Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-11

treated. If they should discover him
there was no doubt but that he would
SHARE the tate of the other two.
Suddenly It occurred to him that if he
was TO escape, now was the opportunity,
while the room was in darkness, before
the man should return with the lantern,
before the. breaker should be set on fire,
an act which these men doubtless had in
contemplation. He could not get away
by the outer door, for the man who re-
NAMED was standing there in the door
way. The only other avenue of escape
was by the door which opened into a
passage that led TO the screen room.
This he decided at once to make the at
tempt to reach.
Slipping from the bench he felt his
way carefully to the machinery of the
engine, climbed cautiously over the big
shaft and, keeping his hand on the bed
plate, crawIed along beside it till he
reached the starting bar. He knew that
straight ahead Of this and up two steps
was the door that led to the sore en- room
So far the sound of his progress had
been hushed by the noise of the beating
storm outside. If now he could reach
the screenroom unheard he would be
safe. The man in the doorway was not
twenty feet away. The outline of his
figure was dimly discernable in the dark
ness.
Jep rose to his feet, held his hands out
before him and moved cautiously for
ward. The next moment he came in
contact with the stool on which the Ian
tern had stood, tipped it over, stumbled
over it and fell heavily to the floor.
The man in the doorway started,
turned and looked back into the room,
but in the darkness he could see nothing.
" Hello!' he shouted, "who's
there?''
For answer, Jep scrambled to his feet
and CROPPED his way, regardless of noise,
to the steps.
But the man did not attempt to follow
him. He turned instead to the open
door and called his companion.
Jerry! hello, Jerryl come back here
VII the lantern, quick!"
But Jep, having reached the steps.
climbed up them, opened the door, and
the next moment was ascending the
longer fight of steps that led to the
screen room.
In the thick darkness, with much diff
ficulty he crossed the line of shutes to
the outside wall of the room, thinking to
escape by the door used by the breaker
boys in passing to and from their daily
work. Then he remembered that that
door was locked. He had seen his
father try it that very evening to make
sure that it was securely fastened.
Down in the engine room he heard the
two men moving about, apparently in
the search for him. He knew that they
would follow him, and he felt that in
some way he must make his escape from
them. Without considering where the
course would lead to, he dropped to his
knees and, with one hand on the IRON
sheathed shute, he began climbing
alongside of it up the long slope of the
screen room.
The two men, having finished their
hasty tour of the engine room, were al
ready on the first steps of the flight
which the boy had just assembled. Jep
heard them and knew that he must make
haste. Coming TO the lower screen he
felt his way along under it till he reached
the outside wall of the breaker; then,
rising again to his feet, and placing his
hand against that wall, he walked up
the narrow cleated passage that led to
the dump room at the head, just as the
lantern, in the hands of his pursuers,
flashed Its light across the dust-laden
timbers of the screen room.
"Whoever it was he must "a come
this way - said the leader.
''Ye're sure ye didn't imagine it,
Jack?' questioned the other.
HImagine yer grandmother was the
indignant reply, while the man, holding
the lantern high above his head moved
cautiously up between the shutes.
"'Therei'' he exclaimed, suddenly
stopping, "did ye hear that?"
1t was a noise like the sound of slam
ming door, coming from somewhere
above them in the breaker. Both men
hurried across the shutes to the passage
through which Jep had just disappeared
and began to ascend it.
The noise they had heard was indeed
that of slamming door, the handle of
which had inadvertently slipped from
Jep's grasp as he closed it behind him on
his way to the head of the breaker. A
new scheme of escape had come into his
mind. 1t was simply to cross the mouth
of the shaft and pass out by the car
tracks to the trestling and thence to the
bills whence came Ethe mine cars with
their loads.
With this end in view he crawled up by
the dump shute bars to the weigh plat
form, and thence TO the carriageway of
the shaft. 1t was easy enough now to
follow the rails of the mine car track.
But it was well for him to be sure that
the horizontal gates were covering the
mouth of the shaft; otherwise he might
go tumbling into the pit and plunge down
400 feet to the bottom of the mine.
So he felt his way very cautiously, and
finding the gate in place, stepped on it
with light foot, realizing that nothing
save these hardwood stats lay between
him and instant death. Once across the
opening he moved on more rapidly,
through the headhouse and out on TO the
trestling.
he was in the open air now, with the
storm beating on him; under his feet
network of timbers a hundred feet in
height, of to the left faint glow in the
sky rejecting the lights of the town,
everywhere else complete. impenetrable
darkness. He knew there was a hand
rail running along by the side of the
track for the safety of men and mules.
He felt for it, grasped it, ard touching
it as he went he made still greater haste.
He almost ran.