Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1859-05-21

Margarita clasping her hands.
"And so this was the reason" added Man
uel, gayly, "why you preferred poor barre
toro, with only his miners pick and his dol
lar day, to the rich administrator? ?"
"0f what good is money" returned Mar
garita, earnestly, "without happiness2 Riches
fly away, but the good heart remans.o
" That is as true as though Padre Isidro had
said it,, rejoined Manuel, as he rose hastily
from his seat OH the turf; but time flies,
too, my dear little preacher and they viii be
waiting for me at the mine."
The young couple separated with many af-
fectionate injunctions on the part of his wife,
to which the miner. laughingly promised n
punctual attention. Margarita as she re-
placed the basket on her head, heard the
clear manly voice of her husband, far above
her. singing the refrain OF a ballad once very
popular among the miners of Zacatecas, which
described the good fortune of a poor adven-
turer of that town in former days:-
ST las minas de San Bernabe
No dieron tan buena ley,
No casaria Juan Barra
Bon la hija del virey.
Which may be rendered 5
II Saint Barnabas mine
Had not yielded ore so fine,
Juan Barra meier had welded
A maiden of the victory's line
Manue's song ceased when he reached the
Rinconada, sharp angle in the path, beside
which the precipice sank plump down, sheer
descent OF more than five hundred feet. Tie
recollection of what his wife had just told him
sent cold shudder through his frame and
he had not recovered his usual gayety when
he reached the mouth of the shaft. Here, in
the golerd, or great shed surrounding the pit,
he found the English director, Don Jayne,
the overseer, Miguel Gomez, snd several
clerks, miners, porters, and mule-drivers.
Don Jayne seemed to be in a bad humor, and
the overseer looked black and sulen.
" Enhorabuend-in good time, my man,
said the director, We are all ready for
you and now let every one here be attentive
to his duties. There has been too much care
lessness heretofore, particularly in the blast
ing. Many complaints have been made among
the townspeople and proprietors of the acciA
dents which occur here. You am told, are
very skilful and quckwitted workman lie
continued, addressing Manuel. SIT is well
that we have some on whom we can rely"
Gomez listened to this significant speech
without venturing to reply but his swarthy
face grew livid, and his eyes flashed with a.
baleful fire. Two horses, especially trained
to the duty, were now attached to the mdld-
cate, machine by which the buckets We're
raised and lowered in the shaft. Manuel then
placed upon his head a conical hat, having a
socket ON the top, which held a lighted can
die. He took in one hand q small rope, of
which the other end was held by the overseer,
and by shaking which the matchlighter was
to give the signal when he was ready to as
cend. On the promptitude with which his
ascent took effect of the explosion. Manuel
now stepped into the bucket, which was slow
L.. Il. .Nfa1
a hundred yards. Two arreadoreS, or drivers,
held the horses heads, and waited in anxious
silence for the signal from Gomez. All was
still as death in the galera.
Let gol'' shouted the overseer.
The drivers lo0sed the heads of the horses,
and the well trained animals dashed oil at
once, and circled the maiacate at full speed.
In a minute the bucket rose to view-emp,
tyl
'sBack! Down with it For life for
life !" exclaimed the the director, stamping
with impatience and anger. ooh, what
idiotcy, what insanity, is this ?"
The man hastened to obey his order, but |
before the bucket had descended dozen
yards, the roar of the explosion smote upon
their ears, and cloud of smoke and dust was
driven violently up the shaft, and filled the
galerd. When it cleared away the faces of all |
present were seen to be pale with horror.
fYou villain!" cried the director to Gomez;
" what is the meaning of this ~
"Upon my life-as am a Christian-the
rope shook in my hands, replied Gomez,
whose teeth chattered, and whose whole frame
seemed to tremble with nervous agitation,
while his eyes carefully avoided those of the
director.
The latter did not waste another word upon
him, but seizing shovel he sprang into the
bucket, along with two of the miners, and
was quickly lowered down the shaft. Here
they set about removing, as rapidly and care
fully as possible, the.pile OF earth and stones
with which the explosion had filed the bot
Ionhof the shaft, not doubling that they should
ind the mangled remains of the poor match
lighter beneath them.
While they are thus engaged in fruitless
search, let us follow the actual course Of Man
iels proceedings. He had Just lighted the
matches, and was on the point of stepping
nto the bucket, when he was suddenly drawn
Up. A conviction of the overseer's perfdy
flashed upon him. and with it a
tense of the horror of his position. But Man
lel was, as the director had said, a quickwit-
ed fellow. He knew that the workmen en-
lloyed i'll the shaft, had a few days before,
,ome upon small side-cut, or passage, barely
arge enough to admit the body of a man,
ind that, on tracing it to its termination, it
vas found to lead to All immense chamber in
he old mine OF San Adrian. This famous
nine, as is we'll known, was worked shortly
ifter the conquest Of Mexico, and having
Yielded immense wealth to its proprietors,
yas abandoned, about the end of the sixteenth
ON account of the difficulty expert
,nced in its drainage. The workmen who
lad explored the passage had reported that
he chamber was nearly full of water, and
vas SO large that the light of their candles
lid not penetrate to the further extremity
rhe recollection of this discovery now occur-
ed to Manuel's mind, and seemed to offer
lim a chance of escape. Looking eagerly
round, he observed the opening about three
eet above his head and gaining it by des-