The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1878-12-07
If not paid in advance, $1.25.

I
day. Arrive here at 0 o'clock, p. m. train.
| Your future depends upon doing just as /
| say. l will have carriage at the depot ia
meet you. Enclosed end check for $50. Say
nothing to any one"
He signed the letter, sealed it, carried to
the post office, and then went to Jacob De
Casta's cottage.
A.week after when George Spencer arrived
at the depot, and stepped upon the platform,
his thoughts during the journey from Cam
bridge, Mass, wondering back over the past
and present,and trying to divine the future
was met by his late fathers old colored
coachman, Sam. As he glanced about him,
he saw no other familiar face. Although it
was carly summer and the sun was yet lin
gering over the mountain tops.
Bless de Lord, said the old .coachman,' =
graspng the young mans hand" ""I did not
hardly know you. You are grown man,
George. Now You just ought to see that little
gal you used to beau around. l tell you,
she's beauty. She just got homo yester-
day. You ought to see dem fingers run over
de keys of dat piano; and you ought to hear
her sing, boss. De fellows is all cracy round
here"
"Do you mean Minnie ?" asked the young
man, his face betrayng the grief through
which he had passed during the past few
weeks
eyes, dnts the gal" said the old man with
laugh that lifted the young mans spirit
from its gloomy dependency. "Sho asked
me about you, de fust thing
"What do you mean, SAM" asked the
young man, g when you say she has just got
home Where has she been 2?
"Now look here" said Sam; "didn't you
know she went away jest after you did--to
Bethlehem - ands bin rubbin' her head
'ginst de college walls dar?"
" No one ever wrote me about it, nor did
my father speak to me of it, 1t is strange
that they did not, said GEORGE thoughtfully.
But Pm not tending to business" said
Sam, in low voice, taking George by the
arm and leading him to one side, where his
N"iii"SO stoON' tl'olullc l'VpSpu JOlu me 10
come for you, and take you right up to de
mine-to de new shaft. Darc's i've of 'em,
all draped in new black watcrproofs gone
down de shaft,and dey want you down dare!"
Down in the mine2" asked George
vaguely, some past stremcmberances of college
"hozing," fitting through his mind.
Yest dat's what de Squire said and he's
got long head" answered Sam. "Dare's
some mighty queerc things goin on round
here. Yqpr,uncle was here t'other day hob
nobbing wid de ole Squire, and since den
I've heard good deal of whisperin' goin' on
tween him and cole Self" But you want
to go down in de mine, jest dc same. Dey
want to talk where nobodyll hear 'em.
Dare's no one down dare but dcmselves and
de ole shaft super, and he's as deaf as
mole. Here take dis wild YOU" And the
old coachman slipped into the young mans
breast pocket time worn, ,double-barrel piss
tol, one side of the handle of which wa
broken off, but on the tubes under the ham
mers of which he glanced at two bright per-
cussion caps. George was ushered into the
carriage, and almost before he knew t,while
his mind was dwelling over adventures, in
which efforts, successful and unsuccessful had
been made to secretly dispose of prospective
heirs to large estates, he found himself under
the roof over the shaft at the mine, and the
deaf old superintendent silently robing in
waterproof, arming him with a miners
lamp; and then he felt his footing tremble,
soon the last rays 81 daylight rs0eding from
his view, and he was sensible the fact that
he was sinking into the bowels of the earth.
q. When the carriage or elevator thudded up
ON the lowec landing, and George was lead
into the dark, muddy gangway, breathed
the heavy carboniferous atmosphere, and
say the carriage, by the dim lamp-lights,
rise up through the long,darl shoG although
fond of adventure, he was a coward cold
chills crept oyer him. His heart sank down
to zero.
" How long is this shaft ~ heaslled, speak
ing for the first time to his only companion
and guide.
81 am deaf" answered the old foreman,
putting his ear close to the young mans
mouth. 90
" How far underground are we?" roarcd
George, his voice cchoing through the dark
gangways and subterranean chambers.
"Thats So" said the deafold man ,beckon-
ing him to follow; "butits none ofmy bust
ness"
I" believe this old scoundrel is leading
me into trap ofsome kind, have a mind
to shoot out his brains, blow out the lamps,
hide in some nook, and wait the consequent
ces, But while this idea was lingering in
his mind, tho old man turned about and
said, with a smile; .r.
When you were a boy, they would not
let you down here. We shall now turn to
the left, and 90 sp plane piece, where
they are working new vein, Be careful
to keep on the planks. Ifyou step oG,you'll
muddy your boots"
Following his guide in a few minutes
George found himself in a large chamber, the
outlines Of which were rugged, but it was
somewhat brilliantly lighted by miners
lamps. He was halted by his guide. Be-
tween two large anthracite pillars, before
him, arrayed in semi-circle, stood mantled
group of five persons. Intuitiye thoughts of
self protection caused him to closely scan the
silent conelaye before which he stood
First upon the right, and cycling him close
ly, stood Jacob DeCosta; next he recognized
the placid and to him encouraging face of the
good rector of the village church-the man
who named him, George Spencer; next
stood the towering form of Lawyer Dobson,
who held the hand ofasmaller figure whose
face was hidden by a long black veil, One
more iace-a woman's-which he had never
saw, complete the groupe,and that the read
er may not be in mystery, ii was that of
Mary Kerns. The sonorous voice of Squire
Dobson broke the omnious silence,
George, know not what is now passing