The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-08-02
4 FRIGHTFUL AFFAIR.

III IIlt luIut Vi Id Nlid DI III Llldi VI
Rayas. Both are situated in the
Mexican mineral district of Guiana
juato, and with the readers permis-
sion | will assume that it happened in
the latter
The main shaft of the Rayas mine
has the vertical depth of nine hundred
yards, and sixteen yards of diameter
For its dimensions, it is ranked as the
first mining shaft of the world.
In the epoch to which | refer, eight
windlasses, operated by mules, were
constantly employed in raising water
from this enormous hole in the planet.
The administrator at that time was
Don Rafael H, 80 years of age,
pale, slender, feeble in appearance;
but in whose gaze shone the flame of
haughtiness and energy, and the radi-
ant spark of intelligence.
The cdjonerO, or person charged with
the operation of the windlasses, was
called Jose. He was an athletic fellow,
sisewy and vigorous; but with the
hungry, apprehensive, and unquiet look
of the jackal. Under his orders and
immediate direction were the cables by
which the miners descended the
stream-cables for hosting water, and
all that related to the various services
of the shaft.
Among the ''properties'' of the ad-
mlnistrator was young woman gilmore
beauty than chastity. whose voluptu-
Gus form had turned the head Of
the caionero. who had a long time en-
deavored vainIy to ingratiate himself
in her favor. The jade treated his ad-
y-aOraC with IiSIair, apI
is easily explained when it is known
that from the administrator % to the
c0jOnerG Q) the distance is the same
| as between the housekeeper and the
Scrubwoman.
Jose laid siege to this strong fortress
of virtue, but finding that the garrison
was not likely to accept terms of capi-
tulation. he one day made an assault
that cost him a superb whipping by
order of the administrator.
Jose endured the chastisement but
swore in the teeth of his master that
he would have his revenge. Don
Rafael treated the menace with con-
tempt, and the cajonero continued to
occupy his post.
Sometime afterward, the damsel, in
order to give a further proof of her
constancy, ran away with a cavalry
officer; whereat Don Rafael manifested
neither Indignation nor surprise.
One morning Jose entered precipit-
| ately into the apartments of the admin
istrator, before the latter was awake,
| and said to him that, to Judge from
the unusual singing and hurrahing of
! the miners at the bottom of the shaft,
| they surely must have found q bonanza.
This word bonanza produces
more wonderful effect on the cere-
| brum of a miner than all the cata-
clysms and earthquakes joined to-
| gether. Don Rafael sprang out of bed,
leaped into his garments, and, with
out waiting to make inquiries, ran tS
the shaft, harnessed himself to a cable
| of descent, and so suspending himself
over the enormous abyss, said to the
| caionero: "Let her go
| The horses of one of the windlasses
| began to move, the cable to unwind,
and Don Rafael, holding a torch
in one hand and with the other
steadying himself in his hanging
saddle. slowly descended into that i'm
mcuse black hole without observing
| that no sound whatever came from be-
low. nor that the face of the cajonero be-
| trayed sinister smile when he saw him
going down.
Peril not only awakens instinct, but
| cnlightens it. When Don Rafael found
himself suspended in that frightful
abyss, he suddenly remembered the
menace of Jose, comprchended that he
had acted inconsiderately, and that his
life was suspended by a thread which
his enemy could cut at his pleasure and
dispatch him to eternity without notice
and also without a passport.
BY the reflection of the torch might
have been seen great drops of cold per-
| spiration upon his brow, the convul-
/ Sive tremor that agitated his members,
and the look of anguish that he cast
| toward the black depth and perpen-
dicular walls of the shaft. The cable
| had descended perhaps hundred
yards when suddenly its movement
was arrested. Don Rafael felt sud-
den chill that penetrated the very mar
row of his bones and congealed his
blood. He cOmprehended the horrible
plot. Jose was going to cut the cable
and dash him to a mass of lifeless,
shapeless flesh by fall Of six hundred
| yards to the bottom of the shaft.
Directing a look of desperation
| toward the nearest wall. he perceived
| projecting from it. half yard or lit
tie more, piece Of timber that had
served to support a scaifold.
To cast the torch to the bottom of
| the shaft, swing himself upon that
| treacherous support, and detach him.
self from the cable was the work
| of a few seconds, and hardly had
he accomplished it when the cable
| parted far above. and fell with a great
| Splashing noise into the water almost
| two thousand feet below. InvOluntarily
| cry of terror escaped him, which was
| answered at the mouth of the shaft
| with a sarcastic and savage horse-laugh
| that, in spite of himself, made him
| tremble
Afterward profound silence reigned
and Don Rafael. submerged in dark
| ness, remained seated on that frail
piece of wood, vaciliatiur over that
enormous abyss, into which the slightest
circumstance might hurl him, with the
certainty of being dashed to fragments
at the bottom.
The silence was broken only by the
| tItdhiLS Vi ippt>, lHc N@tti uIIpitu
from the ascending buckets, and oc-
casionally by the smothered con-
| cussion of the miners tools some
where in the black depths below. But,
suddenly, among these divers sounds,
was distinguished one that filled Don
Rafael with horror.
The wooden perch on which he was
seated beganto manifest stsigns of break
ing.
Time and moist air had caused de-
cay, and the timber was yielding
under his weight. In effeeting his
safety he had only prolonged little
while his agony.
Pressing closely against the wall, be
tried to find some fissure in the rock
for his hands; but his fingers were only
torn by the pitilesS rock, which re-