River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-01-19

it was fun Evenings now he takes a
hammer and set of drills. and goes
over on the sije-hiil and drills rocks.
70 get his hand in. ! wish there were
a few more people like him."
IL was no more than ! expected. but,
OF course. | was gratitied. nevertheless.
Ii was not long until Pink was
miner, of course, and good one. too:
and as such he continued for the n
couple Of years, always in the sam
place.
One day the man who had been super
intending the property dropped in on
rs at Denver; he was going to quit, as
he had some property of his own to
look after. he said And" he added.
''of course have nothing to say, but if
you want a man To look after the prop
perty you'll hunt long time before
you find a match for that red-headed
shift boss. Pink Dyer; he knows every
foot of the mine"
We went down to take look at the
property; we arrived in the evening, as
Pink was Just coming off shift lie
looked just as l expected lac would.
barring the deepening of the crows
feet and the lines about the mouth:
they were too prominent for so young
a man.
~Th' f1lks?" said Pink. ''Oh, they're
all fine. Got a new house, mother an
tn kids have, an putin on heaps o.
dog. Minis got three young uns now,
an Grace's got couple-don't it seem
funny, though? Tn twins, they're
gittin' on tip top, an Ted, too. An
Fan-why. ! s'posc she's young lady
by this time. No. / hain't never been
back; I'm goin' the twenty-fifth, sure,
this time. an no dim"
did not tell him of his coming pro-
motion; l wish / had. for he never
knew Late that night-it must have
been one o'clock in the morning or
thereabouts-the whistle blew at the
hcisting works aud we all hurried up
to see what the trouble was. Pink. as
temporary boss" among the foremost.
OHe of the miners had been killed; he
was a new man. and had been trying
TO max. a good showing-that is, he
had failed 70 clean tie roof and walls
the was driftingl after each blast, aud
a loose chunk OF rock had fallen and
killed him.
Pink auS another man went down to
bring up the body. aud presently. when
we expected the signal, Hoist there
was an alarm from below, which con-
tinued for some secOnds-then came
the ''hoist" signal
y single man stepped from the cage; it
was the man who had gone down with
Pink To bring up the dead miner. In
a few words he told Us the cause of his
first signal.
As they were bringing the dead man
out of the s'laft, there had been anoth-
er fall of loose rock. and Pink had gone
beneath the and the dead man.
Il was not long before we had them
out. but II was too late 70 save Pink
Ills back was broken, and We knew he
could only live a few hours We put him
TO bed, tenderly. and watched by him.
Once in awhile he would come out of
his unconscious state and talk queerly.
At last, about dav brealz. a, 1 sat look
ing at him. his eyes opened suddenly.
What day is this?' he asked.
December Sth-
''Hm-little over two weeks: / don't
b'lieve I'll git we'll enough by then.
Darn it all. seems's II ia never git { 60
home-au' sometimes think never
will Somethin' alius turns up last few
years"
ALI this ne said slowly and painfully;
but his next words were spoken more
naturally. just as the morning sun
sent a stray beam into the little win
dow OF the dingE room, Pink's eyes
opened suddenly again.
Les see" he said; les see-eight,
wentv-fifth-more'n two week s-hm,
les see-le's see-ten. seven, seven
teen. ! en- git home. I'm goia' home
they's no use 'slzin'" lie shut his
eyes a little Will, then added, force
fully;
II am goin' homer
''Yes, my boy. 1 know it," l said. -
r l.. Ketchum, in san Francisco
ArgOnaut