The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-01-09
AN ARMY BRIDE


III the MESA " here The cactus had beer
cut away, AMI there were evidences Of
works little dump" heap Of ore
some timber and in the midst of all q
windlass very much such as you see n
+ the yards of farm houses. II was wrao-
ped with taTred rope. and a bucker hung
over the shaft underneath
This. my dear Miss Marcy. is nv
hosting works"
Roman leaned ever the side Of the hole
and called OUT. Hello. Mike, Michael,
Duffy
But there vas no reply. Evidently Dir.
Duffy was lost in the labyrinthtne DEPTHS
Of the mine. or was roaming on top OF
earth far froEs The scenes Of his Iabors
We'll ''-SIF- Roman cheerfuuy pre-
faced most Of :iis remarks with Well
they seem to nave followed =he exarlple
Of their comrades and concluded that
J picking at a barren rock was a feckIozs
job
He looked at The windIass and then he
looked at Miss Marcy. She had slipped
down from her saddle. and putting The
rein over her wrist. was standing be-
side him. her eyes dancing with the
spirit OF adventure There isn't lnv-
thing on earth healthy girl loves more
than the suspicion of a lark with taaa
in whom she has perfect confidence.
u can let YOU down all right. If youII
60" he said.
III go
Ronan drew the big bucket which was
intended for use in bringing up the ore.
over to the side. and Mary. drawing her
habit together. daInuIy and gingerlv
stepped in. holding on tightly
rs il very deep2'
About thirty feet
Roman took on his tight riding coat.
showing the fine muscles in his chest
and arms and back As she swung over
the black hole beneath, Mary looked al
MIN with admiration in her eyes
SIowly-slowly-he let her down. until
she stopped and called back to him Ro-
nan swung himself after her. going hand
over hand down the rope.
He found Mary standing there in The
the darkness. He laughed, a happy. ex-
cited little laugh. it was as though they
were cut OF from the whole vide world
and left there together. A desert island
vas nothing TO the depths of the earth
Roman felt in his pocket and brought
out box Of wax matches, and struck
one
There ought TO be some candles here.
be said peering about
Before the IiUIe taper died out he
SOL
Down III one corneG there was d box Of
candles He gave Mary one. and took
one for himself. and like two children
hunting the pot Of gold at the end Of the
rainbow. they set out on their explora-
ton OF the mine There was not much
TO see
There were no pockets Of wire silver
looking like frosty cobwebs such as Mary
had admired in some of the other mines
only about half mile OF tunneling. bad
y timbered
It's a poor thing, Roman said rever-
emily, but it's mine own.
Il don't see but that it is as good as
any Of the others Mary replied They
ali look alike. Il isn't as big. bur then
you haven't been working il so long"
What a pity you are not an Eastern
capitalist. or even . mining expert. Just
here now, is whore we thought the lode
was going TO develop into a wonder We
imagined the Lucky Cuss' was going to
hold candle TO US, but some way il dis
appeared and nobody has been able 10
discover any sign Of it since.
Mary held her candle rear the wall
and looked closely as though she zx-
pected The lost lode 10 appear any
whore, bur 1T was all the same dulI rocI.
They had made the circuit. peereI down
"inces- and stumbled over tools than Law
gacannilE aJouJ AM come back 10 taeir
starr ting point Suddenly, Roman uttered
Tn exclamation Mary looked al him
startled IT was the first time she had
heard him give any expression OF sur
prise, whatever happened
re was looking up toward the hole
where sunshine was visible. an indie
seribable expression upon his race. Her
ewes followed mis-. There, merrily burn