Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, July 31, 1922, Page 2

(Continued from last issue) _"Every cent that Roberf Falrchild possessed in the world was in his pockets—two hundred dollars. After he.had pald his men for their three ‘days of labor, there would be exactly twenty dollars left. But Fairchild did not hesitate. To Farrell's office he went and with him to an interview, in . chambers, with the judge. Then, thé necessary permission having been | granted, he hurried back to the mine and. into the drift, there to -find the 1g8t’ of the muck being scraped away from beneath the site of the cave-in, Fairchild paid off. Then he turned to the foreman. “How many of these men are game to take a chance?’ “Pretty near-all of 'em—if there's any kind of a gamble to it.” “There’s a lot of gamble. T've got fust twenty dollars in my pocket— enough to pay each man one dollar -apiece for a night’s work If my hunch doesn’t pan out. If it does panm, the wages are twenty dollars a day for three -days, with everybody, including myself, working like h—l! Who's game?" “MThe answer came in unison. Fair- child. led the way to the chamber, seizéd a hammer and took his place. . “There's . two-hundred-dollar ore back of this foot wall if we can break in and start a new stope,” he an- nounced: “It takes a six-foot hole to reach it, and we can have the whole story by morning. Let's go!” ,,Alorg: the great length of the foot will, extending all the distance of the big chamber, the men began their work, ‘five men to the drllls and as many to the sledges, as they started thelr double-jacking. Midnight came, the first of the six-foot drills sank to ‘its ultimate depth. Then the second and third and fourth; finally the fifth. They moved on. Hours more of work, and the operation had been repeated. The workmen hurried for the powder honse, far down the drift, by the shaft, lugging back in their pockets the yel- 10w, candle-like - sticks of dynamite, with their waxy wrappers and their gelatigous contents, together with . fiises ‘and. caps. Crimping nippers— the .inevitable accompaniment of a miner—came forth from the pockets -of- the. men. Careful tamping, then the men took their places at the fuses. ‘:“Give the word!” one of them an- nounced crisply as he turned to Fair- child.. “Each of us'll light one of these things, and then I say we'll run! /Because this is going to be some ex- iplosion ! *| ' Fairchild smiled the smile of a man : whose heart is thumping at its maxi- imum speed. Before him In the long! “llne of the foot wall were ten holes, “upholes,” . “downs” and “swimmers,” attacking the hidden ore In every di-' “rectlon. Ten holes drilled six feet| into the rock and tamped with double «.charges of dynamite. He straight- | - ened, “All right, men! ! “Ready!" “Touch ’em off!" The carbide lamps were held close to.the fuses for a second. Soon they ilwere all going, spitting like .50 many | venomous, angry serpents—but neither | Fairchild nor the miners had stopped“ !to watch, They were running as hard .a8 ‘possible for the shaft and for the protectlon that distance might give. A walt that seemed ages. Then: “One!” “And two—and three!” .“There goes four and five—they went together!” “Six—seven—eight—nine—" Again a wait, while they looked at one another with vacuous eyes. A long interval until the tenth. . “Two went together then! I thought we'd counted nine?" The foreman | stared, and Falrchild studied. Then | +his face lighted. ‘ “Eleven’s right. One of them must | + have set off the charge that Harry left in there, All the better—it gives us Just that much more of a chance.” Back they went along the drift tun- | nel - now, coughing slightly as the! sharp smoke of the dynamite cut their | lungs—a long journey that seemed #8, many miles instead of feet. Then with a-shout Fairchild sprang for- ‘ward, and went to his hands and Knees. .+ It was there before him—all about ;'film—.tha black, heavy masses of lead- diver ore} ‘a great, leaping, five-ton ;;&: of it where It had been thrown 1 ' Ready?’ /idut by the tremendous force of the ,' sxplosion. It seemed that the wholel i at floor of the cavern was covered 1¥pith; it, and the workmen shouted with airchild as they seized 'bits of the | ._precious black stuff and held it to the | light for closer examination. “ .- :“Look!” The volce of one of them ,, was high and excited. “You can see | the ‘fine streaks of silver sticking out! | . It's high:grade and plenty of it!" | But Fairchild pald little attention. . He was playing in the stuft, throwing | (in the air and letting it fall to the , floor of_the cavern again, like a hoy with a new sack of marbles, or a child with its building blocks. Five tons and the night was not yet over! Five tons, and the vein had not yet shown its other side! Back to work they went now. Again through the hours the drills bit into the rock walls, while the ore car clat- tered along the tram line and while the creaking of the block and tackle at the shaft seemed endless. In three days, approximately forty tons of ore must gome out of that mine—and work must not cease. Morning, and in spite of the sleep- laden eyes, the heavy aching in his head, the tired drooping of the shoul- ders, Fairchild tramped to the board- ing house to notify Mother Howard and ask for news ‘0f Harry. There had been none. Then he went on, to walt by the door of the Sampler until Bittson, the owner, should-appear, and drag him away up the hill, even be- fore he could open up for the morning. “There it i8!” he exclalmed, as he led him to the entrance of the cham- ber. “There It is; take all you want of it and assay it!” Bittson went forward Into the cross- cut, where the men were drilling even at new holes, and examined the vein. ‘Already it was three feet thick, and there was still ore ahead. One of the miners loked up. “Just finishing up on the cross-cut,” he announced, as he nodded toward his drill. “I've just bitten into the foot wall on the other slde. Looks to me like the veln’s about five feet thick— as near as I can measure it.” “And—" Bittson picked up a few samples, examined them by the light of the carbides and tossed them away —*"you can see the silver sticking out. 1 caught sight of a couple of pencil threads of it in one or two of those samples. All right, Boy!” he mrned\ to Fairchild. “What was: that bargaln we made?” ‘It was based on two hundred dol- lars-a-ton ore. This may run above— or below. But whatever it is, I'll sell all you can handle for the next three days at fifty dollars a ton under the assay price.” “You've said the word. The trucks will be here in an hour if we have to shovel a path all the way up Ken- tucky gulch.” He hurried away then, while Fair- chlid' and the men followed him into town and to thelr breakfast. Then, recruiting a new gang on the promise of puyment at the end of their three- day shift, Fairchild went back to the mine. But the word had spread, and others were there before him. Already fifteen or twenty miners were syseinbled about the opening of the Blua Poppy tunnel, awalting per- mission to enter, the usual rush upon a lucky bine to view its riches. Be- hind Lhm, Fairchild could see others m Oladl to take a look at rike, and his heart bounded with happiness tinged with sorrow. Harry was not there to enjoy it all; Harry was gone, and in spite of his every effort, Fairchild had failed to find him. Sowe one brushed against him, an® there came a slle ‘tug: at his coat. Fairchild looked downward to see passing the form of Anita Richmond. A ‘moment Inter she looked toward him, but In her eyes there was no light of recognition, nothing to Indicate that she had just given Nlm a signal of greeting and congratulation. And yet Falrchild felt that she had. Then, ab- sently, he put his hand ioto his pocket. i Something there caused his heart to halt momentarily—a plece of paper. He crumpled it in his hand, he rubbed his fingers over it wonderingly ; it had not been in his pocket before she had passed him. Hurriedly he walked to the far side of the chamber and there, pretending to examine a bit of ore, brought the missive from its place of secretlon, to unfold It with trembling fingers, then to stare at the words which showed before him: “Squint Rodaine is terribly worried about something. Has been on an aw- tul rampage all morning. Something critical is brewing, but I don't know what. Suggest you keep w%gh on him. Please destroy this.” y That was all. There was no signy- ture. But Robert Falrchild had seen the writing of Anita Richmond once before! So she was his friend! So all these | days of walting had not been in vhin; | all the cutting hopelessness of seelng i her, only to have her turn away her head and fail to recognize him, had been for their purpose after all, And yet Fairchild remembered that she was engaged to Maurice Rodaine, and that the time of the wedding must he fast approaching. Perhaps there had been a quarrel, perhaps— Then he smiled. There was no perhaps about it! Anita Richsmond was his friends she had been forced into the promise of marriage to Maurice Rodaine, but she had not_been forced into a relin- I\ \ el A Piece of Paper. quishmient of her desire to reward him somehow, some way, for the attentlon that he had shown her and the liking that she knew existed in his heart. Hastily Falrchild folded the paper and stuffeéd’ it into an inside pocket., Then, seeking out one of the workmen, he appointed him foreman of the gang, to take charge in his' absence. Fol- lowing which, he made his'way out of the mine and into town, there to hire men of Mother Howard's suggestion and send them to the Blye Poppy, to take their stations every few feet along the tunnel, to appear mere spec- tators, but.in reality to be guards who were constantly on the watch for any- thing untoward that “might occur. Fairchild was taking no ‘chances now. An hour more found him at the Sam- pler, watching the ore as it ran through the great crusher hoppers, to come forth finely crumbled powder and be sampled, ton by ton, for the assays hy old Undertaker Chastine and three other men of his type, without which no sampler pays for ore. Bittson ap- proached, grinning. “You 'guessed. just about right,” he announced. - “That ‘stuff’s = running around two hundred_dollars a ton. Need any money now?”’ “All you can let me have!” “Four or five hundred? We've gotten In - eight " tons of "that “stuff already: don’t guess T'd be taking any risk on | that!” he chuckled. . Fairchild reached | for. the ‘currency eagerly. - All but a hundred dollars _of .it. would' go to Mother Howard—for that .debt must be pald off first. '“And, that accomn- plished, denying himself the invitation of rest that his bed held forth for him, he started out into town, apparently | to loiter about the streets and recetve | the "congratulations of ‘the townspeo- ple, but in reality to watch for one person ‘and one alone—Squint Ro- daine! He saw him late in the afternoon, shambling along, his' eyes glaring, his lips moving wordlessly, and he took up the trail. But it led-only to the of- fice of the Silver Queen Development company, where .the scar-faced man doubled at his desk and, stuffing a cigar into his mouth, chewed on it angrily. Instinctively Fairchild knew that the greatest part of his mean temper was due to the strike in the | Blue Poppy; Instinctively also he felt that Squint Rodaine had known of the value all along, that now he was curs- ing himself for the fallure of his schemes to obtain possession of what had appeared until only a day before to be nothing more than a disappoint- ing, unlucky, ill-omened hole In the ground. Falrchild resumed’his lolter- ing, but evening found him near the Silver Queen office. Anita’s note had .told him little, yet had implied much, Something was fermenting in the seething brain of Squint Rodaine, and if the past count- ed for anything, it was something that concerned him. An hour more, then Falrchild sud- denly slunk into the shadows of a doorway. Squint had snapped out the Ifght and was locking the door. Fifty feet, then Fairchild stepped from the doorway and took up the trail. It was not a hard one to follow. Squint Rodaine passed the street lead- ing to his house without even looking up. Two blocks more, and they reached the city limits. A mile, and they were In the open country, crossing and recrossing the ice-dotted Clear . creek. A - furlong more, then Squint Rodaine turned npI the lane which led to a great, sham- bling, old, white bullding that, In the rosy days of the mining game, had been a roadhouse, but which now, barely furnished in only a few of its rooms, inhabited by mountain rats and | fluttering bats and general decay for| the most part, formed the uncomfort- | able abode of Crazy Laura! And Fairchild followed. It could mean only one thing when Rodaine: | sought the white-haired, mumbling old hag whom once he had called his wife, | | It could mean but one outcome, nnd; that of disaster for some one, Mother ! Howard had said that Crazy Laura| | would kill for Squint. .And now that| Squint Rodaine was seeking her, Ralr- | | child meant to follow, and to hear—if | { such a thing were within the range of | human ‘possibility—the- evil drippings of his crooked lips. % He crossed to the side of the road where ran the inevitable gully and, | taking advantage of the sheiter, hur-'; ‘rled forward, smiling grimly in the| darkness at the memory of the tact} | that things were now reversed; that | l‘he was followiftg. Squint Hbdaine as | { Rodalne once had followed him. Swift-| {1y he moved, .closer—closer; the scar- | faced man went through the tumble- down gate and appreached the house. not knowlng that his pursuer was less than fifty yards away!’ A minute of cautious walting then, in which Fairchild did not move. Finally a light ‘showed in an upstairs room of the HNouse, and Fairchild, masking his own' footprints in those inade by Rodaine, crept to the porch. Swittly, silently, protected by the pad of snow on the soles of his shoes, he made the doorway and softly tried the lock. It gave: beneath his pressure, and he glided within the dark hall- way, nd dusty im its odor, for- bidding,( evil" and dark. Now Fair- child ‘¢buld hear voices, and in & mo- ment more they became louder, as a door opened. . Continued in next issue \ you’ll be one of new in your home. (These figures, though rough, will —despite the fact it pays for itsclf it saves.) your own J. J. DORAN PLUMBING Phone 225 trovertible. goods. ‘marked goods? ' THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER - is the time IGHT now — today — make sure e lucky home- owners who get ARcoLa, the wonderful hot-water heating-system, in- stalled in their_homes before cold weather. Last Fall there was a big ArcoLa shortage. This Fall dict the same thing. So many people wait’ until the last minute, some will be dluppoin_ted. This week, while we have more time, let us install ArRcoLa _ Save money on ARCOLA now reasonably Arcora can be completel: 3-Rooms * Arcola with 2 radiators $ 186.40 4-Rooms Arcola with 3 radiators § 238.66 5-Rooms. Arcola with 4 radiators $§ 306.51 6-Rooms Arcola with 5 radiators § 374-95 Phone or call and we'll gladly give you the exact cost of ‘putting ARCOLA 7 your home— but, for , do it now before the Fall rush. 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