Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1897-06-16

OdrSOu, Salu, luFOluularlly, St0Op-
Ing to knock the ash from my cigar,
perhaps l ought not to ask, although
l have known you for nearly three
years, but is it usual for a wife to wear
two wedding rings?"
Dead silence. He had just lowered
his violin, after very soft solo-for it
was considerable past midnight when
ventured that curious question.
There had been an evening party,
and, as l was to stay at the house till
morning, Carson's wife had said Good
night" and left us to finish our inevita-
BILE smoke and talk. His mouth twitch-
ed little, but it was some time before
he retorted in low tone:
"Is Is usual for man we'll under 40
to have hair as white as mine?'
well, perhaps not-but l thought
you attributed that to some shock or
other. What has that to do with-with
the two rlngs?"
Everything" He listened at the
door for moment, turned down the
lights, and then came and sat down,
spreading his hands over the fire.
1.-TWO rings? Exactly, one is the ring
put on her finger when married her;
the second was put there by another
man-and will stay there as long as the
first"
"Never mind now," said. His voice
had trailed off huskily. Il had no idea
there was any tragic element behind
tho fact"
'sTragic? Heavens! 1t was more
than that, Arthur" he whispered, turn
Ing up drawn face.
Il never meant to touch upon it, but
when you spoke 1t came back with a
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
Derbyshire. l had only been assistant
surveyor at the pits there for about
nine months when it happened.
"At 8 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.
81 shall never forget that young
Jim's sweetheart had walked over to
the pit with him, as she occasionally
did.
'They were to be married in q week
or two, and she-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.
81 recollect that just as the chain
clanked and the winter sunshine was
disappearing overhead, he shouted out
q third 'Good-byv to her-little dream
ing that it was to be good-by. Little
enough old Halliday and thought that
days would elapse before We emerged
into Gods sunlight again!
"a new vein had been bored the year
before, and then abandoned because 1t
ran In the direction of the river. We
three had had instructions to widen 1t
for space of 300 yards-a piece of
work that had occupied us nearly a
month.
"Old Jim picked and young Jim
wheeled the coal away to the nearest
gallery, from where 1t was carried over
rails to the bottom of the main shaft.
"Well, by o'clock that afternoon we
calculated roughly that we had reach
ed the limit laid down.
"T think It's rs near as possible,
Mr.. Carson old Halliday said. Jim,
give another count, we don't want the
water coming In
"Jim went back. We could hear him
singing out the PAGES in his light-heart-
ed fashion as he returned, his voice
echoing through the long galleries
Two-sixty- -nine-pooh! you're miles off
1t, dadr He was only score of years
off, though. Observation-Disclosures
enty-four. It'll allow full twenty yet,
l reckon
"He had just finished his count when
but there, no man could properly de-
scribe 1t. 1t was something one had to
realize for himself before he could un-
derstand a bare half Of the sudden
terror that whitened our lips and seem
ed to bring our hearts to a standstill.
"rhere was rumbling in one of the
distant galleries, and sickening trem.
BILE of the ground underneath us; then
then the. most paralyzing sound, dc
believe, that is to be heard in this
world.
"How or why 1t happened is some
thing to be placed among the host OF
unsolved mysteries; but there was one
grinding, splinterlng roar, as though
the earth had split in two pieces.
Before we could stir hand or foot to
save ourselves, before we could even
take In that an explosion had occurred
while we were guarding against an
other sort of danger, down thundered q
mass of coal, tons upon tons of 1t, thai
blocked up the only passage leading tc
the shaft.
.It just reached young Jim; standing
where he did, ne was struck down
we heard his screech stifled beneath