The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-02-01
Calculating the Loss.
GLIMPSES OFF WELSH MINING .LIFE.
Shoni Rachel's Ride.

| at the parting, and If you will keep q
| foot on the hook, it'll be all right"
/ knew the trick right well. My
door boy days We're as yet fresh I'm my
memory. Had l not many time Joined
in the mad rush out by hanging to a
horses tail. while another horse was
swapping the tail of my coat. myself IN
total darkness, having lost my light in
the scramble? Besides, Shoni's kind
ness was imperious, and to cross him
meant to fight him. which alternative
few dared to accept. Without the
slightest hesitation. therefore. l placed
myself at Shoni's tender mercies.
The train was soon fitted out Shoni
jumped on the iron shaft between the
tram and the horse. Old Leader"
needed little stimulus he knew that his
feed was waiting for him, and the road
was clear But Shoni kept his short
whip In constant use, and indulged his
turn at phrase making all the way.
My! that was a ride! Dick Turpin,
Paul Revere, Sheridan, Rattlesnake
Pete were simply not in it. The box of
a locomotive running sixty miles an
hour was a hotel piazza compared with
my place in that empty tram with Qne
foot on the hook. 1t was not the speed
so much as the attendant horrifying
dangers that made that ride a record
smasher. The timber framework of the
level looked like a solid grey arched
wall. Once a timber collar" made a
deep groove through the coal on the
tram, .darting a piece of coal on my
neck, the mark of which l shall carry
with me to the grave. l expected every
a,,t t,, 1,a t.1n inf a nd nI
of coal in front of me. and be after
wards weighed and dumped for steam
coal to run an Atlantic liner, unless
BILLY Fair Play" would discover me
and pick me out as piece of shale.
But Shori knew his business, and I
was not the only one who would trust
Shoni in a push.
AS we neared. a dangerous incline,
Leader" by force of habit. slackened
speed. for there "sDrags" We're thrown
into the wheels to break the moment
UNI. When the train was long and
heavy a sprag was shot into every
wheel on one side, with a few random
shots from the doorboy on the other
side. Shoni jumped down and threw in
just one sprag. jumped up again on the
shaft and flourished his whip cruelty on
Leaders" back. Down we swept the
steep incline. My faith in Shoni was
melting like wax. He was evidently
breaking the record for recklessness
When half way down the incline. crash
went the sprag. and Shoni shouted to
the horse like a madman. He dared
not jump down in that narrow way and
leave the horse to his fate, for he would
be crushed Immediately under the
wheels as many poor haulier had met
his death. All that he could do was to
hold his lamp as high as he could for
Leader to see the road. Neither did
I wish to complicate matters by taking
my foot off the hook. and jumping down
from behind. Whatever was going to
happen felt assured that 1 would come
out the least hurt, If I could come out
at all. Still 1 felt my hair expanding
into foot ball mop. 1t was like plung-
ing down Pixies Peak in a tobOggan.
Shooting the Lachine Rapids on the st.
Lawrence is childish diversion
compared with it. 1t was more like
shooting down an enormous waterpipe
from a reservoir among the Welsh
mountains to Manchester or Liverpool.
If Leader" should miss foot, there
WOulu 10TH Of tIldl lIcllue the lolloN-
ing geological stratification: First, q
fossil horse; then fossil man, presum-
ably prehistoric: then a thick seam of
coal intermixed with wrought iron; then
another pre- historic man; another layer
of wrought iron: layer of petrifed
timber: then a hundred tons of sand
stone boulders.
But old Leader" was not going to
end his record that evening, though he
tried the game once too often soon af-
ter. He undoubtedly grasped the situa-
ton. and felt that three lives, two hu-
man and third hardly less. depended
on his presence of mind and unerring
step. ,
We reached level ground in safety.
With sigh of relief | deserted the
glare of light at the bottom of the pit.
Leader" was sent steaming and roam
ing into the stable, and Shoni and I
were quickly bounced into daylight.
With n smile Of triumph Shoni over
took a band of hauliers as they were
leaving the lamp house. At the risk
of three lives he had accomplished his
great purpose of keeping an appoint
ment at the Black Lion.
Rhys Wynne.