The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-04-15

HtMEprrtNHfTQH2 IHEtaA fR4EH EAlG4E NJ
hhe What mad happepsd$ qaptaia
Ie5esine mus hispered the
other sappsrs a&ay Saptainn Laeleune
Knew very wen Who Was he best
man u ills company Captatns1s eieHne
would know that saFper Mathis might
cleft d finish thlS particular bit o.
cutting BY himself.
Mathis felt proud of shat All the
more loot for him, % say nothing Of
honor, and not much riore digging to
do, either. The riYulet OF grease that
ran backward and downward from tie
candle stuck in the floor showed the
steep. upward trend of the cuttirg:
He knew he was close TO. tho surface
now.
He leyercd with his pick again, but
suddenly loosed II. The dpafenlRg
~hullabaloo Of n blast had stunned his
ears; he was thrown down roughly
and the soil all aboit alnl shook as y
with palsy; everything swayedS Groan
ed, yibrated, swam-lie felt seasiclk-
his candle had gone out, lIacl.ness had
closed upon him. lie felt shut in a
box, and he shriekcd with the miners
worst fear.
AT four yards bacliwa Il and down.
ward his cropping movement was ar!
rested. Tho soil had 5fLllen in there
behind him; he was Gagged.
He knew very well now what must
have happened. His mates had been
whispered off TO a more fayorable
: burrow. They had cleared 4 chamber
there. Eight hundred pounds of gun
powder in an iron fourneau. The lid
riyeted down. had been lugged TO that
square hollow; a thick train OF row.
der had been laid from the fonrnea,l
10 a fuse.
! Ninety.eight, ~nlnety.nine, five hun.
! bred! Captain Lcjeunc would have
counted, and then have set u llshtanl
run covering down the tunnel 10 the
outside air.
: A blue blast had gone up In a gcy.
ser shaped like an obcllsk. The point
Of 1t had pierced the crypt Of the CON
vent church, and rent the floor of the
church itself had wreaked Internal
ruin. And he, Pierre Mathis, from
" Caen, best. sapper OF Ill, was lone
q for, was us good as murdered and bu..
led by 1t all!
? The duled roar of that triumph Of
the military art had been heard by
: Manuel Perez, ut the moment lie vas
pocketing the ten pastries earned for
u him by Mira; and the coins clinlted
together in his pocket as he ran 10.
/" ward the region of this new disaster
y for the city.
Pantlngly he care with his dog inc
" the forecourt of The %conveGt, and there
= stood listening. Gaspingly ne swiv'
J. eled round on his heels and stared
Is backward breathless with fear.
For a way had been blasted for The
French; they were pouring over The
rampant, the convent was to be theil
rallying place. The explosion hat
cast down the cloisters, capped iht
aisle wall, npthrust the pavement
Us lereled the pillars. wrenchel coffin!
H. from their long rest beneath the chap
ell affairs, casting them out OIL TIL
tesselated floor. And hot upon tn,
III scent of this preparatory ruin tn
French stormers were scampering il
ie like, hounds.
III. Perez must hide; the door OF tn
Il" crypt stood open: he cast himsel
Ae down the steps for very life.
II was not so dark IN the crypt tina
he might not be seen IL the Frenc
should enter, for light came IN throus
a rent in the roof tina. upheld the lloc
of the church overhead. This ligh
falling first through colo.ed pane
cast hues of jaundice and sanguin
upon something at which the litt
Spaniard shuddered.
a coffin had been wrenched out
a tomb and flung down into the ciypI
the fall had broken 1t, the neadwaI
half of it rose slantirgly, and a corp:
~ seemed to be sitting ur in 1t and sta
ing out.
The corpse was clad In the insign
of a bishop, and the last Vibration
of the explosion swayed this INTER-
~spector gently to and fro.
-" "Todos Santos!" The smuggler W
muttering invocations TO all I
" saints he could think of, and grlppi
" the weasand Of the cur the while Il
its bowls should he heard overhead,
.n;ya Yet there could be little fear
,,r that, for the beautiful Gothic edit
was now %resounding with tine STIR
h;do giles Of French infantry and arm
NJ, monks; massachusetts lit the SO