The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-06-18


PERHAPS ought not - ask. although
have known you for nearly ll.ree
years. bti- i il usual Tor a wife 10 wear
TWO welding rings" ....
Dead silence. He had just lowered
his violin. after very soft S0lo-for it
was considerable past midnight when
l ventur-l that curious question.
There Lad beel Al evening party.
and, a.s I was 70 stay az the house I'LL
morning. Carson's wife had said Good
night" and left Us 70 finish orr inevita-
BE snoke and talk. His mouth witch
ed a little. bua ii was some ti.Ge before
he rctorted il low tone:
is Is usual for man we'll under 20
70 have hair as white az Mine:"
Well. perhaps uot-but l thought
YOU attributed that to some shock or
other. What has that to do with-with
the TWO rings:'
''Everything" He listened at the
door for moment, turned down the
Lights, and then came and sat down
spreading his hands over the fire.
Two rings: Exactly. one is the ring
l put on her finger when married her.
the second was put there by another
nan-and will stay there as long as the
drst''
Never mind now" said His voice
had trailed off huskily. 81 had no idea
there was any tragic element behind
tie fact"
Tragic: Heavens. It was more
than that, Arthur" he whispered turn
ing up drawn face.
Il never meant to touch upon it, but
when you spoke it came back with
rush as vivid as if had been standing
at the mouth of the old north shaft
again. And that was six years ago.
You've heard me speak, at least, of
the mine itself-the Langley mine, in
Derbyshlre. ] had only been assistant
surveyor at the pits there for about
nine months when it happened.
AT O'Clock that morning, Arthur,
three OF US stepped into the cage-old
Jim Halliday, the foreman, his son
Jim, and myself; the men had gone
down an hour before.
II snail never forget that Young
Jim's sweetheart had walked over to
the pit with him, as she occasionally
did.
'"Hhey were to be married in a week
Or two, and shc-and She had on her
finger the ring he had bought in Derby
the day before-just for safety's sake,
Or perhaps out of womanly pride.
Il reco!lcct that just as the chain
clanked and the winter sunshine was
disappearing overhead, he shouted out
a third 'Good-by.' to hcr-little dream
ing that it was to be good-by. Little
enough Old Halliday and thought that
days would clapse hcfore we emerged
into Gods sunlight again.
"a new vein had been bored the wear
before, ana then abandoned because il
ran in the direction Of the river. We
three had had instructions to widen it
for space Of 300 yards-a piece Of
work that had occupied us nearly a
month.
"Old Jim picked and young jim
wheeled the Goa! away to the nearest
gallery. from where il was carried over
rails to the bottom Of the main Shaft.
'Wei., by O'Clock that afternoon we
calcula;ed roughly that We had reach
ed lib" limit laid down.
"'I think lis rs near as possible.
Mr. Carson old Halliday said Jim,
give another count we don't want tlc
wafer coming in
Jim went back. We could hear him
singing ont the paces in his li.it-hcart-
ed fashion as he returned. his voice
echoing through the long galleries
'Two-siXty ninc-pooh. you're miles off
il, dad: He was only a score Of years
off, though. Twn-siXty-niIe-tw -two-scv-
entyfoHr. It'll allow full twenty yet
| reckon
''LIc lad just finished his count when
but there, no man could property de
scribe il. II WAS something one had 10
realize for himself before lie could ul-
dcrs1and bare half Of the sudden
terror that Whitchtd oar lips ANA seem
ed to bring our hearts to u StaLlStill
There was a rumblng in one of the
distant galleries. and a sickening trem-
bic Of the ground underneath us; then
then the most paralyzing sound ! do
believe, that Is to be heard in this
world.
"lIow or why it happened is scmc-
thing to be placed among the host Of
unsolved mysteries; but there was one
grinding, spllntering roar, as though
the earth had split in two pieces
Before we could stir hand or foot to
save ourselves before we could even
talo in that an explosion had occurred
while we were guarding against an
other sort Of danger, down thunderrd a
mass of coal, tons upon tons of it, that
blocked up the only passage leading tc
the shaft.
ut just reached young jim; standing
where he did, he was struck down
we heard his scrccch stitiel Dcncatt
the debris. For about five more sec
onds the earth seemed to be heavinl
and threatening universal chaos; the1
all became still as a tomb.
"A tomb! We had our lamps, ole
Jim ana / looked, and saw that WC
were cut off from the res! Of the world
"What happened next, hardly
know; l was stupefed with the shock