The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-04-18
DAVE RHYS, COWARD
By WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE and
WILLIAM HENRY EkDER.

il
way, 'Dynamite' John glanced up
at the snow-con.b hanging over the
mountain edge far above. She'll
rip loose some day and smother us
for sure,' he said.
That's what" agreed Brawn
with sly glance at Davie Rhys.
the butt of the mine. BET un she
comes down this very night
Hello, Davie, bye! Be thee go
ing to get out Of the track Of ur?"
jeered third.
Il am said Davie.. 9Th re be no
place for me IN snowslide. I'm
no top man."
That ye're not" scoifed Brawn;
"an no first-class headsman would
own you for his tTammer, either
A slow flush crept into Davies
homely honest face. He knew him
self for born coward. and he knew
that these rough, reckless miners
also knew him for one. The risks
they took without thought in the
dark depths of the mine made him
shudder. Yet he was man grown,
as big and strong a Cornishman as
they.
''Aw, leave the bye alone" spoke
up Jennie Lord, the cook. 1T be's
no fault of his that un's siX-foot
babby. I mind OF story I heard
when I was little un.'
''Ye an yer stories!" growled Dy-
Mantle. What matters it to. thee
if we have . bit fun with the bye?"
and the man siouched out into the
starlit night.
Better get outside. Davie,' said
Brawn, leering at Jennie.
Il will, mon. If there be snow
slides comm, I want to be where
/ can rum" said Davie. contemptuous
of his own weakness.
He strobe out OF the cabin in a
rage with himself, volley of guf-
flaws following him.
He stood on the ledge in front Of
the cabin; looking down into the
canon below. From the edge there
was a sheer drop of fifty feet, and
below that descent for nearly a
mile to the river, on the edge of
which he could see the shining lights
of the Blue Bell stamD-mill. Half
a mile to his right ran the ore tram
way of the Blue Bell, connecting the
mine far up on the shoulder CT the
mountain with the mill IN The canon.
Except for that aerial route, there
was no means CT communication be-
tween the miners above and the mill
below.
Davie glanced up at the great
snow-comb above, and shuddered. II
it should break, and if the slide
should catch their bunk-house in its
descent! I A moment, and he was
frantically tearing open the cabin
door. The miners looked round, to
see framed in the opening the face
of Davie, wild and haggard.
There do be snowslide a.
comin'?" he yelled. Il hear the comb
breakin' ava from the ridge now. Git
We out quick, cause Dynamite's gone
an left thee, an I'm a-goin'!"
''Ha! ha!" yelled the chorus Of
miners.
Brawn shouted, "Ho, no, Davie,
bye. Think thee is goin' to work
our own game on US? Go ava! Go
avail
But Davie had already gone, dar-
ing to pause no longer before the
downward sweep Of the swirling,
cracking, roaring white terror. He
clambered madly up the side of the
gulch in a desperate, heart-pounding
scramble for life. Behind him he
heard the thunderstorm rush of the
slide scoring it's way down the noun
tain ravine. Safe on the rim he
paused at last, his ears deafened
with the roar, his eyes dilating fear
fully, his head reeling.
Gradually the terrific noise sub
sided, the white swirling pail settled.
Davie, trembling on the rock ledge,
peered fearfully down into the path
of the slide. The cabin he had left
not five minutes before was no
where to be seen. The avalanche
had wiped the bluff clean.
He knew his comrades must be
buried, alive or dead, under forty
feet of snow at the foot of the ledge
on which the cabin had stood. He
knew, too, that even if they were
alive help must reach them soon or
they would smother.
Turning, he sped swiftly along the
trail in the direction of the COM
pressor-house From out of the dark
ness his voice rose in a shrek: by
Mantle! DYNAMITE" But no answer
ing voice mingled with the echoes
of the shrill cry.
Dynamite, the men be covered
in the snowslide!'
Yet although the hills cried his
terror back and forth, no other an
swer came. Davie, before the black
depths of the unlighted compressor
house, stopped to wiring his hands
D ~ssf