The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-10-17

mao nothing. And IL 1t d0eSn { mold"
For in the contract the finished tunnel
was to stand a month before acceptance.
They went to their tents and played
poker to pass the time. But, though
they were now idle and their men dis
charged, the hill was busy
The next day cards were a WEAKNESS.
They paced the grooming hole from dawn
to eve. Men going east or west, who
had heard of the mud tunnel, looking in,
and the strange noises scared some of
them. On Sunday half the men from
the contractors next above them came
to view it. The end of the track was
now but five miles away, and some of
the track layers came, too. They Of
fered bets against it's standing. Ross
came down and shook his head as he
rode back.
Il give it a week." he said.
But in less than a week Kelley Hold
redge came up to him.
you'll have to make a cut Of it, after
ALL he said.
Can you take on the job?" asked
Ross.
Were going over to the lakes, sir
answered Holdredge. 1--WE had a letter
from Andy Onderdonk. 1t was a gam
be and the cards were against us"
They shook hands and parted.
The tunnels chorus was now pOrten-
tous; it shrieked and cried and set a
mans teeth ON edge with horrible graft
ing noises. The steps on which the up
rights stood were crushed through each
standards heavy heel was set in mere
wood-fibre, as soft, it seemed, as a hank
of coir yarns. And where the side
thrusts were greatest, the short blocks
splintered. The ceiling was now a down
ward hanging arch-the bullying was
very obvious. And by no trick of fore
ing the imagination could the eye behold
a level floor Little shakes and splinters
rose on it, as when a man bends lath
to breaking. And every hour or so came
a sound like gunshot, when some
drier, overweight beam gave way ut
terly Though it's sound brought seem
ing silence in a moment more the cries
of the strained wood were greater AMI
more terrible.
l myself, who write this, was then ut
work for another contractor two miles
up the pass, and one hot Sunday in Au-
gust, when my mates were lying in their
tents. | went to view the tunnel. And
though | was afraid, walked through
its whole dark burrow. 1t was not the
first time | had done it, but it was the
last.
There was something uncanny in the
grooming of the wood, something awe
inspiring. When half way through, in
the intensest darkness, terror got hold
of me, and my hair bristled. Wishing to
run, / would not, and l sweated ice as |
went. In the daylight at the west end |
saw the hanging roof. 1t seemed to
move; long splinters pointed more and
more perpendicularly, and the side
standards bent like bows. | walked
ON a curve of floor timbers driven up
ward by the rising clay. Here and there
were jagged points; beams split and
opened, ragged with tough fibre. In the
hands of the mountain the mightiest
t~~~- were matchwO0d.
And outside by their tent saw the
Holdredges loading up ii pacq pony,
while two other little cayuseS stood
ready saddled. | gave them good day,
and they nOdied-nOt uncheerfully. as |
thought And when the pOny'S load was
fixed up | followed them at little dis
lance as they took their last walk to the
tunnels mouth which was now shape
less and distorted. Two great rafters
had freed their ends, and pointed north
west and southwest: the sill was burst,
and the underclay rose in IL strange mud
flower From the tunnels depth came
sounds which were half musical. half
discordant. like the loud cry of break
ing harp strings.
its settling now" said Kelley Hold
redge as he took his brothers arm.
And visibly. though with a peculiar
slowness. rs if of conscious power. the
Jaws of the tunnel were being forced to-
gether The riven roofing fringed It's
Jagged mouth like yellow fangs. stained
blue in places. until it seemed some liv-
ing monster writing in agony under
most intolerable weight But the sounds
of the deeper tunnel We're muffled We
knew the clay was bursting i'll at a
thousand places: perhaps even now the
long work Of gravity was done there.
One groan burst out of the closing
mouth. and then we heard the whistle
Of driven wind hiss through the ragged
teeth. But with that came Il fall Of
gravel from the higher hill. and when
the dust was dissipated the tunnel was
seen no more.
1t might have been my Imagination,
but as the brothers turned away it
seemed to me that a great weight was
off their miA.1s.
| met old Gordon a mile up the road
and stopped him.
THE mud tunnels down, Mr. Gordon"
| said And he whistled.
did We see the Holdredges, man." he
asked.
| nodded
And what did they say?'
30. just 'D-r" said I. and
they've gone away whstling. They were
good men to work for"
"Ye ought to know" cried Gordon,
grinning, '%for We know they fired We"
But if / did get the sack at the mud
tunnel, it was only for having too much
to say. And | bore the HoldredgeS no
malice.