The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-17

19ley saw 1T, and for a day assured each
uthsr tna't IT was not SO. But at night
| shey set a. long Straight-edge across The
Iloor and leyeled 1t. 1t touched the mid
que and, mailing both ends to the side
! frame. they left st.
by the early dawn the middle of the
s1raiglht-edge was one and a half inches
SUNK in mud. The foreman said this was
me end of il. But Kelley sent for more
seeH y, and. leyeling the. floor again, he
set au a solid bottom IA inches thick. and
peat II down With SledgeS. Along the
sues ne set ttnbers lengthwaY6. and ON
| tlie5n lnree more struts against the roof.
AND ne saw the floor was level.
But fuhe roof was convex, buIgins down
ward. Wv
We've dome AID we can" said the con-
/ tractors. IF lit holds now. we shall have
made nothing. And if 1t doesn t bold :
FOR IN the. contract the finished tunnel
was 10 stand a month before acceptance
dney went 10 their tents and played
POKER TO pass the time. But though they
we're NOW idle, and their men DISCHARGED
the hill was busy.
- Inc next day cards were a WEAKNESS
IN ihey paced the grooming hole from dawn
70 eve. Mem going east or west, who had
heard OF the mud tunnel, looked in and
uhe Strange noises scared some of them
on sunday, malt the men from the con-
uldclorS next above them came to view
II. Inc end of the track was now but
i've miles away, and some of the track
AYERS came, TOO. They offered bets
agdla ls,i, Its standing. Ross came down
Il give it week." he said
put IN less than a week Kelley Hold
redge came up to him.
You'n have to make cut of it, after
all" he said.
Ross.
.,, Weir g2iqg over t9 the lakes. sir
answered Holdredge. I've had a letter
from Andy Onderdouk. 1t was a gamble,
and the cards were against us
They shook hands and parted.
Inc tunnels chorus was now Dorten-
tous: it shrieked and cried and set a
mans teeth on edge with horrible graf
lng noises The step on which the up
rights stood were crushed through; each
wood fiber, as soft, it seemed, as a hank
OF eoir yarns. And where the side
trusts Were greatest. the short blocks
y WaT Ha ro Mhe ceiling vas now down
very obvious. And by no trick of forcing
.ne imagination could the eye behold
level floor Little shakes and splinters
rose on it. as when a man bends a, Iath
to breaking; And every hour or so came
a sound hke a gun shot when some
dr7er, oYerwrought beam gave way ut
Silence, in a moment more the cries of
terrible.
l myself, who write this. was 4Glon at
up the pass. and one not Sunday in An
gust when my mates were lying in their
tents. L went to view the tunnel And
though / was afraid [ walked through
its whole dark burrow. 1t was not the
first time l 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 intelseSt darkness, terror got hold
OF me, and my hair bristled. Wishing to
run, L would not, and I 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 IKE bows. | walked on a curve of
hoor timbers driven upward by the rising
clay. Here and thef~ were jagged points;
beams split and opened. ragged with
tough to!l n, hber In the hands of the noun
tam the mightiest trees We're matchwood.
And outside bg their tent I saw the
Holdredges loading up a pack pony, while
two other little .cayuses stood ready sad
died; gave them good day, and they
n1odded,not uncheerfully, as 1 thought
And when the yon's load was fixed uD
foMowed them at little distance as they
TOOK their last walk to the tunnels
mouth, which was now shapeless and dis
torted- Two great rafters had freed their
ends, and pointed northwest and south
west: the sill was burst, and the under
clay rose in strange mud flower. From
the tunnels deDth came sounds which
were half musical half dtscordant like
the 1t loud la ffK Of breaking harp strings
redge, as he took his Brother Ssie arm h'o'o-
And visibly, though with a peculiar
slowness, as if of conscious power the
jaws of the tunnel We're being forced to-
gether- The riven roofing fringed its
Jagged mouth like yellow fangs, stained
blue in places. until it seemed some liv-
ing monster Writhing in agony under a
most intolerable weight But the sounds
of the deeper tunnel were mufied We
knew the clay was bursting in at thou
sand 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 a driven
wind hiss through the ragged teeth But
with that came d fail of gravel from the
higher hill. and when the dust was dis
5ipated the tunnel was no more.
1t might have been my Imagination
but as the brothers turned away it
seemed TO me that great weight was off
their minds.
l met old Gordon a mile up the road
and stopped him.
The mud Turner's down. Mr. Gordon
said. and he WhiStled
Did you see the Holdredges, MANI" he
asked.
INA SS What did they say?"
20, just DIP" said /. "And they've
gone away whistling. They were good
men to work for
'Ye ought to know cried Gordon, grin !
ming. for We know they fired ye.'
But if did get the sack at the mud !
tunnel. ii was only for having too much /
to say. And l bore the Holdredges no |
malice.
T00KER AFTER HEpCET