Omaha daily bee., 1885-09-19

healthy, loved by all the world.
While Catherine was reading aloud tn
names over each stall, ahe gave sligh
cry on seeing some one suddenly stant
erect before her. 1t was Mouquette
who had fallen out Of heap of straw
where she had been sleeping. Mondays
weary from the frolc of Sunday, abe
gave her nose violent blow with her fist
then, leaving her work under the pretext
of going to find some water, she came
there, to lie down with the bsssts Ia the
warm litter. Her father who had a
great weakness for the rogue, tolerated II
at the risk of getting In trouble.
Suddenly, old Moque entered; he wti
short, bald and Scared by time, but still
remained fat, rare thing among miners
of fifty years. Since they had made hin
groom he had chewed 30 much ,ha,
even his gums he'd become dlscolored.
When hs perceived the two others he
became angry.
"Whst's the matter with you sll2
don't want you to bring any man here In
my stable"
Moquette, laughing, thought that
funny. But Anton went away, angry,
Catherine following him. At length,
when sll three had returned to the main
gallery, Robert and johnnie had arrived
with their train of cars. They paused at
the cages, and the young girl approached
the horse to caress him, speaking to him
as she would to companion. 1t was
Battsllle, the oldest worker In the mine,
q white horse that had been at the bot
tom six years. For six years he had
lived In that hole, occupying ,he same
corner of the stable, making the same
shadow along the black galleries, without
even having again seen the light of day.
Very fat, his skin shone with an appear
ance of good health; he seemed here to
pass happy life, sheltered from the un-
happiness above. He had become accus-
toned to the darkness. Toe track which
he trsversed was 80 familiar to him, thai,
with his head, he would push open the
ventilating doors, and finally crouch
down 80 as not to strike against tn, low
plscss. he must also have counted his
trips. for. when he had made the regular
number, he refraed to commence another,
and they were compelled to take him
back to his stall. Now old age had come,
his cat.like eyes were occasionally clouded
with sadness. Perhaps he vaguely behold,
as IL In dream, the last place where
he toiled, the old mill at Mar
chiennes, bu 1t upon the border of the
Scrspe, surrounded by green trees, gen
tly stirred by the wind; dim recollec-
tlonr came up before him, and he stood,
his head down, trembling upon his old
legs, making futile efforts to recall the
rest.
Meanwhile, the work went on at the
shaft. The sigma! of four blows was Civ.
en- for nending down the horse, filling
him with emotion, for he had also arrived
like that beast, seizsd with Just ouch ter
ror, dis smbsrking almost dead. Above,
when fastened with cord, he had strug-
gled desperately; then, as soon as he felt
the ground giving away beneath him, he
became as if petrified, disappearing
without a movement, his eyes enlarged
and fixed. This one was too large to
pass between the guides, 30 they had
been forced to suspend him from the
under portion of the cage. The de-
scent took four minutes; they had de.
creased the velocity as o precsution.
Thus the fright was prolonged. Were they
going to leave him on the road, lost In
the night2 At last he appeared, appar-
emily lifeles,, his great eyes dllated with
terror. 1t was bay horse, about three
years old, named Tronpette.
"Hold onW cried Moqus, whose duty
it was to receive htm; 'slead him off;
don't unite him yet"
Som, Trompelte was In heap upon
the iron tagging. He did not stir, feel
Ing as though in q nightmare, In that
dark hole, that profound blackne,s, re-
sounding with tumult. They had COM
msnced to unite him, when Bataille, who
had Just been embarrassed, stretched out
his neck to scent this companion who
had thus fallen from the earth above.
The enlarged group of workmen joked.
Well! what coed smell did he fnd2 But
Bataills was happy. he had found the
good odor of the open air, the forgotten
smell of the sun en- the meadows. And,
all at once, he broke forth into deep
snorting, tone of joy. which almost
seemed to die away In sob. 1t was
welcome, reminder of those old things
a Whit of which had returned to break
the melancholy of that more than pris-
oner, who would only ascsnd when dead.
''Ahl that Batsille!" cried the work.
men, ovsrjoyed by these tricks of their
favorite. ''Hes talking with his friend"
Trompette, perfectly satisfied. had not
moved. He remained upon his side, as
if he still felt the rope tied around hlm,
pincbiog the skin. Finally, they made
him stand up; he was sssonishsd, his
legs shsking with great chill. And old
Mcque led away the two beasts who had
fraternized.
''Are we ready noW2" asked Mahon.
1t was necessary to unload the cageE,
and at any rate, 1t still wanted ten min
utes of the hour for ascending Little
by lutte the drifts were emptisd OF the
miners wins returned by all tho galleries.
There were already fifty wet and shlver-
Ing men there. Peters, In spite of his
kind faces boxed the ears of his daughter
Lydio, because she had left the DRIFT too
early. Z,charie was sllly pinching
Mt quette. But the discomfort grew
greaoer. ChavAl and Levaque were re-
lating the threats of the engineer, "ths
cars cut down In price, the timberlng to
be paid for In part" and many e1clama-
tions greeted this project. A rebellion
was cropping ont In this corner nearly
two thousand feet below the earth. These
men, stained with coal and chilled with
waitings accused the company of killing
ono. half of Its workmen below and stsrv-
Ing the other half Anton listened,
shiyering.
Hurry up! hurry upl" said Richmond,