stymphalian birds, who used +their feathers of brass as arrows; and many more. The story of the +voyage of the _Argo_ is a story that will never die. + +Despite their wanderings and their adventures, the Quest of the Golden +Fleece remained the goal of the Argonauts. After months--or it may +have been years--Jason and the heroes reached the land they sought. +There they presented themselves before Aeetes and demanded the Golden +Fleece. + +The king of Colchis looked at these heroes and trembled. Well he knew +that neither he nor his people were a match for such as they. He took +refuge in stratagem, and, as Pelias had done, demanded from Jason the +performance of feats he deemed impossible. He must yoke and tame the +bulls of Hephaestus, god of fire, which snorted flame and had hoofs of +red-hot brass; with these he must plow the field of Ares, god of +battle; that done, he must sow the field with dragon's teeth, from +which a host of armed men would spring, and he must defeat that army. + +Truly, the task was one to tax a hero. But, as the gods would have it, +Jason found a new but dangerous ally. This was Medea, the +witch-daughter of Aeetes, grand-daughter of Helios, god of the sun. She +loved her father but little, for her father had imprisoned her for +sorcery and, though she had escaped by means of her black arts, her +dark heart brooded vengeance. Partly from love of Jason and partly +from hatred of Aeetes, she leagued herself with the heroes. + +Jason was not proof against her wiles. Moreover, he realized that the +task Aeetes had set him was one almost beyond the doing. He accepted +from the dark witch-maiden a magic draught which made him proof +against fire and sword. Thus, scorning alike the fiery breath of the +bulls and the myriad blades of the tiny swordsmen, he plowed the field +of Ares and sowed it with the dragon's teeth. Then he threw a charm +among the ranks of the dwarf warriors who sprang up from the soil, +which caused them to fight, one against the other, until all were +slain. Thus he reached the wood where hung the Golden Fleece. + +There remained still to be conquered the dragon that never slept. +Again the sorceress Medea came to the hero's help. By wild witch songs +she charmed the monster to harmlessness, and, stepping across the +snaky coils, Jason snatched from a bough the Golden Fleece, won at +last! + +Though the Argonauts feared Medea, and though Jason dreaded her fully +as much as he was lured by her, the heroes could not deny that their +quest had been successful mainly through her aid. For her reward, +Medea demanded that they take her back to Greece in the _Argo_, and +she took her young brother Absyrtus, with her. The oracle of oak in +the bow prophesied disaster, but the heroes had pledged their words +and could not retract. + +The _Argo_ had not gone far upon the sea before the heroes saw that +Aeetes was pursuing them. Here was a peril, truly, for Ares, god of +battle, was on the pursuer's side. Then Medea seized her young +brother, cut his body into pieces and scattered them on the sea. The +anguished father stopped to collect the fragments and to return them +to the shore for honorable burial. By this shameful device, the +Argonauts escaped. + +So hideous a crime demanded a dreadful expiation, but Jason was to +draw the doom more directly upon his own head. Though he had shuddered +at the murder of Absyrtus and he knew the witch-maid's hands were red +with blood, the spell of Medea's dark beauty overswept his loathing. +At the first land where the _Argo_ stopped, he married her. + +At this the gods were little pleased. They sent a great darkness and +terrible storms which drove the Argonauts over an unknown sea to lands +of new and fearful perils. Once they were all but swallowed in a +quicksand, again, menaced by shipwreck, a third time, a giant whose +body was of brass threatened them with a hideous death from which they +were saved only by the twins, Castor and Pollux. The homeward journey +of the _Argo_ was not less wild and difficult than her coming. + +Yet, at the last, Jason brought back the Golden Fleece to Thessaly, +only to find that the false Pelias had slain Aeson and Jason's mother +and brother during the absence of the Argonauts. His crime was not +left unpunished. Medea persuaded the daughters of Pelias to cut their +father into small pieces and to boil the fragments in a pot with +certain witch-herbs that she gave them, falsely promising that by this +means the old king would regain his youth. Of the later life of Jason +and Medea, there is no need to speak. Misery was their lot, and their +deaths were not long delayed. + +Thus, in fanciful guise, appears in the old Greek legend the record of +the European discovery of the alluvial gold deposits of Colchis, and +to the Argonauts was ascribed the honor of being the first to bring to +Greece the gold of Asia Minor. Even in those early days, the gift of +gold was regarded as the favor of the gods. + +[Footnote 2: One book that should be in every boy's library is Charles +Kingsley's "The Heroes," in which the "Quest of the Golden Fleece" is +related with a beauty unequaled in the English language. The books of +A. J. Church, also, especially his "Stories from Homer," make the old +Greek demigods live once again.] + +There is good reason to believe that the Siege of Troy--the subject of +Homer's Iliad--was not waged alone because of the beauty of Helen of +Troy, but also because the Greeks coveted Mycenaean gold. Excavations +made on the site of ancient Troy have revealed many thin plates of +beaten gold. + + +[Illustration: DIVINING-RODS. + +A, Twig; B, Trench. + +_From an Old Print._] + + +[Illustration: THE WORLD'S OLDEST PICTURE OF GOLD-SEEKERS. + +The three ships of Queen Hatshepsut sent to the Land of Punt (possibly +Somaliland) in 1503-1481, B.C. + +_From a wall-painting in the Temple of Deir-el-Bahri, near Thebes._] + + +Nor was the _Argo_ the only ship to set sail to unknown lands for +gold. As early as the fabled voyage of the Argonauts, or even earlier, +Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt--a mighty woman monarch of whom all too +little is known--sent an expedition to Punt (possibly Somaliland) for +incense and for gold. On the walls of the great temples built during +her reign are found paintings telling the story of this expedition, +picturing, among other things, the bags of gold that the three-masted, +thirty-oared ship brought home. + +Hiram, King of Tyre, who was engaged by King Solomon to bring +treasures for the Temple at Jerusalem, made a long journey to some +distant land (about B. C. 1000) and, after having been three years +away, brought back gold and silver, as well as ivory, apes, and +peacocks. He certainly went to India and may have visited Peru.[3] + +[Footnote 3: For the theory of this early voyage to America, see the +author's "The Quest of the Western World."] + +The Phrygians were known not only as miners of gold but also as +workers in the precious metal. The "golden sands of Pactolus" were +washed a thousand years before the Christian era. The proverbial +wealth of Croesus and the legend of the "golden touch of Midas" remain +as historic memories of the gold mines of Asia Minor and Arabia, +worked by the Lydian kings. + +When Persia became the mistress of the world, most of this gold was +taken to the courts of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius. Some of it, but +not all, came back in the victorious train of Alexander the Great, +when ten thousand teams of mules and five hundred camels were required +to carry the treasure to the new world capital at Susa. + +Spain, in addition to Egypt and Arabia, became one of the principal +gold-bearing sources of the ancient world. The Carthaginians, +colonists from Phoenicia, conquered the Iberians, who then populated +Spain, and forced them to work in gold mines. They captured negroes +and shipped them to Spain as slaves in the gold diggings. The +Carthaginians also exploited mines in Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. + +Then Rome, rising into power, cast covetous eyes on the gold possessed +by Carthage, and sought to seize it by force of arms. As a result of +her victory in the First Punic (Carthaginian) War, Rome secured the +three islands of the Mediterranean, rich in minerals. + +The Carthaginians, under the leadership of Hannibal, worked the mines +of Spain and Portugal the harder. The rivers Douro and Tagus were +found to be rich in gold-bearing sands. Rome's envy grew. In the +Second Punic War, she captured Spain. From the gold-mines there, +worked by slave labor, came a large share of the riches and luxury of +the Roman Empire. + +To Owens, sitting in his library in an American colliery town, the +long story of civilization seemed to unroll before his eyes and, +everywhere, possession of gold brought power and fame. In every case, +also, that same possession led to luxury and decline. + +When Rome fell, beneath the impact of the barbarian hordes, the +Byzantine Empire, holding the gold-mines of Macedonia, Thrace, and +Asia Minor, rose to a bought magnificence. It crumbled easily, because +it depended on gold to buy its mercenary armies, even as Carthage had +crumbled before Rome. + +The same story was repeated in the Saracenic power, when the +Caliphates of Bagdad and of Damascus rose to that wealth of which the +"Arabian Nights" gives a picture. The mines of Arabia, Egypt, and +Spain were in their hands, and the luxury of such Moorish towns as +Granada was made possible by the final workings of the almost +exhausted alluvial deposits of Spain. It was not until the days of +Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile that the Moors were conquered, and, +in those days, Cortes tapped the gold-stores of Mexico, and Pizarro, +those of Peru. + +As ever, the gold of the Aztecs and the Incas, ruthlessly seized so +soon after the voyages of Columbus, made Spain the mistress of the +world. While the Conquistadores were fighting, Spain remained strong. +When the gold was acquired, Spain began to fall. + +England was a frugal country, then. But, like Rome, as soon as her +neighbor began to acquire vast stores of gold, she sought a pretext +for a war. English pirates and privateers commenced to harry the +treasure-ships of Spain, to plunder the Spanish settlements in +America, and to sack every town that was thought to contain American +gold. Upon this stolen treasure, England rose to wealth and power, as +did also Holland and France, the three nations having made a naval +alliance for greed of Spanish gold. + +Nor was England content with her ill-gotten gains. Through commercial +companies which only thinly disguised colonization projects, she +sought possession of gold-bearing regions. The gold of India, of +Australia, and of South Africa, changed the Kingdom of England into +the British Empire, during the reign of a single queen. No one will +seriously dispute that the annexation of the Transvaal and even the +Boer War of recent years were based on England's desire to control the +enormous gold resources of the Rand, as well as the diamond fields. + +The gold history of the United States is little less striking. The +Louisiana Purchase was based largely on the mineral wealth known to +exist in that territory, the annexation of California and her rise to +statehood were built on gold. The purchase of Alaska in 1867 was +largely due to the discovery of gold in British Columbia in 1857, 1859 +and 1860, and to the discoveries on the Stikine River, Alaska, in +1863. + +The 146 years of life of the United States may be sharply divided into +two equal periods, that before the discovery of gold in California in +1848 and the period following. The amazing strides forward which the +United States has made during this last period are not to be ascribed +only to her virgin soil, to her geographic isolation, or to her form +of government, but more, a thousand times more, to her mining +development. Coal, iron, silver, copper, and above all--gold, opened +up the continent with passionate swiftness and hurled the United +States into the position of one of the great powers of the modern +world. + +So Owens sat a-thinking in his library and racking his brain about +Jim. There, not a stone's throw away, lay a sick man, possibly +possessed of a secret that might change the face of history anew. + +How many times it had happened that a lonely prospector, weary, ragged +and hungry, had, with a stroke of a pick or the flick of a pan, +revealed such sources of wealth as to change a burning desert, a fetid +swamp or a bleak mountain range into a hive of industry! What +statesman has ever wrought as many wonders for his country as has that +questing nomad with his shovel and his shallow pan? + +The spirit of rugged honesty and of fair play which so sharply +distinguishes the real miner from the mere mining speculator lay deep +in Owens. He had worked in the gold diggings, himself, and his +standards of principle were those of the great outdoors. He scorned to +take advantage of the opportunity given him by his position as owner +of the mine to overhear the delirious ravings of the sick man. That he +might not be tempted, he kept away from the hospital ward, except for +a short daily visit of inquiry. + +When Jim grew better, however, and evinced a marked liking for Owens' +company, the mine-owner yielded to his interest in the prospector. +Even then he restrained himself from making so much as an indirect +reference to the secret of his employe, though the matter was seldom +out of his mind. + +He had no thought of filching Jim's secret from him. Honest to the +core, Owens' thoughts were on a larger scale. As a mining man, he +thought naturally what personal profit he could turn, should the +secret prove to be worth while; but he thought far more of Jim. He +rejoiced in the hope that, perhaps, he could bring to fulfilment the +prospector's hidden dream. And, most of all, he wished to play a part +in adding another treasure-hunt to the golden glory of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +NUGGETS! + + +Weeks had passed since the accident, and Jim was still in the +hospital. The disaster had been costly to the colliery, but not +crippling. The shafts--always the most costly portion of mine +development--had not been injured. Many of the galleries had been +reopened. The great ventilation fans were working again at full speed. +The cages of coal were whirling up the shaft as of old. + +Otto, after a short rest, had gone to work. The old miner was well +satisfied with the fulfilment of his prophecies. The "knockers" had +indeed tasted blood, for the two men in the old workings had never +been found. As the mining engineer had supposed, that section of the +mine must be abandoned forever. Moreover, Otto's forecast that Clem +would be rescued, uninjured, also had come true. + +Clem, indeed, was recovering, but the doctor declared him as yet +unfit to resume the arduous work of hewing below ground. Accordingly, +Owens had given him a temporary position as assistant to the safety +inspector of the mine, for the accident had awakened the interest of +the men in safety work, and the young fellow was quite competent to +help in the simpler forms of instruction. + +Anton was still in a weak state. His lungs were affected. He was +living at home with his mother, Owens having granted the boy leave on +full pay until he was entirely well again. + +As the mine fell more and more into its old routine, Owens found +himself oftener at the hospital. The remembrance of old times was +strong in him, and the mine owner seemed to renew his youth in the +rude speech of the prospector, sprinkled as it was with mining terms +once so familiar to his ear. + +Jim's liking for his employer was rapidly growing into comradeship. He +was fully conscious of Owens' delicacy in never referring to the +secret and began to feel that here, at last, was a rich man he could +trust. In the course of time, it was the old prospector who brought +the matter up, first. + +"Has Clem ever said anything more to you about my mine?" he asked +abruptly. + +Owens started, but he got a grip on himself at once. When he answered, +it was in as casual a tone as he could assume. + +"Not another word. I don't suppose he has, to anybody. He seems to +know enough not to talk. You heard how he snubbed the reporter!" + +"I know. I heard him. He's square, is Clem. But I ain't never yet +asked him what I said, down there in the mine. It's been eatin' me, +all the time I've been lyin' here. To think I kep' it quiet all these +years, an' then go blurt it out, jest 'cos I was hungry!" + +"You haven't any reason to blame yourself for that, you were +unconscious. And, like you, I believe Clem is as straight as a +string." + +"Ay," agreed Jim, "he shows color in every pan (specks of gold in +every handful of washed sand). I'd ha' gone West, judgin' from what he +said the other day, if it hadn't been for him." + +"You certainly would." + +"An' that makes us pards (partners) in a way, don't it?" + +Jim paused, and then burst out again, "But I can't help wonderin' +jest how much I told!" + +"You'll have to ask Clem that. You remember, he said nothing to the +reporter except that, in your delirium you were talking about gold." + +"Gold! Did I say gold? Are you dead sure that I said gold?" + +"That's what Clem told, anyway." + +"Then I must sure ha' been dreamin'!" Jim's tone was both embarrassed +and evasive. + +Owens saw, at once, by the prospector's manner that he was nervously +fearful of having betrayed himself and that he wanted to drop the +subject. This seemed a sure sign that the hinted discovery was true. + +It was a ticklish moment. The mine-owner realized that if the matter +were dropped, now, he might never have another chance to get back to +it. Any attempt on his part to renew the subject would be sure to +arouse Jim's suspicion. If he were to be of any service to the old +prospector, he must seize the present opportunity. + +"Too bad that it isn't gold then," he said, half commiseratingly. +"There's nothing in all the world that can make a man rich in a +minute, as gold can. I saw that, often enough, in Australia. That's +the land of nuggets, Jim, big ones! Most of them were found by sheer +luck, and it was poor men who found them, too, mostly. + +"The Australian black-fellows--pretty much savages, those +fellows--knew gold, long before the white men came. They used to make +their javelin-heads of gold because it's the easiest metal to work, +when cold, and is found pure. + +"So it was not so surprising, Jim, that one of the first big gold +finds was made by a black-fellow, a husky tattooed chap who owned no +property except a small apron of matting for his middle, a bunch of +feathers for his hair, a long-handled stone hatchet, and a boomerang. + +"This Cl'ck, as he was called, was employed as a shepherd by Dr. Kerr, +a large sheep-owner in New South Wales. Cl'ck was a fairly intelligent +fellow and had learned to talk a few words of English. He knew gold +when he saw it. Just at the time I'm speaking of, the whole world was +excited over gold, for it was just after the discovery of gold in +California in 1848 and the great gold rush of '49." + +"My father was one of the 'forty-niners,'" put in Jim, eagerly. + +"So you're of the real Argonaut breed, then!" exclaimed Owens, but he +did not push the enquiry, preferring to allow Jim to tell his story in +his own way and in his own time. In order, however, to keep the +subject of gold present in Jim's mind, he continued: + +"For some time there had been vague hints that there might be gold in +Australia, but, before the time of the 'forty-niners' no attention had +been paid to it. + +"For example! Once, in 1834, a ticket-of-leave man (convict out on +parole), working in New South Wales, found a small nugget of pure gold +in the earth and brought it to the nearest town to sell. Being a +convict, he was at once arrested for having possession of the gold, +and not being able to explain how he had got it. His story that he had +found it in the earth was laughed at, for never--so far as the +Australians knew, then--had gold been found in nuggets. As it +happened, a white settler had lost a gold watch a little time before. +The weight of the nugget was just about that of the weight of the case +of a gold watch. The ticket-of-leave man was accused of having stolen +the watch, thrown away the works and melted down the case. He was +found guilty and punished with a hundred and thirty lashes." + +"Whew, that was pilin' it on heavy!" commented Jim. + +"They had to be severe in those days," Owens explained. "Botany Bay +and Port Jackson were penal stations. In those days there were about +fifty thousand white folks in New South Wales and three-quarters of +them were convicts. That meant ruling with an iron hand, if mutiny was +to be prevented. + +"Twice, after that, white settlers found signs of gold, but in such +small quantities that the deposits were not worth working by the +primitive means employed at that time. In 1841, signs of gold were +found not far from Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, but the +Governor personally asked the finder to keep the matter a secret for +there were 45,000 convicts in the colony by that time, and he was +afraid that news of a gold-find might start a revolt that the military +would not be able to quell. + +"Two years later an even more curious discovery was made. Mr. H. +Anderson, who owned a sheep-station where now are found the great +gold-fields of Ballarat--in the province of Victoria, south of +New South Wales--threw away the finest chance to become a +multi-millionaire that ever came to any man. + +"While walking from the home kraal (corral) to his house, in company +with a neighbor, he saw on the ground a small piece of white quartz +shining in the sun and noticed a few thin streaks of yellow in the +quartz. + +"He picked it up in a casual way, cast a glance at it, and handed it +to his companion. + +"'We're the richest men in the world,' he said, jokingly. 'You and I +are running sheep over a gold-mine.' + +"This jesting statement was literally true. + +"But the other, who knew just enough about such matters to be really +ignorant, wanted to display his small store of knowledge. + +"'Gold!' he said contemptuously, 'that's what they call fool's gold. +It's pyrites of some sort. Tut, tut, man! Golden nonsense! The only +gold in this country is what grows on the backs of sheep.' + +"Mr. Anderson, trusting to his companion's supposed better knowledge, +threw the piece of quartz at a pair of wallabies (small kangaroos) +that were leaping about, near by, and thus lost the chance of +becoming the richest man in Australia. Five years later came the news +of the gold-finds in California, and the more thoughtful men in New +South Wales remembered these vague stories about gold having been +found in the island continent. + +"Now, let us get back to Cl'ck. His employer, Dr. Kerr, had bidden him +keep his eyes open for any signs of gold, during his wanderings over +the wild pasture land with his flocks. He promised to give him five +pounds--a large sum for a black-fellow, in those days--for any piece +of gold he should bring in, no matter how small. + +"One day, in February, 1851, while leading his flocks to water at +Meroo Creek, Cl'ck happened to see what looked like a smudge of yellow +on the surface of a good-sized bowlder of quartz. He chipped at it +with his long-handled hatchet, and there, solidly embedded in the +bowlder, was a huge chunk of gold. It weighed over 102 pounds and was +sold for over $20,000. + +"This accidental discovery, which made Kerr rich, and which, +incidentally, gave Cl'ck a hut and a sheep-kraal of his own, was +amazing enough in itself. Even in California, which was then regarded +as the very fountain-head of gold, no such nugget had been found. +Yet, a couple of weeks later, a strike was made of such importance as +to throw even the Black-fellow Nugget in the shade. This second strike +determined the fortunes of Australia. + +"One of the 'forty-niners,' who went to the California gold-fields in +the first ship that sailed from Sydney after the news of the +Sacramento discoveries had reached Australia, was a prospector called +E. H. Hargraves. He got to California in the middle of the rush, but +luck was against him. + +"As happened so often with the men who knew only a little mining, he +thought he could do better than merely follow the crowd. He staked a +claim that looked more promising than the ground on the outskirts of +the established mining camps. The claim proved worthless, or nearly +so. + +"Seeing the vast crowds streaming into California, and being convinced +that there would not be gold enough for all, Hargraves decided to go +home, rather than to stay in the California gold-diggings and die of +hunger--as so many of the forty-niners did." + +Jim nodded assentingly. He knew those stories. Many a one had his +father told him. He was well aware that the trail of gold is a line +of graves. + +"On his way back home," Owens continued, "Hargraves remembered that he +had seen ground in New South Wales which bore a marked resemblance to +the regions where gold had been found in California. It was not +ordinary alluvial gold land, such as prospectors were apt to seek, and +no one had ever suspected that gold might be found there. Hargraves +had kept his eyes open, when in California, and had realized that +alluvial gold was but a beginning, that the biggest amount of wealth +lay in a reef. + +"Reaching Sydney in December, 1850, Hargraves made his way towards +what is now the town of Bathurst. He was out in the field, +prospecting, when the Black-fellow Nugget was found, and heard nothing +about it. + +"Near the end of February, 1851, working in Summerhill Creek, he +discovered sure signs of gold, though in no such alluring quantity as +had been found on the creeks leading into the Sacramento River. He +worked steadily up the creek, not only panning as he went, but also +striking off to right and left to see if the ground gave promise of a +reef. There, on the last day of the month, he found a bowlder of +quartz and gold, or, to speak more correctly, a detached piece of +quartz from a reef, the greater part of which was almost pure gold and +weighed 106 pounds. + +"Hargraves was a man of sense. Instead of hurrying back to the nearest +town with his find, selling it and blowing the money, he did some +further prospecting. He collected specimens from different parts of +the neighborhood, realizing that he had made a discovery not less +sensational than when Sutter found the first gold in his mill-race in +California. + +"Then he went straight to the government authorities of New South +Wales, and, in addition to establishing his own claims, he asked that +a reward be given him by the government. The governor, anxious to stop +the emigration from New South Wales to California, and realizing that +a gold-find would bring enormous wealth and prosperity to the colony, +made him a grant of $50,000 and a pension, providing that he would +reveal the gold-bearing locality to the authorities, first, and +providing the territory should produce a million dollars' worth of +gold. + +"Hargraves was as good as his word. He showed not only the famous +Lewis Ponds, Summerhill, but also another and even bigger field on +the upper waters of the Macquarie River. Owing to their prior +information, the authorities were able to establish mining laws and +good government before the rush set it, and Bathhurst was freed from +the wild orgy of lawlessness which marked the days of the +'forty-niners.' + +"All this, Jim, was a wonderful jump forward for New South Wales, and +the town of Sydney boomed. But it was equally bad for the other +provinces of Australia, and Victoria, being the nearest, suffered +most. Almost every man able to wield a pick or rock a miner's cradle, +deserted his work and rushed to Bathurst. The gold was so easy to +separate from the quartz that a man could get rich using no other tool +than an ordinary hammer. + +"Shepherds and even sheep-owners deserted their flocks, farmers let +their land go to weed, merchants abandoned their shops, manufacturers +allowed their machinery to rust, school-teachers locked the doors of +schools, and workmen of every line of labor flocked to Sydney and +toiled along the widely beaten track to Bathurst. + + +[Illustration: AUSTRALIA'S TREASURE-HOUSE. + +One of the shafts of the Kilgoorlie Gold Mine, more than 1000 feet +below the surface. + +_From "Mines and Their Story," by Bernard Mannix Sidgwick and +Jackson._ + +_Courtesy of Kilgoorlie Gold Mining Co._] + + +[Illustration: IN THE RICHEST GOLD MINE IN THE WORLD. + +Drilling the rock for blasting on the Rand Reefs of South Africa; the +compressed-air drills give a million blows a day, each with the force +of half a ton.] + + +"The authorities of the province of Victoria were in despair. The +colony was plunging into ruin. Something must be done at once. They +offered a huge reward to any one who should find gold within two +hundred miles of Melbourne. On the very same day, two men came to +claim the reward. One had made a strike on the Plenty River, the other +on the Yarra-Yarra. In August, 1851, came the discovery of gold at +Ballarat, gold in its pure form and in large grains. The Bendigo +fields developed immediately after. + +"Then came a rush unparalleled! Money came easy, just as it comes easy +to any man who has the good luck to be first at a strike. Every one +got rich in Ballarat. There were no blanks. It was the richest ground +that ever was found. The grains of gold were so big that they stuck +out and looked at you! + +"Geelong, which was the nearest town to Ballarat, was deserted. Three +months after the discovery of gold the mayor of Geelong complained +that there were only eleven men and over three thousand women and +children in the town." + +"Ay," agreed Jim, "and I remember in Pot-Luck Camp, the first time a +decent woman came into the town, a miner offered her a bag of +gold-dust to just shake hands with him. I've seen seven camps in a +string, wi' maybe a thousand men in each an' nary a woman in the lot!" + +"A camp like that becomes right wild," Owens agreed. "Ballarat, for a +while, was about as dangerous a place as ever the world saw. +Ticket-of-leave men from New South Wales, escaped or paroled convicts +from Tasmania, roughs that had been run out of camps by vigilance +committees in California, Chinese and Malays swarmed there. The +diggers refused to take out licenses, fired on the police, charged the +military stockade, and when the troops charged back and took 125 +prisoners, a jury acquitted every one of the mutineers as upholders of +individual liberty. If a man did not find gold, he starved at the +exorbitant prices demanded for food; if he did make a strike, the +chances were ten to one he would be murdered the next day. Colorado, +at is worst, could not be compared with early days at Ballarat. + +"Bendigo followed right after. That was a nugget corner. During the +year 1852, alone, three big nuggets were found there, one of 24 +pounds, one of 28 pounds, and one of 47 pounds. All these nuggets +revealed outcrops and the finders all became rich men. + +"One of them was found in a queer way. A prospector, or 'fossicker' as +they call them back there, had been panning all along a small creek, +finding hardly enough color to pay him for his day's work. He was +walking on the very edge of the bank, scanning every stone he came to, +but seeing no prospects. Suddenly the bank caved in under him, +throwing him into the water. He came up, spluttering, and there, right +in front of him, the water was washing off the dirt, was one of the +purest nuggets that Australia ever produced. That was probably the +most profitable bath in history." + +"Some men are born lucky!" declared Jim, enviously. + +"That's true," Owens agreed, "and it has been a characteristic of +Australia that all the big finds have been made by lucky accidents. +Even recent discoveries are no exception. Did you ever hear the story +of Pilbarra and the crow?" + +"Never did." + +"It's a classic in Australian gold mining. It's as queer a story as I +know. It doesn't sound true, a bit, but all the documents in the case +are on record. + +"One fine day, a youngster in West Australia--clear across the other +side of the continent from Bathurst and Ballarat--was idling along a +narrow track, as youngsters will, even when sent on a hurried message. +On his way, he saw a black crow hopping some distance away. With a +natural boy movement, he picked up a stone and shied it at the crow. +The bird gave a loud croak and flew away a little distance, but in the +same direction in which the boy was walking. Presently the crow was +within throwing distance, again. The boy stooped to pick up another +stone. + +"Just as he was about to let fly, however, he noticed some gold specks +in it and took it home. There he showed it to his father, who was an +employe in the convict prison there. His father showed it to the +Warden, as he was compelled to do, for he was also a convict, though a +'trusty.' + +"The much-excited Warden knew that the governor of the colony ought to +be notified at once, but how was he to do so without the secret +leaking out through the telegraph office? Forgetting, in his +excitement, that the governor did not know as much about the matter as +he did, he sent the following message: + +"_'Boy here has just thrown stone at crow.'_ + +"He entirely neglected to mention that there was anything special in +either the stone or the crow. + +"The telegram puzzled the governor not a little. But he had a sense of +humor, and he replied to the Warden's telegram with the following +message: + +"_'Yes; but what happened to the crow?'_ + +"The Warden realized his former omission, and risking discovery, +telegraphed: + +"_'Stone, gold.'_ + +"The telegraph operator, not seeing how this could be a reply to the +governor's question thought an error had been made and forwarded the +message: + +"_'Stone cold.'_ + +"The governor thought his friend the Warden must have gone crazy, but +he was not to be outdone. He wired back: + +"_'Forward crow.'_ + +"This time it was the turn of the Warden to be puzzled, and, as soon +as his duties would permit, he went to the capital--almost a +thousand-mile journey--taking, not the crow, but the stone filled with +specks of gold. This was in 1888. Over half-a-million dollars' worth +of gold was taken from Pilbarra before the end of the year. + +"The richest gold field in Australia was hit on by accident four +years later. This was Kimberley. Signs of gold had been found there in +1882, and again in 1886 but not enough to be worth working. In 1892 +two prospectors started out to explore the region. They worked for +weeks and found nothing. One of them, thoroughly disgusted, gave up +the search and started for home. + +"Two nights after, while camping, his horse became restless and +started to plunge and kick at a wombat, near by. The prospector got up +to quiet the beast, fearing he would break the picket-rope. On his +way, he stumbled over a stone, which, in the light of early dawn, he +saw to be rich in gold. He pegged out a claim at once, fetched his +partner, and the two men took out $50,000 worth of gold in three +weeks. This was the beginning of the great Coolgardie field. + +"In the same region, about 24 miles away, not long after the opening +of the Coolgardie field, a miner just missed wealth. There was a small +camp there, but one man had no luck. While sitting dispiritedly in his +dog-tent, just before going to sleep, he began to burrow with his +fingers in the loose soil on which he was slouching and discovered a +small pocket of gold. He was so excited that he shouted out the news +to the camp. + +"Before he could realize what was happening, the other miners crowded +round, and pegged out claims to the very borders of his tent. All he +got out of it was the small bit of ground on which his tent stood. The +pocket only yielded a hundred dollars' worth of gold, his neighbors to +right and left, got more than ten times that amount in the first three +days. + +"I could go on for hours, Jim, telling you about the Australian +gold-fields, but I've said enough to show you that I meant what I said +when I suggested that it was a pity that you hadn't found gold. The +mining of every other metal needs a lot of capital to begin with--as +gold does, when you begin to work a reef--but, in nearly every gold +deposit, there are placers or pockets where a man can clean up +quickly." + +Jim's face was glowing with a lively interest. His excitement had +grown as the mine-owner proceeded. + +"And these here nuggets," he queried, "what makes 'em? Where do they +come from? We don't find anything like that over here!" + +"No," agreed Owens, "you don't. Chunks like 'The Welcome Stranger' +which sold for $48,000 and which was found right in the road, the +wheel of a passing wagon having cut through the soft earth and exposed +it, are peculiar to Australia. Even South Africa, which is the largest +gold-producing country in the world, hasn't any nuggets like that. + +"As for where nuggets come from, Jim, that's a bit of a puzzle. Some +say they grew in the earth, water heavily laden with gold, depositing +more and more of the metal in the one place; other scientists claim +that the nuggets were made in the days when the earth was all fire, +and that the nuggets have been there ever since. Neither theory +answers all the facts. It's truer to say that we don't know, yet, how +nuggets came to be, nor why Australia has most of them. + +"Some day, Jim, if you're interested, I'll try to explain to you the +geology of gold. It's pretty complicated. I did a lot of study on it, +when I was a young chap. Somehow, I seemed to be one of the men who +didn't have any luck at the diggings. So I took to assay work +(ore-testing), out there in Australia, and made more with my little +assay outfit than most of the miners did with their claims." + +Jim propped himself up on one elbow and stared fixedly at the +mine-owner. + +"You know how to make an assay, yourself?" + +"Roughly, yes. Of course, only for field work, you understand. I don't +pretend to be a mineralogical chemist." + +"You can do it yet?" + +"I suppose so. I haven't done any for years. This coal-mine business +has kept me busy. But I've still got my portable assay outfit up at +the house. I kept it for old-time's sake." + +Jim's eyes glistened eagerly. + +"You go to my cabin, Owens," he said, and it was noticeable that he +dropped the "Mr.," "and five long paces due north from my kitchen +window, you dig! You'll find a chunk of ore, there. Assay it, and then +come back here!" + +"But--" + +The old prospector waved the interruption aside, impatiently. + +"Do it, and then talk!" + +Owens shrugged his shoulders and left, but little less excited than +Jim. + +That evening, during the middle of the night shift, when no one was +likely to see him, the mine-owner went to the spot designated and +began to dig. A foot or two beneath the surface, he found the chunk of +ore. He put it in his pocket and hurried to his own house. + +It was nearly dawn before he completed the assay. Then he put the ore +and his memorandum of results in the safe and went to bed for a short +sleep. + +That morning, after breakfast, he returned to the hospital. He found +Jim in an excited state. + +"No, Mr. Owens, there's nothing wrong with him," the doctor explained, +"only he hasn't slept all night. He's been asking for you, every few +minutes." + +When the mine-owner entered the ward, Jim struggled up to a sitting +position. + +"What about it?" he queried. + +Owens closed the door carefully, came up to the sick man's bedside, +and answered quietly, + +"About 110 grains of gold to the ton and 800 ounces of silver. There's +some native copper, too." + +"It's a real find then?" + +"It isn't what you'd call rich," the Australian answered cautiously. + +"How about this, then?" + +Jim took his old coat, which he had got the hospital attendant to +bring him the night before, ripped open a seam, showing a narrow tube +of buckskin running around the hem, and, opening its mouth, poured out +a few grains of yellow metal into the palm of his hand. + +"Free gold!" he said, triumphantly. + +One glance of a trained eye sufficed. + +"That's the stuff, sure enough. But you didn't find much of it, eh?" + +"Where do you get that idea?" + +"The grains are big enough to pan easily. If there was much of it, you +wouldn't have left the place without cleaning up a good stake." + +"There is plenty of it. But I had to get out." + +"Why, then?" + +"To save my skin. An' I couldn't get back there." + +"Back where?" + +"Where I found it." + +"That doesn't tell me much." + +"It ain't intended to." + +"Then why," said Owens, showing irritation, "did you show me the ore +at all?" + +Jim looked at him under lowered eyelids. + +"Have you ever been a prospector, honest?" + +The owner of the coal mine put his hand in his breast pocket. + +"I thought this might interest you," he said, "so I brought it along. +That's me!" + +He put his finger on one of the figures in the picture that he handed +to the prospector. It showed a young fellow, bearded, in the typical +Australian digger's rig-out, panning gold. The photograph was an old +one, evidently, and there was no doubt that it was a resemblance of +Owens in his youth. + +"Ay, it's you," said Jim. + +For some minutes there was silence. The mine-owner let the prospector +think the matter out in his own way. Finally, with an air of desperate +determination, Jim began: + +"I'm gettin' old, now, an' times has changed since I found that ore. I +ain't never give up hope of gettin' back there, but it don't look like +it, now. I ain't the man I was. This last spell has crippled me up, +pretty bad, too. I ain't never goin' to be right husky, again. The +doctor says so." + +"You can have a job above ground, here, as long as you want to." + +Jim nodded appreciation of the offer. + +"That's a square deal," he admitted. "But," he went on viciously, +"I've had enough o' coal. I don't want to see a bit o' coal again, +long's I live! I want to get back to God's country." + +"Which is?" + +"Where I found that!" replied Jim, evasively. + +Owens made no protest. He kept silent, being sure that his companion +would go on to talk. + +"I'm gettin' old," Jim repeated, after a while, "an' it takes two +things to get where I found that ore--a tough constitution an' money. +I got neither. It's a job for a young fellow." + +"I'm not much younger than you are," suggested Owens. + +"Clem is." + +"Well?" + +"But he hasn't got any more money'n I have." + +The mine-owner bent a level glance at the old prospector. + +"Don't beat about the bush so much, Jim. If you don't want to say +anything, why, drop the whole business. If you have anything to say, +spit it out! You want me to grub-stake you? Is that it?" + +"Me an' Clem. I won't do nothin' without Clem. A man has to have a +pardner." + +"I've no objection to Clem. On the contrary. But I don't grub-stake a +man just because he shows me a bit of ore! I've been in the game too +long for that. How do I know where that gold comes from? It might have +been picked up from some mine now working at full blast. As for the +gold-dust--why, it would be queer if you hadn't found some of it, +somewhere. + +"No," he went on, anticipating Jim's interruption, "I'm going to do +the talking for a minute. You wanted to be sure I was a prospector. I +showed you. You wanted to be sure I knew enough about gold to make an +assay. I've done that for you. + +"But confidence can't be all on the one side. You'll have to show your +cards, the same way. You'll have to convince me that you're on the +square, too. I'm not suspecting anything, mind, but this has got to be +an open-and-shut deal, or I don't go in. + +"Tell me who you are, where you've been, what you've done and what you +know about gold deposits, anyway. I've got to know where you found +this ore, how you came to find it, and why you haven't been able to +get back there. You'll have to show me some proof, to start with, and +what chances there are of taking the necessary machinery to the +place, before I think about investing any capital. + +"You can keep back the exact location of the strike to the last, if +you like. If it sounds right, why, I'll think about it. But, mark you, +Jim, I make no promises. You can talk, or not, just as you choose. I'm +not hunting trouble, understand, this colliery keeps me busy enough. +But if you want help, maybe I can give it to you. That ore deposit--if +it's a deposit--can either be let alone or developed. If you let it +alone, it's no good to anybody. If it's developed, there's a chance +that it might make money for the both of us. Decide! It's up to you!" + +Silence fell in the hospital ward. Jim's eyes were far away, evidently +in that strange and distant land where he had made his find. Then he +turned a piercing glance on the mine-owner, who returned it frankly. + +The old prospector cleared his throat and swallowed hard. For a moment +he seemed about to speak, and then stopped himself. At last his +features settled into decision. + +"Send for Clem to come here to-morrow," he said, "I'll tell the +yarn." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE FORTY-NINERS + + +Several days elapsed before Jim took up his story, Owens preferring to +wait until the prospector grew stronger. The mine-owner was shrewd +enough to see that if he did not show too much haste, Jim would be +less suspicious. + +When the time arrived, Jim was up and dressed, though the doctor would +only allow him out of doors for a few minutes at a time. The +prospector had evidently been thinking out the beginning of his story, +for, when his visitors arrived, he opened without preface. + +"There's a lot o' wild yarns been told about the findin' o' gold in +Californy," he began. "I've heard some, an' wild an' woolly they was; +an' I've read some in books, an' they was wilder yet; an' I've seen +some in the movies, an' they was a crime! + +"Not but what them days wasn't tough! They was! The crowds what hit +the minin' camps o' the Sierras in the fifties was out for gold an' +nothin' else, an' they didn't much care how they got it. Father, he +was a forty-niner himself, an' he was a rough un if anything got in +his way. But he had more sense'n most, an', without any book-l'arnin' +to speak of, he knew a heap about gold. If he'd been alive when I made +my strike, old as he was, he'd ha' gone there, an' he'd ha' got there, +too. + +"I come o' Mormon stock, I do. My grand-pap, he made the trail to Salt +Lake City wi' Brigham Young. Grandma, she used a rifle to defend the +home camp, when the Illinois and Indiana folk came to massacre the +women an' children, after the men were gone. Judgin' from what I've +heard about her shootin', there wasn't many bullets wasted. Some o' +these days, when you ain't got nothin' better to do, I'll tell you the +story o' my grand-pap. He come to be one o' the Danites, later.[4] + +[Footnote 4: For the relation of the Mormons and the Danites to the +forty-niners and the emigrant trains going west, see the author's "The +Book of Cowboys."] + +"You'll know the story o' Sutter's Mill, likely, Mr. Owens,"--Jim +returned to the "Mr." in Clem's presence,--"but Clem, he don't know +nothin' about it, an' he ought to be put wise if he's goin' to take a +hand in this game. + +"It all come about in queer fashion, a good deal like it did in +Australia, as Mr. Owens was a-tellin' me a few days ago. The first +signs o' gold was found on the Americanos River, which runs into the +Sacramento. Found by accident, they was, too. + +"There was a chap out them parts--an Indian-fighter--Cap'n Sutter by +name. He owned a lot o' land an' used to run cattle in a small way, +for the time I'm tellin' about was long afore the days o' the cowboys +an' the ol' Texas-Drive trail.[5] This Sutter had a foreman called +James W. Marshall, who, besides his reg'lar job o' handlin' cattle an' +greasers, looked after the runnin' of a one-horse saw-mill on the +Americanos. It was an over-shot water-wheel mill, an' jest roughly +chucked together. + +[Footnote 5: For the history of the Texas trail and the winning of the +West for the United States, see the author's "The Book of Cowboys."] + +"By-'n'-by Marshall begin to notice that the ol' mill wasn't workin' +any too good. A lot o' sand an' gravel had come down wi' the water, +chokin' up the tail-race some. The run-off wouldn't get away fast +enough an' churned up under the water-wheel, causin' a loss o' power. + +"To get the tail-race clear an' to widen her out a bit, Marshall, +he throws the wheel out o' gear, pulls up the gate o' the dam, an' +lets the whole head o' water in the mill-pond go a-flyin'. That water +hit into the tail-race like a hydraulic jet an' scooped her out clear, +carryin' a mass o' sand an' gravel into the river below. + + +[Illustration: SUTTER'S MILL. + +Where Marshall discovered gold, January 19, 1848.] + + +[Illustration: THE RUSH TO THE GOLD MINES. + +Scene in San Francisco in 1849.] + + +"Next day, that was January 19, 1848, Marshall goes down to the river +below the tail-race to see how she's shapin' an' if the cut-out is big +enough. He's walkin' along the bank when he notices something glitter. +He looks again, an' sees what he thinks is a bit o' Spanish opal, not +the real gem, Clem, but a soft stone they find out there which looks +even prettier'n an opal, but wears off an' gets dull in no time. They +sell 'em to greenhorns, still. + +"Marshall don't worry none about that, but by-'n-by, seein' a lot +more, as he thinks, he figures to pick up some, jest to show. +Accordin' as he used to tell the tale, he didn't think it was worth +the trouble, but spottin' one that looks different from the rest, he +reaches down into the water an' fishes it out. + +"It ain't no opal at all. It's a bit o' shiny white quartz wi' a line +o' yellow runnin' through. That's what makes the glitter. He hunts +around some, rememberin' that he'd seen other bits shinin' yellow the +same way, an' finds quite a few, all of 'em looking like scales o' +pure gold. They was jest about the size an' thinness o' the scales +that comes off a rattlesnake's skin after it's dry, an' for a while, +Marshall figured they was some kind o' scale or horn, washed down thin +by the water. + +"In them times, the folks in Californy hadn't no idee o' minin'. It +was still Spanish territory, for one thing, an', for another, there +wasn't any minin' done. So Marshall wasn't thinkin' about gold. It was +jest curiosity what made him hunt up some more o' those queer yellow +scales. + +"The more he found, the more puzzled he got. They was heavy; they bent +like a bit o' metal, a thing a stone won't never do; they could be +scratched with a pocket-knife; they didn't show no layers like horn +does when it's old. The biggest bit he found weighed less'n a quarter +of an ounce, an' this one was stickin' in the bank o' the tail-race, +where the water had been washin' the earth away. + +"He puts this last bit on a flat rock an' hammers it with a stone. It +beats out flat quite easy. Marshall wasn't no fool, an' he knew there +wasn't no yellow metal acted that way but gold or copper, an' native +copper ain't that color. + +"There was one o' the mill-hands wi' Marshall at the time, a chap +called Peter Wimmer. He didn't know any more about gold'n Marshall +did, but he'd heard said that every metal, savin' gold, gets black if +it's boiled in strong lye. Marshall gets Wimmer to keep quiet by +promisin' him a stake in whatever's found, an' tries the boilin' +trick. The flakes o' metal stays put, an' shows nary a sign o' +tarnishin'. + +"By this time, Marshall was gettin' pretty sure that what he'd found +was gold. He hadn't no notion of a gold mine, though, seein' he'd +never heard of any. He reckoned that these flakes must be gold that +had been buried by the Indians, long ago, an' had been washed down; +from a grave, maybe, or some o' the treasure that the Spaniards had +been huntin'. + +"Jest the same, he was curious. He strolled away from the tail-race, +idle-like, an' started huntin' promiscuous. He found specks o' gold +all over. That settled him. He jumped on a horse an' rode down to +Cap'n Sutter wi' the news. + +"Sutter was a whole lot more excited than Marshall was. He was +educated an' knew the history o' Mexico. He knew the Indians in +Californy had possessed gold in the time o' the first comin' o' the +Spaniards, an' he reckoned that gold must ha' come from somewhere. +There'd always been some talk o' gold around where the Spanish +missions had started, and, jest three years afore, a Spanish don had +sent some ore to Mexico, sayin' that there was gold an' silver +a-plenty around, an' the government had better get busy an' develop +it. But the Spaniards weren't havin' any. Ever since they got so badly +fooled, a couple o' hundred years afore, in their hunt for the 'Golden +Cities o' Cibola,'[6] they let Californy alone. + +[Footnote 6: For the gold-hunting expedition of the Spanish +Conquistadores in North America--records of extraordinary heroism and +adventure--see the author's "The Quest of the Western World." For the +gold-stories of Ancient Mexico, see the author's "The Aztec-hunters."] + +"Sutter didn't waste no time. He rode right back to the mill wi' the +foreman. They didn't have to poke around long afore Sutter was plumb +sure it was the real stuff. There was some of it in the Americanos, +but the gold was even thicker in the dried-up creeks an' gulches that +run into the river on both sides. With his penknife, Sutter pried out +o' the rock-face a piece o' gold weighin' nigh two ounces. + +"Some o' the mill-hands had got wise, too. Maybe Wimmer talked--though +he said he hadn't. Maybe they just got a hunch, when they saw Sutter +an' Marshall prospectin' around. They started huntin', too, but the +flakes were small an' took a long time to find. None o' them knew +enough to try washin' the sand, an' all they found didn't amount to +much. + +"Sutter took samples o' the gold to the fort at Monterey, where +General Mason was in command. Mason was more interested in tryin' to +keep the Apaches an' Comanches quiet than he was in fussin' about +metals. He was a soldier, an' minin' wasn't his line. But he knew that +the federal authorities at Washington ought to be notified. + +"There weren't no post nor telegraph in them times--that was 'way +afore the days o' the Pony Express,[7] even--an' Mason sent a special +messenger. Politics were queer in Californy around that time. Spain +claimed the territory, the United States claimed it, an' for a +while--a month, maybe--Californy was a republic on her own. The +messenger reached Washington, all right, an' his report hurried up the +signin' o' the treaty which made Californy American. That happened +jest six weeks after Marshall had picked up his first bit o' gold an' +only two weeks after the messenger arrived. Word was sent to Mason to +be sure an' keep law an' order, no matter what happened. It was a bit +too late, then; goin' an' comin' from Washington took months. + +[Footnote 7: See the author's "The Boy with the U. S. Mail."] + +"Things were happenin' out 'Frisco way. Geo. Bennett, who'd been +workin' at the mill, left there about the middle o' February, takin' +some flakes o' gold with him. When he got to 'Frisco, he met Isaac +Humphrey, who'd worked on the Dahlonega strike, in Georgia, in 1830. +Humphrey took jest one look at the stuff, an' said right away that it +was gold. + +"Bennett an' Humphrey hot-footed it back to the mill. They found it +workin' jest as usual. Some o' the men had picked up more gold, but +casual-like, after workin' hours. Marshall hadn't done any more +prospectin'. Sutter was waitin' to hear from Mason. + +"Humphrey, bein' a gold miner, panned up an' down the river, an' found +plenty o' color. He got quite excited an' declared it was richer'n +the Dahlonega field, which had been pretty good, though the surface +diggin's had petered out fast." + +"What do you mean by 'he panned up and down the river and found +color?'" queried Clem. + +Jim gave a short laugh of surprise. + +"That's right," he said, "you don't know nothin' about prospectin', do +you? I'll tell you. Pannin' is how a prospector gets gold. It sounds +easy, but there's a trick to it, jest the same. + +"A prospector's pan is just like an ordinary tin wash-pan, wi' slopin' +sides, only it's smaller; about a foot across at the bottom, an' made +of iron, not tin. Many a hundred men have got to be millionaires with +nothin' but a pick, a shovel, an' a pan. + +"Supposing now, you're at the gold diggin's. You fill your pan, near +full, with sand or with gravel or earth, or whatever stuff you think +may have a little gold mixed up with it--" + +"Can't you see the gold, then?" queried Clem. + +"Not often, you can't. It don't lie around the ground like +twenty-dollar gold-pieces! Some o' the richest placers ever found +have the gold ground down so fine that it ain't much bigger'n grains +o' dust. + +"Well, havin' nigh filled the pan, like I said, you take it to the +river, an' squattin' down, you hold it jest below the surface o' the +water, one side a trifle higher 'n the other, so the water jest flows +continual over the lower lip o' the pan. Then you give it a sort of +rockin' an' whirlin' motion, so,"--he illustrated with his hands, +Owens smilingly doing the same, "lettin' the lighter mud flow out over +the top. + +"You keep on doin' that, without stoppin', for ten minutes or more. By +the end o' that time, you're rockin' pretty hard, for the heavier +stuff has got to be flicked out; but you've got to mind out, for if +you go too hard, the gold--if there is any--will go out, too. + +"Then you stop, pick out any pebbles in the bottom, lookin' at 'em +hard--for they might show color--an' rock an' whirl the pan some more. +If you've done it right, when you're through, there isn't more'n a +handful o' sand an' grit at the bottom. You look at that as closely as +you know how, an' if here an' there's a little speck o' yellow, you've +found color. That's gold. You spread that handful out in the sun to +dry an' blow away the lighter part. What's left is gold." + + +[Illustration: THE PROSPECTOR OF TO-DAY. + +Gold-bearing stream of Western Canada being panned for dust. + +_Courtesy of the Grand Trunk Railway._] + + +[Illustration: FLUME AT THE MELONES MINE. + +To carry 600 miner's inches of water from the Stanislaus River to the +120-stamp mill.] + + +"Always supposing that there was some gold there to start with," put +in Owens. "How many times have you panned, Jim, without finding any +color?" + +"Millions, I reckon! I panned every day an' all day, once, for two +years, without gettin' enough gold dust to fill a pipe-bowl, an' then +I got a double-handful in half a day. In general, you're doin' all +right if you can get out of each pan enough dust to cover a +finger-nail. So now you know what pannin' is, Clem." + +"It's not such a cinch, at that!" the young fellow commented. + +"But you may strike it rich any day, any hour, any minute!" Jim +exclaimed, the fever of search in his eyes. "When Humphrey got up to +Sutter's Mill, the first man to know anything about gold-washin' that +got there, he was takin' out a thousand dollars a day, easy, for a +month or more. The placers were rich." + +"A 'placer,' Clem," Owens interrupted to explain, "is a deposit where +there is gold mixed with sand, or gravel or mud. It is always a +deposit which has been washed down by water, either a river which is +actually running, or which is found in a dry bed where a river used to +run. Mining people call it an 'alluvial or flood deposit.' Most of the +gold-strikes have been found in this way. Go ahead, Jim." + +"Right about the time that Humphrey was prospectin' an' doin' +handsomely, an Indian, who had worked on placers in Lower California, +told another o' the mill-hands how to get hold o' the dust. Besides +that, a Kentuckian, who'd been spyin' on Marshall an' Sutter, had +noticed that they'd found gold not only in the tail-race, but up the +creeks. Both of 'em went down to 'Frisco. + +"It was interestin', but nobody got excited. Gold strikes weren't +known yet. There'd only been two gold rushes in the United States +afore, neither of 'em big ones. + +"The first was in North Carolina. A young chap, Conrad Reed, was +shootin' fish with a bow and arrow in Meadow Creek. He saw in the +water a good-sized stone with a yellow gleam. Pickin' it up, he found +it heavy--seventeen pounds it weighed--an' he reckoned it was some +kind o' metal, but he didn't think o' gold. That was in 1799. The +stone was used to prop open a stable door for a couple o' years. + +"One day, runnin' short o' groceries an' bein' shy o' ready cash, Reed +thought he'd go into Fayetteville an' see if, maybe, he could raise a +few dollars on the stone, as a curiosity. He took it to a jeweler, who +said he thought there might be gold in it, an' told the young fellow +to come back in the afternoon. + +"When Reed came back, the jeweler showed him a thin wire o' gold, +about as long as a lead pencil, an' said that was all the gold in the +chunk. He offered Reed $3.50 for the gold an' Reed took it. How much +the jeweler kept for himself, no one can't say. + +"That started a little local talk, an' one or two men begun +prospectin' in a shiftless sort o' way. They found nothin'. In 1813, +some placers were found an' there was a mild rush, but it died right +out. There was gold there, sure enough, but scattered so's a man +didn't earn more'n a day's wages at washin'. Jest the same, all the +gold in the United States came from North Carolina for twenty years +after that, more'n a hundred thousand dollars' worth bein' sent to +the Mint. But that's durn little, when you come to look at it, less'n +fourteen dollars a day. An' that's not much for a bunch o' men!" + +"No," admitted Owens, "you couldn't start a gold rush on that. And the +second strike, Jim?" + +"That was the Georgia deposits, at Dahlonega, where Humphrey came +from. They're workin' yet, though small potatoes beside Californy an' +Colorado. + +"Californy was jest about uninhabited, then. There was only fifteen +thousand folks in the whole durn State in 1848. Over a hundred +thousand more came in the two years followin'. O' that lot, ninety per +cent. was prospectors an' the rest was sharks, livin' off 'em. At the +time o' the strike, 'Frisco didn't boast a hundred houses wi' white +folks in them, an' they didn't know nothin' about Georgia an' Carolina +gold. + +"On May 8th, though, one o' the mill-hands come down from Sutter's +Mill. He'd quit work to try gold-findin' on his own, an' takin' a tip +from Humphrey, he'd washed out 23 ounces in four days. A 'Frisco man +paid him $500 for his dust, cash down. That was good earnin's for four +days. + +"Sudden, the fever hit! The news got over the little town like a +prairie fire durin' a dry spell. By night, half the town was talkin' +gold; next mornin', the other half. Nine out o' every ten men quit +work. A pick an' shovel an' a tin pan was worth a hundred dollars +before night. One man paid a thousand dollars for an outfit, includin' +a tent an' a month's grub. He was found dead half-way to the diggings, +murdered for his outfit. + +"The more excited ones an' those with the least money an' sense, +started right off on foot, though it was all of a hundred an' fifty +miles to Sutter's Mill, an' no trail, sixty o' these miles across a +desert without water. No one ever did know how many o' that bunch +ended up by feedin' the turkey buzzards. + +"On the 14th an' 15th, a whole fleet o' launches an' small boats +started out across San Francisco Sound an' Pablo Bay an' up the +Sacramento River, every boat loaded to the gunwales. They said there +was 2,000 men on the way. + +"That wasn't jest a rush, it was a stampede. Not ten men in the entire +crowd knew the first durn thing about prospectin'. They had some fool +idee that pannin' gold was like pickin' flowers, all you had to do was +to find it. Any one what knew better could ha' told 'em, but there +wasn't any one to tell 'em, an' likely, they wouldn't ha' listened if +he had. What's the use o' talkin' to a crazy man? An' a gold-rush is a +bunch o' lunatics. I know! I've been that way myself, more'n once. + +"Out Salt Lake City way, the winter had been bad. We Mormons had gone +to Utah to avoid bein' citizens o' the United States, an' the +government had took in Utah as soon as we made it worth takin'. My +grand-pap an' my father were sore at that, an' they decided to start +off with a party for Californy, which was still Spanish. + +"Right around the 1st o' May, they reached the Sacramento River an' +heard about gold bein' found. They took it as a sign that Providence +was protectin' 'em, an' settled right down there to pan out the +stream. Travelin', as the Mormons always did, with a proper leader, +they pitched an organized camp. Trained to the last notch by their +wanderin's in the wilderness, there wasn't a tenderfoot or an idle man +in the bunch, an', workin' steadily, they begun to clean up pretty +good. + +"Jest a month later come the first wave o' the rush from 'Frisco. They +struck the placers, their mouths fairly waterin' for gold, only to +find the Mormons there already. That was a bit too much! After all +their trouble an' misery, all the expense, all the deaths, they come +to find all the claims along the strike staked out by Mormons. + +"Durin' this time, Californy had been taken over by the United States. +The 'Frisco bunch knew they'd be protected by law for anything they +did against the Mormons, an', after a short pow-wow, they tried to +rush the camp. + +"But my grand-pap, an' some more o' the leaders, who were right handy +with their rifles, were standin' at the ready. They'd fought their way +across the plains, when the redskins were swarmin', an' they weren't +the kind to take back water before a crowd o' tenderfeet. The 'Frisco +men, city chaps a lot o' them, begun to waver, an' asked a parley. + +"The Mormon leader, he told 'em, cold, what they'd get if they come +any farther, an' hinted, pretty broad, that there was more cold lead +around those diggin's than there was gold. But he told 'em, too, that +there was a lot o' the other placers around wi' no one washin' 'em. +The others grumbled but got out. Luckily, there was gold enough for +all, at first. Later on, there was a sure-enough fight over a sluice, +and the bullets went thick. The Mormons knew how to shoot, an' there +was fifty o' the Gentiles dead when they broke back. Our folks were +let alone on the Sacramento, after that. + +"Durin' this month, John Bidwell struck it rich on the Feather River, +75 miles away from Sutter's Mill, and Pearson B. Reading on the Clear +River, 100 miles further on. The news scattered the 'Frisco crowd, +many a man leavin' a good claim in hopes to find a better. Others went +prospectin' on their own. By the end o' the year, along the whole +western slope o' the Sierra Nevada, from Pitt River to the Tuolumne, +there wasn't a stream or a creek or a dry ravine that didn't have some +one prospectin' or pannin' on it. + +"Most o' those that got on to the diggin's in the first two months +made money an' made it fast. A few struck bonanzas and took out a +thousand dollars a day. Quite a lot got good pickin's an' cleaned up +at the rate of a hundred a day. The rest were doin' good if they +cleaned up twenty, an' that was jest about enough to live on, at +minin'-camp prices. I've seen potatoes sell at five dollars apiece to +be eaten raw, when the scurvy was ragin', an' three men were killed +in a fight over the buyin' of a fresh cabbage. + +"Those was tough times, even for the first lot that come from 'Frisco. +There was no sort o' law an' order in the camps, no sanitation an' no +doctors. Typhoid an' dysentery got a good hold by the end o' June. You +could get the reek o' fever an' disease a mile away. + +"Men too sick to walk crawled out to their claims an' died there, +scary lest some claim-jumper should seize their claims. Hope stuck +with 'em to the last. Scores fell dead into the stream, wi' the pan +still in their hands. One time, when they come to carry a dead man +from beside his pan, that he hadn't time to clean up afore death took +him, there was the first color in it that had been found on the claim. +It brought in a pile o' money later. + +"Later, when the real forty-niners came, men o' red blood, vigilance +committees were organized an' the camps got sort o' human. But at the +start, it was ugly. If a man didn't clean up quick, he starved. If he +did, somebody jumped his claim, or put a bullet in him. If the body of +a miner was found floatin', it was called accidental death, even if +his head was blown off, for, the sayin' used to go, 'A miner ought to +carry enough gold dust on him to sink.' Scores, aye, hundreds, died o' +gun-play. + +"About the fine breed o' men that come later, the forty-niners that +crossed the whole plains o' the West from Missouri to Santa Fe an' +beyond, men that brought their women an' children in long lines o' +prairie schooners, keepin' scouts out ahead an' one each side, +fightin' famine, thirst an' redskins all the way, you won't want me to +tell you. Every American knows their story. + +"But every one don't know what them trains o' gold-seekers looked +like, when they reached the diggin's! My father's told me, though. + +"He's seen 'em reach the Sacramento, half-scalped an' with wounds that +never healed. He's seen swingin' at their saddles the scalp-locks o' +Indians they'd scalped theirselves. He's seen women come in with nary +one o' their men-folk left alive. He seen 'em come in crazy, never to +be sane again, after the horrors o' that trail. He's seen a man come +in safe an' untouched, after wheelin' a wheelbarrow nigh three +thousand miles. He's seen seven men an' nine women get to the +Sierras out of a party of 118, leaving 102 dead on the road. + + +[Illustration: THE COMING OF THE FORTY-NINERS.] + + +[Illustration: DAVID EGELSTON. + +A Forty-Niner, and the Discoverer of Gold Hill.] + + +"I've heard tell, an' I believe it, that across the desert stretch a +man could ha' walked for forty miles an' put his foot on a bone at +every step. An' o' those who did reach, most o' them were so weak that +camp fever an' dysentery took 'em off like flies. A good half died at +the diggin's before they ever found a bit o' gold. + +"How many o' the forty-niners died at sea? There's no tellin'. Ships +set out from all corners o' the globe. There was a wild rush from +England. That meant goin' round the Horn, an' there weren't many +steamships, then. Sailin'-ships, so rotten that their owners were glad +to get rid of 'em, were sold to forty-niners at fancy prices. In one +week, eighteen ships sailed from England to go round the Horn to +Californy an' seven arrived. The gold o' Sutter's Mill called many a +good man to leave his bones on the ocean bottom. + +"But it wasn't all bad luck an' dyin'. Lots o' the diggers struck it +rich an' spent it quick. Gamblin' an' drinkin' an' work--that's all +there was to a minin' camp in them days. Spendin' freely give a man a +minute's glory. Treatin' the crowd was the only way to be popular. +An', in a minin' camp, where there's no women to live with, no +children to think of, no homes to go to, what is there but the saloon, +an' what's the use o' the saloon without friends! A bag o' gold-dust +was enough for a spree. + +"Gold-diggin' don't go to make a man careful. It's always to-morrow +that's goin' to be the lucky day. What's the use o' savin' ten dollars +when a stroke o' the pick or a swirl o' the pan may suddenly give a +man a thousand? So they thought. One miner found a pocket that netted +him $60,000 in two weeks, an' when he sobered up, he hadn't six +dollars' worth o' dust left. + +"There was some that stuck to their earnin's, just the same, but they +was either quick with a gun or slow wi' their tongues. Six brothers +come out from England, none o' them ever havin' roughed it before, but +they stuck together an' stayed sober. They were let alone, because to +touch one meant to fight six. They went back to England, at the end o' +the first season, with a million dollars between 'em. + +"One man, who started out from 'Frisco wi' a drove of a hundred hogs, +figurin' on sellin' 'em in the minin' camps for fresh meat, reached +Feather River wi' five. But he sold those five for more'n twice as +much as he'd paid for the hundred. An' that was only the beginnin'! On +the way, his hogs rootin' in the ground had uncovered two pockets. He +covered the places an' marked 'em wi' crosses, so's folks should think +they was graves. On his way back, he took $5,000 out o' one pocket an' +$10,000 out o' the other. An' then some folks try to make out that +there ain't no such thing as luck!" + +"But is it all so chancy as that?" queried Clem. "Surely if a chap +knew in what sort of ground or near what sort of rock gold was +generally found, he'd have some idea where to look." + +"Sure he would," agreed Jim, "but gold goes where it durn pleases, an' +that's the only rule I know. O' course, every prospector has his own +idees, same as he has for playin' poker, but he don't win any quicker +because o' that. Leastways, not so far as I've seen. + +"As for judgin' by the rock an' the color o' the soil, why, you can +take your pick. Take San Diego County, Californy, where I've worked, +the gold lies in schist, sometimes blue, green, or grey. In the +Homestake, South Dakota, red looks good, a sort o' rotten quartz +stained with iron. Black flint's a good sign in Colorado. Snow-white +quartz is often lucky. Purple porphyry sometimes has veins that work +up rich. An' I've seen gold come out o' pink sandstone, yellow +sandstone, all shades o' granite, an' even coal!" + +Clem turned an incredulous glance at Owens, but the mine-owner nodded +agreement. + +"Jim's right," he said, "color isn't any clue. Gold can be found in +any kind of rock. So far as that goes, it shows up in strata of any +geological age. There's gold everywhere. There isn't a range of hills +in any country of the world which may not contain gold. There isn't a +bed of sand or gravel that may not be auriferous. Even the sea beach, +in places, has yielded fortunes. For that matter, there's gold in +every bucket of water you dip up from the sea. + +"But there's not much of it. Geologists have figured that there's +about one cent's worth of gold to every ton of rock in the earth's +crust, but it would take fourteen dollars a ton to handle it. There's +about a hundredth of a cent's worth of gold in a ton of sea water, and +it would cost about ten dollars a ton to get it out. Not much chance +of getting rich that way, is there?" + +"I should say not," declared Clem, with decision. + +"But, as Jim has been pointing out, gold isn't scattered evenly all +through the earth. In some places, it's moderately plentiful, in +others it's scarce or entirely absent. Prospecting for gold, Clem, +doesn't mean looking for a place where there is gold, but looking for +a place where the proportion of gold to the soil or to the rock is +high enough to give a profit in the working of it. + +"It isn't always the place where the gold is most plentiful that gives +the greatest profit, either. A low-grade ore, that is a rock +containing only a small proportion of gold, may be worth a great deal +if it is near the surface, if the rock is easily crushed, if it is +near water-power, and if transportation is not too difficult. + +"A high-grade ore, in which there is a large proportion of gold, may +be worth a good deal less, if it is more difficult to work and less +easy of access. The richest gold-field in the world, that of the Rand, +in South Africa, which gives one-third of the total gold output of the +world, is of an ore so poor that a forty-niner would have turned up +his nose at it, and the machinery, even of thirty years ago, could +have done nothing with it. Nearly all the big mines of to-day are +winning wealth out of low-grade ore. + +"Some of these days, Clem, I'll explain the geology of gold to you, +and show you how it is that the mines which give the richest specimens +are sometimes the poorest mines to work. But I'm breaking into Jim's +story." + +"I was jest a-sayin'," continued Jim, who had listened with impatience +to Owens' explanation, "that them as says there ain't no luck in +minin' ain't never done no minin'. I've been showin' you how some men +got rich in a minute an' hundreds got nothin'. + +"But there was some fields that was a frost, right from the start. +They promised big an' give big for the first scratch or two. +Then--nothin'! Kern River was one o' those an' Father got bit. + +"My grand-pap, he'd gone back to Utah to take command of a band o' +'Destroyin' Angels', as the Gentiles called the Danites, leavin' +Father to go on pannin' on the Sacramento. The claims was peterin' out +fast, but there was good day's wages to be got, still. + +"Then, in 1855, come the news o' the Kern River strike. If folk had +gone crazy in forty-nine, they got crazier still this time. There was +all the fame o' the last strike to lure 'em on. The same ol' story o' +desert trails without water, o' minin' camps that were death-traps, +was repeated, only ten times worse. Twenty thousand started in the +same week. The last few miles was a trail o' blood. Men stabbed their +friends in the back to get to the diggin's first. The stakin' o' +claims was done, six-shooter in hand. + +"And, o' the twenty thousand, there wasn't twenty that cleaned up +rich. My father, he wasn't one o' the twenty. He prospected, up an' +down, until he'd spent the last ounce o' gold-dust he'd got from five +years' work, an' all but starved to death on his way across the +desert, headin' for Utah. + +"When he got into Nevada, he didn't have a pound o' flour left. He +didn't have nothin' left, nothin' but his pick an' shovel an' pan. All +the rest was gone. He didn't have no trade but prospectin'. Well +enough he knew he'd leave his bones on the trail if he tried to foot +it to Salt Lake City. + +"He'd heard about gold being found on the Carson River, in Nevada, in +1850, by Prouse Kelly and John Orr, an' he knew that they'd gone back +an' done well. Several other small placers had been found, noways +rich, but still enough to keep a busy man goin'. He'd learned from his +Kern River experience that a man did better, stickin' to a small +claim'n tryin' for the big prizes, an' he made for the small placers +o' the Carson River. A store-keeper grub-staked him, to start with, +an' in a month or two, he was clear. + +"Next year, that was '56, his pard struck what looked like a silver +vein, an' started off to the city wi' some samples. Father, he stuck +by the gold. That's where he lost out. He prospected in Six Mile Canyon +an' found little color--his bad luck again, for, in '57, two +prospectors made a rich strike less'n a quarter of a mile away from +where he'd been pannin'. They found signs o' silver, too, but chucked +the stuff aside. Father plugged along, an' at last struck a little +pocket in a creek off the Carson. A month's work gave him near a +thousand dollars' worth o' dust, an' he reckoned he'd go back to Salt +Lake City. He'd been away eight years. + +"Grand-pap was still alive an' told Father to stay home an' go +farmin'. But it didn't go. The prospectin' bug had hit Father too +hard. In the spring o' '59 he started back for the Carson River +again, an' Mother come along. She reckoned she might never see him +again, if she didn't. + +"That summer, there was three folks on the claim. Another pard had +come, a little one, what had for his first toy a nugget o' gold tied +on a bit o' string. I was born on a minin' claim, for that little pard +was--me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE GREAT BONANZA + + +"You certainly started young enough in the prospecting game," said +Owens, when Jim told of his birth in a mining camp, "and have you been +at it all your life?" + +"Ever since I was big enough to twirl a pan or rock a cradle!" + +"How do you mean rock a cradle?" queried Clem. "I thought you were in +the cradle!" + +"Not that kind, boy," Jim answered, "what I'm meanin' is a miner's +cradle, or a rocker, as some calls it. I gradooated from one to +t'other." + +"What's a miner's cradle, then?" + +"It's a scheme to make pannin' easier. Pannin' is durn hard work, +Clem. You're squattin' on your hams beside a river all the day long, +you got to hold a pan full o' earth an' water at arm's length an' down +at an angle what nigh tears your arms out o' their sockets, an' then +keep revolvin' the mixture with a circular twist that wrenches the +muscles somethin' cruel. I've seen big men, tough uns, too, fair +cryin' from the pain, at first. + +"Not only that, but you got to work the sodden lumps o' dirt soft wi' +your fingers, so's the grit gets right into the skin. Your hands are +wet nigh all the time. The grit an' the constant washin' o' the water, +in all weathers, cracks the skin all over, so's it's bleedin' most o' +the time. You got to have hands like a bit o' rawhide to stand it. + +"The cradle does the work quicker'n' easier, but it takes three men to +work it right. It looks like a child's cradle from the outside, though +most o' them I've seen was made pretty rough. About six inches from +the top there's a drawer, or sometimes jest a tray, with a bottom o' +iron, punched wi' holes o' different sizes, accordin' to the kind o' +dirt you're workin' in. If your pannin' out don't show no big grains +o' gold-dust, why, you keep the holes o' the cradle small, otherwise, +you got to have 'em bigger. Below that drawer is another one, slopin' +like. It hasn't got no holes. It has cross-bars or cleats, what we +call 'riffles,' to keep the gold from washin' away. + +"One man digs up the pay dirt an' chucks it in at the top o' the +cradle. Another dips up bucket after bucket o' water, continuous, an' +sloshes it in; it's his job, too, to break up the soft lumps an' keep +stirrin' the pasty mess, an' to keep the cradle full o' water. The +third man goes rock, rockin', without stoppin', hours at a time. +Mostly, the pardners spell each other off." + +"But I should think a good deal of gold would be washed away by that +system," objected Clem, "surely the rocking must dash some of it over +the riffles." + +"Some does go," Jim agreed, "but a gang can handle so much more pay +dirt in a day that it more'n makes up. Three men with a cradle can +handle twice as much dirt as the three men workin' separately would, +each with a pan. Team work pays, in minin'--if you can trust your +pardners. + +"Just about the time I was born, Father made pardners with five other +prospectors, all pannin' on the Carson. Their claims were all in a +string, one after the other, so they figures on makin' a sluice. +That's jest a long trough. In richer an' more settled camps they're +made of iron, length after length, all ready to be fixed together like +a stove-pipe, but on the Carson, they was jest hollowed-out logs. + +"Sluices was always a foot deep, a foot an' a half wide, an' as long +as could be made, slopin' slightly, so the water wouldn't run too fast +or too slow, an' wi' riffles every few inches all along. The six +claims I'm tellin' about give a chance for a sluice over a hundred +foot long. To save the trouble o' liftin' water up in a pail, or +pumpin' it, Father made a sort o' small flume, leadin' from the river +higher up right into the sluice, so's the water would run continuous. + +"Bein' there was six o' them, the pardners worked three shifts, eight +hours each. One man dug the dirt, wheeled it in a barrow to the head +o' the sluice an' dumped it on a wooden platform. The other shoveled +it into the sluice, stirred it up, an' broke up the lumps when they +got pasty. Eight hours o' that was a day's work, I'm tellin'! Mother, +she cooked an' washed for all six men, aside lookin' after me. Wi' +meals to be got for all three shifts, she was kep' busy. + +"The sluice didn't stop runnin', day nor night, for a month at a +stretch. Then the water in the flume was turned off, the sluice, +riffles an' platform were scraped clean wi' knives, an' all six +pardners panned the scrapin's. That was the clean-up. It was divided +by weight o' dust into seven equal parts, Mother gettin' a man's +share." + +"Didn't they use any mercury at all on the Carson?" queried Owens. + +"After a bit, our gang did. Not until each man had a bag o' dust set +aside, big enough to buy a few weeks' grub, though. They'd all got +badly bit in Californy, an' quicksilver cost a lot o' money in them +days." + +"What's the quicksilver for?" queried Clem. + +"To catch the gold. If you spread it on the riffles it seems to grab a +hold o' 'color' like glue, an', what's more, nothin' but gold'll stick +to it." + +"Why is that?" + +"I don't know," Jim answered, a bit irritably, "it does, that's all." + +Owens interposed. + +"You can't blame Jim for not knowing why, Clem," he said. "So far as +that goes, I don't believe any chemist in the world can tell you +exactly why quicksilver catches gold. It does, though, sure enough. +But I can show you how it does it, in a way. + +"You know that if iron is exposed to damp air, it turns red with rust? +That is due to the chumminess or the affinity of iron with oxygen. You +know if silver is exposed to city air, where the burning of coal in +furnaces and fireplaces sends a sulphurous smoke into the air, it +turns black? That's due to the fact that silver is a natural chum of +sulphur. Chemically speaking, they make compounds easily. + +"It's the same way with mercury, or, as it is generally called, +quicksilver. Gold and quicksilver are chums, and the minute they get +together they join to form a mixture which is called an amalgam. +That's one of the great discoveries of the age. Gold-mining has taken +a big jump forward since that was found out. + +"You can see yourself how that would work. Whether with a pan, a +cradle, or a sluice, the only thing that enables a miner to separate +the gold from the worthless dirt is that the gold is smaller and +heavier. But suppose the gold dust is so fine as to be invisible, it +will be so light as to wash away easily; if it is in fine flakes, the +flakes will almost float. All that light gold would be lost in the +dirt that flows out of the bottom of the sluice, the tailings, as they +are called. + +"In the days that Jim is describing, two-thirds of the gold was lost +that way. Every one, absolutely every single one of the forty-niners +would have made a fortune, if the chemistry of gold had been as far +advanced then as it is to-day. Even now, men are working over with +profit the tailings that the forty-niners threw away. + +"Suppose, now, you make your sluice, cover the bottom of it and the +riffles with copper plates to hold the quicksilver better, and then +cover your copper with quicksilver. What happens when the dirt and +water come flowing down the sluice? The riffles will catch your heavy +gold, just as well as before, and the quicksilver will catch a lot of +the light gold that used to escape. You've got your gold in the +riffles, then, and you've got a mixture of gold and quicksilver which +has formed an amalgam. + +"Now, the mixture has to be made to give back that gold. First of all +it is pressed through canvas or buckskin in order to get rid of the +liquid quicksilver, which will pass through the weave of the first and +the pores of the second, leaving inside only such of it as has firmly +allied itself with the gold to form the amalgam. + +"The next thing to do is to put this amalgam into a retort, out of +which leads a long pipe, and to subject this retort to intense heat. +Quicksilver is vaporized at a comparatively low temperature--for a +metal. It is driven from the amalgam in the form of vapor, much as +water may be driven off in steam. The quicksilver vapor passes along +this long pipe, which leads to several coils placed in a tank of +running cold water. The cold chills the vapor, condensing it into the +liquid state again, and the quicksilver runs out of the end of the +pipe, ready for use once more. The pure gold is left. + +"But, even with the use of quicksilver on the sluice there was still +40 per cent. of the gold that got away. For many years there was no +practical way of recovering this loss, and the chemists of the world +tore their hair in despair. What was needed was to find some other +chum of gold, even more affectionate than mercury. The chemists found +this new friend, at last, in cyanide, which is a salt of prussic acid. +Cyanide, Clem, is an arrant flirt, as I'll show you, in a minute. + +"Nowadays, the tailings, after passing over the long sluice or flume, +and after having dropped the heavy gold in the riffles and given some +of the light gold to the quicksilver, are led to a huge churn. There +the earth and water are pounded together into a sort of slime. A wheel +lifts this slime into a movable chute from which it is poured into a +series of vats or tanks. These tanks contain cyanide, which has +already allied itself with a chum--potassium. + +"But cyanide likes gold even better than it does potassium, and, as +soon as the slime strikes the vat, the cyanide lets go the potassium +and clings to the gold. Cyanide of gold is formed. So far, so good. +But what the miner wants is pure gold. + +"The cyanide is pumped up out of those tanks into another chute, which +pours it into a second lot of tanks, fastened to the side of which are +large bundles of zinc shavings. The cyanide liked the gold better than +the potassium, but it has the bad taste to prefer zinc even to gold. +It releases the gold and flies to the embrace of the zinc. The gold, +suddenly deserted of the friendship of the cyanide, powders down to +the bottom of the tank, in absolutely pure form, ready to be melted +down into bars. By other processes, which I won't bother you by +describing now, the zinc is released from the cyanide, and the cyanide +is led to its old friend the potassium, ready to begin work anew. So, +you see, nothing is wasted. + +"This process, and this only, has made the astounding wealth of South +Africa, for, as I told you, the reefs there are of very low-grade ore, +so low that Jim, here, would have turned up his nose at it. The +modern ability of chemists to get out the tiniest particle of gold +that lies in the most stubborn rock has made the Rand a richer region +than a prospector's wildest dream." + +"If I'd known all that, forty years ago, I'd be a rich man now," said +Jim, regretfully. + +"You'd have been a millionaire, ten times over," Owens agreed, "but, +since it hadn't been found out, you couldn't have known it. But did +you always stick to gold, Jim? That Carson River country has got more +silver in it than it has gold." + +"Don't I know it? 'Ain't it been rubbed into me, good an' hard? Father +wasn't a cussin' man, noways, but he couldn't keep his tongue in order +like a man should, when he got to talkin' about silver. He threw away +any amount o' high-grade silver ore, while huntin' for gold. The +richest silver mine in the whole world, I reckon, was found less'n a +hundred yards from where he'd been pannin'. + +"It was the same ol' story--he didn't know enough! Workin' hard may +bring a man some money, but havin' savvy will bring him a lot more. + +"Right where Father was workin', he was havin' all sorts o' trouble +wi' a heavy black sand that kep' on fillin' up the riffles like it was +gold. He shoveled away cubic yards of it! An' do you know what that +was? That dirty black sand was nigh pure silver, an' Father was +pannin' less'n quarter of a mile away from the richest section in all +Nevada. He was campin' right on the Comstock Lode! I reckon you've +heard o' that, Mr. Owens!" + +"Every mining man has heard of the Comstock," the mine-owner replied. +"Personally, I don't know a great deal about silver, although the +Broken Hill mine, New South Wales, which is nearly as rich as the +great Nevada deposit, is located not far from my home. I went straight +from gold to coal. So I never did hear the real story of the Comstock. +But you ought to know about it, Jim. Was it found by accident, too?" + +"Rank good luck an' rotten bad luck mixed," Jim answered. "Do I know +that story! The first week's pay I ever drew was on the Comstock. An' +I was born, as I told you, near enough to throw a stone right on to +the Comstock outcrop. This was how it begun! + +"There was two prospectors, Patrick McLaughlin an' Peter O'Riley, +Irishmen both, what had been pannin' gold on Gold Canyon, where, I +told you, Father had been. Luck was poor. Grub was hard to get. The +water o' the Carson had a strong taste, an' wasn't none too healthy. +So the two pardners started diggin' a water-hole down in the gulch, +near where they was workin'. What come up out o' the hole was a yellow +sand, all mixed up with bits o' quartz an' a crumblin' black rock, +much the same as the black sand Father'd been worried with. + + +[Illustration: THE MINER'S SLUICE. + +Such a device as this was being worked by Jim's father when the +Comstock Lode was discovered. + +_Courtesy of Netman & Co._] + + +[Illustration: PANNING GOLD ON THE KLONDYKE. + +Typical summer scene on the junction of the Eldorado and Bonanza +Creeks; "color" showing in both pans.] + + +"Now a prospector'll wash any durn dirt he sees, an' O'Riley, while +waitin' for some bacon to fry, chucked some o' the yellow an' black +sand in a pan an' give it a twirl or two. You can reckon he jumped +some when the pan showed color. He yelled to McLaughlin an' the two o' +them got busy. Every pan showed color, not big, but enough. The +cleanin' up wasn't what you'd call rich but it was steady, an' there +was any amount o' pay dirt in sight. The two begin to fill their +buckskin bags wi' dust, right smartly. + +"Then a low-down, dirty, ornery coyote of a man, Henry Comstock by +name, come amblin' along. A shifty critter was Comstock, trapper, +fur-trader, gambler, claim-jumper, mine-salter, sneak-thief, an' +everything else. He see O'Riley an' McLaughlin cleanin' up the cradle +an' guessed they'd struck it rich. Lyin' glibly, like the yaller dog +he was, he told the prospectors he was the owner o' the land, an' made +'em give up their claims. They went on workin', but on small shares. +The hole got deeper, but by-'n-by got hard to work because this seam +o' black rock got wider'n wider as it went down. Riley an' McLaughlin +dodged the rock, the best they knew how, findin' gold enough to pay +for workin' in the loose dirt on either side. + +"One or two other prospectors drifted up that way, though the pickin's +was small. One o' them, wonderin' what the black rock might be, an' +havin' a hunch it might be lead it was so heavy, put a chunk in the +hands of an assayer in Placerville. + +"The expert couldn't believe his eyes, at first, an' thought some one +was playin' a joke on him. His assay showed a value o' $3,000 per ton +in silver an' $800 per ton in gold. He assayed one or two other bits, +wi' the same result. Here was millions, jest beggin' to be picked up! +Folks got wind of it, right away. That was in November, 1859, too late +in the winter to cross the high Sierras into Nevada. + +"The rush started a-hummin', early in 1860. 'Frisco was fair frothin' +at the mouth. It was a long trail, an' the silver-hungry crowd +couldn't wait. Some o' the craziest got away as early as January. They +caught it heavy! + +"From Sacramento up the old emigrant trail to Placerville weren't no +gentle stroll in winter time! From Placerville to the bottom o' +Johnson Pass was a trail for timber wolves, not for humans. Snow lay +thick. Winds, fit to freeze a b'ar, come a-howlin' down the high +Sierras. A few men got through an' froze to death on Mount Davidson, +the silver actooally ticklin' the soles o' their feet. Some got caught +in slow-slides in the Johnson Pass an' their bodies didn't show up +till June. A lot more died o' starvation an' exposure on the way. + +"That didn't keep the rest from comin'. They fair stormed the Pass. In +March there was a thaw, an' the flood o' men broke through. + +"It was a bad crowd. Aside from decent prospectors and miners, there +was a pack o' gamblers, saloon-keepers, 'bad men,' fake speculators, +an' all the rest o' the human buzzards that follow on the heels of a +rush. They remembered the first days o' the forty-niners, an' every +bad egg in Californy wanted to be the first to murder an' to rob. In +three weeks, the silent an' deserted slopes o' Mount Davidson was +peppered wi' tents. Virginia City had been started an' had become a +roarin' town. + +"That wasn't a minin' camp, it was a hell-hole. I've seen tough joints +in my day, but Virginia City beat all. It wasn't jest the miners lost +their heads, but experts, geologists, an' all, went plumb crazy. +'Twasn't much wonder. That black rock was jest one continooal bonanza. +A gold mine was a fool to it. + +"The ore in one of the shafts--the Potosi Chimney, it was called--was +rangin' steadily over a hundred dollars a ton silver, an' that shaft +alone was bringin' up 650 tons a day. Three prospectors tapped the big +lode at another point, near Esmeralda, worked a week an' took six +thousand dollars apiece for their claims. The man who bought first +rights on Esmeralda, sold them before the end or that summer, for a +quarter of a million. An' yet McLaughlin an' O'Riley havin' given up +their claims to Comstock, got nothin' out of it. As for Comstock, he +filed a false claim of ownership which the courts wouldn' give him, +an' he went down an' out. + +"The Gould & Curry mine, one o' the richest, was bought from its +finders for an old horse, a bottle o' lightnin'-rod whisky, three +blankets, an' two thousand dollars in cash. After four millions had +been taken out of it, an Eastern syndicate come along an' bought it +for seven millions o' dollars--an' they made money out of it, at that! +Six years after the openin' o' the Gould & Curry, there was 57 miles +o' tunnels, all in rich ore, an' the owners had to work it like a coal +mine, leavin' great pillars o' silver to prop up the roof! + +"A telegraph line was run through an' that made Virginia City ten +times worse. It weren't a town o' miners, rightly, not like a gold +placer camp. Silver ore needs capital to work it, an' Virginia City +become a town o' loose fish, speculators, crooked brokers, an' +suckers. One man sold the Eureka mine to eight different people at the +same time, an' he'd never even seen the place an' didn't own a claim +in it. He pocketed eighty thousand dollars in eight days an' was +strung up to the limb of a pine-tree the ninth! + +"There was some good work done, though. Durin' 1861 an' 1862 +road-makers was busy, though laborers was gettin' fancy prices. But +the engineers kep' at it, an' afore the winter o' '62, there was a +wide road where two eight-mule coaches could cross each other at full +gallop without slacking the traces. Tolls were high, so high that the +road-makers got all their money back in the first year. Crack coaches +with relays made the trail from Sacramento to Virginia City in twelve +hours, instead of six weeks, like it was first. Hold-ups were frequent +an' plenty, but a 'road agent' didn't last long where every one +carried a gun. + +"Then come the 'year o' nabobs,' that was '63. The Comstock Lode put +out over $26,000,000 in silver bullion alone, half-a-million dollars +o' silver every week in the year. By that time there was forty big +minin' plants operatin' wi' steam machinery. There weren't no place +for a small man any more, unless he wanted to do minin' on days' +wages, an' mighty few o' the early prospectors ever got any o' the +later wealth o' the Comstock. Father, he wouldn't touch silver, nohow, +but he made more'n the miners did by pannin' the dirt the mines were +throwin' away. They were makin' so much money out o' silver that they +wouldn't bother to take out the gold. + +"Then come the first big smash. Half o' the mines sold to the suckers +weren't worth shucks. Wild-cat mines, they called 'em. There was one, +the Little Monte Cristo, which give the promoter half a million +dollars in shares which he sold to folk in New York an' Philadelphy. +An' they never made more'n an 8-foot pit in it an' didn't take out +enough bullion to melt down into a silver spoon! + +"What was worse, the big mines got down to the rock water-level. At +first, they run little tunnels, what they called 'adits' from the side +o' the mountain an' drained that way. That wasn't no good, much. They +soon got below that. The lode got richer the farther down they went +an' some o' the big companies took to pumpin' out the water. Right +away, they started in to lose money. It cost more to pump than the +silver was worth. The boom dropped with a thud. + +"Then Adolph Sutro come along. He was a big man was Sutro, one o' +these here engineers folks talk about. He offered to build a drainage +tunnel from the foot-hills o' the Carson Valley, just above the river +smack into the heart o' the lode, a distance o' four miles, tappin' +all the mines. He figured that, if it weren't done, all the mines'd +get flooded an' all the wealth o' Comstock'd go to smash. + +"Seein' things were going' so bad, the mine-owners balked at first. +After a while, though, the water come in so free that they all agreed +to give him two dollars a ton for all the ore raised from the mines, +providin' his tunnel drained 'em all, an' providin' he fixed it so +that they could get men an' material through the tunnel, instead o' +having to pull it all up the shaft. It took Sutro six years to get the +capital, but he got it. He begun work in '71. Toward the end o' the +job the work was so hot an' tough that he doubled his rate o' wages, +an' in '77, bein' eighteen years old then, I started operatin' a drill +in the tunnel. I was thar on the day that we broke through." + +Few engineering feats in the history of mining are more famous than +the making of the Sutro Tunnel. In one of the publications of the +U. S. Geological Survey, Eliot Lord has told its story of perseverance +and triumph. + +"Sutro's untiring zeal," wrote Lord, "kindled a like spirit in his +co-workers. Changing shifts urged the drills on without ceasing; +skilled timberers followed up the attack on the breast and covered +the heads of the assailants like shield-bearers. + +"The dump at the mouth of the tunnel grew rapidly to the proportions +of an artificial plateau raised above the surrounding valley slope; +yet the speed of the electric currents which exploded the blasts +scarcely kept pace with the impatient anxiety of the tunnel owners to +reach the lode, when the extent of the great Consolidated Virginia +Bonanza was reported; for every ton raised from the lode was a loss to +them of two dollars, as they thought. + +"Urged on by zeal, pride, and natural covetousness, the miners cut +their way indomitably towards the goal, though, at every step gained +the work grew more painful and more dangerous. + +"The temperature at the face of the heading, had risen from 72 deg +(Fahr.) at the close of the year 1873 to 83 deg during the two following +years; though in the summer of 1875 two powerful Root blowers were +constantly employed in forcing air into the tunnel. At the close of +the year 1876, the indicated temperature was 90 deg and, on the 1st of +January, 1878, the men were working in a temperature of 96 deg. + +"In spite of the air currents from the blowers, the atmosphere before +the end of the year 1876 had become almost unbearably foul as well as +hot. The candles flickered with a dull light and men often staggered +back from their posts, faint and sickened. + +"During the months preceding the junction with the Savage Mine, the +heading was cut with almost passionate eagerness. The miners were then +two miles from the nearest ventilating shaft, and the heat of their +working chamber was fast growing too intense for human endurance. + +"The pipe which applied compressed air to the drills was opened at +several points and the blowers were worked to their utmost capacity. +Still the mercury rose from 98 deg on the 1st of March 1878 to 109 deg on +the 22nd of April, and the temperature of the rock face of the heading +increased from 110 deg to 114 deg. Four shifts a day were worked instead of +three, and the men could only work during a small portion of their +nominal hours of labor. + +"Even the tough, wiry mules of the car train could hardly be driven up +to the end of the tunnel and sought for fresh air not less ardently +than the men. Curses, blows, and kicks could scarcely force them away +from the blower-tube openings, and, more than once, a rationally +obstinate mule thrust his head in the end of the canvas air-pipe. He +was literally torn away by main strength, as the miners, when other +means failed, tied his tail to the bodies of two other mules in his +train and forced them to haul back their companion, snorting +viciously, and slipping with stiff legs over the wet floor. + +"Neither men nor animals could long endure work so distressing. +Fortunately, the compressed air drills knew neither weariness nor +pain, and churned their way to the mines without ceasing. + +"A blast from the Savage Mine tore an opening through the wall, in the +evening of that day. The goal for which Sutro had striven so many +years was in sight. He was waiting at the breach, impatient of delay, +and crawled, half-naked, through the jagged opening, while the foul +air of the heading was still gushing into the mine." + +Meanwhile, over the heads of the workers of the Sutro tunnel, a not +less marvelous change had come over the Comstock Lode. This was the +discovery of the Great Bonanza. After the slump of 1864 and the +terrible handicap of the water, mine-owners on the Comstock fell +deeper and deeper into despair. Gone were the wild days of riot and +extravagance. Only by extreme care, by the use of every modern +appliance, by the lowering of wages--some thirty pitched battles, with +six-shooters, marked this period--were they able to keep going at all. + +Then, just as two Irishmen had first found the Comstock, two other +Irishmen forged to the front. These were John W. Mackay, who had begun +work as a day-laborer in the mine, and James G. Fair, a young fellow +who had come to Virginia City with only a few hundred dollars' +capital. They made a daring team. Seizing the opportunities of the +dull times, they bought property after property as it was abandoned by +the owners, who declared that the great lode had "pinched out." With a +third Irishman, Wm. O'Brien, and a 'Frisco miner, James C. Flood, they +bought the entire stretch between the two famous mines--the Ophir and +the Gould & Curry--thus forming what became known to history as the +Virginia Consolidated. The four men paid $50,000 for this huge +property; risking their all on the chance that deeper mining might +reach the supposedly "pinched out" vein. + +They sank a shaft, down, down and down,--nothing! They ran a drift to +meet it from one of their purchased mines, and drilled for +weeks--nothing! Then a thin seam of ore appeared, but so small as to +seem insignificant. Fair pursued this vein. A quarter of a million +dollars were eaten up in chasing this elusive line of ore but the vein +would neither disappear nor get wider. Fair's partners tried to insist +on running galleries in various directions to explore--and did so for +one month while he was ill--but Fair returned insistently again to +that thin thread of silver. There was one place where it was only two +inches thick. And then, in October 1873, the miners cut suddenly into +the Big Bonanza. + +"No discovery," wrote Lord, "to match this one had ever been made on +this earth from the time when the first miner struck a ledge with his +rude pick. The plain facts are as marvelous as a Persian tale, for the +young Aladdin did not see in the glittering cave of the genii such +fabulous riches as were lying in the dark womb of the rock. + +"The wonder grew as the depths were searched out foot by foot. The +Bonanza was cut at a point 1167 feet below the surface, and, as the +shaft went down, it was pierced again at the 1200-foot level. One +hundred feet deeper and the prying pick and drill told the same story, +yet another hundred feet, and the mass appeared to be swelling. When, +finally, the 1500-foot level was reached and ore richer than any +before met with was disclosed, the fancy of the coolest brains ran +wild. How far this great Bonanza would extend, none could predict, but +its expansion seemed to keep pace with the most sanguine imaginings. +To explore it thoroughly was to cut it out bodily; systematic search +through it was a continual revelation." + +The wealth revealed was beyond believing. This Bonanza, alone, yielded +$3,000,000 of silver every month for the first three years. + +Yet it was hard to win. Mackay believed in high wages and paid more +than double the wages given to any miners in any place in the history +of the world. All were picked men, who had passed a severe medical +test. The hours were short. The men worked naked save for a loin-cloth +and shoes to protect them from the hot rocks. The heat reached 110 deg. +Three men, who stepped accidentally into a deep pool of water, were +scalded to death. The air was foul. The toil was severe. + +Yet ever, the deeper they went, the richer grew the ore. When, at +last, Mackay, Fair, O'Brien, and Flood sold their holdings, the +Bonanza had yielded more than $150,000,000 worth of silver, one-third +of which had passed directly into the pockets of the four men. + +But what of the first discoverers, McLaughlin and Riley? They had +found the silver, but the Bonanza was not for them. McLaughlin worked +for a while as a laborer and then was thrown out of the mine by a +foreman who said he was too old. He tried a dozen small ventures and +not only lost in everything he touched, but caused his partners to +lose, also. Bad fortune dogged him steadily. An old man, worn out and +hopelessly dispirited, died in a hospital and was buried in a pauper's +grave. Later, it was learned that this was McLaughlin. + +O'Riley fared no better. He refused to work for others, believing that +luck would turn, and that he, who had once discovered so rich a prize, +would, some day or other, discover another. One night, in a dream, he +heard what he took to be the voices of the fairies of the mountain +bidding him dig at a certain barren spot on the hill-slopes of the +Sierras, many miles away from the Comstock Lode. + +For days, for weeks, for years, he dug, ever hearing the fancied +voices leading him on, deeper and deeper still. Mackay offered him +money, but O'Riley refused to accept it, demanding that he be given an +equal share in the mine, or nothing. He starved and suffered, +sometimes finding pieces of pure silver and pure gold in his tunnel, +which he ascribed to his fairies (but which rumor says Mackay had +arranged to be placed there) and, in old age, his tunnel fell in and +crippled him. From the hospital he was taken to an insane asylum, +where he died. + +Henry Comstock met the fate he deserved. For years he swaggered about +Virginia City claiming to be its founder and the discoverer of the +Comstock Lode, living on the charity of luckier men who threw him a +bar of silver as one throws a bone to a dog, or else selling wild-cat +shares to greenhorns. More than once he was justly accused of being in +league with the disorderly elements of the city and having taken part +in robberies. But a certain rough sense of pity kept him from being +strung up to a tree as he deserved a dozen times over--and he died, at +last, a suicide. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHERE TREASURE HIDES + + +"You won't be achin', none, to hear all o' my roamin's after I quit +the Sutro Tunnel," Jim resumed, a couple of days later, when Owens and +Clem came to hear the rest of his story, "so I'll cut 'em short. But +you'll be wantin' to hear how it was I got into that queer part o' the +country where I made my strike. + +"It was Father's doin's more'n it was mine. I reckon I'd ha' stuck +around the Comstock Lode an' got into reg'lar silver-quartz minin' if +I'd gone my own way. But Father didn't have no use for silver. He was +a gold prospector, he was, an' he didn't want to do nothin' else. + +"After the Comstock got goin' good, with big stamp-mills poundin' an' +roarin' night an' day, an' when Virginia City begun to settle into a +sure-enough town, Father begun to itch to be away. Folks worried him. +Gold, he used to say, had savvy enough to hide itself when a mob come +around, an', accordin' to Father's ideas, a placer wasn't no good, +anyhow, after two seasons' pickin's. + +"He jest wanted to come along an' skim off the cream o' some new find, +clean up enough dust to keep him goin' for a while, an' then pick up +his stakes an' git! It wasn't jest the money Father was after. He +liked huntin' after gold, jest for the sake o' huntin'. I've seen him +quit a claim that was makin' a fair profit an' start off prospectin', +for the sake o' the change. The wilder the spot, the more chance there +was o' findin' gold, he used to say; the fewer the folks, the bigger +the clean-up. Looked like he was right, too, placer fields peter out +mighty fast when a gang gets there." + +"They are bound to," Owens agreed. + +"But why? There ain't no rule about gold. One placer'll give up +millions in dust, an' another ain't worth pannin'." + +"There's no rule that will tell you where to find placer gold," the +mine-owner corrected, "but don't run away with the idea that gold +deposits are all freaks. As a matter of fact, there is a regular +science to help a good prospector in hunting for reef or quartz gold. +Whether he will find it in sufficient quantity to make the deposit +worth working is quite another matter. + +"You mustn't think, Jim, that gold happens to be in one place and +happens not to be in another as a result of mere chance. There's no +chance in Nature. We think there is, sometimes, merely because the +factors are so terribly complicated that we can't follow them all. + +"What makes the finding of gold seem so much a matter of luck is not +because we don't know how the gold came to be where it is, but because +we can't know the whole history of the Earth before Man came, and we +can't read everything from the rocks which crop out on the surface. +But we have some clues, and if you studied out the big money-making +gold-mines of to-day, you would find that chance has played but a +small part in their discovery and no part at all in their working. + +"A lucky prospector may have been the first to find signs of gold in +the region, but most likely, he got but little out of it. It was the +scientific search which followed that revealed the location of the +great rock deposits below in which the gold was thinly scattered, and +it was highly specialized mining engineering which made them possible +to work. There are mines where ores containing only two dollars' +worth of gold (48 grains, a tenth of an ounce) to the ton are +successfully handled, and the greater part of the big gold-mines run +along quite comfortably on five dollars' worth." + +"You mean on a quarter of an ounce o' gold to the ton!" exclaimed Jim, +amazed. "I've often got ten times that much in one pan!" + +"Exactly. Yet you're not a millionaire, are you? Most gold-mines run +on a narrow margin of profit, a dollar or two to the ton of ore +crushed. So, you see, the works must be on a huge scale in order to +return a dividend on the investment. What's more, you can't afford to +establish a big plant unless there's an enormous amount of ore +available. + +"It's an old rule of wise investors not to put money into a mine that +looks too rich. Why? + +"Because rich ore generally peters out fast. The rich mines always +catch the suckers easily, and they're the ones who lose. A few cents a +ton profit on an immense deposit of low-grade ore means a sure return, +because, as a rule, such ore comes from a very old geological +formation where the gold is evenly scattered, and labor-saving +machinery can be put in with a certainty that those few cents of +profit will continue indefinitely. + +"Gold, as you know, Jim, is always the same price. This has been +agreed upon by all nations. It is the one standard of value. It is +worth a fraction over $20 an ounce. Year in, year out, all over the +world, gold is worth the same. + +"As a result, a gold-mine manager who knows the exact proportion of +gold per ton in the ore of his mine, can calculate to a cent how much +he can afford to pay for mining the ore, crushing it, and separating +the gold by chemical processes. He must figure on the cost of +installing his machinery, on his interest for original outlay, on +depreciation, on the cost of power for his machinery, on the water +power needed for crushing and washing, on transportation for his +supplies and on wages. Usually he will have to build his own railroad +and his own aqueducts. A little saving in one place--even a few cents +per ton--will enable him to make a big profit; a little extra cost, +such as an increase in the price of fuel, of chemicals, or of wages, +will make him bankrupt. + + +[Illustration: WHERE DESERTS YIELD MILLIONS. + +Mill of the Pittsburg-Silver Peak Gold Mining Co., Blair, Nevada.] + + +[Illustration: THE EATER OF MOUNTAINS. + +A hydraulic jet of high pressure, washing away a hill of gravel and +sending the pay dirt through a sluice. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._] + + +"That is why, Jim, even the richest-ored mine in the world--if it be +uneven in its yield of gold per ton--may be worthless, and why a +low-grade mine with an unchanging percentage may be worth millions, so +long as there is plenty of it. It all depends on the cost of +extracting the metal. There are scores, yes, hundreds of gold-deposits +well known to-day, which cannot be worked as long as gold stays $20 an +ounce, because it costs almost as much as that to get it out, but +which would be big money-makers if the gold were worth $25. +Three-quarters of the gold-mines of to-day would shut tight like a +clam, if gold were to drop in price even a dollar or two. What a +capitalist wants to-day is ore, and he is not interested in free gold. +What a prospector looks for, is free gold, and he ignores the rock. +I'm telling you all this, now, Jim, because it's what will be the +important thing when we get to talking, later, over your find." + +"That's all right," the old prospector answered, "but how can a man +tell when he's tappin' a big lot o' rock or jest a little, if it ain't +the free gold what shows him?" + +"He can't tell, as a rule," the mine-owner rejoined. "It takes a +geologist to do that. As I was saying, there are some rules to go by. +Here, I'll give you a notion of how gold came to be in the rocks, and +then you'll see what a geologist can tell and what he can't. + +"To start with, you've got to begin 'way at the beginning of things, +before the crust of the earth was solid and when all the rocks of the +crust were in a melted and half-liquid state. So far as we can make +out, the metals seems to have classified themselves at that time, more +or less, according to density. The lighter elements came to the +surface, the heavier ones stayed at the bottom. It wasn't merely a +question of weight, but of gravitation, centrifugal action and a lot +of things I won't stop to explain to you now. Gold, as you know, is +heavy, that is, it possesses extreme density. It stayed therefore, +mainly at the bottom of this semi-molten sea. + +"But this sea, which covered the whole of the earth's surface, wasn't +altogether liquid, as the oceans are to-day. It was a seething mass of +different densities, some of it liquid, some of it slimy, some of it +thick like sticky mud, acted upon by fearful whirlwinds of electric +forces such as astronomers see in the sun to-day, and by powerful +internal currents which created vast churning whirlpools of +super-heated matter. + +"It's impossible for us to tell where these electric whirlwinds passed +or where these currents were. So, since the original separation of the +metals was highly irregular, no geologist can say with certainty where +gold or silver, lead or tin, will be found in the greatest quantity. + +"Then there's another complication. As you know, most of the metals +have chums or affinities with other substances, just as gold has with +mercury. These chums of the metals were also in that molten ocean, but +not always in the same proportions, nor yet distributed regularly. So +metallic compounds were formed at different times and in diverse +places. These compounds had varying densities, with the result that in +later ages they behaved in a way quite different from the pure metal. +You see, Jim, long before the crust of the earth was even formed, gold +was scattered far and wide, and already was in different forms. + +"Then, little by little, the crust began to form as the earth cooled. +It was just a scum, at first, and was constantly broken up from below. +As it got thicker, it resisted more and more, until the upheavals of +the crust formed the mountains of the earliest or Primary Age. This +crust, which was now solid rock, contained gold, but, naturally, +nowhere in the same proportions. Some had much metal inclusion; some, +little; some, none at all. Besides, between the mountains or in them, +were vast volcanic craters, pouring up molten matter which became what +are known as the eruptive rocks, and these, too, carried up gold from +below. These rocks crystallized and the gold remained in them. + +"But even that wasn't complicated enough for Mother Nature. In those +same eruptive rocks, both of the early and later periods, gold is +mainly found in veins. These veins are of dozens of different sorts, +depending on the rock in which they occur and on Nature's ways of +putting them there. + +"To make it simple to you, I'll only mention two. The most general +method was by fumaroles. These are subterranean blow-holes of vapor +containing sulphur, tellurium, and chlorine compounds, as well as +super-heated steam. These vapors, projected from deep down in the +earth with incredible pressure and energy, acted on the new-made +rocks, formed compounds with the metals, or, when united with hydrogen +in the steam, separated the metals from solutions of their salts, and +forced the metals into cracks in the new-made and cooling eruptive +rocks. According to the kind of rock and the nature of the chemical +agent, a geologist will know for what type of vein to search. The +other most general agent of vein-making was hot water--generally +heavily saturated with sulphur and other chemicals--which dissolved +the gold. This hot water, with gold in solution, seeped into the +cracks and crevices made by the rock as it cooled, thus forming other +types of veins." + +"Hold on a minute, there!" protested Jim. "Water won't dissolve gold." + +"It will and does," was the retort, "especially when certain chemicals +are in the water. As a matter of fact, even to-day, the geysers at +Steamboat Springs, California, and at several places in New Zealand, +deposit gold and silicon in their basins. But let me go on. + +"After the gold was placed in veins in these primary rocks, there came +a period of erosion, and the mountains were worn away. The gold being +harder than rock, it remained and made alluvial deposits of a very +early age. Some, of these old 'placers' are several miles below the +surface, now, others have come again to the surface by all the +superposed rock having been washed away, anew. Some of the gold was +dissolved, as before, and got into the crevices of the newly deposited +rocks made by erosion, known as sedimentary rocks. So, you see, Jim, +even millions of years ago, there was gold in the crystallized +eruptive rock, gold in veins of igneous rock, gold in alluvial +deposits, and, again, gold in veins in the sedimentary rocks. + +"Then came another period of elevation, with a second raising up of +mountain ranges, and with a renewal of violent volcanic action. The +crust was getting more and more unequal, the way in which the metals +were distributed became more and more scattered. Mountains of the +Secondary Age were often made of Primary sedimentary rocks, or of +Primary igneous rocks, so much changed that geologists call them +metamorphic rocks. And, Jim, every time that the rock was changed, the +gold changed either its place or its compound character, or both. Then +came another period of erosion, lasting millions of years, the gold +was washed away to form new placers, or made its way into veins in the +Secondary sedimentary rocks. + +"Then came the great upheaval of the Third or Tertiary Age, in which +new mountains rose, new volcanic vents were opened, and, once more, +much of the gold was acted upon by chemicals, mainly sulphur and +tellurium. In many places silver showed a strong affinity with gold, +forming deposits where the ores were commingled. Once more the +hundreds of centuries of erosion came, to be followed by the upheaving +of the newer mountains of the Fourth or Quaternary Age. So, you see, +Jim, as I told you before, gold can be found in almost every rock and +of every geological period." + +"I don't see that it helps much, then!" declared the old prospector. +"You can go lookin' where you durn please." + +"There's nothing to stop you," agreed Owens cheerfully, "but that's a +hit-and-miss method. And I can show you just how even this little bit +of geology comes in to help the miner. + +"Get this clearly in your head, Jim! Three-quarters of the present +gold production of the world comes from gold that is mixed with +pyrites--which is a sulphide of iron, or from tellurides--in which a +tellurium-hydrogen compound has been the chemical agent. A prospector, +therefore, who uncovers a new field where the gold is in the pyritous +or the telluride form has ten times more chance of attracting capital +than one who finds lumps of native gold lying around loose. + +"It is when a prospector strikes a section where all the gold-bearing +rock has been eroded that he is apt to find the 'pockets' so dear to +his heart. The amazing riches of the Klondyke lay in the fact that +prospectors found, first, the alluvial deposits from the present age +in the sands of the running creeks, and, on ledges high above the +creeks and running into the rocks on either side, the alluvial +deposits, even thicker and richer, of a bygone time." + +"You've got it right," declared Jim, emphatically. "I know 'cos I was +there!" + +"Was it on the Yukon, then, that you made your famous strike?" + +The prospector winced. Evidently, he intended to reach that point in +his own way. + +"I'll tell you about that, after a bit," he answered evasively. "But +you ain't said why placer claims peter out." + +"Can't you see? A placer claim doesn't show where the big store of +gold is, but where it isn't! It shows that the gold has gone. A placer +is just a spot where a little heavy gold, that hasn't been acted on +by chemicals, happens to have been deposited during the erosion of a +mountain which was composed of gold-bearing rock. The rock has been +washed into sand and gravel and a great deal of it taken out to sea. +There's plenty of gold in the sea, as I told you before. + +"But the amount of sand or gravel to be panned along a creek or river +is limited. When that's washed over, there's no more to find. A +prospector gets down to bed-rock and he's through. Then he's either +got to pack up and hunt some new spot where the same erosion has +happened, or, if he's clever enough, he's got to find the rock or reef +from which the gold was washed out. If he doesn't know his geology, +he's apt to waste his time. + +"Then the scientific expert and the capitalist come in. It's the man +with money who profits most by a poor man's strike. He can afford to +sit back and wait. Presently the expert will come back and report +where the gold-bearing rock lies. The capitalist arrives with huge +machinery for mining and crushing the rock, for turning on enormous +water-power, in short, for performing a sort of artificial erosion in +a few days which Nature took hundreds of thousands of years to do. He +pockets millions, where the prospectors who did the first work only +get thousands, or even hundreds, or, sometimes, nothing at all. + +"Your father was perfectly right, Jim, in saying that the prizes of +prospecting are for the man who gets there first. Placers are bound to +peter out quickly. They are Nature's purses, and a purse hasn't any +more money in it than you put in. Even the Klondyke, that astounding +pocket of riches, lasted only three years and then dwindled down. + +"Some of these days, all the available places of the earth will have +been worked over by the casual prospector, and then his day will be +done. The ever-hoping rover of the pick, shovel, and pan is becoming +extinct. Even now, the only spots which hold out any chance of pockets +of gold are in the almost inaccessible section of the globe. + +"The daring seeker for gold must go to the bleak ranges of the frigid +North, where, even in the middle of the summer, the ground is frozen +as hard as a rock a few inches below the surface; or else to the +jungle-clad slopes of the tropics, where fever and stewing heat menace +him with ever-present death; or yet to regions so far removed from +civilization that the white man has not yet penetrated there. The +shores of the Arctic Ocean, the steaming equatorial forests of the +Eastern Andes, or the untrodden valleys of the inner Himalayas offer +the most hopes to the prospector. But he may spend all the gold-dust +he finds, and more, to go there and return. + +"The tundras of Alaska and eastward to Hudson Bay still contain placer +gold, to a surety, gold not difficult to find if a man is willing to +face an Arctic winter and a mosquito-haunted summer to work there. +It's a wonder to me, Jim, that your father didn't join the great rush +to the Fraser River, in British Columbia, in 1856. That was a mad and +sorrowful stampede, if ever there was one!" + +"He was crazy about the Fraser," Jim answered. "All that kep' him from +goin' was the smash-up o' the Kern River rush, which lef' him +dead-broke an' nigh starvin', like I told you. But he never forgot the +Fraser. That's what took us up north, to wind up with. + +"It was in '79, when I was twenty years old, that Father comes into +the cabin, an' says, point blank, + +"'We're a-goin' to the Kootenay.' + +"'Where's that?' I asks. + +"'Somewheres up near the Fraser River. There's gold there, so they're +sayin', like there was on the Sacramento in '49. An' thar ain't no +one, hardly, thar! Fust one in gits it all.' + +"I tried to reason with him. So did Mother, but it weren't no manner +o' use. A week later, we was gone." + +"I shouldn't have thought he'd have found much on the Kootenay," said +Owens reflectively, "it's all vein mining there. That needs heavy +crushing machinery." + +"Not all," Jim corrected. "There's some glacial gravel there an' we +washed out enough to pay our way. But Father wanted something bigger. + +"We struck out from West Kootenay an' hit the trail for Six Mile +Creek, near Kicking Horse Pass, in Upper East Kootenay. We stayed +there a while, but some one, who had a grudge agin the Mormons, pulled +his gun on Father. A 'forty-niner' ain't apt to be lazy on the shoot, +an' Father's gun spit first. We didn't wait for the funeral, but moved +on, an' lively, at that, strikin' for the Fraser." + +"Good thing for you the N. W. M. P. (North West Mounted Police), +didn't strike your trail!" commented Owens. + +"It was a straight-enough deal," protested Jim, "an' the N. W.'s ha' +got plenty o' sense. But that wasn't no reason for hangin' around, +lookin' for trouble. We thought the Fraser'd be healthier. As it +turned out, it wasn't. + +"The Fraser boom was dead. The shacks in the ol' minin' camps was +rottin' to ruin. The machinery--what little there was of it--was lyin' +there, rustin'. The sluices had all fallen to bits, except on Hop +Rabbit Creek. A couple o' hundred men was there still, workin' over +the tailin's, but they was all Chinamen. Up the creek a ways some o' +them was pannin'. + +"Second day we was there, a big Chink comes up to me, an' says, very +quiet like, + +"'You plenty sabbee? Run away quick!' + +"It didn't look that way to me, for I don't take to orderin'. I was +good an' ready to drop that Chink in his tracks, but I did a little +thinkin' first. Two hundred agin two is big odds. I nodded, an' the +big Chink turns away. + +"I didn't say nothin' about the warnin' to Father, for he was that +stubborn he'd ha' waded right in an' tried to clean up the whole +camp. He wouldn't ha' had the chance of a rat in a trap. He'd ha' got +himself carved up in little slices an' that was about all. So I jest +told him that one o' the Chinks had reported there was a new strike on +the Cassiar. Father took the bait like a hungry trout an' we was off +in an hour." + +"But I always thought Chinamen were such a peaceful lot!" exclaimed +Clem. + +"If a Chink comes into a white camp, he's willin' to sing small an' do +what he's told. But in a boom camp that white folks have given up an' +quit, if Johnny Chink comes in, he won't let nary a white come back. I +know! One o' my pardners was in the massacre o' Happy Man Gulch in +'87. That's a yarn worth hearin'! I'll tell it you, some time. + +"Out we trailed to the Cassiar, an', funny enough, though I'd only +been bluffin' to Father about the strike there, we landed on the pay +gravel the very day after French Pete had struck a pocket. He was a +good prospector, was French Pete, an' knew more'n most, but he was +timid like, an' glad to have us there. He could handle Indians--he was +a half-breed himself--but he was that superstitious, he was afraid o' +the dark, alone. He was religious, too, an' Father an' him got along +together famous. We staked out a claim, right next to his, an', for a +few weeks, cleaned up a good fifty dollars a day. + +"Then, one fine mornin', a bunch o' redskins come down, friends o' +French Pete. They palavered some, an', after a while, French Pete he +comes over to us an' says: + +"'We got three days to get out!' + +"Father he put up an awful howl an' was for plugging the redskins full +o' holes, pronto. But French Pete puts it to him that these Injuns was +his friends, an' shootin' wouldn't go. There'd been some kind o' deal +between this tribe an' the Chilkoots, an' every miner on the Divide +knew more'n plenty about the Chilkoots. They'd tortured to death +Georgie Holt, the first prospector that ever went over the Chilkoot +Pass, an' more'n one miner that got into their country wasn't never +heard of no more. + +"So Father puts it up to French Pete where he's goin' next. French +Pete is a good pardner, an' tells a queer tale, but he tells it +straight. He allows there's gold on the islands off the coast an' +shows the lay. + +"Some years afore, so he says, Joe Juneau, an old-time Hudson Bay +trapper, an' Dick Harris, one o' the forty-niners, had found color on +Gold Creek, near the coast, an' had made a pile. Juneau went on +prospectin', though he was rich, an', havin' a generous streak, +grub-staked any man what asked him. That way he got a big share in the +placers found on Silver Bow and doubled his pile. Some other +prospectors what he'd grub-staked reported havin' found gold on the +islands, but nothin' extraordinary. Harris, havin' a business head, +stuck around Gold Creek (the present town of Juneau was formerly +called Harrisburg) an' got rich a-plenty. Juneau an' Harris had more'n +enough to look after, an' never got over to the islands. + +"French Pete, he's an old friend of Juneau an' he knows about this +island game. He reckons it'd be worth pannin'. There's sure-enough +gold up thar to pay for the workin', an' there might be a chance for a +big haul, seein' no one is prospectin' thar. He offers to show Father +where the placers are supposed to be, if he's willin' to come along. +Father likes to stick by his pardner an' agrees. + +"From Cassiar we hoofed it back to Juneau--a long an' a hard +trail--an', after buyin' a small sailboat an' grub enough for three +months, we struck out for Douglas Island. French Pete handled that +boat like a cowboy does a buckin' bronc. We was green wi' scare in +that wild sea, full o' chunks o' ice clashin' all around, but the old +trapper never turns a hair. Presently we landed on a beach which +looked like it was a seal rookery, once, an' works our way to where a +good-sized creek comes plungin' down to the sea. + +"Juneau had it right. The sands along the creek were full o' color, +but the dust was small an' it was slow pannin'. It was all we could do +to make fourteen dollars a day in dust, workin' fourteen hours a day, +maybe; poor pickin's for a spot costin' so much cash an' trouble to +get to. + +"French Pete, though, had plenty o' savvy. From the lie o' the rock, +he reckoned this thin placer gold must ha' been washed out o' the +little mountain what sticks up in one corner o' the island. He let his +placer claim go for a while and prospected for ore. At last he found +what he thought looked like the best spot. The ore was poor in color, +but so soft an' rotten that it could be smashed into dust with a +hammer, an' the gold--what little there was of it--separated out easy. + +"We all staked out half-a-dozen claims, doin' enough work on each to +hold title. Since French Pete had brought us to the island, an' shown +the rock besides, Father an' I promised to give him a quarter o' +whatever we got for our claims, if we ever sold 'em. + +"Off went French Pete in the sail-boat, leavin' us marooned on Douglas +Island, an' in a pickle of a mess supposin' he shouldn't return! But +he come back, sure enough, after about six weeks, havin' found John +Treadwell, a minin' man, who undertakes to buy our claims if Juneau, +after havin' looked 'em over, says they're all right. + +"Juneau an' Treadwell come, a couple o' days after, wi' one o' these +up-to-date engineer Johnnies. The ore's low-grade, but there's head +enough in the creek to run stamp mills by water-power, which makes +cheap crushin'. Treadwell pays French Pete $15,000 for his claims an' +Father an' me $10,000 apiece. Then he buys up the rest o' the island +for next to nothin'. The Treadwell mine's a big un, now, workin' 540 +stamp mills, an', as Mr. Owens says, it's makin' millions out o' low +grade ore. + +"Father had promised Mother, as soon as he got $10,000 clear, he'd go +back home. She holds him to it. After payin' French Pete what we +promised, there's $10,000 for Father an' $5,000 for me, besides what +was left from the Cassiar an' Douglas Island placer clean-ups. Father +an' Mother went back to Utah, leavin' me wi' French Pete an' +Treadwell. + +"But Father couldn't stand it long. While he was prospectin', all +hours, all weathers, he was tough an' strong. Back in town, he begun +to pine. In less'n a year he was dead. Mother didn't live long after +him. That lef' me on my own hook. Douglas Island was too slow, though +Treadwell offered me a good job as long's I cared to stick it out. But +I wanted to be off an' away, feelin' sure, some day, I'd make my big +strike. + +"I was foot-loose, now, wi' five thousand in dust an' the whole world +to roam in. Where was I goin' to find the place where the sands was +nothin' but gold? Somewheres, I was sure! Some day I'd strike it rich +an' never have to work no more. Out in the wild beyond, where no one +else was, millions was waitin' for me!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ROARING NORTH + + +"I was young an' tough in them days an' liked to buck agin hard goin'. +If gold was gettin' scarce where folks was, it was plenty an' free in +the lands that folks didn't dare go to. Naturally enough, I begun to +think o' the Chilkoot country. + +"Ever since Georgie Holt had been tortured to death in a Chilkoot +Indian camp, prospectors had been leery o' that huntin' ground. But +French Pete had heard from a pard o' Juneau's that Dumb MacMillan had +got over the Chilkoot an' struck it rich on what he called Dumb Creek, +runnin' into the Tanana. He'd come back an' cashed his dust, blowed it +in on one wild spree, an' gone over the Pass again. He hadn't never +been heard of no more. + +"Since his second trip, though, the Canadian Government had got a +strangle-hold on the Chilkoots an' was makin' 'em behave. It had +forced 'em to make peace wi' the Stick Indians o' the interior, an' +thrown the fear o' the whites into 'em good an' plenty. So I wasn't +worryin' over Injuns none. The Chilkoot Pass, though, was said to be +something awful to cross, but that wasn't goin' to stop me, when I +knew there was good goin' on the other side an' all the creeks full o' +gold. + +"So I quit Treadwell an' French Pete an' got back to Juneau. There, I +heard that a bunch o' prospectors led by the Schiefflin Brothers had +taken a steamboat, got as far as St. Michael, gone up the Yukon, +wintered at Nuklukayet an' found gold all the way. They'd struck good +placers on Mynook, Hess an' Shevlin Creeks, but the Schiefflins found +the ground always frozen an' terrible hard to work, an' the summer was +so short they figured pannin' on the Yukon wouldn't pay. + +"Think o' that, will you! The Klondyke an' the Eldorado wouldn't pay! + +"That same summer, we heard that there was new gold strikes on the +Lewes an' Big Salmon Rivers, which run into the Upper Yukon. Dumb +MacMillan had found payin' color on the Tanana, flowin' into the +Middle Yukon. The Schiefflins had located plenty o' placers on the +Lower Yukon. + +"It didn't take much figurin' to guess that there was gold all the +way along. I made up my mind to strike over the Chilkoot into the +Stewart River section, jest about unknown then; preparin', durin' the +winter, for an early start. + +"Early in the spring o' '84, eight of us was ready. We had a +sure-enough outfit an' plenty o' grub. We was well fixed for +shootin'-irons, too, for we was goin' up into hostile Injun country. + +"Joe Juneau, who knew a lot about the mountains, tried to head us off, +tellin' what happened to Holt an' MacMillan, but we was sot on goin', +an' struck out for Dyea along the canal trail. There we headed for the +interior. + +"I've seen some rough goin' in my time, an' I come of a stock o' tough +uns, but, I'm tellin' you, that first trip over the Chilkoot Pass was +more'n horrible. I dream about it, yet--an' it's over thirty years +ago! + +"From Dyea to Sheep Camp was bad enough goin', half-frozen muskeg +(mucky swamp), lyin' under soft snow an' all covered with a tangle o' +thorn-vines climbin' over spraggly berry-bushes. There warn't no +trail. It was cut your way, an' drag! We didn't have no dogs, but +lugged the sleighs ourselves. It's only nine miles as the crow flies, +but it took us four days to make it, with our loads. + +"An' then the Chilkoot Pass stuck up in front of us, all black rock +an' white snow, reachin' to the sky, an' clouds hidin' the top. It +seemed like it was a-defyin' of us, well-nigh impossible. + +"We'd ha' gone back, sure, but we knew two men had climbed it a'ready, +Georgie Holt in '72, and Dumb MacMillan, in '80. What they'd done, we +reckoned we could do. + +"Sheer rock, she was, all slick an' icy, to begin with; above that, +stretches o' snow-fields on so steep a slope that a false step meant a +snow-slide an' good-bye! crevasses in the snow goin' down below all +knowin', an' mostly covered over wi' light snow so's you couldn't see +'em; an', near the top, a pile o' loose an' shaky rocks built up like +a wall, straight as the side of a house, an', in some spots, leanin' +over. That was the Chilkoot Pass! + +"The cold was cruel; a steady wind, nigh to a blizzard, sucked through +the Pass continooal, tearin' a man from his footin.' There was no +shelter, an' high up, no fire-wood. + +"There was no trail, neither! We had to go it, blind. An', up that +rock, over them snow-fields, across them crevasses, an', fly-like, +crawling up that wall o' bowlders, we had to drag our dunnage! The +sleighs had to be pulled up, empty. Our sacks o' flour had to be toted +on our backs! An' our bacon an' groceries, enough to last us months! +An' our tools an' cradles! I made five trips to get my stuff +across--an it took me five weeks. Between whiles, I rested, if lyin' +exhausted means rest! + +"There was eight of us that started. There was only three when the +stuff was on the summit o' the pass! Two had been crushed by fallin' +rocks. The other three had all disappeared sudden in a crevasse, what +they thought was solid snow givin' down under 'em. Only Red Bill, Bull +Evans an' me was left. + +"Mind, there was no trail an' no guide! Holt had been over years +before, but the Indians killed him. Dumb MacMillan went over it twice, +an' never was heard of no more. Me an' my pardners was the third, an', +as I was sayin', o' the eight that started, only three got to the +top." + +"Yet how many thousands climbed that Pass after gold had been struck +on the Klondyke?" queried Owens. + + +[Illustration: THE TOP OF THE CHILKOOT PASS. + +The neck to the Klondyke as it appeared in April, 1898, during the +height of the stampede. + +_From "The Romance of Modern Mining," by A. Williams._ + +_Copyright, 1898, by S. A. Hegg._] + + +[Illustration: PASS IN THE SIERRA NEVADAS OF CALIFORNIA.] + + +"Thirty thousand an' more, so folks said. Two thousand o' them, +though, died in tryin'. An' they had Injun an' half-breed porters to +tote their dunnage, too! The trail was marked for them. In the last +years o' the big rush, there was an aerial tramway to take up the +stuff. It wasn't like that in my day. We tackled it on our own. + +"When we reached the top, the trouble wasn't over neither. 'Tother +side was rough an' dangerous, all loose rock an' mighty little snow. +We loaded the sleighs an' let 'em down by jerks, all three men hangin' +on to the drag-ropes. But we made the bottom, safe, an' started off +again. No trail, no map, no nothin'! We jest pushed on, blind, three +white men in a country o' hostile Injuns huntin' for a river which we +didn't even know where it was. + +"Followin' a small creek an' pannin' now an' agin--though not findin' +any color--we came at last to Crater Lake an' then on to Lindeman, an' +final, to Lake Bennett. Here, we'd heard before leavin', the Yukon +River begun, an' we started to go round the lake, so's to strike the +bank o' the river. + +"It couldn't be done. Muskeg an' thick forest run clear down to the +shore o' the lake, an' a b'ar couldn't ha' pushed his way through. +Small creeks shot out every which way. Sleighs were worse'n useless. + +"There warn't nothin' to be done but build a boat, an' nary one o' the +three of us knew the fust durn thing about boat-buildin'. But we put +together a kind of a log-raft, that floated, anyway, put the dunnage +aboard it, an' drifted down the lake. This was easy goin', for a +while. + +"All of a sudden, a swift current took us, the lake narrowed into a +river, an', afore we had a chance to pole our heavy an' clumsy raft to +the bank, we was shootin' wi' sickenin' speed down white water. It was +Grand Canyon Rapids, a mile long! Half-way through, the raft struck a +rock an' went to bits, the logs bustin' free. I grabbed one an' went +spinnin' down the rapids. I must ha' hit my head on a snag, for I +don't remember no more till I woke up to find myself on the bank, an' +Bull Evans leanin' over me. + +"'What's the worst, Bull?' I asks, as soon as I realizes. + +"'Red Bill's gone,' he says, 'an' so's most o' the grub. The dunnage +is scattered anywheres along a mile or two. We hoofs it from here. No +more rafts in mine!' + +"An' a good thing we did hoof it, too. If we'd got through the Grand +Canyon Rapids an' struck, unknowin', the White Horse Rapids--what they +afterwards called the 'Miners' Grave'--nary a one o' the three of us +would ha' come out alive. + +"As it was, bein' afoot, we broke away from what afterwards was the +Klondyke Trail, an', instead of striking across Lake Labarge, kep' +between it an' Lake Kluane, strikin' some creeks leadin' into the +White River. There, at last, after three months on the trail, we +panned an' found color. We trailed on, pannin' as we went, cleanin' up +pretty fair, an' final, struck some placers on the Stewart River. The +Injuns was peaceful an' we could get grub from a half-breed tradin' +store near old Fort Selkirk. We wintered there." + +"That was in '85?" Owens queried. + +"Winter o' '85 an' spring o' '86." + +"Then you must have been right on hand for the great strike on +Forty-Mile?" + +"We sure was." + +"But, man, you should have made a fortune, there!" + +"I did!" came Jim's laconic answer. + +"Well?" + +"I made a hundred thousand dollars in three months." + +"What happened to it, then?" + +"That," said the old prospector, leaning back, and looking at his two +hearers, "is a wild an' woolly yarn! Do you want to hear it, or do I +go on to the findin' o' that ore you've got in your hand?" + +"Oh, tell the yarn, Jim!" pleaded Clem, who was less interested in +Jim's strike than was the mine-owner. Owens nodded assent. + +"Pannin' gold," Jim began, "is pretty much the same all over. One +minin' camp is a good deal like another, though Forty-Mile was the +cleanest an' straightest camp I ever struck. I could spin a good many +yarns o' Forty-Mile an' near-by camps, but I'll leave 'em to another +time an' tell you how it was I got poor, again, all in a hurry. + +"With a bunch o' buckskin bags holdin' a hundred thousand dollars in +the coarse nuggety gold o' Forty-Mile, I was good an' ready to take +the back trail. I thought maybe I'd get back again next spring, for +I'd become a sure-enough 'sour-dough' (old-timer of the northern +gold-fields, so-called from camp bread). But I wanted to eat heavy +an' lie soft for a while. I'd spend one winter in 'Frisco, any way, +an' have a run for my money. + +"The more I thought of it, the less I liked the notion o' goin' back +over the Chilkoot Pass. Savin' for the first climb, the out trail was +worse'n the in. All the rapids'd have to be portaged. + +"What was more, the news o' the Forty-Mile strike had reached the +outside, an' the human buzzards was a-flockin' in. The Canadian +authorities held the camps in a tight grip, but the trail was a +No-Man's-Land. A sour-dough comin' out from a strike stood a good +chance o' bein' plugged for his gold an' no one the wiser. + +"A few weeks after the Forty-Mile strike, a rich placer had been +located at Circle, a hundred miles lower down on the Yukon an' across +the Alaskan Boundary jest above where Circle City is now. Nothin' was +easier'n to buy a small row-boat an' float down the Yukon to Circle. +The rapids wasn't worth speakin' about. At Circle we'd take the river +craft runnin' to Fort Yukon, an' then ship on board the steamer for +St. Michael, Skagway an' 'Frisco. + +"No weary miles o' hoofin' it on the trail, no portages, no work, jest +sit in a boat an' take it easy! That hundred thousand made me feel too +lazy to move. + +"We got the boat, bein' willin' to pay whatever fancy price was asked. +While she was still tied up at Forty-Mile, one o' the North West +Mounted Police come up an' asked us where we was headin'. We told him. +He wanted to know how many were goin'. There was my pardner, Bull +Evans, me, an' four more. He shakes his head. + +"'That's about twenty too few,' says he. 'Are you takin' the dust +along?' + +"'Right with us, Johnny,' says we. + +"'You've got more gold'n you have sense,' he comes back, cheerfully. +'Better wait a month or so. We're goin' to convoy a party through the +White Pass to Skagway, takin' the express an' the bank gold, an' you +can come along, safe.' + +"'It's too long a trail for millionaires,' says we. + +"'A dead millionaire ain't worth much,' he says. 'You'll have your +bones picked clean by the crows if you get across the border that +a-way. Alaska ain't the Dominion, not by a long shot.' + +"That hit us wrong. We thought he was jest bluffin', tryin' to make +out that Canada was the only country that could run things right. Most +of us was from the U. S., an' we grouched at his pokin' in. + +"'Law an' order's as good 'tother side o' the line as it is here!' +says Bull. + +"'Have it your own way! I'll send the patrol boat with you as far as +the border. I can't do no more.' + +"We didn't want the patrol, but he sent it, any way, an' we started +out. + +"'Last chance!' he yells, when the border's reached, 'better come +back!' + +"'We ain't quitters!' Bull shouts back, an' on we go, six of us, an' +close on to half a million dollars in dust among the lot. Every man +had a rifle, a six-shooter, an' plenty o' ammunition. All was +old-timers an' quick on the shoot. We reckoned we could take care of +ourselves, good an' plenty. Any way, we weren't goin' to land +anywheres until we struck Circle, so there wouldn't be no danger. + +"We hadn't got more'n ten miles the other side o' the line, jest +beyond the little minin' camp of Eagle, when of a sudden: + +"'Spat!' + +"A bullet strikes the boat, right at the water line, an' she begins to +leak. + +"It was pretty shootin', an' every man reaches for his gun. There's a +curl o' smoke driftin' up from a pile o' rock, but no one shoots, +knowin' well the marksman's under cover. We trims the boat, to keep +the hole out o' water, and then: + +"'Spat! Spat!' + +"One on each side. We stuffs some bits o' rag in the holes, but the +boat begins to fill. One side o' the river's sheer rock, an' there +ain't no landin' there. Cussin' free, an' every man wi' his rifle +ready, we beaches the boat on the other shore an' gets out, ready for +the scrap. + +"Then some one starts to talk, over our heads, hidden in the rocks: + +"'Gents, I'm sure sorry to stop your trip! There's twenty of us, an' +each has his man covered. It ain't no use for you to make trouble. +Them as is reasonable can leave their bags o' dust an' their pop-guns +on the beach, an' walk off fifty paces to the left. Them as wants to +show their shootin' can wait jest two minutes by the watch, an' the +fun'll begin, us havin' the pick o' the shots an' bein' under cover. +The cards is stacked agin you, gents, an' there ain't no use to +play.' + +"We all shoots back, o' course, more to relieve our feelin's'n +anything else, for we knows this new-style road-agent has dodged back +to cover. + +"Me an' four others, we don't hesitate. We lays our bags o' dust an' +our guns on the beach an' toddles off, as directed. Then I looks back +an' sees Bull standin' there, alone. + +"He's a durn fool an' I knows it. But he's my pardner, is Bull! + +"I goes back an' tries to persuade him to eat crow. But Bull's +stubborn as a mule an' don't budge. I ain't a-goin' to leave him. So +we both stands there. + +"The road-agent has been takin' this in, an' presently he pipes up: + +"'Very pretty, gents. Pardners is pardners and that's doin' it +handsome. Put up your hands an' we won't shoot.' + +"For answer, Bull snaps his rifle to his shoulder an' fires. + +"A volley rings out, an' Bull drops dead, a dozen bullets through him. +I wasn't two yards away, but not a shot touched me. + +"Then this road-agent, a tall thin galoot, heavily masked, comes down +to where I'm standin' alone. + +"'It was a dirty bit o' shootin'!' says I, indignant. + +"'You've no cause to complain,' says he, 'nothin' hit you! I like your +spunk in standin' by your pardner. He seems to ha' been a he-man, too, +even if he was a fool. Had he any folks?' + +"'A baby girl back in Montana,' I tells him. + +"'I'm not robbin' babies,' he says to that. 'She gets my share o' the +loot. I give my word. Do you know the address?' + +"I reaches down into Bull's coat, takes a letter from it what he'd +written to his sister, what was lookin' after the kid, an' hands this +bandit the envelope. He reads it, nods an' puts it in his pocket." + +"Did he ever send the money?" suddenly interrupted Owens. + +"He did. I heard, years after, that the sister received thirty +thousand dollars in cash, in a registered letter, sent from Skagway, +an' in the envelope a slip o' paper 'From the Chief o' Circle.'" + +"What happened next, Jim?" queried Clem, excitedly. + +"What, after I'd given the galoot the envelope? He makes a sign an' +half a dozen o' his gang comes down out o' the rocks where they've +been hidin'. They gather up the guns an' the bags o' dust lyin' on the +beach, while some more o' them goes over an' searches the other four +men. + +"'What's the next turn?' I asks the chief. + +"'I don't do things in a small way,' he says. 'Your nerve's good. For +bein' willin' to stand by your pardner, when the rest run like +rabbits. I'll leave you five thousand in dust, an' see you get back to +the border. Unless you want to join our band?' + +"'I don't!' I answers, snappy like. + +"But he was as good as his word. He weighs out an' hands over the +dust, an' two of the gang takes me back to the line. There they gives +me back my shootin'-irons, though, o' course without any ammunition. +Next day I'm back in Forty-Mile." + +"And the other four men?" queried Owens. + +"Two joined the gang, an' later, started to get funny on the Canadian +side. A Vigilance committee strung 'em up. The other two turned up at +Circle City and I never heard no more about 'em. + +"I staked out another claim--though there wasn't much to choose from, +then--an' begins to pan again. But the luck had turned, an' I didn't +strike nothin' rich. + +"I stayed at Forty-Mile that winter, buildin' fires at night on the +frozen dirt to thaw it, an', next day, shovelin' an' haulin' it up to +the top o' my little shaft on the windlass I'd made myself. The pile +o' pay dirt had to be left till the spring thaws for cleanin' up. + +"Ten years I stayed inside, goin' from one placer on the Yukon to +another, makin' a livin', an' that's about all. Now an' again, when I +gets a bit ahead, I sends a bag o' dust to Bull's little gal. + +"In '98, I joins the rush to Nome, an' there's a roarin' wild town! +But luck ain't runnin' my way. Like the rest, I starts to wash the +sand o' the sea-beach, the last place a prospector'd ever look. I +clean up thirty a day, maybe, jest enough to keep goin'. I'm no +richer'n no poorer'n I was ten years afore, but I got Bull's little +gal to work for, an' that keeps me pluggin'. + +"Then, sudden, I gets a letter from the gal, enclosin' a note she's +received. It's short: + +"'Rich pay gravel here.' It's signed with a circle, an' a cross. On +the back, there's a map. + +"I figures this is the Road-Agent o' Circle, an' he's dyin' an' wants +to make restitootion. It's my dooty to Bull's little gal to go an' +find the place. I've jest about money enough to go there, an' the lay +is right. There's a bank of pay gravel more'n two miles long, an' a +hundred feet deep, maybe more. It's frozen, summer'n' winter, an' too +hard for thawin' with wood fires." + +Jim halted for emphasis and looked keenly at the mine-owner. + +"I was thawin' it out wi' coal, when I was there," he said, slowly, +"soft, smudgy coal, brown an' sticky-like." + +"What!" cried Owens in amazement. "Lignite coal?" + +"Not a mile away from the gravel." + +"But why, man--?" Owens stopped. + +"A bunch o' Russian seal-poachers come up an' chased me off, sayin' it +was Russian territory. I believed 'em, at first. I didn't say nothin' +about the gold, but made believe I was huntin' coal. But that lignite, +as you call it, was so sure low-grade that they jest laughed at me. + +"It ain't in Russian territory. It's in the United States, I've found +out that much. But minin' men don't take much stock in what I tell +'em, an' coal men say it's too long a haul. But a man wi' money what +knows coal an' knows gold, an' could do some steam thawin' an' +hydraulickin' would make good." + +Owens looked at him thoughtfully. + +"It's a wild and woolly yarn, all right," he said, "and it sounds like +a story from a book, with the hold-up, and the girl and the idea of +restitution, and the treasure-map and all the rest of it. You haven't +any proof?" + +"Nothin' but what I've told you--an' the map. My pardner's got to take +my say-so." + +"You say you wrote frequently to Bull Evans' daughter?" + +"Once a season--sometimes twice. Whenever I could get some money +through." + +"She will have kept those letters, certainly," the mine-owner mused, +"and the payments through the Express Company will be easy to trace. +Where does the girl live?" + +"In Pittsburgh, now, with her aunt." + +"If I guarantee to advance two hundred thousand, when satisfied that +your story is straight, will you produce the map and come along, +yourself?" + +Jim looked him over. + +"I'll trust you more'n you're willin' to trust me," he said, and took +a thin slip of paper from the buckskin tube out of which he had shaken +the gold dust the day before. "Here's the map. It's an island due +north o' the Diomede Islands in the Behring Sea. The Eskimos call it +Chuklook. There's quartz gold on Ingalook, too. But mind, one-third o' +what you pay for the claim belongs to Bull's little gal." + +"Agreed!" declared Owens. "You trust me an' I'll trust you. The +letters an' the express records, being as you say, I'll go in." + +"Clem bein' a pardner!" Jim insisted. + +"Clem being a partner, sure!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LONELY ISLAND + + +The little _Bunting_, brigantine-rigged, and, yacht-fashion, +possessing an auxiliary screw, plowed the waters of Behring Sea. + +Jim, with Clem and Anton beside him, stood on the foc's'le head, +gazing into the foggy distance. Owens was on the poop, with the owner +of the tiny yacht, who was a personal friend, and moodily scanned the +horizon. Otto, utterly disregarding the universal sea injunction: +"Don't Talk to the Man at the Wheel!" stayed at the stern and +exchanged occasional sentences with the helmsman. + +There were, also, two other passengers on board, both down in the +cabin. One was a grizzled giant, the other was a young woman, some 25 +years of age. The first was a half-brother of Joe Juneau, and was +known throughout the Far North as "The Arctic Wizard" from his uncanny +knowledge of Alaskan mining deposits, and his ability as a mining +engineer in overcoming the peculiar difficulties of frozen ground and +of maintaining machinery in working order under the most rigorous +conditions of weather. The second was "Bull's little gal," more +properly known as Jameine Evans, herself a graduate of the Pittsburgh +School of Mines. + +With the money that had been sent her, when a baby, by the Road-Agent +of Circle, and with the additional sums forwarded from time to time by +Jim, Jameine (so christened as a namesake of the old prospector) had +been able to pay her way through school and college and had taken a +mining course besides. + +This specialized education had been her plan of gratitude. Only by +making herself efficient in a kindred field, she felt, could she ever +be a real "pardner" to Jim; only thus could she repay, in some +measure, the generosity of the old prospector. She had long realized +the unselfishness of the man who had stayed winter after winter in the +frozen North, denying himself the rude pleasures of a mining camp in +order to help "Bull's little gal." + +Ever since Jim had made his famous strike, as a result of the map +which had been sent to her by her father's murderer, Jameine had +regarded herself as the heiress of a dream mine, but a dream which +might, some day, come true. For her own sake, as well as Jim's, she +had read and studied as much as she could of Alaskan conditions. + +It was she who finally disclosed to Jim that the Russian seal-poachers +were probably at fault in chasing him from his strike, and only wanted +to get rid of the inconvenient witness. Thus she had reawakened the +prospector's lagging interest in his find, but lacking the large store +of capital necessary to exploit the mine, she could do nothing. Jim +had used up all his savings in going from town to town trying to +interest a big investor and had finally entered Owens' coal mine in +order to get a little stake again. + +Wizard Juneau was amazed at the extent of mining knowledge shown by +this girl shipmate, and he had spent the greater part of the voyage +from Sitka in imparting to her some of the secrets distilled from his +long experience in frozen mining. He had brought on board the +_Bunting_ many of the publications of the U. S. Geological Survey, and +of the Bureau of Mines, annotated by himself. He had brought, also, a +number of crude maps of half-explored territory, either drawn by his +own hand or by old prospectors, which maps and charts were among his +most prized possessions. + +"Some of these," he explained, "were made by Alf Brooks,[8] one of the +nerviest explorers that the U. S. ever sent out. I've been with him on +more than one reconnoissance survey. And some were made by experts on +the U. S. Revenue Cutter _Bear_.[9] I sailed on her two seasons." + +[Footnote 8: For the Alaskan explorations of Brooks ("Rivers") see the +author's "The Boy with the U. S. Survey."] + +[Footnote 9: For the Behring Sea work of the _Bear_, see the author's +"The Boy with the U. S. Lifesavers."] + +"And do you think, Mr. Juneau, that this island of Uncle Jim's is on +the American side of the line?" + +The "Wizard" pursed his lips with an expression of doubt. + +"It's a toss of the dice," he said. "Ingalook, the easternmost of the +Diomede Islands, where Jim found that piece of gold-bearing quartz, is +sure American territory. I don't take kindly to Ingalook, though. +There'd be trouble, there, in trying to install proper mining and +crushing devices. There's no landing place on that isolated granite +dome standing forlornly out of the sea, except for seals, polar bears, +or crazy prospectors like Jim, there. + +"But this Chukalook Bank of the Road Agent's map, where the pay gravel +and the lignite coal lie--supposing that it's the same as this little +unnamed dot marked on the charts--seems to be right on the +international boundary line. We'll have to wait until we get there to +make accurate observations." + +"Can you do that, too, Mr. Juneau?" + +"Me? No! I can take a sight of course, but not accurate enough where +it's a matter of minutes or even seconds of a degree. But Captain +Robertson can. Like many of these amateur yachtsmen, he's a better +navigator than the captain of some Atlantic liners. It's his hobby. +Besides, he's got instruments of precision aboard that an admiral +would envy. What's more, he's a certificated man, and his say-so on a +nautical observation of longitude would be legal in the courts. Mine +wouldn't." + +"And suppose the island should prove to be on the Russian side?" + +"Then, young lady, you'll have to turn Russian!" + +"What nonsense! You know I wouldn't. No, but speaking seriously?" + +"Well, seriously, then, you'd have to buy the island from the +Bolsheviks, or from the Eastern Siberian Republic, or from the +Japanese, or whoever happens to be claiming it. International rights +up in the Asiatic Arctic are badly mixed up, these days. And that +wouldn't be the worst of it. You'd have to pay stiff royalties and you +wouldn't be sure of any sort of protection--unless it was the +Japanese." + +"We'll buy it, if we have to!" declared Jameine decidedly. "I'm not +going to have anything happen that will spoil Uncle Jim's strike!" + +"He's a regular dad to you, Miss Evans, eh?" + +"He's the only one I ever remember," the girl replied. "My real father +went up to Skagway, just a few weeks after I was born, only having +stayed down in Montana long enough to see me. And, as you know, Mr. +Juneau, he went over the Chilkoot Pass with Uncle Jim and never came +back any more. Mother died when I was quite small. I know Uncle Jim +feels that 'Bull's little gal' is his own. I feel so, too!" + +The grizzled mining engineer patted the hand with which the girl was +holding open the chart. + +"Don't ye worry," he said, kindly, "we'll make good. We'll bluff any +one that comes to Chukalook--supposing we find it--long enough to get +the best o' the pay gravel. If that don't do the trick, we'll fight. + +"And there's another thing. If Chukalook doesn't pan out, there's the +quartz at Ingalook. I've never seen the gold deposit yet--no matter +how poor--that I couldn't turn into money, so long as I could get +enough capital behind me to exploit it." + +"Mr. Owens will give that," asserted Jameine confidently. + +The "Wizard" shook a warning finger. + +"Not just for sentiment, he won't," he said, "not if I read him right. +He's generous enough, and he'd see that you and Jim didn't suffer. But +he's too keen a business man to invest his money unless he sees a fair +chance of return. We've got to show him!" + +"He certainly doesn't seem as enthusiastic about it now, as he did +when we started," Jameine agreed, thoughtfully. + +"That's natural enough! Don't ye forget he's an Australian, and all +the gold fields he's ever seen, there, and in South Africa, were in +hot desert country. These waters don't look promising to him!" + +The "Wizard" was right. Owens was scanning the slate-gray water +flecked with foam and the sky of dripping fog with equal distrust and +dislike. The pieces of ice-floe bobbing in the choppy current inspired +him with uneasiness, even with fear. The assurances of his friend, the +yachtsman, gave him no confidence. + +Had it been possible, he would have been heartily glad to back out of +his agreement, but there was no way he could do it with honor. He had +sought out Jameine in Pittsburgh, had seen Jim's letters, and had +checked up the Express Company's receipts of gold forwarded by the old +prospector from the mining camps of Forty-Mile, of Circle, of Juneau, +of Klondyke, of Dawson City and of Nome. Jameine's hopeful spirit and +her determination to make good on Jim's strike had been infectious. +Owens had set out, almost gaily. But this grim, inhospitable sea put a +damper on his spirits. + +"Doesn't the sun ever shine here, Jack?" he asked abruptly. + +"Not often," was the yachtsman's cheerful answer. "That's why the fur +seals love it. Why, bless you, on Pribilof Islands, where the seal +rockeries lie, there aren't twenty days of sunshine in a year. I know +these waters. I came hunting sea-otter once. We ran two summer months +without seeing the sun." + +"It's no place for me!" declared the mine-owner. "Those who like the +sea can have it, and be welcome!" + +The yachtsman bridled. He loved the sea. + +"Open your nostrils, man, and sniff; that's pure air, at least. It +isn't like what I smelt last time I visited your dirty old coal mine!" +he retorted. "Every dog to its own kennel, Owens! After all, you +wanted to come here." + +Jim felt much the same way. Standing on the foc's'le head, the raw +air, with its sudden hot spells when the sun gleamed dully through the +fog, brought him welcome memories. It seemed homelike, after his brief +experience in a coal mine. As he had said himself, he was a +"sour-dough." The uncanny fascination that the Far North exerts on +those who have once lived there, gripped him hard. + +"Ain't no crowd here to worry a man!" he declared, drawing in deep +breaths, "an' there's room enough to stand straight! Would you want +to go back to them coal galleries, Clem, four feet high an' stinkin'?" + +"They suited me all right before, Jim," the young fellow answered, +"and I don't see why they shouldn't again. I got mightily interested +in coal. Still, I needed a rest, and this trip is interesting, I'll +allow. But wait till we get to the actual mining of the gold, and then +I'll tell you which I like best." + +"An' you, Anton?" + +"I never want to go below ground again," the boy answered promptly. +"But it must be awful cold here in winter--if this is summer!" + +"Ay, it's cold an' dark, no sun at all for two months. An' a man'll go +hungry often. But it's free an' open an' no one has a boss! What's +more, there's gold!" + +Anton shivered. The call of the North had not gripped him, yet. + +Otto, beside the helmsman, was worrying him--neither with the weather, +nor with the question of treasure. To the first he was indifferent, to +the second he was satisfied with drawing full pay every day and not +doing any hewing for it. With huge delight, he was absorbing all the +superstitions of the sea, and giving the steersman a gruesome crop of +tales of knockers and gas sprites underground. + +There was no special reason why he should have come on the voyage, +except that he had asked to come. Owing to Anton's hatred for coal +mining--born of the entombment--Clem had used his position as Jim's +"pardner" to bring the boy along. Otto, having taken what might be +termed a paternal and prophetic interest in the imprisoned men, wanted +to join the party. + +Owens made no objection. He knew laborers would be wanted, and he +preferred men who would not be likely to betray the secret of the +gold. He knew the miner's unswerving loyalty, and was well aware that +loyalty is the one quality which is beyond all price. + +Towards the close of the afternoon, the _Bunting_ shortened sail. They +were drawing near. + +Somewhere, not far from them, lay the Diomede Islands, those two great +granite crags rising sheer out of the sea with deep water on every +side. The lead would give no sign. There is no fog signal on the +Diomedes. In such a thick and clammy mist as hung over the water, a +ship could wreck herself upon those bleak coasts almost before she +saw the surf under her bows. The wind was light, and the brigantine +slid slowly over the water. + +The "Arctic Wizard," his eyes accustomed to the northern skies, was +the first to see a faint purplish blotch in the swirling mist. + +"Land! Captain!" he warned, quickly. "Keep away! Keep well away!" + +Almost instantly, the booming of breakers was heard. + +Well was it for those on board that the _Bunting_ was quick on her +helm! She bore off, just in time, the creaming surf not more than +three cables' length ahead. + +"A little too close for my liking!" exclaimed the yachtsman, but +treating the danger lightly. "That's Ingalook, I suppose, Mr. Juneau?" + +"Ingalook she is. At least, I think so. I've never been quite so +close, before." + +"And I don't want to be, again! Well now, I suppose, the real treasure +hunt begins." + +He called Jim. + +"How did you say Chukalook Bank bore from here?" + +"From Chukalook," Jim answered, "on a clear day, I could see this +island two points east o' south, an' the other island, the Russian +one, three points west o' south." + +The yachtsman looked at him thoughtfully. + +"And there's no knowing what compass correction to allow for a pocket +compass, and there's the magnetic variation besides. Well, we'll work +it out! And how far away do you reckon the island was?" + +"I don't know nothin' about sea distances, Cap'n. She looked just +about the size o' my thumb-nail." + +"So! How high was Chukalook Bank above the water?" + +"She goes up like a wedge o' cake, Cap'n. Maybe five hundred feet at +the highest point. Where I was workin' wasn't more'n fifty foot above +sea level." + +"Well," commented the yachtsman thoughtfully, "allowing for the +curvature of the earth, and for low visibility on these seas that +ought to make Chukalook about thirty or forty miles from here. We'll +put on a little sail and cruise N. N. E. for a few hours." + +But the bank was nearer than Jim supposed. + +Shortly after dawn, a sailor posted in the cross-trees reported a +flat berg to starboard. The sails were furled, and the _Bunting_ came +up to it slowly under her auxiliary screw. + +Jim heard the engines and rushed up on deck. + +"That's Chukalook!" he cried, after the first look. "Now, who says I'm +dreamin'? Wait till I tell Bull's little gal!" + +He had not long to wait. + +The sound of excited voices on deck had awakened the girl, and she +dressed and came up hastily. + +"Jameine!" he shouted, as soon as she came up the companion ladder, +"there's our gold!" + +The girl ran lightly across the deck and pressed the old prospector's +arm. + +"I knew you'd find it, Uncle Jim," she rejoiced, "I said so, all +along!" Then, turning to the mine-owner, who had also come on deck, +she added, "There it is, Mr. Owens!" + +The Australian looked. That low flat bank, slowly sloping upwards, +fringed with ice and deep in snow, was none too reassuring. + +"You're sure?" he asked suspiciously. "It looks to me a whole lot more +like an iceberg than it does like a gold-field!" + +The "Wizard" interrupted, fearing lest Jim should make some rough +rejoinder. + +"It looks like an easy landing-place and that's one good thing," he +said, cheerfully. "The Captain, here, has been making soundings and +says there is good holding ground." + +"That's all I will say, though," put in the yachtsman. "It's not a +harbor. You're exposed here to every wind that blows!" + +"You mean I'd have to build a breakwater?" Owens queried. + +"Probably, if you want smooth water for handling cargoes. But I doubt +if you could manage it. The winter ice would chew your breakwater all +to bits. There's five months of open water, anyway, and the summer +months are not so stormy." + +"I wouldn't try to build a breakwater!" Owens burst out. "How would I +get men and materials up here?" + +The "Wizard" winked at Jim, who was growing restive. + +"Wait till we get Owens ashore and start on the gold," he whispered. +"I've seen these backers get cold feet before, when they hit this +northern country for the first time. They're the worst to hold back, +often, after they once get going." + +But Jim was thoroughly dissatisfied. There was more than a little +likelihood that the old prospector would make some scornful remark, +for he was in his own land now, and had all a "sour-dough's" contempt +for a "tenderfoot." But Jameine's hand was on his arm and he obeyed +the warning pressure. + +The little motor-launch was lowered from the davits, with every member +of the party aboard. None of the sailors was taken, for Jim did not +want to run any risk of strangers taking up claims. The "Wizard" ran +the engine, and the yachtsman took the helm. + +One piece of mechanism, small but very heavy, was lowered into the +boat. It sank her low in the water, but it belonged to the "Wizard" +and he was not the kind of man whose acts any one would question. +Picks, shovels, sledge-hammers, wedges, and dynamite were included in +the cargo. Thus heavily loaded, the boat reached the shore, Jim +pointing out the landing-place. It was not so easy to land as the +Wizard had suggested. It was necessary to wade through the sponge-ice, +churned up the shore, Jameine being carried in the huge arms of the, +"Wizard." + +The snow on the island was almost knee-deep, but, except Owens, none +of the party minded. Jameine was the gayest of all. + +"Lead on to the millions, Uncle Jim!" she cried. + +But the old prospector made the girl take his arm. + +"We'll git there fust, together!" he declared. + +A few minutes tramping brought them to a depression in the snow. + +"Here's the old glory-hole (an open pit, not a shaft), an' nobody's +been here!" he announced triumphantly. He grabbed pickaxe and shovel +and slithered in, with the confidence of a man who knew every inch of +the ground. + +A few scoops of the shovel cleared away the snow. + +Below, though overgrown with dry weeds of many seasons' growing, were +the infallible signs of human handiwork. Even the old sluice was +there, though fallen to pieces. + +The others crowded around the glory-hole. The moment of test had come. + +"Here, 'Wizard'," said Jim, when he had exposed the workings, "there's +where I was pannin' last. Jump in an' take a look." + +The expert, despite his years, leaped in lightly. He took the pick +from Jim's hand, and, with a few vigorous strokes, loosened some of +the gravel. He scrutinized it carefully, first with the naked eye, and +then with a strong pocket lens. + +"Well?" asked Jim, impatiently. + +"Where are the other prospects?" The "Wizard's" kindly tone had +vanished. He was now a mining expert, at his work. Personalities had +faded. Geological questions, only, had weight. + +Silently Jim led him up the slope, Jameine and Clem following. + +Despite the veiling snow, the old prospector located hole after hole +with unfailing accuracy, until seven had been found and examined. The +last one was half-way up the cliff. + +At each prospect the "Wizard" loosened a small handful of gravel, +examined it carefully and put it in a small buckskin bag, pencilling +each bag in order. His expression changed not at all; he bore the true +Western "poker face." + +"What overlies this gravel?" he asked abruptly. + +"Slate," said Jim. + +"Let's see it!" + +They climbed upwards. + +On arriving at the stratum which lay above the gravel, dipping down +at a sharp slope, the expert examined carefully the carbonaceous slate +of which it was composed. + +"We'll go back, now," he said at last. + +But he expressed no opinion. + +"What do you think of it, Mr. Juneau?" queried Owens, when the four +climbers returned to the glory-hole. His tone seemed to suggest that +he half hoped for an unfavorable answer. + +"I'll tell you presently," was the non-committal answer. + +Then he turned to the prospector. + +"Show me that lignite outcrop, now!" + +"Kick the snow away with your feet!" answered Jim, curtly. + +Every one kicked vigorously. Under the snow was a thin layer of soil, +and, below that, not more than two inches beneath the surface, was the +brown-black gleam of a low-grade lignite. Owens broke off a piece from +the outcrop and his expression cleared slightly. Certainly Jim's +statement about the coal was justified, though it was of too low-grade +a quality to be worth exportation; possibly his story about the gold +might prove to be true, also. + +Then the "Wizard," still without a word which might be construed +either as hopeful or as discouraging, brought from the boat the heavy +piece of machinery. He fitted it with a handle and bade Otto turn. The +machine proved to be a small but very powerful crushing-mill, so +devised that the hardest quartz could be ground to powder by hand. +Besides which, it contained within itself, some modern devices for +separating out the gold. + +Bag after bag of the decisive seven was poured in, ground to dust, and +passed through the separating riffles. Each of these riffles had a +self-cleaning device. The expert weighed the gravel before grinding, +weighed the scrapings of the riffles, and made careful notes on the +results of each batch. All was done in utter silence. + +Jim, the true prospector, who had often seen wealth or poverty decided +by the twirl of a pan, stood immovable. If he were worried, he did not +show it. Jameine, on the other hand, was trembling and white. + +At last, the "Wizard," note-book in hand, turned to give his decision. + +"Judging from a direct crushing and separating process, without the +use of mercury," he said, "this gravel ought to give about +six-dollars'-worth of gold to the ton. With mercury, perhaps two or +three more dollars' worth can be extracted, and another couple of +dollars by cyaniding. The gravel is soft and can be hydraulicked, +during the summer. The gold is coarse and easy to separate. The quartz +pebbles will yield more than enough to be worth crushing, but just how +much is indeterminate. + +"That's not rich! By itself, or in the interior, the deposit might not +be worth working. But with lignite right on the ground, to make steam +both for running the machinery and for steam thawing points, and with +a pumping plant using heated sea water for hydraulicking, there ought +to be a net profit of about three dollars a ton." + +The news was received in silence, each voyager occupied with his own +viewpoint of the decision. + +Clem was the first to speak. + +"We've come a long way to get three dollars!" said he, with an attempt +at jocularity. + +Anton grinned assent. Like Clem, he knew nothing about gold-mining. + +Otto waited, well aware that the final result lay between Owens, +Juneau and Jim. + +It was Jameine, with her book-knowledge of mining, who put the vital +question. + +"How many tons do you estimate there may be in the deposit, Mr. +Juneau?" + +"Impossible to say, exactly, especially when the island is masked +under snow. But the prospects have been carefully chosen. They suggest +about four hundred thousand tons in sight, and probably a good deal +more. The gravel is an early Tertiary deposit, lying between two beds +of carbonaceous slate, the lower of which is lignitic. Judging from +the strike of the beds, the gold-bearing gravel runs down under the +sea." + +"Then," said the girl, slowly, "if there are four hundred thousand +tons in sight, which would yield a net profit of three dollars a ton, +you figure on over a million dollars, clear?" + +"If modern machinery is put in and the mine is run on a business +basis, I should say at least that. Possibly more!" + +There was a burst of excited exclamations from all sides. + +Every one turned to Jim, who was looking out across the sea toward +Alaska. + +"Bull, old pardner," he said softly, "I reckon I've made good for your +little gal!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A SIBERIAN FILIBUSTER + + +By July, Chukalook Bank was humming with noise. The clank of +machinery, the pounding of stamp mills, and the grinding smash of +giant jets of water driven from hydraulic nozzles, set vibrating the +tiny islands on the borders of the Arctic Ocean. + +The terns and gulls, driven from their century-old refuge, circled +over the little spot of land with shrill cries and fled to nest on +Ingalook; polar bears, who, in other seasons, had found a dinner of +fat seal on Chukalook, swam toward the island from floating cakes of +ice, and then retreated hurriedly; the sea otter, shyest of all the +fur-bearing creatures of the world, sped to more isolated haunts. + +The island itself was melting like a snowbank beneath a summer sun. A +three-inch jet of water, immeasurably more powerful than the forceful +spout that hisses from a fire-engine hose, roared vengefully night +and day against the gravel bank, and ate away the hill. + +The never-ceasing torrent of gravel and boulders, mingled with the +water, rattled and rumbled downwards with the force of the current +into a massive sluice. The bottom of this sluice was constructed of +paving blocks, crossed with copper-plated riffles of tremendous +strength, on which not less than two tons of mercury had been placed. + +Thus considered, the installation of the Bull Mine--as Jim insisted +that it should be called--was but a simple miners' sluice on an +enormous scale. It was the same device as that which Jim's father and +his partners were working on the Carson River when the Comstock Lode +was discovered, save that the hydraulic jet performed all the work of +digging and shoveling the pay dirt into the sluice. + +Shortly before reaching the sea, however, the works became more +complicated. The "Wizard" and Owens--one with Arctic and the other +with Australian and South African experience--had arranged a system of +separating the gold bearing gravel from the bowlders, and, later, the +unproductive material from that which contained the precious metal. +The smaller, gold-bearing part was washed into the stamp-mills, which +worked incessantly, and which reduced pebbles and grit and sand and +gold to a pasty slime. This, in turn, was led to cyanide tanks. Thus +every particle of the gold was extracted. + +Hydraulicking was not altogether new to Jim. He had seen it done on a +giant scale, as in California during the seventies, when huge +reservoirs and mile-long canals were built at a cost of many millions. +Vast works these, belonging to a short and strange era of mining, +immense constructions, now lying ruined and abandoned in the deserts +of their own making. + +That was before the farmers and fruit-growers of California had +succeeded, in 1884, in securing the passage of a law to prevent +"slicking," as hydraulicking was termed. It was time! Vast stretches +of territory were being reduced to chaos by the appalling havoc which +follows hydraulic operations on a large scale. + +Many rivers were entirely choked by debris from the crumbled mountains +and spread their waters in destructive floods. On one small stream +alone, the Lower Yuba, over 16,000 acres of high-grade farm lands were +reduced to a condition which an official investigator for the state +declared "could not have been surpassed by tornado, flood, earthquake, +and volcano combined." + + +[Illustration: HYDRAULICKING IN COLORADO. + +The "Snowstorm Placer," a typical modern pay-gravel plant. + +_From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co._] + + +[Illustration: AMERICA'S "GOLD-SHIP" AT WORK. + +Dredge operating in Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields, California. + +_From "The Business of Mining," by A. J. Hoskins. J. B. Lippincott & +Co._] + + +Before the farmers had succeeded in stopping the hydraulic miners, a +stretch of land, larger than all the territory devastated by the World +War, was rendered a hideous desolation forever incapable of +settlement. Ten years of hydraulicking had brought more than +$150,000,000 in gold dust to the mining interests, but had caused a +perpetual damage that ten times that sum could not repay. + +In every civilized country, to-day, hydraulicking is forbidden, except +on a small scale. It is only permitted in such cases and under such +conditions that the mining company can dispose of the tailings without +injury to property holders further down the stream. + +The "gold ship" has taken the place of the hydraulic jet and the +sluice. It is a weird device! It is nothing more or less than a +dredge, floating in a lake of water--maybe in the middle of a +desert--which, as it moves along, moves its own lake with it. It +dredges, washes, and separates hundreds of tons of sand or gravel with +the same water in which it floats, using the water over and over +again. By law, the tailings which it leaves behind must be leveled, +soil placed thereon and either grass or trees planted. Thus the gold +ship advances over dry land, chewing its own way forward, and remaking +the land it leaves behind. + +On Chukalook Bank, however, hydraulicking was permissible. There were +no farm lands to be spoiled. There were no rivers to be choked up. The +tailings and the refuse could do no harm. On the contrary, by +employing the forces of the current descending in the sluice, the +"Wizard" operated a narrow-gauge tramway on an endless chain, and the +tailings were emptied into cars which ran out to sea, making their own +land as they went. The cars had a dumping device, and needed but one +man to tip them. Thus little by little, a natural breakwater crept out +seawards, forming a harbor in which ships could ride in safety. + +As the "Wizard" had anticipated, Owens had become as enthusiastic +after the value of the mine had been demonstrated as he had been +coldly critical before. The lure of gold caught him anew, and he +invested capital freely. He was an excellent business man and a good +judge of men. Besides paying Juneau a large salary as superintendent +and mine engineer, he had shrewdly put several shares of stock in the +"Wizard's" name, thus ensuring his most hearty support. + +Moreover, Owens had learned to appreciate Jameine. He had found out +that the girl had taken courses in the business side of mine +management as well as in the technical branches, and though her +knowledge was theoretical only, it was sound. With her he could +discuss detailed questions of book-keeping and the like, which only +annoyed the mining expert. Accordingly, Owens appointed Jameine his +personal representative, thus securing Jim's loyalty forever. This +done, he returned to his coal mine in Ohio, leaving the "Wizard" in +charge. + +Otto had been made foreman, and, though he constantly related to the +men under him how different were the ways of coal-mines, he was +inordinately proud of his position. He was able to do that most +important of all things in mine labor--to keep the workmen satisfied +at their work without raising wages to the point where profit ceases. + +Anton, despite his first objection to the country, had become a +hero-worshipper of Jim. He had a new ambition. He desired, above all +things, to reach the sublime height of being regarded as a +"sour-dough." The boy had shown a certain natural quickness for +mechanics, and, while on the yacht, had chummed up with the wireless +operator of the _Bunting_. Capt. Robertson, on his second trip, had +brought with him a small wireless outfit, which the operator installed +on the highest point of Chukalook and taught Anton to handle. + +Clem took the place of assistant to the "Wizard." His small knowledge +of geology--though it was mainly of coal seams--was of service, and +the young fellow was quick to learn. But the principal attraction to +him, on the island, was "Bull's little gal." + +Jim was the life and soul of the mine. He was here, there, and +everywhere. The workmen, especially those who were "sour-doughs" +themselves, found a keen pleasure in the thought that a man like +themselves had thus made good. It fed the fuel of hope which flames so +brilliantly in the Frozen North. + +A typical gold prospector, all the complicated machinery of his own +mine meant little to him. Jameine understood it all and did her best +to explain it to him, but Jim could not be persuaded to take an +interest in it. + +One day he turned his back on the works. With pick, shovel, and pan, +he set off to the other side of the island, where the little creek +ran, and where he had first panned gold on Chukalook, before he began +prospecting the gravel. Once more, from early morning to late evening, +he dug and panned as of old. Each night he returned triumphantly with +half a handful of gold dust as the fruit of his day's toil. + +Jameine did not have the heart to point out to him that, with the Bull +Mine running at full blast, his share of the profits brought him more +wealth in an hour than did a week's laborious panning of the sands of +the little creek. She knew that Jim could have no greater happiness +than, at the end of the day's work, to add a few more grains of gold +dust to the growing heap that rested, in a bowl, openly exposed, on a +rough table in her tiny sitting room. + +But this peaceful exploitation of Chukalook was not to continue +uninterruptedly. + +One morning, the smoke of a good-sized steamer was seen on the +horizon. She came, not from the direction of Ingalook, as the +_Bunting_ and the supply steamers came, but from the Russian island to +the south-west. + +Jim, busily panning on the creek, was the first to see her. He dropped +his tools and hurried to the power house. + +"There's trouble coming, 'Wizard'!" he said briefly, and pointed to +the steamer. + +"You mean she's Russian? It's likely enough, then," was the grave +reply. "Though I don't know that they can do much." + +"They chucked me off here, once!" the old prospector remarked, +revengefully. + +"They'll have their hands full doing it a second time! Counting all +the workmen, we've a pretty strong gang here, Jim. And most of the men +would fight." + +The steamer drew nearer, and the mining expert went into the house for +his field-glasses. + +Presently she was close enough for the glass to reveal an unusually +large number of men on her deck. There was a more sinister omen +still--a six-inch gun in her bow! + +"A converted cruiser! H'm, this looks serious, Jim! Send Anton here, +on the run." + +The boy came instantly. + +The "Wizard" shot out his orders. + +"Get to the mess-tent as quick as you know how and grab some food. Get +a gun and some ammunition. Then climb up to the wireless station right +away. If I blow one blast on the engine-house whistle, don't pay any +attention. If there are two long blasts, you can come back. But if you +hear a succession of short, sharp blasts, be sure you start sending, +and keep on sending!" + +Anton, keenly at attention, answered, + +"What shall I send?" + +"The S.O.S., first. Then the code signal for the Revenue Cutter +_Bear_--you know it, don't you?" + +"Yes." + +"Then send--'Americans in peril, Chukalook' and give the latitude and +longitude. You'll find that written down just inside the cover of the +International Code Book. I put it there in case of need. Repeat the +S.O.S., the code number and the message until you get a reply." + +"And if I don't get a reply?" + +"Keep on sending." + +"Until when?" + +"Until you're shot down, if necessary!" + +"Very well, Mr. Juneau. You can count on me." + +"I know I can, my boy. Now--hurry!" + +The suspicious steamer came nearer and turned the corner of the newly +made breakwater. As she dropped her anchor, she displayed the flag of +the Eastern Siberian Republic, at that time in the hands of the +Bolsheviks. + +"We've some 'sour-doughs' in the plant," suggested Jim. "If there's +goin' to be trouble, they'll be lookin' for front seats. Shall I get +'em here?" + +"You might as well. They can bring their shooting-irons, too." + +Jim was not long gone. When he returned, he brought ten men at his +heels, all of the Roaring North breed. Most of them held posts of +trust in some part of the Bull Mine plant and all were ready to stand +by Jim through thick and thin. + +The "Wizard's" address to the men was brief. + +"Russian 'claim-jumpers,' I reckon," he said, pointing to the steamer. +"If they're looking for trouble, they'll get it. We'll parley first, +and if necessary, shoot afterwards. No one touches his gun till Jim +fires. That's orders. Do you get it?" + +The men nodded. Like most of their kind, they were chary of speech and +the word "claim-jumper" means to a miner what the word "horse-thief" +meant to the cowboy. There was no need to say more. + +The men had gathered none too soon. A boat had put out from the +steamer and was drawing close to shore. There were a dozen sailors +aboard in a nondescript imitation of the Russian naval uniform, but +armed with modern rifles. An officer was in the stern. + +On reaching the landing-place, the officer leaped ashore, followed by +the armed guard. + +"Who owns this mine?" he demanded in good English. + +"An American syndicate," the "Wizard" answered briefly. + +"And who is in charge here?" + +"I am." + +"In that case, I am instructed to notify you that you are occupying +Siberian territory." + +"That," responded the "Wizard" curtly, "is either a geographical error +or a deliberate lie." + +The officer made a gesture towards his hip, evidently forgetting the +sword at his side, a movement which both Jim and the "Wizard" noted. + +"Sir!" he began. + +"This island," the "Wizard" continued, ignoring the interruption, "is +a few seconds more than forty minutes of a degree east of the +international boundary. Observations of the most precise character +have been taken by Captain Robertson of the _Bunting_ and were duly +recorded at Washington more than two months ago." + +The officer seemed taken aback at this definite declaration, but +maintained his position firmly. + +"This is Siberian territory," he repeated. "I have orders to +confiscate whatever gold may have been extracted, and to take +possession of the plant, as it stands, in the name of my government." + +"If you try it, you'll get shot," was the terse reply. + +"You would fire on an officer of--" + +Jim cut in, dryly. + +"I'll fire on an American navy deserter, any time," he said, making a +shrewd guess at the character of the intruder, "an' it won't worry my +conscience none. What's more, I'll put a bullet through a +claim-jumper, whenever I feel like it." + +The self-styled Siberian felt that he was getting the worse of the +argument, and his temper rose. + +"Enough talk! I have received information that you are gold-mining on +Eastern Siberian territory. You are hereby notified that the mine is +confiscated. All those in authority will come aboard the cruiser _Mir_ +as prisoners. You will be taken to the mainland for trial. Perhaps you +will have the opportunity to prove your observations as to longitude, +there!" he sneered. + +"Is the Eastern Siberian Republic at war with the United States?" +queried the "Wizard" with dangerous quietness. + +"That does not concern you! Deliver me, at once, the keys and working +maps of the mine." + +"No!" + +Jim added a western retort that roused the deserter to a livid fury. +He answered viciously, + +"We've a six-inch gun aboard that can blow your works to splinters!" + +"And then?" + +"We'll come ashore and take possession. It won't do you any good to +ask for mercy, then!" + +The "Wizard" stepped forward, his giant frame towering above the +intruder. + +"This parley is over!" he thundered. "I declare you pirates, and give +you five minutes to get yourselves off this island! + +"Jim, get your watch out! If there's one of these scoundrels on shore +at the end of that time, shoot! If any one of them makes a hostile +move, shoot! And shoot to kill!" + +He turned to the supposed Siberian. + +"As for you, you'd better be the first one in the boat! Every one of +these men is a two-gun man, and I reckon you know what that means!" + +The officer stood his ground, and entered upon an argument as to the +rights of the case, but was cut short by Jim's crisp announcement, + +"One minute gone!" + +For a second or two the filibusterer hesitated, but the odds were +even, twelve against twelve. Well he knew that the Americans could +shoot quicker and straighter than his men, who were an undisciplined +lot. He realized, also, that he would be the first to fall. + +Scowling, he gave the order to retreat, amid the open murmurs of his +men, who, under Bolshevist rule, considered themselves the equals of +their officers. + +The instant that they were embarked, the "Wizard" turned to Jim. + +"We haven't many minutes to lose! That hound will open up with the +gun, as soon as he reports on board. + +"Get to the house as quick as you can. Rush Miss Evans and all the +office crowd into No. 2 gravel pit, pronto! Shells can't reach them +there." + +"I'll tell the engineer to whistle to Anton. Then I'll close down the +works and get the men into shelter. But we've got to act lively!" + +Crisply he gave his orders to the waiting men, several of whom were +grumbling because they had not been allowed to "clean up the gang" as +one of them phrased it. They brightened up, however, at the prospect +that there would be a fight. + +Half a minute later, the whistle sent out a succession of sharp +blasts, and, almost simultaneously, there came the sharp crackle of +wireless from the station on the hill. + +A volume of Russian curses was heard coming over the water at this +sound, and the rowers redoubled their efforts. + +Presently, from all corners of the plant, the workers came hurrying. +The last man was hardly down in the gravel pit when there came a +detonation from the sea-front and a shell came whistling over. + +It was not directed at the works, but at the tiny cabin on the top of +the hill which held the wireless outfit. Fortunately, the cabin was +partly sheltered by a rock, and, moreover, it was but a small mark to +try to hit. Some twenty shells passed over the island or exploded idly +on the hill before one struck the sheltering rock. The pieces screamed +over the cabin, one fragment tearing a hole in the roof but doing no +harm to Anton. + +Truth to tell, the boy was thoroughly enjoying himself. He felt a +hero. Never having seen a shot fired in earnest, he hardly realized +what the effects of a shell-burst might be. + +The wireless crackled on. + +For two hours the bombardment continued, several pieces of shell +having passed through the walls above his head. The rock protected the +lower part of the cabin. Anton was crouched low over his instrument, +and, as yet, the aerials were intact. + +Then, suddenly, a piece of bursting shell whizzed across the wires. + +Silence! + +The wireless was down. + +Chukalook Bank was absolutely cut off from all communication with the +outside world. The men of Bull Mine must fight off the Siberian +cruiser, alone. + +The six-inch gun now was turned on the works, a nearer and an easier +target. The power-house, the stamp-mills and the cyanide vats suffered +most. A six-inch shell at close range can do an appalling amount of +destruction. At the end of an hour, most of the works were in ruins. +Yet shells could not destroy the gravel bank, nor damage the great +sluice beyond repair. + +The bombardment ceased for a few minutes. + +Then four boat-loads of men put off from the cruiser, and, at the same +time, the six-inch gun began anew, covering their advance. + +"Let's get down to the shore an' keep 'em from landin'!" cried Jim. + +But the "Wizard" held him back. + +"And have our men killed for nothing? No, Jim, we've got a good +trench here and can hold it. It'll cost them dear to attack." + +"But they'll get all the gold from our last clean-up!" + +"They won't, Uncle Jim," put in Jameine. "I opened the safe and we +carried all the bags here." + +"And your own little pile?" + +The girl shook a little sewing-bag she was carrying, and laughed. + +"I was sewing when you called me, and I only had time to throw it in +here. Gold dust is all mixed up with pins and needles and things." + +Jim nodded. + +"You're right, 'Wizard'," he said. "This is the place we've got to +hold." + +"And we'd better fortify one end of it, solid, if the worst comes to +the worst. Get some of the men to roll bowlders here to make a solid +wall." + +The boats drew up to the landing-place. + +"Hand me one o' them rifles!" suggested one of the twelve men whom Jim +had first chosen. "I'm good on the shoot. Them claim-jumpers is only +about six hundred yards away. I can hit a runnin' rabbit, at that +distance." + +"Good enough," agreed the "Wizard," "if you can pot them off, so much +the better. They began the trouble and they fired first. Are there +any more snipers here?" + +Two more of the men professed themselves to be fair shots. + +Creeping out of the trench, the three snipers esconsced themselves in +cover, leaving only a loophole for their rifles. Presently one, and +then another rifle cracked. + +Two of the invaders fell. + +A volley followed. It pattered harmlessly against the bowlders where +the snipers were hidden and passed high over the heads of the rest of +the men, safe in the gravel-pit. + +"This," said the first sniper, as he took aim and fired a second time, +"is tame sport. It's too easy." + +A third man fell. + +The Siberians scattered. It was clear that they had little taste for +this kind of thing. They found cover, and, for half an hour or more, +not one showed himself. + +Then a little group dashed across towards the house, evidently with +the intention of pillage. The three snipers fired. One man fell, and +two, evidently wounded, limped after their fellows. + +Then, for hours, not a sign! + +Evening drew down, a foggy evening, with a mist so dense that the +faint gleam of what was almost the midnight sun failed to pierce it. +By eleven o'clock, it was nearly dark. + +"They'll attack around midnight, likely," one of the men suggested. +"Can't we make a big fire, 'Wizard'?" + +"There's no wood here, Bob," the expert replied. "As for the lignite, +even if we could get enough of it here without exposing ourselves, it +makes such a lot of smoke that it would help them more than it would +us. No, we'll have to send out scouts, though it'll be dangerous for +those who go. Who'll volunteer?" + +A chorus answered him, the three snipers claiming the preference. + +"No," said their leader, "I can't spare you. But I'll take old-timers, +that's sure!" He chose them carefully. "Now," he said, when he sent +them out, "keep your ears open. Don't shoot unless you have to. If you +see or hear any one coming, get back as quick as you can. It's a risk, +you know!" + +"Aw, 'Wizard'!" exclaimed one of them reproachfully, "you ain't +talkin' to tenderfeet!" + +"If you were a tenderfoot I wouldn't have picked you for a man's job," +the leader answered, knowing well the pride of the "sour-dough." "Out +with you, now, and quietly!" + +An hour passed, and then one of the scouts crawled back. + +"They're comin', 'Wizard'!" + +The other three scouts followed in short order. The Siberians were +advancing in an extended line. + +"To your places, men! Jim, you and the three I named will hold the +breastwork. The girl's there!" + +Jim looked longingly at the edge of the gravel pit, up which the men +were creeping. He was torn between his desire to be in the forefront +of the battle and his eagerness to be near enough to protect Jameine. +But, like all men who have really known the life of the frontier, he +obeyed a leader's orders unquestioningly. + +A few minutes later, out from the half-gloom and the wet fog, an +irregular line of fire ran, as a hundred or more rifles cracked +simultaneously. The miners responded with a scattering fire. + +The Siberians were on them! + +The fog gave the attackers an advantage. The Americans had only the +time to fire a second volley when the Siberians leaped over the edge +of the gravel pit. A furious hand-to-hand conflict began, but the +miners were terribly out-numbered. + +Worse, infinitely worse, the attackers possessed those diabolical +engines of destruction which were developed in the World War--hand +grenades. These, thrown upon the frozen gravel, exploded in all +directions. Into the disordered ranks of the miners, the Siberians +charged with the bayonet. + +Armed only with their rifles, which were useless at close range, and +with six-shooters, a weapon of but short usefulness, the Americans +fought a losing fight. + +Yet they repulsed the first attack, but at a staggering loss. The +"Wizard," seriously but not fatally wounded, was carried behind the +breastwork, his last words before losing consciousness being an order +to cover the shelter with flat slabs of slate, before the Siberians +got near enough to throw their grenades into the little fortified +space. + +Jim straightened up. + +"Good-bye, little gal, if I don't see you again!" he called. "My place +is at the front, now!" + +He assumed the lead. + +A second attack, even more vicious than the first, followed. The +miners had reloaded. Most of them had two guns, hastily snatched from +dead or wounded comrades. But for the grenades, they could have more +than held their own. It was not to be. When the second rush subsided, +the Siberians held one end of the gravel pit. The farther end, where +were Jameine and the wounded men, held firm. + +There came a lull, and, from where they lurked, the defenders saw +suddenly some flashes of light from around the wireless house. + +"They're after Anton!" said Clem. "He's all alone, up there. We can't +leave the kid!" + +"Right!" agreed a couple of the men. "Let's go!" + +But Jim stopped them. + +"We're too few, as it is," he ordered. "Anton must take his chance. +We've the girl here, the wounded, and the gold." + +"He's my partner!" declared Clem, who knew the magic of the word on +Jim. + +"Me, too; I go!" declared Otto, in his most stubborn voice. + +Jim hesitated. A partner's right was sacred. + +"Go ahead, then," he said, "an' quick, afore the fog lifts. She's +gettin' lighter, now!" + +The odds were more even now. Between the barricade that the Siberians +had thrown up hastily and the breastwork held by the miners, there was +an open space, too wide for the throwing of the grenades. The +six-shooters held it clear. + +Again the Siberians rushed. Claim-jumpers they might be, but they were +worthy fighters. They reached almost to the breastwork, and one man +had his arm poised to throw a grenade within, when Jim leaped forward +and brained him with the butt end of a pistol. For full ten minutes, +it was a death-grapple, but the attackers were beaten back. + +The case of the Americans was desperate. Ammunition was growing short. + +Another such attack might finish them. + +The Siberians, however, had suffered heavily, and, all unknowing that +their foes were almost out of cartridges, refused to charge again. + +The faint light strengthened. The mist began to rise. Soon it would be +full daylight. The miners braced themselves for what they feared might +be the last shock. + +Jim, bleeding from two slight wounds, held his men well together. + +There came a babble of voices and then a movement behind the +barricade. + +The Americans stiffened. + +Suddenly, a sharp shot resounded across the water, followed by a +second report, evidently from a gun of different calibre. + +The Siberians clambered from behind their barricade and fled. + +At almost the same instant, Otto, Clem, and Anton were seen to emerge +from the wireless cabin, running down the hill and shouting. The boy +had his arm in a bloody sling. So far as could be seen, the others +were not hurt. + +Jim scrambled to the edge of the gravel-pit and looked to sea. + +There, her guns trained on the filibustering cruiser _Mir_, the Stars +and Stripes flying at her stern, lay the U. S. Revenue Cutter _Bear_, +summoned by the wireless messages of Anton, sent while the roof over +his head was being rent by shell. + +Jim's strike was not to go for nought. The gold of "Bull's little gal" +had welded the partnership that a coal-mine disaster had begun. + + +THE END + + + + +U. S. SERVICE SERIES + +By FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER + +Illustrations from photographs taken in work for U. S. Government + +Large 12mo Cloth $1.75 each, net + + "There are no better books for boys than Francis + Rolt-Wheeler's 'U. S. Service Series.'"--_Chicago + Record-Herald._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. SURVEY + +[Illustration] + +This story describes the thrilling adventures of members of the U. S. +Geological Survey, graphically woven into a stirring narrative that +both pleases and instructs. The author enjoys an intimate acquaintance +with the chiefs of the various bureaus in Washington, and is able to +obtain at first hand the material for his books. + + "There as abundant charm and vigor in the narrative + which is sure to please the boy readers and will do + much toward stimulating their patriotism by making them + alive to the needs of conservation of the vast + resources of their country."--_Chicago News._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FORESTERS + +The life of a typical boy is followed in all its adventurous +detail--the mighty representative of our country's government, though +young in years--a youthful monarch in a vast domain of forest. Replete +with information, alive with adventure, and inciting patriotism at +every step, this handsome book is one to be instantly appreciated. + + "It is a fascinating romance of real life in our + country, and will prove a great pleasure and + inspiration to the boys who read it."--_The Continent, + Chicago._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. CENSUS + +Through the experiences of a bright American boy, the author shows how +the necessary information is gathered. The securing of this often +involves hardship and peril, requiring journeys by dog-team in the +frozen North and by launch in the alligator-filled Everglades of +Florida, while the enumerator whose work lies among the dangerous +criminal classes of the greater cities must take his life in his own +hands. + + "Every young man should read this story from cover to + cover, thereby getting a clear conception of conditions + as they exist to-day, for such knowledge will have a + clean, invigorating and healthy influence on the young + growing and thinking mind."--_Boston Globe._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. FISHERIES + +[Illustration] + +With a bright, active American youth as a hero, is told the story of +the Fisheries, which in their actual importance dwarf every other +human industry. The book does not lack thrilling scenes. The far +Aleutian Islands have witnessed more desperate sea-fighting than has +occurred elsewhere since the days of the Spanish buccaneers, and +pirate craft, which the U. S. Fisheries must watch, rifle in hand, are +prowling in the Behring Sea to-day. The fish-farms of the United +States are as interesting as they are immense in their scope. + + "One of the best books for boys of all ages, so + attractively written and illustrated as to fascinate + the reader into staying up until all hours to finish + it."--_Philadelphia Despatch._ + + +THE BOY WITH THE U. S. INDIANS + +[Illustration] + +This book tells all about the Indian as he really was and is; the +Menominee in his birch-bark canoe; the Iroquois in his wigwam in the +forest; the Sioux of the plains upon his war-pony; the Apache, cruel +and unyielding as his arid desert; the Pueblo Indians, with remains of +ancient Spanish civilization lurking in the fastnesses of their massed +communal dwellings; the Tlingit of the Pacific Coast, with his +totem-poles. With a typical bright American youth as a central figure, +a good idea of a great field of national activity is given, and made +thrilling in its human side by the heroism demanded by the +little-known adventures of those who do the work of "Uncle Sam." + + "An exceedingly interesting Indian story, because it is + true, and not merely a dramatic and picturesque + incident of Indian life."--_N. Y. Times._ + + "It tells the Indian's story in a way that will + fascinate the youngster."--_Rochester Herald._ + + +_For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by +the publishers_ + +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected for this electronic edition. + +In Chapter I, a missing period was added after "knock a man down", and +"the he mightn't recover" was changed to "that he mightn't recover". + +In Chapter V, "The Lousiana Purchase" was changed to "The Louisiana +Purchase". Also, there was no footnote marker in the main body of the +text for the second footnote. The footnote has been placed after what +appears to be the most appropriate paragraph. + +In Chapter VI, "wealth and properity" was changed to "wealth and +prosperity". + +In Chapter VII, "a place where the is gold" was changed to "a place +where there is gold", a comma was changed to a period after "blue, +green, or grey", and "Six Mile Canon" was changed to Six Mile Canyon". + +In Chapter VIII, a comma was added after "You can't blame Jim for not +knowing why, Clem". + +In Chapter IX, a quotation mark was added after "other types of +veins", and "left from the Cassier" was changed to "left from the +Cassiar". + +In Chapter X, quotation marks were added after "there ain't no use to +play" and before "Very pretty, gents." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy With the U.S. Miners, by +Francis Rolt-Wheeler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY WITH THE U.S. MINERS *** + +***** This file should be named 32322.txt or 32322.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/2/32322/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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