The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1897-06-02

LuUA
3lDV4zkA1S the ash from my
sNhI1Q cigar, perhaps
1sh NEVA ! ought not to ask,
MI GMSs although / have
Ak@UU s&S known you for
49,. 1sseS sN~ nearly three
years, but is IL usual for wife to wear
two wedding ringsP"
Dead silence. He had just lowered
his violin, after very soft solo-for it
was considerably past midnight when
1 ventured that curious question.
There had been an evening party, and,
as was to stay at the house till morn
ing, Carson's wife had said "Good
night" and left us to finish our inevita-
BILE smoke and talk. His mouth
twitched a little, but it was some time
before he retorted in low tone:
els it usual for a man we'll under
forty to have hair as white as miner"
''Well, perhaps not--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.
1.-TWO rings? Exactly, one is the ring
] put on her finger when 1 married
her; the second was put there by an
other man, and will stay there as long
as the first"
Never mind now," I said. His
voice had trailed off huskily. ''I had
no idea there was any tragic element
behind the fact"
''Tragic? Heavensl 1t was more
than that, Arthur" he whispered,
turning up a drawn face. 81 never
meant to touch upon it, but when you
| spoke it came back with rush as vivid
as if 1 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. 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. / 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 week or two, and She
and she had ON her finger the ring that
he had bought in Derby the day be-
fore-just for safety's sake, or perhaps
out of womanly pride. Irecollect that
just as the chain clanked and the win
ter sunshine was disappearing over
head, he shouted out third 'Good-by! n
to her little dreaming that it was
to be good-by. Little enough old Hal
liday and l thought that days would
elapse before we emerged into Gods
sunlight againi
"a new vein had been bored the
year before, and then abandoned be.
river. We three had had instructions
to widen it for a space of 800 yards
piece of work that had occupied us
nearly q month. Old jim picked
and young Jim wheeled the coal away
to the nearest gallery, from where i
was carried over rails to the bottom o.
the main shaft.
''Well, by 4 o'clock that afternoon
we calculated roughly that we haC
reached the limit laid down.
4 think it's as 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 heai
him singing out the PAGES in his light
hearted fashion as he returned, hi
voice echoing through the long CALLER
les. 'Two-sixty- y-nine-pooh your,
miles off it, dadp He was only
score of yards of, though. Two-six
ty-nine-two-seyenty-four. It'll ALLOW
/ full twenty yet, recon-
He had just finished his count whel
but there, no man could properl,
describe it. 1t was something on
= had to realize for himself before h
= could understand bare half of tn
= sudden terror that whitened our lip
and seemed to bring our hearts to
standstill. There was a rumbling il
3 one of the distant galleries, and sick
1 ening tremble of the ground under
Q meath us; then-then the most paralyz
ing sound, 1 do believe, that is to b
heard in this world. How or why
happened is something 10 be place
among the host of unsolved mysteries
but there was one grinding, splinter
q ing roar, as though the earth had spl
into pieces.
Before we could stir hand or foe
to save ourselves, before we could eve
take in that an explosion had oecurre
. whih we were guarding against al
J, otharNsort of danger. down thundere