The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-01-21

not without justification. Even as
!. the pair had been talking, 70 feet be-
low where they stood, d terrible scene
was being enacted. 1t had been
struggle for life in the darkness anG
oppressed atmosphere OF the subter-
ranean air chamber, and her lover,
| Robert Leslie, was one Of the actors.
\ fued had for some time existed be-
| tween young Leslie and another OF the
pressure workers, Edward Dart, and
| this fued, of which Kate Maxwell was
| the hapless origin, had of late, for
some cause or other, increased, at
least, on Darts side, to great Intensity.
Dart had always borne good repu-
| tation in Belchester, and was the sole
| support of a widowed mother; but his
| temper was none Of the best, and it
was known that he could be vindictive.
At first the fued took the form Of
sarcasm, but this quickly developed
into great bitterness Of language.
BurIy Jim Burns, the foreman OF the.
gang, was obliged to act the part of
peace maker dozen times q day,
| when, as he put 1t, the youngsters
tongues got aWaggin'.'
LET him alone, NEG, he would say
TO Dart; "w1at4d,ye want to BE always
worrying Bob for" Or it would be,
Drop it, Bob, or Ill set old Widow
Dart On We. Shell make it lively for
ye, 8 reckon,
On this particular June day, the al
tercation between the pair began on
their way to the tunnel; and Kate.
who had heard of the angry dispute.
experienced dread of open trouble
between them which greatly affected
her spirits all that morning. The flash
Of sibe and repartee continued as the
two rivals descended the narrow tube
at the base Of the shaft into the bow
els of the earth and SO far from bet
terlng the situation, Leslies self-sat-
isffed air and affected carelessness only
made matters worse. For he was not
without reason for satisfaction, al
though the truth was known only to
one other man in Belchester. Kate
Maxwell had promised on the previous
evening to be his wife. And Edward
Dart, the rejected sutton, knew this
knew it from Hates own lips. This
fatal knowledge, fatal to all his hopes
and dreams, entered the soul of Ed
ward Dart like a bar of red-hot iron.
He was a bigger and stronger man
than Leslie, and would relish moth
ing better than to carry the quarrel
to blows There was something grim,
uneanny, in the idea CT these two NOR
tai rivals being shut up together IN a
narrow, dimly-lighted box, 70 feet I'M
derground, for hours at a stretch.
Once inside the air chamber, they
worked for several hours silently. Then
just about noon, Leslie's pick acct.
dentaHy struck upon Darts foot,
There was an oath, shuttle; like Ia
mastiff Dart was at Leslie's throat.
IN this small spaee-hard1y bigger
than a ships cabin-five men fattened
themselves against the sides while
Dart and Leslie fought like demons
in the darkness. for in the struggle the
lamp had been extinguished. Then
there was a piercing cry-Dart had got
his hands on a pick; he was seeming
ly about to WELD it. But too latet his
antagonist forced him backward; he
fell with a crash upon a heap Of tools.
and Darts arm and ankle were bro
ken, swapping ike faggots.
For many weeks there had been
peace between the successful and the
unsuccessful sutton for the hand Of
Kate Maxwell. The affair in the air
chamber, which had deprived the tun-
| mel of Darts services, was put down to
an accident. Mr.. BIatchford never
heard Of the battle between the two
men. Leslie made point of looking
in at the Dart cottage on his way home
from work to see how the man with
| whom he had SO long been at enmi-
ty, and with whom he had SO lately
come to blows, progressed toward re-
eoVery. Dart had been rather a ia
vorite of Mr.. Blatchford, and was not
unpopular among the men, SO that
there was general regret at the in
jury he had sustained.
When the news came, therefore, that
the engineer of the works had offered
the conYaleseent man the not very ar
duous post Of loek-tender, Leslie was
one Of the first to congratulate Dart.
But in her timorous. Illogical. wo-
manly fashion, Kate, remembering the
| conversation she had had with Mr..
B1atchford, was not much pleased at
the news, though she brought herself
at length to laugh at her fears. There
was safety in numbers, and, after ALL
1t was not very likely that even one
ten times more Vindictive than the
man she had rejected as a lover, would
injure seven men IN order to crafty
a grudge to a single one. Besides, did
Dart still cherish a grlldge? # SO,
it was SO well concealed that nobody
noticed 1t, not even Kate Maxwell.
But one day, coming across the
fields, she observed a small launch III
the river just over where the tunnel
lay, making rapidly for the other
shore, where similar works were also
in progress and had been for months
On it she recognized the forms OF
Burns, Tyler, Pocock and several OF
the Worhmen employed in the tunnel.
As the gang were usually at work on
the north side eff the river at this.
hour, she stopped an acquaintance, in
the vicinity Of the tunnel, now ap-
preaching completion, and asked him
what it meant.