St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-02-04
Although ncne knew Il, Kate Max

l
not without Justification. Even a
the pair had been talking, 20 feet be.
low where they stood, 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
A fued had for some time existed be-
tween young Leslie and another of tbs
pressure workers, Edward Dart, and
this fued, of which Kate Maxwell was
the hapless origin, had of late, fo1
some cause or other, increased, al
least, On Darts side, to great intensity
Dart had always borne a good repu-
tation in Belchester, and was the sole
support of 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.
Burly Jim Burns, the foreman of the
gang, was obliged to act the part of
peace maker a dozen times a day,
when, as he put it, "tfe youngsters
tongues got a-waggin'."
LET him alone, Ned he would say
| to Dart; "what dye want to be always
worrying Bob for?" Or it would be,
drop it, Bob, or I'll set old Widow
Dart On We. She'll make it lively for
We, reckon
| m 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 gibe 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
| tering the situation, Leslie's self-sat-
| isfed air ard affected carelessness only
| made matters worse. For he was not
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 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,
uncanny, in the idea of these two NOR
tai rivals being shut up together in
narrow, dimlylighted box, 70 feet I'M
derground, for hours at stretch
Once inside the air chamber, they
worked for several hours silently. Then
just about noon, Leslie's pick acct
dentally struck upon Darts foot
There was an oath, a shuttle; like a
mastiff Dart was at Leslie's throat.
In this small space-hardly bigger
than ships cabin-five men flattened
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 pick; he was seeming
1y about to WELD it. But too late! his
antagonist forced him backward; he
fell with crash upon heap of tools,
and Darts arm and ankle were bro
ken, swapping like faggots.
re Il
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.. Blatchford never |
heard of the battle between the two
men. Leslie made a 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-
covery. Dart had been rather 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 conva1escent man the not very ar
duous post of lock-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.
Blatchf0rd, 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,
it was not very likely that even one
ten times more vindictiye than the
man she had rejected as lover, would
lnjure seven men in order to crafty
: grudge to single one Besides, did
Dart still cherish a grudge? If so,
it was so well concealed that nobody
noticed it, not even Kate Maxwell.
But one day, coming across the
fields, she observed a small launch in
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
he workmen employed in the tunnel.
rs the gang were usually at work on
he north side Of the river at this
lour, she stopped an acquaintance, in
he vicinity of the tunnel, now ap-
completion, and asked him
what it meant.
oh" said the man. they're gone