Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-09-22

''Nolp," she assented; ''but IL isn't always
like this. The waves are sometimes az high
as houses, and they roar like wild beasts.
Then there's been ships, big ships that go TO
India, broken up here on the rocks, and
drowned men and w0iDc have been cast
ashore"
Have you seen them"'
mo: I've only heard tell Of them. When
the winds are blowing like that, and the
wrecks come, mother and me stop in the
house TO pray for father!'
my uncle? Why, he's a miner"
Yes: but he's one o. the life-boat men. too,
cause he's so strong. Look at that wooden
house; that's where they keep the life-boat."
In following the direction indicated by her
pointing finger, my eye fell upon something
else besides the house which contained the
life-boat, a rude coble lay floating in the wa
ter a few yards from where we stood. 1t was
attached to an iroE ring driven into the rocks.
"Whose boat is that@' l asked.
"Oh, that belongs 10 John Rudd, the car
rier; him that brought you to our house."
"Why, what does he do with a boat?"
Nothing; only he found IL drifting In
from the sea. Then the master took it away
from him, saying it was his, and offered it
for sale; as nobody wanted 1t, he got 1t back
again by paying a little to the master"
"And what does he do with IL nowY'
ale goes out fishing sometimes. when he's
got the time. Sometimes he gives us a treat.
lie took me ont in it once"
Did you like it?'
"0h, yes!'
"Would you like to go again?"
"What-now?"
"YeS, now Suppose we take the boat and
pull OFT for a bit; it would be good sun-bet-
ter than staying here"
She hesitated. There was evidently such
a difference in the size OF John Rudd and
me.
De come urged; 'the oars are here
ready, and | can pull as well asJohn Rudd."
Still she besitated, but yielded finally. We
pushed out the boat together, and | pulled
out on 10 the dead calm sea. How pleasant
it was there, with the sun pouring It's golden
beams upon us, and the water smiling around
and gently tapping the boats side, Annie
took OF her gloves and tailed her fingers in
the water; then she leaned over and looked
down into the emerald depths below, while
my eyes again swept the prospect inland.
Everything was ~distinguishable from the
sea. the low-lying flats stretching black and
desolate beneath the warm summer sky-the
village, which, from my present point of
vantage, seemed but a handful of houses
thrown in a hollow, just beyond the cottage
where destiny had placed me. l also per-
ceiyed now that there were numerous other
cottages scattered about the morass, and
finally, that there was one large turreted
mansion rising up from a belt of greenwood.
What house is thatp' | asked.
THAT? Oh, that is the masters house."
1.-THE master?'
Eyes; Mr.. Redruth. the master of the mine.
Besides that" she added, hes the master o
.he whole place"
'Does he live there?"
"Yes; a good part of the year,"
Anybody else%
''Ihe mistress"
'That's allg"
ayes; except at holiday times, when the
young master comes home from school. He's
home Rolc.'
Having a suspicion in my mind, / asked
her what the young master was like, and she
gave me an accurate description of the boy l
had encountered a few hours before. 1 said
nothing just then of my adventure; and, aft
er this, we fell to dreaming again. Annie
looked down into the sea, while | watched
the shore, past which we were laZily drift
ing. Suddenly my eye was attracted to q
huge black mass, which rose like an ominous
s. low between me and tie horizon. l ask.
cd Annie what II was, and she replied:
"The miner
To her the word had a world of meaning;
to me it had none. 1t simply awakened in
me a keen desire for kxpwledge, which l i'm
mediateIy wanted to crafty.
''rhe MINER ! said. Il never thought
about the mine before, or we might have
gone to see ii. Wen pull in and go now;
shall WEI"
To my amazement, she half rose from her
seat. and put out her hands, as II to stop me.
NO. nor she cried, I'VE won't go there
not to the miner
Her face was white. and she was trembling,
though she vas wrapt in the suns rays as in
Q warm mantle of gold.
Nv hats the matter, Annie? lasked. "Are
you afraid?'
Yes" she said, II am afraid of II, be-
cause l know it Is cruel. Ii Is like a great
black mouth; it seems to ask you to come
down, and then it crushes you and you die.
l have seeu strong men like my father 20
down into 1t happy and laughing, and then
afterward l have seen them brought up dead,
all so black and changed and dreadful. oh,
dOn't tai about il, | can't bear itp'
She shiyered again, and covered her eyes
with .ie: trembling hand, as ii to shut out
the sght.
During this conversation, I had been pull
Ing steadily onward, 80 that the boat was
now opposite the cliif surmounted by the
mine. l turned the boats bow shoreward;
then. after a stroke or two, l rested on my
oars and looked up.
We were now right below the cliff, and the
view from our point of vantage was strange
indeed.
On the very summit of the crags l saw the
mining apparatus ~oyerhanging the sea. First,
q chimney. smoking loftily at the top; then
another, smoking less loftily halfway down;
Their, lower down, almost close 10 the sea In
fact, n third smoking chimney, connected
with what appeared to me to be a small min
Ing Office. On one side Of the cliff, tall lad
ders were placed. to enable the miners to
ascend from. ami descend to, the store; and
he must have a sure foot and strong hand
who could comfortably tread those ladders,
round by round, the sea roaring under him,
and almost finging Its spray after him as he
went higher and higher. Taking In the
whole external apparatus In one view, chains
and pulleys, chimneys and cottages, posts
and winding machines, seemed TO be scatter
ed over the whole face OF the cliff, like the
spreading lines OF an immense spiders web,
while In some parts mules and their riders
were trotting up and down a rocky track
where the pedestrian visitor would scarcely
have dared to tread.
l urged giddy, even at sight of Il. lub-
bed my eyes and looked again ut my cousin.
Her trembling agitation had passed Oh,
and she was looking at me.
1T was silly of me to talk like that" she
said; 'but / cant help it Sometimes, when
I think O them poor men that have been
bisught up, apd remember that father h
there. 1t almost makes me screamT
there's no danger,n Laid. ',eopr'