People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1899-08-17

and quiet surroundings; and after
leaving Ludlow, Ringbrand walked on
up the valley, skirting the base of the
mountain until he came to a rough
cart road leading toward the summit
He took it because it plunged into the
Forest and offered shade; and after that
he paid little attention to direction O;
distance until he found himself before
what appeared to be an abandoned
mine. The mouth Of the opening was
ahoked up with broken timbers and
masses of rock. and on board nailed
% tree growing out Of a crevice just
above the tunnel arch he read: INC
Nabb Tunnel, T. c. 81. Co." The name
brought back Ludlow's story Of the
.eud and the lawsuit, and he examined
the place with awakening interest
From the small cleared space in front
# the working he could see the extent
~ the cove with its shelving sides pitch
'rg down toward the yellow fields in
ne center; and, as there was but ore
louise in sight in the bowllike depres-
S'on, he concluded DIT once that it was
'he home of the Bynums. Turning
again to the tunnel, he found that by
Sorambling over the pile Of debris in
the entrance he could reach a place
where the height of the excavation
permitted him to stand upright; and
when his eyes became accustomed to
the dim half-light, he looked about him
with the Obseryant curiosity of one
who sees latent possibilities for the
collecting of literary material from the
most commonplace surroundings.
There was little to be seen save the
ragged walls of coal and a few rusty
mining tools; the heading stopped alb
ruptly about 30 feet from the entrance.
and the excavation was mere irreg-
Tar gap in the edge of the thick seam
of coal. While he was examining a
miners lamp which he found sticking
in crevice, he felt a breath of cold
air which seemed to come from above,
end, looking up, he saw a narrow rift
IN the sandstone roof of the tunnel
from which the draught appeared to
issue. Lighting the lamp and thrust
ing it up into the aperture on the end
OF a stick, he could see that the rift
wldened above the opening and that it
extended indefinitely into the mountain
at right angles to the direction of the
'unne.. The opportunities for further
exploration seemed promising, and
Ringbrand, yielding to an inuuisitive
impulse. drew himself up into the crey-
ice by the help of coal pick. By the
smoky flare of the lamp he could see
that he was standing in a natural tun-
mel Of considerable height. running
erosswise of the ccal working and COM
munlcating with it by the aperture
through which he had entered. As It
was evident that the latter opening
was artificial or accidental, he deter
mined to ascertain if there was any
other means of egrcss from the cavern.
-urnng to the left, the exploration
came shortly to an end against a wall
Oh broken rock and detritus which
completely filed the crevice; re-
tracing his steps, he pushed forward
Ill the opposite direction. meeting
with no obstacle for a considerable
distance. The cleft was of irreg-
ular width, but its walls were perpen-
dicular and smooth, rising above his
head until their outlines were lost in
She groom. At several points they ap-
preached each other so nearly that he
had some difficulty in squeezing
through; but after the passage o;
one Of the narrowest of these
rocky straits he came out into
a large chamber, in which the
murky darkness was diluted by a
thin stream of sunlight filterinp
through a hole in the roof. He stood
gazing upward at the small aperture
far above, wondering if it could b,
used as an entrance without the heir
OF rope ladder, The question had
scarcely taken shape before its answer
appeared in the form of double row
Of rude inches cut in the wall and run
ming in irregular lines up to the gasl
in the roof. In the fine damp sand al
his feet he saw the imprint of mans
boot, and there were many more Of
them just beyond it. The explorer ex
amined them carefully, and then sal
down upon rock to classify his find
ingS. Il wonder if l haven't stumbled
upon something that'll help Ludlow
outs" he unused. This is evidently al
entrance to the coal mine that hi
doesn't know about. rs quite cleal
that it has been used, too, and some on,
has taken deal of trouble to make i
available. l wonder if there's any othei
way out of the place? Isuppose Their
isn't"
He rose and walked across the cham
Der to the point where the crevice ap
peared to continue its way into tn
mountain. There was a narrow sli
showing that the cleft extended still
farther, but the contracted passage wa
only a few inches in width. Fastening
S me hook Of the lamp upon one of tn
points of the pick, he pushed the high
into the crevice as far as he could reacf
and by this means was able to discer
tie dim outlines of another chambe
similar to the one in which ne wa
standing In moving the light aboI
10 get b. ter view, the lamp tumble