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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Iron Boys in the Mines, by James R. Mears
+
+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/license
+
+
+Title: The Iron Boys in the Mines
+       or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft
+
+Author: James R. Mears
+
+Release Date: March 9, 2012 [EBook #39083]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dianna Adair, Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford,
+Dave Morgan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Illustration: Steve Gazed With Wonder Upon the Busy Scene.
+
+_Frontispiece._
+
+
+
+
+    The Iron Boys in the Mines
+
+            OR
+
+Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft
+
+By
+
+JAMES R. MEARS
+
+Author of The Iron Boys As Foremen, The Iron Boys
+on the Ore Boats, etc.
+
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
+HOWARD E. ALTEMUS
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                     PAGE
+
+      I.  SECURING A JOB UNDER DIFFICULTIES      7
+
+     II.  HANDLING THE RED ORE                  18
+
+    III.  TWO THOUSAND FEET UNDER GROUND        32
+
+     IV.  STEVE SHOOTS THE CHUTES               42
+
+      V.  THE "MISSED HOLE"                     49
+
+     VI.  IN THE POWDER-WRECKED DRIFT           61
+
+    VII.  "IS ANYONE ALIVE IN THERE?"           70
+
+   VIII.  BOB MAKES GOOD HIS WORD               79
+
+     IX.  YOUNG GLADIATORS MEET                 89
+
+      X.  IN A NEW JOB                          97
+
+     XI.  RUSH MAKES A DISCOVERY               106
+
+    XII.  THE BOYS EXPOSE A PLOT               115
+
+   XIII.  STRAIGHTENING THE CROOKED ONES       126
+
+    XIV.  LAYING THE TRAP                      137
+
+     XV.  BORNE SKYWARD ON A SKIP              147
+
+    XVI.  WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE SHAFT          158
+
+   XVII.  THEIR FIRST PROMOTION                171
+
+  XVIII.  THE VISIT OF THE OFFICIALS           182
+
+    XIX.  FACING A GREAT PERIL                 193
+
+     XX.  INTO A BLACK GULF                    202
+
+    XXI.  THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING BOY       209
+
+   XXII.  WHEN THE WATERS CLOSED OVER HIM      215
+
+  XXIII.  A THOUSAND FEET OF LADDERS           226
+
+   XXIV.  CONCLUSION                           242
+
+
+
+
+The Iron Boys in the Mines
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+SECURING A JOB UNDER DIFFICULTIES
+
+
+"Is Mr. Carrhart in?"
+
+"Maybe he is, and maybe he isn't," answered the office boy, grinning
+sardonically. "Who are you?"
+
+"My name is Stephen Rush and I wish to see Mr. Carrhart, the president
+of the mining company," answered the first speaker, a lad of some
+sixteen years, dark-haired, dark-eyed and slight of build.
+
+"What do you want to see him about?"
+
+"That is what I have come to tell him," replied young Rush, directing a
+level gaze at the boy, who was half a head taller and much more stocky
+of build than was Steve. "May I speak with the president?"
+
+"No; you may not speak with Mr. Carrhart."
+
+"Why not, please? It is quite important."
+
+"Because I won't let you."
+
+"You won't let me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Will you not take my name in--tell him I shall not detain him?"
+
+"_No!_"
+
+For a moment Steve Rush stood looking at the office boy, undecided and
+disappointed. He had not thought there would be any difficulty in
+getting a few words with the man he had come to see.
+
+"Go on--skip!"
+
+The office boy, without giving the caller an opportunity to obey his
+command, sprang forward, and, pressing both hands against Steve's chest,
+began shoving the lad out into the corridor. Steve was stepping
+backwards so fast that he was unable to free himself from the
+belligerent office boy.
+
+All at once young Rush took advantage of a momentary pause of his
+antagonist, and sprang lightly to one side. The next instant his fingers
+closed over the wrists of the office boy, shutting down with a grip that
+made the other writhe.
+
+"Leggo my hands!"
+
+The office boy shook himself free, then swung a vicious blow at Steve's
+head. To the former's surprise his blow landed on thin air, but ere he
+could square himself for another swing the grip of young Rush had once
+more fastened on his wrists. And this time there was no breaking away.
+Tighter and tighter grew the pressure on the office boy's wrists.
+
+"Leggo! O-u-c-h! Leggo, I tell you!" cried the latter, raising his voice
+so high that office doors were quickly opened along the corridor, heads
+popping out, their owners demanding to know what the uproar was about.
+
+"Will you take my name in to Mr. Carrhart?" demanded Steve in a low,
+firm tone.
+
+"No, I won't. I'll trim you for this. I'll----"
+
+Steve, with a strength that would not have been believed of him, calmly
+began leading his prisoner back into the office.
+
+"Young man, I think I shall take you to Mr. Carrhart. We shall see what
+he has to say about you. I do not believe he will be pleased when I tell
+him how you have acted. I----"
+
+Just then a door opened and a young man stepped out.
+
+"Here, here, here, what does this mean?" demanded the newcomer sharply.
+
+"He's hurting me; he's----"
+
+Steve quickly released the hands of the office boy, and removing his
+hat, stepped forward respectfully.
+
+"Are you Mr. Carrhart, sir?"
+
+"No; I'm his secretary. What is the meaning of this disturbance?"
+
+"I was trying to see Mr. Carrhart----"
+
+"You have a most peculiar way of going about it, I must say," was the
+sharp reply. "What did you wish to see him about?"
+
+"I want to get a job."
+
+"At what?"
+
+"Anything--preferably in the mines."
+
+The secretary laughed.
+
+"I am sorry, young man, but the president is a very busy man. And
+besides, this is not the place to come for a situation in the mines. You
+will have to apply to one of the superintendents at the mines. However,
+I believe you are too young and----"
+
+"But I am quite strong, sir. I am sure I shall be able to do a day's
+work. I am anxious----"
+
+"You will have to apply as I have just suggested. You cannot see the
+president," announced the secretary shortly, turning on his heel and
+reentering his own office.
+
+"Yah, yah!" jeered the office boy. "Now, Mr. Smarty, will you get out or
+shall I put you out?"
+
+"Neither."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"You will not put me out, and I propose to remain here until I get a
+chance to see your employer," announced Steve in a low, firm tone. He
+calmly seated himself on a bench just outside the door of the office
+reception room.
+
+The office boy's eyes narrowed angrily. He took a step toward Rush,
+then, apparently thinking better of it, strode back to his little square
+desk and threw himself into a chair, where he sat glowering at the
+calm-eyed boy out in the corridor.
+
+Steve sat gazing steadily at the door of a room on which was written the
+word "President." Now and then he caught sight of a shadow within,
+through the ground-glass partition, and now and again the sound of
+voices reached him.
+
+"Are you going to move?" demanded a voice at his side.
+
+Steve glanced up, finding the office boy standing close to him, a
+threatening scowl on his face.
+
+"I told you I was waiting to see the president."
+
+"You are, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How are you going to see him?"
+
+"I am going to wait here until he comes out."
+
+"If you don't get put out before that."
+
+"Then I shall wait out in the lobby by the elevator. You can't put me
+out, for I am not in your office."
+
+With a grunt the office boy returned to his desk. At about that time
+Rush caught sight of the figure of a man behind the glass of the door
+leading into the president's room. The lad was all attention at once.
+
+After a moment the door swung open and a man stepped out into the
+corridor and started for the elevator.
+
+"I beg pardon, sir, are you Mr. Carrhart?" questioned Steve.
+
+"Mr. Carrhart?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Why, no, my lad; what made you think I was?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir. I saw you come out of the president's office
+and I wanted to see him very much," stammered the lad.
+
+"Then why don't you go to see him?"
+
+"I'm going to," answered Steve in a resolute tone. "Thank you, sir."
+
+With that the lad turned, walking rapidly back. He did not stop when he
+had reached the bench just outside the reception room. Instead, he
+stepped firmly up to the door of the president's office. His hand was
+upon the door knob.
+
+"Here, you, where you going?" cried the office boy, bounding after him.
+
+Steve made no reply, whereupon the office boy started for him again. But
+the latter was not quick enough. Rush opened the door to the private
+office and stepped within. The office boy prevented his closing the
+door, and a second later had bolted in after the visitor. Then things
+began to happen with surprising quickness. Rush went down in a heap, the
+office boy landing on his back. Over and over the two lads rolled,
+clasped in a tight embrace.
+
+"Here, here! What does this mean?" demanded the president, gazing with
+amazement at the rough-and-tumble battle going on at his very feet.
+
+Neither lad appeared to have heard him, for the rolling and floundering
+continued a few seconds longer. All at once Steve got a firm grip on the
+wrist of his antagonist. The office boy uttered a yell as the wrist was
+bent backwards. Rush swung him over on his face and sat down on him
+somewhat out of breath.
+
+"Is this--is this Mr. Carrhart, sir?" stammered Steve.
+
+"It is. But may I inquire what this remarkable performance means?"
+
+"I came to see you, sir."
+
+"You go about it in a very peculiar manner. Get up!"
+
+"I can't, sir; the boy will want to fight me again."
+
+"I will attend to the boy. Get up at once!"
+
+Rush rose to his feet. As he had predicted, the office boy made another
+dash for him, but this Steve avoided by stepping to one side.
+
+"Oscar, that will do!" said Mr. Carrhart sternly. "You have done your
+duty as you saw it. You may leave the room."
+
+The office boy obeyed, casting an angry glance at the unruffled
+countenance of Steve Rush as he closed the door behind him.
+
+"Now, what is it you want, young man?" questioned the president. "State
+your business briefly, for I have no time to waste."
+
+"I am looking for a position, sir."
+
+Mr. Carrhart was about to make a sharp reply, when, chancing to glance
+into the face of the lad before him, he saw something there that
+arrested the words he was about to utter. The boy's face showed an
+earnestness of purpose, a stubborn determination that led the mining
+president to modify his tone.
+
+"You wish a position?" he asked not unkindly.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What position are you looking for?"
+
+"I wish to go into the iron mines; I wish to learn the business, sir. I
+am stronger than I look----"
+
+"Yes, I have just had evidence of that fact. But why do you come to me?"
+
+"Because you are the head of the mines. Should I not go to the head when
+I am looking for a position?"
+
+"Perhaps you are right at that, my lad. What is your name?"
+
+Steve gave his name and his age, also adding that he had completed half
+his course at the high school in Duluth.
+
+"Why did you not continue with your school? You should be in school at
+your age, rather than going to work."
+
+"I should like to be, sir, but circumstances have arisen that make it
+necessary for me to go to work."
+
+"What are those circumstances?"
+
+"My father died four weeks ago, and I must work to help support my
+mother," answered the lad, a slight flush suffusing his cheeks.
+
+"Does your mother work?"
+
+"She is not able to take a position, sir. She does some sewing, and,
+with what I shall be able to earn in a little while, we shall get along
+very nicely."
+
+"Hm-m-m!" mused the president. "You are very confident."
+
+"Yes, sir. Because I am willing to work."
+
+"Have you tried to get a position in town? I should think that would be
+better for a lad of your age than to work in the mines."
+
+"No, sir; I have always wanted to be a miner. I want to start at the
+bottom and learn the business."
+
+"I am afraid you could not stand it, my lad," answered Mr. Carrhart
+after brief reflection. "And, besides, as you understand, all the hiring
+is done by the officials at the mines."
+
+"Yes, sir. But you need have no fear that I shall not be able to do a
+man's work. I was one of the best athletes in the high school. I was
+quite frail when I began going to school, but by systematic exercise I
+have built myself up. I can stand a much greater strain than you would
+imagine to look at me. If I do not make good they will not keep me.
+Won't you please give me a chance to try, sir?"
+
+"How would you like to come in the office here?"
+
+"I should like it, of course, sir; but, as I have already said, I prefer
+to begin at the bottom and work up."
+
+"My lad, you are of the right stuff. You will get on in the world. Not
+much of anything matters in the face of such determination as yours. The
+work in the mines is very hard. You will find rough men there and you
+will meet with more or less temptation, but I believe you are strong
+enough to keep yourself above it."
+
+"Yes, sir. I am sure of that, sir."
+
+By this time Mr. Carrhart was busily writing. Steve watched him, not
+quite certain whether or not the interview was at an end.
+
+"You--you will give me a chance, sir?" asked the lad after a moment's
+silence.
+
+"Yes; here is a letter to the general superintendent of the Cousin Jack
+Mine. I have asked him to give you employment at the earliest possible
+moment. I shall hope to hear good reports from you, Rush. Remember what
+I have said to you. I shall keep an eye on you."
+
+"Oh, thank you, sir; thank you! I cannot tell you how I appreciate your
+kindness."
+
+"Purely a matter of business, my lad. I see in you the making of an
+excellent man for the company. We are looking for young men with your
+determination and grit."
+
+As Steve passed out through the reception room the office boy stepped in
+front of him.
+
+"I'll lick you the first time I catch you outside," announced the
+guardian of the door.
+
+"Please don't," answered Steve. "Somebody might get hurt. Besides, I am
+not a fighter. Good afternoon."
+
+Rush hurried out to carry the good news to his mother.
+
+"That boy has the making of a great man," mused Carrhart, as he stood
+with hands clasped behind his back, gazing down into the street. "Yes,
+he will be heard from some of these days, unless I am greatly in
+error."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HANDLING THE RED ORE
+
+
+"Why, boy, you couldn't stand up for an hour down below ground."
+
+Ike Penton, general superintendent of the Cousin Jack Mine, smiled
+indulgently into the eager face of Steve Rush.
+
+"It's a man's work, not a boy's work. Mr. Carrhart's letter gives you a
+fine endorsement. He seems to think you have the making of a miner in
+you, and acting on his judgment, I shall of course give you a chance."
+
+"Thank you, sir. You will try to place me down in one of the mines, will
+you not?"
+
+"No; I shall not take the responsibility of doing so just at the present
+moment. I shall use you above ground for a few days, until I see what
+you are best fitted to do, and then--but mind you, I am not making any
+promises--I will see what can be done for you."
+
+The superintendent smiled indulgently. He was a man of kindly impulses
+and he had boys of his own. Then, too, he remembered the day, many years
+before, when he, also, had sought employment in the iron mines. By sheer
+pluck he had worked his way up from the ranks, until now he was the
+head of an army of more than five thousand men, distributed among the
+various mines.
+
+"Yes, I will see what can be done for you," repeated the superintendent.
+
+"Thank you, sir; but I wish you might find a place for me down in the
+mines."
+
+"Why are you so anxious to get below ground, my lad?"
+
+"So that I may begin my apprenticeship at once."
+
+"When will you be ready to go to work?"
+
+"I am ready now," answered Steve promptly.
+
+"The day is well along. Report here at seven o'clock to-morrow morning,
+and I will place you at something. Your pay, to begin, will be a dollar
+a day. Here is the address of a boarding house that I should advise you
+to put up at, unless you already have made arrangements."
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Very well. Report to the boarding house boss some time to-day and he
+will see that you are taken care of. There are very good boys there, and
+you will learn considerable about the business of mining from them. Let
+me advise you, however, not to mix in too much with the foreign element.
+Let them alone and you will find they will do the same with you. Pay
+strict attention to duty, be punctual and work, and you will get along.
+Our discipline is strict, but we have the interests of our men at heart.
+In so far as they will let us, we make their well-being our first care.
+Here is a copy of the rules governing the conduct of men in all
+departments. Study it well to-day and come back here to-morrow morning
+at the hour named."
+
+Briefly thanking the superintendent, Steve left the mine office at Iron
+Mountain and proceeded to the boarding house. There he was assigned to a
+room in which were cots for two men. The place was neat and clean,
+though extremely plain. There were no evidences of luxury in the
+furnishings, and when he sat down to his first meal there he found the
+food plain but wholesome; the miners mostly silent and in a great hurry
+to have done with their meal. Considering how they bolted their food,
+Steve did not understand how any of them managed to keep out of the
+hospital.
+
+"It's a wonder they don't all have chronic indigestion," he thought.
+
+No one paid any attention to the quiet youth, after the first careless
+glance at him, as the men took their places at the table. The lad did
+not care particularly. He was rather glad that they did leave him wholly
+to himself until he should become better acquainted with his
+surroundings.
+
+What Steve was curious about, however, was who his roommate was to be.
+When he asked the boarding house boss about this the boy was told to
+wait until night, when he would see for himself. After that Steve asked
+no more questions.
+
+After dinner young Rush went out to wander about and get acquainted with
+his surroundings. Iron Mountain, the town in which was located the mine
+where he was to work, was a village of about seventeen hundred
+inhabitants, nestling between two high ranges of mountains. The timber
+had been cut off, and wherever the eye chanced to rest it was met by a
+forest of black stumps, with here and there the shaft of an iron mine
+rising dark and gloomy.
+
+It was the most cheerless scene that Steve Rush had ever gazed upon. The
+buildings in the village proper were mostly mere shacks, the public
+school being the only building worthy of a name in the entire community.
+
+The streets of the town were deserted, but beneath them, far down in the
+earth, men toiled and burrowed by day and by night, penetrating deeper
+and deeper into the earth in their quest for Nature's riches.
+
+The lad was lonely. He would have been homesick had he not been
+possessed of the grit to keep his emotions in check. But as he strolled
+over toward the towering, gloomy mine shafts he began to realize that
+he was at the very fountain head of the greatest steel industry in the
+world. From the quiet of the little mining village he had come upon a
+scene of work the like of which he had never seen before.
+
+As he gazed, the great ore cars shot up from the mines with a roar.
+Leaping to the top of the high shaft, they hurled their cargoes of red
+ore into waiting dump cars, then dropped back below ground with a speed
+almost too great for the human eye to follow. Men red with the metal
+they were handling were laboring on the surface, their faces streaked
+with perspiration, their rolled-up sleeves and open-necked shirts
+displaying the brawn and muscle without which the great steel company
+would quickly lose its greatness.
+
+Shrieking railroad engines were dashing into the yards, dragging from
+them loads of ore that would be rushed to waiting ore boats on the Great
+Lakes, to be conveyed thence to the great steel mills in the east. The
+cars were being loaded by machinery and with such speed as to cause the
+watcher to gasp with amazement.
+
+"This is wonderful," Steve cried, carried away by his enthusiasm. "This
+is the life for me! I never dreamed it was so splendid."
+
+It was, indeed, a world pulsating with opportunities for him who
+possessed the pluck to fight his way to the front. In a vague sort of
+way, Steve Rush seemed to realize this.
+
+"Some day I shall be at the head of one of these great industries!" he
+breathed. "I, too, will be a captain of industry! I'll never give up
+until I am--until I have learned all that can be learned about this
+wonderful industry."
+
+The afternoon drew to a close all too soon for Steve, and not until the
+whistle blew at six o'clock and the miners in their oilskins came
+streaming up from their underground haunts, did the lad make up his mind
+to leave. With a sigh, he turned away, starting thoughtfully for the
+boarding house.
+
+Just before sitting down to supper he was introduced to a Cornishman,
+who, he was told, was to be his roommate. When Steve had taken his place
+at the table he found himself sitting opposite a boy whom he judged to
+be about his own age. This boy, however, was taller and much more rugged
+looking than was Steve.
+
+The latter saw the lad eyeing him inquiringly.
+
+"What's your name, boy?" finally demanded the larger of the two,
+pointing a spoon at Steve.
+
+"Stephen Rush."
+
+"Rush?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That's a funny name. Do you hear that, fellows?"
+
+"I do not see anything so very funny about it," replied Steve, his face
+flushing ever so little. "What is your name?"
+
+"Mine? I'm Bob Jarvis. But, judging from your name, you must be one of
+those fellows who is always in a hurry. Does your mamma know you're
+here?"
+
+"She does," answered Steve gravely.
+
+"Is she a Rusher, too?"
+
+"Her name is Rush, if that is what you mean."
+
+"Well, what do you think of that? His mother's Rush and she's a Rusher,
+too. That must be a pretty lively family," scoffed Jarvis. "Why, I'll
+bet----"
+
+"You will please leave my mother's name out of your talk," commanded
+Steve quietly, directing a level gaze at Jarvis.
+
+"Touchy, eh? Do you hear that, fellows?"
+
+If the miners did hear they were much too busy with their suppers to
+give the matter much attention.
+
+"Little Miss Hurry-up is going to get in a huff. But never mind, Rusher,
+I guess you're right at that. I had a mother once myself, but that don't
+stop me from saying whatever I want to you."
+
+"Say what you wish to, so long as you confine your talk to myself,"
+replied Steve. "What you say about me doesn't matter much, anyway. For
+that matter, I do not think your remarks are of very great consequence,
+whatever subject you may be discussing."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"I think you heard what I said."
+
+"What do you mean, young fellow?"
+
+"If you don't understand, I shall try to make it plainer. I mean to say
+that you act like a rowdy. I shouldn't be surprised if you are one."
+
+Bob Jarvis half rose from his chair. The smile had left his face, giving
+place to an angry scowl.
+
+"So, you--you are looking for fight, eh?" he demanded, thrusting his
+chin forward belligerently.
+
+"No, sir; I am not." Steve did not even look up as he made the reply,
+but calmly proceeded with his supper.
+
+"Well, you've got to fight, whether you are looking for it or not. I'll
+show you that you can't hand out a line of talk like that to Bob
+Jarvis," growled the larger boy, starting for the head of the table,
+around which he would have to go to reach Steve.
+
+"Stow your scrapping and give us a chance to eat our suppers," growled
+one of the miners.
+
+"Yes, we'll throw both of you out first thing you know," added another.
+"If you want to fight, why don't you have it out before you come to the
+table?"
+
+Jarvis gave no heed to the warnings. He was bent on punishing the boy on
+the other side of the table who had defied him. Just as he was passing
+the head of the table, a heavy hand gripped his collar, sending Bob
+spinning back toward his seat.
+
+"Sit down!" bellowed a voice.
+
+The boarding boss straightened up threateningly. It was he who had
+checked the pugnacious Bob Jarvis, and just in time to prevent a lively
+fight in the miners' boarding house. Bob fell rather than sat down in
+his chair.
+
+"If you want to fight, go out doors. But if you do fight, I'll report
+you both to the superintendent," warned the boss, resuming his seat.
+
+Bob sulked in his chair, while Steve Rush, appearing to take not the
+least bit of interest in the disturbance, went on with his supper
+unmoved.
+
+"I'll make you take that back when I catch you outside, one of these
+fine days, Miss Hurry-up," threatened Bob in a low tone, leaning over
+the table with one eye on the boarding house boss.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Yes, I will. I dare you to meet me over by the dry house after supper.
+I promise you I will take it out of your hide."
+
+"No, thank you," replied Steve dryly, with a slight shrug of the
+shoulders.
+
+"You won't?"
+
+"No, I will not."
+
+"Afraid, eh?"
+
+"Yes; afraid I might lose some sleep. I am going to bed after supper. I
+have work on hand to-morrow and I don't care to spoil my chances by
+getting into a row to-night. Besides, I am not a fighter. I am here for
+business."
+
+"Fellows, I told you he was a missie. I see I've got to take you in
+hand, Rush. You'll never make a miner until you've been properly
+trimmed, and I'm the boy who's taken the contract to do the job. I----"
+
+"Jarvis, that will be about enough for the present," warned the boarding
+house boss from the head of the table.
+
+"Can't a fellow have a little fun without being called down?" demanded
+Bob in a tone of disgust.
+
+"Yes; have all the fun you want, but don't pick on a boy who isn't your
+size. You, boy down there, what did you say your name is?"
+
+"Stephen Rush."
+
+"Well, Steve, don't be afraid of Jarvis. His bark is much worse than his
+bite."
+
+"I am not afraid of him, sir."
+
+"If he bothers you here, let me know. If you have any trouble outside,
+report it to the superintendent or to your foreman. Where are you going
+to work?"
+
+"I don't know, sir. I have not been assigned. I thank you, but I think I
+shall be able to take care of myself without reporting to anyone," added
+Rush, flashing a significant glance at Bob Jarvis. The latter started to
+make some reply, but checked himself sharply.
+
+From that time on the meal proceeded without further disturbance. Just
+as they were leaving the table, however, Jarvis edged over to where
+Steve was standing, waiting for those ahead of him to pass through the
+narrow door.
+
+"I hope you get in my shift," he whispered in Steve's ear.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I'll have a chance to teach you a few things."
+
+"Then I hope I do," answered the lad in his soft voice. "I want to learn
+all I can, you know."
+
+Bob's face wrinkled into a scowl. He was not certain whether Steve
+really meant what he said or whether he was poking fun at him.
+
+Early on the following morning Steve reported to the office of the
+superintendent. To his disappointment he was assigned to the ore dump.
+This is a great pile of ore dumped on the surface by a tram car as the
+ore is brought up from the mine in a skip, or ore elevator. Steve's
+particular duty was to stand at the outer end of the track and shovel
+the ore away from the track after each carload had been dumped.
+
+It was not a comfortable place to stand, for a misstep would precipitate
+him down the sloping end of the ore dump to the ground some forty feet
+below.
+
+On this dump the ore car was pushed by hand, whereas on others it was
+operated by electricity. Steve had received his instructions from the
+dump boss, so, with a shovel in his hands, he stood awaiting the first
+carload of ore.
+
+At last it came on with a bump and a crunch, groaning and threatening to
+jump the rails with each revolution of its wheels.
+
+Steve sprang to one side as he saw the car approaching, believing for
+the minute that the tram was going to run him down and plunge over the
+end of the dump. Should such be the case, the tram would surely carry
+him down with it, so he had lost no time in getting out of the way.
+
+"Hi, there! Look out where you are going! You'll run off the track!"
+shouted the lad in a warning tone.
+
+But the tram did not run off. It came to a slow stop; then, instead of
+discharging its cargo over the end of the pile, the end of the car's box
+suddenly swung around toward Steve. There followed a quick, sharp,
+metallic clang. Steve Rush went down with the contents of the car
+falling all about him in a red, suffocating shower, burying him nearly
+to his neck. Some of the ore rolled down the side of the dump, and the
+lad would have followed had he not been held fast by the dirt about him.
+His body was bruised in spots where unbroken chunks had bombarded him;
+his hair, mouth, eyes and nose were full of the stuff, and he found
+himself scarcely able to breathe.
+
+For a moment the boy was at a loss to understand what had happened. By
+industrious blinking and rubbing of his eyes he managed presently to
+take account of his surroundings.
+
+Steve struggled with all his might to free himself. He was unable to do
+so.
+
+"He--help!" he shouted. "I--I'm bu--buried up to my chin and I'm getting
+in deeper all the time. Help me to get out of this!"
+
+"Hello, there! What's the matter?" questioned a jeering voice. "Why,
+upon my word, if it isn't Little Miss Rush."
+
+Steve recognized the voice as belonging to Bob Jarvis.
+
+"It's you, is it, Jarvis? Well, help me out of this and I will talk with
+you. I shall have a few things to say to you, too, when we get a chance
+to talk----"
+
+"Why, sure, I'll help you out. How did you happen to get in the way of
+that dump?"
+
+"Never mind how. I believe you did that on purpose, Bob Jarvis, and you
+will have to answer to me for it," declared Steve Rush in a resolute
+tone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TWO THOUSAND FEET UNDER GROUND
+
+
+Jarvis sprang forward and with shovel in hand began throwing the dirt in
+all directions.
+
+"If you don't mind, please don't pile any more of this red stuff on my
+head than you can help. I have plenty as it is," said Steve.
+
+"That's so; I was throwing it your way, wasn't I?" chuckled Bob,
+laughing good-naturedly.
+
+Steve found time to study the other boy while the latter was digging him
+out. In spite of Jarvis' meanness to him, Rush felt certain that the lad
+possessed a good heart, and it was a strong, resourceful face that Steve
+found himself studying as the digging progressed.
+
+"Bob," he said finally, "have you ever been thrashed?"
+
+"Thrashed? Licked, you mean?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, not since my dad gave me a walloping last," laughed the boy.
+
+"Don't you think a good, sound thrashing would do you a whole lot of
+good?"
+
+Bob grinned broadly. By this time he had dug down around Rush until the
+latter was able to clamber from the pile of ore.
+
+"Well, I don't know about that."
+
+"I do, and I know you've got to have one before very long," announced
+young Rush with strong emphasis.
+
+"I will, eh?"
+
+"You will," affirmed Steve, brushing the dirt from his clothes.
+
+"And who's going to give me this licking, Little Miss Hurry-up?"
+demanded Jarvis threateningly.
+
+"I am," replied Steve in a quiet tone.
+
+Jarvis began to take off his coat.
+
+"Not now, Bob," spoke up the other quickly. "This is the company's time.
+We should both be discharged if we were to be caught fighting here and
+now. We will settle our difficulty some other time."
+
+"So you were only bluffing, eh? I knew you didn't have the spunk to
+fight anything."
+
+Steve pointed off to the mine shaft.
+
+"There comes the skip with a load of ore. You had better get your car
+back there or you will have trouble enough without a fight."
+
+Jarvis, with an exclamation, began pushing the tram car back over the
+top of the dump, Steve picking up his shovel and beginning his work of
+clearing the end of the tracks.
+
+All day long the lad toiled industriously. It was hard work and his back
+ached, yet he kept to his task. When night came Steve had the
+satisfaction of being told that he had done a man's work that day.
+
+A truce had been declared between the two boys, so far as fighting was
+concerned, though Jarvis continued his nagging at every opportunity.
+Steve took the other's scoffing good-naturedly, turning Bob's jibes with
+soft answers. For a full week both lads had labored far up on the ore
+dump. They had been too busy to think of their personal grievances for
+any great length of time. Saturday night had arrived, and when Steve
+left the dump to start for his boarding house he was told that the
+general superintendent wished to see him.
+
+"I guess he is going to discharge me," thought the boy. "Well, I have
+done the best I could."
+
+His surprise was great, therefore, when the superintendent said, as the
+lad came to a halt in front of the official's desk:
+
+"You have done very well, Rush."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+"Do you still think you would like to work below ground?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then you may begin on Monday."
+
+"On what shift?"
+
+"The day shift, going down at seven o'clock. The best I have for you now
+is a contract job run by a man named Spooner. You will find it pretty
+hard work. You see, these contracts are given out for so much per ton
+and the men who take the contracts propose to get as much out of their
+workmen as possible. You will be worked to your full capacity."
+
+"I can stand it, sir."
+
+"If you do, you should be able to endure anything we have to offer in
+this business. I have arranged for Spooner to take you on as a miner's
+helper. Your wages will be a dollar and a quarter a day. Be very careful
+and guard yourself from accident. Carelessness may cost you your life,
+for there is danger everywhere below ground."
+
+"I will be very careful, sir."
+
+Steve hurried away full of anticipation. He was to be a real miner; he
+was to start his career as a miner on a level two thousand feet below
+the surface. The lad had never been below ground before and he was full
+of anticipation of what awaited him on the following Monday morning.
+
+Acting on the suggestion of the boarding-house boss, the lad had
+purchased a suit of yellow oilcloth, rubber boots, oilcloth hat and
+candle holder. This latter, as used by the ore miners, is a piece of
+steel, one end coming to a sharp point, the other having an opening for
+the candle itself. The whole fastens securely to the hat. When necessary
+the candle holder may be carried in the hand, or driven into a crevice
+of rock or ore.
+
+This, with pick and shovel, comprises the miner's outfit and was the
+outfit of Steve Rush when he presented himself at the mouth of the shaft
+on the following Monday morning. There were about five hundred men to go
+down in the cage, the car that carries the miners and other passengers
+down to the various levels, and Steve found himself pushed aside, so
+that he was among the last to get aboard the steel cage.
+
+"Will you tell me where the Spooner contract is located?" he asked of
+the cage-tender before getting aboard.
+
+"Seventeenth level."
+
+"Does the car stop there?"
+
+"If it doesn't, you're a goner."
+
+Rush leaped aboard, grasping the rod that he saw above his head to
+steady himself. The protecting bars in front of the cage fell in place
+with a noisy clang.
+
+"All clear," announced a voice.
+
+The support beneath the lad seemed to drop from under him. With a rush
+and a roar, a grinding and crunching the steel cage dropped from sight.
+Instantly everything was plunged in inky darkness.
+
+"Do--do they always go like this?" asked the young miner of a man
+standing beside him.
+
+"This isn't going much. He has slow speed on this morning because the
+cage has a bigger load than usual. Afraid, are you?"
+
+"No, I am not afraid. I was wondering what would happen if the man
+forgot to shut off his power when we reached the bottom."
+
+The miner laughed.
+
+"We'd punch a hole in the bottom of the shaft," he said.
+
+"How deep is the shaft, sir?"
+
+"Two thousand feet to the bottom--fifty feet less than that to the last
+working level. The bottom level is used to drain off the water from the
+other levels. From there big steam pumps pump the water to the surface."
+
+The two could scarcely hear for noise.
+
+"The Spooner contract is on the seventeenth level, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, on the sub-level above the seventeenth. Is that where you are
+going to work?"
+
+"Yes, sir; for Mr. Spooner."
+
+"Then I feel sorry for you."
+
+"Why so, sir?"
+
+"Because he is a slave driver. Every man in the mines knows him and none
+of them wants to work for him. I guess he hasn't a white man on the
+contract."
+
+"I didn't know there were any colored men employed here."
+
+"There are not. We call a white man one who is not a foreigner," laughed
+the miner.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+Now and then the car would halt with a jolt; two or three men would leap
+off and disappear in the darkness, after which the cage would drop down
+another level or so.
+
+"Here is your level," announced the miner. "Jump off, or you will be
+carried by."
+
+Steve jumped off.
+
+"Thank you," he called, but the miner did not hear him, for the car had
+dropped quickly out of sight.
+
+Water that had dripped down through the shaft from the surface and the
+upper levels was, by this time, running from the oilskins of the young
+miner in tiny rivulets. Dampness was everywhere. A blast of hot, damp
+air smote him in the face as he turned to look about him.
+
+"I wonder where I am to go?" muttered Steve.
+
+A heavy fog hung over everything, electric lights glowing dimly through
+the haze, so that one was able to see but a few feet ahead.
+
+"Where is the Spooner contract?" called Steve to a passing miner.
+
+The man jerked a hand over his shoulder, whereupon the lad made his way
+cautiously down the level or tunnel, which is the main avenue, and from
+which other tunnels, called drifts, run off into the ore beds.
+
+By this time the mine was in full operation. Strange sounds smote the
+ears of the young miner. The roar of the electric tram cars as they
+dashed by him, now and then narrowly missing running him down, the
+thunder of the skips, huge black objects hurling themselves surfaceward
+loaded with iron ore, the bang, bang of the drills and the detonations
+of many dynamite explosions, filled the heart of Steve Rush with awe and
+wonder.
+
+The lad was confused. He did not know which way to turn, nor what second
+he might step into an opening and plunge downward. Had he but known it
+there was little danger of such an accident so long as he kept to the
+main level. There were many dangerous holes--ore chutes--but these
+ordinarily were protected so that there was little chance of one's
+falling through them. Such accidents, however, had been known to occur.
+
+At last Steve saw a man who looked as if he might be a person in
+authority, and to this one he appealed to direct him to the Spooner
+contract.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded the man sharply.
+
+"My name is Rush. May I ask who you are?"
+
+"I am the mine captain. Do you work with Spooner?"
+
+"I am going to do so if I can find the way to his place."
+
+"Come this way. I will show you how to get there. You are late."
+
+"Yes, sir; I was not able to find my way and I guess I was among the
+last ones to come down in the cage."
+
+"This is your first experience below ground?"
+
+"It is, sir."
+
+"Then let me give you some advice; never get careless. There is danger
+everywhere about here."
+
+"So I have already discovered, sir."
+
+"There is no excuse for men getting hurt, however, if they do not get
+careless. That is why so many get hurt, and why some lose their lives.
+We do everything we can to look out for the safety of our people, but we
+cannot guard against everything."
+
+"I shall try to follow your advice, sir."
+
+The captain strode along rapidly through dark drifts, turning here and
+there with perfect confidence. Steve felt sure that he never should be
+able to find his way about in that labyrinth without getting lost, and
+he asked the captain how he should do so.
+
+"Follow the crowd," was the brief answer. "There, do you see that
+ladder?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Climb it. It is a forty-foot ladder. The top of it is the sub-level,
+where the Spooner contract is located."
+
+"Thank you, sir," answered Rush, beginning his long, dark climb up the
+slender ladder to the unknown regions above him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+STEVE SHOOTS THE CHUTES
+
+
+Reaching the sub-level, as he supposed, Steve found it enshrouded in
+inky blackness. He was in a side drift, but he did not know it.
+
+"I guess I am as badly off as I was before. I haven't the least idea
+where I am, so I guess there is not much danger of getting lost."
+
+Removing the candle from his hat, the lad held it before him, lighting
+the shadows sufficiently to enable him to see where he was stepping.
+After a time he came out into a larger tunnel, which, he decided, must
+be one of the main levels, for there was a narrow track extending along
+it. Steve decided to follow this track and trust to luck. He had gone
+along for perhaps fifteen minutes when he made a discovery.
+
+"I've lost the track!" he exclaimed. "I wonder where it could have gone
+to?"
+
+The lad retraced his steps, but search as he might he was unable to find
+the steel rails again. For what seemed hours to him the youthful miner
+wandered here and there. The fact that he had neither seen nor heard
+anyone led him to  where the work was
+going on.
+
+Steve was beginning to get disheartened. He was thankful that he had his
+dinner pail with him, in case he failed to find his way out before the
+day's work was done.
+
+At last, however, he reached a drift or level, he did not know which,
+where he could not stand upright. The rocks overhead had been shored up
+with heavy timbers. It was a dangerous spot. Steve understood that
+without being told, so he crawled quickly through. At the far end of the
+low drift he encountered another ladder.
+
+Deciding that it must lead to an upper level, the lad began climbing. He
+had gotten a little more than half way up when all at once his candle
+slipped from his hand, falling clear to the bottom, where it went out,
+leaving Steve in darkness.
+
+"Oh, that's too bad. I must get it again before I dare go on any
+further."
+
+Steve hurried down and began searching about on the ground for the lost
+candle. After a little he found it, but the candle was useless. In
+tramping about he had crushed it under his heavy boots, flattening the
+candle out hopelessly.
+
+"Only a grease spot," muttered Steve. "Well, I can't be much worse off
+than I have been, so I am going back up the ladder. I surely must find
+someone if I keep on hunting about. There are more than five hundred men
+in this mine right now, and unless they are all hiding from me I am
+bound to run across some of them. I am afraid I am not much of a success
+as a miner. At least my first day below ground has been a sad failure so
+far."
+
+Steve was on his way up the ladder once more. It was a long climb, much
+longer, it seemed to him, than the other ladder had been. He began to
+climb faster, when all at once he received a shock that wrenched his
+hands loose from the rungs of the ladder. Before the lad could regain
+his balance he toppled over backwards and plunged downward.
+
+Steve's head had come in contact with the rocks above, that left but a
+small space for a man to crawl through to reach the upper level. He had
+bumped his head with such force as to cause him to let go.
+
+Grasping frantically for something to stay his flight, the lad went
+tumbling down. He landed on the ground at the bottom, flat on his back,
+bruised and breathless.
+
+For a moment Steve lay where he had fallen. But shortly he got up,
+rubbing his bruises gingerly and trying to collect his thoughts.
+
+"Tumble number one," muttered Rush. "I'll try it again."
+
+This time he met with better success, for he managed to get through the
+manhole above without striking his head against the rocks. But once on
+the upper level the question arose as to what to do next. There was the
+same dense blackness over all, the same deep silence that the lad had
+found below.
+
+After considering a moment, he decided to feel his way along as best he
+could. An investigation had told him that his dinner was still safe,
+though the tin pail had been battered all out of shape.
+
+"I'll bet there is some scrambled egg in the bottom of the pail," said
+Steve, with a short laugh.
+
+Once more he took up his journey through the dark tunnels, feeling
+cautiously with feet and hands before he took a step forward. He had
+gone along in this way for some time when he halted abruptly, leaning
+forward in a listening attitude.
+
+"What's that?" he muttered. "I know! I know what it is; it's a drill. I
+would recognize that 'bang, bang, bang' anywhere. That means I am close
+to some operations. The next thing is to find where the sound comes
+from. It must be ahead of me somewhere, for I can just hear it, whereas
+a few moments ago I could not."
+
+Again he began cautiously working forward. After a while the sounds came
+to him more clearly. Steve had swerved to the right and entered a new
+drift, though he was not aware of the fact and whereas he had been
+proceeding directly east, he was now headed south.
+
+The bang, bang of the compressed air drill was getting louder and louder
+as the moments passed. After a time the boy halted again. The sounds
+seemed to come from directly beneath him.
+
+"I believe that is on the level below this," he decided. "How am I to
+find the way down to it? If I go back I shall be lost. I'll call and see
+if I can attract attention from any of them."
+
+The lad shouted at the top of his voice, but only his own echoes came
+back to him in hollow tones.
+
+Suddenly a twinkling light appeared far down the level. The lad
+recognized it at once as being a candle on a miner's hat.
+
+"Hello, there!" he called.
+
+"What do you want?" came the answer.
+
+"I am lost."
+
+"Go find yourself, then. Don't bother me."
+
+Steve did not propose to let it go at that. He ran forward to where the
+miner was about to descend a ladder to the lower level.
+
+"Won't you please help me, sir. I am in a fix."
+
+"Well, what do you want?" demanded the miner in a surly tone, pausing a
+few rungs down the ladder.
+
+"I am looking for the Spooner contract. Will you please direct me to
+it?"
+
+"Follow this level around to the left until you come to three drifts.
+Take the middle one to the end, and then go down the ladder you will
+find there."
+
+"Thank you. Can you spare me a candle?"
+
+"No; I can't."
+
+The man grasped the side pieces of the ladder, letting himself down in a
+rapid slide. Steve Rush found himself once more left in darkness. At
+least he had his directions now, and he thought he could find his way to
+the contract for which he was looking.
+
+So the lad pressed on with more confidence than before. After proceeding
+some distance he found by groping about that he had reached the place
+indicated. He took the middle drift, as directed, and hurried along
+this. He had no idea what time it was, but Steve imagined that it must
+be near noon. It seemed as though a long time must have passed since he
+entered the mine with the day shift, whereas, in truth, not quite two
+hours had elapsed.
+
+The lad was thinking over his misfortunes, smiling grimly to
+himself--for Steve Rush was not a boy to whine, no matter how great his
+adversity--when all at once the ground seemed to drop from under his
+feet.
+
+On all levels there are "rises," small chutes which extend from one
+level to another. These are in addition to the regular ore chutes and
+considerably smaller. They are used for filling cars below, when
+necessary, as ore is always dumped downward into a lower level, from
+which it is hoisted to the surface, thus saving the labor of loading. It
+was one of these rises into which Steve had stepped. To do so he had
+swerved from the tunnel through which he was passing, stepping into an
+open pocket in the rocks, believing that he was following the wall, on
+which he had kept one hand constantly.
+
+The lad uttered no cry, but he threw out both arms with quick instinct,
+hoping thereby to catch and hold himself. The force was too great,
+however, and Steve Rush shot down through the narrow opening, bound for
+the lower level. He did not know this; he did not know where he was
+going to land, but he fully expected that this last disaster would be
+the end of him and he shut his teeth tightly together, bracing himself
+to meet the shock that he knew must come within the next few seconds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE "MISSED HOLE"
+
+
+On the seventeenth sub-level of the Cousin Jack Mine the Spooner
+contract gang was working at high pressure. Two diamond drills were
+banging away like a battery of Gatling guns; men were rushing here and
+there, some were pushing small cars of red ore out through the drift to
+the level, where the electric trams would pick up the cars and rush them
+to the ore chutes. The pick men were breaking off the loosened pieces of
+ore dislodged by the last blast, while others were shoveling the ore
+into cars as if their very existence depended upon keeping up the pace.
+
+Spooner himself, clad in a suit of oilskins, was shouting at his men,
+nagging, urging, threatening and directing in a perfect volley of
+explosive words.
+
+A car had just been pushed out from the end of the drift where the
+drillers were working. It had reached a point directly underneath the
+rise and there it stuck, held fast by a piece of rock that had dropped
+to the track.
+
+Spooner leaped forward with an angry roar.
+
+"Out with it! I'll fire you both, you lazy, good for nothings!" he
+bellowed. "You ain't fit even to be swampers behind a pair of lazy
+mules. Push, I tell you! Push! Something will be doing here in a jiffy
+if you don't get that car out of the way!"
+
+His words were prophetic in a measure, for something did happen a few
+seconds later, though Spooner was not the author of it. Rather was he
+the victim.
+
+With a crash the trap door at the bottom of the rise burst open with a
+sound like a dynamite explosion in a new drift. A dark object was hurled
+out into the level, landing squirming on the soft ore in the car.
+
+"What--what----"
+
+Spooner did not finish what he was about to say. The dark object bounded
+from the ore car, landing with great force against the angry contractor.
+Spooner toppled over backwards, the breath pretty well knocked out of
+him, collapsing in the gutter at the side of the track.
+
+Steve Rush had found the Spooner contract at last. The lad was not much
+the worse for his exciting slide, though he had been somewhat bruised
+when he burst through the wooden trap door at the lower end of the rise.
+
+Steve was up in a twinkling. He looked about him and in a half laughing
+voice demanded:
+
+"Where am I?"
+
+"I reckon you're on seventeen," answered one of the miners.
+
+"Where's the boss?"
+
+"He's down there under you somewhere. I guess you knocked the daylight
+out of him. I hope you did. If it wasn't for my wife and family I'd a
+done it long time ago."
+
+"Yes; I'd give a year's wages for the privilege of turning the diamond
+drill on him," added the head driller.
+
+"Did I hit a man?" asked Steve anxiously.
+
+"No; you hit an apology for a man," was the quick reply.
+
+By this time young Rush was bending over, looking down into the shadows
+that hung over the gutter along the side of the track. He made out the
+figure of a man lying there.
+
+"Help me get him up, men," he cried. "Don't you see that he is hurt?"
+
+"Serve him right if he is," growled the trammer, the workman who pushed
+the cars of ore out into the main level.
+
+"I tell you he is hurt. Lend a hand here!" commanded the boy sternly.
+
+Something in his tone led the others to obey his order promptly. They
+gathered up Contractor Spooner and carried him over to where the light
+from the candles could be thrown on his face.
+
+"Douse him with a pail of water," suggested the drill-man.
+
+Someone quickly adopted the suggestion, with the result that Spooner sat
+up almost at once, choking, roaring and threatening between his gasps
+for breath.
+
+"Who--who did it? Who did it?" snarled the contractor, struggling to his
+feet. "Who hit me?"
+
+The man's hat had fallen from his head, and for the moment Steve did not
+answer. He was too fully absorbed in gazing at the harsh face of the man
+before him.
+
+Balanced on Spooner's tall, angular body was a round, bullet-like head,
+with a rim of reddish-gray hair. His lips were protruding, sagging at
+each corner, while the lids over his prominent eyes blinked as though
+trying to run a race with each other.
+
+"Who did it, I say?" roared the contractor, fixing his angry eyes upon
+the face of Steve Rush.
+
+"I am afraid I am the guilty one, sir. But it was an accident. I will
+tell you how it occurred. I----"
+
+Spooner gave the lad no opportunity to explain. Instead, the contractor,
+with an angry imprecation, started for Rush.
+
+Steve's mind worked quickly. He was not afraid; he was considering
+whether it were best to run or to stand his ground, and he decided upon
+the latter.
+
+"Stand back! Don't you touch me! I tell you it was an accident!" shouted
+the boy.
+
+The contractor was too enraged to listen to reason, and as he sprang for
+Rush he thrust forth his long arms to grab the boy.
+
+Spooner got a blow on the nose that sent him staggering backward, but
+Steve did not follow up the advantage he had gained. He could not expect
+to prove a match for the powerful miner, and perhaps he would not have
+been able to hit the latter as he did had the other been looking for
+anything of the sort. Spooner was more surprised than hurt.
+
+"If you will wait, sir, I will explain. I am sorry I fell on you and
+sorry I had to hit you, but you mustn't lay your hands on me. You
+must----"
+
+All work in drift seventeen had been suspended for the moment, and even
+the diamond drills had ceased their bang, bang, bang. Every man in the
+drift, save Spooner himself, had uttered a yell of delight when he saw
+the young miner's sturdy punch.
+
+"Look out, lad; he's coming for you again. Spooner, remember he's a boy;
+don't do anything you'll be sorry for. You'll be----"
+
+The contractor had started for young Rush again.
+
+"Get out of here!" roared the man. "Out of here before I wring your
+miserable neck!"
+
+Steve snatched up an iron bar that the trammers used to fasten the
+catches on the cars. He raised the bar over his shoulder.
+
+"If you try to touch me I'll hit you, sir," said the lad in a tone so
+polite and pleasant that Spooner paused in amazement, then uttered a
+hoarse guffaw. Nevertheless he halted where he was, for he saw an
+expression in the eyes of the boy before him which spelled trouble.
+Furthermore, Spooner knew how strict the rules of the mine were, and now
+that he had had an opportunity to get control of himself he decided not
+to throw the young man out bodily.
+
+"Get out of here before I help you, then. I can't stand everything. Go
+to work, you lazy louts! What do you mean by standing around on my time?
+I'll dock every man of you an hour's pay. Start those drills. Trammers,
+off with you. Are you going, boy?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"You're not going?"
+
+"No, sir; I am going to work here."
+
+"Oh, you are, eh? Well, I think I shall have something to say about
+that. You're not going to work here, and I should like to know what you
+are doing down in this mine, anyway. I'll have the mine captain put you
+out. It's my opinion that you are not here for any good, and you're
+lucky if he doesn't turn you over to the mine police."
+
+"I have been assigned to work in this drift. The superintendent ordered
+me to report to you, sir. I am ready to go to work."
+
+The contractor gazed at the boy with a puzzled expression on his face.
+
+"You, a boy like you, work here? Pooh! What do you think this is, a
+kindergarten?"
+
+"I am able to do a day's work; besides, it is the superintendent's
+orders, sir."
+
+Spooner knew the boy had the best of him there. The superintendent's
+orders were to be obeyed, no matter if Spooner was mining on a contract
+agreement.
+
+"Very well; if you want to work you shall have all the work you can do.
+I'll see the superintendent about your case when I go up to-day noon."
+
+"What shall I do?"
+
+"Do? Don't you see anything to do?"
+
+"I see some things I should like to do," answered Steve Rush in a
+significant tone, eyeing the contractor steadily.
+
+"Get hold of that shovel. I can't break your head as I ought to do, but
+the shovel will break your back before you get through with this day's
+work."
+
+Steve grasped the shovel and began throwing the ore into the waiting
+car.
+
+Spooner eyed the lad narrowly for a few moments. He was obliged to admit
+that Rush handled the shovel as well as any man he had ever had in his
+gang.
+
+"You ought to be in the bull gang," jeered the contractor. "Yes, sir,
+you are wasting your talents working in an ore drift."
+
+"What is a bull gang?" questioned the lad between shovels.
+
+"That is the gang that shifts the timber down into the mine," answered
+the man shoveling by Steve's side. "The timber-men below take the stuff
+and build the supports and the lagging to keep the levels from caving
+in, you know."
+
+"Where's your candle?" demanded Spooner. "You're a nice sort of a miner
+to come to work without a candle in your stick!"
+
+"I lost it. You see, I lost my way and had a time getting here,"
+explained Steve.
+
+"Get one when you go up to-day noon. And remember you get only two
+hours' pay for the forenoon. If you're ever late like this again you are
+through right then and there."
+
+Steve did not answer. He shoveled with all his might.
+
+"Ready for the powder," called the head drill-man.
+
+All the men save Steve and the powder-man laid down their tools and
+moved off. The boy continued at his work, his shovel making a steady
+scrape, scrape as he threw the ore up into the car.
+
+In the meantime the powder-man was adjusting a charge of dynamite in
+each of the holes in the ore made by the drills.
+
+"Well, boy?" called Mr. Spooner.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Are you going to stay there and have your fool head blown off?"
+
+"Why----"
+
+"Don't you see, they're going to fire a charge of dynamite. Get out of
+that!"
+
+"Stand c-l-e-a-r!" called the powder-man in a sing-song tone.
+
+All hands ran back so as to be well out of the way, and now that Steve
+understood what was being done, he shouldered his shovel and moved
+leisurely off in the direction taken by the others.
+
+"That's the worst of a fool kid," grumbled the contractor. "They don't
+know enough to come in out of the wet----"
+
+"The fuse is fired! Look out!" warned the powder-man, starting away from
+the scene on a run.
+
+Steve watched the sputtering, squirming fuse far down the drift as the
+flame neared the charge of dynamite, six pounds all told. It seemed to
+him that all of them were in a dangerous position, but not being
+familiar with blasting, he supposed the miners knew their own business
+best.
+
+It is always an anxious moment in the mines when, gathered in an
+expectant group, the workers underground stand waiting for the charge of
+dynamite to explode. It is seldom that anyone speaks during this brief
+period of suspense until the flash comes, followed by a puff of white
+smoke, a heavy report and a rain of rock and ore.
+
+In this instance the wait seemed unusually long. The flash did not come.
+
+"Missed hole," announced Spooner in a tone of disgust. "Five minutes of
+valuable time lost. That's the way the money goes in this gang. Get in
+there and attach a new fuse, powder-man. Don't be all day about it,
+either. If I wasn't around here to watch things we wouldn't get half a
+dozen tons a day out of this drift. First thing you know we'll all be
+out of a job. Come, are you going to get in there?"
+
+"It ain't safe," answered the powder-man, shaking his head, sending a
+shower of grease from his candle into the face of Steve Rush.
+
+"I see I've got to do it myself," exclaimed Spooner, grabbing a handful
+of fuses from the shoulders of the man who handled the dynamite.
+
+The powder-man reached for his fuses, but the contractor already had
+them in his hand and was striding toward the drift.
+
+The powder-man hesitated, then started after him on a trot.
+
+"It's again' the rules, sir, to go in until ten minutes after firing the
+fuse when there's a missed hole," he warned.
+
+"Rules!" jeered the contractor. "I'm the rules. I guess I'm running this
+drift."
+
+By this time both men had reached the dome-like space where the drift
+ended, which included a very rich vein of iron ore.
+
+Steve Rush shaded his eyes and, stooping over, peered into the drift. He
+was looking between the two men who at that moment were arguing
+excitedly. They appeared to have forgotten that they were treading on
+dangerous ground, but long familiarity with high explosives had made
+them careless.
+
+The lad saw something a few feet beyond them that caused his heart to
+leap. A tiny spark had sprung up from the darkness, then as suddenly
+died out.
+
+"Look out!" shouted the young miner, now keenly alive to the danger of
+the men ahead.
+
+"Keep that kid still, or throw him down on the next level!" called
+Spooner over his shoulder. "I expect he'll have an attack of hysterics
+when we fire the blast."
+
+"I tell you it isn't a missed hole!" cried the boy.
+
+"Don't be a fool," jeered the head trammer.
+
+Steve did not hear him. The boy had started off with a bound. His hat
+dropped from his head and his shovel fell clattering to the ground.
+"Come back, I tell you!" shouted Rush.
+
+A few seconds more and he was right upon them. Without wasting further
+words of warning, he grabbed the contractor, and with surprising
+strength for one of his build, Steve hurled Spooner far out into the
+drift, that official bellowing his rage at the indignity.
+
+Steve reached for the powder-man. His hands had just been laid on the
+man's shoulders when there came a blinding flash, a detonating report, a
+rending and tearing of rocks, then a shower of ore and stone.
+
+Darkness settled over the drift and all was still.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN THE POWDER-WRECKED DRIFT
+
+
+For a moment those outside the end of the drift stood in awed silence.
+The candles on the hats of the miners had been extinguished by the
+explosion.
+
+Nothing will cause an underground miner to lose his head quicker than
+being plunged into sudden darkness. Several of them set up a terrified
+yell.
+
+"Hold your tongues!" bellowed the contractor. "You haven't been hurt.
+Don't you know enough to light your candles? That's the best way I know
+of to get rid of the darkness."
+
+Spooner lighted his own candle, holding it in his hand above his head as
+he looked about. He stepped forward toward the place where his men had
+been drifting in the ore.
+
+"Just as I expected," he growled. "More time wasted."
+
+The timbers that had supported the roof of the drift had crashed
+downward, carrying with them a few tons of rock and ore, blocking the
+passage completely.
+
+"Are--are the men in there killed?" questioned a trammer in unsteady
+tones.
+
+"How should I know?" growled the contractor. "I do know that we are
+losing a lot of valuable time. If that fool powder-man hadn't been in
+such a hurry we should have been spared all this delay. Get busy with
+your shovels and picks here."
+
+There were ugly scowls on the faces of the miners as they sprang forward
+to obey the order of their employer. They knew full well that it was not
+the fault of either the powder-man or Steve Rush, but of Spooner
+himself. It was he who had insisted upon going into the drift to examine
+the missed hole, and had it not been for the bravery of Steve the
+contractor would now be lying dead behind the mass of rock.
+
+The men spoke no word, but their hearts were full of indignation. They
+cared not for the loss of time, nor for any other loss that their
+employer might have suffered. They did care for the unfortunate man and
+boy buried in the drift.
+
+In the meantime word had been conveyed to the mine captain that an
+accident had occurred in number seventeen. With a force of men he was
+already hurrying to the scene as fast as an electric tram could carry
+him. The word he had received was to the effect that several men had
+been killed. The company's surgeon had been sent for and all
+preparations were made to care for the wounded.
+
+During all this time brave little Steve Rush lay inside the drift, half
+buried under rock and red ore. He had toppled backwards when the
+explosion came, half turned and had fallen face downward, his arms
+crossed under his forehead so that his nose and mouth were free.
+Otherwise he undoubtedly would have smothered before help could reach
+him.
+
+Steve stirred uneasily, coughed and tried to raise himself. He could not
+do so. He found himself held down by an oppressive weight. Some little
+time elapsed before his return to consciousness, and even then he was
+still dazed. At first he tried hard to recall what had happened, and at
+last it all came back to him.
+
+"There was another in here with me--the powder-man. I wonder if he is
+dead?" muttered the lad.
+
+After some difficulty the lad got his hands free of his head and began
+feeling about him. He made a discovery that thrilled him through and
+through. The body of the powder-man lay across his own, holding the lad
+firmly to the ground.
+
+Yet under these trying conditions the lad did not lose his steady nerve
+for an instant. As his mind became clearer he began weighing the
+possibilities of getting out of his predicament. He reasoned that he and
+his companion must have been imprisoned in some way by the explosion.
+All the time he was carefully twisting his body this way and that in an
+effort to free himself without hurting the man who was lying across him.
+
+At last Rush succeeded in crawling from under his human burden and the
+weight of ore and rock that hemmed them both in.
+
+Steve's first act was to stretch forth a hand to his companion. The hand
+wandered from the face of the prostrate man down over the heart, where
+it paused.
+
+A faint, irregular beating of that organ rewarded Steve's effort.
+
+"He's alive," cried the lad, scrambling to his feet. "He's----"
+
+A severe fit of coughing cut short the young miner's words. A dense
+cloud of suffocating powder smoke hung over the drift like a pall.
+
+Steve dropped to the ground, pressing his face close to the earth, where
+he found the air better. After a few long breaths he began searching for
+a candle. He knew there had been one on the powder-man's cap when the
+explosion came. A search, however, failed to locate the candle.
+
+"I wish I knew what to do for him," muttered the lad. "He surely will
+die here unless they get us out pretty soon, and I wouldn't give much
+for my own life if I had to stay in this awful air very long."
+
+Steve uttered a long shout, which ended in a fit of coughing.
+
+"No more shouting for me," he muttered, wiping the tears from his
+eyes--tears not caused by fear or grief.
+
+He next tried shaking the powder-man, which drew a groan from the man,
+whereupon the lad quickly desisted.
+
+After a moment's reflection, the boy stuffed a handkerchief in his
+mouth, permitting it to cover his nose, to keep out the full strength of
+the powder smoke. This done, he got to his feet again, and began feeling
+his way about the chamber in which the accident had occurred.
+
+"Ah, this is it!"
+
+His hands paused when they came in contact with a heap of crushed
+timber, and his feet struck a mass of ore piled against the foot-wall of
+the drift.
+
+For a moment Rush stood motionless, reflecting on the situation. He
+could hear no sounds on the outside.
+
+"Either they are all killed out there, or else we are buried so deep
+that I cannot hear them. I do not know which it is, but I think it must
+be the latter," the boy decided. "We are imprisoned in the drift; that
+is certain."
+
+The lad, after some searching about, found a shovel, and with this he
+began throwing the dirt back from the place where the opening had been.
+The effort was too much for him. Strong as he was, the shock of the
+explosion had weakened him and the powder smoke choked him until he went
+off into another fit of coughing. To relieve himself he lay down again.
+
+The fresh air along the floor of the drift strengthened him somewhat,
+and once more he turned his attention to the powder-man. He lifted the
+miner's head gently, placing it in his own lap, after which he chafed
+the man's hands and forehead. The miner drew a long, deep sigh and
+stirred uneasily. Perhaps something of the lad's tender sympathy touched
+his inner consciousness.
+
+"Poor fellow!" murmured Steve, forcing back the lump that rose in his
+throat. "This is not a life for the weak or the timid. It is a man's
+work and I'm going to be a man."
+
+Steve continued to stroke the face and hands of the powder-man until,
+becoming dizzy from inhaling the powder smoke, he lay down again until
+somewhat revived.
+
+"I must try to attract the attention out there," decided the lad
+finally.
+
+Choosing a piece of rock large enough to answer his purpose, he began
+thumping on the broken timbers. The attempt was not very successful, for
+he seemed to make no noise at all. Then something else occurred to him.
+
+Illustration: Seizing the Shovel, Steve Began Beating the Timbers.
+
+"The shovel!" he cried. "Why did I not think of it before?"
+
+Grabbing up the tool, he began beating the timbers with it in wide,
+swinging strokes.
+
+Bang, bang, bang, went the shovel, the lad now and then pausing to
+listen. Once he thought he caught an answering blow from the opposite
+side, but he did not hear it again. Then he set up a piece of rock, the
+largest he could find, and began hammering on this.
+
+Steve's ears were ringing by this time, and during the intervals when he
+ceased hammering on the timbers or the rock he was overcome by a roaring
+sound as if a great flood had been suddenly let loose. He did not
+understand what this meant. The silence of the underground prison had
+become a chaos of noises, the lad's blows became weaker and at longer
+intervals apart.
+
+"I wonder what--what is the matter with me. I'm getting sleepy," he
+muttered.
+
+A few more blows and the shovel dropped from his nerveless fingers.
+Steve staggered, then collapsed unconscious across the body of the
+powder-man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+"IS ANYONE ALIVE IN THERE?"
+
+
+"Order the timber-men in here! Get a pair of jacks and raise the timbers
+bodily. Get a move on you, men! We may be able to save them yet!"
+
+Superintendent Penton, of the Cousin Jack Mine, had been summoned by
+telephone at the first sign of trouble. In his miner's outfit, with a
+green candle stuck in the holder on his hat, he had hurried down into
+the mine and made his way quickly to the sub-level where the accident
+had occurred. He needed no guide to reach the place, for he knew the
+maze of tunnels of that underground hive of industry so well that he
+could have followed them to any given point with his eyes shut.
+
+A few brief, pointed questions had brought out the full story of the
+accident, but Mr. Penton had not addressed Spooner; he had made his
+inquiries from the men who had been working on that level and in the
+drift where the explosion had happened.
+
+"Shovelers, here! Throw that rock back! Be careful that you do not
+undermine the lagging and let the roof all the way down. It's lucky the
+explosion blew ore enough out to hold the timbers off the ground, or our
+work would be much more difficult."
+
+The superintendent had taken full charge of the operations. His long
+experience had told him exactly what to do. The official showed no trace
+of excitement; instead, his every faculty was centered on the work in
+hand. His tones were stern, his orders sharp and incisive.
+
+By this time the jacks had been brought. At the superintendent's
+direction a heavy timber had been placed as a support under those that
+had been broken and the jacks set to work. Little by little, creaking
+and groaning, the wrecked lagging was raised inch by inch.
+
+"Steady, there! Hold it, men!"
+
+Those at the jacks stopped work.
+
+"Let half a dozen shovelers get in there," Penton directed. "Throw out
+some of that dirt. We must get an opening as soon as possible to let air
+in. Throw away the larger pieces first."
+
+In the meantime the superintendent had ordered a fresh drill brought up,
+the one belonging to that shift being in the wrecked drift. A line of
+pipe had been laid to the nearest connection to furnish the compressed
+air with which to operate the drill.
+
+As soon as the rock had been removed sufficiently, the official ordered
+the drill set in place. He indicated where the drilling was to be done
+and a moment later the steady "bang, bang" of the diamond drill filled
+the air to the exclusion of all other sounds.
+
+"She's through, sir," announced the drill-man, nodding to the
+superintendent.
+
+"Withdraw the drill."
+
+The official placed his nose to the hole thus made, and shook his head.
+
+"You haven't reached it. Try a hole above the shoring. We must get air
+in there."
+
+Again the powerful drill began its work. Gathered in a closely massed
+group were the other miners waiting, silent, anxious, the flames of
+candles on their caps flickering and swaying from side to side in the
+faint draft that swirled through the long, dark cavern. Attention was
+divided between the working drill and the calm-faced, strong,
+resourceful man who was directing the operations. He was master and the
+men knew it.
+
+"All right." announced the drill-man again.
+
+The superintendent nodded. The drill was withdrawn. Following it came a
+little puff of white, nauseating smoke.
+
+"We've hit it," announced the executive calmly. "Now, bore another hole
+on the same line but about six feet to the left, so we shall get a draft
+through the enclosed drift."
+
+This was promptly done.
+
+The superintendent, as soon as the noise of the drill had ceased, placed
+his lips close to the hole thus made.
+
+"Hello, in there! Is anyone alive in there?"
+
+No answer came from the closed drift.
+
+"They're dead. What's the use in bothering about them?" growled Spooner.
+
+Mr. Penton shot a withering glance at the contractor.
+
+"We will proceed on the theory that they are alive until we have learned
+that they are not," replied the superintendent coldly.
+
+"Shall we go on raising the lagging?" asked the timber-man.
+
+"No; wait until the powder smoke is out of the drift and some fresh air
+has taken its place. The two men in there will be suffocated unless we
+free the place of powder fumes. Remove the drill from the pipe and force
+a little air through the vent holes. Not too much; just enough to
+dislodge the smoke and force it out. It won't stand much pressure.
+There, that will do. Now, jackmen, get to work. Keep on shoveling below
+there."
+
+Giving his orders calmly and encouragingly, the work proceeded with
+great success. The diggers were gradually boring in under the timber
+that the jacks were raising.
+
+After a time their shovels and bars poked a hole through the debris into
+the drift. It was a small hole, so small that the average man would have
+difficulty in getting through it.
+
+Among those who had hurried to the scene was Bob Jarvis. He had been
+using a shovel industriously, and when the opening had been made he
+stepped up to the superintendent.
+
+"I think I can crawl in there now, if you will let me. I want to get
+that Hurry-up kid out," added Bob.
+
+"Go in, if you think you can get through," nodded the superintendent.
+"Better tie a rope to one foot before you start, so we can pull you out
+if you get wedged in."
+
+While Bob was making ready, the official got down on his hands and knees
+and examined the opening in the attempt to satisfy himself that it would
+be safe for a man to go through.
+
+A moment more and Bob Jarvis was wriggling through the little tunnel on
+his stomach. There was still so much smoke in the drift that he nearly
+choked as he pulled himself up and began groping about in the darkness.
+Now that he was in he lighted his candle, and there before him lay the
+man and the boy.
+
+Bob gave Rush a violent shake. Steve opened his eyes.
+
+"So you're all right, eh?"
+
+"Ye--yes. Have--have you come to li--lick me?" mumbled Steve closing his
+eyes.
+
+"No; I've come to get you out of this hole. We'll talk about the licking
+later on. Is the other fellow dead?"
+
+Rush pulled himself to a sitting posture at this.
+
+"No; I think not. He was alive when I went to sleep. He may be dead now.
+Come, we must get him out. How did you get in?"
+
+"Crawled in through that hole. Come along; I'll help you out first. You
+need looking after, judging from your appearance."
+
+Steve Rush's face was ghastly white and covered with blood in spots. He
+had sustained a scalp wound where a sharp-edged rock had hit him. It was
+evident, however, that the powder-man was in much more serious
+condition. The man was still breathing when Bob peered into his face.
+
+"Yes; he's alive, but I'll help you out now," Jarvis repeated.
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort. This man needs attention first. I'll
+help you with him. How are we going to get him through that small
+opening without hurting him?"
+
+"We'll have to do the best we can," answered Bob.
+
+"I'll tell you, Jarvis; you crawl in backwards and I will hand him to
+you. Tell those on the outside to get hold of your feet and pull when
+you get far enough in. Do you think he will go through the hole?"
+
+"No; we've got to dig away some dirt inside here first. This end is the
+smaller. The other is large enough for him. It's lucky he isn't a fat
+man, or we could not do it."
+
+Together the lads labored industriously for several minutes.
+
+"Are they alive?" called the voice of the superintendent through the
+hole.
+
+"Yes, both of them. Powder-man badly injured, I think."
+
+All preparations being made, Bob crawled into the hole, while Steve, as
+carefully as he could, thrust the powder-man in after, feet first.
+
+It was a difficult task that Jarvis had set for himself, but he went at
+it with stubborn determination. Finally, after moments of wriggling and
+inch-by-inch progress, the men outside the drift managed to get hold of
+his feet, as Steve had directed them to do. The rest was easy.
+
+It was now Steve's turn, and he crawled through the hole as quickly as
+possible, though he felt himself growing momentarily weaker. At last he
+stood outside the drift. He was swaying giddily.
+
+"Take this boy to the hospital," directed the superintendent.
+
+"I'm all right, sir. That is, I will be as soon as I recover from the
+effects of the smoke. I'll----"
+
+"I suppose you hid behind the powder-man to save yourself," sneered
+Spooner.
+
+Mr. Penton turned on the man, his face flushing hotly. It was the first
+time the superintendent had shown the slightest trace of excitement.
+
+"That will do, Spooner. You cut that out. You ought to be ashamed of
+yourself after this boy has saved your life. I know all about it. You
+will see to it that he gets full time while he is laying off in the
+hospital."
+
+"Not at my expense he won't."
+
+"Very well; then let it be at my own. But I shall see to it that you do
+not get another contract in the Cousin Jack Mine after you have finished
+with this one. I shall have something to say to you later, also, about
+this accident."
+
+"Oh, of course I'll pay him if that's the way you feel about it. I'll
+pay him."
+
+"I thought you would," answered the superintendent dryly.
+
+In the meantime the powder-man had been conveyed to the surface and
+removed to the hospital in the superintendent's carriage, the driver
+having received orders to return at once.
+
+"Do you feel able to walk, Rush?" questioned the executive.
+
+"Ye--yes, sir; I--I think so, sir."
+
+"I'll help him," spoke up Bob Jarvis quickly.
+
+"Yes; help him to the cage and go up with him."
+
+Steve found that he was weaker than he thought, but leaning on Bob's
+strong arm he made his way to the lower level, where the lads caught the
+cage a few moments later and were conveyed to the surface.
+
+"I'll not forget this, Jarvis," murmured Steve.
+
+"Forget what?"
+
+"Your kindness to me."
+
+"I'm kind to you for another reason. I'll see you later. When you get
+well I'll have something to say to you, Miss Hurry-up," was Bob's
+parting shot, as he lifted the lad into the carriage and turned back to
+the shaft to return to his work below ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+BOB MAKES GOOD HIS WORD
+
+
+"The superintendent wishes to see you at his office when convenient."
+
+This message was brought to Steve Rush at his boarding house on the day
+following the accident in the drift. The lad's wounds had been treated,
+and he had been allowed to go home late in the afternoon of the same
+day. The powder-man, however, had been much more seriously injured. It
+was doubtful if the man ever would be able to work in the mines again.
+
+Steve would have returned to work on the following morning, had the
+superintendent not given orders that he was not to do so, and the
+superintendent's orders were law in the mines.
+
+The lad was somewhat surprised at the summons. However, he lost no time
+in going over to the offices. The superintendent was out at the moment
+and Rush was ushered into the handsome private office, where he was told
+to wait. Steve gazed about him, nodding thoughtfully.
+
+"One of these days I shall have an office like this," he thought aloud.
+"Some day, in the distant future, I shall be a superintendent, too."
+
+"So you want to be a superintendent, eh?"
+
+The boy turned to find himself looking into the smiling face of Mr.
+Penton. Steve's face flushed rosy red.
+
+"I--I guess I must have been thinking out loud, sir."
+
+"Your ambition is a worthy one. Keep on in the way you are going and
+promotion is sure. You are now a part of one of the greatest games in
+the industrial world. Realize this and you have made a long stride
+forward. How are you feeling to-day?"
+
+"I do realize it, sir, and I am proud of the very small part I am
+playing in that world. In answer to your question, I am feeling
+perfectly well to-day; I am ready for work."
+
+"To-morrow will be time enough. Take the day off. Your pay will go on
+just the same. In this connection there is another little matter that I
+have sent for you to adjust. You are not of age?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir."
+
+"I will state what I have to say, just the same. It is customary, when
+one has been hurt in the mines, to have our claim adjuster call upon him
+at proper time and make such settlement as can be agreed upon, after
+which the injured party signs a release. I have prepared a release here
+with the amount left blank. You have done a very brave act; I am
+willing to do what is right in the matter. To what extent do you think
+you have been damaged, Rush?"
+
+There was a quizzical look in the eyes of the superintendent as he asked
+the question.
+
+"Have you the release?"
+
+Mr. Penton handed a paper to the boy. The latter read it through
+carefully, then asking for a pen, drew a line through the space left
+blank for the amount and signed his name.
+
+"I am not that kind of man, Mr. Penton," said Steve. "If you wish my
+mother's signature to the paper, I will have her sign it. I do not care
+to receive any money that I have not earned."
+
+"Rush," said the superintendent, rising and placing a hand on the boy's
+shoulder, "you talk like a true man. You _are_ a true man. It is not
+your refusal of the money that causes me to say that, but the principle
+that prompted the refusal. I felt that you would act as you have done. I
+see I was not mistaken in you. You will get on. No boy with your spirit
+could help getting on. Do you wish to be transferred from Spooner's
+shift to one not so hard?"
+
+"No, sir; I am not looking for an easy job. I am looking for hard work
+and to learn everything there is to learn in this great industry. When I
+have earned promotion I want it."
+
+"And you shall have it. Finish the week in level seventeen and I'll see
+what can be done for you in some other direction. Do you think you will
+be able to work to-morrow?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir."
+
+Mr. Penton shook hands with him and the lad departed, light hearted and
+happy. He did not waste the time that he was resting--not Steve. Instead
+he went directly back to the works, remaining all day in the vicinity of
+the shaft watching the progress of the work and asking questions
+whenever he could find anyone willing to answer them. He visited the dry
+houses, where the miners changed their clothes and took their shower
+baths, a clean, comfortable building provided with numbered lockers for
+the street clothes of the employes of the company, and where those who
+chose might eat their lunches in the cold weather.
+
+Steve learned a lesson that he did not forget. He learned it from the
+old pensioner in charge of the dry houses.
+
+"Make your men comfortable, look out for their safety and you will get
+fully a third more work out of them," said the old attendant. And this
+was the principle on which the company acted.
+
+The day passed quickly, and Steve went early to bed, in order to be up
+early on the following morning. This time he took no chances of getting
+lost in the mine. He followed one of the trammers who worked in his part
+of the mine, and reached Spooner's contract some fifteen minutes before
+the hour for beginning work. The contractor liked to have his men on the
+job early, and when he could drive them into doing so, he managed to get
+ten minutes or so extra work out of them before the whistle on the level
+blew the signal to begin work.
+
+Steve smiled good-naturedly when Spooner ordered him to get in and begin
+shoveling. The lad was not averse to doing so. All evidences of the
+accident had been removed and once more the drift was open and workable.
+A new powder-man had taken the place of the injured man, a quiet,
+self-contained young fellow on whom Spooner's bulldozing tactics had no
+effect.
+
+"See here, boy, how about that shovel?" demanded the contractor, after
+the lad had been working a short time.
+
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"I mean the shovel you banged up hammering on the drift to make us
+hear."
+
+Rush looked puzzled.
+
+"What about it, sir?"
+
+"Shovels cost money. I have to furnish the tools on my job. I'll expect
+you to pay for that one. Got any money with you?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Well, see that you bring it to-morrow. The shovel's worth a dollar."
+
+"Yes, sir. I will speak to the superintendent about it, and if he says
+it is proper for me to pay you I will do so," replied the lad wisely.
+
+"Speak to the superintendent?" shouted the contractor. "You'll do
+nothing of the sort. I'm running my business; the super isn't. If you
+try that game on me I'll fire you. You don't have to pay for the shovel
+if you don't want to. But you're a cheat if you don't."
+
+"I am not a cheat," protested Steve indignantly. "As I said before, if
+the superintendent says I ought to pay you, I shall do so gladly. You
+can fire me if you wish to. I am not so much in love with number
+seventeen that I would shed tears were I ordered out of it."
+
+The contractor glared, started to speak, then gaining control of
+himself, turned and walked away. Rush, in the meantime, was
+energetically throwing dirt and when the long day was ended he had
+shoveled into ore cars ten tons of soft ore. The lad handed his tally
+slip to the contractor at the close of the day's work.
+
+Spooner uttered a grunt of disapproval.
+
+"Only ten tons!" he groaned. "You'll have to do better than that. Unless
+you can handle twelve you're not fit to be below ground."
+
+"I understand, sir, that twelve tons a day is the record and that only
+one man has accomplished that in the last ten years," answered the boy
+promptly. "But I'll equal it before I am through here; not especially to
+gratify you, but for my own satisfaction."
+
+Mr. Spooner had no more to say.
+
+"How many tons a day does he get out of this contract?" asked Steve, as
+he was waiting for the cage to ascend to the surface.
+
+"Fifty tons is the most we ever got out in a day," was the answer from
+Steve's companion.
+
+"How much does he get a ton?"
+
+"That we don't know. He never tells his business. Some contractors get
+less and some more, depending upon how the ore runs, how much paint rock
+there is to be thrown out in the dirt."
+
+"Do the others run about the same?"
+
+"I reckon they do."
+
+Steve was always seeking for information, and what he was learning in
+these early days was to serve him well in the future.
+
+For the rest of the week he worked diligently, increasing his daily
+output by at least a ton. One day he fell considerably below this, as
+the ore came out hard and was not delivered to the car men as fast as
+they could handle it. That was a day that Spooner was at his worst.
+
+Saturday came, the day that the young miner was to receive his first pay
+envelope. He had made it a practice to carry his lunch below and eat it
+there. This saved him considerable effort, and gave him an opportunity
+to rest before the whistles blew to resume work. Steve usually chose
+some quiet spot in an unused drift, where, seating himself by the side
+of a little stream of water trickling from the rocks, he would stick his
+candle-holder in a crevice and tuck the cover of his dinner pail under
+the trickling stream to catch water to drink with his meal.
+
+He had just settled himself down for his noon-day meal, on this Saturday
+afternoon, when he was attracted by a bobbing candle on a miner's cap
+approaching him from down the drift just off the main level.
+
+"Now, I wonder what he wants?" mused Rush, peering out curiously. "I
+believe that's Bob Jarvis. He is probably coming in here to eat his
+dinner. He'll be surprised to find me here. Hello, Bob."
+
+"Hello yourself."
+
+"I just did. Sit down and have lunch with me."
+
+"I ain't lunching to-day. I----"
+
+"Eat some of mine if you haven't yours with you. There is enough for
+both of us in my pail, and here is some of the finest water you ever
+drank. It's colder than any ice water I ever tasted."
+
+Bob did not reply. He was standing over Steve, peering down at the
+latter with a steady gaze. Presently Rush noticed that Jarvis was acting
+peculiarly. There was a constraint in his manner that Steve had never
+seen there before.
+
+"What's the matter? Anything gone wrong, Bob?"
+
+"No; nothing has gone wrong. Something's going that way pretty soon,
+though."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I promised you a licking, didn't I?"
+
+"I believe you did, but that is all past now. You saved me from the
+drift. I shan't forget that, old fellow. I hope I get a chance to do you
+a good turn one of these days."
+
+"You're going to get it now."
+
+"I am going to get what?"
+
+"The licking."
+
+Steve rose slowly to his feet after carefully placing his dinner pail to
+one side.
+
+"Do you mean you want to fight me after having saved my life, Bob
+Jarvis?"
+
+"That's what!"
+
+Rush gazed steadily at his companion of the moment. The taller boy had
+assumed a pugnacious attitude.
+
+"I don't want to fight you, Bob."
+
+"Then you'll stand for a coward; you'll be a 'missie' for certain."
+
+Steve began slowly to strip off his oilskins. His blouse and flannel
+shirt came next. These removed, he stuck his candlestick in a crevice in
+the rocks high enough up to shed a fairly good light over the drift.
+
+"How'll you have it?" he asked coolly.
+
+"No hitting below the belt; hammer in the clinches when we can. All fair
+and above board," answered Jarvis, making himself ready for the fray.
+
+"Very well," replied Steve. "I am ready whenever you are."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+YOUNG GLADIATORS MEET
+
+
+"Going to take off your boots?" questioned Steve.
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Then I'll take mine off, too."
+
+He did so, tightened his belt and stepped out into the drift well within
+the flickering circle of light shed by the two candles.
+
+"How are we going to decide it, Bob?"
+
+"The fellow who gets knocked out first loses. No second chance. Are you
+ready?"
+
+"I've been ready for the last five minutes."
+
+"Look out--I'm coming!"
+
+Jarvis made a rush, swinging a quick blow at the head of his opponent.
+Steve ducked and went under it, at the same time giving Bob a jolt in
+the ribs that made the larger boy grunt.
+
+"Hello! You ain't such an easy mark as you'd have me believe, eh? Been
+playing off, have you? Said you couldn't fight."
+
+"I never said so. I said I wasn't a fighter. I hope I have higher
+ambitions in life than that. But is this a fight or an argument?"
+
+"It's a fight," shouted Jarvis, dancing in, his arms working like a
+piston rod.
+
+Both boys led for the head at the same instant. Each countered with his
+left, receiving the other's blow on his arm. After a rapid exchange of
+blows, none of which landed, they backed away. But Steve, without
+waiting for his opponent to take the lead, became the aggressor now. He
+sprang in as lightly as a cat, and ere the taller boy could get his
+guard up, had planted a blow on Jarvis' nose that sent the other's head
+back and the blood spurting from his nose.
+
+Whack!
+
+Steve landed another on the side of Bob's jaw. It was a glancing blow,
+Jarvis having turned a little, else the boy would have been knocked out
+and the battle ended then and there.
+
+Quick as a flash, Jarvis put a fist to Steve's neck and the lad went
+down in a heap while Bob stood over him exultingly.
+
+"Got your medicine that time, didn't you?" he jeered.
+
+Steve, on all fours, was getting ready to spring up. His eyes were on
+his adversary, watching him narrowly. Rush's head was aching, but he
+gave no heed to that.
+
+"You will have to give it to me in bigger doses than that if you expect
+a cure," retorted Steve, with a short laugh, as he sprang up and danced
+away from the taller boy for a few seconds. Then he closed in like a
+whirlwind. For a full minute it was give and take. Both lads were
+strong, and each was handy with his fists, though Steve Rush showed more
+skill than did his opponent. This was offset by Jarvis' greater height
+and weight.
+
+Many a hard blow was struck in that round, after which the boys backed
+away instinctively. Jarvis' nose had sustained several bangs. It was
+somewhat larger than when the fight had begun; Steve, on the other hand,
+had a half-closed eye.
+
+"I'll put a spectacle on the other one before I've done with you,"
+jeered Bob.
+
+"Then I'll give you one of the same sort," retorted Steve, planting a
+blow on Bob's right eye. Bob dropped as if he had been hit with a club.
+But he was up like a flash. This time he was thoroughly angry. He
+charged Steve with a roar, receiving two quick, short-arm jolts on the
+side of the head that made that member spin dizzily.
+
+For the next five minutes it was give and take again. Then Steve struck
+his opponent a blow in the ribs that brought a loud "ouch!" from the
+taller boy.
+
+Rush grinned, but there was no mirth in the grin. It was one of savage
+satisfaction. Now the lad settled down grimly to his work. He battled
+with dogged determination, taking his punishment as a matter of course,
+beating, hammering, dodging, ducking, but without the slightest trace of
+anger or excitement in his face. His was a will that in the battle of
+life sweeps all obstacles from its path.
+
+The battle had not been in progress long before a miner passing the
+outer end of the drift had discovered what was going on. Summoning some
+of his companions, the men ran down where the fight was in progress.
+They were about to interfere, when Steve, in a momentary lull, said:
+
+"Please don't interfere. This is a perfectly friendly little argument.
+We've got to fight it out."
+
+The men laughed uproariously.
+
+"You look the part, both of you. Go it, then, if you've got to fight.
+We'll see that each of you gets fair play."
+
+But the boys did not hear. They were at it again and with a savageness
+that had not marked their fighting before. Two blows delivered at the
+same instant landed both boys on their backs on the ground.
+
+The miners yelled for sheer joy.
+
+Bounding to their feet, the combatants went at it again hammer and
+tongs; and, though they were mere lads, it is doubtful if the
+spectators ever had witnessed a more scientific battle with fists. The
+lads were side-stepping and dancing in their stocking feet, not heeding
+the sharp pieces of rock and ore that cut into their feet, drawing the
+blood at almost every step.
+
+They had battled steadily for over ten minutes. The face of each was
+covered with blood and it was with difficulty that the lads were able to
+see at all. They had barely one set of good eyes between them. Jarvis
+was getting more and more desperate. Try as he might his superior
+strength was not equal to the task of putting Steve Rush down and out.
+For every blow delivered Bob got a return that he felt all over his body
+from his head to his feet.
+
+At last Bob thought he saw an opening to deliver a knock-out blow. He
+let go with all his strength. The blow struck nothing more substantial
+than thin air. Then, like a bolt of lightning, the fist of Steve Rush
+shot out, catching Jarvis under the nose, lifting the larger boy from
+his feet, sending him crashing against the shore wall of the drift.
+
+"That settles him," shouted the spectators. "My, what a wallop! That
+would have knocked down one of the mules in number seven level. I'll bet
+he doesn't wake up in----"
+
+Bob Jarvis was already awake. Despite the terrific blow under which he
+had gone down he was quickly on his feet. It was observed that he
+staggered a little. Both boys were beginning to show their weariness,
+though Jarvis exhibited more of this than did Steve.
+
+"Call it a draw, lads," yelled the miners.
+
+"Not till I give him back for that last one," roared Bob, making a
+vicious lunge at his companion.
+
+The blow barely grazed the left cheek of the smaller of the lads, he
+having moved his head slightly to one side to avoid the blow.
+
+"I'll hand it out to you, Bob," said Steve.
+
+Once more Jarvis was lifted from his feet and this time he was laid on
+his back on the ground, while Steve leaned against the wall of the
+drift, panting heavily.
+
+"Call it off! Call it off, or we'll take a hand in the game," warned the
+miners.
+
+Jarvis had staggered to his feet and Rush was lurching to meet him.
+
+There was a slow exchange of blows and the lads clinched, each with an
+arm about the other's neck. For a full minute they stood thus, panting,
+striving to collect their strength to continue the battle.
+
+Jarvis made a feeble effort to deliver a right-hand hook on his
+opponent's jaw, but there was not enough steam in the blow to do any
+damage.
+
+Steve retaliated with a vicious punch in the pit of Jarvis' stomach--a
+blow that made the larger boy grunt and cling heavily to the neck of his
+adversary.
+
+"Have you got enough?" breathed Steve.
+
+"No!"
+
+Bob managed to land a fairly strong blow on Steve's neck.
+
+The latter returned the compliment by a vicious punch in the ribs that
+caused the larger boy to hug his opponent closer. Then all at once, with
+the last ounce of their failing strength, the two youthful gladiators
+began delivering short-arm jolts, each standing with an arm about the
+other's neck, driving in the blows with all the strength he had left.
+
+Not for a moment had either lad sought to foul the other. It was a
+"square" fight, such as is seldom seen between professionals.
+
+No more steam was left in their blows. They had fired their last round.
+
+"Shall we call it quits, Bob?" breathed Rush in the ear of his opponent.
+
+"I--I guess we'd better, if we expect to report for duty this
+afternoon."
+
+Steve promptly released himself from the grip of the other boy's arm,
+and, staggering to a side wall, leaned against it heavily. Jarvis did
+the same.
+
+Just then the whistle blew three sharp blasts. It was the signal for the
+miners to return to their work. Jarvis staggered out into the centre of
+the drift, extending a hand. Steve met him half way.
+
+"Shake!" said Bob. "You're the squarest and the pluckiest bundle of
+muscle that I ever went up against."
+
+"The same to you," glowed Steve Rush, gripping the hand of his late
+adversary. Then each with an arm about the other's shoulder started for
+the main level. The desperate battle that was to be the beginning of a
+friendship of many years, had ended in a draw, with Steve having a shade
+the better of the argument.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN A NEW JOB
+
+
+That afternoon was the longest that Steve Rush ever remembered having
+put in. Spooner saw at once that the lad had been in a fight, and that
+he was well nigh spent. The contractor took the keenest possible delight
+in driving Steve, just because the lad was in no condition to work.
+
+The Iron Boy, however, possessed too much grit to show the white
+feather. In spite of his swollen face and aching body, he summoned all
+his courage and worked as he never had worked before.
+
+With Bob Jarvis it was different. Bob worked half of the afternoon, when
+the shift boss under whom he was laboring, observing that the lad could
+scarcely stand up, sent him home, and Jarvis promptly went to bed. The
+shift boss reported the circumstance to the mine captain and the latter
+made a written report to the general superintendent, Mr. Penton. Another
+report showed that Steve Rush had also been in a fight.
+
+When the superintendent had read these two reports, he at once
+understood that Jarvis and Rush had had a battle. The rules against
+fighting were very strict; therefore he sent for the mining captain, the
+one directly in charge of all the operations underground. The two men
+had a long interview and when the captain finally left the
+superintendent was smiling broadly.
+
+On the following Monday morning Steve was requested to call at the
+office of the general superintendent before reporting for work in the
+mine.
+
+"Bob, he's heard about our difficulty and he is going to fine or fire
+me," said Steve.
+
+Bob's face took on a serious expression.
+
+"Then I'm going to see the superintendent," he said in an emphatic tone.
+
+"What for, Bob?"
+
+"I am going to tell him that you are not to blame--that I forced you
+into the fight. I'll take whatever punishment is coming to me, but I
+won't stand by and see you get the worst of it--not for a skip full of
+red ore."
+
+The boys were in their room at the boarding house, they having asked the
+boarding boss to bunk them in the same room after their fight in the
+mine. This had been done willingly enough and to their mutual
+satisfaction.
+
+"I guess not," replied Steve firmly. "What do you take me for?"
+
+"You know what I take you for. I have already told you."
+
+"If I remember correctly, you called me Little Miss Rush up to a couple
+of days ago," answered Steve, with a twinkle in his eyes.
+
+"Forget it. I've changed your name. You're Mr. Big Rush now. Such a
+walloping as you gave me I never had before in my life. You're a regular
+little cyclone. And to think that I had picked you for an easy mark."
+
+Bob smiled as broadly as his swollen face would permit.
+
+"We have agreed to forget that. It was worth while, though, because it
+was the beginning of our friendship," replied Rush thoughtfully. "We
+shall never have another misunderstanding."
+
+"I hope not."
+
+"But we must be going. You will be late for work. I will see the
+superintendent; then I'll let you know, to-day noon, what he wanted of
+me."
+
+The lads hurried out.
+
+"I wish you would let me go with you and tell him," urged Bob.
+
+"No. Time enough when he sends for you."
+
+As the lads moved along the workmen laughed and some of them jeered, for
+it was plain that the lads were on terms of intimate friendship. The
+story of their great battle had been circulated until most of the men in
+the mine had heard of it.
+
+Bob's face flushed angrily.
+
+"Never mind, old man," said Steve in a soothing tone. "A lot of those
+fellows who are laughing at us to-day will be shoveling dirt for you and
+me before many years have passed."
+
+"I doubt it."
+
+"I do not. There are great opportunities in this big corporation, and I
+am going after them. I am after them now, and I propose to take you
+along with me. You'll find the company will be glad to help us on if
+they find we are worth helping. Here we are at the superintendent's
+office. I shall have to leave you now."
+
+The boys shook hands warmly, Bob turning reluctantly and going on his
+way, while Steve ran up the steps and entered the executive building. He
+asked for the superintendent and was told to go in at once. The clerks
+all smiled at Steve's disfigured face, but he pretended not to have seen
+their scrutiny of him.
+
+"Good morning, Rush," greeted Mr. Penton, with a quizzical look at his
+caller.
+
+"Good morning, sir. You sent for me."
+
+"Yes; sit down."
+
+The superintendent was a large man, six feet tall, big, broad and
+powerful, but good nature shone from his round, full face, and his eyes
+always appeared to be sparkling with laughter. For all of that, Mr.
+Penton was a strict disciplinarian, as a number of those who had worked
+under him had reason to know.
+
+"Who was the young man with whom I saw you shaking hands in front?" was
+the superintendent's first question.
+
+"Bob Jarvis, sir. He is my roommate."
+
+"Oh, is that so?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"How long have you been rooming together?"
+
+"Since Saturday."
+
+"Indeed. This is somewhat surprising. But, Rush, what has happened to
+you? You look as if you had been through an ore grinder."
+
+Steve flushed, then straightened up, eyeing the superintendent steadily.
+
+"I have been in a fight, sir. I had a little disagreement, but it is all
+right now."
+
+"My lad, did you not know that it was against the rules of the company
+to fight?"
+
+"I did not at the time."
+
+"With whom did you fight?"
+
+"Must I answer that question, sir?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I fought with Bob Jarvis," replied the lad, after slight hesitation.
+
+"Who started the fight?"
+
+"I guess I was the one most to blame."
+
+The superintendent already knew all about the matter. He well knew who
+had started the fight and why, and he knew also of the warm friendship
+that had sprung up between the two boys since the battle; but Mr. Penton
+was a shrewd man--one who judged men with almost unerring instinct. He
+was drawing Steve out to verify his own impressions.
+
+"And you two are rooming together now?"
+
+"Yes, sir. We are friends now. There will be no more trouble between us.
+As a matter of fact, our little battle was an entirely friendly one."
+
+The superintendent leaned back, laughing heartily. His plump sides shook
+with merriment, while Steve sat calm and respectful, his eyes fixed on
+the face of his employer.
+
+"You are quite sure that you two will not fight again, are you?"
+questioned Mr. Penton, after regaining his equanimity.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir."
+
+"Who won the fight?"
+
+"Neither of us, sir, though Bob gave me about all I wanted."
+
+"And I understand that you gave him a little more than he wanted. Now,
+Rush, let me give you a piece of advice. Never indulge in fights, unless
+in self-defence, in defence of the company's property or to save
+another person. We have a rough element in the mines. Naturally that
+cannot be wholly avoided, especially among the foreigners, though many
+of them are self-respecting citizens. It requires a strong man to cope
+with them and every executive must be equal to the task, but we cannot
+tolerate any rows except for the reasons mentioned."
+
+"I understand, sir. I think you can trust me."
+
+"I am sure of that. I want to see you get ahead. You are both fine boys.
+You have the making of men worth while--in other words, you are 'live
+ones,' and this company is always in the market for just that kind of
+material."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+Steve's face glowed happily.
+
+"I am going to take you off the Spooner contract and give you another
+place to work. I have taken a keen interest in you, and I want you to
+learn all about the workings of the mine."
+
+"That is what I am going to do, sir," answered Rush in a quiet but firm
+tone.
+
+"I have decided to place you at the main chute on the same level where
+you have been working. Your duty will be to dump the cars as they come
+in. You will be right by the tally-boards and you will learn how we
+count up there, besides many other things. It is an important point,
+the central point of each level. After you have become familiar with the
+operations at that point, perhaps I may be able to transfer you to some
+other."
+
+"I thank you very much, sir. May I ask where Bob Jarvis is going to
+work? He said he was to be transferred to-day."
+
+"Yes; I have put him on the Spooner contract to fill the place you had."
+
+Steve smiled. He could well imagine what would happen if Spooner treated
+Bob as he had treated Steve. Bob was too hot tempered to endure the
+contractor's insults without resenting them.
+
+Mr. Penton seemed to understand what was in Steve's mind.
+
+"It will be good for the boy," he nodded. "Every boy needs a certain
+amount of hard knocks. They make a man of him."
+
+"Bob is quite a man already," replied Rush, with a faint smile.
+
+Mr. Penton laughed good-naturedly.
+
+"Yes, I understand. You will report at the chute at once. Tell the mine
+captain to inform the time keepers of your change of place. That will be
+all."
+
+Expressing his thanks to the superintendent, Steve left the office and
+made his way to the mine, to take up his new work--work that was to be
+much less trying than that of the previous week.
+
+After the lad's departure Mr. Penton spent a long time in studying a
+bundle of reports of the work in the Cousin Jack Mine. His eyes soon
+lost their twinkle, and his forehead wrinkled with perplexity.
+
+"This passes all understanding. This shortage in the output is something
+that I cannot understand. If I do not find the leakage soon I shall be
+in trouble with the company," he muttered.
+
+Then, putting on his coat and hat, he left the office and started for
+the mines.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+RUSH MAKES A DISCOVERY
+
+
+Steve's new station was located on the main line of the electric tram
+road. Long rows of dump cars were drawn there by an electric motor, on
+which sat a motor-man controlling the speed of the car with one hand,
+and with the other continually ringing a gong warning everyone to get
+out of the way.
+
+In the narrow levels, there was barely space enough for one to stand
+between the trams and the wall, but the trams never stopped. Miners were
+supposed to look out for themselves, according to the code of the tram
+motor-man.
+
+At the chutes, however, there was a large open space at one side, with a
+plank floor laid down, and above this hung the tally-boards, a series of
+boards with quarter-inch holes bored in them. Every time cars were run
+over the chutes the men on the cars would call the name of the
+contractor or the drift whence the cars had come, and the tally-boy or
+man, as the case might be, would then move the peg in the board forward
+as many holes as there were cars. Each contractor had a tally-board, as
+had each drift operated by the mining company's own labor.
+
+The tally-man at the chutes on level seventeen was a man named Marvin.
+Steve took a violent dislike to the man the moment he set eyes on him,
+and the questions that the lad would have asked about the working of the
+tally-boards remained unasked.
+
+Rush's duty was to strike the catch on the side of the car with an iron
+bar, permitting the side board to swing out, whereupon the load of ore
+would drop through the iron chutes to a lower level. From there it was
+shot to the surface in the fast-moving skips, or ore elevators, that ran
+up an inclined plane.
+
+"This work is so easy that I am ashamed to draw pay for it," muttered
+Steve, after an hour or so had passed.
+
+Still he was obliged to keep a sharp lookout for approaching trams, as
+every second in this operation counted. The tram trains must unload and
+get back for other cars promptly, else miners working in the drifts
+would be held back and the work of that level delayed.
+
+As soon as a car was dumped, the dumper would call out "clear,"
+whereupon the motor-man would shove his train forward. Though the work
+was easy, it had to be done quickly.
+
+During the forenoon Superintendent Penton and the mine captain came
+swinging along the tracks. The superintendent spoke pleasantly to
+Steve, after which the two men took a seat on a bench in the planked
+alcove close to the place where the boy was dumping cars of ore.
+
+"This shortage is troubling me greatly Jim," said Mr. Penton.
+
+Steve could not help but hear their conversation, his station being on
+that side.
+
+"It has me beaten, too, sir," answered the mine captain. "I have been
+through this mine from top to bottom, and from end to end, and for the
+life of me I can't see where any such shortage as you say the reports
+show could have occurred."
+
+"You are sure the tally-boards are being properly kept?"
+
+"Yes; I have looked into that. Have you any idea that someone is
+tricking us?"
+
+"No; I hardly think so. I believe, rather, that it is the result of
+carelessness somewhere. The report sheets show more ore mined than
+weighs up after it is put on the cars. In other words, the output shown
+on our reports doesn't check up with the company's tally-sheets at
+Duluth. We are a good many tons short. It is up to you, Jim, to put your
+finger on the shortage. There is going to be trouble over this, unless I
+am greatly mistaken."
+
+"Yes; there'll be trouble enough when we find out where it is--trouble
+for the fellow or fellows who are to blame for it," answered the mine
+captain.
+
+"Well, keep your eyes open. If you need any help, let me know."
+
+"I've had the inspectors on the job for a week now, and they are no
+nearer solving the mystery than they were before they began."
+
+Mr. Penton was watching Steve at work with a thoughtful expression in
+his eyes.
+
+"That's a promising boy, Jim," he said.
+
+"You mean young Rush?"
+
+"Yes. This is the kind of job I should like to turn him loose on, if he
+had more experience. He's as sharp as a steel trap."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"He has that dogged persistence that would make him hang on like a bull
+terrier. I'm going to push him along as fast as seems advisable."
+
+"He's a likely youngster," admitted the mine captain, studying Steve's
+back as the lad swung his iron bar with unerring precision. "Yes, he's a
+very likely lad."
+
+"I want to make an inspection of number twelve," said the
+superintendent, rising. "Will you come along?"
+
+The captain followed his superior officer, the two men soon disappearing
+down the level. Steve watched their bobbing candles until he could see
+them no longer.
+
+"Something is going on here," muttered the boy. "Reports show more ore
+taken out than has really been mined. I didn't want to listen, but I
+couldn't help hearing what they said."
+
+For the rest of the forenoon Steve occupied his leisure moments in
+trying to study out how such a mistake could occur. He was not
+thoroughly familiar with the working of the system as yet, but he
+possessed a good general idea of the methods employed to protect the
+company against mistakes and dishonesty.
+
+The time-keepers made their rounds four times a day, and any man not at
+his post lost his time until the next round. The ore was tallied at the
+chutes and weighed again after it had been placed on railroad cars for
+transportation to the Great Lakes. All this Steve went over, his mind
+working actively on the subject while his hands were busy dumping cars
+of ore.
+
+"The mistake, if it is a mistake, must occur somewhere between this
+chute and the freight yards," was the lad's mental conclusion.
+
+In this he was right. So full of his subject was he that, when the
+whistle blew, he sat down on the bench that the superintendent had
+occupied a few hours before and studied the tally-boards as he ate his
+lunch. The manner of the tally operation was clear to him. There was
+nothing complicated about it.
+
+Having finished his lunch, the lad strolled over to the tally-boards,
+and, with hands behind his back, began studying the names of the drifts
+or contractors represented there. Spooner's was the first to attract his
+attention.
+
+"I'll bet I have shoveled that board full half a dozen times," muttered
+the lad, with a grin.
+
+"What do you want here?" demanded a surly voice at the lad's elbow.
+
+Rush turned and found himself facing the tally-man, Marvin.
+
+"I was just looking over the boards as a matter of curiosity."
+
+"Oh, you were, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, folks' curiosity sometimes gits them into trouble," sneered the
+tally-man.
+
+"There is no harm in my looking at the boards, is there?" demanded
+Steve, raising his voice ever so little.
+
+"Git out of here! Git out, I say! If ever I catch you fooling around
+these boards I'll trim you so you won't forget it," growled Marvin.
+
+Steve stepped back. Perhaps he had no business there, but he resented
+the manner in which the information was delivered to him.
+
+"I do not think it will be well for you to lay hands on me," he
+retorted.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"If you don't hear well, I'll shout. I don't think it will be well for
+you to lay hands on me."
+
+The tally-man strode across the planking and stood threateningly over
+the lad, who had reseated himself on the bench.
+
+"Git off this platform!"
+
+"Oh, no, you don't. I have as much right here as you have. You can't
+drive me away from here, my friend. I'll stand on my rights here. This
+is the place where I'm going to stick until the whistle blows to go to
+work. If you think I am not going to do so, just try to put me off."
+
+Rush's jaw assumed a stubborn set. The man and the boy eyed each other
+for a moment; then Marvin turned on his heel and walked away.
+
+Steve grinned appreciatively.
+
+"I guess I had better look out for him. He surely has it in for me now."
+
+The whistle blew soon after, and work was resumed. Steve, during the
+afternoon, was too busy to pay much attention to the tally-boards, for
+the cars were coming fast, additional motors having been sent out to
+take care of the rush. But every time the lad glanced toward the boards
+he found Marvin watching him narrowly.
+
+Once the lad observed something that set him to thinking harder than
+ever. After that he paid no further attention to Marvin, nor to
+Marvin's work. When the whistle blew at six o'clock Rush picked up his
+dinner pail and made his way to the shaft, and a few minutes later had
+been hoisted to the surface by the cage. He waited at the mouth of the
+shaft until Jarvis came up, when the two boys started for home together.
+
+"How did you get along on the Spooner contract?" questioned Rush, with a
+quizzical smile.
+
+"Never did such a day's work in my life! That fellow is a slave driver."
+
+"He is all of that," agreed Steve. "Have any words with him?"
+
+"Nothing of consequence. I threatened to break his head with a shovel
+once--that's all."
+
+"I should think once would be enough," replied Steve, laughing softly.
+"Don't let him run over you, but keep your hands off him. It's a pretty
+serious thing to have an argument with one's superior, even if he _is_ a
+brutal contract boss."
+
+"I'm surprised that they have a fellow like that in the mines."
+
+"He gets out the ore, that's why," answered Rush. "And, by the way, I
+want to talk over something with you after supper to-night."
+
+"You have something on your mind, eh?"
+
+"Yes; I have something that I want you to help me with. Perhaps we may
+be able to do a great service for our employers. I am not quite sure
+yet. I can't be until we have tried something."
+
+"I'm with you in anything, Steve," answered Bob with emphasis.
+
+After supper, that night, the boys went directly to their room, where
+they were soon lost in earnest conversation. Their conversation was
+carried on in whispers and the hour was well along toward midnight when
+they had finished with their plans.
+
+"Now what do you think of it?" questioned Steve, as they started to make
+ready for bed.
+
+"If you've struck it right we have stumbled on to the biggest game of
+crookedness in the mines. I mean _you_ have discovered it; you didn't
+exactly stumble on the game."
+
+"Be very careful. Don't make any mistake. I, on my part, will keep my
+eyes open if I find I can do so without attracting attention. To-morrow
+night we will compare notes."
+
+"Don't worry about me. I'll have it down pat. All ready to turn in?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Bob blew out the light and the boys tumbled into bed, where they were
+soon fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE BOYS EXPOSE A PLOT
+
+
+On the following morning, when the lads reported for work, they were
+full of their new purpose. Each was silent as to what that purpose was,
+but a close observer would have noticed that the boys were keenly
+watchful of everything that was going on about them. To all intents
+Steve was devoting his energies to unloading the dump cars in the
+shortest possible time, and Bob to filling them again in record time.
+
+Up to the noon hour nothing had occurred of interest. The two boys did
+not meet at the lunch hour, deeming it best not to arouse suspicion by
+their actions, and thus possibly defeat their purpose. Steve ate his
+lunch in silence, not once looking toward the scowling Marvin. In fact,
+Marvin had not caught the boy looking at him during the forenoon.
+
+"I think the fun will begin before long," mused Steve, wiping his mouth
+and moving over to a trickling spring on the other side of the level. "I
+have prepared the way and now we shall see."
+
+A long train of ore cars came in a few moments after the whistle blew,
+and the tally-man was kept busy plugging the holes in the boards as the
+cars were called out.
+
+So busy was Marvin that he did not get a chance to turn about to look at
+Steve. Perhaps he would not have done so, at any rate. Steve, however,
+was looking at the tally-man, watching the latter out of the corners of
+his eyes.
+
+The pegs moved skilfully and quickly from hole to hole on the boards,
+then the man Marvin sat down while the unloading progressed.
+
+Rush had seen that which sent the color to his cheeks, and caused his
+heart to beat a little faster. His sharp eyes had made a discovery. He
+was as positive as it was possible to be but there was more to be done
+before his case was fully made out.
+
+The lad could hardly wait until night to see his companion. During the
+afternoon Steve obtained further evidence to strengthen his case. By
+quitting time his face had taken on a look of stern determination that
+had not been there when he went to work that morning.
+
+"What luck?" demanded Bob, in a low voice, as he joined his companion
+near the mouth of the shaft.
+
+"The best," answered Steve.
+
+"Tell me about it."
+
+"Not here. Wait until we get home. I do not dare to speak of it now.
+Someone might overhear us and then all our efforts would have been for
+nothing. I'll tell you all about it before we sit down to supper."
+
+"Well, that beats all," muttered Jarvis. "I didn't think we should
+succeed so easily. What are you going to do about it?"
+
+"I'll answer that question also when we get home, old man."
+
+The boys did not wait until after supper that night. Closing and locking
+the door after reaching their room, Steve asked:
+
+"How many tons did the Spooner contract turn out to-day?"
+
+"Forty by the dump cars."
+
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"Yes. What does the tally show?"
+
+Steve leaned over and whispered in his companion's ear, whereat Bob
+uttered a low, long-drawn whistle.
+
+"You--don't--say?"
+
+"That is exactly what I do say."
+
+"This will raise a merry row."
+
+"I think it will. And there's another thing: I will wager that this is
+not the only place the same game is being worked."
+
+"Maybe you're right. What shall we do?"
+
+"Go to the superintendent. We will go to him as soon as we finish our
+supper."
+
+"But he isn't at his office."
+
+"No. We will go direct to his house. I rather think he will be glad
+enough to see us when he hears what our mission is. Come, now, we'll go
+to supper, but not a word at the table," warned Steve.
+
+"I should say not."
+
+Supper finished, the Iron Boys went to their room, returning a few
+minutes later and strolling from the house as though they were going
+nowhere in particular. After they had put a block between themselves and
+the boarding house they quickened their pace. Bob was excited, but Steve
+was as calm and collected as if nothing unusual had occurred.
+
+"Do you know where the superintendent lives, Steve?"
+
+"Of course I do. I make it my business to know everything that I ought
+to know. 'Live and learn' is my motto. It's a good one for you to adopt,
+too."
+
+"I am beginning to think you are right."
+
+Reaching the house of the general superintendent, Rush halted. The
+blinds had not been drawn and, looking through the front room into the
+dining room beyond, the Iron Boys could see the superintendent seated at
+the table with his family.
+
+"I think we had better walk up and down a few times until Mr. Penton
+finishes his supper," suggested Rush.
+
+"He'll be better natured if we do, I guess," agreed Jarvis. "You have a
+long head on you, Steve, but the trouble with you is that you keep that
+fact so carefully concealed that a fellow doesn't get wise to it until
+it's too late."
+
+Steve laughed softly. They had made their third trip around the block
+when, halting once more in front of the house, they saw that the
+superintendent had finished his supper. He was standing in the dining
+room, hat in hand, talking with a member of his family.
+
+"Come on," called Steve, running up the walk, up the steps and ringing
+the bell.
+
+"My, but you do bear out your name, the way you rush about," laughed
+Jarvis.
+
+The door was opened by a servant. Steve gave his name and asked to see
+Mr. Penton. The latter came out into the hall a few seconds later.
+
+"Good evening, boys. I was just on my way downtown to the post-office.
+You may walk along with me and tell me what I can do for you."
+
+"We would rather speak with you here, sir, in private," answered Steve
+earnestly.
+
+"Is it so important as that, my lad?"
+
+"It is, sir."
+
+"Come into the parlor," said Mr. Penton, leading the way and switching
+on the electric lights. "State your business as briefly as possible."
+
+The superintendent seated himself, motioning the boys to be seated also.
+
+"By chance, I overheard a conversation between you and the mine captain
+at chute seventeen the other day," said Steve. "I did not want to
+listen, sir, but I will confess that what you said impressed me so
+strongly that I took a deep interest in it."
+
+"Conversation about what?" demanded Mr. Penton rather more sharply than
+was his wont.
+
+"About a shortage in the ore. You said the mine count did not agree with
+the figures as reported from the head office, sir."
+
+Mr. Penton gazed shrewdly at his callers. Then he rose, and, closing the
+door leading into the dining room, returned to his chair.
+
+"Well, lads," he said. "Have you come to see me on this subject?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I suppose you think you might be able to solve the mystery?" This was
+said smilingly.
+
+"We have solved it, sir."
+
+"_What?_"
+
+"I said we have solved it; at least, enough of it to make the rest
+comparatively easy."
+
+"You astound me beyond words. Will you be good enough to tell me then
+the cause of this shortage?"
+
+"Yes, sir; the fault lies with your tally-boards."
+
+"That was my idea originally, but the mine captain assures me that he
+has careful tally-men on every board."
+
+"I think he has very careful men there, sir. At least, they seem to me
+to be looking out for their own interests pretty carefully."
+
+"You are making a most serious charge, Rush. Are you able to
+substantiate this?"
+
+"I am, sir."
+
+"Do so."
+
+"Sub-level seventeen, to-day, as you will find by referring to your
+report sheet, has sixty tons to its credit."
+
+"Wait a moment, Rush. My report sheet is in my desk in the library."
+
+The superintendent left the room, returning with the report sheet. He
+ran down the page, placing his finger on a line, which he followed out
+to the margin.
+
+"Your information is correct," he said, glancing up. "How do you happen
+to have these figures?"
+
+"I have been watching the boards for two days."
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, though the tally sheet shows sixty tons
+as having come from number seventeen sub-level, only forty tons were
+actually mined there to-day."
+
+Mr. Penton gazed at Steve Rush, who had risen and was standing before
+the superintendent, erect, steady-eyed and calm.
+
+"Again, my lad, I ask you how you come to be in possession of these
+figures?"
+
+"My chum, Bob, here, got the figures from the drift to-day."
+
+"Ah, I see. You had arranged the plan?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Bob kept a very careful tally."
+
+"Jarvis, were you absent from sub-level number seventeen at any time
+during the day?"
+
+"No, sir, excepting at meal time."
+
+"Are you positive enough of your own tally to be willing to swear to
+it?"
+
+"I am, sir."
+
+"Then you have rounded up the whole case. There is nothing more to be
+done--nothing more left for me to do except to act on the information
+you have furnished me, which I shall do at once."
+
+"May I make a suggestion, sir?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"If you have any reason to believe this will not fully account for the
+shortage, would it not be an excellent idea to have the other tally-men
+inspected?"
+
+Mr. Penton reflected.
+
+"An excellent idea; yes, it shall be done. Tell me how the tally-man,
+Marvin, worked his end of the game. Although you have not explained that
+part of it, it goes without saying that he was in collusion with
+Spooner."
+
+"Yes, sir; so I suspected from the first. I did not like his actions. He
+appeared to be watching everyone about him. That aroused my suspicion
+after hearing what I did when you and the mine captain were there. So I
+watched him without pretending to do so. In the meantime he had driven
+me away from the tally-boards while I was standing there looking at
+them. While watching him I distinctly saw the fellow juggle the pegs and
+give the Spooner contract credit for more loads than were then on the
+chute. I counted and kept track of the Spooner cars, so that I could
+check up with Bob. You see, I wanted to make absolutely sure that I was
+right."
+
+"And your figures tallied?"
+
+"They did."
+
+"Lads, you have done the company a great service. I have no doubt but
+that both of you will receive a substantial reward. Personally, I cannot
+find words to express my appreciation. You have relieved me from a very
+embarrassing situation. I shall show my appreciation in a more
+substantial manner in due time."
+
+"We do not wish to be rewarded, Mr. Penton," returned Steve. "We are
+working in the interest of the company that pays us our wages, just the
+same as we should expect men to serve us if we were employers."
+
+"And you would find that you would be sadly disappointed in the rank and
+file, boys. When I said 'reward,' I did not mean exactly a money reward,
+although indirectly it will amount to the same thing. This company is
+not slow to recognize merit. It gives every man a chance to show what
+sort of stuff he is made of. If his is a low grade of ore, as we would
+term it in the mines, then he stays where he is, but if of a higher
+grade from which the finest steel is made, then the man goes on up as
+fast as he is fitted to hold higher positions. There is practically no
+limit to the positions to which young men in this company may aspire.
+Take, for instance, the present president of this mining company, who is
+now drawing a salary equal to that received by the President of the
+United States. How do you suppose he began his career?"
+
+"I--I do not know, sir. I never heard," answered Steve.
+
+"He began with a shovel in his hands, just the same as you did something
+like a week ago, and so did I, and so did the most of us who have risen
+to the higher positions. But to return to our subject, I will have the
+other tally centres investigated secretly."
+
+"It might be a good plan for you to have your captain watch the
+tally-board at level number seventeen to-morrow. He can do so by
+secreting himself in the skip shaft," suggested Steve.
+
+"I think your suggestion is a good one. In the meantime, of course, you
+lads will be discreet--you will not mention what you have told me?"
+
+"You may depend upon us, sir."
+
+"Yes, I am aware of that. Come to see me to-morrow. I shall want to talk
+with you. Good night, lads."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+STRAIGHTENING THE CROOKED ONES
+
+
+A brief investigation on the part of the mine captain on the day
+following verified all that the boys had told the superintendent.
+Watching the tally-board man from behind the partition that shut off the
+skip shaft, the captain saw the man falsify the tally of the ore cars,
+making it show a considerable excess of the actual amount of ore
+contained in each car.
+
+At noon Marvin was summoned to the office of the superintendent and
+confronted with the facts. After a few minutes of stubborn denial, the
+rascal gave in and told the whole story. He was to share half of the
+amount thus gained with the man Spooner. Up to that time the two men had
+made a substantial rake-off six days in every week.
+
+After the tally-man had made a clean breast of the steal the
+superintendent said:
+
+"Go back to your post. You will receive further orders later in the day.
+But see to it that nothing is said to Spooner until I have seen him;
+then you two can talk and growl all you wish. You will have something to
+growl about, I promise you that. How long has this thing been going
+on?"
+
+"For six weeks, sir."
+
+"How much have you cheated the company out of thus far?"
+
+Marvin handed Mr. Penton a slip of paper on which he had made some
+figures while talking, after which the tally-man departed very much
+crestfallen.
+
+Spooner was the next man summoned, and the contractor passed the most
+uncomfortable hour of his life under Mr. Penton's shrewd questioning.
+Spooner had been a miner and his contracting was of only recent date.
+When he saw that the superintendent was in possession of all the facts,
+he admitted that he had been receiving pay for many tons a day more than
+he had delivered to the company.
+
+Mr. Penton considered the matter for some moments, while the contractor
+stood before him twisting his hat nervously between his hands, now and
+then shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
+
+"What do you think I ought to do with a rascal like you?" finally
+demanded the superintendent.
+
+"I'll give up my contract and go back to working in the drift."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort! You will keep on with your contract
+until you have paid back what you have robbed the company of, you and
+your partner in crime, Marvin. You are a fine pair. By rights I ought to
+send both of you to jail. Perhaps I may do that yet, but that will
+depend upon what officials higher up order me to do. For the present,
+however, you will engage to pay back what you have stolen; that is,
+unless you prefer to hand over the money in a lump."
+
+"I haven't that much money--I have no money."
+
+"I thought not; therefore two thirds of the amount will be deducted from
+the money due you each week and one third from the wages of the
+tally-man."
+
+Spooner essayed to speak, but the words seemed to stick in his throat.
+Finally he managed to mumble:
+
+"All--all right, sir."
+
+"But, mind you, no more of your thieving tricks, or I'll have you in the
+cooler before you realize it."
+
+"All right, sir. I--I'd like to ask a question."
+
+"Ask it."
+
+"Who was the man who gave me away?"
+
+"You ought to know better than to ask me that question. Frankly, it is
+none of your concern. We have been looking for this leak for some time,
+and we have found it. Had you possessed a grain of common sense you
+would have known that, sooner or later, you would have been checked up.
+You're checked. The interview is ended. Go back to work."
+
+"I'll _find_ the man!" growled Spooner. "I'll find him if it takes all
+the rest of my life to do it, and when I do----"
+
+"What then?" interrupted the superintendent, fixing stern eyes on the
+man before him.
+
+"I'll tell him what I think of him," answered the contractor lamely, as
+he left the room.
+
+All the other contract drifts had been found to be working regularly, so
+it was reasonable that the entire shortage might be charged to Spooner.
+As a matter of fact, this shortage tallied very closely with the figures
+that the tally-man had given to the superintendent.
+
+When the contractor returned to his drift he was more subdued than any
+of his regular shift had ever before seen him. They could not understand
+the sudden change. There was one there, however, who did understand.
+That one was Bob Jarvis. Bob was leaning against the "shore" just
+outside of the vein the men were working. He was doing nothing in
+particular.
+
+Some moments passed before Spooner discovered this.
+
+"Get in there, you, before I shove you in! Get hold of a shovel! What do
+you think I'm paying you for? What are you trying to do--hold up the
+wall? The lagging will do that without your help. Get to work."
+
+"I am working," answered Bob coolly, making no effort to obey the order
+of the contractor.
+
+"You are working, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"May I inquire what you are working at?"
+
+"Yes, I'm working for the company. My particular business at this moment
+is watching you."
+
+"Watching me?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I am here to check you up. I am not working for you to-day.
+As I said, I am working for the company. Don't let me disturb you, sir.
+I'll try not to get in the way."
+
+"Do you know why you are doing this?"
+
+"Yes; because I am ordered to do so."
+
+"Is that all you know?"
+
+"It may be, and then again it may not be."
+
+With a growl, Spooner turned and began to abuse his men, while Bob
+remained leaning against the wall, checking each car as it was filled.
+
+In the meantime, when Marvin returned to his station on the level below,
+he stepped to the tally-board and relieved the man who had been placed
+there to act during the regular man's absence.
+
+As Marvin was looking over the boards Steve stepped up, touching him on
+the shoulder. The tally-man's face flushed angrily.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Merely to say to you that I have had orders to check you up, to see
+that you check every car properly."
+
+"I won't stand it. I'll----"
+
+Steve shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"That is a matter with which I have no concern. You will have to fight
+that out with the superintendent. I shall obey my orders and it will be
+better for you, I should imagine, to submit without trying to make
+matters uncomfortable for me. I shall do what I have been told to do,
+just the same. When a train draws up you will plug only when you see
+that I am looking at the board, please. I'll dump the cars after you
+have done that and I shall know if you have moved the plugs when I am
+not looking."
+
+Marvin's face twitched nervously, but he made no reply.
+
+There was nothing of triumph in Steve's attitude. The lad was attending
+to business to the best of his ability. He discovered, after a time,
+that Marvin was watching him narrowly. As he watched, the tally-man's
+face grew blacker and blacker.
+
+"I wonder if he suspects?" thought Rush.
+
+As a matter of fact, Marvin was beginning to see light. At noon the
+tally-man hurried away, after sulkily asking Steve to watch the
+tally-board. First, however, the man made a memorandum of the tally, so
+that Steve could not change it without Marvin's being aware of the fact.
+The lad pretended not to have observed this, but a quiet smile hovered
+about the corners of his mouth as he laid out his lunch on a clean,
+white napkin on the bench beside him.
+
+Instead of going up in the cage, Marvin hastily climbed a ladder to the
+sub-level, where he waited for Spooner to come out.
+
+"Well, what is it?" demanded the contractor in a surly tone.
+
+"I've got wise to something. Where can we talk?"
+
+"Come over in the drift here. There's no one near by."
+
+The men slipped into a dead drift, extinguished their candles and
+engaged in earnest conversation.
+
+Bob Jarvis' shrewd eyes had observed the actions of the men. He was
+sitting in the Spooner contract eating his lunch, but they had not
+noticed him.
+
+"I wish I could find out what they are talking about," he muttered. "But
+I am not a spy. I don't know that I care particularly. I'll tell Steve,
+for I have an idea there is mischief in the air. There they go down the
+level."
+
+The two men climbed down the ladder to the main level. A few minutes
+later Steve saw Spooner alone, sauntering along the tracks. When the
+contractor reached the chute he halted, peering over at the lad as if he
+had just discovered him.
+
+"Hello, Rush," he greeted, turning and coming over to where Steve was
+sitting.
+
+"Good afternoon."
+
+Spooner sat down on the bench, and, for a moment or two, nothing was
+said, Steve continuing with his lunch as indifferently as if the
+contractor had not been there.
+
+"So you're the sneak who gave me away, are you?" demanded Spooner,
+turning upon the lad savagely.
+
+Steve eyed the contractor calmly.
+
+"Am I?"
+
+"You are!"
+
+"I may be the man, and in fact I will admit that I was instrumental in
+exposing your crookedness, but I am not a sneak. It strikes me that you
+have laid yourself open to being called one."
+
+The man's face turned white with anger. He opened and closed his
+fingers, with difficulty restraining himself from fastening them upon
+the calm-faced boy beside him. Steve munched his food steadily, but he
+was watching the man narrowly.
+
+"I--I'll be even with you for that, you sneaking cur!" shouted Spooner.
+"Yes, I'll be even with you!"
+
+"I wouldn't threaten, were I in your place. If anything should happen to
+me you might be accused, you know," answered Rush in a tantalizing tone.
+"What do you propose to do to me?"
+
+Spooner leaped up and shook his fist under the Iron Boy's nose. The
+latter did not flinch.
+
+"What do I propose to do to you? I'll tell you what I am going to do to
+you. I'm going to drive you out of this mine. I'll never stop till I've
+driven you off the range and out of the mine country. You'll never be
+able to get a day's work in a mine on this range after I get through
+with you, if nothing worse happens to you in the meantime. I'll----"
+
+"It strikes me that you are pretty much in the same box yourself----"
+
+"Oh, I wish you were a man! I wish you weren't a weak, baby-faced kid!
+I'd beat you to a pulp right----"
+
+"Don't let that worry you, Spooner. Sail in, if you feel you have got to
+take it out of me. Perhaps you will feel better after you have vented
+your ugly temper on someone, even if it is a boy. Now get off from this
+platform!" commanded Rush, with a sudden change of tone, as he rose
+quickly to his feet. "You've got no business here, anyway. Get out!"
+
+Steve grabbed up the iron bar with which he dumped the cars and started
+for the contractor. He had no intention of using it on the man, but he
+did not wish to engage in a fight with the fellow, being pretty sure
+that he would get the worst of it, for Spooner was a large and powerful
+man. Therefore the Iron Boy chose what he considered to be the most
+effective way of ridding himself of the contractor's presence.
+
+Spooner hesitated a moment, then began backing up, his face pale with
+rage, his fists clenched.
+
+"You had better turn about and face the other way, unless you want to
+fall through the chutes," warned Steve.
+
+Spooner turned with an exclamation. A second more and he would have
+fallen in and shot down to the level below. As it was, he was obliged to
+jump over the opening to save himself, landing on the other side of the
+track. There he paused and renewed his abuse of young Rush.
+
+"I've had enough of your nonsense! Get out!" commanded the sturdy lad.
+He, too, leaped the chutes and made for the contractor, brandishing his
+iron bar. Spooner turned and ran down the level until he reached the
+ladder, up which he climbed to his own drift.
+
+"There, I guess I shall not be troubled by that fellow any more," said
+Steve, returning slowly to his interrupted lunch.
+
+But he had not heard the last of Spooner.
+
+The contractor, fuming with rage, was already plotting the downfall of
+the lad who had been the cause of his undoing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+LAYING THE TRAP
+
+
+Steve Rush and his companion had held a long consultation over the
+events of the past few days. They had decided that it would be well to
+watch both Spooner and Marvin. Bob had overheard a conversation, or
+rather a few words, between the two men that warned him they were
+plotting mischief.
+
+"What can they do?" asked Steve.
+
+"If we knew, we should have no cause to worry," answered Bob.
+
+"It is my opinion that they will put up some sort of job to waylay us
+outside one of these nights. Well, we shall be ready for them.
+Forewarned is forearmed, you know. If they try any such trick they'll
+find we are pretty well able to take care of ourselves, even if we are
+'weak kids,'" said Rush, with a smile.
+
+A number of weeks passed without incident. During that time Spooner and
+Marvin made good their stealings. They were then called to the office
+and both men were discharged. This occurred at the noon hour. They were
+told to go back to the mine, get their tools and clear out. When the men
+did return Steve and Bob Jarvis were eating their lunch up in the
+Spooner drift.
+
+"There are the cubs now," whispered Marvin, pointing to the end of the
+drift. "It's our chance."
+
+"Is it safe?"
+
+"As safe as it ever will be. If you haven't got the nerve to do it, I'll
+do it myself."
+
+"I've got the nerve, all right, but I don't propose to put my neck in a
+halter. I'd rather come back at some other time and carry the thing
+through."
+
+"Getting cold feet already?" jeered Marvin.
+
+"Don't you talk to me like that, or I'll pound you right here and now.
+Nobody ever accused Bob Spooner of having cold feet without getting
+hurt."
+
+"You talk like it. But never mind; I'll do it. I owe him one and I owe
+the mine more than one. They'll have something to settle and it'll cost
+them a pretty penny, I reckon. It's now or never, for you and me. We'll
+never get a better opportunity. How do you suppose we are going to get
+in here after we leave to-day? Why, they wouldn't let us inside the cage
+after the orders the big boss will give them at the top of the shaft."
+
+"Stop it! I'll do the trick. Where are the tools, though? I haven't a
+saw in my kit."
+
+"I know where there is one. I sneaked it from the boss timber-man
+yesterday after we had our talk. I hid it behind the lagging about half
+way down the drift there. Come with me; I'll get it for you."
+
+"Be careful," warned Spooner, peering around a bend in the drift at the
+two boys in the far end. From that distance he could see only their
+bobbing candles. "All clear. Hurry!"
+
+Marvin reached to the top of the lagging at a certain point, and when
+his hand came away it held a saw.
+
+"Here it is. Hurry, now!"
+
+Spooner tucked the saw under his coat. This done, he moved along the
+drift away from the place where the boys were sitting, until he came to
+a slanting partition.
+
+"There is a ladder inside. You know how to climb down it," whispered
+Marvin, as he cautiously opened a door in the partition. The interior
+was so dark that the men could see nothing. There was a sudden rush and
+some unseen object tore by them in the blackness. It was an ore skip,
+with its load of iron ore thundering to the surface. Its force was so
+great as to extinguish the candles of the two miners. Marvin quickly
+relighted them.
+
+"Now get in and be lively. You will have to get away before the
+afternoon shift starts in, or you may get something down on your head."
+
+"You go down and stay on guard. If there is any danger, if anything
+turns up, stamp three times on the floor when there is no skip going by.
+Otherwise I shall not hear it."
+
+"I'm wise. Good luck! We can't lose this time and we'll be even with the
+whole bunch for all time."
+
+Spooner stepped inside the dark chamber, pulling the door cautiously
+shut after him. His long service in iron mines had given him an
+excellent knowledge of every foot of the mine he was then working in,
+and though in deep darkness, he was not at all uncertain in his
+movements.
+
+The contractor was now in the large shaft through which the ore skips
+ran with their cargoes to the top of the shaft, where they emptied the
+ore into waiting trams which ran out over a trestle and dumped it on the
+pile where Steve Rush had begun his work when he first came to the
+Cousin Jack Mine. It was a dangerous place for one who was not wholly
+sure of himself, but Spooner descended the ladder confidently, making
+his way to the bottom, then down a short ladder to a platform that was
+directly beneath that on which the tally-man and the dumper in level
+seventeen stood when at their work.
+
+Reaching this platform, the contractor removed his candle from his hat,
+making a careful examination of his surroundings. His attention finally
+centred on a section of the flooring above. That particular part was
+held up by a post some three feet in length, the latter being supported
+by a two-inch plank laid across two other posts that protruded up
+through the floor of the lower platform.
+
+"I wish those skips would get busy," muttered Spooner. "They'll hear the
+saw above there if I am not careful." Then it occurred to him that, it
+being the noon hour, the skips were not running regularly. With an
+exclamation of disappointment, the man stepped up to the main post and
+ran his hands over the plank that supported it.
+
+"I guess this will be about the right spot," he decided, placing his saw
+about midway on the right-hand side of the post. Spooner took off his
+blouse, throwing this over the saw to deaden the sound. Then, holding a
+corner of the coat up by one hand that he might see what he was doing,
+he began drawing the saw rapidly across the plank. The latter being hard
+wood, his efforts were not productive of immediate results. But the saw
+slowly ate its way into the tough timber until at last the man withdrew
+it, and, holding his candle low, examined the cut he had made.
+
+"I think that will be enough for this side. I'll open up the other side
+a little," he muttered.
+
+Spooner had just begun to saw when a sound somewhere above him caused
+the man quickly to extinguish his candle. He stood still and listened.
+
+"What's this door doing unlatched?" demanded a voice, which the fellow
+recognized as belonging to the mine captain.
+
+Spooner did not catch the reply.
+
+"Somebody will be tumbling into the shaft, first thing you know, and
+then we shall have damages to pay."
+
+"I reckon you'll have some to pay as it is," muttered the man below. "I
+hope this costs you a million!"
+
+The door through which Spooner had entered the shaft was closed with a
+bang and he heard no more of the voice above him.
+
+"I've got to look sharp or I'll be caught. I haven't had a signal from
+Marvin yet, so everything must be clear above us."
+
+Once more the steady rasp of the saw began on the other side of the
+post, and a few minutes later the contractor used his candle to examine
+his work.
+
+"I guess that will do the business," he chuckled. "And now I must be
+getting out of here lively."
+
+Instead of taking the saw with him, the fellow tossed it over to one
+side, then began climbing the ladder. Very soon he was at the door
+opening on to the sub-level where his contract had been located. Spooner
+opened it ever so little and listened. He could hear subdued voices. He
+opened the door a little wider, and, as he did so, Steve Rush and Bob
+Jarvis sauntered by.
+
+"Keep your eyes open, old chap," was Bob's parting salutation.
+
+"I will," answered Steve, starting down the ladder to his post.
+
+Jarvis returned to the drift where he was working--Spooner's old place.
+This was the chance for the other man to get out of the shaft. He knew
+it was time for the afternoon shift to go to work, and just as he slid
+from the shaft and closed the door behind him the whistle blew the
+signal to resume operations. The contractor ran along the drift,
+gathering up his tools and starting down the same ladder that young Rush
+had taken.
+
+Reaching the main level, the man took his time in going to the cage. At
+the bottom of the shaft he was joined by Marvin.
+
+"Did you fix it?" whispered the latter.
+
+"Sh-h-h!" warned Spooner.
+
+The men ascended to the surface without exchanging further words. Once
+in the open, however, Marvin said in a low tone:
+
+"Tell me about it."
+
+"It's done; it's all fixed."
+
+"You think it will work?"
+
+"I am sure of it."
+
+"Then somebody's stock will go down, and I don't know as I care a rap
+whose it is."
+
+"I don't think we'll have to guess far to know whose it will be,"
+answered Spooner, with a grin.
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"I am going over to Tracy to get a job. We can both get work there, but
+they haven't lost us yet. No, sir; the Cousin Jack has not done with you
+and me, by a long shot. We've got a few tricks left up our sleeves that
+will open their eyes. But we have made a mighty good start; yes, sir, a
+mighty good start."
+
+Chuckling at his own villainy, Spooner hurried along, the other man by
+his side.
+
+Steve and Bob had returned to their work at once. The former was now
+filling the place of the man Marvin at the tally-board, and at the same
+time dumping the cars. The two jobs kept him continually moving, but
+this Steve, true to his name, thoroughly enjoyed. He liked to be
+driving ahead every minute of the day.
+
+From the moment the whistle blew he was hard at work. He had no time to
+talk with the motor-man as he had before when dumping the cars, for he
+had to keep the number of cars and the drift or contractor in his mind
+while he was dumping them, and until he could jump back to the
+tally-board.
+
+When night came Steve was ready to turn in. He confessed that he was
+tired. For one thing he felt no little relief, and that was that Spooner
+and Marvin were no longer in the employ of the company.
+
+The next morning the boys went to work in high spirits. The shift had
+been at work something more than an hour, when the catch on one of the
+tram cars caught as Steve sought to release it, and resisted his efforts
+stubbornly.
+
+"Smash it!" cried the motor-man. "I'm in a hurry."
+
+"I'm going to," answered Steve.
+
+Raising the iron bar above his head, he brought it down on the offending
+catch with all his strength. A crash followed and the ore shot down
+through the chute with the roaring sound of a cataract.
+
+Instantly the second car was pushed over the chute.
+
+"Get busy, there!" yelled the motor-man when he saw that no effort was
+being made to release the ore.
+
+He shouted several times, but there was no response from Rush.
+
+"Where's that lazy bones?" he demanded, hopping from his motor and
+running around the end of the train. "What, what---- Something's
+happened! Look!" shouted the motor-man, pointing to the platform.
+
+Steve had disappeared. In the place where he had stood a moment before
+was a black hole about three feet square. Through this hole could be
+heard the thunder of the skips as they rushed back and forth at almost
+projectile speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+BORNE SKYWARD ON A SKIP
+
+
+"He's gone through the hole! Call the captain! Where is he?"
+
+"I saw him on the sub-level above a minute ago," cried a brakeman,
+running up the ladder to summon the mine captain.
+
+The latter was on hand, it seemed less than a minute later, and behind
+him came Bob Jarvis.
+
+"What is it?" shouted the captain before he had reached the scene.
+
+"Tally-man and dumper gone down through the hole there."
+
+The captain started in amazement.
+
+"How did it happen?" he demanded excitedly.
+
+"I don't know. He just went through, that's all."
+
+"Who--who was it?" stammered Bob.
+
+"Steve Rush."
+
+Jarvis uttered a half articulate cry and began to let himself down into
+the opening. The mine captain grabbed him.
+
+"You'll be killed," he said sternly, dragging the lad back to the
+platform. "You cannot help your friend by going through that way."
+
+The captain opened the door leading into the skip shaft and ran down the
+ladder. His quick glance took in the broken-down supports, but what he
+did not see was that the planking beneath the post had been sawed part
+way through. There was no planking there to see.
+
+There were no signs of Steve on the platform below. The captain hurried
+back.
+
+"Jarvis, run to the telephone on this level, and tell each level below
+to look for the body of a man who fell through the shaft."
+
+Bob started on a run. Despite his pluck, Bob Jarvis was trembling from
+head to foot.
+
+"He's dead, he's dead! _They've_ done it. But how? No, it is impossible.
+They couldn't be to blame for that. It was an accident."
+
+Word came back that there was no one in the shaft.
+
+"Who opened the hole?" asked Bob.
+
+"It is an old trap that has been closed for years. It simply caved in,
+that's all. Order the timber-men to put in a new piece and some fresh
+supports. Telephone to the top and find out if they have heard anything
+there."
+
+No one seemed really to know what to do. All believed that Steve Rush
+had been dashed to death.
+
+"Did--did he fall on a skip?" asked Bob in a trembling voice.
+
+"I am afraid that is what has happened," replied the mine captain. "I am
+waiting to hear from the surface and if they have seen nothing of the
+body, we will examine the shaft all the way up."
+
+Bob groaned and, walking over, leaned heavily against the partition.
+
+Steve's fall had been so sudden that he had no time even to utter a cry.
+The blow that he had given the catch on the tram car had been too much
+for the sawed support under the old trap. The support had collapsed
+under his weight and Rush had dropped through the opening.
+
+He shot down feet first to the platform below, bounded off and dropped
+into the shaft itself.
+
+Something caught and lifted him through the air at a frightful rate of
+speed. Steve had been caught by the ore skip, and was being borne to the
+surface nearly two thousand feet above. The lad had by this time lost
+consciousness, for the shock when the skip caught him had been a heavy
+one. It seemed as if it must have broken every bone in his body.
+
+On roared the skip with its human burden. The car shot out into the
+daylight, then darted up the fifty-foot shaft that towered above the
+opening to the mine.
+
+Reaching the top, its burden of ore was dumped into a waiting tram car
+on the trestle, after which the skip dived down into the depths again.
+
+The dump-man on the trestle caught sight of something that was not ore
+falling into his car. Instead of starting the car along the trestle, he
+sprang up on the side board.
+
+"I wonder what that was? It looked like a human being!" he exclaimed.
+Then his eyes caught sight of a piece of clothing. The man tugged at the
+cloth, but it did not give way.
+
+"It's a man!" he shouted, clambering over on the car and beginning to
+dig frantically with his hands. "Stop the skips, _stop_ them quick!"
+
+But his warning came too late. A skip load of ore was dumped down on the
+loaded car, most of it sliding off to the ground fifty feet below.
+Enough remained, however, to bury the dump-man and the man he was trying
+to drag out.
+
+But the dump-man was full of grit. He fought desperately and in a moment
+succeeded in pushing off the ore that held the body down. He was now
+working with frantic haste to get the other man out, knowing full well
+that the unfortunate one would be suffocated if he already were not
+dead.
+
+By this time other men, attracted by the dump-man's cries, were scaling
+the trestle at a dozen different places. Among them was the
+superintendent himself, who, on his way to the dry house to put on his
+miner's suit preparatory to going below ground on his usual daily round,
+had heard the cry for help up on the trestle. The superintendent,
+despite his size, got to the top of the trestle ahead of any of the
+others and started on a run for the scene.
+
+"What's the trouble, Collins?" he shouted.
+
+"Man thrown up on the skip, sir."
+
+"Is he dead?"
+
+"I can't say, sir. I think most likely he is."
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+"Don't know him, but he's a young 'un. He's pretty badly banged up, so
+far as I can see."
+
+Superintendent Penton threw himself to the top of the ore car and
+assisted in getting the man out. At first he did not recognize the limp
+figure as being that of Steve Rush, for the red ore had been ground into
+the cut and bleeding face of the lad until he was almost unrecognizable.
+
+"Send for the stretchers. This man must be gotten to the hospital on the
+jump!" shouted the superintendent.
+
+The dump-man had lifted the boy from the car, had laid him down on the
+trestle and with his handkerchief was wiping the dark-red ore from the
+lad's mouth, eyes and nose.
+
+"He's alive, sir," called Collins. "But I reckon he won't be for very
+long."
+
+Mr. Penton stepped over, after giving his orders, and looked keenly down
+into the pale face before him.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, bending close to the injured boy. "Good heavens,
+it's Steve Rush! This is too bad. How did it happen?"
+
+"I don't know, sir. The first I knew about it he came out of the hopper
+kerflop. I jumped up to dig him out, and then I went kerflop with a load
+of ore on my back. Woof! It's lucky for me the car was full or I'd have
+been at the bottom of the heap."
+
+Mr. Penton had picked Steve up in his arms. The burden seemed as nothing
+to this powerful man. And even when he reached the ladder leading down
+to the ground the superintendent appeared to experience no difficulty in
+making his way down with the heavy load he was carrying.
+
+Steve was rushed to the hospital, followed by the superintendent
+himself. The lad was still unconscious. A hasty examination by the
+surgeon was made in the presence of the superintendent.
+
+"Well?" Mr. Penton threw a world of meaning into the word.
+
+"No bones are broken. There may be some internal injury. I should judge
+there might be, from the fact that he is bleeding at the mouth. What
+happened?"
+
+"He was thrown up by the skip. That's all I know about it now. I want to
+know whether or not the boy is going to die. Then I will find out how it
+happened."
+
+After working over the unconscious boy for half an hour, the surgeon
+decided that there had been a severe concussion that might amount to a
+fracture. A few hours, he said, would tell the story.
+
+"I'll be back within the hour. Let no efforts be spared to straighten
+the lad out, if it be possible."
+
+Steve lay limp and pallid, his face almost as white as the sheets of the
+cot on which he had been placed, and there was a troubled look in the
+eyes of the big-hearted superintendent as he left the company's hospital
+and hurried to the shaft.
+
+"Let me off at the seventeenth level," he directed, taking his place in
+the cage. A few minutes later found him at the chutes where the accident
+had occurred. Bob, pale-faced and anxious, had been placed at the
+tally-board and the work of the mine was going on much as usual.
+
+"Please, Mr. Penton, is Steve badly hurt?" demanded the lad, running
+over to the superintendent the instant he saw him approaching.
+
+"I fear he is, my boy. How did the accident occur?"
+
+"We hear he was carried up on the skip and dropped on the trestle."
+
+"I mean what happened here?"
+
+"The boy fell through the old trap there," explained the mine captain,
+approaching at that moment.
+
+"Fell through the trap?" demanded Mr. Penton in surprise.
+
+"Yes, the old trap that was closed several years ago. The men are fixing
+it so a similar accident won't occur again."
+
+"Tell me exactly what happened."
+
+"I didn't see it. The motor-man there can tell you. He is just coming in
+now."
+
+The motor-man explained that young Rush was hammering at the dump-car
+catch when the trap gave way beneath him and he went down. That was all
+that anyone below ground knew about the accident. In fact, that was all
+there was to tell so far as any one in the mine knew.
+
+Mr. Penton looked grave. It was an accident that reflected on him, for
+the corporation looked to him to make the mine safe. He was greatly
+disturbed, but more on Steve's account than on his own.
+
+The superintendent climbed down into the skip shaft and made an
+examination on his own account.
+
+"Where are the supports that held up the trap?" he demanded upon his
+return to the platform.
+
+"If they ain't there we must have thrown them into the shaft," explained
+the timber-man.
+
+"You should have known better than that. Was it a break?"
+
+"It was a break, all right. The thing just gave out, and that's all
+there was to it. But you can bet this one won't give way, not in a
+thousand years. It'll be here long after the old mine has caved in."
+
+Mr. Penton did not go on with his inspection of the mine that day. He
+was too full of anxiety for Steve Rush. Bob had begged to be let off for
+the afternoon, and Mr. Penton had willingly granted his request. The lad
+hurried to the hospital, after having changed his clothes, and at his
+earnest request he was allowed to sit beside Steve. The boy could
+scarcely keep the tears back as he gazed down into the pale face of his
+companion. Bob was sure in his own mind that Steve was dying and Jarvis'
+eyes were large and sorrowful as he watched the surgeon working over the
+unconscious patient.
+
+Mr. Penton came, remained a short time, then went away; he, too,
+convinced that Rush could not recover. Night came on, but still Bob sat
+beside the hospital cot, one hand slipped under the sheet clasping a
+hand of his companion.
+
+"You had better go home," said the surgeon, seeming for the first time
+to be aware of Jarvis' presence.
+
+Bob did not answer.
+
+"I said, you had better go home, Jarvis."
+
+"I want to stay," answered the boy simply.
+
+"You can do him no good."
+
+"When will he get better--or worse?"
+
+"I do not look for any change before three o'clock in the morning or
+thereabouts, so you see it will be useless for you to remain."
+
+"All right; I am not sleepy," and Bob turned his face toward the cot,
+again fixing his gaze on the face of the unconscious Steve.
+
+The surgeon shrugged his shoulders and proceeded with his duties. The
+hours dragged along, but Bob never changed his position nor even moved,
+so fearful was he of doing something that might retard his friend's
+recovery. Three o'clock came and still there was no change. Another half
+hour elapsed. The sky was graying in the east. Steve uttered a low moan.
+The surgeon was at his side in an instant. He placed an ear to the boy's
+heart, then took his pulse, watch in hand. Bob's eyes were fixed on the
+surgeon now. The latter shut his watch with a snap, then noting the
+pleading question in the watcher's eyes, he nodded.
+
+"He is better. The change is coming, and unless something unlooked for
+occurs he should return to consciousness soon."
+
+Bob drew a short, quick breath that was half a sob, settling down into
+his former watchful position.
+
+Now the surgeon remained by the side of the cot. Occasionally he would
+administer a few drops of medicine. When the patient choked a little and
+swallowed, the surgeon would nod approvingly.
+
+All at once Steve Rush's eyelids fluttered open. His gaze was fixed for
+a brief instant on the face of his companion. Jarvis held his breath.
+
+"Bob," murmured the lad, then closed his eyes wearily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE SHAFT
+
+
+"The crisis has passed," announced the surgeon in a relieved tone.
+
+Two great tear drops rolled down Bob Jarvis' cheeks. He brushed them
+away and rose from the chair in which he had been sitting all night.
+
+"I'm going home. I must get ready to go to work. If he should become
+worse won't you please let me know?"
+
+"Yes," answered the surgeon, giving the boy a quick, keen glance. "He'll
+be all right now. No need to worry."
+
+Bob went to his boarding place happier and more light of heart than he
+ever had been before.
+
+Steve's recovery was very slow, however. All that day and the next he
+was too weak to talk, having lost considerable blood. Then again the
+shock had been greater than many men could have sustained and lived to
+tell about.
+
+At the end of a week the invalid was allowed to sit up, but ten days had
+elapsed before it was considered prudent to permit him to dress and walk
+about. Bob spent all his evenings with his companion, but they did not
+discuss the accident. Each lad tacitly avoided the subject.
+
+The first day that Rush was allowed to go out of doors he walked over to
+Mr. Penton's office, a hundred yards away, and asked permission to see
+the superintendent. Mr. Penton welcomed the young man warmly.
+
+"I am glad to see you out, Rush. You had a pretty close call, didn't
+you?"
+
+"I guess so, though I do not remember much about what happened beyond a
+certain point."
+
+"If you feel strong enough I wish you would tell me exactly what
+occurred leading up to the accident," said the superintendent.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; I am strong enough. I could go to work and I think I
+shall to-morrow."
+
+"We'll see about that."
+
+Steve related briefly what he knew of the accident, but his story shed
+no new light on the affair. He could not even guess how it had happened,
+beyond what Mr. Penton himself told the boy.
+
+"There is one thing I should like to do, sir," said Steve.
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"I wish you would give me permission to examine the shaft where I fell
+in."
+
+"That already has been done. Something gave way, and----"
+
+Steve smiled faintly.
+
+"I have reason to know that something gave way," he said. "I wish I
+could satisfy myself, though, just how it happened."
+
+"Of course. There is no objection to your doing so."
+
+"I will ask Bob Jarvis to help me. He is a shrewd boy, and he may see
+some things that I might not notice."
+
+"He will have to be pretty keen if he does," laughed Mr. Penton. "I
+cannot imagine much of anything escaping your observation. But, my lad,
+you have some reason for wanting to do this. What is it?"
+
+"I want to find out how the accident occurred."
+
+"Ah, you suspect something?"
+
+"I do not know whether I do or not. Perhaps I am curious. Most boys have
+some curiosity, you know, sir."
+
+"Go ahead, but do not try it until you are well and strong. We can't
+afford to have you laid up again. We need you, you know."
+
+A faint flush stole into Steve Rush's face. He had grown to be very fond
+of the big-bodied, big-hearted superintendent of the Cousin Jack Mine in
+the few months that he had known him.
+
+"I thank you, sir. You are very kind to me. I want to tell you how much
+I appreciate it all."
+
+"Rubbish!" scoffed Mr. Penton.
+
+On the third day following, Steve made his first trip below ground since
+the accident. The lad was welcomed with enthusiasm by nearly every one
+he met, many of whom he knew only by sight.
+
+"I never knew I was so popular," smiled Steve, after he had looked up
+Jarvis, who was still at work at level seventeen.
+
+Bob grinned.
+
+"I reckon there are certain quarters where you are not so popular, eh?"
+
+"I should not be surprised if that were true. But those quarters no
+longer exist, I understand."
+
+"Yes; the pair have hit the trail over the mountains. What are you going
+to do down here to-day?"
+
+"I am going down in the skip shaft."
+
+Jarvis nodded understandingly.
+
+"Mr. Penton said you might knock off and go with me."
+
+"Did he? That's fine. I'll see the mine captain and tell him."
+
+"I have told him already. You may come with me now, and we'll make a
+little examination on our own hook."
+
+Bob dropped his shovel, and, telling the shift boss where he was going,
+accompanied Steve down the ladder to the level below. There the lads
+looked over the platform by the tally-board, Steve pointing out where he
+was standing when he went through the floor.
+
+"I never knew there was a trap there," he said, pointing to the new
+planking that covered the hole through which he had dropped.
+
+"Nor I. I guess not many men in the mine knew about it. The timbers
+supporting it must have been rotten."
+
+"Perhaps," answered Steve dryly. "Come on up to the sub-level; we will
+begin our investigation there."
+
+Bob followed, though he did not fully understand the purpose of his
+companion. Rush made his way to the door on the sub-level through which
+the man Spooner had entered the shaft. The lad opened the door and stood
+peering in, holding his candle ahead of him as he did so.
+
+"You are not going in here, are you?" questioned Jarvis.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why not go in on the level below and save this climb?"
+
+"I have my reasons, old man. Do you see the red mud on the rungs of the
+ladder here?"
+
+"Yes, I see it; but what does that prove?"
+
+"No one has any business in this shaft and yet someone has been here
+rather recently, for the mud is still soft. That mud came from some
+one's rubber boots not so many moons ago."
+
+"You ought to be a detective," exclaimed Bob admiringly.
+
+"We will go down now. Be careful. This isn't a very safe place, and a
+misstep would take you to the surface by the route I followed two weeks
+ago."
+
+Once on the platform below, the boys halted. Holding their candles above
+their heads, they looked about them curiously. A new post had been set
+in place of the old one, the latter still lying on the platform. This
+the boys examined carefully.
+
+"You see, the post is in good condition, Bob. The post didn't give way,
+after all. I wonder how it was held up?"
+
+"Perhaps it rested on a piece of wood placed across these two posts that
+project up through the floor," suggested Bob.
+
+"Yes, that's so. I think you are right. But where is the piece? I should
+like to see it."
+
+Steve was hunting here and there with his customary energy, while Bob
+Jarvis stood looking on, not being quite sure what he should do.
+
+"You look about on that side, Bob. Be careful that you don't fall into
+the shaft. Here is sawdust on the floor, but I presume the men did that
+when they put in the new support. Hello! I've got something."
+
+Steve triumphantly held up a saw that he had found.
+
+"This may mean something and it may not. We shall find out when we get
+back again."
+
+Suddenly the boy uttered an exclamation.
+
+"What is it?" demanded Bob, hastening over to the spot where Steve was
+pulling something from between the platform and the rock wall of the
+shaft. What he had found was a piece of plank from which two pieces had
+been split off. At the breaking point on each end they plainly saw the
+cut of a saw.
+
+"Well, what do you think of that?" muttered Bob. "Is that the plank that
+held up the post?"
+
+"Judging from the mark in the middle, I should say it was. Bring the old
+post over here."
+
+Bob did so, and at Steve's direction placed the end of the post on the
+broken piece of plank. The post fitted the faint outline perfectly.
+
+"Well, what do you think of that?" breathed Jarvis.
+
+"That somebody has tried to make a clean job of getting me out of the
+way. That plank was sawed partly through so that it might not break at
+once, but would do so when any extra weight was thrown upon it. We must
+find those other pieces, Bob. Look about. I guess we'll have something
+to report to Mr. Penton."
+
+Illustration: Steve Triumphantly Held Up a Saw.
+
+"Shall we say who did it?"
+
+"We can't really say. We may have our suspicions, but unless we get more
+evidence we shall have to let it go as it is. I have some facts in my
+possession that may help us, though."
+
+Steve got down on his hands and knees and began going over the floor
+with great thoroughness. He was keen and alert and his eyes glowed with
+resolute purpose.
+
+"Here's one of the broken pieces," cried Bob.
+
+"Good. See if you can find the other. We shall have our case complete in
+a few minutes if we keep on having such good luck."
+
+But one piece was all that Bob was able to find, the other no doubt
+having been thrown into the shaft. The one found was lying at the edge
+of the platform near its end.
+
+"I guess there is nothing more here for us to do," decided the lad
+finally. "We will take our evidence and go to Mr. Penton."
+
+"We haven't enough to hang a dead cat on."
+
+Steve smiled.
+
+"We shall see," he answered. "You tuck the saw under your coat and I
+will carry the boards."
+
+Entering the first cage that stopped at this level, the boys were
+quickly conveyed to the surface. Steve asked the cage-tender at the
+mouth of the shaft if he had seen the superintendent about the shaft,
+and was informed that Mr. Penton was at that moment in the dry house. He
+was no doubt dressing to go down in the mine.
+
+The boys hurried to the dry house, finding Mr. Penton talking with one
+of the time-checkers.
+
+"May we see you alone, sir?" asked Steve.
+
+"Certainly. Come into my dressing room. You have some news, eh?" queried
+the superintendent, flashing a keen glance at them.
+
+"We think we have, sir."
+
+After entering the dressing room, Mr. Penton nodded for them to proceed.
+Steve went right to the point.
+
+"We have been down in the skip shaft."
+
+"On seventeen platform?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you discover anything of consequence?"
+
+"Mr. Jarvis has a saw that we found there. It belongs to one of the
+timber-men, and was stolen from him the day before the accident."
+
+The superintendent pricked up his ears at this.
+
+"I learned that fact this morning. He doesn't know that we have the saw.
+We found it where it had evidently been thrown by the person who used
+it. And here is something else, sir."
+
+Steve laid the broken pieces of plank on a table. Mr. Penton picked them
+up, turning them over in his hands, pausing when he discovered the marks
+of the saw, then he glanced at Steve.
+
+"What is this?"
+
+"It is the support that rested under the post holding up the old trap,"
+answered the lad.
+
+"Then--then----"
+
+"Someone had sawed it partly through, so the support would give way and
+let someone else down. I happened to be the one who was let down."
+
+The smile vanished from the eyes of the general superintendent and the
+lines of his face hardened perceptibly.
+
+"How do you know this piece supported the post?"
+
+"You will find the mark of the post on it. We fitted the post to the
+mark to make sure. Whoever did the job, entered the skip shaft from
+sub-level seventeen. I am sure of this, because I found fresh mud on the
+rungs of the ladder. No one is supposed to go down there, is he, sir?"
+
+"No; no one does go down there. This is very serious. Why did not my men
+discover all these things?"
+
+"I guess they did not look very sharply. The evidence was there to be
+found if one looked hard enough."
+
+"Rush, you suspect someone?" said Mr. Penton sharply. "Whom do you
+suspect?"
+
+"Perhaps this may answer the question," answered the lad, laying on the
+table a brass time check about the size of a half dollar.
+
+"Where--where did you get this?"
+
+"On the platform where the job was done, sir," answered Steve, directing
+a steady gaze at the stern face of the superintendent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THEIR FIRST PROMOTION
+
+
+"Wait a minute," said Mr. Penton, hurrying across the hall to the office
+of the time-keepers.
+
+He was gone but a few moments and when he returned there was a look on
+his face that Steve had never seen there before. It was a look that
+meant trouble for someone. The superintendent sat down, gazing out of
+the window at the towering shaft of the Cousin Jack Mine.
+
+"You did not answer my previous question. I asked you whom you
+suspected."
+
+"I dislike to make so serious a charge against anyone, sir, but a
+certain man was seen standing near the door leading down to the platform
+the day before I fell in. Two persons saw him."
+
+"Who was the man?"
+
+"The man was Spooner, sir."
+
+"You are sure of that?"
+
+"Sure of it according to my information."
+
+"Well, lad, this is Spooner's time check that you have brought to me,"
+replied Mr. Penton in an impressive voice.
+
+"I reckon that evidence would hang a live cat," muttered Bob Jarvis.
+
+"Yes, it is sufficient evidence to warrant my looking up the man and
+lodging a complaint against him. Was he alone when he was seen at the
+door of the shaft, or don't you know?"
+
+"Marvin was with him, sir."
+
+"Ah! Rush, you have done well. You are a very shrewd young man. In fact,
+I am proud of both of you. When we have anything of this sort on hand
+again I shall get you to investigate it. However, I do not believe there
+is another man in the mine who is wicked enough to attempt the life of a
+boy. There is another matter that I have had in mind for some time. That
+is, your advancement. You have learned fast. You already know more about
+the mine and its operation than a number of men who have spent the
+greater part of their lives below ground."
+
+"Thank you, sir. We have tried to improve our opportunities."
+
+"You have done so. You have done the company a great service in finding
+the place where the shortage occurred. I have already expressed myself
+on this point. After receiving my report in that case, the president of
+the company wrote me to reward you as I saw fit. I shall do so by
+promoting you. It is not much of a promotion, but it will give you an
+opportunity to acquaint yourselves the better with the mine and its
+operations. I now appoint you two boys inspectors of tracks. Your duties
+will be to see that the tram tracks are in perfect condition. It will
+keep you busy, for there are a good many miles of track in the Cousin
+Jack. You, Rush, will take the east half and Jarvis the west. That will
+take you both well over the mine. It would be simpler to divide your
+territory by levels, but I consider the former plan the better one for
+your own good. You will require some technical information that the
+engineer will give you. He also will supply you with maps of the
+trackage, which you will study carefully."
+
+"I am very grateful," breathed Steve, his eyes lighting up.
+
+"You're welcome, lad. I want to push you along as fast as you are ready,
+but you must not expect to go too fast."
+
+"I think I have done very well as it is, sir."
+
+"Your pay will be two dollars a day."
+
+Twelve dollars a week! It was more money than either of the boys ever
+had earned before. To them it seemed a large sum of money. They were
+very happy and proud. Their new work was to begin on the following
+morning. Jarvis went back to finish his day at drifting in ore, while
+Steve returned to his boarding place, where he sat down and wrote a long
+letter to his mother, telling her of his good fortune.
+
+In the meantime Mr. Penton set an inquiry on foot to locate Spooner and
+Marvin. The men had applied for work in a neighboring mine, he learned,
+but had failed to get employment there. Neither man had been seen in
+those parts since. Mr. Penton decided that they had left the range, and
+he was thankful for it, as it relieved him of an unpleasant duty.
+However, that day he made a detailed report to the president of the
+mining company by letter, giving the boys full credit for what they had
+discovered. Mr. Penton also made report of the promotion he had given
+them. This was afterwards heartily endorsed by President Carrhart.
+
+Early the next morning the boys went over the mine with an assistant
+engineer. He gave them a long talk on tracks, Steve asking many
+questions as they went along. That afternoon the Iron Boys began their
+work, having laid out a certain number of levels that were to be visited
+each day. As Mr. Penton had told them, their new position took them to
+nearly every part of the mine, from the lowest working level to the tram
+tracks on the surface and far up on the trestle.
+
+By the time that they had been at their new work for several months,
+each lad had proved that he was worthy of the confidence placed in him
+by the general superintendent.
+
+Steve had been figuring on a problem in his department for a long time,
+and one day he went to the superintendent with it, or rather to learn
+whether the problem were a problem at all.
+
+"I want to ask, Mr. Penton, if the expense of keeping up your motors
+that draw the dump cars in the mines is very great."
+
+"I should say it is," was the prompt answer. "You see, they draw very
+heavy loads. Those cars of ore are not light."
+
+"I am well aware of that. You will remember that I had a load dropped on
+me once," smiled Steve.
+
+"We wear out, I should say, on an average of six motors a year. That
+runs into money. And the repairs on them, in the meantime, are very
+expensive."
+
+"Would any arrangement that would tend to lessen the strain on the
+motors be of advantage to the company?"
+
+"That is self-evident. Of course it would. What is more, relieving the
+cars of the strain to which they are subjected would save a few thousand
+dollars a year. Have you something in mind?"
+
+Mr. Penton smiled good-naturedly on the young man who was standing
+before him.
+
+"Yes, sir, I have a plan by which I think you ought to be able to save
+your electric motors considerably and at the same time make greater
+speed in getting ore to the chutes."
+
+"If you have a practical plan for doing that you will have accomplished
+a great deal, young man. What is your plan?"
+
+"Well, sir, it is an engineering problem. Not being an engineer, I
+perhaps shall not be able to overcome all the difficulties in the way. I
+can tell you, though, what I think would help."
+
+"Do so."
+
+"I find that in most of the levels there is a considerable up grade to
+the chutes where the tram cars are dumped."
+
+"That is a fact."
+
+"Would it not be much better to have the loaded cars run down grade to
+the chutes? Then they would go back up the grade empty," suggested Steve
+half hesitatingly.
+
+Mr. Penton gazed at him quizzically.
+
+"Do you know, my boy, you have made a suggestion that even the keenest
+of our engineers evidently never have thought of?"
+
+"I am glad if I have suggested something worth while," said Steve, with
+a pleased smile.
+
+"But how do you propose to go about it? The levels are made and the
+tracks are laid to fit the conformation. How are you going to get over
+that condition?" asked the superintendent, with a twinkle in his eyes.
+
+"As I told you, I am not an engineer."
+
+"But you have an idea?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Let's hear it."
+
+"I have watched the trackmen grading on the railroad and I do not see
+why you cannot do the same thing here. You have plenty of waste dirt and
+rock in the mine. It is being taken out every day. Why not utilize some
+of it in raising the tracks at the 'rises'? That would give the cars a
+good start and the electric motor would not have to wear itself out
+getting the cars started. Continue doing this, even if you have to begin
+cutting the level lower down by the chutes. I am sure that that feature
+could easily be overcome by your engineers. In the sub-levels and new
+drifts you could do the same thing."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Cut down to them, sir, when you are drifting in. I want you to know
+that this is not wholly my idea. My friend Bob, in discussing the track
+question with me, said it was a pity that the motors had to haul their
+loads up hill in most instances. I got to thinking over this and out of
+it all came the plan I have proposed, so you see he is the one who is
+really entitled to the credit."
+
+"The credit is yours. Rush, you've a great head on that slender body of
+yours, and it isn't so slender, at that, judging from the ease with
+which you picked up a rail one day last week and laid it in place." Mr.
+Penton laughed. "No; not so slender as it might seem to one who did not
+know you. This is really a very important matter. It is a matter that I
+shall have to take up with the main office at Duluth. I have an idea
+that they will adopt your suggestion without very much delay," said Mr.
+Penton.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"The engineering department reports that the inspection of tracks has
+never been done so thoroughly and intelligently as since you and Jarvis
+have been on the work. This naturally pleases me very much. It shows me
+that my estimate of you was correct. Have you anything else to suggest?"
+
+"No, sir; I think not. I think that will be about enough for to-day."
+
+The superintendent agreed with him and Steve went back to his work. Bob
+Jarvis was quickly acquainted with what the superintendent had said,
+much to the latter's gratification. In due time, the plan having been
+passed upon by the company's engineers at the home office, word was
+received at the mines that it had been adopted. The young men who had
+suggested it were highly commended, President Carrhart adding in his
+letter to Mr. Penton:
+
+"I knew that boy Rush couldn't help but do something, with a name like
+his."
+
+The work was put in progress as soon after that as the plans could be
+worked out, bearing in mind that the operation of the mine must not be
+interfered with. It may be imagined with what keen interest Steve Rush
+and Bob Jarvis watched the changing of the grades. They were also
+interested in another direction, when, one pay day soon after, they
+found that their salaries had been raised to fifteen dollars a week
+each.
+
+Bob declared he felt like a millionaire.
+
+"What are you going to do with all that money?" asked Steve.
+
+"I think I shall buy some of the company's stock," answered Jarvis.
+
+"Not a half bad idea. That is what I am going to do when I get money
+enough. As it is, I am sending home most of what I earn. But the money
+is in good hands," he smiled.
+
+"Mine's in the bank. I am getting four per cent. interest on it, but I
+haven't got to where I can live on the interest I receive from it. I was
+figuring the other night, and at the present rate it will be twenty
+years before I shall be able to live on my income--my interest, I mean."
+
+"Well, I don't want to live on my income. I want to be up and doing
+something as long as I've got a kick left in me. Cheer up, Bob, you may
+be a millionaire yet."
+
+"Yes; when I have long, yellow whiskers, maybe," laughed Jarvis.
+
+In the course of two months the new system was working to the
+satisfaction of everyone. Already it was being applied to the other
+mines belonging to the company, and even at that early day it was
+apparent that the Rush Gravity System, as it was called, was destined to
+prove a great saving to the company. The name, too, was considered
+unusually appropriate.
+
+One day, a few months later, as Steve was on his rounds, he caught sight
+of a man in miner's costume who instantly attracted his attention. The
+man was rather tall and wore a full beard. Rush stopped and gazed after
+the fellow until he passed out of sight.
+
+"I wonder who he is?" muttered Steve. "There is something about
+him--about the way he folded his hand over his mouth, that is
+unpleasantly familiar to me."
+
+On the day following, while Steve was chatting with one of the shift
+bosses on the twelfth level, he saw the fellow again.
+
+"Who is that man?" asked the boy sharply, pointing to the one who had
+attracted his attention.
+
+"His name is Klink--John Klink."
+
+"What does he do?"
+
+"He is acting as a drift inspector at present, I believe."
+
+"Klink?" mused the lad. "I don't think I ever heard the name before. Do
+you know where he comes from?"
+
+"I think he comes from the San Juan Mine, over on the McCormick range. I
+don't know anything about him, but he seems to know his business pretty
+well. He is inspecting temporarily. The inspector whose place he is
+taking is at home sick. Klink is a boss miner."
+
+"I must have been mistaken," thought Rush, as he proceeded along his
+route inspecting the tracks on that level. "But I can't get it out of my
+mind that I have seen the fellow somewhere before, and under unpleasant
+circumstances, at that."
+
+He had, and at no distant day, he was destined to see the man under
+still more unfavorable circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE VISIT OF THE OFFICIALS
+
+
+For a week past there had been a great deal of work done in the Cousin
+Jack in the way of cleaning up and putting things in the best possible
+shape. The mine was to receive visitors. The annual inspection by
+prominent officials of the company was to be made, and the visitors
+might be looked for now on almost any day.
+
+It was understood, also, that several New York officials were to be in
+the party, and every department head in the mines was ordered to leave
+nothing undone to have all things under his charge in perfect order.
+
+"We are about the only ones whose work won't show," complained Jarvis.
+
+"Why not, Bob?" demanded Steve.
+
+"Why, a track is a track, that's all. It doesn't show all the work we
+have put on it. They'll just walk along on our job while they are
+admiring the other fellow's work."
+
+"I think you are in error. The officials of these big corporations are
+all practical men. Most of them have had personal experience; some of
+them have not. I don't know about the New Yorkers, but I know Mr.
+Carrhart has been all through the mill. He will notice everything; you
+see if he doesn't."
+
+Three days after this conversation the visitors arrived. The Iron Boys
+were engaged in other parts of the mine and did not know of the arrival.
+Along in the early afternoon, however, their duties led them to the
+seventeenth level. Of course they were on opposite sides of the mine,
+but as it chanced each was heading for the chutes on that level, where
+their patrol would end. After a time a bobbing candle appeared far down
+the level. A moment later another appeared coming from the opposite
+direction.
+
+Two young men came swinging along the tracks. Their step was springy and
+there was an alertness about them that at once attracted the observing
+ones. These two were Steve Rush and Bob Jarvis. They approached each
+other rapidly and waved their hands in greeting.
+
+"Bob, there are the visitors," said Steve in a low tone.
+
+"Oh, that's so; I hadn't noticed them. When did they come in?"
+
+"I do not know. I had not seen them before."
+
+Eight or ten men were assembled on the platform where the tally-board
+was located. The superintendent was holding an earnest conversation
+with them, the visitors keeping up a running fire of questions and
+comment. They had been through part of the mine and were discussing
+conditions and proposed improvements.
+
+The boys had matters of their own to discuss, so they gave little
+attention to the gathering, so far as the latter observed. But the lads
+were interested, just the same.
+
+"I suppose most of those fellows are millionaires," said Bob, indicating
+the group by a jerk of his thumb in their direction.
+
+"They are not fellows, Bob; they are gentlemen," corrected Rush.
+
+"How do you know they are?" came back the quick question.
+
+"It is reasonable to suppose they are. I know one of them is, for I have
+met him."
+
+"Who is that?"
+
+"Mr. Carrhart, president of the company."
+
+"They all look like miners to me. Put a shovel in their hands and they
+wouldn't be at all different from us. But we mustn't be standing here
+doing nothing. While we are here, let's take a look at the tracks over
+the chutes. There is a rail a little down at the heels. I shall have to
+report it as dangerous. Getting a car off here blocks the whole line. I
+wonder when that edge broke down. It was all right when I inspected it
+yesterday."
+
+Steve took out his memorandum book and made a note of the condition of
+the rail for immediate report to the engineering department.
+
+While the boys were thus engaged some of the party stood looking in
+their direction.
+
+"Mr. Penton, who are those young men standing over yonder?" asked Mr.
+Carrhart.
+
+"They are my track inspectors. They are a pair of likely young fellows.
+I'll wager there isn't a another pair of their age on the range that can
+equal them."
+
+At this every one of the party turned to look at the Iron Boys, who, all
+unconscious of the attention they were attracting, were busy with their
+work.
+
+"The chances are they do not even know you gentlemen are here, so
+attentive are they to their work."
+
+"Who are they, Penton? I am interested in these prodigies," laughed Mr.
+Carrhart.
+
+"The taller of the two is Robert Jarvis. The other is Steve Rush, after
+whom the Rush Gravity System is named. You will remember, Rush suggested
+the change to the gravity system."
+
+"Steve Rush?" exclaimed the president. "Why, I was going to ask you
+about the young man. I wish to talk with him, and the boy Jarvis, also.
+Rush is my find, you will remember, Penton."
+
+"I was congratulating myself that I was his discoverer," laughed the
+superintendent.
+
+"No, you will remember my sending him up to you with a letter. You know
+I saw that he had good material in him. He was a live wire, even then."
+
+"I give way; the honor is yours," answered Mr. Penton.
+
+The party was in great good humor.
+
+"If you can spare your young friends from their duties, for a few
+moments, I should like to speak with them."
+
+"Surely. Rush!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The lad straightened up, touching his cap immediately.
+
+"Will you step over here, please?"
+
+Steve strode across the tracks.
+
+"Jarvis, you, too."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"How are you, Rush?" exclaimed President Carrhart, stepping forward and
+extending a cordial hand.
+
+"How do you do, Mr. Carrhart. I am afraid my hand is not shakeable. It
+is grimy with red ore."
+
+"We will shake all the same, lad."
+
+They did so, the president holding to Steve's hand as he gazed keenly
+into the manly face of the boy, Steve returning his gaze, respectfully
+but steadily.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Rush."
+
+"Thank you, sir. And I want to thank you also for giving me the
+opportunity that you did. This is my companion, Bob Jarvis."
+
+The superintendent stepped forward at that juncture, presenting the boys
+to each member of the party in turn. There were vice-presidents,
+secretaries and directors--more titles than the boys could remember. To
+their surprise these big men greeted them as if they were equals.
+
+"I hear you already have made a record for yourself, Rush," said Mr.
+Carrhart.
+
+"I don't know about that, sir. I am just beginning to realize that I
+have a lot to learn."
+
+"I hear also that you have had some exciting experiences. You must learn
+to safeguard yourself, and remember another thing, make your mine safe
+for your men and you will always get results. You and your friend are in
+charge of the tracks?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I am pleased to see them in such splendid condition. It is almost like
+riding on a rock-ballasted railroad, they are so smooth."
+
+Bob threw his shoulders back ever so little as he heard this.
+
+"My, but those fellows must have eyes all around their heads the way
+they take things in," muttered Jarvis. "No wonder they are millionaires!
+They can see what the fellow behind them is doing as well as they can
+what's going on in front. You can't beat that kind of a game."
+
+"I hope he doesn't see that turned rail there over the chute," thought
+Rush.
+
+"I noticed only one bad rail in the entire system, the one there by the
+chute. I see you have caught that, however."
+
+"Well, what do you think of that?" muttered Bob under his breath. "I
+never heard anything like it."
+
+"Yes, sir; but that rail has gone bad within the last twenty-four hours.
+It was in apparently good condition yesterday. Perhaps I did not examine
+it closely enough on my last inspection, though."
+
+"No; you can't avoid those things now and then. There might have been a
+defect in the steel, a blow hole or something of the sort. The principal
+thing is not to let them get away from you. Catch the deterioration in
+time, before it causes more trouble--that is all we can expect of you.
+Gentlemen, this is the young man who invented our gravity system.
+Perhaps you heard the superintendent speak of it just now. And, let me
+tell you, he will bear watching. One of these days, if you do not keep
+your eyes open, he is likely to be found sitting in the chair of one of
+the other of you, either in Duluth, or Pittsburgh, or New York."
+
+The gentlemen joined in Mr. Carrhart's laugh, much to Steve's
+embarrassment, though one would have never known, by looking at him,
+that he was experiencing any such emotion.
+
+"You are doing well, very well; but do not be in too big a hurry and
+don't get a swelled head. It is fatal to progress."
+
+"No, sir. If it does not get smashed, I am sure I shall be able to keep
+it from swelling," replied Steve, with a faint smile, bringing a laugh
+from the assembled company.
+
+"Where did that accident occur?" asked the president, turning to Mr.
+Penton.
+
+"Right where Mr. Gary is standing now."
+
+The gentleman referred to, a vice-president of the company, promptly
+stepped back, glancing at the floor almost apprehensively. This brought
+another laugh from the visitors.
+
+"Come here, gentlemen," said Mr. Carrhart, "and I will show you where
+this young man fell in. I do not think we should be alive now had we
+been through that experience."
+
+The president threw open the door leading into the skip shaft. The
+others had stepped up to him, but as the skips thundered past them,
+leaping for the surface, faintly outlined monsters as they shot by, the
+members of the party instinctively drew back, casting wondering glances
+at the keen-faced boy who stood calmly, almost indifferently, looking
+into the shaft.
+
+Mr. Carrhart was explaining to them how the accident had occurred.
+
+"Excuse me," said Mr. Cary. "I think I should prefer to be run over by a
+touring car on Broadway."
+
+"And so should I," chorused the others, with the exception of Mr.
+Carrhart, who smiled grimly.
+
+A lunch had been prepared for the guests and they were to eat in the
+mine, on the platform by the tally-boards and the chutes. Tables were
+being set, and by the time the visitors had turned away from the shaft
+opening they were invited to be seated on the benches drawn up for the
+purpose.
+
+Steve and Bob stood talking with Mr. Carrhart, the president asking many
+questions.
+
+"Come, Carrhart," called one of the others.
+
+"I will be with you in a moment. Don't wait for me. Rush, how would you
+like to come to headquarters at the end of your year in the mines?"
+
+"You mean to take a position there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The lad reflected for a moment.
+
+"Would you advise me to do that, sir?" questioned Rush, looking Mr.
+Carrhart squarely in the eye.
+
+"So you are putting it up to me, are you, you young rascal?" laughed the
+president.
+
+"You know best, sir."
+
+"The question is, would you like to come into the offices?"
+
+"I am afraid I should not be worth much there. I think, sir, that I like
+the activity of this life better, so long as you have asked me. It is a
+rough, hard life, but I am happy here and I hope to learn the business
+so well that in time I shall be fit for a higher position."
+
+"I don't think there is any doubt about that, my lad. By all means
+remain here. I shall have an eye in your direction, as I have had ever
+since I sent you up here. Good afternoon, boys; the gentlemen are
+waiting for me."
+
+While this conversation was in progress an Italian was making his way
+down level seventeen. Over his back he carried a bag, the ends of which,
+fashioned into a loop, had been fastened in front of him, passing around
+his neck. The fellow was plodding half sleepily along, his boots
+slopping in the water beside the track as he staggered under his heavy
+burden.
+
+When near the chute a man suddenly appeared behind him, paused an
+instant, then walked swiftly away. A few seconds more and the Italian
+appeared passing the chute.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Bob. "Great goodness! Look at that!"
+
+Steve Rush did look. One look was enough. With a sudden exclamation he
+sprang for the slow-moving Italian, leaping the chutes at the risk of
+his life. The lad knew that the lives of every man there were in peril.
+By quick work only could he save them, and perhaps not then.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+FACING A GREAT PERIL
+
+
+Bob Jarvis was after him with a bound.
+
+The lads had seen a little tongue of flame creeping up the sides of the
+bag on the back of the Italian.
+
+Mr. Penton saw it also, as did the president of the company. The two men
+understood the situation as fully as did the lads themselves, but the
+others of the company were laughing and chatting, unmindful of the dire
+peril that was threatening them. Mr. Carrhart and Mr. Penton half rose
+from their seats, their faces blanching noticeably.
+
+Steve by this time had reached the Italian burden-bearer. Stretching
+forth his hands, he grasped the bag, giving it a powerful tug. The
+Italian toppled over backwards, the loop slipping over his head, leaving
+the sack and its contents in the hands of Steve Rush.
+
+In the meantime the attention of the visitors had been attracted. They
+discovered all at once that something unusual was taking place.
+
+"Hello, what's this--a fight?" cried Mr. Cary.
+
+Those who knew did not answer. They stood with pale faces, wide-eyed,
+watching the efforts of the Iron Boys.
+
+No sooner had Steve gotten possession of the bag than the Italian leaped
+to his feet. With an angry imprecation, he sprang at Steve, knife in
+hand.
+
+But Jarvis was watching him. The boy made a leap, landing a powerful
+blow with his fist on the back of the Italian's head. The man collapsed
+in a heap. Bob was down on his knees beside his companion in an instant.
+Steve had thrown the burning bag into the gutter extending along the
+track, where there trickled a little stream of water that had been
+turned a dull red by the iron ore. There was little water there, but
+Rush was scooping up what there was of the water and mud, and with it
+patting out the fire in the sack.
+
+Bob began doing the same, but now little flames were starting up all
+over the bag.
+
+"Beat it out with your hands!" cried Steve. "It's getting the best of
+us. If it reaches the fuses, we're done for!"
+
+"Skip, Steve; let me do it."
+
+Rush did not answer. He was beating a tattoo on the bag, now and then
+grabbing up a handful of mud and water to soothe the hands which were
+already quite badly burned.
+
+"It's out," announced Bob at last.
+
+The Iron Boys' prompt action had prevented the fuses from igniting. All
+this had occupied but a few seconds. Instinctively the visitors realized
+that something was wrong, but they did not understand what that
+something was.
+
+Steve rolled the bag over two or three times, soaking it as well as he
+could with the little water at hand. He then opened the mouth of the
+sack, emptying the contents into the gutter and soaking that with water.
+This done, he threw the sack away and straightened up, his face flushed
+from his exertions.
+
+The Italian was just getting to his feet unsteadily, but there was an
+angry light in his eyes.
+
+Steve pointed to the sack.
+
+"How did that happen?" demanded the lad.
+
+"Me not know," was the answer, with a shrug of the shoulders. "Why you
+hit me?"
+
+"Why did I hit you?" repeated Bob. "If I hadn't you'd been sailing
+skyward by this time."
+
+The Italian started away, muttering sullenly. Steve stepped forward,
+laying a restraining hand on the man's arm.
+
+"Wait a minute. I want to talk with you."
+
+Mr. Carrhart sat down on the bench rather heavily, wiping the
+perspiration from his forehead.
+
+"Now, Carrhart, perhaps you will tell us the meaning of this remarkable
+scene," said Mr. Cary. "Something is up. I have a suspicion."
+
+"Yes, you are right; something is up--or _was_. Do you gentlemen know
+what was in that bag that you saw on fire just now?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It was dynamite," said the president in an impressive tone.
+
+"Dynamite!" exclaimed the visitors in one voice.
+
+"Yes. How much was there in the bag, Mr. Penton?" asked Mr. Carrhart.
+
+"I should judge there were a dozen charges; about fifty pounds, I should
+say."
+
+The blanched faces of the visitors evidenced their understanding.
+
+"Enough to blow us into kingdom come," added the superintendent.
+
+"Then--then those boys have saved our lives?"
+
+"They have," said Mr. Penton.
+
+"Yes, and that act of theirs is sufficient to earn for them the Medal of
+Honor. I never knew of a braver act," added the president. "Rush, come
+here! Jarvis, I want you, too."
+
+The boys obeyed the command, Steve leading the unwilling Italian around
+the chutes to the platform, where he stood him against the wall.
+
+"You stay there until you are wanted!" ordered the boy, at which Mr.
+Penton nodded his approval.
+
+The visitors crowded forward, expressing their admiration at the bravery
+of the Iron Boys, at the same time plying them with eager questions.
+
+"How did you ever have the courage to do it?" questioned one man.
+
+"Because I didn't want to be blown up," answered Steve simply, at which
+the tension was relieved and everyone laughed.
+
+"What I should like to know," exclaimed Mr. Carrhart, "is how this
+affair occurred--how did that bag of dynamite chance to catch fire?"
+
+"From the Italian's candle, of course," said Mr. Cary. "I always have
+considered those open lights dangerous, especially where high explosives
+are used. We should have enclosed lights, the same as they do in the
+coal mines."
+
+"What do you think about it, Rush?" asked the president, turning to the
+young man inquiringly.
+
+"It did not catch from the man's candle, sir," answered the lad
+confidently.
+
+"You think not?"
+
+"I am sure of it, sir."
+
+"What makes you think it did not?"
+
+"Because the candle was on the front of his cap. It is there now, as you
+can see for yourself. The fire, when I first saw it, was burning at the
+bottom of the bag on the man's back. I do not see, by any stretch of the
+imagination, how the candle could have fired the cloth."
+
+"You're right."
+
+"Mr. Penton, would you like to question the man?" asked Steve, nodding
+toward the Italian.
+
+"Yes. Come here, Dominick."
+
+The Italian obeyed with sullenness.
+
+"How did this thing happen, Dominick?"
+
+"Me not know."
+
+"You did not have your candle in your hand at any time, did you?"
+
+"Me have candle in hat."
+
+"Was it there when you picked up the bag?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You are sure of that?"
+
+"Me sure."
+
+"May I ask a question?" inquired Steve.
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Did you pass or meet anyone just before you reached the chutes here?"
+
+"Me not meet any one."
+
+"I don't understand this at all," said Mr. Penton. "Dominick is
+trustworthy, so far as I am aware. At least no charges ever have been
+made against him."
+
+"He seemed to me to be pretty handy with his knife," suggested the
+president. "I shouldn't want to trust a man very far who acted that way,
+would you, Rush?"
+
+"Well, no, sir; but I shouldn't accuse him of setting fire to a bag of
+dynamite, then calmly shouldering the bag and marching off. At least,
+not unless he was determined to commit suicide."
+
+There was a hearty laugh, this time at the expense of the president.
+
+"There's good logic in that, at any rate," agreed Mr. Carrhart.
+
+Steve was studying the face of the Italian keenly. This Mr. Carrhart
+observed and nodded significantly to Superintendent Penton. But Steve
+could not make up his mind that Dominick was in any way to blame for
+what had barely missed being a great disaster.
+
+Both lads were puzzled. They could not understand it at all.
+
+"Perhaps a spark dropped from the trolley wire, thus firing the bag,"
+suggested the superintendent, after briefly turning the question over in
+his mind.
+
+"That is a plausible explanation," said Mr. Carrhart, "and for want of a
+better one we shall have to let it go at that. Yes, I think that must be
+the explanation."
+
+The party decided that they had seen enough of the Cousin Jack for one
+day. Some of the officials were more anxious to get out of the place
+than they cared to admit. They were not used to having their luncheons
+interrupted by fifty-pound sacks of dynamite catching fire.
+
+Each, before leaving, stepped up and shook hands with the Iron Boys.
+
+"I want to see you before I leave the range," said Mr. Carrhart as he
+bade Steve good-bye.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the boy, touching his hat, as he stepped to one
+side to permit the visitors to pass around the chute.
+
+"We must do something for those boys," said Mr. Cary to the president.
+
+"Yes," agreed Mr. Carrhart.
+
+"They are doing something for themselves, gentlemen," returned the
+superintendent. "They are not lads to need much help. They are the kind
+who carve out their own futures."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, they've gone," announced Bob, stamping the dirt from his shoes.
+"What do you think of it?"
+
+"Of the fire--the burning bag, you mean?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I think it was a mighty queer occurrence."
+
+"So do I," agreed Jarvis, "and it's my opinion that it will bear looking
+into."
+
+"Where's Dominick?"
+
+"He sneaked away when the others left. But he is of no use to us. He
+knows nothing about this affair, beyond what we all saw. We must look
+beyond him for the cause of the fire. Well, I'm off."
+
+The lads separated for the time being and went off about their duties.
+But the thought of the fired bag kept recurring to Steve Rush. He turned
+the matter over and over in his mind, yet without being able to reach
+any definite conclusion regarding it.
+
+"I wish I knew," he mused. "It is not my business, however, to inquire
+into the affair unless I have orders to do so."
+
+He was to receive his orders sooner than he imagined, and his
+investigations were eventually to develop some startling facts
+concerning conditions in the Cousin Jack Mine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+INTO A BLACK GULF
+
+
+While the Iron Boys were trudging through the mine, completing their
+weary rounds of miles with their eyes fixed keenly on the tracks, a
+meeting had been called at the office of the superintendent. All of the
+gentlemen who comprised the party of visitors at the mine were at the
+meeting.
+
+Maps of the mines on the range were spread out on the table before them,
+and they were going over and discussing these maps in detail. Business
+was transacted with a speed that would have made most of the business
+men in that remote region dizzy headed.
+
+Having disposed of the matters before them, the conversation turned to
+their recent narrow escape in the Cousin Jack Mine. The visitors were
+fully convinced now that the fire had been caused by a spark from the
+trolley wire, and Superintendent Penton, if he thought otherwise, did
+not say so. He had made up his mind, however, to push his inquiry a
+little further. He wanted to make sure that the suggestion was the
+correct one.
+
+From the subject of the fired bag the men turned to a discussion of
+Steve Rush and Bob Jarvis. This ended in Mr. Cary's making a
+proposition. After a little discussion it was put in the form of a
+motion and passed with enthusiasm.
+
+Of all of this, of course, the lads tramping along the levels far
+underground knew nothing. It was destined to come as a great surprise to
+them when they learned of the action taken by the officials of the
+company in the interest of the two plucky boys.
+
+That night the officers boarded their private car and went on to visit
+other of the company's mines further up the range. Early on the
+following forenoon Superintendent Penton visited his own mine, and while
+there looked up Steve Rush.
+
+The superintendent asked Steve what he thought about the theory of a
+spark from the wire having fired the dynamite bag.
+
+"I don't take any stock in it," answered the boy promptly. "Do you,
+sir?"
+
+"I have had my doubts, but how else could it have started?"
+
+"I will answer that question by showing you that it could not have
+started from a wire spark. The fire started on the underside of the bag.
+Did you notice that?"
+
+"No; it had spread over the bag when I caught sight of it. But I was
+reasonably certain there was more to it than we imagined when you asked
+Dominick if he met anyone in the level just before reaching the chutes."
+
+Steve nodded reflectively.
+
+"What do you infer from the fire starting on the under side of the
+dynamite bag?"
+
+"That someone had either accidentally or by design shoved a candle under
+the bag while Dominick was carrying it. That is the only way I can see
+that the fire might have started."
+
+"I think you are right about that. But it surely was an accident. No one
+would be willing to take such terrible chances. Why, it might have blown
+everyone up within a wide radius."
+
+"Yes, it would have done so."
+
+"And yet you were down on your knees, with your nose right over the
+stuff, as if it were so much clay. I have steady nerves myself, but I
+don't believe I should have had the pluck to do that. At least, I know I
+should have turned my head away."
+
+Steve laughed.
+
+"I am afraid that would not have helped you much if the stuff had gone
+off."
+
+"Rush, if you suspect anything keep your eyes open; that's all I have to
+say. What you don't see will not be worth the seeing."
+
+"Very well, sir; I will do as you request, but I have not much hope of
+getting at the truth."
+
+"I'll risk that. I am going to the lower level. There is some difficulty
+with the pumps there, the engineer tells me," said the superintendent,
+proceeding on his way.
+
+Steve had not very much to do, so he walked back to his old post on the
+seventeenth level to wait until Bob Jarvis should come along. Steve and
+the superintendent had no sooner left the spot where they had been
+talking than a figure slunk from a deserted drift near by, glanced up
+and down the level, then hurried away. The man's hat was pulled down,
+and the candle above aided in throwing his face into deep shadow, but
+the full beard was not hidden, had anyone been near by to observe it.
+
+Steve had been sitting on the platform at the chutes for about thirty
+minutes when the level's telephone rang.
+
+"Mr. Penton wants to see you on the lower level," said the telephone
+boy.
+
+"Where is he?" questioned Steve.
+
+"He says he'll meet you near the suction pipes."
+
+"Very good," answered the lad, rising. "If Mr. Jarvis comes along tell
+him where I have gone. If I get through in time I will meet him here and
+go up with him."
+
+Rush hurried over, signaled the cage tender that he wished to descend,
+and a short time afterwards was being plunged deeper into the mine.
+
+He left the cage at the sub-level just above the last level. The last
+level was flooded with water some twenty feet deep. All the water from
+the mine was drained down into the last level and from there pumped to
+the surface and thus disposed of.
+
+There were naturally no mining operations carried on down on the last
+level.
+
+Steve had been down there on numerous occasions and every inch of the
+ground was familiar to him. Upon leaving the cage he made his way
+through the dark, damp tunnels, whistling as he stepped briskly along.
+He could not imagine what Mr. Penton could want of him down there, for
+if anything were wrong with the pumping system it was a matter for the
+engineering department and not for a track inspector.
+
+Turning the last bend in the sub-level, Push began to move with more
+caution. A moment more and he caught sight of the big water pipes
+winding up through the roof of the level.
+
+"I wonder where Mr. Penton is?" muttered the lad, stepping out on a
+plank platform.
+
+As he did so a wave of dampness that almost chilled him swept up from
+the dark depths of the last level. An open space extended from the
+floor down to the level itself and from this soundings were occasionally
+taken to determine the depth of the water. The lead line hung from a peg
+driven into a crevice in the rock. Steve noted that the line was dry.
+
+"That is curious. Mr. Penton evidently has not made a sounding. I should
+have thought he would have done so if he had reason to think the water
+was not being pumped out as fast as it should be."
+
+Rush raised his voice and called out the name of the superintendent.
+Only the echo of his own voice came back to him.
+
+"That's queer," decided Steve. "But, of course, he did not telephone me
+from here. He probably is on one of the levels above this. I will wait."
+
+Resuming his whistling, the lad began pacing back and forth on the
+planking, having stuck his candlestick back on his miner's hat.
+
+The young inspector had been waiting for fully half an hour, but not a
+sign of the superintendent did he see.
+
+"Well, this is getting rather tiresome," he said, pausing to listen to
+the rhythmic click of the pumps that his ears could faintly catch. "I
+think I will amuse myself by sounding the water level."
+
+The lad took down the rope, to one end of which a piece of lead had been
+attached, spun the weighted end a few times about his head, letting it
+fly out into the darkness, listening intently as the line ran swiftly
+through his hands.
+
+A distant splash followed a few seconds later, whereupon the line gave
+out not quite so rapidly.
+
+"It's down," nodded Steve. He leaned over the edge to pull the line in
+without drawing it over the edge of the planking, so that he could the
+better see that mark of the water on the rope.
+
+"Gracious, I should hate to take a swim in that hole," said the Iron
+Boy, with a laugh.
+
+He stopped suddenly. Steve thought he had heard something behind him.
+
+"Is that you, Mr. Penton?" he asked, turning and peering into the
+darkness.
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"I must be getting the creeps," said Steve, beginning to whistle as he
+hauled in the line. "Wha--what--here, let go of me. Let----"
+
+Some invisible force behind had put a sudden pressure upon Steve Rush.
+He was being rapidly shoved toward the edge of the platform.
+
+All at once Steve felt the flooring drop from beneath his feet; and,
+without making a sound, the lad plunged over into the darkness.
+
+A loud splash followed, then all was still.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING BOY
+
+
+Bob Jarvis waited a long time at the chutes for his companion, but Steve
+did not return. This did not cause Bob any particular worry, as Steve no
+doubt had been called to some other part of the mine. So Bob deciding to
+wait no longer, strolled away.
+
+At the close of the day's work, however, when Steve was not at the mouth
+of the shaft waiting for him, Bob began to wonder. He waited about the
+shaft for half an hour, then went on to his boarding place. Steve had
+not returned.
+
+"Where's Rush?" demanded the boarding boss, knowing Steve's habit of
+punctuality.
+
+"That is what's bothering me. I haven't seen him."
+
+It was the business of the boarding boss to look quickly into any
+absences and report them to the superintendent or the mine captain. He
+got busy at once. Calling up the time-keeper's office, he inquired if
+Steve Rush had checked in.
+
+The information came back a moment later that Steve had not come up from
+the mine yet; or, if he had, he had failed to report himself.
+
+"Then something has happened to him," was Jarvis' emphatic conclusion.
+"He left word for me to meet him at seventeen, but when I got there he
+had gone. I haven't seen him since."
+
+The boarding boss agreed so strongly that he telephoned to the
+superintendent. The latter had not yet arrived home from his office, so
+the mine captain was communicated with.
+
+But Bob Jarvis already was out of the house, headed for the shaft at top
+speed.
+
+"Has Steve Rush come up yet?" he demanded of the cage-tender.
+
+"Haven't seen him."
+
+Bob hesitated. He realized the futility of wandering about the mine not
+knowing in what part of it he should look for the missing Steve. He then
+hurried to the time-keeper's office, learning that nothing had been seen
+of the missing boy.
+
+Bob did not know which way to turn. But by the time he had reached the
+shaft again Superintendent Penton was there, together with the mine
+captain, preparing to go below. The cage had just come up and the men
+were stepping aboard when a boy from the boarding house where the Iron
+Boys lived came running up out of breath.
+
+"Wait!" cried Bob. "Here comes a boy from our hashery. Maybe Steve has
+gone home."
+
+"What is it, boy?" called the superintendent.
+
+"Boss wanted me to tell you that the telephone man who lives with us
+says Mr. Rush got a telephone message from you to meet him at the lower
+level this afternoon. He says Rush didn't come back."
+
+"I didn't send for him to meet me anywhere," answered the
+superintendent. "We'll go to the lower level. Shoot us down as fast as
+is safe," he added, addressing the cage-tender.
+
+The bottom of the car seemed to be dropping from beneath their feet, so
+rapid was their descent.
+
+Bob, holding to the support rod above their heads, was thinking fast and
+hard.
+
+"I knew something had happened to Steve," he said. "Something has
+happened to him."
+
+Mr. Penton had not spoken since the cage started. He, too, was thinking
+deeply. There was something about all this that he could not understand,
+though he was unable to clearly define what really was in his mind. If
+someone had called Steve Rush to come to the sub-level above the lower
+level, and had done so in the name of the superintendent, it must have
+been done either as a joke or for some other purpose that could only be
+surmised.
+
+"Why should anyone have resorted to such a subterfuge?" wondered Mr.
+Penton.
+
+Very much the same thoughts were running through the mind of Bob Jarvis.
+So engrossed was each with his own thoughts that neither man seemed to
+realize the dizzy rate of speed at which they were descending. Finally
+the cage began to slow down gradually, then finally came to an easy
+stop.
+
+There was no light in that sub-level, but the occupants of the cage knew
+exactly where they were. They knew the place as well as though the
+sub-level had been ablaze with light.
+
+"All off," ordered the superintendent. "The cage will wait for us here."
+
+He had given orders that the cage was to remain below until he signaled
+the tender to hoist. If the latter found it necessary to raise the cage
+before that he was to ring a certain signal on the gong, each level and
+sub-level being provided with one.
+
+"All hands keep their eyes open," directed the leader of the searching
+party. "I haven't much hope that we shall find him here, however."
+
+The group moved along the sub-level, glancing about them keenly as they
+did so, until they reached the turn or bend in the tunnel, where they
+paused to listen. The sub-level was as silent as a tomb. They could not
+even hear the rush of the water as it dashed into the lower level, some
+of it coming all the way from the surface.
+
+"Shall I call out?" asked Bob.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Steve!" Bob's voice did not seem to carry far. It sounded weak to him.
+
+"Oh, Steve! Steve Rush!" shouted the superintendent.
+
+There being no response, he repeated the call several times, but with no
+better result.
+
+"I guess it is useless, boys. I am afraid we shall not find him here. In
+fact, I can't believe that he came down here at all."
+
+"The boy said you had telephoned to Steve to come down, didn't he?"
+asked Jarvis.
+
+"Yes; but I did nothing of the sort. The telephone man must have made a
+mistake in the message--or else----" Mr. Penton checked himself sharply.
+"We will look further, though I am sure we are wasting time. We shall
+probably find that he has fallen somewhere on one of the upper levels
+and hurt himself. If that is so, one of the watchmen is sure to discover
+him and report the matter at once. We will go out to the platform, then
+on up to the next level. I'll have all the watchmen notified at once to
+take up the search."
+
+The searchers walked out on the planking where Steve had stood a couple
+of hours before. Mr. Penton peered down into the black pit, while the
+others stood a little back from him.
+
+"He is not here. It is as I thought. He has not been here, in all
+probability. We shall have to go on up, boys. I----"
+
+Bob suddenly jerked his candle from his hat, holding the light to the
+floor. As he did so, he uttered a half-smothered exclamation, at the
+same time grabbing something from the planking and holding it up to the
+light.
+
+"Look!" cried the lad. "Look! He hasn't been here, eh?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+WHEN THE WATERS CLOSED OVER HIM
+
+
+Steve did not cry out when he found himself plunging into the water,
+principally for the reason that he was too plucky to make an outcry when
+his safety was imperiled. In the second place, his mind was working so
+rapidly that he did not have time to cry out.
+
+He struck the water with a splash, broadside on, quickly sinking beneath
+the surface. Steve was too good a swimmer to swallow any water, however,
+and began holding his breath even before he struck the water, knowing as
+he did what was about to happen. The result was that he had propelled
+himself to the surface before many seconds had elapsed. He came up
+shaking himself like a water dog, but was careful to make as little
+noise as possible.
+
+As soon as he succeeded in getting the water out of his eyes, he looked
+up, expecting to see a light on the platform on the sub-level. All was
+inky blackness there, and not a sound could be heard save the rush of
+water.
+
+Young Rush began swimming. He did not know whether there was a ladder
+extending down into the level or not, so he swam about for some time,
+feeling along the wall in search of something by which he might pull
+himself up. But he did not find a projection of any kind. The rocks
+forming the wall were smooth and slimy and felt like ice to the touch.
+
+He was beginning to feel chilled. Steve tried to recall what the map of
+the lower level looked like, but try as he might he could not recall a
+single detail of the map filed in the engineer's office. By this time he
+did not know where he was. He had lost all sense of direction.
+
+"I guess I am a goner. They've got me this time," he said aloud. "I hope
+that Mr. Penton will find out how it happened."
+
+The boy was now shivering violently. His teeth were chattering and he
+began to wonder if he were freezing to death, for the sense of feeling
+seemed to have left his legs and arms. A numbness was slowly creeping
+over him.
+
+"I must keep going, or I shall surely be drowned," he cried, once more
+striking out and swimming as fast as he could, hoping thereby to restore
+his circulation to its former condition. But the water was too cold and
+the young miner's efforts grew weaker as the moments passed.
+
+Though he did not know it, the drift of the water on the lower level was
+toward the large pipes, where it was being sucked to the surface by the
+powerful pumps above.
+
+As Steve reached over and over in a slow over-hand stroke, which now and
+then he varied by falling into the frog stroke, he forged slowly ahead
+until his hands suddenly struck some object that was not the rocky side
+of the level. The lad grasped it quickly.
+
+"A plank. Thank goodness!" he cried.
+
+The plank had floated off either from the platform or from the lagging
+somewhere on that level. It made no difference to the swimmer where it
+had come from. He threw both arms about the plank and lay there resting
+for some time, breathing heavily. Finally he pulled himself over on the
+plank, stretching out lengthwise on it. The piece of wood held him up
+very well. Now and then he would paddle a little with his hands,
+propelling himself in one direction until it bumped against a wall,
+floating off with the current again.
+
+While the lad realized that the chances were against his ever getting
+out of the level alive, he felt little fear. He was one of those rare
+beings in whom the emotion of fear had not been fully developed.
+
+All the time the numbness was growing upon him. Instinctively realizing
+that he was likely to lose control of his muscles, Steve wrapped both
+arms and legs about the plank so that he might not fall off and drown.
+
+At last he became so benumbed and dazed that he could not help himself
+at all. A warm glow seemed to be spreading itself over his body. He had
+never felt more comfortable in his life, and a short time afterwards he
+gave way to his drowsiness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was a few moments later that Superintendent Penton and his searching
+party entered the sub-level in search of Steve. Rush heard them call out
+his name, but he was too sleepy to answer. Then he heard no more.
+
+When Bob Jarvis cried out "look," Mr. Penton and the mine captain had
+turned sharply.
+
+"What is it?" they demanded eagerly and in one voice.
+
+"A hat! It's Steve's hat!"
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Yes. Here's his name inside the crown. We wrote our names in with ink
+at the same time. You can see mine is the same--the same kind of
+ink--purple."
+
+As the two men started toward Bob the mine captain stumbled over the
+sounding rope that lay on the platform. He stooped to pick it up, and as
+he did so he, too, uttered an exclamation.
+
+"This line is wet, Mr. Penton," he said excitedly.
+
+"Then Steve has been casting it. He has been sounding the level,
+probably to pass away the time while he was waiting for me."
+
+Once more the superintendent raised his voice, calling out the name of
+Steve Rush. As before there was no response.
+
+"Boys, I see--I understand. Steve has fallen into the level and drowned.
+No doubt he fell in while casting the lead, for part of the line is
+dangling over the edge there now. Too bad, too bad. But----"
+
+"He may not be drowned. Let's do something," begged Bob.
+
+"What would you suggest?"
+
+"Why, look for him, of course. I'll go over myself and look for him."
+
+"Lad, it would be suicide. You would drown, even if you were not too
+chilled to swim after you got into the water. You----"
+
+"I'd like to see any water that could drown me," answered Bob.
+
+"We must have help, and at once. Jim, run up to the next level and
+telephone for help. Have them send down several men. Be quick about it."
+
+"Ask them to bring ropes," interjected Bob.
+
+"Yes, have them bring down ropes," repeated the superintendent.
+
+Bob began ripping up the planking on the platform. His active mind had
+thought out a plan and he did not wait for permission to put it into
+operation.
+
+"What are you doing there, lad?"
+
+"I am making a raft. We have got to have something which will float on
+the water. We can fasten it together when the men get here with ropes.
+I'll be ready before they can get here."
+
+Jarvis was working with desperate haste. Perhaps his companion was not
+yet dead. At least Bob would know that he had done his best.
+
+"Hark!"
+
+"What is it?" whispered Bob.
+
+"I thought I heard someone call. I am sure I did. Rush! Oh, Steve!"
+
+A faint "here," that sounded far away reached their ears.
+
+"He's alive! I tell you, he's alive!" cried Bob Jarvis.
+
+Grabbing the end of one of the planks that he had torn loose, Bob began
+dragging it toward the edge of the platform.
+
+"What are you going to do, lad?"
+
+"Do? Why, sir, I'm going after him."
+
+"Wait; let the men do that. I cannot have you going in there," objected
+Mr. Penton. But Bob did not stop. He hauled the plank over, and,
+snatching the rope, made one end of the latter fast about the plank. He
+then began letting the plank over the side, end first. It nearly got
+away from him, the rope burning the skin from his palms as it spun
+through his hands.
+
+"Let me help you." Mr. Penton sprang forward, throwing himself on the
+fast running rope.
+
+"The plank is on the water. It can't get away from us now," said Bob,
+beginning to strip off his jacket, first having stuck his candlestick in
+a niche in the rocks.
+
+"You are not going over!"
+
+"Yes, sir, I am going over. We haven't a minute to lose."
+
+"I advise you not to do so."
+
+The superintendent was far from being a timid man, but he knew the
+danger; he felt that his responsibility was too great to permit the boy
+to enter that black hole.
+
+"You hold the rope. Nothing can happen to me. I am not afraid of ice
+water, nor any other kind. Maybe I shall be able to find him by the time
+the men get here. We shall gain some precious minutes in that way."
+
+Next the boy's heavy boots came off, leaving him in his stocking feet.
+He passed the end of the rope to the superintendent.
+
+"Will you please hold your candle over the edge, so I can see where the
+plank is, sir?"
+
+Mr. Penton did so.
+
+"Be careful, Jarvis; do be careful," he urged. "I ought not to let you
+do this. If anything happens to you I shall feel that I am directly
+responsible."
+
+"Do not fear; nothing will happen to me."
+
+Bob peered down into the dark waters, where, after a moment, he made out
+the plank floating slowly toward the spot where the pipes disappeared
+beneath the surface.
+
+"Now, please hold the light up high, so that I can see what I am doing."
+
+The lad poised a moment, then leaped far out into the darkness. Instead
+of making a dive, head first, Bob chose to go down feet first. His body
+straightened, and as he neared the water he clasped his hands above his
+head. He took the water cleanly, making only a slight splash as he
+disappeared beneath the surface.
+
+As soon as he felt the water closing over him the Iron Boy threw out
+both hands to stay his progress and began treading water vigorously. He
+soon regained the surface.
+
+Jarvis came up blowing and puffing, shaking his head and making the
+water fairly foam about him as he struck out with hands and feet.
+
+"Are you all right, Jarvis?" called Mr. Penton in an anxious tone.
+
+"Yes, where's the plank?"
+
+"To the right of you. A little more to the right. There, it is directly
+ahead of you now."
+
+A few powerful strokes and Bob had grasped the plank. He pulled himself
+partly up on it and looked about him.
+
+"Can't you let a candle down to light up this hole?" he called.
+
+"I have nothing to let one down with. Do you see anything?"
+
+"Nothing that I want to see. Ho, Steve!"
+
+"Here," sounded the faint answer that seemed to come from several
+different directions at the same time.
+
+"Did you hear that?" demanded Bob excitedly. "Where did the sound come
+from?"
+
+"It sounded to me as though he might be over to the left. Have courage,
+Steve; we will have you out in a few minutes. I have sent for help. Can
+you keep up?"
+
+Their ears failed to catch any answer.
+
+"I'm coming, Steve," roared Jarvis. "Keep shouting if you can, so I'll
+know where you are."
+
+"Stay where you are, Jarvis!" commanded Mr. Penton sternly.
+
+"Do you think I'm going to stay here and let him drown?" demanded the
+lad. There was a splash as Bob Jarvis left the plank and began ploughing
+through the water at racing speed.
+
+"He'll be drowned; they both will be drowned!" exclaimed the
+superintendent. "Such pluck, such pluck! Hurry up, men; hurry!" he
+shouted as he caught the sound of voices off in the darkness of the
+sub-level.
+
+Half a dozen men, headed by the mine captain, came running toward him.
+
+"Look out! Look out for the hole in the floor. Have you ropes?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then tie a few planks together. Make a raft and let it over the side.
+Work fast, for once in your lives! There are two men down there and they
+may be drowning."
+
+"Oh, Steve!"
+
+They could hear Bob's voice calling to his companion. The voice sounded
+far away, for Bob had plunged ahead, beating his way courageously
+through the waters in the black darkness.
+
+"I hear him. He's ahead of me," Jarvis shouted.
+
+"Can you hold out?" called Mr. Penton.
+
+"Yes--_as long as there's water to float on_!" the answer came back
+faintly.
+
+In the meantime the men were ripping up the planks. Several of these
+they lashed together and let carefully down over the edge of the
+platform, or what was left of it. They had made ropes fast at both ends,
+in order that the raft might make a landing platform.
+
+"Now you men let me down," commanded the superintendent.
+
+"You had better let me go, sir," advised the mine captain. "I am lighter
+than you."
+
+"It's my place to go; do as I tell you. While I am down there rig a
+sling to pull us up on. Jim, you take charge of the operations at this
+end and see that there is no slip anywhere."
+
+"I will, sir," answered the mine captain.
+
+Superintendent Penton grasped the rope that had been made fast to a
+shore post on the sub-level and let himself down. He was a strong man,
+used to emergencies and well able to take care of himself anywhere in
+the mine. Shortly afterwards he was standing on the platform or raft
+below, steadying himself by holding to the rope and the side wall.
+
+"Are you all right, Bob?" he shouted.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"If he happens to get into a drift, they're both lost. Pass down some
+candles from above, Jim."
+
+Several were let down on a rope and these Mr. Penton stuck into the
+wall, lighting up the scene fairly well.
+
+"They're calling you, sir," cried Jim.
+
+"What is it?" roared the superintendent.
+
+"I've got him." It was Jarvis' voice, and Mr. Penton breathed a sigh of
+relief.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+A THOUSAND FEET OF LADDERS
+
+
+After what seemed an endless wait, the watchers heard a great splashing
+far out on the water. It was Jarvis paddling toward the raft. He had
+found Steve, the latter unconscious. Just as Bob reached the plank on
+which the other boy was hanging Steve slipped off into the water.
+
+Bob dived for his chum without an instant's hesitation and when he came
+up he was gripping the half-drowned Steve. The latter had relapsed into
+unconsciousness. By this time the plank had floated away several yards.
+Bob had a hard struggle to reach it, but at last he succeeded, and after
+great effort managed to place Rush partly on it, so the latter's head
+would be out of water.
+
+Bob pulled himself upon one end of the plank, so that the other end
+would be clear of the water, and began paddling. The water fairly flew
+under his efforts, the swimmer now and then using his feet to help steer
+the awkward craft.
+
+"I can't see the light. Where are you?" Jarvis cried.
+
+"Here!" shouted Mr. Penton.
+
+A bend in the rocky wall hid the light of the candles from the raft.
+After several minutes of paddling Bob caught the faint light ahead of
+him.
+
+"I'm all right now, if Steve is only all right."
+
+"Is he alive?" called Mr. Penton, as he made out the strange craft
+bearing slowly down upon him.
+
+"Yes, but he's unconscious."
+
+"Then hurry as fast as you can."
+
+"I am hurrying. This isn't a speed boat."
+
+The plank drew up alongside the raft after some difficult manoeuvring
+on the part of Bob Jarvis. Mr. Penton grasped the limp form of Steve
+Rush, hauling him to the raft.
+
+There was a splash and a choking exclamation. The plank had turned
+turtle, landing Bob in the water on his back. The boy was almost
+exhausted, but he righted himself and swam to the raft, to which he held
+for a moment to rest himself. He then clambered to the raft. He had
+barely enough strength left to support himself.
+
+The superintendent was tying Steve in the sling that the men had made.
+
+"Haul away, above there!" he roared. "Be as quick as you can, but be
+careful. Look out, there! What are you trying to do?"
+
+Steve's body had hit the rocks with a resounding bump, but the boy did
+not feel the shock.
+
+"Let the sling down at once. Two of you get at Rush and rub him. Don't
+be afraid of rubbing too hard. Start his circulation."
+
+The sling was dropped over the side again, while two of the miners set
+to work on Steve.
+
+"Get in," commanded Mr. Penton, as the sling came down to them.
+
+"You first, sir," said Bob.
+
+"Get in, I said!" The superintendent's voice had a note of authority
+that was not to be disputed.
+
+Jarvis reluctantly took his place in the sling.
+
+"Haul away," he called, and Bob was quickly drawn to the platform, where
+he dropped on his knees by Steve's side, pushing one of the men away,
+and began slapping the unconscious boy's feet, from which the boots and
+stockings had been removed. Steve was scarcely breathing.
+
+The sling had been lowered quickly after bringing Jarvis up, and the
+superintendent took his place in it. The men began hauling him up, but
+with great difficulty, for Mr. Penton was a heavily built man.
+
+All at once the men sat down. A splash followed almost instantly.
+
+"The rope's broken!" cried one, as Bob bounded to his feet.
+
+"Are you hurt?" he cried, running to the edge.
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"He's fallen into the water!" shouted another of the men.
+
+Once more Bob Jarvis leaped from the platform, but this time he dived
+head first. Like a flash he realized that, having struck the platform,
+Mr. Penton undoubtedly had been stunned and was unable to help himself.
+
+Such was the case. Coming to the surface almost at once, Bob swam about
+for a minute or so before discovering Mr. Penton's whereabouts. The
+superintendent was beginning to struggle, but he was too much dazed to
+help himself.
+
+Jarvis was by his side with a few swift strokes. He did not wait to
+inquire whether the superintendent were hurt or not, but, grabbing the
+man by the collar, Bob began kicking himself toward the platform. By the
+time they had reached there Mr. Penton was able to help himself a
+little, but the boy had a hard tussle to get the superintendent on the
+platform.
+
+Mr. Penton lay down for a brief moment, then sat up.
+
+"Are you able to try it again?" asked Bob.
+
+"Yes. What happened?"
+
+"The rope broke. You got a pretty hard bump."
+
+Another sling had been quickly rigged, and this being let down, Mr.
+Penton was drawn up again, Bob waiting below, but standing to one side,
+so that in case another accident occurred he should not be carried down,
+too.
+
+The next trip Jarvis was drawn up. He found the superintendent a little
+dazed, but holding himself together firmly.
+
+"Thank you," he said shortly, flashing a look at Bob. "We must get Rush
+up at once where he may have care. Carry him over to the cage. Leave
+everything as it is here. We have no time to attend to anything but the
+boy."
+
+The men picked up the lad and bore him through the sub-level. Steve was
+still limp and unconscious.
+
+Reaching the cage, Mr. Benton gave the signal to hoist. The car did not
+move, whereupon the superintendent, with an impatient exclamation
+reached out, giving the signal lever another pull.
+
+"What does this mean?" He rang again to hoist the cage. "Bob, run up to
+the telephone on the next level and find out what's the matter. The Evil
+One himself seems to have taken possession of this mine of late."
+
+Jarvis came running back a few minutes later.
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"The cage-tender says the machinery has broken down."
+
+"Did he say what the trouble is?"
+
+"He said the engineer had sent word that the big cog wheel had stripped
+itself. They can't move the cage, and probably will not be able to do so
+for some hours. They are taking the old wheel off now, preparatory to
+putting on the spare wheel."
+
+Mr. Penton clenched his hands to keep from expressing himself as he
+would like to do.
+
+"We must get this boy somewhere where we can warm him up, or he will die
+on our hands. The only place I know of is the pump station and----"
+
+"Then we will carry Steve up the ladders," interrupted Bob.
+
+"But, boy, it is nearly a thousand feet from here to the pump station.
+We can't get him up there by hand."
+
+"I'll show you whether we can or not. One of you go ahead and light the
+way. Help me through the manholes at the platforms and we'll get him up
+there in short order. Mr. Penton, will you have somebody follow close
+behind me to help a little?"
+
+"Do you think you will be able to do it?"
+
+"I don't think! I know!"
+
+"Then I will carry him myself."
+
+"No, sir; I will carry him. You are not able. You are still suffering
+from the bump you got."
+
+Without further words Jarvis picked up the limp form of his companion.
+He staggered a little as he swung Steve over his shoulder, the boy's
+head drooping over on Bob's left breast. Then began a climb that is
+talked of to this day in the Cousin Jack Mine. Up ladder after ladder
+staggered Bob Jarvis with the form of his companion over his shoulder.
+Now and then he would pause on a landing for a breathing spell, where,
+with heaving chest, he would lean against the rocky wall with eyes
+closed and everything swimming dizzily about him. Mr. Penton and the
+searching party followed him up the ladder, but he would let none of
+them relieve him of his burden.
+
+"Had--hadn't you better telephone for a surgeon to meet us at the pump
+station?" asked Jarvis.
+
+"Yes, but how will he get down?"
+
+"Let him climb down the ladders. I guess he can climb down if we can go
+the other way."
+
+"It shall be done at once." Mr. Penton gave the order and the mine
+captain left them at the next landing to telephone to the company's
+hospital.
+
+After a long struggle they reached the level where the pump station was
+located. Even here Bob Jarvis refused to give up his burden. He
+staggered down the level to where the big pumps were working, tenderly
+laying Steve down on a blanket that the engineer had thrown down. Then
+Bob settled down in a heap.
+
+Illustration: Bob Staggered Up the Ladder With His Burden.
+
+"Strip the boy," commanded Mr. Penton. "If you have any warm blankets
+here, wrap him in them. If not, use some of your waste. You have barrels
+of that on hand."
+
+Steve's wet, clinging clothes were quickly removed. There being no other
+blankets, waste used for wiping the engines was wrapped about him, the
+rubbing process having been resumed.
+
+Nearly an hour elapsed before the surgeon, red of face, puffing from his
+exertions, came hurrying down the level.
+
+He was quickly made acquainted with the situation and got to work at
+once.
+
+"Do you think his condition is serious?" demanded the superintendent.
+
+"No, not unless pneumonia sets in. That is the great danger, and he will
+be lucky if he escapes it. Is there any chance of getting him up
+to-night?"
+
+"I can't say. I am going on up as soon as I hear something definite from
+you regarding the boy's condition."
+
+"I shall be able to give that to you very soon, for his circulation has
+already started."
+
+The color was returning to the lad's lips and cheeks, and his breath was
+coming more regularly. Half an hour from that time Steve had fully
+recovered his senses and announced himself as ready to get up and dress.
+
+The surgeon advised him not to do so, finally ordering the patient to
+remain as he was. Rush accepted the order with poor grace. His clothing
+was being dried out by the pump engineer, the garments being ready very
+shortly afterwards.
+
+Jarvis had wholly recovered from the strain that he had been under,
+except that he was still a little weak in the knees.
+
+"We owe our lives to your friend Jarvis," said Mr. Penton, after Steve
+had been made as comfortable as possible. "But what I wish to know is
+how you happened to get into the lower level. Did you fall while
+sounding with the line?"
+
+Rush hesitated, then glancing up at the superintendent, replied:
+
+"No, sir; I did not fall."
+
+"I don't understand."
+
+"I was pushed in, Mr. Penton."
+
+"You don't mean that--surely you cannot mean that, Rush!" exclaimed Mr.
+Penton in amazement.
+
+"Yes, sir; I was."
+
+"Who pushed you?"
+
+"That is what I should like to know."
+
+"This is really incredible, Rush. Are you quite sure you are not
+mistaken?"
+
+"I am not mistaken."
+
+"Tell me about it."
+
+"When you sent for me----"
+
+"I did not send for you. That was a mistake. And that is what puzzles
+me. I am told you thought you received a message from me to meet you on
+the sub-level above the lowest level."
+
+"Yes, sir; that was the message I received."
+
+"Well, I never sent it. I haven't been down there recently. I had
+started to go there to-day when some other matters came up calling me
+back to the office."
+
+"You did not send for me?"
+
+"I certainly did not."
+
+"Then whoever did send that message must have done so for the purpose of
+getting me down there to do me up. I begin to understand."
+
+"But, Steve, who could bear you such ill will?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"It isn't Steve alone they are after," interjected Jarvis. "The rascals
+seem to have it in for the mine, too. Take, for instance, the cage.
+They've put that out of business."
+
+"The villains! I should like to catch them--I should like to get my
+hands on the man who pushed me in this afternoon."
+
+"You did not finish telling me of the occurrence," said Mr. Penton.
+
+Steve related the story of his adventure, the others listening with
+grave faces as the narrative proceeded.
+
+"Now, tell me how you found me," he said in conclusion.
+
+"Jarvis missed you. But did you not get sight of the man at all?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"You do not know whether there was more than one?"
+
+"I do not. I didn't know there was one until he placed his hands against
+my back and pushed me in. When I came up, after the first plunge, I
+tried to see who was on the platform, but I neither saw nor heard
+anyone. I can't understand why he didn't hit me."
+
+"The scoundrel probably wanted it to appear to be an accident. He
+thought you would not get out of that hole very easily," said Bob.
+
+"Nor should I, in all probability, had it not been for you."
+
+"Rush, we must go into this matter very thoroughly. The man who let you
+through the trap on number seventeen is no longer with us. He has not
+been with us for several months, but the attacks on you have been
+renewed. Next thing we know damage will be done to the company's
+property. I don't want to confess that we are beaten and send for
+detectives."
+
+"You leave it to us--we'll catch him," spoke up Bob Jarvis. "I have an
+itching at my finger tips and I won't do a thing to him when I get them
+on him."
+
+"That is exactly what I want you boys to do--find the man or men guilty
+of this outrage, and I shall not be as lenient as I was in the other
+affair."
+
+Steve lay with half-closed eyes thinking deeply. Instinctively there
+appeared to his mental vision the picture of the bewhiskered man whom he
+had seen several weeks before, and who made such an unfavorable
+impression upon him.
+
+"Yes; I shall be very glad to do what I can," he said, glancing up at
+Mr. Penton. "I am ready to begin at once. Doctor, don't you think it is
+about time you were letting me get up?"
+
+After taking Steve's temperature and thumping him upon the chest, the
+physician decided to let the lad get up and dress. He did, however, most
+emphatically protest against Rush climbing the ladders all the way to
+the surface.
+
+Steve found himself a little weak from his experiences, and it was
+decided that he should remain in the mine for the rest of the night, or
+until the cage machinery had been repaired so he could ride up. The
+surgeon sat nodding in the pump-man's chair, and the men who had
+assisted in the rescue returned to their duties in other parts of the
+mine.
+
+Mr. Penton had been in communication with the surface by telephone. He
+learned that all was being done that could be done to repair the
+hoisting apparatus in the shortest possible time, so there was no
+necessity for him to climb the rest of the way up.
+
+"I think I'll stay down here with you boys for the rest of the night,"
+he said. "Everything is quiet. I see the surgeon has put the engineer
+out of house and home, so I think I shall lie down on the work-bench and
+get a little sleep."
+
+"Yes, it is quiet enough," began Steve, when suddenly there came a dull,
+muffled report. The ground beneath their feet trembled perceptibly, then
+silence reigned.
+
+Mr. Penton sprang from the bench where he was just composing himself for
+a sleep.
+
+"Did you hear that!"
+
+"Yes, sir; we heard it," answered Rush.
+
+"What was it?" questioned Bob, his head inclined in a listening
+attitude.
+
+"It sounded like an explosion," said Steve.
+
+"It _was_ an explosion. That was dynamite, boys. Something is going on
+here. There should be no blasting in the mines to-night."
+
+Mr. Penton ran to the telephone to find out what the explosion meant.
+
+"It looks as though our work were cut out for us, Steve," said Jarvis in
+a low tone.
+
+"I am beginning to think so myself," answered Steve, after listening
+intently for a moment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+"What was it, Mr. Penton?" called Steve, as he saw the superintendent
+approaching.
+
+"I shall have to leave you," returned the superintendent. "Jarvis, if
+Rush does not need you, you may come with me."
+
+"Is there any trouble, sir?" questioned Steve.
+
+"Yes; there is trouble. Someone has dropped a charge of dynamite down
+the cage shaft. They tell me the cage is wrecked. Of course that doesn't
+amount to much, if there is no further damage, but there is no telling
+where this business is going to end. I must get up to the surface, and
+at once."
+
+"Then I am going with you," announced Steve with emphasis. "I am
+perfectly able. There is nothing the matter with me except inactivity. I
+am anxious to be doing something. But, Mr. Penton, that charge of
+dynamite surely was not dropped in from the surface, was it?"
+
+"No; that would not be possible."
+
+"That means that someone in the mine has dropped it from one of the
+levels."
+
+"Yes, yes."
+
+"Then I would suggest telephoning to the top of the shaft to have the
+ladder hole leading to the open watched, and no one to be allowed to
+leave the mine unless able to give a good account of himself."
+
+"Your idea is an excellent one. I will give the order at once."
+
+The superintendent did so; then the men started upward. At Rush's
+suggestion the party divided. The mine captain had been picked up in the
+meantime, and the four men divided themselves into two parties, each
+party taking a level through which it moved, visiting every place where
+men were at work, questioning each sharply as to whether any of their
+shift had left their work during the last hour.
+
+The search was fruitless. There were not many men working on the night
+shift, and beyond considerable ladder climbing, the two parties had
+finished their search within a few hours.
+
+The four men met on the surface shortly after midnight.
+
+The Iron Boys had nothing to report; neither had Mr. Penton nor the mine
+captain met with any better results. The mystery was still unexplained.
+
+"Rush, you usually have ideas on most subjects. What do you think about
+this affair?"
+
+"I hardly know what to think. I have an idea, however, as to where the
+charge was dropped from."
+
+"From where was it dropped?" demanded the superintendent sharply.
+
+"From the first sub-level below the surface. You see, it would be very
+easy for anyone to go down that ladder there at night, without
+attracting attention. He could have dropped the charge down through the
+shaft and been out and away long before you telephoned up here."
+
+"That is very true. It may explain that part of the affair."
+
+"We found a fuse on the first sub-level near the shaft, but of course
+that doesn't prove anything. It may have been dropped there by any one
+of fifty different men."
+
+The superintendent's face was stern as he pondered over the matter that
+was disturbing them all.
+
+"Rush, I want you boys to devote your time, during the next few days, to
+working on this case. I know of no one else better qualified to do it.
+If you can't get to the bottom of the mystery, I know of no one who can.
+In the meantime I shall be pursuing some investigations of my own."
+
+"Very well, sir; do you wish us to drop our work?"
+
+"As a matter of fact, yes; but you need not appear to have done so.
+Pretend to make your rounds, but devote your time to running down this
+mystery. The officials will be back here within the next few days. I
+want this affair cleared up before they get here, so work fast. You have
+my authority to go to any length necessary to solve the mystery and to
+discover the guilty ones. Now, show me what you can do."
+
+"It is a pretty big contract you have given us, sir, but we will do the
+best we can. We have personal reasons for wanting to succeed, as you can
+understand."
+
+"We have," affirmed Bob Jarvis grimly.
+
+The boys bade the superintendent good night and went to their boarding
+place. The following morning found Rush suffering from a severe cold. He
+could barely speak, but he went to the mine, nevertheless. The cage was
+not yet ready for use, but the superintendent had had the ore skips
+rigged to carry men down, which was done at greatly reduced speed, but
+at the usual time the mine was in full operation.
+
+All that day the two boys tramped about the mine, part of the time in
+company and at other times pursuing their investigations separately.
+They talked with the men, working in various subtle ways to obtain hints
+that might start them in the right direction.
+
+Night came, but when they compared notes they found that they had made
+no progress.
+
+"I would go back to-night," said Steve thoughtfully, "but to do so would
+attract attention. They know we do not work at night and someone might
+become suspicious."
+
+The next day was a repetition of the previous one so far as results were
+concerned. Not a clue did either boy find. This went on for three days,
+during which time they had not seen Mr. Penton. He was giving his two
+track inspectors a clear field, unhampered by any directions from him,
+and this put them on their mettle, perhaps more keenly than would
+otherwise have been the case.
+
+"To-morrow will be Saturday. Don't you think it would be a good time for
+us to camp on the trail steadily?" asked Jarvis on Friday night as they
+were going home.
+
+"I have been thinking of that. I'll tell you what I want you to do
+to-morrow. Go to the pay clerk and time checker and find out who is left
+in the mine after all hands who are going to do so have checked in and
+drawn their wages. When you get the list bring it below to me. I will
+meet you somewhere near the chutes on seventeen. I want only the names
+of those who belong on the shift working Saturday afternoon. There will
+not be many of them."
+
+Jarvis carried out his instructions and brought the list to Rush on the
+following day. The two boys scanned the list keenly, after which they
+made tours of the working drifts, finding all the men at their stations
+and no one in the mine who did not belong there.
+
+"I'm coming back to-night," decided Steve with emphasis. "I am satisfied
+that the people we are looking for are not on the day shift. We will
+come down about eight o'clock, by way of the ladders, and prowl quietly
+about. We will use our candles only when we get in drifts where there is
+no one at work."
+
+"We won't catch anyone. They're too sharp for us."
+
+"Perhaps not to-night, but we'll get them if it takes a year to do it.
+I'll never give up till I have won this game of hide and seek. When you
+go after a thing, Bob, make up your mind you're going to get it. You'll
+land somewhere near the mark if you follow that policy."
+
+"I've got the dynamite report here for you."
+
+Steve examined the report carefully. He had done a very shrewd thing. He
+had held the keeper of the dynamite stores responsible for a complete
+list of all the sticks of dynamite given out to the miners each day, and
+then had visited the drifts to find out how many charges had been fired
+and how many sticks had been used. As dynamite is never issued, except
+for immediate use, there could be none left over after the day's work
+was done. By the time the holes are drilled a messenger is on hand with
+just enough sticks of the deadly stuff to fill the holes.
+
+After checking up, the young inspectors found that twelve sticks of the
+explosive were unaccounted for. They had been drawn from the stores, but
+not used.
+
+"We are beginning to get somewhere, old chap," Steve said, nodding to
+his companion.
+
+"That means that someone--some unauthorized person--has drawn some
+dynamite from the stores, does it not?" questioned Jarvis.
+
+"That is the way I figure it out. It may mean nothing, so far as our
+case is concerned, and it may mean much."
+
+The boys remained in the mine as usual until the shift went up at six
+o'clock. At the appointed hour, eight o'clock, they made their way back
+to the shaft, but instead of going down on the cage they slipped into
+the ladder hole and began their descent in this way. It was decided that
+Bob should begin at the upper levels and work down, while Steve was to
+make his way to the bottom of the shaft and work up. When they met they
+would compare notes. Each had a list of every man who had business in
+the mine that night, so that they could find out, by asking a man's
+name, whether or not he had a right to be there.
+
+Steve had gone directly to the bottom and covered every level up to that
+where the pump station was located, about half way up the shaft. He
+started along this level, keeping out of sight as much as possible,
+which had been the policy of each lad, as agreed upon beforehand.
+
+Steve had not proceeded far when he discovered that someone was walking
+along the level ahead of him. At first he thought it was Jarvis, as the
+man's hat held no light, and Bob should be somewhere about at that time.
+
+Steve quickened his steps, intending to overhaul the man and speak to
+him. All at once the fellow turned abruptly off from the main level,
+entering a drift that ran to the south, but as he passed under the
+electric light at the turn Steve Rush made a discovery.
+
+The man was heavily bearded and Steve recognized him instantly.
+
+"It's the man Klink," he muttered. "What is he doing in that drift at
+this time of night?"
+
+Consulting his list, the boy saw that Klink did not belong to the night
+shift of that particular night. He moved up, intending to follow Klink
+into the drift, when the man suddenly emerged. Steve flattened himself
+on the ground and waited, while the other glanced cautiously up and
+down the level. Satisfying himself that no one was about, Klink turned
+and walked on.
+
+The watcher lost no time in following, but Rush kept at a safe distance,
+dodging when he had to pass an electric light, now and then throwing
+himself beside the track flat in the mud and water of the gutter when he
+thought Klink was about to look back. In this way he avoided discovery.
+
+Klink continued on until he neared the pump station, when he slackened
+his pace. Fortunately for Steve, there were no lights in that part of
+the level, so that he had little difficulty in keeping out of sight.
+Klink kept on walking until nearly opposite the pump station, when he
+suddenly disappeared. For a moment Rush was puzzled; then he discovered
+that his man had stepped in between two posts that held up the lagging
+at the side of the tunnel.
+
+The boy's eyes gleamed.
+
+"Now, my fine gentleman, we'll find out what is going on here! I believe
+I have landed the man I am looking for. I----"
+
+It was just midnight, and the pump man had left his machinery to go for
+water to drink with his lunch. Steve understood this, and evidently the
+man who was pressed close up against the lagging did also, for he
+quickly stepped out, glanced about him, then ran to the square opening
+cut in the rocks in which the pump machinery was located.
+
+Rush ran up on tiptoe to within about twenty yards of the pump station.
+He was watching Klink narrowly. The latter snatched something from
+inside his coat, thrusting the object under the plunger of the largest
+of the pumps. Next came something long, slender and white that looked
+like a large string.
+
+Almost holding his breath, Steve crept nearer.
+
+"He is attaching a fuse. That was dynamite that he put under the
+plunger. He's going to blow up the pumps and flood the mine!"
+
+Klink struck a match and applied it to the end of the fuse.
+
+It was now Steve Rush's time to act. Seconds were precious. The boy
+seemed scarcely to touch the ground as he sprinted forward. He was upon
+the man before Klink saw him. One swift kick from Steve's heavy boot
+toppled the man over on his side.
+
+The Iron Boy snatched the burning fuse from the stick of dynamite and
+hurled it from him.
+
+By that time Klink was on his feet. With blazing eyes he rushed at the
+boy. Steve believed, and with good reason, that Klink intended to murder
+him. But the boy stood calmly awaiting the onslaught. The man was large
+and powerful, but this did not daunt the plucky lad.
+
+Klink was now more than three feet from him when, suddenly, Steve's
+right foot flew out, catching the fellow fairly in the pit of the
+stomach. The man uttered an exclamation, at the same time pressing both
+hands to the spot where the heavy boot had landed.
+
+Rush fairly leaped into the air, his fist catching Klink directly
+between the eyes. Klink toppled over backwards, and Rush, having lost
+his balance, fell prone on top of him.
+
+The fellow's arms and legs instantly clasped the boy in a tight embrace.
+But in that one close look into the fellow's eyes, Steve had recognized
+him.
+
+"I know you! You're Spooner, and I've got you, you villain!" breathed
+the lad, writhing and twisting to get his right knee up where he could
+use it to advantage.
+
+Spooner, for it was the same man who had let the trap down under Steve
+on the tally-board platform, did not answer. He pressed the boy to him
+with a force that made the lad think his ribs were going to be crushed
+in. At the same time the man was trying to turn over and get Rush under
+him, where he would have quickly settled his young antagonist.
+
+All at once the Iron Boy jerked his knee up, planting it in the other's
+abdomen. Now the more Spooner hugged Rush, the harder did the knee
+press against him. With a mighty effort the rascal threw himself on his
+side. But in doing so he had relaxed his grip. Steve's right arm was
+jerked loose, and like a flash the Iron Boy delivered two short-arm
+jolts on the side of his opponent's jaw.
+
+The blows half stunned the big man. Steve struck him in the nose with a
+blow that was intended to reach the jaw and complete the work.
+
+At that instant there was a shout from down the level. Bob Jarvis came
+charging upon the scene.
+
+Steve recognized the voice of his companion.
+
+"I've got him, Bob!" shouted the lad with what little breath he had
+left. "I've got him down and out!"
+
+But Spooner was not quite "down and out" yet. He began fighting again in
+sheer desperation. His one thought now was to free himself from the grip
+of those young arms of steel.
+
+Bob grasped Spooner by the collar, and after a few violent tugs jerked
+the fellow free from Steve's embrace. Spooner staggered to his feet.
+
+Bang!
+
+Bob smote him a terrific blow on the jaw, and Spooner dropped in a heap.
+He was going to strike the man again when Steve stopped him.
+
+"Get a rope, quick! I'll take care of him. There's some rope over there
+by the pumps."
+
+Steve threw the prisoner over on his face, twisting the man's hands
+behind his back, and a few minutes later they had the fellow's hands
+securely tied behind his back.
+
+About that time the pump-man came running up.
+
+"Telephone to the superintendent that we have the man," commanded Steve.
+"Hurry, now! Don't stop to ask questions. Tell him we are bringing the
+fellow up in the skip."
+
+Spooner by this time had recovered sufficiently to walk with an Iron Boy
+on each side of him. In that formation they made their way to the skip.
+
+"None of your funny business now, unless you want another thump on the
+jaw," warned Jarvis threateningly.
+
+Mr. Penton had not arrived when they reached the surface, so they took
+their prisoner to the dry house, leaving word with the skip-tender to
+send Mr. Penton over there at once.
+
+The superintendent was not long in reaching the shaft, whence he hurried
+to the place indicated.
+
+"Mr. Penton, we have caught the guilty man," announced Steve. "There he
+is."
+
+"What--who is he?" demanded the official half unbelievingly, peering
+sharply at the prisoner.
+
+"On the pay roll he is John Klink. His other name is Spooner. He is
+stouter and has grown a beard since you saw him last."
+
+The superintendent uttered an exclamation of amazement. Steve briefly
+related all that had occurred. Under pressure, Spooner made a confession
+before they left the dry house that night of the whole miserable
+business. It was he who had dropped the dynamite into the shaft. But he
+declared that it was his partner, Marvin, also working in the mine under
+an assumed name, who had lured Steve Rush to the lower level and pushed
+him in. It was Marvin, too, who, by thrusting a monkey wrench into the
+machinery, had stripped the gear and put the cage mechanism out of
+business.
+
+That night the villainous and revengeful Spooner slept in a cell, where
+he was destined to remain until his trial and eventual sentence to a
+long term in prison.
+
+Marvin somehow got wind of the capture of his associate in crime and
+fled. He was never heard from in those parts again.
+
+On the following Monday morning the private car of the visiting
+officials once more drew up at the railroad station. Later in the day
+the Iron Boys were again summoned to the office of the superintendent.
+They supposed it was for a discussion of the Spooner case with Mr.
+Penton. They were surprised to find the officials of the company there
+awaiting them.
+
+After greeting the lads, Mr. Carrhart made a little speech in which he
+paid a glowing tribute to the brave boys, and at its conclusion he
+placed a packet in the hands of each.
+
+At the meeting of the officials there, a few days previous, it had been
+decided by vote to make the lads a present. The packets contained these
+presents. The lads protested, but Mr. Carrhart was almost sternly
+insistent.
+
+Upon arriving home Steve and Bob each found in his packet shares of
+stock in the big steel company amounting to one thousand dollars. It was
+a small fortune for them, yet they had earned it. At least the officials
+of the steel company considered that they had.
+
+The Iron Boys had done their full duty. But they were as yet merely at
+the beginning of their career. There were stirring days ahead of them,
+as well as other promotions for work well and faithfully done.
+
+The story of their further exciting experiences and advancement in the
+great industrial world are told in the next volume of this series,
+entitled, "THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; Or, Heading the Diamond Drill
+Shift."
+
+
+                          THE END
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
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+ALTEMUS book is ever disappointed.
+
+Many are the claims made as to the inexpensiveness of books. Go into any
+bookstore and ask for an Altemus book. Compare the price charged you for
+Altemus books with the price demanded for other juvenile books. You will
+at once discover that a given outlay of money will buy more of the
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+
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+
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+
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+
+
+The Motor Boat Club Series
+
+By H. Irving Hancock
+
+The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully
+entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. No boy
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+
+     1 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; Or, The Secret of Smugglers'
+     Island.
+
+     2 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan
+     Heir.
+
+     3 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; Or, A Daring Marine Game at
+     Racing Speed.
+
+     4 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare
+     Cruise.
+
+     5 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator
+     Swamp.
+
+     6 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; Or, A Thrilling Capture
+     in the Great Fog.
+
+     7 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; Or, The Flying Dutchman
+     of the Big Fresh Water.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Range and Grange Hustlers
+
+By Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on great
+ranches in the West? Any bright boy will "devour" the books of this
+series, once he has made a start with the first volume.
+
+     1 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; Or, The Boy Shepherds
+     of the Great Divide.
+
+     2 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP; Or, Pitting
+     Their Wits Against a Packer's Combine.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+Submarine Boys Series
+
+By Victor G. Durham
+
+These splendid books for boys and girls deal with life aboard submarine
+torpedo boats, and with the adventures of the young crew, and possess,
+in addition to the author's surpassing knack of story-telling, a great
+educational value for all young readers.
+
+     1 THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat.
+
+     2 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP; Or, "Making Good" as Young
+     Experts.
+
+     3 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; Or, The Prize Detail at
+     Annapolis.
+
+     4 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; Or, Dodging the Sharks of the
+     Deep.
+
+     5 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE; Or, The Young Kings of the
+     Deep.
+
+     6 THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle
+     Sam.
+
+     7 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; Or, Breaking Up the New
+     Jersey Customs Frauds.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Square Dollar Boys Series
+
+By H. Irving Hancock
+
+The reading boy will be a voter within a few years; these books are
+bound to make him think, and when he casts his vote he will do it more
+intelligently for having read these volumes.
+
+     1 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP; Or, Fighting the Trolley
+     Franchise Steal.
+
+     2 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING; Or, In the Lists Against
+     the Crooked Land Deal.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+Pony Rider Boys Series
+
+By Frank Gee Patchin
+
+These tales may be aptly described as those of a new Cooper. In every
+sense they belong to the best class of books for boys and girls.
+
+     1 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; Or, The Secret of the Lost
+     Claim.
+
+     2 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS; Or, The Veiled Riddle of the
+     Plains.
+
+     3 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA; Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer
+     Trail.
+
+     4 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS; Or, The Secret of Ruby
+     Mountain.
+
+     5 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI; Or, Finding a Key to the
+     Desert Maze.
+
+     6 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO; Or, The End of the Silver
+     Trail.
+
+     7 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or, The Mystery of
+     Bright Angel Gulch.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Boys of Steel Series
+
+By James R. Mears
+
+The author has made of these volumes a series of romances with scenes
+laid in the iron and steel world. Each book presents a vivid picture of
+some phase of this great industry. The information given is exact and
+truthful; above all, each story is full of adventure and fascination.
+
+     1 THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; Or, Starting at the Bottom of the
+     Shaft.
+
+     2 THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+West Point Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The principal characters in these narratives are manly young Americans
+whose doings will inspire all boy readers.
+
+     1 DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Two Chums in the
+     Cadet Gray.
+
+     2 DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Finding the Glory
+     of the Soldier's Life.
+
+     3 DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Standing Firm for
+     Flag and Honor.
+
+     4 DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Ready to Drop the
+     Gray for Shoulder Straps.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+Annapolis Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in
+these volumes.
+
+     1 DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen
+     at the U. S. Naval Academy.
+
+     2 DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Midshipmen as
+     Naval Academy "Youngsters."
+
+     3 DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Leaders of the Second
+     Class Midshipmen.
+
+     4 DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Headed for Graduation
+     and the Big Cruise.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Young Engineers Series
+
+By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys
+Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of
+all the traditions of Dick & Co.
+
+     1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or, at Railroad Building in
+     Earnest.
+
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+     "Man-Killer" Quicksands.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
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+
+By H. Irving Hancock
+
+These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army of
+to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen.
+
+     1 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; Or, Two Recruits in the United
+     States Army.
+
+     2 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons.
+
+     3 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; Or, Handling Their First Real
+     Commands.
+
+     4 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or, Following the Flag
+     Against the Moros.
+
+(_Other volumes to follow rapidly._)
+
+Cloth, Illustrated       Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
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+
+By Frank Gee Patchin
+
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+
+     1 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's
+     Navy.
+
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+     as Petty Officers.
+
+     3 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; Or, Earning New Ratings
+     in European Seas.
+
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+
+(_Other volumes to follow rapidly._)
+
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+
+
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+
+By H. Irving Hancock
+
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+
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+     fascinating volumes.
+
+     1 THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; Or, Dick & Co's First Year Pranks and
+     Sports.
+
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+
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+     Gridiron.
+
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+     Athletic Vanguard.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated      Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+Grammar School Boys Series
+
+By H. Irving Hancock
+
+     This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar
+     school boys comes near to the heart of the average American boy.
+
+     1 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; Or, Dick & Co. Start Things
+     Moving.
+
+     2 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; Or, Dick & Co. at Winter
+     Sports.
+
+     3 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun
+     and Knowledge.
+
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+     Their Fame Secure.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated      Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
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+
+By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON
+
+Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely
+interesting and exciting life.
+
+     1 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; Or, Making the Start in the
+     Sawdust Life.
+
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+     the Tanbark.
+
+     3 THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or, Winning the Plaudits of the
+     Sunny South.
+
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+     on the Big River.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated      Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The High School Girls Series
+
+By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M.
+
+These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader
+fairly by storm.
+
+     1 GRACE HARLOEW'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Merry Doings
+     of the Oakdale Freshman Girls.
+
+     2 GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Record of
+     the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics.
+
+     3 GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, Fast Friends in
+     the Sororities.
+
+     4 GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Parting of
+     the Ways.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated      Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+The Automobile Girls Series
+
+By LAURA DENT CRANE
+
+No girl's library--no family book-case can be considered at all complete
+unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books.
+
+     1 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; Or, Watching the Summer Parade.
+
+     2 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; Or, The Ghost of Lost
+     Man's Trail.
+
+     3 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; Or, Fighting Fire in
+     Sleepy Hollow.
+
+     4 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; Or, Winning Out Against Heavy
+     Odds.
+
+Cloth, Illustrated      Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                     Transcriber Note
+
+
+  Minor spelling and punctuation errors have been corrected.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Iron Boys in the Mines, by James R. Mears
+
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